Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news.

Before now, Google has been somewhat vague about just how many prompts, pictures, and videos you can get through with its Gemini AI, and the level of quality and AI model you can expect: The end results can vary depending on the Google AI plan you’re on, and the tool you’re using, with imprecise phrasing like “higher limits” and “highest limits” used in the official documentation.

Thankfully, Google has finally gotten around to giving us some clarity, as spotted by the team at 9to5Google. The new figures should give you a better idea of whether or not it’s worth upgrading the plan you’re currently on, and it means you won’t be caught by surprise quite so much when you reach your daily limits.

The limits of Gemini

You can get the official lowdown on the limits of Google AI by heading to the Gemini support page. There are three plans to know about: The free tier (you don’t pay anything), the Google AI Pro tier ($20 a month), and the Google AI Ultra tier ($250 a month). The basics are as follows, though it doesn’t quite cover everything.

If you’re a free user, you get five prompts a day using the best 2.5 Pro model, after which the 2.5 Flash model kicks in. You also get a context window (reading capacity) of 32 thousand tokens, up to five Deep Research reports a month (using 2.5 Flash), up to 20 audio overviews a day, and up to 100 images a day. There are no Deep Think or AI video generation options.

If you’re on the Google AI Pro plan, you get pushed up to 100 prompts per day using 2.5 Pro. The context window grows to 1 million tokens, and you can run up to 20 Deep Research reports a day (using 2.5 Pro). The other limits are up to 20 audio overviews a day, up to 1,000 images a day, and up to three videos a day using the slightly inferior Veo 3 Fast. You can schedule up to 10 active actions, but there’s no access to Deep Think.

Finally, there’s the top Google AI Ultra tier. This gives you up to 500 prompts per day with 2.5 Pro, the same 1 million token context window as the AI Pro plan, and the same 20 audio overviews per day. You can run up to 200 Deep Research reports a day (with 2.5 Pro), and up to 10 Deep Think prompts per day. The 1,000 images-per-day limit is the same as the AI Pro plan, but you can also generate up to five videos per day with the slightly superior Veo 3 model.

Credit: Google

What to consider

You might think all those figures are complicated enough, but they don’t quite cover everything. If you use other tools besides the Gemini app, other limits apply. The Flow movie-making web app, for example, works differently: It’s exclusively for Google AI Pro and Google AI Ultra subscribers, who get 1,000 monthly AI credits and 25,000 monthly AI credits respectively, to put towards their creations.

Another tool that’s affected is NotebookLM, because if you’re subscribed to one of the Google AI plans, you get higher usage limits and access to more features here as well. You can create more notebooks, add more sources, and work with longer documents if you upgrade from the free plan.

Then you’ve got the new features that are added over time, which are sometimes paywalled. The Canvas feature (a more expansive working area) was rolled out to everyone at the same time, for example, whereas the Gems feature (custom chatbots) was originally only for paying subscribers.

Eventually, most features trickle down to become available to everyone, but it’s something else to bear in mind if you’re wondering whether a Google AI Pro or Google AI Ultra plan is worth the investment. Google is obviously going to want to push users towards subscribing with a number of exclusives, but many will be able to get by on the free plan.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news.

Nintendo is bringing virtual reality to the Switch 2 (and more VR to the Switch 1), but not in the way you probably expected. During the company’s hour long Nintendo Direct this morning, the Mario makers announced that 14 Virtual Boy games will be coming to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service, complete with stereoscopic 3D and a replica Virtual Boy accessory to make it all possible.

If you’re anything like one of my editors, you might be asking yourself “what’s a Virtual Boy?” Well, for all you gamers that weren’t around during the ’90s, it turns out the Oculus Rift wasn’t the first 3D headset to try courting gamers.

In 1995, five years after the release of the original Game Boy, Nintendo dipped its toes into VR, launching the Virtual Boy “portable” console. This 32-bit system had a decent amount of power and promise at the time—the original PlayStation was also 32-bit—but was held back from greatness by two major flaws. First, unlike VR headsets today, it didn’t strap around your head, and instead rested on a stand that needed you to lean into it, kind of like Han Solo getting dunked into the torture machine in The Empire Strikes Back. Second, it only displayed games in an eye-searing red-and-black graphics.

Though the reasons behind its eventual failure are bit more complicated than just that, suffice it to say, it didn’t sell well. Only 14 Virtual Boy games were ever released in the U.S., and Nintendo was quick to encourage us to forget about its flop—until now.

While unofficial emulators have tried to recreate the Virtual Boy experience for 3DS and Meta Quest, Nintendo is now throwing its own hat into the ring. Starting on Feb. 17, 2025, the company will begin releasing Virtual Boy games as part of its Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription service—with an adorable catch.

Virtual Boy as Switch accessory

Credit: Nintendo

Like many 3DS games, most of the Virtual Boy library technically doesn’t rely on 3D for gameplay too much, and some unofficial emulators have settled on displaying them in 2D without much issue to players. But Nintendo is, as it is wont to do, going all-in on the gimmick. In order to play Virtual Boy on Nintendo Switch Online, you’ll need an official Virtual Boy accessory that enables stereoscopic 3D for your system. It’s available for pre-order later today (the order links aren’t live as of this writing), and the actual release date remains unannounced

You’ve got two choices: First, you can get a full-blown replica of the Virtual Boy, stand and all. Personally, I’d be tempted to buy it even if it were just a hunk of nonfunctional plastic—it’s just that cute. But if you’re not with me there, or you want to save some money, you’ll also be able to buy a cardboard version, similar to the Nintendo Labo VR headset for Switch 1.

Regardless of which Virtual Boy accessory you get, you’ll slot your Switch or Switch 2 into it (Virtual Boy games will be available on both consoles), and the headset will divide the console’s screen into two halves to create a 3D image when you look at them through its lenses. It’s a similar approach to the Nintendo Labo, which allowed the Switch 1 to play Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and a few other choice games in VR. (You might be more familiar with using your phone to achieve this technique via Google Cardboard.)

Nintendo said that all 14 Virtual Boy games released in North America will be coming to Nintendo Switch Online this way, although the eight additional Virtual Boy games that were only released in Japan appear to be MIA for now.

Credit: Nintendo

And that’s about all we know currently. Like Nintendo’s other retro replica devices, the Virtual Boy accessories needed to play these games with Nintendo Switch Online will only by available for purchase by paying Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. That’s a bit of a bummer if you just want one as a desk toy, but unlike the Gamecube controller also released for Switch 2, it’ll probably sting a bit less—that device can be used to play all sorts of games, but the Virtual Boy accessory will be limited to Virtual Boy games.

That is, unless Nintendo has plans to follow up on Labo and bring VR modes to existing Switch 2 titles like Donkey Kong Bananza. That’s just speculation at the moment, but hey, the Switch 2 is plenty more powerful than the Switch 1, and you could play Mario Odyssey in VR on that. A girl can dream.

Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade comes out for the Switch 2 on January 22, 2026, which was revealed at today’s lengthy Nintendo Direct livestream. This is the first entry in the remake trilogy and primarily takes place in the opening city of Midgar. You’ll have to wait until Final Fantasy VII Rebirth to explore the overworld map, and there’s no Switch 2 release date for that one yet.

This release does include the Episode Intermission DLC, which involves the ninja Yuffie on a mission to steal powerful items from the evil Shinra corporation. That story takes place after the main campaign.

There’s a trailer and it looks gorgeous, so the Switch 2 should be able to handle this one. Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade originally came out back in 2021. The long-awaited title was more of a reimagining than a straight remake of the iconic JRPG. The game still managed to garner critical acclaim, despite drastic changes from the original.

It was followed by Final Fantasy VII Rebirth in 2024, with a third game on the way to close out the trilogy. There’s no name for this final entry and we don’t have a release date, as it’s still in active development.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/final-fantasy-vii-remake-intergrade-hits-the-switch-2-on-january-22-152559995.html?src=rss

Google Tables, a work-tracking tool and competitor to the popular spreadsheet-database hybrid Airtable, is shutting down. TechCrunch: In an email sent to Tables users this week, Google said the app will not be supported after December 16, 2025, and advised that users export or migrate their data to either Google Sheets or AppSheet instead, depending on their needs.

Launched in 2020, Tables focused on making project tracking more efficient with automation. It was one of the many projects to emerge from Google’s in-house app incubator, Area 120, which at the time was devoted to cranking out a number of experimental projects. Some of these projects later graduated to become a part of Google’s core offerings across Cloud, Search, Shopping, and more. Tables was one of those early successes: Google said in 2021 that the service was moving from a beta test to become an official Google Cloud product. At the time, the company said it saw Tables as a potential solution for a variety of use cases, including project management, IT operations, customer service tracking, CRM, recruiting, product development and more.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A square camera sensor may sound like one of those things only nerds would appreciate, but as part of the new front-facing 18-megapixel “Center Stage” camera on the iPhone 17 lineup, it could have massive implications for Apple’s users. They’ll no longer need to turn their phones to take a landscape selfie, especially if they need to fit a large group of people, as that’s all handled automatically by Center Stage. It’s the sort of “Why didn’t I think of that?” feature that other phone makers will likely copy, simply because it’s immensely practical. Those square camera sensors could help make Apple a selfie pioneer, once again.

We’ve come a long way from when the iPhone 4 and HTC Evo 4G introduced the idea of modern front-facing cameras in 2010. Earlier cellphones in Japan and Europe had low quality selfie cameras, and you could argue that the Game Boy Camera also toyed with the idea when it arrived in 1998. But in 2010, we finally had powerful phones on relatively speedy mobile connections that could easily share photos and let users hop on video chats on a whim. (It still stings that it took Apple two more years to release the LTE-capable iPhone 5, which made FaceTime much more useful.)

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

During the iPhone 17 launch event, Apple revealed that its customers took 500 billion selfies last year, a massive figure that shows just how normalized the practice has become. Selfies were often mocked when they were deemed the purview of Instagram-obsessed teenage girls, but these days it’s not unusual to see everyone from seniors to a gaggle of sports bros gathering around a single phone like an object of worship. And, on a personal note, they’re really the only way to get decent photos of your entire family, especially when you’re juggling two rambunctious young kids.

We take photos to preserve memories, but selfies feel distinctive for their intimacy. You’re not just capturing where you were, but you’re also documenting yourself in the moment, along with the people around you. By making it easier to take selfies, it follows that you’ll start to take even more of them, ultimately tying yourself into Apple’s ecosystem even further. That leads to needing an iPhone with more storage and potentially more iCloud backup space down the line. You’re also not going to jump over to an Android phone if you have to turn your phone sideways for a landscape selfie, or if you lose access to all of the cherished memories in your Apple Photos library.

The square camera sensor keeps you loyal. 

It’ll also change the way iPhone users take front-facing videos. Center Stage automatically keeps you in the center of FaceTime calls, so you don’t have to worry so much about framing yourself up. And while I haven’t seen this particular feature in action, it should also help alleviate the headache of turning your phone during a FaceTime call to match the recipient’s device. (Or maybe I’m just tired of telling my parents to flip their phones when their FaceTime chats have huge black borders.)

This may be a stretch, but I could see the Center Stage front camera making it more common to record video with your front and rear cameras at the same time. While it’s new to iPhone as “Dual Capture,” we’ve seen variants of it from Samsung and Nokia (remember #bothie?) Android devices, but they’ve never really taken off. TikTok’s dual-camera live streaming mode has been more successful, and there are also vlogging apps like MixCam built around dual recording. With Dual Capture on iPhone 17, Center Stage’s ability to keep you in the middle of the action with the front camera should let you focus more on getting the best shot with the rear lenses.

While I’d love to see Apple cram more pixels into the 18MP Center Stage camera, moving to a square sensor will honestly be more impactful for all of the reasons above. It’s easy to throw in a higher resolution sensor, it’s tougher to fundamentally rethink how you can improve upon something as simple as taking a selfie.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-iphone-17-square-selfie-camera-is-a-bigger-deal-than-you-think-151517041.html?src=rss

Lots of people are excited about the idea of using plants to help us draw down some of the excess carbon dioxide we’ve been pumping into the atmosphere. It would be nice to think that we could reforest our way out of the mess we’re creating, but recent studies have indicated there’s simply not enough productive land for this to work out.

One alternative might be to get plants to take up carbon dioxide more efficiently. Unfortunately, the enzyme that incorporates carbon dioxide into photosynthesis, called RUBISCO, is remarkably inefficient. So, a team of researchers in Taiwan decided to try something new—literally. They put together a set of enzymes that added a new-to-nature biochemical cycle to plants that let it incorporate carbon far more efficiently. The resulting plants grew larger and incorporated more carbon.

Cycles and recycles

In the abstract, incorporating carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the biochemistry of the cell seems simple—you just link up a few of the carbon atoms and you’re off. But in reality, it’s fiendishly complicated. Carbon dioxide is an extremely stable molecule, so incorporating it requires a very energetically favorable reaction. In the Calvin cycle of photosynthesis, that reaction involves linking the carbon dioxide as part of a reaction that breaks apart a modified five-carbon sugar, creating two three-carbon molecules. Some of those molecules get fed into the cell’s metabolism, while others get built up into a five-carbon sugar again, restarting the cycle.

Read full article

Comments

SAN DIEGO—The original Nissan Leaf was a car with a mission. Long before Elon Musk set his sights on Tesla selling vast numbers of electric vehicles to the masses, then-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn wanted Nissan to shift half a million Leafs a year in the early 2010s. That didn’t quite come to pass, but by 2020, it had sold its 500,000th EV, which went from its factory in Sunderland, England, to a customer in Norway.

Pioneering though they were, both first- and second-generation Leafs were compromised. They were adapted from existing internal combustion engine platforms, with the electric powertrains shoehorned inside. The cars’ real handicaps were a lack of liquid cooling for the battery packs. Like an older Porsche 911, the Leaf was air-cooled, albeit with none of the collector value. That’s all changed for generation three.

The new Leaf is built on a dedicated EV platform shared with Nissan’s alliance partners Renault and Mitsubishi, and which we have previously seen used to good effect in the Nissan Ariya. The benefits of using a platform purpose-designed for electric propulsion are obvious from the space efficiency. The new car is 3 inches (75 mm) shorter from the outside, but offers nearly 9 inches (221 mm) more rear leg room (yes, really), making it a much more suitable place to put adults.

Read full article

Comments

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source.

The Ring Outdoor Cam Plus is a versatile indoor and outdoor security camera that offers up to 2K video and is powered via a quick-release battery pack (though a wired version is also available at the same discount). Right now, it’s 30% off on Amazon in both black and white for Prime members, bringing its price down to $70 and marking its lowest price ever, according to price-tracking tools.

Ring Outdoor Cam Plus

$69.99
at Amazon

$99.99
Save $30.00

$69.99
at Amazon

$99.99
Save $30.00

Its high-res 2K video is a major upgrade compared to 1080p cameras on the market (including older Ring cams) with basic black-and-white night vision. Per this PCMag review, the camera features Low-Light Sight, which provides more visibility and color detail in near-dark settings. Its 160° diagonal field of view also covers a decent area, leading to fewer blind spots on porches, yards, or other outdoor areas than older models with an approximately 143° diagonal FOV, and many reviewers cite the improved view as a standout feature. Unlike older models, which only supported 2.5GHz, this one has dual-band wifi.

Compared to wired outdoor security cameras, the battery-powered quick-release pack offers more flexibility, letting you recharge the device without removing the whole camera or keeping it attached to a constant power source. That said, frequent motion, high-traffic area placement, or continuous live view may drain the battery quickly, and some users do say it uses more power than other Ring models. Like most outdoor cameras, it can handle a wide range of conditions and has a durable build that can be mounted on surfaces, walls, or a ceiling. However, it is slightly larger than their Indoor Cams and Stick Up Cams, making it less discreet. 

Features like motion detection (with customizable zones), live view, two-way talk, and Alexa integration are standard for Ring devices, but users report that this model has improved night vision and motion detection compared to predecessors. And as with most Ring devices, certain features like long-term storage or advanced analytics will require a paid Ring Home Plan subscription. If you’re looking for stronger image quality and a wider field of view than older Ring cams or Stick Up Cam models, the Ring Outdoor Cam Plus is worth considering, especially at its current price. 

A former employee of a multinational DVD company was sentenced to four years in prison for stealing hundreds of pre-release DVDs and Blu-rays and leaking blockbuster movies online, the Department of Justice confirmed Thursday.

Back in May, Steven Hale pleaded guilty to spending about a year between 2021 and 2022 stealing discs from his employer and selling them online through e-commerce sites. Among movies that Hale uploaded for illegal download were highly anticipated titles like Dune, as well as sequels to popular films like F9: The Fast Saga and Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

But according to the DOJ, Hale did the most damage by leaking advance copies of Spider-Man: No Way Home. That particular movie, released exclusively in theaters in 2021, became the first movie after the COVID pandemic started to gross $1 billion at the box office. Likely DVD sales were expected to be just as explosive, but for many fans too cautious to return to movie theaters at the time, DVD leaks became too enticing to pass up. Hale wasn’t the only one to recognize the high demand online, with illegal downloads of the movie becoming so widespread that ReasonLabs reported that scammers started planting malware in illegal copies of the movie to “lure in as many victims as possible.”

Read full article

Comments

The Swiss government could soon require service providers with more than 5,000 users to collect government-issued identification, retain subscriber data for six months and, in many cases, disable encryption. From a report: The proposal, which is not subject to parliamentary approval, has alarmed privacy and digital-freedoms advocates worldwide because of how it will destroy anonymity online, including for people located outside of Switzerland. A large number of virtual private network (VPN) companies and other privacy-preserving firms are headquartered in the country because it has historically had liberal digital privacy laws alongside its famously discreet banking ecosystem.

Proton, which offers secure and end-to-end encrypted email along with an ultra-private VPN and cloud storage, announced on July 23 that it is moving most of its physical infrastructure out of Switzerland due to the proposed law. The company is investing more than $117 million in the European Union, the announcement said, and plans to help develop a “sovereign EuroStack for the future of our home continent.” Switzerland is not a member of the EU. Proton said the decision was prompted by the Swiss government’s attempt to “introduce mass surveillance.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Over the past few years, we haven’t had to wait long for the launch of new ChatGPT features, and the latest upgrade pushed out by OpenAI is the ability to branch conversation. This means you can steer your chats with the language bot in a different direction, and then return to where you started to continue the main thread of the conversation.

According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the feature had been introduced by popular request, and it’s not difficult to imagine ways in which it could be useful. Think if it like being able to create threads on Slack or Discord—you can follow tangents and related ideas without cluttering up the main conversation.

How to branch conversations in ChatGPT

Branch conversations open up in a new tab.
Credit: Lifehacker

As of this writing, you can only create branch conversations in the ChatGPT web app (though they can be read and added to from any device). While they can be used by both paid and free users, you do need to be signed in to see the feature.

In any of your conversations with ChatGPT, click the three dots at the end of a response, then choose Branch in new chat. A copy of the current conversation will open up in a new browser tab, and you’ll see an extra chat in the navigation pane on the left, with “Branch” added to the start of its name.

You’re then able to keep both conversations going at the same time by switching between browser tabs (or clicking between the chats on the left). The two chats will be the same up until the point where you started the branch chat; from there, you can take the conversations in whatever direction you like.

OpenAI hasn’t implemented this in a particularly elegant way, and the chats you’ve opened can quickly get unwieldy if you’re doing a lot of branching. To help bring a bit of order you can rename chats, or delete them if you’re sure you don’t need them—click the three dots next to a chat in the navigation pane, or in the top right corner when a chat is open, to find these options.

You can also make use of ChatGPT Projects to put your chats in different folders that are kept separate from each other. Your branched conversations all stay in the same project, though you can create new projects and move chats between them as needed.

How branching chats can be useful

You’ll need to keep on top of all your branches.
Credit: Lifehacker

There are all kinds of ways branch conversations could be useful, and you may well find that different ideas for new threads come to you as you interact with ChatGPT. There’s no right or wrong way to use them, and if a thread doesn’t work out, you can simply delete it and go back to where you were.

Say you’re composing an email to your boss, telling them you can’t stand to work another second under their management—but in a polite way. You can use multiple branch conversations to test out the phrasing using different tones and approaches, without having the same text repeated again and again in one chat.

If you’re researching your favorite literary masterpieces, you can go off on a tangent about one particular book or play in different chats, and still keep your main central conversation concentrated on overarching themes and ideas.

There are also obvious use cases for coders. Branched conversations let you test out separate debugging strategies or design ideas simultaneously in different browser tabs—and there’s always the option of retracing your steps and going back to where the branches first started.

You could even use branches to supply ChatGPT with the same basic blocks of information, then get it to answer the same questions but in different tones, using different lengths of response, or with any other variation.

In one of the most unexpected announcements of today’s Nintendo Direct, Game Freak revealed Pokémon Pokopia, a game that is clearly inspired by the Animal Crossing series. When Pokopia is released sometime next year, you’ll assume the role of a Ditto determined to make a comfortable home for their friends. This Ditto has assumed the form of a human, and as they meet new Pokémon, they’ll learn abilities they can use to transform their community. In turn, this work will lead to more Pokémon coming to live in your home. The game features a beautiful tilt-shift art style that is reminiscent of Pokémon’s third generation of games that debuted on the Game Boy Advance. 

No word yet on an exact release date, but the game will be a Switch 2 exclusive. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/pokemon-pokopia-looks-like-animal-crossing-for-pokemon-fans-and-im-here-for-it-141239467.html?src=rss

An anonymous reader shares a report: An attempt to ban social media in Nepal ended this week in violent protest with the prime minister ousted, the Parliament in flames and soldiers on the streets of the capital. Now, the very technology the government tried to outlaw is being harnessed to help select the country’s next leader, as more than 100,000 citizens are meeting regularly in a virtual chat room to debate the country’s future.

More than 30 people were killed in clashes with the police during youth-led protests that convulsed the capital in a paroxysm of outrage over wealth inequality, corruption and plans to ban some social media platforms. After the government’s collapse on Tuesday, the military imposed a curfew across the capital, Kathmandu, and restricted large gatherings. With the country in political limbo and no obvious next leader in place, Nepalis have taken to Discord, a platform popularized by video gamers, to enact the digital version of a national convention.

“The Parliament of Nepal right now is Discord,” said Sid Ghimiri, 23, a content creator from Kathmandu, describing how the site has become the center of the nation’s political decision making. The conversation inside the Discord channel, taking place in a combination of voice, video, and text chats, is so consequential that it is being discussed on national television and live streamed on news sites.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Nintendo had a truly wild surprise up its sleeve for Switch Online + Expansion Pack during its Direct event on Friday. The company is bringing back the Virtual Boy as a physical device into which you can slot your Switch or Switch 2. A plastic replica of the mid-90s tabletop system will soon be available for Switch Online members to buy. The company will sell a cardboard version of the accessory too. No need to rub your eyes in disbelief (but if history is any indication, you might have to for relief after using this thing).

You’ll need either accessory to play Virtual Boy games, which will start hitting Switch Online + Expansion Pack on February 17. Mario’s Tennis (a pack-in game for the original system), Galactic Pinball, Teleroboxer, Space Invaders and Tetris are among the 14 stereoscopic 3D Virtual Boy games that Nintendo will bring to the subscription service over time. 

That means most of the Virtual Boy games that were ever released are coming to Switch Online + Expansion Pack. Nintendo only released 22 of them, since the Virtual Boy never took off. The company ended production of the device and stopped making games for it in 1996, only a year after the Virtual Boy hit shelves. Here’s hoping the latest version of the accessory doesn’t give players too many headaches.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-is-bringing-back-the-virtual-boy-as-a-switch-and-switch-2-accessory-140037508.html?src=rss

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news.

Portable outdoor speakers are meant to be thrown in a bag and dragged along for the ride, and JBL’s Flip line has always leaned into that idea. The Flip 7 is currently $99.95 on Woot for the next week or until it sells out, a significant drop from Amazon’s $149.95 listing and even cheaper than its all-time low of $129.95, according to price-trackers. Plus, Prime members get free shipping (while everyone else pays $6), and it comes with a 90-day Woot warranty. For a rugged little speaker designed to tag along on hikes, bike rides, or just backyard hangs, the deal feels fair.

The Flip 7 doesn’t look much different from the Flip 6, but it has a few small quality-of-life upgrades. The woofer is a little larger, so the bass has more punch without drowning out everything else, and the 35 watts of total power give it more presence than you’d expect from something the size of a soda can. Also, at just over a pound, it’s easy to carry, and JBL makes it even easier by including a carabiner that clips onto a bag strap or belt loop so you don’t have to jam it into a pocket. A new Auracast button makes it easy to link with other compatible speakers, and the rubberized shell has been beefed up for IP68 durability, which means full dust protection and survival under five feet of water for half an hour. JBL also claims drop protection for up to three feet. 

That said, the Flip 7 isn’t perfect. At higher volumes, especially above 70%, the treble can get sharp and fatiguing, according to this PCMag review. JBL also skipped extras like a speakerphone, a 3.5mm aux input, or high-res Bluetooth codecs. You do get lossless audio over USB-C, though the difference isn’t huge. One annoyance is that the box only comes with the speaker and a carabiner—no charging brick or cable—so you’ll need to bring your own USB-C setup. Battery life is a solid 14 hours, or 16 if you enable Playtime Boost in the app, which trims the low end to squeeze out more runtime. If you want something cheaper with more features, the Anker Soundcore Motion 300 is a great alternative.

Donkey Kong Bananza, probably my favorite game of the year, is getting a paid expansion today called DK Island & Emerald Rush. As the title implies, you’ll get to explore the island where Donkey Kong hails from and visit a whole host of his friends while you’re at it. Naturally, there is more to explore and find there, but there’s also a whole new set of challenges once you’ve finished the main game story. That’s the titular Emerald Rush. 

The timed missions involve you running around the island smashing as much green ore as you can get. As you go, smashing fossils you find unlocks various perks, which in turn help you amass more emeralds. Some of those perks act as multipliers on how much emerald you collect; others do things like make more treasure chests (that are naturally loaded with emeralds) appear. In somewhat roguelike fashion, your perks and skill reset after every run — but the location of things like fossils and Banandium Gems stay the same. So as you learn the levels, you’ll be able to further maximize your collection. 

Emerald Rush mode isn’t limited to the new DK Island layer, either — it’ll be integrated into other layers in the main game. As with everything else in Donkey Kong Bananza, it looks like a pretty delightful time. The DLC is set to go live today, but it’s not up in the Nintendo eShop yet so its price remains a mystery.

If you haven’t played the main game yet, Nintendo also released a demo that you can try later today, as well.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/donkey-kong-bananza-is-getting-a-dlc-expansion-today-140016430.html?src=rss