Sony is pushing out a beta software update for the PlayStation 5, bringing 3D Audio to Dolby Atmos sound systems as well as increased M.2 SSD storage support up to 8TB, the company said in a blog post on Monday. The update will release worldwide later this year.

3D Audio, which aims to give you the feeling of sound coming from natural directions, is supported by Sony’s Tempest 3D AudioTech, which previously only worked on headsets. With the new beta update, those with Dolby Atmos sound systems can enjoy more immersive audio experiences.

It should be noted that while Tempest 3D AudioTech does work on any headset, it’s best on these compatible headsets. There’s also only a handful of games that support 3D Audio.

Along with the 3D Audio features, there’s now support of M.2 SSDs, up to 8TB. Of course, not every M.2 SSD will fit in a PS5, and it’s important to buy the right one.

The new PS5 beta update comes as Sony continues to dominate the gaming space. The PS5, which launched in the height of the pandemic in November 2020, struggled to meet the intense demand as many people were stuck at home. Almost three years later, supply chain issues have eased and Sony is closing in on 40 million PS5 units sold. Microsoft hasn’t been as forthcoming with sales data for its Xbox Series X and S consoles, but during a developer’s conference in Brazil, the software giant showed a slide saying that 21 million units had been either shipped or sold.

With the PS5, Sony put much onus on its fast SSD speeds and new audio tech. While it’s taken a few years to fully realize, it could partially explain why gamers are excited to drop $500 for a PS5 over an Xbox Series X. In a bid to expand Xbox’s market presence, Microsoft purchased Activision Blizzard, makers of Call of Duty, last year for nearly $69 billion. While the US Federal Trade Commission attempted to block the merger over antitrust concerns, the agency may drop the case.

Sony also recently said its accessibility controller is coming this December for $90. This gives people with disabilities a new way to play games. With this new beta update, Sony is adding a different kind of accessibility option, allowing gamers to assign a second controller to one account. This means that two controllers can be used to control the actions of one character onscreen, as if using one controller. This also means that a second person can assist the person playing in difficult sections of games.

How to sign up for PS5 beta program and update your console

1. Sign in to your PlayStation account and sign up for the beta program here. (You can also back up your PS5 data just in case.)
2. Once you get your confirmation email, go to the PlayStation Store.
3. Navigate up to the three dots in the upper-right-hand corner and tap on Redeem Code.
4. Enter the code that came in your email.
5. Exit the PlayStation Store and scroll all the way to the top right until you get to the gear icon for Settings.
6. Go to System > System Software > System Software Update and Settings.
7. Select Update System Software (beta) > Update.
8. Accept the beta software agreement.

How to enable 3D Audio for Dolby Atmos systems

1. Scroll up and to the right towards the gear icon for Settings.
2. Scroll to Sound > Audio Output > Audio Format (Priority).
3. Select Dolby Atmos.

How to activate a second controller for assistance

1. Scroll up and to the right towards the gear icon for Settings.
2. Go to Accessibility > Controllers > Use Second Controller for Assistance.
3. Turn on Use Assist Controller.

Amazon has devised a new alert system that aims to make it easier to know when something you’ve bought on the site has been recalled.

Customers will now see a banner alert at the top of the Your Orders page if a product they ordered is the subject of a recall. Clicking it will lead you to a new page titled Your Recalls and Product Safety Alerts, where users will find more details about the issues the product has, as well as options for a refund, a return or a repair. You’ll also get a personalized email from Amazon.

In the past, users would have to rely on third-party sites to get information about recalled products. In many cases, they would also have to submit personal information to these sites to receive instructions on returns, repairs or product disposal.

“With these and other innovations — such as our robust seller vetting, product safety and compliance verification, and expanded A-to-Z Guarantee — customers can shop confidently knowing we stand behind all products in our store and will make it right in the rare event a product does not meet expectations,” Amazon wrote in a blog post last week about the new alerts page.

While the new service applies to all products sold by Amazon, products sold through third-party sellers don’t automatically get the same treatment. Amazon’s selling partners have the option of using the new service, but they’ll have to opt into the company’s Recalls Logistics Service for their customers to get the same experience.

If you’ve got some summer adventures coming up, you’ll want to make sure you pack a camera to capture those once-in-a-lifetime moments. But when you’re hauling hundreds, or even thousands of dollars-worth of gear around, you’ll need a bag that you can trust. This Lowepro Trekker 150 is a slightly larger version of our overall favorite lightweight camera backpack, and today only you can snag it for just $55 — $100 off the usual price — at B&H Photo. This deal is only available until 8:59 p.m. PT (11:59 p.m. ET) tonight, so be sure to get your order in before then if you don’t want to miss out on these savings.

This midsize camera bag is great for hikes, day trips and other short-term excursions. It has enough space to store a small DSLR or mirrorless camera along with two to four lenses, and it has removable dividers so you can build it around your gear. And the front panel opens all the way so you can see all your gear and don’t have to rummage around when you want to swap lenses. It also has two mesh pockets at the top for smaller items like SD cards and lens wipes, and a dedicated 13-inch laptop pocket in case you want to edit and upload photos on the go. Plus, it has external straps that can be used to secure a tripod. It’s also designed to be weather-resistant, and comes with a rain cover so you can protect your camera and gear in rough conditions.

If you want to equip your laptop or PC with the latest and greatest Microsoft OS and its full suite of productivity tools, we’ve got a deal you won’t want to miss. Upgrading to Windows 11 Pro costs $200 if you purchase it through Microsoft directly, and it’s another $440 if you want an Office Pro 2021 license for access to Word, Excel and other crucial Microsoft apps.

Right now, StackSocial has an all-in-one bundle deal that includes both for just $50, which saves you hundreds. This offer is set to expire tonight, however, so you’ll want to get your order in soon if you don’t want to miss out on these savings.

Windows 11 Pro offers some additional features you won’t find on the base version, including Microsoft Remote Desktop, BitLocker device encryption, Windows Sandbox, Hyper-V, Azure Active Directory and much more. You’ll receive an activation key that you can use on up to three devices. Not all computers are compatible, so if you’re considering upgrading, be sure to check out the system requirements before you buy.

Your purchase comes with a lifetime license to Office Professional 2021 as well, which includes popular programs like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, OneNote and more. With a single one-time payment, you’ll retain lifetime access on the installed PC, which will save you a ton over the recurring charges you’ll accrue via a Microsoft 365 subscription and offers you more than the free online version of Microsoft Office. However, it’s worth noting that you’ll be limited to installing Office on just one computer and the “lifetime” part of the license refers to the lifetime of the machine you install it on.

If you don’t need the Office apps in this bundle, you can grab this Windows 11 Pro deal offering just the operating system upgrade for $40, but for $10 more, you may find that this bundle is a better deal.

Threads has added a Following tab, which allows you to filter your feed so you’ll only see posts from people you follow.

After a Threads user asked for the feature, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Threads’ parent company, Meta, responded, “Ask and you shall receive.”

“Threads started rolling out an option for a chronological feed of only people you’re following,” Zuckerberg posted on his Instagram broadcast channel on July 25.

Part of Meta’s attempt to supplant Twitter (now known as X), the Following tab has started appearing on both iOS and Android versions of Threads, though it’s not yet available to all users.

Here’s how the Following tab works and what other new features have been added to the app.

For more on Threads, find out why you might not want to sign up and why Elon Musk is reportedly threatening legal action against it.

What is the Following tab on Threads?

When Threads launched on July 5, users’ feeds were populated with posts from other users and advertisers, regardless of whether they followed them or not.

Now, members who have the Following option can get a chronological feed with only posts from people they’ve chosen to follow, with no “suggested” posts.

How to access the Following tab on Threads

Threads still defaults to the “For You” feed, so to make the Following feed appear or disappear, you need to tap on the home icon on the bottom left of the app or the Threads logo on top.

It reverts to “For You” mode if you close the app so, for now, you’ll have to repeat this every time you open it.

If tapping the icon doesn’t change your feed, Following hasn’t been added to your version yet.

What other features are on Threads now?

According to Zuckerberg, Threads has also added a translation feature. You can translate a post by tapping a button on the bottom right.

In a recent update for for iOS, Apple teased that, “new features [are] coming.”

Instagram head Adam Mosseri has promised several other highly prized features are “on the list” for Threads, according to Forbes, including hashtags, increased search functionality, editable posts, full desktop mode and the ability to limit who can reply to your posts.

How to sign up for Threads

You need an Instagram account to join Threads. If you have one, launch the Threads app and select the Instagram profile you want to make a Threads account for.

Then add your name, biographical info and any links you want to show on your Threads profile. If you want to just duplicate your Instagram profile, you can also just hit the Import from Instagram button.

Then you’ll want to choose the accounts you want to follow. You can select accounts you follow on Instagram one by one or hit Follow all to follow all your Instagram friends.

Sennheiser’s flagship Momentum 4 headphones are one of our overall favorite pairs on the market right now thanks to their top-notch noise-cancelling capabilities. But this premium pair of over-ear headphones doesn’t come cheap, which is why it’s important to take advantage of any deals when they come along. And right now, Amazon is offering a whopping $120 off the white color variant, which drops to price down to just $260 — just $1 more than the all-time lowest price we’ve seen. There’s no set expiration for this deal, so we’d recommend getting your order in sooner rather than later if you don’t want to miss out on these savings.

According to reviewer David Carnoy, these Sennheiser headphones are designed to compete with Sony’s $400 WH-1000XM5 headphones, which means they feature some of the best noise-cancelling capabilities that you’ll find for around $250. They automatically adapt to environmental background noise for an immersive and distraction-free listening experience, and have a transparency mode for when you need to be more aware of your surroundings. Equipped with a 42mm transducer system, they boast crisp and stunning audio, and you can personalize your listening experience with the built-in equalizer. Plus, the four beamforming microphones make them great for voice calls. The memory foam earpads give them a premium feel, and they boast an impressive 60-hour battery life for all-day listening without interruption.

And if you’re in the market for a different pair, you can check out our full roundup of all the best headphones and earbuds deals for even more bargains.

A nice big TV can make all the difference, whether you’re watching TV shows or movies, and playing games is quite literally a game-changer. So why not treat yourself to a huge new 75-inch Hisense ULED Android TV thanks to this massive $524 discount?

This Class U9DG TV would normally retail for around $1,500, but you can add one to your setup for just $976 if you take advantage of this deal. There’s also 12-month financing if you want to go that route as well.

This particular TV, apart from being huge, comes with all the bells and whistles you’d expect from this class of TV. There’s native 4K support, as well as an LED backlight for strong viewing angles and high contrast images. This set comes with Android TV built-in, so all your favorite streaming apps will be present and correct as well. Just plug in your details and you’ll be catching up on the latest must-binge shows in no time. Oh, and 120Hz support means buttery smooth gaming if you have the right hardware — including the PlayStation 5.

In terms of connectivity, this Hisense monster has no fewer than four HDMI ports, while Google Assistant means you can bark orders at it if you really want to. We’d stick to the included remote, but you do you.

Keep in mind that Best Buy isn’t saying when this deal is going to end, so you might need to get your order in soon if you want to be sure of locking this price in.

Whether it’s lighting up the Las Vegas skyline or blowing up social media with memes, the MSG Sphere will be hard to miss. The first-of-its-kind venue opens this fall, and its creators say it aims to revolutionize entertainment experiences. For it to do this, they’ve developed brand-new audio, video and camera systems. I had an opportunity to visit their Burbank testing ground, called Big Dome, to experience some of these innovations.

Their most recent development has to do with the Sphere’s audio system. Acoustically, a sphere is about as challenging as it gets. To conquer the echoes, MSG Ventures partnered with a company called Holoplot, which was using a technique called Wave Field Synthesis to develop an audio system for Berlin’s echoey subway system.

The result is Sphere Immersive Sound, powered by Holoplot. The demos provided showed how precise this sound system could be. Depending on where I stood, I could hear the same dialogue in three different languages: English, Chinese and Arabic. I could hear different instruments highlighted in the same song. In a final demo, they played audio from an actor, and it sounded as if the actor had walked right up and whispered in my ear.

MSG Ventures team members are experimenting with other senses as well. They demoed an air cannon that could be used to create wind effects, and hinted that things like humidity, temperature and even smell could be used for artistic effect.

To wrap it up, we got to experience a curved, immersive screen that’s a one-quarter scale model of the Vegas Sphere. The closest thing I can compare it to is VR. I could tilt my head all the way up and still not reach the end of the screen. When they played us different scenes, it felt like being transported. Some of the tests they showed experimented with different camera moves, some of which felt more natural than others. One shot from the front seat of a roller coaster in particular felt uncannily real, and could potentially cause some motion sickness.

These experiments helped the MSG Sphere team zero in on what sorts of visual experiences work best given the unique size and shape of the display. The team also invented its own camera, called Big Sky, to produce content for the enormous screen.

The MSG Sphere in Las Vegas opens this fall, with a concert by U2 followed shortly after by a film presentation from Darren Aronofsky entitled Postcard From Earth. Tickets on the Sphere website are listed between $49 and $199. To see the Sphere in action, check out the video in this article.

The next iteration of the iPhone family is expected to get a slew of updates in the fall, including thinner bezels, Dynamic Island and USB-C, along with a higher price tag.

One of the biggest changes you can expect, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, is an upgrade for the standard iPhones that will swap out the display notch for Dynamic Island, a feature introduced last year on the iPhone 14. The feature enlarges and shrinks when you receive a call and to display the music you’re playing, timers and other notifications.

The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus are also expected to get camera improvements, including updated lenses, Gurman wrote.

The higher-end iPhones are expected to get a makeover that sports a thinner bezel, thanks to a new production technology, Gurman reported Monday. Using low-injection pressure over-molding, or LIPO, Apple plans to shrink the border size around the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max display from about 2.2 millimeters on current iPhones to 1.5 millimeters, he reports. The technique may be used on future iPads, as well.

Read more: iPhone 15 Pro Could See Longer Battery Life From New Chip Line

The phones will also get a power boost, thanks to an upgrade for the standard models to the A16 chip currently used on the iPhone 14 Pro. The iPhone 15 Pro will also see an upgrade with the 3-nanometer chip, which Apple manufacturing partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has said consumes 30% to 35% less power compared with its 5-nanometer chips.

Gurman also highlighted the move from the Lightning port to a USB-C charging port, a change that may be required by new EU rules that say all mobile phones sold in the EU will need to have a USB-C charging port by the end of 2024.

Gurman expects all of this to add up to at least a minor bump in price, but he didn’t offer an estimate.

Apple has not announced any information about the next iPhone, but the company will likely unveil details of its next smartphone at the next iPhone event — probably in September.

Apple didn’t respond to CNET’s request for comment.

For more, check out why the iPhone 15 might need a different charger, the 15 features we really want to see on the iPhone 15 and hidden features in iOS 17 you should know about.

It’s the last race weekend before F1 takes its summer break, and Red Bull has yet to lose a race this season. Max Verstappen has won the last seven consecutive races, and has a comfortable lead in the Driver’s Championship, with teammate Sergio “Checo” Perez in second place. Top teams like Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martin will be looking to end Red Bull’s winning streak and snag some crucial points in the standings.

While the top two positions may be set, there is plenty of room for shake-ups down the grid. Currently, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso sits in third place, followed by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in fourth. Last weekend, Hamilton was able to close the gap between himself and Alonso to a mere six points and he will have his sights on moving into sole possession of third place in Belgium.

The Belgian Grand Prix will take place at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, Belgium at 8:55 a.m. EST (5:55 a.m. PST) on ESPN and ESPN Plus.

The entire race weekend, including practice sessions and qualifying, will be shown in the US on ESPN’s family of TV networks. Those looking to follow all the drama will need access to ABC, ESPN, ESPN 2 and ESPNews to catch every second of the action.

No single provider has exclusive rights to the network, so there are plenty of ways to get ESPN and watch the races without cable. We’ve broken down everything you need to know in order to stream today’s race, and all the other F1 races this season.

When, where and what time are the races?

Races are held on Sunday and are usually spaced two weeks apart. Here’s the entire schedule, all times ET.

F1 2023 schedule

Date	Race	Time
March 5	Bahrain GP	10 a.m. ET
March 19	Saudi Arabian GP	1 p.m. ET
April 2	Australian GP	1 a.m. ET
April 30	Azerbaijan GP	7 a.m. ET
May 7	Miami GP	3:30 p.m. ET
May 21	Romagna GP	9 a.m. ET
May 28	Monaco GP	9 a.m. ET
June 4	Spanish GP	9 a.m. ET
June 18	Canadian GP	2 p.m. ET
July 2	Austrian GP	9 a.m. ET
July 9	British GP	10 a.m. ET
July 23	Hungarian GP	9 a.m. ET
July 30	Belgian GP	9 a.m. ET
Aug. 27	Dutch GP	9 a.m. ET
Sept. 3	Italian GP	9 a.m. ET
Sept. 17	Singapore GP	8 a.m. ET
Sept. 24	Japanese GP	1 a.m. ET
Oct. 8	Qatar GP	1 p.m. ET
Oct. 22	United States GP	3 p.m. ET
Oct. 29	Mexican GP	4 p.m. ET
Nov. 5	Brazil GP	12 p.m. ET
Nov. 19	Las Vegas GP	1 a.m. ET
Nov. 26	Abu Dhabi GP	8 a.m ET

How to watch F1 online from anywhere using a VPN

If you find yourself unable to view the race locally, you may need a different way to watch the race — that’s where using a VPN can come in handy. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on race day by encrypting your traffic, and it’s also a great idea if you’re traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network, and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins.

With a VPN, you’re able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the game. Most VPNs, like our Editors’ Choice, ExpressVPN, make it really easy to do this.

Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US, UK and Canada, as long as you have a legitimate subscription to the service you’re streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions.

Looking for other options? Be sure to check out some of the other great VPN deals taking place right now.

Livestream F1 racing in the UK

F1 in the UK is shown on Sky Sports and Channel 4 — Sky Sports airs the races, while Channel 4 gets practice rounds and qualifying. If you already have Sky Sports as part of your TV package, you can stream the game via its app, but cord-cutters will need to get the Sky Entertainment and Netflix package starting at 26 per month, plus an additional 20 per month to include Sky Sports.

Best options for streaming in the US without cable

Race weekends normally start on Friday with multiple practice runs and continue on Saturday with qualifying. The races themselves take place Sunday. ESPN typically airs practices and qualifying on a mix of ESPN 2 and ESPNews, while the races tend to air on ESPN. F1 events in North America often land on ABC.

Here are some of the best ways to catch the entire race weekend without cable.