Sony is offering PS Plus subscription plans at a deep discount. An annual subscription to the Premium tier is available for just $107, which is a discount of 33 percent. This promotion is running until June 11, giving gamers a bit of time to think things over.
For the uninitiated, PS Plus Premium provides full access to the Game Catalog. This library includes hundreds of PS4 and PS5 titles. Each month, users also get a handful of free games and some PlayStation Store discounts. Other exclusive benefits include game trials, online multiplayer, cloud streaming and access to the Classics Catalog. This is a collection of older games.
That’s a whole lot of perks, and the main reason a subscription to PS Plus topped our list of the best PS5 accessories. It’s an easy and budget-friendly way to pad out that library, especially for those who just purchased a console. Recent additions to PS Plus include standout titles like Balatro and Battlefield V.
An annual subscription to the PS Plus Extra tier is also on sale for $101, which is a discount of 25 percent. This is basically the same thing as Premium, but lacks game trials and cloud streaming. No matter which tier you choose, remember to cancel before the year runs out or you’ll be locked into the original price.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/ps-plus-annual-subscriptions-are-up-to-33-percent-off-165355268.html?src=rss
New submitter salyavin writes: The final issue of Linux Format has been released. After 25 years the magazine is going out with a bang. Interviewing the old staff members, and looking back at old Linux distros […] The last 10-15 years have been absolutely brutal to computer hobbyist magazines — (or magazines and media at large, in general).
Discord is further distancing itself from its ad-free beginnings by offering users a new virtual currency for clicking on in-platform advertisements.
Acoording to a blog post this week by Peter Sellis, Discord’s SVP of product, a “small group” of Discord users around the globe can now earn “Orbs” through Play Quests, which Discord announced in March 2024 and let users earn in-game rewards by getting people to watch a stream of them playing a sponsored game. With enough Orbs, Discord users can purchase items in Discord’s shop, including customization options for their profiles and credits for Nitro, a subscription add-on that offers features like 500MB uploads and HD resolution streaming.
The goal is to fuel Discord’s advertising business by making clicking on ads more appealing. Advertisers also benefit by associating their ads with the ability to get desirable rewards.
As long as there have been smartphones, there have been issues with battery life. Sometimes, battery drain is inevitable. Many modern apps are powerful, and, as such, power-intensive; taking high-quality photos or videos can waste a battery like no one’s business; and constantly searching for cell service can put a strain on your phone. However, problematic apps can also be to blame: If an app’s developer pushes an update with a bug that, say, runs too many resources for too long, your battery will suffer—as will your sanity. (“How is my phone at 50% already?”)
It’s frustrating when you don’t know what’s causing the unusual battery drain on your phone, especially the culprit is a rogue app. But every now and then, a company will confirm your suspicions. If you’ve been experiencing unexplained battery drain on Android, for example, there’s now an explanation. Spoiler alert: It was Instagram.
Instagram rolled out a battery drain fix for Android this week
As spotted by The Verge, Google recently posted on its Android Help Community blog. The Wednesday post addresses the Android community, and notes that Instagram is now rolling out an updated version of the app that fixes a battery drain issue on Android devices. The post notes the latest update version is 382.0.0.49.84, and urges users to install the update.
Google didn’t share any other details, and Instagram did not publish release notes for this version, so it’s unclear exactly what the issue was. Still, the problem must have been substantial enough to compel Google to make a public statement about it. If your Android device has been struggling lately, updating Instagram just may help.
How to update Instagram to fix potential battery drain issues
To check if you’re running the latest version of Instagram on Android, head to Instagram’s Play Store page. If you see an option to Update, go ahead and do so. If you don’t, the update likely already installed. To check your app’s version number, long-press the icon, tap App info, then scroll to the bottom of the page.
Elon Musk said he is leaving the Trump administration, attributing his departure not to any disagreement with Trump but rather to the legal limit on the number of days a special government employee may serve each year.
“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk wrote on X. “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
Musk’s “off-boarding will begin tonight,” a White House official told Reuters on Wednesday. Under US law, special government employees in the executive branch are limited to serving 130 days in a 365-day period. They are subject to more lenient ethics rules than other federal employees and officials.
It was the middle of the night when Fedor Volkov found himself anxiously waiting on the streets of Moscow for a ride back home. In his arms he held a Switch 2 box and nestled within was the console fans had been waiting years to get their hands on, but which still didn’t officially go on sale for more than a week. He…
California’s battery power capacity rose from 500 megawatts in 2018 to nearly 16,000 megawatts in 2025. Nearly a quarter of America’s battery capacity is now in California alone, according to Bloomberg.
At their daily peak around 8pm, batteries can provide as much as 30% of the state’s electricity. The batteries charge in the afternoon when solar power is cheap and release energy in the evenings when Californians get home and crank up their air conditioners. In the middle of the day, when the sun is strongest, as much as three-quarters of the state’s electricity can come from solar.
California relied on regulation to achieve this scale. In 2013, the California Public Utilities Commission ordered the state’s three big investor-owned utilities to procure 1,325 megawatts of energy storage by 2020 to help meet renewable targets and stabilize the grid. That goal was easily met. Mark Jacobson, an engineering professor at Stanford University, told Economist that most days this year contained periods when solar, hydropower and wind, helped by batteries, met 100% of California’s demand — even though just 54% of the state’s electricity generation comes from renewables.
The Department of Health and Human Services—under the control of anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—has canceled millions of dollars in federal funding awarded to Moderna to produce an mRNA vaccine against influenza viruses with pandemic potential, including the H5N1 bird flu currently sweeping US poultry and dairy cows.
Last July, the Biden administration’s HHS awarded Moderna $176 million to “accelerate the development of mRNA-based pandemic influenza vaccines.” In the administration’s final days in January, HHS awarded the vaccine maker an additional $590 million to support “late-stage development and licensure of pre-pandemic mRNA-based vaccines.” The funding would also go to the development of five additional subtypes of pandemic influenza.
On Wednesday, as news broke that the Trump administration was reneging on the contract, Moderna reported positive results from an early trial of a vaccine targeting H5 influenza viruses. In a preliminary trial of 300 healthy adults, the vaccine candidate appeared safe and boosted antibody levels against the virus by 44.5-fold.
The Nintendo Switch 2 comes with 256GB of built-in storage, eight times more than the original Switch and four times more than the Switch OLED. But the new console’s improved performance means that some games will hog a ton of that space: Cyberpunk 2077is a 60GB download, for one, while Split Fictionchecks in at 73GB. Other titles aren’t nearly as big, but chances are you’ll eventually want to add more room to the device.
When you do, you’ll need a microSD Express card. These are not the same as the standard microSD cards you may have bought for the first Switch or other gaming handhelds — they’re newer, faster and significantly more expensive. But if you want more space, they’re your only choice. If you’re looking to grab one today, we’ve laid out the best microSD cards for the Switch 2 and broken down what you should know before you buy.
The best microSD cards for the Switch 2 (and why you might want to wait to buy)
The SanDisk microSD Express Card and Lexar Play Pro.
Jeff Dunn for Engadget
The Switch 2 is the first mainstream device to require microSD Express for storage expansion, so there aren’t many options available to buy just yet. To make things easy, here’s a list of every microSD Express card we’ve seen at retailers at the time of writing:
Remember: You’re looking for microSD Express, not “Extreme,” a la the branding SanDisk uses for some of its conventional microSD cards. A microSD Express card will have a big “EX” logo printed on it — if you see that, you should be good to go.
Nintendo says the Switch 2 technically supports cards with a capacity up to 2TB, but we haven’t seen any microSD Express model go beyond 1TB just yet. It’s also worth noting that GameStop and Onn (Walmart’s in-house electronics brand) aren’t manufacturers, so it’s unclear who exactly is making their cards.
Currently, stock for each of these cards has been extremely spotty. SanDisk’s microSD Express Card has also increased in price since it first went up for sale in February; originally, it cost $45 for 128GB and $60 for 256GB. Either way, all of these cards are far pricier than traditional microSD options. The Samsung Pro Plus, for example, costs $17 for 128GB, $25 for 256GB, $43 for 512GB and $90 for 1TB as of this writing.
All microSD Express cards will have this “EX” logo printed on them.
Nintendo/Engadget
We’ve already tested SanDisk’s Express card and the Lexar Play Pro for our broader guide to the best microSD cards. Between the two, SanDisk’s card has much faster sequential read speeds — up to 899 MB/s vs. 712 MB/s in CrystalDiskMark, to name one benchmark — which theoretically makes it better equipped to reduce load times.
The Play Pro is quicker for sequential writes (up to 720 MB/s vs. 650 MB/s), available in more sizes and should be cheaper at 256GB whenever it’s in stock. (SanDisk says the 128GB version of its card has slower sequential writes than the 256GB model, too.) Random performance is about equal, so the two should be similarly adept at keeping large games like Mario Kart World running smoothly.
We mainly tested those cards on a Windows PC and Mac, though. How they perform on the actual Switch 2 remains to be seen. We’ll test as many options as we can once we have our hands on the console, but for now we can’t say if it’ll render all microSD Express cards to similar speeds. That was largely the case with the first Switch: Once a (regular) microSD card hit a certain threshold of performance, there wasn’t that much practical difference between it and other alternatives. The Switch 2 is working with a different standard, but if something similar were to happen again, the “best” microSD Express card would simply be the most affordable one from a reputable brand in the capacity you want.
That brings us to our main piece of advice: If you can hold off on buying one of these things early on, that’s probably a good idea. It’s not just about the lack of testing — truthfully, we’d be surprised if any of the cards above were truly “bad.” It comes down to value: Barring more tariff shenanigans, all of these cards are as expensive today as they’re ever likely to get. The Switch 2 is already popular and will continue to be, thus more microSD Express cards will need to be made and prices will (eventually) come down. Try to use all 256 of the gigabytes baked into the Switch 2 first, even if it means having to delete a game or two. But if you’re absolutely sure you want more space right away, the cards above should be good enough.
What are microSD Express cards?
A microSD Express card like the one on the right has a second row of pins on the back.
Jeff Dunn for Engadget
Most microSD cards are based on a standard called Ultra High Speed (UHS), of which there are three versions: UHS-I, UHS-II and UHS-III. The vast majority of cards you may have bought in the past utilize UHS-I. These have one row of pins in the back and a theoretical maximum data transfer speed of 104 megabytes per second (MB/s). (Though many cards are able to surpass that limit with proprietary tech and card readers.) The original Switch has a UHS-I microSD slot, as do most other gaming handhelds like Valve’s Steam Deck.
UHS-II cards add a second row of pins and can reach up to 312 MB/s. These are pricier and much less common than cards based on UHS-I, but they’re supported by some cameras and higher-power handhelds like the ASUS ROG Ally X. UHS-III, meanwhile, is twice as fast as UHS-II in theory (624 MB/s), but no microSD cards have actually used it.
UHS-I cards have held on over the years because they’re cheap, widely supported and fast enough for the things most people need them to do: record 4K video, stash photos and so on. But with the Switch 2, Nintendo needs more. The new console is dramatically more powerful, which allows it to run demanding games that may have originally been built for stronger hardware like the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X or gaming PCs. The device also usesUFS 3.1 storage internally, which is much speedier than the eMMC storage used by the original Switch. (A custom file decompression engine should help improve load times as well.) So if the Switch 2 is going to accept microSD cards, it needs ones that won’t bring a serious drop-off in performance and can hold up with modern games.
The Nintendo Switch 2.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
Hence, SD Express. This standard has technically been around since 2018 but mostly went nowhere until the Switch 2 came along. It also uses a second row of pins, but it lets microSD cards take advantage of the PCI Express (PCIe)/NVMe interface, which is the same underlying tech used by modern SSDs. As a result, it can produce considerably faster read and write speeds, with a current theoretical maximum of 985 MB/s.
As noted above, real-world performance won’t be quite that fast. Even if it was, the best microSD Express cards would still be much slower than the NVMe SSDs used by the PS5 and Xbox. (Sony recommends SSDs with sequential read speeds of at least 5,500 MB/s.) And they’ll fall well below their peak speeds under sustained loads: SanDisk, for instance, says sustained write speeds for its 128GB Express card can drop as low as 100 MB/s.
But they’re still a marked improvement over old UHS-I cards, and in theory, they should be quicker than some older SATA-based SSDs when it comes loading game levels, asset streaming, retrieving saves or copying games to external storage. Whereas SanDisk’s microSD Express card can produce sequential read speeds around 900 MB/s, Lexar’s Professional Silver Plus — the top UHS-I pick in our general microSD card guide — topped out just over 200 MB/s, and that’s with a proprietary reader. (On the first Switch, it’d be closer to 100 MB/s.) Sequential writes and random speeds were three to four times better as well, and sometimes even more depending on the benchmark we used.
It remains to be seen how well these Express cards will hold up with extended use, and there’s no way to know exactly when their sky-high prices will drop. Non-Switch 2 devices that support microSD Express are still exceedingly rare, and the standard itself isn’t backwards compatible with UHS-II, so you’ll be limited to UHS-I speeds if you want to use your card with another device (unless you buy a pricey external reader). Still, while the increased costs and limited selection are annoying, the tech itself seems worthy of a next-gen Switch.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/the-best-microsd-cards-for-the-nintendo-switch-2-160052535.html?src=rss
Badminton Time VR, a multiplayer arcade sports game, confirmed a PlayStation VR2 release date next month.
Developed by Belgian studio Fishing Cactus, Badminton Time VR is a family-friendly multiplayer sports game that initially released as a flatscreen title on Nintendo Switch. Previously launched on Quest last November, co-publishers Decathlon and Perp Games confirmed the VR edition is now heading to PlayStation VR2 on June 17.
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Featuring various courts ranging from the North Pole, a tropical island and a PS VR2 exclusive ‘Mini Europe’ map, Badminton Time VR can be played solo, against AI opponents or in online multiplayer across 1v1 and 2v2 matches. Your avatars are customizable with different outfits and racket designs, and different mini-games are also included.
Alongside a more realistic mode focused purely on the titular racket sport, Badminton Time VR features an arcade mode too. That provides power ups such as ghost shuttlecocks your opponent can’t see, an octopus that obscures your vision, wind manipulation to make the shuttlecock’s trajectory unpredictable, and more.
Badminton Time VR reaches PlayStation VR2 digitally on June 17, followed by a physical edition on July 11. It’s available now on Quest.
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When you’re juggling work on your laptop, managing your calendar on your phone, and storing family vacation photos somewhere in the cloud, it helps to have one service that actually talks to all your devices. That’s what Microsoft 365 Personal aims to do. Right now, StackSocial has a 1-year subscription for $79.99 instead of $99.99, which isn’t massive, but it’s a solid $20 off for something most of us end up using daily. You get access to premium versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, which means no more stripped-down online versions when you’re trying to format a resume or budget spreadsheet. It works across five devices at once—PCs, Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Androids—so it’s flexible if you bounce between gadgets.
What’s new here is Microsoft Copilot, the company’s AI add-on baked right into the apps. It helps speed up tasks like summarizing documents or generating ideas in Word and PowerPoint. In practice, it feels a bit like having ChatGPT inside your Microsoft apps—handy if you do a lot of writing, data analysis, or just want to save time. The 1TB of OneDrive storage is enough to store everything from work docs to your personal photo archive, and it syncs across devices. You also get security perks like ransomware detection, file recovery for up to 30 days, and a personal vault for sensitive files. For users in the U.S., there’s also identity theft monitoring through Microsoft Defender.
This subscription is designed for one person, and the apps are tied to a single Microsoft account. So if you’re looking to share it with family, this isn’t the right plan (look at the Family version instead). It’s also only valid for purchases and use in North America, so international buyers should skip this one. But for someone who wants everything under one umbrella—secure cloud storage, powerful productivity tools, and now AI help baked in—it’s a pretty cohesive package. The value adds up, especially if you’re already deep in the Microsoft ecosystem.
The New York Times and Amazon have entered into a multi-year licensing agreement that will allow Amazon access to much of the publication’s editorial content for AI-related uses. In a press release announcing the deal, The New York Times shared that this agreement will bring new features for customers like accessing summaries or excerpts of Times content using Alexa. It will also allow Amazon to train its AI models on The New York Times content.
In announcing the deal, The New York Times shared, “The collaboration will make The New York Times’ original content more accessible to customers across Amazon products and services including direct links to Times products and underscores the companies’ shared commitment to serving customers with global news and perspectives within Amazon’s AI products.” Access to content from NYT Cooking and The Athletic is also included in the deal.
AI models require training on vast amounts of data, and many of the companies building them are likely running afoul of copyright laws by training on protected materials. OpenAI and Google went so far as to ask for a government exemption to copyright laws for their models to train freely. The New York Timessued OpenAI and Microsoft for training their models on the company’s content without permission back in 2023, though the case is still ongoing.
Licensing agreements can offer additional revenue streams for companies willing to hand over user data or allow AI models to train on content created by their employees. The Washington Post is one of several major publications that have signed deals with OpenAI earlier this year. The specific contents of today’s deal, such as how much Amazon is paying, have not been disclosed. Amazon has been on a tear releasing AI-powered tools for shopping, book recaps and product explanations.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-and-the-new-york-times-enter-ai-related-licensing-agreement-155019578.html?src=rss
A recent study has cast a concerning spotlight on a previously underestimated celestial threat: asteroids co-orbiting Venus. While NASA and other space agencies have diligently tracked near-Earth asteroids for decades, a growing body of evidence suggests that a significant number of undetected space rocks in Venus’s immediate cosmic neighborhood
AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 XT released to some fanfare earlier this year, adding to an ongoing discussion over the general pricing and availability situation in the GPU market as a whole. While the GPU shortage is showing signs of improvement, it is always nice to see more niche models make their way to the market. Enter PowerColor, an AMD partner
Genshin Impact Limited Edition External SSD: MSRP $139 Seagate is offering a limited edition Genshin Impact themed external SSD, with 1TB of storage and speedy transfer speeds approaching 1GB/s. Slim And Lightweight Stylized Chassis Addressable Lighting Good Performance Available While Supplies Last Price Premium Much Faster External SSDs…
Elon Musk has left his role as the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk wrote on X. “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
DOGE is a Trump administration initiative with the stated goals of cutting wasteful government spending, modernizing IT systems and maximizing efficiency in various departments — even though DOGE itself was initially set to have two leaders, Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who dropped out to focus on a bid to become Ohio’s governor. Musk’s tenure there has been an eventful one, to put it mildly, as DOGE has taken a chainsaw to the government over the last four months.
Musk’s slash-and-burn approach (similar to the one he adopted in his early days at X) played a role in hundreds of thousands of federal workers being turfed out — reportedly including some working at an agency that regulates Tesla. DOGE officials were involved in firing workers who it turned out had essential roles and had to be quickly hired back. In some cases, federal judges ordered the reinstatement of fired federal employees.
DOGE has inserted staffers into many government agencies. It demanded access to sensitive data including federal employee information and Treasury Department financial records, a request that a judge granted this week despite 19 attorneys general trying to prevent that over privacy and legal concerns.
Given his status as a Special Government Employee, Musk could only legally serve in his position for 130 days in a one-year period. The 130 days are up as of May 30, though DOGE is slated to remain operational until July 4, 2026.
Musk’s departure comes at a time of turmoil for some of his higher-profile companies. It emerged this week that, between April 2024 and last month, sales of new Tesla electric vehicles dropped by half in Europe. — despite EV sales in the region rising overall by 28 percent. In Quebec, said to be the most EV-friendly market in Canada, Tesla sales reportedly sank by 87 percent between the first three months of 2024 and the same period this year. Overall, Tesla deliveries dipped by 13 percent in that timeframe.
Tesla’s business is interlocked with Musk and the public persona of its CEO. Its reputation has been damaged in the eyes of many given Musk’s political dealings, personal views, his association with DOGE, the agency’s actions and his efforts to help Donald Trump win the presidency.
Activists have called for boycotts of Musk’s companies and staged protests at Tesla showrooms. Many Tesla owners have been trying to distance themselves from Musk by placing stickers on their cars. Others have sold their EVs, even though that meant taking a financial hit amid plummeting resale values. Protestors have targeted Cybertrucks and others have made fun of the vehicle and owners of it on social media. (In fairness, that’s not entirely to do with Musk’s association with DOGE and the president — the Cybertruck is an absolute eyesore).
Meanwhile, SpaceX had mixed results with its latest Starship test flight this week. While the spacecraft reached space, the payload door got stuck and it was unable to deploy its payload of fake satellites. As for the Super Heavy booster, which had been reused after the successful seventh test flight, that was supposed to splash down into the ocean but, six minutes after launch, it experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”
So Musk has plenty to concern himself with as he officially leaves DOGE, but he’s been critical of a federal budget bill. As he prepared to depart his government role, he expressed “disappointment” with the Trump spending bill, suggesting in an interview that it “undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.” The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which the House passed last week, will end most clean energy tax credits, including those on EV purchases. Tesla has claimed that “abruptly ending the energy tax credits would threaten America’s energy independence and the reliability of our grid.”
In any case, it’s unclear whether DOGE has actually met its mandate of slashing government spending. A tracker on the DOGE website claims to have saved taxpayers some $170 billion by canceling contracts and laying off workers, but reports suggest that the “Wall of Receipts” is full of misleading or inaccurate claims. A fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute think tank suggested to CBS News this month that the figure is more likely to be around $80 billion.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported on Thursday that, since Trump took office in January, federal spending has actually increased by 8.7 percent compared with the same period in 2024. That’s largely due to spending on Social Security, Medicare and other social insurance programs, as well as interest payments on the federal debt. However, the report notes that the full impact of the DOGE-led cutbacks may not yet been factored into the figures, given the up-front costs involved in ending programs and canning so many workers.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/elon-musk-leaves-doge-amid-tanking-tesla-sales-153859407.html?src=rss
Google Photos has announced a redesigned editor for tweaking your images. Predictably, the new editor adds a few new AI features aimed at helping you choose the right effects and edit photos faster. It also includes out a couple of previously Pixel exclusive editing tools—Auto Frame and Reimagine—although it’ll take a bit for everyone to see these updates.
The redesigned Google Photos editor
With the redesigned Google Photos editor, tapping the Edit button below any photo will show all your editing tools in one place. Freshly, when you’re editing a photo, Google Photos will also now offer AI-powered editing suggestions for you. To try this feature, tap to select the background or subject of the photo you’re editing, after which the app will show you a few editing suggestions. You’ll be able to quickly select your preferred editing tool and make your tweaks without having to navigate to the tool yourself. If even that’s too much work, you can also just select the new AI Enhance tool instead, which has Google automatically combine various tools together and give you three results to choose from.
Google says the redesign is rolling out to Google Photos for Android starting next month, and it’ll be coming to iOS later this year.
Share albums with a QR code
In the meantime, Google Photos has begun rolling out another new feature that makes it easier to share photo albums with others. The company says you can now generate QR codes for your albums to send to your friends, family, or even to a print shop, in case you want hard copies of your pictures. Anyone can use a generated QR code to access its linked album, but there are sharing controls in place to help you limit who can see or add pictures to it.
Apple’s upcoming macOS 26 operating system may abandon support for several older Mac models, according to AppleInsider. The casualties will include 2018 MacBook Pro models, the 2020 Intel MacBook Air, the 2017 iMac Pro, and the 2018 Mac mini — all currently the oldest machines compatible with macOS Sequoia, the report said, citing a source familiar with the matter. The 2019 MacBook Pro models and 2020 5K iMac models will retain compatibility with the new system, codenamed “Cheer,” said AppleInsider.
Sonos is selling a bunch of its speakers at a discount via Amazon. This includes the well-regarded Era 300 smart speaker, which is down to just $359. That’s 20 percent off and notable because this particular speaker rarely goes on sale. It’s a Sonos miracle!
The deal applies to both the black and white colorways. The Era 300 is a highly capable device that we praised in our official review, saying that it “sounds excellent.” We went on to say that it offers a premium experience that far surpasses other products in the company’s lineup, like the Era 100. This is also true when compared to rival speakers like Apple’s HomePod.
It’s simple to set up and offers the company’s proprietary Trueplay tuning system. This feature optimizes the sound of the speaker to the unique acoustics of a room by leveraging an internal microphone. It measures how sound reflects off surfaces and adjusts the EQ to match. It’s pretty nifty.
As for connectivity, it can pair with another Era 300 speaker for a true stereo experience. It also includes a Bluetooth receiver and line-in options. Of course, the speaker integrates with just about every streaming music service. The built-in mic also allows for voice assistant control, but only with Siri and Alexa. Google Assistant is left out of the party.
This speaker goes all-in on spatial audio, and the results are mixed. Sometimes it’s sublime and sometimes it’s kind of eh. This is more of a dig on the technology itself. It has serious potential but is still experiencing growing pains. The only real downside of this speaker is the exorbitant asking price, which has been slightly alleviated by this sale.
As previously mentioned, other Sonos products are available at a discount. This includes the Sonos Beam Gen 2 soundbar, which is 26 percent off at $369. These deals are available via Sonos itself. There’s also an ongoing sale on portable speakers.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/sonos-home-speakers-are-up-to-26-percent-off-right-now-150857008.html?src=rss
