At-home COVID-19 tests might not be as trustworthy as you'd hope — not in the hands of a committed hacker, at least. As The Vergenotes, F-Secure researcher Ken Gannon discovered a since-patched security flaw in Ellume's Bluetooth-connected nasal swab test that let him change the reported results. The vulnerability was complicated, but still disconcerting.
Gannon used a rooted Android device to inspect the Bluetooth traffic Ellume's lateral flow tester was sending to the company's mobile app. The researcher pinpointed the traffic used to indicate test results, and wrote scripts to change the outcome. F-Secure Marketing Manager Alexandra Rinehimer even managed to fool Azova, a company issuing certificates for US entry tests, when it supervised her test.
Ellume has made it harder to study and modify the data, and it's not clear iPhone or iPad users could replicate the same feat. The company is also building a portal to help officials verify at-home tests, and has determined that all previous tests were authentic.
Even so, the findings raise concerns about people using other flaws (including for other tests) to falsify their COVID-19 results. Someone with enough know-how could flip results negative to re-enter the US or a particular workplace while infected. Although the effort currently involved makes that fraud unlikely on a large scale, it wouldn't take many bogus results to lead to outbreaks.
Sony's true wireless WF-C500 earphones offer features like a comfortable fit and support for immersive 360 Reality Audio, but at the regular $100 price they're not quite a cheap gift. For today only, however, you can pick up a pair for $58, for a very substantial savings of 42 percent.
The WF-C500 sits at the bottom of Sony's true wireless earphone lineup, but it still has a rich feature set. Comfort is improved over the previous models thanks to a smaller size, IPX4 moisture rating and more secure fit, features borrowed from the high-end WF-1000XM4 model. It also comes with Sony's Digital Sound Enhancement Engine that restores detail lost when music is compressed over Bluetooth.
It also supports Sony's 360 Reality Audio if you have a supported plan on Amazon Music HD, Tidal HiFi, and others. On-board controls let you manage music, adjust volume, take calls and activate a voice assistant without the need for a phone. It delivers up to 10 hours of listening time on a charge, and a quick charge feature gives you another hour just ten minutes. The main drawback is the lack of active noise-cancellation (ANC) — normal on earphones at this price level.
If you do want ANC, Sony still has deals on its flagship wireless earphones and headphones. You can pick up the WH-1000XM4 wireless headphones with ANC for $248, or $100 off the regular price. The WF-1000XM4 wireless earbuds, meanwhile, can be found right now for $248, for a savings of $32. All of those deals are limited in time, so if you need a last-minute Christmas gift, it's best to act soon.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
While plenty of gadgets cross our desks, we at Engadget also end up buying a lot of things for ourselves throughout the year. In 2021, some of us invested in smart home devices and others (re)discovered passions for things like e-books and vinyl, but there are plenty of things we bought and loved that didn’t make it onto the site. Here, our staffers look back on the year that was by gushing about their favorite items they bought this year.
Dyson V11 Torque vacuum cleaner
Dyson
After a few years of waffling, I finally pulled the trigger in 2021 and bought a Dyson stick vacuum. You could say I fell for the hype, but honestly it’s been one of my favorite purchases of the year and arguably the most useful. Until now, we had been relying on a few-years-old Roomba (lovingly named Dale) to clean our two-bedroom apartment — Dale did a good job, but the Dyson is even better. Sure, we have to actually vacuum ourselves, but both my fiancé and I find the task soothing (while our cat finds it absolutely horrific).
The hype is real when it comes to the power of Dyson stick vacuums. The V11 Torque sucks up nearly anything and everything in its path, including the masses of cat hair hiding in our carpet. I like how the machine automatically adjusts the suction power when it moves from carpet to hard flooring, and its three modes let you control how powerful it is to begin with. The LCD screen also shows how long the battery will last in each mode, and it’s good enough that I’ve never had to stop cleaning in order to power up. Maybe that will change if and when we move into a larger home, but even then, it’ll be a small price to pay for tidy goodness. My vacuum also came with a bunch of attachments, so the machine transforms from a full-sized vac to a handheld with just a few snaps. That lets me clean around my couch and the couch itself — a joy that 29-year-old me might not have appreciated, but one that 30-year-old me relishes in. — Valentina Palladino, Commerce Editor
Sonos Roam
Engadget
I bought the Sonos Roam with one primary purpose in mind. In Canada, the early stage of the vaccine rollout was delayed compared to how it played out in the US. As a result, most restaurants and bars either weren’t open or operating at full capacity in the late spring and early summer. And so, for the second year in a row, it looked like any hangouts I would have with my friends would be outside. I figured the Sonos Roam would make those more fun, and I was right.
Everytime I brought it with me to a park hang, my friends would remark how great it sounded. And that’s the best compliment you can give the Roam. It’s small and compact, making it easy to bring with you on any adventure, but more than anything, it sounds way better than any Bluetooth speaker of its size has the right to sound. Because of that, I ended up using the Roam a lot more than I thought I would. It was my constant companion through the summer and fall months, providing a soundtrack when I had to cook dinner, clean my bike or host friends for a patio party. If music is how we decorate time, the Roam did an incredible job of it. – Igor Bonifacic, Associate Editor
Toro UltraPlus leaf blower and vacuum
Toro
As I've acclimated to the grind of yard work, a part of me feels like I'm transforming into King of the Hill's propane-selling, tool-loving Hank Hill. That realization struck me pretty hard this fall, as I prepared to brave another onslaught of leaves from the enormous trees around my house. Last year, it typically took me around two hours to rake and bag everything from my tiny front yard. I just couldn't go through that again. So I decided to buy a leaf mulching vacuum – and it was the best decision I've made all year.
The Toro UltraPlus (model 51621) looks like a typical leaf blower, but it does so much more, I tell you what. Its vacuum attachment can suck up an enormous pile of leaves in minutes, and its metal impeller grinds it all up into a fine pulp. Best of all, once its mulching bag is full, I can just unzip it to dump out the contents into a yard waste bag, or directly over a portion of my garden. Thanks to the Toro, I was able to clean my entire front yard in under 30 minutes. Getting that free time back was easily worth $100.
Like most consumer-grade yard gadgets, the Toro UltraPlus has its share of downsides. Its leaf blowing is hilariously weak – at full blast, it sometimes had trouble moving just a handful of leaves. That's okay with me, since I also hate the relentless drone of leaf blowers in the suburbs. (And yes, its mulching feature is pretty loud as well, but at least that works quickly.)
My biggest worry about the UltraPlus is that it's almost entirely made of plastic. It feels like it’s only a matter of time until the tab that holds in the vacuum tube breaks off. As a plug-in tool, it's also annoying to juggle a long extension cord while I'm trying to beautify my yard. I can live with that inconvenience, though, as cordless leaf vacuums typically cost over $400.
Given how much the Toro UltraPlus has changed fall cleanup for me, I’ll probably just buy another if my curent one breaks. And who knows, maybe it’ll last long enough for my daughter to start helping out with yard work. (They make rakes for three-year-olds, right?) – Devindra Hardawar, Senior Editor
Apple Watch Series 7
Engadget
I’ve been reviewing various generations of the Apple Watch for Engadget since the original debuted back in 2015. It was always the same routine: I would wear the thing for weeks, take it on runs and become obsessed with closing my rings. And then, I’d send my loaner unit back to Apple, and return to life as someone who wore an ugly, not-very-smart watch, or sometimes no watch at all.
2021 was the first time I felt compelled to buy one for myself. I wish I could say there was something particularly compelling about the Series 7. But it’s actually a lot like the Series 6, and I knew that when I bought it. No, I got an Apple Watch mostly because I was fed up with my trusty Garmin. It was never pretty – utilitarian at best – but it became decidedly less so when I broke the strap. Yep, I paid $399 for the Apple Watch because I wanted something stylish that would count my steps.
I’m mostly happy with it. The beige (“Starlight”) color scheme goes with everything. I love unlocking my MacBook with the watch instead of being forced to type a long password on Apple’s unreliable Butterfly keyboard. And the automatic workout detection is as precise as I remember it, gently tapping me on the wrist a few minutes into each of my daily walks.
The biggest issue is my nightly routine of fighting with the watch over how many hours I spent standing throughout the day. The sensor is mercurial and erratic, ignoring the time I spent literally standing at the stove, or even a long series of squats, but sometimes rewarding me for sitting on my butt. Whatever, Apple: I know how long it took me to make that squash for Thanksgiving – and I have photos of the burn marks to prove it. — Dana Wollman, Editor in Chief
Durablow gas fireplace smart remote control
Durablow
I live in a quintessential drafty San Francisco apartment. We have central heat, but my partner and I both have allergies and our furnace seems to do a better job at distributing dust around the house than keeping it warm. Which means in the winter months (and, often in the spring and summer too, because San Francisco) we use our gas fireplace to help keep things cozy. We use it so much that we started wishing we could control it from any room in the house. We have smart lights and other devices connected to our Google Home speakers, so why not the fireplace?
That’s where Durablow’s WiFi-enabled fireplace remote comes in. For about $70, the gadget turns any gas fireplace into a smart fireplace. (We use Google Assistant, but it’s also compatible with Alexa and other smart home systems.) The setup itself was fairly painless: it required connecting one set of wires to the gas valve, and downloading an app to pair the receiver with a Google account. Once it’s paired, you can control the fireplace with voice commands from your smart speaker.
That may sound like a needless amount of effort for something we can also control from a switch on the wall, but after another year spent (mostly) at home, I can safely say rigging Durablow remote control was life changing. Having it connected to our Google Home system means we can turn the fireplace on from any room, which is especially nice in the early mornings when the living room would otherwise be freezing. We can even activate from the Google Home app on our phones when we’re on our way home on a chilly night, brr. – Karissa Bell, Senior Editor
Bombas Performance Running Quarter socks
Bombas
I’ve always had really bad luck with socks, and that might be because I typically bought the cheapest ones I could find. I regularly fought to keep ankle socks from falling down and, after particularly long days in not the best shoes, the backs of my heels would be screaming with cuts and blisters. And I detest nothing more than feeling my sock slip down into the depths of my sneakers in the middle of a run.
Ultimately, I caved and decided to give Bombas’ running socks a try, and I went with the quarter length because they seemed to be the best option for all kinds of runs. Well, you get what you pay for, folks. These are, without a doubt, the best running socks I’ve ever had — they don’t move around, they don’t slip and they keep my toes fairly warm even during late-November morning runs. They’ve become one of those staples in my wardrobe that are so good precisely because I barely notice them, which is in stark contrast to the cheap socks that always demanded more of my attention than I wanted to give. — V.P.
Astrohaus Freewrite
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget
My first impression of the Freewrite smart typewriter from Astrohaus was one of confusion. I had the feeling that I was looking at a $600 solution searching for a problem. For as much as a modest Windows laptop, the Freewrite combines a small E Ink display with a mechanical keyboard and the ability to sync whatever you write to the cloud. It’s a very simple product that sets out to do one thing well: offer an excellent, distraction-free environment for drafting text. As such, there are no bells and whistles here — it’s minimalism taken to the extreme.
Under almost any circumstance, this product would make no sense. But, during the pandemic, I got an itch to try my hand at some different writing — fiction, essays, just something different from what I do for work. That’s when the Freewrite started calling me. Despite the high price tag, I became enamored with its beautiful design and imagined using it to bang out words without being distracted by Twitter, the vast expanses of the internet or my colleagues on Slack.
As expected, no piece of hardware is enough to turn anyone into a novelist. But the Freewrite is a delightful product because of its simplicity. In the era of multi-use gadgets, it’s rare to come across something that focuses on doing one thing exceedingly well. But that’s what the Freewrite does. Its keyboard is a joy to use and the E Ink screen is a smart choice for a device like this. Coming from a laptop it takes a few minutes to get used to the refresh rate, but the basic black-and-white is perfectly suited for text. The Freewrite isn’t for everyone — but if you make a living writing (or are just passionate about it as a hobby), it’s a device worth considering. – Nathan Ingraham, Deputy Managing Editor
Nintendo Switch OLED edition
Kris Naudus / Engadget
Sure, it’s not the Pro model I hoped for, but the OLED Switch offers the definitive Nintendo experience (for now). This is doubly true if you spend most of your Switch time in handheld mode.
With a bigger seven-inch, higher-contrast OLED display, all of my games look better on the new Switch, without exception. And I get to play it for longer without charging, despite the same specifications and even battery size. The longer battery life appears to be due to the virtue of a less power-hungry OLED screen, and coming from the original launch model, where I was lucky to eke out 4 hours on games like Super Mario Odyssey or Zelda: Breath of the Wild, it’s a genuine improvement for me, as I love to used to travel with my Switch everywhere. I love the white Joy-Cons, but I’m afraid to wear them out or get them dirty. But that’s my problem.
Most have said it’s a nice, if inessential, upgrade for existing Switch owners – but if you typically play untethered from a TV, the OLED model is, for me, a substantially better console. Contingent on Omicron’s movements, my OLED Switch will soon have its first test – a long-haul flight to Las Vegas. – Mat Smith, UK Bureau Chief
PopSocket MagSafe grip with Smartish phone case
PopSocket
For many years now, I’ve been a big fan of PopSockets, those round plastic extendable discs you stick on the back of your phone. I didn’t really want to like them – I do admit they’re pretty bulky – but they’re surprisingly useful. They make it a lot easier to hold a slim and slippery phone one-handed, plus they do a decent job propping up your phone, too. There’s one major downside though: Reusing them – taking them off and putting them on again – was not something you wanted to do very often, as the gel adhesive gets less sticky over time.
But this year I got myself the new iPhone 13, which supports MagSafe. Now, instead of a normal PopSocket, I could use the PopGrip for MagSafe, which simply attaches magnetically onto the phone. Reusing it is as simple as pulling it off and putting it on again, no need for a sticky adhesive. I still wanted a case for my phone to protect it against the occasional fall, so I made sure to get a MagSafe-compatible one. I ended up choosing this floral Smartish case because I liked the look of it. And yes, the PopGrip works fine with it on.
I know it sounds silly, but I just absolutely love this combination of the Smartish case and the PopGrip MagSafe. The case has a nice texture that makes it feel more secure, and I just love that I can put on and take off the grip as many times as I want without worrying about destroying any adhesive. And I do this more often than you’d think – I usually take it off to power up the phone on my wireless charger, and pop it back on for the rest of the day. I like to joke that this accessory is my number one reason for getting a new iPhone – and not, you know, all the other good things about the phone itself – but honestly, it’s probably not far from the truth. – Nicole Lee, Senior Editor
Wahoo Kickr Smart Bike Trainer and Zwift
Jon Turi / Engadget
I spent the summer of 2020 cycling around my Brooklyn neighborhood most days to keep in shape. But with a long winter looming and growing tired of the chaos in the streets, I decided to cough-up some cash for a home fitness solution. After much deliberation, I settled on the Wahoo Kickr Smart bike trainer. It’s one of the pricier models at $1,200, but its folding legs, subtle tilt range, low noise output and top specs seemed future-proof. Paired with Zwift, a massively multiplayer online cycling and running app ($16/month), I now had the biking sim I’d always wanted and an exercise setup that’s season agnostic.
The Kickr Smart is relatively compact with a handle and folding legs for stowing away during downtime. It’s direct-drive for use with your bike instead of being a space-hogging standalone device. You remove your back wheel, lock into place and use the unit's own (upgradable) gear cassette so you’ll be able to shift gears normally. This allows for quick release, so you can still ride your bike outdoors on a whim, although my road bike has been in position for a while now.
An in-game POV screenshot from Zwift's Makuri Islands: Neokyo expansion.
Jon Turi / Engadget
I run Zwift on an Apple TV, which connects to the Kickr Smart via Bluetooth and includes power, cadence and speed tracking. I set up in front of a flatscreen for full POV immersion in one of the various virtual worlds offered, including the new Neokyo cityscape. I also have a fan (it’s a sweat fest) and a table for water, snacks and my phone since I use the Zwift companion app for features not readily accessible on the Apple TV. The experience is a combination of fitness and gaming in a form factor that closely enough resembles outdoor riding.
The Kickr Smart trainer adjusts resistance to simulate terrain from flat to climbs and downhill. There are tons of gamified features, long-term goals and you’re virtually alongside riders from around the world. You can set structured workouts and join races, but I’m just there to ride and only interact with others on occasion to give “ride ons” — a sort of thumbs up.
I’ve gone from eight miles during my lunch break to waiting until the evening to fit in fifteen or more, which seems like the minimum these days. My goal wasn’t really to train, but it’s been compelling enough that I've steadily increased my distances and climbs.
I’ve been riding year-round, about five days a week and I have to say it’s (a lot of) money well-spent, both for fitness and mental health. There are no spin-class tyrants shouting at you, just some gamified nudges and your own desire to ride. – Jon Turi, Homepage Editor
LG is best known for productivity-oriented laptops and particularly, its lightweight Gram 17 — but not any serious gaming models. Now the company has revealed what it calls its "first gaming laptop" with some high-end specs. The 17-inch UltraGear 17G90Q model packs an 11th-generation Intel Tiger Lake H CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Max-Q graphics, up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.
It also comes with a 300 Hz 1080p IPS display, and should have pretty decent endurance for gaming or content creation with the 93Wh battery. There's a good selection of ports, including a USB 4 Gen 3x2 (Type C) with Thunderbolt 4, another USB-C 3.2 2x1, two USB 3.2 Gen 2x1, HDMI, microSD, headphone jack and RJ45. Other features include a power button fingerprint sensor and 1080p webcam.
LG
It's got an aluminum case with an attractive grey/purple color scheme and is fairly slim for a 17-inch gaming laptop (21.4mm). It's decently lightweight at 5.82 pounds, though a bit heavy compared to MSI's 17-inch GS76 Stealth laptop, which is 5.4 pounds and has a bigger battery.
LG didn't reveal the key pricing, but it could be a good option for folks who like the LG brand and appreciate the understated styling. It's set to arrive in the US and South Korea starting in early 2022, and LG will reveal more details at CES 2022 on January 4th.
As we get closer and closer to the end of the year, there are still plenty of interesting gadgets, instruments and devices to review. This week, we’ve got a new addition to the Halo series with Halo: Infinite, which Jessica Conditt says fits right in with the rest of the franchise. Terrence O’Brien played the Fender Acoustasonic Player Telecaster and reported that the hybrid instrument produces convincing acoustic sounds that echo the original guitar. James Trew used the Analogue Pocket and says it’s the best handheld retro experience available right now, period. And Billy Steele listened to Yahama’s YH-L700A, which he deemed a bit heavy-handed, albeit excellent for movie watching.
Billy Steele likes the look of the Yamaha YH-L700A headphones: he says the combination of leather, fabric, matte black and silver accents makes for a refined look while the square fold-in ear cups make them easy to travel with. The noteworthy feature on these headphones is the 3D Sound Field feature, which consists of seven presets to enhance music and movies. There’s also a head-tracking feature which makes the sound appear to be coming from a stationary point.
Billy says this last feature added a cinematic element to movie watching, but he didn’t think it translated when listening to music. The seven presets of the 3D Sound Field likewise worked better for movies and television where they created a spacious sound. While testing the filters with music, Billy reports they felt heavy-handed and didn’t work well across genres. He says the active noise cancellation on these cans is sufficient if not impressive, and points out that the marquee features can be toggled on and off within the app. However, he was disappointed with the battery life – during testing, the headphones managed to last just under 11 hours, which is lackluster when most of the competition boasts closer to 30 hours of battery life. And at $500, they have a high price tag to boot.
James Trew is a long-time vintage gaming fan and is quick to point out that while the Analogue Pocket is the best experience available right now, it’s also not for casual users. At $220, it lets you play most vintage portable titles from Game Boy, as well as Game Gear, while adapters for Neo Geo Pocket Color and Atari Lynx are on the way. It also has more modern touches, too, like a backlit display. And in addition to being a quality gaming device, the Analogue Pocket can also hook up to a TV and has built-in music making software.
Because of its FPGA “cores,” the Pocket can mimic vintage consoles at a hardware level – no more emulator quirks to suffer through. It’s also functional with original Game Boy accessories like the Game Boy Camera, printers or rumble packs. And it can connect to an authentic Game Boy for a multiplayer experience. James liked the 3.5-inch screen made with Gorilla Glass as well as the save states, but wished the shoulder buttons were better and said some of the display modes obscure on-screen messaging at times. Overall, the Analogue Pocket offers elevated retro gameplay with enough forthcoming additional features to ensure it will get better over time.
Jessica Conditt had high hopes for Halo: Infinite, the first open-world game in the franchise’s history. And she admits that playing the new storyline brought back warm, gleeful feelings and a sense of familiarity. However, she also thinks the game lacks surprise and intrigue – much of the innovation into vertical space has been done by other, more recent games, and the cramped map made for contained and linear gameplay.
That being said, Jessica reports she had a lot of fun playing with the newly available mechanics and tools, in particular the grapple hook. From climbing mountains to scaling buildings, the grapple hook provides new vertical space for players to explore. Jessica says that while she expected a lot more from the pioneer FPS title, she also thinks it’s at its best when it gives users a rich environment full of grappling, shielding and in-air headshots. From the maze-like levels, military stereotypes and sarcastic robots, Infinite plays like a classic Halo game.
Terrence O’Brien admits up front that the Hydrasynth Explorer offers a remarkable array of features and options in a portable, well-built device. For $600, you get a wavemorphing engine with an eight-note polyphone, three oscillators per voice, a ring modulator, a noise source and over 200 waveforms. There are also two filters which can be in series or parallel to determine how much of each oscillator goes to each filter. He says that the 88-page manual feels like it’s just skimming the surface of what the synth is capable of.
However, you don’t need to master the sound design tools to get started with the instrument – just dig into the 640 presets spread over five banks of 128 patches. During testing, Terrence found the Explorer easy to use thanks to the neatly labeled sections on the front panel. A few things missing on the versatile device are a proper sequencer, full-sized keys, and touch strips instead of pitch and mod wheels. There are also only three filter knobs instead of five. Despite that, Terrence still feels that the Explorer is well worth its price tag given its great sound, solid build and plethora of tools to explore.
Terrence O’Brien also spent some time with the new Fender Acoustasonic Player Telecaster, which slashes $800 off the price of the previous model. For $1,200, you get a mahogany and spruce satin finish with a rosewood fretboard, two pickups and a three-way switch with six sound options. Instead of a rechargeable battery, the Player runs on a standard nine-volt cell. Terrence reports it eats through the batteries surprisingly quickly, but remains convenient.
When it came to how the instrument sounded, Terrence reports that while there are fewer acoustic simulations on this model, the two offerings (Rosewood Dreadnought and Mahogany Small Body) cover a lot of ground. He says that he prefers the electric sounds of the Telecaster to the more expensive Jazzmaster, as it resembles the original guitar more and plays better with pedals. Terrence says the two acoustic simulations offer depth and character, and that overall, the hybrid guitar is a perfect couch instrument.
Terrence O’Brien deems Universal Audio’s first foray into the budget space a success. The company’s Volt series, five models that run from $139 to $369, are affordable audio interfaces that share a core 24-bit/192kHz audio converter and a preamp with a “Vintage” mode that aims to recreate that classic tube preamp sounds. Terrence tested the $189 Volt 2 and the $299 Volt 276, which are both two-input interfaces.
The differences between the two models are slight: the Volt 2 is simple and utilitarian, but works well with limited space, while the “76” version has a built-in compressor and will require extra desk space as most of the controls are on the top. Terrence says the compressor makes a big difference as it’s capable of softer edges to tame the harsher frequencies. He also felt the metering LEDs on the 276 were easier to see and the wooden sides were a nice touch. While the base models were excellent interfaces at reasonable prices, Terrence said the 176, 276 and 476 stood out from the pack thanks to their compressors, style and ergonomics.
NVIDIA is once again reviving an old name in its graphics chip lineup, but this time it's for thoroughly modern technology. As AnandTechreports, the company has introduced an GeForce RTX 2050 laptop GPU that may sound like recycled low-end hardware, but is based on the same Ampere design found in the RTX 3050 series. The naming scheme is confusing, to put it mildly, but that does give you up-to-date ray tracing in a potentially more affordable package.
You'll have to settle for a 64-bit memory bus instead of the 3050's 128-bit pipe, and the boost clock stops at 1,477MHz versus 1,740MHz. However, you'll still get the same 2,048 CUDA cores and 4GB of GDDR6 memory, while peak power consumption drops to a much more reasonable 45W compared to the 80W of higher-end chips. This is partly meant for 'in-between' laptops that don't have the chassis space or batteries for RTX 30 GPUs.
The company has also revealed two entry-level chips, the MX550 and MX570, although it's shy on details beyond promises of more CUDA cores, faster memory and greater power efficiency than the MX450 they replace. The MX550 is based on the older Turing architecture, while the MX570 uses Ampere. Like with past MX chips, these are meant for thin-and-light portables where integrated graphics might not be good enough.
There's another issue beyond the branding: the release window. NVIDIA doesn't expect the RTX 2050 or new MX parts to reach shipping laptops until spring 2022. That's an usually long lead time, and suggests NVIDIA is announcing the GPUs now to clear the slate for CES in January. Whatever the reasoning, you'll have to be patient if you want a laptop with modern NVIDIA graphics but find RTX 3050-equipped systems beyond your reach.
Apple has rolled out the macOS 12.2 beta update to public testers in its beta program, just a day after it became available to developers. As 9to5Mac notes, the OS comes with a new Music app that Apple had rebuilt as a full native application. Apple introduced macOS' dedicated Music app back in 2019, but it kept some iTunes elements for some parts of it, which means it still displays web content within the app.
Based on what 9to5Mac has seen, macOS 12.2 beta uses AppKit, the framework needed to give applications a native interface. There won't be a big difference in looks, but the new app will apparently work faster. Searching for songs within Music, for instance, will appear more quickly because the results will be displayed on a native interface, while scrolling will feel smoother and trackpad gestures will feel more responsive.
In addition to a brand new Music app, macOS 12.2 will also make scrolling in Safari smoother for the 14-and-16-inch MacBook Pro models that support refresh rates of up to 120Hz. To test out macOS 12.2, you'll have to download and install the macOS Developer Beta Access Utility. You'll then be able to access the latest beta update in the Software Update section of System Preferences.
Amazon has addressed the issue that had left those with Android 12 phones unable to use apps they had downloaded from the company's Appstore. “We have released a fix for an issue impacting app launches for Amazon Appstore customers that have upgraded to Android 12 on their mobile devices," a spokesperson for the company told Engadget on Friday. "We are contacting customers with steps to update their Appstore experience. We are sorry for any disruption this has caused.”
Reports of applications from the Appstore not working on Android 12 started to surface online in late October. Those with devices like the Google Pixel 6 and Samsung Galaxy S21 found they couldn't run any of the software they had previously downloaded from the Appstore. There were also reports of no apps showing up in the marketplace. While the issue didn't affect many people, it took about a month for Amazon to acknowledge it officially. On Friday, the company didn't say what had caused the problem. When it first surfaced, there was speculation it stemmed from an incompatibility between Amazon's built-in DRM and Android 12.
Adobe is testing out a new web-based tool that uses AI to simplify audio recording. The software is called Project Shasta, and it could make recording and editing podcasts and other projects a lot easier and more approachable.
The project started off in Adobe Labs as an experiment to find "new ways to help people edit audio on the web,” Mark Webster, Adobe’s head of audio products, wrote in a post on Product Hunt. “But then it became clear that the pandemic made recording difficult too, even for audio professionals. Our vision became empowering everyone with the tools they needed to create professional sounding audio."
The result is a browser-based tool — it requires Google Chrome — for creating and editing audio recordings in a visual interface without the need for professional equipment or other advanced tools.
Users record their audio in clips and Shasta automatically transcribes the recordings. From there, editing is as simple as deleting text from the transcription. There are also AI-based filters that can improve the audio quality or automatically remove filler words like “um.” Project Shasta also supports remote recording, so guest speakers can easily join in for recordings. The software will handle syncing up the clips even if one person has a shoddy internet connection.
While the most obvious use case for Shasta is recording podcasts, Webster notes it could also be used for voiceovers, videos and other projects with an audio component.
For now, it’s unclear exactly what Adobe has planned for Project Shasta. Webster said that the software is in an “early Alpha” stage, and that the company is sharing it now to get feedback from testers, but didn’t share when it might be available more widely. Project Shasta is “free for now” to those who request access via Adobe's website.
One of the trickier aspects of EV ownership is finding charging stations. The infrastructure improves every year, but it’s still not as widespread and robust as what’s available to those who drive gasoline cars. That’s where apps like PlugShare and Chargemap can be a godsend, helping you not only find nearby stations but also plan your routes. Now there’s another option you can turn to for help.
Waze has partnered with Volkswagen (the automaker owns Electrify America) to map EV charging stations across the US. Starting today, you can use the software to add stops at stations along your planned route. If you’re so inclined, you can also change the car icon to that of a Volkswagen ID.4. We’ve reached out to Waze to find out more about the feature and whether it has a timeline for when it will arrive in other countries. We’ll update this article when we hear back from the company.
Waze parent company Google has been helping people find EV charging stations through Maps since 2019. And even if the update is long overdue, it’s one diehard Waze users are sure to appreciate — if only because it means they probably can get away with one less app on their phone.
