From NVIDIA and AMD to automakers like GM, the global chip shortage has affected nearly every industry that depends on computer components, and now it’s even hurting smartphone manufacturers. According to Canalys, phone shipments dropped by six percent year-over-year in the third quarter of 2021. The firm says much of that is due to component shortages that made it impossible for those companies to meet consumer demand.
According to a preliminary estimate, Samsung shipped the most devices in Q3 2021, claiming a 23 percent share of the market. For the South Korean company, the good news is that it’s no worse off now than it was a year ago. Reclaiming the second spot, Apple managed to increase its share of the market by 3 percentage points year-over-year.
Rounding out the top five are a trio of Chinese manufacturers: Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo. Together, they claimed a 34 percent slice of the market. One thing to note about the way Canalys does things is that it includes OnePlus shipments under Oppo, but doesn’t group Oppo with sister company Vivo. All three are owned by Chinese conglomerate BBK Electronics. When you think about things that way, it’s usually only second to Samsung as the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world.
Still, Apple’s performance is impressive when you consider its Q3 numbers only include about one week of iPhone 13 sales. Canalys didn’t speak to the company’s numbers specifically, but it’s likely the strength of Apple’s supply chain helped it thrive in a challenging market. The company is one of TSMC’s most important customers, commanding a sizeable portion of its chip output.
“The chipset famine has truly arrived,” said Canalys Principal Analyst Ben Stanton. “The smartphone industry is striving to maximize production of devices as best it can.” The problem is that the supply shortage is expected to continue well into 2022.
No Twitch passwords were exposed in the livestreaming service's recent major security breach, according to the company. In an update on the incident, Twitch said it's confident systems that store hashed login credentials weren't accessed, nor were ACH/banking details. Twitch previously noted it doesn't store full credit card numbers.
After reviewing information in the exposed files, Twitch says the breach "only affected a small fraction of users and the customer impact is minimal." The leaked information mostly contained source code repository documents and a subset of payout details for streamers.
Twitch previously disclosed that someone was able to gain access to its servers due to a configuration change error. It fixed the issue and took measures to shore up its systems. "We take our responsibility to protect your data very seriously," Twitch wrote. "We have taken steps to further secure our service, and we apologize to our community."
Textile production may be one of the oldest technologies known to humans, but it hasn't proven easy to adapt the advances of the information age to our garments. Sure, we've seen efforts like Google's Project Jacquard try to bring clothes into the modern era, but those haven't been particularly successful.
Not that that's stopping a team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Sweden. They've created a smart fiber that can sense and respond to the movement of its wearer. Dubbed OmniFiber, the soft robotic fabric features a hollow center channel that allows a fluidic medium to travel through it. With the help of compressed air, the fibers can bend, stretch, curl and pulse on demand. That's something that allows them to provide tactile feedback in real-time, making them akin to an artificial muscle.
Artificial muscle fibers aren't a new idea; other research teams at MIT have approached the technology in their own way. However, what makes OmniFiber notable is that it doesn't need heat to change its shape. Immediately that makes it more practical since overheating the skin is not an issue. It has other advantages too. It's possible to make the fabric with relatively inexpensive materials, and the fibers don't require a delicate weaving process.
The team envisions their fabric making its way into garments that could help teach athletes and singers how to control their breathing better. Another even more exciting application could see an OmniFiber garment help someone recover their natural breathing pattern after a respiratory disease like COVID-19.
It may be some time before we see OmniFiber make its way into the real world, but that's not to suggest the project is done. Ozgun Kilic Afsar, one of the researchers who worked on the fabric, told MIT News she plans to continue working on the system. Among the things she wants to do is develop a manufacturing system that allows the creation of even longer filaments.
Steam will no longer allow games that enable NFT (non-fungible token) and cryptocurrency trading through the blockchain. Steam's onboarding page for Steamworks users and partners now states that they shouldn't publish "applications built on blockchain technology that issue or allow exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs" on Steam. The rule was added at some point after October 6th, according to a version of the page cached by Google.
Some developers have spoken out about the rule. SpacePirate Games, the studio behind a sci-fi action-adventure title called Age of Rust, said Valve was booting blockchain games off of Steam "because NFTs have value." Some puzzles in Age of Rust, which is in development, will reward players with NFTs as achievements. "Steam's point of view is that items have value and they don't allow items that can have real-world value on their platform," SpacePirate said. The developer plans to publish the game elsewhere.
Community: A few minutes ago, we were notified that @Steam will be kicking *all blockchain games* off the platform, including Age of Rust, because NFTs have value. Behind the scenes, we've had good communication and have been upfront with Steam. #blockchaingames#NFT 1/4 pic.twitter.com/W4pR3Xl63q
It's unclear how many games already on Steam will be affected. Searching for "NFT" and "crypto" turns up 14 and 64 results respectively. Not all of those necessarily allow real-world trading though. Crypto Mining Simulator, for instance, lets you pretend you're mining cryptocurrency, which sounds like a barrel of laughs.
Engadget has contacted Steam for more details about this rule, including why it was brought in. NFT scams do exist, and unless you know what you're doing, it's not hard to get burned on crypto trading. That said, Valve does allow people to exchange virtual goods for Steam Wallet funds through the community market, so SpacePirate's belief that Steam doesn't permit items with real-world value doesn't entirely hold water.
Amid struggles to make headway in the smart speaker market, Apple has hired a new HomePod software head, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The company has reportedly brought onboard Afrooz Family, who co-founded the high-end audio startup Syng with former Apple designer Christopher Stringer.
Apple's $349 HomePod arrived in 2018 to very mixed reviews, and was discontinued early this year. The company has noticeably failed to compete with smart speaker rivals, particularly Amazon's Alexa-powered Echo devices and Google's Assistant speaker family.
Family worked for Apple between 2012 and 2016 and was on the original HomePod team before starting Syng. That company aimed to develop a "revolutionary" speaker to produce immersive audio, but eventually developed a rather niche, $1,800 speaker. The previous HomePod software head, Jason Harrison, left Apple for Airbnb last year.
Apple's latest speaker product is the $99 HomePod mini, which we described in our Engadget review as an "acceptable Echo alternative." That device has reportedly helped sales a bit, but hasn't put much of a dent in a market dominated by Amazon and Google, according to Bloomberg.
The biggest problem with Apple's smart speakers may be Siri and HomeKit, which aren't as widely supported as Alexa and Google Assistant. The original HomePod was also pretty expensive at launch. To make inroads, Apple may need to change its approach and continue to improve integration — as it recently did with a HomePod mini update that made it work with Apple TV. Apple's primary goal is to merge its HomePod and Apple TV hardware, according to Gurman.
Apple is holding its Unleashed event on Monday, where it's expected to launch new MacBooks and possibly AirPods, but there's no rumors of a new HomePod product coming any time soon.
Since 2011, Noom has made a name for itself as a weight loss app. This week, with the introduction of a new feature called Noom Mood, it’s expanding into mental wellness. If you’ve already tried the aforementioned weight loss program, you’ll have a good idea of what to expect from Noom Mood.
As you embark on the four-month program, each day the app will provide you with articles and activities centered on teaching you skills you can use to manage and regulate the stress and emotions in your life. Along the way, you’ll be asked to log your mood, and if you ever need additional help, the program includes access to a personal coach.
It’s not surprising to see Noom expand beyond weight loss. It always had a mindfulness streak, and it must be said there’s a lot of money to be made in the health and wellness space. Over the course of the pandemic, a company like Headspace went from a relatively obscure startup to one that now has a $3 billion valuation and partnerships with companies like Netflix and Waze.
Yes, we know it's October, but the holiday shopping season (apparently) knows no bounds. We're already starting to see early Black Friday deals pop up across the web, so it's not too early to start crossing things off your gift list. The Apple TV 4K remains on sale for $160 while the AirPods Pro and a couple of MacBooks are also discounted. A pair of our favorite Bose earbuds are down to a record low while the Echo Show 8 is still on sale for $100. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
Apple TV 4K
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
The latest Apple TV 4K is down to $160 on Amazon, which is close to an all-time-low price. It's the best high-end streaming device you can get and we gave it a score of 90 for its speedy performance, Dolby Vision and Atmos support and much improved Siri remote.
The AirPods Pro, Apple's best sounding wireless earbuds, are back down to $179. That's $70 off their normal price and close to a record low. These buds earned a score of 87 from us for their IPX4 design, improved audio and solid ANC.
Apple's AirPods Max are on sale for $449, or $100 off their normal price. We gave these expensive headphones a score of 84 for their stellar sound quality, good ANC and solid onboard controls.
Amazon knocked $100 off most 11-inch iPad Pro models, bringing the 256GB WiFi version down to an all-time low of $800. We gave the larger version of the tablet a score of 87 for its powerful performance, lovely display and new Center Stage feature.
The 512GB MacBook Air M1 has been discounted to $1,099. This is arguably the best Apple laptop for most people and it earned a score of 94 from us for its impressive performance, excellent battery life, lack of fan noise and good keyboard and trackpad.
Apple's Mac Mini M1 is on sale for as low as $600 right now thanks to a few automatically applied coupons. The best deal is arguably on the 512GB version, which is $150 off and down to $750. The design of the small desktop hasn't changed much, but the big improvements come from the M1 chipset inside.
The Bose QuietComfort earbuds are down to an all-time low fo $199 right now. We gave these buds a score of 87 for their stellar noise cancellation, great sound quality and good battery life.
The mid-sized Echo Show 8 smart display is down to $100, which is close to the record-low price that we saw during Prime Day in June. We gave it a score of 87 for its minimalist design, lovely display and good sound quality.
Anova's entry-level sous vide machine, the Nano, is down to $95 on Amazon right now. That's the best price we've seen on the kitchen gadget that would make a great gift for the serious home cook in your life. This model uses 750 watts of power to heat up water and it'll run for up to 3,000 hours before it needs to be recharged.
You can save up to 67 percent on a bunch of games from Activision and Blizzard at GOG.com for the next couple of days. The sale includes Caesar, Pharaoh + Cleopatra, Singularity and others.
Amazon has a high-powered configuration of the Razer Book on sale for $1,200, or $400 off its normal price. It runs on an 11th-gen Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, Intel Iris Xe graphics and a 13.4-inch FHD+ touchscreen.
If you're willing to get a refurbished model, Sonos has its Arc soundbar for $80 off right now, and only the white model is on sale and in stock at the moment. We gave the Arc a score of 85 for its excellent sound quality, Dolby Atmos support and slick design.
NordVPN, one of our favorite VPNs, is running a sale on a two-year subscription. You can sign up and pay $99 for two years, plus you'll get an extra three months free. We like NordVPN for its speed, its no-logs policy, the thousands of servers it has to choose from and that one account supports up to six connected devices.
Another one of our top VPN services, Tunnelbear, is offering a two-year subscription for $100. You'll save 58 percent if you sign up with this deal, and we think Tunnelbear is one of the easiest VPNs to use, especially for those that don't want to go crazy configuring their connections.
Moxie Marlinspike, the founder of Signal, has created an NFT (non-fungible token) that mocks the entire concept of NFTs. "At my whim, #1," as the piece is titled, renders differently depending on where you see it. It has a contrasting appearance on NFT marketplaces OpenSea and Rarible, but the real fun will start if and when someone buys it. As noted by The Verge, Marlinspike says it will look like a big ol' poop emoji in the owner's wallet.
I created an NFT, but the image renders differently based on who's looking at it.
An NFT is a unique digital token that's essentially a certificate of authenticity showing that someone owns a digital artwork, music or other collectible. It lives on the blockchain, with the idea that the blockchain's public ledger adds more security and transparency. Often, though, the media an NFT relates to isn't on the blockchain. The NFT is effectively a verified link to it.
That's the aspect of NFTs that Marlinspike is playing off of with "At my whim, #1." Whoever controls the URL's destination can change the image at any time. Marlinspike says his NFT renders differently depending on the IP or user agent "so the NFT image data isn't ever consistent, and what you bid on isn't what you get."
The description of the NFT on OpenSea and Rarible hints at that. "You may own (?) the results of this function call, but I own the function," it reads. At the time of writing, the highest bid on the NFT is around $1,067 worth of Ethereum, but Marlinspike can't be entirely sure that the bidders know what they're getting into. He asked on Twitter if any bidders would be willing to host an AMA (ask me anything) session and answer queries such as "Is it clear to you that what you're bidding on will render as Pile of poo emoji in your wallet?"
Would any of the people who've been bidding on my NFT be willing to host an AMA? I have so many questions.
As promised, Microsoft will start shipping its Xbox Series X Mini Fridge in time for the holidays. The company said the fridge costs $100 and pre-orders start on October 19th. It will ship in December.
The mini fridge has its roots in an image Xbox tweeted to show the scale of the Xbox Series X versus a full-sized fridge. Microsoft actually made a six-foot fridge last year to promote the launch of the console. Now, after a Twitter battle of the brands victory, a mini version of the fridge is something you'll actually be able to buy.
Microsoft worked with merchandise manufacturer Ukonic! on the mini fridge, which has LEDs and a design to match the Xbox Series X. The small appliance can hold up to 12 cans of your favorite energy drink or another beverage. There's some space in the door's shelves for snacks too. A DC power adaptor is included, and there's a USB port, which could come in handy for recharging your Xbox Wireless Controller.
The mini fridge will be available via Target in the US and Canada. Folks in the UK can buy it from Game for £90. The fridge will also ship in France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Netherlands and Poland at the outset. Microsoft plans to bring the Xbox Mini Fridge to more markets next year, though where and when depends on regulatory approvals and restrictions in each country.
Nintendo held a Direct video presentation this morning, announcing two major updates for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. One is a free bit of DLC, and the other is a paid, $25 expansion called Happy Home Paradise.Unexpectedly, Nintendo used this announcement to reveal the price of the upcoming Switch Online "expansion pack." The service, which adds classic N64 and Sega Genesis games to the existing Switch Online offerings, will cost $50 per year or $80 for a family plan. This expansion will include access to the $25 Happy Home Paradise DLC — so if you're an Animal Crossing: New Horizons player, it's like getting the rest of the Expansion Pack benefits for $5.
Nintendo didn't say when the Expansion Pack would go live. But, both Happy Home Paradise and the free update for New Horizons are set to arrive on November 5th, so it's safe to say that the new online service should be available then too. The company had previously said it would launch in October, but we haven't heard any details since. There are more details about the expansion pack up on Nintendo's site, but it still just says that it is "coming soon."
[Announcement] Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Happy Home Paradise will also be included as part of a #NintendoSwitchOnline + Expansion Pass membership!
