When we put together our ultimate list of current-model smartphones, Samsung's Galaxy S22 Ultra easily won out as the best Android option. It's on sale at Amazon right now for $300 off the list price, bringing it down to just $900. That's only ten bucks more than its lowest ever price during October's Prime Day — still a strong deal. We deemed the S22 Ultra "an excellent phone and the best premium Android flagship you can buy," before awarding it a solid score of 89. And because Samsung has promised at least four years of updates/support, its an investment that won't leave your phone high and dry in just a couple years. 

Those who remember Samsung's Note series will find a lot that feels familiar here, especially the S Pen, the on-board stylus that lets you jot notes, mark up photos, draw doodles and use it as a cursor. In fact, the S Pen is part of what differentiates the S22 Ultra from the S22+ and the S22, as neither of the latter include the stylus. 

The S22 Ultra also offers a bigger camera setup, larger screen and longer battery life than its less-premium siblings. The Ultra's cameras include a 108-megapixel main sensor, a 12-MP ultrawide option and a pair of 10-MP telephoto lenses. And while there's a new Adaptive Pixel feature intended to capture more light and make images clearer, we didn't find a huge difference in our tests. That said, the S22 Ultra photos held their own against those from comparable phones made by Apple and Google.

The huge 6.8-inch 120Hz OLED screen is smooth, quick and colorful (in fact, we called it "sumptuous"). In our battery tests, we got 17 hours and 16 minutes in a video rundown, which does happen to be a shorter lifespan than its predecessor, the Ultra S21 — an issue that may have to do with the fact that the S Pen draws power, even while stowed in its slot. 

The tough exterior has an IP68 dust and water resistance rating — meaning it can handle a dunk in five feet of water for up to 30 minutes — and the display is wrapped in the latest Victus+ Gorilla Glass for improved crack- and scratch-resistance (it survived a dive off the top of a cabinet in our review and came out unscathed). 

The $300 off deal applies to all three storage sizes, the 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB options. If you've been eyeing Samsung's flagship premium Android, with all the features power users could need, this is a good time to buy. 

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Following a slip-up, HBO has confirmed a release date for its long-expected The Last of Us TV series. The video game adaptation will debut through HBO and HBO Max on January 15th at 9PM Eastern. You'll have something to watch while you wait for Succession, then, although you may want to pace yourself when there are 10 episodes in this initial season.

As you're likely aware by this stage, The Last of Us stars The Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal as cynical survivor Joel and Game of Thrones' Bella Ramsey as Ellie, the teen Joel has to smuggle out of a quarantine zone 20 years after a fungal zombie plague wrecks civilization. Big names like Nick Offerman, Gabriel Luna and Anna Torv also star, while game voice actors Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker also make appearances.

The show is expected to largely follow the plot of the original game, with Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann serving as writer and executive producer alongside Chernobyl's Craig Mazin. Unlike many game-based productions, The Last of Us will have both the creative input of the developer and critically acclaimed talent behind the cameras. It's just a question of whether or not that combination works in practice, especially for newcomers who aren't attached to the story.

Etsy has begun testing visual search. The company suggests the feature is ideal for those situations where you’re not quite sure how to describe something. Whereas in the past you had to rely on keywords and a bit of luck, you can now tap the new camera icon in the search bar and snap a photo of a product in hopes of finding similar items.

In my testing, the feature works surprisingly well. I first took a photo of my keyboard, a Drop Ctrl with GMK Rainy Day keycaps. Not only did the app return with suggestions for keycaps, but it also narrowed in on ones that featured gray and blue tones like my set. I then snapped a photo of an artwork in my office I bought from a local Toronto artist. Etsy’s software successfully identified the piece as a line drawing and pointed me to stylistically similar artworks. I need to use the feature more to get a better sense of its limitations, but it does feel that it could be useful in exactly the way Etsy envisions it.

You can experiment with visual search on your own starting today if you have access to an iOS device. According to Etsy, the feature will soon come to Android.

Etsy

Tidal has already been closing gaps with the competition by adding a free tier and similar upgrades, but its latest improvement may be one of the most important. The streaming music service has finally introduced user profiles that let you easily share your playlists. Make a playlist public and Tidal users can discover your musical tastes through search, or share that track listing through links. You could technically share before, but it was much more difficult until now.

Profiles (and thus playlist sharing) are available now through Tidal's Android, iOS, desktop and web apps. They replace the "My Collection" saved content section in the mobile app. Don't worry about having to start from scratch — your existing saved material will still be available after you create a profile.

Tidal is free to use with ads, although it's limited to a 160Kbps bitrate and doesn't support offline tracks or unlimited skips. Pay $10 per month for Tidal HiFi and you'll remove the ads and restrictions while jumping to a much higher 1,411Kbps quality. At $20 per month, the HiFi Plus plan offers "master quality" 9,216Kbps audio for some songs and direct payouts to the artists you listen to most often.

The addition is arguably overdue when Apple Music, Spotify and other services have had playlist sharing for years. This might not do much to help Tidal grow beyond a small slice of the market. However, you might have a stronger incentive to stick around. The feature will not only let you see what your friends enjoy, but might help you find a new running mix or workday soundtrack.

A former Apple employee has pled guilty to defrauding the company out of over $17 million. Dhirendra Prasad, who spent most of his decade at Apple working as a buyer in the Global Service Supply Chain department, admitted to "taking kickbacks, inflating invoices, stealing parts and causing Apple to pay for items and services never received,” according to the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California. Prasad started these schemes in 2011 and continued them until 2018. 

In one scam, Prasad shipped motherboards from Apple's inventory to CTrends, a company run by a co-conspirator, Don M. Baker (who previously admitted to taking part in the fraudulent schemes). Baker harvested components from the motherboards, then Prasad organized purchase orders for those parts. After Baker shipped the components back to Apple, CTrends filed invoices for which Prasad arranged payment. In the end, the pair got Apple to pay for its own components and they split the proceeds of the scam.

In addition to fleecing Apple, Prasad confessed to engaging in tax fraud. He directed payments from Robert Gary Hansen (another co-conspirator who has admitted to taking part in the schemes) straight to his creditors. In addition, Prasad arranged for a shell company to send sham invoices to CTrends with the aim of covering up illicit payments Baker made to him. This enabled Baker "to claim hundreds of thousands of dollars of unjustified tax deductions," the US Attorney's Office said. All told, prosecutors claim that the scams resulted in the IRS losing over $1.8 million.

Prasad will be sentenced in March. He pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. Prasad also pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, which has a maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment. Moreover, Prasad agreed to forfeit around $5 million worth of assets he accrued as a result of his criminal actions, including real estate properties.

Fujifilm is delivering a follow-up to the well-received X-T4. The company has introduced (what else?) the X-T5, a sequel to the higher-end APS-C mirrorless camera that delivers some major technical upgrades — the largest in five years — while refining the basic formula. The new model now packs Fuji's current 40MP sensor (up from 26MP) that can shoot 6.2K video at 30 frames per second. You don't need to buy a top-tier cam like the X-H2S to venture beyond 4K. You can also expect a jump in computing power through the X-Processor 5 that allows for AI-based autofocusing, 4:2:2 10-bit output, F-log2 and support for the HEIF photo format.

The X-T5 design is also smaller, lighter and simpler than its predecessor, and moves the shutter button and front control dial for a better hold. There are some under-the-hood changes, too, including slightly better in-body stabilization (seven stops instead of 6.5), a mildly higher-resolution tilting LCD and an electronic viewfinder with 0.8X magnification instead of the X-T4's 0.75X. You'll theoretically notice improvements, then, even if the body still seems very familiar.

Don't expect many other changes. There are still dual UHS-II SD card slots, a USB-C port and HDMI. The X-T5 still uses the same battery, although Fujifilm says the upgraded processor should help with power management.

Fujifilm ships the X-T5 on November 17th for $1,699 for the body alone, $2,099 with an 18-55mm lens and $2,199 with a more flexible 16-80mm lens. It's debuting alongside a $599 XF30mm f/2.8 macro lens that can focus on subjects as close as 3.9 inches from the sensor, and just 0.5 inches from the 11-element glass. In some ways, this is a return to form. Our primary gripes with the X-T4 were its not-so-compact form factor and imperfect autofocus tracking — both of those are hopefully fixed. The price still makes it costlier than rivals like Sony's A6600, but the improved performance may help justify the premium.

Sony has finally revealed when its next-gen virtual reality headset will arrive and how much it will cost — the price is far higher than many people will have been expecting. Playstation VR2 will be available on February 22nd (exactly a year after Sony revealed the design of the device) and it will cost an astonishing $550. That’s more than the price of a PlayStation 5, the base hardware you’ll need to use the headset, even after Sony jacked up the cost of the console in many countries. Folks in Europe will have to pay €600 for PS VR2 and those in the UK will need to shell out £530. In Japan, the price will be ¥74,980. 

PS VR2 comes with Sense controllers and stereo headphones. A bundle with Horizon Call of the Mountain will run you $600. Meanwhile, a charging station for the controllers costs an extra $50.

For those with deep enough pockets, pre-orders will be available on November 15th. At the outset, folks in the US, UK, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg will only be able to pre-order from PlayStation directly. Those in other countries will be able to lock in a pre-order from various retailers.

Sony's latest VR hardware has a display resolution of 2000 x 2040 pixels for each eye, 4K HDR support, a 110-degree field of view and refresh rates of up to 120Hz. It will support 3D audio and eye tracking, while the Sense controllers borrow haptic feedback and adaptive triggers from the DualSense.

The PS VR2 price is just the latest example of sticker shock from PlayStation. When it arrives in January, the premium DualSense Edge controller for PS5 will cost $200 (which, in fairness, is in a similar range as other high-end controllers).

Meanwhile, Sony has announced 11 more titles that are coming to PS VR2. Among them are a new game in Supermassive's The Dark Pictures horror series, entitled Switchback VR, and a fresh entry in Smilegate's popular first-person shooter franchise Crossfire. Also in the pipeline are a VR version of Cities: Skylines, a new Hello Neighbor game, Jurassic World Aftermath Collection and Pistol Whip VR.

It was previously confirmed that the likes of No Man's Sky, Among US VR, Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord, Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy's Edge and Resident Evil Village will also be available on PS VR2. Sony says there will be more than 20 games available at launch.

However, PS VR games are not compatible with the latest headset. For technical reasons, developers will need to update their games to make them work on the new platform. That means that not only is the PS VR2 headset itself expensive, you may need to shell out more to have any games to play on it.

DJI's Mavic 3 is a useful cinematic drone, but its steep price ($1,899 as we write this) can be off-putting compared to the $1,449 of the older Mavic 2 Pro. The company thinks it has a simple solution, though: offer a trimmed-back version. DJI has introduced the Mavic 3 Classic, a new variant that drops the telephoto lens in exchange for a better $1,469 starting price (more on that later).

The Classic otherwise includes the features that might draw you to the Mavic 3 in the first place. The centerpiece remains a 20-megapixel, 24mm-equivalent Hasselblad camera that can shoot 5.1K video up to 50 frames per second (4K at 60FPS) and capture 12-bit RAW photos. You can likewise expect a healthy 46-minute peak flight time, a range of up to 9.3 miles and an O3+ transmission system that can send 1080p 60FPS video to your remote. You're still asked to fly within line of sight, but an AirSense ADS-B receiver can warn you of nearby aircraft if you operate at higher altitudes.

This still isn't a trivial expense. The base price is for the drone only, and doesn't include a remote or charger. It's meant for upgrading DJI users who have the necessary gear. Everyone else will have to pay at least $1,599 for the standard kit, which includes the charger and the basic RC-N1 remote. Spend $1,749 and you'll get the display-equipped DJI RC remote. And if you need accessories, the $649 Fly More add-on includes two batteries, a charging hub, a car charger, three pairs of quiet propellers and a convertible carrying bag.

The Mavic 3 Classic clearly isn't meant for newcomers, or even many enthusiasts. You'll want to look at the $679 Mini 3 Pro or $999 Air 2S if you're on a tighter budget. However, it might represent a solid value if you care about drone camera quality but don't need long-zoom shots to create your next magnum opus.

Tumblr changed enormously in 2018 after it started blocking all adult content, reportedly because images of child sexual abuse were posted on the website. It deleted tons of sex blogs and communities to comply with its new rule, and its already dwindling community never quite recovered since. Now, the website has updated its community guidelines so that the naked human form is once again allowed. Under its new policy, users can post images and videos with nudity, as well as text with mature subject matter and sexual themes, but they still can't post visual depictions of sexually explicit acts or any content with an overt focus on genitalia. 

In its full Community Guidelines page, Tumblr explained that by "visual depictions," it means pictures, videos, GIFs, drawings, CGI and any other kind of visual media. Artwork considered historically significant is an exemption, so long as it's properly labeled. Content with nudity and sexual themes now allowed under the new policy will also have to be labeled so that users can filter them out. 

In addition to the continued ban on visual depictions of sexually explicit acts, users can't post links to adult affiliate networks or anything that promotes escort or erotic services. They also aren't allowed to post images with extreme violence and gore or any kind of content that promotes pedophilia, including images of children when the "intent of the blog is sexually suggestive." Any blog that violates those rules will be removed. Tumblr also admits that the list isn't exhaustive and that further interpretation is up to the company. 

Tumblr was one of the few sites that not only tolerated but seemingly embraced its sex worker and adult artist communities, so it caught considerable flak when, with little warning, it banned adult content four years ago. Earlier this year, it reached a settlement with New York City's Commission on Human Rights, which found that the ban disproportionately impacted LGBTQ+ users. As part of the settlement terms, Tumblr had to bring in an expert to review its moderation algorithms for potential bias. In September this year, it launched Community Labels with the category "sexual themes," hinting that it was going to loosen its rules and would allow some adult content on the website again. That's exactly what happened, but it doesn't look like Tumblr is open to supporting porn communities anytime soon. 

Matt Mullenweg, the CEO of Automattic (the company that now runs Tumblr), explained why in a post on his blog. Credit card companies are anti-porn, he wrote in the post, pointing out that they had cut off payments for advertising on Pornhub. "App stores, particularly Apple's, are anti-porn," he continued. The website can't take a chance when most of its users are on mobile. Tumblr also has no means to ensure that individuals featured in sexually explicit content are of legal age and had consented to being pictured or filmed. "I agree with 'go nuts, show nuts' in principle," he said, "but the casually porn-friendly era of the early internet is currently impossible."

What’s stopping me (or you) getting an iPad Pro? The cost, for one. And a belief that anything I’d want to use an iPad for, I can already do with my eighth-generation vanilla model. That said, Nathan Ingraham’s review of the M2 iPad Pro did make me check if my bank balance could sustain the purchase. It can’t.

Apple’s top-end iPad hasn’t changed much since last year, with the same compromises around displays evident if you get the smaller model. In fact, aside from the M2, it’s pretty much the same as before, for better and, occasionally, worse. The major changes are all enabled by the even brawnier silicon inside that chassis.

That includes Stage Manager, the multitasking setup Apple hopes will unlock the iPad’s clearly hidden potential. Certainly, the system has not been warmly received by all iPad users, and Nathan found it lacking the usual level of elegance. Oh, and you can now shoot video in ProRes 4K at 30 fps. Useful? Not for many. Cool? Undoubtedly.

Unfortunately, such an iterative upgrade gave Nathan plenty of time to look for things that really should be fixed on a tablet that can cost well north of $2,000. That includes the awkward front camera placement − it’s clear for all to see it’ll be moved to the “top” side, like the new iPad, at some point.

– Dan Cooper

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Sony has sold over 25 million PS5s

And expects to sell a bunch more before March.

Engadget

Sony’s most recent financial results revealed it has sold more than 25 million PlayStation 5 consoles. That’s a staggering figure given the hardware’s high price, poor availability and strong competition. The company says it’s not even done and expects to shift a significant number of units through the holiday season. That’s the only way it’ll be able to hit an ambitious target to shift 18 million units in the financial year, which ends March 2023.

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Microsoft now implies it will support Call of Duty on PlayStation forever

It needs to quell objections to its proposed purchase of Activision Blizzard.

Microsoft’s purchase of publisher Activision Blizzard has met resistance from fans and rivals for obvious monopoly concerns. Once it owns franchises, like Call of Duty, Microsoft could pull those titles to funnel buyers toward buying an Xbox. But Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, has promised that isn’t the case, saying it will support PlayStation for “as long as there’s a PlayStation.” That may not be enough to quell regulators, however, who are still picking through the deal to see if it’s going to hand the software giant too much power.

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SpaceX may send Starship on its first orbital flight in December

A NASA official said it expects to see the flight take place next month.

SpaceX

We may see the first orbital flight for SpaceX’s Starship craft as early as December, according to a senior NASA official. The trip, if successful, will see Starship launch from Boca Chica in Texas, orbit for a while, then land back in the ocean near Hawaii. It would also mean SpaceX has satisfied the FAA’s stringent requirements to ensure a launch is safe, both for SpaceX itself and the environment.

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Twitter has removed 1,500 accounts following a coordinated trolling campaign

The company’s head of safety said the tweets weren’t widely seen.

Shortly after Elon Musk took over Twitter, a campaign of coordinated trolling started, to make people think the platform had relaxed its moderation policies. This included a surge of hate speech and hateful conduct on the site, forcing Twitter to address it. The company’s head of safety has revealed the platform has removed 1,500 accounts identified to be part of the campaign. Yoel Roth added that many instances of hate speech were not widely seen, and that work was continuing to address gaps in its enforcement policies.

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Elon Musk says Twitter Blue will cost $8 and be required for verification

Perks include fewer adverts and the ability to post longer videos.

Elon Musk says Twitter Blue will be a prerequisite for users looking to be verified, and its price will increase to $8 a month. The Twitter CEO added that Blue users will gain priority in replies, mentions and Twitter’s search feature. Some high-profile users, including author Stephen King and gaming account Nibellion, have already denounced the change. It remains to be seen if users will pay, or if this will just encourage more to look for greener social media pastures.

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