We’ve heard you: many of you are still trying to secure a new video game system, and we’ve done what we can to help people find them. But now, a year after the “next-gen” PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S consoles debuted, they’re still in short supply — and the same goes for Nintendo’s Switch and Switch OLED.

The retail sales trackers at NPD Group said console hardware sales in November have fallen off by 38 percent to $883 million in November compared to the same month in 2020, which is when the new PlayStation and Xbox launched.

That drop comes despite a still-intense desire to obtain the systems, as well as the availability of a new version of Nintendo’s console. This past November, the Switch still dominated sales,...

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Apple’s iOS 15.2, which includes a ton of features and fixes, has started to become roll out to iPhones after an extensive beta period. According to Apple’s release notes, posted by 9to5Mac and MacRumors, the update includes:

• The Digital Legacy program, which lets you designate who gets access to your data when you die
• The App Privacy Report, which shows what permissions your apps use, and what websites they connect to
• Apple’s $4.99 voice-only plan for Apple Music
• A fix for the somewhat confusing state of the 13 Pro’s macro mode

The update also brings with it some of Apple’s communication safety features, one of which will blur iMessages sent to children that an on-device scan tags as potentially being explicit. The feature was...

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President Biden is expected to sign an executive order on Monday that would make it easier for Americans to access a broad swath of federal services and benefits, like renewing a passport or accessing retirement benefits.

“This executive order is really focused on how the federal government delivers services to the public and ensuring that we deliver a high quality product to the public,” Neera Tanden, senior advisor to the president, told reporters on a press call on Monday. “So, we looked at the points of greatest friction for people with their government like filing taxes, applying for Social Security benefits, waiting in TSA lines, and focused on ways to reduce that friction.”

The executive order streamlines government services that...

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How much have you ever lost on a typo? Probably not hundreds of thousands of dollars. But that’s just what happened to one unlucky individual this weekend, who accidentally sold a Bored Ape NFT for $3,000 instead of $300,000 — all because of a misplaced decimal point.

As first reported by CNET, the NFT’s owner Max (or maxnaut) listed the NFT for sale on Saturday. Max, who describes himself as a “solo-traveller, bored ape, marketing agency owner & NFT investor,” had meant to price the NFT at 75 ether (around $300,000) but accidentally typed 0.75 ether instead (roughly $3,000). Before they could correct the mistake, the NFT had been snapped up, apparently by a bot programmed to find and buy undervalued listings. You can see the drama play...

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Adobe knows there’s a bigger audience of would-be creators out there than full-on pros, so it’s launching a new app that attempts to open up some of its more powerful tools to amateurs. The app, called Creative Cloud Express, offers basic versions of image and video editing tools, letting users work with layers, AI effects, and a huge font library, all with a simplified interface that’s supposed to make the features easier to use.

“A lot of people need something simple and more accessible, and these customers are increasingly content-first and more focused on outcomes than process,” Scott Belsky, Adobe’s chief product officer, tells The Verge. Creative Cloud Express is designed so new users don’t have to “endure the learning curve” of...

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A modern handheld that celebrates the classics

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LiveWire, the electric motorcycle company spun out of Harley-Davidson, is going public by merging with a special acquisition company, or SPAC. The transaction will net LiveWire approximately $545 million at a pro forma enterprise value of approximately $1.77 billion, Harley-Davidson says in its announcement. LiveWire is the latest electric vehicle company to go public by merging with a SPAC, which are also known as “blank check” companies.

LiveWire is merging with AEA-Bridges Impact Corp. (ABIC), a SPAC formed by John Garcia and Michele Giddens, two private equity executives based in New York and London, respectively. Garcia and Giddens teamed up last year with the express purpose of merging with a business that is working toward the...

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Microsoft’s intriguing Surface Laptop Studio with an articulating display and a plinth platform to keep cool is seeing its first decent price drop since its release a few months ago. The base configuration that normally costs $1,599.99, and comes with an Intel Core i5-11300H processor, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage, is down to $1,399.99 at Best Buy for today only. That’s more than a tithe off the plinth, though you’ll need to have a free Best Buy account to get this deal.

This is a good price if you want a laptop that has a display that can be positioned in multiple arrangements, much like the Surface Studio desktop. Though, this deal isn’t for everyone to whom the Surface Laptop Studio tries to appeal, namely creative types who need...

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You need to own an NFT that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. Or do you?

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Small businesses say their livelihoods are threatened even when they aren’t running afoul of copyright and trademark

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Long-time Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace is leaving the network to join CNN’s upcoming streaming service, CNN Plus, as noted in a press release from CNN.

The 18-year Fox News veteran announced his departure during his final Fox News Sunday, stating that he “wants to try something new.” Sources close to the situation told CNN that Wallace’s long-term contract with Fox was expiring this year, and he wasn’t looking to renew it.

Shortly after Wallace’s announcement, CNN revealed that Wallace will be hosting a weekday show on CNN Plus that features interviews with figures from the world of politics, sports, business, and culture. The new show will be available...

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Sony’s entry-level buds stick to the fundamentals

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A second Tesla employee within one month has filed a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment at the workplace, according to reports by Reuters and Business Insider. Erica Cloud, an assembly line worker at Tesla, filed a lawsuit in California’s Alameda County Superior Court, claiming that she experienced “continuous and pervasive” sexual harassment in the factory where she worked.

As noted by Reuters, Cloud’s lawsuit alleges that her manager hugged and massaged her, and claims that she was also subject to her manager’s vulgar and sexual remarks. It also accuses Tesla of not doing enough to address possible sexual harassment in the workplace. Cloud’s managers are allegedly retaliating...

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Echo smart speakers and smart displays have a handy feature that can show and tell you when there’s a package sitting on your doorstep and even what’s in it. While this can be helpful most of the time, around the holidays it could seriously ruin some surprises.

Avoid making any Grinch-like moves this holiday and manage your Amazon shopping notifications in the Alexa app to help keep the magic alive. Alongside options for tailoring package announcements, the notifications section of the app also has a number of settings you can toggle on or off to help make the voice assistant a little more helpful when it comes to purchases you make on Amazon. Below are a few of the most useful that you might want to tweak this holiday season.

How to...

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Microsoft Teams has rolled out a fix for the dangerous bug that could prevent Android users from calling 911 — and you’ll want to install it ASAP (via Android Police). In his analysis of the issue on Medium, Mishaal Rahman, the senior technical editor at Esper, explains that Microsoft has corrected the issue in an update for the Teams app.

A user on Reddit initially discovered the bug when trying to call 911 from their Pixel 3, prompting an explanation from Google. The company said that the issue is triggered by an “unintended interaction” between the Android operating system and the Teams app. It only affects users with devices running Android 10 or...

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You only have to look at the negative response to Ubisoft’s NFT gaming announcement and the number of people chortling along with Keanu Reeves to confirm that reactions to non-fungible tokens range from disbelief to outright dislike. However, that hasn’t stopped DraftKings and the NFL Player’s Association from signing a new deal for a “gamified NFT collaboration.” The sports betting company plans to launch its collections during the 2022 - 2023 season.

As far as how the operation will work, the details are scarce. The press release describes a combination that sounds similar to the NBA Top Shot / NFL All Day model with buying and trading, plus the ability for registered owners of NFTs to use their collectibles like many trading...

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Microsoft is sponsoring an esports competition with prizes totaling $10,000. The game? Well, it’s not exactly a game — it’s Microsoft Excel.

Every year, the top Microsoft Excel users (players?) from around the world face off in the Financial Modeling World Cup (FMWC) (via PCWorld). The qualifying rounds already took place, leaving just eight Excel masters to compete for the FMWC crown. The quarter-finals, semifinals, and final round all take place today at 12PM ET via a YouTube livestream and the ESPN app.

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This morning, space tourism venture Blue Shepard successfully launched its third crew of passengers to space and back on the company’s New Shepard rocket, the first time a group of six people has flown together on the vehicle. The crew included GMA host Michael Strahan and Laura Shepard Churchley, the eldest daughter of Alan Shepard — the first American in space and the namesake for the New Shepard rocket.

New Shepard lifted off just after 10AM ET on Saturday morning from Blue Origin’s launch facility in Van Horn, Texas. The entire flight lasted just over 10 minutes from liftoff to touch down. Riding inside a crew capsule on top of the New Shepard rocket, the six-person crew climbed to an altitude of 351,225 feet, or more than 66 miles...

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The first season of Invasion on Apple TV Plus feels a little incomplete. Across its 10 episodes, which chart a handful of humans grappling with an alien invasion, the story slowly teases out the reality of what’s happening. There are hints here and there — a haunting artificial voice, a mysterious alien-killing weapon, a kid with seizures that may or may not show the future — but the biggest reveal of all doesn’t even happen until the very last shot in the final episode. It still managed to pull me in — but that pull has a lot to do with potential. Rather than standing on its own, the initial season of Invasion feels like the first chapter of a much grander science fiction epic.

Invasion gets off to a slow start. Unlike most stories...

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Things have chilled out considerably this week, both in terms of how cold it has become in parts of the US and how few deals there are compared to the hectic Black Friday and Cyber Monday extravaganza. However, that’s not to say there aren’t some fantastic offers happening both in-store and online. We’ll be keeping a close eye on deals in the next few weeks to make sure you get what you’re looking for ahead of the holidays.

Alright, let’s get to the deals.

Save $40 on the third-gen AirPods

I can’t remember the last time an Apple product was discounted so swiftly. That’s what is happening to the third-gen AirPods, which debuted at $179, but are now just $139.99 at Amazon (the correct price will reflect at checkout). While they resemble...

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