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Microsoft has officially announced the next Xbox Games Showcase. In a blog post, the company said the summer version will be on Sunday, June 9, at 10AM PT / 1PM ET. The event will be followed by a cryptic [REDACTED] Direct that probably isnt much of a mystery. The teaser logo looks like something ripped from the Call of Duty franchise, and reports already pointed to the military shooters next installment arriving this year. Microsoft describes the direct event as a special deep-dive into the next installment of a beloved franchise. Further squashing any intrigue, The Verge says its confirmed the event will focus on Activision-Blizzards long-running franchise. This will be the first Xbox showcase with the Call of Duty maker officially within Microsofts grasp. The company wants to turn heads with its new post-acquisition portfolio, and Xbox will use the entire week (which coincides with Summer Game Fest) to pump up its lineup. June 9s double-feature broadcast also kicks off a weeks worth of coverage here on Xbox Wire and The Official Xbox Podcast, featuring updates and deep-dives on a ton of games, the company wrote. Engadget will have all your Xbox Games Showcase and Summer Game Fest news in early June.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-confirms-its-next-xbox-game-showcase-is-on-june-9-at-1pm-et-153704263.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
Apple's second-generation Pencil stylus is back on sale for $79, which matches its lowest price to date. We've seen this deal a few times over the course of 2024, but it's still about $35 off the device's usual street price on Amazon outside of those sales. Apple, meanwhile, normally sells the stylus for $129. This offer is available at Amazon, Target, Walmart and Best Buy. Do note, though: Apple's next product showcase is scheduled for May 7, and it is widely expected to unveil a new Pencil during the event. This next-gen model will include some level of haptic feedback, according to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, while 9to5Mac has suggested it may include a new "squeeze" gesture and Find My tracking support. If you want the newest Pencil possible, you should hold out for one more week. However, given the MSRP of this second-gen model, it seems safe to expect any new Pencil to cost a good bit more than $79 out of the gate. If you're on a tighter budget and looking to buy your first iPad stylus for sketching or note-taking, the current Pencil should remain a good value at this price. For now, the second-gen Pencil is the top stylus pick in our guide to the best iPad accessories. It's still one of the only styluses to offer pressure sensitivity across iPadOS, so the harder you press down, the heavier your lines get. (Last year's USB-C-based Pencil omits this.) Tilt recognition and palm rejection support help it feel natural for drawing beyond that. The pen itself is comfortable to hold, and it can charge and connect to a compatible iPad just by snapping to the tablet's side magnetically, no cables required. We also like its double-tap feature, which makes swapping between a drawing tool and an eraser faster in certain apps. Just make sure you own (and will continue to use) a compatible iPad Air, mini or Pro first. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-second-gen-apple-pencil-falls-back-to-79-ahead-of-next-weeks-ipad-event-152152952.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
Its only been two weeks since Tesla began reducing its workforce by ten percent, a move that impacted at least 14,000 staffers. Now, even more pink slips are coming. The company let go of two senior executives today and plans to lay off hundreds more employees, as reported by The Information. These layoffs impact the entire Supercharger team, including senior director Rebecca Tinucci and 500 staffers. Daniel Ho, head of the new vehicles program, was also laid off, along with his team. Teslas public policy team is also being dissolved, which was led by former executive Rohan Patel. CEO Elon Musk sent out a company-wide email that seemed more like a threat than anything else. "Hopefully these actions are making it clear that we need to be absolutely hard core about headcount and cost reduction," Musk wrote. "While some on exec staff are taking this seriously, most are not yet doing so." This could be just the beginning. Musk also said that any staffers working under executives who dont obviously pass the excellent, necessary and trustworthy test would also get cut. When all of this is said and done, Teslas headcount could be reduced by as much as 20 percent, as recently suggested by Bloomberg. This adds up to more than 20,000 employees. Just how hard core is Musk about reducing costs? Well, a judge recently rejected his proposal for a pay package that would grant him $55.8 billion of Teslas money, which was referred to in court as an unfathomable sum that was unfair to shareholders. Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick went on to call it the largest potential compensation opportunity ever observed in public markets by multiple orders of magnitude. Sounds kinda soft core to me. This is shaping up to be a really crappy year for Tesla, even if its stock price seems to be living in a parallel universe. Profit margins have sunk to a six-year low. The companys most recent earnings report was abysmal, with profits falling by 55 percent. The Cybertruck continues to be something of a dangerous joke. Teslas Autopilot software was recently linked to 14 deaths. It has also reportedly given up on its budget-friendly EV in favor of a robotaxi, because why make a car everyone would want to buy instead of something a few taxi companies will buy? On the plus side, Tesla doesnt really pay taxes, which is pretty hard core.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tesla-is-reportedly-getting-absolutely-hard-core-about-more-layoffs-according-to-elon-musk-151635645.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
Fujifilms Instax cameras have been around for a while. They offer instant photo printouts in cute frames, taking over where Polaroid left. Over the years, the company has experimented with pastel colorways, retro styles, hybrid digital and manual photography, and even collaborations with Pokmon and Taylor Swift. The new Instax mini 99, which was released this month, comes in black. It looks more like my X-T2 and other Fujifilm models than a Polaroid. From a distance, it looks like a pricey digital camera, although it costs only $200. When you get to handle it though, you might be a little disappointed by the plasticky build. Still, there are parts where Fuji has lavished the camera with machined elements, like a tripod stand converter and some of the controls. With a matte finish, the Instax mini 99 looks more professional, even cooler, than most of its predecessors. While there are no hybrid digital camera features, it delivers far more versatility than pretty much any other instant camera. Mat Smith for Engadget There are a lot of controls here for an instant camera, including three shooting options with different focal lengths. You twist the lens to switch between landscape, macro and standard settings, and each is (fortunately) labeled with a distance marker so you can best eyeball your shot. While there is a viewfinder, it wont scale based on your shooting mode. Again, lets not forget this is an instant camera. Having said that, with the mini 99 you do get access to filters and some basic exposure options. Those filters attempt to strike those nostalgia chords. Normal is your typical shooting mode, and theres faded green, soft magenta, light blue, warm tone and of course, sepia. Light leak, meanwhile, sort of messes up your shots with LEDs built inside the camera, adding a burnout effect to your photos as theyre captured. What impressed me further were even more shooting modes, adding the ability to capture double-exposure shots, a manual vignette switch which was nearly always on when I was shooting and even fill-in flash, red-eye removal and automatic flash options. Theres also a sports mode that attempts to avoid blur when capturing moving subjects. Photos werent pin-sharp, but the mode seemed to capture things a little bit more crisply than in auto mode. Its an awful lot for an instant camera, and I found half the fun was in experimenting with modes and shooting effects. While I wouldnt go so far as to call each shot a risk, its been so long since Ive used film of any kind that each time I reached for the shutter button (of which there are two), I tried extra hard to nail framing and composition probably more than I would with digital. A lot of the shots I took (at a family birthday party with constantly moving babies and toddlers) were in ideal sunny outdoor lighting, but when I was indoors or areas with less light in general, I leaned heavily on the flash, which muddied a lot of the photos. Mat Smith for Engadget The learning curve is a bit steep if you havent owned an Instax over the last decade(or three). Each messed-up shot is roughly a dollar down the drain. But with each attempt, you begin to gauge lighting and focal distances better. An hour and ten photos later, I got nice shots of my nieces birthday party, even catching them looking at the camera on a few instances. Some photos I seemed to nail the correct focal distance, but that was the exception rather than the rule. Fortunately, half the appeal is off-focus moments, off-center framing and other happy accidents. I chose to apply a light leak effect why would I complain if its not as pin-sharp as my iPhone 15 Pro? There are a few things Id love to see Fujifilm tackle if it attempts to make another premium Instax mini. First, add a small mirror for taking photos of yourself with the lens facing you. Many cameras offer a tiny mirrored surface so you can loosely tell you're pointing in the right direction. One selfie attempt with my niece cropped her almost entirely from the shot. Also, to recharge the Instax mini 99, you must take out the battery and put it into the included charger with a USB cable. That's too much of a hassle, and Fujifilm should offer a simpler method in future. Fortunately, I didnt ever need to recharge the camera as I captured over 20 shots. The Instax mini 99 uses the same smallish Instax film as other models, but with more controls, options and effects, it delivers on its attempt to be the premium instant camera. The film is still expensive, yes, and the device feels a little cheap for the price, but ultimately it delivers satisfying instant photo moments.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-instax-mini-99-could-pass-for-a-real-fujifilm-camera-150018817.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
Beats has a solid track record when it comes to wireless earbuds. The company consistently offers good audio performance with a comfy fit and a nice list of features for both Android and iOS users. In fact, the Beats Fit Pro are our current top pick for best workout earbuds. The one thing the company doesn't have in its lineup is a budget-friendly option, but that will change soon. Today, Beats revealed the Solo Buds: an $80 set of wireless earbuds that offer 18 hours of use on a single charge. There are some caveats on the spec sheet, but you might be willing to overlook them for that battery life at that price. The Solo Buds have the longest battery life on a set of Beats earbuds ever. 18 hours is way more than you'll probably ever use in one go, but there's a catch. The Solo Buds case doesn't have a battery, so the earbuds won't top up when you're not using them. The case is essentially a dock and will only charge the buds when it's plugged in with a USB-C cable. You'll be able to charge it with your phone, laptop or tablet though, and Beats' Fast Fuel feature gives your an hour of use in five minutes. The upside to the non-charging case is that accessory is significantly smaller since it doesn't hold a battery. Beats has designed the Solo Buds to be worn for long periods of time. More specifically, ergonomic acoustic nozzles and vents assist with audio performance while relieving pressure. Four sizes of ear tips are included in the box so you can find the best option for your ears in terms of both comfort and passive noise isolation. There's no active noise cancellation (ANC) here, so a secure fit will be your only defense against environmental distractions. Inside, dual-layer transducers are designed to reduce distortion across the frequency curve which should lead to "uncompromising clarity and detail," according to Beats. The company describes call quality as "exceptional," thanks to the combination of a custom-designed mic and a noise-learning algorithm. Onboard controls are customizable, putting music, call and voice assistant functions a press or multiple presses away. Beats also includes the option for volume controls on the Solo Buds with an optional press-and-hold action. Native compatibility in Android and iOS delivers one-touch pairing, automatic setup and support for Find My and Find My Device. Everything you'll need on iPhone is built into iOS while Beats offers a standalone app on Android for things like onboard control customization. The Solo Buds will be available in June in black, gray, purple and transparent red color options for $80. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/beats-announces-solo-buds-80-wireless-earbuds-with-18-hour-battery-life-140054881.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
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