Amazon's Blink has developed a reputation for low-cost security cameras, and that now extends to your front door. The brand has unveiled a Blink Video Doorbell that, at $50, could be a solid option if you're not interested in some of the frills available from Ring and rival brands. It 'only' captures 1080p video, but it supports Alexa integration (of course), your choice of wired or wireless connections and the option to store footage on a USB thumb drive (when attached to a Sync Module 2) if you don't want a subscription for cloud storage.

Two AA batteries will keep the doorbell running for up to two years, although that's with a wired connection. Blink didn't say how long the Video Doorbell would last on a wireless link, but it's safe to presume you'll be swapping cells more often. The hardware is available for pre-order today.

Blink/Amazon

Blink is simultaneously expanding its outdoor camera accessories. The Amazon badge has introduced a $40 Floodlight Camera mount (shown at middle) that pairs with the Blink Outdoor camera to bathe your yard with 700 lumens of LED light whenever there's motion. There's also a Solar Power Mount that gives the Outdoor camera a "nonstop" charge. Blink didn't mention separate pricing for the solar mount, but you can buy it as part of a $130 bundle with the Outdoor cam. A $140 bundle pairs the Outdoor with the Floodlight Camera attachment.

Follow all of the news from Amazon’s fall hardware event right here!

Amazon has already released updated versions of the 5, 8 and 10-inch Echo Shows earlier this year, but it’s not done with smart displays just yet. Today, at its annual fall event, the company announced the Echo Show 15, its largest one to-date. With a 15.6-inch 1080p display, the Echo Show 15 almost looks like a large picture frame. It can be wall-mounted or placed on a stand, in either portrait or landscape orientation. The Echo Show 15 will retail for $249.99.

Since it has such a large display, Amazon has introduced a redesigned home screen to go along with the Echo Show 15. You can configure it so that part of the screen has the usual rotating array of ambient content like headlines and weather updates (those who already have an Echo Show will be familiar with this), while the rest of it can be customized with various Alexa widgets. Think of the whole thing as a multifunctional family bulletin board.

Those widgets include useful applications like a family calendar, a shared shopping list, sticky notes, to-do lists, reminders, recipe recommendations from sources like Allrecipes and Epicurious, restaurant delivery options and more. There’s a Blue Apron widget that helps you order meal kits and shows you step-by-step recipe instructions. A connected home widget helps you view and control your favorite smart home devices. You can also enable picture-in-picture live camera viewing so you can keep an eye on your kids while you’re cooking dinner. There’s also a widget to help you track package deliveries.

Amazon

According to Amazon, these Alexa widgets will also be available on the other Echo Shows, but you’ll have to swipe the screen to see them. On the Echo Show 15, however, they can be arranged to appear on the home screen, which can’t be done on smaller-screened Echo Shows. In the event you have guests over and don’t want them to see all of your calendars and personal information, you can enable a picture frame mode on the Echo Show 15 so that it only shows photos or art work.

Additionally, the Echo Show 15 has a new visual ID feature that’s able to recognize your face, which will prompt it to show you personalized information such as your calendar appointments, reminders and notes. This is potentially useful in a multi-person household, as you can show sticky notes meant only for specific members of the family, for example. Additionally, if you enroll your child in visual ID, the device will show them age-appropriate content.

Amazon

For those who have privacy concerns, visual ID is entirely optional, plus all of the computer vision information remains on the device, with nothing going to the cloud. The microphone and camera have power toggles, and there’s a built-in camera shutter. Plus, you can always view and delete your voice recordings.

Much like the other Alexa-powered smart displays, the Echo Show 15 has a bevy of entertainment options that include Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu and more. All Echo Shows will soon support TikTok and Sling TV streaming as well.

The Echo Show 15 is powered by Amazon’s AZ2 Neural Edge processor, which powers a lot of the device’s on-board machine learning and computer vision capabilities. It enables the aforementioned visual ID feature, and it also lets you teach Alexa your personal preferences. For example, you can tell Alexa you’re a vegetarian, and the next time you ask Alexa for recipes, it’ll remember that and only show you vegetarian recipes.

One particularly intriguing new feature is that you can also teach Alexa to recognize sounds. So for example, if your refrigerator beeps when it’s open for too long, you can teach Alexa to recognize that sound, and then notify you that you need to close your fridge door. You can teach it to recognize the doorbell, the microwave ding, the washing machine tune and various other household alerts. This sounds potentially very helpful, especially for those who are hard of hearing.

Amazon says that the Echo Show 15 will be available later this year. Countertop stands and under-cabinet mount accessories will be sold separately at a yet-to-be-determined price.

Follow all of the news from Amazon’s fall hardware event right here!

Netflix is expanding its library of mobile games, but they're still only available in a few countries for now. Subscribers in Spain and Italy can now play the Android titles, following an initial rollout in Poland.

While the first couple of games Netflix added were based on one of its top series, Stranger Things, the latest ones have nothing at all to do with its shows or movies. Instead, Shooting Hoops, Teeter Up and Card Blast are casual titles with broader appeal in mind, as TechCrunch notes. They're part of an effort by Netflix to keep growing in other areas of entertainment beyond streaming.

If you're in one of those three countries, you'll see a Games tab in the Netflix Android app. When you tap on a game, you'll be taken to its Google Play Store listing. You can download the game and sign in using your Netflix credentials. The games don't have any ads or in-app purchases. The new titles are now live in all three countries, while folks in Spain and Italy have gained access to Stranger Things 1984 and Stranger Things 3.

Netflix has made it clear in recent months that it sees games as a key part of its future. The company said in July it would focus on mobile gaming to start with. Netflix added the Stranger Things games to its app in Poland in August.

IKEA and Sonos will release a new, more customizable version of their Symfonisk speaker lamp on October 12th. The furniture giant will sell the new model's lamp base and shade separately, allowing you to mix and match parts to ensure the final product fits the vibe of your home. You can choose between a black or a white lamp base, which the companies had designed to be slightly smaller than its predecessor. Stjepan Begic, product owner at IKEA of Sweden, said they decided to make make the base smaller after finding out that a lot of people use the Symfonisk lamp on their nightstand. 

You can also choose between two types of shades: textile or glass. Both are available in black and white, as well. In addition, this model supports a wider range of bulbs thanks to its added E26/E27 socket, whereas the previous generation only fits E12 (E14 in the UK) bulbs. When it comes to the speaker itself, Sara Morris, Principal Product Manager at Sonos, said it provides a "wider and more room-filling sound."

The companies launched the first Symfonisk products back in 2019, giving you the chance to purchase Sonos-level quality speakers without the Sonos-level price. These new lamps are priced similarly to the previously generation, which originally sold for $179. The base, which houses the WiFi-connected speaker itself, will set you back $152, confirming previous reports about the then-unannounced product. A textile cover will cost you $24, while a glass one will set you back $35. In all, you'll be paying $169 for a lamp with a textile shade and $179 for one with glass.

The new Symfonisk lamp will be available in IKEA's brick-and-mortar stores and online in the US and select European markets when it launches in October. It will eventually make its way to all of IKEA's markets next year.

Ikea

Nintendo makes good hardware, but I don’t know if I’d ever personally describe any of it as “beautiful.” The GameCube was cute, I loved the clamshell design of the Game Boy Advance SP and I still have fond memories of the SNES’s dogbone controller. But the Switch… I’m just sort of “okay” with it. It’s never been a piece of a hardware that screamed “touch me” until now, with the upcoming OLED model.

Kris Naudus / Engadget

Set to come out October 8th, the big marquee feature of the new Switch is its larger, sharper screen. It’s been bumped up to a 7-inch OLED from the 6.2-inch LCD of the original. I got to spend about an hour and a half with it and, though I couldn’t compare the two systems side-by-side, I certainly noticed the difference when I got home. I fumbled for the brightness settings on my OG Switch only to sadly realize they were at max. The OLED is bright, crisp and gosh darn beautiful. The original Switch display still looks good, but the new screen is genuinely great.

Kris Naudus / Engadget

The game on offer was the upcoming Metroid Dread, which comes out the same day as basically a “launch title” for the refreshed system. It’s a good choice given the dark, sometimes claustrophobic settings of the Metroid series. It’s easy enough to see every passage and to distinguish the impassable bricks from the ones you’re supposed to blow up. The game will still be playable on a regular Switch or Switch Lite, but it feels like the game was meant to be seen on the new hardware.

Kris Naudus / Engadget

And it’s more than just that larger display. It’s still the same basic shape and size but somehow feels more svelte, despite being heavier than the original. The volume and power buttons along the top are narrower, a design choice I’m not crazy about even though I didn’t find them particularly hard to press. (I think I just prefer the feel of a circular button over an oval-shaped one.)

Kris Naudus / Engadget

The new kickstand is pretty great, stretching all the way across the back of the system instead of the original’s flimsy vertical strip that fell off if you looked at it funny. Sure, the new one takes a little more effort to pull it out but it’s worth it for the extra sturdiness and reliability. And be still my heart, it’s actually adjustable, though I didn’t make use of this much since I preferred to play the system in handheld mode. It just felt… good. And the new black and white color scheme looks great in person. I’ve always been a sucker for the panda look, and would have preferred this to the all-gray system I started with back in 2017.

All that said, I didn’t have enough time to test the battery life with the new screen, or see how many games I can cram onto the 64 GB of storage. Until I know how long it’ll last in the wild I’m not sure if this is a must-upgrade, but just looking at a Switch OLED in person, I found it hard to resist.

Beyond Meat brought its plant-based “chicken” tenders to restaurants this summer, and soon you'll be able to enjoy them at home when Beyond starts selling them through retailers. You'll find the $5 tenders at Walmart and other major grocery chains starting in October, though only in select markets. Beyond expects to expand availability later this year.

The company says its tenders have 50 percent less saturated fat than ones made with actual chicken, and have no GMOs, antibiotics, hormones or cholesterol. Beyond uses faba beans rather than a soy-based recipe in its attempt to replicate the taste and texture of a chicken tender. It says you'll be able to heat up the pre-cooked tenders in under 10 minutes.

Along with Walmart, Beyond's tenders will be available at some Jewel-Osco, Safeway NorCal, Harris Teeter, Giant Foods and ShopRite stores at the outset. Meanwhile, Beyond says it's increasing availability of its products at Walmart. It'll bring Breakfast Sausage Patties to more than 1,300 additional stores, while more locations will offer Beyond Meatballs and Beyond Beef Crumbles.

It's been a busy month in the plant-based meat alternative ecosystem. Beyond competitor Impossible started selling its "chicken" nuggets in restaurants a few weeks ago. Impossible also announced that restaurants will offer its version of ground pork in their dishes this fall.

The original Uno Synth was IK Multimedia’s surprise entry into the world of budget-minded hardware instruments. It wasn’t just a surprise that the company, best known for its iPhone-friendly MIDI controllers and plug-ins, decided to make a synthesizer, but that it also went full analog — an area where it didn’t have much pedigree. The results were mixed, but the general consensus was that the Uno’s core sound was impressive. Now IK is trying to move up a weight class with the Uno Synth Pro — a three-voice paraphonic synth with its crosshairs squarely aimed at the likes of the Korg Minilogue.

Of course, as with most musical instruments, there is no apples-to-apples comparison. So whether you’re better off spending your synth dollar on an Uno Pro or on something else will depend on your priorities.

The Uno Synth Pro comes in two different flavors: the standard Pro with a 37-key Fatar keybed and a partially metal chassis; and a smaller Desktop model with a set of touch keys and an all-plastic body. The Pro version costs $650, while the Desktop is just $400. I tested the Desktop model, so I can’t tell you much about the feel of the more expensive one, but if you already own a decent MIDI controller and don’t plan on gigging with the Uno Synth, save yourself the cash; they’re otherwise exactly the same instrument.

Under the hood are three oscillators with continuous wave shaping from triangle to saw to square (with pulse width modulation). There are options for hard sync, ring modulation and FM, plus two envelopes, two LFOs, two filters, analog overdrive and a selection of 12 digital effects. In short, there are plenty of options for sound design, especially when you consider the 16-slot modulation matrix.

Physically, the Uno Synth Pro Desktop is a bit of a mixed bag. The overall construction is plastic, and certainly feels it, but it’s solid enough. The knobs offer a good amount of resistance and the buttons are decent. The same is true of the screen: It’s small but gives you all the info you need. The gray, black and red color scheme can make quickly spotting the controls you’re looking for a bit difficult, especially the secondary and shift functions. (On a dark stage they’d be impossible to find.)

The four knobs at the top are used to change almost all the parameters by navigating a grid beneath it. I’ll admit that the interface isn’t my favorite. But in order to keep costs down while preserving as much flexibility as possible IK Multimedia went with a light-up grid instead of a knob per-function design. It’s a decision I could quibble with, but one that I can accept. Also, it’s worth noting that if you want to get real specific with a parameter it’s better to use the endless encoder to the right of the screen after selecting your target with the four pots to the left.

Terrence O'Brien / Engadget Terrecn

The biggest problem, however, is with the touch keys and strips. Now, to be clear, this criticism does not apply to the full-sized version with a proper keybed, only the desktop model. But, to be blunt: The capacitive keys and touch strips are not good. They can feel unresponsive. Occasionally, the Uno Synth would straight up fail to detect my touches. And putting the synth in three-voice paraphonic mode seemed to make things worse. The same is true of the pitch and mod strips; sometimes they’d fail to register my touch or react slowly to it. The mod strip in particular is easy to trip up if you move your finger too fast and it has a tendency to jump between values rather than smoothly glide between them. If you plan to actually play your Uno Synth Pro (rather than use an external sequencer or controller) I highly recommend you spring for the full-sized version with the keybed and pitch and mod wheels.

The Uno Synth Pro does have a pretty solid arpeggiator and sequencer, though, so there’s a chance you can get by without having to ever touch the “keys” on the desktop version. There is also a scale mode in the settings that disables the black keys and maps the white ones to the scale of your choice. Which, at the very least, makes it less likely that you’ll sound out of key if your finger lands three millimeters to the right of where you intended.

Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

And look, I get that touch keys are hard to do right. They were bad on the original Uno Synth. They’re bad on Modal’s Skulpt and Craft synths. The Volca’s are slightly better, but still quite cramped. Honestly, the only synth I can think of where the touch keys aren’t a liability is the MicroFreak. (And there are probably people who would disagree with me even on that.)

Many of the frustrations I have with the interface and physical controls are immediately forgotten once the Uno Synth Pro starts making noise, though. In short, it sounds glorious. Especially with all three of its oscillators stacked in mono mode. While the Pro is a three-voice paraphonic instrument, I think it’s at its best when treated as an extremely beefy mono synth. The oscillators have a lot of body and grit to them. The triangle is glassy but dusty and the saw wave just plain rips. Add a bit more dirt from the analog drive circuit and you’ve got a truly gnarly sounding machine for leads and basses.

The oscillators can also be hard synced, there’s pulse width modulation (though no dedicated knob for it), ring modulation and FM for more metallic sounds. The FM function, though, is slightly hidden in the menus, which is a shame. It’s a valuable sound design tool that’s just not as accessible as it should be thanks to some questionable interface decisions.

Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

The dual analog filters are also lovely. The multimode two-pole filter from the original Uno Synth is here and it’s just as juicy as ever. It can be a bit aggressive, but that’s part of its charm and it really hits the spot if you’re into acid basslines. Then there’s a switchable SSI-based lowpass filter with two and four-pole modes. It’s a little subtler than the multimode option, but with the resonance cranked it will self-oscillate and scream.

The two filters on their own are solid enough. But special things happen when you combine the two. They really allow you to start pulling out unique timbres. You can run them in series to create effectively notch or bandpass filters, or in parallel using each to pull out slightly different tones and then combining them into something new. There’s even an audio-in jack on the back, so you can route any instrument you want through the Uno Pro’s filters and effects. It’s just a shame that it’s an ⅛-inch jack instead of a ¼-inch.

Speaking of the built-in effects, they’re pretty good. The reverbs are lush, the delays effective (if nothing special) and the modulation effects add some body. Not all of them are a home run and the controls are limited, but they do add a lot to the already impressive sound crafting tools at your disposal. The phaser and flanger are forgettable, but the Chorus is pretty solid, especially on the “string” algorithm. The reverse reverb, when combined with one of the delays, can even make the Uno Synth Pro a viable pad machine. Which is pretty impressive because, in paraphonic mode you only have a single amp envelope and you only get one oscillator per note, which can sound a bit thin.

I will say, though, that putting the synth in paraphonic mode and then dialing in a different sound for each voice is super fun and adds an interesting dimension to pad and key sounds. Because there’s a single amp envelope it’s hard to get anything really jittery and glitchy that way, but it does help beef up pads.

The final ingredient in the sound design here is the modulation matrix. This is where you can use the two envelopes or the two LFOs, or even the tuning of the oscillators to control everything from delay amount, to filter cut off, to wave shape, to the rate of an LFO. There are 16 modulation slots that you can fill to get subtle tone changes to bonkers EDM sound effects, with a total of 30 modulation sources and 35 destinations to mix and match.

Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

The matrix does require some menu diving, but it’s pretty straightforward and incredibly powerful. Without it the Uno Synth Pro is a solid but unexciting instrument. But once you start delving into the modulation matrix it really starts to standout from the crowd.

Again, though, it does require menu diving to make the most of it. And this is really the biggest knock against the Uno Pro. I’m just not that interested in navigating sub-menus on a tiny screen on my hardware instruments. It makes me less likely to experiment and push the limits of a device.

IK Multimedia has apparently heard this complaint loud and clear and has built an editor app for macOS and Windows. This makes managing presets and programming the modulation matrix much easier. It puts all your options front and center and, other than switching tabs from the sound engine, to the matrix to the effects, there’s really not much menu diving to speak of. The app is also supposed to work as a VST plugin with your DAW of choice, but I couldn’t get that to work. It functioned fine in standalone mode, but every time I fired up Ableton and loaded the Uno Synth Pro Editor plugin, it failed to detect the instrument.

Terrence O'Brien / Engadget

Keeping the Uno Synth Pro tethered to a computer over USB isn’t ideal, though. Ground loop hum is a real issue for devices in this price range, and the Uno Synth Pro is no different. I was actually able to hear it quietly recalibrating itself over and over thanks to the interference. The balanced outputs on the instrument can help, but even then it’s still pretty noisy and you need to have the balanced audio cables on hand. Standard “instrument” cables aren’t going to cut it here.

The desktop model even relies on micro-USB for power which is surprising and slightly annoying. The company did that so that you could power it with a battery pack while out and about, but there’s already a micro-USB port for MIDI, so having a second just for power is unnecessary.

The last downside I have to mention is that, just like the Uno Drum, the Uno Synth Pro feels unpolished. It goes beyond the somewhat frustrating interface and the mediocre build quality, though. The firmware is a bit buggy. As I mentioned earlier, the keys and touchstrips are unresponsive and jumpy at times. But I’ve also seen weird behaviors like the screen flickering and the audio getting choppy when I select a new preset. After about 30 second it settles down, but still, it’s worth noting. I also saw a full-on crash and freeze once.

So the question becomes: Does the incredible sound of the Uno Synth Pro make up for its myriad annoyances? I’d say unequivocally yes if you’re looking for a feature-packed monosynth and don’t mind menu diving. There are plenty of other great sounding monophonic instruments out there for about the same price, like the Korg Monologue, but they lack the depth and feature set of the Uno Pro. Then there are high-end monos like the Moog Sub 37 that cost more than twice as much as the Uno Pro at $1,800.

The equation gets more complicated if you’re planning to make use of the Uno Pro in paraphonic mode for pads. I might consider spending your money elsewhere at that point. The original Minilogue still offers an incredible analog bang-for-your-buck and true polyphony. Then there’s the Minilogue XD, which is the same price as the full size Uno Synth Pro ($650), also has excellent effects, a combination of analog and digital oscillators, plus access to sound engines and effects developed by third parties for the ‘logue SDK.

And if you don’t demand analog, there’s the Arturia MicroFreak which offers as much depth on the sound design front as the Uno Pro, but for only $350 and its touch keys don’t make me want to rip my hair out.

My frustrations with the Uno Synth Pro’s interface aside, it’s hard not to be impressed with its wealth of sound design tools. And IK Multimedia didn’t cut any corners when it came to the quality of the oscillators and the filters. I will admit to being skeptical of the Uno Pro, but once I started exploring it I was a convert.

The NFL's long-standing Sunday Ticket partnership with DirecTV is coming to an end, following an eight-year agreement the two reached in 2014. The viewing package is probably on the move and the league has reportedly picked its preferred new home for Sunday Ticket: Apple.

It doesn't seem likely that DirecTV, which has been one of the NFL's main TV partners for nearly three decades, will renew its deal. The NFL is looking for north of $2 billion per year for Sunday Ticket rights, according to The Athletic, which is at least $500 million more than the satellite company is currently paying the league.

DirecTV has long been losing money on the package. It needs 5 million Sunday Ticket subscribers to cover the current fees, though CNBC reported the figure has been closer to 2 million on average. Combined with a sense that the NFL is diluting Sunday Ticket's value by shifting more games to other days, that doesn't exactly make reupping the deal an attractive proposition for DirecTV and parent company AT&T.

As such, potential suitors with deeper pockets appear to be stepping up. Apple, Disney/ESPN and Amazon, which will start streaming Thursday Night Football games on Prime Video next season, are among those who have reportedly shown interest.

It'll likely be several months before the Sunday Ticket bidding process is over, but Apple looks like the frontrunner. The Athletic reports that Apple is considering offering games on a more ad-hoc basis. It could let fans buy their own team's out-of-market games or even shell out for standalone games.

One factor in Amazon's favor is it has more experience than Apple when it comes to live sports. The company has streamed New York Yankees, Seattle Sounders, WNBA and some NFL games, as well as ATP tennis events.

Netflix’s recent foray into video games continues. On Friday, the company announced the existence of Kate: Collateral Damage. Like Eden Unearthed, the VR experience we saw make the media rounds earlier in the week, the new game is a tie-in to a recently released Netflix original. In this case, it’s here to promote the release of action thriller Kate, which stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as a deadly assassin.

Netflix describes Kate: Collateral Damage as an time-attack, action roguelike. If you’ve played games like Hotline Miami and Katana Zero, you have a good idea of the setup. Each enemy in Kate: Collateral Damage only takes a single hit or two to dispatch, but the same is true of your character. 

Much like in the movie, Kate is poisoned by a substance called Polonium 204, leaving her with only 24 hours to live. How that plays out in the game is that the more efficiently you can take out enemies, the more time you’ll have to complete a run. Since most firearms have limited ammo, you’ll also need to get creative and adapt your tactics to the moment.

Kate: Collateral Damage arrives on Steam on October 22nd. You can wishlist the game today.

Disco Elysium finally has a launch date for the Nintendo Switch over a year after its developer ZA/UM confirmed that it's heading to the console. The Final Cut version of the critically acclaimed title will be available from the Nintendo eShop on October 12th, with a physical release to follow next year. ZA/UM says the version heading to Switch isn't a port, but rather a "painstaking reassembly" of the game, with its redesigned user interface and font-scaling options.

The Final Cut version of the the game first became available for PCs, Stadia and PlayStation earlier this year. It doesn't just come with fresh playable content, but also full voice acting for the detective RPG. The hit indie open-world RPG is plot-heavy and features gameplay mechanics that focuses on dialogue and your choices. In the game, you'll take on the role of a detective trying to solve a murder case while suffering from drug and alcohol-induced amnesia. 

Disco Elysium was originally released for Windows in 2019 and has won multiple awards since then. Last year, ZA/UM and production house Dj2 Entertainment revealed that they're working to turn it into a TV series, though those plans will most likely take a while to solidify. For now, you can pre-order a digital copy of the game for Switch for £35 / US$40 / €40. You can also pre-order a physical collector's edition shipping in the second quarter of 2022 for the Switch or the PS5 for $250. The game is also expected to be available on the Xbox in the future, but ZA/UM has yet to announce a release date for platform.