Honda and GM are abandoning their plan to develop a line of affordable electric vehicles together. Under the program, which was announced in April 2022, the two had committed to building compact crossover EVs that would start at less than GM’s upcoming $30,000 electric Chevrolet Equinox. The first models were expected to start releasing in 2027.

Toshihiro Mibe, CEO of Honda, confirmed the project’s cancellation in an interview with Bloomberg, saying “we decided that this would be difficult as a business, so at the moment we are ending the development of an affordable EV.” Both companies will separately continue exploring options to bring down EV costs, Mibe said.

The decision comes amid industry wide EV production slowdowns and an ongoing United Auto Workers strike, which has GM at its center. Just this week, GM announced it would be delaying the production of EVs that use its Ultium battery pack, including the Equinox, Silverado and GMC Sierra EVs. As part of the now-scrapped affordable EV program with Honda, the companies intended to develop Ultium-based small crossover SUVs to compete with Tesla.

It was just one of several projects Honda and GM have been working on together, and it doesn’t seem its dissolution will have any effect on the others. The companies a few days ago announced they’ll be working with Cruise to launch a driverless ride-hailing service in Japan in 2026.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/honda-and-gm-have-given-up-on-their-plan-to-co-create-affordable-evs-154535464.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Honda and GM have given up on their plan to co-create affordable EVs

We knew Netflix had snagged the iconic roguelike/metroidvania Dead Cells for its ever-growing games library, and now we know when it’ll release. Dead Cells: Netflix Edition will be available on October 31. That’s Halloween, to those who don’t mess with the dark pagan arts. This is the full game, along with every paid DLC release, including the Castlevania crossover.

A standard Netflix subscription gives you access to the game on both iOS and Android devices, so you can finally see what all the Dead Cells fuss is about without spending any extra cash. As for that Halloween release date, this launch is part of the streamer’s “Netflix and Thrills” promotional event. Dead Cells isn’t a scary game, but it is steeped in a certain kind of classic gothic horror, like its forebear Castlevania.

Here’s a quick run down. You play as a headless blob/human hybrid, attempting to escape an island prison. It’s a sidescrolling action platformer. Every time you die, you start over and the world’s layout changes, which makes it a roguelike. However, you do get permanent upgrades that carry over from run to run and power ups that let you access new areas, which is where the Metroidvania part comes in. It’s extremely addictive, like calling in sick to work addictive.

Apple is jacking up the prices of several of its subscription services in the US and some other markets. The price increases to Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and Apple News+ will take effect immediately for newcomers. “Existing subscribers will see these price increases 30 days later, on their next renewal date,” Apple told Engadget in a statement. “We are focused on delivering the best experiences possible for our customers by consistently adding high-quality entertainment, content, and innovative features to our services.”

In the US, the price of Apple TV+ is going up by $3 per month to $10. The annual TV+ plan has risen from $69 to $99. Apple Arcade is now $7 per month instead of $5. As for Apple News+, that’ll now run you $13 per month for a standalone subscription, up from $10. Apple Music and Apple Fitness+ pricing remains the same.

As MacRumors points out, these are the first price increases for Apple Arcade and Apple News+ since the company debuted those services nearly four years ago. The cost of an Apple TV+ subscription last changed in October 2022, when it went up from $5 per month to $7, meaning that the price of the service has doubled in just over 12 months.

In line with the increases on individual services, Apple is also modifying the prices of Apple One plans. An individual subscription now costs $19.95 per month (up by $3) and it includes Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Apple TV+ and 50GB of iCloud storage. A family plan, which is shared between up to six people and includes 200GB of total iCloud storage, is now $25.95 per month (also an increase of $3).

The highest Apple One tier is Premier, which folds in Apple Fitness+ and Apple News+ access and bumps up iCloud storage to 2TB for up to six people. That now costs $37.95 per month, which $5 more than before.

Services such as these have become an increasingly important part of Apple’s business over the last few years. In the second quarter of 2023, Apple’s Services revenue (which also includes things like AppleCare and the App Store) hit an all-time high of $21.2 billion. Services are second only to the iPhone when it comes to Apple’s moneymakers these days.

Apple announced the price increases just ahead of revealing its earnings for the July-September period, which it will do on November 2. The company has also lined up another product event for October 30, during which we’re expecting to see new MacBook Pro and iMac models.

Update 10/25 11:34AM ET: Added Apple’s statement to clarify when the price changes will take effect for current subscribers.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-tv-prices-have-doubled-in-just-over-a-year-150156333.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Apple TV+ prices have doubled in just over a year

Most Americans already know what they need to know about Black Friday — it’s a day to use up all of that stored energy from consuming turkey and sides on Thanksgiving by shopping for as many deals as possible. What you might not know is that you can get some pretty good deals in the days and weeks leading up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, thanks to retailers kick-starting the holiday shopping season earlier in recent years. And despite its gross show of consumerism that may make you cringe, Black Friday can be an important day for those who want to buy thoughtful, useful gifts for their loved ones while also sticking to a strict budget. If that sounds like you, or you have just vowed never to pay full price for something when you don’t have to, we’ve got some tips and buying advice that can help you prepare for Black Friday 2023.

When is Black Friday 2023?

Black Friday 2023 lands on November 24 this year, with Cyber Monday 2023 following up a few days later on November 27. However, the early deals have already begun. If you’re organized, you can shop some decent pre-Black Friday sales as soon as mid-October. The entire month of November might as well be renamed Holiday Shopping Month as that’s when companies really start to get serious with their discounts.

Black Friday shopping strategies

Use a price history tracker

This is just good shopping advice, period — especially when it comes to consumer electronics. Price history trackers like CamelCamelCamel and Keepa monitor price changes and can show you things like the lowest price an item has ever been and when it was last discounted that much. The main catch here is that both Camel and Keepa only work on Amazon listings. That’s extra convenient if you shop on Amazon often because both have pretty handy Chrome extensions you can install to make price monitoring super easy.

But even if you’re not an Amazon aficionado, you can still reference those price history charts when shopping elsewhere on the internet — that way you’ll know if one retailer’s “hot deal” is precisely that, lukewarm or ice cold. Another similarly handy tool is Honey, a browser extension that lets you compare product prices across many retailers, apply digital coupons easily and more.

Sign up for company newsletters

Listen, we wouldn’t tell you to intentionally clutter your inbox if we didn’t think it would be seriously beneficial. Now more than ever, companies offer things like exclusive and early-access sales, special discount codes, free expedited shipping and other perks to their inner circles of customers — namely, those that sign up for newsletters, text alerts and the like. If there’s a particular item you want to snag on sale, like a pair of Sony headphones or a Razer laptop, we recommend signing up for the company’s newsletter just for the duration of the holiday shopping season. That increases your chances of being among the first to know about exclusive deals and other offers, or, in the case of early-access sales, among the first to actually buy what you want before sales diminish or things sell out. Don’t immediately trash those emailed sale alerts either. Once you get the goods you want, you can go back to that message and immediately unsubscribe from the newsletter if you wish.

Use any membership or credit card perks you already have

There’s a good chance you have perks and benefits from services you already use that you’re not taking full advantage of. Amazon Prime and Walmart+, for example, both offer early access to specific sales and deals throughout the year and we expect there to be similar exclusive sales at both retailers ahead of Black Friday. You may have a credit card that gives you additional cash back on certain product categories, or integrates seamlessly with retailers so you can use your accumulated cash back immediately when placing orders. Take stock of the services you use regularly and check to see if they’re offering anything additional during the holiday shopping season, or if there are benefits you may not have needed to use until now.

Shop early

As mentioned previously, retailers have already started throwing deals and sales online in the lead-up to Black Friday. As we get closer to the actual day, we expect to see even more early Black Friday deals pop up across the web. If you have items on your list that are absolute must-haves — maybe you thought of the perfect gift for your hard-to-shop-for parent — don’t wait to buy those things. We estimate that you have the best chance of getting a truly good deal within two weeks of Black Friday, so start looking in earnest then. There’s always a chance an item is marginally cheaper on Black Friday than it is one or two weeks prior, but with all of the early deals we’ve seen over the past few years, there’s less of a chance that the Black Friday price drop will be so significant that you’ll regret your early purchase.

Our advice: make a list of all the gifts and other items you want to pick up during the holiday shopping season and then designate each of those items as “high” or “low” priority. High-priority items should be the ones you buy first as soon as you see them go on sale, while low-priority things can wait until closer to Black Friday.

The best early Black Friday deals to look out for

While some sales have already begun, we believe the best early Black Friday deals will begin in November. The bigger the retailer, the more likely it is that they will have early Black Friday deals going on throughout the entire month of November. We expect to see companies like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy and others roll out early deals once November hits, with an uptick occurring within a week or two of Black Friday proper.

As far as the types of items that will go on sale before Black Friday, it’ll be a bit of a mixed bag. Since we focus on tech here at Engadget, we can confidently presume that most of the big, flagship items you may be itching to buy — a pricey smartphone, a new OLED TV or a high-end pair of headphones — will probably not be significantly discounted until, at the earliest, a week before Black Friday. Sure, gadgets will be peppered among the early holiday sales at the start of November, but the best deals on (what we consider to be) the best tech will likely come closer to Black Friday. In the past, we’ve seen some of the best Black Friday deals drop on Thanksgiving — with some selling out before Black Friday proper even began.

We’d also be remiss if we didn’t mention Cyber Monday. Over the past few years, Cyber Monday has almost become “Black Friday 2.0,” with most of the best Black Friday deals carrying over through the end of Cyber Monday (if they don’t sell out first). There are always a few Cyber Monday exclusives, particularly in the tech space, so the shopping event is not without its own unique offers. But make no mistake: most of the best deals will be available on Black Friday, with a couple of extras thrown in on Cyber Monday.

Engadget will be covering the entirety of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping period. That means you can come back to Engadget over the next few weeks to find the best early Black Friday deals on headphones, laptops, gaming gear and more as we inch closer to the actual sale dates. On Black Friday and Cyber Monday, expect us to surface only the best tech deals that the internet has to offer — that means the lowest prices we can find on the tech we think is actually worth your money.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/black-friday-2023-the-best-early-deals-what-to-expect-and-shopping-strategies-from-our-experts-150013315.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Black Friday 2023: The best early deals, what to expect and shopping strategies from our experts