|
Several of Waymo's autonomous vehicles were seen stuck in the middle of San Francisco streets following a significant power outage that took out the city's traffic lights. Waymo responded to the power outage by suspending its ride-hailing services in the city, but images and videos on social media showed the self-driving taxis stopped at intersections with hazard lights on.
"We have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services in the San Francisco Bay Area due to the widespread power outage," Suzanne Philion, a spokesperson for Waymo, told Engadget in an email. "Our teams are working diligently and in close coordination with city officials, and we are hopeful to bring our services back online soon."
The power outage was attributed to a fire at one of Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)'s substations. The incident began sometime on Saturday morning, which PG&E said affected approximately 130,000 customers. As of Sunday morning, the Californian power company said its crews have restored power to about 110,000 of those customers, while working on the remaining 21,000 customer
|
|
Apple's AirTag 4-Pack has dropped to $64.98 this weekend on Amazon, down from the original price of $99.00. Prime members can get the accessory delivered today in many locations, but otherwise free shipping options have moved past December 25.
|
|
Finding the right gifts for everyone on your list this time of year can be a major source of stress. It can be even more daunting if you're trying to stick to a budget all while getting the folks you love things that they will really appreciate. But there's also a good chance you're getting fed bad gift ideas (and just as bad deals) if you're browsing the web frantically searching as we get closer and closer to the holidays.
Allow us at Engadget to help you through it. Here, you'll find all of our holiday gift guides collected in one place, so you can more easily find the best Christmas gifts you need this year. Are you looking for white elephant gift ideas? Are you struggling to come up with a good gift for the father figure in your life? Are you just looking for a good board game to pick up for your own family? We've got you covered with gift ideas for all of those scenarios and more.
Best white elephant gift ideas
According to legend, the King of Siam would give a white elephant to courtiers who had upset them. The recipient had no choice but to simply thank the king for such an opulent gift, knowing that they likely could not afford the upkeep for such an animal. It would inevitably lead them to financial ruin. This story is almost certainly untrue, but it has led to a modern holiday staple: the white elephant gift exchange. These gift ideas will not only get you a few chuckles, but will also make your recipient feel (slightly) burdened.
Read more: The best white elephant gift ideas
|
|
The Ultrahuman Ring Air now has the capacity to track snoring and general respiratory health. This is thanks to proprietary technology called Respiratory Health PowerPlug, which is basically a suite of audio analysis tools along with some "advanced biomarker tracking" and AI tomfoolery.
All of this results in "one of the most comprehensive consumer tools ever built for understanding nighttime respiratory stability." It details snoring sessions, of course, but also delivers a holistic and "actionable sleep picture." The company says this "reveals patterns, trends and changes in respiratory health over time."
Ultrahuman
To that end, it can also detect coughing and respiratory disturbances. This data is cross-referenced with movement patterns, sleep fragmentation patterns and resting heart rate to "show exactly how breathing issues shape sleep quality." The company says this can be a good resource when experimenting with interventions, like switching to a new pillow or taping up the nose.
More health data is never a bad thing, but this information isn't free. Ultrahuman is charging $4 per month for access to the tool, though folks can pick up an annual subscription for $40.
The Ultrahuman Ring Air made our list of the best smart rings, and that was before the company introduced this new software. It tracks an impressive amount of data and integrates with third-party devices like glucose monitors.
Th
|
|
With a $30 MSRP, this Iniu power bank has a 10,000mAh capacity, which means it has enough juice to recharge you phone about twice over, although that depends on what phone you have and if you're using the device while it's recharging or not.
The Iniu power bank has a cute strap you can use to carry it around town. The best part is that the strap is actually a short USB-C cable you can use to plug your phone in.
The power bank has a total of three ports, two of which are USB-C and one of which is USB-A, which means you can technically recharge multiple devices at once. With the 45W total output, charging speed would drop considerably if you plug in multiple gadgets.
Remember that in order to get the fabulous $11.21 price, you have to redeem the on-page coupon for the extra 40% discount that goes on top of the 38% off that's already available for the power bank. Stop wasting time because there's no way to know when this deal will expire.
Take this tiny power bank everywhere you goBuy now at Amazon
|
|
We are in the thick of multiple sports seasons: the NBA finals are happening, and baseball and soccer are in full swing. For devoted fans, emotions can run pretty high during a game. Cognitive anthropologist Dimitris Xygalatas has long been fascinated by that intensity — and how uniform it can be across fans. So, he and fellow researchers at the University of Connecticut decided to look into what exactly makes fans so deeply connected to their team and to fellow supporters. It turns out that connection may have less to do with actual gameplay and more to do with rituals. Their research was recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Questions about sports science? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
|
|