Connect with us

Technologies

I’m Flagging This $35 Echo Buds Prime Day Deal Early: Amazon’s Record-Low Price Is Live Now

Amazon’s newest noise-canceling Echo Buds are down to $35 for Prime members — a 71% savings and their lowest price ever.

You don’t have to spend a ton to get a decent pair of active noise-canceling earbuds these days — and especially not with Prime Day deals about to kick off. Amazon’s latest massive sale begins in just a few days, and the online retailer is already offering some excellent savings on its latest active noise-canceling Echo Buds.

Right now, Prime members can grab the wired charging case version of Amazon’s newest Echo Buds with active noise cancellation for just $35 — that’s 71% off the $120 list price. Grab the deal here before prices shift. If you prefer the wireless charging case, it’s available for $10 more here. For more early Prime Day savings, check out our roundup of today’s best deals.

These earbuds boast an impressive set of features now that they’re available for less than $50. They’re equipped with 5.7mm dynamic drivers for solid sound, and support active noise cancellation with a pass-through mode for when you need to be more aware of your surroundings. They also have three microphones per earbud for clear audio during voice calls.

Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.

They support multipoint pairing, so you can connect to two devices at once and switch seamlessly between them — ideal for jumping from a work call to music on your phone. They allow you to access Amazon Alexa hands-free, so you can easily cue up songs, adjust the volume or even update your calendar on the fly. They have a 15-hour battery life with the charging case, and they’re IPX4 water resistance rated, so you can use them during workouts.

In his review of Amazon’s second-gen Echo Buds, CNET’s David Carnoy noted they offer “a relatively premium design and are all-around good performers with the added benefit of hands-free Alexa.” He also highlighted their improved noise canceling and compact case design.

For other budget-friendly listening options, check out our roundup of the best wireless earbuds.

Why this deal matters

Originally listing for $120, these Echo Buds are now just $35 for Prime members — their lowest price to date. They offer ANC, hands-free Alexa access, multipoint pairing and a sweat-resistant design, making them a solid pick for workouts, commutes or casual listening. While they don’t rival premium models from Apple or Sony, they’re a serious value at this price.

Join Our Daily Deals Text Group!

Get hand-picked deals from CNET shopping experts straight to your phone.

By signing up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to receive recurring marketing messages at the phone number provided. Consent is not a condition of purchase. Reply STOP to unsubscribe. Msg & data rates may apply. View our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Technologies

Want More AI With Your Microsoft Office? It’s Arriving in a 365 Premium Version

Microsoft 365 Premium will cost $20 a month and adds Copilot AI features and apps to Office.

Microsoft on Wednesday announced a new version of Microsoft 365 that’s embedded from top to bottom with AI features — for twice the monthly price of its Personal plan.

Unlike the $10 Personal and $13 Family plans, however, Microsoft 365 Premium includes higher limits on AI features like image creation. It also adds access to some of the company’s Copilot tools including Researcher, Analyst, Photos Agent and Actions for up to six people at $20. Microsoft has been working features such as Agent Mode into its popular Office apps, but has not previously offered a full bundle of AI-driven software for people outside business settings. It also recently added the option to use Anthropic’s Claude AI models with Copilot.

ChatGPT’s 4o image generation has also been part of Copilot since earlier this year.

In an interesting wrinkle, Microsoft said in a blog post that the AI features will only be available to the subscription owner and can’t be shared. The Copilot features for Excel will also not work unless a file set to AutoSave and shared to OneDrive. 

Microsoft has even updated its icons for apps such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint to «reflect the new era of AI.»  The new app icons look more three-dimensional than previous iterations — a bit like gummi candies. 

Those app icon changes will roll out to all 365 users over the next few weeks across desktop and mobile versions of the software. 

What’s included in 365 Premium

So what’s new in the 365 Premium version? According to Microsoft the subscription includes:

  • Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook and other 365 apps with Copilot built in.
  • Access to Researcher and Analyst, which was previously only available to commercial customers with Microsoft 365 Copilot. Those AI agent features will be incorporated into Word, PowerPoint and Excel sometime soon.
  • Higher usage limits for image generation and a new Voice feature that is also coming soon.
  • Access to other Copilot features including Podcasts, Deep Research, Vision and Actions.
  • A Photos Agent app.
  • 1 TB of cloud storage.
  • An advanced version of Microsoft Defender.

What’s changing for everyone else

If you aren’t upgrading to 365 Premium, you’ll still get some new features and changes beyond the refreshed icons.

Those changes include:

  • Higher usage limits for Copilot features for Personal and Family plans.
  • Copilot Chat will be available in 365 apps.
  • Access to experimental AI features through the new Frontier program.
  • College students will still get access to 365 Personal for free for a year. The company is expanding that offer, which is good until Oct. 31, to most markets around the world. 

Microsoft said it’s also adding ways for people to access their home documents from work, and vice-versa, securely with an account switcher option that will also work with the new Copilot apps including Researcher and Analyst.

According to Microsoft, its data suggests that 82% of AI users are bringing their own AI tools to work.

Continue Reading

Technologies

Baby Steps Makes Walking a Hilariously Frustrating Journey

You’ll laugh and you’ll cry in this bizarrely engaging platformer.

Baby Steps has quickly become one of the funniest games I’ve ever played, but it’s also made me almost throw my controller against the wall. It’s the latest game from masochistic developer Bennett Foddy, known for extremely challenging games like Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy and QWOP, where simply moving becomes a Herculean task. He’s teamed up with Gabe Cuzzillo and Maxi Boch, developers of the frantic action game Ape Out, to make this unique and bizarre platformer.

In Baby Steps, you play as Nate, a man in his late twenties who still lives in his parents’ basement until he’s magically teleported into a strange, mostly empty wilderness. There’s only one real mechanic to the game — walking — but it’s nowhere near as simple as taking a leisurely stroll. You control each of Nate’s legs individually with your controller’s triggers. The left trigger lifts the left foot; the right trigger lifts the right, and you have to use the analog stick to lean Nate forward and plant a foot down to move. It takes a long time to feel comfortable moving like this. 

I found myself constantly getting into a groove and making good progress before eventually thinking too much about my motor controls and completely losing rhythm. When (not if) that happened, I’d usually topple over in comical fashion, then have to slowly work my way back up to regain a good flow state.

If this wasn’t hard enough, as you move along, you’re tasked with harder and slipperier obstacles to painstakingly traverse. Walking was already a tall order; now try climbing a set of stairs, walking across a ladder or scaling a muddy slope. Time and again, I’d slowly climb a mountain only to reach a rushing river with slick rocks to cross — then slip and watch Nate tumble all the way back down. Baby Steps offers no sympathy.

All this awkward movement is made even funnier by your character’s goofy look: Nate wears a gray, pajama-like onesie that picks up odd stains and sweat marks as you tumble through the world. He also has no shoes and a sizable rear end that wobbles and sways as you attempt the difficult platforming sections. It’s funny and silly to see, and it helps soften some of the devastating setbacks you inevitably encounter on your climb. 

The tough traversal is paired with some of the funniest writing and performances I’ve seen in a video game. Along the way, Nate occasionally runs into other people — or strange animal-human hybrids — scattered throughout the environment. They’re all quite friendly, but Nate suffers from crippling social anxiety and is incapable of asking for help, making for amusingly awkward chatter. The voice actors riff off each other so naturally that it feels like they must have recorded together in the booth. The humor has a Tim and Eric: Awesome Show, Great Job! vibe, with characters stuttering, mumbling and trading bizarre — yet hilarious — facial expressions.

These interactions aren’t required to progress through the game, but can be found hidden around the map. As you explore the world, slowly and step by step, it’s worth scanning the horizon for strange landmarks or structures. Reaching them often yields a reward — maybe a quirky hat for Nate (finish an area while wearing it and you’ll unlock a short playable section with backstory from his life), or a funny encounter with another character. Baby Steps encourages you to wander off the main path, but it makes you work for every discovery.

Developer Cuzzilo’s game Ape Out (which Bennett contributed to as an artist) was known for a frenetic, jazz-inspired soundtrack composed by Boch, and we see some of that inspiration with the team working on Baby Steps. Much of the game’s music is sparse and percussive. It includes a lot of nature effects, such as wind, dog barks and cricket chirps, to emphasize the lost-in-the-wilderness aspect to the game. It works very well to mimic the state of the character and the player. You’ll often find yourself carefully positioning your feet along a thin plank of wood overlooking a cliff while this jazz-like chirping soundscape surrounds you, which is surreal yet somehow fitting.

If you’ve played any of Foddy’s notoriously difficult past games (QWOP or Getting Over It, for example), you should know that Baby Steps is easier. There is a challenge, but you can choose how much you want to engage with it. Staying on the main path is much friendlier than attempting to climb a rope swing to get that odd, glowing fruit that might get you bonus dialogue. That’s to say that past experience with his games shouldn’t scare you away from trying out Baby Steps. The hilarious cutscenes are an absolute treat and made me want to risk all my progress in hopes of getting to watch another. There’s a lot of laughs and frustration to be had here, and the low $20 price makes it that much easier to recommend.

Baby Steps is out now for PC and PlayStation 5.

Continue Reading

Technologies

Call of Duty Black Ops 7 Beta Begins Thursday. Here’s How to Join

There are separate Game Pass subscription and preorder requirements to join the closed and open betas for the next Call of Duty game.

The Black Ops 7 beta is fast approaching. The most dedicated Call of Duty players will be able to jump into the game beginning Thursday, while casual fans will have their first chance to try out the futuristic shooter over the weekend.

The next Call of Duty game is a collaboration between developers Treyarch and Raven Software, and it takes place after Black Ops 2 in the series’ chronology. While the Black Ops games jump around a confusing timeline, Black Ops 7 is a direct sequel to a 13-year-old game.

The game’s beta will focus on classic Call of Duty multiplayer modes and feature a mix of six-versus-six and 20-versus-20 maps. This larger-scale action is reminiscent of the Battlefield series — a longtime competitor that is turning up the heat with a new game on Oct. 10.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Call of Duty Black Ops 7 beta, including key dates and how to join the early access period.

Black Ops 7 closed beta date and requirements

If you want to jump into the Black Ops 7 closed beta and try the game before anyone else, you’ll need to shell out some cash. The early access beta begins Oct. 2.

While access to the closed beta is limited, it’s still more widely available than previous Call of Duty closed betas. Usually, people who preorder the game get special access to the closed beta — this is still true with Call of Duty Black Ops 7. This time around, though, Microsoft is adding another way to play during the early-access beta period.

If you have an active Game Pass subscription, you’ll also be able to join the Black Ops 7 closed beta. Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass PC and Game Pass Console plans are all valid subscriptions to gain access to the early Black Ops 7 beta, although the lower-tier subscriptions might be more worthwhile because of the massive Game Pass Ultimate price hike.

Even at its new higher price, Game Pass is still one of the best gaming subscription plans available, so the Black Ops 7 closed beta access is just another way to sweeten the deal.

Black Ops 7 open beta access

Maybe you don’t want to preorder. Maybe you don’t like gaming subscription services and don’t want to grab Game Pass just for the Black Ops 7 beta. Whatever your reasoning for missing the closed beta may be, you’re not locked out of trying the next Call of Duty game forever.

The Black Ops 7 closed beta rolls directly into the game’s open beta period, during which anyone will be able to try out the new Call of Duty multiplayer experience. Black Ops 7’s open beta begins Oct. 5. Everyone will have a chance to freely try out Black Ops 7 for three days and then the servers will close Oct. 8.

The open beta period will allow any interested gamer to try out Black Ops 7 on their console of choice. Call of Duty Black Ops 7 will launch on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S and PC, and will feature cross-platform gameplay. While no official release date has been revealed, leaks point to a mid-November launch.

If you’re still playing the most recent Call of Duty game, Black Ops 6, check out our guide on how to make the most of the game’s double XP. If you’re looking to pick up the game after a long hiatus, learn how The Armory can help you catch up on the content you’ve missed.

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version