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The Federal Trade Commission has ordered Mastercard to start providing competing payment networks with the information they need to process debit card payments. In a proposed enforcement action announced on Friday, the FTC said Mastercard had allegedly violated a provision of the Dodd-Frank act known as the Durbin Amendment by prohibiting merchants from routing transactions over alternative networks.

The action targets “tokenization,” the technology that underpins mobile payment applications like Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. When you go to make a debit or credit card purchase with your phone’s mobile wallet, the software substitutes sensitive information, including the primary number associated with your account, with a separate set of single-use “tokens.” Mastercard and Visa say the practice prevents fraud since tokens contain no exploitable information when they’re in transit. It’s only when they arrive at Mastercard or Visa’s servers, and they’re mapped back to their original account holder, that they point to someone.

According to the FTC, Mastercard has historically stopped competing networks from accessing its token vault. That means whenever consumers decided to pay with a mobile wallet, merchants had to route the transactions over Mastercard (or Visa) and pay the company’s transactions fees, which are typically higher than that of its competitors. The Durbin Amendment calls for banks to support two competing payment networks on all debit cards. It was a provision Congress introduced to promote competition among networks. The FTC didn’t say if it reached a similar agreement with Visa.

“While we are taking these steps to bring this matter to a close, there should be no question that tokenized transactions provide an increased level of protection to both consumers and merchants,” Mastercard spokesperson Seth Eisen told Bloomberg. “This focus on security guides our efforts in a highly competitive market and provides the incentive for us to continue investing in innovations that promote the peace of mind every person expects.” Eisen added Mastercard would “continue to work to update our processes to comply with the consent order and provide even greater choice.”

The FTC plans to collect comments from the public before voting to finalize the order against Mastercard.

 

Twitter says it’s working on bringing back the #ThereIsHelp banner, a feature that pointed users to suicide prevention hotlines and other safety resources when searching for certain content. On Friday, Reuters reported that the company had removed the safety tool earlier in the week on orders from Elon Musk.

After the outlet published its story, Ella Irwin, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, confirmed the removal but said it was temporary. “We have been fixing and revamping our prompts. They were just temporarily removed while we do that,” she told Reuters. “We expect to have them back up next week.”

On Saturday morning, Musk denied Twitter had ever removed the feature. “The message is actually still up. This is fake news,” Musk wrote on Twitter, adding, “Twitter doesn’t prevent suicide.” When Engadget tired searching for terms like “suicide” and “COVID-19” on Saturday afternoon, the banner did not appear.

Moving forward, Irwin told Reuters Twitter plans to adopt an approach used by Google. She said the company “does really well with these in their search results and [we] are actually mirroring some of their approach with the changes we are making.”

The disappearance of the #ThereIsHelp banner, even if it was only momentary, led to criticism of Twitter from some consumer safety advocates. Eirliani Abdul Rahman, a former member of the company’s recently dissolved Trust and Safety council, told Reuters she found the event “extremely disconcerting and profoundly disturbing.” Rahman also pointed out companies typically work on safety features “in parallel,” leaving existing ones in place before replacing them.

In the US, you can reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988 or 800-273-8255.

 

Apple has stopped rolling out an optional Home app upgrade after users began reporting issues with the software. “We temporarily removed the option to upgrade to the new Home architecture,” the company says on a support page spotted by MacRumors. “The option to upgrade will return soon. If you already upgraded, you are unaffected by this change.”

Released as a part of iOS 16.2 and macOS Ventura 13.1 on December 13th, the recalled update was an upgrade to HomeKit’s underlying architecture. Apple said the rewrite would make the platform “more reliable and efficient.” However, some of those who installed the software quickly encountered issues, including select Siri terms not working correctly and their smart home devices not showing up within the Home app. MacRumors was one of the first publications to spot that Apple had removed the option to install the upgrade. The company later confirmed the move after The Verge contacted it.

“We are aware of an issue that may impact the ability for users to share the Home within the Home app. A fix will be available soon,” an Apple spokesperson told the outlet. “In the meantime, we’ve temporarily removed the option to upgrade to the new Home architecture. Users who have already upgraded will not be impacted.” If you’ve already installed the new architecture, you’ll need to wait for Apple to release a fix for the software; there’s no option to revert to the older framework.

 

Once again, AMD is ready to take on NVIDIA’s latest video cards with powerful alternatives at a lower price. And once again, AMD still lags behind when it comes to ray tracing. That’s pretty much the story behind the Radeon RX 7900 XT and 7900 XTX, two confusingly-named GPUs meant to be the pinnacle of AMD’s new RDNA 3 graphics architecture. At $899 and $999, respectively, these cards are certainly easier to stomach than NVIDIA’s $1,199 RTX 4080 and the monstrously expensive $1,599 RTX 4090 (both of which actually sell for far more at most stores).

For the most part, AMD’s new cards deliver solid 4K gaming performance, especially with the help of the company’s FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) upscaling technology. It’s just a shame that you’ll have to live with slower ray tracing performance than the competition. (On the bright side, they offer a major ray tracing upgrade over AMD’s last batch of Radeon GPUs.)

So what makes these cards so special? They’re the first GPU’s built on a chiplet-based design, similar to AMD’s latest CPUs. That should allow AMD to tweak its designs easily down the line, making it simpler to scale RDNA 3 down to laptops and lower-end GPUs. The 7900 XTX and XT feature a 5nm compute die and a 6nm memory die connected by a 5.3 TB/s interconnect. Together, that means they can reach up to 61 teraflops of computing power and utilize up to 24GB of GDDR6 RAM.

AMD also claims it beefed up ray tracing performance by 50 percent per compute unit, compared to its previous RDNA 2 architecture. Its video engine has been upgraded with support for AV1 encoding and decoding at up to 8K/60fps. That format isn’t widely adopted yet, but it aims to deliver better video compression for 4K and 8K footage compared to existing codecs like H.264.

True to their names, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and XT aren’t very different. The top-end XTX sports 96 compute units, the same amount of ray accelerators and clock speeds between 2.3Ghz and 2.5GHz. The XT, meanwhile, offers 84 compute and ray tracing units and clocks between 2GHz and 2.4GHz. The higher end card comes equipped with 24GB of GDDR6 RAM, compared to 20GB on the XT. (Notably, they both offer more memory than the 16GB RTX 4080.) 

Given their similarities though, it’s unclear why anyone would opt to save $100 for the 7900 XT. If you’re willing to spend close to $1,000 on a video card, you might as well go full-tilt and grab as much memory and power as you can. It would have been nice to see something slightly cheaper from AMD, even if it meant delivering a card that’s a bit slower than the 7900 XT.

The reference GPUs we’re reviewing look and feel like premium components, as we’ve come to expect from AMD’s flagship cards. Most importantly, though, they only take up two slots on your motherboard, whereas the enormous RTX 4080 and 4090 take up three. The 7900 XT and XTX also rely on two 8-pin power connections, so you won’t need to string any new PSU cables or cram in a dongle like with NVIDIA’s cards. The 7900 XTX requires an 850-watt power supply, thanks to its starting power draw of 355W, while the XT model can work with a 750W PSU. Both cards hovered around 66C under load, which was right between what we saw on the RTX 4080 and 4090.

While I was eager to see how these new GPUs compared to NVIDIAs, I had to go through several rounds of driver and motherboard BIOS updates on my Ryzen 9 7900X before both cards were stable enough to actually use. That’s something I occasionally run into when testing cutting-edge hardware (NVIDIA’s cards also required a BIOS update), but there were still issues with AMD’s cards even after that. Halo Infinite, for example, refused to launch matches with either card. Sometimes my PC would completely shut down while testing Cyberpunk 2077, which required me to unplug my desktop and reset my BIOS before Windows would boot again.

I’ve been benching AMD and NVIDIA video cards on this PC, equipped with a premium Corsair 1000W PSU, for the past several months without any stability issues. So it was a surprise to see just how much havoc these GPUs could wreak. I haven’t seen other reviews complaining of similar issues, so I’ll chalk up my experience to early drivers. AMD just released a new driver that resolves an issue of high power draw during video encoding, so I’m hoping the company is also trying to address the bugs I’m seeing.

None

3DMark TimeSpy Extreme

Port Royal (Ray Tracing)

Cyberpunk

Blender

AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX

12,969

14,696/68fps

4K FSR RT: 57fps

2,899

AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT

11,688

13,247/61fps

4K FSRT RT: 50fps

3,516

NVIDIA RTX 4080

12,879

17,780/82fps

4K DLSS RT: 74fps

9,310

NVIDIA RTX 4090

16,464

25,405/117.62 fps

4K DLSS RT: 135fps

12,335

AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT

7,713

9,104/42.15fps

N/A

N/A

When the cards ran smoothly, they proved to be fairly competitive with the RTX 4080. The 7900 XTX was on-par with the 4080 when it came to 3DMark’s TimeSpy Extreme benchmark and Geekbench 5’s Compute test. The 7900 XT scored 1,000 points lower on TimeSpy Extreme, which was 3,000 points higher than last year’s RTX 3080 Ti, but it was bested by that NVIDIA card when it came to Geekbench. Hitman 3 also ran blazingly fast on both cards in 4K, reaching 165fps and 180fps when I flipped on FSR upscaling. Much like NVIDIA’s cards, there’s little reason to run any game in 4K without the help of advanced upscaling tech.

The performance gulf between AMD and NVIDIA appeared once I started dabbling with ray tracing. The 7900 XTX and XT scored well below the RTX 4080 in the 3DMark Port Royal benchmark (at least they managed to beat the 3080 Ti). I also only saw around 57fps in Cyberpunk 2077 on the Radeon 7900 XTX while playing in 4K with full ray tracing and AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution technology. Without FSR, that frame rate dipped to an unplayable 25fps. The slower 7900 XT only managed to hit 50fps in 4K with FSR and ray tracing enabled.

Basically, if you’re eager to get a video card that reaches well above 60fps in 4K with ray tracing, you’ll have to look elsewhere. But if you can live with 1,440p, you’ll find more to like: The 7900 XTX reached 130fps in Cyberpunk with ray tracing, FSR and graphics settings maxed, while the 7900 XT hit 114fps. That’s almost enough to max out a 120Hz gaming monitor! Personally, I still find 4K gaming to be overrated — 1,440p still looks great, and you may never notice the benefits of pushing more pixels. But I’ll admit that I’ve been spoiled by NVIDIA’s DLSS3 upscaling technology, which allowed me to hit 74fps in Cyberpunk while playing in 4K with ray tracing. That’s as close to gaming heaven as I’ve ever been.

But there’s one thing you’ll find with these AMD GPUs that you won’t with NVIDIA’s: Reasonable street prices. Even after their launch, you can still snag the 7900XT and XTX close to retail. Many RTX 4080 models, meanwhile, are inching towards $1,500 at online retailers (assuming you can find them in stock at all). Spending close to $1,000 on a video card is still hard to stomach, but at least it makes more sense than going all the way to $1,500.

The Radeon RX 7900 XTX and XT are a solid step forward for AMD, especially when it comes to 4K gaming. But I’m hoping the company can get its driver situation in order, and perhaps eke out better ray tracing performance in the process. Most gamers are still better off waiting for AMD and NVIDIA’s next-gen mid-range cards, which are sure to be launching soon. But if you’re an avowed AMD fan, you’ve finally got the high-end upgrade you’ve been waiting for.

 

After a long delay, Sports Story is now available on Nintendo Switch. Fans of Golf Story have been awaiting the follow-up for quite some time. Sports Story was initially supposed to arrive on the console in 2020, but as has been the case with so many games over the last few years, it was delayed.

Sports Story features many of the same characters as Golf Story. It follows the events of the previous game and it has a similar blend of sports, role-playing and adventuring. You’ll still get to play some golf in this one, and you can partake in tennis, soccer, BMX and (unsurprisingly, given that this is an RPG) fishing. You can also explore dungeons and abandoned ruins or simply hang out at the mall.

Nintendo said last month that Sports Story would arrive sometime in December, and that held true. The company announced the sudden debut of Sidebar Games’ latest title to close out a week of bite-sized indie game updates. Mortal Shell and dreamy puzzle game Melatonin were among the other surprise releases on Switch this week. Nintendo also revealed that a Risk of Rain remake, the charming-looking The Gecko Gods and the absolutely delightful dog photography game Pupperazzi are all coming to the console next year.

 

The iPhone 14 Pro’s A16 Bionic chip uses a similar architecture to the A15 in the iPhone 13 Pro, but that was only Apple’s fallback plan, according to a report from The Information. The company wanted to add a next-generation GPU that supports ray tracing, but the silicon team discovered crucial design mistakes late in development. It allegedly had to scrap its plans and opt for the A16 we got.

The botched plans can reportedly be traced back to Apple’s silicon engineers being “too ambitious with adding new features.” The planned 2022 silicon would have supported ray tracing, the technique that makes light in video games behave as it does in real life. Software simulations had suggested it was feasible, and the company moved forward with prototyping. But test hardware drew more power than the engineers had expected, which would have hurt battery life and overheated the device.

Because Apple caught the mistakes late in development, it had to scrap the plans for this generation and opt instead for the A16 that shipped this fall. (In Apple’s September keynote, rather than puffing up the new chip’s monumental gains, as it typically does, it only briefly mentioned that the GPU had 50 percent more memory bandwidth.) The report’s sources described the screwup as “unprecedented in the group’s history.”

The Information‘s report connects this incident to bigger-picture struggles within the Apple Silicon team. It details the effective but highly demanding leadership under the senior vice president of Hardware Technologies, Johny Srouji. He runs the group “like a well-oiled machine,” but it’s also struggled with the limits of Moore’s law and a talent exodus to startups and rival chip makers. It allegedly lost the most talent to Nuvia, founded by former Apple chip designer Gerard Williams III — a well-liked leader among Apple’s silicon engineers. (Qualcomm bought Nuvia in 2021.) The designer who replaced Williams, Mike Filippo, then “clashed with engineers” before leaving to join Microsoft. Apple hasn’t yet replaced him. Additionally, the company reportedly tried to limit the talent exodus by showing presentations to engineers highlighting the riskiness of working for chip startups, warning that most fail.

 

Microsoft has filed a formal response to a Federal Trade Commission antitrust lawsuit that seeks to block it from buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. It pushed back against the agency’s claims that the takeover would harm competition in the gaming industry. The company argued that consumers would benefit. “The commission cannot meet its burden of showing that the transaction would leave consumers worse off, because the transaction will allow consumers to play Activision’s games on new platforms and access them in new and more affordable ways,” Microsoft wrote.

The FTC asserted earlier this month that, should the deal close, it “would enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business.” The agency pointed to Microsoft making some titles from Bethesda (whose parent company ZeniMax it bought last year) exclusive to its own platforms.

In the filing, Microsoft acknowledged that it planned to make three future Bethesda titles exclusive to Xbox and PC. The names of those games were redacted, but Starfield and Redfall will only be available on Xbox, PC and Xbox Cloud Gaming, while the FTC claimed in its complaint that Microsoft plans to make Elder Scrolls VI an exclusive as well.

One of the major sticking points about the deal is the future of Call of Duty. In an attempt to appease regulators, Microsoft has pledged to keep Call of Duty on competitors’ platforms for at least 10 years if the acquisition closes, and to bring the blockbuster franchise to Nintendo consoles. Sony hasn’t taken Microsoft up on that deal, however.

“The acquisition of a single game by the third-place console manufacturer cannot upend a highly competitive industry. That is particularly so when the manufacturer has made clear it will not withhold the game,” Microsoft wrote. “The fact that Xbox’s dominant competitor has thus far refused to accept Xbox’s proposal does not justify blocking a transaction that will benefit consumers.”

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard both claim that keeping Call of Duty away from other platforms wouldn’t make sense. Activision said in its own filing that making the franchise exclusive “would be disastrous for Xbox,” as it would lose billions in game sales and give up “a massive portion of the gamers that Activision has worked so hard to attract and retain.” It added that “in a world with nearly unlimited gaming alternatives, making Call of Duty exclusive is not a plausible outcome.”

Both companies took issue with the FTC, with Microsoft claiming that its procedures are unconstitutional. “The structure of these administrative proceedings, in which the commission both initiates and finally adjudicates the complaint against Microsoft, violates Microsoft’s Fifth Amendment Due Process right to adjudication before a neutral arbiter,” Microsoft said in reference to the agency’s decision to file the complaint in its own administrative court, rather than in a federal one. The company also argued that hearing the case in the FTC’s administrative court “violates Article III of the US Constitution and the separation of powers.”

Activision asserted that by disregarding the supposed benefits to consumers and focusing “on supposed harms to Xbox’s deep-pocketed competitors,” the FTC was straying from the “underlying purpose” of antitrust laws to protect competition instead of competitors. It said the agency was “blinded by ideological skepticism of high-value technology deals and by complaints from competitors” and that it “lost sight of the realities of the intensely competitive gaming industry.”

Nevertheless, Microsoft wants to agree on conditions with the FTC and other regulators that will lead to them rubberstamping the deal. “Even with confidence in our case, we remain committed to creative solutions with regulators that will protect competition, consumers and workers in the tech sector. As we’ve learned from our lawsuits in the past, the door never closes on the opportunity to find an agreement that can benefit everyone,” Microsoft president and vice chair Brad Smith said.

“There is no sensible, legitimate reason for our transaction to be prevented from closing. Our industry has enormous competition and few barriers to entry. We have seen more devices than ever before enabling players a wide range of choices to play games,” Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said in a statement to Engadget. “Engines and tools are freely available to developers large and small. The breadth of distribution options for games has never been more widespread. We believe we will prevail on the merits of the case.”

The deadline for the acquisition to close is in July. If it hasn’t done so by then, Microsoft and Activision will need to renegotiate the deal or abandon it — Microsoft would then face a breakup fee of as much as $3 billion. As Axios notes, though, the FTC’s antitrust case is set to go before its administrative court on August 2nd. In the meantime, the agency could still seek a preliminary injunction in federal court to stop the deal from closing.

The proposed acquisition is also facing scrutiny from regulators in the UK and the European Union. The jurisdictions’ respective competition agencies are expected to issue rulings on the deal in the first half of 2023.

 

While it’s a bit late for most tech gifts to ship in time for Christmas, there are still many deals going on for those looking to buy something nice for themselves. Apple’s AirPods Pro, for one, are down to an all-time low of $200, while Sony’s WF-1000XM4 earbuds are still at a low of $178. Several recommended gamepads from 8BitDo are on sale, as are various well-regarded OLED TVs from LG. And if you’re a PC gamer, both Steam and the Epic Games Store have kicked off sweeping holiday sales on their respective storefronts. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.

Apple AirPods Pro

Apple’s AirPods Pro have dropped back to $200 at multiple retailers, which matches the lowest price we’ve tracked and comes in about $30 below the pair’s usual going rate over the last few months. We gave the AirPods Pro a review score of 88 earlier this year and currently recommend them as the “best for iOS” pick in our guide to the best wireless earbuds. The sound quality and active noise cancellation (ANC) here are among the better options on the market, as is the included transparency mode. Plus, like all AirPods, they offer a host of features that make them particularly convenient to use with other Apple devices. Their call quality and six-ish hours of battery life are just average, however.

Buy AirPods Pro (2nd gen) at Amazon – $200

Sony WF-1000XM4

If you don’t own an iPhone, the top overall pick in our best wireless earbuds guide is Sony’s WF-1000XM4, which is also on sale for $178, matching the lowest price we’ve seen. We gave this pair a review score of 86 last year, praising its upper-tier ANC, solid yet customizable sound quality, 8- to 10-hour battery life and array of useful bonus features. The earpieces here are on the bulkier side, so they might not fit all ear shapes comfortably, but they do isolate an impressive amount of noise even without the ANC turned on. If you’re on a tighter budget, meanwhile, Anker’s Soundcore Space A40 is another noise-canceling set we like that’s on sale for a new low of $60 at Target. 

Buy Sony WF-1000XM4 at Amazon – $178

8BitDo game controllers

8BitDo’s Pro 2 gamepad is down to $40, which is a $10 discount and tied for the best price we’ve tracked. This is a comfortable and extensively customizable wireless controller we’ve recommended in past gift guides. It doesn’t work with PlayStation and Xbox consoles, but if you need a spare gamepad for Switch, PC or mobile devices, it’s arguably a better value than Nintendo’s Switch Pro Controller. Just note that it can’t wake the Switch up from sleep mode, if you plan on using it with that console.

If you’re willing to pay more for a controller with Hall effect joysticks, which are traditionally more resistant to drift over time, or if you prefer an Xbox-style layout, 8BitDo’s Ultimate Controller is also on sale for $63. While that’s only $7 off its typical price, this is the first discount we’ve seen for the recently-launched device. For those who play lots of retro-style games, meanwhile, the company’s Sn30 Pro is like a more modern version of an old Super Nintendo pad, and it’s currently $10 off at $35.

Buy 8BitDo Pro 2 at Amazon – $40Buy 8BitDo Ultimate Controller at Amazon – $63Buy 8BitDo Sn30 Pro at Amazon – $35

PS5 DualSense Wireless Controller

If you need a spare gamepad for your PlayStation 5, Sony’s DualSense controller is still available for an all-time low of $49 at various retailers, including Amazon, GameStop, Walmart, Adorama, Target and Best Buy. The sale applies to several color finishes and comes out to a $20 or $25 discount depending on which model you choose. The DualSense itself isn’t as convenient on PCs as the 8BitDo pads above or Microsoft’s Xbox Series X/S controller (which is down to $40), but it still provides a comfortable shape and impressive haptic feedback for newer PlayStation games.

Buy PS5 DualSense Controller at Amazon – $49Buy PS5 DualSense Controller at GameStop – $49

Apple MacBook Air

Apple’s latest MacBook Air is still on sale for $999 at B&H, matching the lowest price we’ve seen. Normally, Apple sells this version, which includes 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, for $1,199, though we’ve seen it fall to $1,049 a number of times in recent months. Either way, the M2-powered Air is the top pick in our guide to the best laptops, and we gave it a glowing review score of 96 earlier this year. As an everyday notebook, it gives little to complain about, but note that this entry-level configuration has slower storage performance than Apple’s higher-priced SKUs. Still, if you aren’t planning to do more involved work like editing high-resolution videos, this shouldn’t be a major hindrance on a day-to-day basis. Just be aware that B&H says this deal is set to end later Friday afternoon.

Buy MacBook Air M2 at B&H – $999

Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2

A configuration of Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Go 2 with a Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD is on sale for a new low of $600. That’s about $100 off this model’s typical street price as of late. We gave the 12.4-inch notebook a review score of 86 back in June and currently recommend it in our guide to the best affordable Windows laptops. The main appeal here is in the design, as the Surface Laptop Go 2’s slim and lightweight chassis, comfortable keyboard and bright display lend it a classier feel than most options in this price range. Its performance is quick enough for casual work, too, but don’t expect a powerhouse, and the keyboard is unfortunately devoid of backlighting.

Buy Surface Laptop Go 2 at Amazon – $600

Steam Winter Sale

It’s a good time to be a PC gamer (or Steam Deck owner), as Steam and the Epic Games Store have kicked off their annual holiday sales. Both promotions are scheduled to run until January 5. There are simply too many deals for us to run down everything, but some highlights on Steam include the acclaimed action-RPG Elden Ring down to $42, the cutesy cat adventure Stray for $24, the sharply written Disco Elysium for $10, the VR shooter Half-Life: Alyx for $24 and a bundle that includes a bunch of Valve-made games for $7. Several other picks from our best PC games guide are also on sale.

Epic’s sale doesn’t cover as many games, but it does include a recurring coupon that takes 25 percent off any purchase you make over $15. This can save you a few bucks if you aren’t beholden to Steam: The PC port of 2018’s God of War, for instance, is down to $23 at Epic with the coupon, but only down to $30 at Steam. For console owners, note that PlayStation and Xbox are running holiday sales as well, though the deals there are generally ones we’ve seen several times throughout the year.

Shop Winter Sale at SteamShop Holiday Sale at Epic Games Store

LG OLED TVs

If you’re looking to upgrade your TV, a handful of LG’s well-regarded OLED sets are down to all-time lows. The 42-inch model of LG’s C2 TV, for instance, is down to $797 at Amazon, which is about $200 off its usual going rate. (If you’d rather not shop through Amazon, BuyDig is throwing in a $40 gift card on top of the discount.) This model can’t get as bright as the QD-OLED panel on Samsung’s S95B OLED TV, so it’s best suited in dark or moderately-lit rooms, but it still provides the deep black levels, high contrast and wide viewing angles you’d expect from a high-end OLED display. 

If you need something larger, the 65-inch LG B2 is down to $1,099 at Walmart (via authorized dealer Beach Camera), which is again roughly $200 off the price we’ve seen for most of the last couple of months. The B2 is a step down from the C2 with lesser HDR performance and a slower processor, but at this price it still offers excellent picture quality. Beyond that, the 48-inch LG A2 is back down to a low of $570 at Best Buy. This is the cheapest route into an LG OLED panel, but note that it’s limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and lacks HDMI 2.1 ports, reducing its appeal for gaming.

Buy LG C2 42-inch at Amazon – $797Buy LG B2 65-inch at Walmart – $1,099Buy LG A2 48-inch at Best Buy – $570

Apple Magic Keyboard

Apple’s Magic Keyboard for the iPad Air and 11-inch iPad Pro is still on sale for $210, which isn’t an all-time low but still $65 off the peripheral’s average street price in recent months. We gave the Magic Keyboard a review score of 84 back in 2020, and it still offers a comfortable typing experience, smooth trackpad and extra USB-C port to those who’d like to use their iPad more like a laptop. The main hangup is that it’s wildly expensive, but this deal lessens the burden at least somewhat.

Buy Apple Magic Keyboard 11-inch at Amazon – $210

Audible Premium Plus 

Amazon is running a promotion that lets new subscribers get four months of Amazon’s Audible Premium Plus audiobook service for $5.95 per month. Normally, you’d have to pay $14.95 a month after a 30-day free trial. This offer has been available for the past several weeks, but we’re noting it here because it’s set to end on December 31. 

As a reminder, Premium Plus is Audible’s upper tier: In addition to granting you access to the full Audible library, it lets you keep one title from a curated selection of audiobooks each month. It’s not an essential upgrade for most, but if you’ve been thinking of giving Audible a try, this is a decent way to see if the plan works for you. Just note that your membership will be set to auto-renew by default. 

Buy Audible Premium Plus 4-month at Amazon – $5.95/month

Samsung Smart Monitor M8

Samsung’s Smart Monitor M8 is still available for $400, which is an all-time low and roughly $180 below the 32-inch monitor’s average street price in recent months. This is a decent VA panel with a 4K resolution, but its big selling point is that it can double as a sort of tuner-less smart TV. Since it runs Samsung’s Tizen interface, it’s able to stream apps like Netflix, HBO Max and the like even when it’s not hooked up to a PC. It comes with a remote, webcam, mic and built-in speakers, and it can serve as a SmartThings hub. If you know you’ll actually use that smart TV functionality, the M8 is among the most versatile monitors you can buy, even if it’s limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and lacks local dimming.

Buy Samsung Smart Monitor M8 at Amazon – $400Buy Samsung Smart Monitor M8 at Samsung – $400

Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro

Earlier this year, we gave Google’s Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro review scores of 90 and 92, respectively, calling them the “best bargain in flagship phones” in the process. Both handsets are back on sale this week, with the 128GB Pixel 7 available from $499 and the Pixel 7 Pro down to $749 for the same amount of storage. We’ve seen these deals before, and neither marks an all-time low, but they’re still about $65 and $95 off the devices’ respective street prices over the last few months. 

Between the two, the 6.3-inch Pixel 7 gets a bit more battery life, while the 6.7-inch Pixel 7 Pro has a faster 120Hz refresh rate. Both phones, though, get you top-notch cameras, vibrant OLED displays, and a clean take on Android that’ll receive version updates through late 2025. They aren’t quite as powerful as something like Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra, but at these prices they carry strong value.

Buy Pixel 7 at Amazon – $499Buy Pixel 7 Pro at Amazon – $749

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

 

The past year was stellar for handheld gaming, no matter the size of your actual hands. Between the Steam Deck, Playdate and an explosion of retro consoles, we received an embarrassing amount of mobile gaming goodness in 2022, and cloud play is only encouraging more innovation. Even though Sony still hasn’t revived the Vita, it feels like the handheld market is in the throes of a renaissance — so let’s celebrate the milestones of the year right here.

December is a historic month for handheld gaming. Sony released the PlayStation Portable in Japan on December 12th, 2004, and then debuted the Vita in Japan on December 17th, 2011. Both of these consoles were hits with players, critics and developers, but a disorganized marketing scheme and failed cloud ambitions kept Sony from investing in handheld gaming after the Vita. RIP, etc. Basically, for the past decade we’ve been waiting (very patiently, mind you) for a breakthrough mobile device to finally make this industry viable again.

Finally in 2022, the handheld market is flush. The Switch paved the way for mobile play over the past few years, and massive corporations like Valve are finally getting in on the action. Cloud gaming has found its foothold, and the market for portable Android and Linux devices is buzzing, with major names like Razer getting involved. Meanwhile, more underground companies like Analogue, Ayaneo and Panic are quietly churning out high-quality handhelds for retro, PC and indie gaming.

But of course, Valve’s Steam Deck dominated the portable conversation in 2022. The Steam Deck is big, it’s heavy, it doesn’t have a great battery life – and it’s everything PC players have been waiting for, apparently. Valve started rolling out the Steam Deck in February, and by October it had shipped more than 1 million of these beasts across the western world, with plans to expand into additional regions. Steam Deck comes in three flavors ranging from $400 to $650, which makes it more affordable than existing handheld PC devices from companies like Ayaneo. It comes with Steam pre-installed, but it’ll also run Windows if you really want to spend an afternoon screaming why? at the machine in your lap.

Imperfect though it may be, Steam Deck proved there’s heat in the handheld PC market in 2022. It’s a relatively accessible way to play PC games on a portable screen, and it successfully combines the Steam software with decades of hardware research at Valve. The Steam Deck is a great start from a company that’s known to lose focus easily, so hopefully it doesn’t all end here.

Even if Valve gets too distracted to make a Steam Deck 2.0, plenty of other companies are eager to pick up the thread in the mobile PC space. The most prominent name is Ayaneo, a brand that took off in 2021 thanks to an Indiegogo campaign that raised more than $2 million. Today, Ayaneo is continuing to iterate on its original PC device with sleek, Switch-sized machines capable of running titles from Steam, the Epic Games Store, Game Pass and other hubs. The Ayaneo Air Pro starts at $700 and can technically handle high-fidelity games, though you’ll likely have to lower your framerate, resolution and expectations. The beefiest Ayaneo, the Next Pro, starts at $1,500 and it’ll run anything a Steam Deck can, but without the extra bulk.

Ayaneo makes extremely cute gadgets and the company is emerging as Valve’s main competitor for portable PC glory. The Ayaneo 2 is poised to pack even more power into a sleek package, though it’ll have a price tag of $1,000, at least. The exciting thing here is that there’s actual competition in the handheld space – companies are investing in mobile hardware more than ever, and not just when it comes to PC play. Recent upgrades in mobile processors are powering a ton of new devices built specifically for retro and cloud gaming.

At the end of 2022, the market for retro handhelds is lush, covering every era from NES to GameCube at relatively affordable prices. On the NES to PSP side of things, this year we got the Miyoo Mini and Retroid Pocket 3: The Miyoo Mini costs about $60 and has a modern dual-core processor that can handle even some PS1 games, while the Pocket 3 is an Android-powered handheld that costs $120. For more modern emulation experiences, there’s the Odin by Ayn, which can run PS2 and GameCube titles at 1080p on a 5.9-inch screen. The Odin costs between $200 and $290, depending on the model. For retro handhelds, the general rule is the hardware gets more expensive as the era progresses.

In the honorable mention section, we have the Analogue Pocket, which plays actual physical cartridges from the Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance, and is unsurprisingly about the size of a classic Game Boy. Analogue started shipping the Pocket at the end of 2021 and it enjoyed a sold-out year, with more orders and accessories due in 2023. Pocket is a special little handheld that breathes new life into classic cartridge libraries, and it comes with a price tag of $220 – which is just about what a Game Boy would cost in today’s coin.

OK, that’s enough about the past. If 2022 has proven anything, it’s that portable gaming has a strong future, and this is going to include cloud and phone play. Cloud technology has finally become reliable enough that even Sony figured it out this year, and Microsoft has continued to grow its enormous cloud network, which is intrinsically tied to Game Pass. Our slowly encroaching subscription-based future has created a rich environment for Android- and Linux-based handhelds that don’t need a ton of on-board processing power, as the Steam Deck does. Logitech recently dropped the G Cloud Gaming Handheld, which costs $350, while the Razer Edge is an Android-based handheld starting at $400 and expected to start shipping in January.

This year Razer also released the Kishi V2, which is a $100 gamepad that essentially turns your smartphone into a cloud gaming device. Backbone makes a similar product for iPhone and Android players, and this year the company rolled out an officially licensed PlayStation gamepad just for iPhone. As mobile processors continue to evolve and cloud technology further stabilizes, smartphone gaming is only going to grow as an industry, and already mainstream entertainment companies like Netflix are joining the fray. Netflix specifically has ushered acclaimed games like Kentucky Route Zero, Into the Breach and Spiritfarer onto mobile devices this year, and it’s introduced gems like Poinpy and Hello Kitty Happiness Parade.

Finally, I’d like to take a moment to honor Playdate. This brilliant business-card-sized indie gaming machine came out in April; it costs $180, it has a crank, and it doesn’t fit into any existing video game category. Playdate exemplifies innovation. It’s an open-source, crank-powered piece of magic offering some of the most unique experiences the video game industry has to offer, distilled on a miniscule, monochromatic screen. Playdate is pure joy in a tiny yellow package, and for me, it’s the standout handheld of 2022.

And that’s a wrap. Here’s to you, handheld gaming. Thank you for a fantastic year, and may the momentum of 2022 continue to generate creative ideas in this space. To the years and games ahead, cheers.

 

One of the most convenient things about Apple’s AirPods is their ability pair quickly with other Apple devices. But sometimes things don’t always go as planned — Bluetooth connections get interrupted, a snafu occurs and you may find yourself scratching your head a bit before you can listen to your favorite playlist. To help in those situations, we’ve put together a guide to getting your AirPods to pair up with your iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. We’ve also included advice on how to connect your buds to non-Apple devices, as well as how to reset your AirPods if you ever need to start from scratch.

How to connect AirPods to an iPhone or iPad

If you’re trying to pair your AirPods to a new iPhone or iPad, and your buds are already connected to an older model, the connection should automatically transfer to your new device, provided you use the same Apple ID on your new device.

New AirPods, on the other hand, should automatically pair with your iPhone or iPad simply by holding the AirPods case near your device with the lid open. When an image of your new AirPods appears at the bottom of the screen tap the Connect button.

But that doesn’t always happen. If your AirPods don’t automatically connect, follow these steps:

1. Swipe down from the upper right corner of your iPhone or iPad’s screen to open the Control Center.

2. Long press the Bluetooth icon to expand the connections window. (Don’t tap, as this toggles Bluetooth on and off.)

3. Long press the Bluetooth icon again.

4. With your AirPods in the case and the case lid open, bring them near your iPhone. If your AirPods show up in the list of Bluetooth devices, tap their name. If they don’t show up, tap Bluetooth Settings at the bottom of the window.

5. With your AirPods in the case and the case lid open, press and hold the button at the back of the case until the light at the front of the case flashes white. When you see AirPods in the list of devices, tap their name to connect.

6. If your AirPods still don’t connect, go back to your home screen (swipe up from the bottom edge of your screen), close the lid on the AirPods, wait 15 seconds, then try the steps again. Make sure both your phone and AirPods are charged and you’re running the most recent version of iOS, which you can check by going to the Settings app, scrolling down to General and tapping on Software Update.

How to connect AirPods to a Mac

Unlike iPads and iPhones, Macs don’t automatically connect to AirPods. To connect them manually, follow these steps:

1. Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your screen, select System Preferences, then click the Bluetooth icon.

2. With your AirPods in the case and the case open, bring them near your Mac and press and hold the button on the back of the case until the small light on the front of the case flashes white.

3. Your AirPods should show up in the Bluetooth window on your Mac. Click the Connect button to pair your AirPods.

4. If your AirPods don’t show up in the Bluetooth dialog box, shut the AirPods case and wait 15 seconds, then open the case and press the back button again. You may have to try the pairing process a few times before your AirPods show up on the list. If you still have trouble, make sure the AirPods are fully charged and you have the latest OS version installed on your Mac. Restarting your computer can also help.

How to connect AirPods to an Apple Watch

Like connections with iPhones and iPads, pairing your AirPods to your Apple Watch typically happens automatically. If you need to manually link them, follow these steps:

1. Depress the crown to bring up your Home Screen, aka the screen that shows all your apps. If you have grid view turned on, drag the grid around until you find Settings. If you have list view enabled, scroll or turn the crown to find the Settings icon. (Apps appear in alphabetical order.)

2. In Settings, scroll down to Bluetooth and tap on it. You should see a list of available nearby Bluetooth devices, regardless of whether they’re connected.

3. With your AirPods in the case and the case lid open, bring your AirPods near your watch. Tap the name of your AirPods in the list of Bluetooth devices. They should automatically connect.

4. If they don’t automatically connect, make sure both your AirPods and Apple Watch are charged. Check that your Apple Watch is updated to the latest software version, which, again, you can do by navigating to Settings, tapping General and then Software Update. Finally, make sure Bluetooth is turned on, which is a toggle switch at the bottom of the Bluetooth menu.

Other Bluetooth devices

Your AirPods and AirPods Pro will connect to many Bluetooth-enabled, non-Apple devices. You won’t be able to use Siri, but you can hear and talk, and the press-to-pause button on the stem typically still works. While some devices will vary, the procedure for most devices is as follows:

Open the Bluetooth menu on your device. For Chromebook, this is in the Quick Settings panel. For Windows, it’s in the Settings section of your Start menu. On Android phones, swipe down from the top of the screen and long press the Bluetooth icon.

With your AirPods in the case and the lid open, bring your AirPods near your device.

When your AirPods show up in the list of Bluetooth devices, tap their name.

If the AirPods don’t show up, keep the lid open and press the button at the back of the case until the light at the front flashes white.

When your AirPods appear in the list, tap their name. If they don’t appear, make sure your earbuds and device are charged. Shut the lid for 30 seconds and try again. Restarting your device and repeating the process can also help.

How to switch AirPods between devices

As of iOS 14, AirPods and AirPods Pro automatically switch between your iPhone and iPad, depending on which device is playing audio. For example, if you’re watching a show on your iPad and you get a call on your iPhone, the AirPods will switch over to your phone to answer the call.

If you want to manually switch your AirPods from device to another, follow these steps. Of course, these instructions only apply if you’ve already connected your AirPods to the device. If you haven’t done that, follow the steps above.

On an iPhone or iPad:

To make your AirPods switch to your iPhone or iPad, follow the same steps one through three in the pairing instructions above, with a different step four:

Swipe down from the upper right corner of your iPhone or iPad’s screen to open the control center.

Long press the Bluetooth icon to expand the connections window. (Don’t tap, as this toggles Bluetooth on and off.)

Long press the Bluetooth icon again.

In the list of devices that appears, select your AirPods.

On a Mac:

Switching your AirPods to your Mac is easiest to do through the Control Center by following these steps:

1. Click on the Control Center icon in your menu bar in the upper left corner.

2. Click on the text that says “Bluetooth” (not the Bluetooth icon, which toggles Bluetooth on and off). 

3. Select your AirPods from the list of available devices.

On an Apple Watch:

To connect your AirPods to your Apple Watch, follow the same steps one through two in the pairing instructions above, with a different step three:

Press the crown to bring up your home screen and tap on Settings.

Scroll down to Bluetooth and tap on it.

Select your AirPods from the list of devices.

How to reset your AirPods

If your AirPods won’t charge, won’t pair, or if you’re giving your buds to a new owner, you may want to do a factory reset. Here’s how:

Put your AirPods in the case, shut the lid, wait 30 seconds, then open the lid.

Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad and tap on Bluetooth.

Tap the blue, circled “i” next to your AirPods.

Tap Forget This Device at the bottom of the AirPods’ details screen.

Tap the red Forget Device button that appears at the bottom of the screen.

Confirm you want to remove your AirPods in the pop up window.

7. To reconnect your AirPods, don’t navigate away from the Bluetooth screen.

8. Open the lid and bring the case (with your AirPods inside) near your iPhone or iPad.

9. Press and hold the button at the back of the case until the light on the front flashes white.

10. Your AirPods will either show up in the list of Bluetooth devices, or you’ll see a pop up window with an image of the AirPods and a Connect button. Tap your AirPods name or the Connect button.