Sony is joining Microsoft in stopping Russian sales following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. CNBCreports Sony has halted all PlayStation hardware and software sales in Russia, and has cut access to the digital PlayStation Store. The company called for “peace in Ukraine” and said it would donate $2 million to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees as well as Save the Children.
The decision comes a week after Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov called on Microsoft and Sony to block Russian players, and a few days after Microsoft stopped all sales in the country. Nintendo put its Russian eShop in “maintenance mode,” but that may have been due to a payment service freezing processing for purchases made using rubles.
Numerous Western game developers have stopped selling their work in Russia, including Ubisoft, Take-Two, CD Projekt Red, EA, Activision Blizzard and Epic. However, Sony’s move might be the most damaging yet. Russian gamers will have a much harder time expanding their game libraries, and they can forget about buying the already-elusive PlayStation 5. Sony may feel the sting when it dominates Russian console sales (according to IDC data), but there might not be much practical choice when there’s so much industry pressure to take a stand on the Ukraine war.
Italy’s data privacy watchdog said it will fine the controversial facial recognition firm Clearview AI for breaching EU law. An investigation by Garante, Italy’s data protection authority, found that the company’s database of 10 billion images of faces…
Today is a good day for sci-fi and space fantasy lovers. Paramount+ has shared a teaser trailer for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, its offshoot of Discovery. The video provides a brief but telling glimpse of Captain Christopher Pike’s tenure aboard the USS Enterprise, including his return to service and (what else?) the worlds his crew will see. There’s a clear attempt to recreate the wonder you might have felt watching early Star Trek as you encountered new aliens and planets for the first time.
There isn’t much to see of the cast beyond Pike (Anson Mount), but you’ll see Ethan Peck return as Spock while Rebecca Romijn once again serves as Number One. Celia Rose Gooding plays Uhura, Jess Bush will assume the role of Nurse Chapel and Babs Olusanmokun is Doctor M’Benga.
Strange New Worlds premieres in May. As indicated, the show’s appeal may come as much from its format as its focus on the Enterprise. Unlike Discovery and Picard, SNW is expected to rely more on the single-episode storylines that defined the original series and much of the pre-streaming Star Trek franchise. Whether or not it reproduces those glory days is another matter, but Paramount+ at least appears to know its target audience.
Twitter has begun testing two new features the company promises will improve the alt text experience on its platform. The company said it would spend about a month trialing the features, which add easy-to-access descriptions to images, before rolling them out globally at the start of April. As Twitter notes, adding a description or “alt text” to an image allows people with low vision or a cognitive disability to “fully contribute” to the platform. They’re also useful if you don’t have the fastest internet connection.
We’ve gotten a lot of feedback about how to improve the image description (or alt text) experience on Twitter. Today, we’re launching 2 features to 3% of Twitter across Android, iOS, and Web: the public ALT badge and exposed image descriptions. 🧵 (1 of 6) pic.twitter.com/HCYzIYEdal
— Twitter Accessibility (@TwitterA11y) March 9, 2022
If you have access to the test, you can add alt text to an image by tapping the “Add description” button that appears after you upload a picture. As a rule of thumb, you want to be concise but descriptive when writing alt tags. You’ll then see an “alt” badge appear at the bottom left corner of the image you can tap to read the description. Twitted noted it’s also working on a feature that will remind people to add descriptions to images, and said it would have more to share about that functionality “soon.”
Comprehensive support for alt tags shows just how much Twitter has come along on the accessibility front. In 2020, the company famously introduced a voice note feature that didn’t come with accessibility tools like closed captioning. The company eventually apologized for its actions and went on to establish two dedicated accessibility teams. “We know these features have been a long time coming,” the company said Wednesday, alluding to that history. “We’re grateful for your patience.”
Did you wonder why Apple’s Mac Studio weighs a full two pounds more (7.9lbs versus 5.9lbs) when you choose the M1 Ultra model instead of the baseline M1 Max version? There’s a simple explanation for it — and no, it’s not that the extra silicon weighs more. Apple explained to The Verge that the M1 Ultra variant uses a larger and heavier copper cooling system where the M1 Max can make do with an aluminum heatsink. The 370W power supply and other components weigh virtually the same.
The cooling is crucial to the Mac Studio’s small form factor. Much of the internal space is devoted to the thermal module and the vents it needs to expel heat — the choice of metal could make a big difference in the ability to transfer that heat away from sensitive electronics. Copper isn’t necessarily better than aluminum (the design also plays a large role), but it’s frequently used in more aggressive PC cooling setups and could help Apple spin fans less often.
You probably won’t worry about this much unless you’re routinely carting your Mac Studio around. However, the weight difference also helps explain why you won’t see a MacBook Pro with an M1 Ultra any time soon. As the Ultra is effectively two M1 Max chips linked together, it generates considerably more heat in addition to its greater power demands. Even if battery life was unaffected, Apple would likely need a bulkier (and possibly noisier) cooling module to keep the laptop’s temperatures in check.
Amazon is taking an even stronger stance against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. The company announced today that it will suspend shipments of products in Russia and Belarus, as well as halt access to Prime Video in Russia. Additionally (though perhaps less impactful), Amazon also won’t be taking more orders for its MMO New World in Russia.
“Unlike some other U.S. technology providers, Amazon and AWS have no data centers, infrastructure, or offices in Russia, and we have a long-standing policy of not doing business with the Russian government,” the company said in a blog post.
Yesterday, Amazon also said that it won’t be accepting new AWS subscribers in Russia and Belarus. The company’s stronger stance isn’t too surprising, as many other tech companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft have also taken actions against Russia. While Russia’s ecommerce industry has seen explosive growth over recent years, it’s mostly dominated by local retailers like Wildberries.ru and Ozon.ru, whereas Amazon is still struggling to compete.
The March Xbox update is rolling out, and it brings a few useful features to Microsoft’s consoles. Xbox Series X/S players can now pin two games to the Quick Resume group.
That could be useful if you’re the type of person who, say, likes to play a quick round of Halo Infinite multiplayer or enjoy a Forza Horizon 5 race if you need a break from an Elden Ring boss. Pin a couple games to Quick Resume (by pressing the menu button when you highlight a game tile) and it should be easier to hop between them.
Games you pin to the group will stay there unless you remove them manually or they have a required update. If you already have two pinned and want to add another, the console will ask which one you want to replace.
Xbox
If you don’t tend to use the Share button often, you might get more out of it if you change its function. You can reassign a different action to the button, such as muting the volume, opening your friends list or achievements or bringing up the search menu. Microsoft says there are more actions available for Elite Series 2 Controllers, Xbox Adaptive Controllers and other devices too via the Xbox Accessories app. There’s also a Xbox controller firmware update, which should improve performance on Xbox One controllers with Bluetooth support, among other things.
Elsewhere, there’s a new audio setup wizard for Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. You’ll find it under the “volume and audio output” area of the general settings. It should help you find the optimal settings for your speaker setup.
Disney+ has finally offered a good peek at its Obi-Wan Kenobi series. The streaming service has released a teaser trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi that documents the Jedi’s life on Tatooine as he avoids the Empire and protects a young Luke Skywalker. As the clip makes clear, it won’t be easy — Imperial forces are turning to Sith who’ll look for “weaknesses” like compassion to track down the remnants of the Jedi order.
The limited-run series debuts May 25th, or 45 years to the day after the premiere of the original Star Wars movie. Ewan McGregor reprises his role as the titular Obi-Wan Kenobi, while Hayden Christensen returns as a younger Darth Vader. The Mandalorian alumnus Deborah Chow is directing the show.
Obi-Wan will arrive several months after The Book of Boba Fett, and represents a growing wave of Star Wars originals for Disney+ that will include Ahsoka, Andor and The Acolyte. Shows like this aren’t rare, one-off projects — they represent a cornerstone of the Disney+ strategy.
David Bennett, the first human to successfully undergo a heart transplant involving a genetically modified pig heart, has died, according to The New York Times. He was 57. It’s unclear if his body rejected the organ doctors implanted in January. “There…
The Microbus is back, baby! Nearly 75 years since the first Volkswagen Type 2 rolled off its assembly line and into the annals of Americana as an icon of 1960s counterculture, VW is re-releasing the emblematic vehicle — this time as a full EV.
VW
VW executives took to the livestreaming stage on Wednesday ahead of SXSW 2022’s kickoff to debut the ID.Buzz, which will be available as both a people mover and a cargo van (dubbed the ID.Buzz Cargo) beginning this year. The ID.Buzz will appear in Europe first — arriving later in 2022 — and will be available with a number of options their American-market cousins will lack, including short-wheelbase and commercial-grade variants. There’s even a Level 4 self-driving version that will begin its Shared Riding Model pilot program in Hamburg in 2025. The American iterations will debut in 2023, Scott Keogh, CEO of VW America promised during the stream, and are slated to arrive in American showrooms in 2024.
VW
Volkswagen only had the European model to show off Wednesday, but Keogh noted that the US version would be “more stylized for the American marketplace” but has “no doubt that it will be worth the wait,” while teasing a California camper edition. The US version will have a slightly longer wheelbase and offer three rows of seating to the European version’s two. With its comparatively shorter wheelbase, the European model’s turning radius is a scant 11 meters, on par with the Ioniq 5 or the VW Golf.
VW
The ID.Buzz is built atop VW’s modular electric drive matrix (MEB if you say it in German), and is actually the largest model to date developed for the platform. MEB is the same base Ford plans to use for one of its European market vehicles in 2023.
The ID.buzz will come equipped with a 77-kWh battery pack (slightly smaller than the 82kWh pack in the ID.4, which is also MEB-based) with a 170 kw charging capacity powering a 150 kw rear motor. It will be capable of bidirectional charging, at least in the European model, enabling V2H (vehicle-to-home) energy transfers.
The passenger model will seat five with 1.21 cubic meters (39.5 cubic feet) of cargo space while the Cargo will offer 3.9 cubic meters (137.7 cubic feet) by replacing the rear seats with a partition behind the front row. For the interior, VW designers took inspiration from the aesthetics of the Microbus, pulling style elements from the T1 generation of vehicle and matching seat cushions, dash panels and the door trim to the vehicle’s exterior paint color of which buyers will have their pick of seven solid-color options and four two-tone schemes (white + another color).
ingo barenschee
The European version showcased a number of impressive autonomous driving features including Active Lane-Change Assist and Park Assist Plus as well as V2X data sharing, meaning the ID.Buzz can share road hazard information with both the enabled vehicles around it and the surrounding traffic infrastructure. OTA updates will be standard on the Buzz as well.
VW
The Cargo version will offer a number of customizable aspects including the choice between bench and bucket seats, as well as a tailgate vs twin swing-out rear doors vs double sliding side doors. Furthermore, VW will be offering a number of conversion options for the Buzz, which should allow service providers of all stripes to customize the vehicle to their specific needs. In terms of carrying capacity, the Cargo can haul up to 600 kg of stuff inside with another 100 kg of gear affixed to its roof.
VW
VW also noted during the presentation the extensive work it put into lessening environmental impacts arising from the ID.Buzz’s production. The interior upholstery is made completely animal-free — the steering wheel may be made of polyurethane, but VW executives swear that it has the same look and feel as leather. The seat covers, floor coverings and headliner are all similarly composed of recycled goods like marine plastic and old water bottles. Using these materials emits 32 percent less carbon than similar products would, according to the company. Overall, VW hopes to cut its carbon emissions in Europe by 40 percent by 2030 and achieve climate neutrality as part of its Way to Zero plan by 2050.
