Google Pixel 6a includes a $50 gift card when you buy at Amazon

Google’s Pixel 6a is brand new, but you can already find some tempting deals. Amazon is running a promotion that includes a $50 gift card when you buy the Pixel 6a for $449. To claim it, you’ll want to visit the product page for your preferred model, visit the “Special offers and product promotions” section, and click “Add both to Cart.” The bonus lasts through August 7th, so you’ll want to act quickly if you’re hoping to use the gift card for a case, charger or similar accessory.

Buy Pixel 6a with $50 Amazon gift card – $449

The Pixel 6a is a rare treat among mid-range phones. You get a fast processor, better-than-average cameras, IP67 water resistance and long battery life in an attention-getting design. As a Pixel phone, it also delivers the full Google experience — there are AI tricks like anti-photobombing and real-time translation, not to mention timely Android software updates.

There are some quirks. The 60Hz screen is modest compared to the 120Hz display in Samsung’s Galaxy A53 5G, and Pixel A-series veterans won’t be thrilled at losing the headphone jack. And while we didn’t find the fingerprint reader to be overly fussy, it’s slower than what you find in some rival handsets. Still, this is the affordable Android phone to buy in the US — the gift card just sweetens the deal.

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ASUS’ Zenfone 9 gets a bigger camera in a palm-friendly body

With the launch of its latest smartphone today, ASUS finally bids farewell to its quirky “Flip Camera” feature, but it still believes that there’s a market for compact flagships. The new Zenfone 9 only comes in one size, which has kept the same 5.9-inc…

Ford reveals an F-150 Lightning built for police work

Don’t be surprised if you see an electric pickup truck assisting cops in the near future. Ford has introduced a version of the 2023 F-150 Lighting built for police, the Lightning Pro SSV (Special Service Vehicle). The new model is designed for tasks that don’t involve pursuit, such as assisting at crime scenes or towing boats, and includes modifications to match. You’ll find optional police lights for the roof, an instrument panel tray with easier equipment mounting, and toughened seating with steel intrusion plates in the front seatbacks. While this truck probably won’t cart suspects to the station, it could in a pinch.

The Lighting Pro SSV is otherwise similar to other pro F-150 EVs, although that’s not a bad thing. You can outfit the police version with the same regular or extended-range battery packs, with motors providing a respective 452HP and 580HP. You’ll likewise get driver assists such as Co-Pilot360 and automatic emergency braking, and Ford Pro promises telematics and support you don’t get with ordinary models. To no one’s surprise, Ford is pitching the Lighting’s design as officer-friendly — the slew of power outlets will help illuminate crash scenes, while the large frunk provides extra gear storage.

Ford doesn’t expect to share full details of the 2023 F-150 Lightning until later this summer, so you’ll have to wait a while for range estimates and other details. Still, this could be an important launch. The Lightning Pro SSV is the first US electric pickup designed for police, as Ford is keen to point out. While it’s not a cruiser, it could still play a significant role in electrifying departments.

The best trail cameras for keeping an eye on your backyard wildlife

Daffodils flourishing in sidewalk cracks, pigeons and starlings congregating on overhead power lines, rats living in your apartment walls — no matter how urban humans strive to make our environments, nature’s flora and fauna will make themselves right …

The PS5 finally gets 1440p support

The PlayStation 5now supports 1440p, at least for gamers with access to its beta software. While the console has supported 1080p and 4K output from the start, 1440p support is still a much-requested feature by players who use monitors instead of TVs. It provides a middle ground between full HD and 4K, after all, and is a popular choice for gamers who also play on their PCs. Testers who get the latest beta software for the PS5 will now see a 1440p HDMI video output option as an additional visual setting when they use the console with a compatible monitor.

Obviously, they can enjoy the full benefits of 1440p rendering if the game they’re playing supports the resolution. But if they’re playing a game that supports 4K, they could also benefit from the feature, because the option downsamples the visuals for 1440p output and that leads to sharper images. As VG247 notes, though, Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), which rolled out for the console in April, is only available for 1080p and 2160p. VRR gives the screen the ability to sync its refresh rate with that of the game for a smoother experience, and it’s not quite clear why it’s not available for 1440p output. 

In addition to 1440p support, the latest beta software also gives users a way to create gamelists in their Game Library so that they can better organize all the titles they own. Players can create up to 15 gamelists with 100 games each. Their in-progress activities will now be shown prominently at the top of the game hub when they resume a game, as well, and they can now request party members to share their screens so that they can watch their gameplay. Plus, when they enter a party and a member is playing game they can join, they’ll now receive an alert and then join the game directly from that notification.

Sony has introduced more experimental features with the new beta and has listed them all on the PlayStation blog.

NASA plans to bring rock samples back from Mars with the help of two space helicopters

NASA has altered the Mars Sample Return Program meant to bring back the rock samples the Perseverance rover has been drilling and collecting from the Jezero crater in a big way. Instead of sending the Sample Fetch Rover to the red planet like originally planned, the program will make use of Perseverance itself and send over two helicopters based on the Ingenuity for backup. 

NASA and the ESA have been working together on the Sample Return Program over the past few years. The original plan was to send over the ESA-made Sample Fetch Rover to retrieve the samples and drive them back to a rocket, which will fly them up to be snatched by the Earth Return Orbiter. As The New York Times notes, though, the rover’s design became too big until it could no longer fit in one lander with the return rocket. NASA would have to use one lander for each of them.

But why do that when there are other, more affordable options? The Sample Return Lander isn’t scheduled to arrive on Mars until 2030, but NASA is confident that Perseverance will still be operational by then — after all, the Curiosity rover is still up and running almost 11 years after it launched. Under their renewed plan, the Perseverance will drive up to the lander to deliver 30 rock samples that will be loaded onto the rocket.

If anything goes wrong with Perseverance before then, though, the lander would settle closer to the rover and then the backup helicopters will fly over to retrieve the samples. While the helicopters are modeled after the Ingenuity, they’ll have small wheels at the bottom. These will allow them to drive up to the samples that are sealed inside tubes and pick them up from the ground where the rover has dropped them.

The Ingenuity helicopter completed its first test flight on Mars in April 2021. NASA wasn’t expecting much from the helicopter, which was just supposed to prove that flight on Mars is possible. It was also only supposed to fly a handful of times during a one-month technology demonstration, but it has accomplished 29 successful flights so far, with more on the way. Ingenuity’s success has given NASA another means to retrieve the precious samples Perseverance has been collecting.

Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for NASA’s science directorate, said during the press conference announcing the new Sample Return Program plans:

“We reached our decision based on new studies and recent achievements at Mars that allowed us to consider options that, frankly, weren’t available to us one year ago or before.”

The Earth Return Orbiter and Sample Retrieval Lander will take off in the fall of 2027 and the summer of 2028, respectively. Their journey to and from the red planet will take years, so the samples aren’t expected to arrive on Earth until 2033.