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Fisker has shed some more light on its Alaska electric pickup, which it says will have a base price of just $45,400. The Alaska is a work-friendly vehicle, letting you run your business from the cockpit. It has dedicated work glove and cowboy hat storage, a slide-out laptop tray and a cup holder big enough to hold a day’s worth of water.

The default flatbed is 4.5 feet, but you can drop the partition to increase that to 7.5 feet. Lower the seats and the liftgate and you can push it to 9.2 feet, big enough to haul several sheets of plywood from one job to the next. But much as Fisker may promise this will be one of the lightest and cheapest EVs in its class, we’ll wait to see how much it actually costs when it debuts in 2025 before making a judgment.

– Dan Cooper

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Can modeling microphones deliver on their copycat promise?

It’s a Swiss Army-microphone for audio pros on a budget.

Photo by James Trew / Engadget

Professional microphones are as unique as the instruments they’re built to record, each with their own voices. The Sphere LX is a $1,000 modeling microphone designed to alter its qualities to ape the voices of several extremely expensive studio microphones. James Trew explores what it’s like to use this chameleonic device, comparing it to several of the pro microphones it’s trying to impersonate. I may not find the technical intricacies of audio engineering that gripping, but James’ in-depth report is a must-read, even for me.

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The Xbox 360 store will close in July 2024

Farewell, old friend.

After nearly two decades of faithful service, the Xbox 360 store will close for good on July 29, 2024. Microsoft’s Movies & TV app will stop working on the same day as the company pulls the last vestiges of support for its console. The company has already promised games compatible with newer consoles will stay on the Xbox One and Series X/S storefronts. And media bought via the Xbox 360 will stay in your library, so you shouldn’t lose too much of anything.

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Lenovo's leaked Legion Go is part Steam Deck, part Nintendo Switch

It’s got detachable controllers!

Windows Report

With the Legion Go, Lenovo may have its own rival to the Steam Deck, Ayaneo and ASUS’ ROG Ally. A leak, including product renders, suggests it’s a PC gaming handheld equipped with AMD’s new Phoenix processors and a pair of Switch-like detachable controllers. It looks very possible to prop this thing on a table, addressing the issues of hand fatigue so common with other PC-class handhelds. Just a shame it won’t be able to play Tears of the Kingdom.

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Acura's ZDX EV has an estimated 325 miles of range and starts around $60,000

If those range claims are accurate, it’s pretty compelling.

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The Acura ZDX is the latest all-electric vehicle from Honda’s premium brand, due to launch in early 2024. The ZDX boasts CarPlay, Android Auto, a Bang & Olufsen audio setup and an as-yet unofficial range of 325 miles on a single charge. The base model is likely to cost around $60,000, and it’s certainly a pretty-looking way to get around.

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Only a few months after they first came out, the Beats Studio Buds + are down to an all-time low price. The company's latest noise-canceling headphones are 24 percent off at Woot, dropping from $170 to $130. While you shop, it's important to keep in mind that, though Amazon owns Woot, it has a different return policy.

We gave the Beats Studio Buds + an 84 in our review when they launched. A few of the new features impressed us, but the price increase from $150 to $170 seemed a bit steep for the product — something this deal more than makes up for. Updates rolled out with the Beats Studio Buds + included 16 percent more battery life, three times bigger microphones and acoustic vents added to the front and side. As a whole, the sound quality and noise canceling are both better than its predecessor. Plus, the placement of the headphones' control button has moved to avoid accidentally pressing it while adjusting their fit (a big problem plaguing the originals).

At the same time, a few things are lacking from the Beats Studio Buds +, such as automatic pausing, wireless charging and a sound that — while improved — doesn't measure up to competitors like AirPods. But, if you want solid headphones for a decent price, these are certainly a good option. The markdown will be available on Woot for the next four days or until they sell out of their stock.

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Checkers and Rally's restaurants have launched the first Spanish ordering system that uses AI, Checkers restaurants announced. The system from a company called Hi Auto is already in use at 350 of those restaurants, following two months of beta testing at five locations. The service allows for a more "inclusive environment" by accommodating Spanish speakers, the company said, but it remains to be seen whether customers or employees will embrace it.

The system takes orders via a virtual assistant and detects the customer's language spoken, automatically switching between English and Spanish. Hi Auto says it has "unique customization capabilities" that let franchises easily scale the system up. The company promises to streamline ordering with a greater than 95 percent order accuracy rate.

"Our expanded partnership with Checkers and Rally’s represents a huge breakthrough for the country’s Spanish-speaking and bilingual communities, and allows every restaurant to cater to the Spanish speaking population at any time," said Hi Auto CEO Roy Baharav.

AI drive-through order-taking is a unique challenge, however, thanks to an environment that tends to be noisy and chaotic. "You may think driving by and speaking into a drive-thru is an easy problem for AI, but it’s actually one of the hardest," Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian recently told The Wall Street Journal in reference to the company's recent collaboration with Wendy's. And the tech isn't necessarily reliable, either. The WSJ reported that three people out of 10 using AI systems asked to speak with a human employee due to errors or the desire to speak to a person.

Hi Auto is up against some giants, as well. One of the first companies to look at the tech was McDonald's, which teamed up with IBM to accelerate its own AI ordering systems, and starting testing them in 10 Chicago-area restaurants last year. It's also competing with Google Cloud, which is testing its systems at White Castle on top of Wendy's.

The system does offer features restaurant chains want, though. It can "upsell relentlessly" on items like deserts and french fries, resulting in higher orders, according to CNN. It may also allow restaurants to cut employees, boosting their bottom lines but reducing the number of jobs available to young people. That said, the restaurant with the highest customer service marks last year was Chick-fil-A, thanks in part to its face-to-face human ordering system, according to a recent survey from Intouch Insight.

White noise podcast creators on Spotify are making serious money, and the audio streaming service was reportedly not happy about it and tried to cut them off. According to Bloomberg, it has viewed an internal document revealing that podcasts with white noise content, such as the sounds of waves, vacuums and whirring fans, accounted for a total of 3 million consumption hours on the platform every single day. That was made possible by Spotify's algorithm inadvertently pushing these types of content to its listeners as part of its efforts to become the go-to app for podcasts. 

Previously, Bloombergreported that white noise podcasters were making as $18,000 a month. A lot of creators on the platform, not just those broadcasting white noise, use Spotify's free hosting software Anchor to publish their shows. Spotify purchased Anchor back in 2019, and in addition to helping creators make and distribute their podcasts, it can also monetize their content. 

While white noise podcasts turned out to be a hit with listeners, they apparently don't make Spotify as much money as other types of programming. The company reportedly considered removing them altogether and preventing future uploads in the category. Plus, it thought of altering its algorithm to recommend "comparable programming" that's more economical for Spotify. Doing all those would raise the company's annual gross profit by $38 million. The news organization didn't say if Spotify elaborated on what it meant by "comparable programming" in the internal document, but they could be other types of content meant to induce and improve sleep, as well as to help calm anxiety, which is what white noise is typically used for. 

A thread on the Spotify subreddit posted a couple of months ago show multiple users complaining that the white noise podcasts they listen to had disappeared. Bloomberg also talked to a creator who said their content had vanished for a few weeks before being reinstated. Spotify didn't confirm whether it temporarily pulled white noise podcasts from its service, but it told the news organization that ultimately, "[t]he proposal in question did not come to fruition" and that it continues "to have white noise podcasts on [its] platform."

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Amazon has started testing a new star rating system in specific regions that makes it harder to gauge how buyers are liking a specific product. Android Police has spotted the the experimental system on the company's mobile app in India, its German website and its global website when accessed from Germany. We couldn't replicate what the publication has seen on the US website, but it looks like the test replaces the website's weighted average rating that's typically shown through an image with five stars. Instead of that illustration, buyers see a single yellow star next to the product image with the percentage of 5-star ratings it had received. 

People wouldn't be able to tell at a glance whether a product's average rating is 5 or 3.5, because it's represented by a single yellow star in both cases. It's also not immediately visible how many reviews a product has received so far, seeing as the new system only shows the percentage of 5-star ratings. As the publication notes, this makes it easier for sellers to dupe potential buyers by unscrupulously looking for ways to get 5-star reviews to counteract the negative ones. 

That said, Amazon hasn't completely removed ratings breakdown and details. Potential buyers who look at the number of reviews a product has gotten and not just its average score can click through to see its ratings breakdown on the product page. It's not ideal and could make picking a product to buy longer than it should take, but at least the option exists. When asked, an Amazon spokesperson didn't confirm the experimental feature and simply told The Verge: "We are always innovating on behalf of customers to provide the best possible shopping experience." Testing a feature doesn't always lead to a wide release, though, and Amazon might make changes to this rating system if it does decide to implement it. 

The background-checking tool used by Match Group to offer a safety feature for Tinder users is shutting down. The non-profit and female-founded Garbo, which the dating app conglomerate has partnered with since 2019, will shut down its consumer tool at the end of August. “Most tech companies just see trust and safety as good PR,” Kathryn Kosmides, Garbo’s founder and CEO, told The Wall Street Journal, which published a report on the severed partnership. “I’d rather Garbo shift focus to our other efforts than allow the vision of Garbo to be compromised and relegated to a piece of big corporations’ marketing goals.”

A Match Group spokesperson supplied a statement to Engadget. “Match Group has made significant investments to enhance safety across our platforms over the last few years and we will continue to do so. From features like ‘Are you Sure?’ and ‘Does this bother you?’ to background checks, we have created tools and made investments that no other dating apps offer. We are committed to continuously investing and building industry-leading features that give users more information and control over who they choose to connect with on our platforms.”

The company suggests it’s in the process of finding a replacement partner to check for histories of violence. “While we are disappointed that we were unable to come to an agreement, we are in advanced conversations with alternate providers and will announce a new partnership soon,” the spokesperson wrote.

SOPA Images via Getty Images

Kosmides told the WSJ that Garbo’s decision to suspend the tool spawned from disagreements with Match Group and difficulties getting platforms to pay for its services. She described internal disputes within Match Group brands about how to make the tool work.

Tinder leaders reportedly pushed for a system that would encourage users to run background checks on themselves to receive a badge on their profile, described as “a way to engage those who are less likely to run [background checks] themselves (predominantly men) and highlight the majority of people that are good,” an internal document viewed by the WSJ read. Garbo rejected the idea, and Kosmides told the paper, “You can’t white-list someone or give them a ‘good guy, bad guy’ identity verification.”

Public and regulatory interest in dating app safety rose in 2019 when ProPublica published a widely circulated story about sex offenders using dating apps. A Match Group spokesperson was quoted in the story as telling Columbia Journalism Investigations, “There are definitely registered sex offenders on our free products.” The uproar led to increased scrutiny from Capitol Hill. U.S. Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Ann Kuster (D-NH) sent a letter in 2020 to Match Group inquiring about protecting users from registered sex offenders. The pair sent a follow-up letter this July, noting that the dating company no longer discloses the size of its trust and safety team.

The intensified public and political interest heightened pressure on Match Group to do something, and its leadership reportedly saw Garbo — a new and untested product still under development at the time — as a novel solution. The dating conglomerate announced its $1.5 million partnership with the group in 2021 and launched a consumer tool the following year — with the company paying to offer two free background searches for Tinder users. Some criticized the move for providing a false sense of security, although Match Group cautioned not to view it as an all-in-one fix.

This summer, with Match Group and Garbo failing to agree on funding terms, the latter’s board met and voted to terminate the tool. Garbo, which also partnered with smaller firms, says it will shift back to being volunteer-run beginning on September 1st. The organization says it will “refocus our efforts on further ways to directly empower individuals with new and innovative tools to protect themselves from gender-based violence and other interpersonal harms in the digital age.”

Undeterred from its core mission, it adds, “We also plan to continue fiercely advocating for reforms in the criminal justice and public record systems to protect victims and hold bad actors accountable.”

Summer is drawing to a close, which means the busy fall season of tech events is almost upon us. Microsoft has marked its territory by sending out save-the-date invites to a "special event" in New York City on September 21st, but the company hasn't provided any details on what to expect as yet.

This could very well be Microsoft's major fall hardware event, during which the company typically reveals its latest Surface devices and other gear. If so, that would mean Microsoft is moving back to its old late September slot after switching to an October date last year. In any case, given the company's focus over the past year or so, it's likely to talk quite a bit about its various AI endeavors during this showcase. There's always a chance we could learn about new Windows 11 features as well.

The tech industry's fall calendar is taking shape. Apple usually shows off its latest slate of iPhones (which may or may not have USB-C charging ports this year) in early- to mid-September, but it hasn't confirmed a date yet. Nor has Google, which will surely reveal its new Pixel devices at some point in the next month or two. Amazon is holding a hardware event on September 20th, one day before Microsoft's. Meanwhile, we'll learn more about the Meta Quest 3 at Meta Connect on September 27th.

X appears to be working on new ID verification features several months after rampant impersonation temporarily derailed the company’s paid verification plans. The platform is now working on an additional verification feature that requires users to upload a copy of their government-issued ID and snap a selfie, according to a screenshot shared by app researcher Nima Owji.

Owji, who often uncovers unreleased features in X, first spotted an “ID verified” badge on Musk’s profile earlier this month. Now, he’s discovered an in-app message detailing how it works, suggesting that it may be getting closer to an official launch. “Verify your account by providing government-issued ID,” it says. “This usually takes about 5 minutes.” It explains that users will need to provide a photo of their ID and a selfie.

It seems X is partnering with a third-party “identity intelligence” company Au10tix on the feature. The fine print notes that information shared for verification will be seen by Au10tix as well as X. X will keep “ID images, including biometric data, for up to 30 days” and will use the information “for the purposes of safety and security, including preventing impersonation.”

An Au10tix representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The company’s website advertises “8-second verification without even partial human involvement” and “first-of-a-kind tech detecting synthetic fraud patterns globally.” The company says it’s previously worked with companies like Google, PayPal and Uber.

X didn’t respond to a request for comment. But the feature suggests the company is looking for new ways to combat impersonation on the platform. Right now, X offers verified status to anyone paying for an X Premium (formerly known as Twitter Blue) subscription.

The company doesn’t conduct its own identity checks, though it has implemented some safeguards, like its verified organizations feature. Still, some impersonators have still managed to slip through. Verification has also been exploited by numerous scammers, particularly crypto scammers, who use the additional visibility that comes with an X premium subscription to elevate their posts. It’s unclear if adding optional identity checks would fully solve these issues, but it could make some scammers and impersonators a bit easier to identify.