With the holiday season quickly approaching, Google plans to surface the shipping and return policies of stores that list items on its platforms to help consumers quickly find out if they can get free delivery and returns on their purchases. You’ll see the labels appear across both free and paid listings. “Free delivery by Friday, December 24th,” says one of the example annotations the company shared. Merchants will need to meet a list of requirements before they can add the labels to their listings, so you won’t see them on every product.
Shipping and return annotations won’t dramatically change your shopping experience, but they make you decide to jump on a product you would have otherwise glossed over. Google has spent much of the last year adding these types of features to its shopping hubs. At I/O 2021, for example, it showed off a feature inside of Chrome that displayed shopping carts you abandoned before completing a purchase in a new tab.
Spectrum TV has made major streaming service additions to its digital cable service and live TV app with HBO Max and YouTube, parent Charter has announced. You'll be able to access both apps on channels 2004 for HBO Max and 2003 for YouTube, or on the platform's guide via the search or apps menu. You'll need, of course, a subscription to access HBO Max at $10 per month with ads or $15 ad-free.
Along with Netflix, HBO Max and YouTube are the first streaming channels available directly through the Spectrum Guide. "As the video landscape continues to change, we are evolving our products and making it easier for our customers to watch what they want by providing access to streaming apps from convenient launch points within the Spectrum TV experience," said Spectrum VP Elena Ritchie.
As Spectrum notes, Warner's HBO Max offers 13,000 hours of premium content from brands HBO, DC, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Studio Ghibli. It also includes all 2021 Warner Bros. films (Dune, Godzilla vs. Kong and more) available the same day the films debut in theaters. That's a boon to movie fans not ready to go to theaters with the pandemic still raging, but a consternation to some of the filmmakers involved.
Walmart has announced a delivery service for local businesses, which should be up and running by the end of the year. It plans to use drones and self-driving cars as part of the Walmart GoLocal infrastructure. Earlier this year, Walmart invested in Cruise after previously running a delivery pilot with GM's autonomous vehicle startup.
Local retailers might be able to keep using their current commerce platform and hook it into GoLocal. It's a white-label service, so deliveries won't be made by Walmart-branded vehicles. Associates, members of the Spark Driver program and other delivery companies will handle orders, according to CNBC.
Walmart says it will be able to offer delivery within two hours in certain markets. There's a two-day delivery option as well. The company claims shipping will be priced competitively and that it can handle everything from groceries to kiddie pools and oversize items.
GoLocal is a key part of Walmart's strategy and it should help the company to diversify revenue streams. There might be some advantages for small businesses as well. It could slightly level the playing field with the likes of Amazon, which is largely moving its delivery network in-house and promising same-day or next-day delivery in many cases.
Starlink has already shipped 100,000 satellite internet terminals before it has even achieved global coverage. SpaceX chief Elon Musk has revealed the figure on Twitter, where he also listed the 14 regions where the service is currently available. "Our license applications are pending in many more countries. Hoping to serve Earth soon!" he said in a follow-up tweet.
SpaceX launched Starlink as a beta service in late 2020, offering potential testers at the time the chance to be the first ones to it for $99 a month. The terminal itself isn't included in the monthly fee: Starlink sells its starter kit with the user terminal or antenna dish, its stand and power supply, as well as a WiFi router for an additional $499, which customers will have to pay up front. You can see what the terminal looks like in the image above, showing a dish installed on the roof of a school in Chile.
Starlink was designed to serve customers in remote locations where internet options are typically limited or even non-existent. Perhaps that's why customers are willing to pay the rather steep upfront cost. According to CNBC, the company reported having 90,000 users in July, indicating that it signed up 10,000 more customers within just a few weeks.
The service uses thousands of small satellites in orbit to provide internet connection to its customers. SpaceX already deployed almost 1,800 satellites for the Starlink constellation, but it has plans to launch up to 42,000 small internet satellites in the future. Company president Gwynne Shotwell previously said that Starlink will be able to offer continuous global coverage once all the deployed satellites reach their operational orbit, which could happen as soon as September.
You won't have to spring for AT&T's regular phone service if you want HBO Max tacked on to your plan — provided you're wiling to make some sacrifices. The carrier's Cricket Wireless brand has revealed that it will provide free HBO Max service to customers using its $60 per month Unlimited plan if they're willing to live with the ad-supported tier. This isn't as sweet as what you'll get at AT&T proper, but it will give you a chance to catch up on shows without pricier wireless service or a separate Max subscription.
The offer will be available to both new and current customers starting on August 20th. We've asked if Cricket customers can pay extra for ad-free HBO Max.
It's a logical move for AT&T. The telecom will likely still own WarnerMedia until 2022, and this gives it a chance to boost both Cricket and HBO Max until that split happens. It could help the company maintain or increase plan prices, too. Nonetheless, you might appreciate this if you're looking to save money. Prepaid phone customers in the US seldom get the no-extra-charge services and other perks that increasingly come with conventional (postpaid) plans — this could save you money if you've been looking for something to watch.
Amazon is preparing to increase its brick and mortar footprint in a big way. The retailer plans to open several large physical locations in the US akin to department stores, according to anonymous sources cited by The Wall Street Journal. The new stores — the first of which will come to Ohio and California — will sell clothing, household items and electronics from "top consumer brands." Obviously, shoppers can also expect to run into Amazon's own-brand products, too.
While the sites are tipped to be around the third of the size of a typical department store at 30,000 square feet, they'll still be much larger than Amazon's other physical locations. The move sees the company expanding into an area it originally disrupted as it grew into an all-in-one online shopping destination.
With their sales already plummeting, the pandemic sealed the fate of several high-profile department stores. The likes of J.C. Penney and Neiman Marcus Group have filed for bankruptcy along with other big names in the sector. Though some were thrown a lifeline when they managed to attract new owners.
Amazon, on the other hand, has seen its fortunes skyrocket during the pandemic as it profited from an increasing shift toward e-commerce. Its booming business even helping to bankroll founder Jeff Bezos' trip into space.
Amazon's move into physical retail predates the virus, however. The company started with brick and mortar bookstores back in 2015, later acquiring Whole Foods for $13.4 billion in 2017. More recently, it opened cashierless Amazon Go stores in the US and UK. Not to mention its highly-curated Amazon 4-star stores and Amazon Pop-Ups inside malls.
The larger stores are apparently viewed as a way of letting shoppers try before they buy, which is particularly useful for things like apparel. That's an area where Amazon has historically struggled. As the WSJ notes, the only high-fashion label on its online store is Oscar de la Renta. It also lost a major seller in Nike in 2019, which decided to go it alone in e-commerce — a move that has paid off for the sneaker company.
Amazon's department stores would also allow it to showcase its range of electronics, from its Fire TVs and tablets to Echo speakers to its Ring home security range, and even its Luna cloud gaming service. Notably, big box retailers have shown that emboldened shoppers are returning to stores. Both Walmart and Target recently smashed estimates in their respective second quarters as sales rose across most categories.
The following contains spoilers for season two, episode two of 'Star Trek: Lower Decks.'
I’ve been a Star Trek fan for most of my life, and yet I still chuckled at this Onion video released after the first J.J. Abrams installment came out back in 2009: “Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable.’” Star Trek isn’t to a lot of people’s taste, J.J. Abrams’ among them. He’s said in interviews he never really liked Trek and was trying to make it more like Star Wars. (This was six years before The Force Awakens came out.) The reboot films were a breath of fresh air after four years of no original Trek content, and they did get some new fans into the franchise. Some of those novices would later dip their toe into the water of TV Trek and found that they did actually enjoy it a lot, despite its slower pace.
However, despite the franchise’s strong TV track record with shows like TNG and DS9, the Paramount+ era has been taking its cues from the Abrams films, which isn’t surprising with executive producer Alex Kurtzman at the helm. Alongside Roberto Orci, he’s one of the two screenwriters behind 2009 Star Trek and 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness, as well as a J.J. Abrams collaborator on Alias and Fringe. Given the box office numbers of the Abramsverse films it makes sense to put him in charge, but it still made a lot of long-time Trekkies groan as we had hoped for a return to the kind of shows we grew up on.
After three seasons of heavy action on Discovery and the jaded grimdark of season one of Picard, the first season of Lower Decks injected some levity back into the franchise, with parody that went up to, but not quite over the line. It couldn’t, since it was intended to be canon. It had to fit alongside TNG, DS9 and Voyager. So it packed in plenty of references to keep the wiki addicts over at the Star Trek-centric Memory Alpha busy, while indulging in old tropes like drunk Klingons, arena battles and the occasional omnipotent being. It also took some direct swipes at the live action Trek shows, like how crew members always seem to die in the most low-tech ways like being impaled by spears or how of course the holodeck is used for sex stuff.
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But those references were always in a more general sense, framed in a “wouldn’t X be ridiculous” way that only long-term fans with deep knowledge of the franchise would fully understand. Until this week’s episode, that is, where crew members of the USS Titan specifically call out the Enterprise D and its galactic cruise ship mentality. Shakespearean plays and string quartets? Peace conferences? How utterly boring compared to the constant run-and-gun that the Titan seems to have been stuck in since last season. They judge the value of their work based on how exciting it is, and think that William Riker must have been bored to tears being stuck on that ship for seven years.
Of course, TNG fans know it was anything but boring for Riker. He’s been locked in a mental institution, trapped in an alternate future and even had god-like powers for an episode. And he likes performing in jazz concerts with his trombone!
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None of this slander sits right with new crew member Brad Boimler, who transferred over from the USS Cerritos at the end of last season. The Titan’s pursuit of the dangerous Pakleds has the young lieutenant junior grade in a constant state of panic as he mans the flight conn position, a big change from quietly toiling away on the lower decks of his old ship. But he’s recognized that this is where the opportunities for promotion are, and soon finds himself on an undercover mission with his fellow bridge crew. At least, it’s supposed to be undercover — the other Titan members quickly get them embroiled in a shootout and facing certain death.
That’s when Boimler takes the opportunity to tell his crewmates how he really feels. “I’d love to be in a string quartet. I love that when Riker was on the Enterprise he was out there jamming on the trombone and catching love disease and acting in plays and meeting his identical transporter clone Thomas. That stuff might not seem as cool as what you guys do, but it’s Starfleet, all the way.” His confession elicits similar confessions from the other team members, before they manage to find a way out in classic technobabble fashion.
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For years Star Trek has always danced around the question of whether Starfleet was a military force. It employs naval ranks and the ships are outfitted with phasers and photon torpedoes for defense. But its stated purpose was exploration and other activities that help tie the vast Federation together. The Abrams films spent all their time reacting to one crisis after another — the crew didn’t start an actual mission of exploration until the very end of Beyond, and there hasn’t been another film since to follow up on that.
Both DS9 and Discovery engaged in wars with the Klingon Empire. On Enterprise the crew ended up hunting down the Xindi with a cadre of trained soldiers on board for its third season. Even Voyager had to deal with the constant accusations that they were a conquering force as they struggled to get home. Lower Decks is our first look in a while at a Starfleet dedicated to exploration, with the crew of the Cerritos specializing in “second contact,” that is, getting communication and trade set up with the planets that flashier ships like the Enterprise meet in their adventures.
So Lower Decks has always been a sort of commentary on the greater Star Trek philosophy, but it’s never been as blatant as Brad Boimler saying, “I didn’t join Starfleet to get in phaser fights. I signed up to explore, to be out in space making new discoveries and peaceful diplomatic solutions. That’s boldly going.”
CBS
The Onion video takes old school Trek fans to task for being gatekeepers, for wallowing and fetishizing things that other folks find boring. The new era of Trek has stretched the definition of what Star Trek could be, expanding into new genres and injecting a little action to sate the appetites of modern audiences. But Lower Decks is the first time I’ve seen pushback from within the franchise itself. The show is basically saying, “Sure, Star Trek can be exciting, but there’s a reason it became popular in the first place!” Let’s hope that with future programs like Strange New Worlds, Alex Kurtzman is listening.
Now might be a good time to shop if you're looking for a do-it-all media player. Amazon has dropped the price of the Fire TV Cube to $100 (down $20) as part of a larger sale, making it a tempting option if you'd rather not spring for a separate Alexa device. This isn't the lowest price we've ever seen, but it's still a steep discount for the multi-talented box.
You'll also find significant deals on Amazon's no-frills streamers. The Fire TV Stick 4K is on sale for $38 (normally $50), while the Fire TV Stick Lite has dipped to $25 (usually $30).
The Fire TV Cube has been around for a while, but still holds up as a well-rounded product. It boasts 4K HDR output, a wide range of streaming apps and brisk performance. Alexa, of course, is the real selling point — you can control media playback or your smart home without needing a separate remote or speaker. That might save you money if you'd rather not buy an Echo just to dim the lights for movie night.
There are some quirks. The Cube may prefer some apps for tasks over others, and voice search isn't always guaranteed to work for your service of choice. If you can live with those limitations, though, Amazon's gadget might fit the bill for a long time to come.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
Disney has apparently found "ways to fairly compensate" talent, even if it continues its hybrid release strategy. Company CEO Bob Chapek said during an earnings call that Disney has "entered hundreds of talent arrangements with [its] talent and by and large, they've gone very very smoothly." Chapek's statement comes in the wake of the lawsuit Black Widow star Scarlett Johansson filed against the company over its streaming strategy.
Johansson's salary was tied to the movie's box office success, and her original contract didn't cover earnings from a hybrid release. According to her complaint, she could lose over $50 million due to the company's decision to simultaneously launch Black Widow in theaters and on Disney+, where it made $60 million during its opening weekend. Back then, Disney released a statement calling the lawsuit "especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the Covid-19 pandemic."
Now, Chapek said Disney is "trying to do the best thing for all [its] constituents and make sure that everybody who's in the value chain... feels like they're having their contractual commitments honored both from a distribution and a compensation standpoint." He didn't talk about specifics, however, or Johansson's lawsuit in particular. In Johansson's complaint, she said her camp tried to renegotiate her deal with the company upon learning about the simultaneous release. However, Disney and Marvel were allegedly unresponsive.
Chapek also talked about implementing an experimental release strategy for Shang-Chi. Unlike Black Widow, it will be a theater-exclusive for 45 days before making its way to Disney+. Further, subscribers may be able to watch it for free instead of having to pay extra for it like they've had to do with Mulan.
Given how convenient it is to tap a few buttons and have someone bring dinner to your door, food delivery isn't likely to drop in popularity anytime soon. Wendy's is looking to meet surging demand by opening hundreds of delivery-only kitchens in the next few years. The likes of Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub will handle orders.
Wendy's is planning to open 700 such kitchens in the US, UK and Canada by 2025, as the Associated Press reports. The locations will primarily be in major cities and the first 50 should be up and running this year.
Reef Technology, which already manages around 5,000 so-called "ghost kitchens," will open the Wendy's locations and hire workers. Wendy's will take around a six percent cut of sales, which are expected to hit at least $500,000 annually at each kitchen.
The concept of ghost kitchens has been around for several years. They're kitchens without storefronts that make food orders only for delivery or pickup — some are run out of existing brick-and-mortar restaurants. Other fast food chains have experimented with the idea, including Chick-fil-A and Chipotle. Meanwhile, YouTuber MrBeast uses ghost kitchens for his burger chain, which has more than 900 locations.
