James Howells, a British IT worker, mined over 7,500 Bitcoins back in 2009, when they were worth next to nothing. Now a single Bitcoin is worth nearly $100,000, valuing his stash at well over $700 million. Unfortunately, Howells accidentally threw the hard drive he stored the key on in the trash. He has a scheme to get that money back, according to The Guardian. He wants to buy the landfill where it could be buried and dig it up.
Howells doesnt exactly know where the hard drive is, but has a solid guess based on when he tossed it in the trash. He has it narrowed down to a particular section of a South Wales landfill that houses 15,000 metric tons of waste. The landfill is approaching maximum capacity, so Howells wants to buy it off the city. Officials have warned that the hard drive is buried under 25,000 cubic meters of waste and earth as it has been there for almost 12 years.
While the city hasnt made a final decision, it doesnt look good for Howells and his needle in a haystack plan. There are serious ecological dangers to haphazardly digging up a landfill. The excavation process would be risky and costly. Afterward, the landfill would have to be resealed, another expensive project. The city also has plans to build a solar farm on part of the land.
Finally, theres the hard drive itself. Would there be anything recoverable after laying underneath tons and tons of trash for 12 years? It seems highly unlikely, though Howells and his investors must have some serious data retrieval specialists standing by.
James Howells threw away $750 million of bitcoin accidentally a decade ago and has been trying to recover the hard drive from a landfill ever since. Today, a judge has rejected his latest attempt to search through 110,000 tons of garbage for his digital gold. pic.twitter.com/douIDzDdQO Documenting itcoin (@DocumentingBTC) January 11, 2025
This is just the latest attempt by Howells to treat the landfill like an archaeological dig site, looking for his lost fortune. Hes been at this for over a decade. In 2017, he pleaded with the city to allow him to dig and officials said no, citing safety concerns and a fear of inciting treasure hunters to descend upon the landfill with shovels.
In 2021, he tried to sweeten the pot by offering the city 25 percent of the recovered Bitcoin. Once again, the city said no. In 2022, Howells came up with a particularly bizarre scheme that involved sending in Boston Dynamics robot dogs to do the digging. You can imagine what the city said to that one (it was no.)
There was another attempt to turn the landfill into a mining facility, which didnt gain traction. Finally, Howells decided to sue the city of Newport for the right to go traipsing around in the landfill like a really gross, poop-encrusted Indiana Jones. A judge put the kibosh on the lawsuit, ruling that the case had no realistic prospect of succeeding.
I lost, they won. Might appeal.See what happens.It is what it is.End of story For Now!!! James Howells (@howelzy) January 9, 2025
So thats where we are now. Howells and his investors are trying to buy the landfill as the city mulls it over. Well update this post when we get some closure on this particularly bizarre story about one mans quest for wealth. In other news, this is totally going to become a limited series on Peacock or something, right?This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-guy-who-accidentally-threw-away-700-million-in-bitcoin-wants-to-buy-a-landfill-to-find-it-165314378.html?src=rss
Chinese EV maker BYD is pretty much the king of EVs in the country, even challenging Tesla in the country. Yesterday, in a company livestream, founder Wang Chuanfu claimed that the company will make all of its models self-driving, including the cheapest ones like the $9,600 Seagull hatchback, the Financial Times reported.
Wang said that BYD is starting an era where autonomous driving is for everyone and that self-driving cars will no longer be an unattainable luxury, but an essential tool. BYD intends to power its cars with the Gods Eye driving system it developed in-house. According to The Straits Times, Gods Eye relies on cameras and radar sensors to perform tasks like valet parking, automatic braking and adaptive cruise control.
Additionally, BYD is joining other local EV makers like Geely, Great Wall Motor and Leapmotor to integrate DeepSeeks AI into their autonomous driving systems. However, theres no news about when this will happen. Of course, whether BYD will deliver its promises of accessible autonomous driving remains to be seen as well. Meanwhile, Tesla is struggling to get its software off the ground in China, so whether BYD beats it to the punch is yet another thing to look out for.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/chinese-ev-maker-byd-promises-to-make-all-of-its-models-self-driving-capable-164641323.html?src=rss
You might have spent the last few years turning your domicile into a smart home with a fancy speaker setup, robot vacuum and voice-controlled lights. Another way to make your home more connected is with a video doorbell, and as it happens, a model from Ring is on sale. The latest version of the Ring Video Doorbell has dropped down to $60, which is $40 off. The discount also matches the record-low price.
As the name suggests, this is a battery-powered model, so you won't have to worry about wiring it up. The doorbell has a USB-C port, and all you have to do to top up the battery is detach it and plug it in for a while.
The second-gen model offers 66 percent more vertical coverage than the previous one, allowing for a head-to-toe view of whoever is on your doorstep. You can keep an eye on what's going on from your phone, tablet or another compatible device using the live view feature. You can also chat with the person at your door remotely thanks to the two-way talk function.
The Video Doorbell has motion-detection capabilities, and you'll receive real-time alerts on your phone whenever it spots movement. For more detailed alerts about whether that motion is because of a person or package delivery, you'll need to sign up for a Ring Home plan, which starts at $5 per month. The subscription also grants access to features such as 180 days of video event history being saved. The premium tier, which costs $20 per month, includes round-the-clock recording on every compatible doorbell and/or camera at your home.
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/the-latest-ring-video-doorbell-is-back-on-sale-for-a-record-low-price-161258034.html?src=rss
As I sat down to play the 90-minute South of Midnight preview, I had one major question: Why does the framerate look like that? The trailers display a purposefully choppy animation style thats meant to be reminiscent of stop-motion, but it wasn't clear how this effect would be applied in the games cutscenes, combat and traversal moments. After playing the preview, Im still unsure.
I should state my bias at the top: I am super primed to enjoy South of Midnight. Ive been a fan of Compulsion Games since the studio debuted Contrast in 2013, and I eagerly followed the development of its follow-up, We Happy Few, through 2018. Compulsions games are stylish, with an emphasis on polished 3D graphics and lanky characters in fabulous outfits. Microsoft acquired Compulsion in 2018 and the studio has been working on South of Midnight ever since. My intrigue has only grown in the past year, following a drip-feed of trailers with luscious Southern Gothic settings, a bluesy soundtrack and the games magic-weilding protagonist, a young Black woman named Hazel.
First, lets talk about what the game does well. The preview begins at chapter three, after Hazel has discovered the basics of her magical abilities but has not mastered the power flowing through her veins. Hazel is a Weaver, capable of manipulating the invisible strands that hold reality together, and shes looking for her mother, Lacey, after a hurricane swept through their hometown of Prospero in the American Deep South.
If Hazel is the main character in South of Midnight, the environment is her co-star: The swamps of Prospero are lit with a rich, golden hue and theyre buzzing with surreal life. Towering cypresses, lush ferns and thorny vines the size of tree trunks weave their way through the forest and its cloudy pools. The houses, half-demolished shacks connected over the bayou by crumbling wooden platforms, are filled with rotting trinkets and faded photos, and many have eviction notices stuck to the front doors. Car-sized peaches dot the landscape, plump pinkish skin sticking out of the swampwater and buried at the bases of trees. This land is drowning in magic.
Compulsion Games
Though Hazel is on a linear journey to find her mom, there are plenty of opportunities for light exploring around Prospero. Chapter three features a handful of hidden paths that conclude with glowing bits of Floof, the games currency, for Hazel to collect. These alternative routes are positioned in plain sight, but theyre integrated into the landscape off the beaten path, so theyre easy to miss if youre not paying attention. Hazel explores by running, jumping, double jumping, gliding and wall running, and her movements through the world feel utterly natural. Her abilities build on one another nicely and theyre perfectly responsive, creating a mini parkour flow that I didnt expect in this game. At times Hazel uses magic to turn ghostly objects into tangible platforms, and her double-jump and glide combo is particularly fun.
Hazel always looks cool, regardless of the framerate. She moves her long, thin limbs with the haphazard confidence befitting a teenage track star, and her clothes a waffle-stitched sweatshirt tied around her waist, denim jeans, a tank top with a sports bra, leather arm bands and a holster across her chest are heavily textured, lending each piece a tangible feel. Hazels dialogue is delivered with a hefty amount of adolescent snark, too, and I laughed out loud when she met the giant talking catfish and immediately was like, Nope, and turned to walk away. Actors Nona Parker Johnson, who performs Hazels motion-capture and stunts, and Adriyan Rae, Hazels voice, have done some fabulous work here.
Compulsion Games
In the preview, Hazel encounters an eccentric local, a few magical creatures and at least one powerful ritual, and she eventually finds herself chasing the ghosts of two brothers, one of whom died after being stuffed inside the trunk of a tree. As she hunts their memories and traps their pain in a blue bottle, banjo music trickles into the scene until it becomes a full-on folk song recounting the brothers tragic story. Its a unique and effective mechanic. The world around Hazel is composed of dark and surreal beauty, and after seeing (and hearing) this sliver of gameplay, Im eager to uncover all of Prosperos hidden stories.
Combat in the South of Midnight preview takes place in contained stages, with spiky vines blocking off the exits as soon as the fight begins and the haints ghosts, in Hazels vernacular pop up. The enemies in this chapter come in three basic forms: tall floaty haint, stationary haint nest and floaty blob haint. The enemies are made of gooey black tendons and red magic, and they attack in specific ways depending on their type. The tall one moves quickly and rushes forward, the nest spews out exploding bugs and the floaty blobs shoot parryable projectiles.
Hazel has a basic attack, dodge, healing move and four magical abilities: weave, strand push, strand pull and a final locked move. Weave freezes an enemy in place, while strand pull and push can be used to throw objects back in the haints faces. Each combat stage starts out with a healing totem that Hazel can tap into once, as long as she can reach it and (on Xbox Series X) press Y. She also receives health regen by pressing Y near a pile of freshly killed haint meat, unraveling their essence for a little boost. These piles are only available for a few seconds after each kill, so theres some light strategizing involved in staying alive mid-battle.
Compulsion Games
The fights flow just fine, and a lock-on system allows Hazel to swap her attention among the haints on the fly. Parrying projectiles is the toughest ability to master in the preview, but with a little more time to practice, I think itll become second nature. South of Midnight is not an open-world RPG or anything, but Hazel has a small skill tree with three upgrades for each of her magical abilities and nine slots to unlock moves like ground slam. A second screen contains Hazels collection of magical objects (five slots), patterns (six slots), readables (104 slts) and storybooks (14 slots). By the end of the demo, Id collected four magical objects and one readable. Just looking at the menus, it seems like South of Midnight is a contained, sub-20-hour experience.
Now, let's talk about the games animations. South of Midnight begins with a gorgeous, handcrafted stop-motion intro movie that brings Hazel and her storybook adventure to life, but after that, the games stop-motion conceit only half-works. Hazels movements and the world at large are supposed to render at 60 fps, while her facial expressions in cutscenes render at something closer to 15 fps, mimicking the animated in twos style of Into the Spider-Verse. This appears to be true for anything in the game with a face, and its particularly apparent with the catfish character, which is basically all mouth. When it all comes together as Compulsion intended, the effect looks and feels very cool. Unfortunately, this is a rare occurrence.
In practice, the stop-motion effect is inconsistent during third-person exploration moments and close-up cutscenes, and it tends to feel less artistic, and more like the game simply has an erratic framerate. Its possible to turn off stop-motion effects and I tried this, but honestly, I couldnt spot the difference. Even with stop-motion turned off, Hazel is rendered at an unpredictable rate that often dips well below 60 fps. The framerate issue appears across characters and vignettes, and its especially shitty during brightly lit memory scenes, where NPCs appear in front of Hazel as glowing white ghosts, filled with particles and visually stuttering all over the place.
South of Midnight targets 4K/60 on Xbox Series X, but my preview at times felt like it struggled to maintain 30 fps. Whats more troubling, though, is the screen tearing that appears throughout the preview, spawning from the games use of a-sync. The tearing often appears close to the center of the screen, suggesting the game is far away from its performance target. Of course, Compulsion is still working to optimize South of Midnight and theres some time to address these problems before the game comes out on April 8 but theyre cutting it close.
I think the stop-motion effect is a grand idea and it would work well if Compulsion committed to the bit. If the framerate is supposed to be low, keep it low, rather than popping in and out of higher framerates, which makes everything feel like a mistake. Consistency is the key, and South of Midnight hasnt nailed that yet.
This is Compulsions first attempt at building a game with all of the resources and attention that Xbox provides, and the studio has crafted a beautiful, mysterious world with an ambitious mechanical conceit and a badass protagonist. The stop-motion effect is still hit-or-miss, but that doesnt detract from the games other successes. I remain incredibly stoked on South of Midnight.
South of Midnight is due to hit Xbox Series X/S, PC and Game Pass on April 8.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/south-of-midnight-preview-stopped-motion-160003119.html?src=rss
If you're not one for carrying lots of books around then an e-reader is the way to go. Right now, you can get the 16GB Amazon Kindle Paperwhite for $135, down from $160. The 16 percent discount brings the device to just $5 more than its Black Friday price.
Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite came out in 2024 and offers a seven-inch glare-free display with 300ppi resolution. It also has up to 12 weeks of battery, an adjustable warm light and a flush-front design. Plus, its IPX8 certified waterproof and Audible through Bluetooth.
The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, which retails for $200, is our choice for best premium ereader. It offers 32GB of storage, wireless charging and an auto-adjusting front light sensor. We gave it an 85 in our review when Amazon released it late last year.
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/the-2024-kindle-paperwhite-drops-to-its-lowest-price-of-the-year-151158322.html?src=rss
Its happening again. Sony just scheduled a State of Play livestream event for February 12. The stream starts at 5PM ET and should run for around 40 minutes. You can watch it on the PlayStation website, Twitch or via the official YouTube page.
What will be revealed? We dont exactly know. We do, however, have some educated guesses. Its likely well get new trailers and information regarding hotly-anticipated titles like Marvels Wolverine and Death Stranding 2. Hideo Kojimas upcoming sequel should come out this year, so its high time for another beefy trailer.
Sucker Punchs Ghost of Yotei already has a 2025 release window, so we could get an actual date on that one. Maybe well even get a fresh look at gameplay. Bungies PvP extraction shooter Marathon could get a trailer and a beta release date, which would be pretty cool. Naughty Dog also recently announced a brand-new IP called Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. I wouldnt mind some more info on that one.
Finally, theres the Xbox of it all. We know that the former Xbox exclusive Forza Horizon 5 is coming to PS5 this spring, so we could get a concrete release date. The same goes for the blisteringly fun Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Could we even get an announcement that the Halo franchise is finally coming to PlayStation? Maybe, as there have been rumors.
What we wont see are the various live-service games that Sony has recently canned. Last month, Sony canceled two unannounced live-service titles that were in development at Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games. The Bluepoint game was reportedly a live-service God of War game, though Bend Studios title remains unknown.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sonys-next-state-of-play-event-is-set-for-february-12-at-5pm-et-150934514.html?src=rss
The Powerbeats Pro 2 ($250) was hardly a secret. Although Beats officially announced the new fitness-focused earbuds today, it has been teasing them since last September. And over the last few weeks, a number of pro athletes have been wearing the earbuds in public, including a few NFL players at the Super Bowl. There was little left to see of the Powerbeats Pro 2, but at least there remain more details to discover about the tech inside.
Beats completely overhauled this new model, reducing both size and weight in the process. The company is also utilizing Apples H2 chip to unlock a host of features most notable of which is heart-rate tracking. Given its been nearly six years since the original, there are understandably substantial improvements to audio quality and battery life, as well as the addition of active noise cancellation (ANC). The Powerbeats Pro 2 will be available this week, and since Ive been testing them for several days, I can offer some advice on whether these earbuds are worth investment. Surprisingly, Beats delivered its big overhaul while keeping the price the same as the original Powerbeats Pro.
Powerbeats Pro 2 design
One of the main updates Beats brought to the Powerbeats Pro 2 is its overall look. An over-the-ear hook has been the main aesthetic and functional element on this product line since the first Powerbeats model debuted in 2010. For this redesign, Beats opted for nickel titanium alloy wiring inside the hook to improve comfort, flexibility and durability. The earhook is over 50 percent smaller than what's on the Powerbeats Pro, a change that Beats made to help the earbuds work better with glasses. Thats a welcome change since the previous model wasnt very glasses or hat friendly. Version 2.0 is definitely more comfy when I wear them with my Goodr shades or a baseball cap.
The main housing of the earbuds is smaller as well, and its 20 percent lighter. This results in a more compact frame thats less obtrusive. Beats says it tweaked the shape of both the earbuds and their acoustic housing for improved comfort and an effective seal. Physical buttons are still available on the Powerbeats Pro 2, with a volume rocker on each side and multi-function controls on the b logo button for playback, calls and more. This new model is IPX4 rated for water resistance, so sweaty workouts shouldnt be a concern.
Thankfully, Beats also made the charging case more compact. The company says the accessory is 33 percent smaller than the one that came with the Powerbeats Pro. Its still plenty big compared to most earbuds cases these days since it needs extra space to accommodate those hooks. The case supports wireless charging, but theres also a USB-C port around back for wired top ups. The pairing button, should you need it, is inside between the two earbud cradles.
Heart-rate tracking
Billy Steele for Engadget
Theres plenty to discuss in terms of features on the Powerbeats Pro 2, but the biggest of them is heart-rate tracking. Interestingly, these are Apples first earbuds with that technology onboard, an ability that Beats says it borrowed from Apple Watch. The sensor is situated right behind the ear tip to take readings from both earbuds every five seconds.
Beats says it developed the Powerbeats Pro 2s heart-rate sensor from the ground up, and that it relies on four key components. A green LED light emits over 100 pulses per second to go through the skin and hit red blood cells. A photodiode then captures reflected light from those cells and an optical lens keeps transmitted and received light separated. Finally, an accelerometer compensates for your movement to aid in accuracy and consistency.
Tracking my heart rate with the Powerbeats Pro 2 was accurate and reliable. During my tests, the figures displayed in the Runna app mirrored what was on my Apple Watch. They sometimes took a second or two to sync because the two devices take measurements at different times, but once the earbuds and the smartwatch settled, the numbers always matched.
The main issue with heart-rate tracking right now is the relatively short list of supported apps on iOS. The Powerbeats Pro 2 doesn't work with Apples own Fitness app. Instead, youll have to rely on Nike Run Club, Runna, Ladder, Slopes, Open, Peloton and YaoYao for your workouts. You will be able to see all of the collected data in the Health app on iOS. Its a much better situation for Android users as Beats says all fitness and wellness apps that have heart-rate monitoring abilities will be fully compatible with these earbuds. On Android though, you have to manually turn on heart-rate monitoring in either the Beats app or on the Powerbeats Pro 2 and remember to turn it off when youre done. On iOS, it happens automatically once you give your go-to app(s) the proper permissions.
Software and additional Powerbeats Pro 2 features
Billy Steele for Engadget
Beats decided to use Apples H2 chip this time around, the same tech that enables all the powerful features on the AirPods Pro 2. That component assists with everything from hert-rate monitoring to Spatial Audio and ANC. A number of handy AirPods features are available on the Powerbeats Pro 2 thanks to the chip as well. You wont find the AirPods Pro 2 Hearing Aid and Hearing Test tools here, but Beats says Apples Hearing Protection is available on these earbuds.
The features list is longer for iOS users than Android this time around. On iPhone and iPad, you can expect quick, one-touch pairing that syncs with iCloud for every Apple device on your account. Theres also Audio Sharing with another set of Beats earbuds/headphones or AirPods, hands-free Siri, Find My, Personalized Spatial Audio and controls customization. Like other recent Beats products, all of this is baked into iOS and accessible through the Bluetooth menu, so you dont need to download another app.
On Android, you will need the Beats app. Once its installed, youll get one-touch pairing, Locate My Beats, control customization, the ability to switch listening modes and enable or disable heart-rate monitoring.
Sound quality
Beats completely redesigned the acoustic architecture for the Powerbeats Pro 2, including new venting, an upgraded amplifier, new protective mesh and a custom-designed, dual-layer transducer. The company says it also changed the angle of the transducers for a more direct path for sound to your ear canals. All of this leads to remarkable dynamic range across the frequency curve, according to Beats. The promise of a balanced, powerful sound profile holds true across most genres, although the Powerbeats Pro 2 is at its best with bass-heavy, high-energy tunes.
Kendrick Lamars GNX has excellent, nuanced low-end thump on these earbuds, and most hip-hop albums follow suit. Theres plenty of bass to boost your energy levels during training sessions, but it doesnt overpower the mix. Vocals and other elements cut through clearly, which is crucial for less bass-dependent styles like rock and metal. No Cures I Hope I Die Here carries every bit of dirty texture from the distorted guitars, but those instruments dont get mashed up with the metal bands drums, bass and vocals. Amidst the chaos of tracks like Hang Me From the Bible Belt, theres plenty of sonic detail in every breakdown.
The Powerbeats Pro 2 supports Apples Personalized Spatial Audio and Adaptive EQ. The former works with Dolby Atmos content (including Apple Music) to provide immersive, 360-degree sound. With those albums, movies and shows, these earbuds provide the sensation of being surrounded by 64 speakers. Spatial Audio is a staple of recent Apple and Beats audio products and it works well on the Powerbeats Pro 2. Plus, you get dynamic head tracking with Apple platforms and both lossless audio and ultra-low latency when you pair these earbuds with Apples Vision Pro headset. I dont have a Vision Pro, so I wasnt able to test that compatibility.
ANC performance on the Powerbeats Pro 2
Billy Steele for Engadget
The Powerbeats Pro 2 are the first Powerbeats earbuds with ANC. In fact, Beats calls the performance here an exceptional noise canceling solution with an immersive listening experience the best ever in a Beats product. Hybrid microphones monitor environmental noise and any clamor that might make its way in your ears, automatically adjusting the level of ANC to match your surroundings.
While the Powerbeats Pro 2s noise-canceling tech does reduce distractions from constant annoyances like white noise machines and fans, it doesnt entirely block them. The earbuds also struggle to quiet human voices, which is where a lot of the competition stumbles, too. If youre like me and listen at around 70 percent volume most of the time, this is less of an issue. But at quieter levels, and during podcasts, the mediocre ANC performance here becomes apparent.
Call quality
ANC might not be impressive on the Powerbeats Pro 2, but the earbuds are certainly handy for calls. Thanks to Apples natural-sounding transparency mode, you never feel like you need to shout to hear yourself over voice or video chats. I dont think that ambient sound is quite as clear as the AirPods Pro 2, though, especially in terms of piping in your voice.
Beats says it has employed microphones and an accelerometer to focus on your voice while blocking background noise. In fact, the company explains that the computational audio setup is the same as whats available on the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. The Powerbeats Pro 2 also offers Voice Isolation with compatible Apple devices, which the company says enables clarity and noise suppression that exceeds any other Beats product.
In practice, the voice clarity isnt pristine, but its certainly usable, even for work calls when you need to sound as good as possible. Where the Powerbeats Pro 2 does shine in this regard is blocking background racket. The earbuds silenced loud fans and other constant sources of noise to the point they werent noticeable at all on the other end.
Powerbeats Pro 2 battery life
Billy Steele for Engadget
Beats says the Powerbeats Pro 2 will last up to 10 hours on a charge with ANC off and eight hours with either noise-cancellation or transparency mode active. The previous model was rated at nine hours, but it wasnt equipped with ANC. During my tests with active noise cancellation mostly disabled, but still employing all of the sound modes at certain times, I managed to wring out over 13 hours of use. In another test with ANC on the entire time, I surpassed the eight-hour figure with ease.
The company explains that the heart-rate tracking doesnt impact battery life, in case that was a concern for you. I didnt notice any speedier battery drain during my workouts for this review, which were once a day and lasted at most one hour. If I do encounter anything to the contrary, Ill update this review with those findings.
The competition
Plenty of companies make earbuds with a similar hook design to the Powerbeats Pro 2 these days. But none of them come close to offering the tech and features that Beats does, especially for iOS users. If youre looking for an alternative with heart-rate tracking, the Sennheiser Momentum Sport is a reliable alternative.
Sennheisers fitness earbuds lack the polish of the companys flagship Momentum set, mostly in terms of audio and ANC performance. However, the heart-rate monitorin is reliable and accurate, plus it even tracks body temperature for workouts. I prefer the design of the Sport to the regular Momentum model as well, and the option of added bass is great for an energy boost. This set is more expensive than the Powerbeats Pro 2 though ($330), so that may factor into your decision.
Wrap-up
The Powerbeats Pro 2 presents an interesting proposition, at least for the time being. For now, its the only set of Apple earbuds that offers heart-rate tracking. Reports indicate that the upcoming AirPods Pro 3 will also carry such sensors, but those probably wont arrive until September with the new batch of iPhones. It may seem odd that Apple would rely on a subsidiary for such a notable debut, but it makes a lot of sense when you consider these are earbuds designed primarily for workouts and other physical activities. Plus, this is a great stress test for the tech before it makes its way into a set of AirPods.
On the whole, the Powerbeats Pro 2 are a substantial upgrade over the original. Theyre more comfortable and have a host of new features that help it match todays earbuds. Beats needs to expand support for heart-rate tracking on iOS and its ANC performance wont silence the world around you. But if youre into the hook design for a secure fit, youll have a hard time finding another spec sheet thats this full.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/beats-powerbeats-pro-2-review-apples-first-earbuds-with-heart-rate-tracking-150026710.html?src=rss
This week is the AI Action Summit in Paris and the European Union is using it as an opportunity to deep dive into the growing sector. The bloc has announced it's putting 200 billion ($206 billion) toward AI development. This number includes 20 billion ($20.6 billion) for AI gigafactories that process and train large models.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the plan, called InvestAI, at the AI Action Summit on Tuesday. She pushed the position that Europe isn't late to the competition against China and the US. "The frontier is constantly moving, leadership is still up for grabs, and behind the frontier is the whole world of AI adoption," von der Leyen stated. "Bringing AI to industry-specific applications and harnessing its power for productivity and for people, and this is where Europe can truly lead the race.
The news follows France announcement that private investments are funneling 109 billion ($112.5 billion) into its AI ecosystem. The country is also committing a gigawatt of nuclear power for an AI computing project led by FluidStack. It will use Nvidia-made chips.
January was a big month for AI growth in the US and China. In the US, OpenAI and SoftBank announced a $500 billion partnership called Stargate to create AI infrastructure. Then Chinese AI assistant DeepSeek exploded onto the global stage, with the company claiming it offers the same quality as its competitors but cost a lot less to built. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/eu-will-put-over-200-billion-toward-ai-development-150036706.html?src=rss
Are the benefits being delivered by generative AI to enterprise companies in line with the benefits they really want from the technology? Deloitte surveyed 2,773 business leaders to find out. Read the full article at MarketingProfs
What are the top ways mobile phones distract people at work? To find out, Clarify Capital surveyed 1,000 employed Americans. Read the full article at MarketingProfs
