Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Mid-Week Technology News and More

Technology News and More..






It's official: Obi-Wan Kenobi's final episode is the most popular Star Wars TV episode to air on Disney Plus – and that's bad news for the franchise. According to streaming data analyst Samba TV (per Deadline ), the season 1 finale of Obi-Wan's TV series drew in 1.8 million viewers between Wednesday, June 22 (its release day) and Sunday, June 27. That figure may not sound that significant, but it



Kukua , a Nairobi- and London-based educational entertainment company and the creators of “ Super Sema ,” the first African animated superhero franchise, has raised $6 million in its latest round of investment. Tencent, which made its first African edtech bet in Nigeria’s uLesson last December, co-led this Series A round with Italy-based VC Alchimia. Other investors include EchoVC, firstminute Ca



Mashable / 33min
"Spill the Tea" may sound a bit more polite than " Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts ", but the game is exactly the same: A round table full of disgusting foods and drinks, two players, and some awkward questions that can only be avoided by dining on one of the many vomit-inducing culinary nightmares. In the clip above, Billie Eilish and James Corden go head-to-head on The Late Late Show , dodgin




Mashable / 33min
Amazon's infamous annual shopping event, Prime Day, will soon be upon us. This year's event kicks off at midnight AEST on July 12, with deals running across Amazon.com.au and Amazon's Global Store until 5pm AEST on July 14. This means a full 65 hours to find discounts on just about everything that you've been dragging in and out of your shopping cart all year – from robot vacuums to headphones to



FCC Apple Google TikTok•
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr wrote to Apple and Google on Tuesday, requesting the companies to remove TikTok from their app stores for “its pattern of surreptitious data practices.” This comes after BuzzFeed News reported last week that TikTok’s staff in China had access to US-based users’ data up until January. “As you know TikTok is an app that is available to millions of Americans through you
YESTERDAY



21Engadget / 1h
"TikTok is not just another video app. That's the sheep’s clothing." That's what Brendan Carr wrote in his tweet along with a copy of the letter he sent Apple and Google, asking the companies to remove TikTok from their app stores. The agency's senior Republican commissioner references a recent BuzzFeed News report that examined leaked audio from 80 internal TikTok meetings. Based on those leaked



Air New Zealand NZ•
Air New Zealand has just announced plans to install what will arguably be the biggest innovation we’ve ever seen in economy, even if only very few passengers will be able to enjoy this. While the airline announced that it was looking into this concept before the pandemic, color me surprised that this is actually happening. This development is in addition to Air New Zealand revealing its new busin



Founders EF TH Stripe•
Entrepreneur First made a name for itself a decade ago in its home base of London, and then further afield , for the novel approach it takes to tech investing: rather than seek out interesting, scaling startups like typical VCs, it backs founders and their very, very early stage startup ideas — so nascent in fact that sometimes the startups themselves haven’t actually materialized when EF writes



Air New Zealand Qantas•
For a couple of years now we’ve known that Air New Zealand was working on developing a new business class product, and the airline has finally revealed the details of these cabins today. Air New Zealand is actually refreshing all of its cabins on the Boeing 787 (including introducing the innovative Skynest ), but in this post I’ll be focusing specifically on business class. Air New Zealand’s new



The new iPad Pro (2022) was always going to be an expensive tablet - the 'Pro' tells us that - and r umors of an M2 chipset and MagSafe compatibility don't look like they'll help that price tag. However, leaks now suggest we don't need to fear a price increase: leaker LeaksApplePro, writing for iDropNews , has provided some prices that we can expect for the next iPad Pro range, and they're lower



Airbnb Party Ban Permanent•
The home rental platform said a temporary ban, which was introduced in 2020, was popular with hosts.



Arzooo India Tony Xu•
Arzooo, an Indian startup that is attempting to bring the “best of e-commerce” to physical stores, has raised $70 million in a new financing round as it looks to scale its retail platform across the South Asian market. SBI Investment and Trifecta Leaders Fund led the Bengaluru-headquartered startup’s Series B funding. Tony Xu, founder of Doordash, Celesta Capital and 3 Lines VC also invested in t



SAVE 49%: ExpressVPN is a streaming-friendly service that offers strong connection speeds and reliable unblocking of sites like the ITV Hub. A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for £83.77 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. Love Island is well and truly back, with plenty of drama hitting our screens since the first episode on June 6. We're expect



Apple Maps – the iPhone manufacturer’s version of Google Maps – wants to get you out of your car and onto an electric bike - or e-bike - at least one day. While looking through the app’s code Steve Moser discovered that several lines reference an “E-Bike” and finding optimized routes for these kinds of vehicles. It’s not yet clear how these routes would be chosen exactly but we expect that the ro



Nikon Z30 APS 30 Camera•
Nikon has picked a vlogging fight with Sony by launching the new Nikon Z30, which is now its most affordable mirrorless camera by some distance. Like the Sony ZV-E10 , the Nikon Z30 is vlogging-friendly twist on an existing camera (the Nikon Z50 ) and removes that model's viewfinder to achieve its lower price tag and smaller form factor. This means you get a 20.9MP APS-C sensor, which is smaller



The Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program has just revealed a couple of very nice improvements when it comes to award availability. Virgin Atlantic guarantees 12 award seats per flight Virgin Atlantic Flying Club will guarantee a minimum of 12 award seats per flight as soon as the schedule opens 331 days before departure. This applies to all Virgin Atlantic operated flights, and there will be no bl



Mapan Indonesia Arisan•
Mapan’s team, with CEO Ardelia Apti in the front In Indonesia, arisans are traditionally rotating savings and credit associations (RSCA) that let groups of people, primarily women, save and borrow money together. Mapan digitized that concept, and turned it into a service where users, also mostly women, can use it to pay for goods and services. The company announced today it has raised a Series A



Niantic NBA Game World•
The company behind "Pokemon GO" plans to try its hand at yet another AR game, this one in partnership with the NBA for diehard basketball fans.



Historically World of Hyatt has offered a discount on summer award stays. That promotion is returning this summer, though unfortunately with some major restrictions. Save 20% on select World of Hyatt awards World of Hyatt is offering 20% back in bonus points for qualifying award redemptions this summer, but only for those with the World of Hyatt Credit Card ( review ) and World of Hyatt Business



Facebook Groups Discord•
Meta has announced that it's currently working on a suite of new features for Facebook Groups which are intended to bring communities closer together, and some of them will be very familiar to users of the popular voice, video, and text chat app Discord . According to the announcement, admins will soon have the ability to create channels within their groups which allow them to interact in "smalle



Today Wordle Answer June•
It is Wednesday, my dudes, and what would the middle of the week be without your favorite mega-viral word puzzle? It's certainly more satisfying when you work it out all by yourself, but sometimes you just get stuck on the daily Wordle — and that's where we come in. The answer to the June 29 Wordle can be found at the end of this article, with the spoiler clearly signposted, or you can make your




AI capable of rapidly learning and interacting with interfaces humans usually use is taking over the world. Luckily for us, this particular world is virtual.



FTC Walmart Money Transfer•
The Federal Trade Commission is suing Walmart for sitting by while scammers bilked customers out of more than $197 million, the agency alleged in a statement on Tuesday. It’s seeking a court order that would force Walmart to give money back to customers, on top of civil fines. In a brief response, Walmart described the lawsuit as both “ factually flawed and legally baseless .” Money transfer scam



Google is finally rolling out the Material You design update for Gmail on the web, and it comes with the ability to hide the apps you don't use.



2 TTPs•
32Ars Technica / 8h•
Malware SOHO Routers
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) An unusually advanced hacking group has spent almost two years infecting a wide range of routers in North America and Europe with malware that takes full control of connected devices running Windows, macOS, and Linux, researchers reported on Tuesday. So far, researchers from Lumen Technologies' Black Lotus Labs say they've identified at least 80 targets infected by



Netflix often asks if you're still watching, which is annoying when you're binge-watching something but don't have the remote handy. Here's how to turn it off.



Tesla 200 Autopilot•
500+TechCrunch / 8h
Tesla has gutted the data annotation team working on Autopilot, laying off nearly 200 employees and shutting down the San Mateo, California office where they worked. The layoffs, first reported by Bloomberg , have been confirmed by sources who talked to TechCrunch on condition of anonymity. The cuts come amid a broader reduction of jobs at Tesla. However, these layoffs targeted personnel once dee



Retailers Plan Pills•
Amazon is limiting sales of Plan B and other emergency contraceptives to three units per customer in the wake of increased demand, the company confirmed to several media outlets . Last week’s US Supreme Court overturning of Roe v. Wade prompted a spike in sales of Plan B and other generic brands of levonorgestrel morning-after pills. Customers who order emergency contraception on Amazon still fac



Hyundai has taken the wraps off its next electric vehicle, the incredibly sleek and eye-catching Ioniq 6. The model is positioned to compete with Tesla.



If you're straining your eyes looking at bright screens, Dark Reader might be the solution you need to turn dark mode on pages that don't have that function.



100+Gizmodo / 9h
Netflix is already queuing up more big budget streaming fare with the Russo Brothers after their upcoming action release The Gray Man. This time they’re enlisting Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown to lead an adaptation of Electric State . The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the news, noting that Chris Pratt is also… Read more...



Facebook Instagram•
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, some Facebook and Instagram users planning to help distribute legal abortion pills are finding themselves censored. According to a Motherboard report , users on Friday began seeing Facebook remove posts offering to mail abortion pills — the same day that the Supreme Court issued the ruling. Remarkably, Facebook’s moderation



Sony InZone Gaming•
Enlarge / Sony's InZone monitors use a "low-depth tripod stand" to provide more room for other peripherals, Sony said in its video announcement. (credit: Sony/YouTube ) Known for everything from TVs to cameras and smartphones, Sony is getting into gaming peripherals, it announced Tuesday. Sony's new InZone brand will include a pair of monitors, plus wireless and wired headsets aimed at PC and, na



Pinterest Ben Silbermann•
After a 12-year run, Pinterest co-founder Ben Silbermann is stepping down from his perch as CEO of the popular image and link-sharing service. Following word of Silbermann’s departure, Pinterest’s stock price rose by more than 8% in after-hours trading. That initial pop may have been a sigh of relief from some investors, who’ve watched Pinterest’s stock steadily decline over the last year. Or, pe



An independent review of UK legislation has concluded the country urgently needs new laws to govern the use of biometric technologies and called for the government to come forward with primary legislation. Among the legal review’s ten recommendations are that public use of live facial recognition (LFR) technology be suspended pending the creation of a legally binding code of practice governing it



Care Birdie Raises $30M•
Birdie , a U.K.-based caretech software-as-a-service maker, has closed a $30 million Series B funding round led by investment firm Sofina, with Omers Ventures and Index Ventures also participating — the latter reupping its backing after leading Birdie’s Series A last year . Max Parmentier, co-founder and CEO of Birdie, said the latest tranche of funding will go on scaling into continental Europe



Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S2•
21Wired / 9h
These over-ear active noise-canceling headphones are here to take on the mighty Sony XM5s. And that’s exactly what they do.



500+Futurism / 9h
While examining eight-year-old data from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, scientists have made a tantalizing new discovery: the "total organic carbon," a key ingredient of life, is surprisingly high in the Martian rocks the rover was scanning. While the organic carbon may have originated from non-living sources, including meteorites and volcanoes, the discovery does lend modest new support to the the



Instagram is working to make browsing safer for younger users through facial recognition software and other age verification methods.



The iPhone is packed full of useful features, including some you may not realize are there. Case in point? This "hack" that recently went viral on social media.



28Gizmodo / 9h
Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2 is almost upon us, and with that comes an onslaught of creative brand tie-ins and merch to celebrate. Since the release of Vol. 1 a number of brands have incorporated the Netflix series onto an assortment of goods, including ‘80s-style toys and character-inspired fashions, which make sense, to… Read more...




zero Enlarge / It's not a Razer device unless it's posed next to a bunch of custom RGB lighting, right? In great news, the Razer Kishi V2 includes zero glaring lights, which we prefer here at Ars Technica. (credit: Razer) In the years since the phrase " don't you people have phones " became a Blizzard-mocking meme, I've found myself honestly playing more video games on my smartphone. (But not Dia



The answer to Wordle #375 is tricky. Though you've probably used a similar word at some point, there's a good chance this puzzle will leave you stumped.



Spotify Supergrouper•
Spotify is rolling out Supergrouper, a new feature for creating playlists and living out your supergroup fantasy. The idea behind Supergrouper is for users to imagine what it would be like if their favorite musical artists came together to form one giant band. But Songs aren’t going to be melded together to form a new song as you might think -- Stairway to Heaven merged with Adele? No thanks. Ins



After years of grumbling from Republicans in Congress, Google has requested that the Federal Election Commission allow a pilot program in which political campaign emails would be exempt from spam filtering. Read more...



Jan. 6 Trump Capitol•
300+Mashable / 10h
Just when you thought you knew everything there was to know about the January 6 attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, some new revelation comes along. But this last-minute bombshell testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows, is unlike anything we've heard before. And the former president is none too happy with what Hutchinson



VW's "The Thing" was light on features but intended to be heavy on fun. Unfortunately safety laws prevented it from really getting off the ground,



Read more...



Tesla Hundreds Autopilot•
Tesla has reportedly laid off approximately 200 workers from its Autopilot team and closed an office in California. According to Bloomberg , the company notified staff of the move on Tuesday. Many of the affected employees were annotation specialists whose jobs involved evaluating and labeling Autopilot data obtained from customers. Along with the layoffs, Tesla closed its San Mateo location; Blo



Welcome Back to Found, the TechCrunch podcast where we get the stories behind the startups. Christine Tao knows good leaders have good executive coaches. She founded Sounding Board to make it easier for companies to manage, scale, and measure leadership coaching on one unified platform. This week, she talks to Darrell and Jordan about difficulties she and her co-founder faced while fundraising an



Taking advantage of the sales held during the 4th of July weekend is just one of the ways to celebrate the United States’ independence from England. While the holiday isn’t happening for a few more days, retailers have already begun discounting some of their best gear, and we’ve rounded up the top deals for your convenience. What’s so impressive about 4th of July deals is the breadth of items tha



Celsius Mashinsky US•
83Futurism / 10h
No Worries! In news that we definitely, one hundred percent believe, with absolutely no hesitation: Alex Mashinsky, CEO of anguished crypto lending firm Celsius, did NOT attempt to flee the US amid the ongoing bitcoin crash, as a Celsius spokesperson has clarified to Cointelegraph . The company was moved to speak out after widely-followed crypto analyst and investor Mike Alfred alleged, in a Sund



Flu 40% Risk Alzheimer•
1KFuturism / 10h
In a surprise finding, researchers have found that getting at least one flu shot makes it 40 percent less likely for people over the age of 65 to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, up to four years later. While it's still far too early to determine if there are any direct causal links between the common vaccine and neurological health outcomes like Alzheimer's — in other words, we don't know



Volkswagen has sold a minority stake in its Electrify America subsidiary, paving the way for the massive EV charging network expansion announced in 2021.



Most fiery of the new C Class line-up, the AMG C 43 adds a unique turbocharger to squeeze more drama from an unexpected engine. The result? Serious fun.



According to the National Resources Defense Council , up to 40% of the food in the United States is never eaten. A lot of factors contribute to that reality: restaurants cook more food than they’re able to sell in a day; grocery stores overstock their shelves to create the appearance of abundance; farmers can’t always… Read more...



To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here . Greetings, there is a lot of news to get into today, and my head is reeling a bit from some of that January 6 testimony today, so let’s get right into it. Oh, and TechCrunch+ is having an Independence Day sale! Save 50% on an annual subscription here . (More on Tec



200+Gizmodo / 10h
Maybe I’ve been living in a subterranean bunker waiting for the radiation to go away but I somehow missed that the long-awaited Fallout TV adaptation was moving ahead . Earlier this year, both Walton Goggins (Justified) and Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets) were cast on the show and now Twin Peaks, Dune , and Blue Velvet … Read more...



Enlarge / The Space Launch System rocket will be back to the Vehicle Assembly Building this week. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann) The US space agency has spent a long, long time designing, developing, building, and testing the Space Launch System rocket. When NASA created the rocket program in 2010, US legislators said the SLS booster should be ready to launch in 2016. Of course, that launch target and



Brightline Disney Tampa•
In a blow to those looking for a direct link from Orlando International Airport ( MCO ) to Walt Disney World without a rental car, a Disney spokesperson confirmed the Brightline train will not stop at Disney Springs, as was previously planned since November 2020. At the time, a joint announcement read: “Brightline will offer a car-free connection to the millions of visitors … who plan to make Wal



One 1-Inch Leica 360•
Big things really do come in eensy little packages: Insta360 has just revealed its new tiny 360-degree camera that can shoot videos in enormous 6K resolution. It’s called the ONE RS 1-inch 360 Edition , which is quite the mouthful. It's essentially a direct upgrade to Insta360’s ONE RS camera from March 2022. The new camera is split across five main parts: the 360-degree lens itself, a lens cap,




AMD RansomHouse Data•
35Gizmodo / 10h
A cybercrime gang claims that it recently stole 450 gigabytes of data from global chipmaker AMD by merely guessing employees’ terrible passwords. Read more...



West Coast travelers looking to fly to Hawaii are in luck: Hawaiian Airlines , United Airlines and American Airlines are offering competitive rates for routes from airports on the West Coast to Honolulu. Round-trip flights from select West Coast cities to Hawaiian airports, including Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL), Kailua-Kona International Airport (KOA), Kahului Airport (OGG) and L



Facebook Instagram•
Enlarge (credit: Mario Tama | Getty Images ) The status of legal access to abortion is now prohibited, restricted, or uncertain in more than half of the US. However, abortion pills are still deemed safe by the Food and Drug Administration, and it's still legal for consulted certified prescribers to mail abortion pills to patients in any state. Thousands took to social media to post and raise awar



94Gizmodo / 10h
You know the Bored Ape Yacht Club, the popular NFT collection that has enticed the likes of Justin Bieber, Paris Hilton, Jimmy Fallon ? Well, the company behind the collection, Yuga Labs, is suing an artist they believe is trying to devalue the Bored Ape Yacht Club. The first rule of Bored Ape Yacht Club: Do not… Read more...



For years, my kids have been following me into my garage gym. (Even before we had a proper home gym, they would steal stray dumbbells or yoga balls that I thought I had bought for myself.) I would encourage their interest, but I wondered: How can I encourage them to make exercise a habit? It took a while, but I think… Read more...



Axie Infinity Ronin•
After a massive $625 million hack , the cryptocurrency pay-to-earn game Axie Infinity is once again open for business . The hack took advantage of flaws in the Ronin network, an Ethereum sidechain the game's owner, Sky Mavis, propped up to facilitate faster transactions. Surprisingly, the news today is that Axie Infinity will... continue to use Ronin, which has been revived after a few audits. In



The Apple Pencil is one of the best things that ever happened to the iPad, and though it's not cheap, it is very simple to use once you know what to do with it.



FBI Deepfakes Jobs•
100+TechCrunch / 11h
A lot of people are worried about the prospect of competing with AI for their jobs, but this probably isn’t what they were expecting. The FBI has warned of an uptick in cases where “deepfakes” and stolen personal information are being used to apply for jobs in the U.S. — including faking video interviews. Don’t dust off the Voight-Kampff test just yet, though. The shift to remote work is great ne



Delta is running a flash sale on business class SkyMiles awards to Europe. Prices start at 148,000 miles roundtrip, which is roughly what other programs normally charge. But it can be half what Delta frequently charges, and availability is pretty good. But you have to act fast. Continue reading ...



Hyundai IONIQ 6 Electric•
Enlarge / Streamlined aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s were an inspiration for the Hyundai Ioniq 6. (credit: Hyundai) Hyundai provided flights from DC to London and back, plus a night in a hotel so that we could see the Ioniq 6 in person. Ars does not accept paid editorial content. The physical unveiling of the Hyundai Prophecy concept car was an early casualty of COVID, originally scheduled for t



Epic Games Store 3•
Enlarge / "Your feedback is appreciated." (credit: Epic Games ) Last week, Epic finally added a user review system to its PC Game Store , nearly 3.5 years after the service's initial launch . The first set of public ratings produced by that system is now live for hundreds of titles on the Epic Games Store (skip to the end of this article for a handy breakdown of some of the best-reviewed EGS game



UK AI IP Data Mining•
The U.K. is planning to tweak an existing law to allow text and data mining “for any purpose,” in a move that’s designed to boost artificial intelligence (AI) development across the country. The announcement constitutes part of a broader strategy to “level up” AI and transform the U.K. into what it calls a “global AI superpower” — and part of this will involve reassessing existing intellectual pr



Sony InZone Gaming•
Sony has a new set of gaming peripherals that take an interesting approach in functionality with gaming PCs and PlayStation 5 compatibility.



HTC has a new phone that has the ability to interact with the brand's Vive Flow VR glasses. This might be a winner if HTC can get their niches on point.



Hyundai Ioniq 6 EV•
300+Wired / 11h
The company tapped digital design to turn its latest sedan into a sleek performance ride.



The party’s over for Airbnb guests — the ones who like to party, that is. The online accommodation marketplace has put its foot down on festivities once and for all, issuing an outright ban on “disruptive parties and events.” For news delivered each morning to your inbox, sign up for TPG’s daily newsletter . The vacation rental company issued a temporary party embargo in 2020 to better follow soc



Sony InZone Gaming•
Sony has announced the launch of Inzone, a new brand of PC gaming displays and headsets. They'll be coming out of the company's Electronics division (not to be confused with its Interactive Entertainment unit) and its flagship product will be the Inzone M9, a 27-inch 4K monitor. The M9 boasts an IPS panel with full-array local dimming, a 144Hz refresh rate and a claimed 1-millisecond gray to gray



Sony INZONE PlayStation•
I've always wondered why aside from a handful of peripherals like the Pulse 3D headset and that weird 3D display , Sony never really tried to expand the PlayStation brand outside of consoles. And while you won’t find any PS logos on its new line of headsets and monitors, with Inzone it really feels like Sony is finally bringing its wider tech expertise to gaming. Now the reason we haven’t seen a



Sony is expanding its gaming footprint beyond the console with a family of monitors and headphones debuting under a new brand called “Inzone.” To be clear, these are not Playstation products. They are meant for both console and PC gamers, unlike Sony’s “Pulse” headset, which was made exclusively for the PS5 . Since… Read more...



Sony INZONE H9 H3 Gaming•
Sony’s Inzone H series headsets are out, and their arrival marks the company’s first proper attempt at making PC gaming peripherals. (You might be able to find odd PC gaming one-offs like the Sony DR-GA500 headset if you squint at the company’s past hard enough, but it’s clear that Inzone indicates new dedication to… Read more...




100+Gizmodo / 11h
Proprietary space-grade cameras are expensive, limited, and a pain to develop. Smallsat manufacturer NanoAvionics recently sidestepped any development issues and opted for something off the shelf instead. The company used a GoPro Hero 7 mounted to a custom-built selfie stick to take a selfie that’s truly out of this… Read more...



Cannabis ER Study ED•
2KFuturism / 11h
This one’s a downer: getting high might also put you at a higher risk of landing in the emergency room. A study published Monday in the journal BMJ Open Respiratory Research found that cannabis consumers were 22 percent more likely to end up in the ER or be hospitalized than those who didn’t smoke weed. The study, which examined the health records of over 35,000 people in Ontario, Canada, control



It was inevitable that Steam Deck owners would start modifying the handheld console, but a new warning makes it clear that may be a bad idea.



Editor’s note: This guide has been updated with the latest promotions. Hyatt is bringing back one of our favorite promotions for its cobranded credit card holders, through which you can get back 20% of the points you redeem for upcoming stays. This applies only to certain hotel brands, however, and it’s only running for two months. If you have Hyatt stays planned for this summer, you may be able



Amazon Prime Day is just around the corner — 48 hours of deals on deals are coming your way starting July 12. But before you start panicking about missing out on all the good gets, we have a pro tip for you: Organize your "wishlist." And do it before Prime Day, because having all of your ducks in a row ahead of Amazon’s annual sale bonanza is going to save you time, money, and your precious sanit



Red Bull Newey Hypercar•
Taking a page from on-track rival Mercedes , Red Bull plans to produce its own hypercar. On Tuesday, the company took to Twitter to announce the RB17, which is slated to be a two-seater with a hybrid V8 engine and 1,100 horsepower. Production will start in 2025, with Red Bull planning to only make 50 cars at a price of £5 million ($6.1 million) per vehicle. If just so happen to be a millionaire,



Last week I asked you for your unwritten rules of parking lot etiquette . As I wrote then, this request sprung from when I previously asked Lifehacker readers for their unbreakable rules of driving etiquette . From there, a sub-category of passionate please for common sense and human decency emerged. In addition to the… Read more...



Htc Desire 22 Metaverse•
Enlarge / HTC's metaverse phone. (credit: HTC) HTC is somehow still making smartphones. The latest from the company is the HTC Desire 22 Pro, a 399 British pound (~$486) mid-ranger that represents the company's first smartphone of 2022. HTC says this phone will somehow help you "enter the metaverse," as "the phone to carry you into the future." The metaverse is the latest tech buzzword companies



92Gizmodo / 12h
There’s been a bit of a strange recurrence in Star Wars recently: more often than not, people just don’t die . The Rise of Skywalker , infamously perhaps, is predicated on the return of the Emperor with little explanation as to how he got out of a one-way trip down an exploding reactor shaft. Obi-Wan Kenobi just gave us… Read more...



A unique Ferrari was put up for auction with RM Sotheby's, complete with a one-off finish, custom seats, and custom interior colors and materials.



RPG Harvestella N. Switch•
Square Enix is moving into the farming sim world with Harvestella , which is coming to Nintendo Switch and PC on November 4th. While this is a 3D game with a distinct art style, you'll surely recognize some elements if you're one of the tens of millions of Stardew Valley players out there. You'll till land, sow seeds, water crops, collect items for cooking and crafting, go fishing, take care of p



Facebook Groups Discord•
Facebook is experimenting with a new audio feature for Groups. The company is testing audio channels, which will bring Discord-like voice chats to Groups, Facebook shared in a blog post. Facebook has already had audio features for Groups with rooms . But unlike that feature, which is meant for one-time audio chats, audio channels are dedicated spaces where group members can speak with each other



Breeze Airways, the year-old startup from JetBlue founder David Neeleman, is encountering some major growing pains. The airline has postponed the launch of numerous new routes and markets , citing staffing shortages and supply chain constraints. Want more airline-specific news? Sign up for TPG’s free biweekly Aviation newsletter . The cuts, first spotted by Twitter user @IshrionA and confirmed by



Editor’s note: This post has been updated with current information. Avios is the key points currency for United Kingdom travelers, and it’s a big deal in the U.S. too. That’s because Avios are used by loyalty programs such as British Airways Executive Club , Iberia Plus , Aer Lingus AerClub and, most recently, Qatar Privilege Club . Because several airline loyalty programs use Avios, it’s easier



Editor’s note: This guide has been updated with the latest information. A visit to Universal Orlando to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter had been on my wish list for a while. Suspension of disbelief takes place here every day. Visitors don wizarding robes, grab interactive wands and — at least for a day or two — pretend that they are following in the footsteps of Hermione, Ron and Harry, t



Property technology has radically impacted the way we live and travel, but the real estate industry has successfully resisted most attempts to innovate. Prospective homeowners can qualify for mortgages from their mobile phones, but until there are more companies to help them find affordable housing or adequately plan for the largest purchase they’ll ever make, proptech can’t create optimal value



The age of the noctilucent cloud is upon us. Night-shining clouds are historically rare, beautiful formations of shimmering ice crystals hanging in the upper atmosphere that were only visible in the northern parts of the world in years past. They’ve been steadily creeping south for four decades though, so this could… Read more...



Check out our favorite early Prime Day Apple deals at Amazon as of June 28: BEST MACBOOK DEAL: The 2021 MacBook Pro (M1 Pro, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) is a powerhouse laptop for creatives — $2,299 $2,499 (save $200) BEST IPAD DEAL: The 2021 11" iPad Pro (WiFi, 128GB) is the best tablet for artists and back at its lowest price ever — $699 $799 (save $100) BEST APPLE WATCH DEAL: The Apple Watch Series 7



Floor-standing speakers are a versatile addition to your home sound system. They have complete stereo output and can give you a full surround-sound experience. They cover the bass and trebles from high to low and handle everything in between without skipping a beat. If you’re serious about your music or home theater, floor-standing speakers are an investment worth making. The kind of music you li



Robotic Arms Paralyzed Man•
400+Futurism / 12h
A high tech pair of robotic arms allowed a partially paralyzed man to eat with a knife and fork, an impressive demonstration that could allow others with disabilities to regain a significant degree of autonomy. The arms, developed by a team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), work by reading its wearer's brain signals using a brain-machine interface (BMI). This i




100+Gizmodo / 12h
Pharmacy chains around the U.S have started to limit the amount of emergency contraceptive pills customers can purchase. This comes after the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court. Read more...



BMW has announced plans to expand its infotainment software with an Android Automotive OS integration, paving the way for new features and experiences.



BMW 3.0 CSL M4 Year•
A new BMW 3.0 CSL was revealed in part this week with the potential to be released as the most expensive BMW ever built for public purchase.



Let’s be honest: One reason we love sharing our Spotify listening data is for the competition. There are apps that help flaunt off your eclectic library or prove you’re among a band’s highest listener percentage , but now you can display the depths of your obscure music tastes by creating a Spotify Iceberg thanks to… Read more...



400+Gizmodo / 12h
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, dropped a series of bombshells Tuesday during an impromptu hearing convened by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. She said the former president and h


Backblaze
Posted by at