If you're looking for a solid pair of headphones with active noise cancellation that won't break the bank, it's hard to beat Sony's WH-CH710N. They're some of our favorite budget cans thanks to their comfortable fit, good ANC and relatively affordable price tag. While they normally cost $148, you can pick up a pair for only $98 right now at Amazon. That's 35 percent off their usual price and the cheapest we've seen them since Amazon Prime Day last month.
It goes without saying that the WH-CH710N don't have many of the advanced features that the new WH-1000XM5 have, but they still provide a ton of value and, most importantly, won't set you back nearly $400. They're nice-looking headphones that, while not the slickest, have comfortable ear cups and a swivel design. Sony's ANC on these headphones is pretty solid thanks to dual-sensor technology that picks up noises around you and automatically adjusts noise-cancellation levels to accommodate them. They also have an ambient sound mode, so you can activate that when you need to hear what's going on or have a conversation with someone.
The WH-CH710N's battery life is also a big selling point — they'll last up to 35 hours on a single charge, so depending on how much you use them on a daily basis, you'll get a few days of life out of them easily. Plus, they charge via USB-C, so you can use the included cable to power them up or one of the many you probably have laying around already.
The biggest gripe we have with the WH-CH710N is the overall sound quality. They have decent range and good clarity, but they lack the punchy bass that would go a long way to creating fuller sound. But that might not be a dealbreaker for you, especially when you consider all of the other solid features these headphones offer at a great price.
Apple's MacBook Air M2 may not have completely reshaped the PC landscape like the M1 laptop did, but it's arguably the best version of the notebook to date. It earned a score of 96 from us and it would make a solid daily driver for anyone, from college students to working professionals. One of the few downsides is that the M2 laptop is more expensive than its predecessor, but now you can grab one for $100 less than usual from Amazon. The online retailer has the 256GB MacBook Air M2 in starlight for $1,099, which is the best price we've seen since launch.
The latest MacBook Air actually has a slightly different design than previous models. Apple moved away from the wedge shape and made the new laptop uniformly thin, making looking more like the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros. Apple managed to increase the side of the Liquid Retina screen to 13.6 inches by shrinking the surrounding bezels, and while that's only a third of an inch bigger than previous displays, it has a more expansive feel. It also has the relatively new top notch that holds the machine's webcam. On top of that, you're getting improved speakers and a handy MagSafe power adapter in the Air M2's new design. Overall, it feels just updated enough to make a difference in daily use, but not so much that it will feel foreign to Apple diehards.
As for performance, the MacBook Air M2 handled everything we threw at it. The M2 chipset builds upon the stunningly fast foundation that the M1 processor provided last year, so you can expect a roughly 18 percent performance increase. If you spring for the faster GPU version, you'll get a 35 percent faster graphics than in the M1 model.
We found the M2 to be just as fast as the 13-inch MacBook Pro M2, so if you've been looking for a powerful new laptop but would like to keep things as thin and light as possible, you won't be sacrificing much by opting for the Air M2 over the Pro. The Air M2's battery life is even pretty close to that of the 13-inch Pro — the Air lasted about 16.5 hours in our testing, while the Pro lasted just over 17 hours.
'Hogwarts Legacy' is delayed until February 10th, 2023PlayStation’s game-streaming scheme, at its top tier, is now competing directly with Xbox Game Pass, the service that proved the concept by earning 25 million-plus subscribers over the past five years. It’s now been over a month since PlayStation Plus Premium went live, offering similar cloud gaming services to Microsoft's console.
However, there are some major differences in strategy, however. Sony doesn’t plan on adding big PlayStation-exclusive games like Forspoken or God of War Ragnarök to Plus on day one, meaning subscribers will have to buy these titles separately, at least at launch. On the Xbox side of things, Game Pass Ultimate includes big first-party games like Halo Infinite on release day. But as Engadget’s Jessica Conditt put it, this isn’t about one service being better than the others, but about adjusting to the new normal for video games.
For your monthly subscription dues, do you value Game Pass Ultimate over Netflix?
Another service with a monthly tithe is adjusting its business. It's been a brutal year for Peloton, and the company is enacting more major changes to get back on track. On the consumer front, Peloton is reversing price cuts to two pieces of fitness equipment. The Bike+ is going back up from $1,995 to $2,495 in the US. Peloton announced a huge loss of $757.1 million for the first three months of 2022 due to a decline in revenue and soaring costs.
When the checkered flag dropped yesterday in Seoul, Formula E finished its 100th race. Starting on the back of a napkin in 2011, the world’s first all-electric single-seater championship launched after three years of planning. Engadget’s Billy Steele talked to cofounder Alberto Longo and former champ Lucas di Grassi.
It would have gotten a cut from an ad-free, paid Facebook subscription service.
Apple announced back at WWDC 2020 that iOS would require apps to ask users to opt-in to cross-app advertising tracking. Facebook then spent much of the next few months speaking out against Apple and predicting revenue instability due to the upcoming changes. The feature was released in April 2021, and Meta, as it’s now called, did survive. Surprisingly, though, a new report from The Wall Street Journalclaims that before this all went down, Facebook and Apple were working on a partnership and revenue-sharing agreement.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has once again delayed Harry Potter game Hogwarts Legacy, which at least now has a firm release date. It will hit PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on February 10th. The Switch release date will be announced sometime soon, indicating the version faces a further delay.
If you've had your eye on one of Amazon's premium e-readers but haven't yet pulled the trigger, today might be the day to do so. As part of a wide-ranging sale across various own-brand Amazon devices, the Kindle Oasis, Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition and standard Kindle Paperwhite are all enjoying deep discounts.
The Kindle Oasis is currently down to $200, which is $50 off its usual list price. The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, which is probably the best e-reader on the market right now, has fallen to $150 (down from $190), while the standard Kindle Paperwhite is $110 (usually $140).
The Kindle Oasis isn't discounted as often as its counterparts, making this a good time to consider the premium e-reader. With its bigger 300 ppi display, physical page turn buttons, 25 front LEDs, auto-rotating pages, the Oasis offers features that you won't find on other Kindle devices.
As for the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, it's the first and only Kindle with support for wireless charging and is 10 percent brighter than previous Paperwhite models. An in-built sensor can automatically adjust the screen brightness depending on the ambient light around you, making night-time reading more comfortable on your eyes. Like the Kindle Oasis, it also has an IPX8 water resistant rating that makes it perfect for reading in the bath or by the pool.
Amazon updated the Kindle Paperwhite last September, adding a larger 6.8-inch 300ppi glare-free display. It's also faster, allowing for quicker page turns, and comes with 8GB of storage, USB-C fast charging and an IPX8 water-resistant rating.
While Prime Day saw many Amazon devices — including Kindles — fall back to all-time lows, today's sale comes within touching distance of those prices.
Ever since Apple launched the App Store, developers big and small have gotten caught up in the company's approval process and had their apps delayed or removed altogether. The popular messaging app Telegram is just the latest, according to the company's CEO Pavel Durov. On August 10th, Durov posted a message to his Telegram channel saying the app's latest update had been stuck in Apple's review process for two weeks without any real word from the company about why it was held up.
As noted by The Verge, the update was finally released yesterday, and Durov again took to Telegram to discuss what happened. The CEO says that Apple told Telegram that it would have to remove a new feature called Telemoji, which Durov described as "higher quality vector-animated versions of the standard emoji." He included a preview of what they would look like in his post — they're similar to the basic emoji set Apple uses, but with some pretty delightful animations that certainly could help make messaging a little more expressive.
"This is a puzzling move on Apple's behalf, because Telemoji would have brought an entire new dimension to its static low-resolution emoji and would have significantly enriched their ecosystem," Durov wrote in his post. It's not entirely clear how this feature would enrich Apple's overall ecosystem, but it still seems like quite the puzzling thing for Apple to get caught up over, especially since Telegram already has a host of emoji and sticker options that go far beyond the default set found in iOS. Indeed, Durov noted that there are more than 10 new emoji packs in the latest Telegram update, and said the company will take the time to make Telemoji "even more unique and recognizable."
There are still a lot of emoji-related improvements in the latest Telegram update, though. The company says it is launching an "open emoji platform" where anyone can upload their own set of emoji that people who pay for Telegram's premium service can use. If you're not a premium user, you'll still be able to see the customized emoji and test using them in "saved messages" like reminders and notes in the app. The custom emoji can be interactive as well — if you tap on them, you'll get a full-screen animated reaction.
To make it easier to access all this, the sticker, GIF and emoji panel has been redesigned, with tabs for each of those reaction categories. This makes the iOS keyboard match up with the Android app as well as the web version of Telegram. There are also new privacy settings that let you control who can send you video and voice messages: everyone, contacts or no one. Telegram notes that, like its other privacy settings, you can set "exceptions" so that specific groups or people can "always" or "never" send you voice or video messages. The new update — sans Telemoji — is available now.
Facebook and Apple have been at odds for several years now; Apple announced back at WWDC 2020 that iOS would require apps to ask users to opt-in to cross-app advertising tracking. Facebook spent much of the next months speaking out against Apple's plans and predicting revenue instability due to the upcoming changes, but the feature was released in iOS 14.5 back in April of 2021. Somewhat surprisingly, though, a new report from The Wall Street Journalclaims that before this all went down, Facebook and Apple were working on a partnership and revenue-sharing agreement.
According to the Journal, Apple and Facebook were considering a a subscription service that would offer an ad-free version of the platform. And since Apple takes a cut of in-app purchases, including subscriptions, it could have been a very lucrative arrangement indeed.
Another arrangement that was discussed and ended up being a point of contention was Apple taking a cut of "boosted posts," which essentially amounts to paying to put a post in front of a larger audience. Facebook has long considered boosted posts part of its advertising portfolio; as the Journal notes, small businesses often use boosted posts to reach more people. The issue came down to Apple saying boosts should be considered in-app purchases, which would be subject to the 30 percent revenue cut that the company takes. Facebook, on the other hand, maintained that those were advertising products which aren't subject to Apple's cut.
Since rolling out its user-tracking changes in 2021, research firm Insider Intelligence claims that 37 percent of iPhone users have opted in to letting companies track their activity across apps. Since the change went into effect, Facebook (now Meta) has seen its revenue growth shrink significantly — and last quarter, Meta reported the first revenue decline in the company's history.
As these discussions reportedly took place between 2016 and 2018, we're a long way off from these talks. Apple is doing its best to position itself as a defender of privacy, and Meta... well, Meta is busy trying to make the Metaverse a thing. But for now at least, advertising is the only notable way Meta makes revenue, so the company will have to continue to adjust to a world in which iOS app tracking protection is a thing that most users take advantage of.
Zoom's automatic update option can help users ensure that they have the latest, safest version of the video conferencing software, which has had multiple privacy and security issues over the years. A Mac security researcher, however, has reported vulnerabilities he found in the tool that attackers could have exploited to gain full control of a victim's computer at this year's DefCon. According to Wired, Patrick Wardle presented two vulnerabilities during the conference. He found the first one in the app's signature check, which certifies the integrity of the update being installed and examines it to make sure that it's a new version of Zoom. In other words, it's in charge of blocking attackers from tricking the automatic update installer into downloading an older and more vulnerable version of the app.
Wardle discovered that attackers could bypass the signature check by naming their malware file a certain way. And once they're in, they could get root access and control the victim's Mac. The Verge says Wardle disclosed the bug to Zoom back in December 2021, but the fix it rolled out contained another bug. This second vulnerability could have given attackers a way to circumvent the safeguard Zoom set in place to make sure an update delivers the latest version of the app. Wardle reportedly found that it's possible to trick a tool that facilitates Zoom's update distribution into accepting an older version of the video conferencing software.
Zoom already fixed that flaw, as well, but Wardle found yet another vulnerability, which he has also presented at the conference. He discovered that there's a point in time between the auto-installer's verification of a software package and the actual installation process that allows an attacker to inject malicious code into the update. A downloaded package meant for installation can apparently retain its original read-write permissions allowing any user to modify it. That means even users without root access could swap its contents with malicious code and gain control of the target computer.
The company told The Verge that it's now working on a patch for the new vulnerability Wardle has disclosed. As Wired notes, though, attackers need to have existing access to a user's device to be able to exploit these flaws. Even if there's no immediate danger for most people, Zoom advises users to "keep up to date with the latest version" of the app whenever one comes out.
If you've been on the lookout for a robot vacuum to help you clean your home, a new sale at Wellbots gives you the chance to pick up some of iRobot's most advanced devices for less. The Roomba j7 and j7+ robo-vacs are both $200 off when you use the code ENGADGET200 at checkout, bringing them down to $399 and $599, respectively. If you want to go all-out, you can also get $200 off the Roomba s9+ using the same code and get it for $799.
Both the j7 series and the s9+ earned spots in our best robot vacuums guide. The j7 models are better for most people because they're cheaper and still have a ton of advanced features. iRobot came out with these models about one year ago and billed them as their first pet poop-detecting robo-vacs. AI-driven computer vision helps these machines navigate around obstacles more efficiently, which means they should be able to avoid any accidents your pets have on your floors. Plus, if they don't avoid the mess, iRobot promises it'll send you a new vacuum to replace your soiled one.
In use, the Roomba j7 cleans both carpeted and hard floors well and it navigates back to its charging base before it runs out of battery. If you go for the j7+, you'll get a clean base as well, which is essentially a garbage can attached to the charging dock into which the robot empties its bin after each job. If you really don't like vacuuming and want to interact with your machine as little as possible, the clean base will come in handy since it can hold up to 60 days worth of debris.
As for the Roomba s9+, it's probably overkill for most people — but it's one of the best robot vacuums available today. It has a sleek design and, since it has 40x the suction power of a standard Roomba, it cleans floors really well and does a good job picking up pet hair. It also returns to its clean base after each job and it'll empty its dustbin automatically. Both it and the j7 series can connect to iRobot's mobile app, allowing you to start cleaning jobs remotely and set schedules and check in on the machine if it gets stuck anywhere in your home. iRobot's app is another major selling point for these devices — it's pretty straight-forward and easy to use, so if it's your first time using a robot vacuum, it won't be too hard to set it up and customize it to your liking.
It's a good time to stock up on travel-friendly accessories before your next trip. A number of Anker portable batteries, wireless chargers and other accessories are on sale, and you can save even more if you're an Amazon Prime member. Those who need to work while on the go can pick up Samsung's T7 Shield SSD for the cheapest price we've seen, while Samsung's Galaxy Buds Pro drop to an al-time-low price just days after the company announced the latest version of the earbuds in the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. On top of all that, the Apple TV 4K is on sale for only $120 and you can pick up a base iPad for as low as $299. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
Apple TV 4K
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
The Apple TV 4K is back in stock at Amazon and on sale for $120. While not quite as cheap as it was on Prime Day last month ($109), this remains one of the best prices we've seen no our favorite high-end set-top box. We gave the device a score of 90 for its fast performance, Dolby Vision and Atmos support, HomeKit integration and much-improved Siri remote.
Most models of Apple's iPad are on sale at Amazon right now, so you can pick one up for as low as $299. The 256GB version is down to $399 as well, and most WiFi + Cellular tablets have been discounted, too. We gave it a score of 86 for its solid performance, excellent battery life and improved Center Stage cameras.
A couple of colors of the Apple Watch Series 7 are on sale for $299, or $100 off their usual rate. That's also close to the record-low price we saw on Prime Day last month. We gave the wearable a score of 90 for its larger screen, faster charging and handy watchOS capabilities. However, if you want the latest from Apple, it may be worth waiting until September when the company historically has announced its latest phones and smartwatches.
Amazon Prime members can save up to 40 percent on Anker charging accessories, including the 521 magnetic battery pack for MagSafe-compatible iPhones, which is $20 off and down to $30. It's a 5,000 mAh portable battery that attaches to the back of the latest iPhones to power them up. Also on sale is Anker's 511 2-in-1 power bank, which is down to $35. That accessory works with more devices since it's an AC charger and portable battery in one.
Amazon's Echo Show 5 is back on sale for $40, or only $5 more than it was during Prime Day last month. This is one of our favorite smart displays and we like it for its compact design and its tap-to-snooze feature, both of which make the device a good smart alarm clock. Also on sale is the Echo Dot, which is $10 off and down to $40.
The larger Echo Show 8 has also been discounted to $85, which is $45 off its normal price and only $10 more than its all-time low. We gave it a score of 87 for its lovely screen, great sound quality and its 13MP camera that keeps you in frame when you're video chatting.
On the heels of Unpacked this week, Amazon discounted the Galaxy Buds Pro to $120, which is 40 percent off and their best price yet. We gave them a score of 85 for their solid sound quality, comfortable fit and wireless charging capabilities. Samsung just announced their successors, the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, this week — you can pre-order them now for $230, and check back on Engadget for our full review in the coming weeks.
Samsung's new T7 Shield SSD in 1TB is down to a new record low of $100, which is $60 less than usual. This is the most durable version of Samsung's palm-sized portable drive, featuring a rubberized exterior and enough protection to survive up to 9.8-foot drops. It has sequential read speeds of up to 1,050 MB/s and write speeds of up to 1,000 MB/s, plus Dynamic Thermal Guard and 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard.
Both the NVIDIA Shield TV and the TV Pro streaming devices have dropped back down to record lows of $125 and $170, respectively. Both run Android TV and support voice commands from the Google Assistant as well as Amazon's Alexa if you have a compatible smart speaker in your home. They also both support 4K HDR content, Dolby Vision and Atmos, along with Chromecast capabilities.
A couple of Eufy robot vacuums are up to 47 percent off at Amazon right now. The RoboVac G30 Edge is down to a record low of $180, while the G30 Hybrid is on sale for only $220. Both of these are some of Eufy's more affordable machines — the G30 Edge comes with physical boundary strips that let you set no-go zones and the G30 Hybrid is a robot vacuum and mop in one.
Amazon includes a free Blink Mini camera when you buy a Blink Outdoor kit, so you'll save $35 in total on the bundle. Blink cameras are a relatively affordable way to outfit your home with security cameras — all of them record 1080p video and support two-way audio and motion alerts. The Outdoor cameras are wireless and weather-resistant, while the Blink Mini is a smaller, wired camera that's designed to fit into tight spaces inside your home.
The Beats Studio Buds are back on sale for $100, or $50 off their usual rate. These are some of the best Beats earbuds for most people and we gave them a score of 84 for their comfortable design, good sound quality and ANC and fast pairing with both iOS and Android devices.
Sony's LinkBuds S are on sale for $148, which is 26 percent off and a new all-time low. These buds came out earlier this year and support smart playback, which lets them automatically play and pause music depending on what you're doing.
It’s been more than a month since PlayStation Plus Premium went live, cementing the video game industry’s shift toward cloud gaming and subscriptions. PlayStation’s game-streaming scheme is competing directly with Xbox Game Pass, the service that proved the concept by earning more than 25 million subscribers over the past five years, leveraging Microsoft’s massive cloud network.
As the two main console manufacturers and the owners of huge franchises, Sony and Microsoft set the stage for the rest of the video game marketplace, and the transition to streaming subscriptions is no different. Here we’ll break down what they’re each offering and take a look at the industry from the perspective of the cloud.
PlayStation Plus has three tiers: Essential, Extra and Premium. Essential costs $10 a month or $60 a year, and it’s basically the PlayStation Plus you’re used to, offering three games to download each month, access to online multiplayer features, cloud storage and discounts. PS Plus Extra costs $15 a month or $100 a year, and has everything in the Essential tier plus a library of up to 400 downloadable PS4 and PS5 games.
PS Plus Premium costs $18 a month or $120 a year, and adds up to 340 games from past PlayStation consoles. This is also the tier that unlocks cloud gaming, supporting more than 700 titles and adding the ability to stream or download games from older eras. This tier actually replaces PlayStation Now, Sony’s often-underwhelming cloud gaming service that launched on PS4. With PS Plus Premium, cloud gaming is available on PS4, PS5 and PC, but not on mobile devices.
Sony
That’s one difference between Sony and Microsoft’s approach, as Xbox titles are playable on mobile devices as well as consoles and PC. But the bigger distinction is the type of games that are available on each network. Sony doesn’t plan on adding big exclusive games like Forspoken or God of War Ragnarök to Plus on day one, meaning subscribers will have to buy these titles separately if they want to play right away. On the Xbox side of things, Game Pass Ultimate offers a streaming library of more than 300 titles, and it includes big first-party drops like Halo Infinite on release day. That’s significant, considering Xbox owns influential studios including Bethesda and id Software, and it’s in the process of acquiring Activision Blizzard. Xbox offering the next Doom or Elder Scrolls on day one is a bigger draw than Sony offering Stray, even if Stray is the most adorable game of the year.
Xbox has been the loudest proponent of cloud gaming in the console space, and with the support of a robust network from Microsoft and years of public testing, Game Pass has set the standard when it comes to subscription services. Game Pass has PC-only and console-only tiers providing access to a library of more than 300 downloadable games for $10 a month, while Game Pass Ultimate unlocks cloud play on PC, mobile and Xbox consoles for $15 a month. Assuming you pay for PS Plus Premium up-front, this puts the annual price of Game Pass Ultimate ahead of Premium by $60 – which is roughly what it’ll cost PlayStation subscribers to buy one of those first-party Sony games, so it all shakes out in the end.
Aaron Souppouris/Engadget
Xbox has been steadily building the foundation for an industry that isn’t limited by hardware, relying on cloud gaming rather than console generations, while Sony still seems married to the idea of hardware cycles and more traditional game sales. Despite being there first with PlayStation Now, when it comes to streaming, Sony is playing catch-up to Microsoft, but it still has plenty to offer in the form of classic games and new exclusives. Cloud play is here to stay and it’s possible that other services like Steam and the Epic Games Store will follow Xbox and PlayStation’s lead in the coming years. Nintendo is bringing up the rear in terms of online, cloud, and anything resembling 21st century technology, but it has an unrivaled back catalog and Switch Online unlocks a number of NES, SNES and N64 games.
This isn’t about any one service being better than the others. This is about adjusting to the new normal for video games, where your money won’t be spent on a $60 disc or a discrete download code, but will instead be spread among streaming services with individual purchases on the side. We’re used to this idea when it comes to TV and movies, and streaming technology is almost reliable enough to make it the standard in gaming.
These are the new calculations we'll be running each month: Do I value Game Pass Ultimate over Netflix? Or PS Plus Premium over Spotify? New subscription services pop up almost weekly; something's gotta give.
