After a long wait, Lucid has confirmed that production is underway for its full electric vehicle called the Air. The vehicle is being built at the Lucid factory in Arizona, and the automaker has confirmed that production is currently underway. With production underway, Lucid expects the first customer deliveries to begin in October. It’s unclear exactly how many Air EVs … Continue reading
After more than twenty years, the legendary Acura Integra is returning as a four-door sedan with a swooping rear end. Acura unveiled a new teaser photo of the upcoming Integra, and it showcases the sedan’s sloping roofline and modern fastback rear profile like the Kia Stinger. Purists may scoff at the idea of a four-door Integra, especially in the presence … Continue reading
Brad Lynch, a YouTube host who reports on virtual reality, has found evidence from patent applications and other sources that Valve is currently working on a standalone VR headset codenamed “Deckard.” Ars Technica has independently confirmed that the company is indeed developing a device with that codename.
Lynch found references to multiple iterations of Deckard, including a “proof of concept” in June. Valve is apparently planning to give it the ability to bring up two SteamVR menu options: prism and standalone system layer. The latter, as you may have guessed, implies that the device could work on its own without the need to be tethered to a PC. If you’ll recall, Valve’s Index VR headset released in 2019 has to be attached to a computer to work. The YouTube host also discovered a mention of Deckard in a SteamVR Linux ARM binary. That particular evidence hints at processing power built into a Valve VR headset, further solidifying the possibility that it’s a standalone device.
According to Ars Technica’s sources, Valve was developing two design concepts for a virtual reality headset. One of them ended up resembling the Index in that it needs to connect to a PC and to SteamVR Tracking Boxes. The other ended up being designed around a built-in processor with inside-out tracking like the Oculus Quest. Those sources also hinted that Valve had to bring in an outside firm to develop inside-out tracking that could match what the Quest can do.
Whether the standalone VR headset will ever be released remains to be seen. As the publication notes, Valve is already preparing to start shipping the Steam Deck in December. With the current chip shortage affecting the tech and auto industries today, we may have to wait quite a bit for Deckard if Valve decides to release it at all.
Laptop chargers can wear out over time, especially if you work outside a lot and bring it with you on the go. Alternatively, you might also misplace it by forgetting to unplug it when you go home. That being said, if you’re using Apple’s 16-inch MacBook Pro, you might want to take extra care of your charger.
This is because for whatever reason, Apple’s 96W USB-C power adapter designed for the MacBook Pro is currently out of stock and according to Apple’s website, customers might have to wait 2-3 months before it arrives. As MacRumors notes, in Japan the shortage is said to have started as early as August, and now it looks like it has affected other countries around the world.
It is unclear why that is, but it is possible that the global chip shortage could have a role to play in the delay. Alternatively, there are rumors that Apple is launching new MacBook Pros next month and some have speculated that we could see the return of MagSafe, so maybe Apple is clearing out existing inventory.
You could always use third-party chargers but that’s generally not advised, so until we figure out what’s behind the delay, you might want to take extra care of that charger because it might be hard to replace in the next few months.
Now Would Be A Really Bad Time To Lose Your MacBook Pro’s Charger
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A lot of technology today relies on algorithms. We can see this in social media where posts from people we interact with more tend to be shown at the top. This is under the assumption that since we interact with it, we want to see more of it. Then we also see how algorithms are used to help display relevant ads while shopping.
All of this is designed in a way to get us to spend more time or more money on a platform, but apparently that’s something China’s government doesn’t want. So much so that the Cyberspace Administration of China has announced that in the next three years, they want to set up governance rules for algorithms that tech companies use to attract users.
According to the CAC, they say that algorithms developed by these firms should uphold the core values of socialism and that they should also be developed with safety and responsibility in mind. Back in August, the CAC had actually issued draft guidelines in which some proposals suggested that companies shouldn’t use algorithm models to entice customers to spend more money.
China isn’t alone when it comes to trying to regulate algorithms. The US government and the EU have also called on tech companies to tweak the algorithms they use to tackle the problem of fake news.
China Announces Plans To Regulate Algorithms Tech Companies Use
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When Apple refreshed its 12.9-inch iPad Pro earlier this year, they introduced a brand new mini LED display. It’s an interesting choice given that Apple uses OLED for its iPhones, but perhaps an OLED display that big would have been too expensive. However, we have heard rumblings that Apple could be developing such a tablet, but now it seems that those plans might have been shelved.
According to Korean publication The Elec, it was reported that Apple was working with Samsung to develop a 10.68-inch OLED iPad. As Samsung is one of the most dominant suppliers of OLED panels in the world right now, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Apple would have turned to them for help.
Both companies have also worked together in the past and still do to a certain extent, so this isn’t entirely out of the question. However, the report claimed that due to multiple issues, both companies have cancelled their joint project. The reasons behind the cancellation are unclear, as it has been suggested that it could have been due to technical hurdles, profitability, or both.
Nothing has been confirmed yet so it’s hard to say how true this report is to begin with. Also, assuming it’s true, we doubt that this means Apple has scrapped their plans entirely. It is possible that they could try to seek out a different supplier or revisit talks with Samsung again in the future.
Apple’s Plans For An OLED iPad Might Have Run Into Issues
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The “Jeopardy!” host and “How I Met Your Mother” star were friends until Bialik went to see him perform in the musical.
Maybach Motorenbau GmbH debuted its first production car, the W 3 model, at the Berlin Auto Show in September 1921. It was the first German production car with a posh interior, four-wheel disk brakes, and an epicyclic gear system. Celebrating 100 years of excellence are a pair of limited-edition S- Class and GLS models called Edition 100. As the name … Continue reading
Many people associate exercise with better sleep at night. A new study has found that exercise performed at certain times today or just before going to bed alters how people sleep. One goal of the study was to determine how exercise and sleep are linked in more detail. Researchers at Concordia University performed a meta-analysis recently published in a medical … Continue reading
As Amazon’s executives took the stage one after another yesterday to introduce the world to the company’s “next big leaps forward,” a sense of deja vu crept up on me. It only grew stronger as the event progressed, with many new Amazon products seeming incredibly familiar. The company has been criticized in the past for borrowing designs of popular goods and selling them for a lot cheaper.
That’s not an uncommon practice of course — massive retailers all over America like Walmart and Costco have offered lower-cost store-brand lines forever. But none of them stage flashy keynotes to tout their products as “innovations.” While Amazon has indeed brought certain unique technologies to the world in the past, this year the company’s “innovations” seemed to be more of it doing what it does best: undercutting the rest.
With the Halo View, Amazon is essentially adding a display to its existing screenless health-tracking band. But the View’s shape and style are so similar to Fitbit’s Charge series it’s hard to differentiate the two. Sure, there are only so many ways you can stick a rectangular display on a wristband, but Amazon’s mimicry doesn’t stop there. It also introduced new Halo Fitness and Halo Nutrition services today that will offer guides on working out and eating better.
That’s basically Fitbit Premium, which offers guides on working out and eating better. Oh and Fitbit’s $10-a-month service also provides tips on meditating and sleep. Amazon’s subscription costs just $4 per month after a trial period, though, and the $80 Halo View is $100 cheaper than the new Charge 5. The View probably won’t do as much as Fitbit’s trackers, which are quite sophisticated. Still, considering the price, Amazon will likely sell a lot of them.
Amazon teamed up with existing thermostat brand Honeywell to make a Smart Thermostat that will work with most existing 24V HVACs (most common for residential HVAC systems). You can control it with a separate Alexa-enabled device and set custom routines for heating and cooling. The company hasn’t released much more information about its thermostat yet, but from what we can see, the device has the rounded-rectangle shape of an ecobee smart thermostat with the color scheme of a Google Nest product.
Lots of existing smart thermostats by brands like ecobee, Sensibo and Google’s Nest do more things, but Amazon is seriously undercutting the competition by selling its version for just $60. The Nest Thermostat that was launched last year costs $130, while an ecobee 3 Lite goes for $170.
Competition in the security camera space is pretty stiff, so it isn’t very surprising that Amazon and Google both borrow a lot from each other. Amazon unveiled a new $50 Blink video doorbell camera today, alongside a set of outdoor cameras. One of these is the $40 floodlight camera mount that calls to mind Google’s Nest Cam with integrated floodlight. To be fair, though, Google did only introduce a wireless, battery-powered doorbell camera after Blink, so it appears the borrowing is mutual here.
The difference, however, is once again in pricing. Blink’s video doorbell is less than a third of the price of the $180 Nest Doorbell. Google’s floodlight-cum-security camera is $280, while Amazon’s mount (with a camera) is half that at $140.
It’s no secret that Amazon’s business model has a lot to do with knowing what people want and changing their prices accordingly. But how can it make things so cheap? In addition to pure economies of scale and multiple reports of questionable (at best) labor practices, the company also offers goods at reduced prices in exchange for sticking ads on your devices. The ad-supported versions of Kindles and Fire tablets often go for $20 to $30 less than their stock counterparts.
With the breadth of devices Amazon offers, too, the sheer amount of data it could collect purely for the sake of selling you stuff is huge. With the smart thermostat, it could detect a dip in temperature in your region and suggest you buy from its in-house brand of winter wear. Or maybe your child’s been reading a book on a Kindle, and the company later serves ads for collectibles from that title on its new kid-centric Glow video-calling device. Or how about a subsidized version of the Astro robot that roams your house or follows you around with an ad on its face? Amazon also talked about a “vision of ambient intelligence” — which sounds very similar to the concept of “ambient computing” expounded by Google for years. But because Amazon’s products are so much cheaper, it could succeed at stuffing Alexa in so many more places in our lives.
Plus, with all the data it’s gathering from your shopping habits, whether it’s on one of its devices or the Amazon app, the company can afford to sell you something at a lower profit margin. The company said in its privacy notice that it’s “not in the business of selling our customers’ personal information to others.” But it’s presumably using that data to understand the types of things you’re more likely to buy and put that stuff in front of you. It’ll probably make more off of you in the long run if you’re using the cheap Fire tablet to browse its store.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that everything Amazon unveiled today was a cutrate version of something else. We got an update on the Ring Always Home Cam, which was first announced last year. You’ll soon be able to sign up to test it out. The home security device is a little drone that can fly around your property at your command to see if anything’s amiss. No mainstream tech giant has launched something similar yet, though, so Amazon isn’t undercutting anyone on this.
Still, it seems like the company’s strategy for its flagship products is similar to that of its Basics line: Take a good idea, tweak it and sell it for loads cheaper. It’s not terrible; We could always use affordable, reliable devices. But Amazon is not innovating: It’s the Costco of consumer tech.
Follow all of the news from Amazon’s fall hardware event right here!
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