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• The Morning After: Engadget’s 2021 holiday gift guide
• Yelp's new iOS home feed makes it easier to discover local restaurants
• Netflix is bringing a TikTok-style feed of short 'Kids Clips' to its app
• NVIDIA's new AI brain for robots is six times more powerful than its predecessor
• Roland replicates more classic synths with the JD-08 and JX-08 sound modules
• Robinhood security breach compromised data of 7 million users
• Google can now find your pet's doppelgänger in works of art
• DOJ charges alleged Kaseya ransomware hacker tied to REvil group
• Clubhouse now lets hosts record conversations for later listening
• It took Peloton until 2021 to add a pause button
• ‘Pokémon Go’ maker Niantic is helping others create AR metaverse apps
• AMD's first Zen 4 CPUs include a 128-core chip built for the cloud
• Paramount+ expands its soccer lineup with Women's Super League matches
• WhatsApp's answer to Discord may be group chat 'communities'
• Wind and solar could meet 85 percent of current US electricity needs
• Introducing Engadget’s 2021 holiday gift guide!
• Konami pulls some Metal Gear Solid games from digital stores
• The best digital gifts to send your friends and family
• Anova's Sous Vide Precision Cooker Pro is half price at Amazon
• Walmart is using driverless trucks to complete a seven-mile delivery loop
• These are the audio gadgets to gift this season
• Disney+ will let you watch 'Shang-Chi' and 12 Marvel films in a large IMAX format
• Apple's MacBook Air M1 drops to a new record low of $800
• Sony's WH-XB910 ANC headphones are $110 off in one-day Amazon sale
• The Morning After: Get ready for a lot of Disney+ news

The Morning After: Engadget’s 2021 holiday gift guide Posted: 09 Nov 2021 04:15 AM PST It's only a payday (or possibly two) away from the holiday season, and with supply difficulties for retailers, manufacturers and everyone in between, it might pay to get ahead of the crowd for some of the most desirable gifts. While we can't promise to source you a PS5 or OLED Switch, we've got ideas for the game streamer, the creative, the pet parent and more. Naturally, we've got camera, laptop and smartphone buying guidance, too. We're Engadget, after all. We also have the return of our popular sub-$100 gift selections, along with ideas for stocking stuffers that come in under $50. My pick would be Anker's tiny Nano II charger. It's USB-C and ready for high-speed device charging. If you've picked up a new phone in the last year and a half, you might have missed the in-box charger. This is probably faster at charging than your years-old Apple charging brick. — Mat Smith Zhiyun's three-axis camera gimbal has pretty much everything Including an LED light, small display and Bluetooth camera control. Engadget You've probably heard or seen DJI's gimbals, but rival Zhiyun actually carries more models — particularly those designed for mirrorless, DSLR and cinema cameras. Its three-axis Crane M3, designed for mirrorless cameras, is about the size of a water bottle and offers tilt, roll and pan axes, with locks for each. It works with smartphones and, Zhiyun claims, 90 percent of mirrorless cameras. It also has a quarter-inch adapter, so you can connect a professional microphone to an expansion base and run a second cable to the camera. It's now available to order starting at $369 (£369) for the standard package. Continue reading. Sponsored by CISCO 2021 Security Outcomes Study for Small Businesses Wind and solar could meet 85 percent of current US electricity needs Renewable sources may meet most power demands in 'advanced, industrialized nations'. Wind and solar power could meet around 85 percent of US electricity needs, according to a paper published in Nature Communications. Batteries, capacity overbuilding and other storage options could increase that figure. The report found that most reliable systems, in which wind power is prevalent, can meet energy needs between 72 and 91 percent of the time in the countries they studied, and that's before any storage considerations. Add the capacity to store up to 12 hours of energy, and these renewable energy sources can meet between 83 and 94 percent of hourly energy needs. There is a caveat though: The researchers noted even when wind and solar sources can power over 90 percent of a region's energy needs, there would still be hundreds of hours per year when demand isn't met. Continue reading. Walmart is using driverless trucks to complete a seven-mile delivery loop It's between a fulfillment center and store in Arkansas. Walmart Walmart, working with startup Gatik, has started its fully driverless box truck deliveries between its own locations on a fixed seven-mile loop in Bentonville, Arkansas. The route involves negotiating "intersections, traffic lights and merging on dense urban roads," the companies said. The new service is part of Walmart's transition to a hub-and-spoke model with warehouses or fulfilment centers closer to customers. This means smaller warehouses, so "there is a growing need for doing repeated trips from the fulfilment centers to the pickup points," Gatik CEO Gautam Narang told CNBC. Continue reading. Disney+ will let you watch 'Shang-Chi' and 12 Marvel films in a large IMAX format You'll see smaller black bars on your TV during IMAX sequences. You can expect to see Shang-Chi and an array of Marvel movies in movie-theater style large IMAX proportions later this week. The 1.90:1 IMAX aspect ratio will look up to 26 percent taller than the typical 2.35:1 widescreen format in Marvel films, so those annoying black bars will almost disappear while you're watching scenes shot in IMAX. It's not properly IMAX, which is so square it has enormous black bars on the sides of your TV — see Zack Snyder's Justice League for how that goes. Shang-Chi will come to the service on November 12th, along with 12 other IMAX-enhanced Marvel movies. Continue reading. AMD's first Zen 4 CPUs include a 128-core chip built for the cloud Ryzen chips for we mere commoners will have to wait. AMD has unveiled its first processors based on its new Zen 4 architecture, and they promise a lot of brawn... at least for some users. AnandTech notes AMD has outlined its early Zen 4 roadmap during a virtual data center event, and the first two CPU families are Epyc chips, aimed at servers and other heavy-duty computing tasks. The star of the show may be Bergamo. It's designed for cloud computing and emphasizes core density — AMD is promising up to 128 cores in a single CPU. This beastly chip won't appear until the first half of 2023. Continue reading. The biggest news stories you might have missed Anova's Sous Vide Precision Cooker Pro is half price at Amazon Konami pulls some Metal Gear Solid games from digital stores The best digital gifts to send your friends and family These are the headphones, speakers and audio gadgets to gift this season

Yelp's new iOS home feed makes it easier to discover local restaurants Posted: 09 Nov 2021 04:00 AM PST Yelp seems like it's been on the internet forever, but it still helps millions of people figure out where to eat. Now for the first time, the company is introducing a vertical home feed featuring images of dishes and more, designed to help people discover local restaurants.  The feed will first and foremost feature "popular dishes and other trending photos from consumers, including food photos or interior and exterior shots of the restaurants," Yelp said. Much like Google and other types of news feeds, the content shown is based on your proximity to the business, the freshness of content and a dish's popularity.  When you click on a restaurant's dish, you'll be directed to see more photos and reviews of that dish. Yelp uses machine learning to pick out those dishes based on reviews, then pairs them with photos and reviews of the dish. Clicking on other images, like the interior or exterior of a restaurant, will take you to the business page and show you more photos and info. The other feature, Yelp Connect, is a paid feature for restaurant owners. It allows businesses to share updates with new and existing customers directly to home feed, helping their posts gain visibility (and Yelp more ad revenue, no doubt). Yelp said that it's initial testing showed it may lift a restaurant's consumer engagement up to 30 percent.  The new experience is arriving today on iOS exclusively in 150 cities in 25 US states, Yelp said. There's no word yet on an Android release, but the company said to "stay tuned for additional updates."

Netflix is bringing a TikTok-style feed of short 'Kids Clips' to its app Posted: 09 Nov 2021 03:22 AM PST Netflix will roll out a new TikTok-inspired featured that specifically targets its younger viewers this week, according to Bloomberg. The streaming giant is reportedly launching "Kids Clips" on its iOS app, which will show short video clips from its library of children's programming to help young viewers find something to watch. Bloomberg says the feature builds upon Fast Laughs, the comedy feed it launched earlier this year.  Unlike Fast Laughs, however, Kids Clips videos will be horizontal instead of vertical and will take over the entire screen. In addition, kids will only be able to view 10 to 20 clips at any one time. Netflix will add new clips every day based on the current shows and movies available on the platform, as well as future ones slated to arrive on the service. Both features are part of the company's efforts to combat decision fatigue, which ails many of its subscribers. Netflix also launched a shuffle play feature called Play Something back in October to help viewers find something to watch based on their viewing patterns without having to scroll endlessly through the app.  Netflix still refers Kids Clips as a "test," Bloomberg said, and it won't be available to all its users just yet. For now, it's rolling out in select markets, including the US, Canada, Australia, Ireland and Latin American countries.

NVIDIA's new AI brain for robots is six times more powerful than its predecessor Posted: 09 Nov 2021 01:30 AM PST NVIDIA has launched a follow-up to the Jetson AGX Xavier, its $1,100 AI brain for robots that it released back in 2018. The new module, called the Jetson AGX Orin, has six times the processing power of Xavier even though it has the same form factor and can still fit in the palm of one's hand. NVIDIA designed Orin to be an "energy-efficient AI supercomputer" meant for use in robotics, autonomous and medical devices, as well as edge AI applications that may seem impossible at the moment.  The chipmaker says Orin is capable of 200 trillion operations per second. It's built on the NVIDIA Ampere architecture GPU, features Arm Cortex-A78AE CPUs and comes with next-gen deep learning and vision accelerators, giving it the ability to run multiple AI applications. Orin will give users access to the company's software and tools, including the NVIDIA Isaac Sim scalable robotics simulation application, which enables photorealistic, physically-accurate virtual environments where developers can test and manage their AI-powered robots. For users in the healthcare industry, there's NVIDIA Clara for AI-powered imaging and genomics. And for autonomous vehicle developers, there's NVIDIA Drive. The company has yet to reveal what the Orin will cost, but it intends to make the Jetson AGX Orin module and developer kit available in the first quarter of 2022. Those interested can register to be notified about its availability on NVIDIA's website. The company will also talk about Orin at NVIDIA GTC, which will take place from November 8th through 11th.

Roland replicates more classic synths with the JD-08 and JX-08 sound modules Posted: 09 Nov 2021 12:00 AM PST Roland is again diving into its past with the JX-08 and JD-08 Sound Modules, emulating the vintage analog JX-8P and digital JD-800 synths from the '80s and '90s, respectively. Both reproduce the sounds of those classic synths digitally, while adding new effects and patches tuned for contemporary styles. Roland's JX-8P came out in 1985 as one of the company's last analog synthesizers. It married analog synthesis with digital control, offering "warm pads, shimmery chorus and crystalline textures into the most popular songs of the era," Roland said. The JX-08 recreates those sounds with new effects and a polyphoric sequencer.  Roland It features expanded polyphony, two-part multitimbral capability and dual/split modes, along with 32 presets from the original hardware and over 100 new patches more in line with modern needs. Plus, it's available with a panel derived from the synth's companion PG-800 programmer unit for the original hardware, letting you store creations in 256 preset slots.  The JD-800, meanwhile, was a digital synth introduced in 1991 with a "control laden panel and aggressively electronic sound palette," according to Roland. The JD-08 recreates that using "the original JD-800 waveforms" and advanced modeling techniques. IT also adds expanded polyphony, a two-part polyphonic sequencer and other modern updates.  Roland Both synths are highly portable, can run on USB bus power or batteries, and include a built-in speaker for mobile sound monitoring. They also feature a built-in USB-C audio/MIDI interface to connect to computer production systems, along with a full-sized MIDI I/O. The JX-08 and JD-08 Sound Modules will arrive in the US in January for $400 each.

Robinhood security breach compromised data of 7 million users Posted: 08 Nov 2021 10:38 PM PST Robinhood has revealed that it experienced a security breach incident on November 3rd, which exposed the data of as many as 7 million users or around a third of its userbase. The bad actor, the financial services company said, obtained the email addresses of 5 million people and the full names of a different group of around 2 million customers. In addition, the infiltrator managed to steal additional personal information of 310 users, including their name, date of birth and zip code. More extensive account details were exposed for 10 customers among those 310.  No Social Security numbers, bank account numbers or debit card numbers were exposed in the incident, Robinhood said, but it's still making the appropriate disclosures to the affected customers. The company, which allows users to make commission-free stock and crypto trades, said it had already contained the attack. Upon cutting the hacker's access off, the attacker demanded payment for the stolen data and made threats on what they would do with the information if they weren't paid.  A Robinhood spokesperson told Bloomberg that it wasn't a ransomware attack, but they also declined to say if they paid up — and if so, how much money changed hands. It did say, however, that it informed law enforcement about the breach and that it had secured the services of security firm Mandiant to investigate the incident. Charles Carmakal, Mandiant's CTO, told Bloomberg that this could just be the start of a series of breaches. Apparently, the firm expects the attacker to target and extort other companies and organizations over the coming months.

Google can now find your pet's doppelgänger in works of art Posted: 08 Nov 2021 04:01 PM PST Back in 2018, the Google Arts & Culture app introduced a feature that looks your doppelgänger in works of art. It's searched for matches for more than 120 million selfies so far. Now, the app can look for animals in art that resemble your pets too. Using a machine learning algorithm, Pet Portraits matches a snap of your furry, finned or feathered friend against tens of thousands of works from Google's partner institutions. The app might determine that the best match for your pet is in a piece of street art from Mexico or a cat figurine from ancient Egypt. You can share your Pet Portraits as still images or choose a few of them to turn into a GIF slideshow. To get started, tap the rainbow camera button at the bottom of the screen on the Google Arts & Culture app, which you can download on iOS or Android. The Pet Portraits feature wasn't available at the time of writing, so unfortunately I wasn't able to test it out with snaps of the Engadget team's pets. However, Google has shared a few examples of the tool in action, including one or two that maybe aren't super close to being a perfect match. Google Google Google

DOJ charges alleged Kaseya ransomware hacker tied to REvil group Posted: 08 Nov 2021 02:46 PM PST The Department of Justice has unsealed charges against a Ukrainian national over a ransomware attack against IT company Kaseya in July. Authorities in Poland arrested Yaroslav Vasinskyi last month and proceedings are underway to extradite him to the US.  He has been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and related activity in connection with computers, several counts of damage to protected computers and conspiracy to commit money laundering. If convicted on all charges, Vasinskyi faces a maximum sentence of 115 years in prison. According to the indictment, Vasinskyi used a Kaseya product to distribute ransomware. As many as 1,500 businesses and organizations around the world were affected. REvil, the ransomware group Vasinskyi is linked to, originally demanded $70 million in exchange for unlocking victims' systems. Three weeks after the attack took place, Kaseya deployed a decryption key, which allowed its customers to regain access to their computers. The DOJ also revealed it has seized $6.1 million in alleged ransom payments obtained by Russian national Yevgeniy Polyanin, another alleged member of REvil. Polyanin, who remains at large, has been accused of carrying out Sodinokibi/REvil ransomware attacks against several targets, including businesses and government departments in Texas, in August 2019. Polyanin faces similar charges to Vasinskyi. If convicted, Polyanin is looking at a maximum prison sentence of 145 years. "Cybercrime is a serious threat to our country: to our personal safety, to the health of our economy, and to our national security," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. "Our message today is clear. The United States, together with our allies, will do everything in our power to identify the perpetrators of ransomware attacks, to bring them to justice, and to recover the funds they have stolen from their victims."

Clubhouse now lets hosts record conversations for later listening Posted: 08 Nov 2021 01:56 PM PST One of Clubhouse's defining characteristics was that all of the audio chats that happened on its platform were live. Once the conversation was over, it was over. That helped build an air of exclusivity around Clubhouse's audio chat rooms, especially in the earlier days where only influencers and celebrities had access to the app. But now, the company seems to have changed its tune. Clubhouse has just announced a new feature called Replay, where users can choose to record the audio chat and then save it to a club or profile. They can be downloaded and shared externally too, just in case someone wants to use it as a podcast or a TikTok soundtrack. the best of live ✨ but later! Replays are here and they're so much more than just a recording. Creators can download audio, and when you listen on Clubhouse, you'll see all the dynamics of the stage, PTRs, *and* hop from speaker to speaker. live now on iOS & Android 💖 pic.twitter.com/zDtenNy60c — Clubhouse (@Clubhouse) November 8, 2021 Replay will also support pinned links, a recent feature that allows chat moderators to link out to different sites during a conversation. Those links will remain fully interactive to those who are listening to the recording later on as well. Listeners to a recorded conversation can skip to the next speaker, pause, scrub, or make a 30-second clip. They can also listen to it at 1.5 or 2x speed. However, be aware that creators will be able to see who's listening to their Replays. They'll also be able to have a "total room count" to see how many people in total — both live and recorded — listened to the room. Starting next week, Replays will appear on Clubhouse's discovery pages, which includes search. As TechCrunch points out, Replay is obviously great for those who don't have time to catch a live audio event, which in turn makes Clubhouse more appealing to those with busy schedules. As Clubhouse gets more competition such as Twitter Spaces and Facebook's Live Audio Rooms, it'll likely need even more features to help differentiate itself from its rivals.

It took Peloton until 2021 to add a pause button Posted: 08 Nov 2021 12:54 PM PST Somehow, Peloton has not offered users a way to pause on-demand classes until this very moment in time. At long last, a pause button is rolling out on Bike and Bike+. So, if you need to take a break for any reason, you can come back and finish your workout later. To pause a workout, tap the screen and hold the pause button for a moment. You'll still appear in the Here Now section and others can send you encouraging high fives while your workout is paused, but you will lose your spot on the leaderboard for that class. So, if you're a hyper-competitive Peloton user, perhaps the pause button isn't for you. That said, pausing a workout doesn't have any impact on other aspects of your Peloton progress, including programs, challenges, achievements, streaks, milestones and personal records. For what it's worth, Peloton says it hopes that "this feature is everything you imagine." However, it won't work on live workouts — it's not like pausing live TV. The pause button will come to Tread devices in the future.

‘Pokémon Go’ maker Niantic is helping others create AR metaverse apps Posted: 08 Nov 2021 11:35 AM PST Niantic Labs is offering everyone the chance to get their hands on the tech behind Pokémon Go and Pikmin Bloom so they can build their own augmented reality and "real-world metaverse" apps. Developers can start using the Niantic Lightship platform today. The company also announced a $20 million investment fund to back developers that "share our vision for the real-world metaverse and contribute to the global ecosystem we are building." Developers can use Ninatic's toolkit to create real-time 3D mesh maps so apps can understand the surfaces and topography of the world surrounding a device. Other APIs will help apps know the difference between different aspects of an environment, such as the ground, sky, water and buildings. The toolkit also enables developers to make apps that allow up to five players to take part in the same AR multiplayer session, keeping all of their content and interactions in sync. The tools are mostly free. The multiplayer APIs will be available at no cost for the first six months no matter how many users an app has. After that, Niantic will charge a fee if the APIs are used in an app with more than 50,000 monthly active users. Several notable brands have taken part in a private beta of the development kit, including Universal Pictures, PGA of America and Warner Music Group. Coachella has created an AR experience that its festival attendees will be able to check out next year. They'll be able to see a large version of Coachella's butterfly landing on the seven-story Spectra rainbow walkway tower. Meanwhile, Shueisha is working with developer T&S to bring characters from One Piece and other manga into the real world with AR. That app will be available in 2022. Niantic's vision of the metaverse is very much different from the virtual reality-centered future Facebook's parent company Meta has in mind. In a blog post in August, CEO John Hanke suggested that the "real-world metaverse" is about connecting the physical and digital worlds, rather than existing purely as a virtual experience. With that in mind, his company has been working on AR glasses with Qualcomm over the last couple of years.

AMD's first Zen 4 CPUs include a 128-core chip built for the cloud Posted: 08 Nov 2021 11:16 AM PST AMD has unveiled its first processors based on its new Zen 4 architecture, and they promise a lot of brawn... at least, for some users. AnandTechnotes AMD has outlined its early Zen 4 roadmap during a virtual data center event, and the first two CPU families are Epyc chips aimed at servers and other heavy-duty computing tasks. The first, nicknamed Genoa, is built for general-purpose computing and packs up to 96 cores (thanks in part to a 5nm process) as well as support for DDR5 memory and PCIe 5.0 peripherals. It arrives sometime in 2022, and partners are sampling chips now. The star of the show, however, may be Bergamo. It's designed for cloud computing and emphasizes core density — AMD is promising up to 128 cores in a single CPU. The design relies on a modified Zen 4c architecture (the C is for "cloud") that offers similar functionality, but optimizes cache and power consumption to boost the core count and offer as many processing threads as possible. Bergamo doesn't surface until the first half of 2023, but it may be useful for internet giants juggling many simultaneous users. If you were expecting news on Zen 4-based Ryzen processors, you'll be disappointed. AMD was unsurprisingly focused on corporate customers at its event, and there was no mention of mainstream parts. With that said, it won't be at all surprising if AMD shares more about next-gen Ryzen hardware in the months ahead.

Paramount+ expands its soccer lineup with Women's Super League matches Posted: 08 Nov 2021 10:45 AM PST Paramount+ is bolstering its soccer bonafides with the addition of another notable league. CBS Sports will be the exclusive US rights holder for the Barclays FA Women's Super League (WSL) in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, with 57 matches airing across Paramount+ and CBS Sports Network each season. Most matches will stream on Paramount+, but some will air exclusively on CBS Sports Network.  The WSL, which currently airs on NBC platforms in the US, features 12 teams and it's the highest level of women's soccer in England. American soccer fans will surely recognize some players, including current USWNT member Tobin Heath, who plays for Arsenal. Recently retired USWNT legend Carli Lloyd spent some time on loan at Manchester City a few years back. The WSL complements the existing plethora of soccer coverage on Paramount+, which includes the National Women's Soccer League, The Women's Cup and UEFA Women's World Cup qualifiers. Paramount+ also streams games from the UEFA Champions League, CONCACAF national team competitions, Italy's Serie A, Scotland's Premiership and much more. Paramount+ now streams more than 2,000 live games a year. Meanwhile, T-Mobile subscribers can currently snag a year of access to the platform at no extra cost.

WhatsApp's answer to Discord may be group chat 'communities' Posted: 08 Nov 2021 10:24 AM PST WhatsApp group chats may soon behave more like Discord servers. WABetaInfo and The Verge have learned WhatsApp is developing a Communities feature (initially spotted at XDA) that lets administrators unite group chats under a larger umbrella. You'd have a top-level Community chat with smaller group chats tied to it — for instance, you could have a Community for a college course with study group chats linked to that parent. All of the chats would behave much like they do today, with end-to-end encryption. Admins could invite people to join the community either manually or by sharing an invitation link. Those overseers would also have tools to manage a given community, although details aren't available at this stage. WABetaInfo expected Communities to appear in a future WhatsApp beta for Android and iOS, although it didn't know when. We'd add that features like this aren't guaranteed to launch, and might get cut. It's easy to see Communities launching before too long, though. This wouldn't replace Discord for gamers, but it might fulfill a similar role for classes, fan groups and others that want to tie multiple chats together. It could be particularly important in countries like Brazil and India, where WhatsApp is frequently a mainstay of people's digital lives.

Wind and solar could meet 85 percent of current US electricity needs Posted: 08 Nov 2021 09:29 AM PST Wind and solar power could meet around 85 percent of US electricity needs, according to a paper published in Nature Communications. Batteries, capacity overbuilding and other storage options could increase that figure. A blend of wind and solar power should be enough to meet most of the current energy needs in "advanced, industrialized nations," according to the study. Researchers from the University of California, Irvine (UCI), China's Tsinghua University, the Carnegie Institution for Science and Caltech looked at 39 years of hourly energy demand data from 42 countries to determine whether there's enough wind and solar resources to meet requirements. They found that most reliable systems, in which wind power is most prevalent, can meet energy needs in the countries they studied between 72 and 91 percent of the time, and that's before any storage considerations. Add the capacity to store up to 12 hours' worth of energy, and these renewable energy sources can meet between 83 and 94 percent of hourly energy needs. However, the researchers noted even when wind and solar sources can power over 90 percent of a region's energy needs, there would still be hundreds of hours per year where demand isn't met. "Wind and solar could meet more than 80 percent of demand in many places without crazy amounts of storage or excess generating capacity, which is the critical point," co-author Steven Davis, professor of Earth system science at UCI, said. "But depending on the country, there may be many multi-day periods throughout the year when some demand will need to be met by energy storage and other non-fossil energy sources in a zero-carbon future." There are geophysical challenges at play. The paper suggests it would be easier for larger countries closer to the equator to fully switch to sustainable power sources, since they can more reliably bank on having solar energy all year long. Germany, for instance, might struggle to meet most of its needs through wind and solar, since it's a relatively smaller country at a higher latitude. One solution would be for neighboring countries to pool their resources. "A lot of consistency and reliability could be provided by a system that includes solar resources from Spain, Italy and Greece with bountiful wind available in the Netherlands, Denmark and the Baltic region," Dan Tong, assistant professor of Earth system science at Tsinghua University and lead author on the paper, said. Many countries are cutting back on their reliance on fossil fuels, which is key to mitigating carbon emissions and limiting the impact of climate change. Europe generated more electricity from renewable sources in 2020 than it did from fossil fuels, according to a report from two green energy-focused think tanks.

Introducing Engadget’s 2021 holiday gift guide! Posted: 08 Nov 2021 09:07 AM PST If you're anything like us, the holiday shopping season never really gets easier. It always seems to sneak up when you're unprepared and making your gift list is often an arduous process. Despite the warm feelings this time of year brings, it can be awash with stress as you try to find the right gifts for the right people, all while trying to stay within budget. But hopefully our annual holiday gift guide can provide some ideas for the tech-loving individuals in your life. We've spent time pondering the best (and most fun) gadgets we've used this year and came up with more than 200 products worth recommending. You'll find gifts for aspiring game streamers, amateur photographers, audiophiles, pet parents and more, as well as the best laptops, tablets and wearables. And for those with strict budgets, we have a roundup of all things under $100 in our guide along with additional ideas for stocking stuffers that come in under $50. And for all you bargain hunters out there, Engadget will continue to cover the best tech deals throughout the holiday season. There have been a ton already as retailers have pushed up the start of the shopping season by an ungodly month (or two). But it's safe to say that the weeks leading up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday will bring even more discounts. If you haven't crossed everything off your shopping list yet, be sure to check out our Deals hub and @EngadgetDeals on Twitter to keep up with the latest sales. Regardless of how and when you secure those final gifts, we hope our gift guide can make it easier for you to get there. And if you pick up something for yourself along the way, consider that a well- deserved reward for making it through yet another crazy year. Engadget's 2021 holiday gift guide The best laptops and tablets to give as gifts The best tech toys for kids Seven tech charities to support this holiday season The home theater gear worth gifting this year (even if the giftee is you) The best smartwatches, fitness trackers and wearables to gift The best board games to gift this holiday season Small, affordable gadgets that make great stocking stuffers The best gifts for the aspiring influencer in your life The best gifts for the coffee nerd in your life All the gear you need to game-stream like a pro These are the audio gadgets to gift this season The best digital gifts to send your friends and family

Konami pulls some Metal Gear Solid games from digital stores Posted: 08 Nov 2021 07:56 AM PST Konami is removing a couple of Metal Gear Solid titles from digital storefronts and platforms for the time being due to licensing issues. Unless you can find a physical copies of them, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater are no longer available to buy. The publisher said it's "working on renewing the licenses for select historical archive footage used in-game." Along with the individual games, Konami is pulling bundles that include either game. The move affects titles on PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation Now, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS, GOG and NVIDIA Shield (not exactly the most current of platforms in most cases). It's not clear when MGS2 and MGS3 will return to stores, or whether Konami will keep the footage in question. It's hardly the first time licensing issues have affected games long after they were released. Alan Wake disappeared from storefronts for quite some time after Remedy's rights to certain songs on the soundtrack expired. Rockstar Games, meanwhile, has deleted songs from various Grand Theft Auto titles over the years for the same reason.

The best digital gifts to send your friends and family Posted: 08 Nov 2021 07:30 AM PST In a world where so much of our lives revolve around digital services, giving someone a virtual gift no longer has a stigma attached to it. For gadget-lovers who seemingly have everything, or someone getting an exciting new piece of hardware this holiday, digital gifts can help them get even more out of things they own and love. This year, we're including time-tested music and TV streaming services, some game subscriptions and practical options like learning services to keep your brain both calm and limber just as the new year gets here. Apple One Apple If you know someone with multiple Apple devices, chances are good they're already paying for a little bit of iCloud storage, and maybe a few other Apple services like Music or Arcade as well. If that's the case, consider gifting them an Apple One subscription. In a single monthly charge, Apple offers a combo of Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and either 50GB, 200GB, or 2TB of iCloud storage. If you spring for the $19.95 Family plan, that 200GB can be shared with five other family members. The $29.95 plan adds subscriptions to Apple News+ and Apple Fitness+ too. At this point, all of Apple's offerings are pretty good – Arcade has a load of fun games with no ads, TV+ has Ted Lasso, and Music is second only to Spotify in the streaming world. Buy Apple One starting at $15 Xbox Game Pass Microsoft Getting an Xbox Series X or Series S this holiday season is likely going to be difficult. But if you know someone who managed to get their hands on Microsoft's latest console, Xbox Game Pass is an outstanding addition to their new console. A $15/month subscription offers more than 100 games that can be played on the Xbox or PC, and they can be streamed to phones and tablets as well. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate also includes a number of other perks, including Xbox Live Gold. That's usually $10 a month on its own, and it's a requirement if you want to play games online. It also includes EA Play, which opens up access to more games for the Xbox and PC. Perhaps the best part of Xbox Game Pass, though, is that it offers access to first-party Xbox Game Studios titles the day they're released, so you don't even have to purchase them. For an Xbox owner, it's a no-brainer. If the person you're shopping for is a PlayStation owner, PlayStation Now offers access to hundreds of streaming games for $60/year (or $10/month), while Nintendo's Switch Online unlocks online play and a large selection of NES, Super NES, Sega Genesis and N64 games for $50/year. Buy Xbox Game Pass at Microsoft - $15/monthBuy PS Now (12 months) at Amazon - $60Buy Switch Online (12 months) at Amazon - $20 YouTube Premium Will Lipman Photography for Engadget / YouTube There's something for everyone on YouTube — and there are also enough ads to make watching it pretty painful. Shrewdly, YouTube offers a solution. A $12/month subscription removes the ads, but there are a number of other benefits as well. If you're watching on a phone or tablet, you can download basically any video and save it for offline playback. Videos also can play in the background, which means you can switch to other apps without stopping. This comes in handy for picture-in-picture, or if you just want to hear the audio while you switch away to send a text message. Premium also comes with a subscription to YouTube Music, the company's competitor to Spotify and Apple Music. It's a pretty solid service, and it does a few things that Apple and Spotify can't offer. For example, all of YouTube's music video content lives alongside its standard streaming catalog, which means users can build playlists that combine videos uploaded to YouTube alongside official artist releases. For $12, the combination of a better YouTube experience and a full-fledged music streaming app is a pretty good deal. Buy YouTube Premium - $12/month The Disney Bundle Disney Disney's $14/month video bundle that includes Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu is a great digital gift for basically anyone who likes good entertainment. The appeal of Disney+ is well-known at this point: it includes basically all of Disney and Pixar's classic animated films, alongside basically everything in the Marvel cinematic universe, the entire Star Wars saga, and new original shows like WandaVision, The Mandalorian, The Bad Batch and more. Hulu offers a vast slate of current and classic TV shows, a solid rotating selection of feature films, and a growing roster of originals. Those include The Handmaid's Tale, Little Fires Everywhere, Veronica Mars, Shrill, Pen15 and plenty more. ESPN+, meanwhile, offers a host of live sports, including MLB games every day of the season, a wide variety of soccer leagues, golf, tennis and college games across multiple sports. Add in ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary library and a smattering of originals and the Disney bundle ends up being a great option for almost anyone — and it's only $6 more than Disney+ on its own. Buy Disney Bundle - $14/month HBO Max HBO Max HBO Max might not have the best app we've ever used, but it does have one of the biggest and best video libraries you can find. Its collection of original shows and films is still unrivaled in a lot of ways, from classics like The Wire and The Sopranos to newer hits like Mare of Easttown and Succession. The service also has a huge movie library, and lately it's offered a number of movies at the same time as their theatrical release. For example, The Matrix Resurrections is going to hit HBO Max just a few days before Christmas and will stream there for a month. Speaking of new HBO content, Curb your Enthusiasm is coming back to HBO for an 11th season this fall. And if you're a DC fan, HBO Max has all of the classic Batman movies (including the Dark Knight Trilogy and Michael Keaton's two films) as well as more recent films like Aquaman, Wonder Woman and, of course, the infamous Synder Cut of Justice League. Oh yeah, it has Friends, too. Buy HBO Max starting at $10/month Headspace Headspace Chances are good that, after the year we've all had, you know someone whose mental health could use a little bit of a boost. The Headspace app is a great option for adding some peace and quiet to the day. It features a wide variety of guided meditations, including sessions for beginners as well as specific exercises that focus on reducing anxiety, learning breathing techniques, increasing your compassion and so on. It also has sleep tools like soothing music and "sleepcasts," while other audio programs center on focusing, moving more, and starting your day. For $13/month or $70/year, Headspace can be a great tool to bring someone much-needed peace of mind. Buy Headspace - $13/month Endel premium subscription Endel Endel is a unique app in the focus and mental wellness space. In a nutshell, it plays algorithmically-generated soundscapes for a variety of different scenarios. Whether you're actively on-the-go, want to get some work done, need to relax, or get some sleep, Endel will produce a soundtrack to help you achieve your goal. If you give it permission to collect data from your phone (and Apple Watch, if you have one), it can adjust its soundscapes based on things like your heart rate, time of day, location, weather, and so on. Endel is also frequently adding scenarios — recently, the company added study and recovery, and it also has something called an AI Lullaby that was created in partnership with Grimes. At $10 per month or $60 per year, it's a solid relaxation tool, and I've also found it to be particularly useful as a soundtrack when you want to just sit down and focus on a craft, like writing or art. Buy Endel Premium - $10/month Codecademy Will Lipman Photography for Engadget / Code Academy If you know someone interested in making a jump into coding, or a coder looking to augment their existing knowledge, a subscription to Codecademy could be a big help. A $240 annual subscription (or $40/month) opens up a huge catalog of courses, including things like a career path for front-end engineering, learning JavaScript or Python, digging into development or data science and many other options. Along with these courses, Codecademy also connects you with a large community for support and feedback, gives you real-world projects to test your skills on and offers completion certificates. It's a bit of an investment, but helping someone you care about invest in themselves is very much in the spirit of the holidays. Buy Codecademy - $240/year Skillshare Skillshare In the same vein as Code Academy, Skillshare is a great option if you know someone who wants to jumpstart their abilities in a creative field. The service offers thousands of classes in topics like animation, creative writing, graphic design, photography, web development and music, as well as courses to improve skills like leadership and management, marketing or business analytics. A $180 annual subscription (or $32/month, each with a free month included) unlocks ad-free classes with unlimited access to everything Skillshare has to offer. The subscription also includes access to Skillshare's community and offline courses for your phone or tablet. Finally, a subscription includes some perks of its own, like 20 percent off Squarespace and 15 percent off Adobe Creative Cloud. Buy Skillshare - $15/month Parallels Toolbox Parallels Parallels Toolbox is a great gift for the tinkerer in your life. You know, the kind of person who wants to tweak and optimize everything they can on their computer, so that everything works just right. For $20/year, Parallels Toolbox offers a surprisingly wide variety of utilities for macOS and Windows, including shortcuts to see your clipboard history, capture screens shots, convert video files, download audio from websites, resize images, and and many more. Most of these things can be done using built-in utilities or other apps, but having such a wide variety of quick and useful tools right in one place can be a major productivity boon, especially for the power user in your life. Buy Parallels Toolbox - $20/year 1Password 1Password If you know someone who doesn't use a password manager, do them a huge favor and get them set up with 1Password this holiday season. It's one of the best options available: it works on unlimited devices and is available on pretty much any platform you can think of. Naturally, it features two-factor authentication for additional security, and gives you 365 days to restore any passwords you may have deleted. It's $36 a year for an individual, or $60 a year for a family of five. That family membership can be particularly useful if you need to share account passwords between members of a household securely. It's not the flashiest gift, but I wager that once you get someone on board, they'll wonder how they went so long without using it. Buy 1Password - $36/year Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan Will Lipman Photography for Engadget / Adobe For the budding photographer in your life, Adobe's photography plans are a natural fit. Adobe has been in this game for years, and Lightroom remains an excellent tool for managing and editing photos anywhere you are. The company offers a few different plans: For $10/month, you can get both Lightroom and Photoshop, along with 20GB of cloud storage to sync images and edits across your devices. For the same price, you can also get Lightroom only, but with a whopping 1TB of storage. If the person you're gifting this to has been really good, you can spend $20 and get them both Photoshop and Lightroom alongside 1TB of storage, which is ideal for anyone shooting photos in RAW. The plans with Photoshop also include Photoshop for the iPad, so keep that in mind if you're getting this for someone who loves Apple's tablet. Buy Adobe CC Photography plan starting at $10/month

Anova's Sous Vide Precision Cooker Pro is half price at Amazon Posted: 08 Nov 2021 07:07 AM PST If you're looking for a holiday gift for that budding chef in your life (or if you want another useful tool in your own kitchen), it's worth taking a look at Anova's Sous Vide Precision Cooker Pro. The gadget, which aims to make sous vide cooking a breeze, is currently $200 on Amazon — $199 off the regular price. It's not quite the lowest price we've ever seen for the gizmo, which was $199, but it's not far off at all. Buy Anova Precision Cooker Pro on Amazon - $199 The sous vide cooking method requires putting food in a sealed bag and placing it in water. The Precision Cooker Pro, which attaches to your pot, maintains precise temperatures and keeps circulating the water to ensure your food cooks evenly. The idea is that you should have perfectly cooked food every time without having to keep a close eye on it. You can adjust the settings using Anova's companion app or the on-device controls. The app has thousands of free recipe suggestions as well, so you'll always have something new to try. The Precision Cooker Pro is Anova's most powerful sous vide device. It can heat up to 20 gallons of water using 1,200 watts of power. Anova says the device can run for up to 10,000 hours before shutting down. It's a fairly sturdy machine too. The Precision Cooker Pro is made with stainless steel and should withstand accidental drops. It's IPX-7 rated as well, so if you dunk it in water by mistake, it should still work. Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by visiting our deals homepage and following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter.

Walmart is using driverless trucks to complete a seven-mile delivery loop Posted: 08 Nov 2021 06:28 AM PST As promised, Walmart has started doing fully driverless box truck deliveries in partnership with startup Gatik between its own locations on a fixed 7-mile loop, the companies announced. Despite those limitations, the route in Bentonville, Arkansas involves "intersections, traffic lights and merging on dense urban roads," the companies said. It's another shot of good news for the progress of self-driving vehicles after GM's cruise launched its self-driving taxis into testing last week.  The Gatik trucks are bringing grocery orders from a Walmart fulfilment center (dark store) to a nearby Walmart Neighborhood Market grocery store in Bentonville, the host city of the company's headquarters. The route covers the "middle mile" transportation of goods between warehouses and stores. The program effectively got launched following the December 2020 approval by the Arkansas State Highway Commission, and has been driverless since this summer.  The new service is part of Walmart's transition to a hub-and-spoke model with warehouses or fulfilment centers closer to customers. Doing so means smaller warehouses, so "there is a growing need for doing repeated trips from the fulfilment centers to the pickup points," Gatik CEO Gautam Narang told CNBC. "That's where we come in."  Walmart isn't the first superstore to go fully driverless, as Kroger teamed up with self-driving startup Nuro for grocery deliveries back in 2018. However, at launch, Nuro's delivery vehicles were tiny microvans, while Walmart and Gatik are using full-sized box trucks.  Walmart and Gatik are running similar trials around New Orleans with electric box trucks, delivering directly to a customer pickup location. However, those are currently being operated with safety drivers aboard, so the Arkansas trial is the first truly driverless route. "Our deployment in Bentonville is not a one-time demonstration," said Narang. "These are frequent, revenue-generating, daily runs that our trucks are completing safely in a range of conditions on public roads, demonstrating the commercial and technical advantages of fully driverless operations on the middle mile."

These are the audio gadgets to gift this season Posted: 08 Nov 2021 06:15 AM PST The holidays are always a good time to help someone upgrade their audio setup, whether that's earbuds, headphones, speakers or something else. We've curated a list of the best sounding gear you can buy right now, with options for true wireless, noise cancelling, immersive audio and more at a range of prices and in a number of product categories. There's even a set of $20 earbuds that would make an excellent stocking stuffer. Sony WF-1000XM4 Will Lipman Photography for Engadget Sony's excellent WF-1000XM3 true wireless earbuds were in desperate need of an update, and the company obliged earlier this year. The WF-1000XM4 are completely redesigned with a new look and smaller, more comfortable body. Sound quality is excellent and powerful active noise cancellation (ANC) can be configured to adjust automatically based on your activity or location. Sony increased battery life to eight hours (ANC on) and tacked on wireless charging this time around There's also LDAC support for high-res audio over Bluetooth and DSEE Extreme upscaling to recover details lost to compression. The company's speak-to-chat feature, although imperfect, is handy when you need to have a quick convo. Buy WF-1000XM4 at Amazon - $280 Sony WH-1000XM4 Will Lipman Photography for Engadget I said "the best just got better" during my review of the WH-1000XM4 last summer and that sentiment still holds true. No other company comes close to what Sony offers on its flagship noise-cancelling headphones when you combine sound quality, ANC performance and features. Multi-device connectivity is handy for jumping from your laptop to your phone during the workday while speak-to-chat and quick-attention mode allow you to take brief pauses for short conversations. 30-hour battery life, deep punchy bass and 360 Reality Audio support are also items Sony checked off the wish list. Buy WH-1000XM4 at Amazon - $348 Jabra Elite 3 Will Lipman Photography for Engadget Jabra was a surprise when it burst on the true wireless scene with its Elite 65t earbuds in 2018. Since then, the company has continued to refine its lineup of mid-range and premium options. In 2021, Jabra debuted the Elite 3: a tiny, comfortable set of earbuds that cover all of the basics for just $80. The comfy fit, impressive sound quality, reliable on-board controls and solid battery life make the Elite 3 as close to a no-brainer as it gets if you're looking to give someone earbuds this year without breaking the bank. Buy Jabra Elite 3 at Amazon - $80 Sony SRS-RA5000 Will Lipman Photography for Engadget For the audio aficionado in your life who has seemingly everything, it might be time to give Sony's 360 Reality Audio a try. And even if you're not willing to splurge for a top-tier streaming plan to unlock the requisite content, the company's SRS-RA5000 speaker is still a nice centerpiece for a modest setup. With crisp and clear audio quality, the RA5000 handles all music well thanks to upscaling tech, so you're not limited to Sony's immersive format. There are plenty of ways to customize the sound and the speaker automatically calibrates itself to the room where it's placed. Connectivity options abound, so the person on your shopping list can control everything from their phone without leaving their seat. Buy Sony SRS-RA5000 at Crutchfield - $698 Sonos Roam Will Lipman Photography for Engadget Sonos' second attempt at a portable speaker is a more compelling product which makes it a solid option for your holiday shopping exploits. On the Sonos Roam, good audio quality only gets better when you use two of the speakers in a stereo pair. Even if you just opt for one, the compact design is much more portable than the larger Move. It's durable and waterproof, plus you get all of the benefits of other Sonos speakers — like multi-room audio, TruePlay tuning, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect and more. Buy Roam at Sonos - $179 Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT2 Audio Technica Audio-Technica's ATH-M50xBT were my top pick for non-ANC headphones since their debut. The combination of a fold-in design, comfy fit and warm sound quality made these so great. The company returned in August with the ATH-M50xBT2: an updated version that offers an even more compelling headphone option for anyone on your list. Alexa is now built in and multipoint Bluetooth allows you to connect to more than one device simultaneously. There's also a low-latency mode for games and video on top of LDAC support to recover some of the sonic details typically lost to compression. And with claims of 50-hour battery life, there's no need to plug these in often. Buy ATH-M50xBT2 at Amazon - $199 JLab Go Air Pop Will Lipman Photography for Engadget Earbuds aren't typically something you'd purchase as a stocking stuffer, mostly due to cost, but JLab has an extremely affordable option if you really want to go that route. At just $20, the Go Air Pop covers a lot of the basics, including eight hours of battery life with three additional charges in the case. Touch controls and EQ presets are in play as well, alongside IPX4 water resistance so these can easily double as a workout companion for any New Year's resolutions. Buy Go Air Pop at JLab - $20 THX Onyx Will Lipman Photography for Engadget What do you give the person who already has a set of headphones they really like? Something to make them sound even better. The THX Onyx is a tiny USB-C DAC (digital-to-analog converter) that supports master-quality audio content, though it obviously requires using wired headphones. LEDs indicate which format you're listening to, including standard, high resolution, Direct Stream Digital (DSD) and Master Quality Authenticated (MQA). Inside, the Onyx packs a THX AAA-78 amplifier chip: the highest-powered mobile THX Achromatic Audio Amplifier configuration. THX says the AAA-78 makes the Onyx just as powerful as a desktop DAC or amplifier setup, but it's much smaller. The chip reduces three types of distortion by up to 40dB and maximizes output power for more dynamic range and sound pressure level (SPL). That's a lot of power in a tiny device. Buy THX Onyx at Razer - $200

Disney+ will let you watch 'Shang-Chi' and 12 Marvel films in a large IMAX format Posted: 08 Nov 2021 06:00 AM PST Marvel's superheroes are about to get a bit bigger on your TV. Disney+ announced today that it's adding an expanded IMAX aspect ratio for 13 Marvel titles, including Shang-Chi and Black Panther, on November 12th (AKA "Disney+ Day"). The 1.90:1 IMAX aspect ratio will look up to 26 percent taller than the typical 2.35:1 widescreen format in Marvel films, so those annoying black bars will almost disappear while you're watching scenes shot in IMAX. (You'll still see some slight bars, though, as the IMAX format doesn't completely fill 16x9 widescreen TVs.) Disney Before this Disney+ partnership, IMAX and DTS brought the "IMAX Enhanced" home viewing format to a handful of TV streaming apps, like Sony's Bravia Core. IMAX-ified films will have a prominent label on their Disney+ screens, and you'll also be able to launch the standard widescreen version if you prefer. Physical Blu-ray collectors are already used to shifting IMAX aspect ratios in some films, most notably The Dark Knight, Tenet and Mission Impossible: Fallout, but streaming films have typically lost on this perk. The expanded aspect ratio should give Marvel's action sequences more room to pop on your TV, and it's a feature Disney+ can lord over its streaming competitors. You'll also see a wider image on smartphones, PCs and anywhere else you can view Disney+. Technically, IMAX Enhanced isn't delivering the large film format's true aspect ratio, which is more square. But, as we saw with Zack Snyder's Justice League, that leads to enormous (and ugly) black bars on the sides of your TV. It's also worth noting that we won't see IMAX versions of The Avengers and Ant-Man, as those are the rare Marvel films that used the TV-filling 1.85:1 aspect ratio (a choice made to convey a better sense of height). Looking ahead, IMAX Enhanced will also bring immersive DTS sound to Disney+, a competing option to the more ubiquitous Dolby Atmos format. Representatives from all of the companies involved tell us that IMAX Enhanced films will also support Dolby Vision, HDR10, 4K (naturally) and Dolby Atmos sound. Here are all the IMAX Enhanced films arriving on Disney+ on November 12th: Ant-Man and the Wasp Avengers: Infinity War Avengers: Endgame Black Panther Black Widow Captain America: Civil War Captain Marvel Doctor Strange Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2 Iron Man Thor Ragnarok Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Apple's MacBook Air M1 drops to a new record low of $800 Posted: 08 Nov 2021 05:16 AM PST Update 1:42pm ET: Amazon's deal on the MacBook Air M1 has expired. Even with the high-powered MacBook Pros now available, we still consider the MacBook Air M1 to be the best Apple laptop for most people. We've seen the notebook go up and down in price this year, but now you can grab it at the best price we've seen. The 256GB model is down to $800, or $200 off its normal price, and the 512GB model has the same $200 discount, bringing its final price down to $1,050. As of writing this post, the silver option in both storage capacities is sold out, so we recommend grabbing the color you want soon. Buy MacBook Air M1 (256GB) at Amazon - $800Buy MacBook Air M1 (512GB) at Amazon - $1,050 Apple's thinnest and lightest laptop earned a score of 94 from us when it first came out due mostly to its impressive performance and lack of fan noise. The M1 chipset makes this MacBook Air feel speedier and smoother than previous models, helping the notebook wake almost instantly when you open the lid and making the machine more responsive overall. You'll also notice GPU improvements as well — while the MacBook Air isn't a gaming machine, you'll be able to play Apple Arcade titles easily. Apple removed the fan from the inside of the MacBook Air M1, so you won't be bothered by whirring noises even when pushing the machine to its limits. It's a small detail, but it makes the experience of using the laptop much better — and you'll be able to do so for a long time thanks to the MacBook Air's 16-hour battery life. Arguably the biggest downsides to the Air M1 come from its svelteness: it only has two USB-C ports, which is in stark contrast to the new MacBook Pros' wide array of useful connectors. But if you can deal with the dongle life for a bit, the MacBook Air M1 will likely serve you well as your daily driver. Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by visiting our deals homepage and following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter.

Sony's WH-XB910 ANC headphones are $110 off in one-day Amazon sale Posted: 08 Nov 2021 04:23 AM PST Sony has the best in-ear and over-the-ear wireless ANC headphones on the market right now, but it also has some of the best mid-range models. A case in point is the recent WH-XB910N over-ear wireless noise-cancellation models, with features like 30 hours of battery life, effective noise cancellation and tech that can amplify your voice on Zoom calls. They're not exactly cheap at $250, but you can now pick them up via an exclusive Amazon deal for $138 or 45 percent off for today only.  Buy Sony WH-XB910N wireless ANC headphones at Amazon - $138 The WH-XB910 headphones offer sound quality nearly as good as Sony's top-end WH-1000XM4 models, though the noise cancellation isn't quite as effective. If you like your music with some serious bottom end, they offer the "XB" (extra bass) feature that amps up the bass when activated. It also uses DSEE tech to restore detail lost to compression, and supports Sony's 360 Reality surround-sound audio content.  Sony is also pitching these to the work-from-home crowd, with its Precise Voice Pickup that can amplify your voice on calls. It also offers an ambient sound mode so you can hear what's going on around you, along with on-board controls. On top of the 30-hour battery life, you can gain an additional 4.5 hours with a 10-minute quick charge.  If you're looking for the best instead, Sony's WH-1000XM4 headphones offer both incredible sound, accurate sound quality and cone-of-silence levels of ANC noise cancellation. That model is still on sale for $248 in black or silver, or $100 off the regular price.

The Morning After: Get ready for a lot of Disney+ news Posted: 08 Nov 2021 04:21 AM PST Disney+ Day approaches, but it seems more like a week than a standalone day. The streaming service appears to have lots to reveal this week, kicking off with a discount $2 month for new sign-ups, or it seems, anyone who returns to the fold.  And some breaking news: You can also expect to see Shang-Chi and an array of Marvel movies in movie-theater style large IMAX proportions. The 1.90:1 IMAX aspect ratio will look up to 26 percent taller than the typical 2.35:1 widescreen format in Marvel films, so those annoying black bars will almost disappear while you're watching scenes shot in IMAX. It's not properly IMAX, which is so square it has enormous black bars on the sides of your TV — see Zack Snyder's Justice League for how that goes. Shang-Chi will come to the service on November 12th, along with 12 other IMAX-enhanced Marvel movies on. Also expect to see a new take on Home Alone, Jungle Cruise and more arriving soon. — Mat Smith Google blames Pixel 6's slow fingerprint reader on 'enhanced security' Not sure what to think about that. As a Pixel 6 user, yes, I find the fingerprint reader slow. (It's otherwise a pretty incredible phone). Google is now telling users the Pixel 6's fingerprint reader is using "enhanced security algorithms" that may either take longer to check your digits or require better sensor contact. Google hasn't elaborated on its statement. Some users believe the sluggish performance might be due to Google's use of an optical under-display fingerprint reader instead of the ultrasonic sensor in phones like the Galaxy S21, which is very fast at recognizing your fingertips. However, several Reddit users noted there are phones with optical sensors that perform faster. Continue reading. Sponsored by UserTesting Learn the keys to testing your game at every stage of the player's journey. Get the guide. 'Arcane' is a new breed of mature animation for the Netflix gaming crowd 'League of Legends' has never looked so good. Netflix In League of Legends lore, Vi and Jinx are bitter rivals, but in Arcane, they start off as sisters with a deep, true love for one another. This new mature animation, which launched on Netflix this weekend, offers a deeper glimpse into the universe of LoL. And it looks amazing.  Sadly, you'll have to wait for episode four, which lands November 13th. Continue reading. The next Galaxy S might have space for an S-Pen Not a Galaxy Note? Front Page Tech A leaked picture purporting to be the Galaxy S22 Ultra has a stylus holster. Front Page Tech has obtained photos of what it claims are the first live photos of the (apparently finished) S22 Ultra, and it's effectively the new Galaxy Note. There's an S-Pen, a slot to hold the stylus and even a less-rounded body, reminiscent of Notes past. There's also an awful lot of camera sensors on the back. Is that five separate lenses? Continue reading. Netflix will supposedly make iOS games available through the App Store The company's app might only serve as a gaming gateway. Now Netflix is offering mobile games on Android, how will iOS players fare? According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman (with help from developer Steve Moser), code suggests Netflix would release all its games "individually" on iOS, through the App Store. They may not be downloadable and playable within the app. Continue reading. The best gifts for the coffee nerd in your life From insulated mugs to cold brew kits. Engadget I haven't had my morning coffee yet, so this is a struggle to write. If you're similarly tied to all things beans, presses and water temperature, we've got some gift ideas. BRB, I need to make a Monday morning vat of cold brew. Continue reading. The biggest news stories you might have missed Uber considers dispatching yellow taxis in New York City Iraqi prime minister says he was the target of a drone assassination attempt How beetles, purrs and inventive sound design brought 'Dune' to life SpaceX now expects Crew-3 to launch November 10th ICYMI: The Beats Fit Pro are an intriguing AirPods Pro alternative 'Stranger Things' season 4 teaser hints at trouble in California

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