Thursday, February 24, 2022

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A Pokémon Presents livestream will take place on February 27th

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 09:40 AM PST

The next Pokémon Presents livestream will take place on February 27th, aka Pokémon Day, at 9AM ET. The Pokémon Company hasn't revealed what's in store, other than to say in a tweet on its Japanese account that it'll be a relatively brief affair clocking in at around 14 minutes and you'll be able to watch on the official Pokémon YouTube channel.

Pokémon Day marks the anniversary of the first games in the franchise. Pokémon Red and Green were released in Japan on February 27th, 1996. The company has announced updates for titles including Pokémon Unite, Pokémon Go and Pokémon Cafe Mix in the lead up to Sunday's festivities, as Polygon notes. 

It's been a busy spell for The Pokémon Company on the games front. Not only did it release Pokémon Unite and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl last year, Pokémon Legends: Arceus arrived less than a month ago. Meanwhile, the beta of a virtual trading card game, Pokémon TCG Live, was released in Canada this week. It remains to be seen whether the stream will offer details about what's next for those titles, provide an early look at something new or even both.

Lightning eMotors expansion boosts production of fleet EVs for brands like GM

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 09:19 AM PST

It's not just passenger cars and big rigs receiving the EV treatment — the vehicles in the middle are getting some TLC, too. Lightning eMotors is doubling its production capacity just weeks after partnering with GM to electrify medium-duty vehicles like delivery trucks, school buses and shuttles. The company's Colorado factory will make up to 1,500 fleet-worthy EVs per year by the end of 2022, with plans to produce 20,000 per year by 2025. Those figures might not sound like much, but Lightning is targeting a relatively niche audience.

The recent team-up will see Lightning "upfit" GM's medium-duty platform with electrified versions. While GM will provide the chassis, Lightning will produce the end product destined for commercial use. Lightning is GM's first specialty vehicle maker to offer full EVs in this category.

The combined efforts might not be as exciting as from-scratch electric cars headed to your driveway. Even so, it represents an important part of a broader effort to reduce transportation emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency notes that 29 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation, and more than half of those emissions originate from road-going vehicles that include medium-duty machines. The more companies like GM and Lightning can electrify fleets, the closer they can get to eliminating transportation emissions as a factor in climate change.

Samsung Galaxy S22 review: Sprucing up a solid foundation

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 07:15 AM PST

A lot of gadgets operate on a "tick-tock" development cycle, with the most well-known being past iPhones that sported fresh designs, only to be replaced 12 months later by more refined but similar-looking S variants. And after Samsung ticked the box with a fresh new design for last year's S21, now the company has returned with the more polished Galaxy S22 and S22+. While they might look a lot like last year's phones, there have been some notable upgrades, especially on the S22's display, performance and camera.

Design

Even though I'm still not sure how much I love Samsung's Contour Cut camera design, the Galaxy S22 very much looks and feels like a high-end device. The outside of the phone features Samsung's Armor Aluminum alloy that's been polished to a near-mirror finish, with the S22 also being one of the first phones equipped with Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus+ to protect the phone from drops and scratches — both in front and in back.

The Galaxy S22 and S22+ are available in four colors: white, black, green, and pink.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget

To add a little spice to the mixture, the S22's backside sports a lovely matte texture – which does a surprisingly good job of resisting fingerprints. And for 2022, Samsung also spruced up the S22's color options with new shades of green, pink and white, along with good ole black.

Like previous Galaxy S phones, the S22 comes with an ultrasonic in-screen fingerprint reader, and after years of tweaking its algorithm and improving the tech, this time it feels seriously fast. In my experience, unlocking the phone was practically instant, and I never really ran into recognition issues unless my fingers were legit wet or greasy. (Keep your grubby hands away from my phone if you're eating pizza, k thnx.)

The sides of the Galaxy S22 are made from Samsung's patented Armor Aluminum, which are then polished to a near-mirror finish.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The one thing avid movie watchers should be aware of though is the color-matched frames on the pink and white models. If you're the kind of person that might be bothered by a glint or sparkle around the edge of the phone while watching videos, you may want to go with one of the darker color options.

And while it's not really a surprise at this point, the S22 doesn't feature a microSD card slot or a headphone jack. With the Galaxy S line now being three generations removed from the last device to include both of those features, it's pretty clear they're not coming back.

Display

Samsung has had a lock on the crown when it comes to making the best mobile displays in the business for a while now. But on the S22, the company has outdone itself once again with displays that can hit a peak brightness of 1,300 nits on the S22, or an astounding 1,750 nits on the S22+. Suffice to say any fears of the S22's screen being hard to read even in direct sunlight are unfounded.

The S22 features a 6.1-inch screen, while the S22+ features a larger 6.6-inch display.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Then, to make things look even better, Samsung created a new feature called Vision Booster designed to amp up things like contrast and color saturation in very bright or dim conditions. While there's no indicator or pop-up that lets you know it's working, I found the effect most pronounced when I used the phone outdoors, with more subtle changes in the dark when compared to phones like the Pixel 6 Pro. I found Vision Booster made dark scenes easier to parse, but even when viewed side-by-side, I basically had to press my face up against the phones to really see the differences.

But regardless of where you are, the end result is a display that lives in technicolor, pumping out vivid shades and hues, along with the perfectly dark inky blacks that make OLED screens so enthralling. Plus, thanks to a 2,340 x 1,080 resolution and a variable 120Hz refresh rate, everything from photos to gifs look sharp and crisp.

Performance

The Galaxy S22 line is one of the first phones to feature Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, which when combined with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage (or 256GB if you opt for the upgrade) results in a phone that feels blisteringly fast. In my experience, there isn't really anything you can throw at the S22 that makes it even sweat, aside from stuff like hardcore multitasking when connected to an external monitor via Samsung Dex (which is still very much a thing).

Like previous Galaxy phones, the S22 features an ultrasonic in-screen fingerprint reader.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget

And while some reports claim that Qualcomm's Snapdragon Gen 8 Gen 1 has a proclivity for running hot, S22's built-in vapor chamber cooling system seems effective at keeping throttling to a minimum. Compared to the S21 FE, which features an older Snapdragon 888 chip, our S22+ posted scores in Geekbench 5's Compute test around 25 percent higher (4,708 vs 5,999). And while the gap wasn't quite as large in Geekbench 5's CPU test, the S22+ still posted a significantly higher single-core score of 1,213 compared to 1,061 for the S21 FE.

As for wireless connectivity, all versions of the S22 and S22+ support all the important flavors of 5G, including Verizon and AT&T's new C-band spectrum.

Cameras

After recent advancements from competitors like the iPhone 13 and Pixel 6, Samsung is now playing catchup to Apple and Google in the camera department. And while Samsung is touting a bunch of new camera features for the S22 and S22+ like Adaptive Pixel and various "Nightography" improvements, the real upgrades are the S22's new sensors — particularly the one for its 50MP main cam.

Both the S22 and S22+ feature three rear cameras: a 50MP main cam, a 12MP ultra-wide cam and a 10MP telephoto cam with a 3x optical zoom.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Thanks to that significantly higher resolution (up from 12MP on the S21), photos from the S22's main wide-angle camera are just flat-out sharper than before. But more importantly, the S22's primary camera offers wider dynamic range and big improvements for low-light photos. In darker scenes, the S22 uses a four-to-one pixel binning technique that combines four adjacent pixels into one big pixel, which allows for improved light sensitivity. The result is brighter photos with richer colors, especially at night. And even though Google's Night Sight still has a slight advantage over Samsung's Night Mode, the S22 has seriously narrowed the gap.

Elsewhere, you also get a solid 12MP ultra-wide camera with a 120-degree field of view, and a 10MP telephoto camera with a 3x optical zoom, the latter of which is important because neither the standard iPhone 13 or Pixel 6 comes with a dedicated zoom lens. So once again, the base S22 is the most well-rounded camera phone for the money. And in front, the 10MP selfie camera captured crisp pictures of my face including my many pores and blemishes, though you can always play around with Samsung's beauty settings if you want to put on a smoother face for social media.

Where things get frustrating is that some of the S22's new camera features are often hard to use, or even tell when they're working — with the main offender being Samsung's Adaptive Pixel feature. Adaptive Pixel uses multi-frame image capture to shoot pics using the main sensor's full resolution along with lower-res pixel-binned shots, before merging them together to create a higher-quality composite final image. The issue is that Adaptive Pixel isn't turned on by default, and searching the phone's settings for it doesn't return any matches.

To even activate this, you need to first make sure Samsung's scene optimizer is on, then you have to turn on the camera app's full 50MP capture mode, make sure the Detail Enhancer setting is disabled, and then point the S22 at a dark scene and hope Adaptive Pixel kicks in. And I do mean hope, because there's no pop-up or notification that lets you know when the feature is activated. Even when you do get it to work, while the pictures are a bit sharper and feature a more neutral color profile (which is better for anyone who wants to edit their pics later), Adaptive Pixel doesn't really produce magically superior images like Samsung's marketing may have led you to believe.

A comparison photo of a local book drop using the S22+'s standard Night Mode and its new Adaptive Pixel feature.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget

That's kind of a shame after all the attention Adaptive Pixel got during the S22's debut at Samsung's recent Unpacked event. Thankfully, other new camera features like Auto Framing work as advertised, allowing the phone to track up to 10 people's faces when capturing video, while Samsung's Advanced OIS ensures that your clips look smooth and shake-free. The company's AI Stereo Depth Map technique also makes the phone a bit better at differentiating between your subject's face and the background in portrait mode, though you may have to do some serious zooming in to really see the difference.

In short, I like a lot of the changes Samsung has made to the S22's camera setup, raising its general photo prowess, even if some of the phone's new software don't quite live up to expectations.

Software

There are new features like Adaptive Pixel in the S22 camera app, though because it's not labeled, it can be hard to find.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The Galaxy S22 line comes with Samsung's One UI 4.0, which is based on Android 12. That means because it has long supported features like scrolling screenshots, the main upgrades in Samsung's latest Android skin are the new Privacy Dashboard and customization options for your home screen, app icons and the phone's UI. Similar to what's available in Google's Pixel phones, the customizations allow you to set a consistent color palette across your phone's menu, while new mic and camera notifications make sure you know when apps are accessing critical hardware components.

Other software upgrades include Live Sharing in Google Duo, which is a Samsung-exclusive feature that lets you share your screen during video chats. It's simple and effective, even if it's not quite as full-featured as Apple's SharePlay in iOS 15. And for those looking to keep better track of digital documents like your ID, credit cards, and even digital car keys, Samsung also made a new Digital Wallet that can securely store all those things in one place.

Battery life

The Galaxy S22 only features a single USB-C port on the bottom, no headphone jack or microSD slot.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Featuring 3,700 and 4,500 mAh batteries respectively, both the S22 and S22+ have respectable longevity. But if lasting a long time between charges is really important for you, the S22+ is definitely the better pick as it lasted 17 hours and 33 minutes on our local video rundown test, compared to just 14 hours and 47 minutes for the standard S22. And thanks to its 45W wired charging (up from 25W charging on the S22), the S22+ juices up way faster too. In both cases though, you'll need to make sure you have the proper power brick, as neither phone comes with a charging adapter in the box.

S22 vs S22+

Aside from the obvious differences in screen size (6.1 inches vs. 6.6 inches) and overall dimensions (5.8 x 2.8 x 0.3 inches and 5.9 ounces vs. 6.2 x 2.9 x 0.3 inches and 6.9 ounces), there are a few other features that separate the S22 and S22+. The S22 is limited to 25-watt wired charging while the S22+ gets 45-watt wired charging, with both phones also featuring 15W Qi wireless charging and 4.5W reverse wireless charging (aka wireless power share).

Other differences include slightly faster WiFi speeds on the S22+ thanks to support for WiFi 6E (compared to standard WiFi 6 for the S22). The S22+ also has built-in UWB connectivity, which isn't available on the S22. UWB is one of many protocols used to send files to other devices wirelessly via Nearby Share, though that's not really a big deal since Nearby Share still works, albeit less swiftly, over WiFi and Bluetooth. The other consideration is that for people looking to use digital car keys from automakers like BMW and others, those often work better and have longer ranges using UWB compared to NFC, which might make the S22+ a better choice for more tech-savvy new car buyers.

Wrap-up

The color-matched frames on the pink and white versions adds a sparkly border around the outside of the phone.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The Galaxy S22 isn't a huge improvement or departure from last year's phone, but just like an "S-year" iPhone, Samsung has tweaked and elevated all the phone's most critical components. You're getting a more refined design, improved performance, a sharper main cam with better low-light photography and an even brighter screen. And that's saying something from the king of mobile displays.

Sure, some features like Vision Booster and Adaptive Pixel are more subtle or harder to use than I'd like, but putting all this in a chassis sporting excellent build quality and other premium features like IP68 dust and water resistance, reverse wireless charging and more is a formula that's hard not to like. And with a starting price of $800 for the standard S22, you're getting more phone for the money than anything you can buy from Apple or Google.

'OlliOlli World' is a great Switch experience, despite a few flaws

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 06:30 AM PST

OlliOlli World, the delightfully offbeat skateboarding platformer, launched a few weeks ago on basically every gaming console you could ask for. It's a clean break for the series, taking familiar gameplay but putting it in a totally redesigned world that allows for more exploration, competition and tricks.

You may not recall, but the original OlliOlli was released in 2014 exclusively for the PS Vita before hitting more platforms over the following years. That was my first exposure to the game, and I played it non-stop whenever I traveled; for a few years, the Vita was a constant companion on work trips and vacations alike.

I sunk untold hours into the two OlliOlli games on the Vita, mastering almost everything they threw at me. (I was never able to hack the insane "Rad" mode, where you had to make every single landing perfectly or else you'd slam and have to start the level over.) So while I was thrilled to try OlliOlli World on the PS5, I've also been wondering how it works on the Switch — would this be my new on-the-go gaming addiction, or do the compromises of playing on aging hardware degrade the experience?

After a couple weeks, I'm happy to say that OlliOlli World looks and plays great on the Switch. Still, there are a few things you'll want to know as you decide which platform to buy it on. Of course, the game gives up some visual fidelity on the Switch — as with all games, 1080p when docked to a TV and 720p on the console's built-in display is as good as it gets, a far cry from the beautifully detailed 4K visuals you'll get on the PS5 or Xbox Series X. OlliOlli World on the Switch does target 60 fps, similar to other consoles.

OlliOlli World screenshot
Roll7

None of these changes are surprising; we all know the Switch is less powerful than modern systems. But fortunately, these changes largely don't make a difference. The character models of your skater, as well as the many people you meet across the skateboarding haven of Radlandia, are indeed less detailed on the Switch. What's most important is that the game's gorgeous art style still shines. OlliOlli World is one of the most vibrant games I've ever played, and it looks especially vibrant on the OLED Switch's screen. While it took me a few minutes to adjust to the lower-resolution experience here, I mostly didn't think about it once I got down to the game's core skateboarding action.

The difference in frame rate is more noticeable. OlliOlli World is an extremely fast game, one that really benefits from running at 60 fps. But despite the fact that developer Roll7 targeted 60 fps for the Switch, there were times that I felt like it dipped even below 30 fps. Roll7 did a great job of making the Switch version feel smooth enough that gameplay isn't usually impacted, but sometimes the game would drop frames in a crucial moment that led to me unceremoniously slamming after a trick. The vast majority of the time, things stayed steady enough that it didn't impact my gameplay. But there's no doubt that you'll notice dropped frames compared to how the game plays on the PS5.

I also came across frame rate drops in other parts of the game, like the animation that happens when your skater kicks off a run, or the loading screen transitions that take place when moving from the map into a level. These don't affect gameplay, but they're hard to ignore and add to the feeling that the Switch struggles a bit to keep up with the action. But the fact that the frame rate usually stays solid when you're on a course is far more important.

Probably the most significant compromise that comes when playing on the Switch are the Joy-Con's relatively tiny analog sticks. Compared to the spacious sticks on PlayStation and Xbox controllers, it's a bit harder to pull off the game's more complex tricks when playing on the Switch. Again, though, it's not a deal-breaker. I've thrown down plenty of impressive runs and beat nearly every single challenge the game has thrown at me over the course of dozens of levels.

That said, I'm getting far enough into OlliOlli World on the Switch that levels are getting increasingly difficult, and I'm a little worried about keeping up with the more difficult levels that'll come over the two worlds I have yet to conquer yet. I'm confident that I'll be able to make it through basically any level the game throws at me. But each level has a number of specific challenges you can optionally complete — to truly master those, I might end up docking my Switch to the TV and playing with the Switch Pro Controller, which has much better analog sticks than the Joy-Con.

On the other hand, the PS Vita analog sticks are even smaller than those on the Switch, and I eventually mastered two OlliOlli games on that system. There's no doubt that bigger controllers make pulling off the game's tricks more comfortable and probably easier, but OlliOlli World is still extremely playable on the Switch.

To sum it up: there are a handful of compromises across graphics and gameplay if you choose to play on the Switch rather than a more powerful console. But I don't think that they should stop you from playing the game on Nintendo's handheld. It's a great pick-up-and-play game, the kind of title you can spend a rewarding 10 minutes with or get lost in for multiple hours. The experience is a little more refined on Sony and Microsoft's more powerful consoles, but you can't easily take that on the go with you. If you don't care about that, snap it up on the PS5 or Xbox Series X / S. But if you're looking for a game that's at home both on your TV and away from it, OlliOlli World on the Switch fits the bill perfectly.

The new Moto Edge+ wants to be a more affordable Galaxy Note

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 06:00 AM PST

Following its release back in 2020, the Moto G Stylus quickly became one of the company's most popular phones. But now, Motorola is stepping up its ambitions with the new Edge+, which is essentially a more affordable take on a Galaxy Note.

With a starting price of $1,000 (or $900 at launch thanks to a limited-time discount), the Moto Edge+ combines strong performance from Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip with native stylus support. That said, unlike a Galaxy Note or the new Galaxy S22 Ultra, Motorola's Smart Stylus is an optional extra that will come bundled with a folio cover, the latter of which addresses the phone's lack of built-in stylus storage. Meanwhile, recharging the stylus is taken care of using the phone's 5-watt reverse wireless charging.

Elsewhere, the Edge+ comes with a number of premium features including a 6.7-inch 2400 x 1080 OLED with a 144Hz refresh rate, 15-watt Qi wireless charging and dual stereo speakers with support for Dolby Atmos. Base specs include 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage and a 4,800 mAh battery, though you can bump that up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage if you like. And while Motorola's software and security support still doesn't match what you get from Google or Samsung, the company has committed to two years of Android OS upgrades and three years of bi-monthly security updates.

The back of the phone features three cameras, though you can only use two for photos, as one is a 2MP depth sensor.
Motorola

The Moto Edge+ also sports a decent selection of cameras headlined by its 50MP main cam and 50MP ultra-wide cam which also pulls double duty for macro photography, with an even higher-res 60MP selfie camera in front. Unfortunately, because the phone's third rear "camera" is merely a 2MP depth sensor, that means you don't get a dedicated zoom lens like you do on Samsung's latest Galaxy S handsets.

In addition to serving as your mobile drawing and notetaking device, Moto envisions the Edge+ as a part-time work device thanks to support for the company's Ready For platform. When the phone is connected to a nearby TV or monitor (either over USB-C or wirelessly), Ready For provides a more desktop-like UI similar to Samsung's Dex mode, while the company's Thinkshield security platform helps protect any potentially sensitive data.

As an added bonus, the Edge+'s rear cameras can even be used as webcams during video calls when connected to a nearby PC, with Motorola also claiming the device is the first phone to support Qualcomm's Snapdragon Spaces VR platform when paired with Lenovo's A3 Think Reality smart glasses.

All told, the Edge+ looks like an intriguing mix of specs and features for the price, especially when compared to the $1,200 S22 Ultra. The one thing I'm not quite sure about its is design, most notably that camera module and its surrounding pebble-like glass housing. But for anyone who's fancied a Galaxy Note but couldn't stomach Samsung's super premium price tags, it's definitely nice to see Motorola offer a more affordable alternative.

The new Moto Edge+ will be available soon (exact date still TBD) as an unlocked device from Motorola and third-party retailers including Best Buy and Amazon, followed by wider availability from carriers such as Verizon, Boost Mobile and Republic Wireless sometime later this spring.

Amazon union organizer arrested for allegedly trespassing at warehouse

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 05:52 AM PST

With Amazon's Staten Island warehouse facing a vote to unionize next month, police have arrested labor organizer Christian Smalls at the facility for allegedly trespassing, Reuters has reported. Two other individuals that reportedly worked at the facility were also arrested, and Smalls was charged with resisting arrest and trespassing. 

A former employee, Smalls said that he was "literally a visitor" delivering food to other employees, and that Amazon was trying to "increase the intimidation factor" via his arrest. Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel told Reuters that Smalls "has repeatedly trespassed despite multiple warnings." 

The three arrests were captured on video by Motherboard, which reported that the NYPD handcuffed the organizers who wore bright red shirts with the slogans "Amazon Labor Union." Smalls was fired in March 2020 after he led a protest outside the warehouse demanding better safety and health protections. 

A vote to unionize the Staten Island facility is set to start on March 25th, and a successful one would make it the first union Amazon warehouse. Another vote is set to be counted next month from the same Alabama warehouse that voted against unionizing. 

After the first Alabama vote, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) organizing it accused Amazon of violating the National Labor Relations Act. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) agreed and ordered a second vote in early February, with counting to start on March 28th. 

Reddit’s app is getting an Instagram-like ‘Discover’ feed

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 05:00 AM PST

Reddit's app now has another feed to endlessly scroll. The company introduced a new "Discover" section that will surface a personalized stream of photos, GIFs and videos.

The feed, the first time a new section has been added to the Reddit app in more than two years, is meant to help drive Redditors to corners of the site they might not encounter on the front page or in r/popular, according to Jason Costa, the director of product for content and communities a Reddit.

"Discover is more meant to solve the breadth problem and really help people traverse the wide corpus of Reddit," Costa tells Engadget. He notes that early testing of the feature shows that one out of five users have joined "at least one subreddit as a result of Discover."

reddit's app is getting a new Discover feed.
Reddit

Discover also gives Reddit the chance to showcase the vast catalog of memes and GIFs and videos that are shared every day, but aren't always front and center in the app. While much of Reddit remains a "text-based experience," the new Discover feed could help draw in people who would rather aimlessly scroll rather than read.

The feed itself is meant to be personalized to each user much the way Instagram's Explore section would be. New users or people who aren't logged in will see popular content that may be trending on the service or getting a lot of engagement. While existing users will see recommendations based on subreddits they follow and the types of content they spend the most time viewing.

For now, the Discover fee is limited just to Reddit's mobile apps, but Costa says that if Redditors like the feature it could influence more aspects of the service. " I could absolutely see it impacting other surface areas and maybe impacting the design language of Reddit," he said.

Google relaxes COVID-19 rules for its US employees

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 04:40 AM PST

Google delayed its employees' return to office a few times over the past year, but it looks like the tech giant is truly gearing up to welcome workers back this time. According to CNBC, the company is easing some of its COVID-related mandates as part of those efforts, including relaxing its vaccine requirements for employees. 

CNBCreported back in December that Google will place employees who don't comply with its vaccine mandate by January 18th on leave unless they secure a valid medical or religious exemption. The report also said that those employees will eventually be fired if they continue refusing to be inoculated against the virus. Google spokesperson Lora Lee Erickson told the news organization that the company dropped the requirement last month, though they refused to discuss the reason behind the decision. 

Based on an email from Google Real Estate and Workplace Services VP David Radcliffe that CNBC has obtained, the company is also dropping its testing requirements that also applied to vaccinated employees. It's lifting its mask and social distancing requirements for vaccinated employees, with the exception of its offices in Santa Clara County where its Mountain View headquarters are located, as well. That said, unvaccinated employees must still be approved to work in offices, and they'll still have to wear masks and get regularly tested if they're coming in. 

On top of easing up its COVID mandates, Google is also reopening its amenities for employees, including its fitness centers with massages, full shuttle service, more places to eat, as well as lounges and music rooms. Erickson told CNBC:

"We're giving employees who welcome the chance to come into the office the option to do that wherever we safely can, while allowing those who aren't ready to keep working from home. Based on current conditions in the Bay Area, we're pleased that our employees who choose to come in now have the ability to access more onsite spaces and services to work and connect with colleagues."

Google still doesn't have an exact date for its return to office, but Radcliffe's note reportedly said that the company will begin its 30-day transition to its hybrid work week plan if conditions continue to improve. Under the plan, employees will be required to physically come into the company's offices at least thrice a week.

The Morning After: Marvel's Netflix shows will reappear on Disney+, but only in Canada

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 04:15 AM PST

Marvel's first run of TV shows set in its cinematic universe, including Daredevil and Jessica Jones, have found a new home beyond Netflix – if you live north of the border. The shows, set to disappear from Netflix on March 1st, will appear on Disney Plus in Canada, starting March 16th. 

TMA
Netflix

There's no official news of a similar revival in the US, at least not yet. However – without spoiling any surprises – some characters have managed to make notable reappearances in recent Marvel movies and shows. Hopefully, Disney can figure out exactly where to take these shows, and hey, give The Defenders the do-over it deserves. I won't be taking any questions on this matter.

-Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Meta wants to build a universal language translator

Zuckerberg recently recapped the company's natural language processing efforts.

During a Metaverse and AI livestream event on Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Meta's research division is working on a universal speech translation system that could streamline users' interactions with AI. Zuckerberg said: "Now, we have the chance to improve the internet and set a new standard where we can all communicate with one another, no matter what language we speak or where we come from. And if we get this right, this is just one example of how AI can help bring people together on a global scale."

Continue reading.

Apple AirTags gain additional anti-stalking messaging in new iOS 15.4 beta

Those include warnings to would-be stalkers.

TMA
Engadget

Apple's latest anti-stalking features for AirTags, announced earlier this month, have started to appear in iOS 15.4 beta 4. The beta update includes a warning when users first set up an AirTag. "Using this item to track people without their consent is a crime in many regions around the world," it reads. "This item is designed to be detected by victims and to enable law enforcement to request identifying information about the owner."

Continue reading.

Intel claims its 12th-gen ultraportable chips are a huge step forward

They're up to 70 percent faster for multithreaded performance.

Intel is finally ready to reveal more details of its new U and P-series CPUs for ultraportables. And, much like AMD's upcoming Ryzen 6000 chips, it looks like Intel is aiming to deliver a huge performance boost while consuming less power than last year's hardware. With the Core i7-1280P, Intel's fastest 28-watt P-series CPU, the company claims you'll see up to 70 percent faster multithreaded performance than last year's i7-1195G7. Like the rest of its 12th-gen lineup, Intel's U and P-series chips are a new hybrid design that combines Performance cores (P-cores) and Efficient cores (E-cores) on a single die.

Continue reading.

USPS won't be buying more electric mail trucks, despite EPA pleas

Only 10 percent of its next-gen fleet will be electric.

The USPS is moving forward with plans to spend $11.3 billion on a fleet of next-generation mail trucks that mostly run on gas, despite requests from the EPA and Biden administration to electrify its new vehicles instead. "Our commitment to an electric fleet remains ambitious given the pressing vehicle and safety needs of our aging fleet as well as our fragile financial condition," Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a statement. He went on to say that the agency would try to buy more EVs as additional funding became available.

Continue reading.

OnlyFans faces lawsuit over terrorism database claims

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 03:36 AM PST

OnlyFans is facing a pair of lawsuits over claims it conspired with Facebook to disable adult entertainer accounts by placing their content on a terrorism database, the BBC has reported. One was launched earlier this week by a rival platform called FanCentro, and the other is a class action lawsuit made on behalf of three adult entertainers. Both Facebook and OnlyFans were named as defendants in the latter complaint. 

The class action suit claims performers' content was placed on the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) website despite not being terrorist in nature. That reportedly led to a decline in traffic to websites that compete with OnlyFans. Similar claims were made by FanCentro in its lawsuit. Both say that the problem is happening on Instagram more than any other platform. 

OnlyFans told the BBC that the legal claim has "no merit," while Facebook parent Meta said "these allegations are without merit and we will address them in the context of the litigation as needed." A GIFCT spokesperson said: "We are not aware of any evidence to support the theories presented in this lawsuit between two parties with no connection to GIFCT."

OnlyFans is best known for hosting pornography, but it was in the news last summer after saying it would ban "sexually explicit conduct." It said the request was made by "banking partners and payout providers," but it subsequently backtracked after receiving "secured assurances" required to support its adult creators.

However, the move shook the trust of some sex workers and other OnlyFans creators, since a potential ban threatened a key source of their income. Some likely decided to move to rival sites, only to now be allegedly facing a shadow-ban on social media.  

Oppo Find X5 Pro hands-on: Hasselblad help and a new AI chip

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 03:00 AM PST

Oppo's latest phone looks and sounds like an expensive, powerful flagship. With a 6.7-inch WQHD+ screen that can hit 1,300 nits of brightness, adaptive refresh rates, and a new AI chip, made in-house to amp up low light camera performance – even at 4K. There are also two 50-megapixel primary camera sensors, a new (but familiar-sounding) Hasselblad collaboration and, well, just look at this beautiful thing.

So far this year, Oppo already announced its MariSilicon X neural processing unit (NPU), its intriguing attempt at foldables, but not a new flagship phone. But that's where MWC comes in, which so far is shaping up to be a relatively quiet mobile show. It's good news for Oppo. Barring any leftfield surprises (Samsung and Huawei both have press events this week) it can take center stage. Fortunately, Oppo has provided a device ahead of the public reveal, so I've got some early impressions and thoughts to add to proceedings.

The Find X5 Pro borrows heavily from the Find X3 Pro's shape and style from last year, but I think it looks even better. The camera unit now has a diagonal slope at the bottom, so it should fit in your hand better. There's no space-age, hyper-reflective silver color option this time, just glossy black or ceramic white. It was a bit much.

Oppo Find X5 Pro at MWC 2022
Mat Smith/Engadget

This black one picks up fingerprints and smudges with a little too much ease, but I didn't fear scratching it before I had to film this preview or grab photos for my story. Oppo says the ceramic body is actually nanometer microcrystalline ceramics. The material takes 168 hours to produce but Oppo says results in a phone that can resist scratches over 1200 HV – Vickers Pyramid number that registers hardness. For comparison, stainless steel scores 200 HV, while diamond reaches around 10,000 HV. In summary, you might not need the protective case that also comes in the box. There's also Gorilla Glass Victus on the screen.

I think it looks great. And while it might not be quite as unique as the Pixel 6's cyclops look, it at least looks different to the army of phones with their squarish camera arrays. There's a little originality to the design here. There are also some (reliably?) familiar specs. It's another phone arriving with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip – arguably the most powerful Android phone chip available in phones at this moment. There's also a 5,000mAh battery – bigger than the one found in its predecessor. Bigger batteries are always better in my opinion.

Cameras seem to be Oppo's focus with the Find X5 Pro. The company has made changes across camera hardware, processing, user interfaces and everything in between. Like its last Find X device, the X5 Pro has dual 50-megapixel primary sensors, but each has a few different specs, lens layouts and even materials.

The ultrawide camera, at the top of the Find 5X, includes a freeform lens. Oppo says this should reduce image distortion – that weird stretched effect at the edges of an image – when putting those wide angles to use. It has a f/2.2 aperture and can cover a 110-degree field of view. It's a 50-megapixel sensor, which uses pixel binning techniques to offer what Oppo says is "2um binned pixel size".

Just below it, the second 50MP camera taps into the same pixel binning techniques but has an f/1.7 aperture with a glass and resin combination lens. Using glass in just a part of the lens array should improve color accuracy up to 77 percent, according to Oppo. This camera also features five-axis optical image stabilization to boost your chances of a clear shot, and improve imaging performance across low-light settings. All of those axes of stabilization mean this sensor takes up a lot more space inside the Find X5 Pro, but there was still room for a 13-megapixel telephoto camera with f/2.4 aperture and a new 13-channel spectral sensor. Last year's Oppo flagship had a mere 5-channel sensor, but this upgrade will improve color accuracy and the precision of white balance settings.

Oppo Find X5 Pro at MWC 2022
Mat Smith/Engadget

On the front, there's a 32-megapixel selfie cam, with a new RGBW sensor that should offer, again, more accurate color capture and improved dynamic range. The selfie camera will also monitor whether you're looking at your phone, keeping the screen lit if you're still watching or reading.

That's half the hardware story. Oppo is debuting its Marisilicon X NPU chip in its new phone. During my briefing, the company walked through how the chip enables a new "night-mode" video recording, even at 4K resolution with HDR enabled. There's a barrage of specs and numbers to explain what Oppo's homemade NPU is adding, but a lot of it distills down to better and faster signal processing and even improved power efficiency, which could be important if you're capturing a lot of 4K content.

I briefly tested out 4K Ultra Night Video, Oppo's take on low-light video recording. While it does certainly help to amplify detail in the dimmest situations, at least when I've used it so far, the NPU hasn't translated to 4K video notably better than its competition.

I tried filming last night with the Find X5 Pro and Pixel 6 Pro, and Google's footage seemed more natural and less harsh than what Oppo's processing produced. Foliage detail was a little too excessively blown-out to the point of turning gray – it appeared to tune out the green.

There's also the new collaboration with Hasselblad. Which isn't quite so new. We've already written about it when OnePlus revealed its Hasselblad-infused camera software in the 10 Pro.

But for the sake of consistency, let's go over what Hasselblad is adding, aside from cachet.

The phone's Pro mode offers users some Hasselblad-seasoned fine-grain controls. That means a big orange shutter button and three Hasselblad approved filters for stills and videos. I can't explain why, but I really liked what each of these 'special' filters did to my video and photos. You even get Xpan Mode, where you can shoot video in 65:24 ratio. If you don't care to do the math, it's just a very wide, cinematic aspect ratio. For reasons I can't fully explain, I loved this too.

Oppo Find X5 Pro sample shots
Mat Smith/Engadget

Now OnePlus and Oppo are more tightly aligned, it's not surprising to see software overlap like this. Yes, you also get Hasselblad's natural color solution, where the company has tried to replicate the color accuracy of its very expensive cameras into these smartphone camera sensors.

Oppo saved a little bit of spectacle for its MWC show, namely prices and launch dates. In the UK and Europe, the device will land on March 24th, priced at £1,049 or €1,299, roughly $1,400. However, you're unlikely to see the Find X5 Pro in the US – something you may hear several times during Europe's big mobile show.

Catch up on all of the news from MWC 2022 right here!

Twitter restores suspended accounts that tracked Russian military activity

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 12:04 AM PST

Twitter has admitted that it mistakenly removed accounts sharing Russian military activity in the midst of the Ukraine invasion. As TechCrunch notes, the deleted accounts, which have since been reinstated, included an aggregator of user-generated posts from Ukraine and accounts owned by people doing open source intelligence investigation (OSINT) to debunk fake news and claims. 

While users first blamed mass reporting for the account deletions, Twitter Head of Site Integrity Yoel Roth said it wasn't a factor at all. Instead, the removals were a result of errors made by human moderators who are proactively addressing manipulated media on the website. 

In a statement, a Twitter spokesperson explained to TechCrunch:

"We've been proactively monitoring for emerging narratives that are violative of our policies, and, in this instance, we took enforcement action on a number of accounts in error. We're expeditiously reviewing these actions and have already proactively reinstated access to a number of affected accounts."

In addition to proactively monitoring manipulated media coming from the region, Twitter has also responded to the Ukraine crisis with tips on how to secure accounts. Ukraine's websites have been hit by cyberattacks over the past few weeks, and social media accounts, especially those sharing news and images from the country, might also be targeted. 

Twitter Safety has posted a series of tweets in Ukrainian with tips on how to protect accounts with strong passwords and two-factor authentication. It also included links to its support page for those whose accounts had been compromised and for those who got locked out. Twitter has linked users to instructions on how to disable location info and how to remove it from previous tweets, as well. Finally, it's advising users to deactivate their account if they feel that the safest option is to delete it completely.

Facebook failed to spot climate misinformation from some of its worst denialist offenders

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 05:36 PM PST

Facebook may be failing to tag a large amount of climate misinformation posted on its site, a study released today indicates. Researchers from the Center for Counter Digital Hate analyzed 184 exceptionally popular stories from what it identified to be the top ten publishers of climate change denial content in the world (a list that includes Russian state media, The Daily Wire, Breitbart and others). It found that roughly half (50.5 percent) of the stories failed to trigger Facebook's information labels designed to flag coverage on climate change. Stories from such heavily trafficked news outlets should be the easiest targets for fact-checkers, suggesting that much more climate misinformation is evading Facebook's screening.

Last year Facebook (which has since rebranded as Meta) promised to flag climate change coverage in a number of countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Nigeria, South Africa, the UK and the US. Such posts would be marked with an informational label that would direct users to the platform's "Climate Science Information Center", which contains information that debunks myths on the climate. The study's authors began their research following Facebook's May 2021 announcement that it would tackle climate change denial propaganda, and all articles included in the analysis were posted after that date.

Independent fact-checkers also flag climate change stories that are false, and Facebook adds a warning label and reduces distribution. "When they rate this content as false, we add a warning label and reduce its distribution so fewer people see it. During the time frame of this report, we hadn't completely rolled out our labeling program, which very likely impacted the results," Facebook spokesperson Kevin McAllister told NPR.

Facebook has made multiple efforts to scrub misinformation posted on its platform over the past few years, for topics like the 2020 presidential election, the Covid-19 pandemic and vaccines. But as Engadget and other outlets have covered, a large amount of misinformation is still able to clear Facebook's algorithms without proper labeling.

But nearly a year later, Facebook's review system on climate change content is still missing the mark. I was able to post a number of different climate change stories on Facebook without hitting its algorithms, including articles entitled "Why the West Coast Heat Wave Has Nothing To Do With Climate Change" from The Federalist and "Alarmists: Global Warming Causes 'Unprecedented Cold' in Tajikistan", published in Breitbart.

Facebook hasn't been specific on what type of outlets or information is eligible for an info label. Engadget has reached out for comment, and will update when we hear back.

While there's some evidence that suggests efforts by social media platforms to tag misinformation and hoaxes has worked to stop their spread, a large amount of misinformation still slips through the cracks. And unfortunately, additional research indicates that the absence of these warnings (the lack of a climate information label, for instance) increases the "perceived accuracy" of content.

Apple Store hostage taker demanded $226,000 in cryptocurrency as ransom

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 03:10 PM PST

Before he was apprehended by Amsterdam police, the suspect involved in Tuesday's Apple Store hostage situation demanded a €200 million (approximately $226 million) ransom paid in cryptocurrencies, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Police say they have yet to establish a motive for the 27-year-old gunman, whose identity they didn't share. What we know is that he was a resident of the city and had a criminal record before the event. He was also carrying explosives on his person at the time of his arrest. 

The gunman was apprehended after his hostage fled the building when a police robot delivered water to the front of the store. Police used a squad car to knock him down, causing him serious injuries. On Wednesday, he died of the injuries he sustained in his arrest. "The hostage played a heroic role by forcing a breakthrough," according to Amsterdam police chief Frank Pauw. "He acted in a split-second. Had he not done that, we could have been in for a long, nasty night."

According to Engadget's research, Wednesday's incident wasn't the first time someone demanded a ransom paid in cryptocurrency to end a hostage situation. In 2017, kidnappers in Ukraine released an employee from a cryptocurrency exchange after their demand for a ransom paid in Bitcoin (valued at $1 million at the time) was met.

Marvel's Netflix shows are coming to Disney+, but only in Canada for now

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 01:54 PM PST

Sure enough, Marvel's outgoing Netflix shows are coming to Disney+... but only for some viewers. Engadget has confirmed a MobileSyrupreport that Daredevil, Jessica Jones and other productions will be available on Disney+ starting March 16th, but only in Canada. If you're fortunate enough to live in the country, you'll only have to wait a couple of weeks to keep watching after the superhero shows leave Netflix on March 1st.

It's not clear when these shows will be available in other countries, but Engadget understands it's just a matter of time before you can watch elsewhere.

You could see this transition coming for a while. Disney said in 2017 that it would ditch Netflix in favor of an in-house service, and Netflix had cancelled all its Marvel originals by 2019. Beyond this, Disney has been dropping not-so-subtle clues about its control of the former Netflix characters, with appearances from a couple of them in Hawkeye and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

If there's a looming question, it's whether or not the shows will make their way to Disney+ in other countries or to Disney-owned services like Hulu, where their not-so-family-friendly content might be a better fit. With that said, Disney risks a further split in its Marvel catalog (MODOK is on Hulu, for instance) if it hosts the Netflix shows anywhere besides its main service — it may have to accept that mature and PG fare will sit side by side.

Twitch says its new ad revenue program will make payouts more reliable

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 12:55 PM PST

Twitch has launched an incentive program that will guarantee select streamers a certain amount of ad revenue per month. Many creators have spoken out about the difficulties of earning a consistent living from the livestreaming platform for all but the top-tier of streamers. Unless you have a consistent base of followers, the income you earn from Twitch can vary widely from month to month.

"Having a reliable floor of ad revenue should enable you to better plan for the future, whatever that may look like. We hope it's an important step towards empowering creators," wrote Twitch on its site.

The new payment model, which Twitch is calling the Ad Incentives Program or AIP, offers a select group of partners and affiliates a flat payout every month. In exchange, creators agree to stream for a minimum amount of hours per month while running ads. Twitch already has tapped a select group of streamers to participate in AIP for the time being. Selected streamers will see a message on top of their Ads Manager dashboard inviting them to join the program.

Twitch streamers typically earn money from a variety of different sources, including ads, subscriptions, Bits (virtual goods that viewers buy to cheer you on) and donations from followers. Not every streamer can earn money on Twitch. The platform requires a certain number of followers and broadcast hours before inviting streamers to its Affiliate program, which offers the ability for creators to monetize their streamers. Affiliates who attain enough followers and views can then take part in the more lucrative Partner program. But maintaining a consistent fan following is incredibly hard, and many creators burn out due to the many hours required. Twitch typically collects 50/50 of the revenue that streamers earn from subscriptions, a significantly worse deal than YouTube, Facebook and other platforms.

Streamers will get the option to pick from different payment models, and the amount Twitch is offering each streamer will vary. In the examples Twitch laid out on its site, a user who agrees to stream for 40 hours per month can select the option of either a $100 payout to run 2 minutes of ads per hour, a $300 payout to run 3 minutes of ads per hour, or a $500 payout to run 4 minutes of ads per hour. Streamers will earn this guaranteed amount of money regardless of how many people watch. After they stream the minimum amount of hours required, they'll continue to earn revenue at their normal rate.

While an earnings floor may provide some stability for a select group of Twitch streamers, a number of streamers on Twitter have already pointed out that smaller streamers (the most likely to need a source of guaranteed income) won't benefit in the least. The streamers who qualify for Twitch's new AIP program already have a medium to large fanbase who already watch their streams. But for that select group, AIP may eliminate some of the guesswork when it comes to deciding which ad strategy will work best.

Astell & Kern's first Bluetooth speaker includes a 32-bit DAC

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 12:44 PM PST

Astell & Kern is still best known for keeping high-end MP3 players alive, but it's now branching out into Bluetooth speakers — and there might be reason to take notice. The Iriver (now Dreamus) brand's new Acro BE100 includes a 32-bit DAC to preserve the audio quality regardless of the source. Accordingly, it's also billed as the first Bluetooth speaker to support both the aptX HD and LDAC 24-bit codecs — you might not have to lose audio fidelity or limit your collection to one audio format.

The BE100 centers on a 55W class-D amp and boasts both a four-inch Kevlar woofer as well as two silk dome tweeters. A 3.5mm aux input jack provides wired audio if wireless just isn't pristine enough.

Not surprisingly, you can expect to pay for the extra quality. Astell & Kern will ship the Acro BE100 for $499 in black and white models when it ships on March 7th, with pre-orders starting February 25th. That's a huge outlay, but the BE100 also exists in a relatively niche space. Most wireless speakers approaching this price range are either party-oriented models like UE's Hyperboom or convenience-focused smart speakers like the Sonos Five. This might do the job if you're more interested in appreciating the subtle nuances of a classical piece than blasting audio around the house.

USPS won't be buying more electric mail trucks, despite EPA pleas

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 11:48 AM PST

The USPS is moving forward with plans to spend $11.3 billion on a fleet of next-generation mail trucks that mostly run on gas, despite requests from the EPA and Biden administration to electrify its new vehicles instead. The new trucks, which were revealed last year, feature modern amenities like air conditioning, 360-degree cameras, and collision detection. While they can be powered by either gas or electric engines, the initial order from the USPS only included 5,000 electric trucks, or around 10 percent of the entire order.

"Our commitment to an electric fleet remains ambitious given the pressing vehicle and safety needs of our aging fleet as well as our fragile financial condition," Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a statement. He went on to say that the agency would try buy more EVs as additional funding became available, but added that "the process needs to keep moving forward" to give postal workers more modern vehicles. 

Today's postal trucks, which include the Grumman Long Life Vehicle (LLV), have been in service since the 1980s, have few safety features and abysmal single-digit fuel economy. Practically any modern truck would be an improvement, but the EPA argued earlier this month that investing in more gas vehicles would ultimately accelerate climate change and hurt American health. The USPS ultimately decided to ignore the EPA's request for supplemental environmental impact statements, and it refused to hold a public hearing about the next-gen vehicle plan. 

Sony is rolling out a way to share PS5 clips from the PS App

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 11:33 AM PST

Sony is gradually rolling out an option to let PS5 players access captured screenshots and clips from the PS App on iOS and Android. The company started testing the feature in Canada and Japan in October.

At the outset, players in the Americas will be able to view and share their PS5 captures on the mobile app. Folks in the US, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay should gain access in the coming days.

Sony will expand the feature to more territories next month. Some people outside of Canada and Japan had access to the feature as of late January, according to reports, which hinted that a broader rollout was imminent.

To use the feature, you'll need to switch it on manually on PS5 by going to the Captures tab of the settings menu and enabling Auto-Upload. On the PS App, you'll need to enable the Captures option under Library. You'll then be able to download the clips and screenshots to your phone or tablet.

Your PS5 will upload all clips lasting under three minutes, as long as they're not in 4K. All screenshots taken with the Create button or Create Menu shortcuts will be uploaded too. Your screenshots and clips will only only stay on Sony's servers for 14 days after you capture them, though they'll remain on your console's storage.

While that's a bit of an odd limitation, this is a useful way to get your screenshots and clips on your phone. You'll be able to share them on social media and with your friends without using the PS5's limited sharing options or transferring captures to a computer using a USB drive.

Investigation of VRChat finds rampant child grooming and other safety issues

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 11:31 AM PST

One of the more popular VR apps you can download through Steam and Meta's Oculus Quest Store has a child safety problem. If you're unfamiliar with VRChat, the app styles as "the future" of social virtual reality. "Our vision for VRChat is to enable anybody to create and share their own social virtual worlds," the game's developer says on its Steam store page. With some understanding of Unity, players can create their own social spaces and avatars. That means you can see a lot of creativity on display in VRChat, but there's also a dark side to it as the BBC found out.

Posing as a 13-year-old girl, BBC researcher Jess Sherwood said she entered a virtual strip club where she saw adult men chase a child while telling them to remove their clothes. In many of the rooms Sherwood visited, she frequently saw condoms and sex toys on display, and on one occasion even saw a group of adult men and minors simulating group sex. She also saw instances of grooming. 

"It's very uncomfortable, and your options are to stay and watch, move on to another room where you might see something similar, or join in — which, on many occasions, I was instructed to do," she said.

"Predatory and toxic behavior has no place on the platform," VRChat told the BBC. The developer added it was "working hard to make itself a safe and welcoming place for everyone." Part of the problem stems from the fact nearly anyone can download and play VRChat. For instance, to download the app from the Oculus Quest Store, all you need is a Facebook account. Sherwood created a fake profile to set up her account and access VRChat, and users of all ages can mingle freely without age gating.

When we contacted the company, a spokesperson for VRChat told Engadget user safety was its top priority. "It is likely that, if it were reported, much of the content that you described would be removed immediately," they said. "Likewise, the users you described were acting in a way that would almost certainly lead to the termination of their accounts had they been reported to our Trust and Safety team."

The spokesperson added VRChat includes a number of tools for reporting harassment. The company's Trust and Safety team has the ability to use metadata to track down problematic users. Depending on the severity of someone's actions, that team can hand out suspensions and permanent bans.

Sherwood isn't the first person to notice VRChat has a child safety problem. While the game has a "Very Positive" rating on Steam, the presence of predatory adults is something you see referenced frequently in both positive and negative reviews. "Enjoyable social VR slowly being ruined by horny degenerates and ddosers," said one player with more than 2,300 hours spent in the game.

"The amount of 'people' around the age of 30 attempting to do stuff like flirting all the way to trying to have e-sex with clearly underage users is alarming," said another player.

VRChat isn't the only metaverse app dealing with what amounts to a harassment problem. At the start of February, Meta added a Personal Boundary feature to Horizon Worlds to give users the ability to prevent people from entering their personal space. More recently, Microsoft took the dramatic step of removing Altspace VR's social hubs. 

Update 3:06PM ET: Added more information from VRChat.  

Acer's latest Swift 5 laptop features a 16:10 display and 12th-gen Intel Core

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 11:27 AM PST

Acer isn't wasting any time in making use of Intel's 12th-gen ultraportable processors. The PC maker has unveiled new versions of its Swift 5 and Swift 3 laptops that not only make use of new 12th-gen Core chips, but include a handful of upgrades of their own. Most notably, the new Swift 5 (pictured above) has switched to a 16:10 2,560 x 1,600 display whose taller ratio not only helps with vertical content like documents and websites, but helps eliminate the "chin" present on its 16:9 predecessor. The two-tone aluminum shell gives it a more premium look, too, for those moments when you want to impress executives.

The revamped Swift 5 includes up to a 12-core CPU, 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 2TB of SSD storage. It also meets Intel's Evo specs for 10 hours of real battery life and fast charging that delivers four hours of use from a 30-minute top-up. Two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports and HDMI 2.1 offer solid connectivity, too. The system is heavier than its predecessor at 2.65lbs, but you might not mind given the upgraded cooling (improved twin fans and D6 heat pipes), a low-noise 1080p webcam and a trackpad made from ocean-bound plastic waste.

Acer Swift 3 laptop (2022)
Acer

The Swift 3 (shown at middle) is a more modest upgrade. You'll have to make do with a 16:9 display (1080p or 1440p) in this 14-inch system, but you can have up to 2TB of SSD space, 30-minute fast charging and a mix of USB-C, USB-A and HDMI 2.1 ports. The 1080p low-noise webcam also makes the leap to this lower-priced model, and you'll have your choice of more colorful bodies.

Be ready to wait. Acer ships both systems in June, with the Swift 5 starting at $1,499 and the Swift 3 at $850. The Swift 5's price is a steep hike from the $1,000 you would have paid for the late 2020 model, but Acer also appears to be targeting a more upscale audience — there don't appear to be many compromises.

MIT study finds neurons in epilepsy patients that only respond to singing

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 11:12 AM PST

A study by MIT scientists on a group of epilepsy patients discovered that a specific group of neurons in their brains respond only to singing — and not to instrumental music or any other type of sound. The findings of the study were published today in the science journal Current Biology. Scientists are still working to nail down the implications of the study for epilepsy patients, some of whom rely on music as a form of therapy to reduce seizures.

"The work provides evidence for relatively fine-grained segregation of function within the auditory cortex, in a way that aligns with an intuitive distinction within music," says Sam Norman-Haignere, the lead author of the study and assistant professor of neuroscience at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Given how small and specific the study's sample size is (fifteen people), there's not much we can conclude from this single study alone. But it will likely advance further studies on the link between neuroscience, epilepsy and music in the future.

The study's participants were a group of fifteen epilepsy patients, all whom consented to have electrodes implanted in their skull. They were then asked to listen to hundreds of different sounds, both natural and synthesized. Scientists, assisted by fMRI, or functional magnetic resonance imaging, observed how neurons in the auditory cortex of participants reacted to each sound.

Back in 2015, the same researchers used fMRI imaging to identify what they believe are a group of neurons that respond only to music. 

The neurons only elicited mild reactions when hearing the sound of human voices, but fired up at the sound of instrumental or vocal music. In the new study, the researchers found that there was a special subset of neurons right next to the original group that specifically lights up when the brain hears human singing.

"There's one population of neurons that responds to singing, and then very nearby is another population of neurons that responds broadly to lots of music. At the scale of fMRI, they're so close that you can't disentangle them, but with intracranial recordings, we get additional resolution, and that's what we believe allowed us to pick them apart," says Norman-Haignere.

The research could also advance our understanding of the link between music and epilepsy. While certain kinds of music can reduce the number of seizures that epilepsy patients suffer from, some rare cases of epilepsy can also be provoked by music. One recent study published in Scientific Reports last year found that listening to 30 seconds of Mozart's "Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major" helped drive down the neuron activity that causes seizures in epilepsy patients.

Target will test curbside returns and Starbucks order pickups this fall

Posted: 23 Feb 2022 10:49 AM PST

Target claims that its free, app-powered Drive Up curbside pickups is one of its customers' favorite services, and the company plans to test more features this fall. In select markets, customers will be able to pick up a Starbucks order or make a return without having to enter the store.

The option to place a Starbucks order has been a frequent request from customers, according to Target. When you're on the way to a store, you'll be able to order items from the Starbucks menu through the Target app. A Target employee will bring your order to your car when you arrive. You can set up a return through the Target app as well and complete the process in the Drive Up lane.

On top of those features, Target plans to expand its backup item program with categories like beauty products and household essentials. Customers will be able to select a wider range of secondary items in case their first choice isn't available. The company claims that, since it started offering backup options for grocery orders, its employees have been able to substitute backup items 98 percent of the time. So, even if you don't get your preferred item, it's highly likely you'll get something pretty close.
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