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As part of the October Prime Day sale, Amazon is selling the 2023 version of the Samsung Smart Monitor M8 for just $500. That's $200 off the starting price and the lowest price it's gone for so far. The 32-inch display has built-in apps and allows you to access streaming services, just like you would on a smart TV. This is the updated 2023 version of the model that launched at CES 2022 and not only combines a monitor with a smart TV, it can also act as a smart home hub, showing you your smart camera feeds and more.The 32-inch 4K monitor has a 3840 x 2160 resolution with HDR, a 60Hz refresh rate and a maximum 178-degree viewing angle. Like the original, this 2023 model comes with built-in apps and internet of things (IoT) control features. You can stream from services like Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+, but it also includes Microsoft Office 365 apps for when you want to get work done without connecting to a PC.When it's time to hook it up to your computer, it includes a USB-C cable, and it has built-in ports for USB-C, HDMI and USB-A. It even ships with software to access and control your PC remotely, making it much more versatile on its own than standard monitors. And if you own a Samsung mobile device, you can use the company's DeX software to transform the phone or tablet into a faux desktop computer.The Smart Monitor M8's IoT hub lets you control smart home products through SmartThings, performing tasks like changing your home's lighting or temperature straight from the display. It includes a detachable SlimFit Cam, which records in full HD and has face tracking for video calls. It also has Alexa for voice control, perhaps sparing you the cost of buying an Echo speaker for that room.Your October Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn aboutPrime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Fall Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsungs-updated-smart-monitor-m8-is-200-off-as-part-an-amazon-prime-day-deal-165722200.html?src=rss

Sony announced new PlayStation 5 models that will likely be unofficially called the PS5 Slim." The new model has the same horsepower on the inside, but it has a smaller form factor with an attachable disc drive and a 1TB SSD. The new model's detachable drive means you can buy the Digital Edition and change your mind later, essentially adding the drive as an $80 modular accessory.To address the evolving needs of players, our engineering and design teams collaborated on a new form factor that provides greater choice and flexibility," Sony wrote in its announcement blog post. The same technology features that make PS5 the best to play are packed into a smaller form factor, along with an attachable Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Drive and a 1TB SSD for more internal storage."SonySony says the new PS5 has 30 percent lower volume, and its weight is 18 percent and 24 percent lighter than the original. The new design uses four cover panels (the top is glossy while the sides are matte). Both models include a horizontal stand, while a vertical stand compatible with all PS5 models" will be sold separately for $30.In exchange for the flexibility of buy now, add a drive later," the new PS5 model has a higher entry point with the Digital Edition costing $450. Meanwhile, you'll pay $500 for the model with the Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc drive. The new PS5s start shipping in November in the US at select retailers, and Sony says it will roll out globally in the following months. The company also mentions that once the current PS5 model has sold out, it will be discontinued.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-is-releasing-a-smaller-ps5-with-a-detachable-disc-drive-in-november-162625078.html?src=rss

TikTok announced a new API today that will let you post (and do other things) directly to the platform from approved third-party apps. An extension of Share to TikTok, the company says the new feature increases the resources and tools our community can choose from to easily navigate every stage of the creation process both on and off the platform." Early partners for the Direct Post API include Adobe, Twitch, Blackmagic Design (makers of Davinci Resolve) and others.TikTok Direct Post integrations will let creators make drafts, set captions or audience settings, and schedule or post content directly from supported third-party apps. Only videos are supported at launch, but photo content is coming soon."Third-party software supporting the feature at launch include Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Express, CapCut (owned by TikTok's parent company ByteDance), DaVinci Resolve, SocialPilot and Twitch. TikTok says developer partners will be vetted through an audit process" before they can use the API.Now more than ever, publishing content in real-time has become a necessity, and creators of all skill levels need tools that can empower them with greater efficiency and without constraints," said Deepa Subramaniam, Adobe's Creative Cloud marketing VP. With the new Direct Post feature for TikTok available in Adobe Express and Premiere Pro, creators can continue to create standout content, but with increased speed and without adding more interruption to their creative workflows."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-now-lets-you-post-directly-from-third-party-apps-160514639.html?src=rss

Just seven months after its beta debut, Adobe's Firefly generative AI is set to receive a trio of new models as well as more than 100 new features and capabilities, company executives announced at the Adobe Max 2023 event on Tuesday. The Firefly Image 2 model promises higher fidelity generated images and more granular controls for users and the Vector model will allow graphic designers to rapidly generate vector images, a first for the industry. The Design model for generating print and online advertising layouts offers another first: text-to-template generation.Adobe is no stranger to using machine learning in its products. The company released its earliest commercial AI, Sensei, in 2016. Firefly is built atop the Sensei system and offers image and video editors a whole slew of AI tools and features, from "text to color enhancement" saturation and hue adjustments to font and design element generation and even creating and incorporating background music into video scenes on the fly. The generative AI suite is available across Adobe's product ecosystem including Premiere Pro, After Effects, Illustrator, Photoshop and Express, as well as on all subscription levels the Creative Cloud platform (yes, even the free one).AdobeFirefly Image 2 is the updated version of the existing text-to-image system. Like its predecessor, this one is trained exclusively on licensed and public domain content to ensure that its output images are safe for commercial use. It also accommodates text prompts in any of 100 languages.AdobeAdobe's AI already works across modalities, from still images, video and audio to design elements and font effects. As of Tuesday, it also generates vector art thanks to the new Firefly Vector model. Currently available in beta, this new model will also offer Generative Match, which will recreate a given artistic style in its output images. This will enable users to stay within bounds of the brand's guidelines, quickly spin up new designs using existing images and their aesthetics, as well as seamless, tileable fill patterns and vector gradients.The final, Design model, is geared heavily towards advertising and marketing professionals for use in generating print and online copy templates using Adobe Express. Users will be able to generate images in Firefly then port them to express for use in a layout generated from the user's natural language prompt. Those templates can be generated in any of the popular aspect ratios and are fully editable through conventional digital methods.AdobeThe Firefly web application will also receive three new features: Generative Match, as above, for maintaining consistent design aesthetics across images and assets. Photo Settings will generate more photorealistic images (think: visible, defined pores) as well as enable users to tweak images using photography metrics like depth of field, blur and field of view. The system's depictions of plant foliage will reportedly also improve under this setting. Prompt Guidance will even rewrite whatever hackneyed prose you came up with into something it can actually work from, reducing the need for the wholesale re-generation of prompted images.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/adobes-next-gen-firefly-2-offers-vector-graphics-more-control-and-photorealistic-renders-160030349.html?src=rss

Few tech companies have embraced generative AI as wholeheartedly as Adobe. At Adobe Max, its annual creativity conference, it unveiled a new version of the Firefly GAI model. Not only that, the company announced more GAI features for Adobe Express, just weeks after making Firefly more broadly available in the app.Adobe Express now includes features such as Generative Fill. This enables users to add, remove or replace items, people and other aspects of images using text prompts. On a similar note, the Text to Template function can help users generate editable templates for things like graphics and social media posts based on text descriptions. Text to Template is powered by the new Firefly Design Model, which Adobe says will generate content that's safe for commercial use.On top of that, Express now offers a GAI-powered translation tool. Translate can localize content between 45 languages, Adobe says. Meanwhile, new Drawing and Painting functions enable more than 50 multicolor paint and decorative brushes. These can mimic things like charcoal, pencil and watercolor textures. The company also noted student-friendly drawing templates that are available in Express for Education can make it easy to create effects like flowers and hearts.A handy resize tool will make it a cinch for folks to automatically get multiple versions of a design to fit all social channels, Adobe said. Meanwhile, you'll be able to use the app to directly schedule and share videos to the likes of TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and X.Adobe isn't exactly stopping with Express. At Max, it announced more than 100 new features across its main Adobe Creative Cloud applications. These include additional Firefly-powered tools for Illustrator and Photoshop, as well as new editing capabilities in Lightroom.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/adobe-brings-more-generative-ai-features-to-express-160018288.html?src=rss

Last year, Sony released its first line of dedicated gaming peripherals with its Inzone brand, which consisted of a couple of monitors and a range of over-the-ear headphones. Now Sony has returned with a new pair of earbuds and an update to its mid-range cans that are worth considering for gamers thinking about upgrading their audio.Sony's more portable offerings are simply called the Inzone Buds and they use the same drivers that you get in the highly-regarded WF-1000XM5, so it probably won't be a surprise when I say they sound great. You also get support for Sony's excellent active noise cancellation tech and a handy ambient sound mode, but from there the buds' features were tweaked to better optimize sound quality while gaming.Photo by Sam Rutherford/EngadgetAside from an updated design that has clear ties to the PS5, the Inzone Buds' biggest departure from the WF-1000XM5 is its case. It's a relatively large trapezoid that opens to reveal the buds themselves and a wireless audio dongle. The inclusion of an adapter is sort of unusual on everyday earbuds, but it's more common on gaming peripherals as it provides a dedicated low-latency 2.4GHz wireless connection (with a sub-30 millisecond delay) to ensure sounds like footsteps and other audio cues hit your ears in a timely matter. The dongle even includes a switch for PCs or the PS5 / mobile devices to streamline things even further, though you can also rely on a standard Bluetooth connection.In addition to delivering higher-quality sound when gaming, I found the adapter was just really convenient. When listening to music on my phone where latency isn't a big concern, I was happy to use Bluetooth. But when I was sitting in front of my PC or PS5, switching audio sources was as simple as plugging the dongle into a free USB-C port. As another bonus for PS5 owners, the buds allow you to see things like battery level or volume directly in the console's UI, which is typically reserved for PlayStation-branded peripherals. Remember, these buds are made by Sony Electronics (the people who make TVs, speakers and other gadgets), not Sony Interactive Entertainment (the PlayStation folk).Photo by Sam Rutherford/EngdgetYou can use Sony's 360 Spatial Sound Personalizer app to customize audio based on your ear canals. That said, in my experience the effect was much less pronounced than on Sony's over-the-ear headphones, which account for the shape of your entire ear. Though you can further adjust the buds' sound tone personalization in the Inzone Hub app. What I do like is the addition of a new AI-based noise reduction feature that filters out distracting sounds during calls, which is pretty useful especially when you're gaming on PC while using a loud mechanical keyboard. And thanks to support for spatial audio, you get a 3D soundstage that can help you figure out when enemies might be sneaking up on you in a shooter.With battery life of up to 24 hours on a charge when connected via Bluetooth (or around 12 hours when using 2.4GHz), Sony claims the Inzone buds have the best longevity of any true-wireless gaming earbuds. And after using them for a weekend, that figure seems about right. When you eventually run low, the charging case can add an hour of juice in just five minutes while holding enough power for a second full recharge.Photo by Sam Rutherford/EngadgetThat said, while I generally like the Inzone buds, I have a few gripes. The first is that the case doesn't support wireless charging, which seems like a weird omission on $200 headphones. Also, the case is rather bulky when compared to more typical earbuds, and when you factor in its trapezoidal shape, some people may wonder if you're hiding a rabbit in your pocket. The other small frustration is that, while you can use the Inzone Hub software on your PC to adjust all sorts of settings, there isn't an equivalent mobile app. That means if you're walking around town and you want to adjust the Inzone Buds' touch controls, you'll have to wait until you get home.What's interesting is that if you're someone like me, who generally prefers earbuds over larger cans due to their portability, it's nice to have small headphones that are equally adept at gaming and general audio. And with the Inzone buds priced at $200, or $100 less than the WF-1000XM5s, these are an interesting option for people who care about both.Photo by Sam Rutherford/EngadgetAside from its new earbuds, the other update to the Inzone line are the new $150 H5 headphones, which are a new mid-range replacement for the older and more expensive $229 H7 cans. Despite costing $80 less, the H5s have a better mic thanks to the same AI-based noise reduction tech you get on the buds, along with support for both wired and wireless audio (the H7s were wireless-only) and a slightly lighter design. The one trade-off is that overall battery life has declined a touch from 40 to 28 hours.The Inzone Buds and the Inzone H5 headphones are available today for $200 and $150, respectively.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-inzone-buds-hands-on-a-slick-gamer-focused-twist-on-the-wf-1000xm5-specs-price-160014839.html?src=rss

When Gmail launched for Wear OS last week, folks wondered how long it would be before the companion Google Calendar app would arrive. Well, it's here. Google Calendar has officially shipped for Wear OS, giving smartwatch-wearers all kinds of access to their day-to-day schedules, as originally spotted by 9to5Google.You'll see it on the launcher as Calendar once installed. It's basically a beefed-up version of the Schedule view found on phones. When you open up the app, you'll find a daily calendar complete with precise location details for events, notes, notifications and more. You can adjust whether or not you'll be attending any saved event, in addition to deleting the event entirely.If you're tired of staring at a teensy smartwatch screen, you can also use the Calendar app to open up any date or event on your smartphone. Certain events, like holidays and birthdays, can appear as background images in the main feed of the app. There's even some Google Tasks integration here, so you can mark events as complete.Like many smartwatch apps, Google Calendar is for consumption and not creation. You cannot use the app to make new events or tasks. There are, however, two new Wear OS tiles that let you quickly glance at upcoming events and tasks without opening up the full app.Google Calendar for Wear OS is now available to download on the Play Store. Just search for Calendar in the wearable version of the Play Store or remotely install it via the app listing.As Wear OS 3 and Wear OS 4 continue to gain new features, the company's older smartwatch operating systems are losing tools. Google recently announced that its proprietary voice assistant would no longer work on watches running anything before Wear OS 3.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-calendar-finally-lands-on-wearos-154535767.html?src=rss

Today the BBC announced it will finally add every available classic episode of Doctor Who, and all of its spin-offs, to iPlayer. It's the culmination of work which began when Russell T. Davies returned as the show's major creative force, and a significant change for the BBC. In a statement, it said every episode of the classic series, plus spin-offs like The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood and Class, as well as making-of series Doctor Who Confidential, would all be added on November 1st.All of Doctor Who's post-2005 revival series are widely-available on streaming services both in the UK and abroad. But the original run has rarely, if ever, been on-demand without an extra charge, as it's still one of the BBC's most reliable cash-cows. The series has been released on VHS, DVD and now Blu-ray, with several of its most recent releases requiring multiple printings. The only place to stream Doctor Who on-demand, at least with a clean conscience, is by paying for BritBox's premium streaming service.As part of the release, the BBC is making a point of the new accessibility features - including every episode featuring sign language translation - and that a new archive of material will also be put online on the official Doctor Who website. It's not clear, at this point, if this will include the hours upon hours of special documentaries and behind-the-scenes material that comes with the show's numerous DVD and Blu-ray releases.The change comes as the show builds up to its 60th anniversary later that same month, as the show stops being a purely BBC production. Instead, it's being made by Bad Wolf productions with cash backing from Disney, which will stream the show on Disney+ outside the UK. It's pure speculation on my part, but if the BBC has cleared any issues that prevented it from streaming all of Doctor Who in the UK, then the whole series may also be available on Disney+ at the same time.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/all-of-doctor-who-is-finally-coming-to-bbc-iplayer-152006413.html?src=rss

After Disney releases a new film in English, the company will go back and localize it in as many as 46 global languages to make the movie accesible to as wide an audience as possible. This is a massive undertaking, one for which Disney has an entire division - Disney Character Voices International Inc - to handle the task. And it's not like you're getting Chris Pratt back in the recording booth to dub his GotG III lines in Icelandic and Swahili - each version sounds a little different given the local voice actors. But with a new "AI dubbing" system from ElevenLabs, we could soon get a close recreation of Pratt's voice, regardless of the language spoken on-screen.ElevenLabs is an AI startup that offers a voice cloning service, allowing subscribers to generate nearly identical vocalizations with AI based on a few minutes worth of audio sample uploads. Not wholly unsurprising, as soon as the feature was released in beta, it was immediately exploited to impersonate celebrities, sometimes even without their prior knowledge and consent.The new AI dubbing feature does essentially the same thing - in more than 20 different languages including Hindi, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Ukrainian, Polish and Arabic - but legitimately, and with permission. This tool is designed for use by media companies, educators and internet influencers who don't have Disney MoneyTM to fund their global adaptation efforts.ElevenLabs asserts that the system will be able to not only translate "spoken content to another language in minutes" but also generate new spoken dialog in the target language using the actor's own voice. Or, at least, a AI generated recreation. The system is even reportedly capable of maintaining the "emotion and intonation" of the existing dialog and transferring that over to the generated translation."It will help audiences enjoy any content they want, regardless of the language they speak," ElevenLabs CEO Mati Staniszewski said in a press statement. "And it will mean content creators can easily and authentically access a far bigger audience across the world."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/elevenlabs-is-building-a-universal-ai-dubbing-machine-130053504.html?src=rss

Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days event has an all-time low on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. Usually $1,800, the October Prime Day deal can get you the foldable phone for $1,400 - 25 percent off and an all-time low. Or, if you prefer a clamshell design, Amazon also has the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 for $800, record pricing for the more compact foldable. Both devices launched in August, so you're getting relatively new gear for less.The Z Fold 5 folds like a book with a 7.6-inch display when fully expanded. It also has a narrow 6.2-inch Cover Screen outside for when you want to do something quickly without opening the device. Although the handset is an iterative update over its predecessor, it subtly refines Samsung's five-year foldable formula with a Flex hinge that eliminates the device's gap when closed.The foldable uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chip for faster benchmark performance than the Pixel Fold. Its screen is also brighter (1,750 nits vs. the Pixel's 1,450 nits) than Google's alternative. The Z Fold 5 supports stylus use, and its 4,400mAh battery lasted an impressive 19 hours 48 minutes (main display) and 23 hours 10 minutes (Cover Screen) in Engadget's video rundown test.Cherlynn Low / EngadgetMeanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is still considered the best phone that folds lengthwise. The handset has a 6.7-inch internal display and a 3.4-inch Flex Window" external one. It also uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy for impressive performance, and it bends into a compact device that should slide easily into a pocket or purse.Your October Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn aboutPrime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Fall Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-samsung-galaxy-z-fold-5-is-25-percent-off-for-october-prime-day-123511247.html?src=rss

There's always something so exciting about the first time a big device goes on sale. In this case, Sony's PlayStation VR2 has its first deal, dropping from $549 to $509.15 - a seven percent discount - right in the middle of October Prime Day. Sure, spending over $500 for a headset when the PlayStation 5 is $499 feels like a lot, but you can put the nearly $40 saved toward an extra game or two.Sony released the PS VR2 in early 2023, and it got an 84 in our review despite being priced a bit higher than we'd like. For starters, it's a lot sleeker looking than its predecessor and is very comfortable to wear (it uses the same plastic as the PS5's exterior shell and DualSense controllers). The PS VR2 also has eye tracking, and was the first time we saw haptics for your head. The device is solid, with great OLED displays and well-made Sense controllers.The world might not be as enthralled with VR headsets as it was a few years ago, but there are still a range of new options on the market. With its current sale, the PS VR2 is close to the same price as Meta's Quest 3 but is still far below the $3,499 necessary to buy Apple's Vision Pro. The Quest 3 and Vision Pro are both mixed reality devices, but the PS VR2 is a good option if you only want virtual reality tailored for a console.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/sonys-psvr-2-gets-its-first-discount-during-october-prime-day-121528847.html?src=rss

The Oversight Board has shared the details surrounding a case involving an altered" Facebook video of President Joe Biden, which could have significant implications for Meta's manipulated media" policy.At the center of the case is a video of Biden from last fall, when he joined his granddaughter who was voting in-person for the first time. After voting, Biden placed an I voted" sticker on her shirt. A Facebook user later shared an edited version of the encounter, making it appear as if he repeatedly touched her chest. The video caption called him a sick pedophile," and said those who voted for him were mentally unwell."In a statement, the board also raised the issue of manipulated media and elections. Although this case involves President Biden, it touches on the much broader issue of how manipulated media might impact elections in every corner of the world," Thomas Hughes, director of the Oversight Board Administration, said in a statement. It's important that we look at what challenges and best practices Meta should adopt when it comes to authenticating video content at scale."According to the Oversight Board, a Facebook user reported the video, but Meta ultimately left the clip up saying it didn't break its rules. As the board notes, the company's manipulated media policy prohibits misleading video created with artificial intelligence, but doesn't apply to deceptive edits made with more conventional techniques. The Board selected this case to assess whether Meta's policies adequately cover altered videos that could mislead people into believing politicians have taken actions, outside of speech, that they have not," the Oversight Board said in a statement announcing the case.The case also underscores the often glacial pace of the Oversight Board and its ability to effect change at Meta. The Biden clip at the center of the case was originally filmed last October, and edited versions have been spreading on social media since at least January (the version in this case was first posted in May). It will likely take several more weeks, if not months, for the board to make a decision on whether the Facebook video should be removed or left up. Meta will then have two months to respond to the board's policy recommendations, though it could take many more weeks or months for the company to fully implement any suggestions it chooses to adopt. That means any meaningful policy change may fall much closer to the 2024 election than the 2022 midterm election that kickstarted the case in the first place.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-oversight-board-will-take-on-metas-manipulated-media-policy-ahead-of-2024-elections-120046787.html?src=rss

Apple upgraded the second-generation AirPods Pro in September by giving them a few improvements and by swapping out their charging case's Lightning port with USB-C. The refreshed model only became available for purchase on September 22, but you can now get it for 24 percent off retail. Apple is currently selling the second-generation AirPods Pro with a USB-C MagSafe charging case for $189, which is $60 cheaper than what you'd pay for them if you're buying them at full price. That is, of course, without AppleCare+ - if you want to get the earbuds with Apple's extended warranty, you'd have to pay $23 more.In addition to giving the AirPods Pro's charging case a USB-C connector, Apple has also upgraded the model's water resistance and added dust protection for both the earbuds and their casing. With iOS 17, the improved AirPods will be able to "dynamically blend" their active noise cancellation (ANC) and transparency mode capabilities based on your environment. Their Personalized Volume feature uses machine learnings to predict your desired listening level, depending on your activity. Plus, their Conversation Awareness feature can lower the volume when you start speaking, so you don't have to do anything if you do talk to someone. Finally, when the tech giant's Vision Pro mixed reality headset launches next year, you'll be able to enjoy low-latency lossless audio when you pair the earbuds with it.If you want a pair that's even more affordable, however, you can get the second-generation Apple AirPods for $89 instead. The model isn't quite as feature-rich as its Pro counterpart, and it doesn't come with silicone tips to create an acoustic seal. But it's still a great option if you use an iPhone or plan to pair it with Apple's other devices.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-airpods-pro-with-usb-c-fall-to-a-new-low-of-189-for-october-prime-day-115319976.html?src=rss

If you've been looking to buy a robot vacuum for yourself, or you know someone who would love to receive one as a gift this holiday season, Amazon's October Prime Day has a number of deals you'll want to check out. Big sale events like this one are a good time to shop for big-ticket items like robot vacuums, because you can usually find premium models at close to record-low prices. And affordable models aren't excluded either, so you could pick up a budget-friendly robot vacuum for even less. Here are the best robot vacuum deals we found for October Prime Day.iRobot Roomba 694iRobot's Roomba 694 has dropped to $199 for Prime Day. It's our favorite cheap robot vacuum thanks to its strong suction power, attractive design and easy to use app. It'll be a good option for robo-vac novices, or anyone that doesn't want to fuss too much with an automatic dirt sucker. It clears hard and carpeted floors well, and it automatically returns to its base once a cleaning job is finished so it can recharge.iRobot Roomba s9+The premium Roomba s9+ is on sale for $600 right now, if you have Prime. It's the most expensive model that iRobot makes, and it's currently one of our favorite high-end robo-vacs. Most people don't need something this advanced, but it's hard to deny how well this machine sucks up dirt and debris, and it doesn't choke up at the first sign of pet hair either. It also comes with a self-emptying base, so when it returns after each job to recharge, it will empty its dustbin into the base - no human interaction required.Shark 2-in-1 robot vacuum and mopShark's 2-in-1 robot vacuum and mop machine is on sale for $400 right now, which is nearly half off its regular price. If you're looking for a robot that can thoroughly vacuum and give hard floors a good scrub with water and cleaning solution, this is a good pick. As a vacuum, it has strong suction power and decent obstacle avoidance. As a mop, it uses its reservoir and attached cloth to get rid of messier grime and stains. It also comes with a self-emptying base for the vacuum only that the machine will empty its dustbin into after every vacuuming job.Shark AI Ultra robot vacuumOne of our favorite robot vacuums at the moment, Shark's AI Ultra is on sale for $403. It's just as easy to use and effective as a similar Roomba, but you can often find it at a notably cheaper price point. It cleans hard and carpeted floors well, and it has a bagless, self-emptying base, which is great because you will not have to continuously purchase proprietary bags over time to keep using it.Your Fall Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog's car experts on must-shop auto-related Prime Day deals and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-october-prime-day-robot-vacuum-deals-october-prime-day-103453231.html?src=rss

During Amazon's Prime Day this year, Google is offering some of the most enticing deals on its phones and products, including the Google Pixel 7a.The Google Pixel 7a, which we crowned the best midrange Android phone," is now available for just $399. This price represents a new all-time low, making it even more affordable than it was during July's Prime day when it was $450.Although the Pixel 7a is only slightly over a year old and has recently been upstaged by the newly launched Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro at last week's Made by Google event, it still offers impressive features like wireless charging and a 64-MP camera, making it a worthwhile purchase at its current price point.The Google Pixel 7a offers 8 GB of RAM that helps the phone operate both smooth and fast, with internal storage up to 128 GB. Our review suggests that the Pixel 7a has outperformed competitors in its category, including the 3rd generation Apple iPhone SE and the Samsung Galaxy A54. The Pixel 7a boasts a 90Hz OLED screen and a powerful Tensor G2 processing chip, setting it apart from earlier Pixel models. Unless you're determined to splurge on the latest model, this Prime Day offer could be a great fit for you.Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for the best Amazon Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In the Know. Hear from Autoblog's car experts on must-shop auto-related Prime Day deals and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-google-pixel-7a-drops-to-a-new-low-of-399-for-prime-day-102820729.html?src=rss

It's no secret that Amazon Prime Day is one of the best times of the year to pick up an Echo speaker. That was true for the main sales event in July, and it's true again for October. Most of Amazon's smart speakers and smart displays are down to record-low prices, or close to them, so Prime members can pick them up for some of the best prices we've seen all year. If you've wanted to add to your smart home setup, or build one from scratch, now's a great time to get an Alexa-enabled device. Here are all of the best Prime Day deals on Echo Dots, Echo Show displays and more.Echo DotThe Amazon Echo Dot has dropped to $23 for October Prime Day. The latest model has improved sound quality with deeper base and a built-in temperature sensor that could help with home automations if you have a smart setup. And if you have an Eero router, the Echo Dot can act as an extender, adding 1,000 square feet to your home's network coverage.Echo PopThe Amazon Echo Pop is on sale for $18 right now. One of the newest additions to the Echo lineup, the Pop is a compact smart speaker that provides decent audio quality and basic Alexa skills. And, like the Echo Dot, it has Eero functionality built in.EchoThe full-sized Echo smart speaker has been discounted to $55 for Prime Day. The latest model of Amazon's flagship smart speaker has great sound quality, good voice-assistant chops and a built-in smart home hub as well. If you have multiple Echos, or even Fire TV devices, you can connect them all together for home-filling sound.Echo Show 5Amazon's Echo Show 5 has dropped to a new record low of $40 for this sale. It's one of our favorite smart displays thanks to its compact size, good audio quality and it's capabilities as a smart alarm clock. The latest model has a faster processor, an additional mic for better Alexa responsiveness and an improved screen.Echo Show 8 (2nd gen)Amazon's Echo Show 8 is on sale for $60 right now, which is more than half off its normal price. This is the previous model of the smart display - Amazon announced the latest version a few weeks ago at a hardware event, and you can still pre-order it now before it comes out at the end of the month. The second-gen display is one of our favorite smart displays and it sports an 8-inch touchscreen, a 13MP camera for video calls and all of the Alexa chops you'd expect.Echo Show 10Amazon's Echo Show 10 has dropped to $160 for October Prime Day. This model has a 10.1-inch screen and a 13MP camera to make video chat experiences better. The screen will auto-rotate to follow you when you're video chatting, ensuring you're always in frame. On top of that, the Show 10 has solid audio quality and a built-in smart home hub.Echo Show 15The Amazon Echo Show 15 has been discounted to $185 for Prime Day. It's the biggest of all of the company's smart displays, and it can be mounted on a wall for easier viewing. Custom widgets like calendars and sticky notes allow you to display family schedules, reminders and more, plus it can be used as a mini TV as well. And when you're not actively using it, the display can show pictures from your Amazon Photos collections.Your October Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn aboutPrime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Fall Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-echo-dot-prime-day-deals-180036240.html?src=rss

Amazon's latest storewide sale for Prime members, dubbed Prime Big Deal Days, has brought several discounts on the company's Fire tablets. We've rounded up the best Fire tablet deals of the event below, with lower-than-usual prices on the Fire HD 8, Fire Max 11 and more. Many of the offers are available to everyone, not just Prime subscribers, but note that we aren't seeing any discounts on the recently refreshed Fire HD 10 as of this writing.As a refresher, a Fire tablet is worth considering if you just want a slab for basic media consumption at a low price. None of them is as fast or well-built as an iPad, and Fire OS's app support is much weaker than iPadOS and Android, with Google apps omitted entirely. It also displays lock-screen ads unless you pay an extra fee. But if you frequently use Amazon services like Prime Video or Kindle and only need a large screen for the essentials, a Fire slate can provide decent value - especially when it's on sale.Amazon Fire HD 8The Fire HD 8 is down to $60 for Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days event, which is $5 more than its all-time low but still $40 off its list price. This discount applies to the model with 32GB of storage; if you need more space, the 64GB version is on sale for $75. Either way, the Fire HD 8 is likely the cheapest competent tablet for most people: It's slower than the Fire HD 10 and its display is limited to a 1,280 x 800 resolution, but it's lightweight, it can last more than 10 hours on a charge and it's still quick enough for basic streaming and reading. It's not the best value at its standard going rate, but for $60, it's hard to do better.Amazon Fire HD 8 PlusThe base Fire HD 8 is good enough for most budget buyers, but if you're willing to spend a little more, the Fire HD 8 Plus adds an extra gigabyte of RAM (3GB total) and wireless charging support. It's down to $70 for a 32GB model, which is $5 more than the lowest price we've seen but $50 off its typical going rate. The Plus model still isn't outright fast or capable of serious gaming, but the extra GB can make navigating Fire OS just a bit smoother. The wireless charging support, meanwhile, is best utilized with Amazon's own dock, which helps if you want to use the tablet like a pseudo smart display.Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids and Kids ProThe Fire HD 8 Kids and Kids Pro are each down to $75, which matches the best prices we've tracked. Normally, these tablets retail for $150, with occasional drops to $100. The Kids versions of each Fire tablet have the same base hardware as the standard models, but add a large protective case with a built-in kickstand, a longer two-year warranty, and a one-year subscription to Amazon's Kids+ service, which includes a selection of child-friendly apps, books and games. They also ship with a simplified, kid-friendly UI by default, with a range of robust parental controls and no lock-screen ads. (If you already own a normal Fire tablet, note that you can still set up a child profile on those devices as well.)Between the two, the Kids model comes with a large rubbery case, while the Kids Pro has a slimmer hard plastic case designed for older children. Both devices have the same middling performance and limited app library as the standard Fire HD 8, but they're decent options if you can't trust your little one to handle an iPad carefully, or if you just want to save cash.Amazon Fire Max 11The Fire Max 11 is Amazon's largest and most performant tablet, with an 11-inch 2,000 x 1,200 resolution display, an aluminum frame, a respectable octa-core processor and 4GB of RAM. It has the same software limitations and lock-screen ads as any other Fire tablet, so it's a tough sell at its usual $230, but now it's on sale for $150, which matches its all-time low. If you already use a bunch of Amazon services and don't want to shell out for an entry-level iPad, it could make sense - just don't expect to get any real work done with it.Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021)The last-generation version of the Fire HD 10 is on sale for $75, which ties its all-time low. We can't recommend this one too forcefully, as Amazon released an updated model of its 10.1-inch tablet just last month with faster performance, a lighter design, slightly improved cameras and stylus support. The new model isn't discounted as of this writing, though we wouldn't be surprised to see a deal by Black Friday. If you just can't wait until then, however, the old Fire HD 10 is still an upgrade over the Fire HD 8, with a more spacious 1080p screen and snappier performance. It's typically retailed around $120 in recent months.Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids and Kids ProThe last-gen Fire HD 10 Kids and Kids Pro are also on sale for $120 each, which matches their all-time lows. As with the base Fire HD 10, Amazon recently launched new versions of these devices, so Amazon is offloading old stock here. Nevertheless, if you need a large tablet for a child today, these two come with all the same features (and shortcomings) as the Fire HD 8 Kids series, plus larger displays and improved performance.Amazon Fire 7The Amazon Fire 7 is down to $40 for Prime Big Deal Days, which is another all-time low and $20 below its typical street price. We strongly recommend paying extra for the Fire HD 8 if you can; by comparison, this 7-inch tablet has a lower-resolution (1,024 x 600) display, a slower processor and less RAM. But if you just want a second screen for dirt cheap, this is a $40 tablet that's actually functional, so it might work for (very) light use cases.Your October Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn aboutPrime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Fall Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-amazon-fire-tablet-deals-for-october-prime-day-180836598.html?src=rss

Game Pass subscribers will have to wait a bit more before they're able to play Diablo IV and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III on the service. Activision Blizzard has announced on X, formerly Twitter, that it doesn't have plans to add those games - among other upcoming and recent releases - to the service anytime this year. Based on its explanation, it's waiting for Microsoft's acquisition of the company to be finalized, which is expected to happen within this month."As we continue to work toward regulatory approval of the Microsoft deal, we've been getting some questions whether our upcoming and recently launched games will be available via Game Pass," the gaming giant wrote. It added that it expects to start working with Xbox and add its titles to the Game Pass service once the deal closes, and that the process would begin "sometime in the course of next year."Microsoft first announced that it was buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion in early 2022 and that it was hoping to close the deal by June 2023. However, several regulators moved to block the purchase over concerns that it would harm competition and stifle innovation. The European Commission rubberstamped the acquisition in May with the condition that Microsoft offers its games on other cloud gaming services. Meanwhile, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority blocked the deal until the companies promised to sell "cloud streaming rights for all current and new Activision Blizzard PC and console games released over the next 15 years to Ubisoft Entertainment... in perpetuity." In the US, courts denied the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) request to issue an injunction on the purchase. However, the FTC announced in September that it plans to restart its in-house trial against the acquisition.

Google has successfully convinced a California federal judge that it did not infringe on Sonos' multi-room audio patents. As Reuters reports, US District Judge William Alsup has thrown out a previous verdict that slapped the tech giant with a $32.5 million fine for infringing on patents held by Sonos related to managing groups of speakers.The judge explained that Sonos' patents for the lawsuit "ostensibly descended from [a] 2006 provisional application." However, the company apparently didn't file the applications for the patents in question until 2019, and it didn't roll out the technology to its own products until 2020. That's years after Google, in 2014, presented Sonos with a plan to use multi-room audio technology while exploring a collaboration.Since Sonos connected its patents to a 2006 provisional application, they appeared to have predated Google's products. But Judge Alsup said that the early application failed to disclose the actual invention, and that in 2019, Sonos amended the specification of its patent application to insert new matter. "This was not a case of an inventor leading the industry to something new," Alsup wrote in his decision. "This was a case of the industry leading with something new and, only then, an inventor coming out of the woodwork to say that he had come up with the idea first - wringing fresh claims to read on a competitor's products from an ancient application."Sonos sued Google in federal court in early 2020, accusing it of violating five of its speaker patents. Patrick Spence, the company's CEO, said back then that Google had been "blatantly and knowingly" duping Sonos tech and refusing to cooperate on a "mutually beneficial solution." Earlier this year, a California federal jury had ruled that Google did infringe on a patent Sonos holds and ordered the tech giant to pay $32.5 million in penalty. Alsup also served as the judge for those proceedings, but in his newer decision, he said "trial brought to light what happened here."In a statement, a Sonos spokesperson told Reuters that the new ruling was "wrong on both the facts and the law." Based on that, Sonos is clearly not going to accept the newer verdict: The spokesperson said that the company is planning to appeal the decision.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/judge-tosses-out-325-million-fine-against-google-in-sonos-lawsuit-062238869.html?src=rss

Unity game developer said that John Riccitiello will step down as president and CEO of the company after nine years in leadership, effective immediately. James Whitehurst, who previously served as senior advisor and president at IBM, will fill in as interim CEO. The leadership transition comes during a turbulent time for the company.

The Porsche Taycan is one of the most desirable EVs on the market, quick and lovely and yet somehow practical, too. But, with less than 250 miles of range on a charge and a starting price of at least $90,000, it's not exactly a mainstream car.Porsche's next EV might get a little closer. Meet the electric Macan, which for a time at least will live along-side the gasoline-powered Macan. Porsche doesn't have all the details to share yet, but this battery-powered SUV will offer upwards of 600 horsepower in a similar, crossover SUV shell. Range? That hasn't been determined, but I was told it will go "a lot" farther on a charge than the Taycan.What it will cost, though, remains to be seen. The Macan is one of Porsche's most attainable cars, starting at just over $60,000, but the all-electric version is liable to be rather more dear than that. What's it like to drive? Even though it isn't finished, it's already a hoot. Come onboard for a spin.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/porsches-electric-macan-will-be-the-one-to-get-220021814.html?src=rss

Popular audio gadget maker Bastl just released an iOS app called Outsidify that lets you capture and transform audio directly from your iPhone's speakers and microphone. Despite the slightly cringey app name, it looks pretty darned fun, allowing users to explore the ambient noise around them to create some truly unique soundscapes.Once you capture some audio via the app, use Bastl's latest creation to make harmonious or discordant feedback, manipulate responses, apply resonant filters and more. You can even use your mouth, speaking directly into the phone's microphone, to create your own resonant filter.Additionally, you can capture impulse responses from just about anything, with Bastl using a coffee cup or a construction site pipe as examples. These IRs can then be used to run other audio sources through to create custom reverbs and the like, via a DAW or a standalone piece of hardware. The only caveat here is the phone has to fit inside of the object or the space it's capturing, so your dreams of having an impulse response from the inside of a toilet paper roll are, sadly, quashed.The integrated media player allows for full looping and lets you adjust the start and end points. There's also a speed slider, from 1/4 speed to 4x, and a cropping function. As for the recorder, it saves wav files to pass on to other devices, again with adjustable start and end points. You can also speed match recordings, so the recorded speed automatically matches the tempo set in the player while preserving the pitch. Of course, there's also a countdown timer so you can get in position before the app starts recording.The audio gets transformed via a feedback pad with adjustment options for amount and tone. There's even an adjustable delay that changes how long it takes the microphone to reach the feedback pad.Outsidify is an iOS exclusive that costs $6 when purchased from the official App Store. This app is unique for Bastl, as the company typically manufactures physical gadgets like the battery-powered Kastle portable synthesizer. We've also praised Bastl's Microgranny Monolith granular sampler and the Bestie portable mixer.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/bastles-outsidify-app-lets-you-capture-and-transform-sounds-via-a-smartphone-185421887.html?src=rss

Meta's Threads app, the social media platform that rivals X (formerly Twitter), may get a trending topics section. The potential new feature has come to light after an app developer reposted screenshots of the feature in use that were originally shared by a Meta employee.

We're just a day away from Amazon's October Prime Day sale, which kicks off on Tuesday and goes through Wednesday, but there are plenty of early deals to be found ahead of time. You'll need a Prime membership to access some of the discounts, but others are open to everyone. We'll be rounding up the best of what's out there on October 10 and 11, but in the meantime, you can get a jump on a few sales that are already live. The best tech deals of the bunch cover a ton of Amazon devices, including Echo speakers, Echo Show smart displays, Blink cameras, Ring doorbells and the Kindle Kids ereader. As for non-Amazon gadgets, we're seeing strong prices on Hisense 4K TVs, JBL Bluetooth speakers, Google Nest Cams and Roomba robot vacuums.Apple AirPods Pro (USB-C)Apple recently released a new model of the AirPods Pro with a USB-C charging case, improved dust resistance and lossless audio support with the upcoming Vision Pro headset. It's now on sale for $199, which is $50 off its usual price and the same low we've seen for the Lightning version. We consider the AirPods Pros the best wireless earphones for those who use an iPhone or lots of Apple devices. They deliver excellent noise cancellation, a pleasingly warm sound profile, a variety of Apple-specific features such as hands-free Siri, quick pairing and switching between Apple devices, and Find My device tracking. With a recent update, they've also gained a useful "Adaptive Audio" mode that blends the pair's ANC and transparency modes dynamically based on your surroundings. The AirPods Pro with the original Lightning charging case are also on sale for the same price.Amazon Echo Dot + Kasa Smart Plug MiniAs part of a big Echo speaker sale, the latest Echo Dot is down to $23, and you can get a bundle with the small smart speaker and a Kasa Smart Plug Mini for just $1 more. Considering the Echo Dot is one of our favorite smart speakers and the Kasa smart plug earned a spot on our list of best smart plugs, this is a great bundle for anyone who wants to smarten up their home while sticking to their budget. Also included in this sale are the Echo Pop for $18 and the full-sized Echo for $55.If you'd like to add a little Star Wars whimsy to your Echo, you can get your speaker in a bundle that throws in Darth Vader, Stormtrooper or Grogu stands. Those sets are between 30 and 49 percent off their list prices.Amazon Echo Show 5A number of Amazon's smart displays are on sale ahead of October Prime Day, including the Echo Show 5 for $40. It's the smallest smart display in the company's lineup at 5.5 inches, which helps it work well as a sort of smart alarm clock. It has strong audio quality for its size and a sunrise alarm feature, and this updated model included a faster processor and an additional mic for improved Alexa responsiveness. The Echo Show 8 (previous-gen) and the Echo Show 10 are also included in this sale, and there's a bundle that pairs the Echo Show 5 with a Philips Hue Smart Color Bulb for $42.Amazon Echo Show 15The Echo Show 15 is 33 percent off right now and down to a near record-low of $185. It's the biggest smart display in Amazon's lineup, with a 15.6-inch touchscreen that you can sit on a countertop or mount on a wall, and it supports both portrait and landscape orientation. In addition to showing widgets like sticky notes, calendar views and more, the Show 15 has Fire TV technology built in, so you can treat it like a mini TV and stream shows and movies. And when you're not actively using the display, you can use it to display pictures using the Photo Frame feature.EarFun Air Pro 3EarFun's Air Pro 3 noise-canceling earphones are down to $60 with a $20 on-page coupon. That's not an all-time low but still $20 off the device's typical selling price. This is the runner-up pick in our guide to the best budget earbuds. The EarFun Free 2S, our "best under $50" pick in that guide, are also on sale for $36 with a 10 percent coupon.Amazon Echo Buds (2023)Prime members can get the latest Amazon Echo Buds for $35, which is $15 off and an all-time low. This is another pick in our guide to the best budget wireless earbuds. Specifically, the Echo Buds should appeal to those who prefer a more open design, one that lets in outside noise but doesn't insert directly into your ear canal. They can sound solid for the price with a bit of EQ tweaking, and they support features we don't often see for less than $50, such as wear detection and multipoint connectivity. They also have Alexa baked in, natch. Their IPX2 sweat-resistance rating isn't enough for workouts, and their five-ish hours of battery life is just average, but they're worth a look if you're on a tight budget and hate the feel of traditional in-ear headphones. We gave them a score of 77 earlier this year.Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 ClassicSamsung unveiled the new Galaxy Watch 6 Classic alongside the standard Galaxy Watch 6 during its Unpacked event in July. We were particularly delighted by its rotating bezel mechanism, which makes navigating Samsung's One UI a bit more convenient. We call the Watch 6 series the best Android options for most people in our smartwatch buying guide; compared to the standard model, the Classic is pricier and heavier, but it has a larger display and a more premium stainless steel frame along with that rotating bezel. Right now the watch is seeing a modest eight percent discount, bringing it down to $369 instead of its usual $400. It's not a huge dip, but it's still the biggest price drop we've seen for the wearable to date.Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is $300 off ahead of Amazon's October Prime Day sale at $1,500. This matches the price it hit a few weeks back for Labor Day. This deal applies to the base model with 256GB of storage; the 512GB model, meanwhile, is down to $1,620 from its usual $1,920. We gave the 7.6-inch Z Fold 5 a score of 86 in our review and named it the best foldable for multitasking in our smartphone buying guide. Overall we were impressed by its speedy performance, handy multitasking gestures and improved hinge, which helps eliminates any air gap when the phone is folded. Our biggest concern is its sky-high price, which this discount makes a little less of an issue.The Galaxy Z Flip 5 is on sale as well, with the base 256GB model $100 off at $900. That phone got an Engadget review score of 88 and is currently the top flip-style foldable pick in our guide to the best smartphones.Amazon Kindle ScribeAmazon's Kindle Scribe is 22 percent off right now and down to $265. Unlike the deal we saw last month, you don't have to be a Prime member to get this sale price. The Scribe is one of the best e-ink tablets on the market right now, and it'll be best for those that want an easy-to-use ereader that also lets you jot down notes as you read. Users can create notebooks on the Scribe to organize their handwritten musings, though only a handful of titles in the Kindle store are considered write-on" books that allow you to take notes directly in the margins. We gave the Kindle Scribe a review score of 85 last year.Amazon Fire TV Stick LiteA handful of Fire TV devices have been discounted before Amazon's upcoming sale, including the Fire TV Stick Lite down to $18. It may be the most limited streaming dongle in Amazon's lineup, but for smaller or secondary TVs, it offers 1080p streaming and a useful voice remote. If you're willing to spend more for a Fire TV streamer that doubles as an Alexa speaker, you can also snag the Fire TV Cube for a low of $110.JBL Charge 5 speakerA couple of JBL Bluetooth speakers are on sale ahead of Prime Big Deal Days, including the Charge 5 down to $130 instead of its usual $180. That's about $10 more than the lowest price we've tracked but still a $50 discount on one of the mid-range speakers we recommend in our portable Bluetooth speaker buying guide. The Charge 5 has a pleasing and solidly powerful sound, IP67-rated water resistance and battery life rated around 20 hours. You can also use it to recharge your phone via USB-C in a pinch.Amazon Smart ThermostatAmazon's Smart Thermostat has dropped to its best price of the year at $56. Note that this sale price is for the model without a C-wire adapter, so you'll have to make sure your system has a C-wire in order for the thermostat to work. Smart thermostats like this can help you save on energy costs by giving you more granular control over your heating and cooling system. You can use Amazon's companion app to control your home's temperature from anywhere, or ask Alexa to turn the temperature up or down as you please.Amazon Fire HD 8Amazon's Fire HD 8 tablet has dropped to $60 as part of a larger tablet sale ahead of Prime Big Deal Days. That's only $5 more than it was during Prime Day in July. We recommend this slab for those who want a cheap tablet they can give to their kids or use for basic media consumption. This model comes with 32GB of storage, but you can expand that space up to 1TB using a microSD card. Performance isn't especially fast, and Amazon's Fire OS is relatively limited - it lacks Google apps, for one - but the whole thing is comfortable and can last more than 10 hours on a charge. If you want a higher-end Fire tablet, the Fire Max 11 is on sale for a low of $150, though that's a good chunk of change to spend on a Fire OS device.Blink security camerasA range of Blink 3rd- and 4th-gen security cameras are also on sale. These deals are particularly noteworthy for including the 4th-gen Outdoor cameras, as those were just announced at the end of August. A three-pack of those new cameras is half off at $135, and there are a bunch of bundles available as well: a two-pack with a Blink Mini for $100, a three-pack with a Blink Video Doorbell for $165, a whole home bundle for $102 and more. These wireless security cameras aren't the most advanced things around, but they still offer two years of rated battery life, motion and audio alerts, two-way talk and night vision.Google Nest Cam (Battery)A slew of Google Nest home security devices are on sale at Amazon right now, including the battery-powered Nest Cam that can go inside or outside your home. Typically priced at $180, the security cam is down to $120 ahead of Amazon's October Prime Day event. The Nest Cam works with smart speakers and displays enabled with Alexa or the Google Assistant and can last up to seven months depending on how much activity it picks up. Its weather-resistant build and magnetic mount should make it easy to install on most surfaces. It sends live alerts to your phone and will even allow for on-demand check-ins without a subscription, though it only stores the last three hours for free. For six months of stored footage, you'll need a Nest Aware membership.The Prime Big Deal Days sale is looking like a good time to save on smart home security devices more broadly, as various cameras and doorbells from Arlo are also on sale right now. We've had good experiences with Arlo's equipment in the past.Ring Video DoorbellsThere's a massive Ring sale going on now, which includes the wired Ring Video Doorbell on sale for $35. As the name suggests, you'll have to hardwire it to your home during installation. If you'd prefer a model that runs on a rechargeable battery, consider the standard Ring Video Doorbell, which is down to $55. The sale also includes Ring Stick Up cameras for inside the home, as well as various Ring Alarm bundles.Amazon Kindle Paperwhite KidsA few Kindle Essentials Bundles have been discounted for Prime members ahead of the October Prime Day sale, including this Kids model on sale for $143. It contains the 6.8-inch Kindle Paperwhite Kids ereader with a cover, screen protector, power adapter, two-year warranty and one-year subscription to Amazon's Kids+ content service. The Kids+ subscription gives access to a selection of child-appropriate ebooks and audiobooks; just remember that the membership will automatically renew after the first year.Amazon Kindle KidsThe Kindle Kids, meanwhile, is on sale for $80, which is five dollars more than it went for during July's Prime Day sale. This device is the same as the standard Kindle in terms of hardware, but, as above, it comes with a cover, a two-year warranty and a year-long subscription to Amazon Kids+. With that subscription, you can also use the parent dashboard to check up on your kid's reading progress, add books or set bedtimes. Compared to the Kindle Paperwhite Kids, it has a smaller 6-inch display, fewer front lights and no waterproofing, but if you want to save a few bucks, it might be worthwhile.Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids ProAmazon's Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is the top recommendation for kids in our tablet buying guide. It has a list price of $200 and often sells for $140, but this early Prime Big Deal Days offer drops it down to an all-time low of $120. The tablet comes with a protective case that also serves as a stand and handle, plus a two-year warranty and a year's subscription to Amazon Kids+ service. It comes with a fairly robust selection of parental controls as well.iRobot Roomba j7+ ComboAs part of an iRobot early Prime Day sale, the Roomba j7+ Combo is on sale for $799, which is a $300 savings. We name this the best robovac and mop combo in our robot vacuum buying guide. It's certainly expensive, but it does well to automatically know where to mop versus where to vacuum. It'll also automatically empty its dry debris, though you'll still need to fill and empty its water tank when the time comes. As with many Roombas we've tested, we also appreciated its effective obstacle avoidance and suction power.Amazon Music UnlimitedIf you've never subscribed to Amazon Music Unlimited, you can now get three months of the music streaming service for free. If you're an Amazon Prime member who has never subscribed, that jumps to four months. Music Unlimited usually comes with a one-month free trial and goes for $11 a month - or $10 if you use Prime - so this deal saves you either $22 or $30. We highlight Music Unlimited in our guide to the best music streaming services: Its UI and music discovery features aren't as robust as Apple Music or Spotify, but it offers a large library in CD streaming quality and a wide podcast selection. Naturally, it also works well with Echo speakers and other Amazon devices. Note that your subscription will be set to auto-renew by default, so you'll have to manually cancel if you're just looking to snag a few months of music streaming at no cost.Eero Pro 6E mesh Wi-Fi systemAmazon has discounted most of its Eero 6 Wi-Fi systems as an early Prime Big Deal Days deal, including the most powerful of the bunch, the Eero Pro 6E. You can pick up one router for $180, or spring for a three-pack for $400, both of which are down to record-low prices. Devices with support for Wi-Fi 6E can connect directly to the Eero's 6 GHz radio band, and if you get the three-pack, you'll get up to 6,000 square feet of coverage - more than enough for most homes. These Eeros have a built-in smart home hub as well, so you don't need to have an extra device if you want to build out an IoT ecosystem in your house.Hisense U6K TVHisense's U6K 4K TV is on sale, with the 55- and 65-inch models down to $400 and $548, respectively. We've seen these deals before, but each matches an all-time low. The U6K is a new Hisense TV for 2023 that's received generally positive reviews. It's one of the few budget-level sets with quantum dots, full-array local dimming and a mini-LED backlight, so it should deliver better contrast and color volume than most TVs in its price range. It's not ideal for gaming though, as it's limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and lacks HDMI 2.1 ports. In general, it can't match the brightness or viewing angles of a more expensive set, but it looks to be a good buy if you're on a tighter budget. If you've got more cash to spend, Hisense's U7K and U8K TVs are discounted as well and similarly well-reviewed.Amazon Fire Omni QLED Series TVsAll sizes of Amazon's Fire TV Omni QLED Series are on sale ahead of October's sale. The 43-, 50-, 55- and 65-inch models are down to $380, $400, $440 and $590, respectively. Those match or beat the prices we saw during July's Prime Day sale. The Hisense TVs above provide better value in terms of picture quality, but the Fire TV Omni QLED sets are best for people who like Amazon's Fire interface, which is easy enough to figure out, though it tends to push you towards Amazon's own content. Beyond that, Fire TVs do well to integrate Alexa with a useful voice remote and hands-free smart home support. If you don't feel like having Alexa listening in, you can turn off the mics with a built-in switch.Your Fall Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog's car experts on must-shop auto-related Prime Day deals and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/shop-the-best-early-deals-for-october-prime-day-2023-162140872.html?src=rss

Cops use all sorts of tech to track individuals - facial recognition comes to mind, as does mimicking cell phone towers to get pings or mobile data tracking. But some people are finding ways to use technology to listen back. Bluetooth signals might reveal where police are and when they are and when devices like body cams or Tasers are activated.It's be really weird if you had your volume turned all the way up and all of your devices are just screaming, right?," Alan Nullagent" Meekins, cofounder of Bluetooth tracking platform RFParty, said. But that's really what you're doing in these wireless spectrums, they're just constantly shouting."All Bluetooth devices have a unique 64 bit identifier called a MAC address. Often a chunk of that address is composed of an Organizational Unique Identifier (OUI), essentially a way for a device to say who it's made by. A look at the IoT devices that are used by many police forces led Meekins and his cofounder Roger RekcahDam" Hicks to Axon, a company best known for Tasers. Modern police kits are overflowing with Bluetooth-enabled tech (often also made by Axon), from the aforementioned Tasers and body cams, to in-vehicle laptops. Even the gun holsters supplied to some cops send a Bluetooth ping when a sidearm is unholstered. By just reading company documentation, they were able to find the OUI.A Bluetooth identifier seems trivial, but it could reveal a lot of information about where cops are and what they're up to, like when their body cams are recording or they turn on the sirens to respond to a call. There's the signal that is sent when a police officer basically thinks something's recording worthy, if that's the case, people can document that, detect that and there won't be any question whether or not hey, there's a body cam or there wasn't body cam," Meekins told Engadget. It's a way to potentially determine whether certain evidence exists so that it can be produced more quickly in a records request - something police often "slow walk" Meekins said. As people run RFParty, the app will collect historical data. In the case of body cams, if the device begins recording, it typically sends a Bluetooth signal out to other devices. If a cop turns on a camera (or Taser or other IoT device), someone running the app could collect this data to record details about the incident.It's similar to radio waves: if you have the equipment to get past the music and news stations into the bands used by emergency response personnel (and once you know the language and codes to make sense of whats being broadcast there) you can listen in on cop radios to hear about arrests and where police might be patrolling.An Axon spokesperson confirmed that the company uses Bluetooth capabilities for pairing in-car systems with mobile apps, and for its camera recording devices. Using Bluetooth connectivity helps with "ensuring that incidents are captured and that devices are connected to maximize visibility," the spokesperson said. "Axon is working on additional measures and improvements to address concerns of tracking our devices over time. Specifically, rotation of unique BLE device addresses (known as MAC addresses) that can specifically identify our devices, and removing the need for including serial numbers in Bluetooth broadcasts to reduce the ability to track a specific device over time."No features in RFParty are designed specifically to track police, it's a general Bluetooth scanning service, similar to existing services like Wigle.net or nRF Connect. But some of what's displayed on its maps includes common Internet of Things devices used by police, including body cams. Anecdotally, users are already using RFParty for police tracking purposes.We have all this technology that there's certain people who understand it, and can exploit it. But you know, most people can't and I think there needs to be more knowledge given out," Hicks told Engadget. In a talk at DefCon 31 this past August, Meekins showed what the Axon OUI is and privately provided a live demo to me of how a knowledgeable RFParty user could leverage that information.Of course, having that historical data handy for accountability purposes requires people to be running RFParty in the vicinity of potential abuses of police power, and it's unlikely the app will become popular on a scale where that data will be available for almost any such incident. Still, when cops have the power to use technology against nearly anyone, it's interesting to see the tables turned.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-hackers-are-using-bluetooth-to-track-police-activity-140012717.html?src=rss

Despite what Jules Verne may have you believe, it's not exactly possible to journey to the center of the Earth. As such, it's pretty difficult to gain a full understanding of what the core of our planet looks like. NASA is trying the next best thing.It's set to launch a mission to an asteroid that's understood to be largely made up of iron and nickel. In fact, this metal-rich asteroid, which is called 16 Psyche, is believed to once have been part of a planetary core. This is the first NASA mission to study an asteroid that has more metal than rock or ice.Launch for the Psyche mission is targeted for 10:16AM ET on Thursday. The spacecraft will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida (this will be the first of several NASA science missions in which the primary payload will launch on one of those rockets). You can watch a live stream of the launch below.The Psyche spacecraft is around the size of a small van. As soon as it reaches the asteroid, it will start sending images of 16 Psyche back to Earth. It's equipped with a magnetometer, a gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer and a multispectral imager to study the asteroid. It will spend around two years snapping photos, mapping the asteroid's surface and collecting data to gain a better understanding of 16 Psyche's composition.The spacecraft, which is powered by solar electric propulsion, is expected to reach 16 Psyche (which is in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter) in July 2029. If NASA had been ready to launch the mission last year, as was previously the plan, it might have been able to reach 16 Psyche as early as 2026.NASA understands that the 173-mile wide 16 Psyche asteroid may, in fact, not be an exposed core of a planetesimal, an early planetary building block. The agency says that it might instead be the "leftover piece of a completely different kind of iron-rich body that formed from metal-rich material somewhere in the solar system."The spacecraft will have a second job to do. It will also test new laser communications tech from NASA JPL called Deep Space Optical Communications. This is said to be able to transfer data and images at least 10 times faster than conventional systems. The experiment will test how capable the system is of transmitting data at faster rates beyond the Moon. However, it won't be used to send back any Psyche mission data.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/watch-nasa-launch-a-mission-to-study-a-metal-rich-asteroid-this-thursday-133048930.html?src=rss

According to Reuters, OpenAI is exploring making its own artificial intelligence chips, even looking into an acquisition. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman previously blamed GPU shortages for users' concerns regarding the company API's speed and reliability, leading to these moves. OpenAI using its own chips could reduce its costs too. Based on analysis by Bernstein Research, each ChatGPT query costs the company around four cents.At the moment, NVIDIA controls the market for chips that power AI applications. The Microsoft supercomputer OpenAI used to develop its technology, for instance, uses 10,000 NVIDIA GPUs. Microsoft, OpenAI's biggest backer, has been working on its own AI chip since 2019.- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedThe Talos Principle 2 is the ideal blend of puzzle and storyAmazon's first internet satellite launch was a successiOS 17 review: Notable new features and streamlined touchesHitting the Books: NASA's Kathy Sullivan and advances in orbital personal hygieneUK regulator says Snap's AI chatbot may put kids' privacy at riskYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!NASA will reveal on Wednesday what OSIRIS-REx brought back from asteroid BennuA first look at its asteroid sample.NASA/Keegan BarberNASA will give the public a look at the asteroid sample brought back to Earth by its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. A livestream of the reveal is set for 11 AM ET on Wednesday, October 11. OSIRIS-REx grabbed its sample from Bennu back in 2020, then spent a year-and-a-half observing the asteroid before returning to Earth in May 2021. The very best problem' to have is that there is so much material, it's taking longer than we expected to collect it," said Christopher Snead, NASA's deputy OSIRIS-REx curation lead.Continue reading.Atari is releasing a new cartridge for its 46-year-old 2600 consoleSave Mary never hit store shelves.Atari just announced pre-orders for a physical cartridge of the company's once-ubiquitous 2600 console. The game, Save Mary, was developed during the console's golden years, before being shelved when the 2600 went the way of the dodo. If you want to play it, you don't need to dust down your old 2600. Conveniently, Atari sells an upgraded version of the console, called the 2600+. What a relief.Continue reading.X tests three paid subscription tiersIt looks like this will determine how many ads you see.Bloomberg reports that X is testing a trio of subscription tiers to help solve its financial woes. Details are scant, but these paid subscription options are likely to impact the number of ads you might see when using the platform. It looks like it'll break down into Basic, Standard and Plus. Basic users will continue to see the regular number of ads, while standard users will see half, equivalent to what folks who pay $8 each month get at the moment. Plus users will see no ads whatsoever, for however much that might cost.Continue reading.Engadget Podcast: Google's Pixel 8 phones and Pixel Watch 2And Samsung launched even more devices.EngadgetThis week, Cherlynn and Devindra chat with Engadget's Sam Rutherford about everything from the Made by Google event. That includes the Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel Watch 2. We give Google credit for leaning on AI long before it was trendy, but we wonder if the Pixel 8 Pro's temperature sensor will actually be useful.Listen here.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-chatgpt-creator-openai-might-start-making-its-own-ai-chips-111521672.html?src=rss

Just ahead of Google's October "Big Deal Days" Prime Day sale, multiple Nest products are on sale, some back to all-time low prices. The easy-to-install Nest Doorbell (Battery) and Nest Cam Outdoor have particularly steep discounts of $60, letting you grab them for just $120 each (33 percent off). Meanwhile, the Nest Security Cam indoor is also on sale for $70 (30 percent off), one of the steepest discounts we've seen.The Nest Doorbell (Battery) is a popular item because it's much easier to install than any wired doorbells. As with the cameras, it will send you alerts when you have a visitor and you can chat with them through your phone and the built-in speaker and microphone. Google's "intelligent alerts" can tell the difference between a visitor, a package being delivered, an animal sighting and more, so you can see if a situation requires your immediate attention. If the regular $180 price has made you pause, it's now on sale for $120.You can also pick up the Nest Cam Outdoor for just $120, or $60 off the regular $180 price. That model obviously has a weatherproof design so that you can install it outside your home, along with expanded Night Vision to better spot outdoor intruders. It also packs an internal battery that lets you set it up without the need for an AC plug, providing up to seven months of battery life before a recharge depending on usage.Other deals are available as well. The Nest Cam indoor is designed to blend in to your home, with a range of colors, built-in stand, wall mount and hinge, and is currently on sale for $70 or 30 percent off the regular price. The sale also includes the Google Nest Doorbell (Wired) and other products - to see everything check here.Your October Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn aboutPrime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Fall Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-nest-cameras-are-up-to-33-percent-off-in-early-october-prime-day-sale-075727282.html?src=rss

For the first couple decades of its existence, NASA was the epitome of an Old Boys Club; its astronaut ranks pulled exclusively from the Armed Services' test pilot programs which, at that time, were exclusively staffed by men. Glass ceilings weren't the only things broken when Sally Ride, Judy Resnik, Kathy Sullivan, Anna Fisher, Margaret "Rhea" Seddon and Shannon Lucid were admitted to the program in 1978 - numerous spaceflight systems had to be reassessed to accommodate a more diverse workforce. In The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts, journalist Loren Grush chronicles the numerous trials and challenges these women faced - from institutional sexism to enduring survival training to navigating the personal pressures that the public life of an astronaut entails - in their efforts to reach orbit.ScribnerAdapted from The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronautsby Loren Grush. Copyright (C) 2023 by Loren Grush. Excerpted with permission by Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.Above the Chisos Mountains sprawling across Big Bend National Park in West Texas, Kathy [Sullivan, PhD, third woman to fly in space and future head of the NOAA] sat in the back seat of NASA's WB-57F reconnaissance aircraft as it climbed higher into the sky. The pilot, Jim Korkowski, kept his eye on the jet's altimeter as they ascended. They'd just passed sixty thousand feet, and they weren't done rising. It was a dizzyingly high altitude, but the plane was made to handle such extremes.Inside the cockpit, both Kathy and Jim were prepared. They were fully outfitted in the air force's high-altitude pressure suits. To the untrained observer, the gear looked almost like actual space suits. Each ensemble consisted of a bulky dark onesie, with thick gloves and a thick helmet. The combination was designed to apply pressure to the body as the high-altitude air thinned away and made it almost impossible for the human body to function.The duo eventually reached their target height: 63,300 feet. At that altitude, their pressure suits were a matter of life and death. The surrounding air pressure was so low that their blood could start to boil if their bodies were left unprotected. But with the suits on, it was an uneventful research expedition. Kathy took images with a specialized infrared camera that could produce color photos, and she also scanned the distant terrain in various wavelengths of light.They spent just an hour and a half over Big Bend, and the flight lasted just four hours in total. While it may have seemed a quick and easy flight, Kathy made history when she reached that final altitude above West Texas on July 1, 1979. In that moment, she flew higher than any woman ever had, setting an unofficial world aviation record.The assignment to train with the WB-57 had scared her at first, but Kathy wound up loving those high-flying planes. That was very fun, other than this little bit of vague concern that, Hope this doesn't mean I'm falling off the face of the Earth,'" Kathy said. The assignment took her on flights up north to Alaska and down south to Peru. As she'd hoped, she received full qualification to wear the air force's pressure suits, becoming the first woman to do so. Soon, donning a full-body suit designed to keep her alive became second nature to her.NASA officials had also sought her out to test a new piece of equipment they were developing for future Shuttle astronauts, one that would let people relieve themselves while in space. During the Apollo and Gemini eras, NASA developed a relatively complex apparatus for astronauts to pee in their flight suits. It was, in essence, a flexible rubber cuff that fit around the penis, which then attached to a collection bag. The condom-like cuffs came in small," medium," and large" (though Michael Collins claimed the astronauts gave them their own terms: extra large," immense," and unbelievable"). It was certainly not a foolproof system. Urine often escaped from beneath the sheath.Cuffs certainly weren't going to work once women entered the astronaut corps. While the Space Shuttle had a fancy new toilet for both men and women to use, the astronauts still needed some outlet for when they were strapped to their seats for hours, awaiting launch or reentry. And if one of the women was to do a spacewalk, she'd need some kind of device during those hours afloat. So, NASA engineers created the Disposable Absorption Containment Trunk (DACT). In its most basic form it was . . . a diaper. It was an easy fix in case astronauts needed to urinate while out of reach of the toilet. It was designed to absorb fecal matter, too, though the women probably opted to wait until they reached orbit for that.Kathy was the best person to test it out. Often during her high-altitude flights, she'd be trapped in her pressure suit for hours on end, creating the perfect testing conditions to analyze the DACT's durability. It worked like a charm. And although the first male Shuttle fliers stuck to the cuffs, eventually the DACT became standard equipment for everyone.After accumulating hundreds of hours in these pressure suits, Kathy hoped to leverage her experience into a flight assignment, one that might let her take a walk outside the Space Shuttle one day. As luck would have it, she ran into Bruce McCandless II in the JSC gym one afternoon. He was the guy to know when it came to spacewalks. NASA officials had put him in charge of developing all the spacewalk procedures and protocols, and at times he seemed to live in the NASA pools. Plus, he was always conscripting one of Kathy's classmates to do simulated runs with him in the tanks. Kathy wanted to be next. Projecting as much confidence as she could, she asked him to consider her for his next training run.It worked. Bruce invited Kathy to accompany him to Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama to take a dive in the tank there. The two would be working on spacewalk techniques that might be used one day to assemble a space station. However, the Space Shuttle suits still weren't ready to use yet. Kathy had to wear Apollo moonwalker Pete Conrad's suit, just like Anna had done during her spacewalk simulations. But while the suit swallowed tiny Anna, it was just slightly too small for Kathy, by about an inch. When she put it on, the suit stabbed her shoulders, while parts of it seemed to dig into her chest and back. She tried to stand up and nearly passed out. It took all her strength to walk over to the pool before she flopped into the tank. In the simulated weightless environment, the pain immediately evaporated. But it was still a crucial lesson in space-suit sizes. The suits have to fit their wearers perfectly if the spacewalk is going to work.The session may have started off painfully, but once she began tinkering with tools and understanding how to maneuver her arms to shift the rest of her body, she was hooked. She loved spacewalking so much that she'd go on to do dozens more practice dives throughout training.But it wasn't enough to practice in the pool. She wanted to go orbital.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hitting-the-books-the-six-loren-grush-scribner-143032524.html?src=rss

Late last year, Amazon Luna and Ubisoft deepened their partnership by allowing subscribers to stream the developer's games that they already own on PC. So it doesn't really come as a surprise that Amazon has chosen to team up with Ubisoft to debut a new feature on its cloud gaming service: The capability to buy games from the platform and not just stream them. Subscribers can now purchase select Ubisoft games from the developer's portal on Luna, and the selection includes several Assassin's Creed titles, the Far Cry games, Child of Light and Watch Dogs.Customers will be able to purchase any game they want from within Luna, using their Amazon account and as long as their Ubisoft account is linked. The e-commerce giant says subscribers will own the license for any game they buy, and they'll be able to play either on Luna-enabled devices or on a computer if they download the title for offline play via the Ubisoft Connect PC launcher. The list of Luna-enabled devices include Fire TV devices, Chromebooks and phones.All the titles a customer buys will show up in their Luna library, and all their in-game purchases will sync to their Ubisoft account regardless of where they pay for them. Of course, they'll only be able to stream the games on Luna as long as they're a subscriber or a Prime member, but they're not going to lose access to those titles completely if they stop paying for the service.As 9to5Google notes, this move gives Luna shades of Google Stadia, which was the only cloud gaming platform that allowed users to purchase games when it was still around. Unfortunately, Amazon didn't say whether it has plans to expand game purchases and to sell titles from other developers.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-luna-subscribers-can-now-buy-individual-ubisoft-games-130047808.html?src=rss

ChatGPT might be powered by homegrown chips in the future, if OpenAI does indeed decide to make its own. According to Reuters, the company is currently exploring the possibility of making its own artificial intelligence chips and has even evaluated a potential acquisition. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman previously blamed GPU shortages for users' concerns regarding the company API's speed and reliability, so he reportedly made acquiring more AI chips a priority.In addition to being able to address GPU shortages, OpenAI using its own chips could make costs associated with running its products more manageable. Based on an analysis by Stacy Rasgon from Bernstein Research, each ChatGPT query costs the company around 4 cents. The service reached 100 million monthly users in its first two months, which translates to millions of queries a day, though it did lose users for the first time in July. Rasgon said that if ChatGPT queries reach a tenth of what Google gets, then it would initially need $48.1 billion worth of GPUs and would spend $16 billion a year on chips going forward.At the moment, NVIDIA controls the market for chips meant for AI applications - the Microsoft supercomputer OpenAI used to develop its technology, for instance, uses 10,000 NVIDIA GPUs. That's why other companies - bigger players in the tech industry - have chosen to start developing their own. Microsoft, OpenAI's biggest backer, has been working on an AI chip of its own since 2019, according to The Information. The product is codenamed Athena, and OpenAI has reportedly been testing the technology.OpenAI has yet to decide whether to push through with its plans, Reuters says. And even if it does choose to move forward, it could take years before it can start using it own chips to power its products.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/openai-is-reportedly-considering-making-its-own-chips-113010353.html?src=rss

Biotech company 23andMe, known for its DNA testing kits, confirmed to BleepingComputer that its user data is circulating on hacker forums. The company said the leak occurred through a credential-stuffing attack.A credential-stuffing attack involves user information that has already been compromised (usernames and passwords, for example) from one organization, which a hacker obtains and attempts to reuse with a second organization - in this case, 23andMe. Because of the nature of credential-stuffing, it does not appear this was a breach of the company's internal systems. Rather, accounts were broken into piecemeal. The perpetrators of this attack appear to have obtained quite sensitive information from the compromised accounts (photos, full names and geographical location, among other things). "Thus far, our investigation has found that no genetic testing results have been leaked," a 23andMe spokesperson said in an email. In an official public statement, the company said that after becoming aware of suspicious activity, it immediately began an investigation.The initial leak comprised 1 million lines of data for Ashkenazi people," according to BleepingComputer. By October 4, data was being offered for sale in bulk, in increments of 100, 1,000, 10,000 or 100,000 profiles. The scale of the attack is as yet unknown, but the scope of its impact has likely been exacerbated by 23andMe's 'DNA Relatives' feature. "Relatives are identified by comparing your DNA with the DNA of other 23andMe members who are participating in the DNA Relatives feature," the company states. After accessing an unknown number of profiles via credential-stuffing, the threat actor behind this breach apparently scraped the 'DNA Relatives' results for those profiles, netting much more sensitive data. According to the same FAQ page, "The number of relatives listed [..] grows over time as more people join 23andMe." For the fiscal year 2023, the company reported it genotyped" around 14 million customers.Ever since 23andMe went public in 2021, the company has faced extra scrutiny for its data protection practices - rightly so, since it deals with sensitive medical data derived from saliva sampling, including predispositions for diseases like Alzheimer's, Type 2 diabetes and even cancer. On its website, the company claims it "exceeds" data protection standards for its industry.

NASA will give the public a look at the asteroid sample brought back to Earth by its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft next week. A livestream of the reveal is set for 11 AM ET on Wednesday, October 11. The capsule containing rocks and dust taken from the surface of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu" touched down at a Department of Defense training site in the Utah desert on September 24, and scientists have since been at work making their initial analyses.

Car dealers can give buyers an instant rebate for purchasing certain electric vehicles starting in January of 2024, according to new guidance released by the IRS. The memo says eligible vehicles may qualify for a tax credit of up to $7,500. However, the credit amount will depend on whether an EV and its buyer meet certain requirements, and when a car is actually purchased.For an electric car to qualify, it needs to have a minimum battery capacity of seven kilowatt hours. Buyers can't claim the credit if their adjusted gross income exceeds certain thresholds - $300,000 if married and filing jointly, and $150,000 for the majority of single taxpayers. The manufacturer's suggested retail price for the EV also can not exceed specific price points. For sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks, the cap is $80,000, for example. But for average electric vehicles to qualify, they can't be more than $55,000, which really narrows the benefit for cheaper car makers. While it's a bummer that you can't get the rebate for an $81,000 Porche Taycan, you can probably get the benefit for something like the Nissan Leaf S that goes for $27,400.Some EVs bought before 2024 might qualify for the rebate too, if they were bought and weren't intended for resale. For vehicles placed in service on or after April 18, 2023, the IRS says the potential rebate will depend on a variety of factors including the vehicle's make and battery capacity. There are also requirements in place for length of ownership to prevent unscrupulous buyers from snapping up an EV, reselling it and pocketing the rebate.The IRS lists eligible vehicles, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell vehicles on FuelEconomy.gov. It says the list will be updated as more vehicle eligibility requirements take effect.All in all, the proposed guidance by the IRS is in line with the Biden administration's goal of having 50 percent of new car sales be driven by EVs before 2030. The hope is an instant rebate will incentivize more buyers to purchase an electric car rather than having to wait to see any tangible reward for their purchase when they file their taxes. Albert Gore, executive director of the Zero Emissions Transportation Association, commends the IRS' memo stating, This guidance makes it easy for everyone to access the IRA's new and used electric vehicle tax credits at the point of sale."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ev-buyers-will-get-an-instant-rebate-for-every-car-purchased-starting-in-2024-211224909.html?src=rss

Amazon's first satellite launch was a success, according to United Launch Alliance. The aerospace manufacturer's Atlas V rocket took the first two Project Kuiper satellites to low Earth orbit on Friday. The mission, which is named Protoflight, lifted off at 2:06PM ET from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.Amazon has been working on Project Kuiper, its Starlink-esque internet satellite initiative, for quite some time. It previously planned to launch the prototypes by the end of last year.The company sees Protoflight as a key learning opportunity, giving it the chance to record real-world (or, more accurately, offworld) data from space and add that to findings from lab and field testing. Amazon expects to gain more insight into how the network will perform across ground and space. This is also a test of satellite processing, launch and mission operations. Once the mission is over, Amazon will actively deorbit both satellites before they burn up in the atmosphere.We've done extensive testing here in our lab and have a high degree of confidence in our satellite design, but there's no substitute for on-orbit testing," Rajeev Badyal, Project Kuiper's vice president of technology, said. This is Amazon's first time putting satellites into space, and we're going to learn an incredible amount regardless of how the mission unfolds."Amazon says the aim of Project Kuiper is to offer fast and affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities across the world. It plans to deploy more than 3,200 satellites over the next six years after it obtained FCC approval, and the KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 prototypes are the first iterations. It expects to launch production satellites in the first half of 2024 and start beta tests with some customers by the end of next year.If you missed the launch, you can watch a replay of the livestream below. The rocket launches at around 26:05 into the video.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazons-first-internet-satellite-launch-was-a-success-202130763.html?src=rss

Tesla is cutting prices on some Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in the US, as spotted by CNBC. The automaker's move, its second price drop in just over a month, comes after it fell short of market estimates for deliveries.Tesla's website now lists the Model 3 starting at $38,990, down from its previous $40,240. Meanwhile, the Model 3 Long Range is now $45,990 (down from $47,240), and the Model 3 Performance has a new price of $50,990 (from $53,240). In addition, the Model Y Performance SUV has fallen from $54,490 to $52,490.These are minor cuts compared to the nearly 20 percent price drops it issued in September on Model S and Model X EVs. They also pale in comparison to the March price cuts that dropped Model X costs by up to $10,000. Tesla began toying with pricing in late 2022 when it lowered costs to face a consumer spending slowdown and increased EV competition. The automaker attributed its third-quarter slump to factory upgrades, leading to manufacturing downtime. Since January, Tesla has cut the cost of the Model 3 by about 17 percent and the Model Y by 26 percent.CEO Elon Musk has signaled he is willing to prioritize volume and market share over profit margins in the near term. I think it does make sense to sacrifice margins in favor of making more vehicles," he said in July. However, the automaker believes it will still reach its 2023 goals. A sequential decline in volumes was caused by planned downtimes for factory upgrades, as discussed on the most recent earnings call. Our 2023 volume target of around 1.8 million vehicles remains unchanged," Tesla wrote in a statement this week.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tesla-cuts-prices-on-model-3-and-y-after-dwindling-deliveries-200844132.html?src=rss

Atari just announced preorders for a physical cartridge for the company's once-ubiquitous 2600 console. You read that right. A gaming console that counts 1982 as its most successful year is releasing another new cartridge in the year 2023. The game-in-question is called Save Mary and was actually developed during the console's golden years, before being shelved when the 2600 went the way of the dodo.Save Mary was in development for two whole years, which is a lifetime in the generation of gaming that preceded the NES. The normal timeframe to produce a game back then was six to nine months, with some notorious titles taking just five or six weeks. Save Mary was originally developed by veteran Atari staffer Tod Frye, the guy behind the 2600 version of Pac-Man and the Swordquest series.Preordering one of these cartridges for $60 nets you a silver collector's edition box and a full-color manual, in addition to the game itself. There are only 500 of these carts available, making them an attractive collector's item for Atari diehards.AtariAs for the game, Save Mary tasks you with, well, saving a lady named Mary. She's stuck in a steep canyon that's rapidly filling with water. You use a crane to build platforms to help her escape the dire predicament. Power-ups appear on the cliffside to help you out, an idea that Atari says was likely inspired by Pac-Man. Atari's founder Nolan Bushnell lauded the title in a 1989 interview, saying that it was the first game in which you rely on construction rather than destruction to save the princess."Save Mary joins several other recently-manufactured Atari 2600 cartridges, many of which are brand-new titles like Mr. Run and Jump or unreleased lost" games like Aquaventure. Each cartridge in the Atari XP line is manufactured to exact standards" from yesteryear with some modern flourishes like beveled edges to prevent pin damage and gold-plated connectors. You don't have to track down a dusty old 2600 to play these games, as Atari currently sells an upgraded version of the console, called the 2600+.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/atari-is-releasing-a-new-cartridge-for-its-46-year-old-2600-console-183922523.html?src=rss

Yes, Techtober is in full swing! This week, Cherlynn and Devindra chat with Engadget's Sam Rutherford about everything from the Made by Google event. That includes the Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel Watch 2. We give Google credit for leaning on AI long before it was trendy, but we wonder if the Pixel 8 Pro's temperature sensor will actually be useful. Also, we dive into Samsung's latest FE devices, Apple's fix for overheating iPhone 15s, and Google's Chromebook Plus initiative.Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!Subscribe!

Kia drivers that own electric vehicles will be able to use 12,000 Tesla Superchargers across the United States, Canada and Mexico. This is taking place, just as the company rolls out its EV9 electric SUV, which we dubbed one of the most important electric SUVs" earlier this year. This move aligns with a broader industry trend of automakers collaborating with Tesla to enhance EV charging options. We have seen competitors including Hyundai, Ford and General Motors take similar steps all within the past year.

The rumor that X, formerly known as Twitter, is going to integrate more paid services continues to persist, with Bloomberg reporting that the company's testing a trio of subscription tiers to help solve its financial woes. Details are scant, but it looks like these paid subscription options will impact the number of ads you see when using the platform.A developer and leaker with the X handle @aaronp613 dived into the source code of the app's most recent iOS update and discovered some information on these proposed subscription tiers, though the information has been trickling out for the past week. It looks like it'll break down into Basic, Standard and Plus, as indicated by the Bloomberg report. Basic users will continue to see the regular amount of ads, labeled or not, while standard users will see half of the ads, which is equivalent to a current perk exclusive to the folks who plunk down $8 each month for a blue check. Plus users will see no ads whatsoever, providing them unfettered access to whatever conspiracy theory is snaking around the Internet on any given day.We don't have any idea how much these tiers would cost. Meta's reportedly making a similar move in Europe, as it could charge users up to $17 each month for an ad-free experience on Instagram and Facebook.Other than the ad stuff, which hasn't been confirmed by the company, nobody knows what additional perks these subscription tiers would provide paying users. It also remains to be seen if this indicates a push toward mandatory subscriptions to use the service. However, with the paid basic plan reportedly displaying the current level of ads, it's hard to see what a free account would experience. Twice the ads? Three times the ads? Elon Musk coming to your home to blame the company's financial decline on the Anti-Defamation League? It's anybody's guess, though the rumor that X was going full on pay-to-play comes from an off-hand comment made by Musk during a live-streamed conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.So it doesn't look like this is part of any move to force people to pay for the service but it does look like Twitter/X is continuing to throw monetization ideas at the wall to see what sticks as part of its overarching plan to become the everything app." It's hard to imagine that a reduction in the frequency in ads would be enough to entice many users to send a monthly stipend to one of the world's richest men, so let's wait and see what other perks the team cooks up for the three proposed subscription tiers.As for the company's financials, Bloomberg reports that CEO Linda Yaccarino recently told bank lenders that advertisers have been returning to the platform, albeit with reduced budgets. On the other hand, Reuters just reported that X's US ad revenue has plummeted each and every month since Musk's acquisition, with the latest figures showing a 60% year-over-year decline as of August.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/x-tests-three-paid-subscription-tiers-amid-ongoing-financial-woes-164120812.html?src=rss

Ancient, vine-draped monuments and towering obelisks protrude from the forest floor, connected by a maze of stone paths and one hyper-speed transit capsule. Statues loom among the monoliths: hooded human figures and mythological beasts surrounded by saintly geometry in gold and turquoise. I'm running down an overgrown platform by the water, sun radiating off the side of my face, trying to find the next puzzle. I take a sharp turn, the shadows shift and my silhouette is suddenly projected in front of me: waist on a slim pivot, hip joints jutting out, sticklike arms. I remember I'm made of metal and wires, and for a brief moment, I'm surprised. I forgot - I'm a robot.The Talos Principle 2 reintroduces a post-apocalyptic world filled with the puzzles and dreams society left behind, and populates it with a race of machines who simultaneously worship humans and consider themselves to be the natural evolution of humanity. The game's first quarter, which spans roughly seven hours, offers a beautiful and immersive playground of puzzle solving and philosophical inquiry, and it feels both grander and more cohesive than the original Talos Principle. That game came out in 2014 and featured a lone robot in an AI-powered testing ground. The sequel features an entire society of sentient machines. It also has lots of laser-powered, logic-based spatial puzzles, of course.CroteamThe Talos Principle 2 is set in a futuristic society of robots, and you're the 1,000th machine to come off the line. There's debate among the citizens about whether you should be the final addition to the group, as one of its founders once dictated, and your presence unlocks a new prophecy tied to a mysterious island. Elohim, the AI antagonist of the first game, has calmed down significantly and acts as a caretaker to the robots, gently guiding their sleep cycles with a booming voice.Each robot has its own personality, and it doesn't take long for these machines to feel fully human, despite their lack of meat and bones. Developers at Croteam took the time to build out backstories and individual points-of-view for each supporting character, and their conversations and arguments flow seamlessly. The Talos Principle 2 features full voice acting and branching dialogue trees with multiple meaningful responses for players to choose from. It's not uncommon to see six to eight options in conversations, presenting discrete approaches to heavy prompts about faith, doubt, consciousness, life, death and love. This is a game for curious minds, and the dialogue system supports this with rich character development and high-quality conversational writing.CroteamThis robot society provides the narrative framework for actual gameplay. On the mysterious, prophesied island players encounter a series of puzzles hidden among humanity's ruins, much like in the original game. The structures on the island are widespread and vast, but navigation is intuitive, thanks to subtle environmental cues, a compass with waypoints and directions from the other robots on the expedition team. This time around, you're not alone (no offense, Elohim).The puzzles themselves are devilish. They start simply, prompting players to divert laser beams into portals of the same color using connector rods, jammers, blocks, pressure pads and fans. As players progress through the riddle rooms, the game introduces new tools, like a drill that can create holes in some walls and an inverter that reverses the laser color, adding unexpected complexity to the puzzles. It's my firm belief that the best puzzles in video games are ones that appear simple, but have a single, incredibly tricky solution buried beneath layers of almost-there answers. Nothing beats that breakthrough feeling when the entire room suddenly makes sense, the lasers align, and all the right doors slide open. The beginning hours of The Talos Principle 2 effortlessly capture this sensation, again and again.Tetrominoes are back in the sequel, and they're big. Not only metaphorically (the robots often theorize about the shapes' supposed purpose), but also in physical size. I made literal bridges out of building-sized tetrominoes, swapping out pieces and rotating them on a grand scale. While this segment wasn't particularly challenging, it was satisfying in a new kind of way.CroteamIn its first quarter, The Talos Principle 2 reproduces the brilliance of the original game and adds to this foundation, expanding its world narratively and mechanically. Philosophical conversations are no longer siloed in read-only terminals, though there are still datasets scattered around the map. The story's main prompts are instead integrated into gameplay via deep, player-driven conversations with NPCs, and even a little bit of light gossip. The Talos Principle 2 has secrets to discover, personalities to explore and questions to answer - and that's all on top of being a uniquely fantastic (and optimistic) sci-fi puzzle game.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-talos-principle-2-is-the-ideal-blend-of-puzzle-and-story-150009663.html?src=rss

A UK regulator has raised concerns that Snap's AI chatbot may be putting the privacy of kids at risk. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the country's privacy watchdog, issued a preliminary enforcement notice against the company over a potential failure to properly assess the privacy risks posed by its generative AI chatbot My AI'."Information Commissioner John Edwards said the ICO's provisional findings from its investigation indicated a worrying failure by Snap to adequately identify and assess the privacy risks to children and other users" before rolling out My AI. The ICO noted that if Snap fails to sufficiently address its concerns, it may block the ChatGPT-powered chatbot in the UK.However, the preliminary notice doesn't necessarily mean that the ICO will take action against Snap or that the company has violated data protection laws. It will consider submissions from Snap before it makes a final decision."My AI went through a robust legal and privacy review process before being made publicly available," a Snap spokesperson told Reuters. "We will continue to work constructively with the ICO to ensure they're comfortable with our risk assessment procedures."The ICO says that, as of May, Snapchat had 21 million monthly active users in the UK, with many of those aged between 13 and 17. The regulator pointed out that My AI marked the first instance of a generative AI system being added to a major messaging platform in the country. The feature debuted for Snapchat+ subscribers in February, then Snap enabled it for all UK users in April.Soon after Snap rolled out the chatbot, parents raised concerns about My AI, and not only over privacy considerations. I don't think I'm prepared to know how to teach my kid how to emotionally separate humans and machines when they essentially look the same from her point of view," a mother of a 13-year-old told CNN in April. I just think there is a really clear line [Snapchat] is crossing."The ICO has issued hefty fines against social media platforms in the past for mishandling kids' data. It slapped TikTok with a 12.7 million ($15.8 million) penalty earlier this year after determining the platform breached data protection laws, including over its handling of kids' personal information.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/uk-regulator-says-snaps-ai-chatbot-may-put-kids-privacy-at-risk-145413931.html?src=rss

Sony has released its own movie streaming app for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. There's a decent perk for subscribers of PlayStation Plus Premium: Members get access to a library of up to 100 ad-free Sony Pictures films at no extra cost.SonySony says the lineup includes Looper, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, Elysium and Resident Evil Damnation. The company also plans to add some anime content from Crunchyroll to Sony Pictures Core, and it added that benefits for all PS Plus subscribers are on the way. It should go a little way to rationalizing the recent increased price of the PS Plus Premium plan.Given Sony's big push to turn its gaming franchises into movies and TV shows, it makes sense for those franchises to return to the PlayStation. And if Netflix can do games, PlayStation can do movies, okay?- Mat SmithYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!The biggest stories you might have missedThere's a live-action Cyberpunk 2077 show or movie on the wayApple Watch Series 8 price drops to a new low of $225Three kitchen gadgets to take the guesswork out of sourdoughUnreal Engine will get more expensive, but not for game devLucid's most affordable Air EV still has a projected 410-mile rangeSamsung's $30 Galaxy SmartTag 2 arrives on October 11 with an all-new designA single model that supports both Bluetooth and ultra-wideband.SamsungSamsung has unveiled the SmartTag 2, its AirTag-like tracking device and successor to the original 2021 SmartTag. Unlike the original, which had both Bluetooth and ultra-wideband (UWB) variants, the new version combines both features in a single model. It's now IP67 dust- and water-resistant, but it still only works with Samsung smartphones.Continue reading.Netflix nabs the iconic Dead Cells for its ever-growing games libraryThe streamer also announced a sequel to Slayaway Camp.Netflix's game studio is slowly but surely dropping new titles, adding around 40 mobile releases in 2023. One such game is the universally acclaimed Metroidvania/roguelike action gem Dead Cells, just announced as part of the streamer's Netflix & Thrill promotion for Halloween. Dead Cells: Netflix Edition appears to include the full original game along with all kinds of DLC. A traditional Netflix subscription gives you access to the game on both iOS and Android devices. There's also a Dead Cells animated series in the works. Interestingly, there's no home for it yet, but this move certainly hints that it could premiere on Netflix.Continue reading.Engadget's guide to the best smartwatchesWill the Pixel Watch 2 make it?EngadgetThe wearable world is filled with high-quality options, and a few key players, like the Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch and Fitbit Versa, have muscled their way to the front of the pack with their smart features. Chances are, if you're reading this guide, you've probably already decided it's time to upgrade whatever gadget's on your wrist. We walk you through the crucial specs and features you should look for.Continue reading.Amazon's first satellites to launch October 6The company will test its answer to SpaceX's Starlink service.Amazon's Kuiper satellites will soon make their debut in orbit. Project Kuiper is Amazon's answer to SpaceX's Starlink service. At the moment, its plans entail launching 3,200 satellites over the next six years to form a constellation of internet connectivity to far-flung places. The company says it's on track to deploy its first production satellites in the first half of 2024 and to start beta testing with commercial users.Continue reading.The Gmail app for Wear OS is finally availableThere's still no Calendar support.Google has finally released a version of Gmail for Wear OS to accompany the launch of the Pixel Watch 2, as originally spotted by 9to5Google. The company teased this feature back in May at I/O - it's been a long time coming. Google hasn't offered a direct way to access Gmail with its smartwatches, outside of notifications. And it made Gmail...Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-sony-offers-100-free-movies-to-its-playstation-plus-premium-subscribers-111549132.html?src=rss

It appears Telltale Games, known for its popular The Wolf Among Us and excellent The Walking Dead episodic games, hasn't been able to escape the financial pressures hitting video game studios as of late. In a post on X, Former Telltale Games employee Jonah Huang, shared that he and most of his colleagues were let go in September. The news follows a slew of recent layoffs in the gaming industry from companies such as Naughty Dog, Blizzard, Epic Games and Twitch.

When Activision announced Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile in 2022, the developer said it was planning to release the game sometime this year, shortly after Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II became available. Now, Activision has published a trailer for the mobile title, with the revelation that it's coming out sometime in the spring of 2024 instead. It has no specific launch date yet, but those interested can already pre-order from Google Play or the App Store.Warzone Mobile is a battle royale experience, which will put up to 120 players on a single map. The matches' operators, weapons, locations and combat are supposed to be familiar to current Warzone fans. It will also share a Battle Pass, as well as feature cross-progression, with Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0. While the game won't be widely available until 2024, fans in Australia, Chile, Norway and Sweden have been able to play it since earlier this year. This "limited release" version gives Activision a way to test the game with a wider audience than it can with its Closed Alpha, so it can find and fix more bugs, stress test matches and collect as much feedback as possible on gameplay and different elements of the title.In addition to announcing a new release date window for Warzone Mobile, Activision has also revealed that the game will come with access to Rebirth Island from day one. The fan favorite Resurgence mode map will be making its debut on mobile and has apparently been "painstakingly and specially built" for this game.As for those waiting for Modern Warfare III, Raven Software has confirmed at the COD Next event that players will be able to slide cancel in the game - a mechanic that was notably absent from Modern Warfare II. Take note, though, that while the mechanic is coming back, it will no longer reset Tactical Sprint.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/call-of-duty-warzone-wont-come-to-mobile-until-spring-2024-092513290.html?src=rss

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has warned around 6,800 current and former employees that their personal data was accessed via a data breach, according to a letter seen by Bleeping Computer. The nature of the personal information stolen by hackers was redacted, but the company stated that a file transfer app called MOVEit was the source of the breach. It's the second report of an attack on Sony's operations within the last two weeks.A ransomware group called CL0P claimed credit for the attack on May 28th, and MOVEit's vendor Progress Software notified Sony about the vulnerability on May 31st "On June 2, 2023, [we] discovered the unauthorized downloads, immediately took the platform offline, and remediated the vulnerability," Sony states in the letter to employees. "An investigation was then launched with assistance from external cybersecurity experts. We also notified law enforcement."The hackers reportedly gained access to personally identifiable information about US employees, so Sony is providing credit monitoring services to those affected.Sony was victim of another breach first reported last week. In that case, the hackers accessed servers in Japan used for internal testing for its Entertainment, Technology and Services business, pilfering 3.14GB of data. A threat actor called Ransomed.vc took credit for the attack, but that was denied by another group calling itself MajorNelson, which posted a sampling of files as proof. Sony said it was investigating the attack, adding "there has been no adverse impact on Sony's operations."The company's PlayStation network was attacked in 2011, and Sony Pictures was famously hacked in 2014, resulting in a massive leak of documents and content - including entire films.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-confirms-data-breach-affecting-nearly-7000-employees-075945888.html?src=rss

Instagram might let you share Stories only with specific groups of friends in the future. During a broadcast on his page, Instagram head Adam Mosseri has revealed that the social media app has started testing the ability to share Stories to multiple audience lists. The app already has a "Close Friends" feature, which gives you the ability to add certain friends to a list and to share Stories to that group of people only. It gives you a bit of privacy on the social network, especially if you have a public profile.But sometimes, you may have things to share with people outside your closest group of friends. Having the option to create and maintain multiple lists means you don't have to add people to your Close Friends list if they don't fit the description and can share relevant updates with different groups of people and subsets of followers. "This allows you to share stories to smaller groups and gives you more control over who can see your stories," Mosseri said. "As someone who uses Close Friends often, I'm pretty excited about being able to create additional lists for the people in my life."As you can see in the example below, you can create separate groups for your siblings, for instance, or for local acquaintances who also love food. While Mosseri seemed to be excited about being able to create multiple lists, it's still an experimental feature, and there's no guarantee that it'll be released more widely.InstagramThis article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/instagram-is-testing-multiple-audience-lists-for-stories-050150933.html?src=rss