2026-02-03 19:04:11
Paris prosecutors announced that a search was underway at offices belong to Elon Musk’s X platform as part of an ongoing investigation first launched in January 2025. The raid is being conducted by Paris and national cybercrime units, with support from Interpol, according to post from Paris prosecutors on X. Officials from X have yet to comment on the matter.
At the same time, Paris prosecutors issued summonses to Elon Musk and Linda Yaccarino for “voluntary interviews” on April 20, 2026 in Paris. The prosecutors also announced they would no longer use X and would only communicate on LinkedIn and Instagram going forward.
The searches are part of an investigation that has been ongoing for nearly a year over the functioning of X’s algorithms that are “likely to have distorted the operation of an automated data processing system,” investigators said at the time. Those changes reportedly gave greater prominence to certain political content (especially from Musk) without user knowledge — something that could be a crime under French laws.
An investigation was officially launched in July, with Paris prosecutors adding an additional charge: “Fraudulent extraction of data from an automated data processing system by an organized group.” More recently, it also includes “complicity in the possession of images of minors representing a pedo-pornographic character,” due to images created by Grok between December 25, 2025 and January 1, 2026.
In July, X said in a statement that the probe “egregiously undermines X’s fundamental right to due process and threatens our users' rights to privacy and free speech. [French officials have] accused X of manipulating its algorithm for 'foreign interference' purposes, an allegation which is completely false.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/xs-paris-hq-raided-by-french-prosecutors-110411170.html?src=rss2026-02-03 18:00:35
Finding the best iPhone 17 case or the best iPhone 17 Pro cases is about more than basic drop protection. The best iPhone cases add useful features like MagSafe compatibility, grippy finishes and protection for camera lenses, all without adding unnecessary bulk to your new iPhone.
Whether you prefer slim, scratch resistant designs, matte finishes or leather cases that feel a bit more premium, there are plenty of strong top picks to choose from. We’ve rounded up the best picks for both the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro, so you don’t have to waste time scrolling through endless listings.
There is no one "most protective" brand of phone cases, but rather there are many that tout extra security for your handset. Some of the most protective phone cases we've tried come from Otterbox; most of the brand's cases have a bit more protection than your standard phone case, even the ones that are designed to be on the slim side. Otterbox also makes a wide variety of phone cases, so there's a good chance you'll find one that suits your style and provides the level of protection you're looking for. Otterbox's Defender series is one of the best you can get if you care first and foremost about making sure your phone survives all kinds of accidents (save for a dunk in a pool).
Neither silicone nor hard cases are better than the other. Silicone cases tend to be thinner and feel soft to the touch, and they're often easier to put on and take off of phones. Hard cases can be on the thicker side, but they provide a bit more drop protection than silicone cases. Which type of case is best for you depends on the type of experience you want from your phone. It's also worth nothing that both silicone cases and hard cases come in a variety of colors, designs and styles, so you have plenty of choose from to match your personality on both sides.
The iPhone 17 features Apple’s tough Ceramic Shield 2 front, which is definitely more durable than standard glass — but it’s not invincible. If you want to avoid scratches from keys, drops onto pavement or just the wear and tear of daily use, a screen protector is still a smart move. It adds an extra layer of defense without getting in the way of touch sensitivity or Face ID. So, while it’s not absolutely essential, using one is a good idea if you want to keep your screen looking flawless for the long haul.
The iPhone 17 is built to be tough, with Ceramic Shield 2 on the front and a sturdy aluminum or titanium frame (depending on the model), but it’s not completely drop-proof. It can handle the occasional bump or short fall, especially if it lands on a flat surface — but drops on concrete or at awkward angles can still cause cracks or damage. If you’re prone to butterfingers, pairing your iPhone 17 with a durable case and maybe even a screen protector is the best way to play it safe.
Georgie Peru contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-iphone-cases-153035988.html?src=rss2026-02-03 16:37:00
The original Switch just became Nintendo’s best-selling console ever with 155.37 million units as of December 31, 2025, overtaking the DS which sold 154.02 million units from 2004-2011. It was part of a holiday surge that saw the company move 7.01 million Switch 2s (and 17.37 million through Q3 of its fiscal year), making it the “fastest-selling dedicated video platform released by Nintendo to date,” the company said in its earnings report.
Despite being supplanted by the Switch 2, the Switch keeps selling decently (1.36 million units in Q3 fiscal 2026), due to its relatively cheap price. Nintendo reported last year that it was just trailing the DS in sales and would likely surpass it after Christmas. The Switch is now just 5.27 million units behind Sony’s PS2, the best-selling console of all time — so Nintendo would have to keep selling it for at least a couple more years to get the record.
The Switch 2, meanwhile, has been a sales machine. With high holiday sales that exceeded expectations, Nintendo should easily reach its 19 million sales goal for fiscal 2026 ending March 31 this year. The company has already (easily) busted through its original sales forecast of 15 million consoles set earlier in 2025.
Game sales were also strong, with Mario Kart World hitting 14 million units and Donkey Kong Bananza selling 4.25 million since the Switch 2’s launch. With all that, the company saw 803.32 billion yen in sales for Q3 ($5.2 billion), up 86 percent over last year but a bit less than expected, and 159.93 billion yen in profit ($1.03 billion), 20 percent higher than the same period last year.
Whether the company can continue that may depend on the strength of its upcoming game lineup. Two of those key titles are Mario Tennis Fever expected on February 12 and Pokemon Pokopia arriving in March.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/the-switch-just-surpassed-the-ds-as-nintendos-best-selling-console-ever-083700901.html?src=rss2026-02-03 16:00:35
Most people think of AirTags when they picture a Bluetooth tracker. And indeed, Apple’s little white discs were once the only capable option, relying on a vast finding network of nearby iPhones to pinpoint lost tags. But now Google has a finding network of its own, and third party brands like Chipolo, Hyper and Pebblebee have trackers that pair with your choice of Google or Apple’s network. That means you’ve got a lot of options for tagging and tracking your keys, backpacks, luggage and more. We tested the major brands out there to see how well they work, how loud they are and how they look to put together a guide to help you get the most out of your chosen tracker. Here are the best Bluetooth trackers you can buy.
Editor's note: Apple just released a new version of its AirTag trackers. We are in the process of testing the new model and will update this guide once we're done.
Bluetooth trackers are small discs or cards that rely on short-range, low-energy wireless signals to communicate with your smartphone. Attach one of these gadgets your stuff and, if it’s in range, your phone can “ring” the chip so you can find it. These tracking devices offer other features like separation alerts to tell you when you’ve left a tagged item behind, or where a lost item was last detected. Some can even tap into a larger network of smartphones to track down your device when you’re out of range. Depending on what you want the tracker to do, there are a few specs to look for when deciding which to get.
Like most things from the folks in Cupertino, AirTags only work with products in the Apple ecosystem. Both Apple and Google have opened up access to the Find My and Find Hub networks to third-party manufacturers, including Chipolo and Pebblebee. Those two companies make device-agnostic models that will work with the larger tracking network from either brand, so iPhone and Android users can buy the same tag. Tile trackers work with either Android or Apple devices, but use Tile’s own Life 360 finding network. Samsung’s latest fob, the Galaxy SmartTag2, only works with Samsung phones and taps into a finding system that relies on other Samsung devices to locate lost tags.
Crowd-sourced finding capabilities are what make headlines, with stories about recovering stolen equipment or tracking lost luggage across the globe. Using anonymous signals that ping other people’s devices, these Bluetooth tracking devices can potentially tell you where a tagged item is, even if your smartphone is out of Bluetooth range.
Apple’s Find My network is the largest, with over a billion iPhones and iPads in service all running Apple’s Find My app by default. So unless an iPhone user opts out, their phone silently acts as a location detector for any nearby AirTags. Apple recently increased the AirTag’s finding power by enabling you to share the tracker's location with a third party, party, like an airline. Chipolo fobs that work on Apple’s network have the same ability. Google launched its Find My Device network in 2024 and has since renamed it Find Hub, which, like Apple's fining app, combines devices and people finding in one place. That network is now a close second for the largest in the US
Now that Google’s Find Hub network is up and running, it’s a close second for the largest in the US. Like Apple, Android users are automatically part of the network, but can opt-out by selecting the Google services option in their phone’s Settings app and toggling the option in the Find Hub menu. Samsung’s SmartTag 2 and related network also defaults to an opt-in status for finding tags and other devices.
Tile offers a large finding grid that includes Tile users, Amazon Sidewalk customers and people running the Life360 network. Life360 acquired Tile in 2021, and, according to the company, the Life360 network has more than 70 million monthly active users.
In our tests, AirTags and third-party tags using its network, like the Chipolo Loop and Pop and the Pebblebee Clip 5, were the fastest to track down lost items. They offered nearly real-time location data in moderately to heavily trafficked spots around Albuquerque, including a bar, bookstore and coffee shops in Nob Hill, along with various outdoor hangouts on UNM’s campus.
Samsung's SmartTags were able to locate our lost items most of the time, though not with the same precision finding accuracy as AirTags. When we tested Google’s Find Hub (then called Find My Device) network right after launch, it was noticeably slower than Apple’s network when using the community finding feature. Testing it again in mid 2025, the time it took to locate a lost item was considerably improved, taking less than 20 minutes on average for the community to track a fob. In our tests, Tile’s finding network wasn’t able to consistently locate its lost fobs.
A tracker’s day-to-day utility becomes really apparent when it prevents you from losing something in the first place. Separation alerts tell you when you’ve traveled too far from your tagged items. Useful if you want to make sure your laptop bag, jacket or umbrella always comes with you when you leave the house.
Apple’s Find My app delivers these notifications, but Google’s Find Hub does not. However, if you have a Chipolo device and allow its companion app to run in the background on your Android phone, left-behind alerts are enabled. Tile trackers require a yearly subscription to enable the alerts (currently $7 to $25 monthly). Both AirTags and Tiles allow you to turn off separation alerts at certain locations, meaning you can set your home as a “safe” place where items can be left behind, but alerts will still trigger elsewhere.
In our tests, AirTags and others using the Find My network alerted us between the 600- and 1,400-foot mark. Tiles sent a notification after about an average of 1,500 feet and were more consistent when using an Android phone than an iPhone. Chipolo Pop tags paired with an Android phone and using its own app sent an alert when we got around 450 feet away from our tagged item.
The feature you may use most often is the key finder function, which makes the tracker ring when you hit a button in the app. With Apple's AirTags, you can say "Hey Siri, where are my keys?" and the assistant will ring the tag (assuming it doesn't mistakenly think you're asking for directions to the Floridian archipelago). You can also use the Find Item app in your Apple Watch to ring your fob. Asking smart home/personal assistants like Alexa or the Google Assistant to find your keys will work with Chipolo, Tile and Pebblebee trackers linked to your Android device.
If you have your tag but can’t find your phone, some trackers will let you ring them to find your handset. SmartTag2 fobs reliably rang our Galaxy phone when we double-pressed it. Tile trackers have the same feature. Chipolo Pop and Loop trackers can ring your phone, but uses the Chipolo app to do so, which can run concurrently with the Find My or Find Hub connection. AirTags and third-party tags using Google’s network don’t offer this feature.
The volume of the Bluetooth tracking device may determine whether you can find an item buried in your couch cushions or in a noisy room. AirTags have a reputation for being on the quiet side, and that aligned with what we saw (measuring roughly 65 decibels). Chipolo’s Pop tags and Tile’s Pro model measure between 83 and 86 decibels on average. Pebblebee’s new Clip 5 was the loudest of any tag we’ve tested, clocking in at 97 ear-splitting decibels.
Design will determine what you can attach the tracker to. AirTags are small, smooth discs that can’t be secured to anything without accessories, which are numerous, but that is an additional cost to consider. Chipolo, Pebblebee and Tile offer trackers with holes that easily attach to your key ring, and all three companies also offer card-shaped versions designed to fit in your wallet. Pebblebee Clip 5 tags come with a handy carabiner-style key ring.
You can even get trackers embedded into useful items like luggage locks. The SmartLock from KeySmart is a TSA-approved luggage lock, but in addition to the three digit code, it’s also a Bluetooth tracker that’s compatible with Apple Find My. It wasn’t quite as loud as other trackers in my tests, and the range wasn’t as long, but it paired easily and worked with Apple’s finding network just like an AirTag.
AirTag, Tile Pro, SmartTag2, HyperShield and Chipolo Pop fobs use replaceable batteries and each should go for at least a year before needing to be swapped. Pebblebee Clip 5 and Chipolo Loop trackers are rechargeable via a standard USB-C port. The Clip 5 has a long battery life claim at 12 months. The Loop should go for six months on a charge.
Trackers shaped like credit cards, aka wallet trackers, don't have replaceable batteries, but some, like the Chipolo Card and the Pebblebee Card 5 are USB-C rechargeable.
AirTags have gotten a lot of attention and even prompted some lawsuits for Apple due to bad actors planting them on people in order to stalk them. While this fact may not influence your buying decision, any discussion of Bluetooth trackers should note what steps Apple, Google and Tile have taken to address the issue. Last year, all the major players in the Bluetooth tracker business teamed up to combat misuse and standardize how unauthorized tracking detection and alerts work for iOS and Android.
Last year, Tile launched a feature called Anti-Theft Mode, which enables you to render one of its trackers undetectable by others. That means if someone steals your tagged item, they won’t be able to use the anti-stalking features to find and disable the tracker. That sort of negates one of the major ways potential stalking victims can stay safe, so Tile hopes ID verification and a $1 million penalty will deter misuse.
As a theft deterrent, a Bluetooth tracker may or may not be the best option. Anecdotal stories abound in which people have recovered stolen goods using a tracker — but other tales are more cautionary. Neither Apple nor Google promotes its trackers or finding networks as a way to deal with theft. GPS trackers, on the other hand, are typically marketed for just that purpose.
Before deciding on which trackers to test, we researched the field, looking at user reviews on Amazon, Best Buy and other retailers, along with discussions on sites like Reddit. We also checked out what other publications had to say on the matter before narrowing down our options.
Here’s the full list of every tracker we tested:
After acquiring the trackers, I tested each one over the course of a few weeks using both an iPhone 11 followed by an iPhone 16 and a Samsung Galaxy S22 then an S23 Ultra. I recreated likely user experiences, such as losing and leaving items behind at home and out in the city. I planted trackers at different spots near downtown Albuquerque, mostly concentrated in and around the University of New Mexico and the surrounding neighborhood of Nob Hill. Later, I conducted tests in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle.
Each test was performed multiple times, both while walking and driving and I used the measure distance feature on Google Maps to track footage for alerts. I paid attention to how easy the app was to use, how reliable the phone-to-tracker connection was and any other perks and drawbacks that came up during regular use.
As new trackers come to market, or as we learn of worthy models to try, I'll test them and add the results to this guide.
The Moto Tag haunts me. At this very moment, my Galaxy phone says the fob is “Near you right now.” But I don’t know where. I tap to play a sound and the Find Hub tries, but ultimately says it can’t. I tap the Find Nearby function that’s supposed to visually guide you to the tag. I parade my phone around the house like a divining rod, take it down into the basement, walk it all over the garage. Nothing. But the Hub app unendingly says the Moto Tag is “Near you right now” and I get flashes of every old-school horror movie where the telephone operator tells the soon-to-be victim that the call is coming from inside the house.
It’s partly my fault. I tend to keep good tabs on the gadgets I test for work. But during my most recent move, the tiny green disc didn’t make it into the safety of my review unit cabinet after relocation. Perhaps in retribution for my neglect, the Moto Tag keeps itself just out of reach. Taunting me. I’ll let you know if I ever find it, but in the meantime, it’s clear this finding device doesn’t want to be found. The recommended tags in this guide will serve you better.
Tile recently came out with a new suite of trackers, replacing the Tile Mate, Tile Pro, Tile Sticker and Tile Slim with updated models. In addition to fun new colors for the Mate and Slim, Tile added an SOS feature that can send a notification to your Life360 Circle when you triple press the button on the tracker. It’s a clever addition that turns your keys into a panic button, something offered by personal safety companies as standalone devices.
There are a few caveats: You and the people you want to notify in an emergency will need the Life360 app installed on your phones. If you want your Tile to also trigger a call to emergency services, you’ll need a $15-per-month Life360 subscription (that’s in addition to a Tile membership, which starts at $3/month or $30 annually). And enabling the SOS triple-press disables the ability to ring your phone with the fob.
I tested the SOS feature and it did indeed send a text message to my Circle, with the message that I had triggered an SOS and a link to a website that showed my current location. I thought it odd that the link didn’t open the Life360 app (which shows the location of users' phones), but I wasn’t as much concerned with Tile’s personal safety features as I was with the tracking capabilities, which turned out to be less than ideal.
For my tests, I planted Tile trackers in a densely populated area of Seattle (about 15,000 people per square mile). After setting the trackers to “lost” in the Tile app, I waited. After four hours, one of the trackers was not discovered by the finding community, so I went and retrieved it. Another fob I planted alerted me that the tracker had been found by the Tile community after three hours — but the location it gave me was off by a third of a mile. I then decided to plant a tracker in the busiest place I could think of — the dried fruit and nuts aisle of a Trader Joes on a Friday evening before a major holiday. It still took over a half an hour before another Tile user anonymously pinged my lost tracker.
In my tests with Samsung’s trackers and the fobs on Google’s Find Hub network, it took around ten minutes for them to be discovered. AirTags took half that time and all were tested in a far less populated city. Tile's four hours with no ping and over a half hour before getting a hit in a crowded TJs were pretty long stretches.
Tile devices work with both mobile operating systems and its latest models are indeed louder than they were before. But they aren’t as quick to connect and you need to pay for a membership to activate left-behind alerts. And when you do, those notifications don’t kick in as quickly as they do with competing trackers.
Both the Tile Pro and the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag2 claim a maximum range of around 400 feet, which is longer than the 300-foot claim for Chipolo’s Pop tags. The Pebblebee Clip 5 claims a 500-foot range, though other trackers with a shorter claimed range often performed better in our tests. Apple doesn’t make range claims for AirTags, but 30 meters (100 feet) seems to be the general consensus for those fobs.
Any Bluetooth signal, of course, is dependent on a few factors. Obstacles like walls and people can block the signal, so a clear line of sight is the only way to achieve the maximum range. Other signals, like Wi-Fi, can also interfere with Bluetooth connections. Even high humidity can have an effect and lessen the distance at which your phone will connect to your tracker.
Remember, when considering the range of Bluetooth trackers, the size of the “finding network” also comes into play. This is the number of nearby phones that can be used to anonymously ping your tracker when your own phone is out of Bluetooth range. As of now, Apple AirTags have the largest network, followed by Google’s Find Hub, Samsung’s finding community and finally, Tile’s Life360 members.
Bluetooth trackers are designed to track small, personal items like keys, jackets, backpacks and the like. All trackers have safeguards to prohibit the tag from being used to stalk people, so most will alert someone if a tracker that does not belong to them is detected following them. That means a car thief may get tipped off that there’s a tracker in the car they’re trying to steal.
That said, you’ll see plenty of stories about people finding their car thanks to a Bluetooth tracker. Some police departments have even handed out trackers to combat high rates of carjacking. In most instances, the tracker of choice has been AirTags thanks to their wide finding network. If you’re looking for a tracker for your car, you may want to look into GPS trackers, some of which are designed for just that purpose.
Accuracy for Bluetooth trackers can be looked at in two ways: Finding items nearby and finding items misplaced outside your home. For nearby items, you’ll most often use the ring function on the device to hunt it down. Apple’s AirTags also use ultra-wideband technology, which creates directional navigation on your phone to get you within a foot of the tracker.
Accurately finding lost items outside your home depends on the size of the finding network. Since this relies on the serendipity of a random phone passing within Bluetooth range of your tracker, the more phones on a given network, the better. And since Bluetooth ranges and distance estimates are only precise within about a meter or so, getting pings from more than one phone will help locating items. Here again, it’s worth noting that Apple’s Find My network is the largest, followed by Google, Samsung and Tile (both Chipolo and Pebblebee have fobs that work with the Apple and Google networks).
February 2026: Added Pebblebee Clip 5 as the best rechargeable device. Added HyperShield tag as a budget pick. Updated FAQs for accuracy.
October 2025: Added Chipolo Loop as a new pick for best rechargeable Bluetooth tracker. Detailed our experience with the Moto Tag and KeySmart SmartLock. Updated details about separation alerts and Ultra Wideband tech.
August 2025: Updated the name of Google's finding network to Find Hub, instead of Find My Device. Added details about Pebblebee's new Alert feature. Added a table of contents.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-bluetooth-tracker-140028377.html?src=rss2026-02-03 07:42:31
Anime fans won't be getting any respite from the streaming service price hikes that now feel inevitable on every platform every couple of years. Crunchyroll announced today that it will be increasing the monthly costs for all its plans by $2. That means the Fan tier will now run you $10 a month, the Mega Fan Tier is $14 a month and the Ultimate Fan Tier is $18 a month.
The platform introduced its Mega Fan and Ultimate Fan options in 2020, with both at long last giving viewers an option to watch shows offline. The silver lining in today's price changes is that the Fan members are getting the same offline viewing option, although it's limited to one device. Crunchyroll is further enticing the people who might now be more interested in the Fan level by offering a discount on the annual plan for that tier; you can get a year's access for a limited time for $67.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/crunchyroll-increases-prices-for-all-anime-streaming-plans-234231265.html?src=rss2026-02-03 07:03:24
Moltbook bills itself as a social network for AI agents. That's a wacky enough concept in the first place, but the site apparently exposed the credentials for thousands of its human users. The flaw was discovered by cybersecurity firm Wiz, and its team assisted Moltbook with addressing the vulnerability.
The issue appears to be the result of the entire Reddit-style forum being vibe-coded; Moltbook's human founder posted a few days ago on X that he "didn't write one line of code" for the platform and instead directed an AI assistant to create the whole setup.
According to the blog post from Wiz analyzing the issue, Moltbook had a vulnerability that allowed for "1.5 million API authentication tokens, 35,000 email addresses and private messages between agents" to be fully read and accessed. Wiz also found that the vulnerability could let unauthenticated human users edit live Moltbook posts. In other words, there is no way to verify whether a Moltbook post was authored by an AI agent or a human user posing as one. "The revolutionary AI social network was largely humans operating fleets of bots," the company's analysis concluded.
So ends another cautionary tale reminding us that just because AI can do a task doesn’t mean it'll do it correctly.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/moltbook-the-ai-social-network-exposed-human-credentials-due-to-vibe-coded-security-flaw-230324567.html?src=rss
