Engadget

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

  1. Gadgets that make great Mother's Day gifts

    An electronic gadget might not be the “traditional” Mother’s Day gift, but just about every mom we know would prefer a cool new piece of tech over a short-lived bouquet of flowers and box of chocolates. A number of us on the Engadget staff collaborated to create this guide, filling it with the Mother’s Day presents we’ve received ourselves, have given to the moms in our lives, or have otherwise tested and can safely recommend as a welcome gift. Whether the mom in your life is into music, cooking, fitness or even a good night’s sleep, there’s bound to be a useful device or service here that they’ll enjoy.

    This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gadgets-that-make-great-mothers-day-gifts-131533921.html?src=rss

  2. Epic Games takes aim at Apple and Steam with zero-commission policy for developers

    Epic Games just announced some changes to its store that should please budding developers. The company will not charge a commission of any kind for the first $1,000,000 in revenue from an app per year. Once a piece of software goes past that threshold, Epic will begin taking its standard rate of 12 percent. The policy goes into effect in June.

    This sounds like a real boon for smaller devs, especially when you consider that Steam takes 30 percent of sales as commission. Apple isn’t a direct competitor here, but the App Store takes 15 percent on the first million in revenue. This increases to 30 percent once that metric is met.

    Epic also announced something called webshops, which sounds like a way for developers to avoid Apple’s App Store fees. These shops are powered by the Epic Games Store and offer customers "out-of-app purchases, as a more cost-effective alternative to in-app purchases." These stores will be available next month "on any platform that allows it," though that now includes iOS devices in both the EU and the US.

    The company will begin offering a bonus of five percent in Epic Rewards to lure customers to these webshops. This will be applicable to all purchases, though the company hasn’t said if it's a limited time offer.

    Epic is able to do this whole webshop thing because it just won a case against long-time foe Apple. A California court just ordered Apple to stop collecting fees for purchases made outside of the App Store.

    The ruling also means that Fortnite is coming back to Apple devices in the US next week. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has stated that the company would return the game to the App Store worldwide, so long as Apple extends the court’s ruling across all countries. The company will also drop all pending litigation on the topic. He’s calling it a "peace plan," but Apple has yet to respond.

    This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/epic-games-takes-aim-at-apple-and-steam-with-zero-commission-policy-for-developers-183956940.html?src=rss

  3. The 14 best gifts for moms

    If you’re struggling to come up with just the right gift for your mom, you’re not alone. Mothers can be particularly difficult to shop for, especially if your mom is like many we know who insist that they don’t want or need gifts. Short of giving them some time back in their day to do what they want to do instead of things they need to do, the gift ideas we collected below can help you show the mother figure in your life that you care and want to spoil them a bit even when they claim it’s not necessary — because they deserve it.

    Check out the rest of ourgift ideas here.

    This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-14-best-gifts-for-moms-130044717.html?src=rss

  4. Get the Google Pixel 9a with $100 store credit at Amazon, Best Buy and the Google Store

    If you've been eyeing the Google Pixel 9a, now's a good time to pounce. That's because you can get a $100 gift card for free when you buy the flagship-quality midrange phone. In Engadget's review, Sam Rutherford deemed it "the best value of any Android phone.”

    The $100 gift card bonus is live at Amazon, Best Buy and the Google Store. Each has pros and cons, but it makes the most sense to order from the retailer where you shop the most.

    The Pixel 9a is Google's entry point into the Pixel ecosystem. Its sub-flagship pricing masks a handset that, in many ways, rivals phones that cost twice as much. It has a 6.3-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. We found it to be sharp, colorful and "one of the best displays in this price range.”

    It uses the same Tensor G4 processor found in the more expensive Pixel 9 brethren. The only performance compromise you'll find is its 8GB of RAM vs. the 12GB in the standard Pixel 9. That will only reveal itself if you're heavy into multitasking or gaming. Given the $300 price discrepancy between it and the Pixel 9, it's hard to nitpick much about that.

    Angled view of the back of the Pixel 9a phone, showing its camera lens.
    Sam Rutherford for Engadget

    Google's Pixel lineup is known for its camera prowess, and the 9a is no exception. It pairs a 48MP main camera with a 13MP ultra-wide lens. Although there's no telephoto, it compensates with AI-based Super Res Zoom that can achieve up to 8x digital zoom. The phone also has Google's Night Sight feature for sharp, balanced low-light photography.

    We found that the camera outperforms the $1,299 Galaxy S25 Ultra in color accuracy, detail and low-light performance. It's also competitive with the S25U in ultra-wide shots. The latter edges it out there (if only slightly) because of better color saturation. Still, we're talking about a $800 pricing discrepancy, so the fact that it's in the conversation is no small achievement.

    Side-by-side view of a nighttime photo of a flower, taken with the two phones.
    Sam Rutherford for Engadget

    The Pixel 9a's only drawbacks are its lower 8GB of RAM, slower charging speeds than flagships, its lack of optical zoom and its plastic backing (rather than glass). But for $499 — essentially $399 if you use that gift card forpurchases you'd make anyway — this is a nice deal for a nearlyflagship Android handset that made our list of the best smartphones.

    This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/get-the-google-pixel-9a-with-100-store-credit-at-amazon-best-buy-and-the-google-store-164530159.html?src=rss

  5. Pinterest will now tell you when you’re looking at AI-generated content

    Pinterest is fighting back against the onslaught of AI slop that is increasingly clogging up its platform following complaints from users. From now on, you’ll be able to see when image Pins that appear in your feed have been either generated or modified using AI. When users click on an image Pin in close-up they’ll see an “AI modified” label in the bottom left-hand corner.

    In a blog post published this week, Pinterest says it has been testing the new feature for several months, which involves analysing the metadata of an image to assess its source. It says it’s also developing classifiers that can automatically detect the whiff of generative AI even when metadata markers are absent. How successful it is in doing so will become clear as the new features roll out globally, and creators who suspect their content has been mislabelled will be able to appeal.

    Such mislabelling has been an ongoing issue for Meta, which was forced to adjust the wording of the AI labels it applied to uploaded photos on Facebook and Instagram after photographers complained they were being added to images that hadn’t been created using AI. Apparently, even minimal use of the generative fill tool in Photoshop was enough to trigger a label. That’s something that Pinterest will likely want to look out for as it hones this new algorithm.

    In addition to the new labels, Pinterest says it’s experimenting with a feature that would allow users to filter out categories where AI modification or generation is particularly prevalent, such as beauty and art. By letting its users have more control over what appears on their feed, Pinterest is clearly hoping it can win back the growing number of disgruntled members in its community.

    This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/pinterest-will-now-tell-you-when-youre-looking-at-ai-generated-content-163008812.html?src=rss