Tag Archives: region|US

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

Posted on by

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

Prime Day 2024: Get the Dyson Airwrap for $125 off

Posted on by

Prime Day deals have brought a number of steep discounts to our favorite gadgets, and one of the best is on the Dyson Airwrap. This exclusive bundle for the hair tool is a whopping $125 off for Amazon Prime Day, bringing it down to $550. This is one of the most popular pieces of beauty tech as of late, so much so that it can be hard to get your hands on it because it frequently goes in and out of stock. Now's a good time to grab it if it's been on your wishlist.

In addition to the Airwrap and its storage case, the bundle includes six attachments: two long barrels, three brushes and the Coanda smoothing dryer, plus a filter cleaning brush, a detangling comb and another storage bag. That's enough to achieve a bunch of different hairstyles with one tool, and you get a couple of ways to store the machine when you're not using it or when you need to travel with it.

For the uninitiated, the Dyson Airwrap gained popularity due to the fact that it doesn't use extreme heat to style hair. It instead uses the Coanda effect, which describes airflow's tendency to follow a curved surface, to wrap, dry and style hair all at once. How you do so specific depends on the attachment you're using, be it a barrel or a brush.

The Airwrap does use heat, to be clear, but Dyson claims the device intelligently monitors heat to keep it at the optimal temperature. It should never go above 302 degrees Fahrenheit, and that should be less damaging for your hair as opposed to using standard hot tools.

If history is any indication, the Airwrap could quickly go out of stock during a sale event like Prime Day. While $550 is still a lot to spend on any gadget, now is a good time to buy this bundle if you've had your eye on the beauty tool for a while.

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-2024-get-the-dyson-airwrap-for-125-off-123503655.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Dune-inspired spacesuit recycles astronauts’ urine into drinkable water

Posted on by

A new space suit designed by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell University, inspired by Frank Herbert’s Dune, could make spacewalks longer and less disgusting by recycling expelled urine in a special filtration backpack.

The traditional NASA spacesuit design has been in circulation since the 1970s and only has an absorbent polymer to catch astronauts’ urine. This outdated waste system has also led to hygiene and medical issues, like urinary tract infections (UTIs) and gastrointestinal problems, for astronauts. It’s not just for sci-fi whimsy.

The new ‘stillsuits’ have a “vacuum-based external catheter leading to a combined forward-reverse osmosis unit” astronauts carry on their back. The suits were designed for future NASA space missions, including the Artemis II and Artemis III missions, both headed to the moon. However, NASA hasn’t adopted this spacesuit or its technology yet.

Oh, and prime yourself: Amazon's Prime Day kicks off tomorrow.

— Mat Smith

What to read this week: An astronaut’s journey and queer horror that bites back at cliché

The best budget Android phone for 2024

Amazon’s AI chatbot Rufus is now live for all US customers

​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

Whistleblowers penned a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleging that OpenAI employees were made to sign “illegally restrictive” agreements preventing them from speaking out on the potential harms of the company’s technology. The whistleblowers ask the SEC to “take swift and aggressive steps” to enforce the rules they say OpenAI has violated. They allegedly include making employees sign agreements “that failed to exempt disclosures of securities violations to the SEC” and requiring employees to get consent from the company before disclosing confidential information to the authorities. The letter also says OpenAI’s agreements required employees to “waive compensation intended by Congress to incentivize reporting and provide financial relief to whistleblowers.”

Continue reading.

Retro PC game emulator UTM SE is now available on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and Apple Vision Pro, marking the first time Apple has allowed a PC emulator for iOS onto its marketplace. You’ll first need to either download a pre-built virtual machine — several of which UTM offers for free on its website — or you can create your own from scratch.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-dune-inspired-spacesuit-recycles-astronauts-urine-into-drinkable-water-111540921.html?src=rss

Laser Sphere uses Playdate’s crank to control a space laser, and I’m having a blast

Posted on by

The horde is relentless. Every time I naively get overconfident in the timing of my laser sweeps and think I finally have the advantage over my enemies, the next wave comes in tenfold just to put me back in my place. I flatten them, they come back stronger and overtake me, and our little dance starts all over again.

In Laser Sphere, a Playdate game made by Pulp creator Shaun Inman, it’s just you and your prone-to-overheating space laser against the world. From the game’s description:

The lights in the sky are fading. A massive shell around an ailing star is the last bastion of a civilization witness to a cosmic extinction level event. But at the edge of the gloom lurks a horde driven mad by darkness, bent on snuffing out the last of the light.

Your job is to defend the Sphere from the incoming attackers, using the crank to control the direction of the laser beam and ‘A’ to fire. You can hold ‘A’ for a continuous blast of the laser, but this is a time-limited action — after a few seconds, your laser will overheat and be unusable until it cools down, leaving you completely vulnerable. To prevent that, you can instead shoot in short bursts to conserve power. But when tiny, high-speed enemies are coming at you in droves, good luck trying to snipe them each individually. When all else fails, you can deploy a bomb to take out a large number of enemies at once.

A gameplay still fro Laser Sphere
Shaun Inman

There are ways to improve the Sphere that'll give you a better shot at holding off the swarm. After destroying the ships, you can collect their materials and use the currency from this at the end of each level to purchase upgrades and make repairs. One add-on will reduce the laser’s cooldown time, while another fortifies your shield.

Thanks to the overheating/cooldown element, every decision feels high-stakes, and Laser Sphere as a result is an extremely engaging little action game. (The music by Mike Freuden is pretty solid too). There are enemies of different sizes, each type moving at a different speed, and you really have to stay on your toes to make sure you’re making the best use of your laser for whichever threat is most pressing at the moment. Otherwise, you’ll end up without a weapon when a couple dozen attackers are right on top of you. You can get Laser Sphere on the Playdate Catalog for $6.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/laser-sphere-uses-playdates-crank-to-control-a-space-laser-and-im-having-a-blast-223109297.html?src=rss

There’s finally a retro PC emulator on the App Store

Posted on by

The retro PC game emulator UTM SE is now available on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and Apple Vision Pro, marking the first time Apple has allowed a PC emulator for iOS onto its marketplace, per The Verge. UTM SE will let you run classic PC games, but you’ll first need to either download a pre-built virtual machine — several of which UTM offers for free on its website — or you can create your own from scratch.

Apple previously rejected UTM SE, but the team behind the app shared on X that it was able to move forward with a “JIT-less build” thanks to the help of another developer, so it could comply with Apple’s restrictions. The developers also said UTM SE would soon hit the alternative app marketplace AltStore PAL as well, which would open it up to users in the EU. “Shoutouts to AltStore team for their help and to Apple for reconsidering their policy,” the UTM team posted.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/theres-finally-a-pc-emulator-on-the-app-store-175320490.html?src=rss

The Hatch Restore 2 smart sleep clock drops to a record low for Prime Day

Posted on by

Getting into a good sleep routine can make a world of difference in your day-to-day life, and smart clocks like the Hatch Restore 2 are designed to help you achieve that. The popular sleep device, which allows for customized bedtime and wake-up routines, is deeply discounted on Amazon right now in an early Prime Day deal, bringing the price down to $145 from its usual cost of $200. The clock comes in three neutral colors — Latte, Putty and Slate — all of which are covered by the 28 percent price cut.

Hatch Restore 2 has features to help put you to sleep, and wake you gently in the morning. To get the absolute most out of it, you’ll also need to subscribe to Hatch+ for $5/month, but the system is still usable with limitations if you don’t want yet another subscription in your life. In our review, we found it to be genuinely helpful for winding down at night and starting the day off on the right note, but you may need to play around with the settings over the course of a few days to figure out what works best for you.

Hatch Restore 2 has audio segments to help you relax at night, like a 25-minute narration called “Train of Thought” in which a train conductor talks you through her ticket collections and interactions with passengers, and tells you train facts. Engadget’s reviewer Amy Skorheim said the audio became “more effective at putting me to sleep than popping a melatonin.” Restore 2 also offers ambient sounds like naturescapes, white and pink noise, and the sound of cars passing by.

In the morning, a sunlight light will start to shine before your alarm goes off to help gently wake you up. You can assign rotating routines to start your day off differently each morning. “The Reset,” for example, will play affirmations. The Hatch Restore 2 gets sleep routines right, but it’s definitely pricey for what it offers, so take advantage of that $55 discount while it’s still available.

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-hatch-restore-2-smart-sleep-clock-drops-to-a-record-low-for-prime-day-150049284.html?src=rss

iPad support has arrived for the Nintendo emulator Delta with its latest update

Posted on by

Good news for anyone who’s been waiting for a better way to run the Delta game emulator on an iPad — with version 1.6, which is available now, iPad support is here. The latest update is a major one, not only bringing a version of the emulator that’s optimized for iPad, but also seamless switching between iPhone and iPad, some improvements to DS compatibility, new skins and menu button gestures, and a new logo. (Delta had to scrap its old logo after Adobe threatened to sue over similarities to its signature ‘A’).

The Delta version 1.6 update is live on both the App Store and the AltStore PAL. It comes barely three months after Delta creator Riley Testut promised iPad support was on the way, and will allow for both full screen play and multiple windows using Stage Manager and Split View. Before you run and download it, though, take note of the devs’ warnings about DS games: “This update is incompatible with existing DS save states. Please save normally in-game before updating to avoid losing progress.” The Delta team has also created a new app, Delta Legacy, to help users migrate their save states. Instructions for the process are on the Delta website.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ipad-support-has-arrived-for-the-nintendo-emulator-delta-with-its-latest-update-213509165.html?src=rss

OpenAI is reportedly working on more advanced AI models capable of reasoning and ‘deep research’

Posted on by

A new report from Reuters claims OpenAI is developing technology to bring advanced reasoning capabilities to its AI models under a secret project code-named “Strawberry.” Among the project’s goals is to enable the company’s AI models to autonomously scour the internet in order to “plan ahead” for more complex tasks, according to an internal document seen by Reuters. The project previously went by the name of Q* (pronounced “Q star”), demos of which showed earlier this year that it could answer “tricky science and math questions,” Reuters reports, citing unnamed sources who witnessed the demonstrations.

At this stage, much remains unknown about Strawberry — including how far along in development it is, and whether it’s the same system with “human-like reasoning” skills that OpenAI reportedly demonstrated at an employee all-hands meeting earlier this week, per Bloomberg. But the ability for the company’s AI to conduct “deep research,” as is said to be the aim of Strawberry, would mark a huge leap forward from what’s available today.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/openai-is-reportedly-working-on-more-advanced-ai-models-capable-of-reasoning-and-deep-research-202419228.html?src=rss

OpenAI whistleblowers call for SEC probe into NDAs that kept employees from speaking out on safety risks

Posted on by

OpenAI’s NDAs are once again under scrutiny after whistleblowers penned a letter to the SEC alleging that employees were made to sign “illegally restrictive” agreements preventing them from speaking out on the potential harms of the company’s technology. The letter, which was obtained and published online by The Washington Post, accuses OpenAI of violating SEC rules meant to protect employees’ rights to report their concerns to federal authorities and prevent retaliation. It follows an official complaint that was filed with the SEC in June.

In the letter, the whistleblowers ask the SEC to “take swift and aggressive steps” to enforce the rules they say OpenAI has violated. The alleged violations include making employees sign agreements “that failed to exempt disclosures of securities violations to the SEC” and requiring employees obtain consent from the company before disclosing confidential information to the authorities. The letter also says OpenAI’s agreements required employees to “waive compensation that was intended by Congress to incentivize reporting and provide financial relief to whistleblowers.”

In a statement to the Post, OpenAI spokesperson Hannah Wong said, “Our whistleblower policy protects employees’ rights to make protected disclosures,” and added that the company has made “important changes” to its off-boarding papers to do away with nondisparagement terms. OpenAI previously said it was fixing these agreements after it was accused this spring of threatening to claw back exiting employees’ vested equity if they didn’t sign NDAs on their way out.

According to The Washington Post, the SEC has responded to the complaint, but no details have yet been released regarding any action it is or isn’t going to take. But the whistleblowers say enforcement is of utmost importance “even if OpenAI is making reforms in light of the public disclosures of their illegal contracts.” The letter says it is necessary “not as an attack on OpenAI or to hinder the advancement of AI technology, but to send the message to others in the AI space, and to the tech industry at large, that violations on the right of employees or investors to report wrongdoing will not be tolerated.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/openai-whistleblowers-call-for-sec-probe-into-ndas-that-kept-employees-from-speaking-out-on-safety-risks-171604829.html?src=rss

James Webb telescope marks second anniversary with an image of the Penguin and the Egg galaxies

Posted on by

NASA and its partners, the European and Canadian space agencies, are celebrating the second year since the James Webb Telescope started sending back photos of the universe by releasing an image of the Penguin and the Egg galaxies. These are interacting galaxies collectively known as Arp 142 located 326 million light-years from Earth, captured by the James Webb in interactive light. 

The galaxies first interacted between 25 and 75 million years ago, causing new star formation. Based on previous research, 100 to 200 stars have formed per year in the Penguin — yes, that is the galaxy at the center of the image that looks like a bird's head — whereas the Milky Way only produces between six and seven new stars per year. In this image taken by the James Webb, the interaction between the two galaxies is marked by a faintly glowing upside-down U. Take note that while the Penguin appears bigger than the Egg galaxy at its left, they have approximately the same mass. If either galaxy were smaller, they would've already merged. 

In addition to the galaxies prominently featured in the image, you'll also see more distant galaxies in the background. The space agencies said it's a "testament to the sensitivity and resolution of Webb's infrared cameras." NASA and its partners launched the James Webb Telescope in late 2021 after more than a decade of delays caused by spiraling costs and construction woes. The agencies released the first image it ever captured, the deepest image of the distant universe, in July 2022. Last year, they also commemorated its first anniversary with an image of a nearby stellar nursery. 

A smatter of galaxies against a black background.
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/james-webb-telescope-marks-second-anniversary-with-an-image-of-the-penguin-and-the-egg-galaxies-143052704.html?src=rss