Category: Technology

Uber drivers won’t just have easy access to Tesla cars when they want to switch to EVs. Ford and Uber are launching an expanded Drive pilot program that provides a flexible Mustang Mach-E lease to rideshare drivers in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. Operators pick leases in one- to four-month increments, and get their Mach-E within two weeks. After that, they use a Ford Drive app to handle payments and maintenance. Ford, meanwhile, buys fleets of the electric crossovers from dealerships and uses them for service.

A lease costs $199 per week with 500 included miles, and $249 per week with 1,000 miles. Drivers pay 20 cents for every additional mile beyond what their plan offers. That may seem expensive, but Ford is counting on the no-hassle exits and renewals as a draw. Uber workers can lease only when they have enough driving time to justify the expense.

Ford and Uber initially tested Drive in San Diego last year with over 150 Mustang Mach-E cars in the fleet. The companies didn’t say how successful the initial run was, but they note that California is Uber’s best market for EV demand. Nearly 10 percent of all passenger miles were completed in EVs as of late 2022, Ford says.

To qualify, drivers need to have at least a 4.85-star rating and over 150 trips. The Mustang on offer is a no-frills rear-wheel drive model with 247 miles of range, although it does have CoPilot360 driver aids.

The lease option is in line with Uber’s goal of becoming a zero-emissions service in North America and Europe by 2030. This theoretically makes EVs more viable for drivers who can’t commit to a purchase or multi-year lease. Uber also sweetens the proposition with an extra $1 per ride (up to $4,000 per year) and the option of serving premium Comfort Electric passengers. Not that Uber has much choice. California will require that most ride hailing cars are electric by 2030, while New York City wants a wholesale switch by the same year.

Ford, meanwhile, benefits by getting the Mach-E into the hands of rideshare drivers who would otherwise rent a Tesla EV through Hertz. This boosts exposure for the brand for passengers, too, and helps with Ford’s bid to establish itself as a general mobility company. The challenge is simply competing against Tesla’s sheer volume. The Hertz deal puts up to 50,000 Tesla EVs on American roads, and Ford’s Drive pilot won’t compete at its current scale.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ford-will-offer-flexible-mustang-mach-e-leases-to-uber-drivers-in-three-cities-151534606.html?src=rss 

AMC Entertainment’s streaming service is migrating its users to Vudu. The companies announced today that Vudu is “the official new streaming platform for consumers of AMC Theatres on Demand.”

AMC launched its on-demand streaming service in 2019, and its popularity surged during pandemic-era lockdowns. In 2020, as moviegoers largely avoided theaters, the company partnered with Universal to allow the studio’s films to jump to premium video-on-demand (PVOD) platforms — including AMC’s service — only 17 days after premiering in theaters. However, as viewing habits have readjusted in the last three years, AMC has now decided to offload the service to a frequent partner instead.

Vudu says AMC Theatres On Demand customers will have their content libraries automatically upgraded “to the highest quality format available on Vudu, including 4K Ultra HD.” In addition, new Vudu accounts moving from AMC’s service will get 15 percent off every purchase for their first month on the platform.

Fandango Media, a joint venture between NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery, currently owns Vudu. Walmart bought the platform in 2010 and ran it for a decade before selling it to Fandango Media in 2020 for an undisclosed amount. Its new owner then rolled FandangoNow, its previous standalone streaming service, into the platform in 2021, keeping the name Vudu for the resulting product.

The companies didn’t reveal any business details of the handoff. “As we continue to evolve our business and remain focused on Making Movies Better by enhancing the theatrical experience, we’re even more excited to expand our relationship with a trusted partner, who will ensure a continued preeminent experience for those consumers who are streaming their post-theatrical movies at home,” said Nikkole Denson-Randolph, AMC Senior VP of Content Strategy & Inclusive Programming.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amc-transfers-its-on-demand-streaming-users-to-vudu-140033151.html?src=rss 

You might’ve seen password managers in the news recently because of the breach affecting LastPass customers. We need to trust that all of our logins, banking credentials and other sensitive information has been neatly locked away, only accessible by us when we need it. But most tech is fallible, and the benefits of unique, strong passwords across your online presence outweigh the risks. Password managers remain a great way to securely store all of the credentials you need on a regular basis. We tested out nine of the best password managers available now to help you choose the right one for your needs.

How do password managers work?

Think of password managers like virtual safe deposit boxes. They hold your valuables, in this case usually online credentials, in a section of the vault only accessible to you by security key or a master password. Most of these services have autofill features that make it convenient to log in to any site without needing to remember every password you have, and they keep your credit card information close for impulse purchases.

But given that passwords are one of the top ways to keep your online identity secure, the real value of password managers is staying safe online. “It’s just not possible without a password manager to have unique, long and hard-to-guess passwords,” Florian Schaub, an associate professor of information and of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan, said.

Common guidance states that passwords should be unique, with the longest number of characters allowed and uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers and special characters. This is the exact opposite of using the same password everywhere, with minor variations depending on a site’s requirements. Think of how many sites you have credentials on — it’s an impossible task to remember it all without somewhere to store them safely (no, a sticky note on your desk won’t cut it). Password managers are more readily accessible and offer the benefit of filling in those long passwords for you.

Are password managers safe?

It seems counterintuitive to store all your sensitive information in one place. One hack could mean you lose it all to an attacker and struggle for months or even years to rebuild your online presence, not to mention you may have to cancel credit cards and other accounts. But most experts in the field agree that password managers are a generally secure and safe way to keep track of your data, and the benefits of strong, complex passwords outweigh the possible risks.

The mechanics of keeping those passwords safe differs slightly from provider to provider. Generally, you have a lengthy, complex “master password” that safeguards the rest of your information. In some cases, you might also get a “security key” to enter when you log in to new devices. This is a random string of letters, numbers and symbols that the company will send you at sign up. Only you know this key, and because it’s stored locally on your device or printed out on paper, it’s harder for hackers to find.

These multiple layers of security make it difficult for an attacker to get into your vault even if your password manager provider experiences a breach. But the company should also follow a few security basics. A “zero-knowledge” policy means that the company keeps none of your data on file, so in the event of an attack, there’s nothing for hackers to find. Regular pentests and security audits keep the company up to par on best practices, and other efforts like bug bounty programs or hosting on an open source website encourage constant vigilance for security flaws. Most password managers now also offer some level of encryption falling under the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). AES 256-bit is the strongest, because there are the most number of possible combinations, but AES 128-bit or 192-bit are still good.

Who are password managers for?

Given their universal benefit, pretty much everyone could use a password manager. They’re not just for the tech-savvy people or businesses anymore because so much sensitive information ends up online behind passwords, from our bank accounts to our Netflix watch history.

That’s the other perk of password managers: safe password sharing. Families, friends or roommates can use them to safely access joint accounts. Texting a password to someone isn’t secure, and you can help your family break the habit by starting to use one yourself, Lisa Plaggemier, executive director at National Cyber Security Alliance, said. Streaming is the obvious use case, but consider the shared bills, file storage and other sites you share access with the people around you as well.

Are password managers worth it?

You likely already use a password manager, even if you wouldn’t think to call it that. Most phones and web browsers include a log of saved credentials on the device, like the “passwords” keychain in the settings of an iPhone. That means you’ve probably seen the benefits of not having to memorize passwords or even type them out already.

While that’s a great way in, the downfall of these built-in options are that they tend to be device specific. If you rely on an Apple password manager, for example, that works if you’re totally in the Apple ecosystem — but you become limited once you get an Android tablet, Lujo Bauer, professor of electrical and computer engineering, and of computer science, at Carnegie Mellon University, said. If you use different devices for work and personal use and want a secure way to share passwords with others, or just don’t want to be tied to one brand forever, a third-party password manager is usually worth it.

How we tested

We tested password managers by downloading each of the nine contenders on iPhone, Android, Safari, Chrome and Firefox. That helped us better understand what platforms each manager was available on, and see how support differs across operating systems and browsers.

As we got set up with each, we took note of how they iterated on the basic features of autofill and password generators. Nearly all password managers have these features, but some place limits on how much you can store while others give more control over creating easy-to-type yet complex passwords. From there, we looked at extra features like data-breach monitoring to understand which managers offered the most for your money.

Finally, we reviewed publicly available information about security specs for each. This includes LastPass, which more experts are shying away from recommending after the recent breach. For the sake of this review, we’ve decided not to recommend LastPass at this time as fallout from the breach still comes to light (The company disclosed a second incident earlier this year where an unauthorized attack accessed the company’s cloud storage, including sensitive data).

Password managers we tested

1Password

LastPass

Bitwarden

Dashlane

Keeper

NordPass

Enpass

Norton password manager

LogMeOnce

Best password manager: 1Password

Many security experts trust 1Password with their private information and, after testing it out, it’s clear why. The service includes industry standard encryption, a “secret key” that only you know on top of your master password, a zero-knowledge policy that means it keeps no data, and other security features like frequent audits and a bug bounty program.

Plus, it has a pretty intuitive feel. A tutorial at download helps you import passwords from other managers onto 1Password so that you don’t feel like you’re starting over from scratch. It also clearly rates the strength of each password and has an “open and fill” option in the vault so that you can get into your desired site even more quickly. We also liked the option to scan a set up code to easily connect your account to your mobile devices without too much tedious typing.

At $3 per month, the individual subscription comes with unlimited passwords, items and one gigabyte of document storage for your vault. It also lets you share passwords, credit card information and other saved credentials. If you upgrade to the family plan for $5 each month, you’ll get to invite up to five people (plus more for $1 each per month) to be a part of the vault.

Number of tiers: 4

Pricing: $3/month for Individual, $5/month for Families, $20/month for Teams Starter Pack, $8/month per user for Business

Best free password manager: Bitwarden

Bitwarden’s free plan includes unlimited passwords on an unlimited number of devices, which is more than we’ve seen from some of its competitors. There are drawbacks like you can only share vault items with one other user, but we think that’s a fair tradeoff.

Bitwarden is based on open-source code, meaning anyone on GitHub can audit it, which is a good measure of security. On a personal level, it includes security audits of your information, like a data breach report, that can keep you in the know about when your passwords have been leaked and when it’s time to change them. Plus, it’s widely available across the platforms we tested with a level of customization, options to access your vault and more.

Bitwarden may be the best free password manager, but it does have a paid version and we do think it’s worth it. At $10 annually for individuals or $40 for families, you unlock encrypted file storage, emergency access, unlimited sharing and more. But the free version comes with the basics that can get anyone set up on password management easily.

Number of tiers: 3

Pricing: Free, $3/month per user for Teams Organization, $5/month per user for Enterprise Organization

Best cross-platform availability: NordPass

Across password managers we tested, cross-platform availability was relatively similar. Most are widely available across web browsers and different operating systems, including our other top picks on this list. But we wanted to give a nod to NordPass here because of how easy the service makes it to access your vault from any platform.

NordPass has a free option with unlimited passwords and syncs across devices. A $2-per-month premium subscription keeps you logged in when switching devices, comes with security notifications and allows for item sharing. A family subscription comes with six premium accounts and only costs $4 per month. This makes it a pretty good budget option as well. Besides the pairing code to connect accounts, NordPass is a pretty standard password manager. Scanning a code gets me from my laptop to mobile device to work computer super easily. If you’re constantly switching devices and those extra few seconds save your sanity, it’s worth considering.

Number of tiers: 3

Pricing: Free, $2/per month for Premium, $4/month for Family

Best for shared access: Dashlane

Dashlane has four subscription options: A free user gets access to one device with unlimited passwords; an advanced user pays $3 per month to get upgraded to unlimited devices and dark web monitoring; for $5 per month, a premium user also gets VPN access and an $7.49-per-month family plan includes access for up to 10 people.

It met all the criteria we looked for, but with a clear emphasis on sharing credentials. Dashlane highlights “secure sharing” starting at its free level, which is a feature that some competitors keep behind a paywall. Access for up to 10 members in a family plan is one of the bigger plans we’ve seen as well. While we were testing it, password sharing seemed front of mind with a tab dedicated to it in Dashlane’s browser extension. Arguably the biggest caveat here, though, is lack of Linux support.

Number of tiers: 4

Pricing: Free, $3/month for Advanced, $5/month for Premium, $7/month for Friends and Family

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-password-manager-134639599.html?src=rss 

Mark Zuckerberg has revealed the Meta Quest 3, the company’s long-rumored, next-gen virtual reality headset. The Meta CEO showed off the device for the first time a few hours before the latest Meta Quest Games Showcase and just ahead of Apple’s WWDC.

As with the Quest Pro, the Quest 3 supports mixed reality and offers full-color passthrough. This enables users to see a color version of the physical space around them via the external cameras. The headset will be able to blend augmented reality elements into the outside world. Zuckerberg says it’s “the first mainstream headset with high-res color mixed reality.”

Zuckerberg claims the device has a “next-gen” Qualcomm chipset and that it offers twice the graphics performance of the Quest 2. It’s said to be Meta’s “most powerful headset yet. Despite the extra oomph, the Quest 3 is 40 percent thinner and more comfortable than its predecessor, Meta’s CEO noted.

Meta has redesigned the controllers for Quest 3. It says they’re more streamlined and ergonomic, and they incorporate the TruTouch haptic feedback tech seen in the Touch Pro controllers. The new Touch Plus controllers also no longer have outer tracking rings. That, Meta says, will help them feel like a more natural extension of your hands and take up less space. In addition, the Quest 3 will support hand tracking from the jump.

The headset will start at $499 for 128GB of storage and it’ll be available this fall in all countries where the Quest 2 is available. It’s half the price of a Quest Pro and it costs the same as a PlayStation VR2 (which users need to plug into a PS5). 

The Quest 2, meanwhile, will once again cost $299 for the base 128GB version starting on June 4th. Meta increased the price of that headset by $100 last year, blaming increased manufacturing costs. In March, it cut the price of the 256GB Quest 2 by $70 to $429 to help “more people get into VR,” Zuckerberg said at the time.

The Quest 3 will be fully compatible with every Quest 2 app and experience. The company will reveal more details about at its Connect conference, which will take place on September 27th, 

It’s hardly a surprise that Meta has a Quest 3 on the way. Earlier this week, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman said he’d had hands-on time with a Quest 3 prototype. Gurman wrote that the headset “feels far lighter and thinner” than the previous model and that it had a sturdier head strap. Unlike the Quest Pro, though, the Quest 3 may not have face or eye-tracking features.

Even if it weren’t for all the reports that an updated headset would arrive this year, Meta is continuing to invest in VR games and experiences — it has sunk tens of billions of dollars into building its vision of the metaverse over the last couple of years. It’s hard to imagine the company doing that without having a successor to the three-year-old Quest 2 in the works.

In another year, Zuckerberg might have waited until Connect to reveal the Quest 3. However, Meta may be trying to steal some of Apple’s thunder. The latter is widely expected to reveal a premium mixed-reality headset at WWDC next week. As such, Meta may soon have a major competitor in the mixed reality space.

This story is developing, please refresh for additional updates.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-meta-quest-3-is-a-499-mixed-reality-headset-with-full-color-passthrough-141204527.html?src=rss 

NVIDIA has introduced a new AI model called Neuralangelo that can create 3D replicas of objects from 2D videos, whether they’re classic sculptures or run-of-the-mill trucks and buildings. Neuralangelo works by selecting several frames showing the subject from different angles in a 2D video, so it can a get a clear picture of its depth, size and shape. It then creates a rough 3D representation of the object before optimizing it to mimic the details of the real thing. 

According to the company, the new model has adopted the technology from its old one, the Instant NeRF, to be able to accurately capture the finer details of whatever the user wants to recreate in 3D. Those include its texture, patterns and color variations. NVIDIA says Neuralangelo’s ability to capture tricky textures, such as the roughness of roof shingles and the smoothness of marble, “significantly surpasses prior methods.” It’s apparently even good enough to create usable virtual objects from videos taken by smartphones, which could give creators an easy way to generate 3D recreations for their projects. It’s a quick solution, too: NVIDIA Research told us the tool can create 3D scenes within two hours. 

Ming-Yu Liu, co-author of the paper on Neuralangelo, said it will “eventually enable developers to import detailed objects — whether small statues or massive buildings — into virtual environments for video games or industrial digital twins.” In the video below showing what the technology can do, NVIDIA said it can create large-scale vistas from drone footage, making it easier for developers to recreate real locations in their games. It has a lot of other potential applications, as well, including in robotics, virtual reality experiences, architecture and, of course, art.

The company’s research arm will present Neuralangelo at the Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition event that’s taking place on June 18th through the 22nd in Vancouver. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nvidias-neuralangelo-is-an-ai-model-that-can-generate-3d-objects-from-2d-videos-130023299.html?src=rss 

Hello Games made an exciting announcement at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in 2022: No Man’s Sky would eventually be making its way to Macs. Now, as we ramp up towards WWDC 2023, the time has come with Mac gamers finally able to play No Man’s Sky to their heart’s content. Hello Games claims to have worked closely with Apple to bring the game to life and supports the company’s Metal 3 API to reportedly “achieve console quality graphics whilst maintaining battery life on laptops and lower end devices.”

No Man’s Sky is available for anyone who has a Mac with Apple silicon (which started rolling out in 2020) or an Intel-based Mac with at least a Core i5 processor. There’s no need to re-buy the game if you already have No Man’s Sky through Steam on your PC, as you can cross-save your progress to jump between devices without backpedaling on your progress. Mac users also have access to cross-play, so you can join gamers on Xbox, PlayStation 4 and 5, PC or VR.

The expansion to Mac follows a few significant updates to the game, including a redesign of the HUD and user interface and a new storyline called Interceptor that brought better visuals and new VR controls. Steam users can download No Man’s Sky today, but will be available in the Mac App Store “shortly.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/no-mans-sky-arrives-on-mac-today-130016085.html?src=rss 

Google has listed a bunch of features rolling out to the Android ecosystem starting today, June 1st, and one of them can help new readers improve their diction and vocabulary. The new reading practice tool for phones and tablets is available with thousands of compatible children’s books on Play Books. It challenges kids or people who’ve only started to learn English to read sentences with the mic on. The buttons that show up when they tap help allow them to quickly look up the definition of words or to hear the sentence be read out loud for guidance. It’s now available in the English language for users in the US, as long as they have a device running Android 8 and above. 

The tech giant is also rolling out new widgets that show entertainment suggestions for Google TV, stock trading information from Google Finance and curated stories from Google News. These widgets will be available for everyone with devices running Android 6 and later in all supported languages. Meanwhile, for those tired of the usual emoji options, there’s a new tool called “Emoji Kitchen.” It lets users fuse and remix emoji available on Gboard — so long as they have a compatible combination — and then turn them into stickers they can send. 

Users with devices running WearOS 2 now have new Spotify tiles and watchface complications to choose from. Spotify DJ, available in US, Canada, UK and Ireland for premium subscribers, can play a personalized selection of tracks or stream episodes from the user’s favorite podcasts the moment they press play on the new smartwatch tile. WearOS 3.0 users can now also add a tile for a single to-do list from Google Notes. Those living in Washington, DC and the San Francisco Bay Area are getting something extra: They now have the option to load their SmartTrip and Clipper cards to their Google Wallet, so they can tap and pay to ride local transportation using their smartwatches. 

Aside from all these features, which have only started rolling out, Google has also announced that its One subscription service’s dark web report is fully available in the US. Subscribers will be able to run scans to check if their Gmail addresses have been exposed in the dark web. They can also check if any sensitive information, such as their social security numbers, have been compromised. Plus, they can choose to start automatically monitoring the dark web for their personal information, so they’d get notified as soon as any of their details get posted. Dark web monitoring is only available to Google One customers in the US at the moment, but Google plans to expand its availability to more than 20 countries in the coming months. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/android-can-now-remix-emojis-and-help-with-reading-practice-130053394.html?src=rss 

BeReal was Apple’s iPhone app of the year for 2022, but buzz around the social media app (that forces you to post daily selfies) has died down of late. Now, the French company has introduced “RealChat” private messaging, allowing it to boast a feature found on most major social media apps, TechCrunch has reported. 

The function is one of the most requested, the company said. You can only message another user if you’re friends with them on the platform. For a message to be deleted, both parties have to do so — deleting your own message won’t delete it from a friend’s app. The chat system will reportedly feature blocking and reporting features. 

BeReal has an interesting and somewhat messy approach to social media. It sends notifications at a different time each day, prompting you to quickly share photos taken with your phone’s front and rear cameras simultaneously. You have a two-minute window to do so, forcing you to share spontaneous moments without spending extra time to make sure the photos are perfect. Friends are notified when you’re late or revise a post.

Earlier this year, BeReal refuted an analytics report that engagement on the app had fallen significantly, saying it still had 20 million daily active users. The company admitted that while it’s been busy behind the scenes, it hasn’t released many new features of late, so “people have been guessing what we’ve been up to and how things are going, and not always accurately. 

Over the past couple of months, though it has launched an integration with Spotify showing what you’re listening to when you post, along with the Bonus BeReal feature that lets you post more than one BeReal if you post on time. As with other social media apps, the RealChat feature looks like a way to boost time spent on the app and allow friends to comment privately on posts.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/bereal-is-testing-a-direct-messaging-feature-called-realchat-132602404.html?src=rss 

Polestar has announced its latest over-the-air upgrade for the Polestar 2 EV, and it includes an integrated YouTube app right on the home screen. Volvo, a part-owner of Polestar, first mentioned its plan to make YouTube available for its infotainment in 2022 — though it was through the Play Store. While you don’t want to be watching YouTube videos as you cruise down the road (or play video games, Tesla), Polestar specifically denotes it as a way to entertain yourself while the car charges. 

Yes, the update is solely so you can amuse yourself while sitting in the stationary car, but sure, when you drop a minimum of $40,000 to $50,000 on an EV, why shouldn’t it provide entertainment while juicing up? 

There are also some new features for when you hit the road, including Apple CarPlay’s expanded information about calls or media on the home screen. Plus, you can control calls through the steering wheel (as you can in most cars) and, more uniquely, see calls and Apple Maps right on the driver display. 

The last bit of Polestar 2’s updates focus the Range Assistant app, with a major upgrade giving you more control over your energy efficiency, with consumption monitoring extended beyond 20, 40, or 100 miles. The update also factors environmental changes and related variables into your projected range — with real-time information available right on the driver display. Previously, this figure was a default range projection rather than one specific to you. The P2.9 over-the-air update has begun rolling out, so keep an eye out for when it reaches your EV.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/polestar-2-update-adds-youtube-integration-and-new-carplay-features-115027133.html?src=rss