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Cruise lays off 24 percent of its workforce

Cruise is laying off 24 percent of its workforce, the company confirmed to Engadget. GM’s self-driving subsidiary says it will cut approximately 900 employees, as first reported by TechCrunch and CNBC. The news comes over 10 weeks after an incident in San Francisco when a Cruise vehicle pinned and dragged a pedestrian who had initially been hit by another car. Earlier this week, the company parted ways with nine executives, including its chief operating officer.

“We shared the difficult news that we are reducing our workforce, primarily in commercial operations and related corporate functions,” a Cruise spokesperson wrote in an email to Engadget. “These changes reflect our decision to focus on more deliberate commercialization plans with safety as our north star. We are supporting impacted Cruisers with strong severance and benefits packages and are grateful to the departing employees who played important roles in building Cruise and supporting our mission.”

A Cruise spokesperson pointed Engadget toward an internal email written by new President and CTO Mo Elshenawy, also published on the company blog. “We knew this day was coming, but that does not make it any less difficult—especially for those whose jobs are affected,” the message reads. The email says the layoffs primarily target non-engineering roles, including field workers, commercial operations and corporate staffing.

“We are simplifying and focusing our efforts to return with an exceptional service in one city to start with and focusing on the Bolt platform for this first step before we scale,” the email reads. “As a result, we are reducing our employee counts in operations and other areas.”

The news isn’t exactly a shock. Last month, Mary Barra, GM Chair and CEO, expressed plans for Cruise to be more “deliberate.” That included cutting expenses “by hundreds of millions of dollars” in 2024, a clear sign that the writing was already on the wall for considerable layoffs.

The tragic October 2 incident involved a Cruise vehicle pinning a pedestrian after another car’s hit-and-run. There weren’t any passengers in the autonomous vehicle (AV) at the time. “She was just screaming,” a cyclist bystander who tried to help told the SF Chronicle. The aftermath has been swift and decisive, with the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) suspending its driverless permits over safety issues. There were even reports the company’s AVs were unable to effectively detect children, a situation that obviously requires extra precautions.

The roughly 900 employees losing their jobs at Cruise join a long list of tech layoffs in 2023.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cruise-lays-off-24-percent-of-its-workforce-164800680.html?src=rss

A24 will help bring the Death Stranding movie to life

It’s been a year since we learned that a movie based on Death Stranding was in the works. Now, Kojima Productions has brought another notable partner on board. A24, the celebrated studio behind movies such as Everything Everywhere All At Once and Uncut Gems, is helping to adapt Death Stranding into a live-action film.

More than 16 million people have explored Hideo Kojima’s haunting game so far. Death Stranding tasks a courier named Sam Porter Bridges (played by Norman Reedus) with unifying a fractured America after a cataclysmic event. It’s a strange, captivating game. Perhaps most importantly for A24, it’s also deeply cinematic.

The adaptation will “delve into the mysteries surrounding the apocalyptic event called the ‘Death Stranding,’ which blurred the lines between life and death, and brought forth nightmarish creatures into a world on the brink of collapse,” according to a press release. Don’t expect the film to directly follow the events of the game, though.

“There are a lot of ‘game adaptation films’ out there but what we are creating is not just a direct translation of the game,” Kojima, who claims to have taken inspiration from some of A24’s work, said. “The intention is that our audience will not only be fans of the games, but our film will be for anyone who loves cinema. We are creating a Death Stranding universe that has never been seen before, achievable only through the medium of film, it will be born.”

Kojima is a renowned movie buff who may very well have been a film director in another life. He may not have enough time to slide into the director’s chair on this occasion though, as Kojima Productions has its hands full with two games that are in the works: a Death Stranding sequel and a new project called OD. Still, A24 has a number of high-profile collaborators who’d make a compelling Death Stranding film. I’m curious as to what Ari Aster, Robert Eggers, Sofia Coppola or Alex Garland might be able to do with that source material.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a24-will-help-bring-the-death-stranding-movie-to-life-171735945.html?src=rss

Fallout 4 next-gen patch is delayed until 2024

If you’ve been crowding around your gaming console waiting for the long-promised “next-gen” patch for Fallout 4, you still have a ways to go. Bethesda just announced that the update has been pushed to 2024, after being promised for this year. There has been no information given as to what part of the year the patch would release, though developers have stated they just need “a bit more time.”

The “next-gen” patch is really a current-gen update, as it’s being developed for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. However, Fallout 4 did originally release in 2015 for the previous generation of consoles, so by that metric this is a next-gen patch. It’ll bring requested features like a higher frame rate, 4K visuals and new (though unspecified) Creation Club content. There could also be some surprises in store for fans of the franchise, which would account for the delay.

This isn’t the first time Bethesda has gone back to the radioactive well to spruce up Fallout 4. An update for the Xbox One X (not to be confused with the Series X) brought 4K visuals, but at only 30 frames per second. The company managed to up the frame rate to 60FPS last year, but at the expense of resolution. This time around, the improvements should come with fewer compromises.

At least it’s something to pull players back to the Commonwealth, because we have an excruciatingly long time to wait before Fallout 5. Back in 2022, Bethesda creative director Todd Howard told reporters that work on the title would begin after completing The Elder Scrolls 6. However, developers just started digging into the fantasy sequel after Starfield launched. Incidentally, the space sim took seven years to make. By that metric, we are looking at ten to 14 years before we once again wander the apocalypse.

It’s a good thing we have that Fallout TV show coming soon to help guide us through the desolation. That’s releasing in April and features Walton Goggins as a Ghoul, one of the radiation-warped denizens of the Wasteland. Some are even speculating that Goggins will not be any old Ghoul, but will portray John Hancock, a companion from Fallout 4.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fallout-4-next-gen-patch-is-delayed-until-2024-173050919.html?src=rss

Apple’s 9th-gen iPad is back on sale for $249

Apple’s 9th-gen iPad is back on sale via Amazon for $249, which is a 24 percent savings from the MSRP of $329. This isn’t the lowest price ever for the standard 10.2-inch tablet, but it’s darn close. This is the entry-level model with 64GB of storage, but that’s still plenty to load up the tablet with all kinds of streaming apps and games.

The 9th-gen iPad is widely considered to be the best Apple tablet for the budget-conscious, which is made more evident by this sale. It scored an 86 in our initial review and we praised it for the improved camera for video calls, the excellent battery life and, of course, that consumer-friendly price.

As a matter of fact, this tablet made our list of the best Apple iPads, though that’s something of a no-brainer. The screen is sharp and the 12MP camera is fine for most applications. This iPad also has a legitimate old-school headphone jack, which actually comes in quite handy when you can’t find that teensy-tiny Lightning adapter.

Of course, this tablet isn’t perfect, particularly when compared to some of its pricier siblings. The hardware is basically a step down from the Air and Pro in several ways. The design itself is a bit antiquated, recalling older models, and it’s powered by the same chipset found with the iPhone 11. That’s four iPhones ago, which is a lifetime in the world of tech.

If your eyes roll into the back of your head when you look at the price of the iPad Air or Pro, however, this is the tablet for you. We called it the “most wallet-friendly way into iPadOS” and that was before this steep discount.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-9th-gen-ipad-is-back-on-sale-for-249-160524744.html?src=rss

Acer’s Predator Triton Neo 16 gaming laptop has Intel Core Ultra processors

Acer just unveiled the Predator Triton Neo 16 gaming laptop which features Intel’s long-awaited Core Ultra processors, formerly referred to internally as Meteor Lake. These CPUs boast a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for advanced AI performance. The chips prioritize efficiency and speed, with Intel promising that graphics will be twice as fast when it comes to performance per watt, among other intriguing metrics.

As for the actual laptop, Acer’s Predator Triton Neo 16 is a beast. There’s the Core Ultra processor, with availability up to i9, but you can also outfit it with a powerful GPU, up to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070. This combination allows for AI-optimized visuals when playing games with advanced ray tracing, thanks to NVIDIA’s DLSS 3.5 technology.

There are several 16-inch display options here, offering up to a 3.2K resolution with a 165Hz refresh rate and a 16:10 aspect ratio. These screens take advantage of a DCI-P3 100% color gamut and offer support for NVIDIA G-Sync and Optimus, for sharper colors and tear-free frames.

You can spec this laptop out with up to 32GB of LPDDR5X system memory and up to 2TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage. These computers also offer access to Acer’s proprietary Purifier Voice 2.0 technology, which combines AI-driven noise reduction and beam-forming to keep communications clear during fast-paced multiplayer sessions. The Predator Triton Neo 16 will be available in March, starting at $1,500.

Acer

Looking for a laptop outfitted with a new Intel Core Ultra chip but don’t want to wait until March? Acer also updated the Swift Go 14 line. These laptops aren’t as powerful, maxing out with an i7 chip, but feature a gorgeous OLED display. You can actually pick one of these up today from retailers like Amazon, Costco and Sam’s Club, among others. The Swift Go 14 starts at $800 for the bare-bones model.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/acers-predator-triton-neo-16-gaming-laptop-has-intel-core-ultra-processors-150009793.html?src=rss

Intel unveils Core Ultra, its first chips with NPUs for AI work

Intel today is entering the “AI PC” era with the launch of its new Core Ultra notebook chips. Originally codenamed “Meteor Lake,” these are Intel’s first processors to include an NPU, or neural processing unit, for accelerating AI tasks. The launch comes a week after AMD revealed its upcoming Ryzen 8040 hardware, its second batch of chips to include NPUs. While Intel is playing a bit of AI catch-up, the Core Ultra chips still sound like a solid step forward — at least according to the company’s benchmarks.

Intel claims the Core Ultra chips use up to 79 percent less power than AMD’s last-gen Ryzen 7840U while idling in Windows, and they’re also up to 11 percent faster than AMD’s hardware for multithreaded tasks. Intel didn’t have the upcoming Ryzen 8040 chips to test, but it’ll be interesting to see how they both compare next year.

Efficiency is a key component of the Core Ultra chips: They’re built on the company’s new Intel 4 (7nm) process, and they feature its FOVEROS 3D packaging. According to Intel, these are are also “the most efficient x86 processor for ultrathin systems.” There are refined P (Performance) and E (Efficiency) cores, as well as Intel Arc graphics, which is up to twice as fast as the last generation (and also offer double the performance per watt).

Intel

The Core Ultra family launches with the Ultra 7 165H at the high end, offering 16 cores/22 threads (6P cores, 8 E cores and 2 low-power E cores and a 5GHz Max Turbo frequency. A beefier Ultra 9 185H will arrive in the first quarter of 2024 with a 5.1GHz Max Turbo speed, slightly faster GPU and higher power draw (45 watts, compared to the Ultra 7’s 28 watts). As usual, there’s also a lower-power “U” series of chips for the thinnest machines.

While you won’t find the Core Ultra chips in the most powerful gaming laptops, the addition of Intel Arc graphics should make them slightly more viable for less demanding gaming (or at least more on par with AMD’s 7000 series chips). Intel says the Ultra 7 165H can play Baldur’s Gate 3 twice as fast as the Core i7 1370P in 1080p with medium graphics settings, and it can handle Resident Evil Village 95 percent faster than that older Intel chip.

Across an average of 18 games, including Apex Legends, Overwatch 2 and Final Fantasy XIV, Intel says the Ultra 7 165H is 5 percent faster than AMD’s Ryzen 7 7840U in the Thinkpad T16. Sure, that’s just a nominal improvement over last-gen hardware, but at least Intel finally appears to be competitive with AMD’s solid graphics. The company’s XeSS AI upscaling can also improve performance around 39 percent on average in 1080p. In some titles, including Like A Dragon: Gaiden, Intel’s upscaling can bump a game up from a middling 30fps range to a far smoother 69 fps.

As for AI workloads, Intel says Core Ultra chips can reach up to 34 TeraOPS when combining performance across the NPU, GPU and CPU. But the big change this time is the NPU: It’ll enable features like Windows 11’s Studio Effects, which can blur backgrounds and improve video lighting without hurting your battery life much. For creative AI workloads, Intel says the Ultra 7 165H is 70 percent faster than the Ryzen 7 7840U in Adobe Premiere Pro and a whopping 5.4 times faster running GIMP Stable Diffusion.

What’s truly exciting about the Core Ultra hardware, as well as AMD’s upcoming Ryzen 8040 series, is the potential for NPUs to make our computing lives slightly easier. They could help eke out more battery life while editing audio in Audacity on the go, or give you a slightly sleeker background blur during Zoom calls. Both Intel and AMD also say they’re also pushing developers to help create more AI-enabled features in their apps. Basically, get used to the term “AI PC” — you’ll be hearing it quite a bit throughout the next year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/intel-unveils-core-ultra-its-first-chips-with-npus-for-ai-work-150021289.html?src=rss

Lenovo’s latest ThinkPad and IdeaPad laptops include new Intel Core Ultra chips

Lenovo has unveiled its latest productivity-focused ThinkPad and IdeaPad laptops ahead of CES. The systems are equipped with Intel’s new Core Ultra chipsets, which include three compute engines — a central processing unit, graphics processing unit and neural processing unit. Those are designed to work together for greater efficiency. Lenovo notes that some compute tasks can be offloaded to the GPU or NPU for better performance and power management. Since they run on Windows 11, all three laptops will support Copilot AI features.

The IdeaPad Pro 5i is the first consumer Intel Evo Edition laptop that runs on an Intel Core Ultra chipset. Lenovo claims this will power faster AI-driven features, such as image and text generation, as well as photo editing. There are also claims of improved performance for traditionally demanding tasks like video editing and exporting, along with multitasking.

You can equip the IdeaPad Pro 5i with up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, up to 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to a 1TB SSD. An expandable SSD slot and SD card reader can help bump up the storage as well.

The laptop is available in 14-inch and 16-inch formats with several display options, including an 16:10 OLED panel with a 100 percent DCI-P3 color gamut and 120Hz refresh rate. The IR Full HD camera has a time-of-flight sensor and privacy shutter along with Windows Hello support.

No matter which size of the laptop you opt for, you’ll get an 84WHr polymer battery with quick charging support via Thunderbolt 4. You’ll get an HDMI 2.1 port, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A slots and a 3.5mm audio jack. There’s also Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 support. The 14-inch model weighs 3.22 lbs and the larger variant is 4.3 lbs.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i is available now. The laptop starts at $1,150.

Lenovo

You’ll need to wait slightly longer for the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12. Some configurations will be available later this month (starting at $2,989) and the full swathe of options to follow in March. The ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 9 will become available in March too. That laptop is expected to start at $2,639.

Lenovo has integrated a major accessibility-focused feature into the new ThinkPads in the form of additional tactile cues on the keyboard to help folks with visual impairments. The company says it worked with Microsoft’s Accessibility Team to help develop new industry standards in keyboard design. For instance, the F2 and F3 keys (often used for volume control) have tactile markings, as does the Insert key to help people tell it apart from the Delete key. Meanwhile, the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 has a larger magnetic pen, which is said to deliver a better experience for those who prefer to use a stylus.

The ThinkPad X1 models include a self-explanatory Low Light Enhancer feature for the webcam. Lenovo says this tool runs on the NPU for greater system efficiency when you have video conferencing software such as Zoom running.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 can be configured with up to 64GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 2TB of SSD storage. There’s no dedicated GPU option as the laptop will support Intel Arc graphics. The 14-inch display can have a resolution of up to 2.8K with a refresh rate of 120Hz on an OLED panel.

As for ports, you’ll get two USB-C Thunderbolt 4, two USB-C, an HDMI 2.1 and a 3.5mm audio jack. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 can be equipped with Wi-Fi 6E or 7 and Bluetooth 5.3. There are several webcam options too, up to an 8MP MIPI Computer Vision camera with privacy shutter. The laptop’s weight starts at 2.42 lbs.

The ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 9 has similar specs though it, of course, is a 2-in-1. The other key difference is that the weight starts at 2.92 lbs.

Lenovo

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lenovos-latest-thinkpad-and-ideapad-laptops-include-new-intel-core-ultra-chips-150037731.html?src=rss

Threads’ new hashless tags have opened the door for the silliest form of trolling

Last week, Meta finally rolled out searchable tags for all users on Threads, its microblogging Instagram offshoot, and users are taking advantage of a design quirk for a bit of dumb fun. Threads’ “topic tags” are a lot like hashtags, but not entirely the same. For one, there’s no hash (#). They’re also able to contain spaces, meaning the tags can read like normal phrases rather than a bunch of words smashed together, as has long been the norm on Twitter/X and the like. Just like normal hashtags, though, they’ll be highlighted in blue and link out to other posts containing that tag.

It’s pretty basic stuff… which makes the effectiveness of the new prank feel all the more absurd. It goes like this: someone creates a Threads post, ideally with a lot of text, then slaps a “Show more” tag at the end, seemingly in the middle of a word or sentence. You, the unwitting victim, will then click “Show more” expecting to see the rest of the post, but — surprise! — it’ll instead direct you to the page for that tag. You might as well have been Rick Rolled.

@freezydorito/Threads

I’ll admit it, I got got. Some users, bless their hearts, have even commented saying they fell for it multiple times, thinking it was a bug. The first instance can be traced back to Threads user @freezydorito, who according to their own bio and professional pages actually works for Meta.

As simple as it is, the trick works so well because it perfectly duplicates a UI element we’re already so used to seeing. Should it be a dead giveaway that the text is a blue link? Not really, because that’s exactly how it’s always looked on X. Even on Facebook, the option to expand a post is presented as a gray “See more” link. It’s been a while since I last fell for something so silly online, because I generally trust nothing, and it momentarily threw me back to a much goofier time on the internet.

On Threads, my For You feed is already a cursed space filled with bad recommendations, and since I interacted with the “Show more” tag, I’ve now seen at least three dozen of these posts. I would say that this gag isn’t likely to survive beyond the week (fool me twice, et cetera), but my timeline is still peppered with new users posting things like “What is Threads?” every other day who are just ripe for the picking. Threads also just launched in Europe today, which means there will be plenty more unsuspecting users piling in. Let’s see how long it takes for Meta to implement a tweak for this one.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/threads-new-hashless-tags-have-opened-the-door-for-the-silliest-form-of-trolling-152303227.html?src=rss

Google Chrome’s third-party cookie phaseout begins on January 4

It’s finally time. Google already announced that as part of its ongoing “Privacy Sandbox” initiative, it’ll begin to restrict third-party cookies in Chrome starting in Q1 2024, and now, we have the exact launch date: January 4. At first, only a random one percent of Chrome users globally will see “Tracking Protection” enabled in their browser, meaning third-party cookies will be blocked by default. If you happen to be one of these lucky folks, you’ll see a prompt on the address bar indicating as such, thus limiting cross-site tracking in the name of privacy.

Assuming everything goes smoothly, Google will then gradually ramp up the rollout to 100 percent of Chrome users by the second half of 2024. Of course, hiccups are expected during this transitional period. Should you find yourself repeatedly loading a website to no avail, Chrome will let you temporarily re-enable third-party cookies. Simply click on the eye icon on the right side of the address bar to toggle this aging feature.

According to StatCounter’s November 2023 report, Google’s Chrome took up 62.85 percent of the worldwide browser market share, with Apple’s Safari in second place at 20.04 percent, and Microsoft’s Edge in third place at a mere 5.5 percent. Considering that there are billions of Chrome users today, it is perhaps fair for Google to call the initial one-percent rollout “a key milestone” for its “responsible approach to phasing out third-party cookies.”

That said, Google may still face some final hurdles set by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, as well as similar administrations from other countries, which are looking into minimizing the impact on their local ad businesses.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-chromes-third-party-cookie-phaseout-begins-on-january-4-140051834.html?src=rss

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 falls back to a low of $699

If you’re looking to get a new Apple Watch as a holiday present for someone else (or yourself!), you’re in luck. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is back down to its all-time low price of $699, from $799. This deal comes courtesy of a six percent discount on the Ultra 2 and an additional $50 coupon applicable at checkout.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 came on the scene this fall with the new S9 SiP (system in package) chip, allowing you to double tap your thumb and forefinger together to perform activities like ending calls and playing music. The Ultra 2 also automatically turns on Night Mode, processes Siri requests right on the watch and has an always-on display.

The one caveat: This deal is only available on the Ultra 2 large model, which fits wrists of 165mm to 210mm, and the Indigo Alpine Loop. However, multiple colors of the small and medium models (as well as the large Blue Alpine Loop option) are also discounted to $749 with $19 and $20 coupons available at checkout. So, for another $30 you have a lot of options size and color-wise.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-apple-watch-ultra-2-falls-back-to-a-low-of-699-125548174.html?src=rss