AirPods are arguably Apple's most popular post-iPhone product, and it sounds like the company has plans to make them even more essential. Bloomberg reports that Apple is adding a live-translate feature to AirPods later this year as part of an upcoming software update. The feature sounds like it would work in a similar way to the translation feature on the Pixel Buds, only without the need to ask Google Assistant or in this case, Siri, to start listening for a specific language first. Apple's feature would reportedly automatically detect that something other than your native language is being spoken, and start converting what you're hearing into a language you understand. Pixel Buds have had live-translation since 2020, one of the few abilities that makes Google's earbuds superior to Apple's.

Google's Pixel Buds series has always been a worthy companion for its Pixel phones. The company only lacks a set of over-ear headphones to offer similar options to what Apple provides for iPhone users. Of course, Google got a later start than its rival, but like its Silicon Valley counterpart, the company has designed its earbuds to work best with its own devices. You'll need both a phone and earbuds from Google to get the best features. That's unlikely to change anytime soon.

It was Google's turn on Wednesday to announce a litany of devices and updates. The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro were the headline acts, though there was lots of interest further down the bill including the reveal of the Pixel Watch 2 and the public version of Android 14 making its way out into the world. You can catch up on everything by watching the Made by Google event yourself or checking out our liveblog for real-time insight and analysis. Alternatively, we've rounded up all the major announcements for you right here. The stars of the Made by Google show are, of course, the company's latest smartphones.

The biggest news in tech this week came from Google's annual developer conference on Wednesday. They announced three new devices: The Pixel 7a smartphone, the Pixel Tablet and the Pixel Fold. Discounts on brand new products don't happen often, but both Amazon and Google were quick to bundle Pixel 7a orders with a $50 Amazon gift card, or a free pair of Pixel Buds, respectively -- not sales per se, but free stuff is still compelling for anyone already planning on getting a new phone. Of course, there were deals unrelated to Google too, like savings on Amazon devices including the Fire TV Stick 4K Max, Echo speakers, and nearly all Kindle models. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.

Some of the biggest deals in tech right now come courtesy of Samsung Week, a sales event running through November 1st, in which the electronics giant has discounted a wide swath of their current-model devices. Google dropped some compelling offers of their own, with a third off the Pixel 6a and 25 percent off their Pixel Buds Pro. We also found Halloween sales from JBL, XBOX and PlayStation with discounts on older models and titles. Amazon's Echo devices are also on sale, with the Echo, Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 5 all at least 40 percent off. Here are all the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.

We know Dall-E and Midjourney can create some truly compelling images from a bit of text, but do they owe a debt to all of the images that they were trained on? Also, we explore the sorry state of Meta and Cherlynn gushes about the new Pixel Buds Pro. Stay tuned to the end of the show for our chat with Joshua Stiksma, Design Director of Moss 2, who discusses the current state of VR game development. Listen above, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments!

Most Amazon Prime Day deals may be exclusively for Prime members, but the day isn't just about Amazon anymore. The evolution of Prime Day over the years has spawned competing sale events from Amazon's biggest competitors like Walmart, Target and Best Buy. In addition to having exclusive sales that Amazon might not have, these retailers will often match some of Prime Day's biggest deals -- giving anyone the opportunity to grab them. If you want to save some money but don't want to contribute to the machine that is Amazon, we've collected the best anti-Prime Day deals here so you don't want to go searching for them yourself. Google's Nest Audio smart speaker has dropped to $75 across the web, which is $25 off its normal price.

Could be a price war coming to the wireless ear bud battle? Less than a month after Amazon's Echo Buds debuted undercutting Apple's AirPods, Google is launching its newest Pixel Buds at a lower price than Amazon's latest – and lower than previous Pixel Buds ($179), released last year. Pixel Buds A-Series ($99) can be pre-ordered today on Google's web site and will be shipped by June 17. Google's latest may not have all the bells and whistles found on pricier pods – such as the noise cancellation you get on AirPods Pro ($249) and Samsung's Galaxy Buds Pro ($199). But the new Pixel Buds may be just the right choice if you are looking to join the wireless wave.

Google turned out three new phones this past year, and we were particularly fond of the $459 Pixel 4a 5G. It has nearly all the same features as the budget-friendly Pixel 4a, but packs in a bigger screen, a second wide-angle camera and a 5G radio, making it more future-proof than its predecessor. It doesn't offer wireless charging or water resistance like the $700 Pixel 5, but then again, it costs $200 less. Here, we've recommended the best and most useful accessories for what's sure to be one of the most popular phones of the year. One of the first accessories you'll want to get for your Pixel 4a 5G (or any smartphone, really) is a case to prevent it from getting too damaged from the occasional drop.

Google is trialling an emergency sound detection mode for its Pixel Buds ear phones that alerts users to what's going on around them. The new feature, called Attention Alerts, detects signs of an emergency such as a barking dog, a crying baby or ambulance sirens with the help of AI. The new mode – which is being trialled for now – then lowers the audio volume of the Pixel Buds momentarily to let the user clearly hear what's going on around them. Pixel Buds users can enable this'experimental mode' on a Pixel phone with Android 10, but Google warned that it may shorten the battery life of the earbuds. Google has also introduced other permanent updates to Pixel Buds, including bass boost, sharing detection and transcribe mode.