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There are a lot of portable Bluetooth speakers out there, but if you’re looking for something that not only has big sound but is IPX7 waterproof, your choices dwindle considerably. One company that does both of those things is Tribit, and some of its best products are on sale for up to 52 percent off at Amazon. Deals can be found on the 16W XSound Go ($30 or 41 percent off), StormBox Micro 2 ($47 instead of $70) and MaxSound Plus, now on sale for $48 or a full 52 percent off. 

First on the list is the Tribit StormBox Micro 2, appearing perennially on best Bluetooth speaker lists including our own for 2022. It doesn’t stand out in terms of fidelity, but it pumps out copious amounts of volume. It’s also very portable, and the rear strap easily attaches to things like belts, backpacks and bike handlebars. It doubles as a USB-C powerbank to charge your devices in a pinch and you can wirelessly connect two for party mode or stereo sound. It supports both iOS and Android, has 12 hours of battery life and is IP67 waterproof — all for just $47 (32 percent off). 

If you want to spend the bare minimum without cutting corners, the Tribit XSound Go ($30, or 41 percent off) is a great choice. Its sound is clearer and louder than other budget Bluetooth speakers and it’s small enough to slip into a laptop bag. It offers 10 hours on a charge and is IPX7-rated, so it can survive a half-hour dunking in three feet of water.

Finally, there’s the Tribit MaxSound Plus ($48, or 52 percent off). As the name suggests, it’s exceptionally loud with 24W of power, while offering driving bass, adjustable EQ and more. You also get an exceptional 20 hours of battery life and again, that IPX7 waterproof rating. Tribit is also offering discounts on wireless earbuds, kids headphones, shower speakers and more. 

Shop Tribit sound products at Amazon

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

 

John Deere has been one of the stauncher opponents of right to repair regulation, but it’s now willing to make some concessions. Deere & Company has signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) that lets US farmers and independent repair shops fix equipment, rather than requiring the use of authorized parts and service centers. Users will have access to official diagnostics, manuals, tools and training. Deere will let owners disable electronic locks, and won’t bar people from legally obtaining repair resources even if the company no longer offers them.

The agreement includes some protections for the equipment maker. John Deere won’t be required to “divulge trade secrets,” or to allow repairs that might disable emissions controls, remove safety features or modify power levels. Unsurprisingly, fixes also can’t violate the law.

The memorandum is effective as of January 8th, although John Deere didn’t detail exactly how or when it would alter its practices. We’ve asked the company for comment. In a statement, senior VP Dave Gilmore said the company was looking forward to working with customers and the ABFB in the “months and years ahead” to provide repair facilities.

The pact is characterized as a “voluntary” private arrangement. However, it comes alongside mounting political pressure that effectively gave John Deere little choice but to improve repairability. President Biden ordered the Federal Trade Commission to draft right to repair regulation in 2021, while states like New York have passed their own (sometimes weakened) legislation. If Deere doesn’t act, it risks legal battles that could limit where and how it does business in the country.

As it stands, the farm equipment maker isn’t alone in responding to government action. Apple, Google, Samsung and other tech brands now have do-it-yourself repair programs in place. Microsoft will offer Surface parts to users later this year.

 

After canceling our CES plans in 2022 (and there wasn’t even a show in 2021), the Engadget team sent a dozen staffers to this year’s CES. The show wasn’t as busy as in pre-pandemic years, but many events were packed, and companies had plenty of announcements to dig into. So, what was the best of CES? You can check out all the award winners right here.

Our Best of the Best winner wasn’t a car or a TV that sticks to the wall. No, it’s Project Leonardo. This is Sony’s first piece of gaming hardware designed specifically for people with limited motor control – and it’s rather eye-catching.

This controller kit works out of the box with the PlayStation 5, offering two circular gamepads lined with swappable buttons, third-party accessory ports and other customizable inputs. The controllers sit flat on a table or mounted on a standard tripod. They can also pair with a DualSense to turn all three devices into a single gamepad, offering plenty of flexibility.

To make sure it delivered on its accessibility promises, Sony partnered with advocacy organizations including AbleGamers, SpecialEffect and Stack Up, much like Microsoft did with the revolutionary Xbox Adaptive Controller. Though there’s no release date or price for Project Leonardo yet, Sony is finally seizing an opportunity to expand the PS5 player base.

– 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.

The biggest stories you might have missed

New York City public schools ban OpenAI’s ChatGPT

LG Display’s latest foldable OLED can bend in both directions

MSI made a router with antennas that follow you around your house

Amazon’s Kindle Scribe is on sale for the first time

US Department of Agriculture approves first-ever vaccine for honeybees

Seattle schools sue TikTok, Meta and other platforms over youth ‘mental health crisis’

Twitter has reportedly laid off more of its global content moderation team

Apple’s long-rumored mixed reality headset could finally debut this spring

The launch could come at the expense of the company’s other products.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple plans to announce its first mixed reality headset this spring, ahead of its annual WWDC conference in June. In a sign that a launch is finally on the horizon, Apple has reportedly shared the headset with a handful of high-profile software developers, giving them a first look at its new xrOS software. A focus on its newest hardware line will allegedly affect its heavy hitters, however.

The next version of the company’s iOS operating system will likely ship with “fewer major changes than originally planned” due to Apple reassigning software engineers to the xrOS team. “The same goes for macOS 14,” Gurman adds. The company apparently has no updates “of note” for its iPad, Apple Watch and audio product lines.

Continue reading.

Roland’s 50th Anniversary Concept Piano has flying speaker drones

Ridiculous but beautiful.

Roland’s 50th-anniversary celebration included a gorgeous Anniversary Concept Piano, built in collaboration with Japanese furniture maker Karimoku. The outside is one piece molded from Japanese Nara oak that hides a 360-degree 14-speaker system. Roland also built speakers into drones that hover above the piano, controlled by the player. Unfortunately, those couldn’t be flown on the showfloor at CES, because safety, so Roland dangled a pair of them from wires. Boo.

Continue reading.

Samsung might unveil the Galaxy S23 series on February 1st

A Galaxy Unpacked event is scheduled that day.

Samsung may have inadvertently confirmed it’ll unveil its next flagship phones early next month. The company’s Colombian website published a page revealing its next Galaxy Unpacked event is scheduled for February 1st, 2023. “Epic moments are approaching,” it read before the page was pulled offline. Samsung’s showcase for its flagship devices has crept earlier in the calendar over the years: For the Galaxy S22 series, Samsung held an event on February 9th, 2022.

Continue reading.

HTC’s Vive XR Elite is its portable answer to the Meta Quest Pro

The features that matter, in a lighter package.

HTC is hitting back at Meta’s Pro VR headset with the Vive XR Elite. The XR Elite matches plenty of the Quest Pro’s highlight specs, including support for 2K resolution to each eye, a 90Hz refresh rate and full standalone operation. However, weighing 625 grams (versus 722 for the Quest Pro) and with a more comfortable headband, the XR Elite does an even better job of delivering a breezy portable VR/AR experience. Despite its high points, the XR Elite also shares a lot of the same flaws as the Quest Pro. Starting at $1,099, it’s a bit cheaper than Meta’s $1,500 rival, but still pretty expensive. We put it to the test on the showfloor at CES 2023.

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There was a lot of pee on the CES 2023 showfloor

Trend alert: Urine analysis tech.

While none claimed a Best of CES award from Engadget, there was a boom in toilet-bowl technology. You could pitch this as a natural evolution of the fitness tracker, testing your pee for many easy-to-identify maladies. But is this truly the next frontier of consumer health tracking? These devices might never have the popularity of a Fitbit, but for medical facilities and assisted living complexes, they could be game-changing.

Continue reading.

 

Anker is notable for its premium charging products, but you also pay a premium for the extra quality. You can now grab a number of Anker chargers and other smartphone accessors at Amazon with discounts of up to 46 percent. Some of the key items include the Anker 726 Charger Nano II 65W ($37 or 32 percent off), the 347 Power Bank, priced at $56 instead of the usual $100 and a two-pack of USB-C to Lightning cables ($24 or 37 percent off)

Shop Anker charging accessories at Amazon

If you need portable power for up to four devices, the 347 Power Bank delivers 40,000 mAh with USB-C high-speed charging for MacBooks, iPhones or Android smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and more. You can connect devices via the two USB-C and two USB-A ports to ensure they stay charged on the go. It’s on sale for $56 right now, saving your 44 percent off the full price.

Meanwhile, Anker’s 726 Nano II charger offers an impressive 65W of charging power in a small size. That lets you charge a single device like MacBook Pro/Air quickly at a size 50 percent smaller than the stock Apple charger. You can also charge up to two USB-C devices at a time. Normally priced at $60, you can pick it up now for $40 ($20 off).

Finally, Anker’s 10-foot PowerLine II USB-C to Lightning cable is available in a two-pack for $24, or 37 percent off the regular $30 price. That gets you a pair of long cables compatible with 20 watt USB-C chargers. Plenty of other Anker devices or on sale too, including the PowerExpand 8-in1 USB charger ($49 or 46 percent off), the 30W PowerPort Strip PD2 Mini ($26 instead of $40) and more.

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

 

Raspberry Pi has launched the Camera Module 3 with big improvements, including higher resolution, infrared, HDR, autofocus, a wide angle FOV and more, the company announced. Not counting the interchangeable lens model introduced in 2020, it’s the company’s first new camera module in six years.

The previous Module 2 cameras used a Sony IMX219 8-megpixel sensor. However, the new models carry Sony’s new 12-megapixel IMX708 chip, which is not only larger but has more resolution. That translates to sharper images and also better low-light sensitivity. It also has a 16:9 aspect ratio, so HD video up to 1080p50 can be captured using the entire sensor area. 

Better still, where the previous module had fixed autofocus, Module 3 has built-in powered autofocus capability. That makes them a bit thicker (up to 12.4mm compared to 9mm) but more versatile, letting you focus on objects ranging in distance from 5cm (2 inches) to infinity. 

The standard field-of-view (FoV) variants provide a 66 degree horizontal field of view, roughly equivalent to a 28mm full-frame lens. The wide angle version, however, bumps that to 102 degrees horizontal (a 14mm full-frame lens). With a “more expensive and complex optical stack,” the wide-angle version is a bit thicker, 12.4 compared to 11.5mm, according to Raspberry Pi. 

It also offers HDR capability, taking multiple simultaneous exposures with different exposure times. That lets you capture interior shots, for instance, with the correct exposure on both interior and exterior details. And finally, the NoIR (no infrared filter) sensors, first introduced with the Module 2, can effectively convert your Raspberry Pi into a night-vision camera. 

The launch includes no less than four modules, including standard and wide angle models, both in visible light and NoIR infrared versions. Both the normal models start at $25, while the wide angle versions cost $35. They’re now available at Raspberry Pi’s store . 

 

Seattle public schools have sued the tech giants behind TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat, accusing them of creating a “mental health crisis among America’s Youth.” The 91-page lawsuit filed in a US district court states that tech giants exploit the addictive nature of social media, leading to rising anxiety, depression and thoughts of self-harm. 

“Defendants’ growth is a product of choices they made to design and operate their platforms in ways that exploit the psychology and neurophysiology of their users into spending more and more time on their platforms,” the complaint states. “[They] have successfully exploited the vulnerable brains of youth, hooking tens of millions of students across the country into positive feedback loops of excessive use and abuse of Defendants’ social media platforms.” 

Harmful content pushed to users includes extreme diet plants, encouragement of self-harm and more, according to the complaint. That has led to a 30 percent increase between 2009 and 2019 of students who report feeling “so sad or hopeless… for two weeks or more in a row that [they] stopped doing some usual activities.”  

Defendants’ misconduct has been a substantial factor in causing a youth mental health crisis, which has been marked by higher and higher proportions of youth struggling with anxiety, depression, thoughts of self-harm, and suicidal ideation. The rates at which children have struggled with mental health issues have climbed steadily since 2010 and by 2018 made suicide the second leading cause of death for youths.

That in turn leads to a drop in performance in their studies, making them “less likely to attend school, more likely to engage in substance use, and to act out, all of which directly affects Seattle Public Schools’ ability to fulfill its educational mission.”

Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act means that online platforms aren’t responsible for content posted by third parties. However, the lawsuit claims that the provision doesn’t protect social media companies for recommending, distributing and promoting content “in a way that causes harm.” 

“We have invested heavily in creating safe experiences for children across our platforms and have introduced strong protections and dedicated features to prioritize their wellbeing,” a Google spokesperson told Axios. “For example, through Family Link, we provide parents with the ability to set reminders, limit screen time and block specific types of content on supervised devices.” 

“We’ve developed more than 30 tools to support teens and families, including supervision tools that let parents limit the amount of time their teens spend on Instagram, and age verification technology that helps teens have age-appropriate experiences,” Meta’s global head of safety Antigone Davis said in a statement. “We’ll continue to work closely with experts, policymakers and parents on these important issues.” TikTok has yet to react, but Engadget has reached out to the company.

Critics and experts have recently accused social media companies of exploiting teens and children. Meta whistleblower Frances Haugen, for one, testified to Congress that “Facebook’s products harm children.” Eating disorders expert Bryn Austin wrote in a 2021 Harvard article that social media content can send teens into “a dangerous spiral.” And the issue has caught the attention of legislators, who proposed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) last year. 

 

The humble honeybee hasn’t had an easy go of things recently. Between climate change, habitat destruction, pesticide use and attrition from diseases, one of the planet’s most important pollinators has seen its numbers decline dramatically in recent years. All of that bodes poorly for us humans. In the US, honeybees are essential to about one-third of the fruit and produce Americans eat. But the good news is that a solution to one of the problems affecting honeybees is making its way to farmers.

This week, for the first time, the US Department of Agriculture granted conditional approval for an insect vaccine. A biotech firm named Dalan Animal Health recently developed a prophylactic vaccine to protect honeybees from American foulbrood disease. The drug contains dead Paenibacillus larvae, the bacteria that causes the illness.

Thankfully, the vaccine won’t require beekeepers to jab entire colonies of individual insects with the world’s smallest syringe. Instead, administering the drug involves mixing it in with the queen feed worker bees eat. The vaccine then makes its way into the “royal jelly” the drones feed their queen. Her offspring will then be born with some immunity against the harmful bacteria.

The treatment represents a breakthrough for a few reasons. As The New York Times explains, scientists previously thought it was impossible for insects to obtain immunity to diseases because they don’t produce antibodies like humans and animals. However, after identifying the protein that prompts an immune response in bees, researchers realized they could protect an entire hive through a single queen. The vaccine is also a far more humane treatment for American foulbrood. The disease can easily wipe out colonies of 60,000 bees at once, and it often leaves beekeepers with one choice: burn the infected hives to save what they can.

Dr. Annette Kleiser, the CEO of Dalan, told The Times the company hopes to use the vaccine as a blueprint for other treatments to protect honeybees. “Bees are livestock and should have the same modern tools to care for them and protect them that we have for our chickens, cats, dogs and so on,” she said. “We’re really hoping we’re going to change the industry now.”

 

Elon Musk has asked a federal judge to move his upcoming Tesla shareholder trial out of San Francisco. Per the Associated Press, Alex Spiro, the billionaire’s personal lawyer, filed the request late Friday, less than two weeks before the trial is scheduled to kick off on January 17th. Musk’s legal team argues “a substantial portion” of the potential jury pool in San Francisco is likely to hold a bias against Musk due to recent media coverage criticizing his actions at Twitter and the seemingly never-ending layoffs at the company. Musk has asked to move the trial to Texas, which has been home to Tesla headquarters since late 2021.

The class action lawsuit involves “false and misleading” statements Musk made in 2018 when he said he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 per share. Musk’s now-infamous “funding secured” tweet landed the billionaire in trouble with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, eventually leading to a $40 million settlement with the agency. The shareholders involved in the suit won an early victory last spring when federal judge Edward Chen concluded that Musk had “recklessly made the statements with knowledge as to their falsity.” The upcoming trial will determine whether Musk’s tweet affected the automaker’s stock price and if he should be held accountable for potential damages.

“Musk’s concerns are unfounded and his motion is meritless,” Nicholas Porritt, one of the lawyers representing Tesla shareholders, told the Associated Press. “The Northern District of California is the proper venue for this lawsuit and where it has been actively litigated for over four years.” On Saturday, Judge Chen told the two sides he would hear Musk’s request on January 13th.

 

In what has become a monthly occurrence at Twitter, the company has cut more of its workforce. On Friday night, Twitter reportedly laid off “at least a dozen” workers across its Dublin and Singapore offices. According to Bloomberg, the casualties include Analuisa Dominguez, the company’s former senior director of revenue policy. The outlet reports that Twitter also cut workers responsible for handling the company’s misinformation policy, in addition to a handful of employees involved with the platform’s global appeals process and state media program.

Ella Irwin, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, confirmed the company recently laid off more staff but disputed the teams impacted by the cuts. “It made more sense to consolidate teams under one leader (instead of two) for example,” she told Bloomberg, adding Twitter eliminated roles in areas where the company didn’t see enough “volume” to justify the talent expenditure. She also said Twitter increased staffing at its appeals department and would continue to have a head of revenue policy.

On November 21st, shortly after issuing his “extremely hardcore” ultimatum to Twitter employees, Elon Musk reportedly said the company wouldn’t fire or lay off any more workers during an all-hands meeting. While the scale of Twitter’s subsequent layoffs hasn’t matched those that came shortly after Musk’s takeover, the company has cut staff despite the billionaire’s pledge. The company let go of part of its infrastructure division halfway through last month. One recent estimate by The Information puts the company’s headcount at around 2,000 employees or a little over a quarter of what it had before Musk’s purchase.

 

After years of development, Apple’s long-rumored augmented and virtual reality headset is nearly ready. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company plans to announce the device sometime this spring ahead of its annual WWDC conference in June. In a sign that a launch is finally on the horizon, Apple has reportedly shared the headset with a handful of high-profile software developers, giving them a first look at its new “xrOS” software. After announcing “Reality Pro” in the spring, Gurman expects Apple to release the device in the fall.

The final sprint to get the headset out the door will impact the rest of Apple’s 2023 product lineup. On the software front, the next version of the company’s iOS operating system is likely to ship with “fewer major changes than originally planned” due to Apple reassigning software engineers to the xrOS team. “The same goes for macOS 14,” Gurman adds. Apple’s hardware plans are even less thrilling. The company has no updates of “of note” planned for its iPad, Apple Watch and audio lines. Gurman says new iPad Pro models with OLED displays are on the way, but those likely won’t arrive until 2024. He warns the upcoming Apple Silicon MacPro will be “another disappointment.” The forthcoming desktop will reportedly feature the same design as its 2019 predecessor, and you won’t be able to upgrade the computer’s RAM on your own due to the architecture of Apple’s M-series chipsets.

The only bright spots in an otherwise dull release schedule could be a new 15-inch MacBook Air and the iPhone 15. Of the latter, Gurman says the entire iPhone 15 line will feature Apple’s new Dynamic Island feature and USB-C charging. The Pro models will also include new titanium frames and haptic volume buttons.