As part of its usual autumn laptop refresh, Acer is announcing a host of new Chromebook today that'll roll out in th... Read More
As part of its usual autumn laptop refresh, Acer is announcing a host of new Chromebook today that'll roll out in the coming months. There are four models being refreshed today: the Chromebook Spin 514, Chromebook 515, Chromebook 514, and Chromebook Spin 314. That's a lot of product names, but Spin devices can flip around with a 360-degree hinge, and the last two digits denote the screen size. That should hopefully ground you as we go through these new models.Most interesting is probably the Spin 514 (pictured above), which combines a 14-inch 1080p touchscreen that has minimal bezels with Intel's 11th-generation Core i3, i5 or i7 processors. This laptop has no fans, which means these probably aren't the highest-powered versions of Intel's chips, but they should still provide solid performance for Chrome OS. Acer also put some focus on the webcam, a wise choice given how we're all still stuck on videos calls for the foreseeable future. It's a 1080p camera with a blue glass filter and new noise-reduction technology to remove things like light flares. We'll have to see how this works in practice, but given how many laptops have entirely mediocre webcams, any improvements here will be welcome.Other specs include up to 16GB of RAM, up to 512GB of storage, Intel Iris X graphics and 10 hours of battery life. The Spin 514 weighs in at 3 pounds, so it's not going to be the lightest thing to use in tablet mode, but otherwise it sounds like it'll be a very good Chromebook — it also simply looks nice and well-built, at least as far as I can tell from these images. And Acer has a solid track record of making very good Chromebooks, so hopefully that'll continue here. The Spin 514 is expected to arrive in the US in January and starts at $700.Acer's Chromebook 515 (which comes in consumer and enterprise editions) has similar specs to the Spin 514, though it has a larger 15.6-inch display. Given the large size, this laptop isn't a convertible, which is probably a smart move. For a 15-inch laptop, though, it's pretty light — only 3.75 pounds. It comes with the same 11th-generation processor options as the Spin 514, though it also has a budget Pentium Gold option (paired with Intel's UHD graphics rather than the Iris X). The Chromebook 515 will initially be available in Europe this month for €499; the Enterprise version will come to the US in January 2022 starting at $640.Acer has a few less expensive Chromebooks coming out, as well. The Chromebook Spin 314 starts at $500 and arrives in the US in November. For that price, you'll get a 14-inch screen with an unfortunate 1,366 x 768 resolution, which is pretty unacceptable in the year 2021. It also features budget processors in the form of Intel's Pentium Gold or two Celeron options and has a 360-degree hinge, as the name implies. More intriguing is the Chromebook 514, which pairs a 14-inch, 1080p display with MediaTek's 8-core Kompanio 828 processor and 8GB of RAM. We haven't tested a MediaTek Chromebook in a while, so we can't say for sure how it'll perform yet. But Acer is promising 15 hours of battery life, and the laptop weighs less than 3 pounds, so it does have some potential as a budget Chromebook (the 514 will cost $400 when it is released in December). Read Less
Amazon allegedly "ran a systematic campaign" of copying other companies' products in India and gamed searc... Read More
Amazon allegedly "ran a systematic campaign" of copying other companies' products in India and gamed search results to promote its own versions. Reuters obtained thousands of pages of internal documents including emails and business plans that detail the practices.A private brands team in India (which works on the company's own products) used data from Amazon's marketplace in the country to find and target goods and create knockoff versions, the agency reported. The goal was to find “reference” or “benchmark” wares and copy them. A document from 2016 detailed a plan for an Amazon brand called Solimo, which is tailored toward the Indian market. The aim was to “use information from Amazon.in to develop products and then leverage the Amazon.in platform to market these products to our customers.”The document indicated that the private brands group aimed to form partnerships with the manufacturers of the benchmark items, because those companies use “unique processes which impact the end quality of the product.” The team sought to gain insights from the manufacturers and use the so-called "Tribal Knowledge" in its own versions to "fully match quality with our reference product."After it made the knockoffs, the company manipulated search results with a method called “search seeding” so that AmazonBasics and Solimo items would pop up near the top of the page, according to the document. The company also "aggressively" used a technique called “search sparkles on PC, Mobile and App to specifically promote Solimo products on relevant customer searches from ‘All Product Search’ and Category search,” per the document. Sparkles are the banners placed above search results."As Reuters hasn't shared the documents or their provenance with us, we are unable to confirm the veracity or otherwise of the information and claims as stated," an Amazon spokesperson told Engadget in a statement. "We believe these claims are factually incorrect and unsubstantiated.""Amazon identifies selection gaps based on customer preferences at an aggregate level only and shares this information with all sellers," the spokesperson added. "Amazon’s policy strictly prohibits the use or sharing of non-public, seller-specific data for the benefit of any seller, including sellers of private brands. This policy applies uniformly across our company to all employees — our internal teams receive regular trainings on its application and we thoroughly investigate any reports of employees acting contrary to this policy."This is far from the first time we've heard reports of Amazon allegedly copying other companies' products. Over the years, the company has been accused of cloning the Instant Pot, Allbirds sneakers and a camera bag from Peak Design to name a few. A 2020 Wall Street Journal investigation also indicated that Amazon studied sales data of third-party products on its platform to inform the design and pricing of its own goods.Regulators in India, the US and Europe have targeted Amazon over alleged anti-competitive practices. Reuters points out that an investigation in India is looking into whether the company unfairly promoted its own branded goods.All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Read Less
Sadly, we're note getting Mindhunter season 3. After a short tease yesterday, Netflix just revealed its next project... Read More
Sadly, we're note getting Mindhunter season 3. After a short tease yesterday, Netflix just revealed its next project from renowned filmmaker David Fincher: VOIR, a collection of visual essays about the love of cinema. The short teaser doesn't tell us much, sadly. But according to writer and film critic Drew McWeeny, who's working on one episode of the series, VOIR will feature standalone explorations about different aspects of movies."We’re not trying to sell you anything, and we’re not interviewing anyone about what Marvel movies they’re doing," McWeeny wrote in his newsletter, Formerly Dangerous. "We’re each tackling a totally different idea, something that intrigues us or upsets us or that has to do with our connection to the movies."Much like Love, Death and Robots, the animated sci-fi series from Fincher and Tim Miller (Deadpool), VOIR episodes will range from 10 to 30 minutes. The series is also co-created by David Prior, the director of the recent cult horror hit The Empty Man. Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos, The duo behind the excellent YouTube series Every Frame a Painting, Taylor Ramos and Tony Zhou, are also listed as directors. VOIR will premiere at LA's AFI Fest in November, and Netflix says it'll be heading to the streaming service soon. Read Less
It's official: after plenty of hype and a slight delay, William Shatner has become the oldest person to fly to space... Read More
It's official: after plenty of hype and a slight delay, William Shatner has become the oldest person to fly to space. The 90-year-old Star Trek icon was one of four crew members aboard Blue Origin's NS-18 mission as it flew to an altitude of 66 miles. He edged out 82-year-old aviation pioneer Wally Funk, who set the previous age record just a few months earlier.The New Shepard flight also included Blue Origin VP Audrey Powers, Planet Labs co-founder Dr. Chris Boshuizen and Medidata co-creator Glen de Vries. This is the second of three crewed missions Blue Origin has planned for 2021.This is an important moment for spaceflight, not to mention sci-fi fans. It shows that age isn't much of a restriction for brief trips to space, and fulfills the dreams of anyone who wanted to see Captain Kirk visit the final frontier in real life — even if he wasn't helming a starship.With that said, it's also a timely public relations boost for Blue Origin. Jeff Bezos' private spaceflight outfit is currently grappling with accusations of a toxic work environment, not to mention the fallout of its legal tussle with SpaceX over NASA's Moon mission contract. Shatner's successful trip won't completely distract from those issues, but it might give Blue Origin a chance to highlight some achievements at a time when many are focused on its shortcomings. Read Less
Navigating coronavirus as a family, especially when you have young children, can be very difficult.Whether a child has co... Read More
Navigating coronavirus as a family, especially when you have young children, can be very difficult.Whether a child has contracted the virus or not, if their parents or siblings do and are forced to isolate as a result, school drop-off and pick-up becomes a logistical nightmare. However, this situation is leaving children with unauthorised absences on their record, even where parents explain the situation to teachers.One woman, a mother of four from Cumbria, who faced three of her children getting Covid, was unable to take her fourth to school despite him testing negative. But that left him with an unauthorised absence, which the mum complained about.The mum, who wished to stay anonymous, told HuffPost UK: “I have no issue with the school and how they have handled the situation, they’ve been brilliant. I have an issue with the guidance that the government are giving schools.“I know that schools can make their own decisions, most are and are making good ones, but the guidance from our government should focus on keeping people safe. The current guidance doesn’t and that makes me pretty angry.”Other parents have reported similar experiences and frustrations.Martin Wright, 38, a dad from Shropshire, was also left confused when he explained his situation to the school.“My youngest who is eight got an unauthorised absence because we kept her off school yesterday,” he said. “Myself, my wife and my eldest daughter all had positive PCR tests on the weekend. We kept her off because she had mentioned a sore throat, although she had a negative PCR.“She has now had a positive lateral flow test (last night) It makes me feel uneasy that had we followed the rules – which says you should arrange for someone else to take the kid/s to school – she would’ve gone to school and potentially had Covid.“We didn’t follow the school’s rules, and got penalised with an unauthorised absence. I think it’s unfair – the rules don’t make a lot of sense. For example we couldn’t get her to school safely, being in isolation ourselves. The rules need to take into account the situation at home, and consider the risk to the other students and staff.”HuffPost UK reached out to the Department of Education for some guidance on the matter.A spokesperson said: “Parents who are isolating should make alternative arrangements wherever possible to ensure that their child can continue to attend school. If a child cannot attend school because they are required to isolate, schools should provide them with remote education so they can continue to be taught. Read Less
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