Pick up Anker’s 5-Port USB Wall Charger with USB-C Power Delivery for $32

Charge everything in your world.

Anker’s PowerPort 5-Port USB-C Wall Charger is currently on sale at Amazon for only $32.19 when you enter promo code BEST2556 at checkout. This wall charger regularly sells around $54, and $40 is the lowest it has ever gone through a direct price drop. We shared a deal in early January that saw it go just below $34, but this deal is even better.

The PowerPort features a USB-C port with Power Delivery with a 30W maximum speed. The other four ports are all USB-A and feature PowerIQ to boost your charging speed up to 2.4A per port for compatible devices. It has a long power cord so you don’t need to stay right beside your wall outlet either. This wall charger also includes safety features like surge protection and temperature control to keep your devices charging properly.

Anker includes an 18-month warranty with this wall charger too.

See on Amazon

Google Clips AI-powered camera now on sale for $249 from multiple retailers

A different way of thinking about photography.

Google Clips, the $249 AI-powered camera announced alongside the Pixel 2 last year, is finally available and shipping from Best Buy, Verizon, B&H and the Google Store. Pre-orders initially opened up (only to close quickly) at the end of January with a quoted late-February ship date, and now that we’re in the final hours of the month Google is ready to start fulfilling orders without restriction.

The whole idea of Google Clips is to be a camera that you set up and just forget about for long periods of time. Rather than being actively involved in capturing moments with a smartphone or dedicated camera, you just place Google Clips somewhere and let it do its thing. The camera identifies when things are happening in its field of vision (which is 130-degrees), as well as who’s in the frame and whether it’s able to take a clear photo. It then captures bursts of photos at up to 15 fps and syncs them to your phone to review later. You can quickly triage anything you don’t want, and save everything else to Google Photos. It will of course create animations and other automatic creations, all without your input.

Capture moments that matter without being stuck behind a smartphone or camera.

This really is a different way of thinking about photography: capturing moments that matter while you’re also being part of those moments, not stuck behind a smartphone or camera the whole time.

The “Clips” name has a bit of a double-meaning, as it of course refers to the quick video clips it can capture but also because it has a plastic clip on the back. The whole idea is that you can secure Google Clips somewhere to give it a great view of wherever you are, rather than having to rely on setting it on a flat surface.

Google Clips is $249, which is a bit on the expensive side for most people who are happy to just have their smartphone be their only camera. But that’s also much less expensive than a dedicated camera, if you were in the market for one. I wouldn’t blame anyone for holding off on buying a Clips camera until it’s been proven to be really good at automatically capturing the photos you want. If it requires much management at all, it will quickly lose appeal.

See at Best Buy
See at Verizon
See at B&H

Google Hardware

• Google Wifi review
• Google Home review
• Chromecast Ultra: all you need to know
• Which Chromecast should you buy?

Google Wifi: Google
Amazon
Google Home: Google
Best Buy
Chromecast Ultra: Google
Best Buy

T-Mobile and Sprint announce first markets to support their 5G networks

The 5G future is almost here.

The race to 5G seems to be heating up among U.S. carriers every single day, and during MWC 2018, T-Mobile and Sprint both announced their respective plans for rolling out their 5G networks over the next year.

Looking first at T-Mobile, the Un-Carrier says it’ll begin building out 5G equipment this year in a total of 30 cities, with New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Las Vegas being among the first that’ll be able to experience the increased speeds when 5G smartphones start coming out in 2019.

T-Mobile will be enabling more of its 600 MHz and millimeter wave spectrum to help prepare for its 5G coverage, and commenting on this news, Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray said –

Every dollar we invest in our network is a 5G dollar. All the LTE Advanced work we do is 5G work, and we’re leading the industry with the most advanced LTE network in the country. Every step we take — every innovation – builds toward a future-proof 5G network, one where our customers continue to come out on top.

As for Sprint, the carrier claims its customers in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C. will be able to “experience the future of wireless” starting this April. Sprint will offer these markets “5G-like capabilities”, including the likes of faster speed and more capacity.

Sprint’s targeting the first half of 2019 as the launch window for its 5G network, and between now and then, it’ll start to utilize thousands of its Massive MIMO radios to prepare itself for this next evolution in mobile data.

This news comes shortly after AT&T announced similar plans, and all of this makes it clear that no one will stop until they’re the first to market before everyone else. Who will win that race? Let me know who your money is on in the comments below.

These are three of the cities where AT&T’s 5G network will launch in 2018

Some ‘Hearthstone’ cards will be phased out with April’s expansion

Blizzard has solidified Hearthstone’s annual flow of retiring old cards and welcoming new ones: For the third year in a row, a new expansion will come in April that signals a sea change in the digital card game. While we don’t know the title or flavor of Hearthstone’s next set, we do have a list of changes and new features that will arrive when 2017’s Year of the Mammoth gives way to 2018’s Year of the Raven.

The most obvious change will be the card shift. The sets from 2016 — Whispers of the Old Gods, One Night in Karazhan and Mean Streets of Gadgetzan — will all pass out of Standard format to make way for the new expansion. This is has traditionally been the best time of year for new players to jump in the game, since it has the least amount of cards in play, but the switchover also refreshes the meta of competitive decks and strategies. While this year’s three sets are still shrouded in mystery, they will all have free single-player adventure content — hopefully they’ll be as inventive and enjoyable as the Arena-like Dungeon Run that came with the most recent expansion Kobolds & Catacombs.

But 2016’s cards won’t be the only ones joining the Wild format. Three old favorites will be added to the Hall of Fame, the honorific category Hearthstone’s team created last year to retire cards from the previously-immune Classic set that launched with the game. 2017’s entries included fan-favorites like Ragnaros the Firelord, Sylvanas Windrunner and Azure Drake, which Blizzard put out to pasture for being auto-includes in most decks that were also becoming too difficult to design around. This year’s Hall of Fame slate is much the same: Ice Block and Coldlight Oracle are both being retired for defining decks for years.

Curiously, Molten Giant is also getting Hall of Fame’d with his 5-mana nerf reverted to its original cost; The Hearthstone team might be doing this as a gift for veteran fans to resurrect old decks in Wild. If you own any of these cards, you’ll get a full dust reward as if you’d disenchanted them — which can result in some free dust if you manage to craft them beforehand and dismantle them after, as this guide explains.

The new year and next set will probably bring back casual and absent players curious about the next smattering of cards, but those who have been away for awhile will have to play catch-up on expansions and strategies they missed out on. To get over that ‘homework hump,’ Hearthstone is handing out a new Druid hero portrait for free (much like they did for 2017’s first new set). Players will earn Lunara, the gleeful dryad that Heroes of the Storm fans will recognize, after winning 10 games in the Standard format.

The most exciting change won’t be new cards or content, but the ability for any player to create their own tournament within the game client. Just set up the rules and hit ‘launch’ — Hearthstone will matchmake and check decks to make sure they fit your bonkers theme (Lorewalker Cho + Faceless Manipulator + Mirage Caller, let’s go). The beta will come later this year at an undetermined time, so in all likelihood, don’t expect it alongside the first expansion.

Finally, the new year will bring more international stops for the 2018 Hearthstone Championship Tour, which the Hearthstone team announced beforehand. Check up their blog post to see the new schedule. That’s all we know about the Year of the Raven thus far, but fans should keep an eye out for news of 2018’s first expansion that’s likely to drop in the coming weeks. And if they have any questions, Hearthstone ‘s game director Ben Brode and senior producer Yong Woo will host a live Q&A on the game’s Twitch channel at 11am PT on March 2nd.

Source: Blizzard

ESRB addresses loot box controversy with ‘in-game purchases’ label

The controversy over loot boxes in games like Star Wars: Battlefront II, Need for Speed: Payback and Destiny 2 hasn’t settled and state legislators in the US and governments abroad are considering legislation that would limit their use or straight up ban them. Central to the debate is whether loot boxes should be considered gambling and in that regard, the ESRB has maintained that’s not the case, saying last year, “While there’s an element of chance in these mechanics, the player is always guaranteed to receive in-game content (even if the player unfortunately receives something they don’t want).” But that hasn’t kept people from pushing the ESRB to do more. New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan sent an open letter to the regulatory body earlier this month, asking it to review its policies on loot boxes and take into account their potential to do harm. And today, the ESRB announced what it will be doing to address concerns over loot boxes.

Going forward, the ESRB will begin adding an “In-Game Purchases” label to boxed games that have any sort of in-game purchase, including loot boxes. “The new In-Game Purchases label will be applied to games with in-game offers to purchase digital goods or premiums with real world currency, including but not limited to bonus levels, skins, surprise items (such as item packs, loot boxes, mystery awards), music, virtual coins and other forms of in-game currency, subscriptions, season passes and upgrades (e.g., to disable ads),” it said in the announcement. The ESRB is also launching ParentalTools.org, a website for parents that provides information on the new label, guides for setting up parental controls and an explanation of the ESRB’s rating system.

An update on in-game purchases from your friends at ESRB: pic.twitter.com/pqmfJe0Ywz

— ESRB (@ESRBRatings) February 27, 2018

Some may wonder why the ESRB isn’t addressing loot boxes specifically, but ESRB President Patricia Vance told Ars Technica that it’s because “a large majority of parents don’t know what a loot box is” and that parents’ biggest concern is their children spending money in games, not necessarily how they’re doing it. “It’s very important for us not to harp on loot boxes per se, but make sure we’re capturing loot boxes but also other types of purchases,” said Vance.

Last year, Apple began requiring games in its App Store to disclose the odds of actually receiving rewards available from loot boxes, a rule that China decided to implement for all games in 2016. Belgium, Germany and some Australian states are considering or pursuing legislation that would regulate or ban loot boxes, as are Hawaii and Washington in the US. The UK and New Zealand, however, have ruled that they don’t consider loot boxes to constitute gambling.

In addition to today’s announcement, the ESRB also responded to Senator Hassan’s letter, reiterating today’s announcements and addressing concerns over the potential harm of loot boxes. You you can read it in full here.

Source: ESRB

Apple Picks Up Psychological Thriller Produced by M. Night Shyamalan

Apple has given a straight-to-series order for a psychological thriller written by Tony Basgallop and produced by M. Night Shyamalan, known for movies like “Signs,” “Sixth Sense,” “Unbreakable,” “The Village,” and “Split.”

According to Variety, Apple isn’t sharing details on the show at this time, but the company has ordered 10 half-hour episodes. In addition to executive producing, Shyamalan will direct the first episode of the series.

Basgallop, the writer for the show, has previously worked on series like “24: Legacy,” “Berlin Station,” “What Remains,” “EastEnders,” and “Hotel Babylon.”

The new TV series for Apple will be Shyamalan’s second TV show following “Wayward Pines,” a science fiction show that focused on a series of mysteries and disappearances in the small town of Wayward Pines, Idaho. The cancellation of “Wayward Pines,” which ran for two seasons in 2015 and 2016, was just announced yesterday.

Apple has a long list of television shows that are currently in development, and this new psychological thriller marks the 11th show that we know about.

Other TV shows Apple is working on include an untitled morning show drama starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, an “Amazing Stories” reboot from Steven Spielberg, an untitled space drama from Battlestar Galactica creator Ronald D. Moore, a series written by “La La Land” creator Damien Chazelle, a Kristen Wiig comedy series, See, an epic world-building drama, Home, a docuseries focusing on incredible homes, “Little America,” an anthology series from “The Big Sick” creators Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, and Swagger, a drama based on the early life and career of NBA star Kevin Durant.

Related Roundup: Apple TVBuyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Buy Now)
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Engadget giveaway: Win a limited edition Essential PH-1 smartphone!

Andy Rubin’s company Essential has steered around the rat race of Android handset manufacturers, instead focusing on smaller runs with a more handcrafted approach. This latest batch of Essential PH-1 smartphones is emblematic of those goals. This trio of new limited edition colors was sourced from a single experienced Japanese vendor with an eye on quality control and consistency. The Ocean Depths, Copper Black and Stellar Gray exteriors offer beautiful design touches to parallel the edge-to-edge QHD display. In addition to looks, you get a clean version of Android, 128GB of storage, a 13-megapixel rear camera and plenty of other high-end features. All this comes at an approachable price of just $499 ($599 for limited edition colors while they last). This week, three lucky winners will each get a PH-1 in one of the three new colorways. All you need to do is head to the Rafflecopter widget below for up to three chances at winning one of these special edition Essential PH-1 smartphones.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

• Entries are handled through the Rafflecopter widget above. Comments are no longer accepted as valid methods of entry. You may enter without any obligation to social media accounts, though we may offer them as opportunities for extra entries. Your email address is required so we can get in touch with you if you win, but it will not be given to third parties.
• Contest is open to all residents of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec), 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so direct your anger at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
• Winners will be chosen randomly. Three (3) winners will each receive one (1) Limited edition Essential smartphone in one of three new colors ($599 value).
• If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Make sure that the account you use to enter the contest includes your real name and a contact email. We do not track any of this information for marketing or third-party purposes.
• This unit is purely for promotional giveaway. Engadget and AOL are not held liable to honor warranties, exchanges or customer service.
• The full list of rules, in all of its legalese glory, can be found here.
• Entries can be submitted until February 28th at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!

Mu One is an incredibly compact USB-C laptop charger

While laptops these days are getting thinner than ever, their chargers still aren’t very briefcase-friendly. We’ve already seen a good attempt from MIT spinoff FINsix, but now we have something even more impressive from the other side of the pond. Made in Mind, a company best known for co-founder Min-Kyu Choi’s foldable UK plug design, has just unveiled a super compact 45W USB-C international charger dubbed Mu One.

This sweet little device supports USB Power Delivery with a maximum voltage of 20V, yet it maintains the same 14mm thickness as its 12W predecessor, thus making it the world’s thinnest 45W USB charger. What’s more, it’s noticeably smaller and lighter than Apple’s 29W USB-C MacBook adapter.

As with the company’s most recent release, the Mu One comes with the same set of three interchangeable plugs: a fully-foldable UK plug, a hinged European plug and a low profile US plug. Even with the UK plug inserted, the entire charger only comes in at 14mm thick when the former is folded, meaning there’s minimal fuss if you want to throw it into a bag. Its starting weight of just 80 grams (with the US plug inserted) is a nice bonus as well.

According to CEO Matthew Judkins, the biggest challenge of developing the Mu One over the past two years was trying to solve the space and heat issues from such a dense system. Thanks to some help from power controller specialist Navitas, the Mu One eventually took advantage of gallium nitride (GaN), a material that can handle this much power in a small form factor while maintaining a high efficiency of 94 percent.

On top of that, the Mu One has a dedicated chip for identifying iOS, Android and other platforms on the connected device to provide the most suitable power settings. There’s obviously also a controller for detecting and switching to USB Power Delivery mode when available — mostly for laptops and also the Nintendo Switch when docked, though we’re waiting for Judkins to personally test the latter just to be sure.

As mentioned, the Mu One has just gone live on Kickstarter and starts from £39 (about $54) for early birds, with shipment expected to start in September later this year. It should be noted that the device doesn’t come with a cable, though this campaign does let you chip in more for a USB-C to USB-C cable by Native Union. If you need other types of cables, you’re on your own.

Source: Kickstarter

YouTube restores Logan Paul’s ad revenue following suspension

Apparently, YouTube’s temporary suspension of Logan Paul’s ad revenue was very temporary. The company has resumed running ads on the comedy star’s channels this week, roughly two weeks after it cut the promos off for a string of behavior that included posting a video of a suicide victim. He’s still under a 90-day “probation” that prevents his videos from showing up in recommendations for non-subscribers (both in the trending tab and notifications), and disqualifies him from the Google Preferred ad program.

However, the brunt of Paul’s punishment is clearly over — and that’s not going to make critics happy. He has over 4.6 million subscribers on YouTube as we write this, which virtually guarantees large viewership even when you exclude recommendations. While that’s no small amount of money (he may have lost tens of thousands of dollars), Paul didn’t exactly learn his lesson the first time he was punished — is a two-week suspension really going to change his ways?

Paul and his team have said they’ve reviewed and understood YouTube’s community guidelines since the suspension, though the proof will be in the clips posted now that the video star can once again profit from its work.

Whether or not you think Paul has learned his lesson, the events surrounding the suspension have at least prompted reform at YouTube. The streaming giant enacted new policies intended to discourage “egregious” videos and other behavior meant purely to drive up views. YouTube had taken action in cases like this before, but the new approach could help it respond in a timely fashion, rather than waiting for the uproar to reach a fever pitch.

Source: Variety

Sprint plans 5G infrastructure for six cities in 2018

It’s been a race between mobile carriers to roll out 5G service, and it looks as though Sprint might be gaining on its rivals. Starting in April, the US wireless carrier will make 5G-like capabilities available in three cities: Chicago, Dallas and Houston. The company will add Atlanta, Washington, DC and Houston to the list later this year. A full 5G rollout is expected in the first half of 2019.

Sprint is relying on massive MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) to upgrade its network. MIMO tech allows multiple antennas to push data to a single access point, which means users will experience faster speeds without data congestion. Sprint promises that the technology will deliver “up to 10 times the capacity of current LTE systems, significantly increasing data speeds for more customers in high-traffic locations.”

MIMO tech is compatible with both LTE and 5G. The initial increases in speed that customers will see on their existing phones will simply be a result of this more efficient data handling process (hence the term “5G-like capabilities”.) It seems as though Sprint users won’t see true 5G until 2019, though, when customers will likely also see a hike in pricing. Any Sprint customer with a 2.5 GHz (band 41) phone will be able to take advantage of MIMO technology. The company plans to roll out true 5 GHz phones in early 2019.

AT&T is planning on rolling out actual 5G service in multiple cities this year, and it’s unclear exactly where Verizon is in the process (though the company is apparently interested in 5G home internet.) T-Mobile’s national 5G network won’t be in place until 2020. While this announcement is much more about an infrastructure upgrade than actual 5G, it’s certainly an important step to bringing higher data speeds to Sprint’s mobile customers.

Source: Sprint