Month: April 2021

Enlarge (credit: jetcityimage / Getty)

Lyft has sold its self-driving division to a Toyota subsidiary called Woven Planet for $550 million—the latest sign that it takes deep pockets to compete in the self-driving arena. Lyft's main competitor, Uber, sold its own self-driving unit to the well-financed startup Aurora back in December.

Lyft announced its self-driving project back in 2017, a time of extreme optimism about self-driving technology. A few months earlier, in late 2016, Lyft President John Zimmer predicted that a majority of Lyft rides would be handled by self-driving vehicles by 2021.

Obviously, that isn't going to happen. Today, Alphabet's Waymo is operating a small taxi service in the Phoenix area. Besides that, no one is operating fully driverless taxi services in the US, and most other companies aren't expected to introduce driverless products this year.

Enlarge / A SpaceX Starlink user terminal/satellite dish. (credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX today was granted permission to use a lower orbit for Starlink satellites, as regulators agreed with SpaceX that the change will improve broadband speed and latency while making it easier to minimize orbital debris. In granting SpaceX's request, the Federal Communications Commission dismissed opposition from Viasat, Hughes, Dish Network, OneWeb, the Amazon subsidiary known as Kuiper, and other satellite companies that claimed the change would cause too much interference with other systems.

In 2018, SpaceX received FCC approval to launch 4,425 broadband satellites at orbits of 1,110 km to 1,325 km. Today's FCC order granting SpaceX's license-change request lowers the altitude for 2,814 of the satellites, letting them orbit in the 540-570 km range. Today's FCC order will also let SpaceX use a lower elevation angle for antennas on user terminals and gateway Earth stations.

"Based on our review, we agree with SpaceX that the modification will improve the experience for users of the SpaceX service, including in often-underserved polar regions," the FCC order said. "We conclude that the lower elevation angle of its earth station antennas and lower altitude of its satellites enables a better user experience by improving speeds and latency."

Enlarge / President Joe Biden speaks on the North Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, April 27, 2021. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday updated masking guidelines for people who have been fully vaccinated, now saying that they no longer need to wear a mask when outdoors with members of their household or when attending small, outdoor gatherings with unvaccinated people.

“Today is another day we can take a step back to the normalcy of before,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a press briefing Tuesday. “There are many situations where fully vaccinated people do not need to wear a mask, particularly if they are outdoors.”

The new guidance by the CDC lays out several examples of when fully vaccinated people can safely bare their faces.

Enlarge / An Apple-made image of the various Macs running on the M1 to date. (credit: Apple)

A report in Japanese publication Nikkei claims that the next generation of Apple's custom-designed silicon chips for Mac, dubbed the "M2," entered production this month.

Citing "sources familiar with the matter," Nikkei reports that the chips will power Macs that will be introduced in the second half of 2021, potentially as soon as July. That July date suggests that new Macs could be announced at Apple's 2021 developer conference, which kicks off on June 7.

The sources also say this new chip will "eventually" be used in other Macs and Apple products besides MacBooks. The chip would be the successor to the M1, which Apple has included in recently launched or announced models of the MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, Mac mini, iPad Pro, and 24-inch iMac.

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

Today's Dealmaster is headlined by a nice discount on Sony's excellent WH-1000XM4 noise-canceling headphones, which are currently down to $278 at various retailers. We've seen this deal pop up a handful of times over the past year, but it remains about $45 off the usual street price we typically see online, and it matches the lowest price we've tracked from a reputable retailer. In general, we continue to think the WH-1000XM4 are the best wireless noise-canceling headphones for most people, as they pack exceptional noise-canceling strength, a good 30+ hours of battery life, a comfortable fit, USB-C charging, multidevice connectivity, and an enjoyable sound that's bass-forward by default but can be customized in a useful companion app.

Beyond that, our deals roundup includes good offers on a few quality fitness trackers from Fitbit and Garmin, low prices on recommended video games like Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury and Control, the latest Amazon Echo Dot speaker, and much more. You can check out our full curated list below.

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