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Apple makes some of the best earbuds around for iOS users and now you can pick up a pair of AirPods for less than they’d usually set you back. The second-generation AirPods Pro have dropped back down to their lowest price to date. You can currently snap up a pair for $200, which is $50 off the usual price.

We found that the latest AirPods Pro, which Apple released last year, boast better audio quality than the original model. Thanks to the more powerful H2 chip, they have an excellent transparency mode and good active noise cancellation (ANC). Being able to move between Apple devices seamlessly is a plus point as well. On the downside, we found that the new touch controls took a bit of getting used to, while the so-so battery life didn’t blow us away. Overall, we gave the second-gen AirPods Pro a score of 88 in our review.

Meanwhile, you can pick up standard AirPods for less cash than usual. The second-gen AirPods are $99 ($30 off), while the third-gen model is $159 ($10 off). We feel that the third-gen AirPods are better than the previous model in almost every respect thanks to features such as improved fit and audio quality, as well as a longer battery life. Water resistance is definitely welcome too. As a result, we gave the third-gen AirPods a score of 88.

Although they’re four years old, the second-gen earbuds shouldn’t be dismissed entirely, especially if you’re budget conscious. These AirPods can still pair with your iPhone in a snap and switch to other Apple devices with ease when you need them to. As with the third-gen AirPods, there’s support for hands-free Siri.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-airpods-pro-are-back-on-sale-for-200-144547611.html?src=rss 

Razer is today announcing an update to its Nommo gaming desktop speakers. As is the case with most of the company’s other products, these speakers are equipped with RGB lighting to fully match your other Razer gear.

The Nommo V2 Pro starts at $450 and delivers a wireless 2.1 sound system with one new trick up its sleeve: THX’s Spatial Audio surround sound experience. Razer claims that the inclusion of THX spatial audio is a first for any set of 2.1 desktop speakers. Several titles, including Grand Theft Auto V, Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Genshin Impact already support the spatial audio experience, with more titles to come in the future.

The speakers also include a downward-firing subwoofer, which could make it easier to hear enemy footsteps or roaring lightning. The updated RGB array now shines through the top of the speakers, making it easier for the lights to reflect off of a wall.

Razer is also announcing a new Wireless Control Pod, which comes included with the Nommo V2 Pro (but can be bought separately for $50). It’s highly customizable and supports rotation, single click and double click. For example, you could rotate the dial to adjust the brightness of your RGB rig, single-click to crank your mouse’s DPI for Call of Duty or double-click to lower your DPI when surfing the web.

If this all sounds enticing to you but you’d prefer a cheaper setup, Razer has another option. The Nommo V2 offers the same exact listening experience, just wired. It also excludes the Wireless Control Pod, and costs $300. For those of you who are math ninjas, that’s a savings of $150. Of course, without the Pod, you’re looking at physical volume and power buttons on the speakers.

Both the Nommo V2 and V2 Pro will be available in the US starting in June, and the Wireless Control Pod will be available worldwide starting in August.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/razers-nomo-v2-pro-speakers-feature-spatial-audio-and-a-less-painful-price-150005512.html?src=rss 

For the neutral NBA fan, game one of the Eastern Conference Finals last night was highly entertaining. If you were watching on YouTube TV though, the experience at the end of the game was highly frustrating. With just under five minutes left in the 4th quarter of a back-and-forth battle between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics, the streaming service had a major issue that kept viewers in a sputtering commercial loop for several minutes. Restarting the app didn’t help as users were greeted with the stuttering trailer for the upcoming reboot of The Little Mermaid.

When YouTube TV finally started to chug along again, it skipped ahead every few seconds (this was captured on DVR recordings too). Users were unable to just swipe to live television either, so they just had to contend with broken up bits of action for the rest of the game. The service quickly admitted on Twitter that it was having problems, specifically referencing users trying to watch the NBA playoff game. However, the issue impacted other channels on the service too, including Bravo where Watch What Happens Live was airing after the highly anticipated Vanderpump Rules finale.

Several hours later the service’s support account tweeted that everything was back to normal. The same info was posted to a support thread about the issue, but no details about a specific cause were mentioned. We’ve reached out to YouTube TV for more information on the problem.

Live TV streaming wasn’t the only headache for YouTube last night. While that issue was unfolding, creators were having trouble uploading videos to YouTube proper, including clips for Shorts. Some experienced unusually slow processing times while others were unable to upload at all. This issue was also resolved a few hours later.

For YouTube TV, being completely unwatchable during high-profile live events is sure to leave a sour taste in subscribers’ mouths. The service just increased its price by $8 a month to a whopping $73 in March. That’s a little more than double the $35 monthly fee the service commanded at its 2017 launch. Streaming services as a whole have been regularly raising rates, so this isn’t unique to YouTube TV. But combined with the occasional contract disputes with networks that can leave some channels unavailable — either temporarily or permanently — any issues with streaming reliability could be a major problem for the service. There’s no rest for YouTube TV either as the Lakers/Nuggets series resumes tonight and there’s one NBA playoff game scheduled each day until both series wrap up.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtube-tv-had-major-issues-at-the-worst-possible-time-last-night-140003445.html?src=rss 

Human-computer interaction company Sightful is releasing its first product, Spacetop, a screen-less “augmented reality laptop” projecting tabs across a 100-inch virtual screen. The laptop — if you can call it that — is a hardware deck and full-size keyboard with a pair of tailored NReal glasses. The glasses project tabs directly in front of whatever the user is looking at while remaining invisible to anyone else.

Specs-wise, Spacetop is running a Snapdragon 865 paired with an Adreno 650 GPU, 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, putting it in the same class as some of the smartphones that are already capable of driving AR glasses. It’s not smartphone-sized, however, measuring 1.57-inches high, 10.47-inches wide and 8.8-inches deep, and it weighs in at 3.3 pounds, the same as plenty of laptops we could choose to mention here.

Sightful is clearly gunning for a crossover hit in the the work-from-home-or-anywhere market. “Laptops are the centerpiece of our daily working lives, but the technology has not evolved with the modern, work from anywhere, privacy matters, ‘road warrior’ mentality. Meanwhile, augmented reality is full of potential and promise but is yet to find its daily use case,” said Tamir Berliner, Sightful co-founder who previously worked at both Leap Motion and Primesense. “We are at the perfect moment for a significant paradigm shift in a device we all know and love.”

For now, Spacetop is only available to buy for 1,000 early adopters through an application-based program. Right now, we don’t have word on how much this will cost you, or when you’ll be able to pick it up, but we’ll watch this project with interest to see if it’ll succeed where so many others have failed. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/spacetop-is-an-augmented-reality-laptop-for-remote-working-on-the-go-140031973.html?src=rss 

Never mind crafting custom sodas at the restaurant — technology will soon help you customize your dips, too. Kraft Heinz has unveiled a Heinz Remix dispenser that lets you customize sauces through a touchscreen interface. You choose from base sauces and then add one or more “enhancers” at your choice of intensity. If you want 57 Sauce with a strong jalapeño accent and a hint of mango, you can make it happen.

The company plans to test Heinz Remix at unspecified restaurants in late 2023 to early 2024. There’s no mention of pricing, although it’s safe to presume this isn’t intended for home use. Like it or not, you’ll have to settle for off-the-shelf bottles at home.

The machine’s existence isn’t surprising. Custom drink dispensers like Coca-Cola’s Freestyle have led to increased business at restaurants. Kraft Heinz could boost its profits by selling more expensive hardware to eateries on top of the usual sauces. That, in turn, could squeeze out competitors that still use one-sauce-at-a-time systems.

This could also influence the sauces you buy at the grocery store. Kraft Heinz sees the Remix as an “insights engine” that will help the firm understand customers’ flavor preferences. You might see combinations that are the direct result of data from restaurant guests. This won’t necessarily replace in-house inventions, but it might help the brand keep up with (or set) trends.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/heinz-remix-is-the-sauce-dispenser-of-our-dreams-143330062.html?src=rss