There's a good chance you want an external SSD you can take anywhere, whether it's extra storage for your school projects or backup for your can't-lose work files. Thankfully, you won't have to pay a lot for that extra space. Amazon is selling SanDisk's 1TB Extreme Portable SSD at a new all-time low price of $109, or less than half its official $250 sticker. There are steep discounts for 2TB (now $234) and 4TB ($460) models, too. At those prices, they may be easy choices if you want a speedy yet durable drive.

The SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD is reasonably quick with 1GB/s read and write speeds, but the rugged design is clearly its main appeal. The toughened shell can survive falls from 6.5ft and boasts IP55 dust and water resistance — while you wouldn't want to drop the SSD off a cliff or dunk it in a lake, it can handle the rough-and-tumble of everyday life. A carabiner loop makes it easy to clip the drive to your backpack or camera strap, and optional 256-bit hardware encryption keeps your data more secure.

This isn't the fastest external SSD you'll find, and you won't get perks like a Thunderbolt port (it's 'just' USB-C) or wireless connectivity. With a sale like this, though, those limitations are easier to accept. This is a good deal for any portable SSD, and the improved survivability is just a nice bonus.

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Nintendo may respond quickly to allegations of sexual discrimination and harassment at its American division. A Kotakusource has reportedly shared a company-wide message from Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser revealing that the Switch creator is "actively investigating" the misconduct claims. The firm "will always" look into assertions like these and encourages workers to report violations, Bowser reportedly said.

We've asked Nintendo for comment. The company has previously reacted to incidents elsewhere in the industry, however. In November, Bowser said the accusations behind the Activision Blizzard scandal were "distressing and disturbing." Days later, Nintendo pledged to increase the number of female managers.

Several female game testers told Kotaku that they'd faced multiple forms of harassment and discrimination at Nintendo. Senior-ranking testers allegedly made unwanted advances and comments. Anti-LGBT remarks, pay gaps and attempts to suppress criticism were also part of the workplace culture, according to the allegations. Female workers are believed to be underrepresented at Nintendo as a whole (37 percent), and particularly among contract-based game testers (10 percent).

It's too soon to know if any investigation will lead to firings or reforms. If accurate, however, the scoop is a reminder that misconduct complaints haven't been limited to one developer. Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft and others have had to address concerns as well — it may reflect cultural issues across the industry.

A Russian cosmonaut just dealt with a rare spacesuit problem. As CNN's Jackie Wattles observed, mission control ordered Oleg Artemyev back to the International Space Station's airlock after encountering a suit issue. While the exact nature of the trouble wasn't clear as of this writing, NASA commentators noted a "slight fluctuation" in the suit's battery power. Artemyev returned safely, plugged into the station's power supply and resumed operations.

We've asked NASA for comment. In a statement to Space.com, spokesperson Bob Navias said Artemyev "never was in any danger" when the anomaly occurred around 12PM Eastern. Artemyev and fellow Russian Denis Matveev were in the midst of outfitting the ESA's robotic arm with cameras and other equipment changes.

While this appears to have been a mild incident, it may have produced unpleasant flashbacks. Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano's suit leaked during two spacewalks (the first initially went undetected) in July 2013. During the second sortie, Parmitano's helmet filled with water and made it difficult to breathe — his calm return to base may have helped save his life, according to a NASA report. The incident led the agency to pause all non-emergency spacewalks until it isolated the cause (a clogged filter) and took steps to prevent future crises.

Artemyev's issue might not lead to a similar review. However, it underscores the continuing fragility of space exploration. Even a seemingly minor issue can become serious in space, and mission teams don't want to take any chances.

Klipsch has finally delivered the T10 true wireless earbuds it was supposed to ship in fall 2020... but they've changed a lot in the past two years. The company and Ear Micro have released the T10 Bespoke Ear Computers (yes, really) as a hand-built custom design aimed squarely at luxury buyers who refuse to own the same earbuds as everyone else. You can ask Klipsch to build the charging case using materials like gold, leather (vegan and otherwise) and wood, and the bud frames using pearl or ceramic zirconia. You can ask for special leather motifs, and even have jewelers add precious stones or carvings.

The T10 has some technical prowess to match the luxurious exterior, at least. Klipsch touts 96kHz/24-bit audio when using the LDAC codec, and believes the dual Cadence/Tensilica DSPs, class-D amps and Sonion transducers will make the most of your music. Despite the incredibly small bud size, you can expect nine hours of listening per charge as well as active noise cancelation.

Klipsch

And yes, Klipsch knows it would normally be ridiculous to spend a fortune on earbuds whose batteries rarely last more than a few years. The T10 design is built to be repaired and upgraded with relatively little effort. Provided Klipsch remains committed to support, you could keep using your one-of-a-kind audio indefinitely.

You will pay a steep premium, as you might have guessed. Klipsch estimates typical T10 prices between $2,500 and $5,000, and you can easily pay more to add gems and other unique touches. That's a lot more than the $649 the company targeted back in 2020. However, this might make more sense. Klipsch already has the $199 T5 II to court mainstream buyers who would otherwise turn to AirPods or Galaxy Buds, and it's not clear the original T10's promised AI features would have justified the price. The finished product targets a niche but largely unserved group — the same upscale audience that wouldn't flinch at a $3,400 Louis Vuitton smartwatch or an electric supercar.

Do you feel guilty for playing a game's single-player campaign on release day when all your friends are jumping into the multiplayer mode? You won't have that burden with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. Activision has revealed that pre-order customers can play the MW2 story starting October 20th, a week before the game officially debuts on October 28th. You can get the solo content out of the way before you spend all your hours online.

As mentioned before, pre-order purchasers also get two-day early access to MW2's open beta sessions as well as instant use of special character and weapon skins. Splurge on the Vault Edition and you also get a Battle Pass for the first season as well as characters and cosmetics accessible in the open beta, Warzone and even the original Modern Warfare remake.

Activision is promising more details for MW2 and the next Warzone (including its new mobile version) at an hours-long Call of Duty event on September 15th. However, the advance access to single-player gameplay shows the company's priorities. While it's still committed to furthering the series' plot, it sees this latest game as the foundation for a new multiplayer experience.

Google has prevailed in its long-running battle over potentially defamatory web links. Australia's High Court has ruled Google wasn't the publisher of a link to a 2004 story in The Age that allegedly tarnished state lawyer George Defteros, who represented people implicated in the Melbourne gangland killings and briefly faced charges himself. As The Guardianreports, five of seven court justices found that the search result link "merely facilitated access" to the story — Google didn't play a part in writing or distributing the content.

The High Court also rebuffed Defteros' claim that search results encouraged users to visit a story. Someone who found that link was already searching for relevant content, the justices said. Some of the justices said the case might have been different if it had been a sponsored link, but that Google's appeal didn't require an answer on the subject.

Defteros sued Google in 2016, accusing the company of defaming him. Google pulled the link in December that year, and lost its initial court fight, but tried to overturn the ruling by arguing that it could have been held liable for the content of any page it linked to — it was worried it would have to "act as censor" for the internet at large. The company didn't succeed with that first appeal, and in 2020 a Victorian supreme court ordered that Defteros receive $40,000 in damages. Google asked the High Court to intervene in January.

The decision could a wide-ranging impact on internet firms operating in Australia. They might not have to worry that search queries or other automatically-generated links could get them into legal trouble. A complainant would have to show there was a deliberate attempt to promote an unflattering piece.

Activision Blizzard is still receiving complaints over alleged labor violations. The Communications Workers of America union (CWA) has filed an unfair labor practice charge accusing the game developer of illegally surveilling workers during a July walkout protest over gender inequity. The company also denied access to a chat channel discussing working conditions and otherwise cut off internal avenues for discussing labor, the CWA said.

We've asked Activision Blizzard for comment. The company previously said it was cooperating with investigations into its workplace practices and has argued that employees could speak freely about their workplace situations. However, the CWA maintained that the Call of Duty publisher has made "continued efforts" to stifle labor organizers, such as refusing to recognize a quality assurance union and hiring the union-busting law firm Reed Smith.

The charge is the latest in a string of labor-related accusations beyond the sexual harassment scandal that began much of the current uproar. The CWA filed a charge in June claiming Activision Blizzard broke labor law by firing QA contractors. In May, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) determined there was merit behind allegations the company was threatening labor organizers. Multiple reports have also circulated claiming that the gaming giant has been pushing anti-union messages.

The new complaint doesn't necessarily change Activision Blizzard's predicament. The company risks penalties and mandatory policy changes if it's found to be violating labor law. The charge adds further pressure, however, and could shape potential punishment.

Meta has outlined its strategy for combatting misinformation during the 2022 US midterm elections, and they'll mostly sound familiar if you remember the company's 2020 approach. The Facebook and Instagram owner said it will maintain policies and protections "consistent" with the presidential election, including policies barring vote misinformation and linking people to trustworthy information. It will once again ban political ads during the last week of the election campaign. This isn't quite a carbon copy, however, as Meta is fine-tuning its methods in response to lessons learned two years ago.

To start, Meta is "elevating" post comments from local elections officials to make sure reliable polling information surfaces in conversations. The company is also acknowledging concerns that it used info labels too often in 2020 — for the 2022 midterms, it's planning to show labels in a "targeted and strategic way."

Meta's update comes just days after Twitter detailed its midterm strategy, and echoes the philosophy of its social media rival. Both are betting that their 2020 measures were largely adequate, and that it's just a question of refining those systems for 2022.

Whether or not that's true is another matter. In a March 2021 study, advocacy group Avaaz said Meta didn't do enough to stem the flow of misinformation and allowed billions of views for known false content. Whistleblower Frances Haugen also maintains that Meta has generally struggled to fight bogus claims, and it's no secret that Meta had to extend its ban on political ads after the 2020 vote. Facebook didn't catch some false Brazilian election ads, according to Global Witness. Meta won't necessarily deal with serious problems during the midterms, but it's not guaranteed a smooth ride.

Over-the-counter hearing aid sales should soon become a practical reality in the US. The Food and Drug Administration has issued a final rule allowing the sales of hearing aids for mild-to-moderate impairment without requirements for exams, prescriptions or audiologist fittings. The measure is expected to take effect in mid-October, when you should see aids reach physical retail stores.

You'll still need a prescription for severe hearing loss, or for anyone under 18. The FDA has also set design and performance requirements for over-the-counter aids, and has tweaked rules for prescriptions to ensure "consistency." The definitive rule comes in response to public and industry feedback, including lower maximum sound output, a requirement for user volume control and canal depth limits.

Congress first passed laws requiring over-the-counter hearing aids in 2017 in a bid to lower healthcare costs, improve access and spur competition. In theory, you would see more people wearing the devices as access and technology improve. However, the FDA didn't propose the necessary rule to fully implement the wearables until October 2021.

It could be awhile before there's a wide range of choices, but there are already offerings here or in the works. Lexie, for instance, recently began selling the $899 B1 using technology from Bose's reportedly defunct hearing aid division. Companies like Jabra have also leaped in early. The prices aren't trivial, but they're relative bargains when aids have historically cost thousands of dollars before insurance.

You won't have to wait much longer to learn more about AMD's Ryzen 7000 desktop processors. The company has announced that it will unveil the new CPU line in a YouTube livestream on August 29th at 7PM. The event will share more about the new Zen 4 architecture and the supporting AM5 platform.

There are already some clues as to what to expect. AMD inadvertently shared some of the first Ryzen 7000 model numbers on its website in July, including one Ryzen 5 chip (7600X), one Ryzen 7 variant (7700X) and two Ryzen 9 releases (7900X and 7950X). As with past launches, the company appears focused on gaming-friendly enthusiast CPUs while leaving budget parts for later releases.

Zen 4 and AM5, meanwhile, promise meaningful architectural changes. You'll see more Level 2 cache, boost speeds beyond 5GHz, AI hardware acceleration and support for newer standards like DDR5 memory and PCIe 5.0 expansion. AMD claimed a 15 percent boost to single-threaded performance in early testing. Effectively, AMD is responding to Intel's 12th-gen Core — it's just a question of whether or not Ryzen 7000 is fast enough to keep up or edge ahead.