From start to finish, 2022 felt like a weird year, one where the stability of nearly everything we’ve taken for granted was greatly tested in some form or fashion. Southwest Airlines currently being in the middle of a massive travel nightmare feels like a pretty apt comparison; everyone’s either confused or pissed off…
Facebook parent company Meta has acquired Luxexcel, a Dutch startup specializing in smart eyewear. News of the purchase was first reported by De Tijd and later confirmed by TechCrunch. “We’re excited that the Luxexcel team has joined Meta, deepening the existing partnership between the two companies,” a Meta spokesperson told the outlet. The company did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.
Founded in 2009, Luxexcel began life as a prescription lens manufacturer. More recently, the company has made a name for itself in the augmented reality space. At the start of 2021, for instance, it partnered with WaveOptics, the display manufacturer Snap paid $500 million later that same year to buy. As TechCrunch points out, there are also rumors Luxexcel previously worked with Meta on the company’s Project Aria AR glasses.
The acquisition comes as Meta faces regulatory scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission over its purchase of Supernatural developer Within. The agency sued Meta in July to block the deal. The social media giant also faces criticism over just how much it's spending to further its metaverse ambitions. In October, a month before the company laid off 11,000 employees, Meta told investors Reality Labs, its virtual and augmented reality unit, lost more than $9 billion in 2022. It went on to predict the division’s operating losses were likely to “grow significantly year-over-year” in 2023.
There have been so many words written about the expanse of genre here at io9, and 2022 was a big one. Sure, big tentpole theatrical from Marvel and shows like House of The Dragon dominated but big swings were taken from unexpected releases like Everything Everywhere All at Once and RRR. Our team is very fortunate to…
Come 2023, Image Comics’ Massive-Verse that first began with Radiant Black from Kyle Higgins Marcelo Costa will continue to live up to its namesake. Inferno Girl Red was one of the first books announced to be spinning out of Radiant Black, and the character herself has shown up in the Supermassive crossover from…
Grubhub has been ordered to pay $3.5 million to settle the lawsuit filed against the company by the District of Columbia over "deceptive trade practices." Washington DC Attorney General Karl Racine has announced that his office has reached an agreement with the food delivery service "for charging customers hidden fees and using deceptive marketing techniques." If you'll recall, his office sued the company earlier this year, accusing it of charging hidden fees and misrepresenting Grubhub+ subscription's offer of "unlimited free delivery," since customers still have to pay a service fee.
The DC Attorney General's office also accused the company of listing 1,000 restaurants in the area without their permission by using numbers that route to Grubhub workers or creating websites without the eateries' consent. A previous TechCrunch report said the company had already ended those practices. Racine also said at the time that Grubhub ran a promotion called "Supper for Support" at the beginning of the pandemic and then "stuck restaurants with the bill" that cut into their profit margins.
Grubhub called the lawsuit frivolous at the time of its filing and said that the company was "disappointed [the AG's office has] moved forward with [it] because [the service's] practices have always complied with DC law, and in any event, many of the practices at issue have been discontinued."
Under the terms of the settlement, Grubhub will pay affected customers in the DC area a total of $2.7 million. Their cut will be credited to their accounts, and it will be sent to them as a check if it remains unused within 90 days. In addition, the company has to pay $800,000 in civil penalties to the District of Columbia and has to clearly mark additional fees people have to pay with their order going forward.
My office reached a $3.5 million settlement with Grubhub for charging customers hidden fees and using deceptive marketing techniques.
— AG Karl A. Racine (@AGKarlRacine) December 30, 2022
As a result, $2.7 million will be returned to the consumers who were impacted, and it will have to shape up and disclose every fee separately.
Climate activists were extra-bold in their demonstrations this year. 2022 saw protestors gluing themselves to energy departments and oil and gas headquarters and, perhaps more virally, throwing food onto famous artwork. The message? The climate crisis is already here, and it’s already disruptive, so protests…
We’ve loved her for decades, but 2022 brought Michelle Yeoh to new heights with a standout role that garnered her accolades, and at last gave her the undivided attention of an entire industry. In between her past work on Star Trek: Discovery and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and this year’s The Witcher:…
The X-Files generally didn’t give much shine to holidays—aside from a few notable exceptions, like the season-six classic “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas.” But the looming arrival of the year 2000 was too juicy for a show that reveled in conspiracy theories to ignore, and thus the aptly titled “Millennium” popped up…
There’s never really been a shortage of reasons to spend less time on Twitter. Even before Elon Musk’s chaotic takeover, the platform was long plagued by misinformation, hate speech, harassment and other ills that made it less than welcoming.
There’s never been a better time to quit Twitter. The Elon Musk-induced chaos at the company has breathed new life into a crop of alternative platforms, and has inspired a new wave of competing efforts to win over disillusioned Twitter users.
Of all the alternatives out there, none have benefited as much as Mastodon. The open-source service was created in 2016, and first gained notoriety in 2017, when some Twitter users were upset with changes the company had made to the functionality of @-replies. At that time though, it didn’t gain much traction outside a small base of hardcore enthusiasts.
That all changed from the second Musk announced he wanted to buy Twitter. Mastodon saw an immediate spike back in April and the momentum has only increased, according to the nonprofit. “Mastodon has recently exploded in popularity, jumping from approx. 300K monthly active users to 2.5M between the months of October and November, with more and more journalists, political figures, writers, actors and organizations moving over,” founder Eugen Rochko wrote in a recent blog post.
The service isn’t a perfect analog to Twitter. Its platform, which runs on thousands of servers, can make signing up a bit confusing. And a couple of the platform’s most popular servers, like mastodon.social, have at times halted new sign-ups due to surging demand.
But, as Rochko points out, the decentralized platform has become one of the top platforms of choice for some of Twitter’s most influential — and most followed — users. Tellingly, when Musk briefly imposed a ban on accounts promoting alternative social networks, Mastodon’s official Twitter account was the only social app to be suspended.
Mastodon is far from the only previously-niche app to get a boost from turmoil at Twitter. Other apps like CounterSocial, which has a Tweetdeck-like interface, and Tribel, which describes itself as a “pro-democracy Twitter alternative” have also seen an uptick in sign-ups.
There’s also a wave of competition from fresh upstarts. Post News, a new service from former Waze CEO Noam Bardin has also tried to capitalize on Twitter’s dysfunction. The service, which is currently invitation-only, rushed to launch an early version of its beta in November in hopes of drawing away disillusioned Twitter users. Post, which bills itself as a place “to discover, read, watch, discuss and share premium news content without subscriptions or ads,” has more than 610,000 people on its waitlist, according to Bardin.
Another app that’s emerged, seemingly out of nowhere, is Hive Social, an image-centric platform with a feed that looks more like Instagram than Twitter. The service was founded in 2019, and hit 1.5 million users in November, according to the company. The site has had some notable security issues, which it claims to have fixed, but has still managed to make an impression with Gen Z Twitter users.
Legacy platforms are also trying to seize the opportunity created by growing apathy for Twitter. Tumblr claimed to see a surge in new and returning users, according to Matt Mullenweg, CEO of parent company Automattic. The site has also made a habit of trolling Musk and his new policies for Twitter, including with the addition of a $7.99 “Important Blue Internet Checkmark” for users’ blogs. Mullenweg has also said Tumblr will adopt ActivityPub, the protocol powering Mastodon, to make the two services interoperable.
Meta is also keen to challenge its longtime rival. The company recently launched a new “Notes” feature within Instagram that allows users to share status updates at the top of their inbox. At 60 characters, it's hardly a full-fledged Twitter alternative, but it might not be the last such feature we see from Meta. The New York Timesreports that the company has discussed several ideas to go after Twitter’s “bread and butter.”
It’s hardly the first time that unpopular decisions within Twitter have sparked an interest in alternatives. But in the past, surges to outside platforms have been relatively short lived. And most would-be competitors are still only a fraction of the size of Twitter.
Even with an influx of new users, Mastodon, Post News, Hive Social and Tumblr are still substantially smaller than Twitter. And, as unpopular and autocratic and Musk’s policy decisions seem, the idea of starting over on a new platform can feel daunting. Not everyone can easily rebuild their social graphs on alternative sites, and some may find the growing crop of Twitter clones to also be unwelcoming (this is especially true if you rely on accessibility features, as many of the newer platforms haven’t invested much in these features.)
Still, this particular moment feels different than other times when Twitter has struggled to keep disgruntled users around. For one, there are more choices than ever before for those looking for a reason to leave. But it’s also unique because there are more people actually active on these alternatives than ever before.
Soon, Werewolf by Night won’t be the only monster in the MCU. The animated Ghostbusters movie is taking shape, while the ARK animated series has a gorgeous new trailer and an unbelievably stacked voice cast. Plus, Guillermo del Toro’s back at work, Charlie Cox keeps talking Daredevil: Born Again, and more. Spoilers,…
Like many Apple products, the Apple Watch can be extremely simple to start using — but that simplicity hides a surprising level of depth and customization. You may be wondering where to start with setting up a new Apple Watch if you just received one, and it's true, there's a lot to do to make sure you’re getting the most out of your new wearable. Let us guide you through that process, from initial setup to optimizing everything it can do.
Of course, the first thing you’ll want to do is pair your Apple Watch with your iPhone. Even if you have a cellular-capable Apple Watch, an iPhone is required for setting up and managing the device. Fortunately, this process is extremely straightforward — after powering on the Apple Watch, just place it near an unlocked iPhone and you’ll get a prompt to set the device up. During this process, your iPhone will walk you through the initial pairing as well as signing in with your Apple ID, assigning a passcode, setting up things like Siri and Apple Pay, and deciding if you want to transfer your compatible apps. I recommend against transferring all your apps automatically, as the Watch is a lot more useful when you curate it with only what you need.
A few features you definitely should set up are fall detection, crash detection and emergency SOS. The latter lets you quickly place a call to local emergency services by pressing and holding the side button, while fall detection uses the Watch’s accelerometers and other sensors to, well, detect if you’ve taken a fall. It’ll initiate an emergency SOS call automatically if you’ve taken a spill and it doesn’t sense you moving. Before making that call, the Watch will try its best to get your attention via a notification, a vibration and an audible alarm. Crash detection, which is only available on the new Series 8 and Ultra, works in a similar fashion, except in this case it’s looking for movement that it recognizes as a car accident, with the accelerometer able to detect up to 256 Gs of impact force.
Once you have the basics set up, it’s time to make the Apple Watch your own. By default, the Apple Watch mirrors all notifications that go to your phone. But I’ve found the Watch to be much more useful with a bit of curation. In the iPhone Watch app, you can customize notifications for all of Apple’s first-party apps, or turn them off entirely. For example, the Activity app notifications panel lets you choose whether or not you want reminders to stand every hour, or notifications when your friends share activity milestones with you and so forth.
Third-party apps don’t have the same granularity, but you can always turn them off altogether so they won’t ping your Watch. For things that aren’t particularly time-sensitive (say, updates from Google Photos, or Apple News updates), it’s best to just skip them. They’ll still hit your iPhone, and you can always enable them again later.
The iPhone Watch app also lets you pick which specific apps from your iPhone will be installed on the Apple Watch. I think this is more useful than just letting the Watch install every single compatible app. I prefer going through the list and deciding if there’s a benefit to having these apps on my wrist. In the case of apps like Google Maps or Ecobee for controlling my thermostat, it’s a definite yes. But things like Etsy or Bank of America don’t exactly make a ton of sense on a Watch. And if you change your mind, you can remove an app from the Watch app or by long-pressing it in grid view and deleting it – just keep in mind that this will remove the app from your Watch but not from your iPhone.
That said, I have been surprised at what some developers have envisioned for the Apple Watch. Take the notes app Bear, for example. I often use it to make grocery lists, and checklists show up great on the Apple Watch. So if there’s an app on your phone that you consider essential, give it a shot on the Watch.
Another occasionally-overlooked part of the Apple Watch experience are watch faces. Since this is literally what you’ll see every time you raise your wrist, I think it’s worth finding ones that fit your personal style. While there are no third-party faces, the Apple Watch has more than 30 built-in options that are endlessly customizable. We’re talking about a huge variety of colors, different typefaces and watch styles, complications (small slices of info like weather, date, or music controls) and much more. You can have a simple digital time display with nothing else, or an info-dense face with eight different complications or anything in between.
You can set up new faces on the Watch directly — but as with most in-depth features, it’s easier to do this on the iPhone. The Face Gallery shows every available face, along with multiple examples of how they can be customized. You can use those as a jumping off point to make your own creations. Once you’ve curated your favorites, you can simply swipe through them on the Watch itself when you want to mix things up. If you long press on a face, you can edit it directly on your Watch too, which is handy when you want to just change the color quickly to better match your outfit.
If you’re using an Apple Watch Series 5 or later, you can also decide whether you want to activate the always-on display. You can find this option in the settings app, under “Display & Brightness.” If you’re after maximum battery life, turn this off, but most people will probably prefer it on. New watches can still get a full day of use while using the always-on feature, but once your watch ages a bit and battery performance degrades, you might want to learn to live without it. Note that both versions of the Apple Watch SE do not have an always-on display.
The new Apple Watch Ultra is the first with a second button on its side. Unlike the standard button on the right, which lets you pull up recently used apps, access Apple Pay and a handful of other features, the Ultra’s Action Button is a blank slate. You can set it up for a variety of actions, like tracking intervals on a run, setting a compass waypoint for you to navigate back to later, starting a dive or other things that third-party apps could enable. You might be better off using your Watch for a bit before deciding on what it is best suited for, but don’t forget about it.
One of the biggest Apple Watch selling points is its fitness-tracking features. Whether or not you actually exercise on a regular basis, the Watch will monitor your steps and activity level, and use that data to track your daily movement via three rings that you’re encouraged to close. The “move” ring is how many active calories you burn in a day, the “exercise” ring tracks activity at or above a brisk walk, and the “stand” ring notes whether or not you get up and move for a minute or two each hour of the day.
When you set up your Apple Watch, it’ll suggest daily goals for each of these, and the Activity app (or the Fitness app on your iPhone) will show how close you are to hitting them. If you’ve never used an Apple Watch before, it’s fine to just go with the defaults — every week, you’ll get a recap of how you did and it’ll even suggest bumping up your Move number if you’re easily surpassing it. The exercise and stand options default to 30 minutes per day and 12 hours per day, respectively, but those too can be adjusted.
For extra motivation, the Fitness app lets you connect with other friends who use an Apple Watch and see how much progress they’re making against their three rings. Naturally, you can use this information to taunt them about their couch-potato habits, but you can also challenge them to informal competitions. You earn points based on the percentage you close each of your rings every day, and the person with the most points after a week wins. It’s pretty casual, but it’s also a fun way to stay motivated.
If you want to track a specific workout, like a run, walk, or weight-training session you do that in the “workout” app. There, you’ll find the many different types of workouts that the Watch can track. If you already have a favorite way to track exercise on your phone, though, chances are you can find it for the Apple Watch too. Nike Run Club, MapMyRun, Peloton and others all have Watch apps that let you track workouts using the wearable’s sensors. Also, a lot of apps can now connect with the Health app on your iPhone. It’s a database of all your activity and workout data from your Watch, so you might be able to easily sync workout data from there into your service of choice. As with most things Apple Watch, it’ll just take a bit of playing around to see what works best for you.
Newer Apple Watches offer a few other health-tracking features, as well. For example, you can rest your thumb on the Apple Watch crown to take an ECG measurement, or have the watch detect your blood oxygen level. Those features don’t really require anything to get started, but ones like sleep tracking, medication reminders and advanced cycle tracking via the temperature sensor on the Apple Watch Series 8 and Ultra require some adjustments to work properly.
You’ll find sleep settings on your iPhone in the Health app. There, you can set a goal for how many hours of sleep you want to get a night and tell your Watch and iPhone what time you want to get up every day. You can also set up different schedules (for the week or weekend) and fine-tune details like what alarm sounds you want and when the sleep focus setting (which reduces distractions like notifications and the always-on display) turns on. Once that’s done, you can view sleep history data on your Watch or phone that shows how much time you spend in REM, core or deep sleep as well as when and how often you wake up.
The medication tracking feature is pretty lightweight, but potentially handy if you want help sticking to your schedule. As with most of these other features, you set up a schedule in the Health app on your iPhone. From there you’ll add the medication name, add a schedule and a visual identifier and also take note of any interactions you want to have on record. Once that’s done, you can log all your medications for the day or an individual one through the Apple Watch app.
If you menstruate, the Apple Watch Series 8 and Ultra can use a temperature sensor along with your reported data on when you have your period to estimate when you may be ovulating. To use this, you’ll need to set up manual cycle tracking in the Health app on your phone first, which lets you log the days you have your period each month (you can do this via an app on the Apple Watch itself, too). Assuming you input this data and wear your Watch when sleeping, you’ll then be able to get a notification on when you may be ovulating.
Given the extremely sensitive nature of this data, Apple has a detailed write-up on how it keeps this private. Long story short, Apple Health information is encrypted and unreadable by default if your phone is locked behind a passcode, Touch ID or Face ID. And if you use iOS 12 or later and have two-factor authentication turned on for your Apple ID, it can be backed up to iCloud while still remaining unreadable by Apple.
However, you may have granted third-party apps access to your health data at some point. If you want to check and rescind those permissions, go to the Health app on your iPhone and tap the “sharing” tab at the bottom. There you’ll see what apps have access to your Health data and what specific pieces of info they can see. For example, Runkeeper can view things like my walking and running distance as well as workouts that I log, but it doesn’t have access to sleep or medication tracking. In this menu, you can delete all data that third-party apps have access to and revoke an app’s permissions to see your health info.
One of my favorite things about the Apple Watch is that it can stream music and podcasts – not just from Apple’s services but others like Spotify and Pandora as well. You’ll need a cellular-capable Watch to stream music without your phone, but the good news is that Apple Music, Spotify and Pandora all allow you to save music directly on the Watch as well. Regardless of whether you spring for the cellular model or not, there’s a way to listen to tunes and leave your phone behind.
If you’re an Apple Music user, you’ll manage downloads through the Watch app on your iPhone. Pop that open and go to the “Music” section and you’ll see a big button to add songs. There’s also a setting that’ll automatically download albums and playlists you’ve listened to recently – turn that on and you’ll always have some music on your wrist.
It’s easy to choose specific albums or playlists you want saved, too. Just hit the big plus button and you’ll see your Apple Music library. From there, just navigate to what you want, hit another plus button and it’ll be downloaded to your Watch. Note that music only transfers when your Watch is charging, so you’ll need to take it off your wrist to sync.
If you’re using Spotify, just navigate to an album, playlist or podcast on your phone and tap the three dots icon – you’ll see an option to “download to Apple Watch” there. Then, on your watch, there’s a clearly-marked “downloads” section where you can play content without a connection.
Like many Apple products, the Apple Watch has a lot of functionality and hidden complexity beneath its user-friendly surface. But I’ve found that the Watch hides a lot of features, so it’s worth checking out the built-in Tips app for suggestions on what you can do. Without a guide like that, you’ll probably never realize that clicking the side button twice summons Apple Pay, or that you can display the grid of icons in a list if you prefer. Chances are good you’re not going to irrevocably mess something up, so tap and swipe and scroll and dig into the settings.
New York governor Kathy Hochul has finally signed a right-to-repair bill into law, over half a year since the state legislature was passed. Representatives for Microsoft and Apple pressed Hochul's office for changes, as well as industry association TechNet, which represents many notable tech companies, including Amazon, Google, Dell and HP. Critics say the amendments will weaken the law's effectiveness. The bill's revised language excludes enterprise electronics, like devices used in schools and hospitals. Home appliances, motor vehicles, medical devices and off-road equipment were also previously exempted.
Whatever aims the right-to-repair bill had when first proposed have been weakened. Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG), a collective of consumer rights organizations, said in a statement to Engadget: "Such changes could limit the benefits for school computers and most products currently in use." It continued: "The bill now excludes certain smartphone circuit boards from parts the manufacturers are required to sell and requires repair shops to post unwieldy warranty language."
– Mat Smith
The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.
TikTok will be outlawed on almost all devices issued by the federal government after lawmakers passed a $1.7 trillion spending bill. Officials recently added the No TikTok on Government Devices Act (what a name) to the bill, which the Senate unanimously approved last week. The mammoth 4,155-page legislation was fast-tracked to avoid a partial government shutdown. It will fund the government through September. The legislation requires the Biden administration to establish rules to remove TikTok from government devices by mid-February. The bill carved out exceptions for elected officials, congressional staff, law enforcement agents and other officials. However, the House of Representatives separately banned TikTok on devices it owns and manages.
CES is nearly here, which means we're once again writing about refrigerators. With its Family Hub Plus, Samsung has boosted the touch display size to 32 inches from 21 inches, although it’s still a vertical screen. Samsung has added support for Google Photos, along with the OneDrive integration seen on past models. There’s also a new SmartThings hub so you can control multiple smart home devices from your… kitchen, including robot vacuums, air conditioning, lighting and more. It also supports Amazon's Your Essentials service, letting you order groceries and other products directly from the touchscreen. Those groceries go inside.
It’s been a decade since the first Tesla EV made its commercial debut and the electrification of American automotive society began in earnest. Over the past ten years as battery capacities have grown and range anxieties have shrunk, electric vehicles have become a daily sight in most parts of the country. Now, virtually every notable automaker on the planet has jumped on the electric bandwagon with sizable investments in battery and production technologies and pledges to electrify their lineups within a decade or so.
Not even recent years’ production slowdowns and supply chain disruptions brought on by the COVID pandemic managed to stall the industry’s momentum. The International Energy Agency in January reported that EVs had managed to triple their market share between 2019 and 2021 with 6.6 million units being sold globally last year. And as eventful as 2022 turned out to be, 2023 and beyond could be even bigger for the EV industry. We’re expecting EV debuts including the VW ID.3; the Lucid Gravity, Polestar 3, Jeep (one of four!) and Honda’s Prologue SUVs.
Google Voice has made it easier to filter out spammers trying to call your number. The tech giant has announced that the service will now flag suspected spam calls and will clearly label them as such, complete with a big red exclamation mark. Spam calls and texts have been a huge issue for a years, and they aren't going away anytime soon — according to the FCC, consumers in the US receive approximately 4 billion robocalls per month and that Americans had lost nearly $30 billion to scam calls in 2021. Google says the feature was designed to help protect you "from unwanted calls and potentially harmful scams."
The new label that says "suspected spam caller" will show up not just on the incoming call screen, but also in call history for future reference. If you confirm that the call is spam, any future call from that number will head straight to voicemail, and all its call history entries will be sent to the spam folder. But if you confirm that the number is legitimate and isn't a spam caller, the warning will never be displayed for it again. Here's what the label would look like on the call screen:
Google uses the same artificial intelligence that's in charge of identifying spam calls across its ecosystem to pinpoint spam callers for this feature. Apparently, that AI has been filtering out billions of spam calls a month for the tech giant. To note, the new label will only appear if your spam filter setting under Security is turned off. If it's on, all calls Google suspects to be spam are sent to voicemail from the start.
It’s been a decade since the first Tesla EV made its commercial debut and the electrification of American automotive society began in earnest. Acceptance at the newfangled technology was slow at first but, over the past ten years as battery capacities have grown and range anxieties have shrunk, electric vehicles have become a daily sight in most parts of the country. Doesn’t hurt that virtually every notable automaker on the planet has jumped on the electric bandwagon with sizable investments in battery and production technologies as well as pledges to electrify their lineups within a decade or so.
Not even recent years’ production slowdowns and supply chain disruptions brought on by the COVID pandemic managed to stall the industry’s momentum. The International Energy Agency in January reported that EVs had managed to triple their market share between 2019 and 2021 with 6.6 million units being sold globally last year. That’s not to discount the crippling impacts of the chip shortage, which saw fleets of nearly-finished electrified vehicles parked and idled as they awaited necessary components. Or in Tesla’s case, simply sold without the needed part — oh calm down, it’s just the steering column, there’s nothing critical in there, anyway that’s what autopilot is for, right?
2022 has eliminated any lingering doubts about whether EVs are here to stay (hint: they are). “So far in 2022, global EV sales are up 70 percent, or around 2 million units,” from 2021’s figures, according to Morgan Stanley. It is expecting a further 22 percent increase — around another 1.8 million units — in 2023. China’s BYD set monthly EV sales records throughout the year. Domestically, an Experian study released in October noted more than 600,000 new EV registrations through the first ten months of 2022, a 60 percent year-over-year jump. EVs may not be quite as ruggedized as their hybrid cousins, but who cares about that when you’ve got Ken “Let’s See If I Can Barrel Roll This Car” Block blowing the doors off of the Vegas Strip in an 800V Audi S1 Hoonitron? Or have VW tickling the American public’s deep seated nostalgia with a reimagined Hippy Wagon for the 21st century? Even Sony is getting into the EV game. EVs are no longer niche, they’ve become an indelible part of the culture.
In terms of market share, Tesla and BYD both retained their dominant positions within their relative markets and briefly jockeyed for the world number one spot before BYD pulled away. The Chinese automaker’s EV sales now account for nearly 20 percent of the global total. For its part, Tesla passed notable milestones in its 10,000th Model Y produced at the Texas Gigafactory and the millionth vehicle to roll out of production at Gigafactory Shanghai.
2022 also saw big moves and bigger investments from the rest of the automotive industry, from Ford and General Motors especially. Ford began delivering its highly-anticipated F-150 Lightning EV pickup in May, turned them into roving conference rooms with help from Cisco, began beta testing their bidirectional charging capabilities with California’s public utility as did GM, developed a new battery chemistry, announced plans to bring seven more EV models to the European market by 2024, and imagined a world without dealer showrooms for EV sales. General Motors had a banner year of its own. The company began production on its new marquee Lyriq EV, unveiled its Yukon Denali, Silverado, Blazer and Celestiq EVs; teased its upcoming Corvette hybrid, and secured a sizable federal loan to expand its battery manufacturing base.
Not to be left out, Hyundai announced in 2022 a $5 billion investment in its US-based production capacity, including a new EV factory in Georgia. The Korean automaker, which has quietly risen to prominence in the US market in recent years, announced its next EV flagship, the Ioniq 6, in July the latest in Hyundai’s effort to release 17 electric vehicle models by the end of the decade. Kia, Hyundai’s sister brand, showed off the company’s brawnier EV6 GT at Monterey Car Week.
VW’s 2022 was fruitful as well and it appears that the automaker has fully embraced its electrified future (following the dieselgate scandal, how could it not?). VW opened a new ID.4 production plant in Tennessee, announced plans to invest an additional $7.1 billion into its North American production capacity over the next five years and dipped its toes into the EV battery business as well. Pfft, all Volvo did this year was debut the “safest car ever.”
And it wasn’t just the established brands, Lucid Motors is riding high this holiday season, buoyed by the November unveiling of its new top of the line Air Sapphire along with two (ahem, relatively) less expensive Air model variants, which will start at $87,000 with 410 miles of range and go up from there. The company also revealed plans this year to sell 100,000 units to the Saudi government, which has heavily invested in the company.
2022 also saw a drastic expansion of the nation’s various fast charging networks. In June, the Biden White House proposed a set of standards for the national EV charging network. The following month, GM announced that it will partner with EVGo to create a 500-station “coast-to-coast” fast-charge network and in December, opened its first two Community Charging Initiative sites in Wisconsin and Detroit. Hertz, fresh off two significant purchase contracts with Polestar and GM, revealed it is working with BP to host the latter’s BP Pulse chargers at select Hertz car rental locations — not unlike what VW and BP have planned for Europe. Similarly, IKEA will team up with Electrify America to bring EA’s fast charging network to the Swedish homeware maker’s parking lots. Perhaps most exciting, the White House in July confirmed rumors that Tesla would be opening its expansive North American SuperCharger network to non-Tesla EVs by the end of the year — that’s an additional 1,700-plus charging points for drivers to fill up at.
But 2022 wasn’t all smooth asphalt and sunshine. Rivian fell on hard times this year, struggling with production issues, layoffs, price hikes, lawsuits in response to said price hikes followed by reversals of said price hiles, delays to the R1S delivery schedule and trim level cullings. Rivian performed so badly in 2022 that it dragged Ford’s stock value down alongside it — but it was still a better year than Lordstown had.
And hey, at least they didn’t use the tip of their tongue to test for live wires like BMW did in July when it tried to paywall access to seat heaters that vehicle owners had already paid for. Even Mercedes had the good sense to charge $1,200 a year only for funtime performance extras like added torque and a shortened 0-60, rather than essential capabilities like retaining rear-end sensation on cold winter mornings.
We also saw significant pricing fluctuations in EVs this year. Tesla raised prices across the board for its entire lineup, as did Polestar with its single motor variant, while VW dropped the price of its 2023 ID.4 by around $4,000 thanks to its use of a slightly smaller battery pack.
For as eventful as 2022 turned out to be, 2023 and beyond is sure to be even bigger for the EV industry. We’re expecting debuts of the VW ID.3; the Lucid Gravity, Polestar 3, Jeep (one of four!) and Honda Prologue SUVs. The Kia EV9 is slated for release in the second half of the year while the Buick Wildcat won’t be realized until 2024. With any luck, these EVs will serve merely as stopgaps until Volkswagen can perfect its Gen.Travel concept and begin shuttling us around in automated transport pods. Like Wall-E, but just as fat.
Rian Johnson talks navigating his preternaturally insightful detective in Poker Face. Chad L. Coleman teases his Superman & Lois turn. Plus, a new look at Shadow and Bone’s return. Spoilers, away!
Countries all over the world saw one climate disaster after another this year.
As we approach the end of the year, it’s time for Engadget to wrap up the successes and failures in tech from the last twelve months. While it might be easier point out the messes made by the likes of crypto, Google’s Stadia cloud gaming platform and, ugh, Twitter, there were some highlights too. These include the eventual arrival of Steam’s handheld gaming PC, all those Wordle options, and some dazzling new views of space. The worst of 2022 centers an awful lot on tech bros, if you hadn’t rolled your eyes at them enough in the preceding years. From the collapse of FTX to the precarious state of Twitter, it’s been a mess. Meanwhile, the likes of Peloton have struggled to hold onto their pandemic user base, and Toyota’s EV efforts haven’t been great. Check out all our hits and our misses of 2022.
– Mat Smith
The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.
A report from The Information says that Amazon is working on a new standalone streaming app to declutter Prime Video and better highlight its deals with the NFL, the UK’s Premier League and New York Yankees. The development follows recent comments from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who highlighted live sports content as one of the areas where the company plans to continue spending money even as it cuts costs in other areas. The Information says it doesn’t know when Amazon might release the app, nor if the company plans to charge separately for access to Prime Video’s sports content. The outlet also notes Amazon may decide to shelve the app. Amazon did not immediately respond to Engadget’s comment request. Earlier this month, Google reportedly agreed to pay between $2.1 billion and $2.2 billion for the NFL’s Sunday Ticket package.
Health company Movano has teased its first smart ring, the Evie, designed for health, fitness and cycle tracking. It looks like a rival to Oura's latest smart ring, though the company says it's "designed uniquely for women." It offers many of the health metrics seen on Oura's ring and wearables from Apple and others. It can measure heart rate, blood-oxygen, skin temperature variability, steps, calories, sleep, period and ovulation tracking, and more. Movano plans to provide a closer look next week at CES 2023.
Yesterday was Marvel legend Stan Lee's 100th birthday and the comic giant marked the occasion by revealing that a documentary about his life will hit Disney+ next year. Lee, who died in 2018, is a critical part of Marvel’s legacy. The many, many characters he’s credited with co-creating include Spider-Man, Iron Man, Black Panther, Ant-Man, X-Men, The Fantastic Four and The Incredible Hulk. Disney has mined its history for several documentary projects for its streaming service. When Disney+ debuted three years ago, it featured a docuseries on the Imagineers, the minds behind its theme parks.
When doctors need to confirm an Alzheimer's diagnosis, alongside brain scans, it can involve a lumbar puncture – an invasive and painful procedure that’s more commonly known as a spinal tap. The next best tool for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease is a blood test. While some tests can detect abnormal tau protein counts as a possible indicator of Alzheimer’s disease, they’re less effective at spotting the telltale signs of neurodegeneration. But this week, in the journal Brain, a multinational team of researchers from Sweden, Italy, the UK and US detailed a new antibody-based blood test that can detect brain-derived tau proteins specific to Alzheimer’s disease. Following a study of 600 patients, the team found their test could reliably distinguish the illness from other neurodegenerative diseases.
CES 2023 is nearly here, which means we're once again writing about Samsung smart refrigerators. With the Family Hub Plus, Samsung has boosted the touch display size to 32-inches from 21-inches in the previous models, giving you a much bigger canvas to display photos, shopping lists and videos, or control SmartThings devices.
On top of the bigger display, Samsung has added support for Google Photos along with the OneDrive integration seen on past models. That allows you to display family or other photos on the refrigerator, or upload photos to a mobile device from the Family Hub Plus. As before, you can also display artwork from Samsung's Bespoke Atelier app.
The built-in hub can control multiple SmartThings devices, giving you a smart home control center on a very large touchscreen. It also supports six SmartThings Home Life services: air care, home care, pet care, clothing care, energy, and cooking. Samsung has also included Samsung TV Plus, giving US users 190 TV channels for free. You can use it in the vertical orientation for TikTok, Facebook Shorts and other social media content, or employ picture-in-picture mode to view videos and do other tasks at the same time.
Finally, it supports Amazon's Your Essentials service, letting you order groceries and other products directly from the touchscreen. Samsung didn't detail any other specs or pricing, but we'll see it at CES 2023 early next month and should learn more then.
The American government’s campaign against Chinese-owned TikTok has reached new heights. After passing a law that bans TikTok on devices used by government agencies, the U.S. House of Representatives is blocking its members and their staffers from using TikTok on official devices.
Health company Movano has teased its first smart ring, the Evie, designed for health, fitness and cycle tracking. It looks like a rival to Oura's latest smart ring and other health-tracking wearables, though the company says it's "designed uniquely for women." Movano plans to provide a closer look next week at CES 2023.
The ring made its debut at CES 2022 with no name and a similar design, but Movano has since changed course on price and other factors. It will sell the ring sometime in 2023 at a one-time price below $300 (there's no exact date or price yet), rather than using a subscription model as it said last year.
It offers many of the health metrics seen on Oura's ring and wearables from Apple and others. It can measure heart rate, blood-oxygen, skin temperature variability, steps, calories, sleep, period and ovulation tracking, and more. Wearers will can get advice from health experts inside the app and it will meet medical device manufacturing standards, the company promised.
"As a medical device, Evie will go beyond the status quo of other wearables on the market," said Movano CEO John Mastrototaro. "We are bringing together medical grade biometric data and insights in a comfortable and contemporary wearable."
With the ability to measure steps, calories burned and specific activities, Evie can also be used as a fitness tracker. However, it's primary purpose is to give a picture of overall health, "turning biometric data into actionable insights," Movano wrote in the press release.
The company also promises security and privacy when transferring data to the cloud or health providers. It's currently seeking all-important FDA clearance, which will dictate the release date. If that takes too long, though, it may come to market as a wellness device at first. The Evie smart ring will only be released in the US to start with, but may come to other markets later — we should learn more about it next week at CES 2023.
Jerry Bruckheimer still wants a third National Treasure movie. Get a new look at Trigun’s return. You’re going to have to wait a while for a Malignant sequel. Plus, a Flash star returns behind the camera for its final season. To me, my spoilers!
For better or worse, 2022 saw millions of workers who had been spending the past couple of years in hastily made home offices start returning to their daily commutes, but tech makers aren’t forgetting the lessons they learned since the sudden shift to work from home kicked off. Laptops are more popular than ever,…
German researchers who purchased biometric capture devices on eBay found sensitive US military data stored on the machine’s memory cards. According to The New York Times, that included fingerprints, iris scans, even photographs, names and descriptions of the individuals, mostly from Iraq and Afghanistan. Many individuals worked with the US army and could be targeted if the devices fell into the wrong hands, according to the report. One device was purchased at a military auction, and the seller said they were unaware that it contained sensitive data. There was an easy solution too: The US military could have eliminated the risk by simply removing or destroying the memory cards before selling them.
– Mat Smith
Razzmatazz review: A delightful (and delightfully pink) drum machine
LG's 2023 soundbars offer Dolby Atmos and wireless TV connections
What we bought: The standing desk I chose after a lot of research
Workers at Proletariat, a Boston-based studio Blizzard bought earlier this year, announced they recently filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Proletariat is the third Activision Blizzard studio to announce a union drive in 2022. However, past campaigns at Raven Software and Blizzard Albany involved the quality assurance workers at those studios – the effort at Proletariat includes all non-management workers. The employees at Proletariat say they aim to preserve the studio’s “progressive, human-first” benefits, including its flexible paid time off policy and robust healthcare options. Additionally, they want to protect the studio from crunch – compulsory overtime during game development.
LG is taking a more minimalist approach to its kitchen appliances in 2023, with less showy profiles, colors and, seemingly, controls. While we’re not getting a close-up look at all the dials and buttons yet, the appliances look restrained compared to previous years’ models. In the past, we’ve seen a washing machine whose flagship feature was an entire extra washing machine. There was also a dryer that had two doors. Just because. LG says it’s used recycled materials across multiple machine parts, adding that its latest appliances also require fewer total parts and less energy than typical kitchen appliances. This would dovetail with the company’s announcements at the start of the year, where LG said it would offer upgradability for its home appliances. So far, that’s included new filters for certain use cases and software upgrades with new washing programs for laundry machines.
TikTok is now banned on any device owned and managed by the US House of Representatives, according to Reuters. The House's Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) reportedly told all lawmakers and their staff in an email that they must delete the app from their devices, because it's considered "high risk due to a number of security issues." Further still, everyone detected to have the social networking application on their phones would be contacted to make sure it's deleted.
LG may not make smartphones anymore, but it's still building components for them. The company's LG Innotek arm just unveiled a periscope-style true optical zoom camera module with a 4-9 times telephoto range. Most smartphone cameras use hybrid zoom setups that combine certain zoom ranges (typically 2x, 3x, 10x, etc.) with a digital zoom to fill in between those (2.5x, 4.5x, etc.), leading to reduced detail. LG's "Optical Zoom Camera," however, contains a zoom actuator with movable components, like a mirrorless or DSLR camera. That would help retain full image quality through the entire zoom range, while potentially reducing the size and number of modules required. Could this mean the death of the camera bump?
While two of the biggest U.S. financial regulators along with the Department of Justice have collectively decided to hammer the founder of the failed crypto exchange FTX with claims of massive fraud, there was a time—less than a year ago—where that same founder was the talk of the town in Washington. Once-crypto…
As another year comes to and end, now is the time for reflection. While this year brought us Stranger Things 4, the World Cup, and the release of the first images from the Webb Space Telescope, a singular year is only a drop in the bucket of humanity. Some of the human race’s most daring, heartbreaking, and emotional…
LG may not make smartphones anymore, but it's still building components for them. The company's LG Innotek arm just unveiled a periscope-style true optical zoom camera module with a 4-9 times telephoto range. That would allow smartphone cameras to retain full image quality through the entire zoom range, while potentially reducing the size and number of modules required.
Samsung developed a similar camera module, also known as a "folded" lens, with a four times zoom first used in the Galaxy S20 Ultra smartphone. LG Innotek provided a previous version of its zoom module to Sony for the Xperia 1 IV smartphone.
Most smartphone cameras use hybrid zoom setups that combine digital zoom and multiple camera modules. Certain zoom ranges (typically 2x, 3x, 10x, etc.) use individual cameras, with a digital zoom to fill in between those (2.5x, 4.5x, etc.). As a result, sensor resolution and thus detail can be considerably reduced.
LG's "Optical Zoom Camera," however, contains a zoom actuator with movable components, similar to what you'd seen on a zoom lens in a mirrorless or DSLR camera. It operates quickly and precisely down to the micrometer, according to LG, while saving battery life. It also has a built-in optical image stabilizer to reduce blur, something that can be a problem for telephoto lenses that magnify hand movements. (iFixit shows exactly how such modules work here.)
With the module installed, a sensor would retain full resolution through the entire 4-9x zoom range, providing more detail on telephoto shots. LG also pared down the module's thickness to reduce the size of the camera bump.
The company partnered with Qualcomm to integrate the tech in the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform. "It will enhance the image tuning custom for the optics, which includes Auto-Focus, Auto-Exposure, Auto-White Balance, lens shading correction and much more. Users will be able to focus quickly. And the photos and videos will have stunning image quality," LG wrote.
The new module will appear in smartphones announced at CES 2023 starting January 3rd. LG didn't reveal any brands or models, but there are a number of smartphones coming soon with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset that could potentially use it. Those include the OnePlus 11 series, Xiaomi 13, Motorola X40 and Oppo Find X. Apple is also a large customer of LG Innotek and could use the zoom module in next year's iPhone 15 series, according to previous reports.
LG’s latest upgraded appliances, including washing machines, refrigerators, ovens and a dishwasher, feature, well, less. It’s taking a more minimalist approach in 2023 with less showy profiles, colors and, seemingly, controls. While we’re not getting a close-up look at all the dials and buttons, the appliances look restrained compared to previous years’ appliances. In recent years, we’ve seen a washing machine whose feature was an entire extra washing machine. There was also a dryer that had two doors. Just because. LG also once even experimented with creating washing machines that could clean your clothes without any water.
This year's appliances will have a simpler design language, with what LG says is an "elegantly clear control experience." The company says it’s made its latest range to ensure it can “match with any kind of décor, color scheme, or interior trend.” It used recycled materials across multiple machine parts, adding that its latest appliances also require fewer total parts and less energy than typical kitchen appliances.
This would dovetail with the company’s announcements at the start of the year, where LG said it would offer upgradability for its home appliances. So far, that’s included new filters for certain use cases and software upgrades to offer new washing programs for laundry machines. The company said it planned to introduce 20 models with upgradeable features but hasn’t confirmed how many actually arrived. Simpler, more streamlined hardware could make for easier for LG to replace more substantial parts, like motors and heating elements, to be even more efficient or effective.
However, will fewer buttons mean fewer features or less flexibility? We don’t know yet, but I like the subtler aesthetic. LG will reveal its new appliance family at CES 2023 — a show that always sneaks in countless kitchen appliances alongside the latest TVs, EVs and more. The show kicks off in Las Vegas in a week’s time.
German researchers who purchased biometric capture devices on eBay found sensitive US military data stored on their memory cards, The New York Times has reported. That included fingerprints, iris scans, photographs, names and descriptions of the individuals, mostly from Iraq and Afghanistan. Many worked with the US army and could be targeted if the devices fell into the wrong hands, according to the report.
A group of researchers called the Chaos Computer Club, led by Matthias Marx, bought six of the devices on eBay, most for under $200. They were spurred by a 2021 report from The Intercept that the Taliban had seized similar US military biometric devices. As such, they wanted to see if they contained identifying data on people who assisted the US Military that could put them at risk.
They were "shocked" by the results, according to the report. On the memory card of one device, they found the names, nationalities, photographs, fingerprints and iris scans of 2,632 people. Other metadata showed it had been used near Kandahar, Afghanistan in the summer of 2012. Another device was used in Jordan in 2013 and contained the fingerprints and iris scans of a small group of US military personnel.
Such devices were used to identify insurgents, verify local and third-country nationals accessing US bases and link people to events, according to a 2011 guide to the devices. "It was disturbing that [the US military] didn’t even try to protect the data,” Marx told the NY Times. “They didn’t care about the risk, or they ignored the risk.
One device was purchased at a military auction, and the seller said they were not aware that it contained sensitive data. The sensitive information was stored on a memory card, so the US military could have eliminated the risk by simply removing or destroying the cards before selling them.
"Because we have not reviewed the information contained on the devices, the department is not able to confirm the authenticity of the alleged data or otherwise comment on it," Defense Department press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder told the Times. "The department requests that any devices thought to contain personally identifiable information be returned for further analysis."
Given the sensitivity of the information, the group plans to delete any personally identifiable information found on the devices. Another researcher noted that any individuals found on such devices aren't safe even if they changed their identities, and should be given asylum by the US government.
