On Monday, the Biden administration finalized new fuel efficiency standards designed to limit greenhouse gas emissions put out by passenger vehicles. By 2026, the Environmental Protection Agency will require that automaker fleets travel an average of about 55 miles per gallon, up from the 37 miles per gallon standard they’re held to as of this year.

The agency estimates the policy will save American drivers between $210 billion and $420 billion through 2050 on fuel costs. Over the life of a model year 2026 vehicle, that will translate to about $1,080 in individual consumer savings after factoring in the higher initial cost of a more efficient vehicle. The EPA estimates the policy will also prevent the release of about 3.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide over the same time frame.

“We followed the science, we listened to stakeholders, and we are setting robust and rigorous standards that will aggressively reduce the pollution that is harming people and our planet – and save families money at the same time,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said.

The new standards effectively mirror those put forward by the Obama administration in 2012. Had former President Trump not weakened those in 2018, they would have required automakers to make vehicles that could travel about 51 miles per gallon by 2025.

Jeff Alson, a former EPA senior engineer, told The New York Times, the new standards recapture the emissions cuts carved out by the Trump administration. “That’s good, but it’s not going to get us anywhere near the level we’ve got to get to reduce vehicle emissions enough to protect the planet,” he said.

We've reached out to Ford, General Motors, Honda, Toyota and Stellantis for comment on today's rulemaking. 

The new standards mark the most significant climate action taken to date by President Biden. As of 2019, the transportation sector has been the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the US. However, the announcement comes just one day after Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia said he would not support the Democratic party’s Build Back Better plan. Among other items, the approximately $2 trillion plan includes a proposal for up to $12,500 in individual tax subsidies for Americans who buy an EV as their next car.

Meta is taking legal action to disrupt a large-scale phishing campaign. On Monday, the company filed a federal lawsuit to “uncover the identities” of a group of people that created more than 39,000 websites designed to trick Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp users into coughing up their login credentials.

The company says the scammers used relay service Ngrok to redirect people to their websites in a way that allowed them to hide their actions. “This enabled them to conceal the true location of the phishing websites, and the identities of their online hosting providers and the defendants,” Meta said. Starting this past March, the company began working with the relay service to suspend “thousands” of URLs linked to the campaign.

This isn’t the first time has used the threat of legal action to try and stop a phishing campaign. In 2019 and 2020, the company filed lawsuits against OnlineNIC and Namecheap, two domain name registrars that had allowed cybersquatters to claim domains like instagrambusinesshelp.com and whatsappdownload.site. However, the scale of this campaign would appear to dwarf the ones OnlineNIC and Namecheap enabled. When Meta sued the latter company in 2020, it said it had registered 45 domains that were explicitly made to confuse people.

An Amazon dispatcher in Illinois told a driver to continue delivering packages even after tornado sirens warned of incoming danger. That’s according to screenshots shared this week by Bloomberg that document an exchange that reportedly happened last Friday shortly before a tornado hit an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, leading to a structural collapse and six deaths. “Just keep driving,” the dispatcher said in a message sent at 7:08PM that evening. “We can’t just call people back for a warning unless Amazon tells us to do so.”

After being told to “keep delivering” a second time about half an hour later, the driver said she wanted to turn back for her safety. “If you look at the radar, the worst of the storm is going to be right on top of me in 30 minutes.” To this, she was told she would lose her job if she drove back.

“If you decide to return with your packages, it will be viewed as you refusing your route, which will ultimately end with you not having a job come tomorrow morning,” the dispatcher said. “I’m literally stuck in this damn van without a safe place to go with a tornado on the ground,” the driver messaged back before being told to shelter in place.

In a statement to Bloomberg, Amazon said the dispatcher didn’t follow safety guidelines. The company also said it’s investigating the incident and that the driver is safe. Here’s the full text of the statement it shared with the outlet:

This was a developing situation across a broad geographic area, and unfortunately the delivery service partner’s dispatcher didn’t follow the standard safety practice. This dispatcher should have immediately directed the driver to seek shelter when the driver reported hearing tornado sirens. While this text exchange was going on, the local Amazon team was ensuring each delivery service partner had directed their drivers to shelter in place or seek shelter and advised them to stop delivering for the evening. We’re glad the driver is safe and we’re using the learnings from this incident to improve our policies and guidance for delivery service partners and drivers. Under no circumstance should the dispatcher have threatened the driver’s employment, and we’re investigating the full details of this incident and will take any necessary action.

Amazon’s policies have led to several incidents where workers were expected to clock in even during extreme weather. In September, as tropical depression Ida caused widespread flooding throughout New York City, the retailer kept its warehouses open. In 2017, drivers told Engadget’s Bryan Menegus, then writing for Gizmodo, they delivered packages in the immediate aftermath of hurricane Irma. The company is also known for keeping its facilities open even in extreme heat. During the historic heatwave that hit the Pacific Northwest this past summer, employees had to work even as temperatures inside one of the company’s facilities neared 90 degrees.

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the collapse of the warehouse in Illinois. According to employees who spoke to Bloomberg, the facility didn’t conduct any drills before the tornado that would have prepared them for the emergency.

Amazon has addressed the issue that had left those with Android 12 phones unable to use apps they had downloaded from the company's Appstore. “We have released a fix for an issue impacting app launches for Amazon Appstore customers that have upgraded to Android 12 on their mobile devices," a spokesperson for the company told Engadget on Friday. "We are contacting customers with steps to update their Appstore experience. We are sorry for any disruption this has caused.”

Reports of applications from the Appstore not working on Android 12 started to surface online in late October. Those with devices like the Google Pixel 6 and Samsung Galaxy S21 found they couldn't run any of the software they had previously downloaded from the Appstore. There were also reports of no apps showing up in the marketplace. While the issue didn't affect many people, it took about a month for Amazon to acknowledge it officially. On Friday, the company didn't say what had caused the problem. When it first surfaced, there was speculation it stemmed from an incompatibility between Amazon's built-in DRM and Android 12.  

Following backlash from fans, S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 developer GSC Game World has walked back on plans it had to include non-fungible tokens in its new game. The announcement came a day after the studio said S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 would include NFTs.

On Thursday, GSC Game World posted and then deleted an explanation for the decision where it said it would use the money it earned from the tokens to fund the development of the sequel. Fans were quick to criticize both the initial Wednesday announcement and the statement the studio later shared. The response was such that GSC Game World deleted its appeal about an hour after posting it.

“We hear you,” its latest statement reads. “Based on the feedback we received, we’ve made a decision to cancel anything NFT-related in S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2.” The studio added it would make the game at “whatever the cost is” to itself.

GSC Game World’s about-face comes in the same week Ubisoft pushed forward with its highly-criticized plan to include NFTs in Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. While video game fans have been almost universally united in their distaste for the technology, at this point it seems likely we’ll see more, not fewer, publishers try to include NFTs in their games with people like EA CEO Andrew Wilson saying the technology represents the “future of our industry.”

Chipotle will open its first "digital kitchen" later this month in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, the company announced on Friday. The "Chipotlane" location will be smaller than a traditional Chipotle restaurant. It won't have a dining room (though there will still be patio seating) and will only serve digital orders made through the restaurant's website, mobile app and platforms like DoorDash. You can pick up your food either through the drive-thru or walk-up windows.

The opening is the culmination of a process that started in 2019. At the time, the company said it would redesign its restaurants to better serve online and mobile orders. That year, Chipotle's digital business had grown to $1 billion. The pandemic greatly accelerated that trend. Last year, digital sales accounted for more than half of all of Chipotle's sales. That's a trend likely to continue as the company opens more online-only locations.

The Witcher: Blood Origin, a prequel to Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Anderzej Sapkowski’s dark fantasy novel series, will debut in 2022, and you can watch the first trailer now. In a surprise move, Netflix shared footage from the show as part of season two of The Witcher. The trailer is attached to the final episode of the season as a post-credits scene. And as of the writing of this article, Netflix has yet to upload the clip to YouTube.

Per Gizmodo, the trailer doesn’t provide many story hints, but what it does do is offer a look at Michelle Yeoh as Scian, one of the protagonists of the tale. Blood Origin will center on the Conjunction of the Spheres, the moment in the Witcher universe where humans, elves and monsters all came to inhabit the fantasy world of the series.

Blood Origin is just one of several Witcher-related projects Netflix has in the production pipeline following the success of the first season of its live action adaptation. The company recently greenlit a third season of the show, in addition to a second animated movie (following Nightmare of the Wolf) and a kids and family series.

One of the trickier aspects of EV ownership is finding charging stations. The infrastructure improves every year, but it’s still not as widespread and robust as what’s available to those who drive gasoline cars. That’s where apps like PlugShare and Chargemap can be a godsend, helping you not only find nearby stations but also plan your routes. Now there’s another option you can turn to for help.

Waze has partnered with Volkswagen (the automaker owns Electrify America) to map EV charging stations across the US. Starting today, you can use the software to add stops at stations along your planned route. If you’re so inclined, you can also change the car icon to that of a Volkswagen ID.4. We’ve reached out to Waze to find out more about the feature and whether it has a timeline for when it will arrive in other countries. We’ll update this article when we hear back from the company.

Waze parent company Google has been helping people find EV charging stations through Maps since 2019. And even if the update is long overdue, it’s one diehard Waze users are sure to appreciate — if only because it means they probably can get away with one less app on their phone.

Not to be outdone by Spotify (and nearly every other streaming platform, for that matter), Disney’s Hulu has released an end-of-year recap. Dubbed “Your TV DNA,” you can use the tool to find out how many films and TV episodes you watched in 2021, as well as what your favorite genres were over the last 12 months. As part of the experience, Hulu will also generate recommendations for current and upcoming content that is similar to the stuff you watched recently.

It’s no surprise to see the company offer a year-end recap. If social media is any indication, Spotify has had tremendous success with Wrapped. Each year, it seems like Spotify users flock to Twitter and Facebook to share their yearly chronicles. At the same time, you frequently see those who use Apple Music and other platforms lament that their music streaming service of choice doesn’t offer something similar. Hulu clearly wants to replicate some of Spotify's success with the Your TV DNA experience allowing people to share their “streaming personas” on social media.

Following months of speculation, electric transport startup Rivian shared where it plans to build a second factory. In the summer of 2022, the automaker will break ground on a facility about an hour east of Atlanta, Georgia, it announced on Thursday. Once the plant is complete sometime in 2024, the company hopes to eventually produce 400,000 electric vehicles there. It also plans to build a battery production facility nearby.

Rivian says the EV facility will cost approximately $5 billion to build and will employ more than 7,500 employees. The company will pay for it with proceeds from its recent November 10th IPO. Once complete, the facility will significantly boost Rivan’s manufacturing capacity. The automaker claims its first and currently only factory in Normal, Illinois can produce about 150,000 cars annually. It plans to eventually manufacture about 200,000 there every year.

That might seem like a lot but Rivian is still in the process of scaling production and meeting demand for its vehicles. As of December 15th, 2021, the company said it had produced 652 of its R1 vehicles. As of that same day, it had a total of 71,000 pre-orders from customers. It also needs to produce at least 100,000 trucks for Amazon. In other words, it has its work cut out for it.