Category: Technology

Tesla has quietly updated its Model Y page to add a new option for buyers in the US: A rear-wheel drive Model Y that’s cheaper than the other variants. It’ll set buyers back $43,990, but with a full tax credit of $7,500, the electric vehicle could cost them as low as $36,490. As Electrek notes, this version replaces the Model Y All Wheel Drive that was recently discontinued. It’s also $3,750 cheaper than the AWD, making it the most affordable Model Y EV. 

Bloomberg says the vehicle likely uses lithium-iron phosphate batteries, which cost less to manufacture than high-nickel battery compositions. While it’s possible that the batteries enable Tesla to sell this version at a lower price, Electrek believes they’re also the reason why the EV has a 260 mile range, whereas the discontinued AWD Model Y had a range of 279 miles. That said, previous studies revealed that lithium-iron phosphate batteries are more efficient and have a much longer lifespan than nickel batteries.  

The rear-wheel drive Model Y can reach 135 mph in speed and can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in 6.6 seconds. Tesla says it will start deliveries for the new EV this month and the next, though as always, customers will have to pay extra for Enhanced Autopilot ($6,000) and Full Self-Driving ($12,000). In its latest quarterly earnings report, the automaker admitted that its deliveries fell short of Wall Street’s lowered expectations. It still expects to make 1.8 million deliveries for the year as a whole, however, and it remains to be seen if the new Model Y can help it achieve that goal. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tesla-now-offers-a-43990-rear-wheel-drive-model-y-in-the-us-055515210.html?src=rss 

Elon Musk is looking to new video features, including game streaming and live shopping, as part of his attempt to turn X into an “everything app.” The company formerly known as Twitter is experimenting with basic, Twitch-like game streaming capabilities, which are currently accessible to X Premium subscribers.

Musk showed off the feature Sunday night in a 54-minute Diablo IV stream posted from an anonymous Twitter account with the handle @cyb3rgam3r420. Musk later replied to the account and confirmed the company was testing the feature. An engineer at X, Mark Kalman, also shared a video explaining how Premium subscribers can set up game streaming from their accounts by connecting Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) to their Twitter account via X Media Studio.

For now, it’s unclear how serious X is about courting streamers.The feature seems to support viewer comments in the streams, but for now lacks most of the creator-centric features of other platforms. But it is one of the latest examples of how X is turning to creators and new video features in an effort to lure more users to the platform.Separately, the company also said it would begin experimenting with live shopping features through a new partnership with Paris Hilton. Variety reports that Hilton has signed on to “create four original video content programs per year that include live-shopping features.”

It’s also unclear if X’s infrastructure will be able to keep up with new live video features. The company, which shed many of its site reliability engineers in layoffs last year, has struggled with large live audio and video streams, particularly those boosted by Musk’s account. When Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appeared in a chat on Spaces in May to announce a presidential run with Musk, the stream repeatedly crashed.

According to Musk’s biographer, Walter Isaacson, the issue was a result of instability caused by a poorly planned move of one of the company’s data centers. However, the issues still don’t seem to be fully resolved. Just last week, Musk attempted to live stream himself visiting the US border with Mexico when the video feed abruptly cut out after about four minutes. Musk was able to eventually restart the stream, but only after he sent a frantic, company-wide email to all of X’s staff, according to New York Times reporter Ryan Mac. “Please fix this,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/x-is-working-on-game-streaming-and-live-shopping-features-203902095.html?src=rss 

A prototype satellite has become one of the brightest objects in the night sky, and it may soon be accompanied by dozens more. An observation campaign tracking the BlueWalker 3 satellite, launched in September 2022 by AST SpaceMobile, found that it is at times brighter than all but a handful of stars and planets that can be seen from Earth. The findings published in the journal Nature highlight a fast-escalating concern among astronomers, who have warned that the influx of private space ventures in low-Earth orbit could alter our view of the night sky and interfere with research.

Researchers with the International Astronomical Union’s Center for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (CPS) observed BlueWalker 3 over the course of 130 days. BlueWalker 3’s antenna array measures just shy of 700 square feet, making it the largest yet for a commercial satellite in low-Earth orbit. That huge array reflects sunlight and after it unfurled, its brightness spiked. The effect isn’t constant, but instead fluctuates depending on factors like the satellite’s position relative to the sun, and the viewing angle. The CPS team observed it from sites in Chile, the US, Mexico, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Morocco.

“These results demonstrate a continuing trend towards larger, brighter commercial satellites, which is of particular concern given the plans to launch many more in the coming years,” said Siegfried Eggl, one of the co-authors of the study. “While these satellites can play a role in improving communications, it is imperative that their disruptions of scientific observations are minimized.” AST SpaceMobile eventually plans to deploy a fleet of roughly 100 cellular broadband satellites based on the BlueWalker 3 design.

SpaceX, whose thousands of Starlink satellites have repeatedly come under scrutiny for their potential impact on the night sky, has experimented with dark coatings to cut down on the amount of reflected light, to limited success. For astronomers, to whom it poses a growing headache, it’s not enough. Stations observing from the ground will need to develop satellite avoidance strategies to work around these artificial constellations, the researchers note in the paper.

And, visibility isn’t the only problem. Commercial satellites, including BlueWalker 3, flooding low-Earth orbit also threaten to interfere with radio astronomy. A separate study led by the CPS and published earlier this year found Starlink satellites are leaking “unintended electromagnetic radiation” that could disrupt radio telescope observations. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/one-of-the-brightest-objects-in-the-night-sky-is-a-human-made-satellite-212617952.html?src=rss 

TikTok might be exploring new ways to make the app more profitable by playing around with an ad-free subscription model. This isn’t new for social media platforms. We’ve seen Snapchat introduce Snapchat+ and X (formally known as Twitter) introduce its Premium options as well, but this would be a new subscription offering for TikTok.

Hints of TikTok’s subscription plans were initially spotted by Android Authority. According to the report, the latest version of TikTok came loaded with new strings of code that indicated the short-form video app is testing an ad-free monthly subscription plan for its users. Android Authority uncovered a screen that presented users with the choice of two different plans. There’s the standard option, which will remain free and include personalized ads based on your activity. Then there’s the “Ad-free” option, which will cost $4.99 per month.

As of right now, there has been no official announcement from TikTok. (Engadget has reached out for comment and we’ll update the story if we hear back.) So it’s safe to assume that this is just a test being conducted since it is currently only available to a limited number of users. TikTok may or may not actually take the plan public, and if it does it may also change the $4.99 price tag based on the feedback.

TikTok’s drive toward increasing engagement and revenue is nothing new, but it seems the company has ramped up a bit. Earlier this year, TikTok introduced its marketplace — TikTok Shop — which brought a host of features for users, content creators and businesses. One of those features was the option for creators and businesses to drop affiliate videos directly into the feeds of users. This means the new ad-free tier may only remove ads served up by TikTok and not ones from influencers or their marketing campaigns.

Perhaps now we can all stop asking “How is this app still free?” because at this rate, no social media app will be completely free again

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-might-be-exploring-an-ad-free-subscription-plan-191948633.html?src=rss 

Loog is a company known for manufacturing fantastic starter instruments for kids, with the company’s diminutive electric guitar making our list of the best audio-related gifts back in 2019. Now it’s back with a digital piano that blurs the line between kid-friendly and appropriate for adults.

The Loog Piano is a gorgeous instrument that, while still tiny, brings some nifty features for both brand-new players and veteran key smashers. The obvious selling point here is the looks. The 3-octave keyboard is sandwiched between solid wood sides and the top’s covered in red “sonically transparent fabric” that really pops. 

The company touts the piano’s “musician-grade sound and design.” The design’s certainly on-point, but what about the sound? The built-in stereo speakers let you play without headphones and Loog says the keys allow for dynamics (piano to forte.) The company says this is likely the first keyboard at this size and price point that incorporates velocity-sensitive keys. Check out this demo video of the piano in action without any post effects.

Loog boasts that the instrument uses both sampled and modeled sounds, so attack, decay and the air between notes should all recall an actual piano. The combination of the built-in speakers and velocity engine also works to mimic the analog instrument, but this is still a digital piano, so moving to the real thing later will require a bit of an adjustment period.

The Loog Piano is battery-powered and fully portable, and gets around three hours of play time per charge via the built-in USB-C port. It weighs nearly five pounds, however, so keep that in mind if you plan on stuffing this thing in your kid’s backpack. Though the speakers are a main draw, you can of course plug in some headphones for private playing.

You may notice what this instrument doesn’t have. There aren’t hundreds of other sounds. There aren’t built-in effects. There’s a volume knob and that’s about it. This is by design, with Loog stating that the instrument’s “full muscle is devoted to the piano sound.”

Despite lacking 400 horrible brass sounds you’ll never use, this piano does have one significant tech-forward feature. Loog’s instrument integrates with a proprietary app that’s primarily for learning piano. This app is filled with “lessons and game-like exercises that make learning fun and easy,” though the piano integrates with other learning software. Additionally, it ships with a set of decidedly low-tech flash cards to help teach chords and scales.

Instead of going with a traditional retail launch, Loog took to Kickstarter to drum up support for its latest instrument. As of this writing, it’s already smashed through the initial goal by a factor of 30, so expect units to start shipping in April. Early adopters can currently snag the instrument for $250, which is 20 percent off its eventual retail price.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/loogs-baby-digital-piano-could-be-the-perfect-starter-instrument-for-newbies-183208611.html?src=rss 

An advertiser reportedly used a deepfake of Tom Hanks to promote dental plans without the actor’s permission. Hanks shared a warning on Instagram on Sunday alerting his followers about the AI-generated video, which he wrote he had “nothing to do with.” Hanks has been outspoken about the challenges AI poses for the industry, and the use of actors’ digital likenesses is one of the major points of concern voiced by striking SAG-AFTRA workers.

Just last spring, Hanks said in an appearance on The Adam Buxton Podcast that AI and deepfakes present both artistic and legal challenges. “I could be hit by a bus tomorrow and that’s it,” Hanks said, “but my performances can go on and on and on and on and on, and outside of the understanding that it’s been done with AI or deepfake, there’ll be nothing to tell you that it’s not me.” He also spoke of a hypothetical scenario in which an entire movie series could be made using an AI version of him that’s “32 years old from now until kingdom come.” Perhaps in confirmation of what’s to come, the offending dental plan ad depicts a significantly younger Hanks.

The use of AI to capitalize on celebrities’ legacies has already become an ethical issue. Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain sparked widespread debate upon its release after it was revealed the documentary contained AI-generated voice overs of the beloved chef and storyteller. Just this weekend, Robin Williams’ daughter, Zelda Williams, posted in support of “SAG’s fight against AI,” writing on Instagram that she’d seen firsthand how the technology is used to capture the likeness of people “who cannot consent,” like her father.

“These recreations are, at their very best, a poor facsimile of greater people,” Williams wrote, “but at their worst, a horrendous Frankensteinian monster, cobbled together from the worst bits of everything this industry is, instead of what it should stand for.”

Hanks said in the April interview that the issue has been on his radar since filming The Polar Express in the early 2000s, which starred a CGI version of the actor. It was “the first time that we did a movie that had a huge amount of our own data locked in a computer,” Hanks told Buxton, adding, “We saw this coming.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tom-hanks-calls-out-dental-ad-for-using-ai-likeness-of-him-161548459.html?src=rss 

You may know NordVPN from its popular ambassador program, taking social media by storm as influencers sign up to make money advertising the virtual private network. But despite its popularity, it didn’t make the list of the nine top providers we published in June. After vigorous testing, I concluded it was a bit overhyped for the price, lacking features considered standard in lower cost options.

Geoblocking, streaming and gaming are the three main VPN use cases. So, to test out NordVPN and its competitors, I used them to watch Canadian Netflix from my US-based home, played an online game from a UK-based server and streamed a news channel on YouTube via a Hong Kong-based VPN.

NordVPN was easy to sign up for, offering options like opting in to automatic updates to keep the service running at the latest version. Depending on the tier you pick, you can also get access to NordPass, the company’s password manager, or NordLocker, a file encryption software. The “complete” package runs at $5.79 per month.

The best VPNs stay out of your way and you’ll barely even notice they’re running. That was pretty much the case with NordVPN. It passed our basic privacy tests, like successfully masking the IP address, and the DNS and WebRTC leak tests.It was also easy to access geo-blocked content, stream on YouTube and game using NordVPN, with little-to-no buffering. We ran a ping test, which measures internet latency. It took 75 milliseconds with NordVPN on, which isn’t a lot slower than 62 ms with it off.

NordVPN supports up to six devices at once, which means I could conduct all tests simultaneously and still had no slowdown. That’s great for sharing it with a family, or folks that like to game, watch TV and scroll on their phone at the same time. Those connectivity options come with a caveat: the devices have to run on different VPN protocols if they’re connected to the same server. NordVPN has more than 5,000 servers in 60 countries, and offers a variety of device support from gaming systems to Raspberry Pi devices to streaming services.

Still, NordVPN’s security history is less than ideal. NordVPN is based in Panama, a country with limited data sharing laws. It uses industry-standard AES 256-bit encryption and a modification on the WireGuard protocol to avoid temporarily collecting IP addresses. It does third-party security audits and has a vulnerability disclosure program, two indicators of taking privacy basics seriously. But it’s not open source, and when it comes to data privacy, it falls short because of its patterns of collecting and storing unnecessary user information. Notably, NordVPN also failed to disclose a 2018 data breach in a timely manner. It wasn’t until a security researcher discussed it publicly, over a year after the incident, that NordVPN owned up to it.

NordVPN’s history of loaded terms and deceptive advertising also just didn’t sit well with me. The UK-based Advertising Standards Authority ruled a 2019 NordVPN ad as misleading, by exaggerating the risk from data theft. It makes sweeping claims about what’s possible with its VPN that are impossible to prove.

For an option so highly talked about, the experience using NordVPN was just… fine. It didn’t stand out, unlike ProtonVPN that offered a more comprehensive suite of products alongside the VPN and higher security measures. That’s why Nord didn’t make the cut as one of the top choices I’d recommend.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nordvpn-review-a-bit-too-overhyped-for-the-price-163100341.html?src=rss 

It’s been a few years since Mr. Robot dropped its mind-bending final episode, and now series creator Sam Esmail is back with a film that explores similar themes of cyber security and paranoia. Leave the World Behind is a dual-release Netflix film that hits theaters on November 22 and the streaming service on December 8. Here’s a new trailer to wet your whistle for the cyber-apocalypse thriller.

Leave the World Behind stars Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali and Kevin Bacon, which is a whole lot of star power. As for the plot, this is an Esmail joint, so it’s likely best to go in fresh, but Netflix did drop a tantalizingly simple story premise: a “family’s vacation is upended when two strangers arrive at night, seeking refuge from a cyberattack that grows more terrifying by the minute.”

The synopsis calls to mind M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin, and both films do have something in common—They’re based on books. The similarly-named Leave the World Behind novel was penned by renowned author Rumaan Alam and has been praised by publications like NY Times, USA Today, Esquire and many more. On the plus side, we know the movie will have a proper ending to work with. On the down side, spoilers will be tough to avoid, so exercise caution when surfing the endless web.

The movie continues Netflix’s recent dual-release strategy as seen with Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Marriage Story, The Irishman and other high-profile features. Leave the World Behind starts a two-week exclusive run at movie theaters on November 22 before premiering on the popular streaming service on December 8. This isn’t the first movie written and directed by Esmail. Just before booking Mr. Robot, he created a romance film called Comet about parallel universes.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cyberattack-thriller-from-the-creator-of-mr-robot-gets-a-star-studded-trailer-153011921.html?src=rss 

Sales on Amazon products continue to roll out ahead of the official start of October Prime Day on everything from Blink cameras to Kindle Scribes. The 16GB Kindle Scribe is back on sale for 22 percent off, dropping to $265 from $340. It mirrors a recent sale on the Kindle Scribe, but this one isn’t exclusive to Prime members, as was the case for the September one.

Amazon’s 16GB Kindle Scribe has a 10.2-inch, 300 ppi glare-free display with an adjustable warm light and auto-adjustable front light that changes depending on the time of day. It also includes an option to increase the font size anytime for easier reading. Thanks to the pages available for writing or sketching, you can use the Kindle Scribe as a personal notebook or journal. Plus, you can write on PDFs, Microsoft Word docs or across millions of books available from the Kindle Store using the Basic Pen included with your purchase. Getting the Premium Pen instead will cost you another $25, with a 22 percent sale dropping the pair’s price to $290 from $370. The 32GB and 64GB Kindle Scribes are also on sale, available for $305 and $330, respectively.

Your Kindle Scribe shouldn’t require too much charging as Amazon claims the battery will last 12 weeks if you read an average of a half hour each day and three weeks if you write an average of a half hour a day. Of course, factors like brightness and wireless connection can kill the charge quicker, but it has a longer battery life than its predecessors.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazons-kindle-scribe-is-back-on-sale-ahead-of-october-prime-day-140115678.html?src=rss