Polestar will release a production version of its O2 concept convertible in 2026

It didn’t take long for Polestar to translate the O2 Concept to a production model. The company has confirmed that it will sell the electric convertible as the Polestar 6 sometime in 2026. Most details are still under wraps, but the 6 will share the same 884HP dual-motor powertrain and 800V architecture as the Polestar 5 sedan. The firm is targeting a 0-62MPH time of 3.2 seconds and a 155MPH top speed.

There will also be a limited, 500-unit run of a Polestar 6 LA Concept edition with the O2 Concept’s signature blue color, “light” leather interior and 21-inch wheels. Unlike many adaptations of concepts, you really can buy a car that (at least superficially) resembles what you saw at motor shows.

The Polestar 6 is a sportier, open-air counterpart to the 5 with a smaller footprint. It also represents an aerodynamics challenge — the range will heavily depend on Polestar’s ability to overcome convertibles’ typically higher drag coefficients. There’s no mention of whether or not the 6 will include some of the more fanciful features from the concept, though, including the integrated camera drone.

No matter what the finished model offers, it’s clear Polestar plans a steady expansion of its lineup. The Polestar 3 SUV arrives next year, followed by the 5 in 2024. The Volvo sibling brand will still have a relatively small selection, but you’ll at least have choices if the Polestar 2 doesn’t fit your needs.

The Morning After: Russia teases its own space station ahead of leaving the ISS

Russia decommissioned its last self-run space station, Mir, in 2001. Now Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, has shared a model of the country’s future station, as it prepares to move out of the International Space Station. Nicknamed ROSS by state-controlled media, it would launch in two phases, starting with four modules and expanding to six with a service platform. The design would accommodate four people in rotating tours and reportedly offer better monitoring of Earth than Russia gets from the ISS today.

State media claim the first phase will launch between 2025 and 2030, with Russia expected to leave the ISS in 2024. It announced its departure from the ISS in July in response to sanctions and other measures following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Samsung’s 55-inch curved gaming monitor has six speakers and two remotes

The newest Odyssey Ark is $3,500.

TMA
Engadget

Samsung has gone all-out on its next-generation monitor. Samsung claims the Ark is the world’s first 55-inch monitor with a 4K resolution, a 165Hz refresh rate and a 1ms response time. You also get support for HDR 10+ and Dolby Atmos audio, and it’s got six built-in speakers that create a dome of sound. Oh, and you can use it vertically.

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Android 13 is rolling out to Pixel phones today

The software is out of beta and brings some small but useful new tools.

Android 13 is coming out of beta and will start rolling out to Google’s Pixel phones today, with devices from Samsung, ASUS, Nokia (HMD), Motorola, OnePlus, Oppo, Sony, Xiaomi and more expected to get the update later this year.

The latest version of Google’s mobile operating system brings more granular privacy controls, a new photo picker, Bluetooth LE audio and more. Messaging app streaming might be the most notable new feature, letting you cast your messaging apps to your Chromebook so you can chat with your friends on your laptop. Google said this works with Messages “and many of your other favorite messaging apps.” The company added you’ll “soon be able to copy content — like a URL, picture, text or video — from your Android phone and paste it on your tablet,” or the other way around.

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Yet another Lord of the Rings game is in development

From a company that worked on the movie trilogy’s special effects.

Wētā Workshop is working on a new Lord of the Rings game alongside publisher Private Division. The game is in early development and few details have been announced, but Wētā Workshop has “the broadest creative license to interpret the underlying lore of the books,” according to a press release. If you’re wondering who or what WētāWorkshop is, it worked on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movies as well as The Hobbit trilogy. The special effects powerhouse is also collaborating with Amazon on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. It set up its gaming division in 2014.

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TikTok adds an AI image generator to its app

It’s a very, very simple version of DALL-E.

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Getty

TikTok has introduced a basic AI greenscreen effect in its Android and iOS apps that turns your text descriptions into artwork. It’s much simpler than OpenAI’s DALL-E 2, producing abstract blobs rather than photorealistic depictions — which makes it a lot less interesting. However, AI art tools like DALL-E are usually limited to a select group of users. TikTok, meanwhile, has over a billion monthly users — while few of them are likely to ever use AI-generated art, the addition brings the technology to a much wider audience.

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Peloton may open its workout content to competing bikes and treadmills

The company is also redesigning its bikes for home assembly.

Peloton may soon allow users of competing fitness equipment to stream its workouts to their bikes and treadmills. In an interview with Bloomberg, CEO Barry McCarthy said the company is “rethinking” its digital strategy. Peloton could adopt a freemium model offering some features and workouts in its mobile and TV app for free. Currently, the software costs $13 per month. In the future, people with stationary bikes or treadmills from companies like Bowflex, Echelon and NordicTrack could also stream Peloton’s content to their equipment’s display.

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Most Pregnancy Apps Are Terrible at Keeping Your Data Private: Report

Log on to your Apple Store or Google Play account, and you’ll find dozens of apps that say they’ll keep track of your time of the month or that’ll help you know the status of your little bun in the oven. They’re also keeping track of you, and it’s become increasingly apparent since the U.S. Supreme Court ended the…

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Trevor Noah Impressed By Ex-Australian Prime Minister’s Weird Scandal

“This is one of those scandals that’s like, is this a scandal? No, because I’m outraged, but I’m also kind of impressed.”

Your next Lyft in Las Vegas might be a driverless EV

Motional’s driverless Ioniq 5 is entering service earlier than expected. On Tuesday, the company and Lyft announced that the vehicle is ready to begin offering rides to the public, starting with residents and visitors to Las Vegas. With today’s announcement, the Ioniq 5 is the first fully electric autonomous vehicle to join Lyft’s network. 

In Las Vegas, Motional, a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv, had been testing autonomous vehicles without safety drivers since 2020. With its public launch, the Ioniq 5 is fully integrated into Lyft’s software. When the car arrives to pick you up, you can unlock the doors through the Lyft app. Inside, you’ll also find a dedicated passenger display and you can contact a remote agent at any time – you know, in case the car ever needs to be rescued from a traffic situation it doesn’t understand.

“Launching Motional’s all-electric Ioniq 5 on Lyft’s network in Las Vegas represents tremendous progress in our vision to make an electric, autonomous, and shared future a reality for people everywhere,” said Lyft CEO Logan Green. “Building an experience that Lyft riders love is core to advancing this technology, and today’s launch provides riders access to Motional’s autonomous technology in a way that will feel seamless, familiar, and personalized, all on a network they already trust.”

Lyft plans to bring fully driverless cars to multiple US cities in 2023 and beyond. However, it’s unclear where the company will deploy the vehicles next. Lyft and Motional will need approval from local regulators before they can start offering rides to the public.

One of Our Favorite Extra Durable Waterproof Wireless Speakers is Getting a Battery Life Boost

The biggest selling point of a wireless Bluetooth speaker is that it can be used anywhere, with 2019’s Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2 taking that to the extreme with full waterproofing and even the ability to float when dunked. As tiny speakers without smart assistants go, the UE Wonderboom 2 is one of our favorites, but…

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‘Kimmel’ Guest Host Al Franken Gives Trump Scathing Reminder Of How Big A Loser He Is

The former U.S. senator runs the numbers for the ex-president.

Spotify's latest test nudges users to react to playlists with a voice clip

Spotify is trying another method to get people more engaged with the platform while tapping into the power of social recommendations. It’s prompting some users in Vietnam to record a playlist reaction with their voice. This clip will be shared as a podcast episode.

Those who see the prompt, which a Reddit user spotted, can create a voice reaction in one go or piecemeal with shorter clips by pausing the recording. They can edit their captures and add background music. They’ll be able to link to the playlist before posting their episode.

Spotify confirmed to TechCrunch that it’s running the test, though it didn’t reveal how it will moderate the recordings or whether it plans to roll out the feature more broadly. Theoretically, this could lead to people dabbling in audio creation for the first time, but whether people actually want to hit the record button to react to a playlist remains to be seen.

Spotify has been testing an in-app podcast recording option off and on for years. In a recent trial that took place in New Zealand, it published podcast episodes that a user recorded to that person’s profile. That seems a smart way for the company to take advantage of friend connections on Spotify — a playlist recommendation from a buddy is perhaps more effective than one suggested by the algorithm. Recording a reaction podcast to offer a recommendation seems unnecessary, though.

What we bought: Anker's MagSafe battery pack charges and pulls double duty as a phone stand

After nearly four years with the iPhone X, I finally upgraded to the iPhone 13 late last year. This might seem silly, but perhaps my favorite feature is not the 12-megapixel camera or Super Retina HD display – it’s the MagSafe support. I know that MagSafe actually debuted a year earlier with the iPhone 12, but there weren’t as many MagSafe accessories out then as there are now. One of my recent favorites is the Anker 622 Magnetic Wireless Portable Charger, which helps ensure my phone never runs out of battery.

To be fair, the iPhone 13 actually has decent battery life. In our review, we found that it easily outlasted its predecessor by a couple of hours, lasting almost two days with our standard battery test. However, I don’t always remember to charge my phone, and I use my phone constantly when I’m out and about. That’s especially true if I need to access Google Maps for directions. I do have a 25,000mAh ZMI power bank, but while it’s useful for travel, it’s just too bulky to fit in my everyday bag. I needed a smaller and lighter solution to use on the regular.

Anker
Anker
Engadget

I considered Apple’s own MagSafe Battery Pack, but its $99 price tag is a little too steep for me, plus it only has a 1,460mAh capacity. I then discovered Anker has a line of MagSafe portable chargers, one of which is the 622. It’s only $70, which is far cheaper than Apple’s, and it also has a lot more battery life with 5,000mAh capacity. On top of that, it has a built-in kickstand and comes in a variety of colors. I bought one without hesitation. (I went with the Misty Blue option.)

I’ve been using it for a few months now, and it’s great. It attaches to my phone through my MagSafe-compatible case without any problems (I use this one from Smartish), and charges it from empty to about 80 percent in just a few hours. I love that I can use it without any extra USB cables dangling out of my bag.

Additionally, that bonus fold-out kickstand is surprisingly useful. It lies flat when not in use, but you can fold it out into a 30-degree angle stand, with a magnet holding it in place. I can rotate the phone to either portrait or landscape mode, which lets me prop the phone up to watch videos when I’m traveling. I especially like that it’s so slim and portable – it’s barely the size of a deck of cards.

I do have a few nitpicks with it, though. It occasionally gets super hot when it’s charging, which makes it a little uncomfortable to have in my pockets. Also, since the USB-C port is on the bottom, I can’t charge the battery pack while it’s in the kickstand position. Finally, I do sometimes wish it had more battery capacity, especially if I’m on a long-haul flight. If I had to get a MagSafe battery now, I’d probably opt for the Anker 633 instead, which just launched a couple of months ago. It’s thicker, but it has a 10,000mAh capacity, a sturdier kickstand, a high-speed charging option via USB-C, and it’s not much more at just $80.

Biden Administration Cancels Nearly $4 Billion In ITT Tech Student Debt

Students who used federal loans to attend ITT Technical Institute as far back as 2005 will automatically see that debt canceled.