Technology

Honda is increasing its research and development spending in three futuristic areas: rockets, robots, and electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL), otherwise known as flying cars. The automaker will spend $45 billion (5 trillion yen) on R&D over the next six years. But Honda won’t say what fraction of that amount will be spent on developing rockets, robots, and flying cars, nor even if it plans on pursuing those projects as commercial businesses. In fact, Honda sees robots, rockets, and eVTOL aircraft as an extension of its main business of manufacturing automobiles. If the company can get a better electric vehicle platform out of it, for example, then it will be worth the investment. Basically, it wants to see if it can make working prototypes before taking the next step...

Microsoft’s Xbox chief, Phil Spencer, says console supply issues will continue into 2022. In an interview with The Wrap, spotted by Video Games Chronicle, Spencer admits the Xbox supply issues will last for the rest of the year and into 2022 due to supply chain complications beyond just a chip shortage. “I think it’s probably too isolated to talk about it as just a chip problem,” says Spencer. “When I think about, what does it mean to get the parts necessary to build a console today, and then get it to the markets where the demand is, there are multiple kind of pinch points in that process. And I think regretfully it’s going to be with us for months and months, definitely through the end of this calendar year and into the next calendar year.” The global chip shortage has impacted various c...

Microsoft is launching its Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) service in Australia, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan. The software giant has been testing streaming Xbox Game Pass Ultimate games in these markets over the past few months, and is now ready to greatly expand the reach of its xCloud technology. XCloud will be available to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers in Brazil and Mexico later today, meaning it technically launches in Australia and Japan in the early hours of October 1st. Xbox Cloud Gaming will be available through the dedicated Android and Xbox Windows apps, or via the web for iOS and other devices. Microsoft is now offering Xbox Cloud Gaming in 26 countries, thanks to this big expansion. “Since cloud gaming is powered by custom Xbox Series X consoles, that means these games are being...

Fairphone, the manufacturer focused on making easy to repair smartphones made out of ethically sourced materials, just took the wraps off its fourth-generation handset. The Fairphone 4 uses a modular design that’s similar to the company’s previous phones, only now with more powerful internals, a five-year warranty, and a promise of two major Android updates and software support until the end of 2025. Prices start at €579 / £499 for the phone, which will ship on October 25th. I’ve been using the Fairphone 4 for a couple of days as my primary phone, and while I’m not ready to give a final verdict just yet, it feels like a big step forward compared to the dated designs and low-power components found in the company’s previous phones. Stay tuned for my full review. Fairphone’s ambition is to pr...

From a home security drone to a personal roaming Alexa robot, Amazon announced a whole roster of new hardware coming in the near future over on its Fall 2021 event and you can now watch the entire video above. The highlight of the event was no doubt the new Astro, an upcoming robot on wheels powered by Alexa that can roam around your house acting as a personal assistant. With a $1,000 USD price tag, the gadget can also serve as a home security solution as well as a pet monitor. Leaning in onto home security, Amazon also unveiled a variety of new Ring products, including the Always Home Cam drone that’ll hover around your house on programmable flight paths, a new Alarm Pro system with the company’s Eero Internet router built-in, and a $50 USD video doorbell from Blink. Other notable release...

First announced at last year’s Amazon hardware event, the Ring Always Home Cam is now ready for take-off. Starting today, September 28th, you can request an invitation to be a crash-test dummy for Ring’s newest innovation. The Always Home Cam is a Ring camera attached to a drone that can fly predetermined paths in your home when triggered via a Ring Alarm sensor or from the Ring app. The camera costs $249.99; if you live in the US, you can apply for an invitation to buy it today, and the devices will ship later this year. Designed to solve the problem of wanting to be able to see inside your home when you’re not there but not wanting to have dozens of cameras watching you when you are, the Always Home Cam only records when it’s in flight. When not in use, it sits in its charging dock that ...

Several Chinese companies have filed a class-action complaint against Amazon for banning them from the Amazon marketplace over their use of paid reviews, a new complaint filed on September 13th claims. In the last year, Amazon has cracked down on companies soliciting paid reviews on its platform, claiming to have permanently banned 600 Chinese brands across 3,000 seller accounts. The companies listed in the complaint, doing business as Sopownic, Slaouwo, Deyixun, Cstech, Recoo Direct, Angelbliss, and Tudi, are seeking “recovery of funds that are being illegally and improperly withheld by Amazon” and are filing the class action to “stop any further misappropriation and misuse of funds that are legally and rightfully due to thousands of Amazon sellers and merchants,” the complaint reads. Ama...

Facebook on Wednesday launched Reels, the short-form video feature originally released on Instagram, for iOS and Android users in the U.S. Reels on Facebook offers music, audio and video effects to make short-form content more accessible on the legacy platform. You can find Facebook Reels in the News Feed or through the Groups tab. Facebook is also expanding Reels to reach audiences outside of immediate friend groups, allowing people to discover Reels based on their interests. Creators can also share their Reels in Groups to better express themselves. In addition, Facebook is enhancing its cross-platform capabilities by testing the ability to share Reels from Instagram to Facebook. The new feature comes as part of Facebook’s commitment to invest over $1 billion USD in content creators thro...

It is rare for a big company to come out and categorically deny an entire report, but that’s what Nintendo just did today — the Japanese corporate entity has issued a press release insisting that Bloomberg’s seeming revelation that Nintendo was pushing developers to build 4K-resolution games for an upcoming but potentially canceled “Switch Pro” handheld was entirely incorrect. Nintendo writes the report “falsely claims that Nintendo is supplying tools to drive game development for a Nintendo Switch with 4K support” and insists that it’s “not true.” Separately, it says that it has no plans for any new Nintendo Switch other than the slightly refined OLED model that’ll be out next week. While there’s always a possibility that the language technically allows for most if not all of Bloomberg’s ...

Facebook has shared the internal research about the impact of Instagram on teenage mental wellbeing reported on by The Wall Street Journal earlier this month. The Wall Street Journal reported that the files showed Instagram knew the social media network has a negative affect on teens’ mental health. Facebook has pushed back on the WSJ’s characterizations of its research, saying that “it is simply not accurate that this research demonstrates Instagram is ‘toxic’ for teen girls.” The research slide decks are available on Facebook’s newsroom here, split into two PDFs. We’ve also embedded the PDFs at the bottom of this story. Notably, the two PDFs have been annotated by Facebook in an effort to provide context. Following Facebook’s release of the two documents, The Wall Street Journal publishe...

Amazon has settled a dispute with two workers that the National Labor Relations Board said were fired for their activism. In April 2020, the company fired Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa after they had organized a protest against Amazon’s work with oil and gas companies, as well as raising concerns with the company’s coronavirus measures at its warehouses. In a joint statement, Costa and Cunningham said that the company would have to pay them lost wages as well as inform employees that they couldn’t be fired for organizing. They haven’t mentioned whether they would be getting their jobs as UX designers back. At the time of the NLRB’s ruling, Amazon said that it disagreed with the findings, and that Costa and Cunningham had been fired due to violation of internal policies. NLRB rulings don...

After a tedious day of bickering, Victoria Sung appeared like manna from heaven — to tell us that Theranos’ tests sucked. Sung worked at Celgene when it contracted with Theranos. Her testimony was brief and to the point: Celgene had not “comprehensively validated” Theranos technology, she said. That would have taken more work than what she did with Theranos’ tests. The work she showed the court from 2012 demonstrated Theranos performed dismally compared to standard testing — often returning results that were “out of range.” Sung is a teaser for a big part of US v. Elizabeth Holmes We’ll get to the bickering in a minute, I promise, but Sung is a teaser for a big part of US v. Elizabeth Holmes we haven’t explored much: Theranos’s relationship with pharmaceutical companies. One allegation pro...