Oculus won't require a Facebook account (finally)

Source: Meta

It took a long time, but Meta has finally decided that you can decouple your Oculus VR headset from your Facebook account. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced it'll offer a new Meta account instead for new and existing users starting August. If you are still signing into your VR headset with an Oculus account, you'll have to ditch that before January 1, 2023.

Meta emphasizes that the Meta account isn't a social media profile per se. Instead, it "lets you log into your VR devices and view and manage your purchased apps in one place." There is still a social aspect integrated into this, though. Your Oculus profile will be replaced by a Meta Horizon profile that you'll set up. It comes with a username, photo and avatar. 

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Leaked ASUS Zenfone 9 teaser shows side scroll key

GIF source: SnoopyTech

If the leaked videos from ASUS are anything to go by, it looks like there are fun, quirky features on its upcoming Zenfone 9 smartphone. The most eye-catching one is turning the side-mounted fingerprint sensor into a sort of touchpad to scroll through content. As The Verge pointed out, ASUS isn't the first to try this method. Some phones use the fingerprint sensor to bring down the notification shade. But we haven't seen one that does this for content. It should come in handy for scrolling through apps like TikTok and Instagram, but we don't know yet where ASUS'll apply it.

The teaser video also shows an unusual backpack mount you can use with the phone. Cameras are supposedly two features that have been "massively upgraded" on the Zenfone 9, with the primary camera featuring a "6-axis hybrid gimbal stabilizer." And to take advantage of it when you're on the move, the leaked video shows a "Smart Backpack Mount" that looks similar to what professional videographers use to carry heavy cameras all day. It's weird, but we're curious to see it.

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Ubisoft finally shares release date for 'Skull and Bones,' coming this Nov. 8

The long-delayed Ubisoft pirate game is finally landing on our shores (and everyone else's). The developer announced during its recent event that Skull and Bones would launch on November 8. You can already sign up for the game's Insider Program to get an early peek and provide feedback to Ubisoft ahead of the official launch. If you want to check out what the gameplay looks like, watch the hour-long (an hour and 13 minutes, to be exact) gameplay reveal above.

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