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Amazon’s Prime Air can officially begin drone delivery trials in the US

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“This certification is an important step forward for Prime Air and indicates the FAA’s confidence in Amazon’s operating and safety procedures for an autonomous drone delivery service that will one day deliver packages to our customers around the world,” David Carbon, an Amazon vice president, said in a statement.

Amazon is not the first drone operator to receive FAA approval. Alphabet subsidiary Wing and UPS are also operating FAA-approved trials. In Virginia, Wing is delivering over-the-counter meds, snacks and gifts on behalf of FedEx, Walgreens and a local retailer. UPS is delivering prescriptions for CVS in North Carolina.

Amazon has been openly discussing its drone delivery ambitions for years, but the pandemic may serve as an added push for the company. Amazon has seen a massive uptick on online sales in the past few months — enough to double its profits last quarter. It has hired more than 100,000 additional workers, but it seems that delivering orders via flying and rolling delivery bots may be another part of its plan to keep up with the added demand.

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Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 732G promises more power for midrange phones

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Compared to the 730G, the Snapdragon 732G uses a slightly faster Kryo 470 CPU (tuned to 2.3GHz compared to last year’s 2.2GHz). While they both use the Adreno 618 GPU, Qualcomm says the Snapdragon 732G offers “improved graphics rendering.” Both SoCs also use the X15 LTE modem that can hit up to 800 Mbps.

The 732G will also enable some of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Elite Gaming features like color tuning for HDR gaming. Some of the most noteworthy improvements seem to be in the fourth-generation AI engine here, which enable what the company calls “predictive user experiences” and will be “twice as powerful as previous generations.” This will also help battery performance, Qualcomm said.

We still don’t have details on what other devices will use the Snapdragon 732G. But given the Snapdragon 730G showed up in the excellent Pixel 4a and a slew of other phones, it’s likely we’ll see the new chip popping up a lot soon.

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The Razer Blade 15 with a 4K OLED display is $300 off

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Buy Blade 15 laptop (4K) at Razer – $1,999

This gaming laptop has more going for it than just a 4K, 60Hz OLED screen. It runs on a 10th-gen Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 GPU with Max-Q. The Blade 15 earned a spot in our gaming laptops buying guide as one of our favorite machines, and aside from the display, those are the specs we recommend on this machine. A 4K display isn’t necessary for most people — nor do you need it to get the most out of this gaming laptop. You could save an extra $100 and opt for the model with a 1080p, 144Hz panel and get the same core experience.

But if having a 4K screen means a lot to you (or you just want to get the most bang for your buck), the model on sale for $1,999 fits the bill. We gave the Blade 15 a score of 89 and praised it in part for having a sleek design that matches the power that its specs provide. Measuring 17mm thick, the Blade 15 is much slimmer than other gaming laptops — its 4.7-pound weigh may deceive it a bit, but its premium design and build quality means that you’ll be able to stick it in a 15-inch laptop bag without trouble. It also has a comfortable keyboard and trackpad and lasts close to nine hours on a single charge (which is more than many gaming laptops can boast).

In addition to its weight, we knocked the Blade 15 for its high price tag but this sale makes it easier to recommend the 4K model. You can also snag Razer peripherals for less during this sale, like the Basilisk wired gaming mouse, which is down from $69 to $49, the BlackWidow Lite tenkeyless keyboard, which is down from $89 to $59 and the Thresher headset — the Xbox version is down from $179 to $109 while the PlayStation/PC equivalent down from $129 to $79.

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



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Lenovo’s Legion Slim 7i gaming laptop weighs less than four pounds

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The Legion Slim 7i has a 71 WHr battery, which could last up to 7.75 hours and allows rapid charging. To keep the system even chiller, Lenovo made the air intake system 31 percent larger. That means 115 percent more airflow goes to the CPU and GPU compared to previous versions, and there are more exhaust fan blades.

The Legion Slim 7i packs a 10th Gen Intel Core i9 HK-series mobile processor. It comes with up to 2TB of SSD storage, up to 32GB of memory and multiple 15.6-inch screen options. You can choose a 4K display with a 60Hz refresh rate and 600 nits of brightness (ideal for streamers), or a full HD display with a 144Hz refresh rate (better suited for eSports). All of the displays support Dolby Vision, and the Slim 7i has Dolby Atmos immersive sound.

In addition to the Corsair-made RGB lighting on the new TrueStrike keyboard, you’ll notice a fingerprint reader built into the power button and a privacy shutter on the webcam. The laptop is available in slate gray aluminum and starts at $1,329. It should be available this October.

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Google is bringing a kids mode to some Android tablets

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Google Kids Space

Google

It looks colorful and easy to navigate. Kids will find a growing library of books and apps in the Read and Play tabs. Google is working with publishers to open up access to books, and children in the US will be able to read more than 400 books for free in Kids Space.

The Watch and Make tabs include videos from YouTube Kids that Google says are “engaging and encourage off-screen activities.” If all of that’s not quite enough, parents can download more things for their kids to check out from Google Play.

The first tablet that’ll include the mode is the new Lenovo Tab M10 HD Gen 2. It has a 10.1-inch HD wide-viewing-angle screen and dual Dolby Atmos speakers. The tablet starts at $129.99 and it should be available sometime next month.

Kids Space will be available on other Android tablets soon. Other companies have tried tablet experiences tailored to kids, with Amazon among the most notable examples.

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Engadget The Morning After | Engadget

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SkyDrive is yet another flying car startup, but one that has the backing of auto giant Toyota. That means we kinda have to pay attention. Fortunately, we did: SkyDrive finally achieved the first public crewed test flight for its flying car prototype, the SD-03. A pilot flew the vehicle around the Toyota Test Field in the city of Toyota, Japan.

The SD-03 itself is also interesting, billed as the smallest electric VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) vehicle in the world. Despite its size, it has eight rotors that help it fly safely even if there’s a motor failure, meaning even if not all of them work, you should be OK.

According to reports, SkyDrive hopes to grab approval for flights beyond the test field by the end of the year, and it expects a two-seat commercial machine by 2023. While it’ll miss the rescheduled Olympics, it does line up with Japan’s flying taxi service timeline, also known as The Future. 

— Mat

Twitter: Chadwick Boseman’s final post is most liked tweet ever

The actor passed away over the weekend.

Chadwick Boseman

Twitter has a new record for the most liked tweet. It confirmed that the late Chadwick Boseman’s last post, the news of his death by his family, is the “most liked tweet ever.” Boseman died of colon cancer at 43 on August 28th, after a four-year fight against the disease. His obituary post had 7.7 million likes as of the afternoon of August 29th, but that appears to have dipped to 7.3 million. It has been retweeted 3.1 million times.
Continue reading.

Apple’s next entry-level iPad might look a lot like an iPad Pro

It could have Face ID and Magic Keyboard support.

The team at 91mobiles has revealed what it says are design schematics for an updated  affordable iPad. If accurate, the new device would look like a cut-down iPad Pro with similarly slim bezels and a boxier design. The design suggests Face ID instead of Touch ID (no button here), and a Smart Connector hints at possible Magic Keyboard support.
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Watch a rocket launch, aborted at the last moment

The team had even declared ‘liftoff.’

ULA

For an aborted rocket launch, United Launch Alliance’s latest was… dramatic. The spaceflight outfit had to abort its NROL-44 mission a mere three seconds before it was due to start, with the Delta IV rocket’s initiators already covering the vehicle in flames — the crew even declared “liftoff” without realizing the mission had been cut short.

ULA’s rocket was carrying a secret National Reconnaissance Office payload believed to be a signal intelligence satellite. It’s still not clear what the problem was, and it will take at least a full week before ULA can attempt another launch. Continue reading.

Apple resurrects its iPod ‘Music Quiz’ game for iOS 14

It didn’t even need to create an app to do it.

Apple iPod

Apple is bringing back one of its iPod games — even if no-one asked it to. 9to5Mac has discovered that iOS 14 brings back Apple’s Music Quiz game, where your device plays songs at random and asks you to name them and rack up a score. In short: You’ll mess up because of the album tracks. The entire game runs as a Shortcut under the My Shortcuts section.

Don’t worry, there’s some new high-tech innovation, too: You can now share your score on social networks. Oh boy! Continue reading.

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SpaceX’s latest launch took rare southern route from Florida

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However, due to wildfire dangers near Vandenberg, the Air Force decided to allow SpaceX — and only SpaceX — to launch south from Florida. It made the exception because the Falcon 9 has an automatic flight safety system that can destroy the rocket it it has an anomaly or goes off its intended path. It’s critical that the rocket can make that decision without human intervention, because the rocket engine blast can interfere with self-destruct commands from the ground.

The key danger point for SpaceX was shortly after take off as the Falcon 9 skirted the Florida coast. The first stage dropped before the rocket arrived over Cuba, and after that, it was high enough not to threaten the island.

While only SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has the exemption for now, existing and upcoming rockets like the United Launch Alliance Vulcan, Blue Origin’s New Glenn and SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy will all eventually be equipped with automated self-destruct systems. At that point, they’ll all be allowed to fly south from Cape Canaveral as well.

The SAOCOM 1B satellite launched by Argentina’s space agency will follow a sun-synchronous orbit that will allow it to monitor spots on Earth at the same time each day. It’ll use radar to monitor Earth for disasters that could affect its agricultural, mining and other industries. The Falcon 9’s stage one rocket used in the launch has now flown four times in total — and will fly again, thanks to another successful ground landing near the launch pad.

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Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket makes successful return to flight

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The Electron booster’s payload was the “Sequoia” satellite from San Francisco-based Capella Space. The mission was called “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Optical,” because the satellite uses synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and not optical lenses to provide detailed Earth images. “Capella’s space-based radar can detect sub-0.5 meter changes on the surface of the Earth, providing insights and data that can be used for security, agricultural and infrastructure monitoring, as well as disaster response and recovery,” Rocket Lab wrote.

The mission is the 14th successful launch for Rocket Lab. Prior to the July 4th failure, the company had made 11 consecutive successful launches.

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Apple resurrects its iPod ‘Music Quiz’ game for iOS 14

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This only works with the built-in Music app. Sorry, Spotify fans. It does work with Apple Music, iTunes purchases and even locally synced songs from other sources, though. And since it’s a Shortcut rather than an app, you can easily poke around to either get inspiration for your own mini-games or modify Music Quiz to suit your tastes.

This is clearly a promo tool for Shortcuts to encourage use. At the same time, it’s hard to deny the retro appeal if you grew up using Apple’s music players. When Apple dropped classic iPods, it also ditched a slew of games that some users knew very well. While we wouldn’t call this a full-on revival, it does give you a chance to relive the iPod’s glory days.

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Watch ULA abort a rocket launch at the last moment

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Most rocket launch aborts are largely uneventful, but United Launch Alliance’s latest was… dramatic. The spaceflight outfit had to abort its NROL-44 mission (via Parabolic Arc) just three seconds before it was due to start, with the Delta IV rocket’s initiators already covering the vehicle in flames — the crew even declared “liftoff” without realizing that the mission had been cut short. The engines never ignited, ULA said.

It’s not initially clear what the problem was, but it will take at least a full week to try launching again. This shouldn’t affectt SpaceX’s plan to launch an Earth observation satellite on August 30th (today, if you’re reading in time) at 7:18PM Eastern from a nearby launchpad at Cape Canaveral. SpaceX also hoped to launch a Starlink mission earlier in the day, but that was pushed back due to bad weather.



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