HBO Max has swung the ax on another six animated projects, according to Variety. One of them is Batman: Caped Crusader, a series produced by J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves and Batman: The Animated Series co-creator Bruce Timm. The show, which was announced last year, is a spiritual successor to Timm's classic '90s series.
Unlike some of the other shows and movies HBO Max has canned in recent weeks, production is continuing on these projects. The production teams will seek another home for them. The other projects in this wave of cancellations are Merry Little Batman, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Tunes Musical, Did I Do That to The Holidays: A Steve Urkel Story and The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie.
HBO Max is deprioritizing kids and family content. Last week, it yanked dozens of shows, including several animated series. It also removed hundreds of Sesame Street episodes in an apparent move to save on licensing fees.
On top of that, HBO Max canceled exclusive movies Batgirl and Scoob!: Holiday Haunt and took down other notable original shows and movies in recent weeks (one of Batgirl's directors seemingly tried to capture some footage from the movie on his smartphone to no avail). What's more, the streaming service and sibling HBO laid off several employees from the family programming division this month.
Parent Warner Bros. Discovery is removing certain shows and movies from HBO Max ahead of merging the service with Discovery+ next year. "As we work toward bringing our content catalogs together under one platform, we will be making changes to the content offering available on both HBO Max and Discovery+," it said.
The decisions to cancel and remove content come amid border cost-cutting efforts at Warner Bros. Discovery, which formed after the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery earlier this year. CEO David Zaslav and his team are trying to make $3 billion in cuts, but the moves have had an impact on the company's stock price, which has fallen by 25 percent since August 4th. The company's valuation has dropped by billions over the last month. That footage from The Last of Us sure looks good, though.
Warner Bros Discovery wanted to save $3 billion by deleting series, movies, killing payments to animation workers’ health funds, firing a lot of women and minorities and their reward has been losing $5.5 billion market cap in a month & alienating top talent. Great job. pic.twitter.com/QuocGhW3N6
I hate to admit it, but I might have a new favorite phone. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 4 is the latest version of the company’s smaller foldable and with this generation, the company has addressed most of our problems with the previous model. It’s delivered longer battery life, increased durability and a slightly more useful external display. With the same $1,000 starting price as before, the Z Flip 4 costs about the same as an iPhone 13 Pro and a Galaxy S22+, but can fold into a square that you can hide in your palm. It’s a supremely fun phone to use, thanks to the different modes you can set it up in. The Z Flip 4 isn’t perfect, but by improving its battery life, Samsung’s finally made a foldable phone that’s ready for the mainstream.
Design
One of the best things about the Flips is that you can fold them in half and easily stuff it in a pocket, small bag or other tight space. As someone whose desk is chronically cluttered, I struggle to find a spot to place my gigantic Pixel 6 Pro, which, if not placed carefully on an even surface, would suicidally slide off a table and plunge to its death.
Thanks to its new matte finish, Flip 4 is not as slippery as its predecessor or the Pixel, so I was less afraid of putting it on top of keys or packs of snacks, for example. I’ve only dropped it once since I’ve had it, and so far, the case has survived without a scratch. And because the Flip is so small, I also had a much easier time finding somewhere to place it. On one occasion when I wore something with a particularly tight pocket, the Flip 4 still fit easily, though it was a bit uncomfortable. It still felt better than the iPhone 12 and Pixel 6 Pro that I regularly use, though, both of which peek out the top and make bending forward feel like I’d break the phone.
I’ve also been far less careful with my review unit of the Flip 4 than with prior foldables, tossing it into bags packed with keys and other hefty phones. I panicked for a second when I realized what I had done, because I still needed the phone to be in pristine condition for a photoshoot, but phew, the Gorilla Glass Victus+ covering on the Flip’s inside and outside has kept it scratch-free.
Many of the other changes the company made this year are less impactful. The smaller hinge, shinier edges and slightly sleeker lines make the new model look a little cleaner, and the external cameras protrude slightly more than before, but beyond those minuscule differences, it’s hard to tell the Flip 3 and 4 apart.
The easiest way for me to identify the Flip 4 is by its color. My sample is in Samsung’s “Bora Purple” hue, which is a nice lavender shade, but I prefer the blue version. When open, the two Flips are even harder to tell apart — the latest model is just a hair shorter.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
Both their hinges feel similarly sturdy, and I could still, with a lot of careful maneuvering, open and close the Flip with one hand. I even created a spot on my home screen for my thumb to push into the panel for leverage when shutting the device, and so far I haven’t felt like I might break the display.
The Flip 4 still has a crease running across its display, but this time it seems shallower. It might just be because it’s new and over time it may get more prominent. But those hoping for a more minimal crease may be disappointed — it’s definitely still there and noticeable.
If you’re a fan of sensory experiences like I am, you might like to know that stroking this crease as you scroll long articles or Reddit posts still feels oddly satisfying. Running your finger up and down this depression feels like trying to massage a knot out of your back (except you don’t want to use nearly as much pressure). It’s not going to get in the way of your using the Flip, but if you’re into tendons it’ll just spice up the experience.
It’s hard to compare the Flip 4 to other phones because it’s the only viable one of its kind retailing in America, but it’s still worth noting that at 187 grams (or 6.59 ounces), it’s lighter than other $1,000 phones like the S22 Plus and the iPhone 13 Pro. It’s just 13 grams heavier than the iPhone 13.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
Displays and audio
The Flip 4 is also hard to categorize because of its unique screen. Though it measures 6.7 inches diagonally, its aspect ratio of 22:9 makes it slightly longer and narrower than most phones. I didn’t mind this — in fact, I found it easier to reach across the Flip’s display to hit buttons on the other side than on my iPhone or Pixel.
As usual with any Samsung mobile device, the Flip 4’s 1080p panel delivered rich colors and crisp details, and I love the 120Hz refresh rate for scrolling through my favorite subreddits. There is a slight issue with viewing angles when you fold the phone slightly, though. If you’re looking at it straight on, everything seems fine.
But sometimes from an angle, I’ve seen some discoloration along the crease. This isn’t a huge deal, since I’m rarely looking at the screen that way and it doesn’t really impact visibility.
I also spent less time reading things on the 1.9-inch cover display, but when I did use it to reply to messages or set alarms, it was easy to read. I love the colorful clock faces Samsung provides, which make the Flip 4 look more eye-catching.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
Using the cover display to play music from Spotify is convenient, and by default hitting play on this widget will start the last song you listened to. In general the Flip 4’s speakers were loud enough to provide background sound while I worked, though I wish there were stronger bass for tracks like Taste by Tyga and INVU by Taeyeon. The music also sounded slightly different when the Flip was open versus when closed, with audio seeming a little canned in the latter mode.
In use when folded: Flex Mode and cameras
The Flip 4 is perfectly capable as a regular, non-bendy phone, but when it’s closed or half-folded, it’s truly unique. In those formats, it’s basically either a camera with its own built-in kickstand (perfect for the selfie-obsessed like myself) or as a less-disruptive pager-like device. I’ve loved using the Flip 4 to record an embarrassing number of yoga routine videos or document my outfits for the week. I’ve even attempted some of the trendy dance moves young people seem to do so much on TikTok. (Though, I will never share those clips.)
There are two ways to shoot with the Flip 4 when it’s flexed: With the external cameras and the cover display as a viewfinder, or with the internal camera while framing your shot with the top half of the main screen.
When I try to use the cameras on the outside to shoot selfies, it’s hard to find a flattering angle because the outside screen is so small I can never see my entire face in it unless I’m too far away to make adjustments. Even with the phone completely closed, using the cover display as a viewfinder is not worth the effort — I always ended up with awkward, unflattering angles. The internal camera is more reliable, but it doesn’t have the wide angle lens and generally produces less vibrant shots.
Despite the limitations, I’ve been enamored with taking pictures on the Flip 4. It’s worth shouting out the open palm gesture that Samsung has supported for years that makes hands-free triggering of the camera much easier. And I have to be honest — I mean specifically shooting selfies and content for social media featuring me (and my friends). The Flip 4 is also useful for my video calls with my parents in Singapore, eliminating the need for a phone stand. None of this is new to this year’s Flip, by the way. I just wanted to remind you how much fun and function you can get out of a regular-sized phone that folds.
Samsung also offers an interface called Flex Mode that kicks in on compatible apps when the system detects the phone is open at about 170 degrees or less. In these situations, apps like Camera and Gallery turn the lower half of the screen into a touchpad that lets you swipe through pictures while displaying the content you’re viewing on top. YouTube, for example, will display the video on the top half, flanked by two horizontal black bars, while the title, views, details and comments sit in the bottom portion.
It’s mostly intuitive and useful but, man, I have such a love-hate relationship with Flex mode. I vividly remember thinking that using the Flip with one hand while leaning back on my couch would be easier if Samsung added its Flex Mode panel to more apps so I could easily scroll through long posts or articles. I was wrong.
On the Flip 4, Samsung introduced a Touchpad feature to its Flex Mode panel, which you can force enable for most apps even if their developers didn’t design a specific layout. You’d use this like it were a laptop trackpad on the bottom of your screen: move your finger around to control a cursor, tap to click links and other elements and drag two fingers up or down to scroll. You can’t pinch to zoom, but honestly that’s not a laptop-like gesture I need here.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
In theory, a lot of this makes sense. When you’re using one hand and holding the Flip slightly folded, reaching for elements on the top of the screen with your thumb can be tricky. The trackpad makes it easier to click things at the edge of the panel. But two-finger scrolling in one-handed use simply does not work, unless you somehow can balance the Flip with just three fingers and have the dexterity to use your remaining digits to swipe on the screen.
Those of us without Olympian-level finger gymnastic skills will probably need to leave Flex Mode to scroll. Trouble is, there is no easy way to summon this panel. Worse, it reappears if you straighten and refold the screen, or if you jump to another app and return. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve hit the X to dismiss Flex Mode, only to absentmindedly open Telegram to reply to a friend, and be presented with the black box again.
To make things worse, the X icon to dismiss the Flex Mode box is right up against the crease, making it incredibly hard to hit. I usually have to tap it about five times to get it to register. Honestly the only thing the new trackpad is good for is dragging the cursor to the X to close itself.
To be clear, this panel only appears if you’ve gone into the experimental Labs area in Advanced Settings to enable it for specific apps. Most people are unlikely to encounter it by default, and the Flex Mode layouts for customized apps like Gallery and Camera are fine.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
Cover display is slightly more useful
Samsung is also caught in a difficult situation when it comes to the external screen. This window is the same size as last year, and the company’s added a new widget so you can do more without opening the phone, like control your smart home appliances. The existing options were a media player, calendar, schedule, weather, alarms, timer, quick dial and health, which is really a glorified step counter. To make the cover display a bit more useful, Samsung also added the ability to quickly reply to messages using emoji, dictation or a selection of preset responses like “No thanks” or “On my way.” It’s basically what you get from a six-year-old Fitbit or smartwatch. The Apple Watch offers an onscreen keyboard for replies now, too, even if it’s hilariously and uselessly tiny. Still, I’m glad Samsung at least offers some options here, making the cover display at least slightly more functional.
The minimal functionality of the Flip 4 when it’s closed is a good way to partially unplug from distractions while still remaining reachable — kind of like using a pager (remember those?). Samsung’s new customizable clock face designs are adorable and make the device more attractive. I also appreciate being able to surreptitiously set a timer or snap a selfie when the Flip is small enough to hide in my palm — people are less aware of me taking my 900th selfie of the day when I’m using a tiny square instead of holding out a metal-and-glass slab of a phone.
Without increasing the size of the cover display, the company can’t really do much more. And I’m not sure I want Samsung to go bigger. A larger second screen would tax the battery, which is something the Flip 4 can barely spare. I’d much rather the company gave the next Flip better cameras.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
Cameras
That’s not to say the Flip 4’s cameras are bad. They’re actually surprisingly capable — especially the pair of 12-megapixel sensors on the outside. With larger 1.8-micron pixels than the Flip 3, the primary and ultrawide cameras both delivered impressively colorful and sharp pictures that rivaled the Pixel 6 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro in bright light.
Like the Galaxy S22 Ultra, the Flip 4’s pictures were warmer and more saturated than the Pixel’s, but less red than the iPhone’s. All three handsets produced similarly sharp pictures of buildings at sunset, though Samsung’s images were occasionally a little soft. But they weren’t anything egregious — the bark on a tree I shot against the sun wasn’t as crisp on the Flip for example. But I wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t pixel peeping looking for the differences.
As usual, Google has the upper hand at night, with windows on the Empire State Building looking tack sharp, but slightly blurrier on the Flip 4. I also prefer Google’s approach to Portrait mode. The Pixel 6 Pro is better at identifying outlines of subjects and applying a blur to everything else. Samsung’s system is still hit or miss and can look artificial.
The iPhone and Pixel both offer better quality than the Flip on zoomed-in photos, especially in low light. While Apple and Google were able to retain generally clean lines in the faraway Manhattan buildings in a nightscape, Samsung’s picture was a muddy, blotchy mess.
Selfies I took in low light with the Flip 4 were similarly splotchy, but the Pixel and iPhone didn’t do much better in those situations anyway. I was pleasantly surprised by how sharp and warm the photos I captured with the Flip’s inside camera in daylight turned out, though. They looked more natural than the Pixel’s shots, and were about as good as the iPhone’s.
The videos I recorded with the Flip’s external cameras were also on par with the other two. Like a true fitness influencer wannabe, I set up the phone alongside the Pixel and iPhone and took copious videos of myself working out, and each time the Flip’s clips were about the same quality. One time, though, the Flip’s video was out of focus, which I think might have something to do with how I started recording. In general, most of the videos I shot with the Flip were smooth and vivid.
Performance and in use
Like any mainstream flagship phone, the Flip 4 is equipped with the latest top-tier Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip and has 8GB of RAM. After some initial hiccups while setting up the phone, during which the Flip 4 got noticeably warm, things got smoother. I never encountered any lag as I shot videos, livestreamed to Instagram, screen-recorded my friends’ Instagram Stories or posted photos. It did get hot again when I called my parents via Telegram, but otherwise the Flip mostly remained cool.
It’s worth reminding you all that some apps struggle with the Flip’s uncommon aspect ratio. The biggest culprit is Instagram. Often, the create post button will be out of reach or overlap other posts. The Stories editor has a blank black strip at the bottom between the viewfinder and the submit buttons, and if you’re using Samsung’s keyboard, it sometimes obscures things like the color picker or tag suggestions. This isn’t a dealbreaker, but it’s a minor inconvenience to be aware of if you’re getting the Flip.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
Thankfully the days of heavy-handed overlays like TouchWiz are mostly in the past, and Samsung’s phones now ship with fairly clean versions of Android and its One UI interface. There are pros and cons with this — I love Samsung’s Gallery app and the built-in video editor, for example. But I hate that Samsung occasionally still serves up ads in the notifications shade, showing you recommendations from the Galaxy App store. I also find that One UI doesn’t seem to understand Do Not Disturb mode, and frequently lets unnecessary alerts through. Still, the Flip 4’s software is not bloated and is fairly customizable, so you can alleviate some potential frustrations.
Battery life and charging
My biggest complaint about the Flip 3 was its dismal battery life, and it was the one thing keeping me from recommending it to a more mainstream user. With the Flip 4, Samsung not only used a larger 3,700mAh battery, but also a more power-efficient processor. The results aren’t astounding, but the Flip 4 generally lasts all day.
I usually take it out in the afternoon and come home past midnight with about 20 percent to spare. One Sunday, I took the Flip 4 to an early morning workout and ran around New York and New Jersey all day. By 10pm, it had dropped to 15 percent and was prompting me to enable battery-saving mode.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
This is sort of pitiful compared to the battery life of the iPhone 13 Pro, Pixel 6 Pro and S22 Plus, which all stick around longer than a day. But given the Flip 4 has two screens, I’m willing to be more forgiving. Plus, when it came time to recharge the Flip, it didn’t take long — I usually got more than 40 percent of power in about 40 minutes.
On our video rundown test, the Flip 4 clocked 16 hours and 35 minutes, which is five hours more than the Flip 3 and, surprisingly, also more than the Nothing Phone 1. It’s even on par with the Galaxy S22+. Meanwhile, phones like the Pixel 6 and OnePlus 10T delivered results of more than 20 hours.
Wrap-up
With its improved battery life and durability, the Flip 4 is a more practical phone than its predecessor and is the first of Samsung’s foldables that’s truly ready for the mainstream. Sure, there are a few minor inconveniences to put up with, like Instagram’s incompatibility with its aspect ratio or the fact that it has considerably less battery life than other phones at this price. But if you’ve been itching to see if a foldable phone might fit in your life (and your pocket), or if you’re a selfie aficionado, the Flip 4 will be a satisfying purchase.
After nearly 10 million people watched the premiere of HBO’s House of the Dragon, Amazon wants to remind you it too has a high-fantasy series that’s coming out soon. On Tuesday, the company shared a new trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. More than anything, the clip is a showcase for the $465 million Amazon spent to produce the show’s first season.
Dialogue from characters like Galadriel and Elrond set the stage for the Second Age conflict that’s about to unfold, but it’s almost secondary to the spectacle of the visuals on display. Every scene oozes with the money that went in to create the show’s cinematography, costume design and CGI. The Rings of Power will borrow some elements from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion. As the title makes clear, the series will recount the forging of the Rings of Power and Sauron’s return to Middle-earth. Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay have outlined a five-season story. The first one will debut on September 2nd.
Binance's chief communications officer says hackers used a deepfake of his image in Zoom calls to scam cryptocurrency executives. Patrick Hillmann claims the hackers successfully duped crypto project representatives into thinking he would help their tokens get listed on Binance's exchange.
In a blog post spotted by Bitcoin News, Hillmann wrote that the scammers built the deepfake based on his interviews and TV appearances. Hillmann learned about the deception after receiving messages thanking him for discussing listing opportunities. However, he said he didn't meet with any of those people and that he's not involved in Binance's listing process.
"This deepfake was refined enough to fool several highly intelligent crypto community members," Hillmann wrote. It's not clear how many crypto projects were affected by the scam or how much the folks behind them may have paid for the promise of a Binance listing. Binance doesn't have a set figure for listing fees. It asks projects to propose a number they're comfortable with and donates fees to charity.
Hillmann notes that Binance has stringent cybersecurity rules. Still, that won't stop hackers from trying to impersonate its workers. "There’s been a recent spike in hackers pretending to be Binance employees and executives on platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, etc," Hillmann wrote. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao recently warned that there are around 7,000 purported profiles of the company's employees on LinkedIn, but only around 50 are real.
It's not the first time criminals have impersonated executives with the help of technology. In 2019, a scammer pretended to be the CEO of an unnamed company by using artificial intelligence to mimic that person's voice. They asked the head of a subsidiary to transfer $243,000 to a supplier. Of course, that money never arrived at its intended destination.
Last year, someone used a deepfake of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's chief of staff to dupe politicians in the Netherlands into having a video call with them. Facebook took down a deepfake of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in March, shortly after Russia invaded his country.
Senate and Congressional committee leaders from both sides of the aisle are looking into claims from Twitter's former security chief that the platform has “extreme, egregious deficiencies” in terms of protections against attackers. Famed hacker Peiter "Mudge" Zatko, who took over Twitter's security division in 2020 and left the post in January, accused the company in a whistleblower complaint of having questionable cybersecurity defenses and weak measures to fend off spam. Zatko also claimed the company violated the terms it agreed with the Federal Trade Commission to settle a privacy dispute.
Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. and Republican Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the chair and ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee respectively, say they are "assessing next steps" following the allegations, according to The Washington Post. They said the complaint underscores how important it is for Congress to protect people's data by passing consumer privacy legislation.
"The whistleblower’s allegations of widespread security failures at Twitter, willful misrepresentations by top executives to government agencies and penetration of the company by foreign intelligence raise serious concerns," Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Durbin wrote on Twitter. "If these claims are accurate, they may show dangerous data privacy and security risks for Twitter users around the world."
The offices of Durbin and the committee's ranking member Chuck Grassley said they've held early talks with Zatko. The Senate Intelligence Committee is also looking to set up a meeting with the whistleblower.
"Security and privacy have long been top company-wide priorities at Twitter," spokesperson Rebecca Hahn said, while claiming that Zatko's assertions are "riddled with inaccuracies." The company fired Zatko "for poor performance and leadership," Hahn said, adding that he "appears to be opportunistically seeking to inflict harm on Twitter, its customers and its shareholders."
Zatko has said he "felt ethically bound" to file the complaint as a member of the cybersecurity community. Given the bipartisan interest in Zatko's claims, the allegations could prompt Congress and the Senate to beef up cybersecurity legislation after several failed efforts to more strictly regulate the technology industry.
Additionally, Zatko's disclosure could play a role in Twitter's case against Elon Musk, who is trying to back out of a deal to buy the company. The two sides are set to go to trial in October.
BYD is one of more than 450 registered EV firms in China, all of which are competing for a slice of the world’s largest automotive market with future designs for the US and Europe as well. American ingenuity may have initially ushered in the EV era, but it’s been China’s relentless commoditization of the technology that has put the nation’s automakers at the forefront of the global electric vehicle race.
“Developing new energy vehicles is essential for China’s transformation from a big automobile country to a powerful automobile country,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said in 2014. “We should increase research and development, seriously analyze the market, adjust existing policy and develop new products to meet the needs of different customers. This can make a strong contribution to economic growth.” In China, so-called New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) are basically any plug-in electric (either hybrid or battery) which qualifies for financial subsidies from the government — specifically battery electrics, plug-in hybrids, and fuel cell EVs.
These efforts can also help China meet its Paris Accord carbon neutrality targets of a 20 percent reduction by 2035 and a 100 percent reduction by 2060 – lofty goals given it’s currently the world’s biggest emitter of carbon dioxide. These policies aim to reduce pollution in Chinese cities, reduce the nation’s reliance on imported oil, and “position China for global leadership in a strategic industry,” per a 2019 study by Columbia University.
The country’s central government has invested heavily over the past decade to spur growth in the NEV industry, leveraging a mix of policy, tax incentives and consumer subsidies. As of 2020, EVs must account for 12 percent of production for any company that manufactures or imports more than 30,000 vehicles in China (up from a 10 percent requirement the previous year). The government has also deeply subsidized consumers’ EV purchases with more than $14.8 billion since 2009, providing up to $3,600 for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) with more than 400 km range, though those rebates were first halved, then eliminated by 2021.
The government has also provided funding and standardization mandates for building out China’s charging infrastructure with a goal of 120,000 EV charging stations and 4.8 million EV charging stalls available by 2020. Local and municipal governments further incentivized EVs with discounts on licensing fees and preferential parking spots for NEVs.
“Emerging China EV companies are making a concerted effort to target the premium end of the local market and eventually abroad,” Deutsche Bank equity analyst Edison Yu told Forbes in July. “We are already witnessing intense domestic competition in the mass market from Leap Motor, Hozon Neta, WM Motor, BYD and numerous sub-brands from incumbent OEMs (GAC/Aion, BAIC/Arcfox, SAIC/R-brand). Newer entrants have shown willingness to absorb deep losses to quickly gain volume share.”
The Chinese EV market is currently dominated by five firms: Tesla comes in third surrounded by domestic automotive manufacturers BYD (27.9 percent market share), SGMW (10.1 percent), Chery (4.9 percent), and GAC (4.2 percent). Geely, which owns stakes in Volvo, Polestar and Lotus, didn’t crack the top five but its various brands did manage a record 2.2 million worldwide vehicle sales in 2021. XPeng and NIO are additional noteworthy brands, totaling 98,155 and 91,429 sales in 2021, respectively.
At the Boao Forum in 2018, President Jinping announced a raft of sweeping economic reforms designed to further open the nation’s markets, including an announcement to phase out existing limits on foreign ownership of automakers. The Policy for the Automotive Industry of 1994 contained a key provision that banned foreign business entities from owning more than 50 percent of a joint venture with a Chinese firm as well as from participating on more than two such ventures for any single vehicle type sold in the country — the so-called 50%+2 rule. Jinping’s reforms will see the 2-venture limit lifted in 2022 and the restriction on ownership share eliminated at the end of 2023.
Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
This regulatory relaxation could have immense impact on the Chinese EV market, potentially increasing competition for domestic OEMs from an influx of international automakers hawking additional NEV brands and models. The rule change could also see foreign firms renegotiate their ownership stakes, potentially even fully buying out their Chinese partners, though as Sino Auto points out, that isn’t likely to happen in the immediate future as the existing joint ventures have an average remaining contract length of 19 years. Overall, the policy shift should give international firms a more even footing with local Chinese automakers.
That’s not to say that local firms won’t still enjoy a number of advantages. For one, switching costs associated with transitioning from internal combustion to electric drivetrains are largely non-existent because for many Chinese consumers, an EV will be their first vehicle. The local automakers also have a better handle on what their customers want, offering tech-laden, customizable EVs at a variety of trim levels (starting at literally $4,300) to tech-savvy, price sensitive, middle-class consumers.
SOPA Images via Getty Images
International auto companies will need to tread carefully around any number of hot button topics, freedom and privacy concerns, should they choose to do business in China. GM and BMW, for example, recently became embroiled in a dispute over accusations of forced labor usage in lithium mining in the Xinjiang region. Beijing denied the allegations, characterizing the report as “nothing but ill-intentioned smears against China,” per Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian in April. The US has since sanctioned individuals and companies involved in the Xinjiang operation. Lithium mined from the region is used in Tesla battery systems, among others.
Looking ahead, you’ll need to tilt your head back a bit as the Chinese EV market is expected to grow more than 30 percent by 2027. The government’s stringent emissions regulations and growing population are both expected to contribute to the expected demand growth. What’s more, “over the forecast period (2022-2027), the country may also witness growth in the adoption of electric buses,” a recent study from Mordor Intelligence notes. “More than 30 Chinese cities have made plans to achieve 100 percent electrified public transit in the near future.” That’s not even including the nation’s battery production capacity, which currently stands at roughly 59 percent of the global market. It too is expected to balloon 7.5 percent by 2027.
Aly Song / reuters
Given the robust domestic Chinese market, it may not be long before we see BYD or XPeng brands on American roads, much as they are on the streets of Europe. “I’d imagine it’s only a matter of time before we see more Chinese vehicles being sold in North America,” Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein told Capital in February.
“Given that EVs are a new powertrain, this is an opportunity for Chinese automakers to establish brands in new geographies where, for years, with the internal-combustion engine, Chinese automakers tended to only sell vehicles in China,” he continued.
The question now is whether China can maintain its pole positioning. Just as Tesla was eventually overtaken by BYD despite enjoying a sizeable and lengthy initial lead, Chinese automakers find themselves in much the same position: on top of the heap, but for how long once the likes of GM and Ford come sniffing around with their deep pockets and expansive R&D budgets?
If you're a music maker, chances are you've signed up for a music distribution service like DistoKid, maybe you have a subscription to a sample depot like Splice, and even pay monthly for an instrument like Output's Arcade. LANDR is now bring all of those disparate tools together under one plan that also includes unlimited access to its well-regarded AI-powered mastering service.
LANDR Studio aims to be an end-to-end solution that can take your musical project through its entire journey from creation to release. For $20 a month, or $150 for the year you get 20 sample credits per month, access to the company's FX suite, its Chromatic sample instrument, DAW streaming and collaboration tools, three masters a month and unlimited distribution to services like Spotify and Apple Music.
Yearly subscribers also get a host of third-party VSTs from companies like Arturia, Audiothing, Cableguys and Baby Audio and get unlimited mastering. Even if you decide to pay month to month, those mastering credits roll over, so you can get 36 fully mastered tracks per year, which is probably more than enough for your average hobbyist.
There's also educational content available from Melodics and Groove 3 if you want to improve your keyboard or finger drumming skills. Plus, more courses are planned through partners like Ableton and Berklee College of Music. The company is clearly taking aim at Splice's Creator plans that come bundled with a pair of exclusive VSTs and a ton of educational videos.
All of these tools in one bundle is pretty attractive no matter what. And at the yearly price of roughly $12.50 a month it's a pretty decent bargain. While there are other services out there, like Splice, that offer at least some of these features, LANDR has undercut them on price (though, it does offer significantly fewer sample credits per month). And perhaps more importantly it's one of the few (maybe the only) such service that includes mastering.
When a company has been making headphones as long as Sennheiser has, you begin to expect certain things from it. In this case, that list includes class-leading sound quality and a comfy fit. What I don’t usually expect is jaw-dropping battery life and conveniences that typically only Sony manages to offer.
With the Momentum 4 ($350), Sennheiser has completely redesigned its flagship headphones, ditching trademark elements of the line for a more generic look. However, the company has also overhauled its active noise cancellation (ANC) and tossed in a few new features to make your life easier. On top of that, Sennheiser achieves a whopping 60 hours of listening time with ANC enabled, easily doubling what you’d get from competing sets.
Design
For the Momentum 4, Sennheiser completely abandoned the design it consistently used since the first model. I’m not handing the company a design award, but the metal sliding mechanism to adjust the fit gave these products a unique appearance whereas a lot of headphones tend to look the same. Now, Sennheiser has adopted an aesthetic that blends in with much of the competition.
Indeed, the mostly plastic Momentum 4 now has earcups that rotate flat for both storage and wearing them around your neck. The headphones no longer fold in on themselves before you dock them in their carrying case. The earpads are still a softer leather material with plenty of cushion, and the outside of the headband is wrapped in a woven fabric. The rest of the Momentum 4, though, is a lot of plastic. Meaning, it lacks the premium look of the previous models.
One thing I do like about the new design is the arc of the headband. A lot of headphones have a flatter curve, so they have a wide look. For someone like me with a big head, the straight-on appearance is a bit weird, and it reinforces that I have a huge noggin. That arc is slightly rounder on the Momentum 4, and the headband attaches to the top of the earcups rather than the outside. It’s probably not a massively important thing for most people, but this is one of the few headphone models where I noticed the difference in how they look when they’re worn.
Billy Steele/Engadget
Another big design change for the Momentum 4 are the on-board controls. Up through the Momentum 3, Sennheiser offered reliable physical controls that saved you from the awkward feeling of having to repeat a touch gesture in public. This time around, the company went with touch controls on the outside of the right ear cup. The standard options are all here: play/pause (single tap), skipping tracks in both directions (swipe forwards/backwards) and volume control (swipe up/down). You can also alternate between ANC and transparency mode with a double tap. As frustrating as touch controls can be on headphones, these work well and I don’t recall any instances where I looked silly swiping or tapping over and over.
There’s one additional gesture – a pinch – that’s used to adjust the level between noise cancellation and ambient sound. Instead of going from 100 percent of one to all out on the other, this pinch or reverse pinch transitions at certain intervals, so you get a bit of both. For me, this is unnecessary because I’m all or nothing when it comes to those two settings. I never want some of both. Either I want to hear what's going on around me or I don’t, so going from one straight to the other is no problem. I can appreciate the inclusion by Sennheiser, I just wonder how many people will use it – or remember it’s even there.
Billy Steele/Engadget
The lone physical button on the back edge of the right ear cup primarily summons your preferred voice assistant. It’s also the Bluetooth pairing and the manual power control. I specify manual here because the Momentum 4 will turn on when you take them out of the case or pick them up. They’ll also turn off automatically after sitting idle, if you have that feature enabled in the app.
Those auto power controls sound handy on paper, but I’d discover the headphones turn on when I moved them from one room to another, even if I didn’t put them on my head. There’s also this weird thing where if the headphones have automatically turned off, when I wake my MacBook Pro, they turn back on and reconnect just sitting on my desk. These frequent occurrences make what should be a handy feature rather annoying.
Between the lone physical button and the USB-C charging port, five white LEDs show battery level. When you get down to one lone red light, it’s time to find an outlet. They also pulse in sequence when the Momentum 4 is in pairing mode.
Software and features
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Similar to other recent Sennheiser audio gear, the company’s Smart Control app offers access to all of the settings on the Momentum 4. Here, you can customize the sound with dedicated EQ sliders for bass, mid and treble and save anything you like as a preset. There are also pre-tuned Bass Boost and Podcast sound modes. For ANC, there’s a slider so you can decide on a mix of noise cancellation and ambient sound, or 100 percent of either one. You can also disable Sennheiser’s Adaptive ANC, a feature that automatically adjusts to environmental noise. There’s access to more granular features like Wind Noise Reduction level or setting the headphones to automatically pause when you activate transparency mode.
For calls, Sennheiser offers a tool called Sidetone. It’s a slider that gives you the ability to hear some of your voice so you end up yelling during conversations. You can set it between 0 and 100 percent, so it isn’t an all or nothing setting. Sidetone works much better than transparency mode alone, making calls much more enjoyable when you’re wearing headphones or earbuds.
Two of Sennheiser’s more advanced features require you to create an account in order to use them. I’m not a fan of companies doing this for headphone features, but I can also understand the need to do so when you’re dealing with things like location settings. First, Sound Zones will automatically adjust audio settings based on where you are. You can create up to 20 different ones, so when you arrive at the office or return home, the Momentum 4 changes to your preferred settings. Sony has been doing something similar for a while now, but Sennheiser debuted its take on it in March.
The other registration-required tool is Sound Check. This item helps you personalize the audio on the Momentum 4 with guidance on the best presets for the music you like to listen to. Sennheiser says you can use the feature repeatedly to create multiple modes for every genre, allowing you to get quite detailed in your customization.
Of course, the app gives you more basic things like battery percentage (in 10-percent increments) and connection management. A separate settings menu offers the ability to enable/disable on-head detection, automatic pausing and automatic power off. You can also choose between 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes and never for when the Momentum 4 will automatically turn off if you’re no longer actively using them.
Sound quality
Sennheiser’s earbuds and headphones consistently offer some of the best sound quality among all of the products I test – and that’s especially true of the Momentum line. The company has a knack for balanced tuning that still offers punchy bass where it’s needed and superb clarity in the details. It’s no surprise, then, that the audio profile on Momentum 4 is stellar. There’s a decent amount of customization in terms of sound in Sennheiser’s app, but the default tuning is so good I rarely activated any of it.
The first thing that struck me is how deep the sound is. In terms of both low-end tone and overall depth, there’s a wide soundstage where different genres are free to roam. Whether it’s the staccato synths and pulsing bass line on Sylvan Esso’s “Echo Party” or the myriad elements dancing on top of the driving beat of Beyoncé’s “Alien Superstar,” everything sounds like it was placed in an actual space, rather than just being compressed sound waves streamed directly to your ears. Even when there’s a lot going on at once, like that Beyoncé track, you can still pick out each element. Nothing ever feels like it’s been smashed together.
The Momentum 4 are the kind of headphones that you put on and you discover new aspects of songs you didn’t realize were there. On Maggie Rogers’ “Want Want,” for example, there’s a lot of atmospheric airiness to some of the instruments that doesn’t come across on some other models or earbuds. Things like the textured distortion of the bass guitar or the reverb on the drums.
When it comes to ANC performance, Sennheiser has made a big improvement. The noise cancellation on previous models was fine, but it didn’t come anywhere close to what Bose and Sony offer on their flagship headphones. With the Momentum 4, Sennheiser has narrowed the gap, especially with constant noise sources like sound machines and dishwashers. Bose and Sony are still better at blocking unwanted clamor overall, but the change from the Momentum 3 is obvious once you try this new version.
Call quality
Billy Steele/Engadget
For calls, Sennheiser has equipped the Momentum 4 with two beamforming microphones per side. Much like the ANC, the headphones do a better job blocking constant noise during calls than things like background music or television. The person on the other end can still hear you loud and clear, it’s just obvious you’re talking over top of the roar. Your voice also sounds better than most headphones and earbuds overall, many of which offer the audio quality of a speakerphone rather than anything with a hint of mids and bass.
The Momentum 4 can automatically switch to transparency mode when you make a video or voice call. And coupled with Sidetone that lets you hear yourself speaking, these are a solid option for completing either of those tasks. Plus, multipoint connectivity means you can take a call on your phone and easily jump back to a podcast or music on your computer.
Battery life
Sennheiser promises a jaw-dropping 60 hours of battery life on the Momentum 4, and that’s with active noise cancellation enabled. That’s double what most of the competition offers, where a lot of premium models can typically only muster around 30 hours. Of course, sometimes those battery claims don’t always pan out. It’s not uncommon for a company to come up a few hours short. Incredibly, that’s not the case here.
Over the span of several days, which included powering the headphones off manually and letting them turn off on their own, I managed 57 hours of ANC use. Sennheiser says 60 hours is achievable at “mid volume level, but I kept the audio around 75 percent the entire time and still almost hit the company’s estimate. If, somehow, you find yourself in a pinch, there’s also a quick-charge feature that will give you four hours of playtime in five minutes.
The competition
Billy Steele/Engadget
Despite Sennheiser’s mix of stellar sound and insane battery life, the Momentum 4 doesn’t quite have enough to dethrone Sony’s WH-1000XM5. Sony simply offers more features, like automatic pausing when you start talking, though it's clear companies like Sennheiser are catching up with tools like location-based sound settings. The M5’s noise cancellation is better and Sony includes compatibility with its LDAC and 360 Reality Audio, on top of DSEE Extreme upscaling. Of course, the Momentum 4 has double the battery life and at full price Sennheiser’s offering is $50 cheaper.
I’m also a big fan of the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2. They offer more of a refined look than the Momentum 4, with impressive sound quality and better than advertised battery life. These are some of the only headphones I consider to rival Sennheiser in terms of audio. ANC works well and the Px7 S2 are plenty comfy to wear for long periods of time, but the headphones could use a little more polish with features like the ambient sound mode and customizable EQ. They’re also the same price as the M5, so Sennheiser is the more affordable option once again.
Wrap-up
The Momentum 4 is Sennheiser’s most complete set of headphones thus far. The company improved its ANC performance so it matches up better with the outstanding sound quality that was already a staple of the Momentum line. Conveniences like Sidetone, automatic pausing and Sound Zones make your life easier, but besides stellar audio, the main attraction here is the battery life. Sennheiser has doubled up much of the competition there and, perhaps even more impressively, has managed to do so while keeping noise cancellation active. The design is what it is, but everything else combines for a worthy contender.
The Pixel 6a is barely a month old, but that isn't stopping retailers from offering hefty discounts. Amazon is selling Google's budget Android phone at a new low price of $399 in Chalk, Charcoal and Sage colors. That's a $50 discount, and could make it an easy pick if you're looking for an affordable handset that still packs strong performance. The Pixel Buds lineup is still on sale, too, in case you're looking for matching wireless earbuds starting at $69.
Simply put, the Pixel 6a is one of the best mid-range phones around. It touts the same Tensor chip as the higher-end Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, and delivers excellent camera quality for its price class — it may feel more like a flagship device than a low-cost model. You can similarly expect an eye-catching (if polarizing) design and lengthy battery life. This is the phone to get if you want a 'pure' Android experience at the lowest possible price, or just prefer the 'small' 6.1-inch screen versus the larger displays of other Pixels or rivals like the Galaxy A53.
There are some sacrifices involved. The 60Hz refresh rate won't seem as buttery smooth as on other Pixels or the A53. You won't find wireless charging or more than 128GB of storage, either. And yes, Google dropped the headphone jack that was present on the 5a — you need a dongle if you prefer wired audio. The compromises are easier to accept with a sale like this, however, and the Pixel 6a is easily our pick for a North American phone under $500.
If you have an aging machine that could use a storage upgrade, or you need a new portable drive before the new semester begins, you can pick up many Crucial gadgets for less at Amazon right now. A slew of Crucial's internal and portable SSDs are up to 29 percent off, and that includes one of our favorites. The Crucial MX500 internal drive in 1TB is 24 percent off and down to $76, which is the best price we've seen. Also discounted are the Crucial P5 Plus SSD in 2TB, which is down to $226, and the X6 portable drive in 1TB, which is 25 percent off and down to $83.
Crucial's MX500 has been a favorite among Engadget staffers for quite some time. It has a standard 2.5-inch form factor, so it'll fit into many machines, and decent sequential read/write speeds of 560/510 MB/s. It also has 256-bit hardware-based encryption and integrated power loss immunity, which should protect your saved work if power gets cut off. The five-year warranty that it comes with is a nice perk as well.
The P5 Plus drive earned a spot on our list of storage options for the PlayStation 5 thanks to its 6,600 MB/s sequential reads and heatsink compatibility. It doesn't come with a heatsink by default, but you do have the option to add one to your order when you're buying from Amazon. The 2TB drive alone is on sale for $226 right now, but you can get it with a heatsink for only about $10 more.
As for external SSDs, Crucial's X6 is a good all-around solution for most people. It supports read speeds of up to 800 MB/s, works with a variety of devices including PC, Android, iOS gadgets and has a lightweight, pocket-friendly design. If you're willing to spend a bit more, you can get a speed upgrade by opting for the Crucial X8 drive, which supports read speeds up to 1,050 MB/s.The 1TB version of that drive will set you back $90 in this sale.
