New Gadgets

Cuddle up with Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman's podcast.
Earwolf 2020 has been a great year for podcasts. We've seen an influx of celebrity-hosted, guest-driven podcasts and we've also been treated to a bunch of high quality episodic, narrative reporting.
There's a sea of fantastic podcasts out there. Below are our 2020 picks for those looking for something to binge.

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Apple has stopped selling headphones and wireless speakers from third-party makers ahead of the expected launch of new Apple audio products, Bloomberg noted Monday.

Apple has long carried headphones and speakers from rivals such as Sonos, Bose and Logitech, but those products disappeared from the company's website at the end of September, and employees at the Apple 's retail locations were instructed to remove the products from store shelves, Bloomberg reported.

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Sorry to Samsung, Verizon, T-Mobile and everyone else in the mobile industry trying to make 5G a thing. The next-generation wireless technology still needs a cheerleader who can break through to the mainstream. Fortunately, Apple is right around the corner with the iPhone 12, which will be announced on Oct. 13.

If this were any other year, 5G would already be a much bigger deal. After a mixed start in 2019, 5G coverage has improved, the number of devices -- including Samsung's Galaxy Note 20 -- has grown, and pesky network compatibility issues have largely been resolved. Apple's next flagship iPhone, widely expected to support 5G, would serve as the capper to a year of 5G excitement.

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Quibi would be a risky bet even in normal times. But Quibi, which launched April 6, rolled out its a mobile-only concept just a couple weeks after the pandemic locked large swaths of the US population in their homes. People can watch Quibi at home on their phones, but Quibi's bet on exclusively mobile, short-form video was based on the premise that people would gobble up these "quick bite" episodes while they're out and about. After it launched without any support to watch Quibi's programming on televisions, the company scrambled as users complained about not being able to watch its shows on the biggest screen in the house.

Quibi reportedly had about 1.5 million subscribers at the end of May and was on pace for less than 2 million paying subscribers by the end of the app's first year, below its target of 7.4 million, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was the head of Disney's movie division in the '80s and '90s and co-founded Dreamworks Animation, initially said the coronavirus' effect on people's viewing habits would be neutral to Quibi. He later blamed the pandemic for "everything that has gone wrong" with Quibi's rough start.

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This story is part of Apple Event, our full coverage of the latest news from Apple headquarters. Apple's iPhone 12 is out after it made its debut at the company's September event, where Apple also revealed its Apple One subscription and the iPhone 12 Mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max, which are coming Nov. 13. All the new phones come with a big addition: MagSafe. The fast-charging feature doubles the power throughput of standard Qi wireless charging on iPhones (15 watts versus 7.5 watts) and boasts a magnetic snap to optimize its placement on the phone's back -- similar to how the magnetic charger works on the Apple Watch.

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Chromebooks range in price, from less than $100 to more than $1,000, but you don't need to spend that much to get up and running for distance learning. Our favorite Chromebooks fall mostly in the $400-to-$650 range. If those don't suit you, here are five additional budget Chromebook models that are currently priced at less than $650. We took into account factors and features like cloud storage, the quality of the keyboard, battery life, ease of web browsing and even the inclusion of a headphone jack. If you're looking to find the best Chromebook for students, this list should help.

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Lego announced new Super Mario 2021 sets on Tuesday that include a new Maker Set, three Expansion Packs, two Power-Up packs and an entirely new line of character packs to collect, all hitting stores on Jan. 1, 2021.

What makes this Lego release extra interesting is the new Lego Super Mario Master Your Adventure Maker Set. It's a creative toolbox that allows builders to completely customize Lego Super Mario building and ways to earn coins.

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Microsoft’s xCloud cloud gaming service is expanding in 2021 and its Xbox Game Pass service is driving new engagement with the Xbox ecosystem. That’s the word from the company in a recent blog post, which highlighted recent developments for both platforms.

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There are a lot of amazing games these days, but they sometimes take years to develop, and they might still launch in a sorry state at release — looking at you, Cyberpunk 2077. If you want to return to a simpler time, the games of yesteryear are now easier to play thanks to the new DOSBox Pure. This software makes playing DOS games a snap, even for those who didn’t grow up messing around with command lines.

DOSBox Pure is a new fork built for RetroArch/Libretro, and it’s technically only a test version at this time. However, it seems surprisingly solid after just six months of development. However, it does not come with any games — you’ll have to provide your own. There are many games from that era that are available freely online, but distributing others is a legal gray area.
To start playing a game in DOSBox Pure, simply point the software at your game directory. If there’s a disc image inside, DOSBox Pure will automatically mount the first found disk image as the A: or D: drive. If a game has multiple executables, DOSBox Pure will provide a list (gamepad-compatible, even) that allows you to select the correct EXE. It can even automatically detect and map your controller based on the game. For games that support mice, you can emulate mouse cursor control with your controller.

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The ongoing shortage of Xbox and PlayStation consoles has been a story since these platforms launched in November. The shortage isn’t unique to console gaming — there are problems with hardware availability across both PCs and consoles as recently launched GPUs from Nvidia and AMD remain difficult to find, as do AMD’s Ryzen 5000 CPUs.
According to Xbox head Phil Spencer, the company has been fielding questions related to Xbox production for weeks.

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