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 Apple today began selling certified refurbished Apple Watch Ultra 2 models in the U.S. for the first time since the device was released in September.
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 The lead developer of the multi-emulator app Provenance has told iMore that his team is working towards releasing the app on the App Store, but he did not provide a timeframe. Provenance is a frontend for many existing emulators, and it would allow iPhone and Apple TV users to emulate games released for a wide variety of classic game consoles, including the original PlayStation, GameCube, Wii, SEGA Genesis, Atari 2600, and others.
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The bill that could ban TikTok in the United States inches closer to becoming law. The legislation passed the House of Representatives last month, then had to face the Senate — and opposition from a few prominent lawmakers. The House is to vote on a package of bills this weekend, which includes a slightly revised version of the TikTok bill. In the latest version, ByteDance would have up to 12 months to divest TikTok, instead of the six months initially pitched.
That change alone was apparently key to winning support from some skeptical members of the Senate, including Sen. Maria Cantwell, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee. What will happen if the bill passes into law? TikTok (and potentially other apps "controlled by a foreign adversary") would face a ban in US app stores if it declined to sell to a new owner.
— Mat Smith
The biggest stories you might have missed
Nothing's Ear and Ear (a) earbuds with active noise cancellation are now available for pre-order
The 5 best mechanical keyboards
Razer's Kishi Ultra gaming controller works with damn near everything, including some foldables
Cities: Skylines 2's embarrassed developers are giv
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For more notebook options, check out PCWorld's roundup of the best laptops available right now. We've got can't-miss picks for every use case and budget, putting our thousands of hours of hands-on testing to work for you.
Best laptop deals (at a glance)
Lenovo IdeaPad 1, $249.99 ($170 off at Microcenter)
Asus Vivobook 14, $249.99 ($180 off at Best Buy)
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 BLUETTI, a company known for its portable power stations and associated accessories, is currently running an Indiegogo campaign for its new SwapSolar ecosystem of app-enabled products. The launch products in the SwapSolar family include a high-capacity power station with removable hot-swappable batteries plus a multifunction portable cooler. Together, they can keep your perishables cool for up to six days while completely off the grid, or essentially indefinitely with occasional access to power.
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In these articles we've done the heavy lifting for you, sorting the wheat from the chaff so to speak, so that you can simply have a read and select the gaming headset that's right for you. But you might still want to know how our expert reviewers arrived at their decisions. Here, we've summarized our extensive reviewing process below.
How we evaluate gaming headsets based on sound quality
A headset's sound quality is critical to how you will experience your game's audio. When evaluating sound quality, nothing beats listening to them while gaming. We listen for two main things — any defects in the sound, and to see how good the headset's audio fidelity is.
Some signs of defects include any rising or falling in the amplitude, static or popping noises, and/or tinniness in the audio profile. Most gaming headsets have already been vetted by the manufacturers for these defects and it's rare to find one that exhibits these issues. Even so, we do occasionally find one and it's our duty to let you know.
On the other hand, we frequently find big differences in the audio fidelity and clarity of headsets. When analyzing audio fidelity, a scale from 1 to 5 is a useful
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Google has fired 28 employees involved in protests against the company's "Project Nimbus" cloud contract with the Israeli government, according to an internal memo seen by The Verge. That follows the arrest and suspension of nine employees on April 16 and a previous firing related to the same project last month.
Some of the fired workers were forcibly removed after occupying the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian. Google head of global security Chris Rackow said that the company "will not tolerate" such incidences and warned that the company could take further action.
"If you're one of the few who are tempted to think we're going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again," he told employees in a letter. "The company takes this extremely seriously, and we will continue to apply our longstanding policies to take action against disruptive behavior — up to and including termination."
However, workers in the "No Tech for Apartheid" group organizing the protests called the dismissals "a flagrant act of retaliation." It added that the Google saying protests largely involve people not working at the company is "insulting," adding that the push to drop Project Nimbus is supported by "thousands" of their colleagues.
"In the three years that we have been organizing agai
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 Best Buy today announced the launch of a new "Envision" app designed for the Apple Vision Pro headset. Envision is designed to allow Best Buy customers to explore different products and see how those products look in their own living spaces.
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The bill that could lead to a ban of TikTok in the United States appears to be much closer to becoming law. The legislation sailed through the House of Representatives last month, but faced an uncertain future in the Senate due to opposition from a few prominent lawmakers.
But momentum for the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act" seems to once again be growing. The House is set to vote on a package of bills this weekend, which includes a slightly revised version of the TikTok bill. In the latest version of the bill, ByteDance would have up to 12 months to divest TikTok, instead of the six-month period stipulated in the original measure.
That change, as NBC News notes, was apparently key to winning over support from some skeptical members of the Senate, including
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DJI is entering the portable power station market in the US and Europe with the launch of the Power 1000 and Power 500 aimed at home users or road warriors. The devices (released in China at the end of last year) can be used to power small appliances or charge devices like laptops or drones, and work in concert with solar panels to provide power on the road.
The Power 1000 (13kg or 29 pounds) has a 1,024 Wh capacity and can output up to 2,200W — enough to run a home microwave oven for about 1.3 hours and a car refrigerator for 19 hours, or charge a drone up to 12 times. The Power 500 (7.3 kg or 16.3 pounds) delivers 512 Wh of capaci
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One thing became apparent after testing dozens of Bluetooth speakers: there are plenty of good options out there for most people. While that variety is great to have, it can also lead to confusion and overwhelm when you go to buy a new one ahead of your next camping trip, beach outing or backyard barbecue. I set out to try some of the best Bluetooth speakers available now, at all different price points, to see which are worth your money. I'm happy to report that most of them sounded pretty good upon first listen. But in comparing them head-to-head, that's when I began to suss out the nuances among the best-sounding ones. Ultimately, out of all of the portable speakers out there, you won't find a single "best" one. But there are a number of solid choices out there that should fit most use cases. These are our favorites.
Factors to consider
Weather-proofing
IP ratings (Ingress Protection) are the alphanumeric indicators you often see in a product's spec sheet that define water and dust resistance. It's usually a combo of two numbers with the first indicating solid object ingress and the second being water. The former goes from 0 (no protection) to 6 (dustproof). The water-resistance rating goes from 0 (no protection) to 9 (protected against immersion and high pressure jets). When an X is used instead of a number, that means the product wasn't tested for resistance. If it's waterproof, it may have some innate resistance to solids, but there's no guarantee.
IP67 is a common rating these days indicating highly resistant and potentially rugged speakers suitable for outdoor adventures. These are safe for quick dunks in the pool or tub and should be more than OK in the rain or in the shower. They're also good options for the beach, playground and other rough environs.
Additionally, speakers with ports and a high rating
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 Apple today announced that customers and independent repair shops will be able to utilize used genuine Apple parts in repairs starting later this year.
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WhatsApp has reportedly started rolling out the first beta feature of 2022 for iOS users. According to a report by WABetaInfo, with the new feature, iPhone users will also be able to see the sender's profile photos as well as message notifications.
According to the screenshot shared with the report, the new feature will allow you to see small photos of the sender in the notification when you receive a new message from a single user or group.
The report also reveals that the feature is only available to a few beta testers running the iOS 15 operating system because the feature uses iOS 15 APIs.
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