Sunday, March 13, 2022

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‘Star Trek: Picard’ features a time-traveling Samsung Galaxy Z Fold

Posted: 12 Mar 2022 02:56 PM PST

For decades, Star Trek has defined the future of consumer technology. We have smartphones and voice assistants because in-universe devices like the Tricorder inspired engineers at Apple, Google and other companies to recreate those technologies in the real world. And things have now come full circle, showing just how much technology has come since The Original Series debuted in 1966.

Galaxy Z Fold 2
9to5Google / ViacomCBS

If you've been watching the new season of Star Trek: Picard, you may have noticed one of the characters uses a curious prop in episode two. In a clip spotted by 9to5Google, you can see Alison Pill's Dr. Jurati tap away on what looks like a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 or Fold 3. The tablet is sheathed in a case to hide its distinctly 21st-century origins, but if you look closely, you can see the telltale display crease that develops on all of Samsung's foldables.

Seeing a modern smartphone appear in Star Trek: Picard is amusing on its own, but what makes this cameo even more anachronistic is that by the technological standards of Star Trek's 25th century, Dr. Jurati has access to technologies like holographic displays. With part of season two set in 2024, we could see more current-day gadgets make their way into the show.   

'WeCrashed' on AppleTV+ promises the world, but delivers very little

Posted: 12 Mar 2022 02:30 PM PST

Students of history learn the importance of primary sources; eyewitness accounts of what people saw and did when all of this history was going on. You also learn that there's a great need for evidence to be gathered before the twin evils of memory and self-deception color the narratives. Just as important, however, are secondary sources which can collate all of that testimony, to pick out the truth, or at least a working theory about what went on.

Take WeWork, a startup that leases office space to individuals and small businesses with an emphasis on fancy design and an open bar. As Scott Galloway once said, "they're renting f*cking desks," but wound up inexplicably deemed to be worth $47 billion. Now, you might be wondering how exactly that came to be, but it's not a question that Apple TV's WeCrashed can answer. It can, in excruciating detail, lead you through the chronology of what happened, but why it happened remains frustratingly out of reach.

The series, adapted from the Wondery podcast of the same name, charts the rise and rise of Israeli entrepreneur Adam Neumann (Jared Leto). It charts Neumann's life, from his stumbles at business school, meeting Miguel McKelvey (Kyle Marvin) and his future wife, Rebekah Paltrow (Anne Hathaway). Neumann and McKelvey launch Green Desk, a Brooklyn-based co-working company that they sell in order to repeat the feat in Manhattan under the name WeWork. Which, unlike Green Desk, makes a fairly sizable dent in the rarified world of investment banking and tech investments.

As usual, Apple asked critics not to spoil the details of the show. I can, however, safely recommend that you read the Wikipedia article to find out exactly what happened, which is a far more efficient and enjoyable way to spend your time. Suffice to say, a company deemed to be more valuable than the GDP of some countries winds up not being worth that much and some venture capital funds have to spend extra cash to clean up the error of their initial investment.

Unfortunately, the show's biggest failure is that the above description is pretty much the level of stakes we're expected to care about. The second is that a story that might have made a fairly breezy movie of the week on HBO drags on well beyond anyone's tolerance to enjoy it. Third, and worst of all, is that it's really hard to spend that much time in the company of Adam and Rebekah Neumann. Now, there are plenty of films and TV series that feature unlikeable yet compelling sociopaths as their lead characters, including the recently released Inventing Anna. And if WeCrashed had a more cohesive central thesis, or a clear-eyed view of these characters, then they might have been able to make the characters in any way compelling or pleasant. To say that spending eight hours in their company is a chore is a spectacular understatement.

Despite its never-ending running time, WeCrashed glosses over a fair number of details from the WeWork narrative. The Ballardian WeLive residential concept, which was detailed in Hulu's WeWork documentary from last year, never gets a mention. More troublingly, the show glosses over the corporate culture of hard drinking and, reportedly, inter-office sexual assault that were widelydetailed at the time. The only time this is ever looked at, it's as a montage showing people taking their turns with each other in a supply closet between rounds of drinks. And, because of how the show frames Adam as our, uh, hero, it almost celebrates the times he himself uses drinking (and bullying) to get his own way with would-be business partners. 

It's interesting, to me, that WeCrashed seems to not have a clear idea of what sort of show it wants to be. If it wanted to portray the Neumanns as well-meaning ingenues out of their depth and manipulated by wider forces, it could have sanded off their rougher edges. If it wanted to make them the villains, it would have taken the sort of villain-as-hero perspective you'd find in a Martin Scorsese movie. But instead it sits in a middle ground, with silly gag bits sprinkled around what is otherwise a fairly po-faced prestige drama.

I will say, too, that viewers will notice that all of the people who backed and enabled Neumann are rarely treated critically. The people who wrote the checks, fed the beast and then threw a tantrum when it didn't make a huge profit are always presented as well-meaning. This soft touch certainly extends toward Masayoshi Son, CEO of Softbank and head of Softbank's Vision Fund. Softbank, if you recall, was Apple's iPhone launch carrier in Japan, owns part of T-Mobile in the US and, most crucially, currently owns ARM, which licenses the technology that powers Apple Silicon. Sure depicting him at all is something of a risk, but he's never presented as a fool, nor is it suggested that he was duped into investing in WeWork in the first place.

There are a couple of moments where a character is able to point at what's unfolding in wide-eyed disbelief. But those are few and far between, again, maybe because it's hard – yet – to see if WeWork is a success or a failure. It did go public, eventually, as part of a SPAC, and while it's still a loss-making company, it may eventually rebound. It's clear that you can't pull, or land, a punch if you don't know where your target is going to be in two or three years from now. If this story, for whatever reason, gets remade in the 2050's, I bet it'll be a lot more interesting than the one I've just sat through.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the WeCrashed's creators were aiming for a show on the level of Succession. Unfortunately, while it does focus on "complex characters who are unlikeable worrying over their ownership stake of a company," this feels more like a Billions knock-off. And not a good one at that.

Tinder users help Ukrainian refugees find shelter and support

Posted: 12 Mar 2022 01:24 PM PST

Since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, more than 2.5 million people have fled the country, making it Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II. In trying to find shelter in neighboring countries like Romania, some Ukrainian refugees have turned to an unexpected place for help: Tinder.

The New York Times recounts the tale of one such individual, Anastasia Tischchenko. She and her friend Natalia Masechko posted their plight to the dating app when they fled their home of Ivano-Frankivsk, a city of approximately 230,000 located in western Ukraine, south of Lviv.

"I'm thinking there are a lot of honest people in the world, and some of them are on Tinder," Tischchenko told The Times. She was right. Several people swiped right on her profile to offer help, including one man who put Tischchenko and Masechko in touch with a friend of a friend of a friend who found a monastery the two could sleep in while in Siret, a Romanian city on the southern border of Ukraine. "It was very inspiring," she said. After their stay in Siret, Tischchenko traveled to Poland, while her friend Masechko stayed in Romania to help the next wave of refugees.

Like the war itself, the refugee crisis has hit a critical inflection point in recent days. On Friday, officials in Poland's two largest cities, Warsaw and Krakow, said they were struggling to accommodate all the people arriving in the wake of the conflict. Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski warned the "situation is getting more and more difficult every day." The UN's High Commissioner for Refugees has warned that as many as 4 million people could flee Ukraine due to the war.

Sony's Crunchyroll anime streaming service suspends operations in Russia

Posted: 12 Mar 2022 12:03 PM PST

Another company is temporarily cutting the Russian market off from its services following the country's invasion of Ukraine. On Friday, Sony's Entertainment unit blocked Russian users from accessing its Crunchyroll anime streaming service and said it would halt the home entertainment release of films like Spider-Man: No Way Home within Russia, according to Variety. The company had previously said it would not release its upcoming slate of theatrical films in the country.   

"We stand with many businesses around the world who have now paused their business operations in Russia, and in support of the humanitarian efforts currently underway in Ukraine and the surrounding region," Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra said in an email obtained by the outlet. Vinciquerra went on to tell employees the company was also halting future TV distribution deals.

The timing of the Crunchyroll suspension is particularly noteworthy. Following Sony's $1.175 billion deal to buy the platform in 2020, the company began adding titles from its Funimation catalog at the start of March. In a notice spotted by ComicBook, Crunchyroll told Premium subscribers in Russia it wouldn't charge them for service while the platform is unavailable in the country. It's also worth noting Sony's PlayStation division had already halted hardware and software sales before Friday's decision.

First trailer for Apple's 'They Call Me Magic' celebrates a basketball icon

Posted: 12 Mar 2022 10:58 AM PST

Apple has shared the first trailer for They Call Me Magic, its upcoming four-part documentary on former LA Lakers superstar Earvin "Magic" Johnson. Set to debut on April 22nd, the TV+ exclusive looks to take more than a few cues from Netflix's The Last Dance.

In fact, with interviews of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, former President Barack Obama and Johnson himself, many of the same people who took part in that documentary spoke to director Rick Famuyiwa as well. Judging by the trailer, however, fans should expect a series that is more hopeful, and that spends just as much time celebrating Johnson's activism and family life as it does his all-star career.

Apple stops selling LG's $1,299 UltraFine 5K Display

Posted: 12 Mar 2022 09:55 AM PST

Days after discontinuing the 27-inch iMac, Apple has also stopped selling one of LG's UltraFine displays. As spotted by MacRumors, if you visit the company's website, it no longer lists the 27-inch 5K model that retailed for $1,299 before its removal. LG has seemingly stopped selling the monitor as well, with its website indicating that it's "out of stock."

Unsurprisingly, the 27-inch model's removal from the Apple Store comes in the same week Apple announced its new Studio Display. Starting at $1,599, the monitor features a 5K retina panel with P3 wide color gamut coverage and 600 nits of brightness. It also comes with a built-in A13 Bionic chip to augment the capabilities of its 12-megapixel web camera and six-speaker sound system. Those are features that made the UltraFine 5K redundant. For the time being, it would appear Apple will continue to offer the 23.7-inch UltraFine 4K display through its website for $699. 

Ubisoft says no user information was exposed in recent 'cyber security incident'

Posted: 12 Mar 2022 08:49 AM PST

South American hacking group Lapsus$ is claiming responsibility for another high-profile hack. On Thursday, Ubisoft said it underwent a "cyber security incident" last week that saw some of its games, systems and services temporarily disrupted. At the time, the company didn't identify who may have been responsible for the incident, but just one day later, Lapsus$ began to seemingly take credit.

Lapsus$ claim
The Verge

After The Verge published a story on the incident, a Telegram channel allegedly run by the group posted a link to the article and a smirking face emoji, suggesting it was claiming responsibility for what had happened. It also said that it had not targeted user data in the breach.

"Our IT teams are working with leading external experts to investigate the issue," Ubisoft said Thursday. "We can confirm that all our games and services are functioning normally and that at this time there is no evidence any player personal information was accessed or exposed as a by-product of this incident."

Friday's claim comes less than a week after the same group took credit for obtaining about 190GB of data from Samsung. Previously, Lapsus$ said it was responsible for the NVIDIA hack that saw the source code for the company's DLSS technology leak online.

Hitting the Books: How Ronald Reagan torpedoed sensible drug patenting

Posted: 12 Mar 2022 08:30 AM PST

Americans pay two and a half times more for their prescription drugs than residents of any other nation on Earth. Though generic versions of popular compounds accounted for 84 percent of America's annual sales volume in 2021, they only generated 12 percent of the actual dollars spent. The rest of the money pays for branded drugs — Lipitor, Zestril, Accuneb, Vicodin, Prozac — and we have the Reagan Administration in part to thank for that. In the excerpt below from Owning the Sun: A People's History of Monopoly Medicine from Aspirin to COVID-19 Vaccines, a fascinating look at the long, infuriating history of public research being exploited for private profit, author Alexander Zaitchik recounts former President Reagan's court-packing antics from the early 1980s that helped cement lucrative monopolies on name-brand drugs.

Owning the Sun cover
Counterpoint Press

Copyright © 2022 by Alexander Zaitchik, from Owning the Sun: A People's History of Monopoly Medicine from Aspirin to COVID-19 Vaccines. Reprinted by permission of Counterpoint Press.

When Estes Kefauver died in 1963, he was writing a book about monopoly power called In a Few Hands. Early into Reagan's first term, the industry must have been tempted to publish a gloating retort titled In a Few Years. Between 1979 and 1981, the drug companies did more than break the stalemate of the 1960s and '70s — they smashed it wide open. Stevenson-Wydler and Bayh-Dole replaced the Kennedy policy with a functioning framework for the high-speed transfer of public science into private hands. As the full machinery was built out, the industry-funded echo chamber piped a constant flow of memes into the culture: patents alone drive innovation... R&D requires monopoly pricing... progress and American competitiveness depend on it... there is no other way...

In December 1981, the drug companies celebrated another long-sought victory when Congress created a federal court devoted to settling patent disputes. Previously, patent disputes were heard in the districts where they originated. The problem, from industry's perspective, was the presence of so many staunch New Deal judges in key regions like New York's Second Circuit. These lifetime judges often understood patent challenges not as threats to property rights, but as opportunities to enforce antitrust law. Local circuit judges appointed by Republicans could also be dangerously old-fashioned in their interpretations of the "novelty" standard. By contrast, the judges on the new patent court, named the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, were appointed by the president. Reagan stuffed its bench with corporate patent lawyers and conservative legal scholars influenced by the Johnny Appleseed of the Law and Economics movement, Robert Bork. Prior to 1982, federal district judges rejected around two-thirds of patent claims; the Court of Appeals has since decided two-thirds of all cases in favor of patent claims. Reagan's first appointee, Pauline Newman, was the former lead patent counsel for the chemical firm FMC.

The Supreme Court also contributed to the industry's 1979–1981 run of wins. When Reagan entered office, one of the great scientific-legal unknowns involved the patentability of modified genes. Similar to the uncertainty around the postwar antibiotics market—settled in the industry's favor by the 1952 Patents Act — the uncertainty threatened the monopoly dreams of the emergent biotechnology sector. The U.S. Patent Office was against patenting modified genes. In 1979, its officers twice rejected an attempt by a General Electric microbiologist to patent a modified bacterium invented to assist in oil spill cleanups. The GE scientist, Ananda Chakrabarty, sued the Patent Office, and in the winter of 1980 Diamond v. Chakrabarty landed before the Supreme Court. In a 5–4 decision written by Warren Burger, the Court overruled the U.S. Patent Office and ruled that modified genes were patentable, as was "anything under the sun that is made by man." The decision was greeted with audible exhales by the players in the Bayh-Dole alliance. "Chakrabarty was the game changer that provided academic entrepreneurs and venture capitalists the protection they were waiting for," says economist Öner Tulum. "It paved the way for a more expansive commercialization of science."

But the industry knew better than to relax. It understood that political victories could be impermanent and fragile, and it had the scar tissue to prove it. Uniquely profitable, uniquely hated, and thus uniquely vulnerable — the companies could not afford to forget that their fantastic postwar wealth and power depended on the maintenance of artificial monopolies resting on dubious if not indefensible ethical and economic arguments that were rejected by every other country on earth. In the United States, home to their biggest profit margins, danger lurked behind every corner in the form of the next crusading senator eager to train years of unwanted attention on these facts. Not even Bayh-Dole, that precious newborn legislation, could be taken for granted. This mode of permanent crisis was validated by the return of a familiar menace in the early 1980s. Of all things, it was the generics industry, an old but weak enemy of the patent-based drug companies, that reappeared and threatened to ruin their celebration of achieving dominance over every corner of medical research and the billions of public dollars flowing through it.

***

As late as the 1930s, there was no "generic" drug industry to speak of. There were only big drug companies and small ones, some with stature, others obscure. They both sold products that were, in the parlance of ethical medicine, "nonproprietary." To be listed in the United States Pharmacopeia and National Formulary, the official bibles of prescribable medicines, drugs could only carry scientific names; the essential properties of a good scientific name, according to the first edition of the Pharmacopeia, were "expressiveness, brevity, and dissimilarity." The naming of drugs and medicines formed the other half of the patent taboo: branding a drug evidenced the same knavishness and greed as monopolizing one. The rules of "ethical marketing" did permit products to include an institutional affiliation—Parke-Davis Cannabis Indica Extract, or Squibb Digitalis Tincture—but the names of the medicines themselves (cannabis, digitalis) did not vary. "The generic name emerged as a parallel form of social property belonging to all that resisted commodification and thereby came to occupy a central place in debates about monopoly rights," writes Joseph Gabriel.

As with patents on scientific medicine, the Germans gave the U.S. drug industry early instruction in the use of trademarks to entrench market control. Hoechst and Bayer broke every rule of so-called ethical marketing, aggressively advertising their breakthrough drugs under trademarks like Aspirin, Heroin, and Novocain. The idea was to twine these names and the things they described in the public mind so tightly, the brand name would secure a de facto monopoly long after the patent expired.

The strategy worked, but the German firms did not reap the benefits. The wartime Office of Alien Property redistributed the German patents and trademarks among domestic firms who produced competing versions of aspirin, creating the first "branded generic." During the patent taboo's extended death rattle of the interwar years, more U.S. companies waded into the use of original trademarks to suppress competition. As they experimented with German tactics to avoid "genericide" — the loss of markets after patent expiration — they were enabled by court decisions that transformed trademarks into forms of hard property, similar to the way patents were reconceived in the 1830s.

After World War II, branding and monopoly formed the two-valve heart of a post-ethical growth strategy. The industry's incredible postwar success — between 1939 and 1959, drug profits soared from $300 million to $2.3 billion — was fueled in large part by expanding the German playbook. While branding monopolies with trade names, the industry initiated campaigns to ruin the reputations of scientifically identical but competing products. The goal was the "scandalization" of generic drugs, writes historian Jeremy Greene. The drug companies "worked methodically to moralize and sensationalize generic dispensing as a dangerous and subversive practice. Dispensing a non-branded product in place of a brand-name product was cast as 'counterfeiting'; the act of substituting a cheaper version of a drug at the pharmacy was described as 'beguilement,' 'connivance,' 'misrepresentation,' 'fraudulent,' 'unethical' and 'immoral.'"

As with patenting, it was the drug companies that dragged organized medicine with them into the post-ethical future. As late as 1955, the AMA's Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry maintained a ban on advertisements for branded products in its Journal. That changed the year Equanil hit the market, opening the age of branded prescription drugs as a leading source of income for medical journals and associations. "Clinical journals and newer 'throwaway' promotional media now teemed with advertisements for Terramycin, Premarin, and Diuril rather than oxytetracycline (Pfizer), conjugated equine estrogens (Wyeth) or chlorothiazide (Merck)," writes Greene. In 1909, only one in ten prescription drugs carried a brand name. By 1969, the ratio had flipped, with only one in ten marketed under its scientific name. In another echo of the patent controversy, the rise of marketing and branded drugs produced division and resistance. By the mid-1950s, an alliance of so-called nomenclature reformers arose to decry trademarks as unscientific handmaidens of monopoly and call for a return to the use of scientific names. These reformers — doctors, pharmacists, labor leaders — made regular appearances before the Kefauver committee beginning in 1959. Their testimony on how the industry used trademarks to suppress competition informed a section in Kefauver's original bill requiring doctors to use scientific names in all prescriptions. The proposed law reflected the norms that reigned during ethical medicine's heyday, and would have allowed doctors to recommend firms, but not their branded products. Like most of Kefauver's core proposals, however, the generic clause was excised. The only trademark-related reform in the final Kefauver-Harris Amendments placed limits on companies' ability to rebrand and market old medicines as new breakthroughs.

Recommended Reading: The first TikTok war

Posted: 12 Mar 2022 07:15 AM PST

The myth of the 'First TikTok War'

Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is playing out over social media, with varying degrees of facts depending on who is delivering the information. Through the lens of previous conflicts, Tiffany examines if the label of "The First TikTok War" is accurate for current world events based on the platform's design or if that moniker even matters. "If something is new, then maybe it can be different," she writes. "But to look for that difference in the offerings of a technology company is obviously sad and misguided."

Ten years ago, 'Journey' made a convincing case that video games could be art

Lewis Gordon, The Ringer

A game that was made in rebellion against commercial titles showed a more artistic side. Designed to "hit you right in the feels," as Gordon writes, Journey kicked violence and point totals to the curb. These days a creative approach that can impact you like a good book is more commonplace, but video games with such an emotional effect didn't really exist back then. 

Dreaming of suitcases in space

Daisuke Wakabayashi, The New York Times

California-based startup Inversion thinks it can expedite deliveries of goods around the world by dropping them from space. The current plan is to develop a capsule by 2025 that's not much larger than a few carry-on suitcases and capable of doing the job.

Apple reportedly isn't planning to release a new 27-inch iMac

Posted: 12 Mar 2022 07:05 AM PST

Apple discontinued the 27-inch iMac when it launched the Mac Studio and 5K Studio Display, but reports that came out earlier this year suggested that a replacement was in the works. According to 9to5Mac, though, Apple currently has no plans to release an all-in-one iMac bigger than 24 inches in the near future. 

If true, that means we won't be seeing a 27-inch model powered by an M1 processor — the recently discontinued iMac still uses Intel chips — anytime soon. Apple reportedly has no plans for a larger iMac equipped with an M1 Pro, Max or Ultra, as well. We also likely won't be seeing one with the M2-powered MacBooks that Apple is expected to launch later this year. 9to5Mac says it got the information from the same source that told the publication about the pro-level Mac Studio and the Studio Display before they were unveiled. 

At the moment, the only iMacs you can get straight from the Apple Store website is the 24-inch model with M1 processor released last year. The publication says the tech giant is developing a new 24-inch all-in-one computer slated to be introduced sometime in 2023. However, similar to the MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro, it will likely remain one of the company's (relatively) affordable options and won't come with its high-end chips. 

Prominent editor of Russian Wikipedia pages detained in Belarus

Posted: 12 Mar 2022 02:41 AM PST

Authorities in Belarus have arrested and detained Mark Bernstein, one of the top editors of Russian Wikipedia, according to local publication Zerkalo. Bernstein was reportedly accused of violating the "fake news" law Russia passed in early March by editing the Wikipedia article about the invasion of Ukraine. Under the new law, anybody found guilty of what the country deems as false information about the Ukraine invasion — remember, the Kremlin calls it a "special military operation" — could be imprisoned for up to 15 years.

It was the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption of Belarus (GUBOPiK) that had arrested Bernstein, The Verge reports. The publication says his social media accounts, Wikipedia handle and workplace were shared on GUBOPiK's public Telegram channel before he was taken in. A video of his arrest was also posted on the channel, along with a photo that accuses him of "distributing fake anti-Russian information." Belarus played a key role in the invasion of Ukraine by hosting Russian troops, which deployed from the country when the attacks began. 

As The Verge notes, it's unclear what exactly Bernstein is being charged with and which of his edits broke Russia's fake news law. Bernstein has over 200,000 Wikipedia edits under what's believed to be his account, which has now been blocked indefinitely. 

Russia has been scrambling to suppress sources of information that goes against its official narrative regarding the war in Ukraine, and its new law had forced local independent media outlets to shut down. Dmitri A. Muratov, the editor-in-chief of Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, told The New York Times that "[e]verything that's not propaganda is being eliminated."

Uber adds fuel surcharge due to spike in gas prices

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 06:00 PM PST

Unusually high gas prices throughout the US and Canada has led to Uber tacking on a fuel surcharge to rides and deliveries, according to a blog post on the company's website. This likely won't surprise anyone who's gotten behind the wheel recently. A rapid spike in crude oil and gas prices due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine has made paying anywhere from $50 to $80 to fill a tank the norm.

"We know that prices have been going up across the economy, so we've done our best to help drivers and couriers without placing too much additional burden on consumers. Over the coming weeks we plan to listen closely to feedback from consumers, couriers and drivers. We'll also continue to track gas price movements to determine if we need to make additional changes," wrote Uber spokesperson Liza Winship on the company's website.

Uber's fuel surcharge will vary by state and by the amount of miles driven. For Uber rides, the fuel surcharge will be anywhere between $0.45 to $0.55 per trip. For Uber Eats deliveries, the fee will be between $0.35 to $0.45 per trip. The company says the additional fee will go straight to Uber drivers, who pay for mileage out of their own pockets. The policy won't apply at all in New York City, where drivers have a pay floor and the majority of delivery drivers are on bikes.

Interestingly enough, riders will have to pay the fuel surcharge even if they're riding in an EV. According to The Verge, Uber hopes this will be an additional incentive for drivers to switch to electric vehicles. But given that Uber already charges passengers an additional $1 for its Uber Green option — which only deploys hybrid or electric vehicles— this could lead to some Uber Green customers opting for cheaper ride options.

High gas prices have led to some Uber drivers working for below minimum wage, especially in California, where the average price of a gallon of regular gas on Friday was $5.802, significantly higher than the national average. Some Uber drivers have opted to not work at all due to the price of gas.

Uber's fuel surcharge will go into effect on March 16th, 2021, after which the company will re-evaluate the policy.

Meta employees say goodbye to perks like on-site laundry

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 03:48 PM PST

Meta employees scheduled to return to the office on March 28th will have to find another place to take their dirty laundry. Facebook's parent company is cutting its free laundry and dry-cleaning service and pushing back dinnertime to a later hour, reported the New York Times. It's a change in response to the new hybrid work schedule at Meta, where most employees will still be working from home at least a few days of week. Fewer time in the office equals fewer office perks, or at least that's the logic of Meta leadership. But for many employees at Facebook, Instagram, Reality Labs and other Meta companies, it's an unwelcome hassle at what is normally a grueling work environment.

"As we return to the office, we've adjusted on-site services and amenities to better reflect the needs of our hybrid workforce," a Meta spokesperson wrote in a statement to the Times.

Meta will also begin serving dinner at 6:30 pm PT, a full half-hour after the last shuttle departs campus. Meaning that employees will have to choose between a free meal or a free ride home. Decisions, decisions! While some Meta employees interviewed by NYT are unhappy about the change, many others have seen such perks as a ploy to keep employees working long hours. 

Tech companies are famous for providing incredible office perks to compensate for a strenuous workload, such as free meals, laundry, fitness classes, backup childcare and more. But a shift to a hybrid work environment means fewer employees will be in need of these things. To Meta's credit, the company is fattening up annual employee wellness stipends — from $700 to $3000 per year — to account for the change.

At least for Meta's Mountain View employees, free, unlimited food was already a thing of the past. After Google and Meta's free, round-the-clock food service for employees left local businesses in the dust, the city passed an ordinance that banned tech companies from offering unlimited free food. But Facebook's other Bay Area offices have access to free meals, as well as an unlimited snack larder if you get hungry between mealtimes. According to Eater, Facebook's Bay Area office routinely stores about $300,000 worth of food in its snack pantry.

Russian TikTok creators have reportedly been paid to share propaganda

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 01:50 PM PST

The White House isn't the only one trying to steer discussion of Ukraine on TikTok. Vice News has discovered that Russian TikTok influencers are reportedly being paid to share videos promoting the Putin government's narrative surrounding the invasion. An anonymous operator in a Telegram channel has been telling creators what and when to post, what goals they must meet and otherwise dictating their content. At least some of the followers have over a million followers.

It's unclear who is behind the campaign, but the operator claims to be a journalist and has looked for posters for additional pro-government content (such as supporting Russian athletes in the Olympics) and private companies. However, TikTok's ban on new videos from Russia apparently isn't an obstacle. The channel administrator tells influencers how to dodge the ban, and at least some producers have posted videos after the ban took effect.

The channel suddenly shut down on March 9th as Vice conducted its investigation. Most of the videos have since been removed, but the campaign team reportedly asked them to do this. Others remain, and it's not certain how many similar initiatives might be underway. It's also unclear if the propaganda was effective.

TikTok hasn't commented on the pro-Kremlin campaign and told Vice about its general efforts to spot "emerging threats" and "harmful misinformation" surrounding Russia's war against Ukraine.

Whether or not the Russian government was involved with this TikTok effort, there's little doubt the country has tried to control the online narrative on Ukraine. It has blocked social networks like Instagram, posted misinformation through its embassies' accounts, circumvented bans on its state news outlets and criminalized media reports that contradict the official stance on the war. TikTok's large user base may be a tempting target if Russia hopes to sway more of the internet to its side.

Spotify subscriptions can now be bundled with Soundtrap's audio creation tool

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 01:31 PM PST

If you're a podcaster or a musician, it's likely you've heard of Soundtrap, an online tool that lets you record, edit and collaborate on the fly. Spotify—which acquired Soundtrap back in 2017— is now offering a bundle with Spotify Premium and Soundtrap for $16.99 a month. The bundle includes Soundtrap for Music Makers Supreme (the highest tier service for musicians) and Soundtrap for Storytellers, which is geared towards podcasters. Given that Spotify Premium is $9.99 a month and both Soundtrap plans cost $11.99 per month each, this is a solid deal for those who subscribe to both.

The bundle will give creators access to unlimited projects, more than 19,000 loops, sound effects, live transcripts and autotune. Podcasters also have the ability to publish their podcasts from Soundtrap directly to Spotify, instead of using a podcast hosting service like Buzzsprout or Podbean. The live transcript can serve as a guide for editing, which is likely to be a timesaver. 

But there's a big drawback to Soundtrap if you're planning on also publishing on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or another podcasting service. Soundtrap won't generate an RSS feed for each episode, which you will need to publish your podcast outside of Spotify. If you want to do that, you'll need to download each podcast episode as an audio file and then re-upload them onto a third-party podcast hosting service.

All told, Soundtrap's suite of podcasting and music editing tools is ideal for creators who need an easy, simplified option for making music and podcasts. If you're looking for more advanced editing options or the ability to distribute to multiple podcast services, you may find better options elsewhere. But if Spotify is your audio streaming service of choice (as well as your primary source of distribution), this bundle could be worth checking out. 

NHTSA greenlights self-driving cars without manual controls

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 12:40 PM PST

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened the door for self-driving vehicles to operate without manual controls under updated Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. While fully autonomous vehicles are likely several years away from going on sale, the new rule paves the way for automakers to remove the steering wheel and pedals.

"Through the 2020s, an important part of [the Department of Transportation's] safety mission will be to ensure safety standards keep pace with the development of automated driving and driver assistance systems," transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg said. "This new rule is an important step, establishing robust safety standards for [Automated Driving Systems]-equipped vehicles."

The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards regulate all elements of production cars, as Roadshow notes. The latest rule stipulates that whether or not they have a steering wheel and pedals, vehicles with automated driving systems need to offer the same level of protection to drivers and passengers as other cars.

Fully autonomous (Level 5) cars aren't on the market yet. Teslas are at Level 2 (they have some autonomy, but a human driver needs to be ready to take control). Volkswagen is making a Level 4 version of its ID.Buzz EV, while pilot projects for robotaxis and self-driving shuttles are underway. At CES 2022, Cadillac showed off a luxury concept EV without a steering wheel or pedals.

NHTSA acknowledged uncertainty about the development and deployment of vehicles equipped with ADS. "Nevertheless, NHTSA believes it is appropriate to finalize this action at this time in anticipation of emerging ADS vehicle designs that NHTSA has seen in prototype form," the agency said.

'Dead Space' remake arrives early 2023

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 12:25 PM PST

Motive and EA finally have a release window for their Dead Space remake. The two have revealed their re-do of the sci-fi horror game will be available in early 2023 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. While there hasn't been much discussion just how much the game will improve on the original, Motive has provided a "deep dive" on audio improvements and teased a similar exploration of art in May.

The audio system is much smarter than what you saw in 2008. Most notably, adrenaline, fatigue and other vital stats will influence the protagonist Isaac's breathing, heart rate and even dialogue. Run for a long time and Isaac may be panting when speaks, while serious injuries may lead him to wince as he navigates hallways.

There's a lot riding on the Dead Space revival. The game succeeded through a combination of clever gameplay touches (such as severing limbs and doing away with common interface elements) and a foreboding, oppressively lonely atmosphere. Motive may have to strike a careful balance as it caters to longstanding fans while appealing to newcomers who know little about the 14-year-old classic.

Niantic is shutting down Pokémon Go in Russia and Belarus

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 12:09 PM PST

Following a plea from Ukrainian vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov for gaming companies to cease operations in Russia and Belarus last week, Niantic announced it would be shutting down support for Pokémon Go in those countries. 

Niantic says downloads of Pokémon Go have already been disabled in those regions, with gameplay set to be suspended "shortly". The move by Niantic comes amidst a wave of similar decisions from fellow gaming companies that have decided to suspend business or services in those countries after Russia's invasion of Ukraine late last month. 

Sony has already suspended sales of both games and consoles in Russia, with Microsoft halting all sales in the country. Last weekend, Nintendo turned off sales of digital games on its eShop after disabling transactions in rubles, and more recently, announced that it would stop shipping products including the Switch to the country.

And while some game publishers like Bungie continue to provide limited service for its titles by continuing to support the free base version of Destiny 2, players in Russia no longer have the ability to buy DLC content, cosmetics, or Silver (Destiny 2's in-game currency). Meanwhile, other gaming companies including Epic, Ubisoft, CD Projekt Red, Take-Two, EA and others have stopped selling their games there entirely. 

Currently, it's unclear how long Niantic's suspension of service in the region will last. But with the company making this decision to encourage a "rapid resolution to the violence and suffering in Ukraine," there won't be any online monster catching happening via Pokémon Go in Russia or Belarus until some kind of peace agreement can be brokered.

White House briefed TikTok influencers on Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 11:34 AM PST

It's not just journalists receiving White House briefings on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Washington Post has learned Press Secretary Jen Psaki and National Security Council adviser Matt Miller helped virtually brief 30 TikTok influencers, including Khalil Greene and Jules Terpak, on the US approach to the war. They outlined the US' strategic objectives in the area and answered creators' questions on subjects ranging from relief efforts to a theoretical response if Russia used nuclear weapons.

White House digital strategy director Rob Flaherty characterized the briefing as both an effort to provide reliable information from an "authoritative source" and an acknowledgment TikTok is a "critically important" source for updates on Ukraine. It's hoping to fight misinformation by reaching millions of TikTok followers, in other words.

There were concerns the briefing didn't tackle hard questions. Jules Suzdaltsev, the operator of TikTok account Good Morning Bad News, said it felt like a press event "for kindergarteners." Another TikTok news provider, Marcus DiPaola, also saw this as selective messaging — the White House didn't address its involvement in other invasions, he said.

However helpful the presentation might have been, it's not surprising the Biden administration would reach out to TikTok creators. Many younger internet users get at least some of their news from social networks like TikTok, and those outlets have been struggling to curb misinformation. TikTok halted video uploads and streams in Russia on March 6th, and only recently started labelling state-backed media outlets. Briefings like this will theoretically counter misinformation and get the official US strategy to people who would otherwise remain unaware. 

Hulu's live TV plan will include unlimited cloud DVR at no extra charge

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 11:00 AM PST

Hulu may have hiked the prices of its live TV plans last fall, but you'll at least get more for your money this spring. The streaming service now plans to give all Hulu + Live TV subscribers unlimited cloud DVR storage starting April 13th. If you've been paying for an Enhanced Cloud DVR add-on ($10 or $15 per month), you'll see your bill shrink accordingly. Recordings with the new Unlimited DVR feature last for up to nine months.

Regular Hulu + Live TV subscriptions used to include 50 hours of 'free' DVR space with unskippable ads, while buying the Enhanced Cloud DVR feature expanded that to 200 hours without the ads. While that was enough to help you replay a must-see event, it wasn't much help if you frequently recorded live programming. Now, it's just a matter of finding the time to watch whatever you save.

The company isn't offering unlimited DVR use out of pure generosity, as you might imagine. Notably, this puts Hulu + Live TV's DVR functionality on par with YouTube TV and makes the pricing far more competitive, at $70 per month versus the $80 you needed to roughly match the feature set. There are still reasons you might pick YouTube's offering over Hulu's (a slightly lower $65 price and some sports networks), but the gap is now considerably narrower.

YouTube is blocking Russian state media channels worldwide

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 10:46 AM PST

YouTube says it will now block channels linked to Russia-backed media outlets worldwide. Last week, it blocked channels from the likes of RT and Sputnik in Europe following an EU directive. The updated policy takes effect immediately, though YouTube's systems will take a little time to fully block the channels.

The service also said "denying, minimizing or trivializing well-documented violent events" is not allowed under its Community Guidelines. YouTube is taking down videos about the conflict in Ukraine that violate the rule. On Thursday, Twitter and Facebook removed posts from Russia's embassy in the UK that denied the bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine.

YouTube has also deleted more than 1,000 channels and over 15,000 videos related to Russia's invasion ok Ukraine for violating various policies, such as those on hate speech, misinformation and graphic content. Google stopped all ad sales in Russia last week and it has now paused all YouTube monetization and payments in the country.

YouTube says it may take further action in Russia as the conflict continues. In addition, it's directing users to trusted sources of news regarding the invasion.

Ford F-150 Lightning owners in California can use the EV to power homes

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 10:05 AM PST

Power outages aren't exactly rare in Northern California. In the coming months, residents who own a compatible electric vehicle — such as the Ford F-150 Lightning — will effectively be able to use it as a backup generator.

Ford has teamed up with PG&E, the main energy provider in the region, for a bidirectional electric vehicle charging project. The companies claim the F-150 Lightning can power a home for up to 10 days (depending on energy needs) in the event of an outage. Sunrun, another of the automaker's partners, will start installing Ford's Intelligent Backup Power system in Northern California this spring. 

GM announced a similar pilot with PG&E earlier this week. If initial testing goes well, they'll enable vehicle-to-grid charging for a small number of people with Ultium-powered EVs before expanding the trial more broadly later this year.

Russia will cut off access to Instagram

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 09:47 AM PST

Instagram will soon be inaccessible in Russia, according to regulator Roskomnadzor. The latest ban is in response to Facebook "temporarily" changing its rules to allows for calls for violence against Russian soldiers and Vladimir Putin.

Though Facebook has been "restricted" in the country for more than a week, the ban didn't extend to Instagram. State news agency TASS reported earlier that Russian lawmakers had called for that to change, though, in response to the company's updated policy. The state prosecutor also reportedly asked for Facebook-owner Meta to be labeled an "extremist organization" and the Russian government opened a criminal investigation into the company, according toCNBC.  

Now, the state regulator Roskomnadzor says that it will move to cut off access to the photo sharing app on March 14th. "Messages are circulating on the Instagram social network encouraging and provoking violent acts against Russians, in connection with which the Russian Prosecutor General's Office demanded that Roskomnadzor restrict access to this social network," Roskomnadzor posted on its Telegram account. "Roskomnadzor decided to complete the procedure for imposing restrictions on access to Instagram at 00:00 on March 14, providing users with an additional 48 hours of transition period."

Facebook didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. A company spokesperson said Thursday that it had changed its rules around violent speech in order to allow for more "forms of political expression."

In a statement, Meta's President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg didn't address the impending ban of Instagram, but did address the recent rule change, calling it "a temporary decision taken in extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances." 

"The fact is, if we applied our standard content policies without any adjustments we would now be removing content from ordinary Ukrainians expressing their resistance and fury at the invading military forces, which would rightly be viewed as unacceptable," Clegg wrote. "There is no change at all in our policies on hate speech as far as the Russian people are concerned." 

Update 3/11 6:50pm ET: Instagram's top executive, Adam Mosseri, also weighed in on the ban, calling it "wrong" to cut off 80 million users in the country.

Intel NUC 12 Extreme review: A powerful DIY mini-desktop for creators and gamers alike

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 09:15 AM PST

Intel's quest to deliver the perfect mini-desktop continues with the NUC 12 Extreme, its latest "next unit of computing" DIY kit. Code-named "Dragon Canyon," it's basically a slightly upgraded version of last year's NUC 11 Extreme, which was notable for being the first of its kind that could fit a full-sized desktop graphics card. Now it has Intel's hybrid 12th-gen desktop processors, which promise to be a huge upgrade over last year's CPUs. While this latest kit is still a bit cramped – and it can easily get expensive once you add your own RAM, SSD and GPU – the NUC 12 Extreme proves that Intel is clearly committed to the world of tiny desktops. And with Apple's Mac Studio coming soon, it may be more compelling than ever for PC creators.

Given how much effort Intel put into developing a large NUC case last year, it's not too surprising that the NUC 12 Extreme shares the same 8-liter housing. It's large enough to fit in a 12-inch graphics card, but the rest of its interior is tightly packed with its power supply and Compute Unit, a removable card that houses its CPU, three NVMe SSD connections and two RAM slots. It's clearly a case meant for gaming enthusiasts, with the telltale sign being the RGB LED skull up front and additional lighting underneath. The NUC 12 Extreme is basically the PC equivalent to a Honda Civic souped up for street racing: It can't exist without a bit of bling.

Despite its small stature, the NUC's case has just about all the connectivity you'd want from a desktop. Up front, there's a USB-C Thunderbolt 4 port, a USB 3.1 Type-A socket, an SDXC card slot and a headphone jack. And on the back of the Compute Card, there are two more Thunderbolt 4 USB-C connections, six USB Type-A ports, an HDMI 2.0b socket and two Ethernet jacks (10GbE and 2.5Gb). We reviewed the NUC12EDBi9 kit, which included the Core i9-12900 processor, but there's also another kit with an i7-12700 available.

Typically, Intel sends out pre-built NUC kits for review so we can get straight to benchmarking. This year, however, the company issued the same DIY kit consumers would get, which only includes the case, PSU and Compute Card. That meant I had to roll up my sleeves and prepare for scraped knuckles – it was PC building time! I scrounged up 16GB of RAM and a one-terabyte Samsung SSD from the previous NUC Extreme, along with a spare NVIDIA RTX 3080 card and got down to business.

Intel NUC 12 Extreme Compute Card opened, showing the CPU block, RAM slots and SSD.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Getting into the NUC Extreme is pretty simple: You just have to remove a few screws from the rear, open up the portion of the case blocking the PCI slot screws and remove a side panel to expose its innards. Thankfully, I was able to add in the RAM and SSD without removing the Compute Card. But if you'd like to take that out, perhaps to upgrade to a newer model down the line, you just have to hit a latch to unlock the three large top fans, pull those back, and yank the card out like any other PCI card. You'll have to be careful when removing its antenna cables and power connectors, but it's easy enough if you've already got PC building experience. Given the delicate nature of that process, it's not something I'd recommend doing unless you absolutely have to, though.

Intel NUC 12 Extreme side profile
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

The RTX 3080 easily fit into the NUC Extreme's PCIe slot, but I wish there was a bit more internal space to deal with all of its power cables. As with most powerful GPUs, the RTX 3080 requires two 8-pin PSU connections, which are attached to the card by a dongle. It was a challenge stuffing all of those cables into the NUC, and I was constantly worried they'd be clipped by the GPU's fan blades. I also had a hard time accessing the PCIe latch to remove the 3080 after I installed it. I was eventually able to unlock it with a flat-edge screwdriver, as I typically do in tight PC builds, but the latch flew off as soon as I removed the card. Clearly, there's room for better build quality.

Once I plugged everything in (and soothed my poor knuckles from being jammed into sharp edges and cables), I booted up the NUC and installed Windows 11 via a flash drive. Then, I rewarded myself the way every PC builder must: I started gaming. I averaged around 100fps while playing Halo Infinite in my monitor's ultrawide (3,440 by 1,440) resolution with all of the graphics settings cranked to maximum. That's impressive, but pretty much what I'd expect from any system powered by an RTX 3080. More notable, I'd say, is that the NUC was able to play games for hours without overheating. I typically see CPU temperatures between 80 and 85 Celsius under load, while the GPU never surpassed 82C. Not bad for a system with severely limited airflow and no room for any sort of liquid cooling.

None

PCMark 10

3DMark (TimeSpy Extreme)

Geekbench 5 CPU

Intel NUC 12 Extreme (Intel Core i9-12900, NVIDIA RTX 3080)

7,914

8,217

1,762/13,371

Intel NUC 11 Extreme (Intel Core i9-11900KB, NVIDIA RTX 3060)

7,167

4,143

1,684/9,345

Alienware x14 (Intel Core i7-12700H, NVIDIA RTX 3060)

7,073

3,362

1,529/13,315

Intel NUC 9 Extreme (Core i9-9980HK. NVIDIA RTX 2070)

6,469

4,057

1,312/7,464

Benchmarking the NUC 12 Extreme also made it clear that Intel's 12th-gen processors are a serious upgrade. Its GeekBench 5 CPU score was the highest we've seen on any system; the closest match was the Alienware x14, powered by the 12th-gen Core i7-12700H, followed by Apple's 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M1 Max. The NUC's multi-core score was also around 4,000 points higher than last year's model, which makes it an even better choice for creators doing serious rendering work. It also achieved the highest PCMark 10 score we've seen yet, though that's partially influenced by GPU power.

Intel NUC 12 Extreme rear ports
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

While these benchmarks don't tell the entire story, they indicate that the NUC 12 Extreme could be a solid workhorse that'll serve you well for years. Of course, its overall performance depends on all of the other hardware you configure it with. But at least you're free to upgrade the RAM, SSD and GPU down the line, something you can't do with a competitor like Apple's Mac Studio.

When I started testing this NUC kit, I was concerned it was going to be another overly expensive curiosity like its predecessors. Why spend thousands more than a standard mid-tower or mini-ITX desktop system just to have a slightly smaller box on your desk? It's still pretty pricey: The Core i7 Kit starts at $1,150, while the Core i9 model we're reviewing sells for $1,450, and then you'll have to add around $1,000 for a GPU, memory, SSD and OS. But you know what? Apple's Mac Studio also starts at $2,000, and while it includes a hefty 32GB of RAM, you'll probably want to add a 1TB or 2TB SSD for an additional $200 or $400. Basically, if you want tiny desktop power, be prepared to pay.

Intel NUC 12 Extreme compute card
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

If anything, Intel was just ahead of the current mini-desktop moment. If you're in the market for one, and you enjoy getting down and dirty with PC hardware, then the NUC 12 Extreme will serve you well. While the Mac Studio is sleeker and doesn't require any scraped knuckles, macOS also doesn't have nearly the same level of gaming support as a Windows PC, so it's mainly meant for work. Apple Arcade titles are nice and all, but they're no replacement for having a tiny box that'll play Elden Ring.

Sony's WH-1000XM4 headphones drop to $278, plus the rest of the week's best tech deals

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 08:45 AM PST

You can pick up everything from headphones to video games to smartwatches on sale this week. Sony's WH-1000XM4 ANC headphones are $72 off and down to $278, while the Apple Watch Series 7 is up to $50 off at Amazon. Nintendo celebrated Mar10 Day this week by discounting a bunch of Switch games, including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Luigi's Mansion 3 and others. Plus, you can still get a handful of Fire TV devices for less right now, including the Fire TV Cube, which is down to a record low of $70. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.

Sony WH-1000XM4

Sony WH-1000XM4
Engadget

Our current favorite pair of ANC headphones, Sony's WH-1000XM4, are down to $278 right now. That's $72 off their usual price and close to an all-time low. They earned a score of 94 from us for their powerful ANC, immersive sound quality and multi-device connectivity.

Buy WH-1000XM4 at Amazon - $278

'Mar10 Day' Nintendo Switch deals

Mario with a tennis racket
Nintendo

Nintendo's annual 'Mar10 Day' celebration of the happy little plumber has knocked up to 83 percent off Switch games. Titles including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Luigi's Mansion 3,Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury and Yoshi's Crafted World are all 33 percent off and down to $40, while you can snag Mario + Rabbits Kingdom Battle for only $10 at Nintendo's eShop.

Buy Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at Amazon - $40Buy New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe at Amazon - $40Buy Luigi's Mansion 3 at Amazon - $40Buy Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle at Nintendo - $10

Apple Watch Series 7

Certain colors of the Apple Watch Series 7 are down to $349, or $50 off their normal price. Apple's latest flagship smartwatch earned a score of 90 from us for its slightly larger display, faster charging and handy watchOS8 features.

Buy Apple Watch Series 7 at Amazon - $349

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit
Nintendo

Both the Mario and Luigi sets of Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit are 40 percent off and down to $60 on Amazon. These toys work with the Nintendo Switch and let you build your own raceway in your home.

Buy Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit at Amazon - $60

Bose QuietComfort 45

The Bose QC45 headphones are on sale for $279, which is their all-time-low price that we saw last Black Friday. We gave the cans a score of 86 for their excellent sound quality, strong ANC and comfortable fit.

Buy QuietComfort 45 at Amazon - $279

Amazon Fire TV 4K

Fire TV
Amazon

The Fire TV Stick 4K is down to only $30, which is 40 percent off its usual rate. It's a handy streaming device to get if you don't want to spend a ton of money but want a device that supports 4K content with Dolby Vision and HDR, and that comes with an Alexa Voice Remote.

Buy Fire TV Stick 4K at Amazon - $30

Amazon Fire TV Cube

Amazon Fire TV Cube
Nicole Lee/Engadget

The Fire TV Cube is back down to a record low of $70, or 42 percent off its normal price. We gave it a score of 84 when it came out for its 4K streaming with Dolby Vision and HDR+, speedy performance and hands-free Alexa controls.

Buy Fire TV Cube at Amazon - $70

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 LTE

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 in green
Samsung

The 44mm LTE version of Samsung's Galaxy Watch 4 is down to a record low of $225, making it cheaper than its WiFi-only counterparts. We consider this smartwatch to be the best available right now for Android users and it earned a score of 85 from us for its bright, crisp display, comprehensive health tracking features and improved third-party app support.

Buy Galaxy Watch 4 (44mm, LTE) at Woot - $225

Google Nest WiFi

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Daniel Cooper/Engadget

A two-pack of the Google Nest WiFi system is on sale for $189 across the web. That's only $10 more than the pack was during the holiday shopping season last year, so this is a solid sale. We gave the mesh WiFi system a score of 84 for its minimalist design, simple installation process and built-in Google Assistant smart speaker.

Buy Google Nest WiFi at Best Buy - $189Buy Google Nest WiFi at Adorama - $189Buy Google Nest WiFi at B&H - $189

Samsung T7 Touch (1TB)

The T7 Touch portable SSD in 1TB is on sale for $140 right now. This palm-sized drive works with most devices thanks to the duo of cables it comes with, and it supports 1,050 MB/s read speeds, 1,000 MB/s write speeds, AES 256-bit encryption and Dynamic Thermal Guard.

Buy Samsung T7 Touch (1TB) at Amazon - $140

Samsung 980 Pro SSD (2TB)

Samsung's 980 Pro internal drive in 2TB is 35 percent off and down to $280 — a great price for a powerful SSD that works with the PS5 (provided you have a heatsink). It has read speeds up to 7,000 MB/s, advanced thermal controls and works with Samsung's Magician Software, which lets you check its health and optimize settings as you'd like.

Buy Samsung 980 Pro (2TB) at Amazon - $280

OnePlus 9 Pro

The OnePlus 9 Pro smartphone is $270 off and down to $799 right now. We gave the handset a score of 88 for its fantastic display, great performance and much-improved main camera.

Buy OnePlus 9 Pro at Amazon - $799

New tech deals

Beats Studio Buds

The Beats Studio Buds are 20 percent off and down to $120. We gave these true wireless earbuds a score of 84 for their tiny, comfortable design, good sound quality and quick-pairing on both Android and iOS.

Buy Beats Studio Buds at Amazon - $120

Apple AirTags

Woot has Apple's AirTags for up to 7 percent off right now: you can get a single pack for $27 or a four-pack for $95. These accessories provide a handy way to keep track of your belongings using Apple's Find My network. Just make sure you pick up a case or holder if you plan on attaching the AirTag to your keys or bag.

Buy AirTags at Woot starting at $27

55-inch Sony A90J Bravia XR OLED 4K TV

Sony's 55-inch Bravia XR OLED set is $600 off right now, bringing it down to $2,200. In addition to deep blacks and the improved contrast that comes with OLED TVs, this set also supports XR Motion Clarity, HDMI 2.1, Acoustic Surface Audio+ and Alexa voice commands.

Buy 55-inch Sony A90J Bravia XR OLED at Amazon - $2,200

Jabra Elite 7 Pro

Jabra's Elite 7 Pro earbuds are on sale for $180, which is $20 off their normal price. These buds have 6mm custom speakers and MultiSensor Voice technology to improve call quality, plus an eight-hour battery life and a charging case that gives you up to 30 hours of usage.

Buy Jabra Elite 7 Pro at Amazon - $180

UK deals

Fitbit Sense

Fitbit's most advanced smartwatch, the Sense, is down to £189 right now. That's not a record low, but it's still 37 percent off its usual rate. We gave it a score of 82 for its comprehensive health tracking features and big, bold display.

Buy Fitbit Sense at Amazon - £189

Jabra Elite 75t earbuds

John Lewis has the Elite 75ts for £79, which is nearly half off their usual rate. We gave the buds a score of 87 when they first came out for their good audio quality, long battery life and small, comfortable design.

Buy Jabra Elite 75t at John Lewis - £79

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