There are plenty of ways to update your home’s WiFi today, but many of them are on the expensive side. And if you have a big home, outfitting every corner with a decent connection will cost you. However, you can get a good deal on Amazon’s Eero 6 mesh WiFi systems right now. All of the packs have been discounted, so you can get just the router for $90, which is 30 percent off, or up to three routers for $244, which is 37 percent off its normal price. The three-pack with one router and two extenders is arguably the best for most people and that’s 30 percent off and down to $195.

Buy Eero 6 (1 router + 2 extenders ) at Amazon – $195Buy Eero 6 (1 router) at Amazon – $90Buy Eero 6 (3 routers) at Amazon – $244

The three-pack will cover up to 5,000 square feet, which should be more than enough for a typical home. As the name suggests, these Eero devices support dual-band WiFi 6 and wireless speeds up to 500Mbps. You’ll get speeds up to 900Mbps if you’re hardwired in, but you’ll only be able to do that near the router’s location as its the only one out of the three to have two, built-in Ethernet ports.

The Eero 6 will come in handy if you want to add to your smart home system as it has a built-in Zigbee home hub for you to connect things like smart lights, thermostats and more. And like many Amazon products, it works with Alexa so you can use your voice to control all of the compatible smart home devices that are on your network. It may not have the advanced features that the Eero Pro 6 has, like tri-band support and gigabit speeds, but the Eero 6 system will be more than enough for most people and an upgrade for those currently relying on aging routers.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Source: Engadget – Amazon’s Eero 6 mesh WiFi system is up to 37 percent off

This week, Cherlynn and Devindra bring you the best and worst of Sundance 2022’s tech-related projects. What films coming out of the show will be worth watching when they’re released? Are VR projects easily viewable? What, if anything, did they say about the metaverse? Then, our hosts go over Samsung’s news on this year’s first Unpacked launch event, Neil Young’s fight against Spotify and what went down at the Antiwork subreddit.

Listen below, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!

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Topics

• VR and AR at Sundance 2022 New Frontiers – 2:03

• Select tech films at Sundance (After Yang, TikTok Boom, We Met in Virtual Reality) – 12:25

• Preview of Samsung’s first Unpacked of 2022 – 37:03

• Neil Young vs. Spotify: Young’s music pulled over Joe Rogan’s podcast – 42:30

• Reddit’s /r/AntiWork blew up in a big way – 46:45

• Listener Mailbag – 55:50

• Working On – 1:01:00

• Interview with “We Met in Virtual Reality” director Joe Hunting – 1:03:54

Video livestream

Following the release of Unicode 14, Apple is finally starting to include the new emojis on iOS with the release of the 15.4 developer beta, Apple Insider has reported. As we detailed last summer, some of the new emojis available are “heart hands,” “troll,” “biting lip” and “melting face.” The latter could be a popular option for our troubled times, smiling as your face literally melts while a pandemic and other strife rages on.

The final version of Unicode 14 also includes multiple skin tone variations of the handshake emoji, the one character you ironically couldn’t modify for different skin shades. It took the Unicode Consortium a good two years, but they’ve finally got a new handshake character that’s available with up to 25 different skin tone combinations. 

Unicode 14.0 has already arrived on Android 12, which has now gone out to most major smartphone brands. They’re only available on Apple’s iOS devices with the latest 15.4 developer beta, but will appear widely once the release comes out of beta later this year. 

Source: Engadget – ‘Melting face’ and 36 other emojis arrive with Apple’s iOS 15.4 beta

After investing $4.5 billion in India’s largest carrier Jio, Google is now putting up to $1 billion in Airtel, the second largest mobile operator, Airtel announced. The partnership is focusing on “affordable access to smartphones” and is part of Google’s promised $10 billion investment in the country. “Our commercial and equity investment in Airtel is a continuation of our Google for India Digitization Fund’s efforts to increase access to smartphones,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a statement. 

The deal includes a $700 million investment to acquire a 1.28 percent ownership in Airtel, with another $300 million earmarked for potential commercial agreements. Specifically, Airtel and Google will work to expand on Airtel’s Android device lineup via “innovative affordability programs.” The companies didn’t specify what those programs would entail, however.

Airtel also said that it would look at “larger strategic goals” with Google around 5G network standards, cloud ecosystems and more. “With our future ready network, digital platforms, last mile distribution and payments ecosystem, we look forward to working closely with Google to increase the depth and breadth of India’s digital ecosystem,” said Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal. 

Google previously collaborated with Jio on the low-cost $87 JioPhone Next smartphone that went on sale on November 4th price following a delay due to the global chip shortage. Jio has also received investment from Facebook and other companies. 

With a huge number of potential internet users, Alphabet, Facebook parent Meta and others have looked to India to boost growth. Both tech giants have worked to bring internet connectivity to India, Alphabet with Project Loon and Meta via Free Basics, which was later banned in India. 

Source: Engadget – Google to invest up to billion in India’s second biggest carrier

Using your face to unlock your phone is great in normal times, but less than ideal when you’re masked up and avoiding germs. Apple already has a workaround in place if you own a new enough Apple Watch, and now it’s working on a fix for the rest of us. The most recent iOS developer beta enables users to open their device with just the geography of their eyes. The feature, which is currently being tested, will work with glasses users, although if you’re wearing sunglasses, you might have to take them off first.

At the same time, Apple has also reportedly been looking into enabling iPhones to work as standalone payment terminals. That way, it would be easier to settle bills between friends and, more importantly, enable small businesses to accept payments. That might pose a problem for companies like Square, who have made a name for themselves building external payment hardware for phones. But it would also give Apple a way to corner a big chunk of the payment processing market without breaking much of a sweat.

– Dan Cooper

The biggest news stories you might have missed

• The ‘Mortal Kombat’ movie is getting a sequel

• Dark web news site owner sentenced for role in $8.4 million kickback scheme

• NASA hopes to speed up mission scheduling with help from Microsoft’s Quantum division

• FCC proposes mandatory labels that clearly explain broadband services

• Warner Music Group is building a ‘musical theme park’ in the metaverse

• Wyze will discontinue its first camera on February 1st

Strange Milky Way object sends radio bursts a minute at a time

Someone call Jeff Goldblum.

This next story works better if you imagine William Shatner circa 1979 is reading it out to you. Researchers out of Curtin University have found something… odd, out there in space, a spinning object 4,000 light-years away. It’s been sending out a giant burst of polarized radio energy for a full minute, every 18 minutes, and keeps… appearing and disappearing every few hours. It’s a curiosity that the researchers think might be a magnetar, a theoretical neutron star spinning so slowly that it causes everything to look… strange. This discovery may have… implications for how we understand… the universe.

Continue Reading.

Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance confirms plans to build 35 new EVs by 2030

Cars!

The gang over at Renault Nissan Mitsubishi has revealed a plan to invest around $26 billion in order to bring 35 new electric vehicles to market by 2030. Five new platforms will be built, with the crew pledging that technology and components will be shared to reduce waste. That will run from super-compact all-electric city cars through to beefy battery commercial vehicles. Meanwhile, California has unveiled a $10 billion plan to increase EV adoption, including cash to build out charging networks in low-income neighborhoods and discounts for low-income buyers.

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Shure Aonic 40 review: Decent ANC headphones with impressive battery life

But otherwise? Ehhhhh.

Your friend and mine Billy Steele has been road-testing the new Shure Aonic 40 ANC cans for a while, and now his verdict is out. The headphones, which are priced at $249, are designed to sit in that tier just before you start shelling out serious money for your ears. Sadly, while the price is right and the battery life is great, everything else is just a bit lukewarm for Billy’s trained ears. He also lamented the lack of comfort for bigger heads, and an overall lack of polish in the rest of the feature list.

Continue Reading.

Source: Engadget – The Morning After: Latest iOS beta supports FaceID with a mask