Netflix is reportedly planning to open several bricks-and-mortar venues, called Netflix House. The stores will sell merchandise for hit Netflix shows, hopefully of a higher quality than that Target Squid Game tee you sleep in. Talking of Squid Game, the two initial locations will reportedly feature obstacle courses based on the hit show, entirely missing the point of the show’s scathing view of modern capitalism.

There will also be rotating hit-show art installations and live performances to excite fans. Additionally, an in-house restaurant will serve themed cuisine and drinks from Netflix’s food-based reality shows. I can’t get enough of themed restaurants, so count me in. The first two will be in the US, but more will appear across the world.

Netflix has dabbled in real-world events and venues before. It opened pop-up experiences across the planet to celebrate shows like Stranger Things and many of its reality shows. In the UK, Netflix’s Stranger Things: The First Shadow theater production will begin performances at the Phoenix Theatre in London this November.

— Mat Smith

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Microsoft’s $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard finally gets UK approval

That was the last major roadblock for the merger.

The UK’s antitrust regulator has given Microsoft the green light to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. The regulator called Microsoft’s concession to sell cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft a “gamechanger that will promote competition.” With the last major obstacle out of the way, the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) has now largely cleared the path for the companies to close the biggest merger in gaming history. The decision was widely expected after the watchdog said in September the company’s revised merger agreement “substantially addresses previous concerns and opens the door to the deal being cleared.”

Continue reading.

Comcast starts squeezing higher internet speeds through old coaxial cables

Three areas are getting the X-Class upgrade to start.

Comcast is upgrading its residential cable internet service to offer upload and download speeds of up to 2 Gbps through decades-old coaxial cables. The company says it’s the first ISP in the world to offer multi-gigabit symmetrical speeds to customers through DOCSIS 4.0 technology, which it’s powering through the Xfinity 10G network. Comcast has been working on this technology for several years, and it aims to offer 2 Gbps symmetrical service in more than 50 million homes by the end of 2025.

Continue reading.

We were wrong: Coin flips don’t have 50/50 odds after all

Finally, some groundbreaking science.

A global team of researchers investigating the statistical and physical nuances of coin tosses worldwide concluded that a coin is 50.8% likely to land on the same side it started on. The authors of the new paper conducted 350,757 flips, using different coins from 46 currencies to eliminate a heads–tails bias between coin designs. (They also used a variety of people to rule out biased flipping techniques.) Regardless of the coin type, the same-side outcome could be predicted at 0.508, which rounds up to 49/51 odds.

Continue reading.

Stockholm bans most combustion engine cars from its city center

The Swedish capital joins other low-emission zones in Europe.

While we wait for electric vehicles to be the dominant engines on the road, some areas have taken it upon themselves to solve the issue of air pollution related to combustion engines. Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, just announced a ban on diesel and petrol-powered vehicles throughout its city center, starting in 2025. The ban doesn’t impact the entire capital city, only the 20-block city center.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-netflixs-next-big-thing-is-branded-retail-stores-111551264.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The Morning After: Netflix’s next big thing is branded retail stores

Cruise has been testing its self-driving vehicles in Houston since May, and it started giving employees, along with select friends and family members, fully driverless rides in August. Now, it’s offering the public the chance to catch a ride to their destinations on robotaxis with no drivers behind the wheel. The company is now onboarding Houston residents who signed up for its waitlist, and it’s also encouraging those who’ve yet to do so to visit its website and send in a request for access. Those who do get in early will be able to hail a driverless ride through its app for a flat fare of $5 for a limited time. 

Initially, Cruise will have the authority to operate seven days a week from 9PM to 6AM only in Downtown, Midtown, East Downtown, Montrose, Hyde Park and River Oaks neighborhoods. The company typically begins by deploying a small fleet of vehicles to cover a limited number of locations in a city, but it eventually expands its vehicles’ availability. 

It will probably take some time before the company can operate around the clock in Houston, though. In San Francisco, for instance, Cruise was only given permission to offer paid daytime rides in August, months after staff members started testing its 24/7 service. It’s worth noting that while Cruise was able to secure permission for the expansion, the company still faces pushback from critics raising concerns about the safety of autonomous vehicle tech. One of the commissioners from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) even voted against allowing the company to operate during daytime hours, arguing that the agency didn’t have enough information to accurately evaluate the impact of autonomous vehicles on first responders.

Shortly after the CPUC gave the company permission to offer paid daytime rides, the California DMV opened an investigation into a Cruise robotaxi’s collision with a fire truck. The agency then asked Cruise to cut its fleet in half and to limit its driverless vehicles in operation to 50 during daytime and 150 at night while the investigation is ongoing. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cruise-now-offers-paid-robotaxi-rides-in-houston-105502822.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Cruise now offers paid robotaxi rides in Houston

Meta has shared an updated content monitoring action plan as the devastating Israel-Hamas war continues. It follows a stern letter from Thierry Breton, the European Union’s (EU) regulatory commissioner, to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about misinformation concerns (such as deep fakes) and compliance with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). The company had 24 hours to respond. 

In its statement, Meta said that it created an ever-evolving operations center with experts fluent in Hebrew and Arabic: “Since the terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel on Saturday, and Israel’s response in Gaza, expert teams from across our company have been working around the clock to monitor our platforms while protecting people’s ability to use our apps to shed light on important developments happening on the ground.” Meta claims this new setup lets them remove content and fight misinformation faster.

Meta reportedly took over 795,000 distinct pieces of content in Hebrew or Arabic and removed or marked them with a disturbing label in the three days following the terrorist attack by Hamas. Seven times more content across these two languages was removed daily for violating its Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy compared to the two months leading up to the conflict.

Hamas is listed under Meta’s Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy and banned from all of the company’s platforms — as is any content praising the terrorist group. However, “social and political discourse,” such as news articles and general discussion, are allowed.

Further actions by Meta include restricting certain hashtags that are regularly associated with content that violates its policies and removing any content that clearly identifies a hostage (though blurred images are allowed). The company has also lowered the threshold for its monitoring technology, ideally reducing the chances of it recommending harmful content to users. “We want to reiterate that our policies are designed to give everyone a voice while keeping people safe on our apps,” Meta’s statement continued. “We apply these policies regardless of who is posting or their personal beliefs, and it is never our intention to suppress a particular community or point of view.”

Whether these steps will satisfy Breton is unclear. Breton sent a similar letter to X’s owner, Elon Musk. X then released an outline of updated policies, but the EU has decided to move forward with an investigation into its compliance with the DSA.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-responds-to-eu-misinformation-concerns-regarding-israel-hamas-conflict-102640126.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Meta responds to EU misinformation concerns regarding Israel-Hamas conflict

The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has reached a settlement with Apple and Broadcom over Wi-Fi chips, ending a billion-dollar patent dispute that started in 2016, Reuters has reported. In a filing, Caltech said that it’s dismissing the case with prejudice, meaning it can’t be filed again.

The saga has taken several turns. Caltech initially alleged that millions of iPhones, iPads, Watches and other Apple devices with Broadcom chips infringed its Wi-Fi based patents. The institute initially won a $1.1 billion jury award, with Apple ordered to pay Caltech $837.8 million and Broadcom to pay an additional $270.2 million. 

However, Apple appealed, and a federal appeals court overturned the decision, calling the award “legally unsupportable.” Specifically, the judge rejected Caltech’s argument that it could have negotiated licenses with both Broadcom and Apple for the same chips.

The jury then ordered a new trial — though it also upheld the original jury’s findings that Apple and Broadcom infringed two Caltech patents. That trial was supposed to take place this June, but was postponed indefinitely. The parties told the court last August that they had reached a “potential settlement,” but didn’t disclose any other information. 

The technology is vital to the 802.11n and 802.11ac WiFi standards, though its inventor said that the patents (related to data transmission tech), weren’t originally designed for WiFi. Broadcom remains a major Apple supplier, having recently signed a $15 billion agreement to furnish chips for upcoming iPhones and other products. Caltech recently settled a similar lawsuit against Samsung, and still has Wi-Fi patent cases pending with Microsoft, Dell and HP. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/caltechs-seven-year-wi-fi-patent-battle-with-apple-and-broadcom-is-over-082546571.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Caltech’s seven-year Wi-Fi patent battle with Apple and Broadcom is over

Qualcomm has just notified the California Employment Development Department that it’s eliminating 1,258 positions within the state, according to Bloomberg. That’s around 2.5 percent of the company’s entire workforce, which is approximately 50,000 strong, but the job cuts will only affect workers from Qualcomm’s San Diego and Santa Clara, California offices. Based on Bloomberg’s report, no position is safe: More than 750 of the affected employees will reportedly come from the chipmaker’s engineering team, including director-level personnel. The remaining affected roles will come from across different departments and will include internal technical and accounting staff. 

The chipmaker is required by law to notify the California agency of impending job cuts. But since many other places don’t have the same rule, it’s unclear if Qualcomm is planning to eliminate positions in other offices within and outside the US. It’s worth noting that these job cuts, while unfortunate, don’t come as a surprise: The company announced in its quarterly earnings report (PDF) released in August that it was going to take “additional restructuring actions.”

Back then, the chipmaker had admitted that it expects these “restructuring actions” to consist “largely of workforce reductions.” It said that the move will enable it to make “continued investments in key growth and diversification opportunities” in the face of “continued uncertainty in the macroeconomic and demand environment.” As Bloomberg notes, Qualcomm still makes most of its money from smartphone sales, and market performance continues to decline. In fact, analysts said global smartphone shipments for the year are on track to be the worst in a decade. Qualcomm itself could see its revenue shrink by roughly 19 percent in the current fiscal year.

The company will start removing personnel sometime in mid-December, and it expects to be done with the restructuring changes it has to make in the first half of fiscal year 2024.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/qualcomm-is-cutting-over-1200-jobs-in-california-073034572.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Qualcomm is cutting over 1,200 jobs in California

UK’s antitrust regulator has given Microsoft the green light to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion following a protracted back and forth. The regulator called Microsoft’s concession to sell cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft a “gamechanger that will promote competition.”

With the last major obstacle out of the way, the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) has now largely cleared the path for the companies to close the biggest merger in gaming history. That move was widely expected after the watchdog said in September that the company’s revised merger agreement “substantially addresses previous concerns and opens the door to the deal being cleared.”

In April, the CMA blocked the deal on the grounds of a belief that it would make Microsoft too dominant of a player in the cloud gaming space. However, as other dominoes that were preventing the deal from happening fell, the CMA gave Microsoft a second chance to resolve its concerns. The companies extended their merger agreement by three months to give them time to smooth things out with the CMA.

Microsoft later submitted a modified deal to the watchdog that will see it sell Activision Blizzard game streaming rights to Ubisoft if the merger goes through. Ubisoft would then handle cloud streaming rights in perpetuity for current titles and any others that Activision Blizzard releases over the following 15 years. Given that the CMA’s misgivings over the original deal, Microsoft evidently hoped that the concession would be significant enough to resolve the regulator’s concerns. Evidently, that’s exactly what happened.

The CMA said last month that it had “residual concerns” about enforcement of Microsoft’s revised proposal. However, it noted that “Microsoft gave undertakings that will ensure that the terms of the sale of Activision’s rights to Ubisoft are enforceable by the CMA.”

The regulator touted its role in forcing Microsoft to make concessions. “With the sale of Activision’s cloud streaming rights to Ubisoft, we’ve made sure Microsoft can’t have a stranglehold over this important and rapidly developing market,” CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said in a statement. “As cloud gaming grows, this intervention will ensure people get more competitive prices, better services and more choice. We are the only competition agency globally to have delivered this outcome.”

There were suggestions that European Union antitrust regulators might review the amended deal. EU officials approved the acquisition in May after Microsoft made some cloud gaming concessions. According to Bloomberg, the bloc’s competition regulators didn’t see cause for concern with the amended deal that would prompt another investigation.

After a US court rejected the Federal Trade Commission’s attempt to temporarily block the deal pending an administrative trial, the CMA and both companies in question asked a tribunal to delay Microsoft’s appeal against the UK regulator’s initial decision. The tribunal agreed and, after reviewing the updated proposal from Microsoft, the CMA has rubberstamped the merger. It now seems like just a matter of time until this is a done deal and one of the biggest tech mergers in memory is in the books.

There is one significant potential hurdle remaining, however. The FTC is moving forward with its attempt to challenge the deal. That effort won’t stop Microsoft from closing the acquisition, but there’s a chance that the FTC could force the company to divest some or all of Activision Blizzard.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/uk-regulator-approves-microsofts-687-billion-purchase-of-activision-blizzard-063625038.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – UK regulator approves Microsoft’s .7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard

The EPA is withdrawing its plan to require states to assess the cybersecurity and integrity of public water system programs. While the agency says it continues to believe cybersecurity protective measures are essential for the public water industry, the decision was made after GOP-led states sued the agency for proposing the rule.

In a memo that accompanied the new rules in March, the EPA said that cybersecurity attacks on water and wastewater systems “have the potential to disable or contaminate the delivery of drinking water to consumers and other essential facilities like hospitals.” Despite the EPA’s willingness to provide training and technical support to help states and public water system organizations implement cybersecurity surveys, the move garnered opposition from both GOP state attorneys and trade groups.

Republican state attorneys that were against the new proposed policies said that the call for new inspections could overwhelm state regulators. The attorney generals of Arkansas, Iowa and Missouri all sued the EPA – claiming the agency had no authority to set these requirements. This led to the EPA’s proposal being temporarily blocked back in June.

While it’s unclear if any cybersecurity regulations will be put in motion to protect the public moving forward, the EPA said it plans to continue working with the industry to “lower cybersecurity risks to clean and safe water.“ It encourages all states to “voluntarily review” the cybersecurity of their water systems, nothing that any proactive actions might curb the potential public health impacts if a hack were to take place.

Ever since the highly publicized Solarwinds hack in 2020 that exposed government records and the 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack that temporarily shut down operations for the oil pipeline system, it’s been abundantly clear that government entities and public agencies are hackable and prime targets for bad actors. The Biden administration has initiated a national strategy focused on public-private alliances to shift the burden of cybersecurity onto the organizations that are “best-positioned to reduce risks for all of us.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-epa-wont-force-water-utilities-to-inspect-their-cyber-defenses-232301497.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The EPA won’t force water utilities to inspect their cyber defenses

The launch of Starlink’s much-anticipated satellite cellular service, Direct-to-Cell, will reportedly begin rolling out for SMS in 2024, according to a newly published promotional site by the company. Eventually the system will “enable ubiquitous access to texting, calling, and browsing wherever you may be on land, lakes, or coastal waters,” and connect to IoT devices through the LTE standard.

Starlink has partnered with T-Mobile on the project, which was originally announced last August at the “Coverage and Above and Beyond” event. The collaboration sees T-Mobile setting aside a bit of its 5G spectrum for use by Starlink’s second-generation satellites; Starlink in turn will allow T-Mobile phones to access the satellite network giving the cell service provider “near complete coverage” of the United States. 

During the event last August, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted that “Starlink V2” would launch this year on select mobile phones, as well as in Tesla vehicles. “The important thing about this is that it means there are no dead zones anywhere in the world for your cell phone,” Musk said in a press statement at the time. “We’re incredibly excited to do this with T-Mobile.” That estimate was revised during a March panel discussion at the Satellite Conference and Exhibition 2023, when SpaceX VP of Starlink enterprise sales Jonathan Hofeller estimated testing — not commercial operation — would begin in 2023. 

The existing constellation of 4,265 satellites are not compatible with the new cell service so Starlink is going to have to launch a whole new series of microsats with the necessary eNodeB modem installed, over the next few years. As more satellites are launched, the adde voice and data features will become available. 

As an messaging-only satellite service, Direct-to-Cell will immediately find competition from Apple, with its Emergency SOS via Satellite feature in iOS 14, as well as Qualcomm’s rival Snapdragon Satellite, which delivers texts to Android phones from orbit using the Iridium constellation. Competition is expected to be fierce in this emerging market, Lynk Global CEO Charles Miller noted during the March event, arguing that satellite cell service could potentially be the “biggest category in satellite.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/starlinks-satellite-cell-service-is-set-to-launch-in-2024-but-only-for-sms-215036124.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Starlink’s satellite cell service is set to launch in 2024, but only for SMS

The European Union (EU) has opened an investigation into X (formerly Twitter) for lackluster moderation of illegal content and disinformation in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. The move, via Financial Times, comes two days after EU Commissioner Thierry Breton sent an “urgent” letter to X owner Elon Musk asking the billionaire about the company’s handling of misinformation. The formal probe is the first under the newly minted Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires platforms operating in Europe to police harmful content — and can levy fines significant enough to give it teeth.

EU officials sent a series of questions to X that the company has until October 18 to answer. The commission says it will determine its next steps “based on the assessment of X replies.” The DSA, which passed into law in 2022, requires social companies to proactively moderate and remove illegal content. Failing to do so could lead to periodic fines or penalties that, in X’s case, could total up to “five percent of the company’s daily global turnover,” according to FT.

Researchers and fact-checkers have cautioned about widely distributed misinformation on X following the Hamas attacks on Israel. Tuesday’s letter warned Musk about harmful content on X, signaling that Breton was prepared to use the DSA’s full muscle to enforce compliance. “Following the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel, we have indications that your platform is being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the EU,” Breton wrote. “Let me remind you that the Digital Services Act sets very precise obligations regarding content moderation.”

Musk’s response appeared to contain at least a whiff of snark. “Our policy is that everything is open source and transparent, an approach that I know the EU supports,” the X owner and Tesla CEO wrote. “Please list the violations you allude to on X, so that that [sic] the public can see them. Merci beaucoup.” Breton retorted, “You are well aware of your users’ — and authorities’ — reports on fake content and glorification of violence. Up to you to demonstrate that you walk the talk.”

Isabel Infantes / reuters

Yaccarino’s response claimed the company redistributed its resources and shuffled internal teams to address moderation issues surrounding the Middle East conflict. She said X has removed or labeled “tens of thousands of pieces of content” since the attacks commenced.

The CEO added that X deleted hundreds of Hamas-aligned accounts from the platform while stating that the company works with counter-terrorism organizations. Yaccarino said X’s Community Notes, a crowdsourced moderation feature, is now supported on Android and the web (with iOS “coming soon”). She also claimed the company has “significantly scaled” a feature that sends notifications to people who liked, replied to or reposted something that later received a Community Note fact-check.

The EU’s newly opened probe also questions how X is prepared to react during a crisis and what procedures it has to handle associated misinformation. The company allegedly has until the end of October to respond to that line of questioning.

Breton isn’t focusing exclusively on X. The commissioner also sent letters to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok owner ByteDance this week, reminding them of their obligations to the DSA in the wake of the Middle East bloodshed.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-eu-is-probing-xs-response-to-israel-hamas-misinformation-204101029.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The EU is probing X’s response to Israel-Hamas misinformation

EA is making a turn-based strategy game based on… soccer? That’s the bizarre premise behind the upcoming EA Sports FC Tactical, a mobile title heading to iOS and Android in early 2024. The company says the most peculiar installment in its decades-old franchise (formerly FIFA) results in “authentic football action like never before.”

As its description suggests, matches will be simulated, so you won’t directly control players’ actions like in traditional sports games. Instead, it focuses on in-game strategies like player stamina and power-play management. Playable modes include online-friendly matches and “intense online competitions” like Rank matches, Leagues, and Guilds. It sounds like a sports game for those who want 100 percent strategy and little or no player-controlled action.

Promotional screenshots show a one-on-one battle with assigned numerical skills for each player. They’re broken down into categories like dribbling, one-two, passing and shooting. The pictured player appears to have “skill move” power-up cards like combative chase shot, wild tap dribble and floating instep shot. It sounds like EA took core gameplay elements familiar from titles like Teamfight Tactics (and many others) and slapped a soccer skin onto it to attract fans of both genres.

The game will have over 5,000 licensed players from “more than 10 top leagues,” including the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, and Serie A. You can train players to upgrade their moves, unlock new traits as you progress and customize cosmetics like stadium designs, uniforms and balls.

“EA Sports FC Tactical embraces strategic gameplay to create an all-new football experience that immerses players in the World’s Game like never before,” said EA Sports senior vice president Nick Wlodyka. The game is available for pre-registration on the App Store and Google Play ahead of an expected January 18, 2024 launch.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/eas-surreal-mobile-mashup-blends-soccer-with-turn-by-turn-strategy-185803016.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – EA’s surreal mobile mashup blends soccer with turn-by-turn strategy

Netflix used to make its money on physical media, mailing DVDs to customers, and it looks like the company’s trending toward the analog once again. The streaming giant has, strangely, decided to open a number of brick-and-mortar retail locations, called Netflix House, as originally reported by Bloomberg.

The stores will sell merchandise based on hit Netflix shows, so you can finally snag that Lincoln Lawyer coffee mug you’ve always dreamed of. Netflix House establishments will also offer dining and curated live experiences. To the latter point, the two initial locations are going to feature an obstacle course based on Squid Game. This seems to miss the point of the show’s brutal satire of modern capitalism, but that’s been par for the course since it took the world by storm back in 2021.

Netflix House will also boast rotating art installations based on hit shows and live performances to excite fans. Additionally, the in-house restaurant will serve cuisine and drinks originally featured on the streamer’s many unscripted food-based reality shows. The menu will range from fast casual to high-end dining.

The first two locations should open up in the US some time in 2025, though Netflix hasn’t said where, with more global outlets to come at a later date. Why the big global push? Josh Simon, the company’s vice president of consumer products, told Bloomberg that its customers “love to immerse themselves in the world of our movies and TV shows, and we’ve been thinking a lot about how we take that to the next level.” Want to really take things to the next level? Let us play real-world versions of The Circle and Is It Cake?

Of course, this isn’t Netflix’s first stab at brick-and-mortar nirvana. In the past, it’s opened a number of pop-up experiences throughout the world to celebrate shows like Stranger Things and its spate of cooking reality programming. Netflix House, on the other hand, will celebrate the streamer’s entire stable of content, though we doubt there will be any live experiences based on Real Rob, Flaked or The Ranch anytime soon. We wouldn’t mind, though, snagging some sweet Bojack Horseman merch.

The company’s still finalizing details regarding menus, locations and just about everything else. It has more than a year, after all, to set up shop.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/netflix-to-open-branded-retail-stores-for-some-reason-184331296.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Netflix to open branded retail stores for some reason

Threads is now rolling out a pair of useful updates as Meta tries to give the app some more momentum. One of the new features is an edit button, which will help folks avoid having to repost something when they want to correct a mistake.

X (formerly Twitter) took 16 years to add an edit button, and then it placed it behind the Twitter Blue/X Premium paywall. Threads took just over three months to introduce a similar option, which is free to all users and will be available on mobile and the web.

After you post something on Threads, you’ll have five minutes to edit it, as 9to5Google points out. That’s a reasonable enough timeframe (X users have up to an hour to tweak their tweets). On the downside, Threads doesn’t show the edit history for a post. That’s bad for transparency, especially if someone significantly changes the substance of a post that gains traction very quickly.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also noted that Threads is adding the option to post voice clips. That’s another welcome update, especially for those who prefer speaking to typing (or using voice-to-text features). Meanwhile, it appears that Threads is working on a trending topics feature.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/threads-is-rolling-out-an-edit-button-that-you-dont-have-to-pay-for-180341726.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Threads gets an edit button, no subscription required

The combustion engine is a marvel of engineering, but has also majorly contributed to air pollution. After all, there are over 1.4 billion combustion engine vehicles roaming the planet. That’s a whole lot of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbons being released into the atmosphere.

While we wait (and wait) for the eventual rise of electric vehicles, some areas have taken it upon themselves to solve the issue of air pollution related to combustion engines by, well, banning the vehicles entirely. Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, just announced a ban on diesel and petrol-powered vehicles throughout its city center, as reported by Semafor.

The ban goes into effect sometime in 2025, so you still have more than a year to race around Stockholm in your old beat-up Dodge. The new policy will, however, continue to allow hybrid vans in the city center, in addition to combustion-based ambulances and police cars. Additionally, if you have a documented disability you’ll be able to drive whatever you want, wherever you want, as indicated by The Guardian.

The ban doesn’t impact the entire capital city. This is just for what’s called the city center, an area comprising 20 blocks at the heart of the city. Stockholm’s vice mayor for transport, Lars Stromgren, announced the move and said current conditions represented a “completely unacceptable situation,” noting that the city’s air “causes babies to have lung conditions and the elderly to die prematurely.”

Electric vehicles will, of course, be allowed to drive in the city center with no restrictions. Stockholm’s new policy joins other low-emission zones (LEZs) in cities throughout Europe, including London, Madrid, Berlin and Paris, among others. Stockholm goes further than any of the other European cities with this near complete ban. London, for instance, charges combustion vehicles to drive through its low-emission zone while Paris, Athens and Madrid just banned diesel vehicles.

Detractors are calling Stockholm’s policy too extreme. The Swedish Confederation of Transport Enterprises said that the city’s ruling political party is in “far too much of a hurry” to further reduce combustion-based emissions.

Conventional wisdom about coin flips may have been turned on its head. A global team of researchers investigating the statistical and physical nuances of coin tosses worldwide concluded (via Phys.org) that a coin is 50.8% likely to land on the same side it started on, altering one of society’s most traditional assumptions about random decision-making that dates back at least to the Roman Empire.

The team appeared to validate a smaller-scale 2007 study by Stanford mathematician Persi Diaconis, which suggested a slight bias (about 51 percent) toward the side it started on. The authors of the new paper conducted 350,757 flips, using different coins from 46 global currencies to eliminate a heads-tail bias between coin designs. (They also used a variety of people to rule out individuals with biased flipping techniques corrupting the results.) Regardless of the coin type, the same-side outcome could be predicted at 0.508, which rounds up perfectly to Diaconis’ “about 51 percent” prediction from 16 years ago.

The researchers found no evidence of a heads-tail bias when excluding its starting position from the data. In other words, if you pay no attention to which side the coin is on pre-flip, the odds of the outcome are equally likely to be heads or tails. 

Coin flippers in the study selected their starting position randomly (or according to an algorithm), flipped the coin, caught it in their hand and recorded the landing position. (If they flipped it over in their palm before revealing it, the opposite side it started on had 50.8% odds.) All participants videotaped and uploaded recordings of their flips to simplify collection and coding errors. “Our data therefore provide strong evidence that when some (but not all) people flip a fair coin, it tends to land on the same side it started,” the authors wrote.

The paper notes there was a high degree of variability between coin flippers. “Some people appear to have little or no same-side bias, whereas others do display a same-side bias, albeit to a varying degree.” But taken on the whole, it leads to those 50.8% odds favoring the starting side. 

The findings could even lead to (slight) financial gains. The researchers say that if you bet $1 on 1,000 separate coin flips, always betting on the side it starts on (and catching the coin rather than letting it roll on a surface or flipping it over in your palm), you’d make a $19 profit. The authors note that this is better odds than a casino’s built-in advantage for six-deck blackjack against a high-level player. They suggest that anyone making a high-stakes decision based on a coin flip would be wise to conceal its starting position.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/coin-flips-dont-appear-to-have-5050-odds-after-all-171556415.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Coin flips don’t appear to have 50/50 odds after all

Earth’s orbit is getting crowded.

Last year, a record 2,409 objects were sent to orbit, the bulk of which were satellites settling into the increasingly cluttered region 1,200 miles above our planet’s surface known as low Earth orbit. Another 2,000-plus satellites have joined them so far this year, according to the UN’s Online Index of Objects Launched into Outer Space. As the presence of artificial objects in orbit grows, so too does the accumulation of debris, or space junk — and the risk of collisions. Dealing with existing waste and preventing its unchecked growth has become imperative, but it’s a problem that doesn’t have one simple solution.

Currently, the US Department of Defense’s Space Surveillance Network tracks more than 25,000 objects larger than 4 inches wide, most of which are concentrated in low Earth orbit, and there are an estimated millions of smaller objects still that are trickier to pinpoint. This includes everything from defunct satellites and spacecraft fragments to things as small as a paint chip, all of which can cause damage to other equipment due to the extreme speeds orbiting objects travel at. As yet, there have been no successful missions to remove extant debris from orbit. Proposals for removing this debris fall into two broad (and imperfect) categories: pushing them further from Earth into graveyard orbits where they pose less risk, or pulling them towards Earth where they’ll deorbit and burn up in the atmosphere.

One such system is being developed and tested by Astroscale. The company, headquartered in Japan, demonstrated a magnetic capture-and-release tactic in 2021 with its ELSA-d mission, which simulated the strategy using an extra satellite it brought with it as mock debris. In a real-world scenario, its magnet would lock on to debris floating through space and drag it down to deorbit. Astroscale is selling its own docking plates that satellite operators can affix to their equipment ahead of launches, so it can easily be removed after a mission’s end. It’s partnered with UK-based OneWeb to test how this will work, and plans to execute a full removal demonstration using one of the company’s internet satellites in 2025 under the ELSA-M mission. 

Astroscale will also soon launch its ADRAS-J spacecraft in partnership with Japan’s space agency, JAXA, to demonstrate the ability to safely approach and inspect a real target ahead of future removal attempts. And, it’s gearing up for a separate mission dubbed COSMIC that will use a robotic arm to grab objects in orbit, this time aiming for a pair of dead British satellites. That is expected to launch in the next few years.

The European Space Agency similarly commissioned Swiss startup ClearSpace for a junk removal mission that’s slated to launch in 2026. It’s expected to be the first mission to actually remove a real piece of debris from orbit, rather than perform a simulated capture. Ironically, the target of the ClearSpace-1 mission — an approximately 250-pound defunct rocket upper stage dubbed Vespa — was struck by untracked debris in August. The event created more debris, but ESA says it left the object intact and still in position for capture. ClearSpace will attempt to grab onto Vespa using a giant robotic claw, and the two will deorbit together, ending with them both burning up in Earth’s atmosphere.

Researchers have also experimented with the use of harpoons and nets to catch objects floating through space. The first mission to demonstrate these active debris removal techniques was one called RemoveDEBRIS, which launched in 2018. In 2018 and 2019, the craft successfully performed simulated debris capture by firing out a net and ensnaring a mock target, and by shooting a harpoon at a target to pierce and hook onto it. The company behind the project — Surrey Satellite Technology — does not appear to have any follow-up missions planned.

A cost-benefit analysis released last year by NASA noted that the benefit of space tugs like these could surpass their upfront costs in a matter of decades, but using space- or ground-based lasers to nudge debris out of orbit could break even much sooner. Lasers can move objects either through the momentum of their photons, or through a process called ablation, in which thrust is generated when the laser vaporizes bits of debris. The latter especially could be used for both large and small objects, either to deorbit debris or move trackable pieces out of another satellite’s way to avoid a collision.

“The process of laser ablation and photon pressure induces a change in velocity in the target debris, which ultimately alters the size and shape of its orbit,” said West Virginia University engineer Hang Woon Lee, who NASA recently granted up to three years of funding for research into this tactic. Doing so could mean “avoiding potentially catastrophic events,” he said. Using multiple lasers at once, instead of a single beam, could produce even greater effects.

Others yet are looking into means of recycling space debris, both to cut down on junk and to limit the reliance on reentries for its removal. While reentry is among the preferred disposal methods, it doesn’t come entirely without side effects of its own, which haven’t yet been well studied. Scientists have begun to speak up about the potential ozone-depleting effects of having large numbers of satellites disintegrate in Earth’s atmosphere, which releases pollutants like aluminum and nitrogen oxides. There are concerns about harmful pollution in the ocean, too, where spacecraft parts that don’t fully break apart end up.

Companies like Neumann Space and CisLunar Industries are developing the means to melt down metal parts from debris in space and reuse that material as fuel. The former’s Neumann Drive converts metal rods into plasma to generate thrust, and was just recently integrated into a satellite for the first time to begin tests of the system in space. CisLunar, on the other hand, is building the technology to create those metal fuel rods, along with other materials that could be repurposed to support other missions.

In the US, policymakers are starting to clamp down on commercial entities contributing to the pollution. The FCC handed out its first-ever fine for space debris in early October, and revised its guidelines last year for operations in low Earth orbit, with a new mandate that states satellites in LEO must be transitioned out of orbit within 5 years of completing their missions. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is also eyeing more stringent policies, and proposed a new rule in September that would require commercial launch operators to have a plan in place to remove rocket upper stages from orbit within set timelines, from 30 days to 25 years depending on the circumstances.

Thanks to the rapid acceleration of commercial space activities in the 2020s, we’ve seen an unprecedented number of new satellites arrive in orbit, and there are many more yet on their way. With more launch providers on the scene and innovation in reusable launch systems, led by SpaceX with its Falcon 9 rockets, launches have become less costly and more attainable. And competition to provide space-based internet connectivity by way of satellite “megaconstellations” is intensifying; SpaceX’s Starlink fleet is now at about 5,000 and counting, Amazon just launched the first two prototypes of its eventual 3,200 Project Kuiper satellites and OneWebb has placed over 600 satellites in orbit as of early 2023.

Scientists have long warned about the potentially catastrophic chain reactions that could be caused by space junk if it’s allowed to get out of hand. In the 1970s, NASA scientists Donald Kessler and Burton Cour-Palais argued in a paper that rampant debris could spur collisions that in turn create more debris, and cause more collisions. The risk of impacts between satellites increases, too, as more are pumped into orbit. We’ve already seen a glimpse of how disastrous that could be. In 2009, a commercial Iridium 33 satellite collided with a long-defunct Russian military satellite, Cosmos 2251, creating nearly 2,000 pieces of large debris.

Satellite destruction on a mass scale would have grave consequences both in space and on Earth. It could interfere with science activities and space exploration, and threaten the safety of astronauts aboard the International Space Station. It would also disrupt communications on the ground, removing major sources of internet and cellular connectivity, and GPS. Weather services we’ve long relied on would be interrupted.

More than half of all satellites that have ever been sent to orbit are still up there, a lot of them inactive. “Imagine how dangerous sailing the high seas would be if all the ships ever lost in history were still drifting on top of the water,” ESA Director General Jan Wörner said in 2019, when ClearSpace-1 was announced. “That is the current situation in orbit, and it cannot be allowed to continue.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/theres-no-easy-answer-to-being-a-space-janitor-170011469.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – There’s no easy answer to being a space janitor

Progress Software disclosed that it has received a subpoena from the SEC to share information relating to the vulnerability in its file transfer software, MOVEit, which became the subject of a massive exploit beginning last May. According to the filing, the investigation is presently a “fact-finding inquiry,” and there’s no indication at this time that Progress has “violated federal securities laws.” The company intends to cooperate with the SEC.

One report by cybersecurity software company Emsisoft estimates that the MOVEit breach exposed the information of at least 64 million individuals through 2,547 affiliated organizations. Among the organizations impacted by the zero-day vulnerability are the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles and the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. Sony confirmed its employee data was compromised in the exploit earlier this month. And Michigan-based financial services provider, Flagstar Bank, sent its customers a notice that said records had been stolen (they’ll now receive free identity monitoring services for two years.)

The culprits of the attack — the CL0P ransomware gang — “helped pioneer the practice of double-extortion,” according to Reuters. In this sort of scheme, the ransomers both encrypt the target’s data and threaten to leak said data (unless they’re paid.) The group have since made clearweb sites to leak some of the data they’ve exfiltrated in the MOVEit hack, from companies like Kirkland and TD Ameritrade. The FBI have since offered up to $10 million to anyone with information that could link CL0P to any particular foreign government.

The true cost (both to victims and Progress Software) remain unknown at this time. But some of the affected customers have begun seeking restitution for the breach. Progress disclosed in the same regulatory filing that it is a party to 58 class action lawsuits at this time. Many of those may be consolidated as they progress, but they still present the possibility of enormous civil penalties.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sec-investigating-moveit-hack-that-exposed-data-of-at-least-64-million-people-163057853.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – SEC investigating MOVEit hack that exposed data of at least 64 million people

Sony will soon release its Access controller, which it designed to help people with disabilities play PS5 games with greater ease. The $90 peripheral comes with a variety of customization options in the box, and there are four 3.5mm ports that people can use to connect third-party accessories to the controller.

Logitech has teamed up with Sony to release an Adaptive Gaming Kit for the controller. It includes eight buttons and triggers you can plug into the peripheral. These include two small and two large buttons with mechanical switches, two light-touch buttons and two variable trigger controls. These are all configurable on the console to best meet a player’s needs. The kit includes labels with PS5 symbols that you can attach to the buttons and triggers, along with mats and velcro ties to keep everything in place.

The Adaptive Gaming Kit, which will be available in January, costs $80. Logitech previously released a version for the Xbox Adaptive Controller. Since both console platforms’ accessibility controllers use industry-standard 3.5mm connectors, the Xbox variant of Logitech’s kit should be compatible with the Access controller. Still, perhaps you’d prefer stickers with PlayStation symbols to help keep track of what’s what.

Back in the olden days of last December, we had to go to specialized websites to have our natural language prompts transformed into generated AI art, but no longer! Google announced Thursday that users who have opted-in for its Search Generative Experience (SGE) will be able to create AI images directly from the standard Search bar.

SGE is Google’s vision for our web searching future. Rather than picking websites from a returned list, the system will synthesize a (reasonably) coherent response to the user’s natural language prompt using the same data that the list’s links led to. Thursday’s updates are a natural expansion of that experience, simply returning generated images (using the company’s Imagen text-to-picture AI) instead of generated text. Users type in a description of what they’re looking for (a Capybara cooking breakfast, in Google’s example) and, within moments, the engine will create four alternatives to pick from and refine further. Users will also be able to export their generated images to Drive or download them.

What’s more, users will be able to generate images directly in Google Images. So, if you’re looking for (again, Google’s example) “minimalist halloween table settings” or “spooky dog house ideas,” you’ll be able to type that into the search bar and have Google generate an image based on it. What’s really cool is that you can then turn Google Lens on that generated image to search for actual, real-world products that most closely resemble what the computer hallucinated for you. 

There are, of course, a number of limitations built into the new features. You’ll have to be signed up for Google Labs and have opted-in to the SGE program to use any of this. Additionally, the new image generation functions will be available only within the US, in English-language applications and for users over the age of 18. That last requirement is a just bit odd given that Google did just go out of its way to make the program accessible to teens.

The company is also expanding its efforts to rein in the misuse of generative AI technology. Users will be blocked from creating photorealistic images of human faces. You want a photorealistic capybara cooking bacon, that’s no problem. You want a photorealistic Colonel Sanders cooking bacon, you’re going to run into issues and not just in terms of advertising canon. You’ll also be prevented from generating images of “notable” people, so I guess Colonel Sanders is out either way. 

Finally, Google is implementing the SynthID system developed by DeepMind announced last month. SythID is a visually undetectable metadata watermark that denotes a generated image as such, as well as provides information on who, or what, created it and when. The new features will be available through the Labs tab (click the flask icon) in the Google app on iOS and Android, and on Chrome desktop to select users today and expanding to more in the coming weeks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/you-can-now-generate-ai-images-directly-in-the-google-search-bar-160020809.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – You can now generate AI images directly in the Google Search bar

Amazon’s October Prime Day sale officially ended yesterday, but some of the deals are still live. That means there’s time to run through your holiday gift list one more time or pick up something for yourself at a discount. We combed through our coverage over the past few days to find the best sales still available today. Amazon has returned most of their own devices, like Echos and Kindles, back to their full prices. But products from other brands, notably Google, Samsung and Anker, have maintained the same lows they hit on Prime Day. Here are the best deals from Prime Big Deal Days that you can still get right now. 

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6

The new Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 went down to $269 for October Prime Day and it’s still on sale. That’s lowest price we’ve seen since it came out a few months ago. You can’t get a better smartwatch than this one if you have an Android phone (bonus points if you have a Samsung phone), and it’s smaller and lighter than previous versions. Samsung brought back the spinning bezel on the Classic version, which is which makes the software’s UI easier to navigate, plus it has improved performance and updated health and fitness tracking tools.

Apple MacBook Air M2 (15-inch)

The 15.3-inch version of Apple’s MacBook Air is still down to $1,049 for an entry-level model with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. That matches the best price we’ve seen and takes $250 off Apple’s list price. The MacBook Air is the top pick in our guide to the best laptops, and we gave the 15-inch model a review score of 96 earlier this year, as it covers just about all of the things we look for in a quality mainstream notebook. Compared to the 13.6-inch version, it also includes a more powerful speaker system and a slightly upgraded GPU. The SSD in this base configuration is technically slower than the one in higher-capacity SKUs, but that shouldn’t be a major problem unless you’re looking to do more complex work. In general, you wouldn’t buy the Air for things like high-res media editing, though its M2 chip is still plenty powerful for everyday tasks.

If you do need more storage space, the 512GB model with 8GB of RAM is on sale for a low of $1,249. Variants with double the RAM are up to $250 off as well. Meanwhile, the 13.6-inch MacBook Air isn’t discounted on Amazon, but it’s down to $899 at Best Buy. That’s $200 off the notebook’s list price.

Apple iPad mini

The Apple iPad mini dropped to $400 for October Prime Day and it’s one of the few Apple products (apart from the 15-inch MacBook Air above) to maintain its sale price the day after the sale. It’s the best small tablet on the market right now and really your only option if you want a true one-hand-friendly iPad. It’s powered by Apple’s A15 Bionic chip and sports a Touch ID-toting power button, solid cameras, a good battery life and a USB-C port for charging.

Sony WF-1000XM5

Sony’s WF-1000XM5 wireless earbuds went down to $278 for Prime Day and are still going for that price today. Impressive as that’s their best price yet. These are the best wireless earbuds on the market right now, and Sony improved upon it’s already remarkable buds with a more comfortable fit, better sound quality and features likes adaptive sound and Speak-to-Chat.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K

The previous generation of Fire TV Stick 4K dropped to $23 for the sale and is one of the few Amazon devices still on sale. It has the same processor, RAM and storage as the standard Fire TV Stick, but it can stream 4K HDR content in all its glory. It also supports Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos, while a picture-in-picture live view feature can show you feeds from compatible security cameras right on your TV screen.

Do note, though, that this is the previous model of the streaming stick. The newly refreshed Fire TV Stick 4K isn’t sale but has a faster processor and supports Wi-Fi 6.

Anker Soundcore Motion +

One of the top Bluetooth options in our speaker guide is Anker’s Soundcore Motion +, which gives out good sound for its price point. The $100 MSRP is discounted to $70 if you clip the on-page copuon. That’s a 30 percent discount and an all-time low. It has a bright and bassy output and offers EQ customization in the app. Plus it’s water-resistant, so you can take it to the park or on a hike and share your good taste in music with whoever is nearby.

HyperX Cloud Stinger 2

The top budget pick in our gaming headphones buying guide, the HyperX Cloud Stinger 2, is on sale for $35. That’s just a modest $5 discount over its street price recently, but matches the lowest price we’ve seen. The Cloud Stinger 2 doesn’t have the most balanced or detailed sound, but its V-shaped signature gives action scenes a nice level of impact, and its mic quality belies the dirt-cheap price. The design is comfortable too, though it’s made from cheap-feeling plastic.

Shokz OpenRun Pro

The Shokz OpenRun Pro is down to $125 for Prime Big Deal Days, which is $25 more than the lowest price we’ve tracked but still $55 below its usual going rate. This is a recommended pair of bone conduction headphones, which means it hugs the side of your head and delivers sound by passing vibrations through your skull. (It’s not as uncomfortable as it sounds.) The main benefit is that this leaves your ear canals completely open, so you can enjoy a playlist or podcast without being shut out from the outside world. The downside, usually, is that you don’t get as full a sound as you would with a traditional pair. That’ll still be the case here, but we’ve found the OpenRun Pro to deliver more low-end depth than most of its peers. They’re fairly comfy and get up to 10 hours of battery life beyond that.

Logitech G535

If you’re looking for a wireless headset, the Logitech G535 is back down to $80, which is about $25 below its average street price. This is an honorable mention in our gaming headsets guide, as we like its lightweight design, Bluetooth support and agreeable, relatively well-balanced sound. It forces you to crank the volume to reach a listenable level though, and its mic makes voices sound a little too thin. It also doesn’t work with Xbox consoles. But if you really want a wireless gaming headset for less than $100, it’s well worth a look.

Chipolo ONE

The Chipolo One is our pick for the best overall Bluetooth tracking device. It’s currently down to $20 for the single tag, or you can get a 4-pack for $60, which is an even better deal. In our guide, we found the Chipolo to reliably and consistently inform us when we’d left our keys behind. It also has the loudest ring of the trackers we tried, which makes it easier to find lost keys and other items when they’re nearby.

Samsung Smart Monitor M8

The Samsung Smart Monitor M8 is down to just $500, which is $200 off its starting price (though it regularly sells for $600) and the lowest price we’ve seen thus far. This 32-inch display has built-in apps and allows you to access streaming services, just like you would on a smart TV. It can also act as a smart home hub, showing you your smart camera feeds and more. This discounted model is the updated 2023 version of the monitor that launched at CES 2022.

Google Indoor Nest Security Cam

A slew of Google Nest home security devices are still on sale the day after Prime, including the battery-powered Nest Cam that can go inside or outside your home. Typically priced at $180, the security cam dipped down to $120 for Amazon’s October Prime Day event. The Nest Cam works with smart speakers and displays enabled with Alexa or the Google Assistant and can last up to seven months depending on how much activity it picks up. Its weather-resistant build and magnetic mount should make it easy to install on most surfaces. It sends live alerts to your phone and will even allow for on-demand check-ins without a subscription, though it only stores the last three hours for free. For six months of stored footage, you’ll need a Nest Aware membership.

Google Nest Thermostat

In other Google deals, the Nest Thermostat is on sale for just $90, which is only about $10 more than the lowest price we’ve tracked and $40 off Google’s MSRP. This is Google’s entry-level smart thermostat, but it still lets you control your heating and cooling from anywhere, suggests tweaks to help you save money, and in some cases, can entitle you to rebates from your utility provider. It’s all relatively easy to program, and it works with Google’s Nest Hub and other smart displays like the Echo Show.

Beats Studio Pro

The Beats Studio Pro headphones are still on sale for $179 right now. That’s a sizable $170 discount. We reviewed these back in July when they came out and gave them a decent review score of 81. Unfortunately they didn’t push any of the top picks from our our best headphones list off their pedestals. They aren’t bad, however, offering pleasant, even-handed sound and good noise cancellation. Though Beats is now owned by Apple, these headphones still play nice with Android. There’s no wear detection and the mostly plastic design isn’t super premium, but at this price, you may not care.

Tribit StormBox Micro 2

The Tribit StormBox Micro 2 is another small speaker we like that puts out decent volume for its size, and for Prime day it went down to $48, which is $12 off its usual going rate. Right now it’s on sale for $60, but an on-page 15 percent coupon brings it back to that Prime Day low. This device has a strap on its back that works well on belts, backpacks, or even bike handlebars, so it’s easy to take on the road. And “on the go” is where the StormBox Micro 2 performs best, as it’s more about portable volume than pure fidelity.

Google Nest Wi-Fi Pro 6E

The Google Nest Wi-Fi Pro 6E is holding strong at $300 right now for a pack of three routers. That’s within a dollar of the lowest price it’s sold for on Amazon. It’s one of the best Wi-Fi 6 router systems you can get at the moment thanks to its easy setup process, convenient Google Assistant integrations and Matter and Thread support. If you’re looking for a not-too expensive way to upgrade your home Wi-Fi system, and one that will take little time to set up, Google’s is the one to get.

Roku Streaming Stick 4K

Our favorite streaming stick, the Roku Streaming Stick 4K, remains at $37 after the sale. It packs a ton of features into an affordable package, including 4K HDR streaming capabilities, Dolby Vision, AirPlay 2 and private listening when you have a pair of headphones. And since it’s so small, it makes for a great travel entertainment device too.

Hisense U6K

The Hisense U6K is one of the more affordable TVs. And the 55- and 65-inch models are still down to $400 and $548, respectively. We’ve seen these deals before, but each matches an all-time low. The U6K is has received generally positive reviews around the web, as it’s one of the few budget-level sets with quantum dots, full-array local dimming and a mini-LED backlight. All of that should help it deliver better contrast and color volume than most TVs in its price range. It’s not ideal for gaming though, as it’s limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and lacks HDMI 2.1 ports. In general, it can’t match the brightness or viewing angles of a more expensive set, but it looks to be a good buy if you’re on a tighter budget.

For a well-reviewed midrange model, the Hisense U8K provides much better contrast and peak brightness, plus more gaming-friendly features like ability to play 4K content at up to a 144Hz refresh rate. That one is down to $748 for a 55-inch model and $998 for a 65-inch set.

Samsung The Frame smart TV

Samsung’s The Frame TV is down to $998 for the 55-inch set. Yesterday it included a bezel cover at no extra charge, but today just the set alone is discounted. That’s still a $500 discount and matches the lowest price it’s sold for. Other sizes are discounted too. The expensive sets don’t have the high-end features you may expect like local dimming and mini-LED backlighting, so their picture quality isn’t as premium as others in their price range. But the realistic art-when-it’s-off effect is convincing.

iRobot Roomba 694

iRobot’s Roomba 694 dropped to $199 for Prime Day and stayed there. While that’s still $20 more than the lowest we’ve seen it go, it’s still a good deal on our favorite cheap robot vacuum. It’s got strong suction power, an attractive design and easy to use app. It’ll be a good option for robo-vac novices, or anyone that doesn’t want to fuss too much with an automatic dirt sucker. It clears hard and carpeted floors well, and it automatically returns to its base once a cleaning job is finished so it can recharge.

Samsung Pro Plus microSD

The Samsung Pro Plus microSD card is on sale for $20 right now. It’s our top pick in our best microSD card guide because it was the most consistent of the ones we tested, with some of the best overall speeds and all of the important ratings that a good card should have: U3, V30 and A2. It’ll be a great pick for your tablet, smartphone or Nintendo Switch, and it comes with a full-sized adapter in case you need to use it with a camera or connect it to your computer.

Crucial MX500

The Crucial MX500 internal drive is on sale for $46 right now. It’s been an Engadget favorite for a while thanks to its sequential read speeds of 560MB/s and a standard 2.5-inch design that should make it easy to swap in for your desktop’s or laptop’s used-up drive.

Other great deals for after Prime Day

Anker 511 Charger

New Apple Watches don’t come with power adapters, so if you’re looking for one that can deliver a quick charge, we recommend Anker’s 511 (Nano 3) charging brick. It’s down to $20 which is a mild, $4 discount, but still a welcome price for a worthwhile smartwatch accessory.

OtterBox Fast Charge Power Bank

The OtterBox Fast Charge Power Bank is currently just $36 for the 15,000mAh capacity model, which is the version we tested and recommend in our portable battery guide. This pack looks sharp and delivers a fast and reliable charge via USB-C or USB-A.

SanDisk 128GB microSDXC Card for Nintendo Switch

If you need more room on your Switch, SanDisk’s officially licensed microSDXC card is a good pick, particularly when it’s on sale. Right now a 128GB model is within a dollar of its all-time low at just $18.

Samsung Pro Plus microSD card

Our favorite microSD card for most people is the Samsung Pro Plus. It had the fastest sequential write speeds and random performance of any card we tested, and the USB reader that comes with included with this listing helps it reach higher speeds on compatible devices. It’s listed at $38 for the set (though it often goes for $25), and now Prime Day in October brings it to $23.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-26-best-amazon-prime-day-deals-you-can-still-shop-for-today-154416960.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The 26 best Amazon Prime Day deals you can still shop for today

Twitch has finally begun rolling out a previously announced feature that lets creators block banned users from watching their streams. Before this tool, banned users couldn’t participate in chats, but they could watch every second of your stream with their creepy little eyes. Now, they can’t. Well… mostly.

There’s a big-time caveat. While banned users can’t watch your streams, logged-out users can. So the workaround would be simply to log out and cruise to your page. Still, they’d have no way to make their presence known so it would become something of an “out of sight, out of mind” type thing.

This feature must be enabled via moderation settings in the Creator Dashboard, according to Twitch. Once you turn it on and drop the ban hammer on some pest, they’ll immediately lose the ability to watch your stream. You can un-ban them to renew access, or they can log out and watch you anonymously.

It’s also worth noting that Twitch is just banning users and not IP addresses, so another possible workaround would be for someone to sign-up with a new username via a new email address. That’s a fair bit of work, however, just to watch someone fool around with Baldur’s Gate 3. Still, it’s the internet so you never know.

The tool begins rolling out today, but Twitch says it could be a while before it reaches every account, noting that “these updates roll out over time, so some people get it a bit sooner than others.” Check your Twitch app and look for the update.

This is just the latest step in Twitch’s war against harassers. Other moves to address the issue have included the inclusion of a one-button anti-harassment tool, enhancing its reporting and appeals process, rewriting community policies and taking a strong stance against explicit deepfakes.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitch-finally-prevents-users-from-watching-channels-theyre-banned-from-153845731.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Twitch finally prevents users from watching channels they’re banned from