| Yesterday was a very very busy day for tech news! We got a first listen with Apple’s new AirPods Pro, the most annoyingly-named product in recent memory. We reviewed the Echo Buds. We finally got a price and more details about HBO Max. Samsung promised to make another folding phone but didn’t actually show anything except a cool graphic. There's enough that the right move is just giving you the links. Real quick, though: if you’re in San Francisco, we’re still doing that live Vergecast on Thursday. It’s waitlisted as it’s not a gigantic venue, but feel free to sign up and see if a spot opens up. - Dieter Earbud news + Apple AirPods Pro hands-on: the noise cancellation really works So far, so good. I don’t think it’s fair that only Apple gets smacked for how un-repairable its earbuds are. Pretty much everything except the Galaxy Buds are hard to replace the batteries on, so far as I know (correct me if I’m wrong!). Still though, for $250 I think these need to be really great. If it turns out they're hard to recycle or replace, they needs to be. Apple shouldn’t just lean on its proprietary integration with iOS devices, it should make headphones that can compete head to head with the top-tier competition. + Here’s how Apple’s new AirPods Pro stack up with other truly wireless earbuds + Amazon Echo Buds review: great sound at the right price I was not expecting earbuds that cost this little to sound this good. I’m still angry that they use microUSB, but it’s hard to stay angry when Amazon is making a product that’s this good for customers. Later, I will probably have feelings about Amazon undercutting the competition and hurting everybody else’s headphones businesses. Just letting you know. + Razer’s first truly wireless earbuds aim to fix gaming audio lag on Android Jake Kastrenakes: “It looks like her ears are vaping.” How much does Game of Thrones cost now? + HBO Max launches in May 2020 for $14.99 a month It’s among the most expensive offerings, but probably justified. Or at least, it will be justified so long as HBO can keep the quality of its content to a high enough standard. + HBO announces new Game of Thrones spinoff, House of the Dragon I have heard tell that the book this will be based on is not great. A lot is going to depend on the show runner(s). + Sony is shutting down its live TV service PlayStation Vue in January 2020 First in, first out. I would worry that other pure-play, plain-cable-on-the-internet services like Sling and YouTube TV are not long for this world. Content is king. Phones are weird forever now, hooray! + Samsung unveils new foldable flip phone concept How unhappy is Motorola right now that its RAZR reboot got upstaged by this? Probably pretty unhappy. I want to see a lot more detail than this render, though. What is the screen material (it should be glass, in my opinion)? What is the thickness when closed? And so on. Renders are easy, shipping is hard. + LG’s G8X ThinQ is coming to AT&T on November 1st My AT&T Galaxy fold had around 20 carrier-based apps on it. I can only imagine how many will be on this thing. Smart home stuff + Amazon Echo (2019) review: middle child syndrome Amazon has done such a good job diversifying the Echo line that the default option is actually a little confusing now. If you have a specific need, it’s probably fulfilled by other Echo speakers. If you don’t have a specific need, you probably should just save some money and get started with an Echo Dot. + Amazon adds new wake-up lighting and sleep timer features for Alexa-powered smart lights Sort of wild this wasn’t an option until now. + Ikea’s smart button leaks with a tease of scenes to come Ikea is a sleeping giant in the smart home space. Everybody was so hyped for its automatic shades. I would love to see what would happen if it stopped being to tentative with these product releases and just went all-out. More from The Verge + The Moto 360 smartwatch is back... well, sort of If I’m Motorola and I’m about to relaunch the RAZR, I’m thinking about how to ensure the Moto brand is rock solid. Letting a random company use it on a smartwatch seems like not a great idea. The watch is fine for Wear OS, at least, if a little expensive. + Samsung’s new Galaxy Book Flex and Ion laptops look as good as their spec sheets Good to see more Athena laptops and good to see these screens. Making the touchpad a wireless charging pad is ....an odd choice. Why not just the keyboard deck? Probably because the touchpad is glass, but still, seems weird! + YouTube Music gets Siri and desktop web app support Google Play Music shouting from the end of a long hallway, its voice quiet and receding: “Hey guys I’m still here you haven’t cancelled me yet! Hello? Anyone? I still do those Songza recommendations everybody liked back in the day! Hello?” + This post is some good shit: The world’s first poop database needs your help | 
