Apple’s second-gen earbuds are down to $69.99, which is a price we’ve seen only a handful of times. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Amazon Prime Day brought discounts on a whole swath of Apple products, from iPads and AirTags to the latest 15-inch MacBook Air. We also saw deals across Apple’s entire earbuds lineup — including a terrific deal on the second-gen AirPods, which quickly sold out at Amazon. Luckily, if you missed it the first time around, Apple’s entry-level earbuds are once again on sale at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy for $69.99 ($60 off), effectively matching their lowest price to date. Admittedly, Apple’s second-gen earbuds can’t rival the latest AirPods Pro with USB-C or even the third-gen AirPods, for that matter. However, the vanilla buds do offer excellent wireless performance and reliable battery life, allowing you to eke out five hours of music... Continue reading…

Image: Sega For almost 20 years, Nintendo and Sega have released Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games to coincide with the international sporting event. But now, according to a report in Eurogamer, that tradition is at an end. In 2020, the IOC made the decision to not renew the game’s licensing deal, ending a run of games that’s covered most Summer and Winter Olympic games since 2007. “Basically the IOC wanted to bring [the licensing] back to themselves internally and look at other partners so they would get more money,” Lee Cocker, a developer who worked on the Mario & Sonic franchise, told Eurogamer. Strangely though, those “other partners” are NFTs and esports — products that are not currently known for their money-making possibilities. To... Continue reading…

Image: Android Headlines The Pixel Watch 3 looks like it will have a larger screen than the Watch 2, thanks to thinner bezels. Leaked marketing materials shared by Android Headlines suggest that the 41mm Pixel Watch 3 will offer 10 percent more screen than the Watch 2 in the same amount of space. The Pixel Watch 3 could also have a brighter display — up to 2,000 nits, double the peak brightness of the Pixel 2 — as well as 20 percent faster charging. The spec sheet, if legitimate, confirms the previously leaked 45mm Watch, and states that both sizes will have up to 24 hours of battery life with always-on display enabled, or up to 36 hours with a new Battery Saver mode. This could mean that the Pixel Watch 3 won’t use the “hybrid interface” rolled out in WearOS 4,... Continue reading…

Your Instagram app is about to get another healthy (or unhealthy, depending on how you look at it) dose of generative AI. Meta wants to let anyone create AI avatars that have the ability to chat with users. If the concept sounds familiar, it's because we're looking at Meta's version of OpenAI's custom GPTs. Also, we knew it was coming. Any Instagram user can create custom AI bots with no coding required. You can customize the AI avatars to interact with fans on specific topics to help manage your large fanbase. You can also create custom Instagram AI chatbots that only talk to you about specific subjects. While I can see the potential benefits of making your own custom chatbots, the fact that Meta is bringing them to Instagram is a little worrying. There are countless concerns about user privacy in the early age of AI, with companies gobbling up all the data they can. Add to that Meta's history of shady privacy practices, and you'll understand my worries. After all, not even Apple wanted to add Meta AI to Apple Intelligence because of privacy concerns. If none of that worries you, then Instagram AI Studio might be exactly what you need to grow your online business or have more custom chatbots to talk to. Continue reading... The post Instagram users, get ready for an onslaught of AI avatars appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Today’s deals: $179 AirPods Pro 2, $40 foldable camera drone, $899 M3 MacBook Air, $16 wireless charger, more Amazon gift card deals, offers & coupons 2024: Get $450+ free Today’s deals: $400 off Ampace power station, $50 off Southwest Airlines tickets, $50 Ninja blender, more Exclusive Prime Day deal: Get an ultra-compact GEEKOM A5 Mini PC for only $339

A patient with ALS in the United States is the first person to use Apple Vision Pro with an implantable brain-computer interface. Apple's spatial computer, which already offered breakthrough hand and voice experiences, now goes a step further by enabling brain control. Brain-controlled commands replace the need for hand gestures for people with paralysis. The news was shared by Synchron, a brain-computer interface (BCI) company. The company says that Mark, a 64-year-old man with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), successfully used his thoughts to control the cursor on Apple Vision Pro while he played Solitaire, watched Apple TV, and sent text messages using the Synchron brain-computer interface. As the company explains, Mark would be unable to use Apple Vision Pro without this technology due to the loss of function of his upper limbs. The man shared his thoughts about trying Vision Pro for the first time as well. “This is pretty cool, I've been wanting to try this for a while now,” Mark said in reaction to using his BCI to watch a video on the Vision Pro. “It's like watching it in the theater, it really comes to life. Using this type of enhanced reality is so impactful and I can imagine it would be for others in my position or others who have lost the ability to engage in their day-to-day life. It can transport you to places you never thought you’d see or experience again.” Image source: Synchron According to Synchron's CEO and founder, Tom Oxley, BCI is a platform to "re-connect people with injury or disease" back to tech. "We are moving towards a new Bluetooth standard for Human Computer Interactions that don't require touch or speech." The Synchron BCI is implanted in the blood vessel on the surface of the motor cortex of the brain via the jugular vein through a minimally invasive endovascular procedure. Once implanted, it is designed to detect and wirelessly transmit motor intent out of the brain. It is intended to restore the capability of severely paralyzed people to control personal devices with hands-free interactions. Mark says the BCI was implanted in August 2023. Since then, he's been practicing different skills and functions twice a week. Even though Apple Vision Pro is a new device, he believes it was as simple as using his iPhone, iPad, and computer. Thanks to Apple's accessibility features, Synchron was able to pave the way to integrate its breakthrough technology with Cupertino's devices. At this moment, Synchron is preparing for large-scale clinical studies to expand its technology, as it has been implanted in six patients in the US and four in Australia. The company seeks approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to commercialize its tech. Besides this breakthrough use, Apple Vision Pro is also praised by the medical community as a key tool for surgeries. Don't Miss: Surgeons used Apple Vision Pro to help perform spinal surgery The post Revolutionary neurotechnology allows hands-free control of Apple Vision Pro appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Exclusive deal: GEEKOM Mini PC IT12 is 15% off in this post-Prime Day sale Today’s deals: Galaxy Z Flip 6 launch sale, $450 65-inch TV, gaming laptops, $60 cookware set, more All the best leftover Prime Day deals you can shop on Friday and this weekend Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales

Americans are evenly divided over how the United States should respond to the ongoing war in Ukraine, with Pew Research Associates poll respondents split over whether the U.S. has a responsibility to help the country defend against Russia's invasion.

There is "absolutely no doubt" in the FBI that former President Donald Trump was hit with a would-be assassin's bullet on July 13 during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate testified Tuesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Self-managed abortion attempts increased after the Supreme Court's June 2022 ruling to end Roe v. Wade, according to a new study released Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open.

Former President Donald Trump trails Vice President Kamala Harris by 4 points in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania, according to a poll released Tuesday.

The head of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah's operations center Muhsin Shukr survived an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut aimed at killing him on Tuesday, two senior security sources told Reuters.