Apple's AirPods Max offer excellent sound, solid active noise cancellation (ANC) and good battery life, but the regular $549 price is a bit hard to swallow. Now, you can pick a pair up at Amazon for just $439, or $110 (20 percent) off. That's close to the lowest price we've seen at Amazon, and you can choose between three colors: Sky Blue, Silver and Pink.
The AirPods Max achieved a solid 84 Engadget review score and made our latest list of favorite headphones, thanks to their high sound quality, effective noise-cancellation and reliable controls. They offer a uniquely Apple-esque design, and despite being slightly heavier than Sony’s WH-1000XM4 cans, are comfortable to wear. Once you get used to it, the rotating crown makes it easy to adjust sound.
Audio quality is more natural than other headphones we've tried with bass that's accurate and not overpowering. Sony's WH-1000XM4 headphones have more effective ANC, but the AirPods Max come close. Meanwhile, the Transparency Mode lets you quickly disable ANC if you need to hear what's going on. The biggest drawback is the lack of lossless audio support, but they work great with Dolby Atmos surround sound on most Apple devices.
The AirPods Max are ideal if you're in the Apple ecosystem, with the H1 chip letting you quickly switch between an iPhone and a Mac, for example. There's no question that they're very expensive at the regular $549 price, so Amazon's latest discount presents a good buying opportunity if you've been eyeing a pair.
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Earlier this week, Club 8-bit, one of Ukraine’s largest privately-owned computer museums, was destroyed during the siege of Mariupol. Kotaku spotted news of the event after its owner, Dmitry Cherepanov, took to Facebook to share the fate of Club 8-bit.
It has been reported that the Mariupol Computer Museum in Ukraine, a privately owned collection of over 500 items of retro computing, consoles and technology from the 1950s to the early 2000s, a collection nearly 20 years in the making, has been destroyed by a bomb. pic.twitter.com/7xKi3yYjth
“That’s it, the Mariupol computer museum is no longer there,” he said on March 21st. “All that is left from the collection that I have been collecting for 15 years are just fragments of memories on the FB page, website and radio station of the museum.”
Club 8-bit’s collection included more than 500 pieces of computer history, with items dating from as far back as the 1950s. Gizmodovisited the museum in 2018, describing it at the time as “one of the largest and coolest collections” of Soviet-era computers to be found anywhere in the world. It took Cherepanov more than a decade to collect and restore many of the PCs on display at Club 8-bit. What makes the museum’s destruction even more poignant is that it documented a shared history between the Ukrainian and Russian people.
Thankfully, Cherepanov is alive, but like many residents of Mariupol, he has lost his home. If you want to support Cherepanov, he has opened a PayPal account accepting donations to help him and other Ukrainians affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Since the start of the war, nearly 10 million people have been displaced by the conflict, making it the fastest-growing refugee crisis since the second world war.
Back in January, the Netherlands ordered Apple to allow locally available dating apps to use third-party systems to collect payments. The company had until January 15th to comply with the ruling or face fines. According to Reuters, the company has yet to adhere to the order in a way that satisfies the country’s Authority for Consumers and Markets regulator.
Last week, Apple reportedly submitted a new proposal that the ACM rejected. No details about the offer, including information on how it differed from the company’s current approach, were shared by Reuters. When Apple announced it would comply with the ACM’s order in January, it said it would take a 27 percent commission from third-party transactions. To date, the regulator has fined Apple to the tune of €45 million (approximately $49 million). According to Reuters, the ACM will fine Apple again next week. At that point, the company could face even higher monetary penalties.
The fines come as Apple and other app store operators face increasing pressure to open their marketplaces to third-party payment systems. Last August, South Korea passed a law requiring all major app stores to offer alternate payment methods. In the last week, that pressure and the increasing likelihood of the US and EU passing similar legislation translated to Google announcing it would work with Spotify to test alternatives to its Play Store billing system. Apple has so far resisted those efforts, arguing they would force new security and privacy risks upon its customers.
Apple’s third-generation AirPods may only be a few months old, but you can purchase them right now for 16 percent off their suggested retail price. Amazon has discounted the company's latest earbuds to $149.98. That’s only $10 more than their all-time low of $140.
While you could buy Apple’s second-generation AirPods for less money, we think the new model is a better purchase for most people. We gave Apple’s latest earbuds a score of 88, noting they were “better in nearly every way” from their predecessor. They feature a new design that we found a lot more comfortable. Sound quality is likewise improved with the third-generation AirPods capable of delivering rich bass. Battery life was another highlight, with the included charging case providing up to 30 hours of listening time. Apple’s H1 chip enables a handful of handy features, including hands-free Siri, support for spatial audio with head tracking and seamless pairing with Apple devices.
Of course, they’re not perfect. Their one-size-fits-all design won’t be for everyone, and they don’t come with active noise cancellation, a feature that would make them ideal for commuting. Still, if you own an iPhone, it’s hard to go wrong with the third-generation AirPods.
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Marco Arment's Overcast has long served as an alternative to Apple Podcasts with features you don't often see elsewhere, but there's little doubt Apple has stepped up its game in recent years — and Arment has redesigned his app to match. The newly released (and still free) Overcast 2022.2 for iOS centers around a major interface rework that better reflects how you listen to podcast episodes. You'll now have quick access to new and recently played podcasts from the home screen, and you can pin must-listen shows. You can also filter your podcast list to look at actively updated shows, all shows or even inactive productions.
The revamp also includes a few much-needed management tools. You can finally mark a podcast as played — yes, Apple and others have provided this for a while. You can also create playlists that only show starred, downloaded and in-progress episodes. If you're fond of personalization, you can customize the look and order of playlists as well as the color of playback controls.
These additions won't necessarily persuade you to ditch Apple Podcasts if you're already heavily invested. Some of them are more catch-up features than unique selling points. However, they might make Overcast more compelling if you're either frustrated with Apple's app or didn't want to give up a few must-have features just to use Overcast-specific perks like voice boosting and dead air reduction.
A slew of gadgets went on sale this week and many remain discounted as we head into the weekend. A number of Apple devices are on sale right now, including the AirPods Pro for $175, the iPad mini for $459 and the new iPad Air with the M1 chipset for $570. Elsewhere, Amazon's Fire HD 8 table is half off, while Sony's excellent WH-1000XM4 headphones remain discounted to $278. Finally, today is Tolkien Reading Day, and both Amazon and Kobo are celebrating by discounting many of Tolkien's works in e-book format, including the entire The Lord of the Rings series. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
AirPods Pro
Billy Steele / Engadget
Apple's AirPods Pro are on sale for $175, which is 30 percent off its usual price. We gave the buds a score of 87 for their solid sound quality, strong ANC and hands-free Siri capabilities.
The latest iPad Air is $29 off right now, bringing the 64GB model down to $570 and the 256GB version down to $720. The new M1-powered iPad earned a score of 90 from us for its super-fast performance, long battery life and improved front camera.
Apple's latest iPad mini is on sale for $459, which is $40 off its normal price. We gave the small tablet a score of 89 for its lovely display, refined design and excellent battery life.
The base 202112.9-inch iPad Pro with 128GB of storage is $150 off right now thanks to an automatically applied coupon. That brings it down to $950, its best price yet, and you can also snag the 512GB model at its lowest price of $1,250, too. We gave the M1-powered iPad Pro a score of 87 for its gorgeous display, Center Stage cameras and powerful performance.
Amazon's Fire HD 8 is half off right now, bringing it down to $45. We gave the cheap tablet a score of 81 for its slimmer design, decent performance, USB-C charging and hands-free Alexa capabilities.
All of Amazon's Fire Kids Pro tablets are down to record low prices. All of these slabs come with a suite of parental controls, a two-year warranty, a protective case and one year of Amazon Kids+. Both the Fire 7 Kids Pro and the Fire HD 8 Kids Pro are half off and down to $50 and $70, respectively, while the Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is 30 percent less than usual and down to $140.
Our current favorite pair of ANC headphones, Sony's WH-1000XM4, are down to $278 right now. That's $72 off their usual price and close to an all-time low. They earned a score of 94 from us for their powerful ANC, immersive sound quality and multi-device connectivity.
The Bose QC45 headphones are on sale for $279, which is their all-time-low price that we saw last Black Friday. We gave the cans a score of 86 for their excellent sound quality, strong ANC and comfortable fit.
A number of Tile trackers are up to 20 percent off at Amazon. You can pick up the 2022 Tile Mate Essentials pack for $68, a two-pack of Tile Stickers for $45 or a single Tile Mate for only $20. These tiny gadgets attach to your belongings so you can keep track of them using Tile's companion mobile app.
A two-pack of the Google Nest WiFi system is on sale for $189 across the web. That's only $10 more than the pack was during the holiday shopping season last year, so this is a solid sale. We gave the mesh WiFi system a score of 84 for its minimalist design, simple installation process and built-in Google Assistant smart speaker.
The T7 Touch portable SSD in 1TB is on sale for $130 right now. This palm-sized drive works with most devices thanks to the duo of cables it comes with, and it supports 1,050 MB/s read speeds, 1,000 MB/s write speeds, AES 256-bit encryption and Dynamic Thermal Guard.
The Fire TV Cube is back down to a record low of $70, or 42 percent off its normal price. We gave it a score of 84 when it came out for its 4K streaming with Dolby Vision and HDR+, speedy performance and hands-free Alexa controls.
March 25th is Tolkein Reading Day, and you can find many of the famed fantasy author's works on sale at Amazon and Kobo. Both retailers have the entire The Lord of the Rings series in e-book format for $3 per title, plus other works including The Silmarillion have also been discounted to $3.
Sony's 55-inch Bravia XR OLED set is $600 off right now, bringing it down to $2,200. In addition to deep blacks and the improved contrast that comes with OLED TVs, this set also supports XR Motion Clarity, HDMI 2.1, Acoustic Surface Audio+ and Alexa voice commands.
A few Eero WiFi bundles are on sale right now, including the Eero Pro three-pack, which is down to $314 for Prime members (or $337 for everyone else). The Eero 6 Pro tri-band system is 20 percent off and down to $479, and you can pick up an Eero beacon for only $79.
ThermoWorks has knocked 30 percent off its blue and yellow ThermoPop instant-read thermometers, bringing them down to $24.50 each, and all proceeds go to Ukraine refugee assistance efforts. Simultaneously, the company's warehouse sale slashes up to 60 percent off a bunch of products, including the classic Thermapen, the Dot thermometer and the Smoke X4 long-range BBQ thermometer.
NordVPN's latest deal knocks 72 percent off a two-year plan, bringing it down to $79, and it includes anti-malware protection, too. In addition to a solid VPN, you'll get the company's Threat Protection feature that works independently from the VPN to block trackers, malware and intrusive ads.
GIF inventor Stephen Wilhite has died from COVID-19 at the age of 74, NPR has reported. He worked at CompuServe when he developed the Graphics Interchange Format, designed to allow photo transfers over slow modem connections, inventing the format in 1987 virtually on his own, according to his spouse.
With limitations like 256 colors per animation, the format could easily have died out long ago. However, it was designed by Wilhite to store multiple frames, making it easy to share animated snippets without the demands of a video format. After AOL purchased CompuServe and let the patent expire, the GIF renaissance began with artists and Tumblr users. And on and on it went.
Oh and it's "JIF" with a soft "G," according to Wilhite, which I consider the final word on the matter.
Bloomberg sources claim Apple is developing a subscription service for the iPhone and other hardware. Akin to the iPhone upgrade program, you'd pay a monthly fee rather than an up-front cost or financed installments. The service may include regular upgrades and launch in either late 2022 or early 2023. Pricing is also unknown. Apple's current upgrade program requires $35 or more per month to get both yearly iPhone upgrades and continuous AppleCare+ coverage. Given that Apple’s top phones now circle above the $1,000 mark, it might make a lot of sense.
OnePlus' latest flagship phone will launch in Europe, North America and India on March 31st. The company promised that the OnePlus Pro 10 would arrive in those markets by the end of March, so that's right on schedule — if calling it a little close. It released the smartphone in China back in January. It’ll back a three-camera array, similar to last year’s OnePlus 9 Pro, and match its predecessor's screen size and resolution. However, there are some screen upgrades in the background and a larger battery on board as well. You’ll be able to pre-order the OnePlus Pro 10 from the OnePlus website and Amazon on March 31st at 10:20 AM ET, though pricing is still TBC. Expect a review from Engadget soon.
That's on top of ongoing sales for the iPad Air and iPad mini.
Amazon is selling the M1-based WiFi model with 128GB of storage for a new all-time low price of $950 after you attach an instant coupon at checkout. That’s $149 less than usual. The 512GB version is back to a best-ever $1,299 price (down from $1,399). It might be worth checking our other picks from Amazon, as there are discounts on other iPad sizes, too.
Following a large-scale virtual health study, Google has submitted Fitbit's passive heart rate monitoring algorithm for review by the US Food and Drug Administration. The study tested how accurately the device could detect atrial fibrillation, or irregular heart rhythms. The system uses photoplethysmography to passively track the blood flow in a user's wrist and determine if there are any concerning irregularities. Google said its algorithm correctly identified undiagnosed AFib 98 percent of the time. Fitbit's Sense Smartwatch was approved by the FDA in 2020 for its ability to assess AFib using built-in electrocardiogram technology. However, that method requires active input from the user.
It apparently targeted US news media, IT, crypto and fintech.
Google's Threat Analysis Group announced on Thursday it had discovered a pair of North Korean hacking groups leveraging a remote code execution exploit in the Chrome web browser. Google found evidence of their attacks going back as far as January 4th, 2022, though the Threat Analysis Group notes organizations outside the US could have been targeted as well.
One group targeted 250 people across 10 companies, making fraudulent job offers from the likes of Disney and Oracle, sent from accounts spoofed to look like they came from Indeed or ZipRecruiter. Clicking on the link would launch a hidden iframe that would trigger the exploit.
Apple's iPhones and other devices have become increasingly expensive, and the company may be using alternative sales models to help soften the blow. Bloombergsources claim Apple is developing a subscription service for the iPhone and other hardware. Akin to the iPhone upgrade program, you'd pay a monthly fee rather than an up-front cost or financed instalments.
Other details weren't available as of this writing, including pricing and availability. However, Apple's upgrade program currently requires $35 or more per month to get both yearly iPhone upgrades and continuous AppleCare+ coverage.
The Mac Studio's storage isn't quite as set in stone as you might think, although you'll want to keep your expectations in check. iFixit has conducted a teardown of Apple's pro desktop that suggests you can replace the SSD module in limited circumstances. The company managed to swap the drive with one of the same capacity (from another Mac Studio) by using Apple's Configurator app to perform a DFU restore.
You can't add a second module in the base model, and it's unclear if higher capacities will work. However, this does suggest you could revive the Mac Studio with a spare module, if Apple ever makes them available through its self-repair program.
It's no surprise you can't replace the RAM, which is built into the M1 Max or Ultra chip. The Mac Studio is easier to access than you might think, though, with Torx screws (albeit a huge number of them) and removable ports. And yes, the cooling system in the Mac Studio is as massive as you'd heard. The fans are larger than on other Macs, iFixit said, and the aluminum heatsink in the base model is six times heavier than the one in the Mac mini.
The teardown led iFixit to give the Mac Studio a 6/10 score for repairability. The non-upgradeable components are the largest concerns, but the repair shop was also concerned about buried fans and the potential for dust build-up. You're probably not buying this system expecting to treat it like a Mac Pro or many PC towers, but those limitations are worth noting if you intend to maintain the Studio yourself.
Activision has been served another lawsuit over harassment at the company. As Bloomberg Law and Game Developer report, an anonymous woman still working at Activision Blizzard has sued the game developer in a Los Angeles court for allegedly enabling sexual harassment and discrimination. The company also retaliated against her when she shared her experiences at a December 2021 press conference, according to the complaint.
As with past suits, the woman accused Activision Blizzard of routinely allowing misconduct. The senior administrative assistant in IT was reportedly pressured to join in "cube crawls" where women were harassed and groped, and was told to tolerate unwanted sexual advances and excessive drinking. She was also asked to keep her complaints private, according to the suit, and supposedly faced an increasingly hostile workplace the more she spoke out.
The plaintiff said she applied for positions elsewhere in the company to avoid sexism in IT, and wrote to president Allen Brack (who stepped down in August 2021 as the scandal grew) about the problems. She was offered and took a lower-paying role elsewhere in the company, but noted that her application for an executive assistant job was rejected in December that year, shortly after she'd applied in November.
In the lawsuit, the woman demands damages that include lost earnings and medical expenses. She also asks for functional reforms, including the ouster of CEO Bobby Kotick, a rotating human resources team (to prevent conflicts of interest) and the use of a neutral firm to investigate incidents.
We've asked Activision Blizzard for comment. The company has used some measures to address harassment and discrimination complaints, including removing employees, taking disciplinary actions and forming a committee to implement anti-harassment initiatives. It also settled an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit and has been more cooperative with investigations. However, it's still facing a mounting number of legal challenges that include both more lawsuits and an SEC investigation — the debacle is far from over.
