Jesse L. Martin teases another familiar Flash villain will return… again. J. Michael Straczynski offers an update, and hope, for the Babylon 5 revival. An original The 4400 star returns for a new role in the reboot, and Tom Holland is already working on his next video game movie pitch. To me, my spoilers!
<img width="1280" height="720" src="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/net1-1280×720.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="Fishing nets" loading="lazy" style="margin: auto;margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%" data-attachment-id="710804" data-permalink="https://www.slashgear.com/the-galaxy-s22-will-debut-a-surprising-new-plastic-07710803/net1/" data-orig-file="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/net1.jpg" data-orig-size="1440,810" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="net1" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="
SlashGear
” data-medium-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/net1-1280×720.jpg” data-large-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/net1-1280×720.jpg” />The launch event for Samsung’s eagerly awaited Galaxy S22 smartphone series is fast approaching. When the covers are officially lifted on February 9, 2022, there will be more to the new devices than meets the eye, according to the company. Not only will they showcase the very latest technologies in hardware and software design from the South Korean technology behemoth, … Continue reading
If you’re in need of more storage for your smartphone, tablet or console, Amazon’s latest daily deal on PNY gadgets could help. A bunch of the brand’s thumb drives, memory cards and SSDs are up to 31 percent off for today only, and the highlights include the 4TB PNY XLR8 CS3140 SSD for $600, or a whopping $300 off, and the 512GB PNY Pro Elite Class microSD card for $55, or $35 less than usual.
Buy PNY XLR8 CS3140 SSD (4TB) at Amazon – $600Buy PNY Pro Elite microSD card (512GB) at Amazon – $55Shop PNY sale on Amazon
We recommended a version of the PNY XLR8 in our PS5 storage guide as the best budget drive you can get for the console. Aside from the fact that you’ll have to provide your own cooling solution, these drives are a great option for anyone that doesn’t want to drop four figures on a high-capacity SSD for their PS5. The CS3140 that’s discounted today has even faster speeds than the CS3040 included in our guide — up to 7,500 MB/s sequential read and 6,850 MB/s sequential write speeds when connected to a PCIe Gen3 x4 motherboard. While the 1TB and 2TB models are also on sale, it’s hard to beat the $300 discount on the 4TB drive. Plus, it’s the best option if you do intend to load up the SSD with PS5 games.
If you’re more of a Nintendo Switch player, the 512GB Pro Elite microSD card for $55 can help you add more games to your collection without spending a ton on the extra space. It’ll also work well for photographers and videographers as it supports up to 100 MB/s read and 90 MB/s write speeds, and comes with an SD adapter.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
The high-end fashion world has been trying to embrace smartwatches for years. But apart from Fossil, luxury houses (and most tech companies) have given up on Google’s Wear OS. Gone are the Movado Connect smartwatch, the LG Watch Style and the Moto 360. In their place sit a slew of smartwatches made by Fossil, that are basically the same device in various styles. It’s not surprising, then, that for its third effort at a connected timepiece, Louis Vuitton is leaving Google’s OS behind and using its own proprietary software instead.
Like previous generations, the LV Tambour Horizon Light Up starts at about $3,400 and features a loud design that’s definitely not for everyone. But given the recent launch of Wear OS 3, which promises to be more useful and responsive, I was curious to see if LV’s own platform might be good enough for a device that costs thousands of dollars.
But first, the hardware. Because anyone considering dropping $3,500 on the Tambour Horizon Light Up is probably more interested in how this thing looks and feels.
Frankly, I’m surprised by how much I didn’t hate the design. Sure, the ostentatious markings all around the 1.2-inch screen could be considered gaudy. [Ed. note: Cher, what?! – Dana] But the watch faces themselves were bold and colorful in a way that I found amusing at first but soon grew to appreciate. Each time I saw a new face, or when the 24 LEDs in the monogram ring surrounding the screen lit up in RGB colors, I gleefully sent pictures to my coworkers, intending to revel in shared mockery. But most of us agreed that not only did the faces not suck, we actually kind of liked them. (Except Dana, who wrote this parenthetical.)
Two criticisms kept coming up, though. The orange rubber strap that LV sent was not only too large for my wrist, causing the watch to keep slipping around, it also looked cheap. I’d have preferred the white or black options instead, as they appear more understated and seem to pair better with the bold graphics on the case. I also received the Matte Brown design case, which starts at $4,110, instead of the base model.
That’s the other thing most people noticed when they saw the watch, by the way. The 44mm case is not only thicker than most smartwatches at 13.2mm (0.5 inches), but it’s also very dense.
Though its face features curved sapphire glass that helps it look smaller than other smartwatches this size, its heft and weight ultimately make wearing the Tambour Horizon Light Up feel like strapping a puck onto your wrist.
If bulky timepieces don’t bother you, you might appreciate what Louis Vuitton has to offer here. The company calls this the “most customizable connected watch in the world,” offering a slew of exclusive watch faces that really pop on the 390 x 390 AMOLED screen. There are eight dial configurations to choose from and when you set up the watch you can also input your initials, which will show up on some designs.
Rotating the watch’s dial on the right switches to different themes, while pressing the top button on the edge cycles through various color schemes. The fact that LV decided to dedicate the dial and button to these functions shows that the changing up the Tambour Horizon’s appearance is its main priority. You can use the companion app to customize the remaining button at the bottom to pull up apps like Alarm, Timer, Stopwatch, Heart Rate, Steps and Camera remote. But more on that in a bit.
One new feature on this generation of the Tambour Horizon is its Always On Display, which also changes based on the theme you’ve selected for your home screen. And depending on the style you choose, the LEDs beneath the monogram ring on the bezel will light up in corresponding colors. This might be my favorite part of the device. The lights also flash when you get an alert and it’s truly delightful to watch.
You can choose which apps can send notifications to your wrist, through the Louis Vuitton Connect app on iOS or Android. This is also where you’ll get clearer explanations for some of the watch’s functions, like its “modes” and shortcuts. All told, the Tambour Horizon offers four profiles: Blossom, which displays all the available animations at maximum intensity, Explorer, which balances animations and performance with battery life, Submarine, which silences notifications and dims the lights, and Saver, which turn off all but the most essential functions to conserve power.
You can activate these by swiping up on the watch to view the Control Center, and then tapping the Mode button in the middle. The Control Center also offers options to dig into settings, find your phone, start a timer or launch your phone’s camera, along with information about the watch’s battery levels and connectivity.
The rest of Louis Vuitton’s OS is straightforward, if a little rudimentary. Swipe down to see your notifications, and swipe right to go through the available widgets. The left of the home screen houses about five “apps” as part of a so-called “My Day” section, showing your calendar, heart rate, steps count and the weather and air quality in your area. You can reorder these and choose which permissions to allow. This part of the OS feels a little like Tizen (or Wear OS’ Tiles), with its side-swiping navigation.
To the right of the home screen is a page for your upcoming travel, and you can use the app to enter flights, hotels or trips or send your booking confirmation to a customized email address. Your upcoming trips will then show up on the watch, and scrolling vertically through the panels will pull up a QR code for your boarding pass, information about your terminal, gate and seat, as well as the relevant time zones.
You can also swipe sideways to see LV’s travel guides for your destination, and when I tapped here for a pretend trip to Singapore, the watch showed me more information on the local Botanic Gardens. It also offered shortcuts for calling the park and mapping directions there.
This focus on travel is a feature unique to LV’s OS, but it’s not difficult to replicate on Apple’s watchOS or even Wear OS. For the most part, you can either use Apple Wallet or the Google Assistant to find similar ticket-related data or install a third party app. But the integration here is more seamless and requires fewer steps. I also like the way LV presents the data in an easy-to-read format, and the graphics and icons here are cute, if hard to understand at first.
Because I connected the Tambour Horizon to my iPhone, I’m not able to reply to messages from my wrist. But basically everything else about the watch’s OS feels functional, if a bit limited. It doesn’t offer constant heart-rate monitoring, sleep or fitness tracking or third-party apps, for example. It’s worth noting that most modern smartwatches do that, so if you’re willing to overlook the lack of features for the price, you’re probably a hardcore LV fan.
Perhaps because it’s doing less in the background, the watch generally lasted about a day and a half of average use. Despite packing the latest Snapdragon Wear 4100 processor, though, the Tambour Horizon occasionally felt laggy, something I’ll chalk up to possible inefficiencies in the software (rather than a problem with the chip).
Was it ever slow enough to frustrate me? No. Are LV’s travel and customization-minded features enough to outshine Wear OS? Also no. But in leaving Google’s platform behind, LV has been able to deliver a unique and surprisingly satisfying experience, albeit in a chunky device that might not appeal to all. Especially not for upwards of $3,000. But with the Tambour Horizon Light Up, LV has demonstrated that it’s possible to build a workable smartwatch without Google’s help.
President Joe Biden has accepted task force recommendations to promote collective bargaining through executive action.
It didn’t take long for Wordle to become an internet sensation as we all struggle to find pandemic distractions, but for those worried about the game’s fate now that it’s owned by The New York Times, there’s no chance you’ll ever hit a paywall if you switch to this Game Boy port instead.
With crazy fast M1 Pro and Max chips and numerous small improvements, the new MacBook Pros were among the best laptops we saw in 2021. The downside to that is that deals have been hard to find, but luckily, the 14-inch model just fell to a new all-time low at Amazon. You can pick up the base 512GB M1 Pro 16-core version in Space Gray for $1,750 (via a $200 instant rebate) or $250 off the original $1,999 price tag.
Buy 14-inch MacBook Pro M1 Pro at Amazon – $1,750
The 2021 MacBook Pros received an Engadget review score of 92, among our highest review scores of the year. That’s due in a big way to the incredible performance via the M1 Pro CPU with 16 cores that can keep up with the best Intel or AMD CPUs while delivering 12 hours of battery life. It offers decent graphics performance for media chores or light gaming, too.
Apple also addressed many of the issues we didn’t like about past models. It now comes with the ports that creators need, including three Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, MagSafe power, a headphone jack and an SD card slot. The 14-inch Liquid Retina XDR display comes with 3,024 x 1,964 resolution, up to 1,600 nits of brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate. It’s also got a great keyboard (unlike the awful past butterfly models) and a 1080p Facetime webcam.
The downsides are few, but include the lack of ability to upgrade memory or storage, along with a notch that may annoy some folks. It’s also pricier than the competition, but Amazon’s deal helps make it competitive with any laptop, especially considering the performance.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
The $2.9 billion cash-and-stock deal will allow the combined airline to be more competitive against its larger rivals.
Later this week, Samsung’s big smartphone showcase will likely reveal the next iteration of its flagship Galaxy S line, almost definitely called the Galaxy S22. Shocking, I know. Judging from the leaks and rumors, what’s notable is this could mark the year Samsung’s Galaxy Note and S phone lines become one big happy family. Ahead of the event announcement, company president TM Roh teased it would feature “the most noteworthy S series device we’ve ever created.” See what they did there?
Samsung skipped the Note line in 2021, but in all but name, the Galaxy S22 Ultra will be the Note 20 successor fans have been waiting to see for nearly two years.
We’ve pulled together everything we’re expecting to see right here, but we’ll also be covering the event on Wednesday, February 9th at 10 AM ET (7 AM PT). We’ll have our own livestream covering all the phones and any surprises along the way. Come watch along with us!
— Mat Smith
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When Samsung does unfurl its 2022 Galaxy S lineup, those phones will be partly made of a new, more sustainable plastic. The company says it has started using discarded fishing nets to create a more environmentally friendly plastic. It’ll first be put to use in these latest devices, but Samsung says it’ll also begin incorporating the material in its entire device lineup.
When Apple refreshed its MacBook Pro line last fall, it left the entry-level model alone. Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman says that’s about to change. He expects a new entry-level model will also drop the much-maligned Touch Bar, but it’s unlikely to include the ProMotion display technology found on the 2021 MacBook Pro, meaning it won’t support a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz for smoother scrolling. Mini-LED backlighting is apparently off the table as well, so don’t expect the base model’s display to get as bright as the screens on its counterparts.
Spotify has been removing episodes of the Joe Rogan Experience since Friday, and at writing, the service has pulled a total of 113. Around 70 episodes have recently disappeared from the platform. Those were apparently removed on February 4th, in addition to the 40 podcast episodes deleted some time ago. However, the newly deleted episodes don’t seem to be connected with the COVID-19 controversy surrounding the show and the service right now.
The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is possibly the best e-reader on the market right now, and if you’ve been considering picking one up, now seems like a good time. Amazon is putting the device on sale for the first time for $145, which is $45 less than the regular price of $190. Our only issue when we reviewed the Signature Edition was the price — problem solved.
Apple just can’t let its biggest phone rival have the spotlight for a week. Apple will host its next hardware event sometime on or around March 8th, according to Bloomberg. At the event, the company will reportedly announce the third-generation iPhone SE, a refresh of the 2020 iPad Air and a new Mac computer that will feature an Apple Silicon chip.
“They’re defending Canada, America and standing up for freedom,” Cruz crowed as Canadians complained protesting truckers were assaulting and harassing them.
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