Blink is once again attempting to challenge conventional wisdom about how good a $40 security camera can be. The Amazon-owned company is today announcing the Blink Mini 2, which crams in plenty more smart features into that relatively tiny body. Headline features include better image quality day and night, as well as a built-in LED spotlight for color night vision.

Blink

Paired with Blink’s custom system-on-chip, the Mini 2 will also offer smart notifications and person detection. Those features will require a Blink subscription which, for $3 a month, will get you cloud recording, 60 days of video history and live streaming. You’ll also need to pony up some more to use the Mini 2 outside — $49.98 will get you the camera and the necessary weather proof power adapter.

The Blink Mini 2 is available today in the US and Canada.

SpaceX will be hoping the third time's the charm as it attempts another test launch of its Starship rocket. The previous two efforts ended in failure, though Starship did reach space on the second go-round. A 110-minute launch window for the latest attempt opens at 8AM ET. A livestream covering the launch just kicked off at about 8:50AM ET, and you can follow it here on X. According to the SpaceX X feed, the current target liftoff is set for 9:25AM ET. 

The Federal Aviation Authority authorized the SpaceX Starship Super Heavy Orbital Flight Test 3 on Wednesday afternoon. The agency said in a statement to Engadget that Space X "met all safety, environmental, policy and financial responsibility requirements." 

The FAA grounded Starship for several weeks before the second test flight until the company took 63 "corrective actions." The first launch caused a fire in a state park and led to a lawsuit from environmental groups.

Along with building on top of the previous tests, there are a number of "ambitious" goals SpaceX has in mind for this launch. The company is aiming to carry out the first re-light of a Raptor engine in space, along with ensuring the successful ascent burn of both stages, opening and closing the payload door and conducting a controlled reentry. The spacecraft will fly on a new trajectory and it's expected to splashdown in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX says the updated flight path will afford it the chance to try out new things like engine burns in space while prioritizing public safety.

CrowdTangle saw its team disbanded in 2021, new user registrations cut off in 2022 and now the site will officially shut down on August 14, the Wall Street Journal reports. Journalists and academics alike have used CrowdTangle to study the flow of content on Facebook and Instagram, including conspiracy theories and fake news. Meta, which bought the company in 2016, choosing to shutter the company is an entirely unsurprising move given it has been the source for many of the social media conglomerate's failings.

A tool called Meta Content Library will replace CrowdTangle, but only academics and nonprofit researchers can use it. That's right — for-profit news organizations can't apply for access to what sounds like a watered-down version of CrowdTangle. Meta claims that its Content Library — which is the company's answer for the European Union's Digital Markets Act — has new features like data on public comments and searching content based on views. However, early testers found it lacked geography-based activity data or the ability to download data from public posts.

Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg certainly benefit from limiting how much people — especially reporters — can view about their doings. We recently published a deep dive into Zuckerberg's dangerous decisions, including going against warnings from experts and personally intervening to block a ban on Instagram's plastic surgery filters. Other horrors under his watch include Instagram's recommendation algorithm promoting content featuring child sexual exploitation and regularly dismissing requests from top lieutenants to further prioritize safety. Then, in court, his lawyers have claimed he should hold no responsibility for the lawsuits involving harm caused by Meta's platforms.

It can be quite annoying to click through an Amazon ad in your results only to find out that the product you want can't be shipped to your place. Now, imagine you're the small business owner being charged for those ads. (Forget corporations and drop shippers, I know you all hate them.) There you are, thinking you're going to make a killing based on how much ad action you're getting. Except those ads don't translate to sales, because Amazon has been serving them to people who can't even buy your products. That's apparently what happened to at least one seller who told Bloomberg that he was charged between $200,000 and $300,000 for ads served to California residents, where he can't sell his advanced gaming computer items. 

The seller stopped shipping to California due to the state's personal computer power consumption regulations, which would require him to get costly lab reports for his products. But Amazon's automated system apparently continued advertising his products there and allegedly denied that there was an issue when he flagged the problem and followed up for several weeks. Since he was being charged thousands, the seller, who employs 80 people in Virginia to assemble custom computers, reportedly made zero profit in November, December and January. 

Amazon has acknowledged the issue in a statement sent to Engadget. It told us that it had investigated the matter and found that it only affected "a tiny fraction" of sellers. It also said that it had already apologized to the seller who talked to Bloomberg and that the company is in the process of refunding him $15,000. That's a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands the seller said he'd lost, but Amazon says it only served "a very small portion" of his listings to California residents. "We will similarly contact and refund any affected sellers, and are updating our processes to ensure any such ads are not charged going forward," the spokesperson said. 

The company's advertising system generally can't geo-target advertisements like Google ads can, because it focuses on matching buyers to certain brands or products they may be interested in. It also can't ensure that the product it's advertising complies with state regulations and, hence, can be shipped to its residents. As Bloomberg notes, this is far from the first time Amazon faced an issue regarding its advertisements. Last year, the Federal Trade Commission filed an antitrust lawsuit against the company, and one of the regulator's accusations was that it was "deliberately increasing junk ads that worsen search quality." A report that came out after the lawsuit revealed that Amazon can strike deals with other companies to make sure their listings are devoid of junk ads, though, which is why Apple's official product pages might look cleaner and less cluttered compared to its competitors'.

The air in your home can be five times more polluted than outdoor air. Energy-efficient homes are designed to be more sealed, too, so they trap more pollutants inside. From cooking emissions and cleaning chemicals to fragrances and pets, a lot of everyday things can make the air inside your home less than ideal. The best thing you can do to improve your indoor air quality is open up windows and doors, as long as the air outside isn’t unhealthy. But if letting in fresh air isn’t an option, air purifiers can help reduce the level of pollutants, while also removing odors and trapping some bacteria and mold. There are hundreds of models from dozens of brands on the market, so we tested a handful and put together this guide to the best purifiers so you can decide which will work best for you.

What an air purifier can and can’t do

There are three key pollutants that adversely affect the quality of the air you breathe: volatile organic compounds (VOC), particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) and carbon dioxide. VOCs are emitted gasses that can come from cleaners, off-gassing plastics, paint, solvents, fragrances, cooking food and, ironically, air fresheners. VOCs are most closely related to odors you can smell. High levels can irritate your breathing passages, cause headaches and may become cancer-causing over time. Air purifiers with activated charcoal components can help clean VOCs from the air.

Particulate matter is usually discussed as PM2.5 and PM10, with the numbers indicating particle size in microns. This is dust, dirt, mold, smoke and, again, emissions from cooking food. Higher levels of PM can lead to respiratory irritation, allergy symptoms, respiratory infections and potentially lung cancer. Air purifiers that include a HEPA filter can help remove particulate matter from your space.

Carbon dioxide is what humans and pets breathe out. Elevated levels can cause dizziness and lethargy. But no air purifier can reduce CO2 levels because the molecules are so small. Plants can help to some extent, but really the only solution is opening a window and ventilating the space.

There are no federal standards for air purifiers, but the state of California does require all air cleaners sold in the state to be certified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). All of our top picks here have met that certification.

What to look for in an air purifier

HEPA filters and other filter types

An air purifier isn’t an overly complicated device. Smart modes and app connectivity aside, they’re not much more than a filter and a fan. The latter pulls air through the former to capture particulate matter and other unhealthy elements so you don’t breathe them in. The type of fan can make some difference — it should be powerful enough to pull in air quickly, but also quiet enough on its low speed so it can unobtrusively clean all day long.

Filters, on the other hand, are more varied. Most have two or more layers, typically a pre-filter, an activated carbon component and sometimes a HEPA filter. The pre-filter is made from a fine mesh that captures big stuff like pet hair and larger chunks of dust. Sometimes this part is separate from the more technical filters — which means you can remove and clean it without needing to swap out the whole thing. For all-in-one filters, you can vacuum the outside of it to remove larger particles.

An activated carbon or activated charcoal layer is extremely porous, tightly packed coal that presents a vast amount of microscopic surface area to the passing air. Gaseous chemicals, VOCs and other molecules become lodged in the crannys and stick. This is the layer that gets rid of odors.

Some air purifiers include a HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter. These are pleated masses of ultrafine fibers that force air to take a convoluted path in order to pass through. This traps and absorbs tiny molecules of smoke, dander, dust and some viruses and bacteria.

Since all of these filters physically trap particulates, they’ll eventually fill up and become less effective. Most manufacturers recommend replacing the filter every six months, while others claim a year-long life span. Most smart air purifiers will let you know in the app when it’s time to replace. When you’re considering a unit’s cost, be sure to factor in the expense of replacement filters, which you may end up buying twice a year.

Room size

Air purifiers list their cleaning capabilities in terms of room size and frequency of air exchanges. For example, a smaller one might say it can exchange the air in a 500-square-foot room twice per hour. So that model should be able to pass all of the air in a 250-square-foot room through the filter every 15 minutes, but a 1,000-square-foot room would probably be outside its effective range. Of course, there’s no standard for manufacturers to adhere to when it comes to these calculations, but typically, larger air purifiers can handle larger rooms.

Where you put the machine makes a difference, too. Since it requires airflow to be effective, somewhere close to the middle of the room and at least a foot away from furniture, walls and other potential blockages is ideal. That’s not always practical, so aim for getting it as close as you can to the center of your space while maintaining a one-foot clearance all around.

Controls

In our testing, we focused on “smart” air purifiers with companion apps that can monitor air quality and adjust the fan speed as needed. Within the apps, you can control auto-clean settings, set timers and schedules and check the health of the filter as well. Most will remind you when it’s time to get a replacement, and let you order one directly from the manufacturer through the app. You can also see the current and historical readings from the internal air quality (AQ) sensor. Most determine air quality through an optical particle meter, though some brands like Dyson and Molekule also include chemical sensors for VOC measurements. When levels of particulates become elevated, the fans switch up to high speed to move more air through until the quality improves.

Most smart purifiers also work with voice assistants, so if asking Alexa to turn on your air purifier makes your life easier in some way, you can do so. If you don’t want to talk to an AI or grab your phone to control your purifier, getting a unit with simple on-board controls is a good idea. These can be as basic as buttons with indicator lights or as elaborate as a touchscreen panel. At minimum, it’s good to have a way to control the fan speed and turn on or off auto mode on the device itself.

Design

As we mentioned, sticking the device as close to the middle of the room is helpful for getting the best performance. That means you’ll be looking at it a lot, so design considerations matter. Most purifiers are cylindrical towers with fan vents up top. Units meant for larger rooms are not small, weighing between 12 and 20 pounds and reaching two feet tall (or in the case of the Dyson Purifier Cool, three and a half feet). Some, like Coway’s Airmega IconS, take on more furniture-like designs to blend in. Others, like Dyson's, are conspicuously designed to stand out.

When an air purifier just isn’t enough

The most striking bit of knowledge I picked up from testing air purifiers is how effective opening windows can be on indoor air quality. What took an air purifier a half hour to clear out took mere minutes when I opened my front door and a few windows. Every variable measured by the air quality monitors, including VOCs, PM, and particularly CO2 levels (which air purifiers can’t alleviate), improved dramatically after exposure to fresh air — significantly faster and better than any machine we tested. Even on very cold or very hot days, it might be worth it, even if your doors and windows are only open for a few minutes. True, my HVAC system had to work a little overtime afterwards, but venting a room was the most surefire way of getting air quality quickly back in the green. Of course, if the air outside is unhealthy from fires or run-of-the-mill pollution, throwing open the windows won’t work and an air purifier might be the best way to consistently clean things up.

How we test air purifiers

My living room is not a science lab; there’s far too much pet hair for that to be the case. Still, I went beyond just turning stuff on and sniffing the air by acquiring two consumer-grade indoor air quality monitors that performed well in laboratory assessments, the Element from Element from Awair and the uHoo Smart Air Monitor. I conducted burn tests by measuring the ambient air quality, then burned a brick of piñon incense for twenty minutes and measured the air again. Then I ran one purifier at its highest speed for thirty minutes and recorded levels, then ran the unit on the lowest setting for a half hour and remeasured. I made note of the sound levels using a simple iPhone app to compare one machine’s fan noise to the next.

Over the course of a month, I used each unit in different scenarios (such as in the basements where the cat litter boxes are) and tried out each device’s smart features, controls and auto modes. I also just lived with them and evaluated how they fit into everyday life. As new purifiers come on the market and as we become aware of other units that seem worthy of inclusion, we’ll continue to test them and update this guide accordingly.

Other air purifiers we tested

Sensibo Pure

At $229, and nearly always on sale for $130, I had the Sensibo Pure pegged as a contender for a budget pick. Unfortunately, replacement filters are $99 unless you subscribe to automatic shipments and many of the app features are behind a paywall as well. It’s not certified by CARB and underperformed many of the other units in the burn test, though it did return the air back to a “good” rating according to the air monitors after 30 minutes. The design is inoffensive, it’s not overly loud and it does integrate with Sensibo’s smart AC devices, so if you’re already happy with one of those, this may be a decent option.

Dyson Purifier Cool

Like all Dyson products, this air purifier is dripping with design. It looks like no other unit on the market and it’s up to you to decide whether you like that or not. I was indifferent to the looks, but appreciated the slick and informative app, which not only displays indoor air quality, it also shows what conditions are like outside, using a clever house graphic to differentiate the two sets of numbers. I also like that it detects VOCs as well as particulates and the auto mode seemed to read the room accurately. The air coming out of the fan did indeed feel cool, though at first had a strong plastic odor. Unfortunately, it was the lowest performing unit during two separate burn tests and had repeated connectivity issues.

Molekule Air Pro

The Molekule Air Pro comes from a brand that pays keen attention to aesthetics. It and the app have that Instagrammable, muted-modern look that countless clothing and bedsheet brands emulate these days. That style doesn’t come cheap as the Air Pro costs over $1,000 and requires $140 filters. The company came under fire for and had to stop making many of its claims about its filtration abilities, which may have led to it filing for bankruptcy last year. Molekule is still able to tout its patented photoelectrochemical oxidation, which the company says destroys pollutants at a “molecular level.” In my tests, it performed almost as well as the others in improving VOC and PM2.5 levels. But it’s also very loud: When auto mode kicked the fan into high gear, it would make me tense. Also, I found the unit often indicated “bad” or “very bad” levels when my two monitors indicated the air quality was actually pretty good.

The newly-released Sonos Move 2 speaker is on sale for 20 percent off the regular price. This is the very first discount on the speaker and brings the price down to $360 from $450. This is part of a larger Sonos sale on select products to celebrate the NCAA March Madness tournament.

The Move 2 is considered a massive improvement over the original, with a jump in price to match. We called out the excellent battery life and quick-charging capabilities in our official review. Our reviewer noted that the speaker “seemed to blow past” the advertised 24 hours of battery life. There’s also a nifty charging “ring” contraption. Just plop the speaker in the middle of the ring and it’ll juice up, though USB-C charging is also an option.

Of course, this is a speaker so the sound is a primary consideration. Luckily, the Move 2 offers improved clarity over the original, with a “clear, well-balanced” sound that offers a prominent bass frequency and a detailed high end. It’s also very loud and can easily handle outdoor spaces.

There are only two downsides here. It’s technically a portable speaker, but it’s fairly large and weighs nearly seven pounds. Also, the original asking price is much higher than the first-gen Move, which has been somewhat alleviated by this sale.

The sale also includes the massively popular Beam 2 soundbar. It’s $100 off, bringing the price down to $399. The Beam snagged a place on our list of the best soundbars, due to its easy setup, compact design and fantastic sound. The aforementioned discounts are good until March 25.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

A bill that could force a sale or outright ban on TikTok passed the House of Representatives just days after it was first introduced. It now goes to the senate.

The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (no, we’re not calling it PAFACAA) is the latest attempt by the government to constrain TikTok. If it passes, it could have one of two outcomes: The parent company sells TikTok to a US-based owner, or it faces a ban from US app stores and web hosting services.

Of course, TikTok opposes the bill, saying it’s unconstitutional. But they’re not the only ones: Free speech and digital rights groups also object to the bill, with many noting that comprehensive privacy laws would be more effective at protecting Americans’ user data rather than trying to single out one app.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Fight for the Future and the Center for Democracy and Technology argued the bill would “set an alarming global precedent” for government control of social media.

Oh, and FYI: There are no spy balloons in your phone. The SIM tray is too small.

— Mat Smith

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Tesla paid no federal income tax between 2018 and 2022

It earned $4.4 billion and gave its executives $2.5 billion.

A detailed Guardian report said 35 major US companies, including Tesla, T-Mobile, Netflix, Ford Motor and Match Group, paid their top five executives more than they paid in federal income taxes between 2018 and 2022. Tesla was the worst offender. It earned $4.4 billion in those five years and gave its executives $2.5 billion. Despite that, Tesla not only didn’t pay any federal taxes, but it received $1 million in refunds from the government. Tesla boss Elon Musk is the second richest person in the world.

That’s the punchline.

Continue reading.

Musk kills Don Lemon’s new X show before it began

The first episode’s subject was Musk himself.

X

I’m sorry, more Musk. X has canceled a high-profile partnership with former CNN host Don Lemon to stream a video talk show on the platform. Lemon said the company canceled his contract hours after he interviewed X’s billionaire owner Elon Musk for the first episode of The Don Lemon Show. “Elon Musk is mad at me,” Lemon said in a video posted to X on Wednesday. “Apparently, free speech absolutism doesn’t apply when it comes to questions about him from people like me.” How’s that “video first” push going, Linda?

Continue reading.

Summer Game Fest’s 2024 Showcase on June 7

Late Friday? C’mon!

The fifth edition of Summer Game Fest takes place this year on Friday, June 7 at 5PM ET. Expect a two-hour stream of trailers and hype with… around a 10 percent success rate. With E3 officially dead, SGF is poised to take the expo’s place as the major gaming event of the year. 

Continue reading.

Proton, the privacy-focused company that offers a variety of internet tools like mail, calendars, online storage and a password manager, continues to built out its portfolio. As of today, Proton's desktop mail app for Windows and macOS is out of beta and now available to all its paid users. At the same time, Proton is also releasing its app for Linux users in beta.

If you've used Proton Mail before (or any recent / modern mail client), the app won't be a surprise —it's the standard three-pane view, with different folders on the left, a list of message in the middle and a preview of the message contents on the right. Like in Gmail, there's a right-hand rail that has icons for your contacts and calendar that'll expand to show the selected item if you click them. But for more calendar details, there's a button to switch the whole window view from mail to calendar and back. Proton Drive and Proton Pass already have a desktop app, but for now Proton is keeping it separate from mail and calendar, which makes sense. Those two tools go hand-in-hand, but storage is kind of its own thing. 

Proton

While the new mail app doesn't improve on or change the design of Proton's web tools in any major way, I can say that the beta app felt quite responsive in a little testing I did. And while I wouldn't mind more than a slightly tweaked web wrapper (being able to draft an email in its own window would be nice), I do prefer keeping my email out of my browser window. I'm sure there are other Proton users who feel the same way and will find this app pretty handy for that. 

If you're not currently paying for Proton Mail, you can give the new app a try for two weeks, but after that you'll need to upgrade your account to keep using it. The Mail Plus plan costs $4/month if you sign up for a year, or you can get Proton Unlimited for $10 per month with a year plan that includes 500GB of storage (instead of 15GB for Mail Plus) and Proton Drive, Pass and VPN.

Epic Games has already accused Apple of "malicious compliance" with the EU's new competition laws, and now it's making the same allegation stateside. In a new legal filing, it accused Apple of non-compliance with a 2021 ruling that allowed developers to bypass Apple's 30 percent cut of in-app payments and is asking the court to enforce the original injunction.

Once the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the ruling, Apple released revised guidelines, forcing developers to apply for an "entitlement," while still offering the option to purchase through Apple's own billing system. Moreover, Apple still charged a 27 percent commission on any sales made through links to external payment systems (or 12 percent for participants in the iOS Small Business Program).

Epic argued that those fees are “essentially the same” as what it charges using its own in-app payment (IAP) system. ‌To that end, it accused the company of failing to comply with the order, with the fees making the links "commercially unusable." 

It also said that Apple requires a "plain button style" for external links that's "not a button at all" and violates the injunction forcing Apple to remove restrictions on "steering" users to alternative payment "buttons, external links or other calls to action." It added that Apple violated the injunction in a third way by prohibiting multi-platform apps like Minecraft from showing external payment links. Epic included statements from other developers including Paddle and Down Dog.

"Apple’s goal is clear: to prevent purchasing alternatives from constraining the supracompetitive fees it collects on purchases of digital goods and services," the document reads. "Apple’s so-called compliance is a sham. Epic therefore seeks an order (i) finding Apple in civil contempt, (ii) requiring Apple to promptly bring its policies into compliance with the Injunction and (iii) requiring Apple to remove all anti-steering provisions in Guideline 3.1.3."

Apple previously said that it has complied with the injunction with new rules that allow alternative payment buttons or links in apps, and by letting developers "communicate with customers through points of contact obtained voluntarily from customers through account registration within the app." 

Hours after the House passed a bill that could ban TikTok in the United States, Shou Chew, the company’s CEO urged users to “protect your constitutional rights.” Chew also implied that TikTok would mount a legal challenge if the bill is passed into law.

“We will not stop fighting and advocating for you,” Chew said in a video posted to X. “We will continue to do all we can including exercising our legal rights to protect this amazing platform that we have built with you.” He also asked TikTok users in the US to share their stories with friends, families, and senators. “This legislation, if passed into law, will lead to a ban of TikTok in the United States,” Chew said. “Even the bill’s sponsors admit that’s their goal.”

The bill, known as the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” passed the House on Wednesday with bipartisan support just days after it was introduced. Should the bill pass into law, it would force TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, a Chinese corporation, to sell TikTok to a US company within six months, or be banned from US app stores and web hosting services. TikTok has challenged state-level bans in the past. Last year, TikTok sued Montana, which banned the app in the state. A federal judge temporarily blocked that ban in November before it went into effect.

Last week, TikTok sent push notifications to the app’s more than 170 million users in the US urging them to call their representatives about the potential ban. “Speak up now — before your government strips 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression,” the notification said. The wave of notifications reportedly led to House staffers being inundated with calls from high schoolers asking what a Congressman is. Lawmakers criticized the company they perceived as trying to “interfere” with the legislative process.

In his appeal, Chew said that banning TikTok would give “more power to a handful of other social media companies.” Former President Donald Trump, who once tried to force ByteDance to sell TikTok in the US, recently expressed a similar sentiment, claiming that banning TikTok would strengthen Meta whose platform, Reels, competes with TikTok directly. Chew also added that taking TikTok away would also hurt hundreds of thousands of American jobs, creators, and small businesses.