For the first time ever, people recently spent more time on Facebook Gaming than YouTube Gaming watching their favorite streamers. That’s according to Streamlabs, which published its Q3 2021 Live Streaming Industry Report on Wednesday.

The company says viewers watched 1.29 billion hours of content on Facebook Gaming between August and September, representing a 9.2 percent increase from the previous quarter. By contrast, the amount of content people watched on YouTube Gaming went from 1.294 billion hours in Q2 2021 to 1.13 billion hours in the most recent three-month period. In terms of viewership, Google’s platform has seen a steady decline since it hit a peak at the end of last year.

YouTube’s struggles are surprising considering the company recently spent big to secure talent like DrLupo and TimTheTatman. Steamlabs attributes the milestone to Facebook Gaming’s international popularity, in addition to the recent rollout of features like co-streaming. Whether Facebook can continue to top YouTube is hard to say. Over the same timeframe, the platform saw a decline in both total hours streamed and unique channels. Those stand at 17.1 million and 440,000 currently, representing declines of 17.8 percent and 48 percent from the previous quarter. For what it’s worth, Steamlabs predicts the company is on the right path.

As for Twitch, it ran into its own set of problems. People watched 5.79 billion hours of content last quarter. Obviously, that’s more than Facebook and YouTube combined, but it’s also a 11 percent decrease from the viewership numbers it saw in Q2 2021. What’s more, the above number represents a year-over-year decline of 22 percent. At the same time, Twitch saw, for the first time ever, a year-over-year decline in unique channels, with that number decreasing from 10.6 million in Q3 2020 to 10.4 million in Q3 2021. Still, with a 70 percent share of the market in terms of hours watched, Twitch is the dominant platform in the space, and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon.

With four movies under its belt, the Toy Story franchise remains the undeniable crown jewel in Pixar's portfolio. But after Toy Story 4 put something of a boy on Woody's story, the focus is now shifting to Buzz Lightyear. The first trailer for Lightyear just arrived, and it sure paints a different picture than what we're used to in the Toy Story universe. For one, the titular character isn't a toy, but a real flesh-and-blood human who appears to be the inspiration for the Buzz Lightyear figure we know so well. 

The trailer definitely gives off origin story vibes, as it looks like Buzz makes the journey from pilot to intergalactic explorer in his signature spacesuit. How he gets from there to a beloved toy in the Toy Story world remains to be seen — but since this is Pixar, we're expecting the two stories to collide in a way that's fairly unexpected. 

Lightyear is set to hit theaters on June 17th, 2022, with Chris Evans voicing Buzz for the first time. Unfortunately for those of us who have gotten used to watching new Pixar films on Disney+, it seems like you'll have to head out into the world if you want to see this during that summer release window.

The Xperia 1 III looks a lot like the smartphones that came before it. If it wasn’t for the matte finish, it would be almost identical to last year’s Xperia 1 II. Sony has stuck to its unusual elongated smartphone form factor while upgrading the screen itself, as well as the cameras.

Yet again, this phone is pitched at a particular kind of smartphone shopper. That’s no bad thing, especially in a time where most smartphones — if they don’t fold — lack anything particularly unique. At $1,300, the Xperia 1 III is also an expensive phone. That’s several hundred dollars more than an iPhone 13 Pro Max and creeping closer to prices typically held for Samsung’s flagship foldables. (Edit: Just as I wrapped up this review, Sony unveiled a new flagship smartphone, the Xperia Pro-1 with a bigger imaging sensor, several attachments and a $1,800 price tag.)

If you're tempted by the potential of unrivaled smartphone camera control — or just love the aesthetic of Sony’s hardware— there’s a lot to like here. 

Hardware

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I’m not sure whether it’s the similarities with Sony’s camera series or simply how sleek and understated the Mk.III is, but I love how this phone looks. A black oblong is far from exotic, but it’s definitely attractive. And that’s despite the unusual screen ratio (21:9), which makes the device more elongated than pretty much all other smartphones. In addition, a new almost-matte finish adds to the premium feel, something the Xperia 1 III demands at this price.

The Mk.III lays claim to being the world’s first 4K phone with a 120Hz refresh rate. I’m splitting hairs here, but it’s 1644 x 3840 — so it’s not quite 4K like your TV would show, which would be 2160 x 3840. Predictably, everything on the screen looked incredibly crisp, and my interactions with the phone were also buttery smooth.

The 6.5-inch OLED display continues to show Sony’s obsession with displays, and given the specs, you’d expect it to look as good, if not better, than Samsung and Apple’s top devices. If you decide to switch the high refresh rate on, the Xperia won’t dynamically change refresh rates to maximize battery life. There are a lot of times when you’re simply looking at the screen that you don’t need 120Hz refresh rates.

Whether it’s Samsung’s Galaxy S 21 and its dynamic refresh rates, or the iPhone 13 Pro’s ProMotion, both of those phones flit between refresh rates as needed, reducing the toll on the battery. Unfortunately, once set, the Xperia 1 III’s screen stays at 120Hz.

The phone houses front-facing stereo speakers, which sound good. That’s still a rarity for smartphones. As you might expect from Sony, there’s support for nearly all the cutting-edge audio formats, including its own 360 Reality Audio, Hi-Resolution audio, and Dolby Atmos.

You’ll have to figure out which apps and services offer these upgraded audio experiences, as it’s still a labyrinth of discovering out exactly how to play the highest-quality music files. On that subject, Sony is clinging onto the 3.5mm audio jack for one more year.

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There’s a fingerprint sensor built into the phone’s power button on the right edge of the phone, a volume rocker, a two-stage camera shutter button and then yet another button, just because Sony could. It summons the Google Assistant but sadly can’t be assigned to other (more useful functions). In the early stages of using the phone, I’d often press the wrong one, power up the screen instead of launching the camera. Sometimes, I’d do the reverse.

Four buttons on one side is too many and while I eventually got used to it, a dedicated voice assistant button seems entirely redundant.

I might love how the Mk. III looks, but that tall screen will be a struggle for some smaller hands. I find it a bit of a reach for icons at the top of the screen, and drop-down menus usually demand two hands. This form-factor does feel more comfortable in my hands, though, and slides into pockets easier than Apple’s bigger Pro phones, or the Pixel 4a 5G.

Rounding out the list of specs you’d expect to see in a premium smartphone, the Xperia 1 III is running on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 chipset, with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It is also a little bit more 5G-friendly, working this time around with T-Mobile and Verizon bands. However, there is no mmWave support nor will it work on AT&T’s 5G offering.

Sony has increased the battery size to 4,500mAh, making it notably bigger than its predecessor. Unfortunately, the Xperia 1 III struggles to last an entire day, if you keep the screen running at 120Hz, at least. On days of heavy use, I’d have to recharge the phone by early evening. After dropping the settings down from 120Hz I was typically getting just shy of a day and a half of use, which is a pretty standard figure for most high-end Android devices. The battery is big, yes, but so is the screen.

The cameras

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It’s an open secret that Sony makes camera sensors for a lot of smartphone makers. But until recently, that didn’t translate to killer smartphone cameras for its own phones. So if the Xperia 1 II was Sony getting serious about its phone cameras, then the Xperia 1 III is Sony getting serious, focused and business-like, all at once.

As with the screen, Sony is taking its own approach with three 12-megapixel cameras of varying focal lengths. That includes a new telephoto lens that can switch between 70mm and 105mm equivalent zoom. Sony says the variable zoom lens helps it to focus faster, which was true in my experience, although I did find there was a little bit too much blur when using the optical zoom at its maximum.

With the Mk.III, Sony also added dual-phase-detection-autofocus pixels, which, paired with 20 frames per second shooting, should offer a better chance of catching crisp shots in hectic settings. You can tap to focus and the camera will track moving subjects, just like a digital camera touchscreen.

Sony has pulled together an intriguing mix of (relatively) low-megapixel sensors and infused it with what it’s learned from its camera series. Compared to what iPhones and Pixel phones do with computational photography and post-processing, Sony offers a more technical approach to capturing shots.

While testing out the phone, I leaned heavily on the “auto” shooting mode, which acts like any camera app on any smartphone. But like the Xperia 1 phones before it, the Mark III comes with a pretty expansive Photography Pro app. Beyond the basic mode, you can tinker with shutter speeds, ISO, color balance and pretty much anything else.

I’ll confess that I’m not the best photographer, and so anything that helps me get a better shot, whether that’s software assistance or higher light sensitivity, is appreciated. Outside of the automatic, simplified camera mode, the Xperia 1 III has a learning curve. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite match the experience of a Sony camera. I fumbled around for an aperture priority mode (so I could maximize bokeh effect at low f stops), but it doesn’t exist. I was tricked into thinking the Mk.III would work like a camera, but it’s still just a smartphone camera. You can adjust shooting speed and ISO, but not aperture. At times, I felt I wasn’t skilled enough to get the most from the Mk.III. I can take better photos on other flagship phones, but I think that’s due to my own photographic shortcomings.

Mat Smith/Engadget

The Xperia 1 III does great with face detection and often latches onto fast-moving people and pets. However, when you’re using the telephoto lens, the phone seems to hop between fore and background details a little too often. The usual curse of smartphone photography doesn’t escape Sony, either. Low light conditions will still mess up autofocus, no matter how smart Sony has made it. There’s no night shoot mode, either, which is curious in 2021.

Mat Smith/Engadget

Video captured by the Mk.III was a pleasant surprise, whether shooting in 4K or 1080p. I took the phone with me during a trip to Amsterdam and recorded video both in daylight and night-time. The lack of rolling shutter, on a moving tram, and the accurate lighting as I recorded dark streets both impressed me. The footage wasn’t overly noisy or blurry either, which is something you often see from many smartphone cameras when they’re trying to accommodate a lack of light.

If you’re looking for finer control with video, Sony's Cinema Pro app returns again, offering equivalent pro controls but for video. You can select shooting modes like 10-bit color and high frame-rates while toying with built-in filters, shutter speed and even manual focus. You’ll need to come to Cinema Pro with at least a passing understanding of what all those things do. I found it a little too complicated, but at least the Mk.III offers enough screen space to tap between settings and adjust everything.

And a quick note on the front-facing camera: It’s terrible. Blurry, noisy and shockingly under-specced, at a time when we’re using selfie-cams more than ever. It’s an unusual camera miss for Sony.

Software 

Aside from the camera app, Sony has played it relatively safe in its customization of Android software in recent years. While there are a few homemade apps that you won’t touch (like the news feed one), there are some tricks you won’t find on other phones, like the ability to use Xperia 1 III as an external monitor. The feature works with cameras capable of USB Video Class (UVC) output (such as, conveniently, Sony’s Alpha camera series), but it’s very much a simple, expansive display for your camera. Having said that, this 6.5-inch 4K display is almost definitely better than whatever’s on the back of your camera.

Sony has also simplified connecting a PS4 DualShock controller to the Mk.III, with a prominent connection option within the settings app. You will probably need to pick up some kind of mount to keep the Xperia 1 III attached to your controller. Oddly, as of the time of writing, you can’t pair the PS5’s DualSense controller.

Wrap-up

Mat Smith/Engadget

The Xperia 1 III is not for everyone, but for devoted smartphone camera (or Sony) fans, it’s another intriguing device, despite the prohibitive price. I can’t unequivocally say it’s the best smartphone camera, but, like its predecessors, it does things its own way, whether that’s the camera array, deeply customizable camera app or the slick, sharp 4K 120Hz screen. Does anyone need a 4K phone screen? I’m not sure, but Sony makes a better argument for it with its external display app.

The Mk.III, with its almost matte finish, looks and feels more like Sony’s family of alpha cameras, or perhaps more accurately, its high-end RX point-and-shoots, and when most other phones are backed with glass or glossy plastic, I think the Xperia 1 III has its own unique charm. Barring the iffy selfie camera, the latest Xperia 1 doesn’t do anything poorly and if you have the patience and the skill to master it, the Mk.III can take some stunning shots. For a lot of people, however, letting Apple, Google or Samsung's software take up some of the slack will lead to better pictures, no matter how technically impressive Sony’s proposition is.

The UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) kicks off on Sunday, and ahead of it some of tech's biggest companies are announcing new initiatives. Amazon is investing in three companies working on creating sustainable technology as part of its $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund. 

The first of these companies is Resilient Power, a company working to make delivering electricity from the power grid and delivering it to electric vehicle charging stations more efficient. The company appears primarily focused on fleets — think businesses that need to deploy vehicles en masse, like shipping services — rather than individual vehicles. The company claims it can build out EV fast-charging stations at one-tenth the standard size and installation time as current stations. Naturally, an efficient, fast-charging solution for fleets of delivery vehicles is something that could be directly relevant to Amazon. It also could relate to the company's existing investment in EV maker Rivian, which could plausibly make EVs for Amazon delivery services down the line. 

The second company, CMC Machinery, can design and manufacture custom-fit boxes for whatever items need to go inside, without waste like extra space and single-use padding materials. Again, the benefit to Amazon is obvious here — if the company is going to continue to ship things at the rate it currently does, reducing the amount of packaging waste the company produces would be significant.

Finally, a company called Infinium is working on renewable fuel technology as an alternative to traditional diesel and jet fuels. The company claims its Infinium Electrofuels are "ultra-low carbon fuels that can be used in air transport, marine freight, and heavy truck fleets." This marks Amazon's second investment round in Infinium, and it'll be used to help develop facilities for producing the company's fuel. Amazon also says that this investment will help the company actually deliver its fuel for the first time, which would be a pretty major milestone. 

With these three new companies, Amazon is now supporting 11 total companies with its Climate Change Pledge, a key component in its plan to eliminate net carbon emissions by 2040. Given that goal, it makes sense that these investments are in companies that can directly help Amazon reduce its carbon footprint. With COP26 about to start, both Apple and Microsoft have also made announcements around moves they're making to become more eco-friendly. Apple, which plans to be carbon-neutral by 2030, announced it has "more than doubled" the number of suppliers committed to using clean energy. Microsoft, meanwhile, is hoping to reduce data center water consumption by 95 percent by 2024, just a few short years from now.

Zound, the Swedish company which produces headphones under the Urbanears and Marshall brands, is bringing its true wireless audio smarts to its line of Adidas headphones. Today, it is pushing out a trio of true wireless buds for folks who want to look sporty and stylish without compromising on quality. 

The flagship is the Z.N.E. 01 ANC, a pair of active noise-cancelling buds with swappable ear tips and subtle, three-stripes branding. You’ll get 20 hours of life from a charge, with 4.5 in the buds and an additional 15.5 hours in the case. (It will be interesting to see how these stack up against Zound/Marshall's recently-announced Motif ANC, which come from the same company and share plenty of DNA.)

The ANC-less standard model, the Z.N.E. 01 are much more like a pair of bog-standard TWS buds, complete with the standard Adidas logo awkwardly stamped on the side. These don’t pack the custom ear tips, but what it lacks in style and features, it makes up for in battery life: 5 hours in each bud, and a further 20 in the case itself.

Rounding out the trio is the FWD-02 Sport, a pair of running-friendly buds with swappable ear tips and wings, a force sensor, so you can control it while wearing gloves, and IPX5 rating to defend against sweat and rain. These, too, will run six hours in your ear, with the charging case providing an additional 19 hours of juice before you need to head back to an outlet.

The Z.N.E. 01 and 01 ANC are available to order now, priced at $189 and $99, respectively, while the FWD-02 Sport can be pre-ordered today for $169, and will start shipping at some point in November.

MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) is ready to deploy the autonomous passenger boat it's been developing over the past six years. The vehicle, called the Roboat, has been through multiple iterations — just last year, the lab tested a version that can carry two passengers. This year, Roboat's creators are launching its full-scale version, which can carry up to five passengers, collect waste and deliver goods, in Amsterdam. 

The current Roboat has futuristic looks with its black and grey design and two seats facing each other. It's fully electric with 10 hours of battery life on a single charge and has wireless charging capabilities. MIT CSAIL Director Daniela Rus says it's more precise and has more robust perception, navigation and control systems that its predecessors. It also comes with new features, including close proximity approach mode that makes docking to a port or connecting to another boat easier, as well as better dynamic positioning that will help it better navigate real-world waters.

The vehicle's autonomous driving technology is similar to ones used by self-driving cars, according to CSAIL, and operates by using GPS to decide on a safe route from point A to point B. Roboat also uses LIDAR and several cameras to enable a 360-degree view that gives it a way to determine its path and avoid crashing into obstacles. The vehicle can operate on its own round-the-clock, but an onshore operator will monitor it remotely from a control center: A single operator will be able to monitor up to 50 Roboat units. 

The new Roboats will debut on October 28th in the waters of Amsterdam. Stephan van Dijk, Director of Innovation at Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions, said: "The historic centre of Amsterdam is the perfect place to start, with its capillary network of canals suffering from contemporary challenges, such as mobility and logistics."

LinkedIn is introducing dedicated remote, hybrid and on-site search filters to help users on their next job hunt. You’ll see the labels when using the social network’s job search and Open to Work features. In the latter case, taking advantage of the filters will privately inform recruiters of the type of work you’re looking for, which the company says should help the right job find you. At the same time, LinkedIn is adding similar filters for company pages, allowing them to indicate things like their vaccine policies and return-to-office plans.

In testing the filters, LinkedIn says it saw more than 70 percent of searches involve people looking for remote-only roles. It’s a testament to how uncertain the pandemic has made every return-to-office plan. Even companies Amazon, Google and Facebook have struggled to find ones that stick. And so it’s no surprise most LinkedIn users are looking for opportunities where they can continue working from home.

It's not just Brazil pressuring Apple to include chargers with iPhones. According to Vice and Shanghai Law Journal, university students in China have sued Apple for not including a charger with an iPhone 12 Pro Max. They claimed the included USB-C to Lightning cable wasn't compatible with other chargers, leaving one student unable to charge the phone as advertised.

The plaintiffs also didn't believe Apple's waste reduction claims. Apple was only using this as an excuse to promote MagSafe wireless chargers that waste more energy than their wired counterparts, the students argued. They want Apple to supply the charger as well as pay legal fees and 100 yuan ($16) for breach of contract.

Apple reportedly told the Beijing virtual court it was common for phone brands to sell power adapters separately, and that the government sanctioned this practice. However, the students pointed out that multiple Chinese companies offer the choice of an adapter in the box. You can buy the Xiaomi Mi 11 with or without a power brick, for example.

The case is still ongoing, and there are no guarantees it will lead to either compensation for the students or a shift in Apple's no-charger policy. Even if the case prompts change, it may only lead to Apple offering the charger as an option at checkout. Nonetheless, the lawsuit illustrates the wider backlash to Apple's position. Don't be surprised if you see more lawsuits like this.

Apple has announced that it's "more than doubled" the number of suppliers committed to using clean energy and unveiled new measures toward its goal of being carbon neutral by 2030. It's unveiling the initiatives ahead of COP26, the upcoming UN conference that many observers feel will not produce the breakthroughs needed to achieve aims set at the Paris climate accord.

As part of its 2020 environmental progress report, Apple said that its products and supply chain would be carbon neutral by 2030. That includes not just Apple itself, but 175 supplies that also need to transition to renewable energy, it wrote today. When that happens, "the company and its suppliers will bring online more than 9 gigawatts of clean power around the world," avoiding over 18 million metric tons of CO2e annually, Apple wrote. 

In total, 175 Apple suppliers will transition to using renewable energy, and the company and its suppliers will bring online more than 9 gigawatts of clean power around the world. These actions will avoid over 18 million metric tons of CO2e annually — the equivalent of taking over 4 million cars off the road each year.

Apple noted that 19 suppliers in Europe are now part of its Clean Energy Program, including Solvay and STMicroelectronics. It has 50 more in China, along with 31 in Japan and South Korea, including SK Hynix, "one of the first Korean suppliers to participate." Its also creating "new pathways" for recycled materials, including recycled sources of gold, cobalt, aluminum and rare earth elements. 

Apple also added 10 new projects for its "Power for Impact" initiative designed to bring clean energy solutions to communities around the world, particularly in under-resourced communities. That includes a project with six Sioux tribes in the US to finance, develop, build and operating power generation facilities, along with renewable energy projects in South Africa, the Philippines, Columbia, Israel and elsewhere.

While Apple appears to be making good on its promise to deliver products built with 100 percent clean energy, it continues to take heat over e-waste and related right to repair issues. Many of its products are difficult and expensive to repair, meaning that they either end up as e-waste or recycled toward new products. Both of those things use energy, clean or otherwise, that wouldn't be consumed if the product was simply fixed.

Recently, President Biden ordered the FTC to draft right to repair legislation, and Europe announced that it would take measures forcing phone manufacturers to use USB-C — both rules that seem to primarily target Apple. 

It's now clear why Hertz is buying a so many Tesla cars. The company is making up to 50,000 Tesla EVs available for rent solely to Uber ridesharing drivers in the US starting on November 1st. Workers in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington, DC will have the option of paying $334 per week (eventually dropping to $299 "or lower") for a package that includes a Model 3, insurance and maintenance.

Drivers will initially need at least a 4.7-star rating and 150 trips to be eligible. The program will expand across the country in the "following weeks."

The company saw the Hertz deal as helpful for both the environment and, potentially, drivers' bank accounts. It should reduce vehicle emissions and expose many people to EVs for the first time, Uber said. However, it could also lower some running costs. Drivers won't have to pay for fuel, after all, and Uber has incentive programs that offer more money per trip (up to $1.50, if it's an Uber Green ride) to EV operators.

Uber has strong motivations to adopt EVs. They could help the company reach its goal of zero emissions by 2040, and may tackle complaints that ridesharing makes CO2 emissions worse. The firm could burnish its image with eco-friendly cars roaming the streets. Even so, it's a big deal both for curbing car-based emissions and for EV adoption — 50,000 cars is a large chunk of Tesla's production, and likely one of the largest single-customer EV purchases to date.