Tesla may have investigated CEO Elon Musk over possible improprieties. The Wall Street Journal's sources claim the EV maker's board launched an investigation over concerns Musk might be using company funds to build a house near the Austin-area Gigafactory. Nicknamed "Project 42," the initiative is believed to involve a purchase of millions of dollars in special glass — large enough that it drew attention from employees last year. Limited liability firms linked to Musk and executives are also known to have bought large volumes of land in the area.

Concepts for the house included either a "twisted hexagon" or a glass cube reminiscent of Apple's 5th Avenue store. This appeared to be personal space as it included bedrooms, bathrooms and a kitchen, the tipsters said.

The status and results of the investigation aren't known. Tesla disbanded its PR department years ago, and Musk hasn't commented on the report as of this writing. However, the board reportedly wanted to learn if Musk was involved and whether worker time had been devoted to the house. Bloomberglearned of the glass order last year, but didn't know about the board or the nature of Project 42.

Executives sometimes receive perks like jets. The policies for these rewards vary, however, and Tesla's approach is relatively strict. The automaker requires a board committee audit for any expense above $120,000 where a related person, like the CEO, has a material interest.

This isn't the first time a high-profile tech executive has faced scrutiny over spending. Meta investigated departing COO Sheryl Sandberg over allegations she used company resources to further personal goals, such as wedding planning or attempts to quash a news story critical of her ex-partner Bobby Kotick. Musk's profile as a major CEO makes this case stand out, however.

The leader is no stranger to legal entanglements. He's still embroiled in a fight with the Securities and Exchange Commission over tweeting financial data, and survived a defamation lawsuit from British cave explorer Vernon Unsworth over unsubstantiated "pedo guy" accusations.

It’s an open secret that not many people actually like video calling, unless you’re meeting a baby for the first time or something. Who wants to comb their hair just to answer the phone? Meta has answered our prayers and delivered a toolset that brings cartoon avatars to the world of video conferencing.

The company frames this as a “third option” that rests between an audio-only call and a full video call. You can participate in video conversations, but it’ll be your avatar that the other participants see, leaving you free to wear a luxuriating face mask or to lay in the squalor of an unkempt apartment. The feature’s available now for Messenger and Instagram users.

Meta’s been steadily placing the focus on its avatar-creation system, recently announcing that users have made over a billion of the lil cartoon scamps. The avatar creator allows for a near-perfect digital simulacrum of your actual face and body. The system was originally created for use in VR applications but has since moved to smartphones and the like.

It’s worth noting that the avatar creator lets you attach some legs to your digital self, but these legs won’t show up when making video calls (sorry, digital foot fetishists.) Meta says it’s constantly working to improve the avatar creation system, with more realistic and textured animations coming in the future. Also, there’s no rule that says your digital avatar has to look like you, so feel free to video call your friends as a talking llama.

Amazon Prime Day includes a sale on Switch games from some of Nintendo’s biggest franchises. Whether you want them for yourself or to keep kids entertained during summer break, you can snag half-off titles like Super Mario Odyssey or Super Mario Bros U Deluxe, and you can shave $18 off one of this year’s most beloved games, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Usually $60, Amazon offers Super Mario Odyssey for $30 as part of its Prime Day deals. One of the Switch’s tentpole titles, it has you saving Princess Peach (surprise!) with the help of Cappy, a sentient hat that you can fling like a boomerang and throw onto some enemies to possess them. This ability lets Mario become Goombas, Chain Chomps and even an imposing T-Rex. In classic Nintendo style, it adds a new gameplay wrinkle for a fresh perspective on classic Mario gameplay. The developer also tightened up controls and responsiveness compared to its previous 3D Mario games, making for one of the most delightful all-around adventures available on Nintendo’s six-year-old console.

If 2D side-scrolling Mario is more your thing, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is also half-off: You can pick it up for $30 compared to its suggested $60. A remake of an under-appreciated Wii U title, it takes the classic gameplay from old-school (NES and SNES) Mario classics and adds new power-ups like the Flying Squirrel suit.

Other half-off Switch games include Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mario Golf: Super Rush. In addition, Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe, the globular pink hero’s latest 2D adventure, is 25 percent off (down to $45 from its usual $60). And the “familiar but fresh” The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is nearly $20 off — for $52 compared to its $70 sticker price.

Although Switch games are the highlight of this sale, you can also take $10 off an Xbox digital gift card ($90 for a $100 card). The PS5 version of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which only launched in April, is down to $44 (with a clipped coupon) from its usual $70. Finally, you can get Elden Ring for PS4 for $40 (typically $60).

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for the best Amazon Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In the Know. Hear from Autoblog’s car experts on must-shop auto-related Prime Day deals and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

All Netflix users can transfer a profile to an existing account starting today. That should make things a bit easier for users who are moving in with roommates or a partner and want to hang onto all their settings and recommendations while splitting the cost. The company told Engadget that this was a much-requested feature.

Since October, users have been able to set up a new account with their existing profile. That way, they're able to retain their viewing history, saved titles in My List, game save data and other settings when they move out of their parents' place or break up with an ex. But if you didn't have an existing account to move your profile to, you'd have to set up a new one.

Netflix initially offered the feature before it expanded its crackdown on password sharing. In February, the company began charging users in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain extra to let friends and family who don't live with them to keep using their account. The company expanded the account sharing charges to the US in May.

A third-party analysis suggested that account sign-ups spiked in the US shortly after Netflix started enforcing the policy in the country. We'll soon have a clearer sense of just how well the strategy is working for the company when it posts its quarterly earnings results next week.

The August premiere date of the highly-anticipated Disney+ Star Wars: Ahsoka series is rapidly approaching and there’s an action-packed new trailer that’s sure to delight fans of the animated Star Wars: Rebels series. It’s filled to the brim with live-action appearances from beloved Rebels characters like Hera Syndula, Sabine Wren, Chopper, Ezra Bridger and even series antagonist Grand Admiral Thrawn.

The show takes place in the same timeline of The Mandalorian, but stars Ahsoka Tano, former apprentice of sand-hating Anakin Skywalker. Tano (Rosario Dawson) never appeared in the prequel films but was a mainstay in the Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon before moving onto Star Wars: Rebels and, finally, season two of The Mandalorian.

Fans have long-surmised that Ahsoka would follow-up the cliffhanger ending (no spoilers) from Rebels, and they're definitely getting their wish. The trailer's packed with call-backs to the cartoon, even lingering on an animated still that appeared in the series finale back in 2018. For long-time franchise fans, the trailer boasts the very first live action appearance of Grand Admiral Thrawn, played by Lars Mikkelsen.

Thrawn was the primary villain in Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire book trilogy that followed the adventures of Luke Skywalker and the gang after the events of Return of the Jedi. Those books aren’t canon, because Luke went on to become a blue milk-loving hermit or whatever, but Ahsoka looks to be incorporating certain elements from the novels, as have recent seasons of The Mandalorian. Many fans speculate that the juiciest parts of Zahn’s books will make up the basic plot of the forthcoming ‘Filoni-verse’ movie, a crossover event featuring all of the newer TV characters.

Ahsoka premieres on August 23rd, with two episodes dropping at the same time before heading to weekly installments. In addition to Dawson and Mikkelsen, the series stars Natasha Liu Borzizzo, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Eman Esfandi and recently-deceased character actor Ray Stevenson.

On the same day a US federal judge denied the Federal Trade Commission's request for a preliminary injunction to prevent Microsoft from buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, the tech giant and the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said they have agreed to take a break from their legal battle to negotiate a compromise that could allow the deal to move forward. 

"After today’s court decision in the US, our focus now turns back to the UK. While we ultimately disagree with the CMA’s concerns, we are considering how the transaction might be modified in order to address those concerns in a way that is acceptable to the CMA,” Microsoft President Brad Smith posted to Twitter. "In order to prioritize work on these proposals, Microsoft and Activision have agreed with the CMA that a stay of the litigation in the UK would be in the public interest and the parties have made a joint submission to the Competition Appeal Tribunal to this effect."

The CMA said it would block Microsoft's bid to buy Activision Blizzard at the end of April. At the time, the regulator argued the deal would harm the nascent cloud-gaming market by creating a monopoly player in Microsoft. It added, if the acquisition were to move forward as planned, Microsoft would have an "incentive to withhold [Activision Blizzard] games from competitors and substantially weaken competition in this important growing market." Microsoft had planned to challenge the decision, with a preliminary hearing before the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), the body that hears appeals on CMA decisions, set for July 28th. In a statement the regulator shared with The Verge, it said it was "ready to consider any proposals from Microsoft to restructure the transaction in a way that would address the concerns set out in our Final Report.” The CAT still needs to allow the two sides to negotiate, but the tribunal is more than likely to rubber stamp the request.

For any number of reasons, some people might not want to shop at Amazon, regardless of how low Prime Day discounts go. So it’s good news that the sale prompts other retailers, including Walmart, Target and B&H Photo to also offering some pretty strong deals of their own — some of which match or beat those at Amazon. We’re also seeing sales on devices the super e-retailer doesn’t typically carry, like the Google Nest Hub and the Apple HomePod. Here are the best anti-Prime Day sales from outlets that aren’t Amazon.

Sony WH-1000XM5

Our current favorite wireless headphones are Sony's WH-1000XM5 and Amazon has them for $328, which is an all-time low and a $70 discount. B&H Photo has matched that price. These cans are the total package, combining excellent audio quality with good ANC and a comfortable fit, even if you wear them all day — which you can thanks to their 30-hour battery life.

Apple AirPods Pro

Apple's second-generation AirPods Pro are going for $199 during Amazon’s sale, but both Walmart and Verizon have matched that price. This generation is a big improvement over the previous buds, with better sound quality, improved active noise cancellation and the best transparency mode of the buds we’ve tried. Engadget named them the best earbuds for iPhone users because they have a good battery life, a case with wireless charging and solid integration with Siri.

Google Nest Hub (2nd gen)

As Amazon tends to favor its Echo smart displays on its site, you typically can’t get Google’s Nest Hub on the site. It’s the top pick in Engadget’s guide to smart displays and right now you can get it from Walmart for $55. It’s also on sale for the same price at Target and directly from Google. It has a seven-inch screen housed within an unobtrusive exterior that will fit in with most people’s home decor. It provides all the smart display perks like watching YouTube, accessing the Google Assistant and controlling your smart home devices. It works particularly well as a monitor for your smart cams and doorbells too. Keep in mind that it lacks a camera, which is good for privacy, but makes video calls impossible.

MacBook Air (M2, 13-inch)

B&H Photo has the base model of Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Air on sale for $949 which is a $150 discount and cheaper than we've ever seen it on Amazon. That applies to all four colorways with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. We gave the ultraportable an impressive 96 in our review, calling it a “near-perfect Mac.” It has a Liquid Retina display, a quad speaker array and a battery that lasted over 16 hours in our video rundown tests.

iRobot Roomba 694

Walmart is selling the iRobot Roomba 694 for $199, which is the same as Amazon’s price. You can also get the robovac directly from iRobot for $200. Of all the models we’ve tried, this is our favorite budget option because it combines strong suction with an easy-to-understand companion app. We also like its minimalist yet attractive design which is nice for something that will be roaming around your home regularly.

Apple Watch Series 8

The 41mm, GPS model of the Apple Watch Series 8 usually sells for $399 and Amazon is selling it for $280 for Prime Members right now. Walmart brought the price down to $329, which isn't as good of a discount, but you don't need to be a member of anything to get it. This smartwatch is our overall top pick in our guide because it combines health and fitness tracking with excellent iPhone integration. This latest generation packs a slew of new sensors that can detect your temperature, give ECG and blood oxygen readings and give improved sleep metrics. The upcoming WatchOS 10 will take advantage of many of those sensors to give you even more insight into your everyday health.

Apple 10.2-inch iPad

Apple's 9th-generation iPad is down to $250 at Amazon which is a record low. Walmart is selling it for $279. This is the previous generation of the standard iPad and the budget pick in our guide to the best iPads. It’s a great couch companion for casual browsing, binge streaming and light gaming. 

The latest (10th) generation iPad in the 64GB size is down to $380 at Amazon for Prime Members only, but Best Buy is offering it for $399. This latest generation slate has a slightly larger screen and a newer chip (though not Apple’s own M-series silicon). It also does away with the home button but, unfortunately, Apple also decided to remove the headphone jack.

Apple HomePod

You can’t usually buy Apple’s HomePod smart speakers on Amazon, so they’re not part of Prime Day discounts. However, you can get the new HomePod from B&H Photo right now for $289. We reviewed the new generation of the speaker upon its debut early this year and liked the design, good sound quality and quick Siri responses. It’s also adept at integrating compatible smart home controls. They also have the smaller HomePod mini for $95.

Bose QuietComfort 45

The Bose QuietComfort 45 headphones have dropped to a new low of $199 for Prime Members during Amazon’s sale. If you don't feel like joining Amazon's club, you can get them for $229 from Walmart or directly from Bose. That's still a decent $100 off their usual price. These cans earned a spot in our best wireless headphone guide thanks to their comfortable, if a little dated, design, excellent ANC and balanced audio.

Google Pixel 7a

The Google Pixel 7a is on sale for $449 for Amazon’s sale. That’s $50 off its usual rate and an all-time low. If you’d rather get it directly from Google, it’s going for the same price at their store. This is the best midrange phone you can get right now thanks to its speedy Tensor G2 chip, smooth 90Hz display and support for wireless charging. The 7a also has solid cameras and an IP67 water-resistant design.

Google Nest Hub Max

The Google Nest Hub Max is going for $190 at Walmart instead of the usual $229. The smart display is the runner up pick in our guide to those devices. It’s got a larger screen than the standard Nest Hub, adds a camera for video calls and offers a nifty gestures function that lets you control media with hand movements.

Samsung Pro Plus microSD

The top pick in our best microSD cards guide is Samsung's Pro Plus 256GB, which is on sale for $20 at Amazon, and B&H Photo is selling it for the exact same price. It had some of the best sequential write speeds of any of the microSD cards we tested, and the best random read/write speeds. It’s rated U3, V30 and A2, aka, the faster ratings most people are looking for, and will work great to add space to your tablet, Nintendo Switch or a smartphone. It even comes with an adapter to fit SD slots.

Samsung T7 Shield

The 1TB version of Samsung’s T7 Shield SSD is down to $75 for Prime Day and Samsung has matched that price on its own storefront. You can snag the same deal from B&H Photo as well. The T7 series is among our favorite SSDs and the Shield model wraps the drive in a tough casing with an IP65 rating for water and dust resistance and the ability to withstand drops from up to 10 feet high. The 1,050/1,000 MB/s read/write speeds should be enough for most of your external storage needs.

Crucial MX500

The Crucial MX500 internal SSD in the 500GB size is down to $35 at Amazon, but the same price can be had from B&H Photo, or directly from Crucial. Other capacity models are on sale too. The sequential read speeds hit 560MB/s and the standard 2.5-inch design should make it easy to add in to your desktop or laptop's slot.

Instant Vortex Plus

The Instant Vortex Plus is the top pick in our air fryer guide and you can get it for $100 right now at Walmart and directly from Instant Brands, which matches Amazon's price. It's great for crisping up a lot of different foods and the "ClearCook" window lets you see your food while it's cooking. The OdorEase technology does a decent job keeping food smells from getting overpowering and reduces overall smokiness.

Google Chromecast 4K

The Google Chromecast 4K dongle is the runner up in our Engadget guide to streaming devices and earned an 86 in our review, in which we praised the Google Assistant integration and the excellent remote. It’s on sale for $40 at Target, Walmart and directly from Google, which is $10 off.

Roku Streaming Stick 4K

Amazon is selling Roku's Streaming Stick 4K for $35 this Prime Day but you can get the same discount directly from Roku. Or you can save a dollar extra at Walmart, which has it for $34. We named it our favorite streaming device in our streamers guide because it can stream in 4K, supports HDR content with Dolby Vision along with AirPlay 2 and Roku makes one of the easiest smart TV interfaces.

Corsair MP600 Pro LPX

Corsair MP600 Pro LPX drive is the top pick in our guide to the best PS5 SSDs. Amazon is selling the 1TB model for $68 and Walmart has matched that price. Or you can get it directly from Corsair. We think it’s a good drive for your console because it has fast read speeds of up to 7,100MB/s, it comes with a pre-installed heatsink and it's protected by a five-year warranty. Plus, it's typically affordable, especially when it’s down to this price.

Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II

We think the QuietComfort Earbuds II offer the best active noise cancellation of the buds we tested for our guide. Amazon is selling them for $249 — but only for Prime members. You can grab them from Walmart or directly from Bose for the same price, no membership required. If you want to fully block out the world as you listen to music or podcasts, these buds with their comfortable fit and good sound quality are the way to go.

Google Pixel 7 Pro

We named the Google Pixel 7 Pro the smartphone with the best camera on the market in our guide. Prime Day has it for $649 for Prime members, which is a massive $250 discount. Unlocked 128GB models from Target or from Google’s store are just $100 off, down to $799. Still a decent savings if you don't want to shop from Amazon. In our review, we also praised the bright screen that pumps out deep blacks and lively colors, and the software that makes phone calls less of a hassle.

Google Nest WiFi Pro 6E

In Engadget’s recent review of Google’s Nest WiFi Pro 6E, we called the mesh WiFi system more approachable than its competitors because it’s easy to use, simple to set up using your phone, and doesn’t cost as much as other systems. Prime Day dropped it to $300 for a three-pack which is $100 off the list price but you can get it from the Google Store for the same price.

TP-Link Deco XE75 WiFi 6E mesh system

A two-pack of TP-Link's XE75 WiFi 6E mesh router system is on sale for $210 for Prime Day instead of $300 or you can snag it for the same price from Tp-Link. It's our current favorite mesh WiFi setup because it's a reliable system that balances power with user-friendliness.

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for the best Amazon Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In the Know. Hear from Autoblog’s car experts on must-shop auto-related Prime Day deals and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

Just five months after Anthropic debuted its open-source ChatGPT rival, Claude, the company is back with an updated version that promises longer answers, more detailed reasonings, fewer hallucinations and generally better performance. It also now scores in the 90th percentile of graduate school applicants on the GRE reading and writing exams.

The updated version, Claude 2, is available today for users in the US and the UK. It can now handle as many as 100,000 tokens — that's around 75,000 words, or a few hundred pages of documents users can have Claude digest and analyze — up significantly from the previous version’s 9,000 token limit. In AI, tokens are the bits and pieces that your input prompt gets broken down into so that the model can more readily process them — hence Claude's ability to "digest" user data.

This increased capacity will also translate into longer, more nuanced responses. Claude 2 will even be able to generate short stories “up to a few thousand tokens,” the company announced. Its coding capabilities have also improved, rising to a score of 71.2 percent on the Codex HumanEval benchmark, up from 56 percent.

The Claude “Constitutional AI” system is already guided by 10 secret “foundational” principals of fairness and autonomy. Extensive red-team testing since the release of the first version has tempered Claude 2 into a more emotionally stable and harder to fool AI. Compared to its predecessor Claude 2 is reportedly, “2x better at giving harmless responses compared to Claude 1.3,” the company’s announcement claimed. If you’re already subscribed to the Claude 1.3 API, great news, you’ll be automatically rolled over to Claude 2 at no extra charge.

Intel is bowing out of making its own mini PCs. The chip designer has confirmed to Engadget that it's ending its "direct investment" in its Next Unit of Compute (NUC) business. Instead, the company will rethink its approach to help partners foster the NUC PC market. The firm will honor its existing commitments, including support for NUC systems already in customers' hands.

The company doesn't explain why it's ending production of first-party NUC machines. However, there's little doubt the company is reeling from a bleak computer market prompted by both a rough economy and the early pandemic surge in sales. Intel's revenue has plunged by more than a third in the past two quarters, and its PC-oriented Client Computing Group has been one of the worst-hit divisions. As ServeTheHomenotes, a move like this lets Intel offload a non-essential business and focus on making chips. The company sold its server business to MiTAC earlier this year.

Intel launched the first NUC in 2013 as a tiny, barebones PC kit meant to showcase both the latest processors as well as the possibilities for compact desktops. Over time, they evolved into more complete systems with robust performance and, in some later incarnations, dedicated GPUs. You could use them at home, but they also had a following in business — they were useful for compute clusters and other situations where size and simplicity mattered.

The NUC faced a number of challenges, however. While some models were better-suited to gaming and other demanding tasks, it became a challenge to stuff increasingly power-hungry CPUs and GPUs into compact cases. Intel also faced increasingly stiff competition. In the home market, the Mac mini is arguably the best-known mini computer. At work, brands like Dell and Lenovo offer more flexible configurations and stronger support for the corporate crowd. Simply put, there's not as much reason for the NUC to exist as there was a decade ago.

Nothing has finally unveiled the Phone 2 after plenty of teasers, and it's likely what you're looking for if you thought the Phone 1 was underpowered — or if you simply couldn't buy the earlier model where you live. The new device offers performance much closer to a flagship thanks to a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip versus the mid-tier 778G+ from last year's hardware. While that's still not cutting edge, the company claims it's 80 percent faster. It enables 4K video at 60 frames per second, too, and RAW HDR photography captures eight frames (and thus more overall scene detail) instead of three frames like its predecessor.

Accordingly, Nothing says it has upgraded the Phone 2's camera quality. The updated 50MP primary and 50MP ultra-wide rear cams now have 2X "super-res" digital zoom, object tracking and other imaging updates. The front camera, meanwhile, jumps from a 16MP sensor to 32MP. As with some competitors, there's now an "Action Mode" to deliver extra-stable video recording.

There are some more conspicuous changes. You can expect a larger 6.7-inch, 120Hz LTPO OLED (if still 1080p) screen with a higher 1,600-nit peak brightness and thinner bezels. There's a tapered "2.5D" glass back. And yes, the signature Glyph lighting on the back is more advanced. In addition to more LED segments, you can create different lighting sequences for every contact and notification type. You can also have persistent lights for must-see notifications, and some lights now double as progress trackers for delivery and ride hailing services like Uber.

Nothing

Software plays a considerably more important role. Where the first model only had a few modest customizations, Nothing OS 2.0 on the Phone 2 lets you tweak considerably more. You can now have multiple home screens with custom color themes, grid sizes and app labels. You'll likewise find customizable folders, and a more advanced widget set includes shortcuts to quick settings. Those widgets are available on the lock screen as well.

The Phone 2 is billed as longer-lasting thanks to its 4,700mAh battery, and you'll get a complete charge in 55 minutes. The 15W wireless charging and 5W reverse wireless charging aren't surprising, but they're not always present in this upper-midrange phone segment.

Crucially, the Nothing Phone 2 will be priced right when it arrives in North America. It will be available in the US and Canada on July 17th at 4AM Eastern starting at $599 (and an oddly high $929 CAD) for a version with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Pay $699 ($999 CAD) and you'll get 12GB of RAM with 256GB of storage, while the top-end 12GB/512GB configuration sells for $799 ($1,099 CAD). Pre-orders are available now, and there will be early sales on July 13th through physical "Nothing Drops" in New York City (69 Gansevoort Street) and London (4 Peter Street).

There's no mention of North American carrier deals as of this writing, so this sequel might not be as easy to find as more mainstream offerings. However, the launch in the region remains a big deal. The Phone 2 significantly expands the audience for Nothing's handsets, and provides fresh competition to bang-for-the-buck phones like Google's similarly-priced Pixel 7.