You now have your chance to explore most of Charles Darwin’s personal writing. The University of Cambridge has published all of the evolutionary scientist’s surviving correspondence online, including 400 letters that have either surfaced or are newly “reinterpreted.” The searchable collection now covers over 15,000 letters written between 1822 and 1882, ranging from his influential time aboard the HMS Beagle to On the Origin of Species and end-of-life reflections.
The internet archive may even be the only way to see a fuller picture of Darwin’s life. The university notes that the final print edition, due in early 2023, doesn’t include letters that arrived too late to reach physical copies. Many writings include footnotes and bibliographies to put sayings in context.
This last batch of correspondence illustrates how attitudes toward evolution changed in the researcher’s lifetime. By 1882, Darwin observed that natural selection had largely been established as fact among younger scientists — a sharp contrast to the initial hostility to On the Origin of Species upon its initial release in 1859. The letters also illustrate how Darwin was still experimenting months before his death.
This won’t be the same as holding the physical letters in your hands. However, it’s a classic demonstration of the internet’s value to academics, not to mention anyone who’s curious. As with other archival projects, you can get a sense of history without traveling to an archive and putting on some cotton gloves.
Tesla is having a particularly lousy week. The Wall Street Journalreports the EV manufacturer has recalled a total of 80,561 cars in China over software and seat belt problems. Battery management glitches affecting 67,698 Model S and Model X vehicles could lead to unexpected stops, according to the country’s State Administration for Market Regulation, while 12,863 Model 3 sedans have seat belt issues.
As with some recalls, Tesla is fixing the battery software with over-the-air updates. It’s not known if the flaws have resulted in any collisions or injuries, or are directly related to past faults. In February, Tesla recalled 817,143 cars across its lineup over buggy seat belt chimes.
This is the third recall in one week for Elon Musk’s outfit. Tesla recalled nearly 30,000 Model X SUVs over troublesome airbag behavior, and 321,000 Model 3 and Model Y EVs due to software-related rear light anomalies. This comes alongside numerous recalls throughout the rest of 2022, including over 1 million vehicles with pinching windows and a Full Self Driving beta oversight that let cars roll through stop signs. While Tesla has quickly released patches for software-linked bugs, the sheer number of recalls has clearly been a hassle for owners.
Recalls like these may be hurting Tesla’s reputation. Consumer Reports recently placed Tesla near the bottom of its annual reliability survey. Although that’s a slight improvement and reflective of teething troubles for EVs as a whole, it doesn’t help Tesla’s attempts to court newcomers used to a certain level of quality from conventional cars.
So much has happened to the Star Wars franchise in the last 14 years that it can be difficult to remember that the new canon actually began with Dave Filoni’s Clone Warscartoon. It was retroactively added into Disney’s new Star Wars stories by virtue of being a pretty good show helmed by the guy who would eventually…
Smartwatches and fitness trackers have become some of the best phone accessories available now. Not only can they prevent you from whipping out your smartphone every second to check alerts, but they can help you get healthier by promoting habits like regular exercise, standing up throughout the day and more. If you’re shopping for yourself on Black Friday, you probably have a good idea of which wearable you want — but the decision can be harder if you’re looking to gift one of these gadgets. We’ve collected the best deals on our favorite smartwatches, fitness trackers and other wearables here so you don’t have to go searching for them.
Apple Watch Series 8
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
The Apple Watch Series 8 is $50 off and down to $349 for Black Friday, which is a record low. While not a huge departure from last year’s Series 7, it does build upon that wearable’s solid foundation. You’ll find all of the Series 7’s features on the Series 8, along with a new skin temperature sensor and crash detection. Essentally, Apple didn’t fix what wasn’t broken and we consider the Series 8 to be the best smartwatch you can get right now.
The second-generation Apple Watch SE is on sale for $229, which is an all-time-low price. Apple upgrade a lot in this smartwatch — it has a new SiP and a larger screen, both of which help the new SE look and feel more modern. Apple still left some features to the Series 8, include an always-on display, ECG reader, skin temperature sensor and a few others, but if you can live without those upgrades, the Apple Watch SE gives you a ton of value at its relatively affordable price.
The Apple Watch Ultra is $60 off and down to $739 for Black Friday, which remains high, but still represents a good deal on this high-end smartwatch. This wearable was designed for the most adventurous among us, with a titanium case, a larger digital crown, physical buttons, 100m of water resistance and more. We gave it a score of 85 for its big, bright display, durable build and even longer battery life when compared to other Apple Watches.
Fitbit’s Charge 5 is $50 off and down to only $100 for Black Friday. It’s the most capable fitness tracker the company makes, complete with built-in GPS, a full-color touchscreen, on-device EDA sensors for stress tracking and more. We gave it a score of 82 when it came out last year in part for all of those reasons, along with its Fitbit Pay functionality and its multi-day battery life.
The new Fitbit Inspire 3 is down to $70 for Black Friday, which is $30 off its usual price. We named this the best budget fitness tracker you can get right now, and that’s only more true when you can pick it up while on sale. The Inspire 3 is more slim than the Charge 5, and while it doesn’t have built-in GPS, you can use its connected GPS feature to map runs and bike rides if you have your phone with you. We also like its automatic workout tracking and long battery life.
Fitbit’s Sense 2 smartwatch is $100 off and down to $200 right now. This is the latest model of the company’s flagship smartwatch, and it supports all-day stress monitoring with cEDA sensors, blood oxygen measurements and an ECG app. That’s on top of all the standard features you’d expect in a smartwatch at this price range: daily movement and sleep tracking, built-in GPS, Fitbit Pay, onboard Alexa capabilities and more. If you’re looking for something even more affordable, the Fitbit Versa 4 has dropped to $150 for Black Friday.
Google’s new Pixel Watch is $50 off and down to $299 for Black Friday. This is one of the most anticipated wearables of the year, being Google’s first Pixel-branded smartwatch and a marriage between the Android giant and Fitbit (which is now owns). We gave the Pixel Watch a score of 74 — while we liked it, we didn’t love it. It has a super attractive design and excellent health and fitness tracking features, but it’s brought down by bad battery life. Google promises 24 hours of wear, but we typically only got through 12 hours before getting low-power warnings.
Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 has dropped to $229 for Black Friday, which is a record-low price. While it’s a modest update to the Galaxy Watch 4, we believe the Watch 5 is the best wearable for Android users. We gave it a score of 85 for its durable yet attractive design, comprehensive health tracking features and its slightly improved battery life.
A number of Garmin wearables are on sale for Black Friday, key among them being the Vivoactive 4s for $175 — that’s nearly half off its usual price and a record low. We like this model’s clean design and its extensive health tracking features, which include blood oxygen monitoring, built-in GPS, more than 20 pre-loaded workout profiles and more. The Vivoactive 4s also support smartphone alerts, Garmin Pay, space for onboard music and a battery life of up to seven days.
Withings’ ScanWatch has dropped to $240 for Black Friday, which is $60 off its normal price. It has a hybrid design, meaning its face is analog but it includes two subdials that show you information like steps, heart rate and more. It also has an ECG measurement tool, blood oxygen monitoring, water resistance up to 50m and a whopping 30-day battery life. If you like the look of the ScanWatch but want something a bit more budget-friendly, Withings’ Steel HR is also on sale for $135 right now.
Black Friday isn’t just a great time to snatch up a laptop or pair of headphones. You’ll also find discounts on plenty of music gear. Buying a synth or a guitar pedal isn’t always the cheapest gift option. So if you’re looking for something special for a special someone, but want to make it as palatable as possible to your wallet, now is a good time to strike. Here are few of our favorite deals on music making hardware from around the web.
ASM Hydrasynth Explorer
Terrence O’Brien / Engadget
When I reviewed the Hydrasynth Explorer last year I said it was probably “the most synth you can get for under $600.” Things haven’t changed in the roughly eleven months since. And now it’s on sale for just $500. For that price you get the same powerful digital engine inside the far more expensive standard Hydrasynth, as well as its unique keyboard with polyphonic aftertouch. It’s just shrunk down and with a slightly more crowded interface. The rest of ASM’s Hydrasynth family is also on sale, but when it comes to pure value it’s almost impossible to beat the Explorer.
The latest entry in Elektron’s midrange groovebox series is a lot of things — an analog synth, a digital drum machine, an absurdly powerful sequencer. But one thing the Syntakt is not, is cheap. Sure, $999 isn’t crazy considering its everything and the kitchen sink approach, but if you’ve been hesitant to commit that much to the purchase, now might be the time to take the plunge. The Syntakt is down to $799 across a number of shops, including direct from Elektron. And while it’s definitely focused on percussion, a recent firmware update added two new “machines” that focus on more melodic sounds.
If the Syntakt isn’t quite your cup of tea, but you’re still intrigued by Elektron’s unique workflow and sequencer, most of its higher-end instruments, like the Digitone and Octatrack are also 20% off this weekend.
When the Minilogue XD launched for just $650 it staked a pretty convincing claim to the best bang-for-your-buck synth. A few years later, and it’s no less impressive. But its price has crept upwards to $730, and competitors have started chipping away at grip on the affordable and approachable end of the market. That makes it’s Black Friday drop to just $600 even harder to pass up. Korg is offering a number of discounts across its range, but the clear stand out is this 18-percent off on an incredibly versatile synth. It combines four voices of true analog polyphony with a digital synth engine and effects. Plus, the Logue SDK opens the instrument to third party developers to build their own digital oscillators and effect. (Sinevibes in particular makes some great ones.)
An audio interface is an essential for basically any budding musician. And while the market is saturated with plenty of excellent, affordable options, the Universal Audio Volt 76 series stands out from the pack. They’re undeniable stylish, offer low noise and latency, have large easy to use controls and vintage mode for additional warmth and character. But what sets the 76 apart, from even its cheaper Volt brethren is the all analog modeling of its legendary 1176 compressor. Sure you could run a plugin that tries to do the same thing — and arguably the results would be more versatile since you can always remove it in post if you want. But there’s something about the version builtin to the Volt 476, 276 and 176 that just has a touch more life.
While the entire Volt lineup (save the 476p) is on sale, and all are solid values, it’s the Volt 476 and 276 that should be at the top of your shopping list. Especially now that they’re marked down to $329 and $269, respectively.
The Beebo is a fascinating pedal. In fact, calling it a guitar pedal feels a bit dishonest. It’s really a digital modular synth and effects system with a large touchscreen, that just so happens to be crammed in a guitar pedal format. It can do basic guitar stuff like chorus and overdrive. It can be an amp modeler. It can also be a synth or a MIDI controller. In short, it refuses to be pigeon holed as any one thing. On of my favorite tricks is loading random audio recordings on it to create custom wacky reverbs. And it’s constantly being updated with new features and bug fixes. (It received about 50 firmware updates in 2020 alone.)
Considering the power contained within the regular $449 seems reasonable. But, right now you can pickup up a blue Beebo from Perfect Circuit for 12-percent off. (Unfortunately the bright pink color-way is still full price.) I’d move quick if you’re considering it, however. The blue units are already listed as being out of stock, and the shop might not continue to take discounted backorders for long.
We haven’t covered Bastl Instruments much on Engadget, but the company makes a range of strange and wonderful instruments. If you buy direct from the company right now they’re doing a 30-percent off sale on everything they make from Eurorack modules to desktop synthesizers. I’m a particularly big fan of the company’s smaller and more affordable oddities like the Kastl (potentially the world’s smallest modular synth), Kastl Drum (similar concept, but for percussion) and the Microgranny (a ultra-lofi granular sampler). They’re pretty great stocking stuffers even at full price, but at 30-percent off with the code “welcome2bshop” they’re a true steal.
Seven percent off isn’t exactly huge, but it’s pretty rare to see Moog stuff get a mark down. So seeing their Sound Studio bundles discounted at all is worth noting. The Sound Studio bundles comes with two or three of Moog’s semimodular instruments, namely the Mother 32, DFAM and Subharmonicon. They also come with a mixer, a bunch of patch cables, a stand and a card game and other educational materials to get you started. These are definitely not the cheapest way to introduce someone to synthesis, but definitely one of the more luxurious.
The two synth bundles are down to $1,299 from $1,399. But you get a slightly larger discount if you spring for all three, which will set you back $1,899, down from $2,099.
Porsche’s back catalog of concept cars is one of the most fascinating of any automaker, with some inspiring the industry and informing future vehicles.
Being a multi-hyphenate performer is something Nina West knows well. Winning Miss Congeniality on Ru Paul’s Drag Race season 11, partnering with Dolly Parton on a kindness campaign, making music for kids, acting opposite Daniel Radcliffe in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, becoming the LGBTQ face of Disney’s Pride…
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