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The base model Galaxy S23 with 128GB of storage has dropped back down to a record low of $700 at Amazon and Best Buy. It’s dropped to this price a few times before, which is a full $100 off the list price after a 13 percent discount. The deal applies to all four colorways, too, so you can pick between Cream, Green, Lavender or Phantom Black. The bigger 512GB size is also $100 off, making that configuration $760 after a 12 percent discount. If you play a lot of games or take a lot of pics, you may want to go that route. The sale also applies to the larger Galaxy S23+ and the S23 Ultra, which are $150 and $225 off, respectively. 

The Galaxy S23 has a 6.1-inch screen with an extra bright, full-HD display and a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. Three cameras on the back include a 50MP wide-angle, a 10MP telephoto and a 12MP ultra-wide lens. The front-facing selfie cam captures 12MP. It uses the latest generation octa-core Snapdragon 8 processor and has a battery that can handle up to 22 hours of video playback.  

You get a larger, 6.6-inch screen on the S23+ along with a bigger battery that Samsung says can get up to 27 hours. We clocked 25 hours in our rundown tests but that’s still an impressive life for a smartphone — and even beats the S23 Ultra. Our deputy editor Cherlynn Low also called out the vibrant display and fast performance from the Snapdragon 8 gen 2 chip in her review, ultimately saying it “ranks up there as one of the best Android phones around.” The S23+ is currently down to $850 for the 256GB size and $970 in the 512GB capacity. 

As for the S23 Ultra, we named it one of the best Android smartphones and one of the best smartphones in general in our guide. Usually $1,200, the 256GB model is currently $975 after a 19 percent discount at either Amazon or Best Buy. The model with a 512GB storage capacity is down to $1,155 or $225 off the list price. The Ultra received a review score of 89 from our senior review writer, Sam Rutherford. He gave props to the brilliant display, long battery life and overall speedy performance. But what really stood out was the S23 Ultra’s photographic capabilities. Sam has no doubt that the 200MP camera could potentially “film Hollywood-grade movies” but that to get the most out of the impressive cameras and accompanying software, you really need to know what you’re doing. 

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsungs-galaxy-s23-series-is-on-sale-for-as-low-as-700-right-now-171018155.html?src=rss 

The East Coast is receiving an unwelcome taste (and scent) of the climate crisis to come as smoke from massive Canadian wildfires billow out towards the Atlantic ocean. Eerily reminiscent of what the West Coast endured in 2020, the skies above New York City this week have turned a hazy orange, setting AQI scores jumping across the five boroughs. New York on Wednesday ranked as having the second worst air quality on Earth behind Delhi.

That haze is a health hazard, especially to anyone dealing with respiratory disease, asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes, is elderly or an infant. It’s not so great even if your lungs work just fine. Luckily, and I mean that in the most relative sense of the word, we’re coming off the peak of a global pandemic spread through aerosolized exhalations, so New York is already well versed in the practice of masking while in public. That’s good, you’re going to need those skills – and any N95s you’ve still got tucked away – if you set foot outside for the next few days. Goggles too if you have them, fine particulate matter is murder on sensitive eyes.

Unless you reside in a hermetically sealed bro-sized terrarium, the hazy air from outside will eventually make it inside, where the particulate matter can concentrate further. And unless you feel like wearing your N95 non-stop until the firestorm has passed, you’re going to need a way to filter the air in your apartment. 

Sure, you could blow a couple hundred bucks on whatever fancy-pants model Wirecutter is recommending or you could get together some duct tape, a box fan and some good old American Ingenuity™ to build one of your own.

You’ll need three things for this project:

One box fan: Doesn’t matter how big, doesn’t matter how old, doesn’t matter how cheap, just make sure that the side lengths of the fan equal the lengths of the filters, so if you have a 20” box fan, get 20” filters as well. That way everything fits together evenly and you won’t have weird gaps between the panels.

Four AC air filters rated either MERV 13-16 or MPR 1200-2800. These are standardized measures of filter efficiency and indicate that the products can effectively strain 2.5um smoke particles from the ambient air. They’ll even bacteria and viruses if you spring for the higher grade materials.

Tape: The duct variety is always a winner, blue painters tape will also do well.

To construct it, place each filter on its end at a right angle to its neighbor so that all four form a square with the arrow indicators on each filter facing inward. Tape all of them together in this shape, making sure to not cover the actual filter bits with tape. Place the fan on top so that it blows air down into the square you just made and secure it with tape. Plug it in and you’re good to go. Fun fact: This also works wonders for covering the smell of intentionally-generated smoke in dorm rooms, not that I would have experience in such shenanigans.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-to-build-a-box-fan-air-filter-to-escape-the-nyc-smog-172043334.html?src=rss 

Disney+ has set a premiere date of August 23rd for the highly-anticipated Star Wars: Ahsoka series. The show takes place in the same timeline of The Mandalorian, but stars a character that, sort of, goes all the way back to the prequels. Former Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano first appeared in the Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon and her animated adventures continued on with Star Wars: Rebels before finally appearing as live action in season two of The Mandalorian and the first season of The Book of Boba Fett.

Ahsoka is played by Rosario Dawson and it seems the show will be a pseudo-sequel to Rebels, with many characters from that show appearing in live action for the first time. Natasha Liu Bordizzo stars as Sabine Wren, Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Hera Syndulla and Eman Esfandi appears as Ezra Bridger. Also, notorious franchise villain Grand Admiral Thrawn will make his live action debut, still portrayed by Lars Mikkelsen.

The remaining cast includes David Tennant, Diana Lee Inosanto and the recently-deceased Ray Stevenson. There are also plenty of rumors that Hayden Christensen will return as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. For the uninitiated, Ahsoka Tano was Skywalker’s pupil before he started executing Jedi Padawans and blowing up entire planets.

Disney+ has dropped a new trailer for the show that will air on TV tonight during the NBA Finals Game 3. Most of the footage here was already available in the previous trailer, but there are a few new shots here and there. The entire show is being written by franchise co-steward Dave Filoni, who originally created the character for Clone Wars.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/star-wars-ahsoka-premieres-august-23rd-on-disney-172944306.html?src=rss 

Porches, decks, patios, balconies, terraces. Places for dads to find solace from the world around them. Those spots, and backyards overall, are excellent places to cook a meal, have a drink or simply relax. We’ve compiled a list of the best backyard gear for dads this Father’s Day, from smart grills and pizza ovens to fire pits and drinkware. There’s something that can help all dads enjoy a little time outside.

Thermacell EL55

When it comes to portable mosquito repellers, Thermacell’s gear is a favorite amongst the Engadget staff. The company’s newest model, the EL55, is much like the E55 we previously selected. The main difference is the addition of a dimmable light for use after dark. The EL55 will last up to nine hours on a charge with the light off, or up to five and a half hours with it on. Like other recent Thermacell products, the EL55 uses liquid cartridges to offer scentless protection for a 20-foot radius.

Marshall Emberton II

A speaker that looks like a guitar amp might be the perfect option for dads. Let them relive “the good ol’ days” while jamming to yacht rock, ‘80s hair metal and everything in between. The Marshall Emberton II continues the brand’s knack for replicating guitar-gear aesthetics on a Bluetooth speaker. With up to 30 hours of listening time and a “Stack Mode” for pairing it with other speakers, there’s plenty to like here. Expect balanced sound with plenty of low-end tone in a unit that can blast tunes 360 degrees.

Meater+ thermometer

Maybe dad doesn’t need a new grill, but could use some help perfecting his skills or would enjoy monitoring food from afar. Meater+ is a wireless probe that sends food and ambient temperature readings to your phone via Bluetooth. Both sensors are in the same probe, further cutting down on any clutter and giving backyard cooks free access to everything they’re cooking. The Meater software can guide you through the cooking process and provides estimated completion times. And with a rated range of 165 feet, dad can relax and still keep tabs on everything.

Brumate Hopsulator Trio

Every dad can use a way to keep canned beverages cold on a hot day, and Brumate’s Hopsulator Trio functions as a koozie and a travel mug. There are a few different models, but I prefer the Trio’s 3-in-1 abilities. For 16 ounce cans, it’s an insulated aluminum holder. For 12 ounce cans, the Hopsulator comes with a reusable cold puck for even more efficient cooling. And as I mentioned, it comes with a lid so you can use it as a cup if you want. I use mine year round, but it gets the most work during the warmer months when I’m out at the grill or sitting on the deck.

TP-Link Kasa outdoor smart plug

What do you get the dad that has seemingly everything already? Something to make his life easier. TP-Link’s Kasa line offers a range of smart home products, including smart outdoor plugs. These work well for things like patio string lights and other items you’d rather not venture outside to simply plug in. You can control the outlets via the Kasa app or with your voice via Alexa and Google Assistant. The app gives you the ability to set timers to automate things and the IP64 rating means you won’t have to worry about dust or rain.

Traeger Ironwood (2023)

Traeger redesigned its Ironwood grills earlier this year, adding touchscreen controls and a host of design improvements. There’s a lot to like about the new changes, even if it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of the latest Timberline – namely the side-mounted induction burner. The cooking chamber was reconfigured for better efficiency and the company made cleanup easier with a new ash and grease keg system. The Ironwood also utilizes Traeger’s “Pop-and-Lock” rail for tricking out your grill with a range of handy accessories. Most importantly, dad can monitor long cooks from the couch with the company’s app, which also houses a ton of recipes – complete with step-by-step guidance.

Weber Genesis

Weber brought its smart grilling platform to its gas grills in 2021, putting a sous chef on every dad’s phone. With the latest models, the company made some design tweaks to make the grills more versatile, but Weber Connect remains. Via an app, dad can access step-by-step cooking guidance, estimate completion times and even monitor fuel levels (propane models). Weber’s new line of accessories also expand what you can cook, adding things like a pizza stone, roasting basket and flat-top griddle as optional gear for the new Genesis smart grills.

Solo Stove fire pits

I’ve had several fire pits since I bought a house in 2014, and none of them can compete with Solo Stove. The company’s products are designed to channel smoke upward, keeping you from being choked out while you’re trying to enjoy some time outdoors. The pits come in various sizes, so you have options if dad goes camping often or just needs a place to chill in the backyard. The interior design of the Solo Stove pits also facilitates proper airflow, so fires always burn nicely.

Ooni Karu 16

It’s no secret that Ooni’s pizza ovens can help you make restaurant quality pies at home. They’re well built, easy to use and reach cooking temperatures in just a few minutes. The Karu 16 is the company’s latest outdoor model, and it’s also one of the most versatile. You can cook with wood or add a gas burner in order to power your pizza parties. Plus, there’s a viewing window in the front and an ambient temperature display that comes in very handy. The Karu 16 is more expensive than some Ooni models, but it also makes things easier on dad when he’s launching pizzas on the patio.

Brumate Nav 22

Trust me. Even dads who seem to have everything can always use a travel mug. Or in this case, a tumbler. I’ve been a fan of Brumate’s drinkware for a long time, mostly due to how they keep my bevys cold in the summer heat. With the Nav series, the company offers a leak-proof tumbler in a range of sizes (the 22-ounce is the sweet spot for me). In addition to a lid that thwarts spills, the cup itself can keep drinks cold for 24 hours or hot for up to four. What’s more, it’s dishwasher safe and will fit in dad’s cup holder.

BioLite BaseCharge 600

Sometimes dads want to fix things – or simply hang out – where power outlets don’t reach. BioLite’s BaseCharge 600 combines a 622 watt-hour battery with a slew of ports and an informative display panel. When I tested it out, it easily powered a drill and hand sander long enough to finish a simple woodworking project, with plenty of charge left over. And when I pretended to be in a power outage, it kept my laptop, monitor, gateway and lights running for one and a half work days. It recharges from the wall in just over three hours or, for a fully off-grid experience, BioLite’s portable 100-watt solar panels can refill the station to about 75 percent with eight hours of unobstructed sunlight. Combined, the battery and panels cost an epic $1,000, but they are just the sort of cleverly designed gadgets dads tend to love. — Amy Skorheim, Commerce Writer

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-outdoor-gift-ideas-for-dad-154513097.html?src=rss 

It seems like there’s a new update announced every day in the ongoing race to have the most advanced AI. The latest comes courtesy of Google, which is launching further improvements to Bard, including better advanced reasoning and math abilities. 

Bard will no longer rely solely on LLMs, which are best for predictions versus solving complex problems. Instead, it should now identify when further processing could help and then generate background code to improve correctness. According to Google, this update boosted computation-based word and math problems’ accuracy across their internal challenge datasets by 30 percent. 

Google claims Bard should be able to provide information such as the prime factors of numbers in the millions, the growth rate of your savings and what words like “lollipop” look like backward (because that will undoubtedly convince AI naysayers that it’s the ultimate tool). The company, itself, gives a standard disclaimer explaining, “Bard won’t always get it right — for example, Bard might not generate code to help the prompt response, the code it generates might be wrong or Bard may not include the executed code in its response.” 

In addition to integrating code generation, Google has also announced a function that allows allows data that Bard produces to be editable and manipulated in Sheets. It’s a minor update, but one people who hate spreadsheets will undoubtedly appreciate. It’s a minor update, but one that will take some of the stress out of building and maintaining spreadsheets.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/googles-bard-ai-is-getting-better-at-programming-160034882.html?src=rss 

With its seal broken by the release of ChatGPT last November, generative AI has erupted into mainstream society with a ferocity not seen since Pandora’s famous misadventure with the misery box. The technology is suddenly everywhere, with startups and industry leaders alike scrambling to tack this smart feature du jour onto their existing code stacks and shoehorn the transformational promise of machine-generated content into their every app. At this point in the hype cycle you’d be a fool not to shout your genAI accomplishments from the rooftops; it’s quickly become the only way to be heard above the din from all the customizable chatbot and self-producing Powerpoint slide sellers flooding the market.

If Google’s latest I/O conference or Meta’s new dedicated development team were any indication, the tech industry’s biggest players are also getting ready to go all in on genAI. Google’s event was focused on the company’s AI ambitions surrounding Bard and PaLM 2, perhaps even to the detriment of the announced hardware including the Pixel Fold and 7a phones, and Pixel Tablet. From Gmail’s Smart Compose features to Camera’s Real Tone and Magic Editor, Project Tailwind to the 7a’s generative wallpapers, AI was first on the lips of every Alphabet executive to take the Shoreline stage.

If you’d been drinking two fingers every time Apple mentioned it during its WWDC 2023 keynote, however, you’d be stone sober.

Zero — that’s the number of times that an on-stage presenter uttered the phrase “artificial intelligence” at WWDC 2023. The nearest we got to AI was ‘Air’ and the term “machine learning” was said exactly seven times. I know because I had a chatbot count for me.

That’s not to say Apple isn’t investing heavily into AI research and development. The products on display during Tuesday’s keynote were chock full of the tech. The “ducking autocorrect” features are empowered by on-device machine learning, as are the Lock Screen live video (which uses it to synthesize interstitial frames) and the new Journal app’s inspirational personalized writing prompts. The PDF autofill features rely on machine vision systems to understand which fields go where — the Health Apps’ new myopia test does too, just with your kid’s screen distance — while AirPods now tailor your playback settings based on your preferences and prevailing environmental conditions. All thanks to machine learning systems.

It’s just, Apple didn’t talk about it. At least, not directly.

Even when discussing the cutting-edge features in the new Vision Pro headset — whether it’s the natural language processing that goes into its voice inputs, audio ray tracing, the machine-vision black magic or that real-time hand gesture tracking and Optic ID entail — the discussion remained centered on what the headset features can do for users. Not what the headset could do for the state of the art or the race for market superiority.

The closest Apple got during the event to openly describing the digital nuts and bolts that constitute its machine learning systems was its description of the Vision Pro’s Persona feature. With the device’s applications skewing hard toward gaming, entertainment and communication, there was never a chance that we’d get through this without having to make FaceTime calls with these strapped to our heads. Since a FaceTime call where everybody is hidden behind a headset would defeat the purpose of having a video call, Apple is instead leveraging a complex machine learning system to digitally recreate the Vision Pro wearer’s head, torso, arms and hands — otherwise known as their “Persona.”

“After a quick enrollment process using the front sensors on vision pro, the system uses an advanced encoder decoder, neural network to create your digital persona,” Mike Rockwell, VP of Apple’s Technology Development Group, said during the event. “This network was trained on a diverse group of thousands of individuals, it delivers a natural representation which dynamically matches your facial and hand movement.”

AI was largely treated as an afterthought throughout the event rather than a selling point, much to Apple’s benefit. In breaking from the carnival-like atmosphere currently surrounding generative AI developments, Apple not only maintains its aloof and elite branding, it also distances itself from Google’s aggressive promotion of the technology, and also eases skittish would-be buyers into the joys of face-mounted hardware.

Steve Jobs often used the phrase “it just works” to describe the company’s products — implying that they were meant to solve problems, not create additional hassle for users — and it would appear that Apple has rekindled that design philosophy at the dawn of the spatial computing era. In our increasingly dysfunctional, volatile and erratic society, the promise of simplicity and reliability, of something, anything, working as advertised, could be just what Apple needs to get buyers to swallow the Vision Pro’s $3,600 asking price.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/where-was-all-the-ai-at-wwdc-163048564.html?src=rss