Impossible Foods will debut plant-based chicken nuggets this fall, the company told Bloomberg on Friday. As with its past releases, the startup plans to first sell the food to restaurants, with supermarket availability to follow later. But before all that, it will debut them at a trade show next week.

One thing that will distinguish the nuggets from Impossible’s past products is the absence of heme, a molecule the company says is what makes “meat taste like meat.” But the problem with Impossible’s heme is that the company makes it with genetically engineered yeast. That’s something that has prevented Impossible from selling its burgers and sausages in China and throughout Europe. But when it comes to real chicken, there isn’t a lot of heme in the white meat of the animal. “We found in a nugget format, which is breaded and has some seasoning, it really wasn’t that necessary.” Laura Kilman, a flavor scientist with Impossible, told Bloomberg. The formula the company eventually settled on mostly makes use of soy protein and sunflower oil.

Compared to Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods is late to offer a chicken alternative. “We’ve been busy with other things,” Dennis Woodside, the company’s president, told Bloomberg. To that point, Impossible introduced a pork substitute at CES 2020. 

All the same, that might not matter much. Earlier in the week, Popeyes announced it was adding chicken nuggets to its menu in hopes of replicating the success of its chicken sandwich. The latter sparked a “war” between fast food chains as demand for chicken increased in the US and throughout the world. That's something that could help Impossible when its plant-based chicken starts making its way to consumers. 

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.

Though it’s still best known for its capture cards, Elgato is working toward taking over your entire streaming setup. The past half decade has seen the introduction of the Stream Deckline for easily initiating macros during a broadcast; different kinds of lighting; and, last year, the company’s first gaming microphones. The one thing missing in this list was a webcam — until today’s introduction of the Elgato FaceCam.

Kris Naudus / Engadget

On its surface, the $200 camera is not that unique. It’s a chunky rectangular box that can be easily clipped on top of a monitor, or connected to Elgato’s multi mount system. It shoots 1080p at 60fps, with a Sony-made STARVIS CMOS sensor. It may not be 4K, but most streamers don’t need that kind of resolution right now. The FaceCam makes up for it with a robust suite of settings in its dedicated Camera Hub program. Yes, you’ll have to download another piece of software for this camera to run alongside Game Capture, Stream Deck, Wave Link (for the mics) and Control Center (for the lighting), which is a little annoying. Other companies bundle all their different drivers and settings into one tool, but I suppose keeping them separate probably makes sending out updates easier.

Kris Naudus / Engadget

In the Camera Hub you’ll have easy access to things like contrast, exposure and white balance. (The latter two can be set to automatic so you have one less thing to fuss over.) The automatic white balance was a little warm for my taste, but it was easy enough to turn it off and knock the number down to a cooler 4000K. The software also comes with zoom options, but it’s nothing to write home about, as the camera is fixed focus. You’ll always be sharp as long as you always remain between 12 inches (30 cm) and 47 inches (120 cm) from the camera. That should take care of anyone working at a desk; anyone who moves further back would be better served with something a little more portable with advanced settings.

Kris Naudus / Engadget

The biggest draw of the Camera Hub is the real-time ISO reading, which makes it a lot easier to detect and react to changes in your lighting. Maybe your lights are too bright, or maybe the natural light from outside vanished with an oncoming thunderstorm (which is exactly what’s happening as I type this). The exposure and white balance can adjust automatically, or you can tweak the settings yourself on the fly. There’s a Stream Deck plugin available, which should make it possible to adjust the settings with the touch of a button. Of course, that’s dependent on you having smart lighting in the first place, like Elgato’s Key Light or Ring Light.

Kris Naudus / Engadget

There’s a definite sense that you’re meant to go all-in on Elgato’s streaming lineup, probably best evidenced by the lack of a microphone in the FaceCam. The company says it didn’t bother since most gamers tend to use headsets anyway, but let’s face it: Elgato would rather you pick up one of its Wave:1 or Wave:3 mics. They do indeed sound great, but they’re not my preferred microphones thanks to some issues I had with getting the Wave:3 to work while I was wearing a headset — yes, even one made by Elgato’s parent company Corsair.

Kris Naudus / Engadget

For the most part, the FaceCam has a lot fewer kinks. My biggest problem was plugging it in, as it must be plugged into your system directly and not via a hub. And that’s tough with many modern laptops, which may only have two USB-C ports. The FaceCam comes with a USB-C to USB-A cord, and the company recommends you use the included wire instead of providing your own. I was forced to search around for a converter dongle. While I commend companies for finally embracing USB-C in their gaming accessories, we need some solutions on the software side to ensure that they can actually be used with hubs. My Logitech C920 works with a hub and it comes with a built-in mic, so it’s likely to remain my default webcam for most purposes.

Kris Naudus / Engadget

Still, the FaceCam is off to a promising start. The video quality is crisp and free of noise, and when it’s not there’s a built-in filter you can enable. I haven’t needed it to, though, as the camera has handled my Google Hangouts and Zoom calls with ease. The price is a bit steep, but still on par with Logitech’s Brio 4K and Razer’s Kiyo Pro, both of which cost $200. What your money gets you here is the assurance that it will work seamlessly with your Elgato Stream Deck — a piece of equipment that, right now at least, has no real competition.

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.

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.

If autonomous rides ever free us from driving, more focus will need to be paid to car interiors. A new concept crammed with a mind-boggling amount of tech offers a vision of what that future may look like. If the vehicle ever becomes a reality, that is. Meet the Teorema, a virtual blueprint for the zenith of road transport. Or, a pipe dream, depending on your point of view. The breadvan-style car ditches doors for a rear entrance, made possible by a roof that extends upwards and forwards, and packs a holographic augmented reality (AR) display.

Pininfarina

Passengers are guided to the five seats (laid out in a 1-2-2 formation) by a "foot-triggering" floor. Inside, there's a spacious cabin where you can sit facing others or turn the chairs into desks or even beds. It's all about creating a "social space" accentuated by the three driving modes, two of which (Autonomy and Rest) don't require you to drive at all. If you do decide to take the wheel, you can watch the world through that jacked-up AR display — though that could prove distracting. Of course, the concept is electric.

Pininfarina

It helps to know that the Teorema is the brainchild of Pininfarina, an Italian design house associated with one-off car bodies along with numerous prototypes, some of which actually became production models. So, don't rule it out altogether. Maybe, it could become a luxury commercial vehicle with some modifications. Either that, or a limited edition toy for tech billionaires like Elon Musk. Worse still, an NFT. 

Alas, it could also wind up on the scrap heap of concepts that never saw the light of day. You could accuse the Teorema of being too futuristic. But, that's all the rage, right?

Pininfarina

Samsung is catering its SmartThings app updates to our changing lifestyles. During the pandemic, we were glued to the tube, so the Korean company debuted more TV controls. Now, it's introducing a much-needed energy usage tracker as people spend more time indoors than in the past. 

SmartThings Energy can monitor how power hungry your individual or combined Samsung appliances and HVAC products are. The company plans to support other certified partners in the future, including those that specialize in energy management. 

To help you paint a better picture of your home's eco footprint, the update allows you to compare consumption data to your preset targets and monitor monthly usage. The app visualizes this information in the form of color-coded pie and bar charts split across total and select device usage. 

When you exceed your goal or leave an appliance on while you're out, you'll get a notification that alerts you of the rise in energy activity. Samsung will also offer energy saving tips that warn you not to overstock your fridge, for example.

The company has been adding new features to SmartThings throughout the year. Following the new TV controls, Samsung introduced "Unknown Tag Search" in April that can identify if any unknown SmartTags are tracking you. It's also bringing automotive controls for more vehicles to the app in the third quarter.

A few days ago, Universal signed a deal with Amazon to give Prime Video exclusive streaming rights for its live-action releases. This time, Universal has struck a deal with Netflix, specifically for its animated films. The companies have signed a multi-year licensing agreement that gives the streaming service exclusive access to animated movies from Universal-owned Illumination, such as Minions: The Rise of Gru, which comes out in 2022. They've also expanded their partnership to include films from DreamWorks Animation, including the upcoming The Bad Guys and Puss In Boots: The Last Wish.

Similar to Universal's pact with Amazon, though, the Netflix deal is a bit complex. Yes, Netflix will have exclusive rights to animated films from Illumination and Dreamworks in the US, but only for a chunk of the 18-month period after the movies' theatrical run. Within the first four months, all Universal films will only be available for streaming on Peacock, the streaming service also owned by its parent company Comcast. Netflix will then have exclusive streaming rights for 10 months after that before the movies go back to Peacock for another four months. 

Once that 18-month period is done, Universal's animated films will also be available on Amazon Prime Video. Meanwhile, under their new deal, Netflix will license Universal's full animated and live-action slate four years after their release and will also secure streaming rights to select titles from the studio's library. While the deal can be a bit confusing, it all boils down to the fact that Netflix will continue having exclusive access to some of what could become the most-watched films on the platform. As Variety noted, Illumination's The Secret Life of Pets 2 is the most-watch Netflix movie in 2021 so far, according to a Forbes analysis. Last year, that distinction belonged to another film by Illumination: Despicable Me.

Between the enduring popularity of the Nintendo Switch, the increasing power of flagship phones and new services like Apple Arcade, portable gaming has finally moved to the forefront. However, the disappearance of 3.5mm ports on mobile devices has left many players bereft of premium audio — Bluetooth earbuds don’t quite cut it when you need your audio synced perfectly. If you want a rock-solid connection your best bet is an RF dongle, which usually uses USB-A in a world steadily being overtaken by USB-C ports. Razer has finally stepped up with a mobile-first headset that can connect to your Switch, Android phone or thin-and-light laptop, the $100 Barracuda X.

The Barracuda X is far from the first headset geared toward Nintendo Switch players; we’re big fans of SteelSeries’ Arctis 1 Wireless thanks to its comfort and superb audio quality, and have even included it in a few of our gift guides. It’s fair to say that this headset is the Barracuda’s primary competitor. Even the RF adapters look the same.

Kris Naudus / Engadget

However, while the Arctis 1 Wireless maintains the standard look of the line (as it should — it’s a great design), the Barracuda is a change of pace for Razer. Instead of the Kraken brand’s circular, grated look, the new headset resembles last year’s Opus headphones, which got a refresh last month. It’s not totally identical, with different joints on the cups, and cloth ear padding instead of fake leather. Here in New York, it’s 90 degrees as of this writing, and I can report that I haven’t felt the need to take off the Barracuda even after wearing it for a few hours. It’s still a bit warm, and I definitely feel cooler when I take the headset off, but it’s bearable.

The Barracuda X also weighs a very scant 250 grams, one of the lightest headsets I’ve tested. (I think it might be lighter than its own packaging.) In direct comparison it feels about the same in hand as similar models from Turtle Beach and Logitech, but there’s a balance in the Barracuda’s plastic build that makes it feel more ethereal. It’s not something I would mind keeping on my head for several hours or throwing it in my backpack so I can game on the train. Which is precisely the point: You shouldn’t feel that carrying this thing around is a burden.

Kris Naudus / Engadget

While I wouldn’t go tossing this thing around casually in a rage, it does feel solidly built, capable of taking a few dings in your bag. I have mixed feelings about the detachable mic; being able to take it off means a more compact headset design, but it’s also another fiddly bit that I might lose. Then again, it’s unlikely you need voice functions while out and about. (Heck, the Switch console doesn’t even have real voice chat; it asks you to connect via the app on your phone.)

The Barracuda X excites me, mostly because of its USB-C compatibility. But that’s also where it falls short for me. The adapter is small, for sure, but it’s very wide. That means that if you happen to have a laptop with two USB-C ports next to each other like my 2017 MacBook, the Barracuda dongle will block the other completely. This is a hassle in my office setup, where I have an external monitor and USB hub connected on the other side. So while working I get to choose between the power cord and the headset. I’ve opted out of using the Barracuda with my laptop at all, preferring instead to listen to podcasts on my phone. However, that’s my unique situation, and on the go you might only need two ports: one for the headset and the other for power.

Kris Naudus / Engadget

It’s exciting to see companies finally start to take mobile gaming seriously, and address the specific needs those gamers have. Mobile-friendly controllers are great, but many popular mobile games don’t really need them. Better audio, though? Almost everyone can appreciate that. The $100 price tag might seem a bit steep for some, but the Barracuda X seems versatile enough that you’ll more than get your money’s worth.

For battle royales, it's a case of innovate or die. With severalbig-namecompetitors in the free-to-play genre, studios have to keep updating their games or risk losing players. Activision's latest offering for the Call of Duty: Warzone crowd is an objective-based mode called Payload. In a first for the game, the mission will be added to the rotating playlists as part of Season Four Reloaded.

Here's what you can expect from the new mode when it goes live with the update at 12AM ET on Thursday, July 15th. Payload splits players in two teams of 20 that are tasked with either escorting or attacking vehicles transporting satellite parts. Each team must complete their objective within the designated time limit. As usual, you can use custom loadouts or killstreaks (including a new sentry gun from Black Ops Cold War) to help your side clinch victory. You'll also be able to buy and build obstacles to stall the vehicles on the tracks.

The setup doesn't seem all that different from the types of protect or destroy missions available in Rockstar's GTA Online and Read Dead Online. Though, fighting off parachuting assailants or bombarding heavily armed trucks through multiple checkpoints does sound more frenzied. For its part, Activision is pitching Payload as a crucial battle that "can shift the balance of the war between Perseus and NATO." 

As for file sizes, the Warzone update will range from 8.9GB to 9.2GB on PlayStation and Xbox and PC, respectively.

Faster internet and mobile data speeds are cutting wait times for game and entertainment downloads. The two art forms helped people through lockdowns, so it makes sense for tech and media gatekeepers to maintain that momentum as life slowly returns to normal. Netflix did just that by allowing subscribers to watch partially downloaded shows and movies. Now, Google is doing the same for mobile games. The latest version of Android will allow you to fire up a game long before it completes downloading.

According to Google, you'll eventually be able to start playing Play store titles in seconds. More specifically, it says that games will be ready to open at least two times faster than before. One example shows a 127mb game being fit to play with just 20 percent downloaded. For now, developers can sign up to a beta for the feature, but Google says it will eventually become the default system for Play Store games.

The tech giant has tried to tear down some of the barriers around digital gaming in the past. Notably, it launched Instant Games in 2018 that loaded up ahead of the full installation process. While its Apple Arcade rival, Play Pass, allows subscribers to try a library of apps for a monthly fee. Then there's Stadia, Google's promising (but troubled) cloud gaming service that does away with game downloads.

More broadly, the play-as-you-download feature comes at an opportune time. Like their console and PC brethren, mobile games are increasing in size. A trend players may have spotted with the release of open-world and metaverse games like Genshin Impact and Roblox on iOS and Android. Research from Sensor Tower shows that the average file size of mobile games increased by 76 percent in the US since 2016. Helping players get to the action faster in the face of larger downloads is therefore a win-win for developers and the public alike.