Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., praised Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., after President-elect Trump tapped him for attorney general on Wednesday.

Sia Li'ili'i, the captain of the Nevada Wolf Pack women's volleyball team, has joined the Independent Women's Forum as an ambassador as she continues to fight for women's sports.

The Chicago Bears fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, and, according to a new report, some veterans want Caleb Williams benched.

WWE legend John Cena will compete in the 2025 Royal Rumble, he said on Wednesday. It is set to be the final year of his pro wrestling career.

Electronic Arts has incorporated the Professional Women's Hockey League into its NHL 25 video game with six teams represented in "play now," "online versus," "shootout" and "season" modes, plus a championship Walter Cup.

CBC Sports' daily newsletter previews the premier event in international women's team tennis, where Canada is looking to repeat its surprising victory last year.

For Canadian men's soccer goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau, it's all about winning the small contest in front of you, and accumulate enough of those wins in succession, and greatness will follow.

In addition to the skyrocketing prices of hotel rooms, inflated Uber rates and hysteria around her presence, Taylor Swift hugely affects the sports ecosystem around her. Whether or not skeptics want to admit it, her connection to sport creates a cultural impact that can not be denied.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could go out for a run without fear of being harmed? Technology has a way of making us both safer and at greater risk while out and about, but a new tool from Strava might help with the former. Strava has announced Night Heatmaps, a feature that shows which areas have more activity — or "heat" — between sunset and sunrise. Yes, Heatmaps is the feature that accidentally revealed the location of US military bases. 

The update is a welcome one with sunset getting very early in some areas of the world, while night seems to last late into the morning. It also comes alongside a new Weekly Heatmap, which shows heat levels in an area over the last seven days. Again, this can help you know which paths will have the most people, but at all times of the day. While this added awareness is great for knowing where to go, some people might also purposely choose to avoid the busiest times, for fear of unwanted attention (there's no winning here). 

In either case, the Night and Weekly Heatmaps are only available on subscriber accounts (a membership will cost you $12 monthly or $80 annually). It's also worth noting that Heatmaps pull solely from public activities on Strava, so you're not getting the full story of how many people go where. 

Night and Weekly Heatmaps join the Global Heatmaps (also subscriber exclusive) and your Personal Heatmap. You can access any of them through the Map tab and filter the Heatmap by activity type. 

Hydrow, a company that makes smart rowing machines, just announced the Core, a new model that eschews monthly subscription fees. The Hydrow Core Rower features the “same award-winning design” as the original Pro Rower, which we said was positioning itself to be “the Peloton of smart rowing machines.”

Obviously, the hook here is that the Core is a one-and-done purchase with no recurring subscription costs. It still comes with an attached display, which lets users “row through stunning destinations.” All told, this machine offers access to 30 self-paced rows through these exotic locales.

The Core Rower supports unlimited users, which is nice, but there is one major caveat. There’s no subscription, so there’s no access to instructor-led workouts, badges, milestones and other premium features. However, customers can add a membership later for all of that stuff. Hydrow charges $44 per month for a subscription. It could be useful to try it out for a month to see if all of those additional bells and whistles are worth it.

The Hydrow Core Rower is available right now and costs $1,995. This is the exact same price as the flagship Pro Rower. The company also recently released a trimmed down version called the Hydrow Wave. This one is smaller and cheaper, clocking in at around $1,700.

Amazon is marking down a slew of its products for Black Friday and that includes its streaming devices. Currently, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is down to $33 from $60 — a 45 percent discount that brings it to a new all-time low price. This device is Amazon's most powerful streaming stick, supporting a 4K Ultra HD display, with an enhanced Alexa Voice Remote and Wi-Fi 6E support. You can, of course, use it to access Amazon Prime Video, along with Netflix, Disney+ and all your favorite streamers. 

While the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max is a good option for streaming, we also use it for something a bit different: playing retro games. Our senior reporter Jeff Dunn bought one to play games from the PS1, Game Boy, Genesis, old arcade games and more. He finds it works much better than having to lug around any bigger devices. However, using your Fire TV Stick 4K Max to play old games requires a bit of setup so, if you're interested in trying it, may I direct you to Dunn's helpful guide here. 

Amazon's Fire TV Cube is also discounted as part of a larger sale on Fire TV devices for Black Friday. Right now, you can pick up the streaming device for 29 percent off, dropping to $100 from $140. The Cube is your pick if you want access to ethernet and hands-free use with Alexa. It's more powerful than the 4K Max, but, for the price difference, it's a tough call if it's worth it. 

Check out all of the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.

Select YouTube creators can now produce their own remixes of existing songs. YouTube has announced a new feature for its AI-powered Dream Track tool that allows individuals to "restyle" a song and create a 30-second tune to use in a Short. 

Creators in the experiment group for this feature can choose from eligible songs and then give an explanation to AI about how they want to remix it. These changes could focus on giving the song a different genre or mood — whatever twist they're imagining. From there a new song gets produced "that reimagines the music while maintaining the essence of the original song’s vocals and lyrics," YouTube's announcement states. "These restyled soundtracks will have clear attribution to the original song through the Short itself and the Shorts audio pivot page, and will also clearly indicate that the track was restyled with AI."

YouTube rolled out Dream Track in November 2023, powered by Google DeepMind's Lyria model. It allowed a select group of US creators to make songs using the AI-generated voices of participating artists. The feature included a deal with Universal Music Group and partnerships with a slew of musicians, including John Legend, Charli XCX and Troye Sivan. It has expanded its availability to all US creators in the year since. 

The Guardian announced it will no longer be active on X (formerly Twitter) — all its editorial accounts will stop posting on the platform. Users can, of course, still share the outlet's articles on X, and journalists working for The Guardian may link to or embed X posts in their articles or continue using the platform to gather news.

According to the statement, X has become rife with “far-right conspiracy theories and racism” and is simply not worth sinking more resources into. The newspaper would rather spend its time and energy on less "toxic" platforms. Additionally, The Guardian cites Elon Musk as a major reason for moving away, since the results of the recent US presidential election have allegedly shown how Musk "has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse." Essentially, the concern appears to be that continuing to post would be adding fuel to a propaganda machine.

The Guardian isn’t the only news outlet to ditch X: NPR and PBS both left in 2023. Corporations like Apple, IBM, Disney and others still post, but no longer advertise on X. These companies have historically been the social media platform’s biggest source of ad income, as reported by Axios.

The Guardian claims it's able to make this decision because it doesn’t rely on advertising as its main business model. But Twitter was always more about influence than driving traffic, and the returns on investment for publishers have only gotten worse with time.

This is Lightfoot, a solar scooter conceived by San Francisco-based R&D outfit Otherlab that, it claims, will be available to buy in the US from January. The most eye-catching feature are the two side panels covered in solar cells that will hopefully keep you from needing a charger. In the gap between the two, however, is a fairly capacious cargo compartment with almost 1.6 cubic feet of space. That should be more than enough to haul your gear to and from work, or to pick up some groceries when you’re out and about. The padded seat and footplates, too, are designed to carry the rider and an additional passenger when required, too. 

Specs-wise, there’s a pair of 750W brushless DC motors with a top speed of 20 miles per hour, generating 90Nm of peak torque, which should hopefully be enough to scale the hills around SF (and wherever you are). They’re wired up to a 1.1kWh battery that the company promises will deliver a range of 37 miles on a single charge. The two 120W panels on either side will trickle charge the battery when on the road or parked up outdoors. Otherlab claims this idle solar charging will add three miles of charge per hour, or 18 miles if you leave it for a whole day.

Aside from the solar hardware, Otherlab claims that you — or a qualified technician — will be able to keep this running without any outside assistance. It said most of the components are off-the-shelf motorcycle parts and that they can be repaired or replaced just as easily. There’s also a one-year whole-bike and two-year mechanical guarantee, as well as a no-question buy back policy. We’ll reserve judgment on every facet of this until we’re able to test it for ourselves, but we’re looking forward to doing so just to see what this thing feels like to ride.

Pre-orders for the Lightfoot are opening today for $4,995, with Otherlab pledging to make the first deliveries in January 2025.

The Federal Trade Commission will get a chance to argue its case for Meta’s breakup in court. On Wednesday, US District Judge James Boasberg allowed the FTC’s lawsuit against the social media giant to move forward (PDF link). The FTC first sued Meta in 2020 in an attempt to force the company, then known as Facebook, to divest itself of Instagram and WhatsApp. Alongside dozens of attorneys general, the agency alleged Meta acquired the platforms in 2012 and 2014 to stifle growing competition in the social media market.

This past April, Meta asked Judge Boasberg to dismiss the case. In addition to noting that the FTC had previously approved both acquisitions, Meta argued that the agency had failed to show that the company held monopoly power in the social networking services market, and that, in buying Instagram and WhatsApp, it had harmed consumers. Additionally, the company claimed that it had invested billions of dollars in both platforms and made them better as a result, to the benefit of social media users everywhere.

While he did not entirely dismiss the lawsuit, Boasberg did force the FTC to narrow its case, dismissing an allegation that Facebook had provided preferential access to developers who agreed not to compete with it.

“We are confident that the evidence at trial will show that the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp have been good for competition and consumers. More than 10 years after the FTC reviewed and cleared these deals, and despite the overwhelming evidence that our services compete with YouTube, TikTok, X, Apple’s iMessage, and many others, the Commission is wrongly continuing to assert that no deal is ever truly final, and businesses can be punished for innovating,” a Meta spokesperson told Engadget. “We will review the opinion when it’s filed.”

Judge Boasberg will meet with the two sides on November 25 to schedule the trial. The FTC lawsuit, it should be noted, was filed under the previous Trump administration, though whether it moves forward and in what form will depend on who President-elect Trump appoints to lead the agency.

Amazon Haul will be the ecommerce titan's new discount storefront designed to compete against Temu and Shein, CNBC reports. This new corner of Bezos's empire is mobile-only and promises items at “crazy low prices.”

Unlike Amazon Prime’s fast speeds, Amazon promises its Haul orders orders will arrive in less than two weeks. Previously, CNBC mentioned in a previous report that Amazon was exploring a storefront where goods would be sold to US customers directly from China, though now it seems the company itself is doing the importing and acting as an intermediary.

Speed isn't the only alteration to the typical Amazon arrangement customers will have to get used to. It seems, regardless of if they subscribe to Prime or not, buyers will have to purchase $25 of goods per order with Haul to get free shipping. For lesser orders, the shipping fee will be $3.99. Amazon also won't accept Haul returns if the value of the items is $3 or under.

If customers take to Haul, the new storefront could put Amazon in a favorable position in a seemingly crowded market. Both the US and EU have set their regulatory sights on Temu.

Amazon has released a new trailer for Secret Level, the upcoming Prime Video show that tells stories set in the worlds of beloved, popular or even upcoming games (and also Concord). Given that it’s an anthology series, there’s unlikely to be an overarching plot, so there’s not much to grok here from a narrative perspective. And the sooner there's a mortarium on trailers being soundtracked to that overused M83 song, the better.

However, the visuals sure do look pretty. The quality of the animation is genuinely impressive. At least in some cases, the art style apes that of the game the episode is based on. That’s particularly true for what we see of the Sifu episode, but Secret Level is not, for instance, retaining Spelunky's aesthetic.

Other episodes are based on the likes of Armored Core, Crossfire, Dungeons & Dragons, Exodus, Honor of Kings, Mega Man, New World: Aeternum, Pac-Man, The Outer Worlds 2, Unreal Tournament and Warhammer 40,000, along with "various" PlayStation Studios games. One of those is Concord, which Sony unceremoniously killed for good after its disastrous debut.

Some major mainstream stars have lent their voices and even likenesses to the series, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Hart, Keanu Reeves (who appears in the Armored Core episode), Ariana Greenblatt and Gabriel Luna. Video game stalwarts, including The Last of Us stars Merle Dandridge and Laura Bailey, are involved too.

Secret Level — which is from the creative team behind Netflix's Love, Death and Robots — will debut on December 10. More episodes will be released over the following week.

Xbox is exploring a PC gaming handheld, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer told Bloomberg. In an earlier interview with IGN, Spencer had mentioned a hypothetical “Xbox gaming handheld PC device,” which now appears to be in the early research and prototyping stage.

Spencer told IGN that he liked his Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go and Steam Deck and that local play would be important to include if Xbox were to design a handheld console. As Kotaku noted, it's not clear what unique features an Xbox handheld would bring to the table. Still, any new piece of hardware is years away, Spencer told Bloomberg.

For now, work on the Xbox app — which works on existing handhelds — would be the priority, Spencer said, admitting it leaves room for improvement.

Everything old is new again. Turntable Labs just launched Hangout, a social music platform that’s eerily similar to that champion of 2010s internet, Turntable.fm. The app is available as a web client or via an app for Android and iOS. It allows users to play virtual DJ, with over 100 million songs to choose from.

It not only functions like the old-school Turntable.fm. It even looks the same. There’s a stage, record players and cartoon avatars that sort of look like characters from South Park. I started my own room just to check things out and am pleasantly surprised at the sheer number of songs here that I actually like.

This is because those 100 million songs have been secured through partnerships with Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. The catalog also pulls from Merlin, which represents a vast array of indie labels and rights holders.

The company likens the experience to “gathering around a jukebox or listening to albums with friends.” It seems that way to me, as someone I don’t know just jumped in my room and started playing their own stuff. To that end, folks take turns playing DJ. There looks to be room for five people at the same time to play a game of round robin with their favorite songs.

The robust catalog is one major difference from Turntable.fm. The platform didn’t have agreements in place with labels, instead relying on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and a partnership with ASCAP. This forced a number of rules on users as to how many people could be in a room at once and how many songs could be played each hour. It looks like those rules are now dunzo.

Turntable.fm originally went dark all the way back in 2013, before showing signs of renewed life in 2021. This could be a fun retro throwback to an age when we actually got our music recommendations from people, and not algorithms.

Sony has revealed the latest slate of PlayStation Plus Game Catalog additions for Extra and Premium members, and it's a dang solid lineup this month. The biggest name, of course, is Grand Theft Auto V. That's returning to the Game Catalog after Sony removed it in June. GTA V has now sold more than 205 million copies (not a typo), but if you've yet to dive into the game or its perennially popular online mode, here's your chance. GTA VI, meanwhile, is set to arrive next fall.

In case you're all GTA'd out for the time being, there are lots of other PS Plus additions to explore. One of those is the open-world zombie survival action RPG Dying Light 2: Stay Human, which I've been meaning to check out for a long time. Like A Dragon: Ishin (which, coincidentally, is leaving Game Pass this month) and Chivalry 2 are among the other big names on the list, but I'm especially happy to see Overcooked! All You Can Eat make the cut.

That's a terrific bundle of both Overcooked games and all of the expansions. For years, I've been calling these games the perfect relationship test. Just, uh, maybe don't play with your partner if you're going through a rough patch.

Elsewhere, The Sims 4 expansion pack Island Living is included. Naturally, you'll need the free-to-play base game to access that. Moto GP 24, Digimon Survive, Stick Fight: The Game, Clash: Artifacts of Chaos, the intriguing Killer Frequency and Hungry Shark World round out the newcomers to the PS Plus Game Catalog's Extra tier.

The Premium lineup is pretty exciting this month as well. I spent many hours playing the multiplayer modes of Resistance: Fall of Man in the PS3 era. Insomniac Games has been on an incredible run for the last six years, so it should be fun to hop back into that game and its sequel, Resistance 2, for a hit of nostalgia and to see how far the studio has come. Note, however, that these two games are streaming-only.

Ahead of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1-2 Remastered arriving next month, you can warm up by playing Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain and Blood Omen 2. Last but not least, there's one PS VR2 addition to the lineup in the form of action shooter Synapse. PS Plus Premium and Extra subscribers can play these games at no extra cost starting on November 19.

AMD has confirmed it’s laying off roughly four percent of its global workforce, according to reports by TechCrunch and others. It’s not entirely clear how many people will be impacted by this move, or which divisions the laid off employees will be pulled from.

We can, however, do some math. The company had around 26,000 employees last year, according to an annual filing by AMD. Four percent of 26,000 comes out to just over 1,000 people. That’s a lot.

So that leads us to why. You already know the answer. It’s a bunch of corporate gobbledygook. “As a part of aligning our resources with our largest growth opportunities, we are taking a number of targeted steps,” an AMD spokesperson told CRN.

Don’t worry. The company also said it’s “committed to treating impacted employees with respect and helping them through this transition.” Engadget reached out to AMD for more information as to what that respect and help will look like. We’ll update this story if we find out anything.

This news comes after a fairly mixed Q3 earnings report. The company grew revenue and profit, but the gaming division saw a massive year-over-year decline of 69 percent, according to Wccftech. The company has also struggled to compete with NVIDIA in the world of AI chips.

Experts still predict that AMD will make nearly $33 billion in 2025, thanks to forthcoming next-gen GPUs. This isn’t enough for investors, however, as it’s “just” an increase of around $7 billion when compared to 2024. The company’s stock is down around four percent this year, and dropped further today. Capitalism demands massive and endless growth.

Rival (and occasional bestie) Intel has faced similar headwinds. The company announced over 15,000 layoffs earlier this year.

Threads could start getting ads much sooner than Meta has let on. The company is now planning to bring ads to its newest app “early next year” with the first ads arriving in January of 2025, according to a new report in The Information.

That suggests Meta is looking to start making money on the rapidly growing service far sooner than Meta executives have previously suggested. In August, when the app reached 200 million users, Mark Zuckerberg said Threads could become the company’s next billion-user service. He said making money off the app would be a "multi-year" effort. 

“All these new products, we ship them, and then there's a multi-year time horizon between scaling them and then scaling them into not just consumer experiences but very large businesses,” Zuckerberg said. In the company’s most recent earnings call, Meta CFO Susan Li said the company doesn’t “expect Threads to be a meaningful driver of 2025 revenue at this time.”

According to The Information, Meta is planning a slow rollout for ads on Threads. The company will start with “a small number” of advertisers in January. It’s unclear how quickly the effort may expand. "Since our priority is to build consumer value first and foremost, there are no ads or monetization features currently on Threads," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. 

Meta’s reported plans highlight just how quickly the service has grown in recent months. Threads has 275 million monthly users and is seeing more than 1 million new sign-ups a day, according to Zuckerberg. That makes it by far the largest of the X alternatives that have sprung up over the last couple years.

Bluesky, another popular Twitter-like service, has also seen significant growth recently, adding a million new users in the last week, the company said Tuesday. It is still much smaller than Threads with 15 million users. Like Threads, it also currently has no advertising and the company has said it plans to experiment with subscription-based features.

Update November 13, 2024, 2 PM ET: Added a statement from a Meta spokesperson. 

Google is conducting a “test” that will omit results from EU-based news publishers. The company says the time-limited trial will only affect a small portion of users in nine EU countries and will help “assess how results from EU news publishers impact the search experience for our users and traffic to publishers.” But given the fragile state of the news media — and the company’s history of threatening to pull its services in the face of news-related regulations — it’s tempting to view it as the equivalent of a mob boss conducting a “little test” to see how the corner laundromat fares without its protection.

Google describes the experiment (via The Verge) as a “small, time-limited test” to omit EU results from search, Google News and the personalized Discover feed. It will only affect one percent of users in Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. Those users will still see results from other websites, including non-EU news publications.

The company says news results will reappear as usual once the test concludes. (It didn’t list a specific timeframe.) Google stresses that the experiment won’t impact the publisher payments it makes under the European Copyright Directive (EUCD), under which the company has inked deals with over 4,000 EU publishers.

Google does have a history of using the potential withdrawal of its visibility as a negotiating stick in similar situations. In some cases, the tactic has helped it draw concessions.

Last year, Google pulled its news links from Canada in response to Bill C-18 (the Online News Act), which required tech companies to negotiate compensation with online publishers for linked content. After months of negotiations, Google said Canada had addressed its concerns and given it a path to an exemption. Canada said it granted one to Google last month, with the company agreeing to pay $100 million annually to news organizations.

In April of this year, Google briefly removed links to California news outlets in response to the proposed California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA), which would require Google to pay news publishers in exchange for continuing to link to their websites. Although the bill’s fate is still up in the air, Google struck a deal with state lawmakers this summer, committing tens of millions of dollars to a fund supporting local news.

In 2021, the company threatened to remove its entire search engine from Australia in response to a then-proposed law requiring tech companies to share royalties with news publishers. The nation’s then-Prime Minister stood firm. “Let me be clear. Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia,” Scott Morrison said. After the bill was passed and enacted, Google struck deals with Australian media companies to license content.

Google says it hopes the data analysis tools it provides publishers will help them use the EU test to “understand traffic patterns.”

Blizzard pulled off a rare surprise today by shadow launching remasters of the original Warcraft and its sequel to commemorate the franchise’s 30th anniversary. These updates of the hit RTS games are available right now and look to merge retro goodness with some modern sensibilities.

The remasters feature “brand new, hand-drawn visuals that capture the original art style from each game.” Players will be able to swap between the original graphics and the remastered versions in real time. If the trailer is anything to go by, the games look purdy. The simple animations match the vibe of the two games nicely.

The original Warcraft is getting some serious quality-of-life changes to make the game more appealing to modern audiences. The update includes 16:9 resolution support and modern control options. For instance, players can now right-click to move units instead of having to rely on hotkeys.

Both remasters have also received "various UI and UX improvements such as tooltips and health bars, mission select screens, and increased unit selection." The original games placed strict limitations on how many units could be selected at once, so that last one is a nice improvement.

Warcraft 2 will even be available for multiplayer sessions. Franchise manager Brad Chan said during today’s 30th anniversary livestream that “all legacy custom maps will still be fully compatible and playable.” These remasters are available right now. Warcraft 1 is $10 and Warcraft 2 is $15.

Today’s 30th anniversary stream also dropped all kinds of other nuggets beyond the remasters. Warcraft 3: Reforged got a major update today that fixes many long-standing issues. Blizzard also announced that the affiliated mobile title Warcraft Arclight Rumble will be playable on PC starting on December 10, albeit as a beta.

The developer is relaunching WoW: Classic, complete with “all-new, fresh realms.” WoW: Classic 20th Anniversary Edition will be available on November 21 and will include PvE and PvP servers, in addition to Hardcore realms.

WoW Classic is even getting a new (old) expansion. Mists of Pandora Classic will be available next year. Check the trailer above for proof.

Black Friday deals are already popping up around the web, and that includes some Apple devices. You can pick up a four-pack of Apple AirTags for just $70, which brings the price per tag down to $17.50. That's a record-low price for the four pack and just about the cheapest we've seen on the price per unit.

Apple AirTags easily made our list of the best Bluetooth trackers, particularly for regular iPhone users. We love the vast finding network, which really helps when you misplace a tag. Just think of all of those AirTags, iPhones and other Apple devices out there helping to create this network.

Apple AirTags also offer the ability to tap into the ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless protocol. This creates a sort of game out of finding lost items, as long as the object is within 25 feet of the phone. The screen will display directional arrows and a distance meter so you can zero in on the lost item without having to ring the AirTag.

There are some caveats. These trackers only really work with iPhones, so Android users should buy something else. Also, the ringer only goes for seven seconds at a time, which isn’t always enough time to track something down. Finally, there’s no attachment point for connecting to a keychain or a related item. However, there are plenty of good AirTag accessories to solve that problem.

Check out all of the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.

Sure, early Black Friday deals offer a great opportunity to snag some essentials and upgrades for a lower price than usual, but if you have the leeway for a fun treat for yourself or a loved one, you'll find plenty of discounts in that realm too. For instance, you can snag the Ninja Creami ice cream maker for $50 off the list price. At $180, that's not too far away from its record low price, making it a solid deal. While it isn't quite the season for ice cream in North America, there's never truly a bad time to enjoy it.

The Ninja Creami is among our picks for the best kitchen gadgets. In fact, we reckon it's the best ice cream maker around.

This is a more compact ice cream machine than many other household models. The Ninja Creami is very easy to use as well, since it operates in a similar way to a food processor. You'll need to make a liquid ice cream base and then freeze it, ideally for 24 hours. You can then use the machine to blend in flavors. Cleaning up is a cinch if you have a dishwasher, since everything aside from the machine component is safe to place alongside your dishes on the racks.

On the downside, it is a rather noisy machine. We estimate that the volume is somewhere between that of a food processor and a countertop blender running at full speed. It's fairly tall too at 16 inches, so you'll want to make sure you have enough space for the Ninja Creami before buying it. Otherwise, we have no major complaints, other than the design not being overly attractive. As such, we gave it a score of 90 in our review.

The Ninja Creami has seven one-touch programs, but if you'd prefer an 11-in-1 deluxe model, you're in luck: that's on sale too. At $220, it's $30 off. It supports 24 oz tubs that hold 50 percent more ice cream than those in the original Ninja Creami. The Deluxe model also has a dual processing feature. This allows you to add two different mix-in flavors to the same base. So you can, for instance, add sprinkles to the top part and cookies to the bottom.

Check out all of the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.

This time of year has a lot of merry and bright things to be excited about, but it can be stressful if you’re stumped on what to get your mom, dad, best friend, coworker or kids’ teacher as a holiday gift. Whether you enjoy or dread buying gifts for people, it’s safe to say we all want to give our loved ones things they will enjoy and appreciate. But there’s a lot of noise, junk and bad deals disguised as good deals to sift through as we get closer and closer to the holidays.

Allow us at Engadget to help you through it. Here, you’ll find all of our holiday gift guides collected in one place, so you can more easily find the best Christmas gifts you need this year. Are you looking for white elephant gift ideas? Are you struggling to come up with a good gift for the father figure in your life? Are you just looking for a good board game to pick up for your own family? We’ve got you covered with gift ideas for all of those scenarios and more. We'll update this post as more of our gift guides hit the internet, so check back for even more gift ideas throughout the season.

Table of contents

• Best white elephant gift ideas

• Best board game gifts

• Best gifts under $50

• Best gifts for gamers

• Best retro gaming gifts

• Best gifts for coffee lovers

• Best cooking gifts

• Best tech toys for kids

• Best gadgets for your pets

• Best travel gifts

• Best gifts for remote workers

• More coming soon!

Best white elephant gift ideas

According to legend, the King of Siam would give a white elephant to courtiers who had upset them. The recipient had no choice but to simply thank the king for such an opulent gift, knowing that they likely could not afford the upkeep for such an animal. It would inevitably lead them to financial ruin. This story is almost certainly untrue, but it has led to a modern holiday staple: the white elephant gift exchange. These gift ideas will not only get you a few chuckles, but will also make your recipient feel (slightly) burdened.

Read more: The best white elephant gift ideas

Best board game gifts

We could all use more time away from screens of all types and sizes, and board games are a fun way to do that and bond with friends and family. You can find plenty of unique sets out there now, from word puzzles to whodunnits to calming playthroughs that showcase the beauty of the little things in life. From games with giant monsters to those with haunted mansions, we’re sure at least one of our suggestions will be a hit with you and your loved ones.

Read more: The best board games to gift this season

Best gifts under $50

We wouldn’t blame you if you try to do all of your tech shopping around the holidays. That’s when you can typically get the best sales, both on relatively affordable gear and (more importantly) on big-ticket items. But it would be wrong to think that only the most expensive tech is worth gifting. Since we at Engadget test a plethora of gadgets every year, we know that there are some hidden (and not so hidden) tech gems at lower price ranges — you just have to know where to find them.

Read more: The best gifts under $50 that make great stocking stuffers

Best gifts for gamers

This year may not go down as one of the best years in gaming like 2023 did, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t a lot of great new releases. Between titles like Astro Bot and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, there were plenty of games to keep even the most dedicated of gamers busy in 2024. And if you’re shopping for one, especially as a non-gamer, it can be tricky to navigate what’s worth buying. We've got you covered with these recommendations.

Read more: The best gifts for gamers

Best retro gaming gifts

A million new video games seem to come out every week, but for some of us, nothing beats the classics. If you know someone who is way into retro gaming but don’t feel like hunting through eBay and local shops for gear to add to their collection, we’re here to help. We’ve rounded up a few of our favorite gift ideas for the nostalgic gamer in your life, from video upscalers for old consoles to retro-themed books and artwork.

Read more: The best retro gaming gifts for the holidays

Best gifts for coffee lovers

When it comes to making a great cup at home, coffee nerds are constantly learning and love to try new things. Whether the person you’re shopping for is a newly indoctrinated pour over lover or obsessive over every brewing parameter, we’ve compiled a list of the best gear for coffee geeks that you can get this holiday season.

Read more: The best gifts for coffee lovers

Best cooking gifts

There are few things more rewarding than making good food for your friends and family. But after a while, it’s easy to get bored with the same tried and true recipes. And what better way to inject some fun into your favorite home chef’s routine than with a brand-new kitchen gadget? To help you find the right gift for the cook in your life, we’ve put together a list of our favorite kitchen gadgets across a wide range of prices and categories.

Read more: The best cooking gifts

Best tech toys for kids

We’re all having a bit of a budget crunch this year, but the good news is that when it’s time to bestow presents on the young ones (or young at heart), you don’t have to break the bank. Our list of our favorite tech, science and design toys is stacked with items under $100, with plenty of reuse packed in so the fun can extend far beyond the holiday season.

Read more: The best tech toys for kids

Best gadgets for your pets

In Engadget’s Slack rooms, our pets are high on the list of stuff we chat about — just behind work-adjacent tech stuff, insane current events, video games and food. We’ve bought plenty of high- and low-tech stuff to keep our furry friends fed, occupied, safe and happy and we’ve put together the best of what we tried here. Perhaps you’re shopping for your own very good boy or girl, or maybe you have a dutiful pet parent on your list — either way, the gadgets gathered here will make great gifts, according to the enthusiastic tail wags (or aloof meows) of our own fur babies.

Read more: The best gadgets for your pets

Best travel gifts

Since the dawn of humanity, we have traveled. We’ve come a long way from on-foot journeys laden with animal hide satchels. But the goal of good travel gear is the same: Get you and your necessities to a destination in the highest level of comfort available. If you know someone who is always catching a flight, rides the train to work or is bravely embarking on a cruise, some new tech may just help them out.

Read more: The best travel gifts

Best gifts for remote workers

There's a pretty good chance you know at least one person who works remotely in some fashion. While the WFH life has its perks — nobody likes a long commute — it comes with its own set of challenges, from lacking pro-level equipment to dealing with household disturbances. If you’re looking to give a gift to someone who spends much of their time in their home office, we’ve rounded up a few techy gift ideas that should make their days a little more delightful, or at least easier to manage.

Read more: The 19 best gift ideas for the remote worker in your life

Check out the rest of our gift ideas here.

A startup called Wonder is now the new owner of Grubhub. The food delivery app announced its acceptance of the deal on its website earlier today.

Wonder acquired Grubhub from the Dutch food company Just Eat Takeaway for $650 million. Pending regulatory approval, the deal will close early next year. Wonder also announced it has raised an additional $250 million in venture capital funding “to further its mission and growth.”

Chicago software engineers Matt Maloney and Mike Evens founded Grubhub in 2004 as an online restaurant ordering service and an alternative to those paper menus that showed up on doorsteps and in junk mailings. The company merged with the automated food ordering and delivery company Seamless in 2013. Just Eat Takeaway bought Grubhub in 2020 for $7.3 billion at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The numbers for restaurant delivery apps started to drop once the pandemic became part of history and people started going out again. Legal troubles started in 2021 when Chicago took Grubhub and some of its competitors to court for alleged unfair business practices and fees. Companies like DoorDash eventually settled but Grubhub’s legal battle with Chicago is still raging in court, according to the Chicago Business Journal.

The District of Columbia won a similar lawsuit against Grubhub in 2021 that ended with a $3.5 million settlement. The following year, Grubhub announced it would lay off 15 percent of its corporate staff.

Wonder is a new fooddelivery company started by Marc Lore, a former Walmart executive who owns two professional basketball teams. Lowe previously founded Diapers.com and Jet.com. The New York Times published a profile on Lore and his newest venture Wonder, which he said “could be the Amazon of food and beverage.”

Wonder’s original focus was to get “its own restaurants up and running” and create a delivery service that offers “cheaper, quicker build-outs.” Maybe that’s because third-party food delivery services like Grubhub, DoorDash and Uber have seen their prices jump in the last couple of years, according to CNBC.

Just in New York City, food delivery prices increased by 58 percent in just under a year, according to Bloomberg. A new law that went into effect at the end of last year raised the minimum wage for New York delivery drivers to $17.96 an hour. The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection reported that food delivery workers saw their wages increase by 64 percent and their tips decreased by 60 percent in just eight months.

If you spend a good portion of your waking hours behind a desk, simply slapping an ergonomic mouse and keyboard on your desk won’t solve the real problem, which is sitting still for too long. But after you’ve peppered in a few walks and added some stretches for good measure, your workstation ergonomics is the next thing to consider. Hunching, twisting and contorting are all likely to lead to discomfort in the long run.

Ergonomic keyboards can help: these boards split, tilt and/or angle the keys in ways that help keep your shoulders and chest more open and your forearms and wrists more aligned. One ergonomic board won’t work for everyone, so I tested out 15 different models, and considered a mix of ergonomic features that include Alice and fully split designs, columnar orientations, thumb clusters, programmable keys and more. Here are the best ergonomic keyboards we could find.

Table of contents

• Best ergonomic keyboards for 2024

• What to look for in an ergonomic keyboard

• How we tested ergonomic keyboards

What to look for in an ergonomic keyboard

Alice vs split

Most ergonomic keyboard layouts fall into two categories: Alice and split. The former is a single board with the two halves of the keys rotated about 30 degrees apart at the bottom. The separation forms an A-shaped space between the keys — which has nothing to do with why it’s called an Alice layout, it’s just a happy coincidence. This subtle tweak pushes your elbows away from your ribs while keeping a straight line from your forearm to your middle knuckle. Using one, I pretty instantly felt more open along the front side of my body. This layout more closely resembles a traditional keyboard, so it should be easier for most folks to get used to than a fully split option.

Speaking of, split boards break the keys into two separate parts you can position individually. You can put them shoulder distance apart, bring them closer together or angle them as much as feels comfortable. You can also put your mouse between the halves, which may feel like an easier trip for your cursor hand and could potentially help with conditions like repetitive strain injuries. Personally, I like being able to put my current snack between the two parts. I've also found that pairing a split keyboard with a good ergonomic mouse has helped me even more, particularly a vertical mice. 

Tenkeyless

You can find ergonomic keyboards with and without number pads. Not having those number keys on the right side lets you keep your mouse closer in, minimizing overall reach. But if you work with numbers a lot, you’ll likely want that pad included. Some programmable boards allow for the use of layers, which temporarily repurpose keys and can provide you with a ten-key option through clever remapping of letter keys.

Tenting and negative tilt

Tenting raises the middle of the keyboard up, so your hands move closer to a “handshake” position. Alice keyboards usually angle up towards the middle and always to a fixed degree, since the two sides are connected. Split boards often let you adjust the degree of tenting, going from flat to subtle to extreme lift.

You may have encountered keyboards with an optional lift at the back of the board, raising the top keys higher than the space bar. Every set of hands is different, but for most people, pulling the backs of the hands towards the forearms increases strain. Negative tilt has the opposite effect by sloping in the other direction, lowering the top number keys while raising the edge with the spacebar. Many Alice and some split keyboards offer an optional negative tilt. I found it was more comfortable to enable that feature when I’m standing, and I preferred to have the keys flat when sat at my desk.

After a lengthy consideration, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Amazon’s “captive-audience meetings” are a violation of the National Labor Relations Act. These are mandatory meetings where an employer shares its stance on unionization.

“Ensuring that workers can make a truly free choice about whether they want union representation is one of the fundamental goals of the National Labor Relations Act. Captive audience meetings—which give employers near-unfettered freedom to force their message about unionization on workers under threat of discipline or discharge—undermine this important goal,” Chairman Lauren McFerran said of the ruling. “Today’s decision better protects workers’ freedom to make their own choices in exercising their rights under the Act, while ensuring that employers can convey their views about unionization in a noncoercive manner.”

The decision noted that employers may hold meetings about unionization as long as workers receive advanced notice about the topic, are told that attendance is voluntary and without consequences for opting not to participate, and that attendance records are not kept.

Today’s ruling centers on Amazon, which has a rocky history with its employees’ efforts to organize and with the NLRB. However, the decision could impact other big tech firms that have followed similar practices around unionization.

Spotify is aiming to give YouTube some competition with its new partner program for video creators and content that goes viral. The music and podcast app announced a new “Partner Program” that monetizes audio and video beyond income from advertising starting on January 2, 2025.

The new monetization program pays Spotify creators in two ways. Creators can earn a share of ad revenue from their content on all platforms through its Partner Program. They can also earn money through monthly podcast subscriptions that “allow listeners to support creators directly in return for exclusive bonus content and perks.”

Both tiers also come with eligibility requirements. The Spotify Partner Program requires participants to host and upload their content through its Spotify for Creators platform, have streamed 10,000 hours and at least 2,000 unique views in a 30-day period and published at least 12 episodes. Subscriptions will be open to content creators who have at least two published episodes and at least 100 unique Spotify listeners in a 60-day period. The new programs will be available for subscribers in the US, UK, Canada and Australia next January.

Spotify has taken other steps to make its video and music content more accessible and mainstream. The music and video streamer integrated with TikTok and Instagram so users can post tracks on the social media sites.

NHL 25 is slated to get a sizable content update at the end of the year. EA announced that the six teams of the Professional Women's Hockey League will be added to the game in an update this December. The Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montréal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge and Toronto Sceptres will be available to choose in the game's Play Now, Online Versus, Shootout and Season modes.

This EA sports franchise has been putting more women's leagues and female players into the spotlight in recent installments. Women's teams first appeared in NHL 22 back in 2022, and last year NHL 23 showcased Olympic gold medalist Sarah Nurse of Team Canada on its cover alongside Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks.

In addition to the December update with the PWHL partnership, NHL 25 is adding an NHL Arcade mode this Friday. In early 2025, the game will also see new content tied to the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off event.

Bluesky may still be the underdog in the race for alternatives to X, but the once Twitter-affiliated service is gaining momentum. The app just passed the 15 million user mark after adding more than a million new users over the last week, the company said in an update.

While Bluesky is still considerably smaller than Threads, which with 275 million users is its biggest rival, there are signs that Threads users have been increasingly curious about the upstart. “Bluesky” has been a trending topic on Threads in recent days and an in-app search suggestion shows there are more than 19,000 posts about “Bluesky.” Bluesky itself has also made a push to win over Threads users in recent weeks by posting regularly on the Meta-owned service.

That effort seems to be working. A month ago, Engadget noted, the service had just under 9 million users. Its mobile app also has the top spot in Apple’s App Store, followed by Threads and ChatGPT. Its recent success also seems to be driven, at least in part, by frustration with Elon Musk and X following the US presidential election.

A recent report from web analytics company SimilarWeb found that “more than 115,000 US web visitors deactivated their accounts,” on November 7, “more than on any previous day of Elon Musk’s tenure.” The report also noted that “web traffic and daily active users for Bluesky increased dramatically in the week before the election, and then again after election day,” with Bluesky at points seeing more web traffic than Threads. (Threads’ mobile usage, however, is still “far ahead” of Bluesky.)

“In the US, Bluesky got more web visits than Threads in the immediate aftermath of the election,” the report notes. “For context, it’s important to note that both services are app centric, even though they support a web user interface.”

On its part, Bluesky seems intent on distinguishing itself from its larger, billionaire-controlled rivals. The company, which began as an internal project at Twitter before it spun off into an independent entity, has experimented with novel features like custom feeds, user-created moderation services and “starter packs” for new users.

“You're probably used to being trapped in a single algorithm controlled by a small group of people, that's no longer the case,” Bluesky’s COO Rose Wang shared in a video aimed at new users Tuesday. “On Bluesky, there are about 50,000 different feeds … these feeds provide a cozy corner for you to meet people with similar interests. And you can actually make friends again, because you're no longer tied to a dominant algorithm that promotes either the most polarizing posts and or the biggest brands, and that's the mandate of Bluesky.”

GOG is launching an effort to help make older video games playable on modern hardware. The GOG Preservation Program will label the classic titles that the platform has taken steps to adapt in order to make them compatible with contemporary computer systems, controllers and screen resolutions, all while adhering to its DRM-free policy. The move could bring new life to games of decades past, just as GOG did two years ago with a refresh of the 1999 title Wheel of Time. So far, 92 games have received the preservation treatment.

"Our guarantee is that they work and they will keep working," the company says in the video announcing the initiative.

Preservation has been a hot topic as more games go digital only. Not only are some platforms eliminating disk drives by default, but ownership over your library is more ephemeral than it seems. After all, most game purchases are just a license, and licenses can be revoked (as The Crew players know all too well).

Now you’ll be able to play one of the greatest zombie survival games of all time on your iPhone or iPad. Capcom’s Resident Evil 2 remake is headed to the Apple and Mac App Store on December 10.

The game won’t be available on every Apple device. You’ll need any iPhone 16 model, an iPhone 15 Pro or an iPad or Mac with the M1 chip or later. You’ll also be able to try a small portion of the game before purchasing the full experience. The game comes with “universal purchase” and “cross-progression” for all your eligible devices, according to a Capcom statement.

The Resident Evil 2 remake will offer advanced controls for touchscreens and the Mac version. Both Leon and Claire will also have “a new Auto Fire feature” so you can unload your clip into whatever’s shuffling towards you.

This is just one of four Resident Evil games available for Apple devices and computers. Capcom and Apple have released versions of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil 4 on the App Store and Resident Evil: Village on the App and Mac App Store.

Tom Cruise Love Life History: हॉलीवुड के बेहतरीन और खतरों के खिलाड़ी के नाम से मशहूर सुपरस्टार टॉम क्रूज़ की Mission Impossible फिल्म का 8वां पार्ट 'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning' अगले साल यानी 23 मई 2025 को सिनेमा घरों

Tamil Nadu Rain Alert: देश की राजधानी दिल्ली जहां स्मोग से परेशान है तो वहीं दक्षिण भारत में बारिश ने कहर बरसाया हुआ है, जिसकी वजह से यहां के तापमान में तेजी से गिरावट आई है। भारतीय मौसम विभाग ने अपने

Anupamaa Serial Spoiler Alert 13th November: टीवी सीरियल अनुपमा में इन दिनों खूब ड्रामा देखने को मिल रहा है। शो में अनुपमा आध्या को मनाने की कोशिश कर रही है लेकिन घर में हर वक्त कोई न कोई तमाशा हो रहा

Guidelines for Coaching Centres: कोचिंग संस्थानों द्वारा भ्रामक विज्ञापनों पर लगाम लगाने के लिए केंद्र सरकार ने बुधवार को नई गाइडलाइन जारी की हैं। सरकार द्वारा जारी नई गाइडलाइन के मुताबिक, अब से कोचिंग सेंटरों को 100 प्रतिशत चयन या नौकरी

मणिपुर में कानून-व्यवस्था और ताजा हमलों को देखते हुए केंद्र सरकार ने मोर्चा संभाल लिया है। सरकार ने मणिपुर में केंद्रीय सशस्त्र पुलिस बल (CAPF) की 20 अतिरिक्त कंपनियां भेजी हैं, जिनमें लगभग 2,000 जवान शामिल हैं। रिपोर्ट्स के मुताबिक, गृह

Karnataka News: कर्नाटक की कांग्रेस सरकार की ओर से सरकारी ठेकों में मुसलमानों को 4% कोटा निर्धारित करने के मुद्दे पर सत्ता पक्ष और विपक्ष में जबर्दस्त राजनीति हो रही है। पड़ोस के महाराष्ट्र में विधानसभा चुनाव हो रहे हैं, इस

India-Philippines Relations: भारत और फिलीपींस के बीच राजनयिक संबंधों की 75वीं वर्षगांठ के अवसर पर विदेश मंत्री एस जयशंकर ने दोनों देशों के बीच मजबूत और समृद्ध सहयोग की दिशा में आगे बढ़ने की प्रतिबद्धता पर जोर दिया। एक कार्यक्रम में

Tamil Nadu: तमिलनाडु राज्य के सरकारी चिकित्सा संस्थानों और अन्य स्वास्थ्य सुविधाओं में डॉक्टरों और स्वास्थ्य देखभाल कर्मियों की सुरक्षा बढ़ाने के उद्देश्य से सार्वजनिक स्वास्थ्य विभाग ने सभी जिला अधिकारियों को विशेष दिशा-निर्देश जारी किए हैं। इन निर्देशों के तहत

Karnataka bypolls: कर्नाटक की तीन विधानसभ सीटों पर हुए उपचुनावों में 81.84% मतदान हुआ। ये चुनाव शिगगांव, संदूर और चन्नपटना विधानसभा क्षेत्रों में हुए थे। लगभग 770 मतदान केंद्रों पर सात लाख से ज़्यादा मतदाता मतदान करने के पात्र थे। इन

शोपियां जिला अस्पताल में डॉक्टरों सहित 90 प्रतिशत से अधिक कर्मचारी अनुपस्थित थे, जिसके कारण अधिकारियों ने उनसे स्पष्टीकरण मांगा।

Weather Update: देश में मौसम के मिजाज में बदलाव देखने को मिल रहा है। पहाड़ों पर ताजा बर्फबारी ने सर्दी का मौसम शुरू कर दिया है, जबकि मैदानी इलाकों में भी तापमान में गिरावट देखी गई है। बीते कुछ दिनों से

राजस्थान में सात विधानसभा सीटों पर हुए उपचुनाव में 69.29% मतदान हुआ। चुनाव के दौरान कड़ी सुरक्षा व्यवस्था रही और देवली-उनियारा में एक छिटपुट घटना हुई।

दिल्ली का AQI इस मौसम में पहली बार 'गंभीर' स्तर पर पहुंच गया है, तथा तेज हवाएं चलने के पूर्वानुमान के कारण इसमें सुधार की उम्मीद है।

छात्र यूपीपीएससी परीक्षा के लिए एक दिवसीय परीक्षा कार्यक्रम की मांग को लेकर विरोध प्रदर्शन कर रहे हैं, तथा चल रहे प्रदर्शनों के बीच पुराने प्रारूप पर लौटने की मांग कर रहे हैं।

राजस्थान उपचुनाव के दौरान टोंक जिले में नरेश मीना के समर्थकों और पुलिस के बीच झड़प के बाद हिंसा भड़क उठी, जिसके कारण पथराव हुआ और एक वाहन में आग लगा दी गई।