The holiday shopping season is one of the best times of the year to look for a robot vacuum. Since many are quite expensive, you'll usually find good discounts during this time, and even some of the most budget-friendly models can be on sale. Today, Amazon has a one-day sale on a mid-range Shark robo-vac that brings the machine down to its lowest price yet. The Shark AV2001 robot vacuum with AI navigation is on sale for $300, or $130 off its normal price.
Shark took the top spot in our budget robot vacuum guide, and this model is more advanced and has more suction power than the one we tested. It has a self-cleaning brush roll that will help it pick up debris and even pet hair more easily, and it supports UltraClean Mode, which lets you deep clean specific rooms of your home. It moves through your home in neat rows thanks to its AI laser navigation system and it should bump into furniture less than other robo-vacs thanks to its ability to detect and avoid objects four inches high or taller.
The AV2001 also has precision home mapping with LiDAR, which means it'll learn the layout of your home as it cleans the first few times. You can then use the companion mobile app to send the machine to clean your bedroom only, and you can also set "no-go" zones to block off certain areas. The mobile app also lets you control the robot from anywhere and set cleaning schedules, and since it's compatible with Alexa and the Google Assistant, you could do all that with voice commands if you prefer. While it doesn't have a clean base like some higher-end robot vacuums do, it does come with a dock that it'll automatically return to once it's done cleaning or when it's battery has run low. All of those features make it a pretty capable robo-vac and a good option if you've been holding out for a good deal on a mid-range device.
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Apple’s incoming iOS 15.2 update includes a "parts and service history" section that indicates not only if the battery, camera and display have been replaced but also if they're officially sanctioned Apple parts. If something is listed as an "unknown part," it's either unofficial, malfunctioning or an already-used part from another iPhone.
This ties into Apple’s spare parts and self-replacement service coming in 2022, but the "unknown part" label might not thrill advocates for third-party component options. Apple clearly wants you to use its official parts. That said, it may help you catch shops lying about the quality of their replacements.
I’m intrigued to see how Apple’s self-repair service comes into being. What a nerdy reason to be excited for 2022.
Mosseri said the company has been working on the feature for months.
Five years since it ditched the chronological feed, Instagram might be bringing it back. Speaking to lawmakers at a Senate hearing on Instagram and teen safety, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said he supports “giving people the option to have a chronological feed.”
Instagram has confirmed this on Twitter, adding there would be the "option to see posts from people you follow in chronological order." The app is also adding a "favorites" feed to surface posts from designated friends higher in the feed. Both would be optional.
According to a report from Nikkei Asia, Apple was forced to cease iPhone and iPad production for several days when it was supposed to kick into high gear. Apple factories typically ramp up production during the Chinese holidays at the beginning of October, running 24-hour shifts so it can meet holiday shopping demands. This year, though, it reportedly gave its workers some time off instead, due to limited chip and component supplies.
You might recall me testing a real-world jetsuit from Gravity Industries earlier this year, but now researchers in Italy are strapping them to robots. They believe flying humanoid bots could one day serve as first-line of emergency responders.
Both companies said the YouTube app could have disappeared from the streaming stick.
YouTube TV is finally back on Roku streaming devices following a dispute between the two parties that has dragged on since April. Roku originally pulled YouTube TV because it said Google made anti-competitive demands, like more prominent placements for the apps and demanding Roku use certain chips in its hardware. Google retorted that Roku's claims were "baseless," and it was focused on "ensuring a high quality and consistent experience for viewers."
The smart speaker firm has unveiled its first climate plan to make its "value chain" carbon neutral by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2040. The company plans to use some carbon offsets (such as a marine ecosystem project in Cambodia), but it also promises to improve both its products and operations. While we know Sonos supports its speakers for a long time, its older devices often can't operate alongside newer ones, and its now-dead “recycle mode” bricked devices before they could be traded in.
Apple won't have to allow App Store developers to direct users to alternative payment systems for the time being. At the last minute, an appeals court judge granted Apple's motion to delay App Store changes that were to take effect on December 9th.
"Apple has demonstrated, at minimum, that its appeal raises serious questions on the merits of the district court's determination that Epic Games, Inc. failed to show Apple's conduct violated any antitrust laws but did show that the same conduct violated California's Unfair Competition Law," the decision reads, according to 9to5Mac. “Therefore, we grant Apple’s motion to stay part (i) of paragraph (1) of the permanent injunction. The stay will remain in effect until the mandate issues in this appeal.”
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who oversaw the case between Apple and Epic Games, issued an injunction in September to prevent Apple from stopping developers who wanted to include "buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to In-App Purchasing." Apple typically takes a 30 percent cut of in-app purchases, and these measures would have allowed developers to use other payment systems.
Apple filed an appeal against that permanent injunction in October, claiming that it would “take months to figure out the engineering, economic, business, and other issues” that were required of such changes. Judge Gonzalez Rogers denied the appeal, but Apple took it to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
In August 2020, Epic informed Fortnite players on both iOS and Android that they'd receive a discount if they bought the virtual V-Bucks currency if they bypassed Apple and Google's in-app payment methods. The latter two companies removed the battle royale game from their stores and Epic swiftly filedsuit against them both.
The Apple case went to trial in May. Judge Gonzales Rogers ruled in Apple's favor in almost all counts. Among other things, she determined that the App Store doesn't violate antitrust rules. Epic appealed the ruling a couple of days later.
As robots have steadily expanded their operations out of the controlled environments of research labs and into the chaos of real-world architectural infrastructure, getting from point A to point B has become a major challenge — take stairs, for example. In response, roboticists have developed a number of solutions, from installing rotors so that the robot can helicopter over obstacles or, in Boston Dynamics case, execute backflips that would give Simone Biles pause. And then there's Daniele Pucci, head of the Artificial and Mechanical Intelligence lab at the Italian Institute of Technology, who has taken the audacious step of strapping a fully functional jetpack akin to what Richard Browning developed onto the back of an iRonCub synthetic humanoid with hopes of eventually blasting it into the sky.
You'd think we'd have learned our lesson about the dangers of building aerial humanoid robots after our first time through Age of Ultron but Pucci's team believes that such systems could one day act as first responders to the roughly 300 natural disasters that kill around 90,000 people worldwide annually. We've seen a slew of disaster response bots — some humanoid, some not so much — emerge from labs for more than a decade, often with varying degrees of success.
Humanoid robots have an advantage over both more esoteric builds and traditional UAVs when it comes to disaster response because they can more easily manipulate a world, which is already designed for human use. However when a natural disaster strikes, much of that human-centric infrastructure could become damaged or otherwise rendered impassable, which negates many of the humanoid robot's initial advantages. But by combining a humanoid design with the capability of flight, Pucci's team can leverage the best aspects of both technologies.
"Aerial Humanoid Robotics unifies aerial manipulation and humanoid robotics. By doing so, aerial humanoid robots overcome the lack of terrestrial locomotion of aerial manipulators and extend the locomotion capabilities of humanoid robots to the flight case. Aerial humanoid robots can then walk, fly, manipulate and transport objects, thus offering energetically efficient solutions to payload transportation and object manipulation," the IIT team wrote in 2019.
"Aerial humanoid robotics extends aerial manipulation to a more robust and energy efficient level. In fact, aerial manipulation is often exemplified by quadrotors equipped with a robotic arm," Pucci told IEEE Spectrum. "These robots can’t move around by means of contact forces with the environment, and they often struggle with flying in windy environments while manipulating an object, requiring precise position control for accomplishing manipulation tasks. So the extra hand of a flying humanoid robot could establish a contact point between the robot and the environment, thus making the robot position control simpler and more robust."
"I truly believe that aerial humanoid robotics can be used as a test-bed for actuated flying exoskeletons for human beings," he continued. "The recent successful story of Richard Browning shows the engineering feasibility of these futuristic actuated exoskeletons. However, the journey in front of us is still long, and we can use flying humanoid robots to boost this journey and avoid lots of tests on humans."
Back at WWDC 2021, Apple said that iOS 15 and watchOS 8 would allow iPhone and Apple Watch owners to store digital hotel keys on their devices. While that feature didn’t quite make the release of those two updates, it’s now available at six Hyatt locations across the US. As you might expect, it allows you to store a digital version of your hotel keycard in Apple Wallet.
You can add the keycard at any point after you reserve a room. However, you’ll still need to check in at the front desk before you can use your iPhone or Apple Watch to enter your guestroom or any other restricted area within the hotel. The digital keycards support Apple Wallet’s Express Mode feature, which means you don’t need to authenticate your identity with Face ID or Touch ID every time you want to use the feature.
If at any point you decide to extend your stay or change rooms, the hotel can update your keycard without the need for you to visit the front desk. What’s more, if your device starts running low on battery life and enters Power Reserve mode, you can still use your iPhone or Apple Watch as a keycard for up to five hours.
The six locations where you can use your iPhone or Apple Watch to store a keycard are as follows: Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort, Hyatt Centric Key West Resort and Spa, Hyatt House Chicago/West Loop-Fulton Market, Hyatt House Dallas/Richardson, Hyatt Place Fremont/Silicon Valley and Hyatt Regency Long Beach.
Hyatt says it expects to roll out the technology to all of its locations globally. Sometime next year, Apple also plans to allow iOS 15 and watchOS 8 to store government issued IDs from select states as well.
Apple's seeming about-face on repairability will soon help you spot less-than-honest iPhone repair shops and part sellers. As Gizmodonotes, Apple has revealed iOS 15.2's settings will include a "parts and service history" section (under General > About) that indicates not only whether the battery, camera and display have been replaced, but will indicate whether or not they're officially sanctioned Apple parts. If a component is listed as an "unknown part," it's either unofficial, an already-used part from another iPhone or malfunctioning.
Just how much you'll learn depends on your iPhone model. Anyone using an iPhone XR, XS or second-generation iPhone SE can only tell if the battery has been replaced. You'll need an iPhone 11 or newer to also find out if there's a display swap, and an iPhone 12 or later to know if the camera has been replaced. Apple stressed that these alerts won't prevent you from using your device — you're fine if you're comfortable using unofficial parts and losing warranty coverage.
iOS 15.2 currently exists as a release candidate for developers, suggesting the finished version will be available relatively soon. It's not yet clear if iPad owners will see a corresponding part history feature at some point.
The "unknown part" label might not thrill advocates for third-party component options. Apple clearly wants you to use official parts, and that means either taking it in for authorized service or (in 2022) buying parts from Apple. This might help you catch shops lying about the quality of their parts, though, and could be useful if you repair an iPhone yourself and want to be sure your fixes went smoothly.
The smart home has never been more accessible, with more affordable entry points than ever. From security cameras to smart light bulbs, pretty much any internet-connected device that you can control via an app is enough to get you started on your smart home journey. But before you dive in, we advise taking a few preliminary steps. For one, don’t try to outfit your entire smart home in one go. Not only can this be quite expensive, we think it’s generally best to buy just one or two items first to see if you like them. From there, you can figure out if you want to buy more devices, making sure that they’re compatible with one another. Below are our suggestions for the best of each smart device category, with alternate suggestions where appropriate.
Before you start, pick a voice assistant
While plenty of smart home devices are platform agnostic, there are some — smart speakers and smart displays in particular — that require you to choose your voice assistant. Currently, that means deciding if you’ll use the Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa on a regular basis. (I’ll address Siri in a moment.) They’re both compatible with various smart home products from light bulbs to robot vacuums, but there are certain devices that work best with either Google or Amazon. Nest products, for example, are more compatible with Google-powered speakers and displays. They can still work with Amazon devices, but certain features might be disabled. The same holds true with Amazon products: They work better if they’re in the same ecosystem.
So how do you choose between Alexa and Google Assistant? It really depends on your personal preferences. Do you listen to Audible, watch Prime Video and tend to do a lot of shopping on Amazon? Then you might lean toward an Alexa-powered product. Do you use a lot of Google services like YouTube and Google Podcasts? A Google-powered device might be best.
If you want a voice assistant that’s great at answering questions, Google Assistant tends to be better than Alexa. Amazon’s helper, on the other hand, currently supports more smart home products. The company’s smart speakers and displays also support the Zigbee smart home protocol, and some devices even have built-in smart home hubs. Both Google and Amazon devices can sync with your calendar, though Google’s tend to work better with Google services. Plus, if you already have an Android phone, you might be more comfortable with Google Assistant anyway.
But what about Siri? Apple’s assistant is an option as well, but it doesn’t have the same level of device support as Google and Amazon. The HomePod mini and the (now discontinued) HomePod are the only Siri-compatible speakers on the market at the moment, too. That said, it’s not too hard to find HomeKit-compatible gear as more third-party companies add support for it, but you currently have a smaller pool of devices to choose from.
Engadget picks
Best smart speaker: Sonos One
Nathan Ingraham
Our recommendation for the best smart speaker is the Sonos One. It’s compact enough to fit in most areas in your home, but more importantly, it delivers excellent audio quality that’s superior to a lot of other smart speakers out there. When tuned properly to the acoustics of your room — which requires the iOS app — the sound is fantastic, with punchy bass and clear highs. Unfortunately, the Android app doesn’t have TruePlay tuning (Sonos has not said whether it’s in the works), but the speakers should still sound admirable. It’s also compatible with a slew of streaming services, including major ones like Spotify and Pandora.
The main benefit that a Sonos speaker brings over the competition is that it’s a gateway to a multi-room audio setup that you can build out over time. It’s also convenient if you plan on building a home theater setup later on, as the One integrates well with Sonos soundbars. On top of that, the Sonos One supports both Alexa and Google Assistant, so you don’t have to worry about picking one voice assistant over the other.
If you’re not interested in a multi-room audio setup, we also like Amazon’s Echo Studio. The price is comparable to the Sonos One and the audio quality is on par, too. As you can imagine, this is an especially compelling choice if you already know you’d prefer Alexa over Google Assistant.
For those with tighter budgets, there are a handful of smart speakers around $100. We recommend picking up one of the three latest smart speakers from either Google, Amazon or Apple. Out of the three, we think the Echo has the best audio quality. Our colleague Nate Ingraham said its bass is impressive and the mid-range frequencies are pretty powerful. You can also pair two together to get even better stereo sound.
That said, the Nest Audio and HomePod mini are no slouches either. The HomePod mini sounds balanced, while the Nest Audio has pretty good bass tones. Again, it all comes down to which assistant you prefer.
The best Alexa-powered smart display is the Echo Show 8. The Echo Show 5 is a little too small, while the Echo Show 10 and its rotating screen take up too much space. The Echo Show 8, on the other hand, is perfectly sized for most rooms in the house. Like other Alexa-powered smart displays, it supports plenty of video streaming services including Amazon Prime, Hulu and Netflix and it comes with a couple of built-in browsers that you can use to surf the web. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support YouTube, which is a pretty notable omission considering how ubiquitous the service is. As a workaround, you can access it via the aforementioned browsers, but the experience isn’t as smooth as if it were a native app.
You can use the Show 8 to make video calls with any phone or tablet with the Alexa app. Alternatively, it supports Skype, Zoom and Amazon’s own Chime service. Like the Nest Hub Max, the Show 8 also has an optional face-tracking feature that follows your movements around the room during a call.
Our favorite Google-powered smart display is the second-generation Nest Hub. It has a 7-inch screen, which makes it just big enough to fit in most rooms in the house. The size also makes it work well as a digital photo frame. You can set it up to pull in pictures of friends and family from your Google Photos library, and there’s a smart algorithm that automatically uses the best shots while avoiding the blurry ones. As you might expect, you can also use the display to watch YouTube, Netflix and other streaming services.
Plus, a smart display without a camera is great if you want to place it in more intimate places like the bedroom, where you might be more protective of your privacy. If you place it by your bedside, the Nest Hub also has a sensor that can track your sleep patterns, if you opt in.
If you prefer a display with a camera, we recommend splurging on the higher-end Nest Hub Max. Its built-in camera can be used for video calls with Google Duo, Google Meet and Zoom. It also has an optional face-tracking feature that lets the camera follow you around during calls. One benefit of the camera is that it gives you the option for Face Match, a feature that automatically recognizes individual members of the house and then displays the information that’s pertinent only to them, like calendar alerts.
Additionally, the camera adds a unique gestures feature that lets you play and pause media simply by holding up your hand to the screen, which is convenient if you need to stop the music without having to shout across the room. The Nest Hub Max also has better audio quality than the Hub thanks to its larger speakers.
One of the easiest entry points to the smart home is to swap out some of your existing light bulbs with smart ones. Smart light bulbs let you control your lighting remotely, either via an app and with your voice. They add automation and scheduling to the mix, so you can have them turn on and off at certain times of the day. Some also let you adjust their brightness and color temperature, or even let you create a custom light scene.
Our favorite smart lighting products come from Philips Hue, and the White and Color Ambiance LED Smart Button Starter Kit is a particularly good entry point as it includes three Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance 60W LED smart bulbs; a Hue hub that lets you control up to 50 lights; and a Smart Button if you want to have the option of turning off the lights without having your phone around.
This kit offers lots of versatility in lighting styles; you can change not just the brightness but also the color temperature and experiment with all different shades of the rainbow, decking out your room in whatever light scene you desire. If that seems a little too daring, Philips offers alternatives: The Hue White Ambiance Starter Kit lacks the color option, while the Hue White Starter Kit won’t let you adjust the color temperature.
The main reason we prefer Philips Hue bulbs is that they’re widely supported across smart home ecosystems. Not only can you find them pretty much anywhere, but they’ll work with Google, Amazon and Apple’s HomeKit. Since all the bulbs connect to the Hue hub via the Zigbee protocol (and not your home’s WiFi), it tends to be more reliable and it won’t slow down your home internet connection either.
If you’re not quite ready to dive into a whole lighting ecosystem or you just prefer a more affordable alternative, we suggest GE’s Cync Full Color Direct Connect Smart LED Bulb. Formerly known as C by GE, these bulbs don’t require a connecting hub: just screw in the bulb, connect it with the app, and you’re done. It, too, offers an array of lighting options in all manner of colors, and you can set schedules as well. Cync’s Direct Connect system works with both Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa, but you’ll need to get a hub if you want to connect to Apple’s HomeKit.
Security cameras are helpful for catching intruders, nabbing porch pirates or just keeping an eye on your pet while you’re out of the house. Our favorite is the Wyze Cam V3 for its wide range of features along with its affordable price. Plus, thanks to its IP65 waterproof rating it can be used either indoors or outdoors, and it has color night vision that’s capable of recording nighttime video in full color.
Like previous-gen models, it sends alerts to your phone whenever it detects sound or motion. You can also customize Motion Detection Zones that allow you to adjust just how sensitive you want it to be. It also offers 24/7 continuous video recording that you can store via a 32GB microSD card (not included).
We especially like that the Wyze doesn’t require a subscription; free cloud storage is included with the purchase, and you’ll always have access to the last 14 days of recording on the app. Be warned, however, that the free account can only hold 12-second clips every five minutes. If you want it to record unlimited motion, consider upgrading to a Cam Plus subscription, which includes additional features like alerting you if it detects a person or a package. Fortunately, it’s inexpensive at $2 a month or $15 a year.
There’s a lot to like about the Wyze Cam V3, but it needs to be plugged in. For a wireless alternative, we like the Blink Indoor and Outdoor cameras. They both run on AA batteries, so you can place them anywhere you want, and they’ll run for around two years before you need to replace the batteries. The Blink Outdoor is weather resistant, but otherwise both cameras are the same. They both have night vision, motion detection and two-way audio. You can store clips in the cloud via the Blink Subscription Plan or you can also save events locally to a Sync Module 2 via a USB flash drive (sold separately). Unfortunately, Blink works with Alexa only, which could be a non-starter for some.
Best doorbell camera: Arlo Essential Video Doorbell
Engadget
If you want a camera specifically for your front door, a doorbell camera makes more sense than a standalone option. Our favorite is the Arlo Essential Video Doorbell, which is compatible with Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa and Apple HomeKit. It delivers high-quality HDR footage along with a 180-degree view so you can see a person from head to toe and it can ring your phone with a video call whenever someone rings the bell. There’s also two-way audio so you can talk to whoever’s at the door.
A highlight of this doorbell is that it comes with a three-month trial to Arlo’s Smart subscription service, which includes a motion detection feature that can tell the difference between a person, package, vehicle or animal. Senior Editor Devindra Hardawar said that he really appreciated the package alerts; it did a good job of telling him whenever UPS dropped off a box. It’s such a useful feature, in fact, that we recommend keeping the service beyond the trial period.
You should be able to use the Arlo Essential Video Doorbell with either Google or Amazon’s smart displays, but it won’t be fully integrated. You’ll be able to view the webcam on the display, but if someone rings the doorbell, they won’t automatically show up on the screen. If you want that particular feature, you’ll have to use either a Google doorbell like the Nest Video Doorbell or an Amazon doorbell like the Blink Video Doorbell (for Google and Amazon displays, respectively).
Our favorite robot vacuum is the iRobot Roomba 694. We recommended it in our budget robot vacuum guide as it did a great job cleaning hard and carpeted surfaces. (We liked the Shark Ion RV761, too, but the Roomba 694 is a newer model.) Plus, the app is really easy to use for luddites and the tech savvy alike. And just in case you don’t have access to the app — maybe you left your phone in another room, for example — the Roomba 694 has manual controls as well.
One of the reasons the Roomba 694 cleans so well is that it has a three-stage system that tells it to suck up dirt while also navigating around obstacles. When it encounters an especially filthy area, it focuses in on it, making sure it’s clean before moving on. You can also manually instruct it to clean a specific spot in case you need it. And if you prefer to talk to your robot vacuum, the Roomba 694 works well with both Alexa and Google Assistant.
If you don’t mind spending more money on an even better robot vacuum, we recommend the Roomba i7+. It cleans both carpet and hard floors well, but it’s quieter and smarter. It has a mapping technology that helps it keep track of all the different rooms in your home to clean it in the most efficient way possible. But the coolest thing about the i7+ is that after each job, it automatically empties its bin into a clean base that can hold about 30 jobs worth of dirt. In short, the i7+ is worth the splurge if you want a robot vacuum that doesn’t require a lot of attention.
Smart plugs are the easiest way to add a bit of connectivity to your home without spending a ton of money. Connect your regular non-smart lamp and voila, it’s internet connected and you didn’t have to spend a fortune. The best one we’ve tried is from Wyze, thanks largely to its easy-to-use app. We were able to fly through the installation process; pairing was seamless and connecting it to WiFi was simple as well. We especially love that it offers two-factor authentication (the rest of the smart plugs we tried did not have this). You can schedule it to go on and off at different times and days. The Wyze Plug works with Alexa, Google Assistant (though you’ll have to go through the Google Home app to pair it) plus the IFTTT service.
Another smart plug option: TP-Link Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini
TP-Link
Another solid option is TP-Link’s Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini. We didn’t find the app as easy to use — installation was not as seamless as the Wyze — but once you get past that, it’s still just as capable. Just like with the Wyze Plug, you can schedule the plug to turn on and off at certain times and days of the week. On top of that, the Kasa actually offers scheduling around sunrise or sunset times, a feature that the Wyze lacks. It works with Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa, IFTTT plus Samsung SmartThings.
8Bitdo controllers have been some of our favorites thanks to their charming designs and affordable prices. We called one of the latest, the SN30 Pro+, a near-perfect Nintendo Switch controller and now you can get that accessory at its best price yet. The SN30 Pro+ is down to $40 today as a Lightning Deal on Amazon, which means you have roughly six hours from the time of writing this to grab it before the price goes back up to $50. This is the same deal we saw on Black Friday, so if you missed it then, you have another opportunity to get it today.
The SN30 Pro+ will look familiar to those who loved the SNES. It has a similar design to that console's controller with a D-pad, circular A, B, X and Y buttons and start and select buttons in the middle. But it also has handles for better ergonomics, along with analog sticks and two more buttons. It's well-built and lightweight, making it easy to throw into a bag and take with you when you want to play with your Switch on the go. While plenty of people will want to use it with Nintendo's console, the SN30 Pro+ is also compatible with PC, macOS, Android, Steam and Raspberry Pi.
Not only did we find the SN30 Pro+ to be even more comfortable than Nintendo's own Switch Pro Controller, it also has the added benefit of a removable battery pack. It'll last about 20 hours on a single charge, but in a pinch, you can take out that pack and replace it with AA batteries instead. That'll come in handy on long flights, camping trips and other situations in which you can't charge up for a while. We also appreciate that the 8BitDo Ultimate Software lets you personalize the controller a bit further by remapping buttons and creating custom profiles.
The few gripes we had with the SN30 Pro+ were its somewhat tedious syncing process with the Switch (but thankfully you only have to do that once), its lack of a headphone jack and its lack of support for iOS, Xbox and PlayStation. However, if you're looking for a stocking stuffer for the gamer in your life, the SN30 Pro+ is hard to beat at this sale price.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
Apple was forced to cease iPhone and iPad production for several days when it was supposed to kick into high gear, according to a report from Nikkei Asia. It's no secret that Apple hasn't been immune to the global supply chain shortages despite its enormous purchasing power. The tech giant previously lowered its iPhone 13 production goals for the year and had to cut back on the iPad's production to allocate more parts for its mobile flagship devices. But this is reportedly the first time in a decade that the company had to cease operations at its factories during China's Golden Week.
Apple factories typically ramp up production during the Chinese holidays that take place at the beginning of October, running 24 hour shifts so that it can keep up with holiday shopping demands. This year, though, it reportedly gave its workers some time off instead. A supply chain manager told the publication that it made no sense to pay workers overtime for working during the holidays when there were very limited component and chips to work with. As a result, people who may be thinking of getting a new iPad or a new iPhone as a Christmas gift for loved ones or themselves may not get it in time for the season.
Nikkei Asia says that supply chain issues started way before the pandemic, when Chinese companies blacklisted by the United States hoarded inventories to survive crackdowns. That said, the COVID-19 lockdowns implemented in Malaysia and Vietnam due to the Delta variant heavily affected the production of numerous electrical components and chips.
In many cases, bottlenecks weren't caused by the lack of a device's most expensive components, but its cheaper peripheral parts. Component manufacturers that don't have as much purchasing power as tech giants fall to the back of the list when it comes to raw materials, after all. For the iPhone 13 Max, for instance, tiny peripherals that only cost a few cents each are what's causing the delay.
Apple chief Tim Cook previously said that the company lost $6 billion for the quarter ending in September due to supply chain constraints, and that he believes that it could lose more in the final quarter of the year. It still remains to be seen if Apple would still enjoy the same level of demand by the time it has the components to manufacture its devices. Nikkei Asia says Apple told suppliers that demand persists for the iPhone 13 and to reaccelerate their component production for November, December and January. According to a previous Bloomberg report, though, Apple warned suppliers that demand for its biggest revenue source has already weakened just before the holidays.
Washington DC's city council has approved the use of digital driver's licenses and IDs, joining Arizona, Georgia and other states, The Washington Post has reported. That gives the district's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) the authority to issue digital credentials that can be stored on a smartphone or other mobile device. They could then be presented for entering government buildings, to purchase liquor or in case of police stops, for example.
Digital IDs and driver's licenses strongly entered the public conversation in September, when Apple announced that Wallet would hold driver's licenses and other IDs in iOS 15. The TSA was slated to be the first place iPhone owners could use their digital identity cards, and Apple subsequently announced that Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky and Oklahoma would be early adopters of the program. Last month, however, Apple said it would delay the release of digital ID cards until 2022, rather than the end of 2021 as scheduled.
Washington DC residents will have the option of using physical or digital credentials and will not be required to show a digital ID on a mobile device. The bill passage brings the city "a step closer to the reality of digital credentials," DC DMV director Gabriel Robinson told The Post. The DMV must now create a plan to to develop the credentials once the legislation is signed into law.
