Author Archives: Kris Holt

Uber is adding an EV-only option in many cities

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Uber held its second Go-Get Zero event on Tuesday to highlight some of the company's sustainability efforts. First and foremost, it says that there are now enough EV drivers using the service to make an EV-only option available (the current Uber Green includes hybrids). The all-electric Uber Green option, which will cost about the same as an UberX, will initially be available in 40 cities and the company plans to expand this over time.

At the jump, US Uber users will be able to select an EV-only option in New York City, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Denver, Phoenix, San Diego, Orange County, Sacramento, Las Vegas and Palm Springs. The option will soon be available in every city in France where Uber operates, as well as locales in Australia and New Zealand.

In addition, you'll be able to make EVs your preferred option for a ride. If you enable this and there's an EV available within a few minutes of a regular UberX, you'll be matched with an electric vehicle. If it's going to take much longer for an EV to pick up, Uber will send you a gas-powered vehicle instead.

You'll be able to specifically request certain premium EVs during pop up events, with riders in London having the chance to take a ride in a Lotus Eletre. Between October 14 and 21, those in Los Angeles, Dallas and Miami can select a Rivian option on the homescreen to try out an R1. These pop up offerings will cost the same as an Uber Black SUV trip with Reserve.

Meanwhile, the emissions savings feature is getting an update. So, when you take a ride on a bike, scooter or UberX Share, you'll see the level of emissions you've avoided.

On the Uber Eats front, you'll be able to order fresh produce from farmers markets starting today in New York City and Los Angeles. There's also a new spotlighted collection of what Uber describes as "climate-conscious products" from the brands such as Credo Beauty, Allbirds and L’Occitane. Elsewhere, the company says it's opening a marketplace to help Uber Eats restaurants all over the world use greener packaging.

On the other side of the equation, Uber is trying to help more drivers make the switch to an EV, after offering them a variety of EV incentives for years. Starting in the US early next year, drivers can ask an AI assistant in the Uber app for personalized advice about the EV that would work best for them and the city they operate in. The chatbot, which is powered by GPT-4o, can answer questions about things like the range of a certain model and where a driver can go to charge, Uber says.

Aligned with that is an EV mentorship program. Highly rated EV drivers will be able to share their experiences with those curious about switching to an electric car. They can receive cash rewards and incentives for helping out.

Uber claims that EV adoption among its drivers is at least five times higher than typical motorists in the US, Canada and Europe. The monthly average number of Uber drivers in North America and Europe who use EVs now sits at more than 180,000.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/uber-is-adding-an-ev-only-option-in-many-cities-100025988.html?src=rss

iRobot’s Roomba Combo j9+ robot vacuum and mop is $600 off for Prime Day

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Prime Day has returned for the fall, which means there are tons of deals to check out at Amazon. Robot vacuums (and cordless ones for that matter) are some of the machines we most recommend picking up during sale events like this because you can often save hundreds on the stick price. One of the best Prime Day robot vacuum deals we found is on the iRobot Roomba Combo j9+, which is a vac-and-mop hybrid. You can snag it for $800 right now, which is $600 off.

This is our pick for the best robot vacuum and mop combo. The Roomba Combo j9+ covers all the bases — and floor types — as it offers just about everything you could want in such a device.

It has strong suction, the ability to give your floors a deep scrub and the intelligence to avoid obstacles. The accompanying Clean Base not only allows the Combo j9+ to self-empty, it refills the robot's liquid tank with water or solution. As such, you shouldn't have to empty the debris bin or top up the base's liquid tank for weeks at a time.

You can set up vacuuming and mopping routines, and ask Alexa or Google Assistant to start an ad hoc cleaning. The Combo j9+ can map out your home faster than previous models and you can label objects to help direct the Roomba to clean a specific area.

The Combo j9+ is certainly a more premium option, but there are other Roombas on sale for Prime Day. Another vacuum and mop combo (Y0140) has dropped from $275 to $219. Meanwhile, you can pick up the even more budget-friendly Roomba Q0120 vacuum for $190. It usually costs $250.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice, and stay tuned to Engadget.com for all of the best tech deals coming out of October Prime Day 2024.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/irobots-roomba-combo-j9-robot-vacuum-and-mop-is-600-off-for-prime-day-172009289.html?src=rss

Prime Day PS5 deals include the PS5 Slim for $50 off

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The October version of Prime Day has arrived, and some of the best deals are already selling out. On Amazon, we're seeing the PS5 Slim Edition drop as low as $400 (for the all-digital console), but stock is a little unstable. As of writing this, it's current back in stock and on sale. If it disappears again, there's a good chance you'll find the same discount at Walmart.

To back up: The PlayStation 5 is still a hot commodity nearly four years after its debut. While the $700 PS5 Pro is perhaps a little too on the pricey side, the svelte PS5 "Slim" line have all the power of the original PS5 units but in a more slender form factor. Given how chunky those first models were, that's nothing to sniff at. 

While the normally $449 PS5 Slim Digital Edition (the one without a disc drive) has dropped to $399, the regular edition can be yours for $449. If you want to split the difference, the Digital Edition can also be had for $449 with NBA 2K25 included. 

If you buy the Slim Digital Edition and later decide that you'd like a disc drive so you can use Blu-rays, DVDs or physical editions of games on your PS5, you can pick up an $80 attachment. However, it's worth noting that the add-on has been going in and out of stock in anticipation of the PS5 Pro, which doesn't have a disc drive built in but is compatible with the attachment.

There's a large library of great PS5 games at this point, thanks to killer first-party titles such as Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and the utterly terrific Astro Bot. Sony is remastering some major games that debuted on PS4 for the console too, including both chapters of The Last of Us and Horizon Zero Dawn. There's a huge selection of great third-party games to jump into as well, like the latest EA Sports FC, Madden NFL and NBA 2K games for sports fans, Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3. And let's not forget the small matter of a new Call of Duty game dropping in a few weeks.

So, if you do pick up a PS5 Slim, you'll have a ton of games to buy and check out. That said, a PS Plus Extra or Premium subscription might be what you want, as that will give you access to a large library of titles right out of the gate.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice, and stay tuned to Engadget.com for all of the best tech deals coming out of October Prime Day 2024.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-day-ps5-deals-include-the-ps5-slim-for-50-off-153513063.html?src=rss

Sony’s WH-1000XM4 headphones drop to a new low of $130 for Prime Day

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Update 11:54am ET: This deal has sold out, but you can find the rest of the best Prime Day deals here.

There’s little better than finding a killer deal on a great product, and here’s an October Prime Day deal that checks pretty much all the right boxes. Sony's WH-1000XM4 headphones are on sale for $130, which is a new record low. They often sell for $348 and the previous record low price was $198.

These aren’t quite the very best Sony headphones on the market anymore. The XM5s are now at the top of the mountain (they’re our favorite noise canceling headphones overall). However, the XM4s are still a fantastic set of cans, especially at this bargain price.

We gave the XM4s a score of 94 in our review. The powerful, customizable active noise cancellation was a major selling point, as was the immersive audio. The "pause when you speak" feature is quite nifty, while multipoint connectivity is always welcome. The price was one of our main drawbacks, but thankfully that's now far less of an issue.

Sony says you'll get up to 30 hours of usage from a single charge (which matches up with our testing) and you'll get five hours of playback time after a 10-minute quick charge. We felt that the touch controls worked reliably well, while the five-microphone array should help make your voice clear on calls.

In addition, the XM4s support Sony's 360 Reality Audio format for immersive sound. The songs typically sound better than standard tracks and the library of supported music has grown over the years, but not every streaming service supports the format. Amazon Music Unlimited is the best-known option. Tidal, on the other hand, dropped support for the format this summer in favor of Dolby Atmos.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice, and stay tuned to Engadget.com for all of the best tech deals coming out of October Prime Day 2024.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonys-wh-1000xm4-headphones-drop-to-a-new-low-of-130-for-prime-day-142955371.html?src=rss

OpenAI now has a $4 billion credit line on top of $6.6 billion in funding

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Keeping ChatGPT running is expensive as heck, so OpenAI needs access to plenty of cash to make sure the lights stay on. A day after the company said it had secured $6.6 billion in funding — the biggest ever funding round for a startup — it confirmed that it has a new $4 billion revolving line of credit. OpenAI has yet to tap the credit line, which it obtained from JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Santander, Wells Fargo, SMBC, UBS and HSBC. Some of those banks are also among OpenAI's customers.

All told, OpenAI now has a war chest of over $10 billion in liquid funds. The company says that will give it the ability to invest in new projects and research, expand its infrastructure and hire top talent. “This credit facility further strengthens our balance sheet and provides flexibility to seize future growth opportunities,” OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-now-has-a-4-billion-credit-line-on-top-of-66-billion-in-funding-163230350.html?src=rss

Prime Day deals include 32 percent off Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite Kids

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Physical books are heavy and given everything else a youngster has to carry around in their backpack, who needs to deal with those as well? An ereader can help to lighten the load and there's a good deal on a kid-friendly option at the minute. Just ahead of the October edition of Prime Day, Amazon has dropped the price of the Kindle Paperwhite Kids by $55, bringing it down to $115. That's close to the all-time-low price.

Along with a Kindle Paperwhite with 16GB of storage, the bundle includes a year of Amazon Kids+ access, a kid-friendly cover and a two-year worry-free guarantee. If the ereader breaks for any reason in that timeframe, Amazon will replace it. Amazon says all of that equates to a value of up to $263.

Amazon Kids+ typically costs $6 per month. It includes thousands of kid-friendly books, Amazon says. The Paperwhite is all about reading. So while Amazon Kids+ includes access to games, videos and apps on a Kindle Fire, there's none of that here.

The Kindle Paperwhite Kids has a couple extra features called Vocabulary Builder and Word Wise to help youngsters develop their reading skills. The ereader also includes a font called OpenDyslexic, which Amazon says some readers with dyslexia prefer.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice in the lead up to October Prime Day 2024.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/prime-day-deals-include-32-percent-off-amazons-kindle-paperwhite-kids-193131655.html?src=rss

ChatGPT added 50 million weekly users in just two months

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It's little wonder that investors were clamoring to plow money into OpenAI. Alongside an announcement that the company had raised $6.6 billion in funding, OpenAI revealed that "every week, over 250 million people around the world use ChatGPT to enhance their work, creativity, and learning." That's a sharp rise since late August, when OpenAI said the chatbot had 200 million weekly users — double the number it had last November. As of June, 350 million people were using OpenAI's tools each month, according to internal documents obtained by The New York Times. It's unclear how many people are paying for access versus those using the free tier.

It's not exactly clear why there was such a sharp increase in user numbers in just a couple of months. However, kids just went back to school and might be using the chatbot to cheat do some quick research. OpenAI can probably expect ChatGPT's user numbers to get another major boost when Apple eventually incorporates it into Apple Intelligence, which will happen in the coming months.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/chatgpt-added-50-million-weekly-users-in-just-two-months-181012894.html?src=rss

Students used Meta’s smart glasses to automatically dox strangers via Instagram streams

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An unsettling report from 404 Media has shed light on some ways that the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses could be used to violate people's privacy. Two Harvard students used facial recognition tech and a large language model to unearth a subject's name, occupation and other details. Their setup (dubbed I-XRAY) can use that information to pull together other data about the person including their address, phone number, family member details and partial Social Security Numbers from a variety of sources on the web. All of this is said to happen automatically.

While this would be possible with a variety of cameras, AnhPhu Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio opted to use Meta's smart glasses since "they look almost indistinguishable from regular glasses" and have a camera built in. A demo video shows the students using the glasses to swiftly find out information about people they meet in public. Nguyen and Ardayfio address people who appear to be strangers by name, discuss their work and bring up a place where they may have met in the past, based on information gleaned through the facial recognition setup.

In the video, it's explained that the students stream video from the glasses to Instagram. The stream is monitored by a computer program. Once AI detects someone's face, their I-XRAY system pulls more photos of that person from the web along with public information about them. The program then feeds those details back to a mobile app that Nguyen and Ardayfio built. It can take just a couple of minutes for this process to play out.

The students told 404 Media that they developed I-XRAY to make people aware of what's possible with this technology and they won't release the code that they used. Nguyen said that while some of the people they showed the tech to suggested they might use it to network or prank friends, others pointed out some serious safety concerns. “Some dude could just find some girl’s home address on the train and just follow them home," Nguyen pointed out.

In a Google Doc that explains some of the tech behind their system, Nguyen and Ardayfio provide resources detailing how to remove your information from the services that they used for I-XRAY. Those concerned about their privacy may also want to consider using personal information removal services such as DeleteMe or Incogni.

This kind of technology isn't inherently new — 404 Media points out that Meta and Google have had the ability to apply facial recognition to a camera feed for years, but didn't release it publicly. But the ability to use it in off-the-shelf smart glasses that appear relatively innocuous (save for a light that is active when the camera is recording) may give cause for concern.

When asked for comment, Meta referred Engadget to this section of its terms of service regarding Facebook View, an accompanying app for the smart glasses:

Your responsibility for your use of Facebook View. You are responsible for complying with all applicable laws when using Facebook View, and for providing any notice or obtaining any consents, as required under video recording, audio recording, biometric data, or other privacy, data protection, or other applicable laws, from other individuals who use your Facebook View or interact with you while you are using Facebook View. You are also responsible for using Facebook View in a safe, lawful, and respectful manner. You may not tamper with the Glasses, or otherwise obscure or modify any of the features on the Glasses that signal to others that the Glasses are recording (including the external-facing LED light).

Facebook View is intended for purely personal or household use. You may only use Facebook View for personal non-commercial purposes subject to the Terms and any other terms made available by us relating to Facebook View. Except to the extent such restriction is prohibited under applicable law, you will not disassemble, decompile, reverse engineer, decrypt, or attempt to derive any code or extract software from Facebook View. Except to the extent expressly permitted by us, you will not prepare derivative works based upon, distribute, license, sell, rent, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast or otherwise exploit Facebook View or any software, content, or services made available on or through Facebook View.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/students-used-metas-smart-glasses-to-automatically-dox-strangers-via-instagram-streams-170228496.html?src=rss

Palworld is bound for mobile, thanks to the maker of PUBG

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Palworld could be on its way to a mobile device near you. Krafton, the publisher of PUBG: Battlegrounds, has agreed a licensing deal with the game’s maker, Pocketpair, to bring the smash hit to mobile.

Krafton’s PUBG Studios will develop the mobile version. No other details have been announced, other than to note that PUBG Studios will “reinterpret” Palworld’s gameplay for mobile devices, per an automated translation of a press release (which is in Korean). So it’s not completely clear whether this will be a faithful port of the full game or a spinoff that has some of the same features.

Palworld debuted in January and it was an instant hit, selling over a million copies in eight hours and 15 million on Steam alone within a month. It also quickly reached 10 million players on Xbox and was biggest ever third-party launch on Game Pass. Palworld then suddenly landed on PlayStation 5 in many markets last week.

However, there’s a reason that Palworld isn’t available on PS5 in Japan for now. The game’s similarity to Pokémon (here, you also catch a variety of monsters, but some of ‘em have guns and you can also eat them) caught the attention of Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. The latter indicated in January that it was investigating the would-be rival. In September, the two companies filed suit against Pocketpair in Japan for alleged patent infringement.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/palworld-is-bound-for-mobile-thanks-to-the-maker-of-pubg-141104110.html?src=rss

The first new Game Pass titles for October include Inscryption and Sifu

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While there's a much bigger title coming to the service later in the month, Xbox has revealed the first five Game Pass additions for October. Among them are some newcomers to the new Game Pass Standard tier. 

Baseball sim MLB The Show 24 and the enjoyable narrative game Open Roads were already on Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Game Pass for Console (which is no longer available unless you were grandfathered in). They'll join the Standard library on consoles on October 2 alongside Sifu. That captivating brawler is also coming to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.

Two other games will hit all versions of the service save for Xbox Game Pass Core in the coming days (have we talked about how needlessly convoluted the Game Pass setup is lately?). Physics-based party brawler Mad Streets will join the lineup on October 7, followed by Inscryption on October 10. That creepy roguelike deck-builder is one of our picks for the best horror games you can play right now.

Inevitably, Xbox will be removing some games from the library in the coming days to make way for the newcomers (and also because various licensing deals will be coming to an end). On October 15, it will yank Dyson Sphere Program, Everspace 2, From Space, F1 Manager 2023 and Scorn.

As ever, Xbox will add more titles to Game Pass in the back half of the month, including a lil' under-the-radar one a few people might have heard of called Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. That one will not be on the Standard tier any time soon, however.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/the-first-new-game-pass-titles-for-october-include-inscryption-and-sifu-165518640.html?src=rss