Category: Technology

When Google announced the Pixel Watch 4, it made a point to mention that the smartwatch was “designed with serviceability in mind.” Now that it’s out, the repair experts at iFixit have taken a look and can confirm Google’s claims. The how-to specialist site has called the Pixel Watch 4 the most repairable smartwatch you can buy right now. That’s notable, as iFixit points out, because you’d probably expect a sustainability-oriented brand such as Fairphone or Framework to be getting this kind of recognition ahead of Google. (That said, the Fairphone 6 did recently receive a perfect 10/10 repairability review.) But iFixit said it was “truly impressed” with what owners can do to fix Google’s latest wearable on their own.

The first thing it highlights is the presence of visible screws that don’t interfere with the watch’s IP68 water and dust resistance rating. Both the vibration motor and battery are also easy to remove, the latter being glue-free and requiring you only to unscrew from its enclosure. As for the display, that’s also secured by screws alone (spotting a pattern here yet?) and sealed using a replaceable O-ring gasket that you can easily purchase. iFixit notes that it’s harder for square watches to use the same solution, so Google’s decision to make the Pixel Watch 4 round boosts its repairability.

At the end of its comprehensive video, iFixit awards Google a provisional rating of 9/10 for repairability, calling it “the most satisfying smartwatch teardown” it has performed to date. For transparency, the site points out that it does have an ongoing business partnership with Google, but insists it’s completely unrelated to the teardown treatment it gives the Pixel Watch 4.

Its perhaps surprising level of repairability isn’t the only thing in the Pixel Watch 4’s favor. In Engadget’s 86/100 review of the device, Cherlynn Low also praised its rapid charging speeds, excellent health and fitness tracking credentials and attractive display.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/ifixit-says-the-pixel-watch-4-is-the-most-repairable-smartwatch-around-171242107.html?src=rss 

The FCC has submitted a proposal that would make it harder for consumers to receive itemized bills with accurate information from their ISPs, as spotted by The Verge. The draft would revise previous “unnecessary” requirements on the grounds that a fact-based list of charges “may confuse customers.”

This comes as a response to complaints by ISPs over a Biden-era transparency rule that went into effect back in 2024. Compliance with this rule mandates that ISPs make it easier for consumers to compare prices and avoid hidden fees. This typically comes in the form or something called a “nutrition label”, which shows speeds, fees and data allowances for internet plans.

The FCC is planning on examining ways to eliminate “any other label requirements that are unduly burdensome and provide minimal benefit to consumers.” Getting an actual list of what we are paying $100 for each month doesn’t seem like a minimal benefit to me.

The regulatory agency isn’t looking to ditch these nutrition labels entirely, at least not yet, but is seeking to eliminate the requirements to itemize location-based fees. “We propose to eliminate the requirement that providers itemize discretionary, recurring monthly fees that represent costs they choose to pass through to consumers and which vary by consumer location,” the draft proposal said.

It also targets requirements to make this data readily available to all consumers. The proposal has language that would stop forcing ISPs to make this information multi-lingual and to make it available both online and to customers on the phone. It also seeks to decouple these labels from customer account portals. We aren’t sure where these nutrition labels would continue to live.

FCC head Brendan Carr wrote a cheeky blog about the proposal that seemed more interested in discussing pumpkin spice lattes over ISP regulation. He said that the proposal seeks to “separate the wheat from the chaff” so that consumers can “get quick and easy access to the information they want and need to compare broadband plans.” The language of the proposal seems to indicate the exact opposite of that sentiment, but that’s politics for ya.

A vote on the proposal is scheduled for October 28. This is all part of Carr’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” initiative, which seeks to appease President Trump by removing as many government regulations as possible.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-fcc-is-trying-to-make-it-easier-for-internet-providers-to-charge-hidden-fees-155305720.html?src=rss 

Ford is cutting the price of the 2026 F-150 Lightning by up to $4,000, as confirmed by the automaker to CarsDirect. The price cuts vary by trim, however, and will only apply to more expensive packages for the electric pickup truck. This comes as the $7,500 EV tax credit expired at the end of September.

The 2026 model has a starting price of $63,345 for the STX trim, which is the same price as the previous year’s entry-level XLT. The STX replaces the XLT and delivers 536 horsepower, up from the XLT’s 452, and 290 miles of range, up from 240.

The Flash edition will receive the full $4,000 price cut, giving it a new price of $65,995. The Lariat, originally priced at $76,995, will get just a $2,000 haircut and will sell for $74,995. The Platinum edition will be priced at $84,995 and will not cost less.

This summer, Ford announced that it would release an affordable midsize all-electric pickup with a starting price of around $30,000 in 2027. The truck would be built on the company’s upcoming Ford Universal EV Platform that will be shared by a new family of products. These models would use Ford’s upcoming prismatic LFP batteries.

As EV-related tax incentives continue to expire, manufacturers will need to reach into their own pockets to deliver value to consumers. This week Tesla announced the Model 3 and Model Y ‘Standard’ editions, which give up some luxury touches in exchange for price, with both starting at under $40,000. Inflation has also played a large role in car pricing over the last five years, as $40,000 has roughly the same purchasing power as $32,000 in 2020.

Ford recently walked back a program that would have enabled dealers to offer a $7,500 tax credit on EV leases even after the expiration of federal subsidies on September 30, as first reported by Reuters. The plan involved having the company’s lending arm purchase new EVs out of the brand’s dealers’ inventory, after which Ford would apply for the tax credit on the vehicles. That credit would then have been considered in the EV lease terms for customers, passing on the savings.

GM was set to have a similar program before canceling it earlier this week. According to Reuters sources, GM killed the program after Republican Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio raised concerns about it. It is unclear why Ford followed suit.

Update 11:23 EST: Added more context.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/ford-is-cutting-the-price-of-the-2026-f-150-lightning-by-up-to-4000-144241504.html?src=rss 

Sonos’ Ace headphones didn’t get off to the best start, but the brand’s first headphones have come a long way since launch, and for $100 off when purchased directly from Sonos or Amazon, they’re well worth considering. The Ace are down to $299 from both retailers, and for that price you’re getting one of the most feature-packed pairs of noise-canceling headphones on the market right now.

When the Ace arrived in the summer of 2024, we praised them for their sound quality, premium design and comfy fit, but had no choice but to ding the headphones for not launching with some of their flashiest features. But that’s no longer an issue if you pick up a pair today, as Sonos’ TrueCinema spatial audio tech now works as advertised. 

As a reminder, TrueCinema takes into account the dynamics of your living space when you’re using TV Audio Swap to create a virtual 3D audio system in your headphones. The idea is that you feel like you aren’t wearing them at all, which is a big claim to make, but there’s no denying that True Cinema enhances the experience of watching movies and TV shows while wearing the Ace.

Sonos has also improved the Ace’s adaptive noise cancellation in updates made available since launch, while phone calls are now clearer than they were when we first reviewed the headphones. They’re still expensive at full price, but if you use other Sonos products in your home and think you’ll appreciate the Ace’s ability to swap audio output with a compatible Sonos soundbar (ideal for late-night movies when the kids are in bed), then it’s a very easy recommendation at $299.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/sonos-ace-headphones-are-100-off-right-now-142323913.html?src=rss 

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has officially designated Google with strategic market status (SMS) under the new digital markets competition regime. Specifically, it found that Google holds “substantial and entrenched market power and a position of strategic significance” when it comes to general search and search advertising services. The digital markets competition regime came into force on January 1, 2025 and will enable the agency to “promote competition in fast-moving digital markets, while protecting UK consumers and businesses from unfair or harmful practices by the very largest technology firms.”

So what does getting the “strategic market status” designation mean, exactly? As the CMA clarifies, it doesn’t automatically mean Google did something wrong, but it does allow the agency to launch interventions that ensure general search services in the UK are “open to effective competition” and that businesses relying on Google are being treated fairly. The company is expecting to face new rules and regulations on how Search works in the near future. UK’s CMA launched an investigation on Google’s standing in the search industry on January 14 to confirm its status. 

“We have found that Google maintains a strategic position in the search and search advertising sector – with more than 90% of searches in the UK taking place on its platform,” said Will Hayter, Executive Director for Digital Markets at the CMA. To be clear, the designation applies to the company’s AI Overviews and AI Mode features, as well, but not to its Gemini AI assistant, at least for now. 

The CMA said it’s expecting to start consulting on possible interventions later this year. In an announcement of its own, Google said that “many of the ideas for interventions that have been raised in this process would inhibit UK innovation and growth, potentially slowing product launches at a time of profound AI-based innovation.” The company believes that some of those ideas would “pose direct harm to businesses” and could lead to higher prices for consumers. 

“The UK enjoys access to the latest products and services before other countries because it has so far avoided costly restrictions on popular services, such as Search. Retaining this position means avoiding unduly onerous regulations and learning from the negative results seen in other jurisdictions, which have cost businesses an estimated €114 billion,” Google wrote. By “other jurisdictions,” Google means the European Union, whose similar Digital Markets Act law designated the company as a gatekeeper in 2023. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-uks-antitrust-regulator-will-keep-a-closer-eye-on-google-search-130021994.html?src=rss 

China’s antitrust regulator has opened an investigation into Qualcomm’s acquisition of Israeli connected-vehicle chip company Autotalks. The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) alleges that Qualcomm is suspected of violating China’s anti-monopoly laws by not disclosing certain details of the deal.

Qualcomm had initially agreed to acquire the fabless chip company in 2023 to expand its Snapdragon portfolio into more automotive applications. Autotalks creates chips, sensors and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication tech centered in part on safety for vehicles. It has been a few months since the acquisition was finalized, with the new probe coming amid trade negotiations between the United States and China.

The deal was previously investigated by both the US Federal Trade Commission and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, with Qualcomm temporarily abandoning the acquisition in early 2024. The exact process of how the deal was reopened is not clear, as the acquisition was only announced once it had been finalized and received regulatory approval

Last month, SAMR said that NVIDIA’s $6.9 billion acquisition of Mellanox also ran afoul of national regulations. The regulators also said the deal violated conditional terms outlined by regulators on initial approval. The Financial Times reported that China’s regulators held on to that decision for months, purportedly to gain leverage in trade discussions with the US.

The bulk of these investigations have come while the US and China are engaged in negotiations around a TikTok deal, tariffs, trade and more. Today China drastically expanded its export controls for rare earth minerals, targeting defense and semiconductor companies outside the country.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/chinese-regulators-are-investigating-qualcomms-acquisition-of-autotalks-121540269.html?src=rss 

Control: Ultimate Edition will be available on the iPhone, the iPad and the Apple Vision Pro in early 2026, its developer Remedy has announced. The developer says you can either “tap into the action with touch controls,” which presumably includes hand tracking and gestures on the mixed reality headset, or use controllers to play the game. Remedy first made it available for the Apple ecosystem when it released Ultimate Edition for Mac back in February this year. 

Remedy originally released Control in 2019 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows computers. In the action-adventure game, you take on the role of Jesse Faden, the new director of the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC) who’s also searching for her kidnapped brother Dylan. The game is set in the Oldest House, the headquarters of the clandestine US agency that studies and contains paranatural phenomena. 

Ultimate Edition is the definitive version of the title and bundles the base game with the Foundation and AWE (Altered World Events) expansions. While both are continuations of the main game, AWE is a crossover between Control and Alan Wake, an older title by Remedy about a crime author whose wife disappears during a trip to a small mountain town. Remedy hasn’t announced a specific release date or price for the game yet, but it’s currently listed for $40 on the Apple Store for Mac computers. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/remedys-control-is-coming-to-iphone-ipad-and-vision-pro-early-next-year-120100226.html?src=rss 

After years of trying, a dedicated team has managed to download and archive a fully playable version of the long-lost canceled mobile game, Ratchet & Clank: Clone Home. The story of its search and recovery has been detailed in a new video by YouTuber The Golden Bolt, who helped kick off the search himself back in 2019. 

Ratchet & Clank: Clone Home has usually been attributed to Handheld Games, which developed a string of mobile titles in 2005 including Spider-Man 2: The Hero Returns and Ratchet & Clank: Going Mobile, the predecessor to Clone Home. Originally set to debut in 2006 for Java phones, it was quietly canceled just prior to release.

It wasn’t forgotten, though. Rumors persisted that it was a fully playable game, helping elevate it to mythical status among fans. Then, The Golden Bolt heard from one of the original developers that the game was indeed finished and may have found its way to a handful of mobile devices. His 2019 video on the subject helped kick off a new search.

The most dedicated fans researching the game were college students “Emily” and “Super Gamer Omega Clank.” The latter posted on Reddit four years ago that they found someone with the game on a Sony Ericsson W880i. It was encrypted, though, and as little as a few weeks ago, they said that their quest to extract it from that device was proving to be “hopeless.” 

Then, a breakthrough. The team managed to safely crack the phone’s encryption, extract Clone Home and archive it for anyone to download. Miraculously, it’s complete and fully playable, if a bit unpolished. Golden Bolt now believes that the game was actually developed not by Handheld Games but a company called JavaGround, which made Sony’s last few Java (J2ME) games. It may have been uploaded by accident to mobile networks like Cingular or Sprint for a brief period, then downloaded by a handful of people before being pulled. 

People who have played the game so far say it’s surprisingly good and even better than Going Mobile. It’s a wonderfully eccentric entry to the R&C canon (which now counts 17 titles), thanks to the nonsensical plot, solid mechanics, ability to play as two different Lombaxes and a gun called the “Ewezie” that turns your enemies into sheep.

So why was Clone Home canceled? It may have been due to potential litigation between Sony and Handheld Games, The Golden Bolt speculated. In any case, it’s a gem for game preservationists and an amazing reward for the years of work put in by R&C fans. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/a-long-lost-ratchet-and-clank-mobile-game-has-been-found-123008739.html?src=rss