Google has purchased a startup called Raxium specializing in MicroLED displays as part of its Devices & Services group, 9to5Google has reported. Raxium is developing what it calls "ultra-compact, low-power, high resolution" displays, so Google may be planning to use it in future augmented or virtual reality devices. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
"Today we’re announcing that Google has acquired Raxium, an innovator in single panel MicroLED display technologies," wrote Google senior VP of Devices & Services, Rick Osterloh in a short blog post. "The team at Raxium has spent five years creating miniaturized, cost-effective and energy efficient high-resolution displays that have laid the foundation for future display technologies."
A deal with Raxium was rumored last March in a report from The Information. Google was supposedly interested in owning the company to gain more control over key display components for future AR/VR products, rather than outsourcing as it generally does now. It could also use the tech on future Pixel phones or its Starline immersive videoconferencing product, according to the report.
To date, MicroLEDs have seen meager commercial production due to high manufacturing costs, apart from some very exotic products. Raxium, by contrast, says its on the "cutting edge of bringing monolithic integration" like that used in silicon computer chips, to MicroLEDs. That could allow them to be mass-produced far more cheaply.
Unlike Meta and other rivals, Google hasn't said much about its augmented reality plans, but that doesn't mean the company isn't working on it. Last year, news of Google's Augmented Reality OS leaked out late last year through job listings and the company reportedly plans to release an AR headset by 2024.
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Lenovo, which makes the beloved ThinkPad series, revealed today a new generation of “Slim” laptops. We’ve seen this branding before, but gone are the confusing Yoga, Legion, and IdeaPad classifiers—these are just “Slim.” The new clamshell systems closely match the convertible laptops in Lenovo’s flagship Yoga lineup…
If you have several items (or pets) you want to keep track of, this is a great chance to grab multiple Apple AirTags at once. You can pick up a four-pack from Best Buy for $84.55, or $14.45 less than its retail price of $99. That's even cheaper than the package's recent deal on Amazon, where it was being sold for $89. The catch is that the Best Buy deal is only available today, with only 20 hours left as of this writing.
AirTags are probably the best choice if you have an iPhone, especially if you have a newer device. These coin-sized trackers come equipped with Apple's U1 ultra-wideband chip that acts as a beacon allowing devices that have the same chip to find it more easily. That means if you have an iPhone 11 or newer, you can simply press the "Find" button in the Find My app to access its precise tracking capabilities and narrow down your search.
Since the AirTag was made to make items easier to find, it comes with a speaker that can play an alert tone that was surprisingly louder than we expected when we tested it out. Apple also says the device is easy to pair as its AirPods — we found that to be the case — and has user-replaceable batteries. Perhaps the only downside if you're an iOS user is that it doesn't have a built-in keychain ring, which means you may have to purchase extra accessories to attach it to whatever it is you want to track.
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The U.S. has surpassed 1 million deaths from covid-19, the worst death toll in the world, according to a tally from NBC News. The grim milestone comes as U.S. covid-19 cases have started to climb in recent days and high-profile figures test positive, like Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
I thought Apple’s car project had gone a little quiet, but it’s still a thing, according to Bloomberg.
The company has reportedly hired a longtime Ford engineer and executive to work on its car thought experiment, once called Project Titan. Desi Ujkashevic had been with the automaker since 1991 and was Ford's global director of automotive safety engineering.
Naturally, that means we’ve chewed over her work history and LinkedIn page, noting she’s worked on Ford's electric vehicles and regulatory issues — expertise Apple will love.
There have been rumors about Apple’s work on autonomous vehicles since 2015, but there have been more setbacks than announcements. Doug Field, who apparently led Project Titan, left Apple to rejoin Ford last September. Are they just swapping execs?
Razer is updating its Blade 15 laptop with an option for what it says is the first 240Hz OLED laptop display. You'll get the high responsiveness for an edge in multiplayer games, but you'll still have a color-accurate 1440p panel (100 percent of the DCI-P3 space) with deep contrast. You’ll need deep pockets: The upgraded Blade 15 will arrive before the end of the year for $3,500.
Paramount’s streaming service will arrive in the UK and Ireland on June 22nd. South Korea will also have access sometime in June. For everywhere else, you'll have to wait until the second half of 2022.
The company announced it added 6.8 million new Paramount+ subscribers in the first quarter of 2022, putting the platform now at almost 40 million customers. Despite Halo.
Work on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake hasn't gone as smoothly as Ubisoft hoped. The company has now put its Montreal studio in charge of the project, taking it away from Ubisoft’s Pune and Mumbai studios.
Ubisoft Montreal was "the very birthplace of the epic Sands of Time trilogy," the developers wrote in a message to fans. The original was released in 2003, which was a reboot of, well, 1989’s Prince of Persia. In the original, when you died, you stayed dead.
While this guide is for graduates planning trips post-college, I think a lot of us are thinking of going somewhere as travel restrictions relax, and we all start to feel more comfortable with the idea of long-distance travel. Here are some travel essentials to help you stay connected — and have more fun — on the road.
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As the Supreme Court prepares to hamstring abortion rights in a historic rollback of Roe v. Wade, it’s worth remembering that American industries, via campaign contributions to the politicians that vote in Court justices, are partially responsible for this mess. Data comparing oil and gas donations to senators since…
GM is the latest automaker hoping its car data will help governments improve road safety. The company partnering with Inrix on a Safety View cloud initiative that gives crash, vehicle and "vulnerable road user" (think pedestrians and construction workers) data to US transportation officials. If all goes well, local governments can both prioritize new road safety projects and gauge the effectiveness of their current efforts.
The data is tailored for the Transportation Department's Safe Streets and Roads for All program, not to mention various agencies' Vision Zero (zero road fatalities or serious injuries) plans.
It's no secret why GM and Inrix might want to share car info with the government. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes $5 billion for the DOT's Safe Streets program. That's a lot of potential business from government clients that could be eager to modernize their roadways as much as possible. Whatever the motivation, it might be worthwhile if road safety improves based on real-world data that was previously difficult to obtain.
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Amazon is offering some solid deals on a multitude of games, with many popular titles available at or near their all-time-low prices. The most noteworthy of the bunch is Elden Ring, on sale for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 at $50 for a savings of $10 over the regular price — a solid deal on a relatively fresh release. You'll also find discounts on a host of other titles including Animal Crossing (Switch), Deathloop (PS5/Xbox One Series X) and Disco Elysium (PS4/Xbox One).
FromSoftware's Elden Ring was a hit from the start, despite some early performance and other issues that have mostly been rectified. Critics raved about the perfectly conceived open world, mysterious story and challenging gameplay and users have generally liked it as well. We haven't seen too many deals on it to date, so if you're looking for a discount, now is the time to act.
Moving to Switch, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a classic and still popular Switch title that you can pick up for $40 instead of $60, or a third off the regular price. Another Switch staple is the adventure/workout game Ring Fit Adventure, on sale at checkout for $55. And finally, Super Mario Party is available for just $40, or $20 off the regular price.
Finally, if it's PS4 or Xbox One titles you're after, there are a couple of bargains there, too. To start with, the RPG detective title Disco Elysium - The Final Cut is available on both PS4 and Xbox One for $20 or 50 percent off. Resident Evil 2 is also on sale for PS4 and Xbox One for just $13, or $8 off the regular $21 price.
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Samsung has introduced the latest iteration of its Universal Flash Storage product, which it says is much, much faster than its predecessor. The UFS specification was already developed to enable SSD speeds for cameras, phones and other devices, but this version — called UFS 4.0 — has a speed that reaches 23.2Gbps per lane. That's double the speed of UFS 3.1, the standard used by Samsung's S22 flagship phones. The tech giant says its huge bandwidth makes it perfect for 5G smartphones that typically require huge amounts of data processing. Samsung also expects it to be adopted for use in the automotive industry, as well as for augmented and virtual reality devices.
The flash storage features Samsung's 7th-generation V-NAND solution and proprietary controller, and the company says those help it deliver sequential read speeds of up to 4,200MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 2,800MB/s. It's a lot more power efficient, as well, with a 46 percent improvement over the previous generation that could translate to longer battery life. Samsung's USF 4.0 devices will have max measurements of 11mm x 13mm x 1mm and will come in several capacities up to 1TB.
The company will begin mass producing UFS 4.0 storage products in the third quarter of 2022. Right now, Samsung says it's "collaborating with smartphone and consumer device manufacturers globally" and "working vigorously to foster an ecosystem for UFS 4.0 to drive the market for high-performance mobile storage solutions."
BREAKING: Samsung has developed the industry's highest performing Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 4.0 storage solution, which has received JEDEC® board of director approval. What is UFS 4.0 and what does it mean for the future of storage? Read on to learn more. pic.twitter.com/4Wxdu0J2PD
— Samsung Semiconductor (@SamsungDSGlobal) May 3, 2022
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A group of Apple employees have written an open letter to the company's executive team complaining about its new policy that only allows for two days of working from home, iMore has reported. They said that Apple's reasons for implementing the policy don't stand up, and that the policy is wasteful, inflexible and will lead to a "younger, whiter, more male-dominated, more neuro-normative, more able-bodied" workforce.
"You have characterized the decision for the Hybrid Working Pilot as being about combining the "need to commune in-person" and the value of flexible work," the letter states. "But in reality, it does not recognize flexible work and is only driven by fear. Fear of the future of work, fear of worker autonomy, fear of losing control."
We tell all of our customers how great our products are for remote work, yet, we ourselves, cannot use them to work remotely? How can we expect our customers to take that seriously? How can we understand what problems of remote work need solving in our products if we don't live it?
In March, Apple announced that corporate employees would be return to the office, and need to be there two days a week at minimum by May 2nd. Starting May 23rd, it'll shift to a hybrid model with mandatory office days on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. CEO Tim Cook called in-person collaboration benefits "irreplaceable" and in an email, the executive team talked about the importance of "the serendipity that comes from bumping into colleagues" during in-person work.
However, the letter counters those arguments saying that in-person collaboration is not even needed monthly in some cases. It also disputed the "serendipity" statement, saying that Apple's siloed office structure makes it difficult to bump into colleagues, adding that remote tools like Slack are better for collaboration. Furthermore, Apple's open-plan offices limit the concentration "required for creativity and... deep thought," they said.
It noted that a daily commute "is a huge waste of time as well as both mental and physical resources." At the same time, it said that the policy favors people who can afford to live near the office and don't have to perform care-work. "In short, it will lead to privileges deciding who can work for Apple, not who’d be the best fit."
Perhaps the most compelling argument was that Apple was being hypocritical in the way it markets its own products. "We tell all of our customers how great our products are for remote work, yet, we ourselves, cannot use them to work remotely?" the letter states. "How can we expect our customers to take that seriously? How can we understand what problems of remote work need solving in our products if we don't live it?"
The letter is another sign of growing employee discontent at Apple, which often presents itself as progressive and inclusive in its ads. Employees recently started organizing a push for "real change" at the company, citing "a pattern of isolation, degradation and gaslighting," and even created an #AppleToo movement. The company is also facing a probe by the US National Labor Relations Board, which is looking into complaints over hostile working conditions.
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Amazon already has a policy in place to reimburse employees up to $10,000 for travel expenses if they're having treatments for life-threatening issues. Now, it has also introduced a policy that will benefit those seeking other kinds of treatment. According to Reuters, the e-commerce giant has told its employees in the US that it will offer up to $4,000 in annual travel reimbursements for non-life threatening medical treatments, including cellular gene therapies, substance-abuse disorder services and abortions.
Politico recently obtained an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, showing that the Supreme Court has voted to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion across the US. If Roe v. Wade truly gets overturned, then it's up to local state governments to decide whether to legalize or restrict abortion — and conservative states like Alabama, where Amazon has facilities, are expected to limit access to the procedure.
Reuters says Amazon will reimburse travel under the new policy if a procedure is not available within 100 miles of an employees' home and long-distance/virtual treatment isn't possible. It will apply to both office and warehouse employees, as well as their dependents enrolled in Premera or Aetna health plans. It will also be retroactively applied to eligible travel that took place within this year, starting on January 1st. As the news organization notes, it shows Amazon's efforts when it comes to retaining and attracting talent for the company.
That said, Amazon has also recently ended its paid COVID leave policy for workers. It will no longer pay time off for workers that test positive for the virus and will only offer them up to five days of unpaid leave going forward.
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Splice, the popular music production service with a seemingly bottomless supply of samples, has just unveiled a new way to find inspiration from those sounds. CoSo is what it calls an "intelligent musical sketch pad" that lets you create "using your ear to find what appeals to you," the company wrote in a press release.
CoSo allows you to you stack up to eight samples based on genre or instrument type to quickly create loops, with a big assist from AI. Everything stays in key, beats per minute (BMP) are synced, and you can swipe to delete a sample or swap in a new one automatically. You can also solo specific loops (or mute them) by pressing and holding.
Once you create a loop, it's easy to share it on TikTok or export as an Ableton-ready project file. We've attached an example of what a creation looks like when shared via links, showing the final result and sounds used.
Splice has countless millions of samples, so dredging through them for good stuff can be tedious, particularly if you're not sure what you're looking for or want to avoid overused samples. Still, the app could be a good way of sparking inspiration as a form of musical roulette, much like the novice-friendly Orba music device.
"I believe we will hear a richer and more diverse selection of sounds bubbling up through this technology, that we might surprise creatives with new ideas," said Ale Koretzy, who heads the ML and Audio Science Innovation Team at Splice. "Some people will use it to discover sounds and others will use it to create music." CoSo is now available for Android and iOS devices.
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A team of MIT scientists is looking for black hole echoes in an effort to shed some light on the regions of spacetime that largely remain a mystery to us. See, black holes only show any semblance of activity when they feed on gas and dust from one of their orbiting stars. When they do, they give off bursts of X-ray light that echo off the gas being consumed and which illuminate their surroundings. That's what a black hole echo is. While it's technically an X-ray echo, the team worked with MIT education and music scholars to turn the emission into audible sound waves you can listen to below.
For their new study, the astronomers developed an automated search tool called "Reverberation Machine" to comb through data gathered by NASA's Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer, the X-ray telescope aboard the ISS. Their algorithm identified 26 black hole X-ray binary systems, which are systems with a star that's being consumed by a black hole at times. Ten of them are close enough for the echoes to be observable, and eight were previously not known to emit echoes.
So what did the team find out by analyzing the echoes? They found that the black holes initially go through a "hard" state upon feeding, wherein it forms a corona of high-energy photons and launches a jet of high-energy particles close to the speed of light. This state lasts for several weeks. After one last high-energy flash when the corona and jet die out, the black hole enters a "soft," low-energy state.
The scientists believe that these findings can help explain how supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies can help shape their formation. As Erin Kara, assistant professor of physics at MIT, said:
"The role of black holes in galaxy evolution is an outstanding question in modern astrophysics. Interestingly, these black hole binaries appear to be ‘mini’ supermassive black holes, and so by understanding the outbursts in these small, nearby systems, we can understand how similar outbursts in supermassive black holes affect the galaxies in which they reside."
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The latest report on Meta’s VR ambitions has likened Project Cambria, its next headset beyond Quest series, to a “laptop for the face” or even a “Chromebook for the face.” Presumably with a rather different price tag.
A report from The Information suggests Meta will unveil its own VR operating system, which is based on Android. This will work with web-based tools and services, as well as some Quest apps. Technical specs are still unknown, but we can expect higher-res screens to make text easier to read — the aim could be to ensure the VR headset is usable in work situations.
We haven’t yet seen an entirely new VR device since the company rebranded, but all this suggests that, compared to the Rift and Quest devices, the use cases could be broader, or at least tap into some of that sweet enterprise segment. Companies are more likely to pay for cutting-edge VR and AR hardware — still Microsoft’s approach to the segment.
The headset will have outward-facing cameras for mixed reality functions, so it could tie together Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse ambitions in one fell swoop. For now, rumors and reports suggest Project Cambria will hit shelves around September, costing over $800.
Whether your graduate is going after their first job or continuing their education, these gadgets can support their first professional steps — or simply help them relax during those early career challenges. We’ve even curated a guide for gifts that duck in at under $50.
It’s part of the Commission's antitrust probe into Apple's payment practices.
The European Commission’s Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager confirmed the EU has formally charged Apple over its iOS payment features. This could result in a substantial fine if it is upheld. In a statement, Vestager said the Commission had "indications that Apple restricted third-party access to key technology necessary to develop rival mobile wallet solutions on Apple's devices."
The Commission opened a dual review into both Apple's in-app and NFC payment systems in June 2020, noting the company's choice could stifle competition and reduce consumer choice.
Designing and manufacturing soft robots is tricky. Now, scientists from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have come up with a new process called PneuAct, which uses computers and a special knitting process to design and digitally fabricate the soft pneumatic actuators. These actuators have conductive yarn for sensing so they can essentially "feel" or respond to what they grab.
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A lot of companies have already entered the metaverse in some way, and today another big name is doing so. Spotify has announced that its venture into virtual worlds is coming via a Roblox interactive space called Spotify Island. The setting is a place where users can create music, chill in virtual venues and get access to exclusive virtual merchandise — and it's debuting today.
Spotify has given its Roblox island a design that's true to its brand: lots of green with shapes, colors and icons you'll recognize from its apps. These are all part of the game as well. You can collect the heart-shaped "Like" icons for free merch, for example. Speaking of digital goods, Spotify says the exclusive in-game virtual merchandise will give artists a chance to connect with fans and a way to earn money. The company explains that a portion of sales will go to the artists, though it didn't specify a percentage. It did say that it has already collaborated with some acts to create a collection of items that "truly reflects who they are."
The main tasks on Spotify Island are hanging out with artists, completing quests and accessing "exclusive content." The company says it has stuffed the virtual world full of Easter eggs for users to find along the way. You can also create your own music and sounds via beat-maker stations that are powered by Soundtrap, the online recording platform Spotify acquired in 2017.
Spotify says its first "themed experience" will debut in a few weeks. K-Park, a nod to K-Pop, will give users the ability to interact with artists Stray Kids and SUNMI. This is surely the first of many of the hangouts as the metaverse as a concept is just getting started. You don't have to wait until K-Park starts to buy things either. SUNMI’s merchandise will be on sale today, with items for Stray Kids coming soon.
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Amazon will reimburse employees in the U.S. who are forced to travel over 100 miles to obtain an abortion and other medical treatments, according to a new report from Reuters. The reimbursement announcement came via email to employees at the company on Monday, according to Reuters, and a Politico story late Monday…
Neighborhood social network Nextdoor is trying out a new way to keep conversations respectful. The company is introducing a new feature that will remind users to keep conversations “constructive” when the app detects that a particular thread may be likely to turn negative or overly contentious.
With the change, which will be rolling out over the next few weeks, users will see a big pop-up reminding them “you can set the tone,” before they are able to add to a discussion. “Show your neighbors what it looks like to have empathetic conversations,” it reads.
It’s an approach the company has tried before. Nextdoor introduced “kindness reminders” in 2019, which surface pop-ups when the app detects someone may be about to post a heated comment. Last year, it debuted a similar reminder to promote anti-racist language among its users.
What sets these latest notifications apart is that they appear proactively, before a user has typed out a comment. The feature uses machine learning to detect when a conversation between neighbors may be close to becoming problematic, looking at factors like the rate of comments coming in as well as whether the people active in a thread have been reported in the past.
Nextdoor
The goal, according to the company’s Chief Product Officer Kiran Prasad, is to catch people before they get involved in a discussion that could be veering off course. Once you’ve already started typing out a response, he says,"you’re kind of committed to a certain level because you’ve already written a bunch of stuff." If people can see the reminders before they start writing, the hope is they’ll be more likely to respond thoughtfully, or even not jump in at all.
For a service that has often been in the spotlight for enabling people’s more base instincts (there’s a reason why the app has had to actively remind users to not be racist) predicting when a conversation is likely to turn negative could have a sizable impact.
“It'll start to kind of set the tone that these are the types of conversations that are appropriate or not appropriate on the platform,” Prasad said.
Nextdoor isn’t the only platform to try out these kinds of reminders in an effort to make people be nicer to each other online. Twitter has prompted users to rethink mean tweets, and has said the prompts have led to a decrease in harmful replies. TikTok adopted a similar measure, prompting users to “reconsider” before posting offensive comments. Instagram also has anti-bullying “nudges.”
Prasad says that early tests of Nextdoor’s “constructive conversations” reminders have already been positive, though it has led to some decrease in overall engagement on the platform. “We think that it's still the right thing to do.”
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Surviving years of college is no small feat, so the graduates in our lives deserve rightful praise and celebration. Whether your graduate is going out into the world to get their first job or continuing with their education, there are a number of gadgets you can gift them that will make them smile and also come in handy on a daily basis. If you’re stumped on what to give to the tech-savvy grad in your life, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite tech for you to consider.
Chromecast with Google TV
Google
Recent graduates moving into a new place may not want to shell out money for cable or a satellite subscription. But just because they’ve cut the cord doesn’t mean they can’t watch quality content. Thanks to streaming sticks like Chromecast with Google TV, watching content on various streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and more is super easy, regardless of what kind of TV they have.
The latest Chromecast with Google TV works especially well for those with a YouTube TV subscription as its “Live TV” tab works as a channel guide for the service. Just like previous Chromecasts, they can also use it to “cast” their computer screen to the TV, too.
Another benefit over other streaming sticks is that it has Google Assistant integration. Your grad can ask it to display the five-day weather forecast, show the live feed from their Nest camera, turn their Philips Hue lights on or off, or play their favorite Spotify playlist. As a bonus, they can use Google Assistant to find shows to watch or to launch apps. — Nicole Lee, Commerce Writer
Regardless of whether you gift a Chromecast with Google TV, we think a YouTube TV subscription will make an excellent present for them. The service essentially replaces cable or satellite, and your graduate can easily use their phone, laptop or connected TV to access it. The platform offers pretty much all the standard network and cable offerings including sports channels like ESPN, so they won’t have to worry about missing their favorite team’s game. You can either pay for the subscription directly or buy them a Google Play gift card. — N.L.
Watches make great graduation gifts, and the Apple Watch is arguably the best one to get for the iPhone fan in your life. As Apple’s latest flagship wearable, the Series 7 is packed with features both basic and advanced. On a daily basis, most will use the Watch for tracking activity, recording workouts, buying coffees with Apple Pay and checking iMessage alerts on the fly. But the Watch also has perks like blood oxygen tracking, ECG measurements and fall detection that your grad may only use now and again, but will appreciate in crucial moments. Plus, the Series 7 has the largest screen of any Apple Watch to date, as well as the best battery life and a faster charging time, too. And if your grad prefers the style of more traditional timepieces, they can customize their Watch with bands that give them that look. — Valentina Palladino, Commerce Editor
Once they leave dorm life behind, graduates should learn how to make something other than instant ramen. For newbies, we recommend an appliance like the Instant Pot Duo Plus. This trendy kitchen device can be used as a slow cooker, yogurt maker, rice cooker and, of course, a pressure cooker.
Not only is it easy to use, it can be a huge time saver: just set it, do other chores (or just rest up) and your meal will be ready when it beeps. It’s a wonderful solution if your grad has a tiny stovetop in their first apartment, and it cuts down on dishwashing if you use the Instant Pot for a lot of one pot meals.
If you do get your loved one this excellent kitchen gadget, we suggest you send them a link to our Instant Pot guide so they’ll get the most out of their new toy. There are also a bunch of dedicated Instant Pot recipe sites and cookbooks that will keep them busy for a while – Rainbow Plant Life’s Instant Pot page and Dinner in an Instant are a couple of our favorites. — N.L.
While laptops’ built-in webcams are getting better, most of them still don’t quite cut it for all of the Zoom calls many of us continue to have nowadays. Your graduate will likely have to take calls like this on a regular basis and the Logitech Streamcam is a gadget that can help them put their best face forward. The webcam shoots sharp video in 1080p/60fps and its handy auto-exposure feature helps make dark rooms less cave-like on screen. It also has built-in microphones with noise reduction, so your grad should sound as good as they look on these calls. Additionally, the Streamcam was designed with game streamers and content creators in mind, and that makes it a great all-purpose webcam that your graduate can use for both work and play. — V.P.
There’s a good chance that your graduate will be working from a few different locations when they start their first job. Maybe they’ll spend half of their time in an office and the other half at home, but you can help them stay focused anywhere by gifting them the Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones. These are our current favorite high-end cans thanks to their excellent sound quality and equally stellar active noise cancellation. Their Adaptive Sound Control feature automatically changes the level of noise cancellation depending on your location and what you’re doing, blocking out as much of the world as necessary without the user needing to do much work. With this iteration, Sony also added multi-device connectivity, too, so your graduate can seamlessly go from listening to music on their laptop to taking a call from their smartphone. — V.P.
Who doesn’t want a caffeine hit in the morning before they head into work? For that we recommend the OXO Brew 8-Cup Coffee Maker. OXO typically makes excellent tasting coffee, and since this one is certified by the Specialty Coffee Association, it will certainly meet your grad’s standards as well. This model is easy to use, has a thermal carafe to keep their brew hot for hours, and has an option to brew directly into a mug. — N.L.
Why settle for a boring ol’ alarm clock when you can gift your grad a smarter option? The Lenovo Smart Clock Essential comes in both Google Assistant and Alexa varieties, and does a lot more than just tell time. These compact gadgets can give them the weather forecast, play a Spotify playlist or simply display their appointments for the day.
Which you choose depends on the virtual assistant your grad prefers – we generally recommend the Google version for Android users and those that rely on Google services like Calendar and Drive for their personal and professional duties. Everyone else is likely safe getting the Alexa version. And if you want to step it up a bit, the $90 Lenovo Smart Clock 2 comes with a docking area with a wireless charging pad, so they can power up their phones more easily overnight. — N.L.
We could all use a little help finding our stuff sometimes – new graduates especially. With new internships, jobs, side hustles and more, grads have a ton to keep track of and an AirTag can give them peace of mind by digitally locating their most important items. AirTags can attach to keys, wallets, handbags and more with the right accessories, and then your grad can check out the location of their stuff using the Find My app on iOS. They can program their contact information into the AirTag, in case a stranger needs to return their things, and those with newer iPhone can use the Precision Finding feature to be led directly to their stuff. For those who often misplace their belongings, Bluetooth trackers like these can be crucial. — V.P.
Voracious readers will appreciate an e-reader like Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite. The latest model has a larger, 6.8-inch display that has 17 front lights and an adjustable warm light setting that reduces eye strain. The design is compact and sleek, and the robust battery lasts for weeks between charging. And if they like reading in the tub or by the pool, the Paperwhite is also waterproof.
If you want to give your grad something even more special, however, consider gifting them the Paperwhite Signature Edition. It has 32GB of storage, wireless charging support and a light sensor that can automatically adjust the screen brightness according to their surroundings. It’s about $50 more than the regular Paperwhite, but they will certainly appreciate it. — N.L.
One of the great things about Beats’ Studio Buds is that both Android and iOS users can wear them and get a fairly similar experience. These Beats aren’t just for iPhone users, as those with Android devices have access to convenient features like Find My and fast pairing. The brand has come a long way when it comes to sound quality, too. These buds are well-tuned with a punchy bass, and iOS users will be able to get Spatial Audio on select tracks. The Studio Buds also have solid ANC with transparency mode, plus a compact, comfortable design that transitions well from study sessions to workout routines. — V.P.
Anker’s MagGo 2-in-1 wireless charging station is the gadget to give if you want to set your grab up with basically everything they’d need to never run out of power again. The bundle includes a wireless charging stand that can power both a phone and a pair of earbuds at the same time, and the phone portion detaches into a portable, magnetic, 5,000 mAh battery pack. The MagGo lineup is MagSafe-compatible, so if your grad has a newer iPhone, they’ll be able to take the slim pack with them by snapping it to the back of their smartphone. Also included is a 25W USB-C adapter, which can power the whole system with the proper speed. — V.P.
If your grad needs coffee or tea to stay productive throughout the day, a Yeti Rambler is an excellent gift for them. These classic tumblers have a double-walled, insulated design that keeps hot drinks hot for hours, while also being BPA-free. The latest versions have Dracut color coatings, which won’t fade, peel or crack with age (or when you put them in the dishwasher), so their favorite color will come through for years to come. Plus, the Ramblers now come with MagSlider lids, which, while not spill-proof, use magnets to make opening and closing (and cleaning) the lid super easy. — V.P.
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Scientists have made considerable progress with soft robots used for assistive wearables, rehabilitative technologies and more. Powered by compressed air, they offer advantages over regular robots like sensing capabilities, soft touch, and high power-to-input ratios.
Designing and building them has been a challenge, however, due to the need for a manual design and fabrication pipeline that requires a lot of trial and error. Now, scientists from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have come up with a new pipeline called "PneuAct" that uses computers and a special knitting process to design and digitally fabricate the soft pneumatic actuators. Their work could eventually lead to new assistive and rehabilitative devices.
"PneuAct uses a machine knitting process — not dissimilar to your grandma's plastic needle knitting — but this machine operates autonomously," according to CSAIL researchers. The designer simply needs to specify the stitch and sensor design patterns in software to program actuator movements, which can be simulated before printing. The textile piece is then fabricated by the knitting machine, which is fixed to a rubber silicone tube to complete the actuator.
The actuators use conductive yarn for sensing so they can essentially "feel" or respond to what they grab. As proof of concept, the team developed several prototypes including an assistive glove, soft hand, interactive robot and a pneumatic walking quadruped, as shown in the video above.
The new devices are considerably improved over older designs, incorporating programmed bending when inflated and the ability to incorporate feedback. "For example, the team used the actuators to build a robot that sensed when it was touched specifically by human hands, and reacted to that touch," the team wrote. The glove could be worn to supplement finger muscle movement, adding extra force for grasping to help people with finger or hand injuries.
The team plans to explore actuators with different shapes, and incorporate task-driven designs with target poses and optimal stitch patterns. "Our software tool is fast, easy to use, and it accurately previews users' designs, allowing them to quickly iterate virtually while only needing to fabricate once," said Harvard University's Andrew Spielberg, an author on the paper.
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As the European Commission continues to look into whether Apple has abused its market dominance by restricting mobile payments on iOS devices, Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager today confirmed that it has formally charged the iPhone maker, which could result in a hefty fine if it is upheld.
In a statement, Vestager said that the Commission had "indications that Apple restricted third-party access to key technology necessary to develop rival mobile wallet solutions on Apple's devices," adding that the company "may have restricted competition, to the benefit of its own solution."
Developers, the Commission argues in its Statement of Objections, have been barred from "accessing the necessary hardware and software" to create their own NFC payment services on Apple devices. Contactless payments are popular across Europe, but Apple Pay remains the only contactless option for in-store payments on iPhone and iPad.
The Commission opened a dual review into both Apple's in-app and NFC payment systems in June 2020, noting that the company's choice could stifle competition and therefore reduce consumer choice. The Commission says that today's announcement relates only to the "NFC input by third-party developers of mobile wallets for payments in stores" and not online restrictions against or "refusals of access to Apple Pay" for competing services.
Apple has previously said that it limits third-party access to contactless payments in order to boost security. It claims that its own technology prevents fraudulent payments by using a secure chip inside the iPhone antenna.
A Statement of Objections provides Apple with a list of exceptions that it argues go against EU antitrust rules. The company will now be invited to reply to the issues raised and request a meeting with officials, which means it could be some time before an official decision is reached.
Engadget has contacted Apple for comment and will update the article should we receive a reply.
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Warren Buffett has always been a bitcoin skeptic. But the billionaire investor had his most harsh words yet for the cryptocurrency over the weekend. Buffett made it clear that his opposition to crypto has nothing to do with whether people can make money trading bitcoin. Buffett’s opposition is purely on principle…
As of May 2nd, Amazon will no longer offer paid time off for workers who test positive for COVID-19, according to CNBC. Starting Monday, the company will instead grant frontline staff up to five days of unpaid leave, with the option for workers to use their accrued sick time if needed.
Announced in a memo the company sent out on Saturday, the new policy sees Amazon once again scaling back the protections it offers workers. At the start of the pandemic, the company gave workers up to 14 days of paid time off. In January, it cut COVID-19 leave in half.
Citing the wider availability of rapid testing, Amazon also said it would no longer grant workers excused time off while they wait for their COVID-19 test results. At the same time, the company will end its vaccine incentive program. The initiative saw Amazon pay workers $40 for every COVID-19 vaccine dose they went out to get. And unless required to do so by local law, the company says it will no longer notify entire sites of positive COVID-19 cases.
“The sustained easing of the pandemic, ongoing availability of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, and updated guidance from public health authorities, all signal we can continue to safely adjust to our pre-COVID policies,” the company said in the notice, according to CNBC.
Amazon’s updated COVID-19 policies will go into effect the same day we’ll find out if workers at the company’s LDJ5 warehouse in Staten Island voted to unionize. Like with nearby JFK8, the Amazon Labor Union, led by former employee Christian Smalls, hopes to represent the workers at the facility. Smalls gained international recognition when he led a walkout at JFK8 at the start of the pandemic to protest Amazon’s COVID-19 safety policies.
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If you missed the chance to buy Apple’s second-generation AirPods when they were $100 a few weeks ago, Amazon has once again discounted them to that price. While we think most people are better off purchasing the third-generation AirPods or AirPods Pro due to their more comfortable fit, Apple’s older Bluetooth earbuds still have a lot to offer to iPhone owners. Like their more expensive siblings, the second-generation AirPods come with Apple’s H1 wireless chipset, meaning they include features like hands-free Siri and seamless pairing with the company’s other devices.
Amazon has also discounted the Beats Studio Buds. At the moment, they’re $50 off, making them $99.95. If you don’t mind the design of Beats products, they’re a better purchase than the second-generation AirPods. The Studio Buds come with active noise cancellation and IPX4-certified protection against sweat and moisture, two features you won’t find on Apple’s most affordable AirPods. They also feature a customizable fit with interchangeable silicone ear tips. The only thing you won’t find on the Studio Buds is Apple’s H1 chip, but they still come with one-touch pairing and hands-free Siri support.
Lastly, we’ll note Amazon is still selling the AirPods Pro for $175. While they’re a few years old now, the AirPods Pro remain among the best Bluetooth earbuds you can pair with an iPhone. We like them because they feature a customizable fit, IPX4 protection against sweat and active noise cancellation.
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After a couple of delays and creative switches, next week will finally mark the release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. For many superhero fans, the second solo movie for Benedict Cumberbatch’s Stephen Strange is important, not for who may be looking to have an attention-grabbing cameo, but for the man…
Nintendo’s first-party titles almost never go on sale, and even when they do, they’re rarely discounted by much. That’s what makes Amazon’s latest promotion so notable. The retailer has discounted Animal Crossing: New Horizons to $40, marking the first time you’ve been able to pick up Nintendo’s cozy life sim from Amazon for $20 off.
A few things to note about this deal. If you’re not a Prime member, you won’t see the discounted price until you add it to your cart. The discount is also only valid on the physical edition of New Horizons,so you’ll have to wait for the company to deliver you the game before you can begin playing it. But chances are if you’ve waited this long to buy Animal Crossing, you won’t mind waiting a few extra days to start the experience.
New Horizons is a far more meditative and relaxing experience than almost any other game you can play. There is no plot to complete or bosses to overcome. Instead, you’re prompted to spend your time gardening, catching bugs and chatting with the anthropomorphic animals that live on your island. Released at the beginning of the pandemic, New Horizons was the perfect game at a time when everything felt so uncertain. That quality hasn’t changed, and we can’t recommend it enough if you’re looking for something to relax with after a long and challenging day out in the world.
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Back in their heyday, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy brought in some of the wallcrawler’s best enemies (and also Venom) for Tobey Maguire to do battle with. But for many fans, it’s more interesting to think about who Raimi was set to bring to the big screen with a hypothetical Spider-Man 4 and beyond. We know that we…
After decades on the decline intro, America's labor movement is undergoing a massive renaissance with Starbucks, Amazon and Apple Store employees leading the way. Though the tech sector has only just begun basking in the newfound glow of collective bargaining rights, the automotive industry has a long been a hotbed for unionization. But the movement is not at all monolithic. In the excerpt below from her new book, Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor, journalist Kim Kelly recalls the summer of 1968 that saw the emergence of a new, more vocal UAW faction, the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement, coincide with a flurry of wildcat strikes in Big Three plants across the Rust Belt.
As of 2021, the U.S. construction industry is still booming and the building trades are heavily unionized, but not all of the nation’s builders have been so lucky. The country’s manufacturing sector has declined severely since its post–World War II high point, and so has its union density. The auto industry’s shuttered factories and former jobs shipped to countries with lower wages and weaker unions have become a symbol of the waning American empire. But things weren’t always this dire. Unions once fought tooth and nail to establish a foothold in the country’s automobile plants, factories, and steel mills. When those workers were able to harness the power of collective bargaining, wages went up and working conditions improved. The American Dream, or at least, a stable middle class existence, became an achievable goal for workers without college degrees or privileged backgrounds. Many more became financially secure enough to actually purchase the products they made, boosting the economy as well as their sense of pride in their work. Those jobs were still difficult and demanding and carried physical risks, but those workers—or at least, some of those workers—could count on the union to have their back when injustice or calamity befell them.
In Detroit, those toiling on the assembly lines of the Big Three automakers—Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors—could turn to the United Auto Workers (UAW), then hailed as perhaps the most progressive “major” union in the country as it forced its way into the automotive factories of the mid-twentieth century. The UAW stood out like a sore thumb among the country’s many more conservative (and lily-white) unions, with leadership from the likes of former socialist and advocate of industrial democracy Walter Reuther and a strong history of support for the Civil Rights Movement. But to be clear, there was still much work to be done; Black representation in UAW leadership remained scarce despite its membership reaching nearly 30 percent Black in the late 1960s.
The Big Three had hired a wave of Black workers to fill their empty assembly lines during World War II, often subjecting them to the dirtiest and most dangerous tasks available and on-the-job racial discrimination. And then, of course, once white soldiers returned home and a recession set in, those same workers were the first ones sacrificed. Production picked back up in the 1960s, and Black workers were hired in large numbers once again. They grew to become a majority of the workforce in Detroit’s auto plants, but found themselves confronting the same problems as before. In factories where the union and the company had become accustomed to dealing with one another without much fuss, a culture of complacency set in and some workers began to feel that the union was more interested in keeping peace with the bosses than in fighting for its most vulnerable members. Tensions were rising, both in the factories and the world at large. By May 1968, as the struggle for Black liberation consumed the country, the memory of the 1967 Detroit riots remained fresh, and the streets of Paris were paralyzed by general strikes, a cadre of class-conscious Black activists and autoworkers saw an opportunity to press the union into action.
They called themselves DRUM—the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement. DRUM was founded in the wake of a wildcat strike at Dodge’s Detroit plant, staffed by a handful of Black revolutionaries from the Black-owned, anti-capitalist Inner City Voice alternative newspaper. The ICV sprang up during the 1967 Detroit riots, published with a focus on Marxist thought and the Black liberation struggle. DRUM members boasted experience with other prominent movement groups like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Black Panthers, combining tactical knowledge with a revolutionary zeal attuned to their time and community.
General Gordon Baker, a seasoned activist and assembly worker at Chrysler’s Dodge Main plant, started DRUM with a series of clandestine meetings throughout the first half of 1968. By May 2, the group had grown powerful enough to see four thousand workers walk out of Dodge Main in a wildcat strike to protest the “speed-up” conditions in the plant, which saw workers forced to produce dangerous speed and work overtime to meet impossible quotas. Over the course of just one week, the plant had increased its output 39 percent. Black workers, joined by a group of older Polish women who worked in the plant’s trim shop, shut down the plant for the day, and soon bore the brunt of management’s wrath. Of the seven workers who were fired after the strike, five were Black. Among them was Baker, who sent a searing letter to the company in response to his dismissal. “In this day and age under the brutal repression reaped from the backs of Black workers, the leadership of a wildcat strike is a badge of honor and courage,” he wrote. “You have made the decision to do battle, and that is the only decision you will make. We shall decide the arena and the time.”
DRUM led another thousands-strong wildcat strike on July 8, this time shutting down the plant for two days and drawing in a number of Arab and white workers as well. Prior to the strike, the group had printed leaflets and held rallies that attracted hundreds of workers, students, and community members, a strategy DRUM would go on to use liberally in later campaigns to gin up support and spread its revolutionary message.
Men like Baker, Kenneth Cockrel, and Mike Hamlin were the public face of DRUM, but their work would have been impossible without the work of their female comrades, whose contributions were often overlooked. Hamlin admitted as much in his book-length conversation with longtime political activist and artist Michele Gibbs, A Black Revolutionary’s Life in Labor. “Possibly my deepest regret,” Hamlin writes, “is that we could not curb, much less transform, the doggish behavior and chauvinist attitudes of many of the men.”
Black women in the movement persevered despite this discrimination and disrespect at work, and they also found allies in unexpected places. Grace Lee Boggs, a Chinese American Marxist philosopher and activist with a PhD from Bryn Mawr, met her future husband James Boggs in Detroit after moving there in 1953. She and James, a Black activist, author (1963’s The American Revolution: Pages from a Negro Worker’s Notebook), and Chrysler autoworker, became fixtures in Detroit’s Black radical circles. They naturally fell in with the DRUM cadre, and Grace fit perfectly when Hamlin organized a DRUM-sponsored book club discussion forum in order to draw in progressive white and more moderate Black sympathizers. Interest in the Marxist book club was unexpectedly robust, and it grew to more than eight hundred members in its first year. Grace stepped in to help lead its discussion groups, and allowed young activists to visit her and James at their apartment and talk through thorny philosophical and political questions until the wee hours. She would go on to become one of the nation’s most respected Marxist political intellectuals and a lifelong activist for workers’ rights, feminism, Black liberation, and Asian American issues. As she told an interviewer prior to her death in 2015 at the age of one hundred, “People who recognize that the world is always being created anew, and we’re the ones that have to do it — they make revolutions.”
Further inside the DRUM orbit, Helen Jones, a printer, was the force behind the creation and distribution of their leaflets and publications. Women like Paula Hankins, Rachel Bishop, and Edna Ewell Watson, a nurse and confidant of Marxist scholar and former Black Panther Angela Davis, undertook their own labor organizing projects. In one case, the trio led a union drive among local hospital workers in the DRUM faction, hoping to carve out a place for female leadership within their movement. But ultimately, these expansion plans were dropped due to a lack of full support within DRUM. “Many of the male leaders acted as if women were sexual commodities, mindless, emotionally unstable, or invisible,” Edna Watson later told Dan Georgakas and Marvin Surkin for their Detroit: I Do Mind Dying. She claimed the organization held a traditionalist Black patriarchal view of women, in which they were expected to center and support their male counterparts’ needs at the expense of their own agenda. “There was no lack of roles for women... as long as they accepted subordination and invisibility.”
By 1969, the movement had spread to multiple other plants in the city, birthing groups like ELRUM (Eldon Avenue RUM), JARUM (Jefferson Avenue RUM), and outliers like UPRUM (UPS workers) and HRUM (healthcare workers). The disparate RUM groups then combined forces, forming the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. The new organization was to be led by the principles of Marxism, Leninism, and Maoism, but the league was never an ideological monolith. Its seven-member executive committee could not fully cohere the different political tendencies of its board or its eighty-member deep inner control group. Most urgently, opinions diverged on what shape, if any, further growth should take.
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