The desire to make or at least market an electric vehicle as a performance vehicle is strong. The benefit of EV torque makes anything with some wheels and a little bit of power an off-the-line joy. But sometimes the performance vehicle in a lineup is best used at lower speeds. For example, the Arcimoto Roadster.
The companion vehicle to the Arcimoto FUV, the Roadster is the more performance-oriented vehicle from the automotive startup. Instead of a car sitting position, you ride it like a motorcycle. In our tests we realized, that likes its roofed sibling, the Roadster is more fun around town taking care of errands and turning heads.
More big names are cancelling in-person CES 2022 plans. CNETnotes AMD and OnePlus have both withdrawn their physical presences at the technology event. While they didn't provide detailed explanations, the move was clearly in response to the rise of COVID-19's Omicron variant and the corresponding surge in new cases. AMD is switching its in-person transactions to virtual ones in the "best interest" of everyone's health, the company said in a statement.
AMD was already poised to launch its 2022 products through a livestream on January 4th. OnePlus said it would introduce the OnePlus 10 Pro in January and was rumored to unveil the phone at CES.
The companies join numerous major brands that have backed out of real-world CES involvement, including Amazon, AT&T, GM, Google, Intel, Lenovo, Meta, Microsoft and T-Mobile. Others were already focused on virtual presentations, such as NVIDIA. Show mainstays like LG, Samsung and Sony were still committed as of this writing.
CES' organizer, the Consumer Technology Association, is still planning an in-person event and believes its health and safety measures are enough to protect attendees. It also downplayed the wave of departures, noting there had been more new sign-ups than exits as of December 23rd. The situation has changed in recent days, though, and the concern is more about the size of the companies than sheer numbers — this won't represent a CES revival if the star attractions are nowhere to be seen.
Lego isn't quite done mining your video game nostalgia. After nearly a year of work, the company has revealed that its Sonic the Hedgehog Green Hill Zone set will be available online and in Lego stores on January 1st, 2022 for $70 (£60). The brick-based recreation of the game's best-known area includes minifigs for Sonic, Dr. Eggman (aka Dr. Robotnik), two critters and the Phantom Ruby. Sonic won't dart around loops, unfortunately, but there is a Technic lever to launch him (or any other characters) along with the rings and powerups you'd expect.
The set is the finished adaptation of Sonic fan Viv Grannell's submission to the Lego Ideas platform. Their concept set racked up the 10,000 votes necessary to be considered for a real set. Lego officially began work in February.
You probably won't see too many more video game-themed Lego sets in the near future. Sonic and Mario are two of the best-known franchises — other game-related Lego Ideas for Legend of Zelda, Metroid and other classics haven't come close to passing the 10,000-vote threshold. This does illustrate the power of crowdsourcing, though, and it's good news for kids who grew up with a Genesis (or Mega Drive) in the living room.
Remedy Entertainment has added yet another project to its busy dance card. The studio is working with Tencent on a free-to-play co-op shooter codenamed Vanguard (no relation to the latest Call of Duty game).
The player vs. environment (PVE) title will bring "Remedy’s narrative expertise and action gameplay into an immersive multiplayer experience," the developer said. It's making the game for PC and consoles, but it'll probably be some time before Remedy offers a look at Vanguard, since it's still in the proof-of-concept stage.
Remedy will publish the game in most countries, though Tencent will localize and publish it in some Asian markets. The companies are co-financing Vanguard, which will be a live service game that's frequently updated. Remedy and Tencent will each pay their own publishing and operation costs, and they'll give each other a slice of revenue after they earn back what they shelled out on development.
In addition, Tencent will make and release a mobile version of Vanguard, which is Remedy’s original intellectual property. The Chinese conglomerate will cover the development and publishing costs, and it will share revenue with Remedy.
“Vanguard marks Remedy’s first entry into Games-as-a-Service business model, executed by our top tier team of free-to-play experts. We are building something new and exciting for co-operative multiplayer space, on top of Remedy’s strengths," Remedy CEO Tero Virtala said in a statement. "Vanguard is a global opportunity, and Tencent can support Remedy internationally, and lead the operations in Asia and the mobile markets."
Remedy has several other games on its slate. Back in June, it announced a co-op PVE game based on the terrific Control, as well as what sounds like a bigger-budget sequel. Earlier this month, the studio confirmed it's making Alan Wake 2, a sequel to the 2010 cult classic that Remedy re-released this year. The developer is also working on the single-player component of first-person shooter CrossfireX.
As for Tencent, the long-term partnership builds on a lengthy string of gaming deals the company has made in 2021. It has bought or taken a stake in more than 100 gaming-related businesses this year. Most recently, Tencent acquired Back 4 Blood maker Turtle Rock Studios.
Hyundai only just released its first ground-up electric car, but it's apparently ready to leave combustion engines behind. As Electrekreports, Korea Economic Dailysources claim Hyundai shut down its research center's engine design unit sometime this month. There will still be some workers left to refine existing engines, but the rest will move to EV-related work.
The company is understood to be converting buildings for EV development at the same time. The powertrain development center is becoming an electrification test facility, and the performance development center is now dedicated to electrified machines. There's also a new battery development center, while researchers are now sourcing raw battery and chip components.
The aim is simple, according to the leak. Hyundai wants to accelerate the transition to EVs, and that means devoting much more of its energy to the newer technology. Electrification is "inevitable," new research chief Park Chung-kook reportedly said in email, and the transition will help produce cars that "dominate the future market."
We've asked Hyundai for comment. The change in priorities would make sense, at least. Many countries and individual states intend to ban combustion car sales in the 2030s. Hyundai's home of South Korea, for instance, has a climate plan that would ban combustion-only sales by 2030 and all combustion vehicle sales by 2035. Hyundai is already phasing out diesels. There wouldn't be much point to designing new engines that would only have a brief time on the market, and the company is likely to significantly expand its EV lineup long before any government cutoffs.
As it does every year around this time, Samsung has unveiled its C-Lab incubator projects for CES 2022, with the aim to gauge customer response and further advance the most promising ideas. The star of the show this year is ZamStar, a guitar and app combo designed to make collaboration and learning easier. Other notable projects include an AI solution to help kids develop good smartphone habits and a nursery mobile that can allow for early detection of infant strabismus (eye crossing).
ZamStar consists of an app and a custom guitar called ZamString. The idea is that you can play a part on the guitar, add effects and then sync it up with other musicians around the world. It's clearly a riff on the COVID-19 TikTok trend of musical collaborations (remember all those sea shanties early this year), with the idea of making it easy to sync up your music. Meanwhile, the ZamString guitar has a fretboard that lights via input from a song, making it easy to figure out where to put your fingers. It's not a new concept, but perhaps the first to marry both the learning and collaboration aspects.
Piloto, meanwhile, is what Samsung calls an "AI solution that helps children develop proper smartphone usage habits." The aim is to teach kids "self-regulation skills" on smart devices to help them make good choices. Finally, Innovision is "a daily life eye-care system with a nursery mobile to catch suspicious symptoms of the strabismus and monitor visual ability development status for babies." That seems like a smart idea, since babies gaze natural towards mobiles.
Along with its inside incubators, Samsung's C-Lab Outside is backing nine startups, including an AI-based biometric recognition solution for pets called Petnow. All of these projects will be on display with their own booths at CES 2022. So far, Samsung still appears to be planning to attend the event and has not followed the lead of other exhibitors (Google, Lenovo, Intel, Amazon, Meta, T-Mobile) by cancelling.
Xiaomi has unveiled its latest lineup of flagship smartphones and wearables. The Xiaomi 12 Series, which is only available in China for now, includes two sizes of phones: Xiaomi 12 and Xiaomi 12 Pro.
Both are among the first devices to run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and they boast LPDDR5 RAM. The Xiaomi 12 has a 4,500mAh battery, while the 12 Pro has what the company claims is the first single-cell 120W, 4,600mAh battery. Xiaomi says it offers an increased capacity of 400mAh over dual-cell batteries without having to increase the size.
The base model's camera array includes Sony's 50MP IMX766 as the main camera, a 13MP ultra-wide angle lens and a 5MP telemacro sensor. The 12 Pro, meanwhile, has the new Sony IMX707 sensor, an ultra-wide camera with a 115-degree field of view and a 2x telephoto camera for portraits. All three sensors are 50MP, while the main camera improves light capture by up to 49 percent over the previous model, according to Xiaomi.
On the front, each device has a 32MP sensor. The front-facing holepunch camera was positioned on the left on the Mi 11 series, but, as with the 11T devices, it's in the center this time.
Xiaomi
Xiaomi noted that Night Mode is available on both devices, each of which is said to have a camera that works well in low-light scenarios. The company says it's introducing a new imaging computing algorithm, which it claims improves capture speed and shutter lag.
The Xiaomi 12 has a 6.28-inch flexible OLED display with a 2,400 × 1,080 resolution, 1,100 nits of brightness and a refresh rate of 120Hz. The 12 Pro offers a 6.73-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 3,200 x 1,440 and 1,500 nits of brightness. Xiaomi says the display uses micro-lens tech, which it claims improves the "viewing experience while increasing smart energy-saving capability." Both devices have HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support.
On the audio side, both handsets have symmetrical dual speakers and Dolby Atmos support. The 12 Pro features a customized mid-woofer and tweeter.
The devices will go on sale on December 31st, starting at RMB 3,699 (around $580) for the Xiaomi 12 and RMB 4,699 (approximately $738) for Xiaomi 12 Pro. The company also said it will release a lower-cost version of the Xiaomi 12 on the same day. The Xiaomi 12X has a Snapdragon 870 chipset and starts at RMB 3,199 ($500).
The phones will use MIUI 13, an OS based on Android 12 that's also coming to Mi 11 series handsets, Xiaomi 11T and other phones and tablets. Xiaomi's smart watches, speakers and TVs will also harness the OS to help unify the ecosystem. A feature called Mi Smart Hub will allow users to share things like their screen, music and apps with multiple nearby devices using a simple gesture.
Xiaomi
In addition, Xiaomi revealed its latest smartwatch. The Xiaomi Watch S1 has a 1.43-inch AMOLED screen with a sapphire glass display and stainless steel frame. It will offer detailed health stats and has support for 117 fitness modes. The device has a 5ATM water resistance rating too. Xiaomi says the device has a 12-day battery life and up to 24 days of standby time.
Like the new phones, the Xiaomi Watch S1 will only be available in China for the time being. It starts at RMB 1,099 ($172).
Xiaomi
Also new are the Xiaomi Buds 3, which have dual-magnetic dynamic drivers. The earbuds offer up to 40dB noise cancellation and three active noise cancellation modes. Xiaomi says owners will get up to seven hours of playback on a single charge and up to 32 hours of total use with the charging case. The Xiaomi Buds 3 will cost RMB 449 ($70).
While these devices are geared toward the Chinese market, they could make their way elsewhere at a later date. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun hinted as much on Twitter.
When Apple announced the upgraded MacBook Pro earlier this fall, the common refrain was that the company was finally giving its customers what they asked for. But while the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro updates represent the most obvious case of Apple owning up to (and rectifying) past mistakes, the company has actually been on this course for the last few years. And at the end of 2021, Apple has just about finished replacing some of its most problematic designs.
Reviews of the new MacBook Pro are almost universally positive (aside from the high price points), but it’s still worth recapping just what a big change these laptops represent from their predecessors. Both of the new sizes are thicker and noticeably heavier than the models they replace; for a company that showed an almost fanatical obsession with thin-and-light design over the last decade, it’s a major about-face. But the older, 4-pound, 15-inch MacBook Pro often had trouble staying cool under heavy processor loads, a problem that couldn’t be solved without increasing the laptop’s size and weight. It’s as if Apple remembered it already has the MacBook Air, and that the people buying a Pro are willing to lug around a bit of extra weight for a more capable machine.
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget
Apple arguably started moving in this direction with a mid-cycle refresh a few years ago. In 2019, the company started banishing the unreliable and uncomfortable butterfly keyboard for a significantly improved scissor-switch model. That revised keyboard arrived on the first 16-inch MacBook Pro. Along with the new keyboard, that laptop was a third of a pound heavier, and larger in every dimension than its predecessor.
That was the first indication that Apple was willing to fix some of the ill-fated decisions it made with the MacBook Pro lineup, which brings us to this fall’s refresh. Users still had a laundry list of things they wanted changing, and Apple largely delivered. The new models brought back the SD card slot and HDMI port that the company removed in 2016. The MagSafe charging port, one of Apple’s smartest innovations, also made a comeback. Finally, Apple replaced the Touch Bar with a standard row of function keys.
Of course, Apple only deserves so much credit for fixing self-inflicted wounds. But it feels like the company has a much clearer vision of what the people shelling out (at least) $2,000 for a MacBook Pro actually want. And beyond simply fixing earlier mistakes, the Apple-built M1 Pro and M1 Max processors offer massive performance gains and better battery life. Add in an outstanding new display and excellent keyboard and MacBook Pro buyers have a lot to look forward to. The fact that these computers are thicker and heavier than the ones they replace will barely be a consideration for most, especially since bigger laptops have space for things like extra ports, larger batteries and better cooling systems.
David Imel for Engadget
While the MacBook Pro is the obvious example of Apple giving the people what they want this year, it’s not the only one. Take the iPhone 13 launch. The company once again released two standard models and two “Pro” models, just as it did in 2020. In most ways, these phones were iterative updates over the 12 series — but all four phones have significantly better battery life than their predecessors. Improving longevity is an obvious way to make customers happy, but it’s still good news that Apple quickly identified the weak spot with the iPhone 12 lineup and fixed it. Perhaps not coincidentally, all iPhone 13 models are also all a little heavier than last year’s. (They're also imperceptibly thicker, at .30 inches vs. .29 for the iPhone 12.)
Again, though, there’s some recent precedence for Apple putting battery life over a thin-at-all-costs design. 2018’s iPhone XR was a cheaper and slightly less elegant version of the flagship iPhone XS — but its larger screen and thicker body left room for a battery that smoked the “superior” XS. So, in 2019, Apple made the iPhone 11 Pro bigger than the XS it replaced, but it also vastly improved battery life. It was particularly surprising to see Apple make a bigger iPhone after chasing thinness at all costs for so long, but it was definitely welcome. The company finally seems to realize that an impossibly thin device that constantly needs to be charged doesn’t make for a good user experience.
Another good example is Apple's significant change of heart around product repairs. Specifically, Apple announced plans to sell repair parts and instructions to customers who want to fix their iPhones themselves, a victory for anyone who felt they should be able to pop open their iPhone and put in a new battery or fix a broken display. While right-to-repair groups said there's still more Apple can do in this area, they nonetheless hailed it as a major step forward from the completely closed nature of its products, the vast majority of which haven't been user-serviceable before. Apple is starting with the iPhone, but said it will roll out some self-repair tools and parts for M1-based Macs in 2022, as well. The threat of government regulation may have played a big role in this new initiative, but the end result is still good for consumers.
Apple is even having a little more fun with its products than it has in a while. Take the M1-powered iMac, for example. I wish that it had more ports and, considering the price, it should have more RAM and storage — but the wide variety of colors Apple chose is just great. I’m dying for these colorways to come to a redesigned MacBook Air (fingers crossed for the spring). The three new hues in the HomePod mini lineup are another good example of Apple realizing that hardware you place in your home doesn’t just have to be gray or silver.
While the new MacBook Pro is a huge step forward for those who want serious power on the go, Apple still hasn’t given professionals the full desktop-class computers they need. Because Apple is in the middle of its transition to Apple Silicon, the larger iMac and Mac Pro machines are hard to recommend right now. Hopefully, Apple will bring the power of the M1 Pro and M1 Max to a larger iMac and a new Mac Pro tower in 2022. If they can wrap up this last bit of the transition next year, Mac buyers will be covered at all points of the company’s product lineup. It’s been way too long since we could say that.
If you bought an Xbox Series X or S a year ago, your selection of accessories mostly came down to aging gear designed for last-gen systems. Now, you've got plenty more ways to upgrade your Xbox experience. Maybe you need a better controller to optimize your Psychonauts 2 runs, a clearer headset to chat with teammates in Apex Legends, or perhaps your storage is just running low. Here are a few of the best Xbox accessories you can nab today.
Controllers: Go stylish, go Pro
Microsoft
It's always smart to have a second controller on hand. Even if you don't play multiplayer games much, you'll regret not being prepared for the occasional friend or family member who's down for a Mortal Kombat match. And at the very least, it's wise to have a replacement in case something goes wrong with your main controller. (We've all smashed our gamepads against the wall for one reason, or another – no judgement.)
While you could just get another stock Microsoft controller, there are plenty of options worth considering. The Anniversary Edition gamepad is just a bit more at $70, and it has a spiffy translucent design that'll look great on your coffee table. If you're looking for something with a bit more color, the gorgeous Limited Edition Forza Horizon 5 model is still around. If you find yourself burning through plenty of AA batteries, consider a rechargeable solution like PowerA’s dual controller bay. It comes with two batteries, and it lets you juice up your gamepads in style.
For dedicated Xbox gamers, Microsoft's second-generation Elite gamepad may be worth the investment. It has replaceable thumbsticks, rear buttons and a comfortable grip. Not to mention, it’s one of the few Xbox gamepads that you can recharge over USB-C.
If you're more interested in playing older games, or are just looking for a different style of controller, we're also huge fans of 8BitDo's Pro 2. It's incredibly comfortable, and its directional pad is one of the best on the market. It also makes a great controller for PC gaming (though any recent Xbox controller will also work on computers over Bluetooth).
If you play Microsoft Flight Simulator long enough, you'll realize you can only go so far with a standard gamepad. Time for a flight stick! After conferring with flying simulator fanatics, and perusing plenty of reviews, we'd recommend jumping on Thrustmaster's T-Flight Hotas One joystick. It offers realistic five-axis control, fourteen buttons and a detachable throttle. And unlike some clunky PC solutions, it's compact enough to fit on a coffee table or lap desk. (You can also use it with a computer, if you'd like.)
If you're more into cars, we were impressed by Logitech's G923 racing wheel. It feels like a genuine steering wheel, with a comfortable grip, steel paddle shifters, and a trio of solid pedals. Once it's clamped to a table, it delivers a surprisingly realistic driving experience – all the better to tear through Mexico in Forza Horizon 5. It's definitely pricey at $400, but it's an investment that'll last for many racing games to come.
If you were lucky enough to nab a new Xbox Series X or S at launch, chances are you're already familiar with their storage limitations. Luckily, you can easily give yourself a bit more breathing room with one of Seagate's storage expansion cards, which are just as fast as the speedy SSDs inside the consoles. In addition to the 1TB card that arrived at launch, Seagate also recently unveiled 512GB and 2TB options. We'd recommend going for the 1TB option at this point, though – spending $400 for the 2TB just seems excessive.
You can also connect traditional hard drives, like Seagate's 2TB Game Drive, to the Xbox Series X and S over USB. They're far too slow to run current-gen games at their full speed, but they give you a boatload of storage for a much cheaper price. They're useful to have around for playing games from the original Xbox, as well as the 360. And they can also be used as "cold storage" to free up space on your precious SSD. Newer games can easily move back and forth between those drives, which prevents you from having to download them again.
You deserve better than your crummy TV speakers. While you could just plug in whatever headphones you have laying around into your Xbox controller, we'd recommend investing in a solid pair of wireless headphones. They'll likely sound better, and they remove the whole cord problem entirely. SteelSeries Arctis 9X are one of the best options around, with beefy drivers, a comfortable fit and sturdy build quality. We were impressed during our hands-on testing, as they sounded just as good as the company's excellent Arctis Pro PC headphones.
Tired of controlling Netflix playback with your controller? Then snag 8BitDo's Media Remote. Available in long and short designs (the latter removes numbers and other extraneous buttons), they're well-made remotes that fit the Xbox's clean aesthetic. I've been using the short model to control 4K Blu-rays and tons of streaming apps, and it's far easier to use than a controller when it comes to quickly fast-forwarding. Now, I don’t have to put my drink down to skip to another chapter.
Riot Games has agreed to pay $100 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed in November 2018 by former employees alleging gender discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation. The League of Legends publisher was only going to pay $10 million per the preliminary settlement in 2019, but the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing went to court to block the agreement. $10 million was much too small, the agency argued, and the women suing the company could be entitled to as much as $400 million.
The lawsuit was originally filed by Melanie McCracken and Jess Negrón after a Kotaku report exposed the developers' "men-first" and "bro" company culture. In the report, Kotaku detailed employees' experiences within the company, such as instances of "genital grabbing" and senior leaders passing around lists of employees they would sleep with. One former employee who left the company due to sexism said working for Riot was like "working at a giant fraternity."
Under the terms of the settlement, $80 million will go towards members of the class-action lawsuit, while $20 million will go towards the plaintiffs' legal fees. All employees and contractors in California who identify as women and who worked at Riot between November 2014 until present day qualify for a payout. Those who've been with the company longer will get a bigger cut than newer workers. And there are quite a lot of newer ones — while only around 1,000 workers were qualified for a payout in 2019, there are now around 2,300 eligible personnel. In a statement, the developer told The Washington Post:
"Three years ago, Riot was at the heart of what became a reckoning in our industry. We had to face the fact that despite our best intentions, we hadn’t always lived up to our values. As a company we stood at a crossroads; we could deny the shortcomings of our culture, or we could apologize, correct course, and build a better Riot. We chose the latter... While we'e proud of how far we’ve come since 2018, we must also take responsibility for the past. We hope that this settlement properly acknowledges those who had negative experiences at Riot."
In addition to paying $100 million, Riot Games is also required to get a third-party expert to conduct "sex/gender equity analysis of total compensation, assignment and promotion outcomes for California employees." Riot must also allow pay transparency and will have to be monitored by a third party, who'll keep an eye on things like HR complaints and pay equity, for three years. The monitor will be able to recommend changes to the company that Riot can implement.
Genie Harrison, the women's rights attorney who represented the plaintiffs, said in a statement:
"This is a great day for the women of Riot Games – and for women at all video game and tech companies – who deserve a workplace that is free of harassment and discrimination. We appreciate Riot’s introspection and work since 2018 toward becoming a more diverse and inclusive company, its willingness to take responsibility for its past, and its commitment to fairness and equality in the future. Along with the DFEH and DLSE, the brave women of Riot who carried the torch of justice have achieved a precedent-setting result that stands as a beacon for other women and as a warning that employers had better pay and treat women fairly, or else be held accountable."
