The 44mm Apple Watch SE falls back to a low of $229

You can now grab a 44mm Apple Watch SE for $229 from Amazon. The smartwatch has been on sale a few times for around that much before, but it has mostly been for the smaller 40mm variant. This deal is for the bigger GPS version of the Watch SE, specifically for the model with the silver case. It’s the lowest price we’ve seen for the smartwatch, which typically goes for $309, and is a fantastic deal if you’ve been looking to buy the device.

Buy Apple Watch SE [GPS 44mm] Smart Watch at Amazon – $229

We gave the Apple Watch SE a score of 88 in our review and praised it for being an excellent starter smartwatch. It’s light and feels like a high-end machine on your wrist, and it has a crisp and bright OLED Retina display. The device also served as an introduction to Apple’s Solo Loop continuous straps that don’t come with buckles and clasps. We found it comfortable to use when we tested it out, but since the strap can’t be adjusted, you’ll have to make sure to get the perfect size for you. 

If you want a newer model and don’t mind paying more for a smartwatch, however, you can also grab an Apple Watch Series 7 model at a discount. The 41mm version is currently on sale for $329, while its larger 45mm sibling is selling for $70 less at $359. That’s a record—low price for the 41mm Watch Series 7, which typically sells for $399.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Elon Musk is reportedly looking to cut the Tesla workforce by 10 percent

Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants to cut around 10 percent of jobs at Tesla, according to a report from Reuters. In an email to executives, he wrote that he has a “super bad feeling” about the economy. Including its subsidiaries, Tesla employed around 100,000 people as of the end of 2021, so any layoffs could be substantial.

Tesla has struggled with production more than some automakers, as most of its vehicles bound for Asian and European markets are manufactured in China at its Shanghai factory. Like other firms that manufacture in the nation, it has had difficulty restarting production following COVID-19 lockdowns.

On top of that, investor sentiment has been down due to inflation and the war in the Ukraine. However, the US jobs market is as good as it’s ever been, with unemployment holding steady at a 3.6 percent, the lowest level since the start of the pandemic. Demand for Tesla vehicles remains strong as well, according to Reuters. 

Musk recently told SpaceX and Tesla employees that they had to return to the office full-time or leave the company. His uncompromising stance on remote work contrasts with other major tech companies that have allowed workers to request work-from-home permanently, including Salesforce, Slack and Facebook. Tech talent agency founder Jason Stomel told Reuters that Musk’s stance could be a “disguised layoff” because he “knows there’s a percentage of workers who are just not going to come back.” 

Cruise can now charge for fully driverless rides in San Francisco

GM’s Cruise has received the first ever driverless deployment permit issued by the California Public Utilities Commission. That means the company can now charge for the robotaxi rides, ones with no safety driver behind the wheel, it gives to members of the public. Cruise has secured permission (PDF) to operate its paid passenger service at a max speed of 30 mph on select streets of San Francisco from 10PM to 6AM. 

The company is expected to have 30 electric vehicles in its fleet, offering its ride-hailing passengers paid rides. Those cars aren’t allowed to operate on highways, however, or during times of heavy fog and rain. In its announcement, the company said it will begin rolling out fared rides gradually, including to areas not currently covered by its permit. 

A Cruise spokesperson told TechCrunch:

“In the coming months, we’ll expand our operating domain, our hours of operation and our ability to charge members of the public for driverless rides until we have fared rides 24/7 across the entire city.”

The company first received permission to offer passengers free robotaxi rides almost exactly a year ago and opened fully driverless ride-hailing to the public this February. In March, the CPUC gave Cruise (and Waymo) permission to start charging their passengers, but only for rides with a safety driver behind the wheel. Now, Cruise can charge customers even if there’s nobody else onboard. The company called this development a “major milestone for the shared mission of the AV industry to improve life in [the] cities.” It will also use this opportunity to gather data for the development of the project’s future phases.

Sony’s ‘Spider-Man’ and ‘Miles Morales’ games are coming to PC

Back in 2017, Sony’s Insomniac Games famously tweeted that its Spider-Man game was a “permanent PS4 exclusive” that would “never appear on Xbox or PC.” Welp, Sony just announced that the Spider-Man series is coming to PC, with Spider-Man Remastered arriving on August 12th, 2022 and Spider-Man: Miles Morales coming in the fall.

Sony mildly acknowledged its previous ultimatum (“That’s right…), while pointing out that the port isn’t due to any lack of success on PS4 or PS5. It said that the series has now sold through more than 33 million copies globally as of May 15, 2022, which makes it one of Sony’s biggest first-party hits. 

From the footage shown in the teaser, the visuals look pretty great. The remastered version includes adjustable render settings and ray-traced reflections, and you’ll of course be able to use your keyboard and mouse. The game “will include the full main story and its continued narrative in Marvel’s Spider-Man: The City that Never Sleeps DLC,” with three accompanying Peter Parker story chapters along with additional missions and challenges, according to Insomniac.

Despite the “never” tweet, a Spider-Man port looked far more likely after Sony purchased Nixxes, a studio known for porting games to PC. Nixxes did in fact do the work, saying it focused on “creating the best possible PC experience that takes advantage of all the exciting possibilities the PC platform has to offer.” As mentioned, Spider-Man Remastered arrives on August 12th and Spider-Man: Miles Morales shortly afterwards in autumn. More information about both games will arrive closer to the launch dates. 

‘Street Fighter 6’ arrives in 2023 with new modes and real-time commentary

A few months after confirming the existence of Street Fighter 6, Capcom has revealed that the upcoming entry to the fighting franchise will come out in 2023 for the PS 5, PS 4, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Like the company promised in its initial teaser, the game will include Luke, a key DLC character for Street Fighter V, as well as fan favorites Ryu and Chun-Li. The video game developer previously described Luke as “a key player in the future of Street Fighter” who would help expand its world. 

Capcom is using its own RE Engine to develop the fighting game, and it says that gives it the capability to make sure finer details shine through, such as the look of individual muscles tensing up. The company also used the RE Engine to for its other popular titles, including Resident Evil Village, Devil May Cry 5 and Monster Hunter: Rise.

One of the features debuting with the title is Real Time Commentary, which will provide easy-to-understand explanations about gameplay for your matches. These commentaries will be voiced by notable Fighting Game Community commentators, starting with Jeremy “Vicious” Lopez and Aru, and they’ll support subtitles in 13 languages.

It will also feature modes from previous entries, along with two new ones called World Tour and Battle Hub. In addition, Capcom is introducing Modern Control Type with Street Fighter 6 to make special moves easier to execute: It will allow you to perform special attacks simply by pressing the button for it along with directional input.

The company has yet to announce an exact release date for it, but you can watch a trailer for the game above.