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Roku discounts its streaming devices ahead of Father’s Day

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Roku is hoping that you’ll buy a media streaming device for Father’s Day, and it’s running a sale on its players to match. Retailers like Amazon and Best Buy are selling Roku’s lineup significantly below their official prices, and it might be tempting if the fatherly figure in your life could stand a living room upgrade.

Roku Ultra

The steepest discount is for Roku’s flagship media hub, the Ultra (pictured up top). You can find it at Amazon for $80 instead of the normal $100, while Best Buy is carrying it for the same price. The appeal, as you might imagine, is that it does seemingly everything. On top of 4K and HDR playback, you’ll get a voice remote with personal shortcuts, fast channel launching, Ethernet networking, USB (for local playback) and microSD (for channel expansion).

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US lets companies work with Huawei on 5G standards

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The US is bending its hardline stance on Huawei… if only very slightly. The Commerce Department has instituted a rule allowing American companies to participate in developing standards where Huawei is involved, such as 5G wireless, AI and self-driving cars. Not surprisingly, the move has its roots in pride and pragmatism. The US doesn’t want to “cede leadership in global innovation” by sitting out important decisions on future technology, according to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

Reuters noted that the change had been drafted in May, but was waiting for approval.

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The 2021 Oscars are delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic

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The 2021 Oscars have been postponed for two months to April 25th, 2021, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today. The coronavirus pandemic was cited as the reason for the date change. As a result, movies released as late as February 28, 2021 will be eligible for an award.

This means Netflix, Amazon and Hulu have a little extra time to release a film that could be nominated for a 2021 Oscar. Previous nominees and winners, like Roma, Marriage Story and Manchester by the Sea, were distributed by streaming sites New streaming services like Disney+ and Apple TV+ could also find themselves with nominees, though both services are less focused on original feature films than their competitors.

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Six former eBay employees charged in a bizarre cyberstalking scheme

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According to the Department of Justice, in 2019, after the newsletter published an article about litigation involving eBay, executive leadership sent messages that it was time to “take down” the newsletter’s editor. That kicked off a three-part harassment campaign. First, the former employees began sending ominous items to the newsletter editor and her husband, who served as publisher. They also sent porn addressed to the editor to neighboring homes, allegedly harassed the couple on Twitter and planned to dox them. 

According to the DOJ a few of the former employees registered for a software development conference in Boston and then drove to the victims’ home in nearby Natick, Massachusetts. They allegedly intended to break into the victims’ garage and install a GPS tracking device on their car, but the victims noticed the surveillance and notified the Natick police. The eBay employees allegedly tried to interfere with the investigation that followed.

In a statement published today, eBay says it was notified by law enforcement of suspicious behavior in August 2019 and began its own investigation. By September 2019, it terminated all involved employees, including its former chief communications officer. eBay’s former CEO Devin Wenig left the company the same month.

“The internal investigation found that, while Mr. Wenig’s communications were inappropriate, there was no evidence that he knew in advance about or authorized the actions that were later directed toward the blogger and her husband,” eBay said. “However, as the Company previously announced, there were a number of considerations leading to his departure from the Company.”

The charges would be significant if they incriminated a group of rogue mid-level staffers, but the fact that the cyberstalking and harassment was allegedly carried out by senior-level staff make the charges that much more disturbing.

“eBay does not tolerate this kind of behavior,” the company said in its statement. “eBay apologizes to the affected individuals and is sorry that they were subjected to this.

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T-Mobile outage finally ends after more than twelve hours (updated)

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While there were also smaller outage report spikes for Sprint (which has merged with T-Mobile), AT&T, Verizon (Engadget’s parent company) and US Cellular, the issue seems to be only on T-Mobile’s side. Spokespeople for AT&T and Verizon told Engadget their networks are working just fine.

According to Mike Murphy of Protocol, the spikes for other providers may have been caused by people on other networks calling T-Mobile phones, failing to get through and believing the problem was on their end. The outage maps for each provider on Down Detector seem to back up that notion, as the hotspots are in similar parts of the country.

It’s not clear as yet exactly how widespread these issues are, what caused them and when they might be resolved. Engadget has contacted all of the affected companies for comment.

Update (5:49 PM ET): T-Mobile’s customer service account on Twitter confirmed the problem, calling it a “widespread routing issue” and recommending subscribers try third-party services like FaceTime or Signal in the meantime.

Update (6/16 12:25 AM ET): The outage is still unresolved, however T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert has issued a statement saying “We are recovering from this now but it may still take several more hours before customer calling and texting is fully recovered…This is an IP traffic related issue that has created significant capacity issues in the network core throughout the day. Data services have been working throughout the day and customers have been using services like FaceTime, iMessage, Google Meet, Google Duo, Zoom, Skype and others to connect.”

The CEO confirmed the issue has been going on since shortly after noon ET, and with a national issue stretching more than twelve hours, it has attracted quite a bit of attention. That includes the eye of FCC chair Ajit Pai, who tweeted “The FCC is launching an investigation. We’re demanding answers—and so are American consumers.”

Update (6/16 1:22 AM ET): According to T-Mobile president of technology Neville Ray, “Voice and text services are now restored.”



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‘Fortnite’ is flooding | Engadget

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Then things really got wild. Players teleported back and forth between the map and an office location, where the view switched to first person. There were several folders on the desk with a “Top Secret” label on them. When players finally returned to the island, they were surrounded by that huge water barrier. Moments later, they were back on the battle bus and could drop into a small area to duke it out with others.

Epic noted beforehand that the event would have a limited capacity, which of course it hit. Some players reported problems when they tried to launch any games from the Epic Games Store, which might have been a result of the event’s popularity. Those who couldn’t make it into the game for the Device had to watch livestreams instead, and plenty of folks did just that.

The flooded Fortnite map after the Device event

Epic Games (via Slayy on Twitch)

At one point, more than 2.3 million people were checking it out on Twitch alone. That’d shatter the record for concurrent viewers for any game on Twitch. On its beta launch day, Valorant got close to beating the then-record holder, the 2019 League of Legends World Championship (1.74 million). As for YouTube? The concurrent viewership figure was more like 6.1 million.

The event left some things up in the air, such as what other changes are in store for the game and the map — The Agency was destroyed during the event, for one thing. We’ll find out more in a couple of days, as the next season is set to start on Wednesday. Don’t forget your snorkel.



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Apple throws in free AirPods when you buy a Mac for college

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The deal applies to the purchase of a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, iMac Pro, iPad Pro or iPad Air. You can upgrade to AirPods with a wireless charging case for an additional $40, or if you’d rather have the AirPods Pro, those are available for an extra $90. Apple’s back to school promotions change every year, and this year’s offer is a great deal for anyone who’s wanted AirPods and who needs a new Mac or iPad for the upcoming semester. 

We gave the AirPods a score of 80 when we reviewed them a few years ago. They’re easy to set up, Siri and calling work well and they have a solid battery life. They could come in especially handy if you’re participating in video calls, conferences and classes. We did score the AirPods Pro slightly higher (87) for improved audio, a comfortable fit, refined design and an IPX4 rating that means they’re water resistant, so it may be worth spending an extra $90 to upgrade.

Some of Apple’s other back-to-school discounts include education pricing on accessories like the Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard. Plus, you’ll get one year of Apple TV+ for free and three free months of Apple Music when you purchase an Apple device.

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



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Apple’s 10.2-inch iPad is back on sale for $250

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The 128GB model is also on sale. Currently, it’s $100 off, making it $330 instead of $430. When the 10.2-inch iPad was on sale in May, the 128GB model was only $30 off. So if you feel like the 32GB model isn’t enough for your needs, this is the time to grab the 128GB variant. If you want to buy the iPad in a particular color, your best bet is to purchase it from Best Buy; Target only has the 32GB model in space gray and gold, and the 128GB model in space gray.   

If you don’t mind its dated design, there’s a lot to like about Apple’s entry-level iPad. Engadget’s Chris Velazco gave the tablet a score of 86. It features a bright and colorful display, a compelling ecosystem of first- and third-party apps and about 10 hours of battery life on a single charge. It’s not the fastest iPad in Apple’s lineup, but it should have more than enough computing power for most people. All of those same traits make into something a dad would more than likely appreciate as a Father’s Day gift. But even if all you’re doing is shopping for yourself, it’s hard to go with Apple’s latest entry-level iPad.

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



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The ‘Fortnite’ doomsday event starts at 2PM ET

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Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2 is finally coming to an end after weeks of delays, and you’ll get to see it go out with a bang — possibly literally. The Device “doomsday” event is now slated to take place in the game at 2PM Eastern across all the platforms where Fortnite is available. As the developer warns, though, room is “limited.” You’ll want to arrive ahead of time, and Epic recommends showing up at least 30 minutes in advance.

If you can’t hop in yourself, you’ll likely find many streamers on Twitch or Mixer (such as DrLupo and Ninja) broadcasting the event.



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‘Star Wars: Squadrons’ will let you pilot an X-wing in VR

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Squadrons takes place after Return of the Jedi, and there’ll be both a single-player campaign and multiplayer. The trailer is more about setting the tone and giving you an idea of what’s in store, rather than delving too heavily into the features, but it sure does look pretty.

What we do know so far is that the online modes include five vs. five dogfights and Fleet Battles, in which you’ll work with your teammates to take down the enemy flagship. You’ll prepare for missions with the rest of your squadron in a briefing room before hopping into your starfighter and going into battle. Squadrons will feature familiar locations and brand new ones, including Yavin Prime and the moon of Galitan. EA suggests that team composition will be important too.

The single-player campaign takes place after the Battle of Endor and the destruction of the Death Star II. You’ll swap between the perspectives of two pilots: one from the New Republic’s heroic Vanguard Squadron and the other representing the Empire’s Titan Squadron. Both pilots are customizable and the campaign will feature an array of original characters. You might also spot cameos from some familiar faces.

Star Wars: Squadron

EA Motive

One option you’ll have at your disposal in battle is to divert power between your ship’s different systems. You’ll be able to pilot a bunch of different Imperial and Rebel starfighters (including X-wings and TIE fighters), which you’ll be able to modify.

Although there are cosmetics and gameplay modifiers — such as weapons, hulls, engines and shields — EA said you’ll be able to earn all of these through gameplay alone. The publisher faced a firestorm over how it initially handled loot boxes in Battlefront II, with many criticizing it for a system that would have essentially paywalled certain upgrades.

Squadrons will be released on October 2nd and it’ll cost $39.99. If you’re an EA Access or Origin Access Basic member, you’ll be able to play 10 hours of Squadrons at launch, and you’ll save 10 percent off the retail price if you buy it. Origin Access Premier subscribers will get full access to the game on PC. Meanwhile, PS4 players can claim some bonus cosmetics if they pre-order.

You can expect to learn plenty more about Star Wars: Squadrons ahead of the release date. EA will keep the ball rolling with a gameplay preview at EA Play this Thursday.



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