Charging is usually one of the least exciting parts of driving an EV, but the FIA thinks it can make these pauses more engaging. As part of updated regulations, Formula E will trial a 30-second “Attack Charge” during some races in the ninth season. New battery technology will give cars 4kWh of energy from the half-minute session thanks to a 600kW booster. The charging stop will be mandatory at a specified point in the race, but drivers will receive two “enhanced” Attack Mode periods later in the race as compensation.

The quick charge is tied to the Gen3 cars making their debut in the new season. The current Attack Mode, where drivers can activate a momentary power boost, will still be available in those races where Attack Charge isn’t in use.

The upcoming season also makes fundamental changes to the league’s competitive format. Races now take place over a set number of laps, rather than a fixed amount of time. If there are safety car and full course yellow disruptions, organizers will add more laps. Teams will also have to complete a minimum of two Free Practice 1 sessions with rookie drivers to help them experience Formula E. And don’t expect to play a role in your favorite driver’s victory — the spectator-driven Fanboost is going away.

The modified Attack Mode isn’t what was originally planned. FIA had originally hoped to revive pit stops, but the necessary system wasn’t ready in time. Those more conventional stops are expected to come, but not for a while yet.

Season nine and Gen3 will launch in Mexico City this January. It’s too soon to say if Attack Charge will spice up races in real-world conditions. However, it might point to the future of roadgoing EVs. Even the fastest-charging street models take at least a few minutes to get a meaningful amount of range from a charging session. Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 needs five minutes on a 350kW charger for 53 miles of driving, for instance. While 600kW chargers won’t become mainstream for a while (Geely’s Viridi brand only unveiled its tech this September), Formula E’s testing hints at a day when your EV might only need a brief stop to recover enough range for a long drive.

Source: Engadget – Formula E will trial a 30-second quick charging stop in some races next season

It’s now much simpler to participate in a Microsoft Teams meeting if you have hearing issues. Microsoft has introduced a sign language view that lets people who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as their interpreters, prioritize each other during meetings. Those video feeds will remain in consistent locations, at sizes large enough for sign language to be visible. You’ll see as many as two other signers throughout a meeting, and video will remain large even when slides or screen shares are visible.

The view also makes preferences “sticky” thanks to a new accessibility settings pane, Microsoft says. You won’t have to worry about pinning interpreters or enabling captions every time a Teams call begins. You can jump directly into a meeting instead of tweaking options.

The sign language view and accessibility pane are currently available only through a Public Preview available on a user-by-user basis. They’ll roll out to all commercial and government customers in the “coming weeks,” Microsoft says. It could take a while before everyone can use the functionality. Still, this promises to greatly simplify meetings for anyone with limited hearing — and might make Teams more viable if alternatives like Zoom (which only recently added support for interpreters) aren’t up to the task.

Source: Engadget – Microsoft Teams makes it easier to host meetings using sign language

There’s another opportunity to pick up Amazon’s Echo speakers at their lowest prices to date as part of the company’s early Black Friday sales. In many cases, they’ve dropped back down to the prices we saw during the fall edition of Prime Day. For one thing, the regular Echo is $50, which is half off the usual price. The latest Echo Dot is down from $50 to $25, and the fifth-gen Echo Dot with clock is a third off at $40. The Echo Dot kids’ version is down 50 percent to $30 as well.

Buy Echo (4th-gen) at Amazon – $50Buy Echo Dot (5th-gen) at Amazon – $25Buy Echo Dot with clock (5th-gen) at Amazon – $40Buy Echo Dot (5th-gen) kids’ version at Amazon – $30

Amazon hasn’t refreshed the standard Echo since 2020, but $50 is still a good price for this speaker. In our review, we lauded it for the great sound quality, while the inclusion of a 3.5mm audio jack is very welcome. You can pair two Echo speakers for stereo audio. Given the current price, you’d essentially be getting two for the price of one anyway.

Echo Dot recently got a refresh with a larger driver and, Amazon claims, double the bass of the previous model as well as clearer vocals. The latest Echo Dot with clock can now flash information like the artist and title of a song that it’s playing on its display.

The Echo Dot kids’ version comes with a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+. This includes access to child-friendly Audible books and interactive games, as well as educational Alexa skills. Alexa will give responses that are kid-friendly, while the smart speaker will filter explicit songs. There are parental controls available too.

Amazon has set up a page where you can see all the early Black Friday offers for Echo devices and bundles. Meanwhile, Amazon has some solid deals on its Echo Show devices. Those have dropped back to the all-time lows we saw during October Prime Day too.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.

Source: Engadget – Amazon’s Echo speakers drop back to all-time-low prices in early Black Friday sale