Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge The Steam Deck OLED, the best version of Valve’s gaming handheld with additional battery life, a slight increase to performance, and an eye-popping screen, can now be purchased refurbished for $110 less than it costs brand-new. Valve has just begun selling certified refurbished Steam Deck OLED models starting at $439 in the US, UK, Canada, and EU. That buys you the 512GB model with a glossy screen, while the 1TB anti-glare model can be had for $519 — less than the $549 you’d pay to get even the 512GB model brand-new. (The 1TB model normally costs $649.) Like my colleague Jay Peters just told me in Verge Slack, “$439 is a steal for the OLED.” Valve doesn’t currently have stock of refurbished LCD models, though they can be as cheap as $279. Happy Tuesday! We've officially added Steam Deck OLED to our Valve Certified Refurbished program today, and refurbished Steam Deck OLED units are now available for sale in the US, Canada, UK, and EU. Learn more here: store.steampowered.com/sale/steamde...— Steam Deck (@steamdeck.com) 2024-12-10T23:01:42.824Z Like Valve’s refurbished versions of the original LCD model, which has a slightly smaller and slower screen, Valve says it gives each unit “an extensive examination involving over 100 tests at one of Valve’s facilities,” including a battery health check, and Valve says they’ll “meet or even exceed the performance standards” of brand-new units. They each come with a carrying case, refurbished power supply, and one-year warranty — but they may have “minor cosmetic blemishes.” Valve introduced the Steam Deck OLED in November 2023, and a year later, it’s still one of the very best ways to play PC games on the go. No other handheld has surpassed its ease of use, though the Asus ROG Ally X did finally meet or beat it in battery life while offering better performance. While lots of other Windows handhelds are on the way, and maybe even some other intriguing hardware from Valve, the company’s been pretty clear it won’t release a new Steam Deck soon — not till newer chips let it offer a big leap in performance without sacrificing battery life.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge WP Engine just won a preliminary injunction against WordPress parent company Automattic. On Tuesday, a California District Court judge ordered Automattic to stop blocking WP Engine’s access to WordPress.org resources and interfering with its plugins. The preliminary injunction comes after WP Engine, a third-party WordPress hosting service, filed a lawsuit that accused Automattic and its CEO, Matt Mullenweg, of “multiple forms of immediate irreparable harm.” It later asked the court to stop Mullenweg from restricting WP Engine’s access to WordPress.org. Mullenweg waged a public campaign against WP Engine in September, accusing the service of misusing the WordPress trademark and not contributing enough to the WordPress community. After blocking WP Engine from WordPress.org’s servers, Automattic took control of WP Engine’s ACF Plugin. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín found merit in WP Engine’s claims that Automattic’s actions harmed business relationships, saying Mullenweg’s “conduct is designed to induce breach or disruption.” As for Automattic’s argument that blamed WP Engine for relying on WordPress.org to power its business, Judge Martínez-Olguín didn’t find it very compelling. “While Defendants characterize WPEngine’s harm as self-imposed because it built its business around a website ‘that it had no contractual right to use...’ Defendants’ role in helping that harm materialize through their recent targeted actions toward WPEngine, and no other competitor, cannot be ignored,” the ruling states. The Verge reached out to Automattic and WP Engine with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back. The ruling found the WP Engine showed it will suffer irreparable harm without injunctive relief, while also impacting members of the WordPress community. Under the preliminary injunction, Automattic will have to take down the list of companies it displayed on a site it created to track outgoing WP Engine customers, as well as remove the checkbox that asks WordPress users to verify they’re not affiliated with WP Engine when logging in.

In May, Spotify announced it would be killing off Car Thing, its first-ever hardware product. As of December 9th, the Car Things have been officially discontinued and are no longer operational. If you own a Car Thing, you can't use it ever again (officially). The good news is that you can get a full refund for your purchase, but you'll need to act fast. According to Spotify's support site, you need to contact customer service by January 14, 2025 to get a refund for your Car Thing. First, visit this page on Spotify's website and click "Start messaging" to start a conversation with one of Spotify's customer service bots. Type in "Car Thing refund" and send the message. At this point, the bot will remind you that Car Thing has been discontinued and ask if you want to check to see if you're eligible for a refund. Click the "Yes" button. Up next, you will need to send a picture of your order details or proof of payment using the file widget on the bottom left corner of the chat box. I never actually ordered a Car Thing, but if you did, I hope you kept some form of receipt from your purchase. Per Reddit (via The Verge), here's what the Car Thing says if you try to use it now: Car Thing is discontinued and no longer operational. Thank you for being on this journey with us, safe travels. For more information, visit carthing.com. Contact customer service by no later than January 14th, 2025 to discuss your refund options. Hopefully, if Spotify attempts another hardware product, it comes with a long-term plan. Don't Miss: Opera and Spotify partner to bring seamless music streaming to your browser The post This is your last chance to get a refund for Spotify’s Car Thing appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Today’s deals: $20 Waterproof Bluetooth speaker, $999 M3 MacBook Air, Duracell batteries, Cosori air fryer, more Cyber Week deals: $329 Apple Watch S10, $50 off Microsoft Office 2024, $374 PS5 Slim, Vitamix blenders, more Cyber Week deals: $180 iPhone SE 3, $199 Bose QC headphones, $29 Roku Stick 4K, $279 Google Nest WiFi Pro, more Fire TV Sticks start at $15 with these unreal Cyber Monday deals

Democrats on Capitol Hill are demanding Dr. Mehmet Oz provide answers regarding his past support for "Medicare privatization," or doing away with traditional Medicare and enrolling all seniors into Medicare Advantage plans.

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