Category: I-phone

Sony, arguably nine months too late, is finally unlocking the 10 million PlayStation 5s around the world to accept expandable SSD storage. At launch, the next-gen console offered only 667GB of space for storing your PS5 games, with no way to expand that. While that’s been fine for some (like me), others (like my son) have been performing a near-daily juggling act, having to frequently delete and re-download games due to the restrictive storage size and the apparent need to have constant access to every Call of Duty game.

With the upcoming system software update — currently in beta testing — you’ll be able to increase your storage by slotting in a standard PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD. If that mess of acronyms has you recoiling, don’t worry, you’ll see that it’s not all that complicated, and if you want to know which drives we recommend, you can skip to the end.

How much storage do I need?

Aaron Souppouris / Engadget

The PS5 will accept drives between 250GB and 4TB in capacity. If you already have a PlayStation 5, chances are you have a reasonable idea of how much storage you want. If you’re buying an SSD with a new PS5, or buying for someone else, though, it’s difficult to tell.

PS5 games are a little smaller on average than their PS4 equivalents, typically ranging between 30GB and 100GB, with some notable (and very popular) exceptions. If you’re a fan of the Call of Duty series, just having Cold War multiplayer and Modern Warfare/Warzone installed will require 307GB of space. A full Warzone–Modern Warfare–Cold War install will take up almost two thirds of the PS5’s internal storage. If you’re not a CoD fan, though, chances are you’ll be good to store between six to 10 games on your PS5 internally before running into problems.

One additional thing to consider is your internet speed. If you live in an area with slow broadband, the “you can just download it again” rationale doesn’t really work out. A 100GB download takes me around eight hours, during which time it's difficult to simultaneously watch Twitch or, say, publish articles about upgrading PS5 SSDs. Keeping games around on the off-chance you’ll want to play them at some point make sense, at least for my household.

Off the bat, there's basically no point in going for a 250GB drive. Economically, 250GB drives aren’t that much cheaper than 500GB, and practically, that really isn’t a lot of space for modern games to live on. 500GB drives, coming in at around $90 to $150, are a decent bet, but the sweet spot for most is to opt for a 1TB drive, which should run you between $160 and $250. That will more than double the space you have available for games without breaking the bank. (Seagate’s official 1TB Xbox Series expansion card, for comparison, sells for $220.)

If you have the money, 2TB drives sometimes offer marginal savings per gigabyte, and can often be found when other models are out of stock. Unless you’re rolling in cash and want to flex, 4TB models should mostly be avoided, as you’ll end up paying more per gigabyte than you would with a 1TB or 2TB drive.

One final note: While the 825GB PS5 only provides 667GB of storage, that’s largely due to storage being reserved for the operating system and caching. If you install a 1TB SSD, you'll have, within margin of error, 1TB of storage available for games.

What about external SSDs?

Samsung

These are dramatically cheaper than the high-end internal SSDs, but there are restrictions on what you can do with them. An external SSD connects to your PS5 via USB, and is only suitable for playing PS4 games, or storing PS5 titles. This is useful if you have anything but the best internet — it’s faster to move a PS5 game out of “cold storage” on an external drive than it is to re-download it — or just want a large number of PS4 games to hand.

Due to the limitations here, you don’t need the highest performing model, although you should opt for SSDs over HDDs for improved transfer speeds. Any basic portable drive from a reputable brand will do, with the Crucial X6 and Samsung T5 being options we’ve tried and can recommend.

What SSDs are compatible with PS5?

The official answer to this question is an “M.2 Socket 3 (Key M) Gen4 x4 NVME SSD.” But even within that seemingly specific description, there are still more things to consider. The main requirements Sony has laid out for compatibility come down to speed, cooling and physical dimensions.

For speed, Sony says drives should be able to handle sequential reads at 5,500MB/s. Early testing has shown that drives as slow as 4,800MB/s are accepted by the PS5, and using them to play a game that taps into the SSD regularly — such as Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart — causes no issues. Pretty much the only thing the PS5 will outright reject is one that doesn't match the Gen4 x4 spec. 

In our opinion, though, using a drive slower than the specification is a risk that, if you don’t already have that drive lying around, is not worth taking. Just because we haven’t found issues now, that doesn’t mean there won’t be games that will be problematic down the line. The price difference between these marginally slower Gen4 drives and the ones that meet Sony’s spec is not huge, and you may as well cover all your bases.

Slightly more complicated than speed is cooling and size. Most bare SSDs are going to be just fine; the PS5 can fit 22mm-wide SSDs of virtually any length (30mm, 42mm, 60mm, 80mm or 110mm, to be precise). The vast majority of drives you find will be 22mm wide and 80mm long, so no problem there.

It should be noted that the system can fit a 25mm-wide drive, but that width must include the cooling solution. Speaking of, Sony says SSDs require “effective heat dissipation with a cooling structure, such as a heatsink,” which is where most of the complications arise.

The maximum height supported by Sony’s slot is 11.25mm, of which only 2.45mm can be “below” the drive. This is intensely specific, and rules out some popular heatsinked Gen4 SSDs such as Corsair’s MP600 Pro and Sabrent’s Rocket 4 Plus. With time, it’s likely that manufacturers will want in on this new avenue for high-end SSD sales, and these heatsink size limits are going to become the de facto standard for the industry. In the meantime, however, only a couple of heatsinked drives fit out of the box.

If you’re looking to save some money, bare drives are often much cheaper and prevalent than their heatsinked alternatives, and it’s trivial to find a cooling solution that will work for the PS5.

The only component in an NVMe SSD that really requires cooling is the controller, which without a heatsink will happily sear a (very small) steak. Most SSDs have chips on only one side, but even on double-sided SSDs, the controller is likely to be on top, as manufacturers know it needs to be positioned there to better dissipate heat. So, head to your PC component seller of choice, and pick up basically anything that meets the recommended dimensions. A good search term is “laptop NVME heatsink,” as these will be designed to fit in the confines of gaming laptops, which are even more restrictive than a PS5. They’re also typically cheaper than the ones popping up now that are labelled as “PS5 heatsinks.”

One recommendation is this $7 copper heatsink, which attaches to the SSD with sticky thermal interface material. It works just fine, and really, performing stress tests on a PC, we couldn’t find anything metal that didn’t keep temperatures under control. When you’re searching, just make sure the solution you go for measures no more than 25mm wide or 8mm tall including the thermal interface material and has a simple method of installation that’s not going to cause any headaches.

Now, if all of that was very boring, here are some ready-to-go recommendations:

Best PS5 SSD: Patriot Viper VP4300

Patriot

Patriot may not be the biggest name in components, but it has a long history in the PC market, and the Viper VP4300 is a solid drive for the PS5. With a sequential read rating of 7,400MB/s and a slim heatsink preinstalled, it meets all the necessary requirements for a simple upgrade. The reason it tops our list is the cost. It comes in 1TB and 2TB varieties, both of which are competitively priced. Expect to pay around $210 for the 1TB version or $430 for the 2TB.

Buy Viper VP4300 at Amazon – $210

Best cheap PS5 SSD: PNY XLR8 CS3040

PNY

If you’re not a PC user, PNY is another company you probably haven’t heard of. Again, though, it has a good track record, operating for three decades out of the US. The XLR8 CS3040 is a fantastic value option, though it will require you to add your own cooling solution, as the one PNY sells won’t fit in the PS5.

While that may sound like a hassle, maybe the pricing will convince you: The $90 500GB option is great, but the $160 1TB drive is a steal, and the $307 2TB model is also outrageously cheap. As mentioned, we don’t really recommend 4TB drives but, among the typically four-figure options on the market, PNY’s $700 CS3040 is the only one that makes any sense.

Buy PNY XLR8 CS3040 at Amazon – $160

Other compatible drives

WD Black SN850

Western Digital

The SN850 is a plug-and-play option for the PS5, with a sequential read rating well above the necessary numbers and a 6.5mm-high heatsink preinstalled. It comes in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB varieties, all of which are priced fairly competitively, though the price-per-GB of the 1TB and 2TB is significantly lower than the 500GB.

Expect to pay around $140 for the 500GB drive, $250 for the 1TB version or $430 for the 2TB. If you’re willing to go it alone on the heatsink, those prices drop to around $120, $200 and $400, respectively.

Buy WD Black SN850 at Amazon – $230

Seagate FireCuda 530

Seagate

We haven’t been able to test this one ourselves, as it starts shipping “this summer,” but given Seagate is a trusted brand and has outright said its heatsinked drive supports PS5, we’re happy to include it on this list. Unfortunately, the list pricing on the 530s is high, at $160 for 500GB, $260 for 1TB, $540 for 2TB and $1,000 for 4TB. The non-heatsink version will retail at $140, $240 and $490, for the 500GB, 1TB and 2TB versions. These aren't a million miles away from the RRP on other drives on this list that have a lower real-world price now, so we’d expect that you’ll be able to find some deals at similar rates down the line.

Buy Seagate FireCuda 530 at Amazon – $260

Samsung 980 Pro

Samsung

Samsung does not sell a 980 Pro with a heatsink attached, but it does have a fantastic reputation for reliability, and prices that are competitive with WD, Seagate and others on this list. Expect to pay around $130 for 500GB, $190 for 1TB, or $370 for 2TB.

Buy Samsung 980 Pro at Amazon – $190

Crucial P5 Plus

Crucial

Crucial’s P5 Plus is another budget model, which missed out on the “best cheap SSD” spot thanks to PNY’s marginally lower prices. Again, this one has no heatsink, so you’ll need to supply your own. The 1TB drive is the sweet-spot option, coming in at $180, while the 500GB and 2TB drives will set you back $108 and $368, respectively.

Buy Crucial P5 Plus at Amazon – $180

Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus

Sabrent

Sabrent sells a bunch of Rocket drives, but only the Plus model actually meets Sony’s requirements, so be sure you’re looking at the correct model before you buy. The Rocket 4 Plus’ heatsink is too chunky to fit in the PS5, so you’ll again have to fit your own cooling solution. Sabrent typically has aggressive pricing, but as of writing the Plus hasn’t seen any major discounts. The 1TB model can be found at around $180, the 2TB $360 and the 4TB for $900.

Buy Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus at Amazon – $180

How to install an SSD in a PS5

As of writing, the first thing you’ll need to install an SSD is access to the semi-closed system software beta. From an admittedly small sample, I’ve yet to hear of people being denied access to this; everyone I know who's applied was accepted within a week. You can enroll here if you’re in the US, or you can google “PlayStation 5 System Software Beta Program sign-up” to find your local sign-up link.

Once you have the beta on your PS5, installation of a PS5 SSD is fairly straightforward. Sony recommends a #1 Phillips or crosshead screwdriver, but this isn't rocket science. Any crossed screwdriver of similar size will do fine.

Begin by powering down your PS5, unplugging everything, removing the stand and flipping it over to its underside. If you have the regular PS5, that’s the side with the disc drive, if you have the Digital Edition, it’s the side without the PlayStation logo cutout.

Sony has a video guide to popping off the outside cover here, but the gist is you gently lift up the opposing corners and slide the panel towards the flat end of the console. There’s a knack to this, and it requires very little effort or strength. If you’re not getting it, rather than force it just readjust your grip and try again. A member of our video team managed to break one of the tabs on our review unit doing this last November so… yeah, don’t force it.

Engadget

Once you’ve got everything open, you’ll see a rectangular piece of metal with a screw holding it in place. Remove that screw, and you’ll be able to access the drive bay.

You’ll see five holes inside, each numbered corresponding to the standard SSD drive lengths I mentioned earlier. The one numbered 110 will have a metal insert and screw inside. You need to unscrew the screw with a screwdriver, and then unscrew the insert with your fingers and move it to the relevant hole. Your eyes should tell you which is the right one for your drive, but it’s most likely going to be 80.

Aaron Souppouris/Engadget

Then take your SSD — mine is a 980 Pro I bought on Prime Day with a $2 piece of aluminum attached to the top — and slot it in. The slot is at the edge closest to the number “30,” and SSDs are keyed to only fit in one way, so again, no force is required. If it’s not sliding in, don’t force it. You’ll notice the SSD doesn’t sit flat — that’s fine, and is as intended.

Engadget

Once the SSD is seated, take the screw you removed from the insert, line it up with the little notch at the end of your SSD, and push down so it meets the insert. Give the screw it a few turns — it doesn’t need to be very tight — and you’re done.

Engadget

Replace the metal cover and screw it down, and then slide the plastic outer shell back on. When you first turn on the PS5, it’ll prompt you to format the drive. Do that! You have now successfully expanded your console’s storage, and can set about downloading and moving games to it. Personally, I moved all of the PS4 games I had to the new drive, along with all of my clips and screenshots. The PS5’s built-in SSD is always going to be the most compliant, so I’m keeping my important stuff there. 

We'll be updating this guide as more SSDs come to market and onto our test bench, so feel free to bookmark it for when you need it.

A year after it wowed many with its first gameplay video, Chinese developer Game Science Studio is back with an even more impressive look at Black Myth: Wukong. The studio has switched from Unreal Engine 4 to UE5 for the action RPG. According to NVIDIA, it's the first peek at a UE5 game that uses Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), the company's AI-powered upscaling tech.

The 12-minute preview, which you can watch in 4K at 60 frames per second, shows off much more action from the game. It features a couple of stunning boss fights, including one with an electric dragon on a frozen lake. The visuals here are eye-popping: expect buttery-smooth animations, gorgeous environments and dazzling snow and ice effects.

Black Myth: Wukong is based on the story of the Monkey King and the Journey to the West. Game Science Studio seems to have taken inspiration from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice here, but that's hardly a bad thing. The gameplay and creature design certainly draw from the Souls-like approach popularized by From Software — for instance, you see the protagonist evading the terrible beasts' attacks while looking for an opportunity to leap in with their staff. 

The studio was formed by a group of former Tencent Games employees, according to prominent games industry analyst Daniel Ahmad. There's no confirmed release window as yet for Black Myth: Wukong. Game Science Studio said last year it was aiming to bring the game to PC (which is a sure bet given the DLSS support) and consoles by 2023.

While Apple may have released Siri before Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, in many ways its voice-activated assistant is the least advanced of the three. A lot of that has to do with the amount of data and training digital assistants need to understand different languages, dialects and speech patterns. In an effort to improve its digital assistant, Apple recently launched a study to collect speech data and feedback with the help of an app called Siri Speech Study.

“The Siri Speech Study app allows participants to send certain data to Apple for product improvement, as detailed in the informed consent form,” the company says in a listing spotted by TechCrunch. The software is available in the US, Canada, Germany, France, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand and Taiwan. According to data from analytics firm Sensor Tower, Apple uploaded Siri Speech Study to the App Store on August 9th, and recently updated the software on August 18th.

Apple isn’t being exactly secretive about the app, but nor is it advertising its existence either. You can’t find the software by searching for it, nor is it listed as one of the apps published by Apple. Similarly, you can’t join the study simply by installing the software on your phone; you need an invite from Apple to participate. We've reached out to Apple for more information on the app. 

Notably, the app allows those involved to choose what Siri requests they send to the company. That's an important point. In 2019, The Guardian published a report that detailed an Apple program where third-party contractors listened to anonymized Siri recordings to analyze the assistant’s responses. A whistleblower told the outlet there had been “countless instances” where graders listened to private conversations, including some that involved criminal dealings and sexual encounters. Apple subsequently moved the program in-house, and switched to opt-in transcripts.

While Samsung redesigned the latest Galaxy Buds 2 with the budget-conscious in mind, the Galaxy Buds Pro are its complete-package wireless earbuds. They debuted in January and we found them to be Samsung's best wireless earbuds to date — but they're also the company's most expensive at $200. But B&H Photo has a limited-time sale going on right now that knocks 37 percent off the buds, bringing them down to $127. That's close to an all-time low and a great price on the most premium Samsung earbuds.

Buy Galaxy Buds Pro at B&H – $127

Samsung had many iterations of its earbuds before the Galaxy Buds Pro came along, and it took all previous criticism to hear when designing the Pros. They have a compact, comfortable design with an IPX7 waterproof rating, so you could use them while working out. Active noise-cancellation is solid, blocking out sounds from things like running dishwashers well, and Android users can download the companion mobile app to change noise-cancellation settings.

The mobile app also lets you do things like enable hands-free Bixby and disable voice detection, which will automatically lower the volume and switch to ambient sound mode when you're speaking. We were also impressed by the buds' sound quality — the 11mm woofer handles the low-end well and highs are crisp and punchy. The Galaxy Buds Pro also support 360 Audio, which is Samsung's equivalent to Apple's Spatial Audio on AirPods Pro.

As far as battery life goes, it's decent but nothing to write home about. You'll get roughly 18 hours of listening time out of the buds, and that includes the extra charges carried by its case. We do like that the case supports wireless charging, though, so you can sit them on any Qi pad in your home to get extra juice. These remains the most premium earbuds you can get from Samsung, and considering B&H's sale makes them more affordable than even the new Galaxy Buds 2, it's a solid buy if you want the best Samsung has to offer.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Back in March, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) published a report linking more than two-thirds of vaccine misinformation online to12 individuals. That statistic has been widely cited since, including by lawmakers and government officials, as proof that Facebook has failed to control lies about COVID-19 vaccines.

Now, five months later, Facebook says it has banned more than 36 accounts, groups, and Pages associated with these misinformation “superspreaders.” The company says it’s taken other actions to make other content associated with these individuals less visible, as well.

“We have also imposed penalties on nearly two dozen additional Pages, groups or accounts linked to these 12 people, like moving their posts lower in News Feed so fewer people see them or not recommending them to others,” Facebook said in a statement. “We’ve applied penalties to some of their website domains as well so any posts including their website content are moved lower in News Feed. Notably, some accounts associated with the group remain online, which Facebook says is because they are either “inactive,” not posting rule-breaking content or have only shared “a small amount” of such content.

Facebook has taken issue with the CCDH’s report since it was first published, disputing its methodology and its conclusion. In its latest statement, the social network said “there isn’t any evidence” to support the report’s claim that 73 percent of vaccine misinformation is linked to the group, which includes Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Joseph Mercola, Del Bigtree and other prominent anti-vaccine activists. Yet the report has become a headache for the company as it was cited by the US Surgeon General last month in a health advisory warning the public of vaccine misinformation online. Overall, the company has removed around 3,000 groups, pages and accounts for repeatedly breaking its rules against COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation during the pandemic, though the company still hasn’t shared stats on how often such misinformation is being viewed.

In a statement, CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed said that Facebook had “grossly misrepresented” the research. “Facebook has grossly misrepresented CCDH and Anti-Vax Watch's research while continuing to withhold the data that show how many of its users have been exposed to disinformation fueling vaccine hesitancy. CCDH and Anti-Vax Watch continue to be fully transparent about their methodologies, which rely on publicly available tools for tracking audience and content reach.”

Netflix has started the process of supporting spatial audio on its iOS app, according to 9to5Mac. Following Reddit reports, a spokesperson for the company told the outlet it recently began a slow rollout of the feature to its iOS users. To take advantage, you’ll need a pair of AirPods Pro or AirPods Max, as well as an iPhone or iPad with iOS 14 installed on the device. The toggle to enable the feature is located in the Control Center. As this is a slow rollout, you may not see the toggle even if you have the latest version of Netflix installed on your iPhone or iPad.

Spatial audio uses head-tracking to widen the soundstage of a movie or TV show and make it feel like the entire room you’re in is being filled with sound. The result is a more immersive experience. Netflix is a bit late to support spatial audio. Some of the more popular apps where you could use the feature before today include Disney+, HBO Max and Peacock. Still, there are just as many platforms where it’s not available. More notable examples include YouTube and Amazon Prime Video, making this a significant milestone for the feature all the same.

Twitter is working to make Spaces more discoverable. On Wednesday, the company announced an update to its API v2 that will allow developers to search for live and scheduled Spaces using criteria like user IDs and keywords. “With the Spaces lookup and Spaces search endpoints, we hope to enable developers to build tools and solutions that help people on (and off) Twitter find interesting and relevant Spaces more easily,” the company said in a blog post.

As The Verge points out, it sounds like the new API functionality won’t allow third-party apps to let you host and listen to Spaces outside of the main app, but what will do is help make the audio rooms easier to find. After opening up the app to more of its users in May, Twitter has been quick to iterate on the app, adding features like support for co-hosting and voice manipulation. Clearly the company sees Spaces as an important part of its future.

Researchers from Italy have created a robot that could one day allow diabetes patients to get a dose of insulin without any needles. PILLSID involves two separate parts. One component is an internal insulin dispenser that a doctor would surgically implant in your abdomen. The other is a magnetic capsule loaded with the hormone.

Anytime you need to refill the dispenser, you take one of the pills, and it travels down your digestive system until it reaches the point where the device is implanted near your small intestine. Using the power of magnets, the device rotates the capsule into position and then punctures it with a retractable needle and pumps the refill of insulin into a reservoir. The cool thing here is that the dispenser charges wirelessly, limiting the number of interventions a doctor needs to maintain the device. Once the capsule is empty, it continues its trip down your digestive system until you eventually poop it out. Good times.

On the surface, the system may sound scary, but in a lot of ways, it’s preferable to many of the current tools you can use as a type 1 diabetes patient to regulate your blood sugar levels. Insulin pumps, for instance, involve a tube or needle that you need to self-administer. One jab might not be so bad, but some people need to get multiple injections per day. "Maybe it's scary to think about a docking station inside the body, but it worked," Arianna Menciassi, one of the co-authors of the study, told IEEE Spectrum. Unintuitively, this is a much less intrusive system, and it has the potential to be useful for administering other life-saving drugs.

In a test involving three diabetic pigs, the research team found the system could successfully manage their insulin levels for several hours. In some instances, they found bodily fluids from the pigs would leak into the robot. So as a next step, the team is working on sealing the device better.

While it will likely be some time before PILLSID makes its way to hospitals, devices that attend to your medical needs from inside your body are likely to become more and more common. In 2016, for instance, MIT showed off an origami robot that can pick up objects from inside your intestine.

The US crackdown on flavored e-cigarettes might soon reach the federal government. A New York-led coalition of 31 states and territories is pressuring the Food and Drug Administration to regulate flavored e-cigarettes. The group wants to not only ban e-cigs with "youth-appealing" flavors like candy, mint and menthol, but to limit nicotine levels and restrict marketing efforts aimed at kids.

The coalition is hoping to thwart what it calls a "youth nicotine epidemic." About 19.6 percent of high school students from 2020 said they'd used e-cigarettes at least once in the past 30 days, according to a study published in the National Library of Medicine. The alliance also pointed to the effects of nicotine on kids' brains, including higher chances of addiction as well as mental health issues and poisoning.

The pressure campaign follows high-profile action against e-cigarettes at the state level, particularly in New York. The state not only banned flavored cigarettes in late 2019, but sued Juul (where tobacco giant Altria is a minority investor) for "deceptive and misleading" marketing that contributed to a youth vaping crisis. We've asked Juul for comment on this latest action.

There's a chance the states could get more than they were hoping for when the FDA will decide whether or not to ban e-cigs and oral nicotine starting on September 9th. Even if this doesn't lead to an extensive ban, though, the coalition's sought-after measures could significantly limit the reach of e-cig technology across the US.

When Samsung introduced the original Galaxy Z Flip in 2020, it surprised us all with a “one last thing.” The company revealed special editions of the Flip, Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Watch styled by American designer Thom Browne. Since then, every foldable Samsung has launched has come in a special Thom Browne (TB) version. Just 3,500 units of these limited edition bundles are available each time, and according to Browne, “they sell out supposedly in minutes.”

This year, Samsung is offering the Thom Browne bundles of the Fold 3 and Flip 3 for $3,449 and $2,349 respectively. Each box comes with TB-themed versions of the foldable, Buds 2, Galaxy Watch 4, wireless charger trio and a selection of cases and straps. The regular Fold 3, Buds 2, Watch 4 and wireless charger cost $1,799, $150, $250 and $80 respectively, bringing the total to about $2,280, not including the cases and straps. So you’re paying about $1,000 more for the Thom Browne aesthetic.

The packaging for the special edition Fold 3 bundle is extravagant. Each device has its own labelled container and sits in slots carved out inside a giant box. Thankfully, most of the packaging is paper, so I didn’t feel too guilty about the environmental impact. A drawer beneath the devices holds all the accessories, like a pair of TB-themed straps for the watch, a case for the Fold 3 and covers for the Buds 2’s charging case. There’s also a special S Pen Pro in the Fold bundle that’s white with blue and red stripes on the inside.

All the devices have Thom Browne branding on them, and this year’s set features the designer’s signature stripes in red, white and blue. It’s a deliberate selection of colors meant to be an homage to American sportswear, but also acknowledge that it’s an Olympic year.

“The reference to the red, white and blue, and specifically the white with the red trim felt very reminiscent of old Olympics and old Olympics uniforms,” Browne told Engadget. “I love sports, I love athletes, I’ve been so inspired by athletes at that level,” he said. (He’s a swimmer, in case you were wondering. And while we’re in a parenthetical, I’m a thrower.)

But the stripe-centric design and familiar color scheme have always been a part of the Samsung bundles, which Browne said is “something that feels very signature to me.” He’s made sure to keep recognizable elements from his brand on them, because he felt people “would have been disappointed if it were to be approached any differently.”

Not only does the motif appear on the Galaxy devices’ externally, the Fold 3 and Watch 4 also have custom wallpapers in TB themes. The default background on the special edition Fold is covered in the designer’s signature gray-and-white vertical lines with a small postage stamp-esque square in the middle as the clock widget. At the top center of the screen is a small band of the red-white-and-blue pattern that’s reminiscent of a fabric bookmark. System icons and fonts match the overall theme as well.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

Though there aren’t any differences in size between the TB edition devices and their standard counterparts, the shiny metal finish on the branded Fold and Watch make them feel sleeker somehow. I also vastly prefer the Thom Browne watch straps to Samsung’s boring, chunky versions. And though there isn’t much room on the buds for the company to add design flourishes, I love that it still managed to paint little strips of red-white-and-blue on each headphone. Though in that shape, they look like color-reversed French flags.

Now that the Thom Browne versions of these devices are in their third iteration, the designer is pretty familiar with the process of coming up with them. Each edition has taken about a year to create, and Browne said that the “most important thing for these collaborations is that you see the best from both parties.”

For Browne, the partnership has been a “really good, very supportive, mutually respectful relationship” that’s lasted over 15 years. Though the special edition foldables have only been around for about two years, Samsung has carried his collections in its stores in the past. But the opportunity to create a Thom Browne version of the original Z Flip was intriguing. Browne said the first phone he ever had was a flip phone, so “it was interesting to me, the idea of that iconic phone being reintroduced, yet, making it a very relevant device for today.”

Samsung

Though Browne says Samsung has never put any limits on how he wanted to approach his designs for the devices, something he would make if anything was possible would be a phone made from pure gold. “That would be a challenge that I would like to give to Samsung.”

Perhaps because of how content he is with the partnership, Browne said he wouldn’t want to work with any other company in this field. He’s not thinking of making a Thom Browne smartwatch, though he’s open to considering other Samsung products.

Ultimately, the biggest benefit for him is probably visibility. “I hope, in a way, that the phone introduces a lot of new people to the world of Thom Browne.”

Tesla could face further federal scrutiny over its Autopilot feature. Senators Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal have called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the company over "misleading advertising and marketing" of the Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) systems.

"Tesla and [CEO Elon] Musk’s repeated overstatements of their vehicle’s capabilities — despite clear and frequent warnings — demonstrate a deeply concerning disregard for the safety of those on the road and require real accountability," the senators wrote in their letter to FTC chair Lina Khan. "Their claims put Tesla drivers — and all of the travelling public — at risk of serious injury or death." It's not yet clear whether the FTC will heed the senators' call and investigate the company.

Along with several examples of Tesla and Musk seemingly overselling Autopilot and FSD functions, Markey and Blumenthal cited an investigation that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened this week. The agency is looking into a string of collisions between Tesla vehicles and parked emergency vehicles, one of which resulted in someone's death. The NHTSA said the Tesla vehicles in question all had Autopilot or Traffic Aware Cruise Control switched on when the crashes occurred.

Despite the name, FSD (for which Tesla charges $10,000 when a car is purchased) doesn't yet make vehicles fully autonomous. FSD, which is in beta, is currently an advanced driver assistance feature that handles maneuvers such as automatic parking, lane changing and summoning the vehicle to a nearby location. It's a Level 2 autonomous driving system, whereas full self-driving capability with no human supervision required is Level 5. Tesla notes on its website that "Autopilot does not turn a Tesla into a self-driving car nor does it make a car autonomous."

Musk has made many claims over the years about Tesla being close to offering fully autonomous capabilities. In a January earnings call, Musk said he was "highly confident the car will be able to drive itself with reliability in excess of human this year." However, a Tesla engineer later suggested the company was a long way off from rolling out Level 5 functionality.

The National Transportation Safety Board previously accused Tesla of overselling Autopilot's capabilities. In May, reports suggested the California Department of Motor Vehicles was looking into Musk's FSD claims. The names of the Autopilot and FSD features have been criticized for potentially leading drivers to overestimate their capabilities. Markey is among those who called on Tesla to change the name of Autopilot.

Back in January Poly Effects unveiled Hector: a virtual modular synth designed to live inside your physical modular synth. Now the Eurorack sibling of the Beebo is finally shipping to customers eager to start building the synth modules of their dreams on an easy to use touchscreen.

Inside Hector is a collection of over 100 different modules that you can combine and connect to create your own synth voices, modulation sources or effects and then use them with your existing Eurorack setup. The beauty here is that the Hector can be whatever you want it to be: a boring utility module like a mixer or an attenuator, an emulation of a Mutable Instruments oscillator or a crazy convolution reverb built around the sound of a bong rip. 

The Hector itself is a 30 HP unit with six ins and eight outs, all of which can be used either for audio or control voltage (CV). There's also MIDI in and out via 3.5mm TRS jacks and USB. 

Poly Effects

The Hector runs basically the same firmware as the Beebo, so everything I said was great about that pedal when I reviewed it still stands. Plus, Poly Effects has made some big improvements in the months since. For one, there are a few new modules, including a proper looper which is something I had dinged it for lacking. Additionally responsiveness has been improved and there a bunch of tiny bug fixes as well. And, since they run the same software you can use existing Beebo presets on the Hector. 

There are some differences worth noting though: While the Beebo had two encoders and a trio of footswitches the only controls for the Hector are on the touchscreen. If you want to take more control you'll need to hook up an external controller. 

If you didn't preorder a Hector you'll be in for a bit of a wait, though. Batches one and two are sold out and the third one isn't expected to ship for about three weeks. But you can still secure yourself a future Hector for $599 over at the Poly Effects site. 

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Facebook has taken a much tougher stance on health misinformation than it has in the past, removing millions of posts for sharing misinformation. Now, we know just how many accounts, groups and pages have been banned from the platform for repeatedly breaking those rules: 3,000.

Facebook shared the stat as part of its community standards enforcement report, which measures how the company enforces its rules. The number may seem low given the vast amount of misinformation on Facebook about the pandemic and the vaccines.The company also said that more than 20 million pieces of content have been removed and more than 190 million have warning labels between the start of the pandemic in 2020 and this past June.

But the relatively low number of bans — just 3,0000 — tracks with findings by researchers who say that just a few individuals are responsible for the vast majority of vaccine mistruths on social media.

During a call with reporters, Facebook’s VP of Content Policy Monika Bickert, said the company has had to continually evolve its policies, and that it now removes 65 types of vaccine falsehoods, such as posts saying COVID-19 shots cause magnetism. She also noted that some groups have used “coded language” to try to evade the company’s detection, which can pose a challenge.

Facebook’s handling of vaccine misinformation has been in the spotlight in recent months as government officials, including President Joe Biden, have said Facebook should do more to counter mistruths about the COVID-19 vaccines. On its part, Facebook says that vaccine hesitancy has declined by 50 percent in the US, according to its surveys, and that its COVID-19 Information Center has reached 2 billion people.

Throughout this week, Roku is adding 17 new content sources to the Roku Channel. With the expansion, you can now access TV shows and movies from more than 200 different sources. Some of the more notable additions include IGN, CBC News and AccuWeather, as well as a linear channel devoted exclusively to the Tribeca Film Festival.

At launch, the latter includes 114 movies from the festival’s back catalog, with new films to come every 30 days. The channel will also feature original content from Tribeca Studios. While it won’t replace the in-person event, its addition is timely given how hard it’s been to make it out to a movie theater in the last year and a half.

“The demand for free, quality programming continues to be of importance to our streamers,” said Ashley Hovey, director of the Roku Channel. “We’ve seen linear streaming explode over the last year, and we’re very excited to offer an all-new lineup of great channels with some of the most-recognized franchises to our users.”

If you need a refresher, the Roku Channel is a free way to watch ad-supported video content on your Roku device or TV. Last September, the company released standalone Android and iOS apps, making the platform even more accessible.

Facebook really wants people to know that it’s most popular content isn’t political and it’s releasing a new report to try to prove it. The social network released its first-ever “Widely Viewed Content Report,” documenting what it claims is the most-viewed content on its platform during the second quarter of 2021 in the United States.

The report is Facebook’s rebuttal to commonly cited data that indicates posts from polarizing figures are consistently among the best-performing on the platform. Data from Facebook-owned CrowdTangle, an analytics platform, commonly shows posts from conservative figures and outlets like Newsmax, Fox News, Ben Shapiro and Dan Bongino get the most engagement.

Notably, none of those names appear in Facebook’s latest report, which included lists of top-performing domains, pages and specific public posts it said attracted the most eyeballs. Among the top domains were YouTube, Amazon, Unicef, GoFundMe, Spotify and TikTok. The most widely-viewed links included a website for an organization associated with former Green Bay Packers football players. That page drew more than 87 million viewers, according to Facebook. An online storefront for CBD products was #2 on the list, with 72 million views. A cat GIF from Tumblr with just over 49 million views was also on the list.

Facebook

When it comes to the most viewed public pages, Facebook’s list included Unicef, as well as animal site The Dodo, LADbible, and Sassy Media and other publishers that have built media companies off of viral Facebook content. Notably, most of the content Facebook put forward in its report didn’t appear to be overtly political. "Many of the most-viewed Pages focused on sharing content about pets, cooking, family, and relatable viral content," Facebook wrote in a statement.

Interestingly, the most-viewed individual posts were all a collection of text-based memes, encouraging users to answer light-hearted (and mostly boring) questions, like what foods they don't like. The top such post was a year-old image challenging users to find three words hidden in a jumble of letters. The posts had more than 80 million views, according to Facebook.

Facebook

It’s not the first time Facebook has tried to counter perceptions that its most popular content is polarizing or political. The company says it will release the “widely viewed content” report on a regular basis to help people track what type of content is being seen the most.

“There's a few gaps in the data that's being used today, and the narrative that has emerged is quite simply wrong,” Facebook's VP of Integrity, Guy Rosen, said during a call with reporters. “CrowdTangle is focused on interaction, CrowdTangle only has a limited set of certain pages, groups, and accounts. We are creating a report that provides a broad view and … an accurate representation of what people’s experiences actually are on our platform.”

Notably, the report only looked at public posts, and didn't include data around posts that may have used non-public privacy settings. The company said it would evaluate how it gathers and shares information for future reports. The company also said that more than half of posts that users see in their News feeds comes from their family and friends, not from pages or groups they follow. Mark Zuckerberg said in January, following the election and the January 6th insurrection, that he wanted to make News Feeds less political.