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Don’t think you have to pay full price to get the Beats Fit Pro in new colors. Amazon is already selling the true wireless earbuds in Coral Pink and Volt Yellow for $170, or $30 off. The discount doesn’t apply to Tidal Blue, alas, but this still means you can get vibrant hues for less than you’d pay for ‘safer’ options.

The new Beats Fit Pro variants are functionally identical to the originals, but that’s not a bad thing — they’re still our favorite wireless earbuds for workouts. The comfy, stable fit and sweat resistance make them well-suited to the gym. Solid active noise cancellation (ANC) helps you tune out the rest of the world. And importantly, their sound quality is better than you might expect. You’ll get Beats’ signature bass, but it’s balanced and doesn’t overpower higher-frequency elements, Toss in six hours of listening per charge with ANC enabled and these are buds you can use throughout the day.

You may still want to consider other earbuds, such as the AirPods Pro if you find them on sale. There’s no wireless charging on the Beats Fit Pro, and the ANC is stronger on Apple’s higher-end models. And while Beats’ Android support is robust, you may want to look at options like the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro or Pixel Buds Pro if you want something particularly Android-friendly. If those aren’t obstacles, though, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better value.

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

 

It’s a bit of a slow week for tech deals, but we’ve still found a handful of good prices on gadgets and gear we like. For instance, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5, our preferred smartwatch for Android users, is down to a new low of $220, while Apple’s iPad Air is $99 off its MSRP at $500. Sony is running a sale on PS5 and PS4 exclusive games, and a handful of recommended SSDs and microSD cards are down to their best prices to date. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5

The 40mm version of Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 is on sale for $220, which is only about $10 to $15 less than its typical street price in recent months but still represents an all-time low. We gave the Galaxy Watch 5 a review score of 85 last year, and it’s currently the “best for Android users” pick in our guide to the best smartwatches. Its battery life could be better, but we dig its durable, minimalist design, crisp display and capable health tracking. Samsung’s One UI interface is easy enough to navigate as well, and the company says it’ll support the watch with software updates through 2026.

PlayStation 5 first-party game sale

Sony has kicked off a sale on several of its own PS5 and PS4 games. The discounts are available at multiple retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, GameStop, Best Buy and Sony’s PlayStation Direct shop. Among the highlights, the racing sim Gran Turismo 7 is down to $40, which is $5 above its all-time low but still a $30 discount for those looking to try out its new AI opponents or VR support. (The PS4 version is down to $30.) The PS5 remake of The Last of Us is $20 off for those enjoying its TV adaptation, while both the original PS4 remaster and the brutal sequel are available for $10.

Beyond that, the lush open-world game Horizon Forbidden West is down to a low of $40 (or $30 for the PS4 copy, which includes a free PS5 upgrade). The friendly action game Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, the haunting roguelike Returnal and the remade PS3 classic Demon’s Souls are each $30; Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and the remastered dual pack Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection are down to $20; and both God of War and the idiosyncratic Death Stranding are available for $10. There are more deals apart from those, but either way Sony says this sale will run through March 5.

Anker 715 Charger

Anker’s 715 Charger is a 65W USB-C charger with a highly compact design that should be suitable for travel. It only has one port, but it has enough power to charge most phones, tablets and even some laptops at their maximum rate. The device is back down to $35 at Amazon, which is a price we’ve seen a few times before but still comes in $15 below the charger’s typical going rate. This deal is also available at Anker’s online store, but you’ll need to use the code WS7DOOUANO at checkout there.

Samsung Evo Select microSD card

Samsung’s Evo Select is a U3-, V30-rated microSD card that should be more than fast enough for 4K video on a GoPro or game storage on a Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck. It’s also backed by a 10-year limited warranty. The 128GB and 512GB versions of the card are still available for $13.49 and $45, respectively, both of which match the lowest prices we’ve tracked. 

Samsung 980 Pro SSD

In other Samsung storage deals, the 1TB version of company’s 980 Pro SSD is available for an all-time low of $100. That’s about $20 below the drive’s average going rate in recent months. If you need more space, the 2TB model is also on sale for a low of $160. Not everyone needs to pay up for a high-performing NVMe 4.0 drive like this, but for higher-performing builds or expanding the storage of a PlayStation 5, it’ll work well. If you do buy for a PS5, just make sure you pair the drive with a heatsink first. (You can also buy a version of this SSD with an integrated heatsink for $10 to $20 more, depending on how much capacity you need.) You’ll also want to make sure the SSD’s firmware is up-to-date: Various users have reported higher-than-usual failure rates with specific Samsung drives, including the 2TB 980 Pro here, but the company looks to have fixed the issue with a recent update. 

Crucial MX500 SSD (1TB)

You wouldn’t buy a 2.5-inch SATA SSD like the Crucial MX500 for fast storage performance on a new PC, but if you’re looking to upgrade an older computer that came with a slower HDD installed by default, it can still provide a noticeable boost. The MX500 itself is the top SATA pick in our guide to the best SSDs, and right now its 1TB model is on sale for an all-time low of $52. Typically, the drive retails closer to $65. If you need more space, the 2TB model is down to $120, while the 4TB model is available for $240. Those prices are $8 and $2 off the two models’ respective all-time lows.

Apple iPad Air

Apple’s iPad Air is back down to $500 at Amazon, which is $20 more than its all-time low but still roughly $30 below its typical street price and $100 below Apple’s MSRP. You should see the full discount at checkout. We gave this 10.9-inch tablet a review score of 90 last year, and we generally consider it the best iPad for most people. While it lacks the 120Hz refresh rate or top-end M2 chip of the iPad Pro, it still gets you a modern design, more than enough power, the usual 10-ish hours of battery life and support for Apple’s best accessories, all at a more affordable price. 

Bose Portable Smart Speaker

We highlight the aptly named Bose Portable Smart Speaker in our guide to the best portable Bluetooth speakers, and right now the device is down to $319. That’s $20 more than its all-time low but still about $45 below its typical street price and $80 below Bose’s MSRP. While there are certainly cheaper options out there, this wireless speaker still gets you a travel-friendly, IPX4-rated design (complete with a built-in carrying handle), impressive bass for its size, AirPlay 2 functionality and support for both Alexa and the Google Assistant. Think of it like a smaller rival to the Sonos Move. Bose rates the speaker’s battery life at up to 12 hours, too, though that will be lower if you regularly stream over WiFi. 

Beats Fit Pro

Beats rolled out a handful of new finishes for its workout-friendly Fit Pro earphones this week, and a couple of them — the “coral pink” and “volt yellow” colorways — are already on sale for $170. That’s $30 off Beats’ MSRP. We’ve seen prior versions of the Fit Pro drop as low as $145, so this deal isn’t an all-time low, but if you like the look of these colors specifically, you can save a few bucks all the same. The Fit Pro themselves are the “best for workouts” pick in our best wireless earbuds guide and earned a review score of 87 back in late 2021. While their active noise cancellation can’t match what you’d get from Apple’s AirPods Pro, they pack many of that pair’s conveniences in a sportier design.

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

 

Somehow, Dead Space is one of the freshest games of 2023. The original hit literal store shelves in 2008 and the remake, which landed in January, doesn’t change the game’s fundamental mechanics. The remake is a downright treat to play; it’s terrifying, fast-paced and expertly balanced. Dead Space‘s core loop is focused, and this only highlights how chaotic many AAA games are today.

Built-in limitations of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 era were critical in helping developers narrow their focus and innovate, and this generation spawned a litany of iconic franchises, including Dead Space, Dark Souls, Dishonored, Red Dead Redemption, Portal, Alan Wake and Arkham. Meanwhile, developers in the ninth console generation are grappling with an abundance of technological possibility, founded on the power and fidelity provided by modern gaming hardware. This has resulted in a litany of chaotic blandness from many AAA studios in recent years. In a creative industry unlimited by its tools, the most powerful mechanic is restraint. 

Dive deeper into this conversation in the below video.

 

United Launch Alliance has a target date for its Vulcan Centaur rocket’s inaugural flight: May 4th, 2023. Company chief Tory Bruno has announced the four-day launch window starting on May 4th in a call with reporters, where he explained the factors that prompted the company to come up with the schedule. 

According to Parabolic Arc, the primary “pacing item” for the launch is Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine, which will power the rocket’s first stage. The companies are still working on its qualifications, since they found some inconsistencies among the ones ULA has tested. While the performance variation wasn’t huge, the ULA wants to make sure it’s not a symptom of a bigger issue. 

ULA still also has to conduct a series tests for the heavy-lift launch vehicle, including a wet dress rehearsal, wherein it will be fully loaded with propellants and has to complete a practice countdown. Finally, Vulcan Centaur’s main payload, Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine lunar lander, needs to head to space within a specific window of time each month to be able to fly its desired trajectory to the moon. 

Vulcan Centaur was supposed to have its maiden flight in 2022, but Astrobotic asked ULA to delay its launch to give it more time to finish the NASA-funded lunar lander. Bruno said Astrobotic has just finished testing the Peregrine and will soon be making final preparations before shipping it to the rocket’s launch location at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

In addition to the lunar lander, the rocket will also carry two prototype satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper constellation to space. The demo satellites’ deployment will give Amazon the opportunity gather real-world data to be able to finalize the design and operation plans for its broadband satellite system. 

If Vulcan Centaur successfully flies for the first time on May 4th, it will mark the beginning of a new era for ULA. It plans to eventually replace the Delta IV Heavy and Atlas rockets with the Vulcan Centaur once it’s done with its remaining launch obligations. 

 

The AI news just won’t stop! This week, Cherlynn and Devindra discuss the latest on Bing AI – Microsoft is loosening up some recent restrictions, following reports of its bad behavior – as well as the rise of ChatGPT stories on the Kindle store. Spotify is also launching its own AI DJ, starring the digitized voice of one of its current hosts. In other news, we discuss Microsoft’s recent agreements with NVIDIA and Nintendo, which could warm regulators towards approving its Activision Blizzard acquisition.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!

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Topics

After the Microsoft and Google announcements, AI is suddenly everywhere – 1:17

Microsoft tries to win over regulators by putting Xbox games on GeForce Now – 26:29

Glucose monitoring on the Apple Watch could be coming soon – 28:16

Twitter limits SMS two-factor authentication to Blue users – 30:43

Amazon’s acquisition of One Medical is finished, regulators are still curious – 35:31

No Man’s Sky Fractal VR update is out just in time for PS VR 2 – 39:04

Working on – 42:58

Pop culture picks – 46:10

Livestream

Credits
Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien
Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos
Graphic artists: Luke Brooks

 

It’s time for more Marvel Cinematic Universe, more special effects, more families in danger and more sinister baddies, with a bigger role for Kang the Conqueror – the big cross-movie threat, a la Thanos – played by Jonathan Majors. Alas, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania suffers from too many special effects, sadly.

It uses Industrial Light and Magic’s (ILM) StageCraft technology (AKA “the Volume”), which came to prominence in Star Wars series The Mandalorian. It’s a series of enormous LED walls that can display real-time footage, synchronized to interactive lighting to make it feel like actors are in these sci-fi landscapes, fighting these threats to humanity. Still, Engadget’s Devindra Hardawar says the tech, the actors and the narrative fail to convince.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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James Webb telescope captures ancient galaxies that theoretically shouldn’t exist

Their age and Milky Way-like size make them an anomaly.

According to images taken near the Big Dipper by the JWST, scientists found six potential galaxies that formed just 500 to 700 million years after the Big Bang. That they could be almost 13 billion years old isn’t what makes them odd, though, it’s that they could have as many stars as the Milky Way, according to the team’s calculations. The scientists explained the galaxies should not exist under current cosmological theory because there shouldn’t have been enough matter at the time for that many stars to form. Now, that sounds like the start of a MCU movie.

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Google’s Magic Eraser photo tool is coming to older Pixel phones

And other Google Photos features will be more broadly available.

Google is bringing photo features once exclusive to recent Pixel phones to more devices. Magic Eraser, a tool to easily remove unwanted people or objects from an image, debuted in 2021 on the Pixel 6, and starting today, Google is rolling out Magic Eraser to Pixel 5a and earlier models. All Pixel models and Google One subscribers will also gain access to an HDR effect to boost the brightness and contrast to videos. The same goes for Google One subscribers. Members on all plans will have access to Magic Eraser through Google Photos, even if they’re on iOS.

Continue reading.

Netflix cuts prices in over 30 countries (but not the US)

It’s experimenting.

Despite raising North American prices a year ago, Netflix is getting cheaper in over 30 countries – just not in the US. The company has cut prices by as much as half in parts of the Middle East (Yemen, Jordan, Libya and Iran), Sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya), Europe (Croatia, Slovenia and Bulgaria), Latin America (Nicaragua, Ecuador and Venezuela) and Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines). The company introduced a cheaper ad-supported plan in 12 countries last October – it’s clearly trying a bit of everything.

Continue reading.

Elon Musk says California is home to Tesla’s engineering headquarters

The CEO moved the company’s corporate headquarters to Texas in 2021.

Despite moving its corporate headquarters to Texas, Tesla now considers California its global engineering home base. Elon Musk said a Palo Alto engineering hub will be “effectively a headquarters of Tesla.” Tesla will use a former Hewlett-Packard building in Palo Alto as its new engineering headquarters. The move is an about-face from the CEO’s previous comments about the state: Musk didn’t mince words about California’s regulations and taxes when he moved Tesla’s official corporate headquarters to Texas in 2021, complaining about “overregulation, overlitigation, over-taxation.” But he’s back.

Continue reading.

 

Some YouTube viewers have reported seeing a new option for video quality in the website’s drop-down menu. In addition to the basic 1080p playback option, they’re also seeing another one labeled 1080p Premium with a note beneath it that says it offers “Enhanced bitrate.” A spokesperson told The Verge that the website is testing the new video quality, which is currently available to “a small group of YouTube Premium subscribers.” They described it as an “enhanced bitrate version of 1080p which provides more information per pixel that results in a higher quality viewing experience.” Also, there’s supposed to be no change to the quality of the standard 1080p resolution, which some people might not consider the good news YouTube deems it to be. 

Based on several comments on the Reddit thread discussing the test, viewers find the standard 1080p resolution on the website to be poor in quality. But a higher bitrate, which is used as a measurement for the amount of video data transferred within a certain timeframe, could mean getting better images without having to bump up the resolution. As XDA Developers notes, switching to 4K would give users access to better and sharper-looking videos, but they’d have to stream a much bigger file that could cost them more or eat up more of their data allowance. 

The enhanced 1080p option is just a test feature at this point, though, and YouTube might not approve it for a wide rollout at all. If it does make its way out of the experimental phase, only viewers paying for YouTube Premium will be able to access it. The subscription service will cost users $12 a month for an individual account or $23 a month for a family plan. 

 

MediaTek is set to demonstrate its new technology that can put two-way satellite communications on smartphones at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC), which will take place from February 28th to March 3rd. Some of the devices that will show whether the semiconductor’s product actually works will come from Motorola. The manufacturer will debut two satellite smartphones, the defy 2 and CAT S75, as well as a Bluetooth accessory that comes equipped with MediaTek’s chip at the event. 

The company’s response to Qualcomm’s and Apple’s satellite technologies is a standalone chipset that can be added to any 4G or 5G phone. It uses the 3GPP Non-Terrestrial Network standard instead of proprietary technologies like Qualcomm’s and Apple’s do, which means it can be used with any network that complies with the standard. MediaTek teamed up with a company called Bullitt to use the latter’s Satellite Connect service and enable the satellite messaging feature on the aforementioned Motorola devices.

Another difference is that MediaTek’s chips connect to Geosynchronous Equatorial Orbit satellites instead of to satellites in Low Earth Orbit. The chipmaker says its technology enables not just emergency SOS texts like Apple’s can, but also full two-way messaging. That means it can actually receive messages sent via satellite connection and not just send them. The iPhone 14, which debuted Apple’s satellite tech, can’t receive messages without a traditional cellular connection yet. Meanwhile, devices using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Satellite tech will need to be manually refreshed for new messages.

The Motorola defy 2 smartphone and defy Bluetooth accessory will be released in the second quarter of the year across North America, Latin America and Canada and will be the first devices to offer MediaTek’s satellite capabilities. 

 

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is accusing Google of routinely destroying internal messaging chat histories, which the company is required to preserve under federal rules for an antitrust lawsuit. Google is grappling with not just one, but a couple of antitrust lawsuits filed by the DOJ and groups of states. This particular case pertains to the lawsuit the department filed back in 2020 for “unlawfully maintaining monopolies” around search and search-related advertising.

In the DOJ’s filing, it said company employees typically used their internal chatroom, which was set to delete history every 24 hours, to discuss “substantive and sensitive business.” Apparently, the agency expected Google to change its chat history setting in 2019 when the company “reasonably anticipated [the] litigation,” but it left the decision to individual employees. Only a few people deemed their chat histories relevant to the case and preserved theirs for the court, and Google continued deleting most people’s chats even after the lawsuit was filed. 

Despite that, Google reportedly told the government that it had already “put a legal hold in place” to suspend auto-deletion on its chat tool. The DOJ alleges that the company’s claim was a lie and that it only truly stopped deleting chat histories this week after it was warned that the agency would file a motion for sanctions. It’s now asking the court to rule that Google had violated a federal rule and to order a hearing that would determine how the company would be sanctioned. The DOJ also wants the court to order Google to provide more information about its chat practices. 

Google, however, denies the DOJ’s allegations. A spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal: “Our teams have conscientiously worked for years to respond to inquiries and litigation. In fact, we have produced over 4 million documents in this case alone, and millions more to regulators around the world.”

 

You’re forgiven if you’ve forgotten about Humanity, the game from Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s studio Enhance. However, it’s finally close to launch — and it’s receiving expanded platform support in the process. Enhance and THA have announced during Sony’s State of Play event that the strange puzzle and platformer hybrid will arrive in May on PS4, PS5, PlayStation VR and PlayStation VR2. A demo is also available today through the PlayStation Store, although you’ll have to act fast when it’s only available to play for a “limited time.”

The premise is clearer. You play a Shiba Inu (yes, really) who places commands to guide human crowds to safety in pillars of light. And that’s just the start — you can expect flying people and lightsaber battles with the mysterious “Others,” among further oddities. There’s a 90-level story mode, but you can also build your own maps to challenge other players.

Humanity has been in development for a long time, to put it mildly. The title was unveiled in September 2019, and was slated to come to PS4 and PSVR sometime the following year. It’s not clear what prompted the three-year wait (the pandemic certainly didn’t help), but it might be worth a look to see what took the developers so long.