Hasta La Gadget!

If you missed the sale last month, you have another opportunity to get Apple’s AirPods Max for $100 less than usual. The green models are back on sale for $449, which is only $20 more than their record low. While still on the high end, a $100 discount isn’t anything to scoff at — especially if you want a pair of headphones that will work seamlessly with the rest of your Apple devices.

Buy AirPods Max at Amazon – $449

It goes without saying that AirPods Max are really only a viable option for those that live in the Apple ecosystem, as you’ll lose some of their key features if you’re using them with an Android or Windows device. They have excellent sound quality with Adaptive EQ and spatial audio support, plus solid ANC that blocks out most surrounding noise. Onboard controls are reliable as well — there’s a rotating crown that adjusts the volume, and a button dedicated to switching between ANC and Transparency mode.

The AirPods Max have Apple’s H1 chip inside, which allows them to pair and switch between Apple devices easily, and enables things like hands-free Siri access. These will be some of the most convenient cans to get if you often go from listening to music on your Mac to taking calls from your iPhone. While there are comparable headphones out there for less — like Sony’s WH-1000XM4 — the AirPods Max will be most enticing for those who already have a lot of Apple products and want the best sound headphones possible that also integrate seamlessly with the rest of their setup.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Riot Games has worked closely with Arcane animation studio Fortiche for years, and now the two are cementing their creative union. Riot has made an equity investment giving it a “significant” but non-controlling stake in Fortiche. It has also added two leaders, Chief Content Officer Brian Wright and Director of Corporate Development Brendan Mulligan, to Fortiche’s board of directors.

The game developer didn’t reveal the exact value or timing of the investment. The deal closed sometime “earlier this year,” according to Riot.

You may have seen this coming. Riot and Fortiche first worked together on the 2013 video introducing Jinx to League of Legends, and they’ve collaborated on projects including K/DA’s “Popstars,” two Imagine Dragons team-ups and the music video for the 2018 LoL World Championship anthem “Rise.” Throw in the success that prompted work on a second season of Arcane (the first season topped global Netflix charts for three weeks) and it’s clear the two companies thrive on each other’s successes.

Neither firm detailed just how the investment would help. However, Fortiche is partnering with Riot on “other to-be-announced projects” on top of more Arcane. The extra money could help Fortiche bring those efforts to fruition and give Riot more opportunities to promote its games — whatever Riot spends now could pay dividends with more players and esports viewers.

Ahead of Apple’s Peek Performance event, there were rumors that a redesigned Mac mini could be announced. Instead, Apple introduced the Mac Studio, a larger, more powerful, and more expensive take on the Mac mini.

For those who don’t need all that power and want a regular Mac mini, last we heard it will only be arriving in 2023, and unfortunately it seems that the computer will continue to use the same design as its predecessors. This is according to a tweet by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo who believes that Apple will continue to use the same form factor.

I think the new Mac mini in 2023 will likely remain the same form factor design.

— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) March 12, 2022

The Mac mini’s design has been kept largely the same over the years with some slight changes here and there, but for the most part it is still very recognizable. To be fair, Apple did design it to be a small form factor computer that sits quietly on your desk, or in some cases, some users actually mount it underneath their tables.

Also, the Mac Studio’s design itself isn’t that different from the Mac mini, apart from it being slightly taller and heavier, so it’s not necessarily a good indication of a potential future design of the Mac mini. We’re sure some users would have loved to see a new design, especially with the iMac and MacBook Pros undergoing their own revamps, but if Kuo’s claims are accurate, and they usually are, then this might be disappointing news for some.

Don’t Expect A Mac Mini Redesign Anytime Soon

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Blue Origin’s next crewed spaceflight is scheduled for March 23rd and, as reports suggested, Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson will be one of the passengers. It will be New Shepard’s fourth flight with humans on board and its 20th overall.

The other passengers include SpaceKids Global founder Sharon Hagle and her husband, Marc Hagle, CEO of real estate developer Tricor International. Angel investor and former Party America CEO Marty Allen, University of North Carolina professor Jim Kitchen and Commercial Space Technologies president Dr. George Nield are also taking the trip.

All of Blue Origin’s previous crewed flights had a familiar face or two. Blue Origin and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and aviation pioneer Wally Funk were on the maiden trip last July. William Shatner took the record from Funk as the oldest person to reach space at 90 years old on the second flight. Good Morning America host Michael Strahan was on the third launch.

Last week, Apple refreshed its iPad Air lineup where the latest fifth-gen model was updated and given the M1 chipset. This is a similar move Apple made in 2021 where the iPad Pro series was also refreshed with the M1 chipset.

Now, given that the iPad Pro series is meant to be for “pros”, does that mean that the iPad Air is less capable? According to a benchmark listing on Geekbench, that’s hardly the case. This is because the iPad Air 5 was benchmarked on the website and its scores seem to put it on par with the iPad Pro series.

The tablet was spotted with a multi-core score of around the 7,200 range. For context, the iPad Pro 11-inch model scored 7,218, while the larger 12.9-inch model scored 7,219. This means that barring margins of error, the fifth-gen iPad Air is pretty much on par with the iPad Pros in terms of performance.

Of course, there are differences between the tablets like the iPad Pros featuring a ProMotion display with a faster refresh rate, but if you don’t really care about that too much and want a tablet purely for performance, then maybe the iPad Air 5 could be a tablet worth considering, especially given its cheaper price point.

Benchmarks Suggest That The iPad Air 5 Performs As Well As The iPad Pro

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.