Logitech G launches a new $80 gaming mouse

Logitech G has a new toy for gamers to try out. The brand — which is the gaming arm of Logitech — has released the G309 LIGHTSPEED Wireless Gaming Mouse for $80 in black and white. The mouse is Powerplay compatible, meaning you can use it without an AA battery if you also own the Logitech G PowerPlay Wireless Charging System.

The new mouse also has Logitech's Hero 25K sensor, which provides exceptional accuracy while being power-efficient. It offers 400 IPS with a sensitivity of up to 25,600 DPI. Plus, without a battery, it weighs just over one-tenth of a pound (68 grams) and just under two-tenths of a pound (86 grams) with one AA battery. 

Speaking of battery, the Logitech G309 LIGHTSPEED Wireless Gaming Mouse lasts for 300 hours of ongoing gameplay at a 1ms report rate in LIGHTSPEED with just one AA alkaline battery. If you switch the mouse to Bluetooth, that amount doubles to 600 hours. 

"Our LIGHTSPEED technology, in conjunction with our Hero sensors, has advanced to the point where all gamers, from the world's elite esports pros athletes to the first time gamer, know they can trust Logitech G mice to perform every time," Ujesh Desai, vice president and general manager of Logitech Gaming, said in a statement.

The Logitech G309 LIGHTSPEED Wireless Gaming Mouse is available now and includes a LIGHTSPEED USB receiver, USB cable extender, grip stickers and an AA battery. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/logitech-g-launches-a-new-80-gaming-mouse-120004581.html?src=rss

Prime Day deals include a pair of Blink Mini 2 cameras for $40

Amazon Prime Day typically brings some of the best prices of the year on all things Amazon — think gear like Echo speakers, Fire TV Sticks and, in this case, Blink cameras. A number of Blink packs are on sale for Prime Day, and one of the best deals is on a two-pack of Blink Mini 2 cams. You can grab the set for only $40 right now, which represents a $30 discount. This is the latest version of the camera, which was originally released earlier this year. That’s a pretty quick turnaround for this kind of massive discount.

For the uninitiated, the Blink Mini 2 is a tiny security camera with a surprising amount of tech. The image quality has been massively improved over the original model and there’s a built-in LED spotlight that allows for color night vision. The smartphone app displays live 1080p footage with two-way audio and there’s a motion-detection algorithm that’ll send out alerts.

These cameras are great for use inside of the home, but they can handle outside use so long as you purchase the weather-resistant power adapter. You can also use the Mini 2 with other Blink products for a comprehensive home security system. For instance, these cameras can be used as a plug-in chime for the Blink Video Doorbell. Nearly every aspect of the camera can be controlled via Alexa because, you know, Amazon.

There are plenty more features available with these cameras, but that leads to the one downside. Many of them are paywalled behind a monthly subscription. You can stream live video for up to 90 minutes, get smart notifications, share clips and store clips for up to 30 days. All of these features require a Blink subscription plan, starting at $3 per month. You do get a 30-day trial with this purchase.

Also, for those with small homes who don’t actually need two security cameras, you can pick up a single unit for $20. All purchases include a mounting kit, a USB cable and a power adapter.

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/prime-day-deals-include-a-pair-of-blink-mini-2-cameras-for-40-115051024.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Nothing’s CMF sub-brand announces a $200 smartphone with a modular back

Nothing’s budget-friendly sub-brand, CMF, is getting experimental with its latest device lineup. There’s a smartphone, watch and earbuds, but I’m most intrigued by the CMF Phone 1. The back cover is interchangeable, so users can swap to different colors and designs on the fly. The company says the removable cover makes accessing the phone’s internal components easy for repairs. 

There’s also an accessory point on the back cover, which when unscrewed, can attach to fold-out stands, card holders and lanyards. It’s like a customizable case already part of your phone. That speaks to me, someone who won’t shut up about Peak Design’s modular case accessories for iPhone and Android phones alike.

This pseudo-modular design is far cooler than anything else listed on the phone’s spec sheet (8-core MediaTek Dimensity 7300 5G processor, 6.67-inch Super AMOLED display flagship-grade 50MP main camera), but it’ll be joined by companion earbuds and a smartwatch.

TMA
Nothing

The companion watch has multiple band styles, but users can also swap out the bezel to “switch fluidly between styles to suit any occasion.” Meanwhile, the second-gen CMF earbuds have a giant control dial on the case that can be assigned to volume, skip tracks or anything else you might want to do with the buds. Available now, the CMF Phone 1 costs $200, and the watch and buds launch on July 11th.

Oh and set your alarms for tomorrow, because Samsung Unpacked 2024 is happening. It's time for foldables. 

— Mat Smith

How to watch Samsung Unpacked 2024

Microsoft Notepad just got spellcheck

Overwatch 2’s Transformers skins get an animated trailer

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Amazon

Amazon has revealed an all-new Echo Spot ahead of Prime Day. It’s very much like the original Echo Spot that came out in 2017. Has anything changed in the interim? Yes, the front face is now split between a hemispherical display and speaker. Amazon says the new model has better sound and a sharper display. And it’s still a pretty simple alarm clock. While the RRP is $80, it’s already on sale for $45.

Continue reading.

Scalpers have used a security researcher’s findings to reverse-engineer “nontransferable” digital tickets from Ticketmaster and AXS, allowing transfers outside their apps. The workaround was revealed in a lawsuit AXS filed in May against third-party brokers adopting the practice.

Ticketmaster and AXS lock ticket resales inside their platforms, preventing transfers on third-party services, like SeatGeek and StubHub. Although the companies claim the practice is strictly a security measure, it also conveniently allows them to control how and when their tickets are resold. Hackers have used the research findings (read up on the saga here, courtesy of 404 Media) to shift tickets across and resell them.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-nothings-cmf-sub-brand-announces-a-200-smartphone-with-a-modular-back-111506263.html?src=rss

Xbox cloud gaming is now available on some Amazon Fire TV sticks

Xbox cloud gaming has officially arrived for Amazon Fire TV sticks, making for an extremely budget-friendly way to play some of the latest and greatest releases. Users can play games directly from the Xbox app, though there are some caveats.

First of all, this service is only available for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, which is the most expensive tier at around $17 per month. Also, it only works with the Fire TV Stick 4K and the Fire TV Stick 4K Max. These are both recent releases, though the Xbox press release suggests that more devices will receive the functionality at a later date. We already thought the Fire TV Stick 4K Max was a perfect fit for retro gaming, but now that also goes for AAA gaming.

Finally, you need a compatible Bluetooth-enabled wireless controller, but there’s no shortage of those around. You do want to make sure you pick one with the familiar Xbox button layout, so we recommend something like the SteelSeries Nimbus+ and Stratus+ controllers. However, anything with the right buttons and Bluetooth should work. This includes actual Xbox gamepads.

So what can you play if you meet the above criteria? Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is likely the best game streaming platform on the planet, allowing access to a massive library of titles. This includes recent AAA releases like Starfield and Forza Horizon 5 and renowned indies like Sea of Stars and Death’s Door. Just like any streaming platform, titles come and go at will.

A Game Pass Ultimate subscription also gives you access to online multiplayer, day-one releases (like that upcoming Indiana Jones game) and various discounts. Subscribers even get a bonus EA Play membership.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/xbox-cloud-gaming-is-now-available-on-some-amazon-fire-tv-sticks-181530197.html?src=rss

Early Prime Day deal discounts the Apple Watch Series 9 to $300

An early Prime Day deal has the Apple Watch Series 9 for $100 off. Several color options are available for Apple’s latest model, Engadget’s pick for the best overall smartwatch. The sale brings the Apple Watch down to a record low of $300.

The Apple Watch Series 9 adds Double Tap, a gesture for hands-free controls. With the feature activated, tapping your index finger and thumb together twice can unleash shortcuts for scrolling through widgets, controlling music tracks and more. Great for when you’re holding something like a dog leash or bag of groceries, Double Tap will get more valuable in watchOS 11, as Apple is giving third-party developers an API to customize what the gesture does in individual apps.

Not much has changed on the watch’s outside from its predecessor, but there are other improvements on the inside. That starts with a new S9 SiP that enables Double Tap, on-device Siri processing (great for privacy and when you’re offline) and zippier navigation of watchOS. It also speeds up Siri’s Raise to Speak feature by capturing a rolling two-second audio buffer to understand your requests faster.

The chip also includes a new second-generation ultra-wideband (UWB) chip, also found in the iPhone 15 series. It unlocks a new precision interface for pinging your paired phone if you aren’t sure where it is: The watch will show how many feet away it is as it guides you to the buried (in a couch cushion) treasure.

The Apple Watch Series 9 has a broader range of brightness, reaching a maximum of 2,000 nits (double its predecessor) and a minimum of 1 nit. This can help the watch emit just the right amount for a wider variety of lighting conditions.

The $300 price for Amazon Prime Day is for the 41mm case, the smaller of the two. But the 45mm model is only $330 (usually $429). Not every color is on sale, and some require you to click a “clip coupon” box, so look closely at prices on the product page before checking out.

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-discounts-the-apple-watch-series-9-to-300-164458596.html?src=rss

Amazon revives the Echo Spot smart alarm clock and swiftly discounts it by 44 percent

As early Prime Day deals continue to become available, Amazon has revealed an all-new Echo Spot ahead of the shopping event. It’s very much like the original Echo Spot that came out in 2017 and was discontinued two years later except the front face is now split between a hemispherical display and speaker. 

The Echo Spot's outer shell comes in Black, Glacier White and Ocean Blue, and the display can be customized with six hues: magenta, violet, orange, lime, teal or blue, which can be mixed- and-matched with various clock faces. The new Echo Spot costs $80, which is $50 cheaper than the original model — but if you’re a Prime member, you can get it for $45 through Prime Day.

Amazon says the new model comes with better sound and a sharper display. Time will tell if the reboot suffers from the same screen flicker issues as its predecessor. Otherwise, the conceit is more or less identical: it's a bare-bones smart alarm clock that, via Alexa integration, can manage a few simple tasks like providing the weather forecast or showing song titles when playing music from your streaming app of choice.

Arguably, the best part about the new Echo Spot is that it doesn’t have a camera. The original model had one baked in, which was useful for video chats, but not everyone was enthused about having a camera sitting on their bedside.

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-revives-the-echo-spot-smart-alarm-clock-and-swiftly-discounts-it-by-44-percent-160304634.html?src=rss

Microsoft Notepad just got spellcheck in the year 2024

It has finally happened. Microsoft’s text editor Notepad just got a spellcheck feature, more than 40 years after the software launched in 1983. For the history buffs, Ronald Reagan was still president in 1983 and Ghostbusters, then called Ghost Smashers, was an unmade script set to star Eddie Murphy. It was a long time ago.

Microsoft just rolled out the new spellcheck tool to the Notepad app in Windows 11 and it works how one would expect. It automatically checks spelling errors. The company began testing the feature, to whatever extent it required testing, back in March and now it has been quietly updating the software these last few days, as reported by The Verge.

Specifically, the feature works nearly the same as it does in Word or Edge. Misspelled words are highlighted via a red underline. When you right-click on the misspelled word a couple of times, you get a list of correct spelling options to change to. Microsoft has also added autocorrect to the mix, which automatically fixes errors. You get the gist. It’s 2024.

One interesting aspect, however, is that you can disable spellcheck on the basis of file type in Notepad via the settings menu. In other words, you can toggle the feature off for file types like .md or .srt. It’s automatically disabled with file types associated with coding, like log files. Also, it takes an extra click on Notepad to replace a spelling error when compared to Word. As for Word, it first got a spellcheck in 1985. Ronald Reagan was still president and Ghostbusters had just proven itself to be a massive hit.

Microsoft is about to remove the WordPad app from Windows 11 later this year, so it’s beefing up Notepad to pick up the slack. Notepad has recently gotten a dark mode, actual tabs, a character count and, well, a virtual fidget spinner. It’s also been stuffed to the gills with AI, in the form of Copilot integration.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-notepad-just-got-spellcheck-in-the-year-2024-154043158.html?src=rss

Samsung Unpacked 2024: How to watch Samsung unveil the Galaxy Ring, Galaxy Z Fold and more

Samsung’s summer event is nearly here. Unpacked 2024 will stream live on Wednesday, July 10, at 9AM ET. You can watch it on Samsung’s YouTube channel, Newsroom website and homepage.

The company is holding the shindig in Paris ahead of the Olympics, kicking off there later this month. Perhaps it wants to set the tone for a fashion tie-in with its Galaxy Ring launch. Samsung has already shown what it looks like, and the company wrote in a court filing that it plans to start shipping the ring “in or around August.”

Foldables are expected to be a marquee attraction, with the Galaxy Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 rumored to feature heavily at the event. Their updates could be minor, as alleged leaks suggest the Z Flip 6 will have a boosted battery, RAM option and a new Snapdragon chip. Similar iterative update rumors have floated around for the flagship Galaxy Z Fold 6.

The Galaxy Watch 7 is also rumored to be on tap, with better performance and power efficiency. The Galaxy Watch Ultra could be a beefy wearable with a dial. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Buds 3 and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro could make an appearance with richer audio, longer battery life and adaptive noise control in the high-end model.

The tech world’s current trajectory makes new AI features practically inevitable at the showcase. Samsung launched new AI tools with its Galaxy S24 series in January, and it sounds like a safe bet to expect more on Wednesday.

For more on the event, you can check out Engadget’s Samsung Unpacked 2024 in-depth rumor roundup.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsung-unpacked-2024-how-to-watch-samsung-unveil-the-galaxy-ring-galaxy-z-fold-and-more-141053068.html?src=rss

Prime Day deals bring the third-gen AirPods down to a record low of $129

Amazon Prime Day is less than one week away, but there are plenty of sales you can already shop. One of the best early Prime Day deals currently running is a big discount on Apple's third-generation AirPods. The earbuds are on sale for a new record low of $129, down from $169. However, this deal doesn't include AppleCare+ — you'll have to pay about $30 extra for that.

Apple's third-gen AirPods came out in 2021 as a massive improvement to their predecessor. We gave them an 88 in our review thanks to features like a more comfortable design and way better audio quality. A lot of this comes down to their shorter, more contoured shape — the improved design also allows sound to more directly enter your ear. 

The AirPods and their case have IPX4 sweat and water resistance so you can more comfortably use them while doing activities like exercise. Plus, they offer always-on Siri and six hours of battery life (30 hours total with the case). 

If you're just looking for relatively cheap, solid earbuds then check out the 47 percent discount on Apple's second-generation AirPods. They're currently down to $69 from $120 when not opting for AppleCare+. They offer five hours of continual battery or 24 hours 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/prime-day-deals-bring-the-third-gen-airpods-down-to-a-record-low-of-129-135052002.html?src=rss

Nothing’s budget-friendly brand CMF announced three new products, including a $200 smartphone

CMF, a budget-friendly sub-brand Nothing announced last August, has officially unveiled a trio of new products. There’s a smartphone, a watch and earbuds, all of which seem to be modest in both price and features.

Let’s start with the smartphone. Nothing made a splash with its original smartphone, the Nothing Phone 1, and the appropriately-named CMF Phone 1 hopes to follow suit. It wouldn’t be a Nothing-adjacent product without some quirky design elements, and the CMF Phone 1 certainly has its share.

Smartphone backs
CMF by Nothing

The back cover is interchangeable, so users can swap out to different colors and designs on the fly. The company says this design element makes it easy to access the internal components of the phone for repairs and maintenance tasks. There’s also something called an accessory point on this back cover. When unscrewed, this input point can attach to accessories like fold-out stands, card holders and lanyards.

As for specs, there’s a newly-designed 8-core MediaTek Dimensity 7300 5G processor, a 6.67-inch Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and a ‘flagship-grade” 50MP main camera sensor developed by Sony. There’s also a 5,000mAh battery and 8GB of RAM. These are mid-grade specs, but still decent. Perhaps the biggest feature here is the price. The CMF Phone 1 costs just $200 and is available right now. The various back covers and accessories will be available later in the month.

Two smartwatches.
CMF by Nothing

The CMF Watch Pro 2 is a follow-up to last year’s timepiece. The design here is completely different, with a rounded shape rather than the squarish look of last year’s model. There’s an auto-brightness adjustment algorithm, improved sleep tracking and customizable widgets. The watch ships with a 1.32-inch always-on AMOLED display, built-in GPS, an accelerometer, an ambient light sensor and a trio of health-tracking sensors. The company promises 11 days of use per charge, though that metric shrinks to nine days with “heavy use.”

Just like the CMF Phone 1, there are some unique customization options here. There are multiple bands to choose from, of course, but users can also swap out the bezel to “switch fluidly between styles to suit any occasion.” These additional bezels are just begging to get lost underneath a couch cushion somewhere, but we appreciate the thought. One thing hasn’t changed with this refresh. It’s still just $69. The Watch Pro 2 will be available on July 11.

Some earbuds.
CMF by Nothing

Finally, there’s a follow-up to CMF’s original earbuds. The Buds Pro 2 offers active noise cancellation and algorithmic spatial audio. The charging case features a control dial that can be customized to adjust nearly every aspect of playback. The battery life seems decent enough, though gets a major hit when using ANC.

These earbuds did get a slight price increase. Last year’s version was $49 and these are $59. The Buds Pro 2 will also be available on July 11.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nothings-budget-friendly-brand-cmf-announced-three-new-products-including-a-200-smartphone-100417261.html?src=rss