If you are a regular Uber rider, your next trip may feel just a little bit different. Uber has announced several changes to its platform which include the in-app navigation’s newfound aversion to left turns as well as several other safety-focused enhancements.
This announcement may seem like a coy way to subtly increase ride fares by forcing
Source: Hot Hardware – Uber Wants To Leave Left Turns To NASCAR Drivers So Your Next Ride Will Be Mostly Right
Enlarge / Looking sharp.
At this point in the history of tech product marketing, consumers generally know what it means when a company sticks the word “Pro” at the end of a device name. From iPads and AirPods to the Microsoft Surface and Galaxy Watch, “Pro” models generally offer the same underlying device and core platform with a few “nice to have” top-of-the-line features for enthusiast users who want the best experience.
To get those Pro features, consumers generally have to pay a “Pro premium” of somewhere between 25 to 60 percent over the most expensive “non-Pro” model of the same product. Even the biggest Pro-version outliers we could find in the tech world barely top a 100 percent increase over their non-Pro progenitors.
Despite the name, the Meta Quest Pro doesn’t really belong in the same marketing universe as these previous “Pro” products. Meta’s new standalone VR headset costs $1,500 at launch, a whopping 275 percent more than its $400 predecessor, the Meta Quest 2 (which has sold quite well for its still-young market segment). The premium increases to 400 percent if you compare the Quest Pro to the $300 Meta was asking for a Quest 2 just a few months ago.
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Source: Ars Technica – Meta Quest Pro review: For those with more money than sense
A week and a half ago, NASA released a stunning image of the iconic Pillars of Creation taken by the Webb Space Telescope, a $10 billion state-of-the-art space observatory that launched last December.
Source: Gizmodo – Webb Telescope Drops Creepy Image of the Pillars of Creation
The sensation of tapping into terror can became an obsession—even an addiction—and few mediums allow you to do so quite as readily as podcasts. The intimacy of the medium—just you, your earbuds, and your cortisol response—can be a portal into the places that scare us the most, whether they are real or entirely…
Source: LifeHacker – 12 Podcasts to Listen to in the Dark, Ranked by Scariness
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Chesnot )
Elon Musk reportedly appointed himself to the CEO role at Twitter and is expected to reverse lifelong bans on users—including the ban imposed on former President Donald Trump.
As reported last night, Musk completed his $44 billion purchase of Twitter and immediately fired CEO Parag Agrawal and several other high-ranking executives. Bloomberg reported today that Musk appointed himself CEO but cited an anonymous source as saying that Musk “may eventually cede the Twitter CEO role in the longer term.” Musk is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.
Bloomberg’s source provided details on Musk’s plan to reverse lifelong bans:
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Source: Ars Technica – Now in charge of Twitter, Musk is expected to reverse bans—including Trump’s
Linux distributions were, as a general rule, designed during an era when
most software of interest was written in C; as a result, distributions
are naturally able to efficiently package C applications and the libraries
they depend on. Modern languages, though, tend to be built around their
own package-management systems that are designed with different goals in
mind. The result is that, for years, distributors have struggled to find
the best ways to package and ship applications written in those languages.
A recent discussion in the Fedora community on the packaging of Rust
applications shows that the problems have not yet all been solved.
Source: LWN.net – [$] Packaging Rust for Fedora
If you’ve been following the fighting game community, you might’ve noticed something strange happening at some recent Guilty Gear tournaments. A player hailing from the U.S. named Joe Biden has been sweeping the competition, placing in the top 10 in the last 20 or so tourneys he’s competed in. But…wait a minute, Joe…
Source: Kotaku – For Years, ‘Joe Biden’ Has Silently Been Crushing This Fighting Game
Sonos has launched a new sale that discounts various bundles of the company’s smart soundbars, speakers, and subwoofers. All of the offers are still on the expensive side — the cheapest bundle starts at $678, and relatively affordable Sonos devices like the Ray soundbar or Sub Mini subwoofer aren’t included. Still, discounts of any sort on Sonos speakers are uncommon, and the bundles here take roughly 20 percent off several home theater devices we recommend, including the high-end Sonos Arc and compact Sonos Beam soundbars, the latest Sonos Sub subwoofer, and the Sonos One SL surround speaker.
Shop Sonos home theater bundles at Sonos
Here’s a list of the bundles on sale:
Sonos Beam (Gen 2) + 2x Sonos One SL for $678, down from $847
Sonos Arc + 2x Sonos One SL for $1,038, down from $1,297
Sonos Beam (Gen 2) + Sonos Sub (Gen 3) for $958, down from $1,198
Sonos Arc + Sonos Sub (Gen 3) for $1,318, down from $1,648
Sonos Beam (Gen 2) + Sonos Sub (Gen 3) + 2x Sonos One SL for $1,277, down from $1,596
Sonos Arc + Sonos Sub (Gen 3) + 2x Sonos One SL for $1,637, down from $2,046
The first-gen Sonos Beam is also down to $299 in white, which is a $100 discount, though that soundbar lacks Dolby Atmos support compared to the $449 second-gen model.
It’s worth noting that Sonos hiked prices on most of its devices last year, and if you aren’t looking for a whole-home audio setup, there are plenty other soundbars we like on both the premium and budget ends of the market that don’t try to lock you into one family of devices. Port selection on Sonos devices is typically limited as well, and none of the devices on sale here support Bluetooth audio. But if you can afford the premium, Sonos speakers still have the benefit of working easily in tandem, with simple setup processes, a polished universal control app, wide streaming service support, room calibration (albeit with iOS devices only), and Apple AirPlay functionality.
We’ve also found the Arc, Beam, Sub, and One SL to offer quality sound for their intended audiences. We gave the top-end Arc and midrange Beam review scores of 85 and 88, respectively; both technically support Atmos, though the Arc is a bigger 5.0.2-channel bar that will better fill a large room compared to the shorter 5.0-channel Beam. The Sub is undeniably expensive but delivers powerful bass, while the One SL is just the excellent Sonos One without built-in microphones (which isn’t as much of a problem for smart assistant support when paired with a mic-enabled soundbar).
With Black Friday around the corner, there’s always a chance we’ll see more deals before the end of the year. But if you’re been thinking of jumping headfirst into a new premium home theater setup, these discounts should lighten the load at least somewhat. If any of the offers above run dry, note that many are also available at B&H and Adorama.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
Source: Engadget – Sonos’ latest sale takes 20 percent off home theater bundles
Anyone playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, which got released today, on Xbox or PC is finding themselves in the shallow video game trenches, but not the kind they had hoped for. Infinity Ward’s first-person shooter seems to have a console preference, with Xbox players unable to switch off crossplay, a function…
Source: Kotaku – Modern Warfare II Xbox Fans Can’t Easily Turn Off Crossplay, But PlayStation Gets Extra Perks
If you’re among the more than 2 billion who use Google’s Chrome browser on your desktop PC, take a moment to apply the latest patch. Google has issued an emergency update that contains a single security fix and nothing more, but it’s an important one—its plugs up a gaping security hole that hackers are known to be actively exploiting in the
Source: Hot Hardware – Google Issues Urgent Zero-Day Patch For Billions Of Chrome Users, Update ASAP
Enlarge (credit: Reynold Andika Tinus / 500px)
In 2008, the United States embassy in Beijing installed an air-quality monitor and started tweeting out its findings every hour. Since then, these monitors have popped up in more than 50 embassies in countries and cities around the globe.
Something unexpected happened in each of the cities in which the monitors appeared. Researchers found that, overall, air quality improved in the cities where embassies were tweeting out air-quality data. “We were surprised,” Akshaya Jha, assistant professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University and one of the paper’s authors, told Ars.
According to the World Health Organization, in 2019, more than 90 percent of the world’s population lived in areas with dangerous levels of air pollution. Further, according to Jha’s paper, this phenomenon tends to be worse in low- and middle-income countries. However, air-quality monitoring in those countries is quite rare.
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Source: Ars Technica – US embassies may have accidentally improved air quality
One perk of moving from the Northeast to Texas was learning to add a little spice to things, like sprinkling Tajín on watermelon or enjoying a mangonada on a hot day. The same is true for candy: You should try the luxury of eating dulces enchilados—candies covered in a tangy, sweet, sour, and spicy mixture. Dulces…
Source: LifeHacker – Your Candy Needs Some Spice
Following the first, mysterious teaser for the new Netflix-produced new Sonic show, the streaming service has finally released a second trailer, and this one does a much better job at letting us know what exactly is in store for our fleet-footed hedgehog friend—the multiverse.
Source: Gizmodo – Sonic: Prime Sends the Hedgehog Out to the Multiverse
Government officials believe that surveillance operations by foreign powers and weather balloons or other airborne clutter explain most recent incidents of unidentified aerial phenomenon — government-speak for U.F.O.s — as well as many episodes in past years. From a report: The sightings have puzzled the Pentagon and intelligence agencies for years, fueling theories about visiting space aliens and spying by a hostile nation using advanced technology. But government officials say many of the incidents have far more ordinary explanations. Intelligence agencies are set to deliver a classified document to Congress by Monday updating a report made public last year that said nearly all of the incidents remain unexplained. The original document looked at 144 incidents between 2004 and 2021 that were reported by U.S. government sources, mostly American military personnel.
This article is based on interviews with American officials familiar with the findings of the Pentagon and intelligence agencies’ examination of the incidents. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the classified work. Some of the incidents have been formally attributed to Chinese surveillance — with relatively ordinary drone technology — and others are also thought to be connected to Beijing. China, which has stolen plans for advanced fighter planes, wants to learn more about how the United States trains its military pilots, according to American officials.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Many Military UFO Reports Are Just Foreign Spying or Airborne Trash
NASA tweeted a photo of the Sun smiling, which left some reminiscing of the iconic Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man from the movie Ghostbusters. However, in this image the giant marshmallow looks to be getting ready to be placed on a giant s’mores cookie.
The Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) was the first mission to be launched for NASA’s Living
Source: Hot Hardware – NASA’s Sizzling Photo Of The Sun Smiling Looks Like The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man On Fire
Konrad Bicher—the 31-year-old Florida native and self proclaimed “Wolf of Airbnb”—has been indicted following an FBI investigation into his illegal scheme of subletting Manhattan apartments while refusing to pay rent.
Source: Gizmodo – The ‘Wolf of Airbnb’ Has Been Indicted in ‘Mini-Hotel’ Subletting Scheme
Attempting to deface or destroy priceless works of art in the name of climate activism is all the rage right now, but what if you can’t make it to the Louvre in Paris, or the National Gallery in London? Don’t worry, there are still thousands of priceless works of art available online, and Matt Reed has created a…
Source: Gizmodo – You Can Now Protest at Home by Defacing Priceless NFT Art With Digital Mashed Potatoes
Newer DIY enthusiasts often approach hardware stores like a kid in a candy store: Everything is interesting and all the cool tools are on display. Isles upon isles of materials beckon as they load their cart with goodies…but while the tool aisle is exciting, there are some things you should never do in the hardware…
Source: LifeHacker – Never Do These Things in a Hardware Store
It’s very likely you don’t give a great deal of thought to where the digital colors you use originally came from. Nor, probably, have you wondered who might “own” a particular color, when you picked it when creating something in Photoshop. But a lot of people are about to give this a huge amount of their attention, as…
Source: Kotaku – You’re Going To Have To Pay To Use Some Fancy Colors In Photoshop Now
Enlarge / Juan Gilbert demonstrates his transparent voting machine, which he says is a breakthrough in election security. (credit: Lawren Simmons for Undark)
In late 2020, a large box arrived at Juan Gilbert’s office at the University of Florida. The computer science professor had been looking for this kind of product for months. Previous orders had yielded poor results. This time, though, he was optimistic.
Gilbert drove the package home. Inside was a transparent box, built by a French company and equipped with a 27-inch touchscreen. Almost immediately, Gilbert began modifying it. He put a printer inside and connected the device to Prime III, the voting system he has been building since the first term of the George W. Bush administration.
After 19 years of building, tinkering, and testing, he told Undark this spring, he had finally invented “the most secure voting technology ever created.”
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Source: Ars Technica – A scientist’s quest for an accessible, unhackable voting machine
