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In a year packed with rad fishing sims, Dredge was arguably the best. It came out in March 2023 and filled the wet, eldritch-horror-shaped hole in the year's gaming catalogue — and now, it's going to be a movie. Developer Black Salt Games and media company Story Kitchen are partnering to turn Dredge into a live-action feature film. The project's logline is, "Think The Sixth Sense on the water. A grounded atmospheric cosmic horror blend of HP Lovecraft and Ernest Hemingway." That's not not a description of Dredge as a video game, so it looks like we're off to a fine start.

As a film, Dredge will probably focus less on inventory management, boat upgrades and incessant seafloor dragging, and more on the game's Lovecraftian water monsters and moody, foggy atmosphere. Story Kitchen is the production company behind a number of in-progress video game adaptations, including the Sifu live-action movie and Vampire Survivors animated TV series. There's no word on a timeframe for the Dredge film, but it'll likely appear when we least expect it, rising suddenly from the metaphorical depths.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/indie-lovecraftian-fishing-game-dredge-is-gonna-be-a-movie-130029799.html?src=rss

This is your last day to snag a decent deal on a subscription to Max, the streaming service that has nothing to do with Cinemax and everything to do with HBO. Annual subscriptions are up to 42 percent off, depending on the tier. The discount is available to both new and returning subscribers, just in time for the second season of House of the Dragon.

The best deal knocks $100 off the Ultimate plan, which offers an ad-free 4K viewing experience. The grand total here will be $140 per year, instead of $240. The next step down is a mid-level plan that also drops the ads, but there’s no option for 4K streaming. This plan costs $150 per year, instead of $192. Finally, there’s the ad-supported plan, which costs $70 per year as part of this deal. Sure, it might seem weird to watch Curb Your Enthusiasm (RIP) with commercials, but it gets the job done.

The deals apply no matter how you sign up for the Max, including directly from the website, through the Apple App Store or Google Play. There’s one major caveat, as only new subscribers via Fire TV are eligible. All of this is tied to March Madness, as Max is streaming all 2024 Division I NCAA men's basketball championship games, along with other live sports.

For those too busy to memorize the comings and goings of multinational streaming platforms, Max is a service that combines HBO’s programming with content from Discovery+. So you can watch all five seasons of the critically-acclaimed crime series The Wire and chase it down with 47 seasons of Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, as nature intended. Max is a weird streamer to pin down, but there’s certainly a glut of content to choose from. There's a reason we named it one of the best streaming services out there.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/its-the-last-day-to-get-up-to-42-percent-off-annual-max-subscriptions-130009276.html?src=rss

Google Cloud Next 2024 has begun, and the company is starting the event with some big announcements, including its new Axion processor. It's Google's first Arm-based CPU specifically created for data centers, which was designed using Arm's Neoverse V2 CPU.

According to Google, Axion performs 30 percent better than its fastest general purpose Arm-based tools in the cloud and 50 percent better than the most recent, comparable x86-based VMs. They also claim it's 60 percent more energy efficient than those same x86-based VMs. Google is already using Axion in services like BigTable and Google Earth Engine, expanding to more in the future.

The release of Axion could bring Google into competition with Amazon, which has led the field of Arm-based CPUs for data centers. The company's cloud business, Amazon Web Services (AWS), released the Graviton processor back in 2018, releasing the second and third iterations over the following two years. Fellow chip developer NVIDIA released its first Arm-based CPU for data centers in 2021 named Grace, and companies like Ampere have also been making gains in the area.

Google has been developing its own processors for several years now, but they've been primarily focused on consumer products. The original Arm-based Tensor ship first shipped in the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro smartphones, which were released in late 2021. Subsequent Pixel phones have all been powered by updated versions of the Tensor. Prior to that, Google developed the "Tensor Processing Unit" (TPU) for its data centers. The company started using them internally in data centers in 2015, announced them publicly in 2016, and made them available to third parties in 2018. 

Arm-based processors are often a lower-cost and more energy-efficient option. Google's announcement came right after Arms CEO Rene Haas issued a warning about the energy usage of AI models, according to the Wall Street Journal. He called models such as ChatGPT "insatiable" regarding their need for electricity. "The more information they gather, the smarter they are, but the more information they gather to get smarter, the more power it takes, Haas stated. By the end of the decade, AI data centers could consume as much as 20 percent to 25 percent of US power requirements. Today that's probably four percent or less. That's hardly very sustainable, to be honest with you." He stressed the need for greater efficiency in order to maintain the pace of breakthroughs.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-announces-its-first-arm-based-cpu-for-data-centers-120508058.html?src=rss

More and more companies are choosing to deploy AI-powered chatbots to deal with basic customer service inquiries. At the ongoing Google Cloud Next conference in Las Vegas, the company has revealed the Gemini-powered chatbots its partners are working on, some of which you could end up interacting with. Best Buy, for instance, is using Google's technology to build virtual assistants that can help you troubleshoot product issues and reschedule order deliveries. IHG Hotels & Resorts is working on another that can help you plan a vacation in its mobile app, while Mercedes Benz is using Gemini to improve its own smart sales assistant. 

Security company ADT is also building an agent that can help you set up your home security system. And if you happen to be a radiologist, you may end up interacting with Bayer's Gemini-powered apps for diagnosis assistance. Meanwhile, other partners are using Gemini to create experiences that aren't quite customer-facing: Cintas, Discover and Verizon are using generative AI capabilities in different ways to help their customer service personnel find information more quickly and easily. 

Google has launched the Vertex AI Agency Builder, as well, which it says will help developers "easily build and deploy enterprise-ready gen AI experiences" like OpenAI's GPTs and Microsoft's Copilot Studio. The Builder will provide developers with a set of tools they can use for their projects, including a no-code console that can understand natural language and build AI agents based on Gemini in minutes. Vertex AI has more advanced tools for more complex projects, of course, but their common goal is to simplify the creation and maintenance of personalized AI chatbots and experiences. 

At the same event, Google also announced its new AI-powered video generator for Workspace, as well as its first ARM-based CPU specifically made for data centers. By launching the latter, it's taking on Amazon, which has been using its Graviton processor to power its cloud network over the past few years. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-gemini-chatbots-are-coming-to-a-customer-service-interaction-near-you-120035393.html?src=rss

For most of us, creating documents, spreadsheets and slide decks is an inescapable part of work life in 2024. What's not is creating videos. That’s something Google would like to change. On Tuesday, the company announced Google Vids, a video creation app for work that the company says can make everyone a “great storyteller” using the power of AI.

Vids uses Gemini, Google’s latest AI model, to quickly create videos for the workplace. Type in a prompt, feed in some documents, pictures, and videos, and sit back and relax as Vids generates an entire storyboard, script, music and voiceover. "As a storytelling medium, video has become ubiquitous for its immediacy and ability to ‘cut through the noise,’ but it can be daunting to know where to start," said Aparna Pappu, a Google vice president, in a blog post announcing the app. "Vids is your video, writing, production and editing assistant, all in one."

In a promotional video, Google uses Vids to create a video recapping moments from its Cloud Next conference in Las Vegas, an annual event during which it showed off the app. Based on a simple prompt telling it to create a recap video and attaching a document full of information about the event, Vids generates a narrative outline that can be edited. It then lets the user select a template for the video — you can choose between research proposal, new employee intro, team milestone, quarterly business update, and many more — and then crunches for a few moments before spitting out a first draft of a video, complete with a storyboard, stock media, music, transitions, and animation. It even generates a script and a voiceover, although you can also record your own. And you can manually choose photos from Google Drive or Google Photos to drop them seamlessly into the video.

It all looks pretty slick, but it’s important to remember what Vids is not: a replacement for AI-powered video generation tools like OpenAI’s upcoming Sora or Runway’s Gen-2 that create videos from scratch from text prompts. Instead. Google Vids uses AI to understand your prompt, generate a script and a voiceover, and stitch together stock images, videos, music, transitions, and animations to create what is, effectively, a souped up slide deck. And because Vids is a part of Google Workspace, you can collaborate in real time just like Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

Who asked for this? My guess is HR departments and chiefs of staff, who frequently need to create onboarding videos for new employees, announce company milestones, or create training materials for teams. But if and when Google chooses to make Vids available beyond Workspace, which is typically used by businesses, I can also see people using this beyond work like easily creating videos for a birthday party or a vacation using their own photos and videos whenever it becomes available more broadly

Vids will be available in June and is first coming to Workspace Labs, which means you’ll need to opt in to test it. It’s not clear yet when it will be available more broadly.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/googles-new-ai-video-generator-is-more-hr-than-hollywood-120034992.html?src=rss

Back in 2019, the family of Apple engineer Wei Lun Huang (aka Walter Huang) sued Tesla a year after he was killed when his Model X crashed while Autopilot was engaged. The automaker has settled the lawsuit — on the very day jury selection was supposed to take place. Tesla’s lawyers asked the court to seal the settlement agreement so the payout amount wouldn’t be made public.

Tesla confirmed shortly after the accident that Autopilot was on at the time of the crash, but it also insisted Huang had time to react and had an unobstructed view of the divider. In a statement to the press, the company insisted the driver was at fault, and the only way for the accident to have occurred was if Huang “was not paying attention to the road.”

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation found Huang running a mobile game but couldn’t confirm if he was holding the phone during impact.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Google’s long-awaited Find My Device network launches today

Logitech’s tiny G Pro X 60 gaming keyboard has some big competition

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Nintendo’s Wii U and 3DS online servers are gone They lived their life like two candles in the wind. Engadget

Both the Wii U and 3DS’ online servers have been switched off. This means the end of online multiplayer gaming for both consoles, turning Mario Kart 7 for 3DS and the original Splatoon for the Wii U into single-player or couch co-op experiences — AKA the best Mario Kart experience. The first Super Mario Maker is also effectively dead.

Continue reading.

Play Tekken, get free Chipotle Mild salsa for Mishima.

The Chipotle Challenger Series featuring Tekken 8 will kick off on PS5 Tournaments with a qualifier round from April 15 to 26, open to anyone who wants to test their fighting-game skills — or just score some free snacks. All qualifier participants will receive a code for free chips and guacamole from Chipotle. If you’re actually good (at Tekken, not eating Chipotle), there’s a $5,000 prize and a trip for two to Evo 2024 in Las Vegas, plus free Chipotle for a year. Adobo chicken for Asuka, Barbacoa for Bryan Fury, Carnitas for King. I could go on.

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Spotify tests AI-generated playlists based on text prompts Again, it’s trialing features in the UK first.

Spotify is dipping its toe into the world of AI prompts. It announced AI Playlist, a new beta feature for creating playlists with a few words to get into the music vibe you want, such as “an indie folk playlist to give my brain a big warm hug.” Ugh.

The beta is available to Premium subscribers on Android and iOS devices in the United Kingdom and Australia. You can access it through the + button at the top right of your library. Click AI Playlist and let your imagination run wild.

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Fairphone’s repairable wireless earbuds put the industry on notice Swap the Fairbuds’ batteries in 30 seconds. Engadget

The big problem with the boom in true wireless earbuds is they’re pretty much never repairable. Once the batteries wear out, they’re done. Fairphone, however, has built a pair of buds with not only replaceable batteries but easily replaceable ones. The Fairbuds are made of 70 percent recycled and fair materials, while 100 percent of the rare earth elements and tin are recycled. They are €149, and it’s likely we’ll see them in the US at some point, just like its phones.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-tesla-settles-lawsuit-over-fatal-model-x-autopilot-crash-111621559.html?src=rss

Over-ear, noise cancelling headphones offer the best mix of sound quality, noise reduction, comfort and extra features that you can get today. But there are dozens to choose from now as the space has gotten more saturated over the past few years. That’s a good thing in part because it’s brought more affordable options with compelling feature sets, but nevertheless, deciding how to spend your money has gotten a bit harder. Engadget reviews dozens of wireless headphones every year and we test out even more to keep our finger on the pulse. In this guide, we’ve highlighted our top picks for the best wireless headphones based on the best mix of features, including overall audio quality, ANC performance, Bluetooth connections, advanced audio tools and more. Our six favorites, which have remained the same since the start of 2024, offer all of the conveniences we’d expect in a set of high-quality wireless headphones, with a range of prices to help you stay within your budget.

How to choose the best wireless headphones for you

When it comes to shopping for a good pair of wireless headphones, the first thing you’ll need to decide on is wear style. Do you prefer on-ear or over-ear headphones? For the purposes of our buyer’s guide, we focus on the over-ear style as that’s what most noise-canceling headphones are nowadays. Sure, you can find on-ear models with ANC, but over-ear designs are much more effective at blocking sound. Speaking of noise cancellation, you’ll want to determine early on if you even want that. If you frequently crank up the beats in noisy environments, you’ll want to not only make sure it’s there, but also make sure it’s good. If you plan to use your new headphones in quieter spaces, skipping ANC can save you some money.

The next area to consider is features. We recommend trying to get the most bang for your buck, but as you’re shopping around you should determine which items are must-haves and what you can live without. And don’t take basic things like automatic pausing and Bluetooth multipoint connectivity for granted, as not all companies include them. We also suggest reading reviews to see how well a company’s more advanced features work. This will help you decide if those are something you’re willing to (likely) pay extra for. Pay close attention to battery life estimates and don’t be easily swayed by lofty promises about call quality.

Sound can be subjective, so we recommend trying before you buy if at all possible. We understand this isn’t easy at a time when we’re doing most of our shopping online. But trying on a set of headphones and listening to them for a few minutes can save you from an expensive case of buyer’s remorse. We also recommend paying attention to things like Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos, 360 Reality Audio and other immersive formats. Not all headphones support them, so you’ll want to make sure a perspective pair does if that sort of thing excites you.

How we test wireless headphones

The primary way we test wireless headphones is to wear them as much as possible. We prefer to do this over a one- to two-week period, but sometimes embargoes don’t allow it. During this time, we listen to a mix of music and podcasts, while also using the earbuds to take both voice and video calls. Since battery life for headphones can be 30 hours or more, we drain the battery with looping music and the volume set at a comfortable level (usually around 75 percent). Due to the longer battery estimates, we’ll typically power the headphones off several times and leave them during a review. This simulates real-world use and keeps us from having to constantly monitor the process for over 24 straight hours.

To judge the best Bluetooth headphones, we consider audio quality by listening to a range of genres, noting any differences in the sound profile across the styles. We also test at both low and high volumes to check for consistency in the tuning. To assess the quality of phone calls, we’ll record audio samples with the headphones’ microphones as well as have third parties call us.

When it comes to features, we do a thorough review of companion apps, testing each feature as we work through the software. Any holdovers from previous models are double checked for improvements or regression. If the headphones we’re testing are an updated version of a previous model, we’ll spend time getting reacquainted with the older set. Ditto for the closest competition for each new set of headphones that we review.

Other wireless headphones we tested AirPods Max

Apple’s AirPods Max are premium, well-designed headphones that incorporate all of the best features you find on standard AirPods: solid noise cancelation, spatial audio and easy Siri access. However, their $550 starting price makes them almost prohibitively expensive, even for those with Apple devices. There are better options available at lower prices.

Sony WH-CH720N

While the WH-CH720N are a great affordable option, we prefer the Audio-Technica in the budget category. Sony’s cans are lightweight with good sound quality, but ANC struggles at times and they’re made with a lot of plastic.

Beats Studio Pro

The Studio Pro lacks basic features like automatic pausing and multipoint connectivity is only available on Android), plus they’re not very comfortable for people with larger heads. Overall sound quality is improved, though, and voice performance on calls is well above average.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra

Bose’s latest flagship model has a lot to offer, but its trademark Immersive Audio feature can be inconsistent across different types of music. There’s still world-class ANC, excellent comfort and a clearer transparency mode, but for the price, the non-Ultra model is a better choice right now.

Master & Dynamic MH40 (2nd gen)

The MH40 are a great set of headphones if you favor crisp, clear and natural sound that isn’t overly tuned. This pair showcases the company’s affinity for leather and metal too, but limited customization and short battery life for non-ANC cans kept this set from making the cut.

Bowers & Wilkins Px8

The company’s trademark pristine sound is on display here, but the Px8 are more expensive and not nearly as comfortable as the Px7 S2.

FAQs How can you tell the quality of headphones?

I typically look at three factors: design, sound quality and features. In terms of design, I’m usually looking to see if the build quality of the headphones feels cheap and plasticky. Plenty of companies use plastic, but they can do so in a way that doesn’t look or feel like budget models. For sound quality, I want to hear a nice, even tuning where highs, mids and lows are all well represented. No overly boomy bass or scooped out mids. I also want good clarity where you can pick up fine details and an open, immersive soundstage. Features is typically a distant third, but if a company doesn’t cover basic functionality (automatic pausing, transparency mode, multipoint Bluetooth, etc.) it can be an indication of overall quality. 

How do I choose the best quality headphones?

“Best” can be pretty subjective, but I always recommend going to a place where you can listen to the headphones you’re thinking about buying before you commit. Sometimes this isn’t possible, so you’ll want to check return policies. I also recommend doing some research to determine what your priorities are in a new set. Are you an audiophile who wants the best sound quality? Is powerful active noise cancellation (ANC) the most important? Would you rather have conveniences like automatic pausing?

Which brand has the best headphones?

Sony consistently tops our list with its 1000X line. This is mostly due to the combination of sound quality, ANC performance and the truckload of features these headphones pack in. I’ll be the first to tell you that there are better sounding options and other companies, like Bose, offer more effective noise cancellation. But when you add everything up, no one comes close to the full slate of tools Sony puts in its premium headphone line.

Do expensive headphones sound better?

Exorbitant price tags don’t mean better audio quality. Bowers & Wilkins’ headphones are on the high end for wireless noise-canceling models and they sound amazing. However, Audio-Technica’s M50xBT2 is much more affordable and doesn’t have ANC, but these headphones have a warm, natural sound profile that I find very inviting. At the end of the day, it will come down to personal preference, but you don’t need to spend a lot to find great headphones.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-headphones-wireless-bluetooth-120543205.html?src=rss

X has expanded its support for passkey logins and has made the option available to users around the world, as long as they're accessing the app on an iPhone. The social media company formerly known as Twitter originally launched passkey support for iOS users in the US back in January. Now, the X Safety account has confirmed its global rollout, giving more people the choice to use the login alternative.

Passkeys are considered more secure than passwords, because they're not vulnerable to phishing or social engineering schemes and are resistant to login theft. When users activate and set up a passkey login, they're creating a key pair that will serve as their digital authentication credential. The service offering the login option only has access to one of those keys, which it then has to pair to the other key stored locally on the user's device to verify their identity. The user only has to confirm that they're the one accessing their account through their biometric credentials or device passcode. 

To enable passkeys on X, users will need to fire up their iOS app, and then go to "Settings and privacy" under "Your account." In "Security and account access," they can find Passkey under "Additional password protection." Unfortunately, X didn't say if and when the option will be available for Android users.

Update: Passkeys is now available as a login option for everyone globally on iOS! Try it out.https://t.co/v1LyN0l8wF

— Safety (@Safety) April 8, 2024

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/x-makes-passkey-logins-available-to-ios-users-worldwide-080514995.html?src=rss

True wireless earbuds are flimsy, easily lost and prone to battery failure. Given their size and cost, companies would rather you throw them out when they succumb to the inevitable. Fairphone, however, has built a pair of buds with easily replaceable batteries, as well as a swappable cell in the charging case. And, look, if the engineers working at this tiny Dutch company can work this out, then the army of designers in Apple and Samsung’s steel-and-glass cathedrals have no excuse.

Fairbuds are a pair of true wireless earbuds that look like Samsung’s Galaxy Buds, with the outermost surface on both sides being a controller. Fairphone promises six hours of battery life on a charge with an extra 20 hours nestled inside the case. The buds are packing the usual feature list, including ANC, multipoint connectivity as well as an IP54 rating for sweat and water resistance. As usual, the company wants to make the argument (on paper, at least) that just because the devil has the best toys, you can still have fun while wearing a halo.

Fairbuds are the company’s second crack at the true wireless whip after its 2021’s obviously named True Wireless Stereo Earbuds. Those were made with fairtrade gold and 30 percent recycled plastic, but were still more a part of the problem than the solution. At the time, I gave the company grief for launching a product so at odds with its environmental goals. In retrospect, the crap name should have been a clue that these were a stopgap. Since then, the TWS were dumped off, and the company released Fairbuds XL, a pair of over-ear cans that I rather liked.

Fairphone says that the Fairbuds here are made with 70 percent recycled and fair materials, while 100 percent of the rare earth elements and tin are recycled. The company also claims to offer improved pay for factory workers compared to rival manufacturers and works with suppliers to improve working conditions for the people on the production line.

Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget

I don’t think it’s unfair to say Fairphone prioritizes repairability over look and feel, so these won’t take a podium at the Beautiful Gadget Awards. I had a pair of AirPods Pro on my desk and, sat beside the Fairbuds, the difference between the two is almost comical. Fairbuds’ case is about twice the size and, while the corners are rounded off, it’s still going to be an unwelcome presence in your jeans pocket. It’s not as if there’s acres of wasted space in the case but it’s a product that the armchair designer in me keeps wanting to slim down.

There are other irritations, like the fact the action button is on top of the charging tray but the status light is on the side by the USB-C port. That’s not a deal breaker but you hope these fit and finish issues are the focus for any future version two. But the point of these irritations is that elegance has been sacrificed on the altar of repairability, and that’s why you’d buy a pair.

I probably need to make clear, for the people who will point to the iFixit guides showing you how to swap the battery in an AirPod and a Galaxy Bud that it is possible to do so. But if the guides ask you to use a heat gun, scalpel, vice, pry bar and glue-dissolving solvent, then that’s not an easy job just anyone can do. When I say that you can swap out the battery on each Fairbud with the same level of ease as you could a ‘90s cell phone battery, I mean it.

In fact, my first attempt took all of 30 seconds since all you need to do is get a small, flat-headed screwdriver to slide off the rubber gasket. Once done, you just need to gently pry out the hinged holder and the battery will slide out easily. Swap in a new cell, slide the rubber gasket back in place (if you’re gentle, it mostly plops back into position without any fussing) and you’re done.

Similarly, the charging case has a replaceable battery held in place with a single philips head screw. A few twists and the charging plate pops out, revealing the 500mAh cell underneath, with users able to buy replacement outer shells, charging trays and case batteries. You can also buy eartips, earbuds and earbud batteries from Fairphone’s online parts store.

Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget

It’s likely you’d only want or need to swap the batteries once every three or four years so you won’t benefit from this flexibility on a daily basis. Reading lots of online chatter, a rule of thumb is that most TWS buds last for between two and three years before things start to go wrong. Fairphone, too, offers a three-year warranty on the buds, but I’d hope to see a well-used pair of Fairbuds lasting for twice as long, assuming you don’t lose them in a sewer or leave them in the back of a cab.

Sadly, I can’t be as praiseworthy for the Fairbuds’ sound quality which isn’t as strong as you may hope. They’re not bad by any means, but the default sound profile lacks a dynamism you hear in competitors. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing a lush orchestral piece by Jerry Goldsmith or something beefier, like Korn, you’ll feel the sound is rougher and flatter than other products. It’s like the top and bottom ends of the sounds are being sliced off to keep everything from getting too out of hand.

There are sound profiles in the Fairbuds app that I found similarly lackluster with users able to opt between standard tuning, Bass Boost or Flat. None of them feel distinct. There’s also a Studio option where you can adjust the tuning along eight specific frequency bands. It’s here that you can really improve the sound quality but it’s more time and effort than I’d be happy putting in on a regular basis.

At least the fundamentals are all pretty good: I’ve been testing these for a big chunk of the last five days and I’ve not felt the need to recharge the case battery at all. Even with ANC on, I think I’ve squeezed at least 20 hours out of these things and I’ve still got juice left in the tank. And the ANC itself offers the same background muffling you’ll hear in every other mid-range ANC earbud.

One of the mantras Fairphone has always repeated is that it doesn’t expect to build a phone that will topple the big manufacturers. Its products are designed to appeal to folks who want something a little more ethically made, and to act as a north star for the technology industry more broadly. There are plenty of engineering questions — around durability, bulkiness and ease of use — that linger. But Fairphone’s impact here should be to lay down a challenge to its bigger rivals to use their vast resources to build an earbud that isn’t condemned to live in the trash from the moment it was born.

Fairbuds are making their debut in Europe today from Fairphone as well as a variety of retail partners across the territory. They are priced at €149 and while there’s no word on the matter now, it’s likely that we’ll see them making their way to the US at some point in the future.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fairphones-repairable-wireless-earbuds-put-the-industry-on-notice-080033940.html?src=rss

Local documentary filmmaker Dave Kendall produced "Hot Times in the Heartland" with his company, Prairie Hollow Productions. The film is a comprehensive look at how the climate crisis is impacting the Kansas City region and how local changemakers are working to counter it.

Logitech has unveiled the G Pro X 60, its latest mechanical gaming keyboard. Similar to the peripheral maker's G Pro X TKL from last year, this is a wireless model aimed at competitive-minded gamers first and foremost. Unlike that device, it has a smaller 60 percent layout, which means it lacks a dedicated function row, number pad, arrow keys and nav cluster but takes up much less space on a desk. This can be a boon for games because it leaves more room to flick a mouse around while retaining the most common action keys. Naturally, it’s also more portable.

The G Pro X 60 is up for pre-order today for $179 in the US or €229 in Europe. It’s available in three colors (black, white or pink) with either the linear or tactile version of Logitech’s GX Optical switches. The company says it’ll be available at major retailers in “late April.”

I’ve had the keyboard on hand for a few days prior to today’s announcement and have mostly been impressed, though I’d have a hard time calling it a great value.

Let’s start with the good: This thing is well-built. Its aluminum top plate is surrounded by a plastic frame, but it all feels sturdy, with no real flex or give when you press down. Its doubleshot PBT keycaps are pleasingly crisp and should avoid any of the shininess that'd develop with cheaper ABS plastic over time. The legends on the keycaps are neatly printed and transparent, so any RGB backlight effects you set will come through cleanly. All the keys are angled comfortably, and there’s a set of flip-out feet on the back.

Logitech

I’m not crazy about the side-mounted volume roller — once you’ve blessed your keyboard with a full-on rotary knob, it’s hard to give up — but it’s easy to reach with your pinky, so you can adjust volume without having to lift your other fingers during the heat of a game. There’s also a dedicated switch for flipping on Logitech’s “game mode,” which deactivates keys you might otherwise hit by accident; those include the Windows and Fn keys by default, but you can add others through Logitech’s G Hub software. 

The keyboard can connect over a detachable USB-C cable, Bluetooth or a 2.4GHz wireless dongle. Per usual with Logitech gear, the latter’s connection is rock solid; I’ve had none of the hiccups or stuttering I’ve seen with some wireless keyboards from less established brands, particularly when waking the device from sleep. There are buttons to swap between Bluetooth or the 2.4GHz connection built into the board, as well as a handy compartment for stashing the adapter itself. You can also connect the G Pro X 60 and certain Logitech mice simultaneously using one dongle. Logitech rates the battery life at up to 65 hours; that sounds about right based on my testing so far, but the exact amount will fluctuate based on how bright you set the RGB backlight.

The best thing about the G Pro X 60 might have nothing to do with the keyboard at all — it’s the fact that Logitech includes a hard carrying case in the box. More companies should do this! It makes the device much easier to transport.

Alas, this probably isn't a keyboard you’d want to take to the office. The linear GX Optical switches in my test unit feel totally pleasant: They’re fast enough for gaming, and they come pre-lubricated, so each press goes down smoothly. Since they’re optical, and thus not reliant on any physical contact points, they should also prove durable over time.

Logitech

But they aren’t exactly quiet. Logitech has fit a couple layers of silicone rubber inside the board, but there isn’t the wealth of sound-dampening foam you'd find in some other options in this price range. To peel back the curtain a bit: I received the G Pro X 60 just after testing a bunch of mechanical keyboards for an upcoming buying guide, so I’m a little spoiled on this point. Some people may like the obvious clack of each press here, too. I can’t imagine their coworkers or roommates being as thrilled, though, and some modifier and nav keys like Alt, Ctrl and Tab sound hollower than others.

Besides that, my issues with the G Pro X 60 are more about what's missing than anything the keyboard does wrong. For one, its switches aren’t hot-swappable, so you can’t easily remove and replace them without desoldering. Yes, this is a niche thing, but so are $180 gaming keyboards as a whole. Being able to pop in new switches isn’t just a plus for long-term repairability; it’s half the fun for some keyboard enthusiasts in the first place. Swapping keycaps is straightforward, though. 

Taking a step back, a growing number of the G Pro X 60’s peers have some sort of analog functionality, which means they can respond to varying levels of pressure. The top pick in our gaming keyboard buyer’s guide, the Wooting 60HE+, is a good example: Its magnetic Hall effect sensors let you set custom actuation points, so you can make each key extra sensitive while playing a fast FPS, then make them feel heavier and more deliberate while typing. They also enable a “rapid trigger” feature that lets you repeat inputs faster, which can be helpful for, say, strafing back and forth during an in-game shootout. Other models from Razer and SteelSeries provide similar functionality. But the G Pro X 60 lacks any sort of adjustable actuation or rapid trigger mode. That’s probably not a dealbreaker for most people, but the people who would use those features are the kind of hardcore gamers Logitech is targeting with this device.

Logitech

What is here is a new remapping system called “Keycontrol.” Through G Hub, this allows you to assign several different commands or macros to each key, with three separate control layers. This is a convenient way to get around some of the design’s missing keys: I made it so holding Alt temporarily turns WASD into arrow keys, for example. But it also lets you base different actions on whether you press, hold or release a key, so you could tie complementary actions in a game — casting a couple of buffs in an RPG, perhaps — to one press. Some of the analog keyboards noted above can work like this, too, and you need to have G Hub open for some bindings to stay active. Still, it’s better to have this sort of flexibility than not. Logitech says more of its keyboards will receive Keycontrol support in the future but declined to give more specific details.

All of this makes for a keyboard that’s solid in a vacuum but faces some stiff competition. Rival gaming keyboards like the Wooting 60HE+ and SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Wireless are a little richer with performance-focused features, while a slightly larger option like the ASUS ROG Azoth sounds better and offers more customizable hardware for keyboard geeks. There are plenty of great non-gaming keyboards that cost much less, too. But the G Pro X 60 isn’t a bad choice if you want something compact and wireless, so it might be worthwhile during a sale.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/logitechs-tiny-g-pro-x-60-gaming-keyboard-has-some-big-competition-070154542.html?src=rss

There are too many streaming services to keep track of today — and with prices steadily rising, you might be asking yourself if it’s still worthwhile at all to subscribe to these services instead of cable. We share those frustrations but have ultimately decided this oversaturated space offers much more than the basic-cable world that came before it. But now, you have to wade through all of those options and figure out which have the content you want to watch, which fit into your budget, which have the most compelling original series, movies and documentaries, and the best live TV streaming services.

We at Engadget wanted to make that process easier so we’ve compiled a list of the best streaming services you can subscribe to right now, with our favorite picks spanning across all content types and budgets. Should you go out and subscribe to all of the services listed here? Probably not, unless you’re a true cord cutter aching for content. But these are the services that offer the best bang for your buck, regardless of whether you’re a live sports buff, a classic movie lover or a general streaming enthusiast.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-streaming-services-154527042.html?src=rss

Back in 2019, the family of Apple engineer Wei Lun Huang (aka Walter Huang) sued Tesla a year after he was killed when his Model X crashed into a median in Mountain View while Autopilot was engaged. That case is officially closed, now that the automaker has settled the lawsuit on the very day jury selection was supposed to take place. According to CNBC and The New York Times, Tesla's lawyers asked the court to seal the settlement agreement so that the exact amount the company paid wouldn't be made public. The company didn't want "other potential claimants (or the plaintiffs' bar) [to] perceive the settlement amount as evidence of Tesla's potential liability for losses, which may have a chilling effect on settlement opportunity in subsequent cases."

Tesla confirmed shortly after the accident that Autopilot was switched on at the time of the crash, but it also insisted that Huang had time to react and had an unobstructed view of the divider. In a statement to the press, the company insisted that the driver was at fault and that the only way for the accident to have occurred was if Huang "was not paying attention to the road, despite the car providing multiple warnings to do so." In the lawsuit, Huang's lawyers pointed to Autopilot marketing materials from Tesla suggesting that its cars are safe enough to use on the road without drivers having to keep their hands on the wheel at all times. We took the image above from a video on Tesla's Autopilot page, showing a driver with their hands on their lap. 

The incident became big enough to attract the attention of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which conducted an investigation and found that Huang previously reported that the car steered away from the highway on prior trips. In fact, his family said that he used to complain about his car swerving towards the exact barrier he crashed into and had even reported it to the Tesla dealership, which couldn't replicate the issue. The agency also concluded that Tesla's collision warning system didn't alert the driver and that its emergency braking system didn't activate as it should have when the car started making its way toward the barrier. 

That said, the NTSB discovered, as well, that Huang was running a mobile game on his phone at the time of the accident. It just couldn't determine whether the phone was in his hands when the crash occurred. The Times said Tesla was preparing to show proof to the court that Huang was playing a game when he crashed, which his lawyers denied. Regardless of who's truly at fault, a trial would've called renewed attention to the safety of Tesla's driver assistance system. Settling puts an end to the case a few months before the company unveils its own robotaxi on August 8.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tesla-settles-lawsuit-over-fatal-model-x-crash-that-killed-an-apple-engineer-054710845.html?src=rss

Enlarge / Baily's Beads are visible in this shot taken by Stephen Clark in Athens, Texas. (credit: Stephen Clark)

"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."

The steady rhythm of the night-day, dark-light progression is a phenomenon acknowledged in ancient sacred texts as a given. When it's interrupted, people take notice. In the days leading up to the eclipse, excitement within the Ars Orbiting HQ grew, and plans to experience the last total eclipse in the continental United States until 2045 were made. Here's what we saw across the country.

Kevin Purdy (watched from Buffalo, New York)

• 3:19 pm on April 8 in Buffalo overlooking Richmond Ave. near Symphony Circle. [credit: Kevin Purdy ]

Buffalo, New York, is a frequently passed-over city. Super Bowl victories, the shift away from Great Lakes shipping and American-made steel, being the second-largest city in a state that contains New York City: This city doesn’t get many breaks.

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Most of the time, when kids accidentally gulp down a non-edible object, it travels toward the stomach. In the best-case scenarios for these unfortunate events, it's a small, benign object that safely sees itself out in a day or two. But in the worst-case scenarios, it can go down an entirely different path.

That was the case for a poor teen in California, who somehow swallowed a quarter. The quarter didn’t head down the esophagus and toward the stomach, but veered into the airway, sliding passed the vocal cords like they were a vending-machine coin slot.

Radiographs of the chest (Panel A, postero- anterior view) and neck (Panel B, lateral view). Removal with optical forceps (Panel C and Video 1), and reinspection of ulceration (Panel D, asterisks) (credit: NEJM, Hsue and Patel, 2024)

In a clinical report published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine, doctors who treated the 14-year-old boy reported how they found—and later retrieved—the quarter from its unusual and dangerous resting place. Once it passed the vocal cords and the glottis, the coin got lodged in the subglottis, a small region between the vocal cords and the trachea.

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We've come a long way since primitive AI music generators in 2022. Today, AI tools like Suno.ai allow any series of words to become song lyrics, including inside jokes (as you'll see below). On Wednesday, prompt engineer Riley Goodside tweeted an AI-generated song created with the prompt "sad girl with piano performs the text of the MIT License," and it began to circulate widely in the AI community online.

The MIT License is a famous permissive software license created in the late 1980s, frequently used in open source projects. "My favorite part of this is ~1:25 it nails 'WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY' with a beautiful Imogen Heap-style glissando then immediately pronounces 'FITNESS' as 'fistiff,'" Goodside wrote on X.

Suno (which means "listen" in Hindi) was formed in 2023 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It's the brainchild of Michael Shulman, Georg Kucsko, Martin Camacho, and Keenan Freyberg, who formerly worked at companies like Meta and TikTok. Suno has already attracted big-name partners, such as Microsoft, which announced the integration of an earlier version of the Suno engine into Bing Chat last December. Today, Suno is on v3 of its model, which can create temporally coherent two-minute songs in many different genres.

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While Englewood Arts offers classes in drawing, ceramics, and glass blowing, it isn't your typical arts center. It's also leading the way for affordable housing in Independence.

Jony Ive, the former Apple designer. (credit: Gary Cohen)

Former Apple design lead Jony Ive and current OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are seeking funding for a new company that will produce an "artificial intelligence-powered personal device," according to The Information's sources, who are said to be familiar with the plans.

The exact nature of the device is unknown, but it will not look anything like a smartphone, according to the sources. We first heard tell of this venture in the fall of 2023, but The Information's story reveals that talks are moving forward to get the company off the ground.

Ive and Altman hope to raise at least $1 billion for the new company. The complete list of potential funding sources they've spoken with is unknown, but The Information's sources say they are in talks with frequent OpenAI investor Thrive Capital as well as Emerson Collective, a venture capital firm founded by Laurene Powell Jobs.

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Gov. Mike Parson on Monday confirmed the state will carry out the scheduled execution of Brian Dorsey on Tuesday, April 9. More than 150 people spoke out in support of sparing Dorsey’s life, including over 70 corrections officers and a retired Missouri Supreme Court judge. Dorsey was convicted of murdering his cousin and her husband in 2006.

Retired Lt. General Ben Hodges discusses potential consequences of an invasion into Rafah by Israeli forces. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) describes the state of a potential Ukraine aid bill and the potential ouster of Speaker Mike Johnson. Benjy Sarlin, former Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) and Matt Gorman join the Meet the Press NOW roundtable to discuss President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan.