Back in 2021, the European Commission issued antitrust charges against Apple after deciding that the company may be abusing its dominant position when it comes to music streaming apps. The commission sent the tech giant a Statement of Objections listing issues that it believes warrant further investigation. In it, the EU's executive body outlined its issues with Apple, namely making developers use its payment system and preventing them from telling subscribers about alternative (and often cheaper) payment options outside of iOS apps. Now, the commission has announced that its antitrust investigation will only touch upon the second issue, or the "anti-steering obligations" Apple imposes upon developers.
Its revised Statement of Objections drops its position regarding the legality of the company making developers use its in-app payment system. It's going all in on the anti-steering allegations instead, citing concerns that Apple's rule prevents developers from notifying users about more affordable subscription prices elsewhere.
The commission said these anti-steering obligations imposed upon developers are "unfair trading conditions" in breach of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU'). It explained that the obligations are "neither necessary nor proportionate for the provision of the App Store on iPhones and iPad," that they're detrimental to Apple users who'll likely end up paying more, and that they negatively affect music streaming app developers "by limiting effective consumer choice."
This particular antitrust case was a result of the complaint Spotify filed against Apple in 2019, wherein it accused the tech giant of having discriminatory practices designed to suppress competitors to Apple Music. If the commission decides that Apple has indeed broken antitrust laws, then it could prohibit the conduct that's in breach of the rules — in this case, preventing developers from pointing users to external payment options — and could fine the company up to 10 percent of its annual turnover worldwide. Apple told The Wall Street Journal that it was pleased the scope of its case had been narrowed and that it hopes the commission "will end its pursuit of a complaint that has no merit."
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Almost four years after it was announced, Pokémon Sleep, a mobile game that tracks your sleep,is finally on the way. According to yesterday's Pokémon Presents event, it’ll arrive sometime this summer, after it was meant to debut in 2020. It features Snorlax (of course) and Professor Neroli, a Pokémon sleep researcher. The idea is you leave your phone next to you when you go to bed, and it analyzes your sleep… somehow.
There’s also Pokémon Go Plus +, a new physical device that connects to both Pokémon Sleep and Pokémon Go. For the former, you press the button when you go to bed and again when you wake up to track your sleep data, presumably instead of needing your phone. Pokémon Go Plus + (yes, that’s its name) follows the original Pokémon Go Plus peripheral, which emerged in 2016. It will be available on July 14th and cost $55.
– Mat Smith
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MWC 2023 has kicked off, and while the biggest phone players might not be revealing much, there are plenty of intriguing phones and peripherals. Xiaomi has unveiled its Wireless AR Glass Discovery Edition, a compact AR headset using the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 as the Quest Pro. The company says these oversized sunglasses offer an elegant way to blend the digital and real worlds but don’t need to be tethered to a smartphone. There’s no word on price or availability, but they do look like they belong in a ‘00s music video.
The experimental project may hint at future phone designs.
OnePlus has revealed its latest experimental phone – and this time, the features are more practical than before. The OnePlus 11 Concept centers on Active CryoFlux liquid cooling, which mimics some gaming PCs. The system uses a piezoelectric ceramic micropump to send cooling fluid throughout pipelines in the phone (visible on the outside) without "significantly" increasing the phone's bulk.
Including better organizational tools and tap-to-pay animations.
Google is unveiling a raft of minor additions to Android and Wear OS, including a new widget for Google Keep to check off your to-do lists from your home screen. And with a compatible watch, you’ll be able to dictate notes and to-do list items from your wrist. Another more notable change is improved noise cancellation in Google Meet when used on some Android devices. Google said you’ll soon be able to use Chrome OS' Fast Pair feature to connect new Bluetooth headphones to your machine with a single tap.
One year ago today, the largest aircraft ever built was destroyed during the early days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Now, the Antonov An-225 Mriya is once again taking to the skies – albeit in Microsoft Flight Simulator. The Ukraine-built Mriya was an ultra-heavy lift jet transport aircraft with six engines. It was the heaviest aircraft ever built, and it had the largest wingspan of any plane at 290 feet. The Flight Simulator version of Mriya costs $20, with all proceeds going to the Antonov Corporation's Mryia reconstruction efforts.
FromSoftware has confirmed the rumors that had been circulating since earlier this year that Elden Ring is getting a big DLC. In an announcement posted on the game's Twitter account, the Japanese developer said that an upcoming expansion entitled Shadow of the Erdtree is currently in development. It also shared a key artwork for the expansion, but it has yet to reveal details on what it's going to be about and when it's going to be released.
Rise, Tarnished, and let us walk a new path together.
An upcoming expansion for #ELDENRING Shadow of the Erdtree, is currently in development.
We hope you look forward to new adventures in the Lands Between. pic.twitter.com/cjJYijM7Mw
On its company account, FromSoftware also wrote in Japanese that it might take a bit of time for the company to announce further news about Shadow of the Erdtree. It remains to be seen how big the expansion is going to be, and if it's going to add a substantial amount of gameplay to the already vast world of Elden Ring.
FromSoftware's announcement comes shortly after Elden Ring's first release anniversary on February 25th. Bandai Namco, the game's publisher, expected to sell 4 million copies in five weeks. Instead, it sold 12 million units of the Souls-type game within a span of 18 days. Elden Ring has won several awards since then, as well. The developer has only released one DLC for it so far, though, and fans are eagerly awaiting a major update like this.
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OnePlus is having quite an eventful Mobile World Congress. In addition to revealing its latest experimental phone that it envisions to have liquid cooling capabilities, the company has also announced that it will be launching its first foldable smartphone in the second half of 2023. With this revelation, OnePlus has confirmed previous rumors that it's working on a foldable device similar to Samsung's offerings. The company teased a mysterious Q3 2023 launch with what seemed to be silhouettes of devices that fold in the background at the OnePlus 11 event earlier this month, but it fell short of saying what exactly it would be releasing.
Despite its confirmation, OnePlus remains tight-lipped on what a foldable device from the company would entail. XDA Developersreported in January that it found two trademark listings with the China National Intellectual Property Administration for a OnePlus V Fold and a OnePlus V Flip. In today's announcement, OnePlus only talks about one smartphone, so it's unclear if it's actually developing two at the moment. All Kinder Liu, President and COO of OnePlus, had to say at the event was:
"Our first foldable phone will have the signature OnePlus fast and smooth experience. It must be a flagship phone that doesn't settle because of its folding form, in terms of industrial design, mechanical technology, and other aspects. We want to launch a device that aims to be at the pinnacle experience of today’s foldable market."
The company promised to release more details about its foldable device in the coming months. Aside from that, it also shared its plans to build a more cohesive ecosystem within the next three to five years. It said the ecosystem will enable OnePlus to provide seamless connection across its phones, tablets, wearables and internet-of-things devices.
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Polar isn't as big a name in fitness watches as competitors like Garmin, but it believes it has a way to extend its footprint: license its technology to those rivals. The company is now making 25 fitness algorithms available to some companies. "Powered by Polar" watches can use the brand's activity, health and sleep tracking know-how in combination with their own hardware and services. Third parties won't have to pour years of research into their products just to get started, Polar claims.
The first watch to use Polar's framework is Casio's new G-Shock G-Squad GBD-H2000. There aren't many official details at tis stage, but the sequel to the GBD-H1000 is expected to feature a similarly chunky design while adding Polar's fitness science and a gyroscope. It should still include solar-assisted charging, GPS and a host of sensors that include an altimeter, barometer, compass and thermometer.
Polar isn't a complete stranger to offering fitness tech to business customers, such as online tracking tools. It has solutions for coaches, fitness classes, schools and teams. However, this is the first time it's providing tech directly to the competition. In theory, this brings advanced fitness tracking to a wider range of devices, and might let watchmakers consider fitness products that simply weren't options before now.
To some extent, though, this is an acknowledgment that Polar's in-house watches aren't the strongest sellers. The firm describes itself as a "top 10 player" in wearables, but that still leaves it trailing the heavyweights. Garmin was the only fitness-first watch brand whose shipments cracked the top five in the second quarter of 2022, according to Canalys estimates, and it had 5.5 percent of the market. Algorithm licensing could help Polar boost its profits and influence regardless of how its device sales fare.
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MS-23, the Soyuz spacecraft Russia sent to bring cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio back to Earth, has arrived at the International Space Station. Per Space.com, Russia’s Roscosmos Space Agency announced early Sunday morning that the unmanned vessel docked with the ISS at 7:58PM ET on Saturday evening. As expected, the flight launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on February 24th.
MS-23 was originally scheduled to launch later this year, but Roscosmos was forced to push up the flight after MS-22 – Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio’s original return craft – sprung a coolant leak in December following a micrometeoroid strike. The incident put Roscosmos and NASA in a tricky spot. If an emergency broke out on the ISS and the entire crew had to evacuate, it wasn’t clear whether MS-22 could carry its crew safely back to Earth. Roscosmos and NASA eventually settled on a contingency plan that would have seen MS-22 transport Prokopyev and Petelin, while Rubio would have hitched a ride on the SpaceX Crew-5 Dragon. Thankfully, the two agencies weren’t forced to put that plan to the test.
With MS-23 safely docked with the ISS, Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio will remain at the space station until at least September. The three were originally due to complete their mission in March. In the meantime, Roscomos plans to bring MS-22 back to Earth sometime next month.
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For the first time in nearly 60 years, one-time smartphone giant Nokia is changing its iconic logo. On Sunday, before the official start of Mobile World Congress Barcelona, the company unveiled a new brand identity, and it’s a dramatic change. Gone is the iconic typeface and “Yale blue” that defined its previous logo. The company has instead adopted a look it claims is more modern and digital.
“We are updating our strategy, and, as a key enabler, we are also refreshing our brand to reflect who we are today: a business-to-business technology innovation leader pioneering the future where networks meet cloud,” Nokia said in a blog post attributed to CEO Pekka Lundmark. "In most people’s minds, we are still a successful mobile phone brand, but this is not what Nokia is about,” Lundmark told Bloomberg. "We want to launch a new brand that is focusing very much on the networks and industrial digitalization, which is a completely different thing from the legacy mobile phones.”
Is this the end of a logo so many people know and love? Not necessarily. You may recall, Nokia’s phone business hasn’t been a part of Nokia proper since Microsoft’s ultimately disastrous $7 billion acquisition of the company’s Devices and Services division in 2014. After the tech giant washed its hands clean of that deal in 2016, HMD Global, a company made up of former Nokia execs, acquired the rights to use the Nokia brand for smartphones and tablets, and has been doing its own thing ever since then. In fact, the company announced its latest device, the G22, just one day before today’s announcement, and as it so happens, that phone features the classic Nokia logo. Engadget has reached out to HMD Global to find out if the company plans to continue using that logo.
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TCL is back at Mobile World Congress this year with a bunch of budget-friendly new gear to show off. Among other things, the company has developed a new version of its color paper-like screen technology, which it's calling NXTPAPER 2.0.
Compared with the previous version, TCL says NXTPAPER 2.0 delivers 150 percent more brightness with up to 500 nits, making it easier to use outdoors during the day (the anti-glare tech should help too). The company claims that, due to hardware-level filtering, the technology exceeds TÜV-certified levels of blue light reduction. TCL says the tech can help protect your eye health while maintaining color accuracy and avoiding screen yellowing. The screen's color temperature will adjust automatically based on the time and environment as well.
You'll soon be able to check out NXTPAPER 2.0 on a new tablet. The NXTPAPER 11 has an 11-inch, 2K display and TCL says there's a feature called AI Visual Boost that makes colors "bolder and more lifelike." The Android 13 tablet runs on an octa-core processor. It has 8MP cameras on the front and rear, four speakers, dual mics and an 8,000mAh battery. The tablet, which weighs just over a pound (462g), starts at $249 and it will initially be available in Europe in May.
Also new is the TCL TAB 11, another 11-inch tablet, albeit with a 2K NXTVISION display. It otherwise has similar specs as the NXTPAPER 11. The TAB 11 will be available in May and it starts at $179. Versions with LTE start at $209.
TCL
On the phone front, TCL has a few new models for the US market: the 40 XE 5G, 40 X 5G and a 40 XL with 4G connectivity. The $169 40 XE 5G is the lowest-cost 5G TCL phone to date, the company said. It has a 6.56-inch HD+ display with a 90Hz refresh rate and 180Hz touch sampling. The rear camera array features a 13MP main camera and 2MP depth and macro sensors. On the front, there's an 8MP lens. The phone has a 2.2GHz octo-core processor and 4GB of RAM. There's just 64GB of storage, but you can add another 1TB via microSD.
The 40 XE 5G will be available in June, just like the 40 X 5G, which has similar specs, but a more advanced 50MP main camera. That model starts at $199. The 4G-only 40 XL, meanwhile, has a 6.75" HD+ display, dual speakers and a 50MP main camera. There's an octa-core processor and base storage of 128GB. You can pick that Android 13 phone up in May for $149.
Along with the phones and tablets, TCL has a fresh set of earphones. It says the MOVEAUDIO Neo earbuds have 25dB of bass-boosted sound, four EQ modes, dual-mic call noise cancellation and active noise cancellation. They're available now for $50.
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It's been a long time coming, but Xiaomi is finally bringing its Leica-endorsed smartphones to the international market. Following their China launch back in December, the Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro are going global at MWC, with Germany, France, Spain and Italy being some of their first markets in the west. As you'd expect, both Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 flagships now come with Google services pre-installed, but they are otherwise identical to their China counterparts.
The Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro share similar-looking Leica camera islands on the back, but only the 13 Pro offers the much-hyped Type 1-inch sensor (Sony's IMX989; 1.6um pixel size) — arguably the industry's most powerful camera sensor at the moment — for its 50-megapixel f/1.9 OIS (optical image stabilization) main shooter. You also get a 50-megapixel 3.2x telephoto camera (75mm equivalent) with OIS and a 50-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide camera (14mm equivalent).
As for the lesser Xiaomi 13, it comes with a 50-megapixel f/1.8 OIS main camera with a smaller sensor (IMX800; 1um pixel size), a 10-megapixel 3.2x zoom OIS zoom camera and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide (15mm equivalent) camera.
Both models share the same 32-megapixel f/2.0 punch-hole selfie cam on the other side. On a similar note, both phones offer two modes of capture — Leica Authentic and Leica Vibrant — along with Google's Magic Eraser tool.
Xiaomi 13 Pro and 13
Xiaomi
The Xiaomi 13 series also comes in two designs. The 13 Pro comes with a curved 6.73-inch 3,200 x 1,400 AMOLED screen with vegan leather or ceramic back versions. On the other hand, the 13 packs a flat 6.36-inch 2,400 x 1,080 AMOLED display, which is surrounded by iPhone-like aluminum sides and complemented by either glass or leather back options. Both screens support a refresh rate of up to 120Hz for a slick scrolling experience.
Other noteworthy features include the 13 Pro's 120W charging (from zero to 100 percent in just 19 minutes for its 4,820mAh battery), the 13's 67W charging (38 minutes to fully charge its 4,500mAh cell), and 50W wireless charging, Dolby Atmos dual speakers and IP68 ruggedness for both Android devices. The 13 Pro starts from 1,299 euros (around $1,370), whereas the 13 starts from 999 euros (around $1,060).
Xiaomi
As a surprise for MWC, Xiaomi also announced the 13 Lite, which appears to be a variant of the selfie-centric Civi 2 sold in China. And no, there's no Leica involvement here. This model starts from 499 euros (around $530) and boasts dual front cameras (32-megapixel + 8-megapixel depth sensor) plus dual "Selfie Glow" LEDs for supposedly better selfies. It's powered by a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 processor, and it also packs a 50-megapixel main camera (IMX766), a 20-megapixel ultra-wide camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera, a 4,500mAh battery with 67W charging, and a 6.55-inch Full HD+ 120Hz display. This is all tucked into a 171g-heavy, 7.23mm-thick body, which obviously goes well with its "Lite" branding.
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Engine knock, wherein fuel ignites unevenly along the cylinder wall resulting in damaging percussive shockwaves, is an issue that automakers have struggled to mitigate since the days of the Model T. The industry's initial attempts to solve the problem — namely tetraethyl lead — were, in hindsight, a huge mistake, having endumbened and stupefied an entire generation of Americans with their neurotoxic byproducts.
Dr. Vaclav Smil, Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, examines the short-sighted economic reasoning that lead to leaded gas rather than a nationwide network of ethanol stations in his new book Invention and Innovation: A Brief History of Hype and Failure. Lead gas is far from the only presumed advance to go over like a lead balloon. Invention and Innovation is packed with tales of humanity's best-intentioned, most ill-conceived and generally half-cocked ideas — from airships and hyperloops to DDT and CFCs.
Just seven years later Henry Ford began to sell his Model T, the first mass-produced affordable and durable passenger car, and in 1911 Charles Kettering, who later played a key role in developing leaded gasoline, designed the first practical electric starter, which obviated dangerous hand cranking. And although hard-topped roads were still in short supply even in the eastern part of the US, their construction began to accelerate, with the country’s paved highway length more than doubling between 1905 and 1920. No less important, decades of crude oil discoveries accompanied by advances in refining provided the liquid fuels needed for the expansion of the new transportation, and in 1913 Standard Oil of Indiana introduced William Burton’s thermal cracking of crude oil, the process that increased gasoline yield while reducing the share of volatile compounds that make up the bulk of natural gasolines.
But having more affordable and more reliable cars, more paved roads, and a dependable supply of appropriate fuel still left a problem inherent in the combustion cycle used by car engines: the propensity to violent knocking (pinging). In a perfectly operating gasoline engine, gas combustion is initiated solely by a timed spark at the top of the combustion chamber and the resulting flame front moves uniformly across the cylinder volume. Knocking is caused by spontaneous ignitions (small explosions, mini-detonations) taking place in the remaining gases before they are reached by the flame front initiated by sparking. Knocking creates high pressures (up to 18 MPa, or nearly up to 180 times the normal atmospheric level), and the resulting shock waves, traveling at speeds greater than sound, vibrate the combustion chamber walls and produce the telling sounds of a knocking, malfunctioning engine.
Knocking sounds alarming at any speed, but when an engine operates at a high load it can be very destructive. Severe knocking can cause brutal irreparable engine damage, including cylinder head erosion, broken piston rings, and melted pistons; and any knocking reduces an engine’s efficiency and releases more pollutants; in particular, it results in higher nitrogen oxide emissions. The capacity to resist knocking— that is, fuel’s stability— is based on the pressure at which fuel will spontaneously ignite and has been universally measured in octane numbers, which are usually displayed by filling stations in bold black numbers on a yellow background.
Octane (C8H18) is one of the alkanes (hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n + 2) that form anywhere between 10 to 40 percent of light crude oils, and one of its isomers (compounds with the same number of carbon and hydrogen atoms but with a different molecular structure), 2,2,4-trimethypentane (iso-octane), was taken as the maximum (100 percent) on the octane rating scale because the compound completely prevents any knocking. The higher the octane rating of gasoline, the more resistant the fuel is to knocking, and engines can operate more efficiently with higher compression ratios. North American refiners now offer three octane grades, regular gasoline (87), midgrade fuel (89), and premium fuel mixes (91– 93).
During the first two decades of the twentieth century, the earliest phase of automotive expansion, there were three options to minimize or eliminate destructive knocking. The first one was to keep the compression ratios of internal combustion engines relatively low, below 4.3:1: Ford’s best-selling Model T, rolled out in 1908, had a compression ratio of 3.98:1. The second one was to develop smaller but more efficient engines running on better fuel, and the third one was to use additives that would prevent the uncontrolled ignition. Keeping compression ratios low meant wasting fuel, and the reduced engine efficiency was of a particular concern during the years of rapid post–World War I economic expansion as rising car ownership of more powerful and more spacious cars led to concerns about the long-term adequacy of domestic crude oil supplies and the growing dependence on imports. Consequently, additives offered the easiest way out: they would allow using lower-quality fuel in more powerful engines operating more efficiently with higher compression ratios.
During the first two decades of the twentieth century there was considerable interest in ethanol (ethyl alcohol, C2H6O or CH3CH2OH), both as a car fuel and as a gasoline additive. Numerous tests proved that engines using pure ethanol would never knock, and ethanol blends with kerosene and gasoline were tried in Europe and in the US. Ethanol’s well-known proponents included Alexander Graham Bell, Elihu Thomson, and Henry Ford (although Ford did not, as many sources erroneously claim, design the Model T to run on ethanol or to be a dual-fuel vehicle; it was to be fueled by gasoline); Charles Kettering considered it to be the fuel of the future.
But three disadvantages complicated ethanol’s large-scale adoption: it was more expensive than gasoline, it was not available in volumes sufficient to meet the rising demand for automotive fuel, and increasing its supply, even only if it were used as the dominant additive, would have claimed significant shares of crop production. At that time there were no affordable, direct ways to produce the fuel on a large scale from abundant cellulosic waste such as wood or straw: cellulose had first to be hydrolyzed by sulfuric acid and the resulting sugars were then fermented. That is why the fuel ethanol was made mostly from the same food crops that were used to make (in much smaller volumes) alcohol for drinking and medicinal and industrial uses.
The search for a new, effective additive began in 1916 in Charles Kettering’s Dayton Research Laboratories with Thomas Midgley, a young (born in 1889) mechanical engineer, in charge of this effort. In July 1918 a report prepared in collaboration with the US Army and the US Bureau of Mines listed ethyl alcohol, benzene, and a cyclohexane as the compounds that did not produce any knocking in high-compression engines. In 1919, when Kettering was hired by GM to head its new research division, he defined the challenge as one of averting a looming fuel shortage: the US domestic crude oil supply was expected to be gone in fifteen years, and “if we could successfully raise the compression of our motors . . . we could double the mileage and thereby lengthen this period to 30 years.” Kettering saw two routes toward that goal, by using a high-volume additive (ethanol or, as tests showed, fuel with 40 percent benzene that eliminated any knocking) or a low-percentage alternative, akin to but better than the 1 percent iodine solution that was accidentally discovered in 1919 to have the same effect.
In early 1921 Kettering learned about Victor Lehner’s synthesis of selenium oxychloride at the University of Wisconsin. Tests showed it to be a highly effective but, as expected, also a highly corrosive anti-knocking compound, but they led directly to considering compounds of other elements in group 16 of the periodic table: both diethyl selenide and diethyl telluride showed even better anti-knocking properties, but the latter compound was poisonous when inhaled or absorbed through skin and had a powerful garlicky smell. Tetraethyl tin was the next compound found to be modestly effective, and on December 9, 1921, a solution of 1 percent tetraethyl lead (TEL) — (C2H5)4 Pb — produced no knock in the test engine, and soon was found to be effective even when added in concentrations as low as 0.04 percent by volume.
TEL was originally synthesized in Germany by Karl Jacob Löwig in 1853 and had no previous commercial use. In January 1922, DuPont and Standard Oil of New Jersey were contracted to produce TEL, and by February 1923 the new fuel (with the additive mixed into the gasoline at pumps by means of simple devices called ethylizers) became available to the public in a small number of filling stations. Even as the commitment to TEL was going ahead, Midgley and Kettering conceded that “unquestionably alcohol is the fuel of the future,” and estimates showed that a 20 percent blend of ethanol and gasoline needed in 1920 could be supplied by using only about 9 percent of the country’s grain and sugar crops while providing an additional market for US farmers. And during the interwar period many European and some tropical countries used blends of 10– 25 percent ethanol (made from surplus food crops and paper mill wastes) and gasoline, admittedly for relatively small markets as the pre–World War II ownership of family cars in Europe was only a fraction of the US mean.
Other known alternatives included vapor-phase cracked refinery liquids, benzene blends, and gasoline from naphthenic crudes (containing little or no wax). Why did GM, well aware of these realities, decide not only to pursue just the TEL route but also to claim (despite its own correct understanding) that there were no available alternatives: “So far as we know at the present time, tetraethyl lead is the only material available which can bring about these results”? Several factors help to explain the choice. The ethanol route would have required a mass-scale development of a new industry dedicated to an automotive fuel additive that could not be controlled by GM. Moreover, as already noted, the preferable option, producing ethanol from cellulosic waste (crop residues, wood), rather than from food crops, was too expensive to be practical. In fact, the large-scale production of cellulosic ethanol by new enzymatic conversions, promised to be of epoch-making importance in the twenty-first century, has failed its expectations, and by 2020 high-volume US production of ethanol (used as an anti-knocking additive) continued to be based on fermenting corn: in 2020 it claimed almost exactly one-third of the country’s corn harvest.
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An ad-supported Apple TV+ tier is starting to look all but inevitable. According to The Information, Apple recently hired Lauren Fry, a former ad tech executive, “to help build a video advertising business” for its streaming service. Before her most recent stint at digital advertising firm Simulmedia, Fry held ad sales roles at AT&T and Comcast.
Bringing more ads to Apple TV+ would fall in line with some of Apple’s more recent actions. Toward the end of last year, the company began displaying additional ads within the App Store, a move that could be a precursor to search ads appearing in Apple Maps and other first-party software. It’s worth noting before Fry’s hiring, Apple was already showing ads alongside Major League Baseball games. In November, Bloomberg also reported Apple was building a live tv ad network to support its 10-year deal with Major League Soccer. As The Information points out, an ad-supported tier would be the most straightforward way for Apple to bring more ads to TV+. A handful of other streaming platforms, including Netflix and Disney+, already offer such tiers to customers as they’re an easy way for those services to broaden their subscriber base.
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For the last few days, an “internal systems issue” has left many of the services and websites operated by satellite television provider and Sling TV owner Dish Network inaccessible. The outage started on Thursday morning when Dish customers began reporting a host of issues. On Downdetector and Twitter, there are complaints of people being unable to access IPTV services like Watch ESPN with their Dish credentials. Other customers say they can’t log in to their online accounts to pay monthly TV and cellular bills. The outage appears to be affecting nearly every part of the company’s footprint – including Boost Mobile, the prepaid wireless carrier Dish purchased in 2020 – and its call centers, which have been unreachable since the outage began.
“Thank you for your patience,” a banner on top of the Dish website says. “We are experiencing a system issue that our teams are working hard to resolve.” The Boost Mobile website provides a more helpful explanation. “Due to internal system issues some users may experience difficulty with their Boost Mobile accounts, paying their bill, or reaching Boost Care,” the landing page states. “Please be assured that if your account is affected, your wireless service is not affected by these issues and your service will not end due to non-payment.”
I'm going to speculate but I think Dish got hacked. https://t.co/parDKO4kPt is down, along with their call center is completely down. My wife couldn't login to her VPN for work. This is really bad. You think it would've been up by now.. #dish#dishnetwork
There have been conflicting reports about the cause of the outage. When the company’s problems began on Thursday, The Deskreported they were not the result of a cybersecurity incident. However, on early Saturday morning, Bleeping Computersaid the outage was due to a likely ransomware attack. A source told the outlet employee computers are showing “blank icons,” suggesting they’re infected with malware. A separate source saidtheir manager told them the outage “was caused by an outside bad actor, a known threat agent,” and that Dish had yet to determine how they had gained access to its internal systems.
“We experienced a systems issue with our corporate network on Thursday that is continuing to affect internal servers and telephone systems, and we are actively investigating it. Our DISH TV, Sling TV, Wireless services, and data networks continue to operate and are up and running,” a Dish spokesperson told Engadget. “However, some of our corporate communications systems, customer care functions, and websites were affected. Our teams are working hard to restore affected systems as quickly as possible.”
Dish would not confirm if the outage was due to a ransomware attack, but said it hoped to share more information soon. According to The Verge, as of Friday afternoon, the company had not been forthcoming with employees about what was going on with its internal systems. Many remote workers are reportedly unable to do any work due to issues with Dish’s internal VPN service. Engadget will update this article as more information becomes available.
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If you read Engadget regularly, you probably know how we feel about the final season of Star Trek: Picard. In short, it’s not worth your time. But if you must see the show for yourself, or can’t resist the chance to see the Enterprise-D crew one last time, Paramount is offering a free way to watch the first episode of season three. Provided you live in the US, you can catch “The Next Generation” (no, not that Next Generation) on YouTube for a limited time (via Gizmodo). And if you don't live in the US, you can probably find a way to transport yourself for an hour, can't you?
The debut episode sees Jean-Luc Picard return from retirement (yet again) after his friend and former first officer Will Riker receives a warning from Dr. Beverly Crusher. Engadget Senior Editor Daniel Cooper had the chance to watch the first six episodes of season three before it began streaming earlier this month on Paramount+. In his view, the final season is dull and joyless, with a plot that is far too obvious. But don't let that stop you from making your own decision.
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The Federal Trade Commission has given up on trying to stop Meta from purchasing VR company Within. According to Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, the agency has voted to drop its administrative case against the company a few weeks after a federal court denied its request for a preliminary injunction to block the acquisition.
The FTC originally filed antitrust lawsuits in federal court and its in-house court last year in an effort to prevent Meta from snapping up the company that developed the virtual reality workout app Supernatural. At the time, the commission accused Meta of "trying to buy its way to the top... instead of earning it on the merits." It said the company had the resources to enter "the VR fitness market by building its own app" and doing so would increase consumer choice and innovation. By buying Within, the FTC alleged Meta would stifle "future innovation and competitive rivalry."
US District Judge Edward Davila, who oversaw the federal case, ruled in favor of Meta. While he reportedly agreed that mergers that could potentially harm competition in the future should be blocked, he decided that the FTC failed to offer sufficient evidence showing how the Within acquisition would be detrimental to the market. He also said that while Meta has vast resources, it "did not have the available feasible means to enter the relevant market other than by acquisition."
Technically, Davila's ruling didn't have a direct effect on the administrative case. As The Journal notes, though, antitrust officials have previously dropped administrative lawsuits if the federal court denies an injunction. Now Meta can rest assured that when it completed its acquisition of Within on February 8th, the deal was truly final.
"We’re excited that the Within team has joined Meta, and we’re eager to partner with this talented group in bringing the future of VR fitness to life,” a Meta spokesperson told Engadget.
The FTC's withdrawal represents one of its most pertinent losses under the leadership of Lina Khan, who's known to be a prominent critic of Big Tech and a leading antitrust scholar. In December, the agency took on an even bigger challenge than this one when it filed an antitrust complaint to block Microsoft's planned $68.7 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard. "Microsoft would have both the means and motive to harm competition by manipulating Activision’s pricing, degrading Activision’s game quality or player experience on rival consoles and gaming services, changing the terms and timing of access to Activision’s content, or withholding content from competitors entirely, resulting in harm to consumers," the FTC said.
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Just ahead of Mobile World Congress, HMD Global has announced a trio of Nokia phones, including the first one it built specifically with repairability in mind. The company has teamed up with iFixit to offer official repair guides and parts to help people fix issues such as a busted display, kaput battery or wonky charging port on the G22.
The device has a plastic rear casing made entirely of recycled materials, and comes with the promise of two years of Android updates, three years of security patches and a three-year warranty. The G22 is very much an entry-level phone — it has a Unisoc T606 CPU and tops out at 128GB of internal storage (though that's expandable via microSD). It has a 6.5-inch HD display with a 90Hz refresh rate. There's a 50MP camera, 2MP depth camera and 2MP macro sensor. The device supports 20W fast charging, though it runs on Android 12 rather than the latest OS.
HMD Global
The G22 embodies the drive HMD has been making to become more environmentally friendly. With other manufacturers such as Apple, Google and Samsung offering official repair guides and parts so consumers can resolve issues by themselves, it makes sense that smaller brands would do the same.
You'll be able to pick up a G22 in gray or blue starting on March 8th. It starts at £150 ($179) or you can snag one through HMD's Circular subscription service. To fix certain issues, you can snap up a Fit Kit (i.e., the tools) from iFixit for £5. A replacement battery will cost £23, a display £45 and a charging port £19.
HMD also announced the Nokia C32, an Android 13 phone with "stellar imaging algorithms" and a 50MP main camera. The company says it offers the best image quality of any C-series device to date. The C32 has an octa-core, 1.6Ghz CPU, up to 4GB of RAM and up to 128GB of internal storage. There's a 6.5-inch HD+ display with a notch for the 8MP selfie camera. The £130 ($155) device will be available in charcoal, green and pink, and it will land in the UK this spring.
HMD Global
In addition, there's the Nokia C22. Like the other new models, it has IP52 splash and dust protection, a microSD slot and (HMD claims) a battery that can run for up to three days on a single charge. The C22 has a dual 13MP camera and a rugged metal chassis, along with Android 13, a 6.5-inch display and an octa-core, 1.6Ghz CPU. Internal storage tops out at 64GB. Again, this is a budget-friendly phone — it starts at £110 ($131). It comes in black and sand colorways and it will be available in the spring.
On top of all that, HMD wants to bring manufacturing to Europe. "In the first stage of this journey, the company is developing capabilities and processes to bring 5G Nokia device production to Europe in 2023," it said in a press release. The fact that the European Union is aiming to manufacture more chips in the region rather than relying on parts from Asia could make HMD's plan more viable. Making phones in Europe primarily for a European market falls in with HMD's environmentally friendly mission too.
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The AI news just won’t stop! This week, Cherlynn and Devindra discuss the latest on Bing AI – Microsoft is loosening up some recent restrictions, following reports of its bad behavior – as well as the rise of ChatGPT stories on the Kindle store. Spotify is also launching its own AI DJ, starring the digitized voice of one of its current hosts. In other news, we discuss Microsoft’s recent agreements with NVIDIA and Nintendo, which could warm regulators towards approving its Activision Blizzard acquisition.
Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
After the Microsoft and Google announcements, AI is suddenly everywhere – 1:17
Microsoft tries to win over regulators by putting Xbox games on GeForce Now – 26:29
Glucose monitoring on the Apple Watch could be coming soon – 28:16
Twitter limits SMS two-factor authentication to Blue users – 30:43
Amazon’s acquisition of One Medical is finished, regulators are still curious – 35:31
No Man’s Sky Fractal VR update is out just in time for PS VR 2 – 39:04
Working on – 42:58
Pop culture picks – 46:10
Livestream
Credits Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar Producer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos Graphic artists: Luke Brooks
from Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics https://ift.tt/89U20qF
It’s time for more Marvel Cinematic Universe, more special effects, more families in danger and more sinister baddies, with a bigger role for Kang the Conqueror – the big cross-movie threat, a la Thanos – played by Jonathan Majors. Alas, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniasuffers from too many special effects, sadly.
It uses Industrial Light and Magic's (ILM) StageCraft technology (AKA “the Volume”), which came to prominence in Star Wars series The Mandalorian. It’s a series of enormous LED walls that can display real-time footage, synchronized to interactive lighting to make it feel like actors are in these sci-fi landscapes, fighting these threats to humanity. Still, Engadget’s Devindra Hardawar says the tech, the actors and the narrative fail to convince.
– Mat Smith
The Morning After isn’t just anewsletter– it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, bysubscribing right here.
Their age and Milky Way-like size make them an anomaly.
According to images taken near the Big Dipper by the JWST, scientists found six potential galaxies that formed just 500 to 700 million years after the Big Bang. That they could be almost 13 billion years old isn't what makes them odd, though, it's that they could have as many stars as the Milky Way, according to the team's calculations. The scientists explained the galaxies should not exist under current cosmological theory because there shouldn't have been enough matter at the time for that many stars to form. Now, that sounds like the start of a MCU movie.
Google is bringing photo features once exclusive to recent Pixel phones to more devices. Magic Eraser, a tool to easily remove unwanted people or objects from an image, debuted in 2021 on the Pixel 6, and starting today, Google is rolling out Magic Eraser to Pixel 5a and earlier models. All Pixel models and Google One subscribers will also gain access to an HDR effect to boost the brightness and contrast to videos. The same goes for Google One subscribers. Members on all plans will have access to Magic Eraser through Google Photos, even if they're on iOS.
Despite raising North American prices a year ago, Netflix is getting cheaper in over 30 countries – just not in the US. The company has cut prices by as much as half in parts of the Middle East (Yemen, Jordan, Libya and Iran), Sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya), Europe (Croatia, Slovenia and Bulgaria), Latin America (Nicaragua, Ecuador and Venezuela) and Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines). The company introduced a cheaper ad-supported plan in 12 countries last October – it’s clearly trying a bit of everything.
The CEO moved the company’s corporate headquarters to Texas in 2021.
Despite moving its corporate headquarters to Texas, Tesla now considers California its global engineering home base. Elon Musk said a Palo Alto engineering hub will be “effectively a headquarters of Tesla.” Tesla will use a former Hewlett-Packard building in Palo Alto as its new engineering headquarters. The move is an about-face from the CEO’s previous comments about the state: Musk didn’t mince words about California’s regulations and taxes when he moved Tesla’s official corporate headquarters to Texas in 2021, complaining about “overregulation, overlitigation, over-taxation.” But he’s back.
Some YouTube viewers have reported seeing a new option for video quality in the website's drop-down menu. In addition to the basic 1080p playback option, they're also seeing another one labeled 1080p Premium with a note beneath it that says it offers "Enhanced bitrate." A spokesperson told The Verge that the website is testing the new video quality, which is currently available to "a small group of YouTube Premium subscribers." They described it as an "enhanced bitrate version of 1080p which provides more information per pixel that results in a higher quality viewing experience." Also, there's supposed to be no change to the quality of the standard 1080p resolution, which some people might not consider the good news YouTube deems it to be.
Based on several comments on the Reddit thread discussing the test, viewers find the standard 1080p resolution on the website to be poor in quality. But a higher bitrate, which is used as a measurement for the amount of video data transferred within a certain timeframe, could mean getting better images without having to bump up the resolution. As XDA Developers notes, switching to 4K would give users access to better and sharper-looking videos, but they'd have to stream a much bigger file that could cost them more or eat up more of their data allowance.
The enhanced 1080p option is just a test feature at this point, though, and YouTube might not approve it for a wide rollout at all. If it does make its way out of the experimental phase, only viewers paying for YouTube Premium will be able to access it. The subscription service will cost users $12 a month for an individual account or $23 a month for a family plan.
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YouTube viewers from around the world might start finding more videos with audio in their native language. The video-hosting website has launched a new feature that gives creators the capability to add voice tracks to their new and existing content in multiple languages. YouTube has been testing multi-language dubs with a handful of creators over the past year, but it's now expanding the feature's reach and making it accessible to thousands more.
The website presents the new feature as a tool creators can use to grow their audiences around the world. Early testers apparently uploaded 3,500 videos in over 40 languages last month, and viewers watched over 2 million hours of dubbed video everyday in January. The creators who tested feature also found that around 15 percent of their watch time came from viewers playing their videos in another language.
One of the most notable creators who tested YouTube's multi-language tool was MrBeast, who has over 130 million subscribers worldwide. MrBeast runs multiple channels in 11 different languages, but in an interview, he said that it would be much easier to maintain just one. It's also probably a plus that anybody clicking on a link shared by someone speaking another language will be able to understand it simply by changing the dubbed audio.
After switching to their preferred language for the first time, the website will default to it whenever they watch videos with dubs. Viewers will also be able to search for content dubbed in their language, even if the video's primary tongue is different, through translated titles and descriptions. YouTube didn't say how it chose the thousands of creators getting access to the feature today, but we asked the website for an idea how it will roll out multi-language dubs until it's available to everyone.
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Bloomberg sources claim Apple’s quest for no-prick blood glucose monitoring is now at a "proof-of-concept stage" and good enough that it could come to market once it's smaller. The technology, which uses lasers to gauge glucose concentration under the skin, was previously tabletop-sized but has reportedly advanced nearer to an iPhone-sized prototype.
It’s been in the works for a long time. In 2010, when Steve Jobs headed up Apple, the company bought blood glucose monitoring startup RareLight. But no-prick monitors are a challenge. In 2018, Alphabet's health subsidiary, Verily, scrapped plans for a smart contact lens that tried to track glucose using tears.
– Mat Smith
The Morning After isn’t just anewsletter– it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, bysubscribing right here.
The DJ uses OpenAI to tell you about the songs it chooses for you.
Generative AI is absolutely everywhere right now, and that includes Spotify. Its latest feature, simply called DJ, kicks off a personalized selection of music playing that combines Spotify’s well-known personalization tools, like Discover Weekly, as well as the content that populates your home screen, all with some AI tricks. The feature rolls out today across Spotify Premium in the US and Canada.
The company only began testing Notion AI late last year.
Last November, Notion, the popular note-taking app, began testing a built-in generative machine learning algorithm dubbed Notion AI. Now it’s ready for launch. Notion said anyone, including free users, can start using its AI-powered writing assistant. More than two million people signed up for the waitlist for the alpha version and, according to the company, most testers weren’t asking it to write blog posts and marketing emails from scratch. Instead, they were using it to refine their own writing. As a result, the company decided to “completely redesign” Notion AI to make it more “iterative and conversational.” The new version of the tool will generate follow-up prompts until you’re satisfied with its results.
The platform could become less secure – but that doesn't mean you have to be.
Twitter announced plans to pull a popular method of two-factor authentication for non-paying customers last week. Starting March 20th, if you don’t want to pay $8 to $11 per month for a Twitter Blue subscription (hi, that’s me!), you’ll no longer be able to use text message authentication to get into your account. There are still some options to keep your account secure. Software-based authentication apps like Duo, Authy, Google Authenticator and the 2FA authenticator built into iPhones either send you a notification or, in the case of Twitter, generate a token to complete your login, or you can use hardware-based security keys that plug into devices. We walk you through the options if you want to stick around on Twitter.
Uber has rolled out an update for its iPhone app that shows whether it's time to head out the door and meet the ride you ordered. You even get a cute car icon moving along to illustrate it. The company has launched support for Live Activities, an iOS 16 feature that puts real-time events from compatible apps on top of the lock screen and on the iPhone 14 Dynamic Island when your device is unlocked.
Mac Mini computers with M2 and M2 Pro are the cheapest way to get Apple's latest processors, and now Amazon is sweetening the deal a bit more. The entry-level 256GB Mini M2 is on sale at $580 for a savings of $19 over the regular price, while the 512MB Mini M2 is $770, or $29 off. And if it's the 512 Mini M2 Pro model you're seeking, it can be found at $1,250, netting you a $49 discount. These appear to be Amazon's new normal prices, but they're less than we're seeing at Apple's Store.
The Mac Mini is tiny but mighty, with the M2 model easily powerful enough for productivity chores and multitasking. The M2 Pro, meanwhile, is a low-key content creation demon, beating the Mac Studio's M1 Max version and on par with the MacBook Pro 14-inch with M2 Max.
On top of that, you get killer connectivity, with two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C connections, HDMI 2.0 (with 4K 240Hz and 8K 60Hz output), two USB-A ports, a headphone jack and gigabit Ethernet (upgradeable to 10 gigabit). The M2 Pro model adds two additional USB-C ports, making it even more useful for creatives with a ton of accessories.
The Mac Mini M2 won't replace your gaming machine, but it can handle nearly everything else you throw at it. We wouldn't recommend the overpriced storage or RAM upgrades either, as the M2 is much more efficient with RAM than typical PCs. Still, if you're looking for a cheap but powerful Mac, this is the way to go.
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The James Webb Telescope has been giving us clearer views of celestial objects and exposing hidden features since it became operational last year. Now, according to a study conducted by an international team of astrophysicists, it may also completely change our understanding of the cosmos.
Upon looking at images taken by the telescope near the Big Dipper, the scientists found six potential galaxies that formed just 500 to 700 million years after the Big Bang. That they could be almost 13 billion years old wasn't what makes them odd, though, it's that they could have as many stars as the Milky Way according to the team's calculations. The scientists explained that they should not exist under current cosmological theory, because there shouldn't be enough matter at the time for the galaxies to form as many stars as ours has.
What the scientists saw in the images is a few fuzzy but very bright dots of light that look red to our instruments, indicating that they're old. Joel Leja, one of the authors of the study, told Space that scientists typically expect to see young and small galaxies that glow blue when peering into the ancient universe, since they appear to us as "objects which have just recently formed out of the primordial cosmic soup." (Don't forget that it takes time for light to reach Earth, so we're essentially looking back in time when we view telescopic images.)
"We looked into the very early universe for the first time and had no idea what we were going to find. It turns out we found something so unexpected it actually creates problems for science. It calls the whole picture of early galaxy formation into question," Leja said. James Webb previously captured images of even older galaxies that formed around 350 million years after the Big Bang. But they're tiny and don't challenge our knowledge of astrophysics.
For these six galaxies to appear old and massive means they were forming hundreds of stars a year shortly after the Big Bang. In comparison, the Milky Way only forms around one to two new stars every year. Further, these potential galaxies are about 30 times more compact in size than ours despite having as many stars.
The scientists admit that there's a possibility that the fuzzy red dots they saw are something else, such as faint quasars or supermassive black holes. They could also be smaller in reality compared to the projected size the scientists got from their calculations. The team needs more data and to verify their findings through spectroscopy, but they think they could have official confirmation sometime next year.
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