Those who've been in the market for a video doorbell to add to their array of smart home devices may want to check out a sale on some options from Google Nest. A sale has dropped the prices of Nest video doorbells by 28 percent. That means the second-gen Nest Doorbell Wired has dropped to $130, which is a record low for that model.
The latest iteration of the device can continuously record footage for up to 10 days at a time if you have a Nest Aware Plus subscription. A Nest Aware subscription includes 30 days of event video history and a familiar face detection function.
Otherwise, Nest offers a free three-hour event history of video clips of up to five minutes in length, plus two-second previews. The device can detect motion, people, packages, animals and vehicles and provide you with intelligent alerts without the need for a subscription, Google says. You'll be able to chat with whoever's at your door or use pre-recorded messages.
There's the option to view a live video feed of what your doorbell's camera can see via Google Assistant- and Amazon Alexa-compatible devices. You'll be able to use compatible Nest and Alexa speakers as a doorbell chime — the Nest Doorbell Wired requires a chime and transformer to work. Oddly, this model does not support the Nest app or website. You'll need to use the Google Home app (or a compatible voice assistant) to manage it instead.
Meanwhile, the battery-powered Nest Doorbell is also on sale for $130, though that's $10 more than the all-time-low price. That version does not support continuous recording, but it does offer live video streaming with HDR and night vision (it captures footage in 720p resolution).
You'll still have the option to hook this device up to your existing doorbell wires. if you opt to stick with battery power and you suffer an outage or the WiFi cuts out, the doorbell will store up to 1 hour of recorded events.
In addition to the doorbells, the Nest Cam with Floodlight is also on sale. It's down from $280 to $220, which is the lowest price we've seen for it so far this year. It can capture footage at 1080p, including up to 10 days of around-the-clock recording for Nest Aware Plus members. The floodlight will activate automatically when the camera detects important activity. You'll be able to control the brightness of the lights through the Google Home app.
Small outdoor pizza ovens have become popular backyard cooking options in recent years. While anyone with a decent-sized patio could have a permanent one installed, these versatile products are more compact and store easily in a bag when you’re not using them. That makes them great for people who have limited outdoor space and allows you to take them on the road as needed. There are also great options for having a dedicated pizza oven indoors. Here are a few specs you’ll want to consider before making a purchase, plus some recommendations to get you started.
What to look for
When shopping for an oven, you’ll first want to consider what types of pizza you plan to make. Most portable outdoor pizza ovens from the likes of Ooni, Solo Stove and others use wood and are primarily designed for the high-heat cooking required for light and airy Neapolitan-style pies. We’re talking temperatures up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit. These units can certainly cook different styles at cooler temperatures, but they’re easiest to use when you’re running them wide open with a full load of wood.
If you purchase a propane or natural gas burner, you can adjust temperatures easily by turning a knob. For this reason, I recommend you spend the extra $100 or so on that accessory. It makes your pizza oven a lot more versatile and gives you the option to still have a freshly fired pie when you don’t feel like messing with wood or charcoal. If you only want to cook with gas, there are models available that only use propane or natural gas.
The other key consideration is size. Most companies make ovens that fit 12-inch pizzas, a perfect size for one person. They’re also great for parties, since people can customize their own without having to pick off toppings they don’t like. If you want to make larger pizzas or plan to use your oven for other things (pans, etc), consider a larger version that can accommodate more than just small pies. The interior dimensions – or at the very least the stone size – will be listed on most product pages.
Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget
Plan for success
Making pizza at home requires a considerable amount of counter or table space. You’ll need room to stretch and prep your dough, lay out your toppings and load pizzas onto a peel. Of course, some folks will be comfortable working in the tight confines of a small kitchen, but I’ve found it much easier to use extra space to make sure I’m not constantly moving things around during the various steps in the process.
It’s also less hassle to set up your pizza station in close proximity to your pizza oven. As a rookie baker, I did the running back and forth from the kitchen to the back porch. It’s far from ideal. It’s difficult to maintain your fire (if using wood or charcoal) when you’re unable to watch it closely. The good news is a patio table can be easily converted into a pizza station with a large cutting board. This also gets your oven off the ground so it’s easier to access.
Ooni sells tables for its ovens that also offer shelving and storage for peels and other accessories. Solo Stove has a rolling stand for its Pi oven too, with small side shelves and a spot for your propane tank underneath. Of course, you can find other tables and stands to suit your needs, just make sure they can withstand any heat that may radiate from the bottom of the oven while cooking. Most ovens are either well insulated or don’t project too much excess heat toward the table, but you can never be too careful. For that reason, a stainless steel or metal surface is a good choice to set up an outdoor model.
Most of these pizza ovens cook quickly at high heat, especially if you’re making Neapolitan-style pies. Having everything you need nearby so you can keep tabs on the oven and quickly make the next pizza will ease a lot of unnecessary headaches. When your cook time is two minutes or less, you don’t want to venture too far.
Outdoor pizza ovens
A good multi-fuel outdoor pizza oven: Ooni Karu 16
If you’re looking to go all-in on an outdoor pizza oven, you can’t go wrong with Ooni’s Karu 16. It’s the company’s largest multi-fuel model, which means you can choose between wood, charcoal or gas (propane and natural gas burners sold separately). This one is equipped with a hinged glass door for keeping tabs on your progress and a digital thermometer monitors the ambient temperature inside. The larger size means you can not only cook bigger pizzas, but the Karu 16 can also accommodate pans and cast iron, so baking, roasting and searing are all possible here. It’s this versatility that makes the Karu 16 our top pick.
A solid outdoor pizza oven: Solo Stove Pi
Solo Stove may be on your radar for its fire pits, but the company also makes a solid pizza oven. Dubbed the Pi, this unit is made out of stainless steel and is round like the company’s trademark products. Solo Stove says Pi can hit temperatures of 850 degrees Fahrenheit with wood and 900 degrees with a gas burner (sold separately). It explains that those figures translate to maximum stone temps of 750 and 800 degrees respectively. The Pi’s big difference from the Karu 16 and other Ooni ovens is that it doesn’t have a front door and stays open the whole time like a brick oven.
A great smaller option: Ooni Fyra 12
The Ooni Fyra 12 was the first outdoor pizza oven I used and it remains one of my favorites. It’s compact compared to some of the alternatives (22 pounds), so it won’t take up quite as much storage space. It also runs on wood pellets instead of chunks, and once you get the fire going, you just refill the chute from the top. This means there’s much less tending a fire on the Fyra than other wood-burning models, so you can focus on making and cooking your pizzas. The Fyra does all the things other Ooni pizza ovens do well, including high-heat bakes (950 degrees) in as little as a minute.
Indoor pizza ovens
Let me preface this section by saying you probably already have an indoor option that you can use to make some great pizza. Whether that’s the main oven in your kitchen or a multi-function countertop unit, with some affordable accessories, you can easily up your game without spending $1,000 on a dedicated appliance. For example, my Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer has a convection pizza setting that automatically adjusts cook time based on the size, temperature and whether the pie is fresh or frozen. A key consideration here is size. These things are massive, about the size of a large microwave, so you likely won’t want to keep them out all the time unless you have a huge kitchen.
A versatile indoor pizza oven: Ooni Volt 12
Ooni made its name on outdoor pizza ovens that primarily burn wood or run on gas. For 2023, the company is taking things indoors with the Volt 12. Ooni’s first electric oven can also be used outside thanks to weather resistant construction, but this behemoth brings the company’s design and efficiency to your kitchen for the first time. Capable of temperatures up to 850 degrees Fahrenheit in as little as 20 minutes, the Volt 12 can fire up Neapolitan style pies in 90 seconds. Controls on the front give you the ability to adjust both the top and bottom heating elements. There are also cooking presets and a Boost function to quickly get the stone back to temp between pizzas. The 13-inch stone inside is square, so you can slide in pans for Detroit recipes or other baked goods.
A solid indoor pizza oven: Breville Pizzaiolo
If you’re set on buying a dedicated pizza oven, the Breville Pizzaiolo is another great option, but it’s just as pricey as the Volt 12. The Pizzaiolo cooks 12-inch pies as well, but the stone on this unit is perfectly sized for them and there’s a metal heat reflector panel inside that will also keep you from overshooting the cooking surface. This means you won’t be sliding larger rectangle pans in here like you can with the electric Ooni. Round pans fit just fine and some smaller square ones likely will too.
In terms of cooking ability, Breville offers presets for “Wood Fired,” New York, Pan, Thin & Crispy and Frozen pizzas with the added option to run the oven full blast at 750 degrees Fahrenheit. A second dial allows you to adjust the top heating element depending on how dark you want your pizza. Like it does on other Breville appliances, Element IQ tech adjusts the heating elements based on the selected style, creating the ideal environment for each one. For advanced users, the company offers a manual mode that turns the timer dial into a control for the bottom deck while the style preset selector manages the top. Breville includes a magnetic overlay for the front panel to show you temperatures for the converted controls. The instruction manual also gives you recommendations for where to begin with manual mode for the aforementioned styles.
The best pizza accessories for the oven you already have
If you want to make good pizza at home without spending hundreds of dollars on a dedicated oven, you can definitely do it with the oven you already have in your kitchen. With a few accessories, you can improve your game without splurging on a Breville, Ooni or Solo Stove. First, I’d recommend a high quality baking steel or stone.
Baking stones are great for getting better browning on the bottom of your pies than a pizza or sheet pan. You can also use them for bread, cookies and other items. The stone absorbs heat to cook pizza quickly, like the inside of a brick oven, which leads to a crisp crust. They’re also more affordable compared to baking steels. Those metal slabs do have one key advantage: higher heat conductivity. This means a steel will cook your pizzas faster since it can absorb more heat from your oven. While baking steels can be used as griddles on your stovetop and for other types of baking, they’re not ideal for some leavened breads.
The second item you’ll want is a pizza peel. These come in all shapes and sizes, made out of a variety of materials. I typically use a bamboo or wooden peel when topping and launching my pizzas and then a metal one for retrieving them. I’ve found that dough doesn’t stick as easily to bamboo during prep and the metal resists the high heat of the oven when turning or retrieving a finished pizza (bamboo will burn). There are also perforated peels which allow both steam and excess flour to escape. A peel is a great tool for loading and turning pizzas, and since you’ll typically be cooking them with your oven at 500 degrees or hotter, using something like parchment paper to move them around won’t work.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-pizza-oven-141550352.html?src=rss
The following article discusses Star Trek: Picard, Season Three, Episode 9, “Võx”
I’ve always found accusations that I hate Star Trek weird, since I make my love of Trek clear enough every time I write one of these reviews. Every time I watch a nü-Trek episode that I’m fortunate enough to do as part of my day job, I hope that I can genuinely talk about it with a sense of love. And so I am delighted to say “Võx” is the best episode of Star Trek: Picard ever made. It is not by any means perfect, but it’s such a leap from what’s gone before I’ve almost got whiplash.
One of the reasons that “Võx” pops is that Picard’s quality ceiling has been relentlessly low over the last three seasons. The other is that the narrative’s brakes are off, allowing events to move at something faster than a snail’s pace. If I was in a less-generous mood, I’d say a lot of this stuff could have happened earlier in the run to improve the overall pacing. One of the biggest issues I’ve had is the very visible stretching of a thin, mystery-box story over a studio-mandated ten-episode running order.
By comparison, this feels like the first free meal after two 500-calorie-only days on the 5:2 fast diet. You devour a 12-inch pizza and, since you’ve starved yourself for the last 48 hours, you feel you deserve to go out for tacos afterward. In this episode, we learn that Jack is, as Reddit clocked weeks back, the product of a union ‘twixt Dr. Crusher and Picard’s Borgified sperm. We also get a whopping retcon to the plot hole in First Contact, where Picard could hear the Borg and knew the location of the cube’s weak spot despite not being connected to the collective.
Jack decides to go off and tackle the Borg Queen (voiced by Alice Krige!) herself, while Geordi, Data and Beverley start examining the conspiracy. The Queen has already picked a Borgified name for Jack — Võx — to commence his Locutus-like transformation as part of the collective, too. The Borg and Changelings are working together – I’d love to see how that meeting went – to undermine the Federation. They’ve set up every transporter in the fleet to re-write the genetic code of the under ‘25s who pass through it, seeding them with Bio-Borg DNA. When Frontier Day happens, the collective activates its new army of drones, who also turn the newly-connected fleet into an armada.
Fleeing a Titan similarly overrun with Bio-Borgs, the TNG crew get into a shuttle while Seven and Raffi guard Shaw, who takes a phaser to the chest. He even gets a nice valediction, finally using Seven’s chosen name to put a button on his much-discussed arc. Not long after, we get the first laugh-out-loud-on-purpose moment in the series when Geordi asks Data to be more optimistic. There’s a simple, glorious pleasure in letting the endlessly-talented Brent Spiner show off his natural comedic flair in the midst of all this darkness.
The gang race back to the Fleet Museum where, again Reddit called this a month or more back, the Enterprise D has been quietly rebuilt in secret by Geordi. There’s some moments of winking at the camera as the production team head off the obvious questions. How? They pulled the saucer section from Veridian to avoid breaking the Prime Directive and cobbled together other parts from other Galaxy Class ships. Why not the E? Blame Worf, now shut up and watch with a smile plastered on your face as they sit in their old chairs. Hell, they’ve even got Majel Barrett Roddenberry’s voice for the Enterprise D computer.
We need to be careful here, because I’ve slammed this series time and again for its empty, paraphilic use of nostalgia. There are plenty of reasons why this makes no logical sense if you take the time to interrogate things. Maybe it’s because the episode moves at such a clip that there’s no time to overthink things before something else happens. Maybe it’s just the thrill of seeing these actors on this bridge, on this carpet, that the bulk of my critical thinking has been bypassed.
If I have concerns, it’s still about what Picard is trying to say. Relegating the cyberpunk elements of the Borg to make their assimilation more biological could be seen as an anti-vaccination screed. It’s hard to watch yet another TNG side character brutally die – Ro in “Imposters” and Admiral Elizabeth Shelby, captain of the new Enterprise F, taking two in the chest mere moments later here. There’s an argument that leaving Seven and Raffi on the Titan also sidelines the series’ two queer characters. And this subtextual mistrust of youth which was discussed a few episodes back has now been rendered very much part of Picard’s text.
But I will withhold my judgments about that until next week, when we see how those points are handled. For now, I’m going to bask in the very brief glow of my monitor, and how glorious it was when the lights on the Enterprise D bridge raised to old-school TV levels and we could actually see what was going on. The lights went up and so did the mood, and after all this time, it comes as sweet relief. Now, onward to the finale.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/star-trek-picard-309-vox-review-140046969.html?src=rss
Apple is promising more eco-friendly batteries ahead of Earth Day. The company has committed to using 100 percent recycled cobalt in all Apple-designed batteries by 2025. It also expects to use completely recycled rare earth elements in its magnets by that point, and all in-house circuit board designs will use fully recycled gold plating and tin soldering.
Only 25 percent of the cobalt Apple used last year was recycled. While thats's up from 13 percent in 2021, that makes the new target more ambitious than others. Apple already uses 73 percent recycled rare earth elements and 38 percent recycled tin. Apple has custom battery designs in most of its portable products, including the iPhone, iPad and MacBook lines.
The company eventually hopes to make all products exclusively with recycled and renewable materials. It expects its products to be carbon neutral by 2030. As of 2022, just 20 percent of the material in Apple hardware was recycled or renewed.
Yes, this is partly about burnishing the company's image. You may be more likely to buy an iPhone or Apple Watch if you believe it's relatively gentle on the planet. However, the cobalt goal may be more significant than most. Cobalt is widely used in batteries, including in electric vehicles, but it also has significant environmental and social problems. The mining process contaminates the air, earth and water, and can lead to health issues for both miners and the general population. There are also concerns about miner exploitation in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Companies have been developing cobalt-free batteries that could lessen the environmental impact across the tech industry. For now, though, efforts like Apple's could reduce the demand for additional cobalt and the associated mining.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-batteries-will-use-100-percent-recycled-cobalt-by-2025-132837439.html?src=rss
Most of the time, the best gaming headset isn’t a “gaming headset” at all. Although these devices are often thought of as a distinct niche within the wider headphone market, they're ultimately still headphones. And while it’s certainly not impossible to get a gaming headset that sounds nice, doing so still tends to come at a higher cost than a comparable pair of wired headphones (yes, those still exist).
A good wired headphone remains your best bet if you want the most detailed sound possible at a given price point and don’t need something especially portable, which is usually the case when you’re gaming. If you need to chat with friends, you can always buy an external microphone, whether it’s a USB mic, a cheaper clip-on mic or a standalone headset mic like the Antlion ModMic or V-Moda BoomPro. In many cases, those will make your voice sound clearer and fuller than the ones included with a gaming headset.
But we do recognize that many people just want the convenience of an all-in-one combo, value and aesthetics be damned. So after testing out a few dozen pairs over the past several months, we’ve put together a list of good headphones for gaming and dedicated gaming headsets. We recommend you consider the former first, but all of them should make your play time more enjoyable.
What to look for in good gaming headphones
Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget
Evaluating headphones is a particularly subjective exercise, so calling one pair the absolute “best” is something of a fool’s errand. At a certain point, everything becomes a matter of taste. For most, a headphone with a wide soundstage and strong imaging performance – i.e., the ability to position sounds correctly, so you can more precisely tell where footsteps and other game effects are coming from – will provide the most immersive experience, the kind that makes you feel like your head is within a given scene.
For that, you want a headphone with an open-back design. That is to say, an over-ear pair whose earcups do not completely seal off the ear from air and outside noise. The big trade-off is that these are inherently terrible at isolating you from external sound and preventing others from hearing what you’re playing. So if you often play games in a noisy environment, their benefits will be blunted. But in a quiet room, the best open-back pairs sounds significantly wider and more precise than more common closed-back models.
More up for debate is how a good gaming headphone should sound. If you want something that’ll help you in competitive multiplayer games, you'll likely prefer a headphone with a flatter sound signature, so a game’s mix won’t be overly boosted in one direction and mask the smaller details of what’s happening around you. A slightly brighter sound, one that pushes the upper frequencies a smidge, may also work. Open-back headphones almost never have huge sub-bass, so you rarely have to worry about low-end sounds muddying up the rest of the signature. In this light, the fact that an overwhelming amount of gaming headsets are closed-back and bass-heavy seems counterintuitive.
Lots of people love bass, though. And if you aren’t just worried about competitive play, some extra low-end can add a touch of excitement to heavy action scenes or a rousing soundtrack. You still don’t want a pair that boosts it too hard – which many dedicated gaming headsets do – but the point is that what makes a pair “immersive” to one person may sound dull to another.
Best headphones for gaming: Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X
The Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X should please a wide swath of people willing to pay for a capital-N nice set of headphones for gaming. This pair has great imaging performance and the kind of spacious soundstage expected from an open-back design. Bass is a little more present here than on many open-back headphones as well. There still isn’t much in the way of deep sub-bass, as expected, but there’s enough warmth to give in-game explosions a bit more juice without muddying up the mid-range frequencies. The mids get the most emphasis overall, but they’re clear and that forwardness isn’t a bad thing when you’re trying to listen for enemy players in a competitive FPS like Counter-Strike. The treble isn’t pushed quite as hard, but it’s neither overly recessed nor harsh.
All of this means the DT 900 Pro X sounds detailed but not boring, so it should play nice whether you’re trying to win a multiplayer game or taking in a more cinematic single-player experience. And when you’re not gaming, you get an enjoyable sound for music.
Everything’s built well, too. It’ll clamp down slightly harder than average if you have a large head, but it balances its weight well, and its wonderfully soft velour earpads go a long way toward keeping the pair comfortable over long sessions. It comes with two detachable cables, including a three-meter option that’s convenient if you sit far from your PC. This design can’t fold up, though.
Like all open-back headphones, the DT 900 Pro X leak and let in lots of noise, so it’s not great on the go. Clearly, if you can afford an ultra-premium pair like Sennheiser’s HD 800 S, you’ll get more space and true-to-life detail. But for a relatively attainable $250 to $300, the DT 900 Pro X should satisfy.
Best headphones for gaming under $200: Sennheiser HD 560S
If you’d rather not spend as much, the Sennheiser HD 560S is another excellent open-back headphone that’s typically available for around $150. Like the DT 900 Pro X, it has a wide soundstage that’ll help you feel immersed in a given game. Its sound is slightly more neutral on the whole, so you won’t feel like you’re missing any part of a mix, and it retrieves a lovely amount of detail from the treble and mid-range frequencies. There's less bass power for explosions, though, and the treble, while more present, may sound piercing at times. Imaging isn’t quite as nuanced either, though it’s nowhere near poor.
Design-wise, the HD 560S are plenty comfortable to wear for extended periods. They don’t clamp down too hard on those with big heads (like yours truly), and the velour earpads hug your ears softly. The included cable is removable, too. The plastic frame doesn’t feel as sturdy or premium as the DT 900 Pro X, however, so you won’t want to chuck them around haphazardly. It won’t block much outside noise either, nor will it prevent those around you from hearing what you're playing. Nevertheless, the HD 560S is a pleasure and a great value.
Best headphones for gaming under $50: Koss KSC75
If you can’t spend more than $50, it’s still hard to top the Koss KSC75. It costs $20, but judging purely on audio quality, it’s better than some headphones priced closer to $100. This pair is very obviously devoid of deep bass, so you won’t get that full-bodied oomph from in-game effects. You also won't hear all the intricate details you'd pick up with the pricier headphones above. But it locates sounds accurately and its open design gives it a real sense of width. It’s a superb value for competitive play.
The catch is that it’s built like a set of free airline headphones. The KSC75 has an odd clip-on design that, while lightweight, won’t be comfortable for everyone. It certainly looks like it costs $20, though Koss backs it with a lifetime warranty that essentially lets you get endless replacements for $9 each. Even if the KSC75 are pushing 20 years old, its sound remains relatively well-balanced and particularly well-suited for gaming.
Best gaming headset: Astro A40 TR
If you must have a dedicated gaming headset with a built-in mic, consider the Astro A40 TR. Another open-back pair, it has a more spacious soundstage than usual for the category – though it's not on par with better non-gaming headphones – and it generally localizes sounds correctly. This profile emphasizes the bass, giving explosions a smooth and satisfying thump, but it doesn’t overdo it like many other headsets marketed toward gaming.
The sound here is still a step behind the DT 900 Pro X or HD 560S, especially for online shooters, as the pushed upper-bass and lower-mids can blunt finer details a bit more. Footsteps usually won’t sound as clear. But compared to most gaming headsets, the A40’s profile is better balanced, and it does well to envelop you in the sounds of a busy scene.
Comfort shouldn’t be an issue, either. The A40 is on the bulkier side, but its weight is evenly distributed and doesn’t clamp down overly hard. The fuzzy earpads are soft and breathable, while the earcups are roomy enough to fit larger ears. The headset has the usual open-back shortcomings, though: It leaks a bunch of sound and blocks almost zero outside noise. The design looks “gamer-y," too, and there’s no built-in volume control. The whole thing is mostly made of plastic, though it doesn’t come off as flimsy.
The A40’s mic, meanwhile, is just OK. It picks up background noises while you chat, and voices sound somewhat muffled. It’s serviceable but you’d buy the A40 for its sound quality first. The mic isn’t detachable either, but you can easily flip it up and out of the way.
The A40 has been around for four years now, but its price has come down from $150 to a more reasonable $130 in that time. Astro sells an optional DAC with extra controls for $130, but at that price we’d strongly advise buying a good “normal” headphone and external mic.
Best budget gaming headset: HyperX Cloud Stinger 2
You won’t find a good open-back gaming headset under $50, so if you’re on a tight budget and require a built-in mic, you’ll have to compromise on sound quality. With that in mind, the HyperX Cloud Stinger 2 is a decent buy at its typical street price of $40. Its mic belies that low price, making voices sound relatively clear and accurate. In fact, it’s a clear step-up from the Astro A40. It’s not detachable but it’s flexible and automatically mutes when you slide it out of the way. This pair also gets the comfort part right, as the pleather earcups don’t clamp down hard and have enough soft padding where it counts.
The Cloud Stinger 2 has a V-shaped sound profile, which is to say it exaggerates the bass and treble while recessing the mid-range. It’s not bad for what it is, and it’ll definitely give action scenes a heavy sense of impact. But the upper-bass is pushed to the point where it may get tiring over time, and you lose some of the fine details you’d hear on a more natural-sounding headphone. Since this is a cheap closed-back headset, the Cloud Stinger 2 also doesn’t sound nearly as wide as the pairs above, nor is it as nuanced about positioning sounds accurately. It’s less than ideal for competitive games as a result, though it can still sound “fun” with many other titles.
Beyond that, the plastic design feels cheap-ish, it doesn’t block much outside noise despite being closed-back and its cable isn’t removable. Nevertheless, you have to pick your battles in this price range. The Cloud Stinger 2 is flawed, but it does enough well to make sense for a certain type of person.
A quick PSA on wireless gaming headsets
Most people do not need a wireless gaming headset. The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S have a headphone jack built into their controllers, and it's still readily available on the Switch and most gaming PCs. The cost of an OK wireless headset is usually higher than the cost of a comparable wired model, and for the money you often get worse audio quality and a less clear microphone on the wireless versions. You also risk introducing issues with latency. The latter is why non-gaming Bluetooth headphones are a no-go here.
Best wireless gaming headset: HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless
If you really want a wireless headset – say, if your gaming PC is situated at the far end of your desk – you should look for a pair that makes the “wireless” part of the equation a little less apparent. The HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless does this thanks to its absurdly long battery life. HyperX rates it at 300 hours, but we were able to squeeze out a couple dozen more at moderate volumes. iFixit did a helpful teardown if you’re curious as to how this is possible, but it’s not a stretch to say one charge here could last you months of play time.
The sound here is typical of many gaming headsets: slightly V-shaped, with overemphasized bass that can make game effects sound exciting but often presents footsteps and finer details with less clarity. As a closed-back headphone, it also won’t sound as spacious or natural as the more open pairs above. (Wireless gaming headsets with an open-back design are virtually nonexistent.) It’s not bad by wireless gaming headset standards, and it generally places sounds in the right place; it’s just not tuned or designed as optimally as a pair like the Astro A40.
The headset itself is comfortable to wear for hours at a time, with plush padding that doesn’t feel too tight, though the faux leather material on the earpads may make your ears feel mildly warm. Everything is sturdy, and the headband is nicely flexible. The boom mic is also fine, though that’s relative to other wireless headsets. It cancels out background noise well and keeps voices legible, but they won’t sound as crisp or full-bodied as they could be on wired headphones with good mics. It's better than the A40, though.
A word of warning: Don’t bother with HyperX’s companion software. While you can use the company’s Ngenuity app to customize the headset's EQ and activate a DTS:X surround sound feature, several users have reported that this introduces noticeable latency, and HyperX doesn’t look to be fixing it. If you really want these features, use a third-party EQ app and the spatial audio tools built into Windows and the PS5. By default, the included USB dongle offers a steady wireless connection.
The other caveat is that the Cloud Alpha Wireless only works with PCs and PlayStation consoles, or a Switch while docked. It also can’t connect over a cable or Bluetooth. If you’re looking for a competent alternative for Xbox, we note a few recommendations below.
Best premium wireless gaming headset: Audeze Maxwell
The Audeze Maxwell isn’t an amazing value at $299 (or $329 for the Xbox model), but if you’ve got cash to burn, it’s a wireless headset with genuinely impressive audio and mic quality. Its planar-magnetic drivers do well reproducing smaller intricacies in a given scene, and its default signature is like a more refined version of the common “gaming headset” sound. Bass is smooth and impactful but not bloated, while highs are crisp but not overly sharp. Some effects in the mids can sound thin, and as this is aclosed-back headset, it can’t provide the same immersive width and precise imaging as the open-back models above. Ironically, it may be better for music than games. Still, for a wireless headset, it’s unusually pleasant and detailed. Audeze’s app includes several EQ presets as well.
Similarly, the Maxwell’s detachable boom mic is a standout. It does a phenomenal job of muting background noise, and while voices lose some air, they still sound clearer and fuller than on most wireless headsets we’ve tested.
The Maxwell is on the bulky side, and its headband uses an odd suspension mechanism that effectively isn’t adjustable without taking the headset off. The squishy padded ear cups will likely make your ears feel warm, but they keep the headset comfortable and isolate a fair amount of outside noise. The design also feels substantial, with the headband made from steel. The essential controls are built into the left earcup, and the device can connect over Bluetooth or a 3.5mm cable in addition to a USB-C wireless dongle. You can even pair with two devices at once, one over the dongle and another over Bluetooth. The headset needs to be powered on in order to play music over a cable, however.
Audeze rates the Maxwell’s battery life at roughly 80 hours, though you'll get less than that if you play at high volumes or use features like Bluetooth or sidetone heavily. While this can’t touch the Cloud Alpha Wireless, it’s still much better than most wireless headsets.
Other notable gaming headsets
Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro
The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro is overpriced at $250, and it can make higher frequencies sound harsh, but its bass and mids are good, it’s super comfortable and its retractable mic is noticeably clearer than the Astro A40’s. Its included DAC is also useful, letting you adjust the headset’s EQ and game/chat mix. But while the closed-back design is mildly better at blocking outside noise, it won’t provide the same sense of width as the A40.
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless
SteelSeries also sells a wireless version of the Nova Pro, which typically retails between $300 and $350. The Audeze Maxwell will sound better to most, but this is likely its closest competitor and it has useful bonus features like the ability to connect to multiple gaming devices simultaneously (with the Xbox model) and hot-swap battery packs.
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro 7X
If you need a wireless alternative to the Cloud Alpha Wireless for Xbox, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7X should work. It’s another bass-forward pair, and its mic is comparable to the one on Cloud Alpha Wireless. Like the other Nova models, it offers multiple connectivity options, including Bluetooth and a 3.5mm cable. And while it's marketed for the Xbox, it can also connect to PCs and PS5s. Its 30 or so hours of battery life are well short of the Cloud Alpha Wireless, though, and its sound signature can make the treble sound somewhat wonky.
HyperX Cloud Alpha
The wired HyperX Cloud Alpha is often on sale for $80 or less, and at that price it’s a decent middle ground between the Cloud Stinger 2 and Astro A40 if you absolutely need a closed-back gaming headset. It’s old, but its plush earpads and headband remain comfy, and its detachable mic, while not superb, is still better than Astro’s pair. Its treble is underemphasized, however, and again it sounds more “in your head” than the A40.
Logitech G535
The Logitech G535 is an impressively light (236g) and comfy wireless headset that’s often available for $100. It has a more neutral sound signature than the Cloud Alpha Wireless and Arctis Nova 7X: not flat, but less beholden to big, thumping bass. It can make mid-range details sound thin, and if anything it could use a little more sub-bass, but it’s an agreeable listen overall. It can also connect over Bluetooth. However, its mic gives up some fullness compared to the Cloud Alpha Wireless (which already wasn’t superb), and its 30-ish hours of battery life are a massive drop-off. Plus, it doesn’t work with Xbox, and it strangely forces you to crank the volume to reach a listenable level. But if you don’t want to spend a ton on a wireless headset, it’s the best of the $100-and-under options we tested.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-gaming-headset-130006477.html?src=rss
WhatsApp has begun rolling out a handful of new security features. The most notable sees the company doing more to protect users against SIM jacking and other social engineering attacks that could compromise your account. The next time you download WhatsApp on a new device, you may be asked to use your old device to confirm you want to move your account to a new phone.
If you’re worried about the potential of being locked out of your account, a WhatsApp spokesperson told Engadget Account Protect will only activate if the company detects a suspicious registration attempt. Moreover, if you don’t have access to your old device, you can request the company send you a second one-time passcode.
Whether or not you decide to switch devices anytime soon, your WhatsApp account will be safer, thanks to the new introduction of new background checks. You won’t need to directly interact with the verification features WhatsApp is adding. Nonetheless, the company says they will help secure your account against malware, and better protect you if your WhatsApp is ever compromised.
Separately, WhatsApp is also making it easier for users to verify their connection with someone is encrypted. Right now, verifying your connection with someone involves either scanning a QR code or comparing a 60-digit number, both of which you can find by tapping the Encryption tab under a contact’s info sheet. Moving forward, tapping the tab will automatically verify whether your connection is secure.
The new features will roll out to all WhatsApp users in the coming months. In the meantime, if you want to do the most you can to secure your account, WhatsApp parent company Meta recommends you enable two-factor authentication and encrypted backups.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/whatsapp-makes-it-harder-for-scammers-to-steal-your-account-130054789.html?src=rss
DJI unveiled its latest high-end drone for professional filmmakers today. The Inspire 3 is a full-frame 8K cinema drone in a “highly portable form factor” that can be yours this summer for a mere $16,499.
The DJI Inspire 3 has a Zenmuse X9-8K Air Gimbal Camera with a wide range of dynamic colors and compatibility with various lenses. Its camera system has dual native ISO for clear low-light footage while covering over 14 stops of dynamic range to help capture highlights and shadows in sunrises and sunsets. It has a Tilt Boost and 360-degree Pan structures. Its FPV camera, visual sensors, positioning antennas and storage slot are “seamlessly integrated into the airframe for a minimalist look and modern industrial aesthetics.” It can capture video in various formats, including CinemaDNG and Apple ProRes RAW.
The drone supports RTK-powered Waypoint Pro and omnidirectional sensing for precise flight paths and improved safety. The drone has nine sensors to help detect and avoid obstacles and protect your $16.5K purchase. In addition, you can toggle horizontal, upward and downward obstacle-sensing independently and manually set its obstacle-alert range if the automatic function doesn’t suit your needs. (With active avoidance turned off, the display will still show incoming obstacles and sound an alert if it’s within a set range.) It also has hot-swappable TB51 intelligent dual batteries for up to 28 minutes of flight time and up to 58.4 mph speeds.
DJI
It uses DJI’s O3 Pro transmission and control system with a range of up to around 9.2 miles with one controller and up to 7.5 miles in dual-control mode (where one person pilots the drone and a second pilot controls the gimbal). It includes a first-person view (FPV) camera with an ultra-wide 161-degree field of view and night vision. The pilot’s feed has a latency of 90ms in 1080p / 60 fps mode. Additionally, it supports 4K / 30 fps feeds, although that mode reduces the drone’s range to an estimated 3.1 miles.
The DJI Inspire 3 will be available “by the end of June.” If you’re a pro filmmaker with over $16,000 to spare, you’ll get Zenmuse X9-8K Air Gimbal Camera, RC Plus remote controller and other accessories. The company’s DJI Care Pro accidental protection plans are also available for an additional cost.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/djis-newest-drone-is-a-16k-model-for-pro-filmmakers-130047974.html?src=rss
The 2023 edition of Coachella gets underway this weekend and, along with having the option to catch livestreams of every stage on YouTube, you can take part in the fun remotely in another way thanks to Fortnite. The festival has once again teamed up with Epic Games to celebrate Coachella.
Features this time around include emotes that have music from headliner Bad Bunny and fellow performer Burna Boy, as well as returning and new Coachella-related outfits that you'll see in the Item Shop starting at 8PM ET this evening. You'll also be able to listen to songs from artists who are performing this weekend on the in-game Icon Radio.
Epic Games/Alliance Studios
You'll be able to experience Coachella in other ways in Fortnitethis year. Starting at 3PM ET today, you can dive into Coachella Island from the Epic’s Picks Discover row in the game modebrowser or by entering the island code 5449-4207-12803.
The music-reactive island takes inspiration from Coachella's California desert setting, so you can expect to see mountains, polo fields and palm trees. In the Art Park section, you'll be able to check out replicas of art installations found at the real-life version of Coachella. On top of that, you can try some team-based minigames centered around dancing and parkour.
Players will have the chance to scoop up Coachella-inspired outfits and in-game items from a merch tent. There's a music element here as well of course, as you'll be able to hear tracks from Coachella performer Porter Robinson while you're on the island (or by clicking the play button below, because why not).
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/coachella-is-coming-back-to-fortnite-in-a-bigger-way-this-year-130021748.html?src=rss
With last year's ROG Phone 6, ASUS got our attention with the world's first "wireless" clip-on Peltier cooler, in the sense that it didn't require plugging into a power bank. That, along with a handful of dedicated gaming features — especially the customizable ultrasonic "AirTriggers" — already made it a seemingly solid gaming phone. While some of the competition struggled to keep up, ASUS attempts to keep mobile gamers interested with its brand new ROG Phone 7 series which, for the first time, incorporates A.I. for automatic gaming capture. The company also managed to throw in a surprise for the new clip-on cooler: it now doubles as a subwoofer to take full advantage of the ROG Phone's already excellent stereo speakers.
The aforementioned A.I. feature can be found in the phone's "Game Genie" dashboard. Dubbed "X Capture," this tool is based on ASUS' very own A.I. pattern recognition system, and it's supposedly able to detect key events such as a "kill, death, victory moment, etc." in supported games. Another new tool, "X Sense," uses the same algorithm and pop-up notifications to help the player with in-game decision making. The catch is that both A.I. features only support Arena of Valor for now, and only in "tier one" markets like Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. That said, the product team is apparently already working on supporting more titles, which will no doubt come in handy for gamers who like to show off.
You'll also find two more new gaming features: "vibration mapping" lets you add tactile feedback to your desired virtual buttons, and "background mode" — though already introduced to recent models via an update last year — lets games run in the background when you need to perform certain automatic boring tasks.
ASUS
Naturally, the core specs here offer the latest and greatest that the market has to offer right now. The ROG Phone 7 series pack Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage — a more efficient offering than the earlier UFS 3.1, with at least twice the speed. You still get a generous 6,000mAh dual-cell battery with 65W fast-charging, which now offers a slightly shorter charging time of 42 minutes. The 6.78-inch Samsung AMOLED display features the same 2,448 x 1,080 resolution, 165Hz refresh rate and 720Hz touch-sampling rate as before, but its peak brightness has been bumped up from 1,200 nits to 1,500 nits for better viewing.
As with previous generations, the ASUS ROG Phone 7 series comes with improved thermal design. This time it's all about the bigger rapid-cycle vapor chamber design, and it has two nerdy features: the special trident-shaped wick columns on the long edges vastly increase the surface area for better heat dissipation, and the six liquid-return channels act as highways for cooled water to flow back to the processor. ASUS claims this design increases heat dissipation efficiency "by up to 168%." This is complemented with the Boron Nitride thermal compound on the other side of the CPU, as well as bigger graphite sheets covering the mainboard and RF board.
ASUS
Then there's the new AeroActive Cooler 7 which continues to offer Peltier thermoelectric cooling, and without the need of external power. Similar to its predecessor, this attachment can apparently lower the surface temperature by as much as 25 degrees Celsius, as well as the touch panel temperature by as much as eight degrees Celsius. As with last year's Ultimate variant, the more premium ROG Phone 7 Ultimate comes with the "AeroActive Portal" which, when used with the AeroActive Cooler 7, allows cool air to be blown straight into the phone's body. As a bonus, both the regular and Ultimate models are now IP54-certified (so both dust- and splash-resistant), despite the latter's air vent.
According to ASUS' own hour-long tests using Genshin Impact, the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate (in "X Mode+" performance) equipped with the attachment (in "frosty" cooling mode) was at least 6.4 degrees Celsius cooler than the competition — namely the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra — on the back. Keeping the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate cool allowed the game to sustain an impressive frame rate of around 60 fps, which should avoid interruptions in an intense fight.
The AeroActive Cooler 7 also comes with a set of four extra mappable buttons and, for the first time, a subwoofer as well. So yes, together with the enlarged speakers on the ROG Phone 7, you're getting a 2.1-channel audio system tuned by Dirac. You can also stick to your 3.5mm headphones and take advantage of the "Dirac Virtuo For Headphone" spatial sound feature, or go wireless with Snapdragon Sound's super-low-latency Bluetooth.
There's nothing too exciting on the photography side. The rear cameras remain unchanged: you get a 50-megapixel main camera (Sony's IMX766 sensor), a 13-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera (125 degrees) and a not-so-useful 5-megapixel macro camera. That said, ASUS claims that the cameras here will benefit from an improved light trail mode for artistic captures. The selfie camera on the other side, however, has been upgraded with a new 32-megapixel OmniVision OV32C sensor.
ASUS
For those who are in Taiwan and Europe, select models in the ROG Phone 7 series will be available for pre-order starting today. The regular model starts from €999, but if you're going for the Ultimate version for its AeroActive Portal and customizable ROG Vision screen on the back, it starts from €1,399 — you'll get a €110 AeroActive Cooler 7 for free. (All euro prices are inclusive of VAT.)
As for the rest of us, ASUS has confirmed that the ROG Phone 7 series will eventually be launched in the US, but we'll have to wait a bit longer for a date and pricing, so stay tuned.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/asus-rog-phone-7-ultimate-gaming-phone-pricing-availability-123037730.html?src=rss
Twitter is teaming up with eToro, a social trading network, to expand financial information available on the site and make it easier for users to buy stocks and crypto. As CNBC reports, the existing $Cashtag format, which previously allowed finance-inclined users to click a financial hashtag of sorts to see more data on particular stocks, will be expanded to show more real-time data. That data will continue to be provided by TradingView, a market tracker and existing eToro partner.
The updated search also brings an eToro button under the live price charts, taking users away from Twitter to get more information and potentially invest. Anyone can look through the stats, but eToro will prompt visitors to create an account before being able to part with their money.
Twitter is openly trying to diversify its offerings, with "additional market insights and greater access to investment capabilities," Chris Riedy, VP of Global Sales & Marketing at Twitter, said in a statement. According to Twitter, the first quarter of 2023 saw 498 million tweets revolving around finance or business.
While eToro isn’t directly integrated into the social media platform, the tie-in could potentially benefit Twitter financially in the form of referral bonuses.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitter-teams-up-with-etoro-to-make-it-easier-to-buy-stocks-and-crypto-121154473.html?src=rss
