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The Morning After: The best wireless earbuds we've used so far

And get ready for the 'Star Trek' holodeck experience in VR.

Richard Lawler
Senior News Editor
Updated ·3 min read
0

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

August is upon us. We're ready to make the call on the "best true wireless earbuds" around, and Samsung's next generation of new hardware is starting with its Galaxy Tab S6. Oh, and you can try out the Star Trek holodeck with five friends this fall. Really.

It's hard to recommend anything else.Sony WF-1000XM3 review: Simply the best true wireless earbuds

What makes these $230 earbuds "a hell of a deal," according to Billy Steele? Excellent sound quality, a full-featured companion app, great battery life, an improved Ambient Sound and active noise cancellation make for an excellent start.

Meet the much-improved keyboard case and stylus.Samsung's Galaxy Tab S6 refines the 'desktop' experience

We were already expecting to see Samsung's Galaxy Note 10 this month, but first, it closed out July with a new tablet. The Galaxy Tab S6 is a 10.1-inch 2-in-1 device (when used with the $179 keyboard case), and even has a trackpad this time around. Similar to the Note series, the Tab's S Pen has Bluetooth now and works as a remote control, with new wand-like gesture controls that can open apps or toggle switches from a distance. The Tab S6 will be available from September 6th at $649 for the base model, which offers 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

It could be an answer to Apple's Arcade service.Google is testing a $5 'Play Pass' subscription for Android apps

Google is getting further into the service game. Play Pass plans to offer users "hundreds of premium apps and games" for a monthly fee, according to a report from Android Police. The idea cropped up last year after users spotted code references in Google Play. It could be similar to Apple's Arcade, but offer a selection of both apps and games (rather than just the latter) for $4.99 per month, "with no ads or in-app purchases," according to the screenshots.

The service is fully fleshed out and appears to be in the final stages of testing. Google is promising "puzzle games to premium music apps ... [with] access to hundreds of premium apps and games" -- though the emphasis appears to be on games. Some of the titles included are the $7.99 Stardew Valley, Marvel Pinball, Risk and others. A user spotted the test in the wild first, but Google confirmed to Android Police that it is indeed real.

Bad Password.Here's how AG Barr is going to get encryption 'backdoors'

If you heard the reverberation of a few thousand heads exploding last week, it was the sound of information security professionals reacting to US Attorney General Barr saying that Big Tech "can and must" put backdoors into encryption.

The first of many mini-satellites pushed along by solar nudges?LightSail 2 successfully demonstrates solar sailing

LightSail 2 is faring much better than its ill-fated predecessor. The Planetary Society has verified that it successfully raised its orbit using solar sailing, making it the first small spacecraft to demonstrate the concept.

Bring five friends and make sure at least one is wearing a red shirt.'Away Mission' is a free-roaming 'Star Trek' VR experience

Later this year Sandbox VR will launch the first Holodeck VR experience, where fans can enter the world of Star Trek to complete a mission involving problem-solving, combat and -- of course -- phasers. Star Trek: Discovery Away Mission will launch at its Hong Kong and San Francisco Bay area locations in the fall, with Los Angeles, New York, Austin, San Diego and Chicago to follow later in the year.

But wait, there's more...

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