You'll soon see Hollywood's treatment of one of the most important (and dangerous) moments in scientific history. Universal has released a trailer for Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan's biopic of the physicist who played a key role in developing and testing the first atomic bomb. The clip underscores the ethical issues surrounding the Manhattan Project and its work. While the team is hopeful that nuclear weapons will end World War II and usher in a new era of peace, they're also worried abut sparking an apocalyptic arms race — the movie doesn't end with the detonation.
The adaptation of Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin's American Prometheus book stars Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders) as its namesake scientist, with Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer's wife Katherine. Matt Damon plays Manhattan Project directo Gen. Leslie Groves Jr., while Robert Downey Jr. plays US Atomic Energy Commission co-founder Lewis Strauss. Rami Malek, Matthew Modine and Alden Ehrenreich also star.
Nolan's reputation and the top-tier cast will be the draws for many. However, this is also a rare movie that explores the role science played in WWII, not to mention in setting the stage for the Cold War and nuclear energy. The production of the movie is also notable. This is the first movie to feature sections of IMAX black-and-white film footage, so it may be worth heading to a supporting theater to get the full experience.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/oppenheimer-trailer-shows-chris-nolans-take-on-the-birth-of-the-atomic-bomb-152022327.html?src=rss
If you've wants Beats' most value-packed wireless earbuds but wanted them in a more vibrant color, now's the time to buy them. Amazon is selling the Beats Fit Pro in its latest colors (Coral Pink, Tidal Blue and Volt Yellow) for $160, or $40 off. All but the Kim Kardashian variants are discounted if you'd rather have a relatively safe hue like black or sage gray.
The Beats Fit Pro are our favorite workout earbuds for a good reason: the feature set is practically tailor-made for exercise. They have a secure but comfortable fit, and their balanced yet strong bass is well-suited to a thumping dance or rap track. Good active noise cancellation and a six-hour battery life also make these buds useful well beyond the gym.
There are some considerations before you leap on these buds. While the Beats Fit Pro are generally more Android-friendly than AirPods, they're unsurprisingly optimized for Apple devices. The absence of wireless charging may also be a setback if you'd rather not plug in. At this price, though, they're a better bargain than the AirPods Pro — you're getting solid sound quality and most of the convenience for considerably less.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-beats-fit-pro-are-on-sale-for-160-including-some-newer-colors-140037665.html?src=rss
Graduating high school is a huge milestone, but the transition to young adulthood that comes just after can be as overwhelming as it is exciting. If you know a recent graduate, a good gift to celebrate the occasion could also make their next chapter more manageable. We’ve compiled a list of gadgets, gear and services that might help, whether the grad in your life is heading to college or entering the workforce.
Anker Soundcore Life Q30
A good set of noise-canceling headphones can help your grad get in the zone while studying, quiet the bustle of a new commute or just keep them relaxed on a flight back home. Anker’s Soundcore Life Q30 are some of the few worthwhile noise-cancelers available for less than $100. Their cushy design is comfy to wear for hours at a time, and their 40+-hour battery life is excellent. While their active noise cancellation isn’t as robust as a higher-end pair like the Sony WH-1000XM5, it’s effective enough to be useful. The sound here is very bass-heavy out of the box, but it’s possible to customize that to something more measured through Anker’s mobile app. If your grad would prefer a set of wireless earbuds, Anker’s Soundcore Space A40 are a similarly impressive value.
OluKai Kipuka Hulu/Ku’una slippers
For keeping warm during the cold winter months or simply not walking around the dorm barefoot, a set of OluKai slippers should make your grad’s day-to-day more comfortable. The Kipuka Hulu (for men) and Ku’una (for women) both slip over the whole foot easily and have delightfully soft interiors (the latter has a bit more fuzz around the heel). Both have simple yet attractive leather exteriors, plus sturdy rubber outsoles that will allow your grad to make quick jaunts to the bodega or around campus with minimal discomfort.
LapGear Designer lap desk
When your grad doesn’t feel like sitting at their actual desk, a lap desk can make working from the couch more comfortable. If nothing else, it’s a more organized solution than having them prop their laptop up on a throw pillow. If you think the graduate in your life could use one of these, the LapGear Designer is a fine choice. Its underside is soft yet stable, while its smooth top surface is easy to clean and large enough to fit a 17-inch laptop. There’s a stop at the bottom that helps keep their stuff from sliding off when the desk is slanted at an angle, as well as an elastic band for holding pens and notepads and a storage slot for phones. The accessory only weighs about two pounds on its own, while a built-in handle makes it easier to carry around.
Google Chromecast with Google TV
Cable TV isn’t known for being reasonably priced, but with a media streamer like Google’s Chromecast, your grad can cut the cord without missing what’s on. Though it launched back in 2020, the Chromecast still runs fast enough, supports all the major apps and can stream video in 4K and HDR (including Dolby Vision). Its Google TV interface does well to personalize its home screen and suggest new content based on your viewing habits, and its search results are generally sensible. You can also search by voice through its remote. Naturally, the UI integrates well with Google services like YouTube and Nest cameras.
Roku’s Streaming Stick 4K is another commendable option in the same $50 range. It has a simpler interface built around a basic grid of apps, and it also supports Apple’s AirPlay protocol, so your grad can beam content right from their iPhone. It’s just not as adept at searching for or proactively suggesting content as Google’s streamer.
Anker 733 Power Bank
A portable power bank will keep your grad’s devices alive while they’re out of the house (and save you a little stress in the process). Anker’s 733 Power Bank is a particularly versatile take on the concept, as it can plug into an outlet and double as a wall charger. It has two USB-C ports and a USB-A port, so your grad can top up multiple devices at once. In wall-charger mode, it can deliver up to 65W of power, which is enough to charge some smaller laptops. As a portable battery, this drops to 30W, but that’s still enough to charge any iPhone at full speed. The 733 itself is fairly compact given its functionality, but if you think your grad would prefer something more pocketable, the Anker 511 Power Bank is a much smaller 2-in-1 option that we recommend in our guide to the best power banks.
Timbuk2 Lane Commuter Backpack
There are any number of backpacks that could work for a graduate in need of a bag refresh, but Timbuk2’s Lane Commuter Backpack is one we’ve recommended before. This 18-liter bag isn’t the largest pack, but it’s light, comfy and sturdily constructed, with a pair of bottle holders, a compartment for a 15-inch laptop and enough pockets for carrying the essentials to work or class. It has reflective panels on the front and shoulder straps to keep itself visible at night, and while it’s water-resistant on its own, it comes with a removable sleeve for full protection from heavy downpours.
If your grad needs more space for stuffing lots of tech, Timbuk2’s Authority Laptop Backpack Deluxe (28L) might be a better buy. SwissGear’s 1908 ScanSmart is another hefty option (32L) that has served yours truly well for years and costs less than $100, though it doesn’t look as nice and is more likely to show more signs of wear over time. You can read our roundup of our favorite backpacks for other suggestions, too.
Tomtoc Defender A-13 laptop case
Having a dedicated sleeve for their laptop can give your grad an extra bit of protection for one of the most important (and expensive) gadgets they have to carry around every day. There are a ton of suitable options here, but we’ve found Tomtoc’s Defender A-13 series to offer a tight yet secure fit, enough protection to fend off scuffs and scratches and enough water resistance to withstand spilled drinks. Plus, it has a pouch for holding accessories. Several colors and sizes are available, and at $30, it’s relatively affordable.
Hulken bag
The Hulken bag is a big rolling tote that your grad can use to more comfortably wheel around groceries, laundry or any other large hauls. It’s available in three sizes, and while it’s not exactly cheap, it feels comfortably durable. (Anecdotally, mine has shown little sign of wear after about a year of weekly use.) The bag folds up for tidier storage, and there are a few built-in handles that make it easier to lift up stairs or carry around campus. All told, Hulken says the bag can carry up to 66 pounds. Something like this might be most useful for city dwellers, but if your grad hasn’t done their own laundry and grocery shopping much before, it should take some weight off their shoulders, literally and figuratively.
Away Carry-On suitcase
The popular Away Carry-On is a stylish and sturdy hard-sided suitcase your grad should appreciate when it’s time to come back home. Its polycarbonate shell is tough but not overly stiff, and it’s available in several bold colors. Its zippers, adjustable handle and fully rotatable wheels all feel substantial. As a 40-liter suitcase, it can fit enough items to last a week or so on the road, plus it comes with a breakaway bag for dirty laundry. Away sells larger models as well, and it backs all of them with lifetime limited warranty.
The Carry-On has been my personal suitcase for several years now, and while it has caught some scuffs over time (like most polycarbonate cases), it hasn’t shown any major signs of degradation after several international trips. You can get luggage with more compartments if efficiency is your main concern, and it’s hard to call this a strong value, but as a gift, the Carry-On should delight any grad who’d like a fashionable and lightweight suitcase.
Xbox Game Pass subscription
Xbox Game Pass remains a great value for any grad who owns an Xbox or gaming PC. The subscription’s library includes big-name series like Halo and Minecraft alongside more experimental gems like Hi-Fi Rushand Pentiment, and it still gets you access to first-party Xbox games on day one. Everything is available to download on-demand. The Ultimate tier includes perks like cloud gaming and online play, but there are cheaper options for just Xbox consoles or PCs as well.
If your graduate plays more on PlayStation or the Nintendo Switch, there are similar services you can gift: PlayStation Plus for the former, Switch Online for the latter. These will almost certainly be appreciated if you’re buying for someone who games frequently, though they’re not quite as strong a value as Game Pass in terms of cost or included games.
Moshi Digits touchscreen gloves
Your grad probably won’t need them for a few more months, but the Moshi Digits are the rare winter gloves that are both warm and not impossible to use with a smartphone. Their knitted exterior and microfleece lining are sufficiently protective from the cold, while a set of rubber strips make it easier to keep hold of a phone. Typing with the Digits on isn’t as fast as using your bare hands, but it’s responsive enough to pull off brief texts and searches without constant typos. The gloves aren’t perfect: They’ll run tight for those with large hands, and they can be susceptible to loose threads. But if your grad is heading somewhere cold and needs to text on the go, they should help.
Instant Pot Vortex Mini Air Fryer
An air fryer is a no-go in many college dorms, but for grads moving into a new apartment, it’s a fast and accessible tool for cooking many smaller meals. Among these, the Instant Pot Vortex Mini is a good option for cramped living spaces that we recommend in our guide to the best air fryers. It’s a two-quart model that takes up very little countertop space, and while it can’t cook a ton of food at once, it can still prepare things like wings, tofu and roasted veggies with minimal fuss. Its controls and pre-programmed settings are all dead simple to operate, and like most air fryers, it’s not a pain to clean. For grads who could use something beyond a microwave, it should make meal time easier. If you’d rather buy something bigger, consider the top pick in our guide, the Instant Vortex Plus.
GrubHub gift card
Here’s a simple one: Regardless of their current culinary skills, your grad is probably going to use a food delivery service like GrubHub sooner rather than later. We’ve yet to find a young adult who will say no to free food, so gifting them a couple of meals is an immediate and practical way to make their early days of independence more manageable.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-high-school-graduation-gifts-130013153.html?src=rss
Bluesky, the Jack Dorsey-backed decentralized social network, isn’t publicly available yet but it’s already become one of the buzziest Twitter alternatives. Scoring an invite to the service, which has been in a closed beta for barely two months, has become a sought-after status symbol with invite codes selling for hundreds of dollars on eBay.
The iOS app has been downloaded more than 375,000 times, according to analytics from data.ai, and the app has already become one of the most popular social media apps in the Play Store barely two weeks after launching. Those numbers may not seem particularly impressive, but considering the app only has about 65,000 users – it’s clear that demand for the service is far outstripping the number of available invites.
What is Bluesky?
Bluesky started in 2019 as an internal project at Twitter with the goal of creating an open source decentralized standard for social media. Dorsey, a longtime proponent of decentralized networks, had long championed the idea of such a standard, saying he hoped Twitter could one day “be a client of this standard.”
Bluesky went independent in 2021, and officially ended its association with Twitter in 2022 following Musk’s takeover of the company. Bluesky is now overseen by CEO Jay Graber, along with a small team of developers. Dorsey is still attached to the project — he has a seat on Bluesky’s board — but isn’t running the show like he once did at Twitter. “Jack doesn’t have unilateral power,” Graber wrote in a recent post on Bluesky. “I have the most control over this endeavor.”
Dorsey, who these days posts more often on Nostr, his other decentralized social media of choice, is at least an occasional Bluesky user. He recently took to Bluesky to share his latest thoughts on Musk and how he has handled the Twitter acquisition. The former CEO, who once said “Elon is the singular solution I trust,” said he thought Musk should have walked away from the Twitter deal, and that the company “went south” after his acquisition.
The service itself looks and feels a lot like Twitter. Bluesky defaults to a chronological timeline of accounts you follow, but there’s also an algorithmic “what’s hot” feed that surfaces popular posts or “skeets” as early users have dubbed them. It doesn’t yet have as much functionality as Twitter — for example, there are no direct messages or video support — but the interface is almost identical to Twitter.
Bluesky is also invitation-only, which has so far helped fuel its viral success. The platform began opening its waitlist more widely last month, and new users receive one invite code every two weeks (though some of the more prolific users get codes more often). Graber has said the invite system is meant to prevent spammers and others from easily gaining access to the platform, and to ensure it grows “organically.”
How is it different from Mastodon?
Both Bluesky and Mastodon are open source and decentralized, but there are some significant differences between the two. Mastodon is built on a protocol called Activity Pub, which has since been embraced by other platforms like Medium, Flipboard and even Meta.
Bluesky is building its own protocol, called the AT Protocol or Authenticated Transfer Protocol. As the company notes on its website, Bluesky, the app, is meant to show off what the AT Protocol can do, similar to how early browsers demonstrated the potential of the web.
According to Bluesky, one of the biggest differences between AT and other decentralized social networking standards is how it handles account portability. “With the AT Protocol, you can move your account from one provider to another without losing any of your data or social graph,” the company explains.
Bluesky
Right now, Bluesky itself is running the only instance of the platform. But just as Mastodon has thousands of servers available, there could eventually be numerous Bluesky servers run by other entities. That’s also where the emphasis on account portability comes in: it should make moving between servers fairly seamless, including taking your social graph with you when you move, which isn’t currently possible on Mastodon.
Bluesky is also taking an interesting approach to algorithms and moderation. On Mastodon, each server sets its own norms and moderation guidelines, which are enforced by admins. But while Bluesky’s team is to some extent setting their own norms for what’s currently acceptable, the app allows users to customize what level of moderation they want, ranging from “hide,” “warn,” or “show,” for things like hate speech, spam and impersonation.
Bluesky
Right now, there are some moderation labels that appear on posts containing things like impersonation, but Graber says the goal is for labels to eventually be community-led so that moderations can function independently of individual servers. Graber has dubbed the approach “composable moderation.”
Similarly, the platform is planning a customizable take on algorithms. Graber has said Bluesky wants to create a “marketplace of algorithms” so users can be in control of how their feeds are filtered.
Why is it suddenly so popular?
Like many other Twitter-like services, there’s been increased interest in Bluesky since Elon Musk took over the company. Its early ties to Dorsey and Twitter has also fueled the curiosity of those searching for a new platform.
But it wasn’t until Bluesky began opening more of its waitlist over the last couple weeks that it started to become more widely known. As the service approached its first 50,0000 users last week, more and more prominent Twitter users have joined. Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, James Gunn, Chrissy Teigen, Rian Johnson and other celebrities have joined in recent days. So have other recognizable Twitter users like WeRateDogs, Dril, darth and Musk nemesis ElonJet.
It’s not just former blue checks though. Black and transgender voices have also found Bluesky welcoming. So have sex workers and shitposters. Needless to say, things have also gotten very weird, very quickly.
The massive influx of users exposed a technical glitch that soon became known as the “hellthread.” The glitch meant that long threads with lots of replies would break in the app’s main feed but users would continue to see notifications for new replies. “Just don’t reply to the thread to stay out,” Graber posted. Bluesky users, naturally, had other ideas. People not only kept replying, they tagged others into the phantom thread. At some point, users began dropping nudes into the hellthread, ultimately causing the app’s developers to block nudity from Bluesky’s “What’s Hot” feed.
Weirdness and nudity aside, Bluesky’s current popularity seems to be driven by both novelty of the service and because it’s so much smaller and simpler than its predecessor. The small user base and invite system has also so far mostly kept out trolls and bots and spam that tend to make Twitter a lot less usable for high-profile accounts or people from marginalized backgrounds. At a time when Twitter has reversed rules protecting trans people, unbanned Nazis and harassers, and algorithmically favors those paying for blue checks, Bluesky is a reminder of how good “old Twitter” used to be,
Will it last?
Just how long the good vibes will last is another question. Bluesky isn’t the first Twitter alternative to take off and see a surge in interest from former Twitter power users. Mastodon surged for months last year following Musk’s takeover of Twitter, and inspired high-profile Twitter users and developers to flock to the platform. But that growth seems to have now leveled off, and the number of active users has declined after months of growth.
Bluesky has some advantages over Mastodon: it’s easier to use and much more intuitive for Twitter users, assuming you can score an invite. But whether Bluesky remains as popular as it is now will likely depend on if the platform can sustain the same level of interest once it expands beyond the current invite system. Many viral apps start off as invite only (Clubhouse, for example) only to fade into the background once they are no longer exclusive and novel.
On the other hand, Twitter is still a mess and there is clearly sustained demand for a non-Musk operated alternative.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/jack-dorsey-backed-bluesky-is-having-a-moment-133039184.html?src=rss
Nacon, now both a games publisher and peripheral maker, has been making gamepads for consoles for a while. It was one of the companies that Sony chose to make its wired ‘pro” PS4 controllers before Sony announced its own ‘pro’ controller for the PS5.
Not that it stopped Nacon. It has introduced two mobile controllers, including, most recently, an iPhone-compatible model that lands in the middle of smartphone gamepad pricing. It’s cheaper than Backbone and Razer’s technically impressive gaming peripherals, and unfortunately, Nacon made some sacrifices to get to that price.
The MG-X Pro is light, even with its built-in battery. Compared to some smartphone controllers, the grips are more substantial and closer to typical console gamepads. This is the most comfortable smartphone gamepad I’ve ever tried by a wide margin. It feels controller-sized, with similar spacing between the d-pad and analog controls and full-sized trigger buttons at the back, making it far more comfortable during long gaming sessions.
Photo by Mat Smith / Engadget
The buttons are responsive but a little too squishy. I couldn’t notice any latency difference between wireless and wired smartphone controller options when playing through several Apple Arcade titles, Into The Breach, and some Overwatch 2 streamed on PS Remote Play. The buttons don’t wobble around in their housing, but the d-pad feels a little doughy and loose. The two analog sticks are made of sturdier stuff, fortunately.
Between the two controller halves, the vice part of MG-X Pro has a ridged rubberized surface to keep your iPhone locked in, with a little lip on both sides to keep everything in place. The vice works on every iPhone I have, from the Mini to the Max models. And, unlike some other vice controllers, even with a protective case, my iPhone 14 Pro fits in fine.
It’s easy to while away the hours with the MG-X Pro – until your phone battery runs out. Unlike more expensive options like the Backbone, this is a wireless model. There’s no lighting cable plug to connect your iPhone into) which means there’s no power throughput.
This problem is compounded when you’re using cloud gaming services, like Xbox Cloud and PS Remote Play, which need a lot of power to stream games. If you want to play for extended periods, you’ll have to be prepared to take similarly extended breaks. Other shortcomings include a companion app that doesn’t offer enough to warrant its download. There’s the ability to calibrate the two analog sticks – which makes me worry that they could drift in the future – and walkthroughs of what the MG-X Pro is capable of. That’s not all that much.
Photo by Mat Smith / Engadget
The MG-X Pro is the most comfortable smartphone gamepad I’ve ever used. Still, the ability to offer comfortable gaming over time is limited by its inability to keep your smartphone powered up. For more money, you could go for the Backbone or the Razer Kishi, which offer pass-through charging. Or, a little more inelegantly, you could swap the vice-style controller for a more comfortable Bluetooth controller (I rate the 8bitdo controllers) and keep your phone propped up, but plugged in.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nacons-mg-x-pro-smartphone-gamepad-is-comfortable-but-a-little-too-basic-130045626.html?src=rss
Qualcomm has agreed to acquire an Israeli fabless chipmaker called Autotalks, and according to TechCrunch, the deal will cost the company around $350 to $400 million. Autotalks creates chips and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication technologies dedicated towards boosting road safety for both ordinary and driverless vehicles. In its announcement, Qualcomm said that Autotalks' "production-ready, dual mode, standalone safety solutions" will be incorporated into the Snapdragon Digital Chassis, its set of cloud-connected assisted and autonomous driving technologies.
Nakul Duggal, senior VP of automotive for Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., said in a statement: "We have been investing in V2X research, development and deployment since 2017 and believe that as the automotive market matures, a standalone V2X safety architecture will be needed for enhanced road user safety, as well as smart transportation system... We share Autotalks’ decades-long experience and commitment to build V2X technologies and products with a focus on solving real-world road user safety challenges. We look forward to working together to deliver global V2X solutions that will help accelerate time-to-market and enable mass market adoption of this very important safety technology."
For makers of driverless and driver-assisted vehicles and systems, ensuring people that their technologies are safe is of utmost importance if they want to win them over. They may have to offer safety features that can assuage people's fears in order to get ahead of their rivals, since most people remain apprehensive about self-driving cars.
Qualcomm expects the automotive industry to be one of its biggest sources of growth and revenue over the coming years. At CES last year, it unveiled the Snapdragon Ride Vision platform, which is an "open, scalable and modular" tech automakers can use to build cars. And in late 2022, it said its automotive business pipeline, or its revenue-generating opportunities, had jumped to $30 billion from the $10 billion it announced during its previous earnings report. The company also said back then that it estimates its automotive business revenue to hit $4 billion by fiscal year 2026. It credited the Snapdragon Digital Chassis for the expansion of its future business opportunities, and Autotalks' acquisition could grow its customer base and client offerings even further.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/qualcomm-is-buying-auto-safety-chipmaker-autotalks-120131989.html?src=rss
Why The US Might Not Benefit From Semiconductor Technology Export Restrictions To China, Define Analysts
It has forced the global business tycoons to abide with the US rules due to which China’s access to some important segments of the semiconductor supply chains became very difficult
Google’s annual developer conference not only delivers on the software and web-based announcements but also on whatever hardware it’s been cooking up. In the past, that included smart speakers, phones, Chromebooks and everything else. For I/O 2023, we’re expecting lots of Pixel things. Rumors (and subsequent official teasers) point to Google’s first foldable smartphone, the Pixel Fold, as well as the latest midrange Pixel, the Pixel 7a.
The Pixel Fold will open like a book, similar to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold. Rumors suggest a 5.8-inch external screen and a foldable 7.6-inch 120Hz internal display. It has thicker bezels than the Z Fold, but it’s supposed to feature a durable, almost-gapless hinge and a battery that lasts 24 hours in normal use. It could cost up to $1,700.
At the other end of the “how much?!” spectrum, the Pixel 7a doesn’t appear too different from its predecessor; it might have a faster 90Hz display and a 64-megapixel main camera. Google reportedly plans to price the new phone at $499 – a little more than last year’s Pixel 6a, but still a fraction of the price of the Pixel Fold.
That’s not all. There is also the Pixel tablet, previewed at Google I/O last year, Android 14 (in testing since February) and maybe even a tease of the Pixel 8? Or even another smartwatch? Just two days to go…
– Mat Smith
The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.
Tesla has unveiled a $20,000 track package for its Model S Plaid, finally allowing it to reach the 200MPH top speed. The Model S Plaid vehicles the company delivered after they became available could only reach around 163MPH, which is fast, but not 200MPH fast. Turns out Tesla put a limitation on its software to prevent it from reaching its full potential. According to Electrek, the company wanted the vehicle to have bigger brakes first, so they could slow down better. The automaker first started offering the ceramic brake kit for $20,000 back in 2021, but it has yet to start installing it on customers' vehicles.
You may recall rumors about the iPhone 15 Pro featuring touch-sensitive solid-state buttons. It now looks like Apple won’t replace the iPhone’s physical buttons for at least another year. In a shareholder letter spotted by MacRumors, Apple supplier Cirrus Logic said, “A new product that we mentioned in previous shareholder letters as being scheduled for introduction this fall is no longer expected to come to market as planned.” Cirrus already provides components for the iPhone’s Taptic Engine, so it’s got the Apple relationship. Cirrus previously told investors it was working on a new high-performance component that would arrive in smartphones sometime in 2023. That’s now less certain, apparently.
Arachnophobic Harry Potter fans, rejoice. A new feature in Hogwarts Legacy removes spiders entirely from the game. The update coincides with the title’s arrival on PS4 and Xbox One. The Hogwarts Legacy update (build 1140773) launched Thursday adds the new Arachnophobia Mode to the game’s accessibility options. It changes all enemy spider appearances to a floating meanie with glowing red eyes surrounded by hovering roller skates. (Arguably more terrifying?)
The mode also “reduces and removes spider skitters and screeches,” “removes small spider ground effect spawners” and “makes static spider corpses in the world invisible.”
Sure, ereaders aren't exactly the kind of devices you replace every year, but if you're looking to get a new one right now, Amazon is selling a few Kindle models at a discount. The Kindle Paperwhite Signature with no lockscreen ads in black or denim will set you back $145, or $45 less than its retail price. That would make it just a little more expensive than a regular, undiscounted Paperwhite. The Signature edition has 32GB of storage, four times larger than a regular Paperwhite's, which makes it much more suitable for your needs if you want to download lots of audiobooks to your Kindle.
In addition, the Signature edition Paperwhite can automatically adjust its brightness levels to suit ambient lighting conditions. Plus, it supports Qi wireless charging aside from having a USB-C port. Take note that there's an option to get the device with three free months of Kindle Unlimited for the same price, so don't forget to choose it if you regularly read books through Amazon's subscription service.
If you don't need the Signature edition's larger storage, auto-adjusting backlight and wireless charging capabilities, you can also purchase the regular black Kindle Paperwhite for $30 less at $110. You can get it bundled with three free months of Kindle Unlimited at no extra cost, but the version on sale for $110 does come with lockscreen ads. Removing those ads will add $20 to its price, and the 16GB version also costs a bit more at $115.
Meanwhile, the 2022 Kindle with lockscreen ads is currently listed for $80, which is $20 less than its typical price. You can choose from denim or black and add three months of Kindle Unlimited without having to pay more. The 2022 Kindle has a smaller display size than the Paperwhite, but it still has a 300 ppi resolution and comes with front LEDs, as well as 16GB of storage.
Finally, if what you need is a Kindle with parental controls, the 2022 Kindle Kids and Kindle Paperwhite Kids are also both on sale. The Paperwhite version will cost you $110, or $50 less what you'd usually pay for it, while the regular Kindle for kids will set you back $80 instead of $120. Both ereaders come with a kid-friendly cover, a year-long subscription to Amazon Kids+ and a two-year guarantee that Amazon will replace the device if it breaks.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-sale-discounts-kindle-ereaders-by-up-to-33-percent-094913156.html?src=rss
Creating Tetris Game with Arduino and OLED Display
If you're up for a challenge, you could create your own Tetris game using an Arduino and an OLED display from scratch. Don't worry if the idea of making your own Tetris game from scratch using an Arduino and an OLED display sounds intimidating. I'm here to help you every step of the way!
