If you are searching for a portable 16 TB storage system complete with backup solution, you might be interested in the UnifyDrive UT2 portable NAS which has this week launched via Kickstarter. The UnifyDrive UT2 is not just another portable storage device. It is a comprehensive, AI-driven NAS (Network Attached Storage) solution that fits in […]
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Fall is officially here, and it's time to get cozy on the couch with some tea and a portable game console. If you're looking for a new one or have yet to pick one up, check out the Nintendo Switch OLED. The device is currently on sale for $300, down from $350 — a 14 percent discount. The markdown is available on Woot for five days or until supplies last. Amazon owns Woot, so Prime members get free standard shipping (though Amazon's return policy doesn't apply).
The Nintendo Switch OLED came out in 2021 as a minor upgrade to the original 2017 model. We gave it an 89 in our review thanks to upgrades such as its 7-inch OLED screen, increased from 6.2 inches. It also touts a better battery life, with greater efficiency pushing its lifespan to about seven hours rather than four to five. Plus, its stand makes tabletop mode easier to use.
The big caveat here is that the Nintendo Switch 2 should — emphasis on should — be coming out soon. Rumors have circulated for years about the second-generation console, but multiple signs point to an announcement before the end of the month. This is all speculative, of course, so it's your choice whether to take this deal or wait and see what Nintendo might do. Keep in mind that The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom does come out later this week.
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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-nintendo-switch-oled-model-is-50-off-right-now-143759481.html?src=rssTikTok Music is shutting down following an attempt to translate views on its base app to music streaming. The music arm announced the news that accounts will close by November 28, with all user data and login information deleted.
Google subscribers whose subscription ends after November 28 should automatically get a refund or can request one through Google Play before TikTok Music shuts down. On the other hand, Apple users must request a refund through Apple support before the 28th to get one. Anyone who actually uses TikTok Music might want to wait a minute, though, as the premium service will no longer be available once a refund is processed. Speaking of deadlines, anyone who wants to transfer their playlists from TikTok Music to another music streamer has to do so by October 28.
TikTok Music first launched in Indonesia and Brazil in July 2023. It replaced another music platform called Resso from ByteDance (TikTok's parent company). Around the same time, it became available as a closed beta test in Australia, Mexico and Singapore, fully launching in those locations that October. Despite ByteDance filing for a "TikTok Music" trademark application in May 2022, the platform never made it to the US.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/tiktok-music-is-on-its-way-out-143058957.html?src=rssIt’s been a topsy turvy year for Dead by Daylight maker Behaviour Interactive, which has released two spin-offs, laid off dozens of workers and shut down a studio that was working on another offshoot of its tentpole project. Now, Behaviour is bringing another developer into the fold, as it has bought Darkest Dungeon developer Red Hook Studios.
The Vancouver-based outfit will continue to operate as a “fully independent studio,” albeit under Behaviour’s umbrella. Terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed, but Red Hook likely won’t have come cheap — nearly seven million copies of the Darkest Dungeon games have been sold to date. Behaviour has also kept on Red Hook’s entire 29-strong staff.
“The way is lit. The path is clear.”
— Behaviour Interactive (@Behaviour) September 24, 2024
Today, we’re ecstatic to announce our acquisition of Red Hook Studios. Darkest Dungeon has long been a series we’ve admired, enjoyed (and maybe even lost a little sleep over) as fans, and the opportunity to welcome Red Hook as a fully… pic.twitter.com/3SeO6kEZWs
"Earlier this year, we established an ambitious goal for our future as a publisher — to make Behaviour synonymous with horror, and surround Dead by Daylight with a library of similarly exceptional horror games,” Behaviour CEO and co-founder Rémi Racine told GamesIndustry.biz in a statement. “Our acquisition of Red Hook is another emphatic step towards this objective, with more to come."
This is the fourth studio Behaviour has snapped up in the past two years, following SockMonkey Studios, Codeglue and Fly Studio. It also opened a new studio in the UK last year and forged partnerships with third-party developers such as Supermassive, which made the recently released The Casting of Frank Stone.
However, things haven’t been entirely plain sailing for the publisher. It fired around 140 workers this year across two rounds of layoffs amid restructuring efforts.
Last week, Behaviour canceled Project T, a co-op shooter set in the DbD universe. It also closed the studio that was working on the game, Seattle-based Midwinter Entertainment, two years after buying it. All Midwinter workers were offered roles at Behaviour’s studios in Canada.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/behaviour-interactive-snaps-up-darkest-dungeon-developer-red-hook-studios-142036727.html?src=rssWe own many devices that run on batteries, and recharging them can be a pain. It’s always welcome when a new device offers plenty of battery life. As if answering these prayers, Marshall has now released its new Monitor III ANC headphones, and you can expect them to run all day.
Marshall says that you can enjoy up to 70 hours of playtime with active noise canceling (ANC) on. Deactivating ANC increases the maximum battery up to a whopping 100 hours. That’s more than four days of continuous playback. It takes two hours and thirty minutes to fully recharge the headphones, a rather long time that’s a necessary trade-off for the long battery life they offer. The ANC has also been significantly upgraded to block out sounds better than previous iterations of the technology.
Besides long battery life, the Monitor III ANC headphones have an Adaptive Loudness feature that reacts to your surroundings and makes sound adjustments without quality loss. For those who want to mess around with the EQ settings, there’s the M-button and Marshall Bluetooth app you can get on Android and iOS.
The M-button is a physical button that users can customize to switch between three EQ presets or activate a smartphone’s voice assistant. The app also has separate settings for voice assistants and Spotify Tap. The experience is similar to using Marshall’s $179 Major V headphones, which the company released earlier this year. For the uninitiated, Spotify Tap is a feature that lets supported audio devices start a Spotify listening session with a single tap of the button.
These Monitor III ANC headphones are comfortable and lighter than their predecessor, the Monitor II ANC headphones, weighing 250 grams. They even have built-in Bluetooth LE and Auracast support, which lets users connect to Auracast broadcasts nearby and listen in.
Even the packaging is premium. The headphones come in a hard case with red velvet insides, an obvious tribute to Marshall’s guitar amp-making heritage. The Monitor III ANC headphones are on sale now at Marshall’s site and at selected retailers for $350.
The iPhone 16 and 16 Pro are packed with a wealth of features designed to elevate your user experience to new heights. By fine-tuning a few key settings, you can unlock the full potential of your device, optimizing battery life, strengthening security, and enhancing overall functionality. Here are the essential settings you should adjust right now to […]
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Update 9/26 8:20am ET: Woot has undercut Amazon by a little bit on both AirPods 4 models. You can snag the ANC AirPods 4 for $159 or the standard AirPods 4 for $109 for the next five days, or until they sell out. These types of deals are not uncommon at Woot, but they often do sell out before the sale period ends.
It has been less than a week since Apple released the AirPods 4, and there's already a small sale available on them. Ahead of October Prime Day, you can pick up the AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation for $169, down from $179. The AirPods 4 without ANC are also $10 off, with an eight percent discount dropping their price to $119 from $129. The markdowns aren't significant but could be the extra push you need if you've been sitting on the fence.
Apple announced the two AirPods 4 models at its iPhone 16 event on September 9. The fourth-generation AirPods with ANC garnered an 86 in our review, while the standard version fared a bit better with an 88. The ANC model has improved fit and sound quality and offers Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, and wireless charging. It also has perks like a speaker in the case that beeps when you activate Find My — though the AirPods only support proximity view, not precision finding like the AirPods Pro 2.
The AirPods 4 without ANC share a big con with their sister device: no onboard volume controls. They also don't have wireless charging or Conversation Awareness. What they do give you is a good, comfortable fit and much better sound quality than their predecessor. This model also offers Personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking, Voice Isolation and Adaptive EQ.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice in the lead up to October Prime Day 2024.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-airpods-4-are-already-on-sale-in-this-early-prime-day-deal-133057269.html?src=rssTikTok has announced in its US Elections Integrity Hub that it has removed accounts associated with Rossiya Segodnya and TV-Novosti, which own and run Russia state media outlets Sputnik and RT. The company said that it kicked the accounts off the social media platform for "engaging in covert influence operations" that go against its guidelines for spam and deceitful behavior. TikTok clarified that the accounts' content weren't shown in the For You feed under its state-affiliated media policy and were also labeled as such. Their videos were already restricted in the EU and the UK, as well, but now the accounts had been permanently banned and are no longer visible to anyone in the world.
As CNBC notes, Sputnik has issued a statement on X that says "TikTok users and [its] 86,000 subscribers are no longer allowed to know the truth about most urgent geopolitical issues and laugh at Western politicians' gaffes in Sputnik International videos."
TikTok didn't give specific examples of how the outlets are trying to spread misinformation and to manipulate this year's presidential elections in the US. But the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the FBI have just told reporters that Russia has generated the most AI content related to the election, so far. It has reportedly created and spread AI-made text, images, audios and videos online, mostly to "denigrate the Vice President and the Democratic Party" and to sow division by focusing on topics like immigration.
Earlier this month, the US government formally issued sanctions against Rossiya Segodnya and TV-Novosti, accusing RT of moving "beyond being simply a media outlet." It said the Russian government embedded a cyber operational team with ties to Russian intelligence within RT, and that team allegedly focuses on "influence and intelligence operations all over the world." That team even pays social media personalities to spread "unbranded content" meant to influence foreign government elections, the feds said.
Meta banned Russian state media outlets on its products, including Facebook and Instagram, "for foreign interference activity" shortly after the US government announced the sanction. It said it found evidence in the past that the outlets tried to hide foreign interference activities and that it expects them to continue with their deceptive practices.
If you're wondering what kind of fake videos Russia has been releasing, Microsoft detailed a few in a recent threat analysis report. One video showed "Kamala Harris" attacking Trump rally attendees, while another video used an actor to accuse the Vice President of being involved in a 2011 hit-and-run incident that paralyzed a 13-year-old girl. There's also another fake video showing a New York City billboard claiming that Harris wants to change children's gender. The company warned that more Russian-made staged and AI-generated videos are bound to circulate online as the US gets closer to the election.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/tiktok-removes-russian-state-owned-media-accounts-for-covert-influence-133006441.html?src=rssThe 2024 Roku Ultra is the latest update to the streaming player, announced today at the company's developer conference. The original version of this device was one of our top picks for a streaming device. The new model promises some nice quality of life upgrades, such as 30 percent faster performance in content loading and interface navigation thanks to a new quad-core processor. It comes with Dolby Atmos audio and Dolby Vision for 4K and HDR10+ picture quality. The Ultra now supports Wi-Fi 6 and can also be directly connected via ethernet.
This streaming device is also getting an updated controller. The Voice Remote Pro (2nd edition) has backlit buttons, USB-C charging, and direct access to a Live TV Guide and to a new feature called Quick Launch. This introduces a personalized screen of a viewer's most-used apps and voice commands. The remote also provides all the usual features for selecting content and controlling playback.
Roku is also rolling out a new version of its operating system. Roku OS 14 is getting more customization, with thumbs up and thumbs down icons to provide feedback on programming, which should lead to users receiving better recommendations. The company is also making its Kids & Family content accessible from the main home screen and adding additional voice controls. The update will be applied to supported devices in the US "in the coming months."
OpenAI opened a newsroom Twitter account earlier this month and it's already been hacked. The new handle was taken over by a crypto scammer promoting a fake OpenAI token that was in reality a scam to steal Bitcoins. That follows similar hacks of three key OpenAI employee X accounts over the last 15 months, including the one belonging to CTO Mira Murati.
The fraudster enticed potential victims by saying the OpenAI token is somehow "driven by artificial intelligence-based language models." It then threw in a jumble of crypto and AI buzzwords that were probably enough to lure in some gullible users. Going to "token-openai.com" would show them a fake but convincing OpenAI site. Anything they click asks to connect to their wallet, then presumably steals everything inside it.
Several fraudulent posts were visible for around an hour before being removed and the account seems to be back to normal. OpenAI confirmed the problem and said they were looking into it, according to Bloomberg. Yesterday, the company's security team reportedly warned employees to secure their accounts due to a rise in recent account takeovers.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/openais-x-account-was-hacked-to-promote-a-crypto-scam-130020696.html?src=rss