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The Federal Communications Commission has passed rules that will require all wireless calls to the 988 Lifeline to be georouted. Geographic routing ensures that attempts to reach the National Suicide Prevention Hotline for intervention services will be sent to the location where the call is placed rather than to the location of the caller's area code and exchange. Once the rules take effect, national providers will have 30 days to implement georouting for these calls. Smaller, non-national providers have a timeline of 24 months to comply. The agency also issued a proposal that the same georouting policy be applied to texts sent to 988. The FCC has taken several steps to expand the reach of the 988 Lifeline over the past few years. After voting to make the three-digit number the shortcut for reaching the National Suicide Prevention Hotline in 2020, the agency expanded the service to include text support in 2021. T-Mobile was one of the first telecoms to activate 988 for customers to access mental health services. If you are struggling and need someone to listen, please, call 988. The full number is 1-800-273-8255 (1-800-273-TALK), or you can reach the Lifeline by webchat.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/fcc-now-requires-georouting-for-wireless-calls-to-988-the-national-suicide-prevention-hotline-192030468.html?src=rss
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On Thursday, the FCC approved new regulations requiring all phone makers to make their handsets compatible with hearing aids. With the number of Americans 65 and older expected to balloon by nearly 50 percent by 2050, the rules will ensure those with hearing loss dont have to worry about which phones will work with their hearing aids. Under the new rules, after a transition period, Americans with hearing loss will no longer be limited in their choice of technologies, features, and prices available in the mobile handset marketplace, the FCC wrote in a press release. On the flip side, the FCC also passed a requirement for hearing aid makers that effectively bans proprietary Bluetooth coupling standards in the assistive devices. So, phones must be compatible with hearing aids and vice versa. The rule even applies to the recently approved over-the-counter hearing aids, which now include AirPods Pro 2. Other changes include requiring all new mobile handsets sold in the US to let users raise the volume without introducing distortion. In addition, the FCC now mandates that cell phones point-of-sale labels clarify hearing aid compatibility and whether the handsets meet Bluetooth or telecoil coupling requirements. The FCC worked with a consortium of cell carriers, phone makers and researchers to draft and adopt the rules. Establishing a 100% hearing aid compatibility requirement for all mobile handsets was made possible by the collaborative efforts of members of the Hearing Aid Compatibility Task Force an independent organization of wireless service providers, handset manufacturers, research institutions and advocates for those with hearing loss, the Commission wrote. Members of the Task Force worked together over a period of years to reach a consensus on how the Commission could achieve its objective of requiring 100% of all mobile handsets to be hearing aid compatible.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-fcc-will-soon-require-all-hearing-aids-and-phones-to-work-together-190003074.html?src=rss
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Bloober Team unveiled what its been working on at todays Xbox Partner Showcase event. The studio showed off a cinematic trailer for Cronos: The New Dawn, which is a brand-new IP. The developer describes the game as a twisted time travel story set in an unforgiving post-apocalyptic future. Its a third-person survival horror title that looks to have plenty of action. This is a far cry from the type of psychological horror games the studio cut its teeth on, like the Layers of Fear series. We spoke to Bloober Team last year and were told it was moving away from psychological horror and, well, heres the proof. The trailer primarily consists of a lengthy scene in which a character who looks sort of like Isaac from Dead Space and a bit like a Big Daddy from Bioshock plays chess with a lady before wandering an apocalyptic hellscape. There is actual gameplay here, but only toward the end of the trailer. Bloober Team says players will need to successfully navigate that deadly wasteland and fight off monstrous abominations. It also says the game mixes the eerie atmosphere of horror with the boundless potential of science fiction. The trailer certainly confirms that sentiment. Despite being announced at an Xbox event, Cronos: The New Dawn isnt exclusive to Microsoft consoles. Itll be available on PC, PS5 and, of course, Xbox Series X|S systems sometime in 2025. The studio just released its remake of the iconic horror game Silent Hill 2.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/bloober-teams-next-horror-game-is-cronos-the-new-dawn-184925036.html?src=rss
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