Author Archives: Sarah Fielding

Apple’s AirPods Max at are their lowest price ever for Prime Day

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While earbuds are convenient, there's something about over the ear headphones that's just irreplaceable — though they can be quite costly. However, Apple's AirPods Max wireless headphones are currently down to $395 from $549 — a record-low price — and one of many great Prime Day deals. The 28 percent discount is available on all five colorways but doesn't include AppleCare+.  

Apple released the AirPods Max in 2020 and have yet to produce a next generation model. At the time we gave the headphones an 84 in our review due to a great range of features like solid active noise cancellation and their easy to use controls. We were also impressed with their audio quality which provides a great balanced sound. 

There were a few aspects of Apple's AirPods Max that we were less impressed with. The price was one of our biggest points of contention, though the sale certainly helps with that. The headphones weigh almost 385 grams, much more than one of our favorites, Sony's WH-1000XM5 headphones — though a wider headband means we barely noticed it. The earbuds were where we had a bigger issue, as we could feel the rings through the foam after just a few minutes. 

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-airpods-max-at-are-their-lowest-price-ever-for-prime-day-125050936.html?src=rss

Our favorite Anker MagSafe power bank is 30 percent off for Prime Day

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After weeks of sporadic deals, Amazon Prime Day is finally here, and there are great savings across categories. Take Anker's MagGo Power Bank, our choice for the best MagSafe-compatible power bank on the market. Right now, the device is down to $63 from $90 — a 30 percent deal that brings it to just a few dollars off its all-time low price.

Anker's MagGo Power Bank was one of the earliest Qi2-certified devices on the market, and this early 2024 model is impressive, to say the least. The 10,000mAh and 15W capacities provide you with fast wireless charging. The power bank can bring an iPhone 15 from near-dead to half-charged in just 45 minutes — a feat some of our other top contenders have taken twice as long to do.

The MagGo power bank is also good for one full charge and then another to about 70 percent. The device charges with a USB-C port and includes a USB-C to USB-C cable with purchase. Other perks of this Anker power bank include a kickstand, which allows you to watch videos or play games while the phone charges. It also has a digital display that shows its remaining battery percentage, both when you're charging it and when it's charging your phone.

The Anker MagGo Power Bank works with iOS and Android phones, but the latter's lack of Qi2-compatibility means Android devices will charge slower than an iPhone 12 or above. 

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/our-favorite-anker-magsafe-power-bank-is-30-percent-off-for-prime-day-111016323.html?src=rss

This Prime Day TV deal still offers 39 percent off the Samsung Frame TV

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Amazon's Prime Day sale is officially over and done with, but a handful of the event's better discounts remain available. If you're in the market for a new TV, here's one standout: Samsung's 55-inch Frame TV is still on sale for $998. While that's not the absolute lowest price we've ever seen, it's roughly $400 off the set's average street price. This Prime Day TV deal also comes bundled with your choice of a colored bezel cover, which you can attach to the edges of the set to make it look more like a piece of art. 

This Samsung 55-inch The Frame TV model offers a QLED 4K screen with an anti-reflective, matte finish that reduces glare and helps artwork blend in with other framed pictures you may have nearby. (The last thing you want is to spend all this money and have it be immediately apparent that the art is on a screen rather than looking like a permanent fixture.) Its picture quality can't match the best TVs in this price range — there's no local dimming or mini-LED backlight to boost contrast — but it's still decently bright and colorful, and you'd buy it for its design first anyway. You can access over 1,400 new and established works of art with a subscription to Samsung's Art Store, though a few pieces come bundled with the set for free. It also supports a fast 120Hz refresh rate, so it's not bad for gaming.

Then there's the bezel, which gives your digital artwork an extra degree of authenticity. This deal is available with a white, "teak" or brown bezel — all of which have a modern design. The bezels are also magnetic, so if you change your mind down the line, you can snap them off. 

Note that this price applies to the 2022 version of the Frame TV. Samsung has released updated models for 2024 that reportedly offer better brightness but don't appear to be vastly different overall. Those sets are similarly discounted on Amazon right now, but since they cost a couple hundred dollars extra, the older variant should be a better value while it's still in stock. 

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/this-prime-day-tv-deal-still-offers-39-percent-off-the-samsung-frame-tv-090511791.html?src=rss

Amazon Prime Day deals on laptops include $200 off the M3 MacBook Air

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No matter how you swing it, Apple's computers are expensive, making sales crucial in the pursuit of taking one home. Fortunately, Amazon Prime Day is basically here and one of the best Prime Day laptop deals we found is on Apple's 13-inch 2024 MacBook Air with an M3 chip.

Our top pick for the best MacBook overall is down to $899 from $1,099 — an 18 percent discount. You'll get this sale price on the model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and it doesn't come with AppleCare+ (which isn't surprising). Historically, Prime Day deals on laptops can be hit or miss, but this is a great one to consider right now if you've been eyeing a new MacBook to replace your aging laptop.

Apple's 2024 MacBook Air has a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina Display that can support one billion different colors. We gave it a 90 in our review thanks to offers like a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, three mics and up to 18 hours of battery life. The M3 chip makes it a faster device, with an 8-core CPU and up to 10-core GPU. It also supports dual external displays — though the MacBook must be closed.

If you're in the market for a larger screen, check out the sale on the 15-inch version of Apple's M3-equipped 2024 MacBook Air. This model is also on sale, dropping to $1,099 from $1,299 — a 15 percent discount. It weighs an extra half a pound, but with a 15.2-inch screen, the additional space might be worth some weight. Plus, it offers six speakers, compared to the 13-inch's four.

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-prime-day-deals-on-laptops-include-200-off-the-m3-macbook-air-134232077.html?src=rss

YouTube Shorts gets Instagram’s ‘Add yours’ prompt stickers

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YouTube is continuing its mission to compete with Instagram and TikTok. The platform has announced new features on Shorts, notably including an "Add yours" sticker. That's right, it seems to be pretty much the same tool that Instagram launched in 2021, and you'll have seen with prompts like "the most recent photo in your camera roll" or "the first photo of you and your partner." 

In this case, YouTube recommends you create prompts like showing off your dog's newest trick to "inspire your audience" and spark "a chain reaction of adorable content." The sticker looks nearly identical to Instagram's, so if you use it there, it should be an easy transition. This new-to-YouTube sticker should roll out across Shorts over the next few weeks.

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YouTube has also announced you can soon add and edit auto-generated captions on Shorts. You can choose between various colors and fonts to make captions blend in better with your videos. Again, you will recognize this from Instagram, but let's be honest: there's very little reinventing the wheel on social media these days, so it's nice to have options regardless of your platform of choice.

Similarly, YouTube is also rolling out a Text to Speech feature on Shorts. The tool lets you add text after recording a Short and then click the "Add voice" icon at the top left of your screen. From there, YouTube provides four voices you can pick from for the narration.

The last update coming to Youtube Shorts is for Android users. Soon, Auto layout will be available on Android, allowing you to track the subject of your video as you create it. You can hear about all of these updates directly from the YouTube team below.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtube-shorts-gets-instagrams-add-yours-prompt-stickers-160002525.html?src=rss

Apple will allow developers access to its NFC technology, avoiding an EU fine

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After four years of back and forth, the European Union and Apple have finally come to an agreement on the latter's tap-and-go technology. The European Commission announced Apple made "legally binding" commitments to provide developers with their Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology, which is used for tap-and-go technology, and access iOS features like Face ID authentication and double-click to launch. The agreement saves Apple from facing an antitrust fine equal to up to 10 percent of its worldwide annual turnover — about $40 billion. 

Apple has also agreed to stipulations such as allowing users to make third-party wallets their default app. "It opens up competition in this crucial sector, by preventing Apple from excluding other mobile wallets from the iPhone's ecosystem," Margrethe Vestage, the EU's executive vice president in charge of competition policy, stated in the release. "From now on, competitors will be able to effectively compete with Apple Pay for mobile payments with the iPhone in shops. So consumers will have a wider range of safe and innovative mobile wallets to choose from." The commitments are binding for ten years, with an independent monitor ensuring Apple follows them across the European Economic Area (EEA). 

The European Commission opened its investigation into Apple in 2020, alleging that Apple was restricting rival mobile wallet developers from accessing necessary technology. Two years later, the regulatory body issued a preliminary view that Apple "abused its dominant position." 

Then, in early 2024, Apple finally offered to open up its NFC technology and report to an independent reviewer. The European Commission shared the terms publicly, encouraging Apple's rivals and other interested parties to give their opinion. The final agreement between the European Commission and Apple results from those consultations.  

The tech giant could still be on the hook for tens of billions of dollars in a different case after the European Commission issued its preliminary view that Apple violated the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The new law went into effect in March, and the European Commission soon opened an investigation into whether Apple prevented developers from telling users that they could pay less for services elsewhere. Apple currently takes a 30 percent commission on any purchases made through the App Store. The European Commission has until March 2025 to make a final ruling in the case. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-will-allow-developers-access-to-its-nfc-technology-avoiding-an-eu-fine-123026127.html?src=rss

Strava launches a family plan

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Strava turns 15 this year, and it is ensuring its first generation of users can include their kids who have grown up along the way. The fitness tracker app has launched its family plan, a subscription tier allowing up to four accounts on one plan. It includes everything an individual plan has, such as route building and sharing, activity recording and safety tools.

The family plan starts at $140 annually, compared to $80 annually for an individual plan, so it could even be worth it for two people. But, there's one big catch: Users have to pay for the plan upfront, unlike the individual plan, which offers a $12 monthly option. Also, anyone who has already subscribed but wants to join a family plan will have to cancel their membership in order to join it. Strava claims that all of their data should be transferred once they have joined a family plan.

Despite the name, anyone can come together to create a family plan — as long as they're all based in the same country. Members can leave, and new members can join at any time. However, unlike the rest of Strava, a family plan is only available on the company's website for now, not the apps.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/strava-launches-a-family-plan-170002189.html?src=rss

How to order Samsung Galaxy Unpacked devices: Fold 6, Flip 6, Watch Ultra, Galaxy Ring and more

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Samsung Galaxy Unpacked might have been more like a recap of its recent leaks, but it does mean one exciting thing: pre-orders are now available on Samsung's website. For starters, you can order Samsung's new phones, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Galaxy Z Flip 6. Maybe you're more interested in getting new earbuds and want to check out the Galaxy Buds 3 and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. Then there are Samsung's latest wearables, the Galaxy Watch 7, Galaxy Watch Ultra and the Galaxy Ring.

You can pre-order any of these items now through Samsung or pick one up starting July 24 directly from them or companies like Amazon and BestBuy. If you missed it, the live stream is available on demand, but we've summed up all the best bits for you here. Check out every Samsung product announced, its prices and any extra goodies you can get by pre-ordering now.

Catch up on all the news from Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked 2024 here!

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-to-order-samsung-galaxy-unpacked-devices-fold-6-flip-6-watch-ultra-galaxy-ring-and-more-131513366.html?src=rss

The best Apple AirTag Prime Day deal we’ve seen discounts a four-pack to $75

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Prime Day deals have come for many of Apple's devices, including its smallest accessories. You can pick up a four-pack if AirTags for $75 right now, down from their usual $100 price tag. If you just want one of the Bluetooth trackers, you can pick up a single pack for $24 as part of the Prime Day Apple deals.

We've been seeing the price of the four-pack fluctuate over the past 48 hours — they've gone up and down from around $88 to $75 for the multi-pack, and in and out of stock. We recommend keeping an eye out on this today if you're keen on snagging a few AirTags for Amazon Prime Day 2024.

Apple's AirTags can pair with your iPhone or iPad and appear in the Find My app. The devices are about an inch and a quarter in length and width, with a battery that lasts about a year at a time. The device is also water and dust resistant, so you don't have to worry about it getting too gross if it's on your dog's collar, for instance. 

Plus, newer iPhone models utilize ultra-wideband technology to give you detailed instructions when locating one. Unfortunately, you'll still need to get a holder if you want to attach an AirTag anywhere, but we have you covered with our guide to the best Apple AirTag accessories for 2024. 

If you only need one or two AirTags, head over to the sale on individual ones. Right now, you can pick up one AirTag for $24, down from $29 — a 17 percent discount. This deal is also a record-low price, with you technically able to get three for less than the four-pack (though for another $3, it might be worth getting an extra one). 

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-apple-airtag-prime-day-deal-weve-seen-discounts-a-four-pack-to-75-143919395.html?src=rss

Early Prime Day deals discount the AirPods Pro to a new low of $169

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If you're in the market for some new tech then Amazon's early Prime Day deals have you covered. The latest deal worth shopping is a 32 percent discount on the second-generation Apple AirPods Pro. The Prime Day sale brings them down to $169 from $249 — a new all-time low price. These earbuds are our choice of best wireless earbuds for iPhone users. 

The second-gen AirPods Pro came out in 2022 and are still Apple's newest in the series. We gave them an 88 in our review thanks to an H2 chip that produces solid noise cancellation and an excellent transparency mode. You can also swipe for volume control and access Personalized Spatial Audio. Plus, Apple shrunk the ear tip, added a built-in speaker to the case and switched out the lightning port for a USB-C one. 

If you're looking for something a bit cheaper, check out the deal on Apple's third-gen AirPods. They've dropped to a new all-time low of $129 from $169 — $11 cheaper than the sale we saw yesterday. For one-fourth off their sticker price, you get AirPods that are comfortable, offer excellent audio quality and are IPX4 sweat and water resistant. Plus, they have six hours of continual battery life and 30 hours total with the case. 

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/early-prime-day-deals-discount-the-airpods-pro-to-a-new-low-of-169-130559143.html?src=rss