Getting an abortion inside a tent in Yosemite may sound crazy. But with the collapse of Roe v. Wade, we’re entering into unprecedented territory—and the idea of setting up emergency clinics on land where the federal government has legal authority could be a real, if short-term, solution. And given the profits that…
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
Sony's new gaming brand merges the best of its PlayStation and consumer gear
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 up to 45 percent off for July 4th
Most of Amazon's Eero 6 routers are on sale ahead of Prime Day
Big tech's abortion travel policies do nothing for its contractor workforce
With abortion now outlawed in several states, data from period-tracking apps could be used in criminal investigations against abortion seekers, and a missed period — or even simply an unlogged one — could be used as evidence of a crime. There are more insidious ways people seeking abortions can be tracked online. A recent investigation from Reveal and The Markup found Facebook’s advertising tools (siphon data from vast swaths of the web, including some hospitals) were used by anti-abortion groups to keep tabs on people seeking abortion services, despite Meta’s rules against collecting such data.
Mozilla's latest Firefox browser update has a new feature that prevents sites like Facebook from tracking you across websites. Query Parameter Stripping will automatically remove strings of characters added to the end of a URL that allow Facebook, HubSpot, Olytics and other companies to track your clicks and serve targeted ads. To enable the feature, you simply select Strict for Enhanced Tracking Protection in the privacy and security settings.
I might be a little bit taken with Sony’s vlogging ZV-1 camera, and Nikon wants my custom. That’s how I’m taking the news that the latter is releasing its own lightweight mirrorless camera for the YouTubers and vlogging masses.
The 20.9-megapixel APS-C Z30 is its smallest and lightest Z-series camera yet, with a flip-out display, 4K 30p video and a long 125-minute video record time on a single charge. While it has that fully articulating three-inch screen, there’s no electronic viewfinder. The Z30 arrives mid-July at $710 for the body only.
Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle was a pleasant surprise and an unlikely early hit on Switch. In Sparks of Hope, your heroes can now move around in real-time — no more grids and a major shakeup of how the game plays. You can still see how far a character can move in their environment, thanks to a white outline, and you’ll be able to figure out cover and optimal attacks on the fly. Each hero gets their turn before the baddies get to, well, return the favor. Soliani says this should help the game to feel more “natural.” Read on for what to expect when the game arrives later this year.
Pokémon Go developer Niantic is laying off eight percent of its workforce, around 85- to 90 jobs. The augmented reality game company has also canceled four projects. CEO John Hanke reportedly wrote in an email to employees that Niantic had to “further streamline our operations in order to best position the company." Niantic has struggled to recapture the lightning-in-a-bottle success of 2016's Pokémon Go.
Earlier this month, Gizmodo reported on a new high-tech drive-thru Taco Bell that the Tex-Mex chain opened in Minnesota; at “Taco Bell Defy,” you order via a mobile app, scan a QR code when you drive up, and have your food delivered via a series of tubes, never interacting with another human being. But that isn’t the…
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 instance, previously pulled a show critical of the Saudi government, while Apple reportedly gave the Chinese government control of some of its data centers in the country. Google once developed a censored Chinese search engine called Project Dragonfly, though it ultimately terminated the initiative in 2019.
Outside of regions with restrictive laws, Amazon is much less likely to remove items from its product listings. When a group of employees in Seattle called on the company to remove books that suggest kids who identify as transgender are mentally ill, Amazon said that as a bookseller, it has "chosen to offer a very broad range of viewpoints, including books that conflict with [its] company values and corporate positions."
The U.S. federal government has reached a deal to pay pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German-based partner BioNTech a t0tal of $3.2 billion for 105 million doses of covid-19 vaccine, according to statements from the companies. The doses are part of a fall campaign to get more people vaccinated in the U.S., a…
After the Supreme Court repealed the federal right to abortion last Friday, Jordan Jones, a TikTok creator with 1.5 million followers, decided to post a video. She wanted to help individuals seeking abortion care that wouldn’t be able to get it in their home states anymore.
Mozilla's latest Firefox browser release has a new feature that prevents sites like Facebook from tracking you across websites, Bleeping Computer has reported. Called Query Parameter Stripping, it automatically removes strings of characters added to the end of an URL that allow Facebook, Hubspot, Olytics and other companies to track your clicks and serve targeted ads.
You've likely noticed these queries when you click on a link that comes from Facebook, for example. Rather than showing "https://ift.tt/fKokeF5," it might show something like "https://ift.tt/EASX9Jr" (not a real example).
That jumble of characters after the question mark is a query parameter that can tell a company you've clicked on a link, helping them profile you for ad targeting. If you enable the stripping feature in the latest version of Firefox, it'll remove those characters before loading the URL, so Facebook will be none the wiser. It works via a blocklist and covers Olytics, Drip, Vero, HubSpot, Marketo and Facebook.
To enable the feature, you simply select "Strict" for "Enhanced Tracking Protection" in the Privacy & Security settings. That doesn't work in Private Mode, but you can turn it on there too by typing "about:config" in the address bar, searching for strip and setting the 'privacy.query_stripping.enabled.pbmode' option to true, as Bleeping Computer points out.
Bryan Fuller thinks there might be a future for more Hannibal. Chucky season 2 has found its Glen and Glenda. Plus, what’s to come in Westworld and the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, plus a new clip from Ms. Marvel. Spoilers now!
Google’s Gmail has generally rigorous spam filters, but they can sometimes be too rigorous. Google is working on a way to ensure emails from US political campaigns reach users' inboxes instead of automatically getting tagged as spam.
The company has asked the Federal Election Commission for approval on a plan to make emails from "authorized candidate committees, political party committees and leadership political action committees registered with the FEC" exempt from spam detection. That said, missives will still have to abide by Gmail's rules on phishing, malware and illegal content. Google spokesperson José Castañeda told Axios: “We want Gmail to provide a great experience for all of our users, including minimizing unwanted email, but we do not filter emails based on political affiliation."
One reason Gmail puts many campaign emails in the spam folder is other users often mark the missives as spam.
— Mat Smith
Anker charging accessories are up to 35 percent off right now
ARM's Immortalis GPU will bring hardware-based ray tracing to more Android devices
Brain-machine interface helped a man with paralysis feed himself using robotic arms
Return to Monkey Island's first gameplay trailer is a swashbuckling trip of nostalgia
'Harvestella' is a Square Enix farming sim with a dark twist
Insta360 and Leica partner on a 6K 360 camera with 1-inch sensors
The HTC Desire 22 Pro supports HTC's Viverse ecosystem so users can visit communities using their browsers, even without VR devices. It's also compatible with the company's $499 Vive Flow VR headset and can pair with the device if users want to explore experiences, watch movies and TV or just access their apps in virtual reality.
The spec sheet is otherwise middling, and most of the metaverse / VR appeal comes from other HTC hardware.
Airbnb is permanently banning all parties and events at all host properties, globally. It follows a temporary 2020 ban it instituted to comply with COVID-related social distancing restrictions. "Over time, the party ban became much more than a public health measure," Airbnb said in a blog post. "It developed into a bedrock community policy to support our Hosts and their neighbors."
If you post on Facebook or Instagram about being able to mail abortion pills, don't be surprised if you get a warning — or even get your account restricted. A tipster told Motherboard they were notified a minute after posting "I will mail abortion pills to any one of you" that their status update had been removed. When they tried to post it again later, they were banned. We replicated the restriction measure.
Rocket Lab has successfully launched NASA's 55-pound CAPSTONE CubeSat that will eventually orbit the Moon — if all goes to plan. It's a small but important step in NASA's Artemis mission to send humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972. Rocket Lab used an Electron rocket with a special addition called the Lunar Photon upper stage, with enough power to send it into deep space. It's one of the smallest rockets to attempt to launch a payload to lunar orbit.
Yesterday’s Nintendo Direct presentation, among a fewother things, revealed that the Portal Companion Collection is now out on Switch, priced at $19.99. The collection includes both the original Portal from 2007 as well as the more expansive, story-driven Portal 2. While the original Portal was strictly a single-player experience, Portal 2 has a split-screen co-op experience; you can also play this mode with a friend online as well.
Facebook has been inconsistently enforcing its rule against buying or selling tobacco, marijuana, as well as medical and non-medical drugs in relation to abortion pills. Motherboard recently reported that the website has been flagging posts saying "abortion can be mailed" and has even been temporarily restricting some accounts. Engadget was able to independently verify the information. As social media companies start dealing with content related to the outcome of the Roe v. Wade ruling last week, Meta has admitted to the 'incorrect enforcement' of posts that may trigger rules relating to the buying and selling of pharmaceuticals on its platforms.
Gizmodo reports that Meta communications director Andy Stone has admitted that the website has "discovered some instances of incorrect enforcement" when it comes to its rule against the buying and selling pharmaceuticals. He also said that the company is correcting those instances.
Content that attempts to buy, sell, trade, gift, request or donate pharmaceuticals is not allowed. Content that discusses the affordability and accessibility of prescription medication is allowed. We've discovered some instances of incorrect enforcement and are correcting these.
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) June 27, 2022
In a tweet responding to Motherboard's story, Stone said content attempting to buy, sell, trade, gift, request or donate pharmaceuticals aren't allowed. However, content discussing the "affordability and accessibility of prescription medication" is. Posting "abortion pills can be mailed" shouldn't be flagged if that's the case, though it may run afoul of other rules related to promoting crime.
Gizmodo ran a test by posting "abortion pills can be mailed" on different accounts and found that Facebook was only flagging the status update if it was posted on a burner account, or an account that's not regularly used. We were able to verify that, as well. The post we made on a barely used account was flagged, but the update we posted on our main account wasn't.
We also tried posting about other pharmaceuticals and medicine on our accounts. Our post that said "I'm selling ivermectin, PM me" was flagged, but the one that said "ivermectin can be mailed" wasn't. That's consistent with the website's rule. Our post saying "I'm selling cigarettes," however, wasn't flagged. We also tried posting "You can get abortion pills mailed from Aid Access," which shouldn't have been flagged if "affordability and accessibility of prescription medication" is allowed on the platform. We got restricted barely a minute after posting that on our burner account.
As you can see, enforcement of the rule has been inconsistent, and it's not quite clear why the exact same content doesn't get flagged on a frequently used account when it gets a warning on a barely used one. By flagging content about the mailing of abortion pills, Facebook could be preventing that information from getting to people who need it. Especially since it flags even the status updates of users outside the US.
The main Facebook website isn't the only Meta property that's been removing information about abortion pills. According to the Associated Press, Instagram has also been deleting posts about the mailing of abortion pills, though our search for #abortionpills yielded over 1,000 results.
HTC has introduced a new phone with metaverse-focused features, like it promised earlier this month. The HTC Desire 22 Pro supports HTC's Viverse ecosystem and will allow users to visit communities even without VR devices using their browsers. It's also compatible with the company's $499 Vive Flow VR headset and can be paired with the device if users want to explore experiences, watch movies and TV or even just access their apps in virtual reality. As Engadget Chinese notes, though, aside from its metaverse-focused offerings, the phone is firmly mid-range.
The HTC Desire 22 Pro has a 6.6-inch display with a 1,080 x 2,412 pixel resolution and a 120 Hz refresh rate. It's powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G chip, a mid-range SoC, has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The device has a 4,520 mAh battery and offers reverse wireless charging. Plus, it has a three-camera system at the back, with a 65-megapixel main, 13-megapixel ultrawide and 5-megapixel depth-sensing cameras. For selfies, the phone has a 32-megapixel front-facing camera.
A company executive said at Mobile World Congress this year that the manufacturer is gearing up to launch a new high-end device. It's not clear if the executive was talking about this particular phone, but prices for the Desire 22 Pro begin at NT$11990 or around US$404, which means it has the potential to reach a wider audience than more expensive flagship devices. The Desire 22 Pro is now available for pre-order and will start shipping on July 1st in the company's home country of Taiwan. In the UK, buyers can pre-order a unit for £399 and expect shipping to begin on August 1st. Those who also want to get a Vive Flow headset can order a discounted bundle for NT$23,490 (US$791) in Taiwan or £763 in the UK.
Desire 22 pro is the phone to carry you into the future.
— HTC (@htc) June 28, 2022
Learn more: https://t.co/QOev17nRSQ#htcpic.twitter.com/Hrwrp5iNmw
The black flame candle has been lit once more, and that can only mean one thing: our first look at the long-awaited sequel to Hocus Pocus is here.
Since its debut in 2016, Nura has built its whole brand around optimizing audio for your hearing. But that only helps so much, obviously you want the music source to be as high a quality as possible, too. Today, the company is announcing the NuraTrue Pro, a wireless TWS set that supports AptX Lossless – the highest quality Bluetooth codec to date.
AptX Lossless is new enough that barely anything supports it right now. But given it’s part of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound platform, it won’t be long before most Android flagships adopt it. Apple users, on the other hand, might be waiting forever, given that there’s no support for any form of AptX or any other higher resolution audio over Bluetooth beyond the company’s implementation of AAC.
Nonetheless, the NuraTrue Pro is currently in a fairly exclusive club with support for the new codec, which is capable of 16-bit/44.1Khz “CD quality” audio. Something the company hopes, in combination with its proprietary “customized” audio, will make these TWS a reference point for audio quality. This means it also supports all the other flavors of AptX (HD, Adaptive and so on), plus, of course, Apple-friendly codecs too.
Beyond the higher-fidelity support, there are, of course, some other new features to separate these from the original NuraTrue that the company announced last summer. For starters, there’s support for spatial audio powered by Dirac, improved ANC, an upcoming “ProEQ” tool for fine-tuning audio and a claimed extra two hours of battery life – now eight hours on a single charge, up from the original’s six. The case still offers another 24 hours of charging before you’ll need to reach for that USB-C cable.
Most importantly, the Pro model has a slightly modified design with a new smooth metallic material around the edge and for the logo – just so people don’t mistakenly think you’re still on last year’s model.
Most everything else matches what we’d expect from a Nura headphone. That’s to say, the automatic hearing test for personalized audio is here. Performing this with the app takes about a minute and only needs to be done once. You can even export that profile to other devices if you need it, and it’s stored locally on the headphones so the benefit carries with you over to, say, your desktop PC.
The same goes for “immersion mode.” In the NuraPhone over-ears this was a tactile “bass” feature through haptics, but in all the other models it’s more of a bass-boost mode. It works just fine, but can be a little overbearing at higher volumes (especially for music that’s bass-heavy in the first place). On the pre-release model Nura sent for testing, immersion mode feels a little too aggressive or needs some fine-tuning as almost anything above zero seems to distort.
That’s about the only audio gripe, though. Comparing these side by side with the original NuraTrue, the difference on a standard YouTube Music stream isn’t stark, but if you add in spatial mode you can definitely feel a little more “air” in the mix, as if the sound stage is a little wider, and at no expense of volume as can sometimes be the case.
Sadly, my iPhone can’t serve up anything in delicious AptX Lossless, but the three-year-old OnePlus 7 Pro I have lying around can manage the next one down (AptX Adaptive). I must say I am generally impressed with the performance of the NuraTrue Pro. I was worried that the combination of spatial and personalization on top of new codec support might risk highlighting unwanted frequencies, especially when adding EQ on top.
Instead, it seems to come together well, producing a sturdy, spacious but not overly “modified” sound. I mean, it is modified, that’s sorta Nura’s whole vibe, but it doesn’t sound so, and that’s the important thing.
If you’re wondering why customized headphones would need an additional “ProEQ” feature, that’s largely down to giving users the choice. Theoretically, Nura’s hearing test should provide all the EQ you need, but of course, maybe you just prefer things a little more pronounced in the mid-range, the tool will be there for those that want it.
All in all, the NuraTrue Pro should be a welcome addition to an already well-rounded line-up from Nura. Despite the company’s established product releases, the NuraTrue Pro will be launching on Kickstarter for delivery later this year. While that might be a sticking point for some, it does mean that you can bag a set for a super early bird price of $199. Regular retail price will be some way north of that at $329 (£299/359€).
Valve loves to warn people about the risks of do-it-yourself Steam Deck maintenance, and this time it’s reminding you that trying to upgrade the built-in storage could lead to problems.
Following a PC Gamer article on modding the Steam Deck, Valve hardware designer Lawrence Yang warned against upgrading the device's NVMe SSD. While it's technically possible, the bigger M.2 2242 drives are hotter and more power-hungry than the 2230 models the handheld was meant to support. Yang added you could "significantly shorten" the longevity of the system. You’ve been told.
— Mat Smith
'Endless Dungeon' is a tense mix of tower defense and twin-stick hero shooter
Samsung's 1TB 980 Pro SSD returns to an all-time low of $140
Google's Nest WiFi packs drop to record-low prices at Amazon
Hummer EV's obstacle-avoiding Extract Mode adds six inches of ride height
And if you don’t yet have a Steam Deck — or you fried yours with an ill-advised upgrade — Valve says it has boosted production and will ship more than twice the number of units each week.
Were you to reserve a Steam Deck now, you likely wouldn't receive it until at least October. However, since Valve is ramping up the volume of shipments, it may bring down that wait time.
The Nintendo 64’s GoldenEye 007 — the rare Bond game that not only nailed the franchise tie-in but elevated the experience — is one of a handful of games that warrant a feature-length making-of documentary. Drew Roller’s GoldenEra tries to encompass the entire creative route, from its genesis as a small project at Rare’s rural farmland campus to the monster it became.
GoldenEra has been able to get many of the original team on the record, supplemented by a number of journalists and talking heads from across the games industry. But multiple segments — those covering Perfect Dark, Free Radical Design and Timesplitters, GoldenEye fan films and the modding community — feel a little shallow.
LG is jumping into the EV charging business with the acquisition of a South Korean EV battery charger developer called AppleMango. This should help it create "fully featured" charging stations with a user-friendly interface and real-time control and management, it said. In particular, it’ll leverage its "sturdy, dust- and water-proof" outdoor digital display tech. LG plans to install an EV charger production line at LG Digital Park in South Korea by the end of 2022.
Apple's 13-inch 256GB MacBook Pro M2 may have worse SSD performance than the equivalent M1 model, according to testing by YouTube sites Max Tech and Created Tech. The $1,300 base model showed around 50 percent slower read speeds and 30 percent slower write speeds. It turns out the 13-inch MacBook Pro M2 has a single 256GB NAND flash storage chip instead of two 128GB chips like the previous M1 model. That would mean the driver can only use two lanes in parallel, restricting performance.
Apple and Qualcomm may have ended most of their feuding in 2019, but the fight isn't over just yet. The Supreme Court has denied Apple's request for a hearing to possibly invalidate two Qualcomm patents that played key roles in 2017’s attempts to ban Apple Watch, iPad and iPhone sales over alleged modem-technology infringements. The court didn't explain why it rejected the request, but a Justice Department amicus brief from May argued there was no evidence to indicate the patents were harming Apple's business.
A Nintendo Direct Mini is scheduled for June 28th at 9AM ET. It probably won't feature news on Mario, Zelda, Pokémon or any of Nintendo's other franchises, though. Nintendo says it'll focus on third-party titles on their way to Switch, and it could be a fairly meaty affair. It clocks in at 25 minutes, and Nintendo’s online showcases usually run at a fair clip. One of the more notable third-party games slated for a Switch debut, No Man's Sky, already has a release date of October 7th, so that may not get a heavy focus. There's always the chance of more details on Hollow Knight: Silksong, which is slated to arrive in the next year.
The January 6th Committee made a surprise announcement on Monday that it would be holding a new hearing on Tuesday about President Donald Trump’s attempt to overthrow the government after he lost the 2020 presidential election. And if you’re looking for ways to watch live, Gizmodo has got you covered.
Rocket Lab has successfully launched NASA's 55-pound CAPSTONE cubesat that will eventually orbit the moon if all goes to plan. It's a small but important step in NASA's Artemis mission that aims to send humans to the moon for the first time since 1972.
The launch proceeded nominally according to NASA's broadcast, reaching low-Earth orbit at about 'T' plus 10 minutes. An Electron launch is much like any other, except that it's the first rocket to be electrically powered by batteries rather than a gas turbine. As such, there's a phase called "battery ejection" which happens near the end of the launch cycle.
Rocket Lab used an Electron rocket with a special addition called the Lunar Photon upper stage with enough power to send it into deep space. It's one of the smallest rockets to attempt to launch a payload to lunar orbit, the company said. It launched from Rocket Lab's site on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula, and is "the highest mass and the highest performance Electron has ever had to fly by quite some margin," the company told TechCrunch earlier.
CAPSTONE will orbit Earth for nine days to build up enough speed for a trans lunar injection (TLI) that will allow it to eventually orbit the moon. The primary objective is to verify a type of highly elliptical lunar orbit called "near rectilinear halo" that's planned for the Gateway space station. Gateway will eventually be delivered to lunar orbit by SpaceX with a science lab and living quarters for astronauts, along with ports for future spacecraft.
Rocket Lab was supposed to launch CAPSTONE yesterday but delayed it until today "to perform final system checks," NASA tweeted. Regardless of the launch date, it's scheduled to arrive at the moon on November 13th. To see a replay of the livecast, check here.
Nintendo has announced when its next games showcase will take place. A Nintendo Direct Mini is scheduled for June 28th at 9AM ET. It most likely won't feature news on Mario, Zelda, Pokémon or any of Nintendo's other franchises, though. The company said the stream will focus on third-party titles that are on the way to Switch.
Right now, it's unclear what to expect from Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase (to give the broadcast its full title). However, it could a be fairly meaty affair, since it clocks in at 25 minutes and Nintendo usually zips through announcements during Directs.
A new #NintendoDirectMini: Partner Showcase is on the way! Watch on-demand via our YouTube channel beginning Tuesday, June 28 at 6am PT for roughly 25 minutes of info on upcoming third-party #NintendoSwitch games.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) June 27, 2022
Subscribe & turn on notifications here: https://t.co/SZA1P3RSHSpic.twitter.com/8hmCJ1p5EX
This isn't pegged as an Indie World Showcase, so it may center more around titles from major publishers and larger studios. One of the more notable third-party games slated for a Switch debut, No Man's Sky, already has a release date of October 7th, so that may not get a heavy focus. There's always the chance of more details on Hollow Knight: Silksong, which is slated to arrive sometime within the next year.
The Nintendo Direct Mini will air a week after a Direct focused on Xenoblade Chronicles 3, though it's not the full-on first-party showcase fans have been waiting for and expecting. You'll be able to watch Tuesday's event on Nintendo's YouTube channel.
Frank Grillo gets hunted by werewolves in our first look at Year 2. Are You Afraid of the Dark? returns with new footage. Plus, pictures from Westworld and the season finale of The Flash. To me, my spoilers!
Maybe you were finally able to get your hands on a PS5 not too long ago, but now you find yourself quickly running out of space on it. Now's a good time to invest in an SSD that can expand your console's storage because one of our favorites from Samsung is back on sale for an all-time-low price. The Samsung 980 Pro drive in 1TB is 33 percent off and down to $140. A few other drive we recommend from brands like PNY, Patriot and Crucial are also on sale right now, too.
Buy Samsung 980 Pro (1TB) at Amazon - $140Buy Samsung 980 Pro (1TB with heatsink) at Amazon - $170Normally priced at $210, Samsung's drive comes in a compact, M.2 form factor and supports read speeds up to 7,000 MB/s. It uses a special thermal control algorithm and a nickel coating to manage heat levels, plus a heat spreader label to help manage the temperature of the NAND chip. It's also compatible with Samsung Magician, which is management software that lets you monitor its overall health and keep it up to date.
The biggest issue for PS5 owners is that the drive's standard configuration doesn't come with a heatsink, which you'll need to install it in the console. However, you can get the SSD with said heatsink for only $170 right now, which is 26 percent off its normal rate.
Also on sale is our favorite PS5 SSD, the Patriot Viper VP4300: the 1TB version is down to $130 and the 2TB model is on sale for $255. This drive supports sequential read speeds of up to 7,400 MB/s, plus it comes with a heatsink preinstalled so it's ready to use with the PS5. If you've got a tighter budget, a couple of Crucial and PNY drives might be better fits. Crucial's P5 Plus SSD in 1TB is 20 percent off and down to $128, while PNY's XLR8 CS3040 SSD in 1TB is a whopping 42 percent off and down to $105.
Buy Patriot Viper VP4300 (1TB) at Amazon - $130Buy Crucial P5 Plus (1TB) at Amazon - $128Buy PNY XLR8 CS3040 (1TB) at Amazon - $105Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
If you've been waiting for Google's highest-end Pixel 6 model to drop below the $800 mark before you buy, you now have your chance. Woot is selling the 128GB Pixel 6 Pro for $780 ($119 off) today only. That's better than an Amazon discount we saw earlier this month, and a good deal if you're looking for a powerful large-screen phone.
Buy Pixel 6 Pro at Woot - $780Much of what we said about the Pixel 6 Pro at launch remains true today. It mates top-tier (if polarizing) design with superb cameras, a good screen and Google's definitive Android 12 experience, including smart Assistant features. It's also relatively light for a phone this size at 7.4oz, if not quite as featherweight as Samsung's Galaxy S22+ (6.9oz).
Software updates have tackled many of the Pixel 6 Pro's early problems, although the fingerprint reader might still be too finicky for some tastes. The bigger concern simply revolves around timing. Google has already teased the release of the Pixel 7 Pro this fall — you might want to hold off if you're interested in its improved performance and other as yet unannounced upgrades. If you're just looking for a good value, though, the current-generation phone is hard to top.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
Those looking to upgrade their home's WiFi system can save a bunch on Nest WiFi packs right now. Amazon has most of Nest WiFi configurations on sale, with some at new all-time lows. You can pick up one router for $115, a two-pack with one router and one access point for $149, or a three-pack with one router and two access points for $199. While that's a new low on the router by itself, you'll get the deepest discounts on the multi-packs, which are nearly half off their normal prices.
Buy Nest WiFi (1 router) at Amazon - $115Buy Nest WiFi (1 router, 1 point) at Amazon - $149Buy Nest WiFi (1 router, 2 points) at Amazon - $199Google's mesh system earned a score of 84 from us when it first came out and there's still a lot to like about it. Each module has an attractive, minimalist design and setting up the system is pretty simple. Each router can cover up to 2,200 square feet and you'll get an additional 1,600 square feet of coverage with each access point you add. That will likely be the biggest factor in deciding which pack you get; those who live in apartments or smaller homes could get away with a single router, while those with multi-story houses should consider springing for a multi-pack.
In addition to supporting Gigabit internet, the Nest WiFi system also has the convenience of built-in Google Assistant support. In fact, each access point acts almost like a Nest Mini smart speaker. You can tap the top of the point to play and pause, and ask the Assistant to do things like read off calendar alerts and set reminders. And if you don't want to use voice commands, or just want a bit more privacy, you can flip the switch on the back of the access points to turn off the microphone. The only caveat to the Nest WiFi is that it's not a WiFi 6 system, and that could be a dealbreaker if you're set on getting a more future-proof device. However, if you're just looking for a new WiFi setup that's fast, reliable and quick to set up, Google's Nest WiFi fits that bill.
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Apple is one of the most globally respected technology companies, having built its reputation on creating reliable, high-end products with innovative features. The Cupertino tech giant has such an impressive track record that its next project—whether that be an AR headset or something else entirely —is already assumed…
Carl Pei thinks there’s something wrong with the smartphone industry. Like a lot of us, Pei has started feeling like new phones just aren’t as special as the devices of five or 10 years ago.
He thinks the big players are all circling the same ideas in smartphone design. (Something true for at least a decade now.) And that’s where his new company, Nothing, comes in. Pei wants to bring some originality back to mobile tech design. “Maybe we can turn down the brain a little bit and turn up the intuition,” said Pei. Check out our full interview with the former co-founder of OnePlus.
While we haven’t properly tested the device yet , the Nothing Phone 1 is already available to pre-order — you just need an invitation. Word of warning: Nothing has already said the Phone 1 won't officially come to North America beyond a closed beta for a handful of private community investors. The device should work but won't have full support.
Me? Well, I live in the UK. Sorry about that.
— Mat Smith
Hitting the Books: What life on the internet was like at 300 bits per second
The original 'Pokémon Snap' comes to Switch Online on June 24th
Someone made a tombstone to mark Internet Explorer's end-of-support date
Leaked Amazon memo says the company may run out of available labor by 2024
Company co-chief Ted Sarandos confirmed at the Cannes Lions festival that Netflix is adding an ad-backed tier with a lower price. He stressed the option wouldn't bring ads to Netflix "as you know it today" — as with rivals like Peacock, you'll still be able to avoid marketing altogether.
Sarandos didn't share further details. However, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google and NBCUniversal are the "top contenders" to help Netflix build the ads-included plan. A Netflix spokesperson told Engadget the company was "still in the early days" of developing the ad-based tier and hadn't nailed down its approach. It's all "speculation" at present, the representative added.
In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports Apple is readying a new HomePod speaker that will look and sound similar to the original 2018 model. As you may recall, the company discontinued the HomePod in 2021 without announcing a direct replacement. According to Gurman, the new model may feature Apple’s forthcoming S8 chip and an updated display on the top of the speaker that may include multi-touch functionality. While the original had a display of sorts, it didn’t really show information beyond a Siri ‘orb.’
Juul has successfully convinced the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to delay the Food and Drug Administration's ban on its products. The agency recently banned Juul from selling and distributing its e-cigarette pens and pods in the US after a comprehensive two-year review.
Despite Juul's accusation that the administration's ban was "arbitrary and capricious," the FDA said it was banning the company's products because it didn't submit sufficient evidence proving that potentially harmful chemicals don't leach from its proprietary pods into the vapor users inhale.
A bacterium classified as the largest ever discovered needs no special tools to be visible to the naked eye. Thiomargarita magnifica, as it's called, has a filament-like appearance and can be as long as a human eyelash. The BBC explained it’s bigger than some more complex organisms, such as tiny flies, mites and worms.
Americans took to the streets over the weekend to demonstrate against the Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to repeal Roe v. Wade, the historic 1973 decision that protected a woman’s right to have an abortion. But the protesters were met with violent resistance by cops in cities like Los Angeles, New York,…
Apple plans to release a “deluge” of new products this fall and in the first half of 2023, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. And while many of the devices the company is reportedly working on won’t come won’t come as much of a surprise, one is interesting.
In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman reports Apple is readying a new HomePod speaker that will look and sound similar to the original 2018 model. As you may recall, the company discontinued the HomePod in 2021 without announcing a direct replacement. If you want a smart speaker with Siri built-in, your only option at the moment is the $99 HomePod mini.
According to Gurman, the new model will feature Apple’s forthcoming S8 chip and an updated display on the top of the speaker that may include multi-touch functionality. For context, the HomePod mini features an S5 chip, suggesting the new model will come with more processing power. Presumably, Apple also plans to price the speaker more competitively than it did the 2018 model. At $349, the HomePod was one of the more expensive smart speakers you could buy at the time, and it never felt like it lived up to that price.
Outside of an updated HomePod, Gurman says Apple is working on at least four new Mac models and an AirPods Pro refresh, among other devices. You can find the full details of Apple’s near-term product roadmap, “one of the most ambitious” in the company’s recent history, on Bloomberg.
Obi-Wan Kenobi ended its miniseries run on Disney+ earlier this week, finally giving longtime Star Wars fans a look at what Ewan McGregor’s titular, beautifully bearded Jedi was up to between the first two trilogies. The show’s garnered a mixed reception overall—well, as far the reception that’s actually legitimate…
Abusive Valorant players could soon have their verbal tirades come back to haunt them. In a blog post published on Friday, Riot Games outlined a plan to begin monitoring in-game voice chat as part of a broader effort to combat disruptive behavior within its games.
On July 13th, the studio will begin collecting voice data from Valorant games played in North America. According to Riot, it will use the data to get its AI model “in a good enough place for a beta launch later this year.” During this initial stage, Riot says it won’t use voice evaluation for disruptive behavior reports.
“We know that before we can even think of expanding this tool, we’ll have to be confident it’s effective, and if mistakes happen, we have systems in place to make sure we can correct any false positives (or negatives for that matter),” the studio said.
Some players will likely bristle at the thought of Riot listening in on their voice comms, much like they did when the company introduced Vanguard, its kernel-level anti-cheat software. But Riot says it sees voice evaluation as a way for it to “collect clear evidence” against players who take to comms to abuse and harass their teammates. The tool will also give the studio something it can point to when it provides sanctioned players with feedback.
“This is brand new tech and there will for sure be growing pains,” Riot said. “But the promise of a safer and more inclusive environment for everyone who chooses to play is worth it.”
Amazon’s The Boys has always been audacious from the jump, and has never been afraid to put its cast of supers and normal pissed-off civilians through several wringers. Being an adult-oriented show, it loves itself some sex, and this week’s episode had plenty of that on hand, as the show tackled the long-awaited…
The skies overhead could soon be filled with constellations of commercial space stations occupying low earth orbit while human colonists settle the Moon with an eye on Mars, if today's robber barons have their way. But this won't result in the same freewheeling Wild West that we saw in the 19th century, unfortunately, as tomorrow's interplanetary settlers will be bringing their lawyers with them.
In their new book, The End of Astronauts: Why Robots Are the Future of Exploration, renowned astrophysicist and science editor, Donald Goldsmith, and Martin Rees, the UK's Astronomer Royal, argue in favor of sending robotic scouts — with their lack of weighty necessities like life support systems — out into the void ahead of human explorers. But what happens after these synthetic astronauts discover an exploitable resource or some rich dork declares himself Emperor of Mars? In the excerpt below, Goldsmith and Rees discuss the challenges facing our emerging exoplanetary legal system.
Excerpted from The End of Astronauts: Why Robots Are the Future of Exploration by Donald Goldsmith and Martin Rees, published by the Harvard University Press. © 2022 by Donald Goldsmith and Martin Rees.
Almost all legal systems have grown organically, the result of long experience that comes from changes in the political, cultural, environmental, and other circumstances of a society. The first sprouts of space law deserve attention from those who may participate in the myriad activities envisioned for the coming decades, as well, perhaps, from those who care to imagine how a Justinian law code could arise in the realm of space.
Those who travel on spacecraft, and to some degree those who will live on another celestial object, occupy situations analogous to those aboard naval vessels, whose laws over precedents to deal with crimes or extreme antisocial behavior. These laws typically assign to a single officer or group of officers the power to judge and to inflict punishment, possibly awaiting review in the event of a return to a higher court. This model seems likely to reappear in the first long-distance journeys within the solar system and in the first settlements on other celestial objects, before the usual structure of court systems for larger societies appears on the scene.
As on Earth, however, most law is civil law, not criminal law. A far greater challenge than dealing with criminal acts lies in formulating an appropriate code of civil law that will apply to disputes, whether national or international, arising from spaceborne activities by nations, corporations, or individuals. For half a century, a small cadre of interested parties have developed the new specialty of “space law,” some of which already has the potential for immediate application. What happens if a piece of space debris launched by a particular country or corporation falls onto an unsuspecting group of people or onto their property? What happens if astronauts from different countries lay claim to parts of the moon or an asteroid? And most important in its potential importance, if not in its likelihood: who will speak for Earth if we should receive a message from another civilization?
Conferences on subjects such as these have generated more interest than answers. Human exploration of the moon brought related topics to more widespread attention and argument. During the 1980s, the United Nations seemed the natural arena in which to hash them out, and those discussions eventually produced the outcomes described in this chapter. Today, one suspects, almost no one knows the documents that the United Nations produced, let alone has plans to support countries that obey the guidelines in those documents.
Our hopes for achieving a rational means to define and limit activities beyond our home planet will require more extensive agreements, plus a means of enforcing them. Non-lawyers who read existing and proposed agreements about the use of space should remain aware that lawyers typically define words relating to specialized situations as “terms of art,” giving them meanings other than those that a plain reading would suggest.
For example, the word “recovery” in normal discourse refers to regaining the value of something that has been lost, such as the lost wages that arise from an injury. In more specialized usage, “resource recovery” refers to the act of recycling material that would otherwise go to waste. In the vocabulary of mining operations, however, “recovery” has nothing to do with losing what was once possessed; instead, it refers to the extraction of ore from the ground or the seabed. The word’s gentle nature contrasts with the more accurate term “exploitation,” which often implies disapproval, though in legal matters it often carries only a neutral meaning. For example, in 1982 the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea established an International Seabed Authority (ISA) to set rules for the large portion of the seabed that lies beyond the jurisdiction of any nation. By now, 168 countries have signed on to the convention, but the United States has not. According to the ISA’s website, its Mining Code “refers to the whole of the comprehensive set of rules, regulations and procedures issued by ISA to regulate prospecting, exploration and exploitation of marine minerals in the international seabed Area.” In mining circles, no one blinks at plans to exploit a particular location by extracting its mineral resources. Discussions of space law, however, tend to avoid the term “exploitation” in favor of “recovery.”
I don’t know about the rest of you, but when the news cycle gets bad—like real bad—one of my favorite things to do is distract myself with some spooky content.
Apple will reportedly not challenge the recent vote by employees at its Towson Town Center retail location in Maryland to unionize. Citing a “person familiar with the company’s plans,” Reuters reports the tech giant will participate in the bargaining process “in good faith.” Apple declined to comment on the report.
On June 19th, workers at the Towson Town Center Apple Store voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Of the approximately 110 employees who were eligible to participate in the election, 65 voted yes. Towson Town Center was the first Apple retail location in the US to vote on unionization after organizers at a store in Georgia called off an election over intimidation claims.
If the reporting from Reuters is accurate and Apple does not plan to challenge the Towson vote, the company’s approach would put it at odds with much of corporate America. Amazon, for instance, quickly came out against the historic vote at its JFK8 facility in Staten Island, saying it would appeal the result over allegations the Amazon Labor Union had intimidated workers and committed “electioneering.” Even if their appeals are ultimately thrown out, companies will typically challenge union votes as a way to delay the bargaining process and pour water on other organizing efforts.
There’s nothing people love and hate more than a collab. Whether it’s a fashionable collaboration between two designers, or two musicians teaming up on a “hybrid” kind of musical genre, it’s an easy way to create a fusion to appeal to folks beyond the usual suspects.
A group of Democratic senators is urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Apple and Google over their collection of mobile users' information. In a letter addressed to FTC Chair Lina Khan, the lawmakers — Senators Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren, Cory A. Booker and Sara Jacobs — accuse the tech giants of "engaging in unfair and deceptive practices by enabling the collection and sale of hundreds of millions of mobile phone users' personal data." They added that the companies "facilitated these harmful practices by building advertising-specific tracking IDs into their mobile operating systems."
The senators specifically mentioned in their letter how individuals seeking abortions will become particularly vulnerable if their data, especially their location information, is collected and shared. They wrote the letter shortly before the Supreme Court officially overturned Roe v. Wade, making abortion immediately illegal in states with trigger laws. They explained that data brokers are already selling location information of people visiting abortion providers. The senators also stressed how that information can now be used by private citizens incentivized by "bounty hunter" laws targeting individuals seeking an abortion.
Android and Google were built with tracking identifiers that are used for advertising purposes. While the identifiers are supposed to be anonymous, the senators said data brokers are selling databases linking them to consumer names, email addresses and telephone numbers. Apple rolled out an update for iOS last year to implement stricter app tracking privacy measures, requiring apps to ask for permission before collecting users' unique Identification for Advertisers device code.
Google, they said, still enables that tracking identifier by default. The company previously introduced features to make it harder to track users across apps, though, and it recently vowed to refine Privacy Sandbox on Android, "with the goal of introducing new, more private advertising solutions." The tech giant told Ars Technica: "Google never sells user data, and Google Play strictly prohibits the sale of user data by developers... Any claims that advertising ID was created to facilitate data sale are simply false."
Despite the solutions the companies had introduced, the lawmakers said they'd already caused harm. They're now asking the FTC to look into the role Apple and Google played in "transforming online advertising into an intense system of surveillance that incentivizes and facilitates the unrestrained collection and constant sale of Americans’ personal data."
Wyden and 41 other Democratic lawmakers also urged Google last month to stop collecting and keeping location data that could be used against people who've had or are seeking abortions. More recently, another group of lawmakers led by Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Elissa Slotkin asked the company to "crack down on manipulative search results" that lead people seeking abortions to anti-abortion clinics" instead.
Comic-Con is looming on the horizon, and that typically means some big announcements courtesy of Hall H. It’s been a few years since Marvel Studios had a panel to themselves, and the last time they did, they announced a lot of stuff—like Thor: Love & Thunder, Shang-Chi, and Hawkeye—most of which has now seen the light…
Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics Radio
In this installment of Recommended Listening, Freakonomics Radio begins a three-part series on all things blockchain. The podcast will tackle everything from Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to NFTs and the technology that powers it all.
Lucas Shaw, Bloomberg
Shaw takes us inside Spotify's big spending spree, from what was happening behind the scenes, the decision to hand Joe Rogan a mountain of money and a rift between the company and the Obamas over content. "All told, the Obamas recorded about 15 hours of audio for Spotify," he explains. "Technically, they fulfilled their deal, but their output was less than what Rogan releases in a couple of weeks."
Dan Kois, Slate
The story behind the company that created the Good Grips handle and took over the kitchen "for customers of differing abilities and confidence levels," becoming the top culinary gadget maker in terms of market share.
