Tile Bluetooth trackers were some of the many small gadgets on sale last week for Black Friday, but you have another chance to grab some of the latest models for less today. Whereas the previous sale focused on multi-packs, this one-day deal knocks up to 30 percent off individual Tile trackers. The classic 2022 Tile Mate is 24 percent off, bringing it down to $19, while the Tile Slim is down to $28 and the Tile Sticker is on sale for $23.
These small devices let you keep track of things like your keys, wallet, backpack, water bottle and more using your the Tile network and your smartphone. In addition to making the Tile ring so you can more easily find your stuff, you can also digitally add your contact information to the Tile, allowing anyone who finds your belongings to contact you by scanning the QR code on the tracker. The 2022 models improve on the previous versions with a wider, 250-foot finding range, IP67 water-resistant designs and louder rings.
All but one of the latest Tiles have a three-year, non-replaceable battery. The Tile Pro, which is also included in this sale and is down to $27, has a one-year replaceable battery, making it the better option for those who don't want to buy a whole new tracker once the battery runs out. The Tile Pro also has a 400-foot finding range, the widest of them all, and the loudest ring, too. If someone you know is constantly misplacing their things, this sale is a good opportunity to pick up a stocking stuffer for them that they'll actually use regularly.
This week, Cherlynn and Devindra discuss the significance of Jack Dorsey leaving Twitter. Will the social network thrive, or stumble, after losing its co-founder for a second time? Also, Cherlynn explains what’s up with all of Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon chips for phones, computers and… portable gaming consoles? Is it enough to take on Apple’s M1 chips? Or will Windows once again hold Snapdragon PCs back?
Listen below, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
What is Twitter without founder Jack Dorsey? – 1:21
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip – 22:38
Updates from the Theranos / Elizabeth Holmes trial – 45:44
Spotify’s Wrapped feature is available this week – 51:41
Working on – 56:18
Pop culture picks – 59:20
Video livestream
Credits Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar Producer: Ben Ellman Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos,Luke Brooks Graphics artists: Luke Brooks, Kyle Maack Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
Niantic has just rolled out updates for the Pokémon Go app, and one of the new features for iOS will let you run the game at higher frame rates. The Verge has discovered a new option that allows you "unlock your device's native refresh rate for higher FPS." It's not explicitly stated in the app's change log and probably falls under the "various quality-of-life improvements" the developer has listed. Also, the option is off by default, so you'll have to find it in settings if you want to take advantage of your phone's capabilities.
As the publication notes, Pokémon Go was previously capped at 30fps on iOS — players have had to employ workarounds to get their games to run at 60fps — but newer phones are capable of more frames per second than that. The iPhone 13 Pro, for instance, has a 120fps screen. The Verge says switching the feature on made a huge difference and made the game a lot more responsive. While Niantic may have been trying to cater to owners of the new iPhone, the option can also be accessed on its predecessors. It just may not work as well on hardware powered by older chips.
You can find the the feature in the game's advanced settings, which will show "native refresh rate unlocked" when it's switched on.
Tesla is selling a scaled down kiddie version of its Cyberquad ATV for the scions of EV owners around the world. For the uninitiated, when Tesla announced its beefy, alien-looking Cybertruck, it also promised a similar-looking ATV would debut alongside. While both the truck and ATV remain in the works, you can get your kids a unit that’ll impress everyone at the next off-road meet you go to. Packing a lithium-ion battery with a reported 15 miles of range and a 10MPH top speed, the kiddie Cyberquad will set you back $1,900, but bear in mind orders are not guaranteed to reach you before the holidays.
The smart-home gizmo gets some quality-of-life additions.
Today’s edition of “intrusive or useful” features Alexa, after Amazon updated its Custom Sound Detection with new features. Long story short, while you could manually train Alexa to keep its microphones listening for water running or a beeping washing machine, now it’ll do that automatically. That means your phone will let you know if someone’s been a bit lax at the taps or needs to go change over the laundry. Another big addition is the ability for Alexa to refill prescriptions via Amazon Pharmacy, all from the comfort of wherever your Alexa is currently parked.
Apple has reportedly told suppliers to expect a smaller number of iPhone 13 orders across the next year. Apparently, demand for the new handset has begun to dip ahead of the holiday season, due to both the chip crisis and rumors of the iPhone 14. Apple had previously cut its initial orders by 10 million, but had told suppliers at the time that it'd order more when materials were less constrained. That is, however, reportedly no longer the case, but we’re sure Apple will — as per usual — still report mega profits when it publishes its quarterly reports.
Polestar has offered-up an early look at the Polestar 3, the company’s first US-made SUV, due to launch at some point in 2022. The camouflage-covered whip promises to be more environmentally friendly (but, you know, it’s still a SUV) and full of even more tech. Gadgets and gizmos we’re likely to see include new LiDAR sensors paired with NVIDIA's computing tech, for hands-free highway driving. Naturally, details will continue to be drip-fed over the coming months, but it certainly looks the part, doesn’t it?
Rocket Lab is showing off its next-generation Neutron vehicle, a fully reusable satellite launch platform. The company has focused on maintaining the light weight and ease of re-use, despite the larger size, with a new carbon composite body. And, unlike conventional rockets, the first stage carries the second stage to the heavens inside its body. Once aloft, the first stage opens its faring — described as a Hungry (Hungry) Hippo mouth — to send the second stage on its way.
Although I’m not sure we’re all using the same emojis in the very same way.
Today, I learned the Unicode Consortium describes the cry-laughing emoji as Tears of Joy. And not, as I had thought, That Sense of Ennui Felt When Things Go Wrong In The Most Stupidly Ironic Way Possible. However you describe it, the tears-down-your cheek image is the world’s most used emoji and has been since 2019. In fact, while much of the world has changed since 2019, the way we use little images to convey our emotions has not. Especially if you’re sharing with the world how you’ve messed something up in the most stupidly ironic way possible.
Hackers are attacking business receipt printers to insert pro-labor messages, according to a report from Viceand posts on Reddit. "Are you being underpaid?", reads one message and "How can the McDonald's in Denmark pay their staff $22 an hour and still manage to sell a Big Mac for less than in America?", another states.
Numerous similar images have been posted on Reddit, Twitter and elsewhere. The messages vary, but most point readers toward the r/antiwork subreddit that recently became popular during the COVID-19 pandemic, as workers starting demanding more rights.
Some users suggested that the messages were fake, but a cybersecurity firm that monitors the internet told Vice that they're legit. "Someone is... blast[ing] raw TCP data directly to printer services across the internet," GreyNoise founder Andrew Morris told Vice. "Basically to every single device that has port TCP 9100 open, and print[ing] a pre-written document that references /r/antiwork with some workers rights/counter capitalist messaging."
The individual[s] behind the attack are using 25 separate servers, according to Morris, so blocking one IP won't necessarily stop the attacks. "A technical person is broadcasting print requests for a document containing workers rights messaging to all printers that are misconfigured to be exposed to the internet, and we've confirmed that it is printing successfully in some number of places," he said.
Printers and other internet-connected devices can be notoriously insecure. In 2018, a hacker hijacked 50,000 printers with a message telling people to subscribe to PewDiePie, of all the random things. The receipt printer hack, by contrast, has a much more focused set of targets and messages.
Facebook said that it's cracking down on anti-vaccine messages, but it recently allowed multiple anti-vaccine ads to run on its site, CNNhas reported. One ad compared the rollout of vaccines to the Holocaust, and another promoted T-shirts with the message "I'm originally from America but I currently reside in 1941 Germany."
The ads were run by merchandise companies, including one called "Ride the wave" that spent $280,000 with Facebook's parent, Meta. Another company called "Next Level Goods" spent $500,000 on ads for items like anti-vaccine T-shirts, according to the report.
Facebook, now under parent company Meta, recently vowed to remove claims that COVID-19 vaccines can harm children, among others. It also said that it deleted more than 20 million pieces of content as part of its fight against misinformation in an ongoing partnership with the CDC, WHO and other health authorities.
Meta said that the ads comparing COVID policies to Nazi German or calling the vaccines poison went against its misinformation policies. However, it still allowed them to slip through, in part because it doesn't review all ads manually, researcher Laura Edelson told CNN. It also has a weaker moderation approach to commercial pages compared to those associated with political campaigns, she added.
Facebook is already under heavy pressure for the US and other governments over privacy, misinformation and other issues. A trove of documents revealed recently by whistleblower Frances Haugen showed that the company was aware that harmful content increased engagement, yet failed to deploy countermeasures recommended in its own studies. "Facebook, over and over again, has shown it chooses profit over safety," she said.
Nintendo launched its paid Switch Online Expansion Pack tier with a very limited number of N64 games in October. And according to Kotaku, they were plagued with various technical issues, such as wonky layouts, poor graphics quality and bugs that cause crashes. Soon, though, the gaming giant will add a Nintendo 64 classic to the list of titles you can access with the subscription service: The original Paper Mario game that was released over 20 years ago.
The base Switch Online subscription, which gives you access to NES and SNES titles, costs $20 a year. If you want to play the N64 games the expansion pack offers, you'll have pony up $50 a year or $80 for a family plan. In addition to getting access to N64 games, the more expensive tier also include retro SEGA Genesis games and the $25 Animal Crossing: Happy Home Paradise DLC. There's still a huge jump from $20 to $50, though, and the addition of Paper Mario could convince fans of the series to subscribe.
Here's a summary of what the turn-based game is about:
"After Bowser steals the Star Rod and kidnaps Princess Peach, Mario plots to rescue the seven Star Spirits and free the Mushroom Kingdom from the Koopa's rule. As Mario travels from the tropical jungles of Lavalava Island to the frosty heights of Shiver Mountain, he'll need all the help he can get. Master the abilities of the seven Star Spirits and the other allies joining the adventure to aid our hero on the battlefield."
Paper Mario for the N64 will be available to Expansion Pack subscribers starting on December 10th.
Google workers in the US will no longer be required to return to in-office work on January 10th. According to CNBC, company security VP Chris Rackow told employees in an email that Google will wait to reassess the situation and figure out when it's safe to return to an in-office environment until the new year. The tech giant originally planned to implement a hybrid work week starting on October 18th before pushing it back to January next year. Now, it may all depend on each of its offices.
Rackow didn't explain the company's reasoning in his email, and he didn't mention the newly discovered Omicron COVID-19 variant, as well. There's a lot of uncertainty around Omicron, and experts are still looking into whether it's more transmissible than previous variants and if it's more resistant to current vaccines. What he reportedly said, however, is that Google will allow specific offices to decide when it's safe to go back into the office. The company will form Local Incident Response Teams to help them assess risk levels, but bottom line is that Google employees may not be required to adhere to a hybrid workplace schedule all at the same time.
Despite canceling its January 10th target date, Google is still encouraging employees to work in the office "where conditions allow, to reconnect with colleagues in person and start regaining the muscle memory of being in [one] more regularly." Google has already reopened 90 percent of its offices in the US, and 40 percent of its employees in the country already came in. As for its international locations, the company also delayed workers' return to face-to-face work in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Scientists are getting better at characterizing exoplanets, and that's leading to some surprising discoveries. As Reutersreports, a DLR-led team has determined that the relatively nearby (31 light-years) planet GJ 367b is significantly smaller than Earth at 5,592 miles across, but is more dense than Earth — it's about as dense as iron, and 86 percent of the planet is made from the metal. The planet more closely resembles Mercury than humanity's homeworld.
GJ 367b certainly isn't habitable. It's so close to its host red dwarf star that an orbit takes just 7.7 hours, and the radiation is so intense that it could reach up to 2,732 degrees Fahrenheit. That's enough to melt any metals and rocks, and certainly wouldn't allow for life as we know it. It's safe to presume there won't be any colonization missions as a result.
The assessment by itself is notable, however. GJ 367b is the smallest planet ever characterized to this level of detail, and that could help in the search for more habitable exoplanets, understanding planet formation and even gauging the criteria for habitability. Those, in turn, could help astronomers determine whether or not the relatively life-friendly Solar System is as rare as it seems.
On Thursday, Hulu pulled Astroworld: Concert From Hell, an ABC special many mistook as a documentary on the recent Travis Scott festival that killed 10 people on November 5th, just one day after its debut on the platform. Shortly after its release, Astroworld started to trend on Twitter, with many assuming the special was commissioned by the streaming service.
“Hulu making a documentary about Astroworld is in poor taste all around,” says one of the more popular tweets on the subject. “Great documentaries are done when all the facts are laid out. Not enough time has passed to fully discuss this.”
Hulu making a documentary about Astroworld is in poor taste all around.
People are still burying their loved ones. The legal cases haven’t even started.
Great documentaries are done when all the facts are laid out. Not enough time has passed to fully discuss this.
Hulu pulled Concert From Hell following the social media backlash. The special was produced by KTRK-TV, ABC’s local Houston affiliate. You can still watch it on ABC13’s website. It includes early interviews and clips filmed following the immediate aftermath of the festival. Disney owns both ABC and Hulu, which is why many news specials end up on the streaming platform.
“[Astroworld: Concert From Hell] was an investigative local news special from ABC13/KTRK-TV in Houston that originally aired on November 20th,” a spokesperson for Hulu told Engadget. “This was not a Hulu documentary and has since been removed to avoid confusion.”
Amid more than 250 lawsuits, Scott recently offered to pay the funeral costs of the 10 victims who died at the concert. According to Rolling Stone, half of the bereaved families rejected the offer, including the kin of nine-year-old Ezra Blount, the youngest of the 10 individuals who died when the crowd of 50,000 at the festival surged forward to get closer to Scott.
