ArduinoMania

Google has agreed to pay $9.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Washington DC Attorney General Karl Racine, who accused the company earlier this year of "deceiving users and invading their privacy." Google has also agreed to change some of its practices, primarily concerning how it informs users about collecting, storing and using their location data.

“Google leads consumers to believe that consumers are in control of whether Google collects and retains information about their location and how that information is used,” the complaint, which Racine filed in January, read. “In reality, consumers who use Google products cannot prevent Google from collecting, storing and profiting from their location.”

Racine's office also accused Google of employing "dark patterns," which are design choices intended to deceive users into carrying out actions that don't benefit them. Specifically, the AG's office claimed that Google repeatedly prompted users to switch in location tracking in certain apps and informed them that certain features wouldn't work properly if location tracking wasn't on. Racine and his team found that location data wasn't even needed for the app in question. They asserted that Google made it "impossible for users to opt out of having their location tracked."

The $9.5 million payment is a paltry one for Google. Last quarter, it took parent company Alphabet under 20 minutes to make that much in revenue. The changes that the company will make to its practices as part of the settlement may have a bigger impact.

Folks who currently have certain location settings on will receive notifications telling them how they can disable each setting, delete the associated data and limit how long Google can keep that information. Users who set up a new Google account will be informed which location-related account settings are on by default and offered the chance to opt out.

Google will need to maintain a webpage that details its location data practices and policies. This will include ways for users to access their location settings and details about how each setting impacts Google's collection, retention or use of location data.

Moreover, Google will be prevented from sharing a person's precise location data with a third-party advertiser without the user's explicit consent. The company will need to delete location data "that came from a device or from an IP address in web and app activity within 30 days" of obtaining the information

"Given the vast level of tracking and surveillance that technology companies can embed into their widely used products, it is only fair that consumers be informed of how important user data, including information about their every move, is gathered, tracked, and utilized by these companies," Racine said in a statement. "Significantly, this resolution also provides users with the ability and choice to opt of being tracked, as well as restrict the manner in which user information may be shared with third parties."

Engadget has contacted Google for comment.

There’s never really been a shortage of reasons to spend less time on Twitter. Even before Elon Musk’s chaotic takeover, the platform was long plagued by misinformation, hate speech, harassment and other ills that made it less than welcoming.

There’s never been a better time to quit Twitter. The Elon Musk-induced chaos at the company has breathed new life into a crop of alternative platforms, and has inspired a new wave of competing efforts to win over disillusioned Twitter users.

Competition emerges

Of all the alternatives out there, none have benefited as much as Mastodon. The open-source service was created in 2016, and first gained notoriety in 2017, when some Twitter users were upset with changes the company had made to the functionality of @-replies. At that time though, it didn’t gain much traction outside a small base of hardcore enthusiasts.

Mel Melcon via Getty Images

That all changed from the second Musk announced he wanted to buy Twitter. Mastodon saw an immediate spike back in April and the momentum has only increased, according to the nonprofit. “Mastodon has recently exploded in popularity, jumping from approx. 300K monthly active users to 2.5M between the months of October and November, with more and more journalists, political figures, writers, actors and organizations moving over,” founder Eugen Rochko wrote in a recent blog post.

The service isn’t a perfect analog to Twitter. Its platform, which runs on thousands of servers, can make signing up a bit confusing. And a couple of the platform’s most popular servers, like mastodon.social, have at times halted new sign-ups due to surging demand.

But, as Rochko points out, the decentralized platform has become one of the top platforms of choice for some of Twitter’s most influential — and most followed — users. Tellingly, when Musk briefly imposed a ban on accounts promoting alternative social networks, Mastodon’s official Twitter account was the only social app to be suspended.

Mastodon is far from the only previously-niche app to get a boost from turmoil at Twitter. Other apps like CounterSocial, which has a Tweetdeck-like interface, and Tribel, which describes itself as a “pro-democracy Twitter alternative” have also seen an uptick in sign-ups.

There’s also a wave of competition from fresh upstarts. Post News, a new service from former Waze CEO Noam Bardin has also tried to capitalize on Twitter’s dysfunction. The service, which is currently invitation-only, rushed to launch an early version of its beta in November in hopes of drawing away disillusioned Twitter users. Post, which bills itself as a place “to discover, read, watch, discuss and share premium news content without subscriptions or ads,” has more than 610,000 people on its waitlist, according to Bardin.

The Washington Post via Getty Images

Another app that’s emerged, seemingly out of nowhere, is Hive Social, an image-centric platform with a feed that looks more like Instagram than Twitter. The service was founded in 2019, and hit 1.5 million users in November, according to the company. The site has had some notable security issues, which it claims to have fixed, but has still managed to make an impression with Gen Z Twitter users.

Legacy platforms are also trying to seize the opportunity created by growing apathy for Twitter. Tumblr claimed to see a surge in new and returning users, according to Matt Mullenweg, CEO of parent company Automattic. The site has also made a habit of trolling Musk and his new policies for Twitter, including with the addition of a $7.99 “Important Blue Internet Checkmark” for users’ blogs. Mullenweg has also said Tumblr will adopt ActivityPub, the protocol powering Mastodon, to make the two services interoperable.

Meta is also keen to challenge its longtime rival. The company recently launched a new “Notes” feature within Instagram that allows users to share status updates at the top of their inbox. At 60 characters, it's hardly a full-fledged Twitter alternative, but it might not be the last such feature we see from Meta. The New York Timesreports that the company has discussed several ideas to go after Twitter’s “bread and butter.”

The future for Twitter Quitters

It’s hardly the first time that unpopular decisions within Twitter have sparked an interest in alternatives. But in the past, surges to outside platforms have been relatively short lived. And most would-be competitors are still only a fraction of the size of Twitter.

Even with an influx of new users, Mastodon, Post News, Hive Social and Tumblr are still substantially smaller than Twitter. And, as unpopular and autocratic and Musk’s policy decisions seem, the idea of starting over on a new platform can feel daunting. Not everyone can easily rebuild their social graphs on alternative sites, and some may find the growing crop of Twitter clones to also be unwelcoming (this is especially true if you rely on accessibility features, as many of the newer platforms haven’t invested much in these features.)

Still, this particular moment feels different than other times when Twitter has struggled to keep disgruntled users around. For one, there are more choices than ever before for those looking for a reason to leave. But it’s also unique because there are more people actually active on these alternatives than ever before.

Can you believe CES is just a week away? For our final episode of 2022, Cherlynn, Devindra and Senior Writer Sam Rutherford dive into their expectations for CES 2023. We’ll definitely hear more from Intel and AMD when it comes to CPUs, as well as AMD and NVIDIA’s latest mobile video cards. But we’re always keeping our eyes out for the weird stuff at the show, like Lenovo’s wild swiss army lamp (a combination webcam, facelight and USB hub!). And of course, there will likely be tons of news around new TVs, PCs and cars.

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!

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Topics

• PC hardware to look forward to – 5:06

• Phones and mobile at CES – 22:16

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• Wearables at CES 2023 – 35:38

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Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar
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New York governor Kathy Hochul has finally signed a right-to-repair bill into law, over half a year since the state legislature was passed. Representatives for Microsoft and Apple pressed Hochul's office for changes, as well as industry association TechNet, which represents many notable tech companies, including Amazon, Google, Dell and HP. Critics say the amendments will weaken the law's effectiveness. The bill's revised language excludes enterprise electronics, like devices used in schools and hospitals. Home appliances, motor vehicles, medical devices and off-road equipment were also previously exempted.

Whatever aims the right-to-repair bill had when first proposed have been weakened. Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG), a collective of consumer rights organizations, said in a statement to Engadget: "Such changes could limit the benefits for school computers and most products currently in use." It continued: "The bill now excludes certain smartphone circuit boards from parts the manufacturers are required to sell and requires repair shops to post unwieldy warranty language."

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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TikTok will be banned on most US federal government devices

Included in a mammoth $1.7 trillion bill that President Biden just signed.

TikTok will be outlawed on almost all devices issued by the federal government after lawmakers passed a $1.7 trillion spending bill. Officials recently added the No TikTok on Government Devices Act (what a name) to the bill, which the Senate unanimously approved last week. The mammoth 4,155-page legislation was fast-tracked to avoid a partial government shutdown. It will fund the government through September. The legislation requires the Biden administration to establish rules to remove TikTok from government devices by mid-February. The bill carved out exceptions for elected officials, congressional staff, law enforcement agents and other officials. However, the House of Representatives separately banned TikTok on devices it owns and manages.

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Samsung's new smart fridge has a massive 32-inch display

Think of it like a smart TV with a fridge attached to it.

Samsung

CES is nearly here, which means we're once again writing about refrigerators. With its Family Hub Plus, Samsung has boosted the touch display size to 32 inches from 21 inches, although it’s still a vertical screen. Samsung has added support for Google Photos, along with the OneDrive integration seen on past models. There’s also a new SmartThings hub so you can control multiple smart home devices from your… kitchen, including robot vacuums, air conditioning, lighting and more. It also supports Amazon's Your Essentials service, letting you order groceries and other products directly from the touchscreen. Those groceries go inside.

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The EV revolution became an eventuality in 2022

It's been a busy year for the industry.

It’s been a decade since the first Tesla EV made its commercial debut and the electrification of American automotive society began in earnest. Over the past ten years as battery capacities have grown and range anxieties have shrunk, electric vehicles have become a daily sight in most parts of the country. Now, virtually every notable automaker on the planet has jumped on the electric bandwagon with sizable investments in battery and production technologies and pledges to electrify their lineups within a decade or so.

Not even recent years’ production slowdowns and supply chain disruptions brought on by the COVID pandemic managed to stall the industry’s momentum. The International Energy Agency in January reported that EVs had managed to triple their market share between 2019 and 2021 with 6.6 million units being sold globally last year. And as eventful as 2022 turned out to be, 2023 and beyond could be even bigger for the EV industry. We’re expecting EV debuts including the VW ID.3; the Lucid Gravity, Polestar 3, Jeep (one of four!) and Honda’s Prologue SUVs.

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Google Voice has made it easier to filter out spammers trying to call your number. The tech giant has announced that the service will now flag suspected spam calls and will clearly label them as such, complete with a big red exclamation mark. Spam calls and texts have been a huge issue for a years, and they aren't going away anytime soon — according to the FCC, consumers in the US receive approximately 4 billion robocalls per month and that Americans had lost nearly $30 billion to scam calls in 2021. Google says the feature was designed to help protect you "from unwanted calls and potentially harmful scams."

The new label that says "suspected spam caller" will show up not just on the incoming call screen, but also in call history for future reference. If you confirm that the call is spam, any future call from that number will head straight to voicemail, and all its call history entries will be sent to the spam folder. But if you confirm that the number is legitimate and isn't a spam caller, the warning will never be displayed for it again. Here's what the label would look like on the call screen:

Google

Google uses the same artificial intelligence that's in charge of identifying spam calls across its ecosystem to pinpoint spam callers for this feature. Apparently, that AI has been filtering out billions of spam calls a month for the tech giant. To note, the new label will only appear if your spam filter setting under Security is turned off. If it's on, all calls Google suspects to be spam are sent to voicemail from the start.

JLab has consistently produced some of the best cheap earbuds over the last few years. The company offers solid performance and decent sound quality for well under $50 in some models. For 2023, JLab is taking things a step further in multiple ways with its smallest true wireless earbuds yet and also its first premium noise-canceling set. What's more, the company is jumping into the over-the-counter hearing aid market with two options with "discreet" designs. 

First, the $39 JBuds Mini are 30-percent smaller than JLab's Go Air Pop that debuted in 2021. They aren't the company's cheapest model, but despite the tiny stature, the JBuds Mini still pack on-board controls, Bluetooth multipoint connectivity and over six hours of listening on a charge (over 20 hours with the case). The charging case is also quite small — about the size of a car key fob — and has an integrated key ring loop. 

On the higher end, the $199 Epic Air Lab Edition earbuds are JLab's first hybrid dual driver design and, as you might expect, the company is calling them its best-sounding option to date. Equipped with active noise cancellation (ANC) and ambient sound mode, the Epic Air Lab Edition also offers touch controls, Bluetooth multipoint and over 54 hours of use when you factor in the wireless charging case. The company says there will be multiple ANC modes available in its app and a USB-C dongle will offer low-latency Bluetooth LE audio for video and games. 

JLab

Now that over-the-counter hearing aids have been approved by the FDA, you can expect to see a lot of headphone companies entering that market. JLab has two models that will debut in 2023: the OTC Hearing Aid and the Self-Fitting OTC Hearing Aid. The former is $99 while the pricing on the latter is TBD. The company says both will be compatible with iOS and Android with "impressive" battery life. Details are scarce for now, but we expect a lot more info before these two hearing aids arrive later in the year. And based on the early renders, at least one of them will look like a set of JLab true wireless earbuds.

JLab says all of these new products, which will be the focus of its CES showcase, will be available during Q3 2023.

TikTok will be outlawed on almost all devices issued by the federal government after lawmakers passed a $1.7 trillion spending bill. Officials crammed the No TikTok on Government Devices Act, which the Senate unanimously approved last week, into the mammoth 4,155-page omnibus bill. The spending package was fast tracked in order to avoid a partial government shutdown. It will fund the government through September.

The Senate voted 68-29 to pass the bill on December 22nd. The House approved it on Friday with a vote of 225-201. On the same day, President Joe Biden signed a stopgap bill that funded the government for another week in order to avert a shutdown until the omnibus bill landed on his desk. Today, President Biden signed the bill into law.

The legislation requires the Biden administration to establish rules to remove TikTok from government devices by mid-February. The bill carved out exceptions for elected officials, congressional staff, law enforcement agents and other officials. However, the House of Representatives separately banned TikTok on devices it owns and manages.

Earlier this month, FBI Director Chris Wray warned that China could use the app (which is owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance) to collect data on users. Some attempts have been made, including in the last few weeks, to prohibit TikTok in the US entirely. Several states have banned TikTok from government devices, including Georgia, South Dakota, Maryland and Texas. Indiana has sued TikTok over alleged security and child safety issues.

TikTok has attempted to soothe US lawmakers' concerns that the app could be used for spying purposes. Since June, it has been directing all traffic from the country to Oracle servers based domestically. TikTok and ByteDance said they'd delete US user data from their own servers in the US and Singapore. In August, Oracle began a review of TikTok's algorithms and content moderation systems.

As Congress was voting on the bill, news broke that ByteDance fired four employees (two in the US and two in China) who accessed the TikTok data of US journalists. The workers were allegedly trying to find the sources of leaks to the reporters.

The omnibus bill includes other tech-related provisions, including more funding for federal antitrust officials. In addition, the package incorporates the Computers for Veterans and Students Act. This requires the government to hand over certain surplus computers to nonprofits. The systems will be repaired and/or refurbished, then distributed to schools, homeschooled students, veterans, seniors and others in need.

There's also another $1.8 billion in new funding to implement the CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to boost domestic production of semiconductors. The omnibus bill earmarks $25.4 billion for NASA — 5.6 percent more than the agency received in fiscal year 2022, but less than the $26 billion the White House asked for. The National Science Foundation will get $9.9 billion, an increase of 12 percent. The National Institute of Standards and Technology and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will receive increases of 32 percent (up to $1.6 billion) and 17.5 percent ($761 million), respectively.

Almost seven months after the state legislature overwhelmingly passed a right-to-repair bill, New York governor Kathy Hochul has signed it into law. But Hochul only greenlit the bill after the legislature agreed to some changes. Hochul wrote in a memo that the legislation, as it was originally drafted, "included technical issues that could put safety and security at risk, as well as heighten the risk of injury from physical repair projects." The governor said the modifications addressed these issues, but critics say the amendments will weaken the law's effectiveness.

"This legislation would enhance consumer options in the repair markets by granting them greater access to the parts, tools and documents needed for repairs," Hochul wrote. "Encouraging consumers to maximize the lifespan of their devices through repairs is a laudable goal to save money and reduce electronic waste."

The changes strip out the bill's requirement for "original equipment manufacturers [or OEMs] to provide to the public any passwords, security codes or materials to override security features." OEMs will also be able to bundle "assemblies of parts" instead of just the specific component actually needed for a DIY repair if "the risk of improper installation heightens the risk of injury." 

The rules will only apply to devices that are originally built and used or sold in New York for the first time after July 1st. There's also an exemption for "digital products that are the subject of business-to-business or business-to-government sales and that otherwise are not offered for sale by retailers."

As Ars Technica reported earlier this month, representatives for Microsoft and Apple pressed Hochul's office for changes. So did industry association TechNet, which represents many notable tech companies, including Amazon, Google, Dell, HP and Engadget parent Yahoo.

As a result, the bill's revised language excludes enterprise electronics, such as those that schools, hospitals, universities and data centers rely on, as iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens wrote in a blog post. Home appliances, motor vehicles, medical devices and off-road equipment were previously exempted.

"Such changes could limit the benefits for school computers and most products currently in use," Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG), a collective of consumer rights organizations, said in a statement to Engadget. "Even more troubling, the bill now excludes certain smartphone circuit boards from parts the manufacturers are required to sell, and requires repair shops to post unwieldy warranty language."

"We knew it was going to be difficult to face down the biggest and wealthiest companies in the world," PIRG right to repair director Nathan Proctor said. "But, though trimmed down, a new Right to Repair law was signed. Now our work remains to strengthen this law and pass others until people have what they need to fix their stuff."

As The Verge notes, repair technician and right-to-repair advocate Louis Rossmann said the changes have watered down the law to the point where it's "functionally useless." Rossmann, who spent seven years trying to get the bill passed, called Hochul's assertion that the changes were necessary to include protections from physical harm and security risks "bullshit," citing a Federal Trade Commission report on the issue.

The right-to-repair movement has picked up steam over the last couple of years. Ahead of expected legislation coming into force, companies such as Google, Apple, Samsung and Valve started providing repair manuals and selling parts for some of their products.

Last year, President Joe Biden signed an executive order that aimed at bolstering competition in the US, including in the tech industry. Among other measures, it called on the FTC to ban "anticompetitive restrictions on using independent repair shops or doing DIY repairs of your own devices and equipment."

It’s been a decade since the first Tesla EV made its commercial debut and the electrification of American automotive society began in earnest. Acceptance at the newfangled technology was slow at first but, over the past ten years as battery capacities have grown and range anxieties have shrunk, electric vehicles have become a daily sight in most parts of the country. Doesn’t hurt that virtually every notable automaker on the planet has jumped on the electric bandwagon with sizable investments in battery and production technologies as well as pledges to electrify their lineups within a decade or so.

Not even recent years’ production slowdowns and supply chain disruptions brought on by the COVID pandemic managed to stall the industry’s momentum. The International Energy Agency in January reported that EVs had managed to triple their market share between 2019 and 2021 with 6.6 million units being sold globally last year. That’s not to discount the crippling impacts of the chip shortage, which saw fleets of nearly-finished electrified vehicles parked and idled as they awaited necessary components. Or in Tesla’s case, simply sold without the needed part — oh calm down, it’s just the steering column, there’s nothing critical in there, anyway that’s what autopilot is for, right?

2022 has eliminated any lingering doubts about whether EVs are here to stay (hint: they are). “So far in 2022, global EV sales are up 70 percent, or around 2 million units,” from 2021’s figures, according to Morgan Stanley. It is expecting a further 22 percent increase — around another 1.8 million units — in 2023. China’s BYD set monthly EV sales records throughout the year. Domestically, an Experian study released in October noted more than 600,000 new EV registrations through the first ten months of 2022, a 60 percent year-over-year jump. EVs may not be quite as ruggedized as their hybrid cousins, but who cares about that when you’ve got Ken “Let’s See If I Can Barrel Roll This Car” Block blowing the doors off of the Vegas Strip in an 800V Audi S1 Hoonitron? Or have VW tickling the American public’s deep seated nostalgia with a reimagined Hippy Wagon for the 21st century? Even Sony is getting into the EV game. EVs are no longer niche, they’ve become an indelible part of the culture.

In terms of market share, Tesla and BYD both retained their dominant positions within their relative markets and briefly jockeyed for the world number one spot before BYD pulled away. The Chinese automaker’s EV sales now account for nearly 20 percent of the global total. For its part, Tesla passed notable milestones in its 10,000th Model Y produced at the Texas Gigafactory and the millionth vehicle to roll out of production at Gigafactory Shanghai.

2022 also saw big moves and bigger investments from the rest of the automotive industry, from Ford and General Motors especially. Ford began delivering its highly-anticipated F-150 Lightning EV pickup in May, turned them into roving conference rooms with help from Cisco, began beta testing their bidirectional charging capabilities with California’s public utility as did GM, developed a new battery chemistry, announced plans to bring seven more EV models to the European market by 2024, and imagined a world without dealer showrooms for EV sales. General Motors had a banner year of its own. The company began production on its new marquee Lyriq EV, unveiled its Yukon Denali, Silverado, Blazer and Celestiq EVs; teased its upcoming Corvette hybrid, and secured a sizable federal loan to expand its battery manufacturing base.

Rebecca Cook / reuters

Not to be left out, Hyundai announced in 2022 a $5 billion investment in its US-based production capacity, including a new EV factory in Georgia. The Korean automaker, which has quietly risen to prominence in the US market in recent years, announced its next EV flagship, the Ioniq 6, in July the latest in Hyundai’s effort to release 17 electric vehicle models by the end of the decade. Kia, Hyundai’s sister brand, showed off the company’s brawnier EV6 GT at Monterey Car Week.

VW’s 2022 was fruitful as well and it appears that the automaker has fully embraced its electrified future (following the dieselgate scandal, how could it not?). VW opened a new ID.4 production plant in Tennessee, announced plans to invest an additional $7.1 billion into its North American production capacity over the next five years and dipped its toes into the EV battery business as well. Pfft, all Volvo did this year was debut the “safest car ever.”

And it wasn’t just the established brands, Lucid Motors is riding high this holiday season, buoyed by the November unveiling of its new top of the line Air Sapphire along with two (ahem, relatively) less expensive Air model variants, which will start at $87,000 with 410 miles of range and go up from there. The company also revealed plans this year to sell 100,000 units to the Saudi government, which has heavily invested in the company.

2022 also saw a drastic expansion of the nation’s various fast charging networks. In June, the Biden White House proposed a set of standards for the national EV charging network. The following month, GM announced that it will partner with EVGo to create a 500-station “coast-to-coast” fast-charge network and in December, opened its first two Community Charging Initiative sites in Wisconsin and Detroit. Hertz, fresh off two significant purchase contracts with Polestar and GM, revealed it is working with BP to host the latter’s BP Pulse chargers at select Hertz car rental locations — not unlike what VW and BP have planned for Europe. Similarly, IKEA will team up with Electrify America to bring EA’s fast charging network to the Swedish homeware maker’s parking lots. Perhaps most exciting, the White House in July confirmed rumors that Tesla would be opening its expansive North American SuperCharger network to non-Tesla EVs by the end of the year — that’s an additional 1,700-plus charging points for drivers to fill up at.

Caroline Brehman via Getty Images

But 2022 wasn’t all smooth asphalt and sunshine. Rivian fell on hard times this year, struggling with production issues, layoffs, price hikes, lawsuits in response to said price hikes followed by reversals of said price hiles, delays to the R1S delivery schedule and trim level cullings. Rivian performed so badly in 2022 that it dragged Ford’s stock value down alongside it — but it was still a better year than Lordstown had.

And hey, at least they didn’t use the tip of their tongue to test for live wires like BMW did in July when it tried to paywall access to seat heaters that vehicle owners had already paid for. Even Mercedes had the good sense to charge $1,200 a year only for funtime performance extras like added torque and a shortened 0-60, rather than essential capabilities like retaining rear-end sensation on cold winter mornings.

We also saw significant pricing fluctuations in EVs this year. Tesla raised prices across the board for its entire lineup, as did Polestar with its single motor variant, while VW dropped the price of its 2023 ID.4 by around $4,000 thanks to its use of a slightly smaller battery pack.

For as eventful as 2022 turned out to be, 2023 and beyond is sure to be even bigger for the EV industry. We’re expecting debuts of the VW ID.3; the Lucid Gravity, Polestar 3, Jeep (one of four!) and Honda Prologue SUVs. The Kia EV9 is slated for release in the second half of the year while the Buick Wildcat won’t be realized until 2024. With any luck, these EVs will serve merely as stopgaps until Volkswagen can perfect its Gen.Travel concept and begin shuttling us around in automated transport pods. Like Wall-E, but just as fat.

As we approach the end of the year, it’s time for Engadget to wrap up the successes and failures in tech from the last twelve months. While it might be easier point out the messes made by the likes of crypto, Google’s Stadia cloud gaming platform and, ugh, Twitter, there were some highlights too. These include the eventual arrival of Steam’s handheld gaming PC, all those Wordle options, and some dazzling new views of space. The worst of 2022 centers an awful lot on tech bros, if you hadn’t rolled your eyes at them enough in the preceding years. From the collapse of FTX to the precarious state of Twitter, it’s been a mess. Meanwhile, the likes of Peloton have struggled to hold onto their pandemic user base, and Toyota’s EV efforts haven’t been great. Check out all our hits and our misses of 2022.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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Amazon might be making a standalone sports streaming app

No word yet on when the company expects to launch the service.

A report from The Information says that Amazon is working on a new standalone streaming app to declutter Prime Video and better highlight its deals with the NFL, the UK’s Premier League and New York Yankees. The development follows recent comments from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who highlighted live sports content as one of the areas where the company plans to continue spending money even as it cuts costs in other areas. The Information says it doesn’t know when Amazon might release the app, nor if the company plans to charge separately for access to Prime Video’s sports content. The outlet also notes Amazon may decide to shelve the app. Amazon did not immediately respond to Engadget’s comment request. Earlier this month, Google reportedly agreed to pay between $2.1 billion and $2.2 billion for the NFL’s Sunday Ticket package.

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The Evie is a smart ring designed 'for women'

It can measure heart rate, clinical SpO2, skin temperature variability and more.

Evie

Health company Movano has teased its first smart ring, the Evie, designed for health, fitness and cycle tracking. It looks like a rival to Oura's latest smart ring, though the company says it's "designed uniquely for women." It offers many of the health metrics seen on Oura's ring and wearables from Apple and others. It can measure heart rate, blood-oxygen, skin temperature variability, steps, calories, sleep, period and ovulation tracking, and more. Movano plans to provide a closer look next week at CES 2023.

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A Stan Lee documentary will hit Disney+ next year

Marvel announced the news on Lee’s 100th birthday.

Yesterday was Marvel legend Stan Lee's 100th birthday and the comic giant marked the occasion by revealing that a documentary about his life will hit Disney+ next year. Lee, who died in 2018, is a critical part of Marvel’s legacy. The many, many characters he’s credited with co-creating include Spider-Man, Iron Man, Black Panther, Ant-Man, X-Men, The Fantastic Four and The Incredible Hulk. Disney has mined its history for several documentary projects for its streaming service. When Disney+ debuted three years ago, it featured a docuseries on the Imagineers, the minds behind its theme parks.

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Researchers develop blood test that can reliably detect Alzheimer’s disease

The test could replace lumbar punctures and brain scans.

When doctors need to confirm an Alzheimer's diagnosis, alongside brain scans, it can involve a lumbar puncture – an invasive and painful procedure that’s more commonly known as a spinal tap. The next best tool for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease is a blood test. While some tests can detect abnormal tau protein counts as a possible indicator of Alzheimer’s disease, they’re less effective at spotting the telltale signs of neurodegeneration. But this week, in the journal Brain, a multinational team of researchers from Sweden, Italy, the UK and US detailed a new antibody-based blood test that can detect brain-derived tau proteins specific to Alzheimer’s disease. Following a study of 600 patients, the team found their test could reliably distinguish the illness from other neurodegenerative diseases.

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