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The Mercedes EQB holds a unique place in the automaker’s US lineup: unlike other EQ vehicles, it’s built upon a platform that supports gas, hybrid and electric drivetrains. If you’re familiar with Mercedes vehicles, you’ll see it’s unmistakably the electric-powered version of the GLB SUV, but it’s had a small makeover to make it fit better with the rest of the EQ line. Those tweaks are mostly saved for the exterior – the interior is nearly identical to its gas counterpart.

The vehicle’s approximate range of 230 miles and DC fast-charging capability of up to 100kW don’t stack up favorably to the latest generation of purpose-built EVs, which could hurt its sales with potential buyers. But for an around-town family SUV, the EQB is hard to beat, offering a combination of comfort, utility and technology in a Mercedes SUV that starts under $60,000. Watch the video below for the full story.

It's been a while since EVs shed their fringe curiosity reputation and become a mainstream transportation technology, but they're still not yet ubiquitous enough that the general public is really comfortable with the vagaries of their day to day use. Basically, EVs are the shiny new toy and people still have questions. GM is here to answer them. The company announced on Monday that it is opening an online showroom/studio, dubbed EV Live, that will host Q&A sessions with the general public about electrification, the ins and outs of EV ownership and GM's Ultium 360 charging network and electric vehicle offerings.

The free service will allow anyone in the US, over the age of 18, with an internet connection to contact one of GM's EV liaisons to "answer EV-related questions in real-time and give virtual tours of the EV Live studio." That studio will feature mockups of GM's home and public chargers, the company's battery technology, and of course GM EVs. The liaisons will be able to speak on a wide range of subjects — from the engineering and chemistry that goes into the batteries, to explaining the home charger installation process and select a certified vendor — but don't expect the answers to be all-encompassing.     

"If somebody's got a question about a Tesla battery pack, I'm sure they've done a lot of resources at their fingertips," Hoss Hassani, GM vice president of EV Ecosystem, said during a press call on Friday. "We want to talk to people about EV considerations overall where the opportunity presents to talk specifically about the GM advantage."

"We are not looking for our EV specialists to offer any editorial commentary, or get into a political discussion about federal policy, or state policy, or any of that," he added. The showroom is focused primarily on electric cars, trucks and SUVs but Hassani hinted that ebikes, electric ATVs and other offroad electric transports could eventually become topics of discussion as well. 

GM expects both prospective EV buyers and recent purchasers to find value in this service. "If you're someone who owns an EV, if you drove off a lot and then realized — like many of us do — 'oh shoot, I have a whole bunch of questions that I didn't get answered,' this is an awesome place to come to to understand how you can make the most of what you're already driving," a GM representative noted during the call.  

Visitors will be able to schedule a live one-on-one tour with a liaison — on-demand live group tours and prerecorded walkthroughs are coming later this year — and ask questions either through voice or text chat. But before you go whipping out your junk on camera, know that the liaisons will not abide. 

"The staff are empowered," Hassani said. "If they find a conversation is just headed in a direction that is untoward, or that somebody is treating them inappropriately... well, it's very easy to disconnect the call." The studio will be open Monday to Thursday from 9am to midnight ET, Friday from 9am to 9pm ET, and Saturday to Sunday, 11am to 7pm ET.

Retailers in Australia are the latest companies to back away from facial recognition, albeit under pressure. The Guardianreports Kmart and Bunnings have temporarily halted use of facial recognition in their local stores while the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) investigates the privacy implications of their systems. The two chains were trialing the technology to spot banned customers, prevent refund fraud and reduce theft.

The investigation started in mid-July, a month after the consumer advocacy group Choice learned that Kmart and Bunnings were testing facial recognition. Bunnings had already paused use as it migrated to a new system. Other Australian retailers, such as Aldi, Coles and Woolworths, have said they don't have plans to adopt the technology. 

Both retailers defended their implementations. A Kmart spokesperson stressed that its facial recognition tech was used for "preventing criminal activity" and had strict privacy controls. We've asked Kmart's US operations about any possible implementations in North American shops. Bunnings managing director Mike Schneider, meanwhile, claimed Choice was "mischaracterizing" face detection. The company's trial is only meant to catch banned customers and doesn't store images for regular shoppers, he said.

The concerns aren't limited to data storage, however. Systems like these still have to scan every face entering a given store, and other approaches to facial recognition have exhibited gender and race biases or produced false positives. Companies like IBM and Microsoft have backed away from at least some uses over ethical matters, and American politicians have urged government agencies to stop using such platforms. Kmart and Bunnings might not escape similar scrutiny.

Intel and MediaTek have formed a strategic partnership to build chips for "a range of smart edge devices" using Intel Foundry Services (IFS), Intel announced. The aim is to help MediaTek build a "more balanced, resilient supply chain," with added capacity in the US and Europe. 

MediaTek is a fabless chipmaker that supplies processors for smartphones made by OnePlus, Samsung and others, with most of its capacity currently handled by fab giant TSMC. However, it looks like Intel will build chips for less glamorous devices used for industrial computing, medical devices, internet-of-things applications and more. Intel currently manufactures chips for MediaTek used in its 5G data card business.

Still, the partnership meets Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger's pledge to seek customers for its foundry business. Intel launched IFS in 2021 to take advantage of surging demand for semiconductor manufacturing by offering "leading-edge process and packaging technology," along with committed capacity in the US and Europe. As one of the leading fabless chip makers, MediaTek would be a key client. 

Last year, Intel announced that it would build chips for Qualcomm as part of its foundry launch. It also detailed its "IDM 2.0" strategy to catch rivals TSMC and Samsung by 2025, kicking it off with a $20 billion investment in two Arizona fabrication plants. Later in 2021, the Biden administration spurned plans by Intel to manufacture silicon wafers in China as a way to relieve global chip shortage issues, citing security concerns. 

The US Senate is set to vote on the CHIPS Act designed to bolster domestic semiconductor manufacturing with tax credits and up to $52 billion in subsidies. However, some industry players are concerned that it could unduly favor Intel, to the detriment of smaller manufacturers like AMD, Qualcomm and NVIDIA. Those companies design their own chips but don't manufacture them, so would see no direct benefit from subsidies. 

We’re already in the run-up to Apple’s next hardware showcase, likely centered on its phones and wearables. This could include a shake-up for the Apple Watch — the first since the Series 4 watch back in 2018. The high-end variant of the Apple Watch Series 8 may feature the largest display Apple has ever crammed into its smartwatches, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

With a bigger battery and Apple’s long-rumored Low Power Mode, the Watch ‘Pro’, Gurman also says, could go multiple days on a single charge. Which is kind of the dream for Apple wearables, at least for me.

Rumors suggest Apple is teeing up a lot of new hardware for the fall. Beyond new phones and wearables, we could see refreshed iPads and next-gen HomePods, possibly with screens.

— Mat Smith

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Marvel's new Disney+ 'Daredevil' series arrives in 2024

Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio reprise their roles in ‘Daredevil: Born Again.’

Nearly four years after Netflix canceled Daredevil and the series more recently made its way over to Disney+, Disney confirmed it’s developing a new 18-episode TV show for its streaming service. Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio will both reprise their roles as Daredevil and Kingpin.

Given Cox’s surprise appearance in the latest Spider-Man movie, it might not be a complete shock. It came alongside a lot of new trailers and announcements for Marvel at the San Diego Comic-Con — we’ve pulled together some highlights in our links above. There’s also the non-Marvel news of a Lord of the Rings trailer...

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Lenovo Yoga 9i review

Possibly 2022’s best 2-in-1.

Engadget

The 2022 Yoga 9i might not be the best-looking 2-in-1, but according to Engadget’s Sam Rutherford, its performance, battery life and audio are some of the best on a modern convertible. For the latest model, Lenovo has also increased the aspect ratio to 16:10, which gives you a bit of extra display for improved productivity, while also adding a gorgeous OLED screen option. And unlike a lot of its rivals, the Yoga 9i includes some handy accessories, including a stylus and a protective travel sleeve, meaning you don’t have to pay extra.

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How TikTok can help you get better at studying

A growing group of educational influencers can help.

Study influencers on Tiktok are showcasing study tips, math tutoring and even college application help, all aimed at furthering your learning. It’s still a good idea to limit how much time you spend scrolling. And watching study-themed TikToks is not a substitute for… actually studying.

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Baidu's latest robotaxi has a removable steering wheel

Initially, that doesn’t sound safe.

Baidu

Automakers are frequently keen to show off self-driving concept cars without steering wheels, but Baidu is close to putting a vehicle like this on real-world roads. The tech giant has unveiled a new robotaxi, the Apollo RT6, with a removable steering wheel. The option lets ride hailing services offer more space for passengers — maybe for extra seats or even desks. The car will cost businesses the equivalent of $37,000 in China, and it should first enter use with Baidu's own Apollo Go service in 2023.

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In something out of Black Mirror meets Queen's Gambit, a chess robot accidentally broke the finger of its seven-year old opponent during an exhibition in Moscow, The Guardian reported. The child apparently moved his piece too soon and the robot grabbed his finger and squeezed it, causing a fracture before help could arrive. "The robot broke the child’s finger," said Moscow Chess Federation president Sergey Lazarev. "This is of course bad." 

Video shows the robot grabbing the boy's finger and holding it for several seconds a group of people come to free him. It's not clear what went wrong, but Lazarev said the child had "made a move, and after that we need to give time for the robot to answer, but the boy hurried and the robot grabbed him." He implied that the robot's suppliers may need work on the safety aspects, saying the are "going to have to think again." 

The boy was identified as Christopher and went on to play the next day, finishing the tournament. His parents, however, have reportedly contacted the public prosecutor's office. Russian chess official Sergey Smagin downplayed the incident, calling it "a coincidence" and saying the machine was "absolutely safe." 

In any case, the incident can be seen as a modern parable of the dangers of robots, even in something as innocuous as chess. On a larger scale with things like robotic cars, however, the stakes are considerably higher. 

After a delay of nearly three years, season 3 of Hulu's The Orville finally launched last month and proved to be worth the wait. Now, creator Seth MacFarlane has announced some extra recompense for fans — the first three seasons of the series will also stream on Disney+. 

The Orville has been relatively popular with critics, but moved from much wider distribution with Fox to the smaller audiences of Hulu after two seasons. With over 85 million subscribers internationally, though, Disney+ will greatly expand the pool of potential viewers.

"I’m thrilled to bring all three seasons of The Orville to Disney+," said MacFarlane. "Making this show has been one of the most satisfying experiences of my career, and I’m immensely grateful to Disney for providing us the opportunity to expand our Orville community further. I can’t wait for new audiences to experience this series."

The extra eyeballs on The Orville with Disney+ could prove crucial to the series, as it has yet to be greenlit for a fourth season. MacFarlane himself didn't reveal anything in that regard, saying "I don't think we'll know until this season is finished." The last two episodes of season 3 are set to air on July 28th and August 4th, and all three seasons will hit Disney+ on August 10th. 

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Mercedes had a singular goal: Build a one-off concept vehicle that could travel 1000 kilometers (621 miles) on one charge from a battery pack slightly smaller than 100kWh. The result was the EQXX, a coupe that looks as good as the technology that powers it. Typically these vehicles are off limits to anyone outside of a chosen few within an automaker. But Mercedes decided to let us behind the wheel for a test drive.

Designed to slip through the air with as little drag as possible, the EQXX doesn’t wow with off-the-line performance. Instead, the power really comes after you’ve gotten to highway speed. But even then, the concept vehicle is an efficiency machine that feels like the future. Mercedes has no plans to put the EQXX into production, but what it's learning now will at some point land in its vehicles. Watch the video below for the full story.

Ahead of the debut of House of the Dragon on August 21st, HBO Max will begin streaming all eight seasons of Game of Thrones in 4K. HBO parent company Warner Bros. Discovery announced the news this week in a programming notice spotted by FlatpanelsHD (via The Verge). The company said all eight seasons would also support Dolby Atmos, as well as HDR10 and Dolby Vision. Whether that’s a good reason to revisit the show’s infamous “The Long Night” episode and less-than-stellar final season is up to you.

Previously, the only way to watch the entirety of Game of Thrones in 4K was to buy the Ultra HD Blu-ray collection, which can cost as much as $255. Streaming the series in 4K will be considerably more affordable since all you will need is a subscription to HBO Max’s $15 per month ad-free tier and a supported device like an Apple TV 4K, Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K or Google Chromecast Ultra. Those same devices will allow you to watch House of the Dragon in 4K HDR when it arrives late next month.