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2025-11-26 21:30:35

Meta's entry-level VR headset, the Quest 3S, is down to an even more budget-friendly price than usual in a deal on Amazon right now. The 128GB Meta Quest 3S is 17 percent off in an early Black Friday deal, bringing it to a record-low price of $250. It normally goes for $300. With the purchase, you also get the game Gorilla Tag for free.

The Meta Quest 3S is an impressive VR headset for the price, and scored a 90 in Engadget's review, landing it among our picks for the best VR headsets around right now. It's comfortable to wear, gets over two hours of battery life before needing to be recharged and offers a 96-degree field of view. While its 1,830 by 1,920 pixel per eye screen doesn't quite achieve the sharpness of the Quest 3, it does have the same chip — the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 — as the pricier model, making for fast performance. It also comes with 8GB of RAM.

The Quest 3S also comes with the Touch Plus controllers, which have button and joystick controls as well as motion controls. It can also connect to gaming PCs and stream gameplay to Chromecast and AirPlay devices. Despite being relatively inexpensive, the 3S offers a great experience. In his review, Engadget's Devindra Hardawar said the 3S is "the best $300 standalone VR headset we've ever seen."

2025-11-26 21:30:13

After announcing its robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi last year, Uber and WeRide are finally deploying fully autonomous vehicles in in the city, Uber announced. If you request an UberX or Uber Comfort vehicle in designated parts of the city, you'll now get an option for a driverless WeRide vehicle. 

Uber first launched its service with Chinese robotaxi operator WeRide back in 2024, but only with safety drivers aboard at first. Now, the fully driverless service will be offered in a 12 square mile tourist area called Yas Island, with expansion planned for other parts of the city down the road. 

Anyone in the Yas Island area can select the "Autonomous" option in the Uber app, though it doesn't guarantee a driverless vehicle. The cars in use, shown above, are WeRide's five-place GXR model (based on Geely's Farizon SuperVan) with more than 20 sensors and cameras. 

Uber has partnered with multiple robotaxi operators including Waymo in Atlanta, Baidu in Asia and the Middle East and Momenta in Europe. With those, Uber focuses on the consumer ride-matching part of the service while its partners supply the vehicles. For WeRide, though, Uber is handling fleet operations in collaboration with taxi company Tawasul Transport, including maintenance, charging and more. Uber and WeRide intend to launch in an additional 15 cities over the next several years. 

2025-11-26 21:30:00

Character.ai has introduced Stories, its first format that was specifically created to “enhance [teens’] experience,” on the same day the company removed their ability to engage with its chatbots. Stories works similarly to choose-your-own-adventure apps that offer interactive visual novels users can play. The company describes Stories as a “visual, narrative-first format.” Players can choose two to three characters, pick a genre and then write their own premise or auto-generate one. From there, users can steer the story with their decisions on every branching path. That means they can keep replaying the game for different outcomes based on the paths they choose.

While the Stories experience is a lot more customizable than the typical visual novel app, it still doesn’t offer the same open-ended, back-and-forth conversations Character.ai’s chatbots do. The narrative will be guided by the AI, though the company promises that players will be asked to make choices frequently.

AI companies are under scrutiny from authorities, who are pushing them to put safeguards in place to protect younger users. Character.ai announced in October that it was going to ban users under 18 from accessing its open-ended bots. The company has also introduced a new age-check tool to ensure users will only be able to access experiences appropriate for them. In addition, the company is facing a wrongful death lawsuit involving the suicide of a teenage girl in Florida. Her family alleged that the girl confided in one of the website’s chatbots about feeling suicidal, but it did not point her towards any resources or report it to authorities.

2025-11-26 21:21:07

Sony's A7 IV and A7R V cameras are top picks in Engadget's camera buying guide and they're both now on sale at all-time lows for the holidays. Sony's A7 IV, which I said has "the best combination of image quality, performance and video powers" is on sale for $1,998, or 26 percent off the regular price. And the A7R V, which shoots beautiful 61MP images and offers fast and accurate autofocus, has hit at an all-time low of $3,298 or 21 percent ($898) off. 

With a superb score of 90 in my review, Sony's A7 IV is still one of the best hybrid cameras you can get thanks to the high resolution, fast shooting speeds and 4K 60p video. Autofocus is incredible for both video and stills, and it comes with in-body stabilization to help smooth your shots. And for photographers, image quality has never been better thanks to the high dynamic range and enhanced resolution compared to the previous model. Although it does see occasional discounts, I've never seen it drop below $2,000, so if you've been looking, now is a perfect time to buy.

Sony's A7R V garnered a similarly superb Engadget review. With a 61-megapixel sensor, it shoots sharp and beautiful images at a very respectable speed for such a high-resolution model (10 fps). It has equally fast and reliable autofocus, the sharpest viewfinder on the market and in-body stabilization that’s much improved over the A7R IV. Video has even improved, with 8K and 10-bit options now on tap. Again, there's never been a better time to buy one, as Sony told me this is the lowest price it has ever been sold at. 

2025-11-26 21:15:37

If you've wanted to check out The Paper or any other new NBC show on Peacock, you can do so now while spending less thanks to this hack. Walmart, believe it or not, comes into play here: the retailer is offering Walmart+ subscriptions for half off right now, bringing the cost down to $49 for your first year. Thanks to a streaming benefit for subscribers, you can then sign up for Peacock at no extra cost.

Walmart+ subscribers are able to choose between a Peacock Premium or a Paramount+ Essential subscription. Considering Peacock premium would run you $110 for the year on its own, signing up for Walmart+ while this discount is available gets you access to the streaming service for less than half the normal cost.

Just about every major streaming service has raised its prices in the last year, including HBO Max, Disney+, Netflix, Apple TV and YouTube TV, so saving some money on one of them just might be worth the effort. Cord cutting is not nearly as affordable as it used to be, so finding a deal like this is pretty helpful.

Walmart+ itself offers myriad additional benefits like early access to Black Friday deals, free shipping on orders over $35, discounts on gas, free online veterinary care and more. Earlier this year, Walmart+ subscribers got first dibs on the Nintendo Switch 2 at the retailer. You can also use that free shipping to take advantage of Walmart's drone delivery program in a handful of select cities.

2025-11-26 21:08:11

Back in 2018, Xiami launched Poco as a sub-brand that specializes in mid-range smartphones. Now, Poco has launched its first premium flagship phone series, the F8 Ultra and the F8 Pro, at an event in Bali. Both devices will use Sound by Bose technology, thanks to a partnership with the brand, and runs Xiaomi HyperOS 3. Kang Lou, Poco Global’s Senior Product Marketing Manager and Spokesperson, said the F8 Ultra sets “a new benchmark for true flagships.” Meanwhile, the F8 Pro will make “all-round flagship experiences accessible to more users.”

The 6.9-inch Poco F8 Ultra has a dual-chipset architecture, consisting of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, Qualcomm’s latest flagship mobile platform, and the VisionBoost D8 chipset that enables “AI Super Resolution for crisper, more detailed images.” It uses Poco’s new HyperRGB display, which the company says uses a full RGB subpixel structure wherein red, green and blue subpixels are fully used. Another notable feature is its 6500mAh battery, which is the largest yet on a Poco F series phone. The Ultra version comes in a “Denim” variant, though it doesn’t actually use denim: Its back was merely designed to look like it’s covered in the fabric, but it actually uses a special Xiaomi nanotech material.

Meanwhile, the 6.59-inch Poco F8 Pro has a subtle micro-curved design, wherein its edges transition into its back panel. It’s powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform and comes with a 6210mAh battery that can last for 16 hours of continued use. Both models are now out in the UK. The Poco F8 Ultra will set you back at least £749, while the F8 Pro will cost you at least £549. In the US, the F8 Ultra with 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage will cost you $729, while the one with 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage will cost you $799. It will be $579 for the F8 Pro with the lower specs and $629 for the one with the higher specs. Poco is giving discounts that shave at least $50 off their price for early buyers, but it has yet to announce a release date for the US.