This is a video of the LEGO waffle factory built by Youtuber Brick Machines that can make waffles from start to finish, including mixing the batter, adding batter to a waffle iron, and plating the cooked waffles afterwards. That’s convenient, especially for someone like myself who loves everything about waffles except making them. So — what’s your waffle eating record? Mine’s 14. *shrug* I was on a cruise and went hard the first day…and all the other days. I gained 24 pounds that cruise. “How long was it?” 3 days, 2 nights.

IBM announced plans to invest $150 billion in the United States over the next five years, with more than $30 billion earmarked specifically for research and development of mainframes and quantum computing technology. The investment follows similar commitments from tech giants including Apple and Nvidia — each pledging approximately $500 billion — in the wake of President Trump’s election and tariff threats.

“We have been focused on American jobs and manufacturing since our founding 114 years ago,” said IBM CEO Arvind Krishna in a statement. The company currently manufactures its mainframe systems in upstate New York and plans to continue designing and assembling quantum computers domestically. The announcement comes amid challenging circumstances for IBM, which recently saw 15 government contracts shelved under the Trump administration’s cost-cutting initiatives.

Further reading: IBM US Cuts May Run Deeper Than Feared – and the Jobs Are Heading To India;
IBM Now Has More Employees In India Than In the US (2017).

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Ruby on Rails creator and Basecamp CTO David Heinemeier Hansson, makes a case for why Google shouldn’t be forced to sell Chrome: First, Chrome won the browser war fair and square by building a better surfboard for the internet. This wasn’t some opportune acquisition. This was the result of grand investments, great technical prowess, and markets doing what they’re supposed to do: rewarding the best. Besides, we have a million alternatives. Firefox still exists, so does Safari, so does the billion Chromium-based browsers like Brave and Edge. And we finally even have new engines on the way with the Ladybird browser.

Look, Google’s trillion-dollar business depends on a thriving web that can be searched by Google.com, that can be plastered in AdSense, and that now can feed the wisdom of AI. Thus, Google’s incredible work to further the web isn’t an act of charity, it’s of economic self-interest, and that’s why it works. Capitalism doesn’t run on benevolence, but incentives.

We want an 800-pound gorilla in the web’s corner! Because Apple would love nothing better (despite the admirable work to keep up with Chrome by Team Safari) to see the web’s capacity as an application platform diminished. As would every other owner of a proprietary application platform. Microsoft fought the web tooth and nail back in the 90s because they knew that a free, open application platform would undermine lock-in — and it did!

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

AI video generators are rapidly improving and becoming more widely available, with Google’s Veo 2 now built into the Gemini app for anyone paying for a Google One AI Premium plan. Like OpenAI’s Sora, Runway, Adobe’s Firefly, and others, Veo 2 enables you to create a professional-looking video from nothing more than a text prompt.

With Veo 2 now available to paying users, it seems like a good opportunity to test these different AI video generators against each other, and compare their strengths and weaknesses—and to assess where we’re at with AI video in general. We keep being told that these tools will transform movie-making, or at least fill the internet with AI slop, but are they actually practically useful?

Microsoft seems to think so, having used it in a recent ad. However, only parts of the clip were AI-made—shots with quick cuts and limited motion, where hallucinations are less likely to happen or be noticed.

For the purposes of this guide I’m going to take a look at Google Veo 2 and put it up against Sora, Runway, and Firefly. Other video generators are available, but these are four of the most prominent: They all cost money to access (starting from $20 a month), so you’ll need to sign up for a month at least to play around with them.

Bouncing balls

If you’re as old as I am, you’ll remember an incredible ad Sony made to promote its new 1080p Bravia televisions in 2005 (above). More than 100,000 bouncy balls were dropped on the steep streets of San Francisco while the cameras rolled, and it was a compelling watch (the behind-the-scenes story is pretty fun, too).

This is a real challenge for AI, involving a lot of physics and movement. The prompt I used was: “Thousands of individual, brightly colored balls bouncing down a steep, sunny street in San Francisco, in slow-motion. The camera moves carefully down the street as the balls bounce downwards, passing trees and parked cars.”

The Google Veo 2 attempt isn’t bad. There’s some weird physics going on here, but it looks reasonably natural, and could work as a short clip if you’re not looking too closely. The background elements are well-rendered, and the instructions in my original prompt were followed pretty closely.

Sora seems confused about the scene it’s supposed to be rendering. There are colored balls for sure, but they move as a confusing mush, and defy gravity. The pace of the video is OK, even if it’s going in the opposite direction to the one I requested, and the background parts of the video look fine on the whole.

Runway gets the vibes pretty close, if you compare it to the original Sony clip, but again, there are several problems: The balls aren’t at all consistent, the movement isn’t what I asked for, and it looks as though there’s an alien watching from a window in the top right corner. The street does look pretty cool though.

Firefly is probably the worst of the bunch, here. Most of the balls are stationary, and those that are moving aren’t very well-rendered. The street looks OK but it’s nothing special—there’s definitely a retro video game feel to it. As with the Sora clip, the camera is taking me up the street when I really wanted to go down.

“Jurassic Park” scene

If AI is going to replace the actual people who make movies, then it needs to be able to create scenes as powerful as the “welcome to Jurassic Park” one in Spielberg’s 1993 movie: the moment where Richard Attenborough as John Hammond reveals the dinosaurs to his visitors for the first time (above).

I was curious to see what AI would make of the scene. The prompt was: “At the top of a hill, two paleontologists slowly stagger along through the grass. As they do so the camera pulls back for a wider shot, revealing a wide clearing and a lake below. There are dinosaurs slowly walking through the lake and the trees.”

The clip from Google Veo 2 looks pretty good. The camera isn’t really moving in the way I described, and the paleontologists aren’t really staggering (and they’re not on a hill either), but the scenery looks good and the dinosaurs look OK. It’s rather generic overall, but it’s a decent effort.

Sora goes a little bit crazy with this prompt. The camera movements are jerky and don’t follow the instructions I made, and the dinosaurs look like weird shape-shifting creatures. The best I can say about this effort is that all the elements I described are included, and the surrounding scenery is reasonably well done.

As for Runway, it’s probably the closest to what I wanted when it comes to the camera movements and the overall feel of the scene. The lake and the dinosaurs look realistic enough, but it’s by no means a perfect rendering—where does the red-shirted paleontologist disappear to?

It’s another poor effort from Firefly. I’m not sure it knows what paleontologists are, and the dinosaurs are very small. The lake and the surrounding forest are done to an OK standard, though, even if there’s a noticeable AI sheen to everything in the frame. The camera movements have been translated well here.

“The Living Daylights” scene

One more: the memorable Bond and Kara border-crossing scene in The Living Daylights, where they scoot down a snowy mountain on a cello case (above). I don’t need to hire Timothy Dalton or Maryam d’Abo, learn how to operate a camera, or travel to Austria, because AI can make the whole scene for me.

The prompt for this one was: “A man and a woman in winter clothing are sliding down a snow-covered road on a cello case. There is a barrier on the road, and as they reach it, both characters duck under it.”

Google Veo 2 manages this pretty well, everything considered—the scene looks mostly realistic and fun, and that does look a bit like a cello case. We do have to ignore the two people going through the road barrier as if it isn’t there, but at least there is a barrier there (something the other AI models couldn’t grasp).

Over to Sora, and again, it’s not terrible. OK, that’s not really a cello case, and surely the two people would be facing forward, but the snowy road and the surrounding trees look good—it’s an immersive scene. Where’s my road barrier, Sora? I want to see these people ducking under it.

As for Runway, whatever videos it was trained on, they sure weren’t videos of people riding cello cases down mountains. The people are blending into each other, elements in the shot are shifting shape, and it just looks weird. The snowy scenery and the actual live snow effect do look good, though.

Who knows what Adobe Firefly is thinking here. The physics in this one make absolutely no sense, the characters aren’t consistent, and there’s no road barrier to duck under. It’s actually unsettling to watch. We do get a snowy road, a cello case, and two people in the clip, however.

There’s no clear winner

I think the Veo 2 videos impressed me most overall, though Runway seems good for realism more often than not. Across the board we have a lot of problems with physics, realism, and prompt interpretation. These are all clearly AI videos, with numerous weird quirks and inconsistencies.

Now, I wasn’t expecting these AI generators to get anywhere near the quality of professional ads or movies: It’s just not possible to recreate those scenes with only a text prompt and a few minutes of time and effort. I’m not trying to take a cheap shot at these tools, which are obviously very clever, but rather point out some of the fundamental issues with AI video.

These balls aren’t bouncing.
Credit: Adobe Firefly/Lifehacker

With more careful work and expertise, I could probably get something that looked a lot better, and clearly these video generators are going to improve over time. Who knows what they’ll be able to produce in five or 10 years? If you check out the showcased videos on these platforms, you can see that great results are possible.

Personally, though, I’m not convinced these AI tools will ever fully replace traditional film work, no matter how well they’re trained. To get something like the Sony ad in AI, you’d have to write reams and reams of incredibly detailed prompts, and even then you might not get what you wanted. Would AI think up the frog jumping out of the drain? Results are quick and easy, sure, but you’re offloading most of the creative decisions to AI. These videos feel computer-generated.

One of these people is about to disappear.
Credit: Runway/Lifehacker

AI doesn’t really know how a ball bounces, or what a dinosaur looks like, or which way people should face as they slide down a snowy road on a cello case. It approximates and calculates based on all the videos it’s previously seen, and those shortcomings show up a lot more in video than they do with images or text. You’ll notice most AI videos, including the examples above, don’t include elements that come in and out of shot, because the AI is likely to forget what they look like if they’re not visible.

And I haven’t even had space here to cover the copyright issues or the energy cost to the planet. No doubt we’ll see an increasing number of AI-made ads and shorts as time goes on and the technology improves, but it’s worth going back to the famous warning in Jurassic Park: Being so preoccupied with whether we can do it, we don’t stop to think about whether we should.

Disclosure: Lifehacker’s parent company, Ziff Davis, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

Apple’s AirPods 4 earbuds are on sale via Amazon for $100. This is a record low price and a discount of $30. This particular deal is also available at Walmart and Best Buy.

These earbuds are considered some of the best AirPods available for purchase. The sound quality has been improved over the previous generation, which is nice. The big selling point to me, however, is the refined design. The AirPods 4 feature a legitimately comfortable fit, which is pretty rare in the earbud space. They don’t even fall out when moving around, which is something we noted in our official review.

This model features the H2 chip that was originally introduced with the AirPods Pro. The chip allows for some advanced features, like Personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking. The earbuds also offer Adaptive EQ and 48kHz audio for video calls. Apple has even included the newly-developed Voice Isolation feature that removes ambient noise when talking on the phone.

The AirPods 4 earbuds do not have onboard volume controls and there’s no option for wireless charging. Also, this model doesn’t include ANC. The ANC-equipped version is on sale today for $149, which is a discount of 17 percent. The high-end AirPods Pro 2 earbuds are also on sale right now for $169. This is a discount of 32 percent, as the regular price is $249.

Check out our coverage of the best Apple deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-airpods-4-fall-back-to-a-record-low-of-100-152310784.html?src=rss

National grid operators in Spain and Portugal confirm that a massive electrical blackout has hit the Iberian Peninsula today, starting just a couple of minutes after 12:30 pm Central European Summer Time (10:30 am UTC, or about 6:30 am US Eastern Daylight Time). The outage appears to have resulted in near-total loss of electricity in Spain, Portugal, the Principality of Andorra, and at least some portions of southwest France.

The impacts are widespread and pervasive; in major cities like Madrid, trains are not running, airports are unable to operate, and businesses and schools have closed. Citizens are still able to use cellular networks to communicate so far (most cell towers and network operations centers have battery or generator backup systems).

Electrical demand curve from Red Eléctrica site showing the outage.
Credit:
Red Eléctrica

Bloomberg energy reporter Akshat Rathi posted on Bluesky that Spanish grid operator Red Electrica claims the outage is due to “grid oscillation,” a phenomenon that occurs when the system is unable to suppress oscillations that normally happen as sources and load enter and leave the system. Rathi quotes Bloomberg cybersecurity reporter Ryan Gallagher, noting that a cyber attack has been ruled out, and the fault is likely technical:

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Months after enabling Deep Research in its expensive $200 ChatGPT Pro plan, OpenAI is now rolling out the feature to all users. Anyone can now access a lightweight version of Deep Research for free.

This new version of Deep Research sits somewhere between a regular ChatGPT search and a ChatGPT Pro-style in-depth report. These searches usually take around five to ten minutes, and give you a report that’s about a page or two long. In my experience, its reports are practical, to-the-point, and well-researched.

How the new “lightweight” ChatGPT Deep Research works

Deep Research is different from a regular ChatGPT search. Here, ChatGPT will use all of its resources, like its reasoning model, its thinking capabilities, its online search integration, and bring it all together to generate a detailed response.

Deep Research will first ask you some clarifying questions about your prompt, and then start its work. A single Deep Research query can take anywhere between 5–30 minutes, depending on how complex of a question you’re asking. The full-version of the Deep Research tool can perform complex and detailed research for you on complicated science, and math problems. These queries usually take around 30 minutes, and then generated in-depth, multipage reports.

The new lightweight version is more casual than that. You can use it to research a share that you want to invest in, products that you want to buy, or to understand a new topic. The results take about five to ten minutes, and the reports are shorter and to the point. But they’ll still be heavily sourced, so you can check the links to confirm that ChatGPT isn’t hallucinating.

But despite technically being available to everyone, access to ChatGPT Deep Research is quite limited, and it’s based on the plan that you’re using.

• Free plan: You’ll get five lightweight Deep Research queries per month.

• Plus and Team plans: The $20 per month plan gives you ten queries a month with the full-fledged Deep Research tool and an additional 15 using the lightweight version.

• Pro: The $200 per month plan comes with 125 full Deep Research queries per month, and an additional 125 using the lightweight version.

All limits reset every 30 days, and the count starts the day you start using the Deep Research feature.

How to use Deep Research in ChatGPT

After opening the ChatGPT website, click the Deep Research button and enter your prompt. The more details that you can provide, the better off you’ll be. To add more context, you can attach images, documents, or spreadsheets.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

After you enter your prompt, ChatGPT will come back to you with clarifying questions. These questions are not compulsory to answer, but they will help specify your report. If you want a more general report, you can just say something like “I don’t know, do your best”, and ChatGPT will get started with what it thinks is the best way to go forward.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

When the research starts, you’ll see a progress bar in the chat itself. You are free to leave the chat and come back later, as this will take time. In my testing using the lightweight free version, queries still took between four to eight minutes, even for simple questions.

You can click the progress bar to reveal a sidebar. This is where you’ll see the steps that ChatGPT is going through to answer your query. Depending on your question, ChatGPT might look at scholarly articles, PDFs, websites, and then use its thinking model when all the information is collated.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Once the report is ready, you’ll see it in its own specialized box. You can click the Share button to see a Preview window. Here, you can click on Share Link to generate a link to the report. Though, unlike Google Gemini, you can’t export the report as a PDF (or other format).

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

How ChatGPT Deep Research can help you

I ran a couple of tests with the Deep Research tool on the free plan, and I came away impressed. ChatGPT’s reports are concise and direct. By comparison, Google Gemini’s reports feel unnecessarily verbose. ChatGPT is also better at highlighting links right in the text, something that Gemini hides behind a menu.

I asked ChatGPT to create a beginners guide to learning Handpan, and it did a good job of compiling YouTube videos, handpan sellers, and exercises, all on one page. Next, I asked it to research market sentiment for a specific share, and it included everything from recent earnings, to expert opinions, to share price targets.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

I then used it for something that I standard Googling couldn’t help me with, which was to find a part number for a spare wheel screw hook for my Volkswagen Polo. Not wanting to open the owner’s manual or go to the dealership, I asked ChatGPT for help instead.

First, I used the regular Search feature, and it just wouldn’t give me a usable answer. The Deep Research feature, though, found the part number in a couple of minutes. But it couldn’t find a website based in India (where I’m located) that sells this part (it did find many sellers in the US and Europe, though).

To compare, I ran the query in Gemini. Gemini generated a really long report, most of which wasn’t really useful. I had to scroll all the way to the bottom to find the spare part number. This being Google, though, it gave me a link to an Indian site that sells the part. Nice.

Overall, I found that ChatGPT’s Deep Research tool is comparable to the likes of Gemini and Perplexity, and goes beyond them when it comes to direct-language and sourcing.

That said, the content is still generated using a Large Language Model, which has a tendency to hallucinate and make things up. It would be best to check the report’s sources to confirm that what ChatGPT has generated is correct.

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

If you’re tied into the Apple ecosystem and looking to upgrade your mouse or streamline your desk setup, Woot is offering a refurbished Apple Magic Mouse 2 for $49.99 for the next twelve days—or until it sells out. That’s a decent cut from its current $79.95 listing on Amazon. It’s worth mentioning upfront that this is a refurbished unit, which means it might show minor signs of previous use, but it’s been inspected and approved to work properly. Woot throws in a 90-day limited warranty, and free shipping is available if you’re an Amazon Prime member (otherwise, it’ll add $6 to the bill). Also, Woot only ships to the 48 contiguous U.S. states.

Apple Magic Mouse 2

$49.99
at Woot

$79.95
Save $29.96

$49.99
at Woot

$79.95
Save $29.96

The low-friction strips on the bottom of the Magic Mouse 2 help it move smoothly across surfaces, and its optical sensor is quick to pick up on movement. You can also easily tweak the tracking speed and sensitivity of the mouse through your Mac’s settings (it automatically pairs with any Mac via Bluetooth). Swiping between browser pages, switching full-screen apps, and pulling up Mission Control are all baked into its multitouch surface, and everything feels natural once you get the hang of it. That said, the low profile of this mouse might not be for everyone—if you prefer a mouse with a more sculpted, ergonomic shape for long work sessions, it could feel uncomfortable. Also, the charging port is awkwardly placed on the bottom, meaning you can’t use it while it’s plugged in. But if you’re someone who charges devices overnight anyway, it’s manageable.

Nothing sub-brand CMF just announced several new products, including a refresh of its flagship smartphone. The Phone Pro 2 looks to be an improvement over its predecessor in every major way.

The company says it’s the lightest and slimmest smartphone it has ever designed. It’s 7.8mm thin and weighs 6.5 ounces. That may make it the lightest phone Nothing has ever made, but the iPhone 16, for instance, is just six ounces. 

The sixth-generation MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro 5G processor includes an 8-core CPU that can run clock speeds up to 2.5GHz, which allows for an uptick in both processing and graphics when compared to the CMF Phone 1. The battery also looks particularly robust, with the company suggesting it can last two full days on a single charge.

There’s a 6.77-inch FHD+ AMOLED display and a four-camera setup, complete with a 50MP main camera. This system includes a telephoto lens, an ultra-wide and a front-facing selfie camera. There’s also a modular component to the camera array, as users can attach a fisheye and macro lens.

CMF by Nothing

The CMF Phone 2 Pro comes in four colors, but each color offers unique design elements. For instance, the black and light green models feature a back that mimics frosted glass and is bordered with a metallic frame. The orange model boasts a metallic sheen, while the white phone includes a paneled sandstone finish on the back.

The good news? These are budget-friendly phones. The 256GB model costs just $279. However, they look to be tough to get a hold of here in the US. Preorders technically open today, with shipments going out on May 6, but the phone is only available for those in the company’s beta program.

CMF by Nothing

Now onto the earbuds, none of which will be available to purchase in the US at launch. The CMF Buds 2 look to be a standard entry-level affair, with ANC and tech that mimics spatial audio. They cost around $50.

The CMF Buds 2 Plus adds hi-res LDAC and a full EQ into the mix. These cost around $65. The CMF Buds 2a are made for budget-conscious consumers, though they still include ANC. They cost around $38. All of these earbuds will be available on May 6.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/nothing-sub-brand-cmf-just-announced-a-new-smartphone-and-earbuds-134517602.html?src=rss

I keep looking for ways to free up storage space on my iPhone and on iCloud. I am a data hoarder who hates deleting things, but when I almost managed to fill up my 256GB iPhone, I knew I had a problem and began aggressively deleting unwanted data. However, photos takes up most of the storage on my iPhone, which has put me in a bit of a spot. I find it hard to delete old photos, but if I don’t do that, I may eventually have to start paying a lot more for cloud storage to back up my data. If you’re in the same boat as I am, the answer is simpler than you might think. Here are a few ways to delete photos and free up storage space on both your iPhone and on iCloud.

Define what to delete

Emotional attachment and time are my biggest problems when freeing up photos storage. I have nearly 18,000 items in my photo library, which includes over 1,000 screenshots and an unknowable number of similar photos. You see, when I take a photo, I tend to click the shutter over a dozen times to ensure I get at least one great shot. This means I often have unnecessary duplicates in my gallery, but it can be hard to find them all, and I don’t want to delete something important by accident.

When I’m setting aside some time to manually clear out unwanted photos, I go in with a clear set of guidelines: most screenshots and screen recordings can go, and I save at most three of a batch of similar shots. But it’s a lengthy process, and sometimes emotionally draining depending on the subject matter in my gallery. Plus, it gets even trickier if the photos I need to delete have people in them.

Luckily, deleting manually isn’t your only option.

Free up Photos storage space on your iPhone

If you’re really tight on storage space, you should focus on easy, big gains first before getting sucked into manually reviewing your photos. I usually start by checking the Recently Deleted folder. This has items you’ve deleted over the past 30 days, and if you’re sure you’re not going to need them, you can permanently erase them to quickly free up space. To do this, go to the Photos app on your iPhone and scroll down until you see the Utilities section. Select Recently Deleted, tap the Select button, and pick the items you don’t need. Tap the three-dots button in the bottom-right corner and hit Delete, followed by Delete From This iPhone.

Credit: Pranay Parab

Next, you should focus on quickly deleting duplicate items from your photo library. Go back to the previous page and select the Duplicates button. Tap Select, then Select All, and tap the Merge button at the bottom of the screen. This will reveal two options: merge exact copies and merge items with similar metadata. Merging exact copies is nondestructive, so go ahead and do it immediately to free up space. After that, take some time to review all the photos in this list and see if you want to merge the rest as well. You can merge one batch of duplicates at a time, and the process is much faster than finding duplicates yourself, even if it’s not fully perfect.

Once that’s done, go to the Videos and Screen Recordings folders and clear out things you don’t need. Usually, these files are quite large and you’ll see some rapid gains by deleting unwanted items. While you’re at it, visit the Screenshots folder and get rid of captures you no longer care about. 

Delete unwanted photos from iCloud

If you have iCloud sync enabled, the steps listed above will delete your photos from both your iPhone and iCloud. However, in case you don’t have access to your iPhone or you find it easier to organize and remove photos on a computer, you can visit the iCloud Photos website and delete photos from there instead. The interface is quite straightforward. The left pane lists all the albums and the Trash button in the top-right corner will help you remove photos. Once again, don’t forget to visit the Recently Deleted album and clear it out. Until you do this, you may not see a change in the amount of free space available on your iCloud account.

Using third-party apps to delete iPhone photos

I generally don’t recommend using third-party apps to clear out photo storage because most of them don’t do a better job than the built-in Photos app, often have expensive subscription models, and are from unknown developers. Since these apps require access to your entire photo library, it’s a bit of a risk to pick any old app to do the job. If you really want to use one of these apps to quickly delete photos, Undolly is a good option. It’s quick to scan the library and uses on-device processing to identify similar photos and not just duplicates. It still takes time to review photos and delete them, but the app helps you out by picking out the best among similar photos, and its selection is usually quite good. The app costs $1/month or $15 for a lifetime unlock, which is relatively inexpensive, and its privacy nutrition label indicates that it collects no data. That’s also reassuring to see.

Backing up iPhone photos to cheaper cloud storage

For those who have a large library, iCloud’s pricing tiers can be unforgiving. 50GB of iCloud space costs $1/month and 200GB is a relatively small step up at $3/month. But if you go over 200 GB, the next available plan is 2TB at $10/month, more than triple the previous tier. Before considering alternatives, you should know that no other service is as convenient for iPhone photo backups as iCloud is. For all other services, you’ll have to keep your phone unlocked with the app running until the backup is complete. But there are savings to be made by going elsewhere.

If you’re already an Amazon Prime subscriber, you could consider Amazon Photos, which offers unlimited photo storage and 5GB of video storage at no additional charge. Even without Prime, you can subscribe to Amazon Photos for 1TB of storage at $70/year. That plan gives you less storage per dollar than iCloud’s 2TB option, but you end up saving about $50/year, too. 

Personally, I prefer my Microsoft 365 subscription, because it gives me access to all the Office apps and 1TB of storage at $100/year. I am on the family plan, which I share with five other people, and it gives me 1TB of storage per account. The family plan costs $130/year, which is around $22 per person per year. Both iCloud and Google One have family plans, too, but the storage is shared among all members of the family. Microsoft 365’s family plan lets each member use 1TB, which is great.

Back up iPhone photos to local drives

To truly keep your photos secure, though, you should also keep a copy of your iPhone’s photos on external hard drives, your Mac or PC, or a network-attached storage (NAS) device, if you have one. To do that on Mac, connect your iPhone to your computer using a USB cable and open the pre-installed Image Capture app. Now, connect any external storage device and you’ll be able to copy iPhone photos to that drive. On Windows, you’ll have to connect the iPhone via USB and use the Microsoft Photos app to import photos, before transferring them to an external drive.

Alternatively, if you’re backing up your iPhone photos to a NAS device, you can use the CCC Mobile app to complete the transfer wirelessly. The app is a free download, but requires you to pay a one-time fee of $2.99 to back up your photos and videos. After that, you can periodically keep uploading your entire photo library to a NAS or an external storage device directly plugged in to your iPhone.

Saving up to retire takes decades of planning (and sometimes sacrifice), not to mention a steady income that allows you to put that money aside. Not everyone makes it to the finish line; in 2024, close to 5% of people with 401(k) plans took a hardship withdrawal, pulling money from their future to solve immediate financial needs. If you’re not yet 59½ years old (and don’t qualify for one of the exceptions allowed by the IRS) this can be a costly decision, though, because in addition to paying taxes on the withdrawal (which is considered income), you’ll be slapped with a 10% penalty.

But if you need to access your retirement funds a little early, there’s a way to do it without incurring the penalty—but it does come with some potential downsides.

Substantially Equal Periodic Payments

“Substantially Equal Periodic Payments (SEPP) is a method that allows individuals to withdraw funds from their retirement accounts before reaching the age of 59½ without incurring the typical 10% early withdrawal penalty imposed by the IRS,” says Sarah Daya, Executive Director of Wealth Planning and Advice at J.P. Morgan Wealth Management. “It could be a good option for individuals who are retiring early, or if you’re facing unexpected financial challenges and you need additional income to support yourself.”

A SEPP involves setting up annual distributions from a qualifying retirement account (like an IRA or a 401(k)—although you can’t use a 401(k) at a current employer) over a period of five years, or until the account holder turns 59½. That’s where the “substantially equal” part comes in—a SEPP isn’t a one-time distribution, it’s a schedule of more or less equal distributions over a period of time.

“The IRS has specific guidelines for how the SEPP is calculated and offers three methods for calculation that you can choose from,” Daya says:

• The Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) Method, which calculates the annual payment by dividing the account balance by your life expectancy based on the IRS’s tables; the annual payment is recalculated each year and can change from year to year.

• The Fixed Amortization Method, which calculates the payment by amortizing—in other words, distributing payments from—the account balance over a specified number of years, based on your life expectancy and a chosen interest rate; these payments remain the same from year to year.

• The Fixed Annuitization Method, which calculates the payment by dividing the account balance by an annuity factor based on a chosen interest rate and your life expectancy; the annual payment amount stays the same each year.

Which method is best for you depends on your specific financial needs.

SEPP downsides

If a SEPP seems like a magical way to tap that nest egg without penalties, Daya cautions that there are some downsides.

“A SEPP lacks flexibility,” she says. “You cannot change the payment amount or the schedule once you start—once you start a SEPP, you must continue withdrawals for at least five years or until you reach age 59 ½, whichever is longer. Changing the payment schedule or stopping the withdrawals before the five-year period ends can result in penalties.”

Another consideration is taxes, which you will have to pay on the distributions like you would on any income. And SEPPs aren’t easy to figure out, even if you handle a lot of your own finances and do your own taxes. “Calculating the SEPP payment amount is very complex,” Daya says. “You should consider working with a financial professional to help you meet all of the IRS’s compliance rules.”

Perhaps the most important consideration is the effect a SEPP will have on Future You. “Making early withdrawals through a SEPP can reduce the amount of funds available for their later retirement years,” Daya says. Every dollar you take today is a dollar you won’t have when you officially retire.

The SEPP option

Setting up a SEPP can be a good idea if you are retiring early and need access to your funds for your living expenses. If you have no other income or the income you do have is insufficient, a SEPP can bridge the gap between today and official retirement. And if you need regular income over a long period of time due to an unexpected financial challenge, a SEPP might be a good way to provide that.

But the inflexibility, cost to your future, and tax bill means a SEPP should be a kind of last-resort solution.

“They are not for short-term emergency expenses,” Daya says. “A SEPP is a way to provide a consistent income stream over five or more years. Everyone’s financial situation is different, and whether a SEPP makes sense for you will depend on a number of personal factors.”

Widespread power outages were reported Monday in parts of Spain, Portugal and France, affecting critical infrastructure like airports and causing transportation disruptions. From a report: “The interruption was due to a problem in the European electricity grid,” E-Redes, the national energy supplier of Portugal, said in a statement. In addition to Portugal, it said, “The blackout also affected regions of Spain and France, due to faults in very high voltage lines.”

E-Redes said that the outage was widespread across Spain, with outages in Catalonia, Andalusia, Aragon, Navarre, the Basque Country, Castile and Leon, Extremadura and Murcia. In France, the Portuguese energy supplier said, “the Basque Coast and the Burgundy region also experienced power cuts.”

Spain’s national power company, Red Electricia, said in a post on X that it had restored some power in the north and south of the peninsula. The cause of the outages was not immediately clear. But the effects of the disruption were felt in cities across the region.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

About a decade ago, Apple and Google started updating iOS and Android, respectively, to make them less susceptible to “juice jacking,” a form of attack that could surreptitiously steal data or execute malicious code when users plug their phones into special-purpose charging hardware. Now, researchers are revealing that, for years, the mitigations have suffered from a fundamental defect that has made them trivial to bypass.

“Juice jacking” was coined in a 2011 article on KrebsOnSecurity detailing an attack demonstrated at a Defcon security conference at the time. Juice jacking works by equipping a charger with hidden hardware that can access files and other internal resources of phones, in much the same way that a computer can when a user connects it to the phone.

An attacker would then make the chargers available in airports, shopping malls, or other public venues for use by people looking to recharge depleted batteries. While the charger was ostensibly only providing electricity to the phone, it was also secretly downloading files or running malicious code on the device behind the scenes. Starting in 2012, both Apple and Google tried to mitigate the threat by requiring users to click a confirmation button on their phones before a computer—or a computer masquerading as a charger—could access files or execute code on the phone.

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There’s an understandable and undeniable pall hanging over The Last of Us after last week’s shocker. And it’s the calm before the storm that’ll make up the rest of the season: Ellie and Dina’s trip to Seattle to track down Joel’s killers. But amid the sadness of that loss and the frustration of Ellie not getting the support of the town in her revenge plan is the absolute delight of seeing more of Ellie and Dina together.

They were probably the highlight of the first episode — their chemistry didn’t immediately hit Joel and Ellie levels, but Bella Ramsey and Isabela Merced were doing great work together right off the bat. Here, we get to see a lot more of them together, and Dina’s combination of playfulness and planning is a solid counter to Ellie’s dry humor and impulsive nature.

A great example is their trip to Seattle on horseback, as Dina challenges Ellie to name the best band she can think of for every letter of the alphabet, something Ellie eventually has quite enough of. Dina says she can come up with another game, and Ellie immediately quips they could just travel in silence, something Dina ignores and makes Ellie tell her about the first person she had to kill. Just the kind of lighthearted road trip companion Ellie needs right now.

Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

Dina is at her best in this episode when she barges in on Ellie planning for a midnight escape from the city to bring Abby to justice on her own. Earlier in the episode, the Jackson town council votes down her proposal to assemble a large crew to go after the WLF group — primarily because the town was so ravaged by the Infected horde the same day Joel was killed that they can’t spare the people. Naturally, Ellie is ready to go rogue and go on her own, but she’s not really ready. Dina shows up at her place, teases her for not planning to bring anything but guns, and lays out exactly what they need and what they don’t. Oh, and she already has it all ready to go. It’s a little too mean to say Ellie is not the brains of the operation, but she’d almost certainly be in trouble without Dina.

Beyond her practical skills, Dina flirts with Ellie constantly throughout the episode, asking Ellie to rate their kiss at the New Year’s Eve dance, teasing her about wanting to wear her Converse on a lengthy journey, whispering in Ellie’s ear that she is a badass after Ellie makes a dorky, action movie-style proclamation. But perhaps the most telling comment she makes is after they very briefly discuss that NYE kiss — Ellie says Dina was high, Dina says Ellie was drunk, and they both agree it didn’t really mean anything. They then turn off the light in their tent, and Dina can’t help but say she wasn’t that high. Ramsey and Merced’s version of “will they, won’t they” brings some much-needed levity to their situation.

Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

And to be clear, levity is much needed. Even though there isn’t much real action, the fallout from Joel’s death and the Infected siege is all over this episode. It starts with Tommy slowly cleaning Joel’s body before the camera pulls out and shows a whole room of bodies covered with sheets. That’s followed by Ellie awakening in a hospital with a tube coming out of her chest; she then screams bloody murder at remembering what happened to her. That’s not to mention the sunrise visit to Joel’s grave where Ellie briefly smiles as she puts some coffee beans by his side, or her walk through his empty house where she finds his signature watch, revolver and jacket. Keep the tissues handy.

While Ramsey’s Ellie is at her best when partnered with Dina, she also does some great work on her own — the aforementioned hospital scene is chilling, but my favorite Ellie moments in this episode are when she’s trying (and failing) to convince people she’s okay. Her speech to the town assembly encouraging them to go after the WLF is not the off-the-cuff anger that Jesse encouraged her to avoid, but you can tell Ellie is just trying to placate the masses instead of saying what she really wants. The same goes for her conversation with Gail the therapist when she leaves the hospital, though Ellie doesn’t even try to hide her therapy platitudes behind a veneer of belief.

Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

Oddly enough, it’s Seth (the bigot who got bowled over by Joel in episode one) who says what Ellie is really feeling, interrupting the meeting when someone objects to the plan to go to Seattle. Seth is enraged by what happened to a member of his community and thinks they should pursue justice at any cost. It’s far from the most measured take, but it certainly feels like the most honest.

Thus it’s not a huge surprise when he’s ready to help Ellie and Dina as they slip out of town, offering them a load of supplies and insisting Ellie take his better rifle. He says he’d go with them except for catching some friendly fire during the Infected battle, to which Ellie replies “are you sure it was friendly?” She’s clearly not ready to forgive him for his words, but a better gun, some supplies and a shared desire for revenge gets her close enough. She shakes his offered hand as they ride out of town.

Infected Score: 0/10

The showrunners say season two will have more Infected than season one — let’s see if they’re sticking to their word.

No Infected to be seen here, aside from some charred corpses around Jackson. That’s just fine with me after last week’s showdown.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-last-of-us-season-two-the-path-recap-the-calm-after-the-storm-before-the-storm-120036861.html?src=rss

By all accounts, I am a good cook. Yet in all my years, I don’t think I’ve ever made a wonderful batch of rice on the stovetop. Overcooking, undercooking, scorching; you name it, I’ve done it. Those of us who grew up watching Alton Brown’s insightful Good Eats cooking show may cling to the rule against bringing “unitaskers” into our kitchens, but I’ve decided that in order to more optimally enjoy my katsu, curries and burritos, it’s time to bring in some specialized help.

A rice cooker frees up your attention to do the rest of your food prep instead of babying your grains or abandoning them to a crispy, crunchy fate. I tested several options to find the best rice cookers that deliver delicious, fluffy rice every time, because life’s too short to settle for disappointing food.

Best rice cookers for 2025

How we test rice cookers

Since rice is a foundation for so many different cuisines, I placed a high value on a machine’s ability to cook different grain types well. I started testing each rice cooker by making a Japanese style, sushi-grade white rice. The appliances that delivered tasty results moved on to the brown rice round, then the top performers made long-grain white basmati as a final challenge. Some models I tested included a steamer basket, but I didn’t try all of them out. This is a rice-only party. Multi-cookers and steaming functions are merely a nice bonus in these, although if that’s a feature you want, an instant pot might be more your jam.

While I weighed rice tastiness and texture as the most important criteria, I also assessed how easy the machines were to use and to clean. Because a cool piece of gear that sits in your cabinet gathering dust is a cool, but ultimately useless piece of gear. I limited my testing to models retailing for less than $300, which felt like the most I could recommend investing in a specialized appliance, and value for cost wound up being the distinguishing point for my top picks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/best-rice-cooker-120015478.html?src=rss

Sales of electric vehicles in America jumped 10.6% in the first three months of 2025 (compared to the same period in 2024), reports Bloomberg.

And research provider BloombergNEF expects all of 2025 will see a 31.5% sales increase from 2024’s sales in the U:S. — slightly above the global increase rate of 30%. (That’s 22 million battery-powered vehicles around the world.)

“EV adoption is cruising along in the U.S.,” Bloomberg writes, with interest “spreading from early-adopters to mainstream consumers” tired of paying for gas and oil changes — and attracted by new products from familiar brands:

Of the 63 or so fully electric cars and trucks on the U.S. market, one quarter weren’t available a year ago. The product blitz includes the first EV offerings from Acura, Dodge and Jeep, second models from Mini and Porsche and two more battery-powered machines each from Cadillac and Volvo…
Many of the new EVs are relatively affordable. Cox Automotive estimates the price spread between EVs broadly and internal combustion cars and trucks has shrunk to just $5,000. General Motors, meanwhile, plans to resurrect its Chevrolet Bolt later this year with a price point around $30,000…

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The UK’s Children’s Commissioner is calling for a ban on AI deepfake apps that create nude or sexual images of children, according to a new report. It states that such “nudification” apps have become so prevalent that many girls have stopped posting photos on social media. And though creating or uploading CSAM images is illegal, apps used to create deepfake nude images are still legal.

 “Children have told me they are frightened by the very idea of this technology even being available, let alone used. They fear that anyone — a stranger, a classmate, or even a friend — could use a smartphone as a way of manipulating them by creating a naked image using these bespoke apps.” said Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza. “There is no positive reason for these [apps] to exist.”

De Souza pointed out that nudification AI apps are widely available on mainstream platforms, including the largest search engines and app stores. At the same time, they “disproportionately target girls and young women, and many tools appear only to work on female bodies.” She added that young people are demanding action to take action against the misuse of such tools. 

To that end, de Souza is calling on the government to introduce a total ban on apps that use artificial intelligence to generate sexually explicit deepfakes. She also wants the government to create legal responsibilities for GenAI app developers to identify the risks their products pose to children, establish effective systems to remove CSAM from the internet and recognize deepfake sexual abuse as a form of violence against women and girls. 

The UK has already taken steps to ban such technology by introducing new criminal offenses for producing or sharing sexually explicit deepfakes. It also announced its intention to make it a criminal offense if a person takes intimate photos or video without consent. However, the Children’s Commissioner is focused more specifically on the harm such technology can do to young people, noting that there is a link between deepfake abuse and suicidal ideation and PTSD, as The Guardian pointed out. 

“Even before any controversy came out, I could already tell what it was going to be used for, and it was not going to be good things. I could already tell it was gonna be a technological wonder that’s going to be abused,” said one 16-year-old girl surveyed by the Commissioner. 

In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 or you can simply dial 988. Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 (US), 686868 (Canada), or 85258 (UK). Wikipedia maintains a list of crisis lines for people outside of those countries.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/uk-regulator-wants-to-ban-apps-that-can-make-deepfake-nude-images-of-children-110924095.html?src=rss

Forza Horizon 5 is the entire reason I have an Xbox Series S. I’m not really a car guy in real life — if money, practicality and burning through fossil fuels were less of a concern, I’d get a fun hot hatch with a stick, for sure. I don’t care about luxuries or exotics, and I drive a 12-year-old Prius C in real life. But Forza Horizon 5 so skillfully melds open-world exploration, intense competition and replayability while also letting me try out dozens of cars I’ve daydreamed about driving that it felt like a must-buy.

My colleague Jess Conditt’s review of Forza Horizon 5 in 2021 pushed me over the edge. A couple months later, I got my hands on my first Xbox console and had put a startling amount of time into the game; I was far more addicted than I expected and having an absolute blast. In the three-plus years since, I have fallen off it a bit. It’s not a daily or weekly play at this point, but there are definitely times where it gets its hooks back into me and I hit my favorite tracks, try different cars or dive into the weekly challenges.

And now, Forza Horizon 5 is available on the PS5, my preferred console. It’s probably the biggest Xbox-born franchise to go cross-platform at this point and just the latest example of how Microsoft appears to be done thinking about “console exclusives.” More broadly, the company has given plenty of signs that consoles that sit under your TV aren’t its main priority — moving a high-profile game like Forza Horizon 5 is just another example.

It works for me, though, because it means I really don’t need an Xbox anymore. I might keep it around for a bit, because I’m a pack rat and there are still a handful of titles on Game Pass I’d like to play at some point. But there are so few games that one needs an Xbox for at this point that I could dump it and really not miss much of a beat — there are already tons of games I’ll never get around to without worrying about Game Pass.

And unsurprisingly, Forza Horizon 5 runs perfectly on the PS5. Everything that makes the game great on the Xbox shows up here, and I generally prefer the DualSense controller over the Xbox one. The triggers feel great for pumping the gas and brakes, and the haptic feedback is generally better too. I’m a little sad to give up all my progression on the Xbox version — specifically my garage full of cars I’ve earned over the last few years. But, it’s also fun to start fresh and have a reason to unlock everything again and start fresh on the game’s many missions.

Even though this game is three and a half years old, it’s still worth picking up now. Developer Playground Games has been consistently adding new content, including the Hot Wheels and Rally Adventure expansions from 2022 and 2023. And along with the PS5 launch, there’s a new Horizon Realms feature (coming to all platforms) that rounds up 11 limited-time “evolving world” areas that were previously featured in seasonal updates. I’m not expecting much more in the way of major content updates at this point, but if you’re new to the game on PS5 there is more than enough to keep you busy for a long time.

Playground Games

Visually, the game matches its Xbox Series X counterpart, with 60 FPS performance mode and 30 FPS graphics mode. It’s an upgrade over the Series S version I’ve spent so much time with, as that console maxes out at 1440p, and there are graphical upgrades that go beyond just resolution. But Forza Horizon 5 is an absolutely gorgeous game regardless of what console you’re playing on, and I’m not a pixel junkie. If you have the game already on an Xbox console, there’s no real reason to buy it on the PS5 — unless you’re looking to streamline how much is under your TV.

As it turns out, that’s where I’m at right now. I need to cut back on my hoarding tendencies, and as much as I appreciate the tiny footprint of the Xbox Series S and the solid selection of Game Pass titles, I do not have unlimited space or time. I really appreciate what I got out of this little console over the years, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that 75 percent of the time I used the Series S as a Forza machine. But hey, Microsoft got its cash from me and I got years of enjoyment, so I’m not mad. I just hope if there’s another Forza Horizon game in the future that it hits the PlayStation at the same time as the Xbox — assuming there still is a console called Xbox, that is.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/forza-horizon-5-is-on-the-ps5-so-i-no-longer-need-an-xbox-110016202.html?src=rss

“A new study found that a gene recently recognized as a biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease is actually a cause of it,” announced the University of California, San Diego, “due to its previously unknown secondary function.”

“Researchers at the University of California San Diego used artificial intelligence to help both unravel this mystery of Alzheimer’s disease and discover a potential treatment that obstructs the gene’s moonlighting role.”

A team led by Sheng Zhong, a professor in the university’s bioengineering department, had previously discovered a potential blood biomarker for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease (called PHGDH). But now they’ve discovered a correlation: the more protein and RNA that it produces, the more advanced the disease. And after more research they ended up with “a therapeutic candidate with demonstrated efficacy that has the potential of being further developed into clinical tests…”

That correlation has since been verified in multiple cohorts from different medical centers, according to Zhong… [T]he researchers established that PHGDH is indeed a causal gene to spontaneous Alzheimer’s disease. In further support of that finding, the researchers determined — with the help of AI — that PHGDH plays a previously undiscovered role: it triggers a pathway that disrupts how cells in the brain turn genes on and off. And such a disturbance can cause issues, like the development of Alzheimer’s disease….

With AI, they could visualize the three-dimensional structure of the PHGDH protein. Within that structure, they discovered that the protein has a substructure… Zhong said, “It really demanded modern AI to formulate the three-dimensional structure very precisely to make this discovery.” After discovering the substructure, the team then demonstrated that with it, the protein can activate two critical target genes. That throws off the delicate balance, leading to several problems and eventually the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. In other words, PHGDH has a previously unknown role, independent of its enzymatic function, that through a novel pathway leads to spontaneous Alzheimer’s disease…

Now that the researchers uncovered the mechanism, they wanted to figure out how to intervene and thus possibly identify a therapeutic candidate, which could help target the disease…. Given that PHGDH is such an important enzyme, there are past studies on its possible inhibitors. One small molecule, known as NCT-503, stood out to the researchers because it is not quite effective at impeding PHGDH’s enzymatic activity (the production of serine), which they did not want to change. NCT-503 is also able to penetrate the blood-brain-barrier, which is a desirable characteristic. They turned to AI again for three-dimensional visualization and modeling. They found that NCT-503 can access that DNA-binding substructure of PHGDH, thanks to a binding pocket. With more testing, they saw that NCT-503 does indeed inhibit PHGDH’s regulatory role.

When the researchers tested NCT-503 in two mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease, they saw that it significantly alleviated Alzheimer’s progression. The treated mice demonstrated substantial improvement in their memory and anxiety tests…

The next steps will be to optimize the compound and subject it to FDA IND-enabling studies.

The research team published their results on April 23 in the journal Cell.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Whether you’re commuting, working in a bustling café or just trying to tune out the world, the best noise-canceling earbuds can help you focus on what matters — your music, podcasts or a bit of peace and quiet. With advanced noise reduction and features like active noise cancellation, these compact in-ear buds are designed to block out distractions and deliver immersive sound, even in the most noisy environments.

Today’s top models offer everything from seamless Bluetooth connectivity and customizable ear tips to long-lasting batteries with a pocketable charging case — some even charge via USB-C and come with added perks like touch controls and water resistance. Whether you’re a casual listener or a true audiophile, there’s a pair out there that fits your lifestyle and budget.

Table of contents

• Best noise-cancelling earbuds for 2025

• How to choose the best noise-canceling earbuds for you

• How we test noise-canceling earbuds

Best noise-cancelling earbuds for 2025

How to choose the best noise-canceling earbuds for you

Design

Most true wireless earbuds these days have a “traditional” design that’s a round bud that fits in your ear canals. However, there are some variations on the formula in terms of shape, size and additional fitting elements. Some companies include fins or fit wings to help hold their in-ear earbuds in place while others opt for an over-the-ear hook on more sporty models. You’ll want to pay attention to these things to make sure they align with how you plan to use them. Also consider overall size and weight since those two factors can impact the fit. A less-than-ideal seal due to a weird fit will affect the performance of active noise-canceling earbuds.

Type of noise cancellation

Next, you’ll want to look at the type of ANC a set of earbuds offer. You’ll see terms like “hybrid active noise cancellation” or “hybrid adaptive active noise cancellation,” and there are key differences between the two. A hybrid ANC setup uses microphones on the inside and the outside of the device to detect ambient noise. By analyzing input from both mics, a hybrid system can combat more sounds than “regular” ANC, but it’s at a constant level that doesn’t change.

Adaptive ANC takes the hybrid configuration a step further by continuously adjusting the noise cancellation for changes in your environment and any leakage around the padding of the ear cups or ear tips. Adaptive ANC is also better at combating wind noise, which can really kill your vibe while using earbuds outdoors. For this top pick list of the best noise-canceling earbuds, I’m only considering products with hybrid ANC or adaptive ANC setups because those are the most effective at blocking noise in noisy environments.

Customization

You’ll also want to check to see if the ANC system on a prospective set of earbuds offers presets or adjustable levels of noise reduction. These can help you dial in the amount of ANC you need for various environments, but it can also help save battery life. Master & Dynamic, for example, has ANC presets that either provide maximum noise-blocking or prioritize energy efficiency. Other companies may include a slider in their companion apps that let you adjust the ANC level.

How we test noise-canceling earbuds

The primary way we test earbuds is to wear them as much as possible. I prefer to do this over a one-to-two-week period, but sometimes deadlines don’t allow it. During this time, I listen to a mix of music and podcasts, while also using the earbuds to take both voice and video calls.

Since battery life for ANC earbuds is typically 6-10 hours, I drain the battery with looping music and the volume set at a comfortable level (usually around 75 percent). When necessary, I’ll power the headphones off during a review without putting them back in the case. This simulates real-world use and keeps me from having to wear them for an entire day.

To test ANC performance specifically, I use the earbuds in a variety of environments, from noisy coffee shops to quiet home offices. When my schedule allows, I also use them during air travel, since plane noise is a massive distraction to both work and relaxation. Even if I’m not slated to hop on a flight, I simulate a constant roar with white noise machines, bathroom fans, vacuums and more. I also make note of how well earbuds block human voices, which are a key stumbling block for a lot of ANC setups.

I also do a thorough review of companion apps, testing each feature as I work through the software. Any holdovers from previous models are double-checked for improvements or regression. If the earbuds I’m testing are an updated version of a previous model, I’ll spend time getting reacquainted with the older set, and revisit the closest competition as well.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/best-noise-canceling-earbuds-150026857.html?src=rss