Author: News Room

Elon Musk’s role in carrying out President Donald Trump’s dirty work has triggered a wave of opposition that is spilling over into protests against his flagship company, Tesla. Over the last week, some people have held demonstrations while others have vandalized Tesla vehicles owned by individual buyers and showrooms — with actions stretching from New York, Colorado, and California, to as far as The Netherlands and Germany. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has accessed sensitive government data and cut congressionally mandated funds to agencies. After court orders demanded a halt to some of its actions, Musk and Vice President…

The Kindle Paperwhite is one of our favorite e-readers, particularly for people who own a lot of Kindle books. It’s waterproof, unlike the cheaper entry-level Kindle, and features an adjustable warm white frontlight, which makes it easier to read at night. It also offers a larger seven-inch display, sharp 300ppi resolution, and rich contrast levels that make for a crystal-clear reading experience.In addition to offering an easy-to-read screen, it’s the first Paperwhite to use a dual-core processor. That makes it faster and more responsive than prior models, something that’s particularly noticeable while opening large PDF files and cycling through pages.…

Roblox is a massive app — as of September 2023, Roblox says it has more than 65 million daily active users — and it’s becoming an increasingly interesting platform to watch amid growing competition from social and metaverse platforms like Epic Games’ Fortnite and Meta’s Horizon Worlds.Here’s all of our coverage of Roblox. Read the full article here

OpenAI remains on track to start producing its in-house AI chip next year, according to a report from Reuters. Sources tell the outlet that OpenAI plans to finalize its design over the next few months before sending it to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) for fabrication.By making a chip of its own, OpenAI won’t have to use Nvidia’s chips as much to train and run AI models. TSMC will produce the chip using the more efficient 3-nanometer technology, with “high-bandwidth memory” and “extensive networking capabilities,” according to Reuters.At launch, OpenAI will deploy its in-house chip on a “limited scale”…

Lyft says it will launch a fleet of robotaxis, using self-driving technology from Intel’s Mobileye, in Dallas in “as soon as 2026,” with plans to scale to ”thousands” of vehicles in additional markets in the months to follow. To signal its seriousness, the company tapped Marubeni, a Japanese conglomerate, to run fleet operations.Lyft’s news comes after Uber dropped new details about its plan to feature Waymo’s robotaxis on its platform in Austin and Atlanta later this year. And Tesla recently shared plans to launch a robotaxi service in Austin this summer.Lyft is taking a similar approach as Uber, offering its…

Teenage Engineering is a design firm as much as it is a musical instrument company. Its devices rarely look or behave anything like what you’d buy from a Korg or a Moog. The best distillation of its identity remains the OP-1, a quirky groovebox that garnered as much attention for its aesthetics as its all-in-one music production features. Effects are accompanied by nonsensical graphics, like a mechanized cow, and it basically forces you to commit to a musical idea by using a virtual “tape” with intentionally limited editing capabilities. But all of Teenage Engineering’s instruments are a bit odd and…

Almost 250 years after the Declaration of Independence, America has gotten herself a new king. His name is Elon Musk.“Wait a minute,” you may be saying. “What about President Donald Trump?” Trump ran, much like Silvio Berlusconi before him, primarily to avoid prosecutions. He has never liked being president and he has already gotten what he wants. He’s not the power center. Musk is. Consequently I will not be bothering with whatever statements Katie Miller of DOGE and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt are putting out. We all have eyes; we can see what is going on. Musk has…

Rivian’s electric van is now available to be purchased by anyone with a commercial fleet, the automaker said today.For several years, Rivian’s van was exclusive to Amazon. Now, the platform on which the e-commerce giant based its delivery van is open to anyone with a fleet of commercial vehicles and some money to burn.Amazon agreed to buy 1000,000 Rivian vans in 2019 as part of a blockbuster deal that would also include a $1 billion investment into the startup. Under the terms of the agreement, Rivian would sell its vans exclusively to Amazon.But that partnership ended prematurely in November 2023,…

In just ten days time, Oppo will launch the Find N5, the world’s thinnest book-style foldable. I just spent a few minutes with the device and what follows are my early impressions.Oppo is careful to use that “book-style” disclaimer, because the Find N5 isn’t quite as thin as Huawei’s trifold Mate XT, launched in China last year. Not when open that is, though the Find N5 is comfortably thinner than Huawei’s phone when closed, helped by only having two panels to fold, not three.It feels outstandingly thin, so much so that the USB-C port is separated from the outside of…

T-Mobile’s Starlink-powered direct-to-cell satellite messaging service is now open for anyone in the US to try for free — including people who aren’t T-Mobile customers. The service will be limited to text messaging at first but the company hopes to have some apps and even limited multimedia support ready by the time it goes live this summer. It will cost T-Mobile users $15 per month once the free testing period ends in July, or $10 for customers who participated in the beta trial. Verizon and AT&T customers can also try the service for free according to T-Mobile’s press release, and…

Picking a first pair of wired headphones can be intimidating when the model ranges are more indecipherable than a back catalogue of live Beatles bootlegs. Sennheiser is looking to simplify things with its HD 505 open-back over ears, which target a broader audience than just hardcore audiophiles. Slotting in beneath the HD 600 series – regularly considered a benchmark for personal audio, but with a price to match – the HD 505 otherwise tick plenty of boxes for music fans chasing sonic supremacy. The open-back design promises an airier sound than the closed-back HD 620S, while the tuning targets a…

Apple’s smartwatches are diversifying and arguably the standard ‘Series’ model has lost out. Firstly, you’ve got the super expensive Garmin-bashing Apple Watch Ultra. Then you’ve got the 2022 version of the entry-level Watch SE. Suddenly the ‘default’ Apple Watch Series 8 is playing piggy in the middle. And with Watch SE boasting much of the same hardware, it very much feels like that’s the default Apple Watch – so what does the Series 8 bring to the table to make it appeal? We reviewed the 45mm midnight model. The original version of this review was published on 23 September 2022 How…