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Amazon Prime Day early deals include five months of Amazon Music Unlimited for free

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Amazon Prime Day may not actually start until July 16, but early deals continue to roll in. Prime members can now scoop up five whole months of Amazon Music Unlimited for free. This is Amazon’s streaming music platform, like Spotify, Apple Music and the rest. So that’s five months of unlimited access to pretty much every song ever made.

Again, this deal is only for current Prime members. The service costs $10 per month once the free trial ends, which is more-or-less in line with rival streaming platforms. If you want the free trial without having to worry about getting charged, just set a reminder to cancel before those five months are up.

Amazon Music Unlimited didn’t make our list of the best music streaming services, but it’s still a mighty fine option. It narrowly missed the list due to a slightly less elegant interface than some rivals and aggressive podcast marketing. Otherwise, it’s a decent choice. It sounds good and the library is nearly-identical to other platforms. What else is there?

There’s one downside that applies to not just Amazon, but all music streamers. The payout to artists is absolute trash. Amazon Music Limited pays around $0.004 per stream, which is right in the middle of Spotify’s range of $0.003 to $0.005 per stream. However, Amazon does have direct licensing agreements with major labels, so someone like Taylor Swift likely negotiated a better deal than that. Emerging artists, as always, remain screwed.

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-early-deals-include-five-months-of-amazon-music-unlimited-for-free-165639788.html?src=rss

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

Boeing agrees to plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the US government

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The US Department of Justice and Boeing have reached an agreement that the latter will plead guilty to a conspiracy to defraud the US government charge stemming from two fatal crashes that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019, the New York Times reports. 

In May, the DOJ announced that Boeing violated its 2021 deal to pay penalties and compensation, as well as implement major safety changes — just four months prior, a cabin panel blew off an Alaska Airlines flight while it was at 16,000 feet in the air. The DOJ offered the company a plea deal on June 30, giving it one week to accept or face a trial. 

Boeing had struck a deal in 2021 over these crashes with the agency, promising to implement major safety changes and engage in no wrongdoing for three years. In May, the DOJ announced the company had violated the agreement, and on June 30 it offered Boeing a choice: accept a plea deal within one week or go to trial.

If the new agreement is approved by the court, Boeing will have to pay a fine of $487.2 million — however, part of it could be covered by payments made in the original agreement. Boeing will also be required to invest at least $455 million in safety and compliance over the next three years and have a DOJ-appointed third-party monitor its progress.

The deal was criticized as insufficient for  the crash victims. "This sweetheart deal fails to recognize that because of Boeing's conspiracy, 346 people died," Paul Cassell, a lawyer representing some of the families, said. "Through crafty lawyering between Boeing and DoJ, the deadly consequences of Boeing's crime are being hidden." 

In 2021, Boeing agreed to pay its customers $1.77 billion in compensation after authorities grounded the 737 Max plane for a year and a half. The deal also included the company paying $243.6 million in fines and $500 million into a crash-victim fund for the heirs, relatives and legal beneficiaries of the passengers killed in the flights near Indonesia and Ethiopia. 

The Federal Aviation Administration's Aircraft Evaluation Group (FAA AEG) determined that the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) activated while both planes were in flight and was the likely point of failure. Two Boeing 737 Max flight technical pilots deceived the FAA AEG two years before the first crash, concealing information about an important change to the MCAS. If approved, the new deal will be Boeing's first new felony in decades.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/boeing-agrees-to-plead-guilty-to-conspiracy-to-defraud-the-us-government-124009566.html?src=rss

Apple’s ‘F1’ movie looks really good

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I’ve sneered at Apple’s F1 movie since it was announced, assuming it’ll be a cynical exercise in brand building. Given the close involvement of the sport’s governing body, its stars and teams, it has the vibes of a two-hour commercial. But the teaser trailer for the film has made me worried, because it actually looks like it could be quite good. Oh no.

F1 was co-produced by (F1 great) Lewis Hamilton himself, who pledged to make it the most realistic racing movie ever made. It centers on Brad Pitt’s Sonny Hayes, who is recruited from retirement to be a mentor to Damson Idris’ hot new prospect, Joshua Pierce. The last sequence in the teaser, all roaring engines and heavy breathing as the car warps around the track, is enough to make me think this has to be seen in IMAX.

There’s still time for it all to go wrong, and you can’t make a plucky underdog sports movie in this of all environments. After all, even the smallest team is a multi-multi-million dollar outfit with millionaire drivers behind the wheel of each car. And it’s not as if you can make a wacky design tweak to improve your car above the others given the yearslong homologation process.

But I have to hope that any movie that features (former Haas F1 team principal and living meme) Guenther Steiner in a reaction shot can’t be all bad.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-f1-movie-looks-really-good-120035709.html?src=rss

The Morning After: NASA’s year-long Mars simulation volunteers return to the real world

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NASA’s Mission 1 crew — all volunteers — have left their 1700-square-foot habitat at the Johnson Space Center. Since last June 25, they’ve conducted a fair few simulated Mars walks, grown vegetables and performed other tasks designed to support life and work in that environment. They also faced (a simulation of) the stressors actual space travelers to Mars could experience, like 22-minute communication delays with Earth.

After 378 days in a mock Mars habitat, the four volunteers for NASA’s yearlong simulation of a stay on the red planet are coming home. The crew — Kelly Haston, Anca Selariu, Ross Brockwell and Nathan Jones – left the 3D-printed habitat in Houston on Saturday evening.

Do you feel like you’d like to live in fake space? There are plans for two more one-year missions. One has already closed applications, but the third is scheduled for 2026.

— Mat Smith

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Apple Watch Series 10 is expected to have a larger display

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Nike

Nike is discontinuing its self-lacing Adapt BB sneakers. First announced in 2019, the sneakers used a Back to the Future II style power-lacing system called FitAdapt, adjustable both manually and with an app. Now, the company will stop making Adapt shoes and is retiring the Nike Adapt App. When the app goes, the shoes will retain the last light color selected. Features still available without it include power on, check battery status, adjust your fit, save your fit, unlace shoes and, wait for it, power off.

Continue reading.

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YouTube has released an upgraded erase song tool to remove music from video segments without deleting other audio, such as conversations. When creators get a copyright claim for music, YouTube allows them to trim out the affected segment or replace the song with an approved one in its audio library. YouTube admits the tool might not always work. If a song is particularly hard to remove, it’s presumably due to audio quality or the presence of other sounds.

Continue reading.

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NASCAR

NASCAR unveiled its first prototype electric racer this weekend at the Chicago Street Race. It developed the $1.5 million electric crossover in partnership with ABB, Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota to call attention to sustainability efforts of… NASCAR. Apparently, it’s making an effort.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-nasas-year-long-mars-simulation-volunteers-return-to-the-real-world-111544445.html?src=rss

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

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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