Anyone who has ever brought a drone knows that after it comes out of the box, the first thing you do is install a ton of software updates. It turns out that things work similarly when you're NASA, and the drone is a helicopter preparing to take flight on Mars, 174 million miles away from you.
Issues during a rotor test alerted the Ingenuity team to a problem with the command sequence, and to address it, they'll put together a patch and upload it to the craft over the next few days. That means more waiting before its eventual first test flight, but given the stakes, it makes sense to do everything necessary to avoid any type of crash.
NVIDIA's GTC conference revealed the sexiest of all graphics announcements: data center CPUs. Grace integrates NVIDIA's latest GPUs with ARM's Neoverse cores, and while I might be kidding around, it's the company's very own ARM-based solution, sidestepping any need for Intel.
NVIDIA also announced it's working with MediaTek to bring RTX graphics to ARM-based chips and detailed pro-level versions of its Ampere video cards for workstations. Finally, the company teased Atlan, its next-generation Drive chip for cars. Slated for 2025, the chip, NVIDIA claims, will deliver 1,000 trillion operations per second of performance. Continue reading.
Apple recently killed its original HomePod speaker, and Apple TV is due an update. Now, according to a Bloomberg rumor, the company is considering combining the two products to create an Apple TV box with a HomePod speaker and camera for making video calls.
Judging by the description, the device sounds like a soundbar that straddles the line between a Roku Streambar (for cord-cutters who crave better audio) and Facebook's Portal TV, which effectively turns your set into a huge video-chat screen. Meanwhile, another product reportedly in development is a high-end speaker with an iPad for a display, Echo Show 10-style. Continue reading.
Crowdsourced data can tell regulators where things are fast and where they're slow.
The FCC has had a speed-test app since 2013, but under Acting Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, it's asking that more Americans download and use the software (which you can get on Android and iOS). By doing so, the agency says you'll help it collect more accurate information on the speed and availability of broadband internet throughout the US. In turn, that information will help guide its policies. Continue reading.
Domino's says this R2 transport is the first fully self-driving, on-road delivery vehicle to receive regulatory approval from the Department of Transportation. On certain days and times, folks who order from a Domino's location in Houston's Woodland Heights neighborhood can choose to have R2 deliver their food. They can track R2's location via text alerts or on the order confirmation page. Domino's will provide customers with a PIN, which they can punch in on R2's touchscreen to retrieve their order.Continue reading.
Microsoft will acquire speech-tech giant Nuance for $19.7 billion
The company says this deal will push its AI and healthcare efforts forward.
The rumors were true — on Monday, Microsoft announced it has entered into an agreement to buy Nuance Communications for around $19.7 billion. In the announcement, Microsoft specifically singled out Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare as one segment that will benefit, as well as other cloud and AI-linked operations.
In a statement, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said "Nuance provides the AI layer at the healthcare point of delivery and is a pioneer in the real-world application of enterprise AI." Nuance has a long history of developing voice controls and previously provided the speech-recognition engine for Siri. Continue reading.
Whatever Sony is planning is in its early days, but the company is hiring an executive at PlayStation Studios to focus on taking PlayStation's "most popular franchises" to mobile platforms.
Mobile gaming is the biggest gaming platform there is. If you've got a smartphone, you can play games — it's as simple as that. Recent hits, like Fortnite, have also proved that console-quality titles are now possible on smartphone hardware.
Sony also has a raft of hugely popular franchises to tap into, from Uncharted through to Horizon: Zero Dawn, The Last of Us and more — although the latter might already be getting enough attention with recent rumors of a remake swirling.
While Sony titles made for mobile are a rare occurrence, Sony did try before, in the early days of Android smartphones. The Xperia Play, with slideout gamepad controls, fizzled out back in 2011. It could play an array of original PlayStation games, as well as offer physical controls for other mobile games without the need for a peripheral. Unfortunately for die-hard gamers, it never quite gained traction. A 10-year gap, then, sounds like long enough to give smartphone gaming another chance.
Samsung was bound to launch a successor to the Galaxy S20 FE given how well it sold, and details suggest that, yes, unsurprisingly, it'll look much like the regular Galaxy S21, complete with a glass-like plastic shell and three-sensor camera unit. Don't expect it to appear too soon though. Last year's Fan Edition didn't break cover until September, and the Galaxy S21 series is barely out the gate. Continue reading.
NASA has delayed Ingenuity's first flight to "no earlier than" April 14th after a test on April 9th went awry. The high-speed spin test finished prematurely after a watchdog timer (meant to catch technical issues) expired while the helicopter was shifting to flight mode.
The team has every right to be cautious: There are no do-overs when there's only one drone on Mars. Continue reading.
It could give Microsoft advantages in AI, health tech and beyond.
Bloomberg sources claim Microsoft is in "advanced talks" to buy speech technology giant Nuance in a deal worth roughly $16 billion. While there are no guarantees the move could go forward, negotiations have progressed enough that the two could announce a deal as early as this week. Nuance is well known for its AI-guided speech recognition, and Microsoft could incorporate both that and any other AI tools (including those aimed at customer service) into future products. Microsoft has already worked with Nuance on Cloud for Healthcare. And if the deal doesn't quite work out? Well, Microsoft is also apparently pursuing Discord — it's keeping busy. Continue reading.
The probe looked into Alibaba's 'monopolistic practices.'
Chinese authorities have slapped Alibaba with a $2.8 billion fine following an antitrust investigation that looked into alleged monopolistic practices. In December, the State Administration for Market Regulation launched a probe into the e-commerce giant's "suspected monopolistic conduct," which focused on Alibaba's policy that forces merchants to sell on its platforms exclusively, preventing them from selling on rival e-commerce websites. Continue reading.
Logitech says it will continue to support existing devices, and that "We also plan to continue to update the platform and add devices to our Harmony database." However, in a world where people have consolidated their living room setup with HDMI-CEC controlled sound bars, frequently opt for streaming services instead of standalone Blu-ray players, and have AI assistants from Amazon, Google or Apple to control everything, the market is more of a niche than ever.
Could they have developed a better universal remote control that would pull everyone back in? Modernization efforts ranged from awful (remember the Revue?) to passable (the way current devices link to AI tech and your smartphone), but if there's a better way, Harmony won't be around to find it.
Hasbro teamed up with Robosen Robotics to make this Optimus Prime figurine a programmable robot that can actually move: It can automatically transform into a vehicle, and vice versa, walk in robot form and race in vehicle form.
The robot responds to a variety of voice commands that include "move forward," "roll out," "move left/right," "volume up/down," "shutdown," "open fire" and "attack," among many others. You can also tell it to "say hello" or ask it "Who are you?" The actions come with sound effects and, for some of them, spoken dialogue by Optimus Prime's original voice actor Peter Cullen.
Over 50 percent off Beats' Solo Pro headphones and more.
A bunch of Apple devices went on sale this week across the web. Beats' Solo Pro headphones are more than 50 percent off right now and the MacBook Air M1 remains at its lowest price yet. Fitbit's sale on Charge 4 trackers knocks $50 off their normal prices and, just before the weekend kicks off, Best Buy began a new three-day sale so we scoured the deals to find the best of the bunch, like this $900 Surface Laptop 13.
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.
Michio Kaku on 'The God Equation,' LG gives up on phones.
This week on the Engadget Podcast, physicist Dr. Michio Kaku joins Cherlynn and Devindra to chat about his new book, The God Equation: The Quest for a Theory of Everything. He dives into the trouble with the Standard Model of physics, this week's surprising news around muons and why believes we'll eventually unite with superintelligent robots and roam the cosmos as beings of pure energy. (Hey, it could happen.) Also, Chris Velazco joins to get up in his feelings about LG abandoning the mobile market.
TP-Link has introduced the Archer AX5400 (aka Archer AX73), a WiFi 6 box that promises speedy access while keeping the price vaguely in check. The dual-band device mates six antennas with newer tech (such as HT160 and 1024-QAM) to deliver 5.4Gbps of total bandwidth and 4.8Gbps with WiFi 6.
The AX5400 is available now through Amazon for $200. It's not the lowest-priced WiFi 6 router you'll find (TP-Link's range starts at $90), but it arguably strikes a better balance between the modest speeds of the AX3000 and the spare-no-expense AX6000. Continue reading.
After that, you may never know how babby is formed.
Yahoo Answers will shut down on May 4th, 2021. The website has been around since 2005, making it one of the longest-running Q&A platforms on the internet. The shut-down process starts later this month, and the site plans to stop accepting new submissions from April 20th. After May 4th, you'll have until June 30th to download an archive of content you posted to the website. When the dust has settled, eventually the Yahoo Answers webpage will redirect to the Yahoo homepage. Continue reading.
Rising prices for LCD screens and low yields of Samsung's QD-OLED panel could force a switch.
A rumor in a South Korean business journal claims that electronics giants LG and Samsung are close to making a deal on OLED panels. While Samsung has so far resisted using the technology in TVs, opting to stick with quantum dot-filtered LCD panels, LG has won awards for the quality of its 4K OLEDs. The rumor suggests that Samsung could buy panels from LG and make its own OLED TVs as soon as next year. Continue reading.
Supply chain issues will limit its release to the US and Japan.
"Pixel 5a 5G is not cancelled. It will be available later this year in the U.S. and Japan and announced in line with when last year's a-series phone was introduced," a Google spokesperson told Engadget in a statement. Continue reading.
When it comes to wireless headphones, the over-ear noise-canceling models typically offer the most comprehensive set of features we want. The best options combine stellar audio with powerful active noise cancellation (ANC) and other handy tools to create as complete a package as possible. Billy Steele walks you through the best over-ear options currently available. Continue reading.
The company says that this is different from the technology that's come before, because it can connect over 1,000 electrodes, and interface with a computer wirelessly without requiring a physical connector through the skin. It's not ready for testing on humans just yet, but Elon Musk is already tweeting about how future versions will be able to make paraplegics walk again. Perhaps that's true, but let's see you defeat the scourge of controller drift first.
Beginning in 2022, new Sony movies will go exclusively to Netflix following their theatrical release and the home entertainment window when they're on sale via VOD and Blu-ray.
Reportedly worth $1 billion over five years, the deal will cover upcoming blockbusters like Morbius and Uncharted, as well as the sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and "future installments of Venom and Spider-Man." (2021 releases like Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home are not a part of this agreement.) Continue reading.
There are a lot of options for baby monitors these days. So Amber Bouman spent the last several weeks testing a variety of smart video-enabled models and strapping wearables onto her twins to see what the hardware is capable of, and what features the software offers. Continue reading.
"Astronomers – and casual viewers of the night sky – must expect a future in which the low Earth orbit population includes tens of thousands of relatively large satellites," Jonathan McDowell at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics warned in a 2020 study. "The impacts will be significant for certain types of observation, certain observatories and at certain times of year." Continue reading.
If you have an Ellipsis Jetpack mobile hotspot from Verizon (the owner of Engadget's parent company), you may want to check it right now. The carrier has issued a recall for 2.5 million Jetpack mobile hotspots after receiving 15 reports of instances wherein the device overheated. In six of those, the device caused fire damage to bedding or flooring, while it caused minor burn injuries in two of the instances reported.
You can still use it if you absolutely need to, but the carrier has listed a number of steps you should follow for your own safety. First, you should plug it in after switching it on to receive two over-the-air software updates, which enable its identifying number to be displayed on the screen and prevent it from charging while it's plugged in and powered on
Verizon will replace your device for free, but you have to contact the carrier to get one and to get a return envelope for your old hotspot. You can call 855-205-2627 from 8 AM to 10 PM ET to process the return or do it online through the carrier's official Ellipsis Jetpack recall page. Continue reading.
The new Legion Phone Duel 2 retains the original's focus on landscape use, but doubles down on controls by adding a total of eight virtual keys to bring it closer to the feel of a gamepad.
Its "octa-triggers" include four ultrasonic shoulder keys, two rear and two in-display touchpoints, along with a center-mounted CBU and dual fans to keep heat away from your hands while you're gaming.
These are paired with a 720Hz touch sampling rate (more than double the responsiveness and accuracy offered by the ASUS ROG Phone 5 and the Nubia Red Magic 6). Lenovo says the setup is designed to match a gamer's natural grip when held horizontally, allowing you to perform more actions in battle when speed counts. Continue reading.
According to Nikkei Asia, Apple has delayed the production of some MacBook and iPad models due to the global chip shortage affecting the electronics and automotive industries. Nikkei says the chip shortage hasn't shown a discernible impact on product availability for consumers yet and remains a supply chain problem.
Apple's iPhone production hasn't been affected by the semiconductor shortages, though Tim Cook told Reuters way back in January that the iPhone 12 Pro model ran into supply constraints. Nikkei's sources echoed what the chief executive said, telling the publication that the supply for some iPhone parts is "quite tight." Continue reading.
