Cuando Spotify lo anunció Con el objetivo de matar la cosa del coche – El reproductor de música inteligente para tu coche lanzado en 2021 – Había una gran preocupación: ¿podrás recuperar el dinero de tu unidad? Después de todo, si una empresa fabrica su propio producto, ¿no debería recibir un reembolso por una pieza de hardware que pronto será inútil?
Al principio, los titulares sugerían que habría No Reembolsos – una medida controvertida – pero la empresa ahora ha sugerido lo contrario. Engadget mencionadoLos clientes con comprobante de compra comenzaron a recibir reembolsos a fines de la semana pasada, dijo la compañía. Editor inverso Ray Wong libros El día X recibió un reembolso en forma de créditos aplicados a su suscripción de Spotify.
Velocidad de la luz triturable
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La gente no estuvo contenta cuando Spotify dijo que descontinuaría todos los productos automotrices el 9 de diciembre. realmente, cuadro mencionado Algunos clientes se han unido para presentar una demanda colectiva, aparentemente en un intento de recuperar su dinero. Y aquí estamos.
Entonces, si deseas un reembolso, tendrás que Póngase en contacto con atención al cliente Con comprobante de compra. Algo como una factura o un recibo enviado por correo electrónico será suficiente. Puede que The Car Thing esté muerto, pero su dinero no desaparecerá para siempre, aunque puede recuperarlo en forma de crédito.
Car Thing de Spotify, la empresa está “probando” dispositivos limitados Comenzó a enviarse hace sólo tres años., está a punto de morder el polvo. Compañía libros El jueves, el dispositivo que llevó Spotify a los coches sin… Apple CarPlay o Android Auto“no estará operativo” a partir del 9 de diciembre.
cosa del auto Estaba dirigido a conductores que quieren escuchar Spotify en sus automóviles pero no tienen sistemas modernos con aplicaciones de transmisión integradas. El dispositivo de $90 le permite controlar el servicio con reconocimiento de voz y botones preestablecidos, y tiene una pantalla táctil a color de 4 pulgadas. Sin embargo, Spotify ya lo tenía lo detuve A mediados de 2022.
en Nuestro avance de 2021Billy Steele, de Engadget, escribió que la herramienta parecía innecesaria al principio, pero resultó útil después de dos semanas de uso. “Aunque parece que sólo a los fanáticos de Spotify les importaría algo como esto, ofrece una actualización para autos más antiguos”, escribió nuestro experto en audio. “Nunca he podido obtener control por voz integrado [the 2006 Honda] El elemento y la capacidad de mantener Waze en mi teléfono y Spotify en otra pantalla definitivamente han reducido la necesidad de jugar con ambos mientras conduzco.
Billy Steele para Xataka
La explicación oficial de Spotify para abandonar su primer producto para dispositivos es que es “parte de nuestros esfuerzos continuos para simplificar nuestra oferta de productos” (léase: ahorrar dinero) y que permite que el servicio de streaming “se centre en desarrollar nuevas funciones y mejoras que, en última instancia, proporcionar una mejor experiencia para todos los usuarios de Spotify”.
Estas nuevas características y mejoras son una incógnita, ya que la compañía agrega que no planea lanzar un producto de reemplazo o una nueva versión de Car Thing. Por supuesto, puede escuchar Spotify en su automóvil usando su teléfono conectado mediante Bluetooth o cable, y muchos conductores ahora tienen Android Auto y Apple CarPlay, que brindan acceso a más de una aplicación de música.
Spotify recomienda restablecer los valores de fábrica de tu Car Thing y desecharlo después de que se agote en diciembre. La compañía no ofrece reembolsos ni opciones de cambio, algo a tener en cuenta si lanza pruebas de dispositivos más limitadas.
tienes cosa del auto ¿dispositivo? Seguramente sería una pena que alguien lo descontinuara, lo dejara inutilizable y se negara a ofrecer reemplazos o intercambios.
Resulta que eso es exactamente lo que Spotify Él hizo.
Una extensión del panel de Spotify que se lanzó en 2021 y luego se suspendió hace menos de un año quedará completamente inútil después del 9 de diciembre de 2024.
“Hemos tomado la decisión de descontinuar Car Thing. Esto significa que Car Thing ya no funcionará”. Spotify dijo en una pregunta frecuente publicada a principios de esta semana.. “Esta decisión no se tomó a la ligera y queremos asegurarles que nuestro compromiso de brindar una experiencia auditiva superior no ha cambiado”.
Para ser claros, para empezar era un dispositivo bastante ridículo. Permitía a los usuarios reproducir música a través de los parlantes de su automóvil si también estaban conectados a un teléfono mediante reconocimiento de voz y botones preestablecidos. Spotify dice que descontinuará Car Thing para “simplificar mejor nuestra oferta de productos”.
“Entendemos que puede ser decepcionante, pero esta decisión nos permite centrarnos en desarrollar nuevas funciones y mejoras que, en última instancia, brindarán una mejor experiencia a todos los usuarios de Spotify”, escribió la compañía.
Dado que el producto es un dispositivo, esta es una medida bastante derrochadora. Spotify recomienda restablecer los valores de fábrica de su dispositivo y preguntar al departamento de eliminación de residuos local o estatal cómo deshacerse de él de forma segura. La compañía no tiene planes de ofrecer opciones de intercambio ni reemplazos de Car Thing.
Afortunadamente, existen muchas otras formas de escuchar música en su automóvil, usando la radio y Bluetooth. O, si eres como mis padres en la década de 1970, puedes asegurar tu tocadiscos en el asiento trasero con un cinturón de seguridad. Lo que sea que le guste, siempre y cuando no esté relacionado con el automóvil.
Everyone tells you how tired you’ll be with a newborn, but take it from someone with a 3-month-old: It’s more than you can anticipate before having kids, unless you were previously an ultramarathoner and/or offshore oil rig worker.
When you’re putting your freshly baked human into a car seat, stroller, or generally taking it anywhere with you (which you have to do, apparently), you don’t just want the process to be easy; you need the process to be easy. That’s why I’ve fallen in love with the Britax Willow Grove SC travel system.
This car seat base, car seat, stroller, and stroller base all come in a package together, and everything just works. There are no tricks for installation or daily use. Anyone can easily figure out how to use every part of these things, even when you haven’t slept in days. Just click your little one into either the stroller or car seat attachment, fold up the wheeled base with one hand, and you’re off to wherever you need to go. The price you pay for this system is about $100 higher than you might pay for another all-in-one option from Chicco, but the build quality and ease of use is well worth the extra cost.
Getting Loaded
The most important thing for any newborn is a quality car seat and base; the hospital literally checked that we had ours installed before they allowed us to leave. There aren’t any official safety ratings for this system, but the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration recommends rear-facing seats like this for infants. I grew up (and later babysat) in a time when you had to take your car to the fire department to install your car seat base permanently in the back seat until a child was old enough to not need it, so color me excited when I realized how easy the Britax base was going to be to install.
Photograph: Parker Hall
Simply click the two hooks around the now-standard child seat restraint area on your car’s seats (two hooks that often hide behind the cushions), put the seat belt through the company’s proprietary ClickTight Installation system, and press down. It all tightens in place easily, taking about 30 seconds to install. Once you’ve done it one time, swapping between cars is a breeze. No need to own two bases for different cars/friends/family.
Clicking the actual car seat into the base is also a breeze; it just clicks right in, with a handle on the forward side of the carrier (where your baby’s back faces) that easily allows you to detach it with one hand as your other grabs the handle of the carrier. Apart from the weight of your baby (we have a lunker!), it’s extremely wieldy and convenient.
I like that there are little plastic tabs on the left and right sides of the car seat you can use to hold the straps while you place your baby’s butt in the seat. This makes it super easy to then click your baby in place with the three-piece click harness and to cinch them in with the strap between their legs.
On a Stroll
The best part of the car seat is that it easily clicks in and attaches to the foldable stroller base, which means you don’t have to transfer a sleeping kid to a stroller seat when you want to roll them somewhere fresh out of the car. This is awesome, especially because the foldable stroller section can easily be deployed one-handed, thanks to a simple hook-to-hold mechanism on the outside of the right rear wheel pole. You just unhook the plastic piece that’s holding the stroller folded, and gravity does the rest.
April 22, 2013: The world gets its first Apple car. Well, kind of. In reality, the iBeetle is a collaboration with German automaker Volkswagen that offers a car “stylistically linked” to Apple.
This means Apple-inspired colors, a built-in docking station for your iPhone, and a special app that lets you control the car’s features.
It came in several different muted exterior colors reminiscent of the iPhone. These included Candy White, Oryx White Mother of Pearl Effect, Black Monochrome, Deep Black Pearl Effect, Platinum Grey and Reflex Silver.
It also boasted a built-in iPhone dock and custom Beetle app. Features included the ability to stream songs from Spotify and iTunes; check lateral acceleration; monitor oil and coolant temperature gauges for the engine; and access a compass.
A “Trainer” feature, meanwhile, allowed iBeetle owners to compare drive times, distances and fuel economy on routes. “Postcard” let them send their current location to friends. “Photo” sent photos inside the car to social networks. “Reader” read new text messages and social media posts.
Inside the VW iBeetle, a special dock put the iPhone at the heart of the driving experience. Photo: Volkswagen
Secret Apple car project ends
Ultimately, the world viewed the iBeetle as a missed opportunity. Apple clearly remained interested in automotive technology, however. The following year, the company introduced an improved in-car operating system called CarPlay.
The company reportedly wanted to develop next-gen lidar sensors — which would help autonomous cars make their way down busy streets — that were smaller, cheaper and easier to manufacture than existing options. Oh, and Apple wanted its “revolutionary design” for lidar sensors to look better, too.
Apple also operated a fleet of self-driving cars, and reportedly used a former Fiat Chrysler Automobiles facility in Arizona to test autonomous vehicles.
Eventually, the company scaled back its grand plan to produce a totally self-driving car. “The company is now planning a less-ambitious design that will include a steering wheel and pedals and only support full autonomous capabilities on highways,” Bloomberg wrote in late 2022.
More than a decade after the iBeetle, Project Titan comes to an end
However, Apple’s automotive dreams came to a crashing halt in 2024. After spending a decade, and a reported $10 billion, in its secret effort to produce a self-driving electric vehicle, Apple pulled the plug on Project Titan.
Infotainment screens inside cars are becoming bigger each year, and most people are using Android Auto or Apple CarPlay for most of their navigation and music playback needs. However, those platforms are too simple for some tasks, and if you want to get real work done on your car’s huge screen, you should consider an upcoming project that aims to bring full-fledged Samsung DeX UI.
AutoPro X dongle claims to bring full-fledged Samsung DeX UI to your car’s screen
A Kickstarter Project called AutoPro X aims to bring Samsung DeX UI to the car’s infotainment system. You can connect your Galaxy phone to AutoPro X’s small circular dongle via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and that dongle needs to be connected to the car’s infotainment screen via a USB cable. After a few minutes, you should be able to see the complete Samsung DeX UI, complete with taskbar, desktop, and resizeable app windows.
The AutoPro X dongle costs just $140 if you back the Kickstarter project. You would be among the first in the world to get access to the upcoming dongle. The estimated delivery date is June 2024, which is not far away. Moreover, the company’s engineers have worked with Samsung’s engineers to make the product more reliable.
The project has already crossed 1000% of its funding goal.
Some Apple employees who worked on Apple Car and micro LED projects are being laid off. Photo: Laurenz Heymann/Unsplash
Following the shutdown of the Apple Car project, the Cupertino giant is laying off more than 600 employees. Many affected employees worked on developing micro LED displays for the Apple Watch and future Apple products.
The laid-off employees worked in and around Santa Clara, near Apple’s California headquarters.
Layoffs affect Apple Car and micro LED project teams
To comply with the California Employment Development Department’s regulations, Apple filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) report informing about the layoffs.
Based on Apple’s submissions, 87 people worked at its secret facility, purportedly working on the micro-LED display technology. 371 employees worked at an Apple Car-related office in Santa Clara, California. Bloomberg‘s report claims Apple laid off dozens more employees in various satellite offices working on the two projects.
These layoffs are not new, as the company has already let go of the employees. It is just that this is the first time an approximate number is known. Plus, Gurman notes that the number of employees laid off should be much higher, as Apple had many people working on the Car project in Arizona. Similarly, the company had many display engineers working on micro LED technology at its offices in Asia.
Apple moved many employees working on the Apple Car to its artificial intelligence division, led by John Giannandrea. They will focus on the company’s various generative AI projects, an area where Apple is significantly trailing its rivals.
Similarly, Apple has abandoned its plans to transition to micro LED screens on its future products. This is after the company realized its production costs were too high to make economic sense. With the project canceled, the company is letting go of many people working on it.
Apple this week filed a required notice with the state of California, confirming plans to permanently lay off more than 600 employees. Under California law, employers must give employees and state representatives a 60-day notice before a mass layoff event.
The employees listed are located in several Apple-occupied buildings around Santa Clara, California, which is close to Apple’s Cupertino headquarters. Several of these locations were rumored to be associated with Apple Car development in the past, so it is likely that these layoffs are related to Apple’s decision to stop work on the car project.
Apple officially ended development on the Apple Car in March. Approximately 2,000 employees working on the Apple Car were told that the project was winding down at that time, and Apple began the process of moving some of them to work on artificial intelligence under John Giannandrea and in other relevant departments.
Other employees were given 90 days to apply for open positions within the company, but Apple hired hardware engineers and car designers while working on the Apple Car, and these employees may not have had skills applicable to other projects.
Apple also recently ended development on in-house microLED displays, so some of the layoffs might also be related to the decision to discontinue that work.
While the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are still months away from launching, there are already over a dozen rumors about the devices. Below, we have recapped new features and changes expected for the devices so far. These are some of the key changes rumored for the iPhone 16 Pro models as of April 2024:Larger displays: The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be equipped with large…
A first look at iOS 18’s rumored visionOS-style redesign may have been revealed by a new image of the Camera app. Alleged iOS 18 design resource. MacRumors received the above iPhone frame template from an anonymous source who claims they obtained it from an iOS engineer. It will allegedly be included as part of the Apple Design Resources for iOS 18, which helps developers visually design apps …
Apple is exploring various “personal robotics” projects in an effort to create its “next big thing,” according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Amazon’s Astro robot One of these projects is described as a “mobile robot” that would “follow users around their homes,” while another is said to be an “advanced table-top home device that uses robotics to move a display around”:Engineers at Apple have…
Apple researchers have developed an artificial intelligence system named ReALM (Reference Resolution as Language Modeling) that aims to radically enhance how voice assistants understand and respond to commands. In a research paper (via VentureBeat), Apple outlines a new system for how large language models tackle reference resolution, which involves deciphering ambiguous references to…
Nearly one year after it launched in the U.S., the Apple Card’s high-yield savings account will be receiving its first-ever interest rate decrease. Starting on April 3, the Apple Card savings account’s annual percentage yield (APY) will be lowered to 4.4%, according to data on Apple’s backend discovered by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The account currently has a 4.5% APY. 4.4% will …
Apple TV+ now offers almost 30 more popular and classic movies for a limited time. Last month, Apple added over 50 movies to its back catalog of content for a limited period – the biggest addition of content to its library to date. For April, the company has added many more titles, including: 42 Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Armageddon Arrival Bridesmai…
Apple has yet to release the first beta of iOS 17.5 for the iPhone, but two changes are already expected with the upcoming software update. iOS 17.5 will likely allow iPhone users in the EU to download apps directly from the websites of eligible developers, and the update might include some changes to how Apple ID recovery contacts work. More details about these potential changes follow. W…
Last year, Polestar announced its most practical EV yet in the Polestar 4. But this week, during the vehicle’s North American debut at the New York International Auto Show, we finally got an official launch price and a chance to check out its most controversial feature.
Positioned as a slightly smaller and more affordable version of the Polestar 3, the company’s latest EV SUV has a lot riding on it as it looks to be Polestar’s most appealing mainstream offering to date. The good news is that while the cost was initially said to be around $60,000, launch pricing actually comes in slightly below that. The Polestar 4 starts at $56,300 (including destination) for the standard long-range single-motor version with around 300 miles of range while the dual-motor AWD variant with around 270 miles will set you back $64,300.
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Granted, that’s still significantly higher than many of its rivals including the Tesla Model Y which starts at $43,900 (before federal incentives) or the Hyundai Ioniq 5 at $47,400. But after talking to Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath, I got the sense that the company is kind of OK with that, as they view the 4 as a more approachable but still very premium offering among EV SUVs.
On the outside, the Polestar 4 retains the rakish good looks we’ve seen on its larger sibling but with a few twists. Its nose is a bit pointier and more sloped, and it’s a bit less complicated too as it doesn’t have a front wing like the 3. The Polestar 4 is still based on the low-slung coupe-like SUV shape that’s all the rage right now. However, to ensure that rear-seat passengers have ample room, Polestar has forgone a rear window entirely, opting instead for a simple sheet of metal along with cameras and a rearview mirror with an embedded display.
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
At first, this might seem like a step too far, even for an EV that might not be beholden to the same burden of tradition as gas cars. But Ingenlath explained that there are a lot of advantages that come from this design change. By not having a rear window, Polestar was able to push the rear seats back further while maintaining ample headroom despite the sloping roofline, which creates a spacious cabin. I had no trouble climbing in and out and even with the front seats pushed as far back as possible, I still had ample legroom in the back. Furthermore, unlike most cars, the Polestar 4’s rear seats can recline, which adds even more of a loungey feel.
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Polestar 4 photo from the 2024 NYIAS
A hands-on photo of the upcoming Polestar 4 from the 2024 New York International Auto Show.
Another major advantage is one of practicality. As it is, the rear windows on a lot of coupe SUVs are so small they don’t provide much in the way of useful visibility. And that’s before you consider any passengers or luggage that might further obstruct your view. By replacing the rear window and mirror with a camera and a display, the Polestar 4 can offer an unobstructed perspective out of the back of the car. But perhaps most importantly, the idea of a car not having a rear window isn’t really unheard of, as there are thousands of cargo vans on the road today without a viewport in back.
So while the idea might still seem nerve-wracking, Ingenlath remains confident. He simply asked customers to “try it.” He added “There’s so much about psychology and people being naturally opposed to change. But innovation is about asking what have been the rules in the past that don’t necessarily need to be the rules in the future.”
The company’s Scandinavian heritage shows through with a streamlined interior. That said, Ingenlath said the goal isn’t minimalism for minimalism’s sake. By creating a new fabric made from recycled plastic bottles called Soft Tech, Polestar was able to line the cabin with a sustainable 3D material that allows ambient lighting to shine through while still being quite durable. Up top, the fixed glass roof is electrochromic, which allows it to switch from transparent to opaque with the touch of a button.
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
One thing that stuck out to me was that like all of Polestar’s vehicles, the 4 feels like a designer’s car. As someone who got his start in the industry creating cars for VW, Audi and others before becoming the CEO of Polestar, Ingenlath said the company really cares about small details like the font and typography. You can see this in things like the text on the driver’s side door, which features both the name of the car and the size of its battery, resulting in a label that’s both pretty and informative. Alternatively, there are features like the ambient lighting, which uses a naming standard based on planets in the solar system (blue with a hint of green for Earth, red for Mars, etc.). Ingenlath said “We simply love what we’re doing, and we love indulging that passion. And we have to find the people who share the same passion for that type of quality and technology.”
Unfortunately, we haven’t had the chance to take the 4 out for a drive just yet. But as the competition among EVs continues to increase, it’s clear Polestar is carving out a niche as a manufacturer that embraces innovation through its vehicles. With pre-orders going live sometime in April and deliveries slated for Q4 2024, it shouldn’t be long until we get a chance to experience how the Polestar 4 feels on the road.
MediaTek has announced that it has partnered with Nvidia to make four new automotive chips for connected and self-driving cards. The company’s Dimensity Auto Cockpit series chips will compete with automotive chips from Qualcomm and Samsung.
MediaTek Dimensity Auto Cockpit chips to compete with Samsung’s Exynos Auto chips
The company’s new Dimensity Auto Cockpot series has four chips: CM-1, CV-1, CX-1, and CY-1. These 3nm chips use ARM’s V9-A CPU cores and Nvidia’s RTX GPU. They support Nvidia’s DRIVE OS and will power the infotainment system and other intelligence inside connected cars. Nvidia’s technology powers AI processing on these chips, and it will be used for entertainment, navigation, and general information needs.
The GPU can drive four high-resolution screens. In fact, MediaTek and Nvidia claim that the new chips can even support in-vehicle gaming, complete with ray-traced graphics. Media streaming and audio/video calls with AI-enhanced clarity are also supported. They can even monitor people inside the car for natural controls and gaze-aware UI.
The CV-1 is a chip for entry-level cars. The CM-1 is for mid-range cars and the CV-1 is for high-end cars. The CX-1 is for premium car offerings. These chips can simultaneously run multiple operating systems, including Android Auto, Linux, and QNX, in virtualization.
The new chips also support up to ten cameras and other sensors for assisted driving. The built-in ISP can process HDR scenes in real-time. Their connectivity features include a built-in 5G modem (sub-6GHz), NTN (for direct satellite connectivity for emergency calls and messages), Wi-Fi 7, GNSS, and Bluetooth.