I vividly remember testing the first Echo Studio. Even though that was nearly six years ago, I can clearly recall my surprise that Amazon had finally built a smart speaker that actually sounded good. It certainly helped that Amazon created a device that appropriately broadcasted spatial audio, and one that offered a boost to movies in the living room (if you bought a pair of them). 

I was similarly surprised to see the overhauled Echo Studio when Amazon revealed it a few weeks ago. Could the company offer the same audio performance in a speaker that was 40 percent smaller? The 2025 Echo Studio ($220) combines three 1.5-inch full-range drivers with a 3.75-inch woofer in a very confined space, all powered by the company’s new AI-ready processor. There’s certainly a lot to like about the comprehensive reboot of the Studio after such a long time, but for now, there are also several caveats. 

What’s good about the Echo Studio?

Amazon completely redesigned the Echo Studio, opting for a much more compact, spherical look compared to the previous large cylinder. To me, this is an upgrade; it looks less like a speaker and more like a piece of home decor. Amazon also moved the trademark light ring to the front, the element that illuminates when you’re talking to Alexa, so it’s easier to see when you’re directly facing the speaker. The lights will also display volume level in white when you make an adjustment, flash red if you mute the microphones and show blue for Bluetooth pairing mode. If you employ the Drop In feature, the Echo’s intercom of sorts, the ring glows green while you check in on what’s happening in the room from somewhere else.

The company also relocated all of the controls. The volume and mute buttons that used to be on top are now on an angled panel on the front, offering satisfying travel when you press them. And those are the only three buttons you get on the Echo Studio, as Amazon wants you to use noice commands for everything else when playing music or podcasts. Or, you know, you could reach for your phone. 

There are optional tap controls that can be used to snooze alarms, stop timers and end both calls and Drop Ins. You simply tap the top of the Echo Studio for this. What’s more, you can enable “advanced” tap control that allows you to play/pause media with the same action. 

Amazon promises “powerful bass and crystal-clear vocals” on the new Echo Studio, and I’d say the latter holds true. There is great clarity in the sound here, and the tuning definitely favors highs and mids across nearly every genre. For example, the synths and vocals on the TRON: Ares soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails are more prominent than the drum machines or bass line. Still, I heard an immersive quality to these songs, but not as much as I’ve noticed using headphones or earbuds. There’s more low-end tone on Thrice’s Horizons/West, and overall, the instruments offer a more enveloping quality than most other albums I tested. Just know there’s quite a bit of variation from album to album and genre to genre. 

Like the original Echo Studio, this model supports spatial audio, Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio content. Those are available from various streaming platforms, including Amazon Music Unlimited. Amazon only sent me one of the new speakers, so it’s tough to evaluate immersive Atmos sound here, but I gave it my best shot. The Echo Studio performs slightly better with Dolby Atmos tunes from Amazon Music as those songs have more depth and a wider soundstage. However, the bass is still quite muted, so even the spatial audio and Ultra HD quality boost don’t rescue the sluggish low-end tone and prominent vocals.

A word about Alexa+

Billy Steele for Engadget

The new Echo Studio comes with early access to Alexa+, Amazon’s next-gen virtual assistant. The company has spent the last few years overhauling its companion, and my colleague Cherlynn Low has an in-depth preview of what you can expect when you’re able to use it. I’ve been chatting with the new Alexa for about a week during the course of testing this speaker, and to my surprise, this AI-powered assistant is indeed much improved. 

The biggest change I’ve noticed is in on-going conversations with multiple follow-up questions or comments. The new AZ3 Pro chip inside the Echo Studio certainly helps keep things snappy, so there are no awkward pauses. I asked Alexa+ to remind me to make pizza dough one afternoon, and it confirmed the request without hesitation. Taking a cue from Cherlynn, I then asked about my mood right after, to which Alexa replied that I seemed to be chill based on my voice — a good “Monday vibe.” 

Except it wasn’t Monday, it was Tuesday. When I corrected Alexa, the assistant played it cool, thanking me for helping and apologizing for the mistake. It then recalled the initial pizza request, commenting that it seemed like I was on top of things that day, including my dough recipe and the task at hand. It was the most human-to-human interaction I’ve ever had with a virtual assistant, and it felt like the promise of casual conversations with technology like this was finally fulfilled. And, I have to say, it kind of freaked me out. 

My week–long fling hasn’t been without a few bumps though. Despite the Echo Studio having a built-in temperature sensor, Alexa+ can’t pull data from it. When you ask about the temperature in your house, the assistant checks for a connected thermostat, which I don’t have synced with the Alexa app. There are still times like this where you’ll run into some head-scratching limitations, but overall, the new Alexa is more human-like than ever when you interact with it. And again, at times, it’s pretty unsettling. 

When the early access period is over, you’ll need a Prime membership to continue using Alexa+ for free. If you don’t have one, the next-gen assistant will cost you a whopping $20/month. And right now, the preview is only available in the US and in US English. 

What’s not so good about the Echo Studio?

Billy Steele for Engadget

While the clarity and somewhat immersive audio performance on the Echo Studio is a highlight, the lack of detail in the bass tuning is a hindrance most of the time. There is noticeable bass when a song calls for it, but the low-end tone has a muted, almost muffled quality that’s missing nuance. This makes songs like Water From Your Eyes’ “Born 2” sound much flatter and constrained than I’ve heard on the second-gen Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones and AirPods Pro 3. 

Amazon spent time during its recent launch event talking about Alexa Home Theater, a feature that will allow you to combine up to five Echo Studio speakers (or Echo Dot Max) with a compatible Fire TV stick. The company promises that all you have to do is plug in your gear and Alexa will handle the setup and tuning for you automatically. Unfortunately, Alexa Home Theater isn’t available yet;  the company says it will be released “in the coming weeks.” Of course, this means I wasn’t able to test it, which leaves one of the Echo Studio’s best features — at least on paper — for future evaluation. 

The company also nixed the 3.5mm input from the original Echo Studio. While I can appreciate that it was a much larger speaker, and 2019 was an entirely different time, I did like that Amazon gave us the option for wired connectivity on that device. With this new model, you’re left with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Despite enabling tap controls in the Echo Studio settings in the Alexa app, I could only get a few of them to work (snooze alarms, dismiss timers, end calls and stop Drop In). I even made sure to stand right in front of the speaker so its proximity sensors would know I was there, tapping awkwardly on the 3D knit fabric. Obviously, this doesn’t block any of the speaker’s functions as you can just use your voice for all of it. However, the ability to at least play/pause directly on the speaker would be handy. 

Wrap-up

The second iteration of the Echo Studio is a refined smart speaker that’s purpose-built for Amazon’s next-gen AI voice assistant. The device is a nice home for Alexa+ and the new design is certainly an improvement over the 2019 aesthetic of the original. While there’s some aspects of the sound on the Echo Studio that I admire, the tuning doesn’t offer the comprehensive oomph of that first speaker. That’s mostly due to the lack of detail in the bass, despite a pleasingly immersive soundstage overall. One of the speaker’s main features is still on the way, and the tap controls need fine-tuning, so for now, the new Echo Studio has a considerable amount of unfulfilled potential.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/amazon-echo-studio-2025-review-a-comprehensive-redesign-for-alexa-140000191.html?src=rss

Trusted execution environments, or TEEs, are everywhere—in blockchain architectures, virtually every cloud service, and computing involving AI, finance, and defense contractors. It’s hard to overstate the reliance that entire industries have on three TEEs in particular: Confidential Compute from Nvidia, SEV-SNP from AMD, and SGX and TDX from Intel. All three come with assurances that confidential data and sensitive computing can’t be viewed or altered, even if a server has suffered a complete compromise of the operating kernel.

A trio of novel physical attacks raises new questions about the true security offered by these TEES and the exaggerated promises and misconceptions coming from the big and small players using them.

The most recent attack, released Tuesday, is known as TEE.fail. It defeats the latest TEE protections from all three chipmakers. The low-cost, low-complexity attack works by placing a small piece of hardware between a single physical memory chip and the motherboard slot it plugs into. It also requires the attacker to compromise the operating system kernel. Once this three-minute attack is completed, Confidential Compute, SEV-SNP, and TDX/SDX can no longer be trusted. Unlike the Battering RAM and Wiretap attacks from last month—which worked only against CPUs using DDR4 memory—TEE.fail works against DDR5, allowing them to work against the latest TEEs.

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The Beats Studio Buds are currently $79.95 at Walmart, down from $149.95, making them one of the more affordable pairs of noise-canceling earbuds backed by Apple’s ecosystem. They’re designed to work just as well with Android as they do with iOS, which isn’t always the case for Apple-owned products. The sound profile leans more toward bass (classic Beats tuning), but you still get decent clarity in the mids and highs. They’re not balanced or studio-accurate, but if you listen to pop, hip-hop, or electronic music, that low-end punch can be fun.

Beats by Dr. Dre Studio Buds

$79.95
at Walmart

$149.95
Save $70.00

$79.95
at Walmart

$149.95
Save $70.00

The active noise cancellation (ANC) and Transparency mode are a nice surprise at this price. And while the ANC doesn’t match the precision or adaptability of higher-end models from Sony or Bose,  it handles steady low-frequency sounds well enough for commutes or travel (according to this PCMag review, voices and higher frequencies still slip through). Physically, these earbuds are small and light, though the glossy finish can make them tricky to grip when inserting them. Once in place, though, they sit securely and comfortably, helped by three included eartip sizes. 

Controls are simple: You can play or pause music, take calls, and switch between ANC modes directly from the buds. The only omission is volume control, which still requires reaching for your phone. The Studio Buds are also IPX4 water-resistant, meaning they’ll handle sweat or light rain without issue. Battery life is modest, around five hours with ANC on or eight without, and the charging case adds another 10 to 16 hours depending on usage. That said, there’s no wireless charging, and it comes with a USB-C cable but no adapter, so you’ll need one handy. If you’re not expecting top-tier noise cancellation or audiophile balance, the Studio Buds still cover the basics well. They’re easy to use, small enough to carry anywhere, and deliver strong bass with a decent ANC experience at under $80.

US lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have introduced a bill called the “GUARD Act,” which is meant to protect minor users from AI chatbots. “In their race to the bottom, AI companies are pushing treacherous chatbots at kids and looking away when their products cause sexual abuse, or coerce them into self-harm or suicide,” said the bill’s co-sponsor, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn). “Our legislation imposes strict safeguards against exploitative or manipulative AI, backed by tough enforcement with criminal and civil penalties.”

Under the GUARD Act, AI companies would be required to prohibit minors from being able to access their chatbots. That means they have to conduct age verification for both existing and new users with the help of a third-party system. They’ll also have to conduct periodic age verifications on accounts that were already previously verified. To maintain users’ privacy, the companies will only be allowed to retain data “for no longer than is reasonably necessary to verify a user’s age” and may not share or sell user information. 

AI companies will be required to make their chatbots explicitly tell the user that it’s not a human being at the beginning of each conversation and every 30 minutes after that. They’ll have to make sure their chatbots don’t claim to be a human being or a licensed professional, such a therapist or a doctor, when asked. Finally, the bill aims to create new crimes to charge companies that make their AI chatbots available to minors. 

In August, the parents of a teen who committed suicide filed a wrongful death lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing it of prioritizing “engagement over safety.” ChatGPT, they said, helped their son plan his own death even after months of conversations, wherein their child talked to the chatbot about his four previous suicide attempts. ChatGPT allegedly told their son that it could provide information about suicide for “writing or world-building.” A mother from Florida sued startup Character.AI in 2024 for allegedly causing her 14-year-old son’s suicide. And just this September, the family of a 13-year-old girl filed another wrongful death lawsuit against Character.AI, arguing that the company didn’t point their daughter to any resources or notify authorities when she talked about her suicidal ideations. 

It’s also worth noting that the bill’s co-sponsor Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) previously said that the Senate Committee Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, which he leads, will investigate reports that Meta’s AI chatbots could have “sensual” conversations with children. He made the announcement after Reuters reported on an internal Meta document, stating that Meta’s AI was allowed to tell a shirtless eight-year-old: “Every inch of you is a masterpiece — a treasure I cherish deeply.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/bipartisan-guard-act-proposes-age-restrictions-on-ai-chatbots-130020355.html?src=rss

President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have spent the better part of the president’s second term radically reshaping the federal government. But in recent weeks, the GOP has set its sights on taking another run at an old target: the US census.

Since the first Trump administration, the right has sought to add a question to the census that captures a respondent’s immigration status and to exclude noncitizens from the tallies that determine how seats in Congress are distributed. In 2019, the Supreme Court struck down an attempt by the first Trump administration to add a citizenship question to the census.

But now, a little-known algorithmic process called “differential privacy,” created to keep census data from being used to identify individual respondents, has become the right’s latest focus. WIRED spoke to six experts about the GOP’s ongoing effort to falsely allege that a system created to protect people’s privacy has made the data from the 2020 census inaccurate.

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The Nothing Phone universe continues to expand. On Wednesday, the company launched the fourth model in the Phone 3 lineup: the Nothing Phone 3a Lite. (It joins the Phone 3, Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro.) The cheapest model in the series, the Phone 3a Lite pairs the brand’s distinct styling with solid all-around specs for an entry-level handset. However, with the company saying its non-flagship devices will soon include pre-installed apps and lock-screen ads, there may be a trade-off.

The Nothing Phone 3a Lite uses a Panda Glass casing over an aluminum internal frame. As you can see, it retains some familiar design strokes, albeit pared down to match its €249 price. As the company describes it, the handset’s “asymmetric, transparent look and nano-coating creates a beautiful balance of matte and gloss.” (Poetry!) The phone ships in white and black variants. Whether Nothing’s design language is your cup of tea or not, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more striking and bold design language in a budget model.

The handset includes the Essential Key, a multi-purpose physical button found on all Phone 3 series models. The phone is IP54-rated for dust and water resistance.

Nothing

Nothing honors the brand’s unique Glyph system (while keeping costs down) by using a notification LED. (Remember those on early Android phones?) This model’s “Glyph Light” supports the lineup’s Flip to Glyph feature, which switches to light-only alerts when the device is face down. The LED can stay on for “key contact and app notifications” and serve as a camera countdown timer. You can also customize its light sequences for calls and specific contacts.

The handset has a hearty 5,000 mAh battery. Nothing advertises 22 hours of YouTube playback or 9.5 hours of gaming. It supports 33W fast charging, reaching 50 percent in about 20 minutes.

The Phone 3a Lite has a triple-camera system. That includes a 50MP primary camera with a 1/1.57-inch Samsung sensor. Joining it are an 8MP ultra-wide and a macro lens. The rear camera system shoots 4K video at app to 30 FPS. On its front is a 16MP lens.

Nothing

The Nothing Phone 3a Lite has more than respectable display specs for a budget phone. It uses a 6.77-inch flexible AMOLED panel with 1,080 x 2,392 resolution (387 PPI). It has a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and a 1,000Hz touch sampling rate. It can reach 3,000 nits peak HDR brightness and 1,300 nits outdoor brightness.

The handset’s processor is the 4nm MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro 5G. The 8-core CPU can reach up to 2.5 GHz. Nothing says the chip performs better than the MediaTek 7200 silicon in last year’s Phone 2a. The company claims its CPU is 15 percent faster, its GPU supports 20 percent higher FPS, and its NPU delivers 100 percent better AI performance.

The phone also uses a liquid-cooling system, which may help during intensive gaming sessions. It ships with 8GB of RAM and comes in 128GB and 256GB storage tiers.

Nothing

The phone runs the Nothing OS 3.5 UI on top of Android 15. The company says Nothing OS 4.0 will arrive in the first half of 2026.

And that brings us back to those trade-offs. Earlier this week, Nothing confirmed to 9to5Google that its strategy moving forward will include “Lock Glimpse.” This rotating lock-screen wallpaper feature includes text with links to external content hosted by a Chinese advertising company. (That firm, Boyuan, says it offers a “rich mixture of content” to help its partners “commercialize the mobile traffic.”) Think of it as a slightly less obnoxious version of lock-screen ads.

Fortunately, Lock Glimpse is off by default in the current Nothing OS 4.0 beta. But if that changes in the future, the value proposition for Nothing’s budget devices could shift dramatically.

Another cost-subsidizing move is Nothing’s (also confirmed) embrace of pre-installed apps. The company said its “carefully considered” third-party apps are those “most people install on day one, like Instagram.” In fairness, that’s a common practice among Android phone manufacturers. But then again, it flies in the face of one aspect of the brand’s stated ethos: clean, bloat-free software. And if business considerations forced concessions in this area, it makes you question how long Lock Glimpse will stay off by default.

We reached out to Nothing to clarify whether these features will make their way to the Phone 3a Lite.

The Nothing Phone 3a Lite is available now in Europe on the company website. The 128GB model costs €249 (EU) / £249 (UK). Meanwhile, the 256GB model will set you back €279 (EU) / £279 (UK). We’ve asked Nothing about US pricing and availability, and we’ll update this story when we hear back.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-nothing-phone-3a-lite-has-a-big-battery-and-triple-camera-system-130016149.html?src=rss

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Politico: Sen. Tom Cotton wasn’t fast enough in 2022 to block Senate passage of legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent. Three years later, he wasn’t about to repeat that same mistake. The Arkansas Republican was on hand Tuesday afternoon to thwart a bipartisan effort on the chamber floor to pass a bill that would put an end to changing the clocks twice a year, including this coming Sunday. […] A cross-party coalition of lawmakers has been trying for years to make daylight saving time the default, which would result in more daylight in the evening hours with less in the morning, plus bring to a halt to biannual clock adjustments.

President Donald Trump endorsed the concept this spring, calling the changing of the clocks “a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!!” His comments coincided with a hearing, then a markup, of Scott’s legislation in the Senate Commerce Committee. It set off an intense lobbying battle in turn, pitting the golf and retail industries — which are advocating for permanent daylight saving time — against the likes of sleep doctors and Christian radio broadcasters — who prefer standard time. “If permanent Daylight Savings Time becomes the law of the land, it will again make winter a dark and dismal time for millions of Americans,” said Cotton in his objection to a request by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) to advance the bill by unanimous consent. “For many Arkansans, permanent daylight savings time would mean the sun wouldn’t rise until after 8:00 or even 8:30am during the dead of winter,” Cotton continued. “The darkness of permanent savings time would be especially harmful for school children and working Americans.”

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There are plenty of reasons to buy shoes at your local running store instead of online or at a big box store, including a more knowledgeable staff and the fact that you’re supporting your local running community. But another biggie is the fact that many will take returns even after you’ve gone for a few runs in your shoes.

In case you don’t have a local store with this policy, it’s good to know that some larger brands and online stores will also take returns of lightly worn shoes. Fleet Feet and Running Warehouse are among the bigger stores that offer this perk; some online running shoe stores (like Roadrunner) will include it as part of a membership. But several running shoe brands offer a no-questions-asked return policy themselves, so if you know that you love (say) Nikes, you can buy from the brand directly.

Do not feel bad about taking advantage of this policy. The whole idea is that you can trust your body to tell you whether the shoes are working, rather than stressing during a brief try-on about whether you think these shoes will work for you. If you can’t help but feel guilty, you can make it up by buying your next new pair of shoes from the same place. They do it because they’re trying to win you as a loyal customer.

Adidas asks for shoes to be unworn for most returns, but it has a separate policy for its “performance” running shoes, which include all its popular running shoes, from the $65 Runfalcon on up.

Altra prominently advertises “30 day trial runs, guaranteed.” You’ll need a return label but you can get it online for free or at your return location. Altra allows returns “if you are not completely satisfied” during those 30 days.

Brooks will accept returns within 90 days, even if you’ve run in the shoes: “Run in it, sweat in it, inside, outside, in the rain—if it doesn’t perform the way it should, send it back.”

Hoka has a 30-day return policy (60 days for members), even if you’ve worn the shoes. “Try them out, that’s what our 30-day Guarantee is all about.”

Newton accepts returns within 30 days “for any reason with as much or as little wear and tear on them” as they happen to have.

Nike will let you return shoes, even if they’ve been worn, within 60 days of purchase. It refers to the 60-day time as your “trial” period and does not require the shoes to be unworn. There are exceptions, including items purchased at Nike Clearance stores.

Please note that policies can change, and that they often vary by country. Customer service staff can sometimes help you out even if you fall outside the official policy, but don’t count on it. Still, if you’ve bought shoes, run in them, and weren’t happy, it can’t hurt to ask.

YouTube will enforce new rules that are supposed to strengthen the enforcement of its guidelines around online gambling and graphic video game content starting on November 17. One of the biggest changes it’s implementing is age-restricting gaming videos featuring realistic human characters in scenes depicting torture or mass violence against non-combatants. 

The streaming website says it will take into account the duration and prominence of the scene in a video when reviewing one. For compilation videos, it will consider the cumulative duration of the scenes classified as graphic under its policies. Any video placed behind an age check barrier will be inaccessible to viewers under 18 or to anybody who’s not signed into their Google accounts. YouTube didn’t specify the duration that would get a video restricted, but a spokesperson told The Verge that “certain content may be age-restricted if it’s non-fleeting or zoomed in.” Creators can get around the restriction, however, by blurring any violent scene. 

In addition, YouTube is implementing stricter online gambling rules. It already prohibits videos directing people to online gambling sites or apps not certified by Google. Starting on November 17, it will also prohibit online gambling videos that involve items with monetary value, including digital goods like NFTs and game skins. The website is also age-restricting content with online casino-style games, even if they don’t involve items with real monetary value. 

YouTube will review old videos and remove them or put them behind age checks if they’re found to be in violation of the new rules, but it will not issue strikes to creators if they were uploaded before November 17. Creators can also edit their videos before that date with the website’s trim and blur editing tools. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/youtube/youtube-will-strengthen-enforcement-around-violent-and-gambling-games-in-november-123051469.html?src=rss

It has been nearly one month since many parts of the federal government shut down after lawmakers missed a budget deadline at the end of September, but so far, NASA’s most critical operations have been unaffected by the political impasse in Washington, DC.

That may change soon. Federal civil servants and NASA contractors are not getting paid during the shutdown, even if agency leaders have deemed their tasks essential and directed them to continue working. Jobs classified as essential include employees operating and safeguarding the International Space Station and NASA’s fleet of robotic probes exploring the Solar System and beyond.

Many employees at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida remain at work, too. Their job is to keep the Artemis II mission on schedule for launch as soon as next February. In the four weeks since the start of the government shutdown, crews at Kennedy Space Center have completed several major milestones on the road to Artemis II, including the stacking of the Orion spacecraft atop its Space Launch System rocket inside the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building. This milestone, completed about one week ago, capped off assembly of the SLS rocket for Artemis II.

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Apple is planning to introduce OLED displays to its iPad Air, iPad mini and MacBook Air devices, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman reported. The technology offers deeper blacks and better contrast than the LCDs currently used on those devices, which would make them better for things like content creation and entertainment. However, OLED is also more expensive, so it could result in higher prices on future models.

The company is currently testing versions of each product with OLED screens, according to people familiar with the matter. That display tech is usually reserved for higher-end PCs and tablets — right now, Apple only uses OLED screens in its iPad Pro lineup (apart from iPhones). However, it may be looking to boost flagging sales of Mac and iPad products, with OLED displays offering buyers a good reason to upgrade.

The first device to gain the tech will probably be the iPad mini that may launch next year, according to Gurman’s sources. The OLED version, code-named J510, may cost up to $100 more thanks to the new display and an updated water-resistant design. The iPad Air and MacBook Air will follow later on, possibly in 2028 in the case of the latter. 

Earlier this month, both Gurman and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that Apple would release a MacBook Pro with an OLED touchscreen in late 2026 or early 2027 — despite the fact that Steve Jobs famously hated touchscreens. It’s not clear if the MacBook Air with OLED would also have a touch display. 

On top of the contrast and black level advantages, OLED displays are lighter than LCDs as they don’t require a backlight. The main drawback is a lack of brightness. Apple’s current MacBook Pros use MiniLED tech that does offer higher brightness levels, but has inferior contrast compared to OLED. Take these rumors with a grain of salt, of course, and even if they’re accurate, Apple’s plans may change.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/apple-will-reportedly-shift-to-oled-displays-for-macbooks-ipad-air-and-mini-120005423.html?src=rss

Uber’s robotaxi service with EV maker Lucid and self-driving car company Nuro is officially coming to the Bay Area in 2026. The ride-hailing service previously announced plans to deploy at least 20,000 self-driving Lucid cars powered by Nuro’s driving software in July. The partnership between the companies also included investment from Uber in both Nuro and Lucid.

Uber’s final robotaxi experience will offer rides in Lucid Gravity SUVs running the Nuro Driver Level 4 autonomy system, and be available exclusively through the company’s app. Ahead of launch, Uber says Lucid and Nuro are also helping to build out an “Engineering Test Fleet” of over 100 robotaxis to run safety tests. “Nuro will lead the development and validation of a comprehensive safety case across dozens of categories,” Uber says, “using simulations, closed course testing, and supervised on-road testing to verify that the robotaxi will operate safely.” The final service will be fully owned and operated by Uber.

Since Uber sold off its own self-driving software team in 2020, the company has worked with multiple self-driving car companies to continue to offer robotaxis on its service. Just in 2025, Uber partnered with Waymo in Austin and Atlanta, announced plans to work with Momenta in Europe and debuted a partnership with Volkswagen to offer self-driving ID.Buzz vans. This Lucid and Nuro deal is really just one way the company is making serious investments in self-driving.

“The Bay Area has long been the birthplace of transformative technology, and it’s only fitting that Uber’s next-generation robotaxi program with Lucid and Nuro will begin here — launching to the public next year,” Sachin Kansal, Uber’s Chief Product Officer, shared in a press release. “By combining deep expertise in electric vehicles, autonomy, and ride-hailing, we’re laying the groundwork for safe and scalable autonomous rides in the Bay Area and beyond.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/uber-and-lucids-robotaxis-will-debut-in-the-bay-area-in-2026-120000876.html?src=rss