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It's hard to look at Apple's new "Liquid Glass" aesthetic and not think about Windows Vista, Microsoft

If you weren't paying close attention to Apple's WWDC 2025 keynote, it was easy to miss one of the more notable stories out of the event. For a conference where it aims to show itself as an innovator, this year

Welcome to Video Games Weekly on Engadget. Expect a new story every Monday, broken into two parts. The first is a space for short essays and ramblings about video game trends and related topics from me, Jess Conditt, a reporter who's covered the industry for more than 13 years. The second contains the video game stories from the past week that you need to know about, including some headlines from outside of Engadget.

Please enjoy — and I'll see you next week.

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Nearly two years after launching Threads, Meta is finally giving in to users on one of the most requested features for the service: direct messaging. The company is beginning to test a dedicated inbox for Threads, beginning with Hong Kong, Argentina and Thailand, Mark Zuckerberg revealed in a post on Threads.

Threads has had some

There's a new (ish) retro console on the block. The ModRetro Chromatic had a soft launch last year but is now "permanently in stock" for consumers. This is another machine that runs Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges, like the beloved Analogue Pocket and others.

The Chromatic features a magnesium alloy build, so it should take a licking. It also features a backlit screen

It’s easy to feel the pressure in the run-up to Father’s Day. Finding a gift that encapsulates all of the gratitude, love and appreciation you feel toward them is a high-pressure task. Thankfully, this is why we’re here to point you in the direction of the best gifts you can get. And don’t forget, dad isn’t a name, it’s a job title, so show your appreciation to whatever person filled that role in your life.

OpenAI has inked a deal with Google to begin using the latter's cloud service to meet its growing needs for increased computing capacity,

Qualcomm's has launched its latest processor for smart glasses, and though it's a modest upgrade over the previous chip, it has a new trick. The Snapdragon AR1+ Gen 1 can run AI directly on devices with no need for a smartphone or cloud connection, allowing users to go out or do chores with only their smart glasses, the company cla

Sonos

Google has released Android 16 to the masses, as it's now available for compatible handsets. The company says new devices will come preloaded with the OS in "the coming months."

The update includes several notable features. The biggest one might be live updates in notifications. This means that stuff like ride-shares and food deliveries will get a progress bar directly in the notification, so folks won't have to constantly open and close the app to wonder why a burrito seems to be stuc