Technology

Baidu has gotten the green light to test fully autonomous vehicles on public roads in California. The Chinese search giant is the sixth company to receive a fully autonomous testing permit from the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (the others being Cruise, Waymo, Nuro, Zoox, and AutoX). Currently, 60 companies have an active permit to test autonomous vehicles with a safety driver in California. Baidu is the leading Chinese company in the autonomous vehicle space Baidu, which already spent years working on self-driving technology, is the leading Chinese company in the autonomous vehicle space. Last September, the company demonstrated its Level 4 fully autonomous vehicles at its developer conference, Baidu World. In December, Baidu received the first license to test fully autonomous vehi...

There are many moving parts involved in the Biden administration’s goal to administer 100 million vaccine doses in its first 100 days. Boatloads of data need to flow between manufacturers, health agencies, state officials, and local clinics. An article by Cat Ferguson and Karen Hao, published in MIT Technology Review today, lays out each step of vaccine distribution and explains the hurdles that come up along the way. At the federal level, the Department of Health and Human Services uses a Palantir-designed system called Tiberius to plan vaccine allocation. At the same time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s VTrckS helps states order vaccines. Both digital systems are constantly being fed data from a variety of sources. The number-crunching involves census data, reports of w...

Tesla’s record sales in 2020 helped the Silicon Valley company turn its first annual profit, according to financial figures released Wednesday, though not by much. Aided by a fourth quarter that brought in $270 million in profit on $10.7 billion of revenue, Tesla finished 2020 with a $721 million in profit on $31.5 billion in total revenue. To help get over the line, Tesla booked $401 million in regulatory credit sales in the fourth quarter of 2020. The company generates this money by selling these credits to automakers that make fewer clean vehicles than are required by the US government and the European Union. The credit sales have come in handy the past year and a half, as they’ve generated hundreds of millions of dollars per quarter for Tesla. Tesla’s banner 2020 was bolstered by boomi...

CD Projekt Red has added modding tools and resources to Cyberpunk 2077 for players to adjust their experience. The developer announced the news on its website. “Tools will be continuously updated alongside with game patches to ensure compatibility,” the post reads. The game has been rife with problems since its launch late last year. CD Projekt Red released its first big patch on January 22nd. The update is part of a larger effort to clean up the game’s problems, with more significant fixes to come. Since the patch’s release, however, players have run into at least one game-breaking bug introduced in the update; the developer has since released a workaround. Although the tools are official resources from CD Projekt Red, players have been modding their experiences since the game’s release. ...

Google announced today a new feature for electric vehicle owners that uses artificial intelligence to sort through thousands of public charging stations while finding the best route. The level of technology needed to make this type of route planning functional is a pretty clear indication of what an unholy mess EV charging in America is today. In a blog post published Wednesday, Google acknowledges that route planning in an EV can be like “solving a puzzle” (which is an overly polite way of saying it), with EV owners needing to find the right charging station within range that also has the specific type of plug their car needs. Google acknowledges that route planning in an EV can be like “solving a puzzle” The new feature will only work for electric vehicles with Google’s native Android Au...

Apple could start manufacturing iPads in Vietnam by the middle of this year, marking the first time a “significant number” of the tablets would be produced outside of China, Nikkei reports. As well as shifting iPad production, Apple is also reportedly increasing the number of iPhones manufactured in India, where it’s produced some iPhone 11 units since last year. It will reportedly begin producing iPhone 12 series devices in the country as early as this quarter. The report paints a picture of a company that’s increasingly keen to diversify its manufacturing out of China, despite hopes that trade tensions could ease under President Biden. Nikkei notes that the new administration has said it won’t immediately ease tariffs on Chinese imports, and there are also other factors like rising labor...

Intel launched its first Iris Xe desktop graphics cards yesterday, but you won’t see them appearing in AMD-powered systems. While Nvidia and AMD’s desktop GPUs typically work across a variety of Intel and AMD processors, Intel’s new desktop GPUs are a little more limited for now. “The Iris Xe discrete add-in card will be paired with 9th gen (Coffee Lake-S) and 10th gen (Comet Lake-S) Intel® Core™ desktop processors and Intel(R) B460, H410, B365, and H310C chipset-based motherboards and sold as part of pre-built systems,” says an Intel spokesperson in a statement to Legit Reviews. “These motherboards require a special BIOS that supports Intel Iris Xe, so the cards won’t be compatible with other systems.” One of Intel’s first Iris Xe desktop GPUs.Image: Intel The restrictions make mor...

A group of 75 activist groups and nonprofits have urged against sweeping changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, warning that it could silence marginalized communities while making online moderation harder. “Section 230 is a foundational law for free expression and human rights when it comes to digital speech,” the letter says. The law protects websites and apps from being sued over user-generated content — making it safer to operate social networks, comment sections, or hosting services. “Overly broad changes to Section 230 could disproportionately harm and silence marginalized people, whose voices have been historically ignored by mainstream press outlets.” The letter is signed by a variety of groups supporting racial justice, sex workers’ rights, and free speech online...

Lime is adding a new member to its family of shared electric vehicles: mopeds. The mopeds are being offered as part of a pilot program to test whether Lime’s customers prefer vehicles that are faster, heavier, and arguably riskier to ride than your average kick scooter. The mopeds can be rented via Lime’s smartphone app, just like the company’s e-scooters. Lime is still finalizing the price per mile for the mopeds, but it intends for it to be competitive with other shared mobility services. Lime insists its pilot will presage a larger rollout in the spring Other scooter companies have flirted with expanding their product lineups to include mopeds, but Lime insists its pilot will presage a larger rollout in the spring. To start, Lime will be introducing mopeds in the coming months in just t...

Samsung’s latest flagship, the Galaxy S21 Ultra, is its first phone to feature Samsung Display’s new power-efficient OLED panels. In a press release, Samsung says the new display consumes 16 percent less power thanks to a “just-developed organic material” that means “electrons flow faster and more easily across the display’s organic layer.” “In other words,” Samsung explains, the technology means its “OLED panels can create brighter light while consuming less power, which improves the battery lifetime.” A smartphone’s display is typically one of its most power-hungry components, so efficiency gains here can have a big impact on the overall battery life of the device. In our review, we remarked that the S21 Ultra has excellent battery life that lasts “beyond a full day.” “Electrons flow fas...

Last year was the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the year sweatpants become acceptable workwear, and the year Peloton peaked. Mid-pandemic, the company announced two new devices: the pricier Bike Plus and a less expensive treadmill called the Tread. The Bike Plus started shipping in September and includes significant updates to the company’s signature hardware during an especially critical time when many people have shifted their fitness routines from gyms into their own homes. I, for years, have been a dedicated Crunch gym-goer, usually taking five classes a week. But with gyms closing off and on and classes generally being canceled, I moved my routine indoors. First, I started with Peloton’s app workouts, using resistance bands and bodyweight. I then switched to Zoom classes taught by an...