Melted butter, without modification or adornment, makes a pretty damn good sauce, but whisking it with a little hot water makes it silkier, clingier, and, surprisingly, creamier. The resulting sauce has a fancy French name—beurre monté—but this simple emulsification can be whipped up by home cooks of any skill level.
Source: LifeHacker – Make This Fancy French Sauce Out of Butter and Water
Big ticket items may get more attention, but Amazon’s October Prime Day sale is a good time to stock up on the smaller accessories and items you may also need. Plenty of less-expensive gadgets are on sale right now, including smart speakers, iPhone accessories, chargers, smart home devices and battery packs — many of which make great stocking stuffers and nice gifts for the hard-to-shop-for. We’ve rounded up the tech items we’ve tested, tried and know to be a good deal. Here are the best Amazon Big Deal Days items under $50.
Amazon’s Echo Dot combines the typical utility of Alexa with surprisingly decent sound. It usually retails for $50, but for Big Deal Days, it’s down to $23, which is 54 percent off and matches the all-time low price we saw last Prime Day. We named this one the best sub-$50 smart speakers you can buy — and if you get two, you can make them a stereo pair. The version with a built-in clock is also discounted at $45.
The Kids edition of the Echo Dot is usually $60 but is down to $28 for October’s sale. That’s the same price it went for during Amazon’s July sale. It’s basically the Echo Dot, but with a kid-friendly owl or dragon-themed exterior. It also comes with a parental dashboard and a year’s subscription to Amazon Kids+, which includes a selection of kid-appropriate audiobooks, stories and songs.
Amazon updated the Echo Show 5 back in May. It went for half off last Prime Day, but October’s sale is bringing the price down further, to $40 after a 56 percent discount. This is a smaller display that works best as a bedside alarm clock, complete with a snooze button. It’ll also work in smaller spaces as a display-enabled controller for all your connected smart home devices.
The revamped Echo Show 5 for Kids didn’t make the cut for this list last Prime Day, as it only dropped to $60, but now a steeper discount has brought it down to $45. It’s similar to the regular Echo Show 5, but comes with a cosmic-themed fabric covering and includes a year of Amazon Kids+ with shows, music and audiobooks that are all child-appropriate.
Amazon’s smallest Echo smart speaker came out last May and went down to $18 for July’s Prime Day sale. The half-sphere Echo Pop is back down to that all-time low for this October sale, which is a 55 percent discount. A Kids version of the Pop will be released soon, though not until after this Prime sale is over.
Amazon’s Fire TV Stick Lite usually goes for $30, but a 40 percent Prime Big Deal Days discount has dropped it to just $18. This is the budget pick in Engadget’s streaming device guide and is one of the cheapest ways to make a smaller or secondary TV smart. It supports 1080p streaming with HDR and comes with an Alexa voice remote, though it can’t control the volume or power on your TV.
Amazon just updated the Fire TV Stick 4K, adding more processing power and support for Wi-Fi 6. Unfortunately that model isn’t on sale and sticking to its $50 price point. The previous Fire TV Stick 4K, however, is more than half off and down to $23, the same as it went for during the last Prime Day sale. If you don’t have Wi-Fi 6 anyway, you may be happy with this dongle as it still handles 4K video, HDR including Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.
We like the straightforward interface of Roku’s Streaming Stick 4K and named it the top recommendation in our guide to the best streaming devices. Normally priced at $50, it’s $12 off for the October Prime Day sale — though it went lower last Black Friday (and may do so again). Still, for the price this streaming dongle provides a lot of features, including the vast Roku channel, a helpful universal search function and a private-listening feature via the Roku app. If you only need the budget 1080p version, you can get the Roku Express dongle for $22, which is about $4 more than it went for last November.
Outdoor smart plugs will make turning your holiday lights on and off far easier. In our smart plug guide we found the Kasa Outdoor Smart Plug to be the best pick for Apple HomeKit users. It actually worked great with all smart home assistants, but it was pricier than the Wyze plug that only works with Alexa and Google Home. Now that the Kasa plug is down to $20 — its lowest price ever — that price discrepancy isn’t as large.
We tested the Nestout Portable Charger in ways we wouldn’t typically test a battery pack. But since it claims to be waterproof and drop-resistant, we dunked it in water and smacked it down on several hard surfaces. It held up — and it’s currently our pick for the best outdoor-worthy portable battery pack. It’s usually $80, but this sale drops it by 37 percent to just sneak under the $50 mark.
We’re in the process of testing Anker’s new Nano Power Bank 10K for our battery pack buying guide and are so far impressed with its clever design, which includes a built-in USB-C cable plus two additional ports for USB-C and USB-A. It’s usually $50, but Amazon’s October sale knocks it down to $35.
The runner up in our guide to the best webcams is Anker’s PowerConf C200 2K. The list price is $60, but is discounted to $48 as part of a Prime Big Deal Days Lightning deal. It’s easy to set up, has a built-in lens cover for privacy and captures sharp and clear 2K resolution video with a 95-degree field of view. Since this is a Lightning deal, though, be warned that stock is likely to run dry sooner rather than later.
Our favorite budget smart light bulbs are TP-Link’s Kasa Smart WiFi Bulbs, which are 35 percent off right now for a four-pack. Installation is easy, and the lights stayed reliably connected during our tests. TP-Link’s companion app is simple to navigate as well.
Prime members can get the latest Echo Buds for $35 instead of $50 right now. In Engadget’s review, we were surprised how much these semi-open earbuds can get you for the price. We also named them the best open-design pick in our guide to the best budget earbuds. Note, though, that our top pick in that guide, Anker Soundcore Space A40 earbuds are also on sale for $54 instead of their usual $80. Though that’s technically more than our price threshold here, it’s still a great deal on buds that belie that low price.
The Sit-Stand Desk from Moft has a clever folding design that lays flat when not in use but unfurls to lift even heavy laptops to a standing height off your desk. It folds into three other laptop-supporting positions as well, and we named it one of the best MacBook accessories you can buy. Usually $60, it’s down to $48 for the sale.
Our favorite microSD card for most people is the Samsung Pro Plus. It had the fastest sequential write speeds and random performance of any card we tested, and the USB reader that comes with included with this listing helps it reach higher speeds on compatible devices. It’s listed at $38 for the set (though it often goes for $25), and now Prime Day in October brings it to $23.
We named the Samsung Evo Select, meanwhile, the best value model in our microSD card guide. Right now its 128GB version is down to $10, which matches its lowest price ever. It may not have the fastest write speeds, but it’s good for giving you extra room for your files on the cheap.
If stock runs dry on the cards above and you need more room on your Switch, SanDisk’s officially licensed microSDXC card is a good pick, particularly when it’s on sale. Right now a 128GB model is within a dollar of its all-time low at just $18.
October Prime Day has chopped the price of the Blink Video Doorbell in half, making it just $30. You can install this using your existing doorbell wires or use it battery-powered. It sends 1080p video to your phone or smart display, triggered by motion. To peek at your front door on-demand, you’ll either need to hardwire the device or get a Sync Module 2. To save clips, you can use the Module or a Blink subscription plan.
As the name suggests, you’ll have to hook the Ring Video Doorbell Wired up to your existing doorbell wires. Once you do, you’ll get 1080p video sent to your phone or smart display when motion is triggered, or you can check the feed on-demand whenever you’d like. But again, to save and share clips, you’ll need a Ring subscription. The device is on sale for $35, which is $30 off the list price.
The Blink mini security cameras are wired, indoor cams that will let you check in on your living spaces whenever the mood strikes. A two-pack goes for $65 most days, but for October Prime, the set is down to $40. These motion-activated smart cameras can send live 1080p video to your smartphone or smart display and allow for two-way audio so you can tell the dog to get off the couch.
As noted in our smart plug buying guide, we think Amazon’s Smart Plug is your best bet if you use Alexa as your smart home helper. At a deal price of just $13, it’s currently 48 percent off and $2 cheaper than the lowest price we’ve tracked. This plug’s setup is so simple as to be almost automatic, and its control of lamps, fans and other smart home devices is reliable. Programming schedules in the Alexa app is super simple and may get even easier with future updates.
The OtterBox Fast Charge Power Bank is currently just $36 for the 15,000mAh capacity model, which is the version we tested and recommend in our portable battery guide. This pack looks sharp and delivers a fast and reliable charge via USB-C or USB-A.
Jabra’s Elite 3 earbuds are a few years old at this point, but they earned an Engadget review score of 88 for their impressive sound quality, good battery life, reliable touch controls and comfortable fit. They’ve dropped to $50, or $30 off their list price.
New Apple Watches don’t come with power adapters, so if you’re looking for one that can deliver a quick charge, we recommend Anker’s 511 (Nano 3) charging brick. It’s down to $20 which is a mild, $4 discount, but still a welcome price for a worthwhile smartwatch accessory.
The best smart plug you can buy according to our testing is Kasa’s Smart Plug EP25. It went down to $35 last Prime Day but is down to $33 for October’s sale. We found this plug to be reliable and relatively easy to set up. It works not just with Alexa and the Google Assistant, but also Samsung SmartThings and Apple HomeKit.
The best budget gaming headset you can buy, according to our testing, is the HyperX Cloud Stinger 2. Listed at $50, and often selling for $40, the Prime Day sale drops it down to $35, which matches its all-time low. The sound quality isn’t what you’d get with premium headphones, but the fit is comfortable and the mic is decent.
We didn’t test the JBL Go 3 for our Bluetooth speaker guide, but JBL is a brand we recommend often. This diminutive speaker is 40 percent off for the October Prime Day sale, bringing it to $30. The Go 3 is waterproof, includes a hook for hanging and is rated for five hours on a charge. Elsewhere, the Clip 4 portable speaker is down to $45 instead of $80 for the sale.
In our tech gift guide, we called the Joby Gorillapod 3K stand “a bargain for such a versatile tool” when it was $45. Now it’s down to just $35. It grips on to poles or stands on its own making it a great vlogging or photography companion.
Your October Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Fall Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-amazon-prime-day-october-deals-under-50-152431292.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – The best Prime Day deals you can get for under right now
Business interest in AI PCs is fizzing, at least according to IDC, even though the analyst admits “use cases have yet to be fully articulated.” From a report: Such is the hype around generative AI since ChatGPT was made publicly available that big software and hardware brands are looking to shoe horn the tech into every nook and cranny. Just last week HP boss Enrique Lores and Lenovo exec Luca Rossi joined in by confirming both companies are working on a range of AI PCs for general availability between July next year and early 2025. Neither went into fine technical detail on what those machines will have inside because they aren’t close to release.
IDC research veep for Devices & Displays, Linn Huang, didn’t pour any cold water on the hype this week when he said: “Generative AI could be a watershed moment for the PC industry. While uses cases have yet to be fully articulated, interest in the category is already strong. AI PCs promise organizations the ability to personalize the user experience at a deeper level all while being able to preserve data privacy and sovereignty.” That’s quite a billing. HP and Lenovo certainly seem to think there’s margin potential. Huang agreed. “As more of these devices launch next year, we expect a significant boost to overall selling prices.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – IDC: AI is a Solution for a PC Industry With a Sales Problem
Today the BBC announced it will finally add every available classic episode of Doctor Who, and all of its spin-offs, to iPlayer. It’s the culmination of work which began when Russell T. Davies returned as the show’s major creative force, and a significant change for the BBC. In a statement, it said every episode of the classic series, plus spin-offs like The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood and Class, as well as making-of series Doctor Who Confidential, would all be added on November 1st.
All of Doctor Who’s post-2005 revival series are widely-available on streaming services both in the UK and abroad. But the original run has rarely, if ever, been on-demand without an extra charge, as it’s still one of the BBC’s most reliable cash-cows. The series has been released on VHS, DVD and now Blu-ray, with several of its most recent releases requiring multiple printings. The only place to stream Doctor Who on-demand, at least with a clean conscience, is by paying for BritBox’s premium streaming service.
As part of the release, the BBC is making a point of the new accessibility features — including every episode featuring sign language translation — and that a new archive of material will also be put online on the official Doctor Who website. It’s not clear, at this point, if this will include the hours upon hours of special documentaries and behind-the-scenes material that comes with the show’s numerous DVD and Blu-ray releases.
The change comes as the show builds up to its 60th anniversary later that same month, as the show stops being a purely BBC production. Instead, it’s being made by Bad Wolf productions with cash backing from Disney, which will stream the show on Disney+ outside the UK. It’s pure speculation on my part, but if the BBC has cleared any issues that prevented it from streaming all of Doctor Who in the UK, then the whole series may also be available on Disney+ at the same time.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/all-of-doctor-who-is-finally-coming-to-bbc-iplayer-152006413.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – All of Doctor Who is finally coming to BBC iPlayer
X (formerly Twitter) has made changes to its policy on newsworthy posts to allow more content that would ordinarily violate its rules to remain on the platform. The company made the modifications amid the conflict in and around the West Bank.
Until now, the company would only grant a newsworthiness exception to accounts that had at least 100,000 followers. X has removed that threshold, as TechCrunch reports. The latest version of the policy stipulates that “high profile” accounts are eligible for a newsworthiness exception. The account in question also needs to represent “a current or potential member of a local, state, national or supra-national governmental or legislative body.” Only elected officials and government figures have historically been eligible for the exemption.
X’s Safety account noted there’s been an upswing in daily active users in the region in recent days and that users have posted more than 50 million times about the conflict. The platform said that it was focused on “protecting the conversation on X” as the situation unfolds.
In the past couple of days, we’ve seen an increase in daily active users on @X in the conflict area, plus there have been more than 50 million posts globally focusing on the weekend’s terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas.
As the events continue to unfold rapidly, a cross-company…
— Safety (@Safety) October 10, 2023
“Over the weekend, we updated our Public Interest Policy,” the company said. “We know that it’s sometimes incredibly difficult to see certain content, especially in moments like the one unfolding. In these situations, X believes that, while difficult, it’s in the public’s interest to understand what’s happening in real time.”
X also said it had removed “newly created Hamas-affiliated accounts” and is working with partners to reduce the spread of “terrorist content.” However, the change to the newsworthiness policy could enable more misinformation about the Israel-Hamas conflict (and other issues) to remain on X when it previously would have been yanked.
The company appears to be taking a more hands-off approach to misinformation in general under owner Elon Musk. It’s relying more on Community Notes to crowdsource contextual information about posts that may be false or misleading.
According to The Information, X killed off a tool in recent months that helped to tackle coordinated misinformation campaigns by detecting when multiple accounts shared the same piece of potentially doctored or mislabelled media. The company is said to have made that move to cut costs.
X flagged several false and misleading posts regarding the conflict, including ones with a video that claimed to show Israeli airstrikes against Hamas. However, a review by CNBC found that the platform’s systems did not detect many other posts with the same video and caption. The tool X recently shut down may have helped in that regard.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/x-changes-its-policy-around-newsworthy-posts-that-would-otherwise-break-rules-150842429.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – X changes its policy around ‘newsworthy’ posts that would otherwise break rules
Google’s Pixel 8 phones with the latest Android 14 operating system might be receiving most of the attention right now, but it seems like the users of older Pixel devices might be reaping major benefits from the update as well. But of course, before we proceed, YMMV.
Mountain View’s recently released Android 14 brought with it some nice
Source: Hot Hardware – Android 14 Is Quietly Solving Overheating Issues For Some Pixel Phone Owners
This tutorial will show you how to install the open-source distributed search and analysis engine Elasticsearch on Ubuntu 22.04.
The post How to Install and Configure Elasticsearch on Ubuntu 22.04 appeared first on Linux Today.
Source: Linux Today – How to Install and Configure Elasticsearch on Ubuntu 22.04
For the first time ever, the BBC will be the streaming home of as much of Doctor Who history as it possibly can be next month in celebration of the show’s 60th anniversary, as over 800 episodes from across 60 years of adventures in time and space head to its streaming platform, iPlayer.
Source: Gizmodo – 60 Years of Doctor Who Will Stream All In One Place In the UK
Amazon is hosting Prime Day 2.0 today and tomorrow (October 10 and 11). They’re calling it Prime Big Deal Days, and are offering a number of pretty good deals.
Source: Gizmodo – The Best Anti-Amazon Deals To Shop From
Peloton’s Bike and Bike+ are on sale today for Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days, at prices even better than during Prime Days back in July. The original Bike is nearly 25% off, and the upgraded Bike+ is 20% off.
Source: LifeHacker – You Can Get a Peloton Bike for 24% Off Today
X, formerly called Twitter, now allows users to block unverified accounts from replying to their posts as Elon Musk strives to make paying for a subscription worth the money. The company announced the change in a post on Monday, telling users they “can now limit replies to verified users.”
Source: Gizmodo – X/Twitter Users Can Now Restrict Replies to People Who Pay Elon Musk
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured the blue spiral arms of a galaxy far, far away in stunning detail. NGC 6951, an intermediate spiral galaxy 78 million light-years away, was first discovered by French astronomer Jerome Coggia in 1887.
According to NASA, NGC 6951 is often classified as a Type II Seyfert galaxy, which is a type of active
Source: Hot Hardware – Hubble Captures Jaw-Dropping Image Of A Blue Spiral Galaxy Over 800M Years Old
The European Union will do all it can to halt fossil fuel use as part of its “ambitious” position at the upcoming COP28 climate summit despite some differences among EU countries, the bloc’s new climate chief Wopke Hoekstra said on Monday. From a report: “Our ambition is indeed to do as much as possible, also in terms of driving out fossil fuels,” Hoekstra told journalists after a meeting with Spain’s acting Energy Minister Teresa Ribera. The European Union’s own green agenda is facing growing political resistance from governments and lawmakers concerned about the cost of the proposals for voters. European Parliament elections will be held next year as citizens throughout the bloc are facing cost of living pressures. “Our goal will be one of ambition for the COP, from every single aspect: mitigation, adaptation, renewables,” Hoekstra said, even though “if you zoom out and look at the 27 member states, you might see differences.” Hoekstra declined to give details on the EU negotiating mandate for the COP28. “In our view there is no alternative to driving out fossil fuel asap,” he said. “The saying is that it takes two to tango. In this case, it takes almost 200.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – EU Will Do ‘as Much as Possible’ To Drive Out Fossil Fuels, Climate Chief Says
Overwatch 2’s seventh season is upon us, and while a new battle pass, new map, and the questionable Sombra rework headline the season, we’ve also got a lot more to unpack in the latest patch notes.
Source: Kotaku – Overwatch 2’s New Patch Has A Lot More Than Sombra’s Rework
No one wants to explain away the whims of a megalomaniac, and Linda Yaccarino has been having such a rough go of it. The X/Twitter CEO has reportedly dropped out of the Wall Street Journal’s upcoming Tech Live conference following a widely criticized interview less than two weeks ago.
Source: Gizmodo – X CEO Abandons WSJ Tech Conference Following Disastrous Appearance at Code
CEO John Riccitiello has retired from game development software company Unity after possibly its worst month of bad headlines ever. The tech company that’s slowly morphed into an in-game advertising firm announced a confusing and seemingly predatory new set of fees for game makers in September, only to walk the policy…
Source: Kotaku – One Of Gaming’s Most Hated CEOs Says Goodbye, Again
If you’ve ever wanted a robot buddy of your own to slurp up the detritus you’ve been leaving behind, Prime Big Deal Days is go time. There are deals to be had left and right on robot vacuums from iRobot, Shark, Roborock, Ecovacs, Yeedy, Coredy and more. But if you’re looking to score the deepest discount, the eufy…
Source: LifeHacker – The Eufy G20 Robot Vacuum Is 43% Off for Prime Big Deal Days
Enlarge / Bose’s QuietComfort 45 wireless noise-canceling headphones. (credit: Jeff Dunn)
Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days sales event is in full effect, and with it comes a slew of excellent headphone deals across a wide range of options. Whether you’ve been looking for the best noise-canceling earbuds on the market in the Bose QuietComfort II, a pair of the indomitable AirPods Pro (gen 2), or even some great gaming cans from JBL, our list below has all the best headphone deals available during Amazon’s sale.
Bose’s QuietComfort 45 noise-canceling headphones. (credit: Jeff Dunn)
If you’d like to see how Pixel Buds Pro look as part of professionally staged promotional photos, Google has your back. Here’s “charcoal.” (credit: Google)
Read on Ars Technica | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – The best headphones on sale for Amazon Prime Big Deal Days
Akihabara News (Tokyo) — A Suzuki-owned factory in Iwata city, Shizuoka Prefecture, will be used to produce up to one hundred units of the SkyDrive eVTOL (flying car). Production is expected to begin next spring.
In this connection, SkyDrive created at the beginning of September a wholly-owned production subsidiary with Nobuo Kishi as its first president. This subsidiary has been named Sky Works Inc.
Suzuki Motor Corporation and SkyDrive first announced their alliance in March last year, and they have been steadily tightening their cooperation.
The two companies have been collaborating in areas such as research and development, planning manufacturing systems, and the exploration of overseas markets, with an initial focus on India.
SkyDrive revealed that it is paying particular attention to areas in India where tourists visit historical buildings alongside rivers or by the sea.
Well in advance of production, SkyDrive has already collected preorders for hundreds of its forthcoming eVTOL. The latest announcement came last month when it was revealed that Solyu Company, an Korean aircraft leasing firm, put in a preorder for up to fifty units of the SkyDrive eVTOLs.
Recent eVTOL Industry Related Articles
Hyogo Prefecture Launches New Flying Car Project
Marubeni Links Up with Lift Aircraft
JAL Chief Sees Flying Car Development as Urgent
Flying Car Hits Speed Bump in Nobeoka
SkyDrive Flying Car Gains Weight
Nidec to Build Flying Car Engines
SLT Aims to Produce Six-Seater Flying Car
Island Hopping Flying Car Over Okinawa Prefecture
West Japan Showroom for Chinese Flying Car
SkyTaxi Moves to Acquire Korean Flying Cars
The post Suzuki Factory to Produce SkyDrive Flying Cars appeared first on Akihabara News.
Source: Akihabara News – Suzuki Factory to Produce SkyDrive Flying Cars
