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Elgato’s Stream Deck MK.2 is 20 percent off as part of a Black Friday Corsair gaming sale at Amazon. The accessory is currently available for $120, which is $30 off the usual price of $150. The Stream Deck is one of our recommended accessories for streamers. It’s also useful for other creators like podcasters, as well as anyone who carries out the same tasks over and over on their desktop system.

The Stream Deck MK.2 (not to be confused with Valve’s Steam Deck) is a highly customizable desktop controller. You can set up a Stream Deck to fire up your streaming software, simultaneously start a stream and let social media followers know you’re going live, mute your mic and change your lighting. If you enjoy annoying your friends, you could use the device as a soundboard too. 

The Stream Deck is useful for other purposes as well. You can, for instance, set up macros with AutoHotkey on Windows and Shortcuts on Mac to boost your productivity across a wide range of apps. Alternatively, you can use the 15 LCD hotkeys to control music playback, set timers for focused work sessions, trigger actions through IFTTT, change your Slack status, jump into your favorite Discord channel or paste in a lengthy phrase of text that you frequently use. The possibilities are almost endless.

Meanwhile, the Stream Deck+ has dropped to an all-time-low of $170. That’s $30 off the usual price.

This model has eight LCD hotkeys and four dials that offer users more refined control over a variety of functions. You can finely adjust the volume of your headphones or mic, the brightness of connected smart lights or the zoom level of your webcam, for instance. The Stream Deck+ has a touchscreen that displays what each dial does. You can also use this to swipe between different pages of hotkey functions.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-black-friday-2023-is-still-going-the-elgato-stream-deck-mk2-is-20-percent-off-right-now-211508546.html?src=rss 

The following discusses spoilers for “The Star Beast” and references transphobia.

If there’s one thing the rebooted Doctor Who always tried to do, it was avoid cliches about its predecessor’s small budget. The 1963 – 1989 run was made on a shoestring, leading to lazy gags about wobbly sets and bad visual effects. The 2005 revival was well-budgeted compared to its British TV peers, but still had to work hard to not “embarrass” itself. Now, the show is back, armed with bags of cash from Disney in exchange for its international broadcast rights. And, for the first time in possibly forever Doctor Who can boast about how rich it is.

But, much as we fans may feel inferior when comparing their love to those glossy Treks and Wars, money isn’t everything. For all those wobbly sets and dodgy effects, Doctor Who is a writer’s and actor’s medium first; great writing and acting can go a long way. It can make you believe an alien parasite consuming a person inside out is real, and not just green bubble wrap. It’s also the reason Doctor Who never succeeds when its creative team tries to ram it into the same cult-sci-fi-TV pigeonhole as its supposed American counterparts. This show thrives on taking left turns and playing on the fringes of the epic rather than aping the SyFy-industrial complex.

So what happens when Russell T. Davies returns to re-reboot the show with a big pile of Disney dollars? He writes a kitchen sink drama about a struggling family that’s thrust into the middle of an alien conflict. He writes a script that hinges not on an extended battle sequence with plenty of practical effects, or a lavish CGI moment of London being torn apart. But one where the big blockbuster moment is when Catherine Tate is locked in a tiny room across from David Tennant. This is the story of a mother who loves her daughter so much that she opts to sacrifice herself without a second thought. The Star Beast says, both in its production and dialogue, that there are better things to have than money, including love. And money was never the thing that made Doctor Who good.

The Star Beast has a difficult job, serving as a 60th anniversary special and as a jumping-on point for new viewers. Doctor Who is already a global hit, but its arrival on Disney+ means it’ll no longer be something people need to seek out in order to find. But beyond a short prologue where the Doctor explains why Donna can’t get her memories back, or else she’ll die, you’re dropped in cold. Keep up. The episode is an adaptation of the ‘70s comic of the same name, where the alien Beep the Meep lands on Earth, pursued by the Wrarth Warriors.

The Doctor (David Tennant), with his new / old face and a new sonic, arrives in Camden in time to bump into Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) and her daughter, Rose (Yasmin Finney). He’s anxious to get out of their way since, if Donna remembers him or their time together, she will die. (In the resolution to 2008’s Journey’s End, Donna absorbed a bunch of the Doctor’s regeneration energy, becoming a human-Time Lord hybrid. But in doing so, nearly burned out her own brain until the Doctor wiped her memory in order to save her life.) But while she’s packing a box of shopping, a falling spaceship streaks across the sky, crashing into a nearby steel works. The Doctor hijacks a taxi driven by Shaun (Karl Collins), Donna’s husband, and asks him to drive to the steel works while finding out what Donna has been up to in the last 15 years.

Last time we saw Donna, the Doctor handed her a winning lottery ticket as a gift to celebrate her marriage to Shaun. But beyond paying for the house they live in, she gave the rest of her £160 million windfall to good causes, leaving them on the poverty line. Rose, her daughter, has set up a sewing business selling handmade toys to rich people in Dubai, to help earn some extra money. And as they walk home Rose, who is trans, is deadnamed by a bunch of kids from her school, much to Donna’s ire.

The Doctor investigates the crashed spaceship, avoiding the UNIT soldiers who are swarming the plant. But he is spotted by Shirley Ann Bingham (Ruth Madeley), UNIT’s new scientific advisor – the 56th – the latest in a long line of advisors to follow the Doctor. Rose, meanwhile, encounters Beep the Meep (Miriam Margolyes), a cuddly alien who is on the run from some giant green bug-eyed monsters with laser gun hands. Her compassion sees her hide Beep in her sewing room in the garden shed, which is eventually discovered by Donna. And then the Doctor turns up, followed soon after by a squad of UNIT soldiers who have been hypnotized by some glowing form in the spaceship.

A pitched and lengthy battle ensues where the Doctor fashions an escape by breaking through the walls between houses to get around the warring factions. It’s here, in a set piece that drags out far too long, that you can feel the show reveling in its supersized budget. Doctor Who of old could have probably staged something like this in its late-noughties heyday but not without a lot of cutting elsewhere. But we’re allowed a moment or two of self-indulgence when you get so much money you can flip a Land Rover onto a parked car and have them both explode in flames, right?

After escaping, the Doctor pulls out a judge’s wig from inside his coat and beams in two Wrarth Warriors. He’s not so sure that the cute and cuddly Beep is as innocent as it initially claimed – as fans of the comic will already know – instead being a genocidal maniac. It was Beep that possessed the squad of UNIT soldiers, and plans to wreak more havoc on the universe as soon as their ship is repaired. Meep kills the two Wrarth Warriors and is about to do the same to everyone else but the Doctor convinces them to take them hostage instead. Marched back to the steelworks, where they’re saved by Shirley who has a set of hidden guns and a rocket launcher hidden inside her wheelchair. Beep’s spaceship is ready to go, whereby its Dagger Drive engine will burrow into London and burn the city, and its nine million or so inhabitants, to fuel its takeoff.

The Star Beast reminded me of a lengthy email, written by Russell T. Davies, in the tail end of Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale. Towards the end of his first tenure running the show, Davies wrote to Benjamin Cook discussing his process. But the email also had the tone of someone addressing the criticisms that had perhaps dogged much of his initial tenure on the series. I’m paraphrasing, but his point was that structure was far less important to him than emotional catharsis. A Davies story is often messy and disorganized, much like life, in contrast to the Swiss Watch formalism of his successor, Steven Moffat. It should come as no surprise that The Star Beast doesn’t quite gel on the structural level, and is instead a series of big, emotionally cathartic set pieces.

But Davies’ instincts are right, and while many shows would build to a wide-frame and glossy climax, Davies shrinks it down. Catherine Tate leaps onto the spaceship to help the Doctor, willingly risking her life to save her daughter and the rest of London. Here, when it’s just David Tennant and Catherine Tate in a small, round room, separated by a glass partition, that things get intense. The whole episode, in fact, hinges on Tate’s acting as she makes the decision to die to save her family, a bigger and better moment than a thousand flipped Land Rovers.

And to fix things, the Doctor has to unlock those memories, sealed away inside Donna’s brain, of when her mind had merged with the Doctor. With it, she is able to help destroy the ship’s launch mechanism in a big moment of heroism before dying in the Doctor’s arms. But, when rescue arrives, she’s not actually dead, and it’s all thanks to Rose, who was helping outside all along. The hidden memories, and the Doctor’s power, were passed down to Rose in the womb who diluted their intensity enough not to overwhelm and kill Donna. It’s a seemingly sweet way to resolve the story, but I’m not sure if the implication the show makes is the one Davies intends. But I’m going to leave the nature of the episode’s resolution, and how it relates to Rose’s gender in the hands of infinitely better-qualified writers.

The episode ends with the Doctor and Donna cruelly preventing Rose from taking a look at the new TARDIS. Which, much like the rest of the episode, is a big money moment, with what feels like the biggest console room set ever. Again, there are probably too many beauty passes over the architecture as the show reminds everyone what it can do with some extra cash. Sadly, the coffee machine gets just one run out before Donna spills a cup all over the console and the TARDIS is engulfed in flame. Man, it feels good to be excited about the next episode of Doctor Who, and that’s a feeling I haven’t felt since March 1st, 2020.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/doctor-who-the-star-beast-reminds-us-that-money-isnt-everything-200008217.html?src=rss 

The biggest shopping event of the year is a great opportunity to beef up your gaming setup. As part of a Black Friday LG sale at Amazon, our pick for the very best gaming monitor has dropped to an all-time-low price. If money’s not too much of an obstacle, it’s worth taking a look at the LG 27GR95QE-B. It has dropped by $120 to $780.

This is a 27-inch OLED QHD display with a resolution of 1440p, 240Hz refresh rate and sub-1ms pixel response times. We have yet to see a dedicated gaming monitor that delivers better HDR performance. However, it’s worth noting that, at a maximum of around 200 nits, the display isn’t very bright.

It’s also worth bearing in mind the typical issues with OLED displays, such as potential burn-ins and text legibility. But if those aren’t a concern for you and you have the cash to spare, we highly recommend the LG 27GR95QE-B.

If you’d rather snap up a mid-range monitor, consider LG’s 27GL83A-B. That’s also available for an all-time-low price, albeit at a far more palatable $200. That’s $100 off.

The 27GL83A-B is one of our favorite mid-range gaming monitors. It has a 27-inch IPS display, 165Hz refresh rate and a QHD 1440p resolution. Unless you have a high-end gaming rig (say one with a GeForce RTX 4080 or 4090 GPU), this monitor should more than do the trick.

On the downside, the power supply isn’t built into the display’s housing, so you’ll have a cumbersome power brick to deal with. Also, like most LCD displays, you won’t get true HDR here. That said, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better mid-range gaming monitor for $200.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/this-black-friday-gaming-monitor-deal-takes-120-off-one-of-our-favorite-lg-oled-displays-201517396.html?src=rss 

For those looking to finish a bit of holiday shopping ahead of time, some of the best Lego sets remain on sale ahead of Cyber Monday. There are a few to choose from, starting with the Iron Man Armory. This 496-piece kit is suitable for children seven years and older. Normally, it costs $90, but right now it’s more than half off at $41. The set comes with five minifigures — including an appropriately smug Tony Stark – and three battle suits. Plus, you get one of Stark’s sports cars, though it’s not an Audi R8 like the one seen in Endgame.

If your kid is more of a Guardians of the Galaxy fan, the Spectacular Spaceship is also on sale. After a 40 percent discount, this $100 set is down to $60. Being slightly more complex and made up of 1108 pieces, the New Guardians’ Ship is suitable for children aged 10 and older. It comes with five minifigures from the latest movie: Mantis, Drax, Star-Lord, Nebula and Adam Warlock. The cockpit of the ship is large enough to seat three of the characters. If you download the Lego Builder app, you can access additional instructions on how to put the set together.

For the Star Wars fan in your family, consider the Millennium Falcon Rise of Skywalker set. Thanks to a 20 percent discount, it will set you back $136, instead of $170 like normal. This impressive set is made up of 1,351 pieces and comes with six minifigures representing R2D2, CP3O, Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, Finn and Boolio. It’s also not just a display piece, with the Falcon’s turrets able to rotate. You can even lift up the top of the starship to see inside.

Last but not least, there’s the Super Mario Adventures Starter Course. At the moment, it’s 20 percent off, making it $48 instead of $60. This set is suitable for kids as young as six years old, so it’s a great option for younger children. Compared to the Lego Marvel sets, what makes the Mario ones so great is that they encourage kids to be creative by thinking up their own course designs instead of simply follow an instruction manual.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-lego-black-friday-deals-on-amazon-are-still-live-here-are-our-favorite-deals-on-marvel-star-wars-and-mario-sets-184535080.html?src=rss 

Samsung’s Frame TV has hit record low prices thanks to Black Friday deals at Amazon and Samsung, with discounts on every size available. The 55-inch Frame TV is $520 off — a 35 percent discount — bringing it down to just $978. If you want to go big, the 85-inch Frame is a full $1,000 off, for a sale price of $3,298. With seven different size options starting at 32 inches, there’s something for everyone. The Frame is designed to complement its surroundings when it’s not in use, displaying art rather than standing out as the black mirror eyesore we’ve become accustomed to with standard TVs.

The discounts apply to the most recent 4K QLED Frame TVs, all of which feature Samsung’s anti-reflection matte display. The Frame comes with a slim-fit wall mount so it can be hung flush with the wall, just like any painting or framed picture, and offers 100 percent Color Volume with Quantum Dot technology to make colors pop. When it’s not in use, you can put it in Art Mode, which will display the art of your choosing. The Frame is a game-changer for anyone who detests how TVs clash with their home decor.

Samsung offers 10 free artworks to choose from, or you can subscribe to the Samsung Art store for access to curated collections from its museum partners, like The Louvre. You can also upload your own images to display, and use it like a massive digital picture frame. When the TV is in Art Mode, it can be programmed to display artwork based on whether you’re in the room. With motion sensing, The Frame can identify when you’ve left and turn off the display so it isn’t projecting to an empty room. It’ll come back on when you return.

Like Samsung’s other smart TVs, The Frame is powered by Tizen, and it’ll have all the apps you need for your streaming purposes. You can also stream Xbox games to your TV through Samsung’s Gaming hub if you have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. The Frame comes in seven sizes: 32-inch, 43-inch, 50-inch, 55-inch, 65-inch, 75-inch and 85-inch. It might normally be a bit of a splurge, but there’s potential to save hundreds of dollars with the current Black Friday sales.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/black-friday-tv-deals-the-samsung-frame-tv-is-still-on-sale-for-up-to-1000-off-193053842.html?src=rss 

If you’re fed up with spotty Wi-Fi connection in some parts of your home, now’s a great time to pick up a pack of Google Nest Wi-Fi Pro 6E mesh routers while they’re steeply discounted on Amazon for Black Friday. You can get a three-pack for just $280 — a record low, shaving $120 off the usual price of $400 for the bundle. Amazon is also running a deal on two-packs of the Nest Wi-Fi Pro, bringing the price down to just $200. Mesh Wi-Fi networks create multiple points of connectivity so the signal can be distributed more reliably all throughout the home.

Google’s Nest Wi-Fi Pro 6E is made for the latest generation of Wi-Fi, and touts faster internet speeds, shorter loading times and consistent connection. Each device provides coverage for areas up to 2,200 square feet, so a three-pack can cover up to 6,600 square feet together. The Nest Wi-Fi Pro is one of the best Wi-Fi routers available, especially for anyone looking for easy setup. It’s controlled through the Google Home app, where you’ll be able to see every device that’s connected to it.

The Nest Pro 6E offers tri-band connectivity, supporting the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands. You’ll be able to make the most out of newer devices that support the latest Wi-Fi standard, freeing up some of the congestion on the other bands, which will support your older devices. However, Google Nest Pro 6E isn’t compatible with older Google Nest Wi-Fi devices, so if you’re intending on using it to upgrade an existing system, be prepared for a full overhaul.

The device itself is sleek and unobtrusive, coming in a white color dubbed Snow for the deal on the two- and three-packs. But, it doesn’t have a built-in speaker, unlike other Nest Wi-Fi models. In our review, we found it achieved stable connection throughout the home, even managing decent connection in areas previously considered to be dead zones. We gave it a review score of 87. There aren’t many frills, but if what you’re after is a straightforward mesh Wi-Fi network that you can rely on not to crap out on you for streaming, internet browsing and video calls, the Google Nest Pro 6E is a great option.

Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s Black Friday coverage, here. Follow Engadget for Black Friday tech deals. Learn about Black Friday trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Black Friday deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Black Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-google-nest-wi-fi-pro-is-still-on-sale-for-black-friday-with-discounts-up-to-120-off-174506958.html?src=rss