🎮 Sony PSP 2, 🤖 AI video wows, 🤯 Xbox games on PS5, 📱OnePlus 12R review
10 tech stories from this week in the quickest format possible
Like using a cheat code, I was able to write today’s newsletter in a coffee shop while wearing the Apple Vision Pro. I now have my monitors with me at all times – virtually. I’m convinced this is the future of remote work, even if Mark Zuckerberg thinks his Oculus Quest 3 is better (my tweet about it got 2.3M views, so it’s stirring debate).
What happened this week? ChatGPT maker OpenAI is wowing (and worrying) video creators with Sora (see the videos below), Xbox games are coming to PS5, we review the $500 OnePlus 12R, and new hardware is on the horizon: Sony’s PSP 2 and PS6.
Maybe I’m dating myself here, but Microsoft had this week’s bombshell news with the biggest video game crossover since Sega started making games for Nintendo and Sony consoles in 2001. Xbox games will come to rival Sony and Nintendo consoles!
It doesn’t mean Xbox is dead – in fact, execs teased a powerful new Xbox, but their ‘Xbox Everywhere’ strategy emphasizes software and subscriptions over hardware. Why? Sony’s PS5 is now outselling Xbox at a 3:1 ratio, while Microsoft is dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the development of triple-A games and spent billions buying Activision Blizzard. It needs access to more gamers.
The 10-story newsletter starts below the calendar ⤵️
📆 Your Tech Calendar
🎨 NOW: Friend of The Shortcut Jack McDade’s Radical Design Course
🏴☠️ NOW: Skull and Bones - order it here
🐵 NOW: Mario vs Donkey Kong - order it here
📱 Feb 26, Mon: Mobile World Congress 2024 begins (we’re going)
🗡️ Feb 29, Thurs: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth out now - pre-order here
🧑💻 Mar 18, Mon: Game Developers Conference begins
🧟♂️ Mar 20, Wed: Alone in the Dark remake – pre-order here
⚔️ Mar 22, Fri: Rise of Ronin - pre-order here
Spotlight: Radical Design Course launches for aspiring web designers
Friend of The Shortcut Jack McDade just launched his Radical Design Course. He’s one of the best web designers out there, and I’m going through his course now.
I’ve been following Jack’s work for years. He created the post-WordPress-era CMS Statamic and designed Laravel.com among many other fresh-looking websites. Upon a desperate cold call outreach from me late last year, Jack used his proven expertise to evaluate a new web design and CMS I was having built for The Shortcut, and helped me log all of the broken pages and document all of the errors. 👏 🙏
His approach is the exact opposite of a “website in a can.” Check it out!
1. 👀 Xbox games are coming to PS5 and Nintendo Switch – here are the first four
Microsoft announced that four Xbox-exclusive games are coming to rival platforms. It didn’t disclose the titles in question, but it’s strongly believed that the games will be:
🏴☠️ Sea of Thieves
🎸 Hi-Fi Rush
🐜 Grounded
📜 Pentiment
NOT coming to PS5 yet? 🧑🚀 Starfield and 🤠 Indiana Jones. But Microsoft is looking for ways to maximize its revenue from its recent multi-billion dollar acquisition of Bethesda and Activision Blizzard by putting older titles (read: exclusive to Xbox for one year) on rival platforms. So expect more Xbox games to jump ship in the future.
🗣️ Microsoft has broken its silence on the future of Xbox
🔜 It confirmed that four games will come to other platforms
🤝 However, it reiterated its commitment to hardware and Xbox
🙏 Microsoft said it’s also developing a next-gen console
2. 🎮 PSP 2 rumors suggest Sony will return to handheld gaming
While we wait patiently for the next PlayStation Portal restock, new rumors are circulating that Sony might be working on a true successor to the PSP and PS Vita. A new PlayStation Portable is reportedly in the works and will be powered by an AMD APU, similar to those found in the Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go.
Demand for a new PlayStation handheld that can run games natively seems to be high, judging by the sales of the PlayStation Portal. However, the PSP 2 is at least two years out and still in the high-level design phase. There’s also an argument that a PSP 2 doesn’t make sense for PlayStation right now.
🤫 A ‘PSP 2’ or ‘PS Vita 2’ is reportedly in development at Sony
🙌 The handheld would be able to run games natively, not just via Remote Play
💪 New PlayStation Portable will use AMD APU like the Steam Deck
😩 However, don’t expect it to arrive anytime soon
3. 🤖 OpenAI’s text-to-video model Sora will wow and worry you
OpenAI, the makers of the ChatGPT chatbot and DALL-E text-to-image generator, just showed off Sora, its next groundbreaking AI generative marvel. This text-to-video model can create complex videos (up to 60 seconds) using simple text prompts. The completely synthetic videos show detailed scenes, complex camera motions and multiple characters with vibrant emotions.
While not perfect (AI still can’t get human hands quite right if you look closely), it’s so much more realistic than the generative videos we saw last year. Actors, camera crews, video editors and stock footage services should all be as worried – just like journalists and media publishers when ChatGPT 3.5 launched 14 months ago. But the bigger concern may be AI-generated deepfakes using this technology.
📽️ Sora is an AI model that can create realistic scenes from text instructions
👍 It’s able to can create fully synthetic videos up to a minute long
😲 Sora can generate complex scenes with multiple characters
🤏 It still isn’t perfect, but it’s getting close
4. 📱 OnePlus 12R review: the best phone under $500
Say hello our OnePlus 12R review from Max Buondonno. It’s OnePlus’ latest “flagship killer” smartphone that promises to deliver a high-end experience for an affordable price. At $499, the phone offers about 80% of the experience you’ll find with the superb OnePlus 12, and side by side, these phones don’t feel all that different.
Yes, some downsides are hard to ignore, there’s no denying that the OnePlus 12R is one of the best phones you can get for under $500, and it’s likely it’ll stay that way throughout 2024.
Pros
✅ 💡 Fantastic display that’s brighter than any other phone
✅ 💰 Amazing performance for the price
✅ 🔋 Multi-day battery life and blazing-fast charging
✅ 📱 Premium design for $500
Cons
❌ 📸 Inconsistent camera system
❌ ⚡ No wireless charging
❌ 🤖 Only three years of major Android upgrades
❌ 🫧 OxygenOS might not be your cup of tea
5. 🧑⚖️ Amazon is being sued for including ads in Prime Video
Amazon’s recent decision to include adverts unless you pay an extra $2.99 a month hasn’t gone down well with consumers – and it’s now facing a class action lawsuit.
An Amazon Prime subscriber from California argues that Amazon has “changed the deal” by asking customers to pay to remove adverts, as people “purchased and renewed their Amazon Prime subscription believing that they would include ad-free streaming”.
Amazon also quietly removed Dolby Vision and Atmos support from the new ad tier for Prime Video, which again could be argued was not part of the original contract many signed up for.
🧑⚖️ Amazon is facing a class action lawsuit
😡 A customer is suing over these unskippable Prime Video ads
💰 Users now have to pay an additional $2.99 per month to remove the adverts
👎 Dolby Vision and Atmos support have also been removed from the standard tier
6. 🔒 New Apple Vision Pro update fixes passcode reset flaw
Apple has fixed a Vision Pro headset flaw if you’re the type of person who creates a password and instantly forgets it. A new update will let you reset your Apple Vision Pro at home if you accidentally pinch-click the wrong passcode too many times.
Previously, if you locked yourself out you’d have to return your headset to an Apple store or mail it to AppleCare so it could be erased or reset. Thankfully, the new visionOS 1.0.03 update solves this headache and also brings with it a few bug fixes.
👏 A new Apple Vision Pro update is out now
🪲 visionOS 1.0.03 includes important bug fixes and one big change
🙌 Users can now reset their Vision Pro headset if they forget their passcode
😖 Previously, you had to send your headset to Apple or visit an Apple Store
7. 🔵 BlueSky is open, but does anyone care?
You no longer need an invite to access Bluesky, a decentralized alternative to Elon Musk’s X that’s backed by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. It claims to have added over one million new users with this move, but it could be a sudden surge-with-no-follow-through like we saw with the initial Instagram Threads launch.
Even though Bluesky is essentially a Twitter clone, its unique selling point is that it’s powered by different providers instead of a centralized hub. You can pick from a variety of hosting providers, which might appeal to those who don’t like the idea of their social media being run by this billionaire or that billionaire.
Pro tip: With all social media platforms, we suggest registering your username before it gets taken. But the chance of this one taking off? Unlikely.
🙌 Bluesky is now available on iOS, Android and the web
🐤 It’s almost a carbon copy of Twitter
💰 The service is backed by Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey
🫴 Bluesky will be hoping to take users away from X
8. 🤖 Meta is forcing AI fakes to be revealed
Amid the rise of AI imagery and video tools like Sora, Meta has said companies must disclose AI fakes across Instagram, Threads and Facebook. Those who upload realistic AI videos or audio, such as deep fakes, will also be punished if it is not disclosed that AI has been used.
Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, said on the company’s website: “For those who are worried about video, audio content being designed to materially deceive the public on a matter of political importance in the run-up to the election, we’re going to be pretty vigilant”.
🤖 Meta is cracking down on AI fakes
🏷️ Images, video, and audio will have to be labeled clearly
🥸 AI has led to an increase in fake content on Facebook, Instagram and Threads
🤞 Meta pledged to tackle AI misinformation ahead of the upcoming US election
9. Nintendo Switch 2 will include one of the PS5's best features
A new Nintendo Switch 2 leak says that Nintendo’s next console will be backward compatible, which is great news for those who have amassed a large library of Nintendo Switch games over the years.
The leak comes from Universo Nintendo, a Portuguese site that also predicted that the Nintendo Switch 2 will be revealed next month, although new rumors have just emerged claiming it’s been delayed to 2025. Regardless, Universo Nintendo says that Switch 2 will be backward compatible with physical and digital titles
What’s more, developers will also be able to enhance existing Nintendo Switch games to take advantage of the console’s more powerful specs, similar to how we saw PS5 and Xbox Series X updates for PS4 and Xbox One games on Sony and Microsoft’s consoles.
🤔 Nintendo Switch 2 is rumored to backward compatible
👍 Physical and digital games will be supported
👏 Nintendo could release updates to make games run and look better
📆 Nintendo’s next console could be announced in March
Ending the newsletter with a fun one ⤵️
10. 🔮 The Simpsons predicted the future… again
You’ve probably heard of the phrase “Simpsons did it,” a phenomenon where the writers of the long-running animation series have an uncanny habit of predicting the future. After showing Donald Trump as president in 2015 and correctly predicting the winners of Super Bowl XXIX, The Simpsons is back in the spotlight thanks to the Apple Vision Pro.
In The Simpsons episode “Friends and Family,” citizens of the fictional city of Springfield are seen walking around wearing virtual reality headsets. That eerie vision of the future, which aired eight years ago, has recently come true as people have taken to the streets wearing their new Apple Vision Pro headsets.
😲 The Simpsons series is being hailed as soothsayers once again
🔮 The show seems to have predicted a world that’s now a reality thanks to Apple Vision Pro
🥽 An episode showed Springfield’s citizens walking while wearing VR headsets
😅 That reality came true when people started wearing their Apple Vision Pro headsets out in public
I mean, they’re not wrong…
