We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.This refurbished Ring Video Doorbell Pro is now $69.99, a significant drop from its original $139.99. Since its certified, you can expect it to look and work like new, having been thoroughly tested to meet quality standards. Certified Refurbished Ring Video Doorbell Pro $69.99 at Amazon $139.99 Save $70.00 Get Deal Get Deal $69.99 at Amazon $139.99 Save $70.00 As for the performance, the daytime footage of the Doorbell Pro comes through crisp and clean in HD (giving you a wide 160-degree view of your doorstep), while night vision holds up wellproviding sharp, well-lit video up to about 20 feet. There is some barrel distortion at the edges of the frame, but according to this PCMag review, people and objects in the center look normal.The Ring Pro also integrates with Amazon Alexa for voice commands and packs a built-in motion sensor, speaker, microphone, and chime, so youre fully covered for any doorstep activity. It connects to your home wifi on either 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands using 802.11n circuitry, ensuring a stable connection. That said, this is a wired device that requires a 16 to 24 volt power sourcethe same wiring used for traditional doorbells. This constant power supply means no batteries to charge, which is great for reliability, but the catch is installation. If your home already has doorbell wiring, youre good to go. If not, setting it up could involve some extra work and cost.The camera starts recording when someone presses the doorbell or if motion is detected, and a push alert is sent to your phone. However, accessing recorded footage and unlocking the device's full functionality requires a Ring Home subscription, with the Basic Plan costing $4.99 per month for a single camera. The Ring Pro works with the Ring app, where you can manage all its features including adjusting motion sensitivity, setting up customized motion zones, toggling motion alerts on or off, and viewing live video with options for two-way audio, speaker mute, and more (though this requires a Standard ($10 per month) or Premium ($20 per month) subscription).

Telegram has introduced a new third-party account verification system as part of its latest app update, the company announced in a blog post. The idea is to let public figures or companies that are already verified by Telegram in turn verify others, for instance employees in the organization. "This decentralized platform for additional verification will help prevent scams and reduce misinformation with a unique proactive solution that sets a new safety standard for social platforms," Telegram wrote.Individuals or groups that want to be able to verify others must already have an official bot verified by Telegram. Once that happens, they can apply to become a third-party verifier on Telegram. They're also required to have a unique icon (simple and. minimalistic in a solid color) that will appear next of the names of accounts they verify.Any accounts verified in this way will have that logo next to their name, and opening their profile will show a detailed explanation of that status and what it means. The company emphasized that this type of verification is "completely separate" from its internal verification, and provided more details in a guide.Telegram also introduced new search filters that let you refine a list of results only from private chats, group chats or channels. It also added custom emojis for folder names, reactions for service messages and the ability to upgrade gifts to NFTs.The company also announced that it reached profitability for the first time thanks to monetization features like Premium subscriptions, ads, Telegram Stars and more. Not all has been rosy for the company of late, though: In August last year, the founder of the chat app, Pavel Durov, was arrested over charges that the company hadn't done enough to stop illegal activity on the app.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/telegram-introduces-third-party-verification-and-new-search-filters-140013424.html?src=rss

Welcome to 2025. Wave farewell to yesteryear with the biggest losers in tech. Picking our favorite villains in 2024 was challenging when it simply wasnt a great time for tech. With the depressing spiral that is social media, the will-they-or-wont-they dance of banning TikTok in the US and the neverending edited and deepfaked content, its just so noisy. Is it the internet of slop? Is it exhaustion? Is it AIs talking to AIs about AIs? In between all that, theres the obsolescence of connectors past, Intels major struggles to turn around its fortunes, and, ugh, those AI assistants.EngadgetAnd, because it's a new year, we'll be making some changes to the Engadget newsletter in the next few weeks. We'll still be hitting the biggest tech stories and events, but also fold in more context, more writers and editors and even some features from Engadget's past. Is there something you'd like to see in your inbox? Get in touch. Mat SmithThe biggest tech stories you missedDang, 2024 was a great year for horror game fansBluesky and Threads showed us very different visions for a post-X futureCNBC's new streaming service can cost up to $600 a yearGet this delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!New year, new public domain characters and mediaTintin dancing to Rhapsody in Blue.EngadgetIt's the start of a new year, and a fresh crop of creative works have entered the public domain. Today, many materials copyrighted in 1929 and sound recordings from 1924 become fair game to freely adapt, reuse, copy and share. Several seminal directors debuted their first projects with sound, such as Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail and Cecil B. DeMille's Dynamite. 1929 was also the year when Walt Disney directed the iconic Skeleton Dance short animated by Ub Iwerks, as well as when Mickey Mouse starred in his first talkie.Continue reading.The first PlayStation Plus games of 2025 include The Stanley Parable and Suicide SquadTwo games from a decade ago and a critical flop.Sony just revealed the first set of PlayStation Plus games in 2025 available for all subscribers. This month includes Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered and The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe. Suicide Squad is a surprising addition: It went through multiple delays, got largely negative reviews and reportedly cost Warner Bros. some $200 million. Developers announced that the current season of content would be its last, though there are no plans to shut the game down yet. So play it while you can?Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-121556766.html?src=rss

The next Samsung flagship could lift a couple of neat features from the Pixel 9 Pro, such as crash detection and a free trial of Gemini Advanced.

These handy kitchen gadgets will help you become the ultimate bread baker in 2025 without using a bread maker.

Threat actors are now using fake GitHub stars to rank their repositories and get malware to more victims.

Chinese electric vehicle makers including Nio and Li Auto have followed market leaders Tesla and BYD in extending buying incentives to the start of 2025, as a price war in the worlds largest auto market continues for a third year.Li Auto announced on Thursday cash subsidies of 15,000 yuan ($2,055) per car purchase as well as a three-year zero-interest financing scheme.Nio launched a similar zero-interest loan plan for its Nio- and Onvo-branded EV buyers on Wednesday.The incentives are intended to encourage purchases before the government subsidy schemes for the new year start. More than 5.2 million cars sold as of mid-December had benefited from Chinese government subsidies.China has signalled an extension of consumer goods trade-ins in 2025, but specifics for the policy implementation nationwide remain unclear.Nanjing, the capital city of eastern Chinas Jiangsu province, said earlier this week it would continue to provide subsidies of up to 4,000 yuan per car purchase this year.Chinese authorities have agreed to issue 3 trillion yuan worth of special treasury bonds this year, Reuters has reported, as Beijing ramps up fiscal stimulus to revive a faltering economy partly via subsidy programmes.Local EV champion BYD, which could have outsold Ford and Honda globally in 2024, has been offering discounts of up to 11.5% on two modelsone hybrid and one EVsince December.Tesla, which sparked the price war last year, has extended a 10,000 yuan discount on outstanding loans for its best-selling Model Y in China until the end of this month.Sales of EVs and plug-in hybrids, known collectively as new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China, surpassed 10 million units last year, thanks to government-subsidized trade-ins of up to 20,000 yuan apiece for NEVs.Nonetheless, autos-related retail sales contracted by 0.7% year-on-year in the first 11 months, versus a 3.5% increase in Chinas total retail sales, official data showed, pointing to the impact of price cuts.($1 = 7.2993 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Qiaoyi Li, Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh. Editing by Mark Potter

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is alerting the public via its recall website about a voluntary advisory issued by Braga Fresh for a batch of Marketside Broccoli Florets sold at Walmart stores across 20 states. The precautionary advisory was issued due to potential contamination withListeria monocytogenes, a harmful bacteria that can pose serious health risks. Heres what to know: Which product was impacted?Braga Fresh, the company behind the product, said the advisory impacts a single production lot of its 12-ounce bags of washed and ready-to-eat broccoli florets. The potential for contamination was discovered during random sampling by Texas Health & Human Services from a Texas store location where one of multiple samples yielded a positive test result, the company said.Where was the product sold?The advisory states that the product was sold at Walmart, with distribution to stores in: AlaskaArkansasArizonaCaliforniaColoradoIdahoIllinoisIndianaKentuckyLouisianaMichiganMontanaNevadaOhioOklahomaOregonTexasUtahWashingtonWyoming It does not apply to any other Marketside or Braga Fresh-produced products.The company is urging consumers to discard any affected products they may have, particularly if they have frozen them for later use.What specific product details should I look out for?Brand Name: MarketsideProduct: 12 oz. Bag of Broccoli FloretsUPC Code: 6 81131 32884 5Lot Code: BFFG327A6Best If Used By Date: Dec. 10, 2024Retailer: WalmartIs this a recall?The company is using the term advisory, not recall. The product in question is no longer in stores. However, consumers may have frozen the item for later use, according to the advisory. The best if used by date is December 10, 2024.Are Listeria infections on the rise?Listeria infection, which can lead to severe symptoms such as fever, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, poses a particular risk to vulnerable populations, including pregnant women, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems. In pregnant women, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths.Listeria outbreaks are becoming more frequent, with experts citing several factors contributing to the increase. Darin Detwiler, a food safety adviser and professor at Northeastern University, told Fast Company earlier this year that the food system has grown more complex in recent decades, driven by globalization and demand for fresh and ready-to-eat products. He warns that these products skip consumer preparation steps, which means any contamination that happens earlier in the supply chain can reach consumers directly. Additionally, technologies like vacuum-sealing, meant to extend shelf life, can create conditions where pathogens like Listeria thriveWhat if I have this broccoli in my freezer?Do not consume it. Throw it way immediately. For additional information, consumers can contact Braga Fresh at 877-456-7445 or by email at WeCare@bragafresh.com. The FDA continues to monitor the situation, and no further updates have been provided as of this time. So far, no illnesses associated with the product have been reported.

As the year 2024 comes to an end, Im looking back and thinking about what a marketers calendar looked like. Given the pace of culture, its measured less in months, days, and weeks, and more in hours. Yet there are moments and events that anchor so much brand activity, from the Super Bowl, to the Olympics, sports playoffs to award shows. Meanwhile, there are the constant cultural moments created by an always-on audience that brands are both excited and terrified by. Oh, and then there was a major U.S. election and the continued rise of AI. Pretty mellow year, all told, right?The role of the chief marketing officer is ever-evolving, and often bespoke to the company and brands with which they work. But the job has become more complicated, and its a crucial linchpin to commercial growth and success. In order to succeed, marketing execs must continuously straddle the growing collection of media and platforms to elevate their brands cultural resonance, and connect to audiences.We recently announced our inaugural Brands That Matter CMOs of the Year list, so there may be no one better to talk to than these marketing execs at the top of their game. I asked nine of them about lessons from the past year, issues to face in the coming year, and what will be the biggest development or shift marketers and brands can expect in 2025.Lessons from 2024Trust is everything, and the benefits of trust compound exponentially. Our DoorDash-All-The-Ads campaign benefited from an extraordinarily high level of trust, developed at warp speed and in real-time. Given that it was novel, we had to trust that we could pull it off, the business had to trust that it would deliver, and we had to trust every advertiser in the Super Bowl with our idea and have them do the same with usversus the standard practice of everyone holding their cards incredibly close to the vest. When in doubt, trust. DoorDash CMO Kofi Amoo-GottfriedThinking expansively, pushing the boundaries and stretching the limits. No one fits into any one box. You can love red lipstick and heavy metal, you can excel at STEM and be a sports fan, you can be purpose-led and results driven. My vocabulary centers around and and all, not or. And thats how were fueling our disruptive marketing engine, expanding our unaided brand awareness from 13% in 2020 to 33% in 2024. The progress were making is exceptional and the e.l.f.ing limit does not exist. E.l.f. Beauty CMO Kory MarchisottoBecause of the divisiveness in the country, there was a lot of fear and concern coming from marketers about communicating anything that might come off as political or leaning one direction or another. I think we all learned the brands that stayed consistent with their core values won out. At the NFL, we chose not to abandon or shrink our core programs that were focused on being a force for good, and ultimately, we will come out of 2024 with a stronger brand. National Football League CMO Tim Ellis This year we saw that focus really matters. Too often as brands we try to be all things to all people and miss the beauty of focus. The simplicity in doing a few things in extraordinary ways made a significant difference in our ability to break through, resonate deeply, but more importantly, actually make meaningful change around the issues we focused on. Whether those were customer experiences, product enhancements, or marketing platforms we cared about like continual change in the space of womens sports. Our focus allowed deeper levels of investment, a more concentrated presence and more authenticity in our actions. Ally Financial CMO Andrea BrimmerMost significant issue of 2025Theres this fascinating tension between change being hard and something that humans are psychologically averse to, and operating a high-growth business within the context of the dramatically accelerated technological, economic, and societal shifts weve seen over the past few years. So, in many ways, I believe the most significant challenge is building a resilient, agile, and creative organization that can adapt and evolve at the pace of culture, and to do this without losing a sense of ourselves or what were trying to accomplish. DoorDash CMO Kofi Amoo-GottfriedWe will continue to strike the right balance between leaning into technical innovations and data-powered marketing with high creativity and working to make people truly feel something from our communications. Its never been so important to encourage and drive toward emotional storytelling. With increasing focus on efficiencies and marketing attribution for every dollar spent, we need to have the courage to continue to create high-impact marketing that will break through and achieve an emotional connection with our fans. National Football League CMO Tim Ellis The most significant issue next year will continue to be the relentless pace of technology evolutionparticularly AIand the pressure to implement more holistically across the marketing ecosystem. AI is infiltrating literally every aspect of marketing from creative development, to consumer segmentation, to process and operations. The pressure to pick up the pace, find real efficiencies and drive great value never abates for marketers. Those that are not rapidly ideating and implementing around AI will start to get left behindwait and see is not a mode we can be in anymore. I believe the pressure for greater adoption and utilization will be significant for marketers.Ally Financial CMO Andrea BrimmerThe social landscape is evolving: changes in ownership of platforms, the regulatory landscape, even threats of platforms getting banned altogether. Of course, its pushed our marketing team to adapt, add new platforms to our mix, and find the up and coming spaces. But the creativity that bubbles up on these platforms is a big inspiration for me and the work I lead. Tapping into the collective storytelling in these spaces helps me understand what people are excited about, and it helps me think about how to connect with our viewers. If these platforms were to go away, it would be a loss to the broader creative community. Tubi CMO Nicole ParlapianoTalent. Today, marketers have to be tech-savvy, data savvy, financially savvy and marketing savvy in the traditional sense. Right- and left-brained thinkers. This is very hard to find, and the most important thing we can do as leaders. And, for our current teams, its essential that we focus on upskilling and reskilling so that they are equipped to navigate an ever-complex world. Our people are the brains, and the heart, behind everything that we do. Mastercard CMO Raja RajamannarBiggest 2025 development for marketersAI will continue to be a huge deal, not just because it will change how we work, but because it will put a premium on developing and delivering truly original creativity. Good enough content and storytelling will be commoditized and no longer good enough to drive differentiation, which will require us all to find that next gear. DoorDash CMO Kofi Amoo-GottfriedTheres no question that every marketer is now focused on how to manage the opportunities with AI. Like any new technological innovation, we will all need to determine how to harness its power and potential, without allowing it to mute or lessen big new ideas and creativity. We will certainly do everything we can to take advantage of the opportunities with AI as it relates to speed, distribution of messages and data, but we will also continue to embrace big, bold ideas that are truly new and innovative. NFL CMO Tim EllisWe have entered a period of constant change and disruption, which creates an opening for innovative and fearless marketers. The rapid pace of new technology provides a tremendous opportunity for enhanced marketing campaigns, more personalized messaging and additional cutting-edge efforts across all marketing mediums, but marketers must embrace innovation and be unafraid in the face of change. Disney chief brand officer Asad AyazThe culture chasm will continue to widen and navigating cultural relevance will be trickier than ever for brands and marketers. We are witnessing unprecedented changes in consumer sentiment, attitude and behavior. The political and societal divide is moving in highly bifurcated directions The notion of showing up in culture, so central to brand relevance the last several years, is becoming more complex to define. Many brands will struggle and get it wrong in 2025, underscoring the importance of authenticity in each brand action and alignment with what shareholders, employees and customers expect from your brand. Ally Financial CMO Andrea BrimmerIn our sector, next year presents a double-helix dilemma. Its the first year since the pandemic when releases will be back to capacity, while at the same time people are attending fewer movies. The competition to stand above and apart with every title will be intense. Universal Pictures CMO Michael MosesGenerative AI will continue to be a hot topic as marketers determine how they can thoughtfully apply it, not only to make processes more efficient, but also in an attempt to personalize content. I am energized and excited about what were doing at American Express, as we focus on how to use Gen AI to make our colleagues more productive, enhance data protection, and improve many experiences for our customers. American Express CMO Elizabeth RutledgeWe began with AI, progressed to Generative AI, and are now entering the next transformative phase: agentic AI. This is the game changer. Unlike traditional or Generative AI, where you ask for answers and then act on them yourself, agentic AI takes care of everythingfrom providing recommendations to executing tasks on your behalf. For instance, instead of merely suggesting the best flight options, the AI agent will book them for you. This shift has profound implications for the convenience of consumers, as they delegate decision-making to AI. For marketers, its imperative to adapt, remain relevant and find ways to integrate into this evolving purchase funnel. Brands must ensure they are the preferred brandnot only for consumers but for their AI agents. Mastercard CMO Raja Rajamannar

Amidst a product landscape dominated by junk, we occasionally encounter humble, useful objects where the designer has clearly thought things through. These will never make it into the MoMA, but they aim to improve the lives of everyday people doing everyday things.A seat belt guide for pregnant women.Smart design improvements to the travel clothesline. The Clipa Purse Hook. A modern, three-application design for a drinking fountain. A specialty drill bit for electricians, designed from customer feedback. An easy-to-carry folding lighter that extends reach. This clever design for a kiln shed features siding that turns into shelving. A compact, easy-to-deploy design for a car sunshade (assuming this thing is real).Toilet paper storage for bathrooms with no free space. This ergonomically superior interface design for camera operators uses inertia wheels that have adjustable mass. Industrial designer Andrew Smith's brilliant fly-repelling invention.A clever design for an easy-to-store spray bottle. Klhip rethinks the ergonomics of the nail clipper. Industrial design firm BKID creates a dog harness with better UX. Microsoft's Xbox Adaptive Joystick for players with limited mobility. GE's Access Kit, which lets you easily retrofit appliances for use by the blind. Peak Design's Tech Pouch is an organizing bag with better UX. Lastly, one example of what not to do. This freezer control dial is just terrible UI design: