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VinFast Automotive— the Vietnamese car startup — is set to build its first North American assembly plant in North Carolina’s Triangle Innovation Point, right outside of Raleigh. The company will invest a total of $5 billion in the facility which will eventually employ 13,000 workers, according to the Raleigh News and Observer. The Vinfast plant won’t just be North Carolina’s first EV facility, it’ll also be the state’s first car manufacturing plant. Toyota also announced plans last year to build a $1.29 billion battery manufacturing plant in Randolph County, further cementing North Carolina’s status as the next potential EV hub.

We’ve already heard about VinFast's two new electric crossover cars — the VF32 and the VF33 — that it plans to debut in the US this summer. But the North Carolina plant will focus on building two other cars: the VinFast VF 9, a 7-passenger all-electric SUV and the VinFast VF 8, a 5-passenger, all-electric mid-size SUV. The company is aiming to make both lines available for delivery in the US later this year.

As far as SUVs go, both VinFast models will be reasonably priced. The smaller car, the two-row VF 8, will retail for $39,400. The three-row VF 9 will retail for $53,700. Drivers have the option of selecting different battery sizes for each model. The VF 8 with a smaller battery has a range of 285 miles, with a bigger battery the range increases to 313 miles. Meanwhile, the VF 9 is likely to come with a larger battery pack that could give it a range of up to 423 miles, InsideEVs reported. If this actually happens, this would put the VF 9 at a higher maximum range than many of its competitors in the electric SUV space. For the sake of comparison, the 2021 Tesla Model X has a range of 360 miles and the Kia EV9 SUV has a range of 300 miles.

Even as far as EV startups go, VinFast is relatively new to the game. The company is a subsidiary of a Vietnamese conglomerate called VinGroup, and only started making cars in 2017. Both its cars and scooters are popular in Vietnam, but it has yet to sell any cars abroad, reported the Raleigh News and Observer. But with its first US manufacturing facility in the works, the Vietnamese startup is likely to gain more credibility stateside.

For those who want to try their hand at audio production, one of the most significant barriers to entry is the cost of equipment and instruments. That Korg Minilogue you have in mind for a killer synthwave track? Even a pre-owned one will set you back about $400. In recent years, audio plugins you can use with your favorite digital audio workstation have made it more affordable to dabble in audio production, but even those can be expensive.

Universal Audio wants to make its audio plugins more accessible with a subscription service called UAD Spark. Priced at $20 per month, the package includes some of the company’s most popular plugins, including ones that replicate the Neve 1073 preamp and Studer A800 tape recorder. You’ll also find a handful of exclusives. One such exclusive emulates the Opal Morphing Synthersizer.

But what’s likely to make UAD Spark compelling to a lot of people is that you don’t need one of the company’s Apollo or Volt audio interfaces to take advantage of the service. All the plugins included in Spark will run natively on your Mac (and Windows machine come this fall). And if you already own a Volt audio interface, you’ll get a free 30-day trial to the service. Should you decide to subscribe, any plugins you already own will be available through Spark.

The White House has launched covid.gov, a dedicated website for COVID-19 guidance, including resources for treatment and testing. The site is meant to be a “one-stop shop” for all things related to COVID-19, including testing and treatment options, masks and vaccines. The website also provides county-level data from the CDC about community spread of COVID-19.

The website includes a new “test-to-treat” locator that connects people with testing sites and treatment options in their area. “This program creates one-stop-shop locations where people can get a COVID-19 test and receive an oral antiviral treatment, if appropriate for them because they test positive and face high risks from COVID,” the White House wrote in a statement. “Since the launch earlier this month, there are now over 2,000 Test-to-Treat locations nationwide, including in pharmacy-based clinics, federally-qualified community health centers (FQHCs), and long-term care facilities.”

While much of the information on covid.gov has already been available, the White House says it’s the first time that it’s brought all of its COVID-19 guidance and resources into one place. For example, it links to both vaccines.gov as well as the USPS site to order free COVID tests. It also includes links to find “high quality” masks, and resources on how to wear them.

Waymo is now operating fully driverless cars in more than one city. The Alphabet-owned brand has started trials of self-driving Jaguar I-Pace EVs in San Francisco with no backup drivers. The tests are limited to employees hailing rides in the company's early service area, but this still represents a major milestone — the company claimed in a message to Engadget that it was the first anywhere to offer autonomous ride-hailing in two different territories.

You'll also see an expanded footprint in Arizona. Waymo said it will expand fully autonomous rides to downtown Phoenix, starting with employees. Members of the public in the Trusted Tester program can hail rides "soon after," Waymo said.

It's not certain when Waymo might offer trips to the general public in San Francisco. The company recently received permission to charge for self-driving rides in California, but only as long as there's a backup driver aboard. Still, both rollouts indicate greater confidence on Waymo's part. It's more willing to test its autonomous system in densely-populated areas (where traffic and roadwork can be huge headaches), and without leaning as much on human safety nets.

Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in March, 2020, Microsoft's annual Build conference for developers, engineers and IT professionals has been held online. But after two years of lockdowns, and nearly 15 months since the release of effective vaccines, Build 2022 will once again be hosted online, from May 24th through 26th.

While the conference is largely geared towards professionals, plenty of consumer-facing tech has emerged from previous years' events, from advances to Microsoft Teams to the "next generation" of Windows. This year, attendees will "experience market-specific content and connection opportunities for France, Germany, Japan, Latin America, and the UK in Regional Spotlights," according to the conference's launch site, in addition to the standard slate of keynotes, workshops, and networking opportunities.

Registration for the conference opens in late April and will be free. You can check out the event agenda at the Build 2022 homepage.  

A former DeepMind employee has accused the company of mishandling a series of serious sexual harassment allegations. In a report published Wednesday, The Financial Times recounts the experience of a former female staff member who alleges she was sexually assaulted twice by a senior researcher at the Google subsidiary. She says her harasser also sent her multiple traumatic documents, including one where he made allusions to raping unconscious women.

DeepMind eventually dismissed the researcher, but not before it subjected his victim to a disciplinary process she argues showed major flaws in how the company handles such incidents. All told, it reportedly took DeepMind seven months to address the complaint, and only did so after the former employee filed an appeal. It then allegedly took another two months before the company finally dismissed her harasser in September 2020.

During that period, the former employee was told she would face “disciplinary” action if she talked about her complaint with colleagues. She was advised not to visit the office where her harasser worked, but her manager, not knowing the full scope of the complaint, repeatedly pushed her to attend meetings at that same building. According to The Times, DeepMind did not place any restrictions on the alleged perpetrator, a claim the company disputes. 

A spokesperson for DeepMind said the firm told the researcher not to contact the staff member in September 2019. The company also disputes a claim the researcher received an award for their work during the time they were being investigated by the company. DeepMind says the award was one meant for the team the alleged perpetrator worked for and was related to a historic research paper.

“According to your own findings, I was subjected to sexual harassment, assault and abuse… I will never be the same person. I have spent almost the entire last year fearing for my safety. There is absolutely… no reason why the investigation was so dysfunctional,” the former employee said in an August 2020 email to DeepMind’s senior leadership.

“Any incident of sexual assault or harassment is abhorrent. DeepMind takes all allegations of workplace misconduct extremely seriously and we place our employees’ safety at the core of any actions we take,” DeepMind told Engadget. “The allegations were investigated thoroughly, and the individual who was investigated for misconduct was dismissed without any severance payments.”

Following the incident, DeepMind told Engadget it implemented a series of policies to change how it investigates such matters. Among other changes, the company says it now communicates more clearly how employees should go about raising concerns, and that it has a better system in place to support workers who complain of harassment and discrimination. It also told The Times it “regrets” the former staff member was provided with “incorrect guidance around breaking confidentiality.”

It was silly of us to think the ending of The Stanley Parable was actually the end of the game. Ridiculous, even. Catastrophic, possibly. 

Nearly 10 years after the award-winning indie game's debut, original creators Davey Wreden and William Pugh are back with an upgraded, expanded and even stranger version called The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe. It's been in development for more than three years, and it's finally due to hit Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles on April 27th.

The Ultra Deluxe edition includes expanded storylines, plus new content, secrets and choices. The release date trailer teases employee number 427's revamped office space and the reality-bending physics at work in the new game. It looks familiar with flashes of the unknown; basic graphics with quietly trippy mechanics. And over the top of it all, a soothing voice narrating your every move.

Crows Crows Crows

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is a collaboration between Pugh's studio, Crows Crows Crows, and Wreden, while narrator Kevan Brighting is back as well. The script for the new content is longer than the original game script, and the developers said they tried to implement the fresh mechanics in unexpected ways — which is entirely expected for The Stanley Parable.

“Early in development, the plan was just to bring The Stanley Parable to consoles with a few small tweaks, but as time went on we kept getting more and more excited about what else we could do with the game," the developers said in a press release. "We learned what we wanted it to be as we were making it."

Crows Crows Crows

It almost sounds like the new game built itself — but that'd be impossible, right?

... Right?

Intel has only just detailed its first Arc laptop GPUs, but it's already teasing its desktop plans. The company has offered a peek at an Arc A-series Limited Edition video card arriving sometime this summer — yes, that's another delay. There are no specs or prices, unfortunately, but the double-height design and twin-fan cooling make clear this is aimed directly at gamers who'd normally buy AMD or NVIDIA boards.

Early Arc desktop GPUs are expected to support a raft of modern features, including hardware-accelerated ray-tracing and AI-based supersampling. Intel is already developing second-generation GPUs, nicknamed Battlemage, and expects the third-gen Celestial hardware to target the "ultra-enthusiast" camp.

It's still too soon to say if Arc desktop models will offer truly competitive performance. This latest delay doesn't help, though. NVIDIA is poised to deliver its first Ampere Next-based GPUs (likely the RTX 40 series) later this year, and AMD will follow suit with the Radeon RX 7000 series. Intel is aiming at a moving target, and there are no guarantees a card released this summer will hold its own against the absolute latest the competition has to offer.

Traeger is one of the biggest names in backyard grilling. The company's line of pellet grills offers WiFi connectivity and other handy features across the board starting at $900. After churning out new smart models in both 2018 and 2019, the company hasn't debuted a new grill in about three years. Instead, it focused on redesigning its app to include recipe guidance and video tips along with an Apple Watch version and recently introduced Traeger Provisions meal (read: feast) kit service. For grilling season 2022, though, Traeger has completely redesigned its premium model, the Timberline.

And a lot of those upgrades relate to the tech. First, Traeger touts "an entirely new level of performance" thanks to a new smart combustion system. With added sensors, the grill monitors the cooking area to prevent pesky flare-ups for consistent results. The company has also swapped out the old black and white display for a full-color touchscreen unit. Not only does it offer a more modern look, but the screen can show a guided setup in addition to monitoring time and temperature. What's more, Traeger has built in a maintenance check where the grill can self-diagnose issues and guide you to customer service or replacement parts via a unique QR code.

You won't have to worry about the Timberline pulling cooking power for that display either. Traeger says dual controllers handle the cooking and the screen separately, and the display has its own dedicated graphics processor. The new controller automatically detects Meater's wireless food probes and the new Timberline comes with two of those accessories (you can use up to four at a time). In case you missed it, Traeger acquired Meater last summer, so this integration was inevitable. The only caveat is you have to use the probes designed for the new Timberline grills. Previous versions from Meater aren't the same so they won't work here. If you prefer wired probes, you can still use those on these new models. 

Traeger Grills

To help with sauces, frying, searing and other tasks, the new Timberline grills have a side burner. Sure, a lot of grills have that extra burner, but they're not common on pellet models. More specifically, Traeger says this Timberline features the first outdoor-rated induction burner for both precision and power. It should especially be handy for fans of the reverse sear as it will heat up much faster than trying to get the entire grill up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit or higher after a quick smoke. 

Plenty of grills offer lighting to help you see at night, with Weber being one of the biggest names to do so. Until now, Traeger hadn't included built-in illumination, but the new Timberline has it. The company's vice president of product Michael Colston explained that Traeger spent a lot of time researching where the best location for the lights should be so that smoke doesn't interfere with visibility. Instead of putting lights inside the smoke chamber, it positioned them on the outside, so it can be activated by a lid sensor and it won't get smoked up while lighting the entire cooking surface.

"We've thought about where that light needs to be placed," he told Engadget. "It also signals to the controller that the door is open and barely keeps the smoke going." So when the lid is up, the grill is no longer working to produce the same level of smoke as when it's closed. It's also not trying to recover from the drop in ambient temperature before you're ready for it to do so. 

Traeger Grills

Inside, a new grease and ash collection system sends all of the waste out of the bottom instead of rolling grease to a small pan on the side. Colston described the Timberline as "nearly self-cleaning" since a new FreeFlow firepot ejects the ash over to what Traeger calls the EZ-Clean Grease & Ash Keg. New plates channel grease to the same receptacle where gravity carries over wood pellet ash and debris. Besides putting all the waste in one spot, this new setup also means you won't have to break out the shop vac as frequently to clean up. Colston explained he's been using a new Timberline for months and probably could've gone longer without vacuuming out the inside. If the description is accurate, this will alleviate a key headache with pellet grills. 

Instead of a four-post support for the new Timberline, Traeger opted for a cart stand like you typically see with gas grills. This offers more storage via a cabinet and small shelves below the pellet hopper. The company also designed what it calls the Pop-And-Lock (P.A.L.) rail system for accessories — things like an adjustable roll holder (paper towels, foil or butcher paper), tool hooks and a basket for rubs/sauces. The rails wrap around the front and sides of the grill, but not the back, so you have some room to move things as needed. Traeger relocated the pellet hopper cleanout chute to right below the hopper, so it's accessible from the front. The cart was designed so you can easily slide in a storage container and empty pellets between cooks. So not only are you able to keep your fuel fresh, but you might also be more likely to use different types of wood instead of sticking to your go-to variety (read: buy more pellets).

The new Timberline should also offer more consistent performance in chilly weather thanks to full stainless steel insulation and a multi-level heat delivery system that wraps the cooking area in radiant warmth. Traeger says all of this creates hotter temperatures at the grates for better searing and improved overall heat regulation.

Traeger designed the new Timberline so it can be installed in an outdoor kitchen's countertop setup. A trim kit can be purchased for a finished look and you can install the induction side burner off to the side of the grill as well. Lots of Traeger users have built outdoor setups with counters and bigger carts by removing the legs that come with the grills, so the company is catering to those folks by designing its latest model so that this process is relatively easy. 

Traeger Grills

Even if you don't want a full kitchen on your patio, the company has more accessories to add other culinary capabilities to the Timberline. With ModiFire products, you can purchase a stainless steel fish/veggie tray or a griddle for the induction cook top. The company says a two-sided griddle for use inside the grill is coming this fall alongside pizza stone and cover system that has its own sensors and cooking algorithm. 

Despite all of the new stuff, some old favorites are still here. The Timberline is still powered by Traeger's D2 platform and WiFire wireless connectivity. The company's app still provides step-by-step guidance, video tutorials and a wealth of recipes, in addition to giving you control over every grill setting except for pressing the ignite button to get things going. And yes, you can use it to control that new side burner with the app too. The company has swapped out the WiFi antenna for a 360-degree component is says is more powerful that what was on previous models. Super Smoke mode is also back for low-and-slow cooking, but Traeger says it's capable of even more flavor with that new firepot that can churn out more smoke.

The new Timberline and the larger Timberline XL will sit at the pinnacle of Traeger's product lineup. Both models will be available this spring for $3,499 and $3,799, respectively. For comparison, the previous-gen Timberline 850 and 1300 are $2,100 and $2,300, so you'll have to pay quite the premium for all of the upgrades the company has added to it's high-end models. 

Yesterday, Google officially released version 100 of its Chrome browser, and today it's following suit by releasing version 100 of Chrome OS. While there weren't a lot of big features for Chrome 100 besides a new icon, the update for Chrome OS brings a handful of changes worth noting. Probably the most significant is a redesigned app launcher experience. When you press the "everything" button (where caps lock is on most keyboards) or click the circle icon on the lower left side of the screen, the new launcher pulls up in a window on the left side of your display rather than covering all your open windows. Longtime Chrome OS users might remember that this was how the launcher behaved years ago.

Besides that visual change, Google has made it easier to organize the apps you have installed. You can choose to sort them alphabetically or by color, and new apps you add will stick to that organization scheme. From a functional perspective, Google has also improved search results that come up when you type in the launcher, automatically pulling up information for your query without having to open more details in a browser window. The search field also can look through all your open tabs if you're trying to find a specific site you had open.

The next new feature is purely for fun — the camera app can now create GIFs. When you pop open the camera, you can choose to record a five-second video that'll automatically be turned into a GIF. Once that's done, you can share it to pretty much any app on your Chromebook or send it to an Android phone using the nearby share feature.

Google also improved the dictation feature on Chromebooks. Previously, you could dictate text into any text field on your device, but today Google is adding some editing features. Chrome OS now recognizes commands like "delete" to remove the last letter or "move to the next character" to adjust where your cursor is. Asking for "help" will also pull up a list of commands that you can use if you're not sure how to accomplish a specific task with your voice.

As is usually the case with most Chrome OS updates, these aren't exactly earth-shattering updates. But as Google now updates Chrome OS and the Chrome browser every four weeks, they're not all going to bring big features. But there are still a few quality of life improvements worth checking out once the update hits your device — I've always found managing the apps in my launcher a bit cumbersome, so I'm hoping today's update makes things a bit better.