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Drop's BMR1 PC speakers are almost really good
There's plenty to like about Drop's BMR1 PC speakers, but there are also enough things that could be improved that make them hard to fully recommend.
Drop's refreshed CTRL, ALT and SHIFT keyboards offer improved stabilization and LED patterns
Barebones and fully assembled versions are available.
Corsair expands its mechanical keyboards by acquiring Drop
Corsair is buying Drop (aka Massdrop) to dive further into custom keyboards.
Drop's tiny desktop speakers promise audiophile quality for only $129
Drop's first in-house designed speakers are small, customizable and promise audiophile-quality sound.
The Morning After: An early look at Logitech’s new gaming handheld
Plus: The PS5 gets smaller, Twitter’s failed OnlyFans clone and the M74 Galaxy.
Hulu drops support for Google’s Daydream VR platform
If you were a fan of watching Hulu videos on Google's Daydream View VR headset, we have some bad news. Hulu has dropped support for Google Daydream. According to the company, the latest versions of its Android app (versions 3.55 or newer) no longer support the VR platform.
The latest 'Fortnite' weapon lets you drop heavy stuff on opponents’ heads
Epic has another way to battle Fortnite's hated newcomer, giant mechs. Sure, the two-player B.R.U.T.E. mechs have 1,000 health, can travel hundreds of in-game meters in a few seconds and can blast you with rockets or stomp on you. But now, regular players can strike back by dropping something heavy -- like a dinosaur -- on giant mechs and other opponents.
The drop
When Nike launched its Air Jordan XI "Concord," in 2011, there were incidents of violence reported at several shopping malls in the US. Back then, most shoe stores sold pairs on a first-come, first-served basis, which led to physical fights between people who were trying to line up outside their local shop. A lot has changed. Over the past few years, sportswear giants like Nike and Adidas have turned to technology to make sneaker shopping safer, particularly for highly coveted models. And there's no better example of this digital-first strategy than the drop of the long-awaited 2018 edition of the Concord XIs, which re-released on December 8th without any chaos, thanks in large part to mobile apps like Nike's SNKRS.
Bosch and Drop team up on smarter kitchen tech
Many appliance makers are forming partnerships to drag their lineups into the smart home era, but Bosch's alliance may be something special. It's teaming up with Drop (of smart scale fame) to add intelligence to kitchen devices. The two are starting modestly: if you have a Series 8 oven with Home Connect support, you can already use Drop to control the appliance as well as monitor the temperature and time. However, the companies have grander things in store.
Drop's kitchen scale celebrates iPhone debut with cocktail recipes
Drop's smart scale promises to turn any kitchen klutz into a competent cook. Like your own personal sous-chef, the connected scale and companion app walks you through recipes step-by-step, even suggesting substitute ingredients if you've run out of wild saffron. Drop's audience has been somewhat limited since it launched late last year, though, as its recipe app was only compatible with iPads. But now, iPhone users can get a little help in the kitchen too, following the launch of a smartphone-friendly version of the app (still no love for Android, it seems). What's way, way more important, however, is Drop's finally acknowledging that the best lunches are ones of the liquid variety. In addition to the juice and smoothie recipes already available, Drop's app now includes a cocktail menu. All you need to do is place your favorite booze beaker on the scale and follow the instructions, which should mean your sixth mojito comes out tasting just as well-balanced as your first.
WildStar begins testing Drop 4 and 20-player Datascape raid
WildStar's upcoming Drop 4 is now on the public test realm, and despite Carbine's reluctance to post patch notes, the news on the street is that this content update will be a doozy. Among the changes and additions coming to next year's Drop 4 are new costumes for all of the races, more daily and weekly quests, an underground bunker housing option, the ability to see different armor models at character creation, a character customization vendor, loads of class changes, and a low-level shiphand mission called Fragment Zero. Datascape, the former 40-player raid that is now being retooled as a 20-player instance, is also on the test server for those with 19 good friends.
Don't call it a fire sale: Amazon's Phone is now $199
When we reviewed Amazon's Fire Phone, we said that you'd better off waiting for the sequel. That's good advice for you, but not ideal for the company, since it ate a $170 million loss and has $83 million worth of unsold devices piled high in warehouses. It's probably for that reason that the company has, once again, slashed the off-contract price of the handset down from $449 to $199. Technically, of course, since the device comes with a year's free Prime subscription (worth $99), you're only really paying $100, which you have to admit is pretty damn cheap. You're still probably better to wait for the follow-up, though.
Samsung reportedly sold 4 million fewer Galaxy S5s than Galaxy S4s
There have been a few signs that not all is well in Samsung's mobile division, with the company pledging to make fewer new devices, as well as its chief taking a pay cut. If the Wall Street Journal is to be believed, the cause of this unrest is all down to faltering sales of the Galaxy S5, which has apparently sold 4 million fewer phones than its predecessor. According to the report, the company is still riding high in the US, but saw sales in China drop by 50 percent compared to the Galaxy S4. Considering that Samsung was so confident that the device would be a blockbuster that it increased production by 20 percent, it could now have as many a 4 million unsold devices sitting in warehouses. The paper's sources believe that the drops will trigger a leadership re-shuffle, with mobile chief JK Shin getting pushed, with his duties handed over to TV & home appliance chief BK Yoon.
Drop's internet-savvy kitchen scale is now available
If you're already fretting over getting a holiday dinner just right, you'll be glad to hear that Drop's smart kitchen scale is at last available. Plunk down $100 (£80) and you can both weigh ingredients as well as walk through app-based recipes that tell you when you have enough of a given foodstuff to move on. The scale also includes a few thoughtful touches, such as a "next step" button (to keep dirty fingers off your device screen) and its own timer. Drop won't guarantee that guests like your choice of dessert, but it'll at least make sure that you get the meal you were expecting.
Jawbone's Drop lets you build music playlists using tweets
At Twitter's Flight mobile developer conference, Jawbone just announced a new app called Drop, which lets you and your friends create and manage playlists with tweets. Hosain Rahman, Jawbone's CEO, says that this would be very useful in party situations, where each guest wants to add a different song to the party playlist. Once you're in the app, you can "drop" a song in a playlist by sending a tweet to a specific username. Further, you don't need the app to add songs -- your friends can just mention you on Twitter and the word "drop" followed by the name of the song or artist. According to Jawbone, the list is comprised of songs on Spotify or Rdio, so you'll need a premium or paid subscription to either of the two music services to use Drop. It should be available for iOS today, with no word on an Android version just yet.
Samsung's Q3 profits drop 60 percent from last year to under $4 billion
At this time last year, Samsung was enjoying a record operating profit of $9.6 billion for its third quarter and shipping Galaxy phones seemingly as fast as it could make them. Now? The company announced its operating profit for the period will be down to between $3.6 and $4 billion, which would be its fourth straight quarter of declines. Of course, that's nothing to sneeze at but it represents a drop of 60 percent in just a year. We don't have specific sales stats, but industry analysts mentioned by the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg see its phone sales squeezed at the high-end by Apple's latest iPhones, and at the low end by numerous Chinese competitors like Xiaomi and Lenovo. Samsung's next steps -- after launching the new Galaxy Note 4 -- include growing its businesses making memory chips, processors and displays. Samsung announced today that it's building a new $14.7 billion chip plant in Korea -- maybe it can get prices of the next Galaxy Alpha down enough to get sales back on a growing track.
WildStar to make character upgrades easier
The WildStar devs claim that they are listening to players' concerns over the infrequency of AMP upgrades and ability tier unlocks, which is why the team is planning to roll out several improvements to these drop rates in an upcoming patch. "For the uninitiated, players earn AMP power points and ability tier unlocks naturally through leveling up in WildStar," the team posted. "Special items can be found throughout the game however that further boost your character's AMP points and ability tier unlocks. These items, based on our data and from feedback from players, simply do not drop enough." Players will see a drop rate increase from level 50 creatures and PvP victory bags. On top of those, the team is putting in one-shot items from endgame reputation vendors, the prestige vendor, gold medal veteran dungeon rewards, and at path levels 15 and 30.
WildStar elaborates on change to update cadence
Today, Carbine Studios posted a follow-up to the breaking news that WildStar would be dropping its monthly update pace for more of a "when it's done" approach. Product Director Mike Donatelli elaborated on the decision: The plan was to roll out a zone next month, and a pretty badass one at that. The new zone and its contents not only sets up the epic ongoing world story of WildStar, but provides more group and solo content along with costumes, items, etc. What we hadn't planned for was the mountain of feedback. You guys have been vocal about everything from bugs, early level content, attunement, PvP, and Elder Game. And we were listening. Because of that, we decided to make a change. We are adding a month's worth of feedback and bugfixes to the mix based on player feedback and user experiences. These are changes to core systems such as economy, classes, PvP, crafting -- you name it. We're knocking out bugs and making changes to improve your gameplay experience. We want to roll these issues into the patch with the new zone content and that's going to take some more time. How much time you ask? That's an excellent question! We're going to take the time to make sure that this next patch is not only badass but bug free. I'll update you again shortly with the list of details on what's being addressed in the game and the timeframe.
Here's what happened at Engadget Live Seattle
Engadget made another appearance in Seattle last Friday, again taking over the Showbox SoDo. This year's stop in the Emerald City was the second in our series of Engadget Live events, where readers can meet, mingle and try out all sorts of new tech. More than 1,000 folks did just that on a sunny day in the Pacific Northwest. Friends were made; photos were taken; and alcohol was... inhaled. Check out the gallery below for a few highlights.
Engadget Live Seattle is this Friday!
To all our wonderful friends in Seattle, let's make it clear: there's no better place to be this Friday (July 18th) at 7PM than the Showbox SODO for our second Engadget Live event of the year! Why is this a cant-miss event? Flip through the gallery below to find out.
