If you're looking to zhush up your workspace or gaming setup, or you simply need more screen real estate to help you get things done, you may want to consider picking up a Samsung Smart Monitor, as several models are currently on sale. Take, for instance, the 43-inch M70B. It's a 4K monitor with a 60Hz refresh rate that is currently available for $380. That's $120 off the regular price, and the lowest we've seen this monitor dip to since last year's holiday season.
The M70B can help you to get some work done without having to hook it up to a PC. You can use it to connect to a computer remotely, access the Microsoft 365 suite directly and link to a Samsung mobile device to use the Samsung DeX productivity experience. You can connect a SlimFit camera to use video calling apps such as Google Duo. The camera has a privacy cover and you can always disconnect it.
When you're done with work, you can kick back, relax and watch your favorite shows and movies via streaming apps. You'll be able to access free streaming channels through Samsung TV Plus and get personalized recommendations. You can stream games from the likes of Microsoft Cloud Gaming, NVIDIA GeForce Now and Amazon Luna as well, as it's possible to connect a wireless controller to your TV.
On top of all of that, you can use the M70B to control smart home devices. There's support for the Bixby and Amazon Alexa voice assistants, as well as AirPlay.
The sale includes deals on several other Samsung displays, including some Odyssey gaming monitors. The 32-inch Odyssey Neo G8 is a curved, 240Hz, 4K monitor with G-Sync and FreeSync Premium Pro support. It has a resolution of 3840 x 2160 and latency as low as 1ms. The Neo G8 is available right now for $1,200, or 20 percent off the regular price of $1,500.
Elsewhere, you can snap up the Odyssey G51C for $270. That's 23 percent off the typical price of $350. This is a 27-inch, QHD display with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 and a 1ms response time. There's FreeSync Premium support to minimize screen tearing as well.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsung-smart-monitors-are-up-to-25-percent-off-right-now-144231357.html?src=rss
Google is still taking a financial hit over allegations it misled customers with Pixel 4 ads. The company has agreed to pay Texas $8 million to settle claims it paid radio hosts for "deceptive" testimonials about the Pixel 4 even though the DJs couldn't use the phone beforehand. The ads continued even though Google was aware it was breaking the law, according to state Attorney General Ken Paxton's office.
The tech giant already reached a $9 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and six other states. Paxton argued the state settlement was important as Google has "significant influence," and no large company should expect "special treatment."
We've asked Google for comment. In a statement to Reuters, spokesperson José Castañeda said the company took advertising laws seriously and was "pleased to resolve" the dispute.
The high value of a separate Texas settlement isn't surprising. The state is already pursuing multiple legal actions against Google, including an antitrust case over advertising tech dominance and another lawsuit over face data collection practices. Texas is determined to limit Google's influence as an industry heavyweight wherever possible, including radio commercials.
Google isn't the only phone maker to be accused of trying to trick customers. Huawei and Samsung have both been caught passing off DSLR photos as phone camera samples. The Pixel 4 ad campaign may have been more problematic, however. Between the FTC and state claims, Google is accused of deliberately setting out to mislead listeners and continuing even when confronted over its behavior.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-will-pay-texas-8-million-to-settle-claims-of-deceptive-pixel-4-ads-132222082.html?src=rss
If I don’t sleep well, I’m a mess. That wasn’t always the case, but having a kid subjected me to two years of boot camp-level exhaustion and my reserves are gone. So I was curious whether a sleep machine could improve my shut eye in any meaningful way. Hatch’s latest device, Restore 2, combines wind-down routines, sleep noises and wake-up techniques in a $200 bedside device. The optional subscription costs another $5 per month and lets you access a larger library of content.
I set the Restore 2 on my bedside table anticipating a few breathing sessions at night and perhaps a less jarring alarm in the morning. I didn’t expect to be so enamored with its “Rest” and “Rise” routines that I’d look forward to pushing its oversized buttons each night, but that’s what happened.
Design and setup
The Restore 2 looks good on a nightstand, with a half-moon shape, neutral colors and textured fabric covering the front and back. The first generation Restore had less textile and more exposed plastic; this new version looks classier and less like a sleep machine. Hatch replaced the physical volume and brightness buttons of the first model with hidden touch controls near the clock readout. Also, instead of touch sensors on top for the alarm and routines, you have two oversized buttons. A physical toggle on the side stops the alarm from going off, even if it's been scheduled in the app.
The two big buttons are easy to find and operate without looking since the Rest circle curves downward and the Rise key bubbles up. The toggle is a tangible way to know you won’t be woken up unnecessarily on an extra day off. But the volume and brightness touch sensors are disappointing. True, the unbroken expanse of fabric looks nice, but the capacitive controls are finicky if you come at them from an odd angle – such as lying down in a bed. I found myself twisting and struggling to turn down the sound, when a simple push button would have made things easier.
Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget
Setup is a non-event. Plug the device in, open the app and let the Restore 2 connect to your WiFi. Time sets automatically and you can schedule the on-device clock to turn off at night. I love this feature; I wake at least once each night and the first thing I do is look at the time so I can worry about how much longer I have before I have to get up. With no display, I don’t get anxious and just go back to sleep. If you need that info, you can just tap on the side of the device and the time will pop up for a few seconds.
After choosing alarm sounds and lights, the app walks you through picking out your “routines.” You essentially make two of them: one for sleeping and one for waking up. A Rest routine might consist of a breathing exercise and an ambient music mix to get you drowsy, followed by flowing river sounds while you sleep. Wake-up sessions could include gentle guided stretches and a motivational talk.
From the Wake menu, I chose a four-minute guided stretch called “Shine & Rise” and a two-minute “Jump Start” motivational talk. For the evening, I picked out a three-minute body scan followed by 15 minutes of ambient music and added pink noise to play the rest of the night. You can adjust the brightness and volume levels of each element, but since I was setting this up midday in an active house, it was hard to tell how bright and loud things would feel at 10 PM, so I stuck with the defaults.
Turns out the defaults did not work for me. I got in bed, pressed the Rest button and was greeted by a bright reddish light and someone speaking at a normal conversation level. Right next to my head in an otherwise silent house, that was far too loud and bright. I then spent the next 20 minutes messing with the app to adjust the levels. Of course, I could have used the touch controls for a temporary adjustment, but I wanted to get my defaults right for consecutive nights.
The app has a few inconsistencies, too. You can replace an existing step from the library; you can’t add to your routine. You can only do that through the Rest or Rise tab. Yet, browsing from those tabs won’t show full descriptions of the segments; that info is only available in the library view. That creates some back and forth that could be streamlined. I was also disappointed when a routine repeated content from earlier in the week. A motivational speech doesn't have the same impact if you just heard it two days ago. It only happened a few times, but I wish there were failsafes against same-week duplication.
Once, a seeming glitch made the Restore 2 start my evening routine at 100 percent volume and brightness, waking the whole house. The volume controls didn’t respond, so, in a panic, I just unplugged the whole thing. The problem resolved after I reconnected the app from my phone, but I wish that defaulting to scream-level sounds was an impossibility. I asked a Hatch representative about the mishap and was told it had to do with an older version of the Hatch Sleep app, and should be resolved with the latest update.
Rest and wake routines
In all, it took a week of adjustments to set things to my taste. As it turns out, I’m too squirmy at night for a meditative breathing session, so I tried something I didn’t think I’d like: sleep stories. The 25-minute “Train of Thought” is presented by a friendly conductor who tells you mildly interesting things about trains before collecting tickets from her passengers, asking them where they’re going as the click-clack of rails play in the background. Her sing-song “Tickets… tickets, please… tickets…” is now more effective at putting me to sleep than popping a melatonin.
I did need to adjust how I respond to hearing a story. If I miss so much as a preposition in an audiobook, I’ll rewind. My active brain wanted to do the same with the sleep stories, but allowing myself to tune in and out let me use the narration as a raft, something to return to when my thoughts took me out to sea. Soon I was all done thinking and ready to sleep.
After the story, a 15-minute music segment called “Ambient Overlook” played its combo of wind and naturescapes with quiet strings and synths. For sleep sounds, I tried pink noise but that sounded too much like an ebbing ocean that never comes back to shore. I thought I’d like a flowing river, but it just made me have to pee. I tested out Hair Dryer, Forest Wind and Thunderstorm before finding my goldilocks track: Road Trip, which is just the steady sound of tires on asphalt and the low rumble of passing cars. I adjusted it to turn off after about a half hour because the sounds woke me up during lighter periods of sleep.
Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget
A blaring alarm can ruin whatever peace you found in the land of nod, but Restore 2’s music, tones and field recordings come on softly then build up enough steam to get you up. One exception is Retro Beep – its shrill, electronic staccato should pierce through the deepest sleeper’s dreams. I went with windchimes, which are randomized and high-pitched enough to get me up, but the first few bongs are so subtle that they slip in under my consciousness. It’s the most gentle alarm I’ve ever used.
The sunrise light goes off before your alarm, which can help some people, particularly those who sleep with blackout curtains, to more gradually wake up. I set the sunrise glow to activate 10 minutes before my alarm, but it doesn’t tend to wake me, probably because my room is not light proof so the change is hard for me to detect. I’m curious if that will be different during winter when I’m getting up in the dark.
As it happens, the Rise routine I picked when I first set things up works best for me. I tried others: “Pop Cultured” pulls inspiration from things like Rocky III and the Wu-Tang Clan. “The Reset” uses repeated self-affirmations to help generate positive thinking. But right now, Becca’s stretches in “Shine & Rise” help spur the transition from sleep zombie to mobile human, and Dane’s “Jump Start” motivations have actually made me approach my day differently. Once he suggested doing the “hardest thing first,” which led me to ship back a bulky review unit that I’d been putting off. Another morning, he advised not to think of the stuff on your list as what you have to do, but rather what you get to do. That stuck with me.
Membership
Hatch adds content regularly that only paying members can access, and that’s my biggest reservation about the Restore 2. After paying $200 for the device, a $5-per-month subscription is all but required to get the most out of it. Even if you save on the cost with a yearly $50 plan, after two years, you’ve paid $300 for an alarm clock. True, it’s a good one. And I understand that the company charges a monthly fee to keep producing new content.
Without a membership, you get some but not all sleep sounds (white noise, nature scapes, etc.), plus alarm sounds and sunrise lights — no sleep stories, no morning stretches. I signed up for the free week-long trial and, though I planned to, I haven’t canceled just yet.
Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget
If you don’t plan to pay for the membership, there are cheaper options for sunrise clocks. Smart displays are another option. Amazon’s $85 smart display, the Echo Show 5 fits on a bedside table and, depending on which services and Skills you connect to, can get you up in a slew of different ways. Google’s Nest Hub not only has a sunrise alarm, it also tracks sleep and retails for $100. And if you just want motivational and sleep content without having to buy a new device, you can get a subscription-based app like Headspace, which plays meditations, stories, and other talks straight from your phone. Other apps, like Sleepwave, use steadily improving motion-sensing tech in your phone to track sleep.
Wrap-up
I’m surprised by how much I like using the Restore 2. It makes a difference in the way I fall asleep, letting my brain go quiet much faster than it would otherwise. The alarm tone wakes me gently to the point that it’s almost eerie, and I like that you can turn the clock off entirely if you prefer a fully dark room. Once I got the settings dialed in, the Restore 2 became a habit I looked forward to. And the content Hatch creates isn’t a rehash of greeting-card poems and motivational poster rip-offs — it's thoughtful, intelligent sessions and stories, paired with competently produced music and sounds — all of which add up to a better night’s sleep.
Of course, if you have a partner with a different sleep schedule, running the routines might prove a little awkward. I also worried when I kept having to mess with the app to figure out what content and which settings worked for me. (I try not to use my phone in the bedroom.) And I don’t love adding another subscription to my life, which comes on top of the already-pricey $200 device. Ultimately, the Hatch Restore 2 has the right combination of external design and worthwhile content to usher you into dreamland — as long as you’re willing to pay for it.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hatch-restore-2-review-better-sleep-behind-a-paywall-130028052.html?src=rss
On Thursday, Twitter CEO Elon Musk said he'd appointed someone to take over from him as CEO, and it didn't take long for that person's identity to be confirmed. Less than a day later, Musk confirmed NBCUniversal's head of ad sales, Linda Yaccarino, is taking on the job. Yaccarino is expected to start her new role in around six weeks and "will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design and new technology," Musk wrote.
Yaccarino is known for being an "industry advocate for finding better ways to measure the effectiveness of advertising," according to The Wall Street Journal. Yaccarino’s efforts at NBCU have included a close partnership with Twitter. This recently expanded for the 2024 Olympic Games, which will see Twitter host video from the event. Yaccarino tweeted at Musk around the time news emerged of the companies' renewed partnership. “Hey, @elonmusk, here’s an idea for our new partnership: Periscope for Paris 2024. Let’s just go hi-res first," Yaccarino wrote.
Is that what we can expect from the new boss? Periscope, resurrected?
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Google definitely doesn't want to be left behind with AI.
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It was a huge week for tech news: Google I/O happened, and we finally got a close look at the Pixel Fold and the company’s latest AI plans. Engadget Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham also joins the podcast to discuss his review of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the follow-up to one of the greatest games ever made.
It had been exclusive to Sony’s retail site since launch.
PlayStation VR2 is now widely available after a two-month stint of exclusivity at Sony’s Direct consumer storefront. The company revealed this would be happening last month but did not set an official date and didn’t say which retailers would offer the headset. Well, now we know. You can pick up the PSVR2 at Amazon, GameStop, Best Buy and other smaller retailers.
The first M3 chips will reportedly arrive later this year.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is testing an M3 chipset with a 12-core processor and 18-core GPU. He speculates the M3 variant Apple is testing is the base-level M3 Pro the company plans to release sometime next year. Notably, the M3 line is expected to take advantage of TSMC’s forthcoming 3nm node process. The move from 5nm to 3nm would appear to account for the increase in core density. Before we see the pro chip, however, we’d first expect Apple to reveal the standard M3 chip.
The Apple Watch Ultra is is one of the best wearables for sports and outdoors enthusiasts thanks to the durable design and high-end features, but that $799 price tag can be hard to digest. If you've been waiting for a deal, now's the time to buy as it's on sale at Amazon for just $702 ($97 or 12 percent of) — the lowest price we've seen to date.
The Apple Watch Ultra is truly built for outdoor activity. It offers refined navigation and compass-based features, like the ability to set waypoints and ability to retrace your steps if you get lost. For scuba enthusiasts and others, there's a depth gauge and dive computer too. As such, it's the ideal wearable for hikers and divers.
Other features are geared toward endurance athletes, like the accurate route tracking and pace calculations that make use of a dual-frequency GPS. And Apple still includes the health features found in other Watch models too, like sleep tracking, temperature sensing and electrocardiogram readings, along with messaging, audio playback and Apple Pay. It offers a stellar 36 hours of battery life as well and up to 60 hours in low-power mode.
On the downside, the Apple Watch Ultra has a chunky (though rugged) case that you may not find comfortable to wear to bed. Moreover, the positioning of the action button is a little awkward, because it's right where many people will go to steady the Apple Watch Ultra with one finger while they press the digital crown or side button. Still, it garnered an excellent score of 85 in our review. That $702 price is a killer deal, but keep in mind that it's only offered on the model with the Ocean Yellow band.
NASA has pulled the plug on its Lunar Flashlight project, which was designed to look for sources of ice on our nearest neighbor. The agency spent the last few months trying, and failing, to get the craft to generate the necessary amount of thrust to get the small satellite to its intended destination. Officials say that the issue was likely caused by debris buildup in the fuel lines, which prevented the CubeSat from working to its full potential.
The “briefcase sized” Lunar Flashlight first launched in December, and was developed by students at Georgia Tech. Once deployed, it was expected to start a four-month journey to the moon, after which point it would look for surface water ice at the moon’s perpetually-dark south pole. Unfortunately, despite a months-long effort to remedy the issue, the craft will proceed past Earth and then fly into the orbit, but hopefully not too close to, the sun.
NASA is choosing to take a glass half-full approach to the failure, pointing to the success of many of the project’s components. Barbara Cohen, principal investigator at the Goddard Space Flight Center, said that while it’s disappointing, the mission proved the efficacy of several tools first used on the satellite. And that researchers "collected a lot of in-flight performance data on the instrument that will be incredibly valuable to future iterations."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nasa-ends-its-lunar-flashlight-mission-101557786.html?src=rss
Apple's iPhone 14 Emergency SOS satellite feature launched last year in the US and Canada, then came to France, Germany, Ireland and the UK shortly afterwards. Now, it's finally launching elsewhere on the planet, coming to New Zealand and Australia — two countries with large wilderness areas lacking any cellular service. As before, it's available to all iPhone 14 users ( iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max) on iOS 16.4 or greater and is free for two years following activation.
"Australians know full well the importance of remaining connected in regional, rural, and remote areas, particularly when they need emergency services," said Australia’s minister of communications, Michelle Rowland, in a statement. "The ability to contact Triple Zero with Emergency SOS via satellite when there is no mobile coverage is a strong backup to keep Australians connected in an emergency."
Emergency SOS via Satellite is activated by a long press on the power and volume buttons, or rapidly pressing the power button five times. The interface guides you on the best direction to point your iPhone for the best signal. Once connected, you can open a message interface with emergency service providers, and the phone will also communicate your location. If everything goes to plan, you'll receive a message that responders have been notified, and to stay where you are.
You can also share your location with family members in a non-emergency using the Find My app. Users simply open the Me tab, swipe up to see My Location via Satellite, and tap Send My Location. It also works with iPhone and Apple Watch Crash and Fall Detection features. There's even a demo mode that lets you practice using Emergency SOS so you can act quickly if a real emergency arises.
"Since launching last year, Emergency SOS via satellite has already helped save lives in the 12 countries where it has been available," Apple noted. It added that users should be patient if they use the feature, as "it can take a few minutes for even short messages to get through" due to the low bandwidth and rapid speeds of satellites.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-iphone-14-emergency-sos-feature-arrives-in-new-zealand-and-australia-090241910.html?src=rss
Apple is testing an M3 chipset with a 12-core processor and 18-core GPU, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman reports a source sent him App Store developer logs that show the chip running on an unannounced MacBook Pro with macOS 14. He speculates the M3 variant Apple is testing is the base-level M3 Pro the company plans to release sometime next year.
Notably, the M3 line is expected to take advantage of TSMC’s forthcoming 3nm node process. The move from 5nm to 3nm would appear to account for the increase in core density. If you recall, the M1 Pro and M2 Pro feature eight- and 10-core processors, alongside 14 and 16-core GPUs. Put another way, the M3 Pro reportedly features 50 percent more CPU cores than its first-generation predecessor. Per Gurman, Apple has gone with an even split between high-performance and efficiency cores on the new silicon. He says the chip was spotted configured with 36GB of RAM. For context, the M2 Pro starts with 16GB of memory, and you can upgrade it to feature up to 32GB of RAM.
Of course, before Apple announces the M3 Pro, the company first needs to release the standard M3 chip. “My belief is the first Macs with M3 chips will begin arriving toward the end of the year or early next year,” Gurman notes. In the meantime, Apple is expected to announce its newest Mac, the long-rumored 15-inch MacBook Air, at WWDC 2023 next month.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-m3-pro-chipset-could-feature-12-cpu-cores-205959150.html?src=rss
If a Pixel phone is your daily driver, you may want to keep a charger nearby. An Engadget reader contacted us on Sunday to report that their Pixel 6 Pro has recently been overheating and excessively draining its battery. They suspect the culprit is the Google app and an update that began rolling out on May 12th.
“I haven't touched my phone in the past hour. It's just been on a standard wireless charger,” the reader says of a screenshot (seen below) they sent of their phone’s settings menu, showing the Google app burning through the 6 Pro’s battery in the background. “Still very hot, and if I didn't roll back to a different version, I wouldn't have a net increase on my phone's battery.”
Courtesy of Engadget reader
A visit to Reddit and the Google support forums shows other Pixel users are experiencing the same issue. “It just started yesterday. Massive battery usage from Google app and to a lesser degree Android System Intelligence. I just went through and did a factory reset, reinstalled most things and it's still happening,” one Reddit user wrote. “Beyond the battery not lasting the phone is getting really warm so I know it's harming the battery and potentially the CPU.”
Those who have tried contacting Google report the company’s support staff haven’t been very helpful. Some users say rolling back to an older version of the Google app hasn’t fixed the problem for them. “Actually ended up with an even older version from May 10, still draining the battery,” writes one Redditor. The reader who contacted us suspects the problem may be server-side. “Google app keeps wrecking the battery regardless of version, and I've rolled all the way back to May 1st,” they write. “I don't know how to see if the app is trying to call home or on a loop with something like that, but the symptoms remain the same.”
Google did not immediately respond to Engadget’s comment request. If the Google app is at fault here, it wouldn’t be the first time a software update has caused headaches for Pixel users. Last May, Google had to patch the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro after an earlier update caused the phones to produce much weaker haptic feedback. The year before the company paused the rollout of its December Pixel update after users found it was making their phones drop calls.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/pixel-users-report-the-google-app-is-making-their-phones-overheat-193325112.html?src=rss
On the eve of potentially one of the most consequential elections in the country’s history, Twitter began blocking posts in Turkey. “In response to legal process and to ensure Twitter remains available to the people of Turkey, we have taken action to restrict access to some content in Turkey today,” the company tweeted on Friday, in English and Turkish. “We have informed the account holders of this action in line with our policy. This content will remain available in the rest of the world.”
In response to legal process and to ensure Twitter remains available to the people of Turkey, we have taken action to restrict access to some content in Turkey today.
— Twitter Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) May 13, 2023
Twitter didn’t say which tweets it was blocking, and the company no longer operates a communications department Engadget could contact for more information. Predictably, the decision to comply with a censorship request from the Turkish government has put a spotlight on Elon Musk’s free speech beliefs. On Friday, Musk, who named Linda Yaccarino as the next CEO of Twitter that same day, lashed out at Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias when he suggested the decision “should generate some interesting Twitter Files reporting.”
“Did your brain fall out of your head, Yglesias? The choice is have Twitter throttled in its entirety or limit access to some tweets. Which one do you want?” Musk tweeted at Yglesias.
Did your brain fall out of your head, Yglesias? The choice is have Twitter throttled in its entirety or limit access to some tweets. Which one do you want?
As The Washington Post notes, Sunday’s election could have significant ramifications for Turkey. After two decades in power, Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces the most credible threat to his presidency in recent memory. Ahead of Sunday’s contest, most polls showed opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu had a slight lead on his opponent. If elected, Kilicdaroglu has promised to reshape the country’s domestic policy. Erdogan’s defeat could also have a profound impact on Turkey’s relationship with other powers in the region, including Russia and NATO. Per CNN, If one candidate can’t win more than 50 percent of the vote, the country will hold a run-off election on May 28th. As of the writing of this article, Erdogan holds an 11 percentage point lead on Kilicdaroglu, though that could change as more ballots are counted.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitter-limits-access-to-some-tweets-in-turkey-ahead-of-tightly-contested-election-171432725.html?src=rss
