The Nvidia Shield TV streaming media player is down to $170, its lowest price ever

Stream your favorite shows and play your favorite games all with one device.

The Nvidia Shield TV streaming media player is down to $169.99 on Amazon. This device normally sells for $200. This is a price match from Best Buy and part of Best Buy’s early Black Friday sale.

The Nvidia Shield TV has improved over previous iterations. Heck, this one gives you access to Amazon Prime Video, which is a step-up by itself. Sure, the Shield is more expensive than a Roku but the Shield is a gaming console, too, and a decent one at that.

Features include:

• Connected Google Life – Access all your Google content and smart home features with Google Assistant, share your Google Photos in 4K, and cast your favorite apps to your TV with Chromecast 4K.
• 4K HDR Powerhouse – Watch Netflix and Amazon Video in crisp 4K HDR, and YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, and VUDU in 4K. Apps like HBO Now, Spotify, and ESPN meet all your entertainment needs.
• NVIDIA-Powered Gaming – Cast games from your GeForce-powered PC to your TV in 4K HDR at 60 FPS. Get NVIDIA-powered cloud gaming on demand with GeForce NOW. And enjoy exclusive Android games only on SHIELD.
• Smart Home Ready – Google Assistant lets you control your entertainment and smart home with your voice. Add SmartThings Link to wirelessly connect lights, speakers, thermostats, and much more.
• Get YouTube Red for 3 months free – $29.97 in value. Explore uninterrupted music, ad-free videos, and exclusive original movies and shows from your favorite YouTube creators. Limited-time offer ends 12/31.

The Nvidia Shield has 4.3 stars based on 904 user reviews.

See at Amazon

Add a Ring Video Doorbell to your front door for just $100

Know who’s at the door before the doorbell rings!

Is this deal for me?

The Ring Video Doorbells have become more popular over the past year, and there are several good reasons for that. If you’re in the market for one, or have considered one but weren’t sold on the pricing of it, today may be the day you make that purchase. Right now you can pick one up for $99.99 at Amazon and Best Buy.

This is one of the many items in Best Buy’s early Black Friday sale, and those prices are scheduled to run through Saturday at Best Buy, though it may not last that long at Amazon.

From being able to see who is coming to your door to being able to interact with people who are in places that they shouldn’t be right from your phone, there are lots of advantages to having a Ring Video Doorbell on the front of your home.

TL;DR

What excites us about this deal

Most of our posts come because an item hits a new low, but this is a really low price for this item. Previously, the low we saw on this was around $125, and that was nearly a year ago. This year it dropped down to $150 a handful of times, but not often. This is one of the most practical outdoor security camera options out there, and one of the least intrusive ones. The app is great, and you can be notified as soon as someone starts walking up to your house, and even interact with them.

Things to know before buying

This version of the Ring Video Doorbell only broadcasts a 720p video signal. The Ring Video Pro Doorbell or the 2nd-gen Video Doorbell bump you up to 1080p, but they are around $100 more. In order to access your videos at any time from anywhere, you’ll have to pay for a Ring Protect Plan which starts at $30 per year.

See at Amazon

OnePlus 5T will reportedly cost just $479 – same as the OnePlus 5

OnePlus might not increase the price for its latest flagship.

Similar to last year, OnePlus will be releasing two phones in 2017. We already got the OnePlus 5 this past summer, and in just a few days we’ll get our first official look at the OnePlus 5T. OnePlus has followed a trend of steadily increasing prices for its handsets with every new release, but according to a new report, this won’t be the case with the 5T.

TechRadar claims to have gotten its hands on an official document from O2 in the United Kingdom that indicates businesses will spend the same amount of money for the OnePlus 5T as they can for the OnePlus 5 when ordering phones through the carrier.

We’re only talking about enterprise orders through a single carrier in the UK, but if OnePlus is keeping pricing the same here, we’d expect the company to follow suit with consumers and other markets as well.

As such, this means that we can expect the OnePlus 5T to have a starting price of $479 in the United States when it officially launches. The recently discovered document is also said to confirm that the 5T will be available with either 64GB or 128GB of storage, so it’s also likely that the latter capacity will have a slightly increased price of $539.

OnePlus 5

• Complete OnePlus 5 review
• OnePlus 5 specs
• Which OnePlus 5 model should you buy?
• Camera comparison: OnePlus 5 vs. Galaxy S8
• The latest OnePlus 5 news
• Join the discussion in the forums

OnePlus
Amazon

Start with the $50 SmartThings hub and expand your smart home with a huge sale

All things SmartThings are on sale right now.

The Samsung SmartThings Hub is down to $49.99 on Amazon. This is part of a greater sale on SmartThings devices, which includes the motion sensor, smart plug, multipurpose sensor, and more.

There’s even the full SmartThings Home Monitoring Kit for sale at $150. It normally sells above $200. It comes with a Hub and several other accessories, so you can just skip right to this bundle if you want to go all in.

Hubs like this act as the “brain” of any smart home. As you start adding more smart features, like a motion sensor or smart plugs, you want to be able to control all of them at once. The hub lets you connect everything to it and then control them from one single place. The $150 home monitoring kit, for example, can use that hub to connect all of your appliances, monitor your home and notify you when anything unexpected happens. The SmartThings Hub works with Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth, and other wireless protocols like ZigBee.

The Samsung SmartThings Hub is one of the best reviewed smart hubs out there. Tom’s Guide called it the Best Smart Home Hub in 2017. PC Mag named it their Editor’s Choice, gave it 4.5 stars out of 5, and called it “one of the most versatile home automation hubs around.”

Add a smart bulb or two to the kit to control your lights or a motion sensor if you need to cover more rooms.

See at Amazon

First 6 things to do with your Google Pixel 2 or 2 XL

We’re all excited about our new phones — but let’s remember some of the basics.

Opening up the box and pulling out a new Pixel 2 or 2 XL is a wonderful feeling, no matter how many times you’ve done it or what phone you’re upgrading from. The excitement of the new device may drive you to hop right in without thinking about some of the basic things — forgetting the core features that work best when you set them up from the start rather than getting to them later.

Here are a handful of tips to keep in mind when you unbox your Google Pixel 2.

Add lock screen security

We know this is an integral part of the setup process on all new phones, but there’s a chance you were so excited about your new phone that you skipped the lock screen setup portion. If you’re reading this now and don’t have a secure lock screen on your phone, do it now. It may seem inconvenient at first, but there’s little reason to leave our phone unsecured from anyone who has their hands on it.

Going into Settings then Security & location, you’ll see your various options for keeping your phone secure but also accessible. You’ll want to go to Pixel imprint and enroll both of your index fingers, and that’ll serve as the fastest way to keep your phone secure. You’ll need to back that up with another screen lock of some sort, and while most people choose a pattern you can do a PIN or even a long password if you prefer.

If you need more flexibility, check out Smart Lock for options to keep your Pixel 2 unlocked when it’s connected to a Bluetooth device, at a specific location and more. Just remember that these options are inherently less secure than a fingerprint!

Set up Google Photos backup

The Pixel 2 includes unlimited photo backup at original quality to Google Photos until the end of 2020 — but only if you actually set up the app to back up your photos! To make sure you don’t have to think about it later on when you’ve already taken photos, open the Photos app and go into the settings to find “Back up & sync.”

Make sure the toggle is turned on, and then check to make sure you haven’t accidentally also turned on cellular data and roaming backups — that is, unless you have an unlimited data plan and don’t care. While you’re in here you can also choose which on-device folders are backed up, such as screenshots or edited Instagram photos.

Learn the camera’s capabilities

The Pixel 2 has a fantastic camera, and for the most part can take great photos without any real work on your part. But to make the most of the camera, you’ll want to hop into its settings and get acquainted with a few of the features and options.

• Turn on location: It seems simple, but make sure that your location is turned on in the camera. It lets Google Photos search by location, and gives you an extra bit of context years down the road when you look at old shots.
• Use Smartburst with moving subjects: Press and hold the shutter button to take up to 10 frames per second. Super useful when you or your subject (or both) are in motion for a must-have shot.
• Choose your grid lines: It may feel distracting at first, but turning on grid lines will help you mind the proportions of your photos and line up horizons for great sunset shots.
• Use focus and exposure lock: One of the only “manual” controls is the ability to lock focus and exposure after adjusting them. Tap the viewfinder to set exposure and focus, then tap the lock button to keep it there.
• Don’t be tempted by the flash: The flash should only be used as a last resort. Google’s HDR+ processing is fantastic, and it really doesn’t need a flash as often as you’d think.
• Increase the panorama resolution: By default, panoramas are set for speed of processing rather than maximum resolution. You want maximum resolution — change the setting, and wait a few extra seconds for it to process.

How to take the best photos with your Google Pixel 2

Rearrange your notification quick settings

You know those quick settings found at the top of your notification shade? Those can be rearranged and set up however you like. After expanding your notification shade, give it a second swipe and tap on the pencil icon at the bottom of the shade.

Press and hold icons to drag them into their desired positions. The first two rows of the expanded view become the six icons you see with a single swipe of the notification shade, so choose wisely. If you don’t want an icon at all, drag it down to the darker portion of the window, then maybe bring up a less-used icon to the top so it’s available. If you add more than nine icons, the 10th and beyond go onto a second page you’ll have to swipe one more time to access.

If you go overboard and want to just put them back how they were as default, go into that edit mode, tap the menu button in the top-right corner and tap Reset.

Check out the wonderful wallpapers

Google has seriously upped its wallpaper game since launching the original Pixel and Pixel 2 back in 2016, and it continues the trend. There are just a handful of “pre-installed” wallpapers, but that’s augmented by a regularly updated catalog of great wallpapers (from Google’s Wallpapers app) in a whole bunch of different genres and styles.

You can wade through the dozens of wallpapers to find something that fits your style, or in some categories you can set a “daily wallpaper” and get a fresh one of that style each day. If you don’t like the particular wallpaper that shows up, you can hop back into the wallpaper section and tap once to load a new one in that category.

Keep track of that headphone adapter

Yup, this is a thing now. There’s a good chance this is your first phone without a headphone jack, and that means keeping an eye on that USB-C to 3.5 mm headphone adapter that comes in the box. If you regularly use one pair of wired headphones it’s a good idea to just keep the adapter attached to the headphones themselves, but if you swap around often you should keep in the back of the mind where it is — being left out somewhere without the adapter sure sucks.

Google sells replacement adapters for $9, but since the Pixel 2 and 2 XL were announced they’ve been out of stock more often than not. And right now it’s far from a guarantee that other USB-C to headphone adapters, if you somehow come across them in the wild, will work with your phone.

Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL

• Pixel 2 FAQ: Everything you need to know!
• Google Pixel 2 and 2 XL review: The new standard
• Google Pixel 2 specs
• Google Pixel 2 vs. Pixel 2 XL: What’s the difference?
• Join our Pixel 2 forums

Google Store
Project Fi
Verizon
Best Buy

T-Mobile’s Nest plan includes Nest Secure and Cam Indoor for $480

T-Mobile’s partnering with Nest to offer some impressive savings.

Nest is one of the biggest names when it comes to smart home security systems, but as awesome as the company’s products and services are, the costs can add up rather quickly if you want to take advantage of everything that Nest has to offer. T-Mobile recently announced that it’s partnering with Nest to be the exclusive cellular backup provider for the Nest Secure, and along with this, T-Mobile subscribers can score some hefty savings on Nest’s security offerings.

T-Mobile’s Nest Security Pack will officially be launching on November 10, and when purchased with T-Mobile’s Nest Plan that includes access to Nest Aware for just $10/month after a $5 bill credit, customers will be able to purchase a Nest Secure starter pack and Nest Cam Indoor for only $240 down and then $10/month for a total cost of $480.

That’s still a fair amount of cash to spend, but when you consider that the Nest Secure and Cam Indoor regularly cost $698 when purchased together, you’re looking at a really solid deal.

For that price, the Nest Secure comes with the Nest Guard base with keypad, a motion detector, and an alarm with a cellular backup service. You’ll get two Nest Detect motion and open/close sensors to place around your home, as well as two Nest Tag key fobs. As for the Nest Cam Indoor, T-Mobile’s Nest Plan includes Nest Aware so you can have access to intelligent security alerts and a backup for 10 days of constant video recording.

See at T-Mobile

Canadians can save $100 on the BlackBerry KEYone Black Edition right now

The 24-hour flash sale is back on in Canada, and this time it’s for the BlackBerry KEYone Black Edition!

Following up on the previous 24-hour flash sales in Canada which were for the BlackBerry KEYone in Silver, BlackBerry Mobile has kicked off another 24-hour flash sale. This time around, Canadians can score a BlackBerry KEYone Black Edition for $100 off bringing the total to $699.99 CAD.

Where can you buy it? Right here 👇

See at Amazon
See at Staples
See at Blueshop
See at Best Buy

The sale runs from 11/8/17 from 12:01 AM – 11:59 PM (EST) and as always product availability and shipping times will vary by retailer, but given Amazon, Staples, Blueshop and Best Buy are all participating, everyone looking to pick up a BlackBerry KEYone Black Edition should be able to snag one.

Also, do keep in mind that not all the sites may update their pricing at the same time, so if your desired retailer doesn’t have the sale pricing listed, keep checking, they will soon enough. Sale pricing is only valid online and for those possibly in the U.S. looking to order one, Blueshop will ship out of Canada but you’re responsible for customs, duties, brokerage fees and taxes.

BlackBerry KEYone

• BlackBerry KEYone review
• KEYone vs. Priv: Battle of the BlackBerry keyboards
• BlackBerry KEYone specs
• The latest KEYone news
• Join the discussion in the forums

Amazon
Best Buy
BlackBerry Mobile

The FCC is helping cable companies evade consumer protection rules

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol): is it an information service or a telecommunications service? This is the question that sits at the heart of an ongoing dispute between the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC), as the FCC takes steps to help cable company Charter avoid state consumer protection rules.

The FCC has never definitively settled the regulatory status of VoIP. If regarded as a telecommunications service — instead of a less heavily regulated information service — it would be subject to strict state rules. In this case, MPUC wants Charter to collect fees from customers to contribute to state programs that help the poor and hearing-impaired access telephone services, and to allow their customers to appeal to MPUC in the event of any disputes. Charter, with the support of the FCC, is trying to stop this, and the case has been taken to the Federal Court of Appeals which could, finally, provide clarification on VoIP’s regulatory status.

Charter has found support from a number of other telecom companies, including AT&T, Verizon and USTelecom, which claim that preventing the utility regulation of VoIP promotes continued competition and ultimately benefits customers. Consumer groups, however, argue that a Charter victory would mark the loss of protection that guarantees universal access to basic telephone services at fair prices, and that VoIP service provision shouldn’t come with fewer protections simply because it’s provided in a different way to traditional landlines. The outcome of the case will undoubtedly set a precedent for VoIP regulation in other states, and as MPUC says in its brief on the matter, “This case presents an important question of nationwide significance: whether the rule of law may be rendered obsolete by technological innovation.”

Source: Ars Technica

‘Dinner Party’ relives an interracial couple’s alien abduction in VR

On the night of September 19th, 1961, Barney and Betty Hill were the victims of the first widely publicized alien abduction in US history. The Hills, an interracial couple active in the civil-rights movement, were on their way home from a trip to Niagara Falls when they noticed an unusual light in the sky. Shaken by the erratic behavior of the UFO, they headed in the direction of the closest town but never made it.

Dinner Party was made possible through funding from the Engadget Alternate Realities grant program, established in May 2017. It will debut, along with four other prize-winning immersive-media projects, at the Engadget Experience on November 14th, 2017. For more information about the Engadget Experience, the grant program and the grantees visit our events page, and click here to buy your ticket to the event before they run out.

Somewhere along the way, they turned off the road, where they encountered a fiery orb, but they couldn’t quite recall what happened next. For months after, they were stalked by an unnerving feeling, but it wasn’t until they underwent hypnosis that the two recovered the detailed and disparate memories of their abduction.

The Zeta Reticuli incident, as it came to be known, is the subject of books, TV shows, federal investigations, conspiracy theories and cable-TV specials. There are seemingly countless ways to consume the Hills’ abduction. Now Laura Wexler wants you to experience it. Wexler, a writer and producer whose works include a book about the last mass lynching in the United States, came across the Hills’ abduction while researching another project with her writing partner, Charlotte Stoudt, whose writing and producing credits include House of Cards and Homeland. The two were immediately drawn to the story not only for its supernatural appeal but also because of the real-world parallels with racial tensions in the United States today.

“These were two people taken from the same car, as they reported, and had really different experiences,” Wexler said. “One, a white woman; one, a black man — and to me, that was an opportunity to explore a racial dynamic. Not just a UFO story, though UFO stories are great, but to explore to what degree race and race in America, in particular, affected the experiences they reported as these UFO abductees.”

Wexler says the story was the perfect fit for virtual reality, which has been repeatedly referred to as the empathy machine for its ability to put the user in another’s shoes. In its current form, Dinner Party is a two-part VR experience. In the opening scene, the audience is transported to the Hills’ home. The couple entertains guests and prepares the dining room table for dinner until Betty interrupts the festivities with a surprise. She’s decided to play the couple’s hypnosis tapes for the first time. From there, the viewer is transported to the car on the night of the abduction and experiences the alien encounter as the Hills recalled it.

The Hills’ story is the first experience in a series called The Incident, which Wexler and Stoudt hope will become the Twilight Zone of the VR era. It’s an ambitious project with the support of some influential virtual-reality players behind it. The pair developed the concept earlier this summer at the Sundance New Frontier Lab, a weeklong workshop for artists and storytellers who embrace new technologies. There they met Saschka Unseld, the co-founder of Oculus Story Studio and celebrated director of Dear Anjelica, who would become a consultant on the project.

New Frontier then led to a fellowship at Technicolor Experience Center (yes, that Technicolor), which provided the two with access to visual-effects experts and tools that would have otherwise been out of reach. From there, RYOT* Studio’s Angel Soto, director of the critically acclaimed VR short Bashir’s Dream, came on board. Skybound, the company behind The Walking Dead, joined as a production partner and Telexist, co-founded by director of photography Sam Gazari, signed on as the show’s VR producer.

The moment I stepped on set, I was struck by the sheer scale of the project. There were so many people on set, it was hard to tell what half of them did. There were script supervisors and caterers, gaffers and gofers, art directors, set designers and lighting techs. There were craft services and a makeshift dressing room. There was even a row of directors chairs occupied by a small group of people who looked like they just rolled out of a sound bath in Joshua Tree and a guy with a booming voice whose sole occupation seemed to be shouting down their gossip.

The point is, there’s nothing small about this production — that is, except for the camera. For its relative scale, the nine-lens shooter has an outsize role in Dinner Party. On the day we visited set, a 30-foot techno-crane filled the middle of the soundstage. The 360-degree camera, a Z Cam v1 Pro, affixed to the end of the crane floated above a modestly set dining room table. The arrangement was necessary to facilitate a carefully orchestrated four-minute continuous shot, in which the camera (and thus the viewer) seems to take on a life of its own.

“A lot of times in VR you’re giving the camera either sort of a bird’s-eye perspective or a fly on the wall,” Gazari said. “There’s a voyeuristic element to that, and if you introduce something like body presence, you’re going to have explain why that’s there. This was a case where we wanted to free ourselves up from that a little bit — tie the camera movement into overarching narrative and create something that hasn’t been done very often.”

The use of camera movement and a single continuous shot not only broke with established 360-degree cinema techniques but answered a question that Wexler and Stoudt encountered repeatedly during their time at the New Frontier Labs: Who is the camera?

“It was very organic. It wasn’t done on purpose, and I think that was the beauty of it,” Soto said. “You are this omnipresent being that’s there all the time, tormenting them, following them, studying them, like God.”

*RYOT is owned by Verizon, Engadget’s parent company.

Wembley to host English football’s first video ref this week

The German Bundesliga uses it, the American MLS is on board, but never before has the video assistant referee (VAR) system officiated a formal match in the home of football: England. That changes this Friday when England plays Germany at Wembley Stadium in one of several international friendlies ahead of the FIFA World Cup tournament in Russia next year, which itself will adopt replay referees for the first time.

The VAR will remain glued to a screen on Friday, ready to advise the on-pitch referee on crucial decisions. The common argument against VARs is that they slow the pace of the game, but like implementations elsewhere, the VAR will only pipe up/intervene when serious matters like penalties, red cards and offside decisions crop up, leaving all minor judgements up to the referee on the ground. Criticisms of VAR go beyond bleeding momentum out of the game, though. As The Times notes, the arbiter of the Bundesliga’s system was suspended recently after allegedly showing bias during a match, influencing two VAR penalty decisions to the benefit of one team.

The Football Association (FA) will tentatively introduce the system for some third-round FA Cup matches in January, setting the stage for the Premier League to potentially adopt VARs next season following countless trials of the technology all over the world, including in the UK. Before that, though, the Premier League and its referees’ association have to agree on how they want to implement the system. Instead of having an off-pitch VAR, they are thinking about having the on-pitch referee dash to a TV on the sidelines to review the action there, ensuring only one person makes all the important calls.

Source: The Times (paywalled)