As we prepare to start a new season of streaming on Disney+, Amazon, and HBO, we’re getting a slow drip of teasers from all the services. We’ve got some new posters for She-Hulk and the confirmation of Mandalorian season 4. Leslie Grace’s Batgirl movie is done, but Grace’s Batgirl may live on. There are also a few new…
We’re in the third year of the Sun’s 11-year solar cycle, and satellites in low Earth orbit are already experiencing the deleterious effects. Scientists are now warning that the worst is yet to come, as the current cycle is proving to be stronger than forecasters anticipated.
Authorities claim that founders of a “decentralized” and “open source” project run mostly by the community were making “large-scale profits” off illicit funds funneled through their platform, and now at least one founder has come face-to-face with the long arm of Dutch law enforcement.
The Right Stuff is a new Conservative-only dating app launching next month that seeks to match like-minded individuals in their quest to find love. The hyper exclusive app touts an invite-only signup scheme, no pronouns on profiles, and a lot of white people on its website.
Also, what about Hillary’s emails? Or … aliens?
If you missed out on snapping up an NVIDIA Shield TV Pro or Shield TV when they were on sale for record-low prices during Prime Day, there’s some good news. The media streaming devices have dropped back to the same all-time lows at Amazon. The standard NVIDIA Shield TV is currently $125, which is $25 off the regular price. Its more advanced sibling, the NVIDIA Shield TV Pro, has dropped to $170, which is a $30 discount.
Buy NVIDIA Shield TV at Amazon – $125
The NVIDIA Shield TV has a compact tube design, which should make it easy to slot somewhere behind your television, but it still makes space for the Tegra X1+ processor. You can control it using voice commands via Alexa and Google Assistant. It comes with a remote control with a voice search function and motion-activated, backlit buttons.
Owners can use it to stream shows, movies and music from the likes of Plex, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, HBO Max, Disney+, Spotify and Apple Music. The Android TV-powered device supports 4K HDR Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos audio and Chromecast streaming. You can also use the device to stream games from NVIDIA GeForce Now and Google Stadia (the Ethernet port should come in especially handy there).
Buy NVIDIA Shield TV Pro at Amazon – $170
The NVIDIA Shield TV Pro has all of those features and more. It might be the way to go if you plan to play Android games from the Google Play Store. It has 3GB of RAM, compared with the Shield TV’s 2GB, and double the storage at 16GB. Storage on both devices is expandable, via microSD on the base model and USB drives on the Pro version. The biggest difference, however, is the fact the Shield TV Pro can be used as a Plex server.
Meanwhile, if you’re not quite sold on NVIDIA’s offerings, another prominent streaming device that might fit the bill is also on sale. Last year’s version of the 32GB Apple TV 4K is $120 on Amazon, a third off the regular price of $180.
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The new Ford Bronco Heritage Editions will be rolling out soon, offering vintage design with today’s technology. Check out what these new models have to offer.
It’s been more than a month since PlayStation Plus Premium went live, cementing the video game industry’s shift toward cloud gaming and subscriptions. PlayStation’s game-streaming scheme is competing directly with Xbox Game Pass, the service that proved the concept by earning more than 25 million subscribers over the past five years, leveraging Microsoft’s massive cloud network.
As the two main console manufacturers and the owners of huge franchises, Sony and Microsoft set the stage for the rest of the video game marketplace, and the transition to streaming subscriptions is no different. Here we’ll break down what they’re each offering and take a look at the industry from the perspective of the cloud.
PlayStation Plus has three tiers: Essential, Extra and Premium. Essential costs $10 a month or $60 a year, and it’s basically the PlayStation Plus you’re used to, offering three games to download each month, access to online multiplayer features, cloud storage and discounts. PS Plus Extra costs $15 a month or $100 a year, and has everything in the Essential tier plus a library of up to 400 downloadable PS4 and PS5 games.
PS Plus Premium costs $18 a month or $120 a year, and adds up to 340 games from past PlayStation consoles. This is also the tier that unlocks cloud gaming, supporting more than 700 titles and adding the ability to stream or download games from older eras. This tier actually replaces PlayStation Now, Sony’s often-underwhelming cloud gaming service that launched on PS4. With PS Plus Premium, cloud gaming is available on PS4, PS5 and PC, but not on mobile devices.
That’s one difference between Sony and Microsoft’s approach, as Xbox titles are playable on mobile devices as well as consoles and PC. But the bigger distinction is the type of games that are available on each network. Sony doesn’t plan on adding big exclusive games like Forspoken or God of War Ragnarök to Plus on day one, meaning subscribers will have to buy these titles separately if they want to play right away. On the Xbox side of things, Game Pass Ultimate offers a streaming library of more than 300 titles, and it includes big first-party drops like Halo Infinite on release day. That’s significant, considering Xbox owns influential studios including Bethesda and id Software, and it’s in the process of acquiring Activision Blizzard. Xbox offering the next Doom or Elder Scrolls on day one is a bigger draw than Sony offering Stray, even if Stray is the most adorable game of the year.
Xbox has been the loudest proponent of cloud gaming in the console space, and with the support of a robust network from Microsoft and years of public testing, Game Pass has set the standard when it comes to subscription services. Game Pass has PC-only and console-only tiers providing access to a library of more than 300 downloadable games for $10 a month, while Game Pass Ultimate unlocks cloud play on PC, mobile and Xbox consoles for $15 a month. Assuming you pay for PS Plus Premium up-front, this puts the annual price of Game Pass Ultimate ahead of Premium by $60 – which is roughly what it’ll cost PlayStation subscribers to buy one of those first-party Sony games, so it all shakes out in the end.
Xbox has been steadily building the foundation for an industry that isn’t limited by hardware, relying on cloud gaming rather than console generations, while Sony still seems married to the idea of hardware cycles and more traditional game sales. Despite being there first with PlayStation Now, when it comes to streaming, Sony is playing catch-up to Microsoft, but it still has plenty to offer in the form of classic games and new exclusives. Cloud play is here to stay and it’s possible that other services like Steam and the Epic Games Store will follow Xbox and PlayStation’s lead in the coming years. Nintendo is bringing up the rear in terms of online, cloud, and anything resembling 21st century technology, but it has an unrivaled back catalog and Switch Online unlocks a number of NES, SNES and N64 games.
This isn’t about any one service being better than the others. This is about adjusting to the new normal for video games, where your money won’t be spent on a $60 disc or a discrete download code, but will instead be spread among streaming services with individual purchases on the side. We’re used to this idea when it comes to TV and movies, and streaming technology is almost reliable enough to make it the standard in gaming.
These are the new calculations we’ll be running each month: Do I value Game Pass Ultimate over Netflix? Or PS Plus Premium over Spotify? New subscription services pop up almost weekly; something’s gotta give.
It’s a good time to stock up on travel-friendly accessories before your next trip. A number of Anker portable batteries, wireless chargers and other accessories are on sale, and you can save even more if you’re an Amazon Prime member. Those who need to work while on the go can pick up Samsung’s T7 Shield SSD for the cheapest price we’ve seen, while Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Pro drop to an al-time-low price just days after the company announced the latest version of the earbuds in the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. On top of all that, the Apple TV 4K is on sale for only $120 and you can pick up a base iPad for as low as $299. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
The Apple TV 4K is back in stock at Amazon and on sale for $120. While not quite as cheap as it was on Prime Day last month ($109), this remains one of the best prices we’ve seen no our favorite high-end set-top box. We gave the device a score of 90 for its fast performance, Dolby Vision and Atmos support, HomeKit integration and much-improved Siri remote.
Buy Apple TV 4K at Amazon – $120
Most models of Apple’s iPad are on sale at Amazon right now, so you can pick one up for as low as $299. The 256GB version is down to $399 as well, and most WiFi + Cellular tablets have been discounted, too. We gave it a score of 86 for its solid performance, excellent battery life and improved Center Stage cameras.
Buy iPad (64GB, WiFi) at Amazon – $299Buy iPad (256GB, WiFi) at Amazon – $399Buy iPad (64GB, Cellular) at Amazon – $400Buy iPad (256GB, Cellular) at Amazon – $550
A couple of colors of the Apple Watch Series 7 are on sale for $299, or $100 off their usual rate. That’s also close to the record-low price we saw on Prime Day last month. We gave the wearable a score of 90 for its larger screen, faster charging and handy watchOS capabilities. However, if you want the latest from Apple, it may be worth waiting until September when the company historically has announced its latest phones and smartwatches.
Amazon Prime members can save up to 40 percent on Anker charging accessories, including the 521 magnetic battery pack for MagSafe-compatible iPhones, which is $20 off and down to $30. It’s a 5,000 mAh portable battery that attaches to the back of the latest iPhones to power them up. Also on sale is Anker’s 511 2-in-1 power bank, which is down to $35. That accessory works with more devices since it’s an AC charger and portable battery in one.
Shop Anker deals at AmazonBuy Anker 521 magnetic battery pack at Amazon – $30Buy Anker 511 2-in-1 power bank at Amazon – $35
Amazon’s Echo Show 5 is back on sale for $40, or only $5 more than it was during Prime Day last month. This is one of our favorite smart displays and we like it for its compact design and its tap-to-snooze feature, both of which make the device a good smart alarm clock. Also on sale is the Echo Dot, which is $10 off and down to $40.
Buy Echo Show 5 at Amazon – $40Buy Echo Dot at Amazon – $40
The larger Echo Show 8 has also been discounted to $85, which is $45 off its normal price and only $10 more than its all-time low. We gave it a score of 87 for its lovely screen, great sound quality and its 13MP camera that keeps you in frame when you’re video chatting.
Buy Echo Show 8 at Amazon – $85
On the heels of Unpacked this week, Amazon discounted the Galaxy Buds Pro to $120, which is 40 percent off and their best price yet. We gave them a score of 85 for their solid sound quality, comfortable fit and wireless charging capabilities. Samsung just announced their successors, the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, this week — you can pre-order them now for $230, and check back on Engadget for our full review in the coming weeks.
Buy Galaxy Buds Pro at Amazon – $120
Samsung’s new T7 Shield SSD in 1TB is down to a new record low of $100, which is $60 less than usual. This is the most durable version of Samsung’s palm-sized portable drive, featuring a rubberized exterior and enough protection to survive up to 9.8-foot drops. It has sequential read speeds of up to 1,050 MB/s and write speeds of up to 1,000 MB/s, plus Dynamic Thermal Guard and 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard.
Buy Samsung T7 Shield (1TB) at Amazon – $100
Both the NVIDIA Shield TV and the TV Pro streaming devices have dropped back down to record lows of $125 and $170, respectively. Both run Android TV and support voice commands from the Google Assistant as well as Amazon’s Alexa if you have a compatible smart speaker in your home. They also both support 4K HDR content, Dolby Vision and Atmos, along with Chromecast capabilities.
Buy Shield TV at Amazon – $125Buy Shield TV Pro at Amazon – $170
A couple of Eufy robot vacuums are up to 47 percent off at Amazon right now. The RoboVac G30 Edge is down to a record low of $180, while the G30 Hybrid is on sale for only $220. Both of these are some of Eufy’s more affordable machines — the G30 Edge comes with physical boundary strips that let you set no-go zones and the G30 Hybrid is a robot vacuum and mop in one.
Buy Eufy RoboVac G30 Edge at Amazon – $180Buy Eufy RoboVac G30 Hybrid at Amazon – $220
Amazon includes a free Blink Mini camera when you buy a Blink Outdoor kit, so you’ll save $35 in total on the bundle. Blink cameras are a relatively affordable way to outfit your home with security cameras — all of them record 1080p video and support two-way audio and motion alerts. The Outdoor cameras are wireless and weather-resistant, while the Blink Mini is a smaller, wired camera that’s designed to fit into tight spaces inside your home.
Buy Blink Outdoor + Blink Mini at Amazon – $100
The Beats Studio Buds are back on sale for $100, or $50 off their usual rate. These are some of the best Beats earbuds for most people and we gave them a score of 84 for their comfortable design, good sound quality and ANC and fast pairing with both iOS and Android devices.
Buy Beats Studio Buds at Amazon – $100
Sony’s LinkBuds S are on sale for $148, which is 26 percent off and a new all-time low. These buds came out earlier this year and support smart playback, which lets them automatically play and pause music depending on what you’re doing.
Buy LinkBuds S at Amazon – $148
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