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For the second quarter of 2022, Samsung has reported a consolidated revenue of KRW 77.2 trillion (US$59.4 billion), which is a record high for the quarter ending on June 30th. Samsung's operating profit also reached KRW 14.1 trillion (US$10.8 billion) — that's 12 percent higher from the same period a year earlier and is its best yet since 2018. As has been the case these past years, the company's semiconductor or Device Solutions (DS) division greatly contributed to those numbers and has achieved a historical high in quarterly revenue for the second consecutive quarter.

The DS division posted KRW 28.5 trillion (US$21.9 billion) in consolidated revenue and KRW 9.98 trillion (US$7.7 billion) in operating profit in the second quarter, thanks mostly to server chip demand. However, chip demand for consumer products, such as mobile phones and PCs, was much weaker than expected "due to widening impacts of macro issues." In fact, Samsung said its DRAM and NAND shipments came in below guidance. The company also expects demand for consumer devices to stay weak and even believes that there's a possibility for this slump in demand to make its way to enterprise.

As you can guess based on that information, Samsung's Mobile eXperience (MX) business was also affected by the overall decline in market demand. The company blamed "geopolitical issues and concerns over inflation on top of continued weak seasonality" for the mobile division's decline in earnings. It also said the costs of components and logistics affected the business' profitability and caused it to slide lower than the previous quarter's.

The tech giant doesn't expect smartphone sales to blow up next quarter either: Demand for new phones will likely stay similar year-on-year or show only a single-digital growth, it predicts, because of prolonged geopolitical issues and economic uncertainties. That said, it's hoping that the launch of new foldables could pad its sales numbers in the coming months. Samsung will unveil its next-gen foldable phones at its upcoming Unpacked event on August 10th. 

On Wednesday, former Amazon employee Tori Davis and 25 other workers filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging the company forced them to work in a dangerous environment, reports the Chicago Tribune. Davis raised concerns about Amazon's handling of a racist death threat, and claims the retailer fired her after she threatened legal action if it did not address the incident.

In May, workers at the company’s MDW2 warehouse in Joliet, Illinois — a city 35 miles outside of Chicago — found two racist messages using the N-word scribbled on the wall of one of the facility’s bathrooms, according to the complaint filed with the EEOC. Davis, who is Black, left work without pay after her co-workers discovered the graffiti. After police investigated the incident, Amazon allegedly sent a text message to staff stating law enforcement “did not identify threats to the site’s safety."

According to the complaint, Amazon also allowed white employees at MDW2 to wear clothing that displayed the Confederate flag. One individual allegedly had a shirt where workers could see the flag “prominently” on both the garment’s back and sleeves.

“Amazon works hard to protect our employees from any form of discrimination and to provide an environment where employees feel safe,” an Amazon spokesperson told Engadget. “Hate or racism have no place in our society and are certainly not tolerated by Amazon.”

At a press conference, Davis said she would like to see Amazon implement additional safety policies at MDW2 and improve Black worker representation at the facility. She is also appealing her termination. Amazon has faced allegations of allowing racism in the workplace before. Last year, a manager with the company’s AWS division said she was subjected to harassment from a supervisor who used racial tropes. The company also has a history of terminating employees who have sought to improve conditions at its workplaces. 

Google is finally allowing Nest users to watch footage from their doorbells and cameras on Chromecast. Starting this week, the company is rolling out an update to Chromecast with Google TV that allows the streaming stick to display footage from all Nest Cam and Doorbell devices, including the models Google updated last year.

Once you have access to the feature, you can use your Chromecast Voice Remote or any other Assistant-enabled device to see what’s occurring outside your home. Just say something along the lines of “Hey Google, show me the front door camera on my TV.”

Google has been unusually slow in adding support for Chromecast compared to competing products. As 9to5Google points out, the company has allowed you to stream security footage to your Nest-branded smart displays for a while now. In May, Google even introduced an Alexa skill that brought that same functionality to Echo Show, Fire TV and Fire tablet devices. It’s also worth mentioning that Amazon and Ring have offered a similar integration before Google.

Facebook parent company Meta has just reported its earnings for the second quarter of 2022, and it was another quarter of shrinking profits. Total revenue of $28.8 billion was only down one percent compared to Q2 one year ago, but net income dropped 36 percent to $6.7 billion. Making almost $7 billion in profit is not a bad quarter for anyone, but the size of the decline compared to a year ago is pretty significant. And, according to the Wall Street Journal, this is the first-ever drop in revenue for Meta / Facebook — so even though we're only talking one percent, it's still noteworthy.

Revenue from advertising and Meta's "family of apps" was essentially flat year-over-year, and Reality Labs (home to hardware like the Meta Quest and other metaverse-related initiatives) actually grew 48 percent year-over-year to $452 million. But Reality Labs accounted for a $2.8 billion loss this quarter, a 15 percent larger loss than Q2 one year ago. At this rate, it seems likely that Reality Labs will lose Meta more than the $10 billion it cost the company in 2021.

This comes the same day that the FTC announced it was seeking to block Meta's acquisition of 'Supernatural' VR workout app maker Within, a proposed sale that was announced last year. “Instead of competing on the merits, Meta is trying to buy its way to the top,” John Newman, deputy director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, said in a statement.

Meta is holding a call with investors at 5PM ET, and we'll be listening in to hear comments from CEO Mark Zuckerberg and will update this post with anything we learn.

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The Federal Trade Commission has filed an antitrust suit against Meta in a bid to block it from buying Within Unlimited, the maker of the virtual reality workout app Supernatural. The agency accused the company and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg of "planning to expand Meta’s virtual reality empire with this attempt to illegally acquire a dedicated fitness app that proves the value of virtual reality to users."

The FTC claimed that Meta is "already a key player" at every level of the VR ecosystem. It said the company has the top-selling VR device (Meta Quest 2), a leading VR app store, "seven of the most successful developers and one of the best-selling apps of all time." The latter is likely referring to Beat Saber. Meta bought the maker of that rhythm game, Beat Games, in 2019.

“Instead of competing on the merits, Meta is trying to buy its way to the top,” John Newman, deputy director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, said in a statement. “Meta already owns a best-selling virtual reality fitness app and it had the capabilities to compete even more closely with Within’s popular Supernatural app. But Meta chose to buy market position instead of earning it on the merits. This is an illegal acquisition and we will pursue all appropriate relief.”

Meta announced its plan to buy Within last October. It was reported in December that the FTC was looking into the $400 million deal. Meta, of course, got into the VR market in the first place when it bought Oculus in 2014.

The FTC argues in the complaint that Meta has the resources and "reasonable probability" of entering the VR fitness market by building its own app. That approach, the agency claims, would "increase consumer choice, increase innovation, spur additional competition to attract the best employees, and yield other competitive benefits." Instead, if it were to buy Within, the FTC claims Meta would limit "future innovation and competitive rivalry" and says "that lessening of competition violates the antitrust laws."

“The FTC's case is based on ideology and speculation, not evidence. The idea that this acquisition would lead to anticompetitive outcomes in a dynamic space with as much entry and growth as online and connected fitness is simply not credible," a Meta spokesperson told Engadget in a statement. "By attacking this deal in a 3-2 vote, the FTC is sending a chilling message to anyone who wishes to innovate in VR. We are confident that our acquisition of Within will be good for people, developers and the VR space.” 

The move will come as another blow to Meta's aim to become the leading metaverse player. The company has plowed billions into the effort, though in recent months it has dialed back some of its ambitions by cutting costs and reportedly shelving plans for some devices that were supposed to hook into its metaverse. This week, the company announced that it will increase the price of a Meta Quest 2 headset by $100 as of August 1st. News of the FTC's move to block the Within acquisition comes on the same day that Meta will report its earnings for the second quarter of 2022.

Google is again delaying its plan to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome. For those keeping track, the company first unveiled its Privacy Sandbox initiative in 2019 and said implementation would begin in 2022. However, following scrutiny from the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the US Department of Justice, Google delayed the phaseout to mid-2023 last year. On Wednesday, the company announced a further delay and said it won’t end support for third-party cookies before the second half of 2024.

“The most consistent feedback we’ve received is the need for more time to evaluate and test the new Privacy Sandbox technologies before deprecating third-party cookies in Chrome,” said Anthony Chavez, Google's vice president of Privacy Sandbox. “This feedback aligns with our commitment to the CMA to ensure that the Privacy Sandbox provides effective, privacy-preserving technologies and the industry has sufficient time to adopt these new solutions.”

Google

Under its current timeline, Google will expand the availability of its Privacy Sandbox trial to “millions of users globally” by early next month. The company then plans to gradually roll out the test to more individuals throughout 2022 and 2023. It hopes to officially launch the Privacy Sandbox APIs by the third quarter of 2023. “This deliberate approach to transitioning from third-party cookies ensures that the web can continue to thrive, without relying on cross-site tracking identifiers or covert techniques like fingerprinting,” said Chavez.

Google’s replacement for third-party cookies was initially known as Federated Learning of Cohorts or FLoC. At the start of the year, the company announced a new approach called Topics. As the name suggests, the API will track your interests. Initially, Google plans to categorize the websites you visit based on one of 300 topics. When you visit a website that supports the API, Chrome will share three random topics you’re interested in. The site’s publisher can then further share that information with their advertising partners to decide what ads to show you. In theory, that should create a more private browsing experience.

Apple is toning down iOS 16's vaunted iMessage edit and unsend features. The company has released fourth developer betas of iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura that limit you to five edits for a given message within the available 15 minutes, and shrink the unsend window from 15 minutes to just two. You can also tap a message to see its edit history — previously, you would only see a notice that it had been edited.

The company didn't explain the decision. We've asked Apple if it can share its reasoning. However, AppleInsideroutlined the potentials for abuse with the previous approach. Someone could edit a message to make it appear that you agreed to something. They could alternately harass you by sending messages that last long enough to be noticed, but disappear before you can preserve the evidence.

You can always prevent edits and unsends by disabling iMessage. That forces conversations to SMS texts, where those features aren't available. Apple's moves won't completely prevent harassment, but might encourage you to leave iMessage on without fear that someone could easily twist your conversations.

The US government just crossed a key milestone in its bid to improve domestic chip production and compete with rivals like China. CNBCreports the Senate has passed the CHIPS and Science Act, a bill to fund and incentivize American semiconductor manufacturing, in a 64-to-33 vote. The measure includes over $52 billion for US firms making chips, additional funding for further technology development and tax credits to spur manufacturing investments.

The Act, also known as "CHIPS-plus," is a scaled-back version of bills previously circulating through Congress. Those efforts received opposition across the political spectrum. Republicans objected to earlier measures with accusations that Democrats were pushing a partisan reconciliation bill that would include climate, medicine and tax considerations. There were also concerns funding might inadvertently reach China. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, was concered that a past variant was a "blank check" to already-profitable chip producers. 

The House will still have to pass and help reconcile counterpart legislation before President Biden can sign the bill into law. That's considered very likely, however, as the Senate has cleared a 60-vote filibuster threshold. The House is expected to pass its version when Democrats only need to wield their majority to succeed.

The expected law is unlikely to have an immediate effect when new factories take years to complete, and upgrades aren't necessarily quicker. It won't address near-term chip shortages. Even so, CHIPS could play an important role in American tech manufacturing. On top of reducing the chances of future shortages, it could reduce the dependence on Taiwan and other semiconductor hubs threatened by countries like China. While there are no guarantees the Act will lead to more jobs and lower prices, it might help the US compete in an increasingly fierce market.

Doing just about anything in space is expensive, but a group of MIT scientists has found a way to bring down some costs — and perhaps help accelerate climate change research. The team has developed what MIT said are the first 3D-printed plasma sensors for use in satellites. The sensors can detect the chemical composition and distribution of ion energy in plasma in the upper atmosphere.

The researchers used a printable glass-ceramic material called Vitrolite to make the sensors, also known as retarding potential analyzers (RPAs). It's said to be more durable than other materials that are commonly used in sensors, such as thin-film coatings and silicon. Using a 3D-printing method, the team created sensors with complex shapes that MIT said can "withstand the wide temperature swings a spacecraft would encounter in lower Earth orbit." Vitrolite can handle temperatures of up to 800 degrees Celsius without melting, while polymers used in other RPAs start to break down at 400 degrees Celsius.

That means these sensors could be a good fit for low-cost cubesats. When they're used on orbiting satellites, RPAs can carry out chemical analysis and measure energy, which can help with weather predictions and monitoring climate change.

The scientists claim the sensors perform as well as similar devices that use semiconductors and are made in a clean room. Assembling RPAs in a clean room is an expensive process that can take several weeks. Making them with 3D printers and laser cutting takes just days and costs "tens of dollars."

Luis Fernando Velásquez-García, a principal scientist in MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories and senior author of a paper on the sensors, already sees room for improvement. He wants to reduce the thickness of the layers or pixel size of the glass-ceramic vat polymerization in the hope of creating more complex and precise devices. There's also the belief that "fully additively manufacturing the sensors would make them compatible with in-space manufacturing."

NASA has been working on space-based 3D printing for several years. It has printed wrenches on the International Space Station. As early as 2024, NASA plans to launch a demonstration spacecraft that can build, assemble and deploy a surrogate solar array to learn how the approach can benefit the Artemis program.

Manchester City wants to know what makes its fans feel alive. On Wednesday, the Premier League football club shared that it has been working with Cisco, the team’s technology partner since 2019, to create a "Connected Scarf" that features an “EmotiBit” sensor for tracking the heart rate, body temperature and emotional state of its wearer during a match. According to the two organizations, the accessory will bring “fans closer to the game than ever before,” but exactly how it will do is unclear.

Cisco says it recently completed a pilot program to test the device. The company and Manchester City invited six “lifelong” fans to watch the team play. Meanwhile, the scarf recorded data across 120 “moments of interest,” providing the two organizations with “concrete information” to analyze how each fan in the room felt. “Using the data, we’ll be able to understand fans more than ever before,” said Chintan Patel, chief technology officer of Cisco UK and Ireland. “It provides an opportunity to be more inclusive and learn more about the role sport plays in all our lives.”

Cisco did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for more information on the device. The company plans to bring the Connected Scarf to Manchester City fans next season, but it did not note if the accessory will be something anyone can buy. It’s not surprising to find out that Cisco and Manchester have been working on a way to collect more data from fans. Over the last two decades, data analytics have changed how multiple sports are played. It was only a matter of time before teams tried to do the same with the fan experience, but some may feel the organizations are taking things a step too far.