This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss weird fake furniture and shared reality (or the lack thereof).
SAM: It has been such a busy week I forgot it’s Friday until I woke up this morning, so I’ll be brief with a quick couple of thoughts about Google’s AI Overview, which I wrote about serving bizarre results that suggested people pass a Magic Wand vibrator to a child like a talking stick for counseling purposes.
Emanuel found the thread on Reddit where someone posted a screenshot of the result they got with the search term “magic wand pregnancy.” He was getting the same result as that person; I assume both he and OP were doing a lot of Googling about pregnancy related topics, as Emanuel’s wife just had a kid and this person was clearly looking for answers about what sorts of buzz buzz were safe to throw down with while pregnant. When I searched with the same term, I didn’t get that answer, and couldn’t replicate it. I could get the other one mentioned in the story—searching “what is a magic wand” showed me an AI Overview result about magicians’ “small sticks” (ouch) — but not the pregnancy one. I assumed, and mentioned in the story, that this is because of the aforementioned Googling about babies; Google personalizes search based on activity, and parents are a valuable market for advertisers.
As wildfires continue to devastate parts of Los Angeles County, hundreds of thousands of residents are without power as utility crews work to restore connectivity. Mobile carriers are also taking action to keep their services online and provide relief to affected residents.
Here’s how major carriers are responding.
Verizon
In an update on Thursday, Verizon said it will waive call, text, and data usage incurred by prepaid and postpaid customers in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura counties from January 9th to the 18th. Verizon will automatically credit customers if they were billed for overages during this time.
.@Verizon is offering community resources and is ready to deploy mission-critical communication assets to assist those affected by the disastrous Southern California wildfires and keep consumers connected. More details on our support⬇️https://t.co/RbjlgIAJ56pic.twitter.com/rtx0Ce6f2i
Additionally, the company is extending service end dates for customers using prepaid services, including Straight Talk, Tracfone, Total Wireless, Simple Mobile, Walmart Family Mobile, Net10, GoSmart, and Page Plus, until January 18th, 2025. It’s also working with LA County officials to “aggressively deploy portable generators and mitigate impacts for those customers affected across the area.”
T-Mobile
T-Mobile is similarly offering unlimited talk, text, and data for T-Mobile and Assurance Wireless customers across Altadena, La Cañada Flintridge, Los Angeles, Palisades, Pasadena, and Sierra Madre from January 8th to January 15th.
Meanwhile, the T-Mobile-owned Mint Mobile will increase the available data for users on 5GB, 15GB, and 20GB plans to 50GB through their current billing cycle, while Mint Unlimited customers in the area can use up to 2TB of high-speed data with no hotspot restrictions.
T-Mobile is also teaming up with SpaceX’s Starlink to temporarily deploy an “early test version” of its direct-to-cell satellite service, allowing people in affected areas to receive wireless emergency alerts and send SMS texts. At the same time, T-Mobile is working to deploy and refuel portable generators to keep its network online.
AT&T will waive overage charges for prepaid and postpaid customers affected by the wildfires through February 6th. The company notes that customers in parts of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura counties may experience home phone and internet disruptions due to power outages in the area.
Along with continuously deploying and refueling generators, AT&T has dispatched its disaster response team to help keep its wireless and wireline communications up and running. Its FirstNet Response Operations Group — a team led by former first responders who help during emergencies — “have been deployed to support firefighters and other first responders on the front lines where they need connectivity the most,” according to AT&T.
Starlink
Image: Starlink
Starlink is providing free services to these areas affected by the wildfires.
Though Starlink isn’t a mobile carrier, it’s still working to provide LA County residents with satellite internet connectivity. Residents impacted by the wildfires can access Starlink for free through February 10th by placing an order through starlink.com/residential and choosing the “Disaster Relief” service plan. However, users still need to purchase a Starlink kit to access the free service.
Customers who already use Starlink will receive a one-month service credit.
I’ve been waiting for a decently-powerful, but also small Android tablet for years now, and Lenovo finally delivered that at CES 2025 with its 8.8-inch Lenovo Legion Tab. And, seemingly proving that there’s an audience for these small yet powerful Android tablets, Lenovo has sold out of the Tab in barely two days.
We’re officially less than two weeks out from the launch of Galaxy S25, and the leaks are only speeding up, and rapidly at that. Today, new leaks have surfaced with dozens of images of the Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra.
Alongside ongoing deals on M3 MacBook Air with hundreds in savings, we are now ready to cap off this week’s best Apple deals with first sizable price drop on AirPods Pro 2 of 2025. Apple’s flagship buds are now at the best price we have tracked since early December at $180, down from the regular $249. That offer joins the return of wild pricing on the official Apple Watch braided and silicone Solo Loops starting from just $20 with up to 70% off the original prices, not to mention a series of MacBook covers, Find My accessories, and much more. Head below for a closer look.
Now that a new year has kicked off, rumors for the upcoming iPhone 17 line are in full swing. Today, Ming-Chi Kuo has shared a new detail on the ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air that reveals how surprisingly thin it may be.
Apple’s kicking off a new Home products strategy this year, and an Apple Television is reportedly being evaluated as a future product. Recent trends in the TV space reveal how much opportunity there is for Apple to disrupt the market with a new product and better direction.
It's CES week at Engadget, and our team has been on the ground in Las Vegas checking out tons of new devices, from the good to the weird to the ones that make you look like a sleep paralysis demon. Only a few gadgets from the show are actually available to buy, however, and even less are discounted. If you're looking for a good sale right now, we're back with another edition of our weekly deal roundup. This week's highlights include a four-pack of AirTags for nearly $30 less than Apple's standard selling price, deep discounts on our favorite microSD card and portable SSD, extended free trials for Audible Premium Plus and Apple TV+, and more. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
Apple Watch Series 10 (42mm) for $329 at Amazon ($69 off): The latest Apple Watch remains our pick for the best smartwatch. It's a bit slimmer and lighter than past models, with mildly improved battery life, a rich wide-angle OLED display and the usual range of fitness-tracking features (blood oxygen monitoring aside). This deal on the 42mm GPS model has been live for a few weeks, but it still ties an all-time low. Also on Best Buy. The 46mm version is similarly discounted at $359.
8BitDo Ultimate Wired Controller for $27 at Amazon ($18 off, Prime only): This is a wired version of 8BitDo's Ultimate Bluetooth Controller, we've previously praised for its durable Hall effect joysticks, comfy shape and useful software. (Though it's somewhat on the smaller side.) This variant is made for Xbox and PC; the discount is within $2 of its all-time low. Both the black and white versions are on sale.
Audible Premium Plus (3-month) for $3 at Amazon ($30 off, new and returning users only): Up until January 21, new and returning users can get three months of Audible Premium Plus for $3 total. Normally, the audiobook service costs $15 per month after a 30-day free trial. Premium Plus, as a refresher, is Audible's highest tier: Beyond granting access to the full Audible Plus library, it lets you keep one title from a curated selection of audiobooks each month. Just note that your subscription will auto-renew by default if you decide to take the plunge.
Beats Pill for $100 at Amazon ($50 off): The latest Beats Pill is a pick in our guide to the best Bluetooth speakers. As we note in our review, its audio performance can struggle at high volumes, but in general it pumps out strong bass without sounding imbalanced. It's also water-resistant, with a 24-hour battery life rating and wired audio support via USB-C. This discount has been live for several weeks, but it ties the device's lowest price to date. Also at Target, Best Buy and others.
8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard (N Edition) for $70 at Best Buy ($30 off): While this NES-themed keyboard isn't a formal pick in any of our buying guides, it's still a nice value for those looking to give their desk a more vintage look. It's comfy for typing and hot-swappable, though the default switches are fairly loud. This discount is $10 more than the lowest price we've seen, but it's $20 off the device's typical street price in recent months. The keyboard also comes with a fun joystick and a pair of "Super Buttons" that you can use for custom macros.
The 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard.
Will Lipman Photography for Engadget
Anker Charger (140W, 4-port, PD 3.1) for $80 at Amazon ($10 off): Announced this week at CES, Anker's latest wall charger includes three USB-C ports, one USB-A port, a foldable plug and a built-in display that can show the device's power output and temperature at a glance. Those ports are located on the bottom, which might be awkward but should help keep the device more stable in an outlet. Anker says it can supply up to 140W of power, which is enough to quickly refill larger laptops, though you'll have to avoid using multiple ports simultaneously to reach that maximum speed. Full disclosure: We haven't tested this one for ourselves, but we've recommended several Anker charging devices in the past, and this early discount takes $10 off the new model's MSRP. Just clip the on-page coupon to see the discount. Also at Anker.
Apple TV+ (3-month) for free at Best Buy ($30 off, new and select returning users only): Apple's streaming service is far from essential, but it does include plenty of exclusive shows worth checking out, from Severanceand Slow Horsesto Ted Lasso and Bad Sisters. If you've never subscribed but have been meaning to take a look, this extended free trial deal from Best Buy seems like a good opportunity. The service normally costs $10 per month after a seven-day trial. Again, remember that the subscription will auto-renew at full price unless you cancel.
Samsung The Frame (2024) 55-inch QLED TV for $868 at Woot ($630 off): Outside of an eBay coupon deal on Black Friday, this is the best price we've seen for the 55-inch version of Samsung's stylish TV. It's worth noting that the company unveiled a new "Frame Pro" model at CES this week: That one promises improved contrast and brightness, plus support for Samsung's wireless breakout box, though it'll almost certainly cost more whenever it's launched. If you aren't as demanding about picture quality but still want a TV that looks like a framed piece of art, there's value to be had here. You're still paying for the design first and foremost, but this is also one of the few TVs with a matte finish, which helps it ward off glare in a bright room.
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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/an-apple-airtags-four-pack-is-down-to-70-plus-the-rest-of-the-weeks-best-tech-deals-163020795.html?src=rss
Yesterday, Tesla revealed a facelift for its bestselling Model Y crossover. Or at least it did if you live in China—customers in the US and Europe will need to continue to wait for the revamped electric vehicle.
Better efficiency was a goal—in the past, Tesla simply ignored complaints over its exaggerated range claims, but now it says the Model Y, codenamed "Juniper," has updated suspension, wheels, and tires that "make the driving experience smoother and quieter."
Tesla says that range has increased from 427 miles (688 km) to 446 miles (719 km), albeit under the Chinese efficiency testing regime, which produces very different numbers from the more realistic tests used by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
The average age of people paying attention to Supreme Court proceedings may never be younger than it will likely be today (Friday) when the next steps toward determining the fate of TikTok will be taken. As part of the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which was passed by Congress in April, the...
You’ll only need to empty the Yeedi Cube’s base every once in a while. It handles the rest. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
The Yeedi Cube doesn’t have the modularity and extremities of some of the cool new robot vacuums we’ve seen at CES 2025, but the self-emptying, self-cleaning mopping robovac is also much more reasonably priced. It’s even cheaper today at Amazon, where you can buy it for $299.99 ($260 off) when you clip an on-page coupon. That’s the lowest price we’ve seen yet on the budget robovac.
The Yeedi Cube can capably map and remember several rooms, including designated no-clean zones that you can set within the mobile app. While it doesn’t have AI-powered obstacle avoidance like some of the pricier robots we test, we found its laser-based navigation system works well enough to traverse floors that don’t have laundry, clothes, or pet waste strewn about. And if it does get stuck, you can easily pick it up and reposition it thanks to an integrated carrying handle and a dedicated spot clean button.
While we wish it had better brushes (it can get easily tangled with pet hairs), its 5,100Pa suction is good enough to lift loose dirt, cereal, and the like. It also has a one-liter fluid tank and vibrating microfiber pads that can mop hard flooring with great effectiveness. The do-it-all robovac can also empty its own dust bin and water tank, and clean and dry itself at the charging base.
More Friday deals to shop
The 3.1-channel Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus from 2024 is cheaper right now than it was during Black Friday, with Amazon dropping it to a new all-time low of $189.99 ($60 off). You can also get it with a subwoofer for a record low $299.99 ($75 off), or get the whole kit with two surround speakers for $414.99 ($75 off). Unlike the original Fire TV Soundbar, the system supports true spatial audio formats — both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. You can select between preset modes for movies, music, sports, and night listening, and there’s also a setting that enhances dialogue. Its HDMI eARC port offers one-cable audio and control between the TV and soundbar, and you can use the remote of any Fire TV device to also control the soundbar’s power and volume.
You can get a pair of AirPods Pro (second-gen) with a USB-C wireless charging case for $179.99 at Amazon and Best Buy, which is $70 off and only $26 more than the lowest price to date. While they’re no longer the only AirPods with noise cancellation in Apple’s lineup (you can get the AirPods 4 with that feature now), they’re still Apple’s best wireless earbuds, with effective noise cancellation, great sound quality, and voice isolation for clearer calls. They have spatial audio with head-tracking and adaptive audio with a very convincing transparency mode. You can even use the AirPods Pro 2 as hearing aids. Read our review.
You can get the Anker PowerCore 548 Power Bank for $89.99 ($60 off) at Amazon and Walmart, which is matching the lowest price to date. The portable 192Wh (60,000mAh) power station charges at 87W speeds when using one of its two USB-C ports (it also has two USB-A ports), or you can split the power when using more than one port concurrently. You can charge the power bank using those ports, or harness the sun’s power with an optional solar panel. It’s ideal for camping and day trips with its retractable LED lamp that has adjustable brightness and an SOS mode that automatically turns the light on during a blackout when plugged in.
After adding support for Nest Doorbell notifications in 2024, Google TV is working on an update that will allow users to send responses through the doorbell directly from their TV.
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A new report from Check Point Research details how a new variant of the infamous Banshee stealer malware from Russian-speaking cybercriminals takes a page from Apple’s own security practices to evade detection. The malware remained undetected for over two months by cleverly incorporating the same encryption methods as Mac’s XProtect antivirus detection suite.
If you’re an avid reader of Security Bite, you’ve heard me say (more than once) that malware stealers, usually through malware-as-a-service (MaaS) business models, are currently the largest threat to Mac users. They’re destructive, targeting your iCloud Keychain passwords, cryptocurrency wallets, sensitive information from files, and even system passwords like a stealthy low-orbiting ion canon. Cybercriminals will often embed this malicious code in seemingly legitimate applications as a ploy to infect machines.
It's always gratifying when something promised at CES actually comes to market. That's the case with the Pebble Flow electric trailer that my colleague Sam Rutherford checked out last year's CES. I was able to see the final draft on the show floor this week and was adequately impressed. Like the (four!) other sustainable, electrified tiny homes we saw this year, it was shiny and luxe and decked out in wood tones, glass, metal and white polymers.
The main features that drew us to the Flow last year remain intact: sleeping for four, a 45 kWh battery and a 1.1 kW solar panel, full kitchen and bath, a queen-size Murphy bed that transforms into a shared working space and a convertible dinette at the other end. The kitchen faucet even spins 180-degrees and out the window to let you do some washing up outside.
The option for the Magic Pack add-on is still here. For an upcharge, it allows the Flow to self-park, automatically hitch itself and provide it's own propulsion from dual motors so it's not such a drag (literally) on the vehicle that's towing it.
One of the coolest features is still the glass separating the bathroom from the rest of the cabin. At the push of a button it goes from clear to opaque so you can have some privacy without having to kick your entire family out of the trailer.
Amy Skorheim for Engadget
As for what's new, those changes were partly sourced from prospective customers. One directive was "more windows," so a skylight was added, along with a larger window at the back. The cupboards are now easier to access by flipping up instead of down. And the overall shape was refined to be more aerodynamic.
Walking around in the Flow, everything felt soothing and clean. The bed was so plush I wanted to melt into it. The seating area was inviting and spacious. It was tough to leave this homey pod (especially considering how stupendously hard it is to just find a place to sit down at CES). I don't have a vehicle that can pull a trailer, but I would love to park one of these in my backyard. Even if I never took it on the road, I'd happily hang out in its well-appointed comfort and even (reluctantly) give it up to guests when they visited.
Production on the Flow will begin early this year and shipping is scheduled for spring. The option without the motor assist and self-parking features will go for $109,500. If you want the Magic Pack package, that brings your price to $135,500. There's also a "Founders Edition" with a limited-edition color scheme and a few more upgrades going for $175,000.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/cess-pebble-flow-ev-trailer-gets-some-tweaks-ahead-of-its-spring-shipping-date-161502791.html?src=rss
There was no question that NVIDIA's RTX 5000 GPUs would be one of the biggest stories at CES 2025, and I figured Intel and AMD to arrive with some new hardware of their own. But I didn't expect that each of these companies would, in their own way, be putting the pedal to the metal when it comes to power for their chip designs. After all, we've spent the last few years covering AI PC CPUs that was targeting efficiency more than raw performance.
While NVIDIA RTX 5000 GPUs seem to deliver the performance leap we expected over its 2022-era cards, AMD is also redefining what's possible for mobile workstations with its Ryzen AI Max chips, which combine powerful graphics with gobs of integrated memory. Intel isn't sitting still either — it's finally moving Arrow Lake into the high-performance and gaming arena with its Core Ultra 200HX chips, which can reach up to 24 cores and 5.5GHz speeds.
I'm not just talking about power in the sheer performance sense, either. NVIDIA's $1,999 RTX 5090 requires a 1,000-watt power supply to function and uses up to 575 watts. The Ryzen AI Max chips, meanwhile, could eat up as much as 120-watts. Intel's Core Ultra 200HX chips go as high as 120-watts. Clearly, none of this hardware is meant for anyone concerned about their energy bills or potential laptop battery life.
RTX 5090
RTX 5080
RTX 5070 Ti
RTX 5070
RTX 4090
Architecture
Blackwell
Blackwell
Blackwell
Blackwell
Lovelace
CUDA cores
21,760
10,752
8,960
6,144
16,384
AI TOPS
3,352
1,801
1,406
988
1,321
Tensor cores
5th Gen
5th Gen
5th Gen
5th Gen
4th Gen
RT cores
4th Gen
4th Gen
4th Gen
4th Gen
3rd Gen
VRAM
32 GB GDDR7
16 GB GDDR7
16 GB GDDR7
12 GB GDDR7
24 GB GDDR6X
Memory bandwidth
1,792 GB/sec
960 GB/sec
896 GB/sec
672 GB/sec
1,008 GB/sec
TGP
575W
360W
300W
250W
450W
So what do you get for all of this energy consumption? AMD says the RTX 5090 will deliver roughly twice the performance of its previous flagship, the $1,499 RTX 4090. In a 4K Cyberpunk 2077 demo with full ray tracing, the 4090 hovered around 108 fps while the 5090 was reaching 240 fps. That frame count is a bit controversial, though, since the RTX 5090's DLSS 4 AI upscaling generates three frames for every natively rendered frame. The end result may look smoother to most people, but some gamers might question the integrity of so-called false frames.
It's those same AI-generated frames that allow NVIDIA to proclaim that the $549 RTX 5070 could be as powerful as the 4090. That may be true when it comes to pure frames-per-second count, but it certainly won't be for rasterized performance without DLSS 4.
AMD's Ryzen AI Max chips aren't aiming for the same sort of graphical heights as NVIDIA's new GPUs, but they're still notable for the sheer amount of hardware they contain. The top-of-the-line Ryzen AI Max+ 395 sports 16 CPU Zen 5 cores, 50 TOPS of AI performance and 40 RDNA 3.5 GPU compute units. According to AMD, it should be on-part with Apple's 14-core M4 Pro chip (and even faster in the Vray benchark), and it's 2.6 times faster in 3D rendering than Intel's Core Ultra 9 288V.
AMD
In an interview with AMD CVP and product CTO Joe Macri, he told Engadget that the success of Apple Silicon as a major reason why the Ryzen AI Max exists. "What Apple showed was consumers don't care what's inside the box," he said. Macri later noted, "I always knew, because we were building APUs, and I'd been pushing for this big APU forever, that I could build, a system that was smaller, faster, and I could give much higher performance at the same power."
AMD also briefly previewed its RDNA 4 graphics at CES, though at this point it's clearly aiming for the mid-range and not NVIDIA's RTX 5090. Notably, AMD will debut a new AI powered upscaling technology in RDNA 4 GPUs, FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4). That should finally give AMD a way to directly compete against NVIDA's DLSS, which for years has looked better than earlier versions of FSR. The first RDNA 4 cards, the Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT, will arrive sometime in the first quarter.
Intel's presence at CES 2024 was more muted than the competition, but loyalists will likely appreciate the new Core Ultra 200HX chips. While they scale back NPU performance from its recent AI PC hardware (12 TOPS down from 48 TOPS), the Core Ultra 9 285HX looks like a 24-core beast. It'll be interesting to see how it competes AMD's Ryzen AI 300 hardware, though it likely won't stand a chance against the Ryzen AI Max when paired up with a discrete GPU.
Intel
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/nvidia-amd-and-intel-aimed-for-maximum-power-at-ces-2025-150038070.html?src=rss
It has been more than a week since reports first emerged about a "glowing ring of metal" that fell from the sky and crashed near a remote village in Kenya.
According to the Kenya Space Agency, the object weighed 1,100 pounds (500 kg) and had a diameter of more than 8 feet (2.4 meters) when measured after it landed on December 30. A couple of days later, the space agency confidently reported that the object was a piece of space debris, saying it was a ring that separated from a rocket. "Such objects are usually designed to burn up as they re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere or to fall over unoccupied areas, such as the oceans," the space agency told The New York Times.
Since those initial reports were published in Western media, a small band of dedicated space trackers have been using open source data to try to identify precisely which space object fell into Kenya. So far, they have not been able to identify the rocket launch to which the large ring can be attributed.
