Category: Technology

The Department of Justice has reportedly opened an antitrust investigation into Live Nation, the parent of Ticketmaster, to determine if the company has abused its power in the live music industry. The investigation is said to have been ongoing over the last several months. The New York Times reported on the investigation after Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen fans had an excessively difficult time trying to buy tickets for those artists’ tours.

The DOJ’s antitrust division has been asking music venues and stakeholders in the ticketing market about the industry and Live Nation’s practices, according to the report. The agency is said to be looking into whether Live Nation holds a monopoly in the live music space.

The company owns and/or operates many venues, including the House of Blues, and it runs festivals like Lollapalooza and Download. It sells tickets to those places and events through Ticketmaster. Live Nation also manages dozens of notable artists.

Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged in 2010 after gaining approval from the DOJ. The agency imposed some conditions on the deal, such as Live Nation having to sell some parts of its business. For a 10-year period, Live Nation was prohibited from threatening to keep tours away from venues that don’t use Ticketmaster. In 2019, the DOJ determined that Live Nation broke that condition, and it extended the merger agreement provision period to 2025.

Bringing things up to date, Swifties (and bots) crashed Ticketmaster on Tuesday as they attempted to snag tickets for the megastar’s first tour in five years during a pre-sale. Ticketmaster said a load of more than 3.5 billion system requests caused havoc.

“The site was supposed to open up for 1.5 million verified Taylor Swift fans,” Greg Maffei, the CEO of Live Nation’s biggest shareholder Liberty Media, told CNBC. “We had 14 million people hit the site, including bots, which are not supposed to be there.”

Fans waited in queues for hours and when they were finally able to select a seat, many were still unable to grab tickets. In many cases, tickets were essentially snatched out of customers’ hands as they tried to put them in their cart. A general sale for the remaining tickets was supposed to take place on Friday, but Ticketmaster canceled it “due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand.”

The chaos led to calls to break up Live Nation, including from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Amy Klobuchar expressed concern over ” the state of competition in the ticketing industry,” as Reuters notes.

“I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could,” Swift wrote in an Instagram Story on Friday. “It’s truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them.”

This is far from the first time people had a chaotic experience while trying to get tickets to see a major artist. Blink-182 and Paramore tours sold out almost instantly. Ticketmaster’s controversial dynamic pricing system led to some fans paying thousands of dollars for Bruce Springsteen tickets — even before those sought-after tickets hit secondary markets.

Engadget has contacted Live Nation for comment. The Department of Justice doesn’t comment on ongoing investigations.

 

Elon Musk is acting on his vow to rethink permanent bans on Twitter users. Twitter has reinstated the accounts of three controversial users, including conservative satire site Babylon Bee, conservative author (and former YouTube personality) Jordan Peterson and comedian Kathy Griffin. A decision about former President Donald Trump has “not yet been made,” Musk said, although the CEO previously said he would reverse Trump’s ban.

The action comes as part of “Freedom Fridays,” according to Musk. However, it also appears to contradict Musk’s previous pledge to form a moderation council before undoing bans or otherwise making significant content decisions. The council was supposed to ensure that Twitter’s policies reflected a wide range of viewpoints.

Both Babylon Bee and Peterson were banned earlier this year for violating Twitter’s hate speech rules protecting transgender people. Griffin, meanwhile, was banned for responding to Twitter’s messy pay-for-verification rollout by impersonating Musk. As you might imagine, these actions are likely to have critics. LGBTQ rights advocates like GLAAD supported internet bans on Peterson this summer due to his “hateful and false narratives,” for example.

The tech mogul warned that some content would still be subject to severe restrictions. Hate and other negative tweets would be “max deboosted & demonetized,” he said. While this wouldn’t apply to whole accounts, it would make offending tweets invisible unless you knew to look for them, and would prevent Twitter earning revenue from that material. Free speech at Twitter didn’t mean “freedom of reach,” Musk added.

The combination of lifted bans and a new moderation policy reflects Musk’s attempts to balance his personal desires with commercial realities. While he has argued that Twitter should be a free speech haven where bans are very rare, he has also tried to reassure advertisers worried their promos might appear next to hate speech and other objectionable tweets. In other words, Musk may still have to clamp down on toxic content even if its creators are now allowed on his platform.

 

Gamers with prepaid phones can finally play Overwatch 2. An Activision Blizzard community manager announced the changes on Thursday, reversing an overzealous anti-cheating move that had made it harder for new players to check out the game. The reversal came in the first-person shooter’s latest patch and is effective immediately.

Ahead of the game’s free-to-play early access period, which launched on October 4th, Blizzard had outlined a series of moderation tools to prevent cheating and smurfing, including the postpaid number requirement. Banning prepaid numbers from SMS verification may have been a well-intended move to reduce toxic behavior, as it’s much cheaper and easier for cheaters and trolls to set up prepaid numbers than postpaid ones. But unfortunately, it also blocked prepaid users acting in good faith from playing the game.

Blizzard’s other moderation tools are still in effect. Every Overwatch 2 player needs to connect a phone number to their Battle.net account to play, and that number can’t be tied to another account. You still can’t use VOIP, WiFi, text-only and internet phone services to verify your account, so you can forget about dusting off that old Google Voice number as a workaround. If you played the original Overwatch, you don’t need to worry about SMS verification. Other moderation tools still in effect include audio transcriptions for reported voice chat recordings and automated review tools for poring through the resulting text.

It’s been a rocky launch for Blizzard’s online first-person shooter. In addition to blocking prepaid users, Blizzard said a DDoS attack left players stuck in a queue behind tens of thousands of other gamers. Bugs have also riddled the game’s early-access period, including missing items and currency, sections not populating and other areas becoming inaccessible. Soon after, Blizzard announced freebies to compensate players for the troubled rollout.

 

Though Black Friday is technically a week away, we’re already seeing a barrage of sales that we expect to carry over into the shopping holiday. Several of Apple’s iPads, Apple Watches and MacBooks are available at their lowest prices to date, for instance, as are a plethora of devices from Amazon and Google. PlayStation and Xbox have kicked off their respective Black Friday sales, too, and there are numerous discounts on wireless headphones we like. We expect to see many more deals go live in the coming days, but for now, here are the best early Black Friday deals from this week that you can still get today.

Apple iPad 10.2-inch and iPad Pro

It’s a good time to be in the market for a new iPad, as several of Apple’s tablets are back down to the lowest prices we’ve tracked. The entry-level iPad, for instance, is on sale for $270. That’s about $25 below the 10.2-inch tablet’s average street price over the last few months. We gave the device a review score of 86 last year; while it lacks the more modern design of Apple’s newer slates, we still consider it the best budget tablet you can buy.

Buy iPad deals at Amazon

If you want a step up, the latest iteration of the 11-inch iPad Pro is $70 off less than a month after launch. We gave that one a score of 87, praising its top-of-the-line M2 chip and 120Hz display, though the iPad Air (currently down to $520) is still a better value for most. If money is no object, the 512GB version of last year’s 12.9-inch iPad Pro isn’t that far off from the newer model; it’s down to $1,000, which is roughly $275 lower than its typical street price as of late.

Apple Watch Series 8

The Apple Watch Series 8 is down to $349 ahead of Black Friday, which matches its lowest price to date and sits about $40 below the typical price we’ve seen in recent months. That deal is for the 41mm model; if you’d like a larger case, the 45mm version is down to a new low of $379, which is also $40 off its usual street price. The Series 8 is the top pick in our best smartwatches guide: It’s probably not worth the upgrade if you’re coming from a Series 5 or newer, but it continues to offer the most robust blend of app support, fitness tracking, smartphone connectivity and style you can get in a wearable.

Buy Apple Watch Series 8 at Amazon – $349

Apple MacBook Air

Apple’s M2-equipped MacBook Air is still on sale for $1,050, which is the best price we’ve tracked and about $75 off its typical price online in recent months. We gave it a review score of 96 earlier this year, and it’s currently the top pick in our guide to the best laptops. This entry-level model suffers from slower storage speeds than pricier configurations, so it’s not ideal for pro-level work, but its premium-feeling hardware, vibrant display and powerful SoC should still make it a pleasure for more common tasks.

Buy MacBook Air M2 at Amazon – $1,049Buy MacBook Air M1 at Amazon – $800

If you want a cheaper route into macOS, the 2020 MacBook Air with Apple’s M1 SoC is back down to $800, which is about $100 off its usual going rate. That model is saddled with thicker bezels, tinnier speakers, a worse webcam, slower charging and slightly worse performance than the new Air, but its long battery life, still-speedy chip and comfortable keyboard and trackpad keep it a fine value for casual web browsing and basic work at this deal price.

Apple AirPods Pro (2nd gen)

This one is more of a PSA than an ongoing deal: As spotted at Slickdeals, the latest AirPods Pro are set to drop to $199 at Target starting November 20, which is the lowest price we’ve tracked. If you can’t wait a couple days, the earphones are on sale for $230 now, which is $19 off Apple’s MSRP and about $10 off the average street price we’ve seen since the pair launched this past September. 

Either way, while there’s no shortage of good wireless noise-cancelling earphones these days, the AirPods Pro continue to offer powerful ANC, rich bass and particular ease of use with other Apple devices. Battery life and call quality are just average, though. Our review gave the pair a score of 88.

If you prefer a more open design, we’ll note that the second-gen standard AirPods are still available for $90, which is roughly $15 below its typical street price. Again, though, it might be best to wait, as Walmart’s product listing says that it’ll have that pair available for $79 starting next week.

Sony noise-cancelling headphones sale

Sony has discounted a number of its premier noise-cancelling headphones ahead of Black Friday, which include the flagship WH-1000XM5 marked back down to $348. That’s a $50 discount for the feature-rich cans, matching the all-time low for what we consider the best wireless headphones you can buy. If you want to save some cash, the last-gen WH-1000XM4s are back to a low of $228 themselves. That pair isn’t as comfortable as the newer model, but it delivers a similar feature set and bass-forward sound for less money. It also avoids the auto-adjusting ANC of the XM5, which some may prefer.

Shop Sony noise-cancelling headphones sale at Amazon

Among in-ear pairs, the WF-1000XM4 and LinkBuds S are also on sale for $178 and $128, respectively. Again, both of those deals match the lowest prices we’ve seen. Between the two, the WF-1000XM4 offers more detailed sound, stronger noise isolation and a bit more battery life, though the LinkBuds S have a lighter and more comfortable fit. We gave the former a score of 86 last year.

Xbox controllers and games

If you need an extra gamepad for your Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, or PC, Microsoft is selling its comfy Xbox Wireless Controller from $39 at various retailers. That isn’t the lowest price we’ve seen, but it’s still about $10 less than the typical prices we see online. The sale applies to multiple colorways, though getting the controller in anything other than black, red or white will cost an extra $5-10. If you don’t want to deal with Bluetooth pairing on PC, you can also grab a bundle that pairs the gamepad a wireless adapter for $50. Just remember that the Xbox pad charges via AA batteries by default; a rechargeable unit costs $25.

Buy Xbox Wireless Controller at Amazon – $39Shop Xbox digital games sale at Xbox

Beyond accessories, Microsoft has also commenced its Black Friday sale for Xbox digital games. You can peruse through that for a full list, but some notables include Halo: The Master Chief Collection for $16, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga for $30 and Doom Eternal for $10. Amazon also has the more recent Halo Infinite for a low of $20 if you’d like to try that FPS’ new campaign co-op mode; just note that co-op isn’t available to play locally and that the game’s multiplayer is still free to play.

Xbox Series S

We don’t expect most game consoles to be discounted for Black Friday, but the Xbox Series S is an exception. Right now, Target is selling the diminutive device for $250and throwing in a $50 gift card with the purchase. Provided you use that gift card, that’s effectively a $100 savings. If you aren’t a frequent Target shopper, Amazon has console down to $240 on its own. 

Buy Xbox Series S + $50 gift card at Target – $250Buy Xbox Series S at Amazon – $240

The Series S itself isn’t as powerful as the Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5: It’s not built for 4K gaming or especially high frame rates, it doesn’t have a disc drive and it only includes 512GB of built-in storage. But it can play all the same games as the Series X, its SSD still allows for fast loading times and its compact design is easy to tuck away. It’s a fitting choice for a secondary TV or those who want a more casual route into the Xbox library. We gave the console a review score of 85 when it first released in late 2020.

PlayStation controllers, subscriptions and games

If you’re prefer the PlayStation 5, Sony has dropped that machine’s DualSense controllers down to $49, which is a new low and $20 off their usual going rate. Again, this sale applies to multiple finishes, though most are not priced higher than the standard white model. There are other accessory deals, too: Sony’s DualSense Charging Station is back to its all-time low of $20, as is the PS5 Media Remote for those who often use the console as a media streamer.

Shop PlayStation games and accessories sale at AmazonBuy PS Plus at PlayStation Store – 25 percent off

If you need to re-up your PlayStation Plus subscription, Sony has also cut the price of memberships to all three of that service’s tiers by 25 percent. This brings the basic “Essential” tier down to $45, the “Extra” tier to $75, and the “Premium” tier to $90. As a refresher, the Essential tier gets you access to online multiplayer, an allotment of cloud storage and a handful of free game downloads each month. The Extra tier adds an on-demand library with a few hundred games, while the Premium tier provides cloud game streaming and a selection of “classic” PlayStation games on top of that. 

Finally, the company has discounted a range of PlayStation games at both its online store and third-party retailers. Highlights there include The Last of Us Part II and Death Stranding for $10; Returnal, Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart for $30; and Horizon Forbidden West for $40. All of those match the lowest prices we’ve tracked.

Roku Streambar

Roku’s Streambar is down to $80 at multiple retailers, which is about $30 below its average street price in recent months and matches the lowest price we’ve tracked. This is a highly compact, 2.0-channel soundbar that doubles as a 4K HDR Roku streamer. You can get more expansive sound from other soundbars, but the Streambar will still outperform most built-in TV speakers, and having a streaming player built in is still useful for smartening up an older TV. We gave it a review score of 86 back in 2020. If you don’t need a soundbar, Roku’s excellent Streaming Stick 4K is still on sale for $25 as well.

Buy Roku Streambar at Amazon – $80Buy Roku Streaming Stick 4K at Amazon – $25

Google Pixel and Nest sale

Google’s has set its annual Black Friday sale live, bringing solid discounts on a number of its Pixel and Nest devices. The notable offers here include the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro down to $500 and $750, respectively — both represent the lowest price we’ve tracked for what our review called “the best bargains in flagship phones.” Normally, the handsets have retailed closer to $595 and $880.

Shop Google Pixel and Nest device sale at Amazon

The Pixel 6a, meanwhile, is back at its all-time low of $299, down from a typical street price around $385. We gave that device a review score of 89 this past July. It gets you the same clean software as the flagship models and excellent camera performance for the price, though it does sacrifice wireless charging and a higher refresh rate, among other perks, by comparison.

A range of Nest smart home gadgets are also on sale. The 7-inch Nest Hub Mini is the top pick in our guide to the best smart displays and a fine alternative to Amazon’s Echo Show if you prefer to use the Google Assistant or don’t want a built-in camera. It’s back down to $50 from its usual $80. The Nest Learning Thermostat is still on sale for $179, too, while the more basic Nest Thermostat is at a near-low of $90. Further deals on the Nest Hub Max, Nest Audio, and Nest Mini are also available.

Fitbit Charge 5

With its built-in GPS and accurate activity tracking, Fitbit Charge 5 is the top pick in our guide to the best fitness trackers. Right now it’s on sale for $100, which is about $25 off its usual street price and marks an all-time low. 

Buy Fitbit Charge 5 at Amazon – $100

Amazon Fire TV Stick sale

All of Amazon’s Fire TV Stick streamers are on sale, with the Fire TV Stick 4K Max down to $35, the Fire TV Stick 4K down to $25, the Fire TV Stick down to $20, and the Fire TV Stick Lite down to $15. We’ve seen these deals numerous times in the past, but they match the best prices we’ve seen for the two 4K sticks and bring the 1080p models within $3 of their respective lows. 

Shop Fire TV Stick sale at Amazon

We did a quick breakdown of the differences between these streamers earlier this week. All of them saddle you with an ad-heavy UI that steers you toward Amazon’s own content, but they continue to work well for casual streaming, and they should prove convenient if you frequently use Alexa, Prime Video or other Amazon services already (or if you’d like to sideload unsupported apps).

Amazon Fire tablet sale

Not to be outdone, just about all of Amazon’s Fire tablets are at or near their best-ever prices as well. The pick of the bunch is the Fire HD 10 for $75, which matches its all-time low and comes in about $40 than its usual going rate. Like all Fire tablets, it’s not the most premium-feeling thing and its interface heavily promotes Amazon’s own content. Still, it’s faster than Amazon’s other slates, and its 10.1-inch 1080p display is more pleasing for web browsing and streaming video. At this price, it’s great value for casual tablet users or those who often take advantage of Amazon services. 

Shop Fire tablet sale at Amazon

The recently-refreshedFire HD 8 isn’t a bad alternative if you want something smaller or cheaper, though. It’s down to $55, which marks a new low. The various Kids editions of these tablets are also on sale — as a reminder, those tack on a protective case, a longer two-year warranty, and a year-long subscription to the company’s Kids+ content service. The entry-level Fire 7 is also on sale for a low of $40, though we generally advise against buying that model given its non-HD display and sluggish performance. 

Amazon Kindle sale

Amazon’s sweeping device sale also extends to its Kindle e-readers. The crisp and comfortable Kindle Paperwhite, for one, is down to $95 from its usual $135. That’s a new low, but if you can spare an extra $10, the Kids version of the Paperwhite might be a better value — despite the name, it’s essentially the same hardware, just with a longer two-year warranty, a cover and no ads on its lock screen by default. It’s also at its lowest price to date.

Shop Kindle sale at Amazon

The Paperwhite Signature Edition, meanwhile, quadruples the built-in storage to 32GB, adds Qi wireless charging and an auto-adjusting backlight. It’s down a new low at $130, and we gave it a glowing review score of 97 last year. The sale brings the top-end Kindle Oasis to a best-ever price of $205 as well; that one is overkill for most people, but it still has the largest display of any Kindle.

Amazon Echo sale

Beyond that, a wide range of Amazon Echo speakers and Echo Show smart displays are available for low or near-low prices, too. Among the highlights, the recently updated Echo Dot is down to $25, which is the first major discount we’ve tracked and half off its street price up to now. The variant with a built-in clock is down to a new low of $40, while the fuller-sounding base Echo is down to $50. If you want a smart display, the Echo Show 8 is a worthy choice at $70; we gave it a review score of 87 last year and generally consider it the most appropriate mix of size, speed and audio quality among Alexa displays. 

Shop Echo speaker sale at AmazonShop Echo Show sale at Amazon

Headspace

Popular meditation app Headspace has kicked off its Black Friday promotion for the year, taking half off its annual and monthly memberships for new and returning subscribers. That brings the annual plan down to $35 and the monthly plan to $6.49 per month. If you take the plunge, just note that the discount only applies for the first year, after which the subscription will auto-renew at its normal going rate. Apps like this aren’t magical cure-alls for stress, but we’ve recommended Headspace in the past for its impressive breadth of guided meditations and accessibility for those new to the practice.

Buy Headspace subscription at Headspace – 50 percent off

Masterclass

Masterclass has rolled out a Cyber Monday deal that gives two annual memberships to the online education platform for the price of one. Depending on what plan you pick, that’s either a $180, $240 or $276 discount. You can technically keep both years for yourself, but the offer is designed for you to gift the second year-long subscription to a loved one, as it’ll expire 365 days from your date of purchase if it’s not redeemed beforehand. Just note that both subscriptions will be set to auto-renew by default, and while the deal applies to any of the platform’s plans, the cheapest subscription doesn’t include offline downloads. In any event, Masterclass continues to offer a plethora of insightful courses taught by celebrities and field experts alike, covering everything from cooking with Gordon Ramsey to business strategy with Bob Iger.

Buy two Masterclass subscriptions at Masterclass – 50 percent off

SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD

At $100 and $150, respectively, both the 1TB and 2TB versions of SanDisk’s Extreme Portable SSD are down to their lowest prices to date. For reference, the former usually sits closer to $120, while the latter usually runs closer to $190. This is one of the better portable SSDs on the market, offering a rugged, pocketable design and fast-enough transfer speeds for moving large files on top of the usual reliability of any SSD. It also comes with a five-year warranty.

Buy 1TB SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD at Amazon – $100

Samsung storage device sale

Staying on the storage front, we’re also seeing discounts on a variety of Samsung SSDs and microSD cards. The 2TB model of the 980 Pro SSD is down to a new low of $180, for one, which is a roughly $50 discount. While Samsung recently launched a follow-up, this is still a well-performing PCIe 4.0 drive for those who want to upgrade their PS5’s storage. Similarly, the company’s Evo Select microSD card isn’t the absolute fastest you can buy, but it should more than enough for most needs — its 512GB variant is on sale for $45, which is $15 off its usual price and a new all-time low.

Shop Samsung storage device sale at Amazon

iRobot Roomba 694

The Roomba 694 is back down to $179, which is about $45 off its usual street price and only $5 more than the lowest price we’ve tracked. This is a simpler “bump and run” robot vacuum, but it’s the budget pick in our guide to the best robovacs thanks to its easy-to-use app, sturdy design and decent cleaning power. If you’re willing to pay a bit more for something with smarter navigation and a dock for cleaning and charging, iRobot’s Roomba i3+ Evo is a nice step up that’s currently available for an all-time low of $350.

Buy Roomba 694 at Amazon – $179

Anker Soundcore Life Q30

Here’s a good deal on a rare set of commendable noise-cancelling headphones priced below $100. At $60, this is $10 more than the lowest price we’ve ever seen for Anker’s Soundcore Life Q30 but still $20 off the pair’s usual street price. The Q30 offers a comfortable fit, a superb 40+ hours of battery life per charge and noise cancellation that, while a step behind the best premium models, belies its low price. Its mic isn’t great, and its sound goes very heavy on the bass by default, but it still offers a lot of headphone for the money.

Buy Anker Soundcore Life Q30 at Amazon – $60

Beats Powerbeats Pro

The Beats Powerbeats Pro are back down to their all-time low of $150, which is about $40 less than the typical street price we see. These earbuds are a pick in our guide to the best wireless workout headphones due to their stable behind-the-ear hook design, AirPods-esque ease of use with iPhones, nine-ish hours of continuous battery life and physical controls. Their case is enormous, though, and their partially-sealed fit may not be for everyone. 

If you want a more affordable set of true wireless buds, though, Jabra’s Elite 3 is another pair we like, and it’s back within $2 of its all-time low at $50.

Buy Beats Powerbeats Pro at Amazon – $150

LG and Samsung TVs

Black Friday is typically the best time of year to pick up a new TV, and sure enough, we’re starting to see new low prices on a few well-regarded sets. The 65-inch version of Samsung’s S95B OLED TV, for instance, has dropped to a new low of $1,798, which is about $200 below than the typical price we’ve seen over the past month. This set’s “QD-OLED” panel has earnedrave reviews around the web for offering the excellent contrast of most OLED TVs without sacrificing as much in the way of brightness and color saturation.

Buy 65″ Samsung S95B OLED TV at Amazon – $1,798Buy 42″ LG C2 OLED TV at Amazon – $897Buy 55″ Samsung The Frame TV at Amazon – $998Buy 55″ Hisense U6H at Walmart – $368

LG’s C2 OLED TV is more prone to those issues, but it still provides inky blacks, wide viewing angles and gaming-friendly features like the ability to play in 4K/120Hz. It looks particularly nice in darker room. It’s also available in smaller sizes than the S95B, and its 42-inch model is currently down to a new low of $897, which is about $130 off its usual going rate. If you need something bigger, BuyDig has the 65-inch C2 for the same $1,697 price we’ve seen for the past month, but with a $150 gift card thrown in.

If you’re willing to sacrifice some picture quality for a striking design, we’ve previously sung the praises of Samsung’s Frame TV, which is built to look like a giant picture frame and can display art when you aren’t watching something. The 55-inch model of that LED TV is back to a low of $998, which is about $300 off its street price. If you’re on a tighter budget, Hisense’s U6H is a well-reviewed set that’s on sale for a more approachable $370, another all-time low.

NVIDIA GeForce Now

NVIDIA is running a promotion that doles out six months of the “Priority” tier of its GeForce Now cloud gaming service for $30, down from its usual $50. The company says this deal is only available to new members, free-tier members, Priority members currently on a 1-month subscription plan and “users on an active promotion or gift card,” so it’s looking to upsell customers who aren’t on one of the service’s higher-end plans already. Still, if you’ve been interested in giving the service a try, this is a more affordable way to avoid the limitations of its free tier. The promo is set to run through November 20.

Buy GeForce Now (6-month, Priority) at NVIDIA – $30

As a refresher, GeForce Now lets you stream games you own on platforms like Steam or the Epic Games Store over the cloud, so it’ll work best if you have a well-sized library of PC games already. “Priority” is the service’s middle tier. You can stream in resolutions up to 1080p and frame rates up to 60 fps, which is a step behind the 4K and 120 fps support of the top “RTX 3080” tier but should be fine for most. You’re also allotted up to six hours per session instead of the one-hour session length of the service’s free tier.

Eero mesh router sale

If you’re looking to upgrade your home WiFi to a mesh networking kit, Amazon’s Eero 6 routers aren’t necessarily the fastest or most customizable, but they’re generally reliable and particularly easy to operate. Right now, a number of Eero systems are on sale. The best middle-ground option is likely the Eero 6 Plus, a three-pack of which is back at its all-time low of $194. That’s well down from its usual $299, but if you have a smaller place, two-packs and solo routers are also available for lows of $155 and $90, respectively. 

Shop Eero 6 mesh router sale at Amazon

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.

 

The Bose QuietComfort lineup of headphones is known for its terrific noise cancellation and all-day comfort. In an early Black Friday deal, Amazon has the latest model in that line, the Bose QuietComfort 45, on sale for $249. That’s $80 off the usual price for the high-end wireless cans.

Buy Bose QuietComfort 45 at Amazon – $249

The Bose QC45 was released last year with some of the best ANC we’ve tested, and they’re super comfortable to wear throughout a long flight or day at the office. They have the battery life to support that, with our review unit lasting over 22 hours on a single charge. If you forget to charge them before heading out, Bose includes a quick-charge feature that gives you three hours of use after only 15 minutes of charging.

Although their “Dad on a business trip” design may look a bit dated, you can choose from black, white, gray and blue color options to find a variant that matches your style. They also offer impressive audio with Bose’s signature warm, crisp and balanced tuning that can work well with just about any musical genre. At launch, we criticized the Bose QC45 headphones for lacking equalizer controls, but the company added EQ adjustments in a firmware update earlier this year.

The QC45 does still have some notable omissions. For example, they don’t automatically pause your music when you remove them and won’t automatically switch playback between paired devices. They also lack speak-to-chat and don’t automatically adjust noise canceling based on your activity or location. If those features are deal breakers for you, you may want to check out the excellent Sony WH-1000XM5, currently on sale for $350.

Amazon’s QC45 deal isn’t quite an all-time-low price — they dropped to $229 during the Prime Early Access Sale last month — but this is still a solid deal on one of our top recommendations for wireless headphones.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.

 

Companies continue to find new ways to impress with true wireless earbuds. There’s no doubt the popularity of Apple’s AirPods helped make them a mainstay, but plenty of others offer reliable connectivity, great sound and active noise cancellation (ANC) in increasingly smaller form factors. You can also get features that used to be reserved for premium models on mid-range devices. Of course, the popularity means that new earbuds are popping up all the time and the list of options is longer than ever. To help, we’ve compiled the best wireless earbuds you can buy right now, including noteworthy features for each selection.

Engadget’s picks

Best overall: Sony WF-1000XM4

Runner up: Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3

Best noise cancellation: Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II

Best budget: Jabra Elite 3

Best for iOS: Apple Airpods Pro (2nd-gen)

Best for Android: Google Pixel Buds Pro

Best for workouts: Beats Fit Pro

Honorable mention: Sony LinkBuds S

Best overall: Sony WF-1000XM4

Sony keeps its top spot on our list for its combination of great sound, powerful active noise cancellation and a long list of features no other company can compete with. Just like its headphones, Sony manages to pack a ton of handy tools into its flagship true wireless model. The basics like wireless charging and battery life improvements are covered, but company-specific features like Speak-to-Chat automatic pausing, Adaptive Sound Control adjustments based on movement or location, 360 Reality Audio and a customizable EQ are icing on the cake. Plus, DSEE Extreme upscaling helps improve compressed tunes over Bluetooth.

Runner up: Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3

If sound quality is your primary concern, the Momentum True Wireless 3 is your best bet. You won’t get the truckload of features that Sony offers, but Sennheiser does the basics well at a lower price than the previous Momentum earbuds. A new Adaptive Noise Cancellation setup continuously monitors ambient sounds to suppress them in real time. Inside, the company’s True Response transducer is paired with 7mm dynamic drivers for top-notch audio.

Best noise cancellation: Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II

When it comes to blocking out the world, the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II are the best at the task. Bose introduced a redesigned set earlier this year and the smaller buds deliver a more comfy fit. The company also managed to improve ambient sound and maintain its track record of solid audio quality. However, the real star here is the ANC performance which is hands-down the best you can get right now. The QC Earbuds II don’t have some basic features like multipoint connectivity and wireless charging, so that might factor into your decision.

Best budget pick: Jabra Elite 3

Jabra packs a lot into a set of earbuds for under $100. The Elite 3 don’t have ANC, automatic pausing or wireless charging, and the EQ changes are limited to presets. However, these affordable buds have impressive sound quality, good battery life, reliable on-board controls and a very comfy fit. If you’re looking for something that just gets the job done, the Elite 3 is more than capable.

Best for iOS: Apple Airpods Pro (2nd-gen)

Apple’s latest AirPods Pro are a huge improvement over the 2019 model. The company managed to improve the sound quality and ANC performance while keeping all of the conveniences that make AirPods the best option for iOS and Mac. To me, the most impressive feature is the transparency mode, which is more natural sounding than any other earbuds by a mile. You can leave these in during a conversation and it’s like you’re not even wearing them. Of course, fast pairing, hands-free Siri and wireless charging (MagSafe or Apple Watch chargers) will also come in handy.

Best for Android: Google Pixel Buds Pro

Google has hit its stride when it comes to true wireless earbuds. Every new model the company introduces is an improvement after its first attempt failed to impress. With the Pixel Buds Pro, Google offers deep, punchy bass, solid ANC performance, reliable touch controls and wireless charging. Plus, there are added convenience features for Android and Pixel devices including Google Translate Conversation Mode.

Best for workouts: Beats Fit Pro

Most of the best AirPods features in a set of workout earbuds? That’s the Beats Fit Pro. Thanks to Apple’s H1 chip, these buds offer one-touch quick pairing, hands-free Siri and Find My tools. They’ll also allow you to use Audio Sharing with an Apple device and another set of AirPods or Beats headphones for tandem listening or viewing. Balanced and punchy bass will keep the energy up during workouts while good noise cancellation and a comfy fit make these a solid option outside of the gym too. And there’s plenty of support for Android, so these aren’t just a good buy for iOS users either.

Honorable mention: Sony LinkBuds S

One of the biggest surprises this year wasn’t Sony’s unique open-wear LinkBuds, it was the more mainstream follow-up. With the LinkBuds S, the company debuted a more “traditional” design akin to its premium WF-1000XM4, only this model is much smaller and lighter which leads to a much more comfy fit. These tiny buds muster some punch when it comes to sound quality too and support for high-res listening (LDAC and DSEE Extreme) are both onboard. Capable ANC lends a hand with environmental noise and transparency mode can keep you tuned in when needed. What’s more, handy Speak-to-Chat is here and Adaptive Sound Control can automatically change settings based on activity or location. That’s a lot of premium for features at a mid-range price.

 

There’s another opportunity to pick up Amazon’s Echo speakers at their lowest prices to date as part of the company’s early Black Friday sales. In many cases, they’ve dropped back down to the prices we saw during the fall edition of Prime Day. For one thing, the regular Echo is $50, which is half off the usual price. The latest Echo Dot is down from $50 to $25, and the fifth-gen Echo Dot with clock is a third off at $40. The Echo Dot kids’ version is down 50 percent to $30 as well.

Buy Echo (4th-gen) at Amazon – $50Buy Echo Dot (5th-gen) at Amazon – $25Buy Echo Dot with clock (5th-gen) at Amazon – $40Buy Echo Dot (5th-gen) kids’ version at Amazon – $30

Amazon hasn’t refreshed the standard Echo since 2020, but $50 is still a good price for this speaker. In our review, we lauded it for the great sound quality, while the inclusion of a 3.5mm audio jack is very welcome. You can pair two Echo speakers for stereo audio. Given the current price, you’d essentially be getting two for the price of one anyway.

Echo Dot recently got a refresh with a larger driver and, Amazon claims, double the bass of the previous model as well as clearer vocals. The latest Echo Dot with clock can now flash information like the artist and title of a song that it’s playing on its display.

The Echo Dot kids’ version comes with a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+. This includes access to child-friendly Audible books and interactive games, as well as educational Alexa skills. Alexa will give responses that are kid-friendly, while the smart speaker will filter explicit songs. There are parental controls available too.

Amazon has set up a page where you can see all the early Black Friday offers for Echo devices and bundles. Meanwhile, Amazon has some solid deals on its Echo Show devices. Those have dropped back to the all-time lows we saw during October Prime Day too.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.

 

It’s now much simpler to participate in a Microsoft Teams meeting if you have hearing issues. Microsoft has introduced a sign language view that lets people who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as their interpreters, prioritize each other during meetings. Those video feeds will remain in consistent locations, at sizes large enough for sign language to be visible. You’ll see as many as two other signers throughout a meeting, and video will remain large even when slides or screen shares are visible.

The view also makes preferences “sticky” thanks to a new accessibility settings pane, Microsoft says. You won’t have to worry about pinning interpreters or enabling captions every time a Teams call begins. You can jump directly into a meeting instead of tweaking options.

The sign language view and accessibility pane are currently available only through a Public Preview available on a user-by-user basis. They’ll roll out to all commercial and government customers in the “coming weeks,” Microsoft says. It could take a while before everyone can use the functionality. Still, this promises to greatly simplify meetings for anyone with limited hearing — and might make Teams more viable if alternatives like Zoom (which only recently added support for interpreters) aren’t up to the task.

 

Charging is usually one of the least exciting parts of driving an EV, but the FIA thinks it can make these pauses more engaging. As part of updated regulations, Formula E will trial a 30-second “Attack Charge” during some races in the ninth season. New battery technology will give cars 4kWh of energy from the half-minute session thanks to a 600kW booster. The charging stop will be mandatory at a specified point in the race, but drivers will receive two “enhanced” Attack Mode periods later in the race as compensation.

The quick charge is tied to the Gen3 cars making their debut in the new season. The current Attack Mode, where drivers can activate a momentary power boost, will still be available in those races where Attack Charge isn’t in use.

The upcoming season also makes fundamental changes to the league’s competitive format. Races now take place over a set number of laps, rather than a fixed amount of time. If there are safety car and full course yellow disruptions, organizers will add more laps. Teams will also have to complete a minimum of two Free Practice 1 sessions with rookie drivers to help them experience Formula E. And don’t expect to play a role in your favorite driver’s victory — the spectator-driven Fanboost is going away.

The modified Attack Mode isn’t what was originally planned. FIA had originally hoped to revive pit stops, but the necessary system wasn’t ready in time. Those more conventional stops are expected to come, but not for a while yet.

Season nine and Gen3 will launch in Mexico City this January. It’s too soon to say if Attack Charge will spice up races in real-world conditions. However, it might point to the future of roadgoing EVs. Even the fastest-charging street models take at least a few minutes to get a meaningful amount of range from a charging session. Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 needs five minutes on a 350kW charger for 53 miles of driving, for instance. While 600kW chargers won’t become mainstream for a while (Geely’s Viridi brand only unveiled its tech this September), Formula E’s testing hints at a day when your EV might only need a brief stop to recover enough range for a long drive.

 

You’re not alone if you’ve waited until Black Friday to scope out deals on the latest MacBooks. Considering these are some of the best (and most expensive) laptops out there right now, plenty of people will be looking for the best MacBook deals over the holiday shopping period. We me be still one week out from Black Friday proper, but we’re already seeing some solid deals on machines like the new MacBook Air M2, and even the high-powered 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros.

While you’ll likely get the best deal by shopping at a retailer like Amazon, B&H Photo, Adorama and others, Apple does have it’s own holiday sales as well. However, you’ll have to wait until Black Friday for those, plus they give you up to a $250 Apple gift card with purchase rather than a discounted price. If you know you’ll use that gift card, that may be the best option for you. But if you’d rather the instant gratification of a couple hundred dollars off, we’ve collected the best MacBook deals here so you don’t have to go searching for them.

MacBook Air M1

The 2020 MacBook Air with Apple’s M1 chipset is at an all-time low right now — only $800 for the base model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. While, yes, the M2 chip in the latest model will give you a slight performance boost, the M1 processor is still quite powerful. It’ll certainly be an upgrade for anyone coming from an older, Intel-powered MacBook. We gave the M1 Air a score of 94 when it first came out for its incredibly fast performance, excellent keyboard and trackpad, lovely Retina display and its lack of fan noise.

MacBook Air M2

The latest and greatest MacBook Air, the 2022 model with the M2 chipset, is $150 off and down to a record low of $1,050. This laptop looks and feels quite different from the 2020 version thanks to Apple redesigning the machine to have a uniformly thing frame all around (no more wedge) and its screen is slightly larger at 13.6-inches. We also appreciated its quad-speaker setup and its excellent performance overall, so much so that we called it Apple’s “near-perfect” Mac.

13-inch MacBook Pro

Apple’s most compact Pro laptop, the 13-inch MacBook Pro, is on sale for $1,149 right now, or 12 percent off its normal rate. It sits, somewhat confusingly, in the middle of the company’s notebook lineup. While it has solid performance thanks to the M2 chipset, a long battery life and stellar build quality, it’s hard for us to recommend outright. Most people would be better served by the M2 MacBook Air, or jumping up to the 14-inch MacBook Pro for even more power. But if you’re set on the 13-inch size and want the efficiency provided by an internal fan (which the Air doesn’t have), this MacBook Pro is your best bet.

14-inch MacBook Pro

The 2021 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M1 Pro processor, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage is a whopping $400 off and down to a record low of $1,600. This machine has the most advanced features of any Apple laptop (aside from its larger, 16-inch sibling), including a Liquid Retina XDR display, remarkable performance using that Pro chipset, excellent battery life and a bevy of ports that make connecting all of your peripherals and accessories much easier. Apple is overdue for a MacBook Pro refresh, though, but it’s likely that those machines won’t launch until early 2023.

16-inch MacBook Pro

The biggest of Apple’s laptops, the 16-inch MacBook Pro, is cheaper than ever at $2,000 thanks to a $500 discount. That still-hefty price gets you an M1 Pro chipset, a 10‑core CPU and 16‑core GPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. This model is essentially an enlarged version of the 14-inch Pro, sharing most of the same features with it. You’re getting a Liquid Retina XDR display, a bunch of ports including an SD card slot, a fantastic keyboard and great battery life.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.