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• Hackers may have obtained 190GB of sensitive data from Samsung
• Musk says Starlink won’t block Russian media outlets ‘unless at gunpoint’
• Hitting the Books: How Mildred Dresselhaus' research proved we had graphite all wrong
• 'Elden Ring' PC update fixes Steam cloud save issue
• Snapchat disables 'heatmap' feature in Ukraine to protect public safety
• Nintendo suspends digital sales in Russia
• Facebook blocks Russian advertisers from running ads globally
• Samsung halts product shipments to Russia
• Activision Blizzard faces wrongful death lawsuit over employee suicide
• YouTube reportedly offers podcasters up to $300,000 to create videos
• Russia cuts off access to Twitter
• Hulu users will lose next-day access to 'SNL,' 'The Voice' and other NBCU shows this fall
• Apple is rumored to be developing a 'Mac Studio' desktop and 7K display
• The OnePlus 9 Pro is back down to a record low of $799
• Russia blocks access to Facebook
• Facebook Gaming appears to be overrun by spam and pirated content
• EA is halting sales of games and content in Russia and Belarus
• Roland makes its classic SH-101 synth available to play on the web
• Apple tells corporate employees to return to the office by mid-April
• What to expect from Apple's Peek Performance event
• The Apple Watch Series 7 is $50 off, plus the rest of the week's best tech deals
• Samsung will add phone performance throttling controls through an update
• Microsoft completes its $19.7 billion purchase of voice-tech company Nuance
• The biggest MWC 2022 news you might have missed
• Apple's 3rd-gen AirPods are down to $145 right now

Hackers may have obtained 190GB of sensitive data from Samsung Posted: 05 Mar 2022 10:15 AM PST Some of Samsung's confidential data has reportedly leaked due to a suspected cyberattack. On Friday, South American hacking group Lapsus$ uploaded a trove of data it claims came from the smartphone manufacturer. Bleeping Computer was among the first publications to report on the incident. Among other information, the collective says it obtained the bootloader source code for all of Samsung's recent devices, in addition to code related to highly sensitive features like biometric authentication and on-device encryption. The leak also allegedly includes confidential data from Qualcomm. The entire database contains approximately 190GB of data and is actively being shared in a torrent. If the contents of the leak are accurate, they could cause significant damage to Samsung. According to The Korean Herald, the company is assessing the situation. We've reached out to Samsung for comment. If Lapsus$ sounds familiar, it's the same group that claimed responsibility for the recent NVIDIA data breach. In that incident, Lapsus$ says it obtained approximately 1TB of confidential data from the GPU designer, including, the group claims, the schematics and driver source code. The collective has demanded that NVIDIA open source its drivers and remove the cryptocurrency mining limiter from its RTX 30-series GPUs. It's unclear what, if any demands, Lapsus$ has made of Samsung. The group has previously said its actions haven't been politically motivated.

Musk says Starlink won’t block Russian media outlets ‘unless at gunpoint’ Posted: 05 Mar 2022 08:58 AM PST SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said some governments recently told the company to block Russian media outlets from its Starlink satellite broadband service. In a tweet he sent out early Saturday, Musk declared the company would not comply with the request "unless at gunpoint." According to Musk, the demand hadn't come from Ukraine. "Sorry to be a free speech absolutist," he added. Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources. We will not do so unless at gunpoint. Sorry to be a free speech absolutist. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2022 Musk also said SpaceX would temporarily shift its priorities to focus on cybersecurity and overcoming signal jamming, a decision he noted would cause "slight delays" in the rollout of its Starship reusable rocket and Starlink V2 satellites. SpaceX's position puts it at odds with a growing list of companies that have blocked access to Russian state media across Europe in the wake of the country's invasion of Ukraine. On February 27th, the European Union said it would ban Russian state-backed media outlets Russia Today and Sputnik for their role in spreading misinformation and "lies to justify Putin's war." Both Facebook and YouTube were quick to comply with the order, restricting access to the outlets across their European footprint.

Hitting the Books: How Mildred Dresselhaus' research proved we had graphite all wrong Posted: 05 Mar 2022 08:30 AM PST Mildred Dresselhaus' life was one in defiance of odds. Growing up poor in the Bronx — and even more to her detriment, growing up a woman in the 1940s — Dresselhaus' traditional career options were paltry. Instead, she rose to become one of the world's preeminent experts in carbon science as well as the first female Institute Professor at MIT, where she spent 57 years of her career. She collaborated with physics luminaries like Enrico Fermi and laid the essential groundwork for future Nobel Prize winning research, directed the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy and was herself awarded the National Medal of Science.  In the excerpt below from Carbon Queen: The Remarkable Life of Nanoscience Pioneer Mildred Dresselhaus, author and Deputy Editorial Director at MIT News, Maia Weinstock, tells of the time that Dresselhaus collaborated with Iranian American physicist Ali Javan to investigate exactly how charge carriers — ie electrons — move about within a graphite matrix, research that would completely overturn the field's understanding of how these subatomic particles operate.   MIT Press Excerpted from Carbon Queen: The Remarkable Life of Nanoscience Pioneer Mildred Dresselhaus by Maia Weinstock. Reprinted with permission from The MIT Press. Copyright 2022. A CRITICAL ABOUT-FACE For anyone with a research career as long and as accomplished as that of Mildred S. Dresselhaus, there are bound to be certain papers that might get a bit lost in the corridors of the mind—papers that make only moderate strides, perhaps, or that involve relatively little effort or input (when, for example, being a minor consulting author on a paper with many coauthors). Conversely, there are always standout papers that one can never forget—for their scientific impact, for coinciding with particularly memorable periods of one's career, or for simply being unique or beastly experiments. Millie's first major research publication after becoming a permanent member of the MIT faculty fell into the standout category. It was one she described time and again in recollections of her career, noting it as "an interesting story for history of science." The story begins with a collaboration between Millie and Iranian American physicist Ali Javan. Born in Iran to Azerbaijani parents, Javan was a talented scientist and award-winning engineer who had become well known for his invention of the gas laser. His helium-neon laser, coinvented with William Bennett Jr. when both were at Bell Labs, was an advance that made possible many of the late twentieth century's most important technologies—from CD and DVD players to bar-code scanning systems to modern fiber optics. After publishing a couple of papers describing her early magneto-optics research on the electronic structure of graphite, Millie was looking to delve even deeper, and Javan wanted to help. The two met during Millie's work at Lincoln Lab; she was a huge fan, once calling him "a genius" and "an extremely creative and brilliant scientist." For her new work, Millie aimed to study the magnetic energy levels in graphite's valence and conduction bands. To do this, she, Javan, and a graduate student, Paul Schroeder, employed a neon gas laser, which would provide a sharp point of light to probe their graphite samples. The laser had to be built especially for the experiment, and it took years for the fruits of their labor to mature; indeed, Millie moved from Lincoln to MIT in the middle of the work. If the experiment had yielded only humdrum results, in line with everything the team had already known, it still would have been a path-breaking exercise because it was one of the first in which scientists used a laser to study the behavior of electrons in a magnetic field. But the results were not humdrum at all. Three years after Millie and her collaborators began their experiment, they discovered their data were telling them something that seemed impossible: the energy level spacing within graphite's valence and conduction bands were totally off from what they expected. As Millie explained to a rapt audience at MIT two decades later, this meant that "the band structure that everybody had been using up till that point could certainly not be right, and had to be turned upside down." In other words, Millie and her colleagues were about to overturn a well-established scientific rule—one of the more exciting and important types of scientific discoveries one can make. Just like the landmark 1957 publication led by Chien-Shiung Wu, who overturned a long-accepted particle physics concept known as conservation of parity, upending established science requires a high degree of precision—and confidence in one's results. Millie and her team had both. What their data suggested was that the previously accepted placement of entities known as charge carriers within graphite's electronic structure was actually backward. Charge carriers, which allow energy to flow through a conducting material such as graphite, are essentially just what their name suggests: something that can carry an electric charge. They are also critical for the functioning of electronic devices powered by a flow of energy. Electrons are a well-known charge carrier; these subatomic bits carry a negative charge as they move around. Another type of charge carrier can be seen when an electron moves from one atom to another within a crystal lattice, creating something of an empty space that also carries a charge—one that's equal in magnitude to the electron but opposite in charge. In what is essentially a lack of electrons, these positive charge carriers are known as holes. MIT Press FIGURE 6.1 In this simplified diagram, electrons (black dots) surround atomic nuclei in a crystal lattice. In some circumstances, electrons can break free from the lattice, leaving an empty spot or hole with a positive charge. Both electrons and holes can move about, affecting electrical conduction within the material. Millie, Javan, and Schroeder discovered that scientists were using the wrong assignment of holes and electrons within the previously accepted structure of graphite: they found electrons where holes should be and vice versa. "This was pretty crazy," Millie stated in a 2001 oral history interview. "We found that everything that had been done on the electronic structure of graphite up until that point was reversed." As with many other discoveries overturning conventional wisdom, acceptance of the revelation was not immediate. First, the journal to which Millie and her collaborators submitted their paper originally refused to publish it. In retelling the story, Millie often noted that one of the referees, her friend and colleague Joel McClure, privately revealed himself as a reviewer in hopes of convincing her that she was embarrassingly off-base. "He said," Millie recalled in a 2001 interview, "'Millie, you don't want to publish this. We know where the electrons and holes are; how could you say that they're backwards?'" But like all good scientists, Millie and her colleagues had checked and rechecked their results numerous times and were confident in their accuracy. And so, Millie thanked McClure and told him they were convinced they were right. "We wanted to publish, and we... would take the risk of ruining our careers," Millie recounted in 1987. Giving their colleagues the benefit of the doubt, McClure and the other peer reviewers approved publication of the paper despite conclusions that flew in the face of graphite's established structure. Then a funny thing happened: bolstered by seeing these conclusions in print, other researchers emerged with previously collected data that made sense only in light of a reversed assignment of electrons and holes. "There was a whole flood of publications that supported our discovery that couldn't be explained before," Millie said in 2001. Today, those who study the electronic structure of graphite do so with the understanding of charge carrier placement gleaned by Millie, Ali Javan, and Paul Schroeder (who ended up with quite a remarkable thesis based on the group's results). For Millie, who published the work in her first year on the MIT faculty, the experiment quickly solidified her standing as an exceptional Institute researcher. While many of her most noteworthy contributions to science were yet to come, this early discovery was one she would remain proud of for the rest of her life.

'Elden Ring' PC update fixes Steam cloud save issue Posted: 05 Mar 2022 08:26 AM PST Elden Ring players on PC may want to update their copy before they load their previous saves, just to make sure they don't lose progress to a Steam Cloud save bug. The latest update for the game's Steam version fixes an issue with conflicting local and cloud save data that cost some players hours, maybe even days, of gameplay. An update for the #Steam client has been released which should prevent the issue of conflicting local and cloud save data. Please update your Steam client to the latest version. — ELDEN RING (@ELDENRING) March 5, 2022 As IGN reports, players took to social media to complain how they'd lost tons of progress because their latest cloud save data was from hours or days before. The official Elden Ring account on Twitter acknowledged the issue and advised gamers to check their cloud save's last modified date and time before loading, or better yet, to use a local save instead. This patch resolves the problem and also comes with some stability and performance fixes.  Just a few days ago, it was Elden Ring players on the PS5 who had to grapple with a save issue. A bug prevented the game from saving their progress if the console crashed or if it lost power while in Rest Mode. Elden Rings publisher Bandai Namco advised users to manually exit the game before it rolled out an update that patched up the problem.

Snapchat disables 'heatmap' feature in Ukraine to protect public safety Posted: 05 Mar 2022 07:43 AM PST The Snap Map feature, which shows where Snaps were taken, can be pretty useful for those who want to know the hottest places to visit in an area — not so much for people trying to flee a war. That's why, as a safety precaution, Snap has temporarily disabled the "heatmap" feature for public posts in Ukraine. Typically, the Snap Map highlights places where there are tons of Snaps taken with a glowing red circle and spots where some posts were made with a blue circle. If you look at the feature in the app or on the web, you'll see that there are no longer indicators placed over Ukraine.  As a safety precaution we have temporarily disabled the Snap Map's "heatmap" of public Snaps in Ukraine. We will continue to offer curated Stories comprised of Snaps submitted in Ukraine. — Snapchat Support (@snapchatsupport) March 5, 2022 Other tech companies had also disabled features that can show the movements of Ukrainians leaving the country, which is currently under attack from Russia. Google disabled live traffic data in Ukraine, including the live traffic layer for Maps, to protect the safety of locals. It also turned off user-submitted Maps placements after claims that they were being used by the Russian military to coordinate airstrikes. When it announced that it's halting all product sales in Russia, Apple said that it had disabled live traffic data in Ukraine, as well, to prevent the app from being used to target Ukraine residents.

Nintendo suspends digital sales in Russia Posted: 05 Mar 2022 07:11 AM PST Gamers won't be able to make digital purchases from Nintendo's Russian eShop for now. The gaming giant has announced that the eShop in Russia has been temporarily placed in maintenance mode "due to the fact that the payment service [it uses] has suspended the processing of payments in rubles." As Nintendo Life notes, people have been reporting about the outage on social networks, showing photos of their Switch getting error code 2813-0999 when they try to access the Russian eShop. It's unclear if Nintendo itself cut off payments in the region on purpose, or if the company had no choice but to place the eShop in maintenance mode because a third-party processor removed ruble payments from its system. The translated wording seems to indicate that the latter is more likely.  Other gaming companies had previously taken steps to limit access to their products and services in Russia. CD Projekt Red halted sales of its games, including Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and all titles on its GOG store in Russia and Belarus. EA followed suit, preventing players in the two countries from making purchases from its Origin storefront and app.  Microsoft suspended all new sales of its products and services (including Xbox) in Russia, following a request from Ukraine to ban all players in the country from its system. Ukraine also asked Sony to ban all players in Russia from the PlayStation network, but the company has yet to respond. According to Eurogamer, though, Sony quietly pulled Gran Turismo 7 from sale in the country.

Facebook blocks Russian advertisers from running ads globally Posted: 05 Mar 2022 01:07 AM PST Advertisers within Russia can no longer create or run ads on Facebook "anywhere in the world," including their home country, the social network told Business Insider. The website has also suspended all ads targeting people in Russia, "due to the difficulties of operating in [the country] at this time."  This is just the latest step Facebook has taken following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Shortly after the attacks started, it blocked Russian state media from running ads on its platform before restricting access to RT and Sputnik in Ukraine and across the European Union. A few days after that, Facebook started demoting the outlets' pages and any post linking to them on its main website and on Instagram.  As a response to the social network restricting access to state-run media, Russian telecom regulator Roskomnadzor blocked Facebook in the country, though Instagram and WhatsApp remain available. The agency throttled access to the website before that when Facebook officials refused to stop fact-checking state media outlets upon its request. In a statement issued after Roskomnadzor blocked Facebook completely, Meta's president of global affairs Nick Clegg said the company "will continue to do everything [it] can to restore [its] services so they remain available to people to safely and securely express themselves and organize for action." According to a report by independent Russian news agency Interfax, Russia also recently blocked Twitter in the country. Roskomnadzor previously limited the country's access to Twitter, as well, after the social network paused ads and recommendations and started labeling tweets from Russian state media outlets. The social network said, however, that it's only seeing the effects of throttling within the region and not of an outright ban.

Samsung halts product shipments to Russia Posted: 04 Mar 2022 09:37 PM PST Samsung has stopped shipping its products to Russia following the country's invasion of Ukraine, the company told Bloomberg News. The tech giant said it's monitoring the "complex situation," and that it's donating $6 million, which includes $1 million worth of consumer electronics, to humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. According to the publication, the shipment suspension affects all Samsung products, including its smartphones, chips and other consumer electronic devices.  By halting all exports of its products to Russia, Samsung has joined the growing list of companies that had paused sales of products and services in the country. Apple halted all product sales in response to the invasion and after receiving a request from Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. The company also limited Apple Pay, pulled the apps for Russian state-backed media outlets from its store and disabled traffic data for Maps in Ukraine to avoid putting residents in danger. Microsoft suspended all new sales of products and services in Russia, as well.  The Korean tech giant is the top smartphone brand in the country and has a 30 percent market share, according to Counterpoint Research data. That's much higher than Apple's 13 percent market share, as of the fourth quarter of 2021. In addition, Samsung has a TV plant in Russia, though it's unclear if it has also stopped production in the factory. Its decision to halt shipments to Russia comes after Fedorov sent Jong Hee Han, the CEO for Samsung's SET division, a letter similar to what he sent Tim Cook. In it, he asked the Korean tech giant to stop supplying the country with its products, as well as to block Samsung Pay, Samsung Galaxy Store and Samsung Shop. @Samsung, I urge you to take a step towards world peace! As long as Russian tanks and missiles bomb kindergartens and hospitals in Ukraine, your cool equipment cannot be used by Russians! pic.twitter.com/xjOInduclD — Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 4, 2022 As Bloomberg notes, South Korean smartphones were an exemption to the export bans recently imposed by the US government. But even if Samsung did want to continue shipping products to Russia, it would have a hard time sending products to the country anyway due to airlines and shipping services halting their activities in the region.

Activision Blizzard faces wrongful death lawsuit over employee suicide Posted: 04 Mar 2022 02:05 PM PST Activision Blizzard is dealing with particularly serious fallout from the sexual misconduct allegations surrounding the company. The Washington Post has learned Activision Blizzard is facing a wrongful death lawsuit from the family of Kerri Moynihan, a woman who died by suicide in April 2017 during a company retreat. The family alleges sexual harassment at the game developer played a "significant factor" in her death. Moynihan's death was referenced in a California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) lawsuit over Activision Blizzard's reported "frat boy" culture, albeit without mentioning her name. Male colleagues reportedly shared an explicit photo of Moynihan at the holiday party preceding her death, according to that lawsuit, and referred to a male supervisor who supposedly brought sex toys to the retreat. The family lawsuit alleges Moynihan's boss, Greg Restituito, lied to Anaheim police and otherwise tried to hide evidence of a sexual relationship with the victim. He made "unusual inquiries" with employees present with Moynihan the night before her demise, according to a police report cited in the suit. Restituito left Activision Blizzard in May 2017, the month after Moynihan's death. Activision Blizzard was reportedly uncooperative with police at the time. It refused to hand over the company laptops of either Moynihan or Restituito, and also declined access to Restituito's phone. The family's lawyers shared a copy of the lawsuit with The Post, but otherwise haven't commented on the lawsuit. Anaheim police and Restituito have so far been silent. An Activision Blizzard spokesperson said the company was "deeply saddened" by Moynihan's death and would respond to the complaint through legal channels, but said it had "no further comment" out of respect. Activision Blizzard has taken numerous actions in response to the misconduct scandal. It removed 37 employees between July 2021 and January 2022, and disciplined another 44. Blizzard leader Mike Ybarra has also vowed to restore trust by reforming company culture. The Moynihan lawsuit underscores the apparent toxicity at Activision Blizzard in previous years, however, and adds to the pressures on the company (and its buyer Microsoft) from the SEC and others to fix its workplace practices. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 (US), 686868 (Canada), or 85258 (UK). Wikipedia maintains a list of crisis lines for people outside of those countries.

YouTube reportedly offers podcasters up to $300,000 to create videos Posted: 04 Mar 2022 01:30 PM PST YouTube might be eager to compete against giant podcast hosts like Amazon, Apple and Spotify. Bloombergsources say YouTube is offering podcasters "grants" to produce videos, including filmed versions of their shows. Individual show creators would receive $50,000, while podcast networks would receive $200,000 or $300,000. Parent company Google declined to comment. YouTube is already a home for some podcasts, but it hasn't pursued that episodic content as aggressively as Spotify and other (typically audio-focused) services. There have been hints of changes, though, such as appointing executive Kai Chuk to lead the podcasting strategy. In Canada, YouTube also stopped requiring paid Premium accounts to play audio in the background. A strategy like this wouldn't be surprising. Amazon and Spotify have been landing more major podcast deals, while Apple's Podcasts app is still considered a vital home for many shows. While YouTube's grants wouldn't secure any exclusives, they would give creators more incentives to make podcasts available on the platform — and fans more incentives to consider YouTube.

Russia cuts off access to Twitter Posted: 04 Mar 2022 01:06 PM PST Russia has moved to block access to Twitter just after a similar crackdown on Facebook, Interfax reported. Russian regulator Roskomnadzor reportedly said it was complying with a February 24 request from Russia's Prosecutor General. Twitter didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The company had previously confirmed its service was being "restricted for some people in Russia," and there were widespread reports of throttling. Now, it seems Russia is looking to make Twitter completely inaccessible, just as it has with Facebook. Twitter said earlier this week it would label all tweets with links to Russian state media outlets, as social media companies have rushed to limit the influence of RT and Sputnik.   Update 3/1 5:23pm ET: A Twitter spokesperson said they haven't seen "anything significantly different" compared with the earlier limitations on the service in Russia. "We're aware of reports, but we don't currently see anything significantly different from what we previously shared that would point to a block," the company said in a statement.

Hulu users will lose next-day access to 'SNL,' 'The Voice' and other NBCU shows this fall Posted: 04 Mar 2022 12:43 PM PST As of September, new episodes of some NBCUniversal shows such as Saturday Night Live, The Voice and American Auto will no longer hit Hulu the day after they air. NBCUniversal has ended a content deal between the two sides, meaning those series will stream exclusively on Peacock. It's not clear which other shows will be affected by the move, according to The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline. The decision to sever ties with Hulu comes as NBCU tries to drive more subscribers to Peacock. At the end of last year, it had 9 million paying subscribers (most of whom opt for the $5 ad-supported tier) and 24.5 million monthly active accounts. It's unclear how many of those are using the free tier. Comcast subscribers can access an ad-supported version of Peacock Premium at no extra cost. "Much of our strong NBC content premieres on Hulu. Over time we'd like to bring that back to Peacock," NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said during Comcast's January earnings call. Comcast CFO Mike Cavanagh said the company planned to spend $3 billion on Peacock content this year. Keeping popular shows like SNL and The Voice as streaming exclusives could help NBCU boost Peacock user numbers. NBCU has invested in other types of content to bring in subscribers, including live sports rights, local news channels and making WWE Network exclusive to the platform. Peacock also has a slate of originals, including Bel-Air and an upcoming Twisted Metal series. Having many broadcast and cable shows available to stream the day after they air has long been a selling point for Hulu. It'll be a blow for the service to lose some notable NBC series. Although Disney has been fully in charge of Hulu since 2019, Comcast still owns 33 percent of the service. Comcast can require Disney to buy out its stake, but not until 2024. At the end of 2021, Hulu had 45.3 million subscribers. Update 3/4/22 8:30pm ET: "With the proliferation of streaming services entering the marketplace, we have long anticipated changes to our third-party content offering and over the past few years have increased our investment in original content, including popular and award-nominated titles," a Hulu spokesperson told Engadget via email. "As a leading destination for breakthrough storytelling, we continue to transform Hulu into an exclusive home for stories from across The Walt Disney Company and beyond to bring our viewers even more premium content led by Hulu Originals and next-day television programming."

Apple is rumored to be developing a 'Mac Studio' desktop and 7K display Posted: 04 Mar 2022 12:06 PM PST Those longstanding rumors of a 'headless' Mac between the Mac mini M1 and Mac Pro might be gathering steam. 9to5Macsources claim Apple has been developing a "Mac Studio" desktop based on the Mac mini, but with considerably more power — think of it as a replacement for the higher-spec Intel Mac mini lingering in the company's lineup. A base version would reportedly use the M1 Max processor from the late 2021 MacBook Pro, while a higher configuration would rely on a new, still more powerful chip. Accordingly, rumors of a more affordable Apple monitor are afoot. 9to5's insiders also claim the company is working on an "Apple Studio Display" with a 7K resolution. That's not as ambitious as some 8K monitors, but it would make the 6K Pro Display XDR seem slightly outdated. A report from 2021 suggested the new monitor would use the A13 chip from the iPhone 11 to offload some processing tasks, including AI, but it's not clear if that part or a newer CPU is still present. The size is an unknown, too, although a higher resolution hints at a screen larger than the Pro Display XDR's 32 inches. It's not certain when the Mac Studio or the Studio Display would arrive. Apple is holding its Peek Performance event on March 8th, but there are no guarantees you'll see either device so soon. The company might wait until its annual developer conference (typically in early June), for instance. The larger question might revolve around the exact role of the Mac Studio. Will it simply represent an upgraded Mac mini, or will it be positioned as a "mini Mac Pro" aimed at creatives who don't need the modularity of a full tower? There's also the matter of permanence. Apple introduced the iMac Pro in 2017 as a stopgap before the new Mac Pro arrived, and axed the all-in-one in March 2021. A Mac Studio could be a permanent fixture in the product line, but it could also serve as a temporary solution for pros who want a fast desktop but can't afford to wait until the launch of a Mac Pro with an Apple processor inside.

The OnePlus 9 Pro is back down to a record low of $799 Posted: 04 Mar 2022 11:15 AM PST Android users who aren't interested in Samsung's latest smartphones should consider OnePlus' newest handsets. We gave the OnePlus 9 Pro a score of 88 and called it the company's best smartphone yet, and now you can get it for $270 less than usual. Both Amazon and OnePlus have the handset for $799, which is an all-time low. Buy OnePlus 9 Pro at Amazon - $799Buy OnePlus 9 Pro at OnePlus - $799 As the "pro" moniker suggests, this model is the most powerful in OnePlus' lineup right now, featuring a Snapdragon 888 processor, 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The sleek device is IP68-rated and has a 6.7-inch, 3,216 x 1,440 screen that has a 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 1,300 nits. OnePlus worked with Hasselblad to develop the camera on the 9 Pro, and it's much improved from the array on previous models. The rear setup features a 48MP main camera, 50MP ultra-wide shooter and 8MP telephoto lens, and overall, it produces gorgeous photos. It's also able to shoot 8K video at 30fps. On top of stellar performance, the OnePlus 9 Pro has a formidable battery life, too. Its 4,500 mAh dual batteries powered the smartphone for a full working day, even with the screen at the highest resolution. You're also getting one of the company's Warp Charge 65T power bricks with the handset, which can fully recharge the smartphone in about a half hour. This latest sale is one to consider if you want premium features in your next Android phone but want something a bit different than the latest Galaxies and Pixels of the world. And if you're on a tighter budget, the OnePlus 9 has also been discounted to $599. Buy OnePlus 9 at Amazon - $599Buy OnePlus 9 at OnePlus - $599 Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Russia blocks access to Facebook Posted: 04 Mar 2022 10:39 AM PST Russian officials have blocked Facebook in the country, though Instagram and WhatsApp are still available. Telecom regulator Roskomnadzor says the move is in response to the social network preventing access to state-run media outlets RT and Sputnik in the European Union, Ukraine and the UK. Meta has demoted content from Russian state-owned media organizations on Facebook and Instagram on a global basis too. The regulator says Facebook also limited access to accounts from other media organizations, which it claims violates Russian laws.  "Soon, millions of ordinary Russians will find themselves cut off from reliable information, deprived of their everyday ways of connecting with family and silenced from speaking out," Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs, said in a statement. "We will continue to do everything we can to restore our services so they remain available to people to safely and securely express themselves and organize for action." On the Russian government's decision to block access to Facebook in the Russian Federation: pic.twitter.com/JlJwIu1t9K — Nick Clegg (@nickclegg) March 4, 2022 Roskomnadzor previously restricted access to Facebook. After Russia invaded Ukraine, the regulator asked Meta to stop fact-checking content posted by four state-owned media outlets and remove the labels it applied to their Facebook posts, but the company refused. Other tech platforms have blocked Russian state-run outlets or made it harder to see their content over the past week. Those include YouTube, Reddit, Spotify and Roku. Meanwhile, the EU bannedRT and Sputnik from being broadcast in the bloc. Update 3/4 1:55PM ET: Added Clegg's statement. Update 3/4 2:33PM ET: Noted that the ban doesn't cover Instagram or WhatsApp.

Facebook Gaming appears to be overrun by spam and pirated content Posted: 04 Mar 2022 10:15 AM PST Last fall, Streamlabs published a report indicating that Facebook Gaming had overtaken YouTube Gaming to become the second-most popular platform by hours watched, just behind Twitch. In January, StreamElements reported the platform had its best month ever, hitting a new peak of 617 million hours of monthly watch time. Reports like these have raised eyebrows for some, as Facebook has struggled to attract high-profile streamers, despite its significant investments in live gaming. But data from CrowdTangle, the company's analytics service, raises serious questions about the state of Facebook Gaming. Though the platform has snagged some notable names like Neymar Jr. and StoneMountain64, their streams didn't appear at the top of rankings. Nor do any of the streamers identified by Streamlabs as the most-watched creators on the platform. Instead it's a jumble of generically named pages that call themselves gaming creators, but behave more like spammers, often posting pirated movie clips or nonsensical videos disguised as live gaming streams. These pages inexplicably rack up millions of views and hundreds of thousands of interactions on streams with ridiculous-sounding titles like "car vs. giant bulge" or "this ship is full of passengers." And while most streams contained some actual gaming footage, they often began with pirated clips from popular movies or other completely unrelated content. Despite Facebook's clear policies on spam and non-gaming content, some of these accounts are still in Facebook's Level Up or Partner programs, which allows them to sell fan subscriptions and access other monetization features. The CrowdTangle data To try to assess the biggest streamers on Facebook Gaming, we used Facebook's CrowdTangle analytics tool to search for the live videos with the most interactions from Facebook Gaming creator pages over a 30-day period from January 16 to February 15. Though Facebook has in the past taken issue with "interactions" as a reflection of what's popular on its platform, interactions are vitally important to streamers as they are a strong indicator of engagement with their content. Of the top 10 streams, nine of the videos used bizarre tactics, such as intercutting gaming footage with movie clips, more indicative of spammers than gamers. And while not all of the pages were in Facebook's monetization programs, several that were regularly posted content that appeared to be in violation of the company's monetization policies. More than half featured pirated movie clips or unoriginal non-gaming content. What follows is a closer look at those top ten creators whose streams dominated Facebook Gaming during the one-month period we looked at. Though this is only a small window into the platform, searches during other periods have surfaced similar results. Rather than outliers, these videos are reflective of a pattern in which spammers appear to be exploiting the service. How does 'Cars vs Giant Crater' get 112 million views? The top video was from a gaming creator page called "AU." The February 2 video titled "Cars vs Giant Crater - Giant Pit", which has since been removed, ran for 22 minutes and had a staggering 112 million views. It claimed to be a livestream of a car simulator game called BeamNG.drive, but the first 11 minutes was actually a clip from a Hong Kong film called Cook Up a Storm. At about the 11-minute mark, the clip abruptly switched to footage from the vehicle simulator game. This type of video was not an outlier for AU, which appears to frequently post movie clips disguised as the vehicle simulator game. However, most are not nearly as successful as "Cars vs Giant Crater - Giant Pit." A 12-hour clip, also posted February 2, and with the exact same title received 66,000 views and only 13 comments, perhaps because it was a 12-hour video of a car simulator game with no voiceover or evidence that anyone was actually playing. However, yet another video, also with the same title and posted February 2, was able to rack up more than 13 million views before it was eventually removed. That 22-minute clip opened with a roughly 11-minute long excerpt from a Bengali film called Amazon Obhijaan. Screenshot/Facebook Tagging non-gaming content as gaming is against Facebook's policy, and the company says it's developed technology to "identify and demote videos that are tagged as a game but are displaying non-gameplay content to artificially gain reach" on the platform. Streamers who do so may lose their Partner or Level Up status, but the company doesn't remove these videos. AU is not the only "gaming creator" using questionable tactics involving pirated movie footage. In fact, AU appeared to be connected to another page that also had a top 10 video during the same time period. This supposed streamer — the page is called "Farhad" — had the No. 3 gaming video by interactions. This video, which has also been removed, bizarrely titled "Alien - Baby crying on track - monkey stops the train and save the baby," was posted on February 1 and got more than 91 million views. It was also tagged as BeamNG.drive, but instead of the car sim game, it opened with the very same 11-minute clip from Cook Up a Storm. The only difference was that Farhad's version had a watermark with the word "Farhad" overlaid onto the clip. That same watermark appeared on at least one other video from AU. However, unlike AU, "Farhad" is a member of Facebook's "Level Up" program which allows streamers to earn money from their content. Screenshot / Facebook The page with the fourth most interacted-with video also appeared to be using bizarre tactics. The streamer, going by "GGWP BROO," posted a two-hour clip tagged as Euro Truck Simulator 2 but titled "This ship is full of passengers." The "live stream" opened with a two-minute and forty second clip of a ferry boat in Bangladesh before abruptly switching to gameplay from Euro Truck Simulator. It had 91 million views, despite the fact that the footage appeared to be pre-recorded. The person pictured in the video using a wheel-style controller throughout the two-hour clip doesn't speak at any time. A close viewing reveals that his movements don't correspond to the game being played, and closer inspection indicates the footage is looped. Nearly all of GGWP BROO's streams follow the same pattern: a few minutes of something completely unrelated, like a bear in a trap or an octopus with a scuba diver, followed by Euro Truck Simulator. The man pictured with the wheel controller never speaks in any of the videos. Despite all this, the streamer was a member of Facebook's Partner program, a step up above "Level Up" as it allows streamers to potentially monetize with in-stream ads, along with other perks. Later, the page was downgraded to "Level Up," but was still selling subscriptions. A page promoting its creator hub, where followers can purchase $1.99-per-month subscriptions, advertised "Adult Games 18+." Subscribing to GGWP BROO didn't bring any of the promised exclusive content, though. It unlocked a 10-minute video that appeared to be a low-res compilation of TikTok-style videos of girls dancing, and a private Facebook Group that simply reshared links of GGWP BROO's public streams. After this reporter joined, it had nine members, including GGWP BROO. Screenshot / Facebook Yet GGWP BROO's has several streams with millions of views despite the obviously spammy nature of the content. Moreover, the streamer, who is based in Indonesia according to the page transparency information provided by Facebook, doesn't seem to exist outside of Facebook Gaming. There are no other social media accounts linked, and a search for the handle on other platforms turns up nothing. Rod Breslau, an esports analyst, says this is another red flag that signals the accounts in question are likely illegitimate. "It doesn't make any sense at all," he said. "Usually, if you're really popular on one platform, you'll be really popular on multiple platforms." Yet many of the streamers that appeared at the top of CrowdTangle don't appear to have any kind of identity outside of their generically-named Facebook Gaming creator pages. The was true for the similarly anonymous streamer going by "Piu Roy," whose January 17 video "Cars vs Giant Bulge #4" racked up more than 71 million views and 670,000 interactions. The two-minute clip, tagged as American Truck Simulator, featured several cars driving over a comically-high bump in the road. Roy has no contact info or any other information on their page, and none of their streams show a human face or feature any kind of narration. Yet despite their extremely underwhelming content, "Piu Roy" has several videos with more than a million views — something that even Facebook Gaming's most recognizable names seem to rarely achieve — and is selling $1.99-per-month fan subscriptions from their page. Some "streamers" made even less of an attempt to hide their intentions. A page called "Viral VI" that appears to almost exclusively post movie clips thinly disguised as game streams. Their top video, titled "New Best Action Movie 2022," was tagged as Red Dead Redemption 2, though that game appeared nowhere in the stream. Instead, the 20-minute video opens with a six-minute clip from the 2020 movie Call of the Wild before abruptly switching to a car simulator game. It racked up more than 53 million views and 613,000 interactions. Similarly, "The Flash," whose January 29th stream was the ninth most-interacted with on Facebook, has repeatedly used the exact same phrase. Their 17-minute video claiming to be WWE2020 was also titled "New Best Action Movies 2022." In fact, the first 11 minutes of the clip was lifted from a Spanish dub of 2019's Terminator Dark Fate. Screenshot / Facebook Pirated movie clips wasn't the only repurposed broadcast racking up views. A streamer going by "Naruto," shared a 12-hour video of an elaborate rescue operation of a Moroccan boy trapped in a well in a rural village. The accident, and subsequent days-long rescue attempt, had sparked international attention. Though Naruto did not pretend the video was a game — the clip was tagged as "Hanging Out" — the video was almost certainly not Naruto's own live stream. Live video of the rescue attempt was broadcast widely, and Naruto's stream is at one point interrupted by a pop-under ad for a restaurant in Australia that graphically matched those that appear on YouTube videos. Even so, the streamer used the content to encourage viewers to buy stars, referring to the virtual gifts as "donations." The video got more than 10 million views and nearly half a million interactions (it's not clear how many stars they earned from the broadcast). Naruto, whose page manager location is listed as Australia, posted several other videos depicting the rescue around the same time. While it's not uncommon for streamers to use the "Hanging Out" tag — it's the equivalent of "Just Chatting" on Twitch — to stream non-game content, Facebook's monetization policies stipulate that monetized content must be authentic and original. Yet Naruto is currently in Level Up, recently had Partner status, and is still selling monthly subscriptions for $4.99. Even Pages that at first seemed legitimate were using bizarre content in their streams, At number eight was a three-minute and 40 second video from a streamer called Edge of Portal. The game was tagged as Arma 3, a tactical military simulation game, and the clip was described as "ARMA3 Saudi Arabia is developing the missile in cooperation with China." The views were oddly high, at 58 million, but it appeared to be actual game footage. Edge of Portal also had a much more polished page than some of the more obvious spammers, and many clips had a visible player or some kind of narration. Screenshot / Facebook But it turns out Edge of Portal employs the same tricks as other top-viewed game creators. Several streams open with a few seconds of a static image of a crashed Air Niugini plane from 2018. At least one opened with an extremely low-res video of cars falling into a river before switching to gaming footage. Others begin with a clip of a man operating what appears to be an excavator. What's not clear is exactly why Edge of Portal and so many other streamers front-load their clips with something totally unrelated, and often mundane. It seems as if it's designed to exploit Facebook's recommendation algorithm in some way, but it could also be a kind of visual clickbait, with strange video thumbnails meant to draw more potential viewers in. That seems to be the point of a 10-minute video from a page called Bomber Gaming, which had the tenth most-interacted with live video. The clip, tagged as "eFootball PES 2021 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam," opens not with a soccer game but several minutes of blooper-style videos of people falling over. Bomber Gaming is in Facebook's Partner Program, and advertises "exclusive broadcasts" for $1.99/month subscriptions. Of the ten videos we looked at, the only one that seemed as if it could have come from a legitimate streamer was the second-most interacted with video from a page named Abo ATA Gaming. The PUBG stream had 41 million views, and close to a million interactions, though it was later removed from Facebook. Abo ATA Gaming didn't immediately respond to messages. We attempted to reach the people running all of the pages described above, but they either couldn't be reached, or didn't respond to questions. Is anyone at Facebook paying attention? Engadget's findings raise questions about how much, if any, scrutiny Facebook Gaming creators are subjected to. Not only were the streams detailed above easy to find, the social network's own accounting of its most popular content would suggest that these videos are among the most-viewed on the entire platform. Take the top video, the one from "AU" that opened with the clip from Cook Up a Storm. According to CrowdTangle, it had more than 112 million views during the 30-day period we looked at. That's an incredibly high view count, even by Facebook's somewhat generous standards in which three seconds counts as a "view." The biggest names on Facebook Gaming rarely, if ever, generate those kinds of view counts. Disguised Toast, whose move to Facebook Gaming made headlines in 2019, has rarely achieved one million views, much less 100 million. (He has since left Facebook Gaming and moved back to Twitch.) And while it's true that much of Facebook Gaming's viewership comes from international audiences, even pages with large international followings aren't getting anything close to 100 million views on a single stream. According to a recent report from Streamlabs, the top gaming creator on Facebook by watch hours is Egyptian streamer Tarboun. Tarboun, whose Twitter bio boasts that he has the record for the highest views on Facebook Gaming, has many streams with a million or more views, but nothing remotely approaching 100 million (the highest I could find was a video from a year ago with 8.3 million views). When Facebook first launched its "Level Up" program, streamers wishing to join had to apply to get in and access monetization features. And even streamers who met the minimum requirements sometimes had lengthy waits before they were accepted. "We select people after watching them stream a little bit. We put our stamp on creators who fit our community," Facebook's head of gaming product Vivek Sharma told Business Insiderin 2019. Sharma, who now works on the company's Metaverse platform Horizon, said at the time there was a "long queue" of gamers hoping to join. But that process seems to have now evaporated. A streamer who spoke with Engadget said that "it doesn't take much to get into Level Up … as long as you follow the guidelines, you just get it." Right now, Level Up requires Pages to have at least 100 followers, and that they stream at least four hours of game content over at least two days in a 14-day period. Once Level Up is unlocked, streamers can then earn stars, the on-platform currency similar to bits on Twitch. But for many of the streams detailed above, it's not clear how many if any are earning Stars on this content. Partnered streamers can earn revenue through in-stream ads, but not all are given access to the feature. (In-stream ads never appeared on the videos described above.) And even those selling subscriptions don't seem to be generating significant revenue from their content, as evidenced by GGWP BROO's nine-member exclusive subscriber group. While it wasn't always clear what these pages were trying to gain by exploiting Facebook Gaming, the social network has made huge investments to lure creators to its platform. The social network has said it plans to invest more than $1 billion in creators across its apps over the next year. And the company has pledged not to take a cut of revenue earned from stars, subscriptions and other monetization features until at least 2023. That Facebook's gaming platform, one of its longest-running creator-centric initiatives, is being exploited to this extent doesn't bode well for the company's lofty ambitions in the space. If the company can't (or won't) reliably catch game streamers blatantly breaking its rules, there's little reason to believe the company will catch creators exploiting other parts of its platform. Moreover, it raises serious questions about whether content from the likes of AU and GGWP BROO is distorting the perception of Facebook Gaming's popularity. (Notably, it wouldn't be the first time a Facebook-run video initiative resulted with allegations of pumped up video views.) The platform is now regularly cited as the second-largest streaming platform behind Twitch, largely due to its growth internationally. But the most-watched content on the platform seems to be from spammers sharing low-quality video lifted from other sources. And with views in the tens of millions — far more than any legitimate streamer we've observed — these streams could be inflating Facebook Gaming's metrics. In a statement, a spokesperson for Meta said the company was "working to improve our tools to identify violating content" on Facebook Gaming. "We use a mix of automated and human review to ensure creators are following the rules for what's allowed on Facebook Gaming. We're working to improve our tools to identify violating content, and to make sure people using Facebook Gaming have the best experience." Have a tip about Facebook Gaming? Contact the author at karissa.bell@engadget.com or message securely on Signal at +1 628.231.0063

EA is halting sales of games and content in Russia and Belarus Posted: 04 Mar 2022 10:09 AM PST EA is the latest notable company to stop selling products in Russia and Belarus amid the invasion of Ukraine. The publisher won't allow players using the Russian-region Origin storefront or EA app to buy games and content, including virtual currency. EA says it's working to remove its games from other digital storefronts and block sales of in-game content in both countries. "We continue to be shocked at the conflict that is unfolding in Ukraine, and join so many voices around the world in calling for peace and an end to the invasion. We stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine," EA wrote in a statement. "Our primary concern is the ongoing safety of those in the region, particularly colleagues and partners, and we are seeking to understand how we might best help them further beyond our programs that are already in place." The publisher said this week it would remove Russian and Belarusian teams from its FIFA and NHL games. Soccer and hockey governing bodies have banned teams from the countries from participating in international competitions. EA noted that as the conflict continues, it's "continually reviewing the steps we can take." Ukraine's vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov called on gaming companies and esports organizations to take action by, for instance, temporarily suspending player accounts in Russia and Belarus. CD Projekt has halted sales of its games and all titles on the GOG storefront in both countries. Bloober Team stopped selling its games there too. On Friday, Microsoft put all sales in Russia on hold, including those of Xbox consoles. Meanwhile, Paladins and Rogue Company developer Hi-Rez Studios is donating all of its March and April revenues from Russia to UNICEF to help children in Ukraine. It pledged a minimum of $50,000.

Roland makes its classic SH-101 synth available to play on the web Posted: 04 Mar 2022 09:44 AM PST Roland's browser-based synth studio now includes a third classic instrument. The company has updated its Roland 50 Studio web app with a simplified version of the iconic SH-101 synth. As with the virtual TR-808 drum and TB-303 synths, you can control the SH-101 side-by-side with another model on your PC or mobile device, and you can record, download and share your creations. The real-world SH-101 launched in 1982 as a relatively low-cost and portable alternative to rival synths like the Yamaha DX7, particularly to keytar fans. It struggled to compete and was phased out in 1986. Many electronic artists latched on to its monophonic sound, however, and it helped define the sounds of more than a few well-known performers in the 1990s and 2000s. Dance legends like The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy and Orbital have relied on the SH-101, but it has also been useful to IDM pioneers like Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada and Squarepusher. There are physical equivalents to the SH-101. Behringer's MS-101 is a clone, while Superlative's yet-to-ship SB01 Super Bee takes some inspiration from the Roland original. The official web version is clearly more accessible, though, and gives you a chance to try that signature sound for yourself before buying any real-world hardware.

Apple tells corporate employees to return to the office by mid-April Posted: 04 Mar 2022 09:15 AM PST Apple's corporate employees will soon be making a gradual return to the office, two years after the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. In a memo to staff, CEO Tim Cook said workers must be in the office at least one day per week as of April 11th. Starting on May 2nd, workers will need to be in the office two days a week at minimum. As of May 23rd, they'll have to work from the office at least on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays amid a shift to a hybrid work model. "In the coming weeks and months, we have an opportunity to combine the best of what we have learned about working remotely with the irreplaceable benefits of in-person collaboration," Cook wrote in the memo, which was seen by Bloomberg and The Verge. "It is as important as ever that we support each other through this transition, through the challenges we face as a team and around the world." Apple had been attempting to bring employees back to offices since June. However, it delayed those plans multiple times as COVID-19 cases surged. As part of a hybrid work pilot, staff will receive an extra month of work-from-home time this year. Earlier this week, it emerged Apple made it optional for vaccinated corporate employees to wear masks in regions where they're no longer required by local regulators. Masks are also once again optional in Apple Stores in some locations. The company has mandated twice-weekly COVID-19 testing for all employees.

What to expect from Apple's Peek Performance event Posted: 04 Mar 2022 09:00 AM PST To the surprise of almost no one, Apple is holding its first virtual event of the year on March 8th to show off its latest hardware. We heard rumors about this date for weeks, and the date isn't the only thing that leaked – as is so often the case, we have a pretty good idea what Apple will be announcing. Of course, nothing is official until Apple shows it off on its livestream, but here's what the rumors are pointing to this time. iPhone SE with 5G While this new iPhone won't be nearly as exciting as the flagship models that Apple introduces in the fall, the iPhone SE remains an important product for the company. Starting at $400, the iPhone SE is a way to get Apple's most powerful mobile processor in a "classic" (old) design. It sounds like that is the case with the 2022 iPhone SE: rumors indicate it will be physically identical to the current iPhone SE, which itself is identical to 2017's iPhone 8. But while the design may be dated, the internals should be fresh: The phone will likely include the same A15 Bionic chip found in the iPhone 13 lineup. Giving its $400 phone flagship performance is a trick Apple has been pulling since it released the original iPhone SE back in 2016, and we expect more of the same in 2022. Chris Velazco / Engadget The other notable change is that this phone will probably include 5G connectivity, just like Apple's more expensive phones. Carriers will certainly like the idea of a $400, 5G-capable iPhone as they try to get more and more subscribers using their more advanced networks. Both the A15 processor and 5G connectivity mean the new iPhone SE should be well supported for years to come. As for everything else, the 2022 iPhone SE will likely retain its dated design, including a relatively low-resolution 4.7-inch LCD display with large bezels above and below it. It'll also certainly keep the classic iPhone home button and Touch ID, something that might be a point in its favor for people who don't like Face ID. The cameras could get a modest bump, but don't expect anything more than a single shooter on the back. iPad Air The iPad Air is currently the oldest iPad in Apple's lineup; it was completely redesigned when Apple released it in the fall of 2020. It's still a pretty great tablet, sitting comfortably between the extremely basic entry-level iPad and the wildly expensive and powerful iPad Pro. Dana Wollman / Engadget The rumor mill, lead by the reliable Mark German at Bloomberg indicates that the iPad Air will still get a few tweaks for 2022. In fact, they're the same updates that we expect to see in the iPhone SE: an A15 Bionic chip and support for 5G networks. Neither of these things will fundamentally change the iPad Air; the current A14 processor (which was first released in Apple's iPhone 12 lineup) is already plenty powerful. But given that the redesigned iPad mini from last fall has the A15 chip, it makes sense that Apple will want to make performance identical between the two devices. 5G is another feature that Apple added to the iPad mini last fall, so bringing it to the Air makes sense. To that end, it's also possible that the iPad Air will get a new front-facing camera. Both the iPad mini and basic iPad that were refreshed last fall have an ultra-wide, 12-megapixel front camera with a "Center Stage" feature. That means the camera uses that ultra-wide field of view to continuously crop and adjust the focus of the video feed so your face stays, well, in the center of the screen. Everything else about the iPad Air is expected to stay the same, including its 10.9-inch LCD display, single back camera and Touch ID on the power button. It's a fairly modest set of updates, but that's OK. The iPad Air offers the most important parts of the iPad Pro experience at a much more affordable price, and we expect that'll continue with this update. An updated 13-inch MacBook Pro with an M2 processor Devindra Hardawar / Engadget Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro is looking long in the tooth. There's nothing wrong with the M1 processor inside it, but compared to the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models Apple released last fall, the chip is quite pedestrian. As such, we're expecting a new M2 Apple silicon chip to power the refreshed laptop. It won't be as powerful as the M1 Pro or M1 Max, but it should be a nice upgrade for a device that's almost a year and a half old now. Unfortunately, other changes are expected to be minimal. Apple might finally get rid of the Touch Bar for good, replacing it with a standard row of function keys like those found on the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models. Other than that, it'll probably keep the same display, form factor and paltry port selection. We're really hoping it gets a better front-facing camera, but it's not clear if that will happen. It's certainly not shaping up to be the most exciting Mac upgrade, but given how expensive Apple's larger MacBook Pro laptops are, the 13-inch MacBook Pro should provide a bit of an upgrade over the MacBook Air without at a more affordable price. More Macs? Like the 13-inch MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air and Mac mini haven't been updated since they were released with the M1 processor back in the fall of 2020. It seems likely that both computers will also get updated with the M2 processor before long. That said, the rumor mill hasn't been too solid on exactly which Macs will show up for Tuesday's event. There's even a chance that Apple might re-introduce an iMac Pro with the M1 Pro or M1 Max inside – but right now, a new Mac mini or MacBook Air feels more likely. Catch up on all of the news from Apple's Peek Performance event right here!

The Apple Watch Series 7 is $50 off, plus the rest of the week's best tech deals Posted: 04 Mar 2022 08:50 AM PST A number of gadgets from smartwatches to headphones to smart thermostats went on sale this week. You can get a total of $50 off many 41mm Apple Watch Series 7 models at Amazon right now, while Bose's QuietComfort 45 headphones are back down to their Black Friday price. A few AMD Ryzen 5000 processors are still on sale, plus a bunch of Samsung storage devices have received decent discounts — including the T7 Touch portable drive. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today. Apple Watch Series 7 Engadget Certain colors of the Apple Watch Series 7 are down to $349, or $50 off their normal price. Apple's latest flagship smartwatch earned a score of 90 from us for its slightly larger display, faster charging and handy watchOS8 features. Buy Apple Wach Series 7 at Amazon - $349 Apple AirPods (3rd gen) Billy Steele/Engadget Apple's latest AirPods are down to $145 at Woot, or $35 off their normal price. We gave them a score of 88 for their improved design, better sound quality and long battery life. Buy AirPods (3rd gen) at Woot - $145 Bose QuietComfort 45 Billy Steele/Engadget The Bose QC45 headphones are on sale for $279, which is their all-time-low price that we saw last Black Friday. We gave the cans a score of 86 for their excellent sound quality, strong ANC and comfortable fit. Buy QuietComfort 45 at Amazon - $279 AMD Ryzen 5000 series AMD Some of AMD's Ryzen 5000 processors are down to record-low prices at Amazon right now. The six-core Ryzen 5 5600X, arguably the best value of them all, is down to for $230 in the US and £210 in the UK. The 16-core Ryzen 5950X is also on sale for $599 in the US and £539 in the UK. Buy Ryzen 5 5600X on Amazon (US) - $230Buy Ryzen 5 5600X on Amazon (UK) - £210Buy Ryzen 9 5950X on Amazon US - $599Buy Ryzen 9 5950X on Amazon UK - £539 Nintendo eShop gift card Kris Naudus/Engadget Amazon knocked 10 percent off Nintendo's $50 eShop gift card, bringing it down to $45. It's a modest discount, but a good one if you want some extra funds to add games to your Switch. Buy $50 eShop Gift Card at Amazon - $45 Samsung T7 Touch (1TB) Samsung The T7 Touch portable SSD in 1TB is on sale for $140 across the web. This palm-sized drive works with most devices thanks to the duo of cables it comes with, and it supports 1,050 MB/s read speeds, 1,000 MB/s write speeds, AES 256-bit encryption and Dynamic Thermal Guard. Buy Samsung T7 Touch (1TB) at Amazon - $140Buy Samsung T7 Touch (1TB) at Best Buy - $140Buy Samsung T7 Touch (1TB) at B&H - $140 Samsung 980 Pro SSD (2TB) Samsung's 980 Pro internal drive in 2TB is 35 percent off and down to $280 — a great price for a powerful SSD that works with the PS5 (provided you have a heatsink). It has read speeds up to 7,000 MB/s, advanced thermal controls and works with Samsung's Magician Software, which lets you check its health and optimize settings as you'd like. Buy Samsung 980 Pro (2TB) at Amazon - $280 Google Nest Thermostat Google Google's Nest Thermostat is on sale for $93 right now, which is 29 percent off its normal price. It's a more affordable version of the Nest Learning Thermostat and it uses a feature called Savings Finder to suggests ways you can conserve energy in your home. Buy Nest Thermostat at Amazon - $93 Google Nest Hub Max Nicole Lee/Engadget The Google Nest Hub Max is on sale for $169 right now, which is close to its record-low price. We gave the large smart display a score of 86 for its good sound quality, gesture controls and ability to work as a Nest Cam. Buy Nest Hub Max at Adorama - $169Buy Nest Hub Max at B&H - $169 Paramount+ anniversary sale Paramount+ Through March 7, new subscribers can get a few months of Paramount+ for only $1. Use the code BIRTHDAY when you sign up to get the ad-supported Essential plan for $1 per month for three months, or the ad-free Premium plan for $2 per month for the same amount of time. Subscribe to Paramount+ starting at $1/month Eero Pro 6 Laurie Frankel / Amazon The Eero Pro 6 two-pack is $80 off for Prime members, bringing the price down to $319. This system can cover up to 3,500 square feet and it supports WiFi 6, gigabit speeds and a built-in Zigbee smart home hub. Buy Eero Pro 6 (2 pack) at Amazon - $319 Samsung Galaxy S22 series Amazon's offering a $100 credit to those that order any of the three smartphones in the new Samsung Galaxy S22 lineup. All you have to do is enter the promo code on the product page before you check out, and you'll get an email after your handset ships with the details of the credit being added to your Amazon account. Those considering the Galaxy S22 have an extra incentive on top of that — $100 off in the form of an on-page coupon that you can clip, which will bring the price of the base model down to $700. Buy Galaxy S22 Ultra at Amazon - $1,200Buy Galaxy S22+ at Amazon - $1,000Buy Galaxy S22 at Amazon - $700 Roku Streaming Stick 4K+ Roku's new Streaming Stick 4K+ is down to $49, or 30 percent off its normal price. In addition to 4K streaming, it supports HDR10+, a faster processor and it comes bundled with the Roku Voice Remote Pro, which lets you use voice commands to search and issue verbal commands. Buy Roku Streaming Stick 4K+ at Amazon - $49 Instant Pot Max The six-quart Instant Pot Max is down to a record low of $74, or half off its normal price. This multicooker has a large touch screen for easy programming, 15psi of pressure so you can experiment with canning and a sous vide cooking option. Buy Instant Pot Max at Amazon - $74 New tech deals Apple MagSafe battery pack Apple's magnetic battery pack for iPhones is down to $88, which is 11 percent off its normal price. We have seen it cheaper in the past, but this is the best price we've seen since December. The accessory attaches magnetically to the back of the latest iPhones and provides up to 15W of wireless charging. Buy MagSafe battery pack at Amazon - $88 NordVPN NordVPN's latest sale knocks the price of a two-year subscription down to just under $96, plus you'll get a free gift on top of it. The prize isn't anything physical, but rather additional subscription time on top of the two-year plan you paid for. Prizes are chosen at random, but after you make your purchase, you'll get either an extra month, and extra year or an extra two years added on to your subscription. Subscribe to NordVPN (2 years) - $96 Amazon Luna Amazon's Luna controller is 29 percent off right now, bringing it down to $50. It's designed to work with the company's Luna cloud gaming platform, and it's wireless and works with a bunch of operating systems including Mac, Windows, iOS, Fire TVs and others. Buy Luna controller at Amazon - $50 Anker Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid This Eufy robot vac-and-mop machine is $200 off and down to $450. It's a good robot vacuum to consider if you want strong suction as well as a mopping feature that can better clean hardwood floors and tile. Plus, this machine maps out your home as it cleans, so you can send it to specific rooms and areas during future jobs. Buy Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid at Amazon - $450 Insta360 One X2 This tiny camera is 10 percent off and down to a record low of $387. It's a waterproof action cam that can shoot 360-degree video in 5K, and it supports advanced stabilization without the need for a gimbal and features like hyperlapse. Buy Insta360 One X2 at Amazon - $387 UK deals AirPods (2nd gen) Apple's second-generation AirPods are down to £99 at Amazon. These don't have some of the bells and whistles that the new third-gen models do, but they remain a decent option for Apple users on a budget. We gave them a score of 84 when they first came out for their improved wireless performance and solid battery life. Buy AirPods at Amazon - £99 Kindle Paperwhite A bunch of Kindle e-readers are on sale in the UK right now, including the new Paperwhite for £100. The Signature Edition, which we called the best e-reader by far, is down to £150 as well. Shop Kindle sale at Amazon Fitbit Sense Fitbit's most advanced smartwatch, the Sense, is down to £189 right now. That's not a record low, but it's still 37 percent off its usual rate. We gave it a score of 82 for its comprehensive health tracking features and big, bold display. Buy Fitbit Sense at Amazon - £189 Jabra Elite 75t earbuds John Lewis has the Elite 75ts for £79, which is nearly half off their usual rate. We gave the buds a score of 87 when they first came out for their good audio quality, long battery life and small, comfortable design. Buy Jabra Elite 75t at John Lewis - £79 Anker Nano II 65W GaN charger The Anker Nano II 65W GaN charger is down to £38 right now, or 16 percent off its norma price. Not only is this brick much smaller than most other chargers with similar wattage, but it also has GaN technology, which will help reduce overheating and keep it power efficient. Buy Nano II 65W charger at Amazon - £38 Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Samsung will add phone performance throttling controls through an update Posted: 04 Mar 2022 08:45 AM PST Samsung will at least partly address complaints that it's throttling the performance of apps on some Galaxy phones. As The Vergereports, the company has promised an update to its Game Optimizing Service to give users more control over throttling. In a statement to Engadget, Samsung said the option was coming at an unspecified point in the future in response to both feedback and "careful consideration." You can read the full statement at the end of this article. However, Samsung disputed claims GOS was throttling as many as 10,000 apps across numerous categories. The service "does not manage" apps beyond games, the company said. Users have accused Samsung of throttling the performance of non-gaming software like Netflix and TikTok while disabling the restrictions for benchmarks like 3DMark and GeekBench, skewing expectations for real-world speed. GOS is now known to be present on the Galaxy S22 series. While the exact range of phones with GOS isn't clear, the software is known to exist on older phones like the Galaxy S21 lineup and S20 FE. Samsung isn't alone. In 2021, OnePlus admitted that it throttled the OnePlus 9 while popular apps were in use. This was ostensibly meant to preserve battery life, but didn't include benchmarks. Huawei, Oppo and other phone makers have been caught cheating on benchmarks in the past, but those methods relied on ramping up performance when a test app was in use, not slowing down for other apps. It's difficult for phone vendors to completely avoid throttling. Chips like the Galaxy S22's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and Exynos 2200 can run hot, and Samsung even introduced vapor chamber cooling to the S22 to manage that heat. As Apple learned years ago, though, at least some users want more control and transparency for throttling — they're willing to sacrifice battery life and heat to see devices reach their full potential. "Our priority is to deliver the best mobile experience for consumers. The Game Optimizing Service (GOS) has been designed to help game apps achieve a great performance while managing device temperature effectively. GOS does not manage the performance of non-gaming apps. We value the feedback we receive about our products and after careful consideration, we plan to roll out a software update soon so users can control the performance while running game apps."

Microsoft completes its $19.7 billion purchase of voice-tech company Nuance Posted: 04 Mar 2022 08:39 AM PST Microsoft has closed its $19.7 billion takeover of speech-tech company Nuance Communications. It announced the acquisition last April and cleared the final regulatory barrier this week when the UK's Competition and Markets Authority signed off on the deal. Regulators in the EU, US and Australia rubber stamped the buyout last year. Mark Benjamin will remain as Nuance CEO, though he now reports to Microsoft Cloud and AI executive vice president Scott Guthrie. The duo wrote in a blog post that Microsoft and Nuance will build on "AI, digital and cloud advancements to create solutions that transform how we – as global citizens – work, shop, bank, engage and receive care." Healthcare will be a major focus of their work. Microsoft has another massive deal in the works: its proposed $68.7 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard. It expects the deal to be completed by mid-2023 if regulators give the thumbs up.

The biggest MWC 2022 news you might have missed Posted: 04 Mar 2022 08:30 AM PST We've come to the end of Mobile World Congress 2022, which, despite the pandemic and a war in Europe, went on as planned. While it's typically a show full of phone launches from companies like Sony, Huawei, TCL, Xiaomi, Oppo and more, this year there were surprisingly few of those. Instead, we saw lots of laptops and tablets, as well as some foldable concepts. Plus, with major players like Sony choosing to sit out the event, MWC 2022 was generally quieter than years past. Still, if you feel like you've missed out on the news from the show, here's a recap of everything interesting out of the convention this week. Oppo kicked things off early, unveiling one of the few phones announced at the show: the Find X5 Pro. It's a beautiful device with a ceramic body and a pair of 50-megapixel cameras using Hasselblad-infused software. In addition to Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, the Find X5 Pro also carries the company's own Marisilicon neural processor for faster processing when you're recording content in high-res or low light. Like many phones unveiled at MWC, the Find X5 Pro's availability in the US is unconfirmed, so don't get too excited if you're based in America. Meanwhile, there was so much Huawei news out of PR Newswire's daily MWC recaps that this year's event should really be called the Huawei Show 2022. In addition to big speeches about global strategies and 5G, the company unveiled a new MateBook laptop, a MateStation all-in-one PC, a PixLab laser printer, new speakers and a tablet called the MatePad Paper. The most intriguing of these is the MatePad Paper, a 10.3-inch e-ink tablet with some particularly thin bezels. Its texturized paper-like screen is easy to read in both sunlight and lowlight, and displays not only text and still images, but videos as well. It also works with Huawei's M-Pencil so you can write on it, and the company's custom software allows you to simultaneously read and write in a split-screen view. An onboard mic lets you record audio while taking notes, while a fingerprint sensor in the power button enables convenient logins. Huawei On standby, Huawei says the MatePad Paper can last up to four weeks. It'll be available in Europe for 499 Euros and that price includes an M-Pencil. Honestly this might be the most modern e-ink device yet, and I'm quite taken by the sky blue and khaki color options. Of course, Huawei continues to battle US restrictions that keep it from selling its devices stateside. This is likely part of the reason former Huawei sub-brand Honor left its parent company in 2020. At MWC this year, Honor debuted the Magic 4 series — a pair of flagship-level phones meant to contend with Samsung's Galaxy S22s. They have triple rear cameras with 50-megapixel primary sensors, 120Hz LTPO screens and are equipped with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chips. But all the specs comparisons might be moot, because despite promises of a global rollout, last year's Magic 3 never made it outside of China. For now Honor has shared initial European prices on its newly announced devices, which include new earbuds and a smartwatch, but US availability remains unknown. Though Samsung already unveiled the Galaxy S22s and Tab S8 tablets, it still had products to show off in Barcelona — namely, a new line of laptops. The new Galaxy Book 2 series iterates on last year's models with a trio of configurations, which include a pair of convertibles and a clamshell. All three flavors are available in 13- and 15-inch sizes, with upgraded webcams and 12th-gen Intel Core processors. As with previous Samsung laptops, these also feature beautiful AMOLED displays and are impressively thin and light. The Book 2 Pro 360 and the Book 2 360 both support the S Pen, though only the former comes with the stylus in the box. I've been a fan of Samsung's PCs for awhile, and though this year's generation doesn't seem to bring major improvements, I'm still curious to see how they stack up against the competition. Plus, Samsung added a burgundy color option that has me kind of mesmerized. Cherlynn Low / Engadget Lenovo rolled into MWC 2022 the way it usually does most other shows: armed to the teeth with laptops. This week, the company unveiled about 20 new devices, including the ThinkPad X1 Extreme 5th gen and four other ThinkPads and ThinkBooks; two new sets of IdeaPad Gaming laptops and a pair of IdeaPad Flex mainstream notebooks; three Chromebooks, a Windows 11 detachable and an Android tablet. Oh, and not to mention a new USB-C monitor and a wireless gaming mouse. I didn't even include the new ThinkPad X13s, which is the first ThinkPad powered by a Snapdragon chip. It's also the first in the series to run Windows 11 on ARM, and the company says it's the first time the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 has been used in a commercial device. The biggest draw here is the estimated 28-hour battery life, in addition to support for sub-6 and mmWave 5G and WiFi 6E. Sure, Windows on ARM has struggled to appeal to a mainstream audience, but with more OEM support and increasing app compatibility, 2022 could be the year Microsoft and its partners turn things around. One of the best things about events like MWC is seeing the wilder concepts some companies showcase alongside their more traditional products. For the last few years, TCL has teased us with various concept devices at these shows, and this time around, it brought us the "Ultra Flex." This is a prototype foldable phone that can bend both inward and outward — meaning its hinge and screen have to be extremely durable and carefully designed. The idea is intriguing, but in reality we never saw the display turn on during a demo session ahead of MWC. We did get to see the company's "Fold n' Roll" prototype that it announced last April, though, and while it had a technically "working" screen, it was still incredibly janky. Cherlynn Low / Engadget TCL didn't just show us experimental products it doesn't intend to sell. The company also launched five new phones in its 30-series, as well as two new tablets, including the NXTPAPER Max 10. That's a bigger version of last year's 8.8-inch slate with a reflective LCD screen that enables a full-color paper-like display. There's still more news from MWC 2022 that might pique your interest, like Qualcomm's new X70 5G modem and former Xiaomi sub-brand Poco's new X4 Pro 5G phone with a 108-megapixel camera. OnePlus also confirmed that the OnePlus 10 Pro is headed to the US, Europe and India this month. Of course, since this is a mobile show, we learned about new developments in 5G. Specifically, FCC chairperson Jessica Rosenworcel announced that the US will hold an auction in July for 2.5GHz mid-band spectrum. Finally, we also couldn't escape everyone's favorite buzzwords: NFTs and the metaverse. FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta said in a keynote that there's been "a lot of attention [on] blockchain products and services such as NFTs and metaverse." During the same speech, he said the football club "should be able to offer digital products" to its members and fans that will "generate a very interesting emotional experience." Although we couldn't be on the ground in Barcelona, team Engadget was still able to check out many of these new products first-hand at various preview events. Check out our hands-on videos and reports to get all the details. Catch up on all of the news from MWC 2022 right here!

Apple's 3rd-gen AirPods are down to $145 right now Posted: 04 Mar 2022 08:15 AM PST Apple made a bunch of improvements to its latest AirPods last year, and now you can grab a pair for $35 less than usual. Woot has the third-generation AirPods for $145 right now, which is 19 percent off and close to their record low. The sale will last for 12 days or until sold out, and we expect them to sell out at this price fairly quickly. While anyone can get this deal, Amazon Prime members can get free shipping, too. Buy AirPods (3rd gen) at Woot - $145 These buds mark the first true departure from the original AirPods design since the earbuds first came out. While the AirPods Pro have the best fit out of all of Apple's wireless earbuds, the third-gen AirPods are a big improvement from their predecessors. They have a new contoured design and a shorter stem, both of which help make the buds more comfortable and aid in sound quality. They're also IPX4-rated, so they should be able to withstand sweaty workouts and a quick, accidental splash. The latest AirPods sound much better than the previous models thanks in part to a new custom driver and a high-dynamic-range amplifier. They work together to produce rich bass and crisp, clean sound overall. You won't find ANC on these buds, but they do have Adaptive EQ, spatial audio and dynamic head tracking. The H1 chip inside of the buds helps power those features, along with hands-free Siri access and quick pairing. If you use a lot of Apple products the quick pairing and switching feature will come in handy, as it allows you to seamlessly go from listening to music on your Mac to taking a call from your iPhone. As far as battery life goes, you should get up to six hours with the buds and up to a total of 30 hours when using their charging case to power up in between sessions. As usual, be sure to check out Woot's return policy before deciding if you want to pick these up during this sale. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

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