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If you're in the market for a new mechanical keyboard with some retro flair, here's a deal worth noting: the 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard is down to $70 at Amazon subsidiary Woot. That's the lowest price we've tracked. This offer has been live for a few days, but it comes in $30 below 8BitDo's list price and $10 below the wireless keyboard's previous low. Unfortunately, the deal only applies to the device's Fami Edition, which has a color scheme and Japanese characters inspired by the Famicom console Nintendo released in Japan during the '80s. 8BitDo sells another variant that's modeled after the US NES, but that one costs $20 more as of this writing. (A third model based on the Commodore 64 is also on the way.) Though it isn't a formal pick in our guide to the best mechanical keyboards, the Retro Mechanical Keyboard earned a spot in our retro gaming gift guide last year. The vintage aesthetic is the main reason to consider it: If you dig old tech, there aren't many options going for this kind of look. Still, this is a solid keyboard in its own right. Its tenkeyless form factor should be comfortable for most people, and it can connect over Bluetooth, a wireless dongle or a detachable USB-C cable. While it's made from plastic, the chassis doesn't come off as cheap. Its PBT keycaps are crisply textured, and its keys largely feel stable, with no major rattling on larger inputs like the space bar. It also comes with a goofy yet fun pair of NES-style "Super Buttons," which you can program to perform different commands. Be warned, though: It's on the louder side. The Retro Mechanical Keyboard ships with clicky Kailh Box White V2 switches, which are generally satisfying to press but have a high-pitch tone that your spouse or coworkers may find aggravating. This fits with the retro aesthetic, but the keyboard might be best kept tucked away in a home office. There's also no backlight or adjustable feet. The switches are hot-swappable, however, so it's easy to change them out for a different feel down the road. In the end, how much you enjoy the old-school styling will determine whether the Retro Mechanical Keyboard is worth getting. If you want something a little more subdued that costs less than $100, we recommend Keychron's V Max series in our buying guide. But 8BitDo's board is still a decent value, and this discount only furthers that. Woot says the offer will run for six more days or until the device sells out. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/8bitdos-nintendo-style-retro-mechanical-keyboard-hits-a-new-low-of-70-at-woot-170000966.html?src=rss
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You may be able to give those plastic Rock Band guitars you have stuffed away in the attic a new lease of life. Fortnite Festival (a Rock Band-style mode that debuted in Fortnite in December) now supports several Rock Band 4 controllers across PlayStation, Xbox and PC, as detailed in a blog post. If you have a compatible plastic guitar, you can use it to play new Pro Lead and Pro Bass parts in any Jam Track. These parts have colored notes for each lane that match with the guitar controller buttons. They also include hammer-on and pull-off notes just like Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Epic Games (which bought Rock Band developer Harmonix in 2021 to build music experiences for Fortnite) plans to add support for more peripherals down the line. Hopefully, the developers will make the whammy bar more useful beyond triggering a visual effect too. Epic previously said it would add support for Rock Band guitars. Earlier this year, third-party peripheral maker PDP (which Turtle Beach recently purchased) unveiled a new Xbox and PlayStation wireless guitar controller for Rock Band 4 and Fortnite Festival. Support for the Rock Band peripherals come just as Billie Eilish joins the game as its new music icon. Several of her songs are available to buy and use in Fortnite Festival, and you'll be able to purchase an Eilish outfit (or unlock one through a secondary battle pass) and play as her in the Battle Royale mode. Meanwhile, Epic has added a setting that allows players to hide certain emotes that others often use for trolling in Battle Royale. For instance, after being eliminated, a player might not want to see a rival using the "Take the L" emote, which involves making the shape of an "L" (for "loser") on their forehead and doing a silly dance. The setting won't stop players from using any emotes and it only hides four of them for now. Somehow, one of the emotes that the setting doesn't hide is a personal favorite called "Rage Quit." Starting today, these Fortnite emotes will be hidden with a "confrontational emotes" setting. Spreading for awareness, trigger warning. pic.twitter.com/VkGXnTdRnd Jake Lucky (@JakeSucky) April 23, 2024 This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/your-old-rock-band-guitars-now-work-in-fortnite-festival-164054839.html?src=rss
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X just announced a smart TV app for streaming video. Or, more accurately, that it claims it's building one, with absolutely no launch date mentioned. The appropriately-named X TV wants to be your go-to companion for a high-quality, immersive entertainment experience on a larger screen. By high-quality entertainment, X likely means that one Tucker Carlson video where hes really impressed by grocery carts in Russia. Thats not a joke. Carlson is featured prominently in the little teaser video. Coming soon to a television near you: X TV pic.twitter.com/C7VWNa7jG5 News (@XNews) April 23, 2024 X CEO and marketing robot Linda Yaccarino promises real-time content and wide availability, but other than that details are scanter than scant. Theres some corporate speak nonsense about AI, of course, and boasts about effortless casting from a mobile device to a TV. Wait, I thought this was a TV app? So its also a mobile app that casts to a TV? Is there another word for less than half-baked? Does raw work? In other words, we dont know much. This is X. All we get are word salads that dont really mean anything and then, one day, the app may or may not actually appear. If it does, its likely to be hopelessly broken. That sounds harsh, but theres plenty of proof-laden pudding to go around. We got receipts. Back when Twitter first rebranded to X, the company promised the whole thing would soon be powered by AI. X eventually did create a chatbot, Grok, but its not exactly the sharpest algo in the shed. It also doesnt look to be powering the site anytime soon. Elon Musk promised that X would soon become a payments and banking platform, which thankfully hasnt materialized. Remember when Musk said that all major X decisions would be conducted via user poll? When was the last time youve seen one of those? Theres also the whole ongoing blue check fiasco. The long-promised job search tool did launch, but its just kind of crappy. X did pursue original video content for a while, but things seem to have cooled off ever since the Don Lemon/Elon Musk debacle. Two years after Musk purchased the site, its still far from being the everything app. Theres also the question of what kind of content will be streaming on this platform. Again, this is X. Im just not sure how many people want to sit on their living room couch and watch a guy scream into the void about how the video game site Kotaku is ruining American society. The ad spotlights Carlson, as mentioned above, which indicates an endless stream of videos of people complaining about the word woke without actually defining it. Call me crazy, but Id rather watch actual TV. Heck. Even if I wanted to watch a vlog of impotent rage, YouTube is right there. Its on smart TVs now and it works just fine. It has everything Yaccarino promises that one day will come to X TV. Plus, YouTube can teach you stuff, beyond how to block folks with a blue check next to their name. X TV may or may not release in the near or far future on some or all smart TVs. It may be an actual app on the TV or an app on a phone that casts to a TV. It may be powered by AI, or not. It may have tailored search or it may just show you endless loops of Jordan Peterson bursting into tears. Who the heck knows. Be on the lookout for this latest pivot to video or not.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/elon-musk-says-its-his-turn-to-have-the-remote-161914334.html?src=rss
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