The lifespan of a games console has extended a lot since I was a child. In the 1990s, this kind of technology would be out of date after just a couple of years. There would be some tantalising new machine out before you knew it, everybody competing to be on the cutting edge: the Game Boy and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in 1989 were followed by the Game Gear in 1990 and the Super NES in 1991. Five years was a long life for a gaming machine.Now, it’s more like 10. The Nintendo Switch 2 will be released in a couple of weeks, more than eight years since I first picked an original Switch up off its dock and marvelled at the instant transition to portable play. Games consoles often feel like they mark off particular eras in my life: the Nintendo 64 was the defining console of my childhood, the PlayStation 2 of my adolescence, and the Xbox 360 of the first years of my career, the first console launch I ever covered as a (ridiculously young) journalist. The Nintendo Switch came along just a few months after my first child was born, and for me it has become the games machine of that era of harried early parenthood.When I reflect on my experiences with the Switch, I remember snatching moments in Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule while the baby napped beside me; hiding on the veranda of a French villa to play the odd Splatoon match on our first family holiday; and trying to make a mint on my Animal Crossing turnip trades while walking my second baby around the house in his sling, trying to get him to sleep (he never did). When they got old enough, the first games I played with my children were on the Switch. We all played Pokémon Sword and Shield together, and most recently my youngest made his way through the surprisingly entertaining Princess Peach Showtime with only minimal assistance from me.Hello to the moo … The Nintendo Switch created a unique gaming space all of its own. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPAOver the last eight years, my living room TV became dominated by things like Bluey and Moana and most recently (god help me), Alvin and the Chipmunks, and I no longer have the hours of uninterrupted gaming time in the evenings. The Switch gave me some of that that time back, though, letting me dip into games whenever I had a moment – which gave me vital stress relief, a route back to myself during some of the most challenging years of my life. Eight years is a long time, enough for anyone’s life to change beyond recognition. In that time I’ve lost people, moved cities, gained new friends, too. And, of course, we all went through the pandemic. Animal Crossing: New Horizons became perhaps the defining game of that time, and I am not the only person for whom the Switch was a blessed oasis, a way to connect when we were starved of in-person interaction.Things have changed for me since 2017, as they probably have for you. Consoles feel like companions, especially perhaps the portable ones like the Switch and the Game Boy, which we literally carry with us wherever we go. My kids are older now, enjoying all the Switch games that I enjoyed when they were very small – and it does seem as if the Switch 2 will neatly mark another new stage, for me and for them.I recently gathered together all the Switch consoles, games, controllers and accessories in my house and my office for an audit, from the battered day-one unit that serves as the family console to the untouched OLED Zelda special edition my partner got me and the variably functioning spare JoyCons accumulated over time. It’s not quite time for them to join the other old consoles under my bed, each in a clear plastic box with all of its cables, ready to be dusted off when the time comes; the Switch 2 will take its place in my rucksack and in my office, but I won’t be upgrading the family console for some time yet. I don’t really wantA little sentimentality is forgivable at the end of an era. In a couple of weeks all the talk will be about the new console, how it’s selling, whether it’s worth the money, what the best Mario Kart World strategies are, and how it compares to its record-breaking predecessor. For now, I’m not thinking much about what the Nintendo Switch meant for the gaming industry; instead I’m thinking about what it meant to me.What to playBe who you wanna be … there are many lives to choose from in the latest RPG, Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time. Illustration: Level5/Have you ever heard of Fantasy Life? It was a bit of a cult hit on the Nintendo 3DS in 2014, a cosy-feeling role-playing game that let you switch between 12 different professions, so you would be blacksmithing one minute, fighting monsters another and cooking things up the next. The sequel – Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time – is out today after years of delays.You can now be an artist or a farmer as well as a magician, carpenter, fisherman, alchemist or whatever else you fancy, and also it adds time travel into the mix. It’s an intriguing amalgamation of the Animal Crossing/Harvest Moon style of Japanese life simulator, and the Dragon Quest/Ni no Kuni flavour of unthreatening role-playing game, and I’m looking forward to exploring it. An especial shout-out to the members of one of my group chats who have been eagerly awaiting this for more than a decade.Available on: Switch/2, PS4/5, Xbox, PC Estimated playtime: skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Pushing ButtonsFree weekly newsletterKeza MacDonald's weekly look at the world of gamingPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionWhat to readBroom broom … the home delivery system in Crescent County. Illustration: Electric Saint A couple of interesting games hitting Kickstarter this week: Crescent County, a colourful witch-delivery game with broom-racing and plenty of small-town drama; and a ghost story set in Paisley just outside Glasgow, named after its Chinese takeaway Crystal Garden. If you have a few minutes, have a go at this satirical simulation text game You Are Generative AI, which casts you as an increasingly self-aware AI large language model answering random questions that people cannot be bothered to research or think through themselves. I got three different endings and one of them made me genuinely quite sad. Developers at Bungie, makers of Destiny and the forthcoming shooter Marathon, have been dealing with an alleged plagiarism scandal after unattributed designs from an artist called Antireal were found in promotional screenshots and art from Marathon. Bungie is blaming the mistake on a former employee. VG247 has a rundown. After half a decade, PlayStation 5 sales are neck and neck with PlayStation 4’s results at this point in its life cycle, at 78m – despite the fact that its price has actually increased, due to the wild times in which we live. Video Game Chronicle gets into the numbers. What to clickQuestion BlockWhat’s in a name? … playing a video game using Nintendo’s Wii U controller. Photograph: Jae C Hong/API’ve had several good suggestions for the name of reader Travis’s book-club style video game club: Select/Start (thanks Alex), Long Play (from Eva), and Doki Doki Videogame Club (niche reference there, Chris). Especial props to Kenny, however, who went hog wild and came up with several, including these three beauts: Go Forth and Multiplay, Concurrent Players and Let’s Console Each Other.Lucas also had a great suggestion for last week’s questioner: “Your bookclubber should look at itch.io for crazy little free games to play and discuss with their friends! The indie folks sharing their games there would probably love the attention/feedback of a games book club.” (You Are Generative AI, which I mentioned earlier, is on Itch, along with just hundreds of other shortform games worthy of discussion.)And we’ve just about got room for another (timely) question, this time from reader Ali:“I’ve always admired Nintendo for coming up with different names for each console, as opposed to Sony going for the sequential naming convention and Microsoft jumping from 360 to One to Series (?). My opinion has somewhat changed now that the successor to the Nintendo Switch is called Switch 2. Do you have any thoughts on console names?”It’s true that Nintendo usually goes for completely new names for each console, except arguably the series of Game Boys, the NES and Super NES, Wii and Wii U, and now Switch and Switch 2. And yes, this is the first time they’ve gone for a number. I’d say this is down to how badly the company did with the Wii U, whose confusing name surely contributed to how badly it flopped. But I think it reflects the more conservative and cautious mood of the games industry as a whole in 2025, as it comes to the end of decades’ worth of unsustainably rapid growth. Or maybe it’s because Nintendo’s president Shuntaro Furukawa used to be an accountant.If you’ve got a question for Question Block – or anything else to say about the newsletter – email us on pushingbuttons@theguardian.com

At its annual developer conference, Google presented groundbreaking AI innovations that go far beyond mere product updates. Rather, they outline a future in which artificial intelligence is no longer just a tool, but an omnipresent, proactive companion. Here are the most important new products. Project Astra: the universal AI assistant Project Astra, which has been continuously developed since its first presentation at Google I/O 2024, embodies Google’s vision of a universal AI assistant. The most revolutionary innovation: Astra can now act proactively. Instead of only reacting to direct commands, the assistant continuously observes its surroundings and decides independently when it should intervene.

Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube813k Sega has positioned itself as a staunch early supporter of the Switch 2, offering up three key titles on day one and three more to follow later on. While we've yet to experience the full lineup, Sega invited us to check out a trio of launch-period titles in what marked our first extended experience with the Switch 2 completely untethered from any kind of demo kiosk. Wild stuff! But we're not here to talk about the hardware; more on that will come soon enough. This is all about the games, so let's kick things off with Kiryu...Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube813kWatch on YouTube Yakuza 0: Director's Cut Image: Sega Upon booting up this Director’s Cut of this 2015 game, the first thing that strikes us is just how clean it looks. Sure, we’ve had some really great-looking games on the original Switch, but there was something about Yakuza 0 that screams premium. It may simply be because we've played the game extensively before, and usually when you move from PS4 to original Switch, you expect some pretty heavy visual compromises. On Switch 2, there’s nothing of the sort. Yakuza 0 looks exactly like it does on the PS4; perhaps even better, with razor-sharp image clarity and exceptionally smooth frame rate. It’s glorious. The single-player portion of the demo stars fan-favourite Goro Majima. The lengthy dialogue sequences within the main story gave us a good sense of how voice actor Matthew Mercer (Ganondorf, Leon Kennedy) comes across as the voice of Majima, and honestly, he’s pretty good! Ultimately, while we suspect many of you will stick to the original Japanese dub, we reckon you’ll be pretty happy with the English version, too. Images: Sega If you’ve played Yakuza Kiwami on Switch (or really any entry before the series shifted to a turn-based RPG setup with Yakuza: Like A Dragon), you’ll feel right at home here. Once we were let loose to explore the immediate environment of Sotenbori, we were free to take on gang members skulking in the shadows, chat to NPCs to initiate side quests, and – unfortunately – get absolutely annihilated in a shakedown fight. The aforementioned side quest in this case was the ‘Be My Boyfriend!’ mission, which sees Majima play the role of doting partner to a girl who just wants to impress her father. It’s a hilarious sequence completely devoid of any combat, but the dialogue really highlights just how funny the series can be. In fact, if you make the right dialogue choices, the father winds up begging you to be his daughter’s boyfriend for real! We also looked at the new multiplayer mode, Red Light Raid. It’s a pretty simple setup: you and up to four friends combine forces to take on hordes of enemies, and that’s really it. Once you complete the designated number of waves based on your chosen difficulty, you’ll face off against a boss character, which is usually one of the notable characters from the main game. It’s chaotic, it’s fun, but it’s also ultimately pretty shallow. Images: Sega The number of playable characters was quite limited in the demo, but in addition to the likes of Kiryu, Majima, Kuze, and Nishikiyama, you’ve also got deeper cuts like the utterly outrageous Ginger Chapman, whose slow, hulking frame is compensated for with a deadly melee weapon. It’s a neat little mode which you can also play solo if you desire, but we suspect most players will be sticking to the excellent story mode, which remains one of the very best in the Yakuza series. RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army Image: Sega We have to admit, Raidou Remastered isn’t the best game to demo over the course of 20 minutes or so. That said, our time with it did at least give us a taste of what to expect in terms of exploration, interactions, and combat. The demo mostly took place within the town of Tsukudo-cho, home of the Narumi Detective Agency headquarters. We were free to explore and chat with the locals, but some of them didn’t have a whole lot to say. This is where you’re able to break out one of your demon companions and read characters’ minds. This way, you can get a sense of what it is they’re after and thus help them out accordingly. Moving around the town revealed that the camera was essentially fixed in place, shifting perspective whenever protagonist Raidou (pronounced ‘Ry-doo’, by the way) would turn onto a different street. There were a few instances where the change in camera angle felt a little off and it was quite difficult to judge which direction we had to go – it’s no classic Resident Evil, that’s for sure. Still, wandering about the town was fun, and the accompanying music was oddly serene and comforting. Images: Sega The action really kicks into gear when you deliver some wine to the ‘Big Tarrasque’ creature dwelling within the Daidouji Residence basement. Once this weird turtle/ape hybrid decides Raidou would be perfect pairing with the wine, a battle commences. Unlike most Shin Megami Tensei games, Raidou allows you to run around the arena and attack at will, with different moves mapped to the various Switch 2 face buttons. Actions such as attacking an enemy, exploiting weaknesses, or even healing will build up Spirit during the battle. Once you gain enough Spirit, you can unleash a powerful Spirit Slash attack with ‘A’ + ‘X’, hitting all enemies within the area. Initiating the move results in a brief, slick cutscene in which Raidou unleashes a wave of fire with a few quick strokes of his sword. It’s pretty awesome. Images: Sega All in all, the battle mechanics feel intuitive and responsive, and should appeal to those who are intrigued by the world of Shin Megami Tensei but otherwise put off by the often daunting turn-based mechanics. Here, the action feels a bit more akin to something you might find in a modern Final Fantasy game. It’s a nice change of pace, and we can’t wait to see how it develops and evolves as you proceed further into the game. While we barely scratched the surface of Raidou, we're really excited for this one. Yes, the graphics don't exactly scream next-gen, but this is nevertheless an extensive upgrade from the PS2 original. Definitely one to keep an eye on. Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S Image: Sega We suspect that the biggest question mark for Sega fans might well be Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S, a game that, on the surface at least, looks like more of the same for another £35 on Switch 2. What exactly is the point? Well, to be honest, this one is definitely more likely to appeal to those who have yet to dive into the series, but the chaos involved with the new Doubles Mode might just be enough to convince die-hard fans to double-dip. Doubles Mode essentially has you and a friend team up to take on your opponents. The twist, however, is that you’re not in charge of your own Puyo Puyo / Tetris board each, but rather you’re working together on a single board. This means that you have to actually communicate with each other to determine where each player will place their piece. Get it right, and you can accomplish some pretty devastating combos. It’s very easy to mess up, however, and this is down to friendly collision. Images: Sega You see, you’d think that you’d be able to move your pieces wherever you want, regardless of where your friend is positioned on the board. Not so. You actually have to move out of each other’s way, and if you happen to collide with each other, the resulting confusion will cost precious time. It’s pretty chaotic and we weren’t sure what to make of it at first, but as long as you maintain communication and decide who’s doing what, it’s certainly manageable and even quite enjoyable. What’s not enjoyable, however, are the optional mouse controls – emphasis on ‘optional’. Granted, we didn’t get a whole lot of time with the game (20 minutes or so), so there’s every chance that a bit more time will yield a more positive impression of the controls, but it just felt weird. Essentially, moving the Joy-Con around on a surface will cause the corresponding Tetris block or Puyo blob to move in the same direction – much like a desktop cursor on a PC. Clicking ‘R’ allows you to rotate your piece, but the real kicker is how you perform a hard drop. Normally, if you’re using a standard D-pad setup, this would be accomplished by tapping up; so you line up your piece with left and right and tap up to hard drop – easy. With the mouse mode, however, you have to twist your thumb around to rest on the analogue stick, then pull it down. Images: Sega It’s such a bizarre setup, we couldn’t properly get to grips with it in the time that we had, and ultimately we just switched back to standard controls so we could focus on the game itself. If we’re able to remap controls and have the hard drop function mapped to a face button or even ‘ZR’, this might prove a compelling control method. As it is, it’s not something we can recommend. Ultimately, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S is more of the same, and we imagine there are fans out there just waiting to get this downloaded on the new console. Newcomers have a lot to dive into, including Adventure Mode, Skill Battle, and more, but for those more casual fans who already own Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 elsewhere, we get the impression you won't be missing out on too much if you skip this one at launch. Another one of those block-dropping feats So that's yer lot for now! Overall, we're pretty pleased with Sega's upcoming output for the Switch 2. None of these games will do much to convince the layman that the system is a massive step up from its predecessor in terms of raw power, but if you're someone who values a strong cadence of great games early in a console's lifespan, you'll like what Sega's got waiting in the wings. Huge thanks to Sega for the opportunity to check these out. Yakuza 0 and Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S will be joined by Sonic X Shadow Generations on 5th June, while RAIDOU Remastered will launch shortly after on 19th June. Two Point Museum is "2025" and Virtua Fighter 5 REVO doesn't have a date yet. Which of these games currently takes your fancy? Will you be grabbing Yakuza or Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S on launch day? Let us know your thoughts with a comment down below. It's close, though Switch information also revealed Related Games See Also Share:0 1 Nintendo Life’s resident horror fanatic, when he’s not knee-deep in Resident Evil and Silent Hill lore, Ollie likes to dive into a good horror book while nursing a lovely cup of tea. He also enjoys long walks and listens to everything from TOOL to Chuck Berry. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment... Related Articles Nintendo Switch 2 Final Tech Specs Have Been Confirmed GameChat has a "significant impact on system resources" Nintendo Apologises For "Error" With Mention Of Switch 2 VRR TV Support "The incorrect information was initially published" 12 Switch Games Are Getting Free Switch 2 Upgrades, Here's What You Can Expect Nintendo's free updates arrive next month Here's Your First Look At Pokémon Scarlet And Violet On Switch 2 What? ScaVi is evolving!

Table of Contents Table of Contents Table of Contents Skullcandy vs. Bose: Sound quality Skullcandy vs. Bose: Noise cancellation Skullcandy vs. Bose: Comfort and design Skullcandy vs. Bose: Battery life Skullcandy vs. Bose: Companion apps and extra features Our winner: Get the Bose earbuds on sale How We Tested Frequently Asked Questions The noise-cancelling earbuds market is not just crowded — it's packed. If a brand wants to stand out with a new release, it faces the difficult task of bringing something new to the table that can outshine the products of the major brands like Sony, Apple, and, of course, Bose. Skullcandy's new earbuds, the Method 360 ANC earbuds, are attempting to do just that by partnering with one of those major brands — Bose. The earbuds come with Bose-powered sound at the very impressive introductory price of $99.99 (Skullcandy will be raising the price to $129.99 at an unspecified date in the future). The cheapest Bose earbuds, on the other hand, are the QuietComfort earbuds, which retail for $179. Though they are considerably more expensive, they do often go on sale for $149 and have reached the record-low price of $129, which made us especially curious to put them head to head with the Skullcandy earbuds.Below, you'll find our breakdown of how the Bose QuietComfort earbuds compare to the Skullcandy Method 360 ANCs. Skullcandy vs. Bose: Sound qualityIn the press release for the Method 360 earbuds, Skullcandy called them its "most advanced audio experience to date." In listening to everything from indie rock, video game soundtracks, and podcasts, I can see why. The Skullcandy earbuds had a balance that matched up easily to other impressive budget earbuds I've tested. Whether I was listening to the Final Fantasy VII soundtrack or a live Daft Punk performance, these earbuds punched above a $100 price point. How does Bose-powered sound compare to the real deal? Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable However, when listening to them side by side with the Bose earbuds, the Skullcandy earbuds felt muffled and muddier (though I wouldn't describe them as muddy on their own).When listening to Japanese Breakfast's "Savage Good Boy," I could still pick out different parts of the song's instrumentation, but I had to listen harder to pick up the piano past the guitar and vocals than I did with the Bose earbuds. While listening to the "Hush (Still Woozy remix)" by The Marías, the layers of the song were present with the Skullcandy earbuds, but shined with the Boses. Ultimately, the Skullcandys provided a solid listening experience, but the one the Bose earbuds provided was undeniably better. At the same volume, the QuietComfort earbuds sounded warmer, fuller, and generally more powerful. (I say this as someone who doesn't necessarily love bumping the volume super high.) Bose offers five total EQ presets, plus a custom setting. Credit: Screenshot: Bose Compared to Skullcandy's three presets and custom equalizer. Credit: Screenshot: Skullcandy For both, I found their standard mix to be on the bass-heavy side. However, Bose offers five EQ presets and a custom equalizer, compared to Skullcandy's three presets with a custom equalizer.Winner: Bose QuietComfortSkullcandy vs. Bose: Noise cancellationSkullcandy uses four mics to help block out sound, compared to the QuietComforts' three mics.That said, Bose's earbuds literally have the words quiet and comfort in their name. Not to mention, the brand's been a leader in the noise-cancelling space for quite some time. Whether I was working at home with my partner on the other side of the wall, in a cafe, library, or taking a walk, I generally found the Bose earbuds more adept at muting and outright blocking out sounds. That especially came through when I used just the noise cancellation without music to help it.However, the Skullcandy earbuds do offer adjustable ANC via the companion app, which isn't currently available on any pair of Bose earbuds. For their price point, it's not a feature I expected, but one I was pleasantly surprised to encounter. At its highest setting, the noise cancellation only had the slightest hiss. While Bose essentially had none at all in my experience, I was still surprised that the Skullcandy's noise cancellation was comparable at all, considering the price discrepancy. The Skullcandy companion app allows you to adjust the ANC on a sliding scale. Credit: Screenshot: Skullcandy And still, it's worth saying: the Skullcandy earbuds' ANC is very impressive for the price point. While working at the library, I could barely hear the murmurs of a conversation across the room that I could make out word for word without wearing the earbuds. On the Bose buds, the conversation disappeared altogether, giving them the slightest edge. Both earbuds allow you to toggle the ANC on and off and activate a transparency mode. With this last setting, the Bose stood out more effortlessly, amplifying the world around me just enough without overly emphasizing sounds or the room tone. The Skullcandy earbuds, on the other hand, exhibited a stronger background hiss in this mode. It didn't make it unusable by any means, but definitely less pleasant than that of the Bose earbuds.Winner: Bose QuietComfort, by a hair Skullcandy vs. Bose: Comfort and designFor how they fit into the ear, the designs are quite similar on these earbuds, which makes them wear very similarly. In my ears, I found the Bose earbuds to be slightly more comfortable, but both pairs come with three sizes of stability bands and three sizes of ear tips. At the end of the day, fit can be very personal, especially with earbuds. The earbuds have a similar shape, and both come equipped with a similar type of ear tip and stability band. Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable As for the earbuds themselves, the Skullcandy earbuds actually resembled the Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds more, with a slightly elongated stem and exterior touch controls with the perfect level of sensitivity. As someone who far prefers tactile on-ear controls, I was surprised by how well these earbuds distinguished the different types of presses. I think because the earbud has a slight groove where the touch controls are, it's easy to identify where to touch, and to not brush against the surface and activate the controls accidentally.On the other hand, the regular QC earbuds have a flatter, more rounded touch control surface, which, in my testing of these earbuds last fall, I found to err on the side of oversensitivity. While I didn't experience that issue much this time around, it's worth noting that I tested them initially during a time of year I was wearing more hats and hoods. The Skullcandy earbuds perform like the Bose QuietComfort earbuds (pictured left) but look more like the QuietComfort Ultra earbuds (pictured right). Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable The Skullcandy earbuds might've taken the win in this section, if not for one glaring feature — their case. Unlike most other earbuds cases that merely snap open and closed, this one has a sliding mechanism with an O-ring and a slot for one earbud on either side of the interior case. If the intention was to create something outside of the box, Skullcandy did a great job, but it sacrificed some functionality in the process. This case is super bulky. Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable As you can see, the case is huge compared to the earbuds, meaning if you're not using the O-ring, it is one of the least travel-friendly pairs of earbuds out there. In their design, Skullcandy seemed to assume that's how most people would use the case, as they placed the earbuds on the opposite side of the case. In other words, when looking at it head-on, the right earbud goes on the left side, and the left earbud goes on the right side. If you have the case clipped onto your belt with the front facing outward, this configuration makes perfect sense. In pretty much every other use case, it makes none.The Bose case, on the other hand, is relatively compact and has a clear spot for each earbud. The Bose earbuds don't have a clip-on ring, but feel marginally more portable. Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable Both earbuds are IPX4 water-resistant, so they should withstand sweating during workouts just fine.Our winner: TieSkullcandy vs. Bose: Battery lifeThere's not much to say here other than both of these earbuds have excellent battery life. With ANC on, Skullcandy estimates you can get roughly nine hours per charge, with 23 hours of battery life in the case. Bose estimates 8.5 hours, with 31.5 hours in the case. Numbers-wise, Bose is the winner here, but in two work weeks of testing, I only needed to charge up the Skullcandy earbuds once. The Bose app has a feature that lets you easily see the hours breakdown of your remaining battery life, but it's not something I checked on super regularly during testing. Related Stories The Bose app makes it easy to tell how much playtime you have left. Credit: Screenshot: Bose For day-to-day use, I found these earbuds performed very similar in the battery life department.Our winner: TieSkullcandy vs. Bose: Companion apps and extra featuresWhen testing these earbuds side by side, I noticed right away that the Bose-powered element doesn't make itself hidden. Skullcandy adopted the Bose QuietComfort's power-on sound, voice assistant, and tiled app interface. The Skullcandy app. Credit: Screenshot: Skullcandy Versus the Bose app. Credit: Screenshot: Bose While the Bose app has a few more features, including a battery prediction, smart calls, and a voice assistant section, there's also quite a bit of overlap. Both have equalizer settings, touch control customization, low latency modes, and even a remote selfie section.Numbers-wise, Bose simply has more features you can mess around with to truly tailor your earbud experience to what suits you best. Features-wise, Skullcandy has a slight edge with adjustable ANC, but Bose's better ANC overall, alongside the greater customization, its battery prediction screen, and more varied EQ presets help it stand out ahead of the cheaper earbuds.Our winner: Bose QuietComfortOur winner: Get the Bose earbuds on saleThe fact that a pair of Skullcandy earbuds can stand up to Bose earbuds at all is a testament to what the brand has done with the Method 360 ANCs. While overall, I wouldn't call them exactly the same, I would say they're similar enough that you won't be upset to grab them at $100. If they stayed at their introductory price forever, they'd be easy to recommend as the winner of this matchup.However, they will be jumping up to $129.99. Combined with the fact that the Bose earbuds get marked down to $149 frequently enough that these earbuds will sit just $20 apart with some regularity, it's hard not to suggest just springing the extra $20 to get slightly better earbuds with slightly more features. Get the Skullcandy and Bose earbuds Bose QuietComfort earbuds $179.00 at Amazon Skullcandy Method 360 ANC $99.99 at Amazon Still can't decide? Check out our full reviews of the Bose QuietComfort earbuds and the Skullcandy Method 360 ANC earbuds. If you have a bigger budget, we recommend checking out our review of the Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds.

This has been a great spring season for testing portable power stations here in Upstate New York. The storms have been frequent, and many have caused power outages that last anywhere from a few hours up to most of a day. In fact, the power is out as I’m writing this. But my laptop, router, and various other home devices are drawing power from the Bluetti Apex 300, which starts at $900 when bundled with the B300K expansion battery (tax and shipping included) on Indiegogo right now. Bluetti built this rig as more than a box of batteries, with a number of clever features and a few industry firsts that make it stand out from an increasingly crowded field. I have spent the past few weeks testing it out during blackouts, campouts, and even a community event in the park, where it allowed a DJ to kick out jams for several hours without having to run a half-mile of extension cords. Bluetti Apex 300 Portable Power Station The built-in display keeps tabs on performance and remaining capacity. This was after several days of sporadic use. Stan Horaczek What is the Bluetti Apex 300? Bluetti built the Apex 300 as a modular system that’s expandable to fit a variety of needs. Out of the box, it works like a typical portable power station with a 2,764.8Wh of storage capacity and six AC outlets. But the system is scalable into a full-fledged power system for home backup or RV living/van-life. You can daisy chain together up to three units and a total of 18 B300K batteries for a total of 11,520W output and 58,000Wh capacity. That’s enough juice and oomph to power a typical house off the grid for an entire week. Bluetti Apex 300 key features Sturdy covers protect outlets when not in use. Stan Horaczek Expandable capacity up to 58,000Wh of capacity and 11,520W, enough to run a typical house for a week Dual 120/240 voltage for maximum versatility Works as an uninterruptible power supply with a 0ms turnover to keep crucial devices running during a blackout with the industry’s highest pass-through rate Offers a DIY solution for hooking up to your home’s main panel Companion app reacts to extreme weather alerts and changes charging patterns to ensure batteries are topped off in case of an outage Tightly integrates with installed solar panels to provide energy savings Industry first 4,000W PV voltage regulator allows for high-speed solar charging—charging takes just 1.9 hours at top speed Super versatile charging for RV life. Works with RV park chargers, EV chargers, alternators, and solar Battery life is good for roughly 6,000 charges before reaching 80 percent capacity—that’s 17 years of regular use Bluetti Apex 300 as a portable power station The sturdy handles make the Apex 300 easy to lug around. Stan Horaczek You don’t have to build an entire infrastructure around the Apex 300. On its own, it provides 2,764.8Wh of power storage, which is plenty for camping trips or as an emergency backup to keep essential devices up and running. The cells inside are second-generation LiFePO₄ cells. Bluetti suggests the cells will last for 6,000 charges while maintaining 80 percent of their original capacity. I obviously haven’t been able to test that, as it represents roughly 17 years of typical use. But these are the latest and greatest in the technology that has replaced typical lithium-ion batteries across this industry.The unit itself fits easily into a typical car trunk, including our very basic 2016 Honda Civic. Carrying it is a lot like carrying a stocked cooler around the house, job site, or camp. I brought this specific model to a neighborhood event in a local park. The DJ easily stashed it under his table and drew power for his setup and speakers for several hours. Every port has rugged rubber covers over it to prevent crud and moisture from getting in during transport. A pair of burly handles makes it relatively easy to lug around, though it isn’t light. If you plan to move it around frequently, Bluetti offers a dedicated cart designed to make it easy to lug. Built-in wireless connectivity allows a companion app to monitor and control the Apex 300’s status and performance. The app makes the synchronization process simple, and it took me less than 10 minutes from removing it from the box to having everything all set up. Bluetti Apex 300 as home backup The B300K expansion battery easily attaches to add power storage. It also provides a sturdy base for the Apex 300. Stan Horaczek An old school home backup generator sat waiting for the power to go off before kicking in and turning on. That meant losing power to crucial devices like computers and CPAP machines. When installed in the home, the Bluetti Apex 300 acts as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with a 0ms delay and 50A, 12,000W pass-through. That sounds complicated, but it essentially means that power runs through the Bluetti system before going into your home and, as a result, it can keep power flowing constantly, even if the grid goes down. There’s functionally no delay. While other systems operate as UPS devices, the 50-amp, 12,000-watt capacity really sets the Apex 300 apart. That’s enough juice for electric vehicle charging, something no other similar device can currently claim. It’s relatively simple to connect the Apex 300 via an inlet box or even a generator expansion port for people trying to have several layers of protection. It’s full power unlocks, however, when it’s integrated into a home solar setup. It charges super efficiently, thanks to a 500V/4,000W PV voltage regulator, which Bluetti claims can help pay for the entire Apex 300 system in as little as two years with the resulting energy savings.The short, robust connection makes for the most efficient possible energy transfer. Stan Horaczek In order to max out capacity, the Apex 300 requires daisy-chaining several Apex 300 main units and extra batteries together. When you’re using three Apex 300s in parallel, it offers 30,720W solar input, which makes it “the world’s largest solar-powered micro energy storage system” according to Bluetti. Bluetti Apex 300 for RVs and off-grid camps These are the high-powered AC outputs that make it uniquely useful for RV and off-grid users. Stan Horaczek While there are four typical AC outlets on the front of the Apex 300, there are also two more robust AC outlets (NEMA TT-30R and NEMA 14-50R output ports) on the side that allow for easy RV and off-grid integration. You won’t typically find these RV-centered ports together on a single battery backup system. Those connections allow for high-powered usage, which is crucial if you want to run high-draw appliances like washing machines, tools, or air conditioners. A simple switch on the front allows users to swap between 120V and 240V charging. Plus, it’s simple to build the Apex 300 and its expansion batteries directly into an RV for an integrated power solution. When it comes to charging the Apex 300 on the road, there are tons of options. It can charge via solar, RV park chargers, from the vehicle’s alternator when installed directly in the RV, and even from an EV charger on the road. For off-grid living, the 7,680W surge output rating is crucial for running high-draw devices like power tools, which can sometimes overload systems with less capacity. Bluetti Apex 300 availability A set of heat mats plugged into the main AC outlet is drawing more than 600 watts of power at once with no issue. Stan Horaczek The Apex 300 solar generator starts at $900 when bundled with the B300K expansion battery (tax and shipping included) on Indiegogo. It’s in-stock and ready to ship. Installment plans and additional early-bird perks are also available during limited-time offers until the campaign ends July 19. Because the system is modular, you can start with a base unit and then add B300K expansion batteries down the line as you need more capacity.

Call it the ultimate proving ground. Collaborating with teammates in the modern workplace requires fast, fluid thinking. Providing insights quickly, while juggling webcams and office messaging channels, is a startlingly good test, and enterprise AI is about to pass it — just in time to provide assistance to busy knowledge workers. To support enterprises in boosting productivity with AI teammates, NVIDIA today introduced a new NVIDIA Enterprise AI Factory validated design at COMPUTEX. IT teams deploying and scaling AI agents can use the design to build accelerated infrastructure and easily integrate with platforms and tools from NVIDIA software partners. NVIDIA also unveiled new NVIDIA AI Blueprints to aid developers building smart AI teammates. Using the new blueprints, developers can enhance employee productivity through adaptive avatars that understand natural communication and have direct access to enterprise data. Blueprints for Engaging, Insightful AI Agents Enterprises can use NVIDIA’s latest AI Blueprints to create agents that align with their business objectives. Using the Tokkio NVIDIA AI Blueprint, developers can create interactive digital humans that can respond to emotional and contextual cues, while the AI-Q blueprint enables queries of many data sources to infuse AI agents with the company’s knowledge and gives them intelligent reasoning capabilities. Building these intelligent AI agents is a full-stack challenge. These blueprints are designed to run on NVIDIA’s accelerated computing infrastructure — including data centers built with the universal NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Server Edition GPU, which is part of NVIDIA’s vision for AI factories as complete systems for creating and putting AI to work. The Tokkio blueprint simplifies building interactive AI agent avatars for more natural and humanlike interactions. These AI agents are designed for intelligence. They integrate with foundational blueprints including the AI-Q NVIDIA Blueprint, part of the NVIDIA AI Data Platform, which uses retrieval-augmented generation and NVIDIA NeMo Retriever microservices to access enterprise data. AI Agents Boost People’s Productivity Customers around the world are already using these AI agent solutions. At the COACH Play store on Cat Street in Harajuku, Tokyo, imma provides an interactive in-store experience and gives personalized styling advice through natural, real-time conversation. Marking COACH’s debut in digital humans and AI-driven retail, the initiative merges cutting-edge technology with fashion to create an immersive and engaging customer journey. Developed by Aww Inc. and powered by NVIDIA ACE, the underlying technology that makes up the Tokkio blueprint, imma delivers lifelike interactions and tailored style suggestions. The experience allows for dynamic, unscripted conversations designed to connect with visitors on a personal level, highlighting COACH’s core values of courage and self-expression. “Through this groundbreaking innovation in the fashion retail space, customers can now engage in real-time, free-flowing conversations with our iconic virtual human, imma — an AI-powered stylist — right inside the store in the heart of Harajuku,” said Yumi An King, executive director of Aww Inc. “It’s been inspiring to see visitors enjoy personalized styling advice and build a sense of connection through natural conversation. We’re excited to bring this vision to life with NVIDIA and continue redefining what’s possible at the intersection of AI and fashion.” Watch how Aww Inc. is leveraging the latest Tokkio NVIDIA AI Blueprint in its AI-powered virtual human stylist, imma, to connect with shoppers through natural conversation and provide personalized styling advice.  Royal Bank of Canada developed Jessica, an AI agent avatar that assists employees in handling reports of fraud. With Jessica’s help, bank employees can access the most up-to-date information so they can handle fraud reports faster and more accurately, enhancing client service. Ubitus and the Mackay Memorial Hospital, located in Taipei, are teaming up to make hospital visits easier and friendlier with the help of AI-powered digital humans. These lifelike avatars are created using advanced 8K facial scanning and brought to life by Ubitus’ AI model integrated with NVIDIA ACE technologies, including NVIDIA Audio2Face 3D for expressions and NVIDIA Riva for speech. Deployed on interactive touchscreens, these digital humans offer hospital navigation, health education and registration support — reducing the burden on frontline staff. They also provide emotional support in pediatric care, aimed at reducing anxiety during wait times. Ubitus and the Mackay Memorial Hospital are making hospital visits easier and friendlier with the help of NVIDIA AI-powered digital humans. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital is exploring the potential of digital avatar technology to enhance the pediatric patient experience. As part of its ongoing innovation efforts, the hospital is evaluating platforms such as NVIDIA’s Digital Human Blueprint to inform the early design of “Care Companions” — interactive, friendly avatars that could help young patients better understand their healthcare journey. “Children can have a lot of questions about their experiences in the hospital, and often respond more to a friendly avatar, like stylized humanoids, animals or robots, that speaks at their level of understanding,” said Dr. Ryan Moore, chief of emerging technologies at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. “Through our Care Companions built with NVIDIA AI, gamified learning, voice interaction and familiar digital experiences, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital aims to improve understanding, reduce anxiety and support lifelong health for young patients.” This early-stage exploration is part of the hospital’s broader initiative to evaluate new and emerging technologies that could one day enhance child-centered care. Software Platforms Support Agents on AI Factory Infrastructure  AI agents are one of the many workloads driving enterprises to reimagine their data centers as AI factories built for modern applications. Using the new NVIDIA Enterprise AI Factory validated design, enterprises can build data centers that provide universal acceleration for agentic AI, as well as design, engineering and business operations. The Enterprise AI Factory validated design features support for software tools and platforms from NVIDIA partners, making it easier to build and run generative and agent-based AI applications. Developers deploying AI agents on their AI factory infrastructure can tap into partner platforms such as Dataiku, DataRobot, Dynatrace and JFrog to build, orchestrate, operationalize and scale AI workflows. The validated design supports frameworks from CrewAI, as well as vector databases from DataStax and Elastic, to help agents store, search and retrieve data. With tools from partners including Arize AI, Galileo, SuperAnnotate, Unstructured and Weights & Biases, developers can conduct data labeling, synthetic data generation, model evaluation and experiment tracking. Orchestration and deployment partners including Canonical, Nutanix and Red Hat support seamless scaling and management of AI agent workloads across complex enterprise environments. Enterprises can secure their AI factories with software from safety and security partners including ActiveFence, CrowdStrike, Fiddler, Securiti and Trend Micro. The NVIDIA Enterprise AI Factory validated design and latest AI Blueprints empower businesses to build smart, adaptable AI agents that enhance productivity, foster collaboration and keep pace with the demands of the modern workplace. See notice regarding software product information.

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.Amazon's Memorial Day sale is in full swing, and you can find more than just the usual appliances and tools on sale. There are discounts on many tech products for audiophiles as well, from Beats headphones, to the Sonos Arc Soundbar, and the beloved Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones, which have dropped in price after the release of the WH-1000XM6. If you're looking for bargains on budget headphones and earbuds, I've rounded up the best ones that you can find under $100, whether you're looking for earbuds, bone conduction headsets, or open-ear, in-ear, or over-the-ear headphones. Here are the best deals I found. Bluetooth 5.3 Open-Ear, Mic, MP3 Mode Built-in 32GB, 10Hrs Playtime, IP68 Waterproof. FEICO Bone Conduction Headphones $49.99 at Amazon $83.92 Save $33.93 Get Deal Get Deal $49.99 at Amazon $83.92 Save $33.93 40H Play Bluetooth 5.4 Headphones with Smart Digital Display Design Fit Sports Running, Workout TOZO OpenEarRing Open Ear Headphones $29.99 at Amazon $59.99 Save $30.00 Get Deal Get Deal $29.99 at Amazon $59.99 Save $30.00 45H Playtime, Wireless Charging Case, IPX8 Waterproof Stereo Headphones in Ear Built in Mic Headset TOZO T10 Earbuds $18.98 at Amazon $38.99 Save $20.01 Get Deal Get Deal $18.98 at Amazon $38.99 Save $20.01 48hrs Play Back Sport Earphones with LED Display Over-Ear Buds with Earhooks Built-in Mic Headset fo bmanl Wireless Earbuds $25.48 at Amazon $49.99 Save $24.51 Get Deal Get Deal $25.48 at Amazon $49.99 Save $24.51 253H Battery, ENC Mic, Bluetooth 5.4, USB-C Charging Case, IPX5 Waterproof, Noise Isolating TREBLAB X4 Earbuds $39.99 at Amazon $59.97 Save $19.98 Get Deal Get Deal $39.99 at Amazon $59.97 Save $19.98 Adjustable Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds, Reduce Noise by Up to 98%, 50H Playtime, Hi-Res Soundcore by Anker Space A40 $44.98 at Amazon $79.99 Save $35.01 Get Deal Get Deal $44.98 at Amazon $79.99 Save $35.01 JBL Pure Bass Sound, Up to 30 hours of battery life, IP67 Waterproof and Dustproof, Ambient Aware & JBL Endurance Race TWS $49.95 at Amazon $79.95 Save $30.00 Get Deal Get Deal $49.95 at Amazon $79.95 Save $30.00 145H Battery, Waterproof & Sweatproof Bluetooth Earbuds, Mics for Calls TREBLAB X3 Pro $59.97 at Amazon $99.97 Save $40.00 Get Deal Get Deal $59.97 at Amazon $99.97 Save $40.00 60H Playtime, Hi-Res Audio Custom EQ via App Deep Bass Comfort Fit Ear Cups TOZO HT2 Headphones $33.99 at Amazon $59.99 Save $26.00 Get Deal Get Deal $33.99 at Amazon $59.99 Save $26.00 Signature-HD Sound, Deep Bass, 35H Battery, Comfortable, Foldable Over Ear. TREBLAB Z2 Headphones $89.92 at Amazon $129.97 Save $40.05 Get Deal Get Deal $89.92 at Amazon $129.97 Save $40.05 SEE 7 MORE Try bone conduction and open ear headphones at up to 50% offNot everyone can afford Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 headphones. If you're curious to see how bone conduction headphones feel before committing to a premium model, try the Feico Bone Conduction Headphones, which are $49.99 right now, down from $83.92. A fun feature: You can save MP3 songs directly to the headphones so you can listen to music underwater (Bluetooth signals can't penetrate water).Open-ear headphones are great for hearing your surroundings while your out and about. The Tozo OpenEarRing are now just $29.99 (originally $59.99), offering a lightweight option with 40 hours of battery.A range of earbuds at up to 51% off, including a pair with unheard of battery lifeIf you're looking to spend the least possible on a decent set of earbuds, consider the Tozo T10s, which are $18.98 (originally $38.99). Impressively at this price point, they include an IPX8 waterproof rating, stereo sound, and EQ presets in their companion app.Earhook earbuds are good if you prioritize a secure fit. The Bmanl Wireless Earbuds are $25.49 (originally $49.99) are comfortable to wear and can go 8 hours on a single charge (and up to 48 hours with the charging case).Speaking of battery life, if that's important to you, you will love the Trelab X4 earbuds, currently going for $39.99 (originally $59.97). I've never heard of any earbuds getting even close to 253 hours of juice, but somehow these IPX5 waterproof earbuds with noise isolation for calls pull that off, going for 11 hours between charges, plus another 242 hours from the charging case. Dang! I can vouch for the Soundcore by Anker Space A40, which I've used for a year—they have the best ANC I've experienced among all of the budget earbuds I've tested. You can get them for $44.98 (originally $79.99).JBL is a well-known brand for earbuds. Its sporty earbuds, the JBL Endurance Race TWS, are $49.95 (originally $79.95) and offer an IP67 waterproof rating, 30 hours of battery life, and an ambient aware feature so you can better hear your surroundings.The Trelab X3 Pro offer a good balance of great battery life (totaling 145 hours, including the charging case), a sporty design with earhooks and a waterproof rating, and good microphones for calls. You can get them for $59.97 (originally $99.97).These over-ear headphones are up to 43% offIt's not every day you can get over-ear headphones with ANC, 60 hours of battery, high-resolution audio, and a companion app with EQ presets for $33.99 (originally $59.99). You can get exactly that with the Tozo HT2 Headphones.If you want headphones from a more established brand, get the Trelab Z2 for $89.95 (originally $129.97). They're ANC, have 35 hours of battery, are foldable and come with a case, and include a bass-boosting mode.

What do you do when the sun vanishes behind the rooftops just as you've settled in for an evening beer with friends? The answer is simple: grab your chair, rally your mates, and hike to the nearest hilltop to catch the last golden rays with a cold one in hand. This joyfully absurd premise forms the basis of Chairs, the hero film in Birra Moretti's newly launched global campaign, created by Lucky Generals and directed by Sam Pilling. It's a whimsical, cinematic ode to community, ritual, and the pleasure of doing something simple together. The campaign centres around the line "Enjoy Life's Simple Pleasures", a brand platform that aims to cut through the chaos of modern life with a message rooted in authenticity, warmth, and good humour. At a time when attention spans are short, and everything seems increasingly complex, Birra Moretti offers an alternative: slow down, pull up a chair, and enjoy a beer with the people you love. "In a world that's increasingly busy, noisy and complex, we look to Italy, where life's greatest pleasures are often the simplest," says Sam Fielding, global brand lead at Birra Moretti. "Our new global campaign playfully brings this idea to life, sharing the simple joy of connecting with your favourite people and enjoying a Birra Moretti in a beautiful Tuscan setting." That idea is carried across Chairs, and the companion spot Pull Up A Chair, in which a man carts his living room armchair to a bar when no other seats are available. There's a gentle absurdity to both stories, but the message is that pleasure doesn't have to be complicated and great moments are often found in everyday rituals, especially when beer, food and friends are involved. For Gareth Morgan, creative director at Lucky Generals, the idea was born from a desire to reflect real, relatable joy in a chaotic world. "Birra Moretti is here to remind us all that in an increasingly confusing and complicated world, pleasure is, well, simple. Your best mates, ice-cold beers, some antipasti and a sunset. What else do you need?" The campaign leans heavily on visual storytelling to strike an emotional chord without straying into sentimentality. Shot on film in a nostalgic 4:3 ratio, the scenes unfold with a timeless charm as we see sun-drenched village squares, weathered stone walls, and characters with stories etched into their faces. "There are very few places on Earth that know how to slow down and enjoy the moment better than a tiny village in Tuscany," says Gareth. "We tried to use the visual world, particularly the location and cast, to help with the emotion." That sense of place is no accident. Tuscany's cultural richness, from food and landscape to the rhythm of everyday life, was essential to capturing the campaign's tone. "Birra Moretti is from Tuscany, and the beer is literally called L'Autentica, so we were very keen to try and make everything feel as authentically Italian as possible," Gareth adds. The landscape is incredible, the food is banging, and the people are characterful and interesting." It turns out that the chair is more than a cute visual gag. "Everyone loves a sunset beer," Gareth explains. "And the whole village carrying chairs to the top of the hill to chase that last bit of sun felt like the perfect metaphor for what we were trying to say." Simple pleasures, after all, aren't passive. They're something we chase, share, and sometimes go out of our way to protect. The humble chair becomes a stand-in for that intention and a way to invite others in to make time for what matters. The campaign also marks the unveiling of a refreshed brand world for Birra Moretti, building on existing assets like its iconic Baffo character while giving the identity a contemporary update. With executions rolling out across film, social, digital and seasonal activations (including a focus on Birra Moretti Zero), the brand is establishing a more cohesive and emotionally resonant global presence. "We wanted to show people a window into Italy that didn't feel stereotypical but, instead, felt like somewhere you wanted to be," Gareth says. "Sipping on a Birra Moretti with your pals." The evolved visual language brings together heritage and modernity, keeping one foot firmly in tradition while opening the door to new drinkers in multiple global markets over the next 18 months. The media rollout includes digital activations, stills, and social content pillars tailored to brand, seasonal, and product-specific storytelling. With so many beer brands chasing novelty, disruption, or viral punchlines, Birra Moretti's campaign feels refreshingly low-key and all the more powerful for it. There's no over-engineered plot, no celebrity cameo, no lab-grown slogans—just a beautifully shot reminder that the best things in life tend to be the simplest.