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The Amazon Echo Show 11 arrived in late 2025 as the successor to the Echo Show 10 (3rd Generation), and it now sits at its lowest price since release, according to price trackers. Amazon currently lists the smart display for $169.99 (originally $219.99). The Echo Show line has always been about turning Alexa into something you can see as well as hear, and this version leans heavily into the display. The 11-inch touchscreen runs at 1,920 by 1,200 resolution and measures about 8mm thick, making it thinner and larger than the screen on the Echo Show 10. In practice, it works well for everyday household tasks. You can follow a recipe from across the kitchen, keep a video call open while doing other things, or leave a calendar visible during the day.

Echo Show 11

Full-HD 11″ Display with Alexa+

$169.99
at Amazon

$219.99
Save $50.00

$169.99
at Amazon

$219.99
Save $50.00

The biggest design change from the Echo Show 10 is that the screen no longer rotates to follow you. Amazon replaced the moving display with a fixed panel that appears to float above a fabric speaker base. That said, if you want to rotate or tilt the display, Amazon does sell a $39.99 magnetic stand. As for connectivity, the Echo Show 11 supports Wi-Fi 6E and broader smart-home compatibility—it works well with Zigbee, Matter, and Thread, allowing it to function as a hub for lights, plugs, locks, and other connected gear without an extra bridge. One change longtime Echo users may notice is the lack of a physical camera shutter. Older models included one, so people who liked that extra privacy safeguard may miss it here.

Feature-wise, the Echo Show 11 runs the same experience as the smaller Echo Show 8. It launches with Alexa+, Amazon’s new AI-enhanced assistant, currently in Early Access and included with a Prime membership. The new Alexa+ feels more conversational and better at handling natural language requests, notes this PCMag review. The only real drawback is that the interface can feel busy, and you’re paying more for screen size rather than new features. If you want a bigger display and stronger sound in one unit, this deal makes sense. If you’re fine with a smaller screen, the Echo Show 8 delivers nearly the same experience for less.

Flexibility is an underrated aspect of fitness, especially since we tend to lose some of our mobility as we get older—how many of the older folks in your life can comfortably reach overhead? But whether you’re doing it for lifestyle improvements or athletics, stretching can be boring, and progress can be slow. How do you know if you’re stretching enough? Fortunately, a study has given us some guidelines. 

These guidelines are for static stretching, which is the traditional kind where you hold a position. (Other mobility work, including dynamic stretching, is still good for you, but it wasn’t included in this study.)

For immediate improvement, stretch for 4 full minutes

Stretching has both short-term and long-term effects. We often think of flexibility as a long-term journey (we are becoming a more flexible person over time)—but there is also a more dramatic temporary effect that occurs during and right after the stretching session. Let’s talk about that first.

You may remember that when I did a three-minute video with toe touching exercises, I couldn’t quite touch the ground at the start. By the end, I had my palms flat on the ground. This short-term effect is an excellent way to unlock flexibility that you need to use for a given purpose. For example, dancers will stretch right before a practice or performance. And if you need a little extra ankle mobility to get the most out of your squats, or some extra shoulder mobility to do overhead lifts, that’s a great reason to do some stretches for those body parts in your warmup.

According to the study, you can maximize the short-term benefits of stretching from four total minutes of stretching for that muscle. That doesn’t have to mean a single four-minute stretch; it could be 30 seconds, eight times, or one minute four times. And they don’t have to be the same type of stretch, so long as they hit the same muscle. Less than four minutes will still give you some benefit, but four minutes is the most that the researchers found to help. 

For long-term improvement, stretch for 10 minutes per week (per muscle)

If you’re looking to get more flexible in the long term, the number to aim for is 10 minutes, per muscle, per week. Again, this can be broken up. If you have a routine that stretches each muscle for two total minutes (4 sets of 30 seconds, for example), doing that routine five days a week will get you there. 

Or perhaps you’re already interested in those short-term benefits I mentioned above, so you’re doing a warmup session that racks up three or four minutes per muscle. Those count toward your ten minutes for the week, so you may not need to do any extra stretching sessions beyond those warmups—as long as those warmups include all the muscles you are targeting. 

You don’t have to do every stretch in existence; just pick a few muscles or body parts that you’d like to make more flexible. Pick a favorite stretch or two for each, and get into the habit of performing those stretches for a minute each day. Here are some of my favorite stretches to get you started: 

• The best stretches for calves and ankles (especially good for squatting)

• The best stretches for your shoulders

• The best stretches for hamstrings

• The best stretches for your lower back

• The best stretches for your neck and upper back

Should stretching hurt? 

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that stretching is more effective the harder you do it. Stretching doesn’t need to be painful to be effective. The recent study found that hard stretching and gentle stretching both worked about equally well.

Flexibility trainers often say that your best bet is gentle stretching, where you can feel the stretch but it’s not painful. Being gentle about it lets you stretch longer and more often (and enjoy the process more!), which are the factors that really help you to make progress.

Marshall is launching a smaller companion for its highly rated Bromley 750 party speaker. The new Bromley 450 retains the larger model’s guitar-amp motif but comes in a petite, less expensive package.

The Bromley 450 carries over its larger sibling’s 360-degree audio trickery. Like equivalents from other companies, Marshall’s “True Stereophonic 360-degree sound” fools your brain into perceiving more directionality than its form factor allows. Lighting effects (“inspired by ‘70s stage shows”) also carry over from the larger model. However, this new speaker lacks the “sound character” control found in the Bromley 750.

Marshall says you can expect over 40 hours of playtime. If your party somehow goes on longer than that, you can swap out its battery on the fly (using the same one found in the Bromley 750). Or, you know, just plug it into a power outlet. And if your event turns into a performance, you’re covered with mic and instrument inputs.

Marshall

The Bromley 450 measures 360 x 261 x 492mm, making it about 25 percent shorter than its big brother. At just under 27 lbs, it only weighs about half as much. That helps to explain Marshall’s decision not to include wheels on this model. (But don’t worry, it still has a handle.) The speaker has an IP55 rating for dust and water resistance.

The Marshall Bromley 450 may be less expensive than its larger counterpart, but it still costs a pretty penny. It’ll set you back $800 when it goes on sale on March 31. You can order it on Marshall’s website and from select retail partners (including Best Buy, Sweetwater and Crutchfield).

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/marshall-adds-a-junior-sized-party-speaker-to-its-lineup-120000871.html?src=rss

After ByteDance suspended the global rollout of its new Seedance 2.0 AI video generator on the weekend, US senators have now told the company to “immediately shut down” the app. “Seedance 2.0 poses a direct threat to the American intellectual property system and, more broadly, to the constitutional rights and economic livelihoods of our creative community,” Senators Marsha Blackburn and Peter Welch wrote in a letter to the company. 

The letter reflects an increasing worry in government about AI companies training their apps on copyrighted materials from artists, actors and filmmakers without permission. “Responsible global companies follow the law and respect core economic rights, including intellectual property and personal likeness protections,” the senators wrote. They cited Seedance AI examples including an AI generated Thanos and Superman battle, a rewritten Stranger Things ending and that famous (fake) Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt battle. 

After pulling Seedance 2.0, ByteDance said on the weekend that it “respects intellectual property rights” and that it is “taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent the unauthorized use of intellectual property and likeness by users.” 

However, Blackburn and Welch called that pledge “a delay tactic to continue to abuse the innovators and profit from their success,” adding that its regard for American IP is “part of a larger trend of artificial intelligence companies stealing protected work at the expensive of the creative community.” 

Filmmakers have also taken action against Seedance 2.0, including the Motion Picture Association with recently sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance. Yesterday, senators including Blackburn and Welch unveiled a partisan bill to help artists protect their IP by allowing them to access training records used for AI models, among other measures.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/senators-tell-bytedance-to-shut-down-seedance-20-ai-video-app-immediately-112146241.html?src=rss

You may have a little Apple fatigue after last week’s barrage of Macs, iPhones and iPads. The company wasn’t done, however. Surprise! Here is an updated pair of AirPods Max. It’s a predictable surprise, perhaps, but one I wasn’t expecting after so many other new devices.

It’s also the first true update. The AirPods Max 2 look identical to their predecessor, but now have an H2 chip. First, the AirPods Pro 2 improve noise cancellation by 50 percent and add support for Adaptive Audio and Live Translation. It’s a much-needed update for headphones that, barring a USB-C option, haven’t changed since 2020.

They’re still priced at $549. In Apple’s recent press images for its cheapest MacBook ever, a child was using AirPods Max while working on their $599 MacBook Neo. Love it.

The new headphones are up for pre-order on March 25 and will ship in early April.

– Mat Smith

The other big stories (and deals) this morning

• Samsung ends Galaxy Z TriFold sales three months after launch

• NVIDIA and Bolt team up for European robotaxis

• Samsung Galaxy S26 review: The smartphone status quo

• Firefly is getting rebooted as an animated series

• NVIDIA claims DLSS 5 will deliver ‘photoreal‘ image quality with AI this fall

MacBook Pro M5 Max 16-inch review

Still the pinnacle.

Engadget

What did I just say? Wrapping up the barrage of reviews of all that new Apple hardware (besides those new AirPods), we test out Apple’s most powerful new MacBook. The new Pro has an M5 Max chip, plenty of memory and is a beast. Thankfully, it still has all the ports you’d want.

Continue reading.

xAI is being sued by teens who say Grok created CSAM using their photos

The class action lawsuit says that the lives of three teens have been “shattered.”

xAI is facing a class-action lawsuit in California, after its Grok AI reportedly generated sexualized images of children. Three teenagers filed suit, alleging Grok used their photos to create child exploitation material. One teen was alerted in December that AI-generated, sexually explicit images of her and other minors were being shared “in settings with which she was familiar, but morphed into sexually explicit poses.” The Center for Countering Digital Hate estimated in January that Grok produced millions of sexualized images, including 23,000 potentially depicting children.

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Finally, Android tablets and foldables are getting a Chrome bookmark bar

Hello, power users.

Google is rolling out a new feature for Chrome that will add a bookmark bar to the browser on Android foldables and tablets. Spotted by 9to5Google, this move will make the browsing experience on larger mobile devices more akin to that of laptops and desktops running Chrome. Perfect if you managed to grab Samsung’s Galaxy Z TriFold before it disappears forever.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-111501781.html?src=rss

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Inside Climate News: Republican lawmakers in multiple states and Congress are advancing proposals to shield polluters from climate accountability and prevent any type of liability for climate change harms — even as these harms and their associated costs continue to mount. It’s the latest in a counter-offensive that has unfolded on multiple fronts, from the halls of Congress and the White House to courts and state attorneys general offices across the country.

Dozens of local communities, states and individuals are suing major oil and gas companies and their trade associations over rising climate costs and for allegedly lying to consumers about climate change risks and solutions. At the same time, some states are enacting or considering laws modeled after the federal Superfund program that would impose retroactive liability on large fossil fuel producers and levy a one-time charge on them to help fund climate adaptation and resiliency measures. But many of these cases and climate superfund laws could be stopped in their tracks, either by the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court or by the Republican-controlled Congress.

Last month the court decided to take up a petition lodged by oil companies Suncor and ExxonMobil in a climate-damages case brought against the companies by Boulder, Colorado. The petition argues that Boulder’s claims are barred by federal law, and if the justices agree, it could knock out not only Boulder’s lawsuit but also many others like it. The court is expected to hear the case during its upcoming term that starts in October. There is also a possibility that Republicans in Congress will take action before then to gift the fossil fuel industry legal immunity, similar to that granted to gun manufacturers with the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Sixteen Republican attorneys general wrote (PDF) to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in June suggesting that the Department of Justice could recommend legislation creating precisely this type of liability shield. And last month, one Republican congresswoman announced that such legislation is indeed in the works. “The ultimate democratic institution in America is the jury,” said former Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. Enacting policies that prevent or block climate-related lawsuits against polluters, he said, would effectively shutter “the doors of the courthouse to Americans that have been injured by oil and gas company pollution and by their lies and deceit about that pollution.”

“I really think it’s an un-American effort to deny Americans the traditional right of access to a jury,” Inslee said. Oil and gas executives are “terrified” by the prospect of having to stand before a jury and face evidence of their climate-change lies and deception, he added. “You’ll see the steam coming out of the jury’s ears when they hear about how they’ve been lied to for decades. [Oil companies] understand why juries will be outraged by it, and they are shaking in their boots. The day of reckoning is coming, and that’s why they’re afraid.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Denon is addressing an omission in its current turntable lineup: Bluetooth streaming. With the new DP-500BT, the company combines refined design, analog sound and high-resolution wireless connectivity. With its semi-automatic operation and switchable phono preamp, this model has the features to suit beginners and experienced vinyl listeners alike.

The DP-500BT has a belt drive system, a balanced S-shaped tonearm and an aluminum die cast platter. There’s also a pre-installed moving magnet (MM) cartridge with a CN-6518 stylus and a built-in preamp that can be disabled in favor of a more robust external unit or powered speakers. Semi-automatic operation combines auto lift with playback stop to simplify the listening process for both novice and advanced vinyl lovers. This feature also protects both the stylus and your records.

In terms of design, Denon says it took inspiration from its DP-3000NE turntable for the DP-500BT. The similarities are clear, but more importantly, this decision gives the new $899 model a much more refined look compared to the company’s more affordable record players. The DP-3000NE is a $2,799 turntable, after all.

Bluetooth streaming is what sets the DP-500BT apart in the Denon lineup. Here, you’ll have the option of aptX, aptX HD and apt Adaptive when you need to streaming wirelessly to speakers or headphones. This turntable also works with the company’s HEOS amplifiers and Home speakers, which allow for multi-room audio while listening to that record collection.

The DP-500BT is available today from Denon and other retailers for $899.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/denons-dp-500bt-turntable-combines-premium-design-with-bluetooth-streaming-for-899-080000144.html?src=rss

The Champlain Hudson Power Express, a $6 billion, 339-mile buried transmission line, will soon deliver Canadian hydropower from Hydro-Quebec to New York City. The project could supply up to 20% of the city’s electricity and power roughly one million homes throughout the year. “This is far and away the largest project I have ever worked on,” said Bob Harrison, who has worked in infrastructure for 40 years and is the head of engineering for the Champlain Hudson Power Express. “We like to say it’s the largest project you’ll never see.” The New York Times reports: The massive power project, expected to provide energy to a million New York City customers a year, travels underground and underwater, from the northern plains at the Canadian border to the filled-in marshlands of coastal Queens, much of it loosely following the Hudson River. Its construction included the underwater installation of more than two million feet of cable imported from Sweden. It also required special boats, loaded with equipment that could shoot water jets deep into the sediment, to create trenches for the cable. Then, when it came to placing cable beneath the landscape, more than 700 land-use easements were needed, plus an additional 1.55 million feet of cable.

The Champlain Hudson Power Express has found a way to plug into the city, but it wasn’t easy. The work included 10 new manholes and more than three miles of new underground circuitry, according to Con Edison, the city’s primary electricity provider. “It was literally a hand weave under the streets of Queens,” said Jennifer Laird-White, the head of external affairs for Transmission Developers. The hydropower travels from Canada via two buried cables that are as round as cantaloupes. Those lines snake for hundreds of miles under a lake, several rivers (including the Hudson for about 90 miles) and through buried trenches alongside train tracks and roads. The cables resurface in Astoria, Queens, where a converter station shapes, filters and refines the raw power into a product that New Yorkers can consume.

In two cavernous rooms that could be mistaken for “Star Wars” sets, the electricity flows through 30 hanging structures encased in what look like metallic, dinosaurlike exoskeletons. Each one weighs about as much as a small humpback whale and contains microprocessors, thousands of valves and fiber wires. “I am still wowed when I walk into that facility,” said Mr. Harrison, the engineer. “I mean, it is just mind-boggling.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.