Technology

At its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) last June, Apple announced updates coming to its various operating systems, most of which focus on its own version of AI, dubbed Apple Intelligence. MacBooks will get macOS 15, aka Sequoia, that will support Image Playground, Apple’s image generation tool, and AI composition features that can rewrite, proofread and summarize text in Mail, Notes, Pages and more. But the AI smarts will only be available to Apple laptops with an M1 chip or newer. So if you have an older model (pre-2020), or want the latest chips to get the most out of macOS 15, you might want a new MacBook. This guide will help you pick which one makes the most sense for you.

After testing every model Apple makes, we think the 13-inch MacBook Air with the M3 chip and 16GB of RAM is the best choice for most people. But there are definitely reasons to consider the cheaper M2 Air and the fully featured Pro laptops. We’ve broken down all the options to help you decide which is the best MacBook for you.

Editor's note (3/6/25): Apple unveiled the new M4 MacBook Air earlier this week, featuring the new M4 processor, a base 16GB of RAM and a price cut to $999 for the entry-level model. Our current top picks here still stand, but we'll update this guide once we've put the new MacBook Air through its paces. You can currently pre-order the M4 MacBook Air, and it will become widely available on March 12.

Factors to consider when buying a MacBook

Compared to PCs, Apple computers tend to have more streamlined specifications. The company has long been known for this simplicity, and the M-series “system-on-a-chip” condenses things even further. It started with the M1 chip, which has since been retired in all models. The M2 and M3 chips can be found in current-generation MacBooks, but the latest Apple silicon, the M4 chip, is only housed in the new iPad Pro. All M-series chips combine, among other technologies, the CPU, graphics card and unified memory (RAM). Apple’s Neural Engine is included too, which is a specialized group of processor cores that handles machine learning tasks such as image analysis and voice recognition. 

While a unified chip means you have fewer decisions to make when picking a MacBook, there are still a few factors to consider, including specs like the number of CPU cores, amount of RAM, storage capacity, screen size, and, obviously, price. The finish color may be a minor consideration, but it's worth pointing out that the Pro come in just two colors (Silver or Space Gray) but the Air adds two additional hues (Midnight and Starlight).

CPU cores

Currently the lowest-specced chip in a MacBook is the M2 in the 13-inch MacBook Air. It comes with an 8-core CPU and either an 8- or 10-core GPU. At the other end of the spectrum, the M3 Max chip is built with up to a 16-core CPU and a 40-core GPU. Cores are, in essence, smaller processing units that can handle different tasks simultaneously. Having more of them translates to the computer being able to run multiple programs and applications at once, while also smoothly processing demanding tasks like video editing and high-level gaming. In short, more cores allow for more advanced computing and better performance. But if your processing power needs fall below professional-level gaming and cinematic video and audio editing, getting the highest number of cores is likely overkill — and after all, more cores equals higher cost and more power usage.

RAM

Your options for RAM, or in Apple’s terminology, Unified memory, varies depending on the chip you choose. The M2 and M3 chips can be paired with 8, 16 or 24GB of RAM. The M3 Pro chip has 18 or 36GB memory options, while the most powerful M3 Max chip supports 48, 64 or a whopping 128GB of RAM.

You’ve likely heard the analogy comparing memory to the amount of workspace available on a literal desktop surface, whereas storage is the amount of drawers you have to store projects to work on later. The larger the worktop surface, the more projects you can work on at once. The bigger the drawers, the more you can save for later.

More RAM is ideal for people who plan to work in multiple apps at once. And the more demanding each program is, the more RAM will be required. Extra memory can also come in handy if you’re the type who likes to have infinite numbers of tabs open on your browser. If your daily workflow doesn’t involve simultaneously using a vast number of memory-intensive programs, you can save yourself money and buy the RAM configuration that you’re most likely to actually use.

For casual users, 8GB may be enough, however, if you can afford an upgrade to 16GB of RAM, we recommend going doing so, as modern browsers tend to be pretty memory-hungry. Investing in more RAM now will give your new MacBook a longer lifespan of reliable use. It’s also important to keep in mind that, unlike most PCs, the RAM in current-model MacBooks is not user-upgradable, so you’ll want to get what you plan on needing at the outset.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget Storage capacity (SSD)

Storage options range from 256GB of SSD for the M2 MacBook Air and 8TB of storage for the MacBook Pros with the M3 Max chip. If you want to rotate between a long roster of game titles or keep lots of high-res videos on hand, you’ll want more storage. If you’re mostly working with browser- and cloud-based applications, you can get away with a smaller-capacity configuration. That said, we recommend springing for 512GB of storage or more, if it’s within your budget. You’ll quickly feel the limits of a 256GB machine as it ages since the operating system alone takes up a good portion of that space. Having 1TB will feel even roomier and allow for more data storage over the life of your laptop.

When Apple announced the iPhone 15, the company also announced new iCloud+ storage storage plans, with subscriptions that allow up to 12TB of storage. You could also transfer files to an external storage device. But if you don’t want to pay for a monthly subscription and prefer the convenience of having immediate access to your files, it’s best to get the highest amount of storage space your budget allows for at the outset.

Screen size

MacBooks come in 13-, 14-, 15- and 16-inch sizes. That might not seem like a huge difference, but, as Engadget’s Nathan Ingraham noted when he reviewed the now-retired 15-inch M2-powered MacBook Air, a larger screen "makes a surprising difference.” That’s especially true if you plan to use your laptop as an all-day productivity machine and won’t be using an external monitor. More space means you can more clearly view side-by-side windows and have a more immersive experience when watching shows or gaming.

But screen size is the main factor influencing weight. The 13-inch MacBook Air M2 weighs 2.7 pounds, whereas the top-end 16-inch MacBook Pro weighs 4.8 pounds. If you plan to travel a lot or swap your work locations regularly, a smaller screen will make life easier in the long run.

All MacBooks feature IPS LCD panels (in-plane switching, liquid crystal display), which Apple markets as Retina displays. The MacBook Air M1 has a Retina display. A Liquid Retina display comes with the M2 MacBook Air and the Liquid Retina XDR display comes with the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros. “Liquid” refers to the way the lighted portion of the display “flows” within the contours of the screen, filling the rounded corners and curving around the camera notch. “XDR” is what Apple calls HDR (high dynamic range).

Compared to most other laptops, MacBook displays are notably bright, sharp and lush. But one feature worth pointing out is another Apple marketing term: ProMotion. It’s the company’s term to describe a screen with a higher, 120Hz refresh rate, which results in smoother scrolling and more fluid-looking graphics. Only the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros offer ProMotion; the other models max out at 60Hz, which is perfectly fine for everyday browsing and typical workdays. But if you want buttery-smooth motion from your display, you’ll have to shell out more money for an upgrade.

Price

When the MacBook Air M3 came out, Apple dropped the price of the base-model, 13-inch, M2-powered Air with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. With a $999 starting price, it’s now the least expensive new MacBook you can get. Alternatively, you can spend up to $7,199 for the 16-inch MacBook Pro M3 Max with 128GB of RAM and 8TB of storage. Chip type, screen size, memory and storage capacity all influence the final price, which is why guides like this can help you determine just what you need (and what you don’t) so you can get the most cost-effective machine for you.

We recommend the MacBook Air M3 for most people, the MacBook Air M2 for students and those on a budget, and the 14- or 16-inch MacBook Pros for professionals. If you have extra money to spare once you’ve picked your machine, we recommend upgrading to at least 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage to make your machine as future-proof as possible.

Best MacBooks 

MacBook FAQs What's the difference between MacBook Air and Pro?

The MacBook Air comes with a standard M3 or M2 chip. MacBook Pro models have the option of more powerful M3 Pro or M3 Max chips. The Pro has a higher resolution screen with a higher peak brightness that supports XDR (extreme dynamic range). The battery life on most Pro models is longer than on the Air models. Pro models also have more ports and more speakers. In short, the MacBook Air is aimed at everyday users looking for good productivity and entertainment capabilities, while Pro models are aimed at professionals who need a high-performance computer.

What's the difference between macOS and Windows?

MacOS is the operating system developed by Apple and used in all of its desktop and laptop computers. It can only be found in hardware made by Apple including MacBooks and iMacs. Microsoft’s Windows operating system can be found in the company’s own Surface laptops as well as computers made by a wide array of manufacturers, like Acer, Asus, Dell and Razer.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/best-macbook-140032524.html?src=rss

If you own one of Victrola's high-end, Sonos-ready turntables from the last few years, your techie record player is about to get more versatile. The company said on Thursday that all of its "Works with Sonos" vinyl turntables will support Bluetooth, Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) and hi-fi Roon streaming through a software update.

The update will dramatically increase the streaming versatility of the Stream Carbon, Pearl and Onyx turntables. Meanwhile, Victrola says the ultra-premium Sapphire player, which also supports those standards, has already received the update. The company says it will install automatically, and the new options will appear in the section of the app where you previously only saw the option to pick a default Sonos speaker.

Nathan Ingraham for Engadget

While the new capabilities are good news for anyone who spent anywhere from $600 to $1,500 on a hi-tech vinyl player, it seems curious (if not infuriating) that the premium gear launched without these capabilities despite having all the requisite hardware. And while the company framed the update as a natural continuation of its mission to help vinyl lovers, you could look at Sonos' calamitous year and speculate that Victrola calculated that hitching too many horses to that post might not be the best idea.

An incomprehensibly botched Sonos app update in May led to months of downward spiraling. Despite numerous attempts to plug holes, the debacle culminated in two rounds of layoffs and the departure of its CEO and chief product officer in January. Although Victrola launched cheaper Sonos-less alternatives to the same turntables months before Sonos' plummet began, it's easy to imagine it nervously eyeing that mess and deciding now is a good time to awaken the Sonos variants' dormant wireless capabilities.

"This update is a major step forward in our mission to blend the warmth of vinyl with the convenience of modern wireless audio," Victrola Scott Hagen wrote in a press release. "The Victrola Stream turntables have been the best option for Sonos users, and now we're extending that same effortless streaming experience to even more audio ecosystems. Vinyl lovers can now enjoy premium wireless flexibility without compromise."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/victrola-adds-more-wireless-options-to-its-sonos-compatible-turntables-181634084.html?src=rss

It's Thursday, which means there are some more PC games that Amazon Prime members can claim for free. Amazon has also revealed the entire slate of freebies that subscribers can snag throughout March, as well as the games they can stream at no extra cost on Amazon Luna.

Arguably the highest-profile additions of the month are available today in the form of Saints Row: The Third Remastered and Mafia II: Definitive Edition. As ever, nearly every game on the list is for PC, but since Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is claimable via the Microsoft Store, you'll be able to play that one on Xbox as well.

Mortal Shell is an RPG from a few years back that I'd been meaning to check out, so I'll be sure to pick that one up. Elsewhere, The Forgotten City is a mystery RPG that was originally a Skyrim mod. The standalone version debuted a few years ago to critical acclaim.

You typically have about a month to claim each of the games before they leave the lineup (meaning that you can still snag many of the February additions) Here's what you can snap up and when, along with the launcher you can play each game on:

Now

• Saints Row: The Third Remastered (GOG)

• Mafia II: Definitive Edition (GOG)

• Crime Boss: Rockay City (Epic Games Store)

• Naheulbeuk's Dungeon Master (Amazon Games App)

March 13

• Wall World (Amazon Games App)

• Syberia: The World Before (GOG)

• Endling - Extinction is Forever (Amazon Games App)

• Dark Deity: Complete Edition (GOG)

• Beholder 3 (Amazon Games App)

March 20

• Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (Xbox and PC via Microsoft Store Code)

• Mutazione (GOG)

• Figment 2: Creed Valley (Amazon Games App)

• Legacy of Kain: Defiance (GOG)

• Mortal Shell (Epic Games Store)

March 27

• The Forgotten City (Amazon Games App)

• Deus Ex: Invisible War (GOG)

• Session: Skate Sim (Epic Games Store)

• Let's Build A Zoo (Epic Games Store)

• Gamedec - Definitive Edition (GOG)

• The Wisbey Mystery (Legacy Games Code)

Along with those games that Prime members can claim and keep forever (even if they cancel their plan), subscribers can stream a bunch of other titles via Amazon Luna. Along with staples like Fortnite, Trackmania and a couple of Fallout games, members can stream WRC Generations Fully Loaded Edition, Spitlings, The Jackbox Party Pack 3, Strange Horticulture and the utterly brilliant Overcooked! 2 throughout March. As a reminder, only Prime members in the US, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands and Poland have access to these games on Luna.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/prime-gamings-march-freebies-include-saints-row-the-third-and-mafia-ii-remasters-180008526.html?src=rss

The Nintendo DS is one of the toughest consoles to emulate, for an obvious reason. It’s the two screens. This is even an issue with ports. Some developers avoid the problem by mushing everything together onto a single traditional screen, like the recently-released Castlevania Dominus Collection. However, gamers may finally have an affordable emulation solution, thanks to the MagicX Zero 40 handheld console.

On its surface, it’s yet another handheld emulator, but this one features a four-inch vertically-oriented 800x480 touchscreen display. This should allow players to accurately recreate the experience of playing DS games. That’s great news, as replacement parts for any of the DS's iterations are difficult to come by these days.

The MagicX Zero 40 runs on a 64-bit Android operating system and features 2GB of RAM and a battery that lasts for four to seven hours. As for storage, it supports flash cards up to 512GB. What about 3DS emulation? The specs sheet indicates there’s no support for Nintendo’s follow-up dual-screen handheld, but the Zero 40 will emulate games from all of the standard single-screen systems. These include the PSP, NES, SNES, Dreamcast and many more.

The Zero 40 is expected to be released this April, with an asking price of $75. Pre-orders were open, but are sold out for the time being. There’s another option for a dual-screen emulation, if you have deep pockets. The Ayaneo Flip DS will run Nintendo DS, 3DS and Wii U games, but starts at $739.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-magicx-zero-40-handheld-features-a-vertical-display-for-ds-emulation-175820385.html?src=rss

Everything about Sorry We’re Closed sets my little punk heart ablaze, from its low-poly 3D graphics and banging original soundtrack, to its casually epic storyline starring heartbroken club kids and horny demons. Sorry We’re Closed takes place around a bustling city of neon-splattered nightmares, and if I could, I’d move there immediately.

Michelle, an existentially lost and effortlessly cool twenty-something, is introduced to the spiritual world by The Duchess, an archdemon with thigh-high boots and a threatening allure. Michelle is marked as The Duchess’ love interest and cursed with a powerful Third Eye. The Duchess is cruel and desperate for love, and Michelle — still reeling from a breakup that rocked her world three years ago — has a limited amount of time to discover why she’s been chosen and how to escape the curse with her life intact.

The characters in Sorry We’re Closed are raw, funny and authentic, and their relationships are relatably messy. There's Oakley, the diner owner; Marty, the record shop manager; Clarissa, the dancer; Robyn, the local adventurer; Darrel, Oakley’s boyfriend and resident douchebag; and of course a cast of otherworldly beings. I feel like I know some of these people in my real life, and as for the rest, I’d love to meet them and help them chase their weird fantasies. Everything in this game is super stylish, from the blocky 3D avatars to the detailed, painterly icons that accompany their dialogue boxes. The city is populated by a diverse blend of genders and sexualities, and it feels both perfectly natural and deeply welcoming, like a stunning fever dream of what could be if The Gay Agenda finally got its way.

Again, it’s a world I’d love to live in.

Akupara Games

Michelle spends her time exploring the underworld and chasing the ghosts of The Duchess’ former victims — er, lovers — while gathering the strength to fight the archdemon head-on. There are four different endings in Sorry We’re Closed, and your decisions to help or hinder your friends will determine how things shake out in a tangible way. Many of the demons and angels in this world have sadistic streaks, and there are multiple scenes of bloody dismemberment and extreme body horror along Michelle’s journey. Choose your path forward wisely.

The game plays out in a fixed-camera perspective for exploration scenes, and switches to a dual-stick, first-person view for combat. Using a DualSense controller, you enter first-person view by holding down LT, and then shoot or swing with RT, using the right stick to aim. Michelle ends up with three weapons: a wolf-faced axe, a pistol and a shotgun. She also gets a powerful Heartbreaker attack, which builds up as she does damage and eventually allows her to unleash a devastating shot directly at an enemy’s heart. Collecting ammo and health is a constant task in Sorry We’re Closed, and first-person view is useful here, allowing Michelle to break and loot vases.

Akupara Games

Transitioning between third and first person feels nice and smooth, and the game does a great job of infusing classic Resident Evil-style gameplay with modern sensibilities. When it’s engaged, Michelle’s Third Eye lets her see and interact with an alternate reality, which appears in a circular pool around her. Demons that get caught in the Third Eye are briefly stunned, and their weak points become visible as stained-glass hearts. You’re only able to shoot weak points when Third Eye is engaged, but you can drop it at any time to attack with impunity. The length of the Third Eye stun can be extended by spending yowzas, the game’s currency, at the shop, which is run by a floating goat head. There are other basic upgrades for ammo and health capacities, which Michelle carries in the form of water bottles.

As Michelle travels deeper into The Duchess’ dimension, the environments become more M.C. Escher-like, and there are a series of puzzles to solve when you’re not actively battling demons. There’s nothing too tricky here, but there are little fetch quests and physical riddles to solve, and the reality-shifting mechanic of Michelle’s Third Eye keeps things interesting. There’s a perfect amount of variety in this game, with plenty of space to mess around with each new idea.

Akupara Games

I adore the way Sorry We’re Closed plays with perspective. It has standard top-down scenes, sure, but there are also cinematic shots peeking through the gaps in a chandelier, wide angles that show off the scale of some environments, head-on running scenes, and instances of beautiful but impossible physics, especially when The Duchess is involved. In case you couldn’t tell, I kind of fell in love with The Duchess, even though I know they would destroy me. Maybe because of that, even.

Sorry We’re Closed is campy, relatable, gruesome and gorgeous. You could say the same about The Duchess.

With today’s console launch, all versions of the game are getting rebalanced combat areas, improved controller sensitivity, aim assist options, fresh difficulties, a Time Attack mode and New Game+. Sorry We’re Closed is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, and there’s a premium physical edition for Switch and PS5 due out later this year, available to pre-order now. Sorry We’re Closed is the debut title from à la mode games, a two-person team based in Bournemouth, UK, and it’s published by Akupara Games.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/sorry-were-closed-ps5-review-oops-i-fell-in-love-with-an-archdemon-170040845.html?src=rss

If your subscriptions are getting out of control, you’re not alone. I feel it too: I pay for news sites, video streaming, music services, online magazines, my cat’s special food, charities and lots more — and that’s not including the stuff I’m forgetting about. Companies love the subscription model because it’s a reliable revenue stream. On the consumer side, auto-payments are certainly more convenient than sitting down with a checkbook to pay bills each month like a homemaker in the olden times. But in exchange for that convenience, everything you signed up for slowly and silently carves away at your bank account each month, possibly without you noticing.

It’s true that signing up for something is far easier than canceling — that’s by design. The FTC passed a rule that went into effect in January of 2025 requiring companies to make cancelling a subscription as easy as it was to sign up for it. It won’t go into effect until May 2025, and telecom companies immediately fired back with a lawsuit, so whether the rule will actually be enforced is anyone’s guess. That means it will still take some effort to get rid of the services you don’t use, but there are a couple of tactics that might make your efforts more effective. Here’s our advice on finding and cancelling your unneeded subscriptions.

First things first: Find out what subscriptions you have

Before putting this post together, I had no idea how many subscriptions I was paying for. Surprises included a coding game for my kid (that he no longer plays) and a British streaming app I’d gotten for one show (that I finished nearly a year ago). You, too, may not know what subscriptions are stealthily subtracting dollars from your accounts. One of the most comprehensive ways to see what you’re paying for is to look at your bank and credit card transactions, generating a search that includes every transaction in the previous full month. It may be a lot to scroll through, but each monthly subscription will appear at least once in that time frame.

Annual subscriptions can be tricker to track down. I was able to find most by searching for introductory emails, since most services send out an initial message confirming a new subscription. You can use the advanced search with the words “welcome” or “thank you” in the subject field, plus variations on the words “annual” “subscribing” and “membership” in the general or keyword search fields. You should get a decent idea of the things you’ve signed up for, but may have to wade through lots of promotional emails before you find the services you actually subscribed to. It could save you some time over searching through a year of bank statements.

Sometimes it’s helpful to simply see a list of common subscriptions people pay for (and often forget about). Here are a few:

Entertainment
• YouTube Premium
• Amazon Prime Video (or Prime in general)
• Netflix
• Disney+
• Pandora Premium
• Twitch Subscriber
• Crunchyroll

Gaming
• PlayStation Plus
• Xbox Game Pass
• Nintendo Switch Online

Work/Productivity
• LinkedIn Premium
• Adobe Creative Cloud
• Microsoft 365
• ToDo
• Evernote

Dating
• Tinder
• Grindr
• Bumble
• Hinge
• Raya

Food
• Hello Fresh
• Green Chef
• Blue Apron
• Doordash DashPass
• Uber Eats Uber One
• Monthly coffee, hot sauce and jerky boxes

How to cancel subscriptions

For the most part, the way you sign up for a subscription is the way you’ll cancel it. If you signed up for Strava or Minecraft Realms from your iOS device, you’ll need to cancel it through your Apple account. If you signed up for Netflix through its website, you’ll cancel there. Sometimes even the device you use matters. For example, if you signed up for Paramount Plus via your Fire TV Stick, you’ll go through your TV to cancel instead of through the Amazon mobile app.

Once you’ve determined where to go, the cancellation processes will nearly always involve logging in to your account and navigating to your profile, then your account settings so you can view and end your subscription.

Here are steps to cancel a few of the most popular subs.

From the Apple App Store or Google Play Store

When you pay for a subscription through an app store, the transaction will likely be listed as a payment to either Apple or Google, so it’s harder to see what you’re paying for using the banking suggestion above. Here’s how to see what you’ve subscribed to using the two major app marketplaces, plus how to cancel.

How to cancel subscriptions through Apple’s App Store
1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap your profile box at the top.
3. Tap on Subscriptions. Here, you’ll see your active and inactive subscriptions listed.
4. Tap the one you want to cancel and follow the prompts.

How to cancel subscriptions through Google’s Play Store
1. Open the Google Play app.
2. Tap your profile circle in the upper right.
3. Tap on Payments & Subscriptions.
4. Tap on Subscriptions.
4. You’ll see your active subscriptions and can decide which ones you no longer want.

How to cancel Amazon Prime Amazon

Amazon most recently raised the price of a Prime membership in 2022, bringing it to $15 per month or $139 per year. A membership gets you things like free shipping and access to Prime Video — though as of 2024, you’ll pay an additional $3 per month if you want to stream ad-free. If Prime isn’t worth it for you any longer, here’s how to cancel.

Through the Amazon app:
1. Tap the person icon at the bottom of the screen.
2. Tap on the Your Account button at the top of the screen.
3. Scroll down to and tap Manage Prime Membership under the Account Settings section.
4. You’ll be taken to a Prime page; tap Manage Membership in the drop-down menu at the top.
5. Select the Update, Cancel and More option, and tap End Membership. Here, you can also opt for a reminder to be sent three days before your next renewal if you don’t want to cancel right away.

Via a web browser:
1. Sign in to Amazon.
2. Hover over Accounts & Lists to the right of the search bar up top.
3. Click on Memberships & Subscriptions under Your Account.
4. You’ll see your Prime membership listed; click on the Prime Membership Settings button.
5. Click on Update, Cancel & More under Manage Memberships.
6. In the pop-up menu, click the End Membership button.

How to cancel Paramount Plus

Paramount Plus is one of the cheaper video streaming subscriptions out there, going for $6 per month for the ad-supported version or $12 for the ad-free version with Showtime. But if you just signed up to watch the Super Bowl and haven’t canceled yet, here's how to stop your sub. Remember if you signed up for Paramount Plus through Prime Video or through the App Store, you’ll need to cancel through the same platform.

1. Log in to your Paramount Plus account on a web browser.
2. Select the username in the upper right corner.
3. Click on Account and scroll down to Cancel Subscription.
4. Click on Cancel Subscription.

How to cancel Apple TV+ Apple

Probably the best thing about Apple TV+ is how lean it is. Sure, you may not want to watch everything on there, but the ratio of really good stuff to so-so fluff is far better than on most other services. But once you’ve gotten through Severance and Silo and Slow Horses, you may decide to save yourself the $10 per month.

Apple TV + requires an Apple ID to sign up, so the easiest way to cancel is through the Settings app on your Apple device. If you didn’t sign up through a Mac, iPad or iPhone or don’t have an Apple TV box, follow the PC instructions.

On an iPhone or iPad:
1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap your profile box at the top.
3. Tap on Subscriptions.
4. Tap either Apple TV+ or Apple One membership, depending on how you first signed up.
5. Select the subscription you want to cancel, then click the Cancel Subscription button.

On a Mac:
1. Open the App Store app.
2. Click on your name and profile image at the bottom left.
3. Click on Account Settings at the top of the screen.
4. In the pop-up window, scroll down to the Manage section and click the Manage link to the right of the word Subscriptions.
5. Select the Edit link next to the subscription you want to cancel, then click the Cancel Subscription button.

On an Apple TV box:
1. Open the Settings app from the home page.
2. Click on Users & Accounts.
3. Click on Subscriptions.
4. Find the subscription you want to cancel and follow the prompts.

On a PC:
1. Go to tv.apple.com and sign in.
2. Click on the account icon at the top of the page.
3. Click on Settings and scroll down to Subscriptions, then click Manage
4. Choose Cancel Subscription.

How to cancel an Audible membership

If you downloaded Audible as part of a free trial or grabbed it for a 12-hour road trip but haven’t used it much since, here’s how to stop paying $8 per month. If you didn’t sign up via Amazon or Audible and instead went through Apple’s App Store or Google Play, follow the instructions for how to cancel subscriptions through Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play store above.

Through Amazon:
1. Sign in to your Amazon account.
2. Hover over Accounts & Lists to the right of the search bar.
3. Click on Memberships & Subscriptions under YourAccount.
4. You’ll see your Audible membership listed; click the Audible Settings button.
5. Scroll down to Membership Options & Help and click on Cancel Membership.

Through Audible:
1. Sign in to your Audible account.
2. Hover over the link that says Hi [your name] and select Account Details from the menu.
3. You’ll see a box with your membership details; click on Cancel Membership.
4. Answer the “reason for canceling” question and follow the prompts.

How to cancel Spotify Premium Spotify

We still haven’t seen the "Supremium" lossless tier from the music streaming service, but a price hike did materialize. If you just want to go back to the free version, here's how.

You can change which tier you pay for through the app. But to cancel, you’ll need to go through a web browser. You can technically cancel through the app, but that involves deleting your account and all its data. If you want to preserve your playlists and just switch to the free version, do so with a mobile or desktop browser.

1. Head to Spotify on a web browser and log in.
2. If you haven’t logged in via the web before, you’ll see a button for Web Player or Account Overview; select Account Overview.
3. If you’re already in the Web Player, click either the gear icon (mobile browser) or your profile image (desktop browser) in the upper right corner and select Account.
4. Your subscription will appear in a box labeled Your Plan; click that box or scroll down to Manage Your Plan and click.
5. You’ll see your plan details, click the Cancel subscription button.

How to cancel YouTube TV

Pretty much every live TV streaming service has raised its prices over the past couple years. YouTube TV is no different. After starting at $35 per month at launch, it went up nearly every year to finally land at $83 with the latest price hike in December of 2024. If that’s edging too close to cable pricing, you can always cancel (after all, not requiring a contract is still one of streaming’s major advantages). And YouTube TV actually lets you cancel through the app.  

On an Android device:
1. Open the YouTube TV app.
2. Tap your profile circle at the top right.
3. Tap on Settings, then tap on Membership.
4. Under your membership details, tap Manage.
5. Click on Cancel Membership and follow the prompts.

Via a web browser:
1. Head to YouTubeTV.
2. Log in and click your profile circle in the top right.
3. Tap on Settings, then tap on Membership.
4. Under your membership details, tap on Manage next to Base Plan.
5. Click on Cancel Membership and follow the prompts.

Apps that can help

Some finance apps will track and manage your subscriptions for you. We looked into the bigger ones to see how they can help. One of our previous recommendations, Mint, shut down, but ones from Experian and Monarch Money have cropped up to take its pace. We tried out Rocket Money to see how the process works and detailed it below.

Just note that these apps cost money to handle subscription cancellation on your behalf — and adding another paid service to your life can feel absurd when you’re trying to do the opposite. You’ll also need to give the apps your banking information and your data may, in turn, be sold or shared with third parties for marketing.

A couple of other apps we tried don’t ask for your banking info. Instead you manually enter your subscription details. That’s certainly more private, but might not be saving you much effort in the long run.

Rocket Money

Owned by the same company as Rocket Mortgages, Rocket Money is a finance app that connects with your bank account and offers to help you budget and track your overall spending, in addition to managing your subscriptions. You’ll pay for the app using a sliding scale from $3 to $12 per month for the premium version, which includes automated cancellation and other features. To access the free version at sign-up, move the slider to the left until you reach $0.

Once you’ve linked your account, navigating to the Recurring tab gives you an overview of your subscriptions. I liked that you can access this using either the mobile or desktop app. After linking my accounts, it reminded me of an upcoming renewal for a magazine I don’t read and hosting fees for a website I no longer need. Canceling both of those would save me nearly $200 in a year. Unfortunately, my monthly Apple One payment and the Max access that I pay for through my Samsung TV didn’t show up as recurring subscriptions. That could be due to how my bank lists the transaction, but I’d like to have seen those on the list, too.

Next to each transaction is a three dot menu, which includes an option to “cancel this for me” for Premium subscribers. Click and you’ll see contact methods to handle it yourself or a button to have Rocket Money do it. After you provide your username and password for the service, you’ll get an email confirmation that tells you the process could take up to ten days to complete. When I had Rocket Money cancel Paramount Plus for me, I got an email later that night saying the cancellation was complete.

While it’s not a magic program that zaps your subscriptions away, Rocket Money could save you a few steps. Seeing (most of) your recurring charges together is also helpful for staying on top of things. It’s up to you whether the Premium charge (and taking on another subscription) is worth the cancellation service.

Reminder apps

There are other apps, like Bobby (iOS) and Tilla (Android), that don’t connect with your bank account. Instead, you enter the details of the subscriptions you already have and add new ones as you go. The apps will remind you about upcoming renewals and let you quickly see what you’re paying for, all in one place. Both are free to use but limit the number of subscriptions you can track until you upgrade, which costs a flat $4 for Bobby and $2 for Tilla. I feel like if you possess the diligence to keep apps like these up to date, you could just as easily use a spreadsheet or native apps like Apple or Google’s Reminders, though these are more colorful.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/how-to-find-and-cancel-your-unused-subscriptions-130036314.html?src=rss

Apple’s recently-released M4 Mac mini has dropped to a new record-low price. You can scoop one up for $529 via Amazon, which is a discount of 12 percent. This version ships with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. Other models are also on sale, as the one with 16GB/512GB now costs $700 and the beefy 24GB/512GB will now set you back $900 instead of $1,000.

We called the M4 Mac mini "shockingly small" and "incredibly powerful" in our official review, and that stands today. The chip is fast, which makes sense as it's Apple’s latest effort, and the smaller design doesn’t take up much desk space. That leaves plenty of room for a monitor, mouse and keyboard.

We like that these desktops don’t go any lower than 16GB of RAM, so any version will excel with music production, light video editing and other creative tasks. For real-deal video editing, you may want to pony up for the extra RAM or go with a model that’s been outfitted with the M4 Pro (which aren’t on sale.)

There are front-facing USB-C and headphone ports, which are nice, and plenty more connection options on the rear. On the downside, there’s no SD card reader, which is something that many teensy PCs include. The fan can also get pretty loud during heavy workloads.

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/deals/apples-m4-mac-mini-drops-to-a-new-record-low-price-161333489.html?src=rss

Reddit has announced several new tools that seem like they were designed to encourage more lurkers to participate in discussions on the website. One of the new tools called Rules Check will make it easy to see if what you're posting potentially goes against a subreddit's rules. Before submitting your post, you can click the wand icon in the lower right-hand corner of the post composer, which you can see in the photo above. Doing that will highlight anything in your post that may be breaking a subreddit's rules. Reddit will start testing the feature on iOS and Android before giving it a wider release. 

Another new tool called Post Recovery will show you a prompt if your post has been removed due to community rules. The prompt will contain a notice of removal, along with a link that will enable you to quickly share your deleted post to a more appropriate subreddit. To make sure you're posting in the right community in the first place, Reddit will now suggest relevant communities based on what you write through a drop-down menu on the upper left corner of the composer screen. It will now also show you if a community has requirements, such as account age or minimum karma points, before you can post. 

The last tool is perhaps most useful if you promote products and services on Reddit. Post Insights will show you how many views, upvotes, shares and crossposts your posts have gotten, giving you an idea on what works when it comes to post engagement. All these tools other than Rules Check are now available on Reddit's website and mobile app. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/reddits-rule-check-feature-will-help-users-avoid-breaking-subreddit-rules-160001398.html?src=rss

We love a good deal on a great laptop around these parts and that's exactly the case with Apple's M3-powered MacBook Air. The 2024 machine is on sale at Amazon with discounts of up to $300. The base model can be yours for $899, which is $200 off and close to a record-low price. This 13-inch variant has 16GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage.

You'll find the steepest discount on an M3 MacBook Air with 24GB of RAM and double the SSD storage at 512GB. That's $300 off at $1,199.

The M3 MacBook Air is our pick for the best MacBook and our top recommendation for the best laptop overall. (I own one personally and am very happy with it.)

We gave the system a score of 90 in our review, lauding it for fast performance, as well as the sleek and study design (including a great trackpad and keyboard). It looks and sounds great too thanks to the Liquid Retina display and quad-speaker array. What's more, the M3 MacBook Air supports Apple Intelligence features. Ultimately, the blend of performance and portability is hard to beat.

While this is an attractive deal, there's one important factor to bear in mind. Apple just this week announced the M4 MacBook Air. We've yet to review the latest system, so we can't say for sure how it stacks up against last year's model.

But it's worth considering that an upgraded model is right around the corner before you take the plunge on this deal — especially given that Apple has dropped the starting price of the base M4 Air to $999. That's $100 less than the current regular price of the M3 and $100 more than you can get the laptop for through this deal.

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/deals/apples-m3-macbook-air-is-up-to-300-off-right-now-153346492.html?src=rss

Nearly 50 years after they were first launched, Voyager 1 and 2 are still traveling around interstellar space — though they've faced some setbacks over the years. Now, NASA has announced that the twin Voyager spacecraft are losing some of their features in a bid to extend their lifespans in the face of a diminishing power supply. 

On February 25, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) turned off Voyager 1's cosmic ray subsystem experiment and on March 25, it will shut down Voyager 2's low-energy charged particle instrument. 

"The Voyagers have been deep space rock stars since launch, and we want to keep it that way as long as possible," said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at the JPL. "But electrical power is running low. If we don’t turn off an instrument on each Voyager now, they would probably have only a few more months of power before we would need to declare end of mission."

Each probe will continue to run three science instruments, but hold another seven instruments which have turned off over time. Just last October, NASA shut down Voyager 2's plasma science instrument. However, both spacecraft have experienced recent issues. Last June, Voyager 1 finally starting running properly again, following seven months of technical issues, including unreadable data. It had a similar issue two years prior. In 2023, Voyager 2 went dark for two weeks after requiring technical assistance three years earlier. 

NASA still puts a lot of value in the Voyager probes. "Every minute of every day, the Voyagers explore a region where no spacecraft has gone before," said Linda Spilker, Voyager project scientist at JPL. "That also means every day could be our last. But that day could also bring another interstellar revelation. So, we’re pulling out all the stops, doing what we can to make sure Voyagers 1 and 2 continue their trailblazing for the maximum time possible." Maybe at least until they hit 50 years in 2027? 

The slightly more cynical take on NASA “pulling out all the stops” to keep them going is that they'd certainly love for the probes to be functional for their 50th anniversary in 2027 — which feels like a tall order despite the agency’s best efforts.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-is-shutting-down-parts-of-voyager-1-and-2-to-extend-their-lifespan-151322570.html?src=rss

Elon Musk has a problem with Community Notes, the crowdsourced fact-checking feature that started as Birdwatch, and launched at scale after he purchased Twitter.

"Unfortunately @CommunityNotes is increasingly being gamed by governments & legacy media," Musk posted. "Working to fix this..." Based on the rant his tweet descends in to afterwards, his issue appears to be with how X's Community Notes contributors have been treating misinformation about President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the war in Ukraine. Musk quotes a post from an X account that claims polls showing Zelenskyy has a 57 percent approval rating in Ukraine are "not credible." Information like that being challenged on X doesn't jive with President Trump's description of Zelenskyy as a "dictator" or Musk's desire to use the platform as an unofficial arm of the current administration.

Unfortunately, @CommunityNotes is increasingly being gamed by governments & legacy media.

Working to fix this …

It should be utterly obvious that a Zelensky-controlled poll about his OWN approval is not credible!!

If Zelensky was actually loved by the people of Ukraine, he… https://t.co/gy0NjtPwiq

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 20, 2025

What "fixing" Community Notes will look like remains to be seen, but Musk uncritically quoting a post that cites no sources beyond an image with small text that says "Accuracy Confidence: Normal" is hopefully evidence enough that Community Notes are the bare minimum needed. Ragging on the feature of course fits the larger pattern of Musk's tenure at X, which has been characterized by him manipulating the platform's algorithm and eliminating features that helped determine credibility, like verification. If he thinks you can't even trust crowdsourced fact-checks, there's really no source of truth left on the platform.

The concept of Community Notes is no longer unique to X — Meta recently opened up the waitlist to use the feature on its platforms — but how long Community Notes exists its current form is apparently now an open question.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/elon-musk-wants-to-fix-community-notes-on-x-212310412.html?src=rss

iPhone 15 Pro owners will soon have one less reason to consider upgrading to an iPhone 16 series handset. Visual Intelligence, Apple's equivalent to Google Lens, is coming to the 2023 Pro-series flagships, according to Daring Fireball.

Owners of the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro can trigger Visual Intelligence with a long press of their dedicated camera button. But like the recently announced iPhone 16e (which also supports the feature), the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max don't have a physical camera button. So, all three phones will have to assign it to the Action button or use a Control Center shortcut, which will arrive in an upcoming software update.

Apple hasn't said which iOS version will bring the Apple Intelligence visual search feature to the iPhone 15 Pro series. However, Daring Fireball's John Gruber suspects it will be in iOS 18.4, which could arrive "any day now" for beta testers.

Cherlynn Low for Engadget

Part of the Apple Intelligence suite of AI features, Visual Intelligence lets you point your camera at something and use AI to analyze it in real time. It does a few things on its own, but it gets more useful with info from its persistent onscreen shortcuts to ChatGPT or Google Image Search.

So, say you find a set of towels in your closet with a unique pattern. You really like those dang towels and want to buy more, but you can't remember where you got them. Activate Visual Intelligence, choose the Google search shortcut and see if your beloved rags are among the web results that pop up. Alternatively, you could use ChatGPT to ask it about the product and where to order it.

Visual Intelligence can also do a few things without the help of Google or OpenAI. You can interact with text: translate, read aloud and summarize. Or learn about a business you point your phone toward: view its hours, menu and services or buy something from it.

So, iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max owners should get a taste of that before long. And perhaps even sooner for those willing to brave the (sometimes rough) waters of beta software.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/an-ios-update-will-give-iphone-15-pro-owners-visual-intelligence-205030298.html?src=rss

ChatGPT has surpassed 400 million weekly active users. "We feel very fortunate to serve 5 percent of the world every week," OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap said on X about the new audience stat. This figure is twice the weekly active user count reported by the company in August 2024, which was double the figure it posted in November 2023.

The latest milestone for the AI assistant comes after a huge uproar over new rival platform DeepSeek earlier in the year, which raised questions about whether the current crop of leading AI tools was about to be dethroned. OpenAI is on the verge of a move to simplify its ChatGPT offerings so that users won't have to select which reasoning model will respond to an input, and it will make its GPT-4.5 and GPT-5 models available soon in the chat and API clients. With GPT-5 being made available to OpenAI's free users, ChatGPT seems primed to continue expanding its audience base in the coming months.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/chatgpt-reaches-400m-weekly-active-users-203635884.html?src=rss

The $599 iPhone 16e is many things, but don't you dare call it a budget phone. I hesitate to even call it "cheap." As a successor to the $429 iPhone SE, it's hard not to see the 16e as a disappointment. Sure, it's $200 less than the vanilla iPhone 16 (which I argued was a great deal at launch), and the 16e also packs in the latest A18 chip with support for Apple Intelligence. But it's no longer a small phone, and it pushes Apple's cheaper iPhone option well beyond $500. That's something we'll likely never see again. (And it's potentially terrible news for future iPhone pricing, as well.)

Given the sheer amount of new hardware in the iPhone 16e — including a larger 6.1-inch OLED screen, Apple's first in-house "C1" modem and that aforementioned A18 chip — it's easy to make excuses for the price. The 16e is certainly far closer in specs to the iPhone 16 than the third-gen SE was to the iPhone 13. But I'd argue that Apple didn't exactly need an OLED screen for this model, and there are likely other ways to cut down costs. (It's even stranger Apple kept out MagSafe and fast wireless charging, which would have been cheaper to implement, and arguably more useful, than a large OLED display.)

Apple

And while it's nice to have the A18 chip (albeit with one less GPU core) and full Apple Intelligence support, I agree with my colleague Igor Bonifacic that users aren't exactly clamoring for those AI features. If we had to blame one culprit for the iPhone 16e's pricing, though, it's likely Apple Intelligence. After all, Apple is still fighting to prove it isn't too far behind Microsoft, Google and OpenAI. In any other year, Apple might have been able to justify throwing an older chip in the 16e, but that's not possible when it's in the middle of an AI hype war.

Mostly, I'm just sad that Apple is once again raising the price of admission to its walled garden without much justification. There's something special — noble, even — about sub-$500 smartphones. They're a reminder of a saner era of smartphones, when prices were being driven down by phones like the Moto G. These days you're left with Android phones like the Pixel 8a (and potentially the upcoming Pixel 9a), as well as the $400 Samsung Galaxy A35 and $499 Galaxy A55.

Apple

Now that the dream of a sub-$500 iPhone is well and truly dead, it feels like Apple is just setting the stage for future price jumps. A $600 or $650 iPhone 17e will certainly look like a deal compared to a $850 or $900 iPhone 17. And just wait for the inevitable $2,000 iPhone foldable, which could potentially be specced beyond $3,000. 

Of course, you could be a smart Apple shopper and opt for used or refurbished iPhones. I recently picked up a refurbished iPhone 14 Plus as an early Mothers' Day gift for $420, and Amazon currently has listings for iPhone 14 Pros right under $500. Those devices won't support Apple Intelligence, but I'd argue sticking to the used market is simply a more useful form of intelligence. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/a-599-iphone-16e-is-a-cruel-joke-200507275.html?src=rss

Among Us VR has proven itself to be a major hit since first being released back in 2022. Now, developers Innersloth and Schell Games have announced they are rejiggering the virtual reality title for traditional PC players. Among Us 3D is playable without a headset and will be available via Steam in the near future.

This title keeps the core gameplay loop from the original, but shifts to a first-person perspective. It's basically a new way to keep sabotaging your friends and family. Among Us 3D is for four to ten players and includes native proximity voice chat, with no need for a third-party platform. All of the minigames are returning, though there’s also some new ones coming down the pike. Innersloth is holding off on those details for now.

It features crossplay with Among Us VR, but not with the original game. That's a bummer, but understandable. There will be, however, an expanded costume selection to offer "an endless number of cosmetic customization combinations." There's a new in-game currency called Stardust that will, presumably, be used to purchase some of those outfits.

There's no release date yet, other than "soon." However, a demo will be available to US players as part of Steam Next Fest from February 24 to March 3. Preorders for the full game are already live on Steam.

This is just the latest cool thing that developer Innersloth has announced. The company recently revealed a publishing arm called Outersloth. There's also an Among Us cartoon coming sometime in the near future.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/among-us-vr-is-being-transformed-into-a-traditional-3d-game-for-pc-194545497.html?src=rss

The Action button is available on nearly every iPhone Apple sells, offering a quick way to access a feature, app or shortcut on your phone, just by pushing a button. It can be a flashlight, activate a smart home routine or let you access any number of custom shortcuts without having to unlock your phone and pick through apps.

Apple added the Action Button on the iPhone 15 Pro as a replacement for the iPhone's original Ring / Silent switch, and it was an acknowledgement of sorts that lots of people keep their phones on silent anyway. Having a reassignable button was pitched as a "Pro" feature at the time, but much like the Dynamic Island, it came to all of Apple's other phones in short order, even the entry-level iPhone 16e.

How to use the Action Button Apple

You can use the Action Button for yourself on an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max and iPhone 16e just by pressing or holding down the small button above the volume up and down buttons on the left side of your phone. By default, the Action Button will mute or unmute your text and ringtones. This fills the same role as the old Ring / Silent switch. Heading into the Settings app will let you reassign it to another task and you can silence your phone via the Control Center.

How to reassign the Action Button to Flashlight Ian Carlos Campbell for Engadget

Out of the box, Apple lets you assign the Action button to several different controls: Silent Mode (Ring / Silent), Focus (either a specific Focus or a menu that lets you pick each time), Camera (a specific mode like Photo or Video), Flashlight, Voice Memo, Recognize Music, Translate, Magnifier, Controls (a specific control from Control Center like Airplane Mode), Shortcut, Accessibility (toggling a specific accessibility feature) or do nothing at all.

If you wanted to switch from the default, Silent Mode, to the Flashlight, you need to first unlock your phone. Then: 

1. Open the Settings app. 

2. Tap on "Action Button." 

3. From there, swipe through the different options until you land on Flashlight.  

4. To test that it worked, try pressing on the Action Button.

You can use this same process to reassign the Action Button to any of the built-in actions Apple provides.

How to make the Action Button open an app Ian Carlos Campbell for Engadget

If you'd like to get a little more adventurous, you can also have the Action Button open a specific app on your phone. Let's say, for example, your go-to game on the iPhone is Balatro. You can have the Action Button automatically pull up Balatro whenever you press it.

To set it up, you'll need your iPhone unlocked.

1. Open the Settings app.

2. Tap on "Action Button."

3. Swipe through the options until you reach "Shortcut."

4. Tap on "Choose a Shortcut..."

5. Then tap on "Open App..."

6. Then scroll until you find your chosen app and tap on it.

This process works for any app on your phone, including features of specific apps, like if you wanted to jump directly into ChatGPT's Voice Mode or a new note in the Notes app.

How to make the Action button activate a shortcut Ian Carlos Campbell for Engadget

The Shortcut action works for more complicated Apple Shortcuts, too. Technically, any shortcut designed to be triggered by you choosing to activate it (as opposed to a time or location-based shortcut) works. There's a lot of interesting shortcuts out there, and plenty of custom ones you can make on your own, but to use a simple example, here's how you'd set the Action Button to start a Pomodoro timer.

1. Open the Settings app.

2. Tap on "Action Button."

3. Swipe through the options until you get to "Shortcut."

4. Tap on "Choose a Shortcut..."

5. Tap on whatever shortcut you want activate.

6. Press and hold the Action Button to make sure it works.

In the case of the Pomodoro timer, you'll be prompted to choose how long you want the timer to last, and then you can tap "Done" to start it.

Between lock screen widgets and app shortcuts, home screen widgets, and the Action Button, there's now multiple ways to check information inside of an app, adjust a specific setting or use specific functionality from the apps on your iPhone. It's confusing, but a good rule of thumb is that the Action Button works best for actions that you only need to enable once or binary, on / off features. Plenty of others things work, but at a certain point you'll want to be spending time in an app instead of futzing with the buttons on your phone.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/how-to-make-the-most-of-the-iphones-action-button-193038089.html?src=rss

The Amazon Appstore will no longer be available on Android as of August 20, 2025. After that date, apps from the digital storefront "are not guaranteed to operate" on Android hardware; however, they can continue to be used on devices like the Fire TV and Fire Tablets. The Coins program, Amazon's virtual currency for some Appstore app and in-app purchases, will also end on that same date. Coins will no longer be available for purchase beginning today.

The Appstore was Amazon's effort to get in on the app distribution game for Android. Third-party app stores have been a hot topic for the business world in recent years, with the owners of walled gardens insisting that everything is fair while the companies trying to get a share of the action for themselves insist that it's not. There have been mixed moves to address the question in the US government, while regions such as the EU have taken more decisive steps to increase competition.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-is-shutting-down-its-third-party-android-app-store-192047953.html?src=rss

After announcing its plan to end third-party fact-checking in January 2025, Meta's crowdsourced replacement is finally starting to take shape. You can now join a waitlist to be a Community Notes contributor on Facebook, Instagram and Threads when the feature rolls out in the coming months.

Contributors are expect to provide context via a note when a post on one of Meta's platforms "might be inaccurate or confusing," according to the company's sign-up page. Community Notes will be able to be added to "most public content across Facebook, Instagram and Threads" and must be 500 characters or fewer. Any note is also subject to Meta's Community Standards and the judgment of other contributors. Meta expects contributors to rate notes so that the correct context gets displayed under posts.

To sign-up, you need to be based in the US, be over the age of 18, have a Meta account that's more than six months old and in good standing and have either a verified phone number or two-factor authentication. Meta says contributors will start to be taken off the waitlist once the Community Notes beta launches. The company hasn't given a hard date for the launch, but does mention that Community Notes will be phased in "over the next few months."

Meta started testing Community Notes on Threads a little over a month ago. The feature, in name and basic functionality, is inspired by X's Community Notes, which originally launched in 2022 when the company was still known as Twitter. Community Notes and other crowdsourced pseudo-fact checks have been tested on Google platforms like YouTube and Search as well, and they all have the same general weakness. A crowdsourced answer doesn't come with the same guarantee of accuracy as one provided by someone whose sole job it is to be an impartial fact-checker. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/you-can-now-sign-up-to-be-a-contributor-to-metas-community-notes-feature-190814234.html?src=rss

A day after it was reported that Denis Villeneuve's third Dune movie starts shooting this summer, developer Funcom announced that its open-world MMO Dune: Awakening arrives on May 20 for PC. You can even get a jump on your journey through Arrakis with a character creator that's available today.

Dune: Awakening draws inspiration from Frank Herbert's novels and the 2020s films. (Sorry, no speedo-clad Sting in this one.) However, it takes some detours from the established canon. In the game's version of Dune's world, the Fremen have vanished, Paul Atreides was never born and Lady Jessica obeyed the Bene Gesserit's instructions to give birth to a girl. (In other words, she's a total square.)

So, in addition to being a bit of a "What If?" version of the Duniverse, it gives the developers freedom to use familiar environments and characters without having to tread too closely to the lore of the books and films. Handy!

Funcom

Funcom says you start as a prisoner sent to Arrakis to investigate the Fremen's disappearance. "Following in the footsteps of the mysterious desert tribe, you will learn the true meaning of desert power as you rise from a nameless survivor to becoming an agent of the Atreides or the Harkonnen," the game blurb reads.

The character creator you can tinker with today lets you tweak your hero's looks and choose their home planet, caste and mentor (Swordmaster, Bene Gesserit, Mentat or Trooper). True to Dune form, your protagonist will have to put their hand in the box and take the dreaded Gom Jabbar test. (Fortunately, your hand will be on a keyboard or controller, not inside a sci-fi torture test.) You can use your custom character when the full game launches.

The tool also includes a benchmark mode, so you'll know whether you need to invest in new PC hardware to play the survival game when it arrives.

Dune: Awakening launches on May 20 on Steam. It costs $50, and pre-orders will open soon. The game is also coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, but there's no release date for the console versions yet. You can check out the latest trailer below.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/dune-awakening-will-spice-things-up-on-may-20-184552623.html?src=rss

It’s been ten long years since Avatar: The Legend of Korra aired its final episode and over 15 years since Avatar: The Last Airbender bowed out. Now, finally, Nickelodeon has greenlit a sequel series and it sounds pretty awesome. Deadline reports that Avatar: Seven Havens will be a 2D animated 26-episode followup that chronicles the rise of the next Avatar after Korra.

Franchise creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko are developing the series, so we know it's in good hands. The plot sounds pretty dark. It seems the world has fallen into chaos following a cataclysmic event of some kind. The titular "seven havens" refer to a handful of small civilizations that have managed to weather the storm.

Also, the next Avatar will be a female Earthbender. In this world, however, the Avatar is reviled and seen as a harbinger of doom instead of a hero. That’s an interesting twist.

"This new incarnation of the Avatarverse is full of fantasy, mystery and a whole new cast of amazing characters. Get ready to take another epic and emotional adventure," DiMartino and Konietzko said in a statement.

The premiere date and casting information will be released later in the year. We do know that the 26 episodes will be split into two books, or seasons, which is similar to how the original shows handled things. It remains to be seen if the series will cap out at 26 episodes or if that’s just the first two chapters. Personally, I wonder if any aged Korra characters will show up. 

The announcement of Avatar: Seven Havens is just the latest news from the franchise. DiMartino and Konietzko are also working on a trilogy of animated movies, with the first one centering on an adult Aang and friends. That one hits theaters on January 30, 2026. Of course, the Netflix live-action adaptation of the original series still has two more seasons to go.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/theres-a-new-avatar-the-last-airbender-cartoon-coming-to-nickelodeon-182956881.html?src=rss