New York City has passed sweeping legislation aimed at protecting workers of app-based food delivery services like Grubhub and DoorDash. The move makes the city one of the first municipalities in the US to aggressively regulate an industry that has grown by leaps and bounds during the pandemic.

Per Bloomberg, the legislation touches nearly every aspect of the job. For instance, addressing an issue that was a subject of a $2.5 million settlement, delivery apps and courier services must disclose their gratuity policies, and guarantee that workers always receive their tips. They must also pay them at least once a week, and provide them with payment options that don’t necessitate the need for a bank account. Another part of the legislation mandates platforms include a clause in their contracts with restaurants to ensure they provide bathroom access to delivery workers.

Both Grubhub and DoorDash told Engadget they support the legislation, though the latter voiced some reservations about specific measures. “We recognize the unique challenges facing delivery workers in New York City and share the goal of identifying policies that will help Dashers and workers like them,” a DoorDash spokesperson said. “We will continue to work with all stakeholders, including the City Council, to identify ways to support all delivery workers in New York City without unintended consequences.”

The company specifically pointed to the restroom mandate, which lawmakers tweaked near the end of the process to put the onus of ensuring compliance on platform holders. It’s also concerned about a provision that gives delivery workers the ability to set limits on their routes. The company contends that’s something that could hurt customers in underserved areas.

Meanwhile, Grubhub voiced, at least publicly, stronger support for the laws. “These bills are common-sense steps to support the delivery workers who work hard every day for New York’s restaurants and residents,” a spokesperson for the company told Engadget. “Ensuring they receive a living wage and have access to restrooms isn’t just a good idea — it’s the right thing to do.”

Just how difficult it can be to make a living as a delivery worker was put in sharp relief last month when Hurricane Ida blanketed New York City with torrential rain. Images and videos of workers navigating flooded streets spread on social media, leading to calls for more regulation.

When Nintendo announced Bayonetta 3 in 2017,Reggie Fils-Aimé was still at the company. After the better part of four years, the Switch exclusive finally has a release date. 

Nintendo, Sega and Platinum Games will release Bayonetta 3 in 2022, the gaming giant announced today during its latest Direct presentation. Nintendo also shared a new trailer for the title, showing off gameplay for the first time. In classic Bayonetta style, the clip was completely absurd. At one point, we see Bayonetta controlling kaiju monsters in what almost looks like an action RPG. Take a look for yourself.

Nintendo promised to share more information about the game soon.

After a leak earlier in the day spoiled the surprise, Nintendo announced Kirby and the Forgotten Land at its latest Direct presentation. Set to arrive on Switch in the spring of next year, the title will mark the first mainline Kirby game since Nintendo released Kirby Star Allies in 2018. The company shared a trailer that shows Kirby navigating the overgrown remains of a long-forgotten city. 

As in past games, Kirby can inhale enemies to gain their abilities. At one point in the trailer, we see him become a swordsman, complete with a green cap and what looks like a Master Sword. Other stolen abilities allow him to freeze his enemies and breathe fire on them. All in all, it looks an adorable adventure that should make Kirby fans happy.    

Starting today, Google is rolling out more robust Spanish language support to Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max devices in the US. With the update, the company has translated the entirety of the user interface on those devices into Spanish. Additionally, it has added additional commands that weren’t supported previously.

For instance, you can say, “Hey Google, llama a mamá,” to tell your Nest Hub to connect you to your mom over Google Duo. Another new voice command allows you to add groceries and other items to a centralized shopping list. One other new feature make it possible to stream music from both free and paid streaming services. If you’re a YouTube TV subscriber, you can also stream Univision on your smart display. You can switch your Nest Hub or Nest Hub Max to Spanish by navigating to the languages section of the Assistant settings menu in the Google Home app.

Well, that didn’t take long. Less than a week after developer Jane Manchun Wong discovered Clubhouse was working on a new feature called Wave, that functionality is now available to all users on both Android and iOS. Wave allows you to invite your friends to a private audio room. You can start using the feature by expanding the Hallway sidebar and tapping the wave emoji next to someone’s name.

Once you tap the icon, Clubhouse will send your friends a notification they can use to tell you whether they’re ready to join a conversation. You can invite as many people as you want, and once everyone is ready to chat, Clubhouse will create a private room for your group. You can open the space at any time to more people if you want to expand the conversation. If you push the app to the background, the app will pause your invites so that you don’t get pulled into a conversation without realizing it. Now that it’s here, we can’t wait for Facebook and Twitter to copy Wave, much like they did Clubhouse itself.

Add the United Kingdom to the list of countries that says an artificial intelligence can’t be legally credited as an inventor. Per the BBC, the UK Court of Appeal recently ruled against Dr Stephen Thaler in a case involving the country’s Intellectual Property Office. In 2018, Thaler filed two patent applications in which he didn’t list himself as the creator of the inventions mentioned in the documents. Instead, he put down his AI DABUS and said the patent should go to him “by ownership of the creativity machine.”

The Intellectual Property Office told Thaler he had to list a real person on the application. When he didn’t do that, the agency decided he had withdrawn from the process. Thaler took the case to the UK’s High Court. The body ruled against him, leading to the eventual appeal. "Only a person can have rights. A machine cannot," Lady Justice Elisabeth Laing of the Appeal Court wrote in her judgment. "A patent is a statutory right and it can only be granted to a person."

Thaler has filed similar legal challenges in other countries, and the results so far have been mixed. In August, a judge in Australia ruled inventions created by an AI can qualify for a patent. However, only earlier this month, US District Judge Leonie M Brinkema upheld a decision by the US Patent and Trademark Office that said “only natural persons may be named as an inventor in a patent application." Judge Brinkema said there may eventually be a time when AI becomes sophisticated enough to satisfy the accepted definitions of inventorship, but noted, “that time has not yet arrived, and, if it does, it will be up to Congress to decide how, if at all, it wants to expand the scope of patent law.”

With a little more than three months before the start of the Dakar Rally in January, Audi took its RS Q E-Tron to the deserts of Morocco to test the custom-built hybrid ahead of the endurance competition. Over the two weeks that Audi was in the country, it subjected the RS Q E-Tron to temperatures hotter than 100 degrees Fahrenheit and sandstorms. The automaker says it tested the vehicle in Morocco specifically to put it through the most extreme conditions possible. The heat and other factors pushed the RS Q E-Tron's electric drivetrain and other components to their limit. 

Audi

"The insights we gained in Morocco are invaluable, but they also show us that we still have a lot to do before the Dakar Rally and there is not much time left," said Andreas Roos, project manager of factory racing at Audi Sport.

Audi and the Volkswagen Group have a lot riding on the RS Q E-Tron. If it can win the Dakar Rally, it would be the first electrified vehicle to do so. While not a pure EV, it features an electric drivetrain with two modified Formula E motors. An energy conversion system with a TFSI engine charges the car's high-voltage battery while driving and braking. Volkswagen has already said it expects the RS Q E-Tron will help inform some of its future production cars.   

At the end of August, Airbnb announced it would offer free, temporary housing to 20,000 refugees from Afghanistan. Now, through its Airbnb.org nonprofit, the company says it can go beyond its initial commitment. With help from hosts and donors from across the US, Airbnb announced today it's prepared to house as many as 40,000 refugees temporarily.

As Airbnb itself notes, that doesn't necessarily mean it will max out that capacity. "If demand for housing aligns with supply in communities where refugees are resettling, these new resources could help provide housing for an additional 20,000 Afghan refugees," the company said.

Since announcing the initiative, Airbnb says it has helped place 675 Afghan refugees across the US. "Resettlement agencies expect bookings will increase as more Afghan evacuees move off military bases and into communities where they will resettle," the company noted.

The need for temporary housing for Afghan refugees is dire, particularly in the US. Officials estimate as many as 65,000 refugees will arrive in the country by the end of the month. Additionally, another 30,000 could come over the next year. And that's just in the US. In August, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said there were 2.6 million registered Afghan refugees worldwide. To that point, Airbnb said it's assessing the possibility of expanding the availability of the program to other countries that have committed to resettling Afghan refugees.

Starting on September 29th, Samsung will start selling limited quantities of the Thom Browne Edition Galaxy Watch 4 Classic it announced at its recent Unpacked event. The release will mark the first time Samsung has sold a Thom Browne-branded Galaxy Watch separately. Previously, you had to buy the wearable as part of a bundle that included other Galaxy devices.

Each watch comes with interchangeable straps made from leather, rubber and fabric and features rhodium plating. It also includes five custom watch faces. One thing to note about the Thom Browne Edition Galaxy Watch 4 Classic is it will only be available in a 42mm size with Bluetooth connectivity. At $799 for a single watch, you’re paying a hefty premium to get the Thom Browne model over the $250 Galaxy Watch 4 and $350 Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, but that’s how it usually goes with high fashion.

Twitter plans to address a longstanding complaint people have had with its mobile app. If you use the software frequently, you may have noticed tweets will sometimes disappear from view just as you’re partway through reading one. You see this happen when your timeline refreshes and it happens most often when there are a lot of people replying to a single tweet.

“We know it’s a frustrating experience, so we’re working on changing it,” the company said, adding that it plans to roll out a variety of updates over the next two months to address the issue. Twitter didn’t detail what those changes will look like but promised they will keep your timeline fresh while preventing tweets from disappearing as you’re reading them.

Twitter has been iterating on new features at an increased clip in recent months. For instance, the company recently said it would begin testing a tool for removing followers sometime this month. Twitter also recently began rolling its Communities feature to users.