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Android fans looking for a reasonably priced phone to upgrade to are in luck thanks to the Amazon Big Spring Sale. Although the event doesn't officially start until March 20, we're already seeing early deals pop up on Amazon. One of which is the Google Pixel 7a, which has dropped to a record low price of $374. We've seen the handset drop to this price before, but as of late, it's been hovering around its regular price of $499.The Pixel 7a has sat at the top of our best midrange phones list since it came out last year and it offers a ton of value even at its standard price. It runs on Google's Tensor G2 chip, which gives it solid performance considering its cost, and it has a lovely 6.1-inch, 90Hz OLED touchscreen and support for wireless charging. Its design looks very similar to the flagship Pixel series phones and it has an IP67 rating for water resistance.But the camera array makes the Pixel 7a truly stand out among other phones in its price range, and certainly among budget Android phones that typically come in at around $350. The 64-megapixel rear shooter takes impressive images that preserve details and highlights, and Google's Night Sight mode allows it to take solid low-light images. The 13MP selfie camera can record 4K videos, too. While the Pixel 7a suffers a bit from its lack of dedicated zoom and telephoto lenses, those are relatively small sacrifices to make when you're getting an otherwise stellar camera system for the price.Ultimately, the Pixel 7a is the smartphone to get if you want the best value Android handset and don't want to spend more than a few hundred dollars. Snagging it while it's under $400 during this sale means you're getting it at the best price we've seen, making it an even better buy. However, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the concurrent sales on the Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro - those are up to $250 off right now, down to $499 and $749, respectively. These are the best Android phones you can buy right now, period, and both offer Google's Tensor G3 chipset, a more refined design, long battery life and useful AI features that make taking photos and using the Google Assistant much better.Your Spring Sales Shopping Guide: Spring sales are in the air, headlined by Amazon's Big Spring sale event. Our expert editors are curating all the best spring sales right here. Follow Engadget to shop the best tech deals from Amazon's Big Spring Sale, hear from Autoblog's car experts on the best spring auto deals on Amazon, and find spring sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-google-pixel-7a-drops-to-a-record-low-of-374-ahead-of-the-amazon-big-spring-sale-131529572.html?src=rss

Respawn, the EA-owned studio behind Apex Legends has postponed the North American Finals tournament after hackers broke into matches and equipped players with cheats. The developer posted to X, formerly Twitter, that the delay has been caused due to the "competitive integrity of the series being compromised." Footage of the hacks, available available on Twitch, gave players the ability to see their opponent's location while notable player ImperialHal was handed an aimbot which artificially improves their aim while playing.

Yeah, it's not just Nintendo prepping new console hardware for 2024. Insider Gaming reports details for the PS5 Pro come from documentation Sony recently sent to third-party developers.Hold onto your skepticism. Based on the reports, the PS5 Pro will offer a more consistent frame rate (fps) at 4K and a performance mode for 8K resolution. It's also expected to render games up to 45 percent quicker and have ray tracing capabilities two to three times faster than current PS5 consoles.The report says Sony may target a holiday release for the PS5 Pro, to target those heightened sales. Can it make Baldur's Gate 3 look pretty like it does on PC? Please?- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedDisney+ screws UK Doctor Who fans with global release strategyHow to organize your desk at homeThe FTC is probing Reddit's AI licensing dealsYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!The FCC just quadrupled the minimum download speeds of broadband'ISPs must now offer 100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up to slap the coveted label on their services.At the end of last week, the FCC raised the speeds required to describe internet service as broadband" for the first time since 2015. The agency's annual high-speed internet assessment concluded that 100 Mbps downloads and 20 Mbps uploads will be the new standard. The FCC's report also broke down several areas where the country's online infrastructure falls short, with broadband not being deployed quickly enough, especially to those in rural areas and those living on Tribal lands.The FCC can't force ISPs to boost their speeds, but it can prevent them from marketing their services as broadband" internet if they don't meet these new thresholds.Continue reading.LinkedIn is making in-app games for some reasonIs this a test?LinkedIn may soon offer puzzle-based games to give its users something to do besides networking. App researcher Nima Owji posted a series of screenshots on X this weekend showing some games. Employees' scores will reportedly affect how the companies they work for rank in the games, which suddenly sounds stressful.Continue reading.Starbucks stops wasting money on its coffee NFTsIts Web3 rewards program ends on March 31.StarbucksStarbucks is pulling the plug on Odyssey, its Web3 rewards program that gives members access to collectible NFTs. The company updated its FAQ on Friday to let members know the beta program is closing on March 31 and they have a little over a week to complete any remaining activities (called journeys). Those will shut down March 25.Don't worry, Nifty Gateway will continue to host the priceless Stamps (Starbucks' NFTs). And they will remain priceless. I mean... worthless.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-ps5-pro-rumors-release-date-111511204.html?src=rss

If you're not interested in a midrange smartphone but don't want to pay flagship prices either, Qualcomm has a possible solution. The company just unveiled the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor that offers flagship features, but performance just below the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.It's built using a 4-nanometer (nm) process with a 1+4+3 core setup (one prime ARM Cortex X4 at 3.0GHz, four performance cores at 2.8Ghz and three 2.0GHz efficiency cores. That compares with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3's 1+5+2 setup, so the "s" model swaps a performance core for an efficiency core. The prime core on the flagship chip also runs a bit faster at 3.4Ghz.The chip uses a previous-gen X70 5G modem, though it still offers Wi-Fi 7 support. You also get hardware-accelerated ray tracing for more realistic gameplay.There's on-device multimodal generative AI that can run large language models (LLMs) with up to 10 billion parameters, meaning it'll support model's like Gemini Nano, along with AI assistants. However, it lacks some AI features found on the 8 Gen 3 chip. It also comes with the always-sensing ISP introduced with the last-gen Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip.The new chip adds another sub-category to Qualcomm's lineup, particularly if you count the last-gen chips still used in devices like the OnePlus 12R. The chip will appear in Honor, iQOO, Realme, Redmi and Xiaomi smartphones announced later this month - so it'll be interesting to see how they're priced compared to the flagship models.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/qualcomms-snapdragon-8s-gen-3-chip-is-a-notch-below-its-flagship-processor-075258397.html?src=rss

Following Hertz's disastrous misadventure with EVs, CEO Stephen Scherr is stepping down, Bloomberg reported. He'll be replaced by the former COO of GM's robotaxi Cruise division, Gil West, who will also join the board of directors.A year after emerging from bankruptcy in 2020, Hertz said it would transform its car rental business by purchasing 100,000 Tesla EVs. "The new Hertz is going to lead the way as a mobility company, starting with the largest EV rental fleet inNorth America," the company said at the time. The announcement helped send Tesla's value soaring to a $1 trillion valuation.Scherr joined Hertz after that decision was made, but increased Hertz's bet on EVs by placing orders with Polestar and GM as well. The company didn't purchase many EVs from those automakers, but by the end, it had around 60,000 from the three automakers.Things went sideways after that, though. Tesla drastically cut prices of its Model 3 and Model Y EVs, scorching resale values. In addition, Hertz said that Tesla's vehicles were expensive to repair and unpopular with renters.As a result, the company started unloading 20,000 EVs, about a third of its electrified fleet. That resulted in a $245 million charge for Hertz and its largest quarterly loss since the pandemic. Other rental car firms have also recently ditched EVs, with Germany's Sixt doing away with its entire fleet.West, meanwhile, was one of nine Cruise executives dismissed following an incident that saw a pedestrian dragged by a Cruise vehicle after being struck by another car. Authorities accused the company of withholding a video that allegedly showed the victim underneath its vehicle.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hertz-ceo-steps-down-following-tesla-ev-purchase-debacle-055220994.html?src=rss

Hyper Light Breaker is a hoverboard sim. Technically, it's a third-person roguelite adventure set in a luminous fantasy-cyberpunk universe, but after playing a 30-minute preview, it's clear to me that Hyper Light Breaker is all about the hoverboard. Vicious beasts, secret alcoves and shiny weapons are secondary to the feeling of gliding over green hills and shallow waters on my glowing blue slab, finding joy in narrowly avoiding enemy encounters.Intentionally skipping battles was probably the opposite of what lead animator Chris Bullock wanted me to do during the first public hands-on opportunity with Hyper Light Breaker - but if that were the case, then he shouldn't have told me about the hoverboard.Heart MachineHyper Light Breaker is set to go live in early access on Steam this summer, complete with three-player online co-op. Developers at Heart Machine are letting people play it for the first time at Day of the Devs: San Francisco Edition, which is held in conjunction with GDC this week. I played a remote preview of the game at home, solo style, while Bullock watched on Discord (and probably cringed a whole lot).Breaker is an open-world game with a hub station called the Cursed Outpost, a futuristic strip mall with shops, upgrade stations and NPCs. I briefly explored the outpost, but the bulk of the game plays out in the Overgrowth, a landscape of ever-shifting biomes, and I focused on diving into these. Biomes in the Overgrowth are built with hand-crafted and procedurally generated elements so that players will never enter the same realm twice, and each one has a boss to defeat called a Crown. Despite my desire to peacefully hoverboard through the half-hour demo, I messed around with two loadouts, took out a few slime hordes and twice tried to slay one of those Crowns - a huge bipedal wolf warrior with a golden sword named Dro.In both of my battles with Dro, she started attacking instantly and with incredible force, swinging her blade wildly as she leapt in a giant arc across a temple and directly onto my head. I dodged and attempted to fill up her stagger meter by landing basic attacks with my sword and firearm, but the wolf was relentless, especially compared with the basic enemies I easily dispatched around the biome.Heart MachineDro defeated me twice. At the end of each fight, I heard the game's siren song luring me in, making me believe I could beat the big bad wolf next time, if I just employed an updated strategy. Parrying was key in this fight, according to Bullock.Her first opening attack, you immediately went for the parry on that," Bullock said as I prepared to fight the boss again. I love that you picked that up right away; that was the intention on that one."The parry had been an accident on my part, but I'd immediately noticed how effective it was, giving me a half-second at the very beginning of the encounter to step back and strategize. What I'd experienced with the parry was a fury attack, Bullock explained. Some beasts in Hyper Light Breaker glow red and then perform big moves that have to be perfectly parried in order to cancel out the damage, reverse a projectile or stun the enemy. With a fury attack, a non-perfect parry will mitigate some damage only.That is definitely the design goal, to make the combat clear, know when you're doing something well," Bullock said.These moments of tactical clarity are exactly what makes a roguelike or roguelite addictive. I can see how to beat the boss; now I just have to get good enough at the game to implement those moves before I'm killed.Heart MachineThere's no dialogue in Hyper Light Breaker, much like its predecessor, Hyper Light Drifter. Drifter was an incredibly stylish 2D action RPG that came out in 2016 after a few years of crowdfunding and significant hype, and it solidified Heart Machine's reputation as a stellar indie studio. Hyper Light Breaker is technically a prequel to Drifter, since it's set 15 years before the events of that game.Drifter co-designer Teddy Dief went on to found Team OFK and release the musical visual novel We Are OFK, while lead developer Alx Preston stuck with Heart Machine and released Solar Ash in 2021. Much like Breaker, Solar Ash is set in the same general universe as Hyper Light Drifter, but it's a vastly different game and it's not a direct sequel. Solar Ash is a third-person action platformer built around an incredibly satisfying glide-step mechanic, and its world is filled with alien environments, massive monsters and vaguely threatening deities.Hyper Light was a way for me to get started, it was a way for me to be more grounded and put together a crew and understand, can I do this? Can I actually make games?" Preston told me in 2021, during the lead-up to Solar Ash's release. And so having answered that question, then the natural next step for me was something in 3D. Can I put something out there that really opens up the world and makes you feel like you can truly escape into something, a creation that is otherworldly, that you otherwise wouldn't have the experience of? A lot of my childhood was spent escaping into those bigger experiences."Heart MachineBreaker feels like the perfect amalgamation of Hyper Light Drifter and Solar Ash. Replace the Solar Ash ice skates with a hoverboard, add some friends and you're set. Developers at Heart Machine plan to keep Hyper Light Breaker in early access for about a year, though they noted that this timeline might change with player feedback.The full release of Hyper Light Breaker will support up to three players in online co-op, and it will have a handful of characters to choose from, each with customizable loadouts. I tried out a basic, slashy blade and a hefty buster sword, plus a standard rifle and a shotgun-type firearm, and they each performed well, though I ran out of ammo quickly and often. The heavy sword was slower than the simple blade, but it moved smoothly and hit hard. In the Cursed Outpost before loading up a new biome, I was also able to select four abilities called Holobytes from about a dozen options, such as increased armor or faster healing. My favorite trait was the blooming corpse seed, which planted an exploding AOE flower on the bodies of slain enemies.But once Bullock told me that hoverboarding was an option, it was all I wanted to do. I spent a good chunk of my Hyper Light Breaker demo time gliding along the bright green grass, landing small jumps and occasionally falling into a pond. I'm still itching to find Dro again and fine-tune my parrying abilities across a range of weapons (and corpse flowers). Mostly though, I'll be dreaming of that bright blue board until Hyper Light Breaker hits early access this summer.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hyper-light-breaker-hands-on-im-here-for-the-hoverboard-210045970.html?src=rss

LinkedIn, a platform that surely everybody associates with fun, may soon offer puzzle-based games to give its users something to do besides networking. App researcher Nima Owji posted a series of screenshots on X this weekend showing some of the games LinkedIn is working on, and the company has since confirmed the plan to TechCrunch. Employees' scores will reportedly affect how the companies they work for are ranked in the games.

A San Francisco judge has ruled that Apple must face a lawsuit accusing the company of negligence over the potential stalking risks created by its AirTags,Bloombergreports. While the bulk of the roughly three dozen claims in the class-action suit were dismissed, US District Judge Vince Chhabria denied Apple's bid to have the suit thrown out based on three plaintiffs' claims alleging that when they were stalked, the problems with the AirTag's safety features were substantial, and that those safety defects caused their injuries."While the suit argues that Apple was warned of the potential for its Bluetooth item trackers to be misused and thus should be held liable under California law, Apple disagrees, according to Bloomberg. After it released AirTags, Apple later rolled out safety features designed to thwart stalking attempts, like an update that made it so AirTags would emit a loud sound when they get a certain distance from their owner and notifications about unknown trackers. Apple and Google also last year announced that they're working together on developing industry standards to proactively fight the misuse of tracking devices.Nevertheless, the lawsuit argues that AirTags have become the weapon of choice of stalkers and abusers," Bloomberg reports. The case was filed in the Northern California district court.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-cant-get-out-of-facing-a-class-action-lawsuit-over-airtags-stalking-claims-184329639.html?src=rss

SpaceX has been contracted by the Department of Defense's National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to build a network of hundreds of low-orbiting spy satellites capable of operating as a swarm and tracking targets on the ground, according to Reuters. The Reuters report, which cites five sources with knowledge of the program, builds on earlier reporting by The Wall Street Journal that revealed SpaceX had signed a $1.8 billion contract in 2021 with an unnamed agency.This network, called Starshield, would reportedly be able to gather continuous imagery all over Earth for US intelligence, using a mix of large imaging satellites to collect data and relay satellites to transmit information. According to one source who spoke to Reuters, it has the potential to make it so no one can hide." Neither SpaceX nor the NRO directly confirmed the company's involvement in the project, but an NRO spokesperson told Reuters, "The National Reconnaissance Office is developing the most capable, diverse, and resilient space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system the world has ever seen."Last fall, it was reported that SpaceX had bagged a $70 million contract with the Space Force to provide satellite communications under its Starshield program. This is a distinct entity from SpaceX's Starlink constellation, at least according to Elon Musk, who has said Starlink needs to be a civilian network," whereas Starshield is meant to be used for government and national security purposes.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/spacex-is-reportedly-building-hundreds-of-spy-satellites-for-the-us-government-150024771.html?src=rss

Starbucks is pulling the plug on Odyssey, its Web3 rewards program that gave members access to collectible NFTs. The company updated its FAQ on Friday to let members know that the beta program is closing on March 31, and they have a little over a week left to complete any remaining activities (called journeys). Those will shut down March 25. Users won't lose their Stamps (Starbucks' NFTs), which are hosted on Nifty Gateway, but they'll have to sign up for Nifty using their Starbucks Rewards email to access them there, if they haven't already.Starbucks was late to the NFT game with Odyssey, which launched in beta in late 2022 - well after interest in the digital collectibles peaked. Unlike some other NFT ventures from major brands, though, it seemed to be aiming for more than a quick cash grab. It gamified the rewards system, offering activities and coffee-related mini-games that encouraged members' ongoing participation.In a conversation with TechCrunch published just last month, Odyssey community lead Steve Kaczynski emphasized the community element, saying, I've seen that people who live in California in the Starbucks Odyssey community are really good friends with people in Chicago and they have met up in real life at times. This never would have happened if not for Web3." But it's 2024, and brands and consumers alike have long since moved on from NFTs. (Naturally, Forum3, which worked with Starbucks on Odyssey, seems to have pivoted to AI).Starbucks says the Odyssey marketplace, where members could buy and sell their stamps, will move over to the Nifty marketplace. They can also withdraw their Stamps to trade them on other platforms.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/it-took-starbucks-a-little-too-long-to-realize-coffee-nfts-arent-it-170132305.html?src=rss

A budding startup called Interlune is trying to become the first private company to mine the moon's natural resources and sell them back on Earth. Interlune will initially focus on helium-3 - a helium isotope created by the sun through the process of fusion - which is abundant on the moon. In an interview with Ars Technica, Rob Meyerson, one of Interlune's founders and former Blue Origin president, said the company hopes to fly its harvester with one of the upcoming commercial moon missions backed by NASA. The plan is to have a pilot plant on the moon by 2028 and begin operations by 2030, Meyerson said.Interlune announced this week that it's raised $18 million in funding, including $15 million in its most recent round led by Seven Seven Six, the venture firm started by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. The resource it's targeting, helium-3, could be used on Earth for applications like quantum computing, medical imaging and, perhaps some day down the line, as fuel for fusion reactors. Helium-3 is carried to the moon by solar winds and is thought to remain on the surface trapped in the soil, whereas when it reaches Earth, it's blocked by the magnetosphere.Interlune aims to excavate huge amounts of the lunar soil (or regolith), process it and extract the helium-3 gas, which it would then ship back to Earth. Alongside its proprietary lunar harvester, Interlune is planning a robotic lander mission to assess the concentration of helium-3 at the selected location on the surface.InterluneFor the first time in history," Meyerson said in a statement, harvesting natural resources from the Moon is technologically and economically feasible." The founding team includes Meyerson and former Blue Origin Chief Architect Gary Lai, Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, former Rocket Lab exec Indra Hornsby and James Antifaev, who worked for Alphabet's high-altitude balloon project, Loon.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/moon-mining-startup-interlune-wants-to-start-digging-for-helium-3-by-2030-152216803.html?src=rss

The biggest story this week was TikTok and the US government going at it again, with the house voting in favor of a bill that could force TikTok's parent company to sell to a US owner or face getting banned outright. Don't worry, though; your elected officials didn't waste the chance to embarrass themselves, as usual. Meanwhile, Mike Tyson comes out of retirement to box for Netflix. He'll face-off against Jake Paul, which I feel is best represented by this Punch-Out! tweet.This week's stories:House passes bill that could ban TikTokThe real fight isn't Tyson vs. Paul - it's Netflix vs. its livestreaming infrastructureAirbnb to hosts: please stop filming the guestsAnd read this:To celebrate this website's 20th anniversary, we're looking back at the products and services that have changed the industry since Engadget's inception on March 2, 2004. I've also been here for over half of its existence. Horrifying. I'd share my not-great first hands-on video for the site, but the footage only lives on through Russian content scrapers. What a shame.All of the stories live here, but I suggest starting with our stories on how streaming video changed the internet and the game-changer that was (and is) Bluetooth audio.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-tiktok-bans-and-airbnb-cams-150046760.html?src=rss

Owen Diaz's lengthy court battle against Tesla is officially over, now that both parties have agreed on a settlement. Attorney Lawrence Organ, Diaz's lawyer, told CNBC that that the "parties have reached an amicable resolution of their disputes," but that the "terms of the settlement are confidential." If you've been following this case for a while now, that means you won't get to find out how much Diaz is getting after the massive $137 million in damages he was originally awarded got dramatically lowered to $3.2 million.The former elevator operator famously sued the automaker for enabling a racist workplace, saying that he faced discrimination "straight from the Jim Crow era" as a Black individual. He said his fellow workers left left drawings of swastika and racist graffiti, such as ones of Inki the Caveman, on his workspace and around Tesla's Fremont assembly plant. Diaz also said that he and other Black workers were subjected to racial slurs, and that the company failed to address thes behaviors despite repeated complaints.In 2021, a San Francisco court ordered Tesla to pay $137 million in damages to its former worker, which was one of the highest amounts awarded to a plaintiff suing on the basis of discrimination. However, a judge during the appeals that followed found the amount excessive and lowered it to $15 million, even though he upheld the original jury's verdict. The parties went back into trial after Diaz refused the lowered amount, but a jury lowered the damages Tesla must pay even further to $3.2 million. At the time, Diaz's lawyer said he was wrongly attacked by the defense and that they had already requested a new trial due to misconduct. It looks like both parties have since agreed to negotiate behind closed doors.While Diaz's case is done, Organ also represents Marcus Vaughn, who filed another lawsuit against the automaker for racial harassment. Vaughn called Tesla's Fremont plant a "hotbed for racist behavior" and petitioned the court last year to give his lawsuit class action status so that he could add 240 Black colleagues to his complaint.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tesla-settles-long-running-racial-discrimination-court-battle-with-former-worker-133036456.html?src=rss

Confession time: I already have a copy of Final Fantasy XVI and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth for the PS5 even though I still don't have a PlayStation 5 console. I never get consoles the moment they come out and usually wait a few years for their next version. In the PlayStation 5's case, I thought it was going to be the PS5 Slim, but it looks like I could have another option by the end of the year: The PlayStation 5 Pro. Tom Henderson of Insider Gaming says the PS5 Pro details leaked by the Moore's Law is Dead YouTube channel came from documentation Sony itself recently sent to third-party developers.Take the website's confirmation with a grain of salt, of course, but Henderson has a pretty good track record when it comes to leaks. In 2022, he reported that Sony was working a "genuine professional controller" for the PS5, two months before the DualSense Edge was officially announced. He also revealed that the company was set to release a version of the console with a detachable disc drive a full year before Sony introduced the smaller and lighter PS5 model.Based on leaked information on the PS5 Pro so far, it will offer improved and consistent frame rate (FPS) at 4K, as well as a "performance mode" for 8K resolution. It's also expected to be able to render games up to 45 percent quicker and to have ray tracing capabilities that are two to three times faster than its non-pro counterpart. Plus, the documentation Moore's Law is Dead featured in its video shows that it will have a GPU with 67 Teraflops FP16 (33.5 Teraflops FP32) performance, which indicates faster speeds and better graphics overall.Henderson says Sony is targeting a holiday release for the PS5 Pro, most likely to take advantage of heightened sales for the season. However, that could still change, depending on whether the company feels there haven't been enough first-party title releases this year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-ps5-pro-is-reportedly-coming-this-holiday-season-084404542.html?src=rss

The Federal Trade Commission is looking into Reddit's AI licensing deals, the company disclosed in paperwork filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company, which is in the midst of its Initial Public Offering, said that the regulator notified Reddit officials that it intended to request information and documents" about the company's AI deals.It's not clear why the FTC is probing Reddit's relatively new licensing business, but it seems to be in the early stages of its inquiry. On March 14, 2024, we received a letter from the FTC advising us that the FTC's staff is conducting a non-public inquiry focused on our sale, licensing, or sharing of user-generated content with third parties to train AI models," Reddit wrote in a filing. Given the novel nature of these technologies and commercial arrangements, we are not surprised that the FTC has expressed interest in this area. We do not believe that we have engaged in any unfair or deceptive trade practice."Reddit's deals to license its catalog of user-generated content are a key part of the company's strategy to grow its revenue as it gets ready to go public. On the day the company filed for IPO, the company announced it had reached a deal with Google, which will use Reddit data to train its AI models. That arrangement was reportedly worth around $60 million. The company said it was in the early stages of exploring" these types of deals.According to Axios, other companies have received similar letters from the FTC. The regulator has previously shown an interest in the current wave of generative AI upstarts and their relationships with large tech companies, The FTC is currently investigating Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon over their investments into prominent AI startups.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-ftc-is-probing-reddits-ai-licensing-deals-212902998.html?src=rss

Microsoft has been pushing Bing pop-up ads in Chrome on Windows 10 and 11. Windows Latest and The Verge reported on Friday that the ad encourages Chrome users (in bold lettering) to use Bing instead of Google search. Chat with GPT-4 for free on Chrome! Get hundreds of daily chat turns with Bing Al", the ad reads. If you click Yes," the pop-up will install the Bing Search" Chrome extension while making Microsoft's search engine the default.If you click Yes" on the ad to switch to Bing, a Chrome pop-up will appear, asking you to confirm that you want to change the browser's default search engine. Did you mean to change your search provider?" the pop-up asks. The Microsoft Bing Search for Chrome' extension changed search to use bing.com,'" Chrome's warning states.Directly beneath that alert, seemingly in anticipation of Chrome's pop-up, another Windows notification warns, Wait - don't change it back! If you do, you'll turn off Microsoft Bing Search for Chrome and lose access to Bing Al with GPT-4 and DALL-E 3. Select Keep it to stay with Microsoft Bing."Essentially, users are caught in a war of pop-ups between one company trying to pressure you into using its AI assistant / search engine and another trying to keep you on its default (which you probably wanted if you installed Chrome in the first place). Big Tech's battles for AI and search supremacy are turning into obnoxious virtual shouting matches in front of users' eyeballs as they try to browse the web.There doesn't appear to be an easy way to prevent the ad from appearing.Microsoft reportedly confirmed the pop-up's authenticity in statements to Windows Latest and The Verge, cringingly painting the move as an opportunity for users. This is a one-time notification giving people the choice to set Bing as their default search engine on Chrome," a company representative wrote. For those who choose to set Bing as their default search engine on Chrome, when signed in with their MSA [Microsoft account] they also get more chat turns in Copilot and chat history."In a reminder of how friendly its intrusive ads supposedly are to user freedom, it added, We value providing our customers with choice, so there is an option to dismiss the notification." Engadget emailed Microsoft for independent verification, but the company didn't immediately respond. We'll update this article if or when we hear back.Windows Latest described the advertisement as coming from a server-side update" and said the ad wasn't part of a Windows update. Instead, the outlet speculated that it's linked to BCILauncher.EXE or BingChatInstaller.EXE, two processes Microsoft reportedly added to some Windows systems" on March 13.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-is-once-again-asking-chrome-users-to-try-bing-through-unblockable-pop-ups-184348202.html?src=rss

Uber and Lyft plan to end operations in Minneapolis after the city council voted to increase driver pay. The council passed an ordinance on the issue last week. On Thursday, it voted to overrule a mayoral veto of the measure.The new rules stipulate that ridesharing companies need to pay drivers at least $1.40 per mile and 51 cents per minute (or $5 a ride, whichever is higher) whenever they're ferrying a passenger. Tips are on top of the minimum pay. According to the Associated Press, the council passed the ordinance to bring driver pay closer to the local minimum wage of $15.57 an hour.However, Uber and Lyft say they'll end services in the city before the pay rise takes effect on May 1. Lyft says the increase is "deeply flawed," citing a Minnesota study indicating that drivers could meet the minimum wage and still cover health insurance, paid leave and retirement savings at lower rates of $1.21 per mile and 49 cents per minute. We support a minimum earning standard for drivers, but it should be done in an honest way that keeps the service affordable for riders," spokesperson CJ Macklin told The Verge.An Uber spokesperson told the publication that the company was disappointed by the council's choice to "ignore the data and kick Uber out of the Twin Cities," putting around 10,000 drivers out of work. They noted Uber's confidence that by working with drivers, drivers and legislators, we can achieve comprehensive statewide legislation that guarantees drivers a fair minimum wage, protects their independence and keeps rideshare affordable."However, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz last year vetoed a bill to boost wages for Uber and Lyft drivers, citing concern over the state becoming one of the most expensive places in the country for ridesharing. Other jurisdictions have mandated minimum driver pay for ridesharing services, including New York City, where the rate starts at about $18 per hour.If Uber and Lyft follow through on their threat to quit Minneapolis, that could make it harder for people (particularly folks with disabilities and those who can't afford a car of their own) to get around. The rise of ridesharing has upended the taxi industry over the last decade or so. As such, a Minneapolis official says there are now just 39 licensed cab drivers in the city, a significant drop from 1,948 licensed drivers in January 2014.Meanwhile, some upstart ridesharing companies are looking to move in and take over from Lyft and Uber. Empower and Wridz, for instance, have shown interest in starting operations in Minneapolis. Both companies ask drivers to pay a monthly subscription fee to use their platforms and find riders. In return, drivers keep the entire fare.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/uber-and-lyft-are-quitting-minneapolis-over-a-driver-pay-increase-180041427.html?src=rss

The M1 MacBook Air has dropped to its lowest price ever, thanks to a sale at Walmart. You can pick one up for just $700, which is $50 cheaper than the previous low and a whopping $300 discount from the original asking price. If you're looking for an entry-level Apple laptop, this is a mighty fine option.Now, the M1 Air is over three years old and a full two generations behind the newly-released M3-equipped laptops. Despite getting a bit long in the tooth, the M1 chip is still no slouch, so this MacBook Air is plenty capable. It's a solid machine that excels with basic everyday computing tasks, like streaming content and surfing the web. It'll even do fine with light video editing and music production. We called it faster than most PCs" in our official review back in 2020.That doesn't exactly track anymore (the march of progress and all) but the M1 Air features a gorgeous Retina display and no fan noise to speak of, in addition to an excellent keyboard and trackpad. The battery life is great, going for over 16 hours before having to hit the outlet. That's only an hour or two shorter than the new M3 MacBook Air computers.Apple Silicon chips are pretty dang impressive, but the M1 will struggle when you go beyond everyday computing tasks and into the worlds of serious video editing and AAA gaming. Also, the M1 laptop still has that wedge-shaped design, whereas the newer models feature a uniformly flat design. Some people actually prefer the wedge, but I'm not one of them.This is the bare-bones standard M1 Air with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. The 720p webcam isn't going to win any visual clarity awards, but it'll get the job done. This isn't the most future-proof computer around, as Apple recently discontinued it, but it's also $700. The M3 MacBook Air starts at $1,100 and the M2 starts at $1,000.Best Buy has the M1 Air on sale for even cheaper, at $650. This is one heck of a deal but it looks to be tied to specific locations. The retailer's also offering open box models.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/walmart-is-selling-the-m1-macbook-air-for-only-700-171500495.html?src=rss

Netflix is the new streaming home of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor as part of a multiyear deal. This year's prize is going to Kevin Hart, who is being honored for his "extraordinary contributions to the genre and his impressive achievements across comedy, film and television." The likes of Dave Chappelle, Jimmy Fallon, Tiffany Haddish, Regina Hall, Chelsea Handler, Nelly, Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld are set to pay tribute to Hart (and perhaps roast him a bit) at the ceremony. For what it's worth, Hart inked a multiyear movie deal with Netflix in 2021.The Mark Twain Prize is in its 25th year and it's perhaps one of the most prestigious comedy awards in the US. It's awarded to those who have had "an impact on American society in ways similar to the distinguished 19th-century novelist and essayist Samuel Clemens, best known as Mark Twain," a press release notes. Previous recipients include Richard Pryor, Whoopi Goldberg, Lily Tomlin, Lorne Michaels, Steve Martin, Billy Crystal, George Carlin, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, Carol Burnett, Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, David Letterman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jon Stewart and Adam Sandler.The ceremony takes place on March 24 at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall in Washington DC. You'll be able to watch it when it hits Netflix on May 11. That's during the Netflix is a Joke festival, a series of stand-up shows taking place in Los Angeles that will also stream on the platform. Netflix has a rich history of comedy specials and shows at this point, so it seems like a natural fit for the Mark Twain Prize, which was previously broadcast on Comedy Central, PBS and CNN.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/netflix-will-stream-the-mark-twain-prize-honoring-kevin-hart-on-may-11-162300362.html?src=rss

Less than four months after debuting its mid-range Accentum headphones, Sennheiser revealed another version at CES that remains more affordable than its flagship Momentum set. Dubbed the Accentum Plus, this more-expensive model swaps the physical buttons for touch controls while offering revised active noise cancellation (ANC), wear-detection and other conveniences the first version didn't. All of the additions come at a price, though, as the Plus ($230) costs $50 more than the regular Accentum. For a set of headphones that mostly looks the same, are internal updates enough to justify a bigger investment?DesignIt's difficult to tell the Accentum Plus and Accentum apart at first glance. That lack of physical controls on the older model is what primarily distinguishes the two. The Plus version still has one button which manages power, pairing and voice assistants, but all of the audio and call controls are touch-based and located on the outside of the right ear cup. They work well, from taps for playback to swipes for volume, but depending on your preferences, ditching the physical controls for touch may be a turn off. The other difference is that the Plus has a 3.5mm aux jack along with a USB-C connection whereas the first Accentum only has the latter.A nearly identical design means Sennheiser didn't address my key criticism of the first Accentum. The headphones remain almost entirely made out of plastic, which gives them a cheap look and feel. Plus, it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in the build quality for a set of $230 headphones. The company introduced its new design style on the Momentum 4 in 2022, which it continued with the overall look on the Accentum line. But, the latest Momentums are a bit more polished than these two more recent models.Software and featuresFor the most part, the Sennheiser Smart Control App offers the same features for the Accentum Plus as it does for the Accentum. Almost everything you'd need is on the main screen, with battery percentage at the top. Below that sit connection management for multipoint Bluetooth and My Sound audio customization. There, you can adjust a five-band EQ, select a prebuilt sound preset or make your own. The company also offers Sound Personalization that calibrates the audio based on your responses to a few samples in the app.Sennheiser's Sound Zones are here as well, giving you the ability to configure specific audio settings based on your location. You can create up to 20 of these for places like home, work, gym and more. Of course, you have to give the app permission to track your location, which could be a nonstarter for some users.The last item on the main interface of the app is ANC control. Here, you can disable the automatic adaptive" adjustment to the Accentum Plus' noise cancellation and leave regular" noise cancellation on. There's a slider to blend of ANC and transparency as you see fit. You can cycle between ANC and transparency mode with a double tap on the right ear cup, but that action doesn't allow you to activate any preferred blends. Instead, it only turns on full ANC or complete transparency.Sound qualityPhoto by Billy Steele/EngadgetSennheiser's flagship earbuds and headphones have consistently offered the best sound quality among all of the products I've tested. The company has a knack for a well-tuned audio profile that's dynamic, but not overbearing, and that offers plenty of fine detail thanks to excellent clarity across the EQ. That trademark crispness returns on the Accentum Plus, but it's at its best at around 65-75 percent volume. Knock that level down to around 50 percent and sound quality begins to suffer.There's a pleasant airy, atmospheric quality to tracks on Fever Ray's Radical Romantics on the Accentum Plus, enveloping you the way the sound on more expensive headphones would. However, when you decrease the volume to about 50 percent, bass begins to overpower some of the details and the audio profile begins to muddy. The clarity that makes Sennheiser's headphones so good is gone at this point, which is a bummer for those of us who don't always desire louder listening.While there's ample bass that's offset by crisp highs throughout most genres, more chaotic styles like metal can be a mixed bag. Boomy bass is still there on Texas In July's Without Reason and Better Lovers' God Made Me An Animal, but finer details in guitars and drum textures start to get lost. The overall performance is a bit flat with all of the instruments coming across compressed compared to other sets. Switch over to something more mellow like Charles Wesley Godwin's Live From Echo Mountain and it's like you put on different headphones. It feels much more like you're in the room where this was recorded.ANC performanceSennheiser says the Accentum Plus has hybrid adaptive ANC where the Accentum just has hybrid ANC. This means that the Plus model adjusts to changes in environmental noise while the regular model has just one level of blocking ability. During my tests, I struggled to tell a big difference between the two, even when switching quickly from one set to the other. The overall ANC performance is solid in most circumstances, but it's far from what you'd get on the best that Bose, Sony and even Sennheiser have to offer. And since the Plus version is more expensive, I expected an obvious improvement.Call qualityPhoto by Billy Steele/EngadgetLike most over-ear headphones, the Accentum Plus is just fine for calls. The audio quality isn't pristine, but it's certainly passable for most uses. That includes work calls, although I'd suggest something with a better mic if you're actually leading the presentation. Overall, the voice quality comes across compressed and a bit tinny. It's not the worst, but it's also probably not what you want when how you sound really matters. You can choose to have the headphones automatically switch to transparency mode when you take a call. However, the Accentum Plus doesn't pipe in your voice, so the overall audio isn't as natural as more-expensive options like the AirPods Max.Battery lifeThe Plus' battery life remains unchanged from the regular Accentum at 50 hours. That's definitely not a bad thing. In fact, I exceeded that figure during my tests, notching 57 hours of use with ANC enabled. This included a mix of listening and calls, and during the latter I switched to transparency mode instead of noise cancellation. There were also a few days in between sessions where the headphones sat unused. When you do find yourself out of juice, you can get five hours of listening time after plugging in for only 10 minutes.The competitionGiven that the upgrades on the Plus are marginal, it's hard to recommend them over the cheaper Accentum. Both carry Sennheiser's crisp, clear sound that performs well most of the time. The ANC improvements aren't enough to justify spending more and the only thing you may truly benefit from is automatic pausing that wear-detection brings. The company's Momentum 4 would definitely be an upgrade over either Accentum, but that costs around $300. Plus, Sennheiser's flagship headphones still have its newer, more-boring design - albeit with a few refinements.If you're in the market for affordable noise-canceling headphones that don't cut too many corners, consider the Sony's WH-CH720N. Currently available for $105, this budget option won't win any design awards as it's also all-plastic, but it's more comfortable and has great audio for the price. Noise cancellation is just okay, though Adaptive Sound Control allows you to automate audio settings based on activity or location and there's support for Sony's 360 Reality Audio.Wrap-upSennheiser's attempt to improve on its initial mid-range Accentum offering is a mixed bag. For all of its updates, the Accentum Plus isn't the massive improvement you'd expect with its higher price. Sure, the sound is great at times and the ANC will get the job done, but the best thing about this Plus version is the better-than-expected battery life. However, you can get that same play time on the regular Accentum for $50 less. Some small design refinements and a more-obvious step up in terms of audio quality and ANC performance would've made a larger impact. But, as it stands, the Accentum Plus isn't a significant upgrade over last year's model.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sennheiser-accentum-plus-review-upgrades-that-arent-worth-the-extra-cost-160035421.html?src=rss

The latest series of Doctor Who will debut on iPlayer and globally on Disney+ at midnight in the UK. The first two hour-long episodes land on May 11, which will then air on BBC One later that day in prime time. Those who know how time zones work will have already guessed that Doctor Who will now be available to view in the US on May 10 at 7pm ET and 4pm PT.There are plenty of sucky things about living in the UK, one of which is that we're a day behind the US TV schedule. Buzzy shows like Lost were often spoiled by the internet long before it was legally available to view here. To curb the rampant piracy, shows like Game of Thronesand Succession were broadcast at 2am or 3am.That way, ardent viewers could DVR those airings and watch them before they got to work lest it be spoiled. Because, if you didn't, you'd have to be extremely careful when you were treading around on the internet. There were very few shows I didn't have spoiled for me given that I work on the internet all the damn day.So you can imagine my dismay to learn that Doctor Who, one of the crown jewels in the British TV firmament, will now be treated the same way. It's hard not to feel annoyed given that the bulk of the series' funding comes from the license fee paid by the majority of TV owners in the UK. It seems mad, to me, that the global simulcast isn't tied to the UK broadcast, rather than this obvious tweak to ensure the US gets it first. Especially when the alternative is to stay up until 2am on a Saturday morning.(Yes, I know there's precedent for this, The Five Doctors aired on PBS two days before the UK airing, and the TV movie aired on Fox twelve days earlier. But that was in the pre-internet heyday when you didn't have every big moment from the show shared by its own official social channels mere seconds after it aired.)This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/disney-screws-uk-doctor-who-fans-with-global-release-strategy-155040558.html?src=rss

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds are now $250 ahead of the Amazon Spring Sale. This is a discount of 17 percent, as they typically cost $300. It also happens to be a record-low price for the wireless earbuds, though they've only been on the market since September of last year. You can find more Bose gear on sale here too.The earbuds boast some of the best active noise cancellation around, rivaling many over-ear headphones. That's the primary reason why the Bose QuietComfort Ultra line made our list of the best wireless earbuds.However, there's plenty more to like here. We called out the spatial audio capabilities in our official review, which doesn't require specially-made content, thanks to virtualization software that works to put the listener right in the middle of the acoustic sweet spot. The battery life is on point, the sound quality is great and the touch controls let users easily change the volume, skip songs and answer calls. These are dang good earbuds.They aren't, however, perfect earbuds. As mentioned, the battery life is great, getting anywhere from 16 to 24 hours before needing juice, when you factor in a few trips to the charging case. However, using the spatial audio feature drastically reduces the battery life, so be cautious when enabling different modes. There's no wireless charging out of the box, as this feature requires a $50 silicone cover for the charging case. Still, today's discount saves $50, if wireless charging is an absolute must.Your Spring Sales Shopping Guide: Spring sales are in the air, headlined by Amazon's Big Spring sale event. Our expert editors are curating all the best spring sales right here. Follow Engadget to shop the best tech deals from Amazon's Big Spring Sale, hear from Autoblog's car experts on the best spring auto deals on Amazon, and find spring sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/one-of-our-favorite-pairs-of-noise-cancelling-earbuds-is-down-to-a-record-low-price-151206909.html?src=rss

Folks who like controlling aspects of their home using their voice or an app may be pleased to learn there's a sale on Google Nest gear happening now ahead of the Amazon Spring Sale. There are some solid discounts here, including one on the Google Nest Thermostat, which is down to $100. That's $30 off the usual price and it applies to all four colors. While that's not the lowest price we've seen for the thermostat (it has dropped to $80 in the past), it's still a solid deal.The Nest Thermostat has been around for a few years now. It's a more affordable version of the Nest Learning Thermostat, which usually costs $249 but is also on sale for $190. Both are designed to help save energy and cut down on heating and air conditioner costs. The Energy Star-certified Nest Thermostat can automatically adjust the temperature when you leave your home to avoid wasting energy on heating or cooling.You can use the Nest app to adjust the settings remotely, so if you're getting back earlier than usual or unexpectedly staying out late, the temperature will be just right. You can also control the thermostat using Google Assistant or another Matter-certified voice assistant (such as Alexa or Siri) as long as you have a compatible smart device. Meanwhile, the Savings Finder feature will offer you tips on how to adjust your temperature schedule to reduce costs even further.Several Nest cameras are on sale too. The Indoor Nest Cam is down to $80, which is $20 off. If you'd prefer a camera for the exterior of your residence, the Outdoor Nest Cam has dropped from $180 to $140. Those looking for a smart doorbell, meanwhile, may want to consider the Nest Doorbell Wired. That's $20 off at $150.Your Spring Sales Shopping Guide: Spring sales are in the air, headlined by Amazon's Big Spring sale event. Our expert editors are curating all the best spring sales right here. Follow Engadget to shop the best tech deals from Amazon's Big Spring Sale, hear from Autoblog's car experts on the best spring auto deals on Amazon, and find spring sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-google-nest-thermostat-drops-to-100-ahead-of-the-amazon-big-spring-sale-142804063.html?src=rss

Conversing with your computer has been a dream of futurists and technologists for decades. When you look at 2004's state of the art, it's staggering to see how far we've come. There are now billions of devices in our hands, and homes that listen to our queries and do their very best to answer them. But for all of the time, money and effort, chatbots of any stripe have not swallowed the world as their creators intended. They're miraculous. They're also boring. And it's worth asking why.Chatbot is a term covering a lot of systems, from voice assistants to AI and everything else in the middle. Talking to your computer in the not-so-good old days meant typing into a window and watching the machine attempt a facsimile of the act of conversation rather than the real thing. The old ELIZA (1964 to 1967) trick of restating user inputs in the form of a question helped sell this performance. And this continued even as far as 2001's SmarterChild chatbot. The other branch of this work was to digitize the analog with voice-to-text engines, like Nuance's frustrating but occasionally wonderful product.In 2011, the ideas in that early work joined up to make Siri for the iPhone 4S, which was quietly built on Nuance's work. Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, saw Siri's promise early and launched a large internal project to make a homegrown competitor. In 2014, Alexa arrived, with Cortana and Google Assistant following in subsequent years. Natural language computing was now available on countless smartphones and smart home devices.Companies are largely reticent to be specific about the price of building new projects, but chat has been costly. Forbes reported in 2011 that buying the startup behind Siri cost Apple $200 million. In 2018, The Wall Street Journal quoted Dave Limp, who said Amazon's Alexa team had more than 10,000 employees. A Business Insider story from 2022 suggested the company pegged more than $10 billion in losses on Alexa's development. Last year, The Information claimed Apple is now spending a million dollars a day on AI development.So, what do we use this costly technology for? Turning our smart bulbs on and off, playing music, answering the doorbell and maybe getting the sports scores. In the case of AI, perhaps getting poorly summarized web search results (or an image of human subjects with too many fingers.) You're certainly not having much in the way of meaningful conversation or pulling vital data out of these things. Because in pretty much every case, its comprehension sucks and it struggles with the nuances of human speech. And this isn't isolated. In 2021, Bloomberg reported on internal Amazon data saying up to a quarter of buyers stop using their Alexa unit entirely in the second week of owning one.The oft-cited goal has been to make these platforms conversationally intelligent, answering your questions and responding to your commands. But while it can do some basic things pretty well, like mostly understanding when you ask it to turn your lights down, everything else isn't so smooth. Natural language tricks users into thinking the systems are more sophisticated than they actually are. So when it comes time to ask a complex question, you're more likely to get the first few lines of a wikipedia page, eroding any faith in their ability to do more than play music or crank the thermostat.The assumption is that generative AIs bolted onto these natural language interfaces will solve all of the issues presently associated with voice. And yes, on one hand, these systems will be better at pantomiming a realistic conversation and trying to give you what you ask for. But, on the other hand, when you actually look at what comes out the other side, it's often gibberish. These systems are making gestures toward surface level interactions but can't do anything more substantive. Don't forget when Sports Illustrated tried to use AI-generated content that boldly claimed volleyball could be tricky to get into, especially without an actual ball to practice with." No wonder so many of these systems are, as Bloomberg reported last year, propped up by underpaid human labor.Of course, the form's boosters will suggest it's early days and, like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said recently, we still need billions of dollars in more chip research and development. But that makes a mockery of the decades of development and billions of dollars already spent to get where we are today. But it's not just cash or chips that's the issue: Last year, The New York Times reported the power demands of AI alone could skyrocket to as much as 134 terawatt hours per year by 2027. Given the urgent need to curb power consumption and make things more efficient, it doesn't bode well for either the future of its development or our planet.We've had 20 years of development, but chatbots still haven't caught on in the ways we were told they would. At first, it was because they simply struggled to understand what we wanted, but even if that's solved, would we suddenly embrace them? After all, the underlying problem remains: We simply don't trust these platforms, both because we have no faith in their ability to do what we ask them to and because of the motivations of their creators.One of the most enduring examples of natural language computing in fiction, and one often cited by real-world makers, is the computer from Star Trek: The Next Generation. But even there, with a voice assistant that seems to possess something close to general intelligence, it's not trusted to run the ship on its own. A crew member still sits at every station, carrying out the orders of the captain and generally performing the mission. Even in a future so advanced it's free of material need, beings still crave the sensation of control.To celebrate Engadget's 20th anniversary, we're taking a look back at the products and services that have changed the industry since March 2, 2004.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/chatbots-promise-a-future-that-will-never-arrive-140033258.html?src=rss

Aside from who'd win in a fight between Elon Musk and the ghost of Steve Jobs, the question I'm asked most is how to find the best budget-friendly smartphone.SamsungAs an insufferable early adopter/power user, I'm used to spending $1,000-plus on my daily addiction, but you don't have to get a great capable phone in 2024. This time around, our top picks cost between $100 and $300, so we truly mean cheap. (In fact, our picks undercut my go-to recommendation of the Pixel 7A, which is hovering above $400.)Take a look at our guide, which includes devices from OnePlus, Samsung and Moto.- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedWhere to recycle your used and unwanted gadgetsThe Steam spring sale is here to raid your walletUnicorn Overlord is a must-play for tactics fansYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!No more Pornhub for TexasThe parent company blocked access to all its other adult entertainment websites.You'll have to get your kicks elsewhere, Texas. Pornhub is now inaccessible in the state, after the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled Texas can enforce its age-verification regulations for porn websites. If you try, you'll be met with a message: Dear user, as you may know, your elected officials in Texas are requiring us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website." As you might have guessed, Texas now tops the list of states for VPN searches as its residents look for a workaround to access their favorite adult content.Continue reading.Google I/O 2024 takes place on May 14What's next for Android and the company's AI products.GoogleGoogle revealed the date for this year's I/O conference in really annoying fashion. It asked folks to complete a tedious logic puzzle. Once enough people finished all 15 levels and got a marble to its destination repeatedly, they got the date.The keynote will give us a look at upcoming Pixel and Android features - and maybe a bit of hardware. Please?Continue reading.SpaceX's third Starship test launch takes off successfullyNext, the company plans to test relighting its Raptor engine in space.SpaceXThe third time's the charm as SpaceX attempted another test of its Starship rocket. The Starship launched at 9:25AM ET on Thursday morning. Shortly after launch, it completed the hot-staging separation from its Super Heavy Booster, and the Starship successfully ignited the second-stage Raptor engines. While SpaceX said both the booster and Starship were going to return to Earth at terminal velocity," thus making any recovery of them impossible, it looks like Starship didn't make it to splashdown, breaking up on re-entry (according to initial data).Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-the-best-smartphones-under-300-111502970.html?src=rss

Another week, another concerted effort to ban TikTok in the US - except this time, it could actually happen. In this episode, Cherlynn and Devindra chat with Engadget Senior Editor Karissa Bell around the latest TikTok drama. The House passed a bill that could ultimately ban the company if ByteDance doesn't sell it off within six months. It may face a tougher fight in the Senate, but if it's approved there President Biden has said he's willing to sign it into law.Is this a justified fight against the Chinese-owned social media company, or is it the sum of our political fears against all things China? (Maybe it's a bit of both?) We discuss why this potential ban could be a huge civil rights violation, as well as the need for true data privacy laws in the US, which would apply to all social networks.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!Topics

If you're one of the - apparently few - remaining people still doing watch parties now that the pandemic lockdowns are way behind us, we're sorry to say that watching Prime Video shows with your pals on Twitch will no longer be an option soon. The Amazon subsidiary is removing the Prime Video Watch Party feature from its online streaming platform on April 2, almost four years after it became available to all of its users. Twitch introduced the feature in a closed beta test back in 2019 and then rolled it out to US streamers in 2020, shortly after the world pretty much shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.You might have used watch parties as a way to connect with other people those days, so that you could still be together even if you couldn't be at the same place. It may have been a godsend if you'd spent those lockdowns alone and may have helped you get through some really tough, isolating days. According to Variety, almost one-fifth of adults in the US had participated in a virtual co-viewing experience back in 2020. But your habits may have changed after the lockdowns had lifted. You may no longer be using that Peloton bike and home gym setup... and you may no longer be hosting or attending watch parties as often anymore, or at all. Not when you can go to the gym or go to actual theaters with friends.In Twitch's announcement, it said that the feature's usage on its platform has "declined over the years." Instead of thinking of ways on how to make it more appealing, the company has decided to remove it altogether and to invest its resources in other features.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitch-is-ending-its-pandemic-era-prime-video-watch-parties-110004438.html?src=rss

Black Mirror, the series that eerily foreshadowed our current tech dystopia, is set to return in 2025 for a seventh season, Netflix revealed at its UK Next event. The six-episode run will include a sequel to one of the best-loved episodes, the darkly funny Star Trek spoof USS Callister.It's light on details, with a Netflix teaser only teasing the 2025 date and sequel episode. "Robert Daly is dead, but for the crew of the USS Callister, their problems are just beginning," the description reads. The original episode from season 4 (2017) starred Jesse Plemons and Cristin Milioti, along with the voice of Aaron Paul and an uncredited cameo by Kristen Dunst. That episode won multiple Emmys, including one for Outstanding Television Movie.Black Mirror debuted in the UK in 2011 with the occasional hiatus, including this year. It was created by Charlie Brooker and executive produced by Annabel Jones.Its last season, in 2023, featured five episodes and included a few bangers like Loch Henry and Joan is Awful. The latter takes streaming services to their logical, dark conclusion (think The Truman Show meets OpenAI meets Netflix) - and we expect similar themes in the upcoming season.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/black-mirror-will-get-six-new-episodes-in-2025-081523986.html?src=rss

If Pornhub were a cowboy, then it has just tipped its hat and ridden off into the sunset to leave Texas. It's now inaccessible in the state after the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that Texas can start enforcing its age verification regulations for porn websites. As 404Media reports, when you visit Pornhub or any other adult entertainment website owned by its parent company Aylo from within the state, you'll now get a message that begins with: "Dear user, as you may know, your elected officials in Texas are requiring us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website."The message then explains that the practice would "impinge on the rights of adults to access protected speech" and that it's the "least effective and yet also most restrictive means of accomplishing Texas' stated purpose of allegedly protecting minors." Texas' age verification rules require porn website visitors to prove their age by providing a copy of one of their government IDs. Aylo said in its message that "providing identification every time you want to visit an adult platform is not an effective solution for protecting users online, and in fact, will put minors and your privacy at risk."Texas governor Greg Abbott signed the age verification bill into law last year, but a group of porn websites that included Pornhub filed a lawsuit to block it a month later. A judge issued a preliminary injunction that blocked its immediate enforcement, ruling that the plaintiffs showed that they "will likely be violated if the statute takes effect" and that they will "suffer irreparable harm." However, the state's attorney general, Ken Paxton (pictured above), appealed the injunction. The court did strike down the law's requirement to "display health warnings about the effects of the consumption of pornography," but Paxton has clearly won the battle.Pornhub's message for its Texas visitors is the same one it shows visitors from other states with similar age verification laws, including Utah, Montana, North Carolina and Mississippi. Last year, Aylo also started requiring Louisiana visitors to verify their identities through the state's digital driver's license wallet app, but most states don't have a comparable application that works with its system. "We believe that the only effective solution for protecting minors and adults alike is to verify users' age on their device and to either deny or allow access to age-restricted materials and websites based on that verification," Aylo explained in its message.In a rather amusing yet expected turn of events, there was a spike in Google searches for "VPN" after the appeals court's ruling came out. As you might have guessed, Texas now tops the list of states for VPN searches, indicating that people are now looking for ways to circumvent Pornhub's shutdown in the region.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/pornhub-says-adios-to-texas-071814587.html?src=rss

CrowdTangle saw its team disbanded in 2021, new user registrations cut off in 2022 and now the site will officially shut down on August 14, the Wall Street Journal reports. Journalists and academics alike have used CrowdTangle to study the flow of content on Facebook and Instagram, including conspiracy theories and fake news. Meta, which bought the company in 2016, choosing to shutter the company is an entirely unsurprising move given it has been the source for many of the social media conglomerate's failings.A tool called Meta Content Library will replace CrowdTangle, but only academics and nonprofit researchers can use it. That's right - for-profit news organizations can't apply for access to what sounds like a watered-down version of CrowdTangle. Meta claims that its Content Library - which is the company's answer for the European Union's Digital Markets Act - has new features like data on public comments and searching content based on views. However, early testers found it lacked geography-based activity data or the ability to download data from public posts.Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg certainly benefit from limiting how much people - especially reporters - can view about their doings. We recently published a deep dive into Zuckerberg's dangerous decisions, including going against warnings from experts and personally intervening to block a ban on Instagram's plastic surgery filters. Other horrors under his watch include Instagram's recommendation algorithm promoting content featuring child sexual exploitation and regularly dismissing requests from top lieutenants to further prioritize safety. Then, in court, his lawyers have claimed he should hold no responsibility for the lawsuits involving harm caused by Meta's platforms.On Thursday, Crowdtangle's former co-founder and CEO Brandon Silverman criticized the Meta's decision to shut down the service. In a blog post, Silverman said that turning off Crowdtangle 12 weeks before the US Presidential election was incredibly irresponsible." He added, however, that he was optimistic that the legacy of Crowdtangle would help to inspire a permanent set of regulations that make real-time access to public data a legal requirement and an ongoing part of how we manage the internet responsibly & collaboratively."Update, March 14 2024, 8:24 PM ET: This story has been updated to include Silverman's reaction to Meta's decision to kill Crowdtangle.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-sets-a-date-for-killing-off-crowdtangle-125106862.html?src=rss

One day after a bill that could lead to a ban of TikTok in the United States passed the House of Representatives, the company is doubling down on its strategy of urging users to call lawmakers. The app began pushing new in-app messages to users asking them to "tell your Senator how important TikTok is to you" and to ask them to vote not on the TikTok ban."The new alerts are the second such message TikTok has pushed to users about the bill. Prior to the House vote, the company prompted users to call their representatives in the House. The step may have backfired as lawmakers accused the company of trying to interfere" with the legislative process as Congressional offices were reportedly overwhelmed with calls, many of which came from somewhat confused teenagers.The latest notifications are even more direct. The House of Representatives just voted to ban TikTok, which impacts 170 million Americans just like you," it says. Now, if the Senate votes, the future of creativity and communities you love on TikTok could be shut down." Like the previous alerts, users can choose to call now," and the app will find phone numbers if a zip code is provided.Screenshot via TikTokTikTok didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. But the message underscores just how big a threat the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act" is to the company. If passed, TikTok would have about six months to sell itself or face a ban in the US. Though there have been several previous attempts to ban the app or force a sale, no measure has received as much bipartisan support so quickly. If passed by the Senate, President Joe Biden has said he would sign it into law.TikTok CEO Shou Chew has also appealed directly to users, telling them to protect your constitutional rights" and promising that the company would do all we can including exercising our legal rights to protect this amazing platform."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-is-now-asking-users-to-call-their-senators-to-prevent-a-us-ban-213935787.html?src=rss

The FCC has raised the speeds required to describe internet service as broadband" for the first time since 2015. The agency's annual high-speed internet assessment concluded that 100 Mbps downloads and 20 Mbps uploads will be the new standard. The news will likely irk ISPs who would love to keep pointing to 25 Mbps / 3 Mbps speeds (the previous standards) and convincing people they're getting high-speed broadband.The FCC's report broke down several areas where the country's online infrastructure falls short. The agency concluded that broadband isn't being deployed quickly enough to serve Americans, especially those in rural areas and those living on Tribal lands. These gaps in deployment are not closing rapidly enough," the agency wrote in its report.More specifically, the agency said fixed terrestrial broadband service (not including satellite) has yet to be deployed to around 24 million Americans,including about 28 percent of people in rural areas and over 23 percent of those living on Tribal lands. On the mobile front, it added that about nine percent of Americans (including 36 percent in rural areas and over 20 percent on Tribal lands) lack adequate 5G cellular speeds of at least 35 Mbps down / 3 Mbps up.The report set a long-term goal of broadband speeds of 1 Gbps down / 500 Mbps up to give stakeholders a collective goal towards which to strive." Those numbers may hint at where the Commission would like to move the goalposts the next time it updates them. In 2015, when the commission set the 25 Mbps / 3 Mbps requirements, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel commented, Frankly, it should be 100 Mbps"-the benchmark the agency finally moved to today, nine years later.The FCC can't police ISPs to force them to boost their speeds, but this type of move may be the best card it can play. What it can do is prevent them from marketing their services as broadband" internet if they don't meet these thresholds. It remains to be seen whether the companies providing the infrastructure play ball or opt for other marketing buzzwords to sell customers on glacial and outdated internet speeds.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-fcc-just-quadrupled-the-download-speed-required-to-market-internet-as-broadband-205950393.html?src=rss

It'll soon be time for the tech world to once again turn its attention to Mountain View. Google has revealed the date for this year's I/O conference. The event is set for May 14.Google for Developers disclosed the date in annoying fashion. It asked folks to complete a tedious logic puzzle (think of the path puzzles from BioShock). Once enough people kindly finished all 15 levels and got a marble to its destination over and over again, Google announced when I/O will be happening. It will again be a one-day event this year.

Intel just broke another speed record when it comes to desktop CPUs. The company just introduced the Core i9-14900K CPU, which can reach up to 6.2GHz without overclocking, making it the fastest desktop processor available to consumers. The company did the same thing last year, but that chip maxed out at 6GHz.In addition to the record-breaking CPU speed, the i9-14900KS boasts a 24 cores/32 threads architecture and 36 megabytes of Intel's proprietary Smart Cache technology, which shares the cache memory between the various cores. Intel says this will allow for powerful performance in gaming and content creation workloads."The chip also makes use of Intel's Thermal Velocity Boost tool, which is a feature in 11th Gen and later Intel Core chips that ups the clock frequency by 100 MHz when the temperature is below a threshold of 70 degrees C, or 158 degrees F. In other words, make sure your cooling system is on point.As for metrics, the company promises that gamers will experience up to 15 percent better performance and that content creators should enjoy a 73 percent performance uptick when engaging in compute-intensive workflows. The i9-14900KS is compatible with Z790 and Z690 motherboards, but Intel recommends the latest BIOS to ensure the best results.The Core i9-14900KS is available right now and starts at $700. It's available at traditional retailers as a boxed product and will be integrated into systems from original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners in the near future. Intel continues to focus on raw speed, rather than AI, which has been noticeable throughout this year's product announcements.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/intels-latest-desktop-cpu-hits-62ghz-without-overclocking-breaking-another-speed-record-193839340.html?src=rss

Recteq revealed five new smart pellet grills in October, including unique dual-chamber and griddle options. Now, the company is back with two more models: a larger version of the recently overhauled Flagship 1100 and a built-in design for outdoor kitchens.The Flagship XL 1400 has all of the updates that were announced with the Flagship 1100 last fall, including the updated Wi-Fi-enabled controller and sturdier leg design. The key difference on this new version is increased cooking capacity. The Flagship XL 1400 has 1,437 square inches of grilling space, with a second grate situated above the main cooking surface. Recteq also increased the size of the pellet hopper, which can now hold a massive 60 pounds of fuel when full. Depending on which brand you use, that's at least three bags of pellets - way more than even the longest brisket cook will require.Like the Flagship 1100, this XL version does more than low-and-slow smoking as it has a temperature range of 180-650 degrees Fahrenheit. And the Wi-Fi connectivity means you can adjust cooking temps and monitor internal food temperatures from your phone. The Flagship XL 1400 is available now for $1,599.Recteq Flagship XL 1400RecteqPermanent outdoor kitchens have become increasingly popular spaces for socializing at home. These typically include a grill that's been mounted into some type of fixed counter or cabinetry, but there aren't a lot of options if you want to do that with a pellet grill. Most people simply remove the legs or cart for a pellet model to make it work in these setups, but Recteq has a new option that's specifically designed for outdoor kitchens.The E-Series Built-In 1300 is a fully stainless steel smart pellet grill with 1,300 square inches of cooking space. This model also packs Recteq's recently updated Wi-FI controller with dual-band connectivity and compatibility with the company's app. Like the SmokeStone griddle, the E-Series Built-In has a front-fill hopper for easy access and removable secondary cooking grates. The company says an a-frame-shaped drip pan makes grease drainage more efficient and a cast iron deflector helps evenly distribute the heat.Like the company's other pellet grills, the E-Series Built-In is more than just a smoker, which means it can be the cornerstone of an outdoor kitchen without needing another grill. This model can run at 180-700 degrees Fahrenheit, which will accommodate everything from barbecue to searing. Grills like this that are permanently installed are typically quite pricey, and the E-Series Built-In 1300 is no exception. It's $3,499, which is $900 more than the company's 2,535-square inch "BFG" unit, previously the most expensive option in the Recteq arsenal.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/recteq-adds-flagship-xl-and-built-in-models-to-its-smart-pellet-grill-lineup-181449204.html?src=rss

It's that time of year once again. The Steam spring sale is now live. It's typically not as extensive as the summer and winter editions, and there's no Steam Deck discount this time, unfortunately, but there are still plenty of deals worth paying attention to.Let's start with Baldur's Gate 3, which was the 2023 game of the year, according to The Game Awards and Steam itself. The RPG has dropped by 10 percent. A modest discount, but nothing to sniff at. Palworld, one of this year's biggest hits so far, is 10 percent off too. Another viral smash, Lethal Company, has dropped by 20 percent.Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, which only came out in late January, is already 20 percent off. A bundle of Cyberpunk 2077 and its well-regarded Phantom Liberty expansion is down by 43 percent while the base game is half off. Grand Theft Auto V has dropped by 63 percent for the 15 people out there who don't already own it, while you can save 40 percent on Mortal Kombat 1.Starfield is a third off, and several other Bethesda games are on sale. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is down by 55 percent. Other notable games in the Steam sale include Diablo IV (50 percent off, but coming to Game Pass late this month), EA Sports FC 24(80 percent off) and Red Dead Redemption 2 (67 percent off).That's barely scratching the surface of the huge sale, which includes thousands of games. If there's something you've had on your wishlist for a while, it's worth taking a peek to see if there's a discount on it. The Steam spring sale runs until March 21.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-steam-spring-sale-is-here-to-raid-your-wallet-175109711.html?src=rss

Series like Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem and Tactics Ogre (which got a lovely remaster in 2022) tend to dominate the conversation around SRPGs. And rightly so. However, with its latest release - Unicorn Overlord - developer Vanillaware is taking cues from older titles in a way that pays tribute to the classics while also providing something fresh and engaging for 2024. And after being completely engrossed by this beautiful mash-up of old and new, Unicorn Overlord feels like a must-play for strategy game fans.Vanillaware isn't shy about where it drew inspiration for Unicorn Overlord. Instead of typical grid-based battlefields, the game plays a lot like Ogre Battle 64, which has you commanding a handful of smaller squads that you maneuver around the map to intercept enemy forces and capture strongholds. Each squad has a captain who lends a passive bonus with party sizes that grow to five over the course of the game. But because you don't have direct control over individual characters during fights, you need to be crafty about setting them up for success.Screenshot by Sam Rutherford/VanillawareStrategy is dictated not only by the position of each squad but also by which classes you choose and the actions you set (e.g. setting a command to attack the lowest health enemy or only hitting an opponent that's already been debuffed). This results in gameplay that feels like fantasy football but for war. Look at you, you're the general now. Except it's better because you can see how well your art of war plays out, like when your archers take out flying enemies such as gryfons and wyverns that are naturally susceptible to their attacks.But the strategizing doesn't stop there, because outside of combat, there are other ways to manipulate battles. You can commandeer siege units like catapults and ballistas to rain damage down on opposing units before they get close. Alternatively, you can spend Valor points (which are earned by defeating enemies) to buff friendly combatants (haste, extra stamina, etc.) or soften up foes with targeted strikes like a cavalry charge. Then there's all the various equipment and loot you'll gather, which adds another layer of customization to your army.Screenshot by Sam Rutherford/VanillawareOn top of straightforward spec bumps, you can give units additional turns or alter their abilities by adding poison damage to a spear or other weapon. And when you get everything set up just right, the results are devastating. One of my favorite combos was giving an archer and swordsman fire-based attacks to afflict a burn on enemies. Then I followed this up with a mage that ignites every burning opponent with additional party-wide damage at the end of a fight and I think you can see where this is going. Honestly, I've lost track of the amount of time I've spent looking at menus to tweak ascactions and equipment. But min-maxing each squad's potential is a ton of fun all by itself.Meanwhile, another feature Unicorn Overlord borrows from franchises like Fire Emblem is its Rapport mechanic. Characters in the same squad will grow closer over time, offering upgraded stats over time. Alternatively, you can improve rapport by sharing meals or giving gifts, and after enough bonding, you'll get a cutscene that dives deeper into two people's relationship. On top of that, the main character, Alain, can develop a romance allowing you to choose your best girl (or boy, in some cases, though I haven't had the chance to try that out myself).Screenshot by Sam Rutherford/VanillawareUnicorn Overlord's roster is massive too. It felt like every other battle I added a new member to my ranks, and before I even explored 50 percent of the map, I had more than 30 unique story characters. And if that's not enough, you can also recruit mercenaries, which is arguably a more strategic decision as that lets you customize a unit's growth (e.g. Keen types get extra crit while all-rounders receive more balanced stats and so on).I also want to call out Unicorn Overlord's visual design, which is flat-out gorgeous. It's a clear homage to the 2D sprite-based graphics of old-school SRPGs, but it's been polished up for modern HD screens. Portraits and character models are incredibly detailed and the animations are a joy to watch even after the 1000th time. Granted, Vanillaware occasionally succumbs to the trope of girl armor in games where male characters have huge sheets of metal protecting them while some female characters are much more scantily clad. Why does the witch class wear a bikini? We may never know, though this has been Vanillaware's style for the last 20 years, so it's not exactly a surprise. Really, my gripe with this is that there should be a few more himbos to balance things out.Screenshot by Sam Rutherford/VanillawareAs for more general cons, the main one is that the game's plot is a bit generic. It's not bad, it's just based on a familiar setup centered around disenfranchised Prince Alain (who probably not coincidentally looks a lot like Magnus from Ogre Battle 64, right down to the blue hair) and his quest to liberate his nation from the clutches of evil emperor Galerius. That said, there are still plenty of touching moments to keep the plot from getting too dull.The other potential issue is that some may find the game a bit too easy. To start, there are three difficulty levels, plus an even harder setting once you beat the game. However, the amount of strategizing you can do means you can almost always have an advantage in battle, so depending on how you look at it, the game is hurting itself for having such a high level of control and customization. Though in my opinion, that's a good problem to have.Screenshot by Sam Rutherford/VanillawareThe most important thing about Unicorn Overlord is that it feels like a passion project from start to finish. Its visuals are wonderfully hand-crafted, and by adopting and then updating features and gameplay from Hall of Fame strategy titles, the game feels like a love letter to the genre as a whole. Heck, the CEO of Vanillaware even went so far as to pay for the game's development out of pocket after its budget ran out. So while Unicorn Overlord might not appeal to everyone, tactics fans just got a new instant classic.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/unicorn-overlord-review-a-must-play-for-tactics-fans-173259209.html?src=rss

If you happen to find yourself at a loose end this weekend, it might not be a bad idea to fire up the Apple TV app and check out some Major League Soccer action. All 14 of this weekend's games will be available to watch for free in English and Spanish, so you won't need an MLS Season Pass subscription.Apple Vision Pro users will be able to check out MLS games on a virtual screen that appears to be up to 100 feet wide. The Apple TV app is also availableon smart TVs, set-top boxes, game consoles and of course on Apple's own devices.Among the games you'll be able to watch are Inter Miami's visit to DC United. Ticket prices for Miami games have gone through the roof since Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest player of all-time, joined the team last year. So, getting to watch the match for free is nothing to complain about. (Messi is likely to miss the game due to injury anyway, so you might be glad you didn't spend up to four figures on a ticket.) I'll most likely be watching my local team CF Montreal playing away at Chicago Fire, which takes place at the same time as the Miami match on Saturday afternoon.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-tv-will-stream-every-mls-game-for-free-this-weekend-170045330.html?src=rss

There are plenty of portable headphone amps out there that plug directly into instruments like electric guitars and basses, but Boss just kicked things up a notch. The company has announced the Katana:GO headphone amp and it's a doozy, with a combination of features I've never seen together in one little box.Just like rival products, this thing plugs into the input jack of a preferred instrument and includes a headphone jack to hear what's going on. Guitar players can choose from ten amp models and bassists get three amp models, each pulled from the pre-existing Katana line of modeling amplifiers. Boss Katana amps are known primarily for their surprisingly great selection of tones, and it looks like the company managed to squeeze those same models into a headphone amp. Rival products are certainly convenient, but don't always sound that great.There are 60 effects to choose from, with all of the reverbs, delays and, of course, choruses musicians have come to expect from Boss. These are also the same effects featured in the larger and pricier combo amps.So, there are good amp tones and a robust lineup of effects. What sets the Katana:Go apart from, say, the Mustang Micro? First of all, there's a built-in tuner, which is always a welcome addition. The Katana:GO also includes spatial audio tech to mimic a live setup, further enhancing its usefulness as a practice amp. It remains to be seen how realistic this sounds, but Boss says it lets users position a virtual amp in different locations to give the impression of playing on stage or jamming in a room with friends." I've used many of these amps before and have found the in your face" nature of the headphone signal rather off-putting, so I'm intrigued by this feature.The amp has 30 preset slots, for creating and saving unique tones, and integrates with the company's Tone Exchange service. This allows users to trade presets like Pokemon. Okay, not quite like Pokemon, but you get the gist.BossThe Katana:GO even doubles as an actual USB audio interface. Just plug it into a computer, smartphone or tablet and record straight into a DAW. Finally, there's a dedicated mobile app, with the ability to jam along to songs from streaming sites or a personal library. This is especially handy for getting that daily practice session in, and there's a looping feature for nailing down difficult segments.Just like the other headphone amps on the market, it folds up neatly and easily fits into a standard gig bag. The Boss Katana:GO costs $120 and, incidentally, is the same price as the Mustang Micro, which doesn't double as an audio interface or include a built-in tuner. It's available to purchase right now.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-pocket-sized-boss-katanago-headphone-amp-doubles-as-an-audio-interface-163901677.html?src=rss

8BitDo's nostalgic Retro Mechanical Keyboard is on sale for an all-time low price today. The Nintendo-esque accessory ships in NES or Famicom-inspired colorways, and it includes two giant red buttons that would look right at home playing Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! or Excitebike. Usually, it's $100, but you can grab the keyboard for $85 right now from Amazon.The 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard supports custom key mapping and works wired or wireless. The N Edition" takes cues from the NES with an off-white / dark gray / black color scheme. The Fami Edition" draws inspiration from the Japanese Famicom with a white and crimson color palette.Both variants have dials and a power indicator with old-school appeal, fitting their retro motif. The Fami Edition pays homage to the Famicom's 1980s regional availability (and Nintendo's home country) with Japanese characters below their English ones.The keyboard's Super Buttons are bundled accessories you can customize for any action you like. You could assign them as shortcuts to save documents, close windows, attack in games or anything else you feel like. The buttons connect to the keyboard via a 3.5mm jack.The keyboard lasts an estimated 200 hours on a single (four-hour) charge. It has 87 keys and supports Bluetooth, 2.4GHz wireless and USB modes. While only officially compatible with Windows and Android, the accessory also works with macOS.Your Spring Sales Shopping Guide: Spring sales are in the air, headlined by Amazon's Big Spring sale event. Our expert editors are curating all the best spring sales right here. Follow Engadget to shop the best tech deals from Amazon's Big Spring Sale, and find the best spring sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/8bitdos-nes-inspired-mechanical-keyboard-is-on-sale-for-an-all-time-low-price-161843047.html?src=rss

Google says it's upgrading the default Safe Browsing mode in Chrome to offer better protection against malicious websites. Until now, this mode has used a locally stored list to check whether a site or file may be dangerous. The list updates every 30-60 minutes but Google says that a malicious website only exists for 10 minutes on average.To combat that, Google is drawing from a feature in Safe Browsing's Enhanced protection mode to check sites against a server-side list of known unsafe sites in real-time. The Enhanced protection mode is opt-in, but Google found that these real-time checks offer "significant value," so it's bringing them to the standard version of Safe Browsing.The company notes that Safe Browsing is used on more than 5 billion devices and it helps protect against the likes of phishing, malware and unwanted software. The mode evaluates north of 10 billion URLs and files day. Chrome shows users more than 3 million warnings for potential threats through this feature on the daily. However, Google believes that real-time URL checks will help it to block 25 percent more phishing attempts.Google says it's keeping privacy in mind as Safe Browsing doesn't share the URLs of sites you visit with the company. Chrome says this feature employs hashing and encryption. A privacy server strips out any details that might identify a user before forwarding encrypted hash prefixes to the Safe Browsing server to check against the list of sketchy sites.The company still recommends that users adopt the Enhanced protection mode as it offers additional safeguards. The Safe Browsing option only checks against a list of sites that are already known to be unsafe. Enhanced protection looks at additional factors and uses machine learning to identify risky sites that Safe Browsing hasn't yet confirmed as potentially malicious. Freshly created sites and those that mask their true behavior may not be picked up on by Safe Browsing's detection systems right away.The new Safe Browsing feature is available now on the latest desktop and iOS versions of Chrome now. It's coming to the Android app later this month.Meanwhile, Google says it recently updated Chrome's Password Checkup feature on iOS. Along with alerting you to compromised passwords, it will now warn you about weak and reused credentials.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-says-chromes-safe-browsing-mode-now-offers-better-protection-against-bad-sites-160054102.html?src=rss

Anker USB-C chargers are up to 43 percent off on Amazon, with prices ranging from $16 to $68. There are a bunch of chargers available, from entry-level devices to the company's premium models.Perhaps the most notable discount is for the Nano 2. This is one of the company's mid-range chargers and costs $32 as part of this sale, which is a whopping 43 percent off. This 65W charger boasts three ports, with power distributed efficiently between each connected device. It's tiny, roughly the size of a charging case for earbuds, and features two USB-C connections and one standard USB-A connection.The budget-friendly Nano 3 is also on sale for $16, which is a discount of 20 percent. This model offers a similar experience to the Nano 2, but with just a single USB-C port. The baddest Anker charger of them all, the Prime, is part of this promotion. It's on sale for $68, instead of $87. This 100W charger will make short work out of depleted devices. It features a trio of ports, two USB-C and a single USB-A, and includes the company's ActiveShield 2.0 system to ensure safe charging. It also happens to be much smaller than a standard MacBook charger, which is nice.The sale extends beyond traditional chargers. There are power stations here with numerous inputs, hubs and, of course, cables to get everything connected. Some of the discounts are pretty steep, up to 50 percent in a couple of cases. Chargers and cables may not be exciting, but they sure are necessary.Your Spring Sales Shopping Guide: Spring sales are in the air, headlined by Amazon's Big Spring sale event. Our expert editors are curating all the best spring sales right here. Follow Engadget to shop the best tech deals from Amazon's Big Spring Sale, and find the best spring sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/anker-usb-c-chargers-are-up-to-43-percent-off-151029074.html?src=rss

SpaceX hoped the third time would be the charm as it attempted another test of its Starship rocket. This third launch did indeed go well, with the Starship successfully launching at 9:25AM ET. Shortly after launch, it succesfully completed the hot-staging separation from the Super Heavy Booster, and the Starship successfully ignited the second-stage Raptor engines. It's currently coasting and the Raptor engines are planned to be re-lit about 40 minutes after initial take off. The Super Heavy Booster, meanwhile, went into a semi-controlled descent; its engines didn't fully re-ignite as planned prior to splashdown. We should hear more about what worked and didn't work in that phase of testing once everything is finished.While SpaceX said that both the booster and Starship itself were going to return to Earth at "terminal velocity," thus making any recovery of them impossible, it looks like Starship itself didn't make it to splashdown. Based on the initial data, it looks like Starship broke up during re-entry. As with the booster, we should hear more about the specifics behind the ship's ultimate fate soon.Before breakup, though, we got to see some dramatic footage of Starship beginning reentry:

As expected, the Embracer Group has sold much of Saber Interactive, which is known for the Metro series, Gloomhaven and remakes of classic Star Wars titles. The buyer is a group of private investors under the umbrella of Beacon Interactive, which is run by Saber co-founder Matthew Karch.Although Embracer says the deal is worth $247 million, it's actually worth around $500 million once liabilities are factored in, according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier. That's because Beacon is said to have taken up an option to buy 4A Games and Zen Studios (the developers of the Metro and Zen Pinball series, respectively) as well.As you might imagine given those latter points, the details of the sale are a little convoluted. Along with 4A and Zen, the sale includes all Saber-branded studios, Nimble Giant (Star Trek: Infinite), 3D animation studio Digic, support studio Fractured Byte, PR agency Sandbox Strategies, Mad Head Games (Scars Above), Slipgate Ironworks (Graven), New World Interactive (the Insurgency series) and publisher 3D Realms.Embracer is hanging onto 34 Big Things (Redout), Shiver (which ported Mortal Kombat 11to Switch), Snapshot (Phoenix Point) and Aspyr, which is behind the recent remaster of the original Tomb Raider trilogy and Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection, which came out on Thursday. The publisher is also retaining Tripwire (Maneater), Beamdog (Mythforce), Tuxedo Labs (Teardown) and Demiurge (Sega Heroes). Embracer-owned publisher Plaion will keep the long-term license and publishing rights for PC and console games in the Metro series too.Overall, Beacon is scooping up at least 38 ongoing game development projects, along with some proprietary engine technology and game tools. Saber says it will retain 14 games, including Killing Floor 3. According to reporter Stephen Totilo, Beacon is taking on 2,950 workers and Embracer is retaining 800 (it has 14,140 workers overall)."Embracer is now able to discontinue all operations in Russia, according to a previous board decision, while safeguarding many developer jobs under new independent ownership," Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors said. "At the same time, we keep key companies, valuable IPs and future publishing rights."Embracer bought Saber for $525 million four years ago and it slotted some later purchases, including Demiurge and New World Interactive, into that division. Since last summer, Embracer has been on a major cost-cutting drive after an expected investment of $2 billion (reportedly from a group backed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund) fell apart. The company has shuttered several studios, and it laid off 1,387 people in the second half of 2023. It also canceled 29 unannounced games over a six-month period last year. It's believed that Gearbox (of Borderlands fame) may be set to leave Embracer too.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/embracer-sells-a-big-chunk-of-saber-interactive-in-a-deal-worth-around-500-million-143713156.html?src=rss

Solo Stove's well-regarded Pi Prime pizza oven is on sale for $50 off the asking price, bringing the total cost down to $300. This is part of a larger sitewide sale on Solo Stove products to celebrate Pi Day, a holiday that has everything to do with a famous mathematical constant and nothing to do with pizza.Just head to Solo Stove and type pizza" into the discount code box. This sale applies to every available product on the site, including fire pits, and the discounts increase as you spend more. For instance, purchasing two Pi Prime ovens will drop $120 off the final price.As for the Pi Prime, it's a fantastic gas-powered outdoor pizza oven. The original Pi made our list of the best pizza ovens and the Prime features a near-identical design. It's made out of stainless steel and features a round form factor that's just screaming to get stuffed with dough, cheese and sauce. The Pi Prime can hit a maximum cooking temperature of 950 degrees Fahrenheit and can fully cook a pizza in under 90 seconds.The oven ships with a reversible pizza stone made from cordierite, which is the gold standard of pizza stone materials. It also comes with a cover to protect the oven from the elements. The Pi Prime features an open-air design, so there's no door. This won't impact the temperature inside of the oven, but will make it more difficult to accurately track that temperature. Of course, you'll also need your own propane tank.The rest of the sale breaks down as follows. Spending at least $150 provides a discount of $20. This shoots up to $50 when you spend $300. Spending $600 nets you a discount of $120 and spending $800 knocks $160 off the final price. Again, this is a sitewide sale that also applies to the company's fire pits and accessories. The deals end on March 18.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/solo-stoves-pi-prime-pizza-oven-is-50-off-for-pi-day-140017342.html?src=rss

Blink is once again attempting to challenge conventional wisdom about how good a $40 security camera can be. The Amazon-owned company is today announcing the Blink Mini 2, which crams in plenty more smart features into that relatively tiny body. Headline features include better image quality day and night, as well as a built-in LED spotlight for color night vision.BlinkPaired with Blink's custom system-on-chip, the Mini 2 will also offer smart notifications and person detection. Those features will require a Blink subscription which, for $3 a month, will get you cloud recording, 60 days of video history and live streaming. You'll also need to pony up some more to use the Mini 2 outside - $49.98 will get you the camera and the necessary weather proof power adapter.The Blink Mini 2 is available today in the US and Canada.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/blinks-new-mini-2-offers-a-built-in-spotlight-and-person-detection-for-40-130055057.html?src=rss

It can be quite annoying to click through an Amazon ad in your results only to find out that the product you want can't be shipped to your place. Now, imagine you're the small business owner being charged for those ads. (Forget corporations and drop shippers, I know you all hate them.) There you are, thinking you're going to make a killing based on how much ad action you're getting. Except those ads don't translate to sales, because Amazon has been serving them to people who can't even buy your products. That's apparently what happened to at least one seller who told Bloomberg that he was charged between $200,000 and $300,000 for ads served to California residents, where he can't sell his advanced gaming computer items.The seller stopped shipping to California due to the state's personal computer power consumption regulations, which would require him to get costly lab reports for his products. But Amazon's automated system apparently continued advertising his products there and allegedly denied that there was an issue when he flagged the problem and followed up for several weeks. Since he was being charged thousands, the seller, who employs 80 people in Virginia to assemble custom computers, reportedly made zero profit in November, December and January.Amazon has acknowledged the issue in a statement sent to Engadget. It told us that it had investigated the matter and found that it only affected "a tiny fraction" of sellers. It also said that it had already apologized to the seller who talked to Bloomberg and that the company is in the process of refunding him $15,000. That's a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands the seller said he'd lost, but Amazon says it only served "a very small portion" of his listings to California residents. "We will similarly contact and refund any affected sellers, and are updating our processes to ensure any such ads are not charged going forward," the spokesperson said.The company's advertising system generally can't geo-target advertisements like Google ads can, because it focuses on matching buyers to certain brands or products they may be interested in. It also can't ensure that the product it's advertising complies with state regulations and, hence, can be shipped to its residents. As Bloomberg notes, this is far from the first time Amazon faced an issue regarding its advertisements. Last year, the Federal Trade Commission filed an antitrust lawsuit against the company, and one of the regulator's accusations was that it was "deliberately increasing junk ads that worsen search quality." A report that came out after the lawsuit revealed that Amazon can strike deals with other companies to make sure their listings are devoid of junk ads, though, which is why Apple's official product pages might look cleaner and less cluttered compared to its competitors'.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/whoops-amazon-served-costly-ads-for-products-people-couldnt-actually-buy-123046646.html?src=rss

The newly-released Sonos Move 2 speaker is on sale for 20 percent off the regular price. This is the very first discount on the speaker and brings the price down to $360 from $450. This is part of a larger Sonos sale on select products to celebrate the NCAA March Madness tournament.The Move 2 is considered a massive improvement over the original, with a jump in price to match. We called out the excellent battery life and quick-charging capabilities in our official review. Our reviewer noted that the speaker seemed to blow past" the advertised 24 hours of battery life. There's also a nifty charging ring" contraption. Just plop the speaker in the middle of the ring and it'll juice up, though USB-C charging is also an option.Of course, this is a speaker so the sound is a primary consideration. Luckily, the Move 2 offers improved clarity over the original, with a clear, well-balanced" sound that offers a prominent bass frequency and a detailed high end. It's also very loud and can easily handle outdoor spaces.There are only two downsides here. It's technically a portable speaker, but it's fairly large and weighs nearly seven pounds. Also, the original asking price is much higher than the first-gen Move, which has been somewhat alleviated by this sale.The sale also includes the massively popular Beam 2 soundbar. It's $100 off, bringing the price down to $399. The Beam snagged a place on our list of the best soundbars, due to its easy setup, compact design and fantastic sound. The aforementioned discounts are good until March 25.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-new-sonos-move-2-portable-speaker-is-20-percent-off-right-now-130045214.html?src=rss

A bill that could force a sale or outright ban on TikTok passed the House of Representatives just days after it was first introduced. It now goes to the senate.The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (no, we're not calling it PAFACAA) is the latest attempt by the government to constrain TikTok. If it passes, it could have one of two outcomes: The parent company sells TikTok to a US-based owner, or it faces a ban from US app stores and web hosting services.Of course, TikTok opposes the bill, saying it's unconstitutional. But they're not the only ones: Free speech and digital rights groups also object to the bill, with many noting that comprehensive privacy laws would be more effective at protecting Americans' user data rather than trying to single out one app.The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Fight for the Future and the Center for Democracy and Technology argued the bill would set an alarming global precedent" for government control of social media.Oh, and FYI: There are no spy balloons in your phone. The SIM tray is too small.- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedThe best docking stations for laptopsEven cozy games can get toxicFrom mono to mainstream: 20 years of Bluetooth audioPS5 system update makes your DualSense controller sound betterYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!Tesla paid no federal income tax between 2018 and 2022It earned $4.4 billion and gave its executives $2.5 billion.A detailed Guardian report said 35 major US companies, including Tesla, T-Mobile, Netflix, Ford Motor and Match Group, paid their top five executives more than they paid in federal income taxes between 2018 and 2022. Tesla was the worst offender. It earned $4.4 billion in those five years and gave its executives $2.5 billion. Despite that, Tesla not only didn't pay any federal taxes, but it received $1 million in refunds from the government. Tesla boss Elon Musk is the second richest person in the world.That's the punchline.Continue reading.Musk kills Don Lemon's new X show before it beganThe first episode's subject was Musk himself.XI'm sorry, more Musk. X has canceled a high-profile partnership with former CNN host Don Lemon to stream a video talk show on the platform. Lemon said the company canceled his contract hours after he interviewed X's billionaire owner Elon Musk for the first episode of The Don Lemon Show. Elon Musk is mad at me," Lemon said in a video posted to X on Wednesday. Apparently, free speech absolutism doesn't apply when it comes to questions about him from people like me." How's that video first" push going, Linda?Continue reading.Summer Game Fest's 2024 Showcase on June 7Late Friday? C'mon!The fifth edition of Summer Game Fest takes place this year on Friday, June 7 at 5PM ET. Expect a two-hour stream of trailers and hype with... around a 10 percent success rate. With E3 officially dead, SGF is poised to take the expo's place as the major gaming event of the year.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-tiktok-inches-closer-to-a-possible-us-ban-111539850.html?src=rss