The streaming service Paramount+ is coming to the The Roku Channel as a premium option later this month, the maker of set-top boxes announced today. For those who are unfamiliar with The Roku Channel, the free entertainment channel is available on most streaming devices (with the exception of Apple TV) and offers a menu of premium add-on services such as Showtime, Starz, AMC+ and more.

Adding Paramount+ to the mix will give Roku Channel users access to live sports via CBS Sports, including live NFL games and most regular and postseason games in their local market. International soccer fans will be able to view live UEFA club competition matches, Europa League and World Cup qualifying matches and other live matches. And of course, users will have access to a mountain of other content, including popular CBS shows like Evil and The Good Wife, as well as a number of original Star Trek series.

In the completely saturated streaming universe, Paramount+ is still a relatively new player (the service rebranded from CBS All-Access back in March.) But the company formerly known as ViacomGlobal has packed a lot of content onto the newbie streamer. It also attempted to grow its audience by offering free trials for T-Mobile and Xbox Game Pass users. Such efforts seem to have paid off: Paramount+ reached 40 million subscribers this May, putting it in the same league as Hulu and HBO Max’s US subscriber base.

As far as content offerings go, there’s no difference between signing up for Paramount+ via the Roku Channel or downloading the streamer’s standalone app on your streaming device. The price tiers for Paramount+ are also identical on the Roku Channel, which is $4.99 per month for the ad-supported version, and $9.99 per month for the ad-free version. However, there is a free seven-day trial for Paramount+ on the Roku Channel, which will give users who haven’t tried the service a chance to sample its offerings.

Google is making it easier for people to find and support Asian-owned businesses in their communities. Starting today, US merchants can now add an "Asian-owned" label to a verified Google business profile, which will appear in Search and Maps queries.

The move is part of Google's efforts to support historically marginalized communities. It previously rolled out labels for Black-owned, Latino-owned, veteran-owned, women-owned and LGBTQ+ owned businesses. 

In addition, the company says its Grow with Google initiative, along with the non-profit US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce, will help another 10,000 Asian-owned small businesses learn digital skills. To date, they've assisted more than 20,000 Asian-owned businesses with workshops on things like e-commerce, analytics-driven decisions and design.

Since introducing its Super Cruise advanced driver assistance suite in the Cadillac CT6 back in 2017, General Motors has worked steadily to expand the number of lidar-mapped roads that the system can handle hands-free. The SuperCruise Network first expanded from 130,000 to 200,000 miles of divided highways in 2019, and will soon double in size — to 400,000 miles across the US and Canada — by the end of the year, GM announced on Wednesday. 

The Super Cruise system — and its successor, Ultra Cruise — relies on a mix of high-fidelity LiDAR maps, GPS, and onboard visual and radar sensors to know where the vehicle is on the road. So far, those maps, which dictate where features like Hands-Free Driving can operate, have only included major, divided highways like interstates with the big median barriers. Smaller, undivided public highways — aka State Routes — were not included, in part because of the added ADAS challenges presented by oncoming traffic, until now.

"This expansion will enable Super Cruise to work on some additional divided highways, but the big news is this the bulk of the expansion will allow Super Cruise to operate on non-divided highways," David Craig, GM's Chief of Maps, said during Tuesday's call. "These non-divided highways are typically the state and federal highways... that connect the smaller cities and townships across the US and Canada."

GM

These will include Route 66, the Pacific Coast Highway (aka CA Route 1), the Overseas Highway (aka US Route 1) and the Trans-Canada Highway. "if you look at I-35 which is the interstate that runs North and South up the middle of the United States, and look to the West, you will see that the Super Cruise coverage currently is just the major interstates, which is fairly sparse," Craig continued. "But in the expansion, you can see that it's just a spiderweb of roads covering the entire area. All the little townships are going to be connected now." 

GM

GM executives explained on a press call Tuesday that every new Super Cruise-enabled GM vehicle that rolls off the assembly line will be equipped with the full 400,000-mile capabilities, as will 2021 and 2022 GM vehicles outfitted with the VIP (Vehicle Intelligence Platform) architecture, such as the Escalade and CT5, via OTA update later in 2022. Vehicles with Super Cruise but without VIP which cannot eventually upgrade to Ultra Cruise, such as the early model CT6s, will receive a smaller update. 

There will be no impact on the annual Super Cruise subscription cost, but you will have to have the Super Cruise hardware already installed. GM execs on the call noted that folks who bought SC-capable vehicles during the chip shortage that didn't actually have the SC hardware installed cannot go back and get the system retrofitted in after the fact to take advantage of this update. In all, GM hopes to offer nearly two dozen Super Cruise-enabled vehicle models by the 2023 model year

Samsung debuted its Freestyle smart projector earlier this year at CES as a portable home theater gadget with auto focus and auto leveling features, making it easier to watch anything, anywhere. Normally priced at $900, the Freestyle projector is down to $798 at Amazon right now, which is just about $100 off. Samsung also has it for nearly the same price. The only time we've seen the projector cheaper was when it went on sale for $650 at Woot in a one-day sale back in April. If you missed the chance then, now's a good opportunity to grab the Freestyle while it's decently discounted.

The Freestyle is really best for those that want a portable projector as it weighs only 1.83 pounds and can be easily picked up and moved from spot to spot around your home. Its stand can rotate nearly 180 degrees and its auto focus and auto leveling features help align what you're watching, so you could project a movie onto your ceiling, your wall and a number of other places without the picture looking too wonky. The Freestyle projects images with a 1080p resolution with a size range of 30 to 100 inches, making it easy to adjust the image to fit the surface you're working with. Along with built-in Alexa, Google Assistant and Bixby voice command support, it also has 360-degree audio, so you won't need to plug in external speakers for sound.

If you'd rather invest in a new TV than a projector for your home theater setup, some of Samsung's 2022 smart TVs have also been discounted on Amazon. The 85-inch Class Neo QLED Mini LED 4K TV is a whopping $700 off and down to $3,298, which is an all-time low. This set uses Mini LED technology to produce bolder, brighter colors and higher contrast, plus it supports a 120Hz refresh rate, 4K AI upscaling, Dolby Atmos and Alexa, Google Assistant and Bixby voice controls. Elsewhere, Samsung's 65-inch Q80B Series QLED 4K set is $200 off and down to $1,298, while the 65-inch Class Neo QLED 8K Mini LED TV is $500 off and on sale for $4,498.

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An unknown actor has drained over 8,000 internet-connected wallets in an ongoing attack on the Solana blockchain ecosystem. According to Blockchain auditor OtterSec, the attacks were still ongoing when it posted an update in the evening of August 2nd and that they had affected multiple wallets, including Phantom, Slope, Solflare and TrustWallet, across a wide variety of platforms. 

As TechCrunch notes, the bad actor seems to have stolen both Solana tokens and USDC stablecoins, with the estimated losses so far amounting to around $8 million. OtterSec is now encouraging users to move all their assets to a hardware wallet, and the Solana Status Twitter account echoed that advice, adding that there's no evidence "cold" wallets have been impacted.

The Solana Status account has also revealed that an exploit allowed a malicious actor to drain funds from the compromised wallets and that it seems to have affected both their mobile versions and extensions. Engineers from multiple ecosystems have already banded together to work with security researchers to identify the root cause of the exploit, which is yet to be discovered. 

People in the crypto industry have several theories, though, with some believing that the bad actors got access to private keys through a supply chain attack, because the attacker was able to sign, or initiate and approve, transactions on behalf of the victims. Others warning that the exploit has caused the widespread compromise of private keys and that revoking wallet approvals won't help at all. 

In the future, you may come across a lot more two-wheeled Porsches on the streets. The luxury automaker has launched two new joint ventures with Dutch company Ponooc Investment B.V., and they're both all about electric bikes. Porsche eBike Performance GmbH is based in Ottobrunn near Munich and will develop components, including motors and batteries. Anything it creates will then be used by P2 eBike GmbH, the second joint venture based in Stuttgart, to manufacture Porsche-branded e-bikes for consumers that the company plyans to launch starting in the middle of the decade. 

Porsche is far from a newcomer in the e-bike space. In 2021, it debuted two electric bikes inspired by the Taycan and were made to complement the Cross Turismo, which has a rear carrier. Those bikes, however, along with their motors and gear shifting systems, were manufactured by Japanese bicycle industry giant Shimano. With one company developing parts and another working on the consumer bikes themselves, the upcoming products the joint ventures will release will be all (or at least mostly) Porsche.

The components business will use the e-bike drive systems develop by Fazua, a company Porsche recently acquired, as noted by Electrek. However, it will also develop e-bike systems under the Porsche brand name — it will even sell the technology it designs to other brands. As with anything Porsche, the bikes under the new ventures will most likely not come cheap: Its Taycan-inspired bikes, for instance, set buyers back at least $8,500 at launch, with the sports model selling for prices that start at $10,700.

The latest Pokémon Presents is livestreaming at 9AM ET today, promising updates on Pokémon apps and games "including Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet," The Pokémon Company said. It didn't add more details, but the last Pokémon Presents revealed the Scarlet and Violet release windows, among other news. 

The company also showed off some visuals from the game at the last Pokémon Presents, including a pastoral countryside and urban landscapes, as well as the three new starters Sprigatito, Fuecoco and Quaxly. It also announced a new "Daybreak" update for Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

We now know that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are coming to Switch on November 18th. A subsequent reveal in June showed two new professors and clues about the game's open world. In addition, a series of rough screenshots may have shown new battle mechanics and evolutions, as well as clues about the total number of Pokémon. Hopefully, all will be revealed when the trailer drops today at 3PM Et.  

Microsoft has flagged a formatting bug that freezes Outlook whenever you open emails with complex tables, including, er, Uber receipts. The glitch is so powerful it even crashes Word, too. The problem was first noted in a standard release of Outlook, but existing beta and Current Channel Preview versions face the same bug if they try to open messages with tables.

Microsoft says it’s developed a fix to reach beta users "shortly" and get to everyone in a patch arriving August 9th. If you really need to see a breakdown of that last Uber trip, you can revert to the earlier version in Windows by running Command Prompt instructions in Microsoft's support document.

— Mat Smith

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The Engadget guide to the best midrange smartphones

Who says greatness has to be expensive?

The middle of the smartphone road has amazing options that balance price and features. These days, you can still get incredible cameras, vivid screens and decent battery life without breaking the bank. But there are so many — so where do you start? How about this guide? We’ve just updated it with a new overall winner.

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James Webb Space Telescope captures the Cartwheel Galaxy in stunning detail

Infrared light detection has increased the detail.

NASA

NASA and its partners on the James Webb Space Telescope have shared a fresh look at the Cartwheel Galaxy. It reveals extra details about both the star formation and the black hole at the center of the galaxy, which is around 500 million light-years from Earth. Using infrared light detection, JWST could peer through the dust that obscured the Cartwheel Galaxy from view when other telescopes observed it.

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Samsung and iFixit now offer self-repair parts and tools for Galaxy devices

Fix your smartphone or tablet on your own terms.

iFixit

Samsung's self-repair program, in collaboration with iFixit, is finally available. You can now try to fix your Galaxy S20, Galaxy S21 or Galaxy Tab S7+ with officially sanctioned components and tools, complete with guides to walk you through the repair process. The initial selection is just screen and batteries, charging ports and back glass, with prices ranging between $67 (for a charging port on any model) to $227 (for a Tab S7+ display).

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Amazon offers same-day Prime delivery for select retail chains

The Prime perk is currently available in 10 US metro areas.

Amazon is giving some Prime members another perk. Subscribers in more than 10 US metro areas will now be able to shop from select local brick-and-mortar stores through Amazon and have the items delivered to their home on the same day. At the moment, participating retailers include apparel brands PacSun, Superdry and Diesel, as well as popular vitamin retailer GNC.

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Logitech and Tencent are making a cloud gaming handheld

They're working with Xbox Cloud Gaming and NVIDIA GeForce Now.

Logitech and Tencent have announced they're working on a handheld cloud gaming device. They're blending the Logitech G brand's hardware know-how with Tencent's software prowess. According to their landing page, the device is tentatively — and imaginatively — called the Logitech G Gaming Handheld. It will "support multiple cloud gaming services," Logitech said. Tencent and Logitech are working with the Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce Now teams at Microsoft and NVIDIA, so expect the handheld to support both platforms.

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Taiwan's presidential website hit by cyberattack ahead of Nancy Pelosi's visit

The site was bombarded by more than 200 times the normal traffic.

As more than 300,000 people anxiously watched the flight path of SPAR19, the US Air Force plane carrying Nancy Pelosi on her tour of Asia, Taiwan’s presidential website went down in an apparent cyberattack. According to Taiwanese presidential spokesperson Chang Tun-Han, the attack originated outside Taiwan and saw the website bombarded with more than 200 times its regular traffic. They claim the website was back to normal operation “within 20 minutes.”

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Nintendo's Switch sales fell significantly last quarter, dropping to 3.43 million units compared to 4.45 million during the same period last year, according to its earnings report. Software sales also fell to 41.4 million units compared to 45.3 million year over year. All that that resulted in an operating profit of 101.6 billion yen ($763 million), down from last year and short of what was expected. 

The company chalked up the Switch sales issue to a parts shortage, the same thing that bedeviled Sony during the same quarter. "Hardware production was impacted by factors such as the global shortage of semiconductor components, resulting in a decrease of hardware shipments," the company said. It noted that the OLED model made up a large chunk of Switch sales with 1.52 million units sold, and the lower margins on that model dragged profit down a bit.

While game sales also dropped, Nintendo managed to boost the overall percentage of first-party games sold. In fact, it was the second best first quarter for first-party game sell-through since the Switch launched — second only to Q1 2021, which was fueled by Animal Crossing: New Horizons. All told, however, Nintendo would have to call the quarter a success considering that game buyers spent 13 percent less this year compared to 2021, according to Bloomberg. 

Some of that was aided by the launch of three key games, the company pointed out, particularly Nintendo Switch Sports which arrived on April 29th. Mario Strikers: Battles League launched on June 10th, while Fire Emblem Warriors arrived on June 24th. "More than 100 million users played Nintendo Switch in the latest 12-month period," the company added. 

Nintendo is hoping that upcoming games will help out next quarter. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 just launched, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Course Pass: Wave 2 arrives on August 4th, Splatoon 3 will be released on September 9th and you'll see Kirby's Dream Buffet sometime this summer. The company is also launching an OLED Switch Splatoon 3 Edition on August 26th. 

As it promised earlier this year, Uber is testing bus and train travel options in the UK via a partnership with Berlin-based travel platform Omio, TechCrunch has reported. "We’re excited to launch our new travel offering this summer, allowing a seamless door-to-door travel experience across the UK," Uber UK general manager Andrew Brem said in a statement. 

Omio covers over 1,000 transportation providers in 37 countries. It has its own travel app for consumers, but has also been developing a business-to-business API that allows partners to access its ground transport network. The company also offers air and ferry travel on its consumer app and website, but its primary focus is on train and bus/coach travel.

The company has already partnered with UK's LNER, travel site Kayak and others, but Uber is its biggest partner so far. "Uber is the first partner that is both at this scale but also the first that gets access to our full ticketing API so you actually are, as a customer, able to do everything within the Uber app," Omio CEO and founder Narem Shaam told TechCrunch.

With access to Omio's API, Uber will be able to offer international train travel to UK users right away. Trips booked via Uber's app will generate a commission for Omio, which it will share with Uber via an undisclosed split. Uber is also paying Omio to license its technology. 

Omio believes that its app has a "high overlap" with Uber users, and is hoping the deal will increase its UK market penetration. Ground transport functionality will be added in phases with a basic feature set launching today and building out over the coming months.