Getting rid of smartphone excess is hard. Just ask Apple. When it launched the iPhone 12 series without chargers or headphones in the box, the company had to immediately accommodate French laws by including Earpods with the four new smartphones. French law demands that smartphones are bundled with a hands-free kit or headset to protect children aged 14 and younger from electromagnetic radiation, with the country wary about the health effects of long-term radiation exposure from smartphones.
A little later, here's Brazil. Consumer protection agency Procon-SP has fined Apple nearly R$10.55 million (about $1.92 million) for removing the power adapter from its newest phones, including later production runs of older iPhones. Procon-SP told Apple about the alleged violation in December, with the company reiterating its environmental angle, arguing that it would reduce CO2 emissions and rare earth mining, as well as the fact that many customers already had spare chargers. (Don't forget that the in-box cable, with its USB-C connector, would need a new charger to work.)
The agency wasn't satisfied with that answer, issuing a fine that is incredibly tiny given the size of Apple. The bigger issue now is how Apple will accommodate Brazil's demands to ensure it can keep selling iPhones there.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has fined Coinbase $6.5 million for allegedly providing misleading info about its trading volumes. The Coinbase Pro exchange ran two programs that sometimes traded Bitcoin and Litecoin with each other between 2015 and 2018, and included those trades in data it shared with outside services, suggesting more trading volume than there was.
Coinbase is one of the most well-established cryptocurrency exchanges, simplifying the process of converting established currencies into Bitcoin and the rest. CFTC Commissioner Dawn Stump stressed that Coinbase's infractions were firmly in the past. The activity took place "several years ago," and the employee responsible left years before the fine. The exchange hadn't repeated this behavior since, Stump added. Continue reading.
Only a handful of games are known to support Dolby so far.
Players using the latest Xbox Insider Alpha ring release have noticed that it enables Dolby Vision for Series X and Series S titles. Well, a few of them, anyway. It's been spotted working on Borderlands 3, Gears 5 and Halo: Master Chief Collection, adding enhanced HDR through Dolby rather than the standard HDR10 — the type used by Xbox's rival, PlayStation.Continue reading.
According to Deadline, Trump aide Jason Miller told Fox News that the former president is planning to launch his own social media service in "two to three months." Miller wasn't specific about what the platform would entail, but insisted it would "redefine the game"
Trump may have undermined his own efforts, if he does go through with the launch. The former leader pushed for limitations on the Communications Decency Act's Section 230 (which shields internet companies from liability for user content) and a variant on that has persisted since the Democrats took control of the presidency and both sides of Congress. A limited Section 230 might let victims of libel or harassment sue a social network — even if its owner is a former president. Continue reading.
Opera is marking the third anniversary of its current iOS browser by renaming it. Goodbye Opera Touch, hello just plain Opera. The app also has a revamped look, with a red color scheme instead of purple. Opera says its iOS user base increased by over 65 percent in the 12 months to February, which has been partially credited to Apple's decision to let users change their default browser in iOS 14. The updated app is available now. Continue reading.
Acer has not publicly admitted that there is an attack going on, only that it has "reported recent abnormal situations" to law enforcement. If it needs an example of what to do next then CD Projekt Red may be an example, having publicly acknowledged a ransomware attack that impacted plans to release new patches for Cyberpunk 2077. The game developer may be on its way to recovering from that, as it just posted a video showing off tweaks that will be a part of the upcoming 1.2 patch.
An Amazon that started over the weekend continued and saw prices slashed on the latest Echo, Echo Show 5 and Echo Dot, among others. Apple's MacBook Pro M1 fell to its lowest price yet thanks to coupons that accompanied sale prices, and the Apple Watch SE remains on sale for $259. And through Sunday, Best Buy has a limited-time sale on a bunch of gear, including the latest Samsung smartphones, Surface tablets and OLED TVs.
Here are all the best deals from the week that you can still snag today, and remember to follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for more updates. Continue reading.
Samsung's A-series event and Google's sleep-tracking display
This week, Cherlynn and Devindra are joined by senior mobile editor Chris Velazco to try and make sense of Samsung's 'Awesome Unpacked' event. The company didn't just unveil new Galaxy A-series phones, but also tried excruciatingly hard to flex its 'understanding' of Gen Z lingo. We also take a look at Google's new Nest Hub, which is a smart display that uses radar to tell when you're asleep. Is that cool or creepy? Plus, updates from elsewhere PC hardware land with news from Intel, AMD and Alienware.
Stay tuned to the end of the episode for interviews with The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman on his upcoming Amazon animated series Invincible as well as Fede Alvarez, director of the upcoming Apple TV series Calls.
In the midst of Tesla's SEC filing, Elon Musk has apparently claimed a new title, the "Technoking of Tesla," for some reason. The company's CFO, Zach Kirkhorn, has a new position that's right out of Game of Thrones: Master of Coin. There's also probably a nod there to the recent Bitcoin machinations of both Tesla and Musk himself. Last month, Tesla bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin to help "diversify and maximize" its returns. The news juiced the price of Bitcoin further, hitting an all-time high of over $44,000.
The filing notes: "Elon and Zach will also maintain their respective positions as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer." Continue reading.
Intel has finally given us more information about its next family of desktop CPUs, codenamed Rocket Lake S. The fastest offering will be the Core i9-11900K, an 8-core chip that reaches up to 5.3GHz on a single core. Notably, that's two fewer cores than last year's 10900K. Devindra Hardawar explains what performance Intel has been able to wring out of its aging 14nm process, and how that compares to the competition from AMD for gamers and professionals. Continue reading.
Designed in collaboration with Lenovo, this Android device is powered by an octacore processor and has a 10.1-inch HD IPS display that's apparently been certified to be gentle on the eyes by lowering blue light. It also has 32GB of storage with the option to expand with a microSD card and can last up to 10 hours of web browsing on a single charge.
As you'd expect, the $130 slate has access to the Nook app for ebooks, newspapers and magazines, Google Play and Google Assistant. Continue reading.
While supply still isn't quite meeting demand for the newest consoles, neither Sony or Microsoft are staying still. For Xbox, its Game Pass has benefited from two waves of games from EA and now-Microsoft-owned Bethesda, while PlayStation has countered with a handful of free games, both AAA and indie, and given us another glimpse into the future of PSVR.
Sony
Sony's new VR controllers look more like orbs (or an old mobile logo) than the Move wands of old, ensuring next-gen PSVR should at least feel more like rival VR platforms including Oculus and HTC's Vive. Like the PS5's DualSense controller, expect adaptive triggers and haptic feedback, and there's also finger-touch detection that will allow you to interact with your virtual worlds by pointing. Instead of the glowing orbs of the old Move controllers, all controller tracking will be done by the headset itself, which could make for a more stable and precise VR experience — when it eventually gets here.
Sony warned earlier this year that you won't see its new VR headset in 2021, so that should hold true for these controllers too.
We can probably blame the metal wheels, but the Perseverance rover's 90-foot drive in Jezero Crater on March 7th didn't sound chill at all. You'll hear the rover's wheels crunching over the surface, alongside the bangs and creaks of very expensive space equipment. The original recording also contains a high-pitched scratching, which Perseverance's engineering team is still trying to figure out. According to them, the sounds could've been made by the mobility system itself, or may be due to electromagnetic interference. Take a listen for yourself. Continue reading.
'Ready For' is the company's take on Samsung's Dex for Edge Plus users.
A decade after the Atrix 4GLaptop Dock failed to change the world, Motorola is taking another stab at turning your phone into a computer. By way of an Android 11 update, Edge Plus users on Verizon can now connect the handset to a bigger screen for a desktop-style experience in the vein of Samsung's Dex. This means you'll be able to access all the productivity, gaming and streaming apps on your phone and view them on a monitor or TV — and even utilize a mouse or keyboard. Continue reading.
Everyone's starting a podcast. But how can you up your game when you've got the basics down? How do you bring that NPR feel to your 12-part deep dive on Nando's? James Trew, who talks a lot about mics, audio and podcast quirks he hates, has a guide to upgrading your podcasting setup, from mics to interfaces. And he doesn't stop there. We have part two of the guide coming next week. Continue reading.
You'll have at least one opportunity to marathon the series without considering another subscription. NBC's Peacock is streaming every episode of The Office for free for one week starting March 18th, including new "Superfan" episodes (that is, with added footage) and behind-the-scenes videos. Until now, only the first two seasons have been available to watch for free (with ads) on Peacock. Continue reading.
This two-piece bustier from Stella McCartney uses panels of recycled nylon attached to panels of Mylo's Unleather. It's a mycelium leather taken from the root system of fungi and promises to behave, and look, like animal leather, without the same environmental and ethical cost.
Unfortunately, this first outfit won't be available to buy, but it is the second product McCartney's made with the faux leather substitute. She designed a version of her Falabella bag in the material back in 2018, which went on display at the V&A Museum in London, UK. Continue reading.
Oppo's X 2021 has a conventional 6.7-inch smartphone screen that transforms into a mini-tablet-like 7.4-inch screen, with the former offering better portability, and the latter a better experience for videos, reading, gaming and multitasking. Because the screen rolls out, it should also avoid the creases found in other foldable screen devices. Engadget Chinese' Editor-in-Chief Richard Lai spent some time playing with Oppo's proof of concept. Continue reading.
According to research firm Strategy Analytics, last year, three out of every four Samsung phones shipped globally was a Galaxy A model. Not a Galaxy S and definitely not a Galaxy Fold, Flip or Note.
While we didn't get prices for the Galaxy A52, Galaxy A52 5G, or Galaxy A72, Samsung did reveal UK pricing, so we can at least estimate how much they might cost. The Galaxy A52 5G will cost £399, roughly $465 before taxes, while the Galaxy A72 is £419 (around $490).
\The Galaxy A52 5G is ever-so-slightly larger than last year's A51, with a bigger 6.5-inch screen and 4,500 mAh battery. There's also a quad-camera system around back, up from three sensors on A51, which includes a 64-megapixel main sensor with optical image stabilization. The notable spec, though, is the phone's 120Hz display. It's an important upgrade that might help the A52 5G to stand out from the competition.
That competition will probably include the also-announced Galaxy A72, which shares a lot, both aesthetically and feature-wise, with its sibling. The main differences are slightly bigger 6.7-inch display and an 8-megapixel telephoto camera with a 3X optical zoom instead of a macro shooter.
This mid-range push is important for Samsung. It's recently announced that chip shortages, the perennial pandemic tech story, are affecting its plans to launch a new Galaxy Note later this year. The company might have to sell an awful lot of A-series phones to make up for a flagship no-show.
Intel, eager to fight back against the overwhelmingly positive reaction to Apple's (very fast!) M1 chips, has unleashed a set of attack ads featuring Justin Long, the former star of Apple's 2002 "I'm a Mac" ads — a reference that will divide the public between the generation that remember the originals (and Long) and those that don't. Continue reading.
In a study published on Wednesday in Nature, a team of researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel say they've successfully grown more than 1,000 mice embryos for six days using a process that involves a mechanical device.
It's a two-part system that consists of an incubator and ventilation system. Each of the embryos floats in a vial that's filled with a special nutrient-laden fluid. A wheel gently spins the mice so that they don't attach to the wall of their temporary home. This prevents the embryos from deforming and subsequently dying. Meanwhile, the attached ventilator provides the mice with oxygen while maintaining their environment's flow and pressure.
It takes about 20 days for a mouse to gestate to the point where it can survive outside the womb. So far, the mechanical womb can sustain the mice through 11 days of growth. Continue reading.
Xbox Game Pass subscribers will be able to play more than 60 additional games on PC at no extra cost starting today. Game Pass PC and Ultimate members will at last get access to EA Play on Windows 10. The free game lineup includes the likes of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, FIFA 20 and Need for Speed Heat. If you're looking for more recent titles, Star Wars: Squadrons will also be available starting today. Continue reading.
Amazon's app-based telehealth service is expanding to more companies around Seattle starting today. with the online retailer planning further expansion across the US later this summer. It dovetails neatly with the launch of Amazon Pharmacy last fall.
In addition to the usual video or text-based diagnosis with nurses or doctors, Amazon Care differentiates itself with the ability to dispatch someone to your home for in-person support. They could, for example, administer vaccines, draw blood or offer a more accurate diagnosis. Care's in-person service is being expanded to Washington, D.C., Baltimore and other cities in the coming months. Continue reading.
Plus new updates for the standard iPad and iPad mini.
According to Bloomberg, the next additions to the iPad Pro series will benefit from a bunch of improvements and tweaks, including upgraded CPUs that are described as "on par" with the M1 ARM chip Apple is putting inside Macs. You might also get upgraded cameras, and Mini LED tech on at least one model to help improve its brightness and contrast ratios. Oh, and Thunderbolt connectivity (through USB-C), capable of faster data transmission.
If you're waiting on cheaper iPad updates, the same report says that Apple will launch a thinner and lighter iPad aimed at students, as well as an iPad Mini with a screen that's larger than the current 7.9-inch display. Continue reading.
