Celsius has filed for bankruptcy protection a month after it paused all customer withdrawals and transfers, according to The Wall Street Journal. The crypto lending giant left almost two million users unable to access their funds back in June due to what it described as "extreme market conditions." Back then, the company said that freezing withdrawals would help stabilize the liquidity of its assets to, in turn, help it meet withdrawal obligations.
Celsius was one of the companies caught in the crypto crash, and it saw its token's value fall from $7 a year ago to $3 by early April this year. Based on the most current information from Coinbase, its token is now worth around 56 cents. As The Journal notes, Celsius offered much better yields than traditional banks to its customers — over 18.6 percent for deposits — and granted large loans backed by little collateral. That left the company with very little wiggle room to move when it felt the effects of the crypto downturn.
The crypto lender's board of directors explained that pausing withdrawals was difficult but necessary. They said when they filed for bankruptcy:
"Without a pause, the acceleration of withdrawals would have allowed certain customers — those who were first to act — to be paid in full while leaving others behind to wait for Celsius to harvest value from illiquid or longer-term assets before they receive a recovery."
Since Celsius isn't seeking court approval for withdrawals, they will likely remain inaccessible as the company restructures under the chapter 11 process. While filing for bankruptcy protects Celsius from some enforcement actions by regulators, though, it will not prevent authorities from investigating the company. Texas State Securities Board's director of enforcement, Joseph Rotunda, said the agency will continue its probe into the crypto lender. The states of Alabama, Kentucky, New Jersey and Washington are also looking into Celsius after it cut off people's access to their money.
While Tesla, Ford and GM all (very publicly) vie for the top spot in the American electric vehicle market, Hyundai has quietly built a powerhouse lineup of EVs that threatens to surpass them all. On Wednesday (Thursday in Korea), Hyundai Motor Group officially unveiled the Ioniq 6, a streamlined sedan that offers an estimated 610km (380 mile) range and an intelligent interior that George Jetson would mistake for magic.
The Ioniq 6, like the other iterations of the Ioniq lineup, is built atop Hyundai's e-GMP platform. As such, the 6 is outfitted with an industry-leading 800V electrical architecture enabling a 10-80 charge in just 18 minutes.
It will be available with either a standard 55kWh battery pack or an optional 77.4kWh pack, equivalent to what the Kia EV6 and Polestar 2 offer. Combined with a miniscule 0.21 drag coefficient (which is also one of the best on the market), the Ioniq 6 is expected to top 610 km on a single charge. And like the Ioniq 5, the 6 also offers V2L capabilities, enabling it to charge your house, accessories and even other vehicles.
Its exceedingly aerodynamic exterior, available in a dozen different colors, has been likened to that of an Apple Mouse come to life — like someone shortened the back of Mercedes-Benz’ ambitious AVTR Concept and gave it a duck lip. And optional 20-inch rims.
Hyundai
Drivers will have the option between RWD and AWD (2- and 4-motor) variants. Per Hyundai, the AWD will output 239 kW (320HP) with 605 Nm of torque and hit 60 from a standstill in 5.1 seconds. You’ll have to opt for the small battery RWD model to achieve maximum efficiency and get the sub-14 kWh/100 km WLTP-estimated energy consumption.
Drivers will be able to tightly customize their preferred driving experience using the Ioniq 6’s EV Performance Tune-up system. Dial in everything from steering effort and motor power, to accelerator pedal sensitivity and driveline mode. You can also group various aspect settings into quick selectable packages — like a loadout in Call of Duty, or Focus Modes in iOS.
"Our engineers have worked hard to deliver a car with human-centric purposeful features to ensure a completely stress-free driving experience with its focus on design sustainability, technology, and usability," Thomas Schemera, Hyundai EVP of Product and Strategy, said during a recent press call.
Its "cocoon-inspired" interior has been built as a “comfy and personalized hideaway” where, according to the company’s launch video, people can take naps, bang out some light coding or office work and even conduct livestreams to their myriad social media followers — or, in reality, will serve as a quiet place to cry during lunch breaks. (Phil is a terrible manager and he doesn’t deserve your efforts, you should just quit.)
Hyundai
To get you back into the mood before your next shift starts, the Ioniq 6 will offer Dual Color Ambient Lighting which lets the driver select from 64 shades and a half dozen preset themes and tint their vehicle’s interior to their taste. The Relaxation Comfort Seats are optional but are designed specially for electric vehicles and are therefore 30 percent thinner than those used in gas vehicles. When combined with a completely flat floor (look Ma, no driveshaft!) and elongated 2,950-mm wheelbase, the Ioniq 6 should provide, "more space for passengers but without compromised to comfort," Schemera said. It’ll also offer four type-C and one type-A USB ports in the front cabin to keep your various live streaming gadgets fully charged.
The interior features a 12-inch full-touch infotainment display and 12-inch digital cluster, which provide real-time travel radius mapping to inform the driver how far they’ll be able to go on the charge they have remaining. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are both standard, as is Bluetooth multi-connection — meaning you can wirelessly connect two devices to play through the 8-speaker Bose sound system.
While Hyundai (quite responsibly) does not claim any semblance of "self-driving" capability, the Ioniq 6 does feature a slew of Level 2 driver assist functions as part of the Hyundai SmartSense ADAS. That includes Highway Driving Assist, Smart Cruise Control, and Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist all of which operate around the same theme of keeping you from smashing headfirst into other vehicles. The higher trim packages will also offer Junction Crossing, Lane-Changing Oncoming and Lane-Changing Side features, which will work to keep other vehicles from smashing headfirst into you at intersections. Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist will keep you from smashing headfirst into obstacles you can’t even see.
Intelligent Speed Limit Assist and High Beam Assist will ensure that you don’t speed but do turn down your high beams. The 6 will even watch you watch the road and issue a Driver Attention Warning if you start nodding off. Parking assist, cross traffic/parking collision avoidance and safe exit warnings are also available. Hyundai plans to continually tweak and update the Ioniq 6’s features through OTA updates.
Pricing has yet to be announced for the Ioniq 6, though production is slated to begin in Q3 2022. Stay tuned, Hyundai will make the Ioniq 6’s official American introduction in November.
Earlier this summer, physicians at NYU Langone were able to successfully transplant pig hearts into two recently-deceased humans. The medical team performed the procedures on June 16 and July 6, using special pig hearts that were genetically modified to be more acceptable for transplantation into a human body. Both the bodies were donated by recently deceased individuals and were placed on ventilator support so the efficacy of the pig hearts could be measured more accurately.
The study arrives as the field of xenotransplantation — or the act of transferring organs from one species to another — is under increased scrutiny. The first person to undergo a pig heart transplant died earlier this year, of what scientists believe was an adverse reaction to a drug to prevent rejection. The heart also contained DNA associated with a pig virus. Since the incident, the medical community has called for more meaningful research on the subject, as well as better safety protocols. Meanwhile, the FDA is considering approval of clinical trials for pig heart transplantation in humans, the Wall Street Journalreported last month.
Both human subjects — a 72-year-old Navy veteran and a 64-year-old retired New York City teacher — were monitored for three days before being taken off life support. Neither heart needed any outside support and functioned normally, which researchers are seeing as a promising sign for future research. Despite the NYU experiment’s positive outcome, surgeons cautioned that much more research is needed before pig heart transplants can be a viable alternative for people with heart disease.
“This is not a one-and-done situation. This is going to be years of learning what’s important and what’s not important for this to work,” NYU’s Dr. Robert Montgomery told the Associated Press.
Panasonic announced on Wednesday that it's inked a $4 billion investment deal with the state of Kansas to build and operate the world's largest battery cell production facility. The company has already identified a site near the city of De Soto, at a former ammunition factory.
“As the largest private investment in Kansas history and one of the largest EV battery manufacturing plants of its kind in the country, this project will be transformative for our state’s economy, providing in total 8,000 high-quality jobs that will help more Kansans create better lives for themselves and their children,” Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, a Democrat, said during Wednesday's press conference.
The plant will produce high-capacity cells for Tesla, according to Nikkei Asia. Panasonic already jointly operates the Reno, Nevada Gigafactory with the automaker. Tesla opened a third Gigafactory, in Austin, this past April. This project is expected to produce 4,000 permanent jobs at the factory as well as 16,500 construction jobs.
Despite the global economic shock and supply chain shortages instigated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Tesla saw its vehicle deliveries jump nearly 90 percent between 2020 and 2021. The company had begun developing a proprietary line of batteries in 2019 and has been routinely snapping up exclusive deals with lithium suppliers.
As of July 1st of this year, Amazon has provided Ring footage to US law enforcement 11 times without user consent or a court order, according to a disclosure shared by Senator Edward Markey on Wednesday. The Massachusetts Democrat sent Amazon a letter last month with questions about the company’s policies related to Ring and its relationships with police. Amazon responded to the letter at the start of July.
The disclosure marks the first time Amazon has shared this kind of information with the public. In its law enforcement guidelines, Ring says it reserves the right to “immediately” respond to police requests in cases where someone could die or suffer serious injury.
“In each instance, Ring made a good-faith determination that there was an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to a person requiring disclosure of information without delay,” wrote Brian Huseman, Amazon’s vice-president of public policy, of the 11 videos. Huseman didn’t say the specific footage Ring shared with police.
Amazon's Ring products have made it more difficult to exist in public without being recorded. Ring revealed it provided law enforcement with user footage through a process not requiring user consent 11 times already this year. We cannot accept this surveillance as inevitable. https://t.co/zmP9hBU1kI
In his letter, Markey asked Amazon to agree not to accept financial contributions from police or participate in sting operations. The company did not agree to those restrictions. In the past, Ring has actively courted partnerships with law enforcement and even gone so far as to author statements shared by police.
“It’s simply untrue that Ring gives anyone unfettered access to customer data or video, as we have repeatedly made clear to our customers and others,” a Ring spokesperson told Engadget. “The law authorizes companies like Ring to provide information to government entities if the company believes that an emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury to any person, such as a kidnapping or an attempted murder, requires disclosure without delay. Ring faithfully applies that legal standard.”
The news that Amazon shared footage with police without user consent at least 11 times this year is likely to add to the concerns many privacy experts have about the company. In 2021, the Electronic Frontier Foundation reported that the Los Angeles Police Department requested footage from Ring of Black Lives Matter protests captured by residential cameras.
Markey used the disclosure to call on lawmakers to pass the Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act, a bill he introduced alongside Senator Jeff Merkley and Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Ayanna Pressley. “As my ongoing investigation into Amazon illustrates, it has become increasingly difficult for the public to move, assemble, and converse in public without being tracked and recorded,” said Markey. “We cannot accept this as inevitable in our country.”
Tesla Director of AI, Andrej Karpathy, is stepping down from his role at the company and from the helm of its Autopilot program. "It’s been a great pleasure to help Tesla towards its goals over the last 5 years and a difficult decision to part ways," Karpathy announced via Twitter on Wednesday, having just returned from a four-month sabbatical.
It’s been a great pleasure to help Tesla towards its goals over the last 5 years and a difficult decision to part ways. In that time, Autopilot graduated from lane keeping to city streets and I look forward to seeing the exceptionally strong Autopilot team continue that momentum.
Before becoming the Senior Director of AI at Tesla, Karpathy was a research scientist with OpenAI's deep learning program focusing on computer vision and generative modeling. Prior to that, he was part of Fei-Fei Li's research team at Stanford for his PhD. Karpathy has "no concrete plans" yet for the future but is looking to "spend more time revisiting my long-term passions around technical work in AI, open source and education," he noted in a subsequent tweet.
If you're missing your weekly dose of Star Trek since the first season of Strange New Worlds wrapped up, you won't have to wait much longer for another fix. Animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks will return on August 25th.
The third season has 10 episodes, with a new one arriving every Thursday. Paramount+ is promising a "shocking resolution" for the cliffhanger that capped off season two last October. The crew of the USS Cerritos will be tested "in (hilarious) ways they could never imagine," which may or may not have something to do with the consequences of stealing the ship.
The imminent return of Lower Decks should come as good news for its fans. Trekkers who prefer the live-action shows will need to remain patient, though, as the likes of Star Trek: Picard and Discovery aren't expected to return until 2023.
Connected fitness equipment maker Tonal is laying off 35 percent of its workforce, according to CNBC. Like Peloton, the company grew its headcount significantly over the last two years as demand for its product, a home weightlifting system, skyrocketed due to pandemic lockdowns. Before the start of 2020, Tonal employed about 110 people. It now has closer to 750 workers, CEO Aly Orday told CNBC. Orday said the move would help put Tonal on track to start making money within the next few months as it looks to go public.
“As we head into a recession — and many of us believe we’re headed into a recession — it’s really important that we become a business that’s here for the long term,” Orday told the outlet. Tonal will provide affected employees at least eight weeks of severance pay and healthcare benefits through to the end of September.
Relative to Peloton, Tonal is coming out of the pandemic mostly unscathed. The connected fitness industry’s best-known player laid off 2,800 employees, or about 20 percent of its total workforce, at the start of 2022. More recently, Peloton announced it would no longer build its own equipment.
Yes, we know it’s still summer, but now is the time to start preparing to go back to school. That’s especially if you’re starting college in a couple of months – you don’t want to leave prep to the last minute. Fortunately, it’s Prime Day and quite a number of discounted items are perfect for students heading back to the classroom. Whether it’s a laptop or just things that will make dorm life a little easier, we recommend picking them up now to save yourself the headache later. Here’s a list of the best back-to-school tech deals we’ve spotted so far.
Razer Blade 15
Razer Blade 15
Will Lipman photography for Engadget
Razer’s sleek Blade 15 is usually pretty expensive, but fortunately this particular version of it is $200 off, making it just $1,900. It features the 8-core 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11800H processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 graphics, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and a 144Hz 1080p display. It’s thin and compact, so it won’t break your back if you’re carrying it from class to class, plus it’s powerful enough to use as a gaming machine. The custom backlight RGB colors on the keyboard are pretty cool too.
This particular configuration of Microsoft’s Surface Pro 8 has also dipped in price to $1,188, which is 26 percent off its list price. It runs on Intel’s Evo Platform Core i7, 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. We’ve recommended the Surface Pro 8 as an option for those who like their laptops to occasionally double as tablets. It has a thin profile with minimal bezels and the 120Hz display makes scrolling long documents feel a lot faster.
The Soundance laptop stand is currently $24, which is 41 percent off its list price. However, you can save an extra 10 percent if you apply the on-page coupon, which will bring it down to just under $30. A stand like this helps raise your laptop to eye level, which helps promote good posture. It has a detachable design too, so you can break it down and carry it in your bag if you wish.
Anker’s two-pack of USB-C to Lightning Powerline cables is down to just $20, which is 35 percent off the original price. It’s MFI-certified to work with all Apple devices, and it supports fast-charging, which is good news if you need to power up your almost-dead battery in a hurry. Plus, Anker’s cables tend to last a lot longer than the standard Apple one that comes in the box. According to Anker, the Powerline lasts an average of 12 times longer with a 12,000-bend lifespan.
The Chromecast with Google TV is down to $40 right now. It's the best option if you're a heavy Google user, or really like being able to cast from your phone to your TV. We gave it a score of 86 for its handy remote control, good Google Assistant integration and 4K streaming chops with Dolby Vision and Atmos support.
The Roku Streambar is down to $90 right now. It's both a solid streaming device and soundbar, making it a good option for those without a ton of space to spare. We gave it a score of 86 for its solid audio quality, Dolby Audio support and built-in 4K streaming technology. The more advanced Streambar Pro is on sale for $150, too.
Need to charge both your iPhone and your AirPods at the same time? Then consider Belkin’s MagSafe 2-in-1 Wireless Charger, which is just $75 today, making it 25 percent off the normal price. It’ll only work with iPhones that are MagSafe-compatible, which are the iPhone 12 and up. We like it because it has fast-charging up to 15 watts, plus you can rotate the phone to either portrait or landscape mode.
Sony’s excellent noise-canceling WH-CH710N headphones are only $68 today, which is 55 percent off its original price. Noise-canceling headphones are very useful for any student who needs peace and quiet in order to focus on their work. The WH-CH710N delivers plenty of sound-blocking power thanks to the dual noise sensor tech. It also has an ambient-sound toggle in case you want to hear what’s going on around you. A bonus: it has an excellent 35-hour battery life, which is more than enough to last through several study sessions.
If you don’t need noise-canceling, consider Jabra’s Elite 45h, which is only $50 for Prime Day (that’s half off its $100 retail price). They sound great, plus they’ll pair with most TVs or laptops over Bluetooth. It lasts up to 50 hours on a charge, and they’re comfortable to use at home or while walking around campus.
Like with many Amazon products, the Echo Dot is discounted for Prime Day. It’s currently a very enticing $20, which is 60 percent off the list price. We think it’s a great device for students, as it won’t take up much space on their desks. They can use it to play music from Spotify or Apple Music and of course they can ask Alexa to do all manner of things like checking the weather, finding out the day’s appointments, and setting a reminder for deadlines.
Whether it be for coffee, tea, or instant ramen, you’ll love having an electric kettle in your dorm room. This model from Cosori is a very good one, plus it’s just $60 for Prime Day, which is 16 percent off its usual price. It has variable temperature presets so you can dial the water to exactly how hot you want it, which is great for customizing the brew to different varieties of tea. It’s also fantastic for pour-over coffee, as the gooseneck spout allows for a more accurate, gentle pour.
Linenspa's oversized reading pillow is 20 percent off today, making it just $32. We recommend it as it helps change up your seating position so that you're not always sitting on your desk chair, plus it's a lot comfier than slouching on piled up bed pillows. The shredded memory foam provides good posture support, which in turn is super helpful for reading, playing games or just watching TV. We especially like the handle, as it makes it easier to carry around your room.
Apple may have the best smartwatch around, but there are still some areas where it lags the competition, particularly in exercise and sleep tracking. With watchOS 9, the company is bringing a robust slate of Workout updates, alongside new watch faces, redesigned apps and the ability to detect sleep zones. Now that the public beta is here, we can get a first look at whether the company can close those gaps.
To install the watchOS beta, you’ll need to have an Apple Watch Series 4 or newer, as well as an iPhone running the iOS 16 beta. That means if you don’t want to risk losing your data, you might want to wait until an official release before updating.
Hearty changes in Workouts
Some of the most impactful updates are in workouts. Apple added new pages that present more data when you’re logging an activity, so you can easily keep track of things like your segments and splits or elevations. Of these new screens, my favorite is the new Cardio Zones view, while I found the Activity Rings page the least helpful.
It was satisfying to see where my heart rate was during a 45-minute HIIT session, and the Apple Watch displayed that information clearly. There were five zones in different colors on screen, and the one I was in was highlighted. Afterwards, I learned through the Fitness app’s new summary page that I had spent most of the time (about 22 minutes) in Zone 4, and Apple also helpfully displays the heart rate range for each zone.
Screenshots
The Cardio view is supposed to be available for all workouts, but I didn’t see it in activities like Yoga, Dance or Cooldown. They do all support the new custom workout feature, though, which lets you create specific goals to focus on during your session. This is much more useful in distance or endurance-related activities like running, cycling, rowing or HIIT, where Apple offers suggested templates like 8 x 400m repeats, 1 mile repeats or 20 min of 20 sec / 10 sec. You’ll get haptic and audio alerts when you hit your target heart rate, distance, calories or time.
You can scroll all the way down to set up your own, but this experience is pretty inconsistent across different workout types. For some activities, you’ll have plenty of options like Pacer, Distance, Calories or Time. For others, like Open Water Swim or Rower, you’ll only see Calories and Time, along with a Custom option that lets you set specific periods of work and recovery.
Not every activity is going to be compatible with distance or pace, so this inconsistency is understandable. Just don’t expect the custom workouts feature to behave the same way for all your exercises.
Screenshots
Runners will find a lot of the watchOS 9 tools helpful, though. Apple also added new running form metrics like stride length, ground contact time, vertical oscillation and something it calls Power. That last one measures your responsive energy demand and is displayed as a number of watts. These new metrics are automatically calculated, and are only available during Outdoor Run workouts. You’ll need to be using an Apple Watch Series 6, Watch SE or newer, too.
If you tend to run or bike along the same routes, watchOS 9 can also let you race against yourself in the new Race Route feature. When you complete Outdoor Run, Outdoor Cycle or Wheelchair Run Pace workouts, your iPhone will use on-device processing to group similar routes. The next time you start one of these activities, the Route view will tell you if you’re ahead or behind your typical time, how much distance is left and alert you if you go off your usual path. Apple also added a new Pacer mode that lets you set a target time to complete a distance you specify, and will then guide you to hit the required pace to meet that goal. Garmin and Samsung watches have similar features, so Apple isn’t breaking new ground here, but it’s nice to see come to watchOS.
I don’t usually bike, swim and run within one session, but for triathletes, the new Multisport workout mode makes it easier to switch between the three activities so you don’t have to fiddle with your watch. Apple also added support for Kickboard as a stroke type, and swimmers can see a SWOLF efficiency score on their summaries.
New watch faces and interface
One of the nicer things about each watchOS update is the new faces, which offer a way to refresh your device. This time, Apple not only added the ability to change the background color of existing options like Modular and X-Large, it’s also introducing new Playtime, Metropolitan and Lunar designs. The company also redesigned the Astronomy screen, and it’s similar to the iPhone version, where you can choose between views of the earth, moon or the solar system. Meanwhile, Lunar lets you pick from the Chinese, Hebrew or Islamic calendars to display around the clock.
Screenshots
I never knew how much I’d appreciate having the Chinese Lunar calendar within reach until I added this face. It has Mandarin characters telling me it’s currently the fifteenth day of the sixth month, and I can use this to count how far we are from the next Lunar New Year or my grandmother’s birthday (which my family bases on the Chinese calendar).
Apple also redesigned the calendar app, making it easier to add new events from your wrist. Siri also no longer takes over your whole screen when triggered, instead appearing as an orb floating over the clock.
Because I had set up Medications on my iPhone on the iOS 16 preview, I also received an alert on watchOS 9 when it came time to take my supplement. I could easily log that I had taken my meds, skipped them or snooze the reminder.
Sleep zones and other updates
Speaking of snoozing, Apple also added sleep stage-detection to watchOS 9, using data from the accelerometer and heart rate monitor. It’ll detect when you’re awake, and distinguish between zones like REM, Core or Deep sleep. This feature is way overdue, considering Fitbit has long been able to do this with even its midrange trackers. But while I didn’t get around to testing Apple’s system in time for this preview, I look forward to seeing how it compares when I do a full review.
Screenshot / Engadget
There are some other updates I’d like to spend more time with, too, like the additional metrics when doing a Fitness+ workout. So far, my experience with the watchOS 9 beta has been smooth, and honestly the cardio zones workout view alone has made the installation worthwhile (for a gym fiend like me, anyway). If you’re comfortable with the risk involved in running beta software, and can’t wait till a stable release to get these new features, you’ll likely enjoy what Apple has to offer today.
