Technology

Nearly a year after making its debut, the PlayStation 5 remains notoriously difficult to get your hands on. Sony has been one of the most reliable retailers when it comes to console restocks, however, and the company often opens its online queue for customers who don’t mind waiting for a chance to secure Sony’s next-gen console. If you want to have another go at it, Sony has reopened the queue for ordering the disc-based PS5 and the PS5 Digital Edition via its direct store. You don’t have to refresh the landing page once you’ve arrived — just wait it out — but we do recommend that you keep your PlayStation Network account info at the ready, just in case you’re allocated a spot to buy one when the countdown finishes. PlayStation 5 Sony’s flagship next-gen console, which includes a disc driv...

Elon Musk isn’t happy that fellow mega-billionaire Jeff Bezos keeps suing to stop SpaceX’s projects, and he shared a message for the Amazon founder during the 2021 Code Conference on Tuesday: “you cannot sue your way to the Moon, no matter how good your lawyers are.” Musk was responding to a question from journalist Kara Swisher about how Bezos’ space company, Blue Origin, recently sued to block a contract NASA gave SpaceX to develop a lunar lander. Amazon has also protested SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites with the Federal Communications Commission. Swisher asked Musk Tuesday if he has spoken to Bezos about the legal fights. “Not verbally, just… subtweets,” Musk said. (In August, Musk tweeted: “Turns out Besos [sic] retired in order to pursue a full-time job filing lawsuits aga...

Facebook’s interest in understanding and eventually acquiring younger users extends well beyond Messenger Kids or the currently paused plans for a child-friendly Instagram. A new report in The Wall Street Journal’s series on Facebook’s internal research shows the company’s focus on kids goes much deeper, including studying children younger than four years old in the hopes of better designing future products. The company’s child research is primarily motivated by the success of apps like TikTok and Snapchat in attracting younger users. “With the ubiquity of tablets and phones, kids are getting on the internet as young as six years old. We can’t ignore this and we have a responsibility to figure it out,” a confidential Facebook document viewed by The Wall Street Journal reads. Another possib...

Some of the people building Amazon’s Astro home robot are not impressed with it, according to a report by Vice. One person who worked on the robot, which was announced today, reportedly called it a “disaster that’s not ready for release,” while another said it was “terrible,” and the idea that it’d be a useful accessibility device (part of Amazon’s pitch is that Astro can help with elder care) was “absurdist nonsense.” The sources also mentioned that the bot doesn’t handle stairs well, with one even saying that it would “throw itself down” them “if presented the opportunity.” To make matters worse, Vice also reports that the robot is fragile and that several devices had broken. That’s not great news for a $1,000 (or $1,449) robot that lives on the floor, where it’s prone to being stepped o...

During its fall hardware event on Tuesday, Amazon announced that the Ring Always Home Cam — the company’s flying drome surveillance camera that can fly preset paths inside its user’s home — will be available for purchase this fall. Beginning today, September 28, customers can request an invitation to buy the security drone, and the device will ship later this year. The Always Home Cam allows users to create flight paths of up to five minutes inside their homes so they can manually check mobile security surveillance through the Ring App from anywhere. Equipped with a privacy-forward design, the drone’s camera is blocked when docked and will only record after leaving the dock and flying on a designated path customized by the user. Once in flight, users will have the option to pause, resume, ...

Amazon announced a home robot called Astro during its fall hardware event today, September 28th, which is designed to serve as a helpful mobile assistant that can navigate around the main floor of your home. Amazon promises Astro will be able to patrol your home while you’re away, carry small objects from room to room (as long as a human places the object in its storage compartment), follow a person around with its periscope camera while on a video call, play music, and play games with children, as well as carry out a bevy of other small tasks. It’s essentially an Echo Show 10 on wheels, complete with Alexa support, mixed with some of the expectations of a robot vacuum sans vacuuming — room assignment, navigation, and self-charging via a dock. The Astro is being made in small quantities to...

Microsoft is starting to test its Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) integration with Xbox consoles today. Some Xbox Insiders in the Alpha Skip-Ahead and Alpha rings will be able to access the xCloud integration today, a feature that lets you click play on an Xbox Game Pass game and stream it immediately. This new xCloud integration will allow Xbox owners to try games before they fully download them and potentially demo or try before you buy in the future. More than 100 Xbox Game Pass titles will be available as part of this initial xCloud integration, and Xbox players can even jump into multiplayer games as soon as friends send an invite. xCloud integration in the Xbox dashboard.Image: Microsoft A cloud logo will appear on games that can be streamed.Image: Microsoft Games that are compatible with...

Smart home company Ring has announced the third generation of its popular budget Ring Alarm home security product. The Ring Alarm Pro is a single device combining Ring’s security system with an Eero Wi-Fi router, 24/7 internet backup, and local processing and storage for Ring cameras. This all-in-one device is designed to offer physical home security as the base station for Ring Alarm’s Z-wave sensors and digital security through the cybersecurity features Eero offers in its Wi-Fi system. It also acts as a smart home hub for compatible third-party gadgets, such as door locks, thermostats, and smoke alarms. And, with a new processor on board, the Ring Alarm Pro can connect to Ring cameras to process and store videos locally. Larger than the original Ring Alarm, the Alarm Pro is 6.63 x 6.63 ...

Amazon announced a fleet of new products at its hardware event, including the Astro home robot, several Ring home security products, and other products like a bigger Echo Show 15 and the Amazon Glow for kids. Unlike previous years, the list of products that you’ll soon be able to preorder is rather short, leaving the most interesting products available on an invite-only basis. Still, we’re going to point you to where you can find out more about getting one of them for yourself. Here are all of the biggest announcements from Amazon’s show, if you want to catch up. Image: Amazon How to buy Amazon’s Smart Thermostat One of Amazon’s most affordable devices announced today is its Smart Thermostat, which costs $59.99. It will be released on November 4th, 2021, and you can preorder one right now....

Today, Sonos and Ikea officially announced the second-generation Symfonisk table lamp speaker. The Verge previously reported that the product was in the pipeline, and its design, which is now more customizable and comes in different styles, leaked earlier this month. The new Symfonisk lamp will be available in Ikea’s US stores, US website, and “select markets in Europe” starting October 12th. It’ll expand to all of Ikea’s markets in 2022. Ikea is changing up how it’s selling the new model; this time around, the lamp base (available in black or white) is sold separately from two different styles of lampshades. You can get an opaque glass shade that’s somewhat reminiscent of the original lamp speaker — though this one is open-ended on top — but there’s also a more translucent black glass sha...

If you’re in the market for a new TV set, you’re in luck. The 65-inch version of LG’s C1 OLED is selling at an all-time low of $1,797 at Amazon and BuyDig, where you can also snag a $50 Visa gift card with your purchase. The same deal is available at Costco through October 10th, only your purchase comes with a three-year warranty through Allstate and a $100 streaming credit toward Google Play, Paramount Plus, Showtime, or Sling TV. Best Buy is selling this model for $1,799. The lauded TV, released earlier this year, offers a slew of features gamers especially will enjoy, including support for Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync technologies, which help the TV resist screen tearing. It also boasts a 120Hz refresh rate, low input lag, HDMI 2.1, and a Game Optimizer feature that makes it easy to a...