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Jul 05, 2022
After more than a year of rising tensions over the country's sweeping 2021 IT law, Twitter is suing India's government. The New York Times reports the company filed a complaint on Tuesday with the Karnataka High Court in Bangalore to challenge a recent order to censor content within the country. According to Twitter, it had until Monday to block about a dozen accounts and posts or face possible criminal action. While the company complied with the order, it's now also seeking legal relief.
Twitter declined to comment. The challenge comes after the company reportedly told the Indian government last summer it was compliant with the country's IT rules. As part of the law, Twitter was required to hire a domestic compliance officer and a point of contact for local authorities.
Before that point, Twitter's relationship with India had been strained for much of 2021. In February, the government threatened to jail Twitter employees unless the company removed content related to the farmer protests held that year. Two months later, India ordered Twitter to pull tweets that criticized the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
More recently, the government ordered Twitter to block tweets from Freedom House, a nonprofit organization that
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Jul 05, 2022
NASA has lost contact with CAPSTONE, a tiny satellite that left Earth's orbit on July 4th. CAPSTONE is a cubesat weighing just 55 pounds, and it's headed for the Moon as part of NASA's plan to get humans back on the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years.
The small satellite stopped communicating with engineers on July 4th shortly after deploying from an Electron rocket bus and exiting Earth's orbit. A NASA spokesperson told Space.com that the team has solid trajectory information for CAPSTONE and handlers are attempting to re-establish contact with the cubesat.
"If needed, the mission has enough fuel to delay the initial post-separation trajectory correction maneuver for several days," the spokesperson told the site.
CAPSTONE spent six days building up speed in-orbit on a Rocket Lab Electron booster and finally deployed yesterday, on a path to the Moon. The plan is for CAPSTONE to enter a near rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon on November 13th, serving as a test for NASA's Artemis mission. With Artemis, NASA plans to install a space station called the Lunar Gateway in the Moon's orbit, serving as a permanent floating base for lunar visitors, complete with living quarters and a laboratory.
NASA plans to kick off its Artemis 1 mission between August 23rd and September 6th with the deployment of an unmanned Orion module, which will orbit the Moon and provide data about how the trip might affect the human body. After that, four astronauts will take off for the lunar satellite
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Jul 05, 2022
Apex Legends players on Xbox Series X/S haven't been too impressed with the game over the last two weeks. Since Respawn Entertainment rolled out a large update on June 22nd, players on those consoles have been complaining about an input lag issue that seemingly made the battle royale very slow to register button presses. Thankfully, the developer may have finally resolved the matter.
"We just pushed a small update to [Apex Legends] to help address issues with input lag on Xbox Series X and S consoles," Respawn wrote on Twitter. "Thank you for your patience here, legends."
Works randomly whenever the game decides to.
Single fire 301 to show what I'm talking ab.
FIX THIS, PLEASE.@PlayApex / #ApexLegends#APEXpic.twitter.com/JVCPieApaV
— Reaiming (@Reaiming) July 1, 2022It's not clear why the issue only seemed to affect current Xbox consoles, but some folks claimed it made Apex Legends practically unplayable. A Twitch streamer named Reaiming shared a clip of them rapidly pressing the trigger but the game clearly wasn't registering all their inputs.
Members of the community found work
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Jul 05, 2022
There's no need to wait for Prime Day for a decent deal on a Kindle, especially if you're looking to pick one up for a younger person in your life. Prime members can pick up the Kindle Kids edition for $50, which is $10 cheaper than the previous all-time-low price. The usual price of the e-reader is $85.
Buy Kindle Kids (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $50It's a 10th-gen Kindle that comes with a two-year worry-free guarantee. Amazon will replace the device if it breaks for any reason. It's a proper e-reader, not a rugged toy, so that guarantee might come in handy. Kindle Kids does, however, come with a kid-friendly cover.
You'll also get one year of access to Amazon Kids , which includes access to thousands of kid-friendly books, including the Ramona Quimby and Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Parents can view their kids' reading progress and set educational goals. Amazon Kids usually costs $5 per month.
Meanwhile, you can also pick up the 2019 edition of the Fire 7 without breaking the bank, since that's also down to a record low. The tablet is currently $30, which is 40 percent off the regular price. It's another low-cost device that could be a solid option for a ch
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Jul 05, 2022
Ubisoft will share updates and announcements about its roster of projects in a showcase on September 10th at 3PM ET. The event will be streamed on Ubisoft channels on YouTube, Twitch and the studio's official website, and it'll include news on "multiple games and projects from Ubisoft teams around the world," according to spokesperson Youssef Maguid.
Back in June, Ubisoft confirmed plans to share information about the future of Assassin's Creed during a special event in September, and this appears to be that. Ubisoft is currently working on two Assassin's Creed projects: one is a live multiplayer experience spanning multiple time periods codenamed Infinity, and the other is a standalone series installment codenamed Rift. Early reports indicate Rift started out as an expansion to Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and it stars Basim Ibn Ishaq from that title.
Alongside Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft is the caretaker of Far Cry, Rabbids, Beyond Good & Evil, Just Dance, Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell, Rayman and Prince of Persia. A remake of the original Prince of Persia has been bouncing around Ubisoft's studios for a few years and is now in development in Montreal, due out some time after April 2023.
Ubisoft is also hosting a broadcast for its open-world, online pirate simulator Skull and Bones on July 7th at 2PM ET. Skull and Bones has been kicking around since 2017 and it was even playable in 2018, but updates since then have been few and far between.
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Jul 05, 2022
Games Done Quick has banned a speedrunner from future events after they admitted to cheating during last week's marathon. Russian player Mekarazium appeared to complete a Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance expansion in a world record time. Instead of live gameplay, though, Mekarazium showed a pre-recorded video that was pieced together using parts of separate runs. They reacted to the footage in real-time to sell the ruse.
While Summer Games Done Quick took place as an in-person event for the first time since 2019, some speedrunners participated remotely. Mekazarium was one of those, which allowed them to cheat, as PCGamesN reports. The player initially sped through the main campaign of MGR: Revengeance in a seemingly legitimate run, before taking on the Blade Wolf DLC after a charity donation goal was met.
However, viewers noticed discrepancies in the Blade Wolf playthrough. Some noted there were barely any audible instances of Mekarazium pressing keys on the keyboard (which could be heard as he played the main game). At one point, Mekarazium lifts their right hand up while their character was looking around, though they claimed they controlled the mouse with their other hand.
Mekarazium also downplayed the record-breaking aspect of their run after the fact. You'd think a speedrunner
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Jul 05, 2022
After years of delays, Ubisoft is finally ready to offer a fresh look at Skull and Bones. The publisher announced on Tuesday it plans to host a showcase dedicated to the open-world multiplayer pirate game on July 7th at 2PM ET. Ubisoft will livestream the event on YouTube and Twitch.
The company is widely expected to announce a new release date then. If you haven't kept track of Skull and Bones' troubled development, we don't blame you. Ubisoft first announced the title at E3 2017, with an original release window planned for 2018. It then pushed the game back to 2019, mid-2020, 2021 and then finally its fiscal 2022-2023 year.
— Skull and Bones (@skullnbonesgame)
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Jul 05, 2022
Amazon has announced good deals on more devices ahead of Prime Day. This time around, some smart displays are getting deep discounts. The Echo Show 5, for instance, has dropped to just $35 for Prime members. That's $10 less than the previous all-time low and $50 below the list price.
Buy Echo Show 5 (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $35The second-gen Echo Show 5 emerged last summer. We gave the smart display, which has a 5.5-inch screen, a score of 85 in our review.
It's a solid choice for a bedside table device, particularly given that there's a tap-to-snooze function. The decent audio quality doesn't hurt either. On the flip side, we found the interface less intuitive than it perhaps ought to be. The webcam, meanwhile, is only 2MP, though that's still an improvement over the one Amazon used in the first-gen Echo Show 5.
Amazon has slashed the price of the Echo Show 8 as well. It's down from $110 to $55. However, it's worth noting the deal is for the first-gen version of the device, which was released in 2019. An updated model followed in 2021.
Buy Echo Show 8 (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $55The eight-inch smart display has a camera shutter (as does the Echo Show 5) and s
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Jul 05, 2022
Prime Day is still a week away, but Amazon is getting the jump on one of its biggest events of the year by putting a bunch of its own products on sale a little early. One of those is the fourth-gen Echo Dot. The company has slashed the price of the Alexa-powered smart speaker by 60 percent for Prime members. It's down to $20, which is $30 off the regular price. That's the best price we've seen to date.
Buy Echo Dot (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $20We gave the Echo Dot a score of 88 in our review, lauding it for the decent audio quality, a 3.5mm audio out jack and the option to tap it to snooze the alarm. We also liked the spherical design. It's worth bearing in mind that it's been almost two years since Amazon released the fourth-gen Echo Dot. Dropping the price to just $20 is an indicator that the company is clearing out stock ahead of a possible new model this fall.
In addition, there's a decent deal on the regular fourth-gen Echo. That's down from $100 to $60. The larger version of the Alexa smart speaker also has a 3.5mm audio out jack. We gave it a score of 89 in our review, largely because of the great sound quality.
Buy Echo (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $60If
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Jul 05, 2022
Publisher Dragami Games has announced a remake of Lollipop Chainsaw, which will arrive next year. The 2012 original was a cult hit. It's a hack-and-slash title from the minds of producer Yoshimi Yasuda, creative director Goichi "Suda51" Suda (of No More Heroes fame) and Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, who was a writer on the game.
Lollipop Chainsaw focuses on Juliet Starling, a cheerleader who battles zombies in a California high school. Surprisingly enough, Juliet wields a chainsaw that she can use in various ways (including ranged attacks). She can also collect lollipops to restore her health. Juliet is accompanied on her quest by the disembodied head of her boyfriend. A serious game this is not.
Dragami Games is led by Yasuda. who will also produce the remake. The development team includes some other folks who previously worked on Lollipop Chainsaw. As IGN notes, some aspects will be different in the remake. Yasuda said the new version will take advantage of current-gen console hardware to deliver "a more realistic approach to the graphics." It will have new music as well, due to licensing issues.
Dragami acquired
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Jul 05, 2022
As of October 2022, Microsoft will stop offering free Xbox 360 titles through Games with Gold. The company announced the change in an email sent out to Xbox Live Gold subscribers in the US, Canada and other parts of the world. "We have reached the limit of our ability to bring Xbox 360 games to the catalog," the company states in the message. "However, Games with Gold will continue to include exciting Xbox One titles and exclusive savings each month."
The email adds that Xbox users can redownload any 360 titles they claimed through Games with Gold regardless of whether they continue to subscribe to Xbox Live Gold.
"No other Xbox Live Gold benefits will be impacted by this change," a Microsoft spokesperson told Engadget. "We're always looking at ways to evolve the Xbox experience based on community engagement, feedback and shifting company priorities. We have reached the limit of our ability to bring new games to the catalog from the past due to licensing and technical constraints. We will continue to focus on providing Xbox One titles through the Games with Gold program."
MicrosoftIntroduced in 2013, Microsoft added Games with Gold to Xbox Live Gold in response to the success of Sony's PS Plus service, which was the first to offer free monthly games to customers. Microsoft later extended the perk to include the Xbox One. In recent years, the allure of the bonus has waned with the introduction of Xbox Game Pass. After Microsoft recently dropped the Xbox Live Gold requirement to p
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Jul 05, 2022
Amazon has been busy dropping prices on its own products ahead of Prime Day and several other manufacturers are getting in on the action too. One of them is audio brand Jabra. Its Elite 7 Pro noise-canceling earbuds have dropped to $140 on Amazon. That's 30 percent off the regular price of $200. It's also the lowest price we've seen to date for the titanium black model.
Buy Jabra Elite Pro 7 at Amazon - $140Jabra announced the true wireless earbuds last August. They were pegged as a successor to the Elite 85t (which were previously the brand's smallest earbuds), with a smaller, retooled design. The company says the earbuds use bone conduction in concert with microphones and algorithms to improve voice performance. The idea is that Jabra's algorithms detect when the microphones pick up certain kinds of background audio and activate the bone conduction function when necessary.
The Elite 7 Pro's active noise cancellation (ANC) levels are adjustable. Jabra says you'll get up to nine hours of use on a single charge if ANC is switched on and up to nine hours without that feature. The case (which can be charged wirelessly) can provide another three charges.
In addition, you can configure the on-device controls via Jabra's Sound app. Earlier this year, Jabra rolled out support for multipoint Bluetooth connectivity, allowing you to connect the earbuds to two devices at the same time — a handy feature for those who often take calls during th
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Jul 05, 2022
If you're in the market for a new streaming device, chances are you want to improve your home entertainment experience. Maybe you've been relying on your phone or tablet for binge-watch sessions, or perhaps your TV's built-in operating system just isn't cutting it anymore. Streaming dongles and set-top boxes are ubiquitous at this point, but sussing out the differences between them can be challenging. Plus, they're not the only gadgets that can deliver your latest Netflix obsession to your TV screen. Let us break down all of the streaming device options you have today and give you our picks for the best you can buy.
Who needs a streaming device?It's worth pointing out that if you only use a couple of streaming services (say, Netflix and Hulu), you might not need a standalone streaming device. Most modern televisions ship with a basic selection of apps that usually include the most popular streaming services. Some TVs and soundbars run on built-in Roku or Fire TV operating systems, which offer a robust selection of apps without the need for a separate device.
But if your TV is on the older side, adding a streaming stick is obviously much cheaper than shelling out for a new television. Also, a dedicated streaming device typically has access to a lot more streaming services and apps, while content is often presented more intuitively. Some devices also offer better search features, including voice control. Cord cutters in particular will benefit from this sort of streaming hardware, as live TV services like Sling and Hulu Live aren't always available in basic TV interfaces.
How to pick a streaming deviceThe most important things to keep in mind when choosing a streaming device are platform, price and what you already have in your home. Currently, the most popular streaming platforms are Roku, Amazon's Fire TV, Apple TV and Google TV (which is an overlay on top of Android TV). All of them offer
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Jul 05, 2022
Today, after months of negotiations and procedural hurdles, the European Union has passed a pair of landmark bills designed to rein in Big Tech's power. The Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act are intended to promote fairer competition, improve privacy protection, as well as banning both the use of some of the more egregious forms of targeted advertising and misleading practices.
The Digital Services Act, for instance, focuses on online platforms like Facebook, Amazon and Google. They will be tasked with being more proactive both with content moderation and also to prevent the sale of illegal or unsafe goods being sold on their platforms. Users will also be able to learn how and why an algorithm recommended them a certain piece of content, and to challenge any moderation decision that was made algorithmically. Finally, companies will no longer be able to use sensitive personal data for ad-targeting, sell ads to children, or use dark patterns — deceptive page design that can manipulate you into saying yes to something even when you'd much rather say no, such as joining a service or preventing you from leaving one you no longer wish to use.
These obligations operate on a sliding scale, and so the largest platforms will have the greatest obligations placed upon them. Platforms with 45 million or more monthly users will be subject to independent auditing to ensure they are preventing fake news and illegal content. Those platforms will also have to open up their algorithms a
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Jul 05, 2022
Following the ROG Phone 5 and 5s, ASUS decided to skip Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in favor of the more efficient 8 Gen 1, which brings us to the new ROG Phone 6 series today — almost a year after the 5s. In a nutshell, this beastly gaming phone is all about its faster 165Hz 6.78-inch display, 720Hz touch sampling rate, up to 18GB of RAM, up to 512GB of storage, bigger 6,000mAh battery, enlarged internal cooling system and IPX4 splash resistance, in addition to its handy ultrasonic triggers and proven audio performance by Dirac. The most notable change, however, lies within the revamped clip-on cooler, which has now integrated a thermoelectric chip and yet doesn't require external power.
This new AeroActive Cooler 6 is noticeably bulkier than before, partly because of its larger, more ergonomic physical buttons — and there are now four of them instead of just two. It also has a bigger kickstand that flips out from the bottom (though not necessary), and there's a spring-loaded clamp at the top to secure (and activate) the cooler. The new Peltier cooling chip inside — positioned right over the phone's processor when mounted — is sandwiched between the fan and a large piece of copper plate, and there's also a humidity sensor nearby to help avoid condensation.
Richard Lai/EngadgetYou can toggle between four c
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Jul 05, 2022
The UK's National Health Service has announced that it will test delivering vital chemotherapy drugs via drone to the Isle of Wight. The body has partnered with Apian, a drone technology startup founded by former NHS doctors and former Google employees. Test flights are due to begin shortly, and it's hoped that the system will reduce journey times for the drugs, cut costs and enable cancer patients to receive treatment far more locally.
The Isle of Wight is an island two miles off the south coast of England with a population just under 150,000. Due to the short shelf-life of most chemotherapy drugs, medicines are either rushed onto the island or patients take the ferry to the mainland. This journey can take up to four hours, while a drone flight can run from Queen Alexandra Hospital to St. Mary's Hospital in half an hour. Not long after and an additional pilot scheme will take place in Northumbria to see if it's possible to deliver vital medical supplies at ultra-short notice.
It's not the first time that drones have been used to deliver vital medicines faster than a conventional courier. Merck and drone company Volansi began testing the delivery of cold-chain medicines to patients in rural North Carolina. Similarly, drone technology has helped move blood supplies across Rwanda, deliver prescriptions to senior citizens in Florida and help with supply drops during COVID-19.
Similarl
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Jul 05, 2022
Just six months after its last flagship launch, Xiaomi has announced another one. The Xiaomi 12S Ultra packs a massive one-inch, 50.3-megapixel Sony IMX989 main sensor. And unlike the Sony Xperia Pro-I, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra apparently uses the entirety of its one-inch sensor. And the camera unit itself? Well, it looks gigantic.
XiaomiInside, there's a Leica Summicron 1:1.9-4.1 / 13-120 ASPH camera system that combines three rear cameras: a 50.3-megapixel main camera (23mm, f/1.9), along with the 48-megapixel ultra-wide camera (13mm, f/2.2) and the 48-megapixel periscopic camera (120mm, f/4.1). Both 48-megapixel cameras use a half-inch Sony IMX586 sensor. The circular camera island (continent?) has a special coating to mitigate lens glare and improve image consistency. Oh, and there's a 23K gold rim as well. Because excess.
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra is now available for pre-ordering in China, ahead of retail launch on July 6th. The 12S Ultra starts at 5,999 yuan (around $900).
Leica has spread its bets over the years in mobile imaging partnerships. It has previously collaborated with Sharp, Huawei and Panasonic — Chinese p
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Jul 05, 2022
Chinese car giant Geely has purchased a majority stake in the now-small smartphone maker Meizu. Bloomberg reports that Meizu will be run as an independent company under Xingli Technology, another tech brand under Geely's umbrella. That said, the pair are expected to work together on new products, and Xingli has already expressed plans to make a big splash in the AR/VR space.
If you've been reading Engadget for long enough, you'll have likely seen Meizu's early rise at the dawn of the smartphone boom. Unfortunately, it found its lunch being eaten by other Chinese upstarts, including Xiaomi, and wound up remaining a small player. Back in 2015, Alibaba decided to take a stake in the company just as it found itself distracted by various boondoggles, including the baffling-in-retrospect decision to build phones with Ubuntu.
Geely, meanwhile, is perhaps best known in the West as the controlling owner of Volvo, Polestar and Lotus, all of which have been pushed towards electrification. Of course, with cars becoming more like phones (and phones becoming such a crucial part of most cars) the idea of automakers buying in to the phone space makes plenty of sense. As Reuters reports, both the mobile and car business
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Jul 05, 2022
With so many streaming services now available, finding the right box or dongle to view them on can be a challenge. Apple's own streamer, the uniquely-named Apple TV, is one of the best on the market, but its price can often put people off. With Prime Day just days away, Amazon has dropped the price of both the 32GB and 64GB models, dropping them by $29 to $150 and $170, respectively. That's not quite the low of $130 we saw last month for the 32GB version, but it's a great price nonetheless.
Buy 2021 Apple TV 4K (32GB) at Amazon - $150Buy 2021 Apple TV 4K (64GB) at Amazon - $170Devindra Hardawar gave the 2021 Apple TV 4K a score of 90 in our review. The new model irons out some of the kinks from what was already a powerful media box. The updated remote is a lot more intuitive in the hand and the beefier A12 Bionic chip delivers both HDR video at 60 frames per second (if the content you're playing supports it) and better game performance.
If it's just basic streaming you're after, the Apple TV is expensive compared to Google's Chromecast, Amazon's Fire TV and Roku's range of media players. However, if you're already invested in Apple's ecosystem and want one of the best streamers available at its second-lowest price ever, now might be time to pull the trigger.
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Jul 04, 2022
The music of Crosby, Stills and Nash is once again available to stream on Spotify. In February, the supergroup left the platform to protest Spotify's inaction against Joe Rogan, who was accused of spreading COVID-19 misinformation through his podcast. According to Billboard, the trio plan to donate their Spotify earnings to COVID-19 charities for "at least a month."
Crosby, Stills and Nash were among a handful of musicians who left Spotify in response to Rogan's interview with vaccine skeptic Dr. Robert Malone. The exodus, such that it was, began with Neil Young and later came to include Joni Mitchell, as well as author Brené Brown.
In the end, Spotify did not drop Rogan. Instead, the company said it would add a content advisory to any episode that includes a discussion about COVID-19. The protest's effect on Spotify's bottom line appears to have been minimal, with the company recently reporting that it grew to 422 million monthly users.
Despite the return of Crosby, Stills and Nash to Spotify, don't expect to see all of the music the trio helped created on the platform. As
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Jul 04, 2022
NASA's grand plan to take humans back to the Moon for the first time in over half a century has taken another step forward. The 55-pound CAPSTONE (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) cubesat has broken free of Earth's orbit and is on its way to the Moon.
Rocket Lab launched CAPSTONE on an Electron rocket from New Zealand last week. Following six days of orbit-raising burns to build up enough speed, the pathfinding satellite set out toward the Moon. It's a relatively slow trip, though. CAPSTONE won't reach the Moon until November.
NASA will try to put CAPSTONE in a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit around the Moon, a feat that's never been attempted before. The agency plans to use the same orbit for the Gateway space station, which will provide support for long-term lunar missions under the Artemis program. The outpost will have living quarters for astronauts and a lab. That mission won't launch until at least 2024.
Meanwhile, it emerged last week that NASA has targeted a launch window of betwe
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Jul 04, 2022
A hacker (or group of hackers) claims to have stolen data on a billion Chinese citizens from a Shanghai police database. According to Bloomberg, the hacker is attempting to sell 23 terabytes of data for 10 bitcoin, which is worth just over $198,000 at the time of writing.
The data includes names, addresses, birthplaces, national IDs and phone numbers. The Wall Street Journal reports that the hacker provided a sample of the data, which included crime reports dating as far back as 1995. Reporters confirmed the legitimacy of at least some of the data by calling people whose numbers were listed.
It's not yet clear how the hacker infiltrated the police database, though there have been suggestions that they gained access via an Alibaba cloud computing company called Aliyun, which was said to host the database. Alibaba said it's investigating the matter.
The true scope of the leak is unknown. However, cybersecurity experts have dubbed it the biggest cybersecurity breach in China's history.
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Jul 04, 2022
Amazon has started delivering packages by cargo e-bike and on foot in the UK for the first time as it makes more progress toward its climate goals. The company has opened a micromobility hub in central London. The company says the walkers and e-bikes will make more than a million deliveries a year from the hub in Hackney. It claims those trips will replace thousands of van deliveries.
At the outset, the e-bikes and on-foot couriers will be in service across more than a tenth of the city's ultra low emission zone (ULEZ). E-bikes and fully electric vehicles are exempt from the London Congestion Charge and ULEZ fees, so Amazon and its delivery partners will avoid having to pay those.
Amazon plans to open more e-cargo delivery hubs in the UK in the coming months. It already has more than 1,000 electric delivery vans on the road in the country. Earlier this year, the company added five fully electric heavy goods vehicles to its UK fleet to replace diesel trucks.
This isn't the first time Amazon has used cargo e-bikes. Euronews notes that they're being used for deliveries in five cities in France and seven metropolitan areas in Germany. It also employs electric scooters in Italy a
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Jul 04, 2022
Merely six months after its previous flagship launch, today Xiaomi announced a trio of familiar-looking smartphones to mark the beginning of its partnership with Leica. The new 12S Series features MIUI 13 based on Android 12, and it runs on Qualcomm's allegedly more efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 flagship processor, with the headlining 12S Ultra packing a massive 1-inch, 50.3-megapixel Sony IMX989 main sensor. This translates to a generous pixel size of 1.6um, which then doubles to 3.2um via pixel binning for a supposedly boosted color accuracy and low light performance. And unlike the Sony Xperia Pro-I, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra apparently uses the entire portion of its 1-inch sensor.
According to CEO Lei Jun, Xiaomi took part in the Sony IMX989's development, and the $15 million cost was also split evenly between the two companies. Interestingly, the sensor won't be exclusive to Xiaomi; Lei added that it'll be made available to his local competitors after the launch of the 12S Ultra, in order to "promote the advancement of mobile imaging together."
Xiaomi 12S UltraXiaomiAs for Leica's part on the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, you get a "Leica Summicron 1:1.9-4.1 / 13-120 ASPH camera system" covering all three rea
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Jul 04, 2022
HBO Max is halting original productions across much of Europe, Variety has reported. The streaming service confirmed that it will no longer produce originals in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Central Europe, the Netherlands and Turkey, leaving only Spain and France untouched. The news is part of a plan from parent Warner Bros. Discovery to cut some $3 billion in costs following its split from AT&T.
"We are reviewing our current content proposition on the existing services," a spokesperson told Variety in a statement. "As part of this process, we have decided to remove a limited amount of original programming from HBO Max, as well as ceasing our original programming efforts for HBO Max in the Nordics and Central Europe. We have also ceased our nascent development activities in the newer territories of Netherlands and Turkey, which had commenced over the past year."
Some of the service's most praised shows including Lust (Sweden) and Kamikaze (Denmark) came from the Nordics and other affected regions. On top of ceasing production, HBO Max will remove those shows along with the Hungarian drama The Informant from its service globally. Projects already in production and other approved shows will reportedly continue — but they may be sold to other platforms, with Warner acting strictly as producer.
Streaming content production has been a bright spot in Europe, as Netflix and other platforms have hit the 30 percent local content quotas required in major markets there. HBO Max's announcement may put a damper on that, though, as "redundancies are likely ac
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Jul 04, 2022
Tesla has introduced a software update that allows its vehicles to scan for potholes, broken pavement and other defects, Electrek has reported. It can then use that to generate "rough road map data," and trigger the adaptive suspension in supported vehicles to adjust the ride height for more comfort.
Back in 2020, Musk tweeted that such a feature was coming, and this appears to be the first step. "This adjustment may occur at various locations, subject to availability, as the vehicle downloads rough road map data generated by Tesla cars," the release notes state. That means pothole and other data should become increasingly refined as Tesla vehicles ply the roads.
The ride adjustment will only work in Tesla Model S and Model X cars with adaptive suspensions, Elektrek notes. It's not clear if the Model 3 or Y vehicles also scan for rough roads, even if they lack the adaptive suspension to benefit from the data. Both the Model 3 and the Model S have eight cameras in total.
To enable the feature you'll need the latest update 2022.20, then you tap "Controls Suspension Adaptive Suspension Damping, and select the Comfort or Auto setting," Tesla notes, adding that "the instrument cluster will continue to indicate when the suspension is raised for comfort."
Tesla isn't the first automaker to think up pothole scanning technology. Some manufacturers like Ford have proposed features that even detect individual potholes and instantly damp the suspension, for example. Tesla's system could be far more practical, though, by simply softening the ride parameters over known patches of rough road.
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Jul 04, 2022
The next Apple Watch may have a body temperature sensor to warn you when you're coming down with a fever, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The Series 8 won't provide an exact reading, but it could notify you to see a doctor or use a dedicated thermometer.
The feature has been a rumor for a while now but is more likely to appear than a blood sugar monitoring, which uses more elaborate sensors and technology. Gurman says he believes the body temperature feature is "a go" for the standard Series 8 and the oft-rumored rugged edition Apple is creating for extreme athletes.
If you're hoping for next-gen AirPods Pro with heart rate or body temperature monitoring features, while we might get a new pair this year, they won't pack health monitoring tech this time around.
— Mat Smith
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Jul 03, 2022
The British army is investigating an apparent hack after its official Twitter and YouTube accounts were compromised on Sunday. News of the breach was first reported by Web3 is Going Great. According to the blog, both accounts were simultaneously compromised to promote two different cryptocurrency scams.
Although it has since been scrubbed, the army's verified Twitter account was briefly changed to look like a page for The Possessed, a project involving a collection of 10,000 animated NFTs with a price floor of 0.58 Ethereum (approximately $1,063). During that time, the account tweeted out multiple links to a fake minting website. It's possible the hack is part of a broader campaign to leverage the recent popularity of The Possessed. On Saturday, the project's official Twitter account warned its followers of another verified account that was similarly hacked to promote a NFT scam using The Possessed brand.
Web3 is Going GreatOver on YouTube, the army's channel has been made to look like a page for Ark Invest. As of the writing of this article, the channel is livestreaming videos that repurpose old footage of Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey and Ark CEO Katie Wood discussing cryptocurrency. The clips feature an
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Jul 03, 2022
Germany's Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt traffic regulator is calling on Tesla to recall more than 59,000 vehicles over a software issue. On June 29th, the KBA published a notice on its website notifying Model Y and 3 owners of a bug with the eCall safety system on those cars, according to Reuters. The glitch prevents the tool from automatically calling first responders in the event of a serious accident.
The KBA said the problem affects 59,129 vehicles globally, including Model Y crossovers manufactured at the automaker's recently opened Berlin Gigafactory. German media first reported on the notice on Saturday.
Before this week, three of the 11 recalls Tesla issued this year involved a software bug. Most recently, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced a recall involving approximately 130,000 vehicles over a glitch that could cause the infotainment system in 2021 and 2022 Tesla cars to overheat. The news of a new safety issue comes after Tesla reported a nearly 18 percent decline in vehicle deliveries on Saturday.
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Jul 03, 2022
In its first in-person event since 2020, GDQ's Summer Games Done Quick 2022 raised more than $3.01 million for Doctors Without Borders. In all, some of the world's best speedrunners descended on Bloomington, Minnesota to complete 134 different playthroughs of games like Doom Eternal, Tunic and Control. Across seven days of programming, Games Done Quick collected more than 42,000 individual donations.
And while the final tally fell short of the record-breaking $3.4 million the organization secured for the Prevent Cancer Foundation at Awesome Games Done Quick at the start of the year, it was more than the $2.9 million raised during SGDQ 2021. This year's event saw the departure of Kasumi "Sumichu" Yogi. For the past eight years, Yogi has served as GDQ's director of marketing and business development, helping the organization grow into the community cornerstone that it is today. Games Done Quick's next fundraiser, the all-women Flame Fatales showcase, starts on August 21st, with proceeds from the event slated to g
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Jul 03, 2022
The next Apple Watch will reportedly include a body temperature sensor that will warn you when you're coming down with a fever, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The Series 8 won't provide an exact reading, but it could send a notification that prompts you to see a doctor or use a dedicated thermometer.
This isn't the first time Gurman has brought up the possibility of the Series 8 including a temperature sensor. He first mentioned Apple was working on the feature back in June 2021, reporting that it would likely arrive with the company's 2022 wearable lineup. He backtracked on that prediction in January, warning fans that blood temperature monitoring was among a handful of capabilities that were a few years away.
However, a few months later, he said the Series 8 would include a body temperature sensor, provided the feature passed Apple's internal testing guidelines. Now, writing in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Gurman says he believes the feature is "a go" for the standard Series 8 and the oft-rumored rugged edition Apple is creating for extreme athletes.
Gurman says other changes to the Series 8 "will probably be minor." Reiterating his reporting from last week, he suggests the wearable will feature the same processing power as the
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Jul 03, 2022
Additive manufacturing is one of the most important technological advances of the 21st century. It's revolutionized the way we build everything from airplanes and wind turbines to medical implants and nano-machinery — not to mention the tidal wave of creativity unleashed once the tech made its way into the maker community. In Cosplay: A History, veteran cosplayer and 501st Legion member, Andrew Liptak explores the theatrical origins of the craft and its evolution from costuming enthusiasm to full-fledged fandom. Liptak also looks at how advances in technology have impacted the cosplay community — whether that's the internet forums and social media platforms they use to connect, the phones and cameras they use to publicize their works, and, in the excerpt below, the 3D printers used to create costume components.
Simon and SchusterExcerpted from Cosplay: A History - The Builders, Fans, and Makers Who Bring Your Favorite Stories to Life by Andrew Liptak, published by Simon & Schuster. © 2022 by Andrew Liptak.
In the summer of 2017, I picked up a Nintendo Switch and began playing the latest installment of Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series, Breath of the Wild. My son, Bram, and I hacked and slashed our way through Hyrule. Featuring a massive open world, the game is ful
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Jul 02, 2022
WhatsApp is developing a feature that would allow users to hide their online status, according to WABetaInfo. On Saturday, the outlet shared a screenshot of new privacy settings that allow someone to decide who can see them when they're using the app. The feature would complement the recent tweaks WhatsApp introduced to the app's Last Seen functionality.
Following a beta rollout in April, the company released an update that added a "My Contacts Except" setting, allowing for more granular control over who can see when you last checked the app. The problem with WhatsApp's Last Seen status was that it gave contacts a way to find out if you had seen their message even if you turned off read receipts.
Per the screenshot WABetaInfo shared, the new online status feature will allow you to restrict the same people who you don't want to see your Last Seen status. It's surprising it has taken this long for WhatsApp to start work on such a basic privacy feature, but now that it's finally on the way, it's something many users are sure to appreciate.
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Jul 02, 2022
Hoyoverse will release Genshin Impact's next major content update on July 13th, the studio announced on Saturday. Dubbed "Summer Fantasia," version 2.8 will reintroduce the Golden Apple Archipelago, a zone Hoyoverse has redesigned to add new plotlines and challenges for players to complete. By finishing the included quests, you'll have the chance to recruit Fischl, a four-star playable character, to your party for free.
Moreover, as part of the game's upcoming Resonating Visions event, you'll have a chance to collect conch shells you can later trade for an outfit for Fischl. The shells will also reveal more of the game's story. Separately, the update adds sailing challenges you can complete with your friends, and a new playable character named Shikanoin Heizou. Hoyoverse describes him as Genshin's first melee catalyst user. Shikanoin can deal extra damage to enemies affected by elemental attacks.
Additional content for Genshin Impact is one of a few projects Hoyoverse is working on at the moment. In recent weeks, the studio announced it was developing two new games, Zenless Zone Zero and Honkai: Star Rail. Neither title has a release date yet, but you can sign up to beta test the former on PC and iOS.
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Jul 02, 2022
Meta is shutting down Novi, its short-lived cryptocurrency digital wallet. In a notice spotted by Bloomberg, the company announced it would sunset the platform on September 1st, with July 20th being the final day to add funds. Meta advised users to withdraw their balance "as soon as possible," noting it would "attempt to transfer" any remaining money to customer bank accounts and debit cards after Novi's final day of operation.
For the time being, the shutdown effectively marks the end of Meta's cryptocurrency ambitions. The company began a "small pilot" of Novi last October. The wallet launched without support for Diem - Meta's in-house cryptocurrency, which was previously known as Libra. One month later, David Marcus, the company's crypto chief, left Meta. At the start of 2022, the Diem Association announced it was selling its assets and "winding down" operations.
But the demise of Novi and Diem doesn't mean Meta won't make another digital wallet. "We are already leveraging the years spent on building capabilities for Meta overall on blockchain and introducing new products, such as digital collectibles," a company spokesperson told Bloomberg. "You can expect to see more from us in the web3 space because we are very optimistic about the value these tech
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Jul 02, 2022
Tesla produced 258,580 vehicles in the second quarter of 2022, the automaker announced on Saturday. While that's a 25 percent year-on-year increase from the number of cars it made during Q2 2021, it's also fewer vehicles than the company produced at the start of the year amid an "exceptionally difficult quarter." In the first three months of 2022, the company manufactured 305,407 cars, meaning production volume declined by 15 percent from the previous quarter.
As a result, Tesla also delivered fewer vehicles in the past three months than it did at the start of the year. Deliveries declined by nearly 18 percent between Q1 and Q2 2022 to 254,695. The setback marks the first time in two years that Tesla's deliveries have fall quarter over quarter.
The company saw production slowed by ongoing component shortages that affected the entire auto industry. Tesla was also forced to stop work at its critical Shanghai Gigafactory multiple times in March due to the strict COVID-19 lockdowns that hit China's most populous city.
Total Q2 production was 258,580. Tesla also announced they will report Q2 earnings on July 20, 2022. Congrats @Tesla & @elonmusk on a great result despite tough conditions in Q2! pic.twitter.com/LEffNPnGdS
— Sawyer Merritt ???? (@SawyerMerrit
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Jul 02, 2022
NASA has set an aggressive launch target for its Artemis 1 Moon mission following the successful June 20th "wet dress rehearsal" fueling test of the SLS rocket that will carry the flight to space. In an interview with Ars Technica, Jim Free, associate administrator with the agency's Explorations Systems Development program, said this week NASA is working toward an August 23rd to September 6th launch window for Aretmis 1. "That's the one we're targeting," Free told the outlet. "We'd be foolish not to target that right now. We made incredible progress last week."
For those keeping track, NASA recently announced the earliest it could get Artemis 1 in space following a successful fueling test of the SLS was between July 26th and August 10th. Instead, NASA selected the second earliest launch window it had open to it.
Before the flight can get underway, technicians must complete final preparations on the SLS rocket, including replacing a seal that led to a hydrogen leak during its June 20th test. NASA began rolling the SLS back to the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building, where staff will work on the launch vehicle, on July 1st. "I don't think we're stretching ourselves to get there," Free said. "We're probably pushing ourselves a little bit, but we're not going to do
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Jul 02, 2022
Twitch has begun testing a new feature that could introduce you to great streamers you haven't seen before. Channel Switcher shows random channels as a carousel at the bottom of the screen. When you click on any of them, you'll be able to watch a one-minute preview of the streamer's content, enough to give you an idea of what they offer. The previews have no ads either, so you can channel surf undisturbed until you find something to watch. As Twitch explains, the feature will make it easier to figure out if you like a specific channel before committing.
A Twitch spokesperson told The Verge that "only a small percentage of [randomly selected] users who are logged in" will get the chance to test out the feature. The company plans to end the test in July and then analyze its results. While it's unclear if Channel Switcher will get a wide release at this point, the spokesperson told the publication that Twitch intends to roll out future iterations and is thinking of offering it as an opt-in discovery solution.
Introducing a new experiment - the Channel Switcher. pic.twitter.com/WrB33TH6Mq
— Twitch (@Twitch) June 30, 2022Alongside Channel Switcher, Twitch also launched Guest Star, which allows up to five guests to join a host in a stream. It works similar to Clubhouse in that streamers can include other streamers and viewers in their broadcast, but it of course supports video and not just a
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Jul 02, 2022
Google's worst hardware flop was introduced 10 years ago todayChris Welch, The Verge
Ah, the Nexus Q. The $300 media player Google never release to consumers fetched poor reviews from nearly every outlet that tested it. The Verge recounts all that went wrong with the device, which was nearly everything aside from an eye-catching design.
A brief history of (unintentionally) unbeatable gamesKyle Orland, Ars Technica
The Switch version of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II has a glitch that makes it impossible to complete the game. There's a plan to fix it with a patch, but that's not always possible when games carry unintentional flaws. Ars Technica provides a brief history of other titles that fall into this unfortunate category.
The rise of the 0.5 selfieKalley Huang, The New York Times
Taken with the ultra-wide lens on the back of a phone at 0.5x on the camera, a new selfie trend is a far cry from the meticulously curated self-portraits we typically see splattered across social networks.
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Jul 02, 2022
General Motors has only been producing up to a dozen electric Hummers a day in its Detroit factory, according to The Wall Street Journal, and that's far from ideal when the automaker has over 70,000 reservations. As The Drive notes, it would take GM 17 years to be able to fulfill all its orders at that pace. A GM spokesperson told The Journal, though, that the company's output will increase sharply in the second half of the year. They said production has been slower than usual for the vehicle, because it was developed from scratch and was built on top the company's new Ultium EV platform. The global supply chain shortage that's been affecting the tech and auto industries may have also contributed to the issue.
In the coming months, the automaker expects to fulfill deliveries at a much faster pace, particularly after it switches from using outsourced LG battery cells. GM aims to start manufacturing its own battery cells later this summer in its new factory in Ohio built in partnership with LG. The company has been building multiple Ultium factories in the US over the past year, including one in Tennessee and another in Michigan in addition to its Ohio plant, as part of its efforts to achieve its goal of making more than a million EVs in the US every year
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Jul 01, 2022
Vegan meal kit startup Daily Harvest has been hit with two lawsuits by customers alleging they needed gallbladder removals after eating one of the company's products, reportedCNN. Last month the company issued a voluntary recall of its "French Lentil Leek Crumbles" dish following multiple claims of gastrointestinal and liver from consumers. The first lawsuit was filed by Carol Ann Ready, an Oklahoma woman who is suing the company in the federal court for the Southern District of New York. Ready purchased and ate lentil crumbles from Daily Harvest on two separate occasions in May, both of which both of which resulted in trips to the emergency room. The second of these was a four-day stay, which ended with Ready's physician recommending gallbladder removal.
Attorneys for Ready are asking for a jury trial, alleging that damages for the case exceed what the court normally allows. "Plaintiff has sustained serious personal injuries; suffered, and will continue to suffer, significant pain and other physical discomfort; incurred, and will continue to incur, substantial medical expenses; have missed, and will likely miss in the future, work and time necessarily dedicated to advancement in her profession; and remains at risk for future health complications with damages far in excess of $75,000, the jurisdictional threshold of this court," says the complaint, obtained by Food Safety News.
Earlier this week, an Oregon-based content creator who claimed he also consumed the lentils and subsequently had to have his gallbladder removed filed a personal injury lawsuit against Daily Harvest. In a
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Jul 01, 2022
Amid data privacy concerns raised by the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, Google says it will remove abortion clinics and other facilities from users' location history. Since the ruling, Google and other tech giants had largely remained silent about how they would handle requests for data about users in abortion-related investigations. Privacy experts have flagged the vast amounts of data collected by Google and other platforms as ripe for abuse by law enforcement and anti-abortion groups.
In a new blog post, Google states that it will attempt to remove locations from users' location histories "soon after they visit." The company was vague about exactly how it would identify these locations, or how long the removals would take. The company said the same process would also apply to visits to other types of health facilities.
"Some of the places people visit — including medical facilities like counseling centers, domestic violence shelters, abortion clinics, fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, weight loss clinics, cosmetic surgery clinics, and others — can be particularly personal," Google writes. "Today, we're announcing that if our systems identify that someone has visited one of these places, we will delete these entries from Location History soon after they visit."
The company also said that Fitbit would be updating its app so users can bulk-delete their menstrual tracking information from the service. Other period tracking apps have also vowed to add new privacy and security features in recent days as concerns mount that cycle tracking apps could become a
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Jul 01, 2022
FIFA World Cup 2022 will feature an updated VAR (video assistant referee) system known as semi-automated offside technology, the international soccer governing body announced today. SAOT will replace the old (and still controversial) VAR system that FIFA first debuted at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The new system features 12 stadium cameras that will track the positioning of both the ball and each individual player, including 29 different data points on each player's limbs and extremities. On top of that, a ball outfitted with a motion sensor will be used in each match, which will deliver live data on a player's position at the time it's kicked.
FIFA believes that SOAT will help match officials make faster and more accurate decisions on offside calls. "VAR has already had a very positive impact on football and we can see that the number of major mistakes has already been dramatically reduced. We expect that semi-automated offside technology can take us a step further," said FIFA Referees Committee Chairman Pierluigi Collina in a statement.
According to
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Jul 01, 2022
A dedicated group of fans has excavated a Doom mobile game from the sands of time and made it playable again. You won't find 2005's Doom RPG on the App Store or Play Store: it actually predates iOS and Android by a couple of years. And while Fountainhead Entertainment looked into bringing Doom RPG to Nintendo DS around the time of its original release, the game was exclusively available on Java- and BREW-compatible handsets. Until now.
A small group of developers in Costa Rica going by the name of GEC.inc reverse engineered Doom RPG and got it to work on Windows. Although the port is free to download, it doesn't contain any of the original files you need to actually run the game.
— GEC.inc (@inc_gec) June 29, 2022As Ars Technica points out, you'd technically need to have the game installed on a compatible, still-working phone that might be old enough to vote if it were a person. You'd also have to find a way to extract the game files from said device and convert them. On the other hand, you may be able to find Doom RPG by alternate means. You'll stil
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Jul 01, 2022
SpaceX's satellite internet service is officially going mobile after the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday authorized the company to provide its Starlink WiFi service to vehicles. SpaceX already offers Starlink home internet, which left beta last October.
"We agree with SpaceX... that the public interest would benefit by granting with conditions their applications," The FCC wrote in its authorization letter. "Authorizing a new class of terminals for SpaceX's satellite system will expand the range of broadband capabilities to meet the growing user demands that now require connectivity while on the move, whether driving an RV across the country, moving a freighter from Europe to a U.S. port, or while on a domestic or international flight."
Starlink had already begun expanding its terrestrial footprint, even before the FCC decision, installing receiver dishes at Tesla Supercharger stations, raising prices and unveiling a $500/month Premium service tier. SpaceX has also recently announced partnerships with Delta and
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Jul 01, 2022
In a letter to nine Republican senators, TikTok said it's working to "remove any doubt about the security of US user data." CEO Shou Zi Chew reiterated a claim that TikTok stores American user data on servers run by Oracle, which will be audited by a third party. Chew also said the company expects to "delete US users' protected data from our own systems and fully pivot to Oracle cloud servers located in the US."
"[We] are working with Oracle on new, advanced data security controls that we hope to finalize in the near future," Chew wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The New York Times. "That work puts us closer to the day when we will be able to pivot toward a novel and industry-leading system for protecting the data of our users in the United States, with robust, independent oversight to ensure compliance."
Chew was responding to questions in a letter sent by the Republican senators — including Roger Wicker, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Commerce Committee — following a report by BuzzFeed News. The publication reported last month that China-based engineers of ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, accessed non-public data on users in the US between at least September 2021 and January 2022.
The report also prompted Brendan Carr, the Federal Communication Commission's senior Republican commissioner, to call on Apple and Google
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Jul 01, 2022
This week, Cherlynn is joined by senior editors Jessica Conditt and Karissa Bell to discuss the United States ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, and how, in our digital age, it affects the most vulnerable in our communities. Then, our hosts look at the Supreme Court ruling that guts the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to enforce the Clean Air Act. In consumer tech news, we also look at Sony's new PlayStation-inspired peripherals and Snapchat's new subscription service.
Listen below, 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! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
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Jul 01, 2022
A Food and Drug Administration official said COVID-19 vaccine makers won't need to carry out fresh clinical trials to receive approval for booster shots they're updating for newer Omicron variants. Dr. Peter Marks, who runs the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told Reuters the agency will use data from trials for vaccines that target BA.1 — the Omicron variant that caused a huge surge in infections last winter — as well as manufacturing data to assess the vaccines. Safety data and preclinical data from animal studies may also be used.
This week, the FDA asked vaccine manufacturers to modify booster shots to target the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants in addition to the original strain of the virus. The agency hopes the updated boosters will be ready by the fall. "It's going to be really critical as we move into this fall where we've seen this evolution into BA.4/5, where we could see further evolution, to try to get as many people boosted as we can," Marks said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says BA.1 isn't circulating in the US anymore, but BA.4 and BA.5 now account for over 52 percent of COVID-19 infections in the country. Combined, they made up just 0.5 percent of cases in the US at the end of April.
Pfizer and Moderna this week released clinical trial data which suggests versions of
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Jul 01, 2022
Fertility apps have always been sketchy. As I've experienced it, it's a Faustian bargain of sorts: Take your chances on one of many options in your app store, and pick the one with the best reviews, or maybe the simplest interface. You'll sign up feeling unsure of what to make of the opaque data policy, and then you'll bear with the ensuing deluge of targeted ads - all in exchange for an accurate prediction of when you're most likely to conceive. Judging by those ads for maternity clothes and organic cotton onesies, someone somewhere knows I'm either trying to conceive or have already given birth, even if they can't decide which. I don't like it, but I put up with it.
I've been mulling the subject of period and fertility trackers ever since I decided I was ready to become a parent, though for privacy's sake, I didn't imagine writing about it until after I'd given birth to said imaginary baby. But in the two months since Politico published a draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson, the case that has overturned the constitutional right to an abortion guaranteed by Roe v. Wade, a lot of people have been talking about period trackers. Some activists and privacy advocates have asked if the data captured by these apps can be used to help prosecute someone seeking an abortion in a state that doesn't allow it. Some have simply exhorted readers to delete these apps altogether.
I understand why. And I also understand why people use these apps in the first place: Because the version of that app that's built into your smartphone OS isn't very good.
In my case, I have an iPhone. I've been using period tracking for a couple years now, though Apple began introducing these features much
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Jul 01, 2022
The US government has no higher award with which to honor a civilian's achievements than the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Handed out at the discretion of the Commander in Chief, the MoF celebrates "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors." President Biden announced the first slate of MoF recipients of his administration on Friday, a list that includes former Apple CEO, Steve Jobs.
President Biden's nominees for this award class number 17. They include luminaries like Olympic-winning gymnast Simone Biles, retired Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, Gold Star Father Khizr Khan, former US Senator John McCain (posthumous), former president of the AFL-CIO Richard Trumka (posthumous), and the most clearly worthy recipient of the group, Denzel Washington.
The MoF has only been awarded 647 times since it was established by President Kennedy in 1963, and of those, just 26 people have been awarded it "with distinction." The awards will be presented at the White House on July 7, 2022.
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Jul 01, 2022
Between the July 4th holiday and Amazon Prime Day coming up in a couple of weeks, there are a bunch of tech deals available right now. Solo Stove's Independence Day sale knocks up to 45 percent off fire pits, while our favorite ThermoWorks food thermometer is down to only $79. Early Prime Day sales bring Eero 6 router packs and Blink security camera kits down to record-low prices, and you can still pick up a Google Nest WiFi router for as low as $115. Here are the best 4th of July tech sales we could find.
Apple Watch Series 7EngadgetMost colors of the Apple Watch Series 7 are down to $329 at Amazon, or $80 off their normal price. This is our current favorite smartwatch and we gave it a score of 90 for its larger display, faster charging and handy watchOS features.
Buy Series 7 at Amazon - $329Amazon Eero 6Jon Fingas/EngadgetAmazon has discounted most Eero 6 systems ahead of Prime Day. If you're
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Jul 01, 2022
If you're a Comcast Xfinity TV customer looking to move all of our TV watching into a single platform, then grab your finest off-brand champagne. The company has announced that the Xfinity Stream app is now available on Apple TV, both in its vanilla and 4K flavors. And users won't just be able to watch live and on-demand programming, they'll also be able to access material they've stored on their DVR, so long as they're within the home.
This is also the first opportunity to see the freshly-redesigned Xfinity Stream app, with what Comcast is calling a "new, more intuitive user interface." You'll also get improved personalization recommendations and editorial picks to help you find your next great show. Which will go nicely enough with the remainder of the off-brand champagne you'll be toasting with, surely.
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Jul 01, 2022
Sonos has discounted many of its refurbished speakers to some of the best prices we've seen. A refurbished Arc will set you back just about $540, which is a whopping $360 cheaper than a brand new model. The Sonos Five, one of our favorite music-focused speakers, normally costs $549, but a refurbished model is on sale for just over $373, so you can save about $175. And if you're looking to get your first Sonos speaker, we recommend the Sonos One SL, which you can pick up refurbished for only $119.
Shop Sonos refurbished saleBuy Arc (refurbished) at Sonos - $540Buy Five (refurbished) at Sonos - $373Buy One SL (refurbished) at Sonos - $119You might be hesitant to buy a refurbished gadget, and that's why it's important to check out the conditions of a company's refurbished program before doing so. Sonos includes all necessary accessories, manuals and replacement parts with its refurbished devices, and they come with the same one-year warranty as new items, too. Considering how expensive it
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Jul 01, 2022
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated a number of fault lines already present within the global energy supply chain. This is especially true in Europe, where many countries were reliant on the superstate's natural resources, and are now hastily looking to cut ties before the supply is shut off. This has revealed the fragility of Europe's energy market, and caused it to drive up demand and prices for consumers all over the globe.
In the UK, things are becoming increasingly dire and energy prices are skyrocketing. Bad planning on the infrastructure side and the cancellation of several major domestic energy efficiency programs are exacerbating the problem. It's clear that real, useful action on the national level isn't coming any time soon. So, I wondered, what would happen if I, personally, simply tried to break up with natural gas on my own? It's relatively straightforward but, as it turns out, it comes at a cost that only one percenters will be able to bear.
Dan Cooper: Energy consumer
I live in a four-bedroom, end-terraced house that's around 150 years old and I've tried, as best as I can, to renovate it in an eco-friendly way. Since we bought it almost a decade ago, my wife and I have insulated most of the rooms, installed a new gas central heating system and hot water cylinder. We are, like nearly 20 million other households in the UK, reliant on natural gas to supply our home heating, hot water and cooking. And in the period between January 8th and April 7th, 2022, I was billed on the following usage:
Usage (kWh)
Cost Per Unit (GBP)
Cost (GBP)
Electricity (incl. standing charge)
861
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Jul 01, 2022
Ducati has unveiled not just its first electric motorcycle but a key piece in the 2023 season of MotoE e-motocycle racing, it announced. The V21L prototype has that classic Ducati look but is swathed in carbon fiber and packs a 150HP electric motor with a 18kWh battery. As detailed in an announcement last year, Ducati will be the exclusive supplier of all 18 bikes used for FIM MotoE World Cup racing from 2023-2026.
It weighs in at 225 kilograms (496 pounds), with just under half the weight for the battery — very heavy for a racing bike (143 pounds more than ICE models), but still 26 pounds under the MotoE specification for 2023. It's also 35 kg (77 pounds) less than the Energica e-motocycles currently used in MotoE racing.
The V21L can be charged to 80 percent in just 45 minutes and has enough range to complete the required seven laps of key GP tracks. It has reportedly hit speeds of up to 171 MPH at the Mugello MotoGP Circuit in Tuscany.
The e-motorbike is quite a bet by (and on) Ducati considering it's never done one before, but the company said it used its extensive racing experience to design the model. At the same time, it'll take racing lessons learned back to its consumer models.
"At this
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Jul 01, 2022
Non-fungible tokens have arrived on Facebook. Meta has confirmed to TechCrunch that it has started giving select creators in the US the power to post digital collectibles on their profiles. While it's unclear if and when the feature will make its way to more users — Meta called the release a "slow rollout" — company CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously said that Meta was going to test NFT support on the social network. Meta Product Manager Navdeep Singh has posted photos on Twitter of what NFT integration would look like on Facebook's, and similar to Instagram's implementation, creators will have a digital collectibles tab on their profile where they can show off their NFTs.
Creators will be able to post their collectibles as status updates that people can comment on and react to, and clicking on them shows information on the artwork. According to Decrypt, Facebook will allow users to link their compatible digital wallets with the website, similar to how they can do so on Instagram. At the moment, Facebook supports NFTs minted on Ethereum and Polygon, though it will soon support Solana and Flow NFTs, as well.
— Navdeep Singh (@navdeep_ua) June 29, 2022Meta started testing NFT integration
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Jul 01, 2022
In 1982, when the BBC's prime-time technology show - Tomorrow's World - did a segment on a new musical format called the "Compact Disc" the presenter skeptically asked "Whether there's a market for this, remains to be seen". We all know what happened next, but even in the early ‘80s the benefits of CDs should have been clear: high quality, non-degrading sound in a compact format. Oh, and you could even skip, shuffle and repeat tracks, which, in a pre-digital world, truly felt like the future
The Compact Disc turns 40 this year, and there are already signals the format is primed for a mini revival. For the first time in 17 years, CD sales actually went up - and by almost 50 percent, according to the RIAA's sales database.
It's still a long way from the format's peak. In 2021, 46.6 million CDs were shipped in the US - compared to nearly a billion back in 2000. For context, that 46.6 million barely accounts for four percent of last year's total music revenue. Vinyl albums, by contrast, sold fewer overall units (39.7M) but are more of a money spinner for artists (seven percent of total revenues).
Some reports claim that the uptick in CD sales is mostly due to mega-artists like Adele and BTS releasing new albums (the former's 30 accounted for two percent of total CD sales alone). But there are other potential - and more practical - contributing factors, too, including the pandemic.
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Jul 01, 2022
If you're looking to experiment more in the kitchen, sous vide cooking could be a way to do that. Anova makes a couple of WiFi-connected sous vide machines that we like, and our favorite, the Precision Cooker Nano, is back on sale for $99. That's 34 percent off and one of the best prices we've seen it, making it a good time to grab the entry-level device.
Buy Precision Cooker Nano at Amazon - $99You'll need a couple of things to give sous vide a try, but the one that you probably don't already have at home is a machine like the Nano. This method of cooking involves putting food in a sealable bag and then cooking it in a water bath. Devices like the Nano constantly circulate that water while keeping it at a precise temperature so your food comes out perfectly done, not over- or undercooked.
Anova's Precision Cooker Nano earned a spot on our list of favorite kitchen gadgets because it combines affordability and precision in a compact device. Normally priced at $149, the Nano comes in at only 1.7 pounds and its small enough to fit in your kitchen's utensil drawer. It uses 750 watts of power to heat water for up to 3,000 hours before you'll need to recharge it, so you'll be able to conduct a number of sous vide tests before it needs more juice.
The Nano has onboard controls that you can use to adjust temperature and timing, or you can connect it via Bluetooth to your phone and do so via its companion mobile app. Unlike
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Jul 01, 2022
NVIDIA has rolled out Experience Upgrade v9.1 for all Shield TV and TV Pro units, and one of the features it brings will make watching action movies without earphones more feasible for night owls. The new Night Listening mode can optimize sounds when it's switched on so that loud explosions are subdued while quiet dialogue gets emphasized even while the volume is on low. "Enjoy watching movies or playing games at night without disturbing your family," the company said in its announcement. To note, the new model is available while using HDMI audio only.
In addition to Night Listening, the latest update also enables Shield TVs to automatically switch to low latency game mode on all supported television and display models. So long as a display has Automatic Low Latency Mode (ALLM), the streaming media device will be able to ensure that it's activated while a user is playing, whether it's a local game or something from the GeForce NOW cloud gaming service. By reducing latency, ALLM reduces lag and allows a smoother, more responsive gaming experience. Upgrade 9.1 comes with a few more features that include the ability to disable displaying HDR/Dolby Vision content and to get notifications when the microphone is turned on.
Shield TV's previous update brought Android 11 to all models and added access to a new Google Keyboard with support for voice searches. It also fixed a a vulnerability that allowed remote attackers to cause a permanent denial of service. While 9.1 doesn't come with a big security fix, it does include a bunch of bug fixes for both Shield TV app and devices.
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Jul 01, 2022
Uber has released its second bi-annual safety report covering the period between 2019 and 2020. The headline statistic is that the ride sharing company received 3,824 reports of sexual assault or misconduct via its app during this time. In addition, 20 people were killed in assaults and 101 fatalities as a consequence of an Uber-related crash, although the company is keep to emphasize the majority of those cases were caused by a third-party driver.
Compared to the last safety report, which covered the years 2017 and 2018, the figures for sexual assault have fallen from 5,981 then to 3,824 now. As both The New York Times and Bloomberg say, this may have been related to the fall in demand caused by shelter-in-place orders caused by COVID-19. Uber said that more than 99.9 percent of its rides happen without incident, and that these disclosures are an affirmation of its commitment to safety rather than the opposite.
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Jul 01, 2022
Major League Baseball will "likely" introduce an Automated Strike Zone System starting in 2024, commissioner Rob Manfred told ESPN. These robot umpires may call all balls and strikes then relay the information to a plate umpire, or be part of a replay review system that allows managers to challenge calls.
The comments come following outrage over umpires' missed calls in recent games, including a brutal low strike error during a Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins game. MLB has been experimenting with robo-umpires in the Atlantic League since 2019, using similar technology to golf speed-measurement devices.
There may be other benefits to introducing the tech. According to MLB data, mechanical systems have already made Atlantic league games mercifully shorter by a full nine minutes. And I say mercifully from the perspective of a Brit who's watched cricket matches.
—Mat Smith
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The EU extends its 'Roam-like-at-home' mobile service rule through 2032
Supreme Court ruling guts the EPA's ability to enforce Clean Air Act
'Strange New Worlds' races to its conclusion with a spot-on 'Aliens' riff
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Jul 01, 2022
Google has offered to put $90 million on the table to settle a brewing conflict between it and a number of Android developers. As Reuters reports, the issue centers around the mandatory use of Google's in-house payments platform, with its fixed 30 percent cut. Developers feel that Google had worked behind the scenes to close off the options for alternative payment systems. It's prompted the search giant to offer a settlement to avoid "years of uncertain and distracting litigation."
In a statement, Google said that, if the court approves the offer, it will put $90 million into a fund to "support US developers who earned two million dollars of less in annual revenue through Google Play during each year from 2016-2021." If it goes ahead, Google will automatically notify the people who qualify for a payout, as well as affirm several changes it's already started to make. This includes lowering the commissionto 15 percent for the first $1 million in annual revenue, enabling developers to communicate with users outside of the app, and make it easier to use rival app stores and billing platforms.
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Jul 01, 2022
Tesla is facing another lawsuit by a group of former and current workers at its Fremont factory who allege that it knew about but failed to stop racist slurs, harassment and more, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. The employees were "subjected to offensive racist comments and offensive racist behavior and discipline by colleagues, leads, supervisors, managers, and/or human resources personnel on a daily basis," the complaint states.
One plaintiff named in the suit, Jasmine Wilson, worked as a quality inspector from August 2021 to March 2022. She alleges that she was the victim of racial epithets and sexual harassment from supervisors. In addition, they assumed she was a production associate because she was African-American, and berated her for not doing that job and wearing the wrong uniform, according to the suit. When she informed human resources, it was skeptical of her claims and never launched a promised investigation.
Other employees also alleged racial slurs and graffiti on Tesla restroom walls, and said they were retaliated against after complaining. Some said they were given more strenuous positions than non-minority workers and passed over for promotions.
Late last year, Tesla was sued by six women who accused it of "rampant" sexual harassment at the Fremont factory with catcalling, inappropriate touching, sexual comments and more. In December, a jury awarded former elevator operator Owen Diaz $137 million over racial abuse. The award was later reduced to $15 million, but that was
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Jul 01, 2022
It looks like Meta truly is making a big push for Reels. Social media consultant Matt Navarra has posted a screenshot on Twitter showing a notice for an experimental Instagram feature that says all video posts would be shared as Reels on the app. If your account is public, that means anyone can discover your video and use your original audio to create their own Reel. Only friends would see your video if your profile is private, but other users can still create a remix with your Reel and download it as part of their remix. The only way to ensure nobody uses your Reel for remixes is to turn the option off in Settings or to disable it for each video you post.
h/t @ChristinaSBGpic.twitter.com/YLRDhT1nw0
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) June 30, 2022As TechCrunch notes, this move doesn't come as a surprise when the TikTok-style videos have quickly become a popular format on both Instagram and Facebook. When he revealed the company's fourth quarterly earnings report for 2021, Mark Zuckerberg said that Reels is now Meta's fastest growing content format. Meta chief product officer Chris Cox called Reels a "bright point" for the company, as well, in a recent memo shared with employees warning them about "serious times" ahead due to slowing growth. He also said that one o
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Jul 01, 2022
Europe and its member states have provisionally agreed on new crypto regulations that aim to protect consumers and service providers, the European Parliament announced. Called "MiCA" (markets in crypto-assets), it's designed to guard against things like fraud, criminal activity, climate impact and more.
"In the Wild West of the crypto-world, MiCA will be a global standard setter," said Germany's MEP Stefan Berger in a statement. "MiCA will ensure a harmonised market, provide legal certainty for crypto-asset issuers, guarantee a level playing field for service providers and ensure high standards for consumer protection."
A new legal framework is designed to protect market integrating by regulating public crypto offerings. A key provision is a public register administered by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to address money laundering concerns. Major crypto-asset service provider (CASPs) will also have to disclose energy consumption and declare environmental and climate impact data to their national authority, which will in turn inform ESMA.
The law covers cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether, but NFTs (nonfungible tokens) including "cinema tickets, digital collectibles from clothing brands or in-game items in computer games" will be exempt. However, those could later be re-classified as financial instruments or crytpo assets subject to MiCA, according to the rules.
The law is still provisional, with key
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Jul 01, 2022
In a weekly employee Q&A session, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly said the company is experiencing "one of the worst downturns [it has seen] in recent history." According to Reuters, the executive has revealed that Meta has slashed its target number for new engineers hires this year by about 30 percent. Meta previously said that it's slowing its hiring plans due to weak revenue forecasts, but now Zuckerberg has announced more details with exact figures. Apparently, from plans to hire 10,000 new engineers this year, Meta will only hire between 6,000 and 7,000.
Further, the CEO said that Meta is raising expectations on current employees and giving them more aggressive goals so that they can decide on their own if the company isn't for them. "[S]elf-selection is OK with me," he said. In a memo to employees, chief product officer Chris Cox has stressed that the company "is in serious times here and the headwinds are fierce." He also listed the company's six investment priorities for the second half of the year, starting with its metaverse initiatives Avatars and its virtual world Horizon Worlds.
According to the memo, published in full by The Verge, Meta is also aiming to monetize Reels as quickly as possible. Time spent on Reels has more than doubled around the world since last year, the memo reads, with 80 percent of that growth coming from Facebook. Cox called Reels, its short-form video for
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Jun 30, 2022
Starting today, small phone carriers must implement a special caller ID authentication tool that will help identify robocallers, the Federal Communication Commission announced. Known as STIR/SHAKEN, major carriers such as AT&T and Verizon — due to an FCC rule adopted in 2020 — have had the same tool in place since last year. The agency initially gave small carriers a more generous deadline of June 2023 to adopt STIR/SHAKEN, but opted to fast-track adoption because it discovered "a subset of these small voice service providers were originating an increasing quantity of illegal robocalls."
But as a new report from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) notes, merely flagging suspected robocalls is not enough to tackle the robocall industry. "The problem is that applying the STIR/SHAKEN methodology requires only that originating providers apply a certification indicating how confident they are that the caller ID displayed in the calls is correct," the report states. Presumably, this means calls can still be routed through gateway carriers from abroad where the FCC's rules don't apply. But as EPIC also mentions, implementing STIR/SHAKEN may help identify spam callers, but there aren't any real metrics in place by which to measure how effective carriers are at stopping the calls. "The FCC's pending regulatory efforts would continue to require only that providers have procedures in place to
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Jun 30, 2022
When I went hands-on with Roland's SP-404 MKII back in October I said it was "becoming" my favorite sampler. Fast forward a few months and it is firmly entrenched in that spot. Of course, no piece of gear is perfect, and there's always room for improvement. So Roland is pushing out a 2.0 firmware update that only further cement's the 404's place at the top of my list.
Perhaps the biggest addition is a new TR-style (as in TR-808) step sequencer. While the SP series has always appealed more to those that want the loose feel of live instrumentation, being able to punch in a basic four-on-the-floor kick that's right on the money is always nice. That's especially true if your sense of rhythm is only so-so, but it also makes the 404 more useful for genres that are all about being right on the beat like house and techno. And in some ways, it's actually more versatile than your average TR-style sequencer since patterns can be up to 64 bars (or 1,024 steps) in length.
In addition to being able to program beats by manually punching in individual steps, you can also now record to patterns in chromatic mode: load up a sample of a single note and just play a melody into a pattern. Previously this had to be done via resampling, i.e. creating an entirely new sample of the melody you played.
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
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Jun 30, 2022
NFT marketplace OpenSea shared today that it's the victim of another data breach — though this time the target is one of its vendors. An employee of its email delivery vendor, Customer.io, allegedly downloaded and shared stored email addresses associated with OpenSea accounts and newsletter subscriptions with an unknown third party. Any OpenSea account holder or newsletter subscriber should assume their email address was among those impacted, according to a blog post by the company's head of security Cory Hardman. At this time it does not appear any passwords or other personal information was stolen.
The company is working with Customer.io to investigate the matter. "Please stay vigilant about your email practices, and be alert for any attempt to impersonate OpenSea via email," wrote Hardman.
Unlike a previous phishing attack on OpenSea in February that resulted in hundreds of NFTs being stolen, there appears to be no further reported damage beyond the leaked email addresses. Still, the number of people likely impacted by the breach is significant. Hackread noted that 1.8 million users made purchases through the Ethereum network on OpenSea, according to data from Dune Analytics.
Yesterday the company sent emails to OpenSea users who they suspected were involved, warning them to be on the lookout for phishing emails and other scams. Beyond stand
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Jun 30, 2022
A small fleet of Cruise robotaxis in San Francisco suddenly stopped operating on Tuesday night, effectively stopping traffic on a street in the city's Fillmore district for a couple of hours until employees were able to arrive. TechCrunch first noticed a Reddit post that featured a photo of the stalled driverless cabs at the corner of Gough and Fulton streets. Cruise — which is General Motor's AV subsidiary — only launched its commercial robotaxi service in the city last week. The rides feature no human safety driver, are geo-restricted to certain streets and can only operate in the late evening hours.
Cruise apologized for the incident in a statement, but gave little explanation for what caused the mishap. "We had an issue earlier this week that caused some of our vehicles to cluster together," a Cruise spokesperson said in a statement to TechCrunch. "While it was resolved and no passengers were impacted, we apologize to anyone who was inconvenienced."
The GM-backed AV startup won the first driverless taxi permit in a major US city, and began offering San Francisco residents free rides in February. After launching its paid passenger service on June 24, early reviews from Cruise passengers came pouring in. One passenger noted that his Cruise car took an
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Jun 30, 2022
A cyberattack on a third-party vendor has impacted employment services, including unemployment benefits, in several states, according to the Associated Press. Some state employment websites have been offline since Sunday, including the ones in Tennessee and Nebraska.
"We recently identified anomalous activity on our network, and immediately took [Tennessee's] Jobs4TN system offline to halt the activity. With the help of third-party specialists, we are conducting a full investigation to determine the cause and scope of the incident," Paul Toomey, the president of vendor Geographic Solutions, said in a statement on Wednesday. "Our current focus is working around the clock to bring Jobs4TN back online. We anticipate that this will occur prior to the July 4th holiday."
The full scope of the cyberattack's impact is not yet clear, though Geographic Solutions claims to have clients in more than 35 states and territories. As noted by StateScoop, the Louisiana Workforce Commission said on Wednesday its HiRE website is offline and the "attack is also impacting as many as 40 other states and Washington D.C." Geographic Solutions' website is also down.
The situation could have a significant effect on those who depend on unemployment benefits and are having problems accessing them. Around 12,000 people rely on such benefits in Tennessee, but the AP rep
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Jun 30, 2022
The walk from the Las Vegas Convention Center to Tacos El Gordo may only be seven-tenths of a mile but under the blazing sun of a Nevada winter, the trip can seem an eternity. Lucky for us Al Pastor enthusiasts, this traditional CES taco trek is now far more convenient as the Boring Company and Resorts World Las Vegas announced the official opening of the latest Loop station at Las Vegas Convention Center.
This spur off of the Boring Company's existing Loop network (which runs underneath the North and South halls of the LVCC) connects the convention center directly to a sister station underneath the World Resorts property on the other side of South Las Vegas Blvd. Boring expects the trip between the two to take just a few minutes — assuming nothing goes wrong — and plans to eventually expand the underground vehicle network to more than 55 stops along the Strip.
"Today marks a monumental moment not only for our resort, but for Las Vegas," Scott Sibella, president of Resorts World Las Vegas, said in a Thursday press relea. "Our passenger station will make a visit to our resort from the Las Vegas Convention Center easier than ever, and eventually connect us to key destinations throughout the city."
The Boring Company began work on the initial $47 million tunnels running under the LVCC back in 2019, completed excavation the following May, and opened for service — because of course it did — on April 20th, 2022. In October, 2021 Las Vegas approved the Boring Company's plans to expand its Loop network to encompass more than 29 miles of tunnel. T
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Jun 30, 2022
Roughly 25 percent (23.4 percent to be exact) of the Earth's sea floor has been mapped, thanks to an international initiative known as Seabed 2030. Relying largely on voluntary contributions of bathymetric data (or ocean topography) by governments, companies and research institutions, the project is part of a larger UN-led initiative called The Ocean Decade. Seabed 2030 hopes to map 100 percent of the ocean floor by 2030, which researchers say will be possible thanks to advances in technology and corralling already available data. Over the past year alone, Seabed 2030 has added measurements for around 3.8 million square miles (roughly the size of Europe) primarily through newly opened archives, rather than active mapping efforts.
Scientists believe collecting more bathymetric data will help further our understanding of climate change and ocean preservation efforts. Ocean floor mapping also helps in the detection of tsunamis and other natural disasters. "A complete map of the ocean floor is the missing tool that will enable us to tackle some of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time, including climate change and marine pollution. It will enable us to safeguard the planet's future," said Mitsuyuki Unno, executive director of The Nippon Foundation in a press release.
As the BBC
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Jun 30, 2022
If your Pixel is in need of some care, you can now buy official parts to try and fix the problem yourself. Parts and detailed repair guides for Pixel 2 and above are now available from iFixit.
The parts include screens, batteries, rear cameras and charging ports. They're available à la carte and iFixit plans to offer more types of parts in the future. You can also buy Fix Kits, which iFixit says include everything that a Pixel user needs to repair their device. Each kit comes with a gizmo to open the phone and official adhesive to seal it back up. The parts have a lifetime guarantee from iFixit — save for batteries, which have a one-year guarantee.
At the outset, iFixit is selling the parts in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and other European countries where Google offers Pixels. The company also plans to support future Pixel models as soon as possible after launch. It will have guides and parts for Pixel 6a this fall, for instance. In addition, iFixit is selling parts wholesale to independent repair shops.
Google and iFixit announced a partnership in April to offer Pixel users official parts. Apple and Samsung have also committed to enabling customers to self-repair devices.
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Jun 30, 2022
Air travel remains one of the largest contributors to global warming in the transportation sector, producing 915 million tonnes of CO2 worldwide in 2019, per ATAG. In an effort to usher in a more sustainable era of flight, NASA announced Thursday that it is seeking partners "to develop technologies needed to shape a new generation of lower-emission, single-aisle airliners that passengers could see in airports in the 2030s."
NASA is looking to fund the design, building, testing and flying of large-scale demonstrators as part of its new Announcement for Partnership Proposals program. Specifically, the agency seeks to "reduce carbon emissions from aviation and ensure US competitiveness in a high-demand area of aircraft design — single-aisle commercial airliners."
"In the coming years, global air mobility will continue to grow at a steady pace, and single aisle aircraft will continue to carry the majority of that passenger traffic," Bob Pearce, NASA associate administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, said in Thursday's media release. "Working with industry, NASA intends to seize this opportunity to meet our aggressive environmental goals while fostering continued global leadership of the U.S. aviation industry."
This effort comes as part of the White House's US Aviation Climate Action Plan, which itself aims to make make aviation emissions carbon-neutral by 2050. To help reach that deadline, NASA is planning to have these demonstrators ready by the end of the decade so that the lessons learned can be applied to the next generation of single-aisle aircraft coming in the 2030s. NASA plans to select at least one industry partner early next year, granti
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Jun 30, 2022
Back in 2017, the European Union took the shockingly rational step of largely eliminating roaming charges for its citizens travelling among member nations, dubbing it the "Roam-like-at-home" system. Operating across the 27 countries that make up the European Economic Area as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway — but not the UK because Brexit — Roam-like-at-home was set to expire at the end of June. On Thursday, however, the European Commission announced that it will be extending the system for another decade, through 2032.
The EC cites benefits to both consumers and telecom providers as part of its decision, with consumers enjoying "a better roaming experience, with the same quality of mobile service abroad as they have at home," as well as improved access to emergency services and increased transparency in charging rates so travellers in the EU won't find a massive bill waiting for them when they get home.
"Remember when we had to switch off mobile data when travelling in Europe — to avoid ending up with a massive roaming bill?" Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market, said in Thursday's press statement. "Well this is history. And we intend to keep it this way for at least the next 10 years. Better speed, more transparency: we keep improving EU citizens' lives."
The extended rules strongly suggests that carriers "ensure that consumers have access to use 4G, or the more advanced 5G, networks, if these are available at the destination" and "automatically interrupt mobile services if the mobile services over non-terrestrial networks reach charges of €50 or another predefined limit." What's more, they require 112 to dial emergency services be made available across the entire economic area and, by June 2023, for carriers to notify t
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Jun 30, 2022
The Food and Drug Administration has asked COVID-19 vaccine makers to update booster shots to tackle newer Omicron variants that are on the rise. It says the manufacturers should add a spike protein component to shots to target the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants in addition to the original strain.
An "overwhelming majority" of the FDA's advisory committee voted this week in favor of updating shots with an Omicron component, in the hopes of starting to use those modified boosters in the fall. The advisory is only for booster shots and not primary inoculations.
Vaccine makers are essentially playing whack-a-mole with the various strains of COVID-19. Pfizer and Moderna have created versions of their vaccines that target BA.1, the Omicron variant that caused a significant upswing in COVID-19 cases during the winter.
However, that strain isn't circulating in the US anymore, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Earlier this week, the CDC said BA.4 and BA.5 now account for over 52 percent of COVID-19 infections in the US. That figure is expected to rise in the coming weeks.
As CNBC notes, Pfizer and Moderna released clinical trial data this week showing that the current Omicron shots performed better against BA.1 than the ori
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Jun 30, 2022
With Pokémon Go, Niantic became the poster child for the power of mobile augmented reality (AR) apps. Since then, the company has struggled to recapture that glory. Yesterday's round of layoffs and canceled projects cemented how difficult things are for Niantic, driven by the pandemic that has made it tough for people to get outside and gather in groups. But it turns out there's another way for Niantic to double down on its AR lead: By making it easier for its existing players to communicate with each other.
Today, the company has begun rolling out Campfire, a social app that will let Niantic's users chat with their friends, join groups of like-minded mobile wanders, and arrange major events like Pokémon Go's raids. Up until now, Poké-addicts have used Discord and other messagings apps to arrange their gatherings. But, likely seeing a missed opportunity, Niantic has developed its own social platform, one that'll be accessible across all of its titles (including Ingress, its first major release).
Campfire is about more than just messaging, though. It also gives players a broader glimpse at everything the company's games have to offer. In Pokémon Go, for example, it can show you that there's a Venusaur hanging out on the other side of town, a far wider view than you'd typically get in the game's main app. You can also light a flare on specific events, which alerts other local players that you'd like some help tackling it. And, as you'd expect, Campfire also makes it easier to coordinate your friends, like quickly being able to DM your friends if there's a Snorlax you want to take on.
Even if you don't have Campfire, though, you'll still see some benefits within the company's app
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Jun 30, 2022
Twitch has announced a new feature for creators who want to include other streamers and even viewers on their broadcasts. Up to five guests can join a stream through Guest Star, which works on both desktop and mobile. If a viewer wants to take part in the discussion or ask a question, they can raise a virtual hand and the creator or a moderator may invite them on. This seems to work in a similar fashion to Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces.
While the feature is akin to Clubhouse, Twitter Spaces, Spotify Live, Discord Stage Channels et al, Twitch can set itself apart from those services. Guest Star supports live video as well as audio — this is Twitch, after all.
The platform says Guest Star is easy for both newcomers and experienced streamers to use and it works with software like OBS and Twitch Studio. However, streamers won't need to use a third-party app to host a broadcast with other participants.
Until now, bringing guests on to a broadcast has required a bit of a workaround if creators don't want to simply stream a Zoom, Skype or Discord call. If they prefer to use custom layouts, overlays and branding, it's possible to include remote video feeds from Skype or a web app. Guest Star should streamline things.
Streamers and their moderators can swiftly remove guests at any time and for any reason. Guests will need a Twitch account, which means they can be re
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Jun 30, 2022
Apple has a big update to CarPlay slated for sometime later this year, but in the meantime, the tech giant has begun working with partners to support a new feature that will let users pay for gas directly inside the company's infotainment platform.
While the ability to purchase fuel using CarPlay was first revealed during developer sessions at WWDC earlier this month, it didn't get a ton of attention until recently when energy company HF Sinclair announced plans to implement the feature at its gas stations in the U.S.
HF Sinclair told Reuters that more specific details will be released in the coming months, but the basic idea is that instead of needing to swipe your credit card at the pump, users will be able to buy gas via an app in CarPlay. However, there will be some initial setup, as you'll need to download the app and enter your payment info first. Once everything is set up, you'll be able to select a specific pump from your navigation screen and refuel without needing to pull out your wallet.
Ahead of a major update to CarPlay, Apple's push to support buying gas digitally comes amidst larger efforts to integrate more third-party services as the company looks to expand the role of its automotive platform. In a statement given to Reuters, Asymco analyst Horace Dedie said given the reach of CarPlay, this strategy could have an even greater impact than Apple's long-rumored efforts to design its own EV.
"Forget about Apple Car - Apple CarPlay is a bigger deal," Dediu said. "It's very likely to scale to millions and millions of cars, if not hundreds of millions." However, with Google also eying a number of
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Jun 30, 2022
Google is updating its password manager to make it easier to use and more consistent across platforms. The tool could also help users make their accounts more secure following the upgrades. For one thing, Google is making the password management experience the same in Chrome and Android settings. It will automatically group together passwords for the same sites and apps.
You'll now be able to add passwords directly to Google Password Manager on top of saving them when you log in to an account. Google suggests Android users will be able to log in to sites faster on Chrome with a touch-to-login feature, which will be available on an overlay on the bottom of the screen. This builds on biometric verification features Google added to Chrome last year.
In addition, Google says it will notify you through the Password Checkup screen if you're using compromised credentials. Android users will see alerts about weak and reused passwords too. If you receive such a warning, it should be easy to correct the issue with the automatic password change feature. Compromised password warnings will be available for Chrome users on iOS, Windows, MacOS, Linux and Chrome OS too.
Last week, Google added the ability for iOS users to set Chrome as their autofill provider. The idea was to make it easier for people who use Google Password Manager to sign in to any app on their iPhone. Google recently introduced the option for Android users to set a home screen shortcut for Password Manager as well.
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Jun 30, 2022
The Samsung Gaming Hub is live now on 2022 Samsung smart TVs and smart monitors, and it's adding two services from Amazon to its game-streaming lineup: Twitch and Luna. Twitch is available today, while Luna is coming soon. Gamers will also be able to access Xbox Game Pass now, as well as apps for NVIDIA GeForce NOW, Google Stadia and Utomik in the same designated area on their TVs. The company plans to release details about the gaming hub's rollout to earlier Samsung smart TV models at a later date, a Samsung spokesperson confirmed to Engadget.
For those who are unfamiliar with the Samsung Gaming Hub, it essentially offers players a way to access major cloud gaming services on their smart TV using only their Bluetooth controller, no console needed. Apps for both Spotify and YouTube are also included in the gaming hub.
Samsung says it plans on delivering even more gaming-focused content in the future, including new partnerships. "With expanding partnerships across leading game streaming services and expert curated recommendations, players will be able to easily browse and discover games from the widest selection available, regardless of platform," said Won-Jin Lee, president of Samsung's Service Business Team.
Amazon's Luna cloud gaming service has only been available to the general public since March, and is already available on Fire TVs. Its partnership with Samsung could give the nascent gaming service an easy way to reach people who have never used it in their homes. Twitch (which is
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Jun 30, 2022
YouTube is enacting more measures in its battle to cut down on comment spam and channel impersonation. Creators now have access to a new setting for comments in YouTube Studio. They'll be able to select an "increase strictness" option. YouTube says this builds on the "hold potentially inappropriate comments for review" setting and will reduce the number of spam and identity abuse comments. It's a less strict option than requiring manual review for all comments or switching them off completely.
As of July 29th, channels won't be able to hide their subscriber counts. YouTube says this is a tactic commonly used by those pretending to be behind larger and more established channels. Impersonators often leave comments on other videos to bring people over to their fake page. For instance, someone who sees a comment left by a user named Mr?east (with a special character in place of the "B") might click through to that channel to see it has only 100 subscribers, compared with the genuine MrBeast's 97.7 million subscribers.
YouTube acknowledged that some creators prefer to hide their subscriber count while they're building up an audience. However, it says this move will make things safer for everyone.
Speaking of phony channels that use special characters to imitate more prominent creators, that strategy will soon be a little less effective. YouTube says it's reducing the character set that people can use when updating a channel name. It said that bad actors won't be able to modify their name to "¥ou?ube" or some such after the change.
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Jun 30, 2022
In yet another historic reversal of long standing precedent, the US Supreme Court on Thursday ruled 6 - 3 along party lines to severely limit the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency in regulating carbon emissions from power plants, further hamstringing the Biden administration's ability to combat global warming.
The case, West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 20-1530, centered both on whether the Clean Air Act gives the EPA the power to issue regulations for the power industry and whether Congress must "speak with particular clarity when it authorizes executive agencies to address major political and economic questions," a theory the court refers to as the "major questions doctrine."
Developing...
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Jun 30, 2022
When it launched last year, the DJI Mavic 3 grabbed a lot of headlines with features like a big Four Thirds sensor and a second 7X telephoto camera. But it also drew some criticism for going on sale with key features like ActiveTrack and QuickShots still not available. That meant that I and others couldn't assess those features in our early Mavic 3 reviews. And because of that, potential buyers couldn't get a full picture of the drone before paying up to $5,000 for one.
Following three major firmware updates in December, January and May, all the promised functions and more are finally here. Now, I'm going to test them out using the same exact drone to see how well they work. At the same time, I'll discuss this trend of selling products before key features are available - is this good or bad?
ActiveTrack, Quickshots and other AI featuresLast year, I tested the mainstream Mavic 3 (not the Cine model) in the Fly More combo package with my drone pilot friend, Samuel Dejours. At the time, we rated it highly for things like video quality, obstacle avoidance, long battery life and more. However, the coolest AI features were nowhere to be seen.
This time, we've got three firmware updates, with the most recent coming from the end of May. Most of the AI features like QuickShots, ActiveTrack 5, MasterShots and others arrive in January. We're also g
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Jun 30, 2022
Choosing your next smartphone can be challenging. With so many brands offering similar features at similar prices, it can be hard to understand what device actually has the things you want. If you've already determined you only want an iPhone, your decision-making process is slightly easier. (And even then, Apple's lineup offers more options than ever.) Those also considering Android will have even more options to choose from, and likely more questions. Do you want a camera that can zoom into subjects that are extremely far away, or do you want intuitive AI that can screen your incoming calls for you? Here at Engadget, we test smartphones all year round and can help you make sense of what's available and what to look out for. And, of course, we've included our favorite phones to help you whittle down your shortlist.
Android or iOS?Each OS has its pros and cons. Apple's tight-knit ecosystem makes it super easy to share data between iPhones, iPads and Macs or seamlessly hand-off phone calls or music from one device to another. At the same time, you're effectively locked in, as services like Apple Messages aren't available on other platforms.
As for Android, there's a much wider range of handsets from companies like Google, Samsung, Sony and more. However, Android phones don't enjoy that same length of software support and often have lower trade-in values. In short, there's no wrong answer. However, you will want to consider how your phone will fit in with the rest of your devices. So unless you're really fed up with one OS and willing to learn another, it probably doesn't make a lot of sense to switch from iOS to Android (or vice versa) - especially if everyone else in your h
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Jun 30, 2022
GM is training more first responders to be able to handle emergencies involving electric vehicles. The automaker is "significantly expanding" its EV First Responder Training program in the United States and Canada as electric vehicle sales continue to grow. Its initiative will primarily focus on training firefighters and equipping them with the necessary knowledge about full electric vehicle technologies. GM says it's hoping to dispel misconceptions when it comes to handling EVs in emergency situations. One of those misconceptions is that water is dangerous around EV batteries — turns out the recommended way to put out lithium-ion battery fires is by using copious amounts of water.
Andrew Klock, a senior manager of education and development at the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), said: "The best way for the public and private vehicle fleet owners to rapidly adopt EVs is to train firefighters and emergency responders on how to handle incidents involving battery powered vehicles. The fire service has had more than 100 years to gain the knowledge needed to respond to internal combustion engine fires, and it is critical that they are now educated on EV safety." The NFPA held trainings of its own that had benefited 300,000 first responders, but it believes more than 800,000 members of the community still need further training.
GM previously piloted the program in southeast Michigan, but now it's conducting training events across Michigan and in Fort Worth, Texas, as well. Later this summer, it's bringing the program to metro New York City and Southern California. Participants will have to attend four-hour sessions, with up to two per day, held in various venues, such as fire houses and dealerships. Interested first and second responders can register through the
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Jun 30, 2022
The following article includes significant spoilers for All Those Who Wander.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has never been ashamed to tip its hat to the stories it's riffing upon, some more obviously than others. This week's episode, All Those Who Wander, might as well just have been called "Screw it, we're just going to do Aliens." Thankfully, it's so good that you won't have time to care about the xeroxing from James Cameron's 1986 original. This is the best episode of Strange New Worlds yet, raising the bar, and the stakes, for next week's finale.
We start with the welcome and now familiar sight of the Enterprise crew hanging out around Pike's captain's table. It's such a delight to see the crew spending time together and having fun, as the show puts in the hours to show that these people generally like each other. Ensign Duke gets a promotion, while cadets Chia and Uhura are given a send off as they end their tour of duty on the Enterprise. But the levity is punctured, first by Uhura still not sure if Starfleet is right for her, and second by an ominous message from headquarters. A Federation starship has gone missing while surveying an unstable planet, and Pike needs to go looking for it.
But the Enterprise already has an urgent mission to deliver power supplies to starbase K7, so Pike decides to handle a rescue mission with shuttlecraft. Dr. M'Benga, Chapel, La'an, Spock, Hemmer, Lt. Kirk and Duke, as well as cadets Uhura and Chia join him. Number
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Jun 30, 2022
Amazon has brought back a great price on the Apple Watch Series 7. The 41mm blue model is on sale for $312 right now, or $87 off its normal price. That's close to the all-time-low price we've seen on the Series 7, but the best prices vary depending on your choice of color. If blue isn't your style, the midnight, starlight and green models are on sale for $329 each at the moment, too.
Buy Series 7 (41mm, blue) at Amazon - $312The Series 7 wasn't a huge departure from the Series 6 that came before it, but Apple did make a few key updates. First and foremost, the Series 7 has more screen space, making it easier to see text and graphics. It's also the first Apple Watch that's IP6X dust resistant, so it's a bit more durable than previous models. Finally, it supports faster charging that can power up the wearable from 0 to 100 in less than an hour.
Otherwise, the Series 7 shares most of the same features with the previous edition. It has an always-on display, built-in GPS, heart rate monitor, ECG tool and blood oxygen measurement capabilities, along with things like fall detection, Emergency SOS and more. Our biggest gripe with it is that its sleep tracking abilities are a bit lackluster. It mostly tracks how long you slept the night before as well as respiration rate, but you'll get much more information from competing devices
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Jun 30, 2022
If you've had any Blink cameras on your to-buy list, you're in luck. Amazon has discounted both the Indoor and Outdoor versions of its compact, wireless security cameras for Prime members, so you can get a Blink Indoor one-camera pack for $55 and a Blink Outdoor one-camera bundle for $60. The wired Blink Mini has also dropped in price to $30, while the Blink Video Doorbell has been discounted to only $35.
Buy Blink Indoor (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $55Buy Blink Outdoor (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $60Buy Blink Mini (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $30Buy Blink Video Doorbell (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $35Blink cameras are affordable options for those that want some kind of security camera network keeping watch over their home. Blink Indoor and Outdoor cameras share most of the same features: they record 1080p video and support infrared night vision, two-way audio,
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Jun 30, 2022
Apple has started allowing developers to use alternative payment systems for apps in South Korea, it announced. It made the move to comply with a new law in the nation requiring major app stores to allow alternative payment methods. Apple is still taking a cut from app transactions, though, albeit with a slight reduction in the fee.
To use alternatives to Apple's own payment system, developers must create a special version of their apps for the Korean App Store. Apple has approved four South Korean payment providers, KCP, Inicis, Toss and NICE and any others must be approved by Apple via a request on its developer website. Certain features like Ask to Buy and Family Sharing won't be available, and Apple takes no responsibility for subscription management or refunds.
Apple originally appealed the law, but eventually agreed to reduce its usual 30 percent commission to 26 percent. That effectively matches Google, which unveiled its Play Store compliance plans shortly after the law was announced with a four percent discounts on its usual commission.
Apple has faced attacks on its policies over the past few years, kicked off after Epic Games sued it for removing Fortnite from the App Store. In the US, proposed Senate bills would force Apple to allow app sideloading on iOS and other measures. Last year, Apple published a
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Jun 30, 2022
Consumer groups in Europe have filed complaints against Google for using "deceptive design, unclear language and misleading choices" in its sign-up process, the European Consumer Organization (BEUC) said in a press release. "Contrary to what Google claims about protecting consumers' privacy, tens of millions of Europeans have been placed on a fast track to surveillance when they signed up to a Google account," said BEUC deputy director Ursula Pachl.
Europe's GDPR rules are supposed to make it easy to choose settings that protect your privacy, but Google violates that principal when you create an account, it claims. It also emphasizes that having a Google account is a must for the Android users if they want to get apps from Google Play.
— The Consumer Voice (@beuc) June 30, 2022"Signup is the critical point at which Google makes users indicate their ‘choices' about how their Google account will operate. With only one step, the consumer activates all the account settings that feed Google's surveillance activities. Google does not provide consumers with
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Jun 30, 2022
Snap's optional subscription service is here, offering "exclusive, experimental and pre-release features" for $4 a month. It's apparently for "passionate" Snapchat users and launches this week in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The exclusive features are modest to start with, including the ability to change the app icon, see who re-watched a story and pin a friend to the top of your chat history as a BFF. Some of those features, like BFF, will only be available to subscribers, but others may eventually cross over to the main Snapchat app for mere muggles — AKA most of us.
— Mat Smith
The biggest stories you might have missedSony's new gaming brand merges the best of its PlayStation and consumer gear
FCC Commissioner urges Google and Apple to ban TikTok
Hyundai shows off its Ioniq 6 electric vehicle for the first time
Bowers & Wilkins debuts a redesigned version of its Px7 headphones
'Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration' brings together more than 90 games this fall
Solo Stove's fire pits are
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Jun 30, 2022
Amazon's customers in the United Arab Emirates won't find listings for LGBTQ-related products on its website anymore. According to The New York Times, the Emirati government has demanded the removal of products associated with LGBTQ people and issues and has threatened to penalize Amazon if it doesn't comply by Friday. In response, the e-commerce giant has pulled individual product listings and restricted search results for over 150 keywords. The UAE criminalizes consensual same-sex relations, and punishment could include imprisonment and even the death penalty.
Some of the search terms the website had restricted are broad enough to cover most items, including "lgbtq," "pride" and "closeted gay." However, some blocked search terms are more targeted, such as "transgender flag," "chest binder for lesbians" and "lgbtq iphone case." The Times says those terms didn't produce any result when the publication tried them out.
In addition, Amazon blocked several books in the region. Nagata Kabi's My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness and Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist are two of the affected titles. In a statement sent to The Times, spokesperson Nicole Pampe said that as a company, Amazon remains "committed to diversity, equity and inclusion" and that it believes "that the rights of L.G.B.T.Q. people must be protected." Pampe added, however: "With Amazon stores around the world, we must also comply with the local laws and regulations of the countries in which we operate."
Amazon is but one of the companies in the tech industry that has given in to the demands of a restrictive government in order to keep operating in a region. Netflix, for ins
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Jun 30, 2022
Major League Baseball will "likely" introduce an Automated Strike Zone System starting in 2024, commissioner Rob Manfred told ESPN. The so-called robot umpires may call all balls and strikes then relay the information to a plate umpire, or be part of a replay review system that allows managers to challenge calls. "We have an automated strike zone system that works," Manfred said.
The comments come in the wake of fan outrage over umpire's missed calls in recent games, including a brutal low strike error during a Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins tilt. "Enough is enough. Give me robo umps already," tweeted Grand Rapids ABC sports director Jamal Spencer.
— Jamal Spencer (@JamalSpencerTV) May 31, 2022MLB has been experimenting with robo umps in minor league Atlantic Triple-A league since 2019. It uses a doppler radar system developed by TrackMan, best known for its golf speed measurement devices. The system works thusly, according to CBS: "Pitch gets thrown, TrackMan tracks and identifies the pitch's location, phone tells umpire whether it's a ball or strike, umpire physically makes the call behind the plate."
In fairness to umpires, calling balls and strikes wit
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Jun 30, 2022
Unity has laid off hundreds of employees in its offices across the globe, according to Kotaku. The video game software development company known for its popular game engine has reportedly let around 300 to 400 staffers go so far. Layoffs are still ongoing, sources said, so those numbers may be higher by the time the company is done. Unity has confirmed to Engadget that it's "realigning some of [its] resources," which has led to the dismissal of approximately 4 percent of its entire workforce. That's consistent with the report that it has let around 300 people go, since its LinkedIn page lists 8,048 employees.
The company told Engadget:
While the mass dismissal affects Unity's entire workforce, Kotaku said it's mostly concentrated on its AI and engineering divisions. On Blind, the anonymous messaging board used by workers in the tech industry, posters claiming to be former Unity employees said they were asked to hop on a Zoom call with a manager and an HR personnel. They lost access to their company Slack and email and had to surrender their laptops within 48 hours, but they were apparently given 30 days to find a new role within the company. According to
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Jun 29, 2022
The Supreme Court's ruling last week has overnight transformed many states where abortion access was prohibitively difficult to ones where it is now de factoillegal. Congressional Democrats squandered nearly 50 years of opportunities to strengthen the right to bodily autonomy, and now in the wake of a post-Roe nation, large companies have been attempting to perform some form of triage, but their solutions, among tech firms in particular, often exclude the overwhelming majority of their workforces.
Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Uber, Lyft and DoorDash have all recently announced or reiterated policies for employees that would cover or offset the cost of traveling out of state to seek medical services, including abortions. While, as Vox's Emily Stewart rightly points out, no one should have to choose between a forced pregnancy or disclosing an abortion to their employer's HR department, the situation is significantly more grim for the hordes of contractors who keep these same businesses afloat and have not been afforded the same options.
What's at stake here is a massive number of workers. In many cases far more than the number of full-timers these companies have on payroll. The most recent estimate, in 2020, for content moderators on Facebook was 15,000 — a number which likely does not encompass moderators on Meta's other social platforms, and almost certainly excludes contingent workers at the compan
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Jun 29, 2022
Pokémon Go developer Niantic is laying off eight percent of its workforce, which is said to be around 85-90 jobs. The augmented reality game company has also canceled four projects. CEO John Hanke reportedly wrote in an email to employees that Niantic was "facing a time of economic turmoil" and had to "further streamline our operations in order to best position the company" to weather any future economic turmoil.
"We recently decided to stop production on some projects and reduce our workforce by about eight percent to focus on our key priorities," a Niantic spokesperson told Bloomberg, which first reported the news. "We are grateful for the contributions of those leaving Niantic and we are supporting them through this difficult transition."
One of the games that has been shelved is Transformers: Heavy Metal. Niantic and Hasbro announced that title in 2021 and had been testing it in some markets since last summer. Niantic has also canned an immersive theater project called Hamlet. It was working on that project with theater group Punchdrunk, which is behind an immersive production of Macbeth called Sleep No More. The other two shelved projects are called Blue Sky and Snowball.
Niantic hasn't yet been able to recapture the lightning-in-a-bottle success of 2016's Pokémon Go. The company
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Jun 29, 2022
Formula E's Gen3 all-electric car will make its race debut on January 14th, 2023 in Mexico City. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) announced the date on Wednesday and shared the preliminary schedule for Formula E's upcoming ninth season.
Before the official start of the competition in January, teams will have three days in December to test their new ride in Valencia, Spain. With today's preliminary schedule, Formula E plans to host 18 races across 13 cities. That's two more contests and three more stops than its 2022 slate. What's more, for the first time, the Formula E circuit will visit Hyderabad in India and São Paulo, Brazil.
If you take a look at the schedule, you'll notice a few gaps. Most notably, Formula E has yet to announce a New York City date. A spokesperson told Engadget the organization is working to organize races in South Africa and the US.
Formula E"New York has been the home of Formula E in the USA since Season 3, with the exception of the Covid-hit Season 6 in 2020, and has delivered some epic races in front of full grandstands," said Formula E chief championship officer Alberto Longo. "Major construction work in the Brooklyn area will make it a challenge to use the current track layout next year which is why we have not announced a specific date on the provisional Season 9 calendar. However, we will continue to work closely with our local partners in Brooklyn to explore solutions for racing in New York next sea
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Jun 29, 2022
Google is making it easier for new Android users to transfer their data from an old iPhone. As of today, the company's Switch to Android app on iOS will work with all Android 12 devices. Previously only compatible with Pixel phones, the software is useful if you're about to move from iOS to Android.
Once you have your new phone, connect it to your old Apple one. Your best bet is a Lightning to USB-C cable, but you can also link the two devices together over WiFi. Once they're connected, select what data you want to be moved over. Your options include apps, contacts, photos, videos, music and messages. At that point, the software will take care of the rest.
The timing of the wider availability of Switch to Android is interesting in part because WhatsApp recently made it easier for new iOS users to move their chat histories over from an old Android phone. Obviously, Google's app won't help if you switched to Android before today's announcement, but if the headache of transferring your data is what held you back previously, now you have one less reason to wait.
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