Have you ever looked at something in your home like a dining room table or an adjustable height desk and wondered what it would be like to go on a date with it? Also, were you sober at the time? A new dating sim game called Date Everything! will let you see just what it’s like to search for true, meaningful love with the things you see almost every day (in the cleanest way possible, of course).
The surreal sounding dating sim game comes from an LA-based studio called Sassy Chap Games founded by a group of voice actors who’ve worked on games and shows like Critical Role, HiFi-Rush, One Punch Man, Final Fantasy XV, X-Men ‘97 and Genshin Impact. The indie game publisher Team17 will distribute the game for PC on Steam, the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, according to a press release.
The game puts players in the role of a lonely heart who receives a special pair of glasses called a “Dateviator” that transforms items in their home into human date candidates. For instance, the vacuum cleaner turns into a hunky heartthrob named Hoove and the laundry hamper transforms into a fiery redhead named Harper. Date Everything! has 100 possible mates in your home with their own voices, styles and personalities.
You get to know items like the refrigerator or the drawing room piano in their human forms. Depending on how things go, the relationship can end in one of three ways: Love, Friend or Hate. These relationships create a chain of different possible paths in which your choices influence the outcome along a “critical path tying it all together,” according to the press release.
Team17/Sassy Chap Games
Since Date Everything! comes from a studio founded by voice actors, all of the characters are fully voiced. Some of the more familiar names include Felicia Day from Supernatural and Mystery Science Theater 3000, Johnny Yong Bosch from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers and Grey DeLisle from Scooby-Doo and The Last Airbender.
Date Everything! doesn’t just sound like a new and interesting twist on the dating sim game concept. It also sounds like a great way to boost your ego. If you’re down because you don’t have someone in your life, at least you can play the game and realize, “Well, at least I’m not trying to date my garbage disposal.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/you-can-date-everything-in-date-everything-190032967.html?src=rss
I don’t expect much from a device as small as a ring. There’s no room for a lot of hardware, so it only really needs to do a few things well. A sleep tracker that doesn’t get in the way of, well, sleeping, is my holy grail, and smart rings are a tantalizing option. Samsung’s Galaxy Ring promises to monitor my slumber and log my daily activity, and do so comfortably and unobtrusively, all for $400. That’s $100 more than its closest competitor, the Oura Ring, though the latter charges an additional $6 a month to use its software. Oura has been around for over five years, and in that time, it has developed more sophisticated ways to deliver insights to its customers, while Samsung is just starting. But for a debut effort, the Galaxy Ring has been a surprisingly informative health-tracking device for those with compatible Samsung phones.
The Galaxy Ring’s weight and design
Of all the wearables available, rings are among the smallest and lightest. My Galaxy Ring is a size seven, which is the third tiniest Samsung makes. That puts it at about 2.3 grams, or just under 0.1 ounces light, which is about half the 4 to 6 grams that Oura’s rings weigh, depending on their size.
Thanks to that lack of weight and the device’s slim profile, I barely feel it on my finger when trying to fall asleep, which, for a sensitive sleeper like me, is a huge deal. The only thing that sometimes bothers me are the red and green LEDs flashing in my dark bedroom, but they’re not so bright to keep me up after I close my eyes.
I’m extremely finicky, and don’t like wearing a ring when my hands are even the slightest bit wet, so I frequently took the wearable off. But if you’re less sensitive than me, you’ll be happy to know the Galaxy Ring will survive soap and running water. I wore it while washing my hands a few times, taking the ring off afterwards for my fingers to fully dry. When I eventually put the device back on after having applied lotion and sunscreen, I was happy to see that the creams did not get in the way of its sensors getting readings.
Because I frequently took the ring on and off, I did have mini panic attacks a few times when I thought it fell out of my pocket. Thankfully, in those situations, I was able to use Samsung’s location-tracking app to see that it wasn’t too far away and was likely in my pants. The problem with the ring’s lack of components, though, is that I can’t play an audible alarm to help find it.
That absence of features is a compromise I’m happy to make in exchange for the Galaxy Ring’s barely-there footprint. What Samsung does offer here also feels good enough for a basic health tracker, though it does pale in comparison to the competition.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
The Galaxy Ring as a sleep tracker
I’ve mostly used the Galaxy Ring to track my sleep and general activity, since it doesn’t log any workout beyond walking and running. For the most part, all I really have to do with the ring is make sure I place it on my index finger, where it fits more snugly than the middle. This helps ensure my blood oxygen readings are accurate, or I end up with numbers that are wildly low.
Beyond that, I spent most of my testing time on Samsung’s Wear and Health apps, poring over my sleep data. We’ve come a long way since the early days where Fitbits only looked at the duration of your rest, guessing based on how still you are whether you’ve fallen asleep. These days, using your heart rate to determine whether you’re in REM or deep sleep is table stakes, and on that front Samsung delivers as expected.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
I obviously can’t tell you what stages I’m in as I sleep, but I did like that Samsung not only presents the data clearly, but also adds helpful context. It tells me why it’s important to have time in the REM zone, and whether 11 minutes in deep sleep was enough for recovery. The app also helps me understand how I compare to other people, without me having to navigate to a separate app or browser. I did find that the Ring noted accurately what times I fell asleep and awoke, and even logged a midday nap in the app (though it didn’t show sleep cycle data for that period).
It took a few days, but once a baseline was established, the Galaxy Ring started telling me what my skin temperature was throughout the night, highlighting my peak and lowest numbers. I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that my coldest temperature to date has been on one night in Singapore, which goes against my assumption that the local heat and humidity would affect these readings.
It’s been mollifying to see that my stats seem normal, although my blood oxygen levels have varied wildly depending on which finger I wear the ring on. It’s even gone as low as 76 percent, which would be concerning, but I’ve stopped caring much about that section of my sleep insights, since it seems my review unit might be a little loose.
You don’t have to spend as much time as I do digging into the numbers — Samsung, like most other modern sleep-tracking services, will assign a sleep score to tell you how well you slept. There are also graphs to help you understand your trends at a glance.
It’s important to note that Samsung said the energy score, sleep tracking and Wellness Tips features are based on Galaxy AI, meaning they’ll require a Galaxy phone, Samsung Health app and Samsung account to work.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
The Galaxy Ring as an activity tracker
Samsung’s ring might not track a wide variety of exercises, but the data it does gather is surprisingly comprehensive. I was fully expecting the walks it automatically detected to only show me basic stats like duration and, perhaps, step count. But it actually presented my average speed, cadence, heart rate, heart rate zones, calories burned and distance traveled too.
I’m pretty impressed, but I must point out that Oura offers a Workout heart rate feature that lets you manually start and end heart-rate tracking sessions from your phone. It also automatically detects at least 40 different activities, including yardwork, cycling, snowboarding, horseback riding and HIIT. Oura also frequently adds new metrics like cardiovascular age and capacity, as well as experimental features like Symptom Radar to guess when you might not be feeling well. It’s ahead of Samsung in the game here and seems to be fighting to keep that gap open. I guess if you’re going to pay an extra $6 a month, you better get a significantly superior service.
In my experience, both Samsung and Oura are fairly accurate at tracking activity. In the last few days, I’ve been surprised to see the Galaxy Ring had tracked pretty much every time I went with my parents to a nearby hawker center, even though the walks only took fewer than 10 minutes. Compared to the Apple Watch Series 9 I usually wear, Samsung is more likely to include a short trip in its app’s activity log, which was not only more rewarding but also felt like a more complete picture of my day.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
My problems with Samsung Health
One area where the Galaxy Ring (and rings in general) falls short of smartwatches is in delivering any sort of notification. As an activity tracker, this is mainly a problem when it comes to pushing stand reminders. Both Samsung and Oura will serve alerts on your phone when you’ve been stationary for too long, prompting you to get up and move. Wristworn wearables typically buzz and tell you on the screen, and it’s a lot harder to miss or ignore them. I’ve definitely had a few days where I was in an editing or writing hole and only noticed numerous alerts to move hours later when I looked at my Galaxy phone.
This isn’t a major problem, and is another small tradeoff I’m happy to accept since the Ring is so small. But I do have two specific complaints for Samsung, and they both pertain to the app. My first issue is the confusing interface for automatic activity detection. When you go into the Ring’s settings to enable this (which is unfortunately not turned on by default), you’ll see the words “Activities to detect” under a tinier label called “Auto detect workouts.” Next to the larger font is a grayed out toggle that turns blue when you slide it to the right.
Pushing this switch on didn’t actually enable the feature. Tapping on the words “Activities to detect” brought me into a different page with rows for “Walking” and “Running,” each accompanied by their own toggles. You’ll also have to press each of these activities to go into another page and turn on location tracking. Because of this, I spent my first few days with the Galaxy Ring confused why my walks weren’t being logged, despite having turned on the main toggle. A better layout with improved organization that requires fewer taps and pages would really help here.
My other gripe is a more specific situation. As I’m concurrently testing the Galaxy Watch Ultra, the information collected by that smartwatch is also considered by Samsung Health when calculating my energy score. This is actually a good thing, as I’d prefer to use a Galaxy Watch to log my gym sessions and rely on the ring everywhere else. But because the Galaxy Watch Ultra is so inaccurate when it’s not being worn, it actually recorded random workout sessions, like two bike rides that I never took. This caused the Health app to think I had overexerted myself and it ended up recommending I take it super easy the next day, when in reality I had done very little.
Yes, I can manually delete these entries, but when I’m busy and just want to glance at my energy score, this causes confusion. Why was my score so low? Did I somehow sleep poorly? I can already imagine hypochondriacs spiraling if they didn’t know what happened.
Luckily, Samsung clearly labels at the bottom of each workout record which device detected the activity. This is unlikely to be a huge problem unless you have both the Galaxy Ring and Watch like I do, and is something that seems easy enough to fix.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
The Galaxy Ring’s battery life
Samsung says the Galaxy Ring can deliver “continuous usage” for up to seven days, and in my experience that’s fairly accurate. But you’ll have to be able to tolerate seeing the battery levels drop all the way to zero to get the full week. In the two weeks or so that I’ve worn the ring, it consistently dropped to under 20 percent by day six, and would basically die on day seven.
Charging the device’s 18mAh battery shouldn’t take too long. Samsung says 30 minutes will get you 40 percent of the way, and when I placed the Ring in its case for about 5 minutes, it went up by two percent. If I hadn’t been trying to gauge its battery life for this review, I would probably have recharged it any time I wasn’t wearing it, and likely wouldn’t have ever run out of juice.
Other issues
For its debut smart ring, Samsung’s delivered a satisfactory product that mostly delivers. Compared to the Oura ring, the Galaxy Ring is perfunctory. The main bonus Samsung had over the competition is its double pinch gesture, that can dismiss alarms or remotely launch the camera on your Samsung phone. I wasn’t able to test this feature because I tested the Ring with a Galaxy S24, and it’s only compatible with the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6. Samsung says double-pinch functionality is coming to the S24 lineup soon.
Unlike the Oura ring, Samsung’s wearable doesn’t work with iPhones, though rumors are rife that iOS support is coming. For now, if you’re in Apple’s ecosystem you won’t be able to use the Galaxy Ring. Those who use a Samsung phone are more likely to appreciate the Galaxy Ring most. Other integrations like Find My and Samsung Health are available to anyone that installs the SmartThings app and has a Samsung account.
Wrap-up
Though the Galaxy Ring is fairly basic at the moment, it seems to have a lot of potential. Samsung needs to continue to invest in research to expand the insights it could deliver with the limited set of data the ring collects. Given the company’s history with bringing new features to its watches, Health app and the Z series of foldable phones so far, it might just do that. If you’re happy to spend $400 on a low-profile wearable sleep tracker that also logs your walks or runs, the Galaxy Ring will do the job.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsung-galaxy-ring-review-a-bit-basic-a-bit-pricey-130034811.html?src=rss
OpenAI announced a new AI-powered search engine prototype called SearchGPT. It’s described SearchGPT as “a temporary prototype of new AI search features that give you fast and timely answers with clear and relevant sources.” The company plans to test out the product with 10,000 initial users, then roll it into ChatGPT after gathering feedback.
It’s a spicy time to launch AI-powered search engines. Last month, Perplexity faced criticism for summarizing stories from Forbes and Wired without adequate attribution or backlinks to the publications. It also ignored robots.txt, a way for websites to tell crawlers that scrape data to back off. Earlier this week, Wired publisher Condé Nast reportedly sent a cease-and-desist letter to Perplexity and accused it of plagiarism. Also: see the Reddit drama earlier this week.
SearchGPT categorizes its results with short descriptions and visuals, but according to some early users, just like its chatbot forebears, accuracy is… lacking.
Google is making its Gemini AI faster and more efficient across the board. You now have access to 1.5 Flash, its generative AI model designed to generate responses more quickly and efficiently, even if you’re not paying for access to Google’s AI. The company says you’ll notice improvements in latency and in the tool’s reasoning and image understanding.
Sure, Samsung copied Apple in multiple ways on its Galaxy Buds 3 ($180) and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro ($250). Not only in physical design (remember when Samsung ribbed Apple for the AirPods’ stems?), but the third-gen Buds mirror a few features from AirPods too. That includes Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), Adaptive EQ and Voice Detect. However, the best features require a recent Samsung device, while ANC, on an open-type earbud, is basically useless.
YouTube’s spokesperson reiterated it would be a ‘clear violation’ of its terms.
AI company Runway reportedly scraped “thousands” of YouTube videos and pirated versions of copyrighted movies without permission. 404 Media obtained alleged internal spreadsheets suggesting the AI video-generating startup trained its Gen-3 model using YouTube content from channels like Disney, Netflix, Pixar and popular media outlets. 404 Media found that prompting the video generator with the names of popular YouTubers listed in the spreadsheet spat out results bearing an uncanny resemblance. Entering the same names in Runway’s older Gen-2 model — trained before the alleged data in the spreadsheets — generated “unrelated” results.
Blizzard plans to experiment with various team compositions after the controversial 5v5 switch.
Overwatch 2 developers plan to experiment with a range of team compositions beyond the role-locked 5v5 format of the current game. That includes a potential revival of six-player teams from the original Overwatch.
Game director Aaron Keller wrote the team was “exploring how we can test different forms of 6v6 in the game to gauge the results.” Faced with increased team shooter competition, it could be a move to keep its most loyal fans.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-openai-reveals-its-ai-powered-search-engine-searchgpt-111656599.html?src=rss
Tesla car culture is full of hacks and shortcuts, some more effective than others. One, known as the “wet towel” trick, required the Tesla Charging department — or whatever remains of it — to publicly tell customers to knock it off.
The “wet towel” trick involves wrapping a damp, cool cloth around a Supercharger cable handle as a way to presumably speed up the charging time. The Supercharger has temperature monitors that keep it from overheating as it charges Tesla vehicles. Some Tesla owners believe that cooling down the charging handle will trick the temperature monitor into topping off their vehicles faster.
Here's the problem, at least in Tesla's telling: If the sensor in the charging handle believes that the temperature is lower than it actually is while it’s charging, the towel-wrapped charger can create a "risk of overheating or damage" according to the company.
This may sound like the biggest “duh” statement in tech news history but it’s taken more than two months for Tesla to warn its customers not to do the “wet towel” trick on their cars, even after it became a well known “hack” on other auto news websites and Reddit forums. The official Tesla Charging account on X posted a warning on Wednesday in response to an article from InsideEVs.com explaining the dangerous car charging trick.
Placing a wet cloth on Supercharger cable handles does not increase charging rates and interferes with temperature monitors creating risk of overheating or damage. Please refrain from doing this so our systems can run correctly, and true charging issues can be detected by our…
This kind of epic communication breakdown is what happens when a major automaker doesn’t have a public relations department. Tesla dissolved its entire PR team in 2020 and Elon Musk publicly refused to hire one on his X account the following year saying he didn’t want to “spend money on advertising & manipulating public opinion,” according to Electrek.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tesla-warns-against-wet-towel-charging-trick-two-months-too-late-190237430.html?src=rss
There’s no way around it: Samsung copied Apple in multiple ways on its Galaxy Buds 3 ($180) and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro ($250). Not only do the physical designs echo the third-gen AirPods and AirPods Pro, respectively, but Samsung also mirrored a few features, too. The Galaxy Buds offer Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), Adaptive EQ and Voice Detect, which just happen to do the same thing as Apple's Adaptive Audio and Conversation Awareness. And just like Apple does with AirPods and iOS, the best features here are reserved for recent Samsung devices. If you have a newer Galaxy phone, that's the saving grace of these earbuds: They're the de facto AirPods you've probably always wanted.
Galaxy Buds 3 and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro design
The Galaxy Buds 3 are the most obvious AirPods copycat of the pair, sharing a striking resemblance to the third-generation “regular” model that Apple debuted in 2021. The shape and location of the speaker and other components are but two examples of the replication on display here. Samsung’s “blade” design for the stem does offer some variation, but not a ton, and there’s a gray option for more contrast. On the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, there’s a lot of resemblance to the AirPods Pro. Once more, the angular nature of the stem and the gray color are the two biggest differentiators.
Samsung’s “blade” stem accepts both swipes to adjust volume and pinches for playback and noise controls. While the sliding action works well, the pinching takes some getting used to. My tendency is to place my index finger on the flat panel opposite the back side where you pinch, but that doesn’t provide enough pressure to activate the controls. Instead, you have to wrap your finger around the blade to hold it in place. Once you figure out how to grip them securely, pressing on them is a much easier task.
The case for both Galaxy Buds 3 models has a similar shape to that of the AirPods, but Samsung’s choice to go with a clear lid creates some separation, and I liked being able to see if the buds were inside without having to open it. Samsung also put the USB-C port and the Bluetooth pairing button on the bottom where Apple puts the latter component on the back of the case.
The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro vs. Apple's AirPods Pro.
Billy Steele for Engadget
One weird thing about the case is how the earbuds sit in it. When you take the Galaxy Buds 3 out of your ears, you have to rotate them 180 degrees to put them in the case. This doesn’t sound like a huge inconvenience until you have to do it a few times a day. Samsung did this to make the Blade Lights visible when the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are in the case, which, to me, doesn’t justify the annoyance.
Speaking of the Blade Lights, let’s discuss that design choice. They’re completely unnecessary. As the user, you only see them when the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are in the case. In that position, they function as a second indicator that the earbuds are in pairing mode, which isn’t needed because the case already has its own LED for purpose on the front. You can set them to stay on when you’re wearing them, or either fade in/out or blink, but I’m not personally into drawing more attention to my earbuds.
Both sets in the Galaxy Buds 3 series are IP57 rated so they’ll withstand sweaty workouts with no problems. However, the Pro version is the better option for activities as the ear tip helps keep them in place when moisture comes into play. What's more, I didn’t encounter any discomfort with either Galaxy Buds 3 model when wearing them for hours at a time. They both remained comfortable and I never felt like I was enduring some degree of pain to keep them in.
Samsung is also dealing with some quality control issues on the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. It’s nothing to do with functionality, but the company paused shipments due to overly fragile ear tips. This component has a tendency to tear when you remove them from the earbuds, which is a problem if you need to go back to a pair of tips you were using previously. Since the Galaxy Buds 3 don’t use these, they’re not affected. I’ve asked Samsung for an update on the ear tip saga and will update this review when there’s more info.
Notable features
Billy Steele for Engadget
Besides design, Samsung also took a page from Apple when it comes to features on the Galaxy Buds 3 series. First, both models have Adaptive EQ and Adaptive ANC — two key tools on AirPods. These features constantly monitor sound and adjust both the tuning and the noise cancellation based on what you encounter. They mostly run in the background and the only time you might notice a change is when music or a podcast suddenly seems slightly louder because of the earbuds doing their thing.
Samsung went a step further on the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro with some more advanced features. Adaptive Noise Control automatically adjusts a mix of ANC and ambient sound based on your surroundings while Voice Detect will lower the volume and activate transparency mode when you start speaking. As noted above, these are basically Samsung’s take on Apple’s Adaptive Audio and Conversation Awareness features, respectively. There’s also a Siren Detect that does the same auto volume reduction and ambient sound thing when it hears an emergency vehicle.
All of these work as described, but I would like the volume reduction and activating ambient sound to happen simultaneously. Instead, the volume lowers and then a couple seconds later transparency mode kicks in. So, once you start talking, you might feel the need to speak louder until you can hear yourself better when the full capability of Voice Detect kicks in. Additionally, I’m happy to report that Voice Detect isn’t easily triggered by coughing like comparable features on other earbuds tend to be. The Galaxy Buds 3 series voice features also accommodate simple commands without pressing any buttons or muttering a trigger word. You can just say things like "play music," "volume up" or "answer call" for basic tasks. These work well once you memorize the accepted phrases, like the fact that "stop music" works but not "pause music."
The Galaxy Buds 3 series also has a Real-Time Interpreter akin to what Google offers on its Pixel Buds. In Samsung's case, the feature can read and translate other languages. When the tool is active, you can pinch and hold the stem and the setup with continue to interpret while someone is talking. The downside is this whole thing currently requires a Galaxy Z Fold 6 or Flip 6 as those are the only phones running One UI 6.1.1. Due to this, I wasn't able to test it as my companion device is an S24 Ultra.
Galaxy Buds 3 and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro sound quality
Billy Steele for Engadget
The Galaxy Buds 3 offer solid audio performance, mainly due to a pleasant amount of low-end tone. The bass tuning here provides a nice backbone to songs and keeps pace with the punchy highs and full mids. That said, how the Galaxy Buds 3 sit in my ears affects overall sound quality. I could make them sound a little better with a small positioning adjustment, but that’s not how they’d rest on their own.
If sound quality is your primary concern though, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro is the better option. Samsung’s choice to use two-way speakers and dual amplifiers creates deep sound that’s immersive and detailed. You’ll get the best performance from a recent Samsung phone where you can employ Ultra High Quality (UHQ) audio and 24-bit HiFi. The higher-resolution streaming is also available on the Galaxy Buds 3, but it’s better suited to the Pro model. Both models also offer 360 Audio with direct multi-channel support. However, I don’t think that particular mode sounds good on either set of earbuds. The audio is thin and favors treble, making it less balanced, zapping the oomph out of the excellent bass tone.
When you deploy the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro at their maximum potential with lossless audio, you get robust, enveloping sound that rivals some of the best earbuds I’ve tested. I still prefer the tuning of the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 to these, but Samsung has really flexed its muscle here. There’s beefy bass when a track like Balance and Composure’s “Cross To Bear” demands it, but the echo-y guitars and vocals cut through cleanly. Plus, there’s ample fine detail in the texture of the bass line and the crisp drum sounds.
Active noise cancellation performance
The Galaxy Buds 3 have ANC even though they are open-type earbuds that don’t completely seal off your ears. Samsung has done this before on previous models and I still don’t understand why. The ANC on this model is more like slight noise reduction as it barely makes a difference with any background ruckus you might encounter. I’m guessing Samsung read the reports about Apple bringing ANC to an upcoming version of its “regular” AirPods and felt like it needed to beat Apple to the punch. Either way, if you want true, helpful noise-canceling earbuds, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are the better option here.
You won’t find ANC performance that rivals Bose and Sony on the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, but the noise-blocking ability is good enough to combat a low-to-moderate constant roar. The earbuds struggle mightily with human voices, which is a stumbling block for a lot of the competition. I will point out that transparency mode works really well, providing a natural option for ambient sound that almost rises to the level of the AirPods Pro. I think Apple still has the upper hand there, but Samsung has done well to give us something that makes calls easier and doesn’t make environmental noise sound overly muted when you actually want to hear it.
Call quality
Billy Steele for Engadget
The quality of transparency mode on the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro makes them a great option for hands-free calls. You can chat without feeling like you need to shout to hear yourself. The open nature of the Galaxy Buds 3 also makes them a solid choice for voice and video for you, the user. For the person on the other end, you’ll sound slightly better than if you were on speakerphone on both sets, which is about average for earbuds these days. It isn’t pristine, but it gets the job done in most circumstances.
Battery life on the Galaxy Buds 3 and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro
Both the Galaxy Buds 3 and the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro had no trouble hitting Samsung’s stated battery figures during my tests. That’s five hours for the former and six hours for the latter, and I tested them with ANC on and the volume between 50 and 75 percent. Each model gets around 20 additional hours of noise-canceling use from the case. The cases for both models support wireless charging, but Samsung doesn’t mention any expected times for full charging from zero or any quick-charge features that might be available. I’ve asked the company for more details here and I’ll update this review if there’s more to share.
The competition
Despite all of the comparisons to AirPods that Samsung has heaped upon itself, Apple’s earbuds aren’t the main competition for the Galaxy Buds 3 and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. That’s because Apple headphones aren’t good choices for Android users because the company reserves the best features for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Samsung used to cater to iOS users, but it took the same walled garden approach of its rival. Galaxy Buds will work with your iPhone, but without all the bells and whistles.
Instead, Sony’s WF-1000XM5 is the best alternative to the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. Android and iOS users both get access to the most attractive features, which include Speak-to-Chat voice recognition, DSEE Extreme audio upscaling and automatic settings adjustments based on either activity or location. iPhone users only miss out on head tracking. The 1000XM5 is more comfortable than its predecessor thanks to a smaller overall design and battery life is longer than both Samsung and Apple at eight hours with ANC on.
Wrap-up
I’ll be honest, when Samsung revealed two sets of earbuds that bear resemblance to two models of AirPods, I wasn’t expecting much in terms of performance. However, the company certainly surprised me. Audio quality is great on both sets of Galaxy Buds 3, though the Pro model nears spectacular in its sonic capabilities. Samsung could use some more polish on its features like Voice Detect, but the company clearly sees the value in giving its Galaxy phone customers an analogous experience to what iPhone users get with AirPods. Ultimately, though, the company’s previous earbuds were good on their own merits. Samsung would be better served by making the next version of Galaxy Buds stand out because of their own unique features, rather than just aping the AirPods across the board.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsung-galaxy-buds-3-and-galaxy-buds-3-pro-review-airpods-clones-that-actually-deliver-171024116.html?src=rss
Pretty much every TV is a smart one these days. But perhaps you're still rocking an older model without built-in streaming functions, you don't have an external device with such capabilities or you simply don't like the interface of your smart TV. As such, a dedicated streaming device might be of interest to you. The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max is a decent option and, best of all, it's currently 33 percent off. That brings the price down to just $40, or only $5 more than the record low it was selling for during Prime Day.
The Fire TV Stick 4K Max is perhaps the most capable of Amazon's streaming devices and it's pretty straightforward to use as well. You just need to plug it into a spare HDMI port on your TV or monitor to get started. As the name suggests, you can use it to stream video in 4K. The stick also has Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HLG support. Streaming apps such as Netflix, Hulu and, of course, Prime Video are available.
You can use Alexa via the remote to search for shows and movies, or ask the assistant the kinds of questions you would of a smart speaker. The device has a 2GHz quad-core processor and 16GB of onboard storage, so it should offer decently fast performance and have plenty of space for your apps and games.
Speaking of games, the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max is a surprisingly adept device on that front. Engadget senior reporter Jeff Dunn found it to be a solid option for emulating retro games, such as those from the PS1, NES, SNES, Game Boy, GBA, Genesis and even old arcade machines.
It supports cloud gaming too, and the Wi-Fi 6E connectivity is a big help there. Amazon Luna is one of the options that's available. Amazon and Microsoft also recently enabled Xbox Cloud Gaming support on the Fire TV Stick 4K Max.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-amazon-fire-tv-stick-4k-max-is-back-on-sale-for-only-40-143827827.html?src=rss
The NBA and WNBA have inked deals for where games will be aired and streamed for the next eleven years. The NBA deals run from the 2025-2026 season through the 2035-2036 season. For the WNBA, the agreement covers the 2026 through 2036 seasons.
Pro basketball has been an ESPN mainstay for years and that will continue, with the Disney-owned network remaining the primary media rights owner for both leagues. ESPN will be the exclusive home for the NBA finals for all eleven years of the new deal, as well as five out of the eleven years of the WNBA finals. The games covered by ESPN's deal will be part of the sports network's direct-to-consumer platform and a package of NBA and WNBA games will also be made available to stream on Disney+ in select international markets.
While the bulk of the games will go to ESPN, basketball is going to have more of a streaming presence thanks to two new partnerships. NBC and Peacock will have access to 100 NBA national games during each regular season. About 50 games will be exclusive to the Peacock streaming platform, including national Monday night games and doubleheaders. The rest of the games go to Amazon. Prime Video will be the home for 66 regular-season NBA games and 30 regular-season WNBA games each year of the deal.
Regular basketball viewers may notice that TNT Sports is not part of this lineup. The NBA's deal with that network does not appear to be getting an extension after next year, with those games mostly going to Amazon. But the situation may yet go into overtime. TNT Sports claims that it matched Amazon's offer for the games and seems to be challenging whether the NBA can switch partners. NBA's statement counters that the offer from parent company Warner Bros. Discovery did not match Amazon's, leaving them free to shop elsewhere.
The long-awaited agreements for both basketball leagues aren't a complete slam dunk for fans. On the positive side, the next decade marks a notable shift toward streaming. After so long with the sport closely tied to broadcast shows, having access as part of your existing streaming plans is great. But on the negative side, multiple media partners mean that you'll have to double- and triple-check where to watch each game. Major League Baseball, for instance, has games scattered across ESPN, Fox, Apple TV+, TNT Sports, and MLB Network on any given night.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nba-tv-rights-go-to-espn-nbc-and-amazon-as-tnt-is-rejected-230811550.html?src=rss
Netflix has hired Alain Tascan as its new president of games. Before joining Netflix, Tascan was executive vice president for Epic Games and oversaw first-party development for some of the company’s (and gaming’s) most successful titles, like Fortnite, Rocket League and Fall Guys.
Since launching its games project in 2021, Netflix has acquired notable indie studios Night School, Boss Fight, Next Games and Spry Fox and has brought many great indie games to mobile — seriously, search the app store, if only forInto The Breach. Netflix recently said it has 80-plus games currently in development. A multiplayer Squid Game project will be part of that, coinciding with the hit show’s next season, later this year.
Meta’s newest large language model (LLM), called Llama 3.1 405B, is the first openly available model to compete with rivals in general knowledge, math and translating. It was apparently trained on more than 16,000 NVIDIA H100 GPUs, currently the fastest available chips, which cost roughly $25,000 each, and can beat rivals on over 150 benchmarks, Meta claimed.
Unlike OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Anthropic, which hold their AI models proprietary close, Meta’s AI models are open source, meaning anyone can modify and use them for free, without sharing personal data with Meta.
Humble Games laid off all 36 of its staff. Former employees posted about the layoffs on social media. But a PR rep for Humble Games confirmed to Engadget the company would not be shutting its doors after the restructuring. He added the studio would continue to support and publish both ongoing and upcoming projects. Humble Games is owned by media conglomerate Ziff Davis, which counts IGN, Eurogamer and GamesIndustry.biz in its gaming portfolio.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-netflixs-new-gaming-boss-is-a-former-epic-games-exec-111512978.html?src=rss
Netflix has landed a notable new leader for its rapidly-expanding gaming endeavors. Variety reported that the streaming company has hired Alain Tascan as its new president of games. Before joining Netflix, Tascan was executive vice president for game development at a little studio you may have heard of called Epic Games. In that role, he oversaw the first-party development for some of the company's hugely successful titles, such as Fortnite, Lego Fortnite, Rocket League and Fall Guys.
The company is also recruiting talent on the creative side. Since launching the games project in 2021, Netflix has acquired notable indie studios Night School, Boss Fight, Next Games and Spry Fox, and has brought a large number of acclaimed indie games to mobile. In its second quarter earnings call, Netflix execs revealed that it has more than 80 games currently in development, which would nearly double its current library of about 100 titles.
Many of these new projects are interactive fiction based on Netflix shows and movies, with the goal of giving fans new ways to engage with their favorite titles. "I think our opportunity here to serve super fandom with games is really fun and remarkable," Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said during the call. We also learned that a multiplayer Squid Game project will be coming to Netflix Games later this year.
Although Netflix is making a sizable investment into this games division, people haven't been flocking to their titles yet. In 2022, the library had about 1.7 million daily users and its games had been downloaded 23.3 million times.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/netflix-hires-former-epic-games-exec-as-new-president-of-games-212614285.html?src=rss
Video games are supposed to provide us an escape from the grinding and anger produced on an average day. Now one of the real world’s most contentious aggravations has slithered its way into Fortnite AND Rocket League. The Cybertruck, Tesla’s electric vehicle that replaced the pink Hummer as the official car for total jerks, makes its digital debut in both games today.
The Cybertruck add-ons are part of a new “Summer Road Trip'' promotion bundle for Fortnite and Rocket League. Both bundles come with a vehicle that looks like a door stop and special body decals such as “Baja Off-Road,” “CyberCamo,” “MatteBlack,” “Stainless Steel” and “OMG Cybertruck,” which recreates the window that Elon Musk broke while trying to prove the strength of the Cybertruck’s windows. Did they also include the sticky accelerator?
Psyonix/Tesla
Presumably, the OMG stands for “Oh my God! (Can’t I go one day without seeing that ego on wheels we call the) Cybertruck?" The Baja Off-Road skin paired with the douchey Cybertruck in particular just screams, “I wear a lot of Ed Hardy!”
We have… some questions. Will the rain in Fortnite cause widespread rusting of the chassis? Will the Rocket League ball dent the “shatterproof” window like a metal ball famously did way back in 2019? Will players be able to finish a whole game if there’s another recall alert? If you really must, you can find out in both games now.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-cybertruck-is-coming-to-fortnite-and-rocket-league-because-were-being-punished-210309356.html?src=rss