The original AirPods Pro and AirPods Pro 2 are popular among iPhone users for their convenience and compelling mix of features. However, your options are limited if something happens to the charging case, and your earbuds aren’t under warranty. Apple will replace the case for a fee. If you own a first-generation pair of AirPods Pro, you’re probably better off buying the new model to get a fresh set of batteries. In any event, there’s no easy way to repair a set of AirPods Pro and limit your electronic waste. Replacement parts are either hard to find, expensive or non-existent, and Apple didn’t design any of its earbuds with repairability in mind.

Robotics engineer Ken Pillonel, who became internet famous in 2021 for creating a working USB-C iPhone, is trying to fix that. With his latest DIY project, Pillonel has effectively created an end-to-end solution for those who want to swap the battery in their AirPods Pro case rather than replace it altogether.

Pillonel designed a replacement USB-C PCB he says is possible to install in an undamaged case without milling. If you’ve been following Pillonel for a while, you likely know that he also designed a USB-C PCB for the first- and second-generation AirPods and uploaded the design to GitHub. This time, he’s selling the AirPods Pro part to make the repair as easy as possible for anyone who wants to attempt it. You can get a single PCB from his online store for about $38.

If you damage your AirPods Pro case trying to access the internal battery, Pillonel has thought of that too. He’s uploaded a schematic to GitHub that you can use to 3D print a replacement. The USB-C PCB and case are fully compatible with one another. The only part you need to source independently is a replacement battery. You can find those online for about $20. “The goal of this project is to maximize the number of successful repairs to minimize the quantity of electronic waste,” Pillonel said in a statement. Obviously, most people won’t have the patience or confidence to service their AirPods Pro charging case, but a project like this is invaluable for those who do.

It wouldn't be February without a peek at Google's next mobile OS. Sure enough, the company has released the first Android 14 developer preview (DP1) to help app creators target the new platform. This time around, the initial priorities are accessibility, battery life and security. You can scale fonts to a much larger size (200 percent versus the earlier 130 percent), and smarter scaling makes text more readable. It's easier to set preferred languages for apps, and developers can be more accommodating to people who speak gendered languages like French.

Android 14 DP1 also includes some under-the-hood improvements that can make the most of your battery and screen. There are tighter controls on alarms, foreground tasks and internal broadcasts, all of which can reduce power consumption. It should also be easier to build apps for foldable phones and tablets, so you may see software that makes better use of your hardware's visual real estate.

And yes, Android 14 can block users from sideloading very old apps. Google will require that apps target at least Android 6.0 (Marshmallow), as some malware is written for older versions to avoid a permissions system introduced in 2015. This won't prevent you from running apps that are already installed when you upgrade the OS, and you can use command line instructions to force installations. However, you may have to look for alternatives if there's an ancient app you'd hate to give up.

This first preview is available through the desktop Android emulator as well as the Pixel 4a, Pixel 5 and newer Google phones. The first Android 14 beta should arrive in April, and Google expects "platform stability" (read: release candidates) in June. As always, the developer previews don't represent the sum total of what the new platform will bring. We'd expect Google to reveal more conspicuous changes at its I/O conference in the spring.

Bing may be back. Microsoft announced yesterday it’s partnering with OpenAI to enhance Bing with its AI technology. However, Microsoft also had a surprise up its sleeve: The next release of Bing will tap into a new next-generation language model the company claims is "much more powerful" than ChatGPT and designed specifically to excel at search.

During its event, Yusuf Mehdi, the company's consumer chief marketing officer, demoed the new Bing, asking it to compare the most influential Mexican artists and their best-known paintings. Bing displayed its response in a new side panel with annotations and weblinks. Later, Mehdi asked the search engine to compare three pet vacuums while listing the pros and cons of each model.

With the chat feature, you can ask Bing to create a five-day travel itinerary for you, including links to accommodation, flights and things to do. The new Bing is already available to preview. You can visit Bing.com – which I haven’t done since 2009 – to try a few sample queries and sign up for the waitlist for when it launches in earnest.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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The Nintendo Switch has now outsold the PS4

It’s the third best-selling console ever.

The Switch just leaped over both the Game Boy and PlayStation 4 to become the third bestselling console of all time. The console had sold 122.55 million units by the end of 2022, Nintendo announced in its earnings report, so it’s now only behind the DS and PlayStation 2 in lifetime sales. Nintendo said last year the transition to its next console was "a major focus." It could start becoming a more urgent one soon.

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Microsoft's new Bing and Edge hands-on

It's like ChatGPT built right into your browser.

Through a partnership with ChatGPT -maker OpenAI, Microsoft is adding more advanced AI conversation models to power updates to both Bing and its Edge web browser. The company's keynote happened at a breakneck pace, but fortunately, Engadget’s Cherlynn Low got to test things out right after.

With the new Edge, a button on the top right gives you access to the new Bing's chat feature in your browser. But it goes beyond just answering your questions without having to leave the pages you're browsing. Edge can help make sense of the sites you're looking at and make research or multitasking much easier. You can use a new Compose function to create posts, emails and, apparently, even essays, and while the results are pretty similar to ChatGPT’s, they could be incredibly convenient.

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OnePlus 11 review

A back-to-basics flagship phone.

Engadget

The OnePlus 11 has everything we loved about OnePlus in the past: a powerful processor, a vivid screen and the return to a competitive price tag. The headline feature remains the fast-charging technology, cranked up to 100 watts. The cameras are improved, if not quite among the best smartphone shooters. But at this price ($699), it’s difficult to complain.

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Google will blur explicit images in search by default

It's one of several upcoming features the company announced on Safer Internet Day.

Yesterday was Safer Internet Day, and Google says it's working to blur explicit images in search results for all users as the default setting, even if they don't have SafeSearch switched on. SafeSearch filtering is already the default for signed-in users under 18. It’ll encompass nudity as well as violent content.

Elsewhere, Google is adding another layer of protection to the built-in password manager on Chrome and Android. The company says if you have a supported computer, you’ll have the option to require biometric authentication before filling a saved password into a form. The same feature will also let you "securely reveal, copy or edit passwords" you’ve saved in the password manager without having to punch in your main password first.

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Microsoft's oft-forgotten search engine is about to get a new lease on life. As expected, the tech giant announced on Tuesday that it is partnering with OpenAI to enhance Bing with the company's AI technology. However, Microsoft also had a surprise up its sleeve: the next release of Bing will feature a new next-generation large language model the company claims is "much more powerful" than ChatGPT and designed specifically to excel at search. The new Bing offers a chat function and an expanded search bar that allows you to input up to a thousand characters. 

Underpinning the search engine is a new proprietary technology Microsoft is calling the Prometheus Model. Among the benefits of Prometheus are more relevant search results, according to the company. Microsoft claims the model will also make using Bing safer and allow the company to update search results more quickly.    

Developing...

Today is Safer Internet Day and Google is marking the occasion by revealing features designed to, well, make it safer to do things on the internet. The company says that, in the coming months, it will blur explicit images in search results for all users as a default setting, even if they don't have SafeSearch switched on. SafeSearch filtering is already the default for signed-in users under the age of 18.

However, you'll be able to adjust the settings if you're signed in, aged 18 or over and you'd prefer to see butts and stuff in search results (the filter is designed to blur violent images as well). According to screenshots that Google shared, the blur setting will mask explicit images, but not text or links. The filter setting covers up all three.

Google

Meanwhile, Google is adding another layer of protection to the built-in password manager on Chrome and Android. The company says that if a user has a supported computer, they'll have the option to require biometric authentication before filling a saved password into a form. Google noted that folks can also use the feature to "securely reveal, copy or edit passwords" they have saved in the password manager without having to punch in their main password first.

The company says it's bolstering privacy protections in the Google app for iOS too. Soon, you'll be able to secure the app using Face ID to keep prying eyes away from your data.

Apple's App Store policies require that the Chrome browser on iOS uses the WebKit engine rather than the usual Blink, but that isn't stopping Google from indulging in a "what if" scenario. The Register has noticed that Google recently started work on an experiment that would port Blink to iOS. The project is limited to the stripped-down "content_shell" app rather than Chrome, and the Chromium team working on the effort stresses that it's not a "shippable product." It's only meant to test graphics and input performance, the company says.

In a statement, a Google spokesperson told Engadget the Blink port is only a "prototype" that's part of a larger open source initiative. It won't be available to the public, and the company will "continue to abide" by Apple's rules.

It's not clear why Google wants to test Blink on iOS in the first place, though. If Apple's policies stay firm, Google won't be allowed to release any Blink-based software. Only those experienced enough to compile and run content_shell may get a taste of the experience.

The timing may not be coincidental, though. The US government wants Apple and Google to open up their platforms, giving users ways to install apps that aren't governed by first-party store policies. Rumors have also swirled that Apple may allow third-party app stores on iOS to please European regulators. If Apple ever loosens its approach, Google's head start on porting Blink could help it switch Chrome's web engine relatively quickly.

A change like that could shake up browser competition on iOS. Apple's WebKit requirement theoretically aids security by limiting the avenues for web exploits, but it also gives third-party browsers fewer ways to stand out — they can't use custom engines that might be faster or more feature-laden than Apple's Safari. As on Android or the desktop, an alternative browser would offer more than just a different interface.

You might not have to wait long to see how Microsoft and OpenAI deepen their relationship. Microsoft has confirmed plans for an event tomorrow (invitations were sent out last week) at its Redmond headquarters at 1PM Eastern. The company will only say that chief Satya Nadella will share details on some "exciting projects," but it's expected to show its integration of ChatGPT into Bing and other uses of the conversational AI technology.

The news comes shortly after Google offered a first look at Bard, its take on a ChatGPT-style service.

Developing...

ChatGPT, the automated text generation system from Open, has taken the world by storm in the two months since its public beta release but that time alone in the spotlight is quickly coming to an end. Google announced on Monday that its long-rumored chatbot AI project is real and on the way. It's called Bard.  

Bard will serve as an "experimental conversational AI service," per a blog post by Google CEO Sundar Pichai Monday. It's built atop Google's existing Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA) platform, which the company has been developing for the past two years. 

"Bard seeks to combine the breadth of the world’s knowledge with the power, intelligence and creativity of our large language models," Pichai declared. "It draws on information from the web to provide fresh, high-quality responses." Whether that reliance on the internet results in bigoted or racist behavior, as seemingly every chatbot before it has exhibited, remain to be seen.

The program will not simply be opened to the internet as ChatGPT was. Google is starting with the release of a lightweight version of LaMDA, which requires far lower system requirements than its full-specced brethren, for a select group of trusted users before scaling up from there. "We’ll combine external feedback with our own internal testing to make sure Bard’s responses meet a high bar for quality, safety and groundedness in real-world information," Pichai said. "We’re excited for this phase of testing to help us continue to learn and improve Bard’s quality and speed." 

Chatting with internet users is only the next step in Google's larger AI mechanizations. Pichai notes that as user search requests become more complex and nuanced, "you’ll see AI-powered features in Search that distill complex information and multiple perspectives into easy-to-digest formats, so you can quickly understand the big picture and learn more from the web," Pichai said. He added that such features would be rolling out to users "soon." The commercial API running atop LaMDA, dubbed Generative Language API, will begin inviting select developers to explore the system starting next month.

It's a good time to buy a smartwatch if you're committed to improving your fitness this year. Amazon is selling the 41mm GPS Apple Watch Series 8 with a Product Red case and matching Sport Band for $329, or a steep $70 off. That's the best price we've seen for Apple's latest wearable to date, and could make it an easy choice if you're an iPhone user. The latest 40mm GPS Apple Watch SE in Starlight is also discounted to just $219 (normally $249) if you're happy with the essentials.

The Apple Watch Series 8 is a modest update compared to its predecessor, but that still makes it one of the best smartwatches on the market. It's fast with a beautiful display, a wide range of apps and tight integration with the Apple ecosystem. Crash detection can help notify first responders in an emergency, while a temperature sensor can help users tracking their ovulation cycles. This is the smartwatch you want if you're an iPhone owner and value all-round performance.

It's not for everyone. Android users can't even consider it, of course, but you may want a dedicated fitness watch if detailed exercise tracking is vital. You may also want to look at alternatives (including the Apple Watch Ultra) if you want more than a day of battery life with full functionality. For that matter, there's a chance the Apple Watch Series 8 is overkill. If you don't care for an always-on display or advanced health sensors, the second-gen SE offers many of the 8's core features at a considerably lower price.

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For digital artists or those who just prefer the feel of writing out notes with their hand, we think the second-generation Apple Pencil is, unsurprisingly, the best iPad stylus you can buy. Its chief issue is that it's usually expensive, but if you've been thinking of grabbing one, a new discount has brought the device back down to $90 at Amazon and Target. Though we've seen this deal a few times in the past, it still comes within a dollar of the lowest price we've tracked and $39 below Apple's MSRP.

For the unfamiliar, both the first- and second-gen Apple Pencils are specifically designed to work with iPads (and only iPads). Neither device forces you to deal with Bluetooth, and both offer system-wide pressure sensitivity across iPadOS, so the harder you press down, the heavier your lines get. 

This latest Pencil released back in 2018, but it remains a substantial upgrade over the original. While both versions perform reliably, the second-gen model can magnetically attach and charge against the edge of a compatible iPad, instead of forcing you to connect over a Lightning port or dongle. Its flatter sides make it less prone to rolling away, and there's a handy double-tap feature that lets you quickly swap between drawing tools and an eraser in certain apps. With the latest iPad Pros, you can also interact with UI elements just by hovering the Pencil over the tablet's display. 

Besides its price, the Pencil's chief hang-up is compatibility. The second-gen model works with the fourth-gen iPad Air and up, any 11-inch iPad Pro, the third-gen 12.9-inch iPad Pro and up and the sixth-gen iPad mini. Any older models aren't supported, nor are the 9th- or 10th-gen iPads Apple sells today. Still, if you own a compatible model and plan on using your stylus often, the second-gen Pencil is still your best bet, and this discount makes it a little more accessible. If you only want a pen for casual doodling and note-taking, meanwhile, we still like the Logitech Crayon as a cheaper alternative.

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