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One of the most convenient things about Apple’s AirPods is their ability pair quickly with other Apple devices. But sometimes things don't always go as planned — Bluetooth connections get interrupted, a snafu occurs and you may find yourself scratching your head a bit before you can listen to your favorite playlist. To help in those situations, we’ve put together a guide to getting your AirPods to pair up with your iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. We’ve also included advice on how to connect your buds to non-Apple devices, as well as how to reset your AirPods if you ever need to start from scratch.

How to connect AirPods to an iPhone or iPad

If you’re trying to pair your AirPods to a new iPhone or iPad, and your buds are already connected to an older model, the connection should automatically transfer to your new device, provided you use the same Apple ID on your new device.

New AirPods, on the other hand, should automatically pair with your iPhone or iPad simply by holding the AirPods case near your device with the lid open. When an image of your new AirPods appears at the bottom of the screen tap the Connect button.

But that doesn’t always happen. If your AirPods don’t automatically connect, follow these steps:

1. Swipe down from the upper right corner of your iPhone or iPad’s screen to open the Control Center.

Amy Skorheim / Engadget

2. Long press the Bluetooth icon to expand the connections window. (Don’t tap, as this toggles Bluetooth on and off.)

Amy Skorheim / Engadget

3. Long press the Bluetooth icon again.

Amy Skorheim / Engadget

4. With your AirPods in the case and the case lid open, bring them near your iPhone. If your AirPods show up in the list of Bluetooth devices, tap their name. If they don’t show up, tap Bluetooth Settings at the bottom of the window.

Amy Skorheim / Engadget

5. With your AirPods in the case and the case lid open, press and hold the button at the back of the case until the light at the front of the case flashes white. When you see AirPods in the list of devices, tap their name to connect.

Amy Skorheim / Engadget

6. If your AirPods still don’t connect, go back to your home screen (swipe up from the bottom edge of your screen), close the lid on the AirPods, wait 15 seconds, then try the steps again. Make sure both your phone and AirPods are charged and you’re running the most recent version of iOS, which you can check by going to the Settings app, scrolling down to General and tapping on Software Update.

How to connect AirPods to a Mac

Unlike iPads and iPhones, Macs don’t automatically connect to AirPods. To connect them manually, follow these steps:

1. Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your screen, select System Preferences, then click the Bluetooth icon.

Amy Skorheim / Engadget

2. With your AirPods in the case and the case open, bring them near your Mac and press and hold the button on the back of the case until the small light on the front of the case flashes white.

Amy Skorheim / Engadget

3. Your AirPods should show up in the Bluetooth window on your Mac. Click the Connect button to pair your AirPods.

Amy Skorheim / Engadget

4. If your AirPods don’t show up in the Bluetooth dialog box, shut the AirPods case and wait 15 seconds, then open the case and press the back button again. You may have to try the pairing process a few times before your AirPods show up on the list. If you still have trouble, make sure the AirPods are fully charged and you have the latest OS version installed on your Mac. Restarting your computer can also help.

How to connect AirPods to an Apple Watch

Like connections with iPhones and iPads, pairing your AirPods to your Apple Watch typically happens automatically. If you need to manually link them, follow these steps:

1. Depress the crown to bring up your Home Screen, aka the screen that shows all your apps. If you have grid view turned on, drag the grid around until you find Settings. If you have list view enabled, scroll or turn the crown to find the Settings icon. (Apps appear in alphabetical order.)

Amy Skorheim / Engadget

2. In Settings, scroll down to Bluetooth and tap on it. You should see a list of available nearby Bluetooth devices, regardless of whether they’re connected.

Amy Skorheim / Engadget

3. With your AirPods in the case and the case lid open, bring your AirPods near your watch. Tap the name of your AirPods in the list of Bluetooth devices. They should automatically connect.

4. If they don’t automatically connect, make sure both your AirPods and Apple Watch are charged. Check that your Apple Watch is updated to the latest software version, which, again, you can do by navigating to Settings, tapping General and then Software Update. Finally, make sure Bluetooth is turned on, which is a toggle switch at the bottom of the Bluetooth menu.

Other Bluetooth devices

Your AirPods and AirPods Pro will connect to many Bluetooth-enabled, non-Apple devices. You won’t be able to use Siri, but you can hear and talk, and the press-to-pause button on the stem typically still works. While some devices will vary, the procedure for most devices is as follows:

1. Open the Bluetooth menu on your device. For Chromebook, this is in the Quick Settings panel. For Windows, it’s in the Settings section of your Start menu. On Android phones, swipe down from the top of the screen and long press the Bluetooth icon.

2. With your AirPods in the case and the lid open, bring your AirPods near your device.

3. When your AirPods show up in the list of Bluetooth devices, tap their name.

4. If the AirPods don’t show up, keep the lid open and press the button at the back of the case until the light at the front flashes white.

5. When your AirPods appear in the list, tap their name. If they don’t appear, make sure your earbuds and device are charged. Shut the lid for 30 seconds and try again. Restarting your device and repeating the process can also help.

How to switch AirPods between devices

As of iOS 14, AirPods and AirPods Pro automatically switch between your iPhone and iPad, depending on which device is playing audio. For example, if you’re watching a show on your iPad and you get a call on your iPhone, the AirPods will switch over to your phone to answer the call.

If you want to manually switch your AirPods from device to another, follow these steps. Of course, these instructions only apply if you’ve already connected your AirPods to the device. If you haven’t done that, follow the steps above.

On an iPhone or iPad:

To make your AirPods switch to your iPhone or iPad, follow the same steps one through three in the pairing instructions above, with a different step four:

1. Swipe down from the upper right corner of your iPhone or iPad’s screen to open the control center.

2. Long press the Bluetooth icon to expand the connections window. (Don’t tap, as this toggles Bluetooth on and off.)

3. Long press the Bluetooth icon again.

4. In the list of devices that appears, select your AirPods.

On a Mac:

Switching your AirPods to your Mac is easiest to do through the Control Center by following these steps:

1. Click on the Control Center icon in your menu bar in the upper left corner.

Amy Skorheim / Engadget

2. Click on the text that says “Bluetooth” (not the Bluetooth icon, which toggles Bluetooth on and off). 

Amy Skorheim / Engadget

3. Select your AirPods from the list of available devices.

Amy Skorheim / Engadget

On an Apple Watch:

To connect your AirPods to your Apple Watch, follow the same steps one through two in the pairing instructions above, with a different step three:

1. Press the crown to bring up your home screen and tap on Settings.

2. Scroll down to Bluetooth and tap on it.

3. Select your AirPods from the list of devices.

How to reset your AirPods

If your AirPods won’t charge, won’t pair, or if you’re giving your buds to a new owner, you may want to do a factory reset. Here’s how:

1. Put your AirPods in the case, shut the lid, wait 30 seconds, then open the lid.

2. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad and tap on Bluetooth.

3. Tap the blue, circled “i” next to your AirPods.

4. Tap Forget This Device at the bottom of the AirPods’ details screen.

5. Tap the red Forget Device button that appears at the bottom of the screen.

6. Confirm you want to remove your AirPods in the pop up window.

Amy Skorheim / Engadget

7. To reconnect your AirPods, don’t navigate away from the Bluetooth screen.

8. Open the lid and bring the case (with your AirPods inside) near your iPhone or iPad.

9. Press and hold the button at the back of the case until the light on the front flashes white.

10. Your AirPods will either show up in the list of Bluetooth devices, or you’ll see a pop up window with an image of the AirPods and a Connect button. Tap your AirPods name or the Connect button.

The past year was stellar for handheld gaming, no matter the size of your actual hands. Between the Steam Deck, Playdate and an explosion of retro consoles, we received an embarrassing amount of mobile gaming goodness in 2022, and cloud play is only encouraging more innovation. Even though Sony still hasn’t revived the Vita, it feels like the handheld market is in the throes of a renaissance — so let’s celebrate the milestones of the year right here.

December is a historic month for handheld gaming. Sony released the PlayStation Portable in Japan on December 12th, 2004, and then debuted the Vita in Japan on December 17th, 2011. Both of these consoles were hits with players, critics and developers, but a disorganized marketing scheme and failed cloud ambitions kept Sony from investing in handheld gaming after the Vita. RIP, etc. Basically, for the past decade we’ve been waiting (very patiently, mind you) for a breakthrough mobile device to finally make this industry viable again.

Finally in 2022, the handheld market is flush. The Switch paved the way for mobile play over the past few years, and massive corporations like Valve are finally getting in on the action. Cloud gaming has found its foothold, and the market for portable Android and Linux devices is buzzing, with major names like Razer getting involved. Meanwhile, more underground companies like Analogue, Ayaneo and Panic are quietly churning out high-quality handhelds for retro, PC and indie gaming.

Engadget

But of course, Valve’s Steam Deck dominated the portable conversation in 2022. The Steam Deck is big, it’s heavy, it doesn’t have a great battery life – and it’s everything PC players have been waiting for, apparently. Valve started rolling out the Steam Deck in February, and by October it had shipped more than 1 million of these beasts across the western world, with plans to expand into additional regions. Steam Deck comes in three flavors ranging from $400 to $650, which makes it more affordable than existing handheld PC devices from companies like Ayaneo. It comes with Steam pre-installed, but it’ll also run Windows if you really want to spend an afternoon screaming why? at the machine in your lap.

Imperfect though it may be, Steam Deck proved there’s heat in the handheld PC market in 2022. It’s a relatively accessible way to play PC games on a portable screen, and it successfully combines the Steam software with decades of hardware research at Valve. The Steam Deck is a great start from a company that’s known to lose focus easily, so hopefully it doesn’t all end here.

Engadget

Even if Valve gets too distracted to make a Steam Deck 2.0, plenty of other companies are eager to pick up the thread in the mobile PC space. The most prominent name is Ayaneo, a brand that took off in 2021 thanks to an Indiegogo campaign that raised more than $2 million. Today, Ayaneo is continuing to iterate on its original PC device with sleek, Switch-sized machines capable of running titles from Steam, the Epic Games Store, Game Pass and other hubs. The Ayaneo Air Pro starts at $700 and can technically handle high-fidelity games, though you’ll likely have to lower your framerate, resolution and expectations. The beefiest Ayaneo, the Next Pro, starts at $1,500 and it’ll run anything a Steam Deck can, but without the extra bulk.

Ayaneo makes extremely cute gadgets and the company is emerging as Valve’s main competitor for portable PC glory. The Ayaneo 2 is poised to pack even more power into a sleek package, though it’ll have a price tag of $1,000, at least. The exciting thing here is that there’s actual competition in the handheld space – companies are investing in mobile hardware more than ever, and not just when it comes to PC play. Recent upgrades in mobile processors are powering a ton of new devices built specifically for retro and cloud gaming.

James Trew / Engadget

At the end of 2022, the market for retro handhelds is lush, covering every era from NES to GameCube at relatively affordable prices. On the NES to PSP side of things, this year we got the Miyoo Mini and Retroid Pocket 3: The Miyoo Mini costs about $60 and has a modern dual-core processor that can handle even some PS1 games, while the Pocket 3 is an Android-powered handheld that costs $120. For more modern emulation experiences, there’s the Odin by Ayn, which can run PS2 and GameCube titles at 1080p on a 5.9-inch screen. The Odin costs between $200 and $290, depending on the model. For retro handhelds, the general rule is the hardware gets more expensive as the era progresses.

In the honorable mention section, we have the Analogue Pocket, which plays actual physical cartridges from the Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance, and is unsurprisingly about the size of a classic Game Boy. Analogue started shipping the Pocket at the end of 2021 and it enjoyed a sold-out year, with more orders and accessories due in 2023. Pocket is a special little handheld that breathes new life into classic cartridge libraries, and it comes with a price tag of $220 – which is just about what a Game Boy would cost in today’s coin.

Engadget

OK, that’s enough about the past. If 2022 has proven anything, it’s that portable gaming has a strong future, and this is going to include cloud and phone play. Cloud technology has finally become reliable enough that even Sony figured it out this year, and Microsoft has continued to grow its enormous cloud network, which is intrinsically tied to Game Pass. Our slowly encroaching subscription-based future has created a rich environment for Android- and Linux-based handhelds that don’t need a ton of on-board processing power, as the Steam Deck does. Logitech recently dropped the G Cloud Gaming Handheld, which costs $350, while the Razer Edge is an Android-based handheld starting at $400 and expected to start shipping in January.

This year Razer also released the Kishi V2, which is a $100 gamepad that essentially turns your smartphone into a cloud gaming device. Backbone makes a similar product for iPhone and Android players, and this year the company rolled out an officially licensed PlayStation gamepad just for iPhone. As mobile processors continue to evolve and cloud technology further stabilizes, smartphone gaming is only going to grow as an industry, and already mainstream entertainment companies like Netflix are joining the fray. Netflix specifically has ushered acclaimed games like Kentucky Route Zero, Into the Breach and Spiritfarer onto mobile devices this year, and it’s introduced gems like Poinpy and Hello Kitty Happiness Parade.

Panic

Finally, I’d like to take a moment to honor Playdate. This brilliant business-card-sized indie gaming machine came out in April; it costs $180, it has a crank, and it doesn’t fit into any existing video game category. Playdate exemplifies innovation. It’s an open-source, crank-powered piece of magic offering some of the most unique experiences the video game industry has to offer, distilled on a miniscule, monochromatic screen. Playdate is pure joy in a tiny yellow package, and for me, it’s the standout handheld of 2022.

And that’s a wrap. Here’s to you, handheld gaming. Thank you for a fantastic year, and may the momentum of 2022 continue to generate creative ideas in this space. To the years and games ahead, cheers.

Mercedes isn’t tip-toeing into electrification. The automaker put together an aggressive plan and it shows no sign of slowing down. That’s why every few months it seems like there’s another Mercedes-Benz EV being announced.

In all this removal of gas-powered engines, Mercedes still needs to make sure to build vehicles that exude the luxury customers have come to expect from the automaker. It started with the EQS as the electric version of the S-Class sedan and followed that up with the EQS SUV. A taller vehicle with more headroom, off-road capabilities and the number one feature wanted by the US market: it’s an SUV.

While the parity of tech features between the EQS and EQS SUV is impressive, the one thing that S-Class owners moving to an electric luxury vehicle will notice is the increased headroom in the EQS SUV. There’s also the design, which looks better on the SUV, and if you opt for all-wheel-drive the off-roading capabilities are there for when the second home happens to be up a dirt road.

Still, we put the EQS SUV to the test and found that overall it’s an impressive entry into the luxury EV SUV market, even with its weird regenerative brake pedal. Watch the video below for the full story.

Twitter Blue has enabled new perks for subscribers including "prioritized rankings in conversations" and video uploads up to 60 minutes in length, according to an updated feature list spotted by TechCrunch. Both features were promised by Elon Musk last month when he said Blue subscribers who pay $8 per month would get "priority in replies, mentions & search" and the ability to post long videos. 

Reply priority is now in effect, with the support page stating that "this feature prioritizes your replies on Tweets that you interact with." That seems to be the case on severaltweets I looked at, with Twitter Blue subscribers (many with few followers) appearing as the top replies. It's not clear if users paying $8 per month will always appear at the top in replies, or whether or factors are also used.

Twitter support said earlier that priority rankings will "help lower the visibility of scams, spam and bots." However, some users have expressed concern that the new system will lower the experience for non-paying users, or that paid priority might help spammers, trolls and others amplify their messages. 

The new video rules will boost length from 10 minutes and 512MB to 60 minutes and 2GB at up to 1080p resolution, though only on the web — the 10-minute rule still applies to Android and iOS users. Twitter also notes that it may "modify or adapt your original video for distribution, syndication, publication or broadcast by us and our partners" or change the bitrate/resolution depending on a viewer's internet speeds. 

Musk said that Twitter will eventually pay creators for uploaded videos, noting that it might even exceed the 55 percent cut that YouTube offers. However, it hasn't said whether that will be done with ads or other means. It's also not clear how it may address piracy issues, given that much of its moderation team has been let go or quit. 

YouTube is ready for some more football. The streaming service has snagged the rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket package, which offers access to out-of-market games that air on Fox and CBS each Sunday. DirecTV, the current home of Sunday Ticket, has held the rights since 1994, but the bundle will move to Google’s streaming service next season. YouTube and the NFL didn’t announce the terms of the deal, but according to The Wall Street Journal, YouTube will pay $2 billion per year in a seven-year pact – around $500 million more per season than DirecTV is paying.

Having exclusive rights to a bundle with many out-of-market NFL games should draw even more users to YouTube. Live sport coverage is turning into the next battleground for streaming. Amazon Prime Video has an 11-year deal to stream Thursday Night Football games that started this season. Meanwhile, Apple is pushing further into live sports as well, with a 10-year deal to stream every Major League Soccer game via Apple TV starting in 2023.

– Mat Smith

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The best shows to binge-watch over the holidays in 2022

Catch up on some of these excellent shows.

Apple

2021 was a bit of a reset for the entertainment industry, with more of us returning to theaters and plenty of must-watch TV shows hitting streaming networks. If you've gotten used to catching up on everything on your couch, don't worry — there's still plenty to watch over the holidays. We’ve covered HBO Max, Disney Plus, Netflix and the rest.

Continue reading.

How to permanently delete all your Facebook and Meta-owned accounts

Breaking up with Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp can be complicated.

‘Tis the season to be done with social media. For Facebook, Instagram and other Meta-run services, deleting an account entirely isn’t necessarily straightforward, either, with no single centralized way to delete all your Meta-associated accounts. We run through how to download all your data and digitally clean up after yourself, just in case you need something fun to do over the holidays.

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The Lastpass hack was worse than the company first reported

Because of course it was.

Password manager app Lastpass announced on Thursday the most recent hack was much more damaging than initially reported. The attackers made off with users' password vaults in some cases – that is, entire collections of encrypted personal data, if not the immediate method to unlock them. "No customer data was accessed during the August 2022 incident," LastPass CEO Karim Toubba, explained. However, some of the app's source code was lifted and then used to spearphish a Lastpass employee into giving up their access credentials, those keys were then used to decrypt and copy off, "some storage volumes within the cloud-based storage service." That data could include basic customer account information like company names, billing, email and IP addresses and telephone numbers.

Continue reading.

Tesla reveals an angular $300 wireless phone charger

I preferred the flamethrower.

Tesla

The latest baffling peripheral from Tesla has nothing to do with its cars – even if it’s inspired by the boxy angles of the Cybertruck. It’s a wireless charger that can juice multiple compatible devices, with a suede-ish finish and a tiny Tesla logo on the edge. It’s also $300. You could buy a new phone for that, or subscribe to Twitter Blue for over two years.

Continue reading.

Last week, Twitter banned Jack Sweeney's @ElonJet account that tracked Elon Musk's private jet, then unveiled a new policy against sharing live locations shortly afterward. Now, Sweeney is back with a new account called @ElonJetNexDay that still tracks Musk's aircraft, but adds a 24-hour delay to the location, TechCrunch has reported.

It appears to be Sweeney's effort conform to Twitter's new rules, which state that it's permissible to share "publicly available information after a reasonable time has elapsed, so that the individual is no longer at risk for physical harm." The account has only been online for a short time, however, so it remains to be seen whether Twitter will see it the same way

Sweeney and his @ElonJet account have been on Musk's radar for a while. In January, a few months before Musk announced a deal to buy Twitter, he offered Sweeney $5,000 to delete the account. Sweeney rejected the overture, instead asking for $50,000. As CNBC notes, @ElonJet had more than half a million followers. 

The ban came about after Elon Musk said a car carrying his son X Æ A-12 was followed by a stalker in Los Angeles. Twitter soon told Sweeney that his account "broke Twitter rules," though didn't specify which ones. Musk later said that "legal action" would be taken against Sweeney and "organizations who supported harm to my family."

Sweeney's @ElonJet tracker bot now has 67,000 followers on Mastadon and tracks jets belonging to Musk and others on Facebook and Instagram. The bans are part of a large amount of Twitter drama around Musk that recently culminated in one of Musk's famous Twitter polls, with a decisive number of users voting that he should step down as CEO of Twitter. 

Fallout from Facebook's Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal continues over four years after it was first exposed. Parent Meta has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a long-running class-action lawsuit accusing Facebook of allowing Cambridge Analytica and other third parties to access user's private information, Reuters has reported. 

The settlement resolves user claims that Facebook violated federal and state laws by allowing the company's preferred vendors and partners to harvest their personal data without consent. It's reportedly the largest ever in a US data privacy class action and the most Meta has ever paid to resolve a class-action lawsuit. 

"This historic settlement will provide meaningful relief to the class in this complex and novel privacy case," the lead lawyers for the plaintiffs said in a statement. 

Meta admitted no wrongdoing as part of the settlement, which is still subject to approval by a federal judge. "Over the last three years we revamped our approach to privacy and implemented a comprehensive privacy program," Meta said in a statement, adding that the settlement "was in the best interest of our community and shareholders." 

Cambridge Analytica, now defunct, worked for Ted Cruz and Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaigns. It accessed the personal data of up to 87 million people by an app (thisisyourdigitallife) and used the information gathered to target individuals with personally tailored messages. The scandal was exposed by The New York Times and The Guardian in 2018, thanks in large part to whistleblower Christopher Wylie.

In 2019, Facebook agreed to pay a $5 billion fine following a Federal Trade Commission investigation and $100 million to settle US Securities and Exchange Commission claims. It also paid £500,000 (about $644,000) in fines to the UK, a pittance compared to what it would have paid had the GDPR been in place when the scandal occurred. 

Facebook hasn't put Cambridge Analytica behind it yet, either. The company is still fighting a lawsuit by the Washington DC attorney general, as well as a number of state attorneys general. 

• Read more about Why Top-notch Secured Memory Chips are Essential for Video Surveillance Cameras?
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This is a wireless phone charger that holds not one, not two, but three entire phones! And charges them wirelessly! Tesla makes it! For just $300! Shut up and take my money! Are you kidding me?! This is a phenomenal deal! JANET! HEY JANET, GET MY WALLET, IT'S ON THE NIGHTSTAND. 

"Inspired by the angular design and metallic styling of Cybertruck," with 15W of power! That sounds like a lot! I should see what my normal charger does, bet it's not half as much as this thing. Stupid normal charger, not even modeled after a truck that's not even in production yet. 

And look at this build quality. It's got everything: aluminum housing, an alcantara surface (who doesn't love the feel of a suede-like microfiber material?) and a detachable magnetic stand that both lays flat and sits at an angle! This way I can never not be looking at my three phones, even when they're charging. This is going to be so awesome. Best three hundred dollars plus tax I'll probably ever spend. JANET, WHERE ARE WE WITH THAT WALLET?

Hell yeah, it uses FreePower technology, that means I'll be able to just throw my few grand worth of Qi-compatible earbuds, mobile devices, smart watches and accessories on this thing all willy nilly. Won't have to line them up or anything because that's how I do it. I'm the type who moves fast and breaks things.

Aw, whaddya mean it's not coming out until February? In Tesla months that could be years from now! JANET! IX-NAY ON THE ALLET-WAY!

After being hacked for the second time in as many years this August, password manager app Lastpass announced on Thursday the most recent intrusion was much more damaging than initially reported with the attackers having made off with users' password vaults in some cases. That means the thieves have people's entire collections of encrypted personal data, if not the immediate method to unlock them.

"No customer data was accessed during the August 2022 incident," LastPass CEO Karim Toubba, explained. However, some of the app's source code was lifted and then used to spearphish a Lastpass employee into giving up their access credentials, then used those keys to decrypt and copy off, "some storage volumes within the cloud-based storage service."

Among the encrypted data obtained by the hackers included basic customer account information like company names, billing, email and IP addresses; and telephone numbers, Toubba continued. "These encrypted fields remain secured with 256-bit AES encryption and can only be decrypted with a unique encryption key derived from each user’s master password using our Zero Knowledge architecture," Toubba said. "As a reminder, the master password is never known to LastPass and is not stored or maintained by LastPass." 

Still, you're going to take the company's word for it? I'm not. It'll be a pain but swapping out all of your various existing site passwords for new ones — as well as picking a new master password — might ultimately prove necessary to regain your online security. Or you could just tell Lastpass to go kick rocks and switch over to 1Password or Bitwarden.