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Tag: Engadget

  • Amazon Will ‘Go Big’ With Its Grocery Store Ambitions

    Amazon Will ‘Go Big’ With Its Grocery Store Ambitions

    Amazon is eyeing the grocery store market, with plans to “go big” on brick-and-mortar stores.

    Amazon already has some physical grocery stores, but the company is a relatively small player in the market. In an interview with The Financial Times, via Engadget, CEO Andy Jassy made clear his intention to change the status quo.

    “We’re just still in the early stages,” Jassy told FT. “We’re hopeful that in 2023, we have a format that we want to go big on, on the physical side. We have a history of doing a lot of experimentation and doing it quickly. And then, when we find something that we like, doubling down on it, which is what we intend to do.”

    There’s no doubt that Amazon has the ingredients to make a success of physical grocery stores. There are few companies that can match it in product availability and logistics, not to mention the buying power the company would have to negotiate low prices.

    If Amazon is able to deliver on Jassy’s statement, it would also open up another arena of competition between the company and Walmart.

  • Rivian Turns to E-Bikes to Attain Profitability

    Rivian Turns to E-Bikes to Attain Profitability

    Rivian is making an unusual sidestep from its electric automobile business, reportedly working on an e-bike.

    According to Bloomberg, by way of Engadget, Rivian has tasked a “small group” of engineers to begin work on an e-bike, although it it’s unclear whether it was an electric bicycle or motorcycle. The company does, however, hold patents for bicycle components.

    As Engadget points out, the move could make a lot of sense for the automaker. E-bikes outsell electric vehicles and are much cheaper to make. The move could put the company on the fast-track to profitability.

  • Baidu Set to Unveil AI-Powered Search

    Baidu Set to Unveil AI-Powered Search

    Baidu is preparing to unveil an AI-powered, ChatGPT-like search engine based on the company’s Ernie tech.

    ChatGPT has become one of the most widely known conversational AIs and threatens to upend the search engine market. Microsoft is believed to be integrating it into a version of Bing, and Google is pulling out all the stops to come up with its own answer.

    According to Bloomberg, via Engadget, China’s Baidu is preparing to launch its own conversational AI search engine. The new product will be based on Ernie, which is the company’s large-scale machine-learning model.

    Baidu no doubt hopes conversational AI will help it reinvigorate its search engine and spark future growth. If the company can move fast enough, it may even be able to gain ground on its rivals.

  • Tesla’s Are Getting Major Price Cuts

    Tesla’s Are Getting Major Price Cuts

    Potential Tesla buyers are in for some good news, with multiple models seeing some major price cuts in the US and Europe.

    According to Engadget, Tesla has lowered prices by thousands:

    The least expensive EV, the Model 3 RWD, has dropped from $46,990 to $43,990, while the 5-seat Model Y Long Range fell 20 percent from $65,990 to $52,990. That means the latter model now qualifies for the $7,500 US Federal Tax credit, so the final price drop will be $20,500 — over 30 percent.

    It’s unclear why Tesla is lowering the price as much as it is, but the largest price cut is a limited-time deal.

    As Engadget points out, consumers will need to purchase a vehicle by mid-March in order to gain the full $7,500 rebate. After that, the rebate will likely be cut in half.

    In the meantime, this is an excellent time to buy a new Tesla.

  • California Landlord Sues Twitter for Not Paying Rent

    California Landlord Sues Twitter for Not Paying Rent

    California Property Trust is suing Twitter for $136,250, saying the company has stopped honoring its rental agreement.

    Since buying the company, Elon Musk has been aggressively cutting costs and scaling back expenses. Unfortunately, one of the ways he has been doing that is by reneging on agreements and leaving bills unpaid.

    According to Engadget, Twitter stopped paying rent, leaving California Property Trust little choice but to sue in order to get paid. This isn’t the only instance of Twitter defaulting on its rental agreements, with the company reportedly defaulting on agreements for all of its global offices.

    Similarly, Twitter is also being sued for refusing to pay for charter flights Musk took in his first days at Twitter..

    The news is just the latest example of Musk’s erratic behavior since taking over the social media company.

  • Canada to Require 20% Zero Emission Vehicle Quota by 2026

    Canada to Require 20% Zero Emission Vehicle Quota by 2026

    Canada is one step step closer to phasing out fossil fuel vehicles, requiring 20% of vehicles to be zero emission by 2026.

    Governments around the world are beginning to take steps to address climate change, with a transition to electric vehicles being one of the biggest measures. According to Engadget, Canada is moving aggressively to spur such a transformation, requiring 20% of all vehicles sold to be zero emission by 2026.

    “We’re moving forward with a regulated sales target that requires at least 20 percent of new vehicles sold by 2026 to be zero emission, increasing that to 60 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2035,” said Julie Dabrusin, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

    The move is one of the more aggressive moves by any country, with many others targeting 2030 and beyond for such an ambitious goal.

  • Waymo Will Start Offering Free Rides to Some Passengers

    Waymo Will Start Offering Free Rides to Some Passengers

    In its next step toward full operation, Waymo is preparing to offer passengers free rides in San Francisco.

    The Alphabet-owned driverless car company has been steadily working toward full, driverless operation. The company started offering rides to employees, along with some members of the public that were willing to sign NDAs.

    According to Engadget, Waymo is taking the next step, having earned a Driverless Pilot permit to allow passengers to take driverless rides on a wider scope. The new permit allows the company to offer passengers driverless rides, although it still can’t charge for them.

    The company still has to acquire a Driverless Deployment permit, which will allow it to charge for rides. In the meantime, however, select passengers will be able to try out the company’s driverless operations for free.

  • “Regretted Attrition” Is Costing Amazon $8 Billion per Year

    “Regretted Attrition” Is Costing Amazon $8 Billion per Year

    Amazon has a big problem, with attrition costing the company $8 billion a year, with the company’s “regretted attrition” off the charts.

    Reports have been surfacing for some time that Amazon has a personnel problem. Reports surfaced in May that Amazon’s “regretted attrition,” the term for losing employees a company wants to keep, doubled over last year. According to an exclusive new report by Engadget, the issue is now costing Amazon some $8 billion a year.

    Sources provided Engadget with documents marked “Amazon Confidential” that detailed the scope of the company’s attrition issues:

    “[Worldwide] Consumer Field Operations is experiencing high levels of attrition (regretted and unregretted) across all levels, totaling an estimated $8 billion annually for Amazon and its shareholders,” one document states.

    The problem is severe enough that “regretted attrition” far outpaces “unregretted attrition,” the term for people being laid off or fired.

    “Regretted attrition occurs twice as often as unregretted attrition across all levels and businesses,” continues the paper. The paper also “indicates regretted attrition [represents] a low of 69.5% to a high of 81.3% across all levels (Tier 1 through Level 10 employees) suggesting a distinct retention issue.”

    Even worse for the company, “only one out of three new hires in 2021” stayed with the company for more than 90 days.

    What’s interesting, in the wake of this report, is Amazon’s efforts to thin its employee numbers through attrition. The company revealed in August that it was using attrition to reduce its headcount by 100,000. One can’t help but wonder if Amazon would have been better off retraining some of those individuals and moving them into other roles since it clearly has a hard time attracting and keeping new talent.

    Many companies are struggling with employee retention. The pandemic forever changed the nature of the workforce, with many employees demanding more freedom and flexibility than ever before. Amazon’s issues, however, are far worse than the industry average, and there doesn’t appear to be a solution in sight.

  • TikTok May Launch Live Shopping in the US for Holiday Season

    TikTok May Launch Live Shopping in the US for Holiday Season

    TikTok may be preparing for a major launch, reportedly bringing “TikTok Shop” to the US in time for the holiday shopping season.

    Already one of the biggest social media platforms, TikTok is looking to expand into shopping. According to The Financial Times, via Engadget, the company is planning to outsource technology to launch its TikTok Shop for the US market.

    According to the report, the company will work with “large brands,” using technology sourced from TalkShopLive. The format will be similar to Douyin, TikTok’s sister app in China.

    Read more: Hotel Marketers Are Turning to TikTok…and You Should Too

    When FT contacted TikTok for comment, the company neither confirmed nor denied the rumor.

    “When it comes to market expansion for TikTok Shop we are always guided by demand and are constantly exploring new and different options for how we can best serve our community, creators and merchants in markets around the world,” the company told the FT. “These efforts include exploring partnerships which further support a seamless ecommerce experience for merchants, which is an important part of our ecosystem.”

    One potential hurdle for the company is the privacy implications. TikTok is already under fire for sending user data to China, despite previous claims that US user data was handled by a US-based security team.

    It’s a safe bet legislators and regulators will not be thrilled with the idea of TikTok gaining access to users’ financial and shopping data.

  • Twitter’s Edit Button Arrives As a Paid Feature

    Twitter’s Edit Button Arrives As a Paid Feature

    Twitter’s long-awaited edit button has finally arrived in the US, but not everyone will have access to it.

    The ability to edit a tweet has long been one of the most demanded features for the social media platform. Twitter has been testing an edit button for some months, finally debuting it to select markets over the last week or so.

    According to Engadget, the feature is finally coming to the US market.

    https://twitter.com/TwitterBlue/status/1576980459002609674?s=20&t=3HwQarbltq1xoOkFXEkq3A

    Unfortunately, Twitter’s edit feature is only available as part of Twitter Blue, meaning customers will have to pay for the $4.99/mo subscription service to access it.

  • Apple Employees Once Again Push Back Against Apple RTO Plans

    Apple Employees Once Again Push Back Against Apple RTO Plans

    Apple employees are once again pushing back against the company’s return-to-office plans (RTO).

    Apple notified employees in mid-August that they would be required to work from the office at least three days a week, starting September 5. Employees are pushing back, demanding more flexibility than Apple wants to give.

    Tim Cook has made no secret of his belief in in-person collaboration, but according to Engadget, employee group Apple Together says the reality doesn’t match up with Cook’s idealized concept. Instead, the company’s secrecy makes collaborative inspiration too difficult to be practical. As a result, the group argues, employees should at least be given a work environment that results in improved well-being and happiness.

    This isn’t the first time employees have pushed back against the company’s RTO plans. In fact, employees have penned several open letters to management demanding the flexibility to continue working remotely.

    One such letter even included the following ultimatum:

    “Stop treating us like school kids who need to be told when to be where and what homework to do.”

    “Here we are, the smart people that you hired, and we are telling you what to do: Please get out of our way, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, let us decide how we work best, and let us do the best work of our lives.”

    Evidently, Apple has already made at least one concession with its latest plans. Originally, the company wanted employees in the office Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday but dropped Monday as a pre-defined office day as a result of the pushback. Instead, it is defining Tuesdays and Thursdays as in-office days, with the third left up to each team.

    It remains to be seen if Apple will budge any more or if it will take a hard line on its latest plans. Given that its RTO plans have already cost the company its head of AI, there may be additional concessions in the future if the pushback grows.

  • Amazon Once Again Going Full-Press Against Unionization Efforts

    Amazon Once Again Going Full-Press Against Unionization Efforts

    Amazon is once again ramping up its anti-unionization efforts, posting signs in its ALB1 warehouse in upstate New York, telling workers: “Don’t sign a card.”

    Engadget was the first to break the story, with workers at the warehouse sending pictures of the signs to the outlet. According to one of Engadget’s sources, the digital signs cycle through seven slides, all of which discourage organizing.

    Credit: Engadget

    “It’s on a constant loop while people punch in and punch out of their shifts,” he said, “[when] they go on their breaks, or they go on their lunch. Any time that we’re going to be up towards the front.”

    Amazon has a long history of aggressively fighting unionization efforts, even breaking labor laws to do so. The company has been known to hire Pinkerton detectives to further its efforts and has even made investors uncomfortable with its aggressive tactics.

    It remains to be seen if the National Labor Relations Board will challenge the legality of Amazon’s latest move.

  • Canada to Ban Combustion Engine Cars Sales by 2035

    Canada to Ban Combustion Engine Cars Sales by 2035

    Automakers will no longer be able to sell combustion engine passenger cars in Canada, effective 2035, adding to the growing impetus for a full transition to electric vehicles.

    Governments are working to combat climate change, with combustion engine vehicles being one of the biggest, and most visible, means of doing so. Many automakers have committed to phasing out combustion engines by the mid-2030s, and various jurisdictions are moving to require such a transition.

    Canada is the latest to do so, according to Engadget, setting 2035 as the cutoff date for combustion engine car sales. In the meantime, the government has set interim milestones for automakers to meet. Canada wants 20% of new vehicle sales to be zero-emission by 2026, increasing to 60% by 2030.

    Ottawa’s larger goal is to reach net zero emissions as a country by 2050, hitting 40 to 45 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

  • Instagram Joining the NFT Craze

    Instagram Joining the NFT Craze

    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the company’s plans to bring NFTs to Instagram, a move that is sure to draw praise and criticism.

    NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are blockchain-based digital assets that can be created, bought, sold, and held. Some have already fetched millions of dollars, and led to many different companies and platforms looking for ways to cash in.

    According to Engadget, Zuckerberg has said NFTs are coming to Instagram, although he’s still a little fuzzy on some of the details.

    “We’re working on bringing NFTs to Instagram in the near term,” he said, without going into too many details. “I’m not ready to kind of announce exactly what that’s going to be today. But over the next several months, the ability to bring some of your NFT

    Given Instagram’s popularity and Meta’s backing, it’s a safe bet the social media app could quickly become one of the most popular NFT destinations.

  • Amazon Appstore Issue Fixed on Android 12

    Amazon Appstore Issue Fixed on Android 12

  • 37 States and D.C. Sue Google for Alleged Play Store Antitrust Issues

    37 States and D.C. Sue Google for Alleged Play Store Antitrust Issues

    A coalition of 37 states, plus the District of Columbia, have sued Google over alleged antitrust violations with its Play Store.

    Google is facing numerous lawsuits and investigations, being accused of abusing its dominant search and advertising position. The company is also being sued by Epic, the creator of Fortnite, over alleged antitrust violations.

    Google’s problems appear to be going from bad to worse, with 36 states and D.C. launching an antitrust lawsuit against the company. Colorado later joined the coalition, bringing the number of states to 37, according to Engadget. The case revolves around Google’s plans charge a 30% commission to all developers that use the Play Store, according to Politico.

    The bipartisan group of attorneys general represent:

    South Dakota, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Iowa, New Hampshire, New York, Indiana, Utah, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Idaho, New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico, Massachusetts, District of Columbia, Montana, Arkansas, Oregon, Vermont, California, Mississippi, Delaware, Missouri, North Dakota, Colorado, Washington, North Carolina, Alaska, Connecticut, Florida, Nebraska, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Arizona.

    Google has responded to the lawsuit, accusing the states of ignoring the choice Android users have to use the Play Store, or download from a rival store.

    We built Android to create more choices in mobile technology. Today, anyone, including our competitors, can customize and build devices with the Android operating system — for free. 

    We also built an app store, Google Play, that helps people download apps on their devices. If you don’t find the app you’re looking for in Google Play, you can choose to download the app from a rival app store or directly from a developer’s website. We don’t impose the same restrictions as other mobile operating systems do.

    So it’s strange that a group of state attorneys general chose to file a lawsuit attacking a system that provides more openness and choice than others. This complaint mimics a similarly meritless lawsuit filed by the large app developer Epic Games, which has benefitted from Android’s openness by distributing its Fortnite app outside of Google Play.

    It does seem strange the states are choosing to sue Google for charging developers for the use of its Play Store when such usage is entirely optional.

  • GoDaddy In Hot Water After Employees Help Hackers

    GoDaddy In Hot Water After Employees Help Hackers

    GoDaddy is once again in the news for all the wrong reasons after employees were tricked into helping hackers take over domains.

    This latest attack targeted a number of cryptocurrency services, and relied on “social engineering” to convince GoDaddy employees to hand over control of the target companies’ domain names. Mike Kayamori, CEO of Liquid, described the attack:

    On the 13th of November 2020, a domain hosting provider “GoDaddy” that manages one of our core domain names incorrectly transferred control of the account and domain to a malicious actor. This gave the actor the ability to change DNS records and in turn, take control of a number of internal email accounts. In due course, the malicious actor was able to partially compromise our infrastructure, and gain access to document storage.

    Kayamori said the company believes all client funds and digital wallets are secure, although personal information was compromised, including names, emails and encrypted passwords.

    Although there does not appear to be any statement on GoDaddy’s website acknowledging the breach, the company issued a statement to Engadget, confirming that a “limited number” of its employees had fallen for “social engineering” tactics resulting in unauthorized changes to customers accounts and domains.

    This is a huge embarrassment for GoDaddy, especially since the company was victim of a similar attack that impacted Escrow.com back in March.

  • Microsoft Can’t Shake Windows 7—New Bug Rears Its Head

    Microsoft Can’t Shake Windows 7—New Bug Rears Its Head

    Microsoft may have officially ended support for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020, but it seems the operating system (OS) is the company’s bad penny—Microsoft just can’t get away from it.

    No sooner did Microsoft announce that Windows 7 was end-of-life (EOL), than the company had to address a bug wherein a “desktop wallpaper might display as black when set to Stretch.” Now, a more serious bug is affecting Windows 7 users, according to Engadget.

    This latest issue is preventing some users from being able to shut down their PC or reboot it properly. Instead, users are receiving an error saying they don’t have permission to shut down the computer. BleepingComputer says some users have had success with a couple of different troubleshooting options, including disabling Adobe’s Windows services.

    Ultimately, however, no one knows for sure whether it is a third-party bug, or an issue with Windows 7 itself. If it is a Windows bug, Microsoft may find itself breathing new life into its EOL OS with yet another update.

  • FBI Seizes Site With 12 Billion Stolen User Names & Passwords

    FBI Seizes Site With 12 Billion Stolen User Names & Passwords

    In an international operation, the FBI has seized a website containing user data from over 10,000 data breaches, according to Engadget.

    According to the report, the FBI seized WeLeakInfo, a website that contained personal data taken from 10,300 data breaches. Engadget says the “site promoted itself as a legitimate way to perform security research, even though it offered phone numbers, IP addresses and other personal info that’s protected by law.”

    Even worse, the information was organized in a searchable database that could be accessed through subscriptions that started as cheap as $2. With just an email address, someone could find any associated names, passwords, phone numbers and IP addresses. Engadget recommends individuals check “security expert Troy Hunt’s excellent haveibeenpawned.com site” to see if their information has been stolen.

    As more and more services, platforms and devices become interconnected, it’s important for users to periodically change their passwords, and to use unique passwords for different services. If a person uses the same password across multiple services, it only takes a single breach to expose their data in multiple locations.

  • Huawei Turns To TomTom To Replace Google Maps

    Huawei Turns To TomTom To Replace Google Maps

    In the wake of Huawei being cut off from Google support, the Chinese company is turning to TomTom to replace Google Maps, according to Engadget.

    When the Trump administration banned Huawei, it had profound impacts on how the company could do business, especially with U.S. companies. Chipmakers, such as Intel and Broadcom, stopped supplying chips to the company and Google stopped providing Android updates and software that is not open-source.

    With its access to Google’s software cut off, Huawei “had to either find a global navigation partner or else accept that its map software would be limited at best,” as Engadget points out. With TomTom being a Dutch company, it isn’t subject to the U.S. ban on Huawei.

    The partnership with TomTom will at least ensure Huawei’s customers continue to have a world-class mapping and navigation option in spite of being cut off from Google.

  • CES 2020: Samsung Unveils Rolling Robot ‘Ballie’

    CES 2020: Samsung Unveils Rolling Robot ‘Ballie’

    It’s not quite BB-8, but Samsung may have unveiled the next best thing in a rolling robot named “Ballie.”

    According to Engadget, Ballie is designed to be an assistant, essentially running a smart home. The robot “has a ‘mobile interface’ that looks for ways to improve your life as your needs change using its built-in AI.”

    In a YouTube video the company posted, Ballie acts as a household manager, opening shades, triggering a woman’s alarm clock, assisting her with her workout, turning the TV on for the dog once she leaves, sending her a video feed of the dog happily watching TV, playing with the dog and even summoning the robot vacuum when the dog makes a mess.

    One gets the impression from watching the video that if you imagined a butler, managing almost every aspect of running a home, as a little yellow ball…you would have Ballie. While Samsung has not announced when Ballie will be available or how much it will cost, the company will likely have a major hit on its hands.

    https://youtu.be/Xwi_U-g3wA0