Black Friday may still be weeks away, but if you were hoping to score a deal on Samsung’s Music Frame, there’s no need to wait until Thanksgiving. Both Amazon and Samsung are currently selling the speaker for under $250. At $150 off its regular price, that’s an all-time low for the Music Frame, which will usually set you back $400. Considering Samsung only released the device earlier this year, this is a great opportunity to pick up one (or even two) for your home theater.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Music Frame, think of it as the speaker equivalent to Samsung’s popular Frame TV. Like its television counterpart, the Music Frame doubles as a piece of home decor. And while there’s no display that will automatically cycle through digital artwork, you can manually insert prints and photos. Moreover, while it’s certainly possible to pair two Music Frames with a Frame TV, it’s not limited to home theater use. The Music Frame works just fine as a standalone Wi-Fi and Bluetooth speaker. You can even use it as a smart home hub. It’s possible to mount the Music Frame on a wall or on a table, with the help of a built-in stand, if you prefer.

Samsung

After a $150 discount, you can get Samsung’s Music Frame for under $250. 

$248 at Amazon

As for sound quality, Engadget senior reporter and resident audio geek Billy Steele was surprised by how good the Music Frame sounded when he got to demo it at CES earlier this year. “I was shocked by how robust and clear the overall sound quality is coming from the speaker,” he wrote at the time. “Highs and mids are adequately represented with great detail, while the bass is more restrained.“ If you’re curious, the Music Frame features two rear-facing woofers complemented by a set of two tweeters and two mid-range drivers, all four of which fire from the front of the speaker. It also offers Dolby Atmos support, and Samsung has included its SpaceFit tech, which assists with room calibration.

All told, the Music Frame is a great option for those looking for a speaker that will disappear into their home decor, but its high price can make it unappealing, especially if you want a stereo pair. At $150 off, however, it’s much easier to recommend, even if you’re on a budget.

Check out all of the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.

Amir Satvat has been churning out one study after another on the game job market, and his latest one shows that those seeking game jobs are often forced to take jobs outside the industry.

That’s not particularly good news for those job seekers, but the silver lining is that at least many of them find jobs.

In his latest report, there is more data that isn’t quite as bleak as it seemed before. Satvat, who works at Tencent in business development by day, has been providing game job resources by night to those who need it. And from that, he has gained more than 100,000 followers on LinkedIn and turned up a lot of data on game job seekers since November 2022. He now has about 22 months of solid data from that community.

One survey of 1,200-plus game people showed that on average they have 10% chance of finding a games job within 12 months. That’s better than previous data that showed the odds were about 7% to 8%. Those earlier numbers were lower as they only included people who said they were done with their search and are not underemployed or in contract work.

“I don’t release major findings until I’m confident they’re accurate, and with our community’s placements now surpassing 2,800, plus significant data on games job seekers (much of it retroactively collected), I now have a clearer picture of the games job search landscape,” Satvat said in a post.

Many things can affect a job search. In a panel at our GamesBeat Next 2024 event last week, Satvat noted that he didn’t find a job in the game industry until he was 38. Part of the reason was he would only take remote work in Connecticut, where he has family.

By month 22 of a job search, the odds of finding a games job reach 16%. And now, for the first time, Satvat said he has overall job search odds for game job seekers. This includes everyone in his community looking for a games role, not just those laid off.

The data show that many eventually broaden their search, particularly those who never worked in games to begin with. By month 12, the odds of finding any job are 54%. By comparison, the chances of game veterans finding a job in 12 months are one in four. And by month 22, the odds of finding any job for all game job seekers is 71%. This means that expanding your search beyond games significantly improves chances.

A lost generation?

You can improve your chances of finding any job by five times if you look outside of games. Much of the data in the community skews toward younger job seekers and game-focused job seekers. Satvat believes about a third of the 33,000 people laid off in games since 2022 are still job hunting.

At our event last week, Satvat said he worries there is a “lost generation” on both sides of the career arc. At the beginning, many graduating college students aren’t finding jobs in games. And for those 50 and older, ageism means that their odds of finding jobs are at 1% to 2% after a year of searching — just as bad as it is for those with less than three years of experience. It’s worth noting the odds improve for those who use Satvat’s 17 different job resources.

Satvat acknowledged that there are a small (and really unknown) number of people who turn a Roblox user-generated content gig into a full-time job. It may very well be that this has become the ground floor for getting jobs in the game industry.

Satvat noted that about 11,000 people were laid off in games in the first half of 2024, and the second half of the year it slowed down. He expects no more than 4,000 job cuts in the second half of 2024. He sees a crossover, where hiring will exceed firing on a 60-month trailing basis for the first time in years, happening in December.

This is why job placements are well below general unemployment – a big piece is those affected by the 32,000 cuts. We know a third of this population is still looking for work.

At months 16 and beyond, some job seekers may stop reporting due to discouragement and other factors.

“I’m cautious about overinterpreting the rate of increase here, but I believe the general pattern is accurate,” he said.

This data includes all job seekers aiming for roles in games, not only those with prior experience. Thus, not all of the gap between the blue and orange lines reflects an exodus. You can think of this gap as those who wish to work in games but can’t.

Why total job placement is only 71% over 22 months for gamers

In a follow-up post, Satvat said the biggest question he received since the post is why the 22-month total job odds for games jobseekers remain at only 71%.

“This is a complex issue, but I have some initial theories, based on both data and qualitative observations, which I plan to test thoroughly in the coming months,” he said.

He said one factor is that the percentage of games professionals who end up underemployed (in lower-paying roles that don’t cover living expenses), in fractional or contract work, or in other non-full-time roles (which I don’t count as off our still-searching list) has become a much larger part of the picture than people might expect.

There are some other reasons he is considering and will test for. He noted games qualifications, in many instances, are less transferable to other jobs than people think.

He noted that having only 14% of jobs in games as remote and a high geographic concentration – around 75% of North American roles being in just five states or regions – creates significant reemployment challenges.

Many in the community (he repeatedly tests at roughly a 50/50% mix for the members) aren’t open to relocating, and that further complicates reemployment. He also noted that there is ageism and early-career bias, which freezes out both newcomers to the market and those ages over 40 to 50-plus at higher rates than many realize.

“Some people are so passionate about games that, despite what they say, they’re reluctant to seriously pursue non-games roles,” he said.

In repeated surveys of his community and data collection, he said 45% of searchers have been out of work for a year or more. He also said he knows the number of games professionals laid off from 2022 through 2024 year to date, thanks to good reporting.

Based on the repeated community polls with thousands of responses, he knows that 30% to 40% of all laid-off games professionals were still looking for work as of two to three months ago.

And in a third post, Satvat asaid that, beyond just the odds of finding a job in games, he looked at the likelihood of securing any type of job for games job seekers.

Instead of only offering a “point-in-time” statistic for finding a job within 12 months, he attempted, for the first time, to chart the monthly odds offinding a games job, a non-games job, or any job over a span of one to 22 months.

The surprising takeaway that has gotten the most attention was that, over a 22-month period, the odds of games jobseekers finding any job was just 71%. He created some scenarios in a hypothetical chart.

He noted the figures below aren’t actual data points but serve as hypothetical examples. These scenarios reflect the kind of data he is continuing to refine, with the goal of making it more precise.

Imagine, hypothetically, that 15,000 people secure games jobs in 22 months. In healthier times, 25% of job seekers find roles in games, before recent layoffs.

With 60,000 games jobseekers, 15,000 find games jobs, while the other 45,000 need to find work outside of games. In more stable times, Satvat assumed 95% of people achieve full employment by month 22 – this means 42,750 find non-games roles, leaving 2,250 unfulfilled. In this scenario, the games industry and adjacent fields are absorbing enough talent to minimize slack.

Now consider a more stressed scenario: imagine an influx of 33,750 more jobseekers into the pool over three years – which is not hypothetical at all (some sources estimate 32,000, but Satvat believes it’s closer to 33,750).

If the same 15,000 games roles are available, the placement rate in games drops to 16%, leaving 78,750 games jobseekers. If we assume a hypothetical 71% of jobseekers find employment in 22 months, then 55,913 people secure non-games jobs, with 22,838 remaining without a role.

Over time, as job seekers become more flexible or shift markets, this “slack” could diminish, and one would see a return to the healthier scenario on top.

Again, these figures are illustrative, but they highlight why 71% is not surprising given the shock to the system. In normal times, the games placement rate over 22 months could be much higher.

Historically, the games industry averaged 1,000 to 2,000 layoffs a year, not 10,000-plus, so until recent years, the first scenario was more typical.

“I believe, and hope, that things will return to that norm sooner rather than later,” he said.

Two veteran European companies in the world of on-demand printing are merging, and you may have not even realised they were separate companies to begin with. Printful and Printify, both startups with Latvian roots providing custom printing services, are coming together as a single company.

They are framing the move as a natural fit to unlock greater economies of scale, efficiencies and profitability. But reading between the lines, it also underscores the struggles that startups in the on-demand manufacturing space, and the creator economy, are facing as single companies. Funding for later-stage startups has been especially challenging in Europe over the last several years, and it looks like 2025 will be no exception. While category growth looks to have slowed vs earlier years: the two companies said they currently reach “hundreds of thousands” of customers.

Mergers typically aim to drive efficiencies through headcount reduction. Asked about layoffs, a spokesman for the pair said: “There will be some areas of overlap between the two companies and some changes to teams will take place. The company leadership will ensure that this process is clear, transparent and efficient.”

While the two existing brands will be maintained for the “foreseeable future”, per a press release, a new company name is planned — but is being kept under wraps for now. There will also be a new management team put in place, though both CEOs are slated to stay on. Also on the cards: new products — or “increasingly tailored and innovative solutions”, as their PR puts it.

Financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed.

The merged company said it plans to expand into more markets, serving everything from solo-entrepreneurs up to Fortune 500 companies wanting to be able to offer their own brand merch.

In terms of metrics, the companies are not providing like-for-like numbers. Printful says its business fulfils “more than a million” items a month, while Printify reports generating over 60 million orders since being founded almost a decade ago. Three years ago, Printify reported shipping a million units a month, although it’s not clear what its growth has looked like since then, so make of that what you will.

Printful was founded back in 2013 and has taken in $130 million in private equity funding, according to CrunchBase. Printify has raised a total of just over $54 million since being founded back in 2015. Investors include Index Ventures.

Commenting on the merger in a statement, Alex Saltonstall, Printful’s CEO, dubbed the development an “exciting moment for everyone”. Saltonstall has been in the job just over two years, following management changes after the original co-founder stepped back and took on an advisor role in summer 2022.

“Printify is a business that we have long respected and I believe that there is a natural fit between the two companies,” he said. “I’m excited to see our two great technology companies combine strengths and provide our customers with ever improving opportunities to fulfill their business goals.” 

Printify’s CEO Anastasija Oleinika is even more relatively recently in post: she went from CFO to the top job in April 2023, when the founder moved to an exec chairman role. “Our combined company will give our merchants more,” she said in her statement. “More top-quality products, more places to sell, more innovative solutions, and more growth and profit.”

Consolidation can also be a strategy to drive up prices by reducing consumer choice — a tactic that private equity has been known to deploy — so it will be interesting to see whether claims of greater product choice translate into fewer and higher prices for the pair’s users in future, or see them ‘innovating’ to expand value for their customers, too.

The merger has already passed regulatory review, according to the companies, as well as receiving “overwhelming support” from both their shareholders. So it’s full steam ahead for Printfulify — or whatever the combined entity will be called.

• Call of Duty: Mobile Season 10 launches tomorrow
• The update includes a new weapon, battle royale map, and skins
• Call of Duty: Mobile has also hit one billion downloads worldwide

The fifth anniversary update for Call of Duty: Mobile arrives tomorrow, introducing a new season of content and an additional battle royale map.

Season 10 will introduce the new Anniversary Pass with both premium and paid tiers. Free players will be able to claim the all–new USS 9 SMG weapon, plus the brand-new Teleport battle royale class, a range of skins, weapon blueprints, Vault Coins, and more.

A rapid form of 3D printing that uses sound and light could one day produce copies of human organs made from a person’s own cells, allowing for a range of drug tests.

Traditional 3D printers build from a hard base, layer by layer. This is time consuming and risks damage to printed objects when they are removed from the printing bed. David Collins at the University of Melbourne and his colleagues have taken a different approach, which they call “dynamic interface printing”.

The new printer is essentially a…