Tag Archives: author_name|Mat Smith

The Morning After: Tesla settles lawsuit over fatal Model X crash

Posted on by

Back in 2019, the family of Apple engineer Wei Lun Huang (aka Walter Huang) sued Tesla a year after he was killed when his Model X crashed while Autopilot was engaged. The automaker has settled the lawsuit — on the very day jury selection was supposed to take place. Tesla’s lawyers asked the court to seal the settlement agreement so the payout amount wouldn’t be made public.

Tesla confirmed shortly after the accident that Autopilot was on at the time of the crash, but it also insisted Huang had time to react and had an unobstructed view of the divider. In a statement to the press, the company insisted the driver was at fault, and the only way for the accident to have occurred was if Huang “was not paying attention to the road.”

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation found Huang running a mobile game but couldn’t confirm if he was holding the phone during impact.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Google’s long-awaited Find My Device network launches today

Logitech’s tiny G Pro X 60 gaming keyboard has some big competition

NASA will be studying the total solar eclipse. Here’s how you can help

​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

Nintendo’s Wii U and 3DS online servers are gone

They lived their life like two candles in the wind.

TMA
Engadget

Both the Wii U and 3DS’ online servers have been switched off. This means the end of online multiplayer gaming for both consoles, turning Mario Kart 7 for 3DS and the original Splatoon for the Wii U into single-player or couch co-op experiences — AKA the best Mario Kart experience. The first Super Mario Maker is also effectively dead.

Continue reading.

Play Tekken, get free Chipotle

Mild salsa for Mishima.

The Chipotle Challenger Series featuring Tekken 8 will kick off on PS5 Tournaments with a qualifier round from April 15 to 26, open to anyone who wants to test their fighting-game skills — or just score some free snacks. All qualifier participants will receive a code for free chips and guacamole from Chipotle. If you’re actually good (at Tekken, not eating Chipotle), there’s a $5,000 prize and a trip for two to Evo 2024 in Las Vegas, plus free Chipotle for a year. Adobo chicken for Asuka, Barbacoa for Bryan Fury, Carnitas for King. I could go on.

Continue reading.

Spotify tests AI-generated playlists based on text prompts

Again, it’s trialing features in the UK first.

Spotify is dipping its toe into the world of AI prompts. It announced AI Playlist, a new beta feature for creating playlists with a few words to get into the music vibe you want, such as “an indie folk playlist to give my brain a big warm hug.” Ugh.

The beta is available to Premium subscribers on Android and iOS devices in the United Kingdom and Australia. You can access it through the + button at the top right of your library. Click AI Playlist and let your imagination run wild.

Continue reading.

Fairphone’s repairable wireless earbuds put the industry on notice

Swap the Fairbuds’ batteries in 30 seconds.

TMA
Engadget

The big problem with the boom in true wireless earbuds is they’re pretty much never repairable. Once the batteries wear out, they’re done. Fairphone, however, has built a pair of buds with not only replaceable batteries but easily replaceable ones. The Fairbuds are made of 70 percent recycled and fair materials, while 100 percent of the rare earth elements and tin are recycled. They are €149, and it’s likely we’ll see them in the US at some point, just like its phones.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-tesla-settles-lawsuit-over-fatal-model-x-autopilot-crash-111621559.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Tesla settles lawsuit over fatal Model X crash

Posted on by

Back in 2019, the family of Apple engineer Wei Lun Huang (aka Walter Huang) sued Tesla a year after he was killed when his Model X crashed while Autopilot was engaged. The automaker has settled the lawsuit — on the very day jury selection was supposed to take place. Tesla’s lawyers asked the court to seal the settlement agreement so the payout amount wouldn’t be made public.

Tesla confirmed shortly after the accident that Autopilot was on at the time of the crash, but it also insisted Huang had time to react and had an unobstructed view of the divider. In a statement to the press, the company insisted the driver was at fault, and the only way for the accident to have occurred was if Huang “was not paying attention to the road.”

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation found Huang running a mobile game but couldn’t confirm if he was holding the phone during impact.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Google’s long-awaited Find My Device network launches today

Logitech’s tiny G Pro X 60 gaming keyboard has some big competition

NASA will be studying the total solar eclipse. Here’s how you can help

​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

Nintendo’s Wii U and 3DS online servers are gone

They lived their life like two candles in the wind.

TMA
Engadget

Both the Wii U and 3DS’ online servers have been switched off. This means the end of online multiplayer gaming for both consoles, turning Mario Kart 7 for 3DS and the original Splatoon for the Wii U into single-player or couch co-op experiences — AKA the best Mario Kart experience. The first Super Mario Maker is also effectively dead.

Continue reading.

Play Tekken, get free Chipotle

Mild salsa for Mishima.

The Chipotle Challenger Series featuring Tekken 8 will kick off on PS5 Tournaments with a qualifier round from April 15 to 26, open to anyone who wants to test their fighting-game skills — or just score some free snacks. All qualifier participants will receive a code for free chips and guacamole from Chipotle. If you’re actually good (at Tekken, not eating Chipotle), there’s a $5,000 prize and a trip for two to Evo 2024 in Las Vegas, plus free Chipotle for a year. Adobo chicken for Asuka, Barbacoa for Bryan Fury, Carnitas for King. I could go on.

Continue reading.

Spotify tests AI-generated playlists based on text prompts

Again, it’s trialing features in the UK first.

Spotify is dipping its toe into the world of AI prompts. It announced AI Playlist, a new beta feature for creating playlists with a few words to get into the music vibe you want, such as “an indie folk playlist to give my brain a big warm hug.” Ugh.

The beta is available to Premium subscribers on Android and iOS devices in the United Kingdom and Australia. You can access it through the + button at the top right of your library. Click AI Playlist and let your imagination run wild.

Continue reading.

Fairphone’s repairable wireless earbuds put the industry on notice

Swap the Fairbuds’ batteries in 30 seconds.

TMA
Engadget

The big problem with the boom in true wireless earbuds is they’re pretty much never repairable. Once the batteries wear out, they’re done. Fairphone, however, has built a pair of buds with not only replaceable batteries but easily replaceable ones. The Fairbuds are made of 70 percent recycled and fair materials, while 100 percent of the rare earth elements and tin are recycled. They are €149, and it’s likely we’ll see them in the US at some point, just like its phones.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-tesla-settles-lawsuit-over-fatal-model-x-autopilot-crash-111621559.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Apple allows game emulators on the App Store

Posted on by

Apple, in its latest update to its App Store developer guidelines for iPhones and iPads, flagged by 9to5Mac, says it will allow game console emulators – and even downloadable games.

Apple warns developers, however, they “are responsible for all such software offered in [their] app, including ensuring that such software complies with these Guidelines and all applicable laws.” So don’t expect to play Super Mario, Spyro, or a third game series that starts with an 'S'.

Meanwhile, we have a guide to watching (and recording) the total eclipse in North America later today. The best chance of good viewing along the path of eclipse totality is still in northeastern parts of the US (Buffalo, NY, Burlington, VT) and southeast Canada (Niagara Falls and Montreal).

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

iOS music apps in the EU can now send users to external websites for purchase

Best Buy’s Geek Squad agents say they were hit by mass layoffs this week

Meta asks a judge to throw out an FTC antitrust case

Polestar 4 first look: When no rear window means a better car

​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

OpenAI and Google may have transcribed YouTube videos to train their AI models

If so, they violated YouTube creators’ copyrights.

OpenAI and Google trained their AI models using text transcribed from YouTube videos, potentially violating creators’ copyrights, according to a report from The New York Times. The report centers on how OpenAI, Google and Meta have attempted to maximize the data they can feed to their AIs and cites numerous people with knowledge of the companies’ practices.

Not that these companies relied on the auto-generated (hit-and-miss) auto-transcriptions provided by YouTube itself. Reportedly, OpenAI used its Whisper speech recognition tool to transcribe more than a million hours of YouTube videos to train GPT-4. The report, however, claims people at Google knew but did not act — because Google was doing the same to train its own AI models. Google told NYT it only uses video content from creators who have agreed to it.

Continue reading.

Tesla will unveil a robotaxi on August 8

Musk made the announcement on X.

Hours after Reuters published a report about the automaker scrapping its plans to produce a low-cost EV, Tesla boss Elon Musk took to X to say the company would unveil a robotaxi on August 8. The same report said Musk’s directive was to “go all in” on robotaxis built on the company’s small-vehicle platform.

In response to the report, the Tesla chief tweeted “Reuters is lying (again).” Given he confirmed the robotaxi plans, he could have meant a more affordable Tesla EV was still on the table, at least for now.

Continue reading.

One of these concept lunar vehicles could join NASA’s next moon mission

Three companies are in the running.

TMA
NASA

Three companies are pitching lunar vehicle designs to support NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions. The space agency announced this week that it’s chosen Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost and Venturi Astrolab to develop their lunar terrain vehicles (LTV) in a feasibility study over the next year. The LTV will need to function as both a crewed and uncrewed vehicle, serving sometimes as a mode of transportation for astronauts and other times as a remotely operated explorer. NASA says it’ll contract the chosen vehicle for lunar services through 2039. Take a look at the options.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-apple-allows-game-emulators-on-the-app-store-111454837.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Apple allows game emulators on the App Store

Posted on by

Apple, in its latest update to its App Store developer guidelines for iPhones and iPads, flagged by 9to5Mac, says it will allow game console emulators – and even downloadable games.

Apple warns developers, however, they “are responsible for all such software offered in [their] app, including ensuring that such software complies with these Guidelines and all applicable laws.” So don’t expect to play Super Mario, Spyro, or a third game series that starts with an 'S'.

Meanwhile, we have a guide to watching (and recording) the total eclipse in North America later today. The best chance of good viewing along the path of eclipse totality is still in northeastern parts of the US (Buffalo, NY, Burlington, VT) and southeast Canada (Niagara Falls and Montreal).

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

iOS music apps in the EU can now send users to external websites for purchase

Best Buy’s Geek Squad agents say they were hit by mass layoffs this week

Meta asks a judge to throw out an FTC antitrust case

Polestar 4 first look: When no rear window means a better car

​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

OpenAI and Google may have transcribed YouTube videos to train their AI models

If so, they violated YouTube creators’ copyrights.

OpenAI and Google trained their AI models using text transcribed from YouTube videos, potentially violating creators’ copyrights, according to a report from The New York Times. The report centers on how OpenAI, Google and Meta have attempted to maximize the data they can feed to their AIs and cites numerous people with knowledge of the companies’ practices.

Not that these companies relied on the auto-generated (hit-and-miss) auto-transcriptions provided by YouTube itself. Reportedly, OpenAI used its Whisper speech recognition tool to transcribe more than a million hours of YouTube videos to train GPT-4. The report, however, claims people at Google knew but did not act — because Google was doing the same to train its own AI models. Google told NYT it only uses video content from creators who have agreed to it.

Continue reading.

Tesla will unveil a robotaxi on August 8

Musk made the announcement on X.

Hours after Reuters published a report about the automaker scrapping its plans to produce a low-cost EV, Tesla boss Elon Musk took to X to say the company would unveil a robotaxi on August 8. The same report said Musk’s directive was to “go all in” on robotaxis built on the company’s small-vehicle platform.

In response to the report, the Tesla chief tweeted “Reuters is lying (again).” Given he confirmed the robotaxi plans, he could have meant a more affordable Tesla EV was still on the table, at least for now.

Continue reading.

One of these concept lunar vehicles could join NASA’s next moon mission

Three companies are in the running.

TMA
NASA

Three companies are pitching lunar vehicle designs to support NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions. The space agency announced this week that it’s chosen Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost and Venturi Astrolab to develop their lunar terrain vehicles (LTV) in a feasibility study over the next year. The LTV will need to function as both a crewed and uncrewed vehicle, serving sometimes as a mode of transportation for astronauts and other times as a remotely operated explorer. NASA says it’ll contract the chosen vehicle for lunar services through 2039. Take a look at the options.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-apple-allows-game-emulators-on-the-app-store-111454837.html?src=rss

The Morning After: 80 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions comes from just 57 companies

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A new Carbon Majors Database report, which examines carbon dioxide emissions, found that just 57 companies were responsible for 80 percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions between 2016 and 2022. ExxonMobil, which topped the list of United States companies, contributed 1.4 percent of all global carbon dioxide emissions. It has net zero emissions targets.

Nearly 200 parties adopted the 2015 Paris Agreement, committing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, 58 of the 100 state- and investor-owned companies in the Carbon Majors Database have since increased their production.

The International Energy Agency found coal consumption increased by eight percent over the seven years to 8.3 billion tons — a record high. State-owned Coal India is one of the top three carbon dioxide producers. Russia’s state-owned energy company Gazprom and state-owned oil firm Saudi Aramco rounded out the group.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

X is giving blue checks to people with more than 2,500 Premium followers

Hatsune Miku in Crypt of the Necrodancer feels like the perfect crossover

The best multi-device wireless charging pads for 2024

​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

The chaos of YouTube’s multicam Coachella stream

When you apply sports logic to a music festival.

TMA
YouTube

YouTube is hyping its exclusive Coachella streaming coverage, which starts next week. The headlining feature is the platform’s multiview experience (already familiar to sports fans) — but who wants to watch up to four stages simultaneously, with audio for one of them. It’s… a music festival. Coachella runs from April 12 to 14 and April 19 to 21.

Continue reading.

The latest Razer Blade 18 is now available to order

If you want 4K 200Hz display, you’ll need an extra $1,700 and a bit of time.

TMA
Razer

Finally, after a reveal at CES, the 2024 edition of the Razor Blade 18 arrives for $3,099. The base system has an i9-14900HX processor, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD storage, Wi-Fi 7, a triple-fan cooling system and a six-speaker array with THX spatial audio support. You can equip the laptop with up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 (the base model has a 4070 graphics card). In what Razer claims is a first for a laptop, there’s Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, but only if you opt for a 4080 or 4090 GPU.

Continue reading.

Apple cuts over 700 jobs as it closes car and display projects

Eight offices in Santa Clara, California were affected by the layoffs.

Over 700 people at Apple have recently lost their jobs, mostly from offices in Santa Clara. The location that dealt with the company’s electric vehicle projects has lost 371 people. There may not be enough space at that new home robot project.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-80-percent-of-global-carbon-dioxide-emissions-comes-from-just-57-companies-111514748.html?src=rss

The Morning After: 80 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions comes from just 57 companies

Posted on by

A new Carbon Majors Database report, which examines carbon dioxide emissions, found that just 57 companies were responsible for 80 percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions between 2016 and 2022. ExxonMobil, which topped the list of United States companies, contributed 1.4 percent of all global carbon dioxide emissions. It has net zero emissions targets.

Nearly 200 parties adopted the 2015 Paris Agreement, committing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, 58 of the 100 state- and investor-owned companies in the Carbon Majors Database have since increased their production.

The International Energy Agency found coal consumption increased by eight percent over the seven years to 8.3 billion tons — a record high. State-owned Coal India is one of the top three carbon dioxide producers. Russia’s state-owned energy company Gazprom and state-owned oil firm Saudi Aramco rounded out the group.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

X is giving blue checks to people with more than 2,500 Premium followers

Hatsune Miku in Crypt of the Necrodancer feels like the perfect crossover

The best multi-device wireless charging pads for 2024

​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

The chaos of YouTube’s multicam Coachella stream

When you apply sports logic to a music festival.

TMA
YouTube

YouTube is hyping its exclusive Coachella streaming coverage, which starts next week. The headlining feature is the platform’s multiview experience (already familiar to sports fans) — but who wants to watch up to four stages simultaneously, with audio for one of them. It’s… a music festival. Coachella runs from April 12 to 14 and April 19 to 21.

Continue reading.

The latest Razer Blade 18 is now available to order

If you want 4K 200Hz display, you’ll need an extra $1,700 and a bit of time.

TMA
Razer

Finally, after a reveal at CES, the 2024 edition of the Razor Blade 18 arrives for $3,099. The base system has an i9-14900HX processor, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD storage, Wi-Fi 7, a triple-fan cooling system and a six-speaker array with THX spatial audio support. You can equip the laptop with up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 (the base model has a 4070 graphics card). In what Razer claims is a first for a laptop, there’s Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, but only if you opt for a 4080 or 4090 GPU.

Continue reading.

Apple cuts over 700 jobs as it closes car and display projects

Eight offices in Santa Clara, California were affected by the layoffs.

Over 700 people at Apple have recently lost their jobs, mostly from offices in Santa Clara. The location that dealt with the company’s electric vehicle projects has lost 371 people. There may not be enough space at that new home robot project.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-80-percent-of-global-carbon-dioxide-emissions-comes-from-just-57-companies-111514748.html?src=rss

The Morning After: NASA has to make a time zone for the Moon

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The White House has published a policy memo asking NASA to create a new time standard for the Moon by 2026. Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC) will establish an official time reference to help guide future lunar missions. The US, China, Japan, India and Russia have space missions to the Moon planned or completed.

NASA (and the White House) aren’t the only ones trying. The European Space Agency is also trying to make a time zone outside of Earth’s… zone.

Given the Moon’s weaker gravity, time moves slightly faster there. “The same clock we have on Earth would move at a different rate on the Moon,” NASA space communications and navigation chief Kevin Coggins told Reuters.

You saw Interstellar, right? Er, just like that. Exactly like that. No further questions.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Meta’s AI image generator struggles to create images of couples of different races

Our favorite cheap smartphone is on sale for $250 right now

OnePlus rolls out its own version of Google’s Magic Eraser

How to watch (and record) the solar eclipse on April 8

​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

Microsoft may have finally made quantum computing useful

The most error-free quantum solution yet, apparently.

What if we could build a machine working at the quantum level that could tackle complex calculations exponentially faster than a computer limited by classic physics? Despite all the heady dreams of quantum computing and press releases from IBM and Google, it's still a what-if. Microsoft now says it’s developed the most error-free quantum computing system yet, with Quantinuum. It’s not a thing I can condense into a single paragraph. You… saw Interstellar, right?

Continue reading.

Stability AI’s audio generator can now create three-minute ‘songs’

Still not that good, though.

Stability AI just unveiled Stable Audio 2.0, an upgraded version of its music-generation platform. With this system, you can use your own text to create up to three minutes of audio, which is roughly the length of a song. You can hone the results by choosing a genre or even uploading audio to inspire the algo. It’s fun — try it out. Just don’t add vocals, trust me.

Continue reading.

Bloomberg says Apple is developing personal robots now

EVs schmee vees.

Apple, hunting for its next iPhone / Apple Watch / Vision Pro (maybe?), might be trying to get into robots. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, one area the company is exploring is personal robotics — and it started looking at electric vehicles too. The report says Apple has started working on a mobile robot to follow users around their home and has already developed a table-top device that uses a robot to move a screen around.

Continue reading.

Another Matrix movie is happening.

Not like this.

TMA
Warner Bros.

Whoa.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-nasa-has-to-make-a-time-zone-for-the-moon-111554408.html?src=rss

The Morning After: NASA has to make a time zone for the Moon

Posted on by

The White House has published a policy memo asking NASA to create a new time standard for the Moon by 2026. Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC) will establish an official time reference to help guide future lunar missions. The US, China, Japan, India and Russia have space missions to the Moon planned or completed.

NASA (and the White House) aren’t the only ones trying. The European Space Agency is also trying to make a time zone outside of Earth’s… zone.

Given the Moon’s weaker gravity, time moves slightly faster there. “The same clock we have on Earth would move at a different rate on the Moon,” NASA space communications and navigation chief Kevin Coggins told Reuters.

You saw Interstellar, right? Er, just like that. Exactly like that. No further questions.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Meta’s AI image generator struggles to create images of couples of different races

Our favorite cheap smartphone is on sale for $250 right now

OnePlus rolls out its own version of Google’s Magic Eraser

How to watch (and record) the solar eclipse on April 8

​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

Microsoft may have finally made quantum computing useful

The most error-free quantum solution yet, apparently.

What if we could build a machine working at the quantum level that could tackle complex calculations exponentially faster than a computer limited by classic physics? Despite all the heady dreams of quantum computing and press releases from IBM and Google, it's still a what-if. Microsoft now says it’s developed the most error-free quantum computing system yet, with Quantinuum. It’s not a thing I can condense into a single paragraph. You… saw Interstellar, right?

Continue reading.

Stability AI’s audio generator can now create three-minute ‘songs’

Still not that good, though.

Stability AI just unveiled Stable Audio 2.0, an upgraded version of its music-generation platform. With this system, you can use your own text to create up to three minutes of audio, which is roughly the length of a song. You can hone the results by choosing a genre or even uploading audio to inspire the algo. It’s fun — try it out. Just don’t add vocals, trust me.

Continue reading.

Bloomberg says Apple is developing personal robots now

EVs schmee vees.

Apple, hunting for its next iPhone / Apple Watch / Vision Pro (maybe?), might be trying to get into robots. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, one area the company is exploring is personal robotics — and it started looking at electric vehicles too. The report says Apple has started working on a mobile robot to follow users around their home and has already developed a table-top device that uses a robot to move a screen around.

Continue reading.

Another Matrix movie is happening.

Not like this.

TMA
Warner Bros.

Whoa.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-nasa-has-to-make-a-time-zone-for-the-moon-111554408.html?src=rss

The Morning After: California introduces right to disconnect bill

Posted on by

Even with burnout, overwhelm, budget cuts, hiring freezes, waves of redundancies and everything else in 2024, there’s still little regulation in the US to stop employers tapping workers to respond to requests either at their desk or through their smartphones and laptops at home.

(Of course, France is showing us all up, having introduced a right-to-disconnect policy back in 2017. Those pesky, utterly correct French…)

This week, California State Assemblyman Matt Haney introduced AB 2751, a “right to disconnect” proposition. If passed, it would make every California employer lay out exactly what a person’s hours are and ensure they aren’t required to respond to work-related communications while off the clock. Time periods in which a salaried employee might have to work longer hours would need to be laid out in their contract.

“I do think it’s fitting that California, which has created many of these technologies, is also the state that introduces how we make it sustainable and update our protections for the times we live in and the world we’ve created,” Haney told The San Francisco Standard.

He’s not wrong: California is the birthplace of Gmail, the iPhone, although not Slack — watch out Vancouver, Canada.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

HP Spectre x360 14 review

Tesla sees EV deliveries drop year-over-year for the first time since 2020

England’s NHS will provide artificial pancreas to thousands of diabetes patients

X names its third head of safety in less than two years

​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

Form’s next-gen goggles make for a more comfortable swim

Smart Swim 2 is smaller, lighter and more useful.

TMA
Engadget

Form launched its Smart Swim goggles in 2019. They featured a built-in display showing real-time data when you swim, and its successor, the Smart Swim 2, is a refinement in every way. Form has nipped and tucked the existing model, with the tech pack 15 percent smaller than its predecessor. It also worked on comfort and fit, giving the goggles longer, more adjustable straps and a broader range of swappable nose bridges.

Continue reading.

Amazon just walked out on its self-checkout technology

The company is removing Just Walk Out from Fresh grocery stores in the US.

TMA
Amazon

Amazon is removing its much-trumpeted Just Walk Out tech from all of its US Fresh grocery stores. The self-checkout system used cameras, sensors and good old-fashioned human eyeballs to track what people leave the store with, charging the customers accordingly with no human needing to scan a thing.

One issue was the system didn’t use AI object detection and advanced smarts as much as Amazon would like you to believe. There are reportedly over 1,000 people in India scanning the camera feeds to ensure accurate checkouts.

Amazon tried to sell the technology to other retail chains, but its only major deal was with Starbucks in a few locations. These systems require high ceilings to accommodate the cameras and sensors. Reuters suggested many retailers consider Amazon a competitor and didn’t want its hooks in their systems. For now, the systems will continue in select UK stores.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-california-introduces-right-to-disconnect-bill-111536502.html?src=rss

The Morning After: California introduces right to disconnect bill

Posted on by

Even with burnout, overwhelm, budget cuts, hiring freezes, waves of redundancies and everything else in 2024, there’s still little regulation in the US to stop employers tapping workers to respond to requests either at their desk or through their smartphones and laptops at home.

(Of course, France is showing us all up, having introduced a right-to-disconnect policy back in 2017. Those pesky, utterly correct French…)

This week, California State Assemblyman Matt Haney introduced AB 2751, a “right to disconnect” proposition. If passed, it would make every California employer lay out exactly what a person’s hours are and ensure they aren’t required to respond to work-related communications while off the clock. Time periods in which a salaried employee might have to work longer hours would need to be laid out in their contract.

“I do think it’s fitting that California, which has created many of these technologies, is also the state that introduces how we make it sustainable and update our protections for the times we live in and the world we’ve created,” Haney told The San Francisco Standard.

He’s not wrong: California is the birthplace of Gmail, the iPhone, although not Slack — watch out Vancouver, Canada.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

HP Spectre x360 14 review

Tesla sees EV deliveries drop year-over-year for the first time since 2020

England’s NHS will provide artificial pancreas to thousands of diabetes patients

X names its third head of safety in less than two years

​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

Form’s next-gen goggles make for a more comfortable swim

Smart Swim 2 is smaller, lighter and more useful.

TMA
Engadget

Form launched its Smart Swim goggles in 2019. They featured a built-in display showing real-time data when you swim, and its successor, the Smart Swim 2, is a refinement in every way. Form has nipped and tucked the existing model, with the tech pack 15 percent smaller than its predecessor. It also worked on comfort and fit, giving the goggles longer, more adjustable straps and a broader range of swappable nose bridges.

Continue reading.

Amazon just walked out on its self-checkout technology

The company is removing Just Walk Out from Fresh grocery stores in the US.

TMA
Amazon

Amazon is removing its much-trumpeted Just Walk Out tech from all of its US Fresh grocery stores. The self-checkout system used cameras, sensors and good old-fashioned human eyeballs to track what people leave the store with, charging the customers accordingly with no human needing to scan a thing.

One issue was the system didn’t use AI object detection and advanced smarts as much as Amazon would like you to believe. There are reportedly over 1,000 people in India scanning the camera feeds to ensure accurate checkouts.

Amazon tried to sell the technology to other retail chains, but its only major deal was with Starbucks in a few locations. These systems require high ceilings to accommodate the cameras and sensors. Reuters suggested many retailers consider Amazon a competitor and didn’t want its hooks in their systems. For now, the systems will continue in select UK stores.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-california-introduces-right-to-disconnect-bill-111536502.html?src=rss