If you’ve been eager to use NVIDIA’s more powerful robotics ‘brain’ for projects, you now have your chance — provided you’re willing to pay a premium. The company is now selling the Jetson AGX Orin developer kit for $1,999. The palm-sized computing device is now billed as eight times more powerful than Jetson AGX Xavier (275 trillion operations per second, or TOPS) thanks to its 12-core ARM Cortex-A78AE CPUs, Ampere-based GPU and upgrades to its AI accelerators, interfaces, memory bandwidth and sensor support.
You’ll have to wait a while longer for production-ready units. They’ll be available in the fourth quarter of the year starting at $399 for a ‘basic’ Orin NX kit with six CPU cores, a 1,792-core GPU, 8GB of RAM and 70 TOPS of performance. To match the claimed 275 TOPS, you’ll need to use a $1,599 Orin module with the full 12 CPU cores, 2,048-core GPU and 64GB of RAM.
NVIDIA is doing more to give robot creators a helping hand, though. It’s launching an Isaac Nova Orin platform that includes two Jetson AGX Orin modules and the sensor suite needed for a robot to detect the world around it. The platform can handle up to six cameras, three LiDAR units and eight ultrasonic sensors. You’ll also get the tools needed to simulate the robot, not to mention support for software that helps speed up mapping, navigation and perception. NVIDIA hadn’t mentioned pricing as of this writing, but it’s safe to presume the extra module and sensors will cost significantly more.
You probably won’t use the new Jetson hardware for amateur projects, but it could have a significant impact on the technology you use or buy. NVIDIA is keen to note existing Jetson users like John Deere (which uses the tech in an upcoming autonomous tractor) and Hyundai Robotics. Orin’s extra performance isn’t guaranteed to lead to more intelligent robots, but it should at least help those robots handle tasks quickly.
Maserati is already following the reveal of an electric GranTurismo with another, decidedly more practical model. The trident badge has introduced its first electric SUV, a Folgore edition of its upcoming Grecale crossover. While the company didn’t share many technical details, it promised a familiar 400-volt architecture (not like the speedier 800V of the Porsche Taycan or Hyundai Ioniq 5) and previously indicated it wouldn’t share a platform with other Stellantis EVs. The Vergenotes Maserati will instead use a modified take on the platform from Alfa Romeo’s Stelvio SUV.
The in-cabin tech also represents an upgrade for Maserati. The Grecale Folgore and its siblings will include a digital instrument cluster (a first for the brand), a 12.3-inch main center screen and an 8.8-inch sub-screen for extra controls. Passengers will have their own touchscreen, too. You can also expect a 3D sound system with 14 speakers standard and 21 available as an upgrade.
The Grecale Folgore is due in 2023 alongside two “mild hybrid” variants, the 300HP GT and 330HP Modena, as well as a gas-only Trofeo with the 530HP V6 from the MC20. The price of the Folgore wasn’t available, but the GT will start the line at $63,500.
This and the GranTurismo aren’t Maserati’s only EVs. The automaker also plans electric versions of all its models by 2025, including the GranCabriolet convertible, Levante SUV, MC20 Spyder sports car and Quattroporte sedan. While Maserati won’t completely drop combustion engines until 2030, the marque’s role is clear — it’s becoming the vanguard for Stellantis’ upscale EV efforts.
Epic continues to shake things up for the biggest battle royale game. This is a big change, however. It’s temporarily ditched one of the game’s core mechanics — building — for Fortnite Chapter 3, Season 2. You can still destroy objects, but you won’t receive any wood, stone or metal to create a temporary wall or other fortifications — lest we forget, the game’s calledFortnite. In a suitably meta twist, the loss of the building ability seems to be a key part of this season’s storyline.
If you live to build, the feature will still be available in competitive, creative and Save the World modes — it’s only gone in casual game queues for now. Fortnite’s creators are also supporting Ukraine relief efforts, with all proceeds from V-Bucks sales, Battle Passes and Fortnite Crew subscriptions are being donated through April 3rd.
It’s trying to stop workarounds to run Windows 11 on older PCs.
The Verge has learned that the most recent Windows 11 Release Preview build applies a watermark to the desktop if you use a workaround to run the operating system on unsupported hardware. Windows 11 officially requires either an 8th-generation Intel Core CPU or an AMD chip based on a Zen+ or Zen 2 architecture. Many believe the cutoff is arbitrary. You just need to add a Microsoft-sanctioned registry tweak to bypass a CPU check to install the OS without a rejection message. Microsoft has warned it might not provide updates to these PCs, however.
We’ve got picks for every ecosystem and some affordable options.
Engadget
While tablets don’t always get the same level of attention as smartphones or laptops — landing right in the middle in size and specs — they’ve become an increasingly important category of devices for many, particularly with the recent shift to working and learning from home. Their straightforward designs make them easy to use, while improvements to Windows 11 and iPadOS allow many tablets to pull double-duty as part-time productivity devices.
However, there are a lot of options out there, so it can be difficult to pick the right one. We’ve done a bunch of the hard work for you, and we’ve got our top picks across a range of categories and prices, smartly timed after the release of the latest slates from both Apple and Samsung.
Now the developer has run out of platforms to port The Witcher 3 to (it made it, somehow, to the Switch), it’s time for a new game. CD Projekt Red announced the project today with a teaser it shared on Twitter. “A new saga begins,” the teaser states, with what looks like a lynx-like Witcher medallion image. The teaser suggests this new game will star a Witcher from the School of the Cat — the last protagonist, Geralt, was from the School of the Wolf. This could mean a different style of game, as these Witchers don’t have a policy that stops them from involving themselves in the politics of the Continent. Intrigue abounds!
DJI has unveiled the Matrice 30, an enterprise-class drone with IP55 dust and water resistance that lets it fly in heavy rain, strong wind and even icy situations. It can fly to altitudes as high as 22,965ft above sea level (with the right propellers) and survive temperatures between -4F and 122F. DJI is taking orders for the M30 today, and M300 RTK drone owners can also buy a new Zenmuse H20N sensor with “starlight-grade” night vision. The base M30 starts at $9,999.
Microsoft isn’t just reserving watermarks for unactivated or bootlegged Windows copies. The Verge has learned that the most recent Windows 11 Release Preview build (22000.588) applies a watermark to the desktop if you use a workaround to run the operating system on unsupported hardware. Try it and you’ll see a “system requirements not met” notice that asks you to visit settings to learn more. There don’t appear to be any feature limitations, however.
The company started testing the watermark in rough Windows 11 builds released in February. Its inclusion in the Release Preview indicates Microsoft is ready to bring the alert to a completed software update in the near future.
Windows 11 officially requires either an 8th-generation Intel Core CPU or an AMD chip based on a Zen+ or Zen 2 architecture. Many believe the cutoff is arbitrary, and have used a Microsoft-sanctioned registry tweak to bypass a CPU check and install the OS without a rejection message. Microsoft has warned it might not provide updates to these PCs, but the software should still work.
In practice, a purely cosmetic mark like this is more a disclaimer than a deterrent — it’s a reminder that Microsoft won’t help you if the software misbehaves on an unsupported machine. If you’re comfortable bypassing the CPU check in the first place, you can likely remove the watermark as well. Still, this might prove annoying if you’ve been running Windows 11 on an out-of-spec PC without hassles.
Aesthetics is what happens when our brains interact with content and go, “ooh pretty, give me more of that please.” Whether it’s a starry night or The Starry Night, the sound of a scenic seashore or the latest single from Megan Thee Stallion, understanding how the sensory experiences that scintillate us most deeply do so has spawned an entire branch of philosophy studying art, in all its forms, as well as how it is devised, produced and consumed. While what constitutes “good” art varies between people as much as what constitutes porn, the appreciation of life’s finer things is an intrinsically human endeavor (sorry, Suda) — or at least it was until we taught computers how to do it too.
The study of computational aesthetics seeks to quantify beauty as expressed in human creative endeavors, essentially using mathematical formulas and machine learning algorithms to appraise a specific piece based on existing criteria, reaching (hopefully) an equivalent opinion to that of a human performing the same inspection. This field was founded in the early 1930s when American mathematician George David Birkhoff devised his theory of aesthetics, M=O/C, where M is the aesthetic measure (think, a numerical score), O is order and C is complexity. Under this metric simple, orderly pieces would be ranked higher — i.e. be more aesthetically pleasing — than complex and chaotic scenes.
German philosopher Max Bense and French engineer Abraham Moles both, and independently, formalized Birkoff’s initial works into a reliable scientific method for gauging aesthetics in the 1950s. By the ’90s, the International Society for Mathematical and Computational Aesthetics had been founded and, over the past 30 years, the field has further evolved, spreading into AI and computer graphics, with an ultimate goal of developing computational systems capable of judging art with the same objectivity and sensitivity as humans, if not superior sensibilities. As such, these computer vision systems have found use in augmenting human appraisers’ judgements and automating rote image analysis similar to what we’re seeing in medical diagnostics, as well as grading video and photographs to help amateur shutterbugs improve their craft.
Recently, a team of researchers from Cornell University took a state of the art computational aesthetic system one step further, enabling the AI to not only determine the most pleasing picture in a given dataset, but capture new, original — and most importantly, good — shots on its own. They’ve dubbed it, AutoPhoto, its study was presented last fall at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. This robo-photographer consists of three parts: the image evaluation algorithm, which evaluates a presented image and issues an aesthetic score; a Clearpath Jackal wheeled robot upon which the camera is affixed; and the AutoPhoto algorithm itself, which serves as a sort of firmware, translating the results from the image grading process into drive commands for the physical robot and effectively automating the optimized image capture process.
For its image evaluation algorithm, the Cornell team led by second year Masters student Hadi AlZayer, leveraged an existing learned aesthetic estimation model, which had been trained on a dataset of more than a million human-ranked photographs. AutoPhoto itself was virtually trained on dozens of 3D images of interior room scenes to spot the optimally composed angle before the team attached it to the Jackal.
When let loose in a building on campus, as you can see in the video above, the robot starts off with a slew of bad takes, but as the AutoPhoto algorithm gains its bearings, its shot selection steadily improves until the images rival those of local Zillow listings. On average it took about a dozen iterations to optimize each shot and the whole process takes just a few minutes to complete.
“You can essentially take incremental improvements to the current commands,” AlZayer told Engadget. “You can do it one step at a time, meaning you can formulate it as a reinforcement learning problem.” This way, the algorithm doesn’t have to conform to traditional heuristics like the rule of thirds because it already knows what people will like as it was taught to match the look and feel of the shots it takes with the highest-ranked pictures from its training data, AlZayer explained.
“The most challenging part was the fact there was no existing baseline number we were trying to improve,” AlZayer noted to the Cornell Press. “We had to define the entire process and the problem.”
Looking ahead, AlZayer hopes to adapt the AutoPhoto system for outdoor use, potentially swapping out the terrestrial Jackal for a UAV. “Simulating high quality realistic outdoor scenes is very hard,” AlZayer said, “just because it’s harder to perform reconstruction of a controlled scene.” To get around that issue, he and his team are currently investigating whether the AutoPhoto model can be trained on video or still images rather than 3D scenes.
No modern smartphone is completely carbon neutral. Even the most eco-conscious phones are only partially made out of recyclable materials. But you can help cut back on plastic usage by at least purchasing an eco-friendly case to protect your phone from dings and scratches. There are plenty of them, from those that are completely compostable to ones made from ocean-based plastic. Best of all, eco-friendly cases are often just stylish and durable as their mainstream counterparts. Here are our favorites.
Pela
Nicole Lee / Engadget
Without a doubt, our favorite eco-friendly phone cases are those made by Pela. We absolutely love their colors and designs, plus the fact that the entire line is 100 percent plant-based and compostable. The case material is called “Flaxstic,” which the company says is made from flax straw and compostable bioplastic elastomer. Importantly, it’s also free of BPA, phthalates, cadmium and lead. If you ever decide to get rid of it, you can indeed just chuck in a compost bin and it’ll be completely biodegradable.
What’s more, Pela cases are available for a wide array of handsets. They can accommodate iPhones (from iPhone 5 onwards), Samsung Galaxies (Galaxy S8 and newer), Google Pixels (from the Pixel 3a on), the Huawei P50 and P50 Pro and the OnePlus 9.
For iPhone users, we should note that Pela cases are not MagSafe-compatible by default. Strangely, too, you can only purchase an additional $6 MagSafe module for the iPhone 13, and not the iPhone 12. Applying it to my phone was pretty straightforward, so that’s not a big concern, but it’s something to keep in mind. And, obviously, the MagSafe module with all its magnets is not compostable; you’ll have to take it off and dispose of it separately.
LifeProof is a phone case brand that specializes in recycled materials. Each of its products is at least partially made out of recycled materials. But the most eco-friendly option is the LifeProof Wake, which is made from 85 percent ocean-based recycled plastic. According to the company, a lot of that comes from discarded fishing gear, which would otherwise be a fatal hazard for marine life like sharks and turtles.
In addition, we’re big fans of the Wake’s design. It comes in four different colors, and features an attractive sculpted wave pattern. It feels sturdy and durable, and LifeProof says it’s drop proof from two meters (roughly six and half feet). Plus, it’s MagSafe-compatible by default. The LifeProof Wake is available for iPhones (iPhone 11 onward), Samsung Galaxies (Galaxy S20 and newer) and Google Pixels (Pixel 4a and up).
LifeProof’s other cases aren’t too bad either. If you want a clear see-through case instead, LifeProof’s SEE series is a good option (those cases are made out of 50 percent recycled plastic), as is the NEXT series (they’re made out of 55 percent plastic and blocks out dirt, dust and snow). The FRE series (50 percent recycled plastic) doesn’t have a clear case option, but it’s also the sturdiest of the bunch: It’s the only one that’s waterproof from two meters for an hour.
Casetify is mostly known for making durable yet stylish phone cases, but it has several eco-friendly options, too. The latest is its new Compostable line, which is made with a 100 percent compostable and plant-based material called “Ecotify.” Basically, it’s a blend of bamboo, biopolymers and starch.
The regular Compostable line has a drop-protection of around four feet, while the Ultra Compostable line, with its extra corner bumpers, has a drop-protection of about 6.6 feet. My recommendation would be to go with the more durable Ultra Compostable option, even if it does cost about $5 more.
Unfortunately, Casetify’s Compostable line is only available for iPhones the (iPhone 7 and up). Casetify does make other kinds of sustainable cases for both the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy handsets (Galaxy S20 and newer), but they’re not compostable. Instead, they’re made from 65 percent recycled materials. Plus, Casetify offers the option to return your old case, which they’ll then reuse or up-cycle to create a new one, thus reducing waste.
The biggest perk of Casetify’s cases is that they’re very customizable. Not only can you pick out your favorite bumper colors and designs (Casetify regularly partners with brands and illustrators to come up with unique styles), but you can actually add engravings to them too. You can also choose to add even more protection with thicker bumpers (Casetify says the “Bounce Case” offers a 13-foot drop protection).
You’re probably used to sorting your garbage into bins: green for paper or blue for plastic and glass. But when it comes to electronics, we’re still used to selling those off or tossing them into the trash heap. Unfortunately, our gadget addiction has real consequences for the planet, making it imperative that we dispose of everything responsibly.
Sure, you can try parting with your stuff for cash, but it’s a pain, and it can be tough, if not impossible, to find someone who wants a busted Xbox or 20-year-old CRT. Few places have curbside pickup — in fact, some localities make it illegal to leave electronics for the garbage collectors — so you’re going to have to find a reputable center to take it. We’ve gathered some of the resources to help you dispense of your broken and unwanted computers, televisions and any other gadget flotsam that’s been taking up space in your closet.
National chains
There is no national electronics recycling law at this time, so you won’t find any federal programs to assist you with getting rid of old devices. The USPS does run a program for federal agencies and their employees, but it’s not available to the general public. Instead, the rest of us have to rely on nationwide retailers to toss out our old stuff.
Best Buy
Best Buy has more than 1,000 locations in the United States, so it’s likely you have one nearby where you can drop stuff off. You just need to take it to the customer service counter. They’ll issue you a receipt too, but keep in mind that you can’t claim the drop-off as a deduction on your taxes because Best Buy isn’t a charity.
You can even recycle televisions and monitors, though you’ll be charged a fee of $30 per item to cover the higher costs of transporting and disassembling them. (Consumers in California are not charged the $30 fee, while locations in Connecticut and Pennsylvania will not accept televisions at all.) If you’re turning in a printer, you’ll get up to a $50 voucher toward the purchase of a new Epson EcoTank printer.
Also be aware that Best Buy limits you to three items per household per day, including up to two televisions.
Staples
Recycling your stuff at Staples is similar to Best Buy — just bring your products to the customer-service counter. But it’s more limited in that you can only bring in seven items a day, and the store won’t accept televisions at all. Staples Rewards members also receive a small credit of $2 for every used ink cartridge they turn in, up to 20 a month.
Office Depot
Office Depot has more than 1,300 locations, but unlike Staples and Best Buy, it won’t recycle your old gadgets for free. If you’re only getting rid of a few phones or batteries, those can be turned in at no charge. For everything else, you must purchase a Tech Recycling Box, which costs $5, $10 or $15 depending on the size. Once you have the box, you can fill it with as many items as you want, provided they all fit inside, including smaller televisions. So it’s a great deal if you have a lot of stuff you want to dispose of. These can be turned in either in person or by mail.
Home Depot and Lowes
You can dispose of old rechargeable batteries, old phones and CFL bulbs in the dropoff boxes at any of 2,300 Home Depot or 2,200 Lowe’s locations. The bins are usually located in the front of the store, and Home Depot has an 11-pound limit on individual items.
Manufacturers
If you can’t make it to a retail location, especially when you need to get rid of only one or two items, many companies offer recycling programs for their own products. They’ll even pay for shipping. Some run their own programs while others use outside organizations. We’ve outlined policies from a handful of manufacturers below.
Amazon
While Amazon would love to direct you to its trade-in program, you’re probably reading this post because there’s stuff you can’t sell, and for those items Amazon offers mail-in recycling. You can send in your busted Kindles, Fire TVs and even Dash Buttons, as well as select peripherals like keyboards and mice. You’ll just need to fill out some forms online and generate a shipping label, which you can slap on any box. Drop it off at a UPS location, and you’re good to go; Amazon will cover all the costs.
Apple
Apple
If your iPhone or MacBook is still in good shape, you should consider selling it, but if it’s old or beat up you can still score a gift card by turning it into Apple’s recycling program. For iPhones, iPad and Apple Watches you’ll be asked to fill out a form attesting to the product’s condition and given a trade-in quote, with a working iPhone 5 going for $35 and an iPhone 7 Plus scoring you $315. For Macs, you’ll be asked to provide a serial number as well. Though Apple won’t give you cash for anything it deems old or unacceptable, you can still mail it in or bring it to any Apple Store so it can be responsibly disposed of.
Dell
Dell offers drop-off recycling via a partnership with Goodwill. Not every location participates, but there are more than 2,600 that do. And, because it’s a charity, you may even be able to deduct it as a donation on your taxes. Dell also has a mail-back program on its site where you can generate a shipping label and drop the package off at a FedEx location instead.
Epson
You can ship old products back to Epson by simply creating a shipping label on its site and dropping it off at a FedEx location. Or just drop it off at a Best Buy location for a $30 or $50 voucher toward a new Epson printer.
HP
If you can, HP recommends taking its products to the nearest Best Buy. But if that’s not feasible, the company participates in a program that will even buy back some items. You’ll be asked to fill out a form with the make, model and condition, and the recycler will email you a prepaid shipping label to mail the package within 30 days. If you’re doing a buyback you’ll receive a paper check in the mail. Because this isn’t an in-house program with HP, you can also send in items from other companies — check the drop-down list for firms like Canon and Toshiba as well as more obscure and out-of-business manufacturers.
Other manufacturers
Many other companies use outside recyclers to dispose of their products, and you’ll often see the same names popping up again and again across different manufacturers. This should simplify things in some cases — you should be able to send in products from multiple sources in one package. You just need to fill in the make and model to generate a prepaid shipping label. However, different states have different rules on what you can return, so the drop-downs for selecting your product may vary by area.
Two major recycling companies you’ll notice a lot are RLGA, which covers Acer, Canon, Google, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft and Motorola, and MRM, which recycles products for Alcatel, BlackBerry, Barnes & Noble (nook), TCL and Toshiba.
Phones
Cell phones are the easiest gadget to recycle — if you haven’t already decided to sell yours off on eBay or via sites like Decluttr and ecoATM. But, if you can’t or won’t make some cash off of it, you can send it to:
Call2Recycle, which has drop-off centers all over the country in many chain stores, including Lowes and Home Depot. It will also accept rechargeable batteries.
Cell Phones for Soldiers accepts phones in any condition and sells them to refurbishers or recyclers. The proceeds go toward purchasing phone cards for troops so they can call their friends and family back home. To be clear, the phones are not given directly to the soldiers.
The four major US carriers — Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint — all offer free recycling. You can trade in your old device in-store or send it in for a credit toward a new phone, or let them straight up recycle it. AT&T also participates in Cell Phones for Soldiers.
If you do decide to try your luck with ecoATM to see if your old phone is still worth a few bucks and it turns out it’s worth nothing, you can at least rest easy knowing that the company will also recycle your phone responsibly.
States
There may not be a national law dictating that you must recycle your electronics, but at least 26 states have passed rules that vary widely on what they demand of manufacturers and consumers. Almost all states that do collect products for recycling provide this service free, with the bill footed by the companies in some way. Most provide some local programs to help you get rid of your stuff, regardless of whether recycling your gadgets is required or optional.
The following states have some special circumstances worth noting:
Connecticut: Does not allow recycling centers to charge you a fee for turning in electronics, so many organizations and retailers that would usually charge for recycling televisions and monitors do not accept them. Because you cannot dispose of them curbside, you can take them to a municipal transfer station for free.
New York: If you live in a New York City apartment building with 10 or more units, contact your landlord about getting an ecycleNYC drop-off box installed in your building. It’s super convenient and free.
Pennsylvania: Does not allow retailers to charge you a fee to recycle, so places like Best Buy and Staples will not accept televisions or monitors. Many recycling centers have also closed as a result of underfunding. Some nonprofit recyclers may still accept the items, and you should check to see if your local government is hosting any drop-off events. Lancaster and Dauphin Counties also still run civic recycling programs.
Virginia: This state does not have a dedicated statewide recycling program, but some localities run their own programs including Fairfax, Loudoun and Rockbridge counties, and cities like Arlington. Check each municipality’s site for details.
While the iPhone 13 mini and iPhone 13’s new hues look earthier and closer to a leafy green, the Pro flagships come with a sort of frosted finish that helps them better reject smudges. It also makes the color a little paler and adds a metallic sheen.
There’s nothing else different about these new iPhones. They’re last year’s iPhone 13s, but green. Intrigued? Then take a look at these pictures I took of the new gadgets under different lighting conditions.
I have included photos of the two new iPhone 13s alongside other green phones like the sage Pixel 5 and the Pixel 5a. The latter’s official color is called “Mostly Black,” but it definitely feels more like “Off Green.” My favorite is still the pastel green iPhone 12, which will reign in my heart as the best verdant gadget. At least, until someone comes up with a Matcha-colored (or flavored) phone. Or lime. Or pandan. You’re welcome for the color inspiration, phone makers.
The European Commission and UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have launched an antitrust investigation into the advertising deal between Google and Meta (formerly Facebook) codenamed “Jedi Blue.” In particular, the organizations are looking into whether the tech giants colluded to hinder competition “in markets for online display advertising.” The US Justice Department, backed by several states, is also investigating the deal between the two companies.
As the commission explains, Google provides an ad technology service that auctions off online display advertising space on websites and apps as part of its Open Bidding program. Meanwhile, Meta’s Audience Network participates in those kinds of auctions for ad spaces facilitated by Google and rival services. CMA Chief Executive Andrea Coscelli said the organization is “concerned that Google may have teamed up with Meta to put obstacles in the way of competitors who provide important online display advertising services to publishers.”
Margrethe Vestager, the European Commissioner for Competition, told The Financial Times that the commission suspects there may have been an agreement between the companies to “only to use Google services and not competing services.” Vestager also told the publication, however, that the commission is investigating the possibility that Meta was unaware of the agreement’s repercussions and that Google acted alone. “We have not concluded yet if it’s a Google thing alone or if they were in it together. It’s not a given that Meta was conscious of the effects of the deal and that’s what we have to investigate,” the commissioner said.
In addition to opening a probe into the Jedi Blue deal, the CMA is also scrutinizing Google’s conduct as a whole in relation to ad bidding. The watchdog is investigating whether the tech giant abused its dominant position to gain an advantage over competitors offering bidding services.
Google previously denied that it colluded with Meta in a court filing, and a spokesperson echoed that in a statement sent to Engadget:
“The allegations made about this agreement are false. This is a publicly documented, procompetitive agreement that enables Facebook Audience Network (FAN) to participate in our Open Bidding program, along with dozens of other companies. FAN’s involvement is not exclusive and they don’t receive advantages that help them win auctions. The goal of this program is to work with a range of ad networks and exchanges to increase demand for publishers’ ad space, which helps those publishers earn more revenue. Facebook’s participation helps that. We’re happy to answer any questions the Commission or the CMA have.”
A Meta spokesperson also told us that the deal with Google is non-exclusive:
“Meta’s non-exclusive bidding agreement with Google and the similar agreements we have with other bidding platforms, have helped to increase competition for ad placements. These business relationships enable Meta to deliver more value to advertisers and publishers, resulting in better outcomes for all. We will cooperate with both inquiries.”
If the CMA finds that the companies had violated competition law, they could be slapped with fines equivalent to 10 percent of their global revenues. As The Financial Times notes, though, the process could take years to complete.
Now that people are socializing again as the pandemic (hopefully) winds down, Uber is tackling one of the most common problems of restaurant delivery apps: how to split the bill between friends. Uber Eats is relaunching group ordering with a new bill splitting feature — the first in a US delivery app, Uber claims. Once you create a group order, you just have to choose between paying for everything or asking guests to cover their share. This won’t help in situations where only some people are paying, but it could save you the hassle of asking for money after the fact.
It’s also easier to manage your upcoming group orders. You can set a deadline for everyone to submit their orders, and either auto-checkout at the deadline or make the purchase manually. Indecisive friends shouldn’t be a problem, either, as you can set automatic reminders to nudge anyone who hasn’t made a request.
Uber isn’t new to the concept of divvying bills — ridesharing customers could split their fares as early as 2013. The addition is still welcome, though, and might help couples at home as much as it might friends on a night out. This might also put pressure on rivals that either don’t have group orders or limit them to businesses paying from company accounts.
