NVIDIA’s move into robotics took another major step. It’s now selling for $1,999 the new Jetson AGX Orin developer kit, a palm-sized computing device up to eight times more powerful than its old Jetson AGX Xavier (275 trillion operations per second, or TOPS). It’s capable of these dizzying speeds thanks to its 12-core ARM CPUs, Ampere-based GPU and upgrades in plenty of other places. NVIDIA is also helping robot creators with a new Isaac Nova Orin platform that includes two Jetson AGX Orin modules and the sensors needed for a robot to detect the world around it. The platform can handle up to six cameras, three LiDAR units and eight ultrasonic sensors.

You might have to wait for NVIDIA’s robot innovations, though. Most of this will come before the end of 2022, with a $399 for a basic Orin NX kit set to debut in Q4. Prospective clients are probably not you and me, but NVIDIA’s past robot brain tech has been used in John Deere’s autonomous tractor and Hyundai Robotics’ projects.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

• Google Photos makes it easier to import and organize your pics

• Annoyingly, the Mac Studio's software lock prevents SSD upgrades

• You can now group games on your Nintendo Switch home screen

• Bipartisan bill would expand US data collection transparency requirements

• Maserati's first electric SUV is the Grecale Folgore

• Android phone location data is about to get a lot more accurate

• Tesla delivers the first vehicles from its German Gigafactory

• Roku OS 11 adds new audio options, photo screensavers and more

• NVIDIA says its new H100 datacenter GPU is up to six times faster than its last

Zoom's new animal avatars bring chaos back to your conference calls

That beachside background isn’t funny anymore. But a cow face?

Zoom has introduced avatars that replace your head with a 3D character that mimics your facial expressions. Effectively, it's Apple's Animoji for virtual offices and classrooms. Only animals like cats, dogs and foxes are available for now, but more are incoming. The company stressed this doesn't use facial recognition. The feature is available now on Zoom 5.10.0 or later on iOS, Mac and Windows devices.

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US Justice Department says Google misuses attorney–client privilege to hide documents

The DOJ filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google in 2020.

The US Department of Justice has accused Google of training its employees on how to shield business communications from discovery in cases of legal disputes "by using false requests for legal advice." The DOJ has told the judge overseeing its antitrust case against the tech giant that Google instructs employees to add in-house lawyers to written communication, apply attorney–client privilege labels to them and make a request for legal advice even when it's not needed.

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Microsoft and Okta are investigating potential hacking attacks

Okta is an authentication company, so that’s not good.

South American hacking group Lapsus$ claims to have stolen source code for Bing, Cortana and internal Microsoft projects from a server. Lapsus$ released a torrent on Monday that's said to contain 37GB of source code for around 250 projects. “We are aware of the claims and are investigating," a Microsoft spokesperson told Engadget.

The same group has also targeted Okta, though the company says it has not yet found evidence of a breach following an incident in January. Lapsus$ posted screenshots of what it claimed was Okta’s internal systems.

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Amazon's Kindle sale brings the Paperwhite back to an all-time low

Pick one up for 25 percent off.

Amazon's latest Kindle Paperwhite is one of the nicest e-readers out there, benefiting from a bigger screen with 300 pixels-per-inch and a glare-free surface. Now, you can pick one up at an all-time low of just $105 — it’s usually $140. There are also deals on the base Kindle model and Kindle Kids.

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Insta360's new modular action cam has built-in video stabilization

The new 4K Boost Lens apparently offers improved image capture.

Insta360

The new Insta360 One RS is yet another modular action cam from the company, but this time it packs an upgraded processor to support onboard FlowState Stabilization (this used to be handled by the app, which took time) as well as Active HDR video capture — one apparently powerful enough to handle action sports without ghosting issues. A new 4K Boost Lens features a larger 1/2-inch 48MP sensor. This can capture 4K 60 fps footage and 1080p clips at up to 200 fps. You can get this One RS 4K Edition kit for $299.99. And if you already own a One R, you'll be pleased to know this 4K Boost Lens is backward compatible, too.

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With great speed, security and reliability, Samsung's T7 Touch SSDs are among the best storage expansion options for PCs and mobile devices alike. Now is a great time to pick one up, as both the 1TB and 2TB models are available on Amazon at all-time low prices. You can pick up the 1TB model in silver or black for $130 (a savings of $60), or grab the 2TB version for $260, or $110 off the regular $370 price.

When it launched, the T7 Touch SSD won a CES Innovation Award thanks to its built-in fingerprint scanner feature with 265-bit AES hardware encryption. It supports read and write speeds of 1,050 MB/s and 1,000 MB/s thanks to the USB 3.2 connectivity, considerably faster than most portable SSDs. In addition, it comes with an LED status indicator and can withstand shocks from drops up to six feet. 

Fingerprint setup is relatively simple thanks to the included software. And while some portable SSDs are stingy with cables, the T7 Touch includes both USB Type C-to-C and Type C-to-A cables so you can connect it to PCs, Macs and portable devices. Finally, it offers a sleek and compact style, fitting in the palm of your hand and weighing just 2 ounces or 57 grams. As mentioned, these are the lowest prices we've seen on the T7 Touch models, so if you've been looking, now's the time to act.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Variable refresh rate (VRR) is coming to the PlayStation 5 in the "coming months," Sony announced. If you have an HDMI 2.1-compatible TV or PC monitor, it will dynamically sync the refresh rate of the display to the PS5 console's graphical output, Sony explained in a blog post. The feature is long overdue, as VRR has been available on the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles since they debuted. 

As you're no doubt aware, VRR helps minimize visual artifacts like screen tearing. "Gameplay in many PS5 titles feels smoother as scenes render instantly, graphics look crisper, and input lag is reduced," Sony explained. "Previously released PS5 games can be fully optimized for VRR through a game patch and future games may include VRR support at launch."

Sony

You'll also be able to apply VRR to PS5 games that don't support it, something that "may improve video quality for some games," Sony said. The results may vary depending on the TV and game you're playing, it added.

Sony only recently unlocked VRR on its HDMI 2.1-equipped TVs in the US and Europe. The PS5 offers 4K at 120Hz, but it's arguably not as well implemented as the Xbox Series X/S consoles. 

Sony didn't specify an exact date for the VRR patch, but will share more details as the feature gets closer to release. In the meantime, the latest PS5 release includes a few other new features. That includes the ability to test drive a Voice Command feature that lets you control media playback or find open games, apps and settings; join open or closed parties through the PS App; and enable a dark mode on PS Remote Play. All of those are rolling out later today.

Over the next few weeks, Google is rolling out new features for the Photos app that could make the daunting task of organizing shots you've taken over the years feel more achievable. To start with, the tech giant is updating the app's layout so that you can display groups of photos as a grid or a list that you can filter by type, namely albums, shared albums, favorites and on-device folders. Then, at the bottom menu, you'll find a new "import photos" section that will help you transfer photos from other services, such as Facebook and iCloud. 

The new feature will also make easier to copy files from a camera, as well as to digitize old images and videos. Plus, it has a function to help you scan physical images with your phone. If you're on Android, you'll find more defined sections marked as partner sharing, shared albums and conversations under the sharing tab starting this week, as well. The sections will make their way to the iOS app in the near future.

Another update that could make organizing your images much more doable is the option to exclude your own device folder from backups. If you have a Pixel or another Android device that saves screenshots in that folder, that means you don't have to wade through snapshots of random things you found online or of bank and other payment transactions. 

Google will soon add a shortcut for screenshots at the top of the main photo grid to take you right to them in case you choose not to back up your device folder. And soon, you'll also see a carousel of contextual suggestions to copy text, crop and search using Google Lens whenever you view a screenshot. 

The humble GIF may have been invented in 1987, but in many ways, it’s never been more popular. Whether you pronounce the acronym with a soft g as its creator does or with a hard one as most people do, many of us turn to GIFs when we want to share memorable clips of TV shows, movies and news hits.

And if you’re a frequent Twitter user, the company is making it easier to create and share those clips. It has updated its iOS app to include a built-in GIF capture feature. All you have to do is open the camera module and swipe over to the GIF mode to record one of your own clips. You can see the feature in action in the tweet where Twitter announced its availability. At the moment, the feature is only available on iOS. When Engadget reached out to Twitter to ask about the GIF functionality making its way to Android, the company told us feedback it gathered from iOS users would “inform future updates.”

The dream of an upgradeable Mac Studio is dead – at least for the time being. If you follow Apple blogs, you probably saw that over the weekend teardowns of the company’s latest desktop computer showed that it features SSD storage that isn't soldered down to its main logic board. That led some to believe that it would be possible for Mac Studio owners to upgrade the computer on their own. However, those hopes have now been dashed.

YouTuber Luke Miani conducted a test to see if he could upgrade the Mac Studio’s storage. To do so, he took one unit and wiped its SSD so that he could then transfer the drive to an open SSD slot on a second machine. The secondary Mac Studio recognized the drive, but no matter what Miani did, the computer would not boot with the component installed in it. The Mac Studio’s only response was to use its status LED to send out an SOS call. All of that suggests Apple has programmed the Mac Studio not to accept replacement SSDs.

That’s not necessarily surprising. On its website, Apple states, “Mac Studio storage is not user accessible,” and the company recommends customers configure the computer with enough storage to meet their needs when they buy it. MacRumors suggests the purpose of the Mac Studio’s SSD slots is to allow certified technicians to replace nonfunctioning drives. Presumably, they’ll have access to tools that will allow them to bypass the company's software lock. As the website also notes, it’s possible Apple may at some point allow people to replace the SSD in their Mac Studio on their own by selling storage upgrade kits, much like it started doing with the Mac Pro in mid-2020. Until then, it’s a shame a machine that costs so much doesn’t offer some form of upgradability.

The Uber app will lose the "split fare" option in April as the company attempts to build a better system for sharing the cost of a ride. A replacement feature should roll out within the next few months, according to an Uber spokesperson.

Uber riders in the UK received an email this week alerting them of the shutdown, as spotted by Mashable. A spokesperson confirmed to Engadget that the feature is on its way out.

“We are in the process of reworking how riders split fares and the feature will be temporarily removed from the Uber app next month," they said. "We know this is a popular feature, so rest assured that we are planning to roll out a new, improved version in the coming months.”

This change eliminates the ability to split the cost of a ride within the Uber app itself, but it doesn't stop you from using Venmo, Cash App or other services to make things equal. The original email to UK Uber customers said the "split fare" feature would be discontinued on March 21st, but it's definitely sticking around until April, the company clarified.

Following years of litigation, Canadian “patent monetization” firm WiLAN has signed a licensing agreement with Apple. With the deal, the two companies have settled all court cases that were ongoing between them in the US, Canada and Germany related to a series of wireless technology patents. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

WiLAN’s dispute with Apple dates back to 2014 when the two companies went to court over two patents WiLAN claimed covered voice over LTE technologies featured in a variety of iPhone models at the time. Before today’s announcement, the most recent development in the dispute was that a jury reduced the damages Apple had been ordered to pay in 2018 from $145.1 million to $85.2 million. The decision came after a judge ordered a retrial after agreeing with Apple that WiLAN had used a flawed process to calculate the size of the damages owed to it by the iPhone-maker.

While this saga has come to a close, we don’t expect it will be the last time Apple and WiLAN lock horns. As something of a notorious patent troll, WiLAN has sued Apple a handful of times in the past, sometimes to mixed results. As one of the successful smartphone designers in the mobile industry, Apple makes for a seemingly irresistible target.

Following years of litigation, Canadian “patent monetization” firm WiLAN has signed a licensing agreement with Apple. With the deal, the two companies have settled all court cases that were ongoing between them in the US, Canada and Germany related to a series of wireless technology patents. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

WiLAN’s dispute with Apple dates back to 2014 when the two companies went to court over two patents WiLAN claimed covered voice over LTE technologies featured in a variety of iPhone models at the time. Before today’s announcement, the most recent development in the dispute was that a jury reduced the damages Apple had been ordered to pay in 2018 from $145.1 million to $85.2 million. The decision came after a judge ordered a retrial after agreeing with Apple that WiLAN had used a flawed process to calculate the size of the damages owed to it by the iPhone-maker.

While this saga has come to a close, we don’t expect it will be the last time Apple and WiLAN lock horns. As something of a notorious patent troll, WiLAN has sued Apple a handful of times in the past, sometimes to mixed results. As one of the successful smartphone designers in the mobile industry, Apple makes for a seemingly irresistible target.

Partway through last year, NVIDIA announced Grace, its first-ever datacenter CPU. At the time, the company only shared a few tidbits of information about the chip, noting, for instance, it would utilize its NVLink technology to provide data transfer speeds of up to 900 GB/s between components. Fast forward to the 2022 GPU Technology Conference, which kicked off on Tuesday morning. At the event, CEO Jensen Huang unveiled the Grace CPU Superchip, the first discrete CPU NVIDIA plans to release as part of its Grace lineup.

Built on ARM’s recently introduced v9 architecture, the Grace CPU Superchip is actually two Grace CPUs connected via the company’s aforementioned NVLink interconnect technology. It integrates a staggering 144 ARM cores into a single socket and consumes approximately 500 watts of power. Ultra-fast LPDDR5x memory built into the chip allows for bandwidth speeds of up to 1 terabyte per second.

While they’re very different chips, a useful way to conceptualize NVIDIA’s new silicon is to think of Apple’s recently announced M1 Ultra. In the most simple terms, the M1 Ultra is made up of two M1 Max chips connected via Apple’s aptly named UltraFusion technology.

When NVIDIA begins shipping the Grace CPU Superchip to clients like the Department of Energy in the first half of 2023, it will offer them the option to configure it either as a standalone CPU system or as part of a server with up to eight Hopper-based GPUs (more on those in just a moment). The company claims its new chip is twice as fast as traditional servers. NVIDIA estimates it will achieve a score of approximately 740 points in SPECrate®2017_int_base benchmarks, putting it in the upper echelon data center processors.

Alongside the Grace CPU Superchip, NVIDIA announced its highly anticipated Hopper GPU architecture. Named after pioneering computer scientist Grace Hopper, it is the successor to the company’s current Ampere architecture (you know, the one that powers all of the company’s impossible-to-find RTX 30 series GPUs). Now before you get excited, know that NVIDIA didn’t announce any mainstream GPUs at GTC. Instead, we got to see the H100 GPU. It’s an 80 billion transistor behemoth built using TSMC’s cutting-edge 4nm process. At the heart of the H100 is NVIDIA’s new Transformer Engine, which the company claims allows it to offer unparalleled performance when it needs to compute transformer models. Over the past few years, transformer models have become widely popular with AI scientists working with systems like GPT-3 and AlphaFold. NVIDIA claims the H100 can reduce the time it takes to train large models down to days and even mere hours. The H100 will be available later this year.