Apple's AirTag item trackers are reasonably priced, petite and already rather useful. (I've got one attached to my keys and slid one into my wallet). They do, however, demand some sort of extra peripheral to keep them attached to things. Yes, there are official (and cheaper, unofficial) keychains and things, but the lack of a keyring hole is a frustration. So can I just do-it-myself, and drill a hole?
According to a recent iFixit teardown, yes. It laid out how you can drill a hole in an AirTag — just don't forget to remove the battery first. Naturally, that also erases the water resistance of an untampered with AirTag. Precision is crucial, too, otherwise you could easily mangle the finely packed electronics inside.
You know what's cool right now? Designing your very own chips. Apple does it, as does Tesla. Now VW wants in. The automaker will reportedly design its own high-performance chips for autonomous vehicles and while it wouldn't build the chips itself, it does want to own the patents. VW has plenty of time to figure out chip architecture: the company doesn't expect to sell self-driving cars until 2025, if not later. Continue reading.
Neuralink co-founder Max Hodak quietly left the company "a few weeks ago." He didn't say why he left the brain-machine interface firm, but said he was still a "huge cheerleader" for his former employer's work. This doesn't necessarily mean the company is in trouble, but Hodak's exit could complicate attempts to translate Neuralink's work to practical products — and we're yet to see a product appear, even if a monkey can now play pong with its mind. Continue reading.
The longstanding rumors of an Apple Watch with blood-sugar monitoring won't go away. The latest nod towards it actually coming to fruition? Reports that UK health tech firm Rockley Photonics recently confirmed in an SEC filing that Apple has been its largest customer for the past two years, and that it has a continuing deal to develop future products. Rockley's focus has been on sensors that track blood glucose, pressure and even alcohol levels. Don't expect anything too soon: Non-invasive blood sugar tracking remains a major challenge.Continue reading.
It has almost double the max output, but only in some cases.
Tesla is teasing an upgraded Powerwall aptly called Powerwall+. In a post on Reddit spotted by Electrek, a user posted a spec sheet for the battery, along with photos of what it would look like when installed. The upgraded version's battery capacity is still 13.5kWh, but its max power output is now 9.6kW, up from 5kW continuous and 7kW peak output. That boost in power is only possible when you're in off-grid mode, though. Continue reading.
Epic witness claims Apple's App Store profit reaches 78 percent
Apple disagrees.
Epic Games is using its lawsuit against Apple to accuse the iPhone maker of being particularly greedy. Expert witness Eric Barns testified that Apple supposedly had an App Store operating margin of 77.8 percent in 2019, itself a hike from 74.9 percent in 2018. He also rejected claims from Apple's witness that you couldn't practically calculate profit. Apple unsurprisingly disagreed and says the margin calculations are wrong, according to comments received by The Verge. It plans to fight the allegations at trial. Continue reading.
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Remember game demos? While there are many free-to-play titles these days, it seems like most high-profile games don't give players a way to try them out without paying the full price up front. That's not the case for Resident Evil Village, although an odd time-locked system has made it frustrating for fans to dive into the game before it's released next week.
On Friday, NASA announced it plans to transition the rotorcraft to an operational role once it completes its remaining test flights. NASA says those flights will involve more precise maneuvering, greater use of its photographic capabilities and, most of all, more significant risks. That's a substantial change for a craft that was initially only supposed to show whether flying through the atmosphere of Mars was even possible. Continue reading.
Microsoft has long employed a revenue-sharing model of 70 percent for creators and 30 percent for Xbox, but starting August 1st, that's shifting to 88 percent for developers and 12 percent for Xbox, at least when it comes to PC releases. Xbox console developers won't see a change to the existing revenue-sharing model.
The reason those numbers stick out, is that while Microsoft didn't mention the words Epic or Apple while speaking to Engadget about the change, the fact is that the old split mirrored Apple's App Store, while the new one is in line with Epic's game store on PCs. Continue reading.
Amazon's latest Echo Dot is down to just $30 and you can still save up to $200 on Samsung's Galaxy S21 smartphones. Fitbit's Mother's Day sale is in full swing, bringing record-low prices to many of its wearables, and May the 4th sales began early this year with discounted Star Wars Instant Pots.
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.
On this episode of the Engadget Podcast, Cherlynn and Devindra chat about all of Samsung's new laptops from its latest Galaxy Unpacked fiesta, and why they matter (or don't). They also talk about the company sneaking in mention of NVIDIA's still unannounced RTX 3050 cards in the Galaxy Book Odyssey.
Here's what Devindra Hardawar has to say about the new PS5 exclusive: "It's at times frustratingly difficult, and its systems are sometimes tough to suss out. But I just can't stop playing it." Continue reading.
Later this morning, we'll have a piece from Devindra Hardawar that you should read about how the game's rogue-like nature encourages players to embrace their failures. But if you're just trying to get a handle on what it has to offer, then check out a new 30-minute video from the development team. It shows how the title mixes arcade-style shooter action with a deep story to (hopefully) create a new-gen exclusive that's worth the hassle and expense of buying a new system.
It's stopping apps from jumping to the wrong screen when your PC goes to sleep.
If you use a multi-monitor setup on Windows 10 for gaming, work or because it's built right into your laptop, you may have noticed that apps can annoyingly move to the wrong display. Microsoft has announced it's finally introducing a fix for the issue, so app windows behave more predictably. When your PC wakes up from sleep, all the apps on your secondary monitor can suddenly jump to your main or laptop display, meaning you'll have to re-drag apps across to their original positions — an utter nightmare if you're an accomplished multitasker. With an incoming Windows Insider release (you'll need to sign up for it), when you wake up from a sleep, all your windows should appear where you previously left them.
You'll need to join Microsoft's Insider program to get the new feature, which will work by default, while the final version should ship to all Windows 10 machines by October 2021. Continue reading.
The new WiFi 6E standard promises users better wireless connections with lots of bandwidth and less interference. Now Linksys has unveiled its first two products based on the standard, and while they'll get you an upgrade early, they won't come cheap.
The Qualcomm-powered Linksys Hydra Pro 6E is capable of WiFi speeds up to 6.6Gbps. It can cover 2,700 square feet of space and can connect to more than 55 devices at one time.
Meanwhile, the Atlas Max 6E mesh system is powered by the Qualcomm Networking Pro 1210 platform and was designed specifically for bandwidth-heavy homes.
A three-node mesh system that can connect up to 195 devices and cover up to 3,000 square feet per node costs $1,200, and one- or two-pack systems are also available. The Hydra Pro 6E router is available for $500, which is cheaper than the Netgear RAXE500 router that just went on sale for $600. Right now, you can only get them on the Linksys website, but they will come to retail shelves soon. Continue reading.
Zoe Roth, a 21-year-old college student and face of the viral Disaster Girl, sold an NFT (non-fungible token — if you need an explanation of what that means and why it might be worth anything then you're in luck, we can help) of the meme for roughly $500,000 worth of Ether, The New York Times reported.
The now-iconic image dates back to 2005, when her father, David Roth, snapped the photo in their neighborhood while watching local firefighters at a controlled burn. He entered the photo into a contest (he won), and it was quickly picked up by internet forums, according to Know Your Meme. Continue reading.
The police force canceled its $94,000 lease and will return Spot to the company.
The New York Police Department will no longer deploy its Spot robot dog and has canceled its lease from Boston Dynamics. The police force had planned to keep testing Spot (which it nicknamed Digidog) until the lease ran out in August. However, critics raised privacy concerns about the robot, which has been deployed to several crime scenes and hostage situations since October. Bill Neidhardt, a spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio, told The New York Times that the machine is "creepy, alienating and sends the wrong message to New Yorkers." Continue reading.
For chips, demand has outstripped supply in the wake of a pandemic-induced buying spree that saw the public snap up everything from gaming consoles to TVs during lockdowns. Now, the situation is deteriorating for one of the worst hit sectors: cars.
In just 12 hours, Ford in the US said the chip shortage could halve production in the current financial quarter, Japan's Honda announced it will halt production at three domestic plants for five to six days next month and BMW warned of delays at its facilities in Germany and England. Continue reading.
From tablets to snack subscriptions, these are gifts Mom probably hasn't received before.
You didn't forget, did you? Don't worry, the Engadget team has pulled together a selection of tech-based recommendations for Mom, including what I think is the best one: a wine subscription. We cover tablets, smart home gadgets and even a fitness wearable, if your mom's currently in the midst of a health kick. Continue reading.
Samsung's big event yesterday had nothing to do with phones — for once. It was still all about the Galaxy family, though, with the company unveiling a selection of new Galaxy Book laptops.
To start with, both the Galaxy Book Pro and Pro 360 (starting at $999 and $1,199) feature vivid AMOLED displays — something Samsung's phones are known for — inside thin, light bodies. The cool part is you can easily switch between four color spectrums, including Adobe RGB and DCI-P3. It's a smart feature for anyone looking to balance vivid colors with color accuracy when editing photos or video. The clamshell and convertible (with touchscreen) laptops will each come in 13- and 15-inch sizes. Interestingly, and despite its size, the 13-inch Book Pro 360 also manages to house a 5G radio, making it Samsung's first 5G PC. Expect to see a WiFi model first, however. Samsung plans to launch the Pro family on May 14th.
The company also revealed a cheaper model, too: the Galaxy Book (from $800) features an LCD display and makes its way to the US later this year. Rounding off the collection, the Galaxy Book Odyssey is the first laptop to include NVIDIA's new RTX 3050 Ti Max-Q GPU.
Even in normal years, lots of people get sick at CES.
The Consumer Technology Association has announced plans to hold CES 2022 as a combination in-person and digital event in Las Vegas between January 5th and January 8th, with media preview days starting January 3rd. And yes, big-name brands have committed to CES — Amazon, Google, Intel, Samsung and Sony are among those expected to have a presence.
Repeating the pattern of thriving tech companies during the pandemic, Apple says that over the past three months, it made a total of $89.6 billion in revenue — nearly $48 billion of which came as iPhone sales, up 66 percent — and set another quarterly record in the process. Even Mac sales hit a high watermark this quarter. The company's computers netted it $9.1 billion in revenue, more than during back-to-school season or holiday period. The services business, too, reached an all-time high of $16.9 billion. Continue reading.
Samsung's newest Galaxy smartphones are selling well, boosting profits 46 percent higher than the same period last year. However, despite a net profit of 7.1 trillion won (about $6.4 billion) last quarter, the company warned investors that the next few months, and perhaps the rest of the year, the global chip shortage will significantly impact business. When it comes to TVs, Samsung didn't comment on rumors of an OLED deal with LG for next year, merely stating it would continue to focus on its quantum dot displays. Continue reading.
GM says it has a plan to simplify the charging experience for EV owners. Under the Ultium Charge 360 project, it's working with seven charging networks (Blink Charging, ChargePoint, EV Connect, EVgo, FLO, Greenlots and SemaConnect) to give drivers "more seamless access" to almost 60,000 plugs across the US and Canada.
Mobile apps for GM vehicles will soon include real-time information for those stations and help drivers find them on their route. EV owners will be able to initiate and pay for charging through the app as well. Continue reading.
