Thursday, June 2, 2022

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Chipotle now accepts cryptocurrency payments

Posted: 02 Jun 2022 05:30 AM PDT

You can now reportedly pay for your burritos and tacos with Bitcoin and other digital currencies, in case you don't mind spending your coins directly instead of going through exchanges first. Flexa has announced that the Mexican fast food chain can now accept digital payments through its platform. The option is apparently available at all Chipotle locations in the US, and you can use it so long as you have a Flexa-enabled wallet app, such as Gemini and SPEDN. You simply have to fire up your app, choose Chipotle and show your phone at the cashier.

With this update, Chipotle joins the list of famous food chains that accept cryptocurrency as payment, including Starbucks and Subway. Other retailers and stores, such as Nordstrom have also started taking digital coin payments in recent years. For a while, you could even buy a Tesla with Bitcoin in the US, though the automaker ended up suspending the method, citing environmental concerns. One of the biggest issues surrounding digital currencies is how much energy they consume and how big their impact is on the environment. 

Chipotle has yet to issue an official statement about the payment option — we've reached out to the company for confirmation — but Flexa says it's giving everyone 10 percent off their next purchase at the restaurant until June 30th. There's a one transaction limit, though, and the max discount you can get is $10.

Toyota’s prototype 'cartridge' is a way to make hydrogen portable

Posted: 02 Jun 2022 05:00 AM PDT

One of the myriad issues with hydrogen as a clean energy source is infrastructure, as it's very expensive to move around and store an extremely explosive gas. Toyota and its subsidiary Woven Planet believe they may have a solution with a new portable hydrogen cartridge prototype. The idea is that they can be filled up at a dedicated facility, transported where needed, then returned when you receive your next shipment. 

The cartridges would be relatively small at 16 inches long, 7 inches in diameter and about 11 pounds in weight. Toyota calls them "portable, affordable, and convenient energy that makes it possible to bring hydrogen to where people live, work, and play without the use of pipes.. [and] swappable for easy replacement and quick charging." 

They could be useful for "mobility [i.e. hydrogen cars], household applications, and many future possibilities we have yet to imagine," Toyota said. It didn't mention any specific uses, but it said that "one hydrogen cartridge is assumed to generate enough electricity to operate a typical household microwave for approximately 3-4 hours."

In its press release, Toyota acknowledges that most hydrogen is made from fossil fuels and so not exactly green. But it thinks that it'll be generated with low carbon emissions in the future, and that the cartridges could help with some of the infrastructure issues. 

Toyota plans to test that theory by conducting proof of concept trials in various places, including its "human-centered smart city of the future," Woven City in Susono City, Zhizuoka Prefecture in Japan. The company is also "working to build a comprehensive hydrogen-based supply chain aimed at expediting and simplifying production, transport, and daily usage," it said. 

Hydrogen is an impractical fuel for automobiles, mainly due to the expense and lack of places to refuel. It's more viable for things like trains and semi trucks, where electrification can be more of a challenge. It also holds promise for air transportation, as batteries are too heavy to be practical in that situation. However, Toyota seems to be pitching the cartridges for personal and home use, but it's not yet clear what you'd use them for. 

The Morning After: ‘Diablo Immortal’ arrives, with loot boxes

Posted: 02 Jun 2022 04:15 AM PDT

As long as you don't live in certain countries, you'll be able to play Blizzard's latest Diablo game across mobile, console and PC starting today. Diablo Immortal actually snuck on to smartphone a day early and offers the waves of monsters and skill refinements fans will love. However, this is tempered by loot box mechanics, which means you'll probably have to pay up to ensure your barbarian or magic-wielder can make it to the end-game.

Like many loot box systems, it's intentionally messy: You'll pay for crests for the opportunity (at varying probabilities) to pick up powerful gem add-ons — with differing degrees of power. Engadget's Igor Bonifacic has played Immortal for a week and thinks there's a good game here — especially for Diablo die-hard fans. But, ugh, loot boxes.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Porsche pours more cash into EV supercar company Rimac

Part of $500 million in total investments.

Porsche is strengthening its relationship with EV supercar company Rimac, investing "eight figures" for a total ownership stake of 20 percent. The company has become a key supplier and collaborator on EVs built by Hyundai, Porsche and other mainstream automakers.

Last year, Rimac set up a joint venture with Porsche to run Bugatti after Volkswagen ceded ownership. The new entity, called Bugatti Rimac, recently unveiled the 1,914HP Rimac Nevera EV hypercar. Price TBC, but probably heart-attack inducing.

Continue reading.

The largest plant in the world is an ancient self-cloning seagrass

It covers 180 kilometers of Shark Bay in Australia.

Shark Bay, an Australian World Heritage Area, serves as home to animals that feed on its thriving seagrass. It turns out, that seagrass, called Poseidon's ribbon weed, or Posidonia australis, is a single ancient plant that's been cloning itself for 4,500 years.

Researchers from the University of Western Australia and Flinders University have found the seagrass stretching across 180 kilometers (112 miles) — the size of Cincinnati, as The New York Times notes — of Shark Bay is just a single plant.

Continue reading.

Mercedes debuts the final version of its F1-inspired 1,000HP hybrid hypercar

But you're more likely to drive the new hybrid-only GLC.

TMA
Mercedes

Mercedes is finally ready to show the finished version of its hybrid hypercar. The production Mercedes-AMG One now packs a Formula 1-derived, 1,063HP hybrid powertrain with a turbocharged 1.6-liter V6 engine and four electric motors. The first customers should get their Mercedes-AMG One cars in the second half of 2022. Not that you're going to buy one — all of the production models have been spoken for despite the $2.7 million price tag.

Continue reading.

'Pokémon Scarlet' and 'Violet' are coming to Switch on November 18th

The new games will feature four-player co-op.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the next mainline entries in Game Freak's long-running RPG series, will come to Nintendo Switch on November 18th, The Pokémon Company announced today. In addition to including new creatures to catch, the two games will feature four-player multiplayer, allowing you and your friends to experience the game's new region together. Game Freak promises Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will represent its first true open-world experience after the spin-off title Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

Continue reading.

Google is scrapping Assistant's ability to set location-based reminders

Posted: 02 Jun 2022 02:59 AM PDT

For people who know it exists, the ability to set location-based reminders is one of Google Assistant's most useful features. It lets them specify a location, so that they can get an alert when they arrive wherever it is — for instance, a user can say "Remind me to call [name of their friend] in NYC," and Assistant will send them a notification when they step foot in the city. The bad news for those who rely on the feature to remind them to get certain things from the grocery store or to fill up their car tanks when they pass by a gas station is that it'll soon no longer exist. In the Assistant Help page, Google added a line that says: "The option to create reminders for a certain location is going away soon."

The company trailed behind Apple and Amazon in introducing the feature and first announced the ability to set location-based reminders via Google Home devices in 2018. As 9to5Google notes, Google has only just started notifying users who set reminders with a location attached that the feature is getting axed. It didn't say why, though, and only recommended setting reminders at a certain time or setting routines for a location instead. For the latter, users will be able to prompt Assistant to perform a series of tasks triggered based on where they are. 

Google doesn't have a concrete date for the feature's removal, but 9to5Google says it could be part of the company's efforts to make way for the long-awaited "Memory" upgrade for Assistant. It's meant to transform the voice assistant into a handy organizer, letting users save content, images, reminders and other items in one place that has a smart search function. 

Amazon employees call on the company to stop selling books deemed as anti-trans

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 11:43 PM PDT

In 2021, a handful of Amazon employees quit the company over its decision to sell books that suggest kids who identify as transgender are mentally ill. Now, a group of employees is protesting its continued sale of those books by disrupting a Pride event at its headquarters in Seattle. According to The Washington Post, around 30 members of the organization No Hate at Amazon laid on the ground wrapped in trans flags to stop the company's annual Pride flag-raising tradition. An organizer said: "Amazon does have standing policies against hate speech in its content and technically they say we don't sell it." But in truth, those contentious books are still listed on its website.

In a petition the group previously circulated to get Amazon to stop selling anti-trans books, it specifically named two titles: Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters by Abigail Shrier and Johnny the Walrus by American conservative political commentator Matt Walsh. "By continuing to sell and promote anti-trans books and repeating the rhetoric of the anti-trans hate movement, Amazon upper management has allowed the store that we build and operate to be complicit in [the anti-trans] hate movement," the petition reads.

At least one employee who participated in the event quit the company this week. Senior software engineer Lina Jodoin explained that it's more than just about the sale of those books, but also about the response they've gotten from management when they tried to escalate their concerns. And based on the company's response to the protest, it will keep on selling those titles.

Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser told The Post in a statement:

"As a company, we believe strongly in diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a bookseller, we've chosen to offer a very broad range of viewpoints, including books that conflict with our company values and corporate positions. We believe that it's possible to do both – to offer a broad range of viewpoints in our bookstore, and support diversity, equity, and inclusion."
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