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A San Francisco-based startup called Framework has just launched an ambitious project: a thin, lightweight productivity laptop that it claims can be “upgraded, customized, and repaired in ways that no other notebook can.”

Framework founder Nirav Patel told The Verge that the company aims to address his long-standing frustrations with consumer technology companies. Patel was one of the original Oculus employees and has worked for Apple as well. During that time, he says he “saw an industry that felt incredibly broken across the board.”

“As a consumer electronics company, your business model effectively depends on churning out constant tons of hardware and pushing it into channels, and into market, and into consumers’ hands, and then sort of dropping it and letting it exist out there,” Patel explains. “It encourages waste and inefficiency, and ultimately environmental damage.”

To that end, Patel sees the Framework Laptop as more than a product — he sees it as an ecosystem.

The Framework comes with a 13.5-inch 2256 x 1504 screen, a 1080p 60fps webcam, a 57Wh battery, and a 2.87-pound aluminum chassis. Inside, you’ll get 11th Gen Intel processors, up to 64GB of DDR4 memory, and “4TB or more” of Gen4 NVMe storage.

As is the case with all kinds of consumer laptops, buyers can swap out and upgrade various internal parts of the Framework, including the RAM, battery, and storage. The company is trying to bring three additional benefits to the table. The first is that you can also customize and upgrade external components of the chassis, including the keyboard, screen, bezels (which are magnetically attached), and ports (via an expansion card system). If you’re someone who hates dongles and docks, you can select four ports from an assortment that includes the usual suspects (USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, DisplayPort, microSD, etc).

The second is that Framework will be selling its own modules in a centralized online marketplace, which is also open to third-party sellers and resellers. The idea is that if your screen cracks or you feel like changing your bezels, you can hop onto Framework’s site to find replacements that are custom-made for your laptop rather than having to search around. Framework’s components are printed with QR codes that, when scanned, will bring you straight to a purchase page for their upgrades.

The third is that in addition to a pre-built Framework system, you can purchase a “DIY” kit of your selected parts, which you can then use to assemble the laptop yourself. The DIY Edition provides some operating system flexibility: you can install “your preferred Linux distribution” on it or your pick of Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro.

Image: Framework

It’s a cogent plan, to be sure. But Framework won’t be able to achieve its upgradable, sustainable future just by announcing an ecosystem — it has to actually create an ecosystem that will last. And whether Framework will continue to manufacture modules for this specific laptop model far into the future, or whether third-party partners will pick up the slack, is certainly a question mark.

If you’re any kind of PC enthusiast, you probably know that Framework is far from the first company to try a scheme like this. Intel has given modular computers a shot in the past, to little result — its Compute Card was a commercial failure, and its modular Ghost Canyon NUC (which had hardware partners on board at launch) still has yet to receive any new components. Alienware’s original Area-51m also never received its promised future-proof upgradable parts. Phone makers have tried modular devices as well: Google’s Project Ara smartphone, composed of Lego-style bricks that users could rearrange and swap in and out, didn’t go anywhere. The reality is that hardware is hard to build and modular hardware is even more challenging.

Image: Framework

Patel, for his part, believes those OEMs weren’t committed enough. “Other companies, they put it out there, and someone internally decided, ‘Eh, we’re going to focus on something else this year,’ and shut down the project,” says Patel. “This is not something we’re dabbling in. It’s not a side project for us that someone thought was interesting. This is the core of our company.”

“We are releasing new modules, and upgrades, and accessories, and so on to drive the health of the ecosystem, and we’re going to continue doing that for as long as customers want us to,” Patel adds.

Framework will be taking preorders this spring, and the device is expected to ship this summer. Pricing hasn’t yet been announced, though Patel says it will be “comparable to other well-reviewed notebooks.”

Activision has said that players with a 500 GB PlayStation 4 may “need to make room” if they wish to have the fully updated versions of Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War and Modern Warfare/Warzone present on one system.In a post on the Call of Duty blog, the franchise publisher wrote: “Those who own a standard PlayStation 4 with a default hard drive of 500 GB may need to make room if they have the full versions of Modern Warfare®/Warzone and Black Ops Cold War with all modes and packs installed. Should you have both games installed and have kept up to date with updates, you may need to delete some unused Game Content to have a successful download and install of the [latest] Warzone patch.”

It’s common knowledge that Activision’s latest Call of Duty games take up swathes of storage, but it seems that they may be stretched beyond the capacity of a base PS4 as they receive more updates. It may be that, without compression, external storage may become the only way to have the full Call of Duty package on one console for some players.

The blog notes that players can click R3 on the main menu of Black Ops Cold War to uninstall “content you may not have played in a while,” say the Campaign or Zombies, for example. The same can be achieved in Modern Warfare or Warzone by heading to the ‘General’ tab in the options menu and then clicking the ‘Games Installs’ option. Of course, you don’t need to download the Warzone Season 2 update if you only plan to play Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War.

Have you played Call of Duty: Warzone?

YESNO

This news arrives ahead of the launch of Season 2, which brings with it a new Zombies mode called Outbreak, new operators, weapons and maps. Zombies also appear to be headed to Warzone, if recent leaks are to be believed.

Back in October of 2020, Epic Games pushed a patch to the similarly sizable Fortnite to cull its storage real estate by 60 GB. At this point, hopefully, Activision is looking into similar measures, as this certainly won’t be the final Call of Duty update.

Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

A new PUBG battle royale is heading to mobile platforms. PUBG: New State is a new PUBG game developed by PUBG Studios. The developer announced the new game with a short trailer on Thursday morning.

The trailer includes some of the things PUBG players might be used to like furious gun fights, vehicular chases, and a bit of silliness mixed in along the way. One thing the trailer makes clear right away is that this is definitely not the same setting PUBG Mobile players are used to right now. While the environment’s still a little grimy there’s shiny new technology everywhere and everything looks to be a little more futuristic than the current game.

PUBG: New State is set in the near future of 2051 and that means plenty of changes have happened in the world since the original PUBG Mobile. Players will jump into a huge new map called TROI, that will include new vehicles, weapons, and equipment, as well as plenty of areas to explore.

Outside of the setting, PUBG: New State also introduces a few new features to the PUBG Mobile series including combat rolls, drones, a shield, and new ways to customize your weapons with things like fire-mode selectors or grenade launchers.

PUBG: New State will only be heading to mobile devices including Android and iOS tablets and phones, and is set to launch sometime in 2021.

There was an Xbox Series X restock on GameStop on Wednesday, and it was on sale for over an hour. Additionally, the Xbox Series S could also be had for $399 through both GameStop, Best Buy Microsoft’s official Xbox Store.

Miss it? Follow us on Twitter for all new Xbox restock notifications. That’s the fastest method for us to do live updates of Microsoft console stock.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is celebrating this week’s launch of Bravely Default II with a new Spirit Board event. The event kicks off at 10 PM PT tomorrow, February 25, and introduces the four Heroes of Light from Square Enix’s newest Switch RPG as Spirits.

The heroes are paired up to make two different Spirits: Seth & Gloria and Elvis & Adelle. Each of those will appear periodically on the Spirit Board throughout the event. You’ll also earn extra Spirit Points each time you defeat the new Bravely Default Spirits. The event runs until 10 PM PT on March 2.

Bravely Default II launches for Switch on February 26. Despite the number in its title, it’s actually the third proper installment in its series thus far, following the original Bravely Default and its sequel, Bravely Second. Bravely Default II is also a self-contained adventure, featuring an original cast of characters and story.

Ahead of Bravely Default II’s release, Square Enix recently shared a new trailer explaining the game’s battle system. A free demo for the game is also available on the Switch eShop, and everyone who downloads it before Bravely Default II launches will earn 100 bonus My Nintendo Platinum points. You can read more about the upcoming RPG in our Bravely Default II preorder guide.

Smash Bros. Ultimate’s next DLC fighters are Pyra and Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The newcomers were first revealed during Nintendo’s February 2021 Direct presentation, and game director Masahiro Sakurai will give us an in-depth look at them during a dedicated Smash Bros. stream next week, on March 4. The two-in-one character is slated to arrive sometime next month.

After over a year of internal overhaul on Anthem, EA and BioWare have decided to stop development on the 2019 action-RPG, and move on to other projects.

In an announcement today penned by executive producer Christian Dailey, he explains that the decision to quit work on Anthem was motivated by a mixture of the impacts of COVID-19, and a desire to focus on other BioWare projects, like Dragon Age and Mass Effect.

“2020 was a year unlike any other however and while we continue to make progress against all our game projects at BioWare, working from home during the pandemic has had an impact on our productivity and not everything we had planned as a studio before COVID-19 can be accomplished without putting undue stress on our teams,” he wrote.

“I know this will be disappointing to the community of Anthem players who have been excited to see the improvements we’ve been working on. It’s also disappointing for the team who were doing brilliant work. And for me personally, Anthem is what brought me to BioWare, and the last two years have been some of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my career.

Have you played Anthem?

YESNO

“Game development is hard. Decisions like these are not easy. Moving forward, we need to laser focus our efforts as a studio and strengthen the next Dragon Age, and Mass Effect titles while continuing to provide quality updates to Star Wars: The Old Republic.”

Dailey also notes that Anthem’s existing live service will continue running as it is now for the foreseeable future.

Anthem had a rocky launch, plagued with bugs and criticism that while its combat was interesting, its story was a grind and its endgame didn’t have the chops to sustain the game long-term. As the game stumbled through 2019, EA ultimately opted to overhaul Anthem in late 2019, taking over a year to completely change the game’s core loop and systems like loot, quests, and social elements. Earlier this month, EA reportedly reviewed the state of the game and subsequently made the call to cease development at that time.

In an exclusive interview with IGN, EA chief studios officer Laura Miele offered her thoughts on the shuttering of Anthem development, contrasting the decisions EA had made in regards to the game’s overhaul with those it made on Star Wars: Battlefront 2. Battlefront 2 was successfully overhauled post-launch based on community feedback, if not perhaps as dramatically as Anthem was planned to be.

“What’s really important about Battlefront 2 is we said we were going to do something,” Miele explained. “We made a commitment to players and we needed to act on what we said we would do, so our teams are clear, if we publicly say we’re going to do something we must deliver. Creating new content for games can also come to a natural conclusion for various reasons and when that happens we try to be as transparent as we can with the community and explain why.”

Miele then pointed to Battlefront 2’s community post-launch as an example, saying that even though the game’s community had asked for more post-launch content beyond what DICE was going to deliver, the studios were keeping that feedback in mind for future Star Wars games.

In contrast, while Anthem also had a community interested in its overhaul, Miele says that ultimately the best decision based on the resources BioWare has at their disposal was to focus development on its other games instead.

“We’ve believed in Anthem every step of the way, we’ve invested in this game for close to a decade and we’re proud of the work the team has done,” Miele said. “Starting with the game’s launch two years ago, the team at BioWare has listened to player feedback and brought updates and improvements to the game.

“However, 2020 and 2021 are unprecedented years when it comes to game development, so we must prioritize both the player experience and what’s best for the people working on these games. We want to make sure BioWare is able to focus on making the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect games the best they can be, while also continuing to provide quality updates to [Star Wars: The Old Republic]. That’s ultimately the best way we can be in service to our players, focusing on these fan favorites and delivering on the communities’ expectations.

“Anthem was a creative risk and its challenges have taught us a lot about game design and even how we can improve our development process. This not only benefits developers, but players as well.”

Miele talked at length about EA’s relationship with its game communities and goals to adapt based on fan feedback in the rest of our interview as well, which you can read here.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Fry’s Electronics, the decades-old superstore chain with locations in nine American states, appears to have gone defunct. Bay Area TV station KRON-4 was the first press outlet to confirm the news late Tuesday, saying that Fry’s will shut down all 30 of its American locations. The retailer will reportedly make an announcement at some time on Wednesday via the Fry’s website.

Rumors began flying on Tuesday in the form of anecdotes from alleged Fry’s employees, who all reported that they’d been summarily fired earlier in the day with zero notice. One anonymous report posted at The Layoff alleged that every remaining Fry’s store in the US was “permanently closing tomorrow,” and that sentiment was echoed hours later at a Fry’s-related Reddit community. The Reddit post included the allegation that one store’s staffers were tasked with shipping any remaining merchandise back to suppliers during their final day at work.

Sacramento freelance journalist Matthew Keys followed these posts by citing an unnamed source—someone who had worked at Fry’s up until “this week”—who claimed that the electronics chain would make a formal announcement “this week” about closing all of its stores and liquidating any remaining assets. As the wave of rumors exploded, the official Fry’s website began serving failure notices—yet some of its subsite content, particularly years-old press releases, remained active through Frys.com subdomains. As Tuesday wore on, the Fry’s retail site flickered into and out of normal service, even letting customers buy products after KRON-4’s report went live.

Spindles of savings

For years, Fry’s Electronics was the United States’ largest physical retailer dedicated to just about every computing and electronic device you could think of, particularly individual computer components. As the chain expanded to more stores throughout the US, particularly in taking over multiple defunct Incredible Universe locations, Fry’s rode the build-your-own boom of personal computing. If you built your own PC in the past two decades and lived within driving distance of a Fry’s, that store was likely where you began looking for motherboards, optical disc drives, RAM of all speeds and slots, and spindles of no less than 200 CD-Rs.

Additionally, the retailer was known for being the exclusive retail partner for some odd merchandise, particularly the ill-fated Pono Player from famed musician Neil Young.

Through the ’00s, cashflow across the privately held Fry’s chain was apparently solid enough to survive a devastating internal meltdown: theft of over $65 million from the company’s coffers by its then-vice president.

But big-box retailers have long struggled in an Internet-shopping era, and the California-centric Fry’s hadn’t looked particularly strong as the pandemic wore down what appetite remained for in-person shopping. Shortly before the pandemic gripped the world, the chain shut down its Anaheim, CA location, which was followed by the November closure of its Campbell, CA store.

By 2020, the chain had already established a transition to consignment-style selling, which meant not paying manufacturers up-front for merchandise before putting it on store shelves. That practice has worked for some chains with a decades-long head start on the practice, particularly Wal-Mart. But in the case of Fry’s, this transition was met by electronics manufacturers who, in the Internet-rich era of 2019, had far less incentive to put their wares unpaid onto store shelves. (This will also reduce the defunct company’s potential to liquidate, as the consignment-based merchandise must simply be returned to original manufacturers—which may have been the final duty for remaining employees this week.)

Hence, Fry’s locations began earning a notorious reputation for barren store shelves. Now, apparently, their floors will be barren, as well. The company has yet to formally acknowledge layoffs or store closures at any of its social media channels—going so far as to delete its Facebook account and “lock” its Twitter profile—and as of press time, its website has yet to offer announcements about the company’s future.

Google just announced it’s rolling out updates to six different Android apps, from the TalkBack screen reader to Android Auto. The updates add useful new features, like the ability to schedule when a text message will be sent in the Messages app. Google Maps is also receiving an update of its own that adds a true dark mode throughout the entire app, not just when you’re using navigation. 

There’s also an update to Google’s password autofill tool that will tell you if your passwords have been leaked and let you know it’s time to change it. 

Keep in mind, these are rolling updates. That means you may not have access to them right away. The best advice I have is to keep checking the Play Store for app updates. 

Below I’ll walk you through the new features and how to use them. 

Password Checkup now works across Android apps

If you use Google’s Password Manager to autofill your usernames and passwords in Chrome or Android apps, then this update is for you. Google will now check all of your login credentials to see if they’ve been leaked or exposed in a hack. If it finds your information, a prompt will let you know you need to change your password. 

The new Password Checkup tool is rolling out to Android devices running Android 9 or higher. You can check if you’re using Google’s autofill service by opening the Settings app, then go to System > Languages & Input > Advanced and tap Autofill Service. If that path doesn’t take you to the right place, since every Android phone is a little bit different, you can use the search tool in the Settings app to look for Autofill. (For example, on the Galaxy S21 Ultra the setting is under General Management in the settings app.) 

Once you navigate to the Autofill section, you’ll want to make sure Google is selected. 

If you haven’t been using Google’s autofill tool, then start saving your credentials when it prompts you. If you have been using it, then keep using it as you have been. The tool will let you know when it finds your information was leaked — you don’t have to do anything special to trigger it. 

Dark Mode comes to Google Maps

For fans of dark mode in Android apps, you’ll want to keep checking the Play Store for an update to Google Maps. 

Google is finally adding a true dark mode throughout the entire app. Huzzah! Prior to the latest update, Google Maps only offered a dark mode when you were actively using navigation mode. It was better than nothing, sure, but it wasn’t ideal. 

Once Google Maps updates on your Android phone or tablet, you can turn dark mode on all the time by going to Settings > Theme and then select Always in Dark Theme.

Schedule a text message

If you’re not already using Google Messages as your default text messaging app, this might finally get you to make the switch. Google is rolling out an update that adds the option to schedule when a message is sent. Scheduling messages is especially useful if you don’t want to bother someone at the wrong time because they’re in a different time zone, or you know they’re busy at work. Or you can use it to schedule a message canceling plans that you regret even making. 

Once your Messages app receives the latest update, you can start to compose a message just like you always do, but instead of tapping on the send button — long-press it. A menu will pop up, asking when you want it sent. It’s as easy as that. 

TalkBack is getting easier to use

Google’s TalkBack accessibility feature is getting a big update to help blind or low vision users navigate and use their Android devices. There are new gestures, navigation options, spoken feedback and menus. 

We have more information about the TalkBack update here. If you want to check it out for yourself, make sure to check for app and service updates in the Play Store. 

But wait, there’s more

Google is also adding new features to Android Auto and Google Assistant. They’re relatively minor updates, but worth taking note of. 

Android Auto users are getting the ability to set custom wallpapers that are displayed on their vehicle’s screen. Google is also adding voice-activated games that your passengers can play during long road trips. One of the games Google mentions is Jeopardy, which is always a hit. Finally, Google is adding shortcuts to the Android Auto launch screen that will make it easy to check the weather or quick access to contacts for messaging and calls. 

Google Assistant is getting improvements when you use voice commands to interact with the digital assistant when your screen is off and the device is locked. Google says that the cards that show information are now bigger, making it easier to read responses from across the room. To ensure the feature is working as expected turn on Lock Screen Personal Results in your Google Assistant settings page.

Google does big feature releases like this every quarter or so. For example, here are some features added to Google Assistant last year. If you’re someone who’d rather look forward, then check out the new features we’ve found so far in Android 12. We also have a running list of hidden features in Android that we love.

SpaceX’s latest Starship prototype just roared to life. 

The Starship SN10 (“Serial No. 10”) vehicle performed its first “static fire” test on Tuesday (Feb. 23), lighting up its three Raptor engines for a few seconds at 6:03 p.m. EST (2303 GMT) at SpaceX’s South Texas site, near the Gulf Coast settlement of Boca Chica Village.