Google Announces Slew Of New Android Features For 2022

<img width="1200" height="800" src="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/android-main-1200×800.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="Android logo on phone screen" loading="lazy" style="margin: auto;margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%" data-attachment-id="705863" data-permalink="https://www.slashgear.com/google-announces-slew-of-new-android-features-for-2022-05705862/android-main/" data-orig-file="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/android-main.jpg" data-orig-size="1440,960" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="android-main" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="

rafapress/Shutterstock

” data-medium-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/android-main-1080×720.jpg” data-large-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/android-main-1200×800.jpg” />Google has announced a slew of upcoming Android improvements that are slated for release in 2022. The company made the announcement as part of CES 2022, and the improvements look to significantly improve the overall experience of using Android, especially across multiple devices. Google released Android 12 in October 2021, but the company is continuing to add improvements and features. … Continue reading

Watch GM's Silverado EV reveal in 10 minutes

GM had a lot to show off during its virtual CES 2022 keynote, including the Chevrolet Silverado, which is built on the company’s Ultium battery platform. The automaker offered an early look at two other Chevy EVs, which are electric versions of the Blazer and Equinox SUVs. 

On top of that, GM discussed BrightDrop’s Ultium-based electric vans, the Cruise Origin vehicle and autonomous Cadillac concepts called InnerSpace and OpenSpace. Catch up on all of the key news from the event with our 10-minute supercut.

Walmart’s 5-Year-Old Vision for the Metaverse Hasn’t Aged a Day

On Wednesday, a Twitter user going by the name Homo Digitalis published a two-and-a-half-minute clip with the caption, “This is how Walmart envisions Shopping in the #Metaverse.” And that vision, I gotta say, is looking pretty bleak.

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HyperX's New Gaming Headphones Get 300 Hours of Battery Life, and I Don't Know How That's Possible

Some gamers still use wired headsets instead of the countless wireless options on the market because they don’t want to deal with charging, but now they don’t have to. HyperX at CES 2022 unveiled a new Cloud Alpha Wireless that supposedly boasts 300 hours of battery life.

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What Does Hayao Miyazaki's Work Mean to You?

I’ll never forget the first time I saw a Hayao Miyazaki movie. I was in college and this new animated film called Princess Mononoke was coming to theaters. The trailers looked cool and I’d tangentially heard of the filmmaker’s other films like My Neighbor Totoro—but growing up in a small town, films like that weren’t…

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Mayo Clinic Fires 700 Workers For Refusing To Get COVID-19 Vaccine

The unvaccinated workers made up approximately 1% of the Mayo Clinic’s total staff, the health organization said.

HTC’s new Vive Wrist Tracker makes VR more immersive

<img width="1280" height="720" src="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/vive-wrist-tracker-vr-1280×720.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="HTC Vive Wrist Tracker on wrist" loading="lazy" style="margin: auto;margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%" data-attachment-id="705856" data-permalink="https://www.slashgear.com/htcs-new-vive-wrist-tracker-makes-vr-more-immersive-05705855/vive-wrist-tracker-vr/" data-orig-file="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/vive-wrist-tracker-vr.jpg" data-orig-size="1440,810" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="vive-wrist-tracker-vr" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="

HTC

” data-medium-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/vive-wrist-tracker-vr-1280×720.jpg” data-large-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/vive-wrist-tracker-vr-1280×720.jpg” />HTC is ready to expand the arsenal of add-ons available for its Vive Focus 3, starting with the new Vive Wrist Tracker. Built specifically to work with the Vive Focus 3’s inside-out tracking, the Vive Wrist Tracker features one-button pairing for easier connectivity. HTC says that the tracker is also 85% smaller than the controller for the Vive Focus 3, … Continue reading

Some Facebook moderators can work from home following protests

Meta’s in-house staff won’t have to return to the office for months, but some of its contracted workers are only now getting a similar reprieve. BuzzFeed News has learned subcontractor Accenture has scrapped a requirement that hundreds of Facebook moderators return to in-person work in Mountain View, California on January 24th. The original plan, provided to moderators in late December, would have forced roughly 400 people to work in close proximity while COVID-19’s highly infectious Omicron variant is likely to still be rampant.

The announcement led to public and private protests over the decision, including “nearly a dozen” threats to resign, BuzzFeed said. The moderators said it was impossible to maintain Accenture’s social distancing requirements given tightly packed offices, closed stairwells, and poor enforcement, and that the company didn’t provide exemptions for immunocompromised workers or vulnerable family members.

An Accenture spokesperson confirmed that moderators working from home “should continue to do so” based on COVID-19 health data, and claimed the company worked “collaboratively” to accommodate individuals in compliance with the law. Meta, meanwhile, said it would “continue to prioritize” the health and safety of all workers. Meta’s own employees can defer returns to the office to as late as June.

These concerns aren’t strictly new. Moderators accused Meta (then Facebook) in 2020 of putting lives at risk by asking some contractors to work from the office even when family members were highly vulnerable. Meta disputed some of the claims at the time, but not all. This also comes after a $52 million settlement with moderators who said they developed PTSD and other mental health issues while screening harmful material. However, this latest incident suggests Meta still hasn’t shaken concerns about the welfare of its moderation teams.

The Fraggle Rock Reboot Looks Like 1985 All Over Again

The full trailer for Apple TV+’s reboot of Fraggle Rock is here and as you watch it, you’ll believe it’s 1985 all over again. All the same characters, costumes, and more are back, with a look that feels as if nothing has changed down at the Rock in 30 years, except a few more lights and some new Fraggle additions.

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Astronomers Spot a Mystery Object Spewing Dust in Space

Astronomers looking over data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) recently came across something weird: an object called TIC 400799224 has been fluctuating in brightness, like a star being routinely eclipsed. Their analysis of the observations suggests that TIC 400799224 is actually two stars, one of…

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