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While the absolute best true wireless earbuds tend to cost between $150 and $300, the market has matured to the point where it’s possible to get something good enough without spending triple digits. Yes, you’ll still find lots of junk in the bargain bin, but with each passing year, we’re seeing more earbuds that offer pleasing sound, solid battery life and extensive feature sets without putting a heavy burden on your wallet. To help those on a budget, we researched and tested a range of true wireless earbuds that cost less than $100. These are the ones we found to offer the best value.

Best for most: Anker Soundcore Space A40

The Anker Soundcore Space A40 are often available for $80 but offer the kind of performance and features you’d see from earphones that cost twice as much. Their little round earpieces are light and evenly balanced, so they shouldn’t be a pain for most to wear for hours at a time. The default sound profile is good enough: It’s warm, with a bump in the upper-bass and a dip in the treble that can dull some finer details but sounds pleasant on the whole. Unlike many cheaper headphones, it doesn’t completely blow out the low-end. As with many modern pairs, you can tweak the sound with custom EQ tools in the Soundcore app. Using these won’t make the Space A40 sound as nice as the best premium pairs, but it can give them a touch more deep bass or high-frequency emphasis. The app in general is easy to use, and it saves any changes you make directly to the earphones.

The Space A40's best feature is their active noise cancellation (ANC), which is outstanding for the money. It won’t totally block out higher-pitched sounds, but it’s plenty effective at muting the rumbles of a train or jet engine. By default, Anker uses an adaptive ANC system that automatically tweaks the intensity based on your surroundings, though you can manually set it to strong, moderate or weak levels, too. That’s great for those with sensitive ears. There’s also a transparency mode, which isn’t nearly as good as what you’d find on a high-end pair like the AirPods Pro but works in a pinch.

Most of the little touches you’d want from a modern set of headphones are here as well. The Space A40 can connect to two devices simultaneously, and you can use one earbud on its own. Battery life is solid at eight-ish hours per charge, while the included case can supply another 40 or so hours and supports wireless charging. The IPX4 water resistance rating isn’t anything special but still means the earphones can survive light rain and everyday sweat. The touch control scheme can feel somewhat busy, as it lets you assign up to six different shortcuts to different taps and long presses and effectively forces you to omit a function or two, but it works reliably. We’ve had no real connection issues, either.

The only major shortcomings are the mic quality and the lack of auto-pausing when you remove an earbud. The former doesn’t handle sibilant sounds very well and can lose your voice in particularly noisy areas, so this isn’t the best option for phone calls, but it’s usable.

Bluetooth: v5.2
Active noise cancellation: Yes
Transparency mode: Yes
Custom EQ: Yes
Charging port: USB-C
Wireless charging: Yes
Water resistance: IPX4
Multipoint connectivity: Yes (2 devices)
Auto-pause: No
Battery life (rated): 10 hrs, 50 hrs w/ case
Fast charging (rated): 10 mins = 4 hrs
Codecs: SBC, AAC, LDAC
Warranty: 18 months

Runner up: EarFun Air Pro 3

The $80 EarFun Air Pro 3 are a commendable alternative to the Space A40 if you see them on sale or if you prefer an AirPods-style “stem” design. Like the Space A40, they come with ANC, a transparency mode, a relatively stable fit, a pocketable case that supports Qi wireless charging and the ability to connect to two devices at once. Battery life is slightly worse, closer to six or seven hours than eight, but it’s not bad. Their IPX5 water resistance rating is a touch better, as is their built-in mic.

The Air Pro 3 sounds decent, too. By default, they have an excited, V-shaped EQ curve, with intense bass and a noticeable spike in the treble. Some might enjoy this, as it gives EDM and pop a good sense of thump, but others might find it fatiguing, and it can make higher frequencies sound a hair too sharp. The Space A40’s sound isn’t exactly balanced, but it should be a little more agreeable for most. You can still rein in and personalize the sound with a (less flexible) custom EQ tool in the EarFun app, though.

Likewise, the Air Pro 3’s active noise cancellation is serviceable in most cases, but it’s a half-step behind the Space A40 and isn't customizable. Plus, while the design is generally comfortable for extended listening, it’s bulkier than our top pick. On the plus side, the touch controls are slightly more extensive, as you can triple-tap each earbud to access additional shortcuts.

Bluetooth: v5.3
Active noise cancellation: Yes
Transparency mode: Yes
Custom EQ: Yes
Charging port: USB-C
Wireless charging: Yes
Water resistance: IPX5
Multipoint connectivity: Yes (2 devices)
Auto-pause: No
Battery life (rated): 9 hrs w/ ANC on, 7 hrs w/ ANC off, 45 hrs w/ case
Fast charging (rated): 10 mins = 2 hrs
Codecs: SBC, AAC, LC3, aptX adaptive
Warranty: 18 months

Best under $50: EarFun Free 2S

If you don’t want to spend more than $50 on a set of true wireless earbuds, consider the Earfun Free 2S. Like the Air Pro 3, it has a big bass response and a smaller bump in the treble. It misses details in the mids and can get fatiguing over extended periods, but it’s a richer example of this kind of “fun” sound signature than most pairs in this price range. You can adjust the sound through EarFun’s app as well, though there’s still fewer EQ presets to choose from than with the Soundcore Space A40.

The earpieces themselves are well-shaped and not oversized; combined with their soft silicone ear tips, they should be comfortable for most to wear over long periods of time. An IPX7 rating means they’re fully waterproof, too. There’s a suite of reliable touch controls and battery life sits at around seven hours. The included case adds another 30 or so hours and supports wireless charging, too. It’s not the smallest case we’ve used, but it’s not so large that it can’t fit in a pocket, either.

That said, you start to run into more “you get what you pay for” situations once you drop into this price range. In addition to not sounding quite as sharp as our pricier picks, the Free 2S lack active noise cancellation, multi-device connectivity, auto-pausing and a transparency mode. And though their mic quality is decent in most cases, it’s pretty susceptible to wind noise.

Bluetooth: v5.2
Active noise cancellation: No
Transparency mode: No
Custom EQ: Yes
Charging port: USB-C
Wireless charging: Yes
Water resistance: IPX7
Multipoint connectivity: No
Auto-pause: No
Battery life (rated): 7 hrs, 30 hrs w/ case
Fast charging (rated): 10 mins = 2 hrs
Codecs: SBC, AAC, aptX
Warranty: 18 months

Best for workouts: Jabra Elite 3

The Jabra Elite 3 are a couple of years old, but since they’re frequently on sale in the $60 to $70 range, they’re still worth a look. They’re particularly useful for workouts, as their compact design should be snug yet comfortable for most. What’s more, they don’t require any bulky wing stabilizers or over-ear hooks. They also have an IP55 water resistance rating, which should be enough to withstand most gym sessions. (As with most earbuds, you should give them a light cleaning between workouts.) Plus, they use physical buttons instead of touch controls. When you’re on the move, having that immediate, tactile feedback is more reliable for quickly changing tracks or adjusting volume.

The Elite 3 still sound better than most pairs in this price range, too. As noted in our review the Elite 3’s signature is balanced enough for most music, with a slight but not overbearing bass boost that gives tracks a nice sense of body. By default, it sounds a bit better than both the Space A40 and the Air Pro: The treble is more present than the former, and the bass is less boomy than the latter. It’s more measured than the Free 2S as well, so if you see the Elite 3 on sale for around $50, it’s the pair to get. Similar to our other top picks, you can also customize the Elite 3’s EQ through the Jabra Sound+ app.

Where the Elite 3 falls short is in all the other stuff. There’s no active noise cancellation, no wireless charging, no multipoint connectivity and no auto-pausing. And while there is a transparency mode, the effect is so meager that you’re better off just removing the earpieces entirely. The seven-ish hours of battery life is solid, however, and you can use a single earbud at a time if needed. Call quality is acceptable as well, though not a standout feature.

You could also consider the Elite 4, which launched in March and feature both ANC and multipoint connectivity. At $100, though, most budget-conscious buyers are better off with the Space A40.

Bluetooth: v5.2
Active noise cancellation: No
Transparency mode: Yes
Custom EQ: Yes
Charging port: USB-C
Wireless charging: No
Water resistance: IP55
Multipoint connectivity: No
Auto-pause: No
Battery life (tested): 7 hrs, 28 hrs w/ case
Fast charging (rated): 10 mins = 1 hr
Codecs: SBC, aptX
Warranty: 2 years (w/ Sound+ app registration)

Best for an open design: Amazon Echo Buds (2023)

All of our picks so far are technically earphones, meaning they extend into your ear canal. For many people, that is inherently uncomfortable. Unfortunately, the market for decent yet affordable “earbuds,” which rest on the concha instead of going all the way in your ear, is spotty. If you can’t bring yourself to pay for a pair of AirPods, though, the Amazon Echo Buds are a worthy compromise at $50.

The plastic earpieces here aren’t exactly premium, but they rest lightly in the ear and feel sturdily put together. They let in and leak noise more easily than in-ear headphones, but if you prefer open earbuds, that’s a feature rather than a bug. If the fit doesn’t feel right, you can shed a little bulk by removing the pre-installed silicone covers. (Like most open earbuds, though, comfort here is dependent on your ear shape.) Mic quality is more than adequate, and the circular touch panels give ample room for using the controls, which are customizable and consistently responsive. Battery life sits around five hours, which is middling but not out of character for budget earbuds. The pocket-friendly case adds about three full charges, but it’s worth noting that Amazon doesn’t include a USB-C charging cable. A poor IPX2 water resistance rating means you should avoid the gym, too.

While the Echo Buds sound fine out of the box, I'd use the EQ sliders in the Alexa app to bring down the treble a click or two. By default, the highs are a bit too edgy. That said, this emphasis lends a nice crispness to things like vocals, cymbals and strings, and there’s enough separation to keep complex tracks from sounding totally muddled. The profile here isn’t as full-bodied as the latest AirPods, and no open earbuds deliver true sub-bass, but there’s at least some rumble for hip-hop and EDM.

Unlike many cheap earbuds, the Echo Buds support auto-pausing and multipoint. I often had to manually pause playback on one device before I could switch to the other, but having the feature at all at this price is great. Unsurprisingly, they also come with Alexa baked in, which you can access hands-free. You manage the Echo Buds through the Alexa app, which is much more cluttered than a dedicated audio app but includes extras like a lost device tracker and sidetone control for phone calls. And if you want nothing to do with Alexa, it also lets you turn off the mics and wake-word support.

Bluetooth: v5.2
Active noise cancellation: No
Transparency mode: No
Custom EQ: Yes
Charging port: USB-C
Wireless charging: No
Water resistance: IPX2
Multipoint connectivity: Yes (2 devices)
Auto-pause: Yes
Battery life (rated): 5 hrs, 6 hrs w/ wake word off, 20 hrs w/ case
Fast charging: 15 mins = 2 hrs
Codecs: SBC, AAC, aptX
Warranty: 1 year

Honorable mentions

JLab Go Air Pop

If you just want a competent pair of wireless earbuds for as little money as possible, take a look at the JLab Go Air Pop. For $25, they have a light design with decent isolation, plus eight to nine hours of battery life, IPX4 water resistance and a full set of touch controls that actually work. JLab even lets you swap between three EQ presets from the buds themselves. It’s still worth upgrading to the EarFun Free 2S if you can afford it, as the Go Air Pop sounds boomier by comparison and isn’t as clear in the treble and upper-mids. There’s no app support, either. But for $25, expect trade offs like this.

QCY T20 AilyPods

If you want the cheapest acceptable pair of open earbuds, meanwhile, get the QCY T20 AilyPods. They are an unabashed rip-off of the third-gen AirPods from a relatively obscure Chinese brand, but they cost $33 and their pleasingly smooth sound is arguably better than the Echo Buds out of the box. They have a higher IPX4 water resistance rating, too. There’s no auto-pausing or multipoint, however, and their touch controls border on unusable. The Echo Buds’ sound is also easier to tidy up, as the handful of EQ presets in the QCY app actually make things worse.

Nothing Ear Stick

The Nothing Ear Stick have a fashionable transparent design and a case that looks like a big, clear tube of lipstick. To access the earbuds, you just twist the case, which is always fun. The earpieces feel sturdy and polished, with responsive controls built around AirPods-style stem squeezes. Audio quality isn’t bad, either, though the treble is a little shouty by default. The main problem is that these are unsealed earbuds that cost $99. That’s still under our “budget” threshold, but it’s a little too close to AirPods territory for a pair with far fewer software tricks to make up for the sound sacrifices inherent to this design. If you’re particular about aesthetics and must have open earbuds, then the Ear Stick are a good take on the idea. Most others are better off with the Space A40.

With Twitter seemingly on its very last legs, it doesn't come as a big surprise that other social media giants would want to capitalize on the void. Meta is launching Threads, which allows users to write and comment on posts much in the same way as Twitter. Now we have a first look at how Threads will operate, thanks to early users' profiles showing up on its website.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri has used his first few posts to share more about Thread's purpose and features, including a photo demonstrating how to limit replies. "We have lots of work to do, but we're looking to build an open, civil place for people to have conversations," Mosseri shared in his first post. Threads will eventually include Fediverse integration, a decision Mosseri explained as "you may one day end up leaving Threads, or, hopefully not, end up de-platformed. If that ever happens, you should be able to take your audience with you to another server. Being open can enable that."

Threads

Meta employees like CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Mosseri join celebs like Shakira and Gordon Ramsey and a range of influencers who were given first access to Threads. The limited number of initial users reflects in current follower counts, with most profiles only having a few hundred and Zuckerberg and Mosseri at only a couple thousand.

Threads will be available on the web and for download on the Apple and Google Play App Stores starting the morning of July 6th in the US and UK. It won't be available across the rest of Europe yet, though, likely due to stricter EU data privacy rules. In the meantime, Meta employees aren't averse to patting themselves on the back while taking a dig at Twitter, as Meta product designer Peter Franko did in his first post on Threads.

Fisker has given us another glimpse of the 600-mile range Ronin convertible EV and promised to unveil it in full on August 3rd, according to an Instagram post from CEO Henrik Fisker. Like the original Fisker Karma, it's a low and swoopy four-door "super GT" sedan that will join the Ocean SUV and future Pear EV. "Fisker Ronin, All Electric super GT! Reveal August 3rd! Super fast & space for 5! The ultimate long distance Grand Touring car with anticipated range of 600 miles!" Fisker wrote in the post. 

There's no word yet on the price, but the company previously promised to keep it under $200,000. Other than the anticipated range, specs like power have yet to be shared. It was first revealed last year when Fisker announced it would show it off in August 2023, so it's on schedule in that regard. 

It's a bit behind on Ocean EV deliveries, however. The company announced the start of production back in December 2022, saying it planned to build 300 Ocean EVs in Q1 2023 and boost that to more than 8,000 in Q2 and 15,000 in Q3. So far, however, it has only shipped 22 units in the US and just started deliveries a few weeks ago. The Ocean (built at Fisker's "carbon neutral" Graz, Austria factory) is priced at $37,500 for the base model and goes up to $69,000 for the 350-mile range, 550 HP Ocean Extreme.

Fisker is working on an even more affordable EV, the four-door Pear that starts at $29,900 before any incentives. Not a lot of details are available for that vehicle either, but production is supposed to start next year in Lordstown, Ohio, with Foxconn as the contract manufacturer. The two companies plan to eventually produce a minimum of 250,000 units per year. 

MSG and Sphere Entertainment have started fully testing the Sphere, a 17,600-seat venue near The Venetian with an animated outer dome and a wraparound internal 16K LED screen. It displays images, video and animation on the outside and the inside, apparently opening up entirely new concert and cinematic experiences.

MSG's James Dolan and David Dibble explained to Rolling Stone the aim is to create a VR experience without the "damn goggles." Creators use a special camera to produce footage that envelops the audience. Construction started in 2019, but the pandemic and technological complexity have brought costs close to $2.3 billion, making it the most expensive venue in Las Vegas to date. And this is Las Vegas – not a place of humble, small-scale buildings and structures. 

You can watch it here, but it will count as one of your finite tweet views a day...

– Mat Smith

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Apple wants to take the Epic Games case to the Supreme Court

Prior rulings could reduce its App Store profits.

Apple is initiating one last-ditch effort to maintain a cut of in-app sales, asking the Supreme Court to hear its appeal of Epic Games' anti-trust case, Reuters reports. Two lower courts ruled Apple must drop its guidelines preventing apps from including their own payment options, a policy that helped Apple's bottom line.

The lawsuit was a mixed bag for both parties involved: In 2021, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Epic knowingly violated Apple's rules, and the iPhone maker wasn't required to re-add Fortnite to its App Store. Rogers also stated Apple wasn't acting like a monopoly, but it must allow apps to offer third-party payment systems. The change went into effect last year, and the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the entire injunction this past April.

Continue reading.

July 3rd was the hottest day in recorded history

Average global temperatures climbed past 17 degrees Celsius on Monday.

Reuters

According to US National Centers for Environmental Prediction, meteorologists documented the hottest day in recorded history on Monday, July 3rd. They saw average global temperatures over 17 degrees Celsius (62.62 Fahrenheit) for the first time since satellite monitoring of global temperatures began in 1979. Scientists even believe Monday is also the hottest day on record since humans began measuring daily temperatures in the late 19th century. The recent heat is attributed to a combination of El Niño and ongoing human-driven emissions of greenhouse gases. Studies have shown climate change is contributing to heat waves that are more frequent, last longer and hotter than ever.

Continue reading.

Twitter says it couldn't tell people about rate limiting in advance

The company claims bad actors could otherwise have changed their strategies.

Twitter’s decision to limit the number of tweets users could read each day came as a surprise to many. (Most? All?) However, the company now says it could not give folks a heads-up. "We temporarily limited usage so we could detect and eliminate bots and other bad actors that are harming the platform," a Twitter Business blog post reads. "Any advance notice on these actions would have allowed bad actors to alter their behavior to evade detection."

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Meta's rival to Twitter called Threads, an Instagram app is set to launch tomorrow in the US and UK, but it may not come to the rest of Europe anytime soon. A Meta spokesperson told Ireland's Data Protection Commission that the service will not be rolled in the EU "at this point," Independent.ie has reported. 

Threads may not be launching in much of Europe due to more stringent data privacy requirements. The DPC is apparently not blocking the service — instead, it's Meta that has "not yet prepared the service for a European launch outside the UK, which is not fully governed by GDPR or EU privacy rules," according to the report.

The EU just hit Meta with a ruling that it must obtain consent from users before delivering personalized ads in the region. Prior to that, the company was hit with a €390 million EU fine (about $425 million) for not receiving consent before serving up such ads. 

On top of that, in 2021, the DPC fined WhatsApp €225 million ($266.8 million at the time) or not providing enough detail on how it shares EU users' data with Facebook. That could pose a problem for Threads in its current state, as it automatically imports data from Instagram, including advertising and behavior information, according to the policy listed on its iOS App Store page. 

Threads is arriving amidst issues with Twitter like "rate limits" on tweets and degraded service for the power-user app Tweetdeck. Many of Twitter's active users have been seeking an alternative with apps like Bluesky and Mastodon, but some see Threads as the most viable option due to Meta's scale. That's despite any reservations they may have about CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook's track record on privacy and other issues.

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Seven companies, mostly made up of American tech giants, have notified the European Commission that they meet the criteria to be classified as "gatekeepers" under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, TikTok owner ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft and Samsung have declared that they meet the thresholds the EU set when it passed the new law. According to Reuters, Booking.com also expects to meet gatekeeper status by the end of the year and will notify authorities by then. 

Gatekeepers are companies with an annual turnover in Europe of at least €7.5 billion (US$8.16 billion) in the last three financial years or those with a fair market value of at least €75 billion (US$81.6 billion) in the last financial year in at least three member states of the EU. They must also have served more than 45 million monthly active end users and more than 10,000 yearly active business users in the EU over the last three years. These criteria were designed to include the biggest players in the field, since as the law's name indicates, it's meant to cover large online platforms that act as "gatekeepers" in digital markets. 

Under the DMA, gatekeepers will be prohibited from favoring their own services over their rivals' and from locking users into their ecosystem. They must allow third parties to interoperate with their own services. They must also allow business users to promote their products/services and "conclude contracts with their customers outside the gatekeepers' platform." In Google's and Apple's case, that means they can't prevent developers from using a different payment systems other than their own. The companies can't prohibit users from removing pre-installed apps or from sideloading apps from outside sources, as well. That will mean huge changes for Apple, in particular, whose ecosystem has been designed as a "walled garden" for the longest time. In December last year, Bloomberg reported that Apple was preparing to allow third-party app stores and sideloading with the release of iOS 17. 

All gatekeepers will have to comply with all aspects of the DMA in 2024. For now, European authorities will be reviewing the submissions and will be designating the gatekeepers for specific platform services by September 6th. 

On Monday, meteorologists documented the hottest day in recorded history, according to US National Centers for Environmental Prediction (via Reuters). July 3rd, 2023 saw average global temperatures edge past 17-degrees Celsius (62.62 Fahrenheit) for the first time since satellite monitoring of global temperatures began in 1979. Scientists believe Monday is also the hottest day on record since humans began using instruments to measure daily temperatures in the late 19th century. The previous record was set in August 2016 when the world’s average temperature climbed to 16.92C (62.45 Fahrenheit).

This week, the southern US is sweltering under a heat dome that has sent local temperatures past the 110 Fahrenheit mark (43C). Even places that normally aren’t known for their warm weather have been unseasonably hot in recent days and weeks, with the Vernadsky Research Base in Antarctica recording a July high of 8.7C.

Scientists attribute the recent heat to a combination of El Niño and ongoing human-driven emissions of greenhouse gases. Studies have shown that climate change is contributing to heat waves that are more frequent, last longer and hotter than ever. "The average global surface air temperature reaching 17C for the first time since we have reliable records available is a significant symbolic milestone in our warming world," climate researcher Leon Simons told BBC News. "Now that the warmer phase of El Niño is starting we can expect a lot more daily, monthly and annual records breaking in the next 1.5 years.”

A judge has blocked the Biden administration and other federal officials from communicating with social media companies in a case that could have far-reaching implications. On Tuesday, a Trump-appointed judge granted the state attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri a temporary injunction against the federal government, reports The Washington Post. The two Republican lawyers sued President Joe Biden and other top government officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, last year, accusing them of colluding with Meta, Twitter and YouTube to remove “truthful information” related to the COVID-19 lab leak theory, 2020 election and other topics.

Although he has yet to make a final ruling in the case, Judge Terry A. Doughty wrote in his order that the Republican attorneys general “produced evidence of a massive effort by Defendants, from the White House to federal agencies, to suppress speech based on its content.” While the order grants some exceptions for the government to communicate with Meta, Twitter and YouTube, it also specifically targets more than a dozen individual officials. Among those are Jen Easterly, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of Homeland Security.

The lawsuit is the latest effort by some Republicans to allege the Biden administration pressured social media platforms to censor conservative views. The GOP has aired that grievance in a few different venues — including, most notably, a contentious House Oversight Committee hearing at the start of the year related to the so-called “Twitter Files.” The lawsuit from the attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri takes a different tack. Instead of directly targeting Meta, Twitter and YouTube, which argue they have a First Amendment right to decide what content is allowed on their platforms, the attorneys general sued the federal government. Whatever happens next, that strategy has already led to the most successful effort yet to counter online content moderation. 

Separately, it's worth noting Meta, Twitter and YouTube have all recently scaled back their moderation policies in one way or another. In the case of YouTube, for instance, the company said last month it would begin allowing videos that falsely claim fraud occurred during the 2020 election. Meta, meanwhile, last month back its COVID-19 misinformation rules for Instagram and Facebook in countries where the pandemic is no longer deemed a national emergency.