Category: Technology

You can save on some of our top picks for the best security cameras as part of a sale on Blink gear. For instance, the Blink Mini 2 is available for $20, which is half off the list price. It matches a record low.

A two-pack of the Blink Mini 2 is down to $38 as well. That’s not quite a record low, but you’ll still save $22 due to the 46 percent percent discount.

We reckon the Blink Mini 2 is the best budget security camera around. You can adjust the webcam-style camera to a variety of angles. It’s weather-resistant, so you can place it outside if you have a special power adapter. The camera picks up decent (but not great) images, particularly those captured in the infrared nighttime view. It also has a built-in LED spotlight.

Since Blink is an Amazon company, of course the Mini 2 ties into the Alexa ecosystem. You’ll just need to have a Blink account before you can actually use it. As you might expect, you’ll be able to view images captured by the Mini 2 via the Alexa app on an Echo Show, Fire Tablet or Fire TV but, curiously, not iOS or Android. To see the captures on your phone or tablet, you’ll instead need to use the Blink app. You’ll get some extra features — such as cloud storage and people and pet detection — if you sign up for the Blink Subscription ($3 per month for one camera, $10 per month for any number).

Elsewhere in the sale, a five-pack of the Blink Outdoor 4 cameras is half off at $200. This is our recommendation for the best security camera for Alexa users. Having five of them should be enough for many folks to keep an eye on everything that’s going on around their property.

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

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-blink-mini-2-security-camera-has-dropped-to-only-20-171417083.html?src=rss 

Alphabet is letting its laser-based internet company Taara fly and be free, according to reporting by Financial Times. Google’s parent company is spinning off the service from X, its moonshot incubator system (not to be confused with X the social network.)

Taara uses light beams to provide high-bandwidth internet and phone services to hard-to-reach areas of the world. This places it in direct competition with Elon Musk’s Starlink network of satellites.

Taara now has two dozen staff members and is “hiring aggressively.” It has secured backing from Series X Capital. Alphabet will retain a minority stake, but it remains tight-lipped regarding seed funding details or potential financial targets.

“They’re going to be able to get connected quickly to market capital, bring in strategic investors and generally be able to scale faster this way,” said Eric Teller, X’s Captain of Moonshots.

Taara already operates in 12 countries throughout the world and has provided supplemental service during events like Coachella. The tech works by firing beams of light to and from various terminals. Alphabet says the system can transmit data at 20 gigabits per second over an area of around 12 miles. The company also says that these systems are relatively easy to build and maintain, especially when compared to satellites in space.

It has its origins in an Alphabet-created concept called Loon. This was a modified version of the same idea that shot beams of light to and from groups of balloons floating on the edge of space. There are strict governmental and regulatory hurdles to flying thousands of balloons near space, however, so it wound down in 2021. Loon’s loss was Taara’s gain, as the newer entity uses the same lasers.

Mahesh Krishnaswamy, Taara’s general manager and a lead engineer, says that the next step is to develop a silicon photonic chip that will eliminate the need for many of the mirrors and lenses currently positioned on system terminals.

The newly-minted startup has a long way to go to catch up to Starlink, which has over four million subscribers worldwide. Taara doesn’t even sell subscriptions directly to consumers. Instead, it partners with existing telecommunication companies like T-Mobile to extend their networks to remote locations.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/alphabets-starlink-competitor-taara-is-spinning-off-into-an-independent-company-154653176.html?src=rss 

Although the future of TikTok remains uncertain, the app continues to get new features. The latest is called Security Checkup, which is a centralized dashboard designed to help you protect your account.

You can find the tool by going to Settings and privacy > Security & permissions in the TikTok app. The idea behind Security Checkup is to make it easy for you to do things like link a phone number and email address to make sure you have a backup login method, turn on two-factor authentication, set up a passkey and enable biometric login options such as facial recognition.

In addition, you’ll be able to see which devices are logged into your account, so you can revoke access for any that you don’t recognize or no longer use. Handily, TikTok will flag any unusual behavior that it detects on your account and you can review any oddities here.

We’ve seen other major platforms introduce similar features in the past. Instagram, for instance, rolled out a tool that’s also called Security Checkup back in 2021. Still, it’s better late than never to add handy features, especially when it comes to helping users secure their accounts.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/tiktok-rolls-out-a-security-checkup-tool-to-help-protect-your-account-152819724.html?src=rss 

Apple’s over-ear headphones are back on sale at one of the best prices we’ve seen all year. The AirPods Max have dropped to $480. That’s $69 off the list price.

It’s not quite a record low price for these headphones. We’ve seen them drop to $450. But this is still a solid deal on the AirPods Max, especially if you’ve been waiting for a solid discount. It’s also worth noting that this is the updated model with USB-C charging, rather than the old Lightning port that Apple has phased out.

We gave the AirPods Max a score of 84 in our review back in 2020 (yes, they’ve been around for that long without an update save, for the new charging port and colorways!). We felt that the sound was excellent and balanced with solid active noise cancellation (ANC) and an excellent transparency mode so you can hear what’s going on around you. In our testing, the AirPods Max met Apple’s promise of a 20-hour battery life with both ANC and spatial audio switched on.

We enjoyed the simple control system, which uses an Apple Watch-style rotating crown. The AirPods Max are lightweight and comfortable to wear as well.

On the downside, the AirPods Max still use Apple’s older H1 chipset, meaning that certain features available on some in-ear AirPods models aren’t present here. There’s no support for high-res music streaming services either. Still, if you’re embedded in the Apple ecosystem and are looking for an otherwise high-quality set of over-ear headphones, the AirPods Max are worth considering.

Check out our coverage of the best Apple deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apple-airpods-max-with-usb-c-charging-are-back-on-sale-for-480-142052420.html?src=rss 

Evan Feinman, who directed the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program meant to bring high-speed internet access to rural areas, exited the role on Friday after he was not reappointed for a new term, according to ProPublica’s Craig Silverman. In an email sent to staffers, which Silverman shared screenshots of on Bluesky, Feinman warned against changes proposed by the new administration that could “benefit technology that delivers slower speeds at higher costs to the household paying the bill” in order to line Elon Musk’s pockets.

BEAD was established in 2021, and the new Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick recently announced that the Commerce Department would be overhauling the program, which he said has “not connected a single person to the internet” due to the previous administration’s handling of it. In a statement, Lutnick called for a “tech-neutral stance,” which would do away with the preference for faster fiber connections and open the door for a shift toward satellite internet like that offered by Elon Musk’s Starlink. Lutnick also slammed “woke mandates, favoritism towards certain technologies, and burdensome regulations.”

In the email shared on Sunday, Feinman urged colleagues to speak up in favor of removing “needless requirements,” but warned against a shift away from fiber. The bottom line is, he wrote:

The new administration seems to want to make changes that ignore the clear direction laid out by Congress, reduce the number of American homes and businesses that get fiber connections, and increase the number that get satellite connections. The degree of that shift remains unknown, but regardless of size, it will be a disservice to rural and small-town America. Stranding all or part of rural America with worse internet so that we can make the world’s richest man even richer is yet another in a long line of betrayals by Washington.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/director-of-rural-broadband-program-exits-with-a-warning-about-shift-to-worse-satellite-internet-223204374.html?src=rss 

If ever a game presents me with an opportunity to perform completely absurd aerial tricks, you best believe I will be flipping as much as possible. In Jump Truck, a 3D solo racing game for Playdate by Tabortop Games, flips can work either to your benefit or detriment as you try to score the fastest finish time for each of a series of race tracks. Throwing in some flips may help to shave several seconds off your final time, but it could also send your truck hurtling into the abyss. It’s a delicate balance that I’ve been having a real hoot pushing to its limit.

Jump Truck features seven levels made up of straightaways, tight turns, long winding roads, ramps and short platforms with abrupt dropoffs to navigate at high speeds on your way to the floating vortex that serves as the finish line. You need to find the shortcuts to get the gold, and successfully making use of those often requires clearing huge gaps. That’s where flipping really comes in handy. Frontflips will give you more speed and help you cross greater distances in the air, while backflips will slow you down so you don’t overshoot your landing. You can flip using either the D-pad or the crank, but the latter can be pretty hard to coordinate if you want to seamlessly resume driving and steering.

There are a bunch of silly achievements to unlock as you progress (or die over and over), like the “Soar Like an Eagle” award for spending a quarter of your time flying through the air on any given level. Jump Truck seems like it’d be the type of game that only holds your attention for a little while at a time, but I keep getting sucked into it for much longer than I expect to, thanks to the challenge of trying to hit certain shortcuts. It’s unexpectedly addicting.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-playdate-game-jump-truck-is-a-flippin-good-time-203140598.html?src=rss 

The so-called iPhone 17 Air, which is rumored to be coming this fall, is said to be Apple’s thinnest iPhone ever. But, if the company had gone through some of its earlier plans for the device, slimness may not have been the most talked-about element. In the Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman writes that Apple at one time planned to ditch the USB-C port “to make the Air device Apple’s first completely port-free iPhone.”

The company reportedly shelved the idea to avoid sparking fresh problems with EU regulators. According to Gurman, however, Apple is still holding onto it for future slim iPhones depending on the success of the iPhone 17 Air. Apple is expected to release four iPhones this year, in line with its strategy of the last few years, with the one currently nicknamed the iPhone 17 Air being roughly 2 millimeters thinner than the rest. Leaker Sonny Dickson this weekend shared a series of photos said to be of iPhone 17 dummies, showing just how slim the Air could look alongside the rest of the family.

Gurman reports that the iPhone 17 Air will be priced at around $900, sitting between the entry-level iPhone 17 and the two higher-end models with similar battery life to what we’re already used to, a roughly 6.6-inch screen, Dynamic Island and the Camera Control button. Of course, nothing’s been confirmed officially yet, but the iPhone 17 rumors and leaks are sure to keep coming over the next few months.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apple-considered-making-the-rumored-iphone-17-air-completely-port-free-according-to-report-165334942.html?src=rss 

We’ve recently heard rumors that Apple is working on the next generation of its Studio Display, and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman now reports that there may actually be two new models in the works. Building on his previous reporting about a potential update to the 2022 Studio Display that could be released next year, Gurman writes this weekend in the Power On newsletter that sources have told him “Apple is working on a second new monitor.” The first is code-named J427, while the second is reportedly being referred to as J527.

It’s been three years since Apple introduced the $1,599 27-inch Studio Display and twice that since the release of the $5,000 Pro Display XDR. Considering the age of both monitors, Gurman says one of two scenarios may play out, either that “Apple is developing both and will choose one to launch, or it’s a second model with a different screen size or set of specifications.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/apple-is-reportedly-working-on-two-new-versions-of-the-studio-display-145521711.html?src=rss