The base model of Apple's 13-inch MacBook Air with the M2 chip has returned to a record low of $949 at B&H Photo and Best Buy. The price has dipped this far before, but this is still a rare sale — and a good buy as the 13-inch Air is our current favorite Apple laptop. The list price for this configuration is $1,099 (Apple dropped the MSRP by $200 when the 15-inch MacBook Air came out earlier this summer), making this a tidy, $150 discount. You get 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD and Apple's latest M2 system-on-a-chip, which improves both the machine's speed and battery life. The discount applies to all four colorways, instead of just one or two.
While the M2 chip is currently Apple's latest processor, it’s worth noting that new M3-equipped Macs will probably debut this fall, along with the expected iPhone 15, both of which we anticipate hearing about in September. As the company has done in the past, Apple will likely keep the M2 machines in its lineup, though the price may come down even further. That said, if you're in the market right now for a solid ultraportable for college or nomadic work, this is a good deal.
Despite the release of the 15-inch MacBook Air, we still think the 13-inch model is the best Apple laptop for most people, and it's the top recommendation in our guide. Engadget's Devindra Hardawar gave it a high score of 96 in his review, praising it's speed and versatility. The quad speakers can fill a room without distortion and the three-mic array does a good job of clearly picking up your voice on calls. The M2 chip makes it plenty fast enough to handle streaming and cloud gaming and does a great job with Apple Arcade games.
Despite being less than a half-inch thick, the M2 MacBook Air retains its headphone jack, provides two Thunderbolt ports and a MagSafe connector for charging. And the battery lasted for 16 and a half hours in our rundown tests. We think it's a great laptop for everyday use and standard productivity, though if you want to do intensive video editing, you may want to step up to a Pro model. The base model of that machine is $200 off at B&H Photo, but will still run you $1,799.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-macbook-air-m2-drops-back-to-a-record-low-of-950-161530350.html?src=rss
We only just reviewed the ROG Ally, and it’s already been dethroned as the “most powerful handheld gaming PC yet.” Or at least, it’s going to have to scoot over a little and let the Ayaneo 2S squeeze in. The two portable PCs have a lot in common: They both have 7-inch displays, they both run Windows 11, they both sport Zen 4-based AMD APUs and they both want to draw your attention away from the cheaper, older, bigger, but fan-favorite Steam Deck.
The Ayaneo 2S does best the ROG Ally in a few important areas though. The displays might be the same size, but the 2S has a 1200p resolution (ASUS’s is 1080p), the 2S has a larger battery (50Wh vs 40) and the Ally is only available with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The Ayaneo 2S is available in multiple configurations that start where the Ally does and go right up to 64GB RAM and a cavernous 4TB of storage. It’s important to note, though, that even the most affordable Zen 4-based Ayaneo starts at $999 (or $699 if you’re quick enough to bag an early bird) compared to the Ally’s relative affordability (starting at $699).
While Ayaneo competes with the likes of Valve and ASUS on a technical level, in most other ways, the company is more of an upstart in the world of gaming hardware. But one that has earned a dedicated army of fans thanks to its spec-heavy approach to product design.
The Ayaneo 2S isn’t just the Ayaneo 2 with a new 7840U processor, but that is by far the most important difference. Cosmetically the two are almost identical bar some larger vent holes on the 2S. There’s also a minor tweak to the triggers that stop them making a noise when fully depressed and an improved fingerprint reader. Most of the other upgrades are to do with cooling, including a graphene patch that has been added and the aforementioned airflow design.
Photo by James Trew / Engadget
Either way, the new, more powerful processor is really what makes the 2S interesting. ASUS entering the handheld space has added credibility to the portable PC gaming space, perhaps creating a stepping stone between the dependability and smoother UI of the Steam Deck and the tech-heavy, but less refined experience of Ayaneo products. So when ASUS announced the ROG Ally, Ayaneo probably didn’t like losing a superlative claim (of being more powerful than Valve’s competition).
A new processor is only as good as the performance boost it brings, and even that has to be weighed against any extra tax on the battery (which remains the same 50.25Wh capacity as the original Ayaneo 2). The short version is, there are good gains to be had, but if you were considering the 6800U-based Ayaneo, that’s still a capable performer — and now a more affordable one.
In general the gaming experience on the 2S is superior, as you would hope, to that of the original Ayaneo 2. Broadly speaking, both can handle most games, even demanding AAA titles at very playable frame rates. The difference is more in the power profile/TDP you need to get that enjoyable experience. For example, on the 2S, I was able to get The Witcher 3 to run at a steady 60 fps (“Steam Deck” settings at 800p) with an 11W TDP setting. I could even dial it down to 8W and it’d hover between 55 and 60 fps. For the Ayaneo 2, I had to dial it up to around 15W to achieve a steady 60, or 10W for “almost” 60. This represents a modest, but important upgrade in performance — but every game is different.
With games like Red Dead Redemption 2 or Cyberpunk 2077, the difference is more pronounced. The Ayaneo 2 was able to serve up around mid-20 fps for both of these games at 15W TDP at 1200p. The 2S was able to crank out closer to 40 peak fps with a minimum over 30 at the same power setting. Dial the 2S up to 22W TDP and you can expect over 60 fps no problem.
Photo by James Trew / Engadget
It’s hard to do several side by side comparisons for all games and different situations, but it’s easy to see that the 7840U presents a significant upgrade in performance at the higher end. Some benchmarks even suggest that the Ayaneo 2S consistently bests the performance of the ROG ALLY with like for like settings. This could simply be down to differences in drivers for the new chipsets, but as YouTuber The Phawx points out, modern games often require a lot of VRAM, and APUs like the 7840U lean on system RAM for that, making the higher spec of the Ayaneo a clear advantage.
If you’re less worried about playing heavyweight games, and prefer indie titles or older/lighter games then the 2S really shines, being able to run things like Hades, Trine, Return of the Obra Dinn, Hotline Miami and so on at full/high quality settings without even flinching. Importantly, you’ll be able to do so at a much lower TDP — even as low as 5W for many of the above titles.
It’s with these less-demanding titles where the new processor’s efficiency most noticeably translates into extra battery life. With the Ayaneo 2, at lower TDP settings battery life seems to hover a little over the four hour mark (depending on the game being played). With the 2S, it’s possible to break the five hour mark if you’re frugal — of course this also means disabling wireless, lowering the screen brightness and so on, but it’s a marked improvement.
Sadly, those gains don’t seem to scale up at the high end. Once above 15W I didn’t notice significant gains in battery life. That said, if you’re now able to play a game at 15W that needed 20W of power on an older model, there’s obviously an inherent power saving there, but at like-for-like wattages, these Windows handhelds are still incredibly power hungry.
Ayaneo has been broadly praised for its hardware and performance since it entered the scene, it’s the software side of things where people seem to have the most complaints. It doesn’t take long with the 2S before you’re reminded that you’re basically holding a desktop. Especially if there’s a launcher between you and the game — as EA/Rockstar/Ubisoft titles tend to have. On the Steam Deck, for example, these are handled slightly better, but on the Ayaneo platform it can be ugly with different windows popping up.
The Ayaspace launcher itself rarely gets much praise, but I’ve always found it functional and a nicer experience than just launching titles from the desktop. It doesn’t do an amazing job of hiding Windows from you — you’ll regularly find yourself navigating the desktop with the analog sticks or touchscreen. For the most part you can boot up and get into a game quickly, but the specter of Microsoft’s operating system is never far away.
Photo by James Trew / Engadget
The better news is that Ayaneo has just made version 2.0 of its launcher available for download and it looks promising. The general user interface seems much slicker and more lightweight which feels much more in tune with what you might expect from a console experience. I was only able to spend a short amount of time with it, but aesthetically it feels like an improvement with more controls and settings closer to hand.
Perhaps the bigger problem for the 2S, or Ayaneo owners in general, is that… even in the time between starting this review and finishing it the company’s lineup has changed. The Ayaneo Air 1S, a more compact 7840-based handheld, has been announced. That’s not to be confused with the Air Pro and the Air Plus. Then there’s the Ayaneo Kun, a new, new flagship that’s all new, including an 8-inch display and Steam Deck-like touchpads. Not to mention the dizzying amount of different configurations within each of those, meaning Ayaneo probably has more SKUs than all of its competitors put together.
Predictably, the Ayaneo 2S is a great gaming handheld that outperforms most of its rivals in several key areas. It’ll handle almost any game you throw at it, and likely do so surprisingly well. But there’s still the matter of price. $999+ for a gaming handheld is a huge spend for most people. One of the reasons the Steam Deck has remained so popular despite new, “superior” competition from Ayaneo and ASUS etc. is that it’s relatively affordable.
Ayaneo looks set to continue to cater for those who are willing to pay for the latest and greatest, but it’s also at risk of alienating those users by making their $1,200 handheld feel last-gen in just seven months. At the moment, the company’s fans appear to enjoy the rapid-fire approach to releases. Just as they’re about to stop salivating over the latest product, another one pops up on the horizon. There is, of course, a question mark over how long Ayaneo can keep this up without alienating its fans, or even over-stretching its own resources. At least, for now, the next APU refresh from AMD isn’t set for another year or so, so perhaps that’s a chance for Ayaneo to catch its breath. Or not.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ayaneo-2s-review-160047194.html?src=rss
Folks on the lookout for the best wireless earbuds around should definitely consider what Bose has to offer. That's especially true if you want to block out as much environmental noise as possible when it's time to focus. The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II are your best option for noise cancellation right now and, as luck would have it, they're on sale. You can pick up a pair for $249, which is $50 off the regular price.
That's the same discount that was available during Prime Day last month, but it's not quite the lowest price we've seen. The earbuds briefly dropped to $229 during last year's holiday shopping season. However, the current discount is still a good deal on a pair of high-quality earbuds.
We gave the Bose QC Earbuds II a score of 87 in our review last September. Along with excellent active noise cancellation (ANC), the earbuds boast good sound quality. We found that the smaller size compared with the previous model made for a better fit, while Bose improved the ambient sound.
The QC Earbuds II lack multipoint connectivity and wireless charging, which might be dealbreakers for some. We found call quality to be somewhat mediocre too. Still, if ANC is your top concern, these earbuds are worth your attention.
Elsewhere, Bose's QuietComfort 45 over-ear headphones are also on sale. They have dropped to $279, which is $60 off the usual price of $329.
We gave the headset a review score of 86. These cans also deliver great ANC performance, along with clear and balanced audio. They have a long battery life (over 22 hours on a single charge in our testing) and Bose says a 15-minute charge adds three hours of listening time.
Although the QC45 headphones are comfortable to wear, the design isn't much to write home about, while the lack of automatic pausing and some niggles with multi-device connectivity may cause some frustration. Those are relatively minor quibbles, though, given the overall performance.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-bose-quietcomfort-earbuds-ii-are-back-on-sale-for-249-152721106.html?src=rss
Tesla is already facing the fallout from a report that it exaggerated EV ranges and tried to muffle complaints. Three owners in California have launched a proposed class action lawsuit accusing Tesla of false advertising. The trio claims their cars fell well short of their estimated ranges, and that they've had no success lodging complaints. The customers either wouldn't have bought their cars or would have paid considerably less for them, according to the suit.
The owners allege Tesla committed fraud, violated warranties and conducted unfair competition. If the lawsuit gets class action status, it would cover all people in California who bought a Tesla Model 3, Model S, Model X or Model Y. The plaintiffs are hoping for unspecified damages. Tesla has disbanded its communications team and isn't available for comment.
The lawsuit follows a Reuters report that Tesla began modifying EV ranges about a decade ago. Its cars would supposedly show inflated figures when fully charged, and would only start showing accurate numbers under a 50 percent charge. To head off complaints, the automaker is said to have created a "Diversion Team" that would persuade users to drop range-related support calls.
It's not certain that Tesla still uses these purported exaggerations. The Environmental Protection Agency did ask the company to trim its range estimates from the 2020 model year forward, and South Korea recently issued a $2.2 million fine over an alleged failure to adequately inform customers that EV ranges would drop in cold weather.
Tesla isn't alone in boasting EV range estimates that don't hold up in real conditions. An SAE International study found that electric cars tend to fall about 12.5 percent short of their advertised ranges. The report and lawsuit suggest Tesla's figures are less accurate than for other brands, however, and that the company may have tried to silence unhappy customers.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tesla-sued-for-false-advertising-after-allegedly-exaggerating-ev-ranges-151034923.html?src=rss
Waymo only just reached Los Angeles earlier this year, but that isn't stopping it from expanding further. The company is expanding its Waymo One ride-hailing service to Austin. The first phase starts this fall, with completely driverless operations and public rides coming in the months ahead. The coverage will be "truly useful," Waymo claims — it should cover major stretches of the Texas capital, including the downtown core as well as well-known areas like Barton Hills and Hyde Park. You can join a waitlist today.
The deployment is a homecoming of sorts, as Waymo chose Austin to conduct some of its first self-driving tests beyond its hometown of Mountain View. The company also made history by offering the first completely autonomous ride on public streets in 2015. The Alphabet-owned brand has been testing its self-driving SUVs in the city since the spring.
Austin will represent the fourth city to get Waymo One following Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The firm is also operating in New York City, although it hasn't announced plans to offer commercial service in the region. While rides have typically only been available in limited sections of these cities, Waymo recently doubled its operational area to include larger swaths of the Phoenix area and San Francisco.
The announcement reflects Waymo's strengthened focus on ride-hailing. The company recently pushed back its autonomous trucking plans to help it concentrate on passenger service. Waymo wants One to be a commercial hit first, and that means expanding operations as well as securing permission to take paying customers. There's pressure to move quickly when competitors like Cruise and Aurora are testing in Texas.
There are some obstacles to overall growth. Officials want to stop or slow robotaxi deployments in San Francisco over safety concerns, for instance. Vehicles from Waymo and GM's Cruise have blocked traffic, interfered with first responders and otherwise created issues. Other cities and states haven't greenlit self-driving cars, either. Texas' openness to the technology may help, though, and Waymo notes that Austin's rapidly growing economy (the second-fastest for a major US city) could help its chances.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/waymo-is-bringing-its-driverless-ride-hailing-service-to-austin-133949180.html?src=rss
Acura, Honda's luxury and performance vehicle brand, has released a teaser for its first electric vehicle. It doesn't really show much of the the all-electric 2024 ZDX — it's just a silhouette of the car with an illuminated grille in the shadows — but it comes with the announcement that the EV is set to debut on August 17th during the Monterey Car Week.
The 2024 ZDX was designed at the Acura Design Studio in Southern California, and it retains some of the external elements the company used for the Precision EV Concept it showed off during the same event last year. It's based on GM's Ultium battery platform and could perhaps be one of the few, or the only, Acura models to use the modular EV architecture. Honda previously said that future EVs will use its in-house e:Architecture platform instead, with the first models based on it slated for release in 2025.
Acura announced back in June that the ZDX will come with built-in Android Auto and other Google products. Owners will have access to an enhanced version of Google Maps, which can plan optimized routes with charging stations along the way and can estimate the charging time required to reach their destination. They'll also have access to Google Assistant for hands-free controls, as well as to Google Play, so they can download third-party apps to their infotainment system. Acura revealed last month that the EV will be equipped with a Bang & Olufsen audio system, as well.
The automaker will exclusively sell the ZDX and ZDX Type S performance EVs online starting early next year. Emile Korkor, assistant vice president of Acura National Sales, said the ZDX Type S will be "the most powerful and quickest accelerating SUV in the brand's history."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/acura-teases-the-zdx-its-first-electric-vehicle-130051990.html?src=rss
The following article contains spoilers for “Subspace Rhapsody.”
At some point in the ‘90s, it became law that all genre shows with a certain flexibility in their premise must do a musical episode. Xena, Ally McBeal, Buffy, Psych, Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs have all done one, as has Supernatural, Once Upon a Time, 7th Heaven, Supergirl and The Flash. Now, it’s Strange New Worlds’ turn to make its characters spontaneously burst into song as it drops “Subspace Rhapsody” as the penultimate episode of its second season.
It’s clear from the start that Strange New Worlds was well-suited to do a musical given how broad its range is. In the last four weeks alone, we’ve had goofy comedy served up back to back with serious meditations on empathy and redemption. This is the first live action Trek of the streaming era to remember the franchise gets better when it allows itself to be goofy. The only surprise is that this is coming so early on its run; this is just the nineteenth episode of the series overall.
Musical episodes serve several purposes: It allows the cast to show off their hidden talents and lets the production crew indulge their latent musical theater nerd. They’re also, in many cases, a useful narrative crucible, forcing characters to reveal secrets they’d otherwise never let out. It’s an old trick to use the primary colors of a rousing number to drop something deep and dark on an audience. This comes in handy given the number of running storylines in the back of each episode, which get resolved more or less all in one go.
Michael Gibson/Paramount+
Uhura’s opening narration informs us the Enterprise has discovered a large subspace fissure. Spock believes it could be used to speed up communication over long distances, but despite several tries, he and Uhura can’t make it work. Not until Pelia suggests they test the system using music, so Uhura fires up Anything Goes and sends it into the ether. Before you can say that’s-a-good-macguffin, a large subspace wave hits the ship and sends everyone singing.
As this is happening, Pike and Batel – who I can’t believe Pike didn’t dump after arresting and prosecuting his first officer – argue about holiday destinations. Chapel has received word she’s been accepted for a prestigious fellowship with a high-profile academic. She’ll be away for a while but declines to share her news with Spock after the fraying of their relationship last week. And, to further complicate matters, James T. Kirk is back on board to shadow Una in preparation for his own promotion. But when they start spouting technobabble as lyrics and feeling the urge to dance, we’re straight into an acapella rendition of the theme tune.
I’ve pointed out, too frequently this year, the confidence Strange New Worlds has in its own execution. This is the second time in three weeks that it’s not just screwed with its format but also its packaging in the form of its opening credits. It’s evidence of a show that knows it has the patience from its audience to play around with its formatting.
Urged on by Pike, stuck firmly in his eyebrow-raising sick-of-this-malarkey mode, the team find they’re trapped in a state of quantum uncertainty. They’re in a universe that follows the rules of a musical, so when emotions are high, people are likely to burst into song. That’s bad for La’an, who is struggling to contain her feelings with her alternate-history beau on board, especially since she’s prohibited from talking about it. Pike, too, starts to confess his misgivings about the holiday he and Captain Batel have been planning. La’an gets a solo about being emotionally shut off from the rest of the crew, followed soon after with a duet with Una talking about why it’s good to open up.
The improbability field starts to expand, encompassing more starships in the area and reaching Klingon territory. They soon dispatch a cruiser to shut it down, but the Enterprise crew discover that shooting the fissure will release enough energy to wipe out the quadrant. Uhura posits that, if they’re in a musical, their behavior might have to follow the tropes of the genre. Armed with a tricorder, she drags Spock to the bar where he bumps into Chapel, who then dumps him with a full-cast song-and-dance number about the importance of her career. He responds by singing his own solo in engineering in which he talks about his abandonment of logic and reason for love, a mistake he won’t make again.
La’an, who has spent more and more time with Kirk, decides to open up a little bit only to find her advances rebuffed. Not because he doesn’t feel similarly, but because he’s in an on-again, off-again relationship with a scientist called Carol. And that Carol is currently pregnant with Kirk’s child, who we might not get to see again until Kirk looks a lot more like William Shatner. (This episode has more than a few moments where it’s consciously drawing attention to its “evolution” into The Original Series.)
Spock’s judgment may be clouded but Uhura, whose awareness of musical tropes has been key all episode, spots the solution. In order to pop the uncertainty field, the whole crew needs to do a big full-cast finale, but not before Uhura gets her own solo. At Pike’s urging, Uhura gets on the ship’s PA and inspires the whole crew – complete with dancing redshirts and balletic starship dances to produce a showstopper climax. We even get a blast of the Original Series’ theme to underpin their victory, while Spock goes off to smooth things over with the Klingons and get over his split with another round of heavy drinking.
Much as the ending is ostensibly happy, with everyone learning the lesson to be more honest and authentic with each other, there’s trouble on the horizon. Batel has to cancel her holiday with Pike, she’s being sent on a top secret mission which, I’m sure, is our lead in to the finale. Spock’s nursing his grief, and the rest of his supersized emotions, while La’an has to deal with the ramifications of her not-quite-requited love.
Michael Gibson/Paramount+
It’s almost pointless to try and judge a musical episode by the standards of its peers given how different it is from the norm. The script, credited to Dana Horgan and Bill Wolkoff, efficiently and effectively works in the musical universe concept without a lot of setup. Demott Downs’ direction blends the closed nature of Strange New Worlds’ standing sets with the necessary scope a musical demands. And the songs, from Letters to Cleo’s Kay Hanley and Tom Polce, are perfectly fine. Musical lovers will have a greater appetite for enjoying each track on a loop, but as a casual enjoyer of the artform, I’m not sure how many would enter my regular Spotify rotation.
Obviously, much of the dramatic weight of the episode hangs on the shoulders of the cast members who can sing. Christina Chong, Jess Bush, Rebecca Romijn, Ethan Peck and Celia Rose Gooding all get showpiece numbers and boy, can they all sing. But that’s not to shade the names not on that list, especially those who are getting by with the help of autotune. It’s hard enough to sing and dance even if you’ve got years of experience behind you, let alone if you’re dropped into the deep end in an acting job. Now, onward to the finale!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-breaks-into-song-130044077.html?src=rss
For all the hype around folding phones, there’s plenty of anxiety concerning how well those bendable screens survive long term. Depending on who you ask, they’re either weaker than spider silk or hardy enough to make your average lumberjack weep with envy. That’s why Sam Rutherford took matters into his own hands, spending the last year running his own durability test. He’s been using his Z Fold 4 without a case, leaving its factory-installed screen protector as the only defense.
At the dawn of the Z Fold 5, Rutherford is now ready to reveal how well he got on with its predecessor. Turns out that while the frame is now chipped and scratched, the screens “still look great,” with Samsung’s work in this area paying off. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for a similar experiment undertaken on a Z Flip 4, the more pocketable handset in the lineup. In that case, it might be wise to make sure you live close to an authorized service center, so you’re not left without a phone for a week at a time.
– Dan Cooper
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It’s another initiative to reduce smartphone addiction.
Draft legislation proposed by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) would further limit phone use for under 18s. It’s part of the country’s attempts to curb smartphone addiction, which already sees limits on when kids can play games each week. This proposal would see 16- to 18-year-olds get two hours of use per day, while kids from eight to 15 get an hour – hard luck for the under eights, who’ll get 40 minutes a day, plus limits on what they can access.
If you have $25,000 and a passion for nighttime photography then Canon’s new MS-500 is the gadget for you. It’s a camera that, the company promises, can shoot clear color video in light as low as 0.001 lux, which, for the non-technical among us, is pretty darn dark. This particular unit is designed as a security camera for high-security facilities, but the novel sensor that enables its nighttime powers will, surely, come to other hardware as the technology matures.
The platform is taking a stand against the risks of automated plagiarism.
Kickstarter projects submitted on or after August 29th must disclose if they’ve used AI. The platform’s head of trust and safety said the crowdfunding site wants to ensure creators aren’t making bank on the back of stolen work. Creators who are using AI will also have to state they have the proper credit and permission to use those outputs.
An open-source climate model will leverage millions of terabytes of NASA data.
In 2024, NASA expects to generate a quarter million terabytes of data from its Earth science experiments alone. So impossible would it be to wrangle that amount of information that the agency has turned to IBM and HuggingFace for help. The trio has constructed an open-source foundation model, which will form the backbone of an AI to track deforestation, predict crop yields and log greenhouse gas emissions.
Imagine getting so worked up at a fraud-prevention tool you spend $44 billion to undermine its use. Now imagine other people being so worked up about that tool that they spend $8 a month to undermine its use. How darkly funny would it be if, having spent all this time, money and effort to get what they perceived as a badge of honor, suddenly realized it wasn’t at all. You’d probably laugh if they then all opted to hide the badge they craved for so long, wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t you?
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-are-samsungs-folding-screens-sturdy-enough-111557475.html?src=rss
Elon Musk and X, the site formerly known as Twitter, are in more legal trouble. The Agence France-Presse (AFP) is suing X for not engaging in discussions about payment to the French publisher in exchange for its articles appearing on the platform. In 2019, France passed neighboring rights legislation, extending copyright law to content produced by news publishers, such as text and videos, for two years after release. The law requires any sites that share this work to negotiate with the publishers about remuneration instead of sharing it without compensation for its creators.
This is bizarre. They want us to pay *them* for traffic to their site where they make advertising revenue and we don’t!?
In its press release, the AFP stated that it has "expressed its concerns over the clear refusal from Twitter (recently rebranded as 'X') to enter into discussions regarding the implementation of neighbouring rights for the press. These rights were established to enable news agencies and publishers to be remunerated by digital platforms which retain most of the monetary value generated by the distribution of news content."
X isn't the first tech company AFP has gone up against. In 2020, France's competition authority ordered Google to enter negotiations with publishers, and, while it reached an agreement in early 2021, the company was fined €500 million ($546 million) later that year for not reaching a fair agreement. In that case, part of the argument was that Google owns 90 percent of the search market, leaving them in a position where they could abuse their power if an equitable deal wasn't reached. Twitter's influence in this area of the internet isn't nearly as strong, so we'll have to wait and see if it will face the same fight.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/x-sued-by-afp-over-not-discussing-payments-for-news-content-105501199.html?src=rss
No matter the level of success a tech company has seen for certain products, at least one device always fails to meet expectations after launch. Amazon experienced this for its quickly discontinued Fire phone, and Meta is seeing it for everything from disinterest in the Metaverse to, reportedly, Ray-Ban Stories, its smart sunglasses. According to an internal Meta document viewed by The Wall Street Journal, less than ten percent of people with Ray-Ban Stories regularly use the product.
Ray-Ban sold about 300,000 of the glasses between their launch in September 2021 and February 2023 — when Meta conducted the report. At that time, there were only 27,000 monthly active users, with the company citing issues such as poor connectivity and issues with battery life. Yes, these people already bought the sunglasses, so that's something for the companies, but the low retention doesn't exactly instill confidence in continual sales. Meta's Reality Labs division, which the Ray-Ban partnership falls under, isn't doing well either, with an almost $8 million loss over the first half of 2023.
Yet, even with these poor numbers, Meta is set to release a new generation of Ray-Ban Stories in either the fall or spring. Apparently, the new glasses will have improved battery life and cameras and be available as more than the current three sunglass models. While the first generation is available for $299, there's no word yet on how the next version of Ray-Ban Stories will be priced.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-memo-admits-its-ray-ban-stories-smart-glasses-arent-getting-much-face-time-094549256.html?src=rss
