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It's summer sale time for the PlayStation Network, and this year's discounted offerings include some of the biggest games released these past few years. You can grab Elden Ring for the PS4 and the PS5 for 30 percent less than its usual price at $42. The critically acclaimed title, developed by FromSoftware with world building by George R.R. Martin, was one of Engadget's favorite games for 2022. It's also notoriously difficult and will definitely challenge you and test your patience. Armored Core VI, another FromSoftware creation, is listed for $42, down from $60. Its deluxe edition that comes with a digital artbook and a copy of its soundtrack only costs $7 more.Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III Cross-Gen is also half-off right now at $35, though for around $4 more, you can get the bundle with some extra items. Hogwarts Legacy for the PS5 is down 60 percent, so you can get it for $28 instead of $70. Meanwhile, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the sequel to Fallen Order that was released last year, is only $31.49. That's 55 percent lower than its retail price of $70. There's a bunch of discounted Resident Evil titles included in the sale list, as well, including RE Village for the PS4 and PS5, which you can get for only $16 instead of $40.And if you're curious about the new versions of Final Fantasy VII and haven't tried either of the games that are already out, you can get the FFVII Remake and Rebirth Twin Pack for $75 instead of $100. For $90, you can buy the digital deluxe version of the bundle that usually sells for $120 to get access to both games for the PS5, a digital artbook, a digital soundtrack and some special items. The PlayStation Summer Sale will run for almost a month, ending on August 14, though some games will be removed from the promotion earlier than that.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/playstation-summer-sale-slashes-prices-on-elden-ring-cod-modern-warfare-3-ffvii-remake-bundle-and-more-123035675.html?src=rss

Some of the world's largest tech companies trained their AI models on datasets that included transcripts of more than 173,000 YouTube videos without permission. That's according to an investigation from Proof News, which laid out how Apple, NVIDIA and Anthropic, among other companies, used transcripts of YouTube videos from more than 48,000 channels. This goes against YouTube's own platform rules, which Google execs have repeatedly mentioned.Earlier this month, Apple was criticized for failing to reveal the source of training data for Apple Intelligence, the company's own spin on generative AI.Not only have these AI models been trained on some of your favorite YouTube stars, like Marques Brownlee and MrBeast, but also Engadget's own Cherlynn Low. (I love you, Cher.)Intrigued by what else may be part of that dataset? Head over to the Proof News lookup tool.- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedOnePlus just unveiled a new full-sized tablet with some decent specsAMC is bringing fifteen shows to Netflix for one yearSenate committee says nearly half of Amazon warehouse workers were injured during Prime Day 2019You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!Beats Pill reviewA revival worth the wait.EngadgetTo the surprise of many, Beats has re-entered the crowded market of Bluetooth speakers with a redesigned Pill ($150). Taking more aesthetic cues from its older models, it's the Pill speaker you know and love(d), but upgraded for 2024. Better sound, lossless audio over USB-C and doubled battery life make this an impressive return.Continue reading.This is what Google's next foldable Pixel looks likeTaiwan's version of the FCC spilled the beans.NCCTake a look at the unannounced Pixel 9 Pro Fold, from almost every conceivable angle. Android Authority spotted the photos at Taiwan's National Communications Commission (NCC) archives and uploaded galleries of each of the four phones, including the Pixel 9, 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL and 9 Pro Fold. For the foldable, Google has moved the selfie camera to the inside screen for a wider field of view. The 9 Pro Fold also has slimmer bezels and a seemingly reduced fold crease.Continue reading.The best Amazon Prime Day deals still goingSome of these will disappear soon.This year's Prime Day came with a surprising number of discounts for Apple products, the usual barrage of headphones, Amazon hardware and a 4K TV or two. While the official sale wraps up, there's still time (and stock?) for some of these deals. The Engadget editorial team have teased out the best sale items worth your money.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-ai-models-from-apple-nvidia-and-more-were-reportedly-trained-on-youtube-videos-111542441.html?src=rss

Tesla has started selling a couple of new accessories for the Cybertruck, including a $300 tailgate shield. It's a custom-made padding for the vehicle, designed to hang off its tailgate and protect it from any equipment you're hauling.We gotta say, it's admittedly quite amusing to see Tesla selling an accessory to protect the Cybertruck when one of the vehicle's promotional videos shows someone shooting guns at it. When the company debuted the model, it also staged a demonstration to show that it can withstand a sledgehammer. Still, if you regularly put, say, a road or a mountain bike in the bed of your truck, the shield could prevent it from banging up against the vehicle's tailgate and cause scratches and other cosmetic imperfections. To mount the pad, you'll need to insert its straps into the tailgate gap while it's halfway open, so you may need a friend to help you out.In addition to the tailgate shield, Tesla is now also selling a $100 jumpseat that you can attach to your Cybertruck. The vehicle's tailgate can fit up to three jumpseats, and you can install them even with a shield on. Tesla recommends the jumpseat for tailgating parties, picnics, sporting and other outside events. And once your activity is done, you can fold the collapsible seats up for storage.

Canon has unveiled its most important camera in years - the EOS R1 mirrorless. Launched alongside the 45-megapixel R5 II, it's the company's new flagship designed to replace the 1DX Mark III DSLR and help Canon maintain its leadership in the pro sports photography field.The R1 is all about speed, with the stacked sensor allowing 40 fps RAW bursts with continuous autofocus. Other features are designed to help nail crucial shots, including pre-capture, eye-tracking AF and sports-specific settings. At the same time, it should be great for video, thanks to its support for 6K RAW capture.One potential downside is the 24-megapixel resolution, which is lower than rivals like Sony's A1 and the Nikon Z9. To see how that affected image quality and gather some impressions on performance and new features, I was able to get a short amount of hands-on time with the R1 in Phoenix, Arizona.Though massive for a mirrorless camera, the R1 is lighter than it looks - it only weighs 2.12 pounds. The magnesium alloy body is dust- and water-resistant and the large, comfortable grip uses new rubber to reduce slippage. It's a stable platform, even with telephoto lenses, and was clearly designed for working photographers.Controls are laid out much like the EOS R3, with two control dials, a rear dial, joystick, mode switch and many customizable buttons. It has matching vertical controls, with the same layout in portrait and landscape modes.Canon did add a touch-sensitive IR button called the smart controller, which offers three ways to adjust autofocus. Overall, the R1 handles like an F1 car - fast and reactive, but there's a steep learning curve.The viewfinder is Canon's best yet with 9.44 million dots, 0.9 times magnification and 3x brightness, all tops in the EOS series. The rear display fully articulates for high- and low-angle shooting.Canon decided to ditch SD cards in favor of two CFexpress type B slots. That allows for maximum RAW burst speeds, as well as fast and reliable backups, but you'll end up throwing your SD card collection out the window. By contrast, Sony's R1 has dual card slots for both SD UHS II and CFexpress type A.The R1 uses a variant of the battery from the EOS R3 that supports up to 650 shots and 70 minutes of 6K video on a charge. Connectivity is the best I've seen on any Canon camera, with Wi-Fi 6E, ethernet, USB-C PD and more.The R1 is built for action and suffice to say, it's fast. In blackout free electronic shutter mode, you can shoot JPEG and RAW frames at up to 40 fps for a long while before the massive buffer fills - with Canon promising "1,000 or more" shots when shooting uncompressed RAW and JPEG files. It hits 12 fps with the mechanical shutter, a feature missing on Nikon's rival Z9.Steve Dent for EngadgetThe latter isn't usually necessary, though, as the stacked shutter largely eliminates rolling shutter distortion.Canon is bringing numerous autofocus improvements as well. With regular single-point tracking, you can change the target with either the joystick or smart controller. In addition, the R1 has a new eye-tracking system called Eye AF II, a more sophisticated version of its Eye Control AF from the R3.As with the R3, you must calibrate Eye AF II first. And it won't necessarily function well for all eye types, but it worked great for me, as the tracking box followed my gaze with less drift than before. That didn't always translate to sharp photos, but again, I was using a pre-production unit.Of course the R1 offers face- and eye-detection for both humans and animals. But what happens if you're trying to single out someone in a crowd of players?Steve Dent for EngadgetFirst off, there are now AI modes for three specific sports, volleyball, basketball and soccer. The idea is that the system will track action around the ball to help you nail key shots. It's also supposed to stay locked on a player even in traffic. Finally, you can register up to 10 faces to keep track of a whole team of athletes.How well does this work? It's hard to say in the short time I had the camera, but I didn't notice a dramatic improvement with chaotic action or specific sports. But these features require time to master, so a full review will tell me more.Another new feature to help pros avoid missing shots is pre-continuous shooting, something that's seen on many high-end cameras these days. The R1 starts taking photos when you half-press the shutter button, recording up to the last 20 frames once it's fully pressed.Canon has led the way in image stabilization since the R5, and the R1 offers a solid 8.5 stops of shake reduction with supported lenses. This isn't necessarily a great benefit for action shooting, but it does help with landscapes or low-light shooting.Canon likely anticipated complaints about the relatively low 24-megapixel resolution. In response, it unveiled a new feature called in-camera upscaling. It uses deep learning to quadruple image size to 96 megapixels in-camera after shooting, supposedly while maintaining apparent resolution.This is different from Sony's pixel-shift scheme that takes multiple separate photos and merges them into one. However, it was hard to get a straight answer from Canon as to how exactly the upscaling works. Obviously, it can't be a true resolution increase without actually capturing extra pixels.Image quality is difficult to judge in pre-production cameras, and Canon specifically said that in-camera RAW processing was a work in progress. Nonetheless, JPEGs looked sharp out of the camera and had the company's typically excellent skin tones.Low-light image quality is a selling point of this camera, and it did appear to perform well at high ISOs, with decent image quality at ISO 12,800 and beyond. However, it's no Sony A7S III at very high ISOs, so the max of ISO 102,400 is for emergency use only.Steve Dent for EngadgetStacked sensor cameras tend to sacrifice some dynamic range in favor of speed, but there's no sign of that with the R1. However, I'll need more time to get a full idea of RAW image quality, particularly at high ISOs.Though mainly aimed at photographers, the R1 is potentially a monster video camera on its own. It lacks the R5 II's 8K feature, but does offer 6K Canon RAW video at up to 60 fps, using the full width of the sensor.You also get fully oversampled full-sensor 4K at up to 60fps, or 4K pixel-binned or cropped at 120 fps. Full HD can be recorded at up to 240 fps, either cropped or with pixel-binning. On top of Log 3, Canon's Log 2 is now supported with 10-bit capture.Canon has significantly reduced its previous overheating issues, though they're not completely eliminated. You can record more than 120 minutes of 6K 60p RAW with proxy recording, as well as 4K 60p, with no restriction for 4K 30p. The primary limitation is 15 minutes for 4K 120p, but that shouldn't be an issue for most videographers or content creators.As you'd expect, the oversampled 4K 60p and 6K 60p RAW video is sharp. Canon's RAW video is very easy to work with in post and with the Log 2 setting delivers extra dynamic range and latitude in post.Steve Dent for EngadgetIt'll be interesting to see how pro photographers react to Canon's new flagship. They do gain an extra 10 fps in RAW shooting speeds over Sony's A1 and the Nikon Z9, and the sensor is solid in low light. The downside, though, is the fact that it offers half the resolution of its rivals.The Eye AF II is an interesting gimmick that may give Canon an edge. Other features like face-memorization, sports-specific AF and cross action seem good on paper, but I wasn't able to get the most out of them in the short time I had the camera - so further testing is required. The EOS R1 is set to arrive in the fall of 2024 with an estimated price of $6,300.Canon paid for this contributor's travel and accommodation for the launch of its new cameras in Phoenix, Arizona. This article was produced independently for Engadget, with no oversight from Canon.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/canon-r1-hands-on-incredible-speed-but-24mp-resolution-may-disappoint-100044085.html?src=rss

Tinder is trying to end the long-festering nightmare of having to actually look at yourself long enough to choose profile pictures. The new Photo Selector feature uses AI to pore through pictures to pick the ones most likely to get that much-coveted right swipe.The tool has been in a testing phase since August of last year and it's finally ready for prime time. Photo Selector works by automatically browsing through a smartphone's entire camera roll and using AI algorithms to pick the, well, hottest ones. It's like a supercharged version of the pre-existing Smart Photos feature.With Photo Selector, Tinder offers a digital companion that curates a diverse selection of photos from users' camera roll optimized to help users find a match," the company wrote in a press release.You have to pose for a selfie and give the system access to the camera roll to get started. The AI uses that selfie to find other photos and presents you with a selection of your best and brightest glow ups. You make the final selections and then get married and sail off into the sunset or whatever.Photo Selector will be available to US customers later this month, with a global launch coming at some point during the summer. I very much plan on popping a wig and some glasses on my cat to try to trick the algo.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tinders-new-ai-will-pick-your-most-attractive-photos-for-you-100020367.html?src=rss

As it teased earlier, Canon has launched the R5 II, a successor to the powerful but imperfect EOS R5. With a new 45-megapixel backside-illuminated (BSI) stacked sensor, it not only has superior specs for video, shooting speeds and more, but also adds advanced features like eye-controlled AF. The R5 II was launched alongside Canon's new flagship, the EOS R1, which I've covered in a separate post.With the new R5, Canon has mostly dealt with the original's primary problem: overheating while shooting video. To see what's different and try out some of the new features, I spent some time with an R5 II pre-production camera in Phoenix, Arizona.The R5 II's body is largely the same as before, but there are a couple of key changes. First off, Canon has moved the power switch over to the top right, next to the mode dial. On the left, where the on/off switch used to be, the company added a dedicated video and photo switch. That should make it easier for hybrid shooters to switch modes and keep settings separate.Other controls are mostly where they were. The original R5 was already a sweet-handling camera, with a comfortable grip and logical control layout, so Canon wisely left well enough alone.Also unchanged is the flip-out rear touch display, but the R5 II does have a new OLED electronic viewfinder. It has the same sharp 5.76-million dot resolution - on par with other models in this price range - but is brighter than before.It supports both UHS-II SD cards and CFexpress Type B, with a slot for each. If you want to shoot 8K RAW or sustain long shooting bursts, you'll need to use CFexpress cards, which are much faster but considerably more expensive.Canon introduced three new battery grips for the R5 II, with one containing a cooling fan. That largely reduces heating issues, as I'll discuss shortly. Another grip is designed to improve vertical operability, making the R5 II handle more like the R1. The third grip adds 2.5G base-T ethernet for studio shooters.With the new stacked sensor, the EOS R5 II is faster than ever. You can shoot blackout-free bursts at up to 30 fps in electronic shutter mode, or 12 fps using the mechanical shutter. Rolling shutter is also substantially reduced. The R5 II has a large buffer as well, supporting up to 93 RAW and 20 compressed RAW shots before it fills in electronic shutter mode.Steve Dent for EngadgetAutofocus is improved in nearly every way, too. Like the R1, the R5 II comes with Canon's new EyeAF II eye-tracking autofocus that sets focus where you look. Canon touts it as the fastest way to to move the AF tracking point.It needs to be calibrated, and won't work with all eye types, but in my brief experience it worked for me. It can be a bit twitchy and isn't 100 percent reliable, but I didn't have enough time to really shake it out - so stay tuned for a full review.Canon also added sports-related features like an action priority mode, subject crossing and the ability to register multiple faces. Face- and eye-tracking is improved, and it supports animals, birds and vehicles, too. Of course, it has 5-axis in-body stabilization with 8.5 stops of shake reduction, up from 8 before.Shooting in the basketball scenario Canon set up, I found the AF to be generally reliable. The new pre-continuous shooting feature is also a nice bonus, helping ensure you capture shots even before fully pressing the shutter. However, some new things like action crossing require practice to get used to and I didn't have enough time with the camera to adapt.It's hard to evaluate image quality in pre-production cameras, and Canon warned us that it was still working on RAW processing. Still, the benefit of a 45-megapixel sensor is seriously sharp photos.JPEG images appeared color accurate with pleasing skin tones, as you'd expect from Canon. Using the company's software, I was able to process the 14-bit RAW images and found that they offer plenty of latitude for pushing and pulling in post.Like the R1, the R5 also supports Canon's new in-camera upscaling, which quadruples resolution to around 179 megapixels. This uses deep learning to reduce noise, but Canon didn't explain precisely how it works.A lot of my shooting was done in a gym with relatively low light, but the R5 II handled the high ISOs without generating excessive noise up to ISO 6400 or even beyond. It's not in the same league as the R1, though, so you'll need fast lenses if shooting action in dark spaces.Steve Dent for EngadgetThe R5 II is a seriously powerful video camera, right up there with Nikon's Z8 or Z9. You can shoot 8K DCI RAW video at up to 60 fps, or 4K RAW at 60 fps. It also offers 8K MP4 support at up to 30 fps, or 4K DCI at 120 fps with pixel binning.4K profiles at up to 30 fps use the full sensor width in fine" mode, or you can capture higher frame rates with pixel binning. Full HD can be recorded at 240 fps with pixel binning as well. Most 4K modes can also be captured cropped to an APS-C frame size.The addition of RAW recording and C-Log2 boosts dynamic range, and all the oversampled video modes are very sharp. Canon's RAW is also easy to work with in Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve.That takes us to the most glaring issue: overheating. The original R5 certainly struggled in this respect, with temperature limiting recording times in some modes.Steve Dent for EngadgetWith the new camera, the only modes affected are 8K 60p RAW, which is capped at 18 minutes, 8K 30p limited to 37 minutes and 4K 120p, which shuts down after 22 minutes. Adding the fan accessory removes most of those limitations and increases operating times at 8K 60p RAW and 4K 120P.With incredible video and photos specs, Canon's R5 II could retake its old crown as the best hybrid camera. The only model that can keep up with it for photos is the $6,500 Sony A1, but it's over $2,000 more expensive. Nikon's $3,500 Z8 can match it video-wise with 8K RAW at up to 60P. However, it isn't as good for photos as the R5 II, because speeds are limited to 20 fps and it lacks a mechanical shutter.The R5 II will be more expensive than the Z8, however, at an estimated $4,300. It will arrive in stores sometime in August.Canon paid for this contributor's travel and accommodation for the launch of its new cameras in Phoenix, Arizona. This article was produced independently for Engadget, with no oversight from Canon.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/canon-eos-r5-ii-hands-on-nifty-eye-tracking-autofocus-and-reduced-overheating-problems-100002588.html?src=rss

AMC and Netflix have inked a deal to bring several series from the cable network to the streaming platform later this summer. Variety reports that the agreement includes seasons 1-8 of Fear the Walking Dead, season 1 of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, seasons 1-4 of Preacher, seasons 1-3 of A Discovery of Witches, seasons 1-3 of Into the Badlands, seasons 1-2 of Kevin can F*** Himself, seasons 1-2 of Dark Winds, seasons 1-2 of Gangs of London, season 1 of Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire, season 1 of Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches, season 1 of Monsieur Spade, season 1 of That Dirty Black Bag and season 1 of The Terror. All of them will join Netflix on August 19 and will be available for one year. The first seasons of both The Walking Dead: Dead City and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live will land on Netflix on January 13.Budget-minded viewers may also appreciate that these AMC shows will be available to watch ad-free, even for people on Netflix's ad-supported standard plan. The same is true of all eleven seasons of The Walking Dead that are already on the streaming service."These curated titles are also being strategically windowed to drive interest in current and upcoming seasons on our direct-to-consumer and partner platforms," AMC Networks CEO Kristin Dolan said of the arrangement. "We believe this significant expansion of our Netflix relationship will drive viewership and engagement on Netflix, while also raising awareness and interest in our award-winning content on AMC-branded and partner platforms across our distribution ecosystem.The cable company pursued a similar, even shorter-term deal to get Fear the Walking Dead and other programming in front of the Max streaming audience in 2023. The company's own streaming service, AMC+, had 11.5 million subscribers as of May 2024.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amc-is-bringing-fifteen-shows-to-netflix-for-one-year-230551808.html?src=rss

Some of the world's largest tech companies trained their AI models on a dataset that included transcripts of more than 173,000 YouTube videos without permission, a new investigation from Proof News has found. The dataset, which was created by a nonprofit company called EleutherAI, contains transcripts of YouTube videos from more than 48,000 channels and was used by Apple, NVIDIA and Anthropic among other companies. The findings of the investigation spotlight AI's uncomfortable truth: the technology is largely built on the backs of data siphoned from creators without their consent or compensation.The dataset doesn't include any videos or images from YouTube, but contains video transcripts from the platform's biggest creators including Marques Brownlee and MrBeast, as well as large news publishers like The New York Times, the BBC, and ABC News. Subtitles from videos belonging to Engadget are also part of the dataset.Apple has sourced data for their AI from several companies," Brownlee posted on X. One of them scraped tons of data/transcripts from YouTube videos, including mine," he added. This is going to be an evolving problem for a long time."

The sudden and tragic passing of Kevin Conroy, the revered voice actor who voiced Batman/Bruce Wayne for Batman: The Animated Series and the Batman Arkham games and died in 2022 at 66, somehow felt worse with the release of the Suicide Squad game. Rocksteady's disappointing open world DC Comics game almost marked the last time that Conroy would voice The Dark Knight and an evil Batman at that. Even if the game was good, it wouldn't feel right letting Conroy's credit list end on such a down note.Thankfully, a new Warner Bros. Animation trilogy based on the Justice League: Crisis of Infinite Earths DC comics series will feature the final voiceover performance of Conroy as Batman. The climatic scene showing his final moments found its way to X yesterday.Conroy's final voiceover occurs in the final film of the trilogy. If you don't want to know how it ends before you've had a chance to watch the whole thing, you should stop scrolling down right now.

Anthropic announced that its Claude chatbot is now available as an Android app. After introducing the platform's free iOS app in May, Android owners can now also play with the company's AI on their mobile devices. The Android app is free and works with both the Pro and Team plans for paid users. Conversations with Claude can happen across hardware, with both of the mobile apps and the web version connected to each other.This platform is one of several large-language model AI chatbots currently available to the public. OpenAI and its ChatGPT tool have attracted the lion's share of attention. ChatGPT is already available in both Android and iOS app form, and it underlies many features of the new Apple Intelligence. However, it's possible that Claude may have more powerful skills. According to Anthropic, the Claude 3 version of the platform performed better than both ChatGPT and Google's Gemini on some important benchmarks. The Claude 3 Opus version scored top marks in March and the Sonnet 3.5 version did the same in June. We always need to take that kind of comparison from one of the companies in question with many grains of salt. But even the leaps between the Sonnet and Opus over the course of a few months do appear to be impressive.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/anthropics-claude-chatbot-is-now-an-android-app-220046355.html?src=rss

Google's secret new line of Pixel 9 phones isn't that big of a secret anymore. Taiwan's National Communications Commission (NCC) released new photos of the phones including the Pixel 9 Pro Fold from almost every conceivable angle.Android Authority found the photos in the NCC archives and uploaded galleries of each of the four phones including the Pixel 9, 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL and 9 Pro Fold. They reveal some interesting details about the new Pixel phones.The charging rates will be a little faster than the last generation of Pixel phones: Taiwanese authorities measured 24.12W for the base model, 25.20W for the Pro and 32.67W for the 9 Pro XL. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold, however, was the slowest of all of them at 20.25W. These numbers don't often match up perfectly with the advertised ratings, so expect Google to be promoting higher numbers at its event.Speaking of chargers, it looks like Google needed a bigger charger to power its new phones. Photos included in the NCC leak show each phone will come with a wall charger that's around 45W depending on which model you purchase. The charger's plug moved from the middle to the top of the brick.NCC/Android AuthorityThe latest photo dump also shows the 9 Pro Fold unfolded for the first time. Google has moved the selfie camera to the inside screen for a wider field of view. The 9 Pro Fold also has a slimmer top and bottom, a reduced fold crease on the display and a full 180 degree unfolding angle to make a screen that's just over 250mm or just under 10 inches.These photos are the latest in a very long list of leaks of Google Pixel 9 photos. The last Pixel 9 leak came down yesterday showing two prototype models of the base and XL models. Google might look into buying a new combination lock for the high school locker where they apparently keep all their unreleased gear.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/new-photos-reveal-more-details-about-googles-pixel-9-pro-fold-213344869.html?src=rss

A US Senate Committee led by Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has issued a report claiming nearly half of Amazon warehouse workers were injured during the week of Prime Day 2019. The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman described the company's behavior from five years ago as incredibly dangerous." For its part, Amazon claims Sen. Sanders is distorting and cherry-picking facts while ignoring others to fit a narrative.The report cites internal company data, including injuries Amazon isn't required to document for OSHA, allegedly showing warehouse workers suffered nearly 45 injuries per 100 workers during the week of Prime Day 2019. Meanwhile, of the recordable" injuries serious enough that the company has to report them to OSHA, the report claims Amazon's were more than double the industry average -over 10 per 100 workers.The incredibly dangerous working conditions at Amazon revealed in this investigation are a perfect example of the type of corporate greed that the American people are sick and tired of," Sanders wrote Tuesday in a HELP Committee announcement. The Senator said Amazon treats its workers as disposable" and with complete contempt for their safety and wellbeing."Meanwhile, an Amazon spokesperson's statement, shared with Engadget, claims the committee's findings paint a misleading picture. The company says the committee's conclusions drew from unverified anecdotes, misrepresented years-old documents and included factual errors and misguided analysis.For example, one of the false claims in the report implies that we're not adequately staffed for busy shopping periods," company spokesperson Kelly Nantel wrote in Amazon's statement. This is just not true, as we carefully plan and staff up for major events, ensure that we have excess capacity across our network, and design our network so that orders are automatically routed to sites that can handle unexpected spikes in volume."Amazon says it's made significant progress" in the five years since the data the report cited, including reducing its recordable incident rate (those requiring OSHA reports by law) by 28 percent in the US. The company says it also lowered its lost time incident rate" (workers who suffer more significant injuries that require time off) by 75 percent.No matter whose framing you prefer, this isn't the first time Amazon has been criticized for its warehouse working conditions. Last year, a coalition of labor unions, citing OSHA data, claimed the company was responsible for 53 percent of all serious warehouse injuries recorded in the US in 2022. That report claimed Amazon's warehouse workers were injured more frequently (and often more severely) than their non-Amazon counterparts.Last month, the California Labor Commissioner's office fined Amazon nearly $6 million for violating a state law requiring large companies to notify warehouse and distribution workers in writing about their expected quotas, how often they're expected to perform certain tasks and what consequences they would face for failing to meet their quotas. That law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021, was drafted in reaction to Amazon workers claiming they would skip bathroom breaks or risk injury to optimize their output.That followed a 2021 report by The Washington Post (ironically, owned by Jeff Bezos), claiming data shows Amazon's warehouse workers "suffer serious injuries at higher rates than other firms." The company, still helmed by Bezos at the time, quickly changed its Time Off Task" policy in response.In addition, as CNBC notes, OSHA and the US Attorney's Office are investigating conditions at some Amazon warehouses. The Department of Justice is also investigating whether the company underreports injuries - an accusation echoed by Sanders in the HELP Committee's findings.Perhaps The Coalition for Workplace Safety (CWS), an organization that tries to balance corporate and regulatory priorities (good luck with that), found a spin we can all agree on. If [Sanders] wants to improve safety for delivery workers, he should start with the US Postal Service, as OSHA's own data shows the USPS by far has the highest percentage of investigations resulting in citations compared to other large employers in the industry."The moral of the story? No matter what a company is accused of, there's a good chance the US Postal Service sucks even more.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/senate-probe-bernie-sanders-claims-nearly-half-of-amazon-warehouse-workers-were-injured-during-prime-day-2019-204028410.html?src=rss

Streaming has hit a new high on the American viewing charts. According to the latest Nielsen data, streaming services were responsible for 40.3 percent of daily TV viewing in June 2024. It's a banner result for streaming video, which first overtook cable in Nielsen ratings back in 2022. The June result marks not only the biggest share recorded for streaming since Nielsen added it as a tracked category on The Gauge report, but it is also the largest share Nielsen has ever recorded for a single viewership category. Cable TV secured 27.2 percent of American viewing for the month, followed by broadcast TV at 20.5 percent.YouTube was the favorite streaming platform with 9.9 percent of the monthly usage, followed by Netflix at 8.4 percent. The summer sensation of Bridgerton helped boost Netflix's performance; the costume drama was responsible for a staggering 9.3 billion minutes of viewing during the month. There's a notable drop after those two services, with Amazon's Prime Video securing 3.1 percent, and companion platforms Hulu and Disney+ coming in with 3 percent and 2 percent shares, respectively.In case those streaming figures seem low, it's important to note that Nielsen tracks viewing only on television screens. That means the vast number of hours Americans spend streaming shows on their phones and tablets isn't part of this accounting.While streaming continues to draw ever-more eyeballs, executives are more focused on drawing in dollars. Another report, this one from analyst PricewaterhouseCoopers, projected that advertising would be responsible for about 28 percent of global streaming revenue. In 2023, the ad share was 20 percent.The report credited that shift to the growth rate of subscription revenue stalling out. "Usage and consumer uptake of the core offering is continuing to increase - albeit at a lower rate than in recent years - but companies are having greater difficulty getting people to pay more for digital goods and services," PwC said. "As the number and range of streaming services proliferate, a form of market saturation has begun to kick in." In response, recent years have seen many of the top video streaming services, including Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video have introduced hybrid models that offer lower monthly subscription costs in exchange for viewers watching ads. If the PwC forecast is accurate, we can expect other platforms to follow suit.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/streaming-accounted-for-more-than-40-percent-of-tv-viewing-in-june-203206939.html?src=rss

Behaviour Interactive has shared a bunch of Dead by Daylight-related updates, including the release date for an upcoming spinoff. The Casting of Frank Stone, which was developed by Until Dawn studio Supermassive Games, will hit PC, PlayStation and Xbox on September 3.This is a single-player game that brings the narrative adventure format that Supermassive has used so effectively in its previous projects to the DbD universe. The story will change based on the decisions you make and how you deal with quick-time events and puzzles. It focuses on a bunch of young people who want to film their own horror movie in a condemned steel mill, only to find evidence of crimes carried out by a serial killer. The game is said to take between five and seven hours to complete.As for the main game, Lara Croft is now available as a survivor as part of the Tomb Raider chapter, which went live today. Cross-progression will finally be available starting on July 22 as well. You'll need a Behaviour account and a copy of the base game for each platform on which you want to play it. You'll have access to all of the same progress and purchases on each system.Those who have been waiting for extra DbD mayhem can look forward to a limited-time mode that pits two killers against eight survivors when the long-awaited 2 vs. 8 option goes live on July 25. The maps are larger and survivors will need to repair twice as many generators to escape. To keep the action fast paced, hooks and perks will be removed. Survivors will be able to try out a new class system instead. The 2 vs. 8 mode will be available until August 8.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/dead-by-daylight-spinoff-the-casting-of-frank-stone-arrives-on-september-3-192339402.html?src=rss

Ereaders make it easy to take an entire library of books with you, and E Ink screens tend to be easier on your eyes than a tablet's LED display. Amazon Kindles are easily the most popular ereader on the market - but they don't go on sale often. Now that Amazon's (twice) yearly Prime Day sale has arrived, we're seeing discounts on nearly every Kindle the company makes. While new Kindles may be on the horizon, any Kindle you buy today should give you years of reliable use (the company promises at least four years of software updates).

A pre-release build of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has leaked online two months before release, according to reporting by Insider Gaming. This is a fully playable version that was randomly posted on a tracker," according to sources who have downloaded and experimented with the build. It remains unclear how the game ended up online.Players have said that the game is around 75GB in size. Though this leaked build is playable, it does have some issues. There are missing strings and a bunch of placeholder assets, but the version does include server data that should allow for online play. As expected, gameplay footage has begun popping up online, but we'll refrain from posting any so as to keep things spoiler-free. We will drop a trailer though, because the game looks neat.In addition to forgoing gameplay videos, we don't recommend heading to a torrent site to look for the leaked build. This is not only bad for the hard-working folks who made the game, but will more than likely riddle your PC with more bugs than an open Florida patio in summer. Torrents ain't what they used to be.

I'm a huge fan of the JBL Flip 6 I bought after reading Engadget's guide to portable Bluetooth speakers - I only wish it'd bought mine for $90 instead of paying full price. Thanks to Amazon's Prime Day, more than a dozen of the soundbars, smart speakers and portable players we recommend are on sale, and some are at the best prices we've seen yet. We've gathered up every speaker from our reviews that Amazon is discounting right now. Here are the best Prime Day speaker deals.

The latest Prime Day sale is here, and as expected, Amazon is advertising an array of deals on video games and gaming accessories. Also as expected, most of those offers aren't all that good. So allow us to do the research for you. To help those looking to upgrade their battle station or extend their backlog, we've picked out the best Amazon Prime Day discounts on gaming gear below. While the selection isn't as vast as what we'll see around Black Friday, we're still seeing lower-than-usual prices on well-reviewed games for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. There's also a few decent deals on gaming mice, headsets, laptops and other accessories we've tested and can recommend. As a reminder, this year's Prime Day runs through July 17, and you'll need to be a Prime member to access most of the discounts. We'll update this roundup as prices change and new deals of note pop up. And if you have no interest at shopping at Amazon, note that some of these deals may also be available at other retailers. Best Prime Day video game deals Best Prime Day gaming mouse and accessory deals Best Prime Day gaming storage deals Best Prime Day gaming headset deals Best Prime Day gaming laptop deals Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-prime-day-gaming-deals-we-love-from-amazon-latest-sale-130052189.html?src=rss

Robot vacuums are a great way to automate a chore that needs to get done regularly, but these machines can get expensive quickly. That's why it's a wise decision to wait for a shopping event like Amazon Prime Day to buy one, when you can usually save hundreds off the sticker price. Prime Day deals on vacuums have brought some of the best prices we've seen all year to many of our top picks for the best robot vacuums available today, including models from iRobot and Shark. There are even some solid cordless stick vacuums on sale as well as part of the Prime Day deals. We collected all of the best Prime Day deals on vacuums here so you don't have to go searching for them. If you're looking for even more Prime Day deals, check out Engadget's Prime Day hub where you'll find all of the best tech deals you can get for the shopping event this year. In addition to Amazon devices, Prime Day is typically a great time to pick up big-ticket items like tablets and laptops, and accessories like power banks, streaming devices, Bluetooth speakers and the like. Expired Prime Day deals Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-prime-day-vacuum-deals-on-our-favorite-robot-vacuums-for-2024-090015680.html?src=rss

Sling is coming in hot in the year 2024 and offering its users live 4K content. The platform says that Sling TV subscribers will be able to watch the forthcoming MLB All-Star Game in glorious UHD. The event airs on Fox Sports on July 16.The company says this 4K experience will only be available to customers in certain markets," though did indicate that this will lead to more high-resolution offerings in the near future. Get ready to see your favorite sports like never before," said Seth Van Sickel, senior vice president of product & operations, Sling Video Services.Competitor Fubo TV has been offering 4K streams on select sporting events since 2019 and YouTube TV has been doing the same since 2021. Univision aired the first 4K soccer broadcast all the way back in 2016.It is true, however, that a vast majority sporting events aren't streamed in 4K. Even many that are advertised as being 4K are actually upscaled 1080p streams. It's actually pretty difficult to broadcast live sports in 4K, due to the number of cameras required to adequately cover one of these events. Major NFL games often require 80 to 100 cameras and, well, 4K cameras are much more expensive than HD cameras.There are also several bottlenecks to overcome. 4K cameras require at least twice the amount of cabling running from the cam to the production area. With a sporting event, that translates to thousands of feet of dense cabling for a single camera, let alone 80. 4K cameras also increase the number of required video console inputs by a factor of four.The stream has to be processed and compressed for broadcast, which takes a whole lot of computing power. These processors must be kept cool, which is yet another expense. Finally, the broadcaster has to send the feed to its distribution partners, and many of them simply can't handle 4K. The whole thing is just an expensive undertaking, despite the fact that 4K TVs have been standard in homes for around a decade.As for Sling, it plans on continuing with this experiment in 4K streaming with college and pro football on Fox Sports and the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics on NBC. Maybe this will finally make 4K sports streaming the norm and not a once-in-a-while experience.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sling-will-finally-stream-its-first-live-event-in-4k-the-2024-mlb-all-star-game-173536869.html?src=rss

An Amazon Prime Day deal has the Google Pixel 7a down to a record-low price. The phone, which only launched last year, typically costs $500 but is available now for half off at $250. Even at its full price, the Google Pixel 7a is a well-rounded device that balances cost and power. At half off, it's worth looking at if you have an older (or lower-end) Android phone and want features and specs that won't be dramatically inferior to many flagship handsets. The phone resembles the Pixel 7, which it riffs off of, and has a two-tone design with a similar camera bar. The build uses thermal-formed polycarbonate (or, as Engadget's Sam Rutherford called it, nice plastic") that feels premium. The Pixel 7a is also a solid entry point into Google AI if that's your thing. The phone supports Circle to Search, Photo Unblur, Magic Eraser and more. Sam Rutherford for Engadget If you're more interested in hardware than AI tricks, the Pixel 7a offers an impressive 6.1-inch OLED screen with 2400 x 1080 resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate for smoother visuals. ( The latter isn't something you always see in mid-ranged handsets.) The phone uses a Tensor G2 chip with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Performance won't likely let you down unless you're coming from a higher-end model from the last year or so. It also includes fast charging, IP67 water and dust resistance and a 64MP rear camera (with all of Google's machine-learning photography magic). Its camera held up surprisingly well against the Pixel 7 Pro and Galaxy S23 Ultra, its pricier generational peers. Its battery lasted over 17 hours in our video rundown tests, passing the Pixel 7 Pro. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/this-is-the-one-prime-day-phone-deal-you-shouldnt-miss-173215863.html?src=rss

Big-ticket items might get the lion's share of the attention during Amazon Prime Day, but look below the surface and you'll find a bunch of deals on items that were already budget-friendly. Case in point: our pick for the best budget wireless earbuds, the Anker Soundcore Space A40, have dropped to $49. That's a discount of $31 and brings the earbuds back down to match their record-low price. This is just one of many Prime Day deals we have our eye on. We feel that the Soundcore Space A40 buds deliver excellent active noise cancellation (ANC) performance, especially for a model in this price range. Anker employs an adaptive system by default that adjusts the ANC intensity based on the noise around you. You can set the ANC to strong, moderate or weak levels manually too and Anker claims it can block up to 98 percent of noise. It's worth noting that the ANC might not be as effective for blocking higher-pitch sounds, while the transparency mode does the trick, but it's not nearly as effective as what you'd find on more premium earbuds. The Space A40 buds are pretty comfortable. They have a battery life of about eight hours, with the charging case adding around another 40. The default sound profile is warm and pleasant without totally blowing out the low end. You can tweak the EQ settings to your preference in the Soundcore app, which can help you refine the bass and higher frequencies. The touch controls are customizable too. Changes you make are saved directly to the earphones. The IXP4 water resistance rating isn't super robust, but you'll be able to wear the Space A40 in light rain and at the gym without too much of a concern. What's more, there's multipoint pairing, so you can connect the earbuds to two devices at the same time - for what it's worth, we haven't encountered any significant connection issues. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-day-deals-bring-our-favorite-pair-of-budget-wireless-earbuds-down-to-only-49-170653500.html?src=rss

Google reportedly offered a group of EU-based cloud firms $512 million (470 million) as an attempt to derail an antitrust settlement with Microsoft and force the continuation of a formal complaint, according to Bloomberg. The attempt failed and the settlement went through.Here's how it went down. A non-profit trade organization called the Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE) issued a complaint to the EU's antitrust arm, alleging that Microsoft made it too difficult for business customers to change providers because the software was tied to Azure cloud services.This led to a negotiation between CISPE and Microsoft to give the former better access to the latter's technologies and end the formal complaint. That's when Google, a rival to Microsoft, stepped in. The company allegedly offered the aforementioned financial package to the group, so long as they continued with the complaint. This is according to confidential documents and people familiar with the matter, all of which were vetted by Bloomberg.The financial package broke down into two parts. The vast majority of Google's offer included software licenses for its cloud technology over five years, with a value of $495 million or 455 million. The remaining amount was offered in cash, as well as a long-term partnership proposal. Amazon Web Services (AWS) also contributed money to Google's offer, despite being an actual member of CISPE.Google's deal was conditional, however, on CISPE continuing its EU antitrust complaint against Microsoft. This didn't influence the cloud companies that comprise CISPE, which are mostly European firms. Instead, the group went in the opposite direction. It entered into a similar agreement with Microsoft that allows them to use enhanced Azure features and gives them the ability to offer Microsoft products and services on their local cloud infrastructures. There was also a cash payout agreement from Microsoft to CISPE of around $11 million, according to people familiar with the agreement."Microsoft's playbook of paying off complainants rather than addressing the substance of their complaint hurts businesses and shouldn't fool anyone," Amit Zavery, head of platform at Google Cloud, told CRN. We are exploring our options to continue to fight against Microsoft's anti-competitive licensing in order to promote choice, innovation, and the growth of the digital economy in Europe."It's worth noting that Zavery didn't address the allegations that, well, Google did the same exact thing. According to The Register, an individual familiar with the matter called Google's response a bit rich."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-reportedly-offered-eu-cloud-firms-over-500-million-to-continue-antitrust-case-against-microsoft-160721324.html?src=rss

When Beats discontinued the Pill+ in early 2022, the company seemed to be done with portable Bluetooth speakers. At that point, it hadn't debuted a new model in over six years, which is a far cry from the release schedule we're accustomed to from Beats. But, to the surprise of many, the company has re-entered the crowded market with a redesigned Pill ($150). Taking more aesthetic cues from its older models instead of the most recent Pill+, the company sought a cure by completely re-engineered the inside of the device to improve sound quality. It also made the new Pill more rugged along the way, while doubling the battery life and adding modern features like lossless audio, remedying what ailed the previous aging model. A prescription for better sound While there are some visible changes, Beats did most of its overhaul on the inside of the new Pill. Most importantly, the company ditched the dual tweeter and dual woofer setup from the Pill+ in favor of a new design that only uses one of each. A larger, more powerful pill-shaped woofer provides more robust bass with less total harmonic distortion (THD) and a lower frequency range. That single tweeter has been upgraded, too. The driver for mid-range and treble sits in its own housing and has a larger rear cavity. Beats says this setup decreases the crossover responsibilities for the tweeter and woofer in covering the Pill's full sonic range. As a result, the two components work more efficiently as the tweeter is only tasked with mids and highs while the woofer cranks out the bass. Another item Beats added on the new Pill is lossless audio over USB-C. The speaker can handle higher-quality tunes up to 24-bit/48kHz via a wired connection. This is my favorite way to listen to the Pill as the audio is more immersive with better clarity. Billy Strings' Live Vol. 1 in Hi-Res Lossless on Apple Music is noticeably improved over listening via Bluetooth, for example. Of course, the speaker will also charge in this scenario since you're physically connected to the laptop or whichever device it's streaming from. Billy Steele for Engadget All of this creates much-improved sound quality on the new Pill. The Pill+ was no slouch by 2015 standards, but portable Bluetooth speakers have come a long way in nine years. The rebuild under the hood provides great clarity with punchy highs, full mids and booming bass for much of the volume range. At maximum loudness though, things are more of a jumbled mess as the speaker can't maintain the crisp, clear detail it offers at around 85 percent and below. For Balance and Composure's Cross To Bear," the Pill accurately replicates the snappy kick drum and snare combo with the droning bass line over top. Guitars weave through in a layered fashion and the vocals cut clean in the mix. The low-end tone provides depth to this alternative rock track that many speakers this size can't. The Pill also does a respectable job with boomy hip-hop songs from Run The Jewels and Kaytranada, although the speaker does start to struggle when the bass is super deep, like on RTJ4's Out Of Sight." The tone isn't as clean as most other songs I tested from the genre. Amplify and Stereo modes return from the Pill+ to expand the capabilities of the Pill - if you have two of them. The first simply offers bigger, louder sound since you're using the power of two speakers. The second creates a true stereo pair with dedicated left and right channels. Both work well, but if you're only using the onboard controls to activate Stereo mode, you have to remember to join the speakers in Amplify mode first. There's no option in the iOS settings to do this, but you can activate the modes inside the standalone Beats app for Android. The Beats Pill's design Billy Steele for Engadget One visible design change is the drivers now sit at a 20-degree angle. Beats says it did this to improve sound projection and it delivered. The new Pill does a better job of beaming audio in the direction of your ears when it's sitting on a shelf or a table, rather than just blasting it straight out the front. I was especially struck by how well the Pill projects low-end tone on boomy hip-hop and electronic tracks. Four buttons line the top of the Pill for a complete suite of physical controls. The power button, which is on the left, also handles pairing, battery status, voice assistant, USB-C audio and reversing the charging direction. In the middle, the redundantly named Center button offers the media controls while also playing a role in activating Amplify and Stereo modes. And on the right sit the two volume buttons. These are all dimpled circle buttons that work reliably and are easy to find by touch. The new Pill is also built for the great outdoors. Beats engineered this speaker with IP67-rated dust and water resistance, while the Pill+ didn't have an IP rating at all. This number means the Pill is fully dust tight and can survive full immersion up to 30 minutes in depths of one meter (just over three feet). That's plenty of protection for a day at the beach or the pool without having to worry about terminal damage. Beats also included a loop strap that attaches to the end of the speaker for easy carrying or hanging up the unit. The Beats Pill as a speakerphone Something Beats is hyping on the new Pill is the ability to use it as a speakerphone. This functionality has been available on Bluetooth speakers before, but the company says its combination of a noise-learning algorithm and full duplex capability (both sides can hear clearly without being cut off) leads to a better experience. I found this to be true during my testing as the Pill sounds much better than most earbuds in quiet spaces. The audio quality on calls suffers when the speaker is trying to battle background noise; however, it's still your voice that comes through clearly rather than a loud fan or some other distraction. Battery life Beats says the new Pill will last up to 24 hours on a charge, which is ample power for a few days. During my testing, I noticed that the speaker could actually muster more. It might be because I kept volumes around 35 to 40 percent most of the time, since the Pill is really loud at 50 percent. After 14 hours of listening to music on both my laptop and iPhone, I still have 70 percent battery left. If you do find yourself in a pinch, the Pill is equipped with Beats' Fast Fuel feature that gives you two hours of use by plugging in for 10 minutes. What's more, the speaker will charge while connected to another device, like your laptop, via a USB-C cable. The Pill has a charge-out feature that can top up your phone or other small devices too, and you can reverse the charging direction with a triple tap on the power button. The competition There are so many alternatives to the Beats Pill, with plenty of them available for $100 or less. I would recommend reading our in-depth guide on the best bluetooth speakers that has some suggestions as well as what to look for when you're shopping. I will point out the JBL Charge 5 from that list, primarily due to its sound quality. It's just as durable as the Pill and you can use two for a stereo setup or sync it with any PartyBoost-enabled JBL devices. The Charge 5 also has up to 20 hours of battery life and a built-in power bank to top off your phone, making it a great deal at under $150. Wrap-up I'll be the first to admit I didn't have a new Beats speaker on my 2024 Bingo card. But, I'll also be quick to confess that I enjoyed my time with the new Pill, mostly due to its much-improved sound quality. Doubled battery life, lossless audio over USB-C and a more rugged build set the Pill up to compete with popular models from Ultimate Ears, JBL and others. Plus, Beats took a chunk out of the price, making this new model a much more palatable offering at $150. While the audio isn't as good at extreme volumes and the bass tone isn't as consistent on some tracks, overall audio quality is the best aspect of the Pill. And that makes it a solid addition to your music regimen.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/beats-pill-review-a-revival-worth-the-wait-160056269.html?src=rss

Prime Day deals have come for many of Apple's devices, including its smallest accessories. You can pick up a four-pack if AirTags for $75 right now, down from their usual $100 price tag. If you just want one of the Bluetooth trackers, you can pick up a single pack for $24 as part of the Prime Day Apple deals. We've been seeing the price of the four-pack fluctuate over the past 48 hours - they've gone up and down from around $88 to $75 for the multi-pack, and in and out of stock. We recommend keeping an eye out on this today if you're keen on snagging a few AirTags for Amazon Prime Day 2024. Apple's AirTags can pair with your iPhone or iPad and appear in the Find My app. The devices are about an inch and a quarter in length and width, with a battery that lasts about a year at a time. The device is also water and dust resistant, so you don't have to worry about it getting too gross if it's on your dog's collar, for instance. Plus, newer iPhone models utilize ultra-wideband technology to give you detailed instructions when locating one. Unfortunately, you'll still need to get a holder if you want to attach an AirTag anywhere, but we have you covered with our guide to the best Apple AirTag accessories for 2024. If you only need one or two AirTags, head over to the sale on individual ones. Right now, you can pick up one AirTag for $24, down from $29 - a 17 percent discount. This deal is also a record-low price, with you technically able to get three for less than the four-pack (though for another $3, it might be worth getting an extra one). Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-apple-airtag-prime-day-deal-weve-seen-discounts-a-four-pack-to-75-143919395.html?src=rss

We're seeing steep discounts for Amazon Prime Day on the latest Samsung Galaxy smartphones - the regular ones, not the Z Flip or Z Fold that were just announced. You can get a whopping $325 off the Galaxy S24 Ultra right now, which brings the final price down to a record low of $975. Prime Day phone deals have also brought all-time-low prices to the Galaxy S24 and S24+, knocking them down to $600 and $750, respectively. Engadget's pick for the best premium Android phone, the S24 Ultra has the best display available on a phone today: a 6.8-inch color-rich AMOLED screen with razor-sharp QHD+ resolution. In addition, this year's model takes a page from Apple's book by switching from an aluminum to a titanium frame, and its camera has a 5x optical zoom. It even includes an S-Pen (stylus) for more precise and versatile input. Perhaps more intriguing than traditional phone specs is the Galaxy S24 Ultra's suite of AI tools. The phone's Galaxy AI features include proofreading texts, editing images, transcribing recordings and more. The Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ are also heavily discounted for as part of the Prime Day deals. Although not quite super-premium like the Ultra, these are still flagship-quality phones with the powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. In addition, they carry over much of what already worked in the S23 series, including similar camera hardware and battery life. The standard S24 models also include Samsung's Galaxy AI suite. You can run some generative AI tools locally, and there's an additional option to set them to never leave for phone, which is handy for privacy. Features include live translation for voice calls, a live interpreter for in-person conversations, note assist for summaries and formatting, writing assist from the keyboard and image editing. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-amazon-prime-day-phone-deals-include-up-to-325-off-samsung-galaxy-s24-smartphones-101533773.html?src=rss

The UK's antitrust watchdog is once again investigating Microsoft. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has opened a formal probe over the company's hiring of former Inflection AI staff and its licensing of the startup's tech. The initial phase one investigation will be wrapped up by September 11, at which point the CMA will determine whether to open a more in-depth (phase two) probe.The agency will try to determine whether Microsoft attempted to avoid antitrust scrutiny by recruiting Inflection's staff and employing its tech but not buying the company outright. It will look at whether the moves "resulted in the creation of a relevant merger situation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002" and if that has, or is likely to have, a negative impact on competition in the UK."We are confident that the hiring of talent promotes competition and should not be treated as a merger," Microsoft told Bloombergin a statement. We will provide the UK CMA with the information it needs to complete its inquiries expeditiously."Microsoft's Inflection strategy is also under the spotlight in the US. The Federal Trade Commission is investigating the situation.Microsoft last week gave up its non-voting observer seat on OpenAI's board in what onlookers believed was an attempt to evade further antitrust scrutiny. Microsoft has invested over $10 billion into OpenAI - which has also drawn the attention of the FTC and CMA.Meanwhile, the CMA and Microsoft are familiar foes. The antitrust agency heavily scrutinized Microsoft's $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard. The probe was the final hurdle the companies had to overcome before closing the deal.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/uk-antitrust-officials-join-ftc-in-investigating-microsofts-hiring-of-inflection-ai-staff-143243701.html?src=rss

OnePlus just held a press event and introduced a trio of new gadgets. There's an upgraded tablet, new earbuds and a smartwatch. The OnePlus Pad 2 is a refresh of last year's model, which we mostly enjoyed, so let's start there.The Pad 2 is an upgrade over the previous iteration in nearly every way. There's a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and a 12.1-inch screen with 3K resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate. The company also promises stronger audio output" which is always nice, as the primary use for many tablets is consuming content. OnePlus even says that this sound system can emulate spatial audio.This tablet ships with a 9,510mAh battery that can be fully charged in just over 80 minutes and will operate on standby for up to 43 days. Preorders are available now and the tablet costs $550. It'll be widely available on July 30. OnePlus is also releasing a suite of accessories for the device, including a keyboard and stylus.OnePlusThe OnePlus Watch 2R, as the name suggests, is a minor refresh of the just-released Watch 2. It has all of the features of its predecessor, including a maximum battery life of 100 hours, but it's both lighter in weight and cheaper.It's powered by the latest Wear OS and integrates with the company's health-monitoring app for fitness tracking. The Watch 2R is available for purchase right now and costs $230. It's available in both green and gray.OnePlusFinally, there's the OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro. These new earbuds offer improved noise cancellation, up to 49dB, over previous iterations. The buds also have something called Smart Noise Cancellation, which uses an algorithm to automatically reduce unwanted sounds in response to ambient noise.These earbuds include three microphones for calls, a transparency mode and an extra-large 12.4mm audio driver, which OnePlus says allows for deep bass. They are available now and cost $80.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/oneplus-just-unveiled-a-new-full-sized-tablet-with-some-decent-specs-140023477.html?src=rss

One of the questions I get asked the most is: What is the best affordable Android tablet? And while there aren't a lot of one-size-fits-all devices, if you just want a basic slate for shopping or browsing the news that can also double as a great shared device that lives in your living room, thanks to discounts for Amazon Prime Day, the 10.9-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE is an unquestionably good deal. At $330, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE is even cheaper on Amazon than it is direct from Samsung, who has it listed for $50 more. But more importantly, while the Tab S9 FE was designed to be a streamlined version of the full-fat Galaxy Tab S9, it retains a lot of the features we like about its more expensive sibling. That includes things like built-in stylus support (and a bundled S Pen), a sturdy aluminum chassis and a bright, high refresh rate display. Granted, the FE's 90Hz LCD panel isn't quite as colorful or speedy as the 120Hz OLED screen on the standard Tab S9 and it has a slower Exynos 1380 processor. But when you consider that the FE costs almost one-third the price for Prime Day, those feel like pretty reasonable trade-offs. Furthermore, Samsung's DeX mode gives you a dedicated desktop UI complete with a taskbar and multi-window support at the touch of a button. That means the Tab S9 FE can serve as a great portable productivity machine, especially when paired with one of Samsung's many keyboard accessories. That said, potential buyers should know that one thing the Tab S9 FE doesn't excel at is hardcore gaming. That's because while it's more than speedy enough for casual titles like Stardew Valley or Candy Crush, graphics can become a bit stuttery when playing more demanding shooters like Call of Duty: Mobile. But if all you need is a versatile Android tablet for a good price, getting a Tab S9 FE for just $330 feels like a steal. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-day-tablet-deals-bring-the-samsung-galaxy-tab-s9-fe-down-to-330-140001832.html?src=rss

A group of record labels that include Universal, Capitol, Warner and Sony has filed a lawsuit against Verizon, accusing it of "contributory and vicarious copyright infringement." Verizon "knowingly provides its high-speed service to a massive community of online pirates," the companies said in their complaint. Apparently, the plaintiffs have sent the internet provider "hundreds of thousands" of copyright infringement notices over the past few years, identifying subscribers who've been using Verizon's network to share copyrighted music via peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks.Verizon, they said, acknowledged that it received their notices. The company allegedly chose to ignore them and continued to provide internet services to "thousands of known repeat infringers so it could continue to collect millions of dollars from them." Since it didn't terminate the accounts of the alleged copyright infringers, Verizon "obtained a direct financial benefit" from their "continuing infringing activity," the plaintiffs argued. The labels are asking for damages worth up to $150,000 for each work infringed. Based on the list posted by Ars Technica, 17,335 titles are involved in the case, which means Verizon could be fined for as much as $2.6 billion.Back in 2018, music labels also sued Cox Communications for allegedly refusing to fully terminate the accounts of users who were pirating music. A US District Court jury originally sided with the labels and ordered Cox to pay $1 billion in damages. But earlier this year, an appeals court overturned the verdict and found that the provider didn't profit directly from its users' activities. A group of record labels also sued Charter Communications in 2021 over over song piracy and similarly accused the company of turning a "blind eye" to music piracy.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/verizon-faces-lawsuit-after-record-labels-say-it-profits-from-piracy-133047303.html?src=rss

If you haven't picked up a smartwatch yet, then now is the time. The Apple Watch Series 9 is on sale right now for $280, down from $399 for Amazon Prime Day. As one of many great Prime Day deals out there, the 30 percent discount brings this watch to a new all-time low price. Just keep in mind that it appears to be specifically for the smaller 41mm model. It's our best smartwatch for 2024 so far, though it first became available in September last year. We gave the Apple Watch Series 9 a score of 92 in our review and praised its on-device Siri for having the capability to work offline and even when the wearable isn't connected to a phone. If you don't want to take your phone with you to the gym, for instance, that's no problem: You'll still be able to ask Siri on your watch for health data, like the number of steps you'd already taken. The company also improved its "Raise to Speak" for Siri on Watch 9, so that it can better anticipate your requests and can respond faster without you having to say "Hey Siri" or to press the Digital Crown. Apple introduced the Double Tap gesture with the model, as well, allowing you to answer calls, respond to messages and do other actions simply by tapping your thumb and your index finger together twice. We found that Double Tap does make life easier while you're doing other things but still have one hand free, such as when you're cleaning or reading a book. That said, you may need to practice a bit to get the right tapping cadence, because the watch may not register the gesture if it's too quick or too subtle. In addition, the Watch 9 has some comprehensive and advanced health features, including an ECG capability and an oxygen sensor. It has a sleep tracker that can detect how much time you've spent in REM, Core or Deep sleep, as well. Bottom line is that you can get one of the best smartwatches out there for a price lower that's lower than ever before, and you may want to take this chance while the deal is still ongoing. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-day-apple-deals-the-apple-watch-series-9-is-on-sale-for-a-record-low-of-280-071642261.html?src=rss

Amazon Prime Day has arrived and it's brought a ton of discounts on Amazon's own devices. One standout deal is on Amazon's Fire Max 11 tablet, which is on sale for $140, down from its usual price of $230. (It was briefly out of stock on Tuesday morning, but has since returned.) The $90 discount is precisely what you'd need to spend for Amazon's Fire Max 11 Keyboard Case, if you're considering using the tablet as a productivity machine. The Fire Max 11 features, you guessed it, an 11-inch screen with a sharp 2,000 by 1,200 pixel resolution. Its octa-core CPU should be plenty for streaming media and browsing maps, and it also features 4GB of RAM. The Fire Max 11 ships with either 64GB or 128GB of storage, and you can expand that to 1TB using an additional microSD card. It sports 8MP cameras on the front and back for video calls, as well as 1080p video recording. With an estimated 14 hours of battery life, the Fire Max 11 should make for a great road trip companion for the summer. In our hands-on with the Fire Max 11, we found it to feel more like a premium tablet, compared to Amazon's cheaper and kid-friendly Fire line. "With slimmer bezels, a more-premium aluminum build and weighing just over a pound, it's designed for those who also want to do some work and multi-tasking," Engadget's Cherlynn Low wrote. With this new low price, it makes sense to pair the Fire Max 11 with Amazon's $90 keyboard case. It has a kickstand for propping up the tablet, and it delivers a decent typing and touchpad experience. You can also add on Amazon's $35 Stylus Pen for doodling and jotting down notes. With all of those accessories, the Fire Max 11 could be nearly as productive as an iPad or Surface decked out with similar hardware. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-amazon-fire-max-11-tablet-is-on-sale-for-a-record-low-of-140-for-prime-day-2024-173040164.html?src=rss

Amazon Prime Day is finally here and, boy oh boy, the deals overfloweth. Case in point? You can pick up a pair of Google Pixel Buds Pro earbuds for just $120, instead of $200. That's a discount of $80 and a record-low price for the well-reviewed buds. The Pixel Buds Pro made our list of the best wireless earbuds for a number of reasons. First and foremost, we love the sound. These earbuds offer deep and punchy bass, which is a rarity with this class of device. They also have decent ANC, reliable touch controls and wireless charging. There are also some added convenience features for those already tied to the Android and Pixel ecosystems. In our official review, we called these earbuds the company's best offering yet. The tap and swipe-based gestural controls work much better than you think they would. These controls are also mirrored on both sides and a long press will switch on ANC, which is ultra-convenient. No earbuds are perfect. The Google Pixel Buds Pro offer a transparency mode, but it needs some work. In fairness, that's a bit tough to get right with earbuds. Pairing could be quicker, but that's something of a nitpick. Our main gripe with these earbuds, however, has consistently been the exorbitant price, which has been alleviated by this sale. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-day-deals-bring-the-google-pixel-buds-pro-down-to-their-lowest-price-yet-123540771.html?src=rss

Amazon Prime Day is usually a good time to pick up a new Ring video doorbell and other security gear. One of the best Prime Day deals at the moment is the second-gen Ring Indoor Cam for $30, which is 50 percent off the usual price. The latest model of the camera allows you to get a live look at what's going on in your home from wherever you are with 1080p HD video. There's color night vision support as well. When the Ring Indoor Camera detects movement, you'll get a real-time alert. You'll be able to select the area of coverage so you only get a heads up about significant movement. You can receive notifications via your phone or an Echo smart speaker and watch video from the camera on an Echo Show. One handy feature will let you rewind the footage to a few seconds before an incident that triggered a motion event took place. This advanced pre-roll function will help you get a better understanding of what happened, Amazon suggests. The camera comes with a swivel mount, so you can place it on a wall. But you'll need to be judicious about positioning. The camera is not battery-powered so you'll have to plug it into an outlet. If you subscribe separately to the Ring Protection Plan, you'll be able to record all videos and review stored footage for up to 180 days (but just seven days for still images). You'll have the option of sharing videos too. The deal is part of a broader sale on Ring gear. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-second-gen-ring-indoor-cam-is-50-percent-off-for-amazon-prime-day-173058773.html?src=rss

Prime Day deals have brought a number of steep discounts to our favorite gadgets, and one of the best is on the Dyson Airwrap. This exclusive bundle for the hair tool is a whopping $125 off for Amazon Prime Day, bringing it down to $550. This is one of the most popular pieces of beauty tech as of late, so much so that it can be hard to get your hands on it because it frequently goes in and out of stock. Now's a good time to grab it if it's been on your wishlist. In addition to the Airwrap and its storage case, the bundle includes six attachments: two long barrels, three brushes and the Coanda smoothing dryer, plus a filter cleaning brush, a detangling comb and another storage bag. That's enough to achieve a bunch of different hairstyles with one tool, and you get a couple of ways to store the machine when you're not using it or when you need to travel with it. For the uninitiated, the Dyson Airwrap gained popularity due to the fact that it doesn't use extreme heat to style hair. It instead uses the Coanda effect, which describes airflow's tendency to follow a curved surface, to wrap, dry and style hair all at once. How you do so specific depends on the attachment you're using, be it a barrel or a brush. The Airwrap does use heat, to be clear, but Dyson claims the device intelligently monitors heat to keep it at the optimal temperature. It should never go above 302 degrees Fahrenheit, and that should be less damaging for your hair as opposed to using standard hot tools. If history is any indication, the Airwrap could quickly go out of stock during a sale event like Prime Day. While $550 is still a lot to spend on any gadget, now is a good time to buy this bundle if you've had your eye on the beauty tool for a while. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-day-2024-get-the-dyson-airwrap-for-125-off-123503655.html?src=rss

Amazon Prime Day is here, so let the deals commence. Here's a pair of well-regarded Sony headphones for just $88, which is a record-low price. The original price is $150, so this deal is nothing to sneeze at. We gave these Sony WH-CH720N headphones high-marks in our official review, calling out the fantastic sound quality and comfortable form factor. The cushioning is on-point and these cans are extremely light. There's also a perfectly acceptable ANC feature, though it struggles with human voices. However, it's great for constant ambient noise. We also loved some of the high-tech bells and whistles here. There's an adaptive sound control feature that automatically adjusts settings based on your location or activity. This will automatically engage the ANC or the transparency mode when needed. The EQ slider is also easy-to-use and great for making manual adjustments. There's an affiliated app, complete with the option for DSEE upscaling. It's worth noting that we heaped all of our praise on these headphones at the original $150 asking price. At $88 it's practically a no-brainer. On the downside, Sony's budget-friendly headphones don't offer automatic pausing and there's a whole lot of plastic in the packaging. Otherwise, these are great, especially for the price. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-prime-day-deals-discount-these-sony-anc-headphones-to-only-88-121533541.html?src=rss

Amazon Prime Day is finally here to empty our bank accounts. Here's a great deal for all of your music lovers out there. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds have dropped to $229, which is a discount of $70 and a record-low price. These are some dang good earbuds. As a matter of fact, they made our list of the best wireless earbuds. We heaped particular praise on the integrated active noise cancellation (ANC) algorithm, calling it the best noise cancellation out of all the wireless buds we've tested." However, these earbuds aren't just for ANC. The sound quality is on par with many rival products. In other words, you won't have to sacrifice sound for noise cancellation. These earbuds also allow for spatial audio without requiring specially-made content. This comes down to the company's impressive Immersive Audio technology. The tech puts users into the middle of the acoustic sweet spot" via a virtualization algorithm. The battery life is better-than-advertised and the gestural volume controls work great right out of the box. On the downside, these are some chonky earbuds, though they ship with a variety of eartips. The Immersive Audio feature is indeed fantastic, but at the expense of battery life. Finally, there's no wireless charging here. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-day-deals-bring-the-bose-quietcomfort-ultra-earbuds-down-to-229-121532906.html?src=rss

Amazon's retail phenomenon is back and everywhere. Prime Day is here to offer deals on stuff you might want (and even more deals on stuff you don't), and so far this year, discounts are pretty substantial on big-ticket items.While a lot of the Kindle deals aren't super compelling, the base Kindle, our best budget ereader, is now $85, if you've somehow resisted ereaders till now. It's also a good year to upgrade your headphones. Sony's best noise-canceling headphones, the WH-1000XM5, are discounted to under $300, while the AirPods Max are now $395. If you've been waiting on wireless buds, the AirPods Pro are now just $169 - a $80 discount.And we say so far," because we wrote this at 7AM - and expect more details to surface as we dig deeper. Keep an eye on Engadget for all the best Prime Day deals.- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedHow to install the iOS 18 public betaThe OmniBook Ultra 14 is HP's first AMD-powered next-gen AI PCThe best Amazon Prime Day camera dealsYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!Apple replaces its black HomePod mini with a black HomePod miniIt's 100 percent recycled fabric now.AppleHoping for new HomePod mini colors? Well, Apple just announced one. But, there's not much to get excited about. The company revealed a Midnight hue for its tiny speaker, replacing the Space Gray version, which was pretty much black.Continue reading.Google's Pixel 9 series leakedWith a big ole' camera bump."Pixophone" on TikTok via YTechBWe're less than a month from the next Made by Google event, and we may already know one of the marquee announcements. TikTok user pixo_unpacking (via YTechB) posted videos of apparent pre-production samples of Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 XL over the weekend. This year's Pixels could have a substantial camera module redesign, changing the camera visor into an elongated oval - one that juts out a fair bit.Continue reading.Tesla's Robotaxi event has been delayed until OctoberMusk wanted extra time for an important design change to the front."Elon Musk confirmed on Monday that Tesla's robotaxi event scheduled for August has been delayed until October. The CEO replied on X (the former Twitter, which he owns) to a user's post that he requested what I think is an important design change to the front, and extra time allows us to show off a few other things." This seems to echo what Bloomberg reported last week: delaying the event would give Tesla more time to build additional prototypes. The initial teaser for the company's robotaxi came on the same day Reuters reported Tesla was pulling the plug on a planned $25,000 budget model.Continue reading.Test iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia and watchOS 11 public betas nowApple Intelligence won't be here until the fall.Apple's first 2024 public betas have arrived. You can now install early builds of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, watchOS 11 and macOS Sequoia to preview Apple's software updates before their official arrival this fall.However, all these will be missing Apple Intelligence, which won't be available in beta until the fall. That's what powers many of the most exciting features teased by Apple earlier this year, like optional ChatGPT integration, a more powerful Siri, Safari highlights, writing tools and more. Still, you can now make your Messages text animated, and there is, finally, RCS support for texting your Android pals.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-the-best-amazon-prime-day-deals-so-far-111531283.html?src=rss

After weeks of sporadic deals, Amazon Prime Day is finally here, and there are great savings across categories. Take Anker's MagGo Power Bank, our choice for the best MagSafe-compatible power bank on the market. Right now, the device is down to $63 from $90 - a 30 percent deal that brings it to just a few dollars off its all-time low price. Anker's MagGo Power Bank was one of the earliest Qi2-certified devices on the market, and this early 2024 model is impressive, to say the least. The 10,000mAh and 15W capacities provide you with fast wireless charging. The power bank can bring an iPhone 15 from near-dead to half-charged in just 45 minutes - a feat some of our other top contenders have taken twice as long to do. The MagGo power bank is also good for one full charge and then another to about 70 percent. The device charges with a USB-C port and includes a USB-C to USB-C cable with purchase. Other perks of this Anker power bank include a kickstand, which allows you to watch videos or play games while the phone charges. It also has a digital display that shows its remaining battery percentage, both when you're charging it and when it's charging your phone. The Anker MagGo Power Bank works with iOS and Android phones, but the latter's lack of Qi2-compatibility means Android devices will charge slower than an iPhone 12 or above. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/our-favorite-anker-magsafe-power-bank-is-30-percent-off-for-prime-day-111016323.html?src=rss

Here's a juicy Amazon Prime Day deal: the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air has dropped to $799. That's a $200 discount as part of Prime Day deals, and the savings apply to all color options so you can score one in that beautiful Midnight finish. Unfortunately, that price doesn't include AppleCare+ (you'll have to spend just under $1,000 to get that included), but it remains a fantastic sale price on a stellar MacBook. We'd be remiss if we didn't mention that this model isn't exactly top of the MacBook Air line anymore. It's been supplanted by the M3-powered MBA, which is now our pick for the best MacBook overall. But if you'd like to save some cash and still have a very capable Apple laptop to carry around, the M2 variant is our choice for the best budget MacBook - this latest discount just makes it even easier to recommend. Engadget's Devindra Hardawar called the M2 Air a near-perfect Mac" in his 2022 review and gave it a score of 96. One of the first things you'll notice is the 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display, which can reach a commendable 500 nits of brightness and has a 60Hz refresh rate. The inclusion of a 1080p webcam is welcome, while the triple-mic array does a solid job of capturing your voice for your calls. The speakers are impressive too, especially for a laptop that's just 11.3 millimeters thin and weighs only 2.7 pounds. Despite that slender form factor, Apple has still kept fans of physical headphone jacks happy by retaining the 3.5mm port. There are two USB-C Thunderbolt ports and a MagSafe charging connector as well. You shouldn't have to worry too much if you leave your charger at home when you head to the office - the M2 MacBook Air's battery should easily last for an entire workday unless you're carrying out very power-hungry work like video editing. The M2 MBA should handle everyday tasks with relative ease, and you'll be able to play a bunch of App Store and Steam games on it too (good luck doing anything else ever again if you install Balatro). One of our main reservations with the base M2 Air is that there's only 8GB of memory. That doesn't seem quite enough these days and unfortunately, Apple charges a premium for RAM upgrades. Still, if you just want a MacBook Air that checks pretty much all the boxes most people will need for a few years, this is a great option. It's also worth noting that there are some cool features on the way when macOS Sequoia arrives later this year, including the ability to mirror your iPhone on your Mac and a new Passwords app. Apple Intelligence features are also coming to M1 and later Macs. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-prime-day-deals-are-here-with-the-m2-macbook-air-down-to-a-record-low-of-799-140716542.html?src=rss

Amazon Prime Day is here, and among the many tech-related deals we've seen is one for the Fitbit Charge 6, which happens to be Engadget's best fitness tracker overall. This fitness watch has received a $60 discount, bringing the price down to a record low of $100. The Fitbit Charge 6's popularity lies in the fact that it has over 40 exercise modes for it to track, up from 20 with the Fitbit Charge 5. You can pair the watch with any exercise machine that has Bluetooth compatibility so that you can see your heart rate in real time during your workout. It also has a side button that works the touchscreen to navigate the tracker's interface, an ECG app that warns you when your heartbeats become irregular and an EDA sensor that tells you how your body responds to stress. If you're subscribed to YouTube Music Premium, you can skip through and control playback on YouTube Music through the device, helping you change songs distraction-free. If you're training for a marathon or a triathlon, the built-in GPS helps you map out your running and biking routes with great accuracy while keeping track of your heart rate and steps, among other stats. The GPS is even more helpful with turn-by-turn directions courtesy of Google Maps. Plus, you can use Fitbit Pay or Google Wallet if you happen to stop at a convenience store for a snack break. Finally, one of its best features is that it can last seven days on a single charge, which is more than we can say for many other fitness trackers and smartwatches. If you're in the market for a new fitness tracker, the Fitbit Charge 6 is our favorite, and it's even easier to recommend at this price. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-fitbit-charge-6-drops-to-100-for-prime-day-110032009.html?src=rss

Amazon Prime Day is here, and it has brought deals on some of our favorite brands' devices. Take the rose-colored Logitech Pebble 2 Combo, down to $47 from $60 - a 22 percent discount. This record-low price gets you the Pebble Mouse 2 M350s and Pebble Keys 2 K380s. You can also pick the set up in black or white, but it will cost you another three dollars. The Logitech Pebble 2 Combo is a great option if you want a solid, reliable keyboard and mouse. I personally own the keyboard and find it very comfortable to use - though it's definitely on the smaller side, so you might prefer taking it out for travel. The wireless keyboard should hold about three years of battery life, while the mouse should last about two years. You can connect up to three wireless devices across operating systems and toggle between them with a switch button. Plus, you can customize the Fn keys for commands like search and screen capture. There are a bunch of other Logitech keyboards, mice and other accessories on sale for Prime Day. We're especially excited about the Logitech M720 Triathlon Multi-Device Wireless Mouse, which is down to $32 from $40 - a 19 percent discount. The wireless mouse lets you switch between three computers, has two years of battery life and has custom shortcuts. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-day-2024-save-22-percent-on-logitech-keyboards-mice-and-other-computer-accessories-105013581.html?src=rss

Audio gear is one of the hottest categories during any big tech sale, so of course there are some great deals to be found during Amazon Prime Day 2024. Several Sonos smart speakers are available at a discount during the event, including the Era 100, which the company introduced last year to replace the Sonos One. The Era 100 has dropped to $199, which is $50 off and a record low. While Prime members can obviously pick up the speaker at that price from Amazon, Sonos is matching the deal. The Sonos Era 100 is our pick for the best midrange smart speaker and we gave it a score of 88 in our review. Engadget deputy editor Nathan Ingraham felt that it delivers great audio quality and loud volume. I have to concur with that - I have two that I use as rear speakers in my home theater setup and the T-Rex in Jurassic Park has rarely sounded as terrifying. Support for Bluetooth and line-in audio is definitely welcome, and the speaker's built-in microphones make Trueplay tuning (a feature that optimizes the audio for the physical space the Era 100 is in) a breeze. On the downside, the loss of Google Assistant support is a bummer and while you can pair up two Era 100s for stereo audio, you won't get true stereo separation. That said, the Era 100 is a great little speaker that you can place just about anywhere. It's a solid upgrade option for those ready to move on from more budget-friendly options like the Echo Dot and Nest Mini. If you're looking for something portable instead, consider the Sonos Roam 2, which has dropped from $179 to $143. Once again, Sonos is matching that deal. That's a pretty solid discount on a speaker that's only been around for a couple of months. The Roam 2 has a couple of immediate improvements over the original model (which we still recommend as a portable speaker option). You don't need to set up the Roam 2 over Wi-Fi before connecting a device to it via Bluetooth, so you can take it straight to the great outdoors. The Roam 2 also has separate Bluetooth and power buttons to reduce confusion after Sonos used a single button for both functions on the OG Roam. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-sonos-era-100-drops-to-199-for-amazon-prime-day-104518688.html?src=rss

It doesn't get better than the Google Pixel 8a if you want a quality handset for $500 or less. But thanks to Amazon Prime Day, you can get the excellent Android phone for even less. Prime Day deals have knocked $50 off the Pixel 8a, bringing it down to a record low of $449 - the best price we've seen since it launched a few months ago. The Pixel 8a sits at the top of our list of the best midrange smartphones thanks to its Tensor G3 chipset, 120Hz OLED touchscreen, excellent cameras and strong battery life. The G3 processor not only enables excellent performance, but it also provides handy AI features like Audio Magic Eraser, Best Take and Magic Editor. The 6.1-inch OLED screen produces deep blacks and vibrant colors, and the 120Hz refresh rate goes a long way to making it feel smoother when scrolling. The handset has an IP67 rating as well, so it'll be protected from dust and water. You're getting a rear camera array that includes a 64MP main and 13MP ultra-wide sensors on the Pixel 8a, same as those found in the previous Pixel 7a. But it punches well above its weight, producing images with accurate colors and sharp details, plus Night Sight mode does a good job taking photos in low light conditions. As for battery life, the Pixel 8a lasted over 20 hours in our testing and the handset supports both wired and wireless charging. If you don't want to spend too much money on your next phone but still want a handset with many advanced features, the Pixel 8a is your best bet. However, it's worth noting that Prime Day deals have also brought down the prices of the standard Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro to $499 and $699, respectively. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-day-deals-discount-the-google-pixel-8a-to-449-091532901.html?src=rss

Amazon Prime Day is here and the deals are flowing like a river made of coupons. Case in point? The well-regarded Dyson V15 Detect Plus cordless vacuum is just $570 as part of Prime Day vacuum deals. This is a discount of $180 and a record-low for this particular model. This is the variation of the model that took home the top prize in our list of the best cordless vacuums, so we absolutely recommend it for those looking for a high-grade cleaning appliance. The suction power on this thing is unreal, particularly for a cordless cleaner. Typically, cordless vacuums struggle with anything beyond simple messes, but this is not true for the V15 Detect. During our testing, we found that we rarely had to go over the same spot twice when using the vacuum. I don't have the V15 at home, so I have to go over the same spot like five times with my current cordless vac. It's also relatively lightweight, making it easy to haul up the stairs for multi-floor cleaning tasks. The battery life is on-point, allowing for 60 minutes of runtime before requiring a charge. This year's Prime Day vacuum deals include the Plus version of the vacuum, which includes additional cleaning heads. The Fluffy Optic cleaner head comes with a bright light to reveal dust and grime, while the Digital Motorbar cleaner head de-tangles long hair and pet hair. However, this isn't a perfect vacuum, though our complaints fall squarely in the nitpicking" category. There's no single-button start option, which can be frustrating in some cases. Also, only the Fluffy Optic cleaner head includes that light. It would have been nice to have that on the other cleaning heads. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-day-vacuum-deals-include-180-off-the-dyson-v15-detect-cordless-vacuum-090527710.html?src=rss

Amazon Prime Day 2024 is here and as usual, it's a great time to buy mirrorless, action and compact cameras. If you're a vlogger, photographer or other type of creator and have been holding off for a sale, now is absolutely the time to buy. We're seeing discounts from most of the major brands, including Canon, Sony, Nikon and Panasonic, along with GoPro and DJI. If it's a gift you're looking for, many deals are priced well under $500, and some premium cameras like Canon's EOS R5 have steep discounts of $900 and more. You can see the full lineup of our recommendations in our camera guide. Best Prime Day camera deals: Engadget top picks Best Prime Day deals: Action cams and compacts Best Prime Day deals: Mirrorless cameras Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-amazon-prime-day-camera-deals-on-sony-canon-gopro-panasonic-and-more-082653316.html?src=rss

While you can often find discounts on Echo speakers, Fire tablets, Kindles and other Amazon devices throughout the year, Amazon Prime Day is the best time to buy them, period. The online retailer usually discounts most of its own hardware for its special, members-only shopping event in the summer, and those discounted prices are typically only rivaled by Black Friday sales. In recent years, Prime Day discounts on these gadgets have even been better than those we've seen during the holiday shopping season. For Amazon Prime Day 2024, you'll find most of Amazon's devices on sale for record-low prices (or close to them). These are the best Prime Day deals you can get on Kindles, Fire TVs, Echos and more. If you're looking for even more Prime Day deals, check out Engadget's Prime Day hub where you'll find all of the best tech deals you can get for the shopping event this year. In addition to Amazon devices, Prime Day is typically a great time to pick up big-ticket items like tablets, laptops and robot vacuums, and accessories like power banks, streaming devices, Bluetooth speakers and the like. Prime Day Echo deals Prime Day Kindle deals Prime Day Fire TV deals Prime Day Fire tablet deals Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-prime-day-deals-on-echo-speakers-kindle-ereaders-and-other-amazon-devices-073858193.html?src=rss

Amazon Prime Day is typically a good time to see if you can get a good deal on anything you need for your kitchen. One of our favorite pieces of kitchen tech recently, the Ninja Creami ice cream maker, has dropped to a great sale price as part of Prime Day deals. You can pick it up for $150 right now, which is close to a record-low price. It's the perfect gadget for those who scream for ice cream, but also scream about paying over $6 per pint. We absolutely loved the Ninja Creami in our official review, calling it a fast and easy" way to make surprisingly tasty" ice cream and other frozen desserts. This is actually a consumer-friendly design of a mainstay appliance at restaurants, so the results are going to be a bit better than an average ice cream maker. To that end, we admired just how easy it is to use and that most of the components are machine washable. It's also surprisingly versatile. It handles ice cream, of course, but also sorbets, gelatos, frozen yogurt and more. We recommend just throwing stuff in there to see what happens, having had a fantastic experience with a combination of cow milk and coconut milk. It's really tough to make something disgusting with this machine, unless you throw in pickle juice or something. Heck, even that could work. So what's the downside? The regular $200 price tag inches it away from impulse buy" territory, though this sale helps with that. It's also fairly loud during use, but so is that local ice cream truck careening down the block, am I right? Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-day-deals-bring-the-ninja-creami-ice-cream-maker-down-to-150-130835347.html?src=rss

Amazon Prime Day is here, with discounts on just about everything under the sun. One of the best Prime Day deals we've found is for the Apple iPad Mini. It's currently on sale for $380, which is a discount of $120 and a record-low price across all color options. This is the fantastic sixth-generation iPad Mini with the A15 chip. If you want a tablet that can easily fit in a bag or purse, this is the one to get. It boasts USB-C connectivity, a 12MP front-facing camera, 64GB of storage, Touch ID and, of course, the 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display. The iPad Mini also works with the Apple Pencil stylus and the company's Smart Folio protective cover. However, both are sold separately. This tablet easily made our list of the best iPads, mostly because of its tried-and-true design and compact form factor. This makes it the best, and really only, iPad that's built for one-handed use. It's just 0.65 pounds. The speakers are great, though there's no option for Face ID. The A15 chip is also getting a bit long in the tooth. To that end, it's highly possible we'll see a refresh later in the year. For now, though, this is the best Apple tablet in its size range. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-dropped-the-price-of-the-ipad-mini-to-a-record-low-of-380-for-prime-day-2024-070711397.html?src=rss