If you've been waiting for deals on Bose's popular headphones, earbuds, Bluetooth speakers and more, now's the time to act thanks to a sale at Amazon. You can pick up Bose's popular QuietComfort 45 wireless ANC headphones at an all-time low price of $229 ($100 off), the QuietComfort Earbuds II for $249 (17 percent off) and the highly rated SoundLink Flex Bluetooth portable speaker for just $129, or 13 percent off. 

The Bose QuietComfort 45 earned a strong Engadget review score thanks in part to the excellent sound quality. They offer crisp highs, robust mids and deep bass when a song demands it. At the same time, the active noise cancellation is highly effective in a wide range of environments like a train, office or coffee shop. They also come with handy onboard controls for playing/pausing music, and battery life is an impressive 22.5 hours. We've seen them as low as $249 in the past, but you can grab them today for just $229. 

Engadget

Another popular Bose product is the new QuietComfort Earbuds II. They garnered an excellent 87 Engadget review score thanks to the world-beating active noise cancellation and solid sound quality that you can tweak to your liking with a graphic EQ tool. Even though they only just came out in September, you can pick up a pair for $249, or $50 off the regular price. 

Finally, if you're looking for a rugged Bluetooth speaker that delivers on sound quality, Bose's SoundLink Flex is on sale for $129, or 13 percent off. It's water, dust and dirt resistant, and even floats to the surface if you drop it in water. Bose promises "astonishing audio performance" thanks to custom transducers and dual-opposing passive radiators that deliver clarity and "bass you can feel in your chest." 

Those are just a few of the many items on sale; you'll also find discounts on other Bluetooth speakers like the Soundlink Revolve+, the high-end Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, Solo 5 TV Soundbar and more. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

With Stadia set to be shut down next month, players have been understandably worried about losing game progress on the platform. Now, developer IO Interactive has announced that Stadia Hitman - World of Assassination players will be able to import save data into all other platforms including PC, Xbox and PlayStation. 

IOI said it will release a transfer tool a week before the Stadia shutdown, set for January 18th. If you play the game on Stadia, you can start to prepare in advance by linking your IOI account to your Stadia account. This needs to be done before the Stadia shutdown, or you'll lose your save data. Once the accounts are linked, though, you'll have an extra month (until February 17th) to complete the transfer. 

The developer said the "majority" of your Stadia achievements will be carried over, including your "player profile, XP, suits, items and mastery levels." IOI noted that there are "compatibility issues" between Stadia and other achievement systems, so it's focusing on achievements related to progression as a priority. Unfortunately, "your leaderboard positions, save games and created contracts will NOT be carried over during the Stadia progression carryover," it added.

IOI joins other developers offering one-time progress transfers. Last month, CD Projekt Red wrote that Cyberpunk 2077 Stadia players could transfer game saves over to PC, and Bethesda announced something similar for Elder Scrolls Online. In September, Ubisoft said that Stadia users could transfer all their purchases to PC, but didn't confirm if game progress would carry over. 

Many new homes built in Tokyo will require solar panels to be installed starting in April 2025, Kyodo News has reported. The local assembly passed new regulations requiring major construction companies to equip homes smaller than 2,000 square meters (21,500 square feet) with solar panels or other renewable power sources. The measure is the first of its kind in Japan and aims to cut the city's carbon emissions in half. 

The government estimates that the 980,000 yen ($7,200) price of a 4kW installation can be recouped in about six years based on utility bill savings and an existing 100,000 yen ($728) per kW grant. Leasing costs will also be reduced through other subsidies, according to an information-packed slide deck (PDF). 

The measure applies only to around 50 builders who supply over 20,000 square meters (215,000 square feet) to the market, so it's not clear what percentage of new homes will fall under the new rules. The measure should have a major effect, though, as the Tokyo government estimates that half of existing buildings (70 percent of which are homes) will be replaced with new construction by 2050. 

New construction starts in Japan averaged around 800,000-900,000 per year from 2012 to 2021, and a handful of major contractors called Super Zenecon dominate the construction sector, according to Statista. 

Japan is the world's fifth largest producer of carbon emissions, but has promised to be carbon neutral by 2050. It's not the only country mandating solar installations. In France, lawmakers recently approved a bill requiring parking lots with a minimum of 80 spaces to be covered by solar panels. The French government said the plan, aimed primarily at parking lots off freeways and major routes, could generate up to 11 gigawatts — the equivalent of 10 nuclear reactors.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard was a key game for the PlayStation VR launch back in 2016, and the franchise is set to play a role for Sony's upcoming VR headset as well. Resident Evil Village VR will arrive at the same time as PlayStation VR2 on February 22, 2023 as free DLC for the standard PS5 game, Capcom and Sony announced. That means anyone with the standard game (no Gold Edition required) will get some instant PSVR2 content for free.

Developer Capcom teased a PSVR2 edition of Resident Evil: Village earlier this summer (below), nothng at the time that it would feature the entire PS5 version of the game. "The VR Mode supports the entire campaign and lifts the award-winning experience to new heights," it said in the latest press release. "A deeper and more captivating adventure awaits with PlayStation VR2... VR Mode utilizes the 4K HDR display, eye tracking, and 3D audio to make Resident Evil Village more realistic and intense than ever."

At the same time, Capcom's promising that the PSVR2 Sense controllers will allow players to interact with their surroundings in new ways. "With one controller in each hand, you can feel the vibration, recoil, and resistance as you interact with objects in the world and fire weapons," according to Sony's PR.

For instance, players can hold up their arms to guard against enemies that get too close, while weapons will feel "tangibly more realistic in VR mode," Capcom said. You'll also see new gameplay elements like dual wielding and natural motion controls for reloading firearms and fighting with knives. 

As mentioned, the Resident Evil Village VR DLC will arrive when the $550 PSVR2 launches on February 22, 2023. To play it, you'll need the PS5 version of Resident Evil Village or Resident Evil Village Gold Edition to play. Sony said that up to 20 games will be available for PlayStation VR2 upon launch, including Horizon Call of the Mountain and Among Us VR. 

Earlier this year Sony announced that God of War would be developed as an Amazon Prime series, and since then, the latest installment Ragnarok has become a huge hit on PlayStation. Now, the series is officially a go at Amazon and we've learned more about what will take place, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

The series will follow the main character Kratos, The God of War, through roughly the events of the 2018 reboot based on Norse mythology. In that, he has quit his violent past and exiled himself to the Norse Midgard realm. 

"When his beloved wife dies,” Amazon's description reads, "Kratos sets off on a dangerous journey with his estranged son to spread her ashes from the highest peak — his wife’s final wish. [The quest] will test the bonds between father and son, and force Kratos to battle new gods and monsters for the fate of the world." 

The series will be produced by Sony Pictures Television and Amazon Studios in association with PlayStation Productions. The showrunner will be The Wheel of Time's Rafe Judkins, aided by Oscar nominees Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (Children of Men, Iron Man) who will take on writing and executive producing duties.

The original God of War series revolves around Greek mythology wrapped up in 2013 with God of War: Ascension (PS3). It rebooted with 2018's Norse mythology-based God of War for PlayStation 4, which led to God of War Ragnarök, released last month to rave reviews.

Amazon is also producing a Fallout series for Prime that started production early this year and should be arriving soon. Other series based on high-profile games either released or coming soon include The Last of Us (HBO), Halo (Paramount) and Horizon Zero Dawn (Netflix). 

YouTube is rolling out updates today around toxic comments that violate community guidelines, TechCrunch has reported. Previously, it has used tools like popups to encourage "respectful" interactions, but it's now taking a (slightly) more assertive approach with warnings and timeouts. 

If YouTube detects and removes abusive comments, it will notify the user that they've violated community guidelines. If the same person continues to post toxic comments, they'll receive a "timeout" and be unable to leave further comments for 24 hours. If users believe their comments shouldn't have been pulled, they can share that feedback — though YouTube didn't say if that would help remove the timeout. 

Prior to the rollout today, YouTube trialed the featured and found it to be effective. "Our testing has shown that these warnings/timeouts reduce the likelihood of users leaving violative comments again," it wrote in the blog post. 

YouTube famously has one of the more toxic comments sections in social media, and is also overrun with bots offering fake giveaways, crypto and more. To address that problem, YouTube said that it's "improving our automated detection systems and machine learning models to identify and remove spam." It noted that it removed over 1.1 billion spammy comments in the first half of 2022, and said its machine learning models are continuously improving as spammers change tactics. 

Just ahead of the holidays, Nintendo and Sony have unveiled their 2022 year in review tools for PlayStation and Switch, letting you see stats, a summary of your favorite games and more. As in previous years, you'll not only be able to see a resume of your year in gaming, but share highlights with friends and see how you compare with other players around the world. 

On PlayStation, you'll see trophy totals, the number of games played, total hours across PS4 and PS5 games and the number of PlayStation Plus games downloaded if you're a member. You'll also see stats achieved collectively by the global PlayStation community, like total miles driven in Gran Turismo 7 and the number of axes thrown in God of War Ragnarok. At the end of the experience, you’ll receive a summary card (below) that can be shared with other players. 

Sony

Nintendo has a similar tool for the Switch, with a report showing which games you played the most and for how long. You can also see which titles you were playing on a month by month basis, and share images of the report on social media. You'll also see an overall year in review showing which games were played most and for how long in 2022. 

To access the stats, you'll need to visit Nintendo and Sony's dedicated sites, then log into your account. If you're like us, though, you may have spent inordinate amounts of time on Elden Ring, God of War Ragnarok, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

ARM won't sell its latest Neoverse V series chips to Chinese tech giant Alibaba after concluding that the US and UK would not approve licenses to export them, according to The Financial Times. The decision follows new US government rules restricting China and Russia exports of powerful chips that could be repurposed for military use. 

Softbank-owned ARM reportedly believes that Neoverse V would fall into the category of high-performance processors affected by the new rules. While it could apply for a license, it would likely be turned down, according to FT's sources with knowledge of the sale process. It may be the first time that ARM has decided not to sell it's most advanced chip designs to China.

ARM designs the advanced RISC architecture for chips used in products ranging from smartwatches to advanced supercomputers. It doesn't build the processors itself, but sells the designs to manufacturers like TSMC and Samsung. Its latest Neoverse V2 core has the highest performance to date, with a design said to have originated in the US. 

The Biden administration is also reportedly set to put Chinese chip manufacturer YMTC on its entity list as early as next week, according to a separate FT article. The company reportedly violated US export controls by supplying Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei with NAND memory chips. 

The US government had YMTC on an "unverified" entity list, meaning it was unable carry out checks to confirming that domestic technology wasn't being used illegally. Thirty Chinese companies including YMTC had 60 days to comply to avoid being placed on an entity list that severely restricts exports. The Chinese government now allows such checks, but not all companies are necessarily cooperating. 

The US unveiled sweeping tech export controls in October. "This includes preventing China’s acquisition and use of US technology in the context of its military-civil fusion program to fuel its military modernization efforts, conduct human rights abuses, and enable other malign activities," it said at the time. When the rules were announced, analysts said that memory chipmakers like YMTC would be most affected.

China filed a dispute with the World Trade Organization earlier this week over those export controls. The US government considers YMTC to be a "national champion" in China, so the latest move is likely to be met with a strong reaction. 

Following his arrest in the Bahamas, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried with "defrauding investors," it announced. It alleges that Bankman-Fried "concealed his diversion of FTX customers' funds to [the] crypto trading firm Alameda Research while raising more than $1.8 million from investors." 

At the same time, the US Attorney's Office or the Southern District of New York and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) also announced charges against Bankman-Fried in parallel actions, according to the SEC. 

"We allege that Sam Bankman-Fried built a house of cards on a foundation of deception while telling investors that it was one of the safest buildings in crypto," said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. "The alleged fraud committed by Mr. Bankman-Fried is a clarion call to crypto platforms that they need to come into compliance with our law."

Developing...

As promised, Apple has expanded its iPhone 14 Emergency SOS satellite feature to France, Germany, Ireland and the UK after launching it in the US and Canada. To remind you, the new iPhones have a built-in satellite connection that people can use to send emergency SOS messages in places where there's no available cellular signal. The service is available to all iPhone 14 users on iOS 16.1 in supported countries and is free for two years following purchase. 

"It means that many more people will be able to contact 112 when they have no mobile coverage and need urgent assistance," said European Emergency Number Association CEO Gary Machado. "We are confident that this will save many lives and offer significant help to emergency services dealing with these often very complicated rescues."

Apple

Emergency SOS via Satellite is activated by a long press on the power and volume buttons, or rapidly pressing the power button five times. The interface guides you on the best direction to point your iPhone for the best signal. Once connected, you can open a message interface with emergency service providers, and the phone will also communicate your location. If everything goes to plan, you'll receive a message that responders have been notified, and to stay where you are. 

You can also share your location with family members in a non-emergency using the Find My app. Users simply open the Me tab, swipe up to see My Location via Satellite, and tap Send My Location. It also works with iPhone and Apple Watch Crash and Fall Detection features. There's even a demo mode that lets you practice using Emergency SOS so you can act quickly if a real emergency arises. 

The feature could be a godsend to hikers, skiers and others lost in the Alps or other remote parts of Europe. Support for more countries will arrive next year, Apple said.