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Adding more visibility to a driveway or backyard is cheaper than you might think. The Blink Wired Floodlight Camera is currently selling for just $44.99 on Amazon, down from its usual $99.99, and price-tracking tools show that’s the lowest it has ever been. It’s a wired camera, so it replaces an existing outdoor light and runs on household power. In exchange, you get a 1080p camera with a wide 143-degree field of view and dual LED floodlights that emit 2,600 lumens.
In daylight, this camera’s footage looks sharp with natural colors, and the wide-angle camera does a good job covering a driveway or yard on its own. At night, the camera switches to infrared black-and-white video that stays clear up to 30 feet, and when the floodlights activate, you get full color night video, making it easier to recognize faces, animals, or vehicles.
You’ll also get motion alerts on your phone, and the live view in the Blink app loads fast enough to check what’s happening in real time. You can also use the two-way audio to speak through the camera, turn the lights on manually, or trigger the 105-decibel siren to draw attention via the app, according to PCMag’s review.
As for the limitations of this floodlight camera, it mostly comes down to subscriptions and ecosystem support. You can view live video and receive motion alerts for free, but recording clips and using person detection requires a Blink subscription. The Basic plan costs $4 per month for one camera, while the Plus plan is $12 per month and covers multiple devices with 60 days of storage. Local storage is possible, but only if you buy the Blink Sync Module 2 ($49.99) and add your own USB drive. Also, while the camera integrates easily with Alexa and IFTTT, there’s no Google Home or Apple HomeKit support, which might matter depending on your smart home setup. Still, for under $50, this is a cost-efficient way to add real lighting and usable security footage in one upgrade.
Ford may be discontinuing its F-150 Lightning pickup but it hasn’t given up on electric cars. CEO Jim Farley just teased the automaker’s electric pickup based on its new Universal Electric Vehicle platform that he called “one of the most audacious and important projects in Ford’s history.”
The Universal EV platform will be used on a family of affordable EVs sold around the world, but will start with a mid-sized pickup for the US built in Louisville, Kentucky. It’s set to go on sale next year with a target price of $30,000.
An early peek at our brilliant team working on the Universal Electric Vehicle project – one of the most audacious and important projects in @Ford‘s history. American innovation is how we compete and win against China and the rest of the world.
➡️ The team is spending countless… pic.twitter.com/Un4eCe258L
— Jim Farley (@jimfarley98) February 5, 2026
Farley discussed some of the tech going into the pickup, particularly the aerodynamics, a key aspect if Ford is to compete with rivals. “The team is spending countless hours getting every last drop of aero efficiency on the mid-size electric pickup,” he noted. Farley also discussed the “simplified aluminum unicastings [that] condense over 146 parts into two” as a way to boost production efficiency.
Ford will invest $5 billion, including $2 billion at the Louisville factory on top of $3 billion already announced for its BlueOval battery plant. It will expand the Louisville facility by 52,000 square feet and “create or secure” nearly 4,000 direct jobs, the company said late last year.
Ford hasn’t yet revealed the pickup’s name or shown a photo, but it’s supposed to have more interior room than a Toyota RAV4. Buyers will be able to lock bikes or surfboards into the pickup bed, mooting the need for roof or trailer hitch racks. It will have a low center of gravity from the battery, instant torque and a 0 to 60 mph time “as fast as a Mustang EcoBoost [around 4.5 seconds], with more downforce,” Ford said.
Jim Farley famously imported a famously fast and high-tech Xiaomi SU7 EV from China and drove it daily, telling a podcaster he didn’t want to “give it up.” Hopefully, his experience will result in more tech-forward Ford EVs based on the Universal platform.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/ford-shows-off-the-tech-going-into-its-30000-electric-pickup-truck-140000509.html?src=rss
In addition to their ongoing AMDGPU LLVM compiler back-end work for upcoming GFX1250 and recently the GFX13 target for their graphics IP, today AMD compiler engineers introduced a new “GFX1170” target to the LLVM codebase that is also called RDNA 4m…
This portable speaker is worth every penny, especially when you’re starting a party.
Cortopia Studios and Beyond Frames Entertainment announced that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City is coming to Quest 3, SteamVR and Pico headsets this Spring.
There’s no specific launch date yet beyond the spring release window, although the studios announced that players hoping to get an early hands-on will be able to get their first taste with a free, single-player PC VR demo later this month.
As a part of Steam Next Fest, the demo will feature the first 15 minutes of gameplay, letting you come to grips with each playable Turtle. The limited-limited demo will be available from February 23rd to March 2nd.
While the demo will only offer single-player gameplay, at launch the game is slated to offer up four-player co-op, letting you hash out who gets dibs on Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, or Raphael.
Notably, each Turtle has their own unique play styles, preferences, and physical abilities: e.g. Raphael naturally has more health, so he makes for a better tank. Still, the player can choose how to play each Turtle, Art Director Ace St. Germain says in the studio’s latest dev diary.
“It’s anarchy in the best way possible. There are simply no rules what what your co-operation looks like. How you’ll work together is entirely up to you, and every group you play with will end up having its own unique flare,” St. Germain says.
We went hands-on with TMNT: Empire City back in December, which showed off an early tutorial of its movement and combat system. Still, we can’t wait to see it in action in co-op, as it seems to be shaping up to be a pretty radical VR beat’em-up.
In the meantime, you can now pre-order TMNT: Empire City on the Horizon Store for Quest 3 and 3S, priced at $20 (20% discount). You can also wishlist on the Pico Store for Pico 4 and above, and Steam for PC VR headsets. The studio notes that its 20% discount will be available in the first two weeks of the game’s release.
The post ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ VR Game is Getting a Steam Demo Ahead of Spring Launch appeared first on Road to VR.
Players can use genAI to ‘paint’ worlds that other people made
Apple is no longer launching an AI service that can “replicate” a doctor and act as a personal health coach, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The company has reportedly scaled back the unannounced initiative in recent weeks, following a recent organization reshuffling wherein services chief Eddy Cue took over the health division.
While Apple has never officially announced the AI health coach, it was reported last year that the company was working on developing the service that has been unofficially dubbed Health+. It was supposed to be able to help users track food and correct workout forms using their iPhone’s camera, as well as to recommend lifestyle changes based on users’ health data. Apple even reportedly produced videos for the service, including ones explaining medical conditions and some training guides.
Cue reportedly wanted Apple to move faster and be more competitive when it comes to its health-focused products, seeing as the most well-known names in the field like Oura are already offering a lot of compelling features on their iOS apps. He didn’t think Apple’s plans could compete, Bloomberg said.
Instead of rolling out an AI health coach as a whole package, Apple will instead release the individual features it has developed to its Health app over time. The videos it shot and the capability to make recommendations based on user data could be available early this year. Apple is also reportedly working on an AI health chatbot to answer wellness questions. It’s just an interim solution, however, and the company’s goal is to let its reported upcoming Siri chatbot handle those inquiries in the future.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/apple-reportedly-axed-its-planned-ai-health-coach-133000941.html?src=rss
If you haven’t heard, there’s now a social network for AI: Moltbook, a site that purportedly features AI agents talking to each other. That includes OpenClaw, a personal AI agent (formerly called Clawdbot and Moltbot) that’s open source and free for anyone to run on their systems. In this episode, Devindra and Senior Reporter Karissa Bell discuss the rise of these services, and the potential future that AI agents may have for all of us.
What is Moltbook and OpenClaw? – 1:31
Anthropic reinforces its commitment against ads with Super Bowl ad spots – 19:32
SpaceX acquires xAI and plans for a mega IPO – 27:08
Alexa + rolls out free for all Amazon Prime subscribers – 33:36
Around Engadget: Reviews of the New AirTag and Switch Virtual Boy – 44:12
Working on – 46:34
Pop culture picks – 49:24
Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Karissa Bell
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/engadget-podcast-so-theres-a-social-network-for-ai-agents-now-133000813.html?src=rss
TikTok’s signature features that hooked users around the world are its algorithm and endless scroll. Now, though, the European Union has called those aspects of the app illegal and may order the company to alter them.
“Today, the European Commission preliminarily found TikTok in breach of the Digital Services Act for its addictive design,” the EU’s regulator said in a press release. “This includes features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and its highly personalized recommender system.” It said that TikTok failed to put up safeguards to ensure that those “addictive” features don’t “harm the physical and mental wellbeing of users,” including minors.
“For example, by constantly ‘rewarding’ users with new content, certain design features of TikTok fuel the urge to keep scrolling and shift the brain of users into ‘autopilot mode’. Scientific research shows that this may lead to compulsive behaviour and reduce users’ self-control,” the regulators stated.
TikTok’s current parental controls and features to limit screen time are insufficient, the Commission added, and TikTok may need to modify them. The platform may also be required to limit its infinite scroll and adjust its recommendation algorithms.
The EU Commission will give TikTok an opportunity to rebut the findings and the company said would use “any means available” to challenge them. “The commission’s preliminary findings present a categorically false and entirely meritless depiction of our platform,” the company told The New York Times in a statement.
Europe opened its wide-ranging investigation against TikTok in February 2024 and has already found the company at fault for its data sharing practices and advertising transparency. If found guilty of violating the DSA, TikTok faces a fine up to six percent of its annual worldwide turnover.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/eu-says-tiktok-uses-addictive-design-and-must-change-131738425.html?src=rss
Save $200 on all storage options for the Google Pixel 10 Pro over at Amazon.
From a simple tweet to a mural in NYC to a trailer delayed by a massive hurricane, here’s the complete marketing timeline for GTA V
The Last of Us series co-creator Craig Mazin is teaming with Hasbro Entertainment to create an HBO series based on the popular (and spicy) Baldur’s Gate 3 game, Deadline reported. The show will be simply be called Baldur’s Gate and the story will resume where Baldur’s Gate 3 left off. Mazin will reportedly have full creative control and act as co-creator, writer, executive producer and showrunner.
“It is a dream come true to be able to continue the story that [Baldur’s Gate 3 developer] Larian and Wizards of The Coast created,” Mazin said in a statement. “I am a devoted fan of DnD and the brilliant way that Swen Vincke and his gifted team adapted it. I can’t wait to help bring Baldur’s Gate and all of its incredible characters to life with as much respect and love as we can.”
Larian, which won’t be making the Baldur’s Gate 3 sequel, said it wasn’t involved in the creation of the show. However, Larian CEO Swen Vincke said that to his knowledge, Mazin is a “big fan” of the game and even requested to visit the studio (Mazin told Deadline that he has put about 1,000 hours into the game).
Mazin is best known for co-creating the Emmy-winning limited series Chernobyl as well as The Last of Us. The latter was widely praised for its first season but critics and fans were mixed on season 2, which deviated a bit more from the corresponding game.
The show will reportedly feature familiar and new characters, but no other details have been released. A Baldur’s Gate 4 game is not currently in development, so the series creators will have no source material to draw from. That gives them a lot of freedom, but also puts the storytelling onus fully on Mazin and his team of writers. Wizards of the Coast story head Chris Perkins will reportedly act as a consultant on the show to ensure it doesn’t stray from its DnD origins.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/hbo-is-making-a-baldurs-gate-3-tv-show-130000864.html?src=rss
A free trial to a virtual private network (VPN) can mean a few different things. Several of the best VPNs let you try them out without paying. A rare few, and only one on this list, let you try them without submitting payment information at all. Some VPNs have forever free plans that let you use them indefinitely without paying, as long as you’re OK with some limits.
For the most part, though, your best chance to test a VPN for free is to pay for a subscription. Then, if you don’t like the service, you can get your money back before the refund guarantee expires. This takes a bit more work, and some services have very tight turnarounds. However, it’ll get you the most time with the most complete version of the VPN.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about the best VPN free trials for each definition of “free trial.” I’ll start with VPNs that actually have free trials, most of which require a payment method and only work on mobile devices. The next section lists the best forever free plans. Finally, I’ll share instructions for how to use a VPN money-back guarantee as a free trial.
Although VPN free trials are great when you can get them, you’ll enjoy a lot more flexibility by taking advantage of refund guarantees. Almost every provider has a money-back guarantee that doesn’t require you to prove a specific problem. You’ll probably have to deflect some upselling attempts before you actually get the refund, but most policies do promise you all your money back, with no pro-rating.
I like to download VPNs on their one-month plans so I can put the full service through my usual battery of tests. A 30-day money-back guarantee grants you enough time to learn whether you can use the VPN long-term. If you don’t like the service, the standard method for getting a refund is to get in touch with customer support on the VPN provider’s help page.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/best-vpns-with-free-trials-130000435.html?src=rss
Quite a variety of events to feature this weekend: a crazy endurance ride for a good cause, a sweet new kit unlock event, a race series kickoff, and more! See this weekend’s most notable events below…
DBR x Canyon x Cykelnerven
Ultra Endurance Good Cause
This ride’s just a little bit crazy, yet it’s already got hundreds of crazies signed up!
It’s a 12-hour ride on London’s Classique circuit in support of Cykelnerven, raising awareness and funds for a world free of multiple sclerosis. Join for just the first hour or two if you’d like, or see if you can hang on for the full 12 hours.
Saturday, February 7 @ 8am UTC/3am ET/12am PT
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/5379446
SYN x RAD RACE Spin
New Kit Unlock
Join this special collaboration ride between Rad Race and The SYN, led at 2.5-3.2 W/kg on 90 minutes of Makuri Islands’ Electric Loop.
We’re featuring this particular event because it includes an unlock of the sweet new SYN x RAD RACE in-game kit (see the IRL version here).
Sunday, February 8 @ 7am UTC/2am ET/Saturday 11pm PT
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/5412980
Tugaz Tour 2026: Stage 1
Popular Unique Event
Tugaz Tour 2026 launches on Sunday with its first stage, held on one lap of the newish London Calling route (20.9km, 357m).
This tour consists of 15 standalone races, all held at a single time slot, always on weekends. The stages are inspired by the main competitions of the Portuguese Cycling Federation and will take place on the corresponding real-world dates. All races will be mass start scratch races – time gaps do not matter, only final placings count.
Registration, rules, results, and everything else related to the Tugaz Tour 2026 can be found on the official website.
Sunday, February 8 @ 10:05am UTC/5:05am ET/2:05am PT
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/5359137
WOW – High Speed Ride on TT bikes with draft
Fast Miles Upgrade Hack Unique Event
Want to accumulate lots of miles quickly? Join this newish and popular group ride, which puts everyone on the fastest TT bike in game (Cadex Tri) with drafting enabled. It’s 100km, but it’ll be a fast 100km!
Riders are on Tempus Fugit, the flattest route in Zwift. Three different pace groups, released so the faster groups catch the slower groups over time.
Bike upgrading hack: on rides with forced bikes, whatever bike you’re on when you join the event is the bike that accumulates the distance/elevation/time. So, for example, you could accumulate lots of distance toward a road bike upgrade, while riding the Cadex Tri in this event.
Sunday, February 8 @ 1:45pm UTC/8:45am ET/5:45am PT
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/5413110
Tour de Zwift, Stage 5
Popular Unlocks Race If You Want
We’re nearing the end of Tour de Zwift, with stage 5 wrapping up this weekend, and the final stage next week. If you’re looking for a group ride where you can set your own pace but still have some company, TdZ is just the ticket since hundreds of riders join each event.
Read all about Tour de Zwift 2026 >
Each stage has three route length options. For stage 5 we’ve got some big climbing options: Tour of Fire and Ice (28.1km, 1183m), Glyph Heights (34km, 617m), and Ocean Lava Cliffside Loop (19.2km, 156m).
Hourly events all weekend!
Sign up at zwift.com/events/tag/tourdezwift2026
We choose each weekend’s Notable Events based on a variety of factors including:
In the end, we want to call attention to events that are extra-special and therefore extra-appealing to Zwifters. If you think your event qualifies, comment below with a link/details and we may just include it in an upcoming post!
You’ll love the deeper bass and more satisfying audio for your movies and TV shows.
NordVPN is offering a significant discount on its two-year plans, with 70 percent off its Complete tier and up to 78 percent off overall. For the Complete tier, the deal brings the total cost down to $130 for 24 months
NordVPN regularly appears on Engadget’s list of the best VPN services thanks to its wide server network, strong security tools and consistent performance across devices. NordVPN’s latest promotion puts one of its most comprehensive plans at a price that undercuts many competing premium VPN subscriptions.
The Complete tier includes full access to NordVPN’s core VPN service, which encrypts internet traffic and masks a user’s IP address to help protect online activity on public Wi-Fi networks and at home. Subscribers can use the service on multiple devices, including phones, tablets, laptops and smart TVs, with apps available for major operating systems. It also includes access to NordPass (more on that below), an ad blocker and 1TB of cloud storage. You’ll find similar discounts on all of NordVPN’s other plans: Basic, Plus and Prime.
Beyond the basics, NordVPN offers features like threat protection to help block malicious websites and trackers, as well as specialty servers designed for added privacy or faster performance in specific scenarios. In our NordVPN review, the service was praised for its evolving feature set and overall reliability, even as the VPN market becomes increasingly competitive.
Engadget regularly tracks VPN pricing trends and this offer compares favorably with other current promotions. It also appears alongside NordVPN deals featured in Engadget’s ongoing roundup of the best VPN discounts available right now, which compares offers from multiple major providers.
Those looking for additional security tools may also want to note that NordVPN’s Complete plan bundles in extra services beyond the VPN itself. One of those is NordPass, the company’s password management app. NordPass is also discounted as part of a separate promotion, if you’re primarily looking for a password manager rather than a VPN. The Premium tier is currently 50 percent off, bringing the price down to $36 for two years. NordPass Premium adds features such as cross-device password syncing, secure password sharing and breach monitoring, which alerts users if stored credentials appear in known data leaks.
Both offers are available for a limited time, though Nord has not specified an end date for the promotion. If you’re still unsure whether NordVPN is right for you, it offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can change your mind and get a full refund.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/two-years-of-nordvpns-complete-plan-is-70-percent-off-123000301.html?src=rss
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced a sweeping plan to shore up the country’s auto industry and accelerate its electric vehicle transition, the latest in a series of moves to reduce Canada’s deep economic dependence on the United States as American tariffs continue to batter the sector.
The plan includes financial incentives for carmakers to invest in Canada, a new tariff credit scheme for manufacturers like General Motors and Toyota, and the reintroduction of EV buyer rebates. Canada will also enact stricter vehicle emissions standards and has set a goal of EVs comprising 90% of car sales by 2040. Carney at the same time scrapped a 2023 EV sales mandate introduced by former PM Justin Trudeau that automakers had called too costly.
The announcements follow a deal last month with China to ease tariffs on Chinese EVs and an agreement with South Korea to encourage Korean car manufacturing in Canada. Roughly 90% of Canadian-made vehicles are exported to the US, and thousands of auto workers have lost their jobs since Trump imposed 25% tariffs on Canadian cars and parts last year.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Amazon’s unloading these versatile 60W replacement chargers that also work with the Steam Deck and Switch 1.
With over 155 million sold, Nintendo’s Switch is officially the company’s biggest console hit ever. It’s been a long road to surpassing the DS, which reached 154 million consoles over its seven-year lifespan. The Switch, meanwhile, is a year shy of its 10-year anniversary.
We’ve seen the original console, the non-hybrid Lite and the OLED versions of the Switch over the decade, but despite being replaced by Switch 2, the original is still selling at a strong pace: 1.36 million units in Q3. Just think how many Joy-Cons it sold/replaced?
Next goal: try to be the best-selling console of all time. Currently, that’s the PlayStation 2.
Nintendo is just shy of five million units to go.
— Mat Smith
Are they talking about us behind our backs?
Moltbook is a “digital petri dish,” a Reddit-style forum populated entirely by AI agents that post, follow and even gossip about their owners in dedicated submolts. Built using vibe coding, it’s a surreal experiment in autonomous socialization — though there’s no shortage of user-data security flaws. Is Moltbook a profound look at the dead internet theory or just a very loud AI echo chamber? Or something in the middle? Karissa explains it all. (Sorry, Karissa.)
Lean in.
Nintendo’s worst-selling console was probably the Virtual Boy. It sold less than 800,000 units, with only 22 games in Japan and 14 in North America. And it didn’t even have the guts to launch in Europe or Australia.
But Nintendo doesn’t care. It’s brought the Virtual Boy back, baby, as an add-on for the Switch 2, in all its red monochrome ’90s-tech glory. And we finally got to test it.
It even includes the original bipod, which you use to prop it up and lean into it. Yes, you still can’t just wear the thing like modern VR headsets. The Switch 2 console, sans Joy-Cons, then slides in, acting as display, battery and processor.
It seems more of a historical nod than anything else. This is pretty much 30-year-old VR tech, as-is. But… I still want one as a gaming objet d’art. A hundred bucks is a fair chunk of change for that, though. Read on for our full impressions.
Pre-orders open later this month.
Google posted a teaser video revealing its new entry-level smartphone, the Pixel 10a, in a lovely lilac colorway. We don’t know much more, however. You can see it’s another dual-camera Pixel, with that same flush body — which I like. (How does that already seem retro?)
Leaks suggest a 6.3-inch display and a large 5,100 mAh battery. It otherwise looks and seems like the Pixel 9a, although Google promises that there’s “more in store.” Last year’s A-series launched at $500 — will this land at a similar price? You can pre-order the Pixel 10a on February 18.
Shouldn’t Microsoft be saying this?
AMD CEO Lisa Su revealed on the company’s latest earnings call that Microsoft’s development of an Xbox with a semi-custom SOC from AMD is “progressing well to support a launch in 2027.” Maybe Microsoft can chase that best-selling console crown too?
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-the-switch-is-officially-nintendos-most-popular-console-ever-121500738.html?src=rss
