Spotify is about much more than music these days, and nothing makes that clearer than the company’s recent commitment to books—not just audiobooks, but old-school paper ones. Today, Spotify announced it’s coming hard for Amazon’s Kindle and Audible businesses, and will soon start selling physical copies of books in addition to audiobooks. Starting today, the company is also introducing “Page Match,” a feature that allows you to use your phone’s camera to instantly sync an audiobook with either a physical book, or one you’re reading on an e-reader.

How you’ll buy physical books through Spotify

Spotify’s physical book sales infrastructure isn’t quite ready yet, but the mere announcement is a surprising move in a few ways. Not only is a streamer making a big commitment to physical products, but the offering is being implemented in a way that could help local booksellers, rather than compete with them. This will likely bea relief to any bookstores that have struggled to compete with Amazon.

To bring physical book sales to market, Spotify is partnering with Bookshop.org, a site that connects shoppers with independent bookstores near them (although it doesn’t source inventory from them, but drop ships them from the distributor). Purchases deliver 30% of the sale back to a selected bookstore (which Bookshop.org says is the entire profit margin, though the site does keep a ); if the shopper doesn’t pick a specific bookstore to support, 10% of their purchase will go towards a general profit sharing fund for all bookstores partnered with the website.

It’s a stunningly market-friendly move, made possible by Bookshop.org’s B corporation status. But from a selfish perspective, it also means Spotify won’t have to deal with the logistics of selling books: In order to buy a physical book through the app, users will first have to navigate to one of the service’s audiobooks, then click a button that says Add to your bookshelf at home. After that, they’ll be taken to a checkout page on Bookshop.org.

It’s unclear whether Spotify itself will be making any money on these sales, or if it is simply acting as a middle-man. The company says it’s “meeting readers where they are” and is “excited to see the impact Spotify’s scale will have for local bookstores.” But even if there’s no direct profit incentive, I’m sure Spotify will be happy if it can drive some sales to a store other than Amazon, or use the new feature to convince readers of physical books to try the app.

How to sync your physical book with a Spotify audiobook

Speaking of Amazon, Audible has been able to sync audiobook progress with Kindle e-books for a while now, making it easy to jump between reading and listening. Now, Spotify wants to do the same, but with a more open approach. Rolling out today, with support expected to come to “most English-language titles” by the end of February, Spotify’s Page Match feature will sync your Spotify audiobook progress with your spot in a physical, paper-based book, or even an e-reader.

This works because it doesn’t use an account to sync, but instead works via your phone’s camera. To use Page Match, open a supported audiobook in your Spotify app, tap Page Match, then tap Scan to listen. Place your camera over the page you want to sync to, whether that’s in a physical book or one displayed on an e-reader screen. You can then tap Play from here to start listening from where that page kicks off in the audiobook, or Save for later to make a bookmark you can jump to at any time.

Once you’re done listening to your audiobook and want to go back to your physical book or e-reader, just open your audiobook, tap Page Match, and tap Scan to read. Place your camera over your physical book or e-reader, and after some processing, Spotify will tell you which page to flip to to start reading from where you stopped listening.

Unlike Spotify’s audiobook recaps, Page Match supposedly does not use AI, instead relying on computer vision and text matching. Still, I’m curious how the “Scan to read” feature will handle inconsistent page numbering between different editions of a book, which can be a major problem with e-books in particular. Spotify says that if the feature runs into snags, it will prompt you to try again.

Page Match is available to all audiobook listeners on Spotify, so there’s a good chance you can try it now. Premium subscribers and Audiobook+ members can use the feature with their monthly listening hours, while free users can use Page Match with supported audiobooks they’ve bought outright. I don’t subscribe to Spotify and I don’t own any audiobooks on the service, but the company says that to get started, you only need “make sure your Spotify app is updated.”

Spotify’s continued push into books and podcasts

Spotify might have started off as a simple app for streaming music, but now, it’s clear the company wants to maximize hours spent in its app, and that means branching out to all types of audio content. According to an interview with The Verge, it has seen a 36% year-over-year increase in customers starting audiobooks on a platform, and a 37% increase in overall audiobook listening hours. The growth is supposedly mostly coming from existing customers rather than new subscribers, so it remains to be seen whether Spotify’s enhanced audiobook support can dethrone Amazon. Page Match working with any physical book or e-reader is probably a good start.

Anthropic on Thursday released Claude Opus 4.6, its most capable model yet, at a moment when the company’s AI tools have already spooked markets over fears that they are disrupting traditional software development and other sectors.

The new model improves on Opus 4.5’s coding abilities, the company said — it plans more carefully, sustains longer agentic tasks, handles larger codebases more reliably, and catches its own mistakes through better debugging. It is also the first Opus-class model to feature a 1M token context window, currently in beta.

On GDPval-AA, an independent benchmark measuring performance on knowledge-work tasks in finance, legal and other domains, Opus 4.6 outperformed OpenAI’s GPT-5.2 by roughly 144 Elo points. Anthropic also introduced agent teams in Claude Code, allowing multiple agents to work in parallel on tasks like codebase reviews. Pricing remains at $5/$25 per million input/output tokens.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

On Wednesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Chief Marketing Officer Kate Rouch complained on X after rival AI lab Anthropic released four commercials, two of which will run during the Super Bowl on Sunday, mocking the idea of including ads in AI chatbot conversations. Anthropic’s campaign seemingly touched a nerve at OpenAI just weeks after the ChatGPT maker began testing ads in a lower-cost tier of its chatbot.

Altman called Anthropic’s ads “clearly dishonest,” accused the company of being “authoritarian,” and said it “serves an expensive product to rich people,” while Rouch wrote, “Real betrayal isn’t ads. It’s control.”

Anthropic’s four commercials, part of a campaign called “A Time and a Place,” each open with a single word splashed across the screen: “Betrayal,” “Violation,” “Deception,” and “Treachery.” They depict scenarios where a person asks a human stand-in for an AI chatbot for personal advice, only to get blindsided by a product pitch.

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JLab just released a gigantic pair of headphones that doubles as a Bluetooth speaker. The Blue XL headphones are ridiculously oversized, making them headphones in name only. I don’t even think Andre the Giant could’ve comfortably worn these suckers.

Unless you have a mythically large head, these are basically “headphone speakers.” The idea is to drape them around your neck and stream tunes for all to hear. Though you could also pop them on a table or something. I prefer my Bluetooth speakers to be speaker-shaped, but maybe that’s just me.

JLab

As for the internals, they feature 30W of power and two 2.5-inch drivers, along with two 2.5-inch radiators. This is obviously more power than what’s demanded by headphones because, again, these are actually speakers. JLab says they’ll get around 20 hours of use per charge, which is a decent metric.

There’s another use case here. They could make a mighty fine accessory in a “person wearing comically oversized headphones” Halloween costume. The price is actually right for a gag gift. The Blue XL headphones cost $99. These were first announced at a recent college football game, but everyone assumed it was a joke because they were gold and the company said they cost $120,000. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/jlabs-comically-oversized-headphones-are-not-an-april-fools-prank-174338833.html?src=rss

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

When Owala water bottles started appearing in every influencer’s “daily essentials” video and cluttering my Instagram feed, I rolled my eyes. I assumed this was another overhyped product that people would forget about in three months, just the latest in a long line of Stanley Cup successors.

One of my biggest personality quirks (or “flaws,” according to some) is that I’m a major spiller. The Stanley Cup’s open straw is a non-starter for me. In fact, no water bottle technology has been stronger than my ability to spill its contents. After watching my latest bottle create yet another puddle in my bag, I caved and bought an Owala. And now, I have to admit this water bottle is officially an upgrade in my life.

Why the Owala water bottle is the best

I’m a huge fan of the FreeSip lid—yes, that’s what they call it, and yes, it lives up to the name—is genuinely brilliant in its simplicity. There’s a built-in straw for when you want to sip without tilting (perfect for walking, driving, or my personal use case: lying horizontally on the couch). Flip it open a bit more, and there’s a wide-mouth spout for when you want to chug. One lid, two drinking options, and crucially, a push-button lock that has saved my laptop, my physical planner, and my dignity. Seriously, I cannot emphasize this enough: I am a world-class spiller. The Owala’s lock mechanism is the only thing standing between me and constant catastrophe.

At 24 ounces, it’s the perfect size—big enough that I’m not refilling it every hour, small enough that it actually fits in my bag’s side pocket and doesn’t make me look like I’m headed out for a weekend camping trip when I’m just going to run errands. It’s become my constant companion without feeling like I’m lugging around gym equipment.

Owala FreeSip Insulated Stainless Steel Water Bottle with Straw for Sports and Travel, BPA-Free, 24-oz, Blue/Teal (Denim)

$29.99
at Amazon

$29.99
at Amazon

Sometimes the influencers are onto something. And now I’m part of the problem, becoming the exact person who won’t shut up about their water bottle. But when you find something that solves multiple persistent problems at once, when a product actually delivers on its promises instead of just looking good in photos, it’s hard not to evangelize a little. The Owala works. I’m staying hydrated, my bag is staying dry, and I’m sipping with ease wherever I go.

With gaming becoming an ever-smaller part of NVIDIA’s lucrative business, the company reportedly won’t bother releasing new graphics cards this year. The Information reported on Thursday that NVIDIA has pushed back its plan to release an update to the RTX 50 line in 2026. This would be the first time in three decades that the company hasn’t launched new gaming chips. The culprit? Why, AI, of course.

AI demand has driven the current memory chip shortage, throwing the consumer electronics industry out of kilter. Many product prices are expected to rise (as if tariffs hadn’t already done enough damage there). And the scarcity of memory chips has made components that rely on them, including GPUs, nearly impossible to find. Even the auto industry isn’t spared.

Facing those constraints, NVIDIA, which made its bones on graphics chips for PCs and gaming consoles, is essentially brushing off that demographic. The Information notes that in the first nine months of 2022, NVIDIA’s gaming GPUs made up 35 percent of its total revenue. During that same period in 2025, only around 8 percent came from gaming components. In addition, NVIDIA’s AI chips have much higher profit margins: 65 percent vs. 40 percent for graphics cards.

That means gamers, already hard-pressed to find last year’s RTX 50 series, likely won’t get the expected “Super” version in 2026. On top of that, The Information says the delay will also push back NVIDIA’s next-gen graphics card (likely “RTX 60”). That component was initially expected to begin mass production at the end of 2027.

But hey, at least you can shop (and view ads!) in ChatGPT, have a talk with your Gmail inbox and record everything the people around you say. Who needs games anyway, right?

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/nvidia-reportedly-wont-release-new-graphics-cards-this-year-173002651.html?src=rss

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

There’s a certain level of performance you expect from active noise-cancelling earbuds (ANC) or headphones—even if they are “budget” priced. If you’re looking for a great pair of ANC earbuds for a price that won’t make you cry if you lose them, consider the Anker Space A40, currently $44.98 (originally $99.99 at launch). I’ve been using these earbuds for over a year and cannot recommend them enough for the price.

Soundcore by Anker Space A40

Adaptive Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds, Reduce Noise by Up to 98%, Ultra Long 50H Playtime, 10H Single Playtime, Hi-Res Sound, Comfortable Fit, Wireless Charge

$44.98
at Amazon

$79.99
Save $35.01

$44.98
at Amazon

$79.99
Save $35.01

The Soundcore by Anker Space A40 gives you as many features and even better ANC than some higher-end pairs for a budget-friendly price tag. I’ve had my pair for over a year now, and I can compare the ANC performance to some high-end earbuds I’ve sampled. For the price, the ANC is surprisingly good and also rivals earbuds that go over the $200 price mark. The earbuds have microphones that pick up the sound around you to adjust the ANC accordingly. You can read the full review from PCMag here if you want to go more in-depth about its features.

Another impressive quality about these earbuds is their long battery life, with 10 hours of playtime and an additional 50 hours from the charging case. The Soundcore app lets you customize your EQ controls to your liking, but the default audio setting right from the box is already great, so there’s no need to adjust it unless you want to. The earbuds fit well and don’t come out easily, which is a must for any ANC. It is water-resistant with an IPX4 rating.

The main place where these earbuds fall short is the audio if you’re an Apple user because it relies on the AAC codec. But for the price, the Anker Space A40 does a great job at everything else and is my favorite ANC earbud under $100 dollars.

VPNs have a mixed reputation, primarily because you can use the technology to hide your location and identity on the internet. Even the best VPNs can be used to conceal crimes and make the perpetrators harder to track. Fortunately, most of the world’s governments (at least for now) recognize that VPNs are just technology that can be used for good or ill.

That means VPNs are legal in almost every country in the world. The countries that do restrict VPNs tend to be those where internet freedoms are already curtailed, like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. There are distinct gradations between those nations, though. And the days of worry-free VPN access elsewhere in the world is starting to show cracks: Currently free jurisdictions — including the UK, France and even several US states — are now considering bans.

Is it legal to use a VPN?

The answer is almost always yes. In every country except the ones listed in the next section, there are no legal penalties for visiting a VPN website, downloading a VPN or connecting to a VPN server.

In the last few years, however, some countries that were once beacons of online liberty have started considering bans. This is part of a chain reaction that started with age verification laws for websites deemed harmful to children, most prominently the UK’s Online Safety Act. Once everyone realized that anyone could circumvent the OSA by using a VPN server in another country, UK politicians began trying to ban VPNs as well. The same thing is currently happening in France. In the US, Wisconsin and Michigan are both proposing age verification laws and VPN bans.

For now, though, none of these VPN bans have passed into law. Some have been defeated by the coordinated efforts of activists, including one Swiss proposal that would have forced Proton VPN to relocate.

In countries that do ban or restrict VPN usage, the laws can take several forms. Some countries have made all VPNs unlawful to use. Others only allow VPNs approved by the government — approval which usually comes from agreeing to share information with law enforcement. In some other countries, it’s legal to use a VPN, but you’ll face extra penalties if you use one to commit a crime. I’ll go through all these categories in the next section.

Where are VPNs illegal?

This section is a complete list of countries where using a VPN is a legal risk. If a country isn’t on this list, you can assume it’s safe to use a VPN. Even nations with bad internet freedom scores, like Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, often don’t have anti-VPN laws to avoid scaring off international business.

One more important note is that anti-VPN laws are much more likely to be enforced against locals than foreigners. I’m not saying you should tempt fate, just noting that there are very few cases of a traveler being prosecuted in another country solely for using a VPN.

Countries where VPNs are totally banned

VPNs are completely outlawed in four countries. Three of them — Belarus, Turkmenistan and North Korea — are isolated authoritarian regimes that restrict internet freedoms as part of nationwide crackdowns on all civil and political liberties. Iraq, while slightly more liberal overall, banned VPNs in 2014 in an attempt to kick the Islamic State off the internet. Twelve years later, the ban remains in place.

Uganda is a special case. In 2018, the African nation enacted the world’s first social media tax, which the government called necessary to raise funds but which was criticized as a backhanded assault on free speech. VPNs can get around the tax, so Ugandan internet service providers (ISPs) are required to block VPN traffic. However, there’s no law on the books against using a VPN, so as long as you bring a service with obfuscation (like NordVPN) you’re good to go.

Countries where only approved VPNs are allowed

More common than banning VPNs altogether is restricting VPN usage to those approved by the government. This lets the powers that be grant limited VPN access to businesses for economic reasons, while also being able to yank it away as a method of control. It also means VPNs with a license to operate are likely to report data or install surveillance backdoors.

The nations that handle VPNs this way are China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Bahrain, Myanmar, Pakistan, India, Turkey and Oman. These countries don’t ban all VPNs, but target popular providers with intermittent crackdowns and threats.

China in particular uses the so-called Great Firewall, the world’s most sophisticated suite of censorship technologies, to prevent its citizens from even visiting the homepages of VPN companies. If you plan to travel in China and want to maintain access to the outside world, download a VPN before you go — and remember that using it while there will technically put you in violation of the law.

Russia is a textbook case of a selective VPN ban, with businesses allowed to use approved VPNs and everyone else left to scramble against periodic mass blocks. Turkey’s autocratic government has also tried to crack down on VPN usage by blocking VPN sites, but clumsy implementation has left a lot of holes, allowing Instagram and other social media to remain a free speech lifeline for Turks.

Countries with extra penalties for using VPNs to view blocked websites

In a few countries, it’s legal to use any VPN, but against the law to use them for illegal activities. You might say, “Duh, I’m aware that breaking the law is illegal,” but there is a meaningful difference — some crimes are crimier than others. Just like you’ll get a much harsher sentence if you rob someone with a weapon, you’ll face steeper penalties for using a VPN to view content the government is trying to block. Countries that operate like this include Vietnam, Egypt and the UAE. 

Potential future VPN bans

Today, a number of countries once considered free and tolerant are proposing wide-ranging age verification laws, usually for reasons that boil down to “think of the children!” If enacted — as the UK’s Online Safety Act has shown — they effectively offer a choice between two equally unacceptable alternatives: Live with a censored version of the internet, or get broader access only once you sacrifice your online anonymity.

VPNs are the easiest and most direct workaround to this rising tide of censorship, which is why those same governments have them in their legislative crosshairs. The threat of enforcement chills free activity in a connected world where enforcers can’t be everywhere at once.

For now, laws against VPN usage are still largely vague, inconsistent and unevenly applied. As citizens, we can work to make our voices heard and fight against these initiatives before they become law. In the meantime, you may well want to get install your VPN of choice on as many devices as possible — and get your other cybersecurity ducks in a row while you’re at it.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/are-vpns-legal-170000878.html?src=rss

Our review of the new AirTag went up yesterday, and that involved testing the new Precision Finding feature on Apple Watches. In the process, I found the setup to be confusing and counterintuitive, and was relieved to discover it wasn’t just me. If, like me, you’ve been trying to set up Precision Finding on your Apple Watch for the AirTag you’ve just unboxed and attached to a precious belonging, here are the exact steps to take. 

First, make sure your Apple Watch is compatible with the feature. That means verifying you’re using the Series 9 or later (you would have bought it in or after 2023) or the Ultra 2 and newer. Then, go to the Watch app on your phone and do the following to make sure you’ve received the latest software update that adds the functionality.

1. Tap General.

2. Press Software update. 

3. Make sure the page says you are running watchOS 26.2.1. If not, tap Install Now. 

If you need to download the software, make sure your watch is on its charging cradle. Even though my Apple Watch Series 11 was fully charged, I was still told to make sure it’s connected to power and had at least 50 percent of juice left for the software to install. After a few minutes, my watch restarted and the app said it was updated to the newest version of watchOS. 

Now that you have the right hardware and software, you can set up Precision Finding. I assume you’ve already connected the new AirTag to the iPhone that’s linked to your watch (and if you haven’t, make sure to do that). 

This was the part of the process that confused me. Instead of opening the Find Items app on the watch, Precision Finding for the new AirTag actually exists as a shortcut in the Control Center. Here are the steps to add it there:

1. Open the Control Center by pushing the button below the dial on the side of the watch. 

2. Scroll all the way to the bottom and press “Edit.”

3. Push the + button at the top left of the screen.

4. Scroll down and tap Find Items.

5. Press Find AirTag, then tap Choose. You should see the new AirTag you’ve linked to your account here.

6. Select the AirTag you want to precisely find. 

7. Drag the icon to whichever position you prefer within the Control Center. 

8. Hit Done.

Now, whenever you want to locate your item, you can pull up the Control Center, press this button and the Precision Finding interface will appear, showing how far away it is. You can also push the button on the bottom right of this screen to get the AirTag to ring, guiding you to where your item is.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/how-to-use-your-apple-watch-to-precisely-find-your-new-airtag-164922731.html?src=rss