PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 consoles will soon drop their X (formerly Twitter) integrations. As such, after November 13, you’ll no longer be able to post clips or screenshots directly to X from either system.

According to a notice Sony shared on its consoles (as noted by Wario64) and a support page, users will lose the ability to “post and view content, trophies and other gameplay-related activities on X directly from PS5/PS4 (or link an X account to do so).” Sony added the notice to its website at some point on Monday, according to a cached version of the support page.

Sony hasn’t revealed exactly why it’s killing off X integration on its consoles. However, it may be related to X shutting down its free API earlier this year, forcing developers and companies to pay if they want to hook into its services. Microsoft stopped letting users post Xbox clips directly to X in April, likely due to that move.

It’ll still be possible to post your PlayStation clips to X. If you have a PS5, you’ll be able to access your recent captures through the PS App and share them to X from your phone. PS4 owners (and PS5 users, if they prefer this approach) will need to use a USB drive to copy screenshots and clips to their computer. Alternatively, you can use one of the several other direct sharing options available on PS4 and PS5, such as YouTube.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ps5-and-ps4-are-losing-x-sharing-options-on-november-13-204747608.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – PS5 and PS4 are losing X sharing options on November 13

It’s been nearly a year since ChatGPT’s public debut and its evolution since then has been nothing short of extraordinary. In just over 11 months, OpenAI’s chatbot has gained the ability to write programming code, process information between multiple modalities and expand its reach across the internet with APIs. During OpenAI’s 2023 Dev Day keynote address Monday, CEO Sam Altman and other executives took to the stage in San Francisco to unveil the chatbot’s latest iteration, ChatGPT-4 Turbo, as well as an exciting new way to bring generative AI technology to everybody, regardless of their coding capability: GPTs!

GPTs are small, task-specific iterations of ChatGPT. Think of them like the single-purpose apps and features on your phone but instead of them maintaining a timer or stop watch, or a digital assistant transcribing your voice instructions into a shopping list, GPTs will do, basically anything you train them to. OpenAI offers up eight examples of what GPT’s can be used for, anything from a digital kitchen assistant that suggests recipes based on whats in your pantry to a math mentor to help your kids through their homework to a Sticker Wiz that will, “turn your wildest dreams into die-cut stickers, shipped right to your door.”

The new GPTs are an expansion on the company’s existing Custom Instructions feature which debuted in July. OpenAI notes that many of its power users were already recycling and updating their most effective prompts and instruction sets, a process which GPT-4 Turbo will now handle automatically as part of its update to seed parameters and focus on reproducible outputs. This will allow users a far greater degree of control in customizing the GPTs to their specific needs.

What users won’t need is an extensive understanding of javascript programming. With GPT-4 Turbo’s improved code interpretation, retrieval and function calling capabilities, as well as its massively increased context window size, users will be able to devise and develop their GPTs using nothing but natural language.

Any GPT created by the community will be immediately shareable. For now that will happen directly between users but, later this month, OpenAI plans to launch a centralized storefront where “verified builders” can post and share their GPTs. The most popular ones will climb a leaderboard and potentially, eventually earn their creators money based on how many people are using the GPT.

GPTs will be available to both regular users and enterprise accounts which, like ChatGPT Enterprise that came out earlier this year, will offer institutional users the chance to create their own internal-only, admin-approved mini-chatbots. These will work with (and are trained on) the company’s specific tasks, department documentation or proprietary datasets. Enterprise GPTs arrive for those customers on Wednesday.

Privacy remains a focal point for the company with additional technical safeguards being put into place, atop existing moderation systems, to prevent people from making GPTs that go against OpenAI’s usage policies. The company is also rolling out an identity verification system for developers to help improve transparency and trust, but did not elaborate on what that process could entail.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gpts-are-the-single-application-mini-chatgpt-models-that-anyone-can-create-203311858.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – GPTs are the single-application mini-ChatGPT models that anyone can create

If you’re interested in a flip-style foldable phone, you effectively have two choices in the US: the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and the Motorola Razr+. We think the former is ultimately better for most people, but the latter is still a worthy alternative, and now it’s on sale for $700 at Amazon. That’s the lowest price we’ve seen for an unlocked model outside of trade-in deals. Motorola normally sells the Razr+ for $1,000, though we’ve seen the phone fall between $800 and $900 a couple of times since it arrived in June. This deal is applicable to the black, magenta and blue versions of the device.

We gave the Razr+ a score of 85 in our review. As with the Galaxy Z Flip 5, the Razr+’s biggest selling point is that you can fold it in half and make it easier to tuck away. The main display is a vibrant 6.9-inch OLED panel with a 165Hz refresh rate; fold it shut, and you can use a 3.6-inch OLED display around the back. One advantage the Razr+ has over Samsung’s foldable is that it can run most Android apps on that outer display with less fuss. (The Galaxy Z Flip 5 limits its cover screen to a handful of widgets by default, though can you enable wider app support through the device’s settings.) Not every app is optimized for such a tiny screen, but you can quickly fire off a text, reply to an email, pick a new Spotify playlist or do other phone things without having to actually open the device. 

Beyond that, the Razr+’s cover display has a higher refresh rate (144Hz versus 60Hz) and pixel density (413 ppi versus 306 ppi) than that of the Galaxy Z Flip 5, plus it’s 0.2 inches larger. It should last a little longer per charge, and its take on Android has more of a light touch than Samsung’s One UI interface. It also supports slightly faster wired charging speeds. 

That said, there are a few clear downsides. For one, we found the Razr’s camera performance to be a step behind the Galaxy Z Flip 5. The hardware has a meager IP52 water-resistance rating — which means it can withstand some light rain but little more — whereas Samsung’s phone has a more robust IPX8 rating. (Though you’ll want to be delicate with either phone, as all foldables carry a greater risk of durability issues.) While it’s not slow, it uses a year-old Snapdragon Galaxy 8+ Gen 1 chip, so its performance is a little less futureproof. And Motorola’s update policy is less robust: It promises three major OS updates and bi-monthly security updates for the Razr+, while Samsung promotes four years of OS updates and five years of monthly security updates for the Galaxy Z Flip 5.

In the end, the main reason to consider the Razr+ is the bigger and more functional cover display, so if you’re sold on the idea of a clamshell-style foldable, it’s worth considering at this price. Just note that we may see a deal on Samsung’s foldable as we get closer to Black Friday. One foldable we’re less bullish on, however, is Motorola’s midrange Razr: That one is also on sale for $500, but we found it to be too limited in our review.

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

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-motorola-razr-is-300-off-in-an-early-black-friday-deal-201601542.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The Motorola Razr+ is 0 off in an early Black Friday deal

A Parkinson’s patient can now walk 6km (3.7 miles) thanks to an implant targeting the spinal cord. The Guardian reports that the man — 62-year-old “Marc” from Bordeaux, France — developed severe mobility impairments from the degenerative disease. “I practically could not walk anymore without falling frequently, several times a day,” he said in a press release announcing the breakthrough. “In some situations, such as entering a lift, I’d trample on the spot, as though I was frozen there, you might say.” Wearing the spinal implant allows him to walk “almost normally” as the research team eyes a full clinical trial.

Marc underwent a “precision neurosurgical procedure” two years ago at Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), which helped facilitate the research. The surgery fitted him with an electrode field placed against his spinal cord and an electrical impulse generator under the skin of his abdomen. Although conventional Parkinson’s treatments often target brain regions affected by the loss of dopamine-producing neurons, this approach instead focuses on the spinal area associated with activating leg muscles for walking.

The procedure used a personalized map of Marc’s spinal cord, identifying the specific locations signaling leg movements. He wears a movement sensor on each leg that tells the implant he’s trying to walk; it then switches on and sends electrical impulses to the targeted spinal neurons, adapting to his movement in real-time.

“In response to precise stimulation of the lumbar spinal cord, I’ve observed for the first time remarkable improvements of gait deficits due to Parkinson’s disease,” project supervisor Jocelyne Bloch, professor and neurosurgeon at CHUV Lausanne University hospital, said in a webinar discussing the patient’s success. “I really believe that these results open realistic perspectives to develop a treatment.”

The patient says he could walk practically normally with the stimulation after several weeks of rehab. He now wears it for around eight hours daily, only turning it off when sleeping or lying down for a while. “I turn on the stimulation in the morning and I turn off in the evening,” he said. “This allows me to walk better and to stabilise. Right now, I’m not even afraid of the stairs anymore. Every Sunday I go to the lake, and I walk around 6 kilometres. It’s incredible.”

The researchers caution that there’s still a vast chasm between tailoring the approach to one person vs. optimizing it for wide-scale use. Co-leads Grégoire Courtine and Bloch are working on a commercial version of the neuroprosthetic in conjunction with Onward Medical. “Our ambition is to provide general access to this innovative technology to improve the quality of life of Parkinson’s patients significantly, all over the world,” they said.

Michael J. Fox Foundation

In the meantime, research on six new patients will continue in 2024. The team says a “generous donation” of $1 million from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research is funding the upcoming work. In 2021, the actor’s organization announced it had contributed over $1.5 billion to Parkinson’s research.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/spinal-implant-allows-parkinsons-patient-to-walk-for-miles-193637427.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Spinal implant allows Parkinson’s patient to walk for miles

Mozilla recently reported that of the car brands it reviewed, all 25 failed its privacy tests. While all, in Mozilla’s estimation, overreached in their policies around data collection and use, some even included caveats about obtaining highly invasive types of information, like your sexual history and genetic information. As it turns out, this isn’t just hypothetical: The technology in today’s cars has the ability to collect these kinds of personal information, and the fine print of user agreements describes how manufacturers get you to consent every time you put the keys in the ignition.

“These privacy policies are written in a way to ensure that whatever is happening in the car, if there’s an inference that can be made, they are still ensuring that there is protection, and that they are compliant with different state laws,” Adonne Washington, policy council at the Future of Privacy Forum, said. The policies also account for technological advances that could happen while you own the car. Tools to do one thing could eventually do more, so manufacturers have to be mindful of that, according to Washington.

So, it makes sense that a car manufacturer would include every type of data imaginable in its privacy policy to cover the company legally if it stumbled into certain data collection territory. Nissan’s privacy policy, for example, covers broad and frankly irrelevant classes of user information, such as “sexual orientation, sexual activity, precise geolocation, health diagnosis data, and genetic information” under types of personal data collected. 

Companies claim ownership in advance, so that you can’t sue if they accidentally record you having sex in the backseat, for example. Nissan claimed in a statement that this is more or less why its privacy policy remains so broad. The company says it “does not knowingly collect or disclose customer information on sexual activity or sexual orientation,” but its policy retains those clauses because “some U.S. state laws require us to account for inadvertent data we have or could infer but do not request or use.” Some companies Engadget reached out to — like Ford, Stellantis and GM — affirmed their commitment, broadly, to consumer data privacy; Toyota, Kia and Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

Beyond covering all imaginable legal bases, there simply isn’t any way to know why these companies would want deeply personal information on their drivers, or what they’d do with it. And even if it’s not what you would consider a “smart” car, any vehicle equipped with USB, Bluetooth or recording capabilities can capture a lot of data about the driver. And in much the same way a “dumb” tv is considerably harder to find these days, most consumers would be hard pressed to find a new vehicle option that doesn’t include some level of onboard tech with the capacity to record their data. A study commissioned by Senator Ed Markey nearly a decade ago found all modern cars had some form of wireless technology included. Even the ranks of internet listicles claiming to contain low-tech cars for “technophobes” are riddled with dashboard touchscreens and infotainment systems.

“How it works in practice we don’t have as much insight into, as car companies, data companies, and advertising companies tend to hold those secrets more close to the vest,” Jen Caltrider, a researcher behind Mozilla’s car study, said. “We did our research by combing through privacy policies and public documentation where car companies talked about what they *can* do. It is much harder to tell what they are actually doing as they aren’t required to be as public about that.”

The unavailability of disconnected cars combined with the lack of transparency around driver data use means consumers have essentially no choice to trust their information is being used responsibly, or that at least some of the classes of data — like Nissan’s decision to include “genetic information” — listed in these worrying privacy policies are purely related to hypothetical liability. The options are essentially: read every one of these policies and find the least draconian, buy a very old, likely fuel-inefficient car with no smart features whatsoever or simply do without a car, period. To that last point, only about eight percent of American households are carless, often not because they live in a walkable city with robust public transit, but because they cannot afford one.

This gets even more complicated when you think about how cars are shared. Rental cars change drivers all the time, or a minor in your household might borrow your car to learn how to drive. Unlike a cell phone, which is typically a single user device, cars don’t work like and vehicle manufacturers struggle to address that in their policies. And cars have the ability to collect information not just on drivers but their passengers.

If simply trusting manufacturers after they ask for the right to collect your genetic characteristics tests credulity, the burden of anyone other than a contract lawyer reading back a software license agreement to the folks in the backseat is beyond absurd. Ford’s privacy policy explicitly states that the owners of its vehicles “must inform others who drive the vehicle, and passengers who connect their mobile devices to the vehicle, about the information in this Notice.” That’s about 60 pages of information to relay, if you’re printing it directly from Ford’s website — just for the company and not even the specific car.

And these contracts tend to compound on one another. If that 60-page privacy policy seems insurmountable, well, there’s also a terms of service and a separate policy regarding the use of Sirius XM (on a website with its own ‘accept cookies’ popover, with its own agreement.) In fairness to Ford, its privacy notice does allow drivers to opt out of certain data sharing and connected services, but that would require drivers to actually comb through the documentation. Mozilla found many other manufacturers offered no such means to avoid being tracked, and a complete opt-out is something which the Alliance for Automotive Innovation — a trade group representing nearly all car and truck makers in the US, including Ford — has actively resisted. To top things off, academics, legal scholars and even one cheeky anti-spyware company have repeatedly shown consumers almost universally do not read these kinds of contracts anyway. 

The burden of these agreements doesn’t end with their presumptive data collection, or the onus to relay them to every person riding in or borrowing your car. The data held in-vehicle and manufacturer’s servers becomes yet another hurdle for drivers should they opt to sell the thing down the line. According to Privacy4Cars founder Andrea Amico, be sure to get it in writing from the dealer how they plan to delete your data from the vehicle before reselling it. “There’s a lot of things that consumers can do to actually start to protect themselves, and it’s not going to be perfect, but it’s going to make a meaningful difference in their lives,” Amico said.

Consumers are effectively hamstrung by the state of legal contract interpretation, and manufacturers are incentivized to mitigate risk by continuing to bloat these (often unread) agreements with increasingly invasive classes of data. Many researchers will tell you the only real solution here is federal regulation. There have been some cases of state privacy law being leveraged for consumers’ benefit, as in California and Massachusetts, but on the main it’s something drivers aren’t even aware they should be outraged about, and even if they are, they have no choice but to own a car anyway.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/every-car-is-a-smart-car-and-its-a-privacy-nightmare-193010478.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Every car is a smart car, and it’s a privacy nightmare

Microsoft is injecting a ton of generative AI-powered features into Windows 11, but it’s not all about the Copilot assistant. The company has started to update a string of apps with new AI functions, including Paint, Clipchamp, Snipping Tool and Photos. Microsoft released an update for Windows 11 2023, known as 23H2, on October 31. That update expanded access to Copilot and other AI features. 

Microsoft is rolling out the AI updates gradually, so you may not have access to everything just yet. Still, it may be handy for you to know what you can do with the new tools. Here are some pointers on how to use the AI features in each app.

How to use Paint in Windows 11

An AI-infused version of Paint that includes generative AI features is rolling out to Windows 11 users. Microsoft Paint Cocreator taps into the DALL-E model to enable you to create images based on a text description. The feature will whip up just about anything you can think of (within reason).

It’s easy enough to get started with Cocreator, as long as you have access to it. To begin with, Cocreator is available in the US, UK, France, Australia, Canada, Italy and Germany. Only prompts in English are supported for now. At the outset, there’s a waitlist to use Cocreator. You can join this from the Cocreator side panel and you’ll receive an email to let you know when you can start using the feature.

You’ll need to sign into your Microsoft account to use Cocreator. That’s because the cloud-based service Cocreator runs on requires authentication and authorization. You also need to sign in to access credits; you’ll need these to generate images with DALL-E. When you join Cocreator, you’ll receive 50 credits with which you can create images. Each generated image costs one credit.

How to install Paint on Microsoft Windows 11

If you don’t already have Paint installed, you can download it from the Microsoft Store. Once you have it, open Paint and select the Cocreator icon on the toolbar. From there, you can type in a description of the image you’d like the AI to generate. Microsoft suggests being as descriptive as possible in order to get results that match your concept.

After entering the text, select a style that you’d like your image to be in. Then hit the Create button.

Cocreator will then generate three different images based on your text input and the style you chose. Simply click on one of these images to add it to the Paint canvas so you can start modifying it.

Meanwhile, Paint now supports background removal as well as layers. With the help of AI, you can isolate an item (such as an object or person) and remove the background with a single click. You can also edit individual layers without affecting the rest of the image.

How to use video auto composition with Clipchamp on Windows 11

It should be easier for you to stitch footage together in the video-editing tool Clipchamp. The app will help guide you with automated suggestions for the likes of scenes, edits and narratives. But it’s the auto compose feature that may prove most useful for many users. Auto compose is available on the web and in the Microsoft Clipchamp desktop app.

Microsoft says that the media you add to Clipchamp is not used to train AI models and all of the processing takes place in the app or browser. The app’s AI video editor (which Microsoft says is useful for everyone) can automatically generate slideshows, montage videos and short videos in 1080p based on the photos and videos you add to it.

If you don’t like the first video that Clipchamp offers up, you can check out a different version “instantly” since the app will generate multiple videos for you. Auto compose may also prove useful for professional video editors, Microsoft says, as the tool can generate several unique videos in the space of a few minutes.

After you sign into Clipchamp, click the “Create a video with AI” button. You’ll find this front and center on the main page. After you give your project a working title, you can upload media by clicking the “Click to add or drag and drop” button. Alternatively, you can simply drag and drop videos and photos into the media window.

Once you’ve finished adding everything, hit the “Get started” button. Now, it’s a case of letting the AI know what kind of style and aesthetic you’re looking for. Styles include things like elegant, vibrant and bold. You’ll use thumbs up and thumbs down buttons to inform the AI of your preferences. Alternatively, you can leave the decision up to Clipchamp by selecting the “Choose for me” option. When you’re ready to move onto the following step, click the Next button.

Clipchamp will suggest a length for your video based on what it believes are the best combinations of your media. You’ll be able to adjust the video length and the aspect ratio before moving on. Before you leave this screen, you can preview the video by clicking the play button.

Next up, you’ll be able to change the background music on the “Finish your video” screen if you’re not a fan of the track that the AI picked. Click the music button to change the tune. Again, you’ll be able to preview your video and audio track. If you’re not happy with the video, you can ask for a different take by clicking on “Create a new version.”

If you do like the video Clipchamp has created, you’re pretty much done at this point. Click the Export button to save the video. From the export page, you can share your video directly to the likes of YouTube and TikTok, or add a copy to your OneDrive storage.

After the AI is done with your video, you can further customize it in Clipchamp. Click on the “Edit in timeline” button and you’ll be able to do things like add stickers, captions, animated text and audio files.

In addition, you can enhance your video with AI options including a text-to-speech voiceover feature and automatically generated subtitles. The speaker coach tool aims to provide you with real-time feedback on your camera recordings to help improve your speaking skills and video presentations.

Many Clipchamp features are available for free. But for videos in 4K resolution and other premium tools, you’ll need to pay for the essentials plan, which costs $12 per month or $120 per year.

How to use Snipping Tool’s AI features

The Snipping Tool is one of the most useful in Windows 11. It’s a cinch to capture and share some or all of your display. The app’s AI functions should come in useful in a number of ways.

First, the app supports text recognition. If you use the Snipping Tool to take a screenshot of something with text in it, you can click the Text Actions button. At the outset, you’ll have two main options. You can copy all of the text and paste it into another app.

Alternatively, you can quickly redact private information. The tool should be able to recognize email addresses and phone numbers, and you’ll be able to swiftly blue those out. That should save you having to manually cover up text in, say, Paint.

The Snipping Tool should work quite nicely with Copilot as well. As indicated in a Windows 11 promo video, you can paste something you’ve clipped with the tool into Copilot, then do things like ask the assistant to remove the background from the image.

How to use Background Blur in Windows 11’s Photos app

The Windows 11 Photos app has some useful AI features as well. Those include improved search for images stored on OneDrive accounts —- it should be easier for you to find a photo based on content or location where it was taken.

The app’s editing features have been enhanced thanks to AI as well. One of the handier and easiest-to-use tools is the self-explanatory Background Blur (Paint 3D has a similar feature). That can help the subject of your photo stand out. AI separates the background from the subject, but to ensure your data stays on your device, the separation process takes place there rather than in the cloud.

To use Background Blur, first select the image you want to use and open it in the Photos app. Click on “Edit image” at the top of the screen and select Background Blur. You’ll then have a few options to choose from. You can opt to enable the blur effect instantly; adjust the intensity of the blur before applying it; or have more granular control by turning on the “Selection brush tool.”

Opt for the Selection brush tool and you can manually add denote more parts of the image for the AI to blur out. Alternatively, you can deselect parts of the image that you don’t want to be blurred. You’ll be able to change the brush size for finer control and modify the brush softness to intensify or turn down the blue effect.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/windows-11s-new-ai-features-how-to-use-paint-clipchamp-snipping-tool-and-photos-191541014.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Windows 11’s new AI features: How to use Paint, Clipchamp, Snipping Tool and Photos

At least 15 visitors at Yuga Labs’ Apefest, a celebration of the marvels of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, may have experienced serious eye injuries. Bloomberg reports that multiple people attending the NFT event in Hong Kong last weekend say they experienced vision problems, which they suspect stemmed from the event’s stage lighting. Some of the attendees claim doctors subsequently diagnosed them with photokeratitis (aka “welder’s eye”), caused by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light.

“Woke up in the middle of the night after Apefest with so much pain in my eyes that I had to go to the hospital,” the user Crypto June posted on X (via Coin Telegraph). “Doctor told me it was due to the UV from stage lights.” User @docwagmi suspected that the “ape friends” reporting problems appeared to have been “up close with us front stage.” 

@crypto_birb / X

Meanwhile, Adrian Zduńczyk wrote on X, “To all my friends who suffer now: go get your eyes checked. You’ve likely most literally got your eyes burnt with UV like I did, which requires medications, eye drops, eye protection, antibiotics and specialist care. Don’t ignore this health hazard. Without proper treatment, it may cause long lasting vision impairment and other serious damage.” Zduńczyk wrote that seeking medical attention quickly appears to have spared him long-term damage. “My vision was tested as close to perfect with no serious cornea damage, luckily.”

Yuga Labs briefly addressed the issue on X, saying it’s “aware of the eye-related issues that affected some of the attendees of ApeFest,” while claiming it’s “proactively reaching out to individuals since yesterday to try and find the potential root causes.” The company downplayed the number of people reporting issues, adding, “Based on our estimates, we believe that much less than 1% of those attending and working the event had these symptoms.” The NFT company advised attendees experiencing symptoms to “seek medical attention just in case.”

X users seemed none too pleased with Yuga Labs’ PR response:

The potentially dangerous incident echoes one in 2017 when attendees of a HypeBeast party reported eye damage. The event’s DJ later reported that the lighting contractor used Philips bulbs that emit UV-C, often used as a disinfectant.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/blind-apes-nft-party-leads-to-reports-of-welders-eye-from-stage-lighting-173746164.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Blind Apes: NFT party leads to reports of ‘welder’s eye’ from stage lighting

At least 15 visitors at Yuga Labs’ ApeFest, a celebration of the marvels of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, may have experienced serious eye injuries. Bloomberg reports that multiple people attending the NFT event in Hong Kong last weekend say they experienced vision problems, which they suspect stem from the event’s stage lighting. Some of the attendees claim doctors subsequently diagnosed them with photokeratitis (aka “welder’s eye”), caused by exposure to ultraviolet rays.

“Woke up in the middle of the night after ApeFest with so much pain in my eyes that I had to go to the hospital,” the user Crypto June posted on X (via Coin Telegraph). “Doctor told me it was due to the UV from stage lights.” User @docwagmi suspected that the “ape friends” reporting problems appeared to have been “up close with us front stage.” 

@crypto_birb / X

Meanwhile, Adrian Zduńczyk wrote on X, “To all my friends who suffer now: go get your eyes checked. You’ve likely most literally got your eyes burnt with UV like I did, which requires medications, eye drops, eye protection, antibiotics and specialist care. Don’t ignore this health hazard. Without proper treatment, it may cause long lasting vision impairment and other serious damage.” Zduńczyk wrote that seeking medical attention quickly appears to have spared him long-term damage. “My vision was tested as close to perfect with no serious cornea damage, luckily.”

Yuga Labs briefly addressed the issue on X, saying it’s “aware of the eye-related issues that affected some of the attendees of ApeFest,” while claiming it’s “proactively reaching out to individuals since yesterday to try and find the potential root causes.” The company downplayed the number of people reporting issues, adding, “Based on our estimates, we believe that much less than 1% of those attending and working the event had these symptoms.” The NFT company advised attendees experiencing symptoms to “seek medical attention just in case.”

X users seemed none too pleased with Yuga Labs’ PR response:

The potentially dangerous incident echoes one in 2017 when attendees of a HypeBeast party reported eye damage. The event’s DJ later reported that the lighting contractor used Philips bulbs that emit UV-C, often used as a disinfectant.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/bored-ape-nft-event-at-least-15-attendees-reporting-severe-eye-burn-welders-eye-173746237.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Bored Ape NFT event leads to at least 15 attendees reporting severe eye burn

Surfshark is one of the best VPN services around and there are deals available for its various plans as part of an early Black Friday sale. You can pick up a two-year subscription to the mid-tier Surfshark One plan for $2.69 per month (86 percent off the regular price of a one-month subscription), plus you’ll get an extra four months as a bonus. 

Surfshark One is probably the best option for most people. Along with a VPN that Surfshark says you can use across an unlimited number of devices without bandwidth restrictions, you’ll get access to features such as antivirus software, data breach alerts (for things like email, credit card and ID leaks) and a privacy-focused search engine.

While we found it easy to set up Surfshark’s VPN in our testing, it took us a few attempts before we were able to stream a show from Hulu. So it may not be the ideal VPN if you often stream shows, movies and games. But if you’re just looking for a VPN that will help protect you as you browse the web, Surfshark is a solid option.

Meanwhile, Surfshark’s basic plan is just $2 per month if you pay for 24 months upfront (that’s 86 percent off a month-to-month plan). The company will also toss in three extra months for free. There aren’t too many bells and whistles with this plan, but you’ll still get a VPN you can use all compatible devices, along with an ad blocker and cookie pop-up blocker.

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

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/surfshark-vpn-plans-are-up-to-86-percent-off-in-an-early-black-friday-deal-162730848.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Surfshark VPN plans are up to 86 percent off in an early Black Friday deal

Probe meat thermometers are insanely helpful whether you’re cooking indoors or out. They help ensure you don’t serve your family and friends undercooked chicken or an overcooked steak. While most of them use wired probes attached to some type of display or hub, Meater’s probes are completely wireless. This means you don’t have to dodge a cable when flipping or moving things around the grill. They’re also easier to use when wrapping large cuts like pork shoulders or brisket.

With two models under its belt, the Traeger-owned company is debuting its latest version today: the Meater 2 Plus. While the device may look awfully similar to Meater’s previous cooking gadgets and it still uses the charger as a Bluetooth range booster, there are some significant upgrades here. The company has installed additional sensors for more precise temperature readings, while also increasing heat resistance and overall durability. It has managed to do this without drastically increasing the price, too.

The biggest change for the Meater 2 Plus is on the inside. The company has added four more internal temperature sensors for a total of five. There’s also still the ambient temperature sensor on the opposite end to keep tabs on grill temps while you’re cooking. Meater says the five internal sensors offer “the real core temperature of the meat,” which it says can help reduce any subpar results due to an error in probe placement (the app helps with that, too). All five can measure temps down to a tenth of a degree with an accuracy that’s within half a degree.

The Meater app displays the lowest temperature of the five sensors in the main view of the app and goes by that for any targets you may have set. Additionally, you can see the real-time temps of all five sensors by tapping on the one being displayed. As it did before, the company’s mobile app offers guidance on target temperatures based on the doneness level you desire. There are lots of options for different types and cuts of meat, but you can also go full manual mode if you’re doing something like reheating leftovers or know exactly what you want. Either way, the app calculates estimated finishing time based on internal and ambient temperatures. It also warns you when there’s five minutes left, when you hit the target and when the required rest time (if any) is over.

Meater also added a new Master Class feature to its app that will offer over 50 video courses that teach cooking techniques like two-zone BBQ, reverse searing and more. Step-by-step demos will include ingredient and tool checklists for easy shopping. There will also be detailed written instructions so you’re not constantly swiping back through videos. Meater says this is just the initial batch and it plans to release new classes on a weekly basis.

The other big physical updates are improved heat resistance and durability. First, the Meater 2 Plus can withstand open flames at temperatures up to 932 degrees Fahrenheit (500 Celsius). This allows you to keep the probe in place while you sear. What’s more, the Meater app will warn you when the device is getting too hot.

That’s over 400 degrees hotter than the max temperature rating of the Meater Plus (527 degrees Fahrenheit). Plus, much of the competition, like ThermoPro’s TempSpike, can only handle just under 600 degrees. The Meater 2 Plus also has nine degrees more when it comes to the hottest internal temperature, now topping out at 221 degrees. The Meater 2 Plus is fully waterproof, so you can use it to deep fry or sous vide, as well. And when you’re done, you can just pop it in the dishwasher. I’ve done it several times and it’s still working just fine.

The temperature and waterproof upgrades are made possible by a new full-metal, stainless steel probe design. The Meater 2 Plus is 30 percent slimmer than the Meater Plus and a new Zirconia ceramic band allows the Bluetooth signal to radiate from the device. Thanks to a “high-performance antenna” and “optimized RF design” specifically tuned for high heat, the Meater 2 Plus offers an expanded range of up to 250 feet. That’s up from 165 feet on the previous model. The company says the new version can technically achieve 2,500 feet, but that requires a direct line of sight and no RF interference.

Most of our backyards won’t accommodate that, and you’re going to walk into the house to grab a beer at some point. In my tests, I was able to venture from my deck all the way to the mailbox on the street without losing connection. Like other Meater products, the 2 Plus works with Meater Link for Wi-Fi and Meater Cloud, providing unlimited range, though you’ll need to connect the Meater 2 Plus to another phone, tablet or laptop for these features.

Meater also improved battery life and charging efficiency. The Meater 2 Plus can be recharged for up to two years with one AAA battery, doubling the longevity of the previous model which the company rated at 100 charges. A fully charged probe will still last over 24 hours before you’ll need to dock it, unchanged from the Meater Plus. However, the Meater 2 Plus charges to 50 percent in only 15 minutes, enough for a 12-hour low-and-slow barbeque session. And as the company points out, you’ll never have to worry about charging if you keep the probe docked when it’s not in use.

I’ve tested the Meater 2 Plus for three cooks so far and I’ve been impressed with the performance for all of them. It’s completely wild to me to be able to throw this thing in the dishwasher instead of spending several minutes scrubbing the probe like I typically have to for all of my wired accessories. Of course, the highlight is the increased precision, which gives you a more detailed look at what’s going on during your cook. It was especially handy while smoking a turkey breast, allowing me to make sure the center was safe to eat while monitoring the rest to make sure it didn’t get too far past the coveted 165-degree mark. I also had no issues with high-heat use, though most of my testing was sub-350 degrees and primarily low-and-slow smoking. Besides turkey, I also used it for Over the Top Chili, smoked meatloaf and reheating leftovers.

The Meater 2 Plus is available now on the company’s website for $119.95. That’s $10-$20 more than the Meater Plus, depending on your wood preference for the charger on that previous model.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meater-2-plus-review-a-more-precise-and-durable-wireless-meat-thermometer-160039734.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Meater 2 Plus review: A more precise and durable wireless meat thermometer

Be it for work or play, many people are taking trips again, which makes travel-related gifts an excellent idea. Whether your loved ones are adventure-seeking globetrotters or frequent business travelers, it’s time to look into upgrading their existing on-the-go kit. We’ve curated a list of various items that all travel lovers will appreciate. Things like sleep masks and packing cubes are essential, and tech gear like battery packs and noise-canceling headphones can make the hectic parts of traveling a bit less stressful. We’re sure at least one of these will help make your loved ones’ next adventure a lot more enjoyable.

Sony WH-1000XM5

Kobo Libra 2

Retroid Pocket 3+

Roku Streaming Stick 4K

Nestout Outdoor Battery

Newvanga travel power adapter

JBL Clip 4 Eco

Loop Quiet Earplugs

Bellroy Toiletry Kit Plus

NuPhy Air75 V2

Logitech MX Anywhere 3S

Peak Design Packable Tote

Huckberry x GoRuck GR2 Slick Backpack

Sunski Seacliff Polarized Recycled Sunglasses

ExpressVPN subscription

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-travel-gifts-for-travelers-140015772.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The best travel gifts for 2023

Apple’s confusing laptop family finally makes sense this year. The long-rumored 15-inch MacBook Air arrived months ago, and the company surprised us by delivering two MacBook Pro revisions in less than 12 months. While I appreciated the speed bump that the M2 Pro models brought, the new M3-equipped MacBook Pro 14- and 16-inch are a clearer sign of where Apple is headed. The company has killed off the long-suffering 13-inch MacBook Pro, which was cursed with a Touch Bar and an aging design. Now, its Pro machines are truly geared towards professionals, while the Air models are meant for everyone else.

Curiously, though, Apple also seems to be dividing those professionals into more distinct subgroups. The cheaper $1,599 14-inch MacBook Pro sports a plain M3 chip, which has an 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU. It’s an entirely new addition to the lineup, and consequently it seems tailor-made for people who want something more than a MacBook Air, but don’t need the power of a $2,000 machine. It’s equipped with a mere 8GB of RAM — a limitation you’ll likely feel as browser tabs stack up — and it loses a USB-C port on its right side.

If you’re actually going to be doing any multimedia work, you can bump up to the $1,999 14-inch M3 Pro model, which features an 11-core CPU and 14-core GPU. You’ll have to shell out $2,399 to get the full power of the M3 Pro with a 12-core CPU and 18-core GPU. And demanding users can jump to the $3,199 M3 Max model, sporting a 14-core CPU and 30-core GPU. Pricing hasn’t changed at all for the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which still starts at $2,499 with an M3 Pro chip. Notably, the bigger MacBook Pro can be equipped with a 40-core GPU M3 Max chip for $3,999.

Both MacBook Pro models can also come in a “Space Black” finish, which features a new anodization finish to reduce fingerprints. (Unfortunately, it’s not available for the base M3 14-inch MacBook Pro, another slight knock against that machine.) While the color looks more charcoal gray in person, it’s darker than Apple’s previous “Space Gray” MacBook Pros. And in my testing, it definitely attracted less fingerprint grease than the pure black “Midnight” MacBook Air (though it certainly wasn’t perfect). I’m just hoping Apple can eventually produce a Midnight variant of the MacBook Pro that fares better with fingerprints. And don’t worry, the classic silver option is still around.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Other than that new color, though, not much has changed about the overall design of the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, which were refreshed in 2021. Their refined, all-aluminum design was a big step forward from Apple’s older unibody cases, which stuck around for almost a decade. Both computers feature gorgeous 14- and 16-inch Liquid Retina XDR displays, which offer HDR, refresh rates up to 120Hz with ProMotion, and up to 1,600 nits of peak HDR brightness. (One nifty upgrade: They now offer up to 600 nits of SDR brightness, instead of 500 nits.) And yes, the notch everyone made fun of is still around, and once again it houses a 1080p webcam.

I’m not complaining, mind you. This MacBook Pro redesign was a major improvement when it debuted two years ago, and it still looks great today. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple sticks with it for years, just like it did the old unibody design. While some PC-makers are eager to throw in features to make their computers stand out — like the rear LED lights on ASUS’s Zephyrus G14 and m16 — there’s something casually cool and confident about these MacBook Pros.

You might be wondering why we’re reviewing both the 14-inch and 16-inch models together – to put it simply, they’re practically the same machine with different screen sizes. One isn’t necessarily better than the other, it really depends on your needs. If you’re a video editor working on large project timelines, it makes sense to go for the biggest screen possible, especially since you can cram in that 40-core GPU. And if you need something more compact, the smaller model makes more sense as it weighs just 3.5 pounds, while the 16-inch is a back-aching 4.7 pounds.

I tested the 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 chip and 16GB of RAM, as well as the 16-inch model with an M3 Max and a whopping 128GB of RAM. (Unfortunately, we couldn’t get our hands on an M3 Pro model to compare, but we’ll update our benchmarks once we do.) To be honest, both computers performed exactly as I expected. The 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro is still a zippy little devil for general productivity work — in my case, that’s with dozens of browser tabs, Slack, Evernote, Spotify and Pixelmator Pro all at once. The 16-inch model, on the other hand, was practically begging for more serious workloads. (Perhaps I was just feeling the pressure of using a machine with that much RAM and an 8TB SSD.)

In the Geekbench 6 and Cinebench 2024 benchmarks, both the M3 and M3 Max chips showed slight improvements over the M2 variants and more noticeable leaps ahead of the M1 family. I can’t imagine too many folks are eager to upgrade their M2 MacBook Pros, but demanding users may see the need to move beyond the M1 machines at this point. For content creators, time is money after all, so it’s worth spending a bit more to plow through projects quickly. And if you’re one of the many Mac users still on an Intel system, the M3 hardware makes the push to upgrade even more compelling.

While Apple still isn’t trying to court hardcore gamers much, it’s at least laying the groundwork for a better gaming experience. Thanks to the upgraded GPU in the M3, for example, Lies of P played far more smoothly on the 14-inch MacBook Pro, compared to the slightly stuttery experience I saw on the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2. I was able to crank all of the graphics settings to their highest level while playing in 1,920 by 1,200, and the game easily maintained a silky smooth 60fps. The 16-inch MacBook Pro delivered an even better experience thanks to the M3 Max. I was able to crank Lies of P up to 1440p with all of the graphics settings maxed out and still stay at 60fps. The M2 13-inch MacBook Pro, in comparison, hovered between 40 and 60 fps.

What’s most impressive, though, is that I saw that performance while on battery power. The dedicated GPUs on PC gaming laptops tend to slow down considerably when they’re away from the lifeline of AC power. Apple’s expansion into gaming could also open up the MacBook Pro to people who already own PC gaming desktops, but want the refinement of a Mac laptop. I was able to seamlessly dive into my Baldur’s Gate 3 campaign (thanks Steam Cloud Saves) across both machines. That’s something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

Both MacBook Pro models still feature Apple’s excellent keyboard and trackpad, and they all sport an SD card slot alongside a full-sized HDMI connection and headphone jack. They also have three USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports — except for the base M3 model, which just has two. Apple also improved on the already excellent battery life of the previous models: The 14-inch MacBook Pro lasted 24 hours and 30 minutes during our benchmark, while the 16-inch model reached 24 hours and 50 minutes. During real-world usage, both computers took almost two days before I had to recharge them. Given how power-hungry Intel’s chips have been lately, it’s nice to see laptops that can easily survive the 14 and a half-hour flight between New York City and Tokyo.

Another plus? If you were stuck on that flight with either of these laptops, you’d truly appreciate their Liquid Retina XDR displays. While they’re not OLED screens, their MiniLED backlights are wonderfully bright, and they also offer excellent color depth for photographers. Mostly, though, I appreciated their high refresh rates – even doing something simple, like scrolling through a website, looks incredibly smooth. And while the 14.2-inch screen on the smaller MacBook Pro is only a tad larger than the Air’s 13.6-inch display, I found it noticeably more immersive while catching up on Netflix shows. For my purposes, the 14-inch model was also a great balance of screen size and portability – the 16-inch Pro is just so damn large. (But yes, I’d imagine that would be even more useful for video editing.)

It’s worth noting that Apple didn’t send me the base $1,599 M3 MacBook Pro with just 8GB of RAM. Given what I’ve seen on Activity Monitor, I’m typically using 10GB to 13GB of memory with my typical workflow. And I’m just a lowly tech blogger! I’m sure I could still work decently on an 8GB system, but my overflow memory needs would end up hitting the SSD frequently as swap memory. That’ll slow down performance considerably when I actually need to deal with large amounts of data – perhaps while downloading a game, or transferring 4K video footage from my camera – and frequent usage also decreases the life of your SSD.

In many ways, the 14-inch MacBook Pro with 8GB of RAM feels as cynical an option as the old 13-inch machine. It’s really just meant for people who want the Pro badge, but may underestimate the downsides of limited memory. And don’t forget that you can’t upgrade RAM on Apple Silicon — it’s all baked right into the M3 chip. On older Intel systems, you could buy a low-specced MacBook Pro and add more memory down the line. That’s simply impossible today, and Apple has little reason to change its architecture to become more flexible.

So, as always, we recommend you buy as much RAM as you can up front, even if it means getting a smaller SSD instead. For example, my 14-inch MacBook Pro test system, which had a 1TB SSD along with 16GB of RAM, cost $1,999. But you could save $200 by opting for a 512GB SSD instead. Don’t forget, a computer with 16GB of RAM could last you years, whereas you’ll start feeling the burn with 8GB immediately.

If you want to see how wild Apple’s prices can get, just look at the 16-inch MacBook Pro I received, which clocks in at $7,199 with the full-powered M3 Max (16-core CPU, 40-core GPU) 128GB of RAM and that 8TB SSD. It’s not something an average consumer would buy — but it would definitely be useful for Disney to have a pile of them on-hand to help editors and VFX artists pump out the latest Marvel show.

Funny enough, my advice today echoes what I said last year: Don’t buy the cheapest model. Beyond that, it’s hard to go wrong. The M3 chips are incredibly efficient and powerful. And Apple’s MacBook Pro design remains as elegant as ever. Just try to save up for at least 16GB of RAM.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/macbook-pro-14-inch-and-16-inch-review-an-m3-chip-for-every-situation-140048075.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch review (2023): An M3 chip for every situation

With each passing year, the phrase “Black Friday” becomes more of a misnomer. What was once a day of post-Thanksgiving special offers has become a month of sales promotions from retailers across the web. It’s happening again in 2023: Target and Best Buy are already advertising their early Black Friday deals; Amazon is price matching many of those discounts and has its own “Holiday Deals” landing page; and Walmart says it’ll kick off its first wave of Black Friday deals on November 8. Many other shops and manufacturers have (or will soon have) early deals as well.

This barrage of sales promos can be aggravating, but it also presents a good opportunity to get your holiday shopping done at something closer to your own pace. To help, we’ve rounded up the best early Black Friday deals we can find below. There’s always a chance we get bigger discounts on November 24, but we’re already seeing all-time lows on Google’s Pixel 7a, Amazon’s Echo Show 5, LG’s A2 OLED TV and other gadgets we like. We’ll be updating our list regularly in the lead-up to Black Friday, so check back if there’s anything else you’ve had your eye on. 

Apple AirPods Pro (2nd gen)

The latest version of Apple’s AirPods Pro is back on sale for $200 at Amazon and Target. That’s about $10 more than their record-low price and $50 off their usual going rate. The AirPods Pro are the “best for iOS” pick in our wireless earbuds buying guide thanks to their easy pairing and deep integration with Apple devices. Effective active noise cancellation (ANC), a superb transparency mode and a pleasingly warm sound profile help as well, as does a new “adaptive audio” mode that can adjust the earphones’ noise control settings based on your surroundings. That said, their battery life is just average at six-ish hours per charge, and you really have to use an iPhone to get anything out of them. We gave the Lightning-based version of the second-generation AirPods Pro a review score of 88 last year; this new iteration is almost identical, only it comes with a USB-C charging case and has a higher IP54 dust-resistance rating.

Logitech G203 gaming mouse

Amazon is having a big sale on Logitech gaming accessories and peripherals, including gaming headsets, mice, keyboards and more. Of note is the Logitech G203 Lightsync wired gaming mouse, which is half off and down to only $20. It’s one of our favorite gaming mice thanks in no small part to its affordable price, but it’s also fairly lightweight and sturdily built with an ambidextrous design that will work for right- and left-handed users. Also discounted is the Logitech G733 Lightspeed wireless gaming headset, which is 20 percent off and down to $120. It has an attractive design with subtle LED lighting and a stretch band, and it has a solid wireless connection with audio to match.

Brümate early Black Friday deal

Brümate’s early Black Friday deals offer 25 percent off most of its drinkware through November 7 when you use the code CYBER25 at checkout. We’ve recommended different Brumate gear in gift guides over the years, and one of our current favorites is the Hopsulator Trio, thanks to its ability to keep cans nice and cold even during the hottest of summer days. This particular model is only for standard-sized cans, but the company makes all different sizes if you (or someone on your holiday shopping list) prefers skinny-canned drinks or bottles.

Solo Stove early Black Friday deal

Solo Stove’s Black Friday deals have knocked up to $245 off fire pit bundles, up to $100 off fire pits by themselves and even more. A standout is the Ranger Backyard Bundle 2, which is $145 off and down to $320. It includes the company’s most compact fire pit along with its accompanying shield, stand, lid and shelter. Everything you’d need for an easy setup right out of the box is included in this bundle, and the 2.0-version of the Ranger includes a removable base plate and ash pan, both of which make the fire pit much easier to clean.

ProtonVPN early Black Friday deal

Our favorite VPN service, ProtonVPN, is having a rare sale for Black Friday that brings a monthly subscription down to only $4 for a total of 30 months. That means you’ll pay $120 for two and a half years of access, which is a pretty good deal. ProtonVPN passed our tests with high marks, but what made it stand out among other VPN security services was its independently audited no-logs policy, and the fact that the company has proven they don’t comply with law enforcement requests to reveal data. If you want to jump in head-first with Proton services, the company has discounted Proton Unlimited, which includes access to VPN, Mail, Calendar, Drive and Pass, to just under $9 per month for the first year.

Beats headphone sale

A handful of wireless headphones from Apple subsidiary Beats are also discounted this week. The Beats Fit Pro, for one, is back down to $160. That’s $15 more than its all-time low but about $20 less than its average street price. The Fit Pro is the top pick for workouts in our wireless earbuds guide, as it offers a fun sound and many of the Apple-friendly perks of the AirPods Pro in a more stable and sporty design. Its ANC isn’t as strong, however, and it lacks support for wireless charging and multi-device pairing. We gave the Fit Pro a review score of 87 in 2021. 

Elsewhere, the more basic Beats Studio Buds + are back at a low of $130, while the over-ear Beats Studio Pro is on sale for $200. Neither of those are top picks in our guides, but they may be worthwhile if you’re an Apple fan and dig the Beats aesthetic. We gave the Studio Buds + a review score of 84 in May and the Studio Pro a review score of 81 in July.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K

Amazon’s latest Fire TV Stick 4K and Fire TV Stick 4K Max have received their first discounts since they arrived in September. The former is $20 off at $30, while the latter is $15 off at $45. Between the two, the Max has a slightly faster processor clocked at 2.0GHz (instead of 1.7GHz), 16GB of internal storage (instead of 8GB) and support for the Wi-Fi 6E (instead of just Wi-Fi 6). It also includes Amazon’s “Ambient Experience” mode, which displays artwork and widgets when the streamer is idle. That said, both dongles should be quick to load content. Both support the requisite streaming apps, Dolby Atmos and all the major HDR formats as well.

The downsides are the familiar ones with Fire TV devices: The UI is saddled with ads and not shy about nudging you toward Amazon services like Prime Video and Freevee. But if you often use those apps (or Alexa) and just want a competent 4K streamer for cheap, that may not be an issue. 

On the higher end of the Fire TV lineup, the Fire TV Cube is also on sale for $110. That ties the all-time low for the streaming box/Alexa speaker hybrid. You can also pair the Fire TV Stick 4K Max with Blink’s 1080p Video Doorbell for $65 total, though that offer is only available for Prime members and is only scheduled to run through November 3.

Amazon Echo Show 5

Amazon’s Echo Show 5 is back down to $40, which ties the lowest price we’ve tracked. That’s $50 off the 5.5-inch smart display’s list price, though the device has been on sale for much of the past month. We highlight the Echo Show 5 in our smart display buying guide: The 8-inch Echo Show 8 has a better screen, richer speakers and a much sharper camera for video calls, but the Echo Show 5 offers much of the same functionality in a more compact design. If you prefer Alexa to the Google Assistant and want a smarter kind of alarm clock for your nightstand, it should work well. The Echo Show 8 isn’t discounted, though that may change by Black Friday.

Google Nest Hub

If you’re partial to the Google Assistant, Google’s Nest Hub is also on sale for $60 at Target, B&H, Best Buy, Google’s online store and others. That’s $20 higher than its all-time low but still $40 off Google’s list price. The Nest Hub is the top overall pick in our smart display buying guide, and we gave it a review score of 89 back in 2021. It has a 7-inch screen, so it’s a bit bigger than the Echo Show 5 but should still be compact enough to fit neatly in a bedroom or small office. While it lacks a built-in camera, that may be a selling point for those who especially sensitive to their privacy (though no smart display is truly privacy-conscious). 

Ultimately, whether it’s worth getting a Nest Hub or Echo Show depends on what services you use: If you own a bunch of Nest devices and depend on apps like Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Photos, Google’s display will make sense. If you want a larger model with a webcam and stronger speakers, the 10-inch Nest Hub Max is also on sale for $129. That’s a $100 discount.

Sony WH-1000XM5

The Sony WH-1000XM5 is down to $328 at Amazon and B&H. Though this isn’t an all-time low, it’s about $70 off Sony’s list price and $20 lower than the headphones’ usual recurring sale price. The XM5 is the top recommendation in our guide to the best wireless headphones, as it offers a comfortable design, powerful ANC, crisp call quality and 30 or so hours of battery life. It also comes with a number useful bonus features such as “Speak to Chat,” which automatically pauses your music when you start talking to somebody else. By default, its bass-heavy sound plays well with hip-hop and EDM, though you can easily customize the EQ curve through Sony’s app. We gave the XM5 a score of 95 in our review last year. 

Sony WF-1000XM5

Sony’s WF-1000XM5, meanwhile, is the top overall pick in our guide to the best wireless earbuds, and it’s now down to a new low of $248 at Amazon and B&H. Several other retailers have it for $2 more. Normally, these noise-canceling earphones go for $300. Like the over-ear XM5, this in-ear model delivers excellent ANC (with strong passive isolation), loads of helpful features and a warm sound that’s fun out of the box but can be customized if needed. Battery life is decent at seven or eight hours per charge and, notably, the design is lighter, smaller and altogether more comfortable than past Sony earbuds. The WF-1000XM5 earned a score of 87 in our review this past July. 

Google Pixel 7a

Google’s Pixel 7a is down to $374 at Amazon, Target, Best Buy and Google’s online store. That’s a new all-time low and $125 off Google’s list price. The Pixel 7a is the top midrange pick for Android fans in our smartphone buying guide, and we gave it a score of 90 in our review this past May. While it’s a clear step behind the best flagship phones, its steady performance, detailed photo quality, robust battery life and wireless charging support help it punch above its price range. A lovely 6.1-inch 1080p OLED display, IP67-rated water resistance and the promise of OS updates into 2026 (with security updates into 2028) only further the value. The design is mostly plastic, and the display maxes at a 90Hz refresh rate instead of 120Hz, but those are hardly complaints for less than $400.

Apple iPad (9th gen)

Apple’s 9th-gen iPad is down to $249 at Amazon, Walmart and Target, which is a deal we’ve seen for much of the past month but still matches the tablet’s lowest-ever price. This is the budget pick in our iPad buying guide, and it earned a review score of 86 in 2021. It’s the last iPad to use Apple’s old design language, so it has thick bezels, a Lightning port, a Home button and a non-laminated display. This variant also comes with a paltry 64GB of storage. At this price, though, it’s still hard to do better if all you want is a large screen for streaming video, playing games and browsing the web. Its 10.2-inch display remains a step up from cheaper slates, its A13 Bionic chip is plenty fast for casual media consumption and its battery still lasts around 10 hours per charge. Most importantly, it’s the cheapest route into Apple’s huge app library, customer support and years of software updates. 

If you want a more modern design, the iPad Air is the top pick in our guide, and it’s now on sale for $500. Be warned, though: A recent Bloomberg report says that Apple plans to launch new tablets in the spring. If you don’t need an iPad right away, it’s probably worth waiting.

Google Pixel Tablet

The Google Pixel Tablet is on sale for all-time low of $399 at Amazon, Target, Best Buy and Google’s own online store. That’s $100 off the 11-inch slate’s list price and $10 less than the deal we saw during Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days sale last month. We gave the Pixel Tablet a review score of 85 earlier this year: Its crisp LCD display, clean software and solid Tensor G2 chip make it a solid Android tablet in its own right, but its biggest selling point is the charging speaker dock that comes with it. Plop the Pixel Tablet onto that and it becomes a Nest Hub Max-style smart display and smart home hub. This deal applies to the base model with 128GB of storage, but the 256GB version is also $100 off at $499. 

LG A2 OLED TV

We expect to see many more TV deals as we get closer to Black Friday, but for now one standout is LG’s 48-inch A2 OLED TV on sale for a new low of $550 at Best Buy. This is an entry-level model from 2022, so it’s limited to a 60Hz refresh rate, lacks HDMI 2.1 ports and doesn’t support other gaming-friendly features like VRR. That said, it’s still an OLED TV, so it delivers deep contrast, bold colors, wide viewing angles and low input lag. At this price, it should be a nice step-up option for smaller or secondary rooms. Just note that it can’t get as bright as higher-end OLED sets, so it’s best situated away from direct sunlight. 

Apple MacBook Air (15-inch)

A configuration of Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Air with an M2 chip, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage is down to $1,499 at Best Buy. That’s $200 less than Apple’s MSRP. If you can live with less memory, a version with 8GB of RAM is on sale for $1,250 at Amazon with an on-page coupon. Either way, the MacBook Air is the top pick in our laptop buying guide, as it has just about everything we want from a mainstream notebook: A premium design, a comfortable keyboard and trackpad, a lovely display, long battery life, great speakers and solid performance. Compared to the 13-inch Air, this model has more powerful speakers alongside its larger screen. We gave it a score of 96 in our review this past June.

The MacBook Air’s main downsides are that it only has two Thunderbolt ports and, as always, it’s virtually impossible to upgrade after the fact. Plus, with the recent introduction of the new M3 chip, the countdown is on for a refresh. A recent Bloomberg report says that Apple plans to launch an M3-powered MacBook Air at some point in 2024, though that shouldn’t make this current model obsolete if you need a new laptop right away. 

FAQs

When is Black Friday 2023?

Black Friday 2023 lands on November 24 this year, with Cyber Monday 2023 following up a few days later on November 27. However, the early deals have already begun. The entire month of November might as well be renamed Holiday Shopping Month as that’s when companies really start to get serious with their discounts.

What day is Black Friday 2023 at Walmart?

Walmart Black Friday deals will begin early this year on November 8. Walmart+ members will get a few hours of early access to Black Friday deals if they shop online on November 8, with access for everyone else starting later that day. Walmart will match its online Black Friday deals in stores starting November 10.

Will Amazon have a Black Friday sale in 2023?

Amazon will likely have a Black Friday sale in 2023. While the online retailer hasn’t made its deals known yet like Walmart has, Amazon will almost certainly have deals across all of the types of products it sells, including electronics. We anticipate seeing record-low prices on Amazon devices in particular, like Echo speakers, Fire TVs, Kindles and more. In years past, Amazon Black Friday deals have brought some of the best prices of the year on our favorite gadgets and gear, including headphones, tablets, smartwatches, robot vacuums and more.

What other retailers have Black Friday sales in 2023?

Most retailers have Black Friday sales, so you can expect to see Target, Best Buy, and others join Walmart and Amazon in discounting inventory to capitalize on holiday shopping interest. In the consumer electronics space, we expect most companies to have some sort of Black Friday promotion, so that means you will likely be able to get big-ticket items from brands like Apple, Samsung, Google, Sony, LG, Sonos and others for much cheaper prices.

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

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-early-black-friday-deals-we-found-so-far-from-amazon-target-best-buy-and-more-134506470.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The best early Black Friday deals we found so far from Amazon, Target, Best Buy and more

Elon Musk’s new AI company, xAI, will release its chatbot to X subscribers who pay $16 per month once it exits beta. A select group of X users started testing Grok, a competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, this weekend.

Musk laid out his heady ambitions for xAI earlier this year, saying in July that its intended purpose is, quite literally, “to understand the true nature of the universe.” Having said that, Musk says Grok will wield a sense of humor, like this… banter sewn into a guide to making cocaine, which must be funny to someone.

Grok’s notable feature is its real-time access to information published on X, which Musk claims will be “a massive advantage over other models.” Rival chatbots are limited to the information fed to their model. If Grok constantly pulls new information from X, it could have an edge. It could also be more liable to the horrible biases of AI models, not to mention parsing the mass of misinformation swirling around the rebranded social network.

— Mat Smith

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The biggest stories you might have missed

Black Friday: The best early deals from Amazon, Target, Best Buy and more

Volvo EX30 first drive: Charming and eco-friendly with power to spare

Echo will be the first Marvel show to hit Disney+ and Hulu simultaneously

How the meandering legal definition of ‘fair use’ cost us Napster but gave us Spotify

Thousands of people are uninstalling ad blockers after YouTube’s big crackdown

X may start selling recycled user handles

It’s reportedly soliciting people to buy recycled user handles for $50,000.

Beyond subscriptions for access to chatbots, X is looking at other ways to make money. The company has been trying to find buyers for inactive user handles, even sending solicitation emails asking for “a flat fee of $50,000 to initiate a purchase,” according to Forbes. Elon Musk announced back in May that X, formerly Twitter, would start purging dormant accounts and even alluded to plans for recycling disused handles.

Continue reading.

Fortnite keeps breaking player count records since releasing its OG season

Fortnite OG brought back the original island map and more.

Since the release of Fortnite OG at the end of last week, player counts have reached new all-time highs — peaking on Saturday with 44.7 million players, according to a tweet from the Fortnite team. Players reportedly clocked a cumulative 102 million hours of play, making it the game’s biggest day ever. Apparently, a 2018 map is old enough to be considered nostalgic.

Continue reading.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty of fraud

SBF faces up to 110 years in prison.

A federal jury has found FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried guilty on all seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. Arrested in the Bahamas back in December 2022, SBF faces a maximum sentence of 110 years in federal prison for multiple crimes, including committing wire fraud against FTX customers, wire fraud on Alameda Research lenders and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He’ll be sentenced on March 28, 2024.

Continue reading.

Washington DC pilots free AirTags scheme to tackle car theft

The pilot program will focus on certain areas.

The city of Washington DC will distribute free Apple AirTags to residents in specific neighborhoods, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced on Wednesday. The aim: to make stolen cars easier for police to track down. “We are equipping residents with technology that will allow the [Metropolitan Police Department] to address these crimes, recover vehicles and hold people accountable,” Bowser said.

DC is the second city to hand out free AirTags to make finding car thieves easier. Earlier this year, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the city would give away 500 AirTags to make finding car thieves easier.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-elon-musks-new-ai-company-xai-launches-grok-the-chatbot-121533489.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The Morning After: Elon Musk’s new AI company, xAI, launches Grok the chatbot

Third parties selling our personal data is annoying. But for certain sensitive populations like military service members, the selling of that information could quickly become a national security threat. Researchers at Duke University released a study on Monday tracking what measures data brokers have in place to prevent unidentified or potentially malign actors from buying personal data on members of the military. As it turns out, the answer is often few to none — even when the purchaser is actively posing as a foreign agent.

A 2021 Duke study by the same lead researcher revealed that data brokers advertised that they had access to — and were more than happy to sell —information on US military personnel. In this more recent study researchers used wiped computers, VPNs, burner phones bought with cash and other means of identity obfuscation to go undercover. They scraped the websites of data brokers to see which were likely to have available data on servicemembers. Then they attempted to make those purchases, posing as two entities: datamarketresearch.org and dataanalytics.asia. With little-or-no vetting, several of the brokers transferred the requested data not only to the presumptively Chicago-based datamarketresearch, but also to the server of the .asia domain which was located in Singapore. The records only cost between 12 to 32 cents a piece.

The sensitive information included health records and financial information. Location data was also available, although the team at Duke decided not to purchase that — though it’s not clear if this was for financial or ethical reasons. “Access to this data could be used by foreign and malicious actors to target active-duty military personnel, veterans, and their families and acquaintances for profiling, blackmail, targeting with information campaigns, and more,” the report cautions. At an individual level, this could also include identity theft or fraud.

This gaping hole in our national security apparatus is due in large part to the absence of comprehensive federal regulations governing either individual data privacy, or much of the business practices engaged in by data brokers. Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bill Cassidy and Marco Rubio introduced the Protecting Military Service Members’ Data Act in 2022 to give power to the Federal Trade Commission to prevent data brokers from selling military personnel information to adversarial nations. They reintroduced the bill in March 2023 after it stalled out. Despite bipartisan support, it still hasn’t made it past the introduction phase.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/researchers-posed-as-foreign-actors-and-data-brokers-sold-them-information-on-military-servicemembers-anyway-120038192.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Researchers posed as foreign actors, and data brokers sold them information on military servicemembers anyway

MediaTek has unveiled its flagship Dimensity 9300 mobile processor using TSMC’s 3rd-generation 4nm+ technoclogy. The company claims much improved performance and power consumption over last year’s Dimensity 9200, and performance on par with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor in some key benchmarks. That makes three flagship mobile system-on-chips launched in the last month (including Google’s Tensor G3), showing some healthy competition in the high-end mobile processor space. 

The Dimensity 9300 has what MediaTek calls an “all-big core architecture” oriented toward performance, with four ultra-large cores and four big cores, making eight altogether. That compares to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which comes with a single ultra-large Cortex-X4 core, along with 5 big Cortex-A720 cores and 2 smaller Cortex-A520 cores to balance energy savings and performance. 

With all that, it delivers 15 percent more performance than the Dimensity 9200 at the same power level, or 33 percent power draw at the same performance. It also allows for 40 percent more peak performance, according to the company. Mediatek also claims an AnTuTu score of 2,130,000+, which roughly matches The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3’s AnTuTu score. 

MediaTek is also claiming a 46 percent jump in GPU performance over the previous processor at the same power levels and higher frame rates than its rival on certain gaming benchmarks. It also offers much improved deep learning performance over the Dimensity 9200 thanks to the new APU 790 AI processor — with up to 8 times the processing speed and Stable Diffusion image generation under a second.  

It also has features that improve computational photography and video, support for always-on HDR at 4K 60p, “real-time bokeh tracking” at 4K 30fps, AI processing on RAW photos and videos and support for the new Ultra HDR format in Android 14. 

That’s all quite impressive if accurate, though tests will need to bear those claims out. In any case, it looks like a solid alternative to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and it’s likely to appear on a number of upcoming devices, possibly including the The Vivo X100 and X100 Pro. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mediatek-takes-on-qualcomm-with-its-latest-flagship-mobile-processor-113009414.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – MediaTek takes on Qualcomm with its latest flagship mobile processor

Black Friday is still a couple of weeks away, but the sales are already starting. Take Logitech, which has markdowns on lots of its best devices on Amazon, including the G733 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Headset. The well-made and stylish headphones (we named them one of the cutest gaming accessories) are currently $120, down from $150 — a 20 percent discount. 

Logitech’s G733 headset backs up its good looks with powerful sound, a 20-meter range and up to 29 hours of battery life. Plus, its stretchy band and interchangeable earbud tips give you a comfortable, easy fit. 

Among the many other Logitech mice, keyboards and headphones currently for sale, there are a few other stand outs to look into. The G Fits True Wireless Gaming Earbuds are down to $150 from $230 — a 35 percent discount. These are a great option if you just can’t get earbuds to stay in your ear, with Logitech’s Lightform technology molding the device to your ear in just one minute upon first use. They also come with 10mm drivers, dual built-in beamforming microphones and passive noise canceling. 

OK, enough about listening — let’s talk about the tools you need for gameplay. The G Pro Wireless Gaming Mouse is currently marked down 38 percent, dropping to $80 from $130. Logitech built the mouse with input from professional esports gamers, and it shows, touting features like a 1-millisecond report rate connection and up to 25,600 DPI. Looking for a cheap entry point into Logitech’s devices? Try the G203 Wired Gaming Mouse, down to $20 from $40 — a 50 percent discount. 

Logitech’s G915 Lightspeed RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard rounds out some of our favorites on sale with a 36 percent price cut, making the device available for $160 instead of $250. The wireless keyboard provides 30 hours of gameplay and 16.8 million color options. Plus, you can choose between three distinct sounds for your perfect level of clacking. 

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

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/logitech-gaming-accessories-are-up-to-50-percent-off-in-early-black-friday-sale-103543145.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Logitech gaming accessories are up to 50 percent off in early Black Friday sale

Last week, a number of Apple Watch owners noticed that their batteries were draining much quicker than normal after they installed the latest watchOS version 10.1. Now, Apple has acknowledged the issue in an internal memo seen by MacRumors, and promised that a fix will arrive in an upcoming update. 

The issue is affecting multiple models including older ones like Watch SE and Watch Series 5, up to brand new versions like Apple Watch Ultra 2, according to Reddit, Apple’s Support Community, X and other sources. The issue appears to be fairly serious, with one user noting that “watchOS 10.1 is killing the battery on my Apple Watch,” draining it from 100 to 50 percent in less than 60 minutes. 

Apple appeared to address the issue partly with its iOS 17.1 update, noting that it resolved a problem involving “increased power consumption” when a Watch running watchOS 10.1 is paired with an iPhone using iOS 17, as MacRumors noted. That doesn’t seem to have fully resolved the issue, though.

Apple said in the memo that the issue will be fixed in a watchOS update “coming soon,” without providing a more specific date, specific models affected and reason for the problem. Given the nature of it, however, we’d hope it’s a high-priority item. Apple is reportedly set to release iOS 17.1.1 for iPhone, and will hopefully also release watchOS 10.1.1 with a fix.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-watch-battery-drain-issues-to-be-fixed-in-upcoming-watchos-update-090554269.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Apple Watch battery drain issues to be fixed in upcoming watchOS update

Volvo’s EX30 crossover has yet to arrive, but it’s already generated a lot of interest thanks to a killer combination of a charming design and low starting price of $35,000. On top of that, it’s eco-friendly to the core due to its low carbon manufacturing footprint and use of sustainable materials.

There is a “but,” though. All models sold globally to start with, including in the US, will be built in China by Volvo parent Geely. That’s controversial given current geopolitical tensions and it means the EX30 won’t be eligible for federal US tax credits. However, Volvo recently announced that it would build some models in its Ghent, Belgium plant in Europe starting in 2025 to “boost… production capacity for the expected EX30 demand in Europe as well as for global export.”

We’ve finally been able to drive the EX30 in Barcelona and answer a lot of lingering questions. How’s the handling, acceleration and range? We know it’s fairly small, so is there enough interior space for the US market? And how does it stack up against the competition, especially Tesla, considering the lack of tax credits? Let’s dive in and learn more.

Features

We looked at the EX30 when it first launched, examining the controls, infotainment system, storage and more, so check that out if you haven’t. Still, I’ll revisit some highlights here before the drive. 

There are two versions of the EX30, the single-motor Extended Range and the twin-motor Performance model, starting at $34,950 and $44,900 respectively (before the $1,195 destination fee). They’re built on parent Geely’s 400 volt SEA platform, shared by some upcoming Polestar models.

The Extended Range version makes a decent 268 horsepower with 258 pound feet of torque, while the Performance model ups that to a wilder 422 horsepower and 400 pound feet. Both feature 69 kWh batteries, with 64 kWh usable, for an estimated EPA range of 275 and 265 miles respectively (the final figures should be available soon). There’s a 51kWh battery too, but it’s only available in Europe. The maximum charging rate is 153kW, bringing the battery from 10-80 percent in 26.5 minutes.

Starting in 2025, the 2026 model year EX30 will be equipped with a NACS (North American Charging Standard) port thanks to its recent agreement with Volvo. That means the 2025 model debuting in 2024 will effectively be a unicorn, as it will carry a CCS port instead — though a NACS adapter will be included for Tesla Superchargers, of course. 

The base models are, well, basic, with things like parking sensors and a digital key left out. We tested both with the “Ultra” equipment level, which includes the Harman Kardon sound system, larger wheels, USB-C outlets, power front seats, park assist pilot and more. Those cost $40,600 and $46,600, respectively.

The EX30 is a looker, with balanced proportions and smooth lines. The design says “friendly” and “accessible” rather than “aggressive,” and it caught a few admiring looks from passersby.

From the outside, the EX30 looks larger than it is, but the 167-inch wheelbase is similar to a Mini Clubman or VW Golf GTI hatch – not large vehicles by any means. It weighs 3,850 pounds, about the same as a Kia Niro EV. All told, it’s Volvo’s smallest SUV by a good margin.

That’s not an issue up front, as the EX30 is relatively wide and has ample headroom for tall drivers. The backseat is a bit cramped, though, especially with tall occupants up front. The rear cargo area can accommodate a decent amount of stuff, and you can make it a bit larger by removing the floor-leveling door. It can be further expanded by folding down the front seats.

Rather than putting speakers in the doors, Volvo simply used a soundbar-like system built by Harman Kardon. That’s smart, as it should appeal to younger users in Volvo’s target market. With EX30-specific tuning, it sounds really good too.

The interior isn’t as basic as the Model 3, as there are switches and stalks for drive mode, turn signals, lights, volume and other primary functions. The interior is also less sterile thanks to Volvo’s creative use of sustainable materials and color schemes. Everything is soft and welcoming, with a variety of textures and patterns, made from things like old denim and recycled PVC window frames.

Like the Model 3, though, the EX30 has no dashboard, just a center touchscreen, so important information like speed and charge level is off to the side. Volvo says that it helps you refocus on driving, somehow, but I’m not a fan – it forced me to take my eyes off the road more than I’d like.

All other things are handled by the 12.3-inch center touchscreen. The main display shows key functions like speed, moving map, charge, drive mode and more. Other settings let you change things like the steering firmness, or get maximum boost in the Performance model by choosing all-wheel drive – if you don’t mind a significant hit to range. The on or off one-pedal control isn’t as precise as I’d like, as it lacks multiple braking levels like Kia’s EV6 and other models.

Driving

Now that we know the EX30, what’s it like to drive? In short, it’s a Volvo. That’s not a bad thing – what it lacks in agility, it makes up in comfort. It floats over tattered freeway pavement with little jolting and you’ll barely notice potholes or small speed bumps. It’s a nice car to drive in the city or take on cross-country trips, but it’d flounder on a track.

That’s not an accident; Volvo specifically tuned in a fair amount of suspension travel to favor comfort over sport. Tesla went the other way with the Model 3, so it can nip around corners more precisely, but rides harshly on less-than-smooth roads.

In terms of power and torque, the Extended Range model has enough for most drivers. With a 5.1 second 0-60 MPH time, overtaking is safe and easy at freeway speeds and acceleration is crisp and predictable in all conditions. With that model, the power pairs well with the suspension, striking a nice balance between comfort and control.

The Performance version is on another level, though. With 422 horsepower and 400 pounds of torque in an EV of this size and weight, acceleration is hair-raising. In fact, it can go from 0-60 MPH in just 3.4 seconds, quicker than any Volvo to date and close to the Model 3 Performance. On tight winding roads with short passing zones, I felt confident enough to zip around trucks or buses. Freeway speed limits arrive almost too quickly, though the EX30 is limited to 180 km/h, or about 112 MPH.

Despite the power, it’s no race car. The suspension is identical to the Extended Range model, which is to say, too soft for high-speed cornering. Just stomping on the pedal from a start can create some drama, as it becomes clear that the suspension isn’t quite up to that level of instant torque. So, apart from the raw horsepower, it’s not an enthusiast car.

The EX30’s Pilot Assist is reasonably advanced for a relatively inexpensive EV, offering more than just lane-keeping and collision avoidance. As on other Volvo cars, it can also change lanes automatically, make passing easier and adjust your speed to traffic. It also offers a Park Pilot Assist function that can locate spots at speeds up to 14 MPH and then park automatically. The system worked as well as any I’ve tried, squeezing the car into tight spots while displaying synthesized views all around the vehicle.

It also has an advanced driver alert system as standard. It can not only detect if your hands are on the wheel, it uses a special sensor that raises a warning if it thinks you’re distracted, drowsy or inattentive.

Wrap-up

After driving the EX30 for nearly a full day, I’m impressed. While not the most nimble crossover EV, it’s comfortable to drive whether you’re on the freeway or city streets full of potholes. Even in the base single-motor model, the acceleration is more than anyone needs. In the dual-motor performance version, it’s borderline insane. It also offers enough range for reasonably long trips, with support for decently fast charging.

Volvo has more or less nailed the interior, bar a few minor complaints. It ticks all the boxes for buyers looking for an eco-friendly car, particularly the fact that Volvo says it uses 75 percent less CO2 to manufacture than its current EVs. It also uses sustainable materials in the fun but functional interior.

The EX30 has a lot of competition from the likes of Tesla, Volkswagen and Chevy, though, and is at a disadvantage due to the lack of a federal tax credit. The fact that it’s built in China may turn off some buyers, though as mentioned, Volvo just announced it would build some EX30s in Ghent, Belgium, starting in 2025. Still, it should appeal to a lot of consumers looking for something charming, easy to drive and relatively quick, along with fans of the Volvo brand. With all that, the EX30 should be a solid hit in North America and elsewhere.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/volvo-ex30-first-drive-charming-and-eco-friendly-with-power-to-spare-080039873.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Volvo EX30 first drive: Charming and eco-friendly with power to spare

Discord is changing its approach to file hosting in an effort to crack down on malware. The platform will begin using temporary file links that will expire after 24 hours for user content shared outside of Discord, BleepingComputer reported. The change is expected to go into effect by the end of the year.

While the stated intention of the move is to crack down on malware, it’ll also curb the wider use of Discord as an unofficial file hosting service. It’s not uncommon for users to upload images and other content to their own servers and then post those links elsewhere. You won’t be able to do that as smoothly anymore once it makes the move away from permanent file links, because the links will go dead after a day. Nothing will change for content posted and shared within Discord itself.

Switching to temporary file links “will help our safety team restrict access to flagged content, and generally reduce the amount of malware distributed using our CDN [content delivery network],” a spokesperson for Discord told BleepingComputer. Discord also noted, “If users are using Discord to host files, we’d recommend they find a more suitable service.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/discord-is-switching-to-expiring-links-for-files-shared-off-platform-202533531.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Discord is switching to expiring links for files shared off-platform