Technology - Google News

Best Amazon Prime Day 2018 gaming deals: Switch, PS4, Xbox and PC accessories
The smartest Prime Day speaker deals: Sonos, Bose, Echo, more
Apple replaced its executive portraits with Memoji

Best Amazon Prime Day 2018 gaming deals: Switch, PS4, Xbox and PC accessories

Posted: 17 Jul 2018 08:14 AM PDT

If you were discouraged by Amazon's Prime Day instability yesterday, take heart! There are still plenty of gaming deals available, and Amazon's sale runs through Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. PT (Wednesday, 2:59 a.m. ET). And despite the high interest in all things Prime Day, sales on hardware like the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One S, Oculus Rift headsets and more are still available, with a few game sales sprinkled throughout.

For an even more exhaustive list of Prime Day gaming deals, check out GameSpot's list of deals for Xbox, Switch and PS4 fans.

Buy a Nintendo Switch and get a 64GB memory card and $20 of eShop credit free

If you were hoping for a deep discount on the Nintendo Switch this Prime Day, you may be out of luck -- depending on whether the deal is actually in stock when you check. We've seen the bounce back and forth between unavailable and in stock, so your mileage may vary.

Buying a Switch today will get 64GB of extra storage space for digital games plus $20 of eShop credit to fill it up with.

See it on Amazon

Nintendo Switch microSD memory, cases, chargers and more

And if you were lucky enough to grab one of those Switch bundles, Amazon has Prime Day deals on tons of accessories that will vastly improve your experience with the Switch. Everything from microSD cards, carrying cases, Joy-con chargers and more have sizable discounts while supplies last.

SanDisk 128 GB microSD card

See it on Amazon

Orzly Switch carrying case

See it on Amazon

Joy-con charging dock

See it on Amazon

Xbox One S 1TB Starter Bundle with three months of Game Pass

If you've been looking for an excuse to get an Xbox One, this is a pretty decent one: This $295 starter bundle comes with a 4K video capable Xbox One S, a 1TB hard drive and three months of Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass service -- which gives you access to over 100 games on the spot! That subscription will expire after 90 days, but gamers who pick up this deal on Prime Day will also get a copy of Rare Replay, which comes with 30 classic Rare games to dive into. Either way, this bundle will keep you busy all summer.

See it on Amazon

Nintendo New 3DS XL - Super NES Edition + Super Mario Kart for SNES

The Nintendo Switch might not be getting a virtual console, but Nintendo's other portable is still a haven for classic gaming -- and if you're going to pick up a 3DS anyway, why not grab a Super NES Edition New Nintendo 3DS XL with a free copy of Super Mario Kart? All yours for $150. While supplies last.

See it on Amazon

Oculus Rift Headset, Touch Virtual Reality System

If your PC is powerful enough to handle it, the Oculus Rift is a great way to become immersed in the world of VR. Right now, you can get a headset for $50 off its normal price of $399 at checkout.

See it on Amazon

Expired Lightning Deal: Overwatch Legendary Edition for PS4, Xbox One, PC

Typically $60, Overwatch's Legendary Edition comes packed with 5 epic and 5 legendary skins. Don't care about skins? Then this premium edition is the same price as the standard version of Overwatch while supplies last.

See it on Amazon

Persona 5: PS4

If you're itching for a lengthy, stylish JRPG, Amazon has you covered. The excellent Playstation-exclusive is currently just $29.99.

See it on Amazon

dragon-ball-fighterz-e3-2017 — Screenshot by Sean Hollister/CNET

Dragon Ball FighterZ: PS4 (digital)

One of most-stylish fighting games in recent memory is also available for a reduced price of PS4 owners, though at the moment the deal is only for a digital copy ($34.99).

See it on Amazon

Get a new Thin and Light Gaming Laptop: MSI GL62M Quad Core i7-7700HQ with GT 1050Ti graphics

Gaming laptops used to be expensive, hulking bricks of computers so large, they made you question if they even qualified as "portable" computers. Not anymore -- these days you can get a mean, lean gaming machine that actually might fit in your backpack. And for $799, MSI's GL62M won't break the bank, either.

See it on Amazon

Get a new Motherboard for your gaming PC

If you're cracking open your PC to replace the GPU anyway, you might want to look at getting a new motherboard. Thankfully, Amazon has some on sale too.

AORUS x470 Gaming Motherboard

See it on Amazon

iBUYPOWER Gaming Desktop PC i7-8700K 6-Core 3.7 GHz, Geforce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB

Skip upgrading your old PC, and just buy a new one! This iBuyPower gaming desktop has enough oomph to run just about anything you can throw at it -- packing in a GTX 1070 Ti, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB HDD and a 240GB SSD. Throw in liquid cooling and a rad multi-colored RGB case, and you've got an affordable $1,499 rig worthy of any lan party.

See it on Amazon

There will be over a million items on sale during Prime Day, so check below for even more deals that go beyond the world of gaming. And check back with this page through all of Prime Day as we update you on even more gaming deals in the future.

Prime Day 2018: CNET's complete coverage

Now Playing: Watch this: Everything to know about Amazon Prime Day 2018

1:36

Let's block ads! (Why?)

The smartest Prime Day speaker deals: Sonos, Bose, Echo, more

Posted: 17 Jul 2018 08:10 AM PDT

If you’ve been holding off the smart speaker revolution, Amazon Prime Day 2018 may be the time you succumb to some home assistant action. There are deals on some of the most popular models around, including the Sonos One, Bose’s waterproof SoundLink Micro, and Amazon’s own line-up.

Bose’s SoundLink Micro may be small, but it still packs a decent punch. It’s usually $99, but Amazon has it down to $69 for Prime Day, a 30-percent discount. It pairs via Bluetooth to your smartphone, tablet, or laptop, and has up to six hours of battery life.

It’s also waterproof and has a more rugged body, so that it should stand up to poolside use or being dropped. Bose doesn’t integrate a smart assistant of its own, but if your smartphone has one – and if you’re an Android or iOS user, you do – you can access it through the SoundLink Micro remotely. You can even hook up an Echo Spot, too.

If you’re looking for more audio quality and native assistant support from your smart speaker, Sonos has you covered. The Sonos One currently offers Amazon Alexa, and later in the year there’ll be an update to add the Google Assistant. Thanks to an upgrade earlier this month, you can also stream music from iPhones, iPads, and Macs to the Sonos One, using AirPlay 2.

For Prime Day, the Sonos One is being bundled with a $50 Amazon gift card, plus a saving of 20-percent. That means you pay $199, but are effectively getting the Sonos One for $149. It’s one of the best prices for the speaker that we’ve seen, and you can buy it in either black or white.

Amazon’s own Echo range is on sale for Prime Day, unsurprisingly, running the gamut from a basic way to add Alexa to more rooms, up to its smart home hub models. At the cheap end, the Echo Dot is $29.99 versus its usual $49.99. Or, you can save even more with an Echo Dot 2-pack: at $49.98, it basically makes the smart speaker half price.

The regular Echo 2nd Gen is down to $69.99 from its usual $99.99, in a choice of three fabric colors. Or, you can get the wood veneer versions for $89.99 apiece. Either way, you save $30.

Then there’s the Echo Plus, which integrates a smart home hub which can pair with things like wireless bulbs, remote-controlled plugs, and more. It’s usually $149.99, but Prime Day brings that down to $99.99.

Finally, the Echo Spot and Echo Show are also discounted. The Echo Spot is down to $99.99, while the Echo Show is $129.99. And, if it’s Alexa that’s your primary interest rather than musical quality, the Fire TV Cube integrates a smart speaker with a streaming set-top box, for $89.99 instead of the usual $119.99.

SlashGear uses affiliate links, and sometimes if you buy something we might get a small commission on the sale

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Apple replaced its executive portraits with Memoji

Posted: 17 Jul 2018 06:35 AM PDT

Today is World Emoji Day, and to get in on the fun, Apple has replaced all of its executives' headshots with Memoji versions of their faces. Technically, Memoji are not the same thing as emoji. They're Apple-exclusive characters that are made in the same style as real emoji, and they can't be included in text or widely shared, like emoji can be, without turning them into an image. But as far as goofy promos go, we're talking about a made-up holiday anyway, so I think it works.

What's also interesting about this gag is that it really helps depict how Memoji are best used — and where their limits are. (The Memoji portraits also highlight just how white Apple's leadership remains.)

There are a lot of entertaining caricatures here that capture the likeness of the person they're standing in for. Tim Cook's is particularly good at capturing the wry smile he makes when dodging questions in an interview. But their success seems to be very dependent on whether Apple's built in a face and hairstyle that fits the person.

Take, for example, Phil Schiller, whose Memoji does not quite match up:

Here it is again, with Val Kilmer on the left:

I'm not really sure what this proves, but it feels right.

When making my own Memoji, a lot of these limitations stood out to me. It's supposed to be a fun exercise, but your success and enjoyment are really reliant on finding something that matches up with you, and I wasn't always able to do that. Apple has a really great starting point with what's in iOS 12 — I've seen a lot of good Memoji creations — but it's also clear that Apple's going to have to keep building if it really wants to reflect everyone who picks up an iPhone.

Yesterday, Apple also announced that 70 new emoji are coming to iOS 12, ahead of World Emoji Day. The holiday started in 2014 by Jeremy Burge, founder of Emojipedia and vice chair of the Emoji Subcommittee at Unicode, which standardizes emoji (among many other things).

Let's block ads! (Why?)