Gadget

It wasn’t hard to spot Yongseok Bang, lead designer of the new Samsung Galaxy Buds Live, the moment I joined a video call with him and other employees gathered around a table in one of Samsung’s South Korea conference rooms. Directly in front of Bang was a black notebook with a big white bean stamped on the front. He quickly confirmed to me that the team had internally called Samsung’s latest true wireless earbuds by the same “beans” nickname that the rest of us did once the leaks began. Samsung went in a different direction with the final branding

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak turns 70 years old today, and you can celebrate by attending his celebrity-studded virtual birthday party that’s happening in just a few hours at 8PM ET. Today’s party also kicks off an “11 Days of Wozdom” social media contest offering Woz-autographed Apple products as prizes.

The party isn’t just an excuse to celebrate an important figure in American technology history, however. It’s also a fundraiser to support Jewel’s Inspiring Children Foundation (yes, as in the Grammy-nominated singer Jewel). She will be hosting tonight’s festivities, which will feature a huge number of singers, actors, comedians, and other

The Nreal Light mixed reality glasses are shipping in Korea alongside Samsung’s newly announced Galaxy Note 20. LG Uplus will sell the glasses as a standalone device for 699,000KRW (around $586), and it’s bundling them with the Galaxy Note 20 or LG Velvet and a 5G data plan for 349,500KRW (around $295). Preorders open on August 11th, and the headsets will be available in stores on August 21st.

The Nreal Light (also referred to as “U+ Real Glass”) is a light sunglasses-style headset that tethers to a separate computing device — in this case, the Galaxy Note 20. It uses

Apple has filed a notice of opposition against a meal prep company because it claims the Prepear app’s cartoon fruit logo— in this case, a pear— is too close to Apple’s own trademarked logo which is, of course, an apple (via MacRumors and iPhone in Canada). The company claims the pear logo would “cause dilution of the distinctiveness” of the Apple logo, and make it difficult for consumers to distinguish between Prepear and Apple’s goods and services, which it argues is a violation of the Lanham Act.

The dustup started when parent company Super Healthy Kids filed to

Facebook is joining Microsoft in condemning Apple’s App Store policies today. The social media company is launching its Facebook Gaming app for iOS — primarily an app used to watch streamers play video games — but has had to remove the app’s mini games feature to pass Apple’s strict App Store approval process. Facebook isn’t happy about the compromise.

“Unfortunately, we had to remove gameplay functionality entirely in order to get Apple’s approval on the standalone Facebook Gaming app — meaning iOS users have an inferior experience to those using Android,” said Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer in a

Outside of its hardware announcements, one of the bigger takeaways from yesterday’s Samsung event was its ever-closer relationship with Microsoft. The two companies are partnering together on everything from mobile gaming bundles, to optimizing their apps and integrating their software. They even announced that you’ll soon be able to use and control multiple apps from your Samsung phone directly on your Windows 10 PC, as well as use your Samsung tablet as a secondary display.

It’s not a new partnership, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella even personally appeared at Samsung’s Note 10 event last year. But it’s more important

Sony released its superb WH-1000XM3 noise-canceling headphones in 2018, and they still frequently top lists for the best noise-canceling headphones you can buy. But competitors haven’t been sitting idle: Bose’s Noise Canceling Headphones 700 are neck and neck with Sony for noise cancellation and have better microphones for voice calls. Microsoft’s Surface Headphones 2 have more intuitive controls, and smaller companies like Jabra are releasing impressive noise-canceling headphones at lower prices. Even Apple is rumored to be at work on its own premium set of headphones.

But to fend off its rivals, Sony has returned with the new $349.99 1000XM4

Samsung should’ve called these things the Galaxy Beans. What a missed opportunity. With that out of the way, let’s talk about the new Galaxy Buds Live. The company’s latest true wireless earbuds and their unconventional design have leaked extensively over the last few months, and I’ve had many questions along the way. How do you achieve noise cancellation with earbuds that don’t seal in your ears? Can this bean shape possibly feel comfortable?

The $169.99 Buds Live have a style all their own. They’re super reflective in the bronze color, which can look more rose gold in some lighting. But