Technology

Amazon’s corporate workers won’t be returning to its offices until January 2022, the company has confirmed to The Verge. This marks a delay of around four months, as the company’s previous plan called for employees to return on a hybrid basis starting on September 7th, 2021. Amazon released updated return-to-office procedures for its employees in June, and it tells The Verge that wearing masks will be optional for fully vaccinated employees but required for everyone else. The company’s news post about the return to office guidance stated that employees could expect a hybrid work model, with the standard being three days in the office and two remote. Many of Amazon’s workers have been working on-site throughout the pandemic The news of Amazon pushing back its in-person working plans c...

If you have a solid internet connection, you owe it to yourself to get a mesh Wi-Fi system. It’ll help to cover more of your apartment or home in fast Wi-Fi. You can get Google’s Wifi in a three-pack for $150 at Amazon, down from $200. This 25 percent discount is the biggest price markdown yet. And considering that Google sells a single Wifi unit for $100, it doesn’t make much sense to opt for that when you can get another two for just $50 more. Now, Google’s newer Nest Wifi does offer better range and more features than this product, but these are still worth getting if you’re on a budget (not to mention, it’s cross-compatible with Nest Wifi, should you ever upgrade). Each Google Wifi router has dual gigabit ethernet ports, and plugs in via a 15W power adapter. Unlike the previous iterati...

Amazon announced new efforts that might be able to prevent some overstocked and returned items from becoming trash. It launched two new programs that are intended to make it easier for third-party retailers to sell returned goods and unsold inventory. The moves come in the wake of several separate investigations into Amazon warehouses that found that many returned and unsold items were labeled for destruction. Businesses that use Amazon to sell their products pay to hold their stock in Amazon warehouses. When those goods don’t sell, or if returned items pile up, they might decide to chuck the products to save money. Amazon’s new “Grade and Resell” initiative will now give third-party sellers in the UK the option to sell stuff that’s been returned as “used.” Sellers can choose to funnel ret...

There’s a lot riding on the Ear 1 wireless earbuds, which are the first product to come from Nothing — a new company created by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei. Backed with investment from GV, Tony Fadell, and influential creators like Casey Neistat, Nothing is aiming to build out an entire family of products that follow the design ethos debuting with the Ear 1. Transparency is at the heart of that: the Ear 1s have a clear “stem” that lets you peer at their internal components, and the unconventional charging case has a transparent lid to keep the buds in view at all times. Pei has said his motivation for starting Nothing was a consumer tech industry that felt stale, unimaginative, and awash in gadgets that all feel very same-y. I don’t really buy into that viewpoint; sure, AirPods clones are ...

Pharmaceutical company Moderna said its COVID-19 vaccine is 93 percent effective through six months after the second dose, but as new variants of the virus emerge, people who received the vaccine may need a booster shot before winter. The company made the announcement as part of its second-quarter earnings release Thursday. “We are pleased that our Covid-19 vaccine is showing durable efficacy of 93 percent through six months, but recognize that the Delta variant is a significant new threat so we must remain vigilant,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a statement with the earnings release. Moderna president Stephen Hoge said during an earnings call that a third booster “will likely be necessary to keep us as safe as possible through the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere.” The comp...

Nintendo has released its earnings for the April-June quarter, and while the figures would normally be strong for what’s usually a slow period, revenue and profit are both down compared to a year ago. That’s perhaps not surprising given the company was then riding a surge in demand for video games during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and had just released the mega-hit Animal Crossing: New Horizons. By comparison, Switch hardware sales were down 21.7 percent to 4.45 million units, and software sales decreased 10.2 percent to 45.29 million units. Nintendo has now sold 89.04 million Switch consoles in total; for comparison, the PS5 just hit 10 million. Revenue decreased 9.9 percent to 322.6 billion yen ($2.94 billion), while operating profit was 119.6 billion yen ($1.09 billion), a...

President Biden wants 50 percent of all new cars sold in the United States in 2030 to be all-electric, plug-in hybrid, or hydrogen-powered — a goal he will lay out in an executive order later today, according to senior administration officials. In addition, his administration will propose new fuel economy and emissions standards that will more or less erase the Trump administration’s rollback of the previous Obama-era rules covering cars made through 2025. Biden will also sign an executive order that tasks the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to develop aggressive long-term rules to support his 2030 target, ones that include medium- and heavy-duty vehicles as well. “When I say electric vehicles are the future, I’m not joking,”...

Like most of the super-rich, Elon Musk has one eye on his legacy, keen to shape how his huge fortune is perceived now and in the future. This perhaps explains why he recently shared the fact that Walter Isaacson, biographer of Steve Jobs, is writing a book about him. “If you’re curious about Tesla, SpaceX & my general goings on, @WalterIsaacson is writing a biography,” tweeted Musk. He added in subsequent tweets that Isaacson has shadowed Musk “for several days so far,” and that he “particularly liked” Isaacson’s biography of US founding father Benjamin Franklin. He also repeated that he will “maybe one day” write his own autobiography. Musk says he “particularly liked” Isaacson’s book about Benjamin Franklin There have been a number books written about Musk’s life and his career, incl...

Asus is making a range of its motherboards ready for Windows 11. The motherboard manufacturer has released BIOS updates for a variety of chipsets, including ones that support Intel Kaby Lake processors from 2017. Both Intel and AMD chipsets are supported, and these new BIOS updates will even automatically enable TPM (Trusted Platform Module) on AMD and Intel systems. A TPM is a minimum requirement for Windows 11, and it’s a change that caused some confusion after many realized their PCs didn’t have the option enabled in the BIOS, or it was confusingly named “PTT” or “PSP fTPM” in BIOS settings. Microsoft’s Windows 11 upgrade checker didn’t ease that confusion initially, so it’s encouraging to see big manufacturers like Asus now enabling TPM by default so people don’t have to dig around. Wh...

Megan Thee Stallion is proving to be more of a multi-hyphenate than expected. In her latest venture, the rapper has partnered with Cash App to educate the “hotties” on the cryptocurrency world. Connecting with Cash App, Megan has dropped two financial education videos to give beginners a better understanding of what goes on in the digital currency world. In a two-minute video, she explains, “It’s the new digital currency that’s been getting a lot of hype. Bitcoin is a new kind of money. While the cash in your wallet is issued and regulated by governments, Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency. Like a wild stallion, it can’t be controlled by anyone.” She gives beginners the low-down on how the cryptocurrency market works and even released a second video titled, Investing for Hotties to further explai...

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is seeking a “Spaceport Mixologist” who can whip up space-themed drinks next to the company’s sprawling rocket factory in south Texas. While space itself likely won’t be in their future, an experienced bartender — who will have one of the coolest job titles — will be tapped to join the hundreds of employees working on SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket system in rural Boca Chica, Texas. The mixologist will probably work out of the small house next to SpaceX’s budding spaceport that Musk calls the Starbase Tiki Bar and sling tiki drinks like the Test Pilot or Jet Pilot. “Experience pairing drinks with a themed menu” is on the list of preferred skills. “SpaceX has a number of food service outlets and formats serving our workforce and are looking to add many more. We are sear...