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Star Trek’s computer-animated ‘Prodigy’ airs on Nickelodeon in 2021

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After a long period with no new Star Trek on television, fans are now dealing with a deluge of new programs from their favorite franchise, thanks to Discovery and Picard as well as the the upcoming Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds. Unfortunately all of these shows cater to more adult audiences, leaving out younger fans who might want to explore the galaxy. Last year CBS announced there would be a Star Trek animated show for younger audiences, and today we finally put a name (and logo) to the newest chapter of the popular franchise — Star Trek: Prodigy.

The CG-animated show is set to premiere next year on Nickelodeon, and will revolve around the adventures of a group of teens who take over an old Starfleet vessel and of course, go on adventures. For an idea of the tone, it’s best to look at who’s running the show: Kevin and Dan Hageman, the duo behind Netflix’s Trollhunters cartoon. Alex Kurtzman will still be involved as executive producer, as part of his five-year deal managing all things Trek for CBS Television Studios. It will be animated by Eye Animation Productions, the company’s new animation arm.

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Oppo will debut a Wear OS smartwatch on July 31st

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If the Wear OS-powered device is going to be anything like the earlier version, then it’ll likely have an AMOLED screen, eSIM for LTE and cellular calls, heart rate monitoring and water resistance up to 3ATM (or 5ATM on a larger model). The first Oppo Watch starts at 1,499 yuan (about $220) in China for the smaller, 41mm version, while the bigger 46mm option starts at 2,999 yuan (about $260). While that’s not as low as Mobvoi’s entry-level smartwatches, this price range is certainly on the lower end for the spectrum for a Wear OS watch. We won’t know the full specs, price and availability details till July 31st, but for now those who have been thinking about buying a Wear OS smartwatch might want to wait and see if this could be worth considering.

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Tesla sues EV startup Rivian for stealing trade secrets

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“Rivian instructed one recently departing Tesla employee about the types of Tesla confidential information that Rivian needs,” Tesla claims in the lawsuit. The company says it discovered three other employees taking “highly valuable, confidential information as they left for Rivian.” The suit also notes that more than a dozen of Rivian’s recruiters are former Tesla employees and “thus familiar with the types of information to which Tesla employees have access.” 

In a statement, a Rivian spokesperson called Tesla’s claims “baseless.”

“We admire Tesla for its leadership in resetting expectations of what an electric car can be,” a spokesperson said in a statement to Engadget. “Rivian is made up of high-performing, mission-driven teams, and our business model and technology are based on many years of engineering, design and strategy development. This requires the contribution and know-how of thousands of employees from across the technology and automotive spaces. Upon joining Rivian, we require all employees to confirm that they have not, and will not, introduce former employers’ intellectual property into Rivian systems. This suit’s allegations are baseless and run counter to Rivian’s culture, ethos and corporate policies.”

Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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‘Dragon Quest XI S’ comes to Xbox and PC on December 4th

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Dragon Quest XI S – Definitive Edition includes new side stories for supporting characters, a retro-inspired 2D mode and optional 16-bit activities that give you a taste of the original gameplay. It has a fully orchestrated soundtrack, and you can play the entire game with a new Japanese voice track. In the new photo mode, you’ll be able to rearrange characters, make them pose, change angles and more.

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‘The Falconeer’ will be an Xbox Series X launch title

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One of the most unique things about The Falconeer is that it was made entirely by one person. Developer Tomas Sala came up with the gameplay, programming, art, graphics and lore. That’s not unheard of, but it is super unusual in 2020.

The game is available for pre-order now. It will arrive with Xbox Series X this holiday season, but you’ll be able to play it on any Xbox device. The day-one edition will sell for $39.99 (€39.99 / £34.99), and it will include a custom reversible sleeve, lenticular card, sticker sheet, a digital download of the soundtrack and a digital game guide.

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AT&T says its 5G network is now available ‘nationwide’

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AT&T has hit a milestone in its 5G network rollout. As of this morning, the carrier says that its network is officially available nationwide — in carrier-speak, that means it’s available to more than 200 million people in the US. Specifically, AT&T added 40 new markets today, which brings it to a total of 395 markets that cover 205 million people. That puts AT&T a bit behind T-Mobile, which launched its 5G network nationwide in December of last year. They’re still far ahead of Verizon (Engadget’s parent company) though — Verizon’s “ultra wideband” 5G coverage is still only available in 35 cities around the US.

Of course, “5G” doesn’t mean the same thing from carrier to carrier. Verizon’s ultra wideband network uses the notably faster mmWave technology, while T-Mobile and AT&T primarily use mid- and low-band 5G to achieve their nationwide coverage. Verizon hasn’t deployed anything in those spectrums yet, which is why their 5G network is so limited in range — mmWave doesn’t have nearly the same reach. AT&T and T-Mobile both complement their networks with mmWave, but they’re also much more limited in reach.

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Amazon adds car insurance to its absurd list of services

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Amazon is breaking into the insurance business. In India, the company is now offering auto insurance through Amazon Pay and the private firm Acko General Insurance. The insurance will cover cars and motorbikes, and Prime members will get extra benefits, including exclusive discounts.

Amazon says customers will be able to purchase insurance in less than two minutes and with no paperwork. It’s offering other incentives like paperwork-free claims, one-hour pick-up and three-day claim servicing. Everything can be paid for through Amazon Pay, and policy documents will be sent to the Your Orders page.

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Facebook will let you turn Messenger Rooms into live broadcasts

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With the update, the room’s creator will have the option to broadcast the call directly to a Facebook page, profile or group and allow friends or followers to tune in as they would any other live stream. The feature, which will support groups of up to 50 participants, marks a significant expansion of Facebook’s multi-person live video capabilities. 

The update comes as Facebook has doubled down on live streaming capabilities during the coronavirus pandemic. The social network has also enabled streamers to charge for access to live events and plans to let Instagram influencers sell products in live streams. 

The Messenger Rooms feature is beginning to roll out now “in some countries,” and will expand to other areas “soon,” according to Facebook. The live streaming feature will be available on the web-based version of Messenger Rooms to start, but will eventually be added to the company’s mobile and desktop apps as well.

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Twitter sees record surge in user numbers

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Today, Twitter announced that it earned revenues of $683 million, a 19 percent fall compared to last year, with expenses rising to $807 million. Last quarter, this deadly mix of rising costs and falling revenue meant Twitter ate a $7 million loss. Today that loss has risen to $124 million, showing that until things get back to normal, Twitter’s going to be eating into its cash reserves and hoping those inexplicably-angry financial-types don’t get itchy feet.

COVID is, of course, only one factor in Twitter’s miserable summer after the platform’s highest-profile accounts were breached by hackers. It’s likely that those users, and plenty of others, are reconsidering their relationship with the service after so many people’s feeds were accessed. And if you lose the A-Listers, you could lose all of the folks who are on Twitter just to keep an eye on ‘em. Today, Twitter said that it is “committed to earning the trust” of its stakeholders and will be “transparent” in talking about how it fixes the issue.

Twitter added that it is working to improve its infrastructure and the quality of people’s conversation by deleting spammy and malicious accounts. It says that it deleted 15,000 misleading tweets and challenged 4.5 million accounts, as well as preventing 68 million “unannotated impressions.” Which we take to mean that those misleading tweets would have been seen around 68 million times if Jack Dorsey hadn’t been there clicking delete very, very rapidly.

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The New York Times is buying the maker of hit podcast series ‘Serial’

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Serial Productions, the studio behind Serial and S-Town, is now part of The New York Times. According to The Wall Street Journal, the newspaper has agreed to purchase the podcast-maker in a deal that could be worth up to $50 million, depending on milestones and performance metrics. A report from The Times itself says the acquisition will give the studio a way to produce more shows. The team usually works on one project at a time, but having NYT as a parent company means they have access to more resources.

Sam Dolnick, an NYT assistant managing editor for audio said the studio’s podcasts could also tap into the paper’s journalist pool for future stories. And when the studio puts out new content, NYT will promote it on its website, newsletters and other channels. “The idea is to drive New York Times readers and listeners toward Serial projects,” Dolnick said. “There’s going to be ways that we can help Serial tell more stories, bigger stories and, down the road, figure out how our newsroom and theirs can coordinate even more deeply.”

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