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Surprise! The iPhone 14 is pretty repairable, it turns out. This week, Cherlynn and Devindra chat with Engadget’s Sam Rutherford about this move towards greater repairability and what it means for future iPhones. Also, they dive into NVIDIA’s powerful (and expensive!) new RTX 4080 and 4090 GPUs. Sure, they’re faster than before, but does anyone really need all that power?

Listen above, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!

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Topics

The iPhone 14 is surprisingly repairable – 1:17

NVIDIA announces RTX 4090 and 4080 GPUs (and a Portal mod with ray tracing) – 21:08

Huge hack at Rockstar leaks GTA 6 videos and dev code – 34:22

Uber was also hacked last week by the same crew that hit Rockstar – 38:37

Windows 11 2022 Update – 40:21

Google is offering a $30 1080p HDR Chrome cast with Google TV – 44:05

Does anyone need the Logitech G cloud gaming handset? – 46:59

Twitch is banning gambling streams on October 18 – 51:56

Working on – 55:34

Pop culture picks – 1:01:35

Livestream

Credits
Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar
Guest: Sam Rutherford
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien
Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos
Graphic artists: Luke Brooks and Brian Oh

 

Starting next year, you’ll only be able to activate newly released Fitbit models using a Google account. It doesn’t come as a surprise for Google’s services to become more intertwined with Fitbit’s fitness devices after the tech giant acquired the latter for $2.1 billion in 2021. But now, we have a timeline for when Fitbit accounts will no longer be essential. As spotted by 9to5Google, Fitbit has revealed in its help page that it will launch support for Google accounts in 2023. Signing up for Fitbit and activating new devices will require the use of a Google account after that.

In addition, the brand will completely end support for Fitbit accounts sometime in early 2025, after which a Google account will be required to use its fitness devices and smartwatches. Fitbit promises that it will be transparent and will notify you of the exact date through notifications in its app, by email and in help articles. To ensure a smooth transition, it will enable the option to move your current Fitbit device to a Google account as soon as support arrives next year. You’ll also have the opportunity to make changes to your Fitbit data when making the move. If you do link a device to a Google account, you’ll be able to manage your Fitbit data both from the brand’s app and from your Google settings. 

Fitbit says its parent company made binding commitments not to use your health and wellness data for ads and will keep that information separate from what it does send to advertisers. The tech giant had insisted from the time it announced the acquisition that it will not be using Fitbit data for ad targeting. In 2020, it formally made the commitment to the European Commission to ward off an antitrust probe. 

 

Amazon’s Echo Show smart displays with Alexa voice control are already a good value next to the competition, but a bunch of deals are making them even cheaper. The Show 5 is the best one, on sale right now for just $40, or 53 percent off the regular price. And if you want a larger screen, you can find great deals on the Show 8 and Show 15 — including a free Show 5 with the latter. 

Buy Echo Show smart displays at Amazon

The Echo Show 5 scored a very solid 85 score in our Engadget review, as it’s small size is ideal if don’t have a ton of space on your desk, nightstand or countertop. It has a 5.5-inch, 960 x 480 resolution display that shows things like weather forecasts, calendar events, photos and more. 

The 2MP camera can be used to video chat with friends and family, but it can also be used as a makeshift security camera of sorts. And if you prefer you’re concerned about privacy, the Show 5 has a built-in camera shutter and mic mute button. It was already a good deal at $85, but at $40, it’s a no-brainer. And if you’re thinking of getting that model for a youngster, the Echo Show 5 Kids with parental controls is also on sale for $50, or 47 percent off the regular $95 price.

If it’s a larger screen you’re after, the Echo Show 8 also scored high in our review, thanks to the elegant minimalist design, vibrant 1,280 x 800 resolution display and handy video calling functionality. The digital pan-and-zoom face-tracking feature follows you while you move around to keep you in frame, and works with every video calling app out there. It also offers stereo speakers, making it one of the best-sounding smart displays available. You can pick one up for $80, just above the lowest price we’ve seen.

With a big 15-inch screen, the Echo Show 15 is the big daddy of Amazon’s smart display products. You can of course use it to control compatible smart home devices and link it to Echo speakers for richer audio. Family members can have their own profiles, using voice ID and face-recognition to access personalized content like reminders, appointments and music. The only downside is that it doesn’t come with a stand as it’s meant to be wall mounted. Still, you can grab one for $250 (an $85 discount), and Amazon is throwing in a free Echo 5 to boot. 

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

 

Apple released its latest iPhone lineup and mobile platforms earlier this month, and a couple of annoying bugs quickly made themselves known to users. The good news is that the tech giant has quickly whipped up patches to fix the issues and has now released them as part of the iOS 16.0.2 update. One of the problems the update solves is the iPhone 14 Pro’s compatibility troubles with third-party apps that use its camera, such as Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat. 

Users found that when they fire up those apps and use the device’s rear cam, the camera view shakes on screen and the phone emanates grinding and rattling noises. In its patch notes, Apple said the update fixes an issue wherein the “[c]amera may vibrate and cause blurry photos when shooting with some third-party apps on iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.” The company didn’t elaborate on the cause behind it, but it’s possible that the apps weren’t meshing well with the device’s optical image stabilization system, causing the rattling noises. 

Another troublesome problem the update fixes is the persistent appearance of permission prompts when trying to copy and paste content between apps. Apple senior manager Ron Huang previously admitted that it was “absolutely not expected behavior” and said the company was dealing with it. iOS 16.0.2 will get rid of other bugs, as well, including one that causes the device’s display to go black during setup and another that renders the touch input on some iPhone X, iPhone XR and iPhone 11 displays to be unresponsive after they’re serviced. 

 

If you’ve been anywhere near social media, local news, or late-night talk shows in the last few days, you’ve probably heard something about “Nyquil Chicken,” a supposedly viral TikTok “challenge” that’s exactly what it sounds like: cooking chicken in a marinade of cold medicine.

News about the supposed trend is usually accompanied by vomit-inducing photos of raw chicken simmering in dark green syrup. It’s both disgusting and, as the FDA recently reminded the public, just as toxic as it looks. But it turns out Nyquil Chicken was neither new, nor particularly viral, and the FDA’s bizarrely-timed warning may have backfired, making the meme more popular than ever.

First, a bit of history: As reporter Ryan Borderick points out in his newsletter Garbage Day, Nyquil Chicken originated as a joke on 4Chan in 2017. The meme briefly resurfaced in January where it got some traction on TikTok before once again fading away.

Then, last week, the FDA — inexplicably — issued a press release warning about the dangers of cooking chicken in Nyquil. In a notice titled “A Recipe for Danger: Social Media Challenges Involving Medicines,” the FDA refers to it as a “recent” trend. But they cite no recent examples, and it’s unclear why they opted to push out a warning more than eight months after the meme had first appeared on TikTok.

Now, in what we can only hope will be a valuable lesson on unintended consequences, we know that it was likely the FDA’s warning about Nyquil chicken that pushed this “challenge” to new levels of virality, at least on TikTok. TikTok has now confirmed that on September 14th, the day before the FDA notice, there were only five searches for “Nyquil chicken” in the app. But by September 21st, that number skyrocketed “by more than 1,400 times,” according to BuzzFeed News, which first reported the TikTok search data.

TikTok, which has recently taken steps to limit the spread of both dangerous “challenges” and “alarmist warnings” about hoaxes, is now blocking searches for “Nyquil Chicken.” Searches now direct users to resources encouraging users to “stop and take a moment to think” before pursuing a potentially dangerous “challenge.”

As both BuzzFeed and Gizmodo note, there’s little evidence that people are actually cooking chicken in Nyquil, much less actually ingesting it. That’s a good thing because, as the FDA makes very clear, doing so is not only extremely gross, but highly toxic. But the whole thing is yet another example of why we should all be more skeptical of panic-inducing viral “challenges.”

 

Moog has brought back its pioneering Model 10 synth for a second time, and you might have a better chance of owning this one. The “compact” modular device has reentered production and is available worldwide through dealers. It’s a slight improvement on the limited-run 2019 version, too, with an updated onboard power supply (friendlier to musicians outside the US), a revised rear panel and more reliable calibration.

You can expect 11 analog modules and three 900 Series oscillators. The company hadn’t provided pricing as of this writing. We’ve asked for more details. With that said, the 2019 Model 10 started at $9,950. This is for creators who fully intend to use the synth in their productions and performances.

If nothing else, it’s another chance to revisit an important instrument. The original Model 10 arrived in 1971 and was the first relatively compact modular synth — before that, it wasn’t uncommon to see giant modular arrays that didn’t always fit into studios, let alone onstage. Moog’s smaller design made the technology more accessible and was influential in shaping the early days of electronic music. Wendy Carlos used it to create her milestone album Switched-On Bach (still not available on streaming, we’d add), as did Isao Tomita with Snowflakes are Dancing.

Update 9/22/2022 5:20PM ET: Moog tells us the 2022 version of the Model 10 is priced at $11,999.

 

Nothing is preparing to release its second set of true wireless earbuds and it’s given a first peek at what it has in store. The company started teasing the Ear Stick with images of the cylindrical charging case, which made an appearance on the runway at London Fashion Week.

Details are still scant, though the Ear Stick is an “entirely new product” with a fresh bud and case, Nothing told The Verge. Nothing also says the earbuds have a “feather-light” ergonomic design, which is “molded to your ears.” Leaked images of Nothing’s next earbuds indicated that they have a similar design to the company’s first attempt, Ear 1. As for the new charging case, Nothing said it was “inspired by classic cosmetic silhouettes” to build a product that can easily slip into users’ pockets.

The Ear Stick earbuds are slated to arrive later this year. Given its track record, expect Nothing to tediously drip feed more info about the product in the coming weeks.

 

If you had been using Instagram’s Android app in the past hour or so, you might have noticed that an error had been causing it to crash seconds after launching, rendering it almost unusable. You weren’t alone: users from multiple regions flooded Twitter with complaints about this phenomenon. According to Downdetector, this bug first appeared around 12:44PM EDT today (September 23rd) — roughly matching the time when this author also started scratching head over the seemingly random crashes. At the time of writing this article, there were still fresh tweets grumbling about this issue.

A Meta representative confirmed to famed software engineer Jane Wong that the company is aware of the outage and it’s working to restore service “as quickly as possible.” While this bug appeared to be exclusive to Instagram’s Android app, Wong told Engadget that the iOS counterpart was also loading very slowly for her, indicating a backend issue.

At present, users who are able to open the app have noted limited functionality, including an inability to access Reels or DMs. We’ll be monitoring the situation as service gradually resumes, and will update if Meta provides additional details on what went wrong.

Update 9/22/22 2:29PM EDT: Meta says Instagram is back to normal as of 2:25PM EDT, though it stopped short at sharing what went wrong. We will share more if we hear back.

 

More than a million Tesla owners will have yet another recall notice to deal with in the coming weeks. On Tuesday the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration filed a safety recall notice for numerous late model vehicles from across the EV maker’s lineup because “the window automatic reversal system may not react correctly after detecting an obstruction,” and as such, “a closing window may exert excessive force by pinching a driver or passenger before retracting, increasing the risk of injury,” per the notice.

The following models and years are impacted: 2017-22 Model 3s as well as 2020-21 Model Y, X and S vehicles. Tesla has until mid-November to contact affected owners and plans to push an OTA software update to correct the issue. 

Per the Associated Press, Tesla first identified the issues during product testing in August and has incorporated the update into newly built vehicles since September 13th. However, multiple Twitter users have sounded off in response to Tuesday’s announcement, noting that their vehicles have been having nearly identical issues since at least 2021. 

This is far from Tesla’s first safety recall. Over the last two years alone, Teslas have been recalled on account of overheating infotainment systems, camera and trunk defects, separating front suspensions, their “full self driving” ADAS, their pedestrian warning sounds, their seatbelt chimes, software glitches in their brakes, and sundry touchscreen failures. And that’s just in the US. In Germany this past July, Tesla got popped trying to pass off painted-over frame damage on its Model 3s too.

 

Meta has finally released the findings of an outside report that examined how its content moderation policies affected Israelis and Palestinians amid an escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip last May. The report, from Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), found that Facebook and Instagram violated Palestinians’ right to free expression.

“Based on the data reviewed, examination of individual cases and related materials, and external stakeholder engagement, Meta’s actions in May 2021 appear to have had an adverse human rights impact on the rights of Palestinian users to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, political participation, and non-discrimination, and therefore on the ability of Palestinians to share information and insights about their experiences as they occurred,” BSR writes in its report.

The report also notes that “an examination of individual cases” showed that some Israeli accounts were also erroneously banned or restricted during this period. But the report’s authors highlight several systemic issues they say disproportionately affected Palestinians.

According to the report, “Arabic content had greater over-enforcement,” and “proactive detection rates of potentially violating Arabic content were significantly higher than proactive detection rates of potentially violating Hebrew content.” The report also notes that Meta had an internal tool for detecting “hostile speech” in Arabic, but not in Hebrew, and that Meta’s systems and moderators had lower accuracy when assessing Palestinian Arabic.

As a result, many users’ accounts were hit with “false strikes,” and wrongly had posts removed by Facebook and Instagram. “These strikes remain in place for those users that did not appeal erroneous content removals,” the report notes.

Meta had commissioned the report following a recommendation from the Oversight Board last fall. In a response to the report, Meta says it will update some of its policies, including several aspects of its Dangerous Individuals and Organizations (DOI) policy. The company says it’s “started a policy development process to review our definitions of praise, support and representation in our DOI Policy,” and that it’s “working on ways to make user experiences of our DOI strikes simpler and more transparent.”

Meta also notes it has “begun experimentation on building a dialect-specific Arabic classifier” for written content, and that it has changed its internal process for managing keywords and “block lists” that affect content removals.

Notably, Meta says it’s “assessing the feasibility” of a recommendation that it notify users when it places “feature limiting and search limiting” on users’ accounts after they receive a strike. Instagram users have long complained that the app shadowbans or reduces the visibility of their account when they post about certain topics. These complaints increased last spring when users reported that they were barred from posting about Palestine, or that the reach of their posts was diminished. At the time, Meta blamed an unspecified “glitch.” BSR’s report notes that the company had also implemented emergency “break glass” measures that temporarily throttled all “repeatedly reshared content.”