We're back after a week off, and we've got a lot of news to catch up on! This week, Devindra chats with Senior Editor Daniel Cooper about the iPhone potentially getting satellite phone connectivity, as well as the upcoming launch of Windows 11. Plus, they answer some questions from our YouTube livestream audience. And of course, they can't help but dive into the messy Ted Lasso season 2 discourse.
Listen below, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
01:56: News talk: Will the next iPhone have satellite calling?
07:12: BTW, we're now Yahoo again!
07:50: Apple will let some media apps link to outside payment providers
09:55: Apple announces the first states to bring driver's license to Apple Wallet
14:15: Microsoft announces a Surface event on Sept 22, Windows 11 launching Oct. 5
22:15: Twitch streamers organized #DayOffTwitch to protest hate raids
26:15: RIP Locast
37:28: Audience Q&A
49:30: Dev working on: Razer Blade 14, Twelve Minutes
55:30: Dan working on: HP Pavilion Aero, Saints Row
1:06:00: Pop culture picks: Ted Lasso, Candyman, Lower Decks
1:23:10: Neill Blomkamp on Demonic
Video livestream
Credits Hosts: Daniel Cooper and Devindra Hardawar Producer: Ben Ellman Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos, Owen Davidoff, Luke Brooks Graphics artists: Luke Brooks, Kyle Maack Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
This week brought more and more gadget deals as Labor Day weekend inched closer. Many of this week's deals are still available right now, including Amazon's discount on the first- and second-generation Echo Show 5 smart displays and a $20 discount on Google's Nest Audio speaker. Plus, a bunch of new sales are running now through the holiday, including those on Dyson vacuums, OLED smart TVs, wireless earbuds and more. Here are the best Labor Day tech sales we could find.
MacBook Air M1
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
Apple's MacBook Air M1 is back down to an all-time low of $850 thanks to an automatically applied coupon. It earned a score of 94 from us for its stellar performance, attractive, fanless design and its comfortable keyboard and trackpad.
The 40mm Series 6 Product Red Edition is down to $249, which is a record low. When the Apple Watch falls to this low of a price, it tends to go in and out of stock often (especially on Amazon), so we recommend grabbing it quickly if you're set on buying one. While the next-gen Apple Watch could debut this month, the Series 6 is the best model you can get right now and we gave it a score of 89 for its solid performance, improved battery life and useful hand-washing timer feature.
Apple's AirPods Pro are down to $190 right now, or $60 off their normal price. These are the best sounding earbuds you can get from Apple, and we gave them a score of 87 for their better, more secure fit, IPX4 water resistance and solid audio quality.
Apple's Mac Mini M1 returned to its all-time-low price of $600 this week thanks to a sale and an automatically applied coupon. You're getting all of the performance boosts provided by the M1 chipset in a compact desktop package. This is a good machine to get if you have an older desktop that needs replacing, but you don't want to spend a ton of money.
Both the first- and second-generation Echo Show 5s are on sale right now — the original is down to $45 while the updated version is only $10 more. These stand out as excellent smart alarm clocks thanks to their compact size, sunrise alarm feature and tap-to-snooze function. The main difference between the two is the improved, 2MP camera on the second-gen version, which will make for slightly better video calls.
Google's Nest Audio smart speaker remains on sale for $80, or $20 off its normal price. This is one of the best mid-range smart speakers you can get right now and it's especially useful for those already relying on the Google Assistant. We gave it a score of 87 for its solid audio quality, stereo mode with two paired together and attractive design.
Amazon's updated Echo Buds are on sale for $90, or $30 off their normal price. You could pick up the model with a wireless charging case instead and you'd only spend $105. Amazon improved these true wireless earbuds in nearly every way — we gave them a score of 80 for their better sound quality, ANC and small, comfortable design.
Samsung's Premiere Projector is $1,000 cheaper both at Amazon and Samsung's own site. The 4.2.2 sound channel model is down to $5,498, which is still quite expensive, but much better than its normal $6,500 price. We included this in our best projectors guide for its separate red, green and blue lasers that cover the full Rec.2020 color range, maximum 2,800 lumens of brightness and 4K resolution.
Google's Pixel 4 smartphone is down to a new low of $379 at B&H Photo. We believe the launch of the Pixel 6 to be right around the corner, so you may want to wait if you want the latest phone from Google. However, the Pixel 4 remains a solid handset — we liked its speedy performance, lovely display and stellar camera experience.
Samsung's T7 Touch portable SSD in 1TB is down to $170, or $10 off its normal price. It has dropped to $160 in the past, but this is the best price we've seen in a number of months. In addition to read speeds up to 1,050 MB/s and write speeds up to 1,000 MB/s, this tiny SSD has a shock-resistant body and a built-in fingerprint reader for an extra layer of security.
One of Sony's premium OLED TVs, the 55-inch Bravia XR A80J set, is down to $1,700 at Amazon and Best Buy, or $600 off its normal price. It packs most of Sony's best TV technology into one set, including the Cognitive Processor XR, HDMI 2.1 support, 4K upscaling, XR Motion Clarity and improved sound with Acoustic Surface Audio+ and built-in subwoofers. It also runs the Google TV operating system, so you can call upon the Assistant for all your entertainment needs.
Google's Nest WiFi pack with one router and one access point is down to $200 right now at Best Buy. That's $70 off its normal price and a great deal on one of our favorite mesh systems. We gave it a score of 84 for its minimalist design, simple installation and built-in smart speaker.
Through September 18, Omaze is giving away another $20,000 to build your ultimate gaming PC. This sweepstakes is free to enter, but funds donated with purchased entries will benefit Schools on Wheels, an organization that provides free tutoring and mentoring services to children experiencing homelessness across Southern California.
Through December 8, you can enter to win four-day passes to San Diego Comic-Con 2022. Along with the passes, you'll get access to a special preview night, reserved seating in Hall H, a personal concierge, a private tour of the Comic-Con Museum, dinner in Balboa Park and tickets to the "Night at the Comic-Con Museum" event. It's free to enter, but funds from this sweepstakes will go to the San Diego Comic Convention.
Pricing and availability is subject to change. No donation or payment necessary to enter or win this sweepstakes.See official rules on Omaze.
New Labor Day tech sales
Dyson Labor Day sale
Dyson knocked up to $150 off a number of its vacuums and air purifiers for Labor Day. Of note are the Dyson V7 Absolute for $250 and the Dyson V8 Animal for $350. Although both models are a few years old at this point, they remains solid cordless vacuums made even better by these sale prices.
Weber knocked hundreds off its high-end SmokeFire grills — both the EX6 and EX4 are $200 off, bringing them down to $999 and $799, respectively. These WiFi-connected grills are some of our favorites because they're relatively easy for even grilling novices to use and their companion mobile app gives you a number of convenient features like remote temperature adjustment and SmokeBoost activation.
Optoma's CinemaX P2 ultra-short throw projector is $300 off this weekend, bringing it down to a record low of $3,000. This made it onto our list of best projectors because it improves on the P1 while costing less. It can reach up to 3,000 lumens of brightness and it has an improved contrast ration and 80 percent DCI-P3 coverage. You'll get close to a 4K image with this machine, and it looks pretty nice too, so you can leave it out in your living room without drawing too much attention.
Roborock's S6 robot vacuum is down to a record low of $380 thanks to a $102 discount along with a clippable coupon for an extra $168 off. In addition to 2000Pa of suction, this vacuum supports multi-floor mapping, integrated mopping and app and voice control.
You can get up to 35 percent off AeroGarden gadgets when using the code LABORDAY at checkout through September 7. We've long been fans of the Harvest series, which lets you grow multiple herbs and plants indoors without any hassle.
Nanoleaf's Labor Day sale knocks $20 off its triangle LED light kit, bringing it down to $180. It's a cool way to spice up your home office or living room with funky lights and shapes, especially since you can arrange the pieces in any way and control the lights via a mobile app.
BioLite's Labor Day sale has begun and it knocks 20 percent off everything on the company's website. BioLite's gadgets, like the Headlamp 200, has made it into many of our guides in the past, and it's a good place to go when you need new gear for your backyard or for your next camping trip.
One of our recommended VPNs is running a decent sale on a two-year subscription. You can sign up for NordVPN for $99 for the first two years, which comes out to $49.50 per year, and get three additional months of access for free. We like NordVPN for its speed, its no-logs policy, the thousands of servers it has to choose from and that one account supports up to six connected devices.
You can get 15 percent off site-wide at Satechi using the code LDW15 this weekend. We like the company's Bluetooth keyboards and mice, and it also has a wide array of other accessories including USB-C dongles, charging stations, phone and tablet stands and more.
Vantrue's 3-channel dash cam is down to $210 when you clip the on-page coupon and use the code DVVZGJWE at checkout. This is a high-end dash cam that includes a dual camera that records the road ahead as well as the interior of the car, and a separate rear camera for recording what's happening behind you. While that much coverage might be overkill for most, it ensures you'll capture footage at all angles if you're ever in an accident.
Update 8:42am ET: Amazon has limited stock of the 40mm Apple Watch Series 6 Product Red Edition.
Amazon and Best Buy are giving you another chance to grab a 40mm Apple Watch Series 6 for the lowest price it has ever been available on the websites. You can now get the Apple smartwatch in Product Red with GPS for $249, or $150 less than its original retail price. That's also the same price as the 40mm Apple Watch SE and $30 less than the 44mm version of the entry-level smartwatch. If you missed the opportunity to buy the Watch Series 6 at this price point back in April, here's your chance to do so. Take note that it may look like it's listed for $399 on Amazon, but it'll show up as $249 after you add it your cart.
The Watch Series 6 has a blood oxygen sensor, which shines a combination of LED and infrared light through the skin in your fingertip to detect your blood's oxygen saturation levels. In other words, it can tell how well your lungs are delivering oxygenated blood throughout your body. However, we were more impressed with its under-the-hood upgrades, as we mentioned in our review where we gave it a score of 89.
The model uses Apple's new S6 chip, resulting in a zippier performance compared to its predecessors. Apps launch more quickly and swiping through watchfaces feel faster, as well. It's also more energy efficient, which translates to longer battery life, and charges faster than the previous Watch generation. In addition, the device has all the features that come with watchOS 7, including a handwashing timer and a sleep tracker.
Only the 40mm GPS-only Product Red version is on sale at the moment, and you can't get the other colors for the same price. Product Red versions of Apple's devices are special, though, because the tech giant has been giving proceeds from their sales to the Global Fund's HIV/AIDS programs for over a decade now. The initiative's goal shifted last year due to the pandemic, and Apple announced that it will be donating "100 percent of eligible proceeds" from Product Red purchases to the Global Fund's COVID?19 response efforts until December 30th, 2021.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
Among all the themed restaurants and dining experiences in the world, Park Row, a new dining venture in London, tries to keep things a little classier than the rest. No costumed heroes for a selfie with, no lurid colors (beside the Joker-esque neon signs in the restrooms) and even a big-name executive chef from a Michelin-starred restaurant.
Mat Smith, Engadget
While I didn’t get to experience the high-tech (and high-price) Monarch Theater 11-course spectacle, with projectors, floating plates and more, I hunted down myriad easter eggs and subtle nods to the DC Comics Universe lovingly sewn into the building. With a secret entrance dressed as Wayne Manor, a Batcave staircase and a frosty Penguin statue overseeing the restaurant, it looks the part. There are a lot of playful touches, several of which I mention in my review here, but there are some I didn’t get to squeeze in, like a secret wine list — “supplied by Bruce Wayne’s own private cellar” — aimed at big-spending drinkers.
I’m fascinated by the Park Row pitch, a premium restaurant given DC Comics’ blessing that didn’t make me cringe. Alongside the new premium (thousands-of-dollars) Star Wars experience at Walt Disney World, entertainment franchises are courting its spendiest fans.
Like most 14-inch gaming laptops, the Blade 14's biggest selling point is that it's — unsurprisingly — lighter than most 15-inch notebooks. Razer's own innovations start to work against it, though. The Blade 15 currently weighs around 4.4 pounds, whereas the 14 clocks in at 3.9 pounds. The Blade 14 would have seemed more impressive when the 15-inch model was upwards of 4.6 pounds, but it's actually a bit hefty compared to competitors like the 3.5-pound ASUS Zephyrus G14. With powerful AMD CPU and NVIDIA GPU options and tons of ports, Razer has made another strong laptop, but according to Senior Editor Devindra Hardawar, the Blade 15 might be a more suitable machine for most of us.
There's no shortage of thin-and-light laptops out there.
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget
If you’re not looking for a powerful gaming laptop like the Razer Blade 14, we’ve updated our ultraportable laptop guide. Dell’s XPS 13 still rules the roost, but we also highlight the best thin-and-light MacBook as well as the best convertible machine, if that’s what you’re shopping for.
And Rosamund Pike steals the show as the magical Moiraine.
Amazon has shared the first trailer for its long-awaited adaptation of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time. If you’re a newcomer to the fantasy series, the clip sketches out the basics of the world the author created before his death in 2007. Amazon first announced it was working on a live-action adaptation of Robert Jordan’s 14-volume fantasy back in 2018.
The tool is only in the concept stage at this point.
A few years ago, Disney fired Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn over tweets he wrote between 2008 and 2012. While the company later rehired Gunn, he’s just one of many who had an old social media post come back to haunt him. In recent years, some Twitter users have turned to third-party tools to sweep away old tweets of the past.
Reported by Bloomberg, the company has plans to test its own feature for people to automatically archive tweets after a predetermined amount of time. The tool is currently in the concept phase and doesn’t have a release date, but Twitter is apparently considering a number of time options, from 30 through to 90 days.
The headset's chip might not be powerful enough on its own.
Chris Velazco/Engadget
Apple's fabled AR and VR headset may have to depend heavily on another device. The Informationsources claim the headset will need to wirelessly communicate with a host device like an iPhone, iPad or computer that can handle most of the computing. The chip inside the wearable apparently won't be as powerful as Apple's in-house chips. In fact, Apple supposedly just completed "tape-out" (completed the physical design) for the main chip, display driver and image sensor, so things are still a while away.
It promises images with astonishing detail and low light performance.
Samsung just announced the ISOCELL HP1, a new camera sensor it says is the first 200-megapixel image sensor (with 0.64?m pixels) made for mobile devices. It added that the silicon is already small enough to fit in mobile hardware and the promise of all of those extra pixels is to retain fidelity when pictures are cropped or resized.
The biggest innovation might not be the magical megapixel number, but ChameleonCell, which Samsung explains is variable pixel binning, depending on the environment. In very low light, the camera bins down (by a factor of 16) to a 12.5-megapixel sensor, which should result in brighter, less noisy images than other camera sensors. We’ll have to wait and see.
The wearable market as a whole grew 5.6 percent last quarter, largely due to sales of smartwatches at the expense of basic bands, according to research firm Canalys. The boost was driven by Apple, which continues to dominate the market with its Watch models.
As Canalys noted, smartwatch sales took over from basic bands (sports bands, etc.) back in Q4 2020 and now account for 62 percent of all wearable band shipments. Apple now accounts for 31.1 percent of the smartwatch market and 19.3 percent of the wearable band market overall, second only to Xiaomi in number of shipments.
Samsung's Galaxy Watch 4
Engadget
Samsung also notably grew by 114 percent in terms of smartwatch shipments year-over-year, and could see further success with its latest Galaxy Watch 4 now powered by Wear OS 3, jointly developed with Google. Fitbit also saw a 20.6 percent boost in smartwatches over sales this time last year, powered by its Versa 2 and Sense models.
In the basic band arena, Xiaomi now leads the way in sales with a 19.6 percent share — just ahead of Apple — led by its Mi Smart Band 5 and 6 models. However, those products are significantly cheaper with retail prices of around $35 and $55, respectively.
Overall, consumers are most interested their health regardless of the product category. "Health tracking is the most prominent use case for smartwatches," said Jason Low from Canalys. "The ability to deliver cutting-edge health-tracking features and to offer users meaningful data and actionable health insights will set winners and losers apart."
Apple has been under fire lately after current and former employees shared stories of harassment, retaliation and sexism in the company. Now, the US National Labor Relations Board is looking into cases filed against the tech giant by two of the main voices accusing the company of permitting a hostile work environment, according to Reuters and The Financial Times. The first complaint was filed by Ashley Gjøvik, the senior engineering program manager who said she spent months talking with the company about unsafe working conditions and sexism in the workplace.
In a tweet, she said that after raising her concerns, she was put on indefinite paid administrative leave while Apple looks into them. Further, she said Apple implied that the company didn't want her to use Slack, where she'd been vocal about her criticisms. Gjøvik filed a "Charge against Employer" complaint, The Times says, alleging 13 instances of alleged retaliation against her. Those instances include workplace harassment, reassigning her supervisory responsibilities to colleagues and giving her undesirable tasks
I also filed a Retaliation Complaint with the @CA_DIR Dept of Industrial Relations Labor Commissioner's Office.
Q: "How did your employer (#Apple) know about the protected right you exercised?"
The second complaint the labor board is investigation was filed by Cher Scarlett, on behalf of herself and other employees, on September 1st. Scarlett is a security engineer at the company and is the face of the #AppleToo movement made up of current and former employees aiming to shine a light on the tech giant's workplace culture. The group said it collected over 500 stories of incidents involving discrimination, harassment and retaliation, and it recently started sharing them five stories at a time. Her case accuses Apple of suppressing workers' organizing efforts, specifically when they involve pay surveys and gender pay equity.
75% of the stories we've received involved some form of discrimination, and nearly half involved reports of sexism, retaliation, and HR reports that were dismissed. 1/4 involved racism or ableism. More than a third involved harassment or assault, the majority of which was sexual.
It's worth noting that the labor board looks into all the complaints it receives, and it will only prosecute a case if it finds merit in them. As for Apple, the company told the publications in a statement: "We are and have always been deeply committed to creating and maintaining a positive and inclusive workplace. We take all concerns seriously and we thoroughly investigate whenever a concern is raised and, out of respect for the privacy of any individuals involved, we do not discuss specific employee matters.”
Roli, the modular musical instrument business backed by Pharrell Williams and Grimes, has entered administration in the UK, the company has confirmed. It will now relaunch as Luminary, with an emphasis on beginning rather than professional musicians, the company said.
Luminary will be led by Roli founder and CEO Roland Lamb. Roli had approximately 70 employees who will move to Luminary, which will also retain Roli's intellectual property and assets. However, Roli raised some $76 million from institutional investors, some of whom will lose their money, according to the report.
The company launched with the Seaboard modular keyboard and Blocks modular system designed to let you play tunes, tap out beats and do loops while recording music with an iPhone or iPad. It followed up with Lumi Keys, an electric light-up piano designed to help novices learn to play.
Luminary
However, Lamb said that the company's early focus on professional musicians and tinkerers limited its potential for growth. "Ultimately, what happened was the pro-focused products we initially developed, although successful within their marketplace, the marketplace wasn't big enough given our venture trajectory," he told Business Insider. In 18 months up to June 30th 2019, the company lost £34.1 million ($47.1 million) on revenue of just £11.4 million ($15.8 million).
As such, Luminary will now focus on learning to read music and play piano with the aim of becoming "Peloton for piano." To that end, it will offer the $300 Lumi Keys keyboard and an $80 yearly app subscription, along with a basic free tier. It will also relaunch the Seaboard, which has been out of stock recently. "I've learned a lot about how to operate in new ways that are better… so I'm excited about this next stage," Lamb said.
If you shop for electronics on Cyber Monday this year, your options might include Amazon-branded TVs. According to Insider, the e-commerce giant is planning to launch its own TVs in the US as soon as October, just in time for the holiday shopping season. The project has reportedly been in development for almost two years by teams from Amazon Devices and Lab126, the R&D division responsible for designing the company's products that include the Kindle and the Echo speakers.
Insider says, however, that the models expected to be launched in October were designed and manufactured by third parties like TCL. Amazon's in-house team is apparently working on a separate TV, though it's unclear if that will also be released in the US in the coming months. As for the third-party-made TVs, Insider says they're going to be powered by Alexa, as you'd expect from Amazon-branded hardware. The publication didn't say, however, if they will also run the company's Fire TV software.
Amazon already sells TVs running Fire TV, but they still carry their manufacturers' brands. These upcoming TVs will have Amazon branding even if they're made by third-party companies, similar to the AmazonBasics TVs the e-commerce giant sells in India. If you'll recall, the company released a 55-inch and a 50-inch model under the AmazonBasics brand in the country last year. The models planned for a US release will reportedly be in the range of 55 to 75 inches, though we'll have to wait for more information to find out whether they're also lower-cost models like the TVs released in India.
When Firaxis announced Marvel’s Midnight Suns last week, the studio’s Jake Solomon promised the game would share “zero mechanics” with XCOM, but said little else about how its gameplay systems would work. Now we have a better idea following a trailer the developer shared on Thursday.
In short, Midnight Suns has more in common with deck-building games like Slay the Spire and Griftlands than XCOM. Battles still unfold over the course of multiple turns, but instead of each hero bringing the same set of abilities to every battle, you’ll have to draw for cards every turn.
Some grant straightforward attacks, while others allow you to reposition enemies. According to Solomon, battlefield terrain and the positioning of adversaries play a critical role in Midnight Suns since you force your opponents to collide with obstacles and each other to damage them. As you progress through the game, you’ll have the chance to upgrade your cards to make them more powerful and create new synergies between different heroes.
Following the reveal, Firaxis clarified on Twitter you won’t have to buy loot boxes or pay for any other microtransactions to unlock additional cards. However, Midnight Suns will include character skins you can buy, though those don’t affect the balance of the game.
Hey folks, regarding our battle card system, there are no loot boxes in Marvel's @MidnightSuns or related microtransactions to get more cards (i.e. Gamma Coils). We will have purely cosmetic character skins for purchase that do not affect game balance in any way https://t.co/lHhdwbMpSZ
Outside of combat, there’s a hub called the Abbey where your custom-made character, the Hunter, can interact with the other members of the Midnight Suns, including Blade, Doctor Strange and Iron Man. And much like in Nintendo’s Fire Emblem series, that’s something you’ll want to do since it will make them a more effective team on the battlefield.
Midnight Suns Publisher 2K plans to release the game to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PS5, Windows PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in March 2022.
Fujifilm has announced the latest addition to its GFX family of cameras. Body-only, the new GFX 50S II will debut at $3,999, making it the company’s most affordable medium format camera to date. That’s still a lot of cash to put down to get the tonality and micro-contrasts you can only find on a medium format camera, but it’s significantly less than the $5,999 and $5,499 Fujifilm sells the GFX 100S and GFX 50S for at the moment.
Fujifilm
Headline features of the GFX 50S II include a 51.4-megapixel sensor that’s 1.7 times larger than what you’ll find on a full-frame camera like the Sony A7 III, five-axis in-body stabilization Fujifilm claims provides up to 6.5-stops of shake reduction and a body that weighs just under two pounds. According to Fujifilm, the GFX 50S II also features faster and more accurate autofocus than its predecessor thanks to the inclusion of its latest X-Processor 4. In practice, we’ll have to see how quickly the GFX 50S II can acquire a subject since it uses a contrast-detection system, instead of the more modern phase-detect approach, for autofocus.
The GFX 50S II comes with 19 of Fujifilm’s signature film simulations. It also includes the pixel shift multi-shot feature the company introduced at the end of last year in an update to the GFX 100. In the case of the GFX 50S II, it allows you to combine 16 RAW captures into a 200-megapixel DNG file. One other notable feature is the 1.8-inch monochrome display on the top of the camera you can glance at to see your current capture settings. In addition to selling the camera on its own, Fujifilm will bundle the GFX 50S II with a new 35-70mm kit lens for $4,499. Fujifilm says the GFX 50S II should arrive in the US sometime in late October.
Fujifilm
Fujifilm has also refreshed its much-loved X-T30. The new II model features the same 26.4-megapixel X-Trans sensor as its predecessor but comes with more memory for faster performance and an LCD with 1.68 million dots of resolution. It will also include the company’s latest film simulations and firmware. Body-only, Fujifilm will sell the X-T30 II for $899. Lastly, the company added two new f/1.4 primes to its XF lineup. Both the XF23mm R LM WR and XF33mm R LM WR feature weather sealing and will come under $1,000 when they go on sale this fall.
If Audi's Skysphere concept is a driver's car with an autonomous option, the company's follow-up is the polar opposite. The automaker has introduced a Grandsphere concept electric sedan that uses Level 4 self-driving (full autonomy in limited conditions) to help you avoid driving "whenever possible" — this is a luxurious living room that just happens to let you take the wheel.
Invoke the driverless mode and the Grandsphere will 'reduce' the wheel and pedals to make it clear you're supposed to relax. The displays are really projections on wooden surfaces that adapt based on whether or not you're driving — you can watch media or participate in video conferences. While Audi's familiar MMI controls are available in an upright seating position, you can use eye tracking and gestures to navigate the infotainment system while you're reclining. VR glasses in the armrests help you immerse yourself in entertainment during your commute.
Audi
Audi is promising extensive personalization that would refine the interior as you step in, ranging from basics like climate control through to the media services you last used. The car would even display the news you were reading on your phone, according to the company.
The design itself is a large "2+2" seater with a grand tourer-like profile but a wheelbase longer than the stretched version of the A8. Like Mercedes' EQS, you won't be hurting for range — Audi is claiming 466 miles of driving with the 120kWh battery. An 800-volt charging architecture can give you 186 miles of driving in ten minutes, and bring the Grandsphere from a five percent charge to 80 percent in 25 minutes. It's not the fastest vehicle with a 0-62MPH time of "just over" four seconds, but you clearly wouldn't buy this to win drag races.
Not that you'll likely buy this car in the first place. As with the Skysphere and the upcoming Urbansphere concept, this is more to illustrate Audi's vision of its autonomous EV future. At least some of the technologies (such as that news display) are more what Audi aspires to build than something you could expect any time soon. It won't be shocking if some of the features or design cues make their way into production cars, however, and there's little doubt that many car brands will have to rethink their designs when manual driving becomes more of an exception than the rule.
Google is once again pushing back its return to in-person work. CEO Sundar Pichai told employees the company is delaying the mandatory return to office until January 2022. The current voluntary scheme will last through January 10th. From then on, Google's offices will make the decisions about when (and if) to make office work mandatory. Staff will be notified 30 days in advance if they're required to show up.
The internet pioneer previously hoped to institute a hybrid work week on October 18th, with staff coming in for three out of five days. That, in turn, was later than the originally planned September return.
The reasoning behind the delay isn't surprising. The COVID-19 pandemic recovery, and thus the return to offices, has been "longer and bumpier than expected," according to Pichai. In other words, factors like the virus' Delta variant, vaccination rates and varying case levels have clouded the situation — what works well in one country could be dangerous in another.
Not that Google will take chances regardless. The company now requires full vaccination for any employee returning to the office, voluntary or otherwise. Google might be eager to have people fill its halls, but it also doesn't want safety issues or skittish employees. It's not alone, either — fellow tech firms like Apple have delayed their own return-to-office plans as the pandemic's realities become clearer.
With the holiday season quickly approaching, Google plans to surface the shipping and return policies of stores that list items on its platforms to help consumers quickly find out if they can get free delivery and returns on their purchases. You’ll see the labels appear across both free and paid listings. “Free delivery by Friday, December 24th,” says one of the example annotations the company shared. Merchants will need to meet a list of requirements before they can add the labels to their listings, so you won’t see them on every product.
Shipping and return annotations won’t dramatically change your shopping experience, but they make you decide to jump on a product you would have otherwise glossed over. Google has spent much of the last year adding these types of features to its shopping hubs. At I/O 2021, for example, it showed off a feature inside of Chrome that displayed shopping carts you abandoned before completing a purchase in a new tab.
LinkedIn is ditching Stories. The company will shut down the feature by the end of September, a year after rolling it out. As it turns out, ephemeral posts aren't a perfect fit for every social network. Perhaps with ROI and KPIs in mind, LinkedIn says its users want videos that stay on their profiles permanently, not ones that vanish.
"In developing Stories, we assumed people wouldn’t want informal videos attached to their profile, and that ephemerality would reduce barriers that people feel about posting," Liz Li, LinkedIn's senior director of product wrote. "Turns out, you want to create lasting videos that tell your professional story in a more personal way and that showcase both your personality and expertise."
As such, the company's going back to the whiteboard. It's taking what it learned from Stories (such as users wanting creative tools to liven up videos in a professional way) to create a "reimagined video experience across LinkedIn that’s even richer and more conversational."
Just about every major social network hopped on the Stories bandwagon after the likes of Snapchat and Instagram found huge success with the format. Although the feature has proven a hit on the likes of YouTube and Facebook, Stories haven't taken off on every platform. Twitter recently shut down Fleets, its take on Stories, less than nine months after launching the feature.
You won't have to buy a Galaxy Z Fold 3 or Flip 3 to get their software upgrades. Samsung is rolling out a One UI 3.1.1 update that brings many of those phones' multitasking and app resizing features to the original Fold, Fold 2, Flip and Flip 5G.
The Fold line unsurprisingly benefits the most thanks to its larger, tablet-like screen. Features like Multi-Active Window (up to three apps at once) and App Split View (seeing extra content for an app) make that folding display much more useful. You can also force apps to resize and rotate on your Fold, pin your favorites with the Taskbar and mirror your internal display on the cover screen.
Not that Flip owners are out of luck. Drag & Split lets all Samsung foldable owners create a new window for an already-open app, and you can invoke Flex Mode to bring up media controls when the phone is partially folded.
Most of these features are deploying now, although you'll have to wait an extra week if you're using the first Galaxy Fold. Not that you'll likely mind. This could significantly improve the usefulness of your older foldable, and suggests Samsung is eager to earn the loyalty of early adopters — if just to increase the chances that you'll buy another Fold or Flip when you're due for an upgrade.
