Renault is looking to revive flagging sales in China. It has agreed to set up a joint venture with a major auto manufacturer in the country. Renault will share tech and resources with Geely (which owns Volvo and Polestar) to bring Renault-branded hybrid vehicles to China.

The companies plan to take advantage of Geely's supply chain and manufacturing capabilities. Renault will focus on sales and marketing.

Along with China, the companies are eyeing South Korea as a key market for their joint venture. They plan to sell localized versions of hybrids from Geely's Lynk & Co brand.

The joint venture will likely expand to other Asian markets in the future, according to Reuters, which reported that Renault and Geely are considering making fully electric vehicles as well. Renault recently announced an ambitious timeline for electrifying its vehicles. It forecasts that 65 percent of its lineup will be electric by 2025.

Having a partnership in China seems important for Renault, which has struggled to sell cars under its own name in the country. It sold just 2,324 Renault-branded cars there in 2020, a drop of 89 percent from the previous year, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the global semiconductor shortage. In comparison, Jinbei and Huasong, brands owned by a joint venture between Renault and Brilliance Auto, sold 154,049 vehicles in China last year.

Spotify has shelved plans to add AirPlay 2 support to its iOS app for the time being. "We've discussed this Idea internally and while we are working on supporting AirPlay2 in a proper way, we have decided to close it for now," a Spotify representative wrote on the community forums, as reported by MacRumors.

The company has pinned the blame on audio driver compatibility issues. Because of those, "this seems like a bigger project that we won't be able to complete in the foreseeable future."

Apple rolled out AirPlay 2 three years ago as part of iOS 11.4. The company also enabled support for third-party music services on HomePod and HomePod mini last year. In 2019, Spotify filed a complaint with the European Commission that accused Apple of locking it and other companies Apple competes with out of the likes of Siri, HomePod, and Apple Watch. Spotify still doesn't offer native support for HomePod speakers, though you can play music from the app through Siri and download Spotify tracks on Apple Watch.

You can still connect Spotify to speakers and smart TVs over AirPlay or Spotify Connect. Spotify users won't officially be able to harness AirPlay 2 capabilities like reduced latency, multi-room audio and Siri control any time soon. However, because AirPlay is fully integrated with iOS, it should still work with any audio app as long as you use the OS-level playback controls, rather than the Spotify app.

Google offered the first official details about the Pixel 6 just a few days ago, and it seems the company is gearing up to release the Pixel 5a as well. Previous leaks suggested the phone would be a revamped Pixel 4a 5G and a new report has shed some more light on the possible specs.

The device will reportedly have the same camera as the Pixel 5, as well as a headphone jack and an IP67 rating, according to Jon Prosser of Front Page Tech. The report suggests the Pixel 5a will use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 765G 5G chipset and have 6GB of RAM. There'll be a 4650MaH battery but no wireless charging support, according to Prosser. The phone's expected to have a 6.4-inch display and a single Mostly Black color option.

If all of that grabs your interest, you might not have to wait too long to get your hands on the Pixel 5a. The report suggests Google will release the device on August 26th for $450.

Google said in April it was still making a Pixel 5a with 5G, contrary to rumors at the time. It said the device would only land in the US and Japan and that it would be "announced in line with when last year’s a-series phone was introduced." It revealed the Pixel 4a in September 2020, so an August announcement and release date just about matches up. It's unclear whether Google plans to release a non-5G Pixel 5a.

It's been 25 months since Netflix dropped season three of Stranger Things. You'll have to remain patient a while longer before returning to Hawkins, however. Season four of the sci-fi horror series will emerge in 2022.

Along with the release window news, Netflix dropped another teaser. Most of the 30-second video features shots from previous seasons, but there's a glimpse of a monster that appears to be far larger than the Mind Flayer or the Demogorgon.

This could be the most ambitious season of Stranger Things to date, as filming has taken place in Georgia, Lithuania and New Mexico. Part of the season will be set in Russia, where Jim Hopper is held captive. Hopefully, Netflix is looking at an early 2022 release date so fans don't have to wait too much longer.

PUBG, aka PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, has a new name. It's now called PUBG: Battlegrounds, which technically makes it PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds: Battlegrounds. It seems publisher Krafton quietly made the change in July. On the surface, it's a silly rebranding akin to "ATM machine," but there seems to be some reasonable logic behind the decision.

"Krafton is actively expanding the PUBG brand through a variety of new experiences set in its universe," the publisher told PC Gamer. "Rebranding PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds to PUBG: Battlegrounds is the first step in us realizing this vision. Additional titles in the franchise will carry the PUBG name, as you see with our upcoming game, PUBG: New State."

The next game in the series, PUBG: New State, is a mobile title with a futuristic setting. The Callisto Protocol, a horror game from the creators of Dead Space, is also connected to the franchise. The name hasn't been weighed down with the PUBG prefix just yet, though.

Many players have referred to the original game simply as PUBG for years, and with more games in the franchise on the way, it makes sense to differentiate it a bit. The rebranding also takes the game away from the equally baffling former title, especially for folks who don't know who the devil PlayerUnknown actually is. Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene is the man who ushered in the battle royale craze by creating an ARMA 2 mod and then leading development of PUBG. He left the game in 2019.

Still, Krafton could have called the phenomenally successful game literally anything else rather than giving it another awkward name. Simply PUBG or even PUBG: OG or PUBG: Where Are We Dropping? would have been better.

Meanwhile, PUBG: Battlegrounds (sigh) is going free-to-play for a week to mark the game's collaboration with K-pop megastars Blackpink. It won't cost you a dime to play between August 10th and August 16th.

According to leaker PlayerIGN, Krafton may be using that week to test the waters and "gauge player responses" before potentially making the game free-to-play permanently. PUBG: Mobile is free, as are rival battles royale such as Fortnite, Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone.

Microsoft will host its second ID@Xbox indie game showcase of the year on Twitch next week. The stream starts at 12pm ET on August 10th. You'll be able to watch it on the Twitch Gaming and Xbox channels.

Xbox will show off "tons" of games during the showcase, which will involve developers and publishers including Rebellion and Chump Squad. Along with updates on games such as OlliOlli World and The Artful Escape, new titles will be announced.

There will be some Xbox Game Pass news as well. During the first ID@Xbox and Twitch showcase in March, Microsoft revealed another 22 indie games that were bound for Game Pass on their release day, including S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Boyfriend Dungeon and The Ascent, which has blown up since it arrived last week. On Tuesday, you can expect to learn about a bunch more games that have set a course for Game Pass.

The showcase isn't the only notable gaming event taking place this month. Gamescom's Opening Night Live is set for August 25th. The two-hour shindig will show off some of this holiday season's biggest titles and offer a look at "what lies beyond," according to host and producer Geoff Keighley.

While we await the inevitable delay of yet another big-budget game that was on the docket for this year, Sony revealed that several notable indies are coming to PlayStation consoles in the coming months. Among them is Oxenfree II: Lost Signals, which was announced for Nintendo Switch and PC in April. It's bound for PS4 and PS5. You'll once again have a radio that can pick up supernatural signals in the sequel to mystery adventure Oxenfree, which will arrive later this year.

In Carrion, you play as an amorphous monster who tries to escape from a research facility and devours anyone unfortunate to get in its way. The horror game picked up solid reviews when it was released on Switch, PC and Xbox One in 2020, and it was nominated at The Game Awards. Devolver will bring Carrion to PS4 later this year.

The ultra-charming exploration game A Short Hike will also hit PS4 by the end of the year. The pixelated adventure, which is currently available on PC and Switch, is a real gem and it's well worth checking out.

Elsewhere during its indie showcase, Sony revealed more gameplay details for the long-awaited Axiom Verge 2 (arriving later this year) and showed off crafting adventure Wytchwood (coming to PS4 and PS5 this fall). The spotlight also landed on vertical-scrolling shoot-'em-up Sol Cresta, the latest entry in the classic Cresta shoot 'em up series, which first came to light as an April Fools' joke last year. It should hit PS4, Switch and PC this year.

And then there's the small matter of Hades, which is widely considered one of the very best games of 2020. As part of the showcase, Supergiant explained the origins of its hit dungeon crawler, which lands on PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on August 13th.

Families who are still largely working and studying at home might find that their WiFi network is feeling the strain, especially if someone's setup is far away from the router. If you're on the lookout for an upgrade, it may be worth considering the Google WiFi mesh system. A three-pack of nodes currently costs $149 on Amazon. That's the lowest price we've seen to date on the most recent model, which debuted in October at a price of $199 for the three-pack.

Buy Google WiFi (three-pack) at Amazon - $149

The idea behind a mesh system is that, after you set up the nodes around your home, they can work together to provide a stronger WiFi network across a larger area than many single routers are capable of. Google WiFi supports speeds of up to 1.2 Gbps, the company says. It claims a single point can support multiple simultaneous 4K video streams, though the size of your home, building materials and layout can impact signal strength.

The system uses WPA3 encryption and dual-band connectivity, as well as security updates and parental controls. You can manage the network using the Google Home app.

It's worth noting Google WiFi isn't quite as fast as the Nest WiFi system. Each node can cover up to 1,500 square feet, compared with 2,200 square feet for the Nest WiFi router and 1,600 square feet for each additional point. The latter also has a built-in Google Assistant smart speaker. A Nest WiFi three-pack costs $350, though. If you're in the market for a solid mesh system that won't break the bank, Google WiFi might do the trick.

Google is refreshing its Nest lineup with three new products and a refresh for the wired indoor Nest Cam. Among the newcomers are Google’s first battery-powered Nest Cam and Doorbell, as a recent leak indicated. You’ll be able to install them just about anywhere around your home, and connect them to a wired power source, if you prefer.

The battery life depends on how many recorded events the devices detect and factors like the temperature and settings. Google says the Doorbell’s battery will run for up to six months on a single charge, while the Nest Cam can run for up to seven months before you need to juice it up. You can recharge the Doorbell over USB-C, and the camera using an included USB-A adaptor.

Google

The Doorbell captures video at a resolution of 989 x 1280 pixels at up to 30 frames per second. It has a 6x digital zoom, 145-degree diagonal field of view and can see up to 10 feet away in the dark thanks to its night vision capabilities. It also has a 3:4 field of view so you can get a full head-to-toe look at whoever shows up at your door.

As for the Nest Cam, it can capture video in 1080p at up to 30 fps. The device has a 130-degree diagonal field of view, 6x digital zoom and night vision that can see objects up to 20 feet away. It has an IP54 rating for weather resistance too. As well as mounting it outside, you can set up the camera indoors.

Google

Both products, which are designed with recycled materials, offer up to three hours of event video history. You can increase that with a Nest Aware subscription. Like some other Nest cameras, the battery-powered Nest Cam offers around-the-clock video recording with a Nest Aware Plus subscription, though you'll need to hook it up to a continuous power source.

In addition, the company is offering a Nest Cam with an integrated floodlight for the first time. One thing that all four devices have in common is that they're designed to only alert you to important events. They all have on-device machine learning capabilities to recognize and alert you to people, animals and vehicles. The Doorbell can detect and recognize packages placed as close as eight inches to your door. Google says don't need a subscription to use these features and that it trained the machine learning model on 40 million images to account for a variety of environments and lighting conditions.

Google

The devices also offer a familiar-face detection feature for Nest Aware subscribers. You can decide who they're able to recognize. 

Meanwhile, the on-device processing capabilities allow the Doorbell and cameras to store up to an hour of video events locally if the power or Wi-Fi go out. That's approximately a week's worth of events depending on activity levels around your home. When everything's up and running again, they'll upload those events to the cloud. 

As you’d expect, the cameras and Doorbell are work with the Google Home app and other Google products, such as Nest displays. Google also says Nest camera data is encrypted.

The battery-powered Nest Cam and Doorbell (which each cost $180) are available to pre-order today in 18 countries, including the US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand. They'll be available in those countries on August 24th, in Japan two days later and in Mexico later this year. The Nest Cam with floodlight ($280) and second-gen wired Nest Cam ($100) are coming soon.

Heatworks has at long last opened pre-orders for the Tetra, a countertop dishwasher the company unveiled to some fanfare at CES 2018. Since the Tetra doesn't require any plumbing, the only thing you need to connect it to is an electrical outlet. The appliance has a three-liter tank you fill with water manually. Once the cycle (which takes less than an hour on the shortest setting) is complete, you disconnect the greywater tank and pour out the used water.

The dishwasher can wash and dry three place settings worth of dishes per load. On the surface, it might seem wasteful compared with cleaning those plates, cups and utensils manually, not to mention the counter space the machine will hog. However, Heatworks claims the machine requires less water than handwashing and rinsing the dishes. 

There are several settings, including a "fruit" one for washing produce. In addition, the dishwasher uses recyclable cartridges with concentrated detergent in an attempt to reduce waste.

The Tetra also requires less power than a standard dishwasher, according to the company. To heat up water, Heatworks uses Ohmic Array Technology, as Gizmodo notes. The Tetra takes a microwave-style approach to heating water rather than harnessing traditional metal elements. It uses graphite electrodes and "advanced electronic controls" to excite natural minerals in water. That setup allows the Tetra to efficiently heat water and maintain precise temperature control, according to Heatworks.

While there are other countertop dishwashers that don't need a plumbing connection, the Tetra has a smaller water tank than many of its rivals. Farberware's FDW05ASBWHA model (which is currently $340) has a five-liter capacity. The Tetra may heat water more efficiently than other models as well.

The Tetra will typically cost $499, but Heatworks is offering a $100 discount to those who lock in a preorder now. The detergent cartridges will cost around $6 each and they should be good for 20 loads depending on the setting and load capacity. Heatworks expects to start shipping the Tetra by May 18th, 2022, which is No Dirty Dishes Day.