The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 will soon be two years old, but it’s still a great phone — especially at the $499 price Amazon is selling it for today. This is the best deal we’ve seen yet, and it’s far lower than its $1,000 retail price (though these days, it usually runs you about $600 or more depending on the color). This sale is specifically on the lavender color option with 128GB of storage. If that’s not your favorite color, you can slap a case on it. And if it’s not enough storage for you, you can put up to a 512GB microSD card in it to expand the available capacity. (Note: 200GB microSD cards are cheaper than usual at Amazon today at $27.)

The Note 9 has a big 6.4-inch OLED screen with support for the included S Pen stylus that’s useful for jotting down notes or managing a grocery list. It’s powered by the Snapdragon 845, has a headphone jack and wireless charging, and is IP68-rated for waterproofing.

In short, if you’ve been considering Samsung’s newer Galaxy A51 or A71 phones, you might want to consider this instead. It has a better screen, more power, far more features, and it works with every US carrier.

Image: Bose

Bose’s latest noise-canceling headphones, the aptly named Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, are back down to their lowest price at Amazon. The white set costs $299 ($100 off). We’ve seen this deal before, though it’s been several weeks since the last discount.

Bose makes other colors of this NC700 model, including silver and black, but those rarely drop below their $399 price. If the white model doesn’t work for you, those other two colors are down to $339, which is actually the most affordable price Amazon has sold them for. No matter the color you buy, my colleague Chris Welch recommends them in his review for people who want excellent noise isolation, along with great sound quality and microphone quality for phone calls.

Starting today, Google Maps can show you directions using rented bikes from docked bike-share schemes like Citi Bike in New York City or Santander Cycles in London. It works by giving walking directions to get to a nearby dock, cycling directions to get from one dock to another, and finally walking directions once more to get from the dock to your destination. It’s similar to what Google started offering for Lime’s dockless scooters and bikes back in 2018, but for the many docked bike-hire schemes that are available in cities around the world.

The new functionality comes as cities are promoting cycling as a means for people to get around in an environmentally friendly and socially distanced way during the COVID-19 pandemic. Google says that since February, it has seen a 69 percent increase in the number of requests for cycling directions made through Maps, and that it had a record number of requests last month. Cycle-share schemes are a convenient alternative to owning your own bike.

The new cycle-share route functionality builds on Google Maps’ existing relationship with Ito World that lets you find docked bikes available for use.

Google says the feature will roll out over the course of the coming weeks to 10 cities — Chicago; New York City; the San Francisco Bay Area; Washington, DC; London; Mexico City; Montreal; Rio De Janeiro; São Paulo; and Taipei and New Taipei City — with more cities to be added in the coming months.

Koei Tecmo Europe and developer Gust Studios have announced a sequel to Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout coming to Switch (and PS4 and Windows PC) “this Winter”.

Described as a direct sequel, Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy sees Ryza return as the protagonist, the first character in the history of the long-running RPG Atelier franchise to take on the hero role in two successive titles, according to the official PR for the game. Check out the Japanese trailer above for a look at the battle system, a handful of environments and other details.

While the game didn’t feature in the Western showcases, it was one of a number of games highlighted in the Japanese broadcast, which clocked in at around four minutes longer than the Western equivalent. A teaser site for the game went live during the broadcast is set to reveal more details on the 29th July 2020.

Here are a few screenshots we grabbed from the presentation:

How many of the Atelier games have you got under your belt? Looking forward to this one? Let us know below.

The Nest Hub Max is one of our favorite smart displays and it earned a score of 86 when we reviewed it. It’s more versatile than Google’s smaller smart displays as its 10-inch screen is great for watching videos and viewing photos, and it also comes with a video camera.

That extra hardware feature lets you video chat with friends and family, and it also lets the Hub Max act as a security camera for your home. Instead of using a separate Nest Cam, the video camera on the Hub Max can watch over your home when you’re away and you can use the companion mobile app to watch the video feed whenever you want. While there’s no physical camera shutter, you can electronically disable the camera and microphone with a swipe on the screen.

The camera also keeps an eye out for gestures you can do to control the Nest Hub Max, like holding your palm up in front of it to pause a song it’s playing. Since the hub Max is the biggest Google smart display, it’s a lot more powerful in terms of audio than its smaller siblings. It has two front-facing tweeters and one rear-facing woofer, and those help it sound much better than the regular Nest Hub. All of these features make it a great smart display that’s worthy of a spot on your kitchen counter or in your living room — and with this deal, you could have one in both spots or spread the abilities of the Google Assistant throughout your home.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

When I see an infected in The Last of Us Part 2, I keep my cool. Even when it’s a jump scare, or an unexpected enemy, I generally know how to deal with most of the things the game makes me kill. Heights, though? Now those make me pause.

It’s funny, because I’ve never been particularly scared of heights in video games — most of them make you climb things, tall things. Naughty Dog has an entire franchise predicated on scaling exciting and exotic locations. But when I play as Abby in The Last of Us 2, I’m keenly aware of how high up we go.

It’s intentional. Early on, we are informed that Abby, one of the protagonists during the second half of the game, is scared of heights. As Naughty Dog sound designer Beau Anthony Jimenez recently shared on Twitter, the game has an elaborate breathing system that takes into account what the player’s heart rate is relative to what they are doing. “Breath can be an excellent conveyor of emotion!” Jimenez said in the thread.

As a part of that system, Abby is programmed to experience vertigo when you look over a tall ledge. In these moments, Abby breathes heavily, and the camera loses focus. It’s an effective detail, too. During a level where Abby is tasked with climbing some makeshift bridges connecting incredibly high buildings, I straight up had to stop playing for a second to compose myself. It is probably the closest thing a video game has come to approximating a panic attack. I felt the sound design in my chest, and strangely, my own breathing changed alongside Abby’s. Mind you, I’m not particularly scared of heights in real life, but there I was, trying to calm myself down!

As Jimenez goes on to explain in a different Tweet thread, Abby’s animations are also rigged to put her terror on display. You can see, hear, and feel her vulnerability in a surprisingly palpable way, which might explain why heights are now scarier to me in this game than, say, a Clicker.

The level, it should be said, is one of the best ones in the entire game. Through it, Abby — a veritable badass — confronts her biggest fears with the help of Lev, a teen who turns out to be deceptively wise. Lev gently walks Abby through all the obstacles, checking in on her as they go, and hyping her up when she doubts she can keep going. It’s a great moment of bonding between the two characters, one that made me care about them both, especially as Lev also shares his own phobias. It also helps that Naughty Dog has some great comedic timing.

Overcooked! and Overcooked! 2 are getting re-released in a combined version: Overcooked! All You Can Eat.

All You Can Eat will also include cross-platform online multiplayer and all the levels from the original games remastered in 60 FPS and 4K. In addition to all that, there’ll be new levels, chefs, and cosmetics, as well as new achievements to unlock.

Most notably, there’ll be more accessibility options and an “assist mode” to help out chefs who are getting overwhelmed by Overcooked!’s chaos. The assist mode will allow players to slow down the recipe timeout, increase how long rounds last, and include the option to skip levels. Since Overcooked! is a game that notoriously makes you sweaty and filled with panic, these options should help you turn down the heat a bit. There will also be functions to add dyslexic-friendly text and color blindness options.

Overcooked! All You Can Eat will be available for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X later this year.