Analogue’s latest limited-edition Pocket consoles are made out of aluminum

Analogue just announced a forthcoming limited edition of its popular retro Pocket console. This one boasts an exterior made entirely out of attractive machined aluminum. It looks pretty dang cool. It also costs $500, which is almost $300 more than the non-aluminum Analogue Pocket.

Analogue promises that “every single piece” is “entirely CNC’d from aluminum.” The company also says it will be available in “highly limited quantities'' with orders going live on July 15 at 11AM ET. Past as prologue, these limited editions sell out quickly. If you want one, make sure to set a reminder or an alarm to join the queue, as Analogue says these consoles will never be sold again. They will be available in four anodized colors, including natural metal, indigo and black.

Other than the aluminum exterior, which does look great, this is the exact same console that’s been around since 2021. It allows people to play actual Game Boy cartridges and other carts, with the right adapters, on a handheld console with some modern flourishes. It typically costs $220, so you are paying a whole lot for aluminum.

It’s worth noting that rival companies like Retroid have also made metal versions of its consoles, but the markup has been minimal. It’s also worth noting that these other metal consoles don’t look nearly as cool as the aluminum Analogue Pocket. You get what you pay for, I guess.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/analogues-latest-limited-edition-pocket-consoles-are-made-out-of-aluminum-165808136.html?src=rss

Massive AT&T data breach impacted nearly every single customer

AT&T just confirmed a massive data breach in 2022 that impacted “nearly all” of its customers, according to a statement provided by TechCrunch. The company had over 110 million wireless subscribers in 2022 so, yeah, this is kind of a big deal.

The data breach allowed hackers to steal phone numbers, text data and phone records from these people which, once again, comprises nearly the entire customer base, myself included. AT&T says it will begin notifying consumers about the breach in the near future, committing to informing the 110 impacted million customers. The breach occurred during a six-month period from May 1, 2022 to October 31, 2022, though it looks like some data kept getting stolen up until January 2, 2023. This latter breach impacts a smaller, though unspecified, number of consumers.

Now, before you start worrying about that embarrassing text you sent an ex back in 2022, AT&T says the breach “does not contain the content of calls or texts.” However, it does include the phone numbers that an account interacted with, as well as a complete count of a customer’s calls, texts and call durations, otherwise known as metadata. The time and date of the calls or texts were not included in the hack, according to AT&T.

However, the breach did include cell site identification numbers, which could “potentially allow for the triangulation of users' locations,” wrote Javvad Malik, a representative from cybersecurity awareness firm KnowBe4, in a statement to Engadget. Malik also painted a grim picture of what could be done with the stolen metadata, writing that it “can paint a detailed picture of an individual's daily life, habits, and associations, making it a valuable asset for those with malicious intent.”

AT&T has published a website with information for customers about the breach and has disclosed the hack in a regulatory filing issued before the market opened on Friday, July 12. The company says it learned of the issue on April 19 and that it has nothing to do with a previous security incident from March, in which customer data was published on the dark web.

So how did this happen? AT&T places the blame on its cloud data partner Snowflake, saying that the compromise occurred after hacks targeted its business customers. Snowflake allows corporate customers to store large amounts of customer data in the cloud for the purpose of analysis. AT&T hasn’t stated any reason as to why it would want to analyze massive amounts of customer data or why it would store this data with Snowflake. A company representative declined to provide further information to TechCrunch.

One thing is certain. AT&T isn’t the only company recently burned by a Snowflake hack. Other impacted companies include Ticketmaster and QuoteWizard, among more than 160 others. Snowflake, for its part, has shifted the blame back to AT&T and the others, saying that each organization didn’t use multi-factor authentication to secure their accounts. So, all 160+ companies forgot to turn on multi-factor authentication? You’d think something like that would be mandatory when dealing with massive amounts of customer data but, well, I guess not.

The breach has been tracked back to an uncategorized cybercriminal group known only as UNC5537, according to cybersecurity incident response firm Mandiant. That company suggests financial motivations behind the hack.

Despite the breach, AT&T says that the stolen data isn’t publicly available at this time. It’s currently working with law enforcement and says that “at least one person has been apprehended.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/massive-att-data-breach-impacted-nearly-every-single-customer-155346341.html?src=rss

Amazon Prime members can get two months of Paramount+ with Showtime for only $12

Amazon Prime Day is nearly here, with an official start date of July 16. However, early deals are already going live. For instance, Prime members can pick up two months of Paramount+ with Showtime for $12. This works out to $6 per month, which is a savings of 50 percent.

This deal may only exist for Prime members, but it does apply to those who sign up for a free trial. So if you’ve been wanting to give Prime a try, this is a pretty good time to do so.

Opting for this subscription allows access to two streaming platforms. Paramount+ is home to dad-friendly shows like Tulsa King and Mayor of Kingstown, but also that Sonic the Hedgehog spinoff Knuckles, Halo and a lot more. It’s also, sort of, home to all of Star Trek, even if the latest season of Star Trek: Prodigy just released on Netflix.

Showtime is HBO’s younger and scrappier sibling. It airs all kinds of modern prestige dramas, like Billions, Yellowjackets and the criminally underrated On Becoming a God in Central Florida. It’s also the network that originally premiered classics like Dexter, Shameless, The L Word and Homeland, among others. Finally, it’s the only place to watch Twin Peaks: The Return, which is pretty much the best thing ever.

If you aren’t a Prime member and still want this deal, you can sign up directly through Paramount. However, Amazon makes it pretty convenient to keep track of your subscriptions via its channels platform. To that end, the company has also discounted some other streamers. Starz, home to Outlander and Party Down, is $2 for two months. MGM+, which currently airs a pretty neat genre show called From, is also $2 for 60 days.

No matter which option you go with, make sure to keep track of when you signed up. This ensures you can cancel before the price bounces back up, if you aren’t digging the content.

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-members-can-get-two-months-of-paramount-with-showtime-for-only-12-165933773.html?src=rss

Early Prime Day deal brings the Amazon smart thermostat down to only $52

Amazon Prime Day hasn’t even officially started yet and we are already starting to see a massive influx of deals. For instance, the Amazon Smart Thermostat is on sale for $52. This is a discount of more than 30 percent and the best price we’ve seen all year.

The good news? This is one heck of a smart thermostat with a robust list of features. The bad news? It does require a C-wire or a power adapter kit, and these are sold separately. Once you get it hooked up though, the Amazon Start Thermostat allows for voice control over your climate, thanks to Alexa. It also lets you to make adjustments via the Alexa app on your phone, so you never have to suffer the indignity of walking downstairs at night when cold.

This is, basically, a Honeywell thermostat packed with Amazon’s smart tech, so it should be reliable and durable. One of the best reasons to go with a smart thermostat is to help reduce energy usage. It won’t automatically save you money, but the voice control means you can make adjustments when you think of it and app control means you can, for instance, shut down the AC from work.

It does lack a couple of the features found with its more expensive cousins, like the Google Nest thermostat. There’s no touchscreen controls and no motion sensors. Beyond those nitpicks, however, this is a mighty fine thermostat perfect for the hot summer months.

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-deal-brings-the-amazon-smart-thermostat-down-to-only-52-153006809.html?src=rss

This early Prime Day deal discounts 25 percent off the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro

Amazon Prime Day isn’t quite here yet, but it is just around the corner. As we wait for July 16, some early deals are coming in hot. For instance, the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro is 25 percent off, dropping the cost down to $300. This is the best price we’ve seen all year on this particular model.

This isn’t your average air fryer/oven combo. It made our list of the best air fryers for some very good reasons. This is a huge appliance, measuring over one cubic foot, which brings both positives and negatives. On the downside, it’s big and will take up a lot of space in the kitchen. On the upside, the thing can cook an entire turkey or easily accommodate a five-quart dutch oven. It’s best thought of as a second primary oven and will be of particular use around the holidays.

Beyond the size, this is a capable contraption. It excels at crisping up ingredients and has many features beyond air frying. It includes a bunch of cooking modes, including toast, broil, bake, pizza and even dehydration. It’s a one-stop shop of culinary mayhem. All told, there are 13 of these cooking modes.

One strange omission is that it doesn’t offer any app connectivity or any smart features whatsoever. This is odd because, well, smart is right there in the name. Another con is the exorbitant price, but $300 is a whole lot better than $400, particularly if you have a big and hungry family.

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-early-prime-day-deal-discounts-25-percent-off-the-breville-smart-oven-air-fryer-pro-184105447.html?src=rss

Amazon’s Kindle Scribe drops to a new record-low ahead of Prime Day

Amazon Prime Day doesn’t officially start until July 16, but early deals have been trickling in for days. For instance, the well-reviewed Kindle Scribe e-reader is on sale for $235 and includes the company’s Basic Pen stylus thingamajig. All told, that’s a discount of $105, making this a record-low price. The downside? This deal’s only for Prime members.

The Kindle Scribe easily made our list of the best E-ink tablets. It would have nabbed the top spot, if not for the exorbitant original asking price and some stiff competition from the reMarkable 2. However, this deal makes the Scribe much cheaper than comparable products.

We called the e-reader “better than pen and paper” in our official review, specifically mentioning the low latency between stylus and tablet and the premium exterior design. The Scribe is my personal e-reader of choice and I’ve stared at that thing for hundreds and hundreds of hours. I love it, but mostly as an e-reader. The extra screen real estate just feels more like reading a newly-released hardcover than those diminutive tablets out there. It’s also, oddly, easy to hold with one hand when needed, despite the relatively large form factor.

The writing part works great. It’s a seamless experience. I just don’t really use it. My handwriting is atrocious and after drawing a few pizza slices in the note-taking app, I kind of got bored. If note-taking is your bag, this certainly gets the job done. However, sharing these notes could be a bit more intuitive. There’s no handwriting-to-text conversion algorithm and the software automatically syncs the notes as image files, but the only real option for editing after the fact is to convert to a PDF and head into something like Evernote.

However, this is a Kindle. The digital shop is the best in the business with the biggest selection of titles. I look at the Scribe this way. I have the best e-reader on the market, in my opinion, and the note-taking stuff, well, that’s just like a nice little bonus.

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/amazons-kindle-scribe-drops-to-a-new-record-low-ahead-of-prime-day-160955437.html?src=rss

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 7 and Ultra will get first dibs on Wear OS 5

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 7 and Watch Ultra will be the very first smartwatches to receive access to Wear OS 5, Google’s latest operating system for wearables. This was unveiled at today’s Unpacked event, alongside a slew of major product announcements. These product announcements also happened to include the aforementioned smartwatches.

That means that Samsung’s recently-announced gadgets are the very first smartwatches to get Wear OS 5, even before Google’s own products. This will change later in the year when the Pixel Watch 3 is likely to drop. Interestingly, this is exactly how it went down with Wear OS 4. The operating system first came to the Galaxy Watch 6 before being included with the Pixel Watch 2.

Google officially revealed Wear OS 5 two months ago at I/O 2024 and the new software is filled with useful updates. The UI is mostly the same as Wear OS 4, but the software has been optimized to improve battery life by up to 30 percent. There are some new health monitoring features, including analysis of stride length when walking or running.

The operating system includes some efficiency upgrades, with Google saying that, for instance, running a marathon will consume 20 percent less power on Wear OS 5 when compared to OS 4. There’s a new grid-based app launcher and additional options for watch faces. This software update doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but that extra efficiency is sure to be a boon for many consumers.

Incidentally, there’s no information as to when the operating system will be ported to Samsung’s older smartwatches. We’ll just have to wait and find out. For now, you have to plunk down $300 for the Galaxy Watch 7 or $650 for the Ultra to access the OS. 

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

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsungs-galaxy-watch-7-and-ultra-will-get-first-dibs-on-wear-os-5-151009264.html?src=rss

Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Fold 6 is swiping many of the AI features from the S24 Ultra

Samsung just announced the Galaxy Z Fold 6 at its most recent Galaxy Unpacked event. The company’s latest high-end foldable is filled with both hardware and software upgrades. As usual with modern tech, AI is the name of the game here.

It’s getting pretty much all of the fancypants AI features first included with the Galaxy S24 Ultra. These include the interpreter mode for in-person conversations in another language and the live translation feature for calls. There’s chat assist to check spelling, grammar and tone of messages, complete with a glut of emoji options.

These AI tools extend to the Notes app, which allow for automatic summaries, formatting, spell checks and translations. The foldable is also getting a circle to search feature for images and an instant overlay that translates language. Finally, there’s AI-assisted photo editing.

A phone.
Engadget

As for construction, there’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front and back, so this thing should take a licking and keep on ticking. The dual-rail hinge features a refined folding edge with enhanced resistance to pressure and sharp objects. Samsung says the aluminum used in the Z Fold 6 is ten percent stronger than the previous iteration.

There’s a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip and 12GB of RAM. The main screen is a 7.6-inch AMOLED with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, while the cover screen is a 6.3-inch AMOLED. The 50MP main camera is similar to last year’s model, though there’s a new 12MP ultra-wide sensor. The Z Fold 6 can still handle 3x optical zoom. It’s also the brightest device in its category, with a maximum of 2,600 nits.

The Z Fold 6 is available for preorder right now in a wide variety of colors, including pink, navy and silver. There are two colors exclusive to Samsung.com, which are white and crafted black. The foldable starts at a jaw-dropping $1,900.

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

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsungs-new-galaxy-z-fold-6-is-swiping-many-of-the-ai-features-from-the-s24-ultra-130044113.html?src=rss

Samsung just revealed the Galaxy Z Flip 6, putting the S24’s best specs in a compact foldable

Samsung just announced the Galaxy Z Flip 6 smartphone at its most recent Unpacked event and it's a doozy of an update that squeezes some of the S24’s best features into a compact foldable. There’s a new design, an updated camera system and the biggest battery in a Z Flip to date.

The camera system features an updated design with a color-matched lens housing. There’s a new 50MP main camera and a 12MP ultra-wide sensor, which is the same as the base Galaxy S24. This system includes auto-zoom framing and an AI algorithm for better portraits.

The 4,000mAh battery is the biggest ever in this product category. Once again, this is the same size of battery as found with the Galaxy S24. Samsung also touts its quick-charging capabilities, saying that the phone can reach a 50 percent charge in just 30 minutes. That’s a pretty decent metric.

Four phones.
Engadget

The base RAM has gotten an upgrade, 12GB up from 8GB, and the 6.7-inch AMOLED main screen boasts a 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 2,600 nits. The cover screen is a 3.4-inch Super AMOLED 60Hz display. Software wise, there are some new interactive and generative wallpapers and a photo ambient mode that changes color based on the time and weather. The phone can access a bunch of new widgets, with all new size combinations that allow for multiple widgets on a single cover screen. There’s a new texting feature that analyzes the past seven messages to help come up with suggested replies.

As for the design, there are some new colors, like silver, yellow and blue. Samsung is also selling some exclusive colors, such as white and peach. Preorders are available right now and there’s a bonus for early adopters. Ordering now will automatically bump you up to the next storage size. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 starts at $1,100.

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

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsung-just-revealed-the-galaxy-z-flip-6-putting-the-s24s-best-specs-in-a-compact-foldable-130018981.html?src=rss

Apple TV’s new Time Bandits show just got a glorious trailer and a July release date

Apple’s Time Bandits remake has been floating around since 2018, which is actually more than a year before Apple TV+ started pumping out content, but we haven't had much by way of actual details. That changed today with a trailer, release date and a whole lot more. The upcoming adaptation of Terry Gilliam’s classic 1981 film will be a ten-episode series that premieres on July 24.

The creative team is top-notch and just about perfect for a reimagining of Gilliam’s dark and hilarious time-twisting fairy tale. It’s being helmed by the dynamic duo behind the film What We Do in the Shadows, Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi. The latter also made a couple of Marvel movies, to varying degrees of success.

The cast looks to be sufficiently stacked and led by the, and I can’t believe I’m saying this about someone so famous and rich, under-appreciated Lisa Kudrow. The rest of the titular bandits are portrayed by Charlyne Yi, Rune Temte, Tadhg Murphy and Roger Jean Nsengiyumva. Jemaine Clement replaces David Warner as the primary antagonist, which are some mighty big shoes to fill, and Waititi replaces Ralph Richardson as the Supreme Being. Interestingly, there are no original cast members here. This is an absolute reimagining and not a “pass the torch” type deal.

To that point, the plot looks to follow the original. It’s about a lonely British child who discovers a time portal in his bedroom and gets involved in all manner of hijinks involving a lost time map. The film used to both amuse and terrify me to no end when it would turn up on TV when I was a kid. Here’s hoping the remake keeps that formula intact.

The trailer certainly indicates it’ll be doing just that and also shows several iconic sequences from the movie, including romps through Ancient Greece and the creation of Stonehenge. Being as how the movie had plenty of guest stars as the gang traveled through time, the show could do the same. Sean Connery played Agamemnon in the film and John Cleese played Robin Hood. Neither character pops up in the trailer, so there could be some casting surprises in store. Waititi loves that kind of thing.

The press release also mentions the Harlem Renaissance, which was not in the movie, so we’ll likely see a bunch of new time periods. Ten episodes of TV is a lot longer than a two-hour movie.

Time Bandits premieres with two episodes on July 24. It continues until August 21, dropping two episodes each Wednesday. It joins like a hundred other fantasy and sci-fi shows on Apple TV+.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-tvs-new-time-bandits-show-just-got-a-glorious-trailer-and-a-july-release-date-165950320.html?src=rss