ArduinoMania

Meta Quest users will now be able to write reports, edit spreadsheets and create presentations — if they event want to do any of those tasks on a VR headset, that is. Android Central reports that support for the basic Microsoft Office suite has arrived on the original Oculus Quest, the Meta Quest 2, the Meta Quest Pro, and the latest model, the Meta Quest 3. Users can now download Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint from the Meta Quest store for free.

The company first revealed that it was going to launch Microsoft 365 app experiences for its headsets during its Connect 2022 event. It also promised users access to Outlook, Teams and a Windows experience as part of its partnership with Microsoft. To be able to use the basic Office suite apps on their device, users will need to have and log into their Microsoft account. The app files are pretty small because they run on the cloud, so they're quick to download and can run side by side for the multitaskers out there. 

According to The Verge, though, the apps aren't exactly optimized for virtual reality, so users may have to contend with tiny icons and other elements that don't work as well in the environment. In addition, it's not easy typing on the Quest's onscreen keyboard, so users may have to link Bluetooth accessories if they need to get some serious work done. 

California's Civil Rights Department (CRD) has announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with Activision Blizzard for a case it filed in 2021, accusing the company of systemic gender discrimination and fostering a culture that encouraged rampant misogyny and sexual harassment. The agency, which sued the developer when it was still called the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, said Activision Blizzard will have to pay $54 million to settle its allegations. Out of the total, $45.75 million will go towards a fund meant to compensate female employees and contract workers who worked for the company in California from October 12, 2015 until December 31, 2020. 

In addition, the developer is expected to retain an independent consultant to evaluate its promotion policies and training materials, as well as to make recommendations based on what they see. If you'll recall, the agency's lawsuit alleged that female employees were overlooked for promotions and were paid less than their male colleagues. According to Marketwatch, though, the settlement will also see the agency withdraw its claims that there was widespread sexual harassment at the company. The department will reportedly have to file an amended complaint that only focuses on gender-based pay gap and discrimination. 

California's original lawsuit detailed how Activision Blizzard condoned a "frat boy" culture that encouraged certain unsavory behaviors. Male employees allegedly did "cube crawls," wherein they routinely groped and sexually harassed their female colleagues at their desks. A spokesperson for the company told Marketwatch that it is "gratified that the CRD has agreed to file an amended complaint that entirely withdraws its 2021 claims alleging widespread and systemic workplace harassment at Activision Blizzard." They added: "We appreciate the importance of the issues addressed in this agreement and we are dedicated to fully implementing all the new obligations we have assumed as part of it. We are committed to ensuring fair compensation and promotion policies and practices for all our employees, and we will continue our efforts regarding inclusion of qualified candidates from underrepresented communities in outreach, recruitment, and retention."

Meanwhile, the department told the website that its announcement, which contains no reference to its earlier sexual harassment allegations, "largely speaks for itself with respect to the historic nature of this more than $50 million settlement agreement, which will bring direct relief and compensation to women who were harmed by the company’s discriminatory practices."

As The Wall Street Journal noted when it reported the settlement, this lawsuit set the stage for Microsoft to acquire the developer. After reports came out that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick kept sexual harassment allegations within the company from reaching its board of directors, the developer's shares fell, giving Microsoft the opening to offer a deal. The $68.7 billion acquisition was finalized in October after almost two years of contending with regulators trying to block the purchase. 

Maybe it’s just us, but isn’t it kind of amazing that in a world of pretty darn realistic games, PONG is still thrilling to play? This 1D implementation by [newsonator] is about as exciting as it gets.

It works like you’d probably expect — the light moves back and forth between the two players. Keep it in the green and you have a nice, gentle volley going. Let it hit your red LED and you’ve lost a point. But if you can push your button while your yellow LED is lit, the light speeds up tremendously until the next button press in the green.

Our only wish is that subsequent yellow-light button presses would make it speed up even more. But there are really just the two speeds with the current programming.

Inside the cool laser-cut box is an Arduino Uno and a 9V battery, plus a current-limiting resistor and the all-important buzzer. We like how [newsonator] wired up the LEDs to the Arduino by soldering them to a row of header pins and sticking that into the Arduino so it can be used in other projects down the line. We also like how [newsonator] shoved a couple of dowels through the box to ultimately support the two buttons.

Check out the intro video after the break for the overall details. The build is done over a few different short videos which follow.

Although this is pretty small, it isn’t quite the minimum viable.

If you used Apple’s Family Sharing feature with at least one other person and bought a subscription to an app through the App Store between 2015 and 2019, you might just get a settlement of up to $50 from the company. MacRumors reports that Apple will pay $25 million to settle a class action lawsuit that accuses the tech giant of misleading customers over Family Sharing.

The feature lets up to six family members share app subscriptions with each other but allows individual developers to forbid people from sharing a single subscription if they wish to. The lawsuit, which was filed in 2019, accuses Apple of not being transparent about this and misleading customers by making them think they could share a subscription to every app available in the App Store. “[The] vast majority of subscription-based apps” did support Family Sharing, the lawsuit claims.

The complaint also alleges that Apple placed ads on the landing pages of some subscription-based apps that didn’t support Family Sharing. This led “millions of customers” to download subscription-based apps believing they would be able to access them through their Family Sharing subscription, it says, citing YouTube Red and a puzzle game called Brainwell as examples of apps that didn’t support sharing their subscriptions with family members. 

Apple has reportedly denied any wrongdoing and has only agreed to settle the case to avoid the potential costs associated with a jury trial. The company did not respond to a request for comment from Engadget.

Teenage Engineer’s OP-1 Field synthesizer/groovebox/thingamajig just got a fairly substantial system update. Software version 1.5.0 brings a fun new effect to the instrument and a long-requested feature.

First up, there’s a new effect called Terminal. This is a bit crusher, finally bringing distortion to the synthesizer. The OP-1 Field and its lower-powered sibling have always been known for a stellar effects lineup, but these instruments have never had a bit crusher or any real way to add color via distortion. As an avid player, I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had to use workarounds to fake overdrive and distortion.

It looks simple enough to operate, with an aesthetic that calls to mind an old PC. You should be able to use this tool for gentle distortion and all-out audio mangling. Like all OP-1 effects, there are four parameters to fiddle with.

The update also brings a much easier way to bounce, or merge, tracks. Teenage Engineering’s calling it “tape merge drop” and the tool includes a shortcut that automatically combines all of the audio from copied tracks into one track, so you can drop it down and continue building out a song. You could always bounce tracks on the OP-1 and Field, but it required some menu diving and a lot more time.

Teenage Engineering has always been good about supporting the OP-1 line. It dropped a vocoder for the Field earlier this year and released multiple system updates for the original OP-1 in the recent past, and that thing came out in 2011. Obama wasn’t even in his second term yet.

The company has had a busy month or so. It set music gear internet ablaze with the surprise launch of the EP-133 sampler and did the exact opposite with whatever this is. The new OP-1 Field update is available now.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for Baldur’s Gate 3 to show up on Game Pass. It’s not happening, according to Larian Studios founder Swen Vincke in an interview with IGN. The game designer said point blank that “it’s not going to be on Game Pass.” Vincke went on to note that this was always the plan and that the title had never been considered for placement in Microsoft’s subscription gaming platform. These statements occurred just one week after the game officially launched on Xbox Series X/S consoles.

At the root of this decision is perceived value. Vincke says that Baldur’s Gate 3 is a “big game” that’s available for a “fair price.” He also touted the title’s lack of microtransactions and its complete story, saying “you get what you pay for.” To that end, a completionist run in Baldur's Gate 3 takes more than 140 hours, according to HowLongToBeat. That breaks down to about 40 cents an hour, which seems like a good value to me.

Larian Studios isn’t Microsoft. This is a small company that needs all the money it can get, with Vincke suggesting that players who pay full-price for Baldur’s Gate 3 will allow the developer to “continue making other games.”

This speaks to a larger issue within the gaming community regarding the “all-you-can-eat” nature of streaming subscription platforms like Game Pass. Obviously, paying $10 each month for access to hundreds of games is a great deal for consumers, but it remains to be seen how it impacts developers. Some smaller developers praise the added exposure that comes with launching on Game Pass, while others like Take Two call it a “lost opportunity” for publishers. Sony head Jim Ryan even called the platform “value destructive,” but he’s speaking about a primary competitor so, grain meet salt.

Microsoft has held steady to the idea that Game Pass actually increases sales of included titles, as players fall in love with certain games and want to own them outright. There’s some evidence to support this. Starfield was available on the subscription service since launch day but still managed to be the best-selling title of September, according to figures published by VentureBeat. However, that old adage about cows and free milk must apply to some gamers.

Most importantly, Baldur’s Gate 3 doesn’t need Game Pass. It’s one of the most popular and critically-acclaimed releases of the year, racking up a boatload of trophies at The Game Awards and selling around 20 million copies on Steam alone. The game’s also available on PS5 and, as mentioned, Xbox Series X/S.

The holiday shopping season is reaching the home stretch, but we're here to help if you're looking for a good deal on a last-minute tech gift. The Xbox Series X, for one, is back on sale at several retailers. Walmart has the game console down to an all-time low of $349, but if stock runs dry there, you can still grab it for $399 at Microsoft, Amazon and other stores. Beyond that, a four-pack of Apple's AirTag trackers is $19 off, the latest AirPods Pro are $50 off and a number of Sonos devices are discounted as part of a big holiday sale. We're also seeing price drops on recommended gaming laptops, MacBooks, tablets, microSD cards and more. Here are the best deals from this week that you can still buy today. Just be aware that not everything may ship in time for Christmas.

The Xbox Series X is available for $349 at Walmart at the time of writing, though stock appears to be spotty. If that deal runs out for good, a bundle that pairs the beefy game console with the action-RPG Diablo IV is down to $399 at Microsoft. That's $160 less than the usual cost of buying each separately. Amazon, GameStop and others have the console alone for $399 as well. While the Series X remains a bit light on must-play exclusives, the Xbox library includes a diverse collection of games we like, from blockbusters like Forza Horizon 5 to quirkier hits like Hi-Fi Rush to smaller-scale gems like Pentiment. The hardware itself is powerful enough to play games at a steady 4K/60 fps, with some titles capable of reaching higher frame rates. Unlike the less powerful Xbox Series S — which is $60 off itself — it also includes a disc drive. There's at least some chance we see a Series X refresh in 2024, but the current machine is an easier sell when it's discounted to this extent.

A four-pack of Apple's AirTags is back down to $80 at Amazon, Walmart and other retailers. That's about $9 off its usual street price and $19 less than buying from Apple directly. The AirTag is the "best for iPhones" pick in our Bluetooth tracker buying guide, as its ultra-wideband wireless tech and ability to tap into Apple's Find My device network make it particularly convenient for locating lost items. Its battery is easily replaceable, too, plus it's water-resistant. It lacks any built-in adhesive or keyring hole, however, so you'll need to buy an extra accessory if you want to attach it to an item.

The USB-C version of Apple's AirPods Pro is once again on sale for $200 at Amazon and Best Buy. We saw these noise-canceling earphones fall $10 cheaper during Black Friday, but this is still $20 below their average street price and $49 below Apple's list price. The AirPods Pro continues to offer effective active noise cancellation, pleasingly warm sound and a host of Apple-device-specific conveniences, which is why they're the "best for iOS" pick in our guide to the best wireless earbuds. Note, however, that Apple started selling this model's USB-C charging case on its own earlier this week, so if you're sitting on a Lightning-based pair and want to make the conversion, you can now do so without having to buy a whole new set.

You can get a $10 Amazon.com credit for no extra cost when you buy a digital Apple gift card worth $100 or more. Just use the code HOLAPP at checkout. If you'd rather shop at Target, that retailer is offering a $10 Target gift card alongside the same purchase until December 16. As a refresher, you can put an Apple gift card toward services like Apple Music and iCloud, App Store credit and purchases at Apple.com or Apple retail stores. We see promos like this periodically, but any bit of bonus money should be welcome if you often shop at these stores anyway.

Sonos is running a holiday sale that brings many of its smart speakers, soundbars and home theater devices back to the prices we saw on Black Friday. The flagship Sonos Arc soundbar is $180 off at $719, for one, while the mid-range Sonos Beam and budget-level Sonos Ray are down to $399 and $223, respectively. All three are picks in our soundbar buying guide. Beyond that, the Sonos Era 100 is $50 off at $199 — with a two-pack discounted by $120 — while the larger Sonos Five is $110 off at $439. Both of those make our guide to the best smart speakers. Other devices like the Sonos Sub, Sub Mini and Roam are also cheaper than usual. 

All Sonos speakers generally provide the same perks: clean sound quality relative to other devices in their price range, easy pairing with other Sonos speakers, uncomplicated setups, AirPlay support and access to various streaming services through the Sonos app. They aren't cheap, and their connectivity can be limited, but they should suit most people looking to build a multi-room audio system. Just note that new Arc, Roam and other devices could arrive in 2024, according to a recent Bloomberg report.  

The Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet is back on sale for $60, which is $5 more than its all-time low but $40 off Amazon's list price. That price applies to the model with 32GB of storage; if you want more space (and don't have a microSD card), the 64GB model is available for a low of $70. The Fire HD 8 is far from an iPad in terms of performance and app support, but it may be the cheapest competent tablet for most people. It's light, it lasts 10 or so hours on a charge and it's quick enough for basic web browsing and video streaming. Amazon's Fire OS still includes lock screen ads and heavily pushes the company's own services, but it's hard to do better at this price.

The 10.1-inch Fire HD 10 is also $50 off and down to $90, which is a $10 more than its Black Friday price. That one has the same software issues, but it's faster than the Fire HD 8 and features a sharper 1080p display.

If you'd prefer a more premium Android slate, the Google Pixel Tablet is discounted to $399 at Amazon, Best Buy and others. We've seen this deal pop up a few times over the last month, but it matches the lowest price we've tracked. The Pixel Tablet earned a score of 85 in our review earlier this year. It's a perfectly solid 11-inch tablet in its own right, but what sets it apart is its included charging speaker dock. Pop the tablet onto that and it'll function like a pseudo-smart display. It's not the exact same as a Nest Hub Max, but you can use it to control smart home devices, stream music, display photos and the like. This discounted model includes 128GB of storage, but the 256GB version is also $100 off and available for $499.

A 6.56-foot strip of the Govee LED Strip Light M1 is on sale for $40, which matches the lowest price we've seen. Normally, it retails around $60. We recommend the Strip Light M1 in our smart lights buying guide. It's simple to set up and delivers impressively bright colors to any area of the house where you'd like to add ambient lighting. You can apply different effects to separate parts of the strip through Govee's app, plus it's compatible with the Matter smart home standard. It can be an eyesore when it's not lit up, however, so you may not want to stick it out in the open. 

The 256GB version of Samsung's Evo Select microSD card is still on sale for $15, which is within 60 cents of the lowest price we've seen. Normally, it retails around $18. The Evo Select is the "best value" recommendation in our microSD card buying guide: It's not as fast as our top picks, but it's quick enough for most tasks — expanding a Nintendo Switch's storage, for instance — and it provides a better cost-per-gigabyte ratio than most cards.

If you're looking to stock up on a few new PC games, the Epic Games Store has kicked off its latest Holiday Sale. The key here is the Epic Coupon, which takes 33 percent off most games in the store as long as your cart totals $14.99 or more. The coupon will renew after each use, and you can apply it to games that are already discounted as part of the sale. This brings several new-ish titles down to the lowest prices we've tracked: The acclaimed survival horror game Alan Wake 2 is down to $27 with the coupon, for instance, while the shooter Remnant II and the action game Star Wars Jedi: Survivor can be had for lows of $20 and $23, respectively. Others like The Last of Us Part I, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Mortal Kombat 1 are also down to all-time lows. Epic says the sale will run until January 10.

A version of the Apple Watch Ultra 2 with a small Olive Alpine Loop is available for $699 at Amazon with a clippable coupon. That ties the lowest price we've tracked and takes $100 off Apple's MSRP. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 puts all the software benefits of the Series 9 in a more rugged design with a bigger and brighter display, twice the rated battery life and a customizable "Action Button" that you can use to quickly start a task. It also offers better waterproofing, more accurate GPS, a depth sensor and a loud siren for emergency SOS purposes. It is entirely too much smartwatch for most people, but this price makes it a little more appealing for endurance athletes with money to burn.

A variant of the 15.3-inch MacBook Air with an Apple M2 chip, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD is available for $1,449 at Amazon and Best Buy. That's $250 off Apple's list price and the best price we've seen outside of a couple of special offers for My Best Buy Plus members. We gave the 15-inch Air a review score of 96 in June and currently recommend it in our laptop buying guide. The M2 chip remains plenty fast for everyday tasks, and the chassis is still supremely well-built, with a crisp display, comfortable keyboard, reliable touchpad, long-lasting battery and lively speakers. 

We recommend starting with 16GB of memory, but if you really need to save cash, configs of the 13- and 15-inch Air with less RAM and storage are also $200 to $250 off. You should only buy this if you need a new laptop right now, though; according to a report from reliable Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, Apple plans to roll out updated MacBook Airs with its new M3 chip in a few months, potentially in March.

Best Buy has a configuration of the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 with an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU on sale for $1,100. That's the lowest price we've tracked and $100 less than the deal we saw on Black Friday. This model also includes a 14-inch display with a 1440p resolution and a 165Hz refresh rate. The ROG Zephyrus G14 is the top pick in our guide to the best gaming laptops: This config is plenty capable for playing modern AAA games but, at 3.6 pounds, it's not a complete anchor to carry around. A solid keyboard and trackpad help, too, though the 720p webcam could be sharper and there's a good bit of bloatware installed by default. The 512GB SSD isn't especially large either, though you can upgrade the storage if needed.

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Twitch has quickly taken back its policy update that permitted users to post sexual content as long as it was labeled. In another update, the company said it is not going to allow any depictions of real or fictional nudity on its streaming platform. After giving users the green light to post “artistic nudity,” Twitch says some streamers created content that violated policy.

The media streamed in response to the initial approval of sexually explicit content on Twitch was “met with community concern,” according to the update. The company said, “We have decided that we went too far with this change.”

While a huge part of the initial decision was to allow for the “digital depiction” of artistic nudity, the company clarified that digital depictions of sexual content is a concern when artificial intelligence can be used to develop realistic images and that it can be difficult to discern between what's been digitally produced and real photography.

Recently at TwitchCon in Las Vegas, the company introduced new moderation measures meant to keep inappropriate content out of stream chats. The issue of sexual abuse and inconsistent moderation policies through the site has been a recurring problem for the live-streaming platform. The company even dedicated a Safety Advisory Council in 2020 meant to tackle the site’s bad reputation for its moderation practices.

Twitch’s back and forth stance on the issue of sexually explicit content has enraged some users. @Saruei_, a user on X wrote, “I got banned wrongly under your new policy for drawing a nude character without any visible genitalia. This is your own responsibility for not thinking through before establishing a new TOS and it is incredibly unfair to a lot of artists who fell into the same situation as myself.” Another Twitch user @LuxDenizen took to X to complain, “Sucks for the artists who were actually following all of the rules. THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS.”

There are plenty of folks out there who'd prefer a practical gift to an offbeat one this holiday season. Apple's AirTags are handy little devices that could help you find and recover lost items, and so they make for great holiday gifts (as long as your intended recipient is an iPhone user). Now is a good time to pick up a few AirTags as a pack of four is on sale for $80. That's $19 off the regular price and it matches a deal we saw during the Black Friday period.

The AirTag is our pick for the best Bluetooth tracker for iPhones as it taps into Apple's global Find My network. After you pair an AirTag with an iPhone or iPad, you'll be able to find it as long as it's within range of another Apple device. Otherwise, you'll be able to view the AirTag's last known location to give you a starting point.

If you put the AirTag into Lost Mode, you'll receive a notification as soon as the tracker appears on the Find My network. Folks with an iPhone 11 or later will have ultra-wideband support on their device. That means they can harness the Find Nearby feature, which can guide them to the exact location of the AirTag once they're within a certain range without having to set off the device's ringer. As you get close to the tracker, your phone will start to vibrate.

In addition, the AirTag is a robust little thing as it's water- and dust-resistant. You won't have to be too concerned about the battery either, as it only needs to be replaced roughly once a year. Meanwhile, you might want to consider picking up an AirTag accessory such as a case or holder to secure the tracker.

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The OnePlus 12 has officially launched in China and now the company’s most powerful phone is coming to the rest of the world. OnePlus has announced global availability for January 23, including the US. All told, the company ways the phone will be available in 50 markets worldwide. If you’ve been intrigued by the company’s latest flagship smartphone, you won’t have long to wait until getting your hands on one.

This phone certainly has mouth-watering specs. You can soup it up with up to 24GB of RAM, which is more than I have in my work laptop and the same amount as my music and video-making desktop. The base model ships with 12GB of RAM, which is still plenty. As a comparison, the iPhone 15 boasts just 6GB of RAM.

These phones also offer up to 1TB of storage and come outfitted with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile chipset. Charging speeds are also great on paper, offering support for 100W wired fast charging and 50W wireless charging. Incidentally, the OnePlus 11 didn’t have wireless charging at all.

There’s a new Sony LYT-808 sensor for the 50-megapixel main camera and a 64-megapixel periscopic telephoto camera. The 6.82-inch 120Hz AMOLED display is a 2K panel manufactured by China’s BOE Technology Group.

The aesthetics resemble its predecessor, but the camera island’s color now matches the body. In addition to glossy white and classic matte black colorways, you can also purchase a OnePlus 12 in green. There’s no pricing yet, but in China this thing costs the equivalent of $610 for the base model and $820 for the high-end version with 24GB of RAM and 1TGB of storage.

The OnePlus 12 is being released as part of the company’s 10th anniversary. This isn’t the only big news to come out of that celebration. OnePlus has also announced it’ll be selling the OnePlus 12R smartphone in other parts of the world beyond China and India, a first for the “R” series. However, OnePlus hasn’t announced any specs or information about the 12R. The OnePlus 11R was a slightly underpowered and budget-friendly version of the flagship phone, so maybe the 12R will follow suit.