The 3-pack setup will let you cover up to 6,600 square feet, enough for even large homes. We gave the Google Nest WiFi router a score of 84 in our review for its installation simplicity and ease of use. Setup is easy to do, and its wireless radios are twice as powerful as the ones inside the old Google WiFi router. We also praised both the router and the access points for having unobtrusive designs that will fit nicely into most homes.
The access points also work as speakers with built-in Google Assistant that you can use to issue voice commands. They can't quite replace a proper speaker, but sound quality is the same as a standalone Google Home Mini. The biggest drawback is a lack of support for WiFi 6, but these are otherwise some of the best mesh routers available.
Google
Meanwhile, the Nest Video Doorbell (battery) is on sale for $120, or $60 off the regular price. The battery makes installation easy and possible to use with any door, and it offers features like visitor alerts, along with a built-in speaker and microphone.
And finally, both the wired and battery Nest Security Camera's are also marked down. The wired model (2nd generation) is on sale for $79, or 21 percent off the regular $99 price, while the Nest Cam Outdoor or Indoor (2nd gen) with battery is marked down 33 percent to $120. Both record at 1080p and they'll send alerts to your phone when motion is detected in their line of site. They also have built in speakers and microphones, so you can hear what's going on and speak to people on the other end of the camera.
Less than a year after announcing the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, Apple reportedly plans to update those devices as early as this fall. Responding to a reader question in his latest Power On newsletter (via 9to5Mac), Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says the company is already working on M2 versions of the 14- and 16-inch models.
According to Gurman, the design and features of the two computers are “likely to stay roughly the same” since Apple only redesigned the line last year to add MagSafe charging, more ports and better displays. The primary change will be the addition of M2 versions of the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips the company offers through its current models. “Look for much of the focus to be on the graphics side, just like with the standard M2,” said Gurman of the upcoming SoCs. On the 2022 MacBook Air, graphics performance is about 35 percent faster if you go with the 10-core GPU variant.
Although Apple reportedly hopes to release the new MacBook Pros sometime in the fall, Gurman notes the company could delay them to the spring of 2023. “Given the continued supply-chain challenges, it’s hard to predict exactly when these will hit store shelves,” he said. New Macs are just among a “deluge” of products Apple plans to release over the next year. In another recent newsletter, Gurman said the company was also working on a new HomePod and an extreme sports Apple Watch.
You might think Dbrand is playing with fire here, and you're probably right. “Some might accuse us of theft. Here's our counter: we stole nothing,” the company says on its website. “That's not theft - it's plagiarism, which is definitely not a crime. We checked,” Dbrand adds after noting it spent “a lot of time” taking apart electronics, an investment the company says makes it “uniquely qualified to rip off an industrial design and ‘creatively reinterpret’ it for other devices.”
Dbrand is no stranger to these kinds of marketing stunts. At the end of last year, the company made headlines when it stopped selling custom PlayStation 5 faceplates following a cease-and-desist letter from Sony. Days later, the company announced a new version of its “Darkplates” it claimed Sony would not have a legal case against. We wouldn't rule out the possibility that Nothing founder Carl Pei is involved. Pei is widely credited for the guerilla marketing strategy that put OnePlus on the map.
Something skins are available to buy through Dbrand’s website. You can get one for $24.95.
The FCC's 25Mbps broadband standard seemed fast in 2015, but that was seven years ago — and the agency's current leadership believes it's time to raise that baseline. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has proposed raising the minimum definition of broadband to 100Mbps for downloads and 20Mbps for uploads. The previous 25/3 benchmark is both outdated and hides just how many low-income and rural internet users are being "left behind and left offline," Rosenworcel said.
The chair said multiple pieces of evidence supported the hike, including requirements for new network construction stemming from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The FCC had already proposed upgrades to rural speeds through a special program, but this would affect the definition of broadband regardless of where users live in the country.
Rosenworcel also wanted the minimum speed to evolve over time. She proposed setting a much higher standard of 1Gbps down and 500Mbps up for some point in the future. The leader further suggested more criteria for determining the "reasonable and timely" rollout of broadband, including adoption rates, affordability, availability and equitable access.
It's unclear if the standards change will move forward. Ars Technicanotes any proposed upgrade would require a vote, and the current commission is deadlocked with two Democrats and two Republics. As the Senate has done little to advance commissioner nominee Gigi Sohn, there's no guarantee Rosenworcel (a Democrat) will get her way. Telecoms might not be thrilled, either. Comcast only last year raised the speed of its $10 Essentials tier to 50Mbps downstream — it and other carriers might have to invest in better networks to reach the 100Mbps minimum in some areas, let alone a possible 1Gbps threshold.
Amazon Prime Day brought a flurry of deals earlier this week, but just because the shopping event has come and gone doesn't mean all of those savings have disappeared. In fact, there are a number of good tech deals still lingering today, so you still have the chance to save some money if you missed out a few days ago. Amazon's own Fire TV Stick 4K is down to $30 at the moment, only $5 more than it was on Prime Day proper, and the Echo Show 5 Kids is also on sale for $50. Apple's AirPods Pro are still at their Prime Day price of $170, and things like Samsung's T7 Shield SSD, the Beats Studio Buds and Roku's Streambar remain discounted, too.
AirPods Pro
The AirPods Pro with the MagSafe case have been discounted to $170. These remain Apple's best sounding earbuds, and we liked them for their solid sound, powerful ANC and hands-free Siri capabilities.
The 10.2-inch iPad is down to $299. We gave it a score of 86 for its improved performance, excellent battery life, better front-facing camera and increased base storage.
The AirPods Max are on sale for $449 right now. These headphones earned a score of 84 from us for their excellent, balanced sound, solid ANC and good battery life.
The latest 11-inch iPad Pro has dropped to $699. We gave it and the 12.9-inch model a score of 87 for their powerful performance thanks to the M1 chipset, lovely displays and Center Stage cameras.
The 16-inch MacBook Pro is down to $2,249, or $250 off its usual price. We gave it a score of 92 for its powerful performance, lovely Liquid Retina XDR displays and new bevy of ports.
The Fire TV Stick 4K is on sale for $30 right now, which is only $5 more than it was on Prime Day earlier this week. This one supports 4K streaming with Dolby Vision along with Dolby Atmos audio and Amazon's Fire TV OS.
The Echo Dot is on sale for $40 while the Echo Dot with Clock is down to $50. We like these tiny smart speakers for their good audio quality, compact design and tap-to-snooze feature.
Amazon's Echo Show 5 Kids remains nearly half off and down to $50 right now. This is the same Echo Show 5 that we gave a score of 85, but it has a more colorful design and it comes with one year of amazon Kids+.
You can pick up any of a number of Amazon Fire TVs for less at the moment, but we recommend springing for one of the newer Omni Series sets. All of them stream in 4K and support HDR10, HLG and Dolby Digital Plus. The real perks come in if you're already a heavy Alexa user as these TVs have built-in microphones to allow hands-free Alexa access, so you can basically treat the TV as you would an Echo smart speaker. Currently, the 43-inch Omni Series set is $90 off and down to $320.
The Chromecast with Google TV is down to $40 right now. We gave it a score of 86 for its handy remote control, good Google Assistant integration and 4K streaming chops with Dolby Vision and Atmos support.
LG's 65-inch B1 OLED TV remains 30 percent off and down to $1,500. This 2021 version runs on LG's a7 Gen 4 AI Processor 4K, works with G-Sync and FreeSync technologies and has Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa support built in.
A variety of Samsung monitors remain on sale today, and they include the company's M5 smart monitor. Both the 27-inch and 32-inch versions of the M5 have been discounted, and these displays double as smart TVs. You can use either as a regular external monitor, but built-in technology gives you access to streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and others.
Crucial's MX500 in 1TB is on sale for $85, or 15 percent off its usual price. It’s a good option if you need a standard 2.5-inch drive that works with both laptops and desktops. It also has AES-256 bit hardware encryption and integrated power loss immunity to protect your data.
Samsung's new T7 Shield portable SSDs are still on sale for the best prices we've seen. You can pick up the 1TB model for $100 or the 2TB model for $200 — both new all-time-low prices. Samsung just came out with these drives back in April, and they're designed to be more durable versions of the standard T7 series with extra drop protection and an IP65-rated design.
The Beats Studio Buds are on sale for $100 right now, or $50 off their usual rate. We gave them a score of 84 for their balanced sound, hands-free Siri controls and quick pairing with both iOS and Android.
The Beats Fit Pro are 20 percent off and down to $160. We gave them a score of 87 for their comfortable, water-resistant design, good sound quality and ANC and long battery life.
Jabra's Elite 85t earbuds are on sale for $120, or a whopping 53 percent off their normal price. We like these true wireless earbuds for their strong ANC, comfortable size and wireless charging case.
Jabra's excellent Elite 3 earbuds have dropped to $50, or $30 off their normal rate. These already affordable buds earned a score of 88 from us for their impressive sound quality, good battery life, reliable touch controls and comfortable fit.
The Roku Streambar is down to $90 right now. It's a compact soundbar that will upgrade any living room relying on an old TV with weak audio. We gave it a score of 86 for its solid audio quality, Dolby Audio support and built-in 4K streaming technology. The more advanced Streambar Pro is on sale for $150, too.
Roku's Express streaming dongle has dropped to $18. The Express doesn't have a ton of fancy features, but it does support HD content and it comes with a high-speed HDMI cable. The Express 4K+ streamer is also on sale for $25.
The latest Roku Streaming Stick 4K is on sale for $30. It builds upon the technology in the Streaming Stick+, supporting 4K HDR10+ content, Dolby Vision, long-range WiFi, voice search and TV controls with the included remote.
The HyperX Cloud Alpha headset is down to a record low of $60. It works with most game consoles, including the PS5 and the Nintendo Switch, plus it has a study aluminum frame, a detachable braided cable and a removable noise cancellation microphone.
Razer's Kiyo Pro webcam is just about half off right now and down to $102. This webcam records at 1080p 60fps and has an adaptive light sensor that allows it to automatically adjust your image depending on the lighting conditions.
Samsung's 980 Pro is one of the best internal SSDs you can get right now and it's 43 percent off and down to $120 right now. It has sequential read speeds up to 7,000MB/s and it'll work with the PS5 as long as you have a heatsink attached.
The Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD in 1TB is on sale for $105. It's our current top pick on our list of best drives for your PS5 thanks to its speedy 7,400 MB/s sequential read speeds and its pre-installed heatsink.
Another one of our favorite PS5 SSDs, the PNY XLR8 CS3040, has dropped to $105. It's an already affordable drive made even better by this sale, and we like its 5,600 MB/s read speeds and its five-year warranty.
The 500GB Crucial P2 SSD is down to $43 right now, or 23 percent cheaper than usual. This model has read speeds up to 2,400 MB/s and comes with SSD management software that will help you optimize performance and install firmware updates.
Crucial's compact X6 portable drive in 1TB has been discounted to $80. It supports 800 MB/s read speeds, plus it works with all kinds of machines include Windows, Mac, Android and iPad devices, and even game consoles if you have the right connecting cable.
Sony's compact SRS-XB13 Bluetooth speaker is down to just $48, which is 20 percent off its regular price. Not only does it come in a bunch of fun colors, but this tiny speaker also has a waterproof IP67 rated design, punchy bass and a 16-hour battery life.
Intel has told customers that it will raises prices on most of its processors and other chips by up to 10-20 percent later this year, Nikkei has reported. That could mean price increases on computers products ranging from laptops to servers, at the same time that demand is weakening and sales are dropping.
Intel effectively confirmed the news, referring back to its Q1 earnings call. "Intel indicated it would increase pricing in certain segments of its business due to inflationary pressures. The company has begun to inform customers of these changes," it told Nikkei.
With the COVID-19 keeping folks working at home, PC sales increased dramatically in 2020-21. That bubble has since burst, however, and key Intel buyers like Acer, ASUS and others have warned of slowing sales ahead. Acer Chairman Jason Chen even noted that his company is no longer seeing a shortage of chips. "Some of the chip suppliers' CEOs even called me recently to buy more chips from them. The situation has changed," he told reporters on Wednesday.
Rival chipmaker TSMC previously said that it would race prices by a "single-digit" percentage starting next year. Since that company manufactures AMD's chips, consumers aren't likely to find as much price relief by switching brands, either.
Some device makers are starting to build up inventories, which could mean deals in the short term. However, the outlook longer term is less clear. Samsung, for one, reportedly told suppliers to stop shipping parts used to manufacture its PCs, TVs and other devices.
When I first pulled the Nothing Phone 1 from its slender retail box, I just stared at it, flipped it over in my hand and scrutinized the see-through bits and pieces. Nothing’s attention to detail was noticeable everywhere. I’ll admit it outright: I love how it looks.
The company may be pushing a narrative of epoch-defining design, but its first phone also comes with decent, if not groundbreaking, specifications and, gasp, a competitive price point. While the aesthetics scream flagship device (and there’s definitely some iPhone DNA here), the price tag, around $476 (£399 here in the UK, no availability in the US), puts it in the arguably more competitive midrange weight class. That puts it up against the iPhone SE, Samsung’s Galaxy A series and Google’s Pixel A devices – don’t forget, the Pixel 6a is just around the corner. Can a literally flashy phone steal your attention away from all these heavy hitters?
Hardware
Mat Smith / Engadget
Both colors of the Nothing Phone 1 are eye-catching. And, while the white version looks cooler, the black really emphasizes the unique glyph lights. Gorilla Glass covers the front and back, and Nothing has curated what components you can see and smoothed out some of the lines.
Let’s talk about the Glyph interface, as Nothing has coined it. It uses over 900 LEDS to create four different light-up elements across the back of the phone. Some have extra features, which I’ll come back to, but collectively they light and flash to signify phone calls or notifications… and prompt strangers to ask, “what’s going on with your iPhone?” The only thing it attracts more than onlookers is fingerprints. You’ll buff this phone a lot to ensure the transparent design can be properly shown off.
Yeah, it’s eye-catching to all humans within 10 feet, but fortunately, you can reduce the brightness and, well, the severity of a phone call or text from someone. There’s also a thoughtful warning that the Glyph Interface may not be safe for anyone with epilepsy or other light-sensitivity conditions. As I have a history of seizures myself, it’s a nice consideration, but as someone noted, what about the people around me?
Nothing has made 10 unique ringtones with dedicated Glyph patterns that light up in sync to the lo-fi chippy noises – one of several signs that the Teenage Engineering DNA runs deep here. Most of the ringtones and patterns are somehow... just plain cool? I think it’s something to do with the perfect synchronization or the fact that it’s not the hollow, orchestral stirrings of a corporate audio sting.
A light strip at the bottom of the Phone 1 doubles up as a charging gauge when the device is plugged in. You will have to enable the feature within the phone’s Glyph Interface settings. I wish the battery gauge also worked on the power strip even when it wasn’t plugged in. Perhaps we’ll get more Glyph functionality in the future.
Now, for all those claims of a unique smartphone paradigm, besides the back, the phone looks and feels like an iPhone – especially the edges of the recycled aluminum frame. Unlike Apple’s phone, there’s no mute switch, and that might be an intentional design choice to put some distance between Nothing and OnePlus. (Nothing boss Carl Pei co-founded the latter and I’ve made my feelings on the OnePlus alert slider known for some time.)
Like the iPhone, the power button is on the right side, while the volume buttons are along the left. At the bottom edge, you have a single-firing (but loud!) speaker, SIM card slot and USB-C port.
There’s a red LED on the back of the phone to indicate when Phone 1 is recording video, like a camcorder from the ‘90s. It’s equal parts privacy feature and intentional retro nod. Another cute touch: The SIM card remover handle is resin-tipped, and looks like a little transistor.
The Phone 1 is a big phone. It dwarfs my iPhone 13 Pro. Its 6.55-inch 1080p screen puts it closer to the iPhone 13 Pro Max and the Pixel 6 Pro. Though, at 8.3mm thick, it’s more substantial than Apple’s biggest iPhone.
The midrange spec creep starts at the display, which has a relatively substantial bezel similar to the Galaxy A53 but it’s unlikely to be a dealbreaker for many. There’s a holepunch camera, (16-megapixel) and the display itself is vivid and bright (up to 1200 nits), while refresh rates can reach 120Hz. Adaptive refresh rates are one of the modern touches that help devices feel (and, well, look) premium.
Mat Smith / Engadget
The Phone 1 feels premium then, despite the next compromise: the mid-range Snapdragon processor ticking away inside. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 778G+ chip has been lightly customized for Nothing, meaning the Phone 1 can offer wireless charging (and reverse wireless charging) capabilities, unlike phones using the standard Snapdragon 778G. The Phone 1 was still able to handle some battles and exploration in Genshin Impact, though it did get rather warm in the process.
Nothing says you can 33-watt fast-charge the Phone 1 to 50 percent battery capacity in 30 minutes, and my testing pretty much replicated this. Wireless charging tops out at 15W, while you can reverse charge at up to 5W from the Phone 1 itself. I wonder if wireless charging is all that desirable? Or was it an issue of having something nice to show off on the transparent back? Something to frame a Glyph around? Perhaps I’m just a cynic. (Ok, definitely.)
In our battery rundown tests, the Phone 1 was able to play a video on loop for just over 16 hours, which is better than several Android phones we’ve tested in the last year, including the OnePlus 10 Pro, although it’s worth noting that Nothing’s has a lower-resolution display.
In typical use, I managed to get a day and half out of a full charge. With more video recording, or gaming or streaming, this would mean I’d be under 10 percent by 9PM. This is ameliorated a little with the fast charging, but a bit more battery life would have been nice.
Software
The dot-matrix ‘Nothing’ font that arrived with the company’s debut earbuds, is peppered around the company’s take on Android 12. There isn’t much different about this “bespoke” interpretation of Google’s mobile OS, though. There are those Glyph-connected ringtones, some monochromatic wallpapers, and unique widgets in the drop-down menu, but otherwise, it’s mostly the Android you know.
A Nothing spokesperson told me that they’re working on expanding features through third-party APIs — one example currently live is the ability to unlock your Tesla from this dropdown menu. You can turn on the AC in advance, flash the lights and a few more lightweight features. But that’s an incredibly tiny slice of Venn diagram overlap: Tesla driver and Nothing Phone 1 owner.
Mat Smith / Engadget
Another obvious display of the company’s partnership with Teenage Engineering, is its voice memo app, which has a minimalist tape deck aesthetic. You can rewind and fast-forward, and there are several noise-canceling options to better isolate voices. It’s not podcast-ready but if you’re recording a meeting or leaving a note for yourself from a loud pub they should at least help.
If there’s one thing I can’t get on board with, it’s Nothing’s addition of a native NFT Gallery. I don’t have any NFTs, but if I did, I’d be able to track their prices and “show them off” in five different sizes on the Phone 1. Let’s move on.
As it’s a new phone from a very new company, I had my reservations about stability. But so far, I’ve had no major issues. Resource-intensive apps may take slightly longer to load compared to flagship phones, but that’s about it. The company has also vowed to bring three years of Android updates to the Phone 1, which should help keep things secure and stable.
Cameras
Mat Smith / Engadget
If you‘ve been checking out many of our phone reviews over recent years, you’ll have noticed that multi-camera setups often include a dud – a monochrome sensor here, a 2-megapixel macro camera there. There’s a reason why the Pixel 6 and iPhone 13 are still capable of decent photography, despite “only” having two cameras – diminishing returns. This phone also has a dual-camera system. At this mid-range price, this is where things often go awry. But, thankfully, that’s not the case with the Nothing Phone 1.
Nothing has gone for Sony’s IMX766 sensor and combined it with f/1.9 lens with optical image stabilization. If you’re a smartphone obsessive, that might sound familiar, because that’s what you got on Oppo’s Find X3 Pro, a flagship Android phone from last year that was double the price of the Phone 1.
The secondary ultrawide camera uses a 50MP Samsung JN1 sensor with an f/2.2 lens. This doubles as a macro camera, but don’t expect incredible macro photography from a phone.
You can expect crisp images in good lighting, though. I’ve been impressed with the still quality from the Phone 1. There seem to be some image software tweaks here, but they’re relatively light. Comparing daylight shots from the Phone 1 against the Pixel 4a, Google’s seemed to offer more contrast, but it’s hard to call a winner between the two. Both offered up 12-megapixel images, so detail levels were generally a match, Nothing just seems to have gone for slightly more muted colors.
With brighter parts of the image, you will notice some chromatic aberrations: a purplish hue around those bright spots. Night-time photography is decent enough, with the usual night shooting mode in attendance. It didn’t best the top smartphones, but it was able to rescue a few lowlight shots that would have otherwise been a dark patchy mess. Despite the algorithms at work, results were a little noisy.
The Glyph Interface can also be used as a sort-of ring light, to illuminate nearby subjects without the oomph of a standard flash. It added a gentle, slightly blueish hue to photos when enabled. It’s a clever idea but the execution is a little lacking. If Nothing could offer finer color temperature controls, like many ring lights do, this could be genuinely useful.
The Nothing Phone 1's camera (L-R): With Glyph ring light, without flash, with flash.
Mat Smith / Engadget
The camera app offers all the usual imaging features of a phone in 2022: HDR, Portrait mode, timelapse and even an expert mode for finer controls over white balance, ISO and more. I found the basic photo mode more than versatile enough. The biggest limitation was the 2x zoom, which crops part of the image sensor. There’s some digital zoom thrown in if you’re desperate. I started to miss the more expansive telephoto options on other – usually more expensive – smartphones.
The Phone 1 can capture 4K video at 30FPS or 1080p at 60FPS. Video quality was smooth and serviceable. There’s a little bit of rolling shutter wobble when you’re panning around, and in lower light I noticed it hunting for focus if I was moving while recording. It also struggles to balance exposure between a pinkish sky at dusk and a darker street.
Wrap-up
Brian Oh / Engadget
At the Nothing Phone 1’s launch event, Carl Pei said that “stability [was] way more important than a ton of flashy features.” It was an odd choice of words when the biggest differentiator of your company’s new phone is literally a flashing feature.
The good news is that all this effort into how the phone looks – and it’s certainly eye-catching when the Glyphs light up – hasn’t been undone by wobbly software, mediocre cameras or disappointing build quality. It’s a competent Android phone.
The price, the style and the attention to detail are all impressive. Nothing is walking a fine line between gimmick and feature at times, but as a new company, it gets to do that. There’s no predecessor phone to replicate, and this goes in Nothing’s favor. Having said that, its biggest rival could be Google’s Pixel 6a, with a similar price point, and its own unique look.
This is a new phone from a new company, so I’ll be keeping an eye on this phone longer term. But, Nothing has made an impressive debut. Don’t believe all the hype, but the Phone makes a compelling argument for mid-range shoppers and anyone that wants a phone that looks different but does things pretty much the same.
Earlier this year, Google announced ChromeOS Flex, a tool that lets anyone take an old Windows or Mac laptop and give it new life by installing Chrome OS. After launching ChromeOS Flex in “early access,” Google now says that Flex is ready to “scale broadly” to more Macs and PCs.
The basics remain the same. You can visit the ChromeOS Flex website to make a bootable Chrome OS installation on a USB drive to ensure that your system works properly, and you can then fully replace your old computer’s OS with Chrome OS if everything checks out. As for what’s new, Google says it has tested compatibility with over 400 different devices. That was part of the intention of the early access program — it let Google gather a ton of user feedback and fix some 600 bugs that were identified over the last few months.
While anyone can install ChromeOS Flex, Google is mostly positioning this as a tool for businesses or schools to extend the usefulness of older hardware. To that end, IT departments can actually deploy Flex over their networks rather than update every computer with a USB drive. Google also notes that Flex devices can be managed using the Chrome Enterprise Upgrade, which lets departments manage apps and policies across a whole fleet of computers.
This all comes about a year and a half after Google bought Neverware, a company that first had the idea of letting users take old computers and turn them into Chromebooks. Now that ChromeOS Flex is being deployed widely, Neverware’s CloudReady software will be transitioned to Flex in the coming weeks and the standalone CloudReady product will be shut down. That shouldn’t be a major issue for anyone, though, as Flex is now stable and has some features that CloudReady didn’t, like Google Assistant support.
Sony has announced its first PlayStation loyalty program. PlayStation Stars will be free to join and you can earn points by playing games and making purchases on the PlayStation Store. You'll be able to redeem those points for things like PSN wallet funds and certain products from the store.
There will be a "Monthly Check-in" program that will enable you to earn a reward by playing any game. Sony plans to offer rewards to those who win tournaments and earn certain trophies. The first player to earn a platinum trophy for a certain game in their time zone will earn a reward too.
One aspect of the program ruffled some feathers on social media after the announcement. Sony says it will offer digital collectibles as rewards. These are "digital representations of things that PlayStation fans enjoy, including figurines of beloved and iconic characters from games and other forms of entertainment, as well as cherished devices that tap into Sony’s history of innovation." It said fans will always have collectibles to earn and there will be "ultra rare" ones.
Calling them "digital collectibles" certainly makes them sound like NFTs, but that's not the case. “It’s definitely not NFTs. Definitely not," Grace Chen, Sony Interactive Entertainment's vice president of network advertising, loyalty and licensed merchandise, told The Washington Post. "You can’t trade them or sell them. It is not leveraging any blockchain technologies and definitely not NFTs." If only Sony had clarified that in its own blog post to avoid confusion.
PlayStation Stars follows similar reward offerings from Microsoft and Nintendo. Microsoft's program, which is now called Microsoft Points, has been around for many years. Along with earning points by playing Xbox, users can accrue them by searching on Bing and buying products.
Similarly, folks can snag My Nintendo Gold Points by making purchases from the eShop and performing well in tournaments. They can be used for discounts on Switch games. For completing various tasks, you can also earn platinum points which are redeemable for rewards.
Sony says it will build out PlayStation Stars over time. It's currently testing the program and it's planning a phased rollout later this year. More details will be revealed in the coming months.
If you've already decided you want to go big on your next laptop, consider the 16-inch MacBook Pro. We gave it a score of 92 in our review, and we didn't find too much to knock it for. However, it's pretty pricey with its $2,499 starting price. But right now you can pick it up for $250 less at Amazon as the online retailer has knocked the price of the 512GB version down to $2,249. That's the best price we've seen it, and you can get the discount on their the silver or space gray model.
Unlike many of Apple's other notebooks, the 16-inch MacBook Pro was redesigned a bit to make it more of a power user's machine. It has a 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display that's only interrupted by a top notch that houses the 1080p webcam. The TouchBar is gone but Apple's Magic Keyboard remains a dream to type on, and the trackpad is wonderful to use as well. But arguably most importantly, the sides of the MacBook Pro now have a bunch of ports that have been missing from the notebook for a long time. It has three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C connections, a full-sized HDMI port, and SD card reader, a headphone jack and a MagSafe power connector — all of that's to say that you won't be living as much of the dongle life as you might have been before, although you might still need a USB-A adapter every now and then.
The base model that's on sale runs on Apple's M1 Pro chipset, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, and it comes in at fairly hefty 4.7 pounds. While it's not the most portable machine (we recommend going for the 14-inch version if that's a priority for you), it's certainly a powerhouse when it comes to performance. In our benchmark testing, the Pro blew most comparable Windows machines out of the water and did so while maintaining a strong battery life. The 16-inch Pro lasted about 16.5 hours during our battery tests, and it's worth noting that we didn't see a performance dip while running on battery power alone.
Ultimately, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is best for audio and video producers or others in creative fields who want the maximum amount of screen space possible along with some of the best performance you'll find on a laptop today. Yes, it remains pricey even when on sale, but it's a much better buy when you can grab it for $250 less than usual.
