Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

CNET has issued corrections for over half of the AI-written articles the outlet recently attributed to its CNET Money team. Following an internal audit after it was first notified of an AI-written article with substantial errors, CNET Editor-in-Chief Connie Guglielmo says the publication identified additional stories that required correction. She claims a “small number” needed “substantial correction,” while others had “minor issues” that saw CNET fix things like incomplete company names and language the outlet deemed was vague. In all, of the 77 articles the publication now says were written as part of a trial to test an “internally designed AI engine,” 41 feature corrections.As The Verge points out, some articles feature corrections that note CNET “replaced phrases that were not entirely original.” In those instances, the outlet says its plagiarism checker tool either “wasn’t used properly” by the editor assigned to the story or it failed to identify writing the tool had lifted from another source. Earlier this week, Futurism, the publication that first broke the news that CNET was quietly using AI to write financial literacy articles, said it found extensive evidence the website’s AI-generated content that showed “deep structural and phrasing similarities to articles previously published elsewhere.” Pointing to one piece on overdraft fees, Futurism noted how CNET’s version featured nearly identically phrasing to an earlier article from Forbes Advisor. It’s worth noting that AI, as it exists today, can’t be guilty of plagiarism. The software doesn’t know it’s copying something in violation of an ethical rule that humans apply to themselves. If anything, the failure falls on the CNET editors who were supposed to verify the outlet’s AI tool was creating original content.Despite the public setback, CNET appears set on continuing to use AI tools to write published content. “We've paused and will restart using the AI tool when we feel confident the tool and our editorial processes will prevent both human and AI errors,” Guglielmo said. “In the meantime, expect CNET to continue exploring and testing how AI can be used to help our teams as they go about their work testing, researching and crafting the unbiased advice and fact-based reporting we're known for.”

Senator Joe Manchin, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has introduced a new bill that squashes a small loophole around the Inflation Reduction Act's (IRA) $7,500 EV tax credit. The new credits are restricted to cars with final assembly in the US, as well as those with a certain amount of North American battery content (an amount that increases every year). But, the U.S. Treasury has delayed its final rules on battery guidance until March, which means EVs with foreign batteries can still receive the full $7,500 in credits until then. Manchin's legislation, dubbed the American Vehicle Security Act (AVSA), would push the battery requirement back to January 1st.“It is unacceptable that the U.S. Treasury has failed to issue updated guidance for the 30D electric vehicle tax credits and continues to make the full $7,500 credits available without meeting all of the clear requirements included in the Inflation Reduction Act," Manchin wrote a statement. "The Treasury Department failed to meet the statutory deadline of December 31, 2022, to release guidance for the 30D credit and have created an opportunity to circumvent stringent supply chain requirements included in the IRA. The IRA is first-and-foremost an energy security bill, and the EV tax credits were designed to grow domestic manufacturing and reduce our reliance on foreign supply chains for the critical minerals needed to produce EV batteries."If it's passed, the bill would be disappointing news for anyone who rushed out to buy an EV before March (something plenty of car publications were suggesting). As Autoblog notes, the AVSA doesn't touch on the other IRA loophole, which also allows for the full credit for leased cars built outside of the US. But given Manchin's early obstruction to the IRA, as well as his push against lax battery rules, it wouldn't be surprising to see another bill in the works.

More than 280 workers at TCGplayer, a marketplace for trading card games like Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon, are trying to unionize. A supermajority of the workers have filed for a union representation election with the National Labor Relations Board. If their efforts are successful, they'll form the first union at eBay, which bought TCGplayer in 2022 in a deal worth up to $295 million.Employees of several card and tabletop companies have unionized, including Card Kingdom, Bellevue Mox Boarding House, Noble Knight Games and Paizo. The TCGplayer workers are similarly trying to organize with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which has also worked with severalvideo game studios in their unionization attempts.“We are ready to unlock the full potential we know TCGplayer can have. By forming a union, we are able to support each other, customers, and sellers to create the best TCGplayer for all of us," Jennifer Bonham, a shipping generalist at TCGplayer, said in a statement. "We are incredibly passionate about our work, but passion can only get us so far. We want to see our collective health and well-being thrive because for many of us, this is the best job we have ever had."The workers are organizing as TCG Union/CWA and are all employed at the company's authentication center in Syracuse, New York. They each play a hand in ensuring card shipments meet quality standards and that they're accurately completed.The workers are seeking an end to pay caps; pay rises to account for inflation and cost of living increases; and "a fair and comprehensive sick leave and absence policy that does not punish people" for issues outside of their control. Moreover, they're demanding inclusive career advancement opportunities; fair and transparent hiring practices; clearly defined job roles and expectations; and the resources and training needed to do their jobs. On top of that, they're asking for a seat at the table, along with "just cause and clear grievance and discipline procedures, applied equally to management."This isn't the first time that the workers have attempted to unionize, as Polygon notes. They tried to do so almost three years ago with the Service Employees International Union. However, just days before the scheduled vote, they withdrew the petition. The eBay acquisition is said to have reignited the unionization drive."We have received notice that a petition is being filed by the Communications Workers of America labor union asking the National Labor Relations Board to conduct a vote on union representation," a TCGplayer spokesperson told Engadget in a statement. "We have not seen that petition by the National Labor Relations Board, nor have we had the chance to review it. We respect an employee’s right to choose or to decline union representation, and acknowledge this is a big decision. Our commitment to our employees during this time is to ensure they have the information needed to make an informed and confidential choice."Engadget has contacted eBay for comment.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has sent a letter to MSG Entertainment, the owner and operator of Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall, asking for information about its use of facial recognition to deny entry to attorneys at firms representing its legal opponents. James’s letter warns that the Orwellian policy may violate local, state and federal human rights laws, including those prohibiting retaliation.MSG Entertainment’s facial recognition has been identifying and denying entry to lawyers from firms representing clients suing the company — whether or not those attorneys are directly involved in the cases. The company, led by CEO James Dolan (who also owns the New York Knicks and Rangers), has defended the policy, framing it as an attempt to prevent evidence collection “outside proper litigation discovery channels.” However, lawyers have called that rationale “ludicrous,” criticizing the ban as a “transparent effort” to punish attorneys for suing them.The company has removed at least four lawyers from events at its venues since October — including at Knicks and Rangers games, concerts and Christmas shows. When passing through a metal detector, the arena’s facial recognition matched the attorneys with photos from their firms’ websites. James’s office says the policy impacts all lawyers working at more than 90 firms.In the letter, James warns MSG Entertainment that blocking people from venues may violate New York’s civil and human rights laws while causing other attorneys to think twice about taking on legitimate cases against the company. “MSG Entertainment cannot fight their legal battles in their own arenas,” said AG James. “Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall are world-renowned venues and should treat all patrons who purchased tickets with fairness and respect. Anyone with a ticket to an event should not be concerned that they may be wrongfully denied entry based on their appearance, and we’re urging MSG Entertainment to reverse this policy.”MSG Entertainment CEO James DolanUSA TODAY USPW / reutersThe Attorney General isn’t alone in taking on Dolan and MSG Entertainment. New York state lawmakers Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Liz Krueger and Tony Simone introduced a bill on Monday to outlaw the policy. It would amend a previous state civil rights law prohibiting venues from denying entry to anyone with a legitimate ticket, adding “sporting events” to the list of qualifying events.Madison Square Garden has used facial recognition for security since at least 2018. James’s letter calls on MSG Entertainment to justify its use of the tech and report its steps to comply with New York civil and human rights laws to ensure the tech won’t lead to further discrimination. “Discrimination and retaliation against those who have petitioned the government for redress,” reads the letter, “have no place in New York.”

Ultrasound can provide detailed images of your heart, but the bulk makes it impractical for continuous scanning — especially outside of the hospital. It might be far more portable in the future, however. Researchers have developed a wearable ultrasound patch that provides real-time heart imagery, even while you're in motion. It also uses deep learning to automatically calculate ventricle volume and generate performance stats. You'd know your cardiac output at any given moment, for instance.The device uses piezoelectric (that is, pressure-powered) transducers to perform deep tissue imaging. Stretchable liquid metal electrodes, meanwhile, ensures the ultrasound imager can stay close to your skin while remaining compact. Past attempts at wearable ultrasound arrays have relied on thin metal films that limits the design's complexity.The technology isn't close to production. Scientists want to continue miniaturizing the system, which still needs to attach to an external processing system through a flexible cable. The team also hopes to improve the spatial resolution through better algorithms, and use a larger AI training dataset that could better reflect the general population.Some of the advantages are already clear, mind you. The creators believe the wearable ultrasound could provide continuous metrics for patients with heart disease or in critical care, including outpatients. Remote ultrasound scans have been envisioned before, but have frequently relied on wands or other cumbersome gadgets. The tech could also be helpful for athletes hoping to strengthen their hearts and optimize their abilities.The concept isn't limited to one organ, either. The designers say their wearable ultrasound system could be generalized for use with the spine, liver and veins. In that light, the tech could provide freedom to many patients and athletes who'd otherwise need to visit clinics or hospitals to share data for their conditions.

After a last-ditch attempt to block India’s landmark Android ruling failed last week, Google has detailed how its mobile operating system will change to accommodate orders from the country’s Competition Commission. In a blog post spotted by The Verge, Google said it would give Android users in India the option to decide on their device’s default search engine “via a choice screen” that appears when they first set up a new phone or tablet.Additionally, starting next month, all apps and games downloaded from the Play Store will support third-party billing options, allowing developers to skirt Google’s fees on in-app purchases. The company will also begin allowing users to uninstall the first-party apps that came with their devices.The Competition Commission of India (CCI) fined Google the equivalent of $162 million last October, alleging the company had abused its “dominant position” in search, video and the web to unfairly disadvantage competitors. Besides changing what Indian consumers can expect from Android, the order will reshape the company’s relationship with Android manufacturers. On Wednesday, the company said it would allow OEMs to license individual first-party apps to pre-install on their devices. The company will also update Android’s compatibility requirements to better support forked operating system variants.Naturally, Google is not enthusiastic about re-engineering Android to accommodate the CCI’s orders. “Implementation of these changes across the ecosystem will be a complex process and will require significant work at our end and, in many cases, significant efforts from partners, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and developers,” the company said. In the meantime, it plans to “respectfully appeal certain aspects” of the Commission’s decisions. “We take our commitment to comply with local laws and regulations in India seriously,” Google added.Google has tried to mollify regulators and avoid this kind of intervention by introducing programs like its User Choice Billing pilot, which allows developers to implement alternative in-app purchasing systems within their apps. At this point, Google could be swimming against the tide. On Tuesday, the US Department of Justice sued the company in a bid to break up its ad tech division. The tech giant also faces the prospect of US lawmakers ordering it to open the Play Store to more competition.

The first major gaming showcase of the year is about to take place as Xbox and Bethesda are set to host the premiere edition of their Developer Direct. The stream starts at 3PM ET on January 25th. It will be available on Xbox and Bethesda's YouTube and Twitch channels. You can also watch it via the embedded video below.Subtitles and/or dubbed audio will be available for more than 30 languages. Versions of the stream with English audio descriptions and American Sign Language are on the Xbox YouTube channel too.The showcase will run for 43 minutes, according to Aaron Greenberg, vice-president of Xbox games marketing. It will focus on four games: The Elder Scrolls Online, Redfall, Forza Motorsport and Minecraft Dungeons. Right after the event ends, there'll be a deeper dive into the next Elder Scrolls Online chapter update. The other three games are all slated to arrive sometime in the first half of 2023.While it may be mentioned briefly, don't pin your hopes on getting more info about Starfield. Xbox and Bethesda are saving that for a standalone show at a later date. However, perhaps there'll be a surprise announcement or two during today's stream.The Developer Direct is debuting just at the right time for Microsoft. The company needs to give people more reasons to get excited about the Xbox ecosystem. It just announced that revenue from Xbox content and services fell by 12 percent last quarter, while Xbox hardware revenue fell by 13 percent — all during a holiday quarter. Redfall is one of the games I'm most looking forward to this year and there are a ton of Forza and Minecraft fans out there, so it'll be worth paying attention to this stream.

Massachusetts politicians are still pushing for better working conditions for ridesharing drivers. New bills in the state House and Senate would not only pursue collective bargaining rights across companies, as with past measures, but would guarantee a minimum wage, paid sick leave and other benefits. Companies like Uber and Lyft would also have to cover some driver expenses and pour money into the government's unemployment insurance system.The new legislation wouldn't decide whether drivers are employees or independent contractors. However, Senate bill co-sponsor Jason Lewis told the State House News Service his bill would establish requirements that apply regardless of a driver's status. Previous bills would have tasked workers with negotiating for benefits that are now included, Lewis says.Massachusetts sued Uber and Lyft in 2020 for allegedly misclassifying drivers as contractors and denying protections granted under state labor law. The companies responded with a proposed ballot measure that would have offered benefits in return for requiring that drivers be treated as contractors. The state's Supreme Judicial Court rejected that proposal last June.We've asked Uber and Lyft for comment. In a statement, the Service Employees International Union (a bill proponent) says the bill "rewrites the rules" and gives condition drivers have sought for over a decade. The Massachusetts Coalition for Independent Work, an industry-run organization that opposes the legislation, previously claimed that measures granting employee status don't reflect a "vast majority" of drivers that want to remain contractors. The coalition prefers bills that would bring the anti-employee ballot proposal to the legislature as well as create portable benefit accounts.The state has been one of the major battlegrounds for ridesharing work conditions, but it's only one part of a larger fight. Uber and New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission have fought over pay raises, while a California law meant to reclassify many gig economy workers as employees has faced unsuccessful attempts to carve out exemptions for companies like Uber and Lyft.

Niantic has created some of the most popular augmented reality games like Ingress and Pokémon Go. But this week the company is launching a new title called NBA All-World that might be the best application of its location-based tech to date.For people who have played one of Niantic’s previous titles, NBA All-World features a very familiar formula. After installing the free app (available on Android and iOS), you are given a starter player and from there you can use the in-game map to navigate to real-world locations in order to collect items, earn cash or battle other players. The big twist for NBA All-World is that, instead of visiting random points of interest to battle others, you’ll need to visit real-world basketball courts to earn your spot on local leaderboards. And, of course, there’s a roster of big-name ballers like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Paul George to collect.That might not sound like a major change, but it results in some very notable differences in how you play the game. The first is that instead of hanging out on random street corners like you often do while raiding in Pokémon Go, the need to go to local courts makes NBA All-World feel more grounded in reality. That’s important because Niantic says there’s actually very little overlap between people who play its other titles and more traditional sports gamers (just 10 percent according to Niantic senior producer Marcus Matthews). And after years of people playing basketball game series like NBA2K (or my personal favorite NBA Street) at home, Niantic sees All-World as one of the first games that encourages players to get off the couch and go back outside.Because you have to physically go to real courts to take part in battles, NBA All-World feels better connected to the basketball community at large. While I didn’t get to try this out myself prior to launch, it’s not a stretch to imagine people going to a park to play All-World only to hop into a real pickup game. Then, when you sub out, you can go back to challenging leaderboards or playing minigames in NBA All-World on your phone while you catch your breath.NianticAs for the game itself, Niantic has also worked to integrate basketball culture into every aspect of the app. This includes partnering with companies like Adidas and Puma (but not Nike just yet) so you can buy virtual clothing or footwear that matches what star ballers wear IRL. Players in game are also modeled after their real-life counterparts, so centers like Domantas Sabonis are better at blocking while smaller guards are faster and better at stealing the ball. And while Niantic is keeping many elements of NBA All-World’s gameplay pretty simplistic (like defense, which is mostly automatic), the ability to move and juke in various directions, step back for a jumper or drive to the basket provides a surprising amount of depth.I also really appreciate that because Niantic already has tons of info provided by users from its other AR games, NBA All-World is populated with tons of in-game locations and hot spots, from courts to places like banks and stores where you can grab items, energy and more. And when the game goes live this week on January 24th, gameplay won’t just be restricted to the US as NBA All-World is getting a full global launch, which really speaks to the international nature of the sport.However, at this point it’s important to mention that while I think this might be the best use of Niantic’s location-based gaming tech so far, building a new community and playerbase of gamers is a challenge for any developer. This includes some of the company’s previous stumbles, like its ill-fated Harry Potter AR game which is slated to go dark later this month, or its Catan spinoff, which was discontinued in 2021 before ever seeing an official release. But for those looking to dive deeper into the basketball community, NBA All-World looks to offer the best blend of real life and AR integration yet.

There's no such thing as having too much storage on hand. You'll never quite know when you could use a microSD card or SSD, and better safe than sorry. Stocking up when they're on sale is never a bad idea, so it's worth checking out the latest discounts on some SanDisk models at Amazon. For instance, a Nintendo Switch-licensed 512GB microSD card (with cute Animal Crossing branding) has dropped 58 percent from $130 to $58.11. A yellow 256GB card with a Super Mario Super Star logo is 40 percent off at $31.90.You don't necessarily have to use these cards in a Switch, of course, but depending on what you might use them for, it's worth keeping in mind the read and write speeds. These versions have read speeds of up to 100MB/s and write speeds up to 90MB/s. That might not be fast enough for a camera that shoots 8K footage with high frame rates (you might want a card with a higher capacity for that purpose, anyway), but these cards should be absolutely fine for a Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck, which have maximum read speeds of 104MB/s.Elsewhere, SanDisk's 2TB Extreme Portable SSD is currently 65 percent off at $160. That's a hefty discount from the regular price of $460. This SSD supports read speeds up to 1,050MB/s and write speeds up to 1,000MB/s. It has USB 3.2 Gen 2 support for data transfers via USB-C.SanDisk says the SSD has up to two-meter drop protection and IP55 water and dust resistance. There's built-in password protection with 256‐bit AES hardware encryption to protect your data and a carabiner loop to help you physically secure the device.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Poker Face isn’t the sort of show that can be spoiled, but have a warning anyway.I always think there’s been a gulf between production-line TV and its prestige brethren, but that the internet helped demarcate its edges. NCIS was the most-watched drama series in the US from 2009 onwards, but you don’t see The Ringer giving an essay-length breakdown to every episode. These days, prestige drama in the peak-TV mold is pored over and chewed around by the internet sausage machine. Everything else is deemed disposable, despite the obvious and sustained success of the stuff most people are actually watching on broadcast networks. There’s a lot of snobbery there, but also I suspect the The Rookie audience isn’t too fussed about reading a 2,000-word breakdown by an underemployed Yale grad about last night’s Nathan Fillion fights crime action.Poker Face, then, is an attempt by what I’ll only-slightly-sarcastically call “prestige TV people” into making production-line TV. Like when a stuffy gourmet chef wants to burnish their “down with the kids” credentials by making the sort of dirty burger you can only appreciate at 3am. Interesting then that, despite the fact its co-creator and star are both poster children for Netflix’s revolution, that the show was set up at Peacock. Created by Rian Johnson, fresh from the success of Glass Onion: A Benoit Blanc Mystery, and Russian Doll’s Natasha Lyonne, Poker Face is an unashamed homage to a lost age of TV. Or, you know, lost if you’re not paying attention to whatever CBS is showing on Thursday and Sunday nights.Lyonne stars as Charlie Cale, a woman with a troubled past who has developed the miraculous ability to tell when someone is lying. After attempting to use her talent to get rich quickly on a lazy poker tour across the US, she’s caught by a Reno casino magnate. He offers her a hostess job, in exchange for not murdering her to death, making her promise not to use her talent again. When he retires, and his grabby son takes over, he opts to use her talent rather than keep it hidden, embroiling both of them in a murder mystery. Which eventually leads her taking a road trip in her Plymouth Barracuda, solving murders wherever she goes.And, certainly, the show has leant into the idea that Poker Face is probably the closest thing we’re going to get to a millennial Columbo remake. Certainly, the creative team haven’t been shy about drawing the parallels between the ‘70s classic (and, uh 80/90s less classic) and this. It uses the same Inverted Detective Story structure, with the lead character absent in the first act while we see how the murder was committed and the attempts to build a watertight alibi. Not to mention the choice to title the show with boldface yellow text, complete with copyright date under the title card, and its overall ethos. You’ve got a streetwise, rough-around-the-edges New Yorker with a knack for solving crimes and a classic car. And, much like in its inspiration, Lyonne is going up against a series of A- and B-list guest stars, since the most famous guest star (or stars) is the one that did the murder.NBC UniversalThe differences are mostly down to packaging, since Columbo was conceived as a series of movies-of-the-month. (Columbo was originally 90 minutes, but many episodes were “supersized” to two full hours, very commonly to their detriment.) Poker Face is set up as an “episodic” case-of-the-week show, with streaming’s runtime freedom meaning that some episodes run between 80 minutes and just 50 minutes, when the plot is slender enough to justify the trim. That’s good, because it rarely feels like any episode overstays its welcome, and they often skip along at a breezy old clip.But this efficiency also robs us of one of the highlights that made classic Columbo as it could often be. Watching a short, scrappy, working-class cop square off against higher status opposition was always a delight. And the show would build up to these confrontations, parceling them out along the way toward the eventual denouement. Star Peter Falk was a great, if difficult, actor, and he would often be squaring off against one of his real-life friends, each one a superstar. And they would load each confrontation with depth, nuance and tension as Lt. Columbo sliced apart their “watertight” alibi with a razor blade. Watching Falk against John Cassavetes, Patrick McGoohan, Robert Culp or the amazing Jack Cassidy was electrifying television. And all of this is cast aside, because Charlie is apparently a human lie detector that knows whenever the guest star lies in her presence. (This is rather unsubtly demonstrated most of the time by Charlie reflexively coughing a naughty word describing male cow poops that we’re no longer allowed to write here.)In its place, is the recurring twist (if it can be called that) that Charlie was actually present or somehow involved with the situation leading up to the murder. So while Lyonne is absent for the first act of the show, you then see an abbreviated version of those same events showing how Charlie came to be inveigled with the events (and has an emotional stake in solving the crime). In a way, you’ll start wondering how exactly we’ll see Charlie pop up and which scenes that we just saw was she lurking in the periphery of. It’s an elegant way of tying the character and the murder together without making her a shabby police officer in a beige raincoat.But you don’t need to be a Columbo fan to enjoy Poker Face, and the ultimate litmus test was making my aggressively-Columbo-indifferent wife watch the screeners with me. She said that the show was fun, and it gives you the “joy of seeing how Charlie was there all along.” And that, much like another of her favorite detective shows, Jonathan Creek, you can play along at home, looking for the clues that will eventually point Charlie to solving the case. (The show does play fair, too, and gives you the chance to spot a clue that our hero won’t clock for another few minutes.)NBC UniversalThe benefit of the episodic nature of the series is that you can dip in and out of it as you feel like it. I watched the six (of ten) episodes Peacock made available for review in dribs and drabs, watching one, then taking a day off, then the next, in a way that felt similar to how it’s intended to be seen. The only issue for would-be dippers is that you may not quite understand why, at the end of half the episodes, a character I won’t name pops up to glower at Lyonne. This is something the show has borrowed from older shows, where our hero was always on the move in order to stay out of the clutches of the overarching villain and keep the story going. But you’d be a fool not to at least watch the pilot episode, which was written and directed by Johnson. (The second episode, where he just directs, sags a little as it opts to restate its premise for anyone who decided to watch TV like a psychopath and not just start at the beginning.)Tonally, Poker Face is breezy, despite its rough-around-the-edges world, and there’s often one killer joke in every episode. As much as some episodes might draw from a darker palette, none are even close to being described as “heavy.” It’s not afraid to be a little silly, either, but I’d spoil the fun in explaining how or why it is, so you’ll have to discover that bit for yourself. In fact, most of the fun of the show is just in the watching, so I can’t imagine anyone will be racing to write 2,000-word essay-length breakdowns about how each episode unfolded. Just repeat to yourself: It’s just a show, I should really just relax.Poker Face debuts on Peacock on January 26th, 2023, with the first four episodes streaming at launch. A new episode will debut every following Thursday for the next six weeks.

YouTube Music contractors in the Austin area who voted to unionize are accusing their employers of abusing return-to-office policies to stifle labor organizers. The Alphabet Workers Union (AWU) has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) alleging that YouTube parent Alphabet and staffing firm Cognizant are using an abrupt return-to-office move, due in February, to punish remote workers, many of whom are reportedly pro-union. Some also live outside Austin. Managers have also been sending work to other offices to "chill" union organization efforts in Austin, according to the complaint, while a supervisor purportedly made implicit anti-union threats.While the workers are contracted, they claim Alphabet and Cognizant represent a "joint employer." If so, Alphabet would be responsible for working conditions and have to negotiate if the Austin-area team votes in favor of a union.We've asked Alphabet and Cognizant for comment. In a statement to Bloomberg, a Cognizant spokesperson claims staff were "fully aware" of an eventual return to the office before the petition to unionize, and that it has "repeatedly and consistently" told employees about its return-to-office policy since December 2021. Those contractors who willingly left the Austin area and can't come back to in-person work can also be "considered" for other work at Cognizant, the spokeperson says.This isn't the first increase in tension between Alphabet and pro-union contractors. In spring 2022, Washington state Cognizant employees working on Google Maps warned they would go on strike over an allegedly unreasonable return-to-office schedule. Cognizant pushed back the return by 90 days. At Google, meanwhile, many cafeteria workers quietly unionized during the pandemic as they sought better conditions.The row comes as Alphabet is cutting 12,000 jobs worldwide in the wake of rough economic conditions and dropping profits. While that figure only covers direct employees, it reflects pressure to slash employment costs. That, in turn, may set up conflicts with pro-union workers seeking better pay and benefits.

One of the best-loved Nintendo 64 games is coming to Switch Online's Expansion Pack this week. Back in September, Nintendo revealed that GoldenEye 007 was coming to the service and now that day is almost upon us. You'll be able to start playing the game on your Nintendo Switch starting on January 27th. The game will be available on Xbox on the same date.It's unusual to see a licensed game arrive on Nintendo's subscription service, but GoldenEye 007 is one that many fans have been looking forward to replaying (or even playing for the first time). It remains to be seen how well Rare's classic first-person shooter will hold up almost 26 years after it debuted on the N64. Hopefully, Rare has improved the janky controls and awful framerate from the original game.There are some new additions to the Switch Online version, though, including a widescreen mode and online multiplayer. So, you won't necessarily need to cram around the same TV to take on your friends in a "slappers only" deathmatch.Rare is also bringing a "recreated" version of GoldenEye 007 to Xbox consoles this Friday with dual analogue stick support, 4K resolution and "a consistent refresh rate." Oddly, there's no online multiplayer on the Xbox version, though there's still four-player splitscreen support. You'll be able to access it through Xbox Game Pass. Owners of the Rare Replay collection can download GoldenEye 007 to their Xbox One or Xbox Series X/S at no extra cost.

Honda has big plans for the new year and electrification will play a huge part of that, the company's recently-promoted SVP of Sales, Mamadou Diallo, told reporters on Tuesday. Expect to see a lot more Honda and Acura hybrids on the road this year, ahead of a major EV push come 2024.Overall, Honda is officially aiming to move 1.2 million units in 2023, with Acura shooting for 160,000 units, a 20 - 25 percent increase over what they sold in 2022. And although the company managed to maintain a single-digit days' supply of vehicles throughout last year, it enters 2023 with a glut of cars and trucks and a 17-day supply. As such, dealers are going to be looking to move a lot of that inventory before this year's models start arriving so fingers crossed, we could potentially see some Tesla-level price cuts in the near future."In 2023, we will see the strategies we've been talking about, including growing sales of light truck models, increasing volume of hybrid-electric models and the start of digital sales at Acura," Diallo said in a Wednesday press release. "All this leads toward our vision of 100-percent electrified sales by 2040 to fulfill our ultimately goal of zero emissions by 2050."The ZDX and ZDX Type S will be Acura's first full-EV offerings and serve as the harbingers of the company's new, exclusively online EV sales strategy. Diallo didn't have much additional information regarding how the system would work — such as whether haggling was allowed or how individual vehicle prices would be set — but assured the assembled journalists, "as we get closer to [the ZDX debut], we certainly will be discussing this a little bit more with our dealer body and the press in general. For right now we're still finalizing all those details." Acura joins Ford, Volvo, GM and VW in shifting its electrified vehicle sales to the digital marketplace.For its part, Honda is planning a significant increase in its hybrid vehicle production in 2023, starting with the newly-redesigned Accord and Accord Hybrid (they'll also be Honda's first with Google Built-In). The company "will continue to increase hybrid sales through core models as an important step in bridging customers to full electrified vehicles while reducing GHG emissions," the Wednesday release reads. Honda anticipates a solid half of this year's CR-V and Accord sales to be of the hybrid variety and its efforts bolstered in 2024 with the introduction of a new Civic hybrid. Sales for the all-electric Prologue begin this year with deliveries set for 2024.

If you're looking to buy some accessories for your phone, a bunch of Anker powerbanks, cables and chargers are on sale right now at Amazon. One of the best deals in the list is the Anker Magnetic (MagGo) Battery for the iPhone 12, 13 and 14, which is currently 36 percent off at $45. That's $25 less than its usual price and is an all-time low for the device that can stick to the back of your iPhone for on-the-go wireless charging and can double as a kickstand. The 5,000 mAh battery is only 0.5 inches thin and can also charge via USB-C. Its white, purple and blue versions are on sale for $45 at the moment, but you can also get the green variant for $60.In case you need a portable battery with a much bigger capacity not just for your phone, but for your laptop and tablet, as well, Anker's PowerCore 40K is also on sale for $56. This is the lowest price we've seen for the powerbank, which retails for $100, on the website. Like its name implies, the device has a 40,000 mAh capacity and is capable of 30W USB-C charging. Anker says it can charge an iPhone 13 for up to 8.8 times and a 2020 MacBook Air twice.Anker's Nano II 45W USB-C Charger is also on sale, if what you're looking for is a single small charger for multiple devices. It can charge Samsung Galaxy devices and the 2020 MacBook Air at full speed, and it can also charge an iPhone 13 faster than Apple's original charger can. But it also works with other devices, such as the iPad, Apple Watch and 13-inch MacBook Pro. This compact foldable charger will set you back $30, or $10 less than its usual price.If all you need is cables, however, you can also get a three-pack bundle of Anker's Powerline+ II Lightning Cable from the sale. The bundle comes with two three-feet and one six-feet cable and will cost you $26.24, or 25 percent less than retail.Shop Anker deals at AmazonFollow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

In November, millions of Taylor Swift fans logged on to Ticketmaster to grab tickets for her 2023 tour. However, the site crashed, rendering verified users unable to purchase. Ticketmaster's parent company, Live Nation, explained that while 1.5 million people had signed up as legit customers, over 14 million hit the site when tickets went on sale – many of which were bots.Live Nation president and CFO Joe Berchtold told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that the company "learned valuable lessons" from the Swift debacle. Three senators shoehorned in Taylor Swift quotes into their statements and questions – which I loved.Berchtold called for Congress to expand the BOTS Act to "increase enforcement." Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal reminded Berchtold there are already legal options for going after scalpers using bots to procure tickets. "You have unlimited power to go to court," Blumenthal said. "Your approach seems to be that everyone else is responsible here."– Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missed

Amazon union workers in the UK are striking for the first time over wages and what they call "severe" working conditions. They've rejected what they say is a "derisory" £0.50 pay raise (62 cents) and are demanding an increase to £15 ($18.48) an hour.A 98 percent majority of GMB union workers at Amazon's Coventry fulfillment center voted in favor of the "historic" walkout and announced a strike date of January 25th earlier this year. Of 1,000 workers at the plant, 300 are unionized and expected to participate in the action.Amazon told Engadget in a statement that the size of the strike is "only a fraction of 1 percent of our UK employees." It added that pay has increased 29 percent since 2018 and that it made a one-time £500 payment to help workers with inflation. "Employees are also offered comprehensive benefits that are worth thousands more — including private medical insurance, life assurance, subsidized meals and an employee discount, to name a few."However, two employees interviewed by the BBC said Amazon's offer last August of a small pay raise to between £10.50 and £11.45 per hour was a "smack in the mouth" considering the company's profits and high inflation. "These people had worked two years through the pandemic, that had seen Amazon's shares go through the roof, they had seen the profits just become unimaginable," Darren Westwood told the BBC.They also decried the company's work culture, saying Amazon's warehouse robots "are treated better than us." Westwood said that employees are monitored constantly and questioned for any idle time lasting a few minutes. He also noted that some employees work 60 hours a week to make ends meet.In April of 2022, workers at Amazon's Staten Island warehouse voted to become the first in the US to join a union, and Amazon's appeal failed last week. The company recently announced that it would eliminate 18,000 jobs, the majority from its retail and recruiting divisions. It has been frequently been accused of poor working conditions, notably after a warehouse collapsed in a tornado, and also faced criticism over anti-union activities.Update 1/25/2023 5:18AM ET: The post has been updated with Amazon's statement to Engadget.

Multiple Microsoft 365 services went down for thousands of users around the world, prompting the tech giant to investigate the incident affecting several of its products. In an announcement about the outage posted in the early morning (ET time) of January 25th, the company said users were unable to access its services, including Microsoft Teams, Exchange Online, Outlook, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, Microsoft Graph, PowerBi and Microsoft 365 Admin Center. The tech giant admitted that the outage might not be limited to those products, however, and true enough, over a thousand users also reported having problems with accessing Xbox Live on Down Detector.In an update to its announcement, Microsoft said it "isolated the problem to a networking configuration issue." The company added that it had to plan its next troubleshooting steps carefully and analyze "the best mitigation strategy" in order to come up with a solution that wouldn't cause any additional impact. By 4:26AM ET, Microsoft tweeted that it "rolled back a network change" that it believed was causing the outage and that it was monitoring its services as they start coming back online.

Bowers & Wilkins debuted its first true wireless earbuds in the spring of 2021. In fact, it announced two models at that time: the Pi7 and Pi5. Today, the company revealed updated versions for both which will carry the S2 label Bowers & Wilkins typically uses for retooled but not entirely brand new products. While the Pi7 S2 and Pi5 S2 aren't rebuilt from the ground up, there are still some notable upgrades to both.The Pi7 S2 and Pi5 S2 now both offer five hours of battery life on a charge. That's up from four hours on the Pi7 and Pi5. A 15-minute quick-charge feature still gives you two hours of use and the included cases carry an additional 16 hours for the Pi7 S2 and 19 hours for the Pi5 S2. Both still have wireless charging capabilities, though the case for the Pi7 S2 is equipped with Wireless Audio Retransmission. Like it did for the Pi7, the case can connect to can external audio source — like in-flight entertainment — and wirelessly send sound to the earbuds. This isn't novel to Bowers & Wilkins earbuds, but it is a handy feature nonetheless. Bowers & Wilkins says it also updated the antenna design on the Pi7 and Pi5 to increase Bluetooth range up to 25 meters.The key difference between the two models is audio quality. The Pi7 S2 supports aptX Adaptive with 24-bit/48kHz streaming from compatible devices and services. 9.2mm balanced armature dynamic drivers are paired with Bowers & Wilkins' digital signal processing tech for higher quality audio that what the Pi5 offers with CD-quality sound and regular aptX. The Pi7 S2 also packs one additional microphone per earbud which should make it the preferred option for calls. And while both feature active noise cancellation (ANC), the Pi7 S2 has an adaptive setup that automatically monitors your surroundings to adjust the audio as needed for "the best possible, uninterrupted listening experience."Both the Pi7 S2 and Pi5 S2 are available starting today, replacing the Pi7 and Pi5. The $399 Pi7 S2 comes in black, white and dark blue color options while the $299 Pi5 S2 offers light grey, dark grey and purple. A green version of the Pi5 S2 is slated to arrive later this spring.Pi5 S2Bowers & Wilkins

Tesla has big expansion plans for its first Gigafactory near Reno, Nevada. The automaker has announced that it's investing $3.6 billion to build two new factories in the complex and hire 3,000 additional workers. That's bigger than the company's initial investment ($3.5 billion) when it made a commitment to build the facility back in 2014. One of the new Nevada factories will manufacture its 4680-type batteries, while the other will be Tesla's first factory to mass produce the Semi.The automaker delivered its first production Semis to Pepsi in December 2022, five years after it first showed off the electric rig and following several delays. Tesla currently manufactures the truck in limited quantities only, but it has long been planning to start volume production in Nevada. The company's Semi truck uses less than 2 kWh per mile of energy and can go between 300 and 500 miles on a single charge. Tesla claims owners will enjoy an estimated fuel savings of up to $200,000 within the first three years.While the Semi factory will finally allow Tesla to mass produce its trucks, its 4680 battery factory will help it achieve its goals of slashing battery costs by half and ramping up production to be able to sell 20 million electric vehicles by 2030. Tesla introduced the 4680 battery — named as such because its cells measure 46mm by 80mm — as a higher-capacity-but-cheaper option to power its vehicles. According to Reuters, though, the company has been having issues scaling up its production due to the dry-coating technique used to coat its cells. Tesla didn't say how it's addressing those issues, but it did say that the new factory will have the capacity to produce enough 4680 batteries for 1.5 million light duty vehicles every year.

Twitter has a new whistleblower, as another former employee has sounded the alarm about security issues, according toThe Washington Post. The new complainant, who has spoken with Congress and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), says any Twitter engineer still has access to an internal program — formerly called “GodMode” — that lets them tweet from any account.The whistleblower’s complaint alleges GodMode (now renamed to “privileged mode”) remains on the laptop of any engineer who wants it, requiring only a production computer and a simple code change from “FALSE” to “TRUE.” Screenshots of the code, included in an October complaint filed with the FTC, show a warning to anyone attempting to use it: “THINK BEFORE YOU DO THIS.”This isn't the first time Twitter security has drawn scrutiny. In 2020, teenage crypto scammers hacked the company’s internal systems, sending fake tweets from the accounts of President Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Musk and others. Twitter’s at-the-time executives said they had fixed the issue and launched a “comprehensive information security program that is reasonably designed to protect the security, privacy, confidentiality, and integrity of nonpublic consumer information.”However, Twitter’s first whistleblower, Peiter Zatko, disputed that. Another engineer claimed at the time that GodMode was still widely available.Justin Sullivan via Getty ImagesThe new complainant’s filing says the incident led to Twitter reopening the case, which sparked the discovery that engineers could also delete or restore anyone’s tweets. (Regular Twitter users can't do either.) He also claims Twitter can’t log who, if anyone, uses or abuses any of the special privileges.The new whistleblower’s complaint was filed by Whistleblower Aid, the same nonprofit firm representing Zatko. The FTC is reportedly interviewing former Twitter employees about the allegations.

Don't worry if you hate Twitter's curated For You tab, as you now have a better way to avoid it. Twitter is updating its web and mobile apps to default to the timeline tab you last had open. If you close the app after looking at the chronological Following tab like a sensible human being, you'll see it again when you come back. The tab default is rolling out today on the web, and "coming soon" to the Android and iOS apps.This won't revert to the old "twinkle" button that saved space. It does let you stick to your preferred timeline, though. This could be particularly helpful if you want to follow time-sensitive events (one of the main reasons many people use Twitter) and would rather not switch tabs every time you check your feed.

Like many big tech companies, Microsoft is preparing for the worst after announcing plans to lay off 10,000 employees in the upcoming third quarter. It turns out that the company's second quarter was a mixed bag: It earned $52.7 billion in revenue, which was up 2 percent from last year, but a slight miss from the $52.9 billion analysts expected. Profits also fell by 12 percent to $16.4 billion, a trend that may continue throughout the year.Despite the faltering PC market, Microsoft has been riding high on cloud revenues for years, and that seems to be continuing. its intelligent cloud business was up 18 percent from last year, reaching $21.5 billion. Microsoft's belt tightening didn't stop the company from potentially investing $10 billion more in ChatGPT creator OpenAI, yet another sign that AI is going to play a major role in its future projects. The company plans to add ChatGPT to its Azure OpenAI service soon, and it's reportedly planning to integrated that technology in Bing.Microsoft's More Personal Computing division, which includes Windows, Xbox and PC hardware, fell by 19 percent year-over-year, hitting $14.2 billion. That's the direct result of the PC market downturn. The company says Windows revenue to manufacturers fell by 39 percent, while Xbox content and services was also down by 12 percent. Devices revenue also dropped by 39 percent — it turns out Surface devices weren't in huge demand over the holidays."The surprisingly strong performance in Microsoft’s key Azure cloud business was enough to ease worries surrounding a steeper deceleration path on cloud optimizations, sending the stock higher," said Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com. "Tech investors are relieved to see that the slowdown across Microsoft’s key cloud business was not as bad as feared."

One Activision Blizzard studio won't form a union, at least not in the near future. The Communication Workers of America (CWA) says it's withdrawing its petition for a union vote at Blizzard support studio Proletariat, which is currently working on World of Warcraft: Dragonflight. As Kotakunotes, a CWA spokesperson claims Proletariat chief Seth Sivak saw employees' unionization move as a "personal attack" and held meetings that allegedly "demoralized and disempowered" the team enough to prevent a fair election.The pro-union group, the Proletariat Workers Alliance, said in December that it had majority support. Activision Blizzard declined to willingly recognize the union, though, forcing an election through the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). It's not clear how much support the vote has now, but Proletariat engineer Dustin Yost says in a statement that the union-busting meetings "took their toll."We've asked Activision Blizzard and the CWA for comment. There are no immediate indications the CWA plans to resubmit the petition or file a complaint with the NLRB over the alleged anti-union tactics. Yost says he still feels a union is the "best way" to get industry representation.Staff at Activision Blizzard's Albany studio and Raven Software successfully unionized last year despite accusations of anti-union tactics from the publisher. However, those campaigns were limited to quality assurance testers. Proletariat Workers Alliance hoped to unite the entire studio except for management, which was considerably more complex. According to an Axiossource, some teammates felt the unionization push was too quick and didn't give them the time to understand the consequences.This doesn't rule out a union at Proletariat or other Activision Blizzard teams. With that said, it comes as workers across the tech space seek to unionize, including at gaming giants like Microsoft's ZeniMax. Developers and testers don't feel they're getting fair working conditions, and they're increasingly willing to speak out on the subject.

NASA is going back to an old idea as it tries to get humans to Mars. It is teaming up with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to test a nuclear thermal rocket engine in space with the aim of using the technology for crewed missions to the red planet. The agencies hope to "demonstrate advanced nuclear thermal propulsion technology as soon as 2027," NASA administrator Bill Nelson said. "With the help of this new technology, astronauts could journey to and from deep space faster than ever — a major capability to prepare for crewed missions to Mars."Under the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program, NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate will take the lead on technical development of the engine, which will be integrated with an experimental spacecraft from DARPA. NASA says that nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) could allow spacecraft to travel faster, which could reduce the volume of supplies needed to carry out a long mission. An NTD engine could also free up space for more science equipment and extra power for instrumentation and communication.As far back as the 1940s, scientists started speculating about the possibility of using nuclear energy to power spaceflight. The US conducted ground experiments on that front starting in the '50s. Budget cutbacks and changing priorities (such as a focus on the Space Shuttle program) led to NASA abandoning the project at the end of 1972 before it carried out any test flights.There are, of course, risks involved with NTP engines, such as the possible dispersal of radioactive material in the environment should a failure occur in the atmosphere or orbit. Nevertheless, NASA says the faster transit times that NTP engines can enable could lower the risk to astronauts — they could reduce travel times to Mars by up to a quarter. Nuclear thermal rockets could be at least three times more efficient than conventional chemical propulsion methods.NASA is also looking into nuclear energy to power related space exploration efforts. In 2018, it carried out tests of a portable nuclear reactor as part of efforts to develop a system capable of powering a habitat on Mars. Last year, NASA and the Department of Energy selected three contractors to design a fission surface power system that it can test on the Moon. DARPA and the Defense Department have worked on other NTP engine projects over the last few years.Meanwhile, the US has just approved a small modular nuclear design for the first time. As Gizmodo reports, the design allows for a nuclear facility that's around a third the size of a standard reactor. Each module is capable of producing around 50 megawatts of power. The design, from a company called NuScale, could lower the cost and complexity of building nuclear power plants.

In November, millions of Taylor Swift fans logged on to Ticketmaster hoping to scoop up tickets to arguably the most-anticipated tour of 2023. When the time came, the site crashed, rendering verified users unable to purchase admission to the singer's first slate of shows in five years. In the immediate aftermath, Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation explained that while 1.5 million people had signed up as legit customers, over 14 million hit the site when tickets went on sale — many of which were bots.Live Nation president and CFO Joe Berchtold told the Senate Judiciary Comittee on Tuesday that the company "learned valuable lessons" from the Swift debacle. "In hindsight there are several things we could have done better – including staggering the sales over a longer period of time and doing a better job setting fan expectations for getting tickets," he said.Berchtold told Senators that Ticketmaster experienced three times more bot traffic that day than it ever had before, and that a cyberattack on the company's verified fan password servers exacerbated the problem. He explained that despite investing over $1 billion in ticketing systems since the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger, mostly to combat fraud and scalping, the company has a massive bot problem that it can't get a handle on."We also need to recognize how industrial scalpers breaking the law using bots and cyberattacks to try to unfairly gain tickets contributes to an awful consumer experience," Berchtold said. What he called "industrialized scalping" led to the Taylor Swift fiasco, he explained, but the executive wants Congress to act to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.Berchtold called for Congress to expand the scope of the BOTS Act to "increase enforcement." Signed into law in 2016, the legislation makes it illegal to bypass a website's security or tech features as a means of purchasing tickets. It also makes it illegal to resell tickets obtained via those methods. Specifically, Berchtold called for banning the use of fraudulent URLs and stopping the resale of tickets before their general on-sale date.Sen. Marsha Blackburn during Tuesday's hearingTom Williams via Getty ImagesThe law leaves enforcement with the FTC and states, a topic Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn discussed with Berchtold in some of the most pointed questioning of the session. "You told me yesterday you block about 90 percent of the bot attacks that you get, and that's a failing grade," she said. "There ought to be people you can get some good advice from because our critical infrastructure in this country gets bot attacks every single day. They have figured it out, but you guys haven't?"Blackburn admitted that the FTC has only taken action on the law once, and that the lack of widespread action was "unacceptable." She pledged to do something about the lack of enforcement through the dealings of the Senate Commerce Committee, where she is also a member."The FTC has the authority, but you have a responsibility to consumers," she continued. "I agree they are not exercising it, but how many times have you called the FTC and said 'we need your help?'"Berchtold explained that Live Nation had only contacted the FTC once about suspected bot activity — in late 2019 and early 2020. He said that was the only time they had necessary information to work with the commission in order to get a prosecution. "These are not bots that are trying to break into our system, they are trying to impersonate people... putting true fans at a disadvantage," Berchtold told Blackburn when asked why Live Nation has such a hard time recognizing bots.In regards to the BOTS Act, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal told Berchtold there are already legal options available to the company to go after scalpers using bots to procure tickets."You have unlimited power to go to court," Blumenthal said. "Your approach seems to be that everyone else is responsible here — not us."

A new exploit in the PC version of Grand Theft Auto Online is causing players to lose game progress and in-game currency, with some accounts becoming corrupted or banned. The exploit, a “remote code execution,” was distributed through the developer of the North Online GTA cheat mod.The exploit can reportedly impact anyone, not just players in the same multiplayer lobby as the attacker, according toBleepingComputer. That means anyone currently online and playing the game on PC is at least theoretically vulnerable to attack. (Console players are unaffected.) Engadget reached out to Rockstar for comment, and we will update this article if we hear back.The company tweeted this acknowledgment of the fiasco on Monday.

Alongside eight states, the US Department of Justice is suing Google to break up the company’s advertising business. In a complaint filed Tuesday with a federal court in Virginia, the agency accused Google of illegally monopolizing the digital advertising market. “Google’s anticompetitive behavior has raised barriers to entry to artificially high levels, forced key competitors to abandon the market for ad tech tools, dissuaded potential competitors from joining the market, and left Google’s few remaining competitors marginalized and unfairly disadvantaged,” the Justice Department alleges."Today’s lawsuit from the DOJ attempts to pick winners and losers in the highly competitive advertising technology sector,” a Google spokesperson told Engadget. “It largely duplicates an unfounded lawsuit by the Texas Attorney General, much of which was recently dismissed by a federal court. DOJ is doubling down on a flawed argument that would slow innovation, raise advertising fees, and make it harder for thousands of small businesses and publishers to grow."As Bloomberg notes, the lawsuit represents the Biden administration’s first significant attempt to challenge the power of one of the nation’s largest tech firms. The agency previously sued Google in 2020. At the time, the Justice Department, under Attorney General William Barr, said the company had a monopoly over search and search-related advertising. It also took issue with the terms around Android, which the Justice Department said unfairly advantage Google by forcing manufacturers to preload their devices with the company’s applications and search engine.Google faces intense government scrutiny over its hold on the digital advertising market. In 2020, Texas filed a multi-state lawsuit accusing the company of using its "monopolistic power to control" ad pricing. One year later, the European Commission opened a probe into the company’s advertising business, a move that seems to have forced Google to reconsider how it handles ads on YouTube. Last year, the Senate also introduced legislation designed to prevent companies like Google from participating in more than one part of the digital advertising ecosystem.“Having inserted itself into all aspects of the digital advertising marketplace, Google has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful means to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies,” the Justice Department says in its most recent complaint. It accuses Google of using acquisitions to take out both “actual or potential” competitors, in addition to abusing its marketplace dominance to prevent publishers and advertisers from using competing products effectively. “Whenever Google’s customers and competitors responded with innovation that threatened Google’s stranglehold over any one of these ad tech tools, Google’s anticompetitive response has been swift and effective,” the Justice Department alleges.One estimate suggests Google controls as much as 26.5 percent of the US digital ads market. The company’s ad unit is expected to generate about $73.8 billion in US ad revenue over the next year, with much of that money coming from search advertisements.

Apple's latest 12.9-inch iPad Pro has dropped to its lowest price to date across several configurations. The 512GB version of the tablet, which is powered by an M2 chipset, is $100 off at $1,299. If you'd like to double that storage to 1TB, you'll save $200 off the regular price, as that version has dropped to $1,599. Similarly, a 12.9-inch iPad Pro M2 with 2TB of storage is $200 off at $1,999. These prices are for the WiFi models, but you can also snag the 1TB and 2TB cellular variants for $200 off the regular price. Amazon isn't offering a discount on the 512GB WiFi and cellular version at the minute, unfortunately.The M2 lineup offers significant CPU and GPU performance boosts over the M1 iPad Pro, based on our testing. The latest generation of Apple chipsets power some neat features on the most recent iPad Pro models, including an Apple Pencil tool called Hover. This allows you to see how apps and other aspects of the user interface will react before you touch the stylus against the tablet. For instance, you may be able to see how colors will blend with each other in watercolor apps before applying the brushstroke. The tablet can also now record video in Apple’s ProRes codec in 4K resolution at 30 frames per second.All told, we gave the latest iPad Pro a score of 87 in our review. The chip upgrade is a big selling point, especially if you already have an iPad Pro that's a few years old and showing its age. Add in a best-in-class screen and design, as well as great battery life, and the M2-powered 12.9-inch iPad Pro may just be worth your while.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

The next version of Android could bar you from installing ancient apps in some circumstances. 9to5Google has spotted a code change indicating that Android 14 will block users from sideloading apps (that is, installing them outside of the Play Store) that don't target a minimum version of the operating system. It will stop the installation of particularly old software at first, but Google expects to "progressively" raise the bar to require at least Android 6.0 Marshmallow.The move is meant to boost security and privacy. Malware writers can't just target old versions of Android to escape security measures in newer releases, Google says. Google already requires that apps in the Play Store target at least Android 12. This update denies attempts to install vintage apps through the web or third-party stores.This won't completely thwart you if there's a classic app you're determined to run. It's up to device manufacturers to enable the cutoff, and there will still be a way to install apps through a command shell. The new policy is meant to stop people from unwittingly installing malware. If you sideload an old app on an Android 14 phone with this measure switched on, you likely know exactly what you're doing.Still, it's notable that Google is limiting sideloading at all. For some, it's a reason to buy an Android phone instead of an iPhone — you're free to install apps that aren't available in the official store. However, it's not surprising that Google is clamping down. Android malware writers frequently (though not always) rely on sideloading precisely because there are fewer restrictions than in the Play Store. A block on old apps won't put an end to malware, but it could tighten the platform's overall security.

SpaceX’s next-generation Starship super heavy-lift rocket is one step closer to the day when it may finally fly. On Monday, SpaceX fueled a fully stacked Starship for the first time. The “wet dress rehearsal” saw the company load the vehicle’s Super Heavy and Starship stages with more than 10 million pounds of liquid oxygen and methane fuel. Additionally, SpaceX ran through some of the countdown procedures it will need to complete on launch day. “Today’s test will help verify a full launch countdown sequence, as well as the performance of Starship and the orbital pad for flight-light operations,” SpaceX posted on Twitter.

Google doesn't plan to let political campaigns dodge Gmail's spam detection for much longer. The Washington Post has learned that Google plans to end the email filter bypass pilot program by the end of this month. In a dismissal motion filed at a federal court in the Eastern District of California, the company rejects the Republican National Committee (RNC) allegations of political bias that led to the test. Gmail's filtering methods "apply equally" to every sender whether or not there's a political connection, the company says.The pilot was a response to RNC accusations in October that Google was censoring right-wing fundraising emails by marking them as spam. The committee pointed to a study that supposedly backed the claims, but Google maintained that messaging frequency, user responses and other non-political elements dictated filtering behavior. Even so, Google acknowledged the pressure and got permission from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to run the test. The experiment was already set to end in January, but it wasn't clear if Google would extend the program until now.Over 100 Democrat and Republican committees joined the program after it was approved in August. However, the RNC wasn't one of them. Google points this out in its new filing, asserting that the Republicans want to accuse the firm of unfair treatment instead of participating in the solution.In a statement to Engadget, Google spokesperson José Castañeda says a recent FEC decision "confirmed" it doesn't filter email for "political purposes." The representative also maintains that the RNC complaint is "without merit."On top of the company's own objections, numerous advocacy groups and other critics urged the FEC to reject the looser approach to political emails. They were concerned this change would let political candidates from any party spam users with few repercussions. With this latest filing, the debate is moot — politicians will have to take a careful approach if they expect campaign messages to go directly to your inbox.

If you’ve ever wished you could just show someone what you’re talking about rather than trying to describe it, Apple’s screen sharing function for FaceTime can help. The capability is part of SharePlay, a protocol that lets Apple users do more than just talk to each other on video calls. SharePlay and screen sharing only work between Apple mobile devices running iOS 15 and Macs running MacOS Monterey. While the iOS 15 and Monterey releases did add the ability to FaceTime with Android users via a browser, screen sharing still isn’t available outside of Apple-to-Apple connections.How to share your screen using an iPhone or iPadAmy Skorheim / Engadget

In Forspoken, you control the agile, angry Frey (voiced by Ella Balinska), slinging elemental attacks (and f-bombs) at multiple monsters before leaping off a cliff face and swinging from a molten outcrop. You keep moving, through the lands of Athia, through the adventure, because it’s really fun and satisfying, but also because when you slow down, you start to see the cracks.Running on Square Enix’s in-house Luminous Engine (the team that made the game is a newly-formed group called Luminous Productions), Forspoken gives some beautiful moments of magical pyrotechnics, but it’s not quite up to the consistent environmental beauty (and attention to detail) of games like Horizon Forbidden West or Returnal. Still, most of the elemental effects, Frey’s movements and a lot of the world of Athia is beautifully realized.The matriarchs that control the world, the Tantas, are fearsome, with a fascinating array of spells, lots of intrigue and a great wardrobe. Fighting, talking to and learning about the four leaders and their fall from grace are some of the highlights of Forspoken. Luminous Productions even said that the Tantas were a “labor of love” for the team, and that’s apparent.Take Tanta Prav, the water-wielding Tanta of judgment (they all have a handy job title to explain how they’ll probably rough you up): She is delightfully unhinged and argues with herself. Surrounded by her own watery creations, she’s judge, jury and executioner – except there’s no one left to judge. Until Frey kills one of her fellow Tantas.Square EnixPretty soon after, she’s raving in Frey’s face and you immediately understand that you will have to stop her. The broader story has peaks and troughs, but most of the great moments and set-pieces across the middle-end of the game involve the Tantas’ machinations. Try sneaking (or just rushing) into the castle of the Tanta of Strength, with ballistas firing gobs of fire at you and minions surrounding you even as you dodge the hellfire. Later on, another Tanta pulls you ‘back’ into New York, and the environment playfully teases that all is not what it seems.Square EnixWhile most of the elemental effects, Frey’s movements and a lot of the desolate world of Athia is beautifully realized, other parts aren’t. The only populated region of the game, Cipal, is so underwhelming, relative to the antagonists and their fortresses. Take Auden, Frey’s first friend in Cipal, a city that’s the final bastion of humanity in Athia. She often interacts with Frey in the first and final few chapters of Forspoken – arguably she has more screen time than all but one of the Tantas. She’s also one of the main sources of information about Athia, why the Tantas are now unhinged despots and well, just how bleak everything is. End of the world aside, why does she look such a mess? Similarly, Tanta Cinta, who’s pivotal to the plot, seemed to be modeled by whoever did the dirty to poor Auden.This isn’t just a graphical problem either. It’s obvious where less effort’s been made. Open-world games with low-quality side quests (or game filler) are a regular occurrence – I’ve given up in the middle of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla – but the majority of tasks in Forspoken are just too dull and unrewarding. I’m still chipping away at the game so if there are some pleasant surprises I will update this. But so far, it’s not looking good.Following the primary story beats, while the magical parkour skills make dashing across land an effortless, speedy affair – and definitely faster than horses – there’s not a lot of impetus to explore too much. One of the major landmarks are giant bird cages indicating locked labyrinths. But so far as I’ve explored, they are simplistic junctions of monsters and corridors, with a sub-boss beastie at the end. Other sidequests – lots of them – are just like the fetch quests of Assassin’s Creed, Horizon, Ghost of Tsushima, Spider-Man and well, so many open-world games of the last 10 years.Do you enjoy chasing things for collectibles? Welcome to the cat-chasing sidequests. How about doing it without your speedy magical parkour skills? Because that’s the reality– even when Frey is eventually accepted into the city, you’ll never get to dash across the city of Cipal, and leap up its walls. That means after you’ve traded with collectors, you will have to sprint like a normal human to the tavern. (Weirdly, the sprint button and the magical parkour button are not the same buttons, either.) The good thing is there’s not much to keep you in this town. Even if it’s the only populated area in the game, it’s the least interesting. Take the tavern: During celebrations, you will get to experience the most inconsequential, pointless, real-time event dance-off. The button presses and timings have little or nothing to do with the jigs and the moves. Thankfully, it seemed to be a one-off.Forspoken may offer an open world, but you won’t be able to confront the Tantas outside of the order the plot demands. Don’t worry, the sassy bangle Cuff is around to offer a bit of banter between story beats. It’s a weird relationship between Cuff and Frey: They both seem to dislike each other, but not in an endearing way. Frey may be able to traverse, well, pretty much everything with amazing ease, but despite Square Enix pulling in TV writing talent for Forspoken, there isn’t much depth or even much of a character arc to enjoy. Many major plot points are shoehorned in the final third of the game, and Frey’s sudden mood shifts never seem all that believable.Outside of the main campaign, Forspoken offers plenty of opportunities for exploration, but the rewards don’t feel worth the time. When I unlocked a new cloak or accessory, they’d typically be specced way below my current equipment. I’d have to go for another magical 5K run to collect herbs and other materials to upgrade things to a decent level.The sheer breadth of magical attacks meant I eventually fell into a pattern of using my favorites – until I picked up yet another tree of spells from another fallen Tanta. (It’s a shame you don’t get access to the final set of spells until just before the closing chapters of the game.)The battles, when the skills come together and the camera and lock-on mechanism is consistent, are a delight. You shift between support spells, summoning two lava soldiers while raining down water attacks, throwing a reality-shifting charm over a few other enemies so they start tearing each other apart. You line up multiple enemies and cast your super-spell, sending a carpet of poisoned earth spikes across the battlefield.Coming across a particularly difficult foe, usually glowing enemies classified as mutants, often meant waiting to unlock a family of elemental attacks that were more effective. Or, simply, a matter of mopping them up on your way back from another part of the map once stronger. The rewards for beating these often never seemed worth the effort of a challenging battle (or remembering to circle back to that location).At other times, an invisible enemy would slam into me from behind the camera. The worst fight was during one of the later boss battles with an electric bird beast. It will circle above a city, seemingly forever. Steering Frey, I struggled to land even the most straightforward long-distance attacks. I even made myself dizzy. As the camera continued to swing around and around and around. What should have been a slick showcase for Frey’s agility and parkour talents turned into a war of attrition with bonus motion sickness.My quests and exploration would regularly be interrupted by breakstorms. These usually random blue-hued storms send a barrage of monsters at you – monsters that wouldn’t drop loot, sadly. At other times, breakstorms end if you killed the monsters in specific areas – or if you bested the super bosses that breakstorms would often spawn. Still working on that challenge, myself.A lot of the lore and worldbuilding is rooted in text snippets you’ll pick up in dungeons or rest spots – I wish more was communicated through the characters. Without spoiling things, there are other ‘twists’ that come across as cheap shortcuts, escaping the need for another lavish boss battle.The core story will take between 30 and 40 hours, with some diversions. You can explore a handful of new areas post-game, but nothing so far is particularly captivating. I’m avoiding spoilers again, but a wrinkle at the very end of the post-game leads to a very lazy solution for the conclusions of the story, to ensure Frey can still live her best magical life after the credits roll.Forspoken, running on a PS5, is smooth enough, but it will still buckle under a wave of enemies and enough magical pyrotechnics. Cranking up the graphical fidelity with either ray tracing or 4K makes for a very choppy kind of a game, especially during frenetic battles.Like me before the final chapter, Forspoken doesn’t feel quite ready. Originally meant to launch in May 2022, this game’s already been pushed back a good nine months. Could it have done with a little longer? The main story is intriguing but too short, and the open-world distractions aren’t distracting enough. At one point, opening a pretty simplistic puzzle treasure chest – there are lots of them – Frey exclaims “Boring!”. Same, Frey, same.Fortunately, the battle system is solid and fun, offering enough for gamers looking for an adventure, and hard mode is suitably hard enough to stretch anyone looking for a proper challenge. Frey references Alice in Wonderland several times, but after 30 hours the wonder had unfortunately dried up. If you enjoy the combat, however, and there’s a demo to try out, you might forgive the dullness, and be willing to see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Who wouldn't want a small box that can spit a 120-inch image onto your wall? That's the basic pitch behind 4K ultra short-throw (UST) projectors, which are sometimes called "Laser TVs." They're technically easier to set up than traditional projectors, and unlike large TVs, they don't require a huge footprint. Once you've placed it in front of a screen (or treated wall), you can summon an enormous cinematic image in an instant.We've reviewed a few UST projectors over the years, most recently Formovie's excellent $3,000 model. Personally, I've been in love with LG's Cinebeam HU85L since we first saw it in action in 2019. Sure, it was expensive at over $6,000, but that was far less than the $10,000 earlier models cost (and certainly better than Sony's early eye-watering $30,000 to $40,000 UST projectors). Much like LG's first OLED TVs, the CineBeam represented everything I wanted from the future of home cinema.Now after spending a few months with the company's latest UST, the CineBeam HU915QE, I'm even more enamored. It's brighter than its predecessor, reaching up to 3,700 lumens with a 2,00,000:1 contrast ratio, which makes it ideal for daytime viewing and HDR content. (Unfortunately, it doesn't support Dolby Vision, a rare feature we were surprised to see on the Formovie UST.) The new CineBeam can also be pushed even closer to your wall with the ability to spit out a 90-inch 4K image from 2.2-inches away, or a 120-inch image from 7.2-inches. I just wish it was cheaper than $5,000 — with the Formovie unit coming in at thousands less, it's hard to justify LG's premium.The HU915QE looks similar to most other UST projectors — it's just a large rectangular box — and its design is practically the same as the previous CineBeam. Still, LG gave it enough flair to make it look at home in a classy living room. Its front speaker is covered in cloth, and the entire unit is encased in a solid light gray plastic. (There's also a black model for better nighttime viewing, though that one inexplicably spits out a darker image.) Around back, there are three HDMI ports, 2 USB connections, an optical audio port and Ethernet. It's not exactly heavy, at 26.9 pounds, but you definitely need a wide table or credenza to align it with your screen.Devindra Hardawar/EngadgetThat setup process, by the way, is more annoying than you'd think. Configuring any projector is a pain, as you'll need to place it in just the right spot to fill your screen. With a traditional long- or short-throw projector, you're often able to shift the lens around manually. But configuring a UST like the CineBeam involves finding the exact height and distance from the screen to make everything look perfect. If it gets nudged by even a millimeter, the image will simply look wrong. That makes USTs less than ideal for homes with small children or overzealous pets. (Also, you don't want kids peeking into the projector lens, as it's bright enough to cause serious eye damage. That’s hard to do with a traditional projector, but far too easy when it’s just sitting on the floor)When I tested the previous CineBeam HU85L, it took me a few hours to find the proper position to work alongside my dropdown projector screen. That involved buying a small table and stacking a few wide boxes to get everything aligned. Even then, I couldn't quite get the image to fill every corner of my screen properly. That's when I learned that dropdown screens aren't ideal for UST projectors (Engadget's Steve Dent also found that small creases in dropdown screens could lead to rippled images). Ultimately, I was able to get the older CineBeam to fill around 98 percent of my 120-inch screen, but I gave up on the dream of having the whole thing covered.Thankfully, I was able to drop the HU915QE into the exact same spot as the earlier CineBeam. After tweaking the manual focus wheel a bit, it ended up covering the same area of my screen. If you're building your home theater or living room around a UST projector, you'll ideally want to use a tensioned ALR (ambient light rejection) screen. Those are built to block light from everywhere but your projector, which means they'll deliver even better brightness and contrast. If you want to use a UST during the day like a TV, you'll definitely want to push away as much ambient light as possible.While my setup wasn't ideal, the CineBeam HU915QE still delivered most of what I wanted: A large and luscious dose of cinema in my basement screening room. Almost immediately, I noticed that it produced richer and more vibrant colors than the CineBeam HU85L. Colorful films like Thor Ragnarok looked just fine on the previous projector, but the new model delivered a far bolder dose of cosmic psychedelia. The improved contrast also made the HU915QE better suited for dark scenes, like the spooky nighttime sequences in Nope where you’re trying to make out something floating through the clouds.The HU915QE is a triple laser projector, relying on red and blue lasers for their respective primary colors, as well as another blue laser shining through a phosphor to create green. That setup works well, but it can only reach 94 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut. Newer UST projectors with three distinct RGB lasers, like the HiSense PX1-Pro, can reach a wider 107 percent of the BT.2020 gamut. Like many other UST units, the HU915QE relies on pixel shifting to achieve a visible 4K resolution. It has a native resolution of 2,716 x 1,528, which is shifted twice to hit 4K. The result is an image that's sharper than cheaper projectors, which typically have 1080p native resolutions with four-phase shifting.After spending a few hundred hours watching everything from streaming shows like Midnight Mass, to blockbuster action films like Top Gun: Maverick, I found myself preferring the experience of using the HU915QE compared to trekking out to the theater for many films. And, to be clear, that’s a pretty big deal for a movie lover like me. Even with the COVID-19 pandemic threatening the viability of theaters, I’ve held out hope for a comeback. The strong box office performance of the Top Gun sequel and Avatar: The Way of Water makes me think that there’s still room for the true cinematic experience (though as I write this, Regal is shuttering more locations in the US after its parent company Cineworld declared bankruptcy last September). Those films, as well as the recent Dune adaptation, are so large and bombastic that even a 120-inch home projector can’t fully capture their grandeur. But the HU915QE sure comes close.Devindra Hardawar/EngadgetLike most projectors, the CineBeam HU915QE isn’t ideal for gaming thanks to its noticeable input lag. Still, I had a great time playing PS5 titles like God of War Ragnarok, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart and even the fast-paced Returnal on my giant screen. LG hasn’t issued any latency figures, but some reviews peg the projector’s input lag between 50ms and 67ms. There’s an auto low-latency mode that cuts off extra processing to speed things up, but you obviously won’t be using this thing for lightning-fast competitive gaming. Based on my experience with the 55-inch Samsung Odyssey Ark, though, that’s not something you’d want to do on a gigantic display anyway. Twitch gaming requires smaller screens so you can actually focus on all of the super-fast action.When it comes to sound, I can’t imagine that anyone buying a $5,000 projector would be relying on built-in speakers, but it may make sense if you just want to avoid extra clutter in your living room. The CineBeam’s 40-watt 2.2 speaker setup sounds good enough for casual viewing – it’s certainly far better than what you’d get on modern TVs. It’s basically a fairly simple soundbar sitting below the projector, but it delivers clear dialogue and some surprisingly boomy bass. Seriously though, look into surround sound systems if you’re actually buying this thing. You deserve it.Devindra Hardawar/EngadgetWhile I spent most of my time using an Apple TV 4K, the HU915QE is also powered by LG’s WebOS platform, which offers all of the smart TV apps you’d expect. That’s nice to have, especially if you don’t want to juggle multiple remotes, but I’d wager most home theater fans will stick with their set-top box platform of choice. If you’re used to WebOS from LG’s OLED TVs, you’ll feel right at home with this projector. It even uses the same Magic Remote found on LG’s TVs, which has voice controls and (so-so) motion controls.As much as I loved the CineBeam HU915QE, it’s not exactly priced competitively against newer entries like the $3,000 Formovie Theater. Sure, that’s not as bright, but at half the price of the CineBeam, that projector delivers Dolby Vision, great sound and excellent image quality thanks to a modern triple-laser setup. You can easily add in an excellent $2,000 surround sound system to match the CineBeam's price . As for other high-end competitors, the HU915QE competes directly with Hisense’s much-lauded L9G, which currently sells for $4,500 to $5,000 depending on the screen you get. Samsung’s Premiere LSP9T triple-laser UST also retailed for $6,500 when it debuted, though it can now be found for around $3,500 at online sellers.If you’re an LG loyalist, the CineBeam HU915QE is still a very compelling UST projector. It offers enough brightness to use during the day, and it’s vibrant enough in darker rooms to deliver a truly cinematic experience. But it’ll be an even better buy once it comes down in price.

Microsoft is making a "multibillion-dollar" investment that will lead to wider uses of OpenAI's technology, as well as more robust behind-the-scenes support. Microsoft has launched OpenAI-powered features, like natural language programming and a DALL-E 2 graphic design tool. OpenAI uses Microsoft's infrastructure to train its best-known systems, including DALL-E 2 and the popular ChatGPT bot. ChatGPT is coming to Azure soon. However, don't expect anyone to see ChatGPT in Bing – at least not yet. The expansion may help Microsoft seize a competitive advantage. Google reportedly sees ChatGPT as a threat to its search business,The versatile AI chatbot is having a surge in popularity. The existing version already had more than one million users around December 2022. That's probably grown, too – and Microsoft wouldn't mind a piece of that.– Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missed

Garmin hasn't yet had a dedicated electrocardiogram (ECG) app despite the health focus of its wearables, but it's filling that gap today. The company has introduced a simply-titled ECG App that, like equivalents on other devices, can study your heart rhythm and look for atrial fibrillation (aka AFib). If there are signs of trouble, you can sync your results with Garmin Connect and create a report you can share with healthcare providers.You will have to be fussy about your choice of devices to use this software right away. Garmin is currently offering the app only to Venu 2 Plus owners in the US. They'll need to update both their firmware and the Connect app. The company plans to add support for more devices and countries over time, but that will require further government approvals. Don't expect your running watch to get an ECG app for a while.This is the first app Garmin has cleared with the US Food and Drug Administration. As with similar apps, it's not meant to be a definitive verdict on your heart health and won't detect cardiac arrest. Your watch only offers functionality comparable to a single-lead ECG — your doctor can use a multi-lead system that will present a more accurate picture of your condition. Garmin VP Dan Bartel notes that this app is mainly helpful for spotting AFib in the early stages, when it's "difficult to detect" at a clinic.There are plenty of alternatives if ECG is a must-have feature. Apple, Google (including Fitbit), Samsung, Withings and others have had the technology in their watches for a while. It's difficult to complain about having more choices, though, and this may be appealing if you prefer Garmin's overall fitness and health tracking capabilities.

If you just bought a 2023 Polestar 2, hoooo boy are you about to be mad. The company on Tuesday showed off some of the, ahem, numerous updates that the upcoming 2024 model year PS2 will sport, including next-generation motors, a slew of new standard equipment, a more potent battery pack and the SmartZone sensor suite first teased on the Polestar 3. Also, the previously front-wheel drive single motor Polestar 2 — that's RWD now, so let the drifting begin!The Polestar 2 is now a fully RWD platform for the single-motor variant that arrived in March. It uses newly devised permanent magnet motor and silicon carbide inverter technologies to increase the horsepower output from 231 to 299 hp. Torque similarly jumps from 243 lb-ft to 361, putting it in line with the Tesla Model 3's output, while the 0-60 figure drops more than a full second compared to the old motor, to 5.9 seconds.PolestarThe dual-motor AWD version will see equivalent performance gains — 421 hp and 546 lb-ft, up from 408 hp and 467 lb-ft — as well as improved traction and a 0-60 of 4.3 seconds. Opt for the 2024 Performance pack and the horsepower jumps to 455 and the 0-60 drops to 4.1 seconds. The powertrain and torque ratios in the dual-motor version have been given a rear-wheel bias and, when the extra performance of AWD isn't necessary, the second (front) motor can be disengaged to improve efficiency and range (using the larger battery of 82 kWh) up to 300 miles, a 10 percent increase.The PS2's battery is receiving some slight chemistry tweaks as well. It to now offer a max 205kW charge rate while requiring 1.1 fewer tons of carbon emissions to produce — now just 5.9 tons per battery pack! Note however that this specifically applies to the Long Range single motor variant, the dual-motors both are stuck with the existing 78 kWh packs charging at 155 kW.Polestar“Changing from front- to rear-wheel drive in the single-motor variants, and re-calibrating the torque ratio in the dual-motor variant for an increased rear-wheel drive feel, elevates the Polestar 2 driving experience to a whole new level,” Joakim Rydholm, Head of Chassis Development, said in a press release. “The updated Polestar 2 is an even more playful and agile car, retaining its compactness and complete sense of control, while at the same time becoming more mature with added comfort.”PolestarNext year's PS2 will be quite a bit smarter than its predecessor thanks to tech first shown off by its successor, the PS3. Polestar's SmartZone, mounted in the vehicle's vestigial front grille, houses an improved mid-range radar array and front-facing camera. A number of ADAS systems will come standard as well. For example, the Pilot Pack (which includes the 360-degree camera, parking assist and adaptive cruise control) will now come standard on the long-range dual motor PS2, while every trim level will get wireless device charging. And for folks that purchase the Performance package (Brembo brakes, 20-inch rims and a performance software upgrade) will receive the Plus package (Harmon Kardon stereo, panoramic glass roof, air quality software that sounds like something everyone should get just like the device charging) for no additional cost. Deliveries are expected to begin later this year and Polestar's online order window has already opened.

Mac users who have been waiting for a native version of WhatsApp can now download it without restrictions, WaBetaInfo has reported. The new app is optimized for Mac hardware and built with Mac Catalyst, so it should be faster and more efficient than the current web-wrapped Electron version. You also get a new interface with three panels to easily flip between chats, calls, archived and starred messages, while seeing contacts and interactions at a glance.Apple's Catalyst was designed to allow developers to port iOS apps over to macOS or create just one version that can run on either platform. Since the Mac was developed on Catalyst, that lends some hope that a long-awaited version may also come to iOS. In 2021, Meta said that it was expanding multi-device support for WhatsApp, leading to speculation that an iPad app was forthcoming.Last year, WhatsApp released a native version for Windows 10 that works without the need for a smartphone. It looks much the same as the Mac app and also offers increased reliability and speed.The native macOS app has been around for several months on TestFlight, but that only offers limited slots for testers. Now that it's in a full beta, though, you can download it directly from WhatsApp's website.

Amazon has launched a new subscription service that will let customers in the US get as many eligible medications as they need for $5 a month. The new service called RxPass is part of the e-commerce giant's Pharmacy business that originally launched in 2020 as a two-day prescription drug delivery offering for Prime users. That makes RxPass a $5 add-on for Prime, which sets users back $139 a year or $15 a month in the US.While it doesn't look quite as affordable bundled with Prime pricing, the RxPass program does offer medications for 80 common health conditions, including high blood pressure, acid reflux, anemia and even depression, diabetes, breast cancer and dementia. At the moment, it has 60 generic medications in its list — all of which require a valid prescription — and subscribers can choose to have them delivered for free either on a monthly or a quarterly basis.Take note that customers will need to pay $5 out of pocket, since the service does not take insurance like Amazon Pharmacy does for purchases outside of the program. People who are enrolled to Medicare, Medicaid and any other government healthcare program will not be able to sign up for RxPass, as well, though they can still use their government insurance when purchasing medicine from Pharmacy.For people with multiple conditions paying a lot more than $5 a month for their medications out of pocket, RxPass could be worth trying out, especially if they already have Prime. Those interested may want to take a look at the service's full medication list first to see if it does offer what they need before heading to the Pharmacy website or the Amazon app to sign up.

After shipping its first solar EV only weeks ago, Dutch automaker Lightyear has announced that it's suspending production of that model (called the 0) to focus on the more affordable Lightyear 2. It made the move after opening a waitlist for the Lightyear 2 that generated more than 40,000 subscriptions on top of the existing 20,000 pre-orders from fleet owners."In order to safeguard our vision, we had to decide to redirect our focus and resources completely towards Lightyear 2," the company wrote in a press release. "This means in effect that we had to suspend the production of Lightyear 0." The company didn't provide a timeline for Lightyear 2 production or other details.The news does raise concerns about the company's financial situation. Lightyear said it submitted a request "to open suspension of payment proceedings" in relation to its operating company responsible for producing the Lightyear 0. (Companies in The Netherlands can request to have debts frozen for 18 months to buy time to reorganize, according to TechCrunch.) The company said it hopes to "conclude some key investments in the coming weeks in order to scale up to the Lightyear 2."The Lightyear 0 costs nearly $300,000 and was designed to produced in limited quantities, much like the Polestar 1. On the other hand, the Lightyear 2 will cost around $40,000, according to the company. It's supposed to have up to 500 miles of range, aided by its solar panels, but the company has yet to reveal other details or show complete images of the vehicle.The concept of both EVs is the same. The car’s solar panels can provide up to 44 miles of range on a sunny day, meaning drivers with relatively short commutes may rarely need to charge their vehicles. For longer distances, the vehicles have battery packs that provide nearly 400 miles of extra range, in the case of the Lightyear 0. That's also aided by very slippery aerodynamic profiles.

Elon Musk said he could've sold his SpaceX shares to take Tesla private when he took the witness stand again to defend his 2018 "funding secured" tweets in a lawsuit filed by the automaker's shareholders. According to CNBC, Musk proclaimed: "SpaceX stock alone meant 'funding secured' by itself. It's not that I want to sell SpaceX stock but I could have, and if you look at the Twitter transaction — that is what I did. I sold Tesla stock to complete the Twitter transaction. And I would have done the same here." He didn't say how many of his shares he'd have to sell, however, to be able to fund the transaction.The plaintiffs' lawsuit is based on Musk's infamous 2018 tweets in which he said he was "considering taking Tesla private at $420." He even said that he already had "[f]unding secured." Musk first took the stand for this particular case last week to defend himself against the plaintiffs' accusations that the tweets he made cost them significant financial losses. Tesla's shares temporarily stopped trading after those tweets and remained volatile in the weeks that followed. He said at the time that just because he tweets something "does not mean people believe it or will act accordingly."This time, Musk reiterated his previous claim that he had an agreement with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund to take Tesla private. He told the court that the country was "unequivocal" in its support of the transaction, which ultimately didn't go through. According to Bloomberg, the court discussed his communication and eventual falling out with Saudi fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan regarding the deal. A text exchange was reportedly presented to the jury, wherein Musk accused Al-Rumayyan of backing out of their handshake agreement. The Saudi official responded that he didn't have sufficient information to be able to commit to the buyout and called Musk's public announcement of their discussions "ill advised."The plaintiffs' lawyer also asked Musk what many of us were probably wondering: If the $420 share price in his tweets was made as a joke in reference to marijuana. Apparently, it wasn't a joke, and he chose it "because it reflected about a 20 percent premium on Tesla's stock price." Musk is expected to testify again on Tuesday, so we'll likely hear more details about his failed bid to convert Tesla into a private entity.As Bloomberg notes, the judge in this case had already determined that his tweets were "objectively false and reckless." However, the plaintiffs still have to prove that Musk knew his tweets were misleading and that his tweets caused their losses to win the case. Musk and Tesla previously had to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission $20 million each to settle a separate lawsuit over the same tweets, accusing him of making "false and misleading statements" that could be constituted as fraud. The CEO said on the stand that he told the SEC about SpaceX and that the plaintiffs' lawyer "deliberately exclud[ed] that from jurors."

Apple is expected to reveal its long-anticipated mixed reality headset in the coming months. The device has been in the works for several years and it'll be Apple's first new product category since Apple Watch, which debuted in 2015. Many details about the device have emerged through the rumor mill. Although much of the information in his latest piece on the headset has already been reported, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has revealed some more details about what to expect from the product, which may be called Reality Pro.It's said to be a standalone device with an interface similar to that of iPhone and iPad and the option to pin widgets to the home screen. Alternatively, it may be used as an external display for a connected Mac. Along with Siri voice commands, there'll be the option to use a Mac, iPhone or iPad keyboard to enter text on the so-called "xrOS" operating system, according to the report. Apple is believed to be working on a way for users to type with their hands in midair, like in many sci-fi movies, but that option likely won't be available when the headset debuts.It's expected that there will be health-tracking features and the option to install third-party apps. Virtual reality video is said to be a focus, with the company adding support for Apple TV+ content. It's believed that Apple has held talks with Disney, Dolby and other media partners regarding VR content, and that there will be the option to watch video on virtual screens in environments like space or a desert. Users might need to wear AirPods or other supported headphones for spatial audio if they want to be fully immersed. Gaming may be an important aspect of the device as well.The key selling point for the headset could be Apple's approach to hand and eye tracking. It's believed that the device will have sensors that can follow wearers' eyes and several external cameras that can monitor hand movements. The idea, according to the report, is that users would be able to select an item (such as an app icon or button) by looking at it and then squeezing their thumb and index finger to carry out that action. If this approach works as expected, wearers wouldn't need to use hand controllers — rival headsets typically require those. Meanwhile, the headset may have a screen on the front that can display the wearer's eyes, which might be a little offputting for some.The device is expected to support virtual reality and augmented reality, with the ability to switch between the two modes using a Watch-like digital crown. Meta's latest headset, the Quest Pro, offers full-color passthrough for AR use and it's expected that Apple will offer a similar function.Apple may be keeping users who need prescription glasses in mind. Many glasses wearers have found it uncomfortable to wear VR and AR headsets. However, it's claimed that Apple will offer custom lenses that sit within the headset's enclosure, which could make it more comfortable to use.One intriguing aspect of the headset that doesn't seem to have been reported before is how it will handle one-on-one FaceTime calls. It was previously believed that other people on a call will be displayed as an icon or Memoji. That's still likely to be the case for group calls. For one-on-one chats in which both participants are wearing a Reality Pro, the report suggests that FaceTime will render realistic versions of their face and body. Processing limitations seemingly prevent this feature from being available for group calls. Other companies, such as Meta, typically render users in a more cartoonish fashion (and don't yet include legs).Any of these features may still yet change as the headset is months away from coming to market. However, it's believed that Reality Pro will be powered by an M2 chipset. A second chip called the "Reality Processor" is expected to handle graphics and mixed-reality experiences.While other headset makers typically opt for a plastic body, Apple is believed to be constructing Reality Pro using aluminum, glass and cushions with a similar look to the AirPods Max headphones. However, the battery is not expected to be built into the device. According to Gurman, the battery will be in an external pack that connects to the headset via a cable and is placed in a user's pocket. That, and a cooling fan, could help avoid the headset from overheating, but it could lead to a weight imbalance. The battery life is said to be around two hours.Apple may reveal the device this spring — before this year's Worldwide Developers Conference in June — and release it this fall. The price, though, may put off many who might otherwise be interested in Reality Pro. It's long been expected that the headset will retail for around $3,000. That's twice as much as the Quest Pro.This is a gamble for Apple as it moves into a new market that hasn't yet seen mass adoption. The report suggests that Apple expects to sell around 1 million units in the first year and the company even anticipates that the first version of Reality Pro won't turn a profit. Another version that will cost around $1,500 is said to be in the pipeline, though that may not arrive until late 2024 or early 2025. The cheaper model may eschew the Reality Pro's 4K displays for ones with lower resolution to reduce the cost.

Apple boosted iOS security today with the release of its 16.3 software update. For the first time, iOS users can use physical security keys for two-factor authentication (2FA) of their Apple ID. This new measure, announced by the company last year, adds a layer of protection for those facing unusual security threats — people like celebrities, journalists and government employees.Physical key support should help prevent phishing scams, which can trick users into allowing an intruder access through 2FA. Using a device like the YubiKey means only those with access to the physical key can get into your account. Although some security keys plug into the iPhone’s Lightning port, most use USB. However, NFC and Bluetooth keys should work with the iPhone, and you can plug a USB one into Apple’s Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter.iOS 16.3 also includes updates to Emergency SOS controls. You’ll still be able to call emergency services by holding down the power and volume-up buttons, but now, it won't call 911 until you release them. This allows you to cancel before emergency services are notified.The update also adds bug fixes for issues like strokes not appearing on shared boards in the Freeform app, horizontal lines appearing on the iPhone 14 Pro Max after waking and a bug that prevented the Home lock screen widget from showing the Home app's status. Finally, it adds support for the new second-generation HomePod.If you own a compatible device, you can install the update by heading to Settings > General > Software Update.

The native iOS and macOS versions of Fortnite are about to become even more limited. Since the start of its legal feud with Apple back in the summer of 2020, Epic Games has allowed players who had Fortnite installed on their devices prior to the game's removal from the App Store to continue playing. However, due to the removal, Epic hasn’t updated those versions of the game, meaning they’ve been stuck on Fortnite’s 13.40 release for more than two years. Effectively, that meant they’ve existed in a sort of limbo. All of the gameplay changes Epic has made to Fortnite since then (and there have been many), as well as all new cosmetics and seasonal passes the company has introduced, haven’t made their way over to the native iOS and macOS releases. Now those versions are about to become even more restrictive.

You no longer have to give up the privacy of end-to-end encryption in Facebook Messenger just to get the creature comforts you take for granted. Meta is bringing several common features to encrypted chats. You can now choose themes, set profiles for group conversations and use custom emoji as well as reactions. Active status and web link previews now work in this more secure mode, while the Android crowd can take advantage of floating Bubbles to talk while they're using other apps.You're more likely to use encrypted chats, too. Meta is expanding tests that make encryption the default for Facebook Messenger. You'll see the changes to some conversation threads in the "next few months," the company says. If you're part of the test, you'll get a notification in a relevant thread.Meta started testing default encryption last August. At the time, it said it hoped to roll out the Facebook Messenger upgrade sometime in 2023. The social media firm didn't provide an updated timeline, but the feature expansion takes Meta considerably closer to that goal — there's considerably more parity with unencrypted chats. Encrypted Messenger caught up on some features at the start of 2022, but was still well behind its less secure counterpart.Not everyone will be happy. Officials in the US, UK and elsewhere have attacked end-to-end encryption. They're concerned criminals could use encrypted chats to discuss plans beyond the reach of law enforcement and surveillance agencies. Politicians, such as former US Attorney General Bill Barr, have called on Meta to weaken encryption by creating "backdoors." Meta has refused to back down, though, and it's evident that the company is determined to bolster privacy across its products.

Microsoft is once again pouring money into OpenAI as part of an expanded partnership. The tech giant is making a "multibillion dollar" investment that will lead to wider uses of OpenAI's technology, as well as stronger behind-the-scenes support. While the two companies are short on specifics, Microsoft says you can expect "new categories of digital experiences" that include both consumer-facing and business products. The developer-focused Azure OpenAI Service will play a role.The continued union will also see Microsoft boost its investments in supercomputers that accelerate OpenAI's research. Azure will remain OpenAI's sole cloud provider for products, research and services. The exact size of the financial contribution isn't known, but a Bloombergsource claims Microsoft is investing $10 billion over "multiple years."Microsoft first backed OpenAI in 2019, and returned in 2021. The New York Times notes it "quietly" invested an extra $2 billion since that initial round. The companies have grown closer since their collaboration began. On top of the Azure service, Microsoft has launched OpenAI-powered features that include natural language programming and a DALL-E 2 graphic design tool. OpenAI uses Microsoft's infrastructure to train its best-known systems, including DALL-E 2 and the popular ChatGPT bot. ChatGPT is coming to Azure soon.There's no mention of some rumored developments, such as building ChatGPT into Bing. However, this expansion may help Microsoft seize a competitive advantage. Google reportedly sees ChatGPT as a threat to its search business, and is believed to be devoting much of its attention to a search chatbot and other AI products despite a reluctance to fully embrace the technology over concerns about copyright. Even if the deeper OpenAI partnership doesn't improve Bing, Microsoft may benefit by forcing rivals like Google to change course.

With its last batch of MacBook Pros, Apple gave its more demanding fans everything they wanted: Tons of ports, lots of power, and genuinely great screens. As usual, the company is following up that major redesign with a straightforward chip upgrade, featuring the new M2 Pro and M2 Max. They're faster, as you'd expect, but they also deliver a few features power users may appreciate, like 8K video output and support for WiFi 6E.Once Apple locks in a redesign, it typically doesn't mess with a good thing (save for complete disasters like the trashcan Mac Pro). So it's no surprise to see that this year's MacBook Pro 14 doesn't look any different than the 2021 model. It still boasts a gorgeous 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display with ProMotion support and a prominent notch housing a 1080p webcam. It has all of the ports you'd actually want, including a MagSafe power connection, three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, HDMI, a headphone jack and a full-sized SD card slot. And the overall shape of the computer remains relatively flat, an evolution of the long-lived unibody MacBook Pro design.Under the hood, though, the MacBook Pro 14 has been dramatically upgraded. It can be equipped with Apple's new M2 Pro chip, which offers up to a 12-core CPU and 19-core GPU, or the M2 Max, which squeezes in a 12-core CPU and 38-core GPU. Much like Intel's new hybrid processors, as well as mobile chips from Qualcomm, Apple relies on a combination of core speeds for its CPUs (the 12-core chips, for example, have eight performance cores and four efficiency cores). The previous M1 Pro and M1 Max topped out with 10 CPU cores and 16 or 32 GPU cores, respectively.Devindra Hardawar/EngadgetApple claims the M2 Pro is around 20 percent faster than its predecessor in CPU speeds, and up to 30 percent faster when it comes to graphics. The M2 Max, meanwhile, is up to 30 percent faster than the M1 Max in terms of graphics. We tested the fully-upgraded $3,299 MacBook Pro, which was equipped with the M2 Max chip with 38 GPU cores and 64GB of RAM. It scored around 2,600 points (19 percent) faster in the GeekBench 5 multitasking CPU benchmark, compared to the M1 Max-equipped MacBook Pro 16. It was also 18 percent faster in the GPU-powered GeekBench 5 Compute test and a whopping 60 percent faster than the M1 Max Mac Studio in the 3DMark Wildlife Extreme benchmark.NoneGeekbench 5 CPUGeekbench 5 ComputeCinebench R233DMark Wildlife ExtremeApple MacBook Pro 14-inch (Apple M2 Max, 2023)1,970/15,33871,5831,603/14,72518 ,487Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch, (Apple M2, 2022)1,938/8,98427,3041,583/8,7196,767Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (Apple M1 Pro)1,767/11,77738,3591,515/12,118N/AApple MacBook Pro 16-inch (Apple M1 Max, 2021)1,783/12,69360,1671,524/12,281N/AApple Mac Studio (Apple M1 Ultra)1,785/23,94285,8001,537/24,07810,020These are phenomenal results if you're planning to use the MacBook Pro to its full potential. But I'll admit, during everyday usage, I didn't notice any major performance benefits over the previous models. That's not really a knock against the new computer, it's more a testament to how much Apple got right last time. Unlike PCs, you probably won't be gaming too much with your Mac, either, so there's less of a reason to chase frequent upgrades. On that note, it's nice to see some modern games with native Mac support. Resident Evil Village easily hits 60fps on the MacBook Pro at full resolution, but I wouldn't be surprised if the same was true for the M1 models.If you're among the folks dealing with large video encoding or high compute jobs daily, though, it may be worth moving up from the last MacBook Pro. It took me 31 seconds to transcode a minute-long 4K clip into 1080p using Handbrake — but the M1 Max MacBook Pro 16 took a full 10 seconds longer. Extrapolate that to longer jobs and you could be saving yourself some serious time. And if you've managed to hold out with an Intel MBP until now, it's definitely time to upgrade — you'll easily see a night and day difference in speed.Aside from its performance, the MacBook Pro 14 remains a wonderful workhorse to live with. The MiniLED Liquid Retina display looks fantastically bright, especially when viewing HDR content. Mostly, though, I appreciated the smooth scrolling thanks to Apple's 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate. The six speaker sound system remains excellent, with crisp and punchy audio that's leagues ahead of most other laptops. And I remain impressed with the MacBook Pro's built-in three-mic array. It's no replacement for a dedicated USB microphone, but it sounds great during video calls.Devindra Hardawar/EngadgetThe MacBook Pro's keyboard is certainly better than the old butterfly models, but I wish Apple was able to deliver more key travel. It's still great to type on, to be clear, I'm just feeling a bit spoiled from the mechanical keyboards I've seen in some gaming laptops. The Pro's trackpad remains best in class though, with a large surface area and responsive performance. After testing the XPS 13 Plus last year, which featured an attractive yet hard to use trackpad hidden in the wrist rest, I'm even more appreciative of Apple's clean design. It turns out that being able to feel the difference between the trackpad and the wrist rest is pretty helpful!Apple is touting better battery life as another major benefit of the M2 Pro and Max chips, and I definitely noticed an improvement. The previous MacBook Pro lasted 12 hours and 36 minutes during our testing, but the new model made it to 15 hours and 10 minutes. That's a healthy step up, especially if you find yourself stuck on a long flight without any working outlets. Apple says that the new MacBook Pros can reach up to 22 hours of battery life, but take note that figure only refers to the 16-inch model.Devindra Hardawar/EngadgetJust like last time, the 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,999 — a huge leap from the $1,299 13-inch model. I'm still a bit baffled by that MacBook Pro, though. Most mainstream shoppers would be better off with the revamped M2 MacBook Air, while power users might as well bump up to this more powerful 14-inch model. If you're aiming for something bigger, the 16-inch MacBook Pro starts at $2,499. New gear also means the old models will inevitably go on sale, so it's worth keeping an eye on the M1 Pro and Max machines if you're aiming to save some money. Sure, they're a bit slower, but you could put that extra money towards buying more RAM or storage.It's no wonder Apple announced the new MacBook Pros without much fanfare. It's just a simple spec bump, not the sort of thing most buyers would get too excited about. But for the creative professionals who need the most power possible, it's another reason to stick with Apple instead of jumping to a PC.

As part of an effort to wind down support of Windows 10 Home and Pro, Microsoft is stopping sales of downloads on January 31st, according to a product page spotted by The Verge. That date "will be the last day this Windows 10 download [and all-important license keys] are offered for sale," according to Microsoft. However, it will continue to support Windows 10 with security updates until it's discontinued for good in October 2025."Customers have until January 31, 2023 to purchase Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro from this site," a Microsoft spokesperson told The Verge, while advising customers to purchase Windows 11 instead. However, Windows 10 may still be offered elsewhere from other retailers and OEMs, until Microsoft confirms otherwise.Windows 10 was first launched in 2015, and so will be discontinued exactly 10 years later. The company announced the end date in June of 2021 as part of its "modern lifecycle policy," just prior to the launch of Windows 11. The OS received generally good reviews and met with success when it arrived — in part because it replaced Windows 8, which wasn't, er, as warmly received.Meanwhile, Windows 11 launched to decent acclaim, with applause for the polish and boos for the weird upgrade restrictions. The minimum system requirements were relaxed soon after launch, but migration from Windows 10 has still been slow, according to recent reports.