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17.07.2024 00:10 Ereaders make it easy to take an entire library of books with you, and E Ink screens tend to be easier on your eyes than a tablet’s LED display. Amazon Kindles are easily the most popular ereader on the market — but they don’t go on sale often. Now that Amazon’s yearly Prime Day sale has arrived, we’re seeing discounts on nearly every Kindle the company makes. While new Kindles may be on the horizon, any Kindle you buy today should give you years of reliable use .As with all Engadget tech deals coverage, we only highlight discounts on gear we've tested or have otherwise used and know to be worthy of your money. We cross-checked our ereader/E Ink guides and Kindle reviews with the Prime Day deals Amazon has put forth to come up with what you see here. And we'll update these deals roundups throughout the two days of Amazon's Prime Day sale. Best Prime Day Kindle deals Best Prime Day Kindle Kids deals 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/the-best-prime-day-kindle-deals-on-amazons-ereaders-100053149.html?src=rss

17.07.2024 00:10 A pre-release build of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has leaked online two months before release, according to reporting by Insider Gaming. This is a fully playable version that was “randomly posted on a tracker,” according to sources who have downloaded and experimented with the build. It remains unclear how the game ended up online. Players have said that the game is around 75GB in size. Though this leaked build is playable, it does have some issues. There are missing strings and a bunch of placeholder assets, but the version does include server data that should allow for online play. As expected, gameplay footage has begun popping up online, but we’ll refrain from posting any so as to keep things spoiler-free. We will drop a trailer though, because the game looks neat. In addition to forgoing gameplay videos, we don’t recommend heading to a torrent site to look for the leaked build. This is not only bad for the hard-working folks who made the game, but will more than likely riddle your PC with more bugs than an open Florida patio in summer. Torrents ain’t what they used to be. pic.twitter.com/Fx8XOCwow0— Focus Entertainment July 16, 2024 Developers Focus Entertainment and Saber Interactive have issued a statement regarding the leak, asking fans to wait for the official release and thanking them for ongoing support. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 comes out on September 9 and will be available for the PS5, Xbox Series S|X and PC.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/warhammer-40k-space-marine-2-has-leaked-online-two-months-before-release-185034761.html?src=rss

17.07.2024 00:10 I’m a huge fan of the JBL Flip 6 I bought after reading Engadget’s guide to portable Bluetooth speakers — I only wish it’d bought mine for $90 instead of paying full price. Thanks to Amazon’s Prime Day, more than a dozen of the soundbars, smart speakers and portable players we recommend are on sale, and some are at the best prices we’ve seen yet. We’ve gathered up every speaker from our reviews that Amazon is discounting right now. Here are the best Prime Day speaker deals.As with all Engadget tech deals coverage, we only highlight discounts on gear we've tested or have otherwise used and know to be worthy of your money. We cross-checked our guides and reviews with the Prime Day deals Amazon has put forth to come up with what you see here. And we'll update these deals roundups throughout the two days of Amazon's Prime Day sale. The best Prime Day Sonos deals The best Prime Day Echo deals The best Prime Day JBL speaker deals The best Prime Day Anker speaker deals The best Prime Day Bose speaker deals The best Prime Day speaker deals 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/the-20-best-prime-day-speaker-deals-weve-reviewed-in-2024-120018387.html?src=rss

17.07.2024 00:10 The latest Prime Day sale is here, and as expected, Amazon is advertising an array of deals on video games and gaming accessories. Also as expected, most of those offers aren't all that good. So allow us to do the research for you. To help those looking to upgrade their battle station or extend their backlog, we've picked out the best Amazon Prime Day discounts on gaming gear below. While the selection isn’t as vast as what we’ll see around Black Friday, we’re still seeing lower-than-usual prices on well-reviewed games for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. There's also a few decent deals on gaming mice, headsets, laptops and other accessories we’ve tested and can recommend. As a reminder, this year's Prime Day runs through July 17, and you’ll need to be a Prime member to access most of the discounts. We’ll update this roundup as prices change and new deals of note pop up. And if you have no interest at shopping at Amazon, note that some of these deals may also be available at other retailers. Best Prime Day video game deals Best Prime Day gaming mouse and accessory deals Best Prime Day gaming storage deals Best Prime Day gaming headset deals Best Prime Day gaming laptop deals 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/the-prime-day-gaming-deals-we-love-from-amazon-latest-sale-130052189.html?src=rss

17.07.2024 00:10 Robot vacuums are a great way to automate a chore that needs to get done regularly, but these machines can get expensive quickly. That’s why it’s a wise decision to wait for a shopping event like Amazon Prime Day to buy one, when you can usually save hundreds off the sticker price. Prime Day deals on vacuums have brought some of the best prices we’ve seen all year to many of our top picks for the best robot vacuums available today, including models from iRobot and Shark. There are even some solid cordless stick vacuums on sale as well as part of the Prime Day deals. We collected all of the best Prime Day deals on vacuums here so you don’t have to go searching for them. If you're looking for even more Prime Day deals, check out Engadget's Prime Day hub where you'll find all of the best tech deals you can get for the shopping event this year. In addition to Amazon devices, Prime Day is typically a great time to pick up big-ticket items like tablets and laptops, and accessories like power banks, streaming devices, Bluetooth speakers and the like. Expired Prime Day deals 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/the-best-prime-day-vacuum-deals-on-our-favorite-robot-vacuums-for-2024-090015680.html?src=rss

17.07.2024 00:10 Sling is coming in hot in the year 2024 and offering its users live 4K content. The platform says that Sling TV subscribers will be able to watch the forthcoming MLB All-Star Game in glorious UHD. The event airs on Fox Sports on July 16. The company says this 4K experience will only be available to customers in “certain markets,” though did indicate that this will lead to more high-resolution offerings in the near future. “Get ready to see your favorite sports like never before,” said Seth Van Sickel, senior vice president of product operations, Sling Video Services. Competitor Fubo TV has been offering 4K streams on select sporting events since 2019 and YouTube TV has been doing the same since 2021. Univision aired the first 4K soccer broadcast all the way back in 2016. It is true, however, that a vast majority sporting events aren’t streamed in 4K. Even many that are advertised as being 4K are actually upscaled 1080p streams. It’s actually pretty difficult to broadcast live sports in 4K, due to the number of cameras required to adequately cover one of these events. Major NFL games often require 80 to 100 cameras and, well, 4K cameras are much more expensive than HD cameras. There are also several bottlenecks to overcome. 4K cameras require at least twice the amount of cabling running from the cam to the production area. With a sporting event, that translates to thousands of feet of dense cabling for a single camera, let alone 80. 4K cameras also increase the number of required video console inputs by a factor of four. The stream has to be processed and compressed for broadcast, which takes a whole lot of computing power. These processors must be kept cool, which is yet another expense. Finally, the broadcaster has to send the feed to its distribution partners, and many of them simply can’t handle 4K. The whole thing is just an expensive undertaking, despite the fact that 4K TVs have been standard in homes for around a decade. As for Sling, it plans on continuing with this experiment in 4K streaming with college and pro football on Fox Sports and the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics on NBC. Maybe this will finally make 4K sports streaming the norm and not a once-in-a-while experience.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sling-will-finally-stream-its-first-live-event-in-4k-the-2024-mlb-all-star-game-173536869.html?src=rss

17.07.2024 00:10 An Amazon Prime Day deal has the Google Pixel 7a down to a record-low price. The phone, which only launched last year, typically costs $500 but is available now for half off at $250. Even at its full price, the Google Pixel 7a is a well-rounded device that balances cost and power. At half off, it’s worth looking at if you have an older Android phone and want features and specs that won’t be dramatically inferior to many flagship handsets. The phone resembles the Pixel 7, which it riffs off of, and has a two-tone design with a similar camera bar. The build uses thermal-formed polycarbonate that feels premium. The Pixel 7a is also a solid entry point into Google AI if that’s your thing. The phone supports Circle to Search, Photo Unblur, Magic Eraser and more. Sam Rutherford for Engadget If you’re more interested in hardware than AI tricks, the Pixel 7a offers an impressive 6.1-inch OLED screen with 2400 x 1080 resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate for smoother visuals. The phone uses a Tensor G2 chip with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Performance won’t likely let you down unless you’re coming from a higher-end model from the last year or so. It also includes fast charging, IP67 water and dust resistance and a 64MP rear camera . Its camera held up surprisingly well against the Pixel 7 Pro and Galaxy S23 Ultra, its pricier generational peers. Its battery lasted over 17 hours in our video rundown tests, passing the Pixel 7 Pro. 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/this-is-the-one-prime-day-phone-deal-you-shouldnt-miss-173215863.html?src=rss

16.07.2024 19:12 Some of the world’s largest tech companies trained their AI models on a dataset that included transcripts of more than 173,000 YouTube videos without permission, a new investigation from Proof News has found. The dataset, which was created by a nonprofit company called EleutherAI, contains transcripts of YouTube videos from more than 48,000 channels and was used by Apple, NVIDIA and Anthropic among other companies. The findings of the investigation spotlight AI’s uncomfortable truth: the technology is largely built on the backs of data siphoned from creators without their consent or compensation. The dataset doesn’t include any videos or images from YouTube, but contains video transcripts from the platforms biggest creators including Marques Brownlee and MrBeast, as well as large news publishers like The New York Times, the BBC, and ABC News. Subtitles from videos belonging to Engadget are also part of the dataset. “Apple has sourced data for their AI from several companies,” Brownlee posted on X. “One of them scraped tons of data/transcripts from YouTube videos, including mine,” he added. “This is going to be an evolving problem for a long time.” Apple has sourced data for their AI from several companiesOne of them scraped tons of data/transcripts from YouTube videos, including mineApple technically avoids "fault" here because they're not the ones scrapingBut this is going to be an evolving problem for a long time https://t.co/U93riaeSlY— Marques Brownlee July 16, 2024 YouTube, Apple, NVIDIA, Anthropic and EleutherAI did not respond to a request for comment from Engadget. So far, AI companies haven’t been transparent about the data used to train their models. Earlier this month, artists and photographers criticized Apple for failing to reveal the source of training data for Apple Intelligence, the company own spin on generative AI coming to millions of Apple devices this year. YouTube, the world’s largest repository of videos, in particular, is a goldmine of not only transcripts but also audio, video, and images, making it an attractive dataset for training AI models. Earlier this year, OpenAI’s chief technology officer, Mira Murati, evaded questions from The Wall Street Journal about whether the company used YouTube videos to train Sora, OpenAI’s upcoming AI video generation tool. “I’m not going to go into the details of the data that was used, but it was publicly available or licensed data,” Murati said at the time. Both YouTube CEO Neal Mohan and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai have said that companies using data from YouTube to train their AI models was a violation of the platform’s terms of service.If you want to see if subtitles from your YouTube videos or from your favorite channels are part of the dataset, head over the Proof News' lookup tool. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-nvidia-and-anthropic-reportedly-used-youtube-transcripts-without-permission-to-train-ai-models-170827317.html?src=rss

16.07.2024 19:12 Big-ticket items might get the lion's share of the attention during Amazon Prime Day, but look below the surface and you'll find a bunch of deals on items that were already budget-friendly. Case in point: our pick for the best budget wireless earbuds, the Anker Soundcore Space A40, have dropped to $49. That's a discount of $31 and brings the earbuds back down to match their record-low price. This is just one of many Prime Day deals we have our eye on. We feel that the Soundcore Space A40 buds deliver excellent active noise cancellation performance, especially for a model in this price range. Anker employs an adaptive system by default that adjusts the ANC intensity based on the noise around you. You can set the ANC to strong, moderate or weak levels manually too and Anker claims it can block up to 98 percent of noise. It's worth noting that the ANC might not be as effective for blocking higher-pitch sounds, while the transparency mode does the trick, but it's not nearly as effective as what you'd find on more premium earbuds. The Space A40 buds are pretty comfortable. They have a battery life of about eight hours, with the charging case adding around another 40. The default sound profile is warm and pleasant without totally blowing out the low end. You can tweak the EQ settings to your preference in the Soundcore app, which can help you refine the bass and higher frequencies. The touch controls are customizable too. Changes you make are saved directly to the earphones. The IXP4 water resistance rating isn't super robust, but you'll be able to wear the Space A40 in light rain and at the gym without too much of a concern. What's more, there's multipoint pairing, so you can connect the earbuds to two devices at the same time — for what it's worth, we haven't encountered any significant connection issues. 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-our-favorite-pair-of-budget-wireless-earbuds-down-to-only-49-170653500.html?src=rss

16.07.2024 19:12 For whatever reason, some people might not want to shop at Amazon. Or maybe you’re a completist and want to check out every possible sale out there. Whatever your reasoning, we’ve gathered up the best anti-Prime Day sales from retailers like Target, Walmart and B&H Photo. We also spotted a few deals directly from manufacturers. Here are the best rival Amazon Prime Day deals we could find that aren’t on Amazon. As with all Engadget tech deals coverage, we almost exclusively highlight discounts on gear we've tested or have otherwise used and know to be worthy of your money. We cross-checked our guides and reviews with the Prime-Day adjacent deals other retailers have put forth to come up with what you see here. Site-wide anti-Prime Day sales A variety of brands are hosting site-wide sales of their own. Some of the deals are no different than what you’d see on a typical Tuesday, but a few of the discounts seem like they were inspired by Amazon’s giant July bonanza. If you’re down to browse, you may find a few worthwhile deals on the sale pages from: Marshall speakers Breville Sony Google Store Logitech 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/the-best-prime-day-deals-from-walmart-target-best-buy-and-more-164056172.html?src=rss

16.07.2024 19:12 Review after review and guide after guide, Apple gear tends to come out on top in our testing. While Apple may potentially announce new models of iPhones, Apple Watches and/or AirPods during its annual fall hardware event, one of the things we like about the company’s devices is their longevity. So something you buy today should serve you well for years to come, particularly with the upcoming software updates. Now that Amazon’s Prime Day 2024 is here, we’re seeing lots of worthwhile Prime Day Apple deals to choose from . So if you’ve been thinking of a new MacBook, iPad, Apple Watch or a pair of AirPods, these best Prime Day deals are a good place to start. As with all Engadget tech deals coverage, we only highlight discounts on gear we've tested or have otherwise used and know to be worthy of your money. We cross-checked our guides and reviews with the Prime Day deals Amazon has put forth to come up with what you see here. And we'll update these deals roundups throughout the two days of Amazon's Prime Day sale. Best Prime Day Apple Watch deals Best Prime Day AirPod deals Best Prime Day iPad deals Best Prime Day MacBook deals Best Prime Day deals on Apple gear 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/amazon-prime-day-apple-deals-include-big-discounts-on-airpods-ipads-and-other-gadgets-weve-tested-in-2024-072858656.html?src=rss

16.07.2024 19:12 Google reportedly offered a group of EU-based cloud firms $512 million as an attempt to derail an antitrust settlement with Microsoft and force the continuation of a formal complaint, according to Bloomberg. The attempt failed and the settlement went through. Here’s how it went down. A non-profit trade organization called the Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe issued a complaint to the EU’s antitrust arm, alleging that Microsoft made it too difficult for business customers to change providers because the software was tied to Azure cloud services. This led to a negotiation between CISPE and Microsoft to give the former better access to the latter’s technologies and end the formal complaint. That’s when Google, a rival to Microsoft, stepped in. The company allegedly offered the aforementioned financial package to the group, so long as they continued with the complaint. This is according to confidential documents and people familiar with the matter, all of which were vetted by Bloomberg. The financial package broke down into two parts. The vast majority of Google’s offer included software licenses for its cloud technology over five years, with a value of $495 million or €455 million. The remaining amount was offered in cash, as well as a long-term partnership proposal. Amazon Web Services also contributed money to Google's offer, despite being an actual member of CISPE. Google’s deal was conditional, however, on CISPE continuing its EU antitrust complaint against Microsoft. This didn’t influence the cloud companies that comprise CISPE, which are mostly European firms. Instead, the group went in the opposite direction. It entered into a similar agreement with Microsoft that allows them to use enhanced Azure features and gives them the ability to offer Microsoft products and services on their local cloud infrastructures. There was also a cash payout agreement from Microsoft to CISPE of around $11 million, according to people familiar with the agreement. "Microsoft's playbook of paying off complainants rather than addressing the substance of their complaint hurts businesses and shouldn't fool anyone," Amit Zavery, head of platform at Google Cloud, told CRN. “We are exploring our options to continue to fight against Microsoft's anti-competitive licensing in order to promote choice, innovation, and the growth of the digital economy in Europe.” It’s worth noting that Zavery didn’t address the allegations that, well, Google did the same exact thing. According to The Register, an individual familiar with the matter called Google’s response “a bit rich.”This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-reportedly-offered-eu-cloud-firms-over-500-million-to-continue-antitrust-case-against-microsoft-160721324.html?src=rss

16.07.2024 19:12 Amazon's latest Prime Day sale is underway, which means the company is advertising a heap of computer discounts across its storefront. Per usual, most of these aren't any good. But if you need a new notebook, we've picked through the selection, checked price histories and rounded up the Prime Day laptop deals that might actually be worth your attention below. In general, Amazon isn't the best place to go laptop shopping, as it doesn't let you precisely spec out your machine. Most of the time, it's easier to buy directly from a manufacturer. That said, the sale has brought a handful of MacBooks, gaming laptops and other notebooks we recommend down to their lowest prices to date. Just remember that you'll need to be a Prime subscriber to access some of the deals. Prime Day itself runs through July 17, and we'll update this guide with more worthwhile discounts as they pop up. 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-laptops-the-best-deals-we-could-find-from-apple-razer-acer-and-more-114453896.html?src=rss

16.07.2024 19:12 When Beats discontinued the Pill+ in early 2022, the company seemed to be done with portable Bluetooth speakers. At that point, it hadn’t debuted a new model in over six years, which is a far cry from the release schedule we’re accustomed to from Beats. But, to the surprise of many, the company has re-entered the crowded market with a redesigned Pill . Taking more aesthetic cues from its older models instead of the most recent Pill+, the company sought a cure by completely re-engineered the inside of the device to improve sound quality. It also made the new Pill more rugged along the way, while doubling the battery life and adding modern features like lossless audio, remedying what ailed the previous aging model. A prescription for better sound While there are some visible changes, Beats did most of its overhaul on the inside of the new Pill. Most importantly, the company ditched the dual tweeter and dual woofer setup from the Pill+ in favor of a new design that only uses one of each. A larger, more powerful pill-shaped woofer provides more robust bass with less total harmonic distortion and a lower frequency range. That single tweeter has been upgraded, too. The driver for mid-range and treble sits in its own housing and has a larger rear cavity. Beats says this setup decreases the crossover responsibilities for the tweeter and woofer in covering the Pill’s full sonic range. As a result, the two components work more efficiently as the tweeter is only tasked with mids and highs while the woofer cranks out the bass. Another item Beats added on the new Pill is lossless audio over USB-C. The speaker can handle higher-quality tunes up to 24-bit/48kHz via a wired connection. This is my favorite way to listen to the Pill as the audio is more immersive with better clarity. Billy Strings’ Live Vol. 1 in Hi-Res Lossless on Apple Music is noticeably improved over listening via Bluetooth, for example. Of course, the speaker will also charge in this scenario since you’re physically connected to the laptop or whichever device it’s streaming from. Billy Steele for Engadget All of this creates much-improved sound quality on the new Pill. The Pill+ was no slouch by 2015 standards, but portable Bluetooth speakers have come a long way in nine years. The rebuild under the hood provides great clarity with punchy highs, full mids and booming bass for much of the volume range. At maximum loudness though, things are more of a jumbled mess as the speaker can’t maintain the crisp, clear detail it offers at around 85 percent and below. For Balance and Composure’s “Cross To Bear,” the Pill accurately replicates the snappy kick drum and snare combo with the droning bass line over top. Guitars weave through in a layered fashion and the vocals cut clean in the mix. The low-end tone provides depth to this alternative rock track that many speakers this size can’t. The Pill also does a respectable job with boomy hip-hop songs from Run The Jewels and Kaytranada, although the speaker does start to struggle when the bass is super deep, like on RTJ4’s “Out Of Sight.” The tone isn’t as clean as most other songs I tested from the genre. Amplify and Stereo modes return from the Pill+ to expand the capabilities of the Pill – if you have two of them. The first simply offers bigger, louder sound since you’re using the power of two speakers. The second creates a true stereo pair with dedicated left and right channels. Both work well, but if you’re only using the onboard controls to activate Stereo mode, you have to remember to join the speakers in Amplify mode first. There’s no option in the iOS settings to do this, but you can activate the modes inside the standalone Beats app for Android. The Beats Pill’s design Billy Steele for Engadget One visible design change is the drivers now sit at a 20-degree angle. Beats says it did this to improve sound projection and it delivered. The new Pill does a better job of beaming audio in the direction of your ears when it’s sitting on a shelf or a table, rather than just blasting it straight out the front. I was especially struck by how well the Pill projects low-end tone on boomy hip-hop and electronic tracks. Four buttons line the top of the Pill for a complete suite of physical controls. The power button, which is on the left, also handles pairing, battery status, voice assistant, USB-C audio and reversing the charging direction. In the middle, the redundantly named Center button offers the media controls while also playing a role in activating Amplify and Stereo modes. And on the right sit the two volume buttons. These are all dimpled circle buttons that work reliably and are easy to find by touch. The new Pill is also built for the great outdoors. Beats engineered this speaker with IP67-rated dust and water resistance, while the Pill+ didn’t have an IP rating at all. This number means the Pill is fully dust tight and can survive full immersion up to 30 minutes in depths of one meter . That’s plenty of protection for a day at the beach or the pool without having to worry about terminal damage. Beats also included a loop strap that attaches to the end of the speaker for easy carrying or hanging up the unit. The Beats Pill as a speakerphone Something Beats is hyping on the new Pill is the ability to use it as a speakerphone. This functionality has been available on Bluetooth speakers before, but the company says its combination of a noise-learning algorithm and full duplex capability leads to a better experience. I found this to be true during my testing as the Pill sounds much better than most earbuds in quiet spaces. The audio quality on calls suffers when the speaker is trying to battle background noise; however, it’s still your voice that comes through clearly rather than a loud fan or some other distraction. Battery life Beats says the new Pill will last up to 24 hours on a charge, which is ample power for a few days. During my testing, I noticed that the speaker could actually muster more. It might be because I kept volumes around 35 to 40 percent most of the time, since the Pill is really loud at 50 percent. After 14 hours of listening to music on both my laptop and iPhone, I still have 70 percent battery left. If you do find yourself in a pinch, the Pill is equipped with Beats’ Fast Fuel feature that gives you two hours of use by plugging in for 10 minutes. What’s more, the speaker will charge while connected to another device, like your laptop, via a USB-C cable. The Pill has a charge-out feature that can top up your phone or other small devices too, and you can reverse the charging direction with a triple tap on the power button. The competition There are so many alternatives to the Beats Pill, with plenty of them available for $100 or less. I would recommend reading our in-depth guide on the best bluetooth speakers that has some suggestions as well as what to look for when you’re shopping. I will point out the JBL Charge 5 from that list, primarily due to its sound quality. It’s just as durable as the Pill and you can use two for a stereo setup or sync it with any PartyBoost-enabled JBL devices. The Charge 5 also has up to 20 hours of battery life and a built-in power bank to top off your phone, making it a great deal at under $150. Wrap-up I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t have a new Beats speaker on my 2024 Bingo card. But, I’ll also be quick to confess that I enjoyed my time with the new Pill, mostly due to its much-improved sound quality. Doubled battery life, lossless audio over USB-C and a more rugged build set the Pill up to compete with popular models from Ultimate Ears, JBL and others. Plus, Beats took a chunk out of the price, making this new model a much more palatable offering at $150. While the audio isn’t as good at extreme volumes and the bass tone isn’t as consistent on some tracks, overall audio quality is the best aspect of the Pill. And that makes it a solid addition to your music regimen.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/beats-pill-review-a-revival-worth-the-wait-160056269.html?src=rss

16.07.2024 19:12 True, Engadget is a technology news and reviews site — but we have a number of staffers who love to cook and even more who love to eat. Over the years, we’ve tested, reviewed and just plain used hundreds of kitchen gadgets and devices, some of which are techy and some that are pretty lo-fi. We combed through our kitchen buying guides and reviews to see which of our recommendations ended up on sale for Amazon Prime Day and put them all here. Read on for the best Prime Day deals on kitchen tech. As with all Engadget tech deals coverage, we almost exclusively highlight discounts on gear we've tested or have otherwise used and know to be worthy of your money. We cross-checked our guides and reviews with the Prime Day deals Amazon has put forth to come up with what you see here. And we'll update these deals roundups throughout both days of Amazon's Prime Day sale. Best Amazon Prime Day kitchen deals 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/the-best-amazon-prime-day-deals-on-kitchen-tech-weve-tested-in-2024-123010472.html?src=rss