The Federal Aviation Administration says it has reached an agreement with AT&T and Verizon (Engadget's former parent company) regarding the rollout of their C-Band 5G networks at and around airports. The agency said the three sides have found common ground "on steps that will enable more aircraft to safely use key airports while also enabling more towers to deploy 5G service."
According to the FAA, the providers offered "more precise data about the exact location of wireless transmitters and supported more thorough analysis of how 5G C-Band signals interact with sensitive aircraft instruments." The agency said it used the data to "determine that it is possible to safely and more precisely map the size and shape of the areas around airports where 5G signals are mitigated, shrinking the areas where wireless operators are deferring their antenna activations. This will enable the wireless providers to safely turn on more towers as they deploy new 5G service in major markets across the United States.”
The accord follows a months-long tussle between airlines and wireless providers over C-Band 5G. AT&T and Verizon voluntarily delayed the rollout for six weeks to address concerns that their services could interfere with aircraft systems and electronics, due to C-Band frequencies being close to ones used by altimeters.
Earlier this month, the CEOs of airlines including Delta, United and Southwest claimed in a letter to the federal government that the networks could affect their planes' instruments and lead to a “catastrophic” event.
It's not clear when AT&T and Verizon plan to turn on C-Band 5G towers closer to airports following the FAA agreement. AT&T declined to comment on the development. Engadget has contacted Verizon for comment.
The CTIA, a trade association for the wireless industry, was bullish about the news. "This is a positive development that highlights the considerable progress the wireless industry, aviation industry, FAA and FCC are making to ensure robust 5G service and safe flights," CTIA chief communications officer Nick Ludlum told Engadget in a statement.
Meanwhile, the FAA said it would continue discussions with helicopter operators and other stakeholders in the aviation industry "to ensure they can safely operate in areas of current and planned 5G deployment."
A week before the Winter Olympics get underway, EA has added women's teams to its NHL games for the first time. You can now select one of 10 women's International Ice Hockey Federation national squads in NHL 22: Canada, Czech Republic (Czechia), Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Russia, Switzerland and, of course, Team USA.
EA has also introduced IIHF Men's and World Juniors teams to NHL 22. Along with competing in IIHF World Championship tournaments, the Men's and Women's teams are playable in the Play Now, Online Versus, Threes Now and Offline/Online Shootouts modes. EA announced the additions last month.
NHL 12 (which was released in 2011) was the first game in the series in which players could take to the virtual ice as a woman, as long as they created one themselves. The following year, Canadian hockey pioneer Hayley Wickenheiser and American defense player Angela Ruggiero (who could join any team in NHL 13) became the first real playable women hockey players in the franchise, but it's taken almost another decade for EA to add full women's squads.
The NHL series is following other major sports games franchises in adding women's teams. EA brought them to its FIFA games for the first time in 2015, while 2K Games introduced the WNBA to NBA 2K in 2019.
For the first time in its storied history, New York City’s annual Obie Awards will consider virtual, digital and audio productions, the event’s organizer, the American Theater Wing, announced on Friday. The move comes in response to the challenges Off- and Off-Off-Broadway artists and groups have had to face through the coronavirus pandemic. Due to some of the strictest lockdown restrictions in the country, many New York theater companies turned to online streaming to survive.
“We wanted to make sure that the work that did happen was eligible,” Heather Hitchens, the CEO and president of the American Theater Wing, told The New York Times. “The Obies respond to the season, and to the evolving nature and rhythms of theater.”
The American Theater Wing hasn’t decided on an exact date for this year’s show, but Hitchens told The Times she expects it will take place sometime in November and involve an in-person presentation. In addition to expanding the mandate of the Obies to honor online productions, judges will consider projects staged between July 1st, 2020 and August 31st, 2022. That's because the most recent Obie Awards took place in 2020. The American Theater Wing is also responsible for the Tony Awards, and 2022 will mark the first year that the organization will have staged the Obies on its own.
It’s hard to say what the future will bring, particularly in the middle of a constantly changing pandemic, but the American Theater Wing’s decision to consider online productions could open the door for the Obies to consider shows staged outside of New York City.
Tesla is selling a new accessory: a microphone for in-car karaoke. The TeslaMic is only available in China for the time being. The company introduced it amid the rollout of a Chinese New Year software update, which adds a karaoke platform called Leishi KTV to infotainment systems.
The microphone automatically pairs with the infotainment system, according to Tesla. The TeslaMic comes in a pack of two, so it could come in handy if you ever feel like parking somewhere with a date and belting out some duets. The pack costs around $188 but the Tesla store page is failing to load for many would-be crooners.
A Weibo post (which has been mirrored onto YouTube) shows the TeslaMic and karaoke system in action. As Elektrek notes, by adopting the Leishi KTV interface and catalog, Tesla is building on a "Caraoke" feature it introduced in 2019, which had a more limited selection of tracks.
It remains to be seen whether Tesla will sell the TeslaMic outside of China, though maybe you'll be able to buy it with Dogecoin if it ever comes to the US. In the meantime, there's an official Carpool Karaoke microphone that you can connect to your car's audio system (though you'll need to provide your own backing tracks and a display with lyrics).
Ahead of being able to actually drive it, Ford offered us a chance to check out a prototype of the fleet version of the upcoming F-150 Lightning. While we don’t know what it’s like to be behind the wheel, we did have a chance to check out the truck, some of its features and experience the EV torque as it blasted up a hill.
The F-150 Lightning, whether it be for fleets or for customers, is a huge deal in the EV world. The F-Series truck has been the number one selling vehicle in the United States for three decades. Electrifying that sales juggernaut gives the automaker a leg up in the EV truck world since it has such a large established customer base. Check out the video above for the full story.
This week was a good one for those holding out for discounts on Apple gadgets. Most AirPods models remain on sale at Amazon, so you can grab the second-gen earbuds for only $100 or the latest AirPods Pro for $180. The 2021 Apple TV 4K is also on sale for $160, or $20 off its normal price. Elsewhere, GOG.com's New Year sale has discounted hundreds of titles and you can still pick up a few Roomba robot vacuums for hundreds of dollars less than usual. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
AirPods Pro
Billy Steele / Engadget
The AirPods Pro are 28 percent off, bringing them down to $180. These updated buds have the MagSafe charging case and we liked them for their good sound quality, solid ANC and improved fit.
Apple's second-generation AirPods are down to $100, and that's only $10 more than they were on Black Friday. While the third-gen buds fix some issues that these have, the original AirPods remain a good option for those on a budget. We gave them a score of 84 for their improved wireless performance, decent sound quality and good battery life.
A few colors of the high-end AirPods Max are $100 less than usual, bringing them down to $449. These cans earned a score of 84 for their excellent, balanced sound, strong ANC and good battery life.
The latest Apple TV 4K is on sale for $160, or $20 off its normal price. While the 2021 version isn't drastically different from the previous model, its new Siri remote is a big selling point. We gave it a score of 90 for its speedy performance, HomeKit integration and the easy of use that comes with the improved Siri remote.
A few colors of Apple's iPad Air are on sale for $539, or $60 less than usual. We gave this tablet a score of 90 for its speedy performance, fast WiFi, updated design with USB-C and healthy battery life.
GOG's New Year sale knocks up to 90 percent off popular titles, making it a good time to pick up a few that will help carry you through the winter months. Key among them are Cyberpunk 2077 for 50 percent off, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for 80 percent off, Control Ultimate Edition for only $12 and more.
The new Roomba j7+ is $250 off right now and down to $599 at both Amazon and Wellbots. The higher-end Roomba s9+ is also $250 and down to $850. The former just came out at the end of last year and has 10x the suction power of a standard Roomba plus advanced obstacle avoidance, which means it will avoid things like pet poop more easily than other models. The s9+, on the other hand, has 40x suction power and a more corner-friendly design. Both also support automatic emptying and come with clean bases, too.
The Roomba 694 is down to $179, or $95 off and a return to its record-low price. It earned a spot in our best budget robot vacuums guide thanks to its strong cleaning power, on-device button controls and handy companion mobile app.
Fitbit's Charge 5 is on sale for a record low of $120 right now. We gave the fitness tracker a score of 82 for its large, full-color display, built-in GPS, standard Fitbit Pay and long battery life. The Fitbit Sense smartwatch is also on sale for $100 less than usual, bringing the price down to $200.
All Eero 6 WiFi packs are on sale right now, so you can one for as low as $90. The three-pack of routers is down to $244 while the three-pack with one router and two extenders has been discounted to $195. This system supports WiFi 6, up to 5,000 square feet of coverage and it has a built-in Zigbee smart home hub.
Microsoft's Elite Wireless Series 2 controller for Xbox remains on sale for $140, or $40 less than usual. If you want to treat yourself (or someone else) to a fancy gaming accessory, this is a good option. It comes with six thumbsticks, four paddles, two D-pads, a charging dock, a carrying case and a USB-C cable, and its battery can last up to 40 hours on a single charge.
The Galaxy Buds 2 are down to $100 right now, or $50 off their normal price. We gave them a score of 84 for their improve sound quality, adjustable ambient sound mode, comfortable design and support for wireless charging.
Samsung's latest smartphone, the Galaxy S21 FE, is officially available and starting to ship and Amazon throws in a $100 gift card if you order the handset through the online retailer. We briefly tested the FE at CES 2022 and called it "last year's flagship without the frills," and it includes a 5-nanometer processor, a 120HZ display, a 32-megapixel front-facing camera, a larger battery and more.
The Samsung T7 Touch SSD in 1TB is down to a record low of $140 right now. That's even better than the price it was during the holiday shopping season last year. We like the drive's compact design, fast speeds and built-in fingerprint reader for extra security.
Engadget readers can get a total of two free audiobooks when signing up for Libro.fm, the audiobook subscription service that supports local bookstores. Similarly to Audible, a Libro.fm membership costs $15 per month and gives you one audiobook credit per month, plus 30 percent off any audiobooks you buy á la carte.
Ultraloq's U-Bolt Pro smart lock with its WiFi bridge is $45 off when you use the code ENGADGET45 at checkout, bringing it down to $154. This model gives you six different ways to unlock your door including a fingerprint sensor, a personal numerical code, an e-key or using the companion mobile app. And with the included bridge, you can control the lock from anywhere, allowing you to remotely unlock or lock your door at any time or give digital keys to your loved ones.
Through January 31, you can get 40 percent off Master & Dynamic's MW07 Plus earbuds when you use the code TAKE40 at checkout. This sale fixes one of our main gripes with these buds — their high price tag. We gave them a score of 86 for their great sound quality, reliable onboard controls and 10-hour battery life.
Hisense's 55-inch Quantum Dot 4K TV is 30 percent off and down to just under $600. It packs a lot of value into a relatively affordable TV — the set supports a 120Hz native refresh rate, Dolby Vision and Atmos, 1,000 nits of peak brightness and Game Mode Pro, the latter of which makes use of HDMI 2.1, low latency mode, variable refresh rates and more.
A bunch of Garmin smartwatches are $50 at Wellbots when you use the code ENGADGET50 at checkout. Key among them are the Venu 2 for $350 and the Lily for $150. The former has a number of advanced features like a pulse ox sensor, Garmin Pay and a built-in GPS, while the latter is more affordable and stylish to boot.
A standard 2021 Porsche Taycan has broken the Guinness World Record for the shortest charging time to cross the United States in an electric vehicle. It only needed a cumulative charge time of 2 hours, 26 minutes and 48 seconds to cover a 2,834.5-mile drive from Los Angeles to New York. While the record it broke is highly specific, there was a previous holder: A Kia EV6, which had to be charged for 7 hours, 10 minutes and 1 second to make a similar, but just slightly longer, trip from New York to LA.
Wayne Gerdes, known for his efficiency driving and for coining the term "hypermiling," was behind the wheel for the record-breaking journey. Hypermiling, as you may know, involves the use of adjustments and driving techniques to maximize the vehicle's fuel use. Porsche told Engadget that Gerdes drove normal speeds and sometimes even went faster, depending on the charge level, for the duration of the trip.
As for the vehicle itself, it was equipped with the company's Performance Battery Plus, which has a higher gross capacity than the base battery option, and Adaptive Cruise Control. For the attempt to be recognized by the Guinness World Records, every mile of the journey had to be filmed and the vehicle's GPS had to be tracked.
Gerdes said that the first time he charged a Taycan on a 350KW charger, its battery levels went from 6 to 82 percent in just 22 minutes. He relied on Electrify America's CCS DC fast charging network for the trip, since the company is a partner for this attempt. Porsche first revealed the Taycan electric sedan in 2019 and started making deliveries in 2020. The automaker has released several variants since then, including the category-blurring Cross Turismo EV.
An Ubisoft executive has responded to the backlash against the company's push to add NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to its games. In December, the publisher announced Quartz, an NFT platform that lets people buy and sell unique digital items, which it called Digits. Both employees and consumers criticized the move, with many expressing concern about the environmental impact of NFTs and one Ubisoft developer saying they're "just another way to milk money."
The backlash to Quartz was swift. Within 24 hours of Ubisoft heralding the platform in a YouTube trailer, more than 35,000 people had clicked the dislike button, with just over 1,300 liking it.
Ubisoft’s first foray into NFTs hasn’t exactly gone gangbusters. It gave away some to players who reached certain play time or experience levels in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint. It offered players the chance to buy some NFTs, but sales have reportedly been very sluggish. Someone who bought one, which is a gun skin with a small, unique serial number, told Waypoint that "it didn’t feel different from using any other cosmetic but the custom serial and ability to view it outside of the Ghost Recon experience really added a level of ownership that I appreciate.”
Nevertheless, Nicolas Pouard, vice president of Ubisoft's Strategic Innovations Lab, suggested that players simply aren't understanding the utility of NFTs.
"I think gamers don't get what a digital secondary market can bring to them. For now, because of the current situation and context of NFTs, gamers really believe it's first destroying the planet, and second just a tool for speculation," Pouard told Finder. "But what we [at Ubisoft] are seeing first is the end game. The end game is about giving players the opportunity to resell their items once they're finished with them or they're finished playing the game itself. So, it's really, for them. It's really beneficial. But they don't get it for now."
Pouard also said that Ubisoft considered announcing Quartz without making any reference to the fact that Digits are actually NFTs, but decided against it as players would have recognized what was going on anyway. "So, we decided it would not be very smart to try to hide it," he said. "Our principle is to build a safe place and safe environment with Quartz. So, we need to be transparent on what we are doing."
NFTs are essentially a certificate of authenticity designed to live on the blockchain. The idea is that an NFT is a public record of ownership of a digital asset. In reality, it's a verified link to a file somewhere on the internet that the owner of the URL destination can alter or even delete.
Along with claims that they can be tantamount to a pyramid scheme, many critics have expressed concern about the environmental impact of NFTs. An artist who sold an NFT collection last year said the process used up more than 8,000 kWh of electricity, which is more than his studio's power consumption from the previous two years.
Ubisoft says that the Tezos system it opted for requires less power consumption than other blockchains. It claims a Digits transaction uses around as much energy as 30 seconds of video streaming. In any case, Quartz doesn't seem to offer anything different than say, the Steam marketplace, which has long allowed players to buy and sell virtual goods for real money without the downsides of NFTs.
When Jabra debuted its latest flagship true wireless earbuds in August, both models were packed with premium features like adjustable active noise cancellation (ANC) and ambient sound alongside a customizable EQ and in-app fit test. Now the company has added another key feature to both the Elite 7 Pro and Elite 7 Active that may not be as flashy, but it will offer a lot more convenience. Via a firmware update, Jabra has equipped those models with multipoint Bluetooth connectivity.
Multipoint allows you to connect to two devices at the same time over Bluetooth. This means you can be listening to music or watching a show on your laptop and the earbuds will automatically switch over to your phone when you receive a call. Other earbuds and headphones do this, including Apple's AirPods, but the handy connectivity isn't standard across the board.
This update also gives Android users the ability to select Google Assistant as their virtual helper of choice in Jabra's Sound+ app. Before now, Alexa was the only option there, although the Elite 7 models would work just fine with your phone's built-in companion. The company says it also made improvements to the MyFit feature that helps you find the proper ear tip size for a good seal, in addition to updates to overall connectivity and performance. We've asked for specifics on the changes for all three of those items, but have yet to hear back.
The Elite 7 Pro and Elite 7 Active carry most of the same features, like Jabra's smaller, redesigned earbud shape and eight-hour battery life. The key difference is the call quality on the Elite 7 Pro, thanks to what the company calls MultiSensor Voice. That setup uses a combination of traditional microphones with a voice pick up (VPU) unit to keep you sounding clear. On a windy day, for example, the VPU automatically activates bone conduction technology to monitor your voice via the vibrations of your jaw. The Elite 7 Active has a ShakeGrip coating to minimize slips during sweaty workouts that the Elite 7 Pro does not. Both the Active and the Pro are IP57 rated though, so either one is a capable gym and/or running partner. And the last difference is the price: the Elite 7 Pro is $200 while the Elite 7 Active is $180.
If you already own a pair of these, the firmware update is available now through the Sound+ app.
There are plenty of ways to update your home's WiFi today, but many of them are on the expensive side. And if you have a big home, outfitting every corner with a decent connection will cost you. However, you can get a good deal on Amazon's Eero 6 mesh WiFi systems right now. All of the packs have been discounted, so you can get just the router for $90, which is 30 percent off, or up to three routers for $244, which is 37 percent off its normal price. The three-pack with one router and two extenders is arguably the best for most people and that's 30 percent off and down to $195.
The three-pack will cover up to 5,000 square feet, which should be more than enough for a typical home. As the name suggests, these Eero devices support dual-band WiFi 6 and wireless speeds up to 500Mbps. You'll get speeds up to 900Mbps if you're hardwired in, but you'll only be able to do that near the router's location as its the only one out of the three to have two, built-in Ethernet ports.
The Eero 6 will come in handy if you want to add to your smart home system as it has a built-in Zigbee home hub for you to connect things like smart lights, thermostats and more. And like many Amazon products, it works with Alexa so you can use your voice to control all of the compatible smart home devices that are on your network. It may not have the advanced features that the Eero Pro 6 has, like tri-band support and gigabit speeds, but the Eero 6 system will be more than enough for most people and an upgrade for those currently relying on aging routers.
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