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Samsung is making a play to, well, repair its repairability image. The new Galaxy S25 UItra offers a slew of helpful features, including an accessible, easy to remove battery. Instead of Samsung's adhesives of the past, the S25 Ultra's battery can just pop right out, iFixit reports.This time around Samsung has included four sticky tabs that wrap around the battery. All you need to do is lift up these tabs and the battery comes out in a matter of seconds. This shift aligns with Europe's right-to-repair laws, which push companies to make repairs more accessible for device owners.iFixitWe gave the Galaxy 25 Ultra an 89 in our review, thanks to its nearly 30 hours of battery life, anti-reflective Gorilla Armor 2 panels and slimmer bezels. It also offers a new 50MP ultra-wide sensor on its ultra-wide lens (rather than the previous 12MP) and an excellent screen.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/with-the-galaxy-s25-samsung-finally-nailed-a-truly-repairable-battery-134546580.html?src=rss

In surprising news, Apple has actually done something that could save you money. The company is now allowing users to migrate purchases from one Apple Account to another. Transfers can include items such as movies, books, music apps and more.The only catch: You can only move purchases from your secondary account, the one you use for Media and Purchases, to your primary account, the one signed in to iCloud and most other features.Before starting a migration, check that you are signed in to both accounts on your device and that the secondary account isn't part of Family Sharing or Purchase Sharing. Then, make sure you have two-factor authentication on for both accounts and that they are both linked to the same country and region. You'll also need to spend any remaining balance and not have any rentals or pre-orders.Then, transfer your things by going to the Media and Purchases tab and scrolling to Migrate Purchases. Follow the steps on your screen and then, once the migration is complete, log out of your secondary account on all devices. As a heads up, you'll no longer be able to use that other account for purchases.Users based in the US can now migrate their purchases. However, the new feature isn't available globally yet, as users in the European Union, UK and India can't access it.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/apple-finally-lets-you-move-your-digital-purchases-to-another-account-134535401.html?src=rss

US District Judge John D. Bates has ordered (PDF) the Center for Disease Control and Food and Drug Administration to restore the web pages and resources they had previously removed to comply with President Trump's executive order related to gender ideology. Bates gave the agencies until February 11, 11:59 PM Eastern time, to comply. As of this writing, the CDC website on "Transgender and Gender Diverse Persons" is already back online with a note up top that says the CDC's website "is being modified to comply with President Trump's Executive Orders."The judge's decision is part of a temporary restraining order that he has granted as requested by the Doctors for America. Represented by Public Citizen, the non-profit organization sued the CDC (PDF), the FDA and the Department of Health in February. It also sued the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which issued the memo for the pages' removal. As The Washington Post notes, the memo ordered agency heads to "end all agency programs that use taxpayer money to promote or reflect gender ideology."In response, the CDC and FDA removed a number of web pages covering a wide variety of topics. In its lawsuit, Doctors for America said the pages that were removed provided healthcare workers with treatment guidance and important datasets necessary for research and for formulating appropriate public health responses. The pages contained resources for HIV monitoring, contraception, assisted reproductive technologies like IVF, health risks for youths, social vulnerability and environmental justice. In addition, the organization pointed out that the agency didn't provide any notice before removing those pages.The non-profit organization gave some specific examples in its lawsuit. Dr. Reshma Ramachandran, who has a research program at Yale School of Medicine, said that the CDC's removal of its resources about contraceptives and STIs caused delays in her "patients' access to appropriate contraception." Meanwhile, a Dr. Stephanie Liou said the the pages' removal impeded her ability to formulate a quick and appropriate response to a chlamydia outbreak in her high school, as her employers didn't have access to "many expensive clinical resources." Doctors of America accused the CDC and the FDA of violating the Paperwork Reduction Act that requires officials to "ensure that the public has timely and equitable access to the agency's public information."In addition to bringing back the pages that were removed, the agencies were also ordered to restore any resources that were modified to their original state by February 14. The resources that were brought back online will remain available while the non-profit org's lawsuit is ongoing.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/court-orders-the-cdc-and-fda-to-restore-deleted-web-pages-related-to-gender-identity-133008251.html?src=rss

$449 is a lot to pay for earbuds. When you consider the quality of the options at $100 and below, it may seem exorbitant. However, Noble Audio hasn't just crafted another set of high-end wireless earbuds. The company is offering something unique on the FoKus Rex5: five drivers. Most earbuds have one or two, but Noble has put its in-ear monitor (IEM) expertise to work here, packing in a 10mm dynamic driver, a 6mm planar driver and three balanced armature drivers. The result is absolutely incredible sound quality for a set of wireless earbuds. A wide, immersive soundstage surpasses every other set I've tested, and I've tested a lot of them. However, audio performance alone doesn't make a complete product. There's still battery life, active noise cancellation (ANC), customization and other features for Noble to contend with. And the company needs to check all the boxes to justify that price. Design of the FoKus Rex5 The FoKus Rex5 earbuds are very green. From the charging case to the aluminum and acrylic housing, the company is dedicated to that hue on this model. Its gold accents won't be for everyone either. The styling is akin to a set of IEMs, which Noble also makes in spades. If you're looking for other colors from the company, the pricier FoKus Prestige ($599) will be available in black and blue when they're back in stock. Other than the color scheme and marbled acrylic shell, the FoKus Rex5 looks like standard earbuds - at least in terms of its shape. The rounded, triangular frame mimics a set of generic in-ear monitors and it fits well in the ear. Weight is nicely balanced too, with nothing sticking too far out from your head. This all leads to a secure, comfy fit that never becomes a burden, even after hours of constant use. Additionally, Noble includes nine sets of extra ear tips across three shapes in the box. One of those is foam instead of silicone, if you're into that, and the diversity of the pack should help you find an ideal fit for your ears. Software and features All of the settings and features for the FoKus Rex5 reside in the Noble FoKus app. Here you'll find battery percentages for each earbud, quick access to the personalized EQ, media controls and noise-cancellation toggles up front. On the right side, an expandable menu offers a 10-band EQ, EQ curve, personalized EQ and touch control settings. Noble opted for Audiodo's customizable sound software to power its Personal EQ feature. Like some of the competition, this tech takes you through a setup process to calibrate the audio to your hearing. The FoKus Rex5 has a Qualcomm QCC3091 chip inside that stores these custom profiles on the earbuds. This means that the audio tweaks stay with you on any device you pair to without having to download the app multiple times. Noble says Personal EQ works well for people with uneven hearing, offering balanced sound at the appropriate levels. For me, the test determined that I needed a boost in the high frequency range, which raised the volume for vocals and guitars. I don't love it. The stock tuning is a better blend of all the instruments and I prefer the balance of that mix. This doesn't mean the feature won't help you, it just means that you might want to keep the default settings rather than opt for Personal EQ. The FoKus Rex5 is equipped with multipoint Bluetooth connectivity, which adds convenience to daily use. The earbuds seamlessly switched between my MacBook Pro and my iPhone whenever I got a call or started playing audio there. What you won't find on the Rex5 is automatic pausing as the earbuds don't have a proximity or wear sensor on the back side. Perhaps the company needed every millimeter for all of those drivers, but this is a handy feature that would have been great to have. FoKus Rex5 sound quality Billy Steele for Engadget It's amazing how much nuance five drivers will allow you to hear when listening to music. Noble says its driver array effortlessly delivers rich, full bass, detailed mid-tones and crystal-clear highs," and I found that to be true across a range of genres. Where most earbuds have a frequency range of 20Hz-20kHz, which is in line with the capabilities of the human ear, the FoKus Rex5 extends that a bit to 20Hz-40kHz. Am I confident that I can hear that extra high frequency? No. Does that impact my rating of the sound quality? Not at all. I'm well aware that artists, producers and recording engineers make the decisions on how to split instruments on the left and right channels. But for the first time, I could clearly hear the separation in the guitars on songs like L.S. Dunes' I Can See It Now..." and across the entirety of Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit's latest live album. There's a sonic division on these earbuds that's more segmented, yet everything still blends well for a great immersive sensation. It's like you're standing in the middle of the studio. You can hear that the lead guitar is situated to the right while the rhythm player is on the left. A lot of earbuds would smash them together. There's also minute detail in guitars, drums, vocals and more with the FoKus Rex5. You can hear the texture in the vocals on Julien Baker & TORRES' Sugar in the Tank," and it sounds like you're almost inside the acoustic guitar on that track. There are a number of flagship-quality earbuds that deliver fine details well, but I've never heard the level of subtlety that the FoKus Rex5 provides song after song. And the earbuds do so with a robust soundstage that, once again, envelops you like you're standing in the middle of a performance rather than simply streaming tunes. Noble offers support for aptX Adaptive and Sony's LDAC codecs on the FoKus Rex5, in addition to SBC and AAC. I tested primarily with Apple Music, including a lot of albums in either lossless or Dolby Atmos. All of the songs from the service sounded incredible with these earbuds, although the crunchy, layered guitars on that L.S. Dunes record sounded particularly stunning (that album is Dolby Atmos, Lossless and Apple Digital Master). ANC performance Billy Steele for Engadget Noble doesn't go into too much detail about the ANC setup on the FoKus Rex5, other than saying the sophisticated" tech effectively minimizes external noise." Unfortunately, that effectiveness is just average. The earbuds only dampen constant noise sources like fans and noise machines. And while they slightly lower the volume of human voices nearby, they suffer the same inefficacy as much of the competition there. Simply put, you're not buying the FoKus Rex5 for the ANC performance, it's the sound quality that's the primary draw. But I'd argue you should have both if you're spending $449. Call quality on the FoKus Rex5 Call quality is another area Noble could improve. The FoKus Rex5 is usable for calls, but the audio performance is average at best. If you're looking for something to use for virtual meetings, or any situation where you need to sound crystal clear, these earbuds aren't a great option. What's more, the ambient mode doesn't beam your voice back through the buds on calls. I kept feeling like I was shouting just to hear myself during those chats. Battery life Noble promises up to five hours of listening time with ANC on, or up to seven hours without. What's more, the company packed an extra 35-40 hours of use in the wireless charging case, which is longer than most of the competition can muster. There's a 15-minute quick charge feature that will give you two hours of use as well. During my tests, the FoKus Rex5 easily met the stated figures, and even went beyond them by about 30 minutes. Five hours of noise-canceling use is standard these days, but it's nice to see that Noble delivered on this, even with the additional drivers and codec support. The competition In terms of sound quality, only Bowers & Wilkins' Pi8 comes close to the pristine audio performance of the FoKus Rex5. Unfortunately, those earbuds don't offer a complete package either. And at $399, they're still a bigger investment compared to the likes of Bose, Sony and Sennheiser. You'll get excellent sound on the Pi8, though the level of detail and separation isn't on the level of the five-driver Rex5. ANC performance is slightly better, but still not robust, and there's a lack of advanced features that are offered by much of the competition on products that cost less. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/noble-fokus-rex5-review-incredible-sound-if-youre-willing-to-pay-for-it-130043824.html?src=rss

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, along with multiple federal employee unions, have filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team to block their access to sensitive and identifying information on millions of Americans. Specifically, the plaintiffs are looking to block them from being able to access data stored by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and to delete any information they've collected so far. The lawsuit also names OPM and Acting Director Charles Ezell as defendants.In early February, Reuters reported that Musk's aides locked OPM employees out of the agency's systems. "We have no visibility into what they are doing with the computer and data systems," one of its sources said back then. The OPM has the largest collection of employee data in the US and contains sensitive information on both past and current federal employees, as well as on job applicants for federal positions who applied through USAJobs.gov. As the EFF notes, the agency's records contain federal employees' names, birthdates, home addresses, social security numbers, work experience, union activities, salaries, performance reviews, demotions, life insurance, death benefits as well as classified information NDAs. The list even includes the first names and last name initials of CIA employees in highly sensitive roles.In its announcement, the EFF explained that the mishandling of information in OPM's systems could lead to "significant and varied abuses," and that DOGE's "unchecked access" on its own puts federal employees at risk of privacy violations and even political pressure and blackmail. The foundation also emphasized the risk federal employees are facing with DOGE's access to unrestricted information and Musk's ownership of X. It cited Musk's old tweets naming specific government personnels whose jobs he would cut even before he had access to OPM's database.OPM violated the Privacy Act of 1974 when it gave DOGE "unrestricted, wholesale access" to its systems, the EFF said. Under the Privacy Act, the written consent of the individual whose data is being shared is required if government records are to be disclosed. Meanwhile, the plaintiffs are accusing Musk and his DOGE agents of exceeding "the scope of their legal authority" by controlling OPM's systems, because it has resulted in the the unlawful disclosure of the their contents. "Our case is fairly simple: OPM's data is extraordinarily sensitive, OPM gave it to DOGE, and this violates the Privacy Act," the EFF wrote. "We are asking the court to block any further data sharing and to demand that DOGE immediately destroy any and all copies of downloaded material." Last week, a federal judge blocked Musk and DOGE from accessing Treasury Department information and ordered them to destroy any data they've already collected.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/eff-sues-elon-musk-and-doge-to-block-their-access-to-federal-employee-data-042245323.html?src=rss

Google Maps now officially shows the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America if you open the app in the US. In a blog post, Google said it rolled out the named change because the government has already updated the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), which decides the "federal and national standard for geographic nomenclature." One of the executive orders President Donald Trump signed in January when he took office renames the body of water, but Google previously explained that it's the company's longstanding policy to wait for official government resources to be updated before applying any name change.The Gulf of America label will only be visible if you use the Maps app in the US, or if you open Maps on the web and your device's location is set to the region. If you're in Mexico, the label still shows Gulf of Mexico. And if you're elsewhere, you'll see it marked as both, specifically: Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America). It's also longstanding policy for the company to show official local names when they vary between countries. Trump's executive order also renames Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America, to Mount McKinley. So far, the location is still being shown as Denali on Maps.GoogleSeparately, Apple updated its Maps application and website to include the new nomenclature for US users. At present, the company's map graphics still display "Gulf of Mexico," but clicking on the region brings up a card that says "Gulf of America." Searching for "Gulf of Mexico" brings up the same GoA card.According to Bloomberg, Apple won't limit this change to only the US. The news org, paraphrasing Apple, said that the company will "soon roll out the shift for all users globally." We have reached out to Apple to confirm that users worldwide, including those in Mexico, will see Gulf of America on the company's maps.A Congressional Research Service report on how and where geographical name changes apply specifically says that "private companies such as Google Maps and Apple Maps" would be unaffected by President Trump's Executive Order. The report also notes that decisions from the US Board on Geographic Names, which was responsible for actioning the name change, only apply to federal use.Update, February 11, 5:35PM ET: This story and its headline were updated to reflect Apple's decision to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico in its Maps application. Additional context on geographical name changes from a Congressional Research Service report was also added.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/google-adopts-gulf-of-america-for-us-maps-users-140026397.html?src=rss

Google has set the date for its next I/O developer conference. This year, the annual event will take place over two days starting on May 20, the company announced on Tuesday. As in previous years, the conference will feature an in-person component at the Shoreline Amphitheatre right on the company's doorstep in Mountain View, California."We'll start day one with keynotes, followed by breakout sessions, workshops, demos, networking opportunities and more continuing on day two," Google said. In a separate email the company sent to Engadget, it promised to share updates on Gemini and Android, alongside new innovations related to web and cloud development. Last year's conference saw Google spend a lot of time talking about AI, including initiatives like Project Astra, and it's probably a safe bet to say I/O 2025 will be similar in that regard, with potential updates from DeepMind on Gemini 2.0, Project Mariner and more.Notably, this year I/O will overlap with Microsoft Build, which is set to run from May 19 to 22. Like I/O, Build is expected to include a major focus on AI.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-io-2025-kicks-off-on-may-20-212810869.html?src=rss

The Apple Studio Display is available with a discount of $300 from Amazon. This discount applies to all versions, so prices range from $1,300 to $2,000. For the uninitiated, the Studio Display is available with a standard glass design or a nano-texture glass design that helps reduce reflections. There's also a model with both a tilt and height-adjustable stand. The cheapest version, at $1,300, is the standard glass with a tilt-adjustable stand or a VESA mount. The Studio Display made our list of the best monitors, and this is particularly true for Mac users. The 27-inch screen boasts a 5K resolution with a max refresh rate of 60Hz. It has several useful connection options, including a trio of USB-C ports. The monitor also includes built-in speakers and a 12-megapixel camera that keeps the subject constantly in frame, thanks to Apple's Center Stage software. We called out the display's excellent build quality in our official review. We also appreciated the bright screen, up to 600 nits, and the accurate color reproduction. The speakers are excellent, as is the three-mic array that accompanies the webcam. The webcam itself, however, is a bit on the dull side. So what's the downside? At the end of the day, this is just another IPS LED display with a relatively low refresh rate and single-zone backlighting. Today's discount makes Apple's extreme pricing on this unit a bit more palatable, but $1,300 (at minimum) is still a pretty big investment for a monitor. The add-ons are also extremely pricey. It costs a whopping $400 to add a height-adjustable stand and $300 for that nano-texture glass coating. 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/computing/apples-studio-display-is-300-off-right-now-195210809.html?src=rss

Microsoft's six-year-old program to make HoloLens headsets for the US Army could be getting some extra help. If the Department of Defense approves the deal, the company will expand its existing partnership with Anduril Industries, Palmer Luckey's defense startup, for the next stages of the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) program.Microsoft, which spearheaded the program, would transition into supplying AI and cloud infrastructure. Meanwhile, Anduril would do pretty much everything else, including oversight of production, future development of hardware and software and delivery timelines."Anduril makes a wide array of defense tech, including drone interceptors, sentry towers, comms jammers, drones and even an autonomous submarine. But given Luckey's background as the primary inventor of the Oculus Rift - and, by extension, the modern consumer XR industry - the IVAS program could perhaps be the defense tech startup's most natural fit.US Army / MicrosoftMicrosoft started working with the Army in 2019, using a modified HoloLens 2 for a headset that reportedly felt like a real-life game of Call of Duty." Early prototypes allowed soldiers to see a virtual map showing their squad's locations, a compass and their weapon's reticle. Thermal imaging served as an alternative to traditional night vision headsets.But the program ran into speed bumps, one of which was all too familiar to many who tried poorly designed VR games: It made them want to hurl. In addition to nausea, the headsets also led to eyestrain and headaches. Their bulk, limited field of view and - perhaps worst of all - an emitted glow (which could make them easy pickings for an enemy) didn't help, either.The problems contributed to Congress denying the Army's request to buy 6,900 pairs as part of a 2023 government funding bill. Instead, it allocated $40 million for Microsoft to develop a new version, which the Army accepted later that year. However, the headset has yet to make it onto the battlefield.Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that early feedback of the latest IVAS prototypes is encouraging, but the Army wants the cost to be substantially less than" each headset's currently projected $80,000. The Army could eventually order as many as 121,000 devices, but the new version would still need to pass a high-stress combat test this year before going into full production.In December, Anduril partnered with OpenAI to develop AI for the Pentagon. That deal will have the ChatGPT maker supplying its GPT-4o and OpenAI o1 models to Anduril's drone defense systems for the military.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/microsoft-wants-to-hand-off-much-of-its-army-hololens-program-to-palmer-luckeys-anduril-190223240.html?src=rss

My hand is cramping. It's not carpal tunnel or some other dubious reason that's causing the pain. It's an analog ache that is oddly satisfying in a nostalgic way. In the last few days, I've held a pen and written more words for a much longer time than I have ever done in years. As I pushed myself to handwrite large parts of this review to spend more time with the 2024 Kindle Scribe's stylus and note-taking tools, I started to feel a sensation I hadn't remembered since my teens. I often feel the urge to jot down thoughts and lists, but I never really wanted to spend longer than 15 minutes writing. And yet, Amazon's new AI features for the Kindle Scribe seem to cater more to those who labor over essays or missives that they ultimately need to share with others. The Summarize and Refine tools for your notebooks, for example, can shorten and neaten up your scrawl so, I guess, you can send it to another person to read. That's it, really. The other improvements to the Scribe's writing experience are for scribbling on books, which I'll get to in a bit. Update, February 11 2025: Since this review was published in December, Amazon released new software in February 2025 that brings collapsible margins to the Kindle Scribe. Now that I've been able to evaluate that feature, as well as spend more time with the Scribe 2 and its competitors like the reMarkable Paper Pro, I am ready to assign a score, which you'll see below. For the most part, the new collapsible margins don't drastically affect my experience with the Kindle Scribe 2. As someone who mostly reads fiction and self-help books, I don't often find myself itching to scribble in the columns of a page. In the months since I published the review, the Scribe 2 has served me well as a general ereader that is a perfectly functional notebook. I actually found the feature that converts my handwriting into legible text more useful than I thought it would be, since I frequently write down my team's priorities and sending a cleaned-up version is more professional than passing along my scrawl. It also saves me some time as I don't have to retype every word. I do have to point out, though, that now that I have a reMarkable Paper Pro in for testing, it's clear the latter is the superior product for writing. reMarkable's software accommodates both handwritten and typed writing in the same document, and its app lets you edit those notes from your phone. It's everything I wanted the Scribe to do, and performs well enough that I am tempted to shell out the $3 a month to keep using it. Of course, if you're more of a reader who occasionally wants to mark up books,s ketch out some floorplans or make to-do lists, the Scribe 2 is better, thanks to Amazon's huge library of titles. The rest of my original review follows below. What's changed on the new Kindle Scribe As I said earlier, most of what's new on the Kindle Scribe is internal. On the outside, Amazon did tweak the bezels not in actual size but in colors, so that there's a white rectangle surrounding the screen, within a teal green column on the side. If you opted for the tungsten" version, then instead of teal green you'll see dark gray. I love the new color, but it's a bit confusing and makes me think the grippable area is narrower than before when in fact, it's about the same. Still, this is a small complaint, if that, and one that is mostly mitigated by how fresh the new version looks. The other main change is on the Premium Pen, which now has a rubberized top for its faux eraser. I've always appreciated how easy this was to use on the original Kindle Scribe, and I'm happy to report that the updated texture doesn't get in the way of responsiveness. It certainly feels enough like erasers of my youth that every now and then I find myself subconsciously swiping away phantom dust. I will point out, though, that I had to remind myself to use the eraser on a few occasions, since I was more accustomed to simply striking out a mistake with the pen. The new Premium Pen also has a customizable shortcut button so long-pressing it can activate the highlighter, pen, marker, pencil, eraser, canvas or sticky note. Drawing on books on the new Kindle Scribe Finally, in addition to the two AI-related tools I already mentioned, Amazon also updated how you can write on ebooks. As I described in my hands-on in October, the new Active Canvas feature makes it so that once you put your pen on the page, a box will appear to contain your writing. Compared to the clunky implementation on the older model, which required you to first go to the floating toolbar on the left of every page, select the sticky note feature and then write in it, this seemed a huge improvement. In my testing so far, though, this was less impressive. The software was buggy in my experience. On one occasion, I drew a spiral over the words We had a good yarn about old times" in an Agatha Christie novel. A translucent box appeared, containing my drawing in a layer above the text, with a check mark and cross at the top. You're supposed to tap the check, which will cause the box to fully solidify and the rest of the page's words will rearrange themselves to make room. However, when I hit X by accident, the box didn't go away, and I was able to continue to add doodles all over the screen. When I flipped to a different part of the book and came back, though, it disappeared, only to reappear later when I was trying to underline something. That's clearly just a bug, and when executed as intended, Active Canvas does work. You can resize the box, and lines will continue to reflow to make room or snap back into place. The boxes will stay where you left them, instead of disappearing under a little tag the way they did with the original Scribe. It's a slight improvement, and though I can't yet imagine how I'd use it in real life, it's nice to know it's there. I do have to point out a couple of caveats, though. This doesn't work on samples - you can tell whether the Active Canvas is supported by checking if the floating toolbox is present. The other issue, which is a bigger one, is that Active Canvas can sometimes be triggered even when you're just trying to underline something. Drawing lines under or on text will generate underlines, which will be indexed by Amazon the same way highlights are, so you can easily find them again later on. Cherlynn Low for Engadget It's pretty annoying when you're trying to underline some text and the words jump away to make room for a box you never wanted to appear. It gets even more frustrating when, due to the lag, you have to wait for seconds for the box to go away after you tap the X on top of it. Worse, that bug I mentioned earlier caused the spiral and other doodles I had drawn to show up where I was trying to underline words. Thankfully, I was able to delete that when it reappeared and had no more phantom boxes. These little hiccups would be less of a problem if Amazon weren't already behind its competitors. Similar products from companies like Kobo already offer better support for writing on books, where you can circle specific words and the drawing will stay in place (though this is wonky if you resize the text afterwards). I understand that Amazon has to manage the resizability of its content, to support people who often change up font sizes while reading. There needs to be a better way. One might be coming. At the Kindle's launch event, the company did preview a collapsible margins feature, which lets you scribble in the column on either side of every book. Importantly, you'll be able to resize these columns and the space in them can scroll vertically, giving you plenty of room to cram in your musings. Sadly, this feature is only going to be available in early 2025, so I wasn't able to test it out. It's also worth noting that the original Kindle Scribe, which continues to retail for $340, will be getting the Active Canvas and generative AI features, as well as the collapsible margin when that arrives. Generative AI features on the new Kindle Scribe Where things feel more finished is in Notebooks, where Amazon has had to contend with fewer limitations. This section contains your lists, jotpads and works of art. Like you could on the original, you can select from a variety of backgrounds like lines, a dot grid or even planner or calendar views. It's here that you'll find the new Summarize and Refine tools, by tapping on the sparkles icon on the top menu bar. Selecting either Summarize" or Refine writing" will bring up the option to work Amazon's magic on the page you're on or the entire notebook. After you decide, the Kindle will get to work, using cloud-based processing to generate either a summary of your words or a tidied up version of your chicken scratch. This usually took about 10 to 15 seconds, depending on the length of the source material. Once a result is returned, you'll also get the option to customize the font and line spacing, as well as the ability to add it to the end or beginning of your notebook. Screenshots / Engadget I was surprised to see the Scribe make sense of a disorganized plan I made for reviews coverage that involved some lists with three in a row up top, two at the bottom and three lining the right side. The Refine tool accurately laid them out in sequential order, giving me a list of lists starting with the one I had in the top left position and ending with the tiny one titled OSes" that I had squeezed in below iPads" at the bottom right. The summary it returned for this example was also decent, and in all the other notes I tested I saw largely accurate results. Any mistake the system made felt reasonable, since I have horrible handwriting. It's not really the Scribe's fault that it thought I wrote Addly" when really I just had an extremely malformed n" and a barely legible g" at the end of Adding." When I did make an effort to write more neatly, the Scribe was more accurate, but that almost feels like it defeats the purpose. If I'm going to try to write better for the AI so it can make my handwriting neater for others to read, then how is that different from making a greater effort for humans? As competent as the generative AI features here have been, I still remain hesitant to call them useful. I'm not the sort of person that likes writing long enough to need AI summarization (to that end, you'll need to have at least 25 words on a page to qualify for Summarize). I also don't generally share my handwritten thoughts with other people, though on the extremely rare occasion that I do, I could see Refine being a good start. Screenshots / Engadget The problem is that Refine isn't always accurate, and its generated result isn't editable. If I could go in and correct Addly," then I might not mind sending that document to my team. Or if that were the only mistake in the refined writing, I could share the note and tell my friends to ignore the one error. But I'd have to write a whole new appendix just to clarify the mistakes, at which point I might as well type up my original thoughts. Neither Refine nor Summarize are groundbreaking new features in generative AI or even note-taking, either. Apple offers a version of Refine on the new iPadOS, while Summarize is something we've seen all over products from Google, Apple, OpenAI, Samsung and more. While I respect that Amazon has largely avoided chasing hype with its adoption of generative AI on the Kindle Scribe, I need more time and testing to better understand how useful it might be in the long run. What I like about the Kindle Scribe 2 so far As I did with the original, I do like the Scribe a lot. It offers a smooth, convenient writing experience in a svelte, relatively light package that's just 0.22 inches thick and weighs 433 grams (0.95 pounds). None of those dimensions have changed in the second-gen model, though the 10.2-inch screen somehow seemed sharper to me, despite having the same brightness and pixel density. Reading on such a roomy canvas is a joy, although I prefer to take the Paperwhite on the go since it's a lot easier on my wrist. That expanse can be helpful for those with visual impairments that might need a much larger font, for example. I've also liked doodling on PDFs and write-on books." The latter is a category of titles in the Kindle store that are formatted so you can doodle directly on them. I borrowed a couple of these through my Kindle Unlimited subscription, and had a blast solving cryptography and Sudoku puzzles. I did see some promising books in this category, like interactive or hyperlinked planners, but the customer reviews for those put me off. There is a lot of potential in that space, though, that could make the Kindle Scribe far more useful. I just wish Amazon would invest more in the format and make a notebook you can write on that would also work with your phone's calendar or reminders app and seamlessly integrate what you write on your planner into your digital universe. What I don't like about the Kindle Scribe 2 Alas, that is not a reality. And the reality is that there are quite a lot of things Amazon could stand to improve. While I can understand that finding a way to keep a loose stylus attached to a tablet is challenging, the magnetic edge that the Premium Pen can latch onto is just a precarious approach. I was walking into my apartment with the Kindle Scribe in my hand and jostled the door by accident. Two seconds later, I was wondering where the stylus had gone. It was on the floor, and when I picked it up, I noticed the nib was slanted. I didn't know if I had damaged it, and though it still worked well, I eventually saw some scratches on the Scribe's screen that I suspect might not have been there had the pen not dropped due to a light knock against a doorframe. The company does include some replacement nibs in the box, so fixing this is fairly easy. Cherlynn Low for Engadget I also really wish Amazon's Notebooks were more versatile. They're better than they were with the original Scribe, but you still can't edit them in the mobile Kindle app. You can view your Notebooks there, which is nice, but it's slightly annoying that they're listed in alphabetical order instead of based on what's recently been opened like they are on the Kindle. Amazon rates the new and original Scribes as having the same battery life - that is, up to three weeks if you write for about half an hour a day, and up to 12 weeks if you read for that same amount of time. In my review of the older model, I saw battery numbers drop 35 percent in about a week with lots of writing and testing. With the new Kindle Scribe, the power level is currently at 21 percent after coming out of the box at 50 percent just a couple of days ago. I have been testing its AI, writing and annotating features pretty relentlessly in that time, and usually see the percentage fall one or two points whenever I generate an AI summary or refinement, too. I'll need much more time to get a better sense of how the new Kindle Scribe's battery holds up under more normalized use, but if it behaves like its predecessor, I shouldn't need to charge it more than once every couple of months. Wrap-up Amazon's new Kindle Scribe has a lot of competition from companies like Kobo, Boox and reMarkable. And with a price of $399, the new Scribe is a whopping $60 costlier than its predecessor, which will also get a lot of the new software updates. To be fair, the new Scribe comes with a Premium Pen for the price, while the cheaper model only includes a Basic Pen, so you're partially paying more for a better stylus. While I do like the new color option and slightly improved annotation capabilities, I'm not sure Amazon has done enough to justify the additional cost here. I'd much rather see the company focus its efforts on improving its Notebook syncing and mobile editing software, as well as investing in innovating on the write-on book format, than chase the generative AI trend. No matter how much restraint it's exercised in doing so. Still, Kindles, the Scribe 2 included, remain some of the best ereaders around, and are pretty much the most obvious choice for anyone already invested in Amazon's ecosystem.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/kindle-scribe-2-review-in-progress-is-slightly-useful-ai-worth-the-extra-cash-140018638.html?src=rss

Kickstarter just unveiled a bunch of new tools for backers and creators. The most notable of the bunch is called Pledge Over Time and, well, it's exactly what it sounds like. The tool allows backers to split a pledge into four payments that get pulled from a bank account every two weeks. It's sort of like Affirm or Klarna.This feature should also help creators, as it'll entice more backers to buy into a campaign. It's available right now, but only to select campaigns. Pledge Over Time is coming to everyone by spring." This follows a related tool that was released last year that allows folks to back projects after a campaign has ended.KickstarterThe platform is also in the process of refining search and discovery to help backers find stuff that interests them. Kickstarter promises that new search filters and sorting options are coming to web and mobile this spring. The mobile app is also getting an update by the end of 2025" that lets backers view all of their funded, live and unsuccessful projects in one place.KickstarterThere are some changes coming down the pike to make backers feel more secure when pledging. If a project faces significant fulfillment failures" it'll get slapped with a notice on the main page. Backers of these projects will also get a notification that outlines the issues and actions that Kickstarter has taken. Project pages will also soon include more details about a creator's overall track record. Indiegogo already does something similar via its Trust-Proven badge.For creators, the fundraising platform is introducing add-ons. These are perks that can be added to a campaign after being successfully funded. It gives backers more opportunities to spend money and get cool stuff in return. Shipping management is also being streamlined, as is the tax collection system.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/kickstarter-is-rolling-out-new-tools-for-backers-including-a-way-to-split-pledges-into-four-payments-170051752.html?src=rss

James Howells, a British IT worker, mined over 7,500 Bitcoins back in 2009, when they were worth next to nothing. Now a single Bitcoin is worth nearly $100,000, valuing his stash at well over $700 million. Unfortunately, Howells accidentally threw the hard drive he stored the key on in the trash. He has a scheme to get that money back, according to The Guardian. He wants to buy the landfill where it could be buried and dig it up.Howells doesn't exactly know where the hard drive is, but has a solid guess based on when he tossed it in the trash. He has it narrowed down to a particular section of a South Wales landfill that houses 15,000 metric tons of waste. The landfill is approaching maximum capacity, so Howells wants to buy it off the city. Officials have warned that the hard drive is buried under 25,000 cubic meters of waste and earth" as it has been there for almost 12 years.While the city hasn't made a final decision, it doesn't look good for Howells and his needle in a haystack" plan. There are serious ecological dangers to haphazardly digging up a landfill. The excavation process would be risky and costly. Afterward, the landfill would have to be resealed, another expensive project. The city also has plans to build a solar farm on part of the land.Finally, there's the hard drive itself. Would there be anything recoverable after laying underneath tons and tons of trash for 12 years? It seems highly unlikely, though Howells and his investors must have some serious data retrieval specialists standing by.

Chinese EV maker BYD is pretty much the king of EVs in the country, even challenging Tesla in the country. Yesterday, in a company livestream, founder Wang Chuanfu claimed that the company will make all of its models self-driving, including the cheapest ones like the $9,600 Seagull hatchback, the Financial Times reported.Wang said that BYD is starting an era where autonomous driving is for everyone" and that self-driving cars will no longer be an unattainable luxury, but an essential tool." BYD intends to power its cars with the God's Eye" driving system it developed in-house. According to The Straits Times, God's Eye relies on cameras and radar sensors to perform tasks like valet parking, automatic braking and adaptive cruise control.Additionally, BYD is joining other local EV makers like Geely, Great Wall Motor and Leapmotor to integrate DeepSeek's AI into their autonomous driving systems. However, there's no news about when this will happen. Of course, whether BYD will deliver its promises of accessible autonomous driving remains to be seen as well. Meanwhile, Tesla is struggling to get its software off the ground in China, so whether BYD beats it to the punch is yet another thing to look out for.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/chinese-ev-maker-byd-promises-to-make-all-of-its-models-self-driving-capable-164641323.html?src=rss

You might have spent the last few years turning your domicile into a smart home with a fancy speaker setup, robot vacuum and voice-controlled lights. Another way to make your home more connected is with a video doorbell, and as it happens, a model from Ring is on sale. The latest version of the Ring Video Doorbell has dropped down to $60, which is $40 off. The discount also matches the record-low price. As the name suggests, this is a battery-powered model, so you won't have to worry about wiring it up. The doorbell has a USB-C port, and all you have to do to top up the battery is detach it and plug it in for a while. The second-gen model offers 66 percent more vertical coverage than the previous one, allowing for a head-to-toe view of whoever is on your doorstep. You can keep an eye on what's going on from your phone, tablet or another compatible device using the live view feature. You can also chat with the person at your door remotely thanks to the two-way talk function. The Video Doorbell has motion-detection capabilities, and you'll receive real-time alerts on your phone whenever it spots movement. For more detailed alerts about whether that motion is because of a person or package delivery, you'll need to sign up for a Ring Home plan, which starts at $5 per month. The subscription also grants access to features such as 180 days of video event history being saved. The premium tier, which costs $20 per month, includes round-the-clock recording on every compatible doorbell and/or camera at your home. 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/deals/the-latest-ring-video-doorbell-is-back-on-sale-for-a-record-low-price-161258034.html?src=rss

As I sat down to play the 90-minute South of Midnight preview, I had one major question: Why does the framerate look like that? The trailers display a purposefully choppy animation style that's meant to be reminiscent of stop-motion, but it wasn't clear how this effect would be applied in the game's cutscenes, combat and traversal moments. After playing the preview, I'm still unsure. I should state my bias at the top: I am super primed to enjoy South of Midnight. I've been a fan of Compulsion Games since the studio debuted Contrast in 2013, and I eagerly followed the development of its follow-up, We Happy Few, through 2018. Compulsion's games are stylish, with an emphasis on polished 3D graphics and lanky characters in fabulous outfits. Microsoft acquired Compulsion in 2018 and the studio has been working on South of Midnight ever since. My intrigue has only grown in the past year, following a drip-feed of trailers with luscious Southern Gothic settings, a bluesy soundtrack and the game's magic-weilding protagonist, a young Black woman named Hazel. First, let's talk about what the game does well. The preview begins at chapter three, after Hazel has discovered the basics of her magical abilities but has not mastered the power flowing through her veins. Hazel is a Weaver, capable of manipulating the invisible strands that hold reality together, and she's looking for her mother, Lacey, after a hurricane swept through their hometown of Prospero in the American Deep South. If Hazel is the main character in South of Midnight, the environment is her co-star: The swamps of Prospero are lit with a rich, golden hue and they're buzzing with surreal life. Towering cypresses, lush ferns and thorny vines the size of tree trunks weave their way through the forest and its cloudy pools. The houses, half-demolished shacks connected over the bayou by crumbling wooden platforms, are filled with rotting trinkets and faded photos, and many have eviction notices stuck to the front doors. Car-sized peaches dot the landscape, plump pinkish skin sticking out of the swampwater and buried at the bases of trees. This land is drowning in magic. Compulsion Games Though Hazel is on a linear journey to find her mom, there are plenty of opportunities for light exploring around Prospero. Chapter three features a handful of hidden paths that conclude with glowing bits of Floof, the game's currency, for Hazel to collect. These alternative routes are positioned in plain sight, but they're integrated into the landscape off the beaten path, so they're easy to miss if you're not paying attention. Hazel explores by running, jumping, double jumping, gliding and wall running, and her movements through the world feel utterly natural. Her abilities build on one another nicely and they're perfectly responsive, creating a mini parkour flow that I didn't expect in this game. At times Hazel uses magic to turn ghostly objects into tangible platforms, and her double-jump and glide combo is particularly fun. Hazel always looks cool, regardless of the framerate. She moves her long, thin limbs with the haphazard confidence befitting a teenage track star, and her clothes - a waffle-stitched sweatshirt tied around her waist, denim jeans, a tank top with a sports bra, leather arm bands and a holster across her chest - are heavily textured, lending each piece a tangible feel. Hazel's dialogue is delivered with a hefty amount of adolescent snark, too, and I laughed out loud when she met the giant talking catfish and immediately was like, Nope," and turned to walk away. Actors Nona Parker Johnson, who performs Hazel's motion-capture and stunts, and Adriyan Rae, Hazel's voice, have done some fabulous work here. Compulsion Games In the preview, Hazel encounters an eccentric local, a few magical creatures and at least one powerful ritual, and she eventually finds herself chasing the ghosts of two brothers, one of whom died after being stuffed inside the trunk of a tree. As she hunts their memories and traps their pain in a blue bottle, banjo music trickles into the scene until it becomes a full-on folk song recounting the brothers' tragic story. It's a unique and effective mechanic. The world around Hazel is composed of dark and surreal beauty, and after seeing (and hearing) this sliver of gameplay, I'm eager to uncover all of Prospero's hidden stories. Combat in the South of Midnight preview takes place in contained stages, with spiky vines blocking off the exits as soon as the fight begins and the haints - ghosts, in Hazel's vernacular - pop up. The enemies in this chapter come in three basic forms: tall floaty haint, stationary haint nest and floaty blob haint. The enemies are made of gooey black tendons and red magic, and they attack in specific ways depending on their type. The tall one moves quickly and rushes forward, the nest spews out exploding bugs and the floaty blobs shoot parryable projectiles. Hazel has a basic attack, dodge, healing move and four magical abilities: weave, strand push, strand pull and a final locked move. Weave freezes an enemy in place, while strand pull and push can be used to throw objects back in the haints' faces. Each combat stage starts out with a healing totem that Hazel can tap into once, as long as she can reach it and (on Xbox Series X) press Y. She also receives health regen by pressing Y near a pile of freshly killed haint meat, unraveling their essence for a little boost. These piles are only available for a few seconds after each kill, so there's some light strategizing involved in staying alive mid-battle. Compulsion Games The fights flow just fine, and a lock-on system allows Hazel to swap her attention among the haints on the fly. Parrying projectiles is the toughest ability to master in the preview, but with a little more time to practice, I think it'll become second nature. South of Midnight is not an open-world RPG or anything, but Hazel has a small skill tree with three upgrades for each of her magical abilities and nine slots to unlock moves like ground slam. A second screen contains Hazel's collection of magical objects (five slots), patterns (six slots), readables (104 slots) and storybooks (14 slots). By the end of the demo, I'd collected four magical objects and one readable. Just looking at the menus, it seems like South of Midnight is a contained, sub-20-hour experience. Now, let's talk about the game's animations. South of Midnight begins with a gorgeous, handcrafted stop-motion intro movie that brings Hazel and her storybook adventure to life, but after that, the game's stop-motion conceit only half-works. Hazel's movements and the world at large are supposed to render at 60 fps, while her facial expressions in cutscenes render at something closer to 15 fps, mimicking the animated in twos" style of Into the Spider-Verse. This appears to be true for anything in the game with a face, and it's particularly apparent with the catfish character, which is basically all mouth. When it all comes together as Compulsion intended, the effect looks and feels very cool. Unfortunately, this is a rare occurrence. In practice, the stop-motion effect is inconsistent during third-person exploration moments and close-up cutscenes, and it tends to feel less artistic, and more like the game simply has an erratic framerate. It's possible to turn off stop-motion effects and I tried this, but honestly, I couldn't spot the difference. Even with stop-motion turned off, Hazel is rendered at an unpredictable rate that often dips well below 60 fps. The framerate issue appears across characters and vignettes, and it's especially shitty during brightly lit memory scenes, where NPCs appear in front of Hazel as glowing white ghosts, filled with particles and visually stuttering all over the place. South of Midnight targets 4K/60 on Xbox Series X, but my preview at times felt like it struggled to maintain 30 fps. What's more troubling, though, is the screen tearing that appears throughout the preview, spawning from the game's use of a-sync. The tearing often appears close to the center of the screen, suggesting the game is far away from its performance target. Of course, Compulsion is still working to optimize South of Midnight and there's some time to address these problems before the game comes out on April 8 - but they're cutting it close. I think the stop-motion effect is a grand idea and it would work well if Compulsion committed to the bit. If the framerate is supposed to be low, keep it low, rather than popping in and out of higher framerates, which makes everything feel like a mistake. Consistency is the key, and South of Midnight hasn't nailed that yet. This is Compulsion's first attempt at building a game with all of the resources and attention that Xbox provides, and the studio has crafted a beautiful, mysterious world with an ambitious mechanical conceit and a badass protagonist. The stop-motion effect is still hit-or-miss, but that doesn't detract from the game's other successes. I remain incredibly stoked on South of Midnight. South of Midnight is due to hit Xbox Series X/S, PC and Game Pass on April 8. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/south-of-midnight-preview-stopped-motion-160003119.html?src=rss

If you're not one for carrying lots of books around then an e-reader is the way to go. Right now, you can get the 16GB Amazon Kindle Paperwhite for $135, down from $160. The 16 percent discount brings the device to just $5 more than its Black Friday price. Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite came out in 2024 and offers a seven-inch glare-free display with 300ppi resolution. It also has up to 12 weeks of battery, an adjustable warm light and a flush-front design. Plus, its IPX8 certified waterproof and Audible through Bluetooth. The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, which retails for $200, is our choice for best premium ereader. It offers 32GB of storage, wireless charging and an auto-adjusting front light sensor. We gave it an 85 in our review when Amazon released it late last year. 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/deals/the-2024-kindle-paperwhite-drops-to-its-lowest-price-of-the-year-151158322.html?src=rss

It's happening again. Sony just scheduled a State of Play livestream event for February 12. The stream starts at 5PM ET and should run for around 40 minutes. You can watch it on the PlayStation website, Twitch or via the official YouTube page.What will be revealed? We don't exactly know. We do, however, have some educated guesses. It's likely we'll get new trailers and information regarding hotly-anticipated titles like Marvel's Wolverine and Death Stranding 2. Hideo Kojima's upcoming sequel should come out this year, so it's high time for another beefy trailer.Sucker Punch's Ghost of Yotei already has a 2025 release window, so we could get an actual date on that one. Maybe we'll even get a fresh look at gameplay. Bungie's PvP extraction shooter Marathon could get a trailer and a beta release date, which would be pretty cool. Naughty Dog also recently announced a brand-new IP called Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. I wouldn't mind some more info on that one.Finally, there's the Xbox of it all. We know that the former Xbox exclusive Forza Horizon 5 is coming to PS5 this spring, so we could get a concrete release date. The same goes for the blisteringly fun Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Could we even get an announcement that the Halo franchise is finally coming to PlayStation? Maybe, as there have been rumors.What we won't see are the various live-service games that Sony has recently canned. Last month, Sony canceled two unannounced live-service titles that were in development at Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games. The Bluepoint game was reportedly a live-service God of War game, though Bend Studio's title remains unknown.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sonys-next-state-of-play-event-is-set-for-february-12-at-5pm-et-150934514.html?src=rss

The Powerbeats Pro 2 ($250) was hardly a secret. Although Beats officially announced the new fitness-focused earbuds today, it has been teasing them since last September. And over the last few weeks, a number of pro athletes have been wearing the earbuds in public, including a few NFL players at the Super Bowl. There was little left to see of the Powerbeats Pro 2, but at least there remain more details to discover about the tech inside. Beats completely overhauled this new model, reducing both size and weight in the process. The company is also utilizing Apple's H2 chip to unlock a host of features - most notable of which is heart-rate tracking. Given it's been nearly six years since the original, there are understandably substantial improvements to audio quality and battery life, as well as the addition of active noise cancellation (ANC). The Powerbeats Pro 2 will be available this week, and since I've been testing them for several days, I can offer some advice on whether these earbuds are worth investment. Surprisingly, Beats delivered its big overhaul while keeping the price the same as the original Powerbeats Pro. Powerbeats Pro 2 design One of the main updates Beats brought to the Powerbeats Pro 2 is its overall look. An over-the-ear hook has been the main aesthetic and functional element on this product line since the first Powerbeats model debuted in 2010. For this redesign, Beats opted for nickel titanium alloy wiring inside the hook to improve comfort, flexibility and durability. The earhook is over 50 percent smaller than what's on the Powerbeats Pro, a change that Beats made to help the earbuds work better with glasses. That's a welcome change since the previous model wasn't very glasses or hat friendly. Version 2.0 is definitely more comfy when I wear them with my Goodr shades or a baseball cap. The main housing of the earbuds is smaller as well, and it's 20 percent lighter. This results in a more compact frame that's less obtrusive. Beats says it tweaked the shape of both the earbuds and their acoustic housing for improved comfort and an effective seal. Physical buttons are still available on the Powerbeats Pro 2, with a volume rocker on each side and multi-function controls on the b" logo button for playback, calls and more. This new model is IPX4 rated for water resistance, so sweaty workouts shouldn't be a concern. Thankfully, Beats also made the charging case more compact. The company says the accessory is 33 percent smaller than the one that came with the Powerbeats Pro. It's still plenty big compared to most earbuds cases these days since it needs extra space to accommodate those hooks. The case supports wireless charging, but there's also a USB-C port around back for wired top ups. The pairing button, should you need it, is inside between the two earbud cradles. Heart-rate tracking Billy Steele for Engadget There's plenty to discuss in terms of features on the Powerbeats Pro 2, but the biggest of them is heart-rate tracking. Interestingly, these are Apple's first earbuds with that technology onboard, an ability that Beats says it borrowed from Apple Watch. The sensor is situated right behind the ear tip to take readings from both earbuds every five seconds. Beats says it developed the Powerbeats Pro 2's heart-rate sensor from the ground up," and that it relies on four key components. A green LED light emits over 100 pulses per second to go through the skin and hit red blood cells. A photodiode then captures reflected light from those cells and an optical lens keeps transmitted and received light separated. Finally, an accelerometer compensates for your movement to aid in accuracy and consistency. Tracking my heart rate with the Powerbeats Pro 2 was accurate and reliable. During my tests, the figures displayed in the Runna app mirrored what was on my Apple Watch. They sometimes took a second or two to sync because the two devices take measurements at different times, but once the earbuds and the smartwatch settled, the numbers always matched. The main issue with heart-rate tracking right now is the relatively short list of supported apps on iOS. The Powerbeats Pro 2 doesn't work with Apple's own Fitness app. Instead, you'll have to rely on Nike Run Club, Runna, Ladder, Slopes, Open, Peloton and YaoYao for your workouts. You will be able to see all of the collected data in the Health app on iOS. It's a much better situation for Android users as Beats says all fitness and wellness apps" that have heart-rate monitoring abilities will be fully compatible with these earbuds. On Android though, you have to manually turn on heart-rate monitoring in either the Beats app or on the Powerbeats Pro 2 - and remember to turn it off when you're done. On iOS, it happens automatically once you give your go-to app(s) the proper permissions. Software and additional Powerbeats Pro 2 features Billy Steele for Engadget Beats decided to use Apple's H2 chip this time around, the same tech that enables all the powerful features on the AirPods Pro 2. That component assists with everything from heart-rate monitoring to Spatial Audio and ANC. A number of handy AirPods features are available on the Powerbeats Pro 2 thanks to the chip as well. You won't find the AirPods Pro 2 Hearing Aid and Hearing Test tools here, but Beats says Apple's Hearing Protection is available on these earbuds. The features list is longer for iOS users than Android this time around. On iPhone and iPad, you can expect quick, one-touch pairing that syncs with iCloud for every Apple device on your account. There's also Audio Sharing with another set of Beats earbuds/headphones or AirPods, hands-free Siri, Find My, Personalized Spatial Audio and controls customization. Like other recent Beats products, all of this is baked into iOS and accessible through the Bluetooth menu, so you don't need to download another app. On Android, you will need the Beats app. Once it's installed, you'll get one-touch pairing, Locate My Beats, control customization, the ability to switch listening modes and enable or disable heart-rate monitoring. Sound quality Beats completely redesigned the acoustic architecture for the Powerbeats Pro 2, including new venting, an upgraded amplifier, new protective mesh and a custom-designed, dual-layer transducer. The company says it also changed the angle of the transducers for a more direct path for sound to your ear canals. All of this leads to remarkable dynamic range across the frequency curve," according to Beats. The promise of a balanced, powerful sound profile" holds true across most genres, although the Powerbeats Pro 2 is at its best with bass-heavy, high-energy tunes. Kendrick Lamar's GNX has excellent, nuanced low-end thump on these earbuds, and most hip-hop albums follow suit. There's plenty of bass to boost your energy levels during training sessions, but it doesn't overpower the mix. Vocals and other elements cut through clearly, which is crucial for less bass-dependent styles like rock and metal. No Cure's I Hope I Die Here carries every bit of dirty texture from the distorted guitars, but those instruments don't get mashed up with the metal band's drums, bass and vocals. Amidst the chaos of tracks like Hang Me From the Bible Belt," there's plenty of sonic detail in every breakdown. The Powerbeats Pro 2 supports Apple's Personalized Spatial Audio and Adaptive EQ. The former works with Dolby Atmos content (including Apple Music) to provide immersive, 360-degree sound. With those albums, movies and shows, these earbuds provide the sensation of being surrounded by 64 speakers. Spatial Audio is a staple of recent Apple and Beats audio products and it works well on the Powerbeats Pro 2. Plus, you get dynamic head tracking with Apple platforms and both lossless audio and ultra-low latency when you pair these earbuds with Apple's Vision Pro headset. I don't have a Vision Pro, so I wasn't able to test that compatibility. ANC performance on the Powerbeats Pro 2 Billy Steele for Engadget The Powerbeats Pro 2 are the first Powerbeats earbuds with ANC. In fact, Beats calls the performance here an exceptional noise canceling solution with an immersive listening experience - the best ever in a Beats product." Hybrid microphones monitor environmental noise and any clamor that might make its way in your ears, automatically adjusting the level of ANC to match your surroundings. While the Powerbeats Pro 2's noise-canceling tech does reduce distractions from constant annoyances like white noise machines and fans, it doesn't entirely block them. The earbuds also struggle to quiet human voices, which is where a lot of the competition stumbles, too. If you're like me and listen at around 70 percent volume most of the time, this is less of an issue. But at quieter levels, and during podcasts, the mediocre ANC performance here becomes apparent. Call quality ANC might not be impressive on the Powerbeats Pro 2, but the earbuds are certainly handy for calls. Thanks to Apple's natural-sounding transparency mode, you never feel like you need to shout to hear yourself over voice or video chats. I don't think that ambient sound is quite as clear as the AirPods Pro 2, though, especially in terms of piping in your voice. Beats says it has employed microphones and an accelerometer to focus on your voice while blocking background noise. In fact, the company explains that the computational audio setup is the same as what's available on the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. The Powerbeats Pro 2 also offers Voice Isolation with compatible Apple devices, which the company says enables clarity and noise suppression that exceeds any other Beats product. In practice, the voice clarity isn't pristine, but it's certainly usable, even for work calls when you need to sound as good as possible. Where the Powerbeats Pro 2 does shine in this regard is blocking background racket. The earbuds silenced loud fans and other constant sources of noise to the point they weren't noticeable at all on the other end. Powerbeats Pro 2 battery life Billy Steele for Engadget Beats says the Powerbeats Pro 2 will last up to 10 hours on a charge with ANC off and eight hours with either noise-cancellation or transparency mode active. The previous model was rated at nine hours, but it wasn't equipped with ANC. During my tests with active noise cancellation mostly disabled, but still employing all of the sound modes at certain times, I managed to wring out over 13 hours of use. In another test with ANC on the entire time, I surpassed the eight-hour figure with ease. The company explains that the heart-rate tracking doesn't impact battery life, in case that was a concern for you. I didn't notice any speedier battery drain during my workouts for this review, which were once a day and lasted at most one hour. If I do encounter anything to the contrary, I'll update this review with those findings. The competition Plenty of companies make earbuds with a similar hook design to the Powerbeats Pro 2 these days. But none of them come close to offering the tech and features that Beats does, especially for iOS users. If you're looking for an alternative with heart-rate tracking, the Sennheiser Momentum Sport is a reliable alternative. Sennheiser's fitness earbuds lack the polish of the company's flagship Momentum set, mostly in terms of audio and ANC performance. However, the heart-rate monitoring is reliable and accurate, plus it even tracks body temperature for workouts. I prefer the design of the Sport to the regular Momentum model as well, and the option of added bass is great for an energy boost. This set is more expensive than the Powerbeats Pro 2 though ($330), so that may factor into your decision. Wrap-up The Powerbeats Pro 2 presents an interesting proposition, at least for the time being. For now, it's the only set of Apple earbuds that offers heart-rate tracking. Reports indicate that the upcoming AirPods Pro 3 will also carry such sensors, but those probably won't arrive until September with the new batch of iPhones. It may seem odd that Apple would rely on a subsidiary for such a notable debut, but it makes a lot of sense when you consider these are earbuds designed primarily for workouts and other physical activities. Plus, this is a great stress test for the tech before it makes its way into a set of AirPods. On the whole, the Powerbeats Pro 2 are a substantial upgrade over the original. They're more comfortable and have a host of new features that help it match today's earbuds. Beats needs to expand support for heart-rate tracking on iOS and its ANC performance won't silence the world around you. But if you're into the hook design for a secure fit, you'll have a hard time finding another spec sheet that's this full. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/beats-powerbeats-pro-2-review-apples-first-earbuds-with-heart-rate-tracking-150026710.html?src=rss

This week is the AI Action Summit in Paris and the European Union is using it as an opportunity to deep dive into the growing sector. The bloc has announced it's putting 200 billion ($206 billion) toward AI development. This number includes 20 billion ($20.6 billion) for AI gigafactories that process and train large models.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the plan, called InvestAI, at the AI Action Summit on Tuesday. She pushed the position that Europe isn't late to the competition against China and the US. "The frontier is constantly moving, leadership is still up for grabs, and behind the frontier is the whole world of AI adoption," von der Leyen stated. "Bringing AI to industry-specific applications and harnessing its power for productivity and for people, and this is where Europe can truly lead the race."The news follows France announcement that private investments are funneling 109 billion ($112.5 billion) into its AI ecosystem. The country is also committing a gigawatt of nuclear power for an AI computing project led by FluidStack. It will use Nvidia-made chips.January was a big month for AI growth in the US and China. In the US, OpenAI and SoftBank announced a $500 billion partnership called Stargate to create AI infrastructure. Then Chinese AI assistant DeepSeek exploded onto the global stage, with the company claiming it offers the same quality as its competitors - but cost a lot less to built.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/eu-will-put-over-200-billion-toward-ai-development-150036706.html?src=rss

When it launched a couple of years back, the Ninja Creami became a viral sensation by making it easy to turn almost anything into a tasty frozen treat. However, there was still one thing it couldn't do: a classic soft serve, like the kind you dream about on hot summer days. But Ninja has made it its goal to change that by launching the Swirl by Creami today, and after getting a chance to taste what it makes, I'd say: mission accomplished. In a lot of ways, even though the Swirl is its own standalone gadget, it sort of like an expansion pack for the original Ninja Creami. That's because if you look at the right side of the machine, it looks almost identical to its predecessor. The big change is the new module on the left, which is reserved entirely for soft serve. The other major difference is the design of Ninja's pint containers. Now there's a new base featuring a built-in nozzle for spitting out soft serve and not one but two lids. There are also a few other details like a large handle on the side of the device, but we'll get to that later. Sam Rutherford for Engadget For anyone who has used the original, the general workflow is quite familiar. First, whip up an ice cream base and then freeze it in a pint container. From there, you select one of two main modes (traditional scoops or soft serve), attach the paddle lid and then spin your frozen base as normal. If you're making a traditional churned-style ice cream or one of its variants, you can simply stop there. But if you want soft serve, here's where things take a turn. After spinning your base, you take the paddle lid off, put on Ninja's soft serve lid before slotting the entire pint into the cavity on the left side of the machine. Then you need to twist the base of the container to open up the previously mentioned nozzle. Now you can pull down on the handle to the right and after a short pause, the Swirl will push out smooth, airy soft serve just like your favorite local shop. Or Pinkberry, because this thing can do froyo too. The Ninja Swirl uses a new pint container with a built-in nozzle for dispensing soft serve. Sam Rutherford for Engadget Granted, Ninja's latest two-in-one contraption takes a few extra steps to get to the end zone, but the results really do speak for themselves (assuming you started with a decent recipe, of course). The Swirl's soft serve is light and creamy without a hint of any crystal to mess up that unique semi-solid texture. And as its name implies, you can even twirl it around to create that signature spiral of frozen goodness on top of a cone or cup. Honestly, it's kind of magical. I will die on this hill, but to me there's nothing better than enjoying soft serve on a super hot day (preferably after a game of mini golf or a trip to the beach). So to have the power to make it at home feels really special, as soft serve has long been one of those things you need to go outside to get. During my demo, I tried a basic chocolate soft serve, froyo, peanut butter Creamifit" (which is basically soft serve with added protein and less sugar) and even a faux Shamrock Shake, all made using the Swirl. Heck, there was even some frozen mango and pineapple that were blended up to create homemade Dole Whips. And all of them tasted fantastic. The nozzle on the Swirl's pint container even recreates the look and shape you get from commercial soft serve machines. Sam Rutherford for Engadget Aside from soft serve, the Swirl also features a few improvements over previous models. Ninja says it has refined some of its programs to reduce things like the need to respin ice cream in order to get the proper consistency. The machine is also a bit quieter and it has indicator lights that tell how long it takes to finish blending a frozen base. And for people who like making treats with alternative sugars, the Lite Ice Cream mode has been adjusted to produce better results. That said, there are a couple of important things to know about the Swirl before you run out and buy one. Like the standard Creami, it uses traditional pint-sized containers instead of the larger 24-ounce cups used with the Creami Deluxe. You also can't spin half a pint like you can on the larger models, though if you want, you can make soft serve out of store-bought ice cream (you know, in case you're too lazy or impatient to make your own). Finally, when making soft serve, mix-ins are better left for the end rather than trying to blend them in. Regardless, similar to what the original Creami did for ice cream by distilling the tech from a $5,000+ Pacojet into a $200 machine regular folk can actually afford, the Swirl is now doing the same for soft serve. Right now, even the cheapest single-purpose machine on the market costs almost $1,000, while the $350 Ninja Swirl can do everything the old Creami could do (which includes making milkshakes, sorbets, gelatos and more) plus practically every type of soft serve you can imagine - all in one device. So while it's definitely pricer and bulkier than its predecessor, the Swirl really feels like a one-stop home ice cream shop. The Ninja Swirl by Creami is available today directly from Ninja or third-party retailers including Amazon, Target, Best Buy and Kohl's. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/the-ninja-swirl-by-creami-is-conquering-the-hardest-type-of-ice-cream-to-make-at-home-143002442.html?src=rss

YouTube has officially been around for two decades and a lot has changed over the years - including how people watch it. Now, a new report from YouTube claims TV has overtaken mobile to become the primary device for viewing content in the US.Yes, despite the tremendous push to smart phones, TVs, with their big screens and chunky remotes are still relevant. YouTube looks at watch time to determine device positions.Nielsen, a market research company that's been reporting on TV viewing habits for decades, says that YouTube has been the number one service in streaming watch time for the last two years.YouTube has also announced that its working on a new feature called Watch With. This tool should allow creators to produce live commentary and reactions to any games and events. Of course, many creators already do something like this, but the new tool could be more integrated into the platform. YouTube began testing it with the NFL but will try it out with other content throughout the year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/youtube/more-users-are-watching-youtube-on-tv-than-mobile-140035151.html?src=rss

Eric Council Jr. from Alabama has pleaded guilty to being a co-conspirator in the unauthorized takeover of the US Securities and Exchange Commission's Twitter account last year. In early January 2024, SEC's official X account tweeted that bitcoin ETFs had been approved "for listing on all registered national securities exchanges," but SEC Chair Gary Gensler quickly announced that the agency's account was compromised. The commission later revealed that it was the victim of a SIM swapping attack, though it also admitted that it account wasn't protected by multi-factor authentication. Council was the one who carried out the SIM swap, according to the Department of Justice.Council used an ID card printer to create a fake ID that he then used to gain access to a phone number associated with the SEC's account. In a SIM swap, the perpetrator typically gets a user's carrier to reassign a phone number to a new SIM card that they control. His co-conspirators, who paid Council in bitcoin, then changed the SEC account's password to control it before posting the false news along with a fake quote from Gensler. As for why the SEC's account was protected by MFA, the agency previously said that it asked X's support staff to disable it last July, because it was having issues with account access. But it remained disabled until after the account was compromised.Council, who was arrested in October, has pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and access device fraud. He will be sentenced on May 16 and could face up to five years in prison. The Justice Department said Bitcoin rose by $1,000 after the fake announcement went up and then fell by $2,000 when the SEC issued a correction.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/man-from-alabama-pleads-guilty-over-secs-fake-bitcoin-post-on-x-133045810.html?src=rss

Elon Musk has launched a $97.4 billion bid for AI darling OpenAI. The Wall Street Journal reported that a group of investors led by Musk's xAI submitted an unsolicited offer to the company's board of directors on Monday. It's a bid for the non-profit that controls OpenAI's for-profit arm.OpenAI is not a traditional company, and the non-profit structure Sam Altman and others at the company want it to get away from may, in fact, protect it from Musk's offer.There's further drama around all this: Musk had sued OpenAI and Sam Altman for allegedly ditching its non-profit mission around this time last year.An OpenAI spokesperson pointed Engadget to an X post from CEO Sam Altman that said, No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk's purchase of Twitter was a heady lump of money that didn't lead to a typical ROI. It did, however, help him attach himself to President Trump's successful bid for office.- Mat SmithGet this delivered direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!The biggest tech stories you missed

Sky Glass, an all-in-one TV with a six-speaker sound bar and 4K Quantum Dot Display, came out in late 2021. Now the system is getting its successor: the Sky Glass Gen 2. One of the biggest improvements is sound quality, with a seven-speaker Dolby Atmos sound system, including a new dual sub-woofer.The second gen Sky Glass model also has a brighter 4K Quantum Dot display, a wider viewing angle and a better contrast. It gets a newly designed stand, which just slots right into the TV without any nuts and bolts. The TV also now fits on universal wall mounts.A lot of things do remain the same between the new and older model. The TV's core offerings remain the same, filled with Sky Originals, Sky Exclusives and access to apps like BBC iPlayer and Netflix. The new model also keeps Playlist, a feature that lets you add your favorite shows and movies to their own tab. Plus, it's still available in 43-inch, 55-inch and 65-inch models. However, the Gen 2 comes in three new colors: Volcanic Grey, Arctic Silver and Atlantic Blue.Get the Sky Glass Gen 2 43-inch model for 699, 55-inch model for 949 or the 65-inch model for 1,199.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/the-sky-glass-gen-2-offers-a-brighter-display-and-better-sound-113000277.html?src=rss

There's no such thing as one best" music streaming service. Most of these apps are designed around the same principles and provide access to a huge music catalog. Pretty much none of them are paying artists properly, yet nearly all of them are steadily raising prices. If you've used one to build up a library over the years, that one is most likely to be in tune with your musical tastes.

A new iPhone update patches a flaw that could allow an attacker to turn off a nearly seven-year-old USB security feature. Apple's release notes for iOS 18.3.1 and iPadOS 18.3.1 say the bug, which allowed the deactivation of USB Restricted Mode, may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals."The release notes describe the now-patched security flaw as allowing a physical attack," which suggests the attacker needed the device in hand to exploit it. So, unless your device was hijacked by extremely sophisticated" attackers, there was nothing to panic about even before Monday's update.USB Restricted Mode, introduced in iOS 11.4.1, prevents USB accessories from accessing your device's data if it hasn't been unlocked for an hour. The idea is to protect your iPhone or iPad from law enforcement devices like Cellebrite and Graykey. It's also the reason for the message asking you to unlock your device before connecting it to a Mac or Windows PC.Aligned with its typical policy, Apple didn't detail who or what entity used the attack in the wild, only noting that the company is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited." Security researcher Bill Marczak of the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab reported the flaw. In 2016, while in grad school, he discovered the iPhone's first known zero-day remote jailbreak, which a cyberwarfare company sold to governments.You can make sure USB Restricted Mode is activated by heading to Settings > Face ID (or Touch ID) & Passcode. Scroll down to Accessories" in the list and ensure the toggle is off, which it is by default. Somewhat confusingly, toggling the setting off means the security feature is on because it lists features with allowed access.As usual, you can install the update by heading to Settings > General > Software Update on your iPhone or iPad.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/apple-patches-iphone-exploit-that-allowed-for-extremely-sophisticated-attack-214237852.html?src=rss

Roblox, Discord, OpenAI and Google are launching a nonprofit organization called ROOST, or Robust Open Online Safety Tools, which hopes "to build scalable,interoperable safety infrastructure suited for the AI era."The organization plans on providing free, open-source safety tools to public and private organizations to use on their own platforms, with a special focus on child safety to start. The press release announcing ROOST specifically calls out plans to offer "tools to detect, review, and report child sexual abuse material (CSAM)." Partner companies are providing funding for these tools, and the technical expertise to build them, too.The operating theory of ROOST is that access to generative AI is rapidly changing the online landscape, making the need for "reliable and accessible safety infrastructure" all the more urgent. And rather than expect a smaller company or organization to create their own safety tools from scratch, ROOST wants to provide them, free of charge.Child online safety has been the issue du jour since the Children and Teen's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) started making their way through Congress, even though both failed to pass in the House. At least some of the companies involved in ROOST, specifically Google and OpenAI, have also already pledged to stop AI tools from being used to generate CSAM.The child safety issue is even more pressing for Roblox. As of 2020, two-thirds of all US children between nine and 12 play Roblox, and the platform has historically struggled to address child safety. Bloomberg Businessweek reported that the company had a "pedophile problem" in 2024, which prompted multiple policy changes and new restrictions around children's DMs. ROOST won't make all of these problems go away, but should make dealing with them easier for any other organization or company that finds itself in Roblox's position.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/roblox-discord-openai-and-google-found-new-child-safety-group-194445241.html?src=rss

Lyft is scrambling to compete as Uber racks up autonomous vehicle (AV) partners. On Monday, Lyft said it partnered with Japanese conglomerate Marubeni to bring robotaxis to Dallas roads as soon as next year before expanding to thousands of vehicles" in other cities.It's the first fruit from Lyft's Mobileye partnership, announced in November. TechCrunch notes that the Intel-owned Mobileye's tech is already available in models from (among others) Audi, Ford, GM, Nissan and Volkswagen. Lyft hasn't yet said which automaker(s) it's partnering with for the Dallas rollout. But Lyft executive vice president of driver experience Jeremy Bird told TechCrunch that it's in talks with every major autonomous carmaker."Marubeni, which owns subsidiaries in industries ranging from cereal to fossil fuels (fortunately, not in the same product), owns and manages fleets with over 900,000 vehicles across the globe. The company's Mobileye-equipped robotaxis will be available for folks in Dallas to hail through the Lyft app after the program launches.Although the Dallas launch will serve as Lyft's pilot program for Mobileye AVs, it may not end up being the company's next robotaxi rollout. Last year, it also partnered with AV company May Mobility and aims to bring robotaxis with its tech to Atlanta sometime in 2025.The pressure is on Lyft to keep up, as Uber has inked deals with a long list of companies in the AV space, including Avride, Aurora Innovation, Nuro, Waabi and Wayve. Uber and Alphabet's Waymo also plan to launch AV fleets in Austin and Atlanta early this year. (The waitlist is already open.) Tesla has also said it plans to introduce its first autonomous vehicle service in Austin this June.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/lyft-aims-for-a-2026-dallas-launch-of-its-first-mobileye-robotaxis-190137968.html?src=rss

OnePlus has revealed that you'll be able to get your hands on (or wrist under) its latest smartwatch very soon. The OnePlus Watch 3 will be available in the US, Canada and Europe on February 18. The company hasn't announced pricing just yet, but you can get a $30 discount if you sign up for updates.It claims that the Watch 3 can run for up to 16 days in power saver mode and five days in smart mode (which would be 20 hours longer than the Watch 2). Meanwhile, the wearable is said to run for up to 72 hours on a single charge if you're a heavy user. The company added that you can get a full day of use out of a 10-minute charge as well.OnePlus is trying to balance performance and battery life by employing two chipsets: the Snapdragon W5 performance chipset and the new BES2800 MCU Efficiency chipset. The Watch 3 also uses the same battery tech that the company employed in the OnePlus 13, while battery capacity has increased from 500mAh in the previous model to 631mAh. The extra capacity plus the promise of lower power consumption make for a potent combination to boost battery life.As was the case last time around, the OnePlus Watch 3 supports WearOS. The latest model doesn't look very different from the previous one on the surface, though there's a new bezel made from titanium and the sapphire crystal screen should bolster durability. The OnePlus Watch 3 will be available in two colorways, emerald titanium and obsidian titanium.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/the-oneplus-watch-3-arrives-on-february-18-155208939.html?src=rss

Last month, a pack of two Blink Mini 2 security cameras was $40, down from $80. They're currently 46 percent off at $38, meaning you get two for less than the price of one. These are also the latest model, offering advantages previous iterations don't have. The Blink Mini 2 security camera captures live video in 1080p HD, and there's also a night HD view. If you have a Blink Subscription Plan, you can stream continuously for 90 minutes. The plan is sold separately, of course, but this package comes with a 30-day free trial to let you have a taste of these extra features. The subscription also grants access to more features like motion detection alerts and clip-saving. You can even send clips to others later. The newest model comes with a spotlight for improved night visibility and has a wider field of view, 143 degrees up from 110 degrees that the original Blink Mini has. It's also compatible with Amazon's Alexa, allowing you to see what's going on outside with just a few words.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/pick-up-two-blink-mini-security-cameras-for-only-38-152645383.html?src=rss

It's a classic New York experience. You're riding the subway to work, and suddenly the train stops. The lights go off, and you seem to be trapped between stations in a tunnel. For many New Yorkers, hardened over years of bad weather, prevalent trash and cohabitation with rats, this is just another recurring event that's made less nerve-wracking by experience. But for Jarrod Musano, being stuck on a southbound 6 train that had lost power, there was little relief. Musano was born deaf, and the audio-only announcements were of no help. Musano couldn't see anything in the darkness, and had to rely on gauging the amount of panic in his surroundings.I knew if it were serious, people would be moving quickly," he recalled of the incident. Musano's experience reflects one of many ways people who have disabilities and, more specifically, who are hard of hearing, have difficulty when using public transportation. Musano is the CEO of Convo, a company that was founded in 2009 and connects people with sign language interpreters on demand. Today, the company is announcing a partnership with the New York Transit Authority, New Jersey Transit and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that brings its service to area airports, trains and other major transit hubs. This includes the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) subway system, the Long Island Rail Road and NJTransit.Through this partnership, QR codes will be placed at various locations across those systems, and scanning them will launch Convo's web app through a browser. The user will be asked to grant access to their microphone and camera, and they'll then be connected to a real-time sign language interpreter on their devices. This, of course, requires that people have mobile phones or tablets with working internet connections, which might not always be reliable. It's worth noting, though, that the MTA has been adding Wi-Fi coverage to subway stations across its network. Plus, many of these QR codes are placed at customer service booths, which have gadgets on hand that could provide access.Convo and its partners had been conducting pilot tests at Penn Station, Times Square and the Port Authority terminal for months, and said in a press release that in general, users reported feelings of empowerment, inclusion and newfound confidence in interacting with transit staff." The company added that 44 out of 47 users were able to successfully access the service during the pilot.There are a number of reasons using a sign language interpreter would be more effective and efficient than, say, typing messages on your phone and handing them to another person to read. First, for many deaf individuals, sign language is their native language, and it would be more intuitive to express themselves that way than to type in English. Sign language also has different syntax than English. A sign language interpreter can also help translate as a deaf person is signing and also while a person with hearing is speaking, which can reduce frustration and time spent handing a phone back and forth. It can feel comforting and reassuring to have an interpreter available that understands what you're communicating, and since they are likely to be fairly familiar with the situation, the interpreter could also help share information they already know from context and experience.I went to look for these QR codes when I was at Moynihan Train Hall (an extension of Penn Station) this weekend, and once I spotted the first one at a ticketing counter at the LIRR service area, I started noticing them all over. I counted five of the little green squares in total, and after scanning one, I was brought to Convo's page on my browser, which displayed an explanation and tips for better service. I didn't want to waste an interpreter's time, so I stopped after that.I do have to point out that as a T-Mobile user, I frequently lose my signal in Moynihan Train Hall and have to use the station's public Wi-Fi, which in my experience has unreliable speeds.That's one of the challenges Convo will have to contend with and work on as the service reaches more people. As we deploy this out to the MTA, we're going to learn the types of behaviors, the types of requests, the types of challenges that we're going to face," Musano said when I asked if languages other than American Sign Language would be supported. For now, ASL is the default, though Convo wouldn't have to stretch too hard to find interpreters for British Sign Language and others. In fact, Convo already works with major networks in countries like Australia and the UK, with Musano saying it has partnerships with British Airlines, Aer Lingus, the British railway and more.Convo's service in the New York and New Jersey transit systems is free, and its app Convo Now provides 20 free minutes per month to all users who need sign language interpreters.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/new-york-metro-transit-systems-add-on-demand-sign-language-interpreters-152034505.html?src=rss

Having thought-out, unique passwords for each account is hard - recently, I got stopped for putting the same letter twice in a row - especially when it comes to remembering them all. That's why a password manager is so helpful: It creates and stores all your passwords, so you have peace of mind instead of a major headache. Now, one of our favorite password managers for cross-platform availability is having a sale. NordPass Premium is currently available for $1.29 per month or just shy of $35 for 27 months, rather than $81, and includes three free months. While NordPass offers a free tier, the Premium plan keeps you logged in when you've switched devices. NordPass Premium also gives you tools such as Password Health, which identifies weak, old or reused passwords, and Data Breach Scanner, which alerts you if your emails or credit cards appear in a data breach. Plus, it has Emergency Access, which allows a chosen friend or family member to access all your accounts if you're unable to do so. 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/deals/two-years-of-nordpass-premium-is-56-percent-off-right-now-144511622.html?src=rss

Apple currently has four different Apple Pencil models, and if you aren't sure which one to get, try reading this guide first. But if the USB-C Apple Pencil seems like the best option for your needs, it's now back on sale for $69 from its list price of $79. That's only $4 more expensive than the lowest price we've seen it listed for. The USB-C Apple Pencil is currently the most affordable Apple Pencil that you can use with all current-generation iPads, like the M2 iPad Air, M4 iPad Pro, 10th gen iPad and 6th gen iPad mini. It also works with some older devices, like the 3rd to 6th gen 12.9-inch iPad Pros, 1st to 4th gen iPad Pros and 4th and 5th gen iPad Airs. Whew, what a mouthful. It's a standard stylus and has low-latency input, perfect for artists who prefer drawing using an iPad. Unlike the Apple Pencil Pro, it doesn't have pressure sensitivity or wireless charging capabilities, though you can also connect the pen to the iPad using a cable. However, it does support the hover feature if you own an M2-powered iPad.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-usb-c-apple-pencil-is-back-on-sale-for-69-140710599.html?src=rss

It's France's turn to get in on the AI boom. On Sunday, President Emmanuel Macron announced private investments into the country's AI ecosystem totaling 109 billion ($112.5 billion). The announcement came ahead of Paris hosting the AI Action Summit on Monday and Tuesday."I can tell you this evening, Europe is going to speed up, France is going to speed up," Macron stated during a TV interview on France 2 and India's First Post. He further explained that the investment is "exactly the equivalent for France of what the United States announced with Stargate - $500 billion - it's the same ratio," when accounting for France's significantly smaller population.Today, France will also reportedly pledge a gigawatt of nuclear power to create an AI computing project, the The Wall Street Journal reports. France has nuclear power to spare, with 57 reactors in 18 plants and exporting about a fifth of the electricity it produced last year -despite using nuclear power for over two-thirds of its electricity.The project's lead, FluidStack, aims to start work in the third quarter of 2024. By the end of 2026, the goal is to have 250 megawatts of power linked to AI-computing chips. Most of these chips are made by Nvidia, which FluidStack claims will send chips over when they need them. It also states that there's potential to expand to a 10 gigawatt facility by 2030.The news follows Macron and United Arab Emirates leader Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan's February 6 announcement to put between 30 million and 50 million ($31 million to $51.6 million) towards a one-gigawatt AI center.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/france-pledges-to-build-one-gigawatt-of-new-nuclear-to-speed-up-its-ai-ambitions-140021069.html?src=rss

T-Mobile's Starlink satellite texting feature is now available in beta for anyone with a compatible iPhone or Android device to try out, the company announced in a Super Bowl ad. The new feature provides mobile 4G or 5G coverage in areas not covered by regular cell phone towers, and you can sign up for it even if you're on another carrier like Verizon or AT&T.The service will be available for free until July to approved beta testers, though limited spots are available. After that, customers of T-Mobile's high-end offerings like the $180 Go5G Next plan will receive the feature at no cost. Other T-Mobile customers can add the service for $15 per month, or $10 per month if they sign up before the end of February. Users of other carriers will be charged $20 per month starting in July (T-Mobile didn't explain exactly how that would work).In August last year, T-Mobile and Elon Musk's SpaceX announced a collaboration that would allow the carrier's subscribers to connect to Starlink's second-gen satellites for coverage even from the most remote locations. The service works with standard mobile phones, but only recent, compatible models including the Apple iPhone 14 series and later, all Google Pixel 9 models, the Samsung Galaxy S21 and later, Galaxy Flip3 and Fold3 or later and others.If you have such a device, are enrolled in the T-Mobile Starlink beta and find yourself in an area of the US without regular cell phone coverage, you should be able to connect to a satellite and send someone a simple text message. Starlink support for voice calls and data is coming later, T-Mobile said.T-Mobile and Starlink sent and received the first text messages using satellites back in January 2024. In the months that followed, the FCC had given them permission to enable satellite texting in certain locations so that people could stay connected in hurricane-hit areas. Now, anyone can try it, but it would be best to apply soon given the limited spots.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/t-mobile-is-offering-its-starlink-satellite-texting-feature-for-free-until-july-130044054.html?src=rss

Social platform Discord announced a new feature today called Ignore. This allows a person to hide any new messages, DMs, server notifications, profiles and activity from selected users without alerting them. In unveiling the update, Discord noted that this type of softer approach to limiting interactions had been requested by its community. It's a less stark way to tune out a person compared with blocking them.In practice, DMs received from an Ignored person will appear in the inbox with an icon and a grayed-out name, so they are available if the ignorer chooses to look at them. The same applies to messages in a If somebody who chose to Ignore an account joins a voice or video chat where that ignored person is present, Discord will show a warning alerting them before they hop into the call.Ignore can be activated from several places, including the drop-down menu that appears when clicking on an account's avatar. A list of all ignored and blocked accounts is visible within the Content & Social tab of User Settings. You can stop ignoring a profile from that full list, from your Friends list or by going to the person's profile. Discord has complete details about using the Ignore feature in a Help Center article for any additional information.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/discord-introduces-a-feature-to-ignore-rather-than-block-users-125515521.html?src=rss

Civilization VII is getting a VR port soon, but it'll be exclusive to Meta's most recent headsets. Meta, 2K and Firaxis Games announced this weekend that the franchise's latest entry will be available on Meta Quest 3 and 3S in Spring 2025. Players will have the option to freely switch" between virtual and mixed reality as they wish. Per the release:

The Caesars Superdome will host Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, February 9. Here's how to tune in to the big game! (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) Chris Graythen via Getty Images The big day has arrived, and Super Bowl LIX is imminent. The Kansas City Chiefs are shooting for an unprecedented (for the NFL) third championship win in a row, while the Philadelphia Eagles are looking to play the spoiler - and avenge their narrow 38-35 loss to the Chiefs in the 2023 Super Bowl. The kickoff for the big game will be today - Sunday, February 9 - at 6:30PM ET at Caesars Superdome. It's the eighth time the storied New Orleans venue has hosted. The Kendrick Lamar, riding high on the five new Grammys he snagged just last Sunday, headlines the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show, where he'll be joined by SZA. Taylor Swift is expected to be at the game to cheer on beau Travis Kelce, but the cameras pointed at the luxury boxes will be splitting time between her and President Trump, who is also slated to attend the game in person. The championship game will be broadcast nationally on Fox this year and will be available on platforms like DirecTV Stream and Fubo. Looking for a free way to tune in? The Super Bowl will also be livestreamed on Tubi - in 4K, no less! Here's everything you need to know about how to watch the Super Bowl. When is Super Bowl LIX? The 2025 Super Bowl will be held today - Sunday, Feb. 9. What time does the Super Bowl start? Super Bowl LIX kicks off at 6:30PM ET/3:30PM PT, but the pregame show is already well underway. How to watch the Super Bowl live Super Bowl LIX is airing nationally on Fox and streaming live on Tubi. How to stream the Super Bowl for free this year Tubi is livestreaming Fox's coverage of the Super Bowl this year - the first time the free platform has done so. It will also be available in the Fox Sports app on mobile platforms. Beyond that, you can also sign up for free trials of DirecTV Stream, Fubo, YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV, each of which carry Fox in most locations. Two important caveats: Verify that your locality includes a Fox stream by inputting your ZIP code on their respective sites. And make sure to set a reminder to cancel before the trial subscription before you get billed if you don't want to keep these paid services. How to watch the 2025 Super Bowl without cable The Tubi option above is the easiest go-to starting point for free Super Bowl streaming - but no one knows how the service will hold up under what's certain to be its most intensive influx of concurrent users. There are plenty of worthwhile backups, each of which offer more comprehensive options for cordcutters beyond the game itself - say, watching SportsCenter on ESPN before or after the game. And most of our picks for best live TV streaming services offer free trials, so you can check them out risk-free. If you time it right, your free trial can include the Super Bowl broadcast, too. Where is the 2025 Super Bowl? The 2025 Super Bowl will be held at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The venue has been host to seven previous Super Bowl games. Who is performing in the Super Bowl 59 halftime show? Kendrick Lamar is headlining Super Bowl LIX, with a guest appearance by SZA. Who is playing in the Super Bowl 2025? AFC champions the Kansas City Chiefs will play NFC champs the Philadelphia Eagles. More ways to watch Super Bowl LIX Thanks to the wide array of streaming options detailed above, you'll be able to watch the Super Bowl on nearly any current device with a screen. There are plenty of Super Bowl TV deals ahead of the game if you need to upgrade that aging 40-inch screen with the dead pixels in the corner. Live close to a broadcast tower of a Fox station? Attach a good old-fashioned over-the-air antenna (like the Channel Master linked above), and you can get the game for free. Have a fast Internet connection but don't have access to the latest and greatest streaming apps on your TV? For as little as $25 or less, a new Roku or Fire TV device will ensure that you have all of these apps (including Tubi). See our list of best streaming devices for the full range of options. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/how-to-watch-super-bowl-2025-on-tubi-for-free-chiefs-vs-eagles-214817888.html?src=rss

Apple may have set aside its rumored plans for Mac-tethered augmented reality glasses, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's done with AR glasses altogether. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman - who reported last month that Apple was working on, but ultimately shelved, an AR glasses project - sources have told him that Apple's long-term goal of standalone AR glasses remains intact." Rather than creating a stopgap product" in the meantime that would need to be connected to a Mac, though, Gurman reports that the team is taking a slower, more cautious approach.It'll instead keep working on underlying technology - like screens and silicon" to make a standalone device work, he writes. As described in earlier reports, the AR glasses Apple is rumored to be developing wouldn't be another headset-style device like the Vision Pro, but would likely take a form more like the Xreal One, which look like regular glasses.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/apples-plans-for-ar-glasses-may-not-have-been-scrapped-entirely-200127426.html?src=rss

Trump and the company formerly known as Twitter appear to have ended their legal fight over the suspension of the president's account back in 2021. In a filing spotted by Bloomberg, lawyers for both parties asked the court to dismiss the case. Trump sued Twitter arguing that his First Amendment rights were violated after he was banned from the social media platform due to the risk of further incitement of violence" in the wake of the January 6 riot at the Capitol. A judge dismissed his lawsuit the following year, but Trump later appealed the decision.Of course, Twitter has since been taken over by Elon Musk and renamed X, and Musk has become a key Trump ally in the president's second term. There are no further details in the motion about the decision to dismiss. It comes shortly after Meta settled a lawsuit with Trump over the same issue, agreeing to pay $25 million after suspending his Facebook account in 2021.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/trump-drops-his-appeal-in-legal-battle-over-2021-twitter-ban-175109968.html?src=rss

We may bit a post-CES news lull some days, but the reviews are coming in hot and heavy as February begins. Samsung has already debuted its latest premium phones and we've published a few long-term reviews of devices we've been testing for months. In this installment of the reviews roundup, we've got phones, a wearable, a robot vacuum and a smart grill. There's something for everyone this week. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Samsung has given us the first flagship phones of 2025 and they rely heavily on AI features to lure users. Sam notes that the company has improved those tools, but the Galaxy S25 Ultra feels like an iterative update due to the limited hardware upgrades. "This means a lot of what Samsung focused on in this generation feels more like a bonus rather than a must-have feature," he writes. "And when you can get around 90 percent of the phone's capabilities from previous models, the most dangerous thing Samsung is asking buyers to consider is why they need to upgrade at all." Samsung Galaxy S25 Like the Galaxy S25 Ultra, Samsung leaned heavily into the AI features on the regular S25. However, the company didn't spend a lot of time updating the design and major components of this model either. As Mat explains, this makes for a boring release for the long-running flagship line. "Unless you're desperate for a bump in processing power and battery life, it would be wise to see how heavily last year's models get discounted in the coming months," he says. Anker Eufy E20 The Eufy E20 is a first-of-its-kind transforming robot vacuum. While it works best in its core function as a robo vac, you do have the option of cordless stick and handheld vac configurations in the same device. "While Eufy isn't a stranger to making solid robot vacuums, this device is still a first-gen product in my mind - and a solid one at that," Valentina notes. "But you have to know what you're buying upfront: an above-average robot vacuum that can turn into a just-average stick and hand vacuum." Oura Ring 4 Smart rings may still be niche, but there's one company that stands above the rest. With the Ring 4, Oura fixed flaws of the previous model to ensure its crown is safe for the time being. "If there's a downside, it's that Oura remains forever constrained by the limitations a smart ring imposes," Dan explains. "If you want something more comprehensive, then it's likely a smartwatch is a better option, but for everything else, there's this." OnePlus 13 While most phone companies are focused on AI features, OnePlus decided to build a compelling, flagship-level handset that isn't overloaded with bloat. "Throughout the years, OnePlus has used taglines like 'flagship killer' and 'ultra in every way' as a means of taking shots at its biggest rivals from Samsung, Google and more," Sam writes. "But for the OnePlus 13, it feels like the company just went and made a really solid premium handset without a bunch of AI fluff." Weber Searwood Weber's first pellet grill, the SmokeFire, was a learning experience for the company. Thankfully, the longstanding brand learned from those missteps when it built the Searwood. The company's second smart pellet grill offers more reliable performance, excelling at low-and-slow smoking. Weber opted for an all-new design for this model, from the cooking area to the new display. There's also a manual mode that allows for open-lid griddling and searing. And while there are some caveats, the Searwood is a much-improved grill compared to its predecessor. Upcoming reviews: Apple, Beats, Technics and more According to Bloomberg, Apple will debut a new iPhone SE next week. This will be the first update to that model since 2022, and will reportedly nix the home button. The report also details specifics like a camera notch, USB-C and the use of Apple's first in-house cellular modem. If the timing holds true, we'll expect to begin our testing shortly after the news drops. In that same report, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman explains that Beats' PowerBeats Pro 2 earbuds are expected to debut next week as well. The Apple-owned brand first teased an update to its fitness-focused model with a over-the-ear hook design last September. Gurman reports that the new model will have heart rate monitoring, which will be a first for a set of Apple earbuds. If the PowerBeats Pro 2 are indeed announced soon, we'll expect to have a review ready shortly after. I've got the Technics EAH-AZ100 earbuds in for testing too. These buds won one of Engadget's Best of CES awards last month and I've been eager to get my hands... er, ears... on them ever since. During a brief hands-on in Las Vegas, the company's newly designed Magnetic Fluid drivers offered impressive sound, but I'm looking forward to seeing how this set holds up during a full gamut of tests.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadget-review-recap-samsungs-galaxy-s25-phones-oneplus-13-and-oura-ring-4-180039298.html?src=rss

As soon as late February, a lunar lander will depart from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on its way to the moon carrying instruments that could investigate what's just beneath the surface. Barely two months into the year, it'll be the third mission to have set out on a journey toward the moon so far in 2025. If 2024 was all about establishing a commercial presence on the moon, 2025 is the year of doubling down. Well, unless Trump decides to deprioritize moon missions and shift the focus to Mars under Elon Musk's direction, throwing off the whole timeline. But as it stands, it should be a busy year for the moon.Last year kicked off with the launch of Astrobotics' Peregrine lander, marking the first of several missions led by companies working under multimillion-dollar contracts as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Peregrine ultimately didn't make it to its destination after suffering a propellant leak post-launch, but only a few weeks later, Intuitive Machines launched and successfully landed its Odysseus spacecraft on the moon - a first for a private spacecraft. (Odysseus tipped over when it hit the ground, but its payloads were still able to collect and transmit some data).Now, fast-forward to this year, and NASA has half a dozen CLPS missions on its schedule. The first of these, Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1, launched on January 15 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. That same rocket also carried a lunar lander made by the Japanese company ispace, which is making a second attempt for its own commercial exploration endeavor, Hakuto-R.Firefly's lander, Blue Ghost, is expected to arrive at the moon first, with a target landing date of March 2 in an area called Mare Crisium. The 6.6-foot-tall solar-powered spacecraft is carrying 10 science payloads for NASA and other partners. That includes a new dust shield system to demonstrate how future missions might prevent particulates from accumulating on spacecraft, instruments for testing sample collection and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-based navigation and a radiation tolerant computer. The objectives of the mission are to investigate heat flow from the lunar interior, plume-surface interactions, [and] crustal electric and magnetic fields," according to NASA. It will also take X-ray images of the Earth's magnetosphere."Resilience, the ispace lander, is taking a different, low-energy path to the moon and won't reach its site, Mare Frigoris, until late May or June. That craft has a micro rover called Tenacious on board that is designed to explore, collect surface material and relay data. In addition to a camera and shovel, Tenacious has a tiny model house mounted on it - specifically the Moonhouse," by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg. The lander is carrying water electrolyzer equipment, a deep space radiation probe and a food production experiment module. (And how could we forget, it also contains a commemorative alloy plate from Bandai Namco Research Institute made in the style of the Gundam franchise's Charter of the Universal Century").ispaceIntuitive Machines, the company that pulled off the first-ever commercial moon landing with its Odysseus craft last year, is slated to launch its second CLPS mission in the next month or so, around the end of February. The IM-2 Nova-C lander dubbed Athena is headed to the lunar south pole with a meter-long drill and a mass spectrometer for NASA's Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1). Its goal is to demonstrate the feasibility of drilling for samples and analyzing those samples on-site for things like water. IM-2 will also serve as a rideshare for NASA's Lunar Trailblazer, a small orbiter that will study the form, abundance and distribution of lunar water and its relation to geology."Besides the PRIME-1 instruments, Athena will transport a laser retroreflector array, an Intuitive Machines Micro-Nova Hopper - described as a propulsive drone that deploys off of a Nova-C lander and hops across the lunar surface" - and a Lunar Surface Communication System network in a box" made by Nokia. The two companies plan to set up the moon's first cellular network, which is engineered to handle surface connectivity between the lander and vehicles, carrying high-definition video streaming, command-and-control communications and telemetry data."Intuitive MachinesThere's a chance Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 1 lunar lander will take its first trip to the moon as soon as this spring or summer. John Couluris, a senior VP at Blue Origin, said in an interview with 60 Minutes last March that we're expecting to land on the moon between 12 and 16 months from today." At the time, the company hadn't yet launched its New Glenn rocket - which would be the vehicle for this mission - even once, so that claim didn't hold much weight. But after many, many delays, New Glenn finally took its maiden flight in mid-January.NASA revealed, in an FCC filing spotted by SpaceNews back in August, that it had selected Blue Origin's lander to bring a camera system, the Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS), to the moon's south pole this year under the CLPS program. In the filing, NASA notes that this needs to be done before 2025 is over, as the data collected by the instrument at landing will help inform plans for the first crewed Artemis moon landing. SCALPSS payloads have flown on other CLPS missions, but the thrust level of Blue Origin's Mark 1 lander is closer to the scale of the Human Landing System NASA will use for astronauts.Blue Origin said in another FCC filing the same month that its demonstration lunar mission, Pathfinder, could launch as early as March 2025, SpaceNews reported. Don't be surprised if it actually happens much later.The next CLPS mission after that isn't expected to take off until the fall, when Astrobotic will get another shot at landing on the moon. This time, it'll be sending its larger Griffin lander to a region near the south pole. Griffin Mission 1 was initially supposed to carry NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER), but the space agency canceled development of that project late last year due to delays and rising costs. Astrobotic's lander won't show up to the moon empty-handed, though. It'll have a tiny solar-powered CubeRover in tow, as well as a laser retroreflector array to pinpoint the lander's location.AstroboticWe may see a third Intuitive Machines mission before the end of this year. The company and NASA are eyeing late 2025 or early 2026 for the launch of IM-3, which will deliver a suite of instruments focused on studying the magnetic and plasma properties of the Reiner Gamma lunar swirl, an area with its own mini-magnetosphere." A rover called the Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) will also be on board, plus a trio of small rovers from the Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration (CADRE) project that will demonstrate mostly autonomous robots working together. The European Space Agency's MoonLIGHT laser retroreflector will fly with IM-3 too, along with and the Lunar Space Environment Monitor, from South Korea's Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI).While this year is certain to bring a lot of activity on and around the moon, there's one thing we won't see there just yet - humans. NASA has adjusted the timeline of the Artemis missions a few times since the program's announcement, and most recently said in December that it's pushing the first crewed flight, Artemis II, to April 2026. The agency previously said it was shooting for September 2025. Artemis III, the mission in which two astronauts will go to the lunar surface, now isn't expected to launch until mid-2027.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/2025-is-going-to-be-another-big-year-for-commercial-moon-missions-160038622.html?src=rss

If you need to download and install TikTok in the US, you can do so on Android even though the app isn't back on the Play Store yet. In a tweet, the TikTok Policy account has announced that the service has made Android Package Kits available for download through its official web site. Companies don't typically endorse sideloading, but Tiktok is, of course, a special case.The app briefly went offline on January 19 before a law banning it in the US - unless its parent company ByteDance sells it to an owner based in the country - took effect. Under that law, the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store are required to remove its listing if they don't want to get slapped with a fine amounting to $5,000 for every user in the US who downloads the app. It didn't take a full day before TikTok restored access to its service, but its app has yet to reappear on Google's and Apple's stores in the US.

The PlayStation Network is experiencing issues right now. Its network status page was updated at 7PM Eastern time with a warning that you may not be able to log in, access and edit your accounts, no matter what console you use. We're also unable to log into the network on our computer or our phone. "We're working to resolve the issue as soon as possible," the notice reads. "Thank you for your patience." It's not possible to create an account at the moment. The service has also warned that you may "have difficulty" firing up games and apps on your consoles and the web, so you may not be able to play some titles or access certain features that need an internet connection.The network outage, unsurprisingly, affects the PlayStation Store. You'll have to do your shopping another time - you can't purchase and redeem vouchers, and you won't even be able to browse titles and search for specific ones. You can't start downloading new games and updates either, and if you were downloading anything before the issue began, it may not show any progress until the issue is fixed.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/the-playstation-network-is-down-012237477.html?src=rss

A group of House Democrats are pushing Mark Zuckerberg on Meta's recent policy changes, saying they are deeply concerned" about the company's move to loosen its content moderation rules, end corporate diversity programs and ditch third-party fact checking. In a letter addressed to the Meta CEO, four members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee demanded details about the sweeping changes Zuckerberg announced last month.These policy changes, the timing of which gives the inescapable appearance of currying favor with the Trump Administration, are abhorrent, inconsistent, and dangerous," the lawmakers wrote.Meta so far hasn't provided many specifics about how it will implement its new policies, which were announced shortly before President Donald Trump took office. The letter asks Zuckerberg to describe how Trump's threats of retribution against you" may have influenced the decision to end fact-checking on the platform. It also asks if the Facebook founder has had discussions with anyone representing the Trump Administration regarding the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust case against Meta."The letter further notes that Zuckerberg's recent statements seem to directly contradict previous remarks he made when the Oversight Board was first created. The Oversight Board, once touted as a beacon of accountability, is rendered toothless when Meta itself refuses to adhere to the principles of trust and safety,'" it says.Lawmakers also questioned Zuckerberg about his public statements that corporations need more "masculine energy" calling it particularly strange in light of the fact that Meta's long time Chief Legal Officer and its current Chief Financial Officer are both women and the three most important committees of your Board of Directors are chaired by women."Zuckerberg was given a February 21, 2025, deadline to respond. We don't have anything further to say beyond all we've already communicated over the last weeks," a Meta spokesperson told Engadget when asked about the letter.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/house-democrats-press-mark-zuckerberg-on-metas-policy-changes-235229672.html?src=rss

The Trump administration has ordered states to stop a program to build fast EV chargers on highways throughout the country, according to a memo released by the Federal Highway Administration. The letter informs state transportation directors, who are in charge of instituting the program, that any plans approved by the Biden administration are now suspended until new guidance is issued."The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program was approved by Congress as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It was intended to fill gaps in America's EV charging network and was supported by $5 billion in grants. President Trump has long decried the program and regularly lied about the specifics during the 2024 campaign.

The latest edition of our weekly deal roundup includes a range of discounts on Apple's AirPods. The standard AirPods 4 are down to $100, which ties their lowest price to date, while ANC version of those earbuds and the higher-end AirPods Pro 2 are cheaper than usual at $149 and $169, respectively. If you don't need new headphones, we're also seeing discounts on Peacock and Apple Music subscriptions, our favorite robot vacuum and microSD card for those on a budget, Sonos speakers and more. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today. Spotlight deal The rest of the best tech deals this week

It may be too late to get new gear in time for the Super Bowl, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't consider the tech sales that are available thanks to the big game. Key among them is a Sonos sale on Amazon and the company's own site. Speakers and soundbars are up to $250 off this time around, and one of our favorite Sonos products, the Era 100, has dropped to an all-time-low price of $199. The speaker will typically run you $249. The Era 100 is our pick for the best midrange smart speaker and we gave it a score of 88 in our review. It delivers great audio and can reach loud volumes, while Bluetooth and line-in support are certainly welcome. With the Era 100, Sonos has simplified its Trueplay tuning feature by making use of built-in microphones to optimize audio output for the room the speaker is in. On the downside, while the Era 100 works with Alexa and Sonos' own voice assistant, it doesn't support Google Assistant. Like other Sonos speakers, the Era 100 can be used as part of a whole home audio system. So you'll be able to set up units in other rooms so that even when they're away from the TV, your guests can still hear all of the action at the same time as everyone else. It's also possible to set up two Era 100 units as rear speakers in a home theater setup. If that's the route you wish to go down, you might want to have a soundbar in place too. As it happens, several of Sonos' models are on sale. The original Arc soundbar is down to $649, which is $250 off. As for the Beam Gen 2, that can be yours for $100 less than usual at $399. We reckon the Beam is the best midrange soundbar. However, the Arc Ultra, our recommendation for the best premium soundbar, isn't on sale this time, unfortunately. 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/deals/sonos-speakers-and-soundbars-are-on-sale-for-record-low-prices-155920437.html?src=rss

Here's another chance to get a discount on Amazon's first ereader with a color display. The Kindle Colorsoft has dropped back down to $230. That's $50, or 18 percent, off. The deal brings the Kindle Colorsoft back down to a record low price. We saw the Kindle Colorsoft hit $230 for the first time in January. However, that discount was only available to Prime subscribers. There's no such restriction this time around, as you don't need a membership to take advantage of this deal. There's one additional perk here: the Colorsoft comes with three free months of access to Kindle Unlimited. As such, you'll have access to more than 4 million ebooks during that time. After the free access period is over, your Kindle Unlimited access will automatically renew. The service costs $12 per month, so be sure to cancel before your three-month freebie expires if you don't want to pay for it. A number of early Kindle Colorsofts, including our initial review unit, developed a yellow bar across the bottom. However, Amazon said it was resolving the issue, and it offered refunds and replacements to those affected. Although we haven't encountered the problem on our replacement, we have removed the score from our review until we've tested the ereader for a longer period of time and made sure the issue doesn't re-occur. That said, we appreciate the quick load times and page turns of the Kindle Colorsoft. The auto-adjusting front light is a plus, while it was very welcome to see that, by default, this model does not have ads on the lock screen. A pinch-to-zoom feature is also handy, especially when it comes to reading graphic novels. The ereader has 32GB of built-in storage and it supports Audible audiobooks. It should run for up to weight weeks on a single charge. You can recharge the battery wirelessly or via USB-C. The big selling point is, of course, the color screen. The Colorsoft has a seven-inch display with a 300 pixel-per-inch (ppi) density for black-and-white material and 150 ppi for color content. Last but not least, the ereader has an IPX8 rating, meaning it can withstand immersion in up to two meters of freshwater for up to 60 minutes and 0.25 meters of seawater for three minutes, per Amazon. As such, you won't have to worry too much about getting the Colorsoft wet when you take it to the pool or beach. 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/deals/the-kindle-colorsoft-is-back-on-sale-for-50-off-160601607.html?src=rss

We're a few days from Super Bowl LIX, and it remains a decent time to grab a new TV at a discount. At this point, you'll likely have to buy in-store if you want to make a living room upgrade in time to watch Chiefs and Eagles go at it (again), as shipping times for most sets have stretched beyond Sunday. However, if you don't care so much about football (or Super Bowl commercials) and just want a quality TV at a reasonable price, there are still a number of discounts worth checking out. To save you some time, we've searched through Amazon, Best Buy and other retailers to find a few Super Bowl 2025 TV deals that are actually solid value.To be candid, many of the better offers stem from TVs naturally falling in price this time of year rather than Super Bowl-specific sales. In general, most TVs follow a similar pricing timeline: arrive in the spring, drop a little over the summer, receive a larger price cut around the holidays, then gradually fall cheaper until being discontinued the following year. We're in the last stage of this pattern now, and with TV makers like Samsung and LG unveiling their 2025 lineups during CES last month, last year's models are likely to drop even further in the months ahead.That said, if you need to make a change today, a number of well-regarded TVs from LG, Samsung, Sony, TCL and Hisense are back down to the prices we saw around Black Friday. In some cases, they're even cheaper. We're also seeing a couple deals on streamers and soundbars we like from Roku and Sonos. Though we at Engadget do not formally review TVs, we've scoured feedback from other reviewers we trust and checked price histories to ensure everything below is a genuine deal.