ArduinoMania

It looks like our slow gadget summer is about to end, with Samsung ready to launch its next slate of products soon. The company today sent out invites to its next Unpacked event (after sharing a teaser puzzle this morning), which is set for August 10th at 9am ET. The keynote will be streamed online via Samsung's website, and there will be no in-person component. If you are dying to get ahead of other shoppers, you can already sign up to reserve the upcoming products, too.

Like it's done in previous years, Samsung is giving early birds special offers via its Reserve program. This time, you have till August 10th to register. According to Samsung, this is a "no-commitment offer" and you'll only need to provide your name and email address. Those who sign up can get:

The company is widely expected to launch the next generation of its Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip foldable phones, alongside a pair of new smartwatches and a set of wireless earbuds. We don't know much yet about the upcoming products, although reports suggest Samsung might be selling the foldable devices for a lower price than before. 

We'll be hosting a livestream of Unpacked, along with a live Q&A session after Samsung wraps. Join us at about 8:40am ET on August 10th on the Engadget YouTube channel, so we can all react together in real time. Chances are, we'll have answers for your questions about the new products, so come through to get all the details! 

Netflix warned it might lose more subscribers in the second quarter of this year than it did in the first, and that prediction has come true — though it wasn't as bad as feared. The streaming service said it lost nearly 1 million subscribers (970,000 to be exact) in Q2. That's far more than the 200,000-member decline from Q1, but not as bleak as the 2 million Netflix was prepared to part with.

The company attributed the slightly rosier outcome to "better-than-expected" subscriber growth, particularly in areas like Asia-Pacific. The company still turned a $1.44 billion net profit despite the shrinking customer base and unfavorable foreign exchange values for the US dollar. Unfriendly exchange rates are a particularly difficult problem when nearly 60 percent of revenue comes from outside the country, Netflix said.

The media giant is expecting a turnaround for the third quarter, if a slow one. It's now predicting that it will add a net 1 million subscribers. While that's a far cry from the 4.4 million Netflix added a year earlier, it's a decided improvement over the past six months. The strong start for Stranger Things 4 could help — the nostalgic show is now Netflix's most watched season of English TV to date with over 1.3 billion hours of viewing.

Netflix's recovery plan will sound familiar. The company is still pinning its hopes on a lower-priced ad-supported tier due in early 2023, and expects to launch it in a "handful of markets" where there's already strong ad spending. The service also plans to fight account sharing, and is experimenting with ideas that include charging for additional homes. The finished sharing system could also roll out in 2023.

Lightyear didn't hit the box office heights Disney hoped for, despite it being the first Pixar movie to debut exclusively in theaters in over two years. You won't have to wait too much longer to stream the movie at home, though. It's coming to Disney+ on August 3rd, 47 days after it landed in theaters.

While it's technically a Toy Story spinoff, it has a meta element to it. The action figure in the Toy Story movies is supposedly based on Lightyear, an in-universe film characters like Andy seemingly watched (making this a quasi-prequel). This time around, Buzz is in human form and is voiced by Chris Evans. He's an astronaut who, along with his crew and commander, gets stuck on a strange planet and needs to find a way home. The cast also includes Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, Taika Waititi, Dale Soules, James Brolin and Uzo Aduba.

John Romero, one of the brains behind Doom, is working on another first-person shooter, Romero Games announced today. In a tweet, the independent studio founded by Romero and his wife Brenda Romero said it will be teaming up with a major publisher to develop the game and will be using an “original, new IP." Few other details were revealed about the upcoming title, which will be the legendary videogame developer’s first game since the 2019 strategy game Empire of Sin. We do know that it will be powered by Unreal Engine 5 — the studio mentioned that it’s recruiting for all roles and at all levels for the game, particularly those with UE5 experience.

The Galway-based studio isn’t revealing much else about the game. In the FAQ section of its website, the question “What can you tell us about the new shooter?” appears first. “We can confirm that it’s new, that it’s a shooter and that we’re making it with a major publisher. Otherwise, it’s way too early to share any other information on it. We’re grateful for your interest, though,” the studio writes in response.

It’s only been a few months since Epic Games released UE5 to developers, and we’ve already seen a promising number of new UE5 game announcements. We won’t see most of them until later on in 2022 or 2023. Fans of Romero's work will likely have to remain patient for this latest title — there still isn’t a confirmed release date for his studio's Sigil 2, which was announced last year.

If autonomous drones and flying taxis are going to thrive, they'll need AI that can handle a wide range of conditions — and Microsoft thinks it can help build that AI. The company has unveiled a Project AirSim platform that helps manufacturers create, train and test the algorithms guiding autonomous aircraft. The Azure-based technology has virtual vehicles fly millions of flights through detailed simulations in a matter of seconds, gauging their ability to handle different obstacles and weather conditions. A drone maker can quickly find out if their machine will avoid birds, or use too much battery power countering strong winds.

Developers can use trained AI "building blocks" to get started, so they won't need vast amounts of technical know-how. Users can create custom 3D environments using Bing Maps, but they'll also have access to a ready-made library of cities (such as New York City and London) and generic locations.

Project AirSim is currently available as a "limited" preview already in use at Airtonomy and Bell. Microsoft plans to expand the simulation with physics, weather and digital sensor replicas, including the option to bring custom physics models through a team-up with MathWorks. The team is also "actively engaged" with governments and standards groups, and envisions a day where AirSim could help certify autonomous aircraft by putting them through rigorous digital tests.

The initiative won't address some of the biggest challenges of autonomous flying, including aircraft design and real-world testing. However, Microsoft is keen to note that its technology is flexible — it can help shape everything from delivery drones through to eVTOL taxis navigating dense cities. If all goes well, companies will spend more time deploying aircraft and less time working on basic features.

Workers at the studio formerly known as Vicarious Visions are attempting to unionize. On Tuesday, quality assurance staff at Blizzard Albany went public with the news that they had filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). In a Twitter thread, the group said it was seeking representation with the Communications Workers of America.

The approximately 20 workers involved in the effort call themselves the Game Workers Alliance Albany, a nod to the first-ever union to form at Activision Blizzard. Like their colleagues at Raven Software, the QA staff at Blizzard Albany are seeking fairer compensation, more pay transparency and better benefits. They also want to work with Activision Blizzard to create a process for addressing workplace issues, including cases involving employee misconduct.

“QA is currently an undervalued discipline in the games and software industries,” the group said. “We strive to foster work environments where we are respected and compensated for our essential role in the development process.” The QA workers at Blizzard Albany say they asked Activision last week to recognize their union voluntarily. The publisher acknowledged the request but has yet to share a decision.

“Our top priority remains our employees. We deeply respect the rights of all employees under the law to make their own decisions about whether or not to join a union,” an Activision Blizzard spokesperson told Engadget. “We believe that a direct relationship between the company and its employees is the most productive relationship. The company will be publicly and formally providing a response to the petition to the NLRB.”

Before Activision folded Vicarious Visions into Blizzard at the start of 2021, the 200-person developer was one of the publisher’s most dependable support studios. It worked on the excellent Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 remaster and Destiny 2’s PC port. More recently, as a part of Blizzard, the studio remastered Diablo II.

In June, Microsoft announced it would respect all unionization efforts at Activision Blizzard following the close of its $68.7 billion deal to buy the publisher. In doing so, the company signed a landmark neutrality agreement with the Communications Workers of America. According to The Washington Post, Activision Blizzard employees, including some at Blizzard Albany, plan to stage a walkout on Thursday to demand better workplace protections following the overturn of Roe v. Wade.

Back at I/O 2022 in May, Google teased the return of its augmented reality glasses by showing an early prototype of its next-gen glasses. Now, the company is just about ready to start real-world testing. You might spot a Googler wearing the glasses in the wild as soon as August.

"The real-world tests will allow us to better understand how these devices can help people in their everyday lives," Juston Payne, a group product manager at Google's AR and VR division, wrote in a blog post. "And as we develop experiences like AR navigation, it will help us take factors such as weather and busy intersections into account — which can be difficult, sometimes impossible, to fully recreate indoors."

The testing will be limited to a few dozen people (Google employees and trusted testers). The prototype models will be equipped with cameras, microphones and in-lens displays. Google is assessing audio and visual sensing for functions such as translation, transcription and navigation.

However, the features will be limited. The glasses won't capture photos or videos, though Google will use image data to translate text and display directions. Data will be deleted "after the experience is completed" unless it's going to be used for debugging and analysis. In that case, Google will remove sensitive information, such as faces and license plates. The company will delete image data used for research purposes after 30 days.

Google Glass wasn't quite the success the company hoped it would be — it's an enterprise product these days. The company wants to get things right with its next-gen AR glasses, so it's taking things slow. Payne noted that it's early days for the project. There's no release timeline for the glasses as yet.

The map function on Instagram got a lot more useful today, in a Google-inspired kind of way. The new Instagram map supports searches and filters, allowing users to look up restaurants, attractions and other hot spots directly in the app, rather than simply viewing where a photo was posted. The updated map also features posts, stories and guides tagged by users, offering a glimpse into the local scene wherever you search.

The map supports hashtag searches and offers the ability to explore by tapping tagged locations in the feed or Stories. You can also type the name of an establishment, city or neighborhood directly into the Explore page and see results on the map. The new map allows users to save their searches in a collection and share locations with other Instagrammers, as well.

Using location stickers on posts and Stories will add that content to the search results on the new map, as long as your profile is public. Visually, the map features Instagram icons where the attractions are, allowing searchers to tap and see Stories or visit the profile pages of businesses they find interesting.

This is yet another step in Instagram's plan to become a one-stop shop for social networking, commerce, traveling and, like, life in general. For instance, earlier in July, Instagram rolled out the ability to buy things directly in chat. Moves like these make it easier for users to simply stay on Instagram, rather than opening up Google Maps or Venmo and taking their ad-supported eyeballs elsewhere.

Twitch creators will soon be able to raise money for charity directly on the livestreaming platform. The company launched a closed beta of Twitch Charity today to a select group of partners and affiliates, according to a blog post. Donations will be processed through the Paypal Giving Fund, and be tracked in both the stream’s activity feed and chat. Traditionally, viewers have made donations through subs and Bits, after which streamers have to rely on a third-party charity portal like Tiltify to actually send money to their chosen organization. By launching its own charity product, Twitch will cut out the middleman and likely make it easier to both host a fundraiser and donate to one.

Fundraising on Twitch has become a significant moneymaker in recent years. Charity streams can easily rake in six or seven-figure sums, particularly if a major streamer or other celebrity is involved. Well-known creators can easily raise millions of dollars with charity streams — last year’s Z Event featured multiple streamers and raised $11.5 millon for Action Against Hunger in around 72 hours.

An additional benefit to a native fundraising feature is that creators won’t be subject to the fees of a third-party feature. Unlike Tiltify (which takes a 5 percent cut of of whatever money gets raised), Twitch has decided to let creators donate 100 percent of their revenue and will forgo a tax incentive.

Creators will be randomly selected for the closed beta of Twitch Charity later today. For everyone else, Twitch expects to unveil the feature to most partners and affiliates later this year.

Researchers at Cornell University have developed an earphone that uses sonar to detect the wearer's facial expression to create an avatar of their face. The so-called "earable" system is called EarIO.

It works by bouncing sound off the wearer’s cheeks — the audio is emitted from speakers on each side of the earphone. A microphone captures the echoes, which change as the face moves and the wearer speaks. The system then uses a deep learning algorithm to turn the echoes into a replica of the person’s expression. EarIO can transmit the facial movements to a mobile device in real time and the avatar can be used in video calls.

Camera-based devices that track face movements are “large, heavy and energy-hungry, which is a big issue for wearables,” said Cheng Zhang, principal investigator of the Smart Computer Interfaces for Future Interactions Lab, who co-authored a paper on EarIO. “Also importantly, they capture a lot of private information.” A sonar-based approach can bolster privacy, affordability, comfort and battery life, he said.

In initial testing, the team found the device works while wearers are sitting and walking, and factors like background chatter, wind and ambient road noise don't impact the acoustic signaling. However, the high sensitivity of the sensing method can cause some issues. “It’s good, because it’s able to track very subtle movements, but it’s also bad because when something changes in the environment, or when your head moves slightly, we also capture that," said co-author Ruidong Zhang, an information science doctoral student. The researchers hope to mitigate such disruptions in future models.

EarIO has some limitations as things stand. The device runs for around three hours on a single charge despite being far more energy efficient than a camera-based system the team previously used. The researchers hope to improve the battery life in the future. They also aim to make EarIO a plug-and-play device but it currently needs 32 minutes of facial data training before the first use.