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Buying a good budget phone can be a challenge. High-end handsets continue to get more features, but on the other end of the spectrum, there are only so many things you can skimp on before a device becomes too compromised. With the Galaxy A17, Samsung is trying to balance both sides of that equation with something that sports a solid design, a bright screen, decent cameras and respectable battery life for just $200. And despite some flaws, the company has succeeded at making a capable phone that

ASUS ROG just announced the Kithara gaming headset , which is a device intended to bring audiophile-grade sound to gaming. It was developed in conjunction with manufacturer HiFiMan , a company that specializes in high-end audio devices . The Kithara is the company's first open-back planar magnetic gaming headset. ROG says it was designed to please gamers who demand absolute clarity, precision and realism. The headphones feature 100mm planar magnetic drivers that have been tuned specifically for

Since last spring, OpenAI has offered Codex . What started life as the company's response to Claude Code is becoming something more sophisticated with the release of a new dedicated macOS app. At its most basic form, Codex is a programming agent capable of writing code for users, but now it can also manage multiple AI assistants that can work together to complete more complex tasks. OpenAI gives an example of how this could work in practice. The company used Codex to create a Mario Kart-like rac

While it's important to stay informed about what's going on in the world, endlessly scrolling through your social media feeds and absorbing what's likely to be a largely negative influx of information can't be great for your mental wellbeing. Perhaps with an eye on stopping you from doomscrolling, developer Lyra Rebane created Xikipedia , a social media-style feed of Wikipedia entries. The web app algorithmically displays info from Simple Wikipedia. It is made as a demonstration of how even a ba

It looks like Grok is still being gross. Elon Musk says his chatbot stopped making sexualized images without a person's consent, but The Verge recently discovered this is not entirely true. It maybe (and I say maybe) stopped undressing women without their consent, but this doesn't seem to apply to men. A reporter with the organization ran some tests with Grok and found that the bot readily undresses men and is still churning out intimate images on demand. He confirmed this with images of himself

It's become cliche to say that we live in a golden age of board games, but to paraphrase the great stoic philosopher Andy Bernard, it's great to know you're in the good old days before you've left them. Great titles are still coming out by the thousands every year, from crowd-pleasing party games to genre-bending, theme-heavy Euros. Whether the gamer in your life is looking for a mind-warping challenge, a fun evening with friends or something in-between, we've got new releases or old favorites t

The New England Patriots are headed to the 2026 Super Bowl. (Lauren Leigh Bacho via Getty Images) Lauren Leigh Bacho via Getty Images MVP candidate Drake Maye and the New England Patriots face Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks at Super Bowl LX , which will be held at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, CA this year. It's hard to believe we're less than a week away from the championship game, which will be held this Sunday, Feb. 8 with kickoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET. But before we can get to al

Almost three years after starting the bargaining process with Microsoft, quality assurance workers at two Blizzard locations have ratified a union contract . The agreement covers 60 workers at Blizzard Albany and Blizzard Austin. The agreement includes guaranteed pay increases across the three years of the contract, assurances that workers will be given fair credits and recognition on games that ship, discrimination-free disability accommodations, restrictions on crunch (i.e. mandatory overtime)

ExpressVPN is back on sale again, and its two-year plans are up to 81 percent off right now. You can get the Advanced tier for $88 for 28 months. This is marked down from the $392 that this time frame normally costs. On a per-month basis, it works out to roughly $3.14 for the promo period. Weve consistently liked ExpressVPN because its fast, easy to use and widely available across a large global server network. In fact, it's our current pick for best premium VPN . One of the biggest drawbacks ha

The big game is one of the few instances now in the US where most people gather around the TV to watch the live event together. While the teams playing in Super Bowl 2026 are the true stars of the show (and Bad Bunny , of course), your TV is a pretty important part of the puzzle of putting together an excellent Super Bowl party. Maybe youve been thinking about replacing an aging set, or youre itching for a full refresh of your home theater setup either way, youll want to try to get a good deal

Whether you're one of the few people still keeping up with New Year's resolutions or just want an upgraded smartwatch, now is a good time to get an Apple Watch. Currently, the Apple Watch Series 11 is on sale for $299, down from $399. The 25 percent discount brings the 2025 model back down to its record-low price. We named the Apple Watch Series 11 as our choice for best smartwatch overall . It scored a 90 in our review thanks to its 24 hours-plus of battery life and a thin, light design that's

While the main series might be over , Netflix is far from done with Stranger Things . The first spin-off to hit the streaming service will be Stranger Things: Tales From 85 . The company had said that the animated show would arrive sometime this year and now, alongside a new trailer, it confirmed a release date of April 23. The trailer is a bit of an odd watch given that Stranger Things wrapped up only a month ago. Going from that to this animated style with a whole new voice cast is jarring, bu

We've finally made it to February, but, with the ongoing long nights, you might want a pick-me-up to get you through the rest of winter. Take the Apple iPad mini with the A17 Pro chip , which is on sale for $400, down from $500. Its small size is perfect for cozying up on the couch or to use on your daily commute. Apple released this iPad mini in late 2024 and it was a solid update. We gave it an 83 in our review thanks to the power of its A17 Pro chip and that it comes with a minimum of 128GB o

It's big-game season, which means it's a good time to look for home theater gear on sale ahead of Super Bowl 2026. There are plenty of Super Bowl TV deals to consider, but if you have arguably the most important piece of the puzzle down, you may want to upgrade your sound system instead. Sonos' latest sale may have just what you need; a bunch of the company's home theater gear is up to 20 percent off right now. You can save $130 on the Beam (Gen 2) soundbar , bringing its price down to $369, and

Anker rolled out a bunch of new chargers and other gear at CES 2026 , including a cute one that's already on sale. The new Nano charger with smart display, which is an upgrade to the existing Nano charger in Anker's lineup, is on sale for $30 right now when you clip an on-page coupon on Amazon. That's $10 off the regular price. The 45W charger includes a smart display that shows real-time data like power flow, temperature and charging status. It also features fun animations to keep things cheerf

MicroSD Express cards are still a little hard to find, considering they're pretty new and only really started becoming popular last year once the Switch 2 came out. These upgraded versions of microSD cards are the only ones compatible with the Switch 2 for expanding its storage, os if you're already starting to feel the crunch on your console, it's worth picking one up. Samsung's P9 microSD Express card is on sale right now you can grab the 512GB version of $80, which is 33 percent off and one

TikTok is finally back to normal in the US after days of technical issues and outages tied to winter storms. Less than a week after companies like Oracle took ownership of TikTok's domestic operations , the platform faced a major power outage when one of its primary US data center sites run by Oracle got taken down by the storm. The problems started last Monday, January 26, when TikTok announced it was working on a major infrastructure issue and warned of bugs, time-out requests, missing ear

Noise-canceling earbuds have become an everyday essential for a lot of people, whether youre trying to survive a noisy commute, concentrate in a shared workspace or just carve out a little quiet time. Advances in active noise cancellation and audio processing mean todays best earbuds do a much better job of cutting through background noise, without forcing you to move up to bulky over-ear headphones. The latest models also balance sound quality with convenience, offering stable Bluetooth connect

To see a film the way the creators intended, you really need a projector. A good one can show a bright, sharp image up to 250 inches in size for an immersive experience that no TV can match and usually at a much lower price. Plus, theyre great for immersive gaming with consoles and PCs. Thanks to companies like Anker and Valerion, projectors are starting to be seen as a must-have item for cinephiles and outdoor party screenings alike. That means there are a wide variety of choices, ranging from

Apex Legends developer Respawn said it's ending Nintendo Switch support for the game this summer, with the release of Season 30. After that point, it'll work with the Switch 2 and all other currently supported platforms, but not the original Switch. Season 29 will be the final update for Apex Legends on Nintendo Switch, the team wrote in a post on X. Hey legends, we want to share an important update about Apex Legends on the Nintendo Switch. Season 29 will be the final update for Apex Legends on

We may not have a concrete release date for the first foldable iPhone , but Apple may already be looking into a smaller device that will follow it up. According to Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman, Apple is exploring a square, clamshell-style foldable phone, with the caveat that this potential device is far from guaranteed to reach the market and only under consideration right now. If this eventually leads to a smaller foldable iPhone, that means Apple believes it can compete against existing options on

Just like buying a new iPhone through Apple's online store, you now select each spec of your new Mac device when purchasing through the website. As first spotted by MacWorld , Apple updated its online configuration tool for purchasing a Mac. Compared to the previous design that allowed you to pick between several prebuilt options, the new configurator lets you choose one spec after another instead. It's not a major difference compared to choosing between preconfigured options, but interested buy

Grok is once again available in Indonesia, after the country lifted its ban on the AI chatbot that was seen generating millions of sexualized deepfakes , thousands of which included children. The country's Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs released a statement earlier today, which said X is allowed to resume service in Indonesia but will be subject to monitoring for any future violations. According to the Indonesian government agency, X provided a letter that detailed several impleme

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang told reporters that the company will invest a great deal of money in OpenAI's latest funding round, according to Bloomberg , after The Wall Street Journal on Friday reported that the two companies were rethinking a previous $100 billion deal that hasn't progressed beyond the early stages of negotiations. Speaking to reporters in Taipei this weekend, Huang reportedly said it could be the largest investment we've ever made. NVIDIA and OpenAI jointly announced in September t

There may be plenty of gaming handhelds out there, but there aren't many horizontal options that let you play childhood favorites in the original 4:3 aspect ratio. To address that gap, Ayaneo launched a premium option with the Pocket S Mini . As a true 4:3 retro handheld, the Pocket S Mini won't have those pesky vertical black bars whenever you're emulating video games from the CRT television era. Handhelds like the Anbernic RG405M and even Ayaneo's own Pocket Air Mini already offer a 4:3 aspect

OnlyFans is looking to cash out once again, but this time in a deal that would value it at several billion dollars less than a potential sale that previously fell through. As reported by TechCrunch , the online platform known for subscription-based pornographic content is in talks to sell a majority stake to Architect Capital, an investment firm based in San Francisco. According to the report, the proposed deal includes $3.5 billion in equity and $2 billion in debt, which values OnlyFans at $5.5

Elon Musk and his aerospace company have requested to build a network that's 100 times the number of satellites that are currently in orbit. On Friday, SpaceX filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to launch a million satellites meant to create an orbital data center. This isn't the first time we're hearing of Musk's plans to build an orbital data center, as it was mentioned by company insiders following the news that the CEO was reportedly preparing to take SpaceX

Blue Origin plans to put a focus on the development of its human lunar capabilities, so it wont be sending tourists to space for at least the next two years. That means we wont be seeing any New Shepard launches for quite some time. Blue Origin is one of the companies NASA chose to develop human landing systems for its Artemis program, along with SpaceX. Specifically, it will work on landers for the Artemis III and Artemis V missions. The company was originally contracted to build the human land

Apple has steadily expanded the Apple Watchs health monitoring features over the years, moving beyond fitness tracking into areas that can offer early insight into potential medical concerns. One of the most recent additions is hypertension alerts , which are designed to notify users when their blood pressure trends are elevated over time. While Apple Watches cannot directly measure blood pressure, this feature can still play a useful role in highlighting patterns that may be worth discussing wi

Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. There are tons of interesting games out this week. But first, there's been some discourse around the Nintendo Switch version of Dispatch , which arrived this week as well. On other platforms, there's an option to censor genitalia and other explicit content, but that's not present in the Switch version. Instead, such content is censored by default, with black rectangles covering up characters' bits and someone flipping the

Since 2021, NASA's Perseverance rover has achieved a number of historic milestones, including sending back the first audio recordings from Mars . Now, nearly five years after landing on the Red Planet , it just achieved another feat. This past December, Perseverance successfully completed a route through a section of the Jezero crater plotted by Anthropic's Claude chatbot , marking the first time NASA has used a large language model to pilot the car-sized robot. Between December 8 and 10, Persev

Americas once-promising EV transition may have taken a U-turn , but at least some in Hollywood are trying to do their part. Rivian partnered with Greys Anatomy to make a custom electric ambulance for the long-running series. The ambulance is a modified version of Rivians Commercial Van . The custom vanbulance serves a dual purpose: preventing on-set exhaust fumes (which could harm the cast and crew) and integrating a green storyline. As an added benefit, the elimination of engine noise brought a

The Sundance documentary Ghost in the Machine boldly declares that the pursuit of artificial intelligence, and Silicon Valley itself, is rooted in eugenics. Director Valerie Veatch makes the case that the rise of techno-fascism from the likes of Elon Musk and Peter Thiel is a feature, not a bug. That may sound hyperbolic, but Ghost in the Machine , which is built around interviews with philosophers, AI researchers, historians and computer scientists, leaves little room for doubt. If you've been

Samsungs 2025 was filled with new foldables , an ultra-thin new form factor and the launch of Google's XR platform . After making some announcements at CES 2026 , the company is expected to host its first Galaxy Unpacked of the year in February to introduce the Galaxy S26 lineup. Engadget will be covering Galaxy Unpacked live, and we'll most likely have hands-on coverage of Samsung's new smartphones soon after they're announced. While we wait for an official invite, here's everything we expect S

This past summer, Google DeepMind debuted Genie 3 . Its whats known as a world world, an AI system capable of generating images and reacting as the user moves through the environment the software is simulating. At the time, DeepMind positioned Genie 3 as a tool for training AI agents. Now, its making the model available to people outside of Google to try with Project Genie . To start, youll need Googles $250 per month AI Ultra plan to check out Project Genie . Youll also need to live in the US a

Like many other companies during Super Bowl season, Sonos is discounting its home theater gear. Today, you can save $130 on the Beam (Gen 2) soundbar , bringing its price down to $369. You'll also find deals on the flagship Arc Ultra Soundbar, Sonos subwoofers, and more. The Sonos Beam is the company's sub-$500 soundbar. Engadget's pick for the best midrange model , the compact speaker has impressive sound for its size. Part of that is its Dolby Atmos support. Although the soundbar lacks upward-

If you're looking to up your privacy game on the internet in the new year, you can do so for a little less than usual thanks to ExpressVPN's latest deal. Its two-year plans are up to 81 percent off right now: the Advanced tier is on sale for $88 for two years, plus four additional free months. The Basic plan is where you'll see the biggest discount: it's $68 for two years, plus the same four additional free months. Weve consistently liked ExpressVPN because its fast, easy to use and widely avail

When talking about the best VPNs , I frequently warn about the dangers of trusting free VPNs without verifying them. Although there are a few free VPNs worth recommending, many other free providers are ineffective, malicious or looking to profit off their users (or sometimes all three). Even the best free VPNs work a lot better once you subscribe and access their full service. This can be frustrating if you want to enjoy the benefits of a VPN but don't have the budget for yet another subscriptio

Fallout s second season is coming to a close, and its been well worth the wait. But if a reluctance to add yet another subscription to your streaming rotation means you havent watched Amazons surprisingly excellent adaptation yet, you might be interested to know that the company is currently releasing season one for free on the Prime Video YouTube channel. Whether driven by Amazon wanting even more people to watch what has become one of its biggest TV success stories, or a move that speaks to ho

The start of the new year is a great time to get your finances in order, and a good budgeting app can help with that. Instead of laboring over a spreadsheet, you can try one of our favorite budgeting apps for less than usual. Monarch Money is running a sale that gives new users 50 percent off one year of the service, bringing the final cost down to just $50. Just use the code NEWYEAR2026 at checkout to get the discount. Monarch Money makes for a capable and detailed budgeting companion. You can

Whether youre having people over to watch the Patriots and the Seahawks battle it out in Super Bowl 2026 , or youre more interested in the Bad Bunny halftime show, your TV will be an important part of the puzzle of putting together an excellent big-game party. If youve been thinking about upgrading your current TV, nows a decent time to do it. The weeks leading up to the Super Bowl are typically awash with TV deals to consider. Generally, TV prices steadily decrease after a new model comes out.

Grammy winner Bad Bunny, seen here accepting his award for Best Msica Urbana Album for Un Verano Sin Ti in 2023, is nominated again this year. (Timothy Norris/FilmMagic) Timothy Norris via Getty Images The 2026 Grammy Awards honor music's biggest achievements of the year, and some of the biggest stars on the planet are nominated this year. Kendrick Lamar leads the way with nine nominations, including for Record and Song of the Year for luther, his collaboration with SZA. Other top nominees this

Somehow, we live in a world where people can bet on practically anything using sites like Polymarket and Kalshi. In this episode, Devindra and Engadget Senior Reporter Karissa Bell dive into the world of prediction markets. How did we get here? And is endless betting having an effect on the real world? Also, we chat about the new American version of TikTok, which stumbled during its first weekend with a litany of errors and reported censorship. Subscribe! iTunes Spotify Pocket Casts Stitcher Goo

If you're looking to expand the storage on your Switch 2, the 512GB Samsung P9 microSD Express card is on sale right now for 33 percent off, marked down to $80 from $120. With component prices skyrocketing these days, it's getting increasingly rare to see good storage on sale, and 512GB for $80 is a much better deal than you'll currently find directly from Nintendo . The P9 boasts transfer speeds of up to 800MB/s, making moving games to the card that much faster. As for load times, in our testin

You have the best chance to save on streaming services during the holiday shopping season, but throughout the year, the occasional deal pops up that's worth considering. Case in point: this new Disney+ deal. New and eligible returning subscribers can sign up for the Disney+ Hulu bundle (with ads) for $10 for one month of access. That's $3 off the usual price of the bundle for one month, and more than 58 percent off if you consider the cost of each service individually (Disney+ at $12 per month a

With the spring approaching, it's time to start thinking about how you'll file your taxes. Unfortunately, with the recent demise of Direct File , there isn't a free, government-provided alternative to TurboTax in 2026, and you'll need to look to other federal programs, including IRS Free File , to file your paperwork. If you don't qualify for Free File, chances are you'll need to dish out cash for Intuit's software. And while we hate to suggest you give money to a company that has spent decades

Anker rolled out a bunch of new chargers and other gear at CES 2026 , including a cute one that's already on sale. The new Nano charger with smart display, which is an upgrade to the existing Nano charger in Anker's lineup, is on sale for $30 right now when you clip an on-page coupon on Amazon. That's $10 off the regular price. The 45W charger includes a smart display that shows real-time data like power flow, temperature and charging status. It also features fun animations to keep things cheerf

The Chinese government has given DeepSeek its approval to purchase NVIDIAs H200 AI chips, according to Reuters . ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have also reportedly received permission from Beijing to buy a total of 400,000 H200 GPUs. Reuters says Chinese authorities are still finalizing the conditions theyre imposing on the companies to be able to proceed with their orders, so it may take a while before theyre able to receive their shipments. In addition, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang told reporters

Sony A7 series camera launches are eagerly anticipated by camera lovers, as those models are typically a showcase for the companys latest imaging tech. The new A7 V is a great example of that: its equipped with Sony's new 33-megapixel partially-stacked sensor the most advanced in any midrange full-frame mirrorless model. The A7 Vs resolution is higher than rivals like Panasonics S1 II and the Nikon Z6 III in this category while matching Canons R6 III . However, Sony trumps the latter with a fas

Apple has yet to announce a foldable iPhone, but after years of speculation, the outlines of whats often referred to as the iPhone Fold are starting to come into focus. Multiple analysts and leakers now agree that Apple is targeting a late-2026 launch window for its first foldable phone, positioning it as a premium flagship rather than a niche experiment. As with all pre-launch Apple products, nothing here is official. Plans can change, features can be dropped and timelines can slip. Still, rece