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Uber offers 14 days of financial assistance to drivers with COVID-19

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Because the amount of money that Uber drivers make varies so widely, Uber will base the financial assistance on a driver’s average daily earnings over the last six months. If they haven’t been driving for six months, Uber will average their earnings between their start date and March 6th. For instance, if a driver was making $28.57 per day, they’ll receive $400. If they were earning $121.42 per day, they’ll receive $1700.

“We believe this policy lets us fairly support both people who use the platform once in a while to supplement their income, as well as those who primarily rely on our platform to pay their bills,” Uber wrote in a press release.

Because the situation is evolving so rapidly, this policy is effective until April 6th, at which time Uber says it will reassess the situation. If Uber stops operations in a city or country completely due to COVID-19, it will work with local governments to understand how to best support drivers and delivery people — though a full service shutdown has not yet occurred anywhere in the world.

Lyft has also said it will compensate drivers, but it has not yet released a detailed plan. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart and Postmates were discussing a fund to compensate drivers affected by the virus, so we may see more compensation plans being rolled out soon. Unfortunately, there is no perfect solution, and drivers who see a downturn in business but are not diagnosed or quarantined by a public health authority will likely suffer from lost wages.

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‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ is the island escape we all need today

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And so began my frenemy relationship with Nook, someone you always end up owing in Animal Crossing. He means well, but you’ll quickly notice you end up doing most of his grunt work. Compared to the real world, though, he’s an angel. Nook may charge you an eye-popping amount of bells to upgrade your flimsy tent into a genuine home with a roof, but there’s no interest on your debt, and no forced payment schedule. You just need to explore your town, earn some cash, and pay it off whenever you can. That’s infinitely better than dealing with college loans in your thirties and fighting with banks and our insane credit system to own a home.

DIY crafting, which debuted in the Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp mobile game, also changes up the flow of the series for the better. Instead of just earning money to buy furniture, clothes and other accessories, you can build them on your own, assuming you have the proper materials. That makes chopping wood, mining for stone and metal and collecting cherries far more rewarding than previous titles.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to try the local or online multiplayer portions of the game, but I’m definitely looking forward to sharing my island experience with friends down the line. And if you share your Switch, you better get used to living on a single island with everyone else in your household. That seems like a particularly draconian move by Nintendo — the only way to get multiple islands is to buy more copies of the game. I also didn’t get to test the New Horizons features in the Switch Online App for smartphones. It’s your gateway to voice chatting with friends, and you’ll also be able to scan QR codes for unique items from older Animal Crossing games.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

After diving into New Horizons for about 12 hours, my island utopia has finally started to take shape. There’s an impressively large museum to display the fossils and animals I’ve collected. I helped construct a thriving store run by the Nook kids. And my house is shaping up into quite the bachelor pad, with an expensive stereo, a grown-up reclaimed wood bed and a microphone for my dreams of in-game podcasting. More so than any Animal Crossing before it, New Horizons has become a calming ritual for me. I look forward to checking on my island every morning, greeting newcomers, and taking another look every night to sell items before the shop closes.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

It may seem a bit frivolous, but all of the time I spent in the game was time spent avoiding political fights on Twitter, news about how we’re ill-equipped to fight the coronavirus, and fretting about the fate of our civilization. Every moment spent in New Horizons is a moment I can breathe a bit easier, which feels like a miracle today.

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AMD’s efficient Ryzen 9 CPUs target Intel’s gaming laptop crown

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The latest H-series chips go a bit beyond what we’ve seen with AMD’s 8-core 4800U mobile chips when it comes to overclocking, with clock speeds topping out at 4.4 Ghz. At the same time, it packs the same powerful graphics performance. The 7-nanometer Vega engine already boosts integrated graphics performance by up to 59 percent per core, and the Ryzen 9 4900H/4900HS chips have eight cores, while the Ryzen 7 4800H has seven cores and the Ryzen 5 4600H 6 cores.

For content creation chores, that boosts the 4900HS rendering times over the comparably priced Intel Core i9-9880H CPU, while using just 35 watts compared to 45 watts. At the same time, AMD is promising fast gaming frame rates on systems pairing the Ryzen 9 4900HS with NVIDIA’s RTX 2060 MaxQ GPU.

AMD 4000 H-Series processor summary

The Ryzen 9 4900HS chip comes in a 35 watt package (the slightly more powerful 4900H consumes 45 watts). However, AMD said that the chips deliver up to double the performance per watt compared to the 2nd-generation 12-nanometer chips, thanks to improvements in both the manufacturing technology and architecture. AMD said that the chips can also idle to lower power states and back to full power more quickly and “reduce the penalty of power state transitions.”

AMD’s platform control also makes the processors more efficient at distributing loads between the discreet graphics and processor. As a result, notebooks running AMD’s 4000 H-series chips like the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Z14 will be able do up to 10 hours of video playback and let you game for longer, too.

AMD promised that the 4000 H-series Ryzen chips will arrive sometime in spring 2020, so we should see ASUS’s ROG Zephyrus G14 laptop with Ryzen 4000 HS graphics around the same time. There’s no word yet on any pricing nor an exact date, however, and coronavirus problems around the world could push back potential release dates.

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Beats’ redesigned Powerbeats earbuds have longer battery and hands-free Siri

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The Powerbeats 3 was announced in 2016, so the Beats tethered wireless earbuds were well overdue for an upgrade. The new Powerbeats now has the same audio and design as the pricier true wireless Powerbeats Pro that debuted last year. One key difference is where the cable watch attached to the front of the buds on the Powerbeats 3, it’s routed down the end of the earhooks on this latest model. That should keep the cord out of your way a little more since it’s tucked behind your ear. Apple increased battery life to 15 hours on a charge — up from 12 hours on the previous model. The handy five-minute Fast Fuel charging feature is still here, and it still gives you an hour of listening time in a few minutes. When it’s time to plug in, you’ll do so via a Lightning cable.

Powerbeats

As you might expect, the Powerbeats will still stand up to your workouts. The earbuds are IPX4-rated sweat and water resistant, so a modest amount of moisture shouldn’t cause any issues. The inline remote is gone, but there are on-board controls on the buds themselves, and they’re similar to those on the Powerbeats Pro. There’s a volume rocker on top of the right earbud and a multi-function control on the side-mounted “b” button handles audio playback, phone calls and more. A power button on top of the left earbud also puts the device in pairing mode.

While the Powerbeats 3 had Apple’s W1 chip from the original AirPods, the new Powerbeats got an upgrade to the latest tech. Inside, the H1 chip offers quick pairing, the ability to easily switch between iCloud-connected devices and, most importantly, hands-free Siri access on iOS. When these earbuds are connected to an iPhone or iPad, you don’t have to push a button to summon Apple’s virtual assistant. Simply say “Hey Siri” and the technology is ready for your commands.

The new Powerbeats will be available this Wednesday, March 18th on Apple’s website in black, white and red color options for $149. That’s $50 cheaper than the previous version.

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Apple Card holders can skip March payment due to impact of coronavirus

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As revealed on Reddit and reported by MacRumors, Apple Card customers have received an email explaining, “We understand that the rapidly-evolving COVID-19 situation poses unique challenges for everyone and some customers may have difficulty making their monthly payments. Apple Card is committed to helping you lead a healthier financial life.”

To take advantage of what Apple is calling its “Customer Assistance Program” cardholders will have to contact the company to join the scheme — missing the March payment without actively doing so means they’ll still be liable for interest changes. An email explaining the program should already be on its way, or holders can enrol via Apple Card’s support portal.

Apple’s decision to allow customers to skip March payments follows similar moves by other financial institutions seeking to reduce the impact of coronavirus on their customers. Banks in the UK have deferred mortgage and loan repayments for up to three months, while the Department of Education in the US has paused interest payments on student loan debts.

Apple Card

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SpaceX aborts Falcon 9 launch with rare ‘Liftoff! Disregard’ sequence

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Apparently, the launch was aborted automatically by the Falcon 9’s onboard computer after it detected a Merlin 1D engine issue. During the commentary, SpaceX supervisor Michael Andrews noted that it had a “condition regarding engine power that caused us to abort today’s launch.” SpaceX later added, via a tweet: “Standing down today; standard auto-abort triggered due to out-of-family data during engine power check.” The company said it would reveal the next launch date “once confirmed on the range.”

The launch would have marked the first time a Falcon 9 main booster has been used five times. The company also reused a payload fairing from a previous mission. SpaceX was planning to launch 60 more of its Starlink satellites designed to bring low-cost internet to far-flung places. The sytem should be operational soon, but has been controversial because the highly reflective satellites have been marring astronomical observations.

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Google Maps is making ‘Live View’ AR navigation more prominent

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Tapping on the button will launch the camera that shows the distance and direction to a location relative to your position. An arrow will guide you to move your phone until you’re pointing in the right direction, with the final destination marked by a large floating pin. A card at the bottom of the screen will then prompt you to start your AR-guided navigation.

This system will make it much easier for folks to get started with their navigation, particularly if they exit from an underground subway station. Rather than walking a hundred yards in the wrong direction, you can simply type in your destination, click on the Live View button and spin around until your destination appears. Then, you can start walking or riding in the right direction, immediately.

The usual Live View caveats apply — once you start walking, the AR interface disappears so you don’t get fixated on your phone and walk into the street without looking. This updated Live View feature is pretty likely to arrive soon, as it’s on the Google Maps roadmap, but for now it’s still in beta.

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Motorola’s zero-bezel Edge phones may include a more affordable model

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The regular Edge might even represent a step up for some users. It would have a smaller 4,500mAh battery (versus 5,000mAh), but it’d also include a headphone jack the Edge+ omits — you might prefer this lower-end phone if you insist on wired audio. You could also expect an increasingly standard 128GB of expandable storage and an under-display fingerprint reader.

It’s not certain when the Edge might be ready or where it will sell. The Edge+ is reportedly headed to Verizon (Engadget’s parent company), but there’s no guarantee the standard Edge will follow suit. Don’t be surprised if you have to pick this up as an unlocked model, much like you do with much of Motorola’s current lineup.

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TikTok will stop using China-based moderators to screen foreign content

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The move to region-oriented moderators theoretically reduces the chances that TikTok will censor political statements and other content the Chinese government doesn’t like. It may also help with cultural understanding. While the existing moderators both speak the relevant languages and are familiar with the cultures they’re moderating, people from the areas under moderation might have a better chance of understanding cultural nuances.

As with earlier measures, TikTok isn’t doing this entirely voluntarily. Politicians and regulators (particularly in the US) are worried not just that TikTok might be censoring material, but that it might pose a security threat. The reduced involvement of China-based staff theoretically shows that it’s not an organ of the country’s authoritarian government. Whether or not it helps isn’t certain. Officials are still worried that the Communist Party could force TikTok to hand over data, and new moderators won’t change that.

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Israel will use anti-terrorist tracking tech to fight coronavirus outbreak

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The announcement is already raising concerns. Privacy expert Avner Pinchuk warned that this could include real-time phone tracking to alert authorities of quarantine violations, or tracing metadata to determine a COVID-19 patient’s travels and contacts. Shin Bet responded by saying it wouldn’t use its tech “in the context of isolation guidelines,” but that may not be reassuring if you object to constant monitoring in the first place.

Numerous countries have locked down large parts of their infrastructure, including Israel — it just ordered shutdowns for hotels, shopping malls, restaurants and theaters. The use of surveillance tech is relatively novel, though, and this might prompt other countries to follow suit if the law allows. If that happens, surveillance tech may be all too common — at least while the outbreak is still raging.

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