Sunday, July 3, 2022

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WhatsApp may soon let you hide your online status

Posted: 02 Jul 2022 03:27 PM PDT

WhatsApp is developing a feature that would allow users to hide their online status, according to WABetaInfo. On Saturday, the outlet shared a screenshot of new privacy settings that allow someone to decide who can see them when they're using the app. The feature would complement the recent tweaks WhatsApp introduced to the app's Last Seen functionality.

Following a beta rollout in April, the company released an update that added a "My Contacts Except" setting, allowing for more granular control over who can see when you last checked the app. The problem with WhatsApp's Last Seen status was that it gave contacts a way to find out if you had seen their message even if you turned off read receipts.

Per the screenshot WABetaInfo shared, the new online status feature will allow you to restrict the same people who you don't want to see your Last Seen status. It's surprising it has taken this long for WhatsApp to start work on such a basic privacy feature, but now that it's finally on the way, it's something many users are sure to appreciate.

‘Genshin Impact’ Summer Fantasia update arrives on July 13th

Posted: 02 Jul 2022 02:16 PM PDT

Hoyoverse will release Genshin Impact's next major content update on July 13th, the studio announced on Saturday. Dubbed "Summer Fantasia," version 2.8 will reintroduce the Golden Apple Archipelago, a zone Hoyoverse has redesigned to add new plotlines and challenges for players to complete. By finishing the included quests, you'll have the chance to recruit Fischl, a four-star playable character, to your party for free.

Moreover, as part of the game's upcoming Resonating Visions event, you'll have a chance to collect conch shells you can later trade for an outfit for Fischl. The shells will also reveal more of the game's story. Separately, the update adds sailing challenges you can complete with your friends, and a new playable character named Shikanoin Heizou. Hoyoverse describes him as Genshin's first melee catalyst user. Shikanoin can deal extra damage to enemies affected by elemental attacks.

Additional content for Genshin Impact is one of a few projects Hoyoverse is working on at the moment. In recent weeks, the studio announced it was developing two new games, Zenless Zone Zero and Honkai: Star Rail. Neither title has a release date yet, but you can sign up to beta test the former on PC and iOS.

Meta’s Novi cryptocurrency wallet is shutting down

Posted: 02 Jul 2022 12:36 PM PDT

Meta is shutting down Novi, its short-lived cryptocurrency digital wallet. In a notice spotted by Bloomberg, the company announced it would sunset the platform on September 1st, with July 20th being the final day to add funds. Meta advised users to withdraw their balance "as soon as possible," noting it would "attempt to transfer" any remaining money to customer bank accounts and debit cards after Novi's final day of operation.

For the time being, the shutdown effectively marks the end of Meta's cryptocurrency ambitions. The company began a "small pilot" of Novi last October. The wallet launched without support for Diem – Meta's in-house cryptocurrency, which was previously known as Libra. One month later, David Marcus, the company's crypto chief, left Meta. At the start of 2022, the Diem Association announced it was selling its assets and "winding down" operations.

But the demise of Novi and Diem doesn't mean Meta won't make another digital wallet. "We are already leveraging the years spent on building capabilities for Meta overall on blockchain and introducing new products, such as digital collectibles," a company spokesperson told Bloomberg. "You can expect to see more from us in the web3 space because we are very optimistic about the value these technologies can bring to people and businesses in the metaverse."

In fact, the company announced last month that it was rebranding Facebook Pay to Meta Pay. At the time, Mark Zuckerberg called the change a "first step" toward creating a digital wallet for the metaverse. The executive said he envisioned a future where Meta Pay would function as a place to store all the digital items you buy or create in virtual worlds.

Pandemic-related manufacturing shutdowns catch up with Tesla

Posted: 02 Jul 2022 11:39 AM PDT

Tesla produced 258,580 vehicles in the second quarter of 2022, the automaker announced on Saturday. While that's a 25 percent year-on-year increase from the number of cars it made during Q2 2021, it's also fewer vehicles than the company produced at the start of the year amid an "exceptionally difficult quarter." In the first three months of 2022, the company manufactured 305,407 cars, meaning production volume declined by 15 percent from the previous quarter.

As a result, Tesla also delivered fewer vehicles in the past three months than it did at the start of the year. Deliveries declined by nearly 18 percent between Q1 and Q2 2022 to 254,695. The setback marks the first time in two years that Tesla's deliveries have fall quarter over quarter.

The company saw production slowed by ongoing component shortages that affected the entire auto industry. Tesla was also forced to stop work at its critical Shanghai Gigafactory multiple times in March due to the strict COVID-19 lockdowns that hit China's most populous city.

If there's a silver lining for Tesla, it's that the company would appear well-positioned to bounce back next quarter. According to Tesla investor Sawyer Merritt, the company said it achieved its highest monthly vehicle production volume in June. We'll know more about Tesla's outlook when the company shares its full Q2 2022 results on July 20th.

NASA targets late August to early September launch for Artemis 1 Moon mission

Posted: 02 Jul 2022 09:19 AM PDT

NASA has set an aggressive launch target for its Artemis 1 Moon mission following the successful June 20th "wet dress rehearsal" fueling test of the SLS rocket that will carry the flight to space. In an interview with Ars Technica, Jim Free, associate administrator with the agency's Explorations Systems Development program, said this week NASA is working toward an August 23rd to September 6th launch window for Aretmis 1. "That's the one we're targeting," Free told the outlet. "We'd be foolish not to target that right now. We made incredible progress last week."

For those keeping track, NASA recently announced the earliest it could get Artemis 1 in space following a successful fueling test of the SLS was between July 26th and August 10th. Instead, NASA selected the second earliest launch window it had open to it.

Before the flight can get underway, technicians must complete final preparations on the SLS rocket, including replacing a seal that led to a hydrogen leak during its June 20th test. NASA began rolling the SLS back to the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building, where staff will work on the launch vehicle, on July 1st. "I don't think we're stretching ourselves to get there," Free said. "We're probably pushing ourselves a little bit, but we're not going to do something stupid."

Once Artemis 1 is finally underway, it will carry an unmanned Orion module on a trip around the Moon to study how the flight might affect the human body. Artemis II will later take four astronauts to the satellite ahead of a planned lunar landing sometime in the second half of the decade.

Twitch's latest test lets you preview channels without watching ads

Posted: 02 Jul 2022 07:50 AM PDT

Twitch has begun testing a new feature that could introduce you to great streamers you haven't seen before. Channel Switcher shows random channels as a carousel at the bottom of the screen. When you click on any of them, you'll be able to watch a one-minute preview of the streamer's content, enough to give you an idea of what they offer. The previews have no ads either, so you can channel surf undisturbed until you find something to watch. As Twitch explains, the feature will make it easier to figure out if you like a specific channel before committing.

A Twitch spokesperson told The Verge that "only a small percentage of [randomly selected] users who are logged in" will get the chance to test out the feature. The company plans to end the test in July and then analyze its results. While it's unclear if Channel Switcher will get a wide release at this point, the spokesperson told the publication that Twitch intends to roll out future iterations and is thinking of offering it as an opt-in discovery solution. 

Alongside Channel Switcher, Twitch also launched Guest Star, which allows up to five guests to join a host in a stream. It works similar to Clubhouse in that streamers can include other streamers and viewers in their broadcast, but it of course supports video and not just audio conversations. 

Recommended Reading: Google's biggest hardware flop

Posted: 02 Jul 2022 07:00 AM PDT

Google's worst hardware flop was introduced 10 years ago today

Chris Welch, The Verge

Ah, the Nexus Q. The $300 media player Google never release to consumers fetched poor reviews from nearly every outlet that tested it. The Verge recounts all that went wrong with the device, which was nearly everything aside from an eye-catching design. 

A brief history of (unintentionally) unbeatable games

Kyle Orland, Ars Technica

The Switch version of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II has a glitch that makes it impossible to complete the game. There's a plan to fix it with a patch, but that's not always possible when games carry unintentional flaws. Ars Technica provides a brief history of other titles that fall into this unfortunate category.

The rise of the 0.5 selfie

Kalley Huang, The New York Times

Taken with the ultra-wide lens on the back of a phone at 0.5x on the camera, a new selfie trend is a far cry from the meticulously curated self-portraits we typically see splattered across social networks. 

GM is ramping up Hummer EV production to address huge order backlog

Posted: 02 Jul 2022 03:02 AM PDT

General Motors has only been producing up to a dozen electric Hummers a day in its Detroit factory, according to The Wall Street Journal, and that's far from ideal when the automaker has over 70,000 reservations. As The Drive notes, it would take GM 17 years to be able to fulfill all its orders at that pace. A GM spokesperson told The Journal, though, that the company's output will increase sharply in the second half of the year. They said production has been slower than usual for the vehicle, because it was developed from scratch and was built on top the company's new Ultium EV platform. The global supply chain shortage that's been affecting the tech and auto industries may have also contributed to the issue. 

In the coming months, the automaker expects to fulfill deliveries at a much faster pace, particularly after it switches from using outsourced LG battery cells. GM aims to start manufacturing its own battery cells later this summer in its new factory in Ohio built in partnership with LG. The company has been building multiple Ultium factories in the US over the past year, including one in Tennessee and another in Michigan in addition to its Ohio plant, as part of its efforts to achieve its goal of making more than a million EVs in the US every year by the end of 2025. One of its short-term goals, however, is likely being able to supply the batteries its Hummer EVs need. That battery makes up a third of the vehicle's weight, The Drive says, and is made up of materials that are high in demand. 

The spokesperson said:

"Our ability to satisfy that demand is only going to improve as we bring on vertical integration of battery cell production. You can expect to see hundreds of deliveries grow to thousands later this year."

GM didn't give out exact numbers, so those at the bottom of the waiting list may have a long wait ahead of them still. That said, they're not alone in waiting for their new EVs and hybrids to be delivered. Ford recently told customers who reserved a hybrid Maverick for 2022 that it's experiencing product delays due to the supply chain shortage and that they could convert their reservation into one for the 2023 model if they wish. The automaker also decided to invest more money and to close `orders for all F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E EV models due to the massive demand for them. 

Meal kit company sued by customers who claim 'contaminated' lentils led to gallbladders removals

Posted: 01 Jul 2022 04:30 PM PDT

Vegan meal kit startup Daily Harvest has been hit with two lawsuits by customers alleging they needed gallbladder removals after eating one of the company's products, reportedCNN. Last month the company issued a voluntary recall of its "French Lentil + Leek Crumbles" dish following multiple claims of gastrointestinal and liver from consumers. The first lawsuit was filed by Carol Ann Ready, an Oklahoma woman who is suing the company in the federal court for the Southern District of New York. Ready purchased and ate lentil crumbles from Daily Harvest on two separate occasions in May, both of which both of which resulted in trips to the emergency room. The second of these was a four-day stay, which ended with Ready's physician recommending gallbladder removal. 

Attorneys for Ready are asking for a jury trial, alleging that damages for the case exceed what the court normally allows. "Plaintiff has sustained serious personal injuries; suffered, and will continue to suffer, significant pain and other physical discomfort; incurred, and will continue to incur, substantial medical expenses; have missed, and will likely miss in the future, work and time necessarily dedicated to advancement in her profession; and remains at risk for future health complications with damages far in excess of $75,000, the jurisdictional threshold of this court," says the complaint, obtained by Food Safety News.

Earlier this week, an Oregon-based content creator who claimed he also consumed the lentils and subsequently had to have his gallbladder removed filed a personal injury lawsuit against Daily Harvest. In a video posted to Twitter on June 21, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, Luke Wesley Pearson, warned his followers not to eat the lentil crumbles.

Daily Harvest still hasn't pinpointed what may have caused the adverse reactions. "All pathogen and toxicology results have come back negative so far, but we're continuing to do extensive testing so we can get to the bottom of this. Everyone who has been affected deserves an answer, and we are committed to making this right," the company said in a statement to CNN.

Yesterday the FDA announced a formal investigation into the outbreak, in an effort to determine the cause. In a blog post, Daily Harvest said it received approximately 470 reports from customers who suffered adverse reactions after eating the product.

Google will start removing abortion clinic visits from users’ location history

Posted: 01 Jul 2022 03:40 PM PDT

Amid data privacy concerns raised by the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, Google says it will remove abortion clinics and other facilities from users' location history. Since the ruling, Google and other tech giants had largely remained silent about how they would handle requests for data about users in abortion-related investigations. Privacy experts have flagged the vast amounts of data collected by Google and other platforms as ripe for abuse by law enforcement and anti-abortion groups.

In a new blog post, Google states that it will attempt to remove locations from users' location histories "soon after they visit." The company was vague about exactly how it would identify these locations, or how long the removals would take. The company said the same process would also apply to visits to other types of health facilities. 

"Some of the places people visit — including medical facilities like counseling centers, domestic violence shelters, abortion clinics, fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, weight loss clinics, cosmetic surgery clinics, and others — can be particularly personal," Google writes. "Today, we're announcing that if our systems identify that someone has visited one of these places, we will delete these entries from Location History soon after they visit."

The company also said that Fitbit would be updating its app so users can bulk-delete their menstrual tracking information from the service. Other period tracking apps have also vowed to add new privacy and security features in recent days as concerns mount that cycle tracking apps could become a target for law enforcement investigations.

Google also addressed concerns about law enforcement's broad requests for location data — an issue lawmakers have also urged the company to address. The company reiterated existing policies, including its practice of notifying users when their data has been requested, and pointed to its transparency reports that track such demands. The company also claimed it has a "long track record of pushing back on overly broad demands" and said it would "continue to oppose demands that are overly broad or otherwise legally objectionable."

While the changes attempt to address one set of concerns that have been raised by privacy experts and activists, they won't prevent the possibility users' online or offline activities could be used against them in an abortion-related investigation. Google made no mention of whether it would remove abortion related queries from user's search history or YouTube accounts, for example. Browsing history and other data is also routinely shared to Facebook and other advertisers, and data brokers are still easily able to obtain data about users' past whereabouts. 
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