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Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy Z Flip 5 Retro, a limited edition version that pays homage to the iconic SGH-E700 (aka the SGH-E715 in the US on T-Mobile), which first came out 20 years ago in 2003. It comes with the same indigo blue and silver color combo as the original, along with similar pixel graphics for the clock widget on the cover screen and an exclusive cityscape-style animation on the Flex Window. It'll be sold in Korea and several countries in Europe, but not the US.The SGH-E700 was Samsung's first mobile phone with an integrated antenna and became a certified hit, selling more than 10 million units. The success of that phone elevated Samsung's standing in the mobile phone industry at the time, helping make it the smartphone behemoth it is today. The phone was popular enough that in 2007, Engadget noted that Samsung effectively reissued the phone with new radios as a nostalgia play, even though it was only four years old at the time.The Galaxy Z Flip 5 Retro will include three Flipsuit cards featuring logos from different eras of Samsung's history, a Flipsuit case and a collector card engraved with a unique serial number, the company said. It'll be available starting November 1 in Korea, the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Australia from Samsung's website.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsungs-galaxy-z-flip5-retro-pays-tribute-to-the-iconic-sgh-e700-flip-phone-073003464.html?src=rss

Apple is planning to debut three M3 chips at its Scary Fast" Mac event Monday night, according toBloomberg's Mark Gurman - the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max. The event is set to kick off at 8 PM ET and is expected to bring multiple hardware announcements. Gurman previously reported that the company is prepping a new 24-inch iMac which could make an appearance tomorrow, along with upgraded MacBook Pros running the new M3 series.In the Power On newsletter, Gurman writes that the standard M3 chip is likely to sport an eight-core CPU and 10-core GPU like the M2, but with improvements to performance speed and memory. He also notes the company is testing multiple configurations for both the M3 Pro and M3 Max chips. We may see an M3 Pro with 12-core CPU/18-core GPU and the option for a pricier 14-core CPU with a 20-core GPU. Meanwhile, the M3 Max could come with 16 CPU cores and either 32 or 40 GPU cores.We won't know anything for sure until Apple's unusually-timed October event starts tomorrow night. Thankfully, that's not a long time to wait. Join us here to watch as it all unfolds.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/new-report-reveals-details-on-the-three-m3-chips-apple-may-launch-monday-night-202456989.html?src=rss

Apple's refreshed second-generation AirPods Pro are down to just $200 on Amazon in a discount almost as good as we saw during October's Prime Day event. The deal cuts $50 off the normal price of $250. The second-generation AirPods Pro got an upgrade in September that brought improvements to durability and a USB-C port for charging the MagSafe case more conveniently, replacing the Lightning port. While the price could dip down even lower as Black Friday approaches, this is one of best deals we've seen as of late.The upgraded second-generation AirPods Pro have an IP54 rating for better dust resistance than their predecessor. They also received new audio features with the release of iOS 17 that further improves upon the listening experience, including Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, and Personalized Volume. The second-generation AirPods Pro get up to six hours of battery life, with up to 30 hours using the charging case. Even before the upgrade, we counted them among the best earbuds you can get today.Apple also introduced lossless audio with Apple Vision Pro for the refreshed second-generation AirPods Pro, which buyers will get to appreciate once they finally have the headset in their hands. Otherwise, the AirPods Pro are a top choice for use with the Apple ecosystem of devices, with features like active noise cancellation and an impressive transparency mode. At $200 right now, they're only $10 more than they were going for on Prime Day.If you're looking for something with fewer bells and whistles, Apple's third-generation AirPods are discounted too. Right now, they're just $150 on Amazon.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-upgraded-2nd-gen-airpods-pro-with-usb-c-are-50-off-right-now-182421286.html?src=rss

Apple's 9th generation iPad is $80 off at Amazon right now. The discount brings the 64GB variant down to just $250 from its regular price of $330, a record low typically only seen on Prime Day. You can also snag the 9th-gen iPad with 256GB of storage for $80 off at Amazon, where it's currently down to $400 from its usual $480.The 9th-gen iPad came out in 2021, but it's still a solid tablet especially if you're on a budget. While its A13 Bionic chip isn't the fastest or most powerful, it's more than enough for basic productivity tasks, browsing and streaming. It earned a score of 86 when we reviewed it back at the time of its release, and it's still one of the best iPads you can get that won't break the bank.It has a heftier build than the newer, sleeker models, with chunky bezels framing its 10.2-inch Retina Display, and a physical Home button with Touch ID. Apple's 9th-gen iPad also still has a headphone jack and charges via lightning port. It has a 12MP ultrawide front camera and 8MP back camera, and supports Apple's Center Stage video calling feature.The 9th generation iPad comes in Silver and Space Gray, and the discount applies to both color variants for the Wi-Fi only model. It's a great option for the casual iPad user, and the price right now can't be beat. But, if those specs aren't quite cutting it, Amazon is also running a deal on the 10th generation iPad, which is a step up. That model is currently $50 off.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-9th-gen-ipad-is-back-to-its-all-time-low-price-of-250-ahead-of-black-friday-154710678.html?src=rss

The explosive growth in artificial intelligence in recent years - crowned with the meteoric rise of generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT - has seen the technology take on many tasks that, formerly, only human minds could handle. But despite their increasingly capable linguistic computations, these machine learning systems remain surprisingly inept at making the sorts of cognitive leaps and logical deductions that even the average teenager can consistently get right.In this week's Hitting the Books excerpt, A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains, AI entrepreneur Max Bennett explores the quizzical gap in computer competency by exploring the development of the organic machine AIs are modeled after: the human brain.Focusing on the five evolutionary "breakthroughs," amidst myriad genetic dead ends and unsuccessful offshoots, that led our species to our modern minds, Bennett also shows that the same advancements that took humanity eons to evolve can be adapted to help guide development of the AI technologies of tomorrow. In the excerpt below, we take a look at how generative AI systems like GPT-3 are built to mimic the predictive functions of the neocortex, but still can't quite get a grasp on the vagaries of human speech.HarperCollinsExcerpted from A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains by Max Bennett. Published by Mariner Books. Copyright (C) 2023 by Max Bennett. All rights reserved.Words Without Inner WorldsGPT-3 is given word after word, sentence after sentence, paragraph after paragraph. During this long training process, it tries to predict the next word in any of these long streams of words. And with each prediction, the weights of its gargantuan neural network are nudged ever so slightly toward the right answer. Do this an astronomical number of times, and eventually GPT-3 can automatically predict the next word based on a prior sentence or paragraph. In principle, this captures at least some fundamental aspect of how language works in the human brain. Consider how automatic it is for you to predict the next symbol in the following phrases:

A sounding rocket toting a special imaging and spectroscopy instrument will take a brief trip to space Sunday night to try and capture as much data as it can on a long-admired supernova remnant in the Cygnus constellation. Its target, a massive cloud of dust and gas known as the Cygnus Loop or the Veil Nebula, was created after the explosive death of a star an estimated 20,000 years ago - and it's still expanding.NASA plans to launch the mission at 11:35 PM ET on Sunday October 29 from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The Integral Field Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Experiment, or INFUSE, will observe the Cygnus Loop for only a few minutes, capturing light in the far-ultraviolet wavelengths to illuminate gasses as hot as 90,000-540,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It's expected to fly to an altitude of about 150 miles before parachuting back to Earth.The Cygnus Loop sits about 2,600 light-years away, and was formed by the collapse of a star thought to be 20 times the size of our sun. Since the aftermath of the event is still playing out, with the cloud currently expanding at a rate of 930,000 miles per hour, it's a good candidate for studying how supernovae affect the formation of new star systems. Supernovae like the one that created the Cygnus Loop have a huge impact on how galaxies form," said Brian Fleming, principal investigator for the INFUSE mission.INFUSE will observe how the supernova dumps energy into the Milky Way by catching light given off just as the blast wave crashes into pockets of cold gas floating around the galaxy," Fleming said. Once INFUSE is back on the ground and its data has been collected, the team plans to fix it up and eventually launch it again.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nasa-is-launching-a-rocket-on-sunday-to-study-a-20000-year-old-supernova-193009477.html?src=rss

Threads was missing a lot of features users would expect from a service similar to Twitter's (now X's) when it launched. Over the past few months, however, it has been been rolling out more and more new features to give users a more robust experience, including polls, an easy way to post GIFs and the ability to quote posts on the web. Still, since it doesn't have an API, third-party developers can't conjure features specific to their services that would make the social network a more integral part of people's everyday lives. An example of that is local transportation agencies being able to automatically post service alerts when a train is delayed. According to Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, though, Threads is working on an API for developers - he just has concerns about how it's going to be used.As first reported by TechCrunch, Mosseri responded to a conversation on the platform about having a TweetDeck-like experience for Threads. In a response to a user saying that Threads has no API yet, the executive said: "We're working on it." He added that he's concerned that the API's launch could mean "a lot more publisher content and not much more creator content," but he's aware that it "seems like something [the company needs] to get done."Mosseri previously said that Threads won't amplify news, which may have been disappointing to hear for publishers and readers looking to leave X. Instead, he said, Threads wants to "empower creators in general." More recently, in an AMA he posted on the platform, Mosseri said that that his team's long-term aspiration is for Threads to become "the de facto platform for public conversations online," which means being both culturally relevant and big in terms of user size. He said he believes Threads has a chance of surpassing X, but he knows that his service has a long way to go. For now, he keeps his team focused on making people's experience better week by week. Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that Threads has "just under" 100 million monthly active users. Like Mosseri, he is optimistic about its future and said that there's a "good chance" it could reach 1 billion users over the next couple of years.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/instagram-head-says-threads-is-working-on-an-api-for-developers-140049094.html?src=rss

The iRobot Roomba Combo j7+ is the top 2-in-1 pick in our guide to the best robot vacuums, as it adds a retractable mop for cleaning hard floors onto a powerful robovac for carpets and other surfaces. It's expensive at its usual list price of $1,000, but right now you can get it for $699 at Wellbots. Just use the code ENGROOMBA300 at checkout. While that's still far from cheap, it does mark the largest discount we've tracked.The Roomba Combo j7+ is undoubtedly a luxury purchase, but we found its vacuuming and mopping capabilities to mostly work as advertised. As a robot vacuum, it offers strong suction power, accurate home mapping and intelligent obstacle avoidance, including a strong knack for avoiding pet waste. In its "vacuum and mop" mode, it's smart enough to know when it's rolling over hard floors instead of carpet, then only mop the former. The battery generally lasts between 90 to 180 minutes depending on how often you mop, and the whole thing works with Alexa and the Google Assistant. This model also comes with a (noisy) self-emptying base station, which the vacuum automatically retreats to when it's done cleaning.It's not perfect: You'll have to refill the water tank fairly often, there's no mop-only mode and the mopping functionality isn't as efficient as just using a Swiffer. iRobot's Home app remains easy to use, but all robovacs require the occasional maintenance and intervention. Still, a device like this makes cleaning more hands-off than it'd be otherwise, so the Combo j7+ could be worth it if your home has a mix of carpet, hardwood, laminate and other surfaces. For more details, check out Engadget Senior Editor Daniel Cooper's write-up of his experience with the device. Just note that, like many robot vacuums with obstacle avoidance, the j7+ comes with a built-in camera. That may raise privacy concerns for some, particularly with Amazon in the process of acquiring iRobot.A couple of less expensive Roomba 2-in-1s are also on sale. The Roomba Combo j5+ is down to $499 with the same ENGROOMBA300 code, while the standard Roomba Combo j5 is available for $349 with the code ENGROOMBA250. Those are $300 and $250 discounts, respectively, and both represent all-time lows. The Combo j5+ is a newer midrange alternative to the Combo j7+: It has most of the same features, but it lacks the j7+'s retractable mop arm and ability to automatically avoid carpets while mopping. Instead, you have to swap in a vacuum-only bin (or just move your rugs) when you want to clean a carpeted room. You also have to empty its vacuum/mop combo bin manually. The standard j5 is essentially the same device but doesn't come with a self-emptying base station.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/irobots-roomba-combo-vacuum-and-mops-are-up-to-300-off-right-now-130031081.html?src=rss

Vice president Prabhakar Raghavan testified Friday that Google paid $26.3 billion in 2021 for the purpose of maintaining default search engine status and acquiring traffic, Bloomberg reports. It's likely the lion's share of that sum went to Apple, which it has showered with exorbitant sums for many years in order to remain the default search option on iPhone, iPad and Mac.Raghavan, who was testifying as part of the DOJ's ongoing antitrust suit against the company, said Google's search advertising made $146.4 billion in revenue in 2021, which puts the $26 billion it paid for default status in perspective. The executive clarified that default status was the most costly part of what it pays to acquire traffic.Raghavan didn't mention how much of the $26.3 billion went to Apple. But CNBC reports that an estimate from private wealth management firm Bernstein ballparked that Google could pay Apple up to $19 billion this year for the default privilege.A slide shown in court revealed that, in 2014, Google brought in $47 billion in search revenue while paying $7.1 billion for default status. Raghavan testified that Google's overall default search engine payments nearly quadrupled from 2014 to 2021, while its search advertising revenue (roughly) tripled.Google objected to making the figures public, arguing it would hurt its ability to negotiate future contracts. Judge Amit Mehta, overseeing the case, disagreed.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-paid-26-billion-in-2021-for-default-search-engine-status-203129384.html?src=rss

Barbarian is one of the more memorable horror movies of the last few years. It tells a tale of a young woman who finds that someone is already staying at her rental home. She has little choice but to stay there since nearby hotels are all booked up. That alone is a nightmare scenario but the film goes into some truly wild directions from there. On the surface, it seems like an odd choice to turn into a video game, but that's exactly what's happening.New Regency Pictures and Friday the 13th: The Game and Evil Dead: The Gamedeveloper Diversion3 Entertainment have teamed up to bring Barbarian to PC and consoles. Despite the multiplayer format of the studio's previous projects, this will be a single-player, narrative-focused title which will "expand on the settings, characters and creatures of Barbarian." There's no release timeframe as yet.We're very excited to work with the team at New Regency to expand on the settings, characters and creatures of Barbarian," Tim Hesse, an executive producer at Diversion3 Entertainment, told Variety in a statement. The film did a magnificent job of not only scaring audiences with its unexpected and horrifying twists and turns, but also in establishing strong characters thrown into terrifying situations. We look forward to exploring these themes further in the game."A straight adaptation of the film's story probably wouldn't work as a game. But there's certainly potential for it to work as a tension-filled survival horror title given (mild spoilers) how much of the Barbarian takes place in terrifying underground tunnels.For the uninitiated, here's the trailer for Barbarian. Happy Halloween.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/horror-movie-barbarian-is-getting-a-video-game-adaptation-200727185.html?src=rss

When Netflix first unveiled its streaming video service in 2007, it felt like a miracle. Netflix's DVD customers in the US, who were paying between $5.99 to $17.99 a month, instantly had access to 1,000 movies over a web browser. No more waiting for DVDs in the mail, no ads like TV - just hit a button and watch. Instantly! Now that seems like ages ago. Netflix's most premium 4K streaming plan now costs $23 a month, while its standard subscription without ads costs $15.49 a month. (There is a standard plan with ads for $6.99 a month, but that doesn't support offline downloads and also doesn't include some content.)Netflix has also been cracking down on account sharing recently, which is great for its overall earnings and subscriber count, but bad for anyone trying to save a buck. You'll have to pay an extra $7.99 a month to add more member slots to the standard and premium plans.And it's not just Netflix. Over the past year, just about every major streaming service has raised its prices considerably. Apple TV+ is doubling its original price to $10 a month ($99 annually). Disney+ saw a hefty increase as well to $14 a month for its ad-free premium tier. For those who subscribe to multiple services, it's easy to think we're back in the bad old days of cable TV, where we ended up spending gobs of money for hundreds of channels.Streaming services vs. cableBut let's not get dramatic. Subscribing to the streaming services you use the most is still far cheaper than going for a typical cable plan. In my area, Comcast's most popular plan with over 125 channels is listed at $60 a month, but the company hides the additional $27.80 broadcast network fee and $13.40 regional sport licensing fee. My actual monthly cost starts at $101.20, and that doesn't include taxes, equipment rental fees (at least $10 a month) and other additions Comcast may coax you into. (Want 300 hours of Cloud DVR? That's another $20 monthly!)According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average urban consumer spends almost six times as much on cable today as they did when they began collecting data in 1983. To be clear, that number reflect some customers spending a ton more on sports and other packages compared to others. But still, it's crazy to consider that the average is noticeably higher than just a decade ago, when it was four times as high as the initial average. All of a sudden, Netflix creeping toward $25 doesn't seem so bad - especially since cable customers also have to subscribe to streaming services to see their original shows.NetflixWhile some have argued that streaming price hikes signal the end of the cord-cutting dream, that's far from true. Cable prices were already high a decade ago, and they've risen considerably since then. (Broadcast fees alone were estimated to jump between 8 to 10 percent between 2016 and 2019.) If anything, the case for cord-cutting is even stronger now. With the wealth of content available on streaming services, do you really need to pay hundreds to sit through another HGTV marathon? Especially when you can find some HGTV content on Max, and similar shows on other streamers?Nobody likes to see their favorite services getting more expensive. You could easily argue that streaming prices hikes fall firmly within Corey Doctorow's concept of internet enshittification, wherein companies provide cheap and useful services to grow their userbase, but inevitably make the experience worse to squeeze out more money and appease their investors. Unless an online service is being run as a non-profit or completely free side project, enshittification seems inevitable.But it's worth acknowledging why streaming services were so cheap to begin with. Netflix's streaming service was practically an experiment early on - it was rolled into existing subscription plans, and you could only watch up to 18 hours a month. When Netflix launched its standalone streaming subscription in 2010, it was only $7.99 a month - a price that held true until its basic plan jumped a whole dollar in 2019. While the company introduced more expensive standard and premium plans along the way, the entry plan always seemed like a tremendous deal. Who wouldn't want instant access to thousands of movies and TV shows for the price of two coffees?Like many startups during the 2010s, Netflix continually raised tons of money (around $5 billion) without making enormous profit - or at least, not profit in line with the tens of billions the company has spent on original content over the last decade. Enticing new subscribers and keeping them was far more important to Netflix than actually being a sustainable business. So it wasn't too surprising when other services like HBO Max, Disney+ and Apple TV+ launched with low prices competitive with Netflix.According to Janko Roettgers, author of the newsletter Lowpass, and a former media and technology reporter at Variety, Netflix had an advantage over the competition because its legacy DVD business could fund its streaming ambitions. Other companies like Disney and Warner Bros. had to decide how streaming fit within their existing TV channels and movie studios."Now [Netflix is] making money with streaming across the world, and they're starting to get into gaming," Roettgers noted on the Engadget Podcast this week. "So they're pretty quick at following up. And if you look at some of these legacy media companies, well, they still have linear networks. And those are declining slowly and slowly, and it's taking them a long time to figure out [...] Should we get out of this? How many can we keep running? How many of those do we need to shut down?"When Netflix announced that it was actually losing subscribers in 2022 - 200,000 in the first quarter, followed by a whopping one million users in the second quarter - it was like a nuclear bomb exploded in the streaming industry. It immediately led to belt tightening across every service: Widespread Layoffs, canceled shows, and more strategies to make money. Netflix's ad-supported tier launched later that year, while its account sharing lockdown began in earnest this May.LucasfilmWith interest rates on the rise and investors worried about the economy, raising prices was the inevitable next step for every streaming provider. And unfortunately, that trend won't be reversed anytime soon. At best, we can only hope that the threat of losing users and pressure from competition will keep Netflix and others from reaching the dreaded highs of cable.But don't forget, there's one thing you can do with streaming services that's far more difficult with cable companies: You can cancel and subscribe easily online. You don't need to set aside time and emotional energy to deal with a customer service rep on the phone, or block out a morning for a technician to visit. That potential for churn hangs over every streaming provider. So if their prices get too high, or they're not actually providing enough valuable content to watch, just leave.Still, it's worth remembering that access to media is cheaper than ever. You don't have to worry about spending a ton to rent movies from Blockbuster or your local video store. There aren't any late fees to worry about. And while I miss the heyday of DVDs, buying just one of those discs could cover a month of service across two streaming services today (sometimes three!).So sure, it stinks that Netflix is getting more expensive. But, personally, I'd easily take these higher prices over life before the streaming era.Update 10/27: This story was updated to reflect the Bureau of Labor Statistics figures as averages relative to the agency's 1983 baseline. The displayed numbers on the BLS site aren't direct dollar figures.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/is-streaming-video-even-still-worth-it-192651141.html?src=rss

X is adding two new tiers to its subscription offering, previously known as Twitter Blue. The company is adding a new, $16 per month Premium+ tier" that eliminates ads in users' following and for you" timelines, in addition to the blue checkmark and other existing perks for subscribers. X is also adding a new, lower-cost basic" tier that costs $3 a month.The new subscription plans come as X's advertising business has continued to decline, and the company is increasingly reliant on subscription revenue. X has also recently begun testing a program that requires all new users in some countries to pay $1 per year in order to post and reply to tweets.

Apple's holding another streaming event on October 30 at 8PM ET. Yes, that's in the dead of night during the spookiest of seasons. The company's calling it a Scary Fast" event, which certainly makes it seem like there will be some hardware announcements. You can watch the stream on YouTube, on Apple's official website and on Apple TV devices. Or, you can just keep this page open, as the stream's embedded below.So what's on the docket for this Halloween-adjacent stream? We already had the big iPhone 15 reveal, so that leaves the company's desktop and laptop computers. Given the event's name, it's highly likely Apple will drop the long-awaited M3 chip. It's been nearly 17 months since the M2 debuted and, well, Moore's law and all of that. For reference, it was 19 months between the M1 launch and the M2 debut.Chips are only as good as the gadgets they power, so there should be a couple of hardware announcements to go along with that scary fast" M3 chipset. Apple analysts Ming-Chi Kuo and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman both suggest that an M3-powered MacBook Pro will take center stage at the event.It's also high-time that Apple released some new iMacs, as it's been well over two years since 2021's colorful refresh. Gurman has reported that the event will likely see the introduction of a new 24-inch iMac, also powered by the rumored M3 chip. He notes that current iMacs are in short supply at retail stores and that this typically indicates a forthcoming upgrade.There could also be some iPad announcements at the event. If the whole stream revolves around M3-powered products, it's more likely we'll get a new iPad Pro than a standard entry-level tablet. However, it's only been a year since the most recent iPad Pro debuted, though 2022's release was merely a modest upgrade. Of course, other iPad models could get some love, setting them up to launch just in time for the holidays.There could be some surprises, but we just got new iPhones and watches, and we know the Vision Pro isn't due until next year, so that doesn't leave a whole lot of options. At the very least, Apple presenters will likely be forced to wear Halloween costumes, which should be fun. Maybe we'll see Tim Cook dressed as that blue smurf cat that blew up on TikTok earlier this month.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-to-watch-apples-scary-fast-event-183040759.html?src=rss

On Thursday, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) upheld a judge's earlier ruling that the Apple Watch violated patents from medical technology company Masimo, as reported by Reuters. Although the ITC's order could theoretically lead to an eventual import ban on Apple Watch models, the iPhone maker still has ample opportunity to avoid that outcome.The decision stems from a lawsuit Masimo filed in 2021, accusing Apple of infringing on the smaller company's patents related to light-based blood-oxygen monitoring. Apple introduced the feature in the Apple Watch Series 6, its 2020 flagship smartwatch. Its 2023 models, including the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, still include blood-oxygen sensors.Masimo's filing focuses on the Apple Watch Series 6, which the iPhone maker discontinued in 2021 following the launch of its successor. It isn't clear whether or to what degree a hypothetical import ban would affect Apple's latest versions of its flagship wearable. A federal jury took up Masimo's allegations earlier this year, ending in a mistrial.The case now moves to the White House as the Biden administration has 60 days to decide whether to veto the import ban based on policy concerns. Reuters notes that US Presidents have rarely rejected bans historically. If Biden opts not to veto, Apple can appeal the ban to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit after the White House's review period expires. Other options for the $2.6 trillion company include settling with Masimo or issuing software updates that skirt the patent.Masimo paints the scenario as a victory for David vs. Goliath. Today's ruling by the USITC sends a powerful message that even the world's largest company is not above the law," Joe Kiani, Masimo's CEO, wrote on Thursday. This important determination is a strong validation of our efforts to hold Apple accountable for unlawfully misappropriating our patented technology," added Mr. Kiani.In a statement to Reuters, Apple framed the move as putting lives at risk to boost Masimo's product portfolio. Masimo has wrongly attempted to use the ITC to keep a potentially lifesaving product from millions of U.S. consumers while making way for their own watch that copies Apple," an Apple spokesperson said. While today's decision has no immediate impact on sales of Apple Watch, we believe it should be reversed, and will continue our efforts to appeal."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/itc-rules-against-apple-in-patent-dispute-setting-up-potential-ban-181123636.html?src=rss

It's still a few days until Halloween, but retailers are already pushing early Black Friday deals. That makes this week either an opportunity to bemoan the unrelenting passage of time or a good time to shop. For those who take the latter view, we gathered up the better tech deals that've popped up. Those include a rare sale on Sonos home theater speakers, sweeping discounts on Blink security cameras and a steep price drop on a recommended VPN service. We've also spotted discounts on Apple's M2 MacBook Air and 9th-generation iPad that respectively top and meet their prices from Amazon's October Prime Day event earlier this month, as well as a couple of gift card bundles for new smartphones in the OnePlus Open and Samsung Galaxy S23 FE. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.Sonos home theater setsFrom now through Sunday, Sonos is selling a few its home theater sets (which include soundbars and subwoofers) for up to 20 percent off. Sonos rarely runs sales, so this may be one to check out if you want to upgrade your TV's sound setup. One deal is the Ray + Sub Mini, regularly $708, for just $566. We recommend the Ray in our soundbar buying guide because it provides excellent sound quality for both TV and music, while its compact size makes it ideal for smaller living rooms. Adding the Sub Mini to the mix helps round out the sound and fill in the bass that soundbars are hard-pressed to deliver on their own.At the other end of the pricing spectrum is Sonos' high-end bundle, the Ultimate Immersive Set, which includes the Arc soundbar, the Sub subwoofer and two Era 300 smart speakers. Usually the set goes for $2,596, but it's now down to $2,211. The Arc is our runner up pick for a premium option in our soundbar buying guide, while the Era 300 earned an Engadget review score of 80 thanks to its detailed and balanced sound quality. We did think the speaker's spatial audio experience was hit or miss and we were disappointed by its lack of Google Assistant support - though you can use Alexa or Sonos' own assistant instead.iRobot Roomba Combo j7+Wellbots is taking up to $300 off a few of iRobot's vac-and-mop Roomba Combo cleaners. The Roomba Combo j7+ usually costs a steep $999, for instance, but you can drop it down to $699 if you enter the code ENGROOMBA300 at checkout. The Roomba Combo j7+ is the top 2-in-1 pick in our robot vacuum buying guide, and it even earned a spot in the smart home of one of Engadget's senior editors.A few other vac-and-mops are on sale too, including the iRobot Roomba Combo j5+, which is $300 with the same code, and the standard iRobot Roomba Combo j5, which is $250 off with the code ENGROOMBA250. (Those two are largely similar, though the former comes with a self-emptying base station.) If you've been thinking about automating your floor cleaning, this might be a good time to go for it.Blink Outdoor 4 security cameraBlink's latest outdoor security camera, the Outdoor 4, has only been around since August but has already gone on sale a few times. Now through November 5th, Amazon is dropping the price back down to $72, which is 40 percent off its list price. This deal comes as part of a wider sale on security cams and video doorbells from the Amazon subsidiary.The Outdoor 4 is the top wireless security camera pick in our guide to the best smart home devices. It can capture 1080p footage and send it straight to a phone or Alexa-enabled smart display. You can also talk and listen through the built-in mic and speaker. Improved motion detection should help it discern between a person approaching your house and the neighborhood cat, and the wireless build lets you set it just about anywhere around your home's exterior. Its battery can last up to two years with a pair of AA batteries, depending on your usage, and Amazon includes a set with the camera. Also included in this deal is the Sync Module 2, a separate accessory that lets you locally store video clips.For keeping tabs on the inside of your home, you can grab the Blink Mini. During the same time frame, a three-pack of the Blink Mini is down to $40. The list price for one of those cameras is $35, though we often see them drop into the $20 to $25 range.Google Nest Learning ThermostatAnother Wellbots deal brings Google's Nest Learning Thermostat down to $174, which is a $75 discount and one of the best prices we've seen as of late (though not the lowest ever). Enter the code ENGNLT75 to see the full savings at checkout. The Nest Learning Thermostat can help with your energy bills by not overly heating or cooling the house when you're not home and by making suggestions on energy-saving temp settings. The "learning" here gets to know your routines and preferred settings to automatically create schedules, which you can always adjust manually in the Nest app.Google Pixel Buds ProGoogle's Pixel Buds Pro are back at their lowest price ever, thanks to another discount code at Wellbots. These wireless earbuds have a list price of $200, but they dropped to $120 during Amazon's recent Prime Day sale. If you missed that one, though, you can now use the checkout code ENGPIX83 to get them for a few bucks less at $117. We named the Pixel Buds Pro the best option for Android users in our wireless earbuds buying guide and gave them an 87 in our review last year. They deliver deep bass and integrate particularly nicely with Google's Pixel phones.The Google Nest Hub Max also has a discount code from Wellbots; enter ENGMAX100 to save $100 off the $229 list price. We gave this 10-inch smart display a review score of 86 when it came out in 2019 thanks to its tight integration with other Google devices and services, solid audio quality and accurate facial recognition.Apple MacBook Air M2The base model of Apple's 13-inch MacBook Air with an M2 chip and 256 GB of storage is down to $899 at Best Buy, which matches the lowest price we've seen outside of special offers for My Best Buy members. Apple sell the notebook for $1,099, so this deal represents a $200 discount off its MSRP. If you'd prefer a larger screen size, the 15-inch model is also on sale for a low of $1,049, which is $250 less than buying from Apple directly.The M2 Air is both our favorite MacBook and the top overall recommendation in our laptop buying guide. We gave both notebooks a score of 96 in our reviews, and these entry-level configurations can still handle mainstream productivity and entertainment tasks with ease. Their speakers are impressively loud, their displays are bright and accurate, and their keyboards and trackpads remain comfortable.Apple is holding an event next week where it's expected to announce new Macs based on an updated M3 chip, but reliable Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman says that will likely focus on refreshed MacBook Pros and a new iMac; updated MacBook Airs aren't expected until sometime next year.Surfshark VPNAs part of an early Black Friday promotion, Surfshark is offering its VPN plans for up to 86 percent off. The deepest discount applies to the Surfshark Starter plan which you can get for $60 for 27 months. That works out to $2.21 per month with three months free. After the promo ends, the plan reverts to its normal price of $60 per year. We named Surfshark the best service for multiple devices in our VPN guide. It's one of the few options that let you use it on an unlimited number of devices without bandwidth restrictions and it has access to a larger number of servers than other VPN services that offer unlimited connections.Anker PowerConf C200Our runner-up recommendation for the best webcam you can buy is Anker's PowerConf C200. Right now at Amazon and Newegg, the 2K cam is down $48, which matches the low we saw during the October Prime Day sale earlier this month. It's easy to set up, has good picture quality and its on-board mics are surprisingly decent. Our main complaints were that it's a little tricky to adjust the angle and the included USB cable is on the shorter side.Apple iPad (9th gen)Apple's 9th-generation iPad dropped to $249 for Amazon's October Prime Day sale, which matched the tablet's previous low. Now, the 10.2-inch slate is back down to that price at Amazon and Walmart. That's $80 off Apple's MSRP, though at this point, it's almost always available for less than its list price at various retailers. This is the budget pick in our guide to the best iPads. It's not the best option for a workhorse productivity slate, as it has a dated design and worse accessory support compared to newer models, but it's still great for web browsing, playing Apple Arcade games and streaming video on the cheap.Apple iPad Pro (12.9-inch)On the exact opposite of the iPad spectrum, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is on sale for $990, which is about $60 off its usual street price and the lowest price we've tracked for the 128GB model. The 12.9-inch Pro is the "best for power users" pick in our buying guide: It's still more iPad than most people need, but its big mini-LED display is gorgeous and it's fast enough to handle just about any task thrown at it.As noted above, Apple has an event coming next week, but Bloomberg reports we won't see any new iPads then. Instead, refreshes are expected sometime early next year, so if you can afford to wait, it might be smart to do so. But if not, there's still decent value here.JBL Charge 5The JBL Charge 5 is down to $120 at Amazon, Walmart and various other retailers, which is about $30 off its average street price. We recommend the Charge 5 in our guide to the best portable Bluetooth speakers. It's not the most compact speaker around, but it's loud enough for smaller parties, it does well keep tracks from sounding muddled and its IP67 waterproof rating means it's safe to take in the shower or pool. JBL says its battery can last up to 20 hours per charge - though, as with all portable speakers, that'll vary based on usage and volume - and the whole thing can work as a power bank for your phone in a pinch.WD Black C50 Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X/SFor better or worse, the only way to fully expand the storage of an Xbox Series X/S is to buy a proprietary expansion card. If you're running out of space, you can get the 1TB version of WD's Black C50 card for $120 at Amazon with a $30 on-page coupon. That's a new all-time low. This is still pricier than buying a comparable (and PS5-compatible) SSD, but the only other Xbox storage card on the market comes from Seagate, and the 1TB version of that card is currently priced at $149.Apple Watch UltraApple's last-gen premium smartwatch, the Apple Watch Ultra, is on sale for $629 at Best Buy, which is about $140 off its typical going rate in recent months. Note that this deal applies to the model with Apple's small Trail Loop in yellow and beige. A model with a small orange Alpine Loop is also on sale at Amazon for $659.The catch here is that Apple recently released the Apple Watch Ultra 2, so this is technically an outdated model. The latest version adds a faster S9 SiP (system-in-package), which supports a useful Double Tap feature and on-board Siri processing, but the original remains a powerful option for athletes, hikers and other more involved users. It earned an 85 in our review when it came out thanks to its long battery life, big and bright display, and durable build. It still packs plenty of fitness and adventuring features (such as an SOS siren, waypoint-setting and a diving app) alongside the workout and activity tracking you get with other Apple Watches, so it might be worthwhile if you're looking to save at least a little bit of cash on a high-end wearable.OnePlus OpenThe OnePlus Open started shipping just this week, but Amazon is already bundling the new foldable phone with a $200 gift card. Since the phone itself goes for $1,700, any sort of savings is appreciated. We called the Open a "thinner and more affordable flagship foldable" in our review last week and have named it the best "budget" option in our guide to the best foldable phones.If you don't want to shop from Amazon - or if the gift card deal goes out of stock - you can grab a similar deal directly from OnePlus. The company is currently offering a $200 discount if you trade in any smartphone, regardless of brand, age and/or condition, bringing the foldable down to $1,500.Samsung Galaxy S23 FEAlong those lines, both Amazon and Best Buy are bundling Samsung's new Galaxy S23 FE phone with a $100 gift card for no extra cost. The phone itself goes for $599 and, like the OnePlus Open, began shipping this week. As we noted in our hands-on earlier this month, the Galaxy S23 FE has a similar design as the standard Galaxy S23, but it comes with a 6.4-inch OLED display (instead of 6.1 inches) and uses a slightly slower and less efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor (instead of the newer Snapdragon 8 Gen 2). The FE's camera system has a worse telephoto lens as well, though the device does come with a larger battery. While Google's Pixel 8 looks to be a more complete package as a midrange Android phone, the S23 FE is less expensive, and this deal should only heighten the value.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonos-home-theater-bundles-are-20-percent-off-plus-the-rest-of-this-weeks-best-tech-deals-164825210.html?src=rss

Exactly one year has passed since Elon Musk, fresh off a months-long legal battle that forced him to buy the company, strolled into Twitter headquarters carrying a sink.At the time, we weren't entirely sure what to expect. But there were no shortage of predictions - including from us at Engadget - about just how messy and chaotic Twitter might become under Musk's leadership. I've spent the last week revisiting many of those stories, and I've been struck by how, for a famously erratic CEO, just how predictable many aspects of his takeover have been.Before the acquisition closed, Musk spent months talking, tweeting and texting about his plans for the platform. Many of those early statements, like promises to relax moderation rules and to create an edit button, have actually happened.But as is so often the case with Musk, even the most predictable of his decisions have played out in unexpected ways.Amnesty for Donald Trump and other banned accountsOf all of Musk's plans for Twitter, one that drew the most headlines was his intention to restore Donald Trump's account. (He went as far as calling the original ban a morally bad decision.") While Musk's biographer claims he had some second thoughts about the matter, he opted to reinstate the former president following the result of a poll from his Twitter account.What many may not have fully anticipated was just how many former offenders Musk was willing to allow back on the platform. Despite his initial promise that Twitter cannot become a free-for-all hellscape," Musk decided to offer general amnesty" to more than 12,000 previously-banned accounts, including a number of neo-Nazis.The slow death of content moderation (and Twitter's ad business)It was no secret that Musk wanted to loosen Twitter's content moderation rules. Before his takeover, he suggested that he was in favor of allowing all speech that was legal. While many pundits predicted advertisers could be wary of Musk's more permissive approach, it's hard to overstate just how dire the company's ad business has become over the last year.A majority of major advertisers have stopped buying ads on the platform, despite CEO Linda Yaccarino's rosier (and misleading) suggestions otherwise. Musk himself has admitted ad revenue has dropped at least 50 percent. And The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the banks that financed Musk's Twitter deal are expecting to lose hundreds of millions of dollars as it's become nearly impossible for them to offload the debt.More transparency"One area that gave even some Musk critics a little bit of optimism was his insistence, prior to the acquisition, that he would bring a new level of transparency to the platform. He vowed to open-source the company's recommendation algorithm, and pull back the curtain on the dreaded shadowban."In some respects, he's followed through. Code for the company's main recommendation algorithm is on Github. X has also previewed alerts that will notify users when their accounts have been restricted from search and other areas of the service.But those efforts may also be more shallow than what some had hoped for. Publishing the algorithm" didn't actually reveal much about the inner workings of the platform, according to those who have studied it. Users still have very little insight into how posts are prioritized or how accounts not belonging to Elon Musk can expand their reach.At the same time, Musk has taken a number of steps that have dramatically reduced outsiders' ability to understand how information spreads on X. Musk dismantled the company's previously open and accessible APIs in favor of tools that now cost tens of thousands of dollars a month for much more limited insights. Paywalling has had a devastating impact on researchers, the vast majority of whom can no longer afford to access the limited data that is available via X's API.But wait," I can already hear a few people screaming from the comments, wHaT aBoUt ThE tWiTteR fiLeS? Surely, that is transparency?"While Musk's decision to selectively leak the messages of former employees was unprecedented and potentially illegal, the truth is that the so-called Twitter Files" didn't actually reveal all that much about how Twitter operated. And the company's own lawyers have refuted, in court, that the details within them are proof of any kind of government censorship or overreach.Moreover, the disclosures themselves weren't all that... transparent. Partial documents were only provided to a couple of writers - handpicked by Musk - who only published snippets of Slack messages, emails and screenshots from Twitter's internal tools. The underlying documents have still not been released in their entirety, or provided to other media outlets for dissemination. Even Jack Dorsey said it would have been better, and more transparent, to release everything Wikileaks style" for all to see, rather than selectively tweeting out bits and pieces.X and the everything app"Shortly before his takeover, Musk tweeted that buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app." At the time, many people assumed Musk was talking about emulating WeChat, which in China is used for almost all facets of daily life from shopping to messaging to banking.However, one year later, it's still not entirely clear what he means or how the service formerly known as Twitter will transform itself into something resembling an everything app." There are some signs of change: He and CEO Linda Yaccarino have said they want to add banking and other financial services to X. The platform has also introduced new features like video calling and is planning on adding live shopping.The WeChat comparison breaks down, however, when you consider that, while WeChat is unquestionably the most dominant app in China, Twitter is, at best, the sixth-most popular social media app in the US. And the app's usage has been sharply declining for the last year. There may be room to expand the types of features offered on X, but it's not clear they'll result in a significant boost in popularity or engagement.The existential threats to TwitterIf you had told me a year ago that Musk's decisions would be so unpopular it would lead to a mass exodus from the platform, I wouldn't have been surprised. Threatening to rage-quit Twitter over even the most minor of changes is a time honored tradition.But if you had told me that in less than a year, there would be a surge in upstart alternatives that are starting to feel like viable challengers, I would have been less credulous. And if you had told me that, a year later, the strongest-looking challenger was a fediverse-compatible platform created by Meta, I definitely wouldn't have believed it.But, with a year of hindsight, it strikes me that perhaps the most significant part of Musk's legacy so far is not what he's done to the service previously known as Twitter, but the wave of new platforms inspired by his actions.Bluesky, previously a backwater Twitter offshoot, has surged to a million users, despite still being an invitation-only network. Mastodon and the fediverse, both of which predate Musk's takeover, are more popular than ever. And Meta, which has a previously dismal track record at building its own apps (not called Facebook) that people like, has managed to make Threads into a viable (if flawed) alternative.None of these are perfect replacements for what old Twitter was, at its best. And they may not be able to sustain their momentum for years to come, but Musk's chaotic takeover of Twitter has ushered in what many believe to be a new era of social media. It feels increasingly possible that we may look back at the end of Twitter and the rise of X as a boon for a better version of social media.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/what-we-got-right-and-wrong-about-elon-musks-takeover-of-twitter-163003061.html?src=rss

One of JBL's best-sounding portable speakers is on sale via Amazon, with the Charge 5 matching a record low price of $120 in an early Black Friday deal. This Bluetooth speaker usually costs $180, so this represents a discount of 33 percent. We've seen this speaker go on sale before, but the price hasn't been this low since July.This sale is not just for the plain-jane black speaker, as you have your pick of colors, from gray, red and turquoise to unique patterns like camouflage. All told, choose from six colorways for the speaker.JBL's Charge 5 made our list of the best portable bluetooth speakers, and with good reason. The sound quality is great and we praised its bright output and capable low end." The battery lasts up to 20 hours per charge, which is a decent metric, and the whole thing is actually waterproof, with an IP67 rating. This means that if it accidentally falls in the pool during a backyard soiree, you won't have to head immediately to Best Buy for a replacement.There's also a built-in powerbank that lets you use the speaker to charge other devices, and this unit boasts access to JBL's proprietary PartyBoost feature. This lets you combine multiple wireless speakers to instantly create a stereo setup. As a matter of fact, the only potential downside to this portable speaker is the original asking price, as $180 is pretty steep. For today, at least, that issue has been solved.JBL also has a number of wireless earbuds and headphones on sale right now, to complete the personal audio package. You can snag the company's new high-end Quantum 910 headphones for $230, a savings of $70, or the budget-friendly Tune 230NC earbuds for $50 instead of $100.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/jbls-charge-5-speaker-drops-to-a-record-low-in-an-early-black-friday-deal-152651436.html?src=rss

Apple's M2-powered 12.9-inch iPad Pro with 256GB of storage is $150 off its regular price at Amazon. That drops the tablet down to $1,050 just a few days ahead of Apple's Scary Fast event. The company is widely expected to reveal its first M3 chipsets but it's not certain that Apple will offer M3-powered iPad Pros immediately. You may have to wait until next year for a high-end tablet with the upcoming chipset.Still, the M2 iPad Pro is our top pick for the best tablet you can buy right now. Even if Apple does announce an M3 iPad Pro in the coming days, it's hard to go wrong with the current model. It runs on the same chipset as MacBooks, so you'd be hard pressed to find a faster or more powerful tablet.We gave the M2 iPad Pro a score of 87 in our review. Apple didn't give the tablet many upgrades compared with the M1-powered model, other than a few small tweaks and, of course, plugging in a more powerful chipset. However, the iPad Pro already had arguably the best display of any tablet around with the 120Hz ProMotion mini-LED screen. The design remains top notch, while battery life is strong.Accessories such as the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil are helpful for productivity too. The 12.9-inch M2 model is our pick for the best iPad for power users thanks to the extra real estate compared with the 11-inch variant.The 128GB version of the M2 iPad Pro, meanwhile, is available for a record low price. It has dropped by 10 percent to $990 at Amazon for a model without cellular connectivity.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-m2-129-inch-ipad-pro-is-150-off-ahead-of-apples-scary-fast-event-143023375.html?src=rss

Double Tap is arguably the killer feature in the new Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. The gesture is Apple's answer to the problem of using a smartwatch when your opposite hand is holding a bag of groceries, dog leash, flashlight or anything else. In addition, it can be a splendid accessibility feature for people with disabilities that could limit arm or hand mobility. Although the company only offers limited customization of the feature at launch, you can tweak a couple of settings to fine-tune Double Tap to your liking.Update to watchOS 10.1Before you can use Double Tap, you'll need to ensure your Apple Watch is up-to-date. It requires at least watchOS 10.1, which Apple rolled out to customers on October 25. First, you need to update your paired iPhone to at least iOS 17.1, which became available the same day. You can do that on your phone in Settings > General > Software Update.After upgrading your phone's firmware, open the Apple Watch app on your paired phone, and then go to General > Software Update. Tap Install" and wait for the update to complete. Your watch must be charged to at least 50 percent while on its charger to initiate the installation.How to customize Double Tap on your Apple WatchImage by Cherlynn Low / EngadgetAlthough Apple may offer more customization in future software updates, Double Tap currently only lets you change how it handles audio playback and the Smart Stack. The latter, new in watchOS 10, is the pile of widgets you view from your watch face by swiping up from the bottom of the screen or scrolling up with the Digital Crown.First, open the Apple Watch app on your paired iPhone to customize these categories. Select Gestures > Double Tap, and then choose from the available options:

It seems like just about every streaming service has raised their price this year - most recently, Apple TV+, Netflix and Disney+. In this episode, we chat with Janko Roettgers, author of the newsletter Lowpass, about the state of streaming media. Why are these companies pushing their prices up now, and what does that mean for you, the viewer? Does this mean the dream of cord cutting is over? (Spoiler: No, not really.)Also, we chat about Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon chips, adult film star Riley Reid's new AI chatbot, and why Super Mario Wonder is the best 2D Mario game since Super Mario World.Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!Subscribe!

You can snag a pair of the well-reviewed Google Pixel Buds Pro earbuds for just $117 via Wellbots, a savings of $83. This matches the previous low for the product which was set during Amazon's Prime Day event a few weeks back. Just pop in our exclusive discount code ENGPIX83" at checkout and you'll be good to go.We called these earbuds the company's best effort to date in our official review, praising the deep and punchy bass, the useful touch controls, wireless charging options and more. As a matter of fact, it even made our list of the best wireless earbuds for 2023. In other words, these are the real deal.Our biggest complaint was the price, so this deep discount is more than welcome. However, we also called out the relatively lengthy pairing process and the half-baked transparency mode. The ambient sounds provided by the earbuds come in as muffled when this mode is activated, defeating the purpose of providing exterior noises in the first place. Beyond that short list of cons, however, these are considered the best earbuds on the market for Android devices. In most scenarios they sound absolutely fantastic.This deal from Wellbots also extends to another big-time Google device. You can get the Google Nest Hub Max for $130, a savings of $100. Make sure to put in our exclusive discount code ENGMAX100" to save all of that sweet, sweet cheddar. We praised the smart home controller upon launch, touting its accurate facial recognition tech, the integrated Nest camera, and the above-average sound quality, in addition to wide integration with smart home platforms.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-pixel-buds-pro-are-on-sale-for-117-130040494.html?src=rss

Home theater sets are up to 20 percent off right now as part of Sonos' early Black Friday deals. The sale, which starts today and runs through October 29, includes a bunch of sounder and subwoofer sets including the Ray + Sub Mini. Regularly priced at $708, that set is available for $566 right now. It could make a great holiday gift for someone living in an apartment or smaller space who wants to up their living room's sound experience. If you or your gifted have a bit more space, you can get the same set but with the Beam soundbar instead of the Ray for $742.The Ray soundbar, which secured a spot on Engadget's list of best soundbars, is compact but equipped with four class-D digital amplifiers. The device has a solid stereo presence" for its size, and can pair with other Sonos speakers to improve bass performance. We gave it a score of 82 in our review thanks to its solid sound quality for both music and TV audio and easy setup process. As mentioned above, it's arguably best for those living in smaller spaces; anyone with a big living room will want to step things up to a larger soundbar.The Sub Mini, which pairs with the Ray, connects to Wi-Fi with any 5GHz broadcast-capable router and can reach down to 25Hz. The device received praise in our review for its excellent bass" considering its size and for how easily it can connect with Sonos' wired speakers. This deal might be one worth checking if you're on the hunt for a practical sub and soundbar, but as we mentioned before, the Ray + Sub Mini is just one of many entertainment sets on sale right now. The most expensive top-line set, the Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc, which normally is listed for $2,596 is available for $2,211.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonos-home-theater-sets-are-up-to-20-percent-off-this-weekend-174800255.html?src=rss

In this dizzy world of digital tricks and image manipulation where you can erase objects and alter images with a smartphone swipe, Leica wants photos taken on its camera to leave a digital footprint, known as a Content Credential. The M11-P also has a 60-megapixel sensor, and the typical understated layout and Leica styling.Content Credentials capture metadata about the photograph - like the camera used, location, time and more- and locks those in a manifest that is wrapped up with the image using a cryptographic key. Those credentials can be verified online and whenever someone subsequently edits that photo, the changes are recorded to an updated manifest, bundled with the image and updated in the Content Credentials database.Users can click on an icon to pull up all of this historical manifest information, and is being described as a "nutrition label" for photographs.- Mat SmithYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!The biggest stories you might have missedFox Sports will use drones in World Series broadcasts for the first timeGoogle updates Maps with a flurry of AI features including 'Immersive View for routes'How Recteq's dual-chamber and griddle designs put a unique spin on pellet grillsThe best mesh Wi-Fi router systems of 2023FL Studio 21.2 can separate the bass, vocals and drums from your favorite songsGoogle expands its bug bounty program to target generative AI attacksWhat to expect from Apple's Scary Fast eventM3-powered MacBook Pros and new iMacs.EngadgetOn All Hallows' Eve... eve, Apple is hosting another event. This one is dubbed Scary Fast," which is a good indicator that Apple will have some powerful new hardware (or chips) to show off. It's been nearly 17 months since Apple's M2 system on a chip (SoC) debuted. With many chip rivals following an annual cadence for their chipsets, it may be time for the M3.Most rumors suggest a new iMac, possibly powered by the new chip, and the 24-inch iMac is well overdue for a refresh. Or maybe the company will scare us all with even more subscription price increases.Continue reading.The Xiaomi 14 Pro packs a faster Leica camera and comes in a titanium editionFor now, it's only headed to China.XiaomiXiaomi has only just introduced its 13T phone series outside of Asia, and the company is already revealing more flagship phones back in China. The Xiaomi 14 Pro has a 6.73-inch screen offering an industry-leading peak brightness of 3,000 nits and variable refresh rate from 1Hz to 120Hz. Its main camera has a variable aperture ranging from f/1.42 to f/4.0, a telephoto camera capable of 3.2x zoom, and a 50-megapixel f/2.2 camera for ultra-wide shots. Xiaomi 14 Pro starts from 4,999 yuan (around $680) but if you want the titanium edition, it'll cost you 6,499 yuan (around $890).Continue reading.Spotify looks set to overhaul its royalty model next yearIt could implement minimum play thresholds.Spotify's royalty model will get a massive revamp next year to give "working artists" a bigger cut. It's planning three changes, starting with establishing a minimum number of annual streams a track must reach to generate royalties. While these tracks make up a tiny percentage of music on the platform, their royalties still cost Spotify tens of millions of dollars a year. The second change is detecting illegal activity, like using AI tools to repeatedly stream tracks and artificially boost play counts. The third part is aimed at "non-music noise content," such as white noise and binaural beats. Many noise tracks on Spotify are only 31 seconds long because the platform pays for every play over half a minute. The listener then naturally leads onto another track, and possibly another royalty check. But not for much longer.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-leicas-new-camera-was-built-to-fight-disinformation-111541633.html?src=rss

If you're looking for a new laptop to brighten up the long winter ahead, now's your chance. Apple's 15-inch MacBook Air with M2 chip is back at its lowest price since October Prime Day. The 256GB model is currently marked down to $1,049 from $1,299 - a 19 percent discount.The $250 savings is also available on Apple's 512GB 15-inch MacBook Air, with a 17 percent discount dropping its price to $1,249 from $1,499. While every color is on sale, the silver option is still a little pricier than its counterparts - available for $1,300 and $1,149 for the 512GB and 256GB models, respectively.The 2023 15-inch MacBook Air came on the scene in June, and we were immediately big fans. In fact, we gave it a 96 in our review thanks to factors such as its excellent battery life, keyboard and (large) trackpad. The M2 chip also means it's well-performing, and the six-speaker sound system - the 13-inch model only has four - produces high-quality sound.The larger MacBook Air also has a 2,880 x 1,864 resolution, 500 nits of brightness and a 60Hz refresh rate. Sure, it's missing some of the bells and whistles of the MacBook Pro, but considering that even the 14-inch Pro starts at $1,999, the savings are likely worth it.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-15-inch-macbook-air-m2-is-250-off-right-now-102549910.html?src=rss

Cruise has paused all its driverless operations, the company has announced on LinkedIn and X. The GM-backed self-driving firm explained that it's taking time to examine its "processes, systems and tools" and that it will "reflect on how [it] can better operate in a way that will earn public trust." Cruise has been thrust under the spotlight recently after the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) suspended its permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state due to several safety related issues. The California Public Utilities Commission also suspended the license giving Cruise the right to charge passengers for robotaxi rides.

Earlier this month, Microsoft announced several upcoming accessibility features for Xbox players. A few of those features, including controller-to-keyboard input remapping, are now live and ready to use. This keyboard mapping feature is particularly significant as it will increase gaming options and improve the overall experience for folks with disabilities. Players will now have the ability to configure the buttons of the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 and the Xbox Adaptive Controller to match specific keys on their keyboards. Microsoft says this will help to "expand controller input capabilities in games that have many commands, have limited remapping capabilities, or do not support controllers."Keyboard mapping has been heavily requested by the accessibility community and this move by Microsoft shows the company is still listening. Now that this has been implemented, it will hopefully be easier for smaller developers to include accessibility features as well since they won't have to create that link independently.Microsoft has come a long way since stepping into the accessibility market. Back in 2015, the company launched the Xbox One Elite controller, which wasn't necessarily designed with accessibility in mind. But many of that controller's features have ultimately proven helpful for those with different needs.Microsoft later took a more intentional approach with the Xbox Adaptive Controller, which was released in 2018. This was created with the input of accessibility and inclusion advocates like AbleGamers, Warfighter Engaged, SpecialEffect, Craig Hospital and the Cerebral Palsy Foundation. The Xbox Adaptive Controller was the first of its kind, offering a plug-and-play option for people with disabilities.Other updates mentioned in today's announcement include a better way to capture and edit game stills in Clipchamp and improvements to diagnostic data sharing. All these features are live and can be accessed now.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsofts-keyboard-mapping-feature-for-xbox-controllers-is-here-202746052.html?src=rss

Apple has at least one more trick - or possibly a treat - up its sleeve this year. On October 30, the night before Halloween, the company is hosting another event. This one is dubbed Scary Fast," which is a strong indicator that Apple will have some speedy new hardware to show off. Unusually, Apple is holding this event in the evening. It starts at 8PM ET.This year's iPhones and Apple Watches are out in the wild already, but Apple has a bunch of other product categories that it could focus on here. There's always the chance that we might get iPad updates. But, if rumors are to be believed, Apple's focus during the Scary Fast event will be on Macs and a fresh batch of chipsets to power them.M3 chipApple won't be talking about speed advancements without having new hardware to discuss. That could all start with upgraded chipsets. It's been nearly 17 months since Apple's M2 system on a chip (SoC) debuted. With many manufacturers having an annual cadence for their chipsets, it may be time for Apple to move onto the next generation. (No, shoving two M2 Max chips together isn't quite the same thing.) For what it's worth, the M2 series debuted 19 months after the M1. So, if Apple announces the M3 at the Scary Fast event, the latest SoC would be arriving after a similar period of time.Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has suggested that "M3 series MacBook Pro" will be the focus of the event, indicating that the company will have more than one new SoC to reveal. As such, there's a chance that we could see an M3 Pro and maybe even an M3 Max during the Scary Fast showcase.iMacA new 24-inch iMac could make its debut at the Scary Fast event. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that a fresh model is expected to arrive this month. He noted that the iMac is in short supply at Apple retail stores, which is another sign that an upgrade is imminent.The 24-inch iMac is well overdue for a refresh, and there have been rumblings for a while that an M3 variant was in the pipeline. The most recent model was an M1-powered machine that arrived in April 2021. Making the leap to M3 - assuming that the new chip lineup is more capable than the M2 series - may make any new iMac worth the upgrade for many users.MacBook ProDevindra Hardawar/EngadgetThere's a very good chance Apple will have at least one MacBook Pro refresh to show off at the event. Both Kuo and Gurman have indicated that will be the case.Gurman pointed out that the 13-inch, 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro all currently have extended shipping times on Apple's web store. That's often an indicator that the company is winding down the supply of existing products. Furthermore, Gurman reported that Apple has been testing M3 Max and M3 Pro MacBook Pro models. Those could now be ready for prime time.However, Kuo doesn't expect Apple to have a huge inventory of new MacBook Pro units to sell this year. He previously didn't anticipate that Apple would start selling M3-powered laptops before the end of the year due to limited supply of between 400,000 and 500,000 units. Unless demand drops, Kuo said supply may remain tight until early 2024.MacBook sales have waned this year, mainly due to "the limited M2 computing power upgrade," Kuo wrote on X. That might be a reason why Apple is willing to start shipping M3 MacBook Pros now, even if supply is constrained. Announcing new models just a few days before reporting quarterly earnings could help give investors confidence in the company (recent increases of Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and Apple News+ prices could play into that too).If M3-powered models don't lead to a boost in sales, though, Kuo suggests it's more likely that a MacBook Pro with a new design will arrive in 2025. Furthermore, Apple may try to beef up the division with a more budget-friendly MacBook that has an annual sales target of between 8 million and 10 million.iPad ProNathan Ingraham / EngadgetWe can't disregard our hunch that we'll see at least one iPad at Apple's event. With the focus likely to be on M3-powered products, the chances are that any new iPad will be of the Pro variety with one of those chips inside.It has only been a year since the most recent iPad Pro debuted. Other than a few small tweaks, Apple only really swapped in the M2 in place of the M1. The next iPad Pro will probably need more changes to make it more palatable for anyone who picked up the previous two models, which means Apple might need more time to get it ready. If that's the case, the company might be content to give the iPad Pro a spec bump for the time being.Other iPads could also get a refresh at the event, just in time for the holidays. We won't have to wait too long to find out either way. We'll have full coverage of everything you need to know from the Scary Fast event at Engadget, so while you're waiting for Halloween trick-or-treaters to show up, slip into your jammies, grab a mug of cocoa and join us on Monday evening.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/what-we-expect-at-apples-scary-fast-event-m3-powered-macbook-pros-and-new-imacs-191549274.html?src=rss

Drones aren't new tools for live sports production, but when the World Series begins this Friday, Fox Sports will use a fleet of three compact aircraft during the Fall Classic for the first time ever. Previously, the network used drones during baseball games for coverage of the All-Star and Field of Dreams games. Fox also employs drones for its broadcasts of USFL and first began using them for production in 2015.For the World Series, Fox plans to use the trio of drones to capture moments like relief pitchers coming in from the bullpen, warm-ups between innings and pitchers leaving the mound. The network collaborated with Beverly Hills Aerials on the customized fleet and that company will operate them. While Fox says it will select the drone best-suited for what it's capturing, all three are FPV units (first-person view) and only one will be in the air at any given time. The pilot will be positioned in the outfield either behind or between the bullpens. While all three drones are equipped with 4K cameras, Fox says they'll transmit 1080p HDR footage that will also be available for use on jumbo screens inside the two stadiums.

Daimler has finally started producing its flagship medium-duty electric truck, the Freightliner eM2, in its manufacturing plant in Portland, Oregon. The company didn't say when its first production units will be available but once they are complete, the vehicles will be delivered to select commercial leasing companies in the US and Canada.The eM2 is powered by a battery-electric Detroit ePowertrain and is designed with 2-speed transmissions that minimize energy cost per mile. The truck's driving range will depend on the battery capacity per model. The class 6 single-motor version that has a 194 kWh battery can drive up to 180 miles on a single charge. Alternatively, the class 7 dual-motor which is equipped with a 291 kWh battery can drive up to 250 miles on a single charge.The Freightliner eM2 electric delivery truck, which has been in the works since 2019, was able to be recharged to 200 miles in 60 minutes during testing with Penske. But that test was four years ago, and the company didn't say anything about recharge times in today's news. Access to charging stations, like the ones being developed by Penske, will be essential for Daimler's rollout of the eM2. In a similar regard, Volvo, which contends against Daimler in the EV long-haul trucking space, has been focused on improving the battery ranges of vehicles in its truck fleet. The Volvo FE electric truck, which competes against the eM2, has a range of up to 170 miles and is expected to be out for deliveries in autumn of this year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/daimler-begins-manufacturing-freightliner-em2-electric-trucks-185447791.html?src=rss

Threads finally has built-in options for posting GIFs and polls. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the updates on Thursday, replying with his own GIFs and polls to a string of users who'd questioned when these features would come to the platform. Both have begun rolling out for the Threads app and on the web, though polls seems to be taking a bit longer to make its way to the latter.While users could previously post GIFs using workarounds like third-party keyboards or by copy/pasting them from elsewhere, with mixed results, there was no native button in the app itself. Now, users will see a GIF button in the post creation window next to the image gallery button, which will pull up a searchable GIPHY library to choose from.For polls, users will be able to add up to four choices for others to vote on, and control who can and can't respond. Polls will stay open for 24 hours after they're posted, and only people who responded to the poll will be able to see the results as they come in. The poll button will appear in the post creation toolbar as three horizontal lines.GIFs and polls have become staple features on Twitter, where they've been available for years, and users who have turned to Threads as an alternative have been asking for them since the beginning. Instagram got GIF replies this past spring and polls only last week, so their arrival on Threads was perhaps an obvious next step. Slowly but surely, Threads has been adding more and more to the experience as it finds its footing, and it seems to be working. Just yesterday, Zuckerberg said the platform now has almost 100 million monthly active users.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/threads-now-has-polls-and-an-easy-way-to-post-gifs-184330729.html?src=rss

As the right to repair movement continues to pick up steam, DIY aficionados iFixit just announced a partnership with Microsoft to provide replacement parts for a wide range of Surface devices. These are genuine parts manufactured by Microsoft specifically for the purpose of conducting repairs, so you won't have to worry about integration issues.All told, iFixit's offering parts for 13 Surface models, including the Surface Pro 9 and the Surface Laptop 15. Visit the dedicated Microsoft Repair Hub for a list of compatible devices and parts. These components range from batteries and SSDs to displays and keyboards. As with all iFixit collaborations, you also get access to disassembly videos and step-by-step guides so you don't accidentally turn your Surface tablet into an expensive paperweight.You can purchase each component on its own or part of a comprehensive fix kit that includes everything you need to conduct the repairs, including tools and accessories. iFixit is especially proud of this partnership, urging customers to imagine how different the world would be if repairing every device and having access to original spare parts was this simple." To that end, it's much less annoying to replace a battery or hard drive on your own than having to take it to a repair center and play the waiting game.The company recently made similar agreements with other tech giants, as it now offers replacement parts for Google Pixel tablets and for Google Pixel Fold devices. Accessory manufacturer Logitech also got on board, offering repair parts for two of its most popular mouse models.Apple, however, remains a hold out and iFixit recently dinged the iPhone 15 Pro Max's repairability score due to the company's software-restricted parts pairing" requirement. This means that you have to order replacement components directly from Apple and get on the phone with a company tech before iOS devices will accept individual part replacements.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ifixit-now-sells-official-replacement-parts-for-microsoft-surface-devices-173050519.html?src=rss

Chinese gadget manufacturer Honor just teased its forthcoming flagship smartphone, the Magic 6, at Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit. While many details of the phone remain mysterious, the company did announce that it would include built-in eye-tracking and an on-board artificial intelligence powered by a large language model (LLM.)One of the phone's key features is something called Magic Capsule, an eye-tracking based multimodal interaction." Eye-tracking has some potential real world uses when it comes to smartphones, as the sensors and cameras can perform actions based on where you're looking. So you can open up an app or engage with content on the phone simply by staring at the right spot.This could be a game-changer for those with disabilities, allowing near-total access to the device via minute eye movements. However, some folks may get a bit queasy with the idea of our phones tracking every single thing we stare at.While the actual specs of the Magic 6 are still under wraps, Honor did announce the presence of an on-board LLM. This built-in chatbot is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile chipset.It's important to note the distinction here. This is an on-board LLM. Typically when you engage with an AI chatbot or service on your phone, you're fiddling with a cloud-based LLM that exists on a server somewhere. With the Magic 6, every piece of data that the chatbot will access is already on the phone.This should drastically increase the speed and reliability of results, potentially turning the phone into one heck of a personal assistant, as it'll have access to everything on the device, including your photos, contacts, videos and more. Despite this unfettered access, the Magic 6 should actually be more private than competing smartphones, as everything stays on the device and isn't shuffled off to the cloud.The company showed off some nifty features that take advantage of this technology. The smart assistant, nicknamed YOYO, can create short videos based on footage stored on the phone via a simple chat prompt. You can also adjust templates, themes and music with similar prompts. The bot will also collect images and videos stored on your phone that match a specific search criteria, with more use case scenarios to be revealed at a later date.Honor's Magic 6 flagship smartphone was just announced and the company didn't provide a release date or cost information. However, Qualcomm says that phones featuring its new chipset will begin shipping in the coming weeks, so the Magic 6 could be one of them. In the meantime, Honor has made quite the name for itself in the folding phone space.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/honor-teases-the-magic-6-smartphone-with-eye-tracking-and-a-built-in-llm-160009149.html?src=rss

Starting Thursday, Uber users in Phoenix might find themselves taking a ride in a driverless car. The company, which sold its own self-driving unit a few years ago, has teamed up with Waymo to offer driverless rides. It's the first time Uber has offered fully autonomous rides.When someone in Phoenix requests an UberX, Uber Green, Uber Comfort or Uber Comfort Electric ride, they may be matched with a Waymo vehicle if they're in the service area and there's one available. Users will be able to request a ride with a human driver if they're matched with a Waymo but don't want to travel in a robotaxi. Alternatively, those eager to try a Waymo ride can set up their ride preferences to make it more likely that they'll match with an autonomous vehicle.As with any other ride, users will see the price of a Waymo trip up front. They'll pay the same as an UberX, Uber Green, Uber Comfort or Uber Comfort Electric fare. When a Waymo vehicle shows up, you can unlock it by tapping a prompt in the Uber app. Once you're inside and ready to go, tap another button to start the ride. You'll still have access to Uber support staff at any time too.Today is an important step in our journey to bring safe, reliable autonomous driving technology to the Uber platform," Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi wrote in a blog post. Looking ahead, we expect that the number of human drivers and AVs on the Uber platform will continue to grow, side by side, for quite a long time as we continue to scale a hybrid, global network that combines both."Waymo has been offering autonomous rides in Phoenix since 2020, but the Uber partnership will likely see many more people trying them out for the first time. Even so, Waymo says its vehicles already carry out more than 10,000 trips every week in the Metro Phoenix area.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/uber-starts-offering-fully-autonomous-waymo-rides-in-phoenix-153055331.html?src=rss

We call Samsung's Galaxy Watch 6 the best option for Android users in our smartwatch buying guide, and it's now on sale for $235 at Amazon. There's always a chance we see a better deal on Black Friday, but for now, that's the lowest price we've tracked for the wearable outside of trade-in deals. The discount only applies to the 40mm Graphite model without LTE support, but it's still $65 cheaper than buying from Samsung directly and $25 below the previous low we saw earlier this month. If you have larger wrists or want a bigger display, the 44mm version of the wearable is down to $280, which is $50 off its MSRP. The 40mm Gold model is also on sale for $250.We gave the Galaxy Watch 6 a review score of 84 back in September. It's not all that different than the Galaxy Watches that preceded it, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Its design is still clean and relatively durable, its interface remains simple enough to navigate and it continues to offer the usual array of health-tracking sensors. New with this model is a slightly brighter and larger OLED display with thinner bezels. There's a bigger battery as well, though you shouldn't expect much more than a day of use out of this 40mm model on average (the 44mm variant should last longer, though).Apart from the expected activity- and sleep-tracking insights, the Galaxy Watch 6 can measure your skin temperature overnight, monitor your blood oxygen levels and notify you if it senses an irregular heart rhythm. It's still accurate at automatically detecting and logging workouts as well. All of this runs on Google's Wear OS 4, and Samsung says the device will gain software updates through 2027.One thing the Galaxy Watch 6 does not have is a rotating bezel for navigating the OS. For that, you have to step up to the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, which is on sale for $350 and also comes with a sturdier stainless steel case. Though we broadly like both devices for Android users, they'll still work best when paired with a Samsung phone. Many of the Galaxy Watch 6's software features will trickle down to older models as well, so there's no need to upgrade if you own a Watch 5. But if you don't use an iPhone and have been looking to grab your first smartwatch, this is a good entry point.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsungs-galaxy-watch-6-falls-to-an-all-time-low-of-235-151528892.html?src=rss

Respawn Entertainment is adding a long-awaited feature to Apex Legends: cross-platform progression. When the new season goes live on October 31, players will see an in-game message that explains how this works. The profile with the highest account level will be designated as their primary account. They'll maintain that level, and all of the cosmetics, achievements and badges from other profiles that are linked to the same EA ID will be merged into the master account. An EA ID is required to play Apex on any platform.Account merging for cross-progression is mandatory, Respawn said, but it means that those who play the battle royale across multiple platforms will have access to their cosmetic items and currencies no matter where they happen to be playing at a given time. You'll also make progress on the same battle pass whether you're playing on PC, PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo Switch. Respawn noted that nothing will change for folks who only play on one platform with a single profile.Cross-progression has been a long time coming. Respawn has been chipping away at the feature since at least 2020, the same year the studio enabled cross-platform play. However, work on cross-progression was delayed by hacks that impacted Apex and both Titanfall games.Account merging is arriving alongside an intriguing new playable character. Her name is Conduit and she's a support who is focused on shields. With her tactical ability, Radiant Transfer, she can supply nearby teammates with extra temporary shields. If her chums are out of range of her tactical, she can get a burst of speed as she races toward them, thanks to her passive ability. Conduit's ultimate is called Energy Barricade. She'll deploy a row of seven shield jammers that will slow and damage enemies.Conduit is said to be a superfan of the Apex Games - for one of her finishers, she takes a selfie of her and her enemy before delivering a fatal punch. The support has ties to the Titanfall games as well. She carries a battery from a titan on her back, and this powers her combat rig.Elsewhere, Respawn has revamped the Storm Point map with six new points of interest. Respawn tweaked around 40 percent of the map to make it smaller. The aim is to push players to engage with each other more often and to deliver faster-paced action.Meanwhile, there's more good news for some players thanks to big changes to Ranked play. There will no longer be any restrictions on grouping up as a trio, so Bronze and Silver players will be able to play the competitive mode with buddies who are at higher ranks and vice versa.It seems that Respawn has a plan to mitigate account boosting, whereby more skilled individuals help carry low-ranked players up the ladder. The studio is introducing a skill check system, called promotional (or promo) trials. Those who are on the verge of reaching the next rank will first have to complete a challenge to prove that they're good enough. For instance, they may have five attempts to win a match in order to rank up. Otherwise, they can place in the top 10 three times and get three kills or assists three times within those five matches.If a player fails this time-limited skill check, they'll have to work their way back to the promo trial. They'll gradually get more trial matches (up to 10) to complete their objective. If they perform exceptionally poorly and reach the limit of trial games, they might be pushed far down the Ranked ladder and have to put in even more legwork to have a chance of reaching the next skill tier.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apex-legends-will-finally-support-cross-platform-progression-150059645.html?src=rss

Linksys just released its first-ever mesh Wi-Fi 7 router, the Velop Pro 7. It's powered by the latest Qualcomm Networking Pro 620 platform, which the company says helps it achieve wire-like stability." The mesh system can connect up to 200 devices per node and each node offers approximately 3,000 square feet of coverage.Linksys says these routers use a proprietary technology called Continuous Mesh that continually optimizes the system to match connected devices and increase speed. The company says this makes the Velop Pro 7 particularly useful for gadgets equipped with AR/VR technology, like the recently-released Meta Quest 3 headset.Mesh router systems can be frustrating to install, particularly when you're working with multiple nodes, but Linksys claims its newest release can be fully incorporated into your home in just ten minutes. The company says its new setup technology hastens the process by nearly 70 percent when compared to other Linksys router systems.This is a tri-band system, so it'll connect to just about anything, which is always nice. It also integrates with the Linksys app, so you can keep an eye on what devices are connected to suss out anything that doesn't quite belong. This app even lets you pause your wireless connection so you can focus on homework or, cough, writing about routers for the internet.The Velop Pro 7 is available today straight from the company or via Best Buy. The bare-bones pack, featuring a single node, costs $400, with two nodes costing $750 and three nodes ramping up to $1,000. UK residents will have to wait until mid-November for the launch, with global availability coming at a later date.This may be the first mesh Wi-Fi 7 system for Linksys, but the industry is adopting this modern wireless standard at a rapid clip. Netgear, for instance, has gone all-in on the concept with the release of its Nighthawk RS700S router and the ultra-expensive flagship Orbi 970 system.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/linksys-releases-its-first-ever-wi-fi-7-mesh-router-system-160053926.html?src=rss

It's only been a month since Xiaomi introduced the 13T series to the international market, and the company is already pushing out more flagship phones back in China. The freshly-announced Xiaomi 14 series is the first device to run the company's supposedly more efficient and more interoperable HyperOS, which aims to bridge the gap between "human, cars, and home." Naturally, these phones also feature Qualcomm's AI-centric Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor launched earlier this week, with the bonus being a faster Leica Summilux lens and a floating telephoto lens for both the 14 and 14 Pro, along with a tough "Xiaomi Ceramic Glass" plus a titanium edition - literally the "one more thing" at the launch event - reserved for the Pro model.Starting with the Xiaomi 14, its 6.36-inch screen boasts a new C8 AMOLED display panel co-developed by the phone maker and TCL CSOT. This offers an industry-leading peak brightness of 3,000 nits, as well as the common pixel density of 460 ppi and variable refresh rate from 1Hz to 120Hz. The phone also packs a 4,610mAh battery with 90W wired fast charging and 50W wireless fast charging. Audio-wise, you get a 4-mic array - great on paper when it comes to noise cancellation for phone calls - and stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos. If waterproof (and dustproof) is a must, don't worry, as the phones in this series are all rated with IP68.XiaomiThe higher-end Xiaomi 14 Pro looks very similar, except for its larger size - it's a 6.73-inch screen here, and there's a bigger 4,880mAh battery tucked inside (with faster 120W wired charging; same 50W wireless charging though). You won't see it, but it's also worth noting that the 14 Pro's USB 3.2 port offers a whopping 10Gbps data transfer speed, which is twice as fast as the one on the 14.If you place both models side by side, you'll see how all four sides of both glass panels are curved on the Pro, with the top panel retaining a flat screen look to avoid distortion. The display packs a 2K (WGHD+) resolution, which equates to an impressive pixel density of 522ppi. For the first time, Xiaomi took a page out of Huawei's book and created its own tough glass, which is aptly dubbed "Xiaomi Ceramic Glass." This supposedly features "10 times higher drop resistance and 1.25 times higher scratch resistance." In fact, the 14 Pro's titanium edition even has both sides shielded by this special glass, hence its 7g (0.25oz) of extra weight when compared to the regular model's 223g (7.87oz).XiaomiBoth models come with a set of similar cameras, with the main Summilux lens featuring a new "Light Fusion 900" image sensor (50-megapixel, 1/1.3-inch, 1.2um, OIS) with a supposedly high dynamic range. While the Xiaomi 14's main camera has an f/1.6 aperture, the Pro has a variable aperture ranging from f/1.42 to f/4.0 for more the sake of versatility. For the first time, you get the same floating telephoto lens (3.2x zoom, f/2.0, OIS) on both models (instead of just on the Pro), which lets you easily toggle between telephoto mode and close-up mode. For ultra-wide capture, it's a 50-megapixel f/2.2 camera with a 115-degree viewing angle. For those who are nerdy enough to care, both the telephoto camera and the ultra-wide camera use a Samsung JN1 sensor.Xiaomi is currently taking pre-orders for both models in China. The 14 Pro starts from 4,999 yuan (around $680) for the 12GB RAM with 256GB storage, and it maxes out at 5,999 yuan (about $820) with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. If you want the titanium edition, it's the same top specs, but it'll cost you 6,499 yuan (around $890). As for the more affordable Xiaomi 14, it starts from 3,999 yuan ($550) with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, then it goes all the way up to 4,999 yuan - matching that of the 14 Pro's base model - with 16GB RAM and 1TB storage. There's no word on when to expect international availability yet, but given the pattern of Xiaomi's recent flagships, it's probably just a matter of time.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-xiaomi-14-pro-packs-a-faster-leica-camera-and-comes-in-a-titanium-edition-141515470.html?src=rss

It's getting to the point these days that we can't even trust our own eyes with the amounts of digital trickery, trolling, misinformation and disinformation dominating social media. Heck, even reputable tech companies are selling us solutions to reimagine historical events. Not Leica, though! The venerated camera company officially announced the hotly-anticipated M11-P on Thursday, its first camera to incorporate the Content Credential secure metadata system.Content Credentials are the result of efforts by the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI), "a group of creators, technologists, journalists, and activists leading the global effort to address digital misinformation and content authenticity," and the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), "a formal coalition dedicated exclusively to drafting technical standards and specifications as a foundation for universal content provenance." These intertwined industry advocacy groups created Content Credentials system in response to growing abuse and misuse of generative AI systems in creating and spreading misinformation online."The Leica M11-P launch will advance the CAI's goal of empowering photographers everywhere to attach Content Credentials to their photographs at the time of capture," Santiago Lyon, Head of Advocacy and Education at CAI, said in a press statement, "creating a chain of authenticity from camera to cloud and enabling photographers to maintain a degree of control over their art, story and context.""This is the realization of a vision the CAI and our members first set out four years ago, transforming principles of trust and provenance into consumer-ready technology," he continued.LeicaContent Credentials works by capturing specific metadata about the photograph - the camera used to take it, as well as the location, time and other details about the shot - and locks those in a secure "manifest" that is bundled up with the image itself using a cryptographic key (the process is opt-in for the photog). Those credentials can easily be verified online or on the Leica FOTOS app. Whenever someone subsequently edits that photo, the changes are recorded to an updated manifest, rebundled with the image and updated in the Content Credentials database whenever it is reshared on social media. Users who find these images online can click on the CR icon in the pictures corner to pull up all of this historical manifest information as well, providing a clear chain of providence, presumably, all the way back to the original photographer. The CAI describes Content Credentials as a "nutrition label" for photographs.The M11-P itself is exactly what you'd expect from a company that's been at the top of the camera market since the middle of the last century. It offers a 60 MP BSI CMOS sensor on a Maestro-III processor with 256 GB of internal storage. The M11-P is now on sale but it's also $9,480 at retail so, freelancers, sorry.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/leicas-m11-p-is-a-disinformation-resistant-camera-built-for-wealthy-photojournalists-130032517.html?src=rss

As with all things Google of late, AI capabilities are coming to Maps. The company announced a slew of machine learning updates for the popular app Thursday including an "Immersive View" for route planning, deeper Lens integration for local navigation and more accurate real-time information.Back in May at its I/O developer conference, Google executives debuted Immersive View for routes, which provides navigation shots of your planned route. Whether you're on foot, bike, taking public transportation or driving, this will allow you to scrub back and forth through street level, turn-by-turn visuals of the path you're taking. The feature arrives on iOS and Android this week for Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, Florence, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Paris, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Tokyo and Venice.Just because you can see the route to get where you're going doesn't guarantee you'll be able to read the signage along the way. Google is revamping its existing AI-based Search with Live View feature in Maps. Simply tap the Lens icon in Maps and wave your phone around, the system will determine your precise street level location and be able to direct you to nearby resources like ATMs, transit stations, restaurants, coffee shops and stores.The map itself is set to receive a significant upgrade. Buildings along your route will be more accurately depicted within the app to help you better orient yourself in unfamiliar cities, lane details along tricky highway interchanges will be more clearly defined in-app as well. Those updates will arrive for users in a dozen countries including the US, Canada, France and Germany over the next few months. US users will also start to see better in-app HOV lane designations and European customers should expect a significant expansion of Google's AI speed limit sign reader technology out to 20 nations in total.GoogleGoogle Maps also runs natively in a growing number of electric vehicles, as part of the Android Automotive OS ecosystem. That Maps is getting an update too as part of the new Places API. Starting this week, drivers will see increased information about nearby charging stations including whether the plugs work with their EV, the power throughput of the charger, and whether the plug has been used recently - an indirect means of inferring whether or not the station is out of service, which Google helpfully points out, is the case around 25 percent of them.Even search is improving with the new update. Users will be soon able to look for nearby destinations that meet more esoteric criteria, such as animal latte art" or pumpkin patch with my dog," results of which are gleaned from the analysis of "billions of photos shared by the Google Maps community," per a Google blog post Thursday.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-maps-update-ai-immersive-view-search-ev-charger-location-130015451.html?src=rss

Image Line continues to admirably stick to its guns, delivering free updates for life to FL Studio users. And every update brings something new and noteworthy, rarely are they simple bug fixes. FL Studio 21.2 is no different, bringing two of the biggest updates in some time.First up is the introduction of stem separation. This is huge for producers who want to dabble in remixing, but can't get access to official stems for songs they want to reimagine. But it's also a boon for anyone who is into sampling. At some point we've all come across a record that we absolutely love the drums or strings on, but can't seem to find a clean enough section of the song without vocals or bass. This is a feature that has proven particularly popular in DJ focused apps like Serato and Djpro, but is obviously of interest to more traditional music producers as well.Image LineFL Studio handled the handful of tests I tossed at it pretty admirably. The quality and busyness of the mix made a huge difference in how effectively it was able to pull out individual tracks, but that's no surprise. It's also limited to drums, bass, vocals and "instruments" which covered literally everything else.When I pulled in a mix of an instrumental track I was working on it snagged the drums perfectly. The bass was isolated, but sounded thin and distant, while the "instruments" (two guitars and a synth) had a regular click in it that seemed like it might have been bleeding through from the hi-hats. The Escorts' "All We Need Is Another Chance" and Beyonce's "Freedom" fared better. While there was definitely some digital artifacts in the drums on "Freedom" they'd have been barely noticeable in a full mix. The bass and vocals came out perfectly, though. (By the way, reduced to just drums, bass and vocals, it still hits hard.)In general the stem separator fared best with drums and vocals. Though, I dream of the day when the technology is advanced enough for me to single out things like guitars or strings.Image LineThe other major addition is one that might prove a little controversial, FL Cloud. There is a free tier, but its most exciting features are locked behind a subscription service, though, one that delivers a solid value. For one it puts all of Image Line's samples and sound packs directly in your DAW and will tempo sync and time stretch them to match your project. If you pay for a subscription, you have unlimited access to all of these, including the new packs released every month - no worrying about credits or monthly caps like you might find on Splice. The free tier gives you access to free sounds, but you'll have to pay for premium sample packs.FL Cloud also includes an AI mastering tool. You get a basic version of this for free, but paying unlocks more advanced options tailored to specific genres. And lastly, subscribers get access to distribution tools powered by DistroKid directly from within FL Studio.While there will undoubtedly be some users irked by even this limited implementation of a subscription model, it's hard to argue with the value. $8 a month, or $80 a year gets you unlimited royalty free samples, advanced AI mastering and distribution to all the major streaming services. That's the same price as a Loopcloud sample subscription on its own, which has pretty stringent monthly limits and significantly cheaper than any Splice sub. Image Line is even offering an introductory discount of $50 for the first year and a one month free trial to all FL Studio users.Finally there's also a new instrument added to the native FL Studio plugins called Kepler that is a pretty solid recreation of the Roland Juno 6. FL Studio 21.2 is available now as a free update for existing users, though some features, like the Kepler plugin are only available with the Producer edition or higher.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fl-studio-212-can-separate-the-bass-vocals-and-drums-from-your-favorite-songs-140041298.html?src=rss

The following article contains major spoilers for Season Four, Episode NineStar Trek: Lower Decks takes its name and premise from a late episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Lower Decks" pivots away from the show's usual format to focus on four junior crew members and is told mostly from their perspective. One of them is Sito Jaxa (Shannon Fill) who had appeared two years earlier as a cadet in The First Duty." That episode focused on Wesley Crusher's involvement in a conspiracy to cover up an accident that killed a fellow cadet. It also gave us our first look at Nicholas Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill), the episode's ostensible villain. Locarno was, at some point, intended to be the helm officer in Voyager and was named as such in an early draft of the series' bible. But, during pre-production, Locarno's name was dropped and McNeill instead played Tom Paris, with the same backstory. Producers have, in various interviews, said the issue hinged on Locarno's redeemability after his actions in The First Duty." But it's equally plausible that the character was changed to avoid paying royalties to the character's creators. But, even if you knew none of the above information, I don't think you'd get any less out of this week's episode of Lower Decks. Because while this series was conceived at the get-go to play to the crowd and bury itself in references, it rarely does so at the expense of telling a good story.Mariner is once again throwing herself into harm's way to save her friends without regard to her own safety. Her cavalier attitude to life, death, and her own career have threaded through much of this season to the point that now, even Captain Freeman is worried. She pulls the rest of Beta shift into a plan that'll keep her daughter out of harm's way on the next mission. Starfleet thinks the rogue ship destroying everything in its path might be targeting former officers. The list of at-risk individuals includes high-profile figures like Dr. Crusher but, this being Lower Decks, the Cerritos is sent off to find Nicholas Locarno. And while that's going on, Freeman sends Mariner, Boimler, Tendi and T'Lyn on what she hopes will be a zero-stakes assignment to fix a weather buoy in orbit around Sherbal V. Except, of course, the crew's shuttle is attacked by a Klingon Bird of Prey and the crew have to beam down to the hostile planet below.Meanwhile, Freeman, Shaxs and Rutherford head to what can only be described as a Star Wars planet where Locarno is meant to be plying his trade. Despite its reputation as a wretched hive of scum and villainy, it's got a muscular bureaucracy that the inhabitants use to frustrate Starfleet officers. The episode makes full use of that disconnect between the stuffed-shirt crew and the rougher corners of the universe. It was rare that we'd see the Next Generation crew really get their elbows dirty - the best I can call to mind is the awkward moments in Gambit." There's just something inherently funny about the primary-colored space communist scouts encountering hairy-assed people who live in the real world." That's before you get to Captain Freeman trying to beat up a Balok puppet that turns out to be a real alien. Of course, it's a double bluff - at each turn, the villains put bureaucratic obstacles in Starfleet's way but wave through a sinister bounty hunter type out of spite. Except the bounty hunter in question is Billups wearing a silly helmet, who got the necessary data to track down Locarno.On the planet, the rest of Beta Shift is left fending for their lives as chaotic weather makes survival even harder. It doesn't help that the victims of other attacks, explorers from several other alien races, are all fighting to the death for supremacy. Mariner, frustrated at the gang's wise refusal to fight their way to safety, opts to go it alone and bumps into a Klingon. But their own fight to the death is interrupted by a rainstorm of glass shards and, while they shelter, Mariner finally reveals the source of her angst. She's been sabotaging her career because she's deeply resentful about Starfleet, and her role within it. When she signed up, she'd bought into the idea of exploring strange new worlds, but instead the Federation has been embroiled in an endless parade of galaxy-threatening wars. Her best friend was Sito Jaxa, from Lower Decks," who in that episode was sent to her death on a covert mission. Starfleet quite literally chewed up and spat out one of her friends, but as much as Mariner may hate what Starfleet is, she can't quite just walk away because of what the Starfleet ideal represents. And you don't need to be fluent with the events of a TV series from 31 years ago - Good God, I feel old - or the para-narrative around Voyager's pre-production, to appreciate that dilemma. Of course, her Klingon opponent counters, saying that Mariner's angst dishonors Sito's sacrifice, and that she needs to get on with the job at hand. And, much as she agrees, she adds (just before hugging her former opponent) that she's still duty-bound to call out when Starfleet "can do better."Despite its love of self-referentiality, Star Trek has often struggled with any degree of on-screen self-interrogation. There are moments, best exemplified by the Root Beer scene in The Way of the Warrior," where the show touches on the values it espouses. The show's numerous creative teams have often pushed the idea that Starfleet, and the Federation, aren't as noble a force as the myth suggests. With Beyond, Simon Pegg wanted to focus on the nature of the Federation as a colonizing force, even if that concept is almost entirely erased from the finished film. I'll leave it to better writers than I to explore this in depth, but it's rare we get moments where Starfleet officers wonder, out loud or in private, if they aren't the universally good force they've been led to believe they are. This thread is also paid off in the B-story as Freeman and Co. are told, more or less, that nobody in the real world likes having them around. Sure, it's a gag in a sitcom, and our sympathies are almost universally with the Starfleet crew, but the fact it's here at all isn't to be sniffed at.By the time we've reached the cliffhanger, Beta shift is trying to cajole the warring parties to work together. And, if we're honest, the idea of disparate groups coming together to solve a problem as a whole is, surely, an idea worth upholding. But before we can see if they are able to be rescued, Mariner is beamed away to an ultra-minimalist starship. After forcing the door, she comes face-to-face with her rescuer / captor, and it's... Nicholas Locarno.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/star-trek-lower-decks-goes-back-to-its-beginnings-130001207.html?src=rss

With concerns around generative AI ever-present, Google has announced an expansion of its Vulnerability Rewards Program (VRP) focused on AI-specific attacks and opportunities for malice. As such, the company released updated guidelines detailing which discoveries qualify for rewards and which fall out of scope. For example, discovering training data extraction that leaks private, sensitive information falls in scope, but if it only shows public, nonsensitive data, then it wouldn't qualify for a reward. Last year, Google gave security researchers $12 million for bug discoveries.Google explained that AI presents different security issues than their other technology - such as model manipulation and unfair bias - requiring new guidance to mirror this. "We believe expanding the VRP will incentivize research around AI safety and security, and bring potential issues to light that will ultimately make AI safer for everyone," the company said in a statement. "We're also expanding our open source security work to make information about AI supply chain security universally discoverable and verifiable."AI companies, including Google, gathered at the White House earlier this year, committing to greater discovery and awareness of AI's vulnerabilities. The company's VRP expansion also comes ahead of a "sweeping" executive order from President Biden reportedly scheduled for Monday, October 30, which would create strict assessments and requirements for AI models before any use by government agencies.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-expands-its-bug-bounty-program-to-target-generative-ai-attacks-120049796.html?src=rss

Traeger, Kamado Joe and Weber are some of the biggest names in smart grilling. These companies have built numerous products that allow you to control and monitor their grills, usually pellet-burning setups, from the comfort of your living room or while you run an errand. Based right outside of Augusta, Georgia, Recteq is another company that's doing the same. If you aren't familiar with its products, now is a great time for an introduction as its new lineup has two novel takes on the pellet grill that offer something those larger competitors don't.Flat-top griddles are all the rage in backyard grilling right now. The popularity of smash burgers and the ability to cook everything from breakfast to fajitas and fried rice make them a versatile piece of any grill setup. Until now, most of them have been gas-powered and some companies offer griddle inserts for equipping a charcoal, gas or pellet grill you might already have with a large, flat cooking surface. Recteq has taken a different approach, opting instead to stick to its pellet grill roots with what it says is the first wood-fired griddle.We've had our eye on griddles for a while," Recteq's VP of product development Ben Lesshafft explained to Engadget. We didn't want to just go with a gas grill, we're not a gas grill company. We believe in wood fired food and we believe in wood-fired flavor." Lesshafft said the company knew there had to be a way to do something different by introducing the smoke flavor from pellets into a category where nearly all of the grills work the same way.Recteq SmokeStone 600RecteqTo design this wood-fired grill, which Recteq calls the SmokeStone 600 ($999), the company drew on its experience building the direct-fire Bullseye grill. That model looks like a mashup of a pellet grill and a charcoal kettle, allowing you to do both high-heat cooking and low-and-slow smoking, but it was designed primarily for the former with temps topping out at nearly 750 degrees Fahrenheit. Another challenge was making sure a pellet-powered griddle offered even heat distribution.That took us quite a bit of time," Lesshafft noted. I spent more time with thermometers in a couple months than I did in my entire life previously combined."Of course, there has to be a method for getting the pellet smoke to roll over the grilling surface in order to impart that wood flavor. To achieve this, Recteq designed a 360-degree vent system around the griddle. The SmokeStone has a blower fan like any other pellet grill that regulates the temperature and intensity of the fire, but it also pushes smoke into the upper cooking chamber. The company includes a raised lip on the griddle surface to help corral any small bits of food, but it also made sure those smoke vents were tall enough to clear it. This design means smoke rolls over your food whether the lid is open or closed.The smoke kind of ends up coming across the surface of the grill, because it's forced out at such a velocity that it has to shoot out before it finally relaxes," he said. What we discovered is, the beauty of it, you [can] cook with the lid up or down. You're going get some smoke no matter what, because you're always burning wood."And on top of imparting some wood-fired flavor into griddled foods that ordinarily wouldn't get it, the SmokeStone is still a smart grill. There's Wi-Fi onboard for controlling and monitoring grill and food temperatures from your phone, plus an algorithm to make sure the controller keeps things consistent and even throughout your cook. A temperature range of 300-600 degrees also gives you some room to adjust based on what you're cooking.Recteq DualFire 1000RecteqA pellet-burning griddle isn't the only unique entry in Recteq's new lineup, though. The company also debuted a dual-chamber pellet grill that allows you to cook at two different temperatures at the same time. With the DualFire 1200 ($1,799), Recteq sought to improve another popular grill configuration. If you've taken a stroll down the grill aisle at your local hardware store in the last decade or so, chances are you've seen grills that offer one side for charcoal and another for gas. Maybe you've come across one more recently that's pellet and gas. While Recteq understood the utility of the two sections, Lesshafft and his colleagues decided making both pellet burning offered something that didn't yet exist.We did not invent the dual-chamber grill, they've been out forever," he said. One of the reasons these dual chamber grills sell is people love the fact that you can go low-and-slow on one side and hot-and-fast on the other. And so that was kind of the evolution of our philosophy."Lesshafft further explained that he never understood the 50-50 split of the barrel of dual-chamber cookers, so Recteq opted instead for a 65-35 division. He said this allows for larger cuts like brisket on the bigger, more traditional pellet grill side while the smaller chamber is designed for direct-fire searing. You can do low-and-slow on both sides, but the left side is closer to the heat source and lacks the convection of a typical pellet grill.Recteq also refreshed its main pellet grills, giving them an updated leg design, better wheels and an improved controller. The company also changed the shape of the RT-590, now called the Deck Boss 590, to be consistent with the rest of its lineup. Previously, it had an octagon-shaped barrel, but now it's round like the others. Recteq also saw an opportunity to give customers a mid-range option between the Deck Boss and its largest new grill, the Flagship 1100 (replacing the RT-700). That's where the Backyard Beast 1000 comes in.Recteq DeckBoss 590RecteqThe intentional difference between grills is really a matter of size," said Lesshafft. You have more capacity, you have more headroom, and it gets rid of the buyer confusion of also changing shapes." The numbers correspond to square inches of grillings space, where the Backyard Beast doesn't have a second shelf inside the cooking chamber. It also doesn't have quite as much pellet hopper capacity as the Flagship. A third option also allows the company to bridge the gap price-wise between its most affordable new grill and its largest traditional" pellet model. The Deck Boss is $899, the Backyard Beast is $1,099 and the Flagship is $1,299. Of course, ditching the old alphanumeric product names eliminates customer confusion, and Lesshafft admitted there was even some trouble with the names amongst employees (please take note, Sony).All five of the new grills are equipped with the updated controller, though it functions differently on models like the SmokeStone and DualFire due to their direct-heat setups. And, of course, the DualFire needs special firmware in order to run two grills. A new display is both easier to use and easier to read thanks to better knob and larger letters and numbers. Recteq also ditched the large, external antenna for an internal one that offers similar Wi-Fi range without the gaudy appearance. Lesshafft explained that nothing was off the table in terms of the redesigned controls. However, the company really wanted to focus more on the app rather than putting a touchscreen on its grills like Traeger did.If people are going to [swipe through recipes], they're probably going to do it on their phone or their tablet," he noted. We kept the physical interface similar, we just wanted to improve it, but we didn't really want to give it a full-blown facelift."Another key element of the new controller is dual-band connectivity. Recteq introduced this on its grills over the last couple of years, and as someone who has struggled to connect a 2.4G grill in a mostly 5G world, this makes the setup process much easier. Lesshafft also quipped that this reduced W-Fi-related calls to customer service. And overall, the company has been continually trying to improve the quality of its app. It is, of course, the place where you monitor temperatures and control the grill, but it's also where you can browse recipes, make notes and revisit temperature graphs. In other words, it needs to be reliable and deliver what's promised. Lesshafft admitted that wasn't always the case.There was a day when our ratings weren't very good on iOS, and now we're the highest rated growing app," he said. The app has come a long way. We're pretty proud of it."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-recteqs-dual-chamber-and-griddle-designs-put-a-unique-spin-on-pellet-grills-120025500.html?src=rss

Meta's Threads continues to grow, all while the service it aped, X, continues to splutter and fall apart. Mark Zuckerberg said that Threads currently has just under" 100 million monthly active users and that the app could reach 1 billion users in the next couple of years.Threads picked up 100 million sign-ups in its first week, with easy ways to create an account from your existing Instagram profile. However, engagement dropped off amid complaints about limited functionality and feeds flooded with unwanted posts from brands and users with big audience numbers on Instagram. I was not interested in the piecemeal thoughts of startup execs with a podcast. Shocking, I know.Meta has since steadily added new features, and engagement seems to have rebounded in recent weeks as Elon Musk continues to make unpopular changes to X, like stripping headlines from links and well, all the other things.- Mat SmithYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!The biggest stories you might have missedBlack Friday 2023: The best early dealsThe White House will reportedly reveal a sweeping' AI executive order on October 30iOS 17.1 is here with improvements to AirDrop and new flair for Apple MusicApple will reportedly bring ANC to its 'regular' AirPods next yearX is rolling out an audio and video calling feature nobody asked forWhat did we just say?X (formerly known as Twitter) has begun rolling out yet another feature nobody asked for. Now, users will have the option to call each other via audio and video calls on the platform. This doesn't come as a total surprise, as CEO Linda Yaccarino previously confirmed that video chat would be coming to the social media site back in August. The best explanation for the addition is Elon Musk's aim to make X the everything" app - a one-stop shop for multiple features and services.Continue reading.DJI's Osmo Pocket 3 camera features a 1-inch sensor and a rotating displayIt also offers 4K 120p video and ActiveTrack 6.0 stabilization.EngadgetDJI's Osmo Pocket 3 gimbal camera has arrived with major updates over the previous model, adding a much larger 1-inch sensor that should greatly improve image quality. It also packs a new 2-inch display with 4.7 times the area of the last model. That said, It's also significantly more expensive than the Pocket 2 was at launch. It costs $520 in the US, $170 more than the Pocket 2.Continue reading.Apple TV+ prices have doubled in just over a yearApple One, Arcade and News+ plans are now more expensive too.The price of Apple TV+ is going up by $3 per month to $10. The annual TV+ plan has risen from $69 to $99. Apple Arcade is now $7 per month instead of $5. As for Apple News+, that'll now run you $13 per month for a standalone subscription, up from $10. The cost of an Apple TV+ subscription previously went up from $5 per month to $7 in October 2022, meaning that the price of the service has doubled in just over 12 months.Continue reading.TikTok's first live 'global music event' will feature Cardi B and Charlie PuthIn The Mix will take place in Arizona on December 10.TikTokTikTok In The Mix will take place in Mesa, Arizona on December 10 - the first global live music event from the video platform. The headliners are Cardi B, Niall Horan, Anitta and Charlie Puth, with surprise guests and performances by emerging artists. Followers of the four headliners will get presale codes to buy In The Mix tickets starting on October 27. The general sale will start on November 2 and TikTok will stream the event live on its app too.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-metas-threads-reaches-almost-100-million-active-users-111509107.html?src=rss

If you've been looking for a high-end smart speaker with a subwoofer, Amazon has an interesting deal in its Echo lineup right now. It's got a bundle deal with the high-end Echo Studio and the Echo sub, with both on sale for $248 instead of $330, saving you $82 (24 percent). Those are a killer combo for home theater and more, particularly if you get a second Echo Studio to make a stereo pair.The Echo Studio appears in our guide to the best smart speakers as an alternative to the Sonos Era 100 for those who already rely on Alexa. It's the largest smart speaker Amazon makes, and it put the space to good use. There's a 24-bit DAC (digital-to-analog converter) and an amplifier, along with five separate speakers, allowing for crisp sound throughout the frequency range. We gave it an 88 in our review, and noted the quality, hi-res sound that does justice to HD and lossless music - but also makes regular old Spotify tracks sound pretty good.For those who need more bass, the Echo sub adds 100W of low-frequency power and a6-inch downward-firing woofer, enhancing the already solid bass on the Echo Studio. If you add a second Echo Studio, you'll get true stereo 2.1 sound. The latter isn't on sale alone right now but has been in the past. In any case, if you're an Alexa fan and want the ultimate sound without paying Sonos money, now is a great time to get this combo.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazons-echo-studio-and-echo-sub-bundle-is-24-percent-off-right-now-085559003.html?src=rss

Spotify's royalty model will get a massive revamp next year to give "working artists" a bigger cut, according to Music Business Worldwide. Starting in the first quarter of 2024, Spotify will reportedly implement three changes meant to "combat three drains on the royalty pool." The first one is establishing a minimum number of annual streams a track must reach before it starts generating royalties, which is supposed to demonetize tracks that earn less than 5 cents a month.Apparently, while these tracks make up a tiny percentage of music on the platform - 99.5 percent of all monetized content will still be earning money after this change - their royalties still cost Spotify tens of millions of dollars a year. Based on Music Business Worldwide's computations, a track has to generate 200 plays a year to be able to earn 5 cents. As The Verge notes, the company is already getting flak for this particular change, because there are a lot of indie tracks that don't reach that threshold. Smaller artists might see their already meager earnings dwindle so that popular artists could get paid more.Meanwhile, the second change coming to the platform will leverage its anti-fraud detection technology. If it detects illegal activity, such as the use of AI tools to repeatedly stream tracks and artificially boost their play count, the company will slap their distributors with financial penalties. Spotify is hoping that by enforcing a per-track penalty, it could deter people from committing streaming fraud in the long run. How effective this move is, of course, depends on the accuracy of the company's fraud detection technology.The third and the last change in the service's royalty model will affect creators of "non-music noise content," such as white noise and binaural beats. At the moment, there are a lot of noise tracks on Spotify that are only 31 seconds long, uploaded that way because the platform pays for every play that's longer than half a minute. With the change that's supposedly coming, though, Spotify will require these noise tracks to meet a minimum length of time before they can generate royalties.While this move can potentially cut noise creators' earnings significantly, Spotify originally wanted to take even more drastic measures. According to a previous Bloomberg report, the company considered removing white noise content from its platform altogether and prohibiting future uploads in the category, because doing so would raise its annual gross profit by as much as $38 million. Spotify neither confirmed nor denied these changes - "We do not have any news to share at this time," a spokesperson told Music Business Worldwide -so we'll have to wait for its official announcement to know if they're real and when they will be implemented if that's the case.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/spotify-looks-set-to-overhaul-its-royalty-model-next-year-081722667.html?src=rss