Month: February 2021

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

Today's Dealmaster includes a couple good deals on LG's acclaimed CX series of OLED TVs, with the 55-inch model down to $1,350 on Amazon when you clip the on-page coupon. While this isn't the absolute lowest price we've seen for this variant—it dipped about $10 lower in a brief sale last December—it's not far off, and it's about $200 off the typical price we've seen online in recent months.

That's still expensive, and new models will arrive later this year. But those newer sets appear to be relatively modest upgrades, and the current CX is still highly-regarded for offering tremendous contrast (which is a staple of all good OLED panels), excellent HDR performance, and HDMI 2.1 support with gamer-friendly features like variable refresh rate. If you prefer a larger size, the 65-inch model is on sale for $1,950, which again isn't the lowest price we've ever seen but is lower than we've seen in recent months. The usual risks of OLED panels still apply—peak brightness isn't the best for bright rooms, and static images can burn-in if left onscreen for severely extended periods—but either way this is a nice price for those in search of a premium TV for the near-term.

Besides that, our deals roundup includes solid discounts on Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite, which we still consider the best ebook reader for most people, Fitbit activity trackers, recommended noise-cancelling headphones from Anker and Sony, Ring Fit Adventure for the Nintendo Switch, and much more. You can check out our full roundup below.

Enlarge / Parler leadership is a bit shadowy at the moment. (credit: Pavlo Gonchar | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images)

Parler co-founder and CEO John Matze, who helmed the company through its explosive 2020 growth and even more explosive 2021 deplatforming, has reportedly been fired.

The company board ousted the former executive last Friday, The Wall Street Journal was first to report. In a statement, Matze said he "met constant resistance" to his "product vision," his "strong belief in free speech," and his view of how Parler should be run, adding that he advocated for "more product stability and what I believe is a more effective approach to content moderation." Matze claimed to have been within "days" of bringing Parler back online at the time he was ousted.

Matze's original approach to content moderation—i.e., not having any—is what landed Parler in hot water last month and resulted in it eventually being kicked off the entire Internet.

Enlarge (credit: Amazon)

Amazon drivers will be subject to constant monitoring by cameras installed onboard Amazon delivery vehicles, The Information revealed on Wednesday. An Amazon-made informational video details how the system, designed by startup Netradyne, will work.

The driver-monitoring system is installed on the roof just behind the windshield, and it has four cameras. Three are pointed outside the vehicle, and the fourth is pointed at the driver. With the help of computer-vision software, the system will be able to detect potentially dangerous situations both inside and outside the vehicle.

For example, if a driver runs a stop sign, the system will detect it, issue an audio warning to the driver, and upload footage to Amazon's services. Drivers will also be alerted (and footage will be uploaded) if they go too fast or follow other vehicles too closely. The system can also detect if drivers are looking at their smartphones or falling asleep at the wheel.

Enlarge / Sir Charles Nicholson donated the mummified person and the coffin to the University of Sydney in 1860, apparently having realized that an entire dead body is a pretty horrific travel souvenir. (credit: Sowada et al, PLOS ONE (CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/))

Approximately 3,200 years ago in Egypt, ancient embalmers encased a mummy in dried mud to repair the damage done by careless tomb robbers. Archaeologists recently used a CT scanner to unravel part of the dead person’s story. The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, revealed an unknown mummification technique, along with a strange tale of grave robbing, family devotion, and mistaken identity.

The person, now known only as NMR.27.3, died relatively young. The name of the deceased is lost to history, and their gender is debatable (more on that later). After death, grave robbers broke into their tomb at least twice, and now archaeologists have pieced together some fragments of the story—mostly the postmortem chapters.

What is left behind is a rare glimpse of life and death in ancient Egypt. The anonymous mummified person reveals that even years after death, living relatives still cared enough about the deceased to actually have the corpse repaired (sort of) after grave robbers damaged it. And to repair the mummy, ancient embalmers plastered mud over the linen wrappings to help the body hold its shape, a technique that modern archaeologists have never seen before.

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty Images)

You may have noticed that it's difficult to get ahold of new high-end graphics cards and game consoles these days. In large part, that's due to an ongoing global shortage affecting semiconductor foundries. As it turns out, the problem is even more pronounced in the auto industry. In fact, it's getting so bad that a number of OEMs, including Ford and General Motors, have had to go as far as idling shifts and even entire factories.

Ford had to stop production in Kentucky in December of 2020, and in January, it ordered a month-long pause at a German factory. Stellantis (the new company formed by a merger between Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot) reduced output at factories in the US, Mexico, and Canada around the same time. As did Audi, which had to idle 10,000 employees in Germany, CEO Markus Duesmann said, telling the Financial Times that the problem involved "a very long chain with different supply levels on the components that we are short." Subaru's Gunma factory in Japan has been affected. Production of Toyota's Texas-produced Tundra has, too.

This week, more hits keep coming. Mazda just announced it might have to cut output by 34,000 units this year due to a lack of chips. Nissan's truck factory in Mississippi has reduced its hours. And on Wednesday, GM said it will halt production at factories in Kansas, Canada, Mexico, and South Korea. In many cases, the automakers are trying to prioritize their more in-demand products, but as some of those closures show, that isn't always possible.