The big music labels, led by Sony and Universal, are filing a lawsuit against the Internet Archive to stop the non-profit’s Great 78 Project. It’s an effort to digitize and preserve recordings on old 78 RPM records, a format discontinued in 1959. The labels feel the Archive, the closest thing the web has to a public library, is infringing its copyrights after digitizing tracks from big names like Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. And the labels are asking for damages of $150,000 per still-copyrighted recording – the better part of $372 million in total.

The project’s aim is to preserve “underrepresented artists and genres” that might otherwise languish in obscurity. For all the songs of yore that still linger in the public’s consciousness, there are countless more now consigned to the dustbin of history. For them, the best-case scenario is their publisher properly stores the masters in case there’s ever a need to reproduce them. But given how easy it is for a company to junk material for a tax write-off, like in the recent case of Warner Bros., we can no longer rely on companies to treat their own history with the proper respect.

It doesn’t help that 78s are notoriously fragile, and if work to digitize them isn’t handled properly, their material could be lost forever. If we’re being honest, most of it is probably now only of interest to historians as a snapshot of what culture was really like. But, as weird as listening to Conrad Veidt’s When the Lighthouse Shines Across the Bay is to our modern ears, we all deserve a chance to listen to what was pop music in 1933.

– Dan Cooper

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Sam Bankman-Fried sent to jail for witness tampering

Pro tip: Don’t use a paper of record to harass witnesses. People might notice.

Sam Bankman-Fried had his bail revoked after a court accused the disgraced FTX founder of tampering with witnesses. Last month, Bankman-Fried showed a New York Times reporter a selection of personal writings from his former partner, Caroline Ellison. Ellison pleaded guilty to criminal charges in December and has since been cooperating with the FTX investigation. Prosecutors said Fried’s sharing of those materials was a fairly blatant attempt to undermine her reputation with prospective jurors.

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Chip implants get under your skin, so you can leave your keys at home

And, you know, it makes you look like you can do magic.

There’s a small subset of techie types who love nothing more than to get an RFID implant to make their life easier. A small chip inserted into the skin of their hand can help them access buildings, pay for the subway or share their contact details. If you’re curious, you should check out Katie Malone’s new story covering the benefits and burdens of getting one.

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Scientists genetically engineer bacteria to detect cancer cells

It’s the first step on a long road for easier detection.

CATCH is a new experimental technique using genetically modified bacteria to detect cancer cells in otherwise hard-to-reach areas. An international coalition of researchers found positive results while testing for colorectal cancer tumors in mice, but it’s early days. There’s still much more testing required before we can talk about using this for detection in human subjects, and plenty more work to see if the same technique could be used for treatment.

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Apple TV's MLS Season Pass subscriptions have doubled since Messi's arrival in the US

Shock: People will pay to see the world’s biggest footballer.

Apple’s decision to go all in on Major League Soccer and Lionel Messi has already started to pay off. Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas tweeted that, since the World Cup winner came to the US, Apple has seen MLS Season Pass subscriptions more than double. That his missive was retweeted by Apple CEO Tim Cook suggests the otherwise notoriously secretive company is happy to brag about the virtuous cycle Messi has had on football’s impact in the US and Apple’s bottom line.

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We’ve all been in Samsung’s position, promising something before quickly realizing we couldn’t, or didn’t want to, actually follow through. But the Korean giant might get a record for the speed at which it walked back its initial pledge. It had intended to give Galaxy S23 owners the chance to beta test several One UI 6 features ahead of launch. Users in the US, Germany and South Korea would be able to see what tweaks the company had added to Android 14 and see what worked, and what didn’t.

Or that was the plan. Not long after the news dropped, Samsung began to walk back its promise. It told Engadget (and the rest of the media) it would delay the launch of the beta test until further notice, but with no justification. The initial announcement disappeared from Samsung’s press site, and everyone’s left mulling what could have been so problematic as to require this sort of scorched-earth approach.

—Dan Cooper

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Nine thoughts about the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds blockbuster finale

No spoilers here, I promise.

Michael Gibson / Paramount+

Star Trek: Strange New Worldsconcluded its second season yesterday with a blockbuster finale. “Hegemony” pits the Enterprise crew against a formidable foe that requires every bit of their collective cunning for them to triumph. I jotted down nine thoughts both about this episode and also about the shape of the second season more generally. Which, it’s easy to say, has cemented itself as the best run of a live-action Trek in the streaming era.

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Amazon is reportedly cutting most of its in-house clothing brands

A cynic might say this is to fend off antitrust action.

Amazon is closing the majority of its in-house clothing and furniture brands, including Lark & Lo, Goodthreads and Stone & Beam. Reports say it’s canning 27 out of 30 brands, with Amazon saying the marques haven’t resonated with consumers. A cynic might argue this is Amazon getting its house in order ahead of potential antitrust action by the FTC. The US has previously probed Amazon’s ability to spot popular products made by third party sellers on its platform and produce a homegrown, er, variation under one of its own brands.

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Watch Virgin Galactic's first ever space tourist flight at 11am ET

Including the company’s first paying customer.

Virgin Galactic

Yesterday saw Virgin Galactic’s first private passenger flight successfully take three civilians to the edge of space and back. It included its first paying customer, former Olympian Jon Goodwin, who coughed up $250,000 for his ticket all the way back in 2014. He was joined by a mother and daughter team of Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers, who won their seats in a fundraising draw. The stream of the event is available and, I’ll be honest, it’s worth a watch just for the chest-tightening moment when the crew starts floating in zero gravity.

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X CEO confirms video calls are coming to the platform

Because, sure, that’s its priority right now.

Xwitter CEO Linda Yaccrino has announced video chat is coming to the platform as part of its plan to become an “everything” app. The CEO said video calls would bolster work to turn X into a global town square, full of people exercising their right to free expression. Given the sort of free expression the company is currently endorsing, you might want to stick to your free video calling platform of choice — it’s not as if we’re hurting for those right now.

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The long-rumored Quake II remaster is out now on PC and consoles

Tweaks include widescreen support, 120Hz refresh rates and 4K.

Bethesda Softworks

The long-awaited remaster of Quake II wasn’t just announced, it’s already available to play on most platforms. If you own the original on GOG or Steam, you’ll get a free bump to the new edition, with plenty of modern-day quality-of-life upgrades. The remastered edition also includes content cut from some versions and the original expansion packs, as well as a new expansion from MachineGames. Well, that’s your weekend sorted.

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The following article discusses spoilers for “Hegemony” and Star Trek more generally.

1. Bloody hell. I’ve repeatedly said that Strange New Worlds exudes a special sort of confidence this season. The cast and crew are working as a seamless whole, knowing that the conviction at which you sell is just as important as the quality of what’s being sold. The team has raised their floor and ceiling in equal measure, and even the worst episode was bad because of what it said, not because of how it said it. “Hegemony,” is a finale that, aided by the early commission of season three, acts as one part victory lap and one part set up for what follows.

2. The powers that be at Paramount didn’t signal ahead of time that this episode would end on a cliffhanger. In fact, Henry Alonso Myers’ screenplay is a brilliant feint, suggesting the episode will wrap up on a satisfactory, if brisk, ending before the rug pull in its final moment. You’d be forgiven for not noticing the different transporter energy when the survivors were beamed away on your first watch. Myers’ script and Maja Vrvilo’s direction is permeated with a low-level feeling of dread that suits the needs of both the Alien-esque horror and the raised-stakes of a finale.

3.Strange New Worlds has been smarter about setting up and paying off its threads than you might expect. “Among the Lotus Eaters” saw Ortegas feeling sidelined after getting bumped from an away team which forced her to accept her role as the ship’s pilot. Here, she finally gets her wish to go on a mission, but her initial enthusiasm is sapped when she realizes she’s more or less out of her depth. Her scene with Dr. M'Benga, where she admits she’s leaving the role of action hero to the captain, underscores this. The fact she’s one of the crewmembers taken by the Gorn at the end adds a darker weight to her finally getting her wish granted.

Michael Gibson/Paramount+

4. Montgomery Scott’s voice-only cameo in last season’s finale was a neat hat-tip to fans with a basic fluency for Star Trek. I guess it was just too tempting not to follow up on that this time, with Martin Quinn as the young engineer. It’s gratifying to see an actual, Paisley-born Scot playing the role, and an amusing fact that he’s the second actor – after Simon Pegg – who has paid their dues playing roles in various British comedy shows. If Quinn hangs around, I can’t wait for Trek completionists to watch Limmy’s Show and Derry Girls to watch his early work, much like when I watched Brent Spiner on Cheers and Night Court.

5. I don’t want to harp on about the limitations a prequel imposes, because we all know the score now. It may bend the edges of Trek’s established narrative but Strange New Worlds can never escape its eventual destination. Young Kirk, Young Spock, Young Uhura, Young Chapel, Young Scotty and Young Dr. M’Benga will all be here, around and alive, to turn into their 1966 counterparts. You can’t put any of those characters in jeopardy, or base your episode around asking that question, because we already know who is safe.

That’s why the emotional beats of Spock’s dramatic rescue of Chapel worked perfectly, but asking the question of her survival did not. The show was smart enough to only leave the issue lingering for the first act before we saw Chapel working to stay alive. (Notice she also gets to do an EVA in a proper spacesuit after her emergency leap in “The Broken Circle.”) But I can only speak as a “fan” so maybe it worked better for those mainstream viewers who have made Strange New Worlds one of the biggest shows on streaming TV.

Michael Gibson/Paramount+

6. Back in the ‘60s, Pike and Kirk were the same character with the serial numbers filed off, both drawn from the same template of rugged mid ‘60s masculinity. Two-fisted thinking men of action as comfortable on the back of a horse as they were quoting poetry or discussing naval history. This lack of distinction wasn’t really an issue back then, or even now, until Strange New Worlds made the conscious decision to let Kirk lurk on the periphery of Pike’s narrative.

It meant the production team needed to retrofit Pike as different from his successor, helped by Anson Mount’s gravitas and easy charm. And the first season finale made it clear that Pike’s reluctance to shoot first and ask questions later was his tragic flaw. One that Kirk didn’t have, which made him a better leader to take the Enterprise on its next set of missions. But Anson Mount’s paternity leave and reduced shooting schedule meant there wasn’t time to examine the fallout from “A Quality of Mercy” in any detail.

After all, he now knows his desire to find a peaceful solution single-handedly started a war that wiped out the Federation. He also knows he has to remain true to his principles or else he could pollute the timeline and not be in the right place to save future Spock’s life. The fact he’s unable to make a decision in the cliffhanger is entirely congruent with the journey Pike has been on, but it’s clear the steps leading to this moment would have been explored far more had Mount been available.

“Hegemony,” then, is the show’s first real chance to look at how Pike has tried to grow into Kirk’s mold, despite how ill-fitting he finds it. In his first talk with Admiral April, he advocates a policy of shooting first, but not long after he’s thinking about trying to find a peaceful solution. It’s those two competing urges that paralyze Pike in the finale, knowing there are lives on the line whatever he does. But, again, you have to praise the production team for trusting the audience will keep up with what happened in the previous season.

7. It’s not great that Strange New Worlds can only do so much to put clear water between Pike and Kirk. You can’t make Pike look too old-fashioned or useless without alienating him from the audience, especially given his forthcoming ultimate sacrifice. But go too far the other way and you make Pike a dove in comparison with the more hawkish Kirk which, to me, feels like the wrong message to be sending.

Michael Gibson/Paramount+

8. It’s hard to know how long Strange New Worlds will run for, or what the plans are for its future. You could easily argue it never needs to end so much as just swap out characters until you’ve rebuilt the 1966 ensemble. Every generation of Paramount executives harbors a desire to get a do-over on Kirk and Spock in the hope their name recognition alone will carry a series.

But I’m curious if that’s something people would actually want? I’m not sure I do, but then my dream would be an original series set in Trek’s present with no legacy characters at all. And I know that’s something of a minority opinion compared to all those folks who want yet another run on the nostalgia treadmill set in the safety of Trek’s past. (If nothing else, at least Strange New Worlds has kept its fan service to a minimum and tried, as best as it can, to set out on its own path.)

9. At the end of my season one finale review, I wrote “Whisper it, friends, but Strange New Worlds might actually be good?” That was a fair line at the time, since the show took a while before clicking into a high gear. Since then, however, more or less every episode has improved upon the last to produce a second season with barely any weak notes. We don’t need to whisper anything now, Strange New Worlds is the best live-action Trek of the streaming era.

Samsung’s newest foldables, the Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5, have been put through their paces by Engadget’s team of skilled reviewers. If you’re wondering which of these two you should lay your cash down for, then we’ve got all the information you need.

Cherlynn Low tested the Z Flip 5, which she calls the “best flip-foldable” thanks to its newest innovation. The latest Flip has a 3.4-inch external display — not the roomiest of screens, but one big enough for you to check your notifications and run key apps like Maps and WhatsApp. And as much as the design isn’t dramatically different, its new hinge lets the device fold shut without a gap. If there’s a downside, it’s that the battery life isn’t great, and the settings menus are a bit fiddly — fairly small objections if you want an excuse to jump into the foldable world.

Sam Rutherford’s time with the Z Fold 5 was slightly testier despite an improved hinge that lets the phone fold flat. And that’s really the only really new feature on Samsung’s most expensive handset. Sure, the screen is brighter, the battery is hardier and there’s plenty of grunt under the hood, but these are table stakes for an ultra-flagship. Sam compared it to the S23 Ultra, which costs $600 less and has, at the very least, far superior photography – so if you’re not already sold on foldables, there’s not enough here to woo you over.

And, once you’ve read both reviews and made your decision, head over to this link to see a sweet deal that’ll save you some cash.

—Dan Cooper

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Disney+ is raising prices and cracking down on account sharing

Netflix’s successful crackdown has inspired everyone else.

CEO Bob Iger has announced the ad-free version of Disney+ will cost $13.99 a month from October 12. It’s the second price increase on the streaming service in the last year, with the price bumped to $10.99 back in December. The price increase goes hand in hand with an announcement the House of Mouse will soon start cracking down on password sharing. Sigh.

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Cadillac’s first Escalade EV has a 450-mile range and starts at $130,000

It’s equipped with GM’s Ultium batteries.

Cadillac

Cadillac’s first all-electric Escalade, the IQ, makes its debut in 2025 with the base model priced at $130,000. Equipped with GM’s Ultium batteries, its makers promise a 450-mile range and support for 800-volt DC fast charging. Measuring 19 feet long, eight feet wide and standing more than six feet off the ground, it’s slightly longer than the long-wheelbase Escalade. All in all, it’s perfect for the eco-warrior who wants to feel good about driving to the bodega in an APC.

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Lyft plans to ditch surge pricing, which riders hate 'with a fiery passion'

This insight from Duh magazine.

Lyft CEO David Risher says the rideshare company is planning to do away with surge pricing. In an earnings call, the executive said Lyft now has such a good supply of drivers, the idea of tempting more to come work when prices rise is moot. That increase has apparently seen the number of surge pricing incidents fall by 35 percent, which Lyft is painting as a big win.

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Twitter fined for belatedly complying with search warrant for Donald Trump's account

The company took too long to hand over data.

Twitter has been fined $350,000 after failing to comply with an order from special counsel Jack Smith. Officials wanted access to Donald Trump’s account, but Twitter fought the order, saying it had a duty to notify the account holder of the warrant’s existence. After going to court, a judge found in favor of the government, holding the platform in contempt after its refusal to comply until after a court-mandated deadline had passed.

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Biden signs executive order restricting investment in Chinese tech companies

This includes semiconductors, quantum computing and AI.

President Biden signed an executive order to limit American investment in several sectors of China’s technology industry. It’s intended to address security concerns posed by cross-border flows of sensitive technologies, including semiconductors, quantum computing and AI. The White House said these technologies, if developed in a certain way, could pose a national security threat down the line. It added the rules are narrow enough to only target tech that could have security implications, rather than a blanket ban on everything under those umbrellas.

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NASA has regained contact with Voyager 2, only one of two human-made objects to leave the solar system. The agency lost touch with the probe on July 21st after a series of planned maneuvers pointed it two degrees away from Earth. It would have reset its orientation in October, but agency officials didn’t want to wait that long to get back in touch.

The Voyager 2 team used a network of ground-based transmitters to “shout” a command to the probe, telling it to turn back toward Earth. This bellowed order took 18.5 hours to reach the apparatus, and it would take just as long before NASA would learn it was successful. It’s a testament to human ingenuity, but also a vital reminder to not miss a second of data coming from Voyager 2 since NASA believes it may not function properly after 2025.

— Dan Cooper

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Why humans can't use natural language processing to speak with the animals

The complexities of speech are nothing compared to birdsong.

Surely computers, as powerful as they are these days, are smart enough to decode simple animal calls? That’s the question at the heart of Andrew Tarantola’s latest feature, which asks why we don’t yet have Google Translate for animal speech. Turns out, as simple as a bird call may sound to our ears, it’s one of the most complex vocal systems ever developed. Read on to learn why, in fact, we’re the plain-speaking simple folk, not our pets.

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Apple is reportedly testing M3 chips for new Macs arriving this fall

The company may wish to speed up its release schedule for new machines.

Photo by Nathan Ingraham / Engadget

As night follows day, Apple releases new products with a name one integer higher than one it presently sells. It’s no surprise we’re hearing M3 chips are currently being tested in anticipation of a refresh later in the year. What might surprise, however, is the hint Apple may speed up its release schedule to refresh its computer offerings faster than it does now.

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Kamado Joe Konnected Joe review: A highly versatile smart grill

It’s a smart charcoal-burning grill for your preferred meat season.

Photo by Billy Steele / Engadget

There are plenty of smart grills, but one that burns charcoal rather than pellets is a slightly taller task. Kamado Joe’s Konnected Joe has been in Billy Steele’s possession for the last few weeks as he tests out this versatile and, crucially, charcoal-burning smart grill. There’s still plenty of summer left, so find out if you wanna snag one of these by reading his review.

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PayPal introduces its own stablecoin pegged to the US dollar

PayPal USD will help you make purchases or pay other users.

PayPal

Stablecoins pegged to a real-world asset are meant to be a necessary counter to the volatile world of cryptocurrency. PayPal has introduced its own in the form of PayPal USD, a currency pegged to the US dollar, which you can use to buy stuff or pay your friends. It’s not clear, however, if regulators have given their blessing or if PayPal is about to get a few thousand sternly worded letters from the Federal Reserve and the SEC.

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Amazon Prime Big Deal Days: Here's what to expect this October Prime Day

Prime Day comes but onc… twice a year.

Amazon is once again planning a second Prime Day-style shopping event in October. This Amazon Prime Big Deal Day, aside from being a mouthful to say, will offer a bonanza of deals both on Amazon’s own hardware – and everything else. If you’ve got an eye on snagging some bargains ahead of the holiday shopping season, check out our guide to prepare for what’s to come.

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Here’s a series of words that’ll send any sane person sighing themselves into oblivion, sorry in advance. Elon Musk has announced he may need to postpone his potential brawl with Mark Zuckerberg over a medical issue. The Xitter owner Xeeted he needs to get an MRI of his neck and upper back, which may lead to surgery before any date is set in stone.

Plenty of folks are hinting Musk’s medical issue may be as conveniently timed as Frasier Crane’s clarinet lesson. And this wouldn’t be the first time Musk has talked a good game and then spent the next few months doing his best to avoid following through. After all, that’s how he wound up owning Xitter in the first place – and look how well that’s gone.

I don’t know what’s worse: That billionaire CEOs are making lame jokes about punch-fighting one another or that some people are taking this stuff seriously. Or that this weird mix of idiotic bravura and unrestrained id means, in this increasingly dumb world, there’s a tiny but real chance it might actually go ahead.

– Dan Cooper

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MrBeast's burger company countersues the YouTube megastar for over $100 million

The pair should obviously resolve their dispute with a cage match.

YouTube star MrBeast teamed up with Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC), a ghost kitchen operator, to produce MrBeast-branded burgers. But customers quickly started saying the food was inedible, which prompted MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) to sue the company. Now, VDC has filed a countersuit, saying Donaldson has materially damaged its reputation and needs $100 million or more in compensation.

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Google Search now has an AI-powered grammar checker

It’s another useful tool baked into the search bar.

There are plenty of hidden features baked into Google Search that lets you solve tricky problems in a hurry. Now, the company has parked itself on Grammarly’s lawn by adding a machine learning-powered grammar checker into its search bar. All you need to do is type “Grammar Check” before a rough sentence and it’ll offer a correction if it thinks one is required.

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Colorado education department discloses data breach spanning 16 years

It’s time the government took education data security seriously.

Colorado’s Department of Higher Education (CDHE) has started notifying students of a potential data leak after a ransomware attack struck in June. Officials believe the attack exposed vital personal information, including names and social security numbers. Worse, the attack exposed data across several programs, from public schools to adult education schemes, going back 16 years. Education agencies have become an easy target for hackers, with nearly 200 attacks taking place since 2021.

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PS5 USB ports reportedly ‘melted’ at Evo 2023 esports tournament

Be careful what you plug into a PS5 in a hot, sweaty events room.

Photo by Aaron Souppouris / Engadget

There’s no question the PlayStation 5 is great, but even its most ardent fans admit its thermals are a problem. At the Evo 2023 esports tournament, attendees reported issues with their USB accessories, including connectors coming away full of melted plastic from the PS5’s rear. The console may not be entirely at fault here, given the variable nature of most USB accessories and the unusually high temperatures these events can reach. But it does serve as a reminder to keep your console in a cool, well-ventilated area – and if you don’t already have one, you can grab a disc-based PS5 for $449 right now.

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Security researchers believe they have found a hardware exploit to unlock upgrades to a Tesla that normally require plenty of extra cash. By messing with the voltage of the infotainment system, they were able to inject their code, bypassing its normal security. That enabled them to access personal data, including GPS tracking and call logs, as well as the car’s encryption key. That, the researchers claim, could be the key to unlocking paywalled features, like the mode known as Full Self-Driving, which you presently have to pay extra to use.

That’s not the only slice of bad news on Tesla’s breakfast plate today; it also stands accused of fraud. A recent Reuters expose alleges the car company was far too generous with its range estimates, and that it had quietly set up a team to stymie range-related complaints. In the wake of that report, three Californians have proposed a class action lawsuit accusing Tesla of false advertising. If successful, the lawsuit will cover every Tesla owner in the state, which wouldn’t be as much of a problem if California hadn’t taken the EV company to its heart.

– Daniel Cooper

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The Ayaneo 2S is the company's best gaming handheld, until the next one

ASUS’ ROG Ally might have already been dethroned as the best Steam Deck competitor.

Photo by James Trew / Engadget

The Steam Deck’s blend of power, portability and price gave new life to PC gaming handhelds, traditionally a niche within a niche. The latest kid on the block is Ayaneo’s 2S, which has just spent the last few weeks in James Trew’s firm grip while he put it through its paces. It may be more expensive than its nearest competitors, but the improved features more than make up for it. You’ll have to read the full review to learn all about the changes, but it might be time to tweak what you’re asking for on your birthday list.

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Why Baldur’s Gate III is an accidental PS5 console exclusive

At least, it is for now.

Baldur’s Gate III will arrive on the PlayStation 5 on September 6, but there’s no word yet on when the title will hit the Xbox. That’s because developers Larian Studios are struggling to make the new game work for both the (powerful) Series X and (not so powerful) Series S. Until it can, the game will remain a PS5 exclusive, with developers blaming Microsoft’s insistence on feature parity for the two consoles. But I think it’s pretty gratifying that Microsoft is looking out for gamers who might not have the cash to spend big on a flagship system.

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Is decentralization the future of social media?

The Musk-ization of Twitter might have sparked a revolution.

X/Twitter’s implosion has created a surge of interest in alternative platforms less easily destroyed on a billionaire’s whim. Mastodon is the standard bearer for the fediverse, a decentralized network of independent servers that embrace the early web’s DIY ethos. But even Threads, Meta’s not-quite Twitter-killer, has pledged to leverage the fediverse’s open protocols. If you want to learn more, read Karissa Bell’s excellent deep dive into decentralization, federation and why you should care about this sort of thing.

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Nintendo sees record first quarter profit thanks to Zelda and the Mario movie

18.51 million copies of Tears of the Kingdom have been sold since May.

Nintendo knows a thing or two about creating an experience you’ll enjoy enough to pay top dollar for. It’s reporting record profits in its first quarter on the back of both The Super Mario Bros. Movie and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The former is the first movie this year to break the one billion mark, while Tears of the Kingdom has sold a whopping 18.5 million copies since it launched in May.

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Patreon is fixing canceled payments and inaccessible funds for creators

It comes after several creators reported massive drops in income.

Patreon says it has fixed an issue that caused several high-profile creators to report massive drops in income. It appears a billing address being moved to Dublin caused a large number of transactions to be flagged as fraudulent. The company told Engadget it was working with its payment processing partners to resolve the issue and believes the currently broken patron accounts will be restored in due course.

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The following article contains spoilers for “Subspace Rhapsody.”

At some point in the ‘90s, it became law that all genre shows with a certain flexibility in their premise must do a musical episode. Xena, Ally McBeal, Buffy, Psych, Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs have all done one, as has Supernatural, Once Upon a Time, 7th Heaven, Supergirl and The Flash. Now, it’s Strange New Worlds’ turn to make its characters spontaneously burst into song as it drops “Subspace Rhapsody” as the penultimate episode of its second season.

It’s clear from the start that Strange New Worlds was well-suited to do a musical given how broad its range is. In the last four weeks alone, we’ve had goofy comedy served up back to back with serious meditations on empathy and redemption. This is the first live action Trek of the streaming era to remember the franchise gets better when it allows itself to be goofy. The only surprise is that this is coming so early on its run; this is just the nineteenth episode of the series overall.

Musical episodes serve several purposes: It allows the cast to show off their hidden talents and lets the production crew indulge their latent musical theater nerd. They’re also, in many cases, a useful narrative crucible, forcing characters to reveal secrets they’d otherwise never let out. It’s an old trick to use the primary colors of a rousing number to drop something deep and dark on an audience. This comes in handy given the number of running storylines in the back of each episode, which get resolved more or less all in one go.

Michael Gibson/Paramount+

Uhura’s opening narration informs us the Enterprise has discovered a large subspace fissure. Spock believes it could be used to speed up communication over long distances, but despite several tries, he and Uhura can’t make it work. Not until Pelia suggests they test the system using music, so Uhura fires up Anything Goes and sends it into the ether. Before you can say that’s-a-good-macguffin, a large subspace wave hits the ship and sends everyone singing.

As this is happening, Pike and Batel – who I can’t believe Pike didn’t dump after arresting and prosecuting his first officer – argue about holiday destinations. Chapel has received word she’s been accepted for a prestigious fellowship with a high-profile academic. She’ll be away for a while but declines to share her news with Spock after the fraying of their relationship last week. And, to further complicate matters, James T. Kirk is back on board to shadow Una in preparation for his own promotion. But when they start spouting technobabble as lyrics and feeling the urge to dance, we’re straight into an acapella rendition of the theme tune.

I’ve pointed out, too frequently this year, the confidence Strange New Worlds has in its own execution. This is the second time in three weeks that it’s not just screwed with its format but also its packaging in the form of its opening credits. It’s evidence of a show that knows it has the patience from its audience to play around with its formatting.

Urged on by Pike, stuck firmly in his eyebrow-raising sick-of-this-malarkey mode, the team find they’re trapped in a state of quantum uncertainty. They’re in a universe that follows the rules of a musical, so when emotions are high, people are likely to burst into song. That’s bad for La’an, who is struggling to contain her feelings with her alternate-history beau on board, especially since she’s prohibited from talking about it. Pike, too, starts to confess his misgivings about the holiday he and Captain Batel have been planning. La’an gets a solo about being emotionally shut off from the rest of the crew, followed soon after with a duet with Una talking about why it’s good to open up.

The improbability field starts to expand, encompassing more starships in the area and reaching Klingon territory. They soon dispatch a cruiser to shut it down, but the Enterprise crew discover that shooting the fissure will release enough energy to wipe out the quadrant. Uhura posits that, if they’re in a musical, their behavior might have to follow the tropes of the genre. Armed with a tricorder, she drags Spock to the bar where he bumps into Chapel, who then dumps him with a full-cast song-and-dance number about the importance of her career. He responds by singing his own solo in engineering in which he talks about his abandonment of logic and reason for love, a mistake he won’t make again.

La’an, who has spent more and more time with Kirk, decides to open up a little bit only to find her advances rebuffed. Not because he doesn’t feel similarly, but because he’s in an on-again, off-again relationship with a scientist called Carol. And that Carol is currently pregnant with Kirk’s child, who we might not get to see again until Kirk looks a lot more like William Shatner. (This episode has more than a few moments where it’s consciously drawing attention to its “evolution” into The Original Series.)

Spock’s judgment may be clouded but Uhura, whose awareness of musical tropes has been key all episode, spots the solution. In order to pop the uncertainty field, the whole crew needs to do a big full-cast finale, but not before Uhura gets her own solo. At Pike’s urging, Uhura gets on the ship’s PA and inspires the whole crew – complete with dancing redshirts and balletic starship dances to produce a showstopper climax. We even get a blast of the Original Series’ theme to underpin their victory, while Spock goes off to smooth things over with the Klingons and get over his split with another round of heavy drinking.

Much as the ending is ostensibly happy, with everyone learning the lesson to be more honest and authentic with each other, there’s trouble on the horizon. Batel has to cancel her holiday with Pike, she’s being sent on a top secret mission which, I’m sure, is our lead in to the finale. Spock’s nursing his grief, and the rest of his supersized emotions, while La’an has to deal with the ramifications of her not-quite-requited love.

Michael Gibson/Paramount+

It’s almost pointless to try and judge a musical episode by the standards of its peers given how different it is from the norm. The script, credited to Dana Horgan and Bill Wolkoff, efficiently and effectively works in the musical universe concept without a lot of setup. Demott Downs’ direction blends the closed nature of Strange New Worlds’ standing sets with the necessary scope a musical demands. And the songs, from Letters to Cleo’s Kay Hanley and Tom Polce, are perfectly fine. Musical lovers will have a greater appetite for enjoying each track on a loop, but as a casual enjoyer of the artform, I’m not sure how many would enter my regular Spotify rotation.

Obviously, much of the dramatic weight of the episode hangs on the shoulders of the cast members who can sing. Christina Chong, Jess Bush, Rebecca Romijn, Ethan Peck and Celia Rose Gooding all get showpiece numbers and boy, can they all sing. But that’s not to shade the names not on that list, especially those who are getting by with the help of autotune. It’s hard enough to sing and dance even if you’ve got years of experience behind you, let alone if you’re dropped into the deep end in an acting job. Now, onward to the finale!

For all the hype around folding phones, there’s plenty of anxiety concerning how well those bendable screens survive long term. Depending on who you ask, they’re either weaker than spider silk or hardy enough to make your average lumberjack weep with envy. That’s why Sam Rutherford took matters into his own hands, spending the last year running his own durability test. He’s been using his Z Fold 4 without a case, leaving its factory-installed screen protector as the only defense.

At the dawn of the Z Fold 5, Rutherford is now ready to reveal how well he got on with its predecessor. Turns out that while the frame is now chipped and scratched, the screens “still look great,” with Samsung’s work in this area paying off. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for a similar experiment undertaken on a Z Flip 4, the more pocketable handset in the lineup. In that case, it might be wise to make sure you live close to an authorized service center, so you’re not left without a phone for a week at a time.

– Dan Cooper

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Last year, I asked if we’d ever see an e-cargo bike “for the people,” with powerful electric assist, generous cargo capacity and an affordable price. Soon after, Mycle got in touch to say its own offering, the Mycle Cargo, was exactly the bike I was looking for. It added that the struggles I’d had with heavy loads and steep hills wouldn’t be a problem for its affordable cargo longtail. After spending the better part of three months riding this thing around, I can heartily agree that it ticks many of the boxes I was hoping for. I may not have fallen head-over-heels in love with it in the way I had hoped, or expected to, but I’m sure it could find a place in the homes of many cyclists.

Mycle is a British-built e-bike which fits into the same category as Tern’s GSD, with a step through frame and beefy longtail. Support struts and plastic panels enclose the thick rear wheel, which houses the surprisingly-powerful 250W hub motor. Now, I won’t bang this drum too much, but this thing is less than half the price of some of its competitors in the cargo longtail space. Here in the UK, a Tern GSD or Yuba’s Spicy Curry will set you back around £5,000 before you start picking optional extras. By comparison, the Cargo’s retail price is £1,999, which will get you the standard setup, including integrated front and rear lights.

Daniel Cooper

The model I tested, meanwhile, had a few luxuries added on, including an LCD display which adds £150 to the price. My model also had a front basket (£89) and a caboose to enclose the rear deck to help keep my kids safe (£129). The only other mainstream e-cargo bike in this price bracket is Rad Power'sRadWagon 4, which I’m looking to test in the future to offer a good head-to-head comparison. On paper, the RadWagon has a far lower center of gravity and a bigger payload weight, but a far shorter promised range.

Every issue I could raise about the Mycle Cargo, and I have a few, can likely be answered by its price. These bikes need to be affordable to win over would-be buyers who can quite reasonably say that five grand would get you a decent second-hand car and cover a year’s running costs. And while two thousand pounds is no small investment for a lot of people right now, it may wind up saving them cash if it helps them get around without a car. You can certainly carry at least two kids on the rear deck, and can probably mount a third seat up front should you need.

Daniel Cooper

Mycle Cargo measures in at 187cm (73.6in) long and 73cm (28.7in) wide, with a quoted kerb weight of around 80 pounds. Even in my fairly spacious house, it took up a lot of room, and it requires a decent amount of effort to get it up my front steps. Which is a euphemistic way of saying that if you’re in a small space, or don’t have great upper body strength, you might need to look for an alternative. I found that, the longer I rode it, the easier it became to handle, so I think my time with the bike has contributed to some minor enswolening of my arms.

The bike arrives half-assembled, and you’ll need to get a hex key to screw in the footplates, caboose, front basket and fit the handlebars. This requires a decent amount of patience, since there’s so much engineering going on that your fingers won’t have much room to maneuver. If you can, get a bike store to do the finishing off for you, especially if you’ve got chunky hands and a tendency to swear in frustration after the screw falls out three times in a row.

Daniel Cooper

The bike is fitted with a wonderfully comfortable seat, and is equipped with a modest, but solid, set of components. There’s Tektro mechanical disc brakes and a 7-speed Shimano Altus set, which might provoke a sniff or two from higher-minded cycling types. Both are what I’d call modestly priced, and aside from the odd stiff gear change, neither felt out of place, with good braking even on steep hills. It’s also clear that cost savings in this area help get the overall price down without causing too much pain for the rider on a daily basis. One nitpick I do have is that the built-in double-sided kickstand is sturdy, it still feels a little weak and I wish it was a bit thicker.

Now, from here on out, we’ll be talking about my experience of riding Mycle Cargo, and I’d say that I’m a general-purpose cyclist at best. Certainly, I’m open about my deficiencies, and hope that I can offer a better perspective for would-be riders than a road-hardened professional. If you’re a novice rider looking for a cargo bike, then these are the issues you’ll probably want to be mindful of, whereas more experienced riders can probably just look at the price, what you get for that chunk of cash, and head to the Mycle website to pre-order one.

Daniel Cooper

The issue with weight, for instance, is going to be harder for novices to deal with compared to people who already own more than one pair of waterproof trousers. Mycle Cargo is heavy and, in my early rides, proved to be more than I could handle in terms of its balance issues. Even with fat tyres, which are designed to improve balance, I found it very easy to lose control of this thing at lower speeds. I tried to take the kids to school in rush-hour traffic, and pushed off in a quiet moment, only to find the bike started to wobble. I tried to correct it, but in doing so nearly pitched sideways into a van coming the other way.

Fortunately, this problem did eventually go away, but it took me a lot of (solo) trial-and-error and some counterintuitive tyre-deflating before I put the kids back on it again. Once I’d got the Mycle set up the way I did, riding became a lot easier and I had some fairly glorious runs around the local area. But don’t expect to climb on this in the first hour or two and expect to be zooming around your town without a care in the world. The learning curve is there, and it is steep, and I found the damped steering – designed to prevent you making risky, aggressive turns – was a bit of a pain in my early trips.

Daniel Cooper

Once you get past the slow-speed wobbles, however, do you find Mycle Cargo’s comfort zone, which is unleashing its vast reserves of power. Accelerate a bit, and you’ll find riding the bike is easy and comfortable, but if you only run it on flat ground, you’ll miss out on its party piece. My kids’ school is at the top of a hill that measures around 11 degrees (or more) at its gentlest point. And I’ve ridden a few 250W hub motor bikes up there with varying levels of comfort, and even a light single-seater can sometimes struggle.

This thing? With all the added weight in its frame and two kids in the back? I have never seen a bike move this fast. It shot up the hill faster than the car I was passing, and I very quickly had to dial down the assistance level to stop feeling uncomfortable. When that pedal assist kicks in after a second or so’s delay, you feel as if you’re being towed by a car. It ships with a throttle but I don’t think I was ever compelled to use it outside of trying to intentionally test it, because one full turn of the pedal and this thing moves like a rocket.

Daniel Cooper

I cannot overstate how much power Mycle has managed to wring out of this motor, to the point where I’d almost want to joke that it’s really a 500W motor with the wrong label. I cannot imagine anyone riding this thing and thinking that it’ll do anything but conquer any terrain you put in front of it. If I had infinite time and money, I’d take this to France and irritate everyone doing a mountain cycle climb as I lap them while lazily pedaling my way to lunch. The downside is the lack of refinement; dial down the electric assist and you’ll very quickly feel a lurch as the motor steps down a notch.

That’s really where your money isn’t going with a bike like this – into the refinements that would see it go from a two grand bike to a five grand one. I can think of plenty of tweaks I’d like to see, including a lighter weight, lower center of gravity and better handling. But if the choice is this bike or one that’ll cost more than twice the price, I’d rather keep my cash in the bank.

You can pre-order the Mycle Cargo now, with deliveries slated for some point in August. That will come with a few tweaks, including upgraded brakes – hydraulic, rather than mechanical – and fittings for a new rear-caboose. The new model will also be able to use a new clubhouse-style weather tent to keep your kids dry on windier days, but there’s no word on how much that’ll cost you at present.