Boston Dynamics’ Spot has found itself a new job, and thankfully this time it doesn’t involve a potential battlefield role. Hyundai has started testing the robot at a Kia manufacturing plant in South Korea where it will be one of the tools the company uses to ensure the facility is safe for workers. The pilot represents the first public collaboration between the two companies since Hyundai acquired a majority stake in Boston Dynamics this past June.

You’ll notice the Spot featured in the video Hyundai released looks different from the robot we’ve seen in past clips. That’s because the automaker’s Robotics Lab outfitted it with what is essentially a backpack that features a host of enhancements, including a thermal camera, LiDAR and more powerful computing resources for handling additional AI tasks. The “AI Processing Service Unit” allows Spot to detect people, monitor temperatures and check for fire hazards. Additionally, a secure webpage allows factory personnel to monitor the robot remotely, and take over control if they want to inspect an area of the facility more closely.

According to Hyundai, the pilot will help it assess the effectiveness of Spot as a late-night security patrol robot before it goes on to deploy it at additional industrial sites. Automation, manufacturing and construction applications align with what the automaker said was its grand plan for Boston Dynamics when it bought the company.

When Google launched Android 11 at the end of last summer, it added a feature that automatically resets app permissions. If you don’t use an app after several months, the OS can revoke some of the permissions that the application asked you to grant when you first installed it. It’s a handy feature that’s unfortunately only available on a relatively small number of devices due to the fact most Android manufacturers only support their devices with platform updates for a couple of years. Thankfully, that’s about to change.

Starting in December 2021, Google will begin rolling out that functionality to all devices running Android 6 (Marshmallow) and above, the company announced today in a developer update. The feature will come courtesy of a Google Play services update the company will roll out to “billions” of devices. Once you have the new software installed on your device, apps that target Android 11 or higher will have the feature enabled by default. For those apps that were built for older versions of the OS, you’ll have the option to enable it manually.

This is one of those small quality-of-life updates that most Android users should be able to appreciate since it can be easy to forget all the permissions you may have granted to an app when you first installed it.  

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Biden administration plans to implement new measures to make it more difficult for hackers to profit from ransomware attacks using cryptocurrencies. As early as next week, the Treasury Department will reportedly impose sanctions and guidance designed to discourage organizations from using digital currencies to pay for ransoms.

Per The Journal, among the measures the agency is considering are fines and other penalties aimed at businesses that cooperate with hackers. Later in the year, the Treasury Department is also expected to implement new anti-money laundering and terror-financing regulation to limit further the use of cryptocurrencies as a payment method for ransoms and other illegal activity.

The incoming sanctions will reportedly single out specific traders and exchanges instead of casting a wide net and attempting to disrupt the entire crypto ecosystem. In addition to harming organizations that may have facilitated ransomware payments in the past, the hope is that sanctions will scare most cryptocurrency platforms from processing those types of transactions in the future.

“An action of this kind would be an aggressive, proactive approach to going after those who facilitate ransomware payments,” Ari Redbord, a former Treasury Department official, told The Journal.

The measures would be the latest attempt by the Biden administration to tackle the issue of ransomware attacks following a year in which they’ve increased in frequency and severity. After the Colonial Pipeline attack led to fuel shortages in parts of the US, the president signed an executive order that called for, among other things, improved information sharing between federal agencies. More recently, the Department of Homeland Security laid out mandatory rules that call on pipeline operators to appoint cybersecurity coordinators and report incidents to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

With R1T trucks rolling off the assembly line at its factory in Normal, Illinois, Rivian continues to prepare for the official debut of its first EVs later this month. On Thursday, the automaker introduced a membership program that will grant Rivian owners access to complimentary charging at its soon-to-be-built Adventure Network and Waypoints chargers. It also pledged to match every mile Rivian Membership customers drive with energy from renewable resources such as wind and solar, as well as offer unlimited access to 4G LTE connectivity.

Additionally, the service includes Rivian off-Roadside Assistance, additional coverage that will see the company send a recovery vehicle to you if you get stuck out on the trail or need an emergency battery recharge. The company also promised to add additional perks in the future, including new drive modes, community meetups and in-cabin content. Each new Rivian vehicle will come with 12 months of free access to the service. After that, you’ll need to pay to continue enjoying the perks of the membership. The company hasn’t said how much it plans to charge for the service, so we’ve reached out to it for more information.

At the end of August, YouTuber Austin Evans posted a video on Sony's updated PlayStation 5 "CFI-1100" console. He was one of the first to obtain the revised model and what he found after tearing down the console was that Sony had equipped it with a smaller and lighter heatsink. In testing the unit, Evans found exhaust temperatures were higher than on the launch variant, leading him to claim it "worse" than its predecessor. That's a statement that led to controversy, and, in some cases, confusion over whether people should buy the updated CFI-1100 model.

Now we have a more definitive answer on what the new heatsink means for the PlayStation 5. Working together, Digital Foundry and Gamers Nexus conducted an independent teardown and analysis of the console. The short answer of what they found is that "in all practical terms, there is no meaningful difference between PS5s old and new." The longer answer is that the new PS5's cooling performance is more complicated than was first reported.

In addition to featuring a new thermal assembly, Sony tweaked the motherboard and baseplate found in the refreshed PS5. The result of those changes is some components run cooler while others get hotter. However, Digital Foundry states, "there is no evidence that this presents anything worth worrying about, assuming you are keeping your PS5 in a well-ventilated area."

Critically, the outlet found that once it installed the latest firmware from Sony, there was also no difference in performance between the new and old models. Both variants will pull as much power as they need to maintain a sufficient boost clock and throttle their fans to limit noise. Even as both consoles get hotter, you won't notice a dip in performance in the way you would with a PC GPU. Either way, should they hit a critical temperature where their components are in danger, both will automatically shut down to prevent damage.

"The core question of whether the new PS5 is better or worse than the launch model can be answered by saying that they're mostly much the same, certainly in terms of the end-user experience," according to Digital Foundry.

The main takeaway from the analysis conducted by the outlets is that you can safely buy the updated model. You don't need to go out of your way to find the launch variant. In fact, it's probably best you avoid doing so since many scalpers have tried to take advantage of the fallout from the initial video Evans posted by selling their launch models for even more money.

Former Bungie composer Marty O'Donnell owes his old employer tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees following a court case related to his 2014 exit from the studio. According to legal documents obtained by Eurogamer, a court found O'Donnell in contempt of a previous ruling on July 12th of this year.

The broad strokes of the case involve the lawsuit the composer won against Bungie in 2015. A court ordered the studio to compensate O'Donnell financially but said he couldn't publish any music from Destiny without Bungie's blessing. Additionally, he had to return all materials related to his work on the first-person shooter back to the developer.

All of that brings us to 2019 when O'Donnel began uploading to YouTube and Bandcamp demos connected to Music of the Spheres, the eight-movement symphony he co-wrote with Paul McCartney that formed the early musical identity of Destiny. In a court motion reviewed by Eurogamer, Bungie alleged O'Donnell's "very possession of such materials proves he did not comply with the order to return 'all material' to Bungie."

Judge Regina Cahan sided with the studio and imposed new sanctions on O'Donnell. Some of the more notable ones include the fact he has to hand over his electronics to a third-party firm that will conduct a forensic examination to ensure any assets related to Destiny or Music of the Spheres have been deleted. He also has to pay Bungie all the money he earned from selling tracks tied to the symphony on Bandcamp, in addition to compensating it for expenses it accrued during the contempt proceeding. That includes lawyer fees.

In all, Bungie is reportedly demanding nearly $100,000 from the composer, an amount his lawyers say is unreasonable. O'Donnell took to Twitter to lament the case several times in early June. "I'm thinking about retiring from the games industry for good," he said in a deleted message dated to the 3rd. In one tweet that's still up, O'Donnell asks fans to buy the soundtrack to Golem, the 2019 PlayStation VR game he worked on with Highwire Games. "The money will help with my huge legal bills," he said. "Thank you."

Microsoft will release Office 2021, the next consumer version of its productivity suite, on October 5th. That’s the same day the company will launch Windows 11. Much like Office 2019 before it, Office 2021 is a one-time purchase that will be available on both Windows and macOS. It’s for people who don’t want to subscribe to the company’s Microsoft 365 subscription.

Microsoft promised to share more details on Office 2021 soon, but we know from reporting by The Verge’s Tom Warren that the release will feature many of the same improvements found in Office LTSC, a variant of the software the company released today for enterprise customers who can’t access the Cloud. Among other improvements, it adds accessibility features and dark mode support. We also know from a previous announcement Microsoft plans to support the software for at least five years, and that the software will work with both 32- and 64-bit systems out of the box.

WhatsApp already allows you to chat with businesses, but you may soon also have the ability to find them through the app as well. This week, the company started testing a directory feature that allows users to scan through local shops and services that have a presence on WhatsApp and contact them. The tool is currently only available in São Paulo, Brazil, but a screenshot shared by Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp, shows that you can use the feature to sort businesses by category and how close they are to you.

Matt Idema, vice president of business messaging at Facebook, told Reuters the test involves “thousands” of shops and services. He added the company is likely to make the feature available in India and Indonesia next. “Based on feedback from the people who try it over the next few months, we’ll look at expanding this service to other cities and other types of businesses available on WhatsApp,” Cathcart said separately on Twitter.

While it’s best known as an app you use to chat with your friends and family, WhatsApp has increasingly pushed into the e-commerce space. Since 2018, it has offered a separate app for businesses to use to communicate with their customers. More recently, it’s gone out of its way to make it easier for people to shop directly from WhatsApp. At times, that hasn’t always worked out for the company, as was the case when it changed its privacy policy earlier in the year. On that note, Cathcart said WhatsApp won’t log the location of a user or the businesses they browse when using the directory feature.

Harman may be best known for its audio products, but the Samsung subsidiary is now expanding into the world of charging accessories. On Thursday, the company announced the launch of InfinityLab, a new brand under which it plans to sell a line of "sustainable" wall chargers, power banks and cables. With today's announcement, the company is debuting nearly a dozen new accessories.

According to Harman, the "core" products in the lineup are made from 90 percent recycled plastic. Like parent Samsung, the company is also trying to avoid using plastics for any packaging and to source cardboard from responsibly managed forests. Additionally, Harman will make any cables it includes with its new products from recycled polyester.

Harman

Taking a look at the accessories themselves, the one that caught our eye is the GaN charger Harman plans to sell. The company will offer three different wall chargers capable of outputting 20, 30 and 65 watts of power. They'll be priced at $19.95, $29.95 and $49.95, with the last one featuring gallium nitride circuitry. 

If you know something about gallium nitride chargers, it's that they're smaller than their silicon counterparts but also tend to cost more. Razer, for instance, recently announced a 130W model that it's selling for $180. Harman's GaN charger isn't as powerful, nor does it include as many ports, but at $49.95, you're still getting a model with interchangeable plugs included. It also comes from a brand that many people trust, and that's not something you can say about a lot of the more affordable GaN chargers you'll find through Amazon and other retailers.

Almost exactly a year ago, IKEA announced it was partnering with ASUS’ Republic of Gamers unit to create an affordable collection of gaming furniture and accessories. After debuting in China and Japan, those products are finally making their way to the US and UK on October 1st.

IKEA

The collection is made up of six product families: Uppspel, Lånespelare, Matchspel, Gruppsel, Utespelare and Huvudspelare. Of those, IKEA designed the first one in direct collaboration with ASUS, while the others it created on its own with insights it gleaned from working with the company. 

The collection includes everything from furniture like gaming chairs and desks to handy accessories like a mouse bungee and ring light. Pricing starts at $6.49 for the most affordable item, a mouse pad with a polyester top layer, and goes all the way up to $599 for an adjustable gaming desk.

IKEA

In practice, some of the items in the collection represent “gamified” versions of existing IKEA products. Take the Uppspel pegboard, for instance. It features the same dimensions as the company’s Skådis pegboard, but you’ll pay an extra $3 for it because of its more aggressive finish. That's the kind of upsell that comes with a lot of gaming products (see: every RGB-infused device ever), but most of the collection does live up to IKEA's affordable billing.