Monthly Archives: February 2024

Three-packs of Google’s Nest Cam security cameras are $100 off today

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You can grab a three-pack of Google’s Nest Cam Indoor / Outdoor for $100 off. Best Buy is offering the battery-powered security cameras for nearly a record-low price. The cameras record in 1080p HDR with night vision and magnetic mounting, making your home security setup as close to painless as possible. Usually $450, you can get the trio of cameras for only $350. (And Best Buy Total members can drop it down to $300.)

The Nest Cam can differentiate between people, animals and vehicles, processed locally on the device. You can receive alerts on your phone when it detects any of those types of movement, and you can choose which alert types you get in the Google Home app. A premium feature, Familiar Faces, learns trusted people and notifies you accordingly. (It requires a $8 monthly Nest Aware subscription.)

Like most products in this category, the Nest Cam has a built-in speaker and mic, allowing you to check in with visitors and hold a remote conversation. The camera’s HDR capabilities make seeing details in bright sunlight easier, while a night vision mode (using six built-in infrared LEDs) makes things clearer in the dark. The camera is water-resistant and rated IP54.

Google estimates each camera’s battery will last about seven months between charges, provided it only records around two to four events per day. (You can buy a $35 weatherproof cable if you prefer a wired setup.) The three-pack includes three Nest Cams and magnetic mounting plates, three wall plates, six wall anchors and the appropriate screws.

Best Buy’s deal expires Wednesday evening, so you’ll want to act soon if you’re in the market for new security cameras.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/three-packs-of-googles-nest-cam-security-cameras-are-100-off-today-215952131.html?src=rss

Apple AirPods Max get a USB-C port thanks to this clever engineering hack

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Ken Pillonel takes consumer satisfaction a little too seriously. Famous for hacking previous versions of the AirPods to give them USB-C ports and make them more repairable, Pillonel has now turned his sights to the AirPods Max (which hasn’t received an update in over 3 years, as he points out). The regular AirPods and even the iPhone have both made a concerted shift to USB-C, but Apple surprisingly forgot to upgrade their flagship headphones, leaving it in the lightning era.

No stranger to hacking (ahem, upgrading) Apple’s accessories, Pillonel decided to build a USB-C AirPod Max before Apple did. The video above takes us through the journey, showing how Pillonel disassembled the existing AirPods Max, designed a new PCB with a USB-C port, and mounted it (with relative ease) in the headphones, giving them the upgrade they severely needed. The best part, Pillonel even sells his PCBs on his own website, encouraging other people to hack their AirPods Max too and upgrade them to USB-C.

Designer: Ken Pillonel

The AirPods Max debuted in December 2020, which means they’re one of the only mainstream Apple products to not have received a major upgrade in years (they were announced even before the AirTag). Realizing that now was a better time than ever, Pillonel decided to take his AirPods Max for a spin, cracking them open to see the assembly inside and whether it would be easy to upgrade it. Luckily, the lightning port was relatively easy to upgrade without any invasive procedures to the headphone’s body itself. Apple designed the port with a removable metal lip that allowed it to magically become wider (it’s almost as if Apple was preparing for this transition in advance), and knocking the lip out made the hole perfectly sized for a USB-C port.

Pillonel simply unplugged the lightning connector from the existing motherboard and designed a new one that housed the USB-C port. He shared the new PCB design on PCBWay, and had the circuit boards sent to him. An older iteration featured a single-piece PCB that worked, but was susceptible to wear and tear, so Ken redesigned the PCB with a flexible ribbon cable, allowing it to bend without applying pressure on certain parts. The new PCB is available in Pillonel’s shop for 39.9 CHF ($45.3 USD).

The older PCB was prone to wear and tear if used roughly

A flexible ribbon cable on the new PCB made it much more resistant to regular daily usage

The upgraded AirPods Max (Pillonel calls it the AirPods Max 2.0) only has the one design upgrade, although knowing Pillonel, he’ll soon make the entire thing repairable and probably even figure out how to replace batteries on them. You can visit his YouTube channel here, or read our coverage on his other interesting projects here.

The post Apple AirPods Max get a USB-C port thanks to this clever engineering hack first appeared on Yanko Design.

Bose Sound Spin portable speaker is disguised as a miniature front-loading washing machine

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Portable speakers come in all types, sizes and themes but never before have I laid my eyes on one that looks like a front-loading washing machine. Only possible in the concept design world realm, this Bose branded portable speaker is a true conversation starter in any geeky den.

The intriguing design of this compact sound blaster tickles my fancy for its ingenuity in the placement of the different elements. Most definitely, you’ll start to see all those front-loading washing machines as a huge speaker once you lay your eyes on this concept. However, in reality all the button placements and speaker components are designed in a way that they seem like the perfect amalgam of portable audio equipment and a miniature washer for your undergarments.

Designer: Hari 3D

Although there is no detailed information about this concept’s development stage, there’s a picture at the end suggesting a prototype or a display model is indeed crafted by the designer. Dressed in a cool titanium grey finish, the portable speaker is a treat to watch if you are an audiophile who appreciates modern product design. The front of this cool gadget has all the audio telemetry to show the player controls on the touchscreen display along with the volume rocker knob, power button and play/pause buttons. On the left bottom side there’s the Bass actualizer knob.

To the front lies the subwoofer and on each side are the stereo speakers to beam quality sound. Wireless connectivity should be a given on this one, since no one in 2024 would buy a portable speaker without that option. Frankly speaking, this portable speaker would rock your desk setup as well. Folks over at Bose would also be keenly viewing this design language if they want to add something on these lines to their existing line-up.

The post Bose Sound Spin portable speaker is disguised as a miniature front-loading washing machine first appeared on Yanko Design.

Lucas Pope’s Mars After Midnight hits the Playdate console on March 12

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Panic just held a games showcase for its portable Playdate console, revealing over a dozen upcoming exclusives. The company also announced a March 12 release date for the long-anticipated Mars After Midnight, which is likely the console’s first marquee title.

Mars After Midnight is a game created by renowned developer Lucas Pope, the guy behind Papers, Please and Return of the Obra Dinn. Both of these titles were critically acclaimed and commercially successful.

Mars After Midnight looks to take a few cues from Papers, Please, as you play as a door guard of an alien colony tasked with letting people in. The lo-res graphics look stunning, which is a calling card of both Pope and the Playdate itself. It also makes use of the console’s adorable little crank.

However, Lucas Pope’s latest creation wasn’t the only news to come from today’s presentation. Panic also showed off 16 games that are scheduled to hit the platform “in 2024 and beyond.” These include a cool-looking rogue-like/golf hybrid called Faraway Fairway, the pixel-art brawler Midnight Raider and a sci-fi RPG named For Home, among 13 others.

Company CEO Cabel Sasser also took the time to reiterate that the Playdate console is actually now available to purchase, with no wait times. This was a long time coming and Panic says it has finally “caught up” with the more than 70,000 preorders.

The Playdate online store, called the Catalog, is approaching its one-year anniversary. To celebrate, Panic is holding its first-ever storewide sale from March 7 to March 14. Many of the titles are already pretty cheap, so console owners will likely have a field day here.

For the uninitiated, the Playdate is a truly unique portable gaming console. It’s cute and bright yellow, with a manually-operated crank that's used as an additional control mechanism in many games. Each $200 console comes with 24 free titles, with two unlocking each week for 12 weeks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lucas-popes-mars-after-midnight-hits-the-playdate-console-on-march-12-193110110.html?src=rss

Lucas Pope’s Mars After Midnight hits the Playdate console on March 12

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Panic just held a games showcase for its portable Playdate console, revealing over a dozen upcoming exclusives. The company also announced a March 12 release date for the long-anticipated Mars After Midnight, which is likely the console’s first marquee title.

Mars After Midnight is a game created by renowned developer Lucas Pope, the guy behind Papers, Please and Return of the Obra Dinn. Both of these titles were critically acclaimed and commercially successful.

Mars After Midnight looks to take a few cues from Papers, Please, as you play as a door guard of an alien colony tasked with letting people in. The lo-res graphics look stunning, which is a calling card of both Pope and the Playdate itself. It also makes use of the console’s adorable little crank.

However, Lucas Pope’s latest creation wasn’t the only news to come from today’s presentation. Panic also showed off 16 games that are scheduled to hit the platform “in 2024 and beyond.” These include a cool-looking rogue-like/golf hybrid called Faraway Fairway, the pixel-art brawler Midnight Raider and a sci-fi RPG named For Home, among 13 others.

Company CEO Cabel Sasser also took the time to reiterate that the Playdate console is actually now available to purchase, with no wait times. This was a long time coming and Panic says it has finally “caught up” with the more than 70,000 preorders.

The Playdate online store, called the Catalog, is approaching its one-year anniversary. To celebrate, Panic is holding its first-ever storewide sale from March 7 to March 14. Many of the titles are already pretty cheap, so console owners will likely have a field day here.

For the uninitiated, the Playdate is a truly unique portable gaming console. It’s cute and bright yellow, with a manually-operated crank that's used as an additional control mechanism in many games. Each $200 console comes with 24 free titles, with two unlocking each week for 12 weeks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lucas-popes-mars-after-midnight-hits-the-playdate-console-on-march-12-193110110.html?src=rss

Samsung’s new microSD card is faster than some SSDs

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Samsung’s upcoming microSD card will offer a dramatic speed boost. The company’s 256GB SD Express microSD — Samsung’s first SD Express card — can read data at up to 800 MB/s, significantly faster than the microSDs you can buy today. However, we don’t yet know how much it will cost, and the card won’t be available until later this year.

The 256GB SD Express microSD will have (theoretical) sequential read speeds of up to 800 MB/s, which is over 2.5 times as fast as the read speeds in UHS-II microSD cards and 1.4 times faster than SATA SSDs. So, at least in theory, Samsung’s new card should be noticeably faster than the cheapest solid-state drives.

Samsung added heat management capabilities to help keep temperatures in check. “To ensure stable performance and reliability for the small form factor, Dynamic Thermal Guard (DTG) technology maintains the optimum temperature for the SD Express microSD card, even during long usage sessions,” the company wrote in a press release announcing the new card.

Samsung (perhaps unsurprisingly) is shoehorning the almighty “AI” buzzword into the card’s zippier speeds. “With our two new microSD cards, Samsung has provided effective solutions to address the growing demands of mobile computing and on-device AI,” Samsung VP Hangu Sohn wrote.

The company’s Galaxy S24 series goes big on AI, but Samsung hasn’t included a microSD slot in its flagship phones for the last four generations. (Nor has most of the rest of the smartphone playing field.) So, while future AI-powered devices could benefit from the extra speeds, Samsung’s current batch of high-end phones aren’t on that list. In addition, although SD Express is backward compatible, not many devices (yet) support SD Express, which requires an extra row of pins on the host device. In other words, the card’s full potential won’t be realized until we have new gear to support it.

Product image for a 1TB Samsung microSD card. Two cards (one white, another blue) against a white background.
Samsung

Although unrelated to the speedy SD Express card, Samsung also unveiled a new 1TB microSD with UHS-1 speeds. “Samsung’s new 1TB microSD card stacks eight layers of the company’s 8th generation 1-terabit (Tb) V-NAND within a microSD form factor, realizing the high-capacity package that used to be possible only in SSDs,” the company wrote. The 1TB card includes protection against water, extreme temperatures, drops, X-rays and magnets.

Samsung’s zippy 256GB SD Express microSD card will launch “later this year,” while the 1TB UHS-1 microSD arrives in the third quarter of 2024. The company hasn’t said how much either will cost.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsungs-new-microsd-card-is-faster-than-some-ssds-191251687.html?src=rss

Samsung’s new microSD card is faster than some SSDs

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Samsung’s upcoming microSD card will offer a dramatic speed boost. The company’s 256GB SD Express microSD — Samsung’s first SD Express card — can read data at up to 800 MB/s, significantly faster than the microSDs you can buy today. However, we don’t yet know how much it will cost, and the card won’t be available until later this year.

The 256GB SD Express microSD will have (theoretical) sequential read speeds of up to 800 MB/s, which is over 2.5 times as fast as the read speeds in UHS-II microSD cards and 1.4 times faster than SATA SSDs. So, at least in theory, Samsung’s new card should be noticeably faster than the cheapest solid-state drives.

Samsung added heat management capabilities to help keep temperatures in check. “To ensure stable performance and reliability for the small form factor, Dynamic Thermal Guard (DTG) technology maintains the optimum temperature for the SD Express microSD card, even during long usage sessions,” the company wrote in a press release announcing the new card.

Samsung (perhaps unsurprisingly) is shoehorning the almighty “AI” buzzword into the card’s zippier speeds. “With our two new microSD cards, Samsung has provided effective solutions to address the growing demands of mobile computing and on-device AI,” Samsung VP Hangu Sohn wrote.

The company’s Galaxy S24 series goes big on AI, but Samsung hasn’t included a microSD slot in its flagship phones for the last four generations. (Nor has most of the rest of the smartphone playing field.) So, while future AI-powered devices could benefit from the extra speeds, Samsung’s current batch of high-end phones aren’t on that list. In addition, although SD Express is backward compatible, not many devices (yet) support SD Express, which requires an extra row of pins on the host device. In other words, the card’s full potential won’t be realized until we have new gear to support it.

Product image for a 1TB Samsung microSD card. Two cards (one white, another blue) against a white background.
Samsung

Although unrelated to the speedy SD Express card, Samsung also unveiled a new 1TB microSD with UHS-1 speeds. “Samsung’s new 1TB microSD card stacks eight layers of the company’s 8th generation 1-terabit (Tb) V-NAND within a microSD form factor, realizing the high-capacity package that used to be possible only in SSDs,” the company wrote. The 1TB card includes protection against water, extreme temperatures, drops, X-rays and magnets.

Samsung’s zippy 256GB SD Express microSD card will launch “later this year,” while the 1TB UHS-1 microSD arrives in the third quarter of 2024. The company hasn’t said how much either will cost.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsungs-new-microsd-card-is-faster-than-some-ssds-191251687.html?src=rss

Substack has direct messages now

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Substack newsletter writers and readers can now send direct messages to each other. The company says this was a highly requested feature and it adds to the platform's slate of social networking tools.

You'll find DMs in the Chat tab on the app and website. You can start a private conversation from that tab, someone's profile page or by selecting the Share option on a note or post. When you get a DM, Substack will let you know in the app and by email.

By default, DMs from people you're connected to will land in your inbox and those from others will drop into a Requests folder. Writers can restrict incoming DM requests to paid or founding subscribers. Free subscribers who try to message you will then see a prompt to become a paid subscriber. Writers can include a "send a message" button on their posts if they wish.

If you've blocked or banned someone, they won't be able to send you a DM. You can also turn off DMs entirely by disabling message requests in your settings. If you receive a message that breaks Substack's rules, you can report it. 

Substack has added a number of social networking features over the last year or so, such as the X-like Notes function for short-form posts. It also last week updated a system that allows writers to recommend other scribes to readers.

The platform came under fire last month over its handling of pro-Nazi content. It removed five newsletters that promoted white nationalist and Nazi views. However, some prominent newsletter writers left Substack in protest over its approach to content moderation.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/substack-has-direct-messages-now-184154827.html?src=rss

Substack has direct messages now

Posted on by

Substack newsletter writers and readers can now send direct messages to each other. The company says this was a highly requested feature and it adds to the platform's slate of social networking tools.

You'll find DMs in the Chat tab on the app and website. You can start a private conversation from that tab, someone's profile page or by selecting the Share option on a note or post. When you get a DM, Substack will let you know in the app and by email.

By default, DMs from people you're connected to will land in your inbox and those from others will drop into a Requests folder. Writers can restrict incoming DM requests to paid or founding subscribers. Free subscribers who try to message you will then see a prompt to become a paid subscriber. Writers can include a "send a message" button on their posts if they wish.

If you've blocked or banned someone, they won't be able to send you a DM. You can also turn off DMs entirely by disabling message requests in your settings. If you receive a message that breaks Substack's rules, you can report it. 

Substack has added a number of social networking features over the last year or so, such as the X-like Notes function for short-form posts. It also last week updated a system that allows writers to recommend other scribes to readers.

The platform came under fire last month over its handling of pro-Nazi content. It removed five newsletters that promoted white nationalist and Nazi views. However, some prominent newsletter writers left Substack in protest over its approach to content moderation.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/substack-has-direct-messages-now-184154827.html?src=rss

Nendo’s redesigned chopsticks intertwine into each other to create a singular cohesive form

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Chopsticks are a 4000-year-old eating implement that has remained untouched. And, for almost four centuries, the quaint town of Obama in Fukui Prefecture, Japan has manufactured beautiful lacquered chopsticks. The lacquered chopsticks are considered the hardest and the most beautiful of the Japanese lacquer chopsticks, and they’ve been named ‘Wakasa-nuri’. Nendo teamed up with Hashikuru Matsukan – a manufacturer who has continued the Obama legacy. Nendo gave a contemporary and innovative twist to the age-old chopsticks!

Designer: Nendo

Called the Rassen or spiral chopsticks, these unique chopsticks merge fun and functionality to create a product that is quintessentially Japanese, yet quite contemporary. The Rassen chopsticks can be joined together to create one convenient single unit, and they can be detached or separated whenever you need to use them! Rather than having two separate pieces of tableware, you have a single unit in the shape of an elongated cone. When you pull both the chopsticks apart, you notice an interesting twist in their wooden handles.

The entire experience of bringing the chopsticks together and then separating them becomes a fun and amusing experience. It feels like you’re playing with a jigsaw puzzle! Using the chopsticks to eat your meals, brings joy and a certain sense of playfulness to your everyday ordinary meals. Putting them back together is really quite swift and easy too, and it eliminates the fear of losing one of them.

While designing the Rassen chopsticks Nendo had the intention of giving people a small ‘!’ moment. We often find many small ‘!’ moments in our day, and these tend to make our days brighter and richer. Nendo wanted to contribute and add a ‘!’ moment in people’s lives with their lovely chopsticks. These chopsticks are handmade by artisans, and Nendo also utilized a multi-axis CNC miller to build the unusual yet useful utensils.

The post Nendo’s redesigned chopsticks intertwine into each other to create a singular cohesive form first appeared on Yanko Design.