You can pick up two Tile Pro trackers on Amazon for just $48. This is 20 percent off and the lowest price we’ve seen all year for these handy little Bluetooth trackers. This deal gets you one black Tile and one white Tile, though there are also discounts on single trackers.
The Tile Pro is a stellar tracking device. It made our list of the best Bluetooth trackers for some very good reasons. The key-fob shaped device is sturdy and easy to use. We enjoyed the lengthy connectivity range and the higher-than-average ring volume, at 78 decibels. You’ll hear this thing, even if the device it's attached to is buried underneath a couch cushion somewhere.
We found the tracker to be highly accurate during our finder network tests. This is also the only Tile device with a replaceable battery, so you won’t have to trash the tracker when it fails. The battery that ships with the device lasts around a year. It uses a standard CR2032, which is easy to find and budget-friendly.
Though the tracker works with both Android and Apple devices, we had less luck with the iOS ecosystem. The iPhone experience was plagued by connectivity issues and a lack of alerts. This is the tracker to get for those tied to Android. There’s one final caveat. Tile requires a subscription to enable separation alerts, which goes for $3 per month or $30 per year. This isn’t needed for regular household use, but comes in handy if you lose something out in the world. For the price of a subscription, the company also throws in a free battery each year and will reimburse up to $100 on lost items.
Less than a month after dropping to its all-time low price, our favorite budget MacBook is back on sale for $829. That's right — Apple's 2022 MacBook Air has a 17 percent discount, cutting its price from $999. This deal is available for the 256GB model in every color but doesn't include AppleCare+.
Apple's 2022 MacBook Air might not be the flashiest option on the market, but it's really good. In fact, we dubbed it a "near-perfect Mac" in our review — in which we also gave it a score of 96. There are so many things to like about the 13.6-inch MacBook, including its Liquid Retina screen that offers 500 nits of brightness and a 60Hz refresh rate. The screen is slightly bigger and the device is slightly thinner than its predecessor, providing an extra bit of sleekness to the model.
The biggest change for the 2022 MacBook Air was its M2 chip. The M2 features eight CPU cores and up to 10 GPU cores, making it a great, fast-performing option — even as Apple launches an M4 chip. The MacBook also has a quad-speaker system, compatible with Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos. Plus, there's a three-mic array for excellent video chat quality.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-13-inch-macbook-air-m2-drops-back-down-to-a-record-low-of-829-140002280.html?src=rss
If you've ever wanted an AI assistant to do make sure your PC is optimized for whatever game you're playing, NVIDIA may have the answer. The company is showing off a new demo called G-Assist, a GeForce-powered AI chatbot that might one day help reduce the more tedious aspects of gaming.
G-Assist performs a couple of key functions around both setup and directly in games. In a demo running inside ARK: Survival Ascended, NVIDIA shows it answering queries like "what's the next early game weapon and where do I find the crafting materials for it." In response, it points out that the best one is a spear and describes how to gather wood, flint and fiber to make one.
Some purists might see that as cheating, but another G-Assist tool looks to be less ethically fraught. If you ask it to optimize settings for a game like Cyberpunk 2077, it can do things like directly apply the highest quality graphics settings. It can also analyze your system as a whole and recommend changes like boosting your 4K monitor refresh rate from 60Hz to 144Hz.
NVIDIA has used the G-Assist name before for a 2017 April Fool's joke, saying the AI would play games for you in "Ghostplay" mode while you went to pay for a pizza at the door. The new G-Assist can't do that, but it could still be helpful by eliminating the busywork needed for system optimization. It's just a demonstration for now, but NVIDIA is actively signing up developers interested in learning more about the project.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nvidias-latest-ai-feature-is-in-game-help-131826701.html?src=rss
When Dolby made a play for the headphones market in 2018, its tech-packed Dimension model offered excellent sound quality, but the $599 price was too high to take hold. Now Sonos, another key player in living room audio over the last decade, has entered similarly uncharted territory. After years of hints and rumors, the Sonos Ace ($449) arrives this week, and the company is delivering the refined design you’d expect along with some impressive audio quality. The way these headphones integrate with its speakers isn’t what many expected, but the feature works well. However, one thing that may mire an otherwise stellar debut is limited support for the Ace at launch.
Sound quality and ANC performance
Given Sonos’ sonic prowess, I had high expectations for sound quality on the Ace. Indeed, the company’s first set of headphones offers audio quality on par with its high-end speakers, with some home theater features thrown in. 40mm dynamic drivers deliver both power and clarity that put the Ace near the top of our list of best wireless headphones when it comes to sound performance. Bass is big and boomy for kick drum thumps on Bilmuri’s post-hardcore “Talkin’ 2 Ur Ghost,” but it's appropriately restrained on Wyatt Flores’ country foot-tapper “Milwaukee,” where there’s still plenty of detail in the more subdued rhythm section.
Like many Sonos speakers, the Ace excels with Dolby Atmos content. And that goes for both music and TV/movies. There's an Apple Music Live set from Luke Combs that was filmed at a country venue while most of those sessions are in a studio. With the Ace, you get a strong sense that you’re at the show. The reverb, singing crowd, loudness of the venue mix and the natural qualities of a live band are all enhanced on these headphones. When I watched Drive to Survive or the final siege in Rogue One, the Ace shone with the directional zooms of F1 cars and spacecraft.
The Sonos Ace supports lossless audio in two ways. The first is via a wired USB-C connection. The second is exclusive to recent Android devices. If you have one of those, you’ll be able to use aptX Lossless from Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound platform that allows higher-quality sound over Bluetooth. This second option wasn’t available during the review period so I wasn’t able to test it, but Sonos says it will be ready when the Ace ships on June 5.
There aren’t many companies that come close to Apple with their ambient sound mode, but Sonos gives the AirPods Max some competition. Apple has mastered natural-sounding transparency audio and the Ace nearly attains that, providing one of the few setups where I could adequately hear my voice without feeling the need to shout. This is great when you need to have a quick conversation or use the Ace for a call. It also means you have a firm grasp on your surroundings, not a somewhat muted version of them.
Active noise cancellation (ANC) is another area where Sonos doesn’t have much experience, and it’s one of few stumbles on the Ace. Constant noise, while muted, is still discernible unless the volume is turned up. You’ll also need to set it at a considerable level to drown out human voices. It’s probably enough to get the job done in many scenarios, but it’s not on par with Bose or Sony.
TV Audio Swap and True Cinema
Billy Steele for Engadget
Where the Ace flexes its Sonos wings is the ability to receive audio from one of the company’s soundbars. The feature, called TV Audio Swap, allows you to do so with the press of a button – either on the headphones or inside the Sonos app. Basically, the tool creates private listening in your living room when your family has gone to bed or at other times you don’t want to disturb them. After a quick setup to link the Ace with your Sonos soundbar, TV Audio Swap really is as quick and easy as pressing a button. And because a Sonos soundbar is connected to your TV via HDMI ARC, this works with streaming devices and game consoles that are routed through the speaker.
When you activate the TV Audio Swap, a Wi-Fi chip inside the Ace takes over to receive signals from the soundbar. Low-energy Bluetooth remains connected to your phone for controls and settings, but you won’t get device swapping like you would with multipoint Bluetooth. This means if you get a call, you have to un-swap for Bluetooth to reconnect (it also means your phone won’t ring in the headphones if TV Audio Swap is active).
Spatial audio and Dolby head tracking are only available when TV Audio Swap is on. You can disable one or both of those, but spatial audio does a good job of upmixing stereo content into something more immersive. A prime example is TNT’s broadcasts of the NBA playoffs. Regularly, the commentary trio is clear with a bit of crowd noise in the background, but after Sonos does its tricks, the announcers are more prominent and dynamic. Plus, the cheers of the crowd envelope you so it feels more like you’re in the arena.
Dynamic head tracking works well on the Ace, and Sonos uniquely implements it to make it less annoying when you need to move around. First, it’s not overly sensitive, so subtle movements like looking down at your phone won’t rejigger the sound positioning. Second, if you walk away from the connected soundbar, head tracking will deactivate until you’re back in close proximity. This means whatever you’re listening to is not stuck behind you when you walk away and it doesn’t constantly rotate around your head during a quick jaunt to the kitchen.
Billy Steele for Engadget
The main caveat here is that TV Audio Swap only works with the Sonos Arc soundbar for now. Sonos says support for both generations of the Beam and the Ray is on the way, but there’s no definitive timeline for it yet. What’s more, there aren’t any plans to allow a similar feature for users who have a pair of speakers for home entertainment purposes. The company didn’t rule it out as part of a future update, but for now if you have two Era 300 units flanking your TV, you’re out of luck. Audio swap is also only available in the iOS version of the app for now, so Android users will have to wait.
If you were hoping to send audio to the Ace as if it were a speaker in your Sonos multiroom setup, you’re going to be disappointed. There isn’t a hand-off feature to easily transition from your commute to home listening on a speaker either. Some iteration of those would’ve relied more heavily on Wi-Fi and thus impacted battery life, according to Sonos. Instead, the company opted for this clever sound swapping that only uses Wi-Fi when you’re piggybacking off of a soundbar.
Chances are if you’ve used a Sonos speaker, you’re familiar with TruePlay, which maps the acoustics of a room with the microphones in one of the company’s devices. There’s a version of that for the Ace, called True Cinema, but it works differently. True Cinema virtualizes surround sound for a room inside the headphones to make it seem like you’re not wearing the Ace at all. Sonos argues that if you replicate the acoustics of your living room for the headphones, it enhances the immersion. Unfortunately, this is one more thing that’s not ready yet, so I wasn’t able to test it.
Design
Billy Steele for Engadget
Given Sonos’ attention to detail on its speakers, it's no surprise that it also obsessed over the design of its first headphones. The shape of the ear cups takes inspiration from devices like the Move 2 and the company opted for a mix of matte finishes, stainless steel and vegan leather to complete the high-end look. To me, the white version looks a bit more premium given the contrast of the silver metal accents compared to the tone-on-tone aesthetic of the black option.
A key design choice that contributes to the Ace’s chic is the hidden hinge. Whereas a lot of headphones fold in on themselves for storage, Sonos chose to simply have the ear cups rotate flat to fit in their carrying case. It’s a move Apple employed for the AirPods Max and one that companies like Sony have used in the past as well. Thanks to the svelte silhouette of the ear cups, and really of the Ace overall, these headphones don’t take up much space in a bag. What’s more, Sonos included a magnetic cord pouch for the case and both USB-C and USB-C to 3.5mm cables in the box. Your move, Apple.
The Ace is also very comfortable. Memory foam ear pads, a cushioned headband and a shape that fits well on big heads like mine really help. They feel lightweight and there’s no clamping pressure around my ears. And while I wasn’t able to test these on a flight, I could see the Ace being a great companion on a long-haul trip, especially since they remained comfy for the entirety of a movie using TV Audio Swap.
Battery life
Sonos promises 30 hours of use with the Ace with ANC active. That’s on par with flagship models from the likes of Bose and Sony, and it’s 10 hours more than AirPods Max. During my test with looping audio at 60 to 70 percent volume, I managed 30 minutes more than the company pledges. Sonos is clear that TV Audio Swap impacts its stated figure, so you’ll want to keep that in mind if you have a binge session coming up. But, I didn’t notice any drastic drain during my evaluations. If you do find yourself at zero, a quick-charge feature gives you three hours of listening time in just three minutes.
The competition
Billy Steele for Engadget
At this price, the primary competition for the Ace is the AirPods Max. Apple’s over-ear headphones are $100 more at full price, but we’ve seen them drop to $450 as recently as this month. Since they’re AirPods, they sync with iPhone, iPad and Mac to offer more convenience than the Ace. That includes automatic pairing with devices you’ve linked to iCloud, seamless switching when you get a call, hands-free Siri and Adaptive EQ sound tweaks. Spatial audio with head tracking is available on the Max too, and they’re comfortable to wear for long periods of time despite the premium materials.
A cheaper option, and the best ANC headphones for most people looking for active noise cancellation, is the Sony WH-1000XM5. Simply put, no other company offers the long list of features that Sony does on its flagship model. In addition to great sound and powerful ANC, the company’s tools like Speak-to-Chat, Adaptive Sound Control and DSEE Extreme audio upscaling expand the capabilities of the 1000XM5. Spatial sound via 360 Reality Audio is limited to certain services, but Sony built a comfy device that’s easy to enjoy for hours at a time for any content. Of course, the 1000XM5 is also considerably cheaper than the Ace at the current price of $330.
Wrap-up
After a years-long wait, Sonos delivered an impressive headphone debut with the Ace. There’s room for improvement in some areas and it’s disappointing that updates to the Android app, support for all of the company’s soundbars and a key home theater feature are arriving at a date that’s yet to be determined. There’s no doubt that Sonos built a great-looking set of headphones that sound excellent, but a bit more polish could’ve gone a long way.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonos-ace-headphones-review-an-impressive-but-incomplete-debut-130040041.html?src=rss
Spotify announced the price hikes less than a year after its previous one last July. Before that, Spotify hadn't raised its fees since launching a decade and a half ago. I guess it was too optimistic to hope the next increase would also take that long, especially with Spotify's continued focus (and money dump) on audiobooks.
Premium subscribers should receive an email from Spotify in the next month detailing the price hike and providing a link to cancel their plan if they would prefer to do so. Users currently on a trial period for Spotify will get one month at $11 after it ends before being moved up to a $12 monthly fee.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/spotify-is-raising-the-cost-of-premium-subscriptions-again-123058485.html?src=rss
The first crewed launch of Boeing’s Starliner was scrubbed less than four minutes before liftoff after a computer failed to launch the correct countdown. It’s the squillionth setback for the craft, (our math may be out a little) which should support the next generation of spaceflight. NASA says it’ll target June 5 for its next launch attempt. At this point, we’ll believe it when we see it.
ASUS knows how to make a good PC, so it’s no surprise to see its second-generation gaming handheld is an improvement on the original. Sam Rutherford has been trying out the ROG Ally X, for which only the display and chip are unchanged from the original. And while you can guess what his impression is from the headline, you should still click through to see if it’s worth buying.
Unsurprisingly, 20-year-old Facebook isn’t what young adults flock to. But bless Meta for trying to change that. In an update, Tom Alison, who heads up the Facebook app for Meta, says the service is shifting to reflect an “increased focus on young adults.” Meta executives have been trying to win over young adults for years. Mark Zuckerberg said almost three years ago he wanted to make them the company’s “North Star.”
Alison’s note makes no mention of the metaverse beyond using AI in its products (without getting remotely specific) — I’m not sure how Facebook plans to appeal to those young adults.
Dyson continues to experiment in the robot vacuum arena. The Dyson 360 Vis Nav has been available in other parts of the world for a while, but it recently came stateside to the tune of $1,200. The company claims a 360-degree vision system, with cameras and LED lights, along with suction power similar to its stick vacuum. Is it good in real life? Yes. Is it perfect? No.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-starliners-crewed-flight-gets-scrubbed-111519077.html?src=rss
ASUS announced a trio of new releases in its ProArt line of laptops at this week’s Computex expo in Taipei. These devices are generally thinner, lighter and more portable than previous generations, though that’s where the similarities end. Let’s get into it.
The ProArt 16 is a thinner and lighter version of the ProArt Studiobook, which we absolutely loved. The refreshed design is based on the chassis found with the ROG G16, but with some crucial differences. There’s a 4K 60Hz screen and a virtual dialpad instead of the physical knob found on the Studiobook. It features a nano black coating that is said to be fingerprint-resistant.
ASUS
As for specs, it comes with AMD's all-new Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor that can deliver 50 TOPS of NPU performance. For added power, it also offers an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, for a combined 321 TOPS score. That makes it "the first AI PC of its kind built for advanced AI workflows across creativity, gaming, productivity and more," NVIDIA claims.
There's a 16-inch 4K OLED display and it can be souped up with up to 64GB of RAM and 4TB of solid-state storage. It's also a Copilot+ PC, so it has the button to call up Microsoft’s digital assistant and plenty of other AI bells and whistles like the company’s StoryCube file management software.
ASUS
The ProArt PX13 is a different beast entirely. This laptop is a 2-in-1 hybrid that’s based on the same chassis as the ROG Flow X13. It also comes equipped with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor and up to an Nvidia GeForce 4060 GPU. There’s a 2.8K OLED touch display that supports HDR content. This hybrid has also been slimmed down, coming in at just three pounds.
The PZ13 is also resistant to dust and water, thanks to a rubber splash cover with an IP52 rating. It even comes with a full-size SD card reader, which is a rarity with convertibles, and a 5MP front camera with IR support and a 13MP rear-facing camera. Just like all of these ProArt laptops, this one is light at 1.8 pounds.
The ASUS ProArt P16 (H7606) is now on pre-order at the ASUS Store or Best Buy, starting at $1,900. The ProArt PX13 (HN7306) is also available for pre-order at the ASUS or Best Buy websites, while the Qualcomm-powered ASUS ProArt PZ13 will arrive in Q3 of 2024.
Steve Dent contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/asus-slimmed-down-proart-laptops-focus-on-ai-features-100831698.html?src=rss
ASUS unveiled a bunch of new laptops at this week’s Computex tech expo in Taipei, including a Zenbook refresh. The Zenbook S16 is as sleek and well-designed as ever, but comes with a spate of iterative improvements and a couple of major updates.
It's equipped with AMD's Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, announced just hours ago. That chip promises improved laptop AI performance with 50 TOPS of processing power, triple AMD's previous laptop hardware. That makes it suitable for Copilot+, meaning Qualcomm isn't the only game in town for Microsoft's AI assistant.
ASUS
One thing worth pointing out is that this laptop is extremely thin and light for a 16-inch model, clocking in at just over three pounds with a thickness of just 1.1cm or 0.4 inches. The cooling system has also been revamped, with a new top vent and an ultra-thin vapor chamber. Better laptop cooling is always much appreciated.
It still features the same signature aluminum ceramic coating as found with last year’s Zenbook 14X, but ASUS changed the name of the finish to, wait for it, Ceraluminum. What a portmanteau!
There’s a 16-inch 3K OLED touchscreen with a max refresh rate of 120Hz. The 78Wh battery makes it a great option for all-day use and the six-speaker setup from Harman Kardon will certainly pump out the jams. It also supports Wi-Fi 7, includes up to 2TB of solid-state storage and can be specced out with up to 32GB of RAM.
The ASUS Zenbook S16 starts at $1,400 and is now available to pre-order at Best Buy in white or gray colors.
Steve Dent contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-asus-zenbook-s16-laptop-boasts-an-ultra-thin-design-and-amds-latest-ai-chip-093745114.html?src=rss
Microsoft's Copilot+ initiative for super-charged AI PCs is becoming more of a reality at Computex 2024. Today, AMD announced its next major chip platforms, Ryzen AI 300 for notebooks and Ryzen 9000 for desktops, which respectively target beefier laptop AI performance and fast gaming on desktops. Notably, Ryzen AI 300 chips feature a revamped neural processing unit (NPU) with 50 TOPS (tera operations per second) of AI performance, more than three times AMD's previous laptop hardware. The new desktop processors, meanwhile, are reportedly 16 percent faster than their predecessors when it comes to overall performance.
The key takeaway from these announcements is that Qualcomm is no longer the only company able to gloat about fast AI hardware for Copilot+ PCs. That initiative, which Microsoft unveiled a few weeks ago, sets a new baseline specification standard for AI PCs. Copilot+ PCs require an NPU with at least 40 TOPS of AI performance, 16GB of RAM and 256GB SSDs to qualify as Copilot+ notebooks. Microsoft also tied together long battery life with the initiative, but it's unclear if the Ryzen AI 300 chips will be able to touch the reported twenty-plus hours from Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon processors. (We're also expecting Intel to respond with more details about its Lunar Lake Copilot+ chips later today at Computex.)
AMD
So far, AMD's new laptop chips include two models: The 12-core Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, and the 10-core AI 9 365. As usual, we expect the company to fill out its lineup over the next year with mid-tier and lower-end offerings. Both Ryzen AI 9 chips reach at least 5GHz max boost speeds, and they also feature built-in RDNA 3.5 Radeon 890M and 880M graphics. According to AMD's benchmarks, the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 is 98 percent faster than Apple's M3 chip in Blender, and it's 73 percent faster than Intel's Core Ultra 185H. (It's worth noting company tested its hardware with 32GB of RAM against Apple and Intel systems with 16GB of RAM, according to its testing footnotes.)
AMD
Powering both the Ryzen AI 300 and Ryzen 9000 chips is AMD's Zen 5 architecture, which is a "sweeping update" for the company, Senior Processor Technical Marketing Manager Donny Woligrosky said in a media briefing. He claims it offers better branch prediction (which helps with accuracy and latency), higher overall throughput and up to two times better instruction bandwidth. For regular users, that means you can expect Zen 5 systems to feel a bit more responsive and be better primed for handling large data loads.
AMD
While AMD's new AI chips are the star of the show, the company isn't leaving desktop users behind. The new Ryzen 9000 chips top out with the 16-core Ryzen 9 9950X, which edges close to the 6GHz dream with 5.7GHz boost speeds. It's a power-hungry beast though, requiring 170 watts, so more reasonable hardware nerds might want to opt for the Ryzen 9 9900X (120W TDP) or the eight-core Ryzen 7 9700X (65W). These new chips don't include NPUs like the Ryzen 8000G, but at this point, gamers and demanding PC users can make do with the raw computational power from desktop CPUs and powerful GPUs. (NVIDIA is also trying to power some AI features with its RTX GPUs, which eschews the need for a standalone NPU.)
Alongside these new desktop chips, AMD is also unveiling the X870E and X870 AM5 chipsets. They include the next-gen PC features you'd expect, including PCIe 5, USB4, WiFi 7 and DDR5. For its older AM4 hardware, AMD also unveiled the 16-core Ryzen 9 5900XT and eight-core Ryzen 7 5800XT, which can both hit 4.8GHz speeds.
We're still awaiting pricing details on AMD's new hardware, but the company says we can expect to see Ryzen AI 300 systems and Ryzen 9000 chips in July. Those new laptops include the ASUS ZenBook S 16 and Zephyrus G16, as well as the MSI Stealth A16 AI+.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amd-unveils-ryzen-ai-300-cpus-for-copilot-laptops-030033575.html?src=rss
You can get Apple’s third-generation AirPods for under $150 right now. In a deal on Amazon, the AirPods are back down to their record-low price of $140, a 17 percent discount. This model normally costs $170. The third-generation AirPods were released in 2021 and brought some big improvements over the previous version, with a more compact and comfortable design, and much better sound quality.
The third-generation AirPods earned a score of 88 in our review and marked a notable upgrade over their predecessors in the line of regular AirPods. They feature a shorter stem and more angled earbud placement that’s meant to give the sound a more direct path into your ear, on top of fitting more comfortably. They also brought an IPX4 rating to the regular AirPods, making the earbuds and the charging case sweat and water resistant.
This model is powered by Apple’s H1 chip, which allows for features like always-on Siri and one-touch fast pairing. The chip also enables some more advanced features in the sound department like Adaptive EQ, spatial audio and dynamic head tracking. Audio quality got a big boost in the third-generation AirPods. Engadget’s Billy Steele found that “the sound is bigger and more immersive” than with the earlier AirPods, which by comparison offer sound that seems “compressed and downright boring.”
The third-generation AirPods have pretty good battery life too, lasting about six hours on their own and up to 30 with the charging case. They also support quick charging with the case, which allows for about an hour of additional use after just five minutes in the case.
