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There’s no such thing as having too much local storage. Whether it’s for backups or extra space for all your stuff, an external SSD is always useful to have on hand. Samsung’s portable SSDs are a go-to for many folks, and a recent model with ample storage for most people is on sale for nearly half off in an early Black Friday deal.

The 4TB T9 Portable SSD has dropped to $300. That’s a $250 discount and the deal brings the external storage device almost to a record low price.

According to Samsung, the T9 is around twice as fast as the T7 (our current pick for the best external SSD for PS5). The company claims that it can transfer a 4GB video in nearly two seconds or a 90-minute 4K video (of 21GB) in 12 seconds. The two-lane USB interface offers data transfer rates of up to 20 Gbps, while the SSD has sequential read and write speeds of up to 2,000 MB/s.

That means it shouldn’t take long at all to transfer games and other files to and from your PS5’s internal storage when need be (the console can run PS4 games from an external drive, but not PS5 titles). It’ll be a useful option for moving your files between different computers as well. Alternatively, you might use it to store your 4K movie collection.

Check out all of the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-4tb-samsung-t9-portable-ssd-is-nearly-half-off-in-this-early-black-friday-deal-153043895.html?src=rss 

Nintendo was prepared to suck it up financially this year as sales of its aging Switch decline, but things are going a bit worse than it hoped. After selling fewer consoles than it expected over the last two quarters (4.72 million compared to 6.84 million last year), the company has downgraded its sales forecast from 13.5 million consoles to 12.5 million — a cool one million unit drop. The company also lowered its sales forecast by 5.2 percent to 1.28 trillion yen ($8.41 billion), thought it expects the same net profit as last year.

The company saw decent financials last fiscal year (ending in March 2024) despite the fact that the Switch was first released in 2017. It achieved that largely through the release of the much-anticipated The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom game and to a lesser extent, the launch of the Super Mario Bros. Movie. 

However, “there were no such special factors in the first half of this fiscal year and with Nintendo Switch now in its eighth years since launch, unit sales of both hardware and software decreased significantly year-on-year,” the company said in its IR explanatory materials. There were some bright spots, though, like a slight boost in Switch sales over last quarter due to the launch of the Switch Lite: Hyrule Edition and other bundled hardware/software releases. 

The Switch is Nintendo’s second-best selling console of all time after the DS, but it has definitely run its course. That means the company will be banking heavily on its next-gen Switch 2 console, but it won’t be announced until early next year — so it’s not likely to see improved sales in the near future.  

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-expects-to-sell-fewer-switches-than-planned-as-new-model-looms-140031461.html?src=rss 

Meta had plans to build an AI data center in the US that relies on nuclear power — it even already knew where it wanted the facility to be built. According to the Financial Times, though, the company had to scrap its plans, because the a rare bee species was discovered on the land reserved for the project. Company chief Mark Zuckerberg was reportedly ready to close a deal with an existing nuclear power plant operator that would provide emissions-free energy to the plant. The Times said he told staff members at an all-hands last week that pushing through wouldn’t have been possible, because the company would encounter numerous regulatory challenges due to the bees’ discovery. 

Zuckerberg reportedly told his staff that Meta would’ve had the first nuclear-powered AI if the deal had gone ahead. It still might come true if the company could find a way, but it has to move quickly because its biggest rivals are investing in nuclear energy, as well. In September, Microsoft revealed that it intends to revive the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to provide energy for its AI efforts. Meanwhile, Google teamed up with startup Kairos Power to build seven small nuclear reactors in the US to power its data centers starting in 2030. And then there’s Amazon, which announced three agreements with different companies to build small modular reactors in mid-October. 

The Times didn’t say whether Meta is looking for a new site — one that doesn’t have rare bees living in its vicinity. One of its sources only said that Meta is still exploring various deals for emissions-free energy, including nuclear, to power its future AI data centers.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/bees-reportedly-stopped-meta-from-building-a-nuclear-powered-ai-data-center-143050114.html?src=rss 

Election day 2024 has finally arrived in the US and the race between vice president Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump is so close we’re all going to be glued to our screens waiting to see what happens. Apple is making sure you see developments right away (and can’t take any breaks from it) with Live Activities, AppleInsider reports. Starting Tuesday night, Apple News will display the ongoing US election results as a Live Activity.

The Live Activity tracker will show up on your lock screen and give you the latest election updates. It’s available on iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches. If your device has a Dynamic Island, then you’ll also be able to track the electoral college results there.

If you’re interested in receiving Live Activity updates about the election, you can turn it on through Apple News. Click “Follow the 2024 election live” banner or open the “Election 2024” tab and you should see a notification about enabling it. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/track-us-election-results-with-apples-live-activity-feature-130032299.html?src=rss 

If you have an iPhone that can run iOS 18, then you can now download and install the beta version of iOS 18.2 through the Apple Beta Software Program on your device. One of the most useful features included in the experimental OS is the capability to share the location of a lost item connected to Apple’s Find My network with a third party. You can already share an item’s location with people in your contacts list, but Apple says this could help in instances wherein you have to rely on the help of a stranger. In case your suitcase goes missing, for instance, you can send its location to an airline staff or airport personnel. 

When you choose “Share Item Location” in the Find My app, you’ll get the option to share a link that shows the location of your missing item. The link’s recipient will be able to open it on any device, even if it’s not an iPhone or an iPad, and they’ll also be able to see your Apple account email and/or phone number so that they can get in touch with you. You’ll be able to see how many people visited the link, and they do expire either after you’re reunited with your lost belonging or after a week if you haven’t found it by then.

Of course, installing beta software does have its downsides. There’s a higher chance of running into bugs, and some apps or features might still not work as Apple had intended. If you don’t mind and want to test iOS 18.2, you’ll have to sign up to Apple’s Beta Software Program and then select new Beta Updates under Software Updates in your device’s Settings menu. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/apples-latest-find-my-update-makes-it-easier-to-find-lost-items-133049512.html?src=rss 

Microsoft, Xbox and Halo Studios are celebrating Halo 2’s 20th anniversary by releasing recreations of some of the game’s most memorable maps on Halo Infinite, as well as its E3 demo that’s probably one of the most important moments of the franchise’s history. The demo Bungie presented at E3 way back in 2003 showed the future of Halo and demonstrated what the Xbox, as a console, was capable of. It even featured gameplay that never made its way to the finished game. “The response to the demo at E3 was electric,” Halo community director Brian Jarrard said. 

That demo went public more than a year before the game’s actual release date, and it was built on an engine that no longer exists. It only became possible to make it available for fans to play because community modders and the game’s community as a whole pitched in to restore it. The “wider Halo community” helped recover its original files and assets, while a team of community modders developed the tools needed to recreate the demo and to improve upon the original. 

“Steven Garcia (known to the community as General_101) was vital in getting this scenario stood up and even improved over the original. He was a one-man army and did a significant chunk of the work in developing tools, updating scripts, and even arting the levels. Digsite team members Ludus, Neo Te Aika, Sean T, xScruffyDaSasquatchx, and Killzone then provided finishing touches to replicate the original demo experience and test for bugs. Without them, we would probably have only had a rather unceremonious drop of raw assets and that was it,” said Halo Senior Franchise writer Kenneth Peters. 

The Halo 2 E3 2003 demo will be available as a free mod on Steam Workshop for the Halo: The Master Chief Collection starting on November 9.

In addition, Halo Studios is adding new maps to Halo Infinite’s Delta Playlist that will be a blast to the past for long-time fans of the franchise. They’re modern recreations of Halo 2 multiplayer maps that were rebuilt in Forge, Halo’s suite of in-game tools, by community “Forgers.” Xbox adjusted the gameplay in the Delta Arena, as well, disabling sprint and clamber, enabling friendly collision and higher jumps to recreate the original feel of Halo 2. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/youll-soon-be-able-to-play-halo-2s-iconic-e3-demo-in-honor-of-its-20th-anniversary-120020668.html?src=rss