Uber has announced the first major expansion of its grocery delivery service in the US. The company is more than doubling the number of service areas this week to north of 400 cities and towns. It now serves several major markets through the Uber and Uber Eats apps, including San Francisco, New York City and Washington DC.
The rapid expansion was partly fueled by a partnership with Albertsons Companies and its 1,200 grocery stores across the country. Albertsons owns brands including Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Acme, Tom Thumb and Randalls. Uber also offers delivery from regional chains such as Southeastern Grocers and New York’s Red Apple Group. Uber Pass and Eats Pass subscribers don't need to pay delivery fees on grocery orders over $30.
Grocery delivery became an important component of Uber's business during the toughest parts of the COVID-19 pandemic, because the number of rides people were taking dropped significantly. The company is also dealing with a driver shortage that led to higher prices for rides. Uber bought several delivery startups over the last couple of years to fuel its growth in that sector, such as Cornershop, Postmates and Drizly.
AT&T is set to provide voice, data and messaging services to Dish's Boost Mobile, Ting and Republic Wireless customers for the next 10 years. Dish plans to pay AT&T at least $5 billion as part of the deal, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
To serve customers of both companies, AT&T may be able to use parts of the wireless spectrum to which Dish holds licences, as The Wall Street Journal notes. Before now, T-Mobile provided services to the nearly 9 million customers of Dish’s mobile brands.
The deal might draw the attention of regulators, who enabled Dish to join the mobile market when it approved the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint. The conditions of the complex deal included T-Mobile divesting Boost. The plan was for Dish to rent services from T-Mobile for seven years while it built its own mobile network.
If you've been shopping for portable chargers and other power accessories, it's worth checking out an Anker sale on Amazon, which is running today only. Many of the brand's products have been discounted by up to 35 percent in the sale. Among them is a bundle that includes a PowerCore III Elite 25600 60W portable charger, PowerPort III 65W Pod wall charger, USB-C to USB-C cable and travel pouch.
You can charge up to three devices at once via a 60W USB-C port and dual 18W USB ports, and the 25,600mAh capacity should be enough to recharge an iPhone 12 at least five times over and a Samsung Galaxy S21 at least four times, Anker suggests. The bundle is currently down from $160 to $110.
Elsewhere, you'll be able to pick up a PowerPort Strip PD 2 Mini power strip for $26, down from $36. The hub will allow you to power and charge five devices simultaneously through a USB-C port, two PowerIQ-enabled USB charging ports and a pair of AC outlets.
You can also save on the handy PowerWave Sense 2-in-1 Stand, which will let you wirelessly charge any Qi-enabled phone. You don't necessarily need to remove your phone case, according to Anker. As long as it's less than five millimeters thick and isn't a magnetic or MagSafe case, the device should still charge your phone. You can simultaneously charge an Apple Watch (Series 1-6 and SE) using the stand, which is currently down from $43 to $30. You can also check out the rest of the products Anker has on sale today through its Amazon store page.
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In the nine months to July, US customs officials seized $62.2 million worth of fake AirPods and other counterfeit wireless headphones, according to data obtained by The Information. Around 360,000 units were confiscated during that timeframe. The agency said seizures of counterfeit wireless headphones have increased by 50 percent over the past five years “as products such as Apple AirPods gained popularity.”
US Customs and Border Protection impounded 295,000 sets of counterfeit headphones worth $61.7 million during the government's previous fiscal year (which starts in October), so it seems there are more phony headphones flooding into the US market than ever. The value of fake headphones that agents seized in 2019 was comparatively minuscule at $3.3 million.
These figures are likely just a drop in the ocean compared with the number of fakes that sneak past borders. It's nearly impossible to know the exact figures, but estimates made by the US Chamber of Commerce in 2016 suggest officials seize just 2.5 percent of counterfeit goods worldwide.
Given that estimate, The Information suggests counterfeit AirPods could cost Apple billions in lost sales in the US this year alone, assuming that buyers would otherwise scoop up genuine models. Customs agents have seized phony AirPods on at least a dozen occasions across the US in recent years. The products confiscated in four of those seizures would have been worth around $13 million were they genuine Apple products, officials said.
There are, of course, other brands that counterfeiters are copying, and it's not clear what percentage of fake headphones that customs agents confiscate are AirPods knockoffs. Counterfeit headphones aren't exactly new, but having hard numbers on seizures highlight just how pervasive they are. Then again, when even customs agents believe a legitimate Apple competitor's true wireless earbuds are phony AirPods, the extent of the problem might not be too clear after all.
Rivian was supposed to start deliveries of its R1T Launch Edition electric pickup truck this month, but that won’t be the case. The automaker has delayed the initial shipments to September.
Customers will also have to wait longer to get their hands on the R1S electric SUV, as the first deliveries won't take place until the fall. Rivian said in June that deliveries of both vehicles would commence in July, a month later than previously planned. TechCrunch first reported on the most recent delays.
In a letter to customers that Rivian shared with Engadget, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe pointed to the long-tail impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as a major cause of the setbacks. "Everything from facility construction, to equipment installation, to vehicle component supply (especially semiconductors) has been impacted by the pandemic," Scaringe wrote. "Beyond these unforeseen challenges, launching three new vehicles while setting up a multi-vehicle manufacturing plant is a complex orchestra of coordinated and interlinked activities where small issues can translate into ramp delays."
Scaringe said that Rivian, which now employs more than 7,000 people, has built "hundreds of vehicles as part of our validation process, with many of those spotted out in the wild covered in unique vinyl wraps." He noted that the company hasn't yet delivered those since Rivian believes "it is critical to both our long-term success and your ultimate satisfaction that the quality and robustness of our launch products truly sets the tone for what to expect from us as a brand."
As long as Rivian can stick to its latest timeline, it may still be the first automaker to bring an electric pickup truck to market. GMC's Hummer EV pickup likely won't go into production until later this year, while Ford (a Rivian investor) is eyeing next spring for shipments of the electric F-150 Lightning.
Along with the R1T and R1S, Rivian is building commercial vans on a separate production line at its factory in Normal, Illinois. Amazon has ordered 100,000 of those electric vans and has started to test them.
The event will feature updates about existing and upcoming games, as well as giveaways and tournaments. QuakeCon Twitch partners will be streaming throughout the event and encouraging viewers to donate to charities including Asian Americans Advancing Justice, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, The Trevor Project and UNICEF. Bethesda gave away a few Quake games last year after virtual attendees smashed donation targets.
Pocket Casts will soon have a new home. Automattic, the parent company of Tumblr and WordPress.com, is buyinh the podcast app from a collective of public radio groups, including NPR and BBC Studios. Automattic didn't disclose how much it will pay for Pocket Casts.
Co-founders Russell Ivanovic and Philip Simpson will remain in charge of the Pocket Casts team. It seems Automattic is already thinking about ways of incorporating the multi-platform app into its blogging tools.
"As part of Automattic, Pocket Casts will continue to provide you with the features needed to enjoy your favorite podcasts (or find something new)," a WordPress.com blog post states. "We will explore building deep integrations with WordPress.com and Pocket Casts, making it easier to distribute and listen to podcasts."
Both blogs and podcasts use RSS feeds for distribution, so integrating the two platforms makes sense. Earlier this year, Spotify-owned Anchor teamed up with WordPress.com to turn written material into podcasts via text-to-speech tech. It'll be interesting to see how the Pocket Casts deal factors into that partnership, if at all.
Twenty two years after the debut of NBA 2K, the basketball sim series will feature a woman on the cover of the game for the first time. Two-time WNBA MVP and 2016 WNBA Finals MVP Candace Parker features on the front of the WNBA 25th Anniversary Special Edition of NBA 2K22.
Parker is one of several basketball stars to feature on NBA 2K22 packaging. Luka Dončić is the cover athlete on the standard edition of the game, while the NBA 75th Anniversary Edition features Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Extremely proud and humbled to be the first female cover athlete in the history of @NBA2K
I’m honored to work with a company that’s investing in women and betting on us to succeed. I’m hopeful there will be many more badass females to follow 💪🏽💪🏽 pic.twitter.com/WJan4YE7Qt
The WNBA 25th Anniversary Special Edition is a GameStop exclusive (Canadians can pick it up from EB Games). It's a physical edition for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and it features a bundle of seven exclusive in-game WNBA jerseys, including one for Parker. It costs $70 and it will be available on September 10th.
Although it's taken a long time for 2K to put a female athlete on the cover of an NBA game, it's a positive step forward for representation. NBA 2K20 was the first 2K game to feature WNBA teams and players, and a WNBA version of the MyPlayer career mode debuted in NBA 2K21.
The rumors about Valve making a version of the Nintendo Switch for handheld Steam gaming are true. The company has revealed the Steam Deck, which will arrive in December in the US, Canada, the European Union and the UK, with availability expanding to more regions later. The system starts at $399.
Although the hardware isn’t final, according to IGN, the console currently looks like a mashup of a Switch, a Sega Game Gear and the Steam Controller. It has a seven-inch touchscreen, with a resolution of 1280 x 800 at a 16:10 aspect ratio, 400 nits of brightness and a 60 Hz refresh rate.
Valve
There are dual thumbsticks, two 32.5mm square trackpads, an analog directional pad, four main face buttons, triggers and a quartet of grip buttons, as well as gyro controls. The Steam Deck also has a headphone jack, stereo speakers, dual microphones and haptic feedback. It weights around 669 grams.
Valve teamed up with AMD on the hardware. The Steam Deck's custom chipset features a 2.4-3.5GHz processor and a 1.0-1.6GHz GPU. Valve claims it's a "Zen 2 + RDNA 2 powerhouse" that's capable of running the latest major games "in a very efficient power envelope."
The handheld PC comes with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 512GB of NVMe internal storage, which you can expand with a microSD card. Valve says the Steam Deck will run for between two and eight hours on a single charge. The battery life will depend on how resource intensive the games you play are. The Switch, meanwhile, runs for up to nine hours.
Valve
Steam Deck runs on a new version of SteamOS that's designed for handheld use. Valve says it uses Proton, a compatibility layer that lets games run without developers having do any porting work. You'll have access to your full library of games. You can expect to have access to many Steam features, including chat, remote play (so you can play games from your PC just about anywhere), cloud saves and, of course, the Steam storefront.
The device has a built-in quick suspend and resume feature. Pressing the power button will suspend your game and send the Steam Deck into sleep mode. You'll be able to continue where you left off when you hit the power button again.
Steam Deck will support a variety of Bluetooth and USB-C peripherals. You can plug in a powered USB-C hub and use multiple devices at once. You can connect the system to an external display and play games at up to 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 120Hz.
Introducing Steam Deck: powerful, portable PC gaming starting at $399. Designed by Valve, powered by Steam. Shipping December 2021.
Valve is also making an official dock with DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0 and Ethernet ports, as well as one USB 3.1 and two USB 2.0 ports. You'll be able to use the Steam Deck as an actual PC, if you like — you'll even be able to install some other game stores.
The Steam Deck could be a gamechanger for those who've been yearning to play all kinds of PC titles while they're on the move or even relaxing on a couch. However, the name is very similar to Elgato's Stream Deck, so it remains to be seen whether that part of the system will stick. Notably, the device costs just $50 more than the upcoming OLED version of the Nintendo Switch and the same as a digital PlayStation 5.
The base $399 Steam Deck comes with 64GB of eMMC internal storage and a carrying case. For $529, you can upgrade the storage to a 256GB NVMe SSD. The 512GB model costs $649 and comes with "premium anti-glare etched glass." The dock will be sold separately.
Reservations for the Steam Deck open on July 16th at 1PM ET on the Steam store. You'll need to pay a deposit, but that goes toward the price of the system.
Just ahead of World Emoji Day, Facebook has announced a new feature for Messenger: emoji with sound. With Soundmojis, you can annoy everyone else in your chats with short audio clips that are linked to a visual emoji.
The initial Soundmoji library includes sound cues for standard emoji including applause and a drumroll as well as evil laughter. There are also audio clips from artists such as Rebecca Black (it's hard to imagine which day of the week would be most appropriate for that Soundmoji) and movies and TV shows including F9, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Bridgerton. Facebook will add more sound effects and clips over time.
If you really want to risk the wrath of your friends and family by bugging them with Soundmojis, open a Messenger chat, then tap the smiley face followed by the loudspeaker icon. You'll be able to preview Soundmojis from the library before sending them. I wonder what an eyeroll sounds like.
