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• How to watch the Summer Games Done Quick 2022 speedrunning marathon
• Juul asks appeals court to block the US ban on its vaping products
• Apple's second-gen AirPods drop to $100, plus the best early Prime Day deals you can get now
• Netflix confirms an ad-supported tier is coming (updated)
• How NASA might protect tomorrow's astronauts from deep space radiation
• Twitch clarifies its self-harm policy
• The largest bacterium discovered is visible to the naked eye
• Meta's latest auditory AIs promise a more immersive AR/VR experience
• Take a first look at Formula E’s new Gen3 car in action
• Engadget Podcast: Apple's baffling 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2
• Cruise begins charging fares for its driverless taxi service in San Francisco
• The Morning After: A remastered version of 1997's 'Blade Runner' game finally arrives
• Codemasters breaks down how it made the cars in 'F1 22' sound like the real thing
• SpaceX accuses Dish of 'faulty' analysis in ongoing battle over 5G spectrum
• Nothing Phone 1 pre-order reservations start today
• Nothing's Carl Pei thinks everyone else's smartphones are boring
• Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick gets to keep his board seat

How to watch the Summer Games Done Quick 2022 speedrunning marathon Posted: 24 Jun 2022 10:54 AM PDT The 2022 edition of Summer Games Done Quick, the semi-annual speedrunning event, gets underway on June 26th. From then until July 3rd, SGDQ will host a non-stop livestream of skilled players tearing through a wide variety of games as fast as they can. Hopefully, they'll set a few world records in the process. You can watch the event live on Twitch — the stream is embedded below for your convenience. The pre-show gets underway at 12:30PM ET on Sunday, followed by the first run, a Shadow of the Colossus random boss rush. If you miss anything, you'll be able to catch up on YouTube later. As ever, viewers will be encouraged to donate to Doctors Without Borders. Last year's event raised $2.9 million for the cause. The most recent winter edition, Awesome Games Done Quick, raised $3.4 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. SGDQ 2022 takes place in Bloomington, Minnesota and it's the first in-person GDQ event since Awesome Games Done Quick 2020. GDQ has released the full schedule, and there are a bunch of intriguing runs in the pipeline. I haven't seen a reverse boss run of Donkey Kong Country before. I'm looking forward to that, as well as the Super Mario Maker 2 relay race. Among the games making their debut at a core GDQ event are Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Halo Infinite, Tunic and, inevitably, Elden Ring.

Juul asks appeals court to block the US ban on its vaping products Posted: 24 Jun 2022 08:32 AM PDT Juul has asked a federal appeals court to temporarily block a Food and Drug Administration ban on sales of its vaping products in the US. The agency issued the order on Thursday, citing a lack of sufficient evidence provided by the company to show its devices are safe. The FDA acknowledged that it wasn't aware of "an immediate hazard" linked to Juul's vape pen or pods. "FDA's decision is arbitrary and capricious and lacks substantial evidence," Juul said in a filing with the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company called the ban extraordinary and unlawful. It requested an administrative stay until it can file a motion for an emergency review of the FDA's order. Juul claimed that, without the stay, it would suffer significant and irreparable harm. The company makes the lion's share of its revenue in the US. If the stay is granted, Juul and retailers will be able to keep selling its products there. The company argued in the filing that the order marked a move away from the FDA's typical practices, which allow for a transition period.  "We respectfully disagree with the FDA's findings and decision and continue to believe we have provided sufficient information and data based on high-quality research to address all issues raised by the agency," Juul's chief regulatory officer Joe Murillo told Engadget after the FDA issued the order. "In our applications, which we submitted over two years ago, we believe that we appropriately characterized the toxicological profile of JUUL products, including comparisons to combustible cigarettes and other vapor products, and believe this data, along with the totality of the evidence, meets the statutory standard of being appropriate for the protection of the public health." Murillo said Juul was exploring all of its options in the wake of the ruling. Among those, according to the Journal, is a possible bankruptcy filing if the company is unable to secure a stay or successfully appeal the ban. In 2020, the FDA required makers of e-cigarettes to submit their products for review. It looked at the possible benefits of vaping as an alternative to cigarettes for adult smokers. It was weighing those up against concerns about the popularity of vaping among young people. The agency has authorized 23 "electronic nicotine delivery systems," including products from NJOY and Vuse parent Reynolds American. The FDA slammed Juul in 2019 for telling students that its products are "totally safe." The Federal Trade Commission and state attorney generals have investigated Juul over claims it marketed its vape pens to underage users. In the last year, the company has agreed to pay at least $87 million to settle lawsuits in several states — including North Carolina, Washington state and Arizona — which alleged that it targeted young people with its marketing. It has faced similar suits in other states. Update 6/24 12:51PM ET: Added a note about the possible bankruptcy filing.

Apple's second-gen AirPods drop to $100, plus the best early Prime Day deals you can get now Posted: 24 Jun 2022 08:30 AM PDT We may be a few weeks out from Amazon Prime Day, but early deals are already starting to roll in. If you're in need of a new smart TV, Amazon has discounted a bunch of Fire TVs and Prime members can pick up a 55-inch Omni Series set for only $300. Elsewhere, Apple's second-generation AirPods are back on sale for $100, Sony's new Linkbuds S received their first discount and Samsung's latest Discover sales event has slashed prices of appliances, wearables and storage gadgets. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today. AirPods (2nd gen) Chris Velazco / Engadget The second-generation AirPods are down to $100 right now, or 37 percent off their original price. While they don't have all the bells and whistles of the new, third-gen models, these are still decent earbuds that we liked for their improved wireless performance and good battery life. Buy AirPods (2nd gen) at Amazon - $100 Mac Mini M1 Engadget Apple's Mac Mini M1 has returned to a record-low price of $570. It's the most affordable M1 machine you can get and we like its sleek design and good array of ports. Buy Mac Mini M1 (256GB) at Amazon - $570 Apple Watch SE Cherlynn Low / Engadget The 44mm blue Apple Watch SE has dropped to a new low of $209 at Walmart. This is a great deal on the already affordable smartwatch and we gave it a score of 88 for its solid performance, comfortable design and handy watchOS features. Buy Apple Watch SE (44mm, blue) at Walmart - $209 MacBook Air M1 Devindra Hardawar/Engadget The MacBook Air M1 is $100 off and down to $899. We gave the laptop a score of 94 for its blazing fast performance, excellent battery life and lack of fan noise. Buy MacBook Air M1 at Amazon - $899 Amazon Fire TV sales Amazon Dozens of Amazon Fire TVs are on sale ahead of Prime Day, including the new Omni Series sets. The Omni 4K smart TVs came out last September and they support HDR10, HLG and Dolby Digital Plus, and the larger TVs in the range also support Dolby Vision. Prime members can pick up the 55-inch model for only $300, while anyone can get up to 40 percent off the other sizes. Shop Amazon Fire TV sales Samsung Discover sales Cherlynn Low / Engadget Samsung's latest Discover sales event is ongoing through June 26th. Everything from appliances to smartphones to TVs have been discounted, and some of the best promotions include free storage upgrades on the Galaxy S22 Ultra and a free Galaxy S22 smartphone when you buy certain Samsung Neo QLED 8K smart TVs. Shop Samsung Discover deals Razer Kishi controller Razer Razer's Kishi controller for iOS devices is $45 off right now and down to a new low of $55. It's a good accessory to have if you like to play games on the go. It has a wired connection, which means lower latency than Bluetooth controllers, plus an ergonomic design and a USB-C port for passthrough charging. Buy Razer Kishi (iOS) at Amazon - $55 Sony Linkbuds S Sony Sony's new Linkbuds S are 11 percent off and down to $178. This is their first real discount since launching earlier this year, and they have a small, IPX4 rated design, decent ANC and Auto Play support. Buy Sony Linkbuds S at Amazon - $178 Crucial MX500 SSD (4TB) We've long been fans of Crucial's MX500 internal drive and now you can pick up the big one with 4TB of space for $320. That's 11 percent off and the best price we've seen. We like this drive for its standard design, solid read and write speeds and integrated power loss immunity feature. Buy Crucial MX500 (4TB) at Amazon - $320 Samsung T7 SSD (1TB) Samsung Samsung's T7 SSD in 1TB is on sale for $115 right now, or only $5 more than its all-time-low price. We like this portable drive for its compact, shock-resistant body, fast read and write speeds and its multi-device compatibility. Buy Samsung T7 (1TB) at Amazon - $115Buy T7 SSD (1TB) at Samsung - $115 Amazon Luna game controller Amazon Prime members can get the Luna game controller for only $40, which is $10 cheaper than its previous all-time low. It's designed to be used with Prime Gaming and Amazon's cloud gaming service, which costs $10 per month, but you can use Bluetooth or USB to connect it to Windows, Mac and Android devices to play other titles, too. Buy Luna controller (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $40 Nintendo eShop Super Sale Erik McLean on Unsplash Through July 6th, you can get up to 60 percent off Nintendo Switch games if you buy them through the eShop. Some of the titles on sale include Super Mario Odyssey for $42, Skyrim for $30, Pikmin 3 Deluxe for $42 and Just Dance 2022 for $20. Shop Nintendo eShop Super Sale Steam Summer Sale Engadget Steam's summer sale runs through July 7th and knocks up to 90 percent off titles. Some of the standout games you'll find in this sale include Hollow Knight, Forza Horizon 5, No Man's Sky and God of War. Shop Steam Summer Sale New tech deals Arlo Pro 4 security cameras Wellbots has knocked up to $90 off Arlo Pro 4 security camera bundles. You can get a three-camera kit for $550 with the code ARLO90, a two-camera bundle for $380 with the code ARLO70 or a one-camera set for $200 with the code ARLO25. Shop Arlo Pro 4 sets at Wellbots Sony SRS-XB13 portable speaker Sony's tiny SRS-XB13 is 20 percent off and down to only $48. Not only does it come in a bunch of fun colors, but this compact Bluetooth speaker also has a waterproof IP67 rated design, punchy bass and a 16-hour battery life. Buy Sony SRS-XB13 at Amazon - $48 Kindle Paperwhite (2018) The previous edition of the Kindle Paperwhite is on sale for $70 right now, or nearly half off its normal price. We gave this model a score of 95 for its improved, waterproof design, higher-contrast display and Audible support. Buy Kindle Paperwhite (2018) at Amazon - $70 Satechi summer sale Satechi's summer sale knocks up to 75 percent off accessories, so you can grab discounted docks, hubs, chargers and more for less through June 30th. Some standout deals include the iMac USB-C monitor stand and hub for $50 and the USB-C mobile pro hub for $30. Shop Satechi summer sale Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Netflix confirms an ad-supported tier is coming (updated) Posted: 24 Jun 2022 07:31 AM PDT Netflix continues to lock down plans to offer ad-supported service. As The Hollywood Reporternotes, company co-chief Ted Sarandos confirmed to guests at the Cannes Lions festival that Netflix is adding an ad-backed tier with a lower price. He stressed that the option wouldn't bring ads to Netflix "as you know it today" — as with rivals like Peacock, you'll still have the option to avoid marketing altogether. This is just for people who "don't mind advertising," he said. Sarandos didn't share further details. However, The Wall Street Journalsources recently claimed Google and NBCUniversal are the "top contenders" to help Netflix build the ads-included plan. Either would likely have an exclusive arrangement to serve and (at least in NBCU's case) sell ads. Roku has also had early discussions, according to tipsters. Industry executives talking to Netflix supposedly haven't learned specifics, such as the amount of ads you'll see each hour or whether there will be ad targeting. We've asked Netflix for comment. The future option is an acknowledgment that Netflix left a large group of customers "off the table," according to Sarandos. The company lost subscribers for the first time in a decade this past quarter, and it's eager to return to growth quickly. An ad-supported plan could help with that goal by drawing in customers put off by Netflix's regular pricing. Update 6/24 11:25AM ET: A Netflix spokesperson told Engadget that the company was "still in the early days" of developing the ad-based tier, and hadn't nailed down its approach. It's all "speculation" at present, the representative added. You can read the full statement below. "We are still in the early days of deciding how to launch a lower priced, ad supported option and no decisions have been made. So this is all just speculation at this point."

How NASA might protect tomorrow's astronauts from deep space radiation Posted: 24 Jun 2022 07:00 AM PDT There are a million and one ways to die in space, whether it's from micrometeoroid impacts shredding your ship or solar flares frying its electronics, drowning in your own sweat during a spacewalk or having a cracked coworker push you out an airlock. And right at the top of the list is death by radiation. Those same energetic emissions from our local star that give you a tan can scour the atmosphere from a planet if it doesn't enjoy the protection of an ozone layer. While today's low Earth orbit crew and cargo capsules may not come equipped with miniature magnetospheres of their own, tomorrow's might — or maybe we'll just protect humanity's first deep space explorers from interstellar radiation by ensconcing them safely in their own poop. Types of Radiation and what to do about them Like strokes and folks, there are different types and sources of radiation both terrestrial and in space. Non-ionizing radiation, meaning the atom doesn't have enough energy to fully remove an electron from its orbit, can be found in microwaves, light bulbs, and Solar Energetic Particles (SEP) like visible and ultraviolet light. While these forms of radiation can damage materials and biological systems, their effects can typically be blocked (hence sunscreen and microwaves that don't irradiate entire kitchens) or screened by the Ozone layer or Earth's magnetosphere. Earth's radiation belts are filled with energetic particles trapped by Earth's magnetic field that can wreak havoc with electronics we send to space. Credits: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio/Tom Bridgman Ionizing radiation, on the other hand, is energetic to shed an electron and there isn't much that can slow their positively-charged momentum. Alpha and beta particles, Gamma rays, X-rays and Galactic Cosmic Rays, "heavy, high-energy ions of elements that have had all their electrons stripped away as they journeyed through the galaxy at nearly the speed of light," per NASA. "GCR are a dominant source of radiation that must be dealt with aboard current spacecraft and future space missions within our solar system." GCR intensity is inversely proportional to the relative strength of the Sun's magnetic field, meaning that they are strongest when the Sun's field is at its weakest and least able to deflect them. Chancellor, J., Scott, G., & Sutton, J. (2014) Despite their dissimilar natures, both GCR and SEP damage the materials designed to shield our squishy biological bodies from radiation along with our biological bodies themselves. Their continued bombardment has a cumulative negative effect on human physiology resulting not just in cancer but cataracts, neurological damage, germline mutations, and acute radiation sickness if the dose is high enough. For materials, high-energy particles and photons can cause "temporary damage or permanent failure of spacecraft materials or devices," Zicai Shen of the Beijing Institute of Spacecraft Environment Engineering notes in 2019's Protection of Materials from Space Radiation Environments on Spacecraft. "Charged particles gradually lose energy as they pass through the material, and finally, capture a sufficient number of electrons to stop," they added. "When the thickness of the shielding material is greater than the range of a charged particle in the material, the incident particles will be blocked in the material." How NASA currently protects its astronauts To ensure that tomorrow's astronauts arrive at Mars with all of their teeth and fingernails intact, NASA has spent nearly four decades collecting data and studying the effects radiation has on the human body. The agency's Space Radiation Analysis Group (SRAG) at Johnson Space Center is, according to its website, "responsible for ensuring that the radiation exposure received by astronauts remains below established safety limits." According to NASA, "the typical average dose for a person is about 360 mrems per year, or 3.6 mSv, which is a small dose. However, International Standards allow exposure to as much as 5,000 mrems (50 mSv) a year for those who work with and around radioactive material. For spaceflight, the limit is higher. The NASA limit for radiation exposure in low-Earth orbit is 50 mSv/year, or 50 rem/year." SRAG's Space Environment Officers (SEOs) are tasked with ensuring that the astronauts can successfully complete their mission without absorbing too many RADs. They take into account the various environmental and situational factors present during a spaceflight — whether the astronauts are in LEO or on the lunar surface, whether they stay in the spacecraft or take a spacewalk, or whether there is a solar storm going on — combine and model that information with data collected from onboard and remote radiation detectors as well as the NOAA space weather prediction center, to make their decisions. The Radiation Effects and Analysis Group at Goddard Space Flight Center, serves much the same purpose as SRAG but for mechanical systems, working to develop more effective shielding and more robust materials for use in orbit. "We will be able to ensure that humans, electronics, spacecraft and instruments — anything we are actually sending into space — will survive in the environment we are putting it in," Megan Casey, an aerospace engineer in the REAG said in a 2019 release. "Based on where they're going, we tell mission designers what their space environment will be like, and they come back to us with their instrument plans and ask, 'Are these parts going to survive there?' The answer is always yes, no, or I don't know. If we don't know, that's when we do additional testing. That's the vast majority of our job." NASA's research will continue and expand throughout the upcoming Artemis mission era. During test flights for the Artemis I mission, both the SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft will be outfitted with sensors measuring radiation levels in deep space beyond the moon — specifically looking at the differences in relative levels beyond the Earth's Van Allen Belts. Data collected and lessons learned from these initial uncrewed flights will help NASA engineers build better, more protective spacecraft in the future. And once it does eventually get built, crews aboard the Lunar Gateway will maintain an expansive radiation sensor suite, including the Internal Dosimeter Array, designed to carefully and continually measure levels within the station as it makes its week-long oblong orbit around the moon. "Understanding the effects of the radiation environment is not only critical for awareness of the environment where astronauts will live in the vicinity of the Moon, but it will also provide important data that can be used as NASA prepares for even greater endeavors, like sending the first humans to Mars," Dina Contella, manager for Gateway Mission Integration and Utilization, said in a 2021 release. NASA might use magnetic bubbles in the future Tomorrow's treks into interplanetary space, where GCR and SEP are more prevalent, are going to require more comprehensive protection than the current state of the art passive shielding materials and space weather forecasting predictions can deliver. And since the Earth's own magnetosphere has proven so handy, researchers with the European Commission's Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) have researched creating one small enough to fit on a spaceship, dubbed the Space Radiation Superconducting Shield (SR2S). The €2.7 million SR2S program, which ran from 2013 to 2015, expanded on the idea of using superconducting magnets to generate a radiation-stopping magnetic force field first devised by ex-Nazi aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun in 1969. The magnetic field produced would be more than 3,000 times more concentrated than the one encircling the Earth and would extend out in a 10-meter sphere. "In the framework of the project, we will test, in the coming months, a racetrack coil wound with an MgB2 superconducting tape," Bernardo Bordini, coordinator of CERN activity in the framework of the SR2S project, said in 2015. "The prototype coil is designed to quantify the effectiveness of the superconducting magnetic shielding technology." It wouldn't block all incoming radiation, but would efficiently screen out the most damaging types, like GCR, which flows through passive shielding like water through a colander. By lowering the rate at which astronauts are exposed to radiation, they'll be able to serve on more and longer duration missions before hitting NASA's lifetime exposure limit. "As the magnetosphere deflects cosmic rays directed toward the earth, the magnetic field generated by a superconducting magnet surrounding the spacecraft would protect the crew," Dr Riccardo Musenich, scientific and technical manager for the project, told Horizon in 2014. "SR2S is the first project which not only investigates the principles and the scientific problems (of magnetic shielding), but it also faces the complex issues in engineering." Two superconducting coils have already been constructed and tested, showing the feasibility in using them to build lightweight magnets but this is very preliminary research, mind you. The CORDIS team doesn't anticipate this tech making it into space for another couple decades. Researchers from University of Wisconsin–Madison's Department of Astronomy have recently set about developing their own version of CORDIS' idea. Their Cosmic Radiation Extended Warding using the Halbach Torus (CREW HaT) project, which received prototyping funding from NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program in February, uses "new superconductive tape technology, a deployable design, and a new configuration for a magnetic field that hasn't been explored before," according to UWM associate professor and researches lead author, Dr. Elena D'Onghia told Universe Today in May. NASA "The HaT geometry has never been explored before in this context or studied in combination with modern superconductive tapes," she said in February's NIAC summary. "It diverts over 50 percent of the biology-damaging cosmic rays (protons below 1 GeV) and higher energy high-Z ions. This is sufficient to reduce the radiation dose absorbed by astronauts to a level that is less than 5 percent of the lifetime excess risk of cancer mortality levels established by NASA." Or astronauts might wear leaden vests to protect their privates But why go through the effort of magnetically encapsulating an entire spaceship when really it's just a handful of torsos and heads that actually need the protection? That's the idea behind the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment (MARE). Developed in partnership with both the Israel Space Agency (ISA) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), two of the MARE vests will be strapped aboard identical mannequins and launched into space aboard the Orion uncrewed moon mission. On their three-week flight, the mannequins, named Helga and Zohar, will travel some 280,000 miles from Earth and thousands of miles past the moon. Their innards are designed to mimic human bones and soft tissue, enabling researchers to measure the specific radiation doses they receive. Its sibling study aboard the ISS, the Comfort and Human Factors AstroRad Radiation Garment Evaluation (CHARGE), focuses less on the vest's anti-rad effectiveness and more on the ergonomics, fit and feel of it as astronauts go about their daily duties. The European Space Agency is also investigating garment-based radiation shielding with the FLARE suit, an "emergency device that aims to protect astronauts from intense solar radiation when traveling out of the magnetosphere on future Deep Space missions." Or we'll line the ship hulls with water and poo! One happy medium between the close-in discomfort of wearing a leaded apron in microgravity and the existential worry of potentially having your synapses scrambled by a powerful electromagnet is known as Water Wall technology. "Nature uses no compressors, evaporators, lithium hydroxide canisters, oxygen candles, or urine processors," Marc M. Cohen Arch.D, argued in the 2013 paper Water Walls Architecture: Massively Redundant and Highly Reliable Life Support for Long Duration Exploration Missions. "For very long-term operation — as in an interplanetary spacecraft, space station, or lunar/planetary base — these active electro-mechanical systems tend to be failure-prone because the continuous duty cycles make maintenance difficult." So, rather than rely on heavy and complicated mechanizations to process the waste materials that astronauts emit during a mission, this system utilizes osmosis bags that mimic nature's own passive means of purifying water. In addition to treating gray and black water, these bags could also be adapted to scrub CO2 from the air, grow algae for food and fuel, and can be lined against the inner hull of a spacecraft to provide superior passive shielding against high energy particles. "Water is better than metals for [radiation] protection," Marco Durante of the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany, told New Scientist in 2013. This is because the three-atom nucleus of a water molecule contains more mass than a metal atom and therefore is more effective at blocking GCR and other high energy rays, he continued. The crew aboard the proposed Inspiration Mars mission, which would have slingshot a pair of private astronauts around Mars in a spectacular flyby while the two planets were at their orbital closest in 2018. You haven't heard anything about that because the nonprofit behind it quietly went under in 2015. But had they somehow pulled off that feat, the plan was to have the astronauts poop into bags, sophon out the liquid for reuse and then pile the vacuum-sealed shitbricks against the walls of the spacecraft — alongside their boxes of food — to act as radiation insulation. "It's a little queasy sounding, but there's no place for that material to go, and it makes great radiation shielding," Taber MacCallum, a member of the nonprofit funded by Dennis Tito, told New Scientist. "Food is going to be stored all around the walls of the spacecraft, because food is good radiation shielding." It's just a quick jaunt to the next planet over, who needs plumbing and sustenance?

Twitch clarifies its self-harm policy Posted: 24 Jun 2022 06:45 AM PDT Twitch has been tightening its content policies in recent months, and that now includes mentions of self-harm. The livestreaming service has updated its Community Guidelines to include examples of the self-harm behavior it doesn't allow. The clarified policy is meant to foster "meaningful conversation" about mental and physical health while preventing further harm. Broadcasters can share stories of self-harm or suicide, but can't describe them in "graphic detail" or share suicide notes. Studies show this could lead to similar thoughts among vulnerable people, Twitch said. The refined policy also singles out content that encourages eating disorders, such as unhealthy weight loss programs and attempts to glorify common eating disorder habits. The move comes relatively soon after Twitch clamped down on usernames referencing hard drugs and sex, as well as creators who routinely spread misinformation. Not long after, the Amazon brand rolled out improved reporting tools to help viewers flag inappropriate content while providing a streamlined appeals process. Twitch has dealt with abuses in the weeks since, but it's clearly hoping the policy changes will reduce the volume of incidents going forward. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 (US), 686868 (Canada), or 85258 (UK). Wikipedia maintains a list of crisis lines for people outside of those countries.

The largest bacterium discovered is visible to the naked eye Posted: 24 Jun 2022 06:30 AM PDT When you hear the word "bacteria," you probably picture organisms that couldn't be seen unless they're placed under a microscope. A bacterium that has now been classified as the largest in the world ever discovered, however, needs no special tools to be visible to the naked eye. Thiomargarita magnifica, as it's called, takes on a filament-like appearance and can be as long as a human eyelash. As the BBC notes, that makes it bigger than some more complex organisms, such as tiny flies, mites and worms. It was first discovered by marine biologist Olivier Gros living on sunken mangrove tree leaves in the French Caribbean back in 2009.  Due to the organism's size, Gros first thought he was looking at a eukaryote rather than simpler prokaryotic organisms like bacteria. It wasn't until he got back to his laboratory that he found out that it wasn't the case at all. Years later, Jean-Marie Volland and his team at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California took a closer look at the bacterium using various techniques, such as transmission electron microscopy, to confirm that it is indeed a single-cell organism. They've recently published a paper describing the centimeter-long bacterium in Science. Volland said T. magnifica is "5,000 times bigger than most bacteria" and is comparable to an average person "encountering another human as tall as Mount Everest." One other information Volland's team has discovered is that the bacterium keeps its DNA organized within a structure that has a membrane. In most bacteria, DNA materials just float freely in their cytoplasm. Further, it has around 6,000 billion bases of DNA. "For comparison, a diploid human genome is approximately six giga (billion) bases in size. So this means that our Thiomargarita stores several orders of magnitude more DNA in itself as compared to a human cell," said team member Tanja Woyke.  While the scientists know that T. magnifica grows on top of mangrove sediments in the Caribbean and that it creates energy to live using chemosynthesis, which is similar to photosynthesis in plants, there's still a lot about it that remains a mystery. And it'll likely take some time before the scientists can discover its secrets: They have yet to figure out how to grow the organism in the lab, so Gros has to gather samples every time they want to run an experiment. It doesn't help that the organism has an unpredictable life cycle. Gros told The New York Times that he couldn't even find any over the past two months.  Volland and his team now aim to find a way to grow T. magnifica in the lab. As for Gros, he now expects other teams to go off in search of even bigger bacteria, which like T. magnifica, may also be hiding in plain sight.

Meta's latest auditory AIs promise a more immersive AR/VR experience Posted: 24 Jun 2022 06:00 AM PDT The Metaverse, as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg envisions it, will be a fully immersive virtual experience that rivals reality, at least from the waist up. But the visuals are only part of the overall Metaverse experience. "Getting spatial audio right is key to delivering a realistic sense of presence in the metaverse," Zuckerberg wrote in a Friday blog post. "If you're at a concert, or just talking with friends around a virtual table, a realistic sense of where sound is coming from makes you feel like you're actually there." That concert, the blog post notes, will sound very different if performed in a full-sized concert hall than in a middle school auditorium on account of the differences between their physical spaces and acoustics. As such, Meta's AI and Reality Lab (MAIR, formerly FAIR) is collaborating with researchers from UT Austin to develop a trio of open source audio "understanding tasks" that will help developers build more immersive AR and VR experiences with more lifelike audio. The first is MAIR's Visual Acoustic Matching model, which can adapt a sample audio clip to any given environment using just a picture of the space. Want to hear what the NY Philharmonic would sound like inside San Francisco's Boom Boom Room? Now you can. Previous simulation models were able to recreate a room's acoustics based on its layout — but only if the precise geometry and material properties were already known — or from audio sampled within the space, neither of which produced particularly accurate results. MAIR's solution is the Visual Acoustic Matching model, called AViTAR, which "learns acoustic matching from in-the-wild web videos, despite their lack of acoustically mismatched audio and unlabeled data," according to the post. "One future use case we are interested in involves reliving past memories," Zuckerberg wrote, betting on nostalgia. "Imagine being able to put on a pair of AR glasses and see an object with the option to play a memory associated with it, such as picking up a tutu and seeing a hologram of your child's ballet recital. The audio strips away reverberation and makes the memory sound just like the time you experienced it, sitting in your exact seat in the audience." MAIR's Visually-Informed Dereverberation mode (VIDA), on the other hand, will strip the echoey effect from playing an instrument in a large, open space like a subway station or cathedral. You'll hear just the violin, not the reverberation of it bouncing off distant surfaces. Specifically, it "learns to remove reverberation based on both the observed sounds and the visual stream, which reveals cues about room geometry, materials, and speaker locations," the post explained. This technology could be used to more effectively isolate vocals and spoken commands, making them easier for both humans and machines to understand. VisualVoice does the same as VIDA but for voices. It uses both visual and audio cues to learn how to separate voices from background noises during its self-supervised training sessions. Meta anticipates this model getting a lot of work in the machine understanding applications and to improve accessibility. Think, more accurate subtitles, Siri understanding your request even when the room isn't dead silent or having the acoustics in a virtual chat room shift as people speaking move around the digital room. Again, just ignore the lack of legs. "We envision a future where people can put on AR glasses and relive a holographic memory that looks and sounds the exact way they experienced it from their vantage point, or feel immersed by not just the graphics but also the sounds as they play games in a virtual world," Zuckerberg wrote, noting that AViTAR and VIDA can only apply their tasks to the one picture they were trained for and will need a lot more development before public release. "These models are bringing us even closer to the multimodal, immersive experiences we want to build in the future."

Take a first look at Formula E’s new Gen3 car in action Posted: 24 Jun 2022 05:45 AM PDT Formula E recently showed off its latest Gen3 car that it says is faster, more agile and "the world's most efficient" racing vehicle to date. Now, we're getting a first look at one on a track at England's Goodwood in the form of the Mahinda M9 Electro with Nick Heidfeld at the wheel.  On its Twitter account, Goodwood said that Heidfeld was "not holding back" and it looked like the car made a clean lap other than a few minor lockups. On track, the Gen3 design certainly looks more subdued and less dramatic than the Gen2, but it's lighter (840kg compared to 920kg including driver) and quicker in every way. Here's the first glimpse of the @FIAFormulaE Gen 3 car. The @MahindraRacing Gen 3 car has @NickHeidfeld at the wheel and he's not holding back. What do you think of the new design?#M9Electro#Gen3#FOS#FormulaEpic.twitter.com/DsFLMxrGg7 — Goodwood FOS (@fosgoodwood) June 23, 2022 The Gen3 model is very specifically designed for street circuit racing with high maneuverability and speeds up to 200 MPH. That's not quite as fast as the 220-230 MPH top speeds for F1 cars, but the Formula E vehicles do that with less than half the power. They're also highly efficient, with over double the regenerative braking capabilities of the Gen2 cars. Overall, they convert 90 percent of battery energy to mechanical power, compared to 52 percent for F1 cars.  There are now 11 Gen3 teams confirmed with 22 cars, including DS Automobiles, Dragon/Penske, Envision, Mercedes-EQ, Avalanche Andretti, Jaguar, Maserati, NIO 333, Nissan and Porsche, along with Mahindra. The first season of Gen3 will kick off this winter with pre-season testing.

Engadget Podcast: Apple's baffling 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Posted: 24 Jun 2022 05:30 AM PDT What's so "Pro" about the new 13-inch MacBook Pro? Devindra and Cherlynn chat with Laptop Magazine's Editor-in-Chief, Sherri L. Smith, about Apple's confusing new ultraportable. Sure, the M2 chip makes it faster, but why does it have a worse screen and fewer features than the new MacBook Air? Are real professionals better off with the faster (but more expensive) 14-inch MacBook Pro? Also, they dive into the wild new VR headset prototypes from Meta, as well as Twitter's reinvention of blogging. Engadget · Apple's baffling 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Listen above, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News! Subscribe! iTunes Spotify Pocket Casts Stitcher Google Podcasts RSS Topics Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 is a strange disappointment – 1:18 Meta's VR prototypes seek to pass the "visual Turing test" – 22:59 Facebook Pay becomes Meta pay in hopes of becoming the metaverse's digital wallet – 28:06 Microsoft phases out AI that can detect human emotions – 32:45 Amazon is working on a way to digitize the voice of your dead loved ones – 33:59 Twitter introduces b̶l̶o̶g̶g̶i̶n̶g̶ longform writing feature, Notes – 36:09 Carl Pei's Nothing phone won't be coming to the US – 42:22 Working on – 43:28 Pop culture picks – 46:03 Livestream Credits Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar Guest: Sherri L. Smith, Editor-in-Chief, Laptop Magazine Producer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos Graphic artists: Luke Brooks and Brian Oh

Cruise begins charging fares for its driverless taxi service in San Francisco Posted: 24 Jun 2022 04:35 AM PDT GM's Cruise has started charging passengers for fully driverless rides in San Francisco. The company secured a driverless deployment permit from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) earlier this month, making it the first in the industry to do so. That allows Cruise to charge for rides with no safety driver behind the wheel, though its vehicles are limited to select streets in the city. In addition, the company's paid passenger service can only operate from 10PM to 6AM, and its cars can only drive at a max speed of 30 mph. Another limitation is that its driverless vehicles aren't allowed on highways and can't operate during times of heavy fog and rain. Still, it's a major milestone, not just for Cruise, but for the nascent robotaxi industry as a whole. Cruise's permit allows it to operate a commercial driverless ride—hailing service with a fleet of up to 30 vehicles. It previously said that it will roll out fared rides gradually, and it reiterated that plan in its latest announcement, where it noted that it's "inviting more people" into its driverless vehicles every week. The goal is to eventually be able to offer fared rides all day across the entire city. UPDATE: As of last night, fared rides are now rolling out to our customers in SF. If you're waiting to take your first driverless ride, we're inviting more people into our AVs each week, so sit tight— it'll be worth it! 😉 https://t.co/UpjuQ9K81Wpic.twitter.com/CwkD1LftnV — cruise (@Cruise) June 23, 2022 Cruise received permission to offer the public robotaxi rides last year, but it could only do so for free. The company, along with Waymo, was finally allowed to charge passengers this March, as long as they were rides with safety drivers behind the wheel. While Waymo can't charge for fully autonomous rides yet, it's still the only other company that's been granted a drivered deployment permit, based on CPUC's list.

The Morning After: A remastered version of 1997's 'Blade Runner' game finally arrives Posted: 24 Jun 2022 04:15 AM PDT Yes, Juul e-cigarettes have been banned in the US, but we talked about that yesterday. But what's like vapes? Replicants and '80s sci-fi? Maybe not, but anyway, Nightdive Studios has finally released Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition for Windows PCs (via Steam), PlayStation, Switch and Xbox consoles. The modernized version runs at 60 frames per second instead of the original's 15 fps, complete with updated animations and models. At the time, Westwood's 1997 game pushed the boundaries of both graphics and gameplay. Instead of the usually fixed plot, Blade Runner changed the replicants and humans around with each playthrough while also offering branching storylines. Rather than relying on either 2D art or crude 3D, the title used voxels (pixels with 3D attributes), giving far more visual detail for the era, including volumetric lighting. Think of it as the ray-tracing of '90's gaming. This choice in graphics technology made for a challenging remaster, however, as it didn't play well with graphics cards, and then the source code was lost in an office move. For those that played the unlicensed version, it might not look quite as good, but hey, at least it runs on your Switch. — Mat Smith The biggest stories you might have missed The best bike accessories you can buy Blackmagic's second-gen Pocket Cinema Camera 6K has a larger battery and a lower price Spotify's Live Event Feed makes it easier to find out when your favorite artist is touring 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge' is a glorious beat-'em-up revival Chrome on iOS will be able to autofill your saved passwords on any app 'Strange New Worlds' mixes the maudlin and irreverent Microsoft Edge update brings Xbox streaming 'Clarity Boost' to everyone LG's latest flagship Atmos soundbar is now available for $1,799 The FDA has banned Juul The Vapes of wrath. Reuters As teased yesterday, the FDA has banned e-cigarette maker Juul from selling and distributing its products in the US. It ordered the company to remove its wares from the market or face enforcement actions. Juul told Engadget it intends to seek a stay on the decision. It's exploring all other options, including an appeal. Continue reading. Samsung debuts its smallest 200-megapixel smartphone sensor yet Slimmer, high-resolution phone cameras are incoming. Despite featuring some of the smallest pixels yet, Samsung's new 200-megapixel camera sensor has autofocus capability in every pixel, binning for better low-light capability and multi-gain ISO for maximum dynamic range. Each pixel has autofocus detection capability, and the Super QPD tech uses a single lens over four pixels for quicker and more accurate autofocus. It can also bin four 0.56 micron pixels into a larger 1.12 micron 50-megapixel sensor for better low-light capability, or even combine 16 pixels into one 2.24 microns in size. Continue reading. The Polestar 5 will have an 884 hp electric powertrain when it launches in 2024 A prototype of the EV showcases at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Polestar The Polestar 5 is making its first public appearance at the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex, England. As part of the First Glance vehicles event, a prototype of the upcoming four-door electric GT sports car will drive up the Goodwood hill twice each day. The Polestar 5 is the production version of a concept EV called Precept, introduced back in 2020. When the company announced it was going to turn the concept into a real vehicle, it said it would manufacture the EV at a new carbon-neutral facility in China. Continue reading. Netflix lays off 300 more employees The company previously cut 150 jobs in May amid business woes. Netflix has laid off around 300 people in its latest round of job cuts. Most of the layoffs were in the US, according to Variety, and affected a number of departments. This is Netflix's second round of layoffs due to slowing revenue growth. It laid off 150 employees, along with many part-time workers and contractors, back in May. The company has around 11,000 employees globally. Netflix is still hiring on other fronts and has already earmarked around $17 billion to invest in content this year alone. Continue reading. eBay bought an NFT art marketplace This comes after the website launched its own NFT collection in May. eBay has truly (unfortunately?) fully embraced non-fungible tokens: The e-commerce company has acquired KnownOrigin, an established marketplace for digital art NFTs. KnownOrigin has been around since 2018 and gives artists a platform to create and sell their art as NFTs in exchange for cryptocurrency payments. Continue reading.

Codemasters breaks down how it made the cars in 'F1 22' sound like the real thing Posted: 24 Jun 2022 03:25 AM PDT EA's Codemasters is making F1 2022 audio more realistic with an improved driver modes plus updates that make broadcast and car sounds more authentic, it revealed in its latest Developer Deep Dive video. It also unveiled its first licensed soundtrack with 33 songs from artists like Charli XCX, Hozier and Marshmellow.  This year Formula 1 introduced all new cars that rely on floor tunnels to generate downforce and allow for tighter racing, along with all-new engines and more. F1 2022 is on top of those changes not just with the physics and visuals but also the sounds. To that end, the game has introduced all-new engine bundles based on the real vehicle sounds to give you the feeling of sitting in real Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes and other Formula 1 vehicles.  "In a game like F1 22 the cars are the star so we want them to sound as authentic as possible. We record the actual cars every season and it's important that we recreate the authenticity of the engines," said audio director Brad Porter. "Players use the sound of the engine to drive the car so it's important to get that across as accurately as possible."  That also includes touches like recording audio using the real headsets from team race engineers and simulating how things would sound to a driver inside a helmet. The developers also used mics that are very close to what announcers use in order accurately simulate the broadcast audio.  That allowed the team to enhance the different sound modes available, including both Driver mode and Broadcast mode. The latter mode is designed to sound as close as possible to what you'd here on TV, Porter explained. It also enhanced the Cinematic mode to make it "larger than life" with "bespoke" touches like enhanced engine sounds, crowd noise and more. They've also added new settings to let players play with the mix of sounds more than ever. Other new touches include the addition of Natalie Pinkham as a co-commentator, new recordings of all the announcers and authentic sounds from pit lane, garage and paddocks. Another big change is the addition of licensed music like you'll find in other EA games, letting players choose between 33 songs from artists ranging from Charli XCX to Deadmaus to Diplo. "It is an accelerative soundtrack experience, designed to strap the player into the cockpit and driven by the unrivalled energy of the new era of Formula 1," the development team said.

SpaceX accuses Dish of 'faulty' analysis in ongoing battle over 5G spectrum Posted: 24 Jun 2022 02:45 AM PDT Dish's plan to use 12GHz radio spectrum for its 5G network could drastically affect the Starlink satellite internet network, SpaceX said in a letter to the FCC. "If Dish's lobbying efforts succeed, our study shows that Starlink customers will experience harmful interference more than 77 percent of the time and total outage of service 74 percent of the time, rendering Starlink unusable for most Americans," wrote SpaceX senior director David Goldman.  Dish has asked the FCC to allow it to use the 12Ghz band for a terrestrial 5G network, despite potential satellite interference with Starlink and other services, including its own Dish Network. Dish and its allies in the 5Gfor12GHz coalition recently published research saying that doing so would be "highly feasible" and that Starlink and similar services "will experience zero harmful interference with 5G." However, SpaceX called the analysis "faulty" and told the FCC that "no reasonable engineer" would believe the studies. "SpaceX urges the Commission to investigate whether Dish and [Dell-owned] RS Access filed intentionally misleading reports," it said. The Elon Musk-owned company also pointed out that the studies don't align with Dish's own filings from December 2019 that "concurrent sharing of spectrum... is not viable in the 12 GHz band."  Dish said that its "expert engineers are evaluating SpaceX's claims in the filing," in a statement to CNN Business, but there's no comment yet from the FCC. Previously, FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel called the case "one of the most complex dockets we have... it's going to take a lot of technical work to make sure that the airwaves can accommodate all those different uses without harmful interference." Spectrum battles have been waged frequently over the last several years, with one of the most recent being over potential 5G interference with aviation usage. Recent studies have found that countries exploiting spectrum have significantly expanded their economies compared to other nations.

Nothing Phone 1 pre-order reservations start today Posted: 24 Jun 2022 02:00 AM PDT You can finally put money toward the Nothing Phone 1 — provided you can join an exclusive club. Nothing has opened pre-order reservations for its first smartphone using an invitation code system. Private community members go first, and will have 48 hours to use their code, place a £20 (roughly $25) non-refundable deposit and secure an order opportunity on July 12th. Everyone else can sign up for a waiting list that will deliver invitations in batches. If you do go ahead with an order, Nothing will deduct the deposit from the purchase and supply a further £20 credit to use toward either a Phone 1 accessory or Ear 1 earbuds. The company hasn't yet revealed the price of the phone itself. As Nothing warned earlier, the Phone 1 won't officially come to North America outside of a closed beta for a handful of private community investors. The device should work, but won't have full support. If the pre-order strategy sounds familiar, it should. Nothing founder Carl Pei's former outfit OnePlus used an invitation system for years. The effect may be similar. Invitation-based orders help manage tight supply (by controlling sales and improving demand estimates) while creating a cachet that might spur demand. It's not clear when you'll get to order a Phone 1 on a whim, but don't be surprised if you end up waiting awhile.

Nothing's Carl Pei thinks everyone else's smartphones are boring Posted: 24 Jun 2022 02:00 AM PDT Carl Pei thinks there's something wrong with the smartphone industry. That's not to say the handsets on sale today are bad. Across the board, modern mobiles are faster, more sophisticated and take better photos than previous generations. But like a growing number of tech enthusiasts, Pei has started feeling like new phones just aren't as special as the devices that came out five or 10 years ago. So ahead of the launch of the Phone 1 on July 12th (pre-orders begin today), I sat down with the founder and CEO of Nothing to learn how the mobile startup is trying to bring some innovation, quirkiness, and maybe even a bit of fun back to the smartphone market. Now there's a very logical explanation for why recent phones don't possess the same kind of wow factor. Back when the iPhone made its debut, it felt like a revelation. "I used to watch all the launches. I was in Sweden, so I stayed up until midnight or 4AM to see what was coming out," said Pei. But in recent years, that excitement has waned, with Pei often skipping big keynotes and relying on condensed recaps to stay informed. And it's not just Pei that feels this way. Nothing "When I talk to consumers, they are also quite indifferent," says Pei. "When doing focus groups, some consumers said they believe smartphone brands are holding features back intentionally just so they have something to launch for the next iteration, which is not the truth. But if consumers feel that way, it's a sign that they're kind of bored." The big issue for Pei is one of stagnation. With major players like LG and HTC having exited the market or becoming irrelevant, the smartphone industry is dominated by a handful of huge corporations like Apple, Samsung, and Google. "You have a few big companies and the way they work is more structured and systematic," said Pei. "They have technology roadmaps from partners like Qualcomm, Sony or Samsung Display, so they know what's coming. They do a lot of consumer research, they get their feedback and they look at their competitors and the overall market landscape." However, Pei feels that approach leads to a lot of sameness. "So they have this information, they analyze it, and then they create a very rational product that is going to do well on paper because they used all this great data," said Pei. "But the problem is everybody's using the same data and everybody's using the same analysis. So if the input is the same and the method is the same, the output is more or less the same as well." Nothing That's one thing Pei is trying to change with Nothing's upcoming handset, the Phone 1. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel – or in this case, the phone – Pei wants to bring some originality back to mobile tech design. "Maybe we can turn down the brain a little bit and turn up the intuition," said Pei, which is a mantra that has resulted in some of the Phone 1's more unique features including its design, embedded lighting and glyph interface. Pei says the inspiration behind the Phone 1's design comes from a concept the team describes as "raw technology meets human warmth," or technical warmth for short. "It's got this machine-like nature to it, but also has quirky and very human elements as well." That's why instead of hiding the inside of the device behind an opaque back, like you see on so many other phones, Nothing uses transparent glass that exposes components like the Phone 1's wireless charging coil, heat pipes, and more. In a lot of ways, it feels like a modern industrialist take on the Game Boys and iMacs with see-through plastic shells we got in the 90s and early 2000s. "I think one thing we're trying to accomplish is to bring people back in time to when they felt more optimistic about gadgets," said Pei. This desire to make tech fun again is actually something Nothing carried throughout its entire design process, right down to Phone 1's codename Abra, which is a reference to the psychic Pokemon of the same name. (For the record, Pei says his favorite 'Mon is Squirtle.) There are other quirks too, like the heat pipe at the bottom of the phone that looks like an elephant and the red indicator light in back that lets people know when a video is being recorded. See if you can spot the elephant hidden in the Phone 1's design. Nothing However, while Pei wants to bring fun back to gadgets, Nothing always falls back on the core design principle of form following function. Pei said "We don't do ornaments. We can design different things and unique things, but they always have to be functional." The best example of this is the Phone 1's glyph interface, which uses 900 LEDs arranged across the back of the device to create a sophisticated notification system unlike anything out right now. By allowing owners to assign unique combinations of lights and sounds to different contacts, the idea is that people will be able to see who is calling or texting without looking at the screen. Even the Phone 1's ringtones evoke old-school analog synths combined with the noise of a dial-up modem, it's both fresh and retro at the same time. On top of that, the lights glow when the phone is wireless or reverse wireless charging, while the small strip of LEDs next to the charging port can show how much juice the phone has – once again, without ever seeing the screen. That said, having big ideas about phone design and actually making them a reality are very different things. Making phones is hard, and trying to break into the market as a startup is damn near impossible. If you look at the industry today, the only company that has really broken through in the last decade is OnePlus, which was co-founded by Pei and received significant backing as part of BBK Electronics' tech umbrella. Meanwhile, the junkheap of failed smartphone startups is littered with ambitious companies like Essential (whose branding and IP are actually now owned by Nothing) that teased similarly big ideas, but went belly up before ever making a second-gen device. Or consider more mainstream companies like Motorola, who failed to make modular phones more than a novelty with its Z-series devices. And ever since, Moto has largely played it safe by shelling out endless rehashes of its G-series line. Nothing "The reason why this industry is very hard is because it requires end-to-end capability," Pei said. "If you're going to create a smartphone company, every single team has to be at least seven out of 10. And some of them have to be even better if your product is going to stand out in some way." "Your supply chain team has to be great. Your mechanical engineering, your software, engineering, your industrial design, your sales, your marketing, your customer support," said Pei. And if we look back at the PH-1 which had an innovative design and a team with serious pedigree, in the end, a handful of issues like its high price and weak camera quality at launch ultimately spelled doom for Essential. On the flipside, despite Pei claiming that Nothing has already sold more than 560,000 pairs of its Ear 1 buds, there are concerns about the Phone 1 being overhyped. Some commenters online have even compared Nothing's community forums to a cult based on early reactions to what remains an unreleased device. But when it comes to hype, Pei feels like there's only one road that leads to success. "One is the path we currently are taking. We try and create the maximum interest for a product at launch. That sets really high expectations for the product to deliver. And if it does, things go really well. If it doesn't, maybe it fizzles out." However, the challenge is that if a company tries to reign in the hype, the product may never take off regardless of quality. Pei said "In this path, we at least have a chance to try and deliver a great product. The second option is being a small company with no marketing budget is that no one will know about your device. So even if the product is good, the result is still that nobody cares. You don't even have a chance to prove yourself. This is actually our only logical option." Nothing So while the design of the Phone 1 is quite unique and eye-catching, Pei preaches a pragmatic approach. Instead of taking a huge swing right out the gate, Pei is looking to gradually grow Nothing's business and ecosystem, starting with its first earbuds and soon, its first phone. "We're a fast follower. We didn't invent smartphones. We didn't invent Android, but we have experience in this market. We see ways in which we could do it better and some gaps in the market." But Pei knows Nothing needs to take it one step at a time. "We need to gradually build to a position of strength. Then when you're strong, you can go and do something really, really innovative, because you'll have a business that's stable enough to take a lot of shots." However, while the success (or failure) of the Phone 1 is still to be determined, I appreciate that not only is Pei challenging billion-dollar giants with a new smartphone startup, Nothing is also trying to shake things up in the process. "I think this device is the beginning of something different, but it's also a gift to our industry," said Pei. "We're not saying this is a revolutionary product that's going to change the entire industry overnight. But maybe it's going to plant a germ in people's minds." In a sea of similar-looking glass bricks, Pei hopes the Phone 1 will encourage customers to ask for more creative devices while also sparking larger companies to take more risks. "Some of it will fail. But ultimately, the smartphone market is going to be much more dynamic and we'll improve faster as an industry."

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick gets to keep his board seat Posted: 24 Jun 2022 01:23 AM PDT Bobby Kotick will get to keep his seat on Activision Blizzard's board of directors despite catching flak over the alleged role he played in creating the company's toxic workplace culture. At the video game developers' annual meeting of stockholders, investors voted on several proposals, as well as who gets to be on the company's board of directors over the next year. A total of 533,703,580 shareholders have voted to keep Kotick on the board, while on 62,597,199 have voted against it. As GameInformer notes, that means he gets to keep his seat until the next meeting in 2023.  Activision Blizzard employees walked out of their jobs last year and called for Kotick's resignation after The Wall Street Journal reported that the CEO knew about the worst instances of abuse in the company and even protected the employees accused of harassment. If you'll recall, California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing sued the publisher in July 2021 for allegedly fostering a "frat boy" culture. The California agency investigated the company over the course of two years and found that women working for Activision Blizzard were paid less than their male counterparts and were subjected to constant sexual harassment.  More recently, the New York City Employees' Retirement System sued Kotick, calling him unfit to negotiate the company's pending sale to Microsoft due to his "personal responsibility and liability for Activision's broken workplace." NYC's retirement system represents the city's police, teachers and firefighters and owns Activision Blizzard stock. The company named a new chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer in April to help the company have a more inclusive workplace. In response, a group of employees aiming to protect workers from discrimination formed a committee to outline a list of demands for Kotick and the new chief diversity officer.  While majority of the shareholders have chosen to keep Kotick on the board, they also approved a plan to release an annual public report detailing how Activision handles any sexual harassment and gender discrimination dispute. The report must also detail how the company is preventing these incidents from happening and what it's doing to reduce the length of time it takes to resolve them.

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