Beats Flex review: The cost of $50 wireless earbuds

When the rumors began to swirl that Apple was going to stop including a set of wired earbuds in the box with the iPhone 12, we should’ve seen this coming. The day of Apple’s event, the company’s audio subsidiary Beats announced a set of cheap wireles...

Beats Flex earbuds offer 12 hours of listening for just $50

BeatsX wireless earbuds offer AirPod tech inside a $150 package. However, the behind-your-neck set is well overdue for an update since it debuted in early 2017. The company isn’t trotting out a new version of the X just yet, but it is giving budget c...

The best wireless workout headphones

As some of you might know, I’m a runner. On occasion I review sports watches, and outside of work I’m a certified marathon coach. So when it became clear Engadget wanted to round up the best wireless workout headphones, I raised my hand. And the timi...

This week’s best deals: $200 off the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and more

Labor Day weekend deals extended into the rest of the week with a number of sales on electronics and home appliances. Amazon’s $99 Instant Pot deal is still available while August’s latest WiFi smart lock can still be had for $30 off. Some of the lat...

Apple should have made Beats truly wireless earphones really long back…

Remember Beats by Dre? Apple acquired them in 2014 and it’s been radio silence ever since. Apple did however launch a few Beats products just to keep the buzz going, but nothing really matched up to the excitement around the AirPods. Now I’m not really sure whether Apple bought Beats to throttle their success (so the AirPods wouldn’t have any competition), or whether they bought Beats just because they saw it as a nice brand to own, but it’s safe to assume that the Beats brand isn’t once what it used to be. Lew from Unbox Therapy even has a theory that Apple’s slowly phasing the brand out completely.

In an alternate universe where Apple wasn’t so anti-competitive, these Beats miniPods would surely be a popular hit. Modeled to look sort of like the Google Pixel Buds, the Beats miniPods are the conceptual creation of 14-year old Nicola Morelli who found herself with extra time on her hands during the lockdown. The TWS earbuds come with the iconic Beats logo on them, and fit snugly into the ear using silicone tips. I assume the driver technology on the inside would match up to the Beats standards, and have some form of noise-canceling too, but that’s something we can only dream of at this point of time. The miniPods, however, do come with touch-sensitivity, allowing you to tap to answer and reject calls, control playback, and adjust the volume. Like all TWS earbuds, the miniPods have their own nifty charging-case too, and this one even boasts of a clear-top design that allows you to see the earbuds when they’re inside the case. Pretty nice, eh? If I was only half as talented when I was a 14-year old.

Designer: Nicola Morelli

Apple countersues headphone maker Koss in AirPods patent dispute

Apple is striking back at Koss, which filed a patent infringement lawsuit last month related to AirPods and Beats. It countersued the maker of the first stereo headphones, asking for a court to rule that Apple didn’t infringe any of the five patents...

Koss sues Apple and Bose for allegedly copying wireless headphone tech

Koss isn’t faring as well as some companies in the wireless headphone space, but it might compensate for that through a string of lawsuits. As Patently Apple reports, Koss has sued Apple, Bose, JLab, Plantronics and Skullcandy for allegedly violating...

Italy is launching an antitrust investigation into Amazon and Apple

Amazon and Apple are facing more antitrust accusations. This time, Italy is investigating. Authorities want to know whether the two companies agreed to prevent retailers who are not part of Apple’s official program to sell Apple products and Beats he...