With the UN’s COP26 climate summit now underway, Qualcomm has become the latest company to announce a sustainability pledge. The chipmaker says it will achieve net-zero emissions by 2040. Here’s the roadmap the company laid out. By 2030, Qualcomm says it will reduce its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent from base 2020 levels. That same year, it plans to reduce its Scope 3 emissions by 25 percent from where they were in 2020.

Scope 1 includes all pollution produced directly by the company or any emissions sources it owns or controls. Scope 2, meanwhile, entails indirect emissions created from the electricity, heating and cooling Qualcomm consumes. Lastly, Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions produced by its value chain.

In the context of a company like Qualcomm that relies on TSMC, Samsung and other foundries to produce its chips, reducing its Scope 3 emissions is the most impactful (and difficult) way the company can lessen its impact on the environment. According to an estimate from Imec, which recently announced a sustainable chip program involving Apple, approximately 75 percent of the greenhouse emissions tied to a mobile device are produced when it’s made, with almost half coming from the chip fabrication process.

Notably, that’s where Qualcomm says the least about its sustainability plans. It notes it’s working towards purchasing all of the power it uses at its San Diego headquarters from renewable sources and decarbonizing its operations using a “minimal” amount of Renewable Energy Credits and carbon offsets. That’s not to say the company is trying to greenwash its environmental responsibilities, but there’s a significant difference between making its offices environmentally friendly and doing the same for its supply chain.      

Fender is buying PreSonus, a company that’s best known for its studio recording gear and software. The guitar maker announced the acquisition, which still needs regulatory approval, on Monday. Fender didn’t disclose the financial terms of the deal, but it did hint at its future plans for the company.

“While most guitar and bass players still plug into amplifiers, many also plug their instruments into interfaces, using virtual amps and effects to create their sounds. Players of all levels are spending more time online than ever before and using a variety of products and technologies to learn, practice, jam and perform, record and share,” the company said. “Fender envisions an ecosystem that seamlessly integrates hardware and software to create an effortless end-to-end experience for customers at all levels in their creative journey, and joining forces with PreSonus makes that possible.”

Integrating software and hardware together is something Fender has been doing for a while with its apps and amps. We’ll have to see what the company does with PreSonus, but it’s easy to envision a future where it could offer digital versions of its iconic amps in its pursuit of its “all levels” vision.

Prepare to toss a coin to your favorite witcher. Netflix has shared the first full trailer for season two of The Witcher ahead of its December 17th debut. Unsurprisingly, the clip sees Geralt fighting plenty of monsters, including vampires, gargoyles and even a leshen at one point toward the end. It also reveals plenty of details about the story arc of the show’s sophomore season, teasing an escalating war between Nilfgaard and the Northern Kingdoms, Ciri’s training at Kaer Morhen and the return of Jaskier.

After the show’s initial success, a second season isn’t the only piece of Witcher content Netflix has in the pipeline. The streaming giant released The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, an animated prequel film starring Geralt’s mentor Vesemir, earlier this year. It also recently greenlit a third season of the show, announced a second animated movie and a “kids and family” series. 

Since 2019, Engadget has recommended the SteelSeries Arctis 7 as one of the best gaming headsets you can buy. At this point, it’s iconic but with a design that hasn’t changed much since 2016, it recently started to show its age. Thankfully, SteelSeries just announced the Arctis 7+ and Arctis 7P+.

The tweaks the company has made are modest, but they’re ones current Arctis 7 owners will appreciate. Most notably, SteelSeries has replaced the finicky micro USB port you used to charge the headset with a more modern USB-C connection. Using the new port, it’s possible to get three hours of uptime after 15 minutes of charging.

SteelSeries

On that note, battery life is also improved. SteelSeries claims you can get up to 30 hours of gameplay on a single charge, up from the approximately 24 hours you got from the previous version. As for the differences between the 7+ and 7P+, there aren’t many. You can buy the latter in both black and white colorways where the former is only available in black. Additionally, the 7P+ includes support for the PlayStation 4 and PS5’s 3D Audio functionality. That said, you can use both headsets with pretty much any system or device other than Xbox consoles.

The Arctis 7+ and Arctis 7P+ are available to buy today from the SteelSeries website. They’ll both set you back $170. That’s an increase from the $150 MSRP of Arctis 7 and 7P, but what's an extra $20 when you don't have to deal with micro USB anymore. 

Amazon owns a 20 percent stake in electric transport startup Rivian, according to a recent SEC disclosure spotted by Bloomberg. As of September 30th, the company said the stake was valued at $3.8 billion, up from $2.7 billion at the end of 2020. That Amazon should own a fifth of Rivian is not surprising. In 2019, the retailer led a $700 million investment round in the automaker, contributing about $440 million to that total. 

That same year, it announced as part of its 2040 climate pledge it would purchase 100,000 electric delivery vehicles from Rivian. The first of those EVs, a cutesy van, began making deliveries in Los Angeles at the start of the year. Amazon hopes to have 10,000 of its Rivian EVs on the road by the end of 2022.

As you might imagine, that has put pressure on Rivian to deliver for its biggest customer. Per Bloomberg, the company has prioritized manufacturing vans for Amazon at the expense of its consumer vehicles like the R1T and R1S. The former was supposed to debut in 2020, but following a series of pandemic-related delays, the first customer-ready vehicle only rolled out of the company’s Normal, Illinois factory this past September.

It’s been a while since we’ve heard any news from Amy Hennig, but now we know what the former Naughty Dog and Visceral Games writer and creative director has been working away at since going indie in 2018. On Friday, Marvel announced its working with Hennig’s Skydance New Media studio on a new narrative-driven action-adventure game set in its comic book universe. Details on the project are sparse, but the Disney-owned company teased the title will feature a “completely original story and take on the Marvel Universe.”

“I can’t imagine a better partner than Marvel for our first game,” said Hennig. “The Marvel Universe epitomizes all the action, mystery and thrills of the pulp adventure genre that I adore and lends itself perfectly to an interactive experience. It’s an honor to be able to tell an original story with all the humanity, complexity, and humor that makes Marvel characters so enduring and to enable our players to embody these heroes that they love.”

In some ways, it’s a surprise to find out Hennig is working on a AAA title. When she left EA after the publisher shut down Visceral, it seemed like she wanted a change of pace. "I would love to have a little company of about six to eight people, 15 at the most, and then do smaller projects," she said at the time. But then the possibility of working with Marvel may have been too difficult to ignore, especially for a new studio working on its first-ever game. Much like it’s done in Hollywood, the company has started to pull in talent from every corner of the gaming industry. Between Eidos Montreal, Firaxis and now Skydance New Media, some of the best studios are working on Marvel properties.

The last time we saw Spot dance, it was with the entire Boston Dynamics family at the end of last year. That was mostly a showcase of how much Atlas, the company’s bipedal robot, had come from the days when it could barely walk. In a new solo display, we get to see it move to “Start Me Up” from The Rolling Stones in honor of the 40th anniversary of their 1981 album Tattoo You. And if you thought Spot dancing was too close to the uncanny valley, wait until you see it lip-sync. It is truly the stuff of nightmare fuel.

Boston Dynamics releases these types of videos at a regular cadence almost as if to remind those watching, “Yes, we still exist.” Earlier in the year, Hyundai completed its acquisition of the company, making it the third owner of the firm in the span of a decade. More recently, the automaker detailed how it would put Spot to work at its assembly plants in South Korea. Bet Spot isn't doing too much dancing there.  

This week, the federal government awarded a team that includes Boeing a contract to build a prototype 300-kilowatt laser weapon for the US Army. The military will “demonstrate” the design sometime next year. The prototype will “produce a lethal output greater than anything fielded to date,” said General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, the other company working on the project. “This technology represents a leap-ahead capability for air and missile defense that is necessary to support the Army’s modernization efforts and defeat next-generation threats in a multi-domain battlespace.”

Even if it’s only a demonstration, the system represents a significant step up from the lasers the military has had access to in the past. Back in 2014, the US Navy deployed the experimental Laser Weapon System (LaWS) on the USS Ponce. That system could reportedly output a 30-kilowatt beam, making it mostly useful for shooting down drones and other small craft. Per the New Scientist, a 300-kilowatt laser could potentially take down missiles, in addition drones, helicopters and even airplanes. The announcement comes as the global weapons race intensifies following China’s successful trial of a hypersonic missile. 

On Friday, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Two Hat, a company best known for its AI content moderation tools. Financial details have not been disclosed, but Microsoft did share its vision for how they’ll work together moving forward. Over the years, the two companies have frequently collaborated to make Xbox Live and other gaming communities safer, and by the sounds of it, that will be the focus of Two Hat moving forward.

“We have partnered with Xbox and the Microsoft team for several years and share the passion and drive to make meaningful change in the advancement of online civility and citizenship,” said Two Hat founder Chris Priebe and CEO Steve Parkis in a joint statement. “We are committed to ensuring safety, inclusion and online health and wellness are always at the forefront of our work and through joining Microsoft, we can provide the greatest concentration of talent, resources and insight necessary to further this vision.”

Before today’s announcement, Microsoft was only one of Two Hat’s customers, and that won’t change following the acquisition. “This is a deep investment in assisting and serving Two Hat’s existing customers, prospective new customers and multiple product and service experiences here at Microsoft,” the company said. “With this acquisition, we will help global online communities to be safer and inclusive for everyone to participate, positively contribute and thrive.”

Since 2019, Microsoft has placed an emphasis on combating toxicity and abuse. "Gaming is for everyone," Xbox chief Phil Spencer said at the time. This acquisition should tie in nicely with that goal.

This past April, Toyota teased the bZ4X, the first of seven “Beyond Zero” fully electric vehicles the automaker said it would debut by 2025. Other than to reveal it was working with Subaru to develop the SUV and that it would include its upcoming e-TNGA powertrain, the company didn’t share many details about the bZ4X. On Friday, it changed that by unveiling the production version of the vehicle.

Toyota will offer the bZ4X in front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive variants. The former will feature a single 150 kW capable of accelerating the car from zero to 100 kilometers per hour in 8.4 seconds. Per the WLTC standard, the automaker claims the FWD model’s 71.4 kWh battery will allow it to travel approximately 500 kilometers or 310 miles on a single charge. Expect that estimate to decrease once the EPA tests the car. It’s also worth noting these measurements come from the Japanese model, which may end up featuring different specifications to whatever model(s) Toyota releases in the US.

Toyota

The battery will support 150 kW DC fast charging, allowing it to go from dead to 80 percent after about 30 minutes of charging. As for the AWD model, it will feature two 80kW motors, one built into each axle, for a total power output of 160 kW. It can accelerate from zero to 100 kilometers per hour in 7.7 seconds. Toyota estimates the ranges of the AWD model at 460 kilometers or 285 miles on a single charge. In both variants, the battery is integrated into the chassis, a design choice the automaker helps lower the SUV’s center of gravity and improve the rigidity of the chassis.

Toyota also plans to equip the bZ4X with some nifty extra features. One of those is a solar roof the automaker says will generate about 1120 miles worth of free power generation. It will also offer a steer-by-wire system that removes the mechanical connection between the steering wheel and front wheels. Both features will be available in select models.

The bZ4X will debut in the US and other markets in mid-2022.