The lone image, which is just a render and not a photo of the Prologue in action, shows off the SUV’s clean body lines and beefy tires. The Prologue is a design collaboration between its studios in Los Angeles and Japan, and it was also developed together with GM. There’s a bit of old and new here, for sure, but its relatively plain aesthetic makes Toyota’s BZ4X look practically radical in comparison.
Honda plans to unveil 30 new EVs by 2030, with expected sales of 2 million units. After kicking off sales of the Prologue in 2024, Honda plans to start producing and selling new EVs based on its e:Architecture in 2026, and it’ll have affordable EVs (also developed with GM) in 2027. You’ll find the Prologue first in Zero Emissions states, but it should start heading to more states in the US afterwards.
Honda
There’s only so much we can learn from a single render, but it’s still helpful to see that Honda has its eye on the EV ball. The company also plans to bring Level 2 and fast-charging to dealerships around the US, as well as some slightly more modern building designs.
3D TVs may be dead, but Acer isn’t giving up on the dream of going beyond 2D just yet. It’s spent years hyping up its SpatialLabs technology, which lets you view stereoscopic 3D content without any clunky glasses. Now that innovation is headed to the company’s gaming laptops, starting with the new Predator Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition. The company says you’ll be able to play more than 50 modern and classic games in 3D, including Forza Horizon 5, No Man’s Sky and God of War (no Halo Infinite yet, sadly).
Naturally, though, you’ll have to pay a huge premium to be an early glasses-free 3D adopter. The Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition will start at $3,400 when it arrives in the fourth quarter. You’ll get some killer hardware under the hood, like Intel’s latest 12th-gen CPUs, 32GB of DDR5 RAM and up to NVIDIA’s RTX 3080, but it’s clearly not meant for the typical gamer. It weighs a hefty 6.6 pounds, and the small amount of supported 3D titles makes this laptop seem even more like a niche product.
Acer
Still, the display nerd in me is eager to see how Acer actually implements this technology. I was impressed by some early SpatialLabs demos years ago, but it’s another thing to transform a game into a fully 3D experience. The technology relies on a combination of eye tracking (which helps the image stay in focus without additional glasses), real-time rendering and a stereoscopic 15.6-inch screen. Acer is also bringing SpatialLabs’ 3D hardware to its ConceptD7 laptop this year.
If you’re just looking for a thin gaming laptop, without any fancy 3D screens, Acer is also updating the Predator Triton 300 SE with 12th-gen Intel chips, RTX 3000-series GPUs and 16:10 OLED panels. A 16-inch model with a 240Hz 1,440p display is joining the existing 14-inch version, giving the company options for gamers who want the lightest possible machine or something with a bit more breathing room. The smaller model tops out with an RTX 3060, but the larger one can squeeze in a beefier 3070 Ti.
We’ve generally liked Acer’s gaming hardware over the years (except when they introduce useless concepts like swiveling screens). Based on my brief hands-on time with the Triton 300 SE, it seems like yet another solid option for a stylish-yet-portable gaming rig. The new OLED screen is clearly the star of the show, delivering deep black levels and glorious colors in a few Halo Infinite matches, but its 90Hz refresh rate may disappoint gamers used to faster LCDs. Those folks can just opt for the 165Hz 1080p and 1,440p LCDs, instead. The 14-inch Triton 300 SE is lighter than the Razer Blade 14, clocking in at 3.7 pounds instead of 3.9, and its overall build quality feels just as premium.
You’ll find the 14-inch Triton 300 SE in July starting at $1,600, while the 16-inch version will arrive in August for $1,750.
This week, Engadget Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham joins Cherlynn and Devindra to dive into everything announced at Google I/O. There were plenty of new devices, of course, but Google also showed off how its improved AI tech is making maps, translation and more features even smarter. Also, Cherlynn discusses her exclusive feature on Microsoft’s Adaptive Mouse, as well as the company’s new Inclusive Tech Lab. And in other news, we bid farewell to the iPod and reminisce about the early days of MP3 players.
Listen above, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
Credits Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Jessica Conditt Guest: Nathan Ingraham Producer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos Graphic artists: Luke Brooks and Brian Oh
By this point, we all know what to expect from Google’s “a” phones: Last year’s hardware for a much lower price. In that respect, the Pixel 6a isn’t a huge surprise. The phone, which was announced today at Google’s I/O 2022 keynote, is powered by Google’s first “Tensor” AI chip, just like the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro before it. It will cost just $449 when it hits shelves on July 28th. But unlike the previous Pixel 5a, which was a slightly boring rehash of the Pixel 4a 5G, Google’s new mid-range phone actually offers some useful upgrades.
For one, the Pixel 6a offers the same unique two-tone case as the Pixel 6, something that helps it to stand out in the crowded field of boring smartphones. Google also shrunk the screen down to 6.1 inches, whereas the 5a had a 6.34-inch display. Because of that decision, along with smaller enclosure materials, Google says it’s roughly the size of the Pixel 5. If anything, it’s nice to have a modern Pixel phone that’s a bit more compact for smaller hands.
Google
Most importantly, though, Google’s Tensor chip delivers all of the same features as the more expensive Pixels. There’s support for 5G, Titan M2 security and enough speed to power complex tasks like Google’s Live Translate. According to Rick Osterloh, Google’s SVP of Devices and Services, the Tensor chip is a “big deal for a phone at this price.” It’s certainly more impressive than the aging Snapdragon chips mid-range phones are typically stuck with.
Google
The Pixel 6a features dual rear cameras, just like the 5a, but now there’s a 12 megapixel ultrawide sensor alongside the 12-megapixel main camera. It still has the same 8MP front-facing camera as before, but we’re hoping Google’s upgraded software can do more with that lens this time. Pixel 6a comes with an enhanced version of Google’s Magic Eraser photo editing tool, and its Real Tone feature will also better capture the nuances of skin tones.
Google says the Pixel 6a will receive five years of security upgrades, making it a solid investment if you don’t plan to upgrade too often. It will be available in charcoal, chalk and sage cases, and you’ll be able to pre-order Pixel 6a phone on July 21st.
Follow all of the news from Google I/O 2022 right here!
Google is making it easy to catch up on long documents with a new auto summarization feature, which will soon be available on Google Docs. It relies on machine learning to break down the key points in a file and generate a readable briefing. Think of it like automatic Cliff’s Notes for all of those work reports you never read. Google originally announced the feature in March, but now it’s closer to reaching the public.
Google
As Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai explained at today’s Google I/O keynote, the automatic summary feature relies on language understanding, information compression and natural language generation to work its magic. And while it’s coming to Docs soon, he says it’ll eventually make its way to Google Spaces and Chats, where it can summarize your conversations so you don’t have to spend hours scrolling up. If anything, it’ll be a nice way to keep tabs on those group chats you’re lurking in. (And hopefully automatic summaries will work better than Google’s AI-powered inclusive language warnings.)
As for other Google Workplace updates, the company is introducing a Portrait Restore feature to clean up crummy webcam video in Google Meet, and it showed off a customizable way to simulate studio portrait lighting. It’s also using AI to de-reverberate sound, which makes it seem like you’re talking into a high-quality microphone, and bringing automatic transcriptions to Google Meet later this year.
Follow all of the news from Google I/O 2022 right here!
Intel’s 12th-gen CPUs have already made a strong showing against AMD’s Ryzen 6000 chips, but now Intel is taking things to another level with its “HX” processors. They’re the first notebook 16-core notebook processors on the market, and they’re also completely unlocked and overclockable. Intel is basically aiming to give enthusiasts and content creators the same sort of power and flexibility they expect from desktop chips.
Intel
Perhaps that’s why the HX-series specs seem so familiar. At the high end, there’s the Core i9-12950HX with 16 cores (8 performance and 8 efficient), 24 threads and a maximum turbo speed of 5GHz. For the most part, it looks like Intel has scaled scaled down its 12900K desktop chip to be usable in laptops. And with a boost TDP of a toasty 157-watts (and a base TDP of 55-watts), efficiency clearly isn’t the main focus. The HX chips are powerhouses meant for beefy 15 and 17-inch workstations — don’t even dare ask about battery life.
Performance wise, Intel’s charts show that the HX chips aren’t a huge leap over its mobile H-series processors. The 12900HX offers 64 percent faster multi-threaded performance than the i9-11980HK, but that’s only slightly faster than the 12900HK (scaled figures would make these charts much more useful, to be honest). The HX processors will ship with support for DDR5 and DDR4 overclocking, as well as a new Dynamic Memory Boost feature. They’ll also have “efficient-core clocking” as well as a revamped Intel Extreme Tuning program.
Intel
Intel’s 12th-gen HX series processors will start shipping later this year in large workstations like the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE, MSI’s GE77 and 67 Raider, Lenovo’s Legion 7i, HP’s Omen 17 and Gigabyte’s Aorus 17X and 15X.
Imagine everything you’d want in a gaming monitor — a bright and beautiful screen, a fast refresh rate for silky smooth graphics, HDR to really make things shine — and there’s a good chance you’ll find it in Alienware’s 34 Curved QD-OLED monitor. It’s one of the first screens to ship with Samsung’s Quantum Dot OLED panels, and it’s stacked with other features that’ll make your Halo Infinite matches all the more satisfying. While it may seem a bit extravagant at $1,299, compared to Apple’s $1,599 Studio Display it’s practically a steal. (Or maybe I’m just telling myself that to justify buying this thing.)
I’ll admit this up front: I’m a sucker for ultrawide (21:9) monitors. Having a ton of horizontal space makes it easy to juggle multiple apps at once, and it’s far cleaner than setting up multiple displays. So when Alienware revealed that it was finally debuting an OLED ultrawide, I was sold. While OLED has solidified its place in premium TVs, it’s taken a while to reach computer monitors (we only started getting OLED laptops regularly a few years ago). What makes this monitor even more intriguing is that it has all of the benefits you’d expect from OLED — deep black levels, excellent contrast and no backlight bleeding thanks to pixels that light up individually — but the addition of quantum dots means you’ll continue to see vibrant colors as the screen gets brighter.
Sure, this new tech means there’s another annoying display acronym to remember, but at least QD-OLED will offer some other notable upgrades. According to Samsung, it’ll be able to reach up to 1,000 nits of peak brightness (like this Alienware monitor), whereas the cream of the current OLED crop reaches around 400 nits. More brightness isn’t everything, especially since OLED’s perfect black levels can produce some eye-blistering contrast, yet it’s still a meaningful step forward as LCDs are becoming even more luminous with Mini-LED backlighting.
The Alienware QD-OLED monitor, like many 34-inch ultrawide models, features a 3,440 by 1,440 resolution. Think of it as an extra-long quad-HD screen: It’s not as sharp as 4K, but it’s still a huge leap ahead of 1080p. And since it doesn’t have as many pixels as a 4K screen, you’ll be able to play many games at its native resolution without taking out a loan for an RTX 3080 Ti. There’s also support for G-SYNC Ultimate, NVIDIA’s adaptive refresh rate technology which helps to reduce stuttering, as well as HDR 400 True Black. Alienware says it reaches 99.3 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut and it’s also color calibrated at the factory, both important features if you’re doing any production work.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
But enough specs, does this monitor actually look good in action? Yes, oh yes. My eyes watered while playing Halo Infinite’s desert-based “Behemoth” map, it was almost as if I was watching the sun reflecting off pristine sand in person. (That was also a sign I needed to lower the brightness a bit.) I kept noticing new details about my Spartan’s armor, thanks to the monitor’s color accuracy and pitch-perfect contrast. It also took me a while to get used to playing Overwatch again, as my brain struggled to keep up with the QD-OLED’s fast 175Hz refresh rate. The game reacted almost instantly, thanks to the QD-OLED monitor’s 0.1ms response time.
Compared to Dell’s 34-inch ultrawide gaming monitor, which I tested for several months last year, the Alienware QD-OLED looked dramatically better no matter what I was looking at. Colors popped off the screen, even when I was just scrolling through the web or watching movie trailers, and the deep curve always kept me in the center of the action. You’ll have to live with vertical black bars if you want to watch typical 16×9 videos fullscreen, but personally, I’d rather have more room to play something in the corner or side of the screen. Let your TV handle movie night — ultrawide monitors are all about multitasking.
A bigger issue is the lack of support for ultrawide resolutions in some games. Elden Ring, for example, can only be played in standard widescreen resolution. (You could risk a third-party patch, but that could get you banned if you play online.) I still enjoyed the dozens of hours I spent with the game on this QD-OLED monitor, but the black bars on the sides of the screen effectively turned it into a 27-inch display. You could run the game in a window and multitask on the side, but Elden Ring is the sort of experience I’d rather devote my full attention to. At the very least, the state of ultrawide gaming is far better now than it was a few years ago. It’s hard to find major titles that ignore 21:9 screens entirely, especially when it comes to shooters.
While the Alienware QD-OLED’s design isn’t as handsome as Apple’s metallic Studio Display, it features the same sci-fi aesthetic Alienware has been pushing since 2019. The case is made of plastic, but at least it feels sturdy and smooth to the touch. There’s none of the cheap flexing you’d find on budget monitors. There’s a tasteful oval of LED lighting on the back of the monitor, alongside a glowing Alienware logo, but it’s thankfully free of the garish bling you’d find on other gaming displays. A small fan blows hot air out of the top of the monitor, which gives it a slight hum that was easily drowned out by the sounds of my gaming rig. The Alienware monitor also offers both tilt and height adjustment, something you’d have to pay $400 more to get with the Studio Display.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
When it comes to connectivity, the Alienware 34 QD-OLED includes one DisplayPort 1.4 connection (up to 175Hz), 2 HDMI 2.0 ports (up to 100Hz), and four USB 3.2 Gen 1 connections spread across the bottom and back of the display. There’s also a headphone port on the bottom bottom of the monitor, and an audio line-out connection on the rear. It would have been nice to see HDMI 2.1 ports, or at the very least HDMI 2.0 connections with 120Hz support for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Clearly, Alienware is focusing on PC gamers, but some competitors offer HDMI 2.1 to make life easier for console players.
At $1,299, you’ll be paying a steep price for Alienware’s QD-OLED monitor, but it’s on par with other premium ultrawide monitors. LG’s 34-inch UltraGear is currently selling for $1,243, but that’s an LCD screen with a slower refresh rate. Or you could just go for LG’s 42-inch C2 OLED TV for $1,399, which is one of the best screens you can buy right now. (but it’s probably a bit too tall for desk work). If you’re looking for a similarly-sized display on a budget, Dell’s (admittedly far less impressive) 34-inch ultrawide gaming monitor is down to $500.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
Here’s the thing: Even though Alienware’s QD-OLED is a major investment, it’s arguably a wise one that could last you for years. For the price of a premium display last year (and less than Apple’s Studio Display!), you get next-generation OLED technology, an objectively gorgeous screen and all of the gaming upgrades you could ask for. It’s the rare gadget that makes me grin like an absolute idiot while I’m using it, surely that’s worth paying for.
So does the Overwatch 2 beta live up to all of the hype and anticipation? This week, Jessica Conditt joins Devindra to chat about Blizzard’s long-awaited sequel and why she thinks it’s worth the wait. Also, we discuss why you should care about data privacy given the current wave of anti-abortion legislation, and why the Embracer Group is gobbling up so many developers.
Listen above, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
Overwatch 2 beta brings some freshness to a stale game, but is it enough? – 1:15
What does the potential overturn of Roe v. Wade mean for online privacy in the US? – 13:28
Swedish game company Embracer buys several Square Enix studios – 17:47
Sonos is reportedly working on a $250 sound bar called the Ray – 21:46
Obi-Wan trailer drops for May the 4th – 23:19
Engadget’s coverage of Formula-E races in Monaco – 24:53
Working on – 27:14
Pop culture picks – 29:59
Video livestream
Credits Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Jessica Conditt Producer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos Graphic artists: Luke Brooks and Brian Oh
PillPack, an online pharmacy owned by Amazon, will pay $5.79 million to the U.S. government and states to settle a fraud suit related to its insulin distribution practices, the Department of Justice announced on Monday. The company admitted to sending customers full cartons of insulin pens — in some cases more than they needed or were prescribed — while under-reporting their days-of-supply to circumvent limits from Medicare and Medicaid. The result? PillPack effectively overbilled the government agencies for some insulin shipments between April 2014 and November 2019.
“Pharmacies are trusted to provide accurate information to Government healthcare programs and to prevent waste when dispensing medications to patients,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “PillPack abused this trust by dispensing insulin refills long before patients needed them and by falsely reporting the days-of-supply of insulin actually dispensed to prevent its claims for reimbursement from being denied.”
PillPack’s technology, which Amazon acquired in 2018, was used to create Amazon Pharmacy. But, as The Verge notes, PillPack still operates on its own. In a statement to Axios, an Amazon spokesperson noted that the company changed its distribution practices in 2019 and deflected the fraud allegations, saying that it “was common among pharmacies to not open pre-packaged boxes of insulin pens to ensure customers had enough life-saving medication.” At the very least, the spokesperson said, customers weren’t billed for the extra insulin pens.
