ArduinoMania

As recently as last year, TikTok employed a two-tier moderation system that gave preferential to its most popular users, according to Forbes. The outlet obtained an audio recording of a September 2021 meeting where the company detailed an internal feature called “creator labels” that was reserved for accounts with more than 5 million followers. When it came to moderating those users, many of them influencers and celebrities, TikTok reportedly filtered them through a separate moderation queue that saw the company treat those accounts differently.

“We don’t want to treat these users as, um, like any other accounts. There’s a bit more leniency, I’d say,” one employee with TikTok’s Trust and Safety said during the meeting, according to Forbes. On its website, the company states its Community Guidelines apply to “everyone and everything on TikTok.”

TikTok did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment. A spokesperson for the company told Forbes it is “not more lenient in moderating accounts with more than 5 million followers,” adding it does not have moderation queues based on follower counts.

If the report is accurate, TikTok would not be the first company to treat its most influential and powerful users differently. In 2021, The Wall Street Journal detailed how Meta’s XCheck system had allowed millions of high-profile Facebook and Instagram users to skirt its rules. In one incident described by the report, the system “blocked” Facebook moderators from removing nude photos Brazilian soccer star Neymar posted of a woman who had accused him of sexual assault. The post was viewed more than 60 million times before Meta took action. Additionally, the company did not ban Nyemar’s account, even though he shared non-consensual nudity in violation of its Community Guidelines.

Ever since the world got its first look at iOS 16’s reintroduced battery percentage indicator at the start of last month, people have voiced strong opinions about the icon. Many, including Engadget Deputy Editor Cherlynn Low, felt Apple could have done a better job with it. In its current iteration, the icon remains static – displaying only a percentage – until your iPhone’s battery depletes below 20 percent capacity. It’s a design decision that makes the indicator less useful than it ought to be since in most cases you need to look closely to see how much battery you have left.

Thankfully, Apple is working on an improved version of the icon. Earlier today, the company released the second iOS 16.1 beta (via MacRumors). Among other things, the update introduces a tweak to the battery percentage indicator. Now, instead of the icon only turning red when your iPhone’s battery dips below 20 percent charge, it will also gradually deplete as the battery does. It’s a small change, but one that improves usability.

Beta two also includes a tweak to the lock screen. When you plug your phone to charge, a battery percentage indicator will briefly appear above the time, bringing back a feature from iOS 15. On the iPhone 14 Pro, you’ll also see one appear within the Dynamic Island. The next version of iOS 16 does not have a release date yet. We’ll also note here that Apple could further tweak some of the changes found in beta two.

GM wants to exclusively sell electric vehicles by 2035, and it's now trying to nudge the US government toward the same goal. The automaker has teamed up with an advocacy group, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), to develop recommended principles for the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) car emissions standards from the 2027 model year onward. The guidelines are meant to accelerate EV adoption in a socially conscious way — and, of course, help GM's bottom line.

The brand wants standards that ensure at least half of new vehicles sold by are zero-emissions by 2030, with a 60 percent reduction in emissions across a lineup compared to 2021. They need to address multiple pollution sources (such as CO2, nitrogen oxides and particles) and be "performance-based," GM argues. The company also believes there should be an optional pathway to speed up the launch of breakthrough emissions-reducing technology, and that standards should ensure the benefits of reduced pollution apply to everyone (such as vulnerable communities). Not surprisingly, GM hopes for tight coordination between the public and private realms, including complementary investments.

GM and the EDF want a quick decision process. They'd like the standards to be proposed this fall, and completed by fall 2023. The standards should last until 2032 at a minimum, the partners said, but they also hoped the EPA would extend that to 2035.

There might not be much opposition to the basic concept. President Biden already wants half of new vehicles to be emissions-free by 2030, and the EPA reversed Trump-era standards rollbacks in December. Meanwhile, California, Massachusetts and New York State expect to ban sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035 and frequently push for stricter standards than the federal government. The principles and resulting EPA standards would theoretically help politicians reach these targets sooner by encouraging manufacturers to electrify their fleets quickly.

Whether or not GM and the EDF get their way isn't clear. The EPA isn't guaranteed to take the principles to heart, and a change of presidents could lead to weaker rules. We'd add that GM has altered its stance on emissions reductions depending on who's in office. The firm backed the Trump administration's efforts to revoke waivers letting California set tougher requirements, only to change its tune after Biden won the 2020 election. Still, we wouldn't expect GM to back out any time soon. The company has staked its future on EVs, and it stands to profit if the market shifts to eco-friendly vehicles a little sooner.

Amazon will host a hardware event on September 28th at 12PM ET, the company announced today. The invite the retailer sent to Engadget didn't include many details, promising only that it would share news about "our latest Amazon devices, features, and services." Incidentally, the event will fall exactly one year to the date of its 2021 hardware showcase. 

Last year's event was full of offbeat products, with Astro, the company's Alexa-powered robot on wheels, stealing the show. Other highlights included the Echo Show 15 and Glow, a kid-focused teleconferencing device. The company also announced more iterative updates in the form of the Halo View fitness band and Ring Alarm Pro. Amazon won't stream the event, but you can expect comprehensive coverage from Engadget.

Three years after becoming the newest branch of the US Armed Forces, the Space Force has an official song. Titled “Semper Supra” (or “Always Above,” if you’re not a fan of Latin), the tune made its debut on Tuesday at the 2022 Air, Space and Cyber Conference in Maryland. Now, before I say anything else about it, I think it’s best you hear the song for yourself.

If you ask me, it’s jauntier than I expected, particularly for a song that is supposed to embody a 21st-century military branch. According to Chief of Space Operations John Raymond, the Space Force wanted a song that “spoke to our Guardians” – and, no, he’s not talking about Destiny 2 players.

The eight lines of lyrics you hear were the result of “years of research and revisions.” Former service and US Air Force Band member James Teachenor wrote "Semper Supra" with General Raymond’s help. "The song was a long work in progress because I wanted it to encompass all the capabilities that the Space Force offers and its vision," Teachenor said. Once the two settled on the song’s lyrics, they recruited Sean Nelson of the US Coast Guard Band to create an arrangement, with the USCG Band providing the instrumentation. 

If you ask us, the final product sounds a bit too similar too to other Armed Forces tunes like “The Army Goes Rolling Along.” Personally, I think the Space Force should have gone down a prog rock route and made the song sound, you know, spacey. 

American Airlines says that hackers may have obtained personal information for a "very small number" of customers and employees. The company did not say exactly how many people were impacted, though it noted there's no evidence that the attackers have misused the information. It told affected customers that names, driver’s license and passport numbers, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and medical information may have been compromised.

The hackers gained access to American's email system through a phishing campaign, as the Associated Press reported. The company told regulators in Montana that it discovered the intrusion in July. It started informing affected customers last week. American says it has secured the breached email accounts and brought in a third-party cybersecurity firm to investigate.

American said it's putting more technical measures in place to prevent similar breaches from occurring. The company has also offered customers affected by the breach two years of identity theft-protection coverage.

An American Airlines spokesperson provided the following statement to Engadget:

“American Airlines is aware of a phishing campaign that led to the unauthorized access to a limited number of team member mailboxes. A very small number of customers and employees’ personal information was contained in those email accounts. While we have no evidence that any personal information has been misused, data security is of the utmost importance and we offered customers and team members precautionary support. We are also currently implementing additional technical safeguards to prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future.”

So much for the iPhone 14's surprisingly repairable design extending across the lineup. iFixit has completed a teardown of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and the easier-to-fix internals haven't carried over. Break the back glass and you'll have a harder time repairing it yourself — or an expensive ($549 in the US) Apple Store visit if your device is out of warranty. While Apple never said the Pro models would receive this upgrade, it's worth considering if you plan to keep your phone running with a little surgery.

It's not clear why Apple didn't rethink internals across the entire iPhone 14 range. iFixit speculates that Apple wanted to limit potential delays, particularly given the supply chain risks involved with the Pro family's new camera and display technologies. We've asked Apple for comment, but it won't be surprising if more accessible innards come with future generations.

The teardown has a few additional surprises. On US versions of the iPhone 14 line, Apple hasn't replaced the newly removed SIM tray with anything else. This is more to push eSIM adoption than to save space, then. iFixit also couldn't pinpoint a dedicated satellite antenna for emergency communication, suggesting that Apple might be using the usual cellular or WiFi antennas to send SOS messages.

The overall repairability of the iPhone 14 Pro "isn't terrible" outside of the requirement to activate parts, according to iFixit. Unless Apple harmonizes its design, though, do-it-yourself repair enthusiasts will have to make sacrifices if they want an iPhone they can fix with relatively little difficulty.

Hertz is once again growing its EV fleet, announcing Tuesday that it has struck a deal with General Motors to purchase 175,000 electric vehicles from the automaker's Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac and BrightDrop brands over the next five years. Customers will see the first offerings, namely the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV, arrive on Hertz lots beginning in the first quarter next year. 

The deal, which runs through 2027, will bring a wide variety of models to Hertz's growing EV herd. Between now and 2027, the rental company expects its customers to drive about 8 billion miles in said EVs, preventing an estimated 3.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from being released. Hertz plans to convert a quarter of its rental fleet to battery electric by 2024. 

This news follows Hertz's 65,000-vehicle order from Polestar in April, which the performance EV maker has already begun deliveries on. An earlier announcement in 2021 had many believing that Tesla would be supplying the Hertz fleet with 100,000 vehicles, worth an estimated $4.2 billion, was quickly kiboshed by Tesla CEO, Elon Musk. Hertz is already planning to rent 50,000 Tesla EVs to Uber drivers, which now operate in 25 North American cities, there's no word on whether GM's vehicles will be offered under similar terms.

EA's Motive Studio is putting the finishing touches on its solid-looking Dead Space remake, but it's already looking ahead to other projects. EA announced that Motive has teamed up with Marvel to make an Iron Man game.

Although the title is in early development, the company has teased out a few details. It will be a single-player, third-person, action-adventure game with an original story. The idea is that you'll be able to "feel what it’s like to truly play as Iron Man," EA claimed in a statement.

The Motive team working on the project will be led by Olivier Proulx, who was a senior producer on last year's surprisingly great Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Proulx also worked on the single-player side of Marvel's Avengers and so won't be a stranger to Iron Man. “We have a great opportunity to create a new and unique story that we can call our own. Marvel is encouraging us to create something fresh,” Proulx said.

EA said the Iron Man game marks the beginning of its partnership with Marvel as it's the first of several titles they'll make together. Rumors suggest one of those is a Black Panther game.

YouTube just announced a major change to its Partner Program that will allow its short-form video creators to make a lot more money from its platform. The company announced that it‘s adding advertising to its TikTok rival, YouTube Shorts, and will share revenue with creators.

The change could help YouTube draw creators away from TikTok, where stars have complained about low creator fund payouts. “This is the first time real revenue sharing is being offered for short-form video on any platform at scale,” YouTube Chief Product Officer Neal Mahon said during an event announcing the news.

With the new revenue sharing program, creators who get 10 million views on Shorts in a 90-day period can apply to join the Partner Program. Like TikTok, ads on Shorts will appear between videos in the Shorts feed. Revenue from the ads will be pooled and split among creators, Mohan said. Creators will get a 45 percent cut of the ads, regardless of whether they use music.

“Each creator is paid on their share of total Shorts views, and this revenue share remains the same, even if they use music,” he explained.

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