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Wirecutter’s best deals – Jabra Elite 85h Bluetooth headphones drop to $200

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Jabra Elite 85h Bluetooth Headphones

headphones

Street price: $300; deal price: $200

Back down to $200 in all colors, this rare deal matches the lowest price we’ve seen on the Jabra Elite 85h. Not only is this a noteworthy drop in price for this Bluetooth headphones pick, but seeing all available colors on sale is pretty uncommon. If you’re interested in getting a pair for yourself (or as a gift), this deal is a great opportunity to do so.

In our guide to the best Bluetooth wireless headphones, the Jabra Elite 85h, with its great sound and design, is our top pick. Wirecutter Senior Staff Writer Lauren Dragan wrote, “There is an elegant simplicity to the design of the Jabra Elite 85h over-ear headphones, which may not sound like a big deal—unless you’re familiar with the myriad small annoyances present in most of the competition. Whereas other Bluetooth headphones can have confusing and fiddly buttons that often cause you to trigger the wrong task, the Elite 85h has straightforward controls and a painless pairing process across all device platforms. This pair works with the Amazon, Apple, and Google digital assistants, too. The sound quality is great for both music and phone calls, the headphones fit comfortably, and the set features a 36-hour battery life. Plus, you get passable noise cancellation and a two-year warranty against rain damage. Overall, the Jabra Elite 85h headphones embody ease of use, and they’re just plain enjoyable to pick up and wear. And their reasonable price means you won’t be afraid to use them every day.”

Instant Pot Duo 6-Quart Electric Pressure Cooker

instant pot

Street price: $80; deal price: $49

This is an excellent discount for this widely popular, electric pressure cooker pick. Easy to use and clean, our guide writers praise the Instant Pot Duo 6-Quart for its winning combination of price and performance. This matches the lowest previous price we’ve seen—it has a firm $80 street price so this is a good deal. Previously only available for Target REDcard holders, this deal is now available for everyone via Walmart.

Versatile and time-saving, the Instant Pot Duo 6-Quart is the top pick in our guide to the best electric pressure cooker. Wirecutter Senior Staff Writer Lesley Stockton wrote, “The Instant Pot Duo 6-Quart is our favorite electric pressure cooker because it offers the best combination of great performance, versatility, and price. Firing up the Duo is more intuitive than starting other cookers and it churns out delicious recipes like butter chicken, risotto, and brisket quickly. It’s one of the easiest cookers to clean, too. The Duo’s durable stainless steel pot will last longer than nonstick inserts, and replacement parts are readily available.”

headphones

Street price: $120; deal price: $80

If you’re in the market for a new wireless gaming headset, this is a great deal on a very lightweight and comfortable pair. Available for $80 from around $120, this is a new low on the HyperX Cloud Flight Wireless Gaming Headset. Usually running for a lot more than our other picks, this deal brings this headset down to being one of the cheapest options in our guide.

The HyperX Cloud Flight is the wireless pick in our guide to the best gaming headsets. Wirecutter Editor Thorin Klosowski wrote, “If you prefer a wireless headset and don’t mind paying about 50 percent more than wired options, buy the HyperX Cloud Flight. It’s light, comfortable, sounds good, and has the best battery life of any wireless headset we tested as long as its LEDs are off.”

charger

Street price: $23; deal price: $18

If you’re looking for a USB phone charger, this drop to $18 on our top pick is a good chance to pick up one that we recommend. Amidst all of the tech deals we’ve seen over Black Friday, this is a nice discount, though not the lowest price we’ve seen, for the Anker PowerPort PD 2 USB Phone Charger. We haven’t noted any worthwhile drops on this pick in months, so now is a good time to pick one up.

The top pick in our guide to the best USB phone charger, the Anker PowerPort PD 2 is reliability in a small package. Wirecutter Senior Staff Writer Nick Guy wrote, “The Anker PowerPort PD 2 is the best charger for getting maximum charging speed on your phone no matter what cable you use. It provides both a 12-watt USB-A port and an 18-watt USB-C port, so you can charge your phone two to three times faster than with the charger that came in the box with your phone. And with two ports, the PowerPort PD 2 offers good charging speeds for two devices at the same time; most other models this small and inexpensive can’t support fast charging from both ports at once. The power adapter is small and light, making it ideal for carrying in a bag. And it comes from Anker, a company with a history of top-performing chargers and an excellent

Because great deals don’t just happen on Thursday, sign up for our daily deals email and we’ll send you the best deals we find every weekday. Also, deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go here.

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Homeland Security doesn’t want Americans’ airport face scans after all

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In a statement provided to Engadget, a CBP spokesperson said:

“U.S. Customs and Border Protection is using biometric facial comparison technology to facilitate the entry and exit of international travelers while meeting the Congressional mandate to implement a biometric entry-exit system. U.S. citizens are out of scope of the mandated biometric entry-exit program. However, U.S. citizens are required to establish identity and citizenship to CBP and present a valid U.S. passport for international travel.

CBP did consider including US citizens in its facial recognition checks to avoid the challenges of having separate processes for foreign nationals and US citizens, TechCrunch reports. “Upon consultation with Congress and privacy experts, however, CBP determined that the best course of action is to continue to allow U.S. citizens to voluntarily participate in the biometric entry-exit program,” a CBP spokesperson said.

The ACLU, which spoke out against plans to conduct biometric scans on US citizens, is still concerned. In a statement, ACLU Senior Policy Analyst Jay Stanley said:

“The Department of Homeland Security’s plans to spread face recognition surveillance nationwide remain alarming, especially given the lack of congressional authorization and sufficient safeguards, the government’s past security failures, and unanswered questions about the technology’s effectiveness, bias, and broader societal implications. The government cannot be trusted with this surveillance technology, and Congress should put the brakes on its use.”

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Qualcomm pushes for cheaper Snapdragon PCs with its 7c and 8c chips

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The Snapdragon 8cx will remain the highest-end model, while the 8c sits right below it. It uses an octa-core Kryo 490 CPU and an Adreno 675 GPU, and was built on a 7nm process. Altogether, the Snapdragon 8c is up to 30 percent faster than the Snapdragon 850. It also features an X24 gigabit LTE modem, which should offer swift downloads over cellular data, and also works with the X55 5G modem to support up to 7 Gbps downloads (when networks and devices are ready).

Slide down to the entry-level rung and you’ll find the Snapdragon 7c, which uses the less-powerful octa-core Kryo 468 CPU and Adreno 618 GPU. It’s built on an 8nm process, which would be less efficient than the 8c. The 7c also uses a Snapdragon X15 LTE modem, that goes up to 800 Mbps instead of multi-gigabit rates like the 8c. Qualcomm also highlighted “multi-day battery life” as one of the draws here, that the 7c’s power efficiency will enable machines to hit that endurance mark.

Qualcomm

As for the existing Snapdragon 850, expect that to be phased out as the 8c takes its place in the middle of the series. Qualcomm expects machines packing the Snapdragon 8c to cost around $500 to $699, which company reps said was a “market sweet spot.” The 7c, meanwhile, will power PCs that cost less than $499, targeting a market like education where battery life is a greater priority.

Like all Snapdragon chips made for PCs, these will enable features like “always on, always connected” — things like instant resume and quick wake times. They’re meant to sit in super thin, fanless machines, too.

But chipsets are only one part of the Windows on Snapdragon equation. Software compatibility, and lack thereof, is the platform’s greatest challenge. Native support for 64-bit apps on ARM is spotty, as not all developers have recompiled their programs for the platform. The Surface Pro X, which uses a made-for-Microsoft variant of the 8cx, suffered from bugs and crashes that had nothing to do with compatible apps at all. While Qualcomm is certainly making a huge effort to provide the processors for ARM-based PCs, Windows on Snapdragon cannot thrive on hardware alone. Adobe did commit to bringing its Creative Cloud suite of tools to ARM-based Windows, starting with the Fresco app, but Microsoft still has plenty of developers to convince. Perhaps with the new lower-cost chips though, the industry may finally see a reason to work on delivering a satisfactory solution to this problem.

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Microsoft’s redesigned Office mobile apps read text out loud

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The apps now have a more consistent visual design, which includes new app icons, splash screens, cards, typography and more. Productivity features like Play My Emails will let users listen to their inbox as if it were a podcast, and Read Aloud will serve a similar function in Word and Office apps. You can also use your phone to quickly scan documents and tables to Office, OneDrive and other apps.

Microsoft recognized that despite users spending up to four hours per day on their phones, each session averages just 20 to 30 seconds. So, the company asked how it could cram more productivity into the quick glances users take at their phones.

“While on the go, we often switch between apps and have shorter attention spans, sharper time constraints, or are in more distracting environments,” Microsoft wrote. “When mobile apps seamlessly connect and feel similar, it reduces cognitive burden by eliminating the need to re-learn app patterns and navigation.”

Microsoft says redesigned versions of Teams, Yammer and Planner are on their way, and it is sharing new mobile UI toolkits with third-party app developers, so other apps can embrace similar design elements and productivity focus.

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Qualcomm’s new chipset promises better AR and VR anywhere

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If nothing else, the new Snapdragon XR2 platform features a lot of firsts: Qualcomm says it’s the world’s first 5G-enabled extended reality system, which should allow for a new breed of experiences that rely on low latency, super-fast data connections. (Eventually, anyway.) The Snapdragon XR2 is also apparently the first XR platform to allow for 8K, 360-degree video playback.

Just keep in mind that the XR2 isn’t supposed to replace Qualcomm’s existing XR chipset — the XR1 the company announced in 2018 will stick around for use in more “mainstream” applications. Instead, the XR2 is meant to be a high-end sequel that offers double the CPU and GPU performance of its predecessors and supports display panels as pixel-dense as 3K by 3K per eye running at 90 frames per second.

Snapdragon XR2

That extra horsepower and those higher-res screens should all go a long way in helping the next generation of extended reality experiences feel more immersive, but there’s more going on here than just better graphics. Qualcomm says a new, dedicated AI engine in the XR2 can handle processes like object and voice recognition, 3D reconstruction, depth detection and more up to 11 times faster than the earlier XR1 chipset.

The XR2 is also the first extended reality platform out there that can support up to seven on-device cameras at once — with the help of a custom vision processor, XR2-powered devices will be able to track the user’s head, eyes, hands and even lips. That’s especially important when you consider that one of Qualcomm’s big goals going forward is popularizing mixed reality — in this case, that means using some of those cameras to pass video data straight through to the eye displays, and laying virtual objects on top of those real-world scenes.

It’s obviously still early days for this chipset, but two important questions immediately spring to mind: When will people actually get to use this stuff, and what form will the first XR2 devices take?

Well, Qualcomm says five OEMs are already working with XR2, and we could see the fruits of their work sometime next year. The form factor question is a bit more interesting though, as Qualcomm’s own concept images look more like a pair of Oakleys than a traditional, bulky VR headset. Qualcomm representatives also told reporters over the phone that they see “extended reality, becoming this new platform, where everyone is using glasses for hands-free, immersive, interactive communication and content.”

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‘NHL 20’ adds Snoop Dogg as a commentator and playable character

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The developer teased the addition of the legendary rapper to the game earlier this week, and with an update that dropped Thursday, Snoop pulled on his virtual skates to become a playable character in the World of Chel mode. Not only that, you’ll hear him dropping (like it’s hot) in as a guest commentator. Snoop actually has some experience on that front, as he called a Los Angeles Kings game in January.

When EA announced NHL 20 in June, it hinted at plans to rope in celebrity guests, such as Will Ferrell, Drake, Wayne Gretzky and Snoop, so there might be other surprise commentators on the way. For now, you might listen to Snoop urging players to “Pass It, Pass It.”



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Apple explains why the iPhone 11 is always checking your location

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The company stressed that the UWB-related checks are handled “entirely on the device,” and that Apple isn’t collecting location data. It’s promising a dedicated toggle for UWB in a future iOS release.

The claim lines up with developer Will Strafach’s determination that the location activity doesn’t leave the iPhone, and suggests that there’s no reason to be concerned about the behavior. However, Apple’s response is drawing concern. The company initially declined to comment on the location findings, and doesn’t clearly tell users that these location checks will still happen. In other words, people had room to speculate about sinister purposes rather than an up-front explanation that might have settled things much sooner.



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It looks like ‘Bayonetta’ and ‘Vanquish’ 4K remasters are coming to Xbox One

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According to the listings, Platinum will re-release both games on February 18th to celebrate their 10-year anniversaries. What’s more, both titles will be playable at 4K and 60 frames per second on the Xbox One X. You could already play the games at 4K on PC if you had the necessary hardware. At the moment, it’s unclear if the remasters will make their way to PlayStation 4 as well — though that seems like a safe bet. While it’s best to be skeptical of any leak, retailer listings tend to be more accurate than others — see the massive Walmart Canada leak that came out ahead of E3 2018.

Bayonetta and Vanquish have a lot of history between the two of them. Of the two, most people are probably more familiar with Bayonetta. It first came out on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2009, before making its way to Nintendo Switch, Wii U and PC in later years. It was directed by Devil May Cry (and Okami) creator Hideki Kamiya. Like Devil May Cry, Bayonetta is an over-the-top action game. Players control Bayonetta, a shapeshifting witch, through a variety of thrilling combat encounters. The game is equal parts bizarre and brilliant.

Vanquish, meanwhile, is best described as a fast-paced and very anime take on Gears of War. It was first released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2010, and was directed by Resident Evil mastermind Shinji Mikami. The story is mostly nonsensical, but the game itself is a lot of fun, especially if you grew up on a diet of action movies. Vanquish is more of a cult-classic than Bayonetta (the latter has spawned two sequels), but both are well worth your time if you enjoy something a bit more off the beaten path.

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Google’s powerful Recorder app now works on older Pixel phones

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Google said last month it’d make Recorder available for older Pixels. On Thursday, it updated the app, which should now pop up in the Play Store for other supported Pixels, namely Pixel 2 and later devices. However, it doesn’t seem to work on the original Pixel — at least not officially.

As is the case with many other apps, it might run just fine on other Android devices. Some users have been sideloading the Recorder APK to their phones. The app crashed when some of them tried to launch it, though Android Police suggests the update might have resolved the issue.

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Are the Radeon RX 5700 and 5700 XT ideal GPUs for your gaming PC?

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If you opted to use one of these GPUs in a recent build we’re interested in hearing what you think: Did you also notice the blowers running hot? Were you able to squeeze some 4K performance out of the 5700 XT? Were there enough inputs for you? Did you feel like you missed out because there’s no real-time ray tracing? We want to hear what worked for you (and what didn’t) in a user review on our Radeon RX 5700 and 5700 XT product pages. After all, no one knows a product better than the people who own it, right? (Especially gamers who’ve run it through the paces on their favorite graphics-intense PC titles.) Keep your fellow readers well informed, and remember your review could be included in an upcoming user review roundup article!

Note: Comments are off for this post, however, we’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions on our Radeon RX 5700XT or RX 5700 product pages!

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