Compared to what we were driving just a decade ago, today's connected cars and trucks are practically computers on wheels. From content streaming infotainment systems to the background processes that interpret sensor data and power the advanced driver assist features, software has become a fundamental component in modern vehicles. To better manage those countless lines of code, GM announced on Wednesday that it has developed an end-to-end software platform, dubbed Ulfiti (rhymes with "multiply").

GM's latest vehicles already enjoy features like OTA software updates and on-board internet connectivity thanks to the company's Vehicle Intelligence Platform (VIP). the Linux-based Ulfiti is designed to sit on top of that existing architecture and serve as a central hub for select software systems, separating them from the vehicle's core operations. 

"In all of the embedded controllers, we refactored them and extracted the software from the hardware out of them, making them available to our SOA layer," Scott Miller, Vice President of Software Defined Vehicle. at General Motors, said during a recent teleconference. "Basically we're abstracting them and making them available for a powerful hub for all the vehicle's systems."

"Then we're adding this service oriented layer on our high performance computing that we have in the vehicle for infotainment and safety," he continued. "And we're going to organize those abstractions as services."

This will enable GM to more quickly develop and deploy updates, new features and apps to customers. In essence, Ultifi will serve a similar function as Android does on smartphones — an API layer sitting between the underlying hardware and the end user. GM did note that Ultifi will run in conjunction with existing automotive OSes, such as Android Automotive, which GM announced in 2019 it would begin supporting. 

"Android Automotive is a certain subset of functionality in the car," Darryl Harrison, GM's Director of Global Product Development, explained. "Ultifi is more of an umbrella overall strategy. Some vehicles will have Android Automotive and some will have other infotainment apps and services."

In essence, GM wants to treat your vehicle like a rolling smartphone, offering users continuous OTA updates, cloud-based personalization options that drivers can transfer between GM vehicles, and smart home connectivity. The company is also considering pushing out various safety and comfort upgrades through via OTA, such as using the vehicle's onboard cameras to automatically engage the child locks when they detect children in the back seat or remotely closing the vehicle's sunroof if you parked outdoors and the weather forecast calls for rain.  

GM is also considering using Ultifi to offer subscription services to users, such as on-demand Supercruise that drivers can enable on long road trips but cancel once they reach their destination. Ulfiti could also allow for improved V2V (vehicle to vehicle) and V2X (vehicle to everything) applications including near-real time traffic and road hazard updates. Expect to see Ulfiti in select GM vehicles — both internal combustion and EV — starting in 2023.            

You no longer have to point your phone at your computer screen if you want to use Google Lens on your computer. As part of a string of updates, Google has revealed that Lens will be available for Chrome on the desktop in the "coming months." You just have to right-click on a website, choose to search with Lens and select the part of the page you want to examine. After that, you'll get results relating to the content you highlighted. Needless to say, that could be helpful if you're trying to identify an animal or a hot new jacket.

There are some upgrades coming to Lens on your phone. An update in early 2022 will let you ask a question after snapping a photo. If you need to know how to repair a part on your bike, for instance, you'll get results even if you don't know what that part is. The Google app for iPhones, meanwhile, will let you search for products within images.

This is a not-so-subtle effort to boost Google Shopping. You might be more likely to buy apparel or bike parts if you can identify them, after all. Even so, the expansion could make Lens more useful as a general search tool, not just for special circumstances.

Folks in the UK looking for a show or movie to stream have even more options at their disposal. IMDb TV is now available in the country.

The free, ad-supported service offers a mix of originals and popular movies and shows from elsewhere, as Variety notes. Alongside IMDB TV's own projects such as Luke Bryan: My Dirt Road Diary, Moment of Truth and Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers, you can watch the likes of Pulp Fiction, Anger Management, The English Patient, Person of Interest, Community and 2 Broke Girls.

You can access IMDb TV through the Prime Video app, even if you aren't an Amazon Prime member. A Fire TV app is on the way in the coming weeks. Standalone IMDb TV apps for Android and iOS hit the US last month, so perhaps they'll be available in the UK later as well.

Sony's flagship noise-cancelling headphones and tech-filled true wireless earbuds were refreshed with new 1000XM4 models in recent months. However, the company's more affordable options are still due for a refresh, and Sony begins that process today. With the WF-C500, the company offers a solid set of true wireless earbuds capable of handling immersive 360 Reality Audio for $100. And if over-ear noise-cancelling headphones are more your vibe, the WF-XB910N pairs ANC (active noise cancellation) with 30-hour battery life for $250. 

The true wireless WF-C500 replaces the WF-XB700 at the bottom of Sony's price range. What's more, they're $30 cheaper than the XB700 was initially at $99.99. This substitution is a good thing because despite handling the basics well, the tiered design wasn't as ergonomic or comfy as the company suggested. With the WF-C500, Sony takes design cues from its high-end WF-1000XM4 earbuds. The result is smaller size and a more secure fit that should be more comfortable during hours of continuous use. And an IPX4 rating means you can use these during workouts without worrying about moisture damage. 

Inside, the C500 is equipped with Sony's DSEE (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) that restores some of the detail lost when music is compressed for streaming over Bluetooth. The company also allows you employ sound presets and adjust the EQ with its Headphones app. Plus, you have the option of listening in Sony's 360 Reality Audio if you're willing to splurge for the priciest streaming plan on select services (Amazon Music HD, Tidal HiFi, etc.). On-board controls give you the ability to manage music, adjust volume, take calls and activate a voice assistant without reaching for your phone. Lastly, the C500 will give you up to 10 hours of listening time with one additional charge in the included case. A quick-charge feature offers an hour of tunes in 10 minutes. 

The WF-C500 is available for pre-order today, but colors vary by retailer. Sony will offer them in black, as will Amazon, Best Buy and Target. Exclusive colors include white (Amazon), green (Best Buy) and orange (Target). The earbuds are set to ship in October. 

Sony

For the over-ear noise-cancelling crowd, the WH-XB910N replaces the WH-XB900N in the middle of Sony's headphone lineup. The price stays the same at $249.99, but the company offers a new design and improved ANC thanks to a Dual Noise Sensor. As the "XB" signifies, this model is equipped with the company's Extra Bass feature that amps up the low-end tone when activated. DSEE tech makes streaming over Bluetooth a bit more enjoyable by restoring detail lost to compression. The XB910N can also manage Sony's 360 Reality Audio content and employs Adaptive Sound Control, a staple of the company's pricier headphones, that can automatically adjust settings based on activity or location. 

Sony is also angling at the remote working crowd here. The company explains that Precise Voice Pickup tech uses a combination of microphones and signal processing to amplify your voice on calls. There's also "a more natural listening experience" in ambient sound mode as Sony says the XB910N can pick up more of what's going on around you. That's handy whether you need to stay tuned in to what's going on either at home or in the office. On-board controls include Sony's quick attention feature which lets outside noise in when you place your hand over an earcup and there's a dedicated button to quickly change from ANC to ambient sound. 

Sony says the XB910N will last up to 30 hours with the option of 4.5 hours of listening time after a 10-minute quick charge. To further cater to travelers, the company opted for soft, oval-shaped earpads for extra cushion and a design that folds flat for easy storage. If you prefer to save even more on your noise-cancelling headphones, the excellent WH-CH710N will stick around and are currently $98. Although they lack a lot of the handy features from Sony's other models, the noise-cancelling CH710N are light and comfy, handling the basics very well for that price.

The WF-C500 is available for pre-order today, and once again, the colors vary by retailer. Sony will offer them in black, as will Amazon and Best Buy. Exclusive colors include blue (Amazon) and gray (Best Buy). The headphones are scheduled to ship in October.

Fitbit went back to basics with last year’s Charge 4, reinstating a fitness tracker with onboard GPS into its lineup after many years of leaving that hole unfilled. With the introduction of the $180 Charge 5 this year, the company is trying to modernize its most capable band. It’s thinner, lighter and less bulky than the Charge 4 and it now has some features previously reserved for Fitbit’s full-fledged smartwatches, the Versa and Sense.

That translates to a $30 increase in price, and on top of that, Fitbit’s hoping you’ll pay $10 each month to access your historical health data (and more) through Fitbit Premium. The Charge 5 certainly feels more polished than the Charge 4, but those who prefer bands to smartwatches will find that most core features remain the same — and you’ll have to decide if the perks of Premium are really worth paying for.

Design

I was surprised by how much of a difference was made by Fitbit updating the design of the Charge 5. It’s 10 percent thinner than the previous version and has new rounded edges, and the module itself is stainless steel in a color that should complement the band choice you picked. It feels less bulky on the wrist and its rounded edges make it so the device doesn’t stick out as much. If you’re wearing the band tightly, the Charge 5 sits more flush against the wrist than the Charge 4 did, so it’s less obtrusive and more comfortable. The strap is also better, too: the Charge 5 comes with a soft-touch band that looks (and hooks) almost like the Apple Watch’s sport bands.

The display has been updated as well: it’s a 1.04-inch color AMOLED touchscreen that wakes up when you lift your wrist. It’s leaps and bounds better than the grayscale OLED screen on the Charge 4 and it puts the Charge 5 more in line with Fitbit’s smartwatches.

It also has a new always-on feature, which you can activate in the settings. It will automatically turn off at night if you have sleep mode turned on, but otherwise, it keeps the clock and watch face on, if slightly dimmed, all day long. This obviously affects battery life and Fitbit makes that clear.

But with the addition of a touchscreen, Fitbit took all physical buttons off of the Charge 5. You may think the shiny slivers on the long edges of the module are capacitive-touch buttons but they’re not — they’re actually the electrodermal activity (EDA) sensors that enable stress monitoring. While I didn’t have any problems using the touchscreen, it was a bit weird to not have a button to fall back on because I was used to the inductive side button on the Charge 4.

New (and old) features

Fitbit trickled down a few advanced features from its Sense smartwatch to the Charge 5, namely ECG measurements and EDA monitoring. The former is “coming soon,” so I wasn’t able to test it, but the latter is similar to the EDA tool on Fitbit’s smartwatch. Instead of covering the device’s screen with your palm like you would on the Sense, the Charge 5 has two long sensors on its sides that you pinch and hold when you want to take an EDA scan.

At first, I didn’t know you could change the duration of each scan, so I sat in semi-frustrated silence for three whole minutes (torture, I know). The EDA sensor looks for changes in your skin that may be linked to stress and it’ll report how many differences it captured at the end of the scan. The Charge 5 reported 18 incidents in my first session, which probably reflected my increasing frustration with the tool as I used it.

Valentina Palladino / Engadget

The device’s screen counts down the remaining time in your scan, but it doesn’t show anything else. Fitbit used to have guided breathing exercises on its devices which would take you through a few minutes of breathwork with the intention of calming you down. Fitbit still has meditation exercises available in its app (most available via Premium, with only a scant few free) but I wish Fitbit had brought over that aspect into its EDA tool on the Charge 5. I never felt significantly more calm after a scan — if anything, pausing during my busy day to have my fitness tracker tell me that I might be stressed, without providing any aid, made me more annoyed than less.

Otherwise, the Charge 5 is much the same as the Charge 4, although all of its features look a bit more glossy thanks to the full-color screen. The GPS was, arguably, the most important thing about the Charge 4 and it remains solid on the Charge 5. The built-in sensor grabbed my location within seconds of me starting a run and my route was accurately mapped in Fitbit app after I synced.

But Fitbit didn’t add more music-focused features. In fact, it actually removed some, which is a bummer. The Charge 4 had no onboard storage and only Spotify Premium subscribers could control playback from its screen. According to Fitbit, it’s data showed that customers weren’t using the music controls a lot, so they removed the Spotify option as well. While I understand the logic, I was disappointed each time I ran with the Charge 5 — I would turn to my wrist to skip a track only to immediately realize I had to take my phone out of my fanny pack.

On a positive note, Fitbit added solid alarm and timer apps on the Charge 5. The device is not designed to have as many onboard programs as a smartwatch, but these are pretty basic and many fitness bands include them. I love being able to set daily alarms so I never forget to take medication, and I inevitably end up setting a timer or two each day to keep track of laundry, cooking food and the like.

What you get with Premium

Fitbit has been slowly incorporating Premium, its $10-per-month health and fitness service, into all of its devices over the past few years. What that means for the Charge 5 is that some advanced metrics are behind that paywall, along with things like wellness reports, guided workouts, meditations, recipe inspiration and more.

My biggest problem lies with the walled-off health metrics. It essentially means that Fitbit users can only get the data necessary to up their sleep and exercise game if they pay for it. You may only realize how much of your data you don’t have access to after using the Charge 5 for months, too, which is a bummer (you get six months of Fitbit Premium when you buy a new Charge 5, so at least you’ll get a taste of it).

For example, Premium gives you access to 30-day and 90-day health trends based on your recorded data, plus “advanced” health insights related to your heart, activity, sleep and more. And Fitbit’s wellness reports, which gathers your recorded information about heart rate, steps, weight, water and food intake, exercise, sleep and more for you to easily give to your doctor, are only available to subscribers.

A new feature only available to Premium subscribers is what Fitbit calls a Daily Readiness Score. It basically tells you how ready your body is to work out any given day based on things like heart rate variability, sleep and fitness fatigue. This sounds similar to Garmin’s Body Battery score (which, by the way, doesn’t cost anything extra).

However, I couldn’t test this out because it’s “coming soon” just like the ECG app I mentioned earlier. Fitbit has hyped up its new products with coming-soon features for years, with at least a few of them taking forever to actually arrive. It should go without saying, but I wouldn’t recommend buying a Fitbit device for any yet-to-be-released features — it may take months for them to actually arrive.

This isn’t a Fitbit Premium review — I haven’t gathered enough data with the Charge 5 to get the most out of the service, and that can only be done by spending at least a few weeks to a few months with it. But I will say that Premium really isn’t for someone like me who already has a fitness system in place and already tries to eat as healthily as possible (most of the time). But it may be useful for those just getting started on their fitness journey, whether that means they’re trying to lose weight, exercise more regularly or eat better. Premium’s video workouts and recipe inspirations aren’t particularly special (I guarantee you’ve seen similar one-minute recipe videos on Instagram), but having them all in one place encourages you to use them on a daily basis. A common idea in the fitness world is that the hardest part of working out is actually showing up to do it. That can translate to many parts of someone’s health journey — Fitbit’s Premium service removes a lot of the guesswork that can make living healthier seem inconvenient.

Battery life

Fitbit promises up to seven days of life on the Charge 5, but that estimate drops to two days when you have the screen in always-on mode. Thankfully, Fitbit’s estimates were mostly correct — I got about two and half days with always-on mode enabled and five with it disabled. Just keep in mind that how often you use the built-in GPS will affect battery life, too. During my time with the device, I used the GPS almost every other day for 45 minutes to one hour during my runs.

The competition

It’s hard to compare the Fitbit Charge 5 to other fitness trackers because there aren’t many at the $180 price point. Most simple band-style trackers are more affordable, like the $80 Garmin Vivofit 4 or the $130 Vivosmart 4, while smartwatches like the $200 Garmin Forerunner 55 dominate the higher end. Arguably the most comparable device out of those is the Vivosmart 4, which has a thinner design but a less exciting, grayscale OLED screen. It also only has connected GPS, not onboard, but it does have features like all-day activity monitoring, workout tracking, VO2 max measurements, Body Battery scores, sleep and blood oxygen tracking and more. It also does have music controls directly on the device and a similarly long battery life.

And when it comes to Fitbit’s own lineup, the Charge 5 shares a lot of features with the $150 Luxe. Sure, the latter is thinner and targeted more towards those who want a bracelet-like wearable, but it’s more affordable and has a full-color display (which will soon support always-on mode), activity and sleep tracking, smartphone alerts, and more. What it doesn’t have is onboard GPS and Fitbit Pay.

Wrap-up

When you’re talking about $180 for the Charge 5, it’s tempting to say “just get a smartwatch instead.” You could get a capable Garmin smartwatch for only $20 more than that, or even an Apple Watch Series 3 (although I wouldn’t recommend the latter). But one of the reasons many will consider the Charge 5 is its band style — some people just prefer that to larger smartwatches. In general, fitness bands have lower profiles, multi-day battery life and they typically keep fitness at the forefront. If that sounds like what you’re looking for in a wearable, the Charge 5 is a breath of fresh air.

But considering its biggest perks are onboard GPS and Fitbit Pay support with NFC, the Charge 5 remains pretty similar to the Charge 4. It’s also disappointing that Fitbit didn’t really fix much about the previous band other than its dated design. You still have a limited selection of apps on the Charge 5, it doesn’t integrate with Apple Health or Google Fit and Fitbit removed all music control functionality, even for Spotify Premium users. I’d expect more progress and differentiation in a device that now costs $30 more. You could safely skip this update if your Charge 4 is still serving you well. But if you don’t have a fitness tracker right now, the Charge 5 remains one of your best options if you’re looking for a capable band with built-in GPS.

Amazon’s annual barrage of new Echo hardware didn’t disappoint, ranging from role-playing games to nutrition tracking, drones and videocall devices for kids. I think the new 15-inch Echo Show, a smart screen to mount on your wall, was the most intriguing reveal.

Amazon

Amazon has redesigned its home screen to make the most of all that extra display space, and you can customize it so part of the screen scrolls through ambient content, like headlines and weather updates. Aimed at families, the Echo Show 15 also has a new visual ID feature that can recognize your face and show you personalized information, like calendar appointments, reminders and notes.

Amazon and Google dominate the smart displays space, and I might be the rare exception of having not a single Alexa-powered device in my home. So far, Amazon’s devices haven’t offered anything particularly compelling for me. I have a Google smart display, which smoothly integrates with Google Calendar, Google Maps and the rest. It’s hard for me to generate much enthusiasm for the Echo range.

Now, having said that, let me contradict myself entirely.

If you like your Alexa devices on wheels and with precarious extendable, periscope cameras, then perhaps Amazon’s Astro robot might get you excited. (Or worried.) Amazon plans to sell its first robot in limited quantities later this year. It will eventually cost $1,450, but as part of its Day 1 Editions program, the company will sell the robot at an introductory price of $1,000.

— Mat Smith

All the big Amazon news

Amazon's Blink unveils a no-frills $50 video doorbell

Amazon's Alexa-enabled Smart Thermostat only costs $60

Amazon takes on Apple with fitness and nutrition services for Halo devices

Everything Amazon announced at its September hardware event

Amazon Glow is a kid-focused video call device with interactive activities

IKEA’s new customizable Sonos speaker lamp launches October 12th

Starting from $169, depending on the shade.

IKEA

IKEA and Sonos’ new, more customizable version of their Symfonisk speaker lamp arrives on October 12th. The furniture giant will sell the new model's lamp base and shade separately, so you can mix and match parts to ensure the final product fits the vibe of your home.

IKEA’s Stjepan Begic said they decided to make the base smaller after finding out a lot of people use the Symfonisk lamp on their nightstand. You’ll be able to choose between two types of shades: textile or glass, while the lamps themselves come in black or white. The new model also supports a wider range of bulbs, thanks to a different E26/E27 socket.

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You can now sign up to test Ring’s home security drone

The invitation-only program will help refine the technology.

Ring says its Always Home Cam, its first home security drone, will soon arrive in select households. Users will be able to sign up to join an invite-only testing program to help refine the hardware before it hits shelves. In the US, at least, Ring owners can sign up to help develop what its makers are calling a “very ambitious device.”

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Microsoft CEO: TikTok negotiation 'strangest thing I've ever worked on'

I doubt any of us are surprised.

This time last year, ByteDance was trying to save its TikTok app in the US and elsewhere after Donald Trump's administration threatened to ban it. One potential savior was Microsoft.

It was a mess. It all started when Trump threatened to force Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok to a US owner, citing privacy and security concerns. Microsoft stepped in as a potential buyer, though the company, in the end, struck a deal with Oracle and Walmart, which President Joe Biden's administration scrapped in February 2021.

Microsoft was in the middle of negotiations with ByteDance when Trump told reporters he'd rather ban the app than allow it to be sold to a US company. That "threw into disarray the careful negotiations we had pursued with ByteDance” to buy TikTok’s business in the US and the three other countries, CEO Satya Nadella wrote. Trump only relented and allowed a deal to happen after Nadella called him personally.

After Oracle's winning bid, ByteDance said Trump had "ghosted" the site, effectively going silent after ordering the company to divest its US TikTok assets.

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Amazon's 'New World' MMORPG is finally here

It’s very, very important for Amazon Game Studios.

After four delays spanning nearly a year and a half of missed release dates, New World is finally here, available to Steam and Amazon’s own marketplace, starting at $40. The MMORPG will be crucial to Amazon Game Studios’ future. After the very public failure of Crucible, which it terminated not too long after its launch, the company needs to prove it can deliver compelling games — and keep them going. Hopefully, all those delays have ensured New World arrives with its best foot forward.

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The biggest news stories you might have missed

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Logitech's MX Keys Mini is a compact keyboard for minimalists

1Password can now randomly generate email addresses for logins

Facebook's 2Africa to become the longest subsea cable in the world

Xbox Series X/S consoles now support Dolby Vision for gaming

Apple beefs up Keynote, Pages and Numbers with new features

As Amazon’s executives took the stage one after another yesterday to introduce the world to the company’s “next big leaps forward,” a sense of deja vu crept up on me. It only grew stronger as the event progressed, with many new Amazon products seeming incredibly familiar. The company has been criticized in the past for borrowing designs of popular goods and selling them for a lot cheaper.

That’s not an uncommon practice of course — massive retailers all over America like Walmart and Costco have offered lower-cost store-brand lines forever. But none of them stage flashy keynotes to tout their products as “innovations.” While Amazon has indeed brought certain unique technologies to the world in the past, this year the company’s “innovations” seemed to be more of it doing what it does best: undercutting the rest.

Halo View: Twinning with Fitbit

With the Halo View, Amazon is essentially adding a display to its existing screenless health-tracking band. But the View’s shape and style are so similar to Fitbit’s Charge series it’s hard to differentiate the two. Sure, there are only so many ways you can stick a rectangular display on a wristband, but Amazon’s mimicry doesn’t stop there. It also introduced new Halo Fitness and Halo Nutrition services today that will offer guides on working out and eating better. 

Amazon

That’s basically Fitbit Premium, which offers guides on working out and eating better. Oh and Fitbit’s $10-a-month service also provides tips on meditating and sleep. Amazon’s subscription costs just $4 per month after a trial period, though, and the $80 Halo View is $100 cheaper than the new Charge 5. The View probably won’t do as much as Fitbit’s trackers, which are quite sophisticated. Still, considering the price, Amazon will likely sell a lot of them.

Amazon Smart Thermostat: Lose the frills for a fraction of the price

Amazon teamed up with existing thermostat brand Honeywell to make a Smart Thermostat that will work with most existing 24V HVACs (most common for residential HVAC systems). You can control it with a separate Alexa-enabled device and set custom routines for heating and cooling. The company hasn’t released much more information about its thermostat yet, but from what we can see, the device has the rounded-rectangle shape of an ecobee smart thermostat with the color scheme of a Google Nest product.

Lots of existing smart thermostats by brands like ecobee, Sensibo and Google’s Nest do more things, but Amazon is seriously undercutting the competition by selling its version for just $60. The Nest Thermostat that was launched last year costs $130, while an ecobee 3 Lite goes for $170.

Blink cameras: Competing with Google for much cheaper

Competition in the security camera space is pretty stiff, so it isn’t very surprising that Amazon and Google both borrow a lot from each other. Amazon unveiled a new $50 Blink video doorbell camera today, alongside a set of outdoor cameras. One of these is the $40 floodlight camera mount that calls to mind Google’s Nest Cam with integrated floodlight. To be fair, though, Google did only introduce a wireless, battery-powered doorbell camera after Blink, so it appears the borrowing is mutual here.

The difference, however, is once again in pricing. Blink’s video doorbell is less than a third of the price of the $180 Nest Doorbell. Google’s floodlight-cum-security camera is $280, while Amazon’s mount (with a camera) is half that at $140.

But at what cost?

It’s no secret that Amazon’s business model has a lot to do with knowing what people want and changing their prices accordingly. But how can it make things so cheap? In addition to pure economies of scale and multiple reports of questionable (at best) labor practices, the company also offers goods at reduced prices in exchange for sticking ads on your devices. The ad-supported versions of Kindles and Fire tablets often go for $20 to $30 less than their stock counterparts.

With the breadth of devices Amazon offers, too, the sheer amount of data it could collect purely for the sake of selling you stuff is huge. With the smart thermostat, it could detect a dip in temperature in your region and suggest you buy from its in-house brand of winter wear. Or maybe your child’s been reading a book on a Kindle, and the company later serves ads for collectibles from that title on its new kid-centric Glow video-calling device. Or how about a subsidized version of the Astro robot that roams your house or follows you around with an ad on its face? Amazon also talked about a “vision of ambient intelligence” — which sounds very similar to the concept of “ambient computing” expounded by Google for years. But because Amazon’s products are so much cheaper, it could succeed at stuffing Alexa in so many more places in our lives.

Plus, with all the data it’s gathering from your shopping habits, whether it’s on one of its devices or the Amazon app, the company can afford to sell you something at a lower profit margin. The company said in its privacy notice that it’s “not in the business of selling our customers' personal information to others.” But it’s presumably using that data to understand the types of things you’re more likely to buy and put that stuff in front of you. It’ll probably make more off of you in the long run if you’re using the cheap Fire tablet to browse its store.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that everything Amazon unveiled today was a cutrate version of something else. We got an update on the Ring Always Home Cam, which was first announced last year. You’ll soon be able to sign up to test it out. The home security device is a little drone that can fly around your property at your command to see if anything’s amiss. No mainstream tech giant has launched something similar yet, though, so Amazon isn’t undercutting anyone on this.

Still, it seems like the company’s strategy for its flagship products is similar to that of its Basics line: Take a good idea, tweak it and sell it for loads cheaper. It’s not terrible; We could always use affordable, reliable devices. But Amazon is not innovating: It’s the Costco of consumer tech.

Follow all of the news from Amazon’s fall hardware event right here!

Amazon's Deal of the Day is all about storage products, with particularly good prices for SD cards. Do you need a giant boost in storage for your smartphone, drone other other device that uses a MicroSD memory card? Amazon is selling SanDisk's 1TB Ultra MicroSDXC UHS-1 cards with adapter at just $110 for today only. That's a hefty 52 percent discount compared to the regular $230 selling price. 

SanDisk pioneered 1TB MicroSD memory cards and was first to both launch and sell them. The model in question provides up to 120MB/s speeds, essentially the max available in the UHS-I format. With A1 application class performance, it delivers fewer IOPS (input-output access per second) than A2 class cards, but sustained sequential read speeds are the same. It has a high 4.8 out of 5 consumer rating on Amazon with 89,144 global reviews. 

Amazon

Amazon also has a great deal today on another type of memory card that's difficult to find discounted. It's offering the SanDisk Extreme Pro 256GB CFexpress Type B memory card at $260, which is $140 off the regular $400 price. These cards are used in cameras like Canon's EOS R5, Nikon's Z6 II, Z7 II, D6 and 1DX Mark III, Panasonic's S1, S1R and S1H models, and the Blackmagic Design BMPCC 6K and 6K Pro. (Note that Sony's A1 and A7S III use smaller CFexpress Type A cards.) 

Switching to SanDisk's CFexpress cards boosts speeds from 300 MB/s up to 1,700 MB/s max over UHS II. That will allow you to capture 8K video on Canon's R3, for example, or shoot sustained photo bursts more reliably and for a longer duration. Again, this SanDisk model is highly rated by users, but the deal ends today. 

Amazon is also offering other memory and storage deals on WD and SanDisk products, including NVMe drives, portable G-drives, USB keys and internal hard disks. For more, check out its Deal of the Day page. 

Shortly after the new iPad mini was released, people started complaining about seeing a weird "jelly-like" effect on their screens while scrolling. It appears as if one side of the screen scrolls at a different rate than the other, making it look like the screen is wobbling. Those who were hoping for a fix to the problem would probably be disappointed by Apple's response, because the tech giant has told Ars Technica that the device's screen wobbling problem isn't a problem at all.

A spokesperson told the publication that the jelly-like effect people are seeing is typical for LCD screens, because they refresh line by line. As such, it's normal for the lines at the top of the display to refresh at a different rate than the lines at the bottom. Ars Technica insists, though, that the effect is much noticeable on the iPad mini than it is on other 60Hz LCD iPads, including the latest entry-level model that was released with the mini. Further, there's a visible line dividing the screen in the middle when the tablet is in portrait mode.

It remains to be seen whether Apple would do something about this jelly scrolling effect in the future, considering people are airing complaints about it. For now, it looks the tech giant's stance is that it's par for the course for an LCD screen and that users will just have to get used to it.

Arturia already has a lineup of audio interfaces. They're fairly well regarded. But one thing they're not, is cheap. The base model AudioFuse is $699. It is not for the casual bedroom producer. But, the company knows that the more people making music, the bigger its customer base, so serving that entry level is important. The MiniFuse line is the answer to that need. 

The lineup of three models starts at $99 for the MiniFuse 1. It's the most basic of the new devices with a single combo input for XLR and 1/4-inch instruments. But it has the same preamps, 110db dynamic range, five-year warranty and software bundle as the rest of the lineup. All the MiniFuses can also act as USB hubs, so you can connect a controller through the interface and save some port space on your PC. What you lose mostly by opting for the most affordable option is the MIDI in and out ports. You also can't blend direct monitoring with the USB output, you can only switch between the two. 

The $149 MiniFuse 2 adds a second input, MIDI in and out ports and has a mix control for balancing between direct monitoring of your input and what's coming out of your PC. This is handy for recording live audio when even the tiniest of latency is unacceptable. 

The MiniFuse 4 hasn't gotten a price tag yet, and wont be shipping until next year. But it has line inputs around the back, two additional audio outputs and an additional headphone jack so you and a collaborator can both monitor a track together without filling your recording space with more noise. If you use a decent amount of outboard gear or frequently work with a vocalist this is probably the way to go. The extra outputs and inputs are especially handy for routing audio out of your computer, processing it with external effects then running it back into your DAW for final mixing. 

The MiniFuse line comes with a solid bundle of software including Ableton Live Lite, Analog Lab Intro, a bundle of four Arturia FX, Native Instruments Guitar Rig 6 LE and three month subscriptions to both Auto-Tune Unlimited and Splice.

The MiniFuse 1 and MiniFuse 2 are available to pre order now and will start shipping in November.