Xiaomi had a busy Thursday. It revealed a new slimmer foldable smartphone to go up against Samsung’s just-announced Galaxy Z Fold 4, then made that appear dull when its own humanoid robot prototype walked on stage. The Xiaomi CyberOne is 177cm (5.8 feet) tall, weighs 52kg (115 pounds) and is, apparently, a Leo. It comes before Tesla’s humanoid vision arrived as a real-world prototype. But there’s some definite style overlap.

The CyberOne is the second product out of the Xiaomi Robotics Lab, after the CyberDog from August 2021. The humanoid machine has a face in the form of a curved OLED panel, it can see the world in 3D and hear with two microphones to identify "85 types of environmental sounds and 45 classifications of human emotion." I don’t think I even have that emotional range. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said each CyberOne would cost between 600,000 and 700,000 yuan (about $89,100 to $104,000), so it'll be sometime before the robots hit mass production, if ever.

— Mat Smith

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• FTC kicks off efforts to regulate data security and surveillance tech

• Anker's Eufy robot vacuums are up to 47 percent off at Amazon

The man who built his own ISP to avoid huge fees is expanding his service

Jared Mauch just received $2.6 million in funding.

Given a choice between settling for pathetically slow internet speeds from AT&T or paying Comcast $50,000 to expand to his rural home, Michigan resident Jared Mauch chose another way: starting his own fiber internet service provider. Now, he's expanding his service from about 70 customers to nearly 600, thanks to funding aimed at expanding access to broadband internet. He'll need to expand from 14 to about 52 miles of fiber to complete the project, including at least a couple of homes that require a half mile of fiber for a single house.

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Moto's Razr 2022 foldable gets the flagship processor it deserves

It looks less like a Razr, too.

Motorola

Another foldable appears – this time to go up against the Galaxy Z Flip 4. Motorola's last Razr was a nifty folding smartphone and $1,500 fashion statement, but the weak hardware struggled. Now, the company has revealed the Razr 2022, a foldable that might live up to that kind of price, thanks to a true flagship-class Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor and an upgraded, more expansive screen. The curved chin and top camera notch has been nixed in favor of an all-screen design, removing a lot of that Razr design DNA.

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Xiaomi's second foldable phone is only 5.4mm thick in tablet mode

The Mix Fold 2 is also Xiaomi's second device with a Leica camera.

Xiaomi

Xiaomi’s Mix Fold 2 is the Chinese brand's second foldable phone, featuring a surprising thickness of just 5.4mm, opened — barely enough to house a USB-C port — and 11.2mm thick, folded. One feature that enables the Mix Fold 2's thinness is Xiaomi's third-generation "micro water drop hinge," which gives a tighter fold on the flexible display panel. Alas, the Mix Fold 2 is China-only for now, so good luck finding an importer.

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Google Meet app lets you host group Spotify and YouTube sessions

You can also play games with the live sharing feature.

Google's merger of Meet and Duo is definitely confusing, but there should be some benefits. The company has added a live sharing beta feature that lets users of the revamped Meet share Spotify and YouTube streams during chats. The functionality will sound familiar if you've tried Apple’s SharePlay, but you can't use Spotify or YouTube with that feature. At least, not yet.

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If you're in the market for an Echo Show 8 but missed Amazon's Prime Day sales, don't despair. Right now, you can grab the latest second-generation model for $85, a substantial 35 percent discount ($45 off) and just $10 than the record low price. At the same time, the Echo Show 5 is still on sale for $40, for a savings of 53 percent 

The second-generation Show 8 earned an Engadget score of 87, thanks to its 8-inch 1,280 x 800 touchscreen, minimalist design and stellar sound quality. It differs from the first-generation device in several ways, particularly with the updated 13-megapixel camera that digitally pans and zooms to keep you in frame when you're doing video chats on apps like Zoom. It's a particularly nice feature if you frequently use your smart display as a stationary video-chatting device. It also works great as a photo frame, and Amazon's updated home screen lets you see multiple items at once like the weather and sports.

If you need something smaller to put on a bedside table, for instance, the Show 5 might be a better option. It includes a sunrise alarm feature, allowing the display to slowly brighten as a way to wake you gently during dark winter mornings. It also comes with all the usual features found on Amazon Echo devices, including Alexa voice control and Ring integration. Best off, it's available for just $40, a substantial $45 off the usual $85 price. 

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If you visit a website you see on Facebook and Instagram, you've likely noticed that you're not redirected to your browser of choice but rather a custom in-app browser. It turns out that those browsers inject javascript code into each website visited, allowing parent Meta to potentially track you across websites, researcher Felix Krause has discovered. 

"The Instagram app injects their tracking code into every website shown, including when clicking on ads, enabling them [to] monitor all user interactions, like every button and link tapped, text selections, screenshots, as well as any form inputs, like passwords, addresses and credit card numbers," Krause said in a blog post. 

His research focused on the iOS versions of Facebook and Instagram. That's key because Apple allows users to opt in or out of app tracking when they first open an app, via its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) introduced in iOS 14.5. Meta has previously said that the feature was "a headwind on our business 2022... on the order of $10 billion." 

Meta said that the injected tracking code obeyed users preferences on ATT. "The code allows us to aggregate user data before using it for targeted advertising or measurement purposes," a spokesperson told The Guardian. "We do not add any pixels. Code is injected so that we can aggregate conversion events from pixels. For purchases made through the in-app browser, we seek user consent to save payment information for the purposes of autofill."

Krause noted that Facebook isn't necessarily using the javascript injection to collect sensitive data. However, if the apps opened a users' preferred browser like Safari or Firefox, there would be no way to do a similar javascript injection on any secure site. By contrast, the approach used by the Instagram and Facebook in-app browsers "works for any website, no matter whether it's encrypted or not," he said. 

According to Krause's research, WhatsApp doesn't modify third-party websites in a similar way. As such, he suggests that Meta should do the same with Facebook and Instagram, or just use Safari or another browser to open links. "It's what's best for the user, and the right thing to do." For more, check out the summary of his findings here. 

Some folks who are in the market for a robot vacuum might be looking beyond Roomba after it emerged Amazon is buying parent company iRobot. Anker's budget brand Eufy has been around for a few years and is a solid option. Right now, many Eufy models are on sale for up to 47 percent off, including the RoboVac G30 Edge. That's down from $340 to $180 on Amazon, the lowest price we've seen for it to date.

Anker says the vacuum uses logical route planning to navigate your home. It supports Alexa voice commands and you can control it though an accompanying app. Other features include 2,000Pa suction levels and scheduled cleanings, while you can use the included boundary strip to set off-limits areas. On the down side, the G30 Edge does not support the 5GHz WiFi frequency band — you'll need a 2.4GHz router or a dual-band router that's compatible with that frequency.

The same connectivity limitation applies to the RoboVac G30 Hybrid, which is also on sale for an all-time low price. At $220, that model is currently 40 percent off. Along with a vacuum, the G30 Hybrid has a robot mop. It also has 2,000Pa of suction power. Anker claims the G30 Hybrid can operate without making too much of a racket, with noise levels as low as 55 dB.

Several other Eufy models are available for a notable discount too. The higher-end RoboVac X8 Hybrid, which has dual turbines and uses LiDAR for navigation, is 15 percent off at $550. At the lower end of the scale, the BoostIQ RoboVac 11S is $136 at the moment, down by a third from the usual price of $200. It has 1,300Pa suction levels but no WiFi connectivity, and it uses a random cleaning path. In other words, the Eufy sale includes a wide range of robot vacuums for a variety of budgets.

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Merely a day after Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 4 launch, Xiaomi was quick to follow with a surprising punch. The Mix Fold 2 is the Chinese brand's second foldable phone, featuring a surprising thickness of just 5.4mm when opened — barely enough to house a USB-C port — and 11.2mm thick when folded. While Huawei's Mate Xs 2 is also 5.4mm thick when opened, bear in mind that it folds outwards instead and therefore lacks a secondary display, not to mention its 11.1mm-thick camera "column."

One of the features that enables the Mix Fold 2's thickness is Xiaomi's third-gen "micro water drop hinge," which allows for a tighter fold on the flexible display panel within the 8.8mm-tall hinge structure. To put things into perspective, Xiaomi pointed out that the current "water drop hinge" structure on a competitor's foldable — with an obvious image reference to Huawei's Mate X2 — is 11.25mm tall, as illustrated in the second gallery image below. The company added that with this new hinge and panel, the crease is even less visible — narrower space over all, with an average depth of less than 0.15mm.

Interestingly, Xiaomi was willing to sacrifice a bit of battery juice to reach this thickness, going from the original Mix Fold's 5,020mAh to 4,500mAh. It's as if Xiaomi is betting big on the efficiency of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor here. There's still support for 67W rapid charging, which goes from zero to 100 percent in just 40 minutes. Together with the smaller hinge and slimmer body parts, these contribute to a lighter overall weight — 262 grams (about 9.24 ounces) instead of the old 317 grams (about 11.2 ounces). Other goodies include larger heat dissipation components, dual Harman Kardon speakers, NFC and IR remote.

Some adjustments have been made on the two displays. For one, both have adopted a slightly wider aspect ratio. The exterior Samsung panel now comes in a 6.56-inch size with a 2,520 x 1,080 resolution, shielded by Gorilla Glass Victus. The interior foldable screen is a supposedly more efficient 8.02-inch Samsung Eco² OLED panel with a 2,016 x 1,914 resolution, and it's covered by a flexible piece of ultra-thin glass (30um). Both screens support up to 120Hz refresh rate and 1,000-nit brightness, along with Dolby Vision and HDR10+. There are also three ambient sensors around the phone for a more accurate auto brightness for both screens.

Xiaomi

On the photography side, there's no more "liquid lens" gimmick this time. The Mix Fold 2 shares a near-identical 50-megapixel main camera (with optical stabilization) and 13-megapixel ultra-wide camera as the Xiaomi 12, but this time with a Leica Summicron certification — much like the Xiaomi 12S Ultra which kick-started this partnership. You also get an 8-megapixel 2x portrait camera (45mm equivalent), as well as a 20-megapixel selfie camera on the other side. But of course, you can also unfold the phone and switch to the rear cameras for selfies instead, in which case you'll be using the secondary screen as a viewfinder.

Given the phone's thickness, a camera bump was inevitable, so Xiaomi could only attempt to minimize the camera module height, and it did so by switching to the less common SMA (shape memory alloy) actuator to power the main camera's optical stabilization. It's unclear whether there are any performance disadvantage with this solution, though.

Xiaomi

With the Leica partnership, the Mix Fold 2's camera app gained a "Leica Authentic" mode for those prefer natural-looking shots, as well as a self-explanatory "Leica Vibrant" mode for everyone else. Regardless of the photography mode, this foldable phone produces the classic Leica M3's shutter sound when shooting, and you'll find various Leica-inspired filters, lens effects and interface elements throughout the camera app. If you often take photos of fast-moving kids or pets, you'll apparently appreciate Xiaomi's AI-assisted "CyberFocus" AI tech here, which was ported over from the company's CyberDog and already featured on the Xiaomi 12 series.

Much like the 12S Ultra and the original Mix Fold, the Mix Fold 2 is China-only for now, so good luck finding an importer in your area. That said, Xiaomi added that it worked with Google on optimizing Android 12L (but rebadged as "MIUI Fold") for the Mix Fold 2, so there may still be hope for an eventual international rollout.

The Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 starts from 8,999 yuan (about $1,340) for the 12GB RAM + 256GB storage version, then it jumps to 9,999 yuan (about $1,480) for double the storage, then to 11,999 yuan (about $1,780) for a whopping 1TB. All three flavors come with a vegan leather case with a built-in kickstand, and folks in China can already pre-order today.

While leaks meant there weren’t many surprises, Samsung officially revealed the latest evolution of its foldable phones and smartwatches. With the company’s fourth-generation foldables, each increasingly offers something a little different. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 continues the spirit of the Galaxy Note series, with a new taskbar to better manage multi-window apps, Samsung’s best mobile cameras and a whole lot of screen. Oh, and it works with a stylus.

Meanwhile, the clamshell Z Flip 4 makes more of its unusual form factor and keeps costs around the $1,000 mark. Compared to last year, Samsung hasn’t particularly shaken up the design of either phone, but it says it’s made further durability enhancements. We love to see it. I have more news from Samsung below, but all of the new devices are available to pre-order now.

— Mat Smith

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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 hands-on

A design that works.

Engadget

Next to the Galaxy Z Fold series, the clamshell Z Flip phones are not as thick, not as big and not as expensive. While Google’s Android team is still getting to grips with the bigger-screened foldables, when it comes to the Galaxy Z Flip 3, Samsung just took the smartphone interface as we know it, and, well, folded it. We get better cameras, a bigger battery, faster charging and a ‘90s camcorder grip style.

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Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro hands-on

Barely there updates (and one new design).

Engadget

Compared to last year’s model, the Galaxy Watch 5 seems a little boring. The biggest change is a new skin temperature sensor, which won’t work at launch, while the other upgrades, like improved durability and curvature, aren’t immediately obvious either. There is a new Pro model, with a substantially larger battery and a layer of Sapphire Crystal glass. If you can’t wait till reviews are out, you can already pre-order the Galaxy Watch 5 starting at $280 (Bluetooth only; $330 for LTE) or the Pro for $450.

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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 hands-on

Refinements and increased durability.

Engadget

The biggest changes for Samsung’s new Z Fold are improved cameras and Android 12L — an interface designed for larger and foldable displays. The company says the Z Fold 4’s internal display is now 45 percent stronger than the last generation, but the most noticeable change may be the relocated taskbar, which Samsung has moved to the bottom of the page instead of the sides.

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US Justice Department is reportedly poised to sue Google over its digital ad dominance

The DOJ may file its antitrust lawsuit in September.

According to Bloomberg, the DOJ is gearing up to sue the tech giant as soon as September, after a year of looking into whether it's been using its dominant position to illegally control the digital ad market. The Justice Department first filed an antitrust lawsuit against the company back in 2020, accusing it of having an unfair monopoly over search and search-related advertising.

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FCC rejects Starlink request for nearly $900 million in broadband subsidies

Officials aren't convinced SpaceX's outfit can fulfill its promises.

The FCC has rejected the SpaceX unit's bid to receive $885.5 million in aid through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. The broadband provider "failed to demonstrate" it could deliver the claimed service. FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel said Starlink had "real promise," but suggested her agency couldn't justify 10 years of subsidies for "developing technology" that requires a $600 satellite dish. She added that the FCC needed to make the most of "scarce" funding for broadband expansion.

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Motorola's last Razr was a nifty folding smartphone and $1,500 fashion statement, but the weak hardware kept it from flagship greatness. Now, the company has responded with the Razr 2022 that might live up to that promise and price, thanks to a true flagship-class Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, Engadget Chinese has reported. 

The Razr 2022 carries a new design along with the new chip, with the curved chin and top camera notch eliminated in favor of an all-screen design and punch-hole camera. That removes the classic Razr look, but it also drastically increases the screen ratio. 

It's equipped with a third-generation "Star Trail" hinge that offers a flatter crease and is more seamless when closed, but is also stiff enough to stop at any angle. It weighs 200 grams, and is just 7.62mm thick when open. There are now two rear cameras instead of just the one on the previous model.

Motorola

On top of the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, you get up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, along with a much larger 3,500mAh battery (compared to 2,800mAh before). The 6.7-inch FHD+ OLED display runs at up to 144Hz, while the secondary, 800 x 573 OLED display can do nine functions including call notification, camera, weather, navigation, fitness tracking and more. 

The cameras look solid too, with a 32-megapixel interior camera, a 50-megapixel OIS main camera and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide camera. The Razr 2022 is going on sale in China with prices ranging from 5,999 - 7,299 RMB ($890 - $1,380), but there's no word yet on US availability. As a reminder, the last model was sold in the US as a Verizon exclusive for $1,500. 

Motorola

Along with the Razr 2022 Moto also unveiled the X30 Pro and S30 Pro, successors to the Edge X30 and S30, and probably destined mainly for the Chinese market. The X30 Pro is the most interesting, as it also packs a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip. It also comes with Samsung's impressively pixel-dense 200-megapixel ISOCELL HP1 sensor, along with a 50-megapixel ultra-wide angle, 12-megapixel 2x telephoto and 60-megapixel selfie camera. 

Other features include a 6.67-inch FHD+ 144Hz OLED display, a 4,600mAh battery (with up to 125-watt wired, 50-watt wireless charging and 10-watt reverse wireless charging). It offers up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage for a starting price of 3,499 RMB ($519). 

Given a choice between settling for pathetically slow internet speeds from AT&T or paying Comcast $50,000 to expand to his rural home, Michigan resident Jared Mauch chose option "C": starting up his own fiber internet service provider. Now, he's expanding his service from about 70 customers to nearly 600 thanks to funding aimed at expanding access to broadband internet, Ars Technica has reported. 

Last year, the US government's Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds allocated $71 million to Michigan's Washtenaw county for infrastructure projects, with a part of that dedicated to broadband expansion. Mauch subsequently won a bid to wire up households "known to be unserved or underserved based on [an] existing survey," according to the RFP.

"They had this gap-filling RFP, and in my own wild stupidity or brilliance, I'm not sure which yet, I bid on the whole project [in my area] and managed to win through that competitive bidding process," he told Ars. 

He'll now need to expand from 14 to about 52 miles of fiber to complete the project, including at least a couple of homes that require a half mile of fiber for a single house. That'll cost $30,000 for each of those homes, but his installation fees are typically $199.

Customers can choose from 100Mbps up/down internet speeds for $55 per month, or 1Gbps with unlimited data for $79 a month. The contract requires completion by 2026, but he aims to be done by around the end of 2023. He's already hooked up some of the required addresses, issuing a press release after the first was connected in June, with a local commissioner calling it "a transformational moment for our community." 

Running an ISP isn't even Mauch's day job, as he normally works as an Akamai network architect. Still, his service has become a must in the region and he even provides fiber backhaul for a major mobile carrier. "I'm definitely a lot more well-known by all my neighbors... I'm saved in people's cell phones as 'fiber cable guy,'" he said. Check out the full story at Ars Technica. 

Starlink can't count on a flood of government subsidies to help expand its satellite internet service. The FCC has rejected the SpaceX unit's bid to receive $885.5 million in aid through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. The broadband provider "failed to demonstrate" that it could deliver the claimed service, according to a statement.

FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel said Starlink had "real promise," but suggested her agency couldn't justify 10 years of subsidies for "developing technology" that requires a $600 satellite dish. She added that the FCC needed to make the most of "scarce" funding for broadband expansion.

SpaceX won its bid in December 2020 through an auction. At the time, it said it would use the subsidies to serve 35 locations. It also promised prices in sync with terrestrial broadband, and that it would meet "periodic" service buildout requirements.

LTD Broadband, a fixed wireless provider, netted over $1.3 billion in that auction and also lost its bid today. That company was not "reasonably capable" of deploying the required internet service after it lost qualifying statuses in seven states, the FCC said.

We've asked SpaceX for comment. The denial isn't a fatal blow to the company's plans, but it makes clear that Starlink will have to rely on its own funding if it's going to expand as outlined in 2020. The FCC's move might also serve as a warning to other would-be fund recipients. While the Commission is eager to improve rural broadband, it won't grant money to internet providers without some close scrutiny.

Meta is making its Portal smart displays more useful to remote workers. Starting today, you can use the Portal Go and second-generation Portal Plus as a second screen for your Mac or Windows PC. The new functionality comes courtesy of Duet Display, the app that inspired Apple’s Sidecar feature in macOS Catalina. Normally, you would need to either buy a copy of the software or subscribe to use Duet Display, but CEO Rahul Dewan told Engadget the company is making both wired and local wireless second display functionality free for Portal users.

One thing to note is you can’t use the app while video calling with the Portal Go or Portal Plus. Duet Display is available to download on Portal Plus in the US, Canada, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Australia and New Zealand, and Portal Go in the US, Canada, UK, France, Spain and Italy.

Meta is also releasing the Portal Companion app on macOS. The software allows you to share your screen while on call. You can also use the app to send links to the device and more easily access controls like the mute toggle. The Portal Companion app is available to download in the US and UK.

The arrival of Duet Display on Portal devices comes after Meta reportedly decided to reposition them as enterprise products. In June, The Information and Variety said the company would not announce any new consumer versions of the smart display line.