Steam Deck owners have a new option for repairs if their device breaks. Valve has opened its own Steam Deck repair centers, which should streamline the process for fixes.

The new service should come as welcome news to Steam Deck owners who will now have a simpler way of addressing hardware issues, without hunting for a third-party service. Notably, Valve says that it also supports people who prefer to go the DIY route, and points to iFixit’s guides on the subject.

Those who prefer to hand off the fix will be able to use the new service via the company’s support channels. “If you encounter an issue and need to send your Steam Deck for repair or replacement, devices will now go to one of our repair centers,” the company explains. “Once there, our team will diagnose the device, repair if needed, then ship the fixed unit back to you.”

The repair centers will cover both in-warranty fixes, which will be free of charge, as well as repairs for damage that happens outside of the device’s warranty. The company will charge for out-of-warranty fixes, though it’s not clear how much these repairs may cost.

For now, there are few other details about how the repair centers will work. The company hasn’t provided a list of the types of repairs it will be able to handle, or what the expected turnaround time will be. However, in a comment on the post, a Valve representative confirmed the repair centers will be able to handle battery replacements, which could be a common request for the handheld device.

Nextdoor is gearing up for a potentially contentious election season. Ahead of the midterms, the company says it will label election-related posts with information about how to vote, and will use in-app alerts to remind users to not let political conversations get overly “heated.”

In a blog post, the company says it will use “pop-up reminders” to encourage “civil political discourse” on election-related posts. “Nextdoor will use pop-up reminders when hurtful or harmful language is detected or anticipated via predictive technology,” the company writes.

Nextdoor

It’s not the first time the company has used these kinds of reminders to discourage nastiness between neighbors. The company previously introduced in-app alerts to remind people to be “empathetic” and keep conversations “constructive.” The latest notifications mirror that language. “Conversations about the election can get heated,” it says. “Check to make sure you’ve phrased it in a constructive way.”

Besides the reminders, the company is also partnering with vote.org and other organizations on in-app messages to encourage turnout and provide resources on how to register to vote.

The James Webb Space Telescope can do much more than produce astonishingimages of the universe. The observatory has, for the first time, found clear evidence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet that's not in our solar system. It detected the gas on WASP-39 b, a gas giant that's orbiting a star some 700 light years away.

The Hubble and Spitzer telescopes previously detected water vapor, sodium and potassium in the planet's atmosphere. But JWST has more powerful and sensitive infrared capabilities and was able to pick up the signature of carbon dioxide as well.

"Understanding the composition of a planet’s atmosphere can help us learn more about its origin and evolution," an official JWST Twitter account notes. "Webb’s success here offers evidence that it could also be able to detect and measure carbon dioxide in the thinner atmospheres of smaller rocky planets in the future."

NASA previously released spectroscopic data JWST captured from WASP-96 b, a gas exoplanet that's approximately 1,150 light years away. The observatory detected "the unambiguous signature of water," along with haze and clouds, which were not previously believed to exist on WASP-96 b.

Also this week, researchers announced the discovery of an exoplanet that's around 100 light years away. It was detected with the help of NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and ground-based telescopes rather than JWST, but it might merit a closer look from the latter. Researchers believe that water could make up as much as 30 percent of the mass of TOI-1452 b, which has been deemed a "super-Earth." It's around 70 percent larger than Earth and it may have a "very deep ocean."

TP-Link makes a bunch of IoT gadgets that can make your home a bit smarter, and now you can pick up a number of them for less. Amazon has a one-day sale on TP-Link devices that brings many of them down to record-low prices. We particularly like the company's Kasa Smart Light Bulbs, which earned a spot in our best smart lights guide. You fan grab a two pack of those multicolored bulbs for $17, which is a return to their Prime Day price. If you prefer white lights, a four pack of those bulbs is 38 percent off and down to $28.

Both the white and color packs that are on sale are WiFi lights, which means they don't need a central smart home hub to work. You'll simply connect them to your home's WiFi network via the TP-Link companion app, and then you'll be able to control them from your smartphone. The mobile app is pretty easy to use, allowing you to cycle through light colors, set schedules, change dimness settings and even check out usage stats per bulb. These TP-Link lights are also compatible with Amazon's Alexa and the Google Assistant, so you'll be able to control them with voice commands as well.

Smart lights are some of the easiest IoT gadgets to install in your home, but you can also easily make "dumb" things around your home a bit smarter with the right plugs. TP-Link makes a bunch of smart plugs that we've recommended in the past, and a couple of packs have been discounted in this sale. A four pack of the Kasa Mini Smart Plugs is 20 percent off and down to $24, while one of the Kasa Outdoor Smart Dimmer Plugs is 40 percent off and on sale for $18. The former is for indoor use only, but they let you plug in a coffee maker, kettle, lamp or other things and control them via your smartphone. Similarly to the Kasa smart lights, the plug's companion app lets you set schedules and check usage for all of your appliances, and you can use Away Mode to automatically turn things on or off when you're out of the house.

Finally, there are quite a few networking gadgets included in this sale. You can pick up Gigabit Ethernet switches for up to 56 percent off, and a number of routers and mesh systems for less. Key among them is the TP-Link Deco AX3000 mesh WiFi 6 system, which has returned to its Prime Day price of $200. The pack includes three Deco X55 routers that you can place around your home to cover up to 6,500 square feet. You'll be able to connect up to 150 devices wirelessly to your network, and each node has three Ethernet ports, which means you have more options to hardwire devices for even better speeds if you wish.

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We wouldn't call Chromebooks disposable, but it's no secret that many of them prioritize price over sustainability. Acer, however, contends that they should be just as kind to the planet as some of their higher-end counterparts. The company has introduced the first Chrome OS-powered laptop in its eco-friendly Vero line, the Chromebook Vero 514. As with its Windows counterparts, the 14-inch portable is designed from the start to be repaired and recycled, with a relatively small environmental footprint.

About 30 percent of the Vero 514's chassis is made from post-consumer recycled plastic, and that climbs to 50 percent for the keycaps and speakers. The touchpad surface is made entirely from "ocean-bound" plastic, Acer says, and the military-grade drop resistance (up to 4ft) should help the Chromebook survive a tumble to the floor. The bottom cover is relatively easy to remove thanks to standard screws, making it more feasible to repair or upgrade the PC.

The specs suggest you'll want to keep this laptop for longer, too. The Chromebook Vero 514 uses 12th-gen Intel Core processors, and the 1080p display is accurate with 100 percent coverage of the sRGB color space (if a bit dim at 300 nits brightness). It's not yet clear if the computer can live up to its 10 hours of estimated battery life, but fast charging support can bring you to 50 percent capacity in 30 minutes. Two USB-C ports, one USB-A port and HDMI also reduce the chances you'll need to buy dongles.

The Chromebook Vero 514 ships to the US this October starting at $500, and to Europe a month later for €599. That's certainly pricier than the most affordable Chromebooks, but Acer is clearly betting that the greener design will be worth the premium. Ideally, the laptop's repair-ready body will save you money — you can fix it instead of looking for a far costlier replacement.

If you have an aging machine that could use a storage upgrade, or you need a new portable drive before the new semester begins, you can pick up many Crucial gadgets for less at Amazon right now. A slew of Crucial's internal and portable SSDs are up to 29 percent off, and that includes one of our favorites. The Crucial MX500 internal drive in 1TB is 24 percent off and down to $76, which is the best price we've seen. Also discounted are the Crucial P5 Plus SSD in 2TB, which is down to $226, and the X6 portable drive in 1TB, which is 25 percent off and down to $83.

Crucial's MX500 has been a favorite among Engadget staffers for quite some time. It has a standard 2.5-inch form factor, so it'll fit into many machines, and decent sequential read/write speeds of 560/510 MB/s. It also has 256-bit hardware-based encryption and integrated power loss immunity, which should protect your saved work if power gets cut off. The five-year warranty that it comes with is a nice perk as well. 

The P5 Plus drive earned a spot on our list of storage options for the PlayStation 5 thanks to its 6,600 MB/s sequential reads and heatsink compatibility. It doesn't come with a heatsink by default, but you do have the option to add one to your order when you're buying from Amazon. The 2TB drive alone is on sale for $226 right now, but you can get it with a heatsink for only about $10 more.

As for external SSDs, Crucial's X6 is a good all-around solution for most people. It supports read speeds of up to 800 MB/s, works with a variety of devices including PC, Android, iOS gadgets and has a lightweight, pocket-friendly design. If you're willing to spend a bit more, you can get a speed upgrade by opting for the Crucial X8 drive, which supports read speeds up to 1,050 MB/s.The 1TB version of that drive will set you back $90 in this sale.

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Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, a four vs. one multiplayer game, will arrive in the midst of spooky season. The game will hit the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on October 18th.

You can either play as a ghost or one of four Ghostbusters trying to hunt it down with the help of gadgets like the PKE Meter, Particle Thrower and Ghost Trap. The ghost can slime and stun the humans, teleport between rifts and possess objects.

There's full multiplayer support across all platforms, though you'll need a PS Plus or Xbox Live Gold membership to play online on PlayStation or Xbox. If you'd rather play solo as either a ghost or Ghostbuster, AI bots can fill out the other four slots.

Preorders are now open for Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, which is from Predator: Hunting Grounds studio Illfonic. If you lock in a digital preorder, you'll get advance access to a custom Particle Thrower and Proton Pack, Slimer and special clothing colorways.

If you have a child in your life who needs a new tablet or e-reader, Amazon has a sale you may want to check out. The company's devices designed for kids are currently being sold at a discount —some are even listed with the lowest prices we've seen for them on the website. You can get Kindle for Kids for $60, which is an all-time low for the e-reader and is $50 less than its normal price. Kindle for Kids is just the 10th-gen Kindle that comes with a year of Amazon Kids+, a subscription service that gives you access to child-friendly books and magazines. It also comes with a kid-friendly cover and a 2-year warranty, guaranteeing that Amazon will replace the device for free if it gets damaged and returned within that period.

The 2022 version of the Fire 7 Kids tablet is also on sale for $70, or $40 less than its usual price. Like the Kindle for Kids, it comes with one year of Amazon Kids+ and a two-year warranty. Plus, the 7-inch tablet ships with a kid-friendly case that has a built-in kickstand. The model on sale for $70 has 16GB of internal storage, but it can be expanded with a microSD card up to 1TB in size. 

If you want to get a bigger tablet for your kid, you can get Amazon's Fire HD 8 Kids tablet instead. It's currently on sale for $70, which is 50 percent off or $70 less than its normal price. This tablet has an 8-inch display, 32GB of internal storage with expandable memory and up to 12 hours of battery life. It also ships with one year of Amazon Kids+, a childproof case and a 2-year warranty. 

Finally, the Amazon Glow with Tangram Bits pack will only set you back $200, or $130 less than what buying them separately will cost you. Amazon Glow is a video calling and interactive entertainment system that can project a 19-inch touchscreen on its accompanying mat. Meanwhile, Tangram Bits are small physical pieces kids can use to play and solve puzzles. The pack also comes with one year of Amazon Kids+ that will give you access to Glow's games, books and art activities, as well a two-year warranty. 

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Some folks who are in the market for a robot vacuum might be looking beyond Roomba after it emerged Amazon is buying parent company iRobot. Anker's budget brand Eufy has been around for a few years and is a solid option. Right now, many Eufy models are on sale for up to 47 percent off, including the RoboVac G30 Edge. That's down from $340 to $180 on Amazon, the lowest price we've seen for it to date.

Anker says the vacuum uses logical route planning to navigate your home. It supports Alexa voice commands and you can control it though an accompanying app. Other features include 2,000Pa suction levels and scheduled cleanings, while you can use the included boundary strip to set off-limits areas. On the down side, the G30 Edge does not support the 5GHz WiFi frequency band — you'll need a 2.4GHz router or a dual-band router that's compatible with that frequency.

The same connectivity limitation applies to the RoboVac G30 Hybrid, which is also on sale for an all-time low price. At $220, that model is currently 40 percent off. Along with a vacuum, the G30 Hybrid has a robot mop. It also has 2,000Pa of suction power. Anker claims the G30 Hybrid can operate without making too much of a racket, with noise levels as low as 55 dB.

Several other Eufy models are available for a notable discount too. The higher-end RoboVac X8 Hybrid, which has dual turbines and uses LiDAR for navigation, is 15 percent off at $550. At the lower end of the scale, the BoostIQ RoboVac 11S is $136 at the moment, down by a third from the usual price of $200. It has 1,300Pa suction levels but no WiFi connectivity, and it uses a random cleaning path. In other words, the Eufy sale includes a wide range of robot vacuums for a variety of budgets.

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Pew Research has published a new report that examines social media usage trends among US teens. The organization found that a whopping 95 percent of them use YouTube, while 19 percent are on the platform "almost constantly."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, two-thirds (67 percent) said they used TikTok, with 16 percent claiming they are on the app "almost constantly." The third most-popular social media platform among teens is Instagram, per Pew, with 62 percent using it. A tenth say they use it almost all the time — despite the app occasionally telling them to take a break. A previous poll conducted in 2014-15 found that 52 percent were using Instagram (Pew didn't ask about YouTube usage for that survey and TikTok didn't exist at the time).

Snapchat also rose among teens, with 59 percent using it in 2022, compared with 41 percent in the previous poll. Facebook was the top social media app among teens seven years ago, with 71 percent of them using it, but that figure has dropped to 32 percent. Teen adoption of Twitter (down from 33 percent to 23 percent) and Tumblr (14 percent to five percent) has fallen over the same period too.

The 2014-15 poll didn't ask about Twitch, WhatsApp or Reddit. These days, a fifth of teens use Twitch, 17 percent are on WhatsApp and 14 percent are accessing Reddit. For what it's worth, the earlier poll suggested 33 percent of teens used Google+, while a quarter used Vine. This time around, Pew did not ask teens about their use of Discord or social gaming spaces such as Fortnite.

Pew surveyed 1,316 teens aged 13 to 17 (as well as one of their parents) in April and May. It found that boys were more likely to use YouTube, Twitch and Reddit and girls were more likely to say they access TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. More Black and Hispanic teens said they used TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp than white teens.

Even though over half (54 percent) of teens said they'd find it hard to give up social media, 36 percent admitted they spent too much time on the platforms. Around 55 percent said their usage levels were "about right." Meanwhile, 97 percent of teens now use the internet every day, with 46 percent saying they're online almost all the time.

The poll found that 95 percent of teens have access to a smartphone (up from 73 percent in 2014-15), while 90 percent can access a desktop or laptop computer, up from 87 percent in the previous survey. Curiously, the percentage of teens who say they have access to a gaming console has fallen slightly, from 81 percent to 80 percent.