Amazon is likely to run out of prospective workers for its US warehouses by the year 2024, according to an internal memo that was leaked to Recode. The memo contained internal research from 2021 that predicted a looming labor crisis for the e-commerce giant that would hit some areas faster than others. For example, it estimated that Amazon would exhaust its labor supply in Phoenix, Arizona by the end of 2021 and in California’s Inland Empire by the end of 2022. It calculated the available pool of workers using factors like income levels and proximity to current or planned Amazon facilities.

The report urged the company to take steps to address the future labor gap, such as raising wages to retain its existing workforce and attract more new hires. It also suggested increasing automation in the warehouses. “If we continue business as usual, Amazon will deplete the available labor supply in the US network by 2024,” wrote the authors of the report.

In a statement to Engadget, an Amazon spokesperson said that the leaked document isn't an accurate assessment of its hiring situation. “There are many draft documents written on many subjects across the company that are used to test assumptions and look at different possible scenarios, but aren’t then escalated or used to make decisions. This was one of them. It doesn’t represent the actual situation, and we are continuing to hire well in Phoenix, the Inland Empire, and across the country," wrote Rena Lunak, Amazon's director of global operations and field communications.

Automation is something that Amazon has invested heavily in already by acquiring Kiva Systems in 2012. But according to a Wired investigation from last year, Amazon’s warehouse robots aren’t capable of handling advanced fulfillment tasks that can only be performed by a human worker.

Human workers were once an ample resource the company. The tech giant is the second-largest private employer in the US, and is the largest private employer in a number of US states and cities. The company announced plans to hire 125,000 workers last fall, which is roughly equivalent to the population of Savannah, Georgia. But the new hires largely appear to be replacing workers who have been terminated or resigned. Amazon’s turnover rate is roughly 150 percent a year, or twice the amount of the retail and logistics industries at large, a New York Timesinvestigation revealed last year.

As Recode notes, Amazon’s attrition rate is even worse in Phoenix and the Inland Empire. It also has to compete with big-box stores like Walmart and Target, which are now offering competitive wages to those with warehouse experience. “We are hearing a lot of [Amazon] workers say, ‘I can just go across the street to Target or Walmart,’” Sheheryar Kaoosji, co-executive director of Inland Empire’s Warehouse Worker Resource Center told Recode.

Crypto lender Celsius Network opted to freeze customer withdrawals and other transactions on Sunday, leaving its nearly two million users unable to access their funds. Now, state security boards in Alabama, Kentucky, New Jersey, Texas and Washington have launched probes into Celsius, Reutersreports. The SEC has also been in contact with the firm. Engadget has reached out to the agency and will update if we hear back. 

This isn’t the first time the crypto lender has run into trouble with state and federal officials. Multiple states ordered Celsius last year to stop selling what are known as high-yield crypto products, which many investors warn are risky because they don’t offer the same FDIC protections as banks if the institutions go under. Currently, residents in the states of New York and Washington can’t purchase assets on Celsius.

Officials at the Texas State Securities Board began discussing Celsius’s surprise freeze on consumer assets first thing on Monday morning, the agency’s enforcement director Joseph Rotunda told the Reuters. "I am very concerned that clients – including many retail investors – may need to immediately access their assets yet are unable to withdraw from their accounts. The inability to access their investment may result in significant financial consequences," he said.

In its memo to users explaining Sunday's decision, Celsius cited “extreme market conditions” as the primary motivator. The freeze includes transfers, withdrawals and swaps between accounts. “We are taking this action today to put Celsius in a better position to honor, over time, its withdrawal obligations,” wrote the firm.

Users responded via social media over the weekend, often sharing the negative impacts the freeze had on their own finances. One user claimed on Twitter that, because they were unable to access funds to pay or post collateral, the platform had liquidated a loan worth more than $27,000. "This is not the reason I unbanked myself," they wrote.

While it’s no secret that social media shapes our political discourse, a new study by the Pew Research Center reveals to what extent. Nearly one in three tweets posted by American adults are political in nature, according to Pew’s analysis of a sample of a year’s worth of English-language tweets from US adults. But only eight percent of the original tweets Pew analyzed were political in nature, while more than 40 percent of retweets and quote tweets were classified as political. This shows that users are a lot more likely to share political content from a small group rather than create their own.

It’s important to note that the study analyzed tweets that were posted between May 2020 and May 2021 — a particularly tumultuous time period that included a US presidential election, a summer of political protests, a pandemic and the January 6 insurrection. It’s a significant uptick from 2019, when only 13 percent of US tweets were about politics. But Pew also significantly changed its methodology from 2019, which only focused on politics at the national level.

“This definition excluded mentions of state or local politics and politicians, as well as discussions of policy issues and current events that carry a political valence but do not explicitly reference national political figures or groups,” wrote Pew’s researchers in a blog post.

Still, the findings include some interesting insights on who shapes political debate on Twitter and how. First off, the study found that Americans who were 50 years and older produced 78 percent of all political tweets. While this age group only makes up a quarter of Twitter’s US user base, it virtually dominates the political discussion on the platform. Meanwhile, only seven percent of tweets from US Twitter users between the ages of 18 and 49 were political in nature.

As mentioned earlier, a large chunk of retweets and quote tweets are political in nature — suggesting that most users spread political information on Twitter rather than post original commentary. Roughly 44 percent of retweets and 42 percent were quote tweets were political in nature, as opposed to eight percent of original tweets. Many users voice their political opinions in the replies — an estimated 26 percent of reply tweets discussed politics. 

Republicans and Democrats also appear to perceive Twitter very differently from each other. For example, Democrats seem more likely to treat Twitter as a place to encounter like-minded people. Roughly 40 percent of Democrats said they mostly followed Twitter accounts with similar political beliefs to their own, as opposed to 20 percent of Republicans. This is likely helped by the fact that Twitter’s most prolific users swing left. A 2020 Pew study found that of Twitter’s most active users, roughly 69 percent identified as Democrats.

Sony unveiled a new quick editing mode for PS5’s Share Factory Studio today that will allow users to create shortform gameplay videos with pre-set, Tik-Tok-like formats. In a blog post, Sony explained the new editing feature — which it has deemed “Bits”— lets gamers choose a curated Bit style for their gameplay clip, or customize their footage even further with the “Quick Edit” mode. Players can expect new Bits styles to roll out every week. Bits themes will be based on special events, holidays, seasons and trending content.

“Our goal with Bits is to make it super easy and fun for PlayStation gamers to create and share short-form gameplay videos for sharing cool achievements, jokes, stunts, and any other type of eye-catching content,” wrote the company in the official PlayStation blog.

For those who aren’t familiar, Share Factory Studio is PlayStation’s free editing app that lets players capture and edit gameplay footage right on their consoles and share to social media. The app is packed with advanced video and audio editing features, including support for HDR video and the ability to add animation, stickers, filters and voice effects. But for those who are overwhelmed by Share Factory Studio’s many options, Bits seems to be an easy way to churn out social media-friendly gameplay clips.

For a preview of what Bits looks like, check out the short trailer below.

Disney+ is continuing its experiment with live events, this time with a special from one of its own theme parks. The platform will livestream Harmonious Live!, a musical special that will be hosted by Idina Menzel and performed at the Epcot theme park in Walt Disney World, reportedVariety. The live orchestra performance will feature a repertoire of songs from a number of classical Disney films, including Moana, Aladdin, Coco, The Lion King, Mulan and others.

The choice to air Harmonious Live! will no doubt please Disney fans of all ages, especially those who haven't been back to a theme park in a while. After a nearly two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, Disney resumed live entertainment at its theme parks again this year. And unlike live shows performed at the park, fans will be able to watch re-watch Harmonious Live! on the Disney+ platform at any time they like.

Disney+ subscribers can expect even more live offerings this year. The upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars will air on the platform, likely in September 2022. Meanwhile, Harmonious Live! will air on June 21 at 6 p.m. PT/9 ET in the US and Canada. You can watch a preview below.

Mobility startup Lime is looking to add electric motorbikes to its existing fleet of e-bikes and e-scooters. The company today launched a pilot program in Long Beach, California for its custom motorbike, which it is calling the Citra. Lime spokesperson Russell Murphy toldThe Verge that the company plans to release several hundred Citra bikes in the California city this summer, potentially topping up to 500 motorbikes if ridership is strong enough.

According to Lime’s description of the Citra, it’s built for longer distances and combines “the seated comfort of an e-bike with the effortlessness of an e-scooter." At least aesthetically speaking, the Citra definitely resembles both. Similar to other Lime vehicles, the Citra also contains a swappable battery that gets charged by its local operation team. The motorbike is equipped with a few useful features such as storage space for groceries, a horn, front and rear turn signals and a phone mount.

Lime is hoping that customers will seek alternative methods of transportation like the Citra in light of this summer’s record-high gas prices. “Citra is the perfect way to save money on gas, avoid time wasted in traffic, and alleviate the headaches of hunting for parking this summer and we’re excited about its potential,” said Lime president Joe Kraus in a statement.

Mobility startups have struggled to prosper due to opposition from local legislatures, safety failures and a decline in ridership during the pandemic. Some have resorted to terminating staff or winding down operations in order to stay afloat. Back in 2020, Lime laid off a small chunk of its workforce and pulled out of Atlanta, Phoenix, San Diego, San Antonio and eight other cities outside the US. The company has made some strides since then — it raised a $523 million funding round last year and recently unveiled a Gen4 ebike.

But Lime and other mobility startups aren’t out of the woods yet. As Bloombergnoted, e-scooter ridership still hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Early buyers of Rivian’s latest electric SUV are facing another delivery delay. A number of customers who pre-ordered Rivian’s R1S SUV received an email this week informing them that an expected June or July delivery window has been pushed back several months. According to Auto Evolution, customers posted on Rivian’s forum that their delivery window had been updated to August or September 2022, or as late as October through December 2022. The EV maker first debuted the seven-passenger vehicle — which has a starting price of $72,500 — back in November 2018, and has pushed back deliveries multiple times, citing production delays and supply chain issues. Deliveries of the first batch of R1S SUVs were originally slated for August 2021.

The company in its email chalked up the latest delay to ongoing supply chain issues and its limited service infrastructure. It said that it would prioritize deliveries to areas that are close to Rivian service centers. Rivan currently operates service centers in only 14 states, so customers in other areas will likely have an even longer wait.

“As we continue to assess our supply chain and build plans, we want to provide an update on your estimated delivery window,” wrote Rivian in its email to customers. It stated that the customer’s updated delivery window was based on three factors: their preorder date, delivery location and current configuration. But a number of early customers seemed puzzled at how Rivian calculated the new delivery window. One customer noted that they pre-ordered the R1S SUV back in November 2019, yet was assigned to the later delivery window of the fourth quarter of 2022. Many customers who lived in especially remote areas or in a state without a Rivian service center also reported later delivery windows. “The irony of an off-road adventure vehicle delivered only to major cities,” wrote one Rivian customer on the company's forum.

Rivian has struggled to scale up production of its vehicles amidst a global parts shortage, including semiconductors. The Tesla competitor isn’t able to rely on existing relationships with parts suppliers, which traditionally prioritize the larger, more established car companies, the Wall Street Journal noted.

Adobe plans to debut a pared down, web-only version of its popular photo-editing tool Photoshop, The Vergereported today. The company is currently testing this new freemium version with users in Canada, but will eventually make it available to a wider audience. For now, anyone in Canada who creates an Adobe account can access the free, browser-only version of Photoshop. Engadget has reached out to Adobe to find out when it plans to make the tool available to users worldwide, and will update when we hear back.

Photoshop has long been the industry standard for image editing, but its monthly license fee likely dissuades most from using it. Meanwhile, free or freemium photo-editing software like Pixlr, Canva and Photopea have embraced casual users and also grown more sophisticated in their offerings. As The Verge notes, Adobe is making its basic photo editing tools available for free in order to reach users that don’t belong to its usual audience. Adobe’s hope is that some freemium Photoshop users will become paying subscribers, especially since the company plans to offer more advanced features on the web-only version that can only be unlocked with a subscription.

If this sounds somewhat familiar, it's because Adobe launched its web-only version of Photoshop and Illustrator for subscribers last fall; though their functionality was limited to basic editing and sharing comments among collaborators on projects. This new, free web version of Photoshop significantly expands the available tools, and allows users to start new projects, as well as access more advanced color correction and editing tools.

The FAA wants SpaceX to address a number of environmental concerns before it approves an expansion of the Starbase launch facility, located on Texas’s Gulf Coast. The agency asked SpaceX to make more than 75 changes — according to an environmental impact assessment released today — before the company can use the South Texas site to launch flights to the Moon and Mars. Located near Boca Chica, Texas, the launch site has been the center of controversy after SpaceX founder Elon Musk revealed his plans to incorporate the surrounding area to support lunar missions.

As Space Newsnoted, this seems to be more of a “yellow light” than a “red light” from the FAA. The agency issued a “Finding of No Significant Impact” for SpaceX’s plans to conduct orbital launches with its Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket. In a nutshell, the agency found there would be no significant environmental consequences — but is asking SpaceX to take some steps to mitigate environmental harms before it is officially cleared.

The FAA’s review will only clear SpaceX for five orbital launches per year, as well as five suborbital launches and tests. Many of the proposed changes involve Boca Chica Beach, a nearby public beach that has been subject to closures during Starship tests. The closures prompted the Sierra Club and other groups to sue government officials over what they believe is a violation of the state's constitution. SpaceX will be barred from closing the road during 18 different holidays, and will be limited to five weekend closures per year. The FAA also calls for SpaceX to limit closures to 500 hours a year for normal operations, with an added allowance of 300 hours to address any emergencies.

SpaceX seemed to take the FAA’s review in stride. “One step closer to the orbital flight test of Starship,” the company tweeted earlier today.

Michigan drivers now have the option of adorning their cars with digital license plates, which can locate lost vehicles and receive public safety alerts — for a fee. Reviver, the maker of the connected plates, announced that Michigan residents and businesses can now purchase the device (known as the RPlate) online. Consumers can choose between two models: a battery-powered plate and a hard-wired plate that includes GPS. The plates have been available for sale in California and Arizona, and the company is aiming to make them available nationwide.

But what exactly is a digital license plate? The RPlate is essentially a license plate with an HD display and LTE connectivity (as well as GPS for the hard-wired model) that includes a number of security and personalization features. Drivers can switch between dark and light modes and select personalized messages to appear at the bottom. The GPS-enabled plate also includes telematic transponders, so it can locate a lost or stolen vehicle and send alerts to your smartphone if it detects suspicious movement. There’s a companion mobile app that allows drivers to track mileage and renew their vehicle registration online. 

Reviver's digital plate also includes a couple of security features that could be overkill for some. For example, there’s a “Valet Parking” mode that lets you monitor your car remotely while it is being parked by a valet attendant and a geofencing option for family members or employees who drive the car that sends alerts if they violate the travel boundaries.

The digital license plates don’t come cheap. Both models require a subscription ($19.95 per month for battery-powered and $24.95 per month for hard-wired) and cost an additional $150 if you elect to have a professional install the plate. The company is also working on a number of new features, including integration with toll roads, parking meters and additional DMV services.