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• FIFA OKs sensor ball and semi-automatic offside tracking for the 2022 World Cup
• A 'Doom' mobile game from 2005 is now playable on Windows
• FCC clears SpaceX to put its Starlink satellite WiFi in vehicles
• TikTok tells senators how it plans to beef up data security for American users
• Engadget Podcast: Our digital privacy and rights post-Roe v. Wade
• FDA says updated COVID-19 Omicron boosters won’t require new clinical trials
• Apple needs to take fertility tracking more seriously
• Biden will posthumously award Steve Jobs the Presidential Medal of Freedom
• The best 4th of July tech sales we could find
• Comcast’s refreshed Xfinity Stream app launches on Apple TV
• Sonos' latest refurbished sale knocks $360 off the Arc soundbar
• We’re heading for a messy, and expensive, breakup with natural gas
• Ducati's first electric motorcycle is designed for MotoE racing
• Meta allows select creators to post their NFTs on Facebook
• How to survive the inevitable CD revival
• Anova's Precision Cooker Nano drops to $99 at Amazon
• NVIDIA's new Shield update can stop late-night movies waking up the entire house
• Uber's second safety report shows a fall in assaults but traffic deaths rise
• The Morning After: Major League Baseball wants to deploy strike zone robo-umpires in 2024
• Google offers developers $90 million to settle Play Store billing fight
• Tesla faces new lawsuit over claims of racism and harassment at its Fremont factory
• Instagram test turns all video posts into Reels
• The EU introduces new crypto rules to protect against fraud and climate impact
• Meta cuts hiring plans as it prepares for 'serious times'

FIFA OKs sensor ball and semi-automatic offside tracking for the 2022 World Cup Posted: 01 Jul 2022 02:30 PM PDT FIFA World Cup 2022 will feature an updated VAR (video assistant referee) system known as semi-automated offside technology, the international soccer governing body announced today. SAOT will replace the old (and still controversial) VAR system that FIFA first debuted at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The new system features 12 stadium cameras that will track the positioning of both the ball and each individual player, including 29 different data points on each player's limbs and extremities. On top of that, a ball outfitted with a motion sensor will be used in each match, which will deliver live data on a player's position at the time it's kicked. FIFA believes that SOAT will help match officials make faster and more accurate decisions on offside calls. "VAR has already had a very positive impact on football and we can see that the number of major mistakes has already been dramatically reduced. We expect that semi-automated offside technology can take us a step further," said FIFA Referees Committee Chairman Pierluigi Collina in a statement. According to ESPN, the new system should cut the average time it takes to make a VAR offside decision from 70 seconds to 25 seconds. The old VAR system required manually drawing offside lines and calculating the kick point. FIFA officials claim that SOAT will automatically select both the offside line and kick point in seconds, using both data from the ball and limb-tracking data from the cameras. Human officials will then manually confirm each decision. After each decision is reached, a 3D animation will be displayed to spectators that visualizes the offside decision. While it may seem risky to debut a completely new virtual referee system at a global event like the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, a more basic version of SOAT went through trial runs at last year's Arab Cup in Qatar and this year's FIFA Club World Cup. You can watch a demonstration of SOAT here.

A 'Doom' mobile game from 2005 is now playable on Windows Posted: 01 Jul 2022 01:30 PM PDT A dedicated group of fans has excavated a Doom mobile game from the sands of time and made it playable again. You won't find 2005's Doom RPG on the App Store or Play Store: it actually predates iOS and Android by a couple of years. And while Fountainhead Entertainment looked into bringing Doom RPG to Nintendo DS around the time of its original release, the game was exclusively available on Java- and BREW-compatible handsets. Until now. A small group of developers in Costa Rica going by the name of GEC.inc reverse engineered Doom RPG and got it to work on Windows. Although the port is free to download, it doesn't contain any of the original files you need to actually run the game. Doom RPG at last, finally on PC as promised years ago come true today. You can play it now, download link from Doomworld : https://t.co/5mLMVPvOPipic.twitter.com/tUSP5q44IU — GEC.inc (@inc_gec) June 29, 2022 As Ars Technica points out, you'd technically need to have the game installed on a compatible, still-working phone that might be old enough to vote if it were a person. You'd also have to find a way to extract the game files from said device and convert them. On the other hand, you may be able to find Doom RPG by alternate means. You'll still have to convert the files to make the game work, but that seems to be an easy process. Doom RPG has clear ties to the rest of the series. John Carmack, the lead programmer of the original Doom, was the game director. The game features the protagonist of the first three Doom titles (dubbed "Doomguy" by fans). But instead of rampaging through levels and mowing down monsters in real-time, Doom RPG adopted a turn-based format. It's always great to see enthusiasts finding ways to preserve games, especially a relatively obscure one that's part of such a famous series. Perhaps for their next trick, the folks at GEC.inc will revive Doom RPG II. Although you can still buy that game from the App Store, it's not compatible with recent versions of iOS. According to the store listing, however, it will run on a Mac running macOS 11.0 or later as long as it has an M1 chip.

FCC clears SpaceX to put its Starlink satellite WiFi in vehicles Posted: 01 Jul 2022 12:46 PM PDT SpaceX's satellite internet service is officially going mobile after the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday authorized the company to provide its Starlink WiFi service to vehicles. SpaceX already offers Starlink home internet, which left beta last October. "We agree with SpaceX... that the public interest would benefit by granting with conditions their applications," The FCC wrote in its authorization letter. "Authorizing a new class of terminals for SpaceX's satellite system will expand the range of broadband capabilities to meet the growing user demands that now require connectivity while on the move, whether driving an RV across the country, moving a freighter from Europe to a U.S. port, or while on a domestic or international flight." Starlink had already begun expanding its terrestrial footprint, even before the FCC decision, installing receiver dishes at Tesla Supercharger stations, raising prices and unveiling a $500/month Premium service tier. SpaceX has also recently announced partnerships with Delta and Hawaiian Airlines to potentially offer the service aboard their aircraft.  SpaceX, and CEO Elon Musk, have also played the hero in recent months by offering an "internet bridge" to volcano-devastated Tonga and providing Starlink terminals to the Ukraine government — a generous offer that was, like most of Musk's ventures, footed by the American taxpayer. The internet service — more specifically, the massive constellation of microsatellites in Low Earth Orbit that enable it — has also drawn condemnation from astronomers worldwide who argue that the highly-reflective satellites, of which there currently more than 2,200 in orbit and which Musk wants 40,000 more of, are grossly interfering with the operation of ground-based telescopes.

TikTok tells senators how it plans to beef up data security for American users Posted: 01 Jul 2022 12:16 PM PDT In a letter to nine Republican senators, TikTok said it's working to "remove any doubt about the security of US user data." CEO Shou Zi Chew reiterated a claim that TikTok stores American user data on servers run by Oracle, which will be audited by a third party. Chew also said the company expects to "delete US users' protected data from our own systems and fully pivot to Oracle cloud servers located in the US." "[We] are working with Oracle on new, advanced data security controls that we hope to finalize in the near future," Chew wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The New York Times. "That work puts us closer to the day when we will be able to pivot toward a novel and industry-leading system for protecting the data of our users in the United States, with robust, independent oversight to ensure compliance." Chew was responding to questions in a letter sent by the Republican senators — including Roger Wicker, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Commerce Committee — following a report by BuzzFeed News. The publication reported last month that China-based engineers of ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, accessed non-public data on users in the US between at least September 2021 and January 2022. The report also prompted Brendan Carr, the Federal Communication Commission's senior Republican commissioner, to call on Apple and Google to remove the TikTok app from their stores. Carr requested a response from the companies by July 8th if they choose not to remove TikTok from the App Store and Play Store, respectively. In the letter, Chew refuted much of BuzzFeed News' reporting, though conceded that ByteDance workers outside the US can access American user data "subject to a series of robust cybersecurity controls and authorization approval protocols overseen by our US-based security team. In addition, TikTok has an internal data classification system and approval process in place that assigns levels of access based on the data's classification and requires approvals for access to US user data." Legislators have been raising security concerns about TikTok over the last few years. In August 2020, then-president Donald Trump signed an executive order that would have made it difficult, if not impossible, for the app to operate in the US. The following month, Trump approved, in principle, a deal that would see Oracle and Walmart take a stake in a new company that would run TikTok's business in the US. Microsoft was also in the running to secure a deal. A federal judge struck down Trump's order just before it was supposed to take effect. President Joe Biden rescinded the order in January 2021, but signed a separate one that required a security review of that app and WeChat. The following month, the Oracle and Walmart deal was reportedly put on hold indefinitely.

Engadget Podcast: Our digital privacy and rights post-Roe v. Wade Posted: 01 Jul 2022 11:05 AM PDT This week, Cherlynn is joined by senior editors Jessica Conditt and Karissa Bell to discuss the United States ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, and how, in our digital age, it affects the most vulnerable in our communities. Then, our hosts look at the Supreme Court ruling that guts the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to enforce the Clean Air Act. In consumer tech news, we also look at Sony's new PlayStation-inspired peripherals and Snapchat's new subscription service. Listen below, 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! Engadget · Our digital privacy and rights after Roe v. Wade Subscribe! iTunes Spotify Pocket Casts Stitcher Google Podcasts Topics What digital privacy looks like post-Roe v. Wade – 1:41 SCOTUS nerfs the EPA's ability to enforce carbon emission limits – 42:10 Layoffs at Unity, Niantic, and Tesla – 45:26 Apple is starting to allow third party payments in Korea – 49:55 Sony's new hardware brand brings headsets and monitors with PlayStation style – 52:17 Snapchat + is membership model for power users – 56:25 Picks – 59:59 Credits Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Jessica Conditt Guest: Karissa Bell Producer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien

FDA says updated COVID-19 Omicron boosters won’t require new clinical trials Posted: 01 Jul 2022 09:23 AM PDT A Food and Drug Administration official said COVID-19 vaccine makers won't need to carry out fresh clinical trials to receive approval for booster shots they're updating for newer Omicron variants. Dr. Peter Marks, who runs the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told Reuters the agency will use data from trials for vaccines that target BA.1 — the Omicron variant that caused a huge surge in infections last winter — as well as manufacturing data to assess the vaccines. Safety data and preclinical data from animal studies may also be used.  This week, the FDA asked vaccine manufacturers to modify booster shots to target the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants in addition to the original strain of the virus. The agency hopes the updated boosters will be ready by the fall. "It's going to be really critical as we move into this fall where we've seen this evolution into BA.4/5, where we could see further evolution, to try to get as many people boosted as we can," Marks said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says BA.1 isn't circulating in the US anymore, but BA.4 and BA.5 now account for over 52 percent of COVID-19 infections in the country. Combined, they made up just 0.5 percent of cases in the US at the end of April. Pfizer and Moderna this week released clinical trial data which suggests versions of their shots that target BA.1 offered a stronger immune response than the initial COVID-19 vaccines. Those boosters did not perform quite as well against BA.4 and BA.5. However, the data showed that the immune response was still robust.

Apple needs to take fertility tracking more seriously Posted: 01 Jul 2022 09:00 AM PDT Fertility apps have always been sketchy. As I've experienced it, it's a Faustian bargain of sorts: Take your chances on one of many options in your app store, and pick the one with the best reviews, or maybe the simplest interface. You'll sign up feeling unsure of what to make of the opaque data policy, and then you'll bear with the ensuing deluge of targeted ads – all in exchange for an accurate prediction of when you're most likely to conceive. Judging by those ads for maternity clothes and organic cotton onesies, someone somewhere knows I'm either trying to conceive or have already given birth, even if they can't decide which. I don't like it, but I put up with it. I've been mulling the subject of period and fertility trackers ever since I decided I was ready to become a parent, though for privacy's sake, I didn't imagine writing about it until after I'd given birth to said imaginary baby. But in the two months since Politico published a draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson, the case that has overturned the constitutional right to an abortion guaranteed by Roe v. Wade, a lot of people have been talking about period trackers. Some activists and privacy advocates have asked if the data captured by these apps can be used to help prosecute someone seeking an abortion in a state that doesn't allow it. Some have simply exhorted readers to delete these apps altogether. I understand why. And I also understand why people use these apps in the first place: Because the version of that app that's built into your smartphone OS isn't very good. In my case, I have an iPhone. I've been using period tracking for a couple years now, though Apple began introducing these features much earlier, in 2015. From the beginning, Apple wascriticized for moving slowly: Some observers wondered why Apple didn't have women's health features ready when it launched the Apple Health app the year before. In its current form, the app is decent in the sense that it can accurately predict when you're about to menstruate, and it's easy to log when you do, either through your iOS device or Apple Watch. This is useful not just for avoiding potential surprises, but for knowing when your last period started in case your gynecologist asks. (And they always ask.) What's more, irregular periods can sometimes underscore larger health issues.  The fact that Apple hasn't paid more attention to this, when hundreds of millions have downloaded third-party alternatives, is honestly surprising: Apple could own this space if it wanted to. In order for it to do that, though, Cycle Tracking has to be equally good at helping people get pregnant or avoid pregnancy. Because ultimately, those users all need the same set of data, the same predictions, regardless of their intention. If you know you're ovulating and want a baby, you should definitely have sex. If you'd like nothing less than to get pregnant, that ovulation window is also a useful thing to be aware of. Here's what Apple would need to add to its app to match its competitors and build a true all-in-one period and fertility tracker. (Apple declined to comment for this story.) Ovulation prediction Dana Wollman/Engadget First off, it must be said that Apple doesn't attempt to predict when you're ovulating. What you'll see is a six-day fertility window, shaded in blue. But not all fertile days are the same. One has a roughly 30 percent chance of conceiving on ovulation day or the day before; five days before, your chances are closer to 10 percent. Unless you plan to have sex for six days or avoid it that whole time, a six-day fertility window with no additional context is not very helpful. Other fertility apps learn from previous cycles to predict how long your typical cycle is and when you'll likely be ovulating. I've seen more than one app present conception odds on a bell graph, with some even displaying your estimated percentage of success for a given day. Apple can decide for itself how complex of an interface it wants, but it most definitely has the machine learning know-how to predict ovulation based on previous cycles. A proper calendar view Apple's is the only period tracking app I've seen that doesn't offer a gridded calendar view. Which is incredible when you remember everything related to fertility (and later pregnancy) is measured in weeks. Instead, Apple Health shows the days in a single, horizontally scrollable line. On my iPhone 12's 6.1-inch screen, that's enough space to see seven days in full view. Also, if you input any data, whether it's sexual activity or physical symptoms, that day will be marked with a purple dot. That isn't helpful at a glance when that dot could mean anything. Another tip for Apple: color-coding might help. If I were just logging my period, I'd appreciate not having the red-colored possible period days sneak up on me. (Okay, okay, you can set notifications too.) But for those trying to conceive, a calendar view would help for other reasons, like matching factors like sexual activity and body temperature against your predicted fertile days. Which brings me to my next point… An easier way to log and understand basal body temperature Dana Wollman/Engadget One way that many people measure their fertility is by taking their temperature every day, at about the same time. The idea is that your temperature shoots up right before ovulation, and drops back down after, unless you've conceived. It doesn't matter so much what each day's reading is; what matters is the pattern that all of those inputs point to. And the only way to see a pattern is to view your temperature readings on a graph. This is how temperature tracking was meant to be done in the old days, before smartphones: with graph paper. It's awfully difficult to spot the surge when you're scrolling, one day at a time, through Apple Health's left-to-right calendar. It is very easy to spot the surge when it's presented as an infographic. And I know Apple could do a good job of this. This is already how Apple presents changes in my daily exercise minutes or fluctuations in my heart rate throughout the day. Oh, and while I'm ranting on this topic, Apple doesn't just let you type in whatever number you see on your thermometer. You have to select it from a scrolling dial, similar to how you would set an alarm in the Clock app. (When you go to enter your temperature, you start at the last temperature you entered.) Basal thermometers show your reading down to the hundredth of a degree, so even mild fluctuations in temperature from one day to the next can lead to an annoying amount of scrolling. The ability to recognize ovulation strips Dana Wollman/Engadget Not everyone uses temperature readings to predict ovulation. Many people use the newer invention of ovulation tests: at-home pee strips that measure Luteinizing Hormone (LH), which surges ahead of ovulation. The result always includes two lines, and how close you are to ovulating depends on how dark each of the lines are. Because that color exists on a spectrum, from light purple to very dark, it can be difficult to suss out the nuances with the naked eye, especially toward the deeper end of the color grade. Fortunately, many apps allow you to take or upload a photo of the results, and the app will use camera recognition to classify your test results into one of three categories: low, high or peak. Again, I have no doubt that Apple has the technology to do this. Resources for pregnant people One of the reasons people download and continue to use fertility apps after they get pregnant is that they can learn, week by week, whether their baby is the size of a raspberry, prune or avocado. These apps can also be a resource for first-timers who are feeling overwhelmed and unsure of what symptoms and bodily changes they can expect at each stage. The information in these apps vary in depth, and likely accuracy. There's no governing body so far as I can tell that regulates what information apps include as resources. Not even the App Store. I'm not suggesting Apple write its own content. But it can use the same system of curation that it uses for the App Store, Apple News, etc. to provide users information from trusted outside sources, whether that be medical sites like WebMD or reputable medical centers like the Mayo Clinic.

Biden will posthumously award Steve Jobs the Presidential Medal of Freedom Posted: 01 Jul 2022 08:51 AM PDT The US government has no higher award with which to honor a civilian's achievements than the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Handed out at the discretion of the Commander in Chief, the MoF celebrates "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors." President Biden announced the first slate of MoF recipients of his administration on Friday, a list that includes former Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. President Biden's nominees for this award class number 17. They include luminaries like Olympic-winning gymnast Simone Biles, retired Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, Gold Star Father Khizr Khan, former US Senator John McCain (posthumous), former president of the AFL-CIO Richard Trumka (posthumous), and the most clearly worthy recipient of the group, Denzel Washington.  The MoF has only been awarded 647 times since it was established by President Kennedy in 1963, and of those, just 26 people have been awarded it "with distinction." The awards will be presented at the White House on July 7, 2022.

The best 4th of July tech sales we could find Posted: 01 Jul 2022 08:30 AM PDT Between the July 4th holiday and Amazon Prime Day coming up in a couple of weeks, there are a bunch of tech deals available right now. Solo Stove's Independence Day sale knocks up to 45 percent off fire pits, while our favorite ThermoWorks food thermometer is down to only $79. Early Prime Day sales bring Eero 6 router packs and Blink security camera kits down to record-low prices, and you can still pick up a Google Nest WiFi router for as low as $115. Here are the best 4th of July tech sales we could find. Apple Watch Series 7 Engadget Most colors of the Apple Watch Series 7 are down to $329 at Amazon, or $80 off their normal price. This is our current favorite smartwatch and we gave it a score of 90 for its larger display, faster charging and handy watchOS features. Buy Series 7 at Amazon - $329 Amazon Eero 6 Jon Fingas/Engadget Amazon has discounted most Eero 6 systems ahead of Prime Day. If you're a Prime member, you can snag the Eero 6 WiFi system for as low as $71, the Eero 6+ for as little as $90, the Eero Pro 6 starting at $148 and the Eero Pro 6E for only $179. These are some of the best prices we've seen on all of these WiFi 6 systems, especially for the Eero 6+ and Eero Pro 6E, both of which just came out earlier this year. Buy Eero 6 (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $71Buy Eero 6+ (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $90Buy Eero Pro 6 (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $148Buy Eero Pro 6E (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $179 Echo Show 5 + Ring Doorbell bundle Amazon Today is the last day Prime members can get a bundle with the Echo Show 5 and the Ring Video Doorbell for only $85. That's 54 percent off what the pack would normally cost, so this is a solid deal if you're looking to add another level of security to your home. The smart doorbell will show you who's outside your home and the Echo Show 5 can show you the feed from the doorbell's camera. Buy Echo Show 5 bundle (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $85 Google Nest WiFi Daniel Cooper A number of Google Nest WiFi packs are on sale right now. You can pick up one router for $115 or a three-pack with one router and two access points for $199. We like this system for its minimalist design, easy setup and built-in Google Assistant smart speaker. Buy Nest WiFi (1 router) at Amazon - $115Buy Nest WiFi (1 router, 2 points) at Amazon - $199 Solo Stove Solo Stove's latest sale knocks up to 45 percent off fire pits, so you can grab one for as low as $200. The Ranger is the cheapest of the bunch, followed by the midsized Bonfire for $220. Both of those are fairly portable, but if you want the biggest possible fire pit for your backyard, you can pick up the 38-pound Yukon for $400. Shop Solo Stove July 4th sale Sonos refurbished sale Kyle Maack/Engadget Sonos has discounted a bunch of refurbished devices again, bringing many of them down to the best prices we've seen. A refurbished Arc soundbar is $360 off and down to $540 while the refurbished Sonos One SL is on sale for $119. Shop Sonos refurbished sale Samsung 980 Pro (1TB) Samsung Samsung's 980 Pro SSD is 33 percent off and down to $140, which is one of the best prices we've seen. It earned a spot in our PS5 SSD guide for its reliability, compact, M.2 form factor and read speeds up to 7,000 MB/s. You will need a heatsink to use it with the PS5, but you can grab a bundle that includes one with the drive for only $170. Buy Samsung 980 Pro (1TB) at Amazon - $140Buy Samsung 980 Pro (1TB with heatsink) at Amazon - $170 Blink Indoor and Outdoor cameras Amazon Prime members can save big on Blink Indoor and Outdoor cameras ahead of Prime Day. The Indoor camera kits start at $55 while the Outdoor kits start at $60. Plus, the Blink Mini wired security camera is on sale for $30 while the Blink Video Doorbell is down to only $35. Buy Blink Indoor (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $55Buy Blink Outdoor (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $60Buy Blink Mini (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $30Buy Blink Video Doorbell (Prime exclusive) at Amazon - $35 Anova Precision Cooker Nano Anova Anova's Precision Cooker Nano sous vide machine is on sale for $99 right now, or 34 percent off its normal rate. This machine earned a spot on our list of favorite kitchen gadgets because it combines affordability and precision in a compact package. It can also connect via Bluetooth to your phone so you can control temperature and time settings from within its app. Buy Precision Cooker Nano at Amazon - $99 ThermoWorks Thermapen One ThermoWorks The red, white and blue colors of the Thermapen One are down to $79 for the Independence Day holiday. This is one of our favorite instant-read thermometers for cooking thanks to its fast readings, improved accuracy and bright display. Buy Thermapen One at ThermoWorks - $79 Wahoo Fitness sale Rafael Astorga / Wahoo In a rare sale, Wahoo Fitness has knocked up to 25 percent off its devices, from pedals to full bikes. You can pick up pedals for as low as $120, while the Elemnt Bolt bike computer is down to $240 and the Kickr smart trainer is on sale for $960. Shop Wahoo sale Satechi July 4th sale Valentina Palladino / Engadget Through July 4th, you can get 20 percent off sitewide at Satechi with the code JULY20 at checkout. That makes it a good time to grab a USB-C hub for your laptop, a new wireless keyboard or a charging stand for your phone. Shop Satechi July 4th sale Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Comcast’s refreshed Xfinity Stream app launches on Apple TV Posted: 01 Jul 2022 07:15 AM PDT If you're a Comcast Xfinity TV customer looking to move all of our TV watching into a single platform, then grab your finest off-brand champagne. The company has announced that the Xfinity Stream app is now available on Apple TV, both in its vanilla and 4K flavors. And users won't just be able to watch live and on-demand programming, they'll also be able to access material they've stored on their DVR, so long as they're within the home. This is also the first opportunity to see the freshly-redesigned Xfinity Stream app, with what Comcast is calling a "new, more intuitive user interface." You'll also get improved personalization recommendations and editorial picks to help you find your next great show. Which will go nicely enough with the remainder of the off-brand champagne you'll be toasting with, surely.

Sonos' latest refurbished sale knocks $360 off the Arc soundbar Posted: 01 Jul 2022 07:10 AM PDT Sonos has discounted many of its refurbished speakers to some of the best prices we've seen. A refurbished Arc will set you back just about $540, which is a whopping $360 cheaper than a brand new model. The Sonos Five, one of our favorite music-focused speakers, normally costs $549, but a refurbished model is on sale for just over $373, so you can save about $175. And if you're looking to get your first Sonos speaker, we recommend the Sonos One SL, which you can pick up refurbished for only $119. Shop Sonos refurbished saleBuy Arc (refurbished) at Sonos - $540Buy Five (refurbished) at Sonos - $373Buy One SL (refurbished) at Sonos - $119 You might be hesitant to buy a refurbished gadget, and that's why it's important to check out the conditions of a company's refurbished program before doing so. Sonos includes all necessary accessories, manuals and replacement parts with its refurbished devices, and they come with the same one-year warranty as new items, too. Considering how expensive it can get to build your dream home entertainment system (whether with all Sonos devices or not), going the refurbished route is a good option if you're on a budget. The Sonos Arc soundbar is one of our favorites and we gave it a score of 85 when it first came out. We like its modern design, excellent sound quality, support for Dolby Atmos and directional audio, plus its ability to recalibrate to your living room when you add additional speakers into the mix. The Sonos Five, on the other hand, is really for music lovers and those who want the best audio quality possible. We also appreciate its simple setup process and how easily it can be added to existing Sonos systems. Alternatively, the Sonos One SL is a good option for those who don't have a sound system in place yet. It's the microphone-free version of the Sonos One, which means it's also good for those who don't care to have a virtual assistant speaker in their homes. It has a compact yet attractive design, great sound quality, WiFi and AirPlay 2 support, and stereo audio capabilities when you pair two of them together. Plus, it's one of the cheaper options you can get from Sonos — a brand new one costs $199, which isn't bad, but grabbing a refurbished model for $119 is even better. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

We’re heading for a messy, and expensive, breakup with natural gas Posted: 01 Jul 2022 07:00 AM PDT Russia's invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated a number of fault lines already present within the global energy supply chain. This is especially true in Europe, where many countries were reliant on the superstate's natural resources, and are now hastily looking to cut ties before the supply is shut off. This has revealed the fragility of Europe's energy market, and caused it to drive up demand and prices for consumers all over the globe. In the UK, things are becoming increasingly dire and energy prices are skyrocketing. Bad planning on the infrastructure side and the cancellation of several major domestic energy efficiency programs are exacerbating the problem. It's clear that real, useful action on the national level isn't coming any time soon. So, I wondered, what would happen if I, personally, simply tried to break up with natural gas on my own? It's relatively straightforward but, as it turns out, it comes at a cost that only one percenters will be able to bear.  Dan Cooper: Energy consumer I live in a four-bedroom, end-terraced house that's around 150 years old and I've tried, as best as I can, to renovate it in an eco-friendly way. Since we bought it almost a decade ago, my wife and I have insulated most of the rooms, installed a new gas central heating system and hot water cylinder. We are, like nearly 20 million other households in the UK, reliant on natural gas to supply our home heating, hot water and cooking. And in the period between January 8th and April 7th, 2022, I was billed on the following usage: Usage (kWh) Cost Per Unit (GBP) Cost (GBP) Electricity (incl. standing charge) 861 0.32 £307.18 Gas (incl. standing charge) 8696.7 0.753 £678.80 Total (incl. tax and other charges) £1,035.28 Essentially, I paid around $1,300 for my natural gas and electricity in the first quarter of 2022. That figure is likely to rise significantly, as the UK's mandatory price cap on energy rose by more than 50 percent in April. A further price rise is scheduled for October, with the figure set at £2,800 per year, even though wholesale energy prices are no longer increasing. It's likely that my energy bill for the first quarter of 2023 will be nearly twice what I've just paid. In 2020, the UK reported that 3.16 million households were unable to pay for their energy costs; that figure is likely to leap by 2023. In the US, the EIA says that monthly utility bills rose to a national average of $122 in 2021, with Hawaii ($178 per month) and Utah ($82 per month) the most expensive and cheapest state to buy energy in. The average price per kWh is around 13.7 cents, which is less than half the comparable price in the UK as it currently stands. For natural gas, the average natural gas price for residential customers was $10.84 per thousand cubic feet in 2020. The gas problem Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images Much of Europe is reliant on natural gas, a significant proportion of which was supplied by Russia. Despite a rapid decline in domestic production, Europe sought to make natural gas the bedrock of its energy policy in the medium term. A 2013 policy paper written by Sami Andoura and Clémentine d'Oultremont outlined the reasons why officials were banking on it. "An economically attractive option for investors, a potential backup source for renewables and the cleanest fossil fuel, natural gas is expected to play an important role in the European transition towards a low-carbon economy by 2050." This is despite the fact that "European energy resources are being depleted, and energy demand is growing." In 2007, then EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said that the bloc is "dependent on imports for over one half of our energy use." He added that energy security is a "European security issue," and that the bloc was vulnerable to disruption. "In 10 years, from 1995 to 2005, natural gas consumption in the EU countries has increased from 369 billion to 510 billion m3 [of gas] year," he said. He added that the EU's own production capacity and reserves peaked in the year 2000. The EU's plan was to pivot toward Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), methane which has been filtered and cooled to a liquid for easier transportation. It enables energy supplies from further afield to be brought over to Europe to satisfy the continent's need for natural gas. But the invasion of Ukraine by Russia has meant that this transition has now needed to be accelerated as leaders swear off Russian-sourced gas and oil. And while the plan is to push more investment into renewables, LNG imports are expected to fill much of the gap for now. Except, and this is crucial, many of the policy decisions made during this period seem to be in the belief that nothing bad would, or could, disrupt supply. Here in the UK, wholesale gas prices have risen five times since the start of 2021 but there's very little infrastructure available to mitigate price fluctuations.  The Rough Field is a region in the North Sea situated 18 miles off the coast of Yorkshire, and was previously a source of natural gas for the UK. In 1985, however, it was converted into a natural gas storage facility with a capacity of 3.31 billion cubic meters. This one facility was able to fulfill the country's energy needs for a little more than a week at a time and was considered a key asset to maintaining the UK's energy security. However, Centrica, the private company spun out of the former state-owned British Gas, opted to close the field in 2017. It cited safety fears and the high cost of repair as justification for the move, saying that alternative sources of gas – in the form of LNG – were available. At the time, one gas trader told Bloomberg that the closure would "boost winter prices" and "create seasonal swings in wholesale energy costs." He added that the UK would now be "competing with Asia for winter gas cargoes," raising prices and increasing reliance on these shipments.  And, unsurprisingly, the ramifications of this decision were felt in the summer of 2017 when a pair of LNG tankers from Qatar changed course. The vessels were going to the UK, and when they shifted direction, Bloomberg reported that prices started to shift upward almost instantly.  Analysis from TransitionZero, reported by The Guardian, says that the costs associated with natural gas are now so high that it's no longer worth investing in as a "transition fuel." It says that the cost to switch from coal to gas is around $235 per ton of CO2, compared to just $62 for renewables as well as the necessary battery storage. Swearing off gas MarianVejcik via Getty Images In order to break up with gas in my own home, I'll need to swap out my stovetop (not so hard) and my whole central heating system (pretty hard). The former I can likely achieve for a few hundred dollars, plus or minus the cost of installation. (Some units just plug in to a standard wall socket, so I may be able to do much of the work myself if I'm feeling up to the task.) Of course, getting a professional to unpick the gas pipeline that connects to my stovetop is going to be harder.  Unfortunately, replacing a 35kW condensing gas boiler (I have the Worcester Bosch Greenstar 35CDi) is going to be a lot harder. The obvious choice is an Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP), or even a geothermal Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP), both of which are more environmentally-friendly. After all, both are more energy-efficient than a gas boiler, and both run on electricity which is theoretically cleaner. More generally, the UK's Energy Saving Trust, a Government-backed body with a mission to advocate for energy efficiency, says that the average Briton should expect to pay between £7,000 and £13,000 to install an ASHP. Much of that figure is dependent on how much of your home's existing hardware you'll need to replace. A GSHP is even more expensive, with the price starting at £14,000 and rising to closer to £20,000 depending on both your home's existing plumbing and the need to dig a bore hole outside.  In my case, heat pump specialists told me that, give or take whatever nasties were found during installation, I could expect to pay up to £27,000 ($33,493). This included a new ASHP, radiators, hot water and buffer cylinders, pumps, piping, controllers, parts and labor. Mercifully, the UK is launching a scheme to offer a £5,000 ($6,200) discount on any new heat pump installations. But that still means that I'm paying north of £20,000 (and ripping out a lot of existing materials with plenty of life left in them) to make the switch.  In the US, there's plenty of difference on a state level, but at the federal level, you can get a tax credit on the purchase of a qualifying GSHP. A system installed before January 1st, 2023, will earn a 26 percent credit, while a unit running before January 1st, 2024, will be eligible for a 22 percent credit. Purchasers of a qualifying ASHP, meanwhile, were entitled to a $300 tax credit until the end of 2021.  The contractors also provided me with a calculation of my potential energy savings over the following seven years. It turns out that I'd actually be spending £76 more on fuel per month, and £532 over the whole period. On one hand, if I had the cash to spare, it's a small price to pay to dramatically reduce my personal carbon emissions. On the other, I was hoping that the initial investment would help me reduce costs overall, but that's not the case while the cost of gas is (ostensibly) cheaper than electricity. (This will, of course, change as energy prices surge in 2023, however, but I can only look at the data as it presently stands.) An aside: To be honest with you all, I was fully aware that the economic case for installing a heat pump was always going to be a shaky one. When speaking to industry figures last year, they said that the conversation around "payback" isn't shared when installing standard gas boilers. It doesn't help that, at present, levies on energy mean that natural gas is subsidized more than energy, disincentivizing people making the switch. The rise of electric cars, too, has meant that demand for power is going to increase sharply as more people switch, forcing greater investment in generation. What's required just as urgent is a series of measures to promote energy efficiency to reduce overall demand for both gas and electricity.  Energy efficiency Dan Kitwood via Getty Images The UK has had an on-again, off-again relationship with climate change mitigation measures, which has helped sow the seeds of this latest crisis. The country, with low winter temperatures, relies almost exclusively on natural gas to heat its homes, its largest energy-consuming sector. As I reported last year, around 85 percent of UK homes are heated by burning natural gas in domestic boilers.  Work to reduce the UK's extraordinary demand for natural gas was sabotaged by government in 2013. In 2009, under the previous Labour government, a series of levies on energy companies were introduced under the Community Energy Saving Programme. These levies were added to domestic energy bills, with the proceeds funding works to install wall or roof insulation, as well as energy-efficient heating systems and heating controllers for people on low incomes. The idea was to reduce demand for gas by making homes, and the systems that heated them, far more efficient since most of the UK's housing stock was insufficiently insulated when built.  But in 2013, then-Conservative-Prime Minister David Cameron was reportedly quoted as saying that he wanted to reduce the cost of domestic energy bills by getting "rid of all the green crap." At the time, The Guardian reported that while the wording was not corroborated by government officials, the sentiment was. Essentially, that meant scrapping the levies, which at the time GreenBusinessWatch said was around eight percent of the total cost of domestic energy. Cameron's administration also scrapped a plan to build zero-carbon homes, and effectively banned the construction of onshore windfarms which would have helped reduce the cost of domestic electricity generation.  In 2021, the UK's Committee on Climate Change examined the fallout from this decision, saying that Cameron's decision kneecapped efforts to reduce demand for natural gas. As Carbon Brief highlighted at the start of 2022, in 2012, there were nearly 2.5 million energy efficiency improvements installed. By 2013, that figure had fallen to just 292,593. The drop off, the Committee on Climate Change believes, has caused insulation installations to fall to "only a third of the rate needed by 2021" to meet the national targets for curbing climate emissions.  Carbon Brief's report suggests that the financial savings missed by the elimination of these small levies – the "green crap," – has cost UK households around £2.5 billion. In recent years, a pressure group – Insulate Britain – has undertaken protests at major traffic intersections to help highlight the need for a new retrofit program to be launched. The current government's response to their pleas has been to call for tougher criminal penalties for protesters including a jail term of up to six months. A chart, courtesy of Carbon Brief, showing the impact of the removal of the 'green crap' levies on domestic energy-efficiency installations in the UK. Carbon Brief Making my own power Andia via Getty Images Looking back through my energy bills over the last few years, my household's annual electricity consumption is around 4,500kWh per year. A heat pump would likely add a further 6,000kWh to my energy bill, not to mention any additional cost for switching to all-electric cooking. It would be sensible to see if I could generate some, or all, of my own energy at home using solar panels to help reduce the potential bill costs.  The Energy Saving Trust says that the average homeowner can expect to pay £6,500 for a 4.2kWp system on the roof of their home. Environmental factors such as the country you live in and orientation of your property mean you can't be certain how much power you'll get out of a specific solar panel, but we can make educated guesses. For instance, the UK's Renewable Energy Hub says you can expect to get around 850kW per year out of a 1kW system. For a theoretical 5kWp system in my location, the Energy Saving Trust thinks I'll be able to generate around 4,581kWh per year.  Sadly, I live in an area where, even though my roof is brand new and strong enough to take panels, they aren't allowed. This is because it is an area of "architectural or historic interest where the character and appearance [of the area] needs to be protected or improved." Consequently, I needed to explore work to ground-mount solar panels in my back garden, which gets plenty of sunlight.  While I expected grounded panel installations to be much cheaper, they apparently aren't. Two contractors I spoke to said that while their average roof-based installation is between £5,000 and £7,000, a 6kWp system on the ground would cost closer to £20,000. It would be, in fact, cheaper to build a sturdy shed in the bit of back yard I had my eye on and install a solar system on top of there, compared to just getting the mounting set up on the ground. That's likely to spool out the cost even further, and that's before we get to the point of talking about battery storage.  The bill undefined undefined via Getty Images For this rather nifty thought experiment, the cost for me to be able to walk away from natural gas entirely would be north of £30,000 ($37,000). Given that the average UK salary is roughly £38,000, it's a sum that is beyond the reach of most people without taking out a hefty loan. This is, fundamentally, why the need for government action is so urgent, since it is certainly beyond the ability of most people to achieve this change on their own.  In fact, it's going to require significant movement from central government not just in the UK but elsewhere to really shake our love-hate relationship with natural gas. Unfortunately, given that it's cheap, cleaner than coal and the energy lobby has plenty of muscle behind it, that's not likely to happen soon. And so we're stuck in a trap – it's too expensive to do it ourselves (although that'll certainly be an interesting experiment to undertake) and there's no help coming, despite the energy crisis that's unfurling around us.

Ducati's first electric motorcycle is designed for MotoE racing Posted: 01 Jul 2022 06:45 AM PDT Ducati has unveiled not just its first electric motorcycle but a key piece in the 2023 season of MotoE e-motocycle racing, it announced. The V21L prototype has that classic Ducati look but is swathed in carbon fiber and packs a 150HP electric motor with a 18kWh battery. As detailed in an announcement last year, Ducati will be the exclusive supplier of all 18 bikes used for FIM MotoE World Cup racing from 2023-2026. It weighs in at 225 kilograms (496 pounds), with just under half the weight for the battery — very heavy for a racing bike (143 pounds more than ICE models), but still 26 pounds under the MotoE specification for 2023. It's also 35 kg (77 pounds) less than the Energica e-motocycles currently used in MotoE racing.  The V21L can be charged to 80 percent in just 45 minutes and has enough range to complete the required seven laps of key GP tracks. It has reportedly hit speeds of up to 171 MPH at the Mugello MotoGP Circuit in Tuscany.  The e-motorbike is quite a bet by (and on) Ducati considering it's never done one before, but the company said it used its extensive racing experience to design the model. At the same time, it'll take racing lessons learned back to its consumer models.  "At this moment, the most important challenges in this field remain those related to the size, weight, autonomy of the batteries and the availability of the charging networks," said Ducati R&D director Vincenzo De Silva in a statement. "Helping the company's internal expertise to grow is already essential today to be ready when the time comes to put the first street electric Ducati into production."

Meta allows select creators to post their NFTs on Facebook Posted: 01 Jul 2022 06:30 AM PDT Non-fungible tokens have arrived on Facebook. Meta has confirmed to TechCrunch that it has started giving select creators in the US the power to post digital collectibles on their profiles. While it's unclear if and when the feature will make its way to more users — Meta called the release a "slow rollout" — company CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously said that Meta was going to test NFT support on the social network. Meta Product Manager Navdeep Singh has posted photos on Twitter of what NFT integration would look like on Facebook's, and similar to Instagram's implementation, creators will have a digital collectibles tab on their profile where they can show off their NFTs. Creators will be able to post their collectibles as status updates that people can comment on and react to, and clicking on them shows information on the artwork. According to Decrypt, Facebook will allow users to link their compatible digital wallets with the website, similar to how they can do so on Instagram. At the moment, Facebook supports NFTs minted on Ethereum and Polygon, though it will soon support Solana and Flow NFTs, as well.  We're launching NFTs on Facebook! Excited to share what I've been working on with the world. pic.twitter.com/TaV66zRanV — Navdeep Singh (@navdeep_ua) June 29, 2022 Meta started testing NFT integration on Instagram in May, promising additional related features, such as allowing users to display their pieces as augmented reality stickers in Stories. NFTs are perhaps a more fitting addition to Instagram than Facebook, based on the platforms' userbase, but Meta is determined to make them a part of its products. Zuckerberg wrote in the post announcing the arrival of digital collectibles on Instagram: "We're starting building for NFTs, not just in our metaverse and Reality Labs work, but also across our family of apps."

How to survive the inevitable CD revival Posted: 01 Jul 2022 06:00 AM PDT In 1982, when the BBC's prime-time technology show – Tomorrow's World – did a segment on a new musical format called the "Compact Disc" the presenter skeptically asked "Whether there's a market for this, remains to be seen". We all know what happened next, but even in the early '80s the benefits of CDs should have been clear: high quality, non-degrading sound in a compact format. Oh, and you could even skip, shuffle and repeat tracks, which, in a pre-digital world, truly felt like the future The Compact Disc turns 40 this year, and there are already signals the format is primed for a mini revival. For the first time in 17 years, CD sales actually went up - and by almost 50 percent, according to the RIAA's sales database. It's still a long way from the format's peak. In 2021, 46.6 million CDs were shipped in the US – compared to nearly a billion back in 2000. For context, that 46.6 million barely accounts for four percent of last year's total music revenue. Vinyl albums, by contrast, sold fewer overall units (39.7M) but are more of a money spinner for artists (seven percent of total revenues). Some reports claim that the uptick in CD sales is mostly due to mega-artists like Adele and BTS releasing new albums (the former's 30 accounted for two percent of total CD sales alone). But there are other potential – and more practical – contributing factors, too, including the pandemic. "CD sales are growing again now that retail stores are reopening and artists are back on tour. And while CDs haven't yet seen the same type of revival as vinyl, the CD format remains a steady revenue stream for independent artists." Rob Bach, COO of CD Baby told Engadget. They should know, as one of their services is the production and distribution of CDs for indie bands. Kevin Breuner, SVP of Artist Engagement and Education for the company, thinks there's an increasing appetite for CDs as memorabilia, rather than just as a way of playing music. "Part of it is that streaming hasn't replaced anything at the merch table … the appeal of a physical item like a CD is that it's a piece of memorabilia in a live setting, something you can have signed by artists. Similarly, for artists, there's nothing that can replace when a fan goes back to the merch table to buy a CD or a t-shirt; it's always been that way." There's also the fact that what once seemed restrictive to younger listeners – having to own a song if you wanted to hear it – now presents a different way of enjoying music. A good album isn't merely a collection of songs, but a structured experience to be enjoyed from start to finish. You can, of course, do this with streaming, but a CD requires getting up to change, Spotify is usually just a click away. The CD format is experiencing a nice comeback, I'm sure they'll sound pretty sweet played via the new @MarantzOfficial CD 60 player #audiophile#avtweepshttps://t.co/qnSDtm3RfZ — Arlen Schweiger (@ArlenSchweiger) May 23, 2022 CDs launched in Japan in October 1982. The format and hardware to play it on didn't land in the US and Europe until the following year. Adoption was relatively swift and just two years later the first million-selling CD album - Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits – would cement the shiny disc's popularity. By the early '90s, assisted by increasingly smaller, affordable and even portable players, the CD was the de facto way to listen to music. And for good reason. In this new digital world, the CD format was consistent in a way that analog never could be. What became known as the "Red Book" standard – two-channel 16-bit PCM at 44.1kHz – would be the prevailing specification from there on out. When someone used to say "it's CD quality" one might assume that's what they were referring to. This standard is considered the minimum requirement to be called "lossless" by today's streaming services. Of course, how or what you record at 16-bit/44.1 is really what matters, but that's a whole other story. Jamal Saidi / reuters More important than any of this, for the labels and artists at least, is that the arrival of the CD meant they could re-sell us our entire music collection in the new wonder format. The '90s were a good time to be in the music industry, at least until Sean and Shawn came along. There were other benefits to this new digital medium, too. And not just the aforementioned ability to skip/program/shuffle tracks. With CDs, you could hide bonus tracks in new ways that would otherwise be visible on a vinyl record or instantly found by anyone that left a cassette tape running. Even more exciting? Once PCs started being a more common feature in homes, artists and labels realized you could bundle in entirely different bonus media like videos and karaoke versions – as found on some versions of Americana by The Offspring, for example. Before we show you some ways you can enjoy/rediscover the joys of compact discs, bear in mind the experience was far from flawless. Despite being more durable than vinyl, it definitely is possible to scratch a CD. When a record has a scratch, it's almost charming. With CDs, it's more like walking slowly through hell as they dig up the streets. If your disc was damaged, it also might work in some players yet, frustratingly, not in others. Many an hour has been wasted cleaning and reseating a CD in the hope it would take. Are CD's the aesthetic now? 👀 https://t.co/9Ir6OFMjG5 — Mother of the House of Shaming (@mmkayrulz) May 26, 2022 Of course, many CD players took only one disc, so you'd frequently be swapping them out. If you knew someone who had every CD in the right jewel case, that was often a tell that this person doesn't listen to their music enthusiastically or often enough (It's possible they were just slightly organized, but where's the fun in that). This "which disc is in which case" problem became even worse when someone decided CD singles – one song you wanted and some less good songs on one disc – were a good idea. Not to mention the fragility of the cases they came in. Jewel case hinges would crack just by looking at them, while center hubs (the part that held the disc in place) would crumble no matter how well you handled things. Most often while moving house or the aforementioned enthusiastic listening with friends. Unlike other formats, the CD is unique in that it played a part in its own demise. With the advent of CD burners, you could easily copy your friends' album collection, print out album artwork and even print circular stickers with the CD art on them, too. This was how music was stolen for the short period when CD burners and blank discs were affordable and online piracy hadn't taken hold. The CD was then effectively relegated to the role of external storage medium before quietly regressing into obscurity. Until now, of course. With those small challenges in mind, if you're ready and willing to give the humble Compact Disc another, uhm, spin, here are some recommendations, new and old, cheap and not-so, to dive into the world of the CD. Where to find CDs Maybe you already have a collection, if so, you're good to go. But if you're new around here, you're going to want to grab a few albums to get you started. For current, mainstream music you'll be able to find a selection at Target and Walmart. Jeff Bezos will of course also happily sell you a CD. Tower Records also recently returned as an online-only store which also has a good selection of CDs. For more of an indie-artist focus, there's of course Bandcamp – or the good old-fashioned merch stall at a gig. You can, of course, also navigate the secondhand market either locally (thrift stores, local record shops) or online at places like Discogs, eBay or even apps like Letgo. What you may already own Aaron Souppouris / Engadget Maybe, you have a CD player unironically in your front room right now. We admire the dedication. Or perhaps you have an old one in storage somewhere? But if you're young enough to have gone straight to streaming, it's worth asking family and friends in case they have one gathering dust somewhere. That said, you might even own a CD player without even knowing it. If you have an Xbox with a disc drive, congratulations, you're already in the club. PlayStation fans, however, need either a PS1 (original), a PS2 or a PS3, as after that Sony decided the functionality for audio discs was no longer needed. Cheap and easy There was a brief period where the only CD player in the house might well have been in your PC. Primarily used for installing software or the drivers for a peripheral (yeah, we know, bad times) the CD-ROM drive was also good for playing music too. Most PC cases these days aren't really made with a CD-R drive in mind, and the last Mac to include a CD drive was the 2012 MacBook Pro. That model was discontinued in 2016, the same year Apple nixed the iPhone's headphone jack - a rough year for many music listeners. No worries, there's a sort of dongle for that. You can pick up a USB CD-Drive for a little over the price of one album, such as this one for a reasonable $22. You'll also get DVD and CD burning functionality thrown in, which surely will also be due their own revivals before long. A new take on a classic James Trew / Engadget For many, the advent of the portable CD player was a long time coming. But the format wasn't entirely suited to being in motion. Not initially at least, with even the slightest of movements causing a disc to skip. Over time this was resolved as players were able to buffer more music to ride out those bumps. NINM Labs' "Long Time No See" portable CD player (approx $117) blends the best of the past with modern conveniences like Bluetooth and USB power. The transparent design gives off early-aughts Game Boy vibes, while a clever speaker "lid" accessory means you're never without a way to listen to those discs. That said, there's of course the aforementioned Bluetooth for connecting to speakers and headphones and even a good old fashioned headphone port. What's more, you can run the player directly from USB power or AA batteries. You can even charge said batteries while it's connected over USB. And the whole thing is magnetic, too, so you can get creative with where you place it. Taking things to a (much) higher level James Trew / Engadget For the most authentic experience, it has to be HiFi separates. In the '90s a good HiFi was the quickest way to let someone know you were serious about music. No MegaBASS or often even an EQ for these dedicated listeners, just pure unadulterated sound. They may also be seen with magic pebbles or some CDs in the freezer. Cambridge Audio has been around long enough to know what makes a great CD player. Its CXC "player" comes right in at $700. The CXC doesn't even convert the CD to audio, it passes the digital signal directly to… something else, as long as it has either S/PDIF coaxial or TOSLINK in puts. You may as well complete the look with Cambridge Audio's CXA61 amplifier ($1,100) with a DAC. It's the perfect companion for the CXC both in terms of looks and connectivity. Of course, spending $1,800 on fancy HiFi gear doesn't always mean you're set. You still need some speakers, so you might as well toss in the SX60 bookshelf set for the fully-loaded CD setup.

Anova's Precision Cooker Nano drops to $99 at Amazon Posted: 01 Jul 2022 05:33 AM PDT If you're looking to experiment more in the kitchen, sous vide cooking could be a way to do that. Anova makes a couple of WiFi-connected sous vide machines that we like, and our favorite, the Precision Cooker Nano, is back on sale for $99. That's 34 percent off and one of the best prices we've seen it, making it a good time to grab the entry-level device. Buy Precision Cooker Nano at Amazon - $99 You'll need a couple of things to give sous vide a try, but the one that you probably don't already have at home is a machine like the Nano. This method of cooking involves putting food in a sealable bag and then cooking it in a water bath. Devices like the Nano constantly circulate that water while keeping it at a precise temperature so your food comes out perfectly done, not over- or undercooked. Anova's Precision Cooker Nano earned a spot on our list of favorite kitchen gadgets because it combines affordability and precision in a compact device. Normally priced at $149, the Nano comes in at only 1.7 pounds and its small enough to fit in your kitchen's utensil drawer. It uses 750 watts of power to heat water for up to 3,000 hours before you'll need to recharge it, so you'll be able to conduct a number of sous vide tests before it needs more juice. The Nano has onboard controls that you can use to adjust temperature and timing, or you can connect it via Bluetooth to your phone and do so via its companion mobile app. Unlike more expensive Anova machines, the Nano doesn't connect via WiFi, and it also has a fixed clamp that attaches to your cooking pot, rather than an adjustable one. Aside from those features, the biggest differences between the Nano and Anova's standard Precision Cooker lie in wattage and size. But we think the Nano is a great option for all home cooks, and sous vide newbies will find it especially easy to use. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

NVIDIA's new Shield update can stop late-night movies waking up the entire house Posted: 01 Jul 2022 05:05 AM PDT NVIDIA has rolled out Experience Upgrade v9.1 for all Shield TV and TV Pro units, and one of the features it brings will make watching action movies without earphones more feasible for night owls. The new Night Listening mode can optimize sounds when it's switched on so that loud explosions are subdued while quiet dialogue gets emphasized even while the volume is on low. "Enjoy watching movies or playing games at night without disturbing your family," the company said in its announcement. To note, the new model is available while using HDMI audio only.  In addition to Night Listening, the latest update also enables Shield TVs to automatically switch to low latency game mode on all supported television and display models. So long as a display has Automatic Low Latency Mode (ALLM), the streaming media device will be able to ensure that it's activated while a user is playing, whether it's a local game or something from the GeForce NOW cloud gaming service. By reducing latency, ALLM reduces lag and allows a smoother, more responsive gaming experience. Upgrade 9.1 comes with a few more features that include the ability to disable displaying HDR/Dolby Vision content and to get notifications when the microphone is turned on.  Shield TV's previous update brought Android 11 to all models and added access to a new Google Keyboard with support for voice searches. It also fixed a a vulnerability that allowed remote attackers to cause a permanent denial of service. While 9.1 doesn't come with a big security fix, it does include a bunch of bug fixes for both Shield TV app and devices.

Uber's second safety report shows a fall in assaults but traffic deaths rise Posted: 01 Jul 2022 04:40 AM PDT Uber has released its second bi-annual safety report covering the period between 2019 and 2020. The headline statistic is that the ride sharing company received 3,824 reports of sexual assault or misconduct via its app during this time. In addition, 20 people were killed in assaults and 101 fatalities as a consequence of an Uber-related crash, although the company is keep to emphasize the majority of those cases were caused by a third-party driver. Compared to the last safety report, which covered the years 2017 and 2018, the figures for sexual assault have fallen from 5,981 then to 3,824 now. As both The New York Times and Bloomberg say, this may have been related to the fall in demand caused by shelter-in-place orders caused by COVID-19. Uber said that more than 99.9 percent of its rides happen without incident, and that these disclosures are an affirmation of its commitment to safety rather than the opposite.

The Morning After: Major League Baseball wants to deploy strike zone robo-umpires in 2024 Posted: 01 Jul 2022 04:15 AM PDT Major League Baseball will "likely" introduce an Automated Strike Zone System starting in 2024, commissioner Rob Manfred told ESPN. These robot umpires may call all balls and strikes then relay the information to a plate umpire, or be part of a replay review system that allows managers to challenge calls. The comments come following outrage over umpires' missed calls in recent games, including a brutal low strike error during a Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins game. MLB has been experimenting with robo-umpires in the Atlantic League since 2019, using similar technology to golf speed-measurement devices. There may be other benefits to introducing the tech. According to MLB data, mechanical systems have already made Atlantic league games mercifully shorter by a full nine minutes. And I say mercifully from the perspective of a Brit who's watched cricket matches. —Mat Smith   The biggest stories you might have missed iFixit starts selling Pixel parts for DIY repairs The EU extends its 'Roam-like-at-home' mobile service rule through 2032 Supreme Court ruling guts the EPA's ability to enforce Clean Air Act 'Strange New Worlds' races to its conclusion with a spot-on 'Aliens' riff Apple plans to let you pay for gas using CarPlay The Apple Watch Series 7 drops to $312 at Amazon The best smartphones you can buy right now Not just flagships. Engadget Here at Engadget, we test smartphones all year round and can help you make sense of what's available and what to look out for. It's time for our updated Best Smartphones guide and we've included all our favorite phones to help you whittle down your shortlist. Continue reading. An update makes the DJI Mavic 3 a much better drone From ActiveTrack to Quickshots to an improved telezoom camera. When it launched last year, the DJI Mavic 3 grabbed a lot of headlines with features like a Four Thirds sensor and a second 7X telephoto camera. But it launched without ActiveTrack and QuickShot features which meant potential buyers couldn't get a full picture of the drone before paying up to $5,000 for one. Following three major firmware updates in December, January and May, all the promised functions and more are finally here. How do they fare? Continue reading. Samsung Gaming Hub goes live today with Twitch, Xbox Game Pass and more The game-centric menu is rolling out to 2022 Samsung smart TVs and smart monitors. Samsung's Gaming Hub is now live on its 2022 smart TVs and smart monitors, and it's adding two services from Amazon to its game-streaming lineup: Twitch and Luna. Twitch is available today, while Luna is coming soon. Gamers will also be able to access Xbox Game Pass now, as well as apps for NVIDIA GeForce NOW, Google Stadia and Utomik in the same designated area on their TVs. The company plans to release details about the gaming hub's rollout to earlier Samsung smart TV models at a later date. Continue reading. Boring Company's underground Loop just hit the Las Vegas Strip Why walk less than a mile? The Boring Company The Boring Company and Resorts World Las Vegas announced the official opening of the latest Loop station at the Las Vegas Convention Center. This spur off of the Boring Company's existing Loop network (which runs underneath the North and South halls of the LVCC) connects the convention center directly to a sister station underneath the World Resorts property on the other side of South Las Vegas Blvd. The trip should take just a few minutes. Continue reading. A swarm of Cruise robotaxis blocked San Francisco traffic for hours The service launched last month. A small fleet of Cruise robotaxis in San Francisco suddenly stopped operating on Tuesday night, effectively blocking traffic on a street in the city's Fillmore district for a couple of hours until employees were able to arrive. Cruise — which is General Motor's AV subsidiary — only launched its commercial robotaxi service in the city last week. The rides feature no human safety driver, are geo-restricted to certain streets and can only operate in the late evening hours. Continue reading.

Google offers developers $90 million to settle Play Store billing fight Posted: 01 Jul 2022 03:55 AM PDT Google has offered to put $90 million on the table to settle a brewing conflict between it and a number of Android developers. As Reuters reports, the issue centers around the mandatory use of Google's in-house payments platform, with its fixed 30 percent cut. Developers feel that Google had worked behind the scenes to close off the options for alternative payment systems. It's prompted the search giant to offer a settlement to avoid "years of uncertain and distracting litigation." In a statement, Google said that, if the court approves the offer, it will put $90 million into a fund to "support US developers who earned two million dollars of less in annual revenue through Google Play during each year from 2016-2021." If it goes ahead, Google will automatically notify the people who qualify for a payout, as well as affirm several changes it's already started to make. This includes lowering the commissionto 15 percent for the first $1 million in annual revenue, enabling developers to communicate with users outside of the app, and make it easier to use rival app stores and billing platforms.

Tesla faces new lawsuit over claims of racism and harassment at its Fremont factory Posted: 01 Jul 2022 03:20 AM PDT Tesla is facing another lawsuit by a group of former and current workers at its Fremont factory who allege that it knew about but failed to stop racist slurs, harassment and more, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. The employees were "subjected to offensive racist comments and offensive racist behavior and discipline by colleagues, leads, supervisors, managers, and/or human resources personnel on a daily basis," the complaint states.  One plaintiff named in the suit, Jasmine Wilson, worked as a quality inspector from August 2021 to March 2022. She alleges that she was the victim of racial epithets and sexual harassment from supervisors. In addition, they assumed she was a production associate because she was African-American, and berated her for not doing that job and wearing the wrong uniform, according to the suit. When she informed human resources, it was skeptical of her claims and never launched a promised investigation.  Other employees also alleged racial slurs and graffiti on Tesla restroom walls, and said they were retaliated against after complaining. Some said they were given more strenuous positions than non-minority workers and passed over for promotions.  Late last year, Tesla was sued by six women who accused it of "rampant" sexual harassment at the Fremont factory with catcalling, inappropriate touching, sexual comments and more. In December, a jury awarded former elevator operator Owen Diaz $137 million over racial abuse. The award was later reduced to $15 million, but that was rejected by Diaz and a federal judge ordered a new damages trial. Tesla has yet to comment on the latest lawsuit and eliminated its press relations department in 2020.

Instagram test turns all video posts into Reels Posted: 01 Jul 2022 02:35 AM PDT It looks like Meta truly is making a big push for Reels. Social media consultant Matt Navarra has posted a screenshot on Twitter showing a notice for an experimental Instagram feature that says all video posts would be shared as Reels on the app. If your account is public, that means anyone can discover your video and use your original audio to create their own Reel. Only friends would see your video if your profile is private, but other users can still create a remix with your Reel and download it as part of their remix. The only way to ensure nobody uses your Reel for remixes is to turn the option off in Settings or to disable it for each video you post. Instagram is now making EVERY video a Reel h/t @ChristinaSBGpic.twitter.com/YLRDhT1nw0 — Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) June 30, 2022 As TechCrunch notes, this move doesn't come as a surprise when the TikTok-style videos have quickly become a popular format on both Instagram and Facebook. When he revealed the company's fourth quarterly earnings report for 2021, Mark Zuckerberg said that Reels is now Meta's fastest growing content format. Meta chief product officer Chris Cox called Reels a "bright point" for the company, as well, in a recent memo shared with employees warning them about "serious times" ahead due to slowing growth. He also said that one of the projects Meta intends to focus on for the second half of 2022 is monetizing Reels as quickly as possible.  Apparently, time spent viewing the short-form videos has more than doubled since last year, with 80 percent of that growth coming from Facebook. That's why the company will go as far as to redesign Instagram's and Facebook's home pages to better incorporate the short videos. Turning all video posts into Reels would give the company more content to circulate, which in turn would translate to more time viewing videos on the platform and bigger potential ad earnings for when the format is finally monetized. That said, not all experimental Instagram features make it to wide release, and it remains to be seen whether this one will survive the testing phase.

The EU introduces new crypto rules to protect against fraud and climate impact Posted: 01 Jul 2022 01:32 AM PDT Europe and its member states have provisionally agreed on new crypto regulations that aim to protect consumers and service providers, the European Parliament announced. Called "MiCA" (markets in crypto-assets), it's designed to guard against things like fraud, criminal activity, climate impact and more.  "In the Wild West of the crypto-world, MiCA will be a global standard setter," said Germany's MEP Stefan Berger in a statement. "MiCA will ensure a harmonised market, provide legal certainty for crypto-asset issuers, guarantee a level playing field for service providers and ensure high standards for consumer protection."  A new legal framework is designed to protect market integrating by regulating public crypto offerings. A key provision is a public register administered by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to address money laundering concerns. Major crypto-asset service provider (CASPs) will also have to disclose energy consumption and declare environmental and climate impact data to their national authority, which will in turn inform ESMA.  This new regulation strengthens the European framework to fight money-laundering, reduces the risks of fraud and makes crypto-asset transactions more secure. The EU travel rule will ensure that CASPs can prevent and detect sanctioned addresses and that transfers of crypto-assets are fully traceable. The law covers cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether, but NFTs (nonfungible tokens) including "cinema tickets, digital collectibles from clothing brands or in-game items in computer games" will be exempt. However, those could later be re-classified as financial instruments or crytpo assets subject to MiCA, according to the rules.  The law is still provisional, with key details like whether CASPs will need to be located in the EU still being debated, according to Bloomberg. Earlier version of the draft, first proposed in 2020, included a provision to ban Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that used energy-intensive mining processes. However, those were subsequently removed following industry complaints.  The news follows a a bad run for crypto, with the collapse of TerraUSD and other tokens, the freezing of withdrawals at Celsius and a general decline in the market. The US has yet to implement its own rules on crypto, but US senators recently introduced a bipartisan bill designed to do just that.

Meta cuts hiring plans as it prepares for 'serious times' Posted: 30 Jun 2022 11:37 PM PDT In a weekly employee Q&A session, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly said the company is experiencing "one of the worst downturns [it has seen] in recent history." According to Reuters, the executive has revealed that Meta has slashed its target number for new engineers hires this year by about 30 percent. Meta previously said that it's slowing its hiring plans due to weak revenue forecasts, but now Zuckerberg has announced more details with exact figures. Apparently, from plans to hire 10,000 new engineers this year, Meta will only hire between 6,000 and 7,000. Further, the CEO said that Meta is raising expectations on current employees and giving them more aggressive goals so that they can decide on their own if the company isn't for them. "[S]elf-selection is OK with me," he said. In a memo to employees, chief product officer Chris Cox has stressed that the company "is in serious times here and the headwinds are fierce." He also listed the company's six investment priorities for the second half of the year, starting with its metaverse initiatives Avatars and its virtual world Horizon Worlds.  According to the memo, published in full by The Verge, Meta is also aiming to monetize Reels as quickly as possible. Time spent on Reels has more than doubled around the world since last year, the memo reads, with 80 percent of that growth coming from Facebook. Cox called Reels, its short-form video format created as an answer to TikTok, a "bright point" for the company in the first half of 2022. Meta plans to continue improving the experience, including making changes to the home screen on Instagram and Facebook to incorporate the videos more natively. In addition, Meta plans to focus on its AI initiatives, as well as on WhatsApp and Messenger in the second half of the year. It plans to test WhatApp communities before the feature launches around the world by the end of 2022. The company is also going to develop Instagram Creator channels and joinable chats, which are slated for rollout in the coming months. Cox wrote in the memo: "I have to underscore that we are in serious times here and the headwinds are fierce. We need to execute flawlessly in an environment of slower growth, where teams should not expect vast influxes of new engineers and budgets. We must prioritize more ruthlessly, be thoughtful about measuring and understanding what drives impact, invest in developer efficiency and velocity inside the company, and operate leaner, meaner, better exciting teams."

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