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Meta Ray-Ban Display hands-on: Discreet and intuitive

I've been testing smart glasses for almost a decade. And in that time, one of the questions I've been asked the most is "oh, but can you see anything in them?" For years, I had to explain that no, glasses like that don't really exist yet.
That's no longer the case. And while I've seen a bunch of glasses over the last year that have some kind of display, the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses feel the closest to fulfilling what so many people envision when they hear the words "smart glasses."
To be clear, they don't offer the kind of immersive AR that's possible with Meta's Orion prototype. In fact Meta considers "display AI glasses" to be a totally separate category from AR. The display is only on one lens — the right — and its 20-degree field of view is much smaller than the 70 degrees on Orion. That may sound like a big compromise, but it doesn't feel like one.
Karissa Bell for Engadget
The single display feels much more practical for a pair of glasses you'll want to wear every day. It's meant to be something you can glance at when you need it, not an always-on overlay. The smaller size also means that the display is much sharper, at 42 pixels per degree. This was especially noticeable when I walked outside with the glasses on; images on the display looked even sharper than in indoor light, thanks to automatic brightness features.
I also appreciated that you can't see any light from the display when you're looking at someone wearing the glasses. In fact the display is only barely noticeable at all when you at them up close. 
Having a smaller display also means that the glasses are cheaper, at $799, and that they don't look like the chunky AR glasses we've seen so many times. At 69 grams, they are a bit heavier and thicker than the second-gen Meta Ray-Bans, but not much. As someone who has tried on way too many pairs of thick black smart glasses, I'm glad Meta is offering these in a color besides black. All Wayfarer-style frames look wide on my face but the lighter "sand" color feels a lot more flattering.
The Meta Ray-Ban Display (left) and second-gen Ray-Ban Meta glasses (right.) The display glasses are a little thicker.Karissa Bell for Engadget
The Meta Neural Band wristband that comes with the display glasses functions pretty much the same as the band I used on the Orion prototype. It uses sensors to detect the subtle muscle movements on your hand and wrist and can translate that into actions within the glasses' interface.
It's hard to describe, but the gestures for navigating the glasses interfaces work surprisingly well. I can see how it could take a little time to get used to the various gestures for navigating between apps, bringing up Meta AI, adjusting the volume and other actions, but they are all fairly intuitive. For example, you use your thumb to swipe along the the top of your index finger, sort of like a D-pad, to move up and down and side to side. And you can raise and lower the speaker volume by holding your thumb and index finger together and rotating your wrist right or left like it's a volume knob.
It's no secret that Meta's ultimate goal for its smart glasses is to replace, or almost replace, your phone. That's not possible yet, but having an actual display means you can look at your phone a whole lot less.
Karissa Bell for Engadget
The display can surface incoming texts, navigation with map previews (for walking directions), and info from your calendar. I was also able to take a video call from the glasses — unlike Mark Zuckerberg's attempted live demo during his keynote — and it was way better than I expected. I could not only clearly see the person I was talking to and their surroundings, I could turn on my glasses' camera and see a smaller version of the video from my side.
I also got a chance to try the Conversational Focus feature, which allows you to get live captions of the person you're speaking with even in a loud environment that may be hard to hear. There was something very surreal about getting real-time subtitles to a conversation with a person standing directly in front of me. As someone who tries really hard to not look at screens when I'm speaking to people, it almost felt a little wrong. But I can also see how this would be incredibly helpful to people who have trouble hearing or processing conversations. It would also be great for translations, something Meta AI already does very well.
I also appreciated that the wristband allows you to invoke Meta AI with a gesture so you don't always have to say "Hey Meta." It's a small change, but I've always felt weird about talking to Meta AI in public. The display also addresses another one of my longtime gripes with the Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley glasses: framing a photo is really difficult. But with a display, you can see a preview of your shot, as well as the photo after the fact, so you no longer have to just snap a bunch and hope for the best.
I've only had about 30 minutes with the glasses, so I don't really know how having a display could fit into my daily routine. But even after a short time with them, they really do feel like the beginning of the kind of smart glasses a lot of people have been waiting for.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/meta-ray-ban-display-hands-on-discreet-and-intuitive-002334346.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/wearables/meta-ray-ban-display-hands-on-discreet-and-intuitive-002334346.html?src=rss

Ready to download iOS 26? See if your iPhone is eligible for the free update first

Now that iOS 26 is available to download for many iPhone users — here's how to install it — it's time to check your phone to see if you're eligible for the update. The new OS became available on Monday this week, along with iPadOS 26 and Apple's other operating system updates.
If your phone is compatible with the latest OS, you'll notice substantial changes when you install the new update. You may have already heard about "Liquid Glass," which (intentional or not) is sort of like Apple's take on the old Windows Vista design language. That's the most notable change, but we spent two weeks test-driving many of the other features included in the update — you can check out our hands-on iOS 26 preview for more impressions.
Not sure if you have an eligible smartphone or tablet but also don't want to upgrade? No worries, we'll help you find out if your devices will be able to run iOS 26.
While Apple didn't nix any iPhones from its eligibility list last year, that's not the case for 2025, as a few models are getting the axe this time around. All iPhone 8 models and the iPhone X were the last to receive the boot in 2023, and this year, iPhones released in 2018 will be left behind. 
You can find a full list of iPhones and iPads that support iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 below. To see everything you get with the latest OS updates, you can check out our big rundown of what to expect from iOS 26. Additionally, here's everything Apple revealed at the iPhone 17 launch event, including the all-new iPhone Air. (Check out Engadget's liveblog of the event for full details.)
These three iOS 18 iPhones aren't compatible with iOS 26
Unlike last year, a trio of iPhones won't be eligible to download the newest iOS. These three models that were first released in 2018 won't be coming to the iOS 26 party:

iPhone XR
iPhone XS
iPhone XS Max

iPhones compatible with iOS 26
Per Apple's site, the devices listed below will be compatible with iOS 26. In short, if you have an iPhone that was announced in 2019 or later, you're in the clear:

iPhone SE (second generation or later)
iPhone 11
iPhone 11 Pro
iPhone 11 Pro Max
iPhone 12
iPhone 12 mini
iPhone 12 Pro
iPhone 12 Pro Max
iPhone 13
iPhone 13 mini
iPhone 13 Pro
iPhone 13 Pro Max
iPhone 14
iPhone 14 Plus
iPhone 14 Pro
iPhone 14 Pro Max
iPhone 15
iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 16
iPhone 16 Plus
iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max
iPhone 16e
iPhone 17
iPhone 17 Pro
iPhone 17 Pro Max
iPhone Air

iPads compatible with iPadOS 26
Meanwhile, the iPads listed below are eligible to download iPadOS 26:

iPad Pro (M4)
iPad Pro 12.9‑inch (3rd generation and later)
iPad Pro 11‑inch (1st generation and later)
iPad Air (3rd generation and later, including M2 and M3)
iPad (8th generation and later, including A16)
iPad mini (5th generation and later, including A17 Pro)

What if I don't want to buy a new iPhone?
If you want to continue using your older iPhone that isn't supported by iOS 26, that's fine. However, you'll eventually miss out on security updates which could potentially put your phone at risk for malware and other threats. Additionally, some apps may stop working if they require a certain version of iOS or later. And, of course, you won't be able to access the latest features iOS 26 offers.
Should I upgrade to iOS 18.7 or iOS 26?
When you first open Software Update in Settings, you'll notice two different upgrade options: iOS 18.7 and iOS 26. Apple released the former to address security issues, so you can at least download that one if you're unsure about all the big changes on iOS 26. It also gives you more time to wait for Apple to take care of any bugs on the new OS. 
However, if you're excited to finally have the Liquid Glass aesthetic on your phone and use all the new features iOS 26 has to offer, go ahead and install that one. After all, Apple had all summer to weed through the most problematic bugs during its beta phase and usually releases a new update shortly after the initial launch.
iOS 26 features to try out first
Liquid Glass design: Your home screen is getting revamped with new app icons, including dark mode and all-clear options. You'll also notice buttons with a new floating design. Liquid Glass, in Apple's terms, was designed to make all of the company's operating systems more visually cohesive.
Phone app redesign: You can finally scroll through contacts, recent calls and voicemail messages all on one screen. It also comes with a new feature called Hold Assist that'll notify you when an agent comes to the phone so you can avoid the elevator music.
Live Translate: iOS 26 brings the ability to have a conversation via phone call or text message with someone who speaks another language. Live Translate will translate your conversation in real time.
Polls feature: Coming to group messages in the Messages app, chat members can now create polls. This can help prevent the unwanted 30+ messages when it comes to deciding which restaurant you're meeting at this weekend.
New lock screen options: More customizable iPhone lock screen options are available with iOS 26, including a cooler clock, 3D wallpaper effects, more widgets and better focus mode options.
Snooze longer (or shorter): Say goodbye to the 9-minute snooze setting in your alarms (if you want). You now have the option to change your snooze time from one to 15 minutes.
Fresh Camera app design: You'll find the Camera app is simpler to navigate in iOS 26, with all the buttons and menus located in convenient spots. That means less swiping, more photo taking. Plus, there's a new feature that tells you if your lens is too dirty.
Screenshot revamps: When you take a screenshot, you now have the option to search for the image on Google (maybe you're looking for a sweater you saw on a celeb) and you can ask ChatGPT questions about the photo — all from the edit screen. It's like a reverse image search but without all the hard work.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/ready-to-download-ios-26-see-if-your-iphone-is-eligible-for-the-free-update-first-191854926.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/mobile/ready-to-download-ios-26-see-if-your-iphone-is-eligible-for-the-free-update-first-191854926.html?src=rss

iOS 26 is ready to download: Everything to know about the free iPhone software update

If you haven't already, you can now download the new iOS 26 on your iPhone. Once you do, get ready to see a slew of changes, including a new clear design called Liquid Glass. The translucent look can be found within apps as well as your lock and home screens. (If you don't like it, there's a way to reduce the transparency.) The overhaul is one of several big changes that come with iOS, macOS, iPadOS, watchOS and the rest of Apple's software suite — the new operating system updates for those gadgets are also available to download now.
You'll also see multiple useful additions in the Phone and Messages apps. For instance, the ability to weed out spam texts or unknown senders and an option to hold your spot on a phone call when you've been waiting for a representative to pick up. And for fun, you can now create polls in group texts. Other new improvements coming include a confirmed AirPods live translation feature, and a new bouncy animation on the passcode screen and in the Control Center.
If you're planning to upgrade your phone this year, take a look at all the new models Apple unveiled during its iPhone 17 event, from the iPhone 17 lineup (check out our review of the iPhone 17) to the all-new ultra-thin iPhone Air (take a look at our hands-on review). If you missed the keynote, you can catch up on everything Apple announced here or rewatch the full iPhone 17 launch. The company rounded out its announcements with three new Apple Watch models, as well as the brand-new AirPods Pro 3.
Most newer iPhone models are eligible to download iOS 26. We've rounded up a full list of new features you'll have to check out. 
What is iOS 26 and should I download iOS 18.7 first?
Instead of releasing iOS 19, Apple skipped its naming convention ahead to iOS 26. The company has decided to line up its iOS version numbers with a year-based system, similar to car model years. So while iOS and its sibling operating systems were released in 2025, they're all designated "26" to reflect the year ahead. 
Apple also released iOS 18.7 alongside iOS 26 to address security issues — great news if you don't have a phone that's eligible to run the latest OS. If you're wondering which one to download first, it's really up to you. Do you want to wait for Apple to quash any bugs in iOS 26 or do you want access to all the new features everyone's talking about now?
It's official, we're moving to iOS 26. (Apple)
What is Liquid Glass design?
Let's be honest. Out of everything announced at WWDC this year, the new Liquid Glass design was the star of the show. The iPhone's home and lock screens have looked pretty much the same year after year — the last exciting thing (in my opinion) was the option to add your own aesthetic to your home screen by customizing your apps and widgets. So seeing the home and lock screens' new facelift is refreshing.
So what exactly is Liquid Glass? Apple calls it a "new translucent material" since, well, the apps and widgets are clear. However, the screen can still adapt to dark and light modes, depending on surroundings. You'll also notice buttons with a new floating design in several apps, like Phone and Maps. They're designed to be less distracting than the current buttons, but are still easy to see. 
While the design overhaul has proven to be controversial since its announcement, some — including Engadget's Devindra Hardawar — like the new direction, even if it's somewhat reminiscent of Microsoft's translucent Windows Vista Aero designs from nearly twenty years ago.
That said, while it was in beta mode, Apple incorporated some user feedback into the design, dialing back the transparency in at least some places. And while it will continue to evolve, Apple users won't be able to escape it: The company says Liquid Glass was designed to make all of its platforms more cohesive. 
Here's a look at how the translucent aesthetic looks with the new macOS Tahoe 26 on your desktop.
How to turn iOS 26 Liquid Glass settings off
If you find you don't like the new clear look after downloading iOS 26, you can change a couple Accessibility settings, though you can't completely turn off Liquid Glass. For starters, you can reduce the liquid look by going to Settings > Accessibility > Motion > toggle on Reduce Motion. 
You can make your drop-down menus more opaque instead of translucent by going to Settings >Accessibility > Display & Text Size > toggle on Reduce Transparency.
You can also change your clear apps back to the way they were. Just press and hold any app on your screen and select Edit Home Screen. From here, tap Edit (top left) and Customize. You can swap out to Default, Dark or Tinted.
What are the new and notable features of iOS 26?
iOS 26 has a laundry list of new features. Among the most worthwhile:
Phone app redesign: You can now scroll through contacts, recent calls and voicemail messages all on one screen. It also comes with a new feature called Hold Assist that'll notify you when an agent comes to the phone so you can avoid the elevator music and continue on with other tasks.
Live Translation in Phone, FaceTime and Messages: iOS 26 brings the ability to have a conversation via phone call, FaceTime or text message with someone who speaks another language. Live Translation uses Apple Intelligence and it will translate your conversation in real time, which results in some stop-and-go interactions in the examples Apple shared during its presentation.
Polls in group chats: Tired of sorting through what seems like hundreds of messages in your group chat? You and your friends can now create polls in group messages to decide things like which brunch spot you're eating at or whose car you're taking on a road trip.
Filtering unknown senders in Messages: If you haven't received spam texts about unpaid tolls or other citations, you're lucky. For those of us who have, those annoying messages will soon be filtered away in a separate folder.
Visual Intelligence: Similar to a reverse Google image search, this new feature will allow you to search for anything that's on your iPhone screen. For instance, if you spot a pair of shoes someone is wearing in an Instagram photo, you can screenshot it and use Visual Intelligence to find those shoes (or similar ones) online.
Photos tabs are back: For anyone who's been frustrated with last year's changes to the Photos app, you'll be happy to know that your tabs are back. Library and Collections have their own separate spaces so you don't have to scroll to infinity to find what you're looking for.
Camera app updates: Navigating the Camera app should be simpler in iOS 26, as all the buttons and menus are in convenient spots — less swiping, more photo taking. Plus, there's a new feature that tells you if your lens needs to be cleaned. 
FaceTime "Communication Safety" feature: A newer addition to iOS 26 appears to be the FaceTime "Communication Safety" feature that pauses communications if and when nudity is detected. The feature appears to be a child safety feature that uses on-device detection, thus obviating any cloud-based privacy issues. 
New lock screen options: The iPhone lock screen is more customizable in iOS 26, with a cooler clock, 3D wallpaper effects, more widgets and better focus mode options. 
New alarm setting: You'll no longer be stuck with the 9-minute snooze setting in your alarms. Instead, you now have the option to change your snooze time from one to 15 minutes.
Screenshots look different: You'll notice several new features when you take a screenshot, including "highlight to search," the option to search your image on Google and ChatGPT is there for any questions you have about the image.
Preview on iOS 26: There's a new app called Preview that lets you scan documents, fill out PDF forms, as well as highlight, underline or strike through text in a PDF file. You can also remove backgrounds from images in this app. 
Apple's Hold Assist will be nifty for those pesky services that put you on hold for 10 or more minutes. (Apple)
New changes with iPadOS 26
Your iPad isn't getting left behind when it comes to big updates. Here's what to look for.
Multitasking and real windowing: When you download the newest update, you'll be able to have multiple apps running on your screen at the same time. Once you open an app, it'll appear on your screen as normal but you'll be able to resize and move it across your screen to make room for other apps. This feature is optional so you can turn it off if you don't like it.
Visual update: Along with the other new OSes, iPadOS 26 also has the Liquid Glass aesthetic. This new look appears on the lock and home screens, as well as the drop-down menus.
New menu bar: When you swipe down on your screen, the new menu bar will appear with options like File, Edit, Windows and more. There's also a search option if you're looking for something specific.
There's more beyond that, so be sure to check out our first impressions of iPadOS 26. 
What about AirPods?
AirPods are also getting updated with iOS 26. Here are some of the more notable functions.
Enhanced audio recording: Apple calls this "studio-quality" audio recording, and with it, you'll notice more clarity while in noisy environments.
Camera remote control: Using this, you can take a photo or start and stop video recording with just one press on your AirPods. When taking photos, you'll get a three-second countdown before your iPhone or iPad snaps the picture.
Live translation feature: Live translation is available on AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 with ANC when paired with iPhones running iOS 26. Apple says that when someone speaks to you in a different language, you can use your AirPods to translate what they’re saying.
Heart rate monitoring: Apple introduced new AirPods Pro 3 earbuds this month, which include heart rate monitoring. It will work with Apple's Health app and other fitness apps that track heart rates.
Did Siri get an update?
Siri is in a holding pattern. Apple has previously specified that its smarter voice assistant — first promised at WWDC 2024 — is delayed until some point "in the coming year," so you shouldn't expect any major changes right now. But there are reports that Apple is aiming to give Siri a bigger brain transplant by basing it on third-party artificial intelligence models like OpenAI's ChatGPT or Anthropic's Claude, which could make 2026 a pivotal year. The company is also reportedly working on a "stripped-down" AI chatbot to rival ChatGPT.
Which iPhones will be able to upgrade to iOS 26?
A few iPhone models that run the current version of iOS — iPhone XR, XS and XS Max — aren't compatible with the latest upgrade. But any iPhones from 2019 or later will be eligible for iOS 26:

iPhone SE (second generation or later)
iPhone 11
iPhone 11 Pro
iPhone 11 Pro Max
iPhone 12
iPhone 12 mini
iPhone 12 Pro
iPhone 12 Pro Max
iPhone 13
iPhone 13 mini
iPhone 13 Pro
iPhone 13 Pro Max
iPhone 14
iPhone 14 Plus
iPhone 14 Pro
iPhone 14 Pro Max
iPhone 15
iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 16
iPhone 16 Plus
iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max
iPhone 16e
iPhone 17
iPhone Air
iPhone 17 Pro
iPhone 17 Pro Max

When can you download iOS 26?
iOS 26 has officially been released to the public for free as of September 15, 2025. 
If you're more interested in the new Apple Intelligence features, here's everything Apple revealed for iOS, macOS and more during WWDC. Also, check out how iOS 26 screenshots could be an intriguing preview of Apple's delayed Siri rework.
Update, September 18: Added info about Engadget's iPhone 17 review.
Update, September 17: Added details and link about the new iPhone Air.
Update, September 16: Added details about modifying Liquid Glass settings, and new info about the Preview app.
Update, September 15: Noted iOS 26 is officially available for download.
Update, September 12: Noted iOS 26 is coming to eligible iPhones in just a few days, timing TBD.
Update, September 11: Added the products Apple released at its Tuesday event and noted when iOS 26 will be available to download.
Update, September 9: Noted the iPhone event is starting soon.
Update, September 8: Noted the iPhone 17 event is tomorrow.
Update, September 4: Added details about how screenshots are different in iOS 26.
Update, September 3: Noted Apple is expected to release iOS 18.7 alongside iOS 26.
Update, September 2: Added more new features coming with iOS 26.
Update, August 29: Added new section about Siri and a link to what's new with the iOS 26 Camera app.
Update, August 27: Added the official iPhone 17 event date, as well as the potential iOS 26 release.
Update, August 25: Added a rumor about new AirPods Pro having heart rate monitoring.
Update, August 22: Noted that Apple has officially stopped signing iOS 18.6.
Update, August 20: Noted that iOS 26 public beta 4 and iOS 18.6.2 are now available to download.
Update, August 18: Added details about a potential iOS 18.6 update.
Update, August 15: Added to link to what to expect at the Apple iPhone event and details about what's available in the iOS 26 screenshots editor.
Update, August 13: Added new AirPods detail spotted in the iOS 26 beta.
Update, August 11: Noted that iOS 26 developer beta has hit beta 6. 
Update, August 8: Added new features coming with iPadOS 26 and AirPods.
Update, August 6: Noted the release of iOS 26 beta 5 and the new bouncy feature on passcode screen and Control Center.
Update, August 4: Noted that Apple is reportedly working on a ChatGPT rival.
Update, August 1: Added quote from Tim Cook about iOS 26.
Update, July 31: Noted that iOS 18.6 is now available. 
Update, July 24: Noted the iOS 26 public beta is now available.
Update, July 3: Noted new FaceTime feature found in the developer beta.
Update, June 30: Noted ongoing iOS 18 releases, and reports that Apple is considering additional external LLMs for Siri. 
Update, June 25: Noted changes added in iOS 26 beta 2. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/ios-26-is-ready-to-download-everything-to-know-about-the-free-iphone-software-update-135749287.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/mobile/ios-26-is-ready-to-download-everything-to-know-about-the-free-iphone-software-update-135749287.html?src=rss

Meta will let outside developers create AI-powered apps for its smart glasses

Meta's lineup of smart glasses could soon get a lot more capabilities. The company will begin allowing outside developers to bring their apps to its RayBan and Oakley smart glasses, Meta announced on the second day of its Connect event.
Up to now, Meta has only had a limited number of third-party integrations for its glasses, with apps like Spotify and Audible. But Meta will now allow developers to start experimenting with apps that can take advantage of the built-in sensors and audio capabilities of its glasses. This means other companies will be able to create their own custom experiences that use Meta's multimodal AI features.
The company is already working with a set of early partners, like Twitch, which is creating livestreaming capabilities for the glasses, and Disney, which is experimenting with an app for inside its parks. A demo video shows a visitor walking around Disneyland and asking the AI assistant about the rides she's seeing and other park information. 18Birdies, a golf app, is working on an integration that can give players club recommendations and yardage stats.
Notably, these apps all seem like they work with Meta's non-display glasses, which means that even people who have first-gen Ray-Ban Meta glasses could see a bunch of added new functionality. It's not clear if the company will also allow developers to also build experiences that can take advantage of the display on its newest Meta Ray-Ban Display frames, but that could open up even more possibilities.
Meta's new set of tools, officially called the "Wearables Device Access Toolkit," will roll out as a limited developer preview ahead of broader availability in 2026.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/meta-will-let-outside-developers-create-ai-powered-apps-for-its-smart-glasses-194159233.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/wearables/meta-will-let-outside-developers-create-ai-powered-apps-for-its-smart-glasses-194159233.html?src=rss

Epic will let Fortnite creators sell in-game items in latest attempt to compete with Roblox

Creators building experiences in Fortnite are getting a new way to earn revenue. Epic says developers will soon have the ability to make and sell in-game items in Fortnite, and earn a cut of the V-Bucks users spend to buy them. Previously, developers only earned money through Fortnite based on the amount of time users spent on their "islands," the in-game name for third-party experiences creators can offer through Fortnite.
Developers will be able to create their consumable and durable in-game items using soon-to-be-released tools in Unreal Editor for Fortnite and a new "Verse-based API," according to Epic. The company also plans to be generous with the revenue split its offering, at least at first. Developers "will ordinarily earn 50 percent of the V-Bucks value from sales in their islands," but from December 2025 through the end of 2026, they'll get to keep 100 percent.
Epic says its 50 percent cut — notably more than the 30 percent popularized by Apple's App Store — is to help "contribute to server hosting costs, safety and moderation costs, R&D and other operating expenses" of running Fortnite. It's also a make-good of sorts, since Epic claims it's been "investing and operating the business at a loss."
How much 100 percent or 50 percent of "V-Bucks value" actually equals in real money unfortunately isn't as simple as converting Fortnite's digital currency to dollars, though. Epic offers the following explanation for how it calculates V-Bucks value: 
To determine the V-Bucks value in US dollars in a given month, we take all customer real-money spending to purchase V-Bucks (converted to US Dollars), subtract platform and store fees (ranging from 12 percent on Epic Games Store to 30 percent on current consoles), and divide it by the total V-Bucks spent by players. Fortnite's average platform and store fees are currently 26 percent (with specific fees ranging from 12 percent on the Epic Games Store to 30 percent on console platforms). So, 50 percent of V-Bucks value translates to ~37 percent of retail spending, and 100 percent of V-Bucks value translates to ~74 percent.
Epic
Alongside the new ability to create in-game items, Epic says Fortnite developers will be able to pay to be featured in a new "Sponsored row" inside Fortnite's Discover feed. And to better engage new and returning players, developers are also getting access to new tools for creating community forums and sharing updates on their islands.
All of these changes are in service of further extending Fortnite's ability to act as a platform for games and social experiences, rather than just a battle royale game (with racing, rhythm game and LEGO spin-offs). Epic clearly wants Fortnite to be Roblox, and reap the benefits of having an active community of adult and child users creating experiences for its platform. Cultivating that audience has led to all sorts of child safety problems for Roblox, but Epic clearly views the risks to be worth it.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/epic-will-let-fortnite-creators-sell-in-game-items-in-latest-attempt-to-compete-with-roblox-192059073.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/gaming/epic-will-let-fortnite-creators-sell-in-game-items-in-latest-attempt-to-compete-with-roblox-192059073.html?src=rss

The FTC sues Ticketmaster for allegedly colluding with resellers

The FTC and seven states sued Ticketmaster owner Live Nation on Wednesday. The lawsuit accused the company of knowingly allowing brokers to buy tickets in bulk. Ticketmaster allegedly then let them resell the tickets at a significant markup on its own second-hand market.
The FTC claims Ticketmaster was aware that resellers routinely bypassed its security measures for these purchases. The company profits three times from resales. It collects fees at the initial purchase, followed by both buyer and seller fees upon resale. Between 2019 and 2024, Ticketmaster raked in $16.4 billion in fees, according to the FTC.
The agency paints a picture of the company that epitomizes rampant corporate greed. The FTC claims an internal Live Nation review showed that five resellers alone harvested 246,407 tickets to 2,594 events. The agency accused Ticketmaster of admitting in an internal email that it "turn[s] a blind eye as a matter of policy."
The company is said to even offer tech support to brokers through its TradeDesk app. The software is designed to consolidate and manage tickets purchased through multiple Ticketmaster accounts.
Ticketmaster also allegedly failed to implement third-party identity verification tools that could have prevented the bulk purchases. Why? The FTC quotes the company as saying these tools would have been "too effective." The company is also said to have admitted to engaging in deceptive pricing. Their alleged reason: Customers were less likely to buy tickets when they saw the actual cost upfront.
The FTC accused Live Nation of violating two laws: the FTC Act's ban on deceptive practices and the BOTS Act. The latter was signed by President Obama in 2016, just before leaving office. As its name suggests, it banned the use of bots or other software to obtain more tickets than is legally allowed. Earlier this year, President Trump issued an executive order to increase enforcement of the law.
The suit was filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California. Joining the FTC in the suit are Virginia, Utah, Florida, Tennessee, Nebraska, Illinois and Colorado.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/the-ftc-sues-ticketmaster-for-allegedly-colluding-with-resellers-191337586.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/the-ftc-sues-ticketmaster-for-allegedly-colluding-with-resellers-191337586.html?src=rss

Microsoft’s Gaming Copilot AI assistant is coming to Windows PCs and the Xbox mobile app

Microsoft's Gaming Copilot AI assistant is officially coming to Windows PCs and the Xbox mobile app. The company has been testing the tool for PCs with Xbox Insiders, but now it's getting a broader rollout.
To that end, it'll be available to players aged 18 and older on the PC Game Bar. The Xbox app version rolls out this October, for both Android and iOS, after a beta test took place earlier this year. Microsoft says that its Gaming Copilot will be available throughout the globe, except in mainland China.

So what exactly is this thing? It's sort of like an AI version of those old Nintendo help phone lines. The chat box appears as an overlay on the screen and players can use it to ask questions or to get tips about a game. The company says it "knows what you're playing and understands your Xbox activity," as it uses in-game screenshots. It can also answer questions about an Xbox account and offer recommendations on stuff to buy.
The official version also offers voice chat, so you can just ask the questions out loud. On PC, there's a "Push to Talk" hotkey that activates the bot, which is handy. The app includes a microphone button. There's a widget for the PC build that can be placed anywhere on the screen. This is useful for longer conversations.
With Copilot for Gaming, you can jump back into games faster, get real-time coaching, and stay connected... all on your own terms. Excited for what the team has in store! pic.twitter.com/18Ll2D25i1— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) March 13, 2025

Microsoft is still tinkering with this software and urges feedback from users as they "continue to develop Gaming Copilopt and make it even more helpful for players' needs and preferences." The company has been testing the system on Windows-based portable consoles, and it did recently announce the pending availability of its own Xbox Ally handheld gaming machines. It's likely that the software will get an official rollout for those consoles some time after they launch on October 16. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsofts-gaming-copilot-ai-assistant-is-coming-to-windows-pcs-and-the-xbox-mobile-app-185452965.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsofts-gaming-copilot-ai-assistant-is-coming-to-windows-pcs-and-the-xbox-mobile-app-185452965.html?src=rss

Discord will launch a native Meta Quest app next year

In addition to new hardware announcements, Meta had software news to share during its Meta Connect 2025 conference today. The company revealed that Discord will be making a native app for the Meta Quest headset. According to Meta, the native window app will be available some time in 2026.The development makes sense. VR is a platform with a lot of gaming presence, so having Discord for easy social and voice connections while playing is a win for players and a natural match for the two businesses. Having a native app can make a big difference in the ease of use. I'm primarily a member of the PlayStation nation, and I swear I heard an angelic choir singing when the PS5 finally got call support. Meta positioned the upcoming availability of the native app as a boon for the developers of VR experiences to reach new audiences, thanks to Discord's more than 200 million monthly active players. We've reached out to Discord for additional comment and will update with any more details we receive.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/discord-will-launch-a-native-meta-quest-app-next-year-183939524.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/discord-will-launch-a-native-meta-quest-app-next-year-183939524.html?src=rss

Steam is ending support for Windows 32-bit next year

Steam is officially dropping Windows 32-bit support at the end of this year, the company announced today. The only 32-bit version of Windows that is currently supported by Steam is Windows 10 32-bit. The company says 0.01 percent of systems reported through the Steam Hardware Survey are using that version of Windows. On any given day, Steam sees just over 36 million daily users, so it's safe to assume that this change will only affect a few thousand gamers.
While this doesn't mean that your Steam client running on Windows 10 32-bit will self-destruct at midnight on January 1, it does mean that you will no longer receive updates or technical support. Microsoft is also sunsetting Windows 10 on October 14 of this year, which will similarly mean an end to security updates.
Valve will still support Steam on Windows 10 64-bit for the time being. Windows 11 doesn't offer a 32-bit version, making it the first version not to offer 32-bit since the feature was introduced with Windows NT in 1993.
"Core features in Steam rely on system drivers and other libraries that are not supported on 32-bit versions of Windows," Steam explained in the announcement. Hopefully this change frees up enough bandwidth at Valve to get Half-Life 3 over the finish line.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/steam-is-ending-support-for-windows-32-bit-next-year-171057805.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/steam-is-ending-support-for-windows-32-bit-next-year-171057805.html?src=rss

Gemini in Chrome no longer requires a subscription

Back at I/O 2025, Google began integrating Gemini into Chrome. At the time, you needed an AI Pro or AI Ultra subscription to access the AI assistant in the browser. That's changing today. Google has begun rolling out the tool to all Chrome desktop users on both Windows and Mac. Provided you have Chrome's language set to English and live in the US, you'll see a new sparkle icon at the top of the interface. Tapping it will allow you to start making requests of Gemini. 
You can also use the tool on a smartphone. On Android, you can do so by holding your phone's power button. On iOS, meanwhile, Google is working on bringing the assistant to the Chrome app.  
Google
Since its introduction at I/O, Google has made some enhancements to how Gemini works inside of Chrome. To start, the tool can now work across multiple tabs, allowing it to compare and summarize information from different websites. At the same time, Gemini can access your browsing history thanks to a new recall feature. Google suggests this can be helpful in situations where you can't quite remember where you saw something online. Instead of manually sifting through your browser history, you can write a prompt like "what was that blog I read on back to school shopping?" and Gemini will take care of the rest.
The new version of Gemini for Chrome also offers deeper integrations with other Google services, including Calendar, YouTube and Maps. For instance, you can ask the assistant to schedule meetings for you, and if you're working through a long YouTube video, Gemini can generate timestamps you can use to jump around the video.
Google
At the start of May, Google began using Gemini Nano to upgrade Chrome's Enhanced Protection suite. On Thursday, the company said Gemini Nano would also soon work to protect users against websites that use fake viruses or giveaways to trick them. Google has also added an algorithm that will learn your preferences for granting permissions. When it determines you're unlikely to grant a website permission to access your computer's camera or location, it will present those requests in a less intrusive way. Similarly, Google will add an AI designed to make it easier to update compromised credentials through Chrome's built-in password manager. Starting with a handful of supported websites — including Coursera, Duolingo and Spotify — you'll be able to change your passwords with a single click.
In the coming months, Google plans to bring agentic capabilities to Chrome, meaning Gemini will be able to complete tasks for you. For example, the company envisions people using this feature to do their weekly grocery shopping through Instacart. The company first previewed this capability with Project Mariner at the end of 2024. Over the last year, a few different companies have released their own takes on web-surfing agents with mixed results. For example, people have complained of OpenAI's Operator failing to complete some tasks.
Google
"Our hope is that by the time this gets to users, we've done away with many of the potential snafus," said Mike Torres, vice president of product for Chrome, during a media briefing Google held ahead of today's announcement. "This is an experimental experience we're continuing to improve. We're not going to do something that compromises the user experience."
Last but not least, Google is adding an AI Mode mode shortcut directly to Chrome's address bar. If you need a refresher, AI Mode is Google's dedicated search chatbot. At I/O 2025, the company made it available to every Search user in the US. Now you can access it without navigating to Google first. When I asked Torres about the button, he was quick to note users don't have to use the shortcut. "What we're trying to do is maintain users' existing behavior," he added.
As with any major update from Google, it may take a few days for the new features to roll out to your installation of Chrome.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/gemini-in-chrome-no-longer-requires-a-subscription-170045611.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/ai/gemini-in-chrome-no-longer-requires-a-subscription-170045611.html?src=rss

Notepad's AI writing features will soon run locally on Copilot+ PCs

CoPilot+ PC owners have a new perk in the pipeline. Your AI PC will soon perform Notepad's AI writing features on-device — no subscription required. The app's summarize, write and rewrite options were introduced earlier this year.
Up to this point, you've needed a CoPilot Pro or Microsoft 365 subscription to use Notepad's AI writing tools. So, if you've splurged on an AI PC, this could save you a few bucks each month. And if you have both a subscription and a CoPilot+ PC, it lets you choose between local and cloud generation.
Microsoft is rolling out the new local AI feature now for its Windows Insider beta testers. It's available in English only, at least for now.
Microsoft
Paint is also getting some love in the latest Insider builds. You can now save projects, Adobe-style. If you're in the middle of an edit, you can choose File > Save as project. You can then select a location to save the .paint file and pick up later where you left off.
On top of that, Paint is also adding an opacity slider to the pencil and brush tools. Nobody in their right mind will describe MS Paint as a Photoshop rival. But at least the simple drawing and editing app is growing slightly more advanced. It's gotten a renewed focus from the company after adding AI image generation chops last year.
Last but... definitely least is an update to Snipping Tool. Insiders will see a new quick markup option in the screenshot app. After snipping something onscreen, you'll find the feature in the capture toolbar. You can then scribble away before saving.
All the Windows updates are available in the Canary and Dev Insider channels. Anyone with a Microsoft account can sign up for free. The company does occasionally cancel beta features before they're released to Windows proper. But that's more the exception than the rule.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/notepads-ai-writing-features-will-soon-run-locally-on-copilot-pcs-163518223.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/ai/notepads-ai-writing-features-will-soon-run-locally-on-copilot-pcs-163518223.html?src=rss

A former Facebook lobbyist is now in charge of the EU's Facebook regulator

A former lobbyist for Meta is now in charge of the EU's chief regulator for big tech firms, according to reporting by The Irish Times. Niamh Sweeney has been named commissioner of the Data Protection Commission (DPC), which is one of the largest EU data protection authorities.
Prior to this, she worked at Meta for six years. Sweeney was director of European public policy at WhatsApp and head of Irish public policy at Facebook for many of those years. She becomes the third active commissioner of the regulatory body, joining Des Hogan and Dale Sutherland.
“As the responsibilities and scope of the DPC continue to grow, I am pleased that three commissioners will now lead and manage this key regulatory body," said Ireland's Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan.
🚨 A former Meta lobbyist will join the DPC as a commissioner in October.With this appointment, the Irish government does not even pretend to care about enforcing EU law anymore.Read our full statement on the matter here:https://t.co/1AFv9qfKSG— noyb (@NOYBeu) September 18, 2025

The organization has welcomed Sweeney's appointment, saying it looks forward to "working with her as the DPC continues to uphold the EU's fundamental right to data protection." However, this regulatory body is notorious for being friendly to big tech, as is Ireland in general.
The country offers a low corporate tax rate and tends to be lenient when it comes to regulations. The DPC has developed a reputation for not actually calling on big tech companies to pay out fines for violating laws like the EU's General Data Protection Regulation. As a matter of fact, the organization has only managed to collect around 0.6 percent of the billions of dollars in fines levied toward tech companies.
Some of these violations were attributed to Meta itself. The company was fined nearly $300 million after a data breach impacted Facebook accounts throughout the globe. Meta was fined another $100 million after it was found to be storing passwords in plain text, which is a GDPR violation. Here's hoping Sweeney is willing to step up against her old bosses.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/a-former-facebook-lobbyist-is-now-in-charge-of-the-eus-facebook-regulator-154444108.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/a-former-facebook-lobbyist-is-now-in-charge-of-the-eus-facebook-regulator-154444108.html?src=rss

The best October Prime Day deals to shop now: Early sales on tech from Apple, Beats, Samsung, Anker and others

October Prime Day will be here soon on October 7 and 8, but as to be expected, you can already find some decent sales available now. Amazon always has lead-up sales in the days and weeks before Prime Day, and it’s wise to shop early if you’re on the hunt for something specific and you see that item at a good discount.Prime Day deals are typically reserved for subscribers, but there are always a few that anyone can shop. We expect this year to be no exception, and we’re already starting to see that trend in these early Prime Day deals. These are the best Prime Day deals you can get right now ahead of the event, and we’ll update this post with the latest offers as we get closer to October Prime Day proper.
Best Prime Day deals: Engadget's top picks

Apple MagSafe charger (25W, 2m) for $35 (29 percent off): The latest version of Apple's MagSafe puck is Qi2.2-certified and supports up to 25W of wireless power when paired with a 30W adapter. The two-meter cable length on this particular model gives you more flexibility on where you can use it: in bed, on the couch, at your desk and elsewhere.
Apple iPad Air (11-inch, M3) for $449 ($150 off): The only major difference between the latest iPad Air and the previous generation is the addition of the faster M3 chip. We awarded the new slab an 89 in our review, appreciating the fact that the M3 chip was about 16 percent faster in benchmark tests than the M2. This is the iPad to get if you want a reasonable amount of productivity out of an iPad that's more affordable than the Pro models.
Apple Mac mini (M4) for $499 $100 off): If you prefer desktops, the upgraded M4 Mac mini is one that won’t take up too much space, but will provide a ton of power at the same time. Not only does it come with an M4 chipset, but it also includes 16GB of RAM in the base model, plus front-facing USB-C and headphone ports for easier access.
Anker 622 5K magnetic power bank with stand for $28 (42 percent off): This 0.5-inch thick power bank attaches magnetically to iPhones and won't get in your way when you're using your phone. It also has a built-in stand so you can watch videos, make FaceTime calls and more hands-free while your phone is powering up.
8BitDo Pro 2 controller with travel case for $40 (34 percent off, Prime exclusive): We generally love 8BitDo controllers, and the Pro 2 has been one of our favorites for a long time. This model works with Switch 2, Steam Deck, Android and more, plus it has Hall Effect joysticks and a slew of customization options.
Anker Nano 5K ultra-slim power bank (Qi2, 15W) for $46 (16 percent off): A top pick in our guide to the best MagSafe power banks, this super-slim battery is great for anyone who wants the convenient of extra power without the bulk. We found its proportions work very well with iPhones, and its smooth, matte texture and solid build quality make it feel premium.
Best Prime Day deals on tech

Anker Soundcore Select 4 Go speaker for $23 (34 percent off): This small Bluetooth speaker gets pretty loud for its size and has decent sound quality. You can pair two together for stereo sound as well, and its IP67-rated design will keep it protected against water and dust.
Anker Soundcore Space A40 for $45 (44 percent off): Our top pick for the best budget wireless earbuds, the Space A40 have surprisingly good ANC, good sound quality, a comfortable fit and multi-device connectivity.
Anker MagGo 10K power bank (Qi2, 15W) for $60 (25 percent off): A 10K power bank like this is ideal if you want to be able to recharge your phone at least once fully and have extra power to spare. This one is also Qi2 compatible, providing up to 15W of power to supported phones.
Levoit Core 200S smart air purifier for $70 ($20 off with clippable coupon): This compact air purifier cleans the air in rooms up to 140 square feet and uses a 3-in-1 filter that removes microscopic dust, pollen and airborne particles. It has a mobile app that you can use to set runtime schedules, and it works with Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands.
Amazon Fire TV Cube for $100 (29 percent off): Amazon's most powerful streaming device, the Fire TV Cube supports 4K, HDR and Dolby Vision content, Dolby Atmos sound, Wi-Fi 6E and it has a built-in Ethernet port. It has the most internal storage of any Fire TV streaming device, plus it comes with an enhanced Alexa Voice Remote.
Rode Wireless Go III for $199 (30 percent off): A top pick in our guide to the best wireless microphones, the Wireless Go III records pro-grade sound and has handy extras like onboard storage, 32-bit float and universal compatibility with iPhones, Android, cameras and PCs.
Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 for $200 (20 percent off): These Beats earbuds have a hook design that will be good for anyone who wants the most secure fit while doing strenuous workouts. They also have a built-in heart rate monitor and up to 45 hours of battery life with their included charging case.
Paramount+ Essential for $30 for one year (50 percent off): This isn't technically an Amazon deal, but worth mentioning: New and returning subscribers can get half off one year of Paramount+. That brings the ad-supported Essential plan down to just $30 for the year, and the Premium plan down to $60 for the year. A subscription will give you access to NFL content on CBS and UEFA Champions League, along with shows like South Park, Tulsa King, Tracker, Ghosts and more. The discount runs through September 18.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-best-october-prime-day-deals-to-shop-now-early-sales-on-tech-from-apple-beats-samsung-anker-and-others-050801327.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-best-october-prime-day-deals-to-shop-now-early-sales-on-tech-from-apple-beats-samsung-anker-and-others-050801327.html?src=rss

China closes antitrust probe into Google's Android operating system

China is ending its antitrust probe into Google, which had centered around Android’s ubiquity in the mobile world and what impact, if any, it was having on Chinese phone makers like Oppo and Xiaomi that use the software. As reported by the Financial Times, this move comes amid ongoing discussions between the US and Chinese governments over TikTok, NVIDIA, tariffs and the broader trading relationship between the world's two largest economies.
Google's search engine remains blocked in China, along with many of its other core products like Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps. Despite this, the tech giant still generates substantial revenue in the country through cloud services and ad sales to Chinese companies targeting overseas audiences.
According to the Financial Times, the decision by Beijing to ease up on Google is a tactical move, as China increasingly flexes its regulatory scrutiny on NVIDIA as a negotiating tool during trade talks with the US.
Earlier this summer NVIDIA struck a deal with the Trump administration to sell its pared-back H20 GPUs in China on the condition that it gives the US government 15 percent of the sales. Shortly thereafter, however, China began discouraging local companies from buying the H20 chips. Recently, the government outright banned Chinese tech companies from buying NVIDIA's newest AI chip made specifically for the region, the RTX Pro 6000D.
In yet another move to exert control and flex power, Chinese regulators have accused NVIDIA of violating Chinese antitrust laws with its acquisition of chipmaker Mellanox. Were the chipmaker to be found in violation of China's anti-monopoly law, the company could owe fines between 1 percent and 10 percent of its 2024 sales.
US and Chinese officials just wrapped three days of trade talks in Madrid, with President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping set to speak on Friday. The leaders are expected to discuss a supposed framework for a TikTok deal that would cede control of the company's US business to American companies, resulting in a roughly 80 percent stake in the entity domestically.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/china-closes-antitrust-probe-into-googles-android-operating-system-145815140.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/china-closes-antitrust-probe-into-googles-android-operating-system-145815140.html?src=rss

Samsung’s very expensive Family Hub fridges will now treat you to ads on their displays

If you’ve just shelled out thousands of dollars on one of Samsung’s smart fridges, you’d be forgiven for expecting it to leave you alone, rather than encouraging you to spend even more money. But that is no longer the case — following a recent update, you’ll start seeing ads on the fridge’s display.
According to Android Authority, the new software update is being rolled out to Samsung’s Family Hub refrigerators in the US, and will now display ads and promotions while the display is idle. In a statement to the outlet, Samsung confirmed that it’s conducting a pilot program as part of its commitment to (brace yourselves for this one) "enhancing every day value for our home appliance customers."
The Cover Screen on which ads show up appears when a refrigerator is not displaying something else, such as Samsung’s Art Mode or a photo album. Samsung told Android Authority that advertising won’t appear when one of these modes is active, adding that specific ads can also be dismissed and won’t appear again while the campaign is running.
What the statement doesn’t make clear is whether advertising can be turned off altogether, which again, seems like a reasonable option given that you can expect to pay anything between $1,800 and $3,500 for a Family Hub-equipped fridge. But it doesn’t appear to be possible while the pilot period is live. It also isn’t clear if any specific models are omitted from the testing.
Back in April, Samsung’s head of R&D for digital appliances, Jeong Seung Moon, told The Verge that at that time the company had no plans to bring ads to its smart home displays, but in the case of its refrigerators it appears to have changed its mind pretty quickly.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/samsungs-very-expensive-family-hub-fridges-will-now-treat-you-to-ads-on-their-displays-143529070.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/samsungs-very-expensive-family-hub-fridges-will-now-treat-you-to-ads-on-their-displays-143529070.html?src=rss

Apple's 25W MagSafe charger is on sale for $35

Just ahead of the iPhone 17 lineup arriving on Friday, you can pick up Apple's 25W MagSafe charger for a song. The two-meter version of the more powerful charging cable has dropped by 29 percent from $49 to $35. That's a record-low price.
As it happens, that actually makes the two-meter version of the cable less expensive than the one-meter variant. The shorter cable will run you $39 as things stand.

If you have an iPhone 16, iPhone 17 or iPhone Air, this cable can charge your device at 25W as long as it's connected to a 30W power adapter on the other end. While you'll need a more recent iPhone to get the fastest MagSafe charging speeds, the charger can wirelessly top up the battery of any iPhone from the last eight years (iPhone 8 and later). With older iPhones, the charging speed tops out at 15W. The cable works with AirPods wireless charging cases too — it's certified for Qi2.2 and Qi charging.
The MagSafe charger is one of our favorite iPhone accessories, and would pair quite nicely with your new iPhone if you're picking up one of the latest models. If you're on the fence about that, be sure to check out our reviews of the iPhone 17, iPhone Pro/Pro Max and iPhone Air.
Check out our coverage of the best Apple deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-25w-magsafe-charger-is-on-sale-for-35-143415970.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-25w-magsafe-charger-is-on-sale-for-35-143415970.html?src=rss

Paramount+ deal: It's the last chance to save 50 percent on annual subscriptions

With streaming service prices constantly on the rise, it can feel like good deals are few and far between. But they do come around every once in a while — such is the case with Paramount+ right now. You can get half off annual subscriptions through September 18; that brings the Essential (with ads) plan down to $30 for one year instead of $60, and the Premium plan down to $60 for the year instead of $120.

This is a substantial deal that both new and returning subscribers can take advantage of; it's not uncommon for this type of serious discount to only be offered to a first-timer. Anyone who signs up for a year-long subscription to Paramount+ from now through September 18 will be able to get this pricing. The only real caveat with this deal is that you have to pay for the full year in advance; month-to-month subscriptions will still cost the usual rate.
Paramount+ has some great programming options, particularly if you're a fan of anything involving RuPaul. It's also the home of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Lower Decks, which are arguably the best modern additions to the sci-fi show's canon, as well as the other past and present Star Trek series. The platform offers a solid lineup of sports as well. And if you opt to go for the Premium plan, you'll also be granted access to Showtime titles such as Yellowjackets and the rebooted Dexter: Resurrection.
Check out our coverage of the best streaming deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/paramount-deal-its-the-last-chance-to-save-50-percent-on-annual-subscriptions-212655375.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/deals/paramount-deal-its-the-last-chance-to-save-50-percent-on-annual-subscriptions-212655375.html?src=rss

Flick Shot Rogues is the rare turn-based game that my brain is gelling with

Try as I might, turn-based strategy games don't usually do it for me. That's one reason I haven't yet dipped into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, many people's favorite of the year so far. I'd almost always rather be playing a more action-based game. 
But after trying the demo for Flick Shot Rogues on a whim during the most recent Steam Next Fest, the game hasn't been far from my thoughts. The debut title from Butter By The Fish, a three-person studio in Germany, arrived on Steam this week. Despite the likes of Hollow Knight: Silksong tugging at my attention, I keep turning back to this pirate-themed, turn-based roguelite.
It's a bit like Subbuteo but with crabs, monkeys and lasers. Each level features several enemies on red discs that you have to take out by flicking your character toward them. One hero causes damage when you clatter into enemies, and another will smash every foe within a certain radius after they stop moving. My favorite, the Froggomancer, collects frogs and uses them to attack goons that they slide by or end up next to.

You can take a couple of characters into each run (and swap to the other one before your turn) and equip each with a relic. These include fire damage, lightning attacks and sticky bombs. Many of these have chain effects, so you can use them to attack multiple bad guys in one turn. Since this is a roguelite, you'll upgrade your abilities as you go. After the first couple of stages, each level has at least one enemy or boss with a yellow disc. Once you take those out, you beat that wave or level.
There are no prizes for guessing that putting together a strong build is a big part of this game. In one run, I tripled up on a trinket that gave me a 50 percent attack boost (so 150 percent extra damage) when I had full shields, making the first shot of each round all the more important.
Flick Shot Rogues echoes one of my favorite games of 2023, Subpar Pool. I played quite a bit of snooker and pool growing up, and I always enjoyed figuring out the angle and power of my shot — executing it successfully was an entirely different matter. Being able to replicate that here is one reason why I'm digging this game so much.
You can see where your character will end up after hitting a wall or enemy to help you better plan your turn. So, for once in a video game, I'm slowing down and taking more time to actually consider the consequences of my actions before doing anything.
The tactility of slamming my character's disc into enemies and causing a killer chain reaction helps make Flick Shot Rogues feel more active and engaging to me than many other turn-based games I've tried. Each runs can take up to an hour or so, but they don't feel anything like that long.
I do wish the game did a better job of communicating the enemies' next moves and how their attacks work. It's not clear to me, for instance, when a yellow-disc enemy is about to teleport to the other side of a level. You'll often get an indicator of what your foes are about to do, but not every time. That makes it a little more difficult to decide whether to attack, make a defensive move or reposition for a better angle on my next turn.
But still, I keep coming back for more. Launching a barrage of fire-inducing frogs after squeezing through a narrow gap on a bank shot is pretty fun. I'm looking forward to finding out what other characters, relics and enhancements can do.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/flick-shot-rogues-is-the-rare-turn-based-game-that-my-brain-is-gelling-with-133020834.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/gaming/flick-shot-rogues-is-the-rare-turn-based-game-that-my-brain-is-gelling-with-133020834.html?src=rss

Nothing’s Ear 3 buds have a walkie-talkie style ‘super mic’

Nothing has unveiled its latest premium earbuds, the Ear 3 ($179), which look ready to pair tastefully with its newest Phone 3. The company has refined its headphone series with an aluminum finish (in places) across both the buds and the case.
Also housed inside the case is the Ear 3’s new standout feature/gimmick: the Super Mic. It’s like a walkie-talkie for your wireless headphones, pitched as a noise-banishing mic option — but I’ll get to that later.
A slightly revamped design apparently gives the Ear 3 20 percent more signal sensitivity for less audio dropout, something that the company’s buds have occasionally been guilty of in the past. The design revamp should also mean the buds fit better. There’s a “more natural” stem angle, according to Nothing, and internal venting to reduce in-ear pressure.
Image by Mat Smith for Engadget

The case is a similar blend of recycled aluminum and plastic, but made with a new nano-injection process that fuses together the metal and plastic parts. That means there’s no glue, which normally means a win for repairability. However, you can wrench off glue. Fused-together plastic and aluminum will probably be far more challenging. Alongside the USB-C charger, there’s the grill of the aforementioned Super Mic, small enough to be confused for a 3mm headphone jack. Another nice design touch is a lanyard loop on the opposite side of the ports. Companies like lanyards now.
What is a Super Mic? It's a second pair of mics that live inside the charging case. The premise is that — thanks to beamforming tech and the ability to be positioned just like a traditional handheld mic — the Super Mic is better able to block out everything that isn't your voice. The process feels like you’re still talking on earbuds, but with a walkie-talkie from the distant future. That distant future doesn’t have full software support, however. Supported in-app calls include Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, WhatsApp and WeChat.
However, voice recordings are a little different. There is support for native voice memos on both Android and iOS, as well as in Blackmagic’s third-party video app. But if you like sending voice notes in Messages, WhatsApp and the like, you’re out of luck. Nothing told me that it couldn’t force the Super Mic to override the default mic inputs on smartphones. Likewise, you can’t use it as a remote mic for video recording either — unless you use the Blackmagic app.
In use, the Super Mic makes calls and voice notes sound clearer. That was the verdict from both my own iOS Voice Memos and a handful of calls I made with friends and family, switching between just the Ear 3 bud mics and the Super Mic. I was surprised that listeners didn’t detect any significant reduction in environmental noise when I made calls in a coffee shop, but conversation partners said I sounded clearer. What I liked was being able to talk at a lower volume and still be picked up by the Super Mic — a notable difference from the buds.
Image by Mat Smith for Engadget
There are upgrades within the buds themselves, too. Each has three directional mics and a bone conduction VPU (voice pickup unit) to improve how well it can pick up speech. We’ve seen countless bone conduction headphones and headsets over the years, but Nothing’s implementation is a little subtler. The benefit of bone-conducted signals is that they’re less likely to be affected by wind and other noises. Nothing says its noise cancellation tech can reduce external noise by over 25 dB.
However, while listening to them over the last few days, the Ear 3 doesn’t seem to isolate sound well enough from noise. I’d often hear an environmental hiss while using the ANC. Compared to recent buds I’ve tested like the Pixel Buds Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 2, the noise cancellation seems a little weak. Priced at $179, the Ear 3 aren’t as keenly priced as its predecessors (Ear 2 launched at $149, while the Ear Stick was $99), which means expectations are higher.
Nothing has improved the sound of the Ear 3, thanks to the redesign of the 12mm dynamic driver and other adjustments. I noticed far more prominent bass tones compared to the Ear 2, while trebles sounded richer and less whistly. You can also use Nothing X companion app to tweak the equalizers for your preferred listening experience.
Image by Mat Smith for Engadget
That’s not the only software hook. Nothing has integrated a handful of AI features, but these require a recent Nothing phone to be used. Essential Space — the company’s take on pulling together voice notes, reminders, screenshots and more — can be directly connected to the Super Mic. Outside of call apps, you can press and hold to record voice notes, which will sync and be transcribed automatically. (There’s also ChatGPT functionality built in; by double-pinching, you can make requests to OpenAI’s chatbot.)
The Ear 3 lasts longer than its predecessor, too. On Nothing’s Ear 2, you could expect around four hours of listening with ANC, with the case adding 22.5 hours of listening. On the upgraded model, Nothing estimates you’ll get roughly 5.5 hours of ANC listening, and then a further 22 hours from the case. With a five-minute charge, Nothing claims the buds will last up to an hour of audio (without ANC).
The Ear 3 will launch in both white and black colors on September 25 for $179, and preorders are open now on Nothing’s site and retail partners.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/nothing-ear-3-buds-price-release-date-impressions-123006913.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/nothing-ear-3-buds-price-release-date-impressions-123006913.html?src=rss

Apple Music deal: Get the Family Plan free for three months

Apple Music is running a promo in which new subscribers can get three free months of the Family Plan tier. That's a savings of $51, which is nothing to sneeze at. After this lengthy free trial is up, it costs $17 per month.
The Family Plan allows six different users to access the platform. It offers cross-device support and each user is tied to an Apple ID, so their favorite music won't mess with anyone else's algorithm.

Apple Music actually topped our list of the best music streaming platforms, and for good reason. It sounds great and it's easy to use. What else is there? All music is available in CD quality or higher and there are plenty of personalized playlists and the like. The platform also operates a number of live radio stations, which is fun.
The service is available for Android devices, but it really shines on Apple products. To that end, the web and Windows PC apps aren’t as polished as the iOS version. It doesn't pay artists properly, but that's true of every music streaming platform. Apple Music does pay out more than Spotify, but that's an incredibly low bar.
Offer for new subscribers redeeming on eligible devices. Auto-renews at $16.99/mo until cancelled. Requires Family Sharing. Terms apply.
Check out our coverage of the best Apple deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apple-music-deal-get-the-family-plan-free-for-three-months-151240737.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/deals/apple-music-deal-get-the-family-plan-free-for-three-months-151240737.html?src=rss

NVIDIA throws Intel a $5 billion lifeline to build PC and data center CPUs

NVIDIA has today announced it will invest $5 billion in Intel as part of a new collaboration between the two companies. In a statement, NVIDIA said it would work with its ailing rival to “jointly develop multiple generations of custom data center and PC products.” The partnership will focus on "seamlessly integrating" NVIDIA's class-leading GPUs and AI chips with Intel's ailing x86 CPUs. Some of that work will be based on harnessing NVLink, NVIDIA's existing system to marry-up x86 CPUs with its own silicon in big data center setups. And Intel will also be tasked with building “NVIDIA-custom x86 CPUs” for integration with the latter company’s AI products.
More interestingly for consumers, however, is the news Intel will "build" what's being described as "x86 system-on-chips (SOCs) that integrate NVIDIA RTX GPU chiplets." The quote says these "RTX SOXs will power a wide range of PCs that demand integration of world-class CPUs and GPUs." Now, it's not clear if this means the end of Intel's in-house graphics silicon, or if they'll be built in Intel's own foundries. But the consequences of such a move could be wide-ranging if the focus is on broadening access to NVIDIA's high-end GPU technology. 
The statement includes personal remarks from both NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, who says the deal “tightly couples” Intel’s x86 CPUs with NVIDIA’s AI technology. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, meanwhile, says the deal will combine its CPU know-how, its “process technology, manufacturing and advanced packaging capabilities” with NVIDIA’s. If we take that at face value, it could be that NVIDIA has opted to use Intel's foundry — chip manufacturing for third parties — business to build some of its own silicon. But given Intel has struggled to find customers for that business, and the repeated failure of its ability to build its own chips, we'll be interested in seeing how this all shakes out. Especially if NVIDIA, for far less than the cost of buying Intel outright, has essentially turned its former rival into a sales front for its own tech. 
Intel's leadership space in the chip world has been eroded over the last two decades as momentum shifted toward its rivals. It developed, and then passed on, the EUV manufacturing technology that enables the chips found in most smartphones and GPUs. It was given the opportunity to invest and collaborate with OpenAI back in 2017, but passed on that and therefore missed its shot with the AI Boom. And, of course, its own engineering momentum slowed as it became harder to make faster chips with its older processes while TSMC, who went all-in on EUV, scored a galaxy of blue chip clients like Apple, Qualcomm and NVIDIA. Intel then fired then-CEO Pat Gelsinger at the end of 2024, who was widely known as the only figure who would have been able to pull Intel back from the brink. Meanwhile, rivals like Qualcomm and ARM began circling in the hope of buying some or all of the company. 
And while Intel has seen its previously-healthy revenues fall, NVIDIA has seen record profits on the back of the AI boom. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/nvidia-throws-intel-a-5-billion-lifeline-to-build-pc-and-data-center-cpus-122030186.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/computing/nvidia-throws-intel-a-5-billion-lifeline-to-build-pc-and-data-center-cpus-122030186.html?src=rss

Uber will (once again) test delivering food by drone this year

Uber Eats is testing out drone deliveries yet again, this time in partnership with Flytrex. To note, Flytrex is one of the drone operators behind Walmart's drone deliveries and already delivers food in some parts of the US. It's one of the four providers that received authorization by the FAA for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations, in which pilots can't see the aircraft they're controlling directly. The partnership, the companies said, will enable Uber Eats customers to receive orders within minutes while reducing road congestion. They're planning to launch their drone delivery service for pilot markets in the US by the end of the year. 
As part of their partnership, Uber is also making an investment in Flytrex, giving it the resources needed to be able to accelerate the deployment of its drone technology in the US. "Autonomous technology is transforming mobility and delivery faster than ever before" said Sarfraz Maredia, the President of Autonomous Mobility and Delivery at Uber. "With Flytrex, we're entering the next chapter — bringing the speed and sustainability of drone delivery to the Uber Eats platform, at scale, for the first time."
It sounds like Uber is expecting this pilot testing program to have a much wider reach that its previous attempt. Way back in 2018, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi talked about the possibility of starting a drone-based food delivery service by 2021. Uber, under a product called Uber Elevate, then made a few test deliveries in partnership with McDonald's in 2020, but the service didn't get a wide release. The company also unveiled its own unmanned aerial system capable of vertical take-off and landing that was designed to carry meals for two people, but it's unclear what happened to that particular project.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/uber-will-once-again-test-delivering-food-by-drone-this-year-120017602.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/apps/uber-will-once-again-test-delivering-food-by-drone-this-year-120017602.html?src=rss

iPhone 17 review: Closer to Pro

For years, the “regular” iPhone received hand-me-downs from the Pro models. This was less so with the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, but the trickle-down philosophy was still there to a degree. For 2025 and the iPhone 17 ($799) is no longer the compromise that the base model used to be. Apple finally blessed it with a 120Hz display and this year’s most exciting camera feature, Center Stage.
While it may seem like Apple is no longer forcing iPhone users to compromise, or at least not to the degree it used to, there’s still one big thing to consider. With the introduction of the iPhone Air, the company has shaken up the screen sizes across the iPhone 17 lineup. Instead of the previous 6.1-inch iPhone and 6.7-inch Plus model, Apple is splitting the difference with the iPhone 17’s 6.3-inch screen. That also aligns it size-wise with the iPhone 17 Pro, while the Air sits in the middle of the series at 6.5 inches.
I guess I’m a big-phone guy now, because it’s been a rough week transitioning from the 16 Plus to the iPhone 17. At times I feel like my phone is a toy, and at others it’s like I stepped back in time. I don’t particularly like either sensation.
Putting my screen size preferences aside, the iPhone 17 remains the best iPhone for most people. Since Apple brought its best new features to this regular model this year, you don’t have to feel like you’re waiting for the exciting tools from the Air or Pro to make it to a more affordable iPhone model in 12 months. The upgraded display and new front camera are certainly the highlights, but the iPhone 17 remains a solidly built device with dependable all-day battery life and capable performance.

Finally, a 120Hz display
A big change on the iPhone 17 is the 6.3-inch ProMotion 120Hz display. Not only is it slightly bigger than the 6.1-inch iPhone 16, but it finally refreshes faster now. The higher refresh rate was one of the last remaining items Apple had yet to bring down from its Pro models, and this one makes a big difference to the overall experience. Swiping around iOS 26 feels a lot smoother. Apps like Instagram and Safari where I previously encountered some jitters now move effortlessly. When it’s time to venture outside, you’ll be glad that Apple boosted the peak brightness to 3,000 nits — a 1,000-nit increase from the iPhone 16. It’s a welcome upgrade for the times you need to use your phone in direct sunlight.
The company also equipped the iPhone 17 with an always-on display, which is useful for updates at a glance if you’ve missed a notification. And of course, Dynamic Island is still there, providing ongoing info for progress on things like live sports, music playback, navigation, ride sharing and more.
You won’t really notice the display upgrade until you start using the phone, so a quick glance won’t reveal any obvious hardware changes. Unless you do a side-by-side with the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, where the size variation will be apparent, you won’t detect any difference. Flip over to the back though and there’s an almost entirely new color palette. Black and white remain, but Lavender, Sage and Mist Blue have replaced last year’s Ultramarine, Teal and Pink options. I prefer this year’s hues, as they aren’t as pastel-y as the 2024 lineup, and that Sage green looks really sharp in person.
Venture back to the front and there’s another important update that isn’t visible. Apple upgraded the scratch resistance with Ceramic Shield 2, which the company says provides three times better protection than on the iPhone 16. I needed to keep my iPhone 17 pristine for photos during my review, so I haven’t put it in situations with the potential for injury just yet. My mischievous cocker spaniel did get a hold of it for a few minutes, but there are no visible teeth marks or scratches from that harrowing (for me) incident.
Camera updates take Center Stage




Billy Steele for Engadget


For many, camera performance is the most essential aspect of an iPhone, and this year’s model got a significant upgrade there. The biggest change is the new 18MP Center Stage front camera that replaces the 12MP TrueDepth camera. This new version has a square sensor that enables the iPhone 17 to automatically switch from portrait to landscape when more people enter the frame for a selfie.
After using Center Stage for about a week, it’s easily the best new camera feature Apple has released in years. I can concede that the addition of macro mode and Photographic Styles in previous iPhones were also excellent, but Center Stage feels like magic. I’m not even a big selfie taker, but when I do need to snap one on a family outing, this 41 year old no longer feels like a Boomer holding his phone sideways. The adjustments happen quickly so you’re not left waiting, and if you don’t like it, you can disable the auto rotation, auto zoom or both.
Center Stage also works with video calls to keep you in the frame. This is particularly helpful if you’re walking or otherwise moving around while trying to have a chat. It does take a second for the system to make its adjustment after you move from the center of the frame, but it’s smooth and won’t be a distraction to anyone on the call.
Another update to the front-facing camera is a new Dual Capture mode. This simultaneously records footage with the front and rear cameras for things like reaction videos. As the parent of two kids in youth sports, I can see the utility for things like championship games, or even milestone moments at school. I think a lot of people will also film themselves singing along at concerts, but I’m not one of them.




Billy Steele for Engadget


The only issue I have with Dual Capture is that it’s a challenge to keep both the action and yourself in frame. You can’t look in two places at once, so if you want to maintain a centered reaction shot or ongoing commentary, you’ll have to figure out a way to juggle the shots. I’ve yet to master it myself and you’ll likely struggle if you prefer your selfie clips shot from a downward angle.
The front-facing camera isn’t the only photography-centric upgrade on the iPhone 17. Around back, there are now two 48MP Fusion cameras. On the iPhone 16, only the main was a Fusion camera while the ultra-wide has a 12MP sensor. You’ll get the same 0.5x, 1x and 2x zoom options as before, automatic macro mode, True Tone flash and the rest of the handy features from the iPhone 16 — like Portrait Lighting. If you’re into Apple’s Photographic Styles, there’s a new one called Bright that enhances skin tones and makes the rest of the image more vibrant. My colleague Cherlynn Low compared it to the now-retired Oslo filter on Instagram, and I think that’s an apt comparison.
By default, the main camera delivers shots in 24MP resolution for a balance of detail and brightness. In general, the photos I took with the iPhone 17 appeared to be slightly sharper than those I captured with my iPhone 16 Plus, especially in details like texture (as evidenced by the photos of pumpkins and my dog Biscuit). There isn’t a huge leap in rear camera performance here, but I noticed a slight improvement.
In lower-light settings, like in my pictures under the awning of my local produce stand and inside a local bar, colors remained accurate and crisp. Macro images were just as sharp and detailed as before, judging from my close-up of a sunflower which you can see here. Night time pics still produce accurate colors, especially when rendering the warmth or coolness of street lights, and those elements aren’t lacking in clarity either. Swap your camera settings to 48MP and you’ll notice enhanced detail in images that contain landscapes, as one example. Just keep in mind that those max-res photos are limited to 1x zoom and any Night mode or flash shots will always be saved at 12MP.
Besides the fact that it uses the non-Pro A19 processor, the cameras are the main area the iPhone 17 lags behind the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max. They have a third camera around back — a 48MP Fusion telephoto — that’s equipped with 3D sensor-shift optical image stabilization. That three-camera array also provides additional zoom options at 4x and 8x. They also unlock ProRAW for stills and both ProRes and ProRes Raw for video, and come with a four-microphone setup for “studio-quality” audio capture. If you desire the pinnacle of Apple’s photographic prowess (currently, anyway), the iPhone 17 Pro starts at $1,099 — $300 more than the iPhone 17.
Performance




Billy Steele for Engadget


While Apple equipped the iPhone 17 with its latest A19 chip, there’s still a six-core CPU and five-core GPU — same as the iPhone 16. The difference here is that the GPU now has Neural Accelerators on each core, which Apple says will boost peak computing power for AI tasks. Unless you’re coming from an older iPhone, you probably won’t notice too much of an improvement year-to-year. Apple explains that the CPU performance in the iPhone 17 is up to 50 percent faster than the iPhone 13, but that phone is from four years ago — basically an eternity. Obviously, you’d expect to see a major uptick in speed when comparing the flashy new model to such an aging device.
That said, the iPhone 17 speedily handled any task I threw at it. During my everyday use, I didn’t encounter a single time the phone stuttered or struggled to complete the job. The only time I had to wait for anything was for Apple Intelligence and ChatGPT to generate my latest prompt or make a Genmoji in Image Playground (I don’t recommend asking for “a hot dog thunderstorm,” by the way). What’s more, I never noticed the iPhone 17 getting warm when using these AI tools on their own, but it did start to heat up when I simultaneously started multitasking (playing music, etc.). The iPhone 17 never got more than noticeably warm to the touch, though.
I’m not an avid mobile gamer, but I did play some Destiny: Rising (a recommendation from the Engadget staff) on the iPhone 17 for my due diligence. The combination of the A19 chip and the 120Hz display provided silky smooth action for the first-person shooter, even in chaotic skirmishes. Plus, the iPhone 17 didn't get hot during my gaming sessions, despite not having the vapor chamber that the Pros do. This probably led me to play a lot longer than I should at times, since the device never got warm enough to remind me of how much time had passed. The iPhone 17 Pro, Pro Max and Air all have the more powerful A19 Pro chip, but the regular iPhone this year is a capable mobile gaming device too.
The arrival of iOS 26
My colleague Mat Smith covered all the new features of iOS 26 in detail, so I’ll refer you to his guide for the nitty gritty on the update. I will offer some quick thoughts on the new software overall, starting with Liquid Glass. After a week with the latest design, I’m still not a fan. In some areas the refresh is useful: I particularly like the changes to CarPlay, the phone app and Messages. I’m also starting to get onboard with the tweaks to the Camera app. But for every one update that’s helpful, I find five more I hate. I don’t like the new menu in Apple Music that sometimes requires an extra tap to reveal the options, which is one of my biggest annoyances.
I do love the combination of the iPhone 17’s always-on display and iOS 26’s Priority Notifications. It’s immensely helpful to glance over at my phone and see if there’s anything I need to address immediately. This pairing is also handy when it shows me things when I might’ve missed a notification as it first popped up. It’s only been a week, so I’m likely to find other elements I can put to good use as I spend more time with the new OS. And since iOS 26 is a bigger visual overhaul than Apple’s typical annual refresh, the iPhone 17 feels like even more of an upgrade.
Since I’ve also been using the AirPods Pro 3 for the last several days, two features I’ve tested a lot are the earbuds’ heart-rate tracking and Live Translation. It’s nice to not have to postpone a workout if my Apple Watch is charging, since I now know the AirPods Pro 3 will track my movement and properly credit my Activity Rings. I also can’t wait to travel abroad with Live Translation, since the tests I’ve conducted at home have already produced surprisingly helpful results.
Battery life




Billy Steele for Engadget


Once again, Apple promises “all day” battery life on the iPhone 17. Of course, the company doesn’t quantify that phrase, other than a commitment to 30 hours of video playback or 27 hours of streaming time. My colleague Sam Rutherford got nearly 25 hours while streaming a video as a comparison for his review of the iPhone Air. During a day of what I’d consider “regular” use — checking email, responding to Slack messages, listening to music, calls, texting, scrolling Instagram and watching a few episodes of The Bear — I still had 16 percent battery left by bed time. That’s after a day that started at 7AM and ended at 12AM, and I had the always-on display active the entire time.
Apple slightly increased the MagSafe wireless charging wattage on the iPhone 17. It’s now up to 25W (with a 30W adapter), which matches the iPhone 16 Plus, and is a 3W increase from the iPhone 16. If you don’t mind cables, you can expect to recharge to 50 percent in 20 minutes with a 40W (or higher) adapter and to get halfway with a 30W charging accessory in half an hour. That charging-to-50-percent time on the iPhone 17 is faster than what you get on the 16 and 16 Plus by 10 and 15 minutes respectively.
The competition
If you’re looking for a non-Apple alternative, Google’s Pixel 10 is your best bet. It has improved performance compared to its predecessor along with an upgraded telephoto camera with 5x zoom. There’s support for Google’s take on MagSafe (Pixelsnap) and the Gemini-powered Magic Cue feature is surprisingly handy. Plus, the Pixel 10 starts at $799, just like the iPhone 17.
Samsung’s latest entry-level flagship, the Galaxy S25, is less of an obvious choice. Since the series has long been a rival of Apple’s iPhone, it merits inclusion here. The S25’s display and cameras haven’t been upgraded over the S24’s, but it has a powerful new processor and excellent battery life. Gemini works better on the S25 than it did in the past and there’s the solid build quality that Samsung always offers at this price range. Speaking of cost, the S25 also costs the same as the iPhone 17.
Wrap-up
With the most significant update in years, the iPhone 17 is an easy choice for an upgrade for most people. Even if you’re coming from the iPhone 16, you’ll reap the benefits of the overhauled display and improved cameras. I don’t say any of that lightly as I’m not a person who recommends getting a new phone every year. Most of the time, there simply aren't compelling enough changes to warrant it. That’s not the case this year, and if you’re coming from an iPhone that’s a few years old, you’ll likely feel as if you’ve stepped into the future.
I went into this review expecting to be eager to return to my iPhone 16 Plus when I was through testing. And while I do prefer the larger device after using it for a year, the updates Apple has amassed on the iPhone 17 — especially the Center Stage camera — have appeased that desire… for now. I don’t have much use for the performance boosts that the iPhone 17 Pro or Pro Max provide, and I can’t justify splurging just for a bigger display. So, I can confidently say that even though there’s one less option in the regular iPhone lineup than there was a year ago, the iPhone 17 is still the best iPhone for most of us.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/iphone-17-review-closer-to-pro-110055511.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/iphone-17-review-closer-to-pro-110055511.html?src=rss

Everything Meta announced at Connect 2025: Second-gen Ray-Ban Meta, Oakley Meta Vanguard and Meta Ray-Ban Display

At Meta Connect 2025's kickoff event, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a trio of new smart eyewear, including its first model with augmented reality. Meta's boss also announced the second generation Ray-Ban Meta, as well as a pair of Oakley-branded sunglasses designed for athletes. In addition, Zuckerberg launched Horizon TV, a new entertainment hub for the Quest headsets, which will give you easy access to Disney+, Prime Video and other streaming services in virtual reality. Here's everything you might have missed.
Ray-Ban Meta "Gen 2"
Meta
The second-gen Ray-Ban Meta glasses come with improved battery life that the company says can now last up to eight hours with "typical use." Even their accompanying charging case provides an additional 48 hours of juice, compared to the previous version's 32 hours. The model is equipped with a 12-megapixel camera that can capture videos in 3K Ultra HD, with up to 60 frames per second and HDR support, as well as 32GB of storage. This fall, Meta will also roll out updates that will bring hyperlapse and slow-motion video capture to all its glasses, including this one. The Gen 2 Ray-Ban Meta glasses are now available with the same three base frames as their predecessor, namely Wayfarer, Skyler and Headliner, and will cost you at least $379. 
Read more: Meta unveils its second-gen Ray-Ban smart glasses at Connect
Oakley Meta Vanguard
Meta
Unlike the original Oakley Meta glasses, the Vanguard was clearly designed to cater to athletes. It features the wraparound frames Oakley is known for, with reflective swappable lens in different colors. Due to how it curves around the face, Meta placed its 12-megapixel camera in the center of the frames so that helmets and hats don't ruin your shots. The camera on this model has a wider 122-degree angle lens and adjustable video stabilization so that you can still take videos while moving. Meta told us that the device's battery was optimized for a wider range of temperatures, as well, allowing it to hold up better in harsh environments. In addition to the better battery life, the Vanguard also has louder onboard speakers and will come with integrations for Strava and Garmin. The Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses are now available for preorder for $499 and will be officially available on October 21. 
Read more: Oakley Meta Vanguard are the smart glasses athletes might actually want
Meta Ray-Ban Display
Meta
The Meta Ray-Ban Display is the company's first pair of AR glasses. Its lenses function as translucent heads-up displays (HUD) that can show you texts, AI prompts, turn-by-turn pedestrian navigation and video calls. The dedicated EMG wristband it's paired with will allow you to interact with the HUD's interface and will even give you the ability to type out responses. Video calling didn't work properly during its on-stage demo, but Zuckerberg was able to play a song on Spotify, demonstrate a real-time subtitle feature that could be a huge help for those with hearing impairments, as well as capture and view images. The Meta Ray-Ban Display will be available through a limited number of brick-and-mortar stores, including Best Buy, LensCrafters, Ray-Ban and Verizon, since you'll have to be fitted for the wristband. You'll be able to get it for $799 starting on September 30 in the US and starting early next year in Canada, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. 
Read more: Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses offer an AR display for $799
Meta Horizon TV
Meta
Near the end of the Meta Connect keynote, Zuckerberg announced a new entertainment hub for Quest headsets. Called Horizon TV, it's a unified interface for the streaming services available on the device, including Prime Video and Peacock. The Meta CEO also revealed that Disney+ is coming to Quest headsets. 
Read more: Meta Horizon TV is an entertainment hub for VR headsetsThis article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/everything-meta-announced-at-connect-2025-second-gen-ray-ban-meta-oakley-meta-vanguard-and-meta-ray-ban-display-100007120.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/wearables/everything-meta-announced-at-connect-2025-second-gen-ray-ban-meta-oakley-meta-vanguard-and-meta-ray-ban-display-100007120.html?src=rss

The best ergonomic keyboards for 2025

A simple experiment can tell you whether an ergonomic keyboard could be more comfortable for you: With your elbows hugged into your sides, bring your thumbs to touch in front of you. Now angle your elbows slightly outward and separate your hands. If the latter position feels better, you may appreciate the design of an ergonomic keyboard. These boards split, tilt and/or angle the keys in so your shoulders and chest feel more open and your forearms and wrists stay aligned.Some ergonomic keyboards are fully split, some are unibody split (Alice designs). Some use a columnar orientation, have thumb clusters and take advantage of programmable keys. I tried more than 15 with a mix of all these features and included info about the benefits of various designs so you can pick the best ergonomic keyboard for you (because it won’t be the same for everyone).
Table of contents

Best ergonomic keyboards for 2025
What to look for in an ergonomic keyboard
How we tested ergonomic keyboards
Other ergonomic keyboards we tested
Ergonomic keyboard FAQ

Best ergonomic keyboards for 2025







What to look for in an ergonomic keyboard
You might be looking into ergonomic accessories to help with a specific problem, such as carpal tunnel or tendonitis. Or maybe you’re simply looking for a way to make long hours at your desk more comfortable. It can help to know some of the terminology and reasons behind various features, which we explain below. Just keep in mind that new equipment alone won’t solve the problem. Changing positions, doing regular stretches and taking walk breaks will all go a long way towards making you feel better while you work.
Alice vs split
Most ergonomic keyboard layouts fall into two categories: unibody (or Alice) and split. The former is a single board with the two halves of the keys rotated about 30 degrees apart at the bottom. The separation forms an A-shaped space between the keys — which has nothing to do with why it’s called an Alice layout, it’s just a happy coincidence. This subtle tweak pushes your elbows away from your ribs while keeping a straight line from your forearm to your middle knuckle. Using one, I pretty instantly felt more open along the front side of my body. This layout more closely resembles a traditional keyboard, so it should be easier for most folks to get used to than a fully split option.
Speaking of, split boards break the keys into two separate parts you can position individually. You can put them shoulder distance apart, bring them closer together or angle them as much as feels comfortable. You can also put your mouse between the halves, which may feel like an easier trip for your cursor hand and could potentially help with conditions like repetitive strain injuries (RSI). Personally, I like being able to put my current snack between the two parts. I've also found that pairing a split keyboard with a good ergonomic mouse has helped me even more, particularly a vertical mouse.
Tenkeyless
You can find ergonomic keyboards with and without number pads. Not having those number keys on the right hand side lets you keep your mouse closer in, minimizing overall reach. But if you work with numbers a lot, you’ll likely want that pad included. Some programmable boards allow for the use of layers, which temporarily repurpose keys and can provide you with a ten-key option through clever remapping of letter keys.
Tenting and negative tilt
Tenting raises the middle of the keyboard up, so your hands move closer to a “handshake” position. Alice keyboards usually angle up towards the middle and always to a fixed degree, since the two sides are connected. Split boards often let you adjust the degree of tenting, going from flat to subtle to extreme lift.
You may have encountered keyboards with an optional lift at the back of the board, raising the top keys higher than the space bar. Every set of hands is different, but for most people, pulling the backs of the hands towards the forearms increases strain. Negative tilt has the opposite effect by sloping in the other direction, lowering the top number keys while raising the edge with the spacebar. Many Alice and some split keyboards offer an optional negative tilt. I found it was more comfortable to enable that feature when I’m standing, and I preferred to have the keys flat when sat at my desk.
Staggered vs columnar
This decision seems to be one of the more hotly-contested among ergo enthusiasts. A conventional keyboard has staggered keys, with each row slightly offset to the rows above and below it — so the A key is about halfway between the Q and W above it. This is a holdover from vintage mechanical typewriters, in which each press activated a hammer that smashed ink onto paper in the shape of a letter. To fit the hammers as close together as possible, while still allowing for finger pads, the keys were staggered.
Columnar or ortholinear keyboards stack the keys in orderly columns, often with rows that are not linear. Proponents claim this makes the keys easier to reach. Whether that’s true will be up to your fingers to decide, but I can say for certain that if you learned to type on a staggered keyboard, switching to a columnar layout is tough. It will take days, possibly weeks before you instinctively hit the C key. The N, M and B keys don’t fare much better.
Programmable keys
With a few exceptions, most ergonomic keyboards will work with PCs or Macs as a standard typing input, but the use of function and hot keys may require some remapping. It can be as easy as an onboard switch to toggle between Mac and PC layouts, or as involved as downloading software to change up the keys. Some boards even include (or let you buy) extra keycaps to change, say, the Mac’s Command and Option keys to PC’s Start and Alt buttons. Those are what's called hot-swappable keys, meaning you just pull the old key off (usually with a provided key puller) and stick the new one on, no soldering required.  
For some boards, remapping or programming keys using software is a crucial feature. Gaming peripherals have extra keys that you can set to execute a series of keystrokes with the push of a single button, and we cover the best gaming keyboards in a separate guide. Keyboards that work with layers, in which a single button can perform several functions, typically allow you to change what those are. Some ergo keyboards have non-standard layouts, like thumb clusters with multiple keys near the space bar that you operate with your thumb. You’ll also be able to program those.
Other considerations
Ergonomic keyboards come in mechanical, membrane, and scissor switch versions. Which works best for you is, again, up to your preference. I won’t get too deep into the particulars here, as we have an entire guide devoted to the best mechanical boards, but the short of it is that membrane and scissor switches are less customizable than mechanical and typically cheaper. Typing on them tends to be quieter and softer. Mechanical switches are more customizable, offer a more responsive typing experience and are usually pricier.
You’ll also have the option of wired or wireless ergonomic boards. All other things being equal, wired models are less expensive. Competitive gamers who rely on split-second responses may prefer the zero-lag of wired keyboards. Wired models also never run out of battery life and have fewer connectivity issues. But wireless keyboards keep your desk less cluttered.
Some ergonomic keyboards come with permanent or removable wrist or palm rests, which can be cushioned or hard. This is another area where opinions diverge: proponents claim they help you maintain a neutral hand position, while detractors say they put pressure on the tendons and can cause wrist pain or even exacerbate conditions like carpal tunnel. Ideally, your palms should be resting, not your wrists, and you might find you like having that support or you may find the pressure uncomfortable.




Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget


How we tested ergonomic keyboards
All our guides begin with extensive research to figure out what’s out there and what’s worth testing. We consider brands with good reputations that we’ve heard good things about from colleagues and look at keyboard reviews in forums and other trusted publications. For this guide, I looked for keyboards with ergonomic features like tenting, split keys, palm support and so on. I also zeroed in on boards that didn’t require a deep amount of familiarity with the vast and exhaustive world of custom keyboards.
Once I settled on ten boards, I acquired them and used each one for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. I tried out the remapping and macros software and considered the comfort, design, price and durability of each model before arriving at picks I think will work best for the most people out there. For subsequent updates to this guide, I have continued to acquire and test out new keyboards as they come on the market, adding and replacing the top picks as warranted. If and when Microsoft ergonomic keyboards, like the Sculpt, come back on the market, as a collaboration with Incase has promised, I'll try those models, too. 
Other ergonomic keyboards we tested
Naya Create
I didn’t get to fully test the Naya Create keyboard, but I was able to try one out for a few minutes during CES this year. It’s one of the more customizable keyboards you’ll find. Not only is it a fully split, mechanical board with programmable keys, the thumb clusters sit just below two modular platforms that each accept a touchpad, trackball, dial or a 3D joystick. These are meant to replace your mouse and other input devices, eliminating travel for your cursor hand. Each half of the keyboard body bends in two places to allow for precise tenting and, from my short time with the Naya, the hinges and the entire board felt solidly built. The Naya Create starts at $500 before you add on any of the mouse modules, but that’s not stopping people from ordering. According to Naya’s website, the first three batches of pre-orders sold out and the fourth batch will ship in July 2025.
Kinesis Advantage 360
If you want something fully split with thumb clusters and a columnar layout but that’s a little less minimal than the Zsa Voyager— and wireless to boot — the Advantage 360 from Kinesis, makers of the popular Advantage 2 is a good one to check out. It looks like it comes from an ‘80s-era IBM office, but is somehow also from the future. The tenting goes from low to intense and the key well curves concavely to meet your fingers where they naturally land. The 360 is per-key programmable, works with layers and has four macros keys.
Periboard 835
For a mechanical Alice keyboard with both wireless and wired capabilities, the Periboard 835 is a good pick. The Mac and Windows-compatible board has a solid build, low profile switches, RGB lighting, comfortable tenting and a few extra programmable keys.
Goldtouch Elite Adjustable
I remember wondering if something like the Goldtouch Elite Adjustable existed when I first started testing ergonomic keyboards. It didn’t at the time, as far as I could tell, but now a connected yet adjustable split board is indeed a product you can buy. It’s a solidly-built board and the ball joint connecting the two halves feels like it will put up with a lot of use. A squeeze of the lever at the top of the keys lets you set the board just how you like, adjusting both the vertical tenting and the angle between the two halves. There’s no programming to speak of, just the ability to swap a few function keys like print screen and home.
Unfortunately, the tenting doesn’t work for me. Because of the extra keys at the outer edges, raising the middle edges upwards lifts the center keys considerably, which brings my wrists and forearms off the desk instead of letting them rest. Holding them like that created extra neck and shoulder strain on my part, which is sort of the opposite of the goal. But if you’re not into tenting anyway and want a flat, Alice-split board with an adjustable splay, this works quite well.
Kinesis Form Split Touchpad Keyboard
The idea behind the Kinesis Form Split Touchpad Keyboard is pretty ergonomic: put the trackpad between the two halves and minimize travel for your mouse hand. The distance between the two puts your elbows at a comfortable distance and keeps your wrist nearly in-line with your forearms. The build is excellent, with low profile mechanical switches that feel smooth and just the right amount of clacky. The trackpad is responsive, but gestures only work with Windows computers. Even dragging and dropping doesn’t work on a Mac here, so I don’t see Apple users getting much use out of the board. I also found myself wishing for the slightest rotation of the keys — though they’re a good distance apart, a slight angle would keep my wrists fully unbent. There’s no tenting or negative tilt either, both of which could help a bit more, ergonomically speaking.
Logitech Wave Keys
While it's a perfectly fine and affordable Bluetooth keyboard, the Logitech Wave has minimal ergonomics. The keys rise up slightly in the middle and there's a comfortable wrist rest attached, but the layout is the same as any other keyboard, with no splitting of the keys to open up your arms or keep your wrists straight.
Ergonomic keyboard FAQs
What kinds of ergonomic keyboard styles are there?
Most ergonomic keyboards fall into two categories: fully split which separates the board into two pieces, and unibody split, also known as an Alice design, which angles the keys outward at the bottom. When the keys are rotated outward or split into two halves, it allows for a wider spread between your elbows for a more relaxed typing position. Other ergonomic features, such as thumb clusters, center tenting and negative tilting are sometimes added to either type of board.
Which keyboard layout is the most ergonomic?
Since every person is different, there’s no one best ergonomic keyboard layout. The standard QWERTY layout is what most people are used to. The Dvorak, Colemak and Workman layouts rearrange the board to put the more commonly used letters closer to the home-key position. All three are intended to minimize your finger movements. That may indeed feel more comfortable and less fatiguing, but people used to the QWERTY layout will likely need to relearn how to type.
When do I need a split keyboard?
You might feel some relief with a fully split keyboard if you find yourself tensing up at the shoulders as you type on a standard board. Putting some distance between your hands may allow your chest to stay more open, which for some is an easier position to maintain. You may also appreciate being able to place your mouse or trackpad between the two halves of the board to minimize the distance your cursor hand needs to travel.
How long does it take to adjust to an ergonomic keyboard?
That depends on the type of keyboard. Since the Alice-split design simply rotates the keys apart, typing on it feels fairly similar to the regular keyboards you’re already used to. A fully split board will take a little more adjustment, particularly if it uses thumb clusters. The enter, shift and control buttons may now be operated by your thumbs instead of your other fingers and that can be tough to get used to. It took me a full month to get completely comfortable with a fully split keyboard with thumb clusters. But now, I prefer it to typing on regular boards.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-ergonomic-keyboard-130047982.html?src=rss

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The best smartphones to buy in 2025

You might already have a good idea of which smartphone you want to be your next one. But there are more solid options available now than ever before, making the decision not as cut-and-dry as it used to be. While the decision is a bit easier if you know you want an iPhone, there's even enough variation between those new models that you may have to think about it longer than you anticipated. If you’re an Android person, you have even more options to choose from — including foldables — and more questions to answer before you spend any money.At Engadget, we review phones regularly and have tested dozens over the years. Whether you’ve had your eye on one of our current top picks, one of Samsung's Galaxy S25 phones, a cheap phone or another device, we’re here to help you decide which is the best phone to buy this year.
Table of contents

Best smartphones for 2025
Other smartphones we've tested
What to look for in a smartphone
Smartphone FAQs
Recent updates

Best smartphones for 2025






Other smartphones we've tested
iPhone Air
At just 5.6mm, the iPhone Air is the thinnest iPhone ever made. But it’s so much more than that. It’s beautifully crafted and thanks to a titanium frame, Ceramic Shield 2 screen and an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, it’s surprisingly durable too. The Air also has a gorgeous 6.5-inch display with ProMotion support and an A19 Pro processor, so it delivers nearly the same performance as you get from the iPhone 17 Pro line. And despite its super thin chassis not leaving a ton of room for a big power cell, battery life isn’t an issue. In short, this is the iPhone design that everyone wants. However, with the Air only having a single rear camera, the question you need to answer is if you’re willing to give up some extra lenses to get the most exquisitely engineered iPhone and all of its style and sleekness. — S.R.
OnePlus 13
While the OnePlus 13 features some basic AI features like Google’s Circle to Search and Gemini assistant, it’s really just an old-fashioned flagship in all the best ways. That’s because instead of focusing on machine learning, OnePlus crammed the phone with tons of top-notch hardware. It sports a 6.8-inch OLED display with an incredible peak brightness of up to 4,500 nits. The OP13 also offers excellent performance thanks to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, along with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. There are also three 50-MP rear cameras including one with a 3x telephoto zoom and a massive 6,000 mAh battery that’s bigger than what you get in practically all of its competitors.
OnePlus didn’t skimp on the phone’s design either, as the OP13 still comes with the company’s signature Alert Slider. Plus, if you opt for the blue or white variants, you’ll get a durable and very touchable vegan leather back that helps the phone stand out among all its glass brick rivals. But the best part is that starting at $900, it costs less than an equivalent Galaxy S25+ too.
What to look for in a smartphone
Android or iOS?
When you're searching for the best smartphone, it becomes clear that each OS has its pros and cons. Apple’s tight-knit ecosystem makes it super easy to share data between iPhones, iPads and Macs or seamlessly hand-off phone calls or music from one device to another. At the same time, you’re effectively locked in, as services like Apple Messages aren’t available on other platforms.
As for Android, there’s a much wider range of handsets from companies like Google, Samsung, Sony and more. However, Android phones don’t enjoy that same length of software support and often have lower trade-in values. In short, there’s no wrong answer. However, you will want to consider how your phone will fit in with the rest of your devices. So unless you’re really fed up with one OS and willing to learn another, it probably doesn’t make a lot of sense to switch from an iPhone to an Android phone (or vice versa) – especially if everyone else in your household is using the same platform.
Cameras
Since your cell phone often pulls double duty as your primary camera, figuring out what kind of photo tools you want is key. Nowadays, practically every mobile phone can take a great picture in bright light. But if you want a long optical zoom, you’ll probably have to upgrade to a more expensive device.




Mid-range phones often only have two rear cameras (a primary wide-angle lens and a secondary ultra-wide camera) and can sometimes struggle in low-light situations. Each phone maker also has various features that might be a better fit for your style, with Apple offering four different color presets on the latest iPhones, while Google’s Pixel 9 Pro comes with neat tools like dedicated long exposure and Action Pan modes.
Will you get mmWave 5G or Wi-Fi 7?
The good news is that in 2025, most phones have at least Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6e and support for some kind of 5G connectivity. However, if you want the fastest wireless speeds possible, it’s going to cost you a little extra. For example, on certain networks, mmWave 5G offers up to gigabit download speeds, less latency and better bandwidth. But mmWave 5G also requires more sophisticated (and pricier) modems, which means support for it is often missing on less expensive devices.
On the bright side, mmWave 5G isn’t as widely available as other versions of 5G, so depending on where you live and what network you’re on, you may not be missing out on much right now if you buy a phone that doesn’t support it. It’s a similar situation for Wi-Fi 7, which is available on some high-end handsets like the Galaxy S25, but harder to find on cheaper devices. Wi-Fi 7 also requires you to have a compatible router, so unless you know you need it or have a specific use case in mind, the lack of support for mmWave 5G or Wi-Fi 7 shouldn’t be a dealbreaker when looking for a new phone.
Other features to consider
Because not everyone agrees on what makes the best phone, you should think about any other specs that might be extra important for you. Mobile gamers will almost certainly appreciate the 120Hz refresh rates you get on phones like the Samsung Galaxy S25 or the Apple iPhone 17 Pro. Alternatively, if long battery life is important, you’ll probably want to go with a larger iPhone or an Android phone with a battery that’s between 4,000 and 5,000 mAh in size. Meanwhile, if you find yourself juggling a lot of devices, it can be really nice to have a phone that supports reverse wireless charging, which on Samsung phones even lets you recharge the company’s Galaxy Watches.
Smartphone FAQs
How do I know which smartphone is the best for me?
While choosing the best smartphone can be challenging, it mostly comes down to how you plan on using the device. All of the best phones available now get the basics right — you’ll be able to make calls, text and access the internet without many hiccups. If your smartphone is your most used gadget, you may want to consider paying for a device on the higher end of the price spectrum. That will get you better overall performance, higher-quality cameras and a phone that will last for many years. If you don’t use your phone for everything, you may be able to compromise on performance and extra perks and spend less on a still-capable handset.
How much is a smartphone?
Smartphones range in price from $300 to over $1,500. The best budget phones available now will usually compromise on overall performance, design, camera prowess and extra features to keep costs down. On the flip side, the most expensive phones will have powerful processors, triple-camera arrays and even flip or fold designs. Most people will find a phone that fits their needs somewhere in the middle of that wide price range — we’ve found that most of the best smartphones available right now cost between $500 and $1,000.
What can you do on a smartphone?
Smartphones are essentially small, portable computers that let you do things like check email, browse social media, follow map directions, make contactless payments and more. This is all on top of the basics like making phone calls and texting, which we’ve come to expect in all modern cell phones. Smartphones have also mostly replaced compact cameras thanks to their high-quality, built-in shooters, and the fact that most smartphones today as just as portable, if not more so, as compact cameras.
How long do smartphones last?
Smartphones can last years and people are holding on to their phones longer now than ever before. Software updates and battery life are two of the biggest factors that can affect phone longevity. Apple promises five years worth of software updates for its latest iPhones, and Google promises the same for its Pixel phones. Samsung phones will get four years worth of Android updates from the time they launch. As for charging speeds and battery life, your phone can deteriorate over time as you use and recharge your phone on a regular basis.
Recent updates
September 2025: Updated to include the iPhone 17 Pro.
August 2025: Updated to include the Google Pixel 10 Pro.
July 2025: Updated to include the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7.
April 2025: Updated to include the Google Pixel 9a.
February 2025: Updated to include the iPhone 16e.
January 2025: Updated to include details about Samsung's latest Galaxy S-series phones.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/best-smartphones-140004900.html?src=rss

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Meta Horizon TV is an entertainment hub for VR headsets

After revealing his company's latest augmented reality and smart glasses at Meta Connect this year, Mark Zuckerberg has introduced a new entertainment hub for its Quest headsets called Horizon TV. Zuckerberg said Meta believes watching video content is going to be a huge category for both virtual reality headsets and glasses in the future. Meta has already teamed up with several major streaming services to provide shows and movies you can enjoy in VR. One of those partners is Disney+, which will give users access to the Marvel Cinematic Universe on their headsets, as well as to content from ESPN and Hulu. 
Based on the interface Zuckerberg showed on the event, the unified hub will also give you easy access to Prime Video, Spotify, Peacock and Twitch, so you can watch shows, such as The Boys and Fallout on your virtual reality devices. In addition, Meta partnered with Universal Pictures and iconic horror company Blumhouse to give you exclusive access to horror flicks like M3GAN and The Black Phone on your Quest "with immersive special effects you won’t find anywhere else."
The Horizon TV hub supports Dolby Atmos for immersive sounds, with Dolby Vision arriving later this year for richer colors and crisper details. For a limited time, you'll be able to watch an exclusive 3D clip of Avatar: Fire and Ash on Horizon TV, as well, as part of Meta's partnership with James Cameron’s Lightstorm Vision.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/meta-horizon-tv-is-an-entertainment-hub-for-vr-headsets-011216955.html?src=rss

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Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses offer an AR display for $799

The rumors were true. Meta's first pair of AR glasses with a built-in screen is the Meta Ray-Ban Display. They'll cost $799 and will come to a limited number of brick-and-mortar stores in the United States on September 30. Those retailers include Best Buy, LensCrafters, Ray-Ban and Verizon, and availability will expand to Canada, France, Italy and the United Kingdom in early 2026.
The Ray-Ban Displays have a camera, audio functionality, and a translucent heads-up display that shows and allows the wearer to respond to text chats, AI prompts, directions and video calls. You're able to use gestures to interact with the HUD, including small actions like swiping your fingers to type out a chat reply. Each pair requires and comes with a dedicated EMG wristband, the Meta Neural Band, which enables these interactions.
At least, that's what Meta promises. The glasses failed to receive a phone call in a live demo during their announcement at the Connect 2025 conference, but they did perform other actions just fine. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg opened Spotify and played a song, took and viewed photos, and successfully demonstrated a real-time subtitle feature that looks legitimately useful. As outlined by Meta, the HUD supports Meta AI with visuals, messaging and video calling, previewing and zooming in on photos, turn-by-turn pedestrian navigation, live captions and translations, and music playback.
Connect 2025 kicked off with Zuckerberg streaming his POV from a pair of Ray-Ban Displays, including a HUD on the right side showing Spotify, calendar reminders, text chats and incoming images with options to respond by dictating a message, dropping an emoji or selecting a typed phrase. The glasses and wristband come in two colors, black and sand, and two sizes, standard and large. All pairs have Transitions lenses that automatically adjust to light conditions.
The glasses' display is "extremely high resolution," Zuckerberg was stoked to report. The HUD is full-color and supports 42 pixels per each degree of the field of view — compare that with the Meta Quest 3S, which has 20 pixels per degree. The glasses boast "six hours of mixed-use battery life and up to 30 hours of battery life total," while the Meta Neural Band has 18 hours of battery life and an IPX7 water rating.
The Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses join a lineup of smart spectacles revealed at Connect 2025, including the second generation of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses (which also hilariously failed during a live demo of their AI assistant capabilities), and the sporty Oakley Meta Vanguard.
A leak earlier this week spoiled the Meta Ray-Ban Display surprise, capping off a year of rumors around Meta's HUD-based efforts.


This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/meta-ray-ban-display-glasses-offer-an-ar-display-for-799-002921925.html?src=rss

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Oakley Meta Vanguard are the smart glasses athletes might actually want

When Meta announced its first pair of Oakley-branded sunglasses, the HSTN frames, earlier this year, it called them "performance AI" glasses even though they only came with modest upgrades compared with Meta's Ray-Ban lineup. But the new Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses, which were just unveiled at Connect, are much more clearly aimed at serious athletes and they have the features to back it up.
The $499 sunglasses feature Oakley's familiar wraparound frames and shiny (swappable) lenses. They are the first of Meta's smart glasses to change the placement of the camera, which is now in the center of the frames above the nose. According to Meta, this should make it harder for a hat or a helmet to ruin your shots, which was a consistent issue for me with the HSTN glasses.
Meta is making other camera adjustments that should make the glasses more reliable for capturing first-person action cam-style footage. The 12 megapixel camera now has a wider, 122-degree angle lens and adjustable video stabilization. There are also now dedicated modes for capturing slow motion videos as well as Instagram-ready hyperlapse slips.
There are other spec upgrades too. Battery life has been improved to six hours of continuous music playback and nine hours of "mixed use". The charging case can provide another 36 hours of battery life. Meta also told me the glasses have been optimized for a wider range of temperatures, so the battery should hold up better in very cold or very hot environments.




Meta


The onboard speakers are more powerful. Mark Zuckerberg said during the Connect presentation that the open-ear speakers are 6 decibels louder than before. He said he took a call on a jet ski "a few weeks ago... it was great." 
When I cranked up the volume during my demo, I had to pause the music in order to hear the person next to me speaking. The glasses are also much more water resistant than their predecessors, with an IP67 rating that means they can be fully submerged.
Meta has also changed up the button placement on the glasses, putting the capture button on the bottom right side of the glasses instead of the top. There's also a new "action button" that's particularly intriguing. This is a customizable button that users can program to trigger specific actions. For example, it could start playing a specific Spotify playlist or it could trigger a hyperlapse video. It can also be mapped to actions that take advantage of Meta AI, like providing a surf report or identifying what you're looking at. I'm not sure what I would use this button for, but I'm looking forward to trying it out when I get my hands on a pair for more than a few minutes.
The Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses will come with integrations for Strava and Garmin. In my demo, I walked on a treadmill while wearing a Garmin watch and the Vanguard glasses. This meant I could ask Meta AI for info about my heart rate and my pace. If you're a Strava user, you can overlay photos and videos from your run onto the stats you get at the end of your run.
Like the HSTN glasses, I have a feeling the Vanguard frames could be a bit… polarizing. Most people do not want to wear big wraparound sunglasses for daily activities. I definitely don't! But Meta has added enough new features that the $499 sunglasses might actually make sense for athletes. I've been wearing Oakley ski goggles for years and I suspect a pair of Vanguard glasses could easily replace them in most conditions.
The Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses are available now for pre-order. They officially go on sale October 21.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/oakley-meta-vanguard-are-the-smart-glasses-athletes-might-actually-want-001511094.html?src=rss

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Meta unveils its second-gen Ray-Ban smart glasses at Connect

As expected, Meta has introduced new smart glasses during its Connect conference today. The announcements included a “Gen 2” of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which retail starting at $379.
There are a bunch of upgrades over the $299 Ray-Ban Meta set that the duo released in 2023. Meta highlighted improvements to battery life, which it says now lasts up to eight hours with "typical use." The included charging case now provides an additional 48 hours of juice, versus 32 hours for the current one. The glasses can also charge to 50 percent battery in 20 minutes. 
The second-gen glasses are equipped with a 12-megapixel camera and offer 3K Ultra HD video capture, with “up to 60 frames per second” and HDR support. Meta says it will release updates that add hyperlapse and slow-motion video capture to all of its AI glasses later in the fall. The second-gen Ray-Ban Meta has 32GB of storage and is IPX-4 rated for water resistance.
On stage at Meta Connect, Mark Zuckerberg spoke about “conversation focus,” a new feature that will help you hear voices better in live environments. This feature will also be coming to the first-gen Ray-Ban Meta glasses. There was also a demo of “live AI” that… did not go well. It was supposed to show Meta’s AI looking at ingredients on a table and helping to prepare a dish, but it appeared to skip forward a few steps and the demo ended unsuccesfully with a “bad Wi-Fi” excuse.
On the style side, the Gen 2 Ray-Bans be available with the same three base frames as the originals: Wayfarer, Skyler and Headliner. All three will be available with a range of lenses, including regular, polarized, transitions and prescription. Polarized lenses will cost an additional $30, while transitions add $80 to the bill. There’s no set price for prescription lenses due to the innumerable ways our eyes can suck.
The second-gen Ray-Ban Meta glasses are available to purchase now in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Australia, UAE, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Mexico, India and Brazil will have access to the new glasses "soon." At least for now, it seems as though Ray-Ban and Meta will continue to sell its Gen 1 wearable at the same $299 price alongside the new model.


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Tesla exec says the company will redesign door handles that reportedly pose safety risks

Yesterday, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into Tesla following a report by Bloomberg that its electric door handles could stop working when a vehicle's low-voltage battery fails. That created a safety hazard that the publication found could trap passengers when a Tesla car was in an emergency situation, such as a crash. Now, Bloomberg is back with the news that Tesla plans to redesign those problematic handles. Tesla design head Franz von Holzhausen appeared on Bloomberg's Hot Pursuit! podcast and said the company is considering a new approach that combines the electric and manual release mechanisms. "The idea of combining the electronic one and the manual one together into one button, I think, makes a lot of sense," he said. "That’s something that we’re working on." He didn't specify why Tesla was working on a redesign, but it's hard to imagine the timing of the federal probe isn't relevant. The company has already been in the NHTSA's sights this year. Last month, the regulator opened an investigation into how Tesla was reporting crashes with its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems. Although Tesla claimed the inconsistencies in reports were due to a system error that it has fixed, the NHTSA said it would continue the probe.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tesla-exec-says-the-company-will-redesign-door-handles-that-reportedly-pose-safety-risks-225500245.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/tesla-exec-says-the-company-will-redesign-door-handles-that-reportedly-pose-safety-risks-225500245.html?src=rss

Ambrosia Sky is an essay on death masquerading as a sci-fi cleaning sim

Dalia is a death cleaner.
Death cleaning, as we know it, is the process of sanitizing and tidying the spaces where people take their final breaths, sometimes long after their bodies have begun to decompose. It’s a job here on Earth in the year 2025, but Dalia’s version of death cleaning takes place on the rings of Saturn in a distant future filled with space travel, interplanetary colonization and devastating disease outbreaks. In this scenario, death cleaning involves spraying chemicals over bulging piles of otherworldly contamination and avoiding their defense mechanisms, which can cause fires, explosions and electrical interference. Dalia learns from the alien material as she cleans, harvesting fruit from fungal mounds to create new options for her sprayer. She also listens to the last words of the dead.
Ambrosia Sky is the first game from independent studio Soft Rains and its story trailer landed on Wednesday. In Ambrosia Sky, Dalia is cleaning the Cluster, an agricultural outpost on Saturn’s rings that collapsed when a mysterious biological force subsumed the colony and its people. It's also Dalia’s former home.

As a Scarab with The Ambrosia Project, her job is to clear out the alien fungus, research its origins and perform Death Rites on the corpses she encounters. Scarabs operate in the shadowy spaces between science and mysticism, and The Ambrosia Project’s goal is to discover a cure for mortality among the stars. Death Rites involve hearing the deceased person’s Last Will and cremating their body with specialized spores, adding their DNA to The Ambrosia Project for further research. It’s a ritualistic acknowledgement of a person’s life as much as their death, and these small ceremonies are just as critical in Ambrosia Sky as the game’s first-person cleaning mechanics.
“I really let myself and our team explore more mythological or fantastical elements, or even folkloric elements, because I think there's only so much we can know about outer space,” Soft Rains narrative director Kaitlin Tremblay told Engadget. “[Also] there are things that we know concretely about death, but there's so much about it we don't know. I think it's the same kind of interesting liminal space. What don’t we know, and how do we tell stories and try to comfort ourselves and contend with that? That actually makes my brand of sci-fi and my approach on death really similar.”
Ambrosia Sky is an investigation of the universe and mortality alike, in the form of a first-person, speculative-fiction cleaning sim on Saturn’s rings. It features zero-gravity scenes, crafting, equipment upgrades and classic FPS play, underpinned by a slowly unfurling story of lethal disaster. 
Soft Rains has been quietly working on Ambrosia Sky since late 2022 and formally announced the game in March 2025. The studio was founded by Tremblay — who was narrative designer on Watch Dogs Legion and Grindstone, and lead writer of A Mortician’s Tale and Seasonala Cemetery — and other industry veterans from Bethesda, Ubisoft and indie teams.
Ambrosia Sky's story trailer features a staticky, disembodied voice saying, “Hey, Dalia. It’s me. When I die, I want a Scarab called in. And I want it to be you.” It’s surprisingly heart-wrenching, for a two-minute teaser of a sci-fi clean-em-up.
Soft Rains
“It's just honest, right?” Tremblay said. “We have a lot of emotions about death, and our own death and everything around it. Some of those emotions contain brightness and some of them contain darkness, and both are equally valid. Both can exist at the same time.”
Death is a regular visitor in Tremblay’s writing. In particular, A Mortician’s Tale is an acclaimed presentation of the business of mortality, and Seasonala Cemetery is a meditative experience about spending time in a graveyard. In a devlog entry on June 10, Tremblay compared the mortality angle in Ambrosia Sky to that of A Mortician’s Tale, writing, “With Ambrosia Sky, we wanted to have the opportunity to explore how we feel about our own death, rather than the death of our loved ones.”
I was struck by this distinction when I first read it, and because I'm also consumed by thoughts of my own inescapable expiration, I asked Tremblay for more. They said the following:
“That is particularly the approach I'm taking for the Death Rituals. The Death Rituals are when you find those individuals in the world and you sample their DNA for the project, but you're also listening to their recorded Last Wills. I really wanted those to be a moment to let the characters talk authentically about what their death actually means to them. Because I feel like in my work and in so many other games, it's often about how we feel about death, or our grief or our mourning process. “I think this is probably a symptom of post-pandemic brain and getting older, but I’m thinking a lot more about what does my death actually mean to me, and trying to sit with it in a way that doesn't keep me up until 4AM. So I think this is really that kind of approach. We all probably think about our own death and people have a lot of feelings on their own potential death, and so I wanted to give voice to that, and have this space to talk through and work through some of those emotions.”
And clean up giant tendrils of neon fungus, of course.
Ambrosia Sky is being developed and published by Soft Rains, and it's due to come out "soon." A demo is available now on Steam.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/ambrosia-sky-is-an-essay-on-death-masquerading-as-a-sci-fi-cleaning-sim-223022816.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/ambrosia-sky-is-an-essay-on-death-masquerading-as-a-sci-fi-cleaning-sim-223022816.html?src=rss

Democrats are investigating Trump crypto advisor David Sacks over a possible SGE violation

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representative Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) are leading a group of congressional Democrats in investigating White House Special Advisor David Sacks for possibly serving in his position for longer than he's allowed. Sacks, a former PayPal executive and venture capitalist at Craft Ventures, was originally picked by President Donald Trump to be the "White House A.I. & Crypto Czar" in 2024.
"Any effort to stay beyond the time limits imposed on you as a Special Government Employee (SGE) would raise additional ethics concerns for you and the Trump Administration," the group writes in a letter to Sacks,"particularly as it moves to implement recently enacted cryptocurrency legislation and put in place new rules for the crypto industry."
Besides being friendly with the Trump campaign and allies like Elon Musk, Sacks was given his position because of his knowledge of the crypto and AI industries as an investor. That poses an obvious conflict of interest, something that's only waived during the 130-day limit that SGEs are supposed to serve. As Warren and the other Democrats backing the investigation note, though, it's possible Sacks has been working in his role for longer than that.
"If you have worked every calendar day since the presidential inauguration, your 130th day of work in this role was May 29, 2025," the group writes. "If you have worked every business day, your 130th day was July 25, 2025. As of the date of this letter, it is the 167th business day of this Administration."
As part of the investigation, Sacks is expected to offer a more detailed account of when and how he works in his advisory role, including if he answers government emails while working in Silicon Valley. Congressional Democrats are trying to verify if norms have been violated to make sure that they won't be violated in the future, but there are larger ethical concerns to contend with, too.
The second Trump administration has been friendly to the crypto industry, likely thanks in part to the influence of Sacks. Trump signed an executive order calling for the creation of a federal Bitcoin stockpile and signed the GENIUS Act into law in July, establishing a regulatory framework for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency typically tied to the value of the US dollar. Continuing to serve in his role without leaving his position at Craft Ventures or disclosing his investments would only raise more questions about how Sacks stands to benefit from advising on regulation.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/democrats-are-investigating-trump-crypto-advisor-david-sacks-over-a-possible-sge-violation-215758087.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/general/democrats-are-investigating-trump-crypto-advisor-david-sacks-over-a-possible-sge-violation-215758087.html?src=rss

RGG accidentally leaked that it's working on Yakuza Kiwami 3

Get ready for a return to the life of Kazuma Kiryu, because it seems that a remake of Yakuza 3 is on the way. The leak was discovered on developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios' website. Fans noticed that there was an entry for Yakuza Kiwami 3 alongside the listings for the remakes of the first two Yakuza games — Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2 — on the RGG site. Although the listing has since been removed, screencaps shared on social media documented the accidental reveal.夕方頃、龍が如く公式サイトのカテゴリー一覧に「龍が如く 極3」が載っていたみたいですねhttps://t.co/3a8NsbTFlu pic.twitter.com/lhzATp6yQZ— れんか (@Renka_schedule) September 17, 2025
The timing of the leak also aligns nicely with the upcoming Tokyo Game Show, where RGG is scheduled to host a dedicated event. That certainly looks like the prime moment to officially announce Yakuza Kiwami 3 as its latest remake project. It is still technically possible to play the original Yakuza 3, which was released on PlayStation 3 in 2009. The game got remasters for the PlayStation 4 and later for the Xbox One and PC, but a full overhaul to the third entry in the franchise will be welcome news for its many loyal fans. The action-adventure Yakuza game series is known for its excellent combat mechanics, memorable characters, and storytelling that manages to weave deftly between ludicrous and profound. The whole franchise got a revamp in 2020 under the new name of Like A Dragon, and the latest entry is the wordily titled Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/rgg-accidentally-leaked-that-its-working-on-yakuza-kiwami-3-211036458.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/rgg-accidentally-leaked-that-its-working-on-yakuza-kiwami-3-211036458.html?src=rss

House committee asks Discord, Valve, Twitch and Reddit to testify on online radicalization

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has asked the CEOs of Discord, Twitch, Valve and Reddit to testify at a hearing on online radicalization. The hearing will be held on October 8, 2025, and is in direct response to the assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk, an event some have tried to connect to the online communities the alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, participated in.
"Congress has a duty to oversee the online platforms that radicals have used to advance political violence," Comer shared in the press release announcing the hearing. "To prevent future radicalization and violence, the CEOs of Discord, Steam, Twitch, and Reddit must appear before the Oversight Committee and explain what actions they will take to ensure their platforms are not exploited for nefarious purposes."
Following Kirk's death, law enforcement, regulators and the press have exerted significant effort to both understand Robinson's actions and structure them into a coherent narrative. The fact that he seemingly engraved the bullets he used with references to furry memes and the game Helldivers implies he may have been immersed in online culture, and could have been influenced by who he interacted with there. But a recent report on his Discord chats suggests his motivations are hard to pin down, even for his friends.
In general, online platforms don't escape scrutiny after tragic events, so these sorts of hearings are to be expected. Twitch and Discord were both investigated by the New York and New Jersey Attorney Generals following a 2022 shooting in Buffalo, New York, for example. Given the reaction to Kirk's death, though, it remains to be seen how much the House Oversight Committee actually wants answers from online platforms, and how much it wants to lay the blame at their feet.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/house-committee-asks-discord-valve-twitch-and-reddit-to-testify-on-online-radicalization-184100470.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/social-media/house-committee-asks-discord-valve-twitch-and-reddit-to-testify-on-online-radicalization-184100470.html?src=rss

Google will upgrade its revenge porn defenses with help from a UK nonprofit

Google is partnering with a UK nonprofit to fight non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII). (You may know it better as revenge porn.) Over the coming months, the company will begin using StopNCII's hashes. These user-uploaded digital fingerprints can block individuals' unwanted intimate content from appearing in search results.
StopNCII has a pretty neat system to combat revenge porn. Say you have some images you most definitely don't want surfacing online. Select the picture on your device, and StopNCII will create a digital fingerprint of the file. That hash will be uploaded to the service. The photo itself never leaves your device. The organization then shares the hash (again, not the spicy pic) with participating platforms.
Then, if an asshole ex takes the liberty of uploading said photo to one of those companies' services, it should be removed automatically. If the platform uses real-time hash matching, it can even block the upload immediately before it reaches anyone's eyes. It's a pretty solid defense against an ugly problem.
The system isn't bulletproof. First, it only works for known images. So, if someone else has an intimate photo that you don't have a copy of, you'll have to fight that using other means. StopNCII doesn't work for AI-generated images, audio recordings or saucy text chats.
The system also won't help if the content is uploaded to a non-partner platform. In addition to Google, StopNCII partners with Meta, Reddit, Pornhub, OnlyFans, Snap, Microsoft Bing, X and more.
This is far from Google's first move to combat NCII. A decade ago, it created a system for submitting revenge porn takedown requests. In 2024, it made it easier to remove deepfake NCII. On Wednesday, Google product manager Griffin Hunt explained that "given the scale of the open web, there's more to be done to reduce the burden on those who are affected by it."
If you're 18 or older and have any photos of yourself that you want to flag proactively, you can start using StopNCII right now. Head to the org's website to create a case. Note that the service only works for pictures that are nude, semi-nude or show a sexual act. And remember, the photo itself never leaves your device, so your privacy remains intact.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-will-upgrade-its-revenge-porn-defenses-with-help-from-a-uk-nonprofit-181016291.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-will-upgrade-its-revenge-porn-defenses-with-help-from-a-uk-nonprofit-181016291.html?src=rss

Logitech adds new devices to its gaming accessories lineup

Logitech hosted its annual G Play showcase today and unveiled a collection of new gaming peripherals. The lineup includes headsets, mice and a keyboard.
The G Pro X Superlight 2c is an even more compact redesign of the company's Superlight 2 wireless mouse. This version weighs 51 grams and has up to 95 hours of battery life. It will be available on October 21 and will cost $160. Logitech's other new gaming mouse is the G Pro X2 Superstrike, which boasts haptic feedback in its main click buttons and uses an inductive sensor system instead of traditional switches. This allows players to customize their actuation points, similar to what we've seen in recent analog gaming keyboards. It also has battery life of up to 90 hours and weighs 65 grams. There's no pricing information yet, and the release window is broadly set for the first quarter of 2026.
Logitech
The company also announced a pair of headsets. The Astro A20 X is a mid-range model with the handy feature of being able to connect to two consoles or PCs at once. It has 40 mm PRO-G Audio Drivers, and RGB settings. Battery life is up to 40 hours with the RGB equipped or up to 90 hours without. The A20 X comes with the same microphone as Logitech's Astro A50 X model, which is one of our favorite gaming headsets. The A20 X will cost $180 and will be available on October 8. The other new headset is the G321 Lightspeed, a budget option at $60. This set has just 20 hours of battery life and emphasizes wearability in the design. It will be available starting sometime in October.
The rest of the G Play lineup includes the G515 Rapid TKL keyboard, which has a low profile and magnetic analog switches. That's available today for $170. Logitech also added a new RS50 wheel setup and RS pedals for driving games. On the software side, the company has also added a game launcher to its G Hub portal. It supports Epic Game Store, GOG and WeGame libraries. The G Hub Games update will roll out during the holiday season.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/logitech-adds-new-devices-to-its-gaming-accessories-lineup-180138486.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/logitech-adds-new-devices-to-its-gaming-accessories-lineup-180138486.html?src=rss

A MacBook Pro touchscreen? About damn time

It's somewhat ironic that Apple, the company that popularized the use of capacitive touchscreens with the iPhone and iPad, has been staunchly opposed to bringing our fingers anywhere near MacBook screens. Meanwhile, Microsoft and PC makers jumped at the opportunity to build touchscreen laptops years ago. The tablet-focused Windows 8 was a failure, sure, but touchscreens led to excellent convertible notebooks and hybrid tablets like the Surface lineup. Now, according to a new rumor from longtime Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple might finally be ready to bring touchscreens to the MacBook Pro.In a tweet posted this morning, Kuo wrote, "MacBook models will feature a touch panel for the first time, further blurring the line with the iPad. This shift appears to reflect Apple’s long-term observation of iPad user behavior, indicating that in certain scenarios, touch controls can enhance both productivity and the overall user experience."MacBook models will feature a touch panel for the first time, further blurring the line with the iPad. This shift appears to reflect Apple’s long-term observation of iPad user behavior, indicating that in certain scenarios, touch controls can enhance both productivity and the…— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) September 17, 2025 Specifically, Kuo says that touchscreen MacBook Pro models are "expected to enter mass production by late 2026," and that they'll use on-cell touch technology. Cheaper MacBooks (likely the Air) coming in late 2025 likely won't have touchscreens, but that could change with a 2027 refresh.It’s worth pointing out that Kuo’s predictions, which typically come from sources within Apple’s supply chain, aren’t always accurate. But given the timing of this particular note, and the ubiquity of touchscreen laptops these days, it’s the idea of a touchscreen MacBook isn’t too farfetched.Apple is a stubborn company, no doubt — especially when it comes to adopting features from others. When referring to iPad competitors in 2010, Steve Jobs famously said, "If you see a stylus, they blew it." While he was referring to using a stylus for general operation of a device, and not a highly specific use-case, it was still funny to see the Apple Pencil arrive five years later on the iPad Pro. There's a certain nobility to sticking with your design convictions, but it would have been stupid for Apple to completely ignore the benefits of tablet stylii, something Microsoft was leaning into hard with its Surface devices. So it goes with the touchscreen MacBook Pros. It's hard to deny the convenience of lazily swiping the screen when scrolling through long articles, instead of tapping repeatedly on your keyboard or swiping a touchpad. Apple's desire to keep touchscreens away from Macs is understandable. MacOS doesn't have large touch-points like iPadOS, and it's been honed for decades to work best with keyboards, mice and touchpads. But adding in basic touchscreen support doesn't really require a complete macOS redesign, especially when the platform has already had support for multitouch gestures on trackpads since the first MacBook Air arrived in 2008.It's funny that the touchscreen MacBook Pro could also be arriving just as Apple is finally starting to make the iPad more Mac-like. iPadOS 26 adds the ability to resize app windows, easily organize them on your screen and it even brings over the menu bar from MacOS. It's as if Apple is trying to appease all of its fans: The iPad owners who want more multitasking and productivity options, as well as the Mac owners who want a bit of iPad-like convenience.Both of my kids were able to nimbly swipe around my phones and tablets at the age of two — that's the power of a truly intuitive input mechanism. And to a certain degree, I also think it helped them get used to the idea of computing in general. If it's easy enough for kids to grasp, why not make touchscreens a core feature of as many products as possible? Simply put, Apple has run out of excuses. The time for touchscreen Macbooks is now.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/a-macbook-pro-touchscreen-about-damn-time-180000315.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/a-macbook-pro-touchscreen-about-damn-time-180000315.html?src=rss

Google Discover is going to start showing social media posts and YouTube Shorts

Google's Discover content feed is getting some new features. It'll soon include more than just articles from throughout the web. The company says the platform will be incorporating stuff like social media posts from platforms like Instagram and X along with YouTube Shorts.
“In our research, people told us they enjoyed seeing a mix of content in Discover, including videos and social posts, in addition to articles,” the company wrote in an announcement. These changes will start showing up in the "coming weeks."
However, that's not the only new tool arriving for Discover. Starting today, users can customize feeds in a number of ways. Folks can follow creators or publishers to see more content from them. Users can also tap the creator's name to preview social posts and articles before making a final decision. This is all similar to a recently-introduced feature for Search that lets people set preferred news sources.
This is just the latest update to the company's Discover feed. Google recently introduced AI-generated summaries and a tool that automatically creates a podcast based on the feed.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/google-discover-is-going-to-start-showing-social-media-posts-and-youtube-shorts-175754283.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/apps/google-discover-is-going-to-start-showing-social-media-posts-and-youtube-shorts-175754283.html?src=rss

One of the best Ninja air fryers for small kitchens is $60 off right now

If you’re in the market for an air fryer, first of all, welcome to the club. A world of perfectly- cooked fries awaits you. But which model to get? Well, you can save some cash right now if you pick Ninja’s Foodi DZ090C 5-in-1 air fryer, which is down to $120 from its regular price of $180 when purchased directly from the brand. That’s a sizable saving of $60.
A smaller version of the air fryer we featured as the best dual-zone option in our 2025 air fryer buyers guide, the two-basket DZ090C lets you cook up two totally different foods in separate baskets simultaneously. And while its six-quart capacity isn’t hugely spacious, you should have more than enough space for small or solo meals. And if you have a small kitchen, it’s probably a more sensible pick than the DZ401 we highlight in our guide.

If you’re thinking about what to have for dessert, you might also be interested in Ninja’s Creami, a 7-in-1 ice cream maker that also excels at smoothies, sorbets and milkshakes. We gave it a score of 90 in our review, praising its ease of use and versatility, which landed it a spot in our best tech of 2024 awards. At $200, it’s currently $30 off.
There are also a range of discounts to be found on SharkNinja’s entire product lineup at the moment. Shoppers can save 10 percent on $150+, 15 percent on $250+, or 20 percent on $350+ on Ninja products, and 10 percent on $200+, 15 percent on $250+, or 20 percent on $300+ when shopping directly from Shark.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/one-of-the-best-ninja-air-fryers-for-small-kitchens-is-60-off-right-now-170505340.html?src=rss

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The best Apple Watch in 2025

Apple released an entirely new lineup of Apple Watches during its “Awe dropping” launch event in mid September. There’s now a new flagship, Apple Watch Series 11, a revamped entry-level model, Apple Watch SE 3, and the next generation of the premium wearable, Apple Watch Ultra 3. We didn’t get a new version of either the SE or the Ultra last year, and Apple made up for the wait by giving those two significant updates. The Series 11 is still what we recommend for most people, but the other two are more compelling than ever. Here, we break down the differences between the models so you can pick the best Apple Watch for your wrist computer needs.
Table of contents

Best Apple Watch in 2025
What to look for in an Apple Watch
How we tested Apple Watches
Apple Watch comparison chart
Apple Watch FAQs

Best Apple Watch in 2025



What to look for in an Apple Watch
Like all Apple products, Apple Watches will only work with other devices from the brand's ecosystem. You won't be able to pair any Apple Watch to your Android phone. Note that you can pair other wearables (like a Garmin tracker or a Fitbit band) with your iPhone. There are some more features that are specific to Apple Watches and that set each of the three models apart from one another. 
Chips and sensors
All three models in the current lineup have the same S10 SiP (system in a package) chip with a four-core Neural Engine. The chip allows for on-device processing of Siri requests as well as dictation, translation, automatic workout detection and the double tap and wrist flick gestures that let you control your watch hands-free.
You get an optical heart rate sensor, temperature sensor, compass, altimeter, accelerometer, gyroscope and light sensor in every Apple Watch model, but the Series 11 and Ultra 3 have a more advanced heart monitor that in part enables the new hypertension detection feature. The two higher-end watches also have sensors that can generate an ECG and detect blood oxygen, water temperature and water depth.
Fall and crash detection come standard no matter which Apple wearable you pick and all support near field communication (NFC) for Apple Pay. If you opt for the cellular versions of the Series 11 or SE 3, your watch will have access to 5G networks. Cell connectivity comes standard on the Ultra 3 and the watch now also has satellite-enabled SOS, messaging and Find My abilities.




Cherlynn Low for Engadget


Displays and case options
Every Apple Watch model now has an always-on display. The wide-angle OLED display on the Apple Watch 11 and Ultra 3 lets you see the always-on display from more angles. The SE can reach a maximum brightness of 1,000 nits, the Series 11 can get as bright as 2,000 and the Ultra 3 hits 3,000 nits. Both higher-end screens can dim to a single nit, making them less distracting in the dark. And the Ultra model has the added night mode feature on certain watch faces that turns the dial red to preserve your night vision.
As for case sizes, the SE 3 is available in 40 or 44mm. The Series 11 has a choice of a 42 or 46mm case. The Ultra 3 comes in just one size measuring 49mm. The SE 3 has an aluminum case in two colors (Starlight or Midnight). The Series 11 lets you pick from aluminum (in Rose Gold, Silver, Space Gray or Jet Black) or titanium (in Natural, Gold or Slate). And the Ultra 3 only comes in titanium (either Natural or Black).
Battery life
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 sports the biggest battery and can last for a claimed 42 hours on a charge. The Apple Watch 11 is rated to go for 24 hours and the SE 3 gets an estimated 18 hours before it needs a visit to the charger. Low power mode will get you many more hours, going for as long as 72 hours for the Ultra 3, 38 hours on the Series 11 and 32 hours on the SE 3. All three are now capable of fast charging and Apple states an 80 percent charge in 45 minutes for the SE 3 and Ultra 3 and 80 percent in 30 minutes for the Series 11.




Cherlynn Low for Engadget


Fitness and wellness features
All three Apple Watches have similar fitness tracking chops. The Activity app uses three “rings” to keep tabs on how much you’re moving in a day: The Move ring tracks your active calories; the Exercise ring monitors the minutes you’ve spent walking, running, doing yoga and so on; and the Stand ring tells you how many hours in a day you’ve stood up and moved around for at least one minute.
Different internal sensors detect those activities, for example the accelerometer senses when you’re moving versus sitting still, and the optical heart rate sensor judges how hard you're working out and how many calories you’ve burned. You can set your goals for each ring and you’ll earn badges and animations when you hit them.
The Workout Buddy will work with all three watches, but you’ll need to have an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone nearby as well as Bluetooth headphones to use it. All three can access offline maps, which could prove useful when hiking far from cellular coverage. But if going off-grid is something you plan to do often, you may appreciate the satellite connectivity of the Apple Watch Ultra 3.
Siri
You can get the weather, start a workout, identify a song and dictate a text just by asking Siri. All Apple Watch models support the Raise to Speak feature that bypasses the need to say “Hey Siri” and will instead listen for your request when you lift your wrist near your mouth.
Every Apple Watch model utilizes onboard processing of Siri requests now, too. That means executing simple requests like starting workouts and timers are quicker, as they won’t need to access external networks. However, requests like sending texts or getting weather forecasts still need to communicate with Wi-Fi or cellular, so you’ll need to have your phone nearby if you have a GPS-only model.




Cherlynn Low for Engadget


Carbon neutral claims
Apple declared the Series 9 with the aluminum case its first carbon neutral product. But has since dropped those claims, possibly due to legal challenges in a German court. Instead, Apple states that all three watches have been designed to “reduce environmental impact” and the company still maintains its commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2030.
Price
Perhaps the most surprising thing about the three new wearables was the lack of price increase from previous models. The Apple Watch SE still starts at $249, the Series 11 goes for $399 and up, and the Ultra 3 begins at $799. That puts a $550 difference between entry prices for the cheapest and most expensive Apple Watches.
For $250 you can get the 40mm Apple Watch SE 3 with GPS-only connectivity; adding cellular connectivity ups the price by $50. The Apple Watch Series 11 starts at $399 for the 42mm, non-cellular model in aluminum and goes as high as $749 for the 46mm titanium case (which comes with cellular). The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is $799 for a titanium 49mm case with both GPS and cellular, but the price goes up with different bands. You may also need a few Apple Watch accessories, if so, you can factor that into your purchasing decision.




Cherlynn Low for Engadget


How we tested Apple Watches
Engadget has been reviewing Apple Watches since the first one came out in 2015. Since then, we’ve tested every subsequent model Apple has released, including the Ultra and SE models, spending at least a few days or even a couple weeks with one strapped to our wrists. During that time, we run, hit the gym, go on hikes and wear it while sleeping, all the while gauging how it tracks various metrics, integrates with the iPhone and performs every other trick Apple claims its smartwatches can do.
Since we also review smartwatches from other companies, such as Samsung's Galaxy Watches and Google Pixels, our editors can compare Apple Watches not just to previous generations, but also to other wearables on the market. Our buying guides and recommendations rely on first-hand testing by Engadget staff. 
Apple Watch comparison chart



Product
Apple Watch Series 11
Apple Watch Ultra 3
Apple Watch SE 3


Release date
September 2025
September 2025
September 2025


Case sizes
42mm or 46mm
49mm
40mm or 44mm


Case material
Aluminum or titanium
Titanium
Aluminum


Display
LTPO3 OLED Always-On
LTPO3 OLED Always-On
LTPO OLED Always-on


Max brightness
2,000 nits
3,000 nits
1,000 nits


Chip
S10 SiP
S10 SiP
S10 SiP


Max battery life
24 h./38 h. low power
42 h./72 h. low power
18 h./32 h. low power


Water resistance
50 m.
100 m.
50 m.


Featured sensors
Electrical heart, optical heart (3rd gen), blood oxygen, temperature, compass, altimeter, accelerometer, gyroscope, light, depth gauge, water temp
Electrical heart, optical heart (3rd gen), blood oxygen, temperature, compass, altimeter, accelerometer, gyroscope, light, depth gauge, water temp
Optical heart (2nd gen), temperature, compass, altimeter, accelerometer, gyroscope, light



Apple Watch FAQs
What are the best Apple Watch apps for fitness tracking?
All three watches use the same Fitness and Workout apps to track your progress, and they all have sensors to track speed, cadence, distance and heart rate. But the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and the Apple Watch Series 11 have more sensors than the Apple Watch SE 3.
Additional tech includes an electrical heart rate sensor and a depth gauge. The two pricier watches also have a blood oxygen app and an ECG app, all of which may give you a better picture of your overall health. All three models are compatible with the AI-powered Workout Buddy from watchOS 26 (the feature also requires an AI-compatible iPhone).
Are any of the Apple Watch series waterproof?
All three models are water resistant. But they can all handle immersion in water, including a swim. The Apple Watch SE 3 and Series 11 can handle a depth of up to 50 meters while the Ultra 3 can be submerged up to 100 meters.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/best-apple-watch-160005462.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/wearables/best-apple-watch-160005462.html?src=rss

Garmin's new smartwatch for kids costs more than the Apple Watch SE

Garmin just announced a refresh of its Bounce smartwatch for kids and the big headline is the exorbitant price. It costs $300, which is twice the cost of the previous generation and $50 more than an Apple Watch SE.
The Bounce 2 still offers tracking and communication features, both powered by an LTE connection. The exterior has been completely redesigned, with a rounded 1.2-inch AMOLED display. The original model was square-ish, resembling an Apple Watch.


Communication is better here, which is good as this is a smartwatch intended for parents to keep track of kids. Voice messages sent to the watch will be transcribed and can be read or listened to. It also allows for actual phone calls, which the original did not. The Bounce 2 offers GPS tracking and the battery lasts two full days between charges.
It can play music, but only with an Amazon Music subscription. Also, all communication features require a subscription to one of Garmin's in-house smartwatch plans. These cost $10 per month or $100 annually. The Bounce 2 is available to order right now and comes in three colors.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/garmins-new-smartwatch-for-kids-costs-more-than-the-apple-watch-se-153134955.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/wearables/garmins-new-smartwatch-for-kids-costs-more-than-the-apple-watch-se-153134955.html?src=rss

Inside the Apple audio lab where AirPods are tested and tuned

When you enter the building that houses Apple’s audio lab, venture just beyond reception and you’ll encounter a massive vintage stereo setup. The deck and accompanying speakers were a gift from Steve Jobs to the team of engineers who work in this office. The group sees the old-school tech as a source of inspiration, but also as a reminder of Jobs’ obsession with both music and sound.
More than inspiration, though, the stereo is a reminder to the experts in software, acoustics and sound design how important sound is to everything Apple builds.
Inside, I was led into a maze of nondescript halls, weaving from room to room with a trio of Apple engineers as my guides. I was in for a rare peek into the company’s product development facilities — a step further behind the curtain than what’s typically allowed during Apple events.
Validating the AirPods hearing test
Billy Steele for Engadget
As Apple’s audio team works to correct and calibrate the AirPods' fit for natural variations in ear geometry, they use a collection of audio metric booths to check their work. These rooms look like small, windowless offices. The walls are covered in sound-dampening panels and there’s a single workstation with a Mac and various tools for hearing analysis. If you’ll recall, one of the company’s major ambitions with AirPods has been the end-to-end hearing health experience that it debuted last year. In order to validate its claims of a “clinical grade hearing test,” engineers use devices you might see in an audiologist's office, like audiometers. These spaces aren’t unlike the small booths you’ve probably sat in for a professionally-administered hearing test.
In one booth alone, the team ran thousands of tests on the feature to ensure that the hearing screening in your pocket was as accurate as what you could get from a doctor. Not only does this allow AirPods users to set up a hearing aid at home (if needed), but it also creates an accurate hearing profile so that you can hear music the way it was intended.
Another important step in the product design process was making sure there was a tuning baseline for every person that listens to music with AirPods. Everyone hears various frequencies differently, so there needs to be an adjustment to achieve the desired consistency. With the hearing test and accompanying audio profile, Apple then has a starting point to make both technical and artistic decisions. It’s here that the technology and liberal arts expertise among the audio lab team starts to mix.
When your office is a tuning studio
Billy Steele for Engadget
The media tuning lab works on any product Apple makes that can reproduce recorded audio, including the iPhone, Mac and iPad. In order to bridge the gap between the art and science of that pursuit, this team comes from a variety of backgrounds — from live concert sound, to Broadway sound design and even traditional acoustic engineering. The various tuning studios in this area are set up like music creation rooms: complete mini studios with various instruments scattered around, a prime seat for listening in the back and a desk replacing the recording engineer’s sound board. As a nice touch, they're all named after famous recording studios (like Abbey Road).
The main idea there is that the tuning team needs to reference what the recorded content sounded like at the time it was created. That, in turn, provides a better picture of the artist’s intention that can then be applied to products like the AirPods Pro 3. Due to the combination of the ear tips’ seal and the computational audio inside Apple’s latest earbuds model, the tuning engineers believe these AirPods provide the most authentic sound thus far in the company’s lineup because the team has been able to reduce so much of the variation across users and fits.
To create a sound profile that’s exciting for customers and still maintains all of that authenticity, the media tuning team listens to thousands of hours of music, movies, podcasts and YouTube videos in mono, stereo and Dolby Atmos. There’s also a lot of vinyl lining the shelves of these tuning studios. During the development process, the team will test multiple versions of hardware with tons of tuning variations using computational audio. The goal is for all of the tuning decisions to translate better to all users, with a desire that everyone hears the same sound from Apple’s products.
In addition to listening to music through speakers and headphones, microphones are also important to the tuning work. In order to create features like the studio-quality audio recording on AirPods Pro, the team captured clips from the earbuds in the studio and out in the real world before comparing them with benchmarks from high-end recording mics. That analysis allows the engineers to translate pro-grade audio features for consumer products like AirPods. Studio-quality audio, for example, replaces a lavalier with your earbuds for iPhone videos. It won’t ever replace a studio microphone, obviously, but it does put more capable audio tools in your pocket.
The completely silent room
Billy Steele for Engadget
An important part of testing Apple’s audio products, and features like spatial audio, is to use them in a completely silent room. Known as an anechoic chamber, it’s a room within a room that’s physically separated from the rest of the building. This is essential because things like footsteps in the hall or cars driving by outside can create vibrational noise that would otherwise be transmitted into the chamber.
Inside, foam wedges on the walls, floor and ceiling absorb all sound that’s emitted in the space. There’s no echo (hence the name “anechoic”), so voices and claps just die. In fact, you have to walk on a suspended grid that looks like wire fencing, because the true "floor" of the room is more foam wedges meant to absorb sonic reflections from below. It’s an off-putting space to spend time in, since it looks like something out of a sci-fi movie — not to mention the lack of reverb.
Over the decades that Apple has been designing and manufacturing electronics, the company has learned a lot about all of the unwanted noise that its devices make. The anechoic chamber allows a dedicated team of acoustic engineers to listen very carefully to products like AirPods to determine if any sounds are unintended. They collaborate with other engineering teams to make sure the product isn’t doing anything the company doesn’t intend for it to do.
The anechoic chamber is also a vital part of spatial audio development. In its current configuration, there’s a chair in the room with a ring of tiny speakers around it. Engineers study the variable physiology of test subjects, like the way sound bounces off the body and around the inside of their ears. To then create the perception of sound coming from a particular direction, the team uses computational audio and signal processing to create the ideal angle for a person’s hearing signature. This sort of analysis was directly responsible for Personalized Spatial Audio, which takes a scan from an iPhone camera and analyzes it with various models and algorithms to tailor the sound to each person.
Fantasia Lab: Verifying ANC, transparency mode and spatial audio
The last stop on my tour was the most visually and sonically appealing. This room is called the Fantasia Lab, named for the first film that used surround sound. The name also speaks to the Apple engineers’ ability to generate (or simulate) any sound they can think of with the room’s spherical speaker setup. The audio lab team used this room to verify features on the AirPods Pro 3, including transparency mode, active noise cancellation (ANC) and spatial audio.
The array of dozens of loudspeakers enable the engineers to assess whether environmental sounds in transparency mode are as accurate and natural as possible. The team will have someone sit inside the sphere and have them indicate which direction the audio is coming from to eliminate any issues with the feature. To gauge ANC performance, different types of sounds at various volumes are piped in. This gives the engineers insight into the workings of the adaptation and oversight algorithms, the bits of software employed to make sure the ANC is steadily and effectively blocking as much noise as possible. And for spatial audio, the team will play sounds at different locations and angles from real speakers before trying to recreate the perception that sound is coming from the same place inside of the AirPods.
I was able to take a seat for a few seconds to get a sense of what the Fantasia Lab is capable of. One of the engineers played a live recording of a concert in spatial audio. With speakers all around me, sound was coming from all directions — including the roar of the crowd singing along. I closed my eyes and I was there, vibing to Omar Apollo with tens of thousands of people. Except, of course, I wasn’t. I was surrounded by speakers in a small room with four other people, through a maze of corridors, tucked into one of Apple’s myriad buildings around Cupertino.
Imagine my disappointment when I opened my eyes.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/inside-the-apple-audio-lab-where-airpods-are-tested-and-tuned-150025891.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/audio/inside-the-apple-audio-lab-where-airpods-are-tested-and-tuned-150025891.html?src=rss

The new 14-inch Wacom One ups the display size, but not the price

Wacom has announced its latest beginner-friendly graphics tablet, the Wacom One 14. The obvious upgrade from its 2023 predecessor is a larger 14-inch IPS display, which gives digital artists a bit of extra space for their sketching. The bezels have been trimmed down to accommodate the bigger canvas, while keeping the design thin and compact enough to easily throw the Wacom One in a backpack.
The 1920 x 1080 HD display’s textured surface is supposed to replicate the feeling of drawing on paper, with an anti-glare coating that with an anti-glare coating that theoretically allow you to use it outdoors with minimal frustration. It’ll resist fingerprints too, but unlike other tablets in Wacom’s lineup, this one lacks multitouch tech. It’s designed to be used strictly with the included battery-free pen, which has a 16ms response time and clips to the top of the tablet for easy access. It’s pressure-sensitive and has two customizable buttons.
Given it’s marketed at amateurs just getting started on their artistic journey, you get a selection of bundled software that includes Skillshare lessons and a trial for Clip Studio Paint Pro. You can also use Foxit to edit and annotate PDF files, making the Wacom One a good pick for teachers who don’t need the additional functionality of an iPad.
You connect the Wacom One 14 to a Mac or PC by either using the provided USB-C cable, or via a Wacom converter to which you connect separate cables if your device isn’t equipped with Thunderbolt or DisplayPort Alt Mode. You can pick one up now for $300.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/the-new-14-inch-wacom-one-ups-the-display-size-but-not-the-price-142322193.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/the-new-14-inch-wacom-one-ups-the-display-size-but-not-the-price-142322193.html?src=rss

Waymo is headed to Nashville in 2026

Waymo is plotting a route for Tennessee, as it plans to bring its robotaxis to Nashville. The company expects to start autonomous driving operations in the city in the coming months before opening up to the public in 2026.
At the outset, folks in the area will be able to hail a ride via the Waymo app. Down the line, Lyft will be able to match users with Waymo rides in Nashville.
Waymo is currently up and running in five US cities: San Francisco (and other parts of the Bay Area), Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin and Atlanta. Along with Nashville, Waymo is planning to soon move into Denver and Seattle, where it started testing its vehicles this month, as well as Miami and Washington DC.
The company also received permission from New York City in August to start test rides there, albeit with a human driver behind the wheel. In addition, testing is underway in Tokyo — Waymo's first international location — though human drivers are manually operating the vehicles at the outset.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/waymo-is-headed-to-nashville-in-2026-140807997.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/waymo-is-headed-to-nashville-in-2026-140807997.html?src=rss

One of our favorite Samsung microSD cards drops to only $20

If you're like most people who are holding onto their devices for longer, it's almost inevitable that you'll need more storage at some point. Whether it's a smartphone, tablet, camera or handheld game console, using it daily will fill up that space faster than you think. That's why we're always on the hunt for good storage deals, and it's great when we can find one of our favorite microSD cards at a discount.
Right now, you can buy the Samsung Evo Select MicroSD card for $20, down from $27. The 26 percent discount brings it to only $2 more than its all-time low price. This model is a new generation with 256GB and read and write speeds up to 160MB per second.

Engadget named the Samsung EVO select our favorite decent cheap microSD card and it's a great option for expanding your space without breaking the bank. It works with smartphones, tablets and the Nintendo Switch — though not the second-generation model. 
Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/one-of-our-favorite-samsung-microsd-cards-drops-to-only-20-132713110.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/deals/one-of-our-favorite-samsung-microsd-cards-drops-to-only-20-132713110.html?src=rss

You absolutely should not buy Apple’s iPhone Air MagSafe battery pack

Apple released its thinnest phone yet last week, the iPhone Air, and revealed the new iPhone Air MagSafe Battery alongside it. The existence of a specially-made battery pack wasn’t a big surprise to me, because there had been rumors of the iPhone Air for months leading up to the event. Everyone was prepared for the thinnest iPhone ever to make some battery life sacrifices to achieve its svelte design.
However, what was a surprise to me was how much Apple leaned on the new battery during the iPhone Air launch presentation. The company even lists battery life estimates with and without this optional battery pack in the iPhone Air specs. That tells me — and regular consumers — that the battery pack is a highly-recommended purchase on a good day and downright necessary on a bad day for all iPhone Air owners.
So, folks spending $999 (or more) on an iPhone Air should plan to pony up another $99 for this specially designed battery pack? I’m here to tell you that’s a ridiculous notion and that you shouldn’t do it, especially when there are so many other options available at lower prices.
To be clear, I personally haven’t tried out the iPhone Air with this battery pack. My colleague Sam Rutherford has (check out his iPhone Air review), and he thinks it’s a great fit for the iPhone Air. In particular, he likes some of the (admittedly) smart features Apple included like the battery's ability to charge itself and the phone simultaneously while the phone is plugged in, and that it can wirelessly top up a pair of AirPods Pro 3. However, he does acknowledge that the math simply ain’t mathin’ on this one when it comes to value for money.
The $99 iPhone Air MagSafe Battery has a 3,149 mAh, according to the information written on the power bank itself. That comes out to about $0.03 per milliampere hours. Let’s compare that to one of the top picks in our guide to the best MagSafe power banks, this Anker Nano battery: that 5,000 mAh pack is priced at $55, which comes out to $0.01 per milliampere hours. Even the watt-hour rating (Whr) on Apple’s pack is lower: 12.26Whr, as compared to 25Whr on this Anker option. And don't forget, the Anker pack isn't exclusively made for the iPhone Air — it, like other magnetic power banks, can be used with other iPhones and smartphones.
To add insult to injury, Apple’s Air MagSafe Battery tops out at 12W wireless charging unless it’s plugged in while powering the phone up and can employ help from passthrough USB-C charging. The Anker pack is Qi2-certified for up to 15W of wireless charging, and since the iPhone Air supports up to 20W of wireless power, that means Anker's accessory could deliver its full 15 watts when snapped to the back of the Air.
Not only are you getting nearly double the mAh capacity for half the price with the Anker option (and faster charging to boot), but the numbers become even more ridiculous if you consider (hypothetically), what a larger Apple-made battery pack could cost. With those numbers, a 5K Apple MagSafe battery would cost $150 and a 10K bank would set you back $300. Imagine paying those prices for any other power bank made by any other company — it’s laughable, and we should treat it as such.
Now, is this out of character for Apple to make an overpriced accessory? Absolutely not. But this is different from a $99 Milanese Loop band for Apple Watch or even a $250 Magic Keyboard for iPad. This battery pack is so important to the overall iPhone Air story that the handset’s power specifications can’t be examined properly without it. That’s insane.
I used one of the picks from our guide as an example, but rest assured, there are plenty of other MagSafe battery packs available now made by reputable manufacturers with similar specs. Just look for any Qi2-compatible magnetic power bank that works with the iPhone Air, and you’ll probably have a better value on your hands than Apple’s in-house made pack. Those who want to overpay for sleekness and convenience can certainly do so, but don’t let anyone convince you it’s your best or only option.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/you-absolutely-should-not-buy-apples-iphone-air-magsafe-battery-pack-131009089.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/you-absolutely-should-not-buy-apples-iphone-air-magsafe-battery-pack-131009089.html?src=rss

With Lumo, Proton thinks it can carve a place at the AI table

Proton released Lumo — its privacy-focused chatbot built on open-source models — in mid-July, and, following an update in August that addressed some early issues, I find myself using it more often than ChatGPT or Claude. In a world where internet companies have done so much damage to our society, I'm trying to find more ethical tools. But when the competition offers flashier features in exchange for the low price of user data, does Proton seriously think it can compete?If Eamonn Maguire, Proton's head of machine learning, shares my concerns, he doesn't show it during the hour or so we chat over Zoom. If anything, I start to see why he believes Lumo has found a valuable niche. Proton began work on Lumo last year following the release of Scribe. The email writing tool was the company's first foray into AI. According to Maguire, the reception to Scribe was "better than [Proton] thought it would be." Soon enough, people were asking the company why the tool wasn't included in their Unlimited subscription. Internally, Scribe also changed how Proton thought about AI. Proton released its mail client in 2014, almost exactly 10 years after the debut of Gmail in 2004. Proton Drive, meanwhile, arrived in 2020 or eight years after Google Drive. The company felt it couldn't be late to chatbots too. "We knew we needed to move faster on this because it's going to be a big privacy problem in the future," said Maguire, pointing to the monetization arc of past platforms like Gmail. After cornering the email market, Google turned to ads and selling user data to fund Gmail's operations. It's a familiar scenario, and one Maguire argues we're already seeing play out again with AI chatbots, with Elon Musk recently telling advertisers that xAI would display sponsored responses alongside regular content from Grok. In other words, the enshitification of AI chatbots has already begun.    The growing strength of open-source models is one of the reasons Maguire believes Proton can compete against the likes of OpenAI and Google. Open systems, particularly those coming out of China, may lag behind proprietary models in user adoption but they're beginning to match them in testing benchmarks. For instance, Zhipu AI's GLM-4.5 currently sits top 10 overall on LMArena. At the same time, "all the top models are starting to cluster together in benchmarks now," Maguire says. Even accounting for some of the safety issues with Chinese models "Overall, open systems are competing, not just tailgating [closed models]."Lumo employs a combination of smaller open-source models that require fewer resources to run — specifically Nemo, OpenHands 32B, OLMO 2 32B, and Mistral Small 3. Maguire argues Proton's approach allows it to be nimble. That's important for a company that hasn't raised venture capital funding, and needs to think about building a sustainable business model from the start. "A lot of people think they need the best model to get the best responses. But I think it's been shown that you can get very capable responses from models that are smaller," Maguire said.For consumers, that also means Proton can offer Lumo for less. Like most chatbots, basic features are available for free, with the option to remove rate and token limits through a paid subscription. For Lumo, that costs $13 — less than $20 per month most AI companies charge for their basic paid plans, and substantially less than the $200 tier many of them have begun offering for nearly unlimited usage of their models.      Maguire suggests thinking about it this way: You could drive a Formula One car to the grocery store, but that would be overkill. If you find LLMs useful in your workflow, there's a good chance a state-of-the-art model like OpenAI's o3 is similarly overkill for your needs. Unless you're a researcher, you probably don't need a system that can reason over many minutes to tackle a complex problem.Similarly, if you're just driving a sedan or crossover to complete errands, then what better represents the neighborhood you live in digitally than your email and, perhaps, your cloud storage. Lumo gains some benefit from being baked into that environment, in the same way many AI companies are attempting to layer their chatbots on top of desktop and mobile operating systems. The other reason Maguire feels that Proton has a shot against established chatbots is because, at the end of the day, they're all just tools — some better equipped for certain tasks than others. For example, Anthropic's Claude systems are great at coding, but they don't offer image generation. As platforms, chatbots also don't benefit from network effects in quite the same way (or sometimes at all, depending on their user data training policies) that social networks do.    It should come as no surprise then at least one of the AI giants is trying to change that. In April, The Verge reported that OpenAI was testing a version of ChatGPT that includes a social feed to image generation. Whether users want such a thing remains to be seen, as gluing social elements to an unrelated product often fails (see: Google+). Without social features, maybe consumers will have an easier time jumping between these tools, especially as they become cluttered with ads or engage in more egregious privacy violations.At this point in our conversation, I'm still not convinced Lumo might carve out a niche for itself. I think of Mozilla and its recent string of bad news, from layoffs affecting its advocacy group to the shutdown of Pocket. Firefox is arguably a better browser than Chrome, with privacy features like robust anti-tracking built right into the app. However, it has a fraction of the market share. There's also the AGI-sized elephant in the room. In the pursuit of models that can match or exceed human intelligence at most tasks, AI companies are engaged in a contest where there can only be one winner, burning enormous sums of cash to exceed human intelligence through silicon and paying a king's ransom to hire the top minds in the field to achieve that. In that context, what chance does a small player like Proton stand?      Once again, the family sedan stands to beat the sportscar, or perhaps a spaceship to extend the metaphor. "If your goal is to help people become more productive and learn better, do you need AGI? Probably not," said Maguire. "We're not under the illusion that everyone is going to switch from ChatGPT to Lumo. Our goal is to provide the best ecosystem where people can do the most amount of things within a privacy-preserving mantra."As of 2023, Proton Mail had 100 million users. It's a far cry from the more than 2 billion people using Gmail, but I don't think anyone could convincingly argue Proton Mail is a failure. The company is still going strong, and now competing in a space people like Sam Altman would have you believe requires a trillion dollars of investment. If Proton can prove AI doesn't need to be "the antithesis of privacy," as Maguire believes it can, that might be enough to call Lumo a success too. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/with-lumo-proton-thinks-it-can-carve-a-place-at-the-ai-table-130000740.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/with-lumo-proton-thinks-it-can-carve-a-place-at-the-ai-table-130000740.html?src=rss

Our favorite slim MagSafe power bank is down to a new low

Carrying around charging cables, adapters or even a bulky power bank defeats the purpose of traveling light. But now there are plenty of options for those who want a power bank as svelte as their phone — even those who are investing in an iPhone Air. One of Anker's latest fits the bill: the Anker Nano 5K MagGo Slim power bank. 
Now, both Anker and Amazon are running sales on it, dropping the price from $55 to $46. The 16 percent discount a new low for the power bank and available in the black and white models. It's just about a third of an inch thick and attaches right to your iPhone. On that note, it works with any MagSafe compatible phone with a magnetic case. 

Anker's Nano 5K MagGo Slim is our pick for best, well, slim MagSafe power bank. It took two and a half hours to charge an iPhone 15 from 5 percent to 90 percent. However, it could boost the battery to 40 percent in just under an hour. Overall, though, the minimalist design and easy to grip matte texture, really sold it to us.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/our-favorite-slim-magsafe-power-bank-is-down-to-a-new-low-123012935.html?src=rss

https://www.engadget.com/deals/our-favorite-slim-magsafe-power-bank-is-down-to-a-new-low-123012935.html?src=rss

The iPhone 17 makes the iPhone 16e even more pointless

We were pretty underwhelmed by the iPhone 16e when it debuted earlier this year, mostly due to its $599 price tag, which makes it a poor replacement for the budget-oriented iPhone SE. And now that the iPhone 17 has debuted, the 16e makes even less sense. For $200 more, you get a larger and better screen with ProMotion, support for MagSafe wireless charging, a zippier processor, two cameras instead of one — and double the storage. Sure, that price difference hurts a bit, but I think the iPhone 17 is still a better deal since it's not nearly as limiting as the iPhone 16e, which should have been priced closer to $500 to take on something like the Pixel 9a.
Last fall, I argued that the vanilla iPhone 16 was a smart buy given its revamped CPU and support for Apple Intelligence, and I think that remains true for the iPhone 17 with its many new features and identical price point. While I'm sure Apple would love for more customers to jump to the $999 iPhone Air or $1,099 iPhone 17 Pro, it's still hard for a lot of people to stomach spending four figures on a smartphone. The ultra-thin Air will likely be a hit with influencers and the style-obsessed, and power users will have a ball with the iPhone 17 Pro's more capable camera array. For everyone else, the iPhone 17 remains a solid device that will serve you well for many years.


The addition of ProMotion support alone removes one of the feature gaps between the plain iPhone and the Pro models. It allows for a variable screen refresh rate of up to 120Hz, compared to the 60Hz limit of previous years. In practice, that means that scrolling through websites and your social media feeds will look smoother and less headache-inducing. You'll notice the difference immediately -- 60Hz screens look unbearably choppy and slow once your eyes have gotten used to something faster. 
And before Android fans jump in to brag — yes, we know that mid-range Android phones have offered high refresh rate screens for years. Apple is undoubtedly slow to react here, but the upgrade is still worth celebrating. The iPhone 17's screen isn't just smoother than before, it genuinely looks better, according to Engadget Senior Reporter Billy Steele. "The difference between this new model and my iPhone 16 Plus was immediately apparent," he wrote in his hands-on. "Colors are more vivid, details are sharper and it's just more pleasant to look at."



iPhone 17


Sam Rutherford for Engadget


When it comes to cameras, the iPhone 17 improves its ultrawide shooter to 48 megapixels, joining the 48MP main sensor. But the big camera upgrade is actually on the front of the phone, thanks to the new Center Stage camera. It's been bumped to 18MP from 12MP, but more importantly, Apple also introduced a square sensor that lets you jump from landscape to portrait orientations without rotating your phone. I've already gone deep on why the square selfie sensor (which is available on all iPhone 17 models) is a big deal, but here's one key takeaway: "By making it easier to take selfies, it follows that you'll start to take even more of them, ultimately tying yourself into Apple's ecosystem even further."
And speaking of features available on all of the new iPhones, the vanilla iPhone 17 also supports Dual Capture, which lets you record video using the front and rear cameras at the same time. Center Stage keeps your face in the middle of the frame during those shots as well, which might make Apple’s implementation of Dual Capture more effective than what we’ve seen from Samsung and other phone makers. I could have seen Apple gatekeeping this feature for the more powerful iPhone Air and 17 Pro models, but it's nice to see it on the vanilla entry. Similar to selfies, it only benefits Apple if you're using your devices more to produce content, and I could see Dual Capture footage becoming a big deal on Instagram and TikTok.


While Apple is keeping the iPhone 16 around at $699, it genuinely makes more sense to jump straight to the $799 iPhone 17 for all of the reasons mentioned above. (But if you find a good deal on a refurbished iPhone 16, that’s another story. It’s still a very capable phone, and it’s compatible with Apple Intelligence features as well.) Aside from lowering the price – something I don’t see Apple ever doing – there’s not much else the iPhone 17 is missing. And for anyone who needs something more fashionable or powerful, the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro are right there.
The only missing hole in the iPhone lineup is a budget option that’s cheaper than the $599 iPhone 16e – hopefully, that’ll be something a future iPhone 17e might be able to solve.


This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-iphone-17-makes-the-iphone-16e-even-more-pointless-123000387.html?src=rss

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