Microsoft is taking another turn at testing its HoloLens-based combat goggles with the US military. The company has confirmed to Engadget that it's delivering improved IVAS (Integrated Visual Augmentation System) 1.2 devices to the Army before the end of July. These updated augmented reality models are "slimmer, lighter and more balanced" than before, Microsoft says. That, in turn, should make them more comfortable and improve soldiers' performance.

The Army tellsBloomberg two squads will test 20 prototype IVAS goggles in late August. They'll gauge low-light functionality, reliability and whether or not they make soldiers feel ill. Some testers complained last year of nausea, headaches and eye strain, while others weren't happy with the bulk, narrow field of view and a display glow that could give away a soldier's presence at night. Key features also failed relatively frequently.

The HoloLens tech is meant to improve battlefield awareness. Infantry can see each other's positions, get vital health stats and use night vision that's less conspicuous. They can better coordinate assaults and warn if there are signs of injury or fatigue. The technology might reach the field within a few years if the August test is successful. The Army would award a contract between July and September 2024 for a second field study, and could move to an operational combat test as soon as April 2025. The Army could deploy IVAS months afterward.

Much is riding on this test, however. While the Army could spend as much as $21.9 billion in ten years for up to 121,000 IVAS units, Congress blocked further orders of the earlier goggles in January following reports of problems. Politicians instead gave Microsoft $40 million to rework the hardware. If there are still issues, the Army could cancel the program. It would not only cost Microsoft a lucrative contract, but would cast further doubt on HoloLens itself. The team lost lead developer Alex Kipman last year following misconduct allegations, and layoffs early this year dealt a serious blow to the mixed reality division.

Tesla remains the top US EV producer with a new internal record internal record with 479,700 vehicles built and 466,140 of them delivered in Q2, up ~87 percent YoY.

The company made headlines in Q2 after opening its previously-proprietary charging port design to the rest of the industry. Mercedes, Volvo, Rivian, and GM vehicles will use the design for their North American models beginning in the 2024 model year. Texas went so far as to require its state-funded EV charging stations accommodate the standard. Tesla's charging network station capacity has grown by a third from this time last year, with 48,082 chargers in total spread across 5,265 stations, globally.

The first production Cybertruck rolled off the assembly line this quarter as well, though you couldn't see much of the vehicle from its official release photo. The Cybertruck line has entered tooling, according to the company, and is expected to begin steady production sometime next year.

"We are now testing Cybertruck vehicles around the world for final certification and validation," the company wrote in its Q2 investors deck. "This might be the most unique vehicle product in decades; with that comes trialing and testing new technologies."

This past quarter has seen a number of scandals at the company including its executives accused of being overpaid by a cool $735 million dollars since 2017 as well as Elon being suspected of misappropriating company funds to build a glass house. Not a fancy aboratorium, not a metaphor for Twitter, a literal "glass house."

Wednesday's investor deck specifically noted Tesla's "commitment to being at the forefront of AI development" with the start of production for its Dojo training computers, which will be used to help Autopilot developers iterate future designs and features. Details were sparse but we do expect company executives to further discuss this initiative during the Q2 investors call which begins at 5:30pm ET.

Stay tuned to Engadget for up to the minute breaking news from that call, as well as whatever wacky and problematic-for-Legal statements CEO Elon Musk shares.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Netflix’s attempts to crack down on password sharing is starting to pay off. The company reported substantial growth in subscribers in the months following its push to stop users from sharing accounts with people outside of their household.

The streaming company added nearly 6 million paying subscribers, an increase of 8 percent, during the second quarter of 2023. The results confirm earlier reports from third-party data that suggested the tightened restrictions were working.

In a letter to shareholders, the company said that its push to stop password sharing hasn’t resulted in mass cancellations and has instead encouraged more people to sign up for their own account. “The cancel reaction was low and while we’re still in the early stages of monetization, we’re seeing healthy conversion of borrower households into full paying Netflix memberships as well as the uptake of our extra member feature,” the company wrote.

In addition to restricting account sharing, the company has started offering “paid sharing,” which allows subscribers to pay to add an “extra member” to their account for $8 a month. That option is now available in more than 100 countries, according to Netflix. The company has also been streamlining its plans, confirming that it canceled its $10 “basic” plan in the United States and UK after first axing the plan in Canada.

Now, Netflix says it will continue to restrict password sharing in the few remaining countries where it hasn’t already done so, including India, Indonesia, Kenya and Croatia. The company notes it won’t be offering its “extra member” option in these regions as it’s already slashed prices in many of these countries. Instead, the company says people can use its tool to transfer their profile to a fresh account.

Developing…

Blizzard is bringing some of its PC games to Steam for the first time. The company announced today that the transition will start with Overwatch 2 on August 10th, but did not go into detail as to what other titles may be coming to the platform.

President of Blizzard Mike Ybarra said in a press release that Battle.net will remain a priority for them but that “we’ve heard players want the choice of Steam for a selection of our games.” The company wants to remind users that while Overwatch 2 will be available on Steam, it still requires that you have a Battle.net account in order to play the game and access features such as cross-platform play. Players will also have access to their Steam friends list and will be able to invite friends on Steam. Blizzard did not announce Steam Deck support, though that won’t stop players from trying to get the game running on it.

Along with Steam support, Overwatch 2 is getting a big update on the same day. Players can expect PvE missions, a new PvP mode and a new hero. Blizzard calls it Overwatch 2: Invasion and says that it will be “a great opportunity for new players.”

Blizzard hasn’t announced what or when other titles will be coming to Steam, noting that it will be sharing that information “when the time is right.” Those eager to download the game on Steam can add it to their wishlist now and you’ll be notified when the game comes out on August 10th.

It’s a sporting spectacle that only happens once every four years. The FIFA Women’s World Cup returns this week as the United States Women’s National Team seeks a historic third-straight title. Will the US be able to repeat the magic it unlocked in 2015 and 2019? Is it finally “coming home” for the Lionesses of England? Will an unexpected contender shock the world? We’ve got all the information you need to know about when and how to stream the entire tournament, starting with the first matches early tomorrow morning Eastern Time (Thursday, July 20th).

When does the Women’s World Cup start?

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup begins Thursday, July 20th at 3AM ET. Why so early? The tournament is being hosted by Australia and New Zealand, which will certainly put a strain on fans in the US wanting to watch the action live. As is tradition, the host plays on the first day and that means there will be two games instead of the typical one since there are two hosts. New Zealand plays Norway first and Australia follows against Ireland at 6AM ET. The US Women’s National Team kicks off its group play schedule Friday, July 21st at 9PM ET versus Vietnam and England steps on the pitch for the first time Saturday, July 22nd with Haiti at 5:30AM ET.

The group stage consists of three matches for each team and continues through Thursday, August 3rd. The Round of 16 begins Saturday, August 5th and ends on Tuesday, August 8th. Quarterfinal matches are scheduled for Thursday through Saturday, August 10th-12th with the two semi-final matches taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday, August 15th and 16th. The third-place game is Saturday, August 19th while the championship final is Sunday, August 20th.

How to stream the 2023 Women’s World Cup

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Fox Sports is the broadcaster for the Women’s World Cup in the US and all games will air on either FOX or FS1. The company says the entire tournament will be available for streaming on FOXSports.com and the FOX Sports App, but you’ll need to sign in with your TV provider to watch in those places. Full replays will be available in those two spots as well, which will come in handy if you plan to skip a 3:30AM ET kickoff.

Any live television streaming service that carries FOX networks – like Hulu, Sling or YouTube TV – will also show all of the games as they happen. Most of those services offer cloud-based DVR, so you can record any games you want to sleep through.

Unlike what Turner does for select games of March Madness, there’s no free streaming option for any of the scheduled matches during the Women’s World Cup. In order to watch some of the games without paying, you’ll need an old-fashioned antenna that picks up the main FOX channel in your area. For US fans, all of the United States’ group-stage matches are scheduled to air on FOX and all of the knockout rounds (quarterfinals through the final) will be there as well. Of course, taking this route means you’ll miss a lot of the action that will be broadcast on FS1 (35 games).

For fans in the UK, the BBC is the broadcaster for the Women’s World Cup. It plans to show 33 live games across BBC TV and iPlayer with audio coverage for some matches on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds. In terms of streaming, all of those games will be available live on iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app. The BBC will offer highlights of all 64 matches in the tournament which will be available to watch when each one concludes. The other 31 games will be shown on ITV.

Robosen announced a new auto-converting Transformer today. After launching its self-transforming Optimus Prime in 2021, the company set its sights on Grimlock, the Autobot-allied leader of the Dinobots who changes from a robot into a mechanical T-Rex. However, its $1,699 sticker price (a mere $1,499 for pre-orders) also allows it to transform your finances for the worse.

The Grimlock collectible stands 15 inches tall in robot mode and 15.4 inches in dinosaur mode. Robosen describes its auto-transforming as “the epitome of auto-conversion” while calling the product “the world’s first dual-form, bipedal walking robot.” (The Optimus Prime version walks as a robot but drives in truck form.) The manufacturer says Grimlock includes 85 microchips, 34 high-precision intelligent servos while running on “advanced SOC chip technology” and “a comprehensive robot operating system.” In addition, it has six-axis IMU sensors for balance monitoring.

This Grimlock is based on the Transformers G1 version, which debuted in 1985. The collectible includes the original toy’s Energon sword, galaxial rocket launcher, and crown accessories. Robosen and Hasbro even brought back the original voice actor from the G1 animated series, the now 72-year-old Gregg Berger, to record “150+ original Generation 1 Transformers audio lines” for the expensive toy. For the uninitiated, the character is known for a simplistic speaking style, including the well-trodden phrase, “Me Grimlock!”

Robosen / Hasbro

In addition to hearing Grimlock’s classic voice (synchronized with “robotic actions”), you can also control it by speaking to it. The product recognizes 42 voice commands, letting you tell it to transform, walk and perform various “stunning stunts.” You can also create new poses and actions for the Dinobot using four programming modes (block-based, manual, voice and computer-based). And if money truly is no object, you can pair it with the $699 Optimus Prime robot to watch them reenact your favorite classic Transformers battle scenes. This would be wonderful for children, but its pricing mostly limits it to nostalgia-stricken adults with more money than meets the eye.

The Grimlock auto-converting robot is available for pre-order now from Robosen and Hasbro. It’s expected to ship in late fall. Although its pricing may be a tough sell, at least they’re throwing in a limited edition collector’s coin so you can demonstrate that you spent the equivalent of a month’s rent on a robotic T-Rex that speaks about itself in the third person.

Google says its Nearby Share app for Windows PCs is now officially available. A PC version of the app, which makes it a cinch to share files between devices like Android phones and Chromebooks, has been in beta for a few months, but it's now ready for prime time.

More than 1.7 million people installed the beta, Google says. They've used it to transfer more than 50 million files, primarily photos and videos. 

Google has added some new features to Nearby Share for Windows as it officially rolls out the app. You'll now see an estimated time for how long it will take to complete a file transfer. Device notifications will include an image preview to help you make sure you're sharing the correct file. Google plans to add more features and it's working with some PC manufacturers, including HP, to include the app on their systems.

To use Nearby Share for Windows, you'll need to enable your PC's WiFi and Bluetooth functions. Once you're set up, you just need to drag a file into the app or right-click it and select the Nearby Share option to send it to a nearby device. 

If you're logged into the same Google account on PC and your Android phone (or tablet or Chromebook), transfers will automatically be accepted on the receiving device. Either way, devices that you're transferring files between have to be within 16 feet of each other. There are device visibility settings to help prevent spam and unwanted file transfers.

Throughout the burgeoning “AI wars”, Apple has remained suspiciously silent, until now. The company is creating its very own chatbot, as originally reported by Bloomberg. Engineers have cheekily named the toolset “AppleGPT,” but it’s actually called Ajax, as the large language model (LLM) was built using Google’s JAX framework. Sources indicate that Apple has multiple teams working on the project, with one team devoted to addressing potential privacy concerns.

What will Apple actually do with the bot? That remains unclear as the company doesn’t seem to have any solid plans regarding use case scenarios, launch dates or platforms. An unnamed source told Bloomberg to expect an official announcement, along with more details, next year. Apple also holds its annual earnings call next month, which could shed some light on Ajax. 

This move comes after Apple CEO Tim Cook told Good Morning America that the generative AI is something the company is “looking at closely.” According to Bloomberg, John Giannandrea and Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, are leading the initiative. Giannandrea was originally hired to oversee Siri and its machine learning capabilities, so maybe the beleaguered digital assistant is about to get a whole lot more useful.

The generative AI space has exploded in recent months, with just about every big tech company joining the hype train. Just yesterday, Meta and Microsoft released Llama 2, an AI chatbot intended for commercial use.

A three-judge panel with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of Meta-owned Instagram after a pair of photographers accused the social media giant of copyright infringement, as reported by Gizmodo. The basic gist of the case was that Instagram violated copyrights by letting outside websites and publications embed images without the explicit consent of content creators.

The case dates back to 2016, when Time embedded an Instagram image of Hillary Clinton taken by photographer Matthew Brauer without asking for permission. In 2020, Buzzfeed did the same thing with a photo taken by Alexis Hunley of a Black Lives Matter protest. The pair of photogs sued Instagram, alleging that the social media company never asked third parties to obtain a license to embed copyrighted photos or videos, opening them up to a charge of secondary infringement.

The suit was originally initiated in California back in 2021, but a judge dismissed it on the grounds that the news outlets in question didn’t store the original image or even display a copy of it. Rather, it was just displaying what was already available via Instagram as an embed. The pair appealed this decision, which has now failed in federal court. The reasoning follows the same line as California’s decision, with judges agreeing that when a photo or video is embedded, no copy is made of the underlying content.

It’s worth noting, however, that the federal panel of judges did say that Hunley and Brauer raised “serious and well-argued” policy concerns regarding copyright holders’ ability to actually control and ultimately profit from their work. Instagram has also addressed the issue in convening years, adding an option in 2021 that allows users to make images unembeddable. This change came after the platform was lobbied by the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) and the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA).

This may not be the end of the case, as Reuters reports that the photographers can petition for a rehearing with a panel of 11 randomly-selected judges, though Brauer and Hunley haven’t addressed this course of action.

There’s also the underlying meaning of this court decision. All by itself, the ruling indicates that third parties, such as media publications, can embed photos and videos at will without ever asking the original content creator for permission. However, related cases have been popping up with differing outcomes, setting the stage for a higher-court showdown at some point.

For instance, a New York judge handed down a somewhat contradictory ruling back in 2018 when a photographer sued various publications after they embedded tweets with an original image of NFL legend Tom Brady. The judge sided with the photographer here, stating in her decision that “the fact that the image was hosted on a server owned and operated by an unrelated third party does not shield them from this result,” adding “nowhere does the Copyright Act suggest that possession of an image is necessary in order to display it. Indeed, the purpose and language of the Act support the opposite view.”

Being a smartphone startup is hard, particularly when you’re up against tech giants like Apple, Google and Samsung. But after selling more than 500,000Phone 1s last year, Nothing has returned with a sequel: the Phone 2. And while it looks similar to the previous model, it feels like Nothing is finally figuring out its groove. Not only does it have a significantly faster CPU, its cameras have been improved, and we’re finally seeing Nothing’s vision of a more thoughtful and deliberate UI. Even the phone’s most distinctive feature – its Glyph interface – offers enhanced customization and added functionality. But perhaps most importantly, the Phone 2 will officially be available in the US. And while this added sophistication comes at an increased cost, it’s still very affordable at $600. In a sea of Android phones that often blend together, getting an eye-catching device for a reasonable price is definitely something notable.

Design

Compared to most phones that are clad in a blank sheet of glass, the Phone 2 (which is available in white or a new gray color) is a stunner. Its transparent Gorilla Glass back reveals a monotone assortment of components, allowing you to see things like its magnetic charging coil, power cables and more. It’s not messy, though. Everything is buttoned up just enough, and there are human touches like arranging some of the components to look like an elephant. I’ve been told there are other creatures hiding as well, but I haven’t spotted them yet. It’s like having a cyberpunk art installation in your pocket.

Of course, there’s also the Glyph interface which consists of a number of LED strips that pulse, strobe and glow. For this model, Nothing more than doubled the number of lights from five to 11, while also adding support for addressable zones, which allows for gradient effects. Unfortunately, there’s still only one color to choose from: white.

As for the rest of the device, it’s very similar to the Phone 1 including a metal frame with flat boxy sides and an iPhone-like button layout for power and volume. The one big change is that Nothing used 2.5D glass with rounded edges in back which sports curves that sit more naturally in your hand without digging in.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Meanwhile, its 6.7-inch OLED display delivers excellent brightness (with peaks of well over 1,000 nits in my testing), rich colors and a speedy 120Hz refresh rate. You also get an in-screen fingerprint reader for simple and secure biometrics which is both fast and accurate.

Performance

The Phone 2 packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, 8GB or 12GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage. Sure, its chip is a year old, but it handled games and editing photos without a hint of lag. When combined with speedy UI animations and a lightweight Android skin, the Phone 2 feels incredibly responsive and snappier than some flagship phones that cost a whole lot more. Additionally, while the phone is only available as an unlocked model, it has been certified to work on both T-Mobile and AT&T’s networks (sorry Verizon folk), so it’s pretty flexible when it comes to bringing it over to your carrier.

Cameras

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Tuning a phone’s cameras and image processing can be extremely difficult when you don’t have the same level of resources as a trillion-dollar megacorp. And while the Phone 2’s 50MP main cam and 50MP ultra-wide cams are decent, they’re still a tier or two below what you get from a Pixel 7. During the day, the Phone 2 captures images with bright, rich colors and good sharpness. It’s only when you zoom to 100 percent that you notice things like color fringing and worse dynamic range. Nothing has a hard time keeping up with Google’s Night Sight mode in low light too, sometimes struggling when trying to nail white balance while also preserving detail. Still, coming from the Phone 1, it’s a big improvement and if you aren’t an avid photographer, the Phone 2 is still serviceable.

Software

Compared to the previous model, the Phone 2’s software may have the biggest number of improvements. This time instead of a barebones version of stock Android, Nothing has included its Monochrome UI which consists of new widgets, wallpapers, icon packs and more that create a distinctive experience that ties into the phone's exterior design. Not only does it look great, you can also make all the app icons grayscale and even remove the name of the app entirely. The idea is that, by making apps a touch harder to find, you’re forced to be more deliberate about how and when you use your phone. That’s a refreshing change from just reflexively doom scrolling through social media every time you have a spare minute.

Nothing also added a new tab in the settings menu for its Glyph interface so you can get more granular control over all those LEDs. Features range from simple things like using its rear lights to show battery status or volume to more sophisticated things like what Nothing calls “Essential notifications.” That allows you to set specific apps to activate LEDs on the back of the phone. This way, you can put the phone facedown on a table and really pay attention to the people you're with. This was convenient for me because since my wife and I seem to be the only people we know that use Google Chat, I set that as my essential notification so I never miss her messages.

And while it’s limited to a single app for now, Nothing is even integrating its Glyph interface with a third-party app in Uber, so you can see a real-time arrival estimate for a car just by looking at the back of the phone. It’s a neat trick that could have a ton of potential. Instead of using a special API, the LEDs are simply getting info from your notifications to update the lights. That makes it easier to develop more custom Glyph integrations without needing to partner with every single app developer. So while third-party app integration is still a work in development, it’s off to an interesting start.

Finally, while it’s not quite as long as what you get from Google or Samsung, Nothing is promising three years of OS updates along with four years of regular security patches.

Battery Life

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

I wasn’t sure what kind of endurance I was going to get from the Phone 2 between its 4,700 mAh battery and slightly older, less power-efficient chip. But on our video rundown test, Nothing crushed it with a time of 24 hours and 25 minutes. That’s the second longest time we’ve seen in recent history, only behind the Samsung’s Galaxy S23+ (25:02). On top of that you get 15-watt wireless charging, 45-watt wired charging and 5-watt reverse wireless charging.

Wrap-up

In a time when new generations of phones never seem quite as exciting as the last, Nothing has still managed to make the Phone 2 stand out. Its eye-catching design captures some of the best qualities of clear plastic gadgets from the ‘90s, like Gameboys and Nintendo 64’s, but in a much more sophisticated way. Meanwhile, Nothing’s Monochrome UI asks users to be more thoughtful about how they use their device while giving them tools like the Glyph interface that can surface info and notifications in novel ways. And even though its specs don’t jump out at you, it never felt slow and it’s well-equipped with handy features like reverse wireless charging.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

That said, for $600, the Pixel 7 is still the better value. It’s got a newer chip along with a much more sophisticated software package which includes features like Call Screener and robust language detection, and its cameras are in a class of their own. But its screen is smaller and its battery life isn’t quite as long. And you know what, that’s totally fine because the Phone 2 isn’t for everyone. It’s a phone that wants you to think differently about how you use your device while giving you the tools to do so. It’s the offbeat choice, and for people who want to be excited by their phone again, it’s definitely an interesting mainstream alternative.