Hasta La Gadget!

“Everyone working at Fox was too stupid to know those legal safe words,” said the MSNBC anchor.

Bluesky, Jack Dorsey’s alternative to Twitter, is now available by invitation only on Android devices after arriving on the App Store in February, The Verge reported. The app has a number of Twitter-like functions, letting you search for and follow other users, create posts (with photos) and more. It’s currently in beta, though, so has a limited number of users (reportedly around 25,000) and is missing features like direct messages. 

Bluesky first came about in 2019 as a Twitter-backed side as a new type of decentralized standard for social media platforms. It officially broke off from Twitter in 2021, and has since joined the ranks of upstart Twitter clones like Mastodon that appeared following Elon Musk’s takeover. 

The app is designed to let users decide how they want to see and consume social media. “For developers, an open marketplace of algorithms will provide the freedom to experiment with and publish algorithms that anyone can use,” CEO Jay Graber wrote last month. “For users, the ability to customize their feed will give them back control of their most valuable resource: their attention.”

Graber has said that moderation is one of the last pieces of the puzzle to solve before the app opens to the public “because we wanted to prioritize user safety from the start,” he wrote in a recent blog post. It’ll apparently use a mixture of automated filtering and server-level moderation controlled by admins. Then, “we will let users subscribe to additional sets of moderation labels that can filter out more content or accounts.” 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/jack-dorseys-twitter-like-bluesky-app-arrives-on-android-063526715.html?src=rss

$329 is asking a lot for a headset, especially for an active noise canceling headset that doesn’t come from the likes of Apple or Sony. But the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro headset lives up to its name by offering a clean look that gives it universal appeal, but also dedicated gaming features that other ANC competitors…

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We’ve previously found the Beats Studio Buds to be a well-rounded and relatively affordable set of true wireless earbuds for most people. If you’ve been thinking about picking up a pair, they’re currently on sale for $100 at multiple retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, Target and Best Buy. That’s $10 more than the earbuds’ all-time low but still about $30 below their average street price in recent months. For reference, they originally launched at $150. The deal applies to each color finish.

We gave the Studio Buds a review score of 84 when they launched in mid-2021. The best thing they have going for them is their design: They’re small, lightweight and more than comfortable enough to wear for hours at a time. The shape is cleverly angled so that inserting and removing the earbuds feels natural. They’re not as stable for jogging as Beats’ Fit Pro, but their IPX4-rated water resistance means they can survive workouts all the same. Their case isn’t oversized, either, and it charges over USB-C.

The Studio Buds have a mellow and fairly well-balanced sound profile with bass that’s punchy but not overbearing. They underemphasize the treble range a bit, so things like vocals can sound less detailed, but in general it’s a pleasant listen with most types of music. There are active noise cancellation and transparency modes as well; neither is as effective as higher-end models like Apple’s AirPods Pro or Sony’s WF-1000XM4, but they’re passable. (If you want superior ANC for less than $100, Anker’s Soundcore Space A40 is a better buy.) Like other Beats earbuds, the Studio Buds pair quickly with iPhones and support Apple-friendly perks like Find My device tracking and hands-free Siri access. But they also play well on Android, with similar fast-pairing and device-finding features.

There are some caveats, though. The Studio Buds’ battery life is just OK, lasting around eight hours with ANC off and around five hours with it on. Call quality is similarly middling, and while the design is comfortable, it lacks features like wireless charging, automatic pausing when you remove an earbud and multipoint connectivity. Though the earbuds are easier to use with iPhones than most, they don’t use one of Apple’s proprietary wireless chips — ignore the Amazon listing that says otherwise — so they lack some features that you’d get with the Fit Pro or AirPods Pro, such as audio sharing and automatic switching between Apple devices. On the plus side, Apple has added support for onboard volume controls and instant iCloud pairing since the Studio Buds launched.

The other possible hang-up is that Apple seems likely to launch a revised model of the Studio Buds in the near future. Reports from 9to5Mac and The Verge say that these will be called the Studio Buds+ and feature improved ANC and transparency modes in a largely identical design. Exactly how much these will cost and whether they’ll replace the current pair is unclear, but we may know soon, as FCC filings for the device were spotted just this week. Nevertheless, if you want a stylish pair of lightweight earbuds, the existing Studio Buds remain a solid value when they’re discounted to this extent.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/beats-studio-buds-are-back-down-to-100-151601887.html?src=rss