EA's Star Wars Zero Company drops August 27
Gaming EA's Star Wars Zero Company drops August 27 Its new gameplay trailer gives us a glimpse of Anakin Skywalker. By Mariella Moon June 6, 2026 am EST The developers behind Star Wars Zero Company has revealed the official gameplay trailer for the title at Summer Game Fest 2026. They have also revealed that the game will be available on the PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S starting on August 27. Star Wars Zero Company was announced in 2022 as one of the games being co-developed , the studio behind Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor. Respawn developed the game with a new studio called Bit Reactor, with EA as the publisher. The studio includes former Firaxis Games employees and was also founded by Greg Foertsch, the senior art director on XCOM: Enemy Unknown and XCOM 2. That's why it wasn't a huge surprise that Star Wars Zero Company showed similarities to XCOM in its announcement trailer in April. "Our team has poured everything we love about Star Wars into Zero Company," said Foertsch. "We've worked hand-in-hand with Lucasfilm Games to create an authentic Star Wars story packed with unique new characters, robust character customization, a new ship, Separatist Droids, and much more, all rooted in the conflict of the Clone Wars." The game's story is set in the "twilight of the Clone Wars" and revolves around former Republic officer Hawks. As Hawks, you'll have to recruit allies across the galaxy and across species to put a team together and hunt Kundri Fathom, the leader of a Dark Side cult that poses a threat to the entire galaxy. The "Den" will be your base of operations, from which you'll form teams and dispatch groups of your friends, called Operators, to different locations in the map. And because of the game's setting, you'll encounter Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi General at that point in time, who's also on an important mission. You can now preorder Star Wars Zero Company for $70 in Standard Edition for the PC, the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. A Deluxe edition that unlocks cosmetic packs, five painted weapon themes and the Crystalline Astromech Cosmetic Pack, which includes an R3 droid is also available. Recommended
Stellar Blade's slick-looking sequel is officially called Blood Rain
Gaming Stellar Blade's slick-looking sequel is officially called Blood Rain It's raining blood, hallelujah. By Max Miller June 5, 2026 pm EST Among a slew of announcements at Summer Games Fest 2026, Shift Up revealed the sequel to its breakout hit, Stellar Blade. The sequel, which we now know is called Stellar Blade: Blood Rain, is said to be in the same universe as the first game in the series. Shift Up says it will take that world in a "bold new direction." Blood Rain will also feature a new protagonist named Evie, a clear homage to Eve from the original title. The original Stellar Blade was generally well received, earning an 81 on Metacritic for its combination of stylish visuals and slick combat. Blood Rain looks to build on those strengths, and the lengthy trailer shown during the reveal features a mix of extremely shiny-looking cutscenes and flashy combat sequences punctuated with earth-shattering hero landings that Deadpool would balk at (very hard on the knees). As befitting its title, Blood Rain's enemy designs look fittingly body-horror themed. They're appreciably different from the seemingly Souls-inspired baddies of the first title, and the trailer shows their transformation from human to video game monsters in gory detail. Not a speck of that blood can be seen on our incredibly shiny and uncomfortably shapely, skin suit-clad protagonist, though. Shift Up will self-publish the title, a sharp turn from its previous release through Sony Interactive Entertainment for the first Stellar Blade. The move comes after some players balked at a PlayStation exclusivity window for that game before its PC launch, and amid a renewed focus on exclusives at Sony that will see titles withheld from PC.
‘Among Us’ Showrunner Refused to Make an Adaptation Frozen in 2020-Era Meme Culture
Television ‘Among Us’ Showrunner Refused to Make an Adaptation Frozen in 2020-Era Meme Culture Ahead of its premiere on Paramount+, 'Among Us' showrunner Owen Dennis discusses assembling its A-list cast and steering clear of making an adaptation reliant on dated memes. 5, 2026, pm ET Reading time 4 minutes ©Titmouse/Paramount+ Read Later Read Later Comments (2) Way back in 2023, CBS officially announced that its next animated series would be an adaptation of Innersloth’s smash-hit 2018 space murder mystery video game Among Us. Now, three years later, the show’s stacked cast of Hollywood actors called for an emergency meeting at Summer Game Fest, resulting in the surprise premiere of all 10 episodes on Paramount+. Among Us, which is animated by Titmouse (Star Trek: Lower Decks), follows an assortment of monochromatic crewmates aboard a ship transporting junk across space. Hidden among them is an alien taking them out one by one. Their task is to put their collective noggins together and suss out which of them is the imposter before there are no crewmates left. Ahead of Among Us‘ premiere, we spoke with showrunner Owen Dennis (Infinity Train) about how the series landed on its eclectic cast of actors, as well as his philosophy for adapting a video game into a television show nearly a decade after it skyrocketed into a global sensation. Among Us has an absolutely stacked cast, spanning actors from video games, animated shows, and comedy. The cast includes Yvette Nicole Brown (Community) as Orange, Kimiko Glenn (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) as Cyan, Liv Hewson (Yellowjackets) as Black, Ashley Johnson (The Last Of Us) as Purple, Wayne Knight (Seinfeld) as Lime, Phil LaMarr (Samurai Jack) as Brown, Randall Park (Blue Eye Samurai) as Red, Dan Stevens (Solar Opposites) as Blue, Debra Wilson (Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots) as Yellow and Computer, Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings) as Green, and Patton Oswalt (Goat) as White. Assembling the right group to breathe life into little jellybean-looking crewmates proved no small task for Dennis. “One of the difficult things about casting Among Us is that all the characters kind of look the same. They have different outfits, but they look pretty similar, so [we needed to] make sure each voice definitely sounds like a different person,” Dennis said. “For us, there’s no mouth movement and no faces. Because of that, if you have a whole group of people and they’re all standing there and one of them is talking, you have to know which of them is actually talking without a mouth moving.” He continued: “It was really important for us to make sure that we get actors who are very good and can express things using comedy, drama, or any direction that we need them to go.
Baby botulism outbreak: FDA still doesn't know cause—or how to prevent it
Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav The Food and Drug Administration this week posted what critics call an “underwhelming” epilogue to the devastating outbreak of botulism in babies, which was linked to spore-contaminated formula made by ByHeart. Despite clear tracking of the contamination, the regulator still doesn’t know how the bacteria arrived in the formula—or how to prevent it from happening again. “The FDA’s investigation into the root cause is ongoing with a focus on ingredients,” the agency reported. In the void, three companies at the center of the investigation are left pointing fingers at each other, with none publicly taking responsibility for the contamination. The outbreak was identified in early November and was declared over 26. In the end, 48 infants across 17 states were sickened and hospitalized. Some are still recovering months after the life-threatening infection. The FDA’s investigation provided a detailed trace of the bacteria behind the outbreak, Clostridium botulinum, which can produce hardy spores that are found in soil and sediments. If the spores reach an amenable environment—such as the vulnerable, underdeveloped guts of infants—they begin to grow and produce a neurotoxin that causes flaccid paralysis. Strains of C. botulinum isolated from some of the sick infants were genetically linked to strains found in ByHeart’s formula, which were also linked to strains found in powdered whole milk used in the formula. The powdered whole milk was dried from liquid milk at a Nevada facility run , and the liquid milk came from the supplier Organic West, based in California. Organic West sold the resulting powder to ByHeart. Specifically, the FDA traced contaminated formula and milk powder back to eight whole milk lot powders that came from 33 fluid milk lots from Organic West, according to an incident summary. Still, the FDA could not determine where in the production chain the bacteria entered or how. “Even though there are several hypotheses, investigational findings could not identify the source or root cause of contamination of the powdered infant formula,” the agency concluded. Finger-pointing Bill Marler, a lawyer specializing in food poisoning who is also representing 25 of the sickened infants in litigation, told Ars that the conclusion is “a little underwhelming to put it mildly.” The epilogue that the FDA posted this week, titled the “Post-Outbreak Response Activities,” provided a summary “without any real clear guidance for consumers or for the companies going forward.” In the meantime, each of the three companies is shirking blame.
Bitcoin Price Hits Lowest Level Since Before Trump’s 2024 Election Win
Cryptocurrencies Bitcoin Price Hits Lowest Level Since Before Trump’s 2024 Election Win As the whole market suffers, Zcash saw a 60% drop in the last two days. Kyle Torpey Published June 5, 2026, pm ET Reading time 3 minutes © Kilito Chan via Read Later Read Later Comments (7) The bitcoin price dipped below the $60,000 mark on Friday, which brought it down to a level not seen since October 2024, before Donald Trump’s U. S. presidential election win the following month. Trump has enacted several policies seen as beneficial to bitcoin and the greater crypto industry, such as the removal of Gary Gensler as the head of the SEC, the establishment of a strategic bitcoin reserve, and a pardon for convicted Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht, a notable part of his campaign. And for a while, the market loved it. After the bitcoin price reached a new all-time high around $125,000 last October, the crypto market as a whole has suffered, with privacy-focused altcoin Zcash also seeing a 60% drop in the last couple of days following the disclosure of a critical bug. For those who don’t remember, the bitcoin price rose from around $66,000 to nearly $110,000 in the weeks that followed Trump’s 2024 election win. However, those previous gains have now been more than completely retraced. While some say the recent bitcoin price weakness has to do with bitcoin treasury company Strategy’s recent sale of a miniscule percentage of their overall bitcoin holdings, others within the industry say the recent sell pressure has more to do with bitcoin holders wanting to gain more exposure to the AI industry, whether it be through the upcoming initial public offerings of OpenAI and Anthropic or the planned $80 billion capital raise . Of course, then there’s Mark Cuban, who said he sold his bitcoin after it failed to act as “digital gold” during recent geopolitical turmoil. “AI is sucking all of the oxygen out of the room, all of the liquidity out of the room,” Forest For The Trees founder and CEO Luke Gromen noted in a recent interview with Coin Stories. “I think that’s happening to bitcoin as well. I think it’s a victim of that as well.” While the Trump administration has delivered on some promises to the crypto industry through actions like the pardoning of Ulbricht and the passage of the stablecoin-focused GENIUS Act last year, the bill that is intended to solidify regulatory clarity for the rest of the crypto industry, known as the Clarity Act, is still being debated in the Senate.
Reid Hoffman is leaving Microsoft’s board to go ‘founder mode’ with startup Manus
In Brief Posted: PM PDT · June 5, 2026 : David Paul Morris/Bloomberg / Julie Bort Reid Hoffman is leaving Microsoft’s board to go ‘founder mode’ with startup Manus After a very profitable decade on Microsoft’s board, Reid Hoffman is stepping down, the company announced Thursday. Hoffman joined the board after Microsoft bought his company LinkedIn for $26.2 billion in 2016. Hoffman was on Microsoft’s board when it invested its first $1 billion into OpenAI in 2019. Hoffman was one of OpenAI’s original investors and served on the model maker’s board until he stepped down in 2023, citing too many potential conflicts of interest to continue. He was also on Microsoft’s board when the tech giant entered into one of those non-acquisition, acqui-hire deals for $650 million with his AI startup Inflection AI. Microsoft hired Inflection co-founder Mustafa Suleyman through that deal. Hoffman said on a recent episode of his “Possible” podcast, while talking with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, that he’s ready to go “founder mode” with his latest AI startup, Manus. Manus is a drug discovery company that raised over $50 million through a couple of seed rounds last year. Hoffman is an investor, as is General Catalyst. Hoffman is cited as a co-founder of Manus and chairman of the board, not the CEO, though. That job belongs to Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, a physician, biologist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the 2011 book “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.” Still, Hoffman said he’s excited to give Manus more attention. “One of the things I realized over the last month was that, we’re seeing such progress with Manus. I need to get back to founder mode,” he said. He believes the startup is making progress on “Move 37” AI, meaning AI that supersedes human creativity in chemistry, especially to combat various cancers, he added. Topics In Brief, Manus AI, Microsoft, Reid Hoffman, TC, Venture Get an inside look at what it takes to scale and succeed from leaders at Mach Industries, Founders Fund, and Shinkei Systems. Through candid fireside chats and high-impact networking, you’ll walk away with valuable insights and new connections.
Founders share VC horror stories, and some are naming names
Asking venture capitalists for investment is a rite of passage for tech founders. This has led to another universal experience: the VC pitching horror story. A massive conversation sharing such stories has taken place all week on X, with the comments both funny and infuriating. We read through them all to find the most interesting ones so you don’t have to. Greg Isenberg, a startup podcaster, writer, and founder of Late Checkout Studio — a holding company whose previous ventures include a company acquired by WeWork — got the conversation started with a story about a VC falling asleep during a pitch meeting. Isenberg has a large following on X, and his post clearly struck a nerve. “I was once pitching in a board room at a top 3 VC firm for a $15M Series A. 12 people in the meeting. One of the GPs fully fell asleep. Everyone just kept going,” he shared on X. VCs sleeping through pitch meetings was far and away the most common horror story shared. Not just drowsing, but full on zonked. Zynga founder Mark Pincus told his VC-asleep story. “I looked at my friend who set up the meeting and asked if i should keep presenting and she said yes. It was ‘weekend at bernies’ meets Silicon Valley,” he wrote. Interestingly, falling asleep didn’t mean the VC wouldn’t invest. Multiple founders reported receiving term sheets from partners who’d dozed off during the pitch. “I once pitched a partnership in 2015 for our Series A where one partner (famous Midas lister) fell asleep & another couldn’t stop scowling. Got a call 2 hrs after the IC that they were sending a term sheet over,” wrote Liz Wessel. Wessel, who co-founded and sold HR startup WayUp and is now a partner at First Round Capital, said her team didn’t take the money — and that the VC was shocked. There were so many stories about VCs sleeping that former a16z partner Arianna Simpson wrote, “Are VCs ok?? Narcolepsy appears to be running rampant.” There were, of course, more than a few stories about VCs signing term sheets then pulling out last minute, or ghosting, never wiring the money. The even more galling part? Some of these VCs apparently went on to treat the founders like portfolio companies anyway, asking for company updates or to serve as a reference. One founder said the VC even wanted a share of the post-acquisition proceeds.
How a USB-connected speaker can infect a PC without ever being touched
Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav Operating system makers take many steps to prevent their wares from accepting commands from remote devices. The safeguards, designed to thwart malicious attacks, typically require hackers to jump through all kinds of hoops to bypass the measures. But what if remote code execution were as simple as being within Bluetooth range of a speaker connected to the targeted device? It turns out it can, at least when the speaker is a Sound Blaster Katana V2X sold by Singapore-based Creative Technologies. The speaker, which sells for $283, is widely acclaimed with numerous reviews showering praise on the sound and performance of it and its predecessor, the Sound Blaster V2. A PC-pwning proxy Researcher Rasmus Moorats stumbled on the hack by accident, after he purchased a Katana V2X, a soundbar that connects to PCs, Macs, and Linux devices over USB or Bluetooth. Moorats was curious if he could create a Linux tool that communicated with his speaker. He discovered he could do so through CTP, a proprietary mechanism he guesses is short for Creative Transport Protocol. CTP allows devices connected via Bluetooth or USB to send commands to the speaker, such as changing LED colors and equalizer settings. CTP also allows the connected devices to receive responses from the speaker. To Moorat’s surprise, his Bluetooth device was able to connect to the speaker, which was connected to a PC via USB, without any authentication. Not only that, but his Bluetooth device didn’t have to be paired first. Also surprising: One of the CTP commands, labeled “upload new firmware to device,” allowed him to replace the official firmware with his own custom one. The firmware reflashing didn’t use code signing or other measures to prevent the loading of unofficial code. After successfully replacing the firmware with a replacement image that did nothing more than display the word “patched” on the speaker’s LED display, the researcher got to wondering what else a hacker might do. So he turned his attention to FreeRTOS, the open source operating system that ran the Katana V2X. It contained a set of HID functions for allowing the speaker to act as a human interface device, a classification that includes keyboards, mice, and webcams. The speaker implemented a limited HID that allowed for things like changing the volume and playing or pausing sound, but little else.
8 of the best Prime Day laptop deals I'd actually buy myself
Tech 'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers. ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form. Close 8 of the best Prime Day laptop deals I'd actually buy myself Written , Senior EditorSenior Editor June 5, 2026 at a. m. Amazon's flagship Prime Day sale is launching earlier this year -- Tuesday, June 23, to Friday, June 26, instead of in July like last year. We've got the jump on early laptop sales from both Windows PCs and Macs, with quality machines from major brands like HP, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, and Dell, as well as sales on the latest Apple MacBooks. Also: I found 15 Amazon deals on editor-approved tech already live for Prime Day I only highlight laptop models I've personally gone hands-on with, and would buy for myself or suggest to someone else. All of these devices have hardware released within the last year or so, with the majority from earlier in 2026. Older machines are still good, of course, but if it's more than a year old, I'll call that out. Here are the best early Amazon Prime Day 2026 laptop deals live now. Find more early Prime Day deals Best early Amazon Prime Day laptop deals Lenovo/ZDNET Current price: $1,289 (28% off) Original price: $1,799 Looking for a reliable business laptop?
7 unique Father's Day gifts and gadgets your dad doesn't already have
Home & Office 'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers. ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form. Close 7 unique Father's Day gifts and gadgets your dad doesn't already have Written , Managing EditorManaging Editor June 5, 2026 at a. m. Father's Day is coming up on June 21, and it's time to start thinking about what to get the dad who insists he has everything he wants already. Lucky for you, we test gadgets all year, and can make some recommendations for things he doesn't even know he needs yet. These are some of our favorite gadgets that our staff personally recommend -- many of which are currently on sale. Also: Thousands of readers bought these 10 useful tools and gadgets (No. 5 gets weird) Our favorite Father's Day gift ideas Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET If your dad is anything like mine, he frequently leaves his wallet in the car or in a pants pocket (I say this lovingly). This Rolling Square tracker card slips right into a wallet (whether traditional or MagSafe), and works with Android and Apple devices to help you find your wallet wherever you leave it. It's also one of the loudest trackers our reviewer has tested. Also: This AirTag alternative has earned a permanent spot in my wallet (and works with Android) Show more View now at Amazon Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET ZDNET gadget reviewer Adrian Kingsley-Hughes says he likes to have a screwdriver, scissors, and a pair of pliers close at hand, but most multitools are a no-go at airports and on commercial aircraft, often confiscated.