Category: Technology

Last summer, Netflix started using a spatial audio system that doesn’t require dedicated equipment. After debuting the tech with season four of Stranger Things and a few other other titles, Netflix is now rolling it out more broadly. However, you’ll need to be subscribed to the top-end Premium tier to check it out. The company says spatial audio is now available on more than 700 of its most-watched titles, including The Watcher, Wednesday and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

A spatial audio badge on shows and movies will make it clearer if a title supports that format. You can also search for “spatial audio” to see the full list of supported titles. In the coming months, you’ll be able to check out more series and films with spatial audio enabled, including You, Your Place or Mine, Luther: The Fallen Sun and Tour de France.

Netflix teamed up with Sennheiser to use Ambeo 2-Channel Spatial Audio tech. It’s designed for built-in stereo speakers, particularly laptops and tablets. Netflix says spatial audio should be effective on TVs that aren’t too far away from the viewer and phones with stereo speakers. The company claims that its spatial audio will offer a more immersive experience to those wearing headphones too.

Premium subscribers are getting another boost starting today, which could come in especially handy for those who watch Netflix shows and movies on the go and across several devices. You’ll now be able to download titles to six different devices, up from four. That’s six more devices than users on the ad-supported plan can download TV series and films to.

 

The Super Bowl is set, and that means it’s a good time of year to be in the market for a new TV. With many of the major TV brands unveilingtheirlatestmodelsearlier in the year at CES, prices on last year’s older-but-still-worthy sets have continued to descend. Yes, those willing to wait and pay extra for the latest and greatest are likely to get a better image, but buying a well-reviewed older TV is usually the better value. While we don’t review many TVs here at Engadget, we’ve scoured reviews and price histories to find the best Super Bowl 2023 TV deals happening right now that may be worth your time. Prices may fall further over the coming months as TV manufacturers look to clear out their inventory, but if you want a new set in time for the Chiefs-Eagles clash, here are a few discounts of note.

55-inch Samsung S95B OLED TV

Samsung’s S95B is broadly regarded as a top choice among last year’s premium-level TVs, and right now its 55-inch variant is available for $1,448, tying the all-time low we saw back around the holiday season. It previously retailed around $1,600 for most of January. The 65-inch model, meanwhile, is down to $1,798, which is $20 more than its previous low. 

The S95B is not exactly cheap, but reviews suggest its QD-OLED panel supplies the kind of high contrast, deep black tones and wide viewing angles expected from a typical OLED display. At the same time, its added layer of quantum dots allows it to achieve higher-than-usual brightness levels for an OLED, as well as more saturated colors. This means it should perform better than most current OLED TVs in a brightly-lit room. Beyond the display tech, it has four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, all of which are capable outputting 4K video at a 120Hz refresh rate. The main downsides are its lack of Dolby Vision HDR support and the fact that it’s only available in 55 or 65 inches.

48-inch LG C2 OLED TV

LG’s C2 OLED TV can’t match the S95B in terms of color saturation or peak brightness (something the company wants to address in 2023), but the consensus is that it still lives up to the standard of LG’s past OLED TVs, with similarly excellent contrast, black levels, and viewing angles. Like the S95B, it’s well-suited for gaming, with four full HDMI 2.1 ports and 4K/120Hz support, and here you don’t miss out on Dolby Vision. It just won’t look quite as nice outside of a darker or moderately-lit room, particularly with HDR content. 

The C2 comes in a wider array of sizes, though, including the 48-inch variant on sale here. This set is down to an all-time low of $947, which is $100 less than the price we saw over the holidays. If you want a larger set, the 55- and 65-inch models are available for $1,297 and $1,697, respectively, though we’ve seen those prices for most of the past few months; the S95B may be a better buy in that range.

43-inch Samsung SN90B QLED TV

If you’re looking for a smaller but still high-end TV, the 43-inch version of Samsung’s QN90B is down to a new low of $898, which is about $200 off its average street price in recent months. The 55-inch model is also available for an all-time low at $1,298, but it’s also been there for a while, and at that price most people should get the Samsung S95B or LG C2 and their superior OLED panels. 

The QN90B is a more traditional LED LCD panel instead, but reviews say that its quantum dot color tech and Mini LED backlighting give it better contrast and HDR performance that most TVs of this type. It still gets significantly brighter than most OLED sets as well, and like the models above it has four full HDMI 2.1 ports and a 120Hz refresh rate. There’s no Dolby Vision, though, and like many LED TVs it’s susceptible to a blooming effect around bright objects in dark scenes.

55-inch TCL 5-Series QLED TV

Reviewers we trust at Wirecutter, Rtings and elsewhere have praised TCL’s newest 5-Series TV for providing relatively impressive contrast (aided by a decent full-array local dimming feature) and colors, plus support for Dolby Atmos and the major HDR formats, for well under than $500. As of this writing, the 55-inch version of the TV is on sale for $370, which is an all-time low and about $60 less than usual. The 65-inch variant, meanwhile, is still available for a low of $500. Just note that this TV is limited to a basic 60Hz refresh rate, so it’s not totally ideal for modern game consoles, and like most LCD sets in this price range its image degrades when viewed from an angle.

55-inch Hisense U6H ULED TV

Hisense’s U6H is a step behind the TCL 5-Series TV in terms of brightness and the uniformity of its black tones, nor does it have true HDMI 2.1 support. It still performs well for the money, though, with a similarly decent full-array local dimming feature and quantum dots for solid colors. The U6H also uses the Google TV interface, so if you prefer that to the 5-Series TV’s Roku-based UI, it’s a worthy alternative. It’s currently down to $368 for a 55-inch model, which matches its previous low. The 65- and 75-inch models are available for $500 and $650, respectively. 

For a step up, Hisense’s U8H is a well-regarded mid-range model with Mini LED backlighting and 120Hz refresh rate. It’s currently down to $650 for a 55-inch model, though we’ve seen it available for $50 cheaper in the past. Its 65-inch variant, however, is back down to its previous low of $898.

65-inch Sony X95K Mini LED TV

There isn’t much reason for most to get the Sony X95K over the premium options noted above, but reviewers at Rtings, Tom’s Guide and the like have deemed the Mini LED TV a commendable option for HDR content and video games all the same. It also runs on Google TV, but note that it only has two HDMI 2.1 ports and can suffer from blooming in darker scenes. Regardless, the 65-inch version of the X95K is down to $1,798, while the 75-inch model is available for $2,498. Both of those discounts mark new lows, coming in about $200 and $500 less than the typical prices we’ve seen in recent months, respectively.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

 

Jony Ive once designed a limited edition Leica camera for charity, but he worked on a far lower-tech product for the UK charity Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day. In fact, the famed ex-Apple designer came up with a new version of the Red Nose itself, designing a model that transforms from a flat “C” shape into a honeycomb paper sphere. It’s a key part of Comic Relief’s annual charity broadcast March 17th on several BBC channels. 

In a short video (below), comedian Diane Morgan jokingly describes it as “the most perfect nose in history.” It has a few typical Ive touches, like plant-based materials and a small case for storage when it’s folded flat. In a press release, Comic Relief called it “the most dramatic makeover since [the Red Nose] debut in 1988.”

“We’ve grown up with Comic Relief and are proud to support their remarkable work,” said Ive. “This new and seemingly simple Red Nose has been a fabulously complex little object to design and make and has involved our entire team. We hope it brings a little moment of joy to everyone who wears one.” 

The £2.50 ($3) product is being sold directly by Comic Relief and also on Amazon for the first time with a limit of eight per customer. Money raised from the March 17th telethon and Red Nose sales goes toward people battling issues like homelessness, mental health issues and food insecurity. Ive left Apple in 2019 and now co-leads his own firm LoveFrom with designer Marc Newson. 

 

If you need extra storage for your gaming computers or your gadgets, you may want to check out Amazon’s latest sale. It features several Western Digital Black gaming SSDs in different capacities, as well as SanDisk microSDs for up to half off their original price. The smallest capacity SSD in the list is WD_Black’s 250GB Internal Gaming SSD, which you can get for $35. That’s 42 percent off its original price of $60 and is an all-time low for the product. For just a few bucks more at $40, though, you can get the 500GB version of the solid state drive. That’s only 10 cents more than the lowest price we’ve seen it go for on the website and is half the product’s original price of $80. 

You can also buy a 1TB WD_Black Internal Gaming SSD for $70, or 46 percent less than its retail price of $130 and an all-time low for the component. Need an even bigger storage space? The 2TB version of the model (SN770) is currently on sale for $135, which is 10 percent off its original price of $150. Both 1TB and 2TB SN770 SSDs can reach speeds of up to 5,150MB/s and come in an M.2 form factor. 

But if you want faster SSDs and don’t mind paying more, you can get the SN850X model in 1TB or 2TB capacities instead. The 1TB SN850X Internal Gaming SSD is currently selling for $110, and while it sold for less in the past, that’s still 31 percent off retail. For $70 more, you can double that capacity and get the 2TB SN850X at 38 percent less than usual. Both components have speeds that can go up to 7,300 MB/s. Also, you’ll be able to monitor all these SSDs’ health and switch RGB styles through WD_Black’s dashboard. 

In case you’re on the lookout for a microSD instead, SanDisk’s 256GB Ultra microSDXC memory card is back to its lowest Black Friday price of $20 or 39 percent off retail. SanDisk’s 1TB Ultra microSDXC is also available for purchase at a discount right now: You can get the $137 card for its all-time low price of $100. Both are available at these prices as Lightning Deals, which means you can only get them at a discount for a limited time. 

Shop WD and SanDisk deals at Amazon

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

 

The last Boeing 747 to ever be built has changed hands in front of thousands of people who wanted to say goodbye to the iconic widebody plane. Customers, suppliers, celebrities, as well as current and former employees — including the original staff known ass the “Incredibles” who built the first 747 — gathered at the company’s Everett factory to witness Boeing delivering the plane to Atlas Air Worldwide. The event marks the plane’s end of production since it was first built in 1967. 

Boeing revealed back in 2020 that it was going to retire the model in a couple of years after it was done building the last orders for it. The 747 was one of the most famous four-engine widebody jets in the world and revolutionized air travel by doubling passenger capacity and thereby lowering the price of each seat. During the peak of its popularity in 1990, Boeing delivered 70 units in a single year. But like most older technologies, it eventually took a backseat to some of the company’s newer jets, particularly its two-engine planes that can fly the same routes but can use fuel more efficiently. 

As Reuters notes, the company only delivered five 747s in 2022, though the whole program itself produced 1,574 jets. The last planes Boeing delivered, including this one, will be used to transport cargo in the years to come. Yes, we won’t be seeing any new 747 anymore, but Bloomberg says the orders delivered for freighter use could be around until the 2050s. 

Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal said in a statement:

“This monumental day is a testament to the generations of Boeing employees who brought to life the airplane that ‘shrank the world,’ and revolutionized travel and air cargo as the first widebody. It is fitting to deliver this final 747-8 Freighter to the largest operator of the 747, Atlas Air, where the ‘Queen’ will continue to inspire and empower innovation in air cargo.”

Kim Smith, Boeing’s VP and general manager for the 747 and 767 programs, revealed that the model’s production line shut down as workers finished building different parts for the last plane. Employees who worked on in the factory have now been transferred to other programs or have voluntarily retired. 

 

Apple dabbled in live sports with weekly Major League Baseball games last year, but now the company is launching its most ambitious offering yet. Today, the company debuts MLS Season Pass, a subscription that gives soccer fans access to every game of the 2023 season, the Leagues Cup and both MLS Next Pro and MLS Next matches — all with no blackouts. While you can sign up today and start watching a library of archived content, the first games begin February 25th. 

MLS Season Pass will be available to stream through the Apple TV app on the company’s range of devices, game consoles, streaming gadgets, set-top boxes, smart TVs and on the web. Anywhere you find that piece of software you’ll be able to access the subscription. The streaming plan costs $15 per month or $99 for the season. If you’re an Apple TV+ customer, you’ll get the discounted rates of $13/month or $79 a season. What’s more, avid fans who are season ticket holders for an MLS club will get the all-inclusive streaming subscription for free. Apple’s tie-in with MLS is part of a 10-year deal, so the US league’s games aren’t going to another network or streaming service any time soon.

If you’re not sure if you want to commit just yet, “the majority” of the on-demand content already streaming is available for free. More importantly, Apple will offer every game on opening weekend free of charge and will follow that up with weekly free games. That library of on-demand items includes archived matches going back to 2019, documentary-style stories, the best moments from last season and curated highlights. 

Each team has a club page with highlights, schedule info and archived games. Once you select the team(s) you want to follow, match reminders will display in the Up Next section of the Apple TV app. As the season approaches, you’ll be privy to game previews and other team-specific content. During matches, updates will show on your iPhone lockscreen via Live Activities. 

Apple has committed to English and Spanish commentary teams for every match. Additionally, MLS Season Pass will offer French for matches that include the leagues Canadian clubs. Apple has already announced a team of nearly 50 announcers, including a wide range of experienced broadcasters and former players. Maurice Edu, Cobi Jones, Taylor Twellman, Lori Lindsey and Danielle Slaton are just a few of the many. In addition to games, MLS Season Pass will offer live pre-game, halftime and post-game analysis in addition to a “whip-around show” with live look-ins at in-progress matches and detailed discussions of key moments from every game. 

Interestingly, Apple will also provide radio broadcasts as part of the streaming plan. If you don’t care for the broadcast team, or just prefer to listen to your favorite club’s radio crew, you can opt for that alternate audio. The company promises that the sound will sync up with the live action so it will be a true replacement if you choose it. One of the key things that Apple hasn’t announced yet is streaming quality. The company says that the “full production plan” will be announced ahead of the season’s start, which will hopefully include that info. Apple’s weekly MLB games were streamed in 1080p at 60fps, but since MLS Season Pass is a much more elaborate effort that includes literally every match, maybe the company will surprise us and upgrade to 4K. 

 

The UK government has detailed “ambitious” plans to regulate the crypto industry, with proposals on stronger rules for trading platforms, crypto lending, new token issues and more. The goal, it says, is to protect consumers and businesses, while enabling “a new and exciting sector to safely flourish and grow,” it wrote in a press release. 

Last year saw the fall of FTX, Celsius and other crypto exchanges, along with wildly fluctuating prices for Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. As a result, critics in the UK have been calling for new rules that protect consumers from the “crypto wild-west,” as the opposition Labour party’s Tulip Siddiq put it.  

The UK government plans to strengthen rules around the operation of crypto trading firms like FTX, along with other financial intermediaries. The primary aim, it wrote, is to enhance consumer protection and the ability of exchanges to weather storms. As part of that, it’s proposing what it calls a “crypto market abuse regime” that would create rules around money laundering and other illegal schemes. It also plans to strengthen laws around cryptocurrency lending. 

At the same time, the treasury department is introducing a time-limited exemption that would allow designated crypto firms to issue new tokens. Companies registered with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for anti-money laundering purposes would be allowed to issue coins while the new regulations are written. 

In January 2022, the UK government promised a crackdown on misleading crypto ads, but that now seems quaint given the tumultuous year that followed. At the time, the government figured that around 2.3 million people in the country owned a cryptoasset.

Today’s proposal “delivers on the original policy intention of the measure to promote innovation, enhance consumer protection and ensure that cryptoasset promotions can be held to equivalent standards as promotions of financial services products with similar risk profiles,” the government said. The consultation will close on April 30th, 2023, at which point regulators will review feedback and formulate a response. 

 

Apple’s first HomePod in 2018 was late to the smart speaker game. Sure, it sounded good, but it lacked a lot of the basic functionality of its rivals. Yet again, with its second-generation $299 HomePod, the company delivers stellar sound quality, but this time, expanded smart home tools show Apple has learned from that first attempt.

The new HomePod can easily pair with HomeKit and Matter accessories and has temperature and humidity sensors. You can use that data to create automated triggers for other smart home devices. Even without a compatible smart thermostat, you can successfully trigger a smart plug, once the HomePod detects a certain temperature.

The most notable new feature on the HomePod isn’t even ready yet. Sound Recognition can listen for smoke or carbon monoxide alarms and notify your other Apple devices. Unfortunately, it won’t arrive in an update until later this spring. Check out our full HomePod review right here.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

The biggest stories you might have missed

Google’s experimental ChatGPT rivals include a search bot and a tool called ‘Apprentice Bard’

Twitter is killing off co-authored tweets after less than a year

Spotify reaches 205 million Premium subscribers as losses mount

US labor regulator says Apple violated employee’s rights with restrictive work rules

SpaceX astronauts will receive the Congressional Space Medal of Honor

343 is reportedly ‘starting from scratch’ on Halo development after layoffs

Vrbo’s Super Bowl ‘risk scores’ try to detect house parties before they happen

Aimi’s mobile app lets you remix its endless AI-generated beats

Apple’s latest iPad Air models are $99 off right now

The best wireless earbuds for 2023

A new AI voice tool is already being abused to deepfake celebrity audio clips

That was quick.

A few days ago, speech AI startup ElevenLabs launched a beta version of its platform, which can create entirely new synthetic voices for text-to-speech audio or to clone somebody’s voice. Well, it only took the internet a few days to make a mess. The company is seeing an “increasing number of voice cloning misuse cases.” Motherboard found 4chan posts with clips featuring generated voices that sound like celebrities reading or saying something questionable. One clip, for instance, reportedly featured a voice that sounded like Emma Watson reading a part of Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Users also posted voice clips that feature homophobic, transphobic, violent and racist sentiments. It’s not entirely clear if all the clips used ElevenLab’s technology, but a post with a wide collection of the voice files on 4chan included a link to the startup’s platform. The company is now gathering feedback on how to prevent users from abusing its technology. It may even drop its Voice Lab tool altogether and have users submit voice cloning requests that it can verify manually.

Continue reading.

‘Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’ is delayed to April 28th

Respawn says it will use the extra six weeks to polish the game.

Electronic Arts and Respawn Entertainment announced the delay of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor to April 28th. The game was previously slated to arrive on March 17th. “In order for the team to hit the Respawn quality bar, provide the team the time they need and achieve the level of polish our fans deserve, we have added six crucial weeks to our release schedule – Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will now launch globally on April 28th,” Respawn posted on Twitter. The studio said it would use the extra time to fix bugs and polish the game to improve performance, stability and the player experience.

Continue reading.

Paramount+ Premium will absorb Showtime and rebrand as ‘Paramount+ With Showtime’

Rolls right off the tongue.

Paramount Global is combining two of its services. It will fold Showtime into the Premium tier of Paramount+ later this year. The combined offering will be known as Paramount+ With Showtime. Showtime’s linear TV network will be rebranded with the same name in the US. As part of the move, some Paramount+ original programs will air on the cable network – so maybe more people will finally recognize the brilliance of The Good Fight – which is getting a spin-off pilot, too. (The Good Fight itself was already a spin-off.) While the move may come as a disappointment to those who are only interested in Showtime’s content and aren’t sold on Paramount+, the move makes sense from a business perspective. There’s a wave of consolidation across the media industry, including in streaming, where HBO Max and Discovery+ will combine in the coming months.

Continue reading.

EU wind and solar energy production overtook gas last year

A report from UK clean-energy think tank Ember projects the gap to widen.

Energy generated from solar and wind power reportedly overtook natural gas in the EU for the first time last year. The data comes from UK clean-energy think tank Ember and projects the gap to grow. Solar and wind energy rose to an all-time high of 22 percent of the EU’s 2022 electricity use. Meanwhile, Ember projects fossil-fuel generation to drop by 20 percent this year – with gas falling the fastest. The clean energy industry had some unwanted assistance. The shift stems from reduced reliance on gas and coal after Russia invaded Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin ordered the cutoff of natural gas exports to the EU as retaliation for Western sanctions.

Continue reading.

 

YouTube TV has dropped the MLB Network from its service after failing to renew its agreement, according to a statement from YouTube given to The Streamable. “You will also lose access to any previous Library recordings from this channel,” the streamer wrote. “Members will be able to continue watching select national MLB games via coverage on FOX, ESPN, and TBS through our Base Plan.”

The dispute appears to be over compensation, according to a statement from MLB Network. “YouTube TV has been unwilling to negotiate a fair carriage agreement… consistent with what close to 300 other US providers have agreed to for distribution.” MLB Network was part of YouTube’s $65 Base Plan and one of the few that carried 4K content as part of YouTube TV’s 4K Plus add-on. 

The news isn’t too tragic yet, as baseball season is still a couple of months away. YouTube TV has previously lost access to other channels including Disney’s ESPN and ABC, but in the case of the latter, they were restored just a day later. That lends some hope that the streaming company can reach an agreement with MLB Network ahead of any disruption to games next season. 

In the meantime, “MLB Network remains widely available throughout the US, including on Altice USA (Optimum), AT&T U-verse, Charter Communications (Spectrum), Comcast, Cox Communications, DIRECTV, DIRECTV Stream, DISH, fuboTV, Sling TV, Verizon Fios and many others,” MLB Network wrote. 

 

Last month, Amazon failed to overturn a Staten Island warehouse’s vote to unionize and now it has taken another loss. A National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) judge has ruled that the the company broke federal labor laws in an effort to push back a unionization drive at that facility and another that voted against the union, The New York Times has reported. Amazon can still appeal the ruling to the NLRB’s Washington board.

Federal administrative judge Benjamin Green ruled that Amazon supervisors unlawfully threatened wage increases and benefits if workers formed a union. The company also violated the law by removing a worker’s post on a digital message board inviting co-workers to sign an Amazon Labor Union petition to make Juneteenth a paid holiday, the judge said. 

Several other complaints by the union were dismissed, however. Those include accusations that Amazon said take-home pay would fall in the case of unionization, and that it promised improvements in an educational subsidy program if workers voted against the union. The union also protested Amazon saying workers would be fired if they formed a union but failed to pay union dues. The latter was not illegal, the judge ruled, and the other complaints were overstated.

Amazon took all that as a positive. “We’re glad that the judge dismissed 19 — nearly all — of the allegations in this case,” said spokesperson Mary Kate Paradis in a statement to the NYT. “The facts continue to show that the teams in our buildings work hard to do the right thing.”

The judge set aside one decision brought by the labor board as to whether employers can force workers to attend anti-union meetings. That puts the ball in the court of the NLRB, which can overturn a 75-year old ruling. “I believe that the NLRB case precedent, which has tolerated such meetings, is at odds with fundamental labor-law principles,” the labor board’s lawyer Jennifer Abruzzo wrote in a memo last year.