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Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K Max is nearly matching its Prime Day pricing

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A streaming stick should definitely be on your back-to-school list if you’re heading back to college. After all, a good one can provide you with hours of budget-friendly entertainment when you need to unwind after studying. Buying one seems especially attractive today now that Amazon’s latest Fire TV Stick 4K Max is at the lowest price we’ve seen since Prime Day.

Regularly $54.99, Amazon and Best Buy are selling the streaming stick for $39.99, which is only $5 shy of the device’s all-time low. We think the Fire TV Stick Max is the best streaming stick for those embedded in Amazon’s ecosystem, namely because it integrates quite nicely with Alexa and allows you to reliably make voice commands with the included remote. We also found that it offers a great selection of streaming apps and faster performance than its predecessor, not to mention support for Wi-Fi 6. Read our review.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2021)

Amazon’s latest and greatest streaming stick has improved performance and now supports Wi-Fi 6. It continues to offer a terrific selection of streaming apps and an easy-to-use interface with the benefit of Alexa voice commands.

Excited for the premiere of House of the Dragon but not as thrilled about the pricey HBO Max subscription you’ll need to watch it? Now through October 29th, new and returning subscribers can get 30 percent off a one-year subscription to HBO Max, assuming you’re comfortable paying the full year in advance. This means you can buy the ad-supported plan for $69.99 instead of $99.99 (or $5.83 per month) or purchase the ad-free plan for $104.99 instead of $149.99 (or $8.75 per month).

No matter which plan you choose, however, you’ll be able to watch House of the Dragon in addition to other popular shows and movies, including The Batman, Succession, and more. Just be aware of the ongoing Warner Bros. megamerger, which has already resulted in the removal and cancellation of a number of shows and movies — including Batgirl.

HBO Max (annual subscription)

Now through October 29th, you can save 30 percent on an annual subscription to HBO Max, which typically starts at $149.99 and grants you access to everything from Westworld to The White Lotus.

Speaking of college, a pair of noise-canceling earbuds will come in handy as they can help you better focus by tuning out your roommates. While the best tend to be on the pricey side, Amazon is currently taking $40 off of its second-gen Echo Buds. You can buy them with a wireless charging case for just $99.99 or a wired charging case for $79.99, which are some of the lowest prices we’ve seen on the true wireless earbuds to date.

Sure, the latest Echo Buds may not boast brilliant noise cancellation tech like Apple’s AirPods Pro, but their ANC is effective for the price. Plus, they offer a number of other great perks, including good sound quality, swappable tips, IPX4 water and sweat resistance, and a great passthrough mode that allows you to hear your surroundings. Read our review.

Amazon Echo Buds (second-gen)

Amazon’s second-gen Echo Buds improve upon the originals with a more comfortable design, improved ANC, and a more natural ambient sound mode. They support hands-free Alexa commands as well.

If you’re looking to add some extra security to your home, you may want to check out today’s discount on the Ring Alarm Pro. The eight-piece kit is a good investment for those looking to get started with a home security system, especially because it’s easy to use and supplies you with everything you need. While it’s not compatible with Google Home, Apple’s HomeKit, or IFTTT, it does integrate quite nicely with Amazon Alexa.

Typically $299.99, you can buy it right now for $239.99 at Best Buy and Amazon (with delayed shipping), which is its best price ever. The discounted kit includes a base station, which also doubles as an Eero 6 dual-band mesh Wi-Fi router, four contact sensors for doors and windows, a motion detector, and a Z-Wave range extender to reach sensors that are further out. Just be aware the system doesn’t come with 24/7 video recording, and you’ll have to pay extra for local storage. Read our review.

Ring Alarm Pro (eight-piece kit)

The Ring Alarm Pro is a great security system, offering everything you need to easily set up your smart home as well as a built-in Eero Wi-Fi router and local storage for videos from Ring cameras. It doesn’t, however, offer 24/7 video recording, and it’s not compatible with Google Home, Apple’s HomeKit, or IFTTT, either.

A few more ways to save…

  • Apple’s fifth-gen, Wi-Fi-enabled iPad Air is on sale at Amazon in a variety of colors with 64GB of storage for $559, which is a $40 discount and $10 shy of the tablet’s all-time low. The latest Air is faster than its predecessor thanks to Apple’s M1 processor and features an excellent 10.9-inch display and speakers, along with all-day battery life. Read our review.
  • Google’s Nest Doorbell is its first to operate fully on battery and is currently available for $129.99 ($50 off) at B&H Photo with a coupon, which is automatically applied at checkout. Walmart is also selling the white model for the same price. We found the video doorbell offers long battery life and liked that it can detect both packages and people but wished it offered 24/7 recording. Read our review.
  • If you’re shopping for a budget-friendly phone, you can buy an unlocked Motorola Moto G Stylus — one of our favorite models — with 128GB of storage from Amazon and Motorola for $199.99 ($100 off). Although it lacks 5G connectivity, the smartphone is a good buy overall, one that comes with a stylus and a big, 6.8-inch 1080p LCD display. Read our review.
  • Govee’s colorful Immersion TV LED Kit is $104.99 ($45 off) at Best Buy for today only. This model is sized for TVs from 55 to 65 inches. In addition to the rear-mounted LED strip and top-mounted camera for matching the colors to what’s on the screen, it comes with two external light bars to flood the walls with more color-matched light. Read our review.

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ElonJet is (sort of) back on Twitter

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The college student who ran the now-banned @ElonJet Twitter account that used public information to track Elon Musk’s private jet has resumed his activities on Twitter under a new username. As noted by Insider, Jack Sweeney, 20, has created a new account called @ElonJetNextDay — which now tracks Musk’s private jet with a 24-hour delay to circumvent Twitter policy restrictions.

Sweeney’s original ElonJet account was suspended from the platform last week following accusations from Musk that it violated Twitter rules by revealing his live location. Twitter updated its policy to forbid publishing a person’s real-time location on the same day it suspended ElonJet. Sweeney said in an interview with Insider that he will be “posting manually” for now while he works on the framework to fully automate the account.

Musk tweeted on December 15th that “Posting locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok.” Twitter also explicitly states that “sharing publicly available location information after a reasonable time has elapsed, so that the individual is no longer at risk for physical harm” is not a violation of platform rules. Elsewhere in the policy, it notes that its definition of “live” location data means someone’s real-time or same-day whereabouts.

Most commercial and private aircraft are equipped with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast technology (ADS-B) that transmits a unique code (tied to the airplane’s tail number) containing information such as altitude and GPS location. This information is publicly available and aircraft flying in the USA and Europe are required to broadcast it in order to prevent midair collisions.

In a statement back in November, Musk said he would not ban the original ElonJet account as part of his “commitment to free speech” despite claiming it was a “direct personal safety risk.” The automated ElonJet account posted publicly available information regarding the location of Musk’s 2015 Gulfstream G650ER, and had amassed over 540,000 followers before it was permanently banned on December 14th. Musk previously offered Sweeney $5,000 to have the account taken down.



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She Worked for Twitter. Then She Tweeted at Elon Musk.

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Early in November, Twitter’s roughly 7,500 employees received a terse email from a generic address: “In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global work force.” The note was signed “Twitter.” On Nov. 3, some people at the company received emails indicating they would be laid off the next day.

That night, Ms. Solomon, her husband and a few colleagues headed to Dots Cafe Portland, a lounge on Clinton Street. Phones were on the table, face up, she said. As the work friends talked, they tapped away at their phones, taking part in chats on the Signal app with colleagues in London, Seattle and San Francisco. Messages like “I got hit” were flying across screens, Ms. Solomon recalled. “You were seeing your co-workers drop like flies,” she said.

By the next afternoon her team of about 10 engineers was reduced to four. Ms. Solomon and her husband had survived the round of layoffs. The next week, she recalled, she awaited further direction from Mr. Musk or the new executive team. Nothing came, she said, except for an email alerting employees that remote work would no longer be permitted, with few exceptions.

Many employees learned of Mr. Musk’s priorities by watching his Twitter feed, where he posted frequently about company business to his more than 100 million followers. On Nov. 5, he complained about the platform’s search function: “Search within Twitter reminds me of Infoseek in ’98! That will also get a lot better pronto,” he wrote. That same day, he tweeted: “Twitter will soon add ability to attach long-form text to tweets, ending absurdity of notepad screenshots.”

That was more than Ms. Solomon and many of her colleagues had heard internally. “Radio silence,” she said. She began to vent her frustration on Twitter.

One of her first tweets in this vein came on Nov. 6, shortly after Mr. Musk announced a new rule for Twitter users in a tweet: “Any name change at all will cause temporary loss of verified checkmark,” he wrote. He had posted that message after many people on Twitter had changed their names to variations on Mr. Musk’s name, most of them mocking.



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The new iOS 16.2 Home app architecture upgrade has disappeared

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Apple has removed the option to upgrade to the new HomeKit architecture on devices running iOS 16.2. The change follows multiple reports of issues and problems with the Home app after the upgrade was installed.

Apple spokesperson Emily Ewing confirmed the change in a statement provided to The Verge:

“We are aware of an issue that may impact the ability for users to share the Home within the Home app. A fix will be available soon. In the meantime, we’ve temporarily removed the option to upgrade to the new Home architecture. Users who have already upgraded will not be impacted.“

The new Home app architecture was one of the key features of iOS 16.2, with Apple claiming that the upgrade would be “more reliable and efficient.” MacRumors first discovered this week that the Home app in iOS 16.2 no longer offers the option to upgrade to the new architecture within the Home app settings. Several reporters at The Verge have also confirmed that the upgrade option is unavailable on their devices.

The new architecture was first introduced in the iOS 16.2 beta back in October as an optional upgrade before the iOS 16.2 public release on December 13th. Both the beta and public release required Apple devices logged into iCloud to be running the latest versions of iOS, macOS, and tvOS. The upgrade does not happen automatically when iOS 16.2 is installed on a phone, instead requiring a manual process through the Home app.

The update has caused issues with missing devices and adding multiple users for some

Reddit users who downloaded the optional upgrade prior to its removal have reported issues such as the app booting other members from a Home account and being unable to re-add them. Users on the MacRumors forum have reported being unable to invite users to share the Home, HomeKit‌ devices being stuck displaying an “updating” status, and some accessories vanishing from the Home app entirely. Users who have already upgraded are unable to revert to the previous version of the app.

Update, December 23rd, 2022, 2:15PM ET: Added confirmation and statement from Apple spokesperson. Added links to Apple’s updated support pages.

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