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Porsche streamlines the Taycan EV’s infotainment system

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To stay true to the Porsche’s sportscar DNA, the Taycan will ship with the company’s brand new streamlined infotainment system. The automaker still has the three main customer-placed widgets on the home screen, but the data and how it’s displayed has been optimized to keep the driver’s eyes on the road instead of searching for important details.

Porsche Taycan interior

To help reduce any confusion between how features work, the automaker also standardized the menu and layout for all the options. Plus, throughout the system, the home screen, vehicle and notification options are always one click away.

That minimalism extends to the new center console display that sits above the shifter and between the driver and passenger. The automaker has replaced the glass panel with a touchscreen that controls the climate controls and touchpad that features haptic feedback. Drivers can use it to navigate the main infotainment screen or as a handwriting input device.

The features (suspension, traction control, raising the suspension) that used to reside in the center console are now touch controls and reside adjacent to the dash cluster. While the design of the cluster stays true to the 911, it’s now completely digital. That opens the ability to fill the 16.8-inch screen with classic car information, remove everything but the speedometer, or fill it completely with navigation.

While three screens seem like the opposite of a “less is more” aesthetic, there’s also a fourth screen for the passenger. It’ll be interesting to see what features the automaker adds to that additional piece of visual real estate.

Porsche Taycan interior

Finally, to help control all these features, the automaker will be adding voice control. The “Hey Porsche” wake word follows along with the rest of the industry but is a great step in reducing distracted driving. Talking to your car to play a song from Apple Music for example, is way safer than navigating via a touchscreen.

The production version of the Porsche Taycan is scheduled to be unveiled in September.

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HP CEO Dion Weisler will step down in November

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Weisler will continue to serve on HP’s board of directors until the next annual meeting of shareholders. “Serving as CEO of HP is the highlight of my career, and I want to thank the entire HP team for the support they have shown me. I’m incredibly proud of what we have achieved and equally confident in where we are heading as a company,” said Weisler in a statement. “Enrique has been a tremendous partner whose leadership has been instrumental in setting this company up for success and delivering on our strategy. He is one of the smartest people I know, and I have great confidence in his ability to lead and inspire the next chapter of HP’s transformation and growth.”

Weisler came to led HP during a tough time for both the company and the global PC market. The Australian took over HP after a 2015 move to split the company into two; one that sells PCs, and one that sells computer servers, data storage gear and services for corporate IT departments. That same year, global PC sales also suffered their worst decline in history.

Enrique Lores, who joined HP as an intern 30 years ago, has headed up the company’s printing business since 2015. The company said that Lores worked on a global review of HP’s strategy and business operations, which he will present to investors in October.

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News Corp is apparently working on a news app called ‘Knewz’

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The service will give equal weight to subscription news sites and non-subscription news sites, which was once an issue of contention between News Corps and Google News. Google ended a policy in 2017 that downgraded news articles that were under a paywall in its search rankings. The service will also aim to promote original news reports, rather than rewrites of existing articles. “We are exploring this with the goal of recognizing and rewarding the provenance of journalism, and to drive traffic and data to publishers—including subscription sites—so their original work is respected,” said News Corps spokesperson James Kennedy to WSJ. “We want people to see a wide spectrum of news and views, from local, niche and national sources, without bent or bias.”

Digital platforms like Apple, Facebook and Google have long been accused by some of showing liberal bias in its rankings and other decision-making. The move by News Corp arrives the same week as the release of a nearly year-long conservative bias audit on Facebook. The report stopped short of proving actual bias, but did lead to Facebook altering its advertising policy regarding certain anti-abortion ads.

An early version of Knewz.com is being shown to News Corp executives, and an official launch could come later this year. Given the soiled reputation of existing digital platforms due to claims of bias, it could become a viable alternative for some people.

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Lenovo’s Smart Clock becomes a more capable home hub

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Thanks to an automatic software update rolling out this week, the Lenovo Smart Clock will allow natural conversations with Google Assistant. If you opt into this setting, you’ll be able to have continued conversations without having to say “Hey Google” before every question. Lenovo previously worked with Nest cameras, but now it works with most other Assistant-compatible cameras as well. And the dual-purpose screen will display your Google Photos.

The changes make the Lenovo Smart Clock a more capable smart home hub, but they don’t impact the price. It’s now available for $59.99 in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Australia and Japan. That’s significantly less than other hubs, like the Echo Spot and Nest Hub, which sell for $130.

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Phone companies and state attorneys general join forces to fight robocalls

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Under the new agreement, the carriers will implement call-blocking technology, make anti-robocall tools free to consumers and deploy a system that labels calls as legitimate or spam, The Washington Post reports. The companies also agree to aid investigations by law enforcement. The major players — AT&T, Comcast, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon (Engadget’s parent company) — are on board, as well as smaller carriers — Bandwidth, CenturyLink, Charter, Consolidated, Frontier, US Cellular and Windstream. Though, there’s no deadline for the companies to implement these measures.

Several of the companies already have their own tools. AT&T and Comcast use the STIR/SHAKEN protocol to verify calls between their networks, and AT&T and T-Mobile have a similar agreement. Verizon uses the same technology to offer a free spam filter to its customers. The FCC recently voted to allow carriers to block robocalls by default. This summer, the FTC cracked down on operations responsible for one billion robocalls, and a bipartisan bill to curb the spam calls passed Senate.

But rather than wait on regulations, the carriers and attorneys general are moving forward with this agreement. “We don’t want our efforts to be contingent on actions by Congress,” said Josh Stein, attorney general of North Carolina. He said the goal is to “catalyze” the industry to end robocalls and for carriers to take action “as soon as practical.”

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Save $60 on an Acer Chromebook 11

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Acer Chromebook 11 C771T

Acer

Street price: $330; deal price: $268

Available for just under $270, this matches the low we’ve seen for our budget Chromebook pick, in stock 9/11. A smaller, cheaper alternative to our other picks, the Acer Chromebook 11 C771T offers a worthwhile combination of performance, battery life, and build quality. While this pick is definitely a budget model in many ways, it’s a nice option for those who don’t have a lot to spend.

Our budget pick in our guide to the best chromebook, the Acer Chromebook 11 C771T is notably more affordable than our other picks, but built to endure some abuse. Wirecutter Editor Kimber STreams wrote, “The best cheap Chromebook right now is the Acer Chromebook 11 C771T because it’s powerful enough for everyday work and most Android apps, plus it has a decent (though small) touchscreen, all-day battery life, and solid build quality. It’s durable and has a spill-proof keyboard and a wide selection of older ports, so it’s a good choice for students (for whom it’s designed). The C771T’s keyboard and trackpad aren’t exceptional, but they work. And though we wish it had a 360-degree hinge for using Android apps in tablet mode, that’s not a crucial feature.”

IDrive Online Backup

idrive

Street price: $20; deal price: $4

Usually $14 with a 2TB backup (when purchased via our guide), our runner-up cloud backup service pick subscription is back down to a new low of $4 for the first year for new users with an additional 3TB of storage (for a total of 5TB). After the first year of service, the subscription price increases to the advertised $70 yearly fee. This Wirecutter Deal Day offer will be available through Sunday, 8/25.

The main setback placing iDrive as our runner-up in our guide to the best online cloud backup service is its high cost, but this offer places it over $50 below our top pick’s price point. Joe Kissel wrote, “The company has cleaned up and simplified the software’s interface, added the capability to select local and network volumes as destinations, increased its already impressive throughput, and doubled the amount of online storage space it offers. All those changes, added to an excellent core set of features, make IDrive a solid second-place choice (and, for some people, a better first-place choice than Backblaze).”

Logitech Crayon Stylus

logitech

Street price: $65; deal price: $50

The Logitech Crayon Stylus, competition we like in our guide, is discounted again by about $15 to $50. Although this is a regular deal price we’ve never seen it drop lower than that. It’s an option we speak well of in our iPad stylus guide and is compatible with the 9.7-inch iPad (6th Gen), iPad Air, and new iPad Mini.

Though not a formal pick in our guide to the best iPad stylus, the Logitech Crayon is notable competition we review in-guide. Serenity Caldwell and Wirecutter Senior Staff Writer Nick Guy wrote, “Logitech’s Crayon replicates most of the Apple Pencil’s features at a lower price. Thanks to a software update, it’s compatible with the 9.7-inch iPad (6th generation), the iPad Air (3rd generation) and iPad mini (5th generation) announced in 2019, and the 2018 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models. Although drawing and writing are comparable to the Pencil experience, including tilt support and wrist detection, the Crayon lacks pressure sensitivity. If you want more-advanced stylus features but are willing to sacrifice pressure sensitivity, the Crayon is a great choice.”

Panasonic Eneloop CC55 Quick Charger Kit

Panasonic

Street price: $45; deal price: $35

Available for $35 from $45, this is a solid discount and that matches previous lows we’ve seen on this quick charger kit. This pack includes eight AA and four AAA eneloop batteries (which we also like in our guide) as well as the 4-position quick charger we recommend in our guide.

Our top pick in our guide to the best rechargeable battery charger, the Panasonic Eneloop CC55 is the charger we would buy. Wirecutter Staff Writer Sarah Witman wrote, “The Panasonic BQ-CC55 embodies everything we were looking for in a rechargeable battery charger. It’s easy to use, has an auto-shutoff function, and charged batteries completely in our capacity testing. It’s compact (roughly the size of an iPhone X, and about an inch thick) and charges one to four batteries at a time. Panasonic is a trusted brand and makes our former top pick, the BQ-CC17, too. We especially like that the BQ-CC55 has a fold-out plug so it sits right on the wall outlet as it charges, and its notification lights correspond to the individual battery slots.”

Because great deals don’t just happen on Thursday, sign up for our daily deals email and we’ll send you the best deals we find every weekday. Also, deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go here.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ review: Weird, but in a good way

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I have to suspect that, back in 2011 when the original Galaxy Note was released, not even Samsung knew it would become as popular as it did. By the standards of the time, the Note and its 5.3-inch screen were massive, and styluses were considered…

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AmazonFresh grocery delivery expands to Houston, Minneapolis and Phoenix

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Besides produce, meat and other groceries, Prime subscribers can use AmazonFresh to order electronics, health and beauty products in addition to home and kitchen items. In Houston, Amazon will also deliver beer and wine to select customers. If you have an Alexa-enabled smart speaker in your home, you can use the digital assistant to order products through AmazonFresh as well. For instance, if you say, “Alexa, order milk from Fresh,” Alexa will know to order the same brand of milk you bought in the past. Handy.

Outside of today’s expansion, AmazonFresh is available in 15 other cities: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. By contrast, Prime Now, Amazon’s other everyday delivery service, is available in close to 100 cities. Additionally, Prime Now is included in the cost of a Prime subscription — though only offers items from Whole Foods.

Since it acquired Whole Foods in 2017, Amazon has put more and more emphasis on grocery shopping as a way to grow its business. Today’s AmazonFresh expansion is likely just a small glimpse of what the company has planned within the space before the end of the year. In March, a report from the Wall Street Journal said Amazon has been thinking about opening a dozen new grocery stores across the US. The WSJ added that the stores wouldn’t fall under the Whole Foods umbrella, and they’re expected to offer a greater variety of products. Unfortunately, it looks like people in Houston, Minneapolis and Phoenix will have to wait before they’re able to shop at Amazon’s new grocery stores. The first cities the company is rumored to open its new stores are in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

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Adam Driver investigates post-911 CIA tactics in ‘The Report’ trailer

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The film was written and directed by Scott Z. Burns, who served as the screenwriter for Contagion and The Bourne Ultimatum. It has a star-studded cast of prestige television regulars. Adam Driver (The Last Jedi, BlacKkKlansman) will star as Jones, with Annette Bening (American Beauty, Captain Marvel) as Feinstein. Michael C. Hall (Justice League, Dexter) makes an appearance, as does Jon Hamm (Mad Men, Black Mirror) who plays White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough. Maura Tierney (Beautiful Boy) plays Bernadette, a CIA official.

The Report earned rave reviews at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and Amazon’s decision to release it both in theatres and on streaming is a signal that it hopes it will generate some Oscar noms. Amazon Studios will release the film in theaters on November 15th, followed by Prime Video on November 29th. You can watch the trailer below.

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OtterBox reveals a portable and stackable wireless charging system

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The base charging system starts at $129.95 and includes one wireless battery. Additional batteries and charging bases cost $69.95. OtterBox is also offering a Wireless Charging Pad, $49.95, and a Charging Stand, $59.95. The charging devices will work with Qi-enabled phones like the iPhone XS, Samsung Galaxy S10, Google Pixel 3 and others.

These days there are plenty of Qi wireless charging power banks to choose from, though most need a wall adapter. The portable batteries will likely appeal to those on the go. If you own a Tesla Model 3, you might opt for the car’s charging pad. But if you were holding out for Apple’s AirPower (long-promised and recently canceled), the OtterSpot might be a consolation.

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