Hasta La Gadget!

Drive to Survive did wonders for Formula 1. The hit Netflix series has drawn fans to the sport through its (sometimes manufactured) drama and beautiful cinematography. What you likely don’t know is that Formula E has its version, albeit with shorter episodes and massively condensed storylines. Even still, Formula E Unplugged is a great primer for the new season whether you’ll be watching the EV racing series for the first time or you’re a veteran fan.

Season two of Unplugged, which chronicles 2022’s Season 8 of Formula E, hit some broadcasters just before Christmas and all six episodes have made the rounds a few times here in the US already (CBS Sports Network). That’s a big change from season one’s 15 episodes which weren’t widely distributed and now live on the Formula E YouTube channel. The other difference with this new season is the episodes are 30 minutes with commercials, slightly longer than the 10- to 15-minute entries in the previous installment. But even with some added time, many of the narratives are condensed to the point they’re hard to follow at times.

Simon Galloway/LAT Images

Episode one covers Mercedes-EQ in its final season (the team was purchased by McLaren). Eventual series winner Stoffel Vandorne has to contend with the fact his teammate is the defending champion. The second episode offers a biographical look at Jaguar TCS’ Mitch Evans, including interviews with his family, his disappointing end to Season 7 and the title push in Season 8 that goes down to the very end.

In episode three, Unplugged covers two teams: TAG Heuer Porsche and ROKiT Venturi Racing. While one banked an early 1-2 finish in Season 8, the other had to contend with drama during its home race. This is the first taste of anything close to Drive to Surive drama. The fourth episode is all about the rookies as Dan Ticktum tries to put his past behind him, Antonio Giovinazzi looks to move on from F1 and American Oliver Askew tries his hand at a global series with the aid of British teammate Jake Dennis.

“Formula E Unplugged presents a realistic picture of life inside the paddock and helps fans to understand more about what makes us tick and where we are coming from,” said Ticktum, who drives for NIO 333 Racing. “I can be pretty fiery, but I think the ‘behind the scenes’ nature of Unplugged will show that sometimes there is a lot more to what drivers are going through than can be seen during races or on social media.”

Sam Bloxham/LAT Images

More drama ensues in episode five when the series covers DS Techeetah, a team with two former Formula E champions in its garage. Things get heated on multiple occasions when both Jean-Éric Vergne and António Félix Da Costa have an equal desire to win. The final installment offers a look at the lead up to the final two rounds in South Korea. A four-way fight for the title, driver changes and a brief discussion of the Gen3 car round out the sixth episode.

There’s plenty to glean despite the compressed format. Even I learned new things as someone who follows the sport. However, Unplugged really focuses on the top four teams in the championship standings, with the exception of Porsche who looked strong at the outset and the episode about rookies. It would’ve been great to include Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns, who finished level on points in the driver’s standings with Di Grassi and Dennis. I can appreciate that Formula E likely has a limited budget for the show, which is why we only get a half dozen episodes, but it would’ve been nice to get to know the likes of Mahindra and Nissan eDAMS along the way (the latter is covered in S1). And there could’ve been an entire episode dedicated to the Gen3 car, especially when you consider how much more advanced it is (or eventually will be) over the Gen2 racer.

In the US, Formula E races are broadcast on CBS Sports Network and usually on a tape delay a few hours after the event. For example, the first race in Mexico City this weekend won’t air until 11:30PM ET Saturday night (race is at 2PM ET). Both practice sessions will stream on the Formula E YouTube channel (5:25PM ET Friday, 8:25AM ET Saturday). Qualifying, which is completed in a knockout-style format, is only viewable on CBSSports.com. If you’re outside of the States, select your country here for the broadcast info.

The 2023 Toyota Highlander Hybrid is the vehicle you buy if you’re looking for a practical, fuel-efficient SUV that just works. Could it be so simple?

GM’s Super Cruise promises hands-free highway driving: when it works, it feels almost-magical, but is it up to the challenge of U.S. traffic?

The Honda NX650 Dominator was a huge hit in Europe, but the dual-sport motorcycle never quite hit its stride in the United States. Here’s why.

Meta has filed a lawsuit against Voyager Labs, which it has accused of creating tens of thousands of fake accounts to scrape data from more than 600,000 Facebook users’ profiles. It says the surveillance company pulled information such as posts, likes, friend lists, photos, and comments, along with other details from groups and pages. Meta claims that Voyager masked its activity using its Surveillance Software, and that the company has also scraped data from Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Telegram to sell and license for profit.

In the complaint, which was obtained by Gizmodo, Meta has asked a judge to permanently ban Voyager from Facebook and Instagram. “As a direct result of Defendant’s unlawful actions, Meta has suffered and continues to suffer irreparable harm for which there is no adequate remedy at law, and which will continue unless Defendant’s actions are enjoined,” the filing reads. Meta said Voyager’s actions have caused it “to incur damages, including investigative costs, in an amount to be proven at trial.”

Meta claims that Voyager scraped data from accounts belonging to “employees of non-profit organizations, universities, news media organizations, healthcare facilities, the armed forces of the United States, and local, state, and federal government agencies, as well as full-time parents, retirees, and union members.” The company noted in a blog post it disabled accounts linked to Voyager and that filed the suit to enforce its terms and policies.

“Companies like Voyager are part of an industry that provides scraping services to anyone regardless of the users they target and for what purpose, including as a way to profile people for criminal behavior,” Jessica Romero, Meta’s director of platform enforcement and litigation, wrote. “This industry covertly collects information that people share with their community, family and friends, without oversight or accountability, and in a way that may implicate people’s civil rights.”

In 2021, The Guardian reported that the Los Angeles Police Department had tested Voyager’s social media surveillance tools in 2019. The company is said to have told the department that police could use the software to track the accounts of a suspect’s friends on social media, and that the system could predict crimes before they took place by making assumptions about a person’s activity.

According to The Guardian, Voyager has suggested factors like Instagram usernames denoting Arab pride or tweeting about Islam could indicate someone is leaning toward extremism. Other companies, such as Palantir, have worked on predictive policing tech. Critics such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation claim that tech can’t predict crime and that algorithms merely perpetuate existing biases.

Data scraping is an issue that Meta has to take seriously. In 2021, it sued an individual for allegedly scraping data on more than 178 million users. Last November, the Irish Data Protection Commission fined the company €265 million ($277 million) for failing to stop bad actors from obtaining millions of people’s phone numbers and other data, which were published elsewhere online. The regulator said Meta failed to comply with GDPR data protection rules.