Anker's Black Friday deals will save you up to 37 percent on some of our favorite charging gear

A number of Anker chargers, cables, power adapters and other accessories are on sale for Black Friday at Amazon, with discounts of up to 37 percent. One key callout is on our favorite premium power bank, Anker’s Prime 20,000 mAH battery with charging base. It’s currently down to $130 for the set and the lowest price ever. At full price, we’ve seen the set go for as high as $200. The base is what makes it really stand apart from other power banks — simply drop the brick on the platform and it starts recharging. 

The screen on the Prime bank is impressive as well, detailing just how much charge the pack has left and how much is heading out of each of the three ports (one USB-A and two USB-C). In our tests, it revived a dead iPhone back to 100 percent in just over an hour and 45 minutes, with enough left over for another three-quarters charge. It brought a spent iPad Air back to full in a little under two hours. Not only is the base an easy way to recharge the battery, it also acts as a charging hub with three ports of its own for powering up other stuff. 

Other Anker accessories we like are seeing big discounts too, including the 67W USB-C charger for 37 percent off, bringing it to $38, matching its all-time low. It has two USB-C ports and one USB-A port, so you can charge your phone, tablet and even a battery pack at one time. 

Our top 65W fast wall charger is Anker’s 735 GaN Prime, which is down to a new low price after a 38 percent discount. It’s got the same three ports as the above wall adapter and outperformed other contenders in our tests. 

Finally, the diminutive and handy Anker Nano Power Bank is seeing one of its first discounts since coming on the market a couple months ago. It’s down to $21 and would make a great stocking stuffer — particularly for those who always seem to have a phone hovering around 5 percent. The small brick has a built-in foldable USB-C connector and in my experience, it got a Galaxy S23 Ultra to 62 percent in about an hour. Plus its easy to use the phone while the bank is pugged in. 

Check out the larger Black Friday Anker sale here.  

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ankers-black-friday-deals-will-save-you-up-to-37-percent-on-some-of-our-favorite-charging-gear-183048555.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Anker’s Black Friday deals will save you up to 37 percent on some of our favorite charging gear

NVIDIA’s Shield TV Pro drops to a record-low of $170 for Black Friday

If you’re looking for a streaming device with a bit more oomph than a standard USB stick, you should check out the NVIDIA Shield TV Pro. It’s on sale right now for Black Friday, matching a record-low price of $170. That’s $30 off the MSRP, representing a savings of 15 percent for those keeping score.

This is an extremely powerful device, with enough juice to stream movies, run a PLEX server, play games via the cloud and do just about anything you want. There’s a reason, after all, the Shield TV Pro made our list of the best streaming devices you can buy in 2023. It runs on the Android TV platform and boasts a capable Tegra X1+ processor, so it easily handles 4K streams. It’ll even upscale 720p and 1080p video to 4K via the company’s proprietary AI neural network.

We also liked that this box supports Dolby Vision and HDR10, in addition to boasting 16GB of built-in storage for direct uploads of content. You also get 3GB of RAM to help speed up navigation and opening apps. As for content, you have your pick from all of the major streamers and anything else available on the Google Play Store. It’ll also play just about any game from the Play Store, though you’ll have to bring along your own controller.

To that end, you can use the device to opt into NVIDIA’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service, which provides access to over 1,500 games, including the full spate of Xbox Game Pass titles. The Shield Pro boasts an ethernet port for graphically-intensive game streams. About the only downside to this device is the original asking price, an issue made less urgent due to this sale.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nvidias-shield-tv-pro-drops-to-a-record-low-of-170-for-black-friday-182709988.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – NVIDIA’s Shield TV Pro drops to a record-low of 0 for Black Friday

This Engineer Created The 'World's First Ergonomic Magic Mouse With No Weaknesses'

An engineer hacked Apple’s infamous Magic Mouse to make it more user-friendly, ergonomic, and overall less annoying. Ivan Kuleshov is the said engineer, and he has also hacked the Apple Mac Mini in the past to be powered over Ethernet.

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Source: Gizmodo – This Engineer Created The ‘World’s First Ergonomic Magic Mouse With No Weaknesses’

Peacock Is Adding The Exorcist: Believer to Your Christmas Stocking

One of the most anticipated horror movies of 2023 is about to make its Peacock debut. And while The Exorcist: Believer didn’t exactly set critics on fire, here’s your chance to check out David Gordon Green’s would-be franchise reviver and trilogy-starter ahead of the annual slew of “best/worst” film lists.

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Source: Gizmodo – Peacock Is Adding The Exorcist: Believer to Your Christmas Stocking

Steam Deck system update greatly improves older LCD displays, too

Candy-coated color correction.

Enlarge / Candy-coated color correction. (credit: Valve)

With the release of the Steam Deck OLED this week, Valve has greatly improved on the “ho-hum” screen that was our biggest complaint about the original Steam Deck. But Valve hasn’t forgotten about users who are still stuck using that old LCD display. Thursday’s stable release of SteamOS version 3.5.5 offers a suite of free, system-level updates to improve and tweak the display performance on the original Steam Deck.

The release notes for the new SteamOS boast of much-needed improvements to the “default color rendering” on the Steam Deck LCD, which should help the older hardware “emulate the sRGB color gamut, resulting in a slightly warmer and more vibrant color appearance,” Valve writes. Even better, a new “adjust display colors” option in the settings menu now lets users easily adjust both the color vibrancy and color temperature to best fit their preferences and the games they’re playing. Before the new update, these kinds of options were only available to users who went to the trouble of installing third-party plug-ins. Now, Valve has finally brought these basic adjustments to the Steam Deck-owning masses.

The results, as you can see in the gallery of off-screen photos above, can have a dramatic impact on the look of in-game scenes. You can see a noticeable difference going from “Native” color vibrance (which Valve describes as “the color rendering for Steam Deck prior to this update”) to the new “default” sRGB rendering. There’s an even bigger change when you crank the vibrance slider all the way to “Boosted,” which Valve says should “emulate a wider-gamut display appearance, resulting in increased apparent vibrance.”

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Source: Ars Technica – Steam Deck system update greatly improves older LCD displays, too

The Google Pixel Fold is $400 off for Black Friday

The Google Pixel Fold, released earlier this year, is on sale for $1,399, knocking $400 off its original price of $1,799. This Amazon Black Friday deal marks the lowest price ever on the 256GB model. If you need more storage on your smartphone, the 512GB model is going for $1,519, down from $1,919. The foldable is powered by the Google Tensor G2 and offers 12GB of RAM, making it a great option for those looking to invest in a foldable smartphone as their daily driver. If you’re interested in other Black Friday Google Pixel deals, the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro are down to record low prices as well.

The Pixel Fold earned a spot on Engadget’s top foldable phones list, namely for how easy it is to use and for its wide-screen design. Folded, the phone gives you a 5.8-inch screen to work with, and unfolded you get a big, 7.6-inch immersive display. When open, the foldable’s split screen allows you to multitask and do things like shop online and make video calls at the same time. You’re also able to use the main screen and external screen together, letting you take pictures and look at live previews simultaneously. Coming soon is Google Translate’s interpreter mode as well, which allows you to watch translations appear on both screens while you’re talking to another person in a different language.

In terms of camera quality, the Pixel Fold has a lot to offer. The triple rear camera system includes a 48-megapixel main lens, an ultrawide shooter and a telephoto camera with up to 5x optical zoom that delivers sharp photos in daylight and well-exposed photos in the dark. In Engadget’s review, one of its selling points was that the photos beat the competition. When compared to Samsung’s Galaxy foldable, Google’s phone delivered images with better shadows and highlights. Notably, even with Samsung’s “food mode” on, Engadget’s Sam Rutherford said the Pixel Fold’s photo chops made food look more appetizing. The phone can also shoot 4K videos at 30 frames per second and 60 frames per second, which is on par with other foldables.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-google-pixel-fold-is-400-off-for-black-friday-181050039.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The Google Pixel Fold is 0 off for Black Friday

Elon Musk’s antisemitic post draws rebuke from White House; IBM pulls X ads

White House condemns Elon Musk’s antisemitic post; IBM halts X ads

Enlarge (credit: Leon Neal / Staff | Getty Images Europe)

Outcry over antisemitic content on X (formerly Twitter) continues as the White House condemns a post from X owner Elon Musk and IBM halts advertising on the platform after a Media Matters report showed one of its ads was placed next to pro-Hitler content.

“IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination, and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation,” an IBM spokesperson said in a statement provided to Ars.

Media Matters’ report came a day after X owner Elon Musk sparked outrage by endorsing an X post that referenced an antisemitic conspiracy theory that “hordes of minorities” are flooding Western countries and claimed that Jews have been “pushing hatred” against White people. Since Musk responded to that post—saying, “you have said the actual truth”—it has been viewed more than 1 million times. The exchange drew so much controversy that a White House spokesperson, Andrew Bates, released a statement condemning Musk’s post.

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Source: Ars Technica – Elon Musk’s antisemitic post draws rebuke from White House; IBM pulls X ads

Calibre 7.0 E-Book Manager Introduces New Notes Feature, Support for Audio EPUBs

Calibre developer Kovid Goyal announced today the release and general availability of Calibre 7.0 as the latest stable version and a major update to this powerful, free, open-source, and cross-platform e-book management software.

The post Calibre 7.0 E-Book Manager Introduces New Notes Feature, Support for Audio EPUBs appeared first on Linux Today.



Source: Linux Today – Calibre 7.0 E-Book Manager Introduces New Notes Feature, Support for Audio EPUBs

Apple Black Friday deals include up to $200 off the M3-powered MacBook Pros

It has only been a couple of weeks since Apple debuted its M3-powered MacBook Pros, but most variants are already on sale for Black Friday. For instance, you can snap up the base 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro for $1,449 in a great Apple Black Friday deal. That’s $150 off the standard price.

This model, to which we gave a score of 90 in our review, sits between the MacBook Air and more powerful MBPs. The standard M3 chip has an eight-core CPU and a 10-core GPU. It should handle basic tasks without any issue, as the chipset is fast and efficient. The 14-inch MBP has a gorgeous Liquid Retina XDR display, while Apple’s keyboard and trackpad remain great.

Unfortunately, this model only comes with 8GB of RAM. That could prove a problem for those who like to keep several apps open or have a bunch of tabs in their browser at the same time. We’d definitely add more RAM before recommending it as the best MacBook for creatives. There’s also one fewer USB-C port than you’ll get in more expensive variants.

So, you may want to stump up some extra cash for a more capable version. A model with a more powerful M3 Pro chip (11‑core CPU and 14‑core GPU), 18GB of RAM and a third USB-C/Thunderbolt port is also $150 off at $1,849. However, it still has 512GB of storage.

Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch from the front
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a model with a larger screen, you can opt for a 16-inch M3 MacBook Pro. Those are typically $200 off for Black Friday. The 16-inch MBP is much the same as a 14-inch one, albeit with a larger screen and spec bump.

A variant with an M3 Pro chipset that has a 12‑core CPU and 18‑core GPU, a 16.2-inch display, 18GB of memory and 512GB of storage will run you $2,299. That’s eight percent off the usual price of $2,499. This version is also available in the eye-catching Space Black colorway.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-m3-macbook-pros-are-up-to-200-off-for-black-friday-175043898.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Apple Black Friday deals include up to 0 off the M3-powered MacBook Pros

You Can't Watch the Star Wars Holiday Special (Legally), But You Can Soon Watch Its Documentary

Thanksgiving is almost here and it’s a special time for Star Wars fans. That’s because 45 years ago, it was during Thanksgiving week that a Star Wars event for the ages took place. CBS aired The Star Wars Holiday Special one time, and one time only. After airing, it was quickly buried, left only to the imaginations of…

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Source: Gizmodo – You Can’t Watch the Star Wars Holiday Special (Legally), But You Can Soon Watch Its Documentary

Measles rises globally amid vaccination crash; WHO and CDC sound the alarm

A baby with measles.

Enlarge / A baby with measles. (credit: CDC)

The World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are sounding the alarm over the global rise of measles cases, deaths, and outbreaks as vaccination rates struggle to recover from a crash during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between 2000 and 2019, estimated worldwide coverage of the first dose of a measles-containing vaccine rose from 72 percent to 86 percent. But amid the global public health crisis in 2020, the vaccination rate fell to 83 percent, and then to 81 percent in 2021—the lowest since 2008.

According to a new joint report by WHO and the CDC published this week, coverage of first-dose measles vaccines recovered slightly in 2022, rising to 83 percent. But of 194 WHO countries, only 65 (34 percent) reached a target vaccination rate of 95 percent or above for the first measles vaccine. Further, two doses are needed to stop the disease, and the estimated coverage rate for two doses was only 74 percent in 2022, up from 71 percent in 2021. Overall, the gains in vaccination weren’t enough to prevent a comeback from the highly contagious and sometimes deadly virus.

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Source: Ars Technica – Measles rises globally amid vaccination crash; WHO and CDC sound the alarm

Ethernet is Still Going Strong After 50 Years

The technology has become the standard LAN worldwide. From a report: Ethernet became commercially available in 1980 and quickly grew into the industry LAN standard. To provide computer companies with a framework for the technology, in June 1983 Ethernet was adopted as a standard by the IEEE 802 Local Area Network Standards Committee. Currently, the IEEE 802 family consists of 67 published standards, with 49 projects under development. The committee works with standards agencies worldwide to publish certain IEEE 802 standards as international guidelines.

A plaque recognizing the technology is displayed outside the PARC facility. It reads: “Ethernet wired LAN was invented at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in 1973, inspired by the ALOHAnet packet radio network and the ARPANET. In 1980 Xerox, DEC, and Intel published a specification for 10 Mbps Ethernet over coaxial cable that became the IEEE 802.3-1985 Standard. Later augmented for higher speeds, and twisted-pair, optical, and wireless media, Ethernet became ubiquitous in home, commercial, industrial, and academic settings worldwide.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Ethernet is Still Going Strong After 50 Years

A GoPro Hero 12 Black bundle with accessories is $100 off for Black Friday

The GoPro Hero 12 Black action camera is on sale for $100 off as part of a Black Friday deal. The sale’s available via Amazon, Adorama and even the manufacturer itself. This deal is for an accessories bundle, so you can get a carrying case, a strap, an extra battery, a mount and other add-ons, in addition to the camera. All told, that brings the price down to $350 from $450.

This is the latest and greatest action camera by the company. We admired the Hero 12 in our official review, calling out the improved battery life when compared to the Hero 11, as it allows for 35 minutes of continuous use per charge. Remember, this deal ships with an extra battery, so that’s 70 minutes, minus 30 seconds of fiddling with the battery compartment.

We also loved the addition of Bluetooth audio streaming, which even works with devices like Apple’s AirPods Pro earbuds. This means you can easily wear earbuds without calling too much attention to yourself while hosting an impromptu vlog or live commentary of some kind. The latency is barely perceptible, if noticeable at all. This functionally also allows you to control the GoPro from afar, thanks to voice commands. Gone are the days of having to chop off those awkward final seconds of footage featuring you clumsily walking to turn the camera off.

The Hero 12 Black boasts a larger image sensor, allowing users to experiment with different aspect ratios using the same footage, in addition to offering an 8:7 mode across every setting. On the downside, this is a modest upgrade of sorts, so many of the remaining metrics remain the same as with the GoPro Hero 11. Your footage will look a bit cleaner, but it won’t be a night and day difference.

Still, this is a good deal for a full-featured action camera that ships with everything you need to not only get started, but thrive. This is a limited-time offer but there’s no set end-date, with the company stating that it “will continue until GoPro terminates the program.”

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-gopro-hero-12-black-bundle-with-accessories-is-100-off-for-black-friday-171926991.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – A GoPro Hero 12 Black bundle with accessories is 0 off for Black Friday

“Hallucinating” AI models help coin Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year

A screenshot of the Cambridge Dictionary website where it announced its 2023 word of the year,

Enlarge / A screenshot of the Cambridge Dictionary website where it announced its 2023 word of the year, “hallucinate.” (credit: Cambridge Dictionary)

On Wednesday, Cambridge Dictionary announced that its 2023 word of the year is “hallucinate,” owing to the popularity of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, which sometimes produce erroneous information. The Dictionary also published an illustrated site explaining the term, saying, “When an artificial intelligence hallucinates, it produces false information.”

“The Cambridge Dictionary team chose hallucinate as its Word of the Year 2023 as it recognized that the new meaning gets to the heart of why people are talking about AI,” the dictionary writes. “Generative AI is a powerful tool but one we’re all still learning how to interact with safely and effectively—this means being aware of both its potential strengths and its current weaknesses.”

As we’ve previously covered in various articles, “hallucination” in relation to AI originated as a term of art in the machine learning space. As LLMs entered mainstream use through applications like ChatGPT late last year, the term spilled over into general use and began to cause confusion among some, who saw it as unnecessary anthropomorphism. Cambridge Dictionary’s first definition of hallucination (for humans) is “to seem to see, hear, feel, or smell something that does not exist.” It involves perception from a conscious mind, and some object to that association.

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Source: Ars Technica – “Hallucinating” AI models help coin Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year

It’s Official: Linux Kernel 6.6 Will Be LTS, Supported Until December 2026

In another unexpected turn of events, the latest Linux 6.6 kernel series has been officially marked as LTS (Long Term Support) on the kernel.org website, with a predicted life expectancy of at least three years.

The post It’s Official: Linux Kernel 6.6 Will Be LTS, Supported Until December 2026 appeared first on Linux Today.



Source: Linux Today – It’s Official: Linux Kernel 6.6 Will Be LTS, Supported Until December 2026