Ford's electric F-150 Lightning is clearly in high demand, and the company is determined to keep up. The automaker has paired news of pre-production work with a promise to invest an extra $250 million and create 450 new jobs to increase production capacity. That should help Ford build 80,000 Lightning trucks per year — little comfort when the company now has 150,000 reservations, but the move should reduce wait times.

Most of the jobs will go to workers assembling the electric F-150 at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, while others will build more batteries at the Rawsonville Components Plant and motors at the Van Dyke Electric Powertrain Center. The first trucks should be available in spring 2022.

The production numbers won't compete with conventional trucks for a while. As Autoweekobserved, Ford averaged sales of about 900,000 regular F-150 trucks per year before the pandemic and chip shortages came into play. While the Lightning may be more than a niche product, it's not yet at the point where Ford would have to reconsider its conventional truck production.

There's also a certain amount of posturing involved with the news. Ford is clearly eager to please a government promoting made-in-America EVs. However, it's still a recognition of pent-up demand for electric pickups, both from Ford and from the industry as a whole. Not that Ford might have much choice. With Rivian already producing its first trucks, Ford risks losing sales to competitors if it doesn't ramp up manufacturing.

In-store repairs are becoming increasingly commonplace, and T-Mobile is finally ready to catch up on that trend. The carrier now plans to offer in-store repairs to Protection subscribers in 500 stores starting November 1st. Pay $7 or more per month and you can get your device fixed the same day thanks to "highly-credentialed" Assurant technicians using approved parts. More stores will provide the option in the future, T-Mobile said.

The provider is also expanding Protection to handle five claims per year instead of the more conventional three. The service already covers accidental damage and theft, Jump upgrades and AppleCare.

This isn't a novel concept for carriers. However, it makes sure T-Mobile is at least competitive with heavyweight networks that already offer some in-shop repairs. And unless right-to-repair measures become commonplace, you'll likely be reliant on outside repair facilities for a while to come — in that light, more choices can't hurt.

You'll now have a better choice of microphones if you're eager to start livestreaming or record your first podcast. AKG has quietly released the Ara, a $99 USB condenser mic clearly aimed at streamers and others just upgrading from their earbuds and headsets. You only have two capture patterns (front-only and omnidirectional) versus the $155 Lyra's four, and you're limited to a 96kHz sample rate instead of the pricier model's 192kHz. However, those might not be major issues if you're compressing audio for streams and downloads.

You'll still get some common perks like mounting options and a headphone output for monitoring. The mic works with any computer or mobile device that supports USB audio.

The Ara is available now. Whether or not it's a better buy over its most obvious rival, Blue's Yeti Nano, is a tougher call. You won't have the Yeti Nano's software effects or flashier design (an important consideration as a streamer), but you'll also get a higher sampling rate than Blue's 48kHz offering. It may just be a matter of priorities.

You won't have to stick to Bitcoin if you're determined to pay for your movie ticket with cryptocurrency. AMC chief Adam Aron has revealed his theater chain will also accept Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash when crypto payments are available. He didn't have a narrower timeframe for digital currency payments beyond "year-end 2021."

Aron made the decision to accept cryptocurrency after the combination of the meme stock frenzy from earlier in 2021 as well as a turn on the board of a blockchain contractor. As you might guess, the CEO is betting tech fans will translate their enthusiasm for AMC stock to business at theaters.

The prospect of using cryptocurrency is improving when companies like PayPal make it relatively easy to hold and use virtual money. The expanded options won't change some of the practical challenges, however. Transaction fees can still be high, and numerous crypto formats tend to be volatile. The issue isn't so much the risk to AMC as the potentially low demand — even committed crypto fans might find it too expensive.

Apple didn't even touch on the HomePod line during its iPhone 13 event, but that doesn't mean the smart speakers will go untouched this fall. 9to5Macnotes an impending version 15 update will make the HomePod considerably more useful, particularly if it's part of a larger smart home. To start, you can set two or more HomePod minis as your default speakers for an Apple TV 4K. You won't have to specify them when it's time to sit down for a movie. They won't exactly produce thunderous audio, but they could save you from buying separate smart speakers or a pricier soundbar.

You also won't have to approach your HomePod to use Siri. The update enables Siri voice control through supporting HomeKit accessories. While Apple's smart home ecosystem isn't nearly as large as Amazon's or Google's, that could be handy if you want to quickly turn the lights on.

Other improvements are subtler, but could be valuable in the right circumstances. You can ask Siri to turn on your Apple TV, play a title and control playback. You'll automatically see playback controls on your lock screen if a nearby HomePod mini is playing music. You'll get notifications if compatible HomeKit Secure Video cameras and doorbells detect a package at your door. This is also a big update if you've ever woken your partner or neighbors by mistake — Siri will adjust its speaking volume based on both the room and your own voice, and you can specify a lower bass level to avoid irritating people in the apartment below.

Apple didn't outline the HomePod update's release timing, but it's likely to arrive on September 20th alongside iOS 15 and watchOS 8. Don't assume you'll get the vaunted spatial audio or Apple Music lossless updates, however. The release notes don't indicate support will be available with version 15, so you'll likely have to wait for a follow-up patch to experience more immersive HomePod sound.

You no longer need to use the likes of Chrome or Safari if you want the occasional suggestions for web searches. Mozilla is rolling out a Firefox Suggest feature that, as the name implies, offers relevant links when you're typing in a search, whether from the general web or from Pocket. Look for Costa Rica, for instance, and you'll get a Wikipedia link to help you learn more about the country.

The company is also working on contextual suggestion that rely on sending typed searches, click info and "city-level" location info. That may raise concerns given Firefox's historical focus on privacy, but Mozilla stressed the handful of early US users would have to opt-in.

The larger concern may be the objectivity of some Suggest links. Mozilla also plans to recommend content from "sponsored, vetted partners," such as an eBay link when you look for Vans shoes. While Mozilla is promising "credible" material, these won't necessarily be the most logical, organic suggestions possible. You can simply launch a standard web search to ignore these de facto ads, but this does mean you'll want to look carefully at some links before you click them.

Disney+ is about to lean more on sci-fi nostalgia to reel in viewers. Deadlinereports Disney is remaking its 1986 classic Flight of the Navigator for the streaming service. Details of the reboot are scarce, but it would feature a female lead and see Bryce Dallas Howard (who directed two The Mandalorian episodes) both direct and produce the title.

There's no mention of the cast or a release date. It's safe to say the basic premise, of a child who bonds with an alien spaceship, won't change much for this adaptation.

The project is a shrewd move for Disney. The company still focuses Disney+ originals (and many of its other titles, for that matter) around familiar brands and shows. A Flight of the Navigator reboot lets Disney+ bank on a well-known name and speed up story development — it can draw in a generation of fans (you can probably still hear "compliance!" in your head) without investing huge sums in production.

Boston Dynamics' Spot dog is learning some new behaviors that will help the robot adapt to the real world. The company has delivered a Release 3.0 update that helps Spot do its jobs without human intervention. Most notably, it can dynamically replan routes — the robot's inspection will go smoothly even if someone inadvertently left a forklift in the way.

The upgraded Spot can also handle human-free scheduled missions, and it's smart enough to automatically plan routes when you choose the actions you want to perform. The robot will help you notice when something's amiss, too. It uses scene recognition to capture photos at the same angle every time, and human inspectors can conduct live reviews of changes Spot notices with computer vision, such as gauge readings and heat changes.

These updates won't mean much if you don't have the $74,500-plus to spend on a Spot of your own. They do show how Boston Dynamics' signature canine is evolving, though, and illustrate just how robots like this can help in real life — they're increasingly useful for tasks where it would be impractical (or just a hassle) for humans to step in.

YouTube TV is now a better proposition for Spanish-speaking viewers. The cord-cutter service has added three Spanish-language channels from Univision at "no extra cost," including Univision proper as well as the youth-oriented UniMás network and the general entertainment of Galavisión. All three are included at "no extra cost," so you shouldn't have to brace for another rate hike.

You'll have more options in the near future. YouTube TV is promising on-demand movies and originals from Pantaya as a $6 per month add-on in the weeks ahead. If you're more interested in variety, an upcoming add-on bundle will provide channels like Cinelatino, CNN Español, Discovery en Español, Estrella TV, Fox Deportes and Sony Cine for an added fee. The launch date and price are due in the "coming months."

The expansion represents a logical move. YouTube TV has some fierce competition, including Sling TV and Hulu Plus Live TV. This could help YouTube keep up with and claim an edge over rivals by courting Latinx viewers that don't always get a healthy selection from streaming TV services. It's just as well — at $65 per month, YouTube's offering is expensive enough that it has to rely more on selection than raw value to attract subscribers.

TP-Link knows WiFi gaming routers are as hot as ever, and it's determined to keep up by offering a string of high-end features without going completely over the top. The company has unveiled an Archer GX90 router that offers not just WiFi 6 speeds (virtually required at this stage), but a dedicated 4.8Gbps "Game Band" to keep your play sessions free of interference from other local network transfers. An accelerator also spots and fine-tunes streams for games it recognizes, such as the Call of Duty series or League of Legends, while a dashboard provides stats on your playtime to help pinpoint problems.

You can expect some of the other familiar tricks to improve gaming performance. Improved OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access) modulation is meant to reduce lag, and a 1.5GHz quad-core processor (TP-Link doesn't name it) helps juggle heavy traffic. This also happens to be a solid router for general use with a 2.5Gbps Ethernet jack (plus four 1Gbps jacks), two USB ports and support for mesh networking through TP-Link's OneMesh-capable devices.

The Archer GX90 will be available through Amazon (not as of this writing) and other outlets for $250. It's definitely more expensive than a typical home WiFi router, but that's decidedly less expensive than some tri-band WiFi 6 routers. So long as you don't mind the alien looks, this might strike a healthy balance between raw speed and a reasonable price.