Technology

GM has officially started sending its Hummer EV Edition 1 pickup trucks out of the factory and into the driveways of customers, according to a press release on the company’s website. Built on the Ultium platform, the Hummer EV Edition 1 model comes with a hefty $110,295 price tag, along with up to 1,000 horsepower, 11,500 lb-ft of torque, and an estimated 329-mile range. Features unique to the vehicle include “CrabWalk,” a mode that enables the truck to drive diagonally at low speeds by pivoting the rear and front wheels at the same angle. Another feature increases the height of the truck’s suspension by six inches, potentially allowing the truck to clear large rocks or water when off-roading — in the fine print, GM says that this feature won’t come with 2022 Edition 1 models, but it will ...

On December 17, adidas Originals ventured into the Metaverse with its debut NFT collection that sold out almost immediately. Titled Into the Metaverse, the endeavor was created with Bored Ape Yacht Club, gmoney and PUNKS comic. Featuring 30,000 NFTs priced at 0.2 ETH each (about $800 USD), the sale generated over $23 million USD (6,000 ETH) in revenue, according to Cryptobriefing. Each NFT purchase guaranteed access to physical merchandise including a hoodie, tracksuit and more, virtual wearables and virtual event access in the Metaverse. Although the NFT collection was a success, it was not without technical difficulty. NFT minting for early access holders was haulted for about two hours due to transactional failures. However, adidas assured that parties who lost ETH due to the difficulti...

At one point in development, Kano Computing’s new music creation device was going to have finger holes. “‘God created man; man is God’s greatest technology,’” explained Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, as Kano CEO and co-founder Alex Klein remembers it. “So when we make technology, maybe it needs to be formed in our image.” The final product, the Stem Player, which Kano made in partnership with Ye, doesn’t have finger holes. But it is unconventional. It’s a weird music gadget that lets you listen to music and manipulate it in real-time — and even though the holes didn’t come to be, it does fit easily in one of your hands. Kano’s device has no screen, meaning you listen and mess with music using a few buttons and four touch-sensitive “stems” on the device. Together, they can be ...

After pining after Hyundai’s evil (in a good way) EV retro concept, a new concept vehicle has come to steal my heart from a company I can’t say I’ve heard of before. It’s the Citroën My Ami Buggy, a tiny battery-powered vehicle that looks like a smart car got really into backpacking, mountain-biking, or any number of fun weekend activities (shout out to Engadget for bringing this into my life). Citroën says in its press release that the buggy is designed to be playful, something “that every child from the age of 14 to 77 would want to add to their Christmas list,” and says it took inspiration from “non-automotive worlds such as construction games, industrial design and fashion.” I can actually buy fashion — the roof-mounted spare tire is reminiscent of a jauntily tossed beret. Although I a...

With the introduction of macOS Catalina in 2019, Apple finally brought the reign of iTunes to an end by splitting its features into dedicated Podcasts, TV, and Music apps. There was just one problem — the new Music app isn’t really that different from iTunes, and even the new streaming elements render like web pages instead of natively. macOS 12.2 beta is now available, featuring smoother scrolling in Safari on the latest MacBook Pro with ProMotion, and a native Apple Music and TV experience backed by AppKit views instead of web views. https://t.co/jjM9THIxFc — wondrous hydra (@wondroushydra) December 16, 2021 As 9to5Mac points out, developers testing a beta version of the next macOS Monterey update, 12.2, have spotted an updated version of the Music app that addresses some of those issues...

For many students across the US, what should have been the last day of school before winter break instead became a day filled with fear and rumors of imminent danger. On Thursday, officials across the country were responding to viral posts on social media saying schools would be the target of shootings on December 17th. Some canceled classes or allowed kids to stay home. Others said they would increase police presence on campus. And some simply said they were monitoring the situation. But just about everyone was united in one message: the threats officials were hearing about were deemed to be not credible. TikTok, meanwhile, was awash in videos: “POV your parents are making you stay home because of the December 17th trend,” reads one post. “Guys stay safe; I’m staying home,” says another. ...

LG has announced a new 9.1.5-channel Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundbar featuring a novel upward firing center speaker that bounces dialogue off the celling and to your ears so you can hear clearly. While up-firing drivers are a big part of how soundbars produce surround sound in general — it’s one of five here — LG claims the up-firing center is a world-first. The soundbar also includes a pair of wireless rear speakers that can now additionally send audio to the side walls of the room, which could also increase the audio immersion. It’s important to note that the new up-firing center speaker is still the same channel as the regular center, but adds to the clarity of dialogue. Same goes for the two extra side-firing drivers of the rear speaker pair; it’s the same channel as the side speakers o...

YouTube TV has failed to reach an eleventh-hour deal with Disney to keep more than a dozen Disney-owned channels on the live TV streaming service. As of December 18th, popular networks including ESPN and ABC have been removed from the service. As promised, YouTube TV has dropped its subscription to $50 per month as a direct result of the lost programming. Disney said in a statement late Friday that after ongoing negotiations with YouTube TV, “they have declined to reach a fair deal with us based on market terms and conditions.” “As a result, their subscribers have lost access to our unrivaled portfolio of networks including live sports and news plus kids, family and general entertainment programming from ABC, the ESPN networks, the Disney channels, Freeform, the FX networks and the Nationa...

Spider-Man: No Way Home eclipsed previous box office records on its first night at some of the biggest theater chains in the nation. That’s big news for theaters whose continued existence seemed under threat at the start of the pandemic, and it suggests moviegoers’ interest hasn’t yet changed dramatically in response to the latest COVID variant. AMC announced Friday that roughly 1.1 million moviegoers attended the opening night of Spider-Man: No Way Home, making it the highest-grossing opening night for a December title in AMC’s history. Cinemark called the film’s debut its “best opening night of all time.” And Regal said the film became its second-highest Thursday box office title in its history and shattered records for IMAX, 4DX, ScreenX, and RPX formats. “The anticipation for Spider-Ma...

The Echo Show 8 is the midsized smart display in Amazon’s current Echo lineup and can be used to display the weather, news, calendars, grocery lists, and more. You can also use it to control your smart home devices, watch streaming video, or listen to music. It even supports video calling via Zoom and Amazon’s Alexa calling service.

From the beginning, Elizabeth Holmes knew how to tell a good story. She launched her blood testing company, Theranos, with a tale of a powerful vision to revolutionize health care and change an old, outdated industry. She presented herself as Steve Jobs, part two. She sketched out a picture of someone in control. That Holmes, and that story, is what prosecutor John Bostic worked to reset back to during his rebuttal argument, the last word before the case went to the jury on Friday afternoon. It wasn’t reasonable to think the CEO of a company didn’t know exactly what impression she was giving to investors, Bostic said. It was clear she knew about problems with the Theranos tests. Holmes knew that the technology wasn’t working as intended, and that Theranos might not be able to change the wo...

All 30,000 of Adidas’ Into the Metaverse NFTs were minted within a matter of hours of going on sale Friday. Each NFT cost 0.2 ETH, which currently equates to about $765, and the company sold 29,620 NFTs (“Adidas and partners” held onto 380 for “future events”), meaning the company earned more than $22 million from the sales in the span of an afternoon. (The price of Ethereum has been falling while writing this story, making an exact number difficult to pinpoint.) Adidas made the NFTs in partnership with Bored Ape Yacht Club, Punks Comics, and GMoney (a pseudonymous crypto enthusiast). Buying an NFT gives owners access to special physical goods, like a hoodie and the tracksuit worn by the Bored Ape that Adidas owns, and upcoming digital experiences. However, the physical merch won’t be avai...