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The last remnants of Virgin Orbit have been offloaded. Firefly Aerospace has agreed to buy the defunct satellite-launch company’s remaining assets for $3.8 million. Firefly’s purchase included the leftovers from a May auction that cleaned out most of the company’s possessions, netting $36 million in Virgin Orbit’s bankruptcy proceedings. Firefly’s purchase was reported in June 15th filings in a Delaware bankruptcy court (viaSpaceNews).Firefly Aerospace’s purchased assets include inventory at two of Virgin Orbit’s former Long Beach, CA, production facilities. Among them are engines and other components for Virgin’s LauncherOne vehicles and two additional engines stored at a Mojave, CA, test site. At last month’s auction, Virgin Orbit said it “deemed it in the best interests of the Debtors’ estates” to hang onto the remaining assets for the time being. Negotiations reportedly continued afterward, leading to this week’s sale to Firefly.Once-promising Virgin Orbit, a spinoff of Virgin Galactic specializing in the air-launching of satellite rockets from a modified Boeing 747, saw its stock nosedive in the months leading up to its downfall. Only four of the company’s six flights between 2020 and 2023 were successful, and its most recent attempt earlier this year reportedly failed because of a dislodged $100 fuel filter. The company began an “operational pause” in March as a last-gasp attempt to find new investors before filing for bankruptcy protection and finally throwing in the towel a couple of weeks later.Meanwhile, Firefly Aerospace, based in Cedar Park, TX, is developing a launch vehicle called Firefly Alpha. The two-stage, liquid-fueled rocket is designed to be launched from various sites. Its first attempt failed in 2021, but the rocket had a partially successful orbital launch the following year. The company expects to launch a third time for the US Space Force.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/firefly-aerospace-buys-the-final-scraps-of-doomed-virgin-orbit-193049970.html?src=rss

Bonnaroo takes place this weekend and, as with the last two years, you can watch the festival from the comfort of your home on Hulu. Through Sunday, the streaming service is offering two channels of live music coming to you from Manchester, Tennessee. You'll find the streams on the Hulu homepage or by searching for "Bonnaroo."This year's headliners are Kendrick Lamar, Odesza and Foo Fighters. There are many other notable names on the bill, including Three 6 Mafia, Jenny Lewis, Tyler Childers, Sheryl Crow, My Morning Jacket, Franz Ferdinand, Paramore and Pixies. As things stand, Hulu will show all of those artists' sets except for Lamar's. You can check the platform's website for the up-to-date schedule. Unfortunately, you won't be able to stream the sets on Hulu after the fact — you'll have to tune in live to catch them.You'll need to be a Hulu subscriber to watch the livestreams, but the service is offering a seven-day trial for new and eligible returning users. Hulu has been the streaming home of Bonnaroo since 2021, when it took over the rights from YouTube. Later this year, you'll be able to watch Lollapalooza and the Austin City Limits Music Festival on the platform as well.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hulu-is-streaming-bonnaroo-this-weekend-for-the-third-year-in-a-row-190034636.html?src=rss

Google Domains is a quick and simple way to get a jumpstart on building your website, but now the company will soon leave that business. Today, Squarespace announced that it will acquire approximately 10 million domains from the search giant. The company expects the transaction to close in the third quarter of 2023.Under the purchasing agreement, Squarespace says that it will honor existing customer pricing for at least 12 months following the completion of the purchase. The company claims that it will use Google’s infrastructure to ensure a "seamless transfer of domains."Once everything is set and done, Squarespace will become the exclusive partner for anyone looking to purchase a domain alongside their Google Workspace domain. For existing customers, Squarespace says that it will provide billing and support for Google Workspace customers who’ve already purchased domains through Google Domains. But as time goes on and as subscriptions start to renew, these customers will likely be forced to migrate to Squarespace’s billing system.Squarespace is already a behemoth in the websites and domain space, so it’s not surprising it had an interest in acquiring Google Domains. It’s a little more surprising that Google is selling, though the company is notorious for abandoning established products at any time. Meanwhile, Squarespace is constantly adding new features to its platform, including the ability to add a "Members Area" (more commonly known as a paywall) to new and existing sites.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-unexpectedly-sells-its-domain-hosting-business-to-squarespace-183001176.html?src=rss

Meta is rolling back COVID-19 misinformation rules for Instagram and Facebook in countries that no longer deem the pandemic to be a national emergency. The policy will no longer apply in the US, along with some other territories.Last July, Meta asked its Oversight Board for its opinion on the misinformation policy after noting that the pandemic had "evolved." It took some time for the Oversight Board to weigh in, but in April, the group suggested that Meta should keep removing false claims about COVID-19 that are “likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent and significant physical harm." The Oversight Board also told the company to "reassess" the types of pandemic claims that it removes under the policy.In addition, the advisory group suggested that Meta make preparations ahead of the World Health Organization nixing the emergency status of COVID-19 "to protect freedom of expression and other human rights in these new circumstances." The WHO lifted its COVID-19 emergency designation in May and Meta has now made its response to the Oversight Board's recommendations."We will take a more tailored approach to our COVID-19 misinformation rules consistent with the Board’s guidance and our existing policies. In countries that have a COVID-19 public health emergency declaration, we will continue to remove content for violating our COVID-19 misinformation policies given the risk of imminent physical harm," Meta wrote in an updated blog post. "We are consulting with health experts to understand which claims and categories of misinformation could continue to pose this risk. Our COVID-19 misinformation rules will no longer be in effect globally as the global public health emergency declaration that triggered those rules has been lifted."Soon after the onset of the pandemic, social media platforms faced pressure to combat COVID-19 misinformation that people were spreading, such as inaccurate claims about vaccines. Many — including Meta, Twitter and YouTube — established policies to tackle COVID-19 falsehoods.Those rules have evolved over time. For instance, in May 2021, Meta said it would no longer remove claims that COVID-19 was "man-made." As the Oversight Board noted last year, Meta removed 27 million Facebook and Instagram posts that contained COVID-19 misinformation between March 2020 and July 2022.Twitter stopped enforcing its COVID-19 misinformation policy in November, not long after Elon Musk took over the company and laid off thousands of workers. Meanwhile, YouTube recently updated its misinformation policy to no longer prohibit videos containing 2020 election denialism.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-rolls-back-covid-19-misinformation-rules-in-many-countries-174746077.html?src=rss

Summer can be a sleepy time for deals, but there was actually a fair amount of savings to be found on tech this week. Amazon's Prime Day is probably about a month away, but the company looked like they were getting a head start with discounts on Kindles, two Echospeakers, Fire TV devices and Blink mini cameras. Those prices may go lower during the event, but the savings are still good if you can't wait. Our favorite Sony headphones dropped back down to $348 and a few different Beats earbuds, including the Powerbeats Pro saw discounts of up to 36 percent. Apple's latest laptop, the 15-inch MacBook Air is already $100 off and last year's XPS 15 from Dell is currently $800 off. Here are the best deals from this week that you can still get today.Amazon Echo Dot + smart plugPair a smart speaker with a smart plug and you have the underpinnings of a smart home setup. Right now, Amazon is selling its Echo Dot smart speaker with a Kasa Smart Plug Mini for just $28. That's a substantial $45 discount and cheaper than buying the Dot on its own. The new Echo Dot is is our favorite smart speaker under $50 and is basically a more compact version of its full-sized sibling, the Echo. Despite measuring less than four inches in diameter, the Dot can pump out decent sound that's surprisingly clear.Alexa is a competent voice assistant who can set timers and reminders, tell you the weather and news, play your music and, of course, control your smart home devices, like smart plugs. All of the Kasa smart plugs I tested for our guide paired nicely with my Echo Dot. You can program the plug through the Kasa app or via the Alexa app, having it do nifty things like turning on a lamp an hour before sunset or shutting things off when you say, "Alexa, goodnight."Sonos SaleSonos speakers rarely go on sale, so if you've been thinking about a new soundbar or speaker, you may want to jump over to Sonos as their ongoing Father's Day sale ends Sunday the 18th. The sale first went live two weeks ago and includes discounts of up to 25 percent on some of their more popular audio devices. Sonos equipment is well-regarded for its sound quality and reliable connectivity — pairing easily with existing equipment, supporting most streaming services and syncing seamlessly with other Sonos speakers.Here are a few of the more noteworthy deals:

Avoiding manual floor maintenance is a lovely thing, but a good robot vacuum will cost you. Our current favorite pick for a mop and vac combo, iRobot's Roomba j7+ usually sells for $1,099 but Wellbots will knock $300 off the list price when you use the code 300ENGADGET at checkout. That beats a $200 discount we saw earlier this year and represents an all-time low for a gadget that "earned its place" in on of our senior editors' smart home. Wellbots has a few other vacs on sale too, also with discount codes, listed below.Unlike some combo machines, in which you have to program where to mop and where to use the vacuum, the Roomba Combo j7+ senses when it's rolling over hard floors and drops down the on-board mop pad accordingly. It comes with a clean base, which sucks out the dry debris after a run, but you'll have to take care of adding and emptying the mop water yourself. iRobot machines continually top our lists, in part thanks to the accurate room mapping, easy-to-use app and excellent obstacle avoidance — qualities it shares with the vac-only sibling.Wellbots is currently discounting the Roomba j7+ by $220 when you use the code 220ENGADGET. That brings the unit down to $579, which also beats a previous discount from the same seller earlier this year, and is the lowest price we've seen outside of Black Friday promotions last November. The standard (non-combo) Roomba j7 is the runner up mid-range vac in our guide and this version simply includes a clean base to suck out the dirt after it runs. One thing we should note is that process is loud but it gets you a bit closer to fully autonomous cleaning.If you're fine with emptying the collected debris yourself, you can save a little on the base model Roomba j7. Wellbots is also offering $220 off that model, using the same code. That brings it down to just $379, which doesn't quite beat the deal Wellbots offered late last year, but is still a tidy discount.And finally, if premium is what you want, you can get just that with iRobot's Roomba s9+. The same code also takes $220 off the $999 list price, making it $779 instead. It's the premium pick in our robot vacuum guide and comes complete with copper accents. Of course, doesn't just look pretty, our resident robot expert, senior commerce editor Valentina Palladino, calls it, "nothing if not one of the best robot vacuums out there."Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/irobots-roomba-j7-combo-vacuum-is-300-off-right-now-140009152.html?src=rss

ispace is done analyzing data from its failed Hakuto-R lunar landing, and it sounds like tricky terrain and a late change in the landing site are to blame. Apparently, Hakuto-R was able to complete the whole deceleration process in preparation of touching down on lunar soil. The spacecraft activated its descent sequence when it reached an altitude of around 100 kilometers (62 miles) and was able to slow down until it was only moving at a speed of less than 1 m/s.However, its software had mistakenly estimated its altitude to be zero when it was still hovering around 5 kilometers (3 miles) above the ground. In other words, it thought it had already landed when it hasn't yet, and it continued descending at a very slow speed near the surface until its propulsion system ran out of fuel. ispace wasn't able to establish contact with the spacecraft again, but it believes it went on a free fall and ultimately crashed on the moon.That's the how, but what about the why? Well, the company thinks the most likely reason why Hakuto-R's software suffered from an altitude estimation issue was because it got confused. While it was flying to its landing site, it passed over a large cliff that was determined to be the rim of a crater. The spacecraft's onboard sensor got an altitude reading of 3 kilometers when it passed by the elevated terrain, and that was apparently larger than the estimated altitude value the Hakuto-R team set in advance.The spacecraft's software erroneously thought that the sensor reported an abnormal value, and it kept filtering out its altitude measurements afterward. ispace built the ability to reject abnormal altitude measurements into the lander as a safety measure in the event of a hardware issue with the sensor. However, it backfired for Mission 1 because simulations of the landing sequence failed to incorporate the lunar environment on the spacecraft's route. ispace made the decision to change Hakuto-R's landing site after its critical design review was already completed in 2021.The Hakuto-R Mission 1 was poised to become the first successful moon landing by a private company and the first Japanese lunar landing overall. While it didn't get to land on the moon, ispace will use the data from the mission to design preparatory landing sequences for Mission 2 and 3, which are scheduled for launch in 2024 and 2025, respectively.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/japans-ispace-says-hakuto-r-crashed-because-it-got-confused-by-a-crater-rim-113115803.html?src=rss

We can all agree that robocalls are the worst. While there might never be a way to get rid of them entirely (though agencies are certainly working on it), one the most prolific sources of these intrusions is finally getting hauled into court.CBS News reports that Attorneys General from 48 states (as well as DC) are coming together to file a bipartisan lawsuit against Arizona-based Avid Telecom, its owner Michael D. Lansky and vice president Stacey S. Reeves. The 141-page suit claims that the company illegally made over 7.5 billion calls to people on the National Do Not Call Registry. Arizona Attorney General Kris Meyes claims that nearly 197 million robocalls were made to phone numbers in her state over a five-year period between December 2018 and January 2023.The lawsuit says that Avid Telecom spoofed phone numbers, including 8.4 million that appeared to be coming from the government or law enforcement, and others disguised as originating from Amazon, DirecTV and many more. The suit alleges that Avid Telecom violated the Telephone and Consumer Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rule and several other telemarketing and consumer laws.The AGs are asking the court to enjoin Avid Telecom from making illegal robocalls, and to pay damages and restitution to the people it called illegally. They're also pursuing several statutory avenues to make Avid cough of money on a per-violation basis, which given the enormous volume of calls it has made, could add up quickly. Sumco Panama, which was responsible for a comparatively smaller 5 billion robocalls, was fined nearly $300 million by the FCC late last year.Earlier this month, it was reported that XCast Labs is being sued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over allegedly helping other companies call those on the National Do Not Call Registry.In 2017, Dish reached a settlement that cost them $210 million. The company allegedly made millions of calls in an attempt to sell and promote its satellite TV service. Dish ultimately had to pay a $126 million civil fine to the US government, and $84 million to residents in California, Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio. Hopefully, we’ll see a similar result with Avid Telecom.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/company-responsible-for-75-billion-robocalls-sued-by-nearly-every-attorney-general-220050450.html?src=rss

Google has just been hit with a $32.5 million penalty for infringing on a patent held by Sonos. According to Law360, a California federal jury ordered the fine after determining that Google infringed on a patent Sonos holds relating to grouping speakers so they can play audio at the same time, something the company has been doing for years.US District Judge William Alsup had already determined that early version of products like the Chromecast Audio and Google Home infringed on Sonos' patent; the question was whether more recent, revamped products were also infringing on the patent. The jury found in favor of Sonos, but decided a second patent — one that relates to controlling devices via a smartphone or other device — wasn't violated. They said that Sonos hadn't convincingly shown that the Google Home app infringed on that particular patent. This follows the dismissal of four other patent violations that Sonos originally sued over.Google provided Engadget with the following statement: "This is a narrow dispute about some very specific features that are not commonly used. Of the six patents Sonos originally asserted, only one was found to be infringed, and the rest were dismissed as invalid or not infringed. We have always developed technology independently and competed on the merit of our ideas. We are considering our next steps.”Sonos provided Engadget with the following statement: "We are deeply grateful for the jury’s time and diligence in upholding the validity of our patents and recognizing the value of Sonos’s invention of zone scenes. This verdict re-affirms that Google is a serial infringer of our patent portfolio, as the International Trade Commission has already ruled with respect to five other Sonos patents. In all, we believe Google infringes more than 200 Sonos patents and today’s damages award, based on one important piece of our portfolio, demonstrates the exceptional value of our intellectual property. Our goal remains for Google to pay us a fair royalty for the Sonos inventions it has appropriated."Today's findings feels like a win for Sonos, who originally filed suit against Google all the way back in January of 2020. Specifically, Sonos claimed that Google gained knowledge of the patent through prior collaboration between the two companies, back they collaborated to allow for integration between Sonos's speakers and Google Play Music.Since then, Google counter-sued Sonos, claiming that Sonos had in fact infringed its own patents around smart speakers. As with any good legal battle, Sonos then expanded its own lawsuit a few months later. More recently, Google sued Sonos in 2022, saying that its new voice assistant infringed on seven patents relating to the Google Assistant.Whether today's decision will slow the legal battle between the two companies remains to be seen, though we'd expect the bickering to continue full-throttle in the months to come. There are plenty of suits out there between the companies that aren't yet resolved, and we'd expect Google to appeal this decision as well.Update, May 26th 2023, 5:30PM ET: Added a statement from Google.Update, May 26th 2023, 8:00PM ET: Added a statement from Sonos.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-fined-325-million-for-infringing-on-sonos-patent-210411398.html?src=rss

One of the most notable omissions from this week's PlayStation Showcase was anything from Naughty Dog. Many (including yours truly) expected the studio to reveal more details about its Last of Us multiplayer game, but we'll need to wait a little longer to learn more about that title.In a statement posted on Twitter, Naughty Dog said "we're incredibly proud of the job our studio has done thus far, but as development has continued, we've realized what is best for the game is to give it more time." As such, it now seems unlikely that we'll hear much about the game during Summer Game Fest (where Naughty Dog offered a first peek at concept art from the project last year) on June 8th or on June 14th, which is the 10th anniversary of The Last Of Us arriving on PS3.

Bluesky, the Jack Dorsey-backed decentralized Twitter alternative, has released one of its most significant updates to date: the ability for users to choose their own algorithms. The service, which is still in a closed beta, released its “custom feeds” feature, which allows people to subscribe to a range of different algorithms and make their own for others to follow.In practice, the feature works a bit like pinning different lists to your home timeline on Twitter in that users can subscribe to multiple feeds and easily swipe between them in the app. But custom feeds, because they’re algorithmic, are also more powerful than simple account lists.For example, there’s a feed dedicated to posts from your mutuals —people you follow who also follow you back. That may sound like a list, but unlike a Twitter list, the feed should change as you gain more mutual followers. And while Bluesky’s app stills defaults to the chronological “following” timeline, most custom feeds are not chronological.Bluesky The feeds also provide a window into the different communities forming on Bluesky, as well as what’s trending on the platform. There are already custom feeds devoted to furries, cat photos, queer shitposters, positive thoughts and the hellthread. Early adopters have been able to experiment with the feature for awhile thanks to third-party apps, like SkyFeed and Flipboard, which added the feature before BlueSky’s official app.For now, creating a feed for Bluesky is open to anyone, though it’s “currently a technical process,” Bluesky’s protocol engineer Paul Frazee said in a post. “In future updates we'll make it easy for users to create custom feeds in-app.”The update could end up being a defining feature of Bluesky. Jay Graber, CEO of Bluesky, has said that algorithmic choice could address “backlash against the perceived algorithmic manipulation of people’s timelines.” It also offers a hint of what’s to come for the early-stage platform. Graber has outlined a similar vision for content moderation with users in control of the level of moderation and filtering they want.“Our goal is to assemble a social media architecture that composes third-party services into a seamless user experience, because an open ecosystem is likely to evolve more quickly than a single approach to curation or moderation developed within one company,” Graber wrote. “By creating the interfaces for innovation in these areas, we hope to provide a dynamic and user-driven social experience.”The idea of custom algorithms is one that’s long been embraced by Jack Dorsey, who floated the idea of allowing users to choose their own algorithms multiple times while he was still running Twitter. It also comes as there is industry-wide scrutiny on how social media algorithms impact users and whether the companies running major platforms are, even inadvertently, putting their thumb on the scale for one group of users. The appeal of custom algorithms is that users know upfront what each feed is prioritizing and can easily move between different experiences, most of which are not controlled by the platform.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/bluesky-now-lets-you-choose-your-own-algorithm-183824105.html?src=rss

It's once again time to watch skilled gamers rip through their favorite titles as quickly as possible in the name of a good cause. Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ) is back with another week-long charity speedrun marathon. The event starts at 1PM ET on Sunday, May 28th and it will end in the early hours of June 4th. You'll be able to watch all the action as it happens on the Games Done Quick (GDQ) Twitch channel, which is embedded below. If you miss a run you're interested in, you'll be able to catch up later on the GDQ YouTube channel.The action kicks off with the debut of Sonic Frontiers at SGDQ and the event will wrap up with a co-op run of Super Metroid (here's hoping the runners save the animals). There will be many, many runs in between, including half a dozen The Legend of Zelda titles. The heavy focus on Zelda probably shouldn't come as a surprise given that Tears of the Kingdom has taken over the gaming world over the last few weeks.You'll be able to marvel at a runner beating Breath of the Wild in just a couple of hours while wearing a blindfold and another conquering Elden Ring as quickly as possible without using any glitches. I'm particularly looking forward to the Super Mario Maker 2 relay race. Those are always a blast at GDQ events. I'm also intrigued by runs of Ring Fit Adventure, Choo-Choo Charles,Hi-Fi Rush and one of my all-time favorite games, The Curse of Monkey Island. You can check out the full schedule on the GDQ website.SGDQ will stream live from Minneapolis with an audience in attendance. GDQ events are so much better with a live crowd reacting to astonishing feats of video game prowess. Organizers will be hoping to raise millions more dollars for Doctors Without Borders after bringing in over $3 million during SGDQ 2022. They'll be aiming to beat the record for a GDQ event, which was set during Awesome Games Done Quick 2022. Over $3.4 million was raised for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. You'll be able to donate via the GDQ website.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-to-watch-the-summer-games-done-quick-2023-speedrun-marathon-162028988.html?src=rss

Apart from being a time to honor those who've served our country and the unofficial start of summer, Memorial Day also brings a number of sales on various appliances and electronics. As we round into the holiday weekend, we've sorted through the cruft and picked out the best tech sales we could find ahead of this Memorial Day. The notable deals include $50 off Sony's excellentWH-1000XM5 headphones, Amazon's Fire TV Stick 4K Max back at an all-time low of $35 and Apple's iPad Air down to $500. There are a few sweeping sales on other gear we like as well, including Solo Stove fire pits, Ooni pizza ovens, Samsung storage devices and PC games from the Epic Games Store.Amazon Fire TV streamer dealsAmazon has discounted all of its Fire TV streaming devices ahead of Memorial Day. The standout is the Fire TV Stick 4K Max for $35, which is a price we've seen several times before but still matches the device's all-time low. This is the fastest streaming stick Amazon sells, plus its remote comes with Alexa voice control baked in. If you just want a cheap way to put apps on an older 1080p display, the Fire TV Stick Lite is also worth considering at $20, which is $5 more than the lowest price we've seen.Beyond that, the base Fire TV Stick 4K is down to $32, the standard Fire TV Stick is down to $25, and the Fire TV Cube, which blends a 4K streamer with an Alexa smart speaker, is down to an all-time low of $120. All Fire TV streamers tend to prioritize Amazon's own content and stuff their UI with ads, so we generally recommend Roku and Google streamers to most people. (The Roku Streaming Stick 4K is an OK value at its current deal price of $40, though we've seen it go for less in the past.) Still, if you use services like Alexa and Prime Video on a regular basis, or if you just want to save a few bucks, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is mostly on par with its peers in terms of performance and app support.Sony headphone dealsSony has put a number of headphones and earbuds back on sale, including the flagship WH-1000XM5 for $348. While that's not an all-time low, it's the first notable discount we've seen on the noise-cancelling over-ears since February and a $50 drop from the pair's usual going rate. The XM5s are the top pick in our guide to the best wireless headphones, and we gave them a review score of 95 last year thanks to their powerful ANC, lightweight design, punchy sound and deep feature set.If you want to save a little extra cash, the XM5's predecessor, the WH-1000XM4, is also worth a look at $278. Again, that's not the lowest these headphones ever been, but it's still $70 below their typical street price. This pair is slightly bulkier than the XM5, its sound is a bit boomier out of the box and it has a worse mic for phone calls. Its ANC, battery life and general feature set are similar, though, and it can fold up for easier storage. The XM5s also use an automatic ANC adjustment system, which some may prefer to avoid. We gave the XM4 a score of 94 back in 2020.Samsung storage device dealsSamsung has kicked off another round of deals on its microSD cards, SSDs, thumb drives and other storage devices. The offers include the 128GB Samsung Pro Plus, the top pick in our best microSD card guide, paired with a USB reader for $18. That's $8 off its MSRP and a new low. (You can also get the card without the reader for a dollar less.) If you don't need something quite as fast, the Samsung Evo Select is the top value pick in that guide; its 256GB model is down to an all-time low of $18 as well.Besides microSD cards, the Samsung Fit Plus, an ultracompact flash drive we recommend in our best SSDs guide, is back at a low of $15 for a 128GB model. A 2TB version of the T7 Shield, a rugged version of one of our favorite portable SSDs, is down to $120, while the 4TB model is available for $220. If you're looking for a PCIe Gen 4 SSD to upgrade a PlayStation 5 or high-power gaming PC, the 2TB version of the 980 Pro with an integrated heatsink is about $20 less than usual at $150. The speedier 990 Pro, meanwhile, is down to $100 for a 1TB unit, another all-time low.Solo Stove saleSolo Stove is running a site-wide Memorial Day sale that takes up to 45 percent off a number of its popular (mostly) smokeless fire pits. The discounts include the Bonfire 2.0 for $250, which is $150 off the medium-sized pit's MSRP and $50 off its usual street price. What's more, you can add the company's Mesa tabletop fire pit for no extra cost if you add it to your cart and use the code FREEMESA at checkout. Normally, the device goes for $120. The sale also includes the Pi Pizza Oven for $400, which is $100 off its typical going rate. We've sung the praises of Solo Stove's fire pits multiple times in the past, and we currently recommend the Pi in our pizza oven buying guide.Ooni pizza oven saleOoni makes several of the other picks in our pizza oven guide, and this week it's discounted a couple of those as part of its own Memorial Day sale. The deals include the Fyra 12 for $244, which is $105 off its MSRP, and the Karu 16 for $639, which is a $160 discount. Both do well to actually make pies, but we recommend the former if you'd prefer a more compact oven that runs on wood pellets, while the latter is a larger and more versatile option for bigger servings that can use wood, charcoal or gas. We also recommend the Karu 16 in our guide to the best grills and grill accessories.Epic Games Store Mega SaleThe Epic Games Store has rolled out its latest "Mega Sale," bringing discounts on a number of PC games. While the promotion includes a handful of decent price drops, its real value comes from the "Epic Coupon," which takes 25 percent off most purchases of $14.99 or more. The offer applies whether you buy one or multiple games at a time and stacks on top of any existing discounts. This brings many games back around their best prices to date: Red Dead Redemption II, for instance, is already on sale for $20, but with the coupon it drops to an all-time low of $15.The coupon also works on games that aren't otherwise part of the sale, so you can take 25 percent off newer titles like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Dead Island 2, which haven't received major discounts elsewhere. (The former's PC port has had a rocky launch, to put it mildly, though a few patches have helped stabilize it.) And because the coupon renews after each eligible purchase, you can use it continuously until the promotion ends on June 15. It won't work on pre-orders, though. If you prefer to get your PC games through Steam, meanwhile, note that Valve's Summer Sale will kick off on June 29.Apple Gift CardIf you pick up a $100 Apple gift card at Best Buy, the retailer will throw in a $10 Best Buy gift card for no extra cost. The offer also includes a few extended trials to Apple's TV+, Music and News+ subscriptions for new and returning subscribers. We see this deal periodically, but if you shop at Best Buy anyway and plan to use services like the App Store, Apple Music or iCloud, it essentially gets you a bit of free money. Just note that the deal only applies to digital gift cards, not physical ones.Razer Huntsman MiniThe top pick in our guide to the best 60 percent keyboards, the Razer Huntsman Mini is down to $70 for a model with Razer's Clicky Optical switches. That's $5 more than the ultracompact gaming keyboard's all-time low but still about $15 less than its usual street price. If you prefer a quieter switch with a smoother feel while typing, a variant with Linear Optical switches is on sale for $80, which is about $20 below its typical going rate. Either way, we like the Huntsman Mini for its sturdy build quality, smooth PBT keycaps and per-key RGB backlighting.Apple iPad AirThe latest iPad Air is once again down to $500, matching the second-best price we've seen and coming in $100 below Apple's MSRP. We gave the Air a review score of 90 last year and call it the best tablet for most people in our iPad buying guide. While it lacks the top-tier M2 chip, 120Hz refresh rate and improved speakers of the iPad Pro, it provides a similarly elegant design at a much lower price, with a better display, faster processor and wider accessory support than Apple's lower-end tablets.Apple Mac MiniApple's entry-level Mac Mini is back on sale for $499, which matches the compact desktop's previous all-time low. This model includes Apple's M2 chip, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. Those specs (along with the device's lack of upgradeability) mean you'll want to stick to relatively light workloads. However, if that's all you need, this is the most affordable route into a competent Mac desktop. If you need more storage, a version with a 512GB SSD is also on sale for $679, which is another all-time low. We gave the Mac Mini with a faster M2 Pro chip a review score of 86 earlier this year, but outside of the CPU bump and a couple extra Thunderbolt ports, the devices are virtually identical.Apple PencilThe Apple Pencil has dropped to $85, tying the lowest price we've tracked for the iPad stylus. This is roughly $15 below the device's typical street price in recent months and $44 below Apple's MSRP. We recommend the Pencil in our best iPad accessories guide: For digital artists and note-takers, it's a consistently accurate pen and the only stylus to offer pressure sensitivity across iPadOS. It's also easy to charge and pair, since it can attach to the side of a recent iPad magnetically. Just make sure your iPad is compatible with this second-gen model if you want to take the plunge.Intel and AMD CPU dealsIf you're looking to build or upgrade a PC, we're seeing a handful of good prices on both Intel and AMD processors. Among the better deals available, the Intel Core i5-13500 is down to $210, which is about $40 below the chip's usual going rate and an all-time low. For something more powerful, the Core i7-13700F is available for a new low of $330, which is about $40 less than its typical street price. This is a strong performer for both gaming and productivity at that price; just note that it lacks an integrated GPU. If you prefer an AMD build, meanwhile, the Ryzen 7 7700X might be worth a look at $297. It's not as good of a value as something like the i7-13700F, especially since it requires an AM5 motherboard and DDR5 RAM to work, but it's still a solid mid-range option for gaming if you must have a Ryzen PC.Dashlane Premium saleA password manager is a simple but effective way to boost your online security and simplify the amount of login credentials you need to remember. Dashlane is one of the better options available; in fact, it'll soon be a pick in an upcoming buying guide. If you want to give the service a try, you can get a year of Dashlane Premium for $30 when you use the code MEMDAY23 or MEMORIAL23 at checkout. That's a 50 percent discount. Though Dashlane has a free tier, the Premium plan lets you use the service across multiple devices. It also includes a bundled VPN, a password strength analyzer and "dark web monitoring," which lets you know if your email addresses have been leaked in data breaches.Paramount Plus and Showtime bundleParamount has rolled out a promotion that gives new subscribers three months of its Paramount+ Premium + Showtime bundle for $6 per month, or $18 in total. That's half off its usual going rate. With the glut of streaming TV options available, it's hard to call Paramount+ essential, but we do list it in our guide to the best video streaming services for its growing sports coverage, kid-friendly Nickelodeon shows and original fare like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Showtime, meanwhile, has its share of shows and movies worth checking out, from Yellowjackets to Billions to the recent Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All at Once. This offer is set to run until June 4. If you end up not digging the service, remember to cancel before the trial ends so your subscription doesn't auto-renew at full price.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/best-memorial-day-2023-tech-sales-we-could-find-153031692.html?src=rss

After Google I/O and ahead of WWDC, it's Microsoft's turn to step up to the plate and host a developer conference. We'll learn a lot about where the company plans to go in the coming months, with the keynotes covering many of the major updates. The first keynote starts at noon ET today.It won't be a surprise to anyone who's paid attentionto Microsoftthis year that AI is the focus of Build 2023. Today's keynotes will take place across three back-to-back sessions: "Microsoft Build opening," "The era of the AI Copilot" and "Next-generation AI for developers with the Microsoft Cloud."In the first 25-minute session, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will discuss some of the ways in which the company "is creating new opportunities for developers across our platforms in this new AI era." The second session will feature Open AI president and co-founder Greg Brockman. You can watch today's keynotes right here:Microsoft has lined up another keynote for Wednesday, titled "Shaping the future of work with AI." Again, the keynote will start at noon Eastern Time. Microsoft executive vice president and chief product officer Panos Panay will take the stage along with Rajesh Jha, executive vice president of experiences and devices. They'll discuss "how developers can shape the future of work with Microsoft 365 Copilot and unlock a new era of AI and productivity with Windows 11." You'll be able to check out that keynote below:This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/watch-the-microsoft-build-keynotes-here-starting-at-12pm-et-023009440.html?src=rss

It’s hard to believe, but iconic synth manufacturer Moog is turning 70. Synthesizers didn’t become mainstays in popular music until the 1970s, but Bob Moog started manufacturing and selling theremins in 1953, with actual synths following in 1963. To celebrate the anniversary, the company launched a web app filled with interactive experiences for music historians and casual fans alike.The app places a distinct focus on the company’s iconic Model D synthesizer, which was first released in 1970 and recently reissued for $5,000. To that end, there’s a jukebox with nearly 50 of the most influential songs that feature the synthesizer, including disco, reggae, hip-hop, pop and more. The theater page goes a step further by showing a full range of videos of the 50-year-old synth in action, with both live stage performances and in-studio sessions. The archives section is for true historians, with interactive information chronicling the entire history of the Model D and the people who designed it.History is nice and all, but synthesizers are made to be played. The app’s practice room let you do just that, choosing from famous leads, bass sounds and percussion sounds via a faithful digital recreation of the Model D. You can fool around with sounds, sure, but the app even lets you save and share original recordings using riffs from famous songs as a starting point. These creations can only be around a minute long. For the ultimate digital Model D experience, there’s a $30 app for iOS devices, though it sometimes goes on sale. Finally, the app includes a couple of quirky little add-ons. You can print out a PDF for making your own Minimoog decoration, so long as you have enough tape. The Instagram filter, codenamed Face Synth, quite literally turns your face into a musical instrument. Use facial expressions and body movement to trigger the Model D’s control parameters. The web app’s available today, so have at it.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/moog-celebrates-70th-anniversary-with-musical-web-app-140043922.html?src=rss

Bluesky, the Jack Dorsey-backed decentralized Twitter alternative, isn’t even out of beta yet but it’s already drawing the attention of more mainstream platforms. Now, Flipboard is adding Bluesky to its news reading app so users can browse their feeds alongside the app’s curated magazines.The update is part of a broader effort by the company to embrace the growing crop of decentralized social media platforms in the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter. The company released a similar integration with Mastodon earlier this year, and will soon add PixelFed, an open source Instagram alternative, to its app as well.At a basic level, the changes make Flipboard an increasingly useful utility for people who want to keep up with the happenings on decentralized platforms like Mastodon and Bluesky. Flipboard, which has long been praised for its design, could also serve as a more intuitive way to browse newer services that are sometimes criticized for being confusing to newcomers. It could also help increase the visibility of posts on Bluesky, which is still limiting new sign-ups, as users can “flip” content from their Bluesky feeds into Flipboard magazines.But for Flipboard CEO Mike McCue, embracing these upstart social platforms — sometimes collectively referred to as the Fediverse — is also a more fundamental shift. McCue, an early Twitter advisor and board member, has become disillusioned with the company he once advised. He now believes that decentralized platforms, and the protocols that power them, will define the future of social media just as closed platforms like Twitter and Facebook did more than a decade ago.“I was one of the early people helping to build the business model, and was a big believer in Twitter, and I think it's very sad,” McCue says of the current state of the Musk-owned company. “On the other hand, I think that this kind of change is extremely positive for the industry.”Among Silicon Valley insiders, McCue may be one of the most vocal advocates for this vision. But Flipboard isn’t the only legacy social app paying attention to the rise of decentralized platforms. Tumblr has said it plans to adopt ActivityPub, the protocol that powers Mastodon, PixelFed and other federated platforms. Meta, known for watching potential rivals closely, is also working on a decentralized Twitter alternative that will tie into Instagram. The effort, reportedly codenamed P92, is rumored to run on ActivityPub. Meanwhile Bluesky is building out its own protocol, the AT Protocol, which could eventually power multiple other services as well.All of these efforts are still in a very early stage, but it could be the start of something much bigger. “This is a really important moment when the death of Twitter is going to lead to the birth of the social web,” McCue says.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/you-can-now-use-flipboard-to-browse-bluesky-140012427.html?src=rss

The UK ordered Meta to sell Giphy at the end of 2021, and now the social media heavyweight is following through. Stock photo provider Shutterstock has reached a deal to buy Giphy from Meta for $53 million. Notably, this won't break compatibility — Meta is entering a programming interface agreement that ensures Giphy's GIFs work properly across services like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.The sale is expected to close in June. Shutterstock says the purchase will boost its stake in "casual conversations" by adding GIFs and stickers to its catalog, not to mention Giphy partners like Microsoft, TikTok and Twitter. The buyout will also help foster Shutterstock's generative AI strategy, particularly in mobile, and should help the company reach more advertisers.Meta (then Facebook) bought Giphy in 2020 to fold its GIF library into platforms like Instagram. The deal was reportedly worth $400 million. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) soon launched an investigation to determine if the acquisition would hurt competition, though, and fined Meta $69.6 million for continuing with merger plans without the regulator's approval. A year later, the CMA told Meta to sell Giphy after finding that the takeover would unfairly cement Meta's market dominance.We've asked Meta for comment. The firm fought the CMA, arguing that Giphy neither operated in the UK nor counted as display advertising that justified a split. Meta also contended that Giphy and users alike were better off with its resources at their disposal.The swap shouldn't change things much if you use Meta's social networks. This may affect Shutterstock's customers, though. Chief executive Paul Hennessy hopes Giphy will help commercialize Shutterstock's GIF collection — don't be surprised if animated images play a prominent role in Shutterstock's offerings.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-sells-giphy-to-shutterstock-at-a-loss-following-uk-order-131932973.html?src=rss

While the performance of its gaming chips often steals most of the attention, AMD's processors have made some serious jumps in power efficiency over the past few years. And as part of the company's goal to bring even better battery life to mobile devices, today AMD is announcing a handful of new 6nm Ryzen and Athlon 7020 C-series APUs for Chromebooks.The two fastest new chips will be the Ryzen 3 7320C and Ryzen 5 7520C which both feature four cores and total of eight threads with 6MB of cache, a 15-watt TDP and Radeon 610M graphics. Meanwhile, the new Athlon Gold 7220C and Athlon Silver 7120C will sport slightly slower performance with either 2-core/4-thread or 2-core/2-thread chips with up to 5MB of cache and the same 15-watt TDP and Radon 610M graphics.AMDOn the Ryzen 3 7320C, AMD is promising up to 1.8 times faster performance compared to rival ARM-based chips or around 15 percent better performance versus similar x86-based silicon from Intel. More importantly, the new C-series processors should also deliver a significant boost in longevity with AMD claiming upwards of 17 hours of battery life for the Ryzen 3 7320C chip, which is about three and a half hours longer than what you'd get from either MediaTek's Kompanio 1380 or Intel's Core i3-N305.In addition to extended battery life and improved performance, AMD's new Chromebook chips come with support for Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 and faster memory bandwidth for LPDDR5 RAM. And thanks to AMD's Radeon 610M graphics, devices based on these chips should also be capable of sending video out to three 4K/60Hz external displays.AMDBut perhaps the best news is that for anyone who might be shopping for a new Chromebook in the not-too-distant future, systems featuring AMD's latest 7020 C-series processors should be available soon. Dell and ASUS already have plans to release new Chromebooks sometime in Q2, with Dell's Latitude 3445 Chromebook sporting a standard clamshell design, a range of new C-series silicon and up to 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Alternatively, ASUS' Chromebook CM34 Flip will be a 2-in-1 with a 360-degree hinge, a 16:10 14-inch touchscreen, a built-in fingerprint sensor and up to a Ryzen 5 7520C processor, and later this year we're expecting to see even more systems with these chips from Acer and ECS.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amds-new-ryzen-and-athlon-chips-for-chromebooks-promise-big-battery-improvements-130052201.html?src=rss

To say that I loved NVIDIA's RTX 3060 Ti is an understatement. It was the ideal balance of price and performance — something that became even more true when GPU prices fell back down to Earth. With NVIDIA's RTX 40-series cards skyrocketing to pricey new heights, I began to worry that the company was drifting away from affordable GPUs. Well, worry not. The $399 RTX 4060 Ti proves that NVIDIA can still deliver plenty of value under $500.To be clear, it's not the dramatic leap forward that the 3060 Ti was (and if you have one of those cards, just sit tight for now!). But if you're still running an RTX 2060 GPU, or something older, the 4060 will be a worthwhile upgrade. It excels at gaming in 1080p with ray tracing at high framerates, and it can also handle 1,440p decently in less demanding games.We reviewed the 8GB 4060 Ti, but there's also a model with 16GB of VRAM coming in July for $499. And if you're looking for the cheapest option, there's also a $299 plain 4060 on the horizon too. Judging from the current Steam stats, I'd wager that card will end up being the most popular. But the $399 model may make sense if you want to future-proof a bit, even if you don't plan to move beyond 1080p gaming.Photo by Devindra Hardawar/EngadgetThe Founder's Edition 4060 Ti we're reviewing has the same basic cooling setup as the rest of the 40-series: A premium metal case surrounding a bevy of heatsink fins, along with dual rear fans. The GPU is noticeably lighter than the RTX 4070, and its dual-slot design makes it ideal for small-form factor systems. Under the hood, the 8GB 4060 Ti is powered by 4,352 CUDA cores, and it can reach up to 2,535 MHz boost clock (up from a 2,310 MHz base clock). One major upgrade is its 32MB of L2 cache, a huge step forward from 4MB on the previous two generations of '60 cards.3DMark TimeSpy ExtremePort Royal (Ray Tracing)CyberpunkBlenderNVIDIA RTX 4060 Ti (8GB)6,5998,170/37 fps1080p RT Ultra DLSS: 86.4fps4,435NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti5,4086,989/32.36 fpsN/A3,012NVIDIA RTX 40708,61011,195/52 fps1080p RT DLSS: 160 fps6,020NVIDIA RTX 30706,2268,032/37 fpsN/A3,500I knew the RTX 4060 Ti was a winner as soon as I started benchmarking Cyberpunk 2077. It averaged 86.4 fps in 1080p with ultra ray tracing settings and DLSS 3 enabled. That's smooth enough to look great on any monitor, especially if it supports NVIDIA's G-SYNC frame synchronization, which would help to reduce screen tearing. Without ray tracing, Cyberpunk hit an impressive 158 fps. (I'd rather take the ray tracing over those extra frames for a single-player game, though.)In 1,440p, Cyberpunk hit a steady 60fps with ultra ray tracing settings and DLSS 3. That would still look great on most screens if you're not chasing the dream of high frame rates. The 4060 Ti clearly isn't meant to be a 1,440p card with ray tracing, but it's capable in a pinch.Photo by Devindra Hardawar/EngadgetI saw similar results in Halo Infinite: The 4060 Ti averaged 148 fps in 1080p with maxed out graphics settings, and a serviceable 83 fps in 1,440p. If you think you'll be spending more time in 1,440p, you may want to consider going straight to the $599 RTX 4070. (While the extra RAM on the 16GB 4060 Ti sounds nice, I wouldn't bet on that making a dramatic difference in 1,440p.) Thanks to its excellent cooling setup, the GPU never went beyond 65 Celsius after extensive benchmarking.In most tests, the 4060 Ti performed slightly better than the two and a half-year old RTX 3070. That card retailed for $499, but its street price was far higher long after its debut. The 4060 Ti makes a more impressive performance leap when compared to the 3060 Ti, but again it's not big enough to demand an immediate upgrade.Photo by Devindra Hardawar/EngadgetFor the most part, the RTX 4060 Ti seems like a reward to gamers who stuck with their older GPUs for years. It'll be a welcome introduction to the world of ray tracing for GTX 1060 owners. And for people upgrading from the RTX 2060, the performance leap with DLSS 3 will be dramatic. If you're on the fence, though, it may be worth waiting to see how the rest of AMD's Radeon RX 7000 family looks. Recent rumors point to more of those Radeon cards appearing next month.While I'm more excited to see what NVIDIA can eke out from its $299 RTX 4060, the 4060 Ti remains a solid ray tracing performer that many gamers can actually afford.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nvidia-rtx-4060-ti-8gb-review-1080p-ray-tracing-130042416.html?src=rss

Guess Android tablets aren't dead just yet. Following Google's official launch of the Pixel Tablet last week, Amazon has unveiled a new Fire tablet called the Max 11. For just $230, the Fire Max 11 offers an 11-inch LCD screen, slim aluminum frame and smart home controls courtesy of Alexa. I was able to briefly check out a sample at a briefing last week and am impressed by how much Amazon is offering for the money.This isn't your average Fire tablet, by the way. While the company's previous slates have found a niche as affordable, kid-friendly mobile entertainment devices, the Max 11 is all grown up. With slimmer bezels, a more-premium aluminum build and weighing just over a pound, it's designed for those who also want to do some work and multi-tasking. To that end, the tablet uses an octa-core MediaTek processor that Amazon said is almost 50 percent faster than its "next fastest tablet."There's a fingerprint sensor embedded in the power button, making the Maxx 11 the company's first tablet to offer this feature. The 11-inch screen, which Amazon says is its "biggest, most vibrant... tablet display," has a 2,000 x 1,2000 resolution and is certified for low blue light. It also supports WiFi 6 and runs Fire OS 8, which offers some split-screen and picture-in-picture features to let you fire off emails while keeping an eye on your favorite YouTube livestream (like the Engadget Podcast, perhaps?).More importantly, though, the company also made a keyboard case and stylus for the Max 11 that you can get for an additional $100. If you don't need the pen ($35), you can get just the case for $90. It attaches to the device magnetically and connects via pogo pins, too. I like that the cover comes with a kickstand, and in my brief experience it was sturdy enough to prop the tablet up and various angles. The keyboard is detachable so you can peel it off when you don't want it in the way. Its keys were surprisingly springy and deep, with a well-spaced layout. Though I think the trackpad is a little small, I'm glad that Amazon at least included one instead of ditching it altogether.AmazonI also enjoyed casually scribbling my name and random greetings with the "Made For Amazon Stylus Pen," which uses a replaceable AAA battery that the company said should last six months. Palm rejection on OneNote was effective during the briefing, and you can also write directly into search and message fields, and the Max 11 will convert your scrawl into text that you can submit.Of course, this is quite a different device from the Pixel Tablet, which comes with a speaker base that keeps it charged and turns into a smart display when attached. But lest you forget, Amazon already offers Show Mode on its tablets, which turns them into dashboards for your connected home, a la its Echo Shows. The same is true for the Max 11, and with the kickstand on the case, you can basically turn it into a smart display. Sure, it won't always remain charged unless you plug it in, nor will it have a superior audio system when left standing. But you can sort of replicate the Pixel Tablet experience here for $150 less. Alexa can always be listening, too.The Max 11 itself will last 14 hours on a charge, according to Amazon, and 64GB and 128GB models will be available. For those who are curious, the device will have 4GB of RAM and 8-megapixel front and rear cameras. And in case you're clumsy or expect the kids in your life to fight over this tablet, it should be reassuring to know that Amazon claims the Max 11 is "three times as durable as the iPad 10.9' (10th generation)."Like the company's other tablets, the Fire Max 11 supports comprehensive parental controls and multiple user profiles so you can share this with some peace of mind. For just $330, the Fire Max 11 offers plenty of features that make it seem like a solid value. It's certainly cheaper (when you include the price of the keyboard case) than the Galaxy Tabs, Surfaces and iPads that have long dominated the tablet market. There are companies like Lenovo to look out for, of course, but given the strong foothold Amazon has had in the family-oriented slate space, the Max 11 appears poised to find its home in the backpacks of many school-going children soon. You can pre-order the Fire Max 11 starting at $230 today.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazons-latest-fire-tablet-is-a-230-android-powered-2-in-1-130022727.html?src=rss

Tinder is for finding love — or at least a temporary connection — but the app’s backers aren’t interested in helping people expand their connections beyond the narrow confines of its own jurisdiction. The company says that it has identified an issue with users turning their profiles into spaces for “making money,” and will scrub social handles from public profiles, as well as tweaking its community guidelines to prohibit the sharing of usernames or references to other outbound links. In a statement rich in euphemism, the platform reminds users not to “advertise, promote social handles or links to gain followers, sell things, fundraise or campaign," which we suspect includes users who add their Linktree username to guide people toward online stores or content marketplaces.The policy change comes as part of a series of updated community guidelines that Tinder claims will “reinforce authenticity, respect and inclusivity.” Besides the social handle removal, most of the policies are requests to users, such as telling people to respect boundaries and not to share private chats in a public setting. The dating app points to its younger membership (most users are 18 to 25) as motivation for making these appeals. “To guide these younger daters as they start their dating journey, Tinder is using this policy refresh to remind and educate members about healthy dating habits — both online and in real life,” Ehren Schlue, SVP of Member Strategy at Tinder, said in a statement.It’s unclear how exactly Tinder plans to scrub social handles from bios or prevent people from sharing them in chats instead. The company encourages users to report anyone violating the rule, but a quick bio share over messages might not motivate anyone to do so. Removing social handles also interferes with people who share them to circumvent swipe limits or remove the need to match. Plus, there's the issue of determining if a person is who they say they are. Alongside the social handles announcement, Tinder reminds people to be honest and not create fake personas. But, without any access to a person’s social media, it might be harder to know for sure.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tinder-is-eliminating-social-media-handles-from-public-bios-103001873.html?src=rss

WiZ has unveiled a new home monitoring system that uses its existing motion-sensing WiFi smart bulbs in combination with Wiz's new $70 (€90) Indoor Camera. It takes of advantage of WiZ's "SpaceSensing" feature to detect changes in WiFi signals caused by movement, then sends an alert to the app warning you of any potential home intruders. You can then check the camera to see what's happening, while the smart bulbs can flash at intruders to scare them off.Similar tech has been employed by Linksys' Velop mesh routers, which send motion detection alerts to the app. While not as powerful as a full security system with dedicated sensors, WiFi sensing is a decent, and much cheaper and simpler alternative. The Indoor Camera records in 1080p and has a 120-degree field of view, along with infrared night vision, image-based motion detection and two-way audio thanks to a built-in microphone.isma yunta/WizTo install it, all you need to do is find a spot for the camera and screw Wiz's A19 full-color smart lightbulbs into you existing lamps or outlets. From there, if the alarm is triggered by motion, the lights can be set to flash to let intruders know they've been flushed out. At the same time, the system sends alerts to the new WiZ V2 app, and you can even set it to only monitor certain areas of your home.It even lets you program routines that control the lights and monitoring, which can be set on a schedule or enabled on the app. And of course, you can use your smart bulbs as you normally might in a smart home, activating them with voice commands, the app and more. For instance, you can set them to turn on and off at random to give the impression that someone's home.It comes in a €160 bundle called the WiZ Home Monitoring Starter kit, which gives you three WiZ A19 full-color smart bulbs and the Indoor Camera. You can record footage locally via an onboard microSD card, or subscribe to cloud storage and get up to 30 days of recordings (all footage is end-to-end encrypted, WiZ promises). The company has promised that 80-90 percent of its current smart lights and home products will be compatible. The kit launches in Europe on June 15th, but there's no US release date or pricing yet.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wizs-motion-sensing-smart-lights-can-now-monitor-your-home-100312758.html?src=rss

Abbey Games has officially revealed that a sequel to its indie god sim Reus is "on the way," almost a full decade after the original came out for Windows PCs. The original game received mostly favorable reviews after it shipped, and the developer sold over one million copies worldwide. Abbey Games founders Maarten Wiedenhof, Manuel Kerssemakers and Adriaan Jansen said: "The original Reus is a decade old, and much has changed in the gaming world. We're excited to bring Reus 2 to this new era, and show what it can bring to all those who want to create their own perfect world!"In Reus 2, players will have the ability to create multiple planets as their elemental giant god characters. They can shape those planets however they want to see how the people that live there would react to the unique landscapes that surround them and the challenges they encounter. And by "challenges they encounter," we mean whatever the player decides to put them through. Hey, it's a god sim — players can choose to make it easy for the people living on one planet and then put another planet's population through the wringer. They can even stage an apocalypse and start anew. Aren't you glad we're not living in a simulation? (...Or are we?)The developer says Reus 2 is still currently in development. It doesn't have a release date yet, but those interested can now add it to their Steam wishlist.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/abbey-games-unveils-sequel-to-god-simulation-game-reus-053804152.html?src=rss

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today ordered voice service providers to block the global gateway provider One Eye. The FCC says the company, which serves as an “on-ramp” to US phone networks from outside the country, enabled robocall scams like impersonating a major financial institution and calls about bogus “preauthorized orders” placed in consumers’ names. The Biden administration’s FCC has focused on increasing its ability to enforce robocalls. “This company — what’s left of it — will now have a place in robocall history,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “We can and will continue to shut off providers that help scammers.”Today’s order is the culmination of an escalating series of actions by the FCC to stop One Eye from facilitating shady robocall campaigns. First, the agency cited the company’s predecessor, PZ/Illum Telecommunication, for transmitting illegal robocalls. Then, in a cease-and-desist letter sent in February, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau warned the newly minted One Eye that its rebranding wouldn’t help it avoid consequences while alerting it that a failure to comply would lead to a permanent block. (On the same day, it cautioned US voice providers about One Eye’s activity.) Finally, it sent an “initial determination order” in April, another step toward the block it ultimately issued today.The FCC’s statement doesn’t specify where One Eye’s headquarters are. The February cease-and-desist letter was addressed to a registered LLC in Delaware, but that could merely be a US branch of a global operation based elsewhere.The block has teeth thanks to the FCC’s Gateway Provider Order issued in May 2022. It laid out a new list of requirements for companies routing foreign calls to the US, including (among others) caller ID authentication using the STIR / SHAKEN framework, submitting certification plans, responding to traceback requests within 24 hours and blocking illegal traffic when notified by the FCC.“The Enforcement Bureau team has built a fair, transparent, but tough process by which we can essentially shut down access to U.S. communications networks by companies such as One Eye that are targeting consumers with illegal robocalls,” said Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan Egal. “Today’s action demonstrates another cutting-edge tool in our robocall enforcement options and represents a landmark date in our efforts to protect consumers from scam calls.”This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fcc-blocks-robocall-middleman-one-eye-from-future-campaigns-211509369.html?src=rss

Electric vehicle brand Polestar plans to reduce its headcount by 10 percent as part of an effort to cut costs. It will also institute a global hiring freeze and it has trimmed production guidance for 2023. Polestar now expects to produce between 60,000 and 70,000 vehicles this year, down from the previous figure of 80,000.The brand cited a delayed start to production of the Polestar 3 and "the economic environment affecting the automotive industry" as key reasons for the changes. The electric SUV is now expected to enter production in early 2024.Polestar says Volvo (which, as Autoblog notes, is Polestar's vehicle producer and largest shareholder) needs more time for software development and testing of the new electric platform. Volvo has delayed the start of production of the EX90 for the same reason. Production is slated to start in the first half of next year.There are no changes to the Polestar 4 schedule as things stand. Polestar expects to start production of that EV for China in the fourth quarter of this year and in early 2024 for other markets.Polestar said in its latest earnings report that it delivered 12,076 cars in the first three months of 2023, an increase of 26 percent from a year earlier. More than 100,000 of the brand's cars are now out in the wild. Polestar's revenue rose to $546 million, up from $452.2 million a year earlier, while the net loss for the quarter was $9 million, compared with $274.5 million in Q1 2022.There's enough cash in the kitty for Polestar to make it through this year, the company previously said. It received a $1.6 billion injection from Volvo and fellow major shareholder PSD Investment in November. Polestar had $884.3 million cash on hand as of March 31st, though it expects to need more funding over the next few years.Other nascent EV players have also been struggling to manage their expenses. Last month, Lucid said it would lay off 1,300 workers to cut costs, accounting for 18 percent of the total workforce. Rivian has also laid off more than 1,000 workers since last summer.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-polestar-3-and-volvo-ex90-are-both-delayed-until-2024-210052700.html?src=rss

Elon Musk is making good on his promise to step down as Twitter CEO following a poll. The entrepreneur has announced that a replacement chief executive will start at Twitter in roughly six weeks. While he hasn't identified the new leader by name, he indicated he had hired a woman for the role. Musk will stay on as executive chairman and chief technical officer covering "product, software and sysops."Hours after Musk's announcement, The Wall Street Journal reported that NBCUniversal advertising exec Linda Yaccarino "is in talks" to take over the CEO role at Twitter. Yaccarino is known for being an "industry advocate for finding better ways to measure the effectiveness of advertising," according to The Journal. Twitter didn't respond to a request for comment, but Yaccarino and Musk are apparently on good terms.The two have appeared together at ad industry events, and Yaccarino has spoken favorably of Musk. NBCU also has significant partnerships with Twitter, recently renewing its partnership to host video from the 2024 Olympics on Twitter. And, as AdAge recently pointed out, Yaccarino tweeted at Musk that Twitter should bring back Periscope, calling it "an idea for our new partnership."

Elektron’s Analog Heat audio processor was already a fantastic tool for adding saturation and warmth to digital instruments, but now the company’s upping the ante with a hardware refresh. Announced at the SuperBooth synthesizer expo in Berlin, Analog Heat +FX picks up where the MK2 left off, with the addition of new digital effects to complement the pre-existing saturation options.The titular effects are the standout feature here, as the unit allows for tape emulation, reverb, bit crushing, delay, chorus and more. This is in addition to eight stereo analog distortion units, seven filter types, a two-band EQ and a noise gate. In other words, this little module can do a lot with your sound whether it's a simple keyboard riff or an entire master bus.Another huge new feature is called flow, which lets users easily reshuffle the signal path to create unique sounds. You can insert effects at any point in the signal path, before or after the audio source, and save the results in one of 512 preset slots. The device also encourages users to experiment with the modulation source and the three LFOs for even more adjustment capabilities. There’s also a mode called bass focus that automatically goes from stereo to mono at a preset cross-over point, helping to ensure a fat and focused low end.The hardware itself got a bit of an update here, with a new pixel-based OLED screen that is larger and brighter than the displays found on previous models. As for inputs and outputs, you get a MIDI in/out, two control inputs for foot switches and the like, multiple stereo ins and outs and a USB port. The USB port lets you plug straight into a computer, via a built-in sound card, to let you warm up (or mangle) audio from your DAW.The Analog Heat +FX ships with a PSU-3c power supply and a USB cable. It’s available to order right now and costs $1,000.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/elektrons-analog-heat-gets-a-refresh-with-more-effects-and-a-customizable-signal-path-190549864.html?src=rss

Watching the Olympics in 2021 was a little complicated, requiring viewers to juggle NBC Broadcasts, the company's Peacock Streaming service and a dedicated NBCOlympics.com website. Today the company announced that watching the Paris games in 2024 will be a lot easier — declaring Peacock the "streaming home" of the 2024 Paris Olympics."In a Summer Games first, the service will stream every sport and event, including all 329 medal events." NBC says it will also broadcast at least nine hours of daytime coverage on the network, which will then be made available for streaming on Peacock. The streaming service will also host full-event replays, curated video clips, original commentary and more.NBC is heralding the coverage as the Olympic Games return to its "true glory, with full stadiums and the world's greatest athletes" since 2018, but the expanded programming is almost certainly a response to backlash over the network's limited coverage of the last summer Olympics. Although the network did make every event available to watch 2021, most of it could only be accessed on NBCOlympics.com, with NBC television and Peacock playing host to limited key events.With any luck, NBC's new plans will make watching the games easier than ever. You'll have to wait about a year to find out, though: NBC and Peacock will kick off Olympic Games coverage on Friday, July 26 2024.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nbc-promises-itll-be-easier-to-watch-the-olympics-in-2024-on-peacock-182204595.html?src=rss

Say goodbye to another high-profile Apple Watch app. As MacRumorsnotes, Meta is telling Facebook Messenger users that the Apple Watch version will be unavailable after May 31st. While you'll still get message notifications beyond that point, you won't have the option to respond. Meta didn't provide an explanation in a statement to Engadget. Instead, it pointed users to Messenger on "iPhone, desktop and the web."Meta (then Facebook) introduced Messenger for the Apple Watch in 2015. The app couldn't offer text responses, but you could send audio clips, stickers and similar smartwatch-friendly responses from your wrist. That made it helpful for quickly acknowledging a message without reaching for your iPhone.There are a few factors that may play a role. To start, the limited interaction hurt the app's appeal. That may have affected its potential audience. Meta is also laying off roughly 10,000 employees and refocusing its efforts in a bid to cut costs. That means cutting less essential projects, and it's safe to presume Messenger for Apple Watch wasn't a top priority.Numerous well-known companies have dropped their Apple Watch apps over the years. Meta scrapped its wrist-worn Instagram app in 2018. Slack, Twitter, Uber and others have also ditched their wearable clients. In many cases, developers left due to either a lack of demand or a lack of necessity — there's not much point to a native smartwatch app if you'll likely pick up your phone regardless.Apple may be aware of this. Rumors suggest watchOS 10 may be redesigned around widgets. Apps might stick around, but the emphasis could be on quick-glance information rather than navigating apps on a tiny screen. Even if you use Messenger for Apple Watch now, there might not be as much incentive to use it going forward.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/facebook-messenger-app-for-apple-watch-is-going-away-after-may-31st-180252947.html?src=rss

In a potentially encouraging sign for reducing environmental waste, researchers have discovered microbes from the Alps and the Arctic that can break down plastic without requiring high temperatures. Although this is only a preliminary finding, a more efficient and effective breakdown of industrial plastic waste in landfills would give scientists a new tool for trying to reduce its ecological damage.Scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute WSL published their findings this week in Frontiers in Microbiology, detailing how cold-adapted bacteria and fungus from polar regions and the Swiss Alps digested most of the plastics they tested — while only needing low to average temperatures. That last part is critical because plastic-eating microorganisms tend to need impractically high temperatures to work their magic. “Several microorganisms that can do this have already been found, but when their enzymes that make this possible are applied at an industrial scale, they typically only work at temperatures above [30 degrees Celsius / 86 degrees Fahrenheit],” the researchers explained. “The heating required means that industrial applications remain costly to date, and aren’t carbon-neutral.”Unfortunately, none of the microorganisms tested succeeded at breaking down non-biodegradable polyethylene (PE), one of the most challenging plastics commonly found in consumer products and packaging. (They failed at degrading PE even after 126 days of incubation on the material.) But 56 percent of the strains tested decomposed biodegradable polyester-polyurethane (PUR) at 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit). Others digested commercially available biodegradable mixtures of polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) and polylactic acid (PLA). The two most successful strains were fungi from the genera Neodevriesia and Lachnellula: They broke down every plastic tested other than the formidable PE.Plastics are too recent an invention for the microorganisms to have evolved specifically to break them down. But the researchers highlight how natural selection equipping them to break down cutin, a protective layer in plants that shares much in common with plastics, played a part. “Microbes have been shown to produce a wide variety of polymer-degrading enzymes involved in the break-down of plant cell walls. In particular, plant-pathogenic fungi are often reported to biodegrade polyesters, because of their ability to produce cutinases which target plastic polymers due [to] their resemblance to the plant polymer cutin,” said co-author Dr. Beat Frey.The researchers see promise in their findings but warn that hurdles remain. “The next big challenge will be to identify the plastic-degrading enzymes produced by the microbial strains and to optimize the process to obtain large amounts of proteins,” said Frey. “In addition, further modification of the enzymes might be needed to optimize properties such as protein stability.”This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/scientists-discover-microbes-that-can-digest-plastics-at-cool-temperatures-173419885.html?src=rss

Peloton has had a rough couple of years after pandemic restrictions lifted and people returned to working out at the gym and outside. Now, the company has suffered yet another body blow. A voluntary recall has been issued for 2.2 million Peloton Bikes sold in the US between January 2018 and this month because of seat post safety concerns. "The original Peloton Bike seat post can break unexpectedly during use, creating a potential fall and injury risk," Peloton said in a statement.A recall notice on the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) website urges consumers to "immediately stop using the recalled exercise bikes and contact Peloton for a free repair." However, Peloton won't have to eat the cost of returning millions of bikes to its facilities and sending them back out to customers after repairs. The company will send out a free seat post that consumers can install by themselves.According to the CPSC, there have been 35 reported instances of the seat post breaking and detaching from the Bike during use, causing users to fall in some cases. Those incidents resulted in 13 reports of injuries, including a fractured wrist, lacerations and bruises.This is not the first time that there have been reports of injuries related to Peloton products. Earlier this year, the company agreed to pay $19 million to settle CPSC charges that it didn't immediately disclose reports of people, pets and objects being pulled under the rear of the Tread+. The CPSC said that by the time it received a report from Peloton about such issues, there had been more than 150 such incidents, one of which resulted in a child's death. Other people sustained injuries including broken bones, lacerations, abrasions and friction burns.The settlement and Bike recall come after a brutal 2022 for Peloton, in which the company laid off thousands of workers. It tried other tactics to cut costs and increase revenue, including a switch to third-party manufacturing and adjusting prices of its products. However, the company posted a larger loss than expected in its most recent earnings report.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/peloton-recalls-22-million-bikes-over-safety-issues-170641578.html?src=rss

ASUS has finally priced the ROG Ally in the US, and it might be more affordable than you think — if you're willing to wait. The handheld gaming PC is now known to start at $600 for a base version with an AMD Z1 processor and 512GB of storage. At present, though, Best Buy is only taking pre-orders for a $700 version with a Z1 Extreme chip. That model should be available on June 13th.Both configurations include a 7-inch, 120Hz 1080p touchscreen, 16GB of RAM and a microSD card slot. And if the built-in graphics aren't powerful enough, they can also connect to ASUS' external GPUs.The ROG Ally is ASUS' response to Valve's Steam Deck, not to mention offerings from Ayaneo and GPD. It's supposed to be up to twice as powerful as the Steam Deck while delivering a higher-quality display. And since it's running Windows 11 rather than Valve's custom Linux interface, it can run games from a range of stores without a compatibility layer that might limit performance. Theoretically, you're only missing touchpads and more advanced analog sticks.There are still unknowns, such as real-world battery life across a wide range of games. With that said, this might be the handheld to get if you're frustrated by the Steam Deck's limitations but want the support that comes from a major brand like ASUS.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/asus-rog-ally-handheld-gaming-pc-starts-at-600-164810578.html?src=rss

Sonicware is back with another quirky standalone synthesizer in its fairly crowded Liven line. The Liven Texture Lab was unveiled at the SuperBooth expo in Berlin and features a near-identical layout to some of the other Liven products, with that iconic case and button configuration, but that’s where the similarities end.At its heart, Texture Lab is a granular synthesizer, which is when a waveform is sliced and sliced (and sliced) into extremely small pieces, which are called grains. The engine manipulates these grains in various ways to create unique tones. It’s somewhat rare to find standalone granular synthesizers, as the process is CPU-intensive and better suited to software, so Sonicware’s newest entry is entering a rather sparse marketplace. Granular synthesis allows for extremely unique and out-there tones, and the Texture Lab goes a step further by adding four-voice polyphony, a two-octave keyboard and a 128-step sequencer that records notes and minute changes in granular processing parameters. While not a full-fledged groovebox, the Texture Lab includes a sampling engine with space for 32 samples of up to six seconds each, recording mono at 16/32kHz. The device can also sample internally and all of these samples can be chopped up for making more granular soundscapes.Finally, this device is a robust effects processor, with a granular-based shimmer reverb, an envelope generator, filters, tremolo, a stereo width engine and more. Not only can these effects be applied to your various granular creations, but you can connect any external piece of hardware and run it through the same effects.This is truly a standalone piece of hardware, with a built-in battery for on-the-go use and an integrated speaker. Sonicware continues its tradition of attractive pricing, as the Texture Lab will cost just $240 when it launches in June.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonicwares-newest-gadget-is-a-granular-synth-an-effects-unit-and-a-sampler-163231008.html?src=rss

New York State is taking companies to task for flooding the FCC with bogus comments supporting the repeal of net neutrality. Attorney General Letitia James has obtained a total $615,000 from lead generating firms Ifficient, LCX and Lead ID for providing millions of fake comments in an attempt to skew the FCC's 2017 proceedings.The broadband industry allegedly asked the trio to attract anti-neutrality input through ads and giveaways, but they instead manufactured fraudulent comments using real identities without permission. LCX and Lead ID directly faked responses for 1.5 million people, James says, while Ifficient served as a go-between that gathered 840,000 false comments from other lead generators. Several of the companies involved in the astroturfing (that is, fake grassroots) campaign had been involved in other attempts to influence regulators and politicians.LCX and principals will pay $400,000 to New York and $100,000 to the San Diego District Attorney's Office. Lead ID and its principal will pay $30,000 to New York, while Ifficiient will pay $63,750 to New York and $21,250 to Colorado. This is the second batch of agreements New York has secured with companies sending fake comments to the FCC.The fines come after a 2021 Attorney General report that found over 18 million of the 22 million comments on the net neutrality repeal were fake. While there were signs of trouble at the time, the FCC under then-Chairman Ajit Pai fought attempts to investigate and address the spam. Pai had long been an outspoken opponent of net neutrality and generally sided with telecoms on key issues.The penalties are relatively tiny, and they won't undo the 2017 decision. Legislators haven't fared much better. A Senate bill that would have restored net neutrality hasn't gone anywhere, and California's neutrality law doesn't do much to help users in other states. The Attorney General's effort is more of a warning to would-be violators: don't expect to emerge completely unscathed.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/new-york-ag-fines-companies-that-spammed-fcc-with-fake-anti-net-neutrality-comments-152249081.html?src=rss

Google Stadia may be gone for good, but one of the game streaming service's few exclusives will soon return from the ether. As promised, Gylt, the very first Stadia exclusive, is coming to Steam, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series and Xbox One. It'll hit those platforms on July 6th.Gylt is a third-person survival horror game from Rime studio Tequila Works. You play as Sally, who has to sneak around her gloomy town and the dark corridors of her school while evading monsters and looking for her missing cousin. I played a few hours of Gylt on Stadia and enjoyed my time with it. Gylt might be a bit too scary for younger kids and it may not be a great fit for those looking for more depth in terms of gameplay mechanics. However, the solid blend of puzzle solving and spooky setting could make Gylt a decent entry point into horror titles for tweens.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/stadia-launch-title-gylt-will-hit-playstation-xbox-and-steam-on-july-6th-145836720.html?src=rss

Folks looking for more sci-fi to sink their teeth into on Apple TV+ after getting hooked on Silo won’t have too much longer to wait. The streaming service has revealed that the second season of Foundation will premiere on July 14th. The show, which is based on a series of Isaac Asimov novels, will return with one episode on that day, and more will follow on a weekly basis.The season runs for 10 episodes and it's set over a century after the first season's finale. It features "a vengeful queen" who aims to destroy the Galactic Empire from within, Apple said. The Foundation, meanwhile, has moved into its religious phase. It's promoting the Church of Seldon throughout the Outer Reach and bringing about the second crisis — in other words, war with the Empire. Alongside the release date, Apple TV+ has released another visually dazzling trailer:This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/foundation-will-return-to-apple-tv-on-july-14th-140038865.html?src=rss

Cuphead isn't the only game banking on vintage animation to catch your eye. Fumi Games has unveiledMouse, a first-person shooter that mimics the "rubber hose" drawing style of 1930s cartoons from Disney and other studios. You play a private detective who has to blast his way through waves of mobster mice as he unravels a "web of deceit and murder." The result is equally charming and disturbing — crooks' heads pop like balloons, and explosions reduce your opponents to ash.Fumi isn't leaning solely on nostalgia. Mouse will offer flexibility in how you play. You can charge in guns blazing, but you can also dodge around or meticulously plan your approach. A "Fantastic-o-Matic" upgrade system lets you boost preferred abilities and weapons through Bioshock-like vending machines. You can also expect activities like safecracking.There's clearly a lot of work left. Fumi hasn't shared a release date, and the early footage shows barebones maps and gameplay mechanics. Still, Mouse shows some promise. Like Cuphead, the artwork is a refreshing break from what you're used to in its genre — it's neither striving for realism nor replicating the modern cartoon look of Fortnite or Valorant. It's just a question of whether or not the gameplay is strong enough to keep you invested after the novelty wears off.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mouse-is-a-first-person-shooter-inspired-by-vintage-disney-134113206.html?src=rss

The same noise-canceling ability and overall clarity that make AirPods a good match for iOS, also make the buds well-suited for video chats and casual listening while you work on your laptop. AirPods are designed to pair automatically with your iPhone, but pairing them with a MacBook usually requires a few extra steps. If you’ve already connected them to your iPhone and you’re using the same Apple ID on your MacBook, your buds may already show up in your laptop’s list of available Bluetooth devices. If so, you can skip down to “How to switch your AirPods.” If you don’t see them listed, follow these steps.How to connect AirPods to a MacBookApple renamed System Preferences to System Settings with macOS Ventura in 2022. That’s where you’ll head first to access your Bluetooth settings.1. Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your Mac’s screen and select System Settings. You can also click the System Settings icon in the dock or click on the Control Center icon in the upper right corner, and click on Bluetooth then Bluetooth settings. Once in System Settings, click on Bluetooth in the left panel.Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget2. With your AirPods in the case and the lid open, bring them near your Mac and press and hold the button on the back of the case until the light on the front flashes white.Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget3. Your AirPods should show up under My Devices in the Bluetooth window. Click the connect button to pair them. You may be prompted to enable Siri and select your voice assistant preferences.Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget4. If your AirPods don’t show up in the Bluetooth dialog box, shut the AirPods case, wait 15 seconds and then open the case and press the back button again. You may have to try the pairing process a few times before your AirPods show up on the list. If you still have trouble, make sure the AirPods are fully charged and you have the latest OS version installed on your Mac. Restarting your computer might also help.How to switch AirPods between devicesTo manually switch your AirPods from another device to your Mac, follow these steps. Just keep in mind that these instructions only apply if you’ve already connected your AirPods to your Mac. If you haven’t done that, first follow the steps above.You can go through the Systems Settings application, but I find it’s easiest to go through the through the Control Center:1. Click on the Control Center icon in the upper left corner of your menu bar.Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget2. Click on the text that says “Bluetooth” (not the Bluetooth icon, which toggles Bluetooth on and off).Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget3. Select your AirPods from the list of available devices.Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-to-connect-airpods-to-macbook-120059919.html?src=rss

The age of walking around a home goods store with your fiancé scanning items to upload to your registry has long come and gone. Digital wedding registries have sprung up in its place, with most large companies offering one. Now, Etsy has launched a site-wide wedding registry, joining the ranks of stores like Amazon, Macy's and Pottery Barn. It's a logical step for Etsy, home to seemingly endless products and a section devoted just to "Wedding & Party" filled with gifts and decorations.Wedding registries are available to anyone with an Etsy account and are free to create. When you click the "Create a wedding registry" button, a pop-up asks if you've set a wedding date yet. From there, it opens a personal homepage where you can favorite or add gifts to your registry. It also suggests gifts below and tracks how many items have been added and purchased. You can view your registry or add more options at any time through the registry homepage or on your account dropdown menu.Gift listings can get very specific, with options to include detailed personalization requests. Customization is a feature the makers-centric e-commerce company is known for and one that might set them apart from some of the other wedding registry sites. The company certainly hopes so: It attributes the introduction of its wedding registries to a growing desire for personalized gifts over more standard, mass-produced options. According to Etsy, users' searches for handmade gifts increased by 872 percent in the last three months compared to the same time last year.Guests looking to shop your registry will need to make an Etsy account to buy anything. On the registry homepage, they can click "Find a registry" and search your name to browse items. Once purchased, sellers will receive orders as usual with a note that it's from a registry.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/etsy-launches-its-own-wedding-registry-service-122006896.html?src=rss

Panasonic will not be able to start the volume production of its 4680 battery cells for Tesla before March 2024 like it had originally planned. According to Reuters, the company has delayed the battery's mass production and has decided to kick things off between April and September 2024 instead, so that it would have enough time to improve its performance. "Mass production rescheduled to begin during [the first half of the fiscal year ending in March 2025] to introduce performance improvement measures that will further enhance competitiveness," the company has revealed in its earnings report.The 4680 battery format has the potential to boost the range of electric vehicles by over 15 percent. Nikkei previously said that it could extend the range of the Model S from 404 miles on a single charge to around 465 miles. It's unclear what Panasonic means by introducing "performance improvement measures" and whether that would lead to even longer range capacities for electric cars.Tesla manufactures its own batteries in its Fremont, California facility and at the Gigafactory Texas, and it is expected to ramp up production in the latter. But the company still depends on its partner manufacturers, Panasonic being one of them, to be able to meet its battery needs. At the moment, Tesla is using the 4680-type cell for the base Model Y vehicles produced at Gigafactory Texas. The company plans to equip its other vehicles with it, though, including the Cybertruck, which will enter mass production in 2024.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/panasonic-delays-production-of-its-next-generation-tesla-batteries-121808047.html?src=rss

Games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild don’t come along often. The 2017 title came 31 years into the franchise’s history and somehow felt familiar while simultaneously remixing or entirely removing core tenets of the series. To put it mildly, the changes worked. Breath of the Wild is the biggest-selling Zelda game of all time and was an unqualified success with critics and players alike.What in the world do you do for an encore?Internally, Nintendo decided to get right on that, announcing a direct sequel was in development only two years after Breath of the Wild arrived. The result is The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, a game that is not a complete reinvention. Instead, after successfully blowing up the Zelda format, Nintendo is giving players even more – more of Hyrule to explore, and more freedom to dream up how to tackle the many, many challenges the game throws at them.Perhaps even more than its predecessor, though, Tears of the Kingdom demands patience. There’s an overwhelming amount of things to do, locations to see, puzzles to solve and enemies to defeat here. And as I tried to play through it as quickly as possible, to see as much of the world as I could for this review, I ended up more frustrated than satisfied. Fortunately, I then decided to slow down and indulge my curiosity, a decision that made the game far more rewarding and made me eager to explore at my own pace, without worrying about getting to the end.NintendoTears of the Kingdom kicks things off in a fashion that’ll be familiar to anyone who played Breath of the Wild. A quick prologue reveals the dark wizard Ganondorf and a calamity known as the Upheaval – events that leave Link grievously injured and Zelda missing (stop me if you’ve heard this one). The twist comes when Link awakes in a sky kingdom populated by ancient and powerful technology, courtesy of the Zonai clan. Lest you think, like me, that Nintendo just invented a new mysterious culture with a new set of powers to replace the Guardians from Breath of the Wild, the Zonai were actually briefly mentioned in the previous game.The first few hours of the game take place entirely in the sky, a fascinating setting with a host of new challenges and enemies. But here the game retreads the prior entry here as you need to journey to a handful of shrines to get a new set of abilities, just like you did on the Hyrule plateau in Breath of the Wild. Once that’s done, you’re able to descend to Hyrule proper and get exploring.NintendoTears of the Kingdom gently guides you towards a few locations to get you started – but you can go anywhere you want, if you’re intrepid enough to try. The game definitely doesn’t hold your hand, and it took me a surprisingly long time to get my bearings and feel confident against the many monsters you’ll come across. At the start, Link is woefully underpowered, which makes finding the dozens of shrines dotting Hyrule crucial, as this is the quickest way to get more hearts, stamina and learn new fighting techniques.I was also eager to find the numerous towers that dot the land, as those are how you reveal more of the Hyrule map. Six years later, Hyrule still feels positively massive, and navigating it without filling in the map is an exercise in frustration. In retrospect, though, I probably was too aggressive about journeying beyond the first few areas the game reveals to you, as I ran into numerous enemies I was simply not powerful enough to take on. My advice: stick to the game’s script and focus on the first few quests it gives you before going into full explorer mode.In addition to the many shrines, the game will quickly implore you to search out four regions of Hyrule to investigate disturbances affecting the areas. (If you played Breath of the Wild, you can surely guess where those areas are.) This is where you’ll find the game’s four areas that harken back to the dungeons in Zelda games of yore. Just like before, you’ll need to help the citizens of each region before you can advance – but to keep things fresh, all the big dungeons are in the sky.As much as I enjoyed revisiting the vast Hyrule overworld, the different gameplay elements and scenery of the sky areas made this feel novel. These main dungeons feel more similar to the Divine Beasts from Breath of the Wild than the levels found in Zelda games of old, but this time out they’re more visually distinct and connected to the region of Hyrule you’re visiting. The bosses of each are also a lot more creative and interesting than the variations of Calamity Ganon from last time out, too.NintendoAnother thing that will be familiar to Breath of the Wild players is the game’s presentation. As a direct sequel, there’s no noticeable change to how Hyrule and its inhabitants are rendered this time. Obviously, the sky islands and underground caverns were not present in BotW, so those areas gave the designers a chance to come up with impressive new visuals. The sky areas were particularly striking to me, though the underworld has a creepy, alien atmosphere that adds a whole new vibe to the game.Nintendo’s art direction is impeccable, as usual, but six years on from Breath of the Wild it’s fair to say I sometimes wanted a bit more. I’ve been playing the Horizon Forbidden West expansion Burning Shores – that series has a similarly vast open world to these recent Zelda games, and having that in the back of my mind made me imagine what Hyrule could look like on more powerful hardware. I’m not saying I want a fully photorealistic Zelda game; the semi-cartoonish style has always been part of the charm. But it’s hard not to imagine just how spectacular this game could look on more powerful hardware. Of course, that’s not Nintendo’s strategy and it hasn’t been for years – but one can dream.That said, the Switch hardware does show its age in one significant area. Frame rate drops are a bit more common in Tears of the Kingdom than I’d like. To be clear, this isn’t a major issue that renders the game unplayable by any stretch of the imagination. Generally, things run solidly at 30 fps, but the more advanced physics at play here occasionally causes some stutters. You’ll also get some dropped frames if too much is happening on screen, like big battles with multiple enemies in the rain. I never felt like these problems were enough to keep me from playing, but they are noticeable and show that Nintendo is pushing the Switch as hard as it can here.NintendoYou may be wondering what makes Tears of the Kingdom more than just a Breath of the Wild remix. There are two major components that make it stand out. First are the two new areas above and below Hyrule proper. Both the sky islands and underworld add completely new challenges and gameplay elements. For example, one set of sky islands has less gravity than everywhere else in the game, so jumps carry you further. It may sound like a little thing, but it actually changes the way you go about fighting enemies – for example, a jumping slash attack can deliver multiple blows as you slowly float back to the ground. But it also leaves you more vulnerable, since you can’t pull out your shield in the middle of this move. If you time it wrong, you can take serious damage in a counter-attack.The underworld areas are perhaps the most treacherous you can visit in Hyrule. That’s thanks to the persistent gloom enveloping those regions, something that makes the monsters below even more powerful. If you get hit, not only do you lose hearts from your health bar, but those hearts actually “break” – they can’t be refilled unless you use a special elixir or visit particular waypoints scattered throughout the map. Naturally, since it’s pitch-black underground, navigating is a challenge as well. You’ll want to come well-stocked with brightbloom seeds, which can be found in caves throughout Hyrule. Dropping those illuminates the area, and you can also take special potions that make you glow on your own.The underworld quest line provides a second set of tasks beyond the ones found in the Hyrule overworld. There aren’t any dungeons underground as there are up in the sky, but there are still significant quests and enemies to find below the surface. And from what I’ve played so far, these aren’t just side quests – they intersect with the main goal of finding Zelda. It’s easy to forget about the underworld while journeying through Hyrule proper, looking for shrines and helping residents in all corners of the map, but you’ll gain valuable skills and progress the story in major ways by diving underground as well. If you’re getting stuck or running out of steam, delving into the deeps is a good way to change things up.NintendoBut easily the most significant change is in the abilities Link has, thanks to his “Purah Pad” (a new name for the Sheikah Slate from BofW). Two of the abilities, Ascend and Recall, are useful but don’t fundamentally change the way the game is played. Ascend lets you dive straight upwards through roofs or rocks to reach new areas quickly, while Recall rewinds time on specific objects to move them backwards. They can be handy for sure, but you’ll need to master the other two powers to get anywhere in Tears of the Kingdom. One is called “Fuse,” which lets you stick objects you find around the world onto your weapons or arrows to enhance them. This is a requirement, because most of the weapons you find in the world have been decayed by Ganondorf’s emergence.The good news is that you can stick all the monster parts you find around the world onto these weapons to greatly increase their power. For example, you can stick bokoblin horns on to your swords to make them stronger, but you can also fuse the tail of an ice lizard to a weapon and get its freezing power. However, these weapons still break far too often, so you’ll constantly want to be stocking up your inventory and investigating what combos of weapons and additional items work best. This goes for arrows, too: instead of being able to find or buy fire arrows, for example, you’ll need to attach a fire fruit to your arrow to set things aflame.And then there’s Ultrahand. This takes the Magensis power from BotW, which let you move metallic objects around, and supercharges it. Now, you can pick up almost anything you see – and you can stick objects together to build basically anything you want. What really makes your creations useful are the Zonai tools you’ll find around the world, things like fans, wheels, flame-emitting objects and much more. If you have a board and a fan, you can fashion a makeshift hovercraft, for example. Or if you need to reach a far-off location, try building a bridge.As the game goes on, it does a great job of nudging you towards building more complex and useful tools. The possibilities are near-limitless, and I’m really looking forward to seeing videos of all the ridiculous things that people try to build. (For example, the hilariously flammable war cart that my colleague Sam Rutherford built.) I was initially worried that I wouldn’t be quite creative enough to fully take advantage of the potential that Ultrahand provides, but totally wild creations are rarely required. Usually, it’s a matter of sticking two or three things together to achieve a goal, and the game makes it pretty clear what you need to do. The quick shrines, most of which you can get through in five or 10 minutes, also are good at showing you what kinds of things are useful to combine.You can also use Fuse to combine Zonai objects together with your weapons and shields. One of my favorite combos is sticking a springboard to a shield – so when enemies hit it, they go flying, giving you a chance to counter-attack or run away. Attaching a fire device to your weapon, meanwhile, lets it spew flames as you swing it. Again, the possibilities are vast, and it’s going to be a lot of fun seeing what kinds of weapons and other contraptions people come up with to suit their own play styles.NintendoThis all adds up to a game that, despite significant shared DNA with Breath of the Wild, feels new and vital. I have fond memories of my time traversing Hyrule in BotW, and I was eager to jump back into the world again. The overworld map may be the same, but plenty of the locations have changed significantly, which provided a distinct feeling of time passing between the games as well as offering new puzzles and challenges. The frequent dips into the sky or underworld, meanwhile, provide plenty of fresh, all-new areas to explore and challenges to overcome.All this said, I also would be remiss if I didn’t mention the difficult, sometimes unforgiving challenge this game can occasionally present. Since there’s minimal guidance as to where you can and should go, it’s easy to find yourself in enemy encounters where you’re totally overmatched. And while most of the shrines are well done, there are some that are absurdly difficult for no apparent reason.My “favorite" so far is one where you lose all your items and armor and have to figure out how to defeat enemies with just the tools provided to you. In this case, there were about eight high-powered machines, and while there were some little war machines to create, there’s also no shield in the shrine. Even with 10 hearts, making two mistakes was enough that I would die and lose my progress. It was incredibly frustrating, and there was no reason for it to be so hard.And the impact of Fuse and Ultrahand cannot be overstated. These new tools make experimentation a hallmark of Tears of the Kingdom in a way it hasn’t been before. Now, in addition to exploring every corner of Hyrule, you’ll also need to try lots of different combinations of tools, weapons, found objects and Zonai devices to find the solution a puzzle demands. Or you can fritter away hours making contraptions from whatever you find laying around. In a lot of ways, Breath of the Wild was already a creative sandbox that let gamers tackle the various adventures it offered in any order and any fashion they chose. In Tears of the Kingdom, that’s even more true.If you want to spend all your time spelunking in the underworld, feel free. If you’d rather hunt down shrines at the expense of all else to maximize your stamina and hearts, that works too. If you only want to engage in building objects with Ultrahand when the game requires it, that’s fine – it makes it clear when you need to build various contraptions to advance. There’s enough guidance to set you on your path when you get started, but you can also ignore that and just roam the wilds. Do so at your own risk, though – it’s rough out there.Tears of the Kingdom isn’t the series reinvention that we got in 2017, but that’s OK. There’s more than enough here to justify revisiting the Hyrule that we first saw with Breath of the Wild — I've "only" put in about 35 hours at this point, and there's no end in sight to my journey. If you’re one of the millions who delighted in that game’s freedom, chances are you’ll love Tears of the Kingdom too.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-review-a-familiar-but-fresh-adventure-120035307.html?src=rss

Teenage Engineering has launched a new field recorder called the TP-7 that was designed to record interviews, music and any kind of audio with, in the company's words, "zero friction in the highest possible quality." It's the latest entry to its "Field" series of interoperable products, which includes the OP-1 synthesizer and the TX-6 mixer released last year. Like the TX-6, the TP-7 is about as big as a deck of cards and can fit comfortably in your hand. It has a motorized "tape reel" at the center that you can use to easily scrub through or pause your recording and to navigate the menu.There's also a rocker on the left side of the recorder that you can also use to scrub through audio, along with a button right below it that quickly changes recording modes. While you can use its built-in microphone to record audio just fine, you can also plug in external mics through its three stereo two-way jacks. Take note that the jacks can accommodate other audio equipment, as well, such as Teenage Engineering's other Field devices.The TP-7 also has a USB-C port that you can use to transfer data or to charge it. If you use the device for interviews, you can connect it to an iPhone through that USB-C port or via Bluetooth and fire up the company's iOS app to get automatic transcriptions. The recorder can last up to seven hours between charges, has a built-in speaker in addition to the microphone and 128GB of internal storage.Teenage Engineering calls the TP-7 "a device engineered in every detail to do only one thing and to do it well," one that's "perfect for... journalists, lawyers and medical professionals." But like most of the company's products, the TP-7 doesn't come cheap. It's listed for $1,499 on Teenage Engineering's website with a note that says it's coming sometime this summer.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/teenage-engineerings-tp-7-field-recorder-costs-an-eye-watering-1499-114007098.html?src=rss

Google’s big developer conference had a lot to get through. That included the Pixel Fold (more on that below), a new Pixel A-series phone for only $500, a tablet, Android 14, a faster, more sophisticated AI language model, and lots more tricks for AI chatbot Bard. Coming soon, Bard will be able to analyze images and integrate into Google apps, like Gmail and GDocs. And if you haven’t dabbled with Bard yet – no more waiting list.GoogleAnd while Google had media and analysts captive, it showed off its holographic meeting experience, Project Starline, two years after it first appeared. Google did not allow Engadget to take pictures or video of the setup – it’s difficult to capture holographs on camera anyway – but our impressions were of an uncanny experience. The prototype uses a light-field display that looked like a mesh window, with multiple cameras to get the visual data to generate the 3D model of the caller. It’s not perfect, but then the system is busy. Sound and images are broadcast to the cloud over WiFi, creating a 3D model of both callers, then sending it down to the light display.The pitch may be the most realistic, detailed teleconferencing experience, but the tech is still far away from our homes and offices. And Google does like to kill its darlings when things aren’t working out. Will Project Starline survive?– Mat SmithThe Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.The biggest stories you might have missedMay's PS Plus Extra and Premium lineup includes 'Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart' Roku unveils a $99 smart home monitoring systemGoogle Maps is expanding Immersive View to routes Google's Bard AI is now available without a waitlist in 180 countriesGoogle Photos will use generative AI to straight-up change your imagesGoogle Pixel Fold vs. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4: Battle of the foldableGoogle Pixel Fold hands-on: A real rival for Samsung Its first foldable phone is here. And expensive.EngadgetWhile the $1,799 Pixel Fold is more expensive than reports suggested, its hardware is mostly what we expected. It sports a 5.8-inch external display and a wide 7.6-inch internal screen when it's opened. It has a new 9.5-megapixel external camera and an 8MP internal shooter, and its rear setup features a 48-megapixel main camera, a 10.8MP ultra-wide and a 10.8MP telephoto camera with 5X optical zoom. In a lot of ways, the Pixel Fold is like last year’s flagship Pixel 7 Pro, but foldable, with the same Tensor G2 processor.Google apparently had to redesign a lot of components to make it into what is a pretty slender widescreen foldable. We got to see one in person (because we’re Engadget), and the screen has a wider aspect ratio than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series. The bezels are… chunkier too, but that hasn’t put us off too much. The company hasn’t confirmed a shipping date, but it’ll be "sometime next month." It’s offering pre-orders for the foldable if you’re already sold on the concept.Continue reading.Google Pixel Tablet hands-onA $500 smart display with a detachable screenThough it was initially teased at last year’s Google I/O, the Pixel Tablet is finally ready for purchase. You can now pre-order it for $499, and that includes the speaker base. The Pixel Tablet will likely spend most of its time in your home as a smart display, and you can buy additional docks for $120 each, so you can have stations in multiple rooms to feel like a millionaire.The company doesn’t want you to think of this as a standalone $370 tablet. With an 11-inch screen, a rounded-rectangle shape and a mesh fabric covering the speaker base, the Pixel Tablet looks incredibly similar to the Nest Hub Max. When the tablet is docked, you can use it as an additional screen and Chromecast to it. Google said this is the first tablet with Chromecast built in, but to be clear, the feature is only available when the device is docked and in Hub Mode, not as a standalone slate.Continue reading.Scammers used AI-generated Frank Ocean songs to steal thousands of dollarsIt follows the fake Drake and The Weeknd song that circulated last month.Mario Anzuoni / reutersMore AI-generated music mimicking a famous artist has made the rounds — while making lots of money for the scammer passing it off as genuine. A collection of fake Frank Ocean songs sold for a reported $13,000 CAD ($9,722 in US dollars) last month on a music-leaking forum devoted to the Grammy-winning singer, according to Vice. The fact Ocean hasn’t released a new album since 2016 and recently teased an upcoming follow-up to Blond may have added to the eagerness to believe the songs were real.Continue reading.Vast and SpaceX plan to launch the first commercial space station in 2025The duo will have to compete with Blue Origin and other big rivals.Another company wants to launch the first commercial space station. Vast is partnering with SpaceX to launch its Haven-1 station as soon as August 2025. A Falcon 9 rocket will carry the platform to low Earth orbit, with a follow-up Vast-1 mission using Crew Dragon to bring four people to Haven-1 for up to 30 days. Vast is taking bookings for crew wanting to participate in scientific or philanthropic work. It’ll be racing against Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, which doesn't expect to launch its Orbital Reef until the second half of the decade. Voyager, Lockheed Martin and Nanoracks don't expect to operate their Starlab facility before 2027.Continue reading.Google Pixel 7a reviewIt’s got everything you need and more for just $499.EngadgetSo maybe we had one piece of Google hardware a little early. With the Pixel 7a, Google seems to have nailed the balance between price and performance. We’re talking a Tensor G2 chip, a 90 Hz display, wireless charging and a higher-res rear cam, all starting at just $499. And when you factor in its design, the Pixel 7a delivers everything I like about the regular Pixel 7 for $100 less. I’ll say this: If you’ve got family members musing on buying a new Android phone, save yourself a headache and recommend the Pixel 7a.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-the-biggest-announcements-from-google-io-2023-113036746.html?src=rss

The original HomePod arrived in 2018 and was discontinued in favor of the $99 HomePod Mini in 2021, but Apple brought it back earlier this year as a second generation model with upgraded audio and new smart home tools. Now, it's on sale for the first time at B&H Photo Video for $279 in white and $289 in black via an instant rebate, saving you $20 and $10 respectively.The design of the second-generation model is much the same, apart from details like the slightly recessed touch panel, a detachable power cord and a slightly shorter profile. Inside, though, there are a host of changes. Apple reduced the number of tweeters from seven to five, angling them slightly upward instead of side-firing as before. The number of voice microphones was reduced from six down to four and, most importantly, Apple swapped the iPhone 6’s A8 chip for the much more modern S7.The new model cures one of our biggest gripes with the original HomePod, namely Siri's limited abilities. Now, it can recognize multiple users, create recurring home automations without an iPhone and play music from voice commands via services like Deezer and Pandora and not just Apple Music. Most importantly, performance and responsiveness is much improved.Sound quality is outstanding, with excellent clarity, though bass can occasionally be too subdued for certain types of music. It works especially well as a stereo pair, something that's easy to set up via the app. It can also be set up for use with Apple TV and has especially good voice clarity. The best part, though, is the reduced price compared to the previous model, and B&H Photo Video's discount of up to $20 makes it a particularly good buy — just be sure to act by midnight ET on May 14th.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-2nd-generation-homepod-speaker-gets-its-first-discount-105536878.html?src=rss

It’s been ten years since Fairphone launched with the laudable goal of making a better phone than its competitors. Not better in the spec-list sense, but by building it with greener materials and ensuring that they are easily and comprehensively repairable. More importantly, the company has sought to improve the working conditions of the people building the devices in the first place. That’s by paying fairer wages or offering workplace training and other benefits that major manufacturers might be unwilling to do. All the while attempting to produce gear that can at least stand proud alongside brand-name devices costing two or three times as much.Now, Fairphone is launching its first pair of over-ear headphones, Fairbuds XL, with the same focus on utility and repairability. The company says they’re the “most sustainable headphones on the market,” with almost all of the parts user-replaceable and available to buy. They can’t just be repairable and last a long while, however, they also have to sound good enough that you’ll genuinely want to use these over what else is in the market. Specs-wise, you won’t just get the basics, but active noise cancellation (ANC), multiple audio modes, two-point Bluetooth connection and a two-year warranty that’s likely to include hardware support for a lot longer.The Fairbuds XL are available either in speckled black or speckled green. I was loaned the green model for two weeks, and while the black looks like every other dull-ass pair of cans on the market, the green is utterly gorgeous. I love the orange contrast cabling and the lovely pop of copper on the four-way joystick, and enjoyed walking around in public with these on.The design, with its visible wire connections and fold-in arms, is a generation or two behind the cutting edge. You know, your Sony XM5s and B&W Px7s and Bose QC45s, with hidden wires, hinged earcups and an overall more elegant setup. I don’t think it’s an issue unless you’re suffering from a serious case of status anxiety, but if you are, you’re probably not thinking about buying these.As for the hardware, there’s the aforementioned four-way joystick, a dedicated ANC lozenge button and a USB-C port, and that’s it. This minimalism carries across to what else is in the box: A recycled polyester / nylon carry bag and a little paper manual. There’s no USB-C charging cable, audio adapter or anything else, since Fairphone assumes you already have this stuff, or can just as easily buy it from its store.Daniel Cooper / EngadgetFairbuds XL comes with 40mm dynamic drivers, Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and an Ambient Sound Mode. It has an 800mAh battery which the company says will last for 26 hours with ANC or for more than 30 hours with it switched off. You’ll get around 320 hours of standby time and, once that’s exhausted, charging from cold is pegged at three hours. Supporting Bluetooth 5.1, Fairbuds XL offers dual-point connectivity, letting you hook up and switch between two paired devices. This switching was mostly reliable, although I found there were some device combinations – like an Android smartphone and my mac OS laptop, that it simply refused to play nicely with. Weighing 330 grams (11.6oz), the cans don’t outstay their welcome on your head, or your ears. The earcups are soft enough that I’m not forced to take them off because they’re uncomfortable.Inside, those 40mm diameter drivers have a frequency response running from 20Hz to 20KHz. That puts it in the same bracket as a number of low and mid-budget sets on the market, of which this probably sits at the higher end, price-wise. Since it lacks any real background in sound, Fairphone sought out help from Sonarworks, a sound calibration company that works with a number of pro audio companies and artists. Its SoundID software will let users calibrate their audio profile to tweak how sound comes out of their headphones for a more personalized experience.Now on the whole, I do rather like the sound that comes out of the Fairbuds XL. I’m not a massive fan of some of the genres which modern audio tests calibrate for, preferring instead something calmer, cleaner and more atmospheric. One thing I’ve always used to test a headphone’s quality is to see how well you can hear the breaths of the horn players during Finale from the Tron Legacy soundtrack, which are really clear here. Or how alive Max Haymer’s piano feels when playing his jazz reworking of Optimistic that you think you’re in the room. London Grammar’s Stay Awake feels urgent, more meaningful here than in some headphones I’ve tried.The ANC, meanwhile, was very reliable at drowning out a lot of the ambient noise in my office, inside and out. It totally eliminated the sound of my own typing, the sound of a vacuum cleaner, the building work a nearby neighbor was doing and a crying baby out in public. The one time I had an issue with it was taking a stroll around my local area and getting a face full of wind, but there’s no strong wind setting in the mobile companion app like you’ll find on other products.In order to offer a greater level of customization, Fairphone is also launching a Fairbuds App for iOS and Android. This will allow you to change the EQ presents – tuned by Sonarworks – for a similar level of tweaking as you could find in SoundID. The app also offers the usual bunch of guides, tutorials and access to customer service, as well as the promise of future software updates. You’ll also be able to order replacement parts directly from the app, which should help prompt you to seek out a fix if things start to go wrong.There are four sound profiles: Amsterdam (standard), Copenhagen (more treble), Tokyo (more bass) and Boston (heavy bass). I’ll be honest, I found that only really Amsterdam and Boston offered much real difference, and even then, the changes weren’t massive. In fact, I’d say that I’d opt for Amsterdam over Boston even if I was listening to something pretty bassy like Low’s More, with its wonderfully teeth-rattling glitchcore overdriven bass. Suffice to say, I feel like the sound profiles need to be more distinct here, but it’s something that Fairphone should be able to improve upon in the coming months.Daniel Cooper / EngadgetOf course, Fairphone’s obligation stretches beyond the idea of simply making the hardware modular and repairable. The company says Fairbuds XL uses 100 percent recycled aluminum, 100 percent recycled tin in its solder paste and 80 percent recycled plastic. It added that it has integrated Fairtrade Gold into its supply chain, and uses 100 vegan leather for both the ear cushions and headband.In terms of working conditions for the people who made them, the company will pay 0.55 USD per headphone made to “fill the living wage gap of production line workers.” And that it is “working with the supplier on improving working conditions based on workers’ needs.” It will also back carbon-reduction projects to help reduce CO2 emissions to ensure the headphones are essentially climate-neutral.These are all laudable, but even Fairphone serially admits that the effort it makes can only make a small difference in the grand scheme of things. Its work is limited both by its size and relatively small market share, which means that it can’t do everything that it would like to. As much as it can say it’s producing the fairest device on the market, it can’t claim ownership of a halo that it doesn’t deserve. The best it can hope for, however, is to try and push the technology world toward approaching a more sustainable approach for its products.(This is a good moment to share a gripe about the company’s True Wireless Earbuds, which it launched alongside the Fairphone 4. These are made with fair and recycled materials, and were dubbed as “e-waste neutral,” but weren’t modular or repairable. Given most TWS earbuds have sealed-in batteries, they become effectively unsalvageable when they break. Fairphone offered replacement cases, tips and buds, but it seemed to join the tide as opposed to swimming against it. With the Fairbuds XL, the focus has moved back toward an audio product that sails closer to Fairphone’s true ethos)Fairphone’s overall ethos is that its products are – with the above exception – user-repairable, and easy enough that anyone should be able to take them apart and keep them going for years to come. The company has already shared a list of parts you can buy from its online store, which includes a new battery, left and right speaker modules, headband assembly and cover, as well as the ear cushions. Prices range from €19.95 (around $22) for the battery all the way to €79.95 (around $88) for a new speaker module, which connects to the setup with an integrated USB-C cable.As for the ANC selection button, four-way joystick and the specific PCBs inside the earcups, those can be repaired, but right now, only at the company’s repair center. This, to me, seems pretty fair, since users probably won’t be comfortable taking a soldering iron to their cans. The deal is that you can swap in modules to keep this thing going for as long as possible, but if you want to keep it going with completely-original parts, you’ll need more expert help.Fairphone customarily ships out its loan units for review with an iFixit #00-size Phillips-head screwdriver in the package. This is because it wants reviewers, and by extension potential buyers, to know how easy it is to take apart its products and put them back together. Imagine if Apple, Samsung, John Deere or any of the other companies that are regularly behind anti right to repair legislation had a similar attitude. As usual, I didn’t start disassembling the Fairbuds XL until I’d spent enough time listening to them, just in case something broke, but I needn't have worried.The easiest repair to make is swapping out the battery, which requires you to pop off the outside cap on the left earcup. If you’ve got strong fingernails, you can lever out the battery and swap in a replacement in half a minute if you’re on the slow side. Removing the ear cushions to replace them is similarly a matter of just twisting them a quarter-turn to unlock them from their mounts. This is easy stuff, which makes it all the more frustrating that most companies won’t let users make these sort of common repairs.Feeling braver, I then opted to detach the speaker modules from the headband in their entirety to mimic the process of replacing one. You just need to pop out the battery, twist off the ear cushions and then you can slide out the USB-C cable sticking up top. After that, you need to unscrew just two small screws which hold the whole assembly to the headband. The process took all of two minutes, and that was probably because I was going slow to avoid messing up.Fundamentally, the Fairbuds XL follow through on the usual Fairphone promise of a modular, almost infinitely-repairable device. It has many of the necessary fundamentals to make them a worthwhile purchase for many people, including good ANC, long life and a comfortable design. What it lacks, for now, is a certain dynamism in its sound profiles that would give users more choice in how tunes are presented. Thankfully, that’s something that could be fixed in a later update, which is something that Fairphone has historically been very good at doing. In fact, if you’re happy with very good sound, and want to help make the world a slightly better place in doing so, then I’d say these are a very solid bet.The name is a bit silly, however.Fairbuds XL will be available to buy in Europe from tomorrow, May 11th 2023, on Fairphone’s website, priced at €249 (around $275).This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fairphone-launches-a-fully-repairable-set-of-over-ear-headphones-080017046.html?src=rss

Cruise's robotaxis are continuing their push across the Lone Star State. The self-driving car company has announced it plans to begin supervised testing in two more Texan cities, Houston and Dallas, joining its earlier move into Austin (yes, the home of still robotaxi-less Tesla). For now, the expansion is focused on familiarizing the car with the areas, rather than picking up passengers. Residents of the two cities can expect to start seeing Cruise's robotaxis cruising down the streets with a safety driver inside.In a tweet sharing the news, Cruise said supervised testing in Houston should start in a matter of days while Dallas will be "shortly thereafter." Cruise's robotaxis are already available on a limited basis overnight in Austin and Phoenix and all day in certain areas of San Francisco.The speed General Motors-owned Cruise is advancing has brought some concerns. In January, San Francisco's Transportation Authority asked regulators to limit or temporarily pause Cruise and competitor Waymo's expansion, citing repeated cases of their cars inexplicably stopping in traffic and blocking emergency vehicles. As of yet, things have done anything but slow down. Since the request, Cruise celebrated one million fully driverless miles on top of making its robotaxis available at all times in San Francisco — though full access is only for employees.Right now, there's no set date for when the public will have access to rides in Houston or Dallas. Going off the timeline of other Cruise expansions, it will likely take at least a few months until anyone can hail a self-driving car in either city. Even then, it will probably start with a small group of people and only at night. Anyone interested in taking one of Cruise's robotaxis has to sign up for a waiting list and be accepted to create an account. The company says its limited available cars will keep its services invite-only for the time being.

Google's excellent Pixel 7a just hit the market for an already solid price of $499, but you can now save more thanks to a deal at Amazon. If you order now, you get a free $50 Amazon gift card that can be used for other purchases, effectively bringing the price down to $449 if you plan to order other things from Amazon.The Pixel 7a not only received praise in our Engadget review, but instantly became the best midrange Android smartphone in our latest roundup. Google has nailed the balance between price and performance, offering the same Tensor G2 chip as the Pixel 7, along with a 90Hz display, wireless charging and a higher-resolution rear camera.The two big changes over the Pixel 6a are a new high-res 64-MP main cam in back, along with a front 13-MP selfie camera can record videos in 4K. The Pixel 7a beats other smartphone cameras in its price range so handily for photography and video that it actually needs to be compared to flagship devices like the Pixel 7 Pro and Samsung's S23 Ultra.The extra resolution goes a long way to eliminating any concerns about the lack of a telephoto, as you can zoom in four times and still get a 16-megapixel image. And Google's Night Sight mode remains the best in the business, even though it does add a little more noise than we expected.In sum, the Pixel 7a delivers 95 percent of what you get from the regular Pixel 7, but for $100 less. The deal gives you a $50 Amazon card on top of that, which could be spent on accessories like a protective case. More importantly, you get a rare thing — a deal on a Google Pixel phone that just entered the market.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-includes-a-50-gift-card-when-you-order-the-google-pixel-7a-091023063.html?src=rss

A "one-app experience" that combines Disney+ and Hulu content will launch in late 2023, Disney CEO Bob Iger has announced during the company's latest earnings call. He said the company will continue offering Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ as standalone options, but combining services "is a logical progression" of its direct-to-consumer offerings "that will provide greater opportunities for advertisers, while giving bundle subscribers access to more robust and streamlined content..."Since Comcast still owns 33 percent of Hulu, this announcement suggests that Disney could be thinking of buying the cable TV and media company's stake. Iger didn't elaborate on the company's plans, though, and only said that Disney has had "constructive" talks with Comcast about the future of Hulu.In addition to announcing the combined streaming app, Iger has also revealed that Disney+ is getting another price increase after adding $3 on top of its ad-free streaming tier's monthly fee in December. He didn't say when the company is raising the service's prices, but when it does, the ad-free and ad-supported tiers will cost more than $11 and $8, respectively.While Disney reported (PDF) a 26 percent decrease in operating losses for its streaming business, a $659 million loss is still massive. The price hike's announcement didn't come out of nowhere, seeing as the company promised investors that the business will be profitable by the end of the 2024 fiscal year. The question is whether the combined Disney+ and Hulu app could convince new users to pay for a subscription — or for old subscribers to come back. Disney+ lost 4 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2023 after shedding 2.4 million users in the previous quarter.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/disney-and-hulu-will-merge-into-a-single-app-later-this-year-083536664.html?src=rss

Yes, Sony is still making smartphones, and its latest is the flagship Xperia 1 V designed for both photographers and vloggers. It features a new stacked, backside-illuminated (BSI) sensor along with features aimed at content creators found in its Alpha-series cameras.The Xperia 1 V has a new image sensor called "Exmor T for Mobile" designed to be faster and work better with computational (AI) photography, while offering "approximately double" the low-light performance of the Xperia 1 IV, Sony said. As you'd expect in a flagship, it offers other high-end features like a Snapdragon 8 Gen2 Mobile Platform, a 6.5-inch 4K 120Hz OLED HDR display, a 5,000 mAh battery that allows for up to 20 hours of continuous 4K playback, up to 12GB of RAM and more.With that, Sony is promising "best in class" gaming performance, thanks to a Game Enhancer function that provides visual and auditory support. It also lets players livestream their gaming directly to YouTube.The key feature is clearly the camera system, though. The main 24mm f/1.9 equivalent 52-megapixel camera features a Type 1/1.35-inch (about 12mm diagonally) Exmor T sensor that's 1.7 times larger than the Xperia 1 IV's sensor, Sony said. It also comes with an ultrawide 12-megapixel camera and an 85-125mm 12-megapixel optical telephoto zoom, like the one on the Xperia 1 IV. The front 12-megapixel camera has a Type 1/2.9-inch sensor.Purists will be able to shoot video and photos using the professional modes that allow for full manual control. Chief among those is the Photography Pro mode designed for creative control. It also allows live streaming while letting creators see viewer comments in real time.SonyIf you set it to Basic mode, though, you'll get a good dose of computational imaging seen in other Android phones. Those include a Night mode and color settings for subjects like flowers and a blue sky. It also delivers real-time eye autofocus and tracking, along with high-speed continuous shooting of up to 30 fps with auto-exposure and AF enabled.For vloggers and content creators, it now features the same Product Showcase setting found on Sony's vlogging cameras like the ZV-E1. The new sensor also promises improved skin tones, thanks to extra saturation available on the sensor. It also has a new voice priority mic placed near the rear camera that can pick up voices even in busy outdoor locations.SonyOne cool feature that might justify the price alone for many video shooters is the ability to use the phone as a monitor for select Sony Alpha cameras. The Xperia 1 IV could do that as well, but the new model offers multiple display options with waveforms, gridlines, and zebra lines normally only found on professional field monitors. You can also control settings and record content to phones, features that weren't available before. Meanwhile, the phone's microphones can capture sound while monitoring audio via the Xperia 1 V's headphone jack.As with past Xperia models, the catch here is the price. The Xperia 1 V starts at $1,400 (in khaki green or black) with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage (upgradeable via an microSD slot). That's a lot of money for most smartphone users (even flagship buyers) but might make sense for content creators, avid photographers and others.Along with the Xperia 1 V, Sony also unveiled a far more mainstream smartphone, the Xperia 10 V. It's powered by a Snapdragon 695 chipset and offers a 6.1-inch 1080p OLED display that's 50 percent brighter than before, but only refreshes at 60Hz. The camera system features a main 48-megapixel Type-1/2.0-inch sensor with a wide lens, along with a 2x telephoto and an ultrawide. Other features include a 5,000 mAh battery and up to 6GB of RAM. It's priced at €449 in Europe, with sales set to start in June. US pricing/availability is not yet available.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonys-xperia-i-v-phone-is-a-photo-and-video-powerhouse-074625053.html?src=rss

Last year during Superbooth Roland unveiled the Aira Compact series – its first true competitors to Korg’s wildly successful Volca line. Now, the company is back for Superbooth 2023 with a new addition to the family, the S-1 Tweak Synth. Like the T-8 and J-6, the S-1 uses Roland’s Analog Circuit Behavior (ACB) technology to recreate the sound of an iconic instrument from its past, the SH-101. While the core of the S-1 is ultimately quite familiar, in true Roland fashion there’s a lot of modern features packed in as well. And in even truer Roland fashion, many of them are buried in a bewildering array of indecipherable menus and button combinations.I’m going to get this out of the way right now, because it’s a recurring theme in almost every review I write of a Roland product. The interface here is truly mind boggling once you get beyond the immediate hands-on controls. Almost every knob and button has at least one shift function. Many of them aren’t labeled. And the only visual feedback you’re given for anything is via a four-character, seven-segment LED display. A seven-segment LED display in 2023! I dare anyone to tell me what the hell “Nod.d” means without looking it up in the manual. And what about the D-Motion button suggests that this is where the probability and substep options are located? I’m not trying to suggest that I should be able to figure out every feature on an instrument right away without reading a manual. But I also shouldn’t feel like a lost ball in the tall weeds. Especially not when we’re talking about an entry level $200 synth.The clunky interface here is particularly frustrating because the S-1 is otherwise kind of great. It actually has a decent amount of hands-on controls. It offers far more depth than any of the previous Aria Compact entries, even if you never touch the shift button. There’s an LFO with six different waveform options, including random. The oscillator section allows you to blend together a saw and square wave with pulse width modulation, as well as a sub oscillator and noise source. And, unlike the original SH-101 which was monophonic, the S-1 is polyphonic so you can play actual chords (up to four notes).And the oscillators sound great. I’m not always the hugest fan of Roland’s ACB sound engine, but it shines here. Thick bass, acid leads and 16-bit JRPG arps are all easily attainable and satisfying. This is easily the best sounding member of the Aira Compact family.The filter is excellent too. It stops just shy of self oscillation, but still gets pretty sharp and can certainly endanger your eardrums if you have your headphones up too loud. But at the lower end of the cutoff spectrum you get a surprising warmth and silkiness from this dirt cheap emulation of a classic analog circuit.Photo by Terrence O'Brien / EngadgetRoland even threw in a delay, seven reverbs and four chorus options. The reverbs are merely ok, but the delay is a perfectly solid digital effect. You can even set the delay time to 1/128 and crank the … Anb(?) reverb model to get howling metallic textures that are out of this world. The choruses, pulled from the Juno and JX-3P are truly excellent. It’s just a shame they’re buried in the arcane menu system because I want to turn them on for almost every patch I make.There’s a solid arpeggiator, and you can even record directly from the arpeggiator into the 64-step sequencer. That’s pretty handy for laying down glassy high notes then going back in and overdubbing some bass to accentuate the chord changes. I will say though, I haven’t quite figured out how to get to 64 steps. By default sequences are 16 steps, there is no obvious way to go beyond that and I was not provided a manual with my review unit.Roland also added motion sequencing to S-1, so you can tweak settings as you’re recording to slowly increase the amount of delay over the course of a pattern. Or even go into the menu and turn on and off the chorus, or change the sub-oscillator tuning on a per-step basis. It really opens up a lot of possibilities on an instrument this small and affordable. You can ratchet notes, set per step probability, and there’s even Step Loop for quickly mangling your sequence into new riffs on the fly, though that is far more useful on a drum machine.Photo by Terrence O'Brien / EngadgetIf the feature list for the S-1 ended here, that would be perfectly fine. But Roland added more. So. Much. More. Maybe too much more.There’s a draw and chop function, which allows you to create custom waveshapes for even wilder tones. Then use the multiplier on your freshly drawn waveshape, or the comb on your chopped wave for hard-synced and dissonant metallic noises. You can also turn the noise source into a sort of pulsing riser effect. Though, I was unaware of this when I accidentally activated it while messing around one afternoon and couldn’t for the life of me figure out what was going on. This is one of those many unlabeled features hidden behind a seemingly arbitrary button combination. (For the record, you hold down shift then press 1 and 2 simultaneously to cycle through a few different riser modes.)The one last feature worth mentioning (I think), is a bit of a head scratcher. D-Motion allows you to change parameters by picking up the synth and tilting it about. It’s a fun novelty for a few minutes, but it doesn’t feel practical. Though, at least it makes more sense on the small, battery-powered and portable S-1 than it does on the SH-4d.Photo by Terrence O'Brien / EngadgetBeyond that the S-1 resembles the rest of the Aira Compact line. It’s plastic, has a rechargeable battery built in and weighs next to nothing. There are 3.5mm MIDI, sync and audio jacks for connecting other gear. And USB-C for charging, but also for sending audio and MIDI to computers, phones and tablets. My one other minor gripe, physically at least, is that the mushy keys are painfully small. Playing chords on this thing is a bit of a headache. But not much more so than on any other instrument of this ilk, like the Modal Electronics Skulpt or a Volca Keys.Photo by Terrence O'Brien / EngadgetThe S-1 Tweak Synth is both the most compelling and most frustrating member of the Aira Compact series. It has plenty of hands-on controls, sounds great and is deceptively powerful for the price. But it is also, perhaps, too complex. It tries to do too many things and ends up feeling cluttered and confusing. Which is the exact opposite of what you want from what is essentially a $200 music toy.What made Korg’s Volcas so successful wasn’t their laundry list of features, it was their simplicity. They sounded good enough, were affordable, and unintimidating. Roland seems to have gotten the first two parts of the equation down. Now it just needs to work on the last ingredient.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/roland-s-1-tweak-synth-is-the-most-compelling-member-of-the-aira-compact-family-070014423.html?src=rss