Category: Technology

After multiple delays, the Matter smart home standard has become a reality. The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) has released the Matter 1.0 specification and launched a product certification program. Device makers are now clear to adopt the technology, which aims to eliminate the compatibility and connection headaches that sometimes plague existing hardware. You can hopefully focus more on using your connected home than setting it up, to put it another way.

The tech relies on a combination of WiFi, Bluetooth LE and Thread’s smart home-oriented mesh networking. Ideally, it offers a combination of fast, ubiquitous connections with a low-power, “self-healing” grid that becomes more reliable as it expands. Matter also promises tighter security, and will work with voice assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri.

It may take a while for Matter devices to reach stores in earnest. However, many major tech companies are already backing the standard, including Amazon, Apple, Google, LG, Samsung (via SmartThings) and Signify (Philips Hue). Some will be quicker than others. Google has already announced a new Nest WiFi Pro router and revamped Home app that will support the technology from the outset.

The 1.0 spec isn’t guaranteed to solve all problems, even after several years of development. The CSA made clear this is an “initial release.” Nonetheless, it may take some of the pain out of shopping for smart home products like light bulbs and doorbells. Instead of buying into a specific ecosystem, you can make a reasonable assumption that any Matter-capable device will work — you can concentrate on buying what’s best for your needs.

Elon Musk wants to own Twitter after all. The Tesla CEO has decided he wants to go ahead with the deal he originally struck to buy the social media company for $54.20 a share, Bloomberg reports.

News of the proposal comes less than weeks before the two sides were set to go to trial in Delaware’s Court of Chancery over Musk’s attempt to get out of that deal. He has cited concerns about the number of spam and bot accounts on Twitter, and later added allegations from the company’s former head of security turned whistleblower to his suit.

Twitter didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But CNBC reported that trading of Twitter’s shares was halted following the report. 

If the two sides were to agree to go ahead with the terms of the original deal, it would end a months-long legal battle that has grown increasingly messy. Last week, hundreds of Musk’s private messages were published in legal filings. The texts detailed how Musk’s negotiations with Twitter had broken down in the spring, prompting him to announce he would buy the company and take it private.

But not long after he agreed to buy the company, Musk began questioning Twitter’s accounting of how many bots and spam accounts are on the platform. Musk claimed that Twitter had vastly undercounted the number, and in a legal filing accused the company of fraud. Twitter’s lawyers maintained his estimates were inaccurate and his claims about bots were merely a “pretext.” They cited text messages in which Musk, speaking to his banker at Morgan Stanley, said he was worried about Putin’s moves in Ukraine and a potential “World War 3.”

Developing…

After investigating an unfair labor practice charge against Activision Blizzard, the National Labor Relations Board found that the company withheld raises from quality assurance workers at Call of Duty support studio Raven Software. The agency attributed this withholding to the workers’ union activity.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) filed a complaint on behalf of the workers in June. It accused Activision Blizzard of retaliating against those who were attempting to unionize in a number of ways, including by laying some off and dismantling the studio’s QA department by moving workers to separate teams. The CWA also said that Activision Blizzard leadership solicited grievances, which the NLRB concurred with. The agency is still looking into some aspects of the original complaint, as The Washington Post notes.

The CWA filed an amended version of the complaint on Monday. It claimed that Activision Blizzard is continuing to violate labor laws by keeping QA workers at the studio separated without their own department.

In April, Activision Blizzard gave 1,100 QA testers full-time jobs and higher base pay. However, it said QA workers at Raven were not eligible for pay bumps “due to legal obligations under the National Labor Relations Act.” At the time, Raven QA workers were working toward a union election. They voted to unionize in May. Contract negotiations between Activision Blizzard and the Game Workers Alliance (the Raven QA workers’ union) are ongoing.

“Despite their best efforts, Activision’s constant attempts to undermine its workers’ and impede our union election have failed,” CWA and the Game Workers Alliance told Engadget in a statement. “We’re glad the NLRB recognized that Activision acted illegally when they unequally enforced policies by withholding company-wide benefits and wage increase from Raven workers for organizing. We want the company to bargain a fair contract in good faith and to move past all of the cheap — and illegal — tricks they tried to pull to prevent us from forming our union.”

“Due to legal obligations under the [National Labor Relations Act] requiring employers not to grant wage increases while an election was pending, we could not institute new pay initiatives at Raven because they would be brand new kinds of compensation changes, which had not been planned beforehand,” Activision Blizzard spokesperson Rich George told The Washington Post. “This rule that employers should not grant these kinds of wage increases has been the law for many years.”

Gatorade has designed a smart water bottle to help you determine and maintain your baseline hydration level and monitor your post-workout recovery. A ring of LEDs that runs around the Smart Gx Bottle’s cap should allow you to monitor you daily hydration, and gently nudge you to drink more when necessary. You can recharge the bottle using a USB cable. A Gatorade spokesperson told Engadget the bottle is dishwasher safe, but the cap is not. 

Naturally, your hydration levels can be tracked through Gatorade’s iOS-only Gx App, which features nutrition and training programs as well as recovery recommendations. As for what happens when you drink water from another source and how the app will track that, Gatorade says that’s “on the roadmap for launch.”

Meanwhile, Gatorade’s Sweat Patch, which the company debuted last year, is a single-use wearable that can help you create a “sweat profile” in the app and help track your perspiration. You’ll need to use the Sweat Patch to get a hydration report for the Smart Gx Bottle. Alternatively, you can weigh yourself before and after your workout.

To that end, Gatorade sells pods that can be mixed with water to help replenish electrolytes and carbohydrates. They’re compatible with the Smart Gx Bottle and regular Gx Bottle, each of which has a piercing mechanism for the pods. In addition, the company offering gummies that it claims can help with recovery and boosting your immune system.

Smart water bottles that can track hydration levels have been aroundfor years, but Gatorade is stepping into the space as a well-known brand. Folks might be more inclined to try one out from a company whose products they’ve used for years than one that started life as a crowdfunding project.

Engadget Deputy Editor Cherlynn Low has been checking out the Smart Gx Bottle using pre-release software. We’ll need to test it out a bit longer to determine how effective it is in tracking hydration levels. It’s similar to Gatorade’s other bottles in terms of squeezability. However, Cherlynn found that the cap leaks, which isn’t a great look. Also, in case you’re wondering, Cherlynn says the recovery gummies taste better than expected.

The Smart Gx Bottle is available from Gatorade’s website starting today. It costs $70. Gatorade will toss in a Sweat Patch and a pack of four pods of your choice at no extra cost. In case you’re interested in the gummies, those will run you $26 for one batch or $46.80 for a bundle.

In addition to launching the 12T smartphone series today, Xiaomi also announced that its Robot Vacuum X10+ — which debuted in China back in April — is now headed to Europe. This is the company’s most versatile robot vacuum to date: Not only can it vacuum with 4,000Pa suction and mop with pressurized dual rotating pads, but with its base station, it can automatically empty its trash, refill its water tank, wash its mops and dry them with heat as well. All told, the robot vacuum itself should require little maintenance; you’ll just need to refill the base station’s water reservoir and empty its waste water tank and dust bin from time to time.

This isn’t the first time Xiaomi released a robot vacuum with both mop-cleaning and mop-drying features; it did so for the Chinese market almost a year ago. With other models, you’d have to detach and wash the mop yourself which, let’s be honest, isn’t the most pleasant job in the world. Even if you think the mop looks fine after each run, chances are it would eventually become smelly due to the moisture encouraging fungal growth. That’s obviously not good.

The X10+ solves this problem with its multi-functional base station. When docked, the two mops will be cleaned by rotating wet brushes underneath, followed by a two-hour, low-heat drying session. Basically, you’ll likely never have to touch the mops until you need to replace them due to wear and tear. Additionally, the X10+ can detect carpets using its ultrasonic sensors, at which point it’ll automatically lift its mops.

Like its predecessors, the X10+ uses LDS (laser distance sensor) for indoor mapping and navigation. It’s also equipped with Xiaomi’s very own “S-Cross AI” system — some software trick combined with the machine’s dual-line laser and RGB camera — to recognize the types of objects ahead, in order to estimate the suitable clearance distance for each of them. Say you have a weighing scale in your living room — the X10+ will keep a distance of 2cm to 4cm from it just in case. As for general furniture pieces like coffee table or couch, the robot can go right up to them to perform its usual tasks. For those who are concerned about adding yet another camera to their private space, Xiaomi applied for a TÜV Rheinland Cybersecurity and Privacy Protection Standard Certificate for its X10+.

The Xiaomi Robot Vacuum X10+ will be available across Europe starting at 899 euros (about $900). Compared to the $1,099 Roomba Combo j7+ which is also shipping today, Xiaomi certainly has a price advantage, especially considering that barely of the competition is offering both self-cleaning and self-drying features on their mopping robots, let alone combining these with automatic dust bin emptying.

Google introduced an initiative called Nest Renew last year to help you use more clean energy for your home if you have one of the brand’s thermostats. Back then, only those who got an invite to preview the solution could join the program. Starting today, however, you can join Nest Renew for free, so long as you’re in the continental US and have a third-gen Nest Learning Thermostat, the latest base Nest Thermostat model or a low-cost Nest Thermostat E. 

The program comes with a feature called Energy Shift that can automatically activate cooling or heating when there’s a higher concentration of electricity from clean sources by adjusting your thermostat accordingly. Power grids typically obtain energy from both fossil fuel and renewable sources, and the mixture isn’t always 50:50. Energy Shift works by gathering power grid forecasts from across the US every five minutes and then using its algorithms to determine the best times for when to run cooling and heating for your home. For instance, it can run cooling earlier in the day when the grid is getting power from more renewable sources and before emissions from electricity use are expected to rise.

Google said the feature was designed to make changes so subtle that you won’t even notice them. When the program launched, Nest product manager Jeff Gleeson told Engadget that “customers are always in control.” You can manually adjust your thermostat even after Energy Shift kicks in. The tech giant also said in its announcement that Energy Shift helped users prioritize cleaner energy usage for over 20,000,000 hours in all during the preview period.

While you can join the program for free, you can also choose to pay $10 a month for Nest Renew Premium if you want to match the fossil fuel electricity used in your home with renewable energy credits generated clean energy project from Google’s portfolio.

Google has launched Nest’s second-generation wired doorbell for those who don’t want to monitor their device’s battery levels or to worry about spotty WiFi. The device is around 30 percent smaller than its battery-powered counterpart and could better fit smaller and narrower spaces. 

Google said it spent a lot of time fine-tuning this model, testing it in various conditions to ensure the images it produces are clear and identifiable and giving it HDR support to capture more details. It was also able eliminate the distorted fish-eye effect that’s typical in footage seen from doorbell cameras. Apparently, DXOMark, a website known for assessing smartphone lenses and cameras, consider the device the best doorbell camera it has tested in terms of image quality. Images taken by the doorbell have a high level of details so that it’s easy to recognize who’s at the door, even at night, the website said. 

Like other Nest camera devices, this one has the power to recognize what it sees, whether it’s a person, a pet or a vehicle that passes by, so it can send accurate alerts. Users can also chat with whoever’s at the door with its “talk and listen” feature, or they could also pre-record messages to respond to visitors dropping in. 

The model can record an hour’s worth of important events — significant sounds, motion and other activity that it detects — in its internal memory. Plus, Nest can keep three hours of event video history with footage of up to five minutes each for free. Users who choose to upgrade and pay for Nest Aware subscription worth $6 a month can have access to event video history for 30 days. Those willing to pay $12 for a Nest Aware Plus subscription will have access to 60 days of event video history and 10 days of 24/7 continuous video recording.

Finally, the new wired Nest doorbell was built to work more seamlessly with the Google Home app, allowing users to create routines, such as programming their porch lights to change settings when someone rings the doorbell. In the future, Google also will roll out an update to the Home website, giving users a way to view all their Nest doorbell and camera feeds on the web. The model is now available in Snow, Linen, Ash and Ivy in the US for $180. In Canada, the Snow and Ash color variants are now also out for CA$240.

As expected, Google has unveiled the Nest WiFi Pro mesh router system with a new glossy design, faster WiFi 6E speeds and a simple setup. It will also work as a Matter hub once Google’s new smart home protocol launches, but it’s a bit more expensive than the current Nest WiFi router. 

The Nest WiFi Pro has a similar rounded shape to the last model, but uses a high-gloss material “inspired by ceramics” with over 60 percent recycled materials by weight, Google said. It looks really shiny in the press images compared to the WiFi Nest, which has a softer matte finish. It comes in four earth tone-inspired colors, “Snow,” “Linen,” “Fog” and “Lemongrass,” in order to blend in with most homes. 

A key feature is the tri-band WiFi 6E protocol, which uses the less crowded 6Ghz band and provides “a faster and more direct path to the most reliable internet connection,” according to Google. The result is up to double the speeds and support for the latest smartphones and other devices that also use WiFi 6E. To keep things running quickly, it also analyzes network performance and optimizes connections, prioritizing high-bandwidth activities like video calls or streaming.

Google is also promising a simple setup, with step-by-step instructions and proactive scans that can catch connection issues and notify you in the new Google Home app. Plus, you can manage screen time and security for your kids with WiFi scheduling and the ability to block unsafe content. 

The Nest WiFi Pro works with most connected smart home devices, with enough speed to handle video calls, 4K videos and security camera feeds all at once. A single router covers 2,200 square feet, according to Google. It includes a built-in Thread border router to connect smart home devices using a low-power mesh. And it will support Google’s new Matter smart home protocol when it launches later this year.

For all that, you’ll pay more than the current Nest WiFi device. It costs $200 for a one-pack (compared to $169 for the current Nest WiFi router), $300 for a two-pack and $400 for a three-pack. Pre-orders are now open, and it’ll start shipping on October 27th. 

With the launch of new Nest devices, Google has updated its Home app with a raft of new features. The main takeaways are faster and easier pairing of smart devices with Matter, new customization and personalization options, improve interoperability between devices and a better Nest camera experience.

The updated Home app takes advantage of Google’s Matter smart home standard (launching later this year), particularly the Fast Pair feature. On an Android phone, it’ll automatically detect a Matter device and let you set it up quickly, avoiding the current process that’s often slow and clunky. Google is also updating its Nest speakers, displays and routers to control Matter devices.

It’s prioritizing customization and personalization as well. Users will be able to create personalized views of devices, actions and automations, letting you see live Nest streams and confirm that doors are locked as soon as you open the app, for example. It’s also porting over the Nest app’s “Spaces” view that lets you group devices by categories like lights, cameras, thermostats and network devices in one view. Later, it’ll add even more customization that lets you group together, say, pet cams, cat feeders and robovacs. 

Another feature coming from the Nest app is the ability to see all your Nest wired and battery cameras (including Nest Doorbells) together in a single view. The new camera controller has a scrubbing option to help you find important moments in security footage, aided by machine learning. You can then label and organize them by type, person, package, vehicle, activity or animal. 

Automation is also front and center in the Home app via a new tab. You can see and control automated activities like a routine that turns lights off, locks doors and lowers the thermostat. It’s also expanding Routines to more smart home devices so those can be automated too. And for users who want more granular control, Google is launching a new script editor early next year with over a 100 new features and capabilities.

Finally, Google plans to launch the Home app on Wear OS and the web. That’ll let you see what’s going on with a glance to your wrist, or view all your Nest camera and doorbell feeds on a web page, home.google.com. The new Google Home app will first appear in a public preview, while Google Home on Wear OS 3 will arrive next week. The Google Home website, meanwhile, will roll out “in a few weeks,” the company said. 

After debuting its first Leica-branded smartphones — including its super slim foldable phone — in China, Xiaomi is finally switching back to international mode with new flagships. The Xiaomi 12T series is comprised of two models, with the 12T Pro using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor and being the world’s second phone to pack a 200-megapixel camera. The 12T, meanwhile, utilizes MediaTek’s Dimensity 8100-Ultra processor along with a 108-megapixel main camera.

Much like the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra (aka X30 Pro in China), Xiaomi’s 12T Pro uses Samsung’s ISOCELL HP1 sensor to capture 200-megapixel stills. While it’s not as small as the more recent ISOCELL HP3, the HP1 is still able to offer features like 2x in-sensor zoom, 4-in-1 pixel binning to mimick 1.28um pixel sites for better sensitivity and 16-in-1 super pixel binning to simulate even bigger 2.56um pixel sites for dark environments. Should you choose to shoot in “Ultra HD” mode for 200-megapixel outputs, you can let the AI-powered “Xiaomi ProCut” tool to analyze those shots and suggest ideal compositions.

Additionally, this main camera has optical stabilization, and it’s also capable of motion tracking focus, eye tracking focus, 8K video recording and HDR10+ video recording. The other shooters on the 12T Pro include an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera (f/2.2, 120-degree field of view), a 2-megapixel f/2.2 macro camera and a 20-megapixel f/2.24 punch-hole selfie camera on the other side of the phone. It’s the same list of cameras for the slightly more affordable 12T, except for the less powerful108-megapixel main camera powered by Samsung’s ISOCELL HM6 sensor.

Oddly, there’s no Leica branding here. Engadget reached out to Xiaomi on this matter, to which a rep replied: “While Leica is a partner in our strategic imagery upgrade, they won’t necessarily contribute to every device.” Presumably, the Leica collaboration is currently limited to Xiaomi’s China-only phones, namely the Mix Fold 2 and the three models in the 12S series.

Both the 12T Pro and 12T have the same 6.67-inch AMOLED screen, with a sharp resolution of 2,712 x 1,220 (446ppi) at an aspect ratio of 20:9. You get an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, with up to 480Hz touch sampling rate for better scrolling and gaming. The 12T Pro’s display comes with a few additional features, including Dolby Vision, adaptive HDR, adaptive reading mode and SGS Low Visual Fatigue Certification.

The 5,000mAh battery in both 12T models supports 120W fast charging, which apparently takes just 19 minutes to go from zero to 100 percent; and don’t worry, the charger and cable are included in the box. As with most flagship phones, the 12T series pack stereo speakers which support Dolby Atmos, though only the 12T Pro’s have Harman Kardon tuning. Other features include NFC, Bluetooth (5.2 on the 12T Pro, 5.3 on the 12T) and infrared remote. With the Android 12-based 12T series, Xiaomi is guaranteeing three years of Android OS updates along with four years of security patches.

The 12T series will be available in three colors: blue, black and silver. The 12T Pro starts at 749 euros (around $740) with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and the 12T starts at 599 euros (around $590) with the same configuration. Some regions may get up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, but one thing’s for sure: Xiaomi has already confirmed that neither phone will be headed to the US. The nearest they’ll come to the lower 48 will be Mexico, by way of Walmart and AT&T.