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Enlarge (credit: Qualcomm)

Qualcomm's long-awaited update to its smartwatch SoC line is official. These chips have typically been called "Snapdragon Wear," but it sounds like that brand is dead, so it's time to meet the "Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ Gen1" and "Snapdragon W5 Gen1." Qualcomm promises that the chips provide the company's "most advanced leap yet," which is not saying much for a company that previously went six years between major smartwatch chip releases.

The W5+ does seem like a major update, though. Compared to 2020's Wear 4100, Qualcomm is promising "2X performance across CPU, GPU, camera, memory, and video/audio," "50 percent longer battery life" providing "days of use," and a "30 percent smaller" chip for sleeker designs.

Unlike the Wear 4100 at its time of release, the W5 is built on a state-of-the-art 4 nm manufacturing process. Qualcomm outfitted the chip with four ARM Cortex A53 CPUs running at up to 1.7 GHz and an Adreno A702 GPU. The "plus" version includes a second 22 nm SOC based on the Cortex M55 for screen-off background processes, like keeping the watch face updated, staying on top of notifications, and tracking fitness stats. Qualcomm promises low-power islands for Wi-Fi, GPS, and audio so that those features can be used without lighting up the whole chip. The SoC has support for an LTE modem, Wi-Fi 802.11n (aka Wi-Fi 4), and Bluetooth 5.3

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Christopher Ames)

Netflix yesterday reported a loss of 970,000 paid streaming subscribers in its Q2 earnings after having lost 200,000 customers in the first quarter of 2022. The company's worldwide paid memberships decreased from 221.64 million to 220.67 million in Q2, and revenue growth has slowed dramatically.

It's the first time in Netflix's history that the company reported consecutive quarters of subscriber losses, The Wall Street Journal wrote. But the result was better than forecasted, as Netflix had told investors to expect a second-quarter loss of 2 million subscribers.

Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings said in a call with analysts yesterday that "losing 1 million and calling it a success" is "tough," but he added that Netflix is "set up very well for the next year," according to a Seeking Alpha transcript. The newest season of Stranger Things apparently helped prevent larger subscriber losses.

Enlarge / NASA's Space Launch System rocket is seen on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in April. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann)

NASA officials said Wednesday that the space agency continues to make progress preparing the massive Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for a launch later this summer. Moreover, they now have enough confidence to set a launch date: August 29.

Under the agency's current plans, the stacked SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft will roll out to its launch site at Kennedy Space Center on August 18. Then, there would be three opportunities—August 29, September 2, and September 5—to launch the vehicle before the window closes.

"These are the dates we are working toward today," said Jim Free, the chief of NASA's human exploration systems development program.

A judge has dismissed a class action lawsuit that argued Sony was abusing its monopoly power in the digital PlayStation games market. But the dismissal leaves room for an amended complaint with additional factual context to move forward with the same "viable" antitrust arguments.

The lawsuit, originally filed last May, hinged on Sony's 2019 decision to stop allowing physical and online retailers from selling digital download codes for games on the PSN store (as Nintendo and Microsoft still allow). That decision was "specifically intended to and did eliminate price competition from other digital video game retailers," the lawsuit alleged, forcing players "to pay a higher price for digital PlayStation games than they would in a free and unrestrained competitive retail market."

But in a ruling filed last week (as noted by Bloomberg Law), Northern California District Judge Richard Seeborg wrote that the class action plaintiffs didn't provide "sufficient factual detail" that Sony "voluntarily terminated a profitable practice" in removing the retail download codes.