Friday, January 14, 2022

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Meta hit with $3.2 billion class action suit over alleged exploitation of UK Facebook users

Posted: 14 Jan 2022 01:53 AM PST

A legal expert has teamed with a litigation firm to sue Meta on behalf of 44 million Facebook users in the UK, claiming that they had their data exploited in violation of competition laws, TechCrunch has reported. The firm is seeking £2.3 billion ($3.1 billion) in damages for UK Facebook users. 

The lawsuit was filed by competition law specialist Dr. Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, and is being funded by Innsworth, a law firm that takes on cases in exchange for a share of damages won. It claims that even though users don't pay to use Facebook, they surrender data that has considerable value. 

"They are exploiting users by taking their personal data without properly compensating them for taking that data," Lovdahl Gormsen said in a statement. "I don't think the users are entirely clear when they click on the terms and conditions how unfair that deal is." 

She added that Facebook has become "the sole social network in the UK where you could be sure to connect with friends and family in one place." And even as it locked users into its ecosystem (which includes WhatsApp and Instagram), it was tracking users across other websites as well. "It abused its market dominance to impose unfair terms and conditions on ordinary Britons giving it the power to exploit their personal data," according to Lovdahl Gormsen. 

The lawsuit covers the period from October 2015 to December 31st, 2019. It's an "opt-out" class action lawsuit, meaning that users will not need to take any action to receive damages in the case, unless they decide to opt out. 

"People access our service for free. They choose our services because we deliver value for them and they have meaningful control of what information they share on Meta's platforms and who with. We have invested heavily to create tools that allow them to do so," a Meta spokesperson told The Guardian in a statement. 

Facebook already had a hit of bad news this week in the US, as a Federal judge said an antitrust suit by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Facebook could move forward. The FTC wants to force Meta to sell Instagram and WhatsApp, accusing it of engaging in "anti-competitive conduct" against rivals. 

PayPal faces lawsuit for freezing customer accounts and funds

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 11:31 PM PST

Three PayPal users who've allegedly had their accounts frozen and funds taken by the company without explanation have filed a federal lawsuit against the online payment service. The plaintiffs — two users from California and one from Chicago — are accusing the company of unlawfully seizing their personal property and violating racketeering laws. They're now proposing a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all other users who've had their accounts frozen before and are seeking restitution, as well as punitive and exemplary damages.

Lena Evans, one of the plaintiffs who'd been a PayPal user for 22 years, said the website seized $26,984 from her account six months after it got frozen without ever telling her why. Evans had been using PayPal to buy and sell clothing on eBay, to exchange money for a poker league she owns and for a non-profit that helps women with various needs. 

Fellow plaintiff Roni Shemtov said PayPal seized over $42,000 of her money and never got an acceptable reason for why her account was terminated. She received several different explanations when she contacted the company: One customer rep said it was because she used the same IP and computer as other Paypal users, while another said it was because she sold yoga clothing at 20 to 30 percent lower than retail. Yet another representative allegedly said it was because she used multiple accounts, which she denies. 

Shbadan Akylbekov, the third plaintiff, said PayPal seized over $172,000 of his money without giving him any explanation why the account got limited in the first place. Akylbekov used the account of a company his wife owns to sell Hyaluron pens, which are needle-less pens that inject hyaluronic acid into the skin. After the money disappeared from the account following a six-month freeze, PayPal allegedly sent his wife a letter that says she "violated PayPal's User Agreement and Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) by accepting payments for the sale of injectable fillers not approved by the FDA." It also said that the money was taken from her account "for its liquidated damages arising from those AUP violations pursuant to the User Agreement."

PayPal has long angered many a user for limiting accounts and freezing their funds for six months or more. One high-profile case was American poker player Chris Moneymaker's who had $12,000 taken from his account after six months of being limited. Moneymaker was already in the process of asking people to join him in a class action lawsuit before his funds were "mysteriously returned." 

Part of the complaint reads:

"Plaintiffs bring this class action against Defendant PAYPAL, INC. ("PayPal") to recover damages and other relief available at law and in equity on behalf of themselves, as well as on behalf of the members of the class defined herein... This action stems from Defendant's widespread business practice of unilaterally seizing funds from its clients' financial accounts, without cause and without any fair or due process.

PayPal places a "hold" on Plaintiffs' own funds in their own PayPal accounts. PayPal has failed to inform Plaintiffs and members of the class of the reason(s) for the actions PayPal has taken, even telling Plaintiffs and members of the class that they will "have to get a subpoena" to learn the simple information as to why PayPal was holding, and denying Plaintiffs, access to their own money."

Meta's Spanish-language moderators have reportedly been working in unsafe conditions

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 04:19 PM PST

It's no secret Meta employs contract laborers to do much of the hard work of enforcing its content moderation policies. And despite assisting one of the most valuable companies in the world, those workers have frequently complained of their jobs involving poor compensation and anxiety-inducing work. Some are now also saying they're being treated worse than other workers.

According to BuzzFeed News, Genpact, a Meta subcontractor that has previously been accused of fostering poor working conditions, has required the Spanish-language moderators out of its Richardson, Texas office to report for in-person work since April 2021. Those workers have had to put their health at risk against both the delta and omicron coronavirus variants while their English-language counterparts have been allowed to cycle through the office in three-month rotations.

The news of the situation at Genpact comes just one week after workers at Accenture, another Meta subcontractor, successfully protested to force the company to scrap a requirement it had in place for hundreds of Facebook moderators to return to in-person work on January 24th.

Contractors who spoke to BuzzFeed News claim Genpact also holds them to unreasonable standards. They say they're expected to make moderation decisions in about a minute while maintaining an 85 percent accuracy rate. Complicating everything is the fact that Meta reportedly doesn't disseminate guidelines on how to apply Facebook's Community Standards in a language other than English, leaving those workers in a situation where they're forced to first translate that guidance before applying it. 

And there's the scale of the problem the team has to tackle. Genpact's Spanish-language moderation team is named after Mexico but in addition to moderating content posted by people living in the North American country, they're also responsible for Facebook and Instagram posts from Spanish-speaking users in most Latin American countries as well. In Mexico alone, Facebook has more than 84 million users. By contrast, the Genpact Mexican market team consists of approximately 50 individuals.

"We use the combination of technology and people to keep content that breaks our rules off of our platform, and while AI has made progress in this space, people are a key part of our safety efforts," a Meta spokesperson told Engadget. "We know these jobs can be difficult, which is why we work closely with our partners to constantly evaluate how to best support these teams."

After 15 years, Local Motors will reportedly cease operations this Friday

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 02:45 PM PST

Crowdsourcing automaker Local Motors will cease operations this Friday, according to employees, TechCrunch reports. The company has not yet officially announced its imminent demise, though its reactions from its workforce have already appeared on LinkedIn.

"As with most adventures, they must come to an end," Jeff Hollowell, Local Motors VP of information technology, wrote on Thursday. "Local Motors has closed its doors. It has been an exciting, challenging, and educational experience working with Olli and all the team at Local Motors. I was fortunate to work with amazing individuals and help build what others said could not be done! I've been able to grow as a leader and learn new skills that I now take to my next path forward. Thanks to all the team members and partners that I was able to work with. The time spent was well worth the effort."

Local Motors pioneered the idea of crowdsourcing the production of vehicles with 2016's, Olli, a 3D-printed 12-passenger microbus powered by now equally defunct IBM's Watson. It set off a minor arms race among automakers to produce a new class of autonomous EV people movers, however, imparting Level 4 autonomous capabilities has proven exceedingly difficult to date — in part due to technological shortcomings in the current generation of sensor and signal processing systems. Of. course, that hasn't dissuaded companies from trying, their efforts having led to a series of high-profile traffic accidents in recent years such as the Navya that wrecked in the opening hours of CES 2017, the Toyota e-Pallette that ran down a paralympian in August, and the solo-vehicle accident in Whitby, Ontario that critically injured a man last December.

Local Motors first made a name for itself with the Rally Fighter kit car before it pivoted to developing the Olli. The company had planned to launch a pilot program for the second iteration of its autonomous shuttle, the Olli 2.0, in Toronto last spring, however those plans were subsequently pushed back to February, 2022, and, with Thursday's revelation, will now likely never take place.

US lawmakers want terms of service to be summarized in plain language

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 02:23 PM PST

Unless you're a lawyer, there's a pretty good chance you've never read through a website's entire terms of service. There's a simple reason for that. Far too often, they're too long and difficult to parse. Some services offer summary statements, but they're the exception, not the norm.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers made up of Representative Lori Trahan and Senators Bill Cassidy and Ben Ray Luján of Louisana and New Mexico want to change that. They've introduced the Terms-of-service Labelling, Design and Readability Act – that's TLDR for short. Taking a page from Apple, the proposed legislation would require online businesses to include a "nutrition label-style" summary at the top of their terms of service agreements and make the contracts easy for researchers to examine through the use of XML tags. It would also require them to disclose any recent data breaches, as well as provide information on whether a user can delete their data and how they would go about doing that.

"For far too long, blanket terms of service agreements have forced consumers to either 'agree' to all of a company's conditions or lose access to a website or app entirely. No negotiation, no alternative, and no real choice," said Representative Trahan. The group cites a 2012 study that found it would take the average American 76 workdays to read all the terms of service contracts they've agreed to use their favorite online services as the basis for the need of the TLDR Act. Should the legislation pass, it would empower the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to enforce it.

Now all Twitter Spaces hosts can record audio

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 02:00 PM PST

You no longer have to be one of the privileged few to record Twitter Spaces. Twitter has announced that all Android and iOS users can record Spaces when they're hosting. As before, you just have to toggle "record space" before you start. From there, your audio will be available for public listening and sharing 30 days after the initial stream.

Hosts can delete recordings at any time. Twitter will keep audio files for up to 120 days, however, to verify terms of service violation reports.

The expansion will help creators who want to regularly host shows and meetings on Spaces — it's now easy to offer at least temporary after-show listening without having to separately record clips. This also helps Twitter fend off competition from Clubhouse, which added recording in November. Although you might not switch to Twitter for this, it could reduce the incentive to sign up for Clubhouse if you weren't already on the platform.

Sinclair locks down local streaming rights for 16 NBA teams

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 01:40 PM PST

Sinclair Broadcast Group has reached a deal to stream 16 NBA teams' games to fans in local markets. The company, which is aiming to launch a standalone streaming service this year, previously secured local rights for some NHL and MLB teams, but the NBA deal is a major piece of the puzzle.

The agreement covers the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, LA Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs.

The service, which is expected to debut in the first half of the year, is likely to be fairly pricey at north of $20 per month, according to Sports Business Journal. However, it should give fans a way to see their local teams if games aren't broadcast nationally or they can't watch Sinclair's Bally Sports regional sports networks (RSNs). Those networks aren't available on YouTube TV or Hulu, for instance. Local games are typically blacked out in any case, including on NBA League Pass.

Sinclair snapped up a batch of Fox Sports RSNs that Disney had to sell off as part of the Fox acquisition. The RSNs were later rebranded to Bally Sports.

Facebook, Google, Twitter and Reddit subpoenaed by Jan. 6 committee

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 01:24 PM PST

Facebook, Google, Twitter and Reddit have been subpoenaed by the Congressional select committee investigating the Jan. 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. In a statement, the committee said the companies' responses so far have been "inadequate."

"Two key questions for the Select Committee are how the spread of misinformation and violent extremism contributed to the violent attack on our democracy, and what steps—if any—social media companies took to prevent their platforms from being breeding grounds for radicalizing people to violence," committee chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said.

"It's disappointing that after months of engagement, we still do not have the documents and information necessary to answer those basic questions. The Select Committee is working to get answers for the American people and help ensure nothing like January 6th ever happens again. We cannot allow our important work to be delayed any further."

The committee is looking for a range of records related to users' activity on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Reddit, as well as internal documents about the companies' handling of Jan. 6th. As a stipulation of these new subpoenas, all of the companies have been given a deadline of January 27th to turn over documents to the committee.

In a letter addressed to Mark Zuckerberg, Thompson addresses Facebook's handling of the "Stop the Steal" movement that was organized on its platform. An internal memo detailed how Facebook failed to recognize the danger posed by the groups until after the violence on January 6th. The letter also references testimony from whistleblower Frances Haugen, who told Congress last year that Facebook disbanded its civic integrity team after the election.

In a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Thompson says that the select committee "believes Alphabet has significant undisclosed information that is critical to its investigation, concerning how Alphabet developed, implemented, and reviewed its content moderation, algorithmic promotion, demonetization, and other policies that may have affected the January 6, 2021 events." He notes that some rioters live streamed the attack on YouTube and that misinformation about the election spreads on the platform "to this day."

Thompson's letter to recently installed Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal notes that Jack Dorsey testified that Twitter had played a role in the events on January 6th. "Twitter has failed to fully comply or even commit to a timeline for complying with the Select Committee's request for internal company analyses of misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation relating to the 2020 election, efforts to challenge or overturn the election, and the use of Twitter by domestic violent extremists or foreign malign influences to affect the 2020 election," Thompson writes.

For Reddit, the committee seems primarily concerned with the r/The_Donald subreddit, which was banned in June of 2020, as well as r/donaldtrump, which was kicked off the platform on January 8th 2021. The letter notes that the r/The_Donald community migrated to TheDonald.win, where there was a "significant amount of online discussion and planning" related to the insurrection.

A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment on the subpoena. Representatives for Meta, Reddit and Google didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Update 1/13 7:50pm ET: In a statement, a Google spokesperson said the company is "committed to working with Congress through this process." "We have strict policies prohibiting content that incites violence or undermines trust in elections across YouTube and Google's products, and we enforced these policies in the run-up to January 6 and continue to do so today."

Update 1/13 8:22pm ET: "As Chairman Thompson said recently, 'Facebook is working with [the committee] to provide the necessary information we requested,'" a spokesperson for Meta said in a statement. "Since then, Meta has produced documents to the committee on a schedule committee staff requested - and we will continue to do so."

Oath Keepers leader charged with 'seditious conspiracy' for role in US Capitol breach

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 01:10 PM PST

The far-right extremist group Oath Keepers may soon face particularly serious repercussions for its actions on top of a string of internet bans. A DC federal grand jury has unsealed seditious conspiracy charges against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and 10 other individuals for their alleged roles in the US Capitol breach on January 6th, 2021. Rhodes and followers face accusations they planned to use force to oppose the electoral college vote certification, including the direct attempt to seize the Capitol building as well as through multiple "quick reaction force" teams that planned to deliver guns and other weapons to extremists inside the building.

The Oath Keepers' digital savviness played an important role in the charges. The paramilitary group discussed plans with co-conspirators through encrypted messaging apps, social media, text messaging and websites, according to the Justice Department. Federal investigators revealed they'd used Signal messages as part of the case, although it wasn't clear how they'd obtained the discussions — CNBC speculated that a participant in group chats leaked the contents to federal agents.

Rhodes and Edward Vallejo, who reportedly helped coordinate the quick reaction teams, are the only ones facing charges for the first time. The rest, including prominent members like Donovan Crowl and Jessica Watkins, were already facing indictments. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The legal action could effectively bring down a group long accused of promoting harm both on- and offline. The Oath Keepers had threatened violence online, prompting a Twitter ban in September 2020, and spread COVID-19 conspiracy theories that sometimes included QAnon-linked hashtags. The group's Capitol incursion, meanwhile, was partly fuelled by online election misinformation promoting unsupported claims of widespread fraud during the 2020 presidential vote.

The Oath Keepers already lost much of their online presence in the months before and after the Capitol incident, but the new charges could make it that much harder for the group or its members to maintain that internet representation. This also underscores social media outlets' imperfect attempts to curb violent organizations and the misinformation that fuels them. While more aggressive crackdowns wouldn't have necessarily stopped the 2021 breach, outlets like Facebook have acknowledged they could have done more to curb groups that spread and acted on that misinformation.

Google wants to work with government to secure open-source software

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 12:48 PM PST

Google has called on the US government to take a more proactive role in identifying and protecting open-source projects that are critical to internet security. In a blog post the company published following the White House's Log4j vulnerability summit on Thursday, Kent Walker, president of global affairs and chief legal officer at Google and Alphabet, said the country needs a public-private partnership that will work to properly fund and staff the most essential open-source projects.

"For too long, the software community has taken comfort in the assumption that open source software is generally secure due to its transparency and the assumption that 'many eyes' were watching to detect and resolve problems," he said. "But in fact, while some projects do have many eyes on them, others have few or none at all."

According to Walker, the partnership would look at the influence and importance of a project to determine how critical it is to the wider ecosystem. Looking to the future, he says the industry needs new ways to identify software that may, down the line, pose a systemic risk to internet security.

Walker said there's also a need for more public and private funding, noting Google is ready to contribute to an organization that matches volunteers from companies like itself to critical projects that need the most support. "Open source software is a connective tissue for much of the online world — it deserves the same focus and funding we give to our roads and bridges," he said.

The importance of open-source software has been a topic of a lot of discussions following the discovery of the Log4Shell vulnerability. Log4j happens to be one of the most popular and widely used logging library, with services like Steam and iCloud depending on it. Security researcher Marcus Hutchins, who helped stop the spread of WannaCry, called the vulnerability "extremely bad" as it left millions of applications open to attack.

'PUBG Mobile' maker sues copycat game and app stores that hosted it

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 12:40 PM PST

When you're the progenitor of an entire gaming genre and holding the reigns of a billion dollar intellectual property, imitation, it turns out, is not the sincerest form of flattery. It's the sort of thing that gets you dragged into US federal court. And that's exactly what Krafton, maker of PUBG Mobile, is doing to Garena Online over accusations that the Singapore-based game developer has once again infringed its battle royale IP. What's more, Krafton has named Google and Apple in its complaint.

This isn't the first time that Krafton has sued Garena Online. In 2017, Krafton filed suit in Singapore over the sale of Free Fire: Battlegrounds, Garena's suspiciously PUBG-like mobile shooter, but ended up settling that case. Now, Krafton is suing Garena again, over Free Fire again, but this time in US federal court.

Krafton alleges that after settling in 2017, Garena immediately resumed selling Free Fire on both Google Play and the Apple App Store without entering into any sort of licencing agreement to use the litigated game content. Additionally, Garena started selling of another battle royale game of questionable copyright pedigree, Free Fire Max, this past September. As such, Krafton is suing Garena for copyright infringement claiming that "Garena has earned hundreds of millions of dollars from its global sales of the infringing apps," and holding both the Google and Apple marketplaces liable for damages for hosting the content. Krafton, which is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, has not specified damages outside of a statutory $150,000 per infringement. 

Copyright infringement claims like this are wildly common throughout the tech industry with legal departments constantly on the prowl for potential IP violations, be they intentional or not. For example, earlier this week, the App Store were inundated with knock-off and clones of the newly-minted hit mobile app, Wordle, prompting Apple to intercede and remove the offending iterations.     

Woman sentenced to prison for stealing 3,000 iPods intended for students

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 11:40 AM PST

It's one thing to steal from the government, but stealing from children is a whole lot worse. Sadly, that's precisely what one New Mexico school district employee did. Kristy Stock was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for her role in a scheme to steal and resell more than 3,000 iPods intended for Native American students.

A release issued by the Department of Justice details the charges against Stock of tax fraud and transportation of stolen goods. According to her plea agreement and court documents, the scheme began back in 2013 when she was in charge of a program for the Central Consolidated School District of New Mexico designed to provide devices to Native American students living on tribal reservations.

While overseeing the program, Stock was supposed to use federal grant money to buy iPods to distribute to students. However, thanks to help from other conspirators including her friend James Bender and Saurabh Chawla, the group ended up shipping the stolen iPods to Maryland where they were listed on eBay before being sold at a "substantial" markup.

Due to his own account having previously been suspended due to security concerns, Chawla was forced to use Bender's eBay account to list the stolen devices for auction, with Bender serving as an intermediary. Later, between 2015 and 2018, Stock communicated directly with Chawla, providing info on the make, model, color and quantity of devices before agreeing on a price and putting them up for auction.

All told, Stock admitted that she made more than $800,000 from selling stolen iPods between 2013 and 2018. To make matters worse, Stock also filed fraudulent tax returns on the income, resulting in tax loss of around $270,000. That said, while Stock faces an 18-month prison sentence, she actually got off lighter than her co-conspirator Chawla, who was sentenced to 66 months after failing to pay more than $700,000 in taxes. Meanwhile, Bender was sentenced to just 366 days in prison.

So while Stock and her crew eventually got caught, the real lesson is that here is that crime doesn't pay–especially if you're stealing from children and then lying on your taxes about your ill-gotten income.

The Hitman trilogy comes to Game Pass on January 20th

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 11:17 AM PST

On January 20th, IO Interactive will celebrate the first anniversary of Hitman 3 in a style befitting Agent 47's sharp suit. It will release a bundle of all three World of Assassination games on PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. What's more, the bundle will be available to Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers at no extra cost.

Hitman 3 will debut on Steam on the same day, one year after it arrived on Epic Games Store. Epic's one-year exclusivity window on PC might have caused issues for those who wanted to pull in locations from the first two games. In any case, you'll soon be able to access the whole trilogy on Steam

Later this month, PC players can check out Hitman 3's virtual reality mode. Given that owners of the previous two games can access locations from those titles, you'll be able to play the entire trilogy in VR. The virtual reality mode has been available on PSVR since last January.

IO has also laid out some of its content plans for Year Two of Hitman 3. In Elusive Target Arcade, each contract will challenge players to take down multiple Elusive Targets in a certain order, with some complications added for good measure. 

Unlike standard Elusive Targets, which you only get one shot at, Arcade contracts are permanent additions to the game. The twist is that, if you fail a contract, you need to wait 12 hours before you can try again. IO says this will help Arcade contracts retain the high-stakes spirit of Elusive Targets. Three Arcade Contracts will be added on January 20th, with more to follow later in the year.

Another new mode called Freelancer is coming to Hitman 3 this spring. It includes a customizable safehouse where you can plan out missions. That's important, because the mode has roguelike elements. If you take gear out on a mission and don't return with it, that equipment will vanish from your inventory. However, you'll be able to acquire weapons and items from Suppliers that you find in mission locations.

Later this year, IO will add a ray-tracing mode to the PC version of Hitman 3, which will work with locations from the other games. The studio also plans to harness XeSS (Xe Super Sampling), Intel's answer to NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR upscaling tech, as well as variable rate shading to boost performance.

Even though IO Interactive has another exciting project in the works in the form of a James Bond game, it's nice to see the studio giving Hitman fans plenty to look forward to as well.

'Baby Shark' is the first YouTube video to reach 10 billion views

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 10:26 AM PST

No, you still can't escape "Baby Shark." Billboardreports Pinkfong's so-catchy-it-hurts children's song has become the first video to reach 10 billion views on YouTube. And no one is likely to catch it any time soon — Luis Fonsi's "Despacito" video, which "Baby Shark" overtook as the most popular video in November 2020, has managed 'just' 7.7 billion views as of this writing.

The 2016 tune's familiar (if very repetitive) hook is certainly part of its success, but it has also been helped by returning to popular culture over and over again. On top of celebrity covers from the likes of James Corden and Bebe Rexha, "Baby Shark" has also enjoyed a 2019 tour, a viral dance challenge, a spot in Just Dance 2020 and a Nickelodeon TV show that premiered in 2021. Simply put, Pinkfong has kept the track in the limelight where even breakout songs like "Despacito" have faded away.

Interest isn't likely to cool off in the immediate future. Nickelodeon has not only renewed its "Baby Shark" show, but promised a feature-length movie. There's even an NFT collection if you're determined to merge two internet trends. It could take a long while before another video pulls ahead, even with K-pop megastars routinely breaking ground in other areas.

A Netflix PGA Tour docuseries is coming from the producers of 'Drive to Survive'

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 09:35 AM PST

A Netflix docuseries is in the works that will offer viewers a look behind the curtain at the lives of some of the planet's top golfers. The PGA Tour and the governing bodies of the four men's major championships are all onboard for the series, which will cover the 2022 golf season.

Major winners including Collin Morikawa, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth and Sergio Garcia are all taking part. The current top-ranked men's player, Jon Rahm, isn't participating for the time being, though the planet's leading amateur, Keita Nakajima, is involved as he prepares to play in the majors for the first time.

"We are thrilled to bring golf's leading organizations and players together for this first-of-its-kind partnership and unparalleled window into life on the Tour," said Brandon Riegg, Netflix's vice president of unscripted and documentary series. "Our members will love getting to know the players and personalities as well as the iconic venues along the way. Even the most devoted golf fans have never seen the sport quite like this."

The show will be co-produced by Box To Box Films (which is behind Formula 1: Drive to Survive, another big Netflix sports docuseries) and Vox Media Studios. The PGA Tour and governing bodies for the majors will surely be hoping that the series can do for golf what Formula 1: Drive to Survive has done for the highest level of motorsport.

That show is credited with drawing new audiences to Formula 1 and it greatly boosted the sport's popularity in the US. While golf arguably still has a higher profile in the States, perhaps the docuseries will help it draw in younger viewers too.

Ubisoft's 'The Settlers' reboot finally arrives March 17th

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 09:19 AM PST

Ubisoft's The Settlers revival is finally here... almost. The company has revealed that its reboot of the classic build-up real-time strategy game will be available March 17th for Windows PCs through the Epic Games Store and Ubisoft Connect. The developers are also whetting appetites with a five-day, registration-only closed beta starting January 20th that will include two of the game's three factions as well as two multiplayer Skirmish modes (one- and two-player teams).

The rebuilt game is "mostly" derived from The Settlers III and The Settlers IV, and looks decidedly nicer than many RTS titles thanks to the use of the same Snowdrop Engine you find in games like The Division series and the upcoming Avatar release. While it won't compete with the latest first-person shooter in looks, it might be more visually appealing than its competitors. There is a story-driven single-player campaign, but Ubisoft is clearly banking on the eight-way multiplayer to help with longevity.

However well the game plays, Ubisoft's main challenge is simply revitalizing the franchise. There hasn't been a brand-new game in the series since The Settlers Online in 2010, and the decade since has only led to a cancelled game (Kingdoms of Anteria) and four years of development for the imminent reboot. While there will certainly still be fans, it's not clear how many of them were willing to wait a decade for a follow-up.

Apple's third-gen AirPods drop to $140 at Amazon

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 09:04 AM PST

If you missed the holiday-season discounts on Apple's latest AirPods last year, you have another opportunity to get them today. Amazon has the third-generation AirPods for $140 right now, which is 22 percent off and a return to their record-low price. Apple released these buds last fall and they represent a complete redesign from the original AirPods, which resembled Apple's old-school EarPods.

Buy AirPods (3rd gen) at Amazon - $140

While the second-generation AirPods haven't been retired yet, the latest models will likely work better for most people. That's due in part to their new design, which looks more like the AirPods Pro. They don't have the removable silicone ear tips that the Pros have, but they have a contoured look with a shorter stem plus an IPX4 rating that should protect them during sweaty workouts.

Apple also greatly improved the audio on these AirPods; their custom driver and high-dynamic-range amplifier help produce crisp sounds with rich bass. While they don't support ANC, the third-gen earbuds do have Adaptive EQ, spatial audio and always-on Siri. The H1 chip inside helps enable all of those features, along with fast pairing and switching between Apple devices. We also appreciate their battery life — you should get six hours of listening time before they need more juice, and roughly 30 total hours of use with the extra power provided by their charging case.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Bandai Namco is making a 'My Hero Academia' battle royale for PS4, Xbox One and Switch

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 08:55 AM PST

As if the market for battle royale games wasn't crowded enough already, you'll soon have another option in the form of My Hero Academia: Ultra Rumble. Based on the popular manga and anime, Bandai Namco teased the title in a Weekly Shōnen Jump article spotted by Gematsu.

Ultra Rumble doesn't have a release date yet, but it will come to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam. Compared to battle royales like Call of Duty: Warzone and PUBG, Ultra Rumble looks like it will be a more intimate affair with support for up to 24 players in a single match. Bandai Namco plans to hold a closed beta for the game in the future.

It's hard to judge the potential quality of Ultra Rumble based on a few magazine scans, but as Eurogamer notes, past My Hero Academia haven't been great despite the popularity of the source material. 2018's My Hero One's Justice, for instance, was greeted mostly with middling reviews. Here's hoping Ultra Rumble breaks that trend.

Sony A7 IV review: A powerhouse of a hybrid camera

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 08:31 AM PST

Nearly four years after Sony released its highly successful A7 III hybrid full-frame mirrorless camera, it finally launched a follow up. The A7 IV brings a raft of new features and improvements like a higher-resolution 33-megapixel sensor, improved video specs and updated AI-powered autofocus. However, at $2,500 it's also $500 more than the A7 III was at launch.

A lot has changed over the years between the two models. Sony now has to contend with formidable rivals like Canon's EOS R6 and the Nikon Z6 II. It itself has also released new high-end models like the A7S III, A7R IV and A1 loaded with the latest technology.

With all that, I was of course curious to see how the A7 IV would stack up in a category it dominated for quite a few years. How does it measure up against rivals, particularly when it comes to video? How much new tech from the high-end models has made it to the mainstream A7 IV? And is it suitable for professional use? Let's dive in and find out.

Design and handling

Sony's A1, A7S III and A7R IV all had substantial body changes compared to their predecessors, and the A7 IV follows the same script. It has the same nice big grip, so you never feel you're going to drop it, even with a big lens. However, it has picked up some heft and size, weighing in at 699 grams compared to 650 with the AIII. It's 7mm thicker, too.

It has similar controls to the A7 III, with the biggest difference being that the record button has moved from the back to an easier-to-access position on top. The buttons and dials also generally feel better and more precise, and the joystick is grippier and easier to use. It lacks certain dials compared to the far more expensive A1, like the shooting mode and autofocus dials. The lockable exposure compensation dial is the same, but lacks the graphics because it's designed to be programmable.

In one way, however, the A7 IV's body is a step up from the A1. The rear touch display can fully articulate and not just tilt out, so it's much more practical for low-angle shooting in portrait orientation. That also makes it far more useful as a vlogging camera.

It has the same well-organized menu system as the A1 and A7S III, though some controls can be a bit tricky to find. As with any other modern camera then, it's time well spent to set up the function menu, custom menus and manual controls to your liking. Overall, though, Sony's menus are now among the best, and better organized than on Canon's EOS R6, for example.

Sony A7 IV full-frame mirrorless camera review
Steve Dent/Engadget

The 3.69-million dot EVF is much clearer than the 2.68-million dot one one on the A7 and on par with similarly priced rivals. However, the rear display is smaller and has lower resolution than the one on the R6. That can make manual focus tricky, though the A7 IV has a new feature that can help there – more on that shortly.

The A7 IV has a dual-slot card system that supports both SD UHS II and much faster CFexpress Type A cards. However, unlike the slots on the A1 and A7S III, it only has a single dual-slot, with the other being SD UHS II only. Type A CFexpress cards aren't quite as fast as regular CFexpress cards, topping out at 800 MB/s compared to 1,700 MB/s. They're also only used in Sony cameras, so they're relatively hard to find and quite expensive.

Other features include a USB-C port that can power the camera during operation, along with a full-sized HDMI port, thank God. It uses Sony's new NP-FZ100 battery that delivers up to 580 shots on a charge, or about 2 hours of 4K video shooting. Finally, the A7 IV can close its mechanical shutter when the camera is turned off, protecting it from dust when you change lenses. That's a feature that first appeared on the EOS R, so thanks for starting that trend, Canon.

Performance

Sony A7 IV full-frame mirrorless camera review
Steve Dent/Engadget

Sony's mirrorless cameras are renowned for their autofocus speeds and AI smarts and the A7 IV is no exception. However, Sony made some compromises that affect performance.

The new 33-megapixel sensor is back-side illuminated but not stacked like the sensor on the A1, so readout speeds are relatively slow. As a result, shooting speeds are 10 fps like the A7 III in either mechanical or electronic shutter modes for compressed RAW photos, and drop to 6 fps if you use lossless or uncompressed RAW, as many photographers prefer to do.

That's still impressive considering the resolution is up nearly 50 percent. By comparison though, the Sony A1 can shoot 50-megapixel photos in electronic mode at up to 30 fps, showing the speed benefits of a stacked sensor.

While burst speeds aren't improved, you can capture more photos at a time, up to 1,000 in the uncompressed RAW format. If you use CFexpress Type A cards from Sony or ProGrade, you can effectively shoot forever without filling the buffer.

Sony A7 IV full-frame mirrorless hybrid camera review sample images
Steve Dent/Engadget

Another drawback with the A7 IV's slow sensor readout speeds is rolling shutter. If you want to shoot silently in electronic mode, you'll need to keep the camera steady and your subject can't move quickly either. Otherwise, you'll see slanted lines and other artifacts that can be bad enough to ruin shots. Using the crop mode helps a lot, but then you lose the benefits of a full-frame sensor.

The A7 IV is Sony's most advanced camera yet when it comes to autofocus. All of Sony's new AI tricks add up to make it the easiest to use and most reliable camera I've ever tested in that regard.

Unlike the A7 III, face, eye and body tracking works in all focus modes for animals, birds and people. Unless you turn it off, it'll automatically pick up your subject's eyes, face or body and track them even if they turn or disappear from frame.

Whether you're tracking sports, birds or cars, the tracking spot will stay tenaciously locked to your subject in most situations. All you have to do is touch the subject you want to track and the camera will take it from there.

Sony A7 IV full-frame mirrorless camera review
Steve Dent/Engadget

The A7 IV's autofocus can easily keep up with the camera's burst speeds for sports or bird shooting. But more importantly, the A7 IV consistently nails focus in other tricky situations, particularly with people. In some chaotic situations with lots of subjects and complex lighting, I ended up with very few unusable shots. Keep in mind that optimum focus performance requires Sony's latest lenses, but it worked well with recent Sigma models as well.

Focus is just one part of the equation. It consistently nailed auto-exposure and auto white balance in tricky situations with a mix of lighting. That worked well in a bar with a mix of studio and practical lights, or in front of the famous Paris department store animated windows with all kinds of colors of lights.

In-body stabilization improves a half stop over the A7 III to 5.5 stops with compatible lenses, but neither comes close to Canon's claimed 8 stops on the EOS R6. That's somewhat balanced out by Sony's superior high ISO performance, however. I was still able to get reasonably sharp shots down to a half second with some care.

Photo Quality

A big improvement with the A7 IV is with image quality. You'd expect more sharpness with the extra resolution, and it certainly delivers that. However, you might also think that the smaller pixels would make A7 IV worse in low light, but nope. In fact, through much of its ISO range, the A7 IV performs better even than Sony's low-light champ, the A7S III.

Images are clean and usable in most low-light situations right up to ISO 12,800, with plenty of detail even in underexposed shots. In fact, the A7 IV has the least noise I've ever seen in that ISO range. Correctly exposed photos are usable up to ISO 25,600, but noise becomes a serious issue after that.

Sony has improved its color science with every new camera lately, and the A7 IV has perhaps its best setup yet. The green cast we've seen on earlier models is gone and colors are accurate right out of the camera and easier to balance in post than ever before.

JPEGs look great straight out of the camera with a nice balance between detail and noise reduction. The 14-bit RAW images deliver up to 13 stops of dynamic range, giving you plenty of room to lift shadows and claw back highlights. Overall, Sony's A7 IV delivers perhaps the best images of any of its cameras, with a great balance between detail, high ISO performance and color accuracy.

Sony A7 IV full-frame mirrorless hybrid camera review sample images

As a semi-pro hybrid camera, the A7 IV is aimed at enthusiasts but could easily serve as a second body for professional shooters who use Sony gear. To that end, I've enlisted the services of Samuel Dejours and Nathanael Charpentiers from Studio Nathsam in Gien, France, who do weddings, births, events and studio work.

How is the handling on the a7 III from a pro standpoint?

Samuel: First of all the handling is a lot better than the A7 III. What I liked a lot, which is a big change for Sony, is the fully articulating display. It's especially useful in portrait mode when you're shooting from ground level below the subject.

What are the strong and weak points for events and studio use?

Nat: In terms of the color accuracy, it's really improved a lot, it's great now.

Samuel: A big issue for us is that the rolling shutter is pretty pronounced, which is a shame because it limits the use of the camera in silent mode for weddings and events.

Nathanael: And if you use this camera it's really required for certain things because the mechanical shutter is particularly loud.

Could this serve as a professional camera for you?

Yes, it could serve as a professional camera because it's really versatile in terms of doing both photos and video. It lacks features available on the A1 and A9, but that's normal because those cameras are in a completely different price category.

Video

Sony A7 IV review
Samuel Dejours

Finally we're onto video, the one area where rival cameras have moved well beyond the A7 III. Fortunately the A7 IV has big improvements in that area too, along with one drawback.

As before, it can shoot downsampled 4K video at up to 30p using the full width of the sensor, meaning video is extremely sharp. But now, it can capture that video at 4:2:2 10-bit with Sony's S-Log, so it's much easier to stretch and pull in post-production.

And now you can shoot 4K at up to 60 fps, also with 10 bits of color depth. While it's cropped, video is still downsampled from a 4.6K size, so it remains sharp. The A7 IV can't handle 120 fps 4K like Canon's EOS R6, but then again it doesn't have the R6's serious overheating issues either. If you need that frame rate, it's only available up to 1080p. HDMI output is limited to 4K 25p at just 8 bits of color depth, unfortunately.

With 13 stops of dynamic range in Sony's S-Log3 mode, along with 10-bit 4:2:2 color and reasonably high bit rates up to 500 Mbps, image quality is superb and easy to control in post. The lack of noise at high ISO ranges is a huge plus, making the camera usable in a lot of low and tricky lighting situations.

Eye AF and tracking now work in video mode, making it far more dependable for shooting interviews or action. As with photos, it's extremely intuitive to use. You can tap a subject to track it, and it will automatically switch to eye or face tracking as needed.

Sony A7 IV review

There's a new and cool video feature called lens breathing compensation. Normally, pulling focus from one subject to another causes a slight but distracting zoom – an issue that's particularly problematic on Sony's pricey GM lenses, as good as they are. The breathing compensation function introduces a slight digital zoom that counteracts any change in focal length when focusing on a new subject.

Using the feature does cause a slight crop, and it only works with select, mostly expensive, Sony lenses. It's a really nice feature though, and currently only found on the A7 IV.

Sony has made manual focusing for video easier as well with Manual Focus Assist. It places blue and red colors over objects behind and in front of the focus plane, while objects in focus are clear. Once I got used to it, it was relatively easy to pull focus quickly and in the right direction. The color display is a bit blocky, though, so super precise adjustments can be a challenge.

Image stabilization is very effective for video, particularly with active mode engaged. It works with 4K in both cropped 60p and uncropped 30p modes. However, rolling shutter can be pretty brutal in 30p mode with the full width of the sensor, and stabilization can sometimes make that worse (and unfixable). If you have a wide lens and can stick to the cropped mode with active stabilization, wobble is well controlled and not much worse than with the excellent A1.

Wrap-up

Sony A7 IV review
Steve Dent/Engadget

The A7 IV offers big improvements in resolution, AF tracking, video features and more, but forget about the spec sheet for a second. Sony's largest achievement is that it created a mainstream camera that makes photography and video easier, thanks to AI smarts that can aid any photographer, no matter their skill.

The biggest drawback is rolling shutter that might give you pause if you require a silent mode or want to shoot uncropped 4K video. Another issue is the $2,500 price that's $500 more than the A7 III was at launch.

Other hybrid cameras in that price range can't quite measure up, though. Canon's $2,500 20-megapixel EOS R6 is your best alternative, but the resolution is a big step down. Panasonic's 24-megapixel S5 and Nikon's Z6 II are other decent options, but lack the reliability and ease of use of the A7 IV. So once again, Sony rules the mainstream hybrid camera market and will probably do so for a while to come.

'Fortnite' is returning to iPhone and iPad via NVIDIA GeForce Now

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 08:30 AM PST

Fortnite hasn't been available on Apple's App Store or the Google Play Store for 17 months. While the game isn't expected to return to either store anytime soon, it seems players will soon be able to drop on the island once again on their phones and tablets (unless they already use a sideloaded version on Android or play console versions remotely).

NVIDIA and Epic Games have teamed up on a mobile version of the battle royale that's playable through GeForce Now. A desktop version is already available on the service. 

A limited-time closed beta will get underway next week to test server capacity, graphics delivery and touch controls. NVIDIA has opened registrations and it will grant users access to the beta in batches over the next several weeks. You don't need a paid GeForce Now membership to take part. If you're able to secure a spot, you'll be able to play Fortnite through Safari on iOS and the GeForce Now app on Android. NVIDIA and Epic haven't set an end date for the beta as yet. 

When NVIDIA enabled GeForce Now on iOS via the web in November 2020, it said it would eventually give iPhone and iPad users access to Fortnite again, though it and Epic were building a touch-friendly version first. Android and iOS players can use a Bluetooth controller if they'd rather not use touch controls while swinging around the map as Spider-Man. 

Apple and Google yanked Fortnite from their respective stores in August 2020 amid a battle with Epic Games over in-app payments. The publisher suedboth companies, alleging they were engaging in anti-competitive behavior. The Apple case went to trial last year. A judge ruled Epic didn't prove that Apple was violating antitrust laws. 

Both sides appealed against aspects of the outcome. Apple won a last-minute stay from having to implement App Store changes that would force it to let developers direct users to alternative payment methods and bypass the 30 percent cut it takes from in-app payments. In any case, until all court appeals are exhausted, a process that Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said could last several more years, Apple won't let Fortnite back onto the App Store.

Instacart's 'Ready Meals' are a grocery store alternative to take out

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 08:00 AM PST

After partnering with a number of big chains to help speed up grocery delivery back in 2021, today Instacart is launching Ready Meals so you can now order hot and pre-made meals from local grocers too.

For Instacart, the play is rather straightforward as the company looks to position its Ready Meal Hub as an alternative to more traditional food delivery apps like Seamless, Uber Eats and the like. The only real difference is that instead of ordering food from local restaurants, Instacart is hoping its customers will use Ready Meals to order fresh food like sandwiches, sushi and more from nearby grocery stores, in addition to pre-prepared, ready-to-heat dishes such as take-and-bake casseroles.

Just like regular grocery orders, Instacart says its Ready Meals Hub will be available nationwide, with deliveries arriving at your door in as little as 30 minutes. Instacart is partnering with grocers including Publix, GIANT, Food Lion, Hannaford, Stop & Shop, Martin's, and Kroger, with plans to add more retailers such as ShopRite in the coming months.

The arrival of the Ready Meals Hub in the Instacart app follows the addition of the Convenience Hub last fall, which added the ability to order a range of pantry staples, snacks, and even alcohol from big-name stores like 7-Eleven and others. Another benefit of the new Ready Meals Hub is that because pre-prepared foods can be ordered alongside regular groceries, Instacart is making it easier to order food for a variety of meals or situations with a single purchase.

The expansion of Instacart's delivery options serves to further reinforce the increasing popularity of home grocery delivery. According to a recent report from the Food Industry Association (FMI), while most meals in the U.S. are still prepared at home, 55% percent of shoppers noted a desire for more hybrid meal options that contain a mix of semi-prepared and fully-prepared dishes.

That said, with Instacart expected to go public later this year, the new Ready Meals Hub is also clearly a way to help maintain strong sales following a record number of orders during the 2021 holiday season.

LG is bringing its CLOi service robot to the US

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 07:44 AM PST

Don't be shocked if a robot serves you the next time you eat out or go on vacation. LG is bringing its CLOi ServeBot to the US, giving hotels, restaurants and stores a semi-autonomous machine that can ferry up to 66lbs of food and other cargo across a busy space. While humans have to pre-program maps and set destinations, the bot can use a 3D camera, LiDAR and sensors to dodge people and detect when someone has removed an item from a tray.

Like other CLOi robots, the ServeBot uses its 9.2-inch touchsreen to both put on a friendly face for guests and take input. It's not fast at 2.2MPH, but its 11 hours of continuous use should be enough for a long workday.

This isn't the first LG robot to cross to the US. The Korean tech firm brought its disinfecting UV-C robot to the US in 2021. The timing might be apt, however. American companies are grappling with the combination of job shortages (particularly in service roles) and an evolving pandemic that adds risk to waiting tables or helming a hotel's front desk. ServeBot won't completely replace human workers, but it might lessen the sting of job shortfalls and reduce exposure for workers who frequently have to deal with the public.

Microsoft is no longer making Xbox One consoles

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 07:21 AM PST

Microsoft and Sony are struggling to keep up with demand for the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. While Sony plans to keep manufacturing the PlayStation 4 for the time being to make up for its shortfall of current-gen consoles, the Xbox One is no more.

We learned in July 2020 that Microsoft had discontinued the Xbox One X and Xbox One S Digital Edition by that point. Now, it has emerged the company quietly stopped making the Xbox One S by the end of that year too. "To focus on production of Xbox Series X/S, we stopped production for all Xbox One consoles by the end of 2020," Xbox's senior director of console product marketing Cindy Walker told The Verge.

It seems the strategy has paid off. Xbox head Phil Spencer told The New York Times this week that Microsoft has sold more of the Series X and Series S at this point in their lifecycle than it has with any previous Xbox generation, though he didn't reveal actual sales figures. Analyst Daniel Ahmad of Niko Partners said that would put shipments of Series X/S at more than 12 million units.

While the more powerful Series X typically sells out minutes after every stock drop (it doesn't help that scalpers are using bots to snap them up), the Series S isn't hard to come by at this point. It's available to buy at the time of writing in the US, UK and Canada at retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop and Walmart. Given that the Series S can handle pretty much everything the Xbox One can — except for playing discs — it doesn't make a ton of sense for Microsoft to keep making that console.

It's a slightly different story for Sony. Save for the disc drive, there's no difference between the two PS5 models. Given the high demand (Sony had sold 13.4 million units by October 2021) and the ongoing supply chain crisis, it's harder for most people to score one of those consoles than a Series S right now. As such, Sony told Bloomberg on Wednesday it will keep making the PS4 (which uses less advanced components than the PS5) in 2022, despite reportedly planning to discontinue the console last year. The company's said to be making around a million PS4 units in this year.

Sony previously suggested it would support PS4 through 2024. Several of its first-party exclusives are coming to both the current- and previous-gen consoles this year, including Horizon Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7 and God of War Ragnarök.

Comcast tests the first multigigabit cable modem

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 07:00 AM PST

Comcast is now considerably closer to making multigigabit cable internet a reality. The company has successfully tested the first 10G modem capable of multigigabit speeds. The Broadcom-built prototype used the full duplex DOCSIS 4.0 standard to provide download and upload bandwidth topping 4Gbps. For context, maintaining that performance would let you download all of Call of Duty: Vanguard's recommended install size for PC (61GB) in just over two minutes.

While this was a lab test, it's still a significant step forward. The company previously reached those speeds using a virtualized system, and in October 2020 was 'only' managing 1.25Gbps with the new DOCSIS technology. The new format is notable for not only improving downstream speeds, but enabling symmetric uploads and reducing lag.

The telecom didn't offer a timeline for when you might see customer-ready DOCSIS 4.0 multigigabit modems. You may have to be content with 2Gbps service for now. However, the larger question is whether or not you'll get to make use of a 4Gbps-plus connection any time soon. You'll need a speedy route across the internet, of course, but there's also the question of Comcast's data caps. While it wouldn't be surprising if Comcast raised or even waived caps for multigigabit users, it might be difficult to take advantage of the larger data pipe if any caps discourage sustained use.

Samsung's Galaxy Buds 2 are back on sale for $100

Posted: 13 Jan 2022 06:30 AM PST

The release of the Galaxy Buds 2 last year showed Samsung's prowess when it comes to making solid wireless earbuds. The $150 buds pack a lot of premium features into a relatively affordable price point, making them a good option for those with tight budgets. The Buds 2 are an even better buy when you can get them on sale for $100, which is what Woot has them for right now. That's $50 off the normal rate and a return to a record low — but before you take the plunge, remember to check out Woot's return policy since it does differ significantly from that of its parent company, Amazon.

Buy Galaxy Buds 2 at Woot - $100

Samsung made its smallest and most comfortable earbuds yet with the Galaxy Buds 2. They're 15 percent smaller and 20 percent lighter than the Galaxy Buds+, which were already pretty comfy to begin with. You'll get roughly five hours of use from the buds before they need more juice, which isn't a battery life to write home about but it is on par with many competitors. The earbuds' case holds an additional three full charges and it supports wireless charging as well.

ANC and the adjustable ambient sound mode are two of the buds' biggest selling points. Samsung brought those features down from its higher-end earbuds and, while the ANC isn't as strong as what you'll find on something like the Galaxy Buds Pro, it still does a good job of blocking out environmental noises. That five-hour battery life mentioned above is with ANC turned on too, so you won't have to sacrifice in that respect when you want a couple of solid hours with fewer distractions.

All of those features make a pair of wireless earbuds that provide a lot of value to Android users at a decent price. Make no mistake, the Galaxy Buds 2 are best when paired with an Android device — while it's possible to use them with an iPhone, you'll be stuck with the default settings.

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