Beyerdynamic is joining the slew of audio gear companies that are making true wireless earbuds. The company's first such buds are called Free Byrd. They have 10mm drivers, active noise cancellation and an audio passthrough mode.

The company says you'll get up to 11 hours of battery life on a single charge. Beyerdynamic also suggests you'll get up to 70 minutes of extra listening after 10 minutes of charging time in the earbuds' case.

There are two microphones in each earbud. Your voice should come through clearly on calls as long as Beyerdynamic holds up to its claim of capturing high-quality speech intelligibility, "even in a noisy environment." Free Byrd is compatible with Fast Pair on Android, while there's Alexa and Siri support. Expect a low-latency mode for games and videos as well.

Free Byrd comes with five sets of silicone earpieces to help you find the best fit. There are also three memory-foam earpieces for use during workouts. The earbuds have IPX4 water splash resistance too.

Beyerdynamic

While some might suggest Beyerdynamic is late to the true wireless party, the company is framing its slowness as a deliberate effort to nail down a good quality product. “We’re proud to have prioritized sound quality over market pressures,” Beyerdynamic CEO Edgar van Velzen said in a statement. “and with this time taken, have successfully achieved a new level of development in sound performance, offering audio enthusiasts the perfect pair of in-ear [true wireless] earbuds that look and feel as great as they sound.”

On paper, there's not a ton here that makes Free Byrd stand out from the crowded pack. Still, they're the first true wireless earbuds from a company with a solid track record for audio quality. A set of Free Byrd earbuds costs $249. They're available starting today in black or gray from Beyerdynamic's website and Amazon.

Come October, Lego will release the largest set in its Super Mario line so far — a 2,807-piece model of the King of the Koopas himself. The Mighty Bowser set will be a part of Lego’s fun but not infantilizing line for adults known as Adults Welcome. Upon a closer look at the Super Koopa figure, it’s evident that it’ll take far more advanced spatial reasoning skills to build than the rest of Lego’s Super Mario-themed lineup geared towards youth. In addition to Super Bowser coming with his own Lego-version of a fireball launcher, there’s also a button to control the figure’s movements and an entire battle platform for Bowser, complete with two towers that are meant to be toppled over by the villain.

When fans finally finish constructing their Lego-version of Bowser, the fun is far from over. After all, there’s really no point in owning a moveable figure of Super Koopa that is larger than your average house cat if you can’t use it to unleash chaos and destruction. For those who own the Super Mario Starter Course, (which includes toy versions of Mario, Luigi and Peach) Lego suggests using the completed Bowser figurine to wreak some havoc in the Mushroom Kingdom. Given the size of our heroes, it definitely won’t be a fair fight.

“Bowser is, quite simply, the ultimate boss – and we’re delighted to announce that we’re introducing this oversized version to the LEGO Super Mario adult line for a little added peril,” said Lego senior designer Carl Merriam in a release.

At $270, the Bowser set is the priciest one in Super Mario’s two-year old Lego lineup so far. The set isn’t yet available for pre-order but is due to hit stores on October 1st. Super Mario fans can look forward to more expansion sets that will be unveiled in August, including a Princess Peach-themed set and a Big Spike expansion set. For a more lively look at Lego Bowser in action, check out the video below.

Every new car sold in the European Union will soon include anti-speeding technology known as intelligent speed assistance, or ISA. The EU regulation (part of the broader General Vehicle Safety Regulation) goes into effect today, and states that all new models and types of cars introduced to the European market must include an ISA system. The policy doesn’t apply to any new cars that are in showrooms today — at least, not yet. By July 2024, every new car sold in the EU must have a built-in anti-speeding system.

“The roll out of ISA is a huge step forward for road safety and has the potential to dramatically reduce road traffic injuries and fatalities. Car manufacturers now have the opportunity to maximise the potential ISA presents for creating safer roads for all,” said the European Commission in a press release.

For those unfamiliar with ISA, the term describes a whole raft of systems that can detect road speed limits via front-mounted cameras, GPS data or both. Depending on the specific ISA and how it's configured by the driver, the technology can provide reminder feedback about the speed limit, automatically adjust cruise control to match the road's speed or even reduce power to the motor to slow speeding vehicles.

Many drivers in Europe are already using ISA-equipped vehicles, and major automakers such as Honda, Ford, Jeep and Mercedes-Benz sell certain models with these systems in the European market. According to a projection by the EU-funded PROSPER, a scenario such as this one, where ISA becomes mandated, could result in between 26 and 50 percent fewer fatalities.

As Autocar notes, ISA technology still isn’t perfect. During one test, the ISA system was occasionally “slow to respond” and at one point set the speed limit at 60 mph while driving through a quiet English village.

Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, Theranos’ former chief operating officer, has been found guilty of all charges in his criminal trial. Balwani, whose trial began in March, was charged with ten counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He could face up to 20 years in prison for defrauding investors and Theranos patients.

The verdict comes nearly six months after Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty of defrauding Theranos investors. She also faces up to 20 years in prison, but hasn’t yet been sentenced. During her trial, Holmes testified that Balwani had been controlling and abusive during their relationship. Balwani’s attorneys denied the allegations.

The case against Balwani was similar to the one against Holmes. Like Holmes, Balwani was charged with defrauding Theranos investors as well as patients. Holmes was found guilty on just four of the 11 fraud charges she faced, all of which related to Theranos investors. She was acquitted on charges of defrauding patients. 

Unlike Holmes, Balwani did not take the stand during his three-month trial. His lawyers argued that “he did not control Theranos” and that Holmes was ultimately in charge of running the company. Prosecutors maintained he worked hand-in-hand with Holmes to mislead investors, and that he was the executive responsible for erroneous financial projections claiming the startup would bring in $1 billion in revenue by 2015.

Balwani’s trial didn’t attract the same level of media attention as Holmes’, but his relationship with Holmes played a major role in the widespread fascination surrounding Theranos. Balwani joined Theranos as COO in 2009 and oversaw much of the day-to-day operations of the company’s lab. The two executives hid their longtime romantic relationship from other Theranos employees, as well as the company’s investors and board members. More recently, their relationship was a major focus of The Dropout, a Hulu miniseries about the rise and downfall of Holmes and Theranos.

Developing...

Skull and Bones, Ubisoft's long-awaited open-world pirate simulator, is coming out on November 8th, 2022. It's due to hit Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation 5, Steam, the Epic Games Store, Google Stadia and Amazon Luna, as well as Ubisoft Connect. 

This release date has been a long time coming — Skull and Bones was announced at E3 2017 and it was even playable at that show two years in a row, but Ubisoft has kept fairly silent on the pirate sim since 2018. In today's stream, developers briefly explained what happened: Part-way through development, they rebooted the game as a grittier, more realistic experience than originally planned. Today, Ubisoft showed off the reimagined Skull and Bones with a live stream, cinematic trailer and gameplay video.

At its heart, Skull and Bones is an open-world, online experience with co-op elements, but players will be able to log into PvP servers as well. The core game is all about climbing the ranks to become an infamous pirate on the Indian Ocean, sailing, crafting, managing assets, battling and strategizing on the high seas during the golden age of piracy.

Players start with a small ship and as they progress, they're able to craft larger and more intricate vessels, customizing along the way. As captain, players have to manage the crew, and ensure they're well-fed and happy enough to stop any thoughts of mutiny. If the ship sinks, players start over and can recover their cargo, as long as another pirate doesn't get there first.

Ubisoft is set to host another showcase on September 10th, this one focused on Assassin's Creed and some of its other, less piratey, properties.

When Tesla first launched its network of Supercharger stations, it did so with little thought to interoperability, as the company was virtually the only serious EV automaker around at the time. But as other companies have entered the EV market in recent years, demand for charging station access has steadily risen, prompting Tesla to begin opening its existing charger network to third-party EVs. 

In 2021, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the company's open-access Supercharger pilot program — already in 13 European countries — would soon be coming to the US. A recent White House fact sheet, spotted by InsideEVs, suggests that it could arrive by the end of the year.

"Later this year, Tesla will begin production of new Supercharger equipment that will enable non-Tesla EV drivers in North America to use Tesla Superchargers," the fact sheet read. To access it, American EV owners will need to download the latest Tesla app and select the "Charge Your Non-Tesla" option from the menu, per the Verge.

Tesla has spend the better part of a year expanding access to its European charger network. However, despite operating in more than a dozen countries, only select stations within each nation are actually available to non-owners. Only in the Netherlands is every Supercharger open-access. To do the same in North America, Tesla will need to install adapters at its stations to get around the company's proprietary charging plug shape as well as ensure that the Supercharger's software can securely handshake with the new myriad non-Tesla EVs.  

Meta is changing course on its controversial requirement for users of its virtual reality headsets to log in with a Facebook account. Instead, they'll need a new Meta account, which won't need to be linked to Facebook. The company will start rolling out the new account next month for existing and new Meta Quest users. Those with a legacy Oculus account will need to have a Meta account to keep using their headset after January 1st, 2023.

The company stressed that a Meta account is not a social media profile, saying that it "lets you log into your VR devices and view and manage your purchased apps in one place." It noted that future devices will require Meta accounts too.

There is a social aspect to the new account type though, at least for VR headsets. When you create a Meta account, you'll need to create a Meta Horizon profile with the username, avatar, profile photo and so on that you'll use in the company's vision of the metaverse.

Oculus friends will become your followers and you'll automatically follow them back. You can, of course, unfollow people and stop others from following you. You'll still have the option of linking your Meta account to Facebook and Instagram, so you'll be able to chat with friends in the VR version of Messenger or find some buds to play games with. 

While Facebook has a one-account-per-person rule, the company is fine with you having multiple Meta accounts. Perhaps you'll have one for virtual meetings and another for hanging out with friends.

The new accounts will offer privacy controls, including the option to make your profile private and manually approve follower requests. Users aged between 13 and 17 will have private profiles by default.

This is an important shift for Meta as it continues to place more focus on its vision of the metaverse. However, Meta is said to have scaled back its metaverse ambitions in the last few months, having reportedly killed off some Reality Labs projects and put a planned dual-camera smartwatch on hold. 

Still, there are at least some positives of Meta divorcing VR from its social media apps. Folks who are interested in Meta Quest but want nothing to do with Facebook will no longer need an account for the latter.

Twitter is experimenting with a new feature that allows two accounts to co-author a tweet. The company is calling it a “CoTweet,” which it’s now testing with “select” accounts in the United States, Canada and Korea.

With a CoTweet, two accounts can be linked as the author of a single tweet, which will appear on both accounts’ timelines. Much like the collabs feature introduced by Instagram last year, CoTweets seem to be geared more toward brands and creators than the typical Twitter users.

“CoTweets help authors share the spotlight, unlock opportunities for engaging new audiences, and enhance their established partnerships,” Twitter explains on its website. The feature was first spotted earlier this year by reverse engineer and developer Alessandro Paluzzi, who shared some details about it back in February.

Now, Twitter has expanded the test, at least for now. A Twitter spokesperson said that CoTweets is currently a “temporary experiment,” but didn’t indicate if, or when, the feature may be more widely available. “We’re testing CoTweets for a limited time to learn how people and brands may use this feature to grow and reach new audiences, and strengthen their collaborations with other accounts,” the spokesperson said.

With supply chains still in disarray and the war in Ukraine wreaking havoc on EV battery component commodity prices, many forward-thinking automakers are scrambling to secure not only stocks of the valuable metals like cobalt, lithium and nickel that go into EV batteries, but also the means of of building the batteries themselves. On Thursday, Volkswagen Group held a groundbreaking at the site of its forthcoming EV battery cell plant in Salzgitter Germany and announced the formation of a new company, PowerCo, which will be responsible for handling the VW Group's burgeoning battery business. 

"Today is a good day for the automotive industry in Germany and Europe," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said during the event. "Volkswagen is showing how the future of sustainable, climate-compatible mobility could look. Together, we are laying the foundation for shaping this future to a significant extent in Salzgitter."

PowerCo will handle the Group's global battery activities, from producing the batteries themselves to conducting R&D on new battery technologies to "products such as major storage systems for the energy grid," per the announcement. Once the Salzgitter plant is operational, PowerCo will begin work on a second factory in Valencia, Spain with an eye on three further cell factories in Europe and potentially North America as well. Each of the European factories will reportedly operate using 100 percent renewable energy. In all, PowerCo aims to open a total of six battery factories in Europe producing a total of 240 GWh capacity every year (~6 million electric vehicles worth).

Stefan Warter

Operations across the various production facilities will be highly standardized. Everything from "equipment, buildings and infrastructure" to "products, processes and IT" will conform so that the entire production process can be more readily adapted to future "product and production innovations," per the release.

(c) Sebastian Dorbrietz

The Salzgitter plant is expected to create 5,000 new jobs when it begins operations in 2025 with an annual capacity of 40 GWh (~500,000 electric vehicles worth). Some 20,000 positions are will need to be filled once the other European factories open, Daniela Cavallo, Chairwoman of the General and Group Works Council of Volkswagen AG, said. 

Inscryption, one of the most critically acclaimed games of 2021, is coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. So far, it's only been available on Windows, macOS and Linux but publisher Devolver Digital is bringing it to consoles.

At its core, Inscryption is a card game that's dripping with horror. You'll sacrifice certain animal-based cards to play more powerful ones against your opponent. There's so much more to it than that, though this is definitely one of those games where the less you know about it going in, the better. It's not too much of a spoiler to say things get pretty strange. Inscryption will absolutely mess with your expectations.

The roguelike deckbuilder scooped up game of the year honors from a few publications and it received some Game Awards nominations. Inscryption has been a hit with players too. It sold more than a million copies in less than three months.

Developer Daniel Mullins is adding some extra features to the PlayStation versions, particularly for the PS5's DualSense controller. There'll be haptic feedback and you'll hear audio from your companion, a talking stoat card, through your controller's speaker. Mullins also promises to bring atmospheric lighting to the controller through the light bar. There's no release date for PS4 and PS5 as yet, but here's hoping it's not too far away.