Nothing Reveals When Its Next Budget Phone Drops

The steps are the same for the AirPods Max headphones, except you can ignore the part about the charging case lid. To check the firmware version of your AirPods, go to Settings, tap the name of your AirPods, scroll to the About section, and then tap Version.

It’s unclear why it took Apple so long to detail these instructions, but we may have the big hearing aid software update that arrived late in 2024 to thank.

The Sims Turns 25

Humple Borpnah! (That’s “happy birthday” in Simlish). The Sims turns 25 years old on February 4, and naturally, EA is throwing a celebratory sale. You can save on expansion packs, stuff packs, game packs, and bundles—some are discounted by as much as 50 percent. There are rumors of a new expansion pack arriving next week, which would make it the 18th expansion in the ever-evolving The Sims 4 universe (not counting the dozens of smaller game packs).

A brand-new Birthday Bundle includes The Sims, The Sims 2, and several expansion packs. It’s available for $40 on PC. EA is also unveiling a celebratory merch collection on February 5, and the whole birthday sale is slated to last through February 10.

I’m taking a moment to reflect on one of the few games that has been a staple throughout my entire life. Making grade-school crushes in Create a Sim so we could get married, trapping my high school enemies in the pool, and building my dream home while interior decorating my existing one. Some folks use The Sims to process emotions or figure out what they want in real life. It’s an escape worth escaping to. The base game is free, making now a perfect time to snag some cheap expansions and start playing God however you see fit. —Louryn Strampe

Apple Settles an Apple Watch Lawsuit

Did you own the original Apple Watch, Series 1, 2, or 3? Well, you may qualify for $20 to $50 compensation because Apple has decided to settle a class-action lawsuit about battery-swelling issues in its smartwatches that could then damage other components, such as the screen. (You can also only qualify if you’ve reported these battery-related issues in some way, like filing a complaint with Apple’s customer service between April 24, 2015, and February 6, 2024.)

Despite settling, in a statement sent to CNET Apple denied wrongdoing. “While we strongly disagree with the claims made against these early generation Apple Watch models, we agreed to settle to avoid further litigation.”