Hasta La Gadget!

Amazon Prime Day typically brings some of the best prices of the year on all things Amazon — think gear like Echo speakers, Fire TV Sticks and, in this case, Blink cameras. A number of Blink packs are on sale for Prime Day, and one of the best deals is on a two-pack of Blink Mini 2 cams. You can grab the set for only $40 right now, which represents a $30 discount. This is the latest version of the camera, which was originally released earlier this year. That’s a pretty quick turnaround for this kind of massive discount.

For the uninitiated, the Blink Mini 2 is a tiny security camera with a surprising amount of tech. The image quality has been massively improved over the original model and there’s a built-in LED spotlight that allows for color night vision. The smartphone app displays live 1080p footage with two-way audio and there’s a motion-detection algorithm that’ll send out alerts.

These cameras are great for use inside of the home, but they can handle outside use so long as you purchase the weather-resistant power adapter. You can also use the Mini 2 with other Blink products for a comprehensive home security system. For instance, these cameras can be used as a plug-in chime for the Blink Video Doorbell. Nearly every aspect of the camera can be controlled via Alexa because, you know, Amazon.

There are plenty more features available with these cameras, but that leads to the one downside. Many of them are paywalled behind a monthly subscription. You can stream live video for up to 90 minutes, get smart notifications, share clips and store clips for up to 30 days. All of these features require a Blink subscription plan, starting at $3 per month. You do get a 30-day trial with this purchase.

Also, for those with small homes who don’t actually need two security cameras, you can pick up a single unit for $20. All purchases include a mounting kit, a USB cable and a power adapter.

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-day-deals-include-a-pair-of-blink-mini-2-cameras-for-40-115051024.html?src=rss

Amazon Prime Day has arrived and it’s brought a bunch of great discounts on Amazon devices, including Fire TV streaming gear. Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K Max is just $35 for the shopping event, which is $25 off and a record-low price. Most other Fire TV devices are on sale as well, including the Fire TV Stick Lite for just $15.

The Fire TV Stick 4K Max is Amazon’s most capable portable streaming device. Just plug it into your TV’s HDMI port (or a TV while on vacation), and you’ll instantly have access to all of your favorite streaming apps, like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon’s own Prime Video. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max supports fast WiFi 6E connectivity, and in addition to its 4K resolution it offers Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HLG to make your shows and films look their best.

With a 2GHz quad-core processor and 16GB of onboard storage (double what the cheaper Fire TV devices have), the Fire TV Stick 4K Max should be zippy and have enough space to your favorite apps and games. Its WiFi 6E support also makes it a great option for streaming games with Amazon Luna. The bundled Alexa Voice Remote Enhanced gives you instant access to Amazon’s virtual assistant, allowing you to search for shows or just ask about the weather.

If you don’t need all the bells and whistles of the Fire TV Stick 4K Max, there’s also the Fire TV Stick Lite on sale for $15, one of our favorite inexpensive streaming devices. And if you need Ethernet and hands-free Alexa support, Amazon’s Fire TV Cube is now just $100 as part of this Prime Day Deal.

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-day-deals-bring-the-fire-tv-stick-4k-max-down-to-a-record-low-of-35-123038175.html?src=rss

Amazon Prime Day may technically be two days long, but the discounts actually start before that. As it happens, just before Prime Day gets underway on July 16, we’ve spotted a decent discount on a Razer Blade 14 gaming laptop. This model (we’ll get into the specs in a second) is available for a record low price of $2,500. That’s $200 off the regular price of $2,700.

This version of the laptop has a 14-inch QHD+ 240Hz HDR display. Combine that with the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 GPU and 32GB of DDR5 RAM and most games should look and run very nicely on this system. There’s a respectable volume of storage too as it has a 1TB SSD.

We gave the latest Razer Blade 14 a score of 85 in our review. While we feel that it’s pricey (this sale will take some of the sting out of that) and the lack of an SD card reader is a disappointment, it’s a great gaming laptop overall. It has a great build, strong performance and better-than-anticipated battery life (it ran for a shade under seven hours in our testing). We liked the bright, high-refresh-rate display too and a built-in webcam shutter is always welcome.

In fact, the Razer Blade 14 is our current pick for the best high-end laptop for gaming and school. The blend of power and portability is tough to beat, especially when you factor in Razer’s typically robust build quality.

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-day-deals-include-200-off-the-razer-blade-14-gaming-laptop-145218018.html?src=rss

A hacking group leaked over a terabyte of confidential data from more than 10,000 Slack channels belonging to Disney, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The leaked information includes discussions about ad campaigns, computer code, details about unreleased projects and discussion about interview candidates among other things. “Disney is investigating this matter,” a company spokesperson told the Journal.

Nullbulge calls itself a hacktivist group advocating for the rights of artists. A spokesperson for the group told the Journal that it targeted Disney due to concerns about the company’s handling of artist contracts and its approach to generative AI. For weeks, the group teased its access to Disney’s Slack, posting snippets of confidential information such as attendance figures for Disneyland parks on X. Nullbulge told the Journal that it accessed Disney’s confidential information by compromising an employee’s computer computer twice, including through malicious software that it buried in a videogame add-on.

For more than a year, generative AI has sparked tensions between the companies that make and use the tech and members of the creative community who have accused corporations of using their work to train AI models without consent or compensation.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-hacking-group-reportedly-leaked-confidential-data-from-thousands-of-disney-slack-channels-001124844.html?src=rss

Apple’s first 2024 public betas have arrived. You can now install early builds of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, watchOS 11 and macOS Sequoia to preview Apple’s software updates before their official arrival this fall. You just need to enroll your Apple ID (soon-to-be Apple Account) in the Apple Beta Software Program to join the pre-release fun.

Although it won’t be available in beta until the fall, Apple’s take on generative AI — Apple Intelligence (get it?) — is the common thread in this year’s updates. Intertwined in each platform’s 2024 software, Apple Intelligence is a blend of on-device and cloud processing, and it includes optional ChatGPT integration. It adds a new superpowered Siri, Safari highlights and summaries, writing tools and much more.

As for what you will see in the first public beta, iOS 18 gives you more control over your Home Screen. You can place apps and widgets on any open spot on your screen and even change app icon colors, personalizing your phone with a unified aesthetic. The Control Center also gets a redesign, with easier access to your most used toggles, including new customizations. In addition, Photos gets its biggest overhaul to date, and Messages includes new formatting and effects.

Apple

Meanwhile, iPadOS 18 carries over many of those same changes while adding a native Calculator app for the first time and smart handwriting features.

Much more than a port of the iOS version, the Calculator app includes a new Math Notes feature for the Apple Pencil (or keyboard) that can evaluate expressions, assign variables and plot graphs in real-time: Type an equals sign, and Math Notes solves the problem. In parallel, the Smart Script tool in the Notes app can smooth out your sloppy handwriting (while still looking like your penmanship) as you write, and you can turn recordings into searchable live audio transcriptions.

macOS Sequoia adds iPhone Mirroring, letting you view and control your phone’s screen from your Mac. A new Passwords app pulls your stored credentials out of iCloud Keychain and Safari’s settings and into a standalone app. (That S.O.S. call you hear is from 1Password’s developers.) Window Tiling lets you “magnetically” snap windows into various grid patterns, similar to Microsoft’s Snap tiling feature in Windows 11. Finally, new video call features let you replace your background with built-in images or personal photos.

Apple

watchOS 11 lets you pause your daily Activity Rings when you need a break (like when you’re sick, injured or have other disruptions) without losing your streaks. You can also change your goals based on the day of the week and customize which metric the Fitness app shows. A new Vitals app expands on sleep tracking to show you at a glance whether any of your overnight metrics deviate from your norm. And a training load tool gauges how your workout intensity may affect your body over time.

If you’ve never installed an Apple software update with the Apple account you use on your devices, head to the Apple Beta Software Program website to register it. Then, navigate to Settings > General > Software Update on your device, choose the Beta Updates menu, select the Public Beta option and install the update on the Software Update screen.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-ios-18-ipados-18-macos-sequoia-and-watchos-11-public-betas-are-ready-to-download-202921608.html?src=rss