Yes, you can finally upgrade your SSD storage on the PS5 — a console that already demands pretty huge game file sizes. It’s a whole lot more complicated than plugging in a USB drive, however. First up, you have to be a PS5 beta user in the US, Canada and parts of Europe. Then, you need a PCIe Gen4 SSD for read speeds of 5,500MB/s or higher — there are options from Samsung, Western Digital and Seagate.

But that’s not the end of things. Sony notes in its guide to SSD upgrades that you also need to factor in the PS5's cooling mechanism. This means you might have to add a heatsink to your SSD or choose a compatible SSD with the cooling structure built-in.

Aaron Souppouris/Engadget

Oh, it has to be the right-sized heatsink, too. And Sony suggests doing the whole installation in a well lit room, flashlight “optional.” It literally says that.

Did you buy a next-gen console so you didn’t have to think too much about these kinds of things? Well, sorry. It’s time to measure a heatsink. The feature will roll out to non-beta PS5 users later this year.

(TLDR: The Western Digital Black SN850 heatsink model should work if you want to upgrade your PS5 storage.)

— Mat Smith

Intel NUC 11 PC Extreme review

A tiny gaming desktop you may actually want.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Intel’s very own desktop PC series gets a little more compelling. The new NUC 11 Extreme, AKA Beast Canyon, is a lot like last year’s NUC 9 Extreme. But it's a bit cheaper and more flexible, thanks to its faster 11th-gen Intel CPU and support for full-sized GPUs. It’s bigger, yes, but that ability to work around full-sized GPUs makes it a genuine, if expensive, gaming PC desktop option. Devindra Hardawar puts it through its paces. Continue reading.

Cat simulator 'Stray' heads to PlayStation and PC in early 2022

Watch the first gameplay trailer.

Finally, a game you play as a cat. After being teased in 2020, we finally get to see the game in action — and news it will arrive next year. Gameplay involves using physical abilities as a cat to navigate the environment and solve puzzles. You can also scratch furniture. Continue reading.

Nothing’s Ear 1 wireless earbuds are an ambitious start

And a tribute to tech design of the past.

Engadget, Mat Smith

Nothing’s long-teased launch product is almost here. Its transparent-cased wireless earbuds look cool, ring in at $100 and, perhaps a little surprisingly, sound pretty good. The Ear 1s are a little temperamental with connectivity — and pricier headphones sound better — but Nothing has delivered some stylish buds that will come to the US next month. Mat Smith tests them out. Continue reading.

'Black Widow' star Scarlett Johansson sues Disney over streaming strategy

The simultaneous release will reportedly cost Johansson over $50 million.

Jay Maidment/Marvel Studios

Black Widow star Scarlett Johansson is suing Disney over the company's decision to release the movie in theaters and on Disney+ simultaneously. Johansson claims this was a breach of contract. In the suit, Johansson says Black Widow was supposed to be released exclusively in theaters, per her deal with Marvel. A large portion of Johansson's salary was tied to its box office success.

The move to launch the film on Disney+ may have impacted Black Widow's performance in theaters. According to Variety, it’s on track to become one of the lowest-grossing Marvel movies to date, based on box office sales. Continue reading.

YouTubers have been rickrolled over a billion times

You know the rules. 

Revideo

And so do I.Continue reading.

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How do you stand out as a new tech company when the dominant players have huge budgets, thousands of employees and decades of product R&D? That is Nothing’s challenge, and its first product, a pair of true wireless earbuds, makes a pitch for a simplified kind of tech, designed to stand out from the likes of Apple AirPods, Samsung Galaxy Buds and their myriad clones.

Design appears to be very important to Nothing, which has already published several blog posts dedicated to its philosophy and direction — and that’s before the company even launched anything. This is the result. The $100 Ear 1 buds feature active noise cancellation, touch controls, a wireless charging case and a particularly eye-catching see-through design, coming to the US mid-August.

This transparency — a design choice that I love — seemingly resonates with Nothing’s mission to make technology less obvious and more seamless. It makes a statement.

Engadget, Mat Smith

This styling extends to the charging case, which reminds me a lot of Apple’s old wired headphones that used to come packaged with iPhones. They also came in a half-transparent case. Nothing’s Ear 1 case is predictably more complex. The see-through shell has three indented bubbles that keep the buds in place. There’s a red dot both on the right headphone and its socket inside the charger.

Like most wireless earbuds, tiny magnets pull the buds into place, but this time they’re visible. Nothing apparently had to find suppliers to make sure its transparent design would work. The company needed glue that was either invisible or at least more aesthetically pleasing, and according to a spokesperson, these tiny, polished magnets were apparently hard to come by.

So yes, the Ear 1 is all about attention to detail. The case shuts with a satisfying thud, and the snippets of text across the hardware and even the companion app pay homage to retro technology — or perhaps computer interfaces on Alien. These feel like a tribute to see-through tech we’ve seen in the decades past. You might immediately think of those see-through Game Boys from the early ‘90s, but also Apple’s early 2000s eMac all-in-one PC, with transparent casing laid onto white and metal.

Surprisingly, the price is reasonable. These are sub-$100 earbuds, which would put them up against Beats’ latest truly wireless buds and make them cheaper than Apple’s entry-level AirPods. What do you get at this price, though?

While I haven’t had enough time to fully scrutinize sound quality, the Ear 1s sound decent, although there’s no spatial audio functionality which isn’t great for new headphones in 2021. Teenage Engineering, which worked with Nothing on these buds, was responsible for tuning the headphones. The sound is generally clear, but seems to lean toward the mid-range frequencies rather than treble and bass, though you can adjust the equalizer to ramp up either of those levels.

At this price, they predictably don’t stack up against more expensive earbuds like Sony’s WF-1000XM4 ANC buds or Apple's AirPods Pro. But, perhaps thanks to the silicone tips, they definitely sound better than the original AirPods. The Ear 1s are plenty loud, too.

Each bud weighs under five grams, making them lighter than those more expensive options, while still packing active noise cancellation — something Google’s similarly priced Pixel Buds A lack. After several months using the AirPods Pro, Nothing’s debut earbuds definitely feel more comfortable to me.

Despite the lightness, Nothing claims you should get four hours of listening with ANC on, and up to 5.7 hours (340 minutes) with ANC off. The case — which is wider but slimmer than most charging cases — can add up to a total of 34 hours of listening. There’s some fast-charge tech, too: After 10 minutes in the case you can get about another hour of listening time.

The case can be charged through USB-C or Qi wireless charging — another notable addition at this price. The earbuds are also rated IPX4 for sweat and dust resistance, so they can handle workouts that don’t involve too much rain or perspiration. There are touch controls on both buds, and you can slide your finger up and down the stem for volume control, while a single tap will play/pause and a triple tap will skip a track.

Nothing’s buds are compatible with both Android and iOS devices, and you don’t gain or lose anything depending on which mobile OS you prefer. That is, apart from fast pairing, which is coming to Android devices but isn’t yet enabled at the time of writing.

As much as I love the aesthetics of the Ear 1, my first impressions of these earbuds weren’t great. When trying to connect to my iPhone, pairing was a struggle. Once the buds were eventually connected to my phone, Nothing’s headphone app said that the fully charged case was empty — or not even detect it at all. Similar chaos ensued when I tried to shift pairing to my PC and Android phone. Bluetooth connections can be messy — this just seemed like a messier than it should be. The case itself seems to have its own Bluetooth profile, separate from the buds. That might be what makes pairing the headphones so frustrating.

Nothing’s companion app not only offers a different way to switch between noise cancellation modes, but also a way to reassign touch controls on the Ear 1. It’s a refreshing, uncomplicated app. Having wrestled with other headphone apps from Sony and the rest, though some audiophiles might find it a little restrictive.

There are four equalizer presets: balanced, more treble, more bass and voice. However, you can’t adjust the equalizer manually. The Ear 1 does offer a little more flexibility with noise cancellation with light and maximum settings you don’t often see on earbuds.

The Ear 1 has three high-definition mics for voice calls, with Nothing’s own “clear voice technology,” which utilizes algorithms that apparently help isolate and amplify your voice on calls. It should also help cut out wind noise.

I had a mixed experience with the Ear 1 for phone and video calls. With my handset, the three built-in mics coped with the noise of coffee shops and busy streets fine — in fact the people I talked to said my voice sounded particularly clear. When pairing with my Mac, however, audio quality seemed notably worse than other wireless buds and even the MacBook’s built-in mic.

The Ear 1 buds are an impressive debut device. Nothing’s first product launch is all about selling you on its cool — the company offered a limited run of hardware on StockX that seemed plainly targeted at Hypebeasts and early adopters. The design is compelling, and even the specifications are impressive at this price point. Nothing needs to improve on connectivity hiccups and sound quality if it wants to be mentioned in the same tier as Apple, Samsung and Sony, but it’s a bold start.

As part of new restrictions on sexual content, Google is banning what it calls "compensated sexual relationships (i.e. sugar dating)," from its Android app store, starting September 1st, 2021. Google’s wording on its inappropriate content policy isn’t live yet, but on Google Play, even now, there are plenty of sugar-daddy-style apps that fit this description, including Elite Millionaire Singles, SeekingArrangement and Spoil. (Many of these apps are already unavailable on iOS.)

This is unlikely to stop the existence of these apps and networks, however, but as is often the case with removed games and apps in the past, devout sugar daddies, mommies and their fans will be able to either sideload the app (without secure Google-approved updates) or use web apps on Chrome or their web browser of choice.

— Mat Smith

Krispy Kreme has created official Xbox-branded doughnuts

Buying a box could win you a month of Game Pass and an Xbox Series S.

Krispy Kreme

Krispy Kreme has come up with the Nexus Level donut as part of a new Xbox cross-promotion in the UK and Ireland. With a giant green X and a dusting of sugar, there’s no word on whether there are lime flavors at play or perhaps even — shudder — Mountain Dew. For now, it’s just “Coming Soon.” Continue reading.

Sony has sold 10 million PS5 consoles

It's the company's fastest-selling console to date.

With nary a pastry in sight, Sony revealed it has sold 10 million PS5 consoles as of July 18th, eight months after the system's November 12th debut. This makes it the fastest-selling Sony console in history, despite long-term supply constraints, a global pandemic and rival donut promotions.

The biggest selling games at this point tend to be enhanced versions of games available for the PS4, like Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which has sold 6.5 million copies so far. Continue reading.

Nura's latest wireless earbuds sound truly unique

The Nuratrue brings automatic audio personalization to true wireless headphones.

James Trew / Engadget

Nura might be a relatively new name in headphones, but the personalized-audio specialist is already revealing its third model: the Nuratrue. They’re wireless earbuds you can tune precisely to your listening profile.

The ability to create personal hearing profiles is Nura’s whole thing, but according to James Trew, Nura’s is the simplest and most reliable. Just pop the buds in your ears, walk through the profile creation process in the app and the headphones do everything else. James really did hear the difference. Whereas “unpersonalized” buds may be technically balanced on a graph, when your hearing isn’t perfect, Nura can fill in the gaps. Continue reading.

Watch Cassie the bipedal robot run a 5K

It did so without a tether.

Agility Robotics

And I still can’t finish Couch25K?

Then watch this robot make a 100,000-domino 'Super Mario Bros.' mural

In just over 24 hours.

Mark Rober

A new robot known as the Dominator has set a Guinness World Record for placing 100,000 dominos in just over 24 hours. Created by YouTuber and former NASA engineer Mark Rober, the Dominator is the result of more than five years of work. But hey, let’s see the mural making in action. Apparently, the secret is a lot of Hot Wheels track. Continue reading.

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The power of deepfake tech to hone digital effects into incredibly realistic video can’t be underestimated. We’ve seen a top-level Tom Cruise impersonator transformed with a high-level deepfake artist, and now companies — and film studios — are taking notice.

Luke Skywalker's CGI face in The Mandalorian was met with a lot of criticism, and one fan’s efforts to improve it resulted in a new job. Lucasfilm has hired YouTuber Shamook to ensure future projects won’t have wobbly representations of actors that are either much older or perhaps even deceased now. The latter, however, remains an ethical conundrum in itself, as demonstrated by the recent Anthony Bourdain documentary.

— Mat Smith

A magnetic helmet shrunk a deadly tumor in world-first test

The user-friendly medical device can be operated at home.

We've seen helmets and AI that can spot brain tumors, but a new magnetic hard hat can actually treat them, too. Researchers used a helmet that generates a magnetic field to shrink a deadly tumor by a third. The 53-year-old patient who underwent the treatment ultimately passed away due to an unrelated injury, but an autopsy showed that the procedure had removed 31 percent of the tumor mass from his brain. Continue reading.

The best Apple AirTag accessories you can buy

Accessories for your accessory.

Valentina Palladino / Engadget

Apple’s tiny Bluetooth trackers have one critical flaw: no built-in keychain hole. That means anyone who buys AirTags has to buy holders or cases to attach them to their stuff.

It’s a very Apple way of milking as much money out of a new product as possible since many will simply buy Apple’s own AirTag holders. But those aren’t the only options available — plenty of accessory companies have already made AirTag cases. We take a look at all the options. Continue reading.

A new Microsoft Surface Duo might come with a big camera upgrade

And possibly a new color.

Tech Rat

Microsoft's double-screen Surface Duo landed with outdated specs and a hard-to-swallow price, but the company might be looking for a do-over. A Tech Rat leak suggests a Surface Duo with a new conspicuous rear camera bump with three sensors might be on the way — as well as a new black look. Continue reading.

LG's new Tone Free earbuds have a case that plugs into headphone ports

They also feature spatial audio.

LG Tone Free FP

LG has revealed a new family of wireless earbuds, and while germ-killing UV tech is still on board, the coolest part may be backward compatibility. The high-end FP9 model has a charging case that plugs into a headphone jack to work as a Bluetooth dongle. The feature could be handy during flights and when dealing with wired environments of yesteryear, like gym treadmills. The headphones feature active noise cancellation and spatial audio compatibility, too. The LG Tone Free FP series will be available this month, price still TBC. Continue reading.

iOS 14.7.1 arrives with fix for Apple Watch unlocking bugIt also fixes a security vulnerability Apple says may have been exploited.

Apple has pushed out a new update to iOS 14 for iPhone and iPad owners. While there are no new features, it addresses a bug that broke Apple's Unlock with iPhone integration, preventing Touch ID-equipped phones from unlocking Apple Watch devices. So if you use an older iPhone with your Apple wearable, you'll want to download the update as soon as possible. Continue reading.

Why every robot needs a spiffy hat

If you thought the classic ‘pants on a dog’ problem was tricky, try it with treads.

As robots increasingly move into our everyday lives, a new kind of clothing revolution could soon be upon us once again, according to a new research study out of New York’s Cornell University.

“We believe that robot clothes present an underutilized opportunity for the field of designing interactive systems,” the team argues in What Robots Need From Clothing. It’s not simply a matter of tossing human clothing on a robotic chassis. “What robot clothes are is integrally tied to what robots need from clothing. Robot clothing should analogously fulfill needs robots have, rather than just being human clothes on a robot,” the researchers wrote. What will that entail? Continue reading.

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The Tokyo Olympics opening kicked off early this morning, and the parade of nations, where athletes walk through Japan's Olympic stadium, had a Japanese twist. A medley of videogame music, orchestrated, formed the soundtrack for the parade. 

It all kicked off with the main theme from Dragon Quest — which sounds pretty Olympian outright — followed by hits from Final Fantasy, Monster Hunter, Nier, Sonic, Chrono Trigger and, er, eFootball. (That's the new name for Pro Evolution Soccer, in case you missed it.)

There are some notable omissions — no Nintendo songs (Pokemon? Mario? Zelda?) being the biggest one — but some Street Fighter II songs might have fitted well into the competitive theme. Maybe the latter was too violent? 

The march hasn't quite finished, but we'll try to embed a video here when we can. The USA will be the third-to-last country to march, as it's hosting the Olympics soon in LA. You might be able to catch the final parts of the march on the NBC live stream.

Nikkan Sports offers a full tracklist here. Hopefully, a kind soul will make a Spotify playlist for us. Please?

Remember the high-tech face masks teased during the relatively early days of the COVID-19 pandemic? Not many have made it into stores (or on to our faces) just yet, but that’s given companies even more time to build in upgrades. Like LG, which has used the Tokyo Olympics (and the Team Thailand) to showcase its improved wearable air-purifying mask.

LG

Still packing three fans and a pair of HEPA-style filters, it now also features a smaller, lighter motor and a built-in mic, speaker and voice amplifier. LG says its VoiceOn tech will detect when you're talking and boost the sound so others can hear you — a common issue when you’re trying to communicate while wearing any kind of mask. This new version will arrive in Thailand in August.

— Mat Smith

DNS issue pulls PSN, Steam, LastPass and more offline

Fortunately, a fix came a few hours later.

Starting at approximately 11:20 AM ET yesterday, Downdetector began logging a spike in outage reports across a variety of online services and websites. Some of the more notable platforms people couldn’t connect to included, PSN, LastPass, TikTok, Steam and UPS. Visiting the PlayStation Store and other affected websites would return a DNS error. Akamai said it implemented a fix for the issue it was having with its Edge DNS service, and most sites and services returned to normal. Continue Reading.

Facebook spent $23.4 million on Mark Zuckerberg's personal security

The CEO's protection costs far eclipsed those of other tech execs.

Eduardo Munoz / reuters

A new analysis of the security expenses racked up by Silicon Valley giants shows they collectively spent $46 million to safeguard their top brass last year. Of that, $23.4 million alone was spent on Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg's personal security, up from $20.4 million in 2019, according to a report by Protocol. In comparison, Jeff Bezos paid $1.6 million in personal security costs. Continue Reading.

Activision Blizzard sued by California over alleged sexist culture

Female employees deal with constant sexual harassment, the complaint said.

SOPA Images via Getty Images

Activision Blizzard is facing a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing for fostering what the agency describes as a "frat boy" workplace. The DFEH sued the company that owns the Call of Duty series and Overwatch after a two-year investigation. It said at the company, in addition to receiving smaller salaries than their male counterparts, female employees were allegedly subjected to constant sexual harassment. Activision Blizzard, denies DEFH's allegations, adding that the lawsuit "includes distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard's past." Continue Reading.

Slack is now officially part of Salesforce

The messaging app cost $27.7 billion.

Messaging app Slack is now officially a part of Salesforce after completing a deal worth $27.7 billion. The IRC-style client, which cost 27.7 times as much as Instagram when bought by Facebook, will now operate as a standalone unit inside the computing giant. Salesforce intends to use the $27.7 billion Slack as the new interface of Customer 360, its tool for managing its many apps. It also puts Salesforce, which paid, I repeat, $27.7 billion for Slack, into an antitrust war with Microsoft, after the Windows maker bundled Microsoft Teams with its Office suite. Continue Reading.

Framework’s modular laptop is uncontroversial on purpose

It’s a laptop designed for the right to repair movement.

Daniel Cooper

The right to repair movement is all about giving users the right to make basic repairs to their devices without too much fuss. But many companies make it very difficult to get your smartphone or laptop screen replaced after a bump. Framework is a company that has designed its first laptop to be entirely user-serviceable, and easy enough that anyone can do so. Dan Cooper put the machine through its paces, and what it lacks in battery life and sound, it more than makes up for in repairability. Continue Reading.

The OnePlus Nord 2 5G makes another good argument for ignoring expensive smartphones

But if you're in the US, you won't see it.

Mat Smith, Engadget

OnePlus has an unusual problem. It’s making very good flagship smartphones these days, but at the same time, it’s still chasing status as a flagship phone killer. That’s where its Nord series comes in, offering premium-looking (and feeling) smartphones at the fraction of a price of flagship devices. The Nord 2 5G is a similar proposition to the original Nord, with some camera improvements and a new processor rounding out the biggest changes. The £399 (roughly $458 before tax) Nord 2 has a slightly more premium style similar to its expensive relatives, like the $729 OnePlus 9. But while it might look the part, is it as good? Mat Smith tested the phone out for a few days. Continue Reading.

Jack Dorsey hopes bitcoin can bring about world peace

He said issues with the current monetary system distract 'from the bigger problems.’

Handout . / reuters

Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey has long been a bitcoin enthusiast. In fact, he's so optimistic about the cryptocurrency, he reckons it could bring about a more peaceful planet. During a video discussion on cryptocurrency with Elon Musk, another vocal cryptocurrency figure, and Cathie Wood, chief executive of Square stakeholder ARK Invest, he said:

“My hope is that it creates world peace or helps create world peace. We have all these monopolies off balance, and the individual doesn’t have power, and the amount of cost and distraction that comes from our monetary system today is real and it takes away attention from the bigger problems.” Continue Reading.

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OnePlus has an unusual problem. It’s making very good flagship smartphones these days — the OnePlus 9 Pro is an incredibly good phone — but at the same time, it’s still chasing its status as flagship phone killer.

The company’s Nord series was aimed at undercutting the expensive devices offered by the likes of Samsung, its Chinese rivals — or even Apple. Last year’s Nord was the beginning of a new family of devices that attempted to still claim ‘flagship killer’ status, but at increasingly cheaper prices, including the debut Nord and the $240 N200, which wasn’t all that great. It was $240, though.

The Nord 2 5G costs more than that and is pretty similar to the original Nord in a lot of ways — including the fact that it’s not destined for the US. I’ve been testing the Nord 2 for a couple of days, and if you liked the proposition of the original Nord, you’ll probably like its sequel. The £399 (roughly $458 before tax) Nord 2 has a slightly more premium style that’s more similar to expensive relatives like the $729 OnePlus 9. While it might look the part, is it as good?

Mat Smith, Engadget

I loved the vivid eye-catching sky blue of last year’s Nord, but its successor has a more restrained palette. OnePlus sent me the metallic blue option, which looks a lot like a OnePlus 9, augmented by the giant camera unit — even if it’s missing the Hasselblad label.

If you don’t like the restrained tones (there’s also a green and a gray option available depending on your region), OnePlus is also selling an aggressively wacky faux transparent case covered in white graffiti or a season-appropriate neon sunset case that’s already become my favorite.

When it comes to the cameras, there aren’t many upgrades. The rear module is now three cameras, not four, with a primary 50-megapixel (up from 48MP) sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS) responsible for the heavy lifting. While a two-megapixel difference might not seem like, well, anything worth noting, the new primary sensor has a bigger pixel size (1μm), up from the 0.8μm pixels on the original Nord, but still falling short of the 1.12μm pixels of the OP9 Pro.

There’s also an 8-megapixel 119.7-degree wide-angle lens and a mono sensor for focus assistance. When it comes to zoom, the Nord 2 5G offers up to 2x optical zoom, but thanks to the size of the main sensor, it’s pretty serviceable up to 5x. According to the spec sheet, you can crank it up to 10x digital zoom, but you know you probably shouldn’t.

From my brief shooting experience — and without the original Nord to hand — there doesn’t seem to be any major performance improvements. Perhaps predictably, the low-light shooting is what benefits most from the new sensor, given those bigger pixels. Otherwise, like the Nord, the Nord 2 5G can take some very pretty photos, capturing lots of detail. The AI mode, again, is a little heavy-handed at times, so I turned it off most of the time. Occasionally the phone would struggle with wide dynamic ranges, but this was while comparing the phone to the OnePlus 9 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro — thousand-dollar smartphones.

Mat Smith, Engadget

Video-wise, the Nord 2 can handle up to 4K at 30 fps, up to 60 fps at 1080p. It uses electronic image stabilization to amp up how much wobble it can handle, and video was pleasantly smooth — if the lighting was good enough. Video in low light suffered from a weird pulsing effect, that might be due to electronic image stabilization. Sadly, the footage was barely usable.

The biggest change when it comes to imaging might be the front-facing camera. While it’s OnePlus’ highest specification front sensor, capable of taking 32-megapixel pictures, it’s just a single camera sensor, compared to the dual-array on the original Nord. OnePlus has, however, added a built-in Group Shots 2.0 feature that can detect up to five faces, imagining a world of hanging out beyond COVID-19.

OnePlus also added a dual view video mode to shoot from both the rear and front-facing cameras at once, and there’s a NightScape Ultra mode for low-light shooting too, but nothing too thrilling.

The Nord 2’s 6.47-inch AMOLED screen has a 90Hz refresh rate which feels appropriately slick, while there are color and resolution boosting AI features that can be enabled during video playback in certain apps, including YouTube, VLC, Instagram (resolution boost only) and more.

Mat Smith, Engadget

The Nord 2 5G also marks a shift from Snapdragon processors from Qualcomm to Mediatek, with a chip apparently made especially for OnePlus. It’s called the MediaTek Dimensity 1200-AI, which, unsurprisingly, offers a degree of AI-centric muscle to processes like photo manipulation and the aforementioned video playback boosts. Compared to the original Nord, OnePlus claims this processor is 65% faster, while the GPU offers a 125% improvement on the original.

With limited time to test out the phone, so far, the processor feels, well, fine. I swiped and tapped through a handful of games including Alto’s Odyssey and Genshin Impact, the latter of which is a gorgeous game that can test even the most expensive flagships. It’s not the silkiest gaming experience, but Genshin Impact is an incredibly resource-intensive game that makes most phones sweat.

Performance-wise, does it beat a flagship phone, double (or triple) the price? God, no. But can it handle resource-intensive apps and tasks? Yes. I experienced some stutters on a few games that the Nord 2 shouldn’t really have struggled with, but no apps suddenly shut down. I’ve had a checkered past with phones powered by Mediatek chips, but I didn’t come across any performance issues here.

US readers might be frustrated that the Nord 2 5G won’t be coming to the US. Especially when OnePlus’ even cheaper phones — which have hit US shores — have been too mediocre to recommend But there could be hope for future devices that land somewhere between basic smartphones eventually making it to the US

The Nord 2 is the first phone to be revealed since OnePlus announced it would be folding under Oppo in the future. For now, at least, this hasn’t resulted in any major changes for OnePlus phones. In fact, a OnePlus spokesperson told Engadget that the company was “keen to keep expanding in the US, and [the Oppo deal] gives us more resources to do it.”

The Nord 2 is a strong, if not quite perfect, mid-range phone. If OnePlus decides to make a Nord 3, perhaps it’ll nail the formula — or at least give it a chance to break America.

The Olympics, a year late, are here. The official start is the opening ceremony on Friday, July 23rd, at 7 AM ET, but a few events have already kicked off. The softball and women’s soccer competitions began yesterday, but the first games aired Tuesday night on the east coast. Softball, men’s soccer and rowing are taking place today (Tokyo time), and the good news is that every event is available to watch, you just need to know where to look.

We’ve got a full guide right here, and while NBC is the official broadcaster for the Summer Olympics in the US, there’s so much sport that coverage is also on NBCSN, USA, CNBC, Golf Channel and the Olympic Channel — some of which require subscriptions.

The good news is that NBC is still airing events live, following criticism over tape delays back in 2012. During prime time, expect to see all the highlights from the day’s events.

— Mat Smith

Tesla lowers the price of its Full Self-Driving computer upgrade

Prices fell by $500 but buyers still need to beware

Engadget

Tesla has knocked $500 from the price needed to upgrade to what it calls “full self-driving” in vehicles made between late 2016 and mid-2019. That, in conjunction with the high monthly subscription fee, was enough to send Tesla owners into revolt, and the price has since been cut to $1,000. Although it’s worth saying that what the automaker calls ‘self-driving’ is only really Level 2 autonomy, including lane changing and some self-parking features, so any utopian dreams of letting the car drive you to work are still a long way away. Continue Reading.

FTC votes to fight back against right to repair restrictions

It’s a huge victory for the right to repair movement

Avalon_Studio via Getty Images

The Federal Trade Commission has published a policy statement saying it will better enforce existing laws protecting the right to repair. It said it would bolster bills, like the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, which prohibits manufacturers from preventing at-home repairs. It’s only a first step, but it could lead to a future where you’re able to fix your broken phone screen without needing to send it away for weeks at a time. Continue Reading.

The best student discounts we found for 2021

And the best gaming laptops for students.

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Today’s Back to School guide features the best discounts for students. Amazon Prime, for instance, is $60 a year if you’re in college and has everything the regular package does. Apple, meanwhile, will throw in free AirPods when you buy selected Macs or iPads to embark upon your educational dreams. And Spotify will let you listen to Premium and offer up Hulu and Showtime’s premium video on-demand platforms for as little as $5 a month. On the laptop front, we’ve also scrubbed through the best gaming laptops for the most affordable and nicest machines we could find. Continue Reading.

Study suggests EVs really are cleaner than gas-powered cars over their lifespan

No matter how you’re getting your energy.

JENS SCHLUETER via Getty Images

The International Council on Clean Transportation has published a new study saying electric vehicles really are cleaner than their gas-powered counterparts. The ICCT added it didn’t matter if they were juiced up with power from nuclear or coal-fired stations. Overall, the picture it paints suggests that on a life-cycle basis, from extracting raw materials to disposal, you’re better off with an electric car. And it’s not a marginal difference, either, buy a medium-sized EV (in Europe) and emissions are between 66 and 69 percent lower than a fossil-fuel-burning ride. Continue Reading.

Pro Evolution Soccer will become ‘eFootball’ in free-to-play shift

Konami’s last-ditch attempt to revive the former giant.

Konami

It’s hard to believe now, but Pro Evolution Soccer was the soccer/football game for diehards and casual players alike. Sadly, EA’s FIFA series managed to steal that crown, and Pro Evo’s popularity has waned sufficiently that developer Konami is going to extremes. The developer has announced the title will be rebranded as eFootball and recast as a free-to-play title on consoles, PCs and mobile devices. What’s not clear, right now, is how much of the game will be free, and how much will be paywalled behind DLC. Continue Reading.

Chromebook users were locked out of their laptops by a single typo.

It’s fixed now.

Google had to pull a Chrome OS update that broke logins for Chromebook users, apparently due to a simple typo. The company apparently added a second "&" to a line of code, preventing the OS from decrypting login info and locking users who’d updated out of their systems.

According to Android Police, with some users, it started bootloops (where the system keeps restarting). At least one system required a recovery USB stick to return to a working state. Continue Reading.

'The Last Video Store' is a Blockbuster-inspired PSVR game

Time to watch video rentals with friends in VR.

People are still weirdly fascinated with Blockbuster, even though (or perhaps because) there's only one remaining store in the entire world. You'll soon be able to (almost) re-experience the sensation of a video rental store — sans copyright logos — on PlayStation VR.

The Last Video Store trailer teases rows of DVDs and VHS tapes in a Blockbuster-like store, chilled out employees and an overly bright interior. It might even help you forget that in reality, the best titles were rarely available when you wanted them. You’ll apparently be able to watch these rentals in either a cinema or a virtual living room, although it’s a little unclear what sort of licensing deal the game has struck, but the trailer shows both Evil Dead and Mac and Me, with the ability for other PSVR players to watch the movie with you. Continue Reading.

The Sad Wolverine meme immortalized as an action figure

A physical representation of all that yearning will, however, cost you $200.

Mondo

Perfect for anyone who’s currently trying, and failing, to woo the love of their life away from some jerk who shoots laser beams out of his eyes. Continue Reading.

But wait, there’s more...

'Aliens: Fireteam Elite' is an arcade shooter for the online era

Valve will replace Big Picture mode with the new Steam Deck UI

Amazon says most Echo speakers will support the Matter smart home platform

Netflix's 'The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf' trailer is, shockingly, full of monsters

Blue Origin made it beyond the edge of Earth’s atmosphere. Jeff Bezos' space company has successfully completed its first crewed spaceflight, taking the boss himself, his brother, aviation pioneer Wally Funk and (son of) paying customer 18-year-old Oliver Daemen.

Blue Origin

After reaching 62 miles above Earth, the capsule made what seemed to be a perfect landing in the desert. The entire mission took just over 10 minutes, according to Blue Origin.

The future of billionaire-backed space travel is on the horizon. Bezos said yesterday that Blue Origin is approaching $100 million in future flight sales, already. He also had plenty of thoughts during that very short trip, some of which seemed at odds with some of his business decisions of the past.

— Mat Smith

The best streaming gear for students

Check out our updated buyer’s guide.

Will Lipman Photography for Engadget

We get it: Being a student is hard, but just because you’re holed up in a dorm room doesn’t mean you should settle for crappy AV gear. Our updated Student Buyer’s Guide has everything you could possibly need to stop mindlessly watching Netflix on your laptop. We’ve found bargainous deals for TVs, audio gear and the best dongles, all the better to get your classmates to want to come hang out at your kickin’ joint. Continue Reading.

Samsung will announce new foldables on August 11th

Expect two handsets, a new smartwatch and some new earbuds.

Chris Velazco/Engadget

As day follows night, Samsung announces another product launch — its fifth by our count since the start of the year. This summer showcase, scheduled for August 11th, will be an online-only shindig to announce the company’s super-premium devices. This slot was ordinarily when the new Note would take its bow, but since that series has been retired (for now), it looks like foldables will take center stage. It’s likely we’ll see new entries in the Flip and Fold lines, as well as the first watch borne of Samsung and Google’s new WearOS push. Continue Reading.

Apple Arcade adds a spin on 'Tetris' and a 'Monster Hunter' RPG

'Neko Atsume' and 'Jetpack Joyride' are also coming soon.

The latest wave of titles coming to Apple’s gaming service include Tetris Beat, an Arcade original that blends the classic puzzler with rhythm game elements. The more you keep to the rhythm, the larger your combos get. The soundtrack includes well-known names like Alison Wonderland and Hannah Diamond.

Monster Hunter Stories, originally a 3DS game that swapped hacking and slashing for roleplaying, will join soon, too. In that game, you’ll battle alongside monsters you befriend during your adventure. Continue Reading.

Casio made a vintage Pac-Man version of its A100 digital watch

The design is based on another classic: Casio's F-100 digital watch.

Casio

Casio has unveiled a new Pac-Man edition digital watch, made in collaboration with Bandai Namco. The A100WEPC Pac-Man edition has a design based on the Casio's F-100 digital watch from 1978. One of the most advanced watches you could buy at the time, it had a stopwatch, digital alarm and calendar features. It was also the first watch with a resin case. Oh, and Ripley wore one in Alien. It will go on sale in Japan this August for ¥12,100, or about $110. Continue Reading.

Peloton launches its first exercise game

'Lanebreak' puts you in control of a tire on an obstacle course.

Lanebreak is a rhythm-based game coming to Peloton’s stationary bikes. It has a simple setup: Players control a rolling tire on a track by pedaling, switching lanes with the resistance knob to avoid multiple obstacles. This being Peloton, the entire game is synchronized to a music soundtrack. For now, Lanebreak is still in early access mode with a full launch planned for this winter. Continue Reading.

But wait, there’s more...

Apple reportedly delays office return as US COVID-19 cases rise

Square Enix’s 'Final Fantasy XIV Online' is very popular at the moment

All Verizon Android phones will support RCS messaging by 2022

DuckDuckGo tackles email privacy with new tracker-stripping service

Engadget Deals: Roku sale on Amazon knocks the Streambar down to $99

Engadget Deals: Amazon's Kindle sale slashes up to 35 percent off its popular e-readers

Sony's latest flagship soundbar offers Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio

The RadRover 6 Plus is a 'durable' $1,999 e-bike with a 750W motor

The best dorm room essentials for college students

It’s another strange and unusual year for students, but it’s time to start preparing for another one, and our team has been picking out the best PCs and other tech to make academic life a little easier. Our 2021 Back To School guide kicks off with our guide to the best laptops for students, as well as a guide to more humbly priced gadgets and things for under $50.

Will Lipman Photography for Engadget

I don’t want to spoil everything, but we’ll cover budget TVs for college students, educational toys for younger learners and even the best student discounts we’ve found for 2021.

— Mat Smith

Warby Parker's vision test app can help renew your glasses prescription

You might not need to visit a clinic.

Warby Parker

Warby Parker is turning its Prescription Check app into the Virtual Vision Test, and it’ll offer a way to renew your glasses or contact lens prescription using only an iPhone and your existing eyewear. Prop up your phone, stand 10 feet away and you can walk through a familiar "can you read this" test that will gauge whether or not your glasses or contacts need updating. Continue reading.

PS4 'crypto farm' reportedly used bots to grind in-game FIFA currency

Instead of crypto, the consoles were mining FIFA Ultimate Team accounts for profit.

You might recall that crypto farm bust last week in the Ukraine, where thousands of PS4s were rigged to run on stolen electricity. Well, according to local news outlet Delo, it wasn’t crypto but FIFA the machines were churning through. PCs were running bots on the consoles to play FIFA and automatically earn in-game currency. Although buying or selling FIFA coins with real money is against EA policies, that hasn't stopped a thriving black market for the digital currency. One site offers PS4 FIFA 21 account with 5.1 million coins for $300.

Illegal third-party sellers aren’t the only ones making bank. Last year, EA made $1.62 billion from the Ultimate Team franchise, which accounted for 29 percent of its net revenue for the fiscal year. "A substantial portion" of that revenue came from FIFA games. Continue reading.

Apple launches iOS 14.7 with support for its new MagSafe Battery Pack

And you can merge two Apple Cards into a co-managed account.

Apple

The latest version of iOS 14 adds a few useful but relatively minor features, such as support for the new MagSafe Battery Pack on iPhone 12. There's an option to merge two Apple Cards into a co-owned account with a combined credit limit.

There's also a new filter in the Podcasts library that allows you to see all shows or only the ones you follow. Oh, and did I mention you can subscribe to this very newsletter in its audio form right here? Continue reading.

CNN+ will offer live and on-demand content in early 2022

The new service will include original shows and movies.

CNN has unveiled its rumored streaming service and says it will offer a blend of live and on-demand shows that are "separate and distinct" from its existing TV coverage. It will debut sometime in the first quarter of 2022. While CNN hasn't narrowed down the price, lead executive Andrew Morse told Variety there wouldn't be an ad-supported tier at launch. Continue reading.

But wait, there’s more...

WhatsApp now lets you join in-progress group calls

Android TV gets new Google TV features

A robot collision sparked a fire at the UK's top online grocer

Tencent to buy British video game studio Sumo for $1.27 billion

NVIDIA shows 'Wolfenstein: Youngblood' with RTX ray-tracing on ARM

Engadget Deals: Apple's latest iPad Airs fall to all-time lows at Amazon