The best deals on MacBooks right now

The 2020 MacBook Air, one of the best laptops you can get, is now available at Amazon starting at $949.99.

With multiple configurations and various models to choose from, including ones equipped with Apple’s M1 processor, finding a deal on a MacBook or Mac Mini is not all that difficult. It’s a slightly different story for the newer M1 Pro and M1 Max-equipped MacBook Pros, but any bit of savings you can get on the new Pro models is sure to be worthwhile.

Here, we’ll run through the discounts that are currently available for the latest MacBook models, as well as any deals to be had on the Mac Mini. Of course, there are also frequent discounts available for older Intel-based configurations — which are compatible with the recently released macOS Monterey — but we strongly recommend opting for a newer model now that Apple has introduced its M1...

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Sengled’s newest smart bulb can track your heart rate

Sengled’s smart bulb can track your sleep and your heart rate. | Image: Sengled

Sengled, the smart lighting company that’s hedged its protocol bets by making Zigbee, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth smart bulbs, has announced a slew of new products at CES 2022. The most intriguing is the Smart Health Monitoring bulb, and the most fun is the Wi-Fi Video-Sync TV light strips. Sengled has also pledged its support for Matter, the new smart home standard, adding a fourth protocol to its package.

For those unfamiliar with the smart lighting company, Sengled offers a variety of connected bulbs covering most smart home bases. Its Zigbee smart bulbs work with a hub, similar to Philips Hue, and are compatible with Alexa, Google, Apple HomeKit, and Samsung SmartThings.

Its Wi-Fi bulbs don’t require a hub and work with Alexa, Google, and...

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Elizabeth Holmes found guilty of defrauding investors

Photo by David Odisho/Getty Images

Elizabeth Holmes deliberately misled investors about the capabilities of the blood testing technology at Theranos and is guilty of three counts of wire fraud, a jury found today. She is also guilty of conspiracy to defraud investors with her co-defendant, Sunny Balwani.

She faces up to 20 years in prison for each of the counts. The jury found her not guilty of two counts of defrauding patients and not guilty of conspiracy to defraud patients. The jury did not return a verdict on three more counts of defrauding investors.

Holmes was the founder and CEO of Theranos, a company that promised to revolutionize blood testing by developing a device that could run hundreds of medical tests on just a few drops of blood. The company was an...

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The solar roof could finally become a reality thanks to GAF’s nailable solar shingles

In 2016, Tesla tried to reinvent the humble roof as a beautiful array of glass tiles brimming with solar energy — a vision it’s been struggling to deliver ever since. But San Jose, California-based GAF Energy thinks it has a simpler solution to the solar roof. It’s built a solar shingle, one that can be nailed down in packs much like the everyday shingles you’d use when repairing or replacing your normal, non-solar roof.

Solar panel, meet nail gun

You might have heard of solar shingles before, but GAF Energy president Martin DeBono suggests the new Timberline Solar shingles are the first to actually deserve that name because they’re the first to actually work that way — you literally drive nails through a three-inch nailing strip,...

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Canada’s Cineplex closes more theaters as omicron spreads

Cineplex, the largest theater chain in Canada, is preparing to temporarily shutter its Ontario auditoriums in response to a government mandate limiting indoor business to help curb the spread of omicron.

The theater chain said that all 67 of its theaters in Ontario will close beginning Wednesday, January 5th, adding that the cinemas will reopen “as soon as we are allowed.” The measure comes as Ontario enacts restrictions on schools, dining, and entertainment venues to prevent what Ontario Premier Doug Ford characterized during a Monday news briefing as “a tsunami of new cases in the days and weeks ahead.”

“To make it as easy as possible, we have already begun processing ticket refunds back to our guests’ original method of payment....

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Samsung’s C-Lab program brings dehumidifier earbuds to CES 2022

Samsung C-Lab program | Image: Samsung

For CES 2022, Samsung revealed a new C-Lab startup lineup that includes pet and baby tech with a spin on promoting additional wearable tech promoting safety features.

The C-Lab is divided into both C-Lab Inside — an “in-house venture program” and C-Lab Outside — Samsung’s “startup acceleration program.” Established in 2012, the C-Lab Inside incubation program encourages employees to venture out and work on experimental projects. The program expanded in 2018, creating the C-Lab Outside program. Four inside programs were set to exhibit at CES 2022, with projects ranging from test-taking technology and infant health tech.

Out of those featured, here are some that stood out:

• **DearBuds (Outside):**Bluetooth earbud-like ear device that tracks...

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Sleep Number wants you to grow old in its smart beds

The new Sleep Number 360 smart bed | Image: Sleep Number

Sleep Number’s 360 smart beds are a regularfixtureat CES, and this year is no exception. Today, Sleep Number is announcing the latest upgrades to its 360 smart beds, improving some of their built-in sensors and adding on surrounding tech like lights and mobility accessories that it calls “smart furniture.” The idea, according to Sleep Number, is to create more accessible smart beds so that people can age more comfortably or recover from injuries.

“Smart furniture” is a new addition that surrounds the 360 smart bed. While it looks like one of those fancy headboards with built-in shelves, Sleep Number says it was built to support sleep health and make its beds more accessible. For example, the smart furniture includes mobility aids to...

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Hands off: Moen’s new smart faucet doesn’t even need a handle

Moen’s newest smart faucet goes handle-free. | Image: Moen

Moen revealed its latest smart faucet at CES this week: the Moen Smart Faucet with Motion Control. The new feature adds completely handle-free operation, using gestures to control temperature as well as flow. But you can still have a handle if you really want one.

The idea is you operate the faucet using swipe and push motions in front of the sensor to get hot, warm, or cold water. The Moen Smart Water App should let you set the default temperatures, as well as customize the gestures further.

Image: Moen

The handle-free design of the Moen Smart Faucet with Motion is a minimalist’s dream.

The new faucet has all the features of the existing Moen Smart Faucet — including voice activation (with Amazon Alexa and...

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Here are the accessories you’ll need for your new PlayStation 5

The PlayStation 5 is becoming more available than it once was, but even with the increased frequency of restocks, Sony’s next-gen console remains difficult to find. If you were lucky enough to secure a launch unit or receive a PS5 as a holiday gift, however, picking up a few accessories can help ensure you get the most out of your new console.

From headsets and remotes to M.2 SSDs that allow you to expand your console’s storage capacity — that’s a thing now, after all — these are just a few PS5 accessories we suggest picking up from the get-go, some of which are now available at a discount.

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Ken Levine’s ambitious new game is reportedly in development hell

BioShock creative lead Ken Levine is reportedly facing trouble. According to _Bloomberg’s_Jason Schreier, Levine’s studio Ghost Story Games and its long-awaited debut project have been plagued by shifting design goals and an overambitious vision. It’s not a new criticism of Levine, but it suggests that the game’s nearly eight-year waiting period might not end any time soon and hints at some details about what Ghost Story is actually doing.

Schreier’s story indicates that Ghost Story, a division of Take-Two Interactive staffed with former members of Levine’s old studio Irrational, was originally supposed to release a small game in 2017. The project was a sci-fi shooter set on a “mysterious space station” where three factions would respond...

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Apple hits $3 trillion market cap

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple’s market cap passed $3 trillion on Monday more than a year after it surpassed the $2 trillion mark and three years after eclipsing $1 trillion.

Apple’s huge success is due in large part to the iPhone, which revolutionized the smartphone industry and remains a cash cow for the company. But Apple continues to see strong momentum in its other businesses as well, with its services and Mac divisions reporting all-time highs in its Q4 2021 earnings.

Shortly after hitting the $3 trillion milestone at around 1:45PM ET, Apple’s market cap dipped below it again. Apple’s market cap must be above the $3 trillion mark when the market closes at 4PM ET for it to officially be designated as the first publicly-traded company with that valuation.

...

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Tesla opens showroom in region of China associated with genocide allegations

Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images

The Wall Street Journal points out that on New Year’s Eve, Tesla revealed on its Weibo page the launch of a new dealership in Xinjiang, a region where the Chinese government has been accused of human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims.

Image: Weibo / Tesla

Just over a week ago, President Joe Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that “[we] call on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to immediately end genocide and crimes against humanity against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang.”

Earlier in December, the Treasury Department sanctioned several Chinese...

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An Apple HomeKit bug can send iOS devices into a death spiral

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

You should always be wary of invites to a stranger’s Home.

That’s the upshot of a new piece of security research that has found a vulnerability capable of locking iOS devices into a spiral of freezing, crashing, and rebooting if a user connects to a sabotaged Apple Home device.

The vulnerability, discovered by security researcher Trevor Spiniolas, can be exploited through Apple’s HomeKit API, the software interface that allows an iOS app to control compatible smart home devices. If an attacker creates a HomeKit device with an extremely long name — around 500,000 characters — then an iOS device that connects to it will become unresponsive once it reads the device name and enter a cycle of freezing and rebooting that can only be ended by...

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Apple selling new AirPods Pro coinciding with the Year of the Tiger in certain markets

Apple is now selling a new set of special edition AirPod Pros (via 9to5Mac) in time for the Chinese New Year, which begins on February 1st, 2022. Just as the previous Year of the Ox, Apple is engraving a special emoji on the AirPods Pro case — this time, themed for the Year of the Tiger.

At first glance, it seems like only the standard tiger emoji is featured on the case — but turns out, it’s just a bit more snazzy with sparkles and fireworks surrounding the tiger face topped off with a cute tiger growly-face hood. Other than that, the only other difference is the retail box has the same emoji in red on the sides.

Images from Apple Store website

New special edition Year of the Tiger AirPods on the left comparing...

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The secret weapons in Arlo’s new security system are the all-in-one sensors

Arlo has announced a new smart home security system. | Image: Arlo

Arlo announced the impending arrival of its long-awaited home security system at CES 2022 this week, and the product even got a nod as a 2022 CES Innovation Award honoree. The company, known for its top-quality smart security cameras, also announced its support for Matter, a possible indication that a Matter specification for security cameras isn’t too far away.

The DIY security monitoring solution is a natural expansion for the company that has a full suite of home security cameras. So natural that it actually announced one at CES 2019.

While that product never saw the light of day, the latest Arlo Security System is a complete redesign. The signature feature are the new, all-in-one multi-sensors with eight different functions, plus...

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Go read this NYT investigation on the inaccuracy of prenatal blood tests

Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Blood tests on pregnant people that look for rare and devastating developmental conditions in fetuses are often wrong, according to an investigation from The New York Times.

The blood testing technology, called noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT), works very well for more common disorders like Down syndrome. But _The New York Times_reported that a review of data from multiple studies showed that when NIPT is used to test for uncommon things like Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome (which is found in one in 20,000 births) or Cri-du-chat syndrome (which is found in one in 15,000 births), positive results are wrong 80 percent of the time or more.

These tests, made by companies like Natera and Sequenom, have become more popular in recent years....

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Acer’s new Chromebook Spin has a bigger screen but shorter battery life

The Acer Chromebook Spin 513 has a battery life of up to 10 hours. | Image by Acer

Acer announced that it’s updating its existing lineup of Chromebooks with three new devices at CES 2022, each of which comes with slight changes when compared to its predecessors.

Image by Acer

The new Spin 513 has a larger 13.5-inch display compared to its predecessor.

The new Spin 513 comes with a 13.5-inch display, an upgrade from the 13-inch screen that the previously released Spin 513 had. It swaps the Snapdragon 7c Compute SC7180 in for the MediaTek Kompanio 1380, a new processor that also comes with eight cores. And like all Spin models, you can bend back the screen to use the Chromebook as a tablet or stand it up on a flat surface in a tent-like position when watching videos.

However, there is a bit of...

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Comcast’s new router includes Wi-Fi 6E, Zigbee, and Matter

Image: Comcast

Comcast has announced that its xFi Advanced Gateway Wi-Fi router is getting an upgrade — the new version will support the Wi-Fi 6E standard and have support for the Zigbee and Matter IoT standards built in. Comcast says that the addition of a third, 6GHz band alongside the 2.4 and 5GHz bands found on its old gateway (and most modern, decent routers) should make the router ready for homes with dozens of wireless devices, including ones that use lots of bandwidth like VR headsets and gaming consoles.

The selling point of the new (in terms of wireless standards, anyway) Wi-Fi 6E is that it can provide more bandwidth to power more devices, all with less potential for interference from other networks. Support for this standard should,...

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L’Oreal’s newest gadget takes the mess out of coloring your hair

The L’Oreal ColorSonic is meant to make at-home hair coloring more convenient. | Image: L’Oreal

While you might not expect it, L’Oreal has been a regular at CES these past few years, launching everything from wearable UV and pH sensors to an AI-powered skin care gadget. This year, the company is back with yet another invention, the Colorsonic — a device meant to make dying your hair at home a hell of a lot more convenient.

The Colorsonic doesn’t look too far off from other hair styling gadgets. The top half has a nozzle with bristles, while the bottom half stores a cartridge containing a “precise mix of developer and formula.” The device works by dispensing the correct amount of hair color and then the bristles oscillate over 300 times a minute at a specific angle to evenly apply the color. Basically, the idea behind the device is...

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Mercedes-Benz unveils sporty, ultra-long-range Vision EQXX electric concept car

The German automaker claims improved aerodynamics and battery efficiency allows for 1,000 km of range

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You can order an Xbox Series X bundle from GameStop right now

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

We’re off and running in the year 2022 with new console restocks. While we’re all hoping that availability of the popular PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles opens up so anyone can buy a console at retail price whenever they choose, for now we have to keep our eyes peeled, remain vigilant, and keep our F5 keys ready.

While GameStop finished off 2021 with a series of scheduled in-store selling events for new consoles — giving us a throwback to the old days of lining up outside of stores in person — the video game retailer now has Xbox Series X consoles available on its site to order. You can pick up an Xbox Series X bundle, complete with Far Cry 6, NBA 2K22, Call of Duty Vanguard, and a $50 GameStop gift card for $669.96.

GameStop’s...

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Ring Fit Adventure for Nintendo Switch is back down to its lowest price

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Ring Fit Adventure, the box set for the Nintendo Switch that includes the fitness adventure game along with a pilates ring that a Joy-Con slides into, is selling for just $54.99 at Best Buy and Amazon, matching the best price we’ve seen. It’s normally $85. Actually, it’s been selling for this price since Black Friday, but if your New Year’s resolutions include getting in shape, this game is a fun, effective way to stay moving.

The single-player campaign is actually a turn-based RPG where you fight against enemies by doing exercise reps. It tracks your form, making sure you don’t go too easy on yourself, though you can set the difficulty. Considering it’s a workout, it’s actually pretty fun. Read our review.

This game was in short supply...

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Eve adds a smart floodlight cam and smart shades to its HomeKit portfolio

The Eve Outdoor Cam is a smart floodlight camera that works with HomeKit Secure Video. | Image: Eve

Smart home company Eve Systems has announced its first outdoor camera and the availability of its Thread-powered smart shades at CES 2022 this week.

A floodlight camera designed for Apple HomeKit Secure Video, the $250 Eve Outdoor Cam, launches April 5th, 2022 and features 1080p video, a 157-degree field of view, infrared night vision, and infrared motion detection covering 100 degrees at distances of up to 30 feet. The Wi-Fi powered camera joins the Eve Cam, the company’s indoor camera.

This is just the second HomeKit Secure Video-compatible smart floodlight camera to launch; a floodlight camera is an outdoor security camera with motion-activated floodlights attached. The Netatmo Outdoor Camera is the other currently available option...

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Kohler can now run you a bath with just a voice command

Kohler’s PerfectFill technology can run your bath for you. | Image: Kohler

Kohler’s long-touted PerfectFill technology is finally here, and frazzled parents everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief. The company announced the availability of its smart bath tech at CES 2022 this week, which lets you fill up a bathtub with a simple voice command. So, if you’re downstairs cooking dinner and want to get the kids’ bath going, you can just ask Alexa or Google to run the bath for you.

PerfectFill consists of drain kit and digital valve that work together to draw the bath to your preferred temperature and depth. So, no more worrying about flooding the bathroom because you forgot it was running or scalding junior when they jump in the bath.

Image: Kohler

The PerfectFill digital wall controller...

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Alienware’s Concept Nyx aims to let you cast your PC games to any screen you own

Contrary to this image, Concept Nyx squeezes both screens down in size to make the full playing space for each game viewable. | Dell

For CES 2022, Alienware is showing off its Concept Nyx, which imagines a future when loading and playing games on a variety of screens can happen as instantaneously as streaming music and TV shows. The idea is simple on its face (though undoubtedly complex underneath the veil): through the Nyx software, all of your PC games would be available to stream wirelessly to a variety of screens at home, regardless of where you bought them.

Imagine you’re playing Cyberpunk 2077 on your PC display, but you want to move over to the living room couch and play on a big TV. The idea is that you’d be able to tap a button in an app, and the game would wirelessly swap displays, letting you hog the TV all to yourself or have your game squeeze next to...

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Samsung’s 2022 TV lineup has big software changes, smaller hardware upgrades

Image: Samsung

Samsung introduced its first TVs with Micro LED technology at CES 2021, and they wound up being perhaps the best sets that the company has produced yet — not counting the exorbitantly priced The Wall, that is. So this year, Samsung is opting for a different approach: it’s taking smaller strides in hardware and focusing more of its efforts on software refinement and new features.

Samsung’s 2022 TVs will continue to run the company’s Tizen OS, but they’ll now come with a totally revamped home screen that’s described as “a testament to our vision for the future of TVs.” The first part of the new user experience is what Samsung calls the Media Screen. This will “put all of your streaming service content into one, easy-to-browse place” with...

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Samsung’s new 2022 TVs bring Nvidia GeForce Now and Google Stadia gaming

The new “Samsung Gaming Hub” | Image: Samsung

Samsung is revealing a new lineup of smart TVs at CES 2022 today, including features as exotic as radio-wave powered remote controls and support for NFTs — and they also happen to be the first Samsung sets in a while to let you play triple-A video games from the cloud instead of just your Xbox, PlayStation or PC. After an vague tease in October, Samsung is now confirming that “select” 2022 models will explicitly come with Nvidia’s GeForce Now, Google Stadia, and the Utomik cloud gaming service as part of a new “Samsung Gaming Hub,” a user interface which Samsung’s intending to expand to additional services as well.

The Samsung Gaming Hub isn’t just for cloud gaming, either. Intriguingly, the company says that your HDMI-connected video...

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Samsung’s new TV remote uses radio waves from your router to stay charged

Image; Samsung

CES is always a moment when companies reiterate their dedication to environmental causes and trumpet their latest, more efficient products and packaging. After introducing a solar-powered Eco Remote for its 2021 TVs, Samsung is back again with a new version that comes with a pretty fascinating trick.

Like the previous Eco Remote, this one can be charged with solar energy, but Samsung has also added RF harvesting capabilities that let the remote preserve its charge by “collecting routers’ radio waves and converting them to energy.” Neat. You don’t see this in many gadgets — mostly because it’s really only practical for low-power devices. But remotes certainly fall into that category.

Aside from the new RF harvesting option, the Eco...

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Samsung promises ‘groundbreaking’ new TV feature: NFT support

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Staring at your non-fungible tokens on a smartphone or laptop screen is fine and all, but why not remind everyone who visits your home of the money you spent on digital art NFTs by showcasing them on your TV screen? Somehow we’re in a world where that’s about to become reality: Samsung says it’s planning extensive support for NFTs beginning with its 2022 TV lineup.

“With demand for NFTs on the rise, the need for a solution to today’s fragmented viewing and purchasing landscape has never been greater,” the company said in a press release. “In 2022, Samsung is introducing the world’s first TV screen-based NFT explorer and marketplace aggregator, a groundbreaking platform that lets you browse, purchase, and display your favorite art — all...

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Samsung’s latest Frame TVs have a matte screen that looks and feels more like real art

Image: Samsung

Samsung has managed to single-handedly define the category of “lifestyle TVs” — high-design TV sets that blend into the home more seamlessly than traditional TVs — with The Frame. I’ve got several friends, coworkers, and family members who have recently purchased some model in The Frame lineup. For them, the device’s stylish look, customizable bezels, and ability to showcase artwork or personal photos when the TV is “off” are more important than the latest picture quality or HDMI specs.

For 2022, the company is hoping to take The Frame to the next level and make its wall art parlor trick more convincing than ever before. Samsung says the latest models will have a matte, anti-reflective display with a “lifelike” texture that feels like...

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