Instacart characterized these abuses as rare in a statement to Engadget, saying that tips stay the same or climb higher for “99.5% of orders” and that tip-based earnings have “nearly doubled” since the COVID-19 pandemic started. You can read the full statement below. The company didn’t directly address instances where tip baiting has happened or say if it would adjust behavior. It does have a few mild measures in place to discourage zeroing out tips, however, such as forcing customers to manually set the tip to $0 and setting the default to at least 5 percent even if it was lower for the last order.
It’s a complex situation. The ability to change tips after delivery is commonplace among grocery and restaurant delivery apps, and is meant to protect customers against shoddy service. Instacart shoppers, for example, are theoretically more likely to treat you well if they know you could reduce their tip. However, many of these app-based workers also depend on tips to make a decent living — the absence of a guarantee for their tips could leave them in financial distress. If the FTC intervenes, it may have to strike a careful balance where it both protects workers and gives customers a way to address poor service.
“Our goal is to deliver a high-quality experience for both customers and shoppers. By allowing customers to tip after delivery based on their overall service, we see shopper tips increase or stay the same on 99.5% of orders. Additionally, since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in North America, shoppers’ earnings from tips have nearly doubled. Tips are always separate from any Instacart earnings and all tips go directly to the shopper.”
A number of Amazon’s Fire TV devices are still on sale. The Fire TV Cube for $100 is notable because it hasn’t been on sale since February and this sale price is only $10 more than its lowest price ever. We gave the newest Fire TV Cube a score of 84 for its improved performance, solid handling of voice commands and support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+. If you don’t want to spend that much on a streaming device, you could opt for the Fire TV Stick that’s on sale for $30 or the 4K version that’s on sale for $40.
Google’s Nest WiFi 2-pack with one router and one access point is still on sale for $199. You can find it at this price at Best Buy, Bed Bath and Beyond and Home Depot. It’s a great deal if you want to upgrade your home WiFi, which you’re probably using now more than ever before. We gave the system a score of 84 for its smart design, simple installation process and its built-in smart speaker.
BuyDig still has Nest’s Learning Thermostat for $199, which is $50 off its normal price. This deal also includes a couple freebies — one Deco wall plate cover for the thermostat and two Deco WiFi smart plugs. We recommend checking that your heating and cooling system works with Nest thermostats before buying.
B&H Photo still has a sale on Google’s Pixel 3a smartphone that knocks the starting price down to $280. Some models are backordered right now, so you won’t get a specific shipping date, but the sale price is still available. While we’ve seen the Pixel 3a at $300 before, this is the lowest price we’ve seen yet on the handset. We gave the Pixel 3a a score of 87 (and the XL a score of 88) — they’re both solid midrange smartphones with excellent cameras, improved battery lives and included headphone hacks. The Pixel 4a may be just around the corner, but the Pixel 3a is one of the best options available now for those who need an affordable smartphone.
Best Buy has Theragun’s G3Pro massage gun on sale for $400 today, down from $600. This is one of the company’s higher-end percussion therapy guns with two speed settings, six interchangeable head attachments and an adjustable arm. While not one of the newest models with Bluetooth connection, it’s still a solid therapy gun at a price that’s more accessible than normal.
You can get Vantrue’s N2 Pro dash cam for $125 using the code VN6BQOO2 at checkout. Normally $200, this is a great deal on one of Vantrue’s higher-end dash cams that’s just as useful for regular drivers as it is for those who work for ride share companies. The N2 Pro records 1080p video and has a camera that faces inside the car as well, so you’ll get footage of the road ahead of you as well as you driving (and your passengers). It also has infrared night vision, loop recording and a G-sensor that will prompt the dash cam to automatically save footage of the impact event.
A deal on Amazon will save you $100 on two Echo Show smart displays, dropping the price from $460 to $360. Just add two to your cart and use the code SHOW2PACK at checkout. We gave the Echo Show a score of 86 for its improved design and solid audio quality.
It’s been five years since Apple debuted its smartwatch, and in that time the square-faced device has become iconic and infamous. The most recent version offers ‘dimmable’ faces that keep the screen available at all times, courtesy of its low-temperature polysilicon and oxide display. But it also provides many of the same things as before, including 18 hours of battery life, 40 and 44mm sizes and the Digital Crown. Editor-in-Chief Dana Wollman gave the wearable a solid score of 88 when she reviewed it.
While Apple claims that most people who buy a smartwatch are doing so for the first time, there are some repeat customers who simply want the upgrade. So tell us: Which group are you a part of? If it’s the latter, what feature inspired you to switch to the newest Apple Watch? And if you’re a newbie, what made you finally take the leap? Submit your feedback in the form of a user review on the Apple Watch Series 5 product page, and share all the details that potential buyers should know. Remember, the best reviews are included in upcoming user review roundup articles so don’t leave anything out!
Developers hoping to publish a PlayStation 4 game will have to ensure that their title also works on the upcoming PS5, according to Eurogamer. Documentation from Sony’s internal partner portal states that, as of July 13th, any software submitted for certification must run on both platforms, as well as offer the same experience on each. In other words, all game modes and options enabled on the PS4 must also be available on the PS5. This approach means that titles published during the twilight of the PS4’s lifecycle should be fully forward-compatible with the PS5, which is planned for a holiday 2020 release.
According to Eurogamer, Sony says that it will reach out to developers and instruct them on how to test their games for PS5 compatibility. Furthermore, any title submitted must stay compatible — devs can’t revoke features after release. (PS3 owners may remember Sony removing certain features like Other OS and Folding@home via firmware updates, as well as reducing backward compatibility with PS3 hardware revisions.) This new requirement only applies to games submitted for review on or after July 13th — that doesn’t mean that any game that comes out after that date will be forward compatible. Final or near-final builds of titles are sent to Sony for approval well before the discs are manufactured and the final touches are made. So games coming out in July or August may not necessarily work on PS5 without additional patches.
“These features may never make it to a camera release, but they’re cool enough and cooked enough to give you a taste,” GoPro wrote.
GoPro acquired ReelSteady in March. The software gained notoriety with the drone crowd, which used it to better smooth out their flight videos. Now, the GoPro Labs firmware optimizes the Hero8 Black’s in-camera rolling shutter correction to be suitable for ReelSteady GO stabilization. This is the first time that the public has access to ReelSteady tech on the GoPro platform.
GoPro
With the new firmware, which you can find here, GoPro is also sharing a new QR code-enabled method to control Hero8 Black cameras. Users can simply point their cameras at a QR code to trigger a designated feature. Some of those features include motion detection start/stop, speed detection start/stop and camera scripting. For example, you might instruct the camera to shoot a time lapse video but only during daylight hours.
While there were ways to tinker with GoPro’s firmware before, users will likely appreciate an official channel and an early glimpse of features the company may add down the line.
Those opposed to the plant, including member of Parliament Helen Whatley, have voiced concern for the possible “industrialization” of the countryside. “We’re not talking about a few fields — this would destroy an entire landscape. I want to see us reach net-zero by 2050, but this should not come at any cost,” Whatley told The Telegraph.
Cleve Hill developers have responded to concerns by emphasizing the plant’s clean energy benefits and noting the revenue it could bring to local communities. “The solar park will deliver a 65 percent increase in biodiversity on the intensively farmed site by including open grassland and meadow areas, hedgerows and woodland,” Cleve Hill spokeswoman Emily Marshall told The Independent.
While Cleve Hill will be the biggest solar plant in the UK, it’s still relatively small compared to other solar plants globally. The largest solar plant in Europe, the Núñez de Balboa plant in Spain, boasts 1.4 million solar panels and a total capacity of 500 megawatts. Noor Abu Dabhi in the United Arab Emirates is the largest individual solar plant in the world, with 1.18 gigawatts of peak capacity and 3.2 million panels.
After tearing down the device, Pen Test Partners, a company that takes apart consumer electronics to test them for security vulnerabilities, found there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary about the USB key. It comes with a modest 128MB capacity, an inexpensive sticker and a 25-page PDF that repeats much of the material found on the company’s website.
Sales of the 5GBioShield USB key started to pick up when one of the external members of Glastonbury’s 5G Advisory Committee mentioned the device. “We use this device and find it helpful,” they wrote and included a link to BioShield’s website. The report’s credibility came into question after the BBCpublished a story detailing its creation. It appears many of the people who worked on the report went into it with a biased opinion of 5G. What’s more, the committee admitted testimony from a variety of psuedo-scientific sources, including a professor who claims wireless signals will make human beings sterile.
“I joined the working group in good faith, expecting to take part in a sensible discussion about 5G,” said Mark Swann, one of the people who volunteered to help compile the report. “Sadly the whole thing turned out to be a clueless pantomime driven by conspiracy theorists and skeptics.”
Despite the best efforts of carriers like EE, 02 and Vodafone, as well as local authorities, anti-5G sentiment in the UK has grown recently. In April, arsonists torched cellular towers in several parts of the country in attacks authorities believe may be linked to conspiracy theories linking the proliferation of 5G masts to the spread of COVID-19. With this latest development in the story, you have a classic example of a company trying to profit from fear.
Adidas has made efforts to create more sustainable products in the past. Last year, it unveiled the Futurecraft Loop, a running shoe that is made from 100 percent recyclable materials, and in 2016, it released an UltraBoost shoe made of plastic waste removed from the ocean. The company’s Yeezy brand is also working on a clog made of algae foam. Adidas has promised to use only recycled materials by 2024.
Allbirds’ entire brand, meanwhile, is based on sustainability. The company uses alternative materials like wool and sugarcane waste, rather than leather or polyurethane in its shoes. Its first running shoe, the Tree Dasher, was released late last month and was praised both for its performance as well as its sustainable design, which uses a sugarcane sole and a eucalyptus fiber upper.
It’s encouraging to see so many sneaker brands work toward a more sustainable future. (Nike recently unveiled its line of Space Hippie sneakers, which are mostly made of scraps from plastic bottles, t-shirts and yarn.) Hopefully Adidas and Allbirds are successful, and other brands can follow their lead.
It’s almost time. Sony will showcase PS5 games for the first time in a live stream on June 4th at 4 PM ET. It follows a recent report that Sony was set to pull back the curtain on some next-generation titles next week.
The stream, which will run on Twitch and YouTube, will last just over an hour. “Studios, both larger and smaller, those newer and those more established, all have been hard at work developing games that will showcase the potential of the hardware,” Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan wrote in a blog post. So, the company may delve into a wide range of games next Thursday.
Riot Games will share the first gameplay footage from League of Legends: Wild Rift today at 11AM ET / 8AM PT. The upcoming livestream will give Riot fans a chance to see what they can expect from the upcoming mobile and console version of the studio’s popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA).
When it announced the game last fall, Riot went out of its way to point out Wild Rift isn’t a port of the PC version of League of Legends. The studio said it developed “the whole game from scratch.” We know Wild Rift will feature faster matches than its PC counterpart. It will also feature a thumb-friendly control scheme and a roster of approximately 40 playable characters at release, with more to follow.
