Amazon is ditching its $14.99 a month Amazon Fresh fee for Prime members, which means Prime subscribers in the 2,000 US cities where the fresh food delivery service is offered can use it for free — and take advantage of new one- and two-hour delivery windows. You can sign up here but you’ll have to wait for an invitation — as Amazon says, "We expect this will be a popular benefit."
Amazon has been experimenting with its Amazon Fresh pricing for a while now. Initially costing $99 a year plus delivery fees, and then $299 a year including delivery fees, the service has been charged at $14.99 a month since 2016. Bundling it in with Prime represents pretty good value, then.
It’s likely that Amazon will lose out on some subscription revenue, but the move could encourage more people to actually use the service, which is where Amazon will recoup any losses. The company hasn’t revealed any details on the numbers involved, but does say that grocery delivery is "one of the fastest growing businesses at Amazon." Indeed, it’s facing stiff competition from other companies such as Walmart, Postmates and Doordash — and in the UK grocery stores already offer this kind of service as standard — so it makes sense that Amazon would be pushing extra hard in this area.
FordPass, offered by Ford Motor Company, is available for iOS and Android devices.
When Masamba Sinclair rented a Ford Expedition from Enterprise Rent-a-Car last May, he was excited to connect it to FordPass. The app allows drivers to use their phones to remotely start and stop the engine, lock and unlock the doors, and track the vehicle’s precise location.
"I enjoyed it and logged into FordPass to be able to access vehicle features from my phone such as locking, unlocking, and starting the engine," Sinclair, who is 34, told me. "I liked the idea of it more than I found it useful. The UI does look good and work well, though."
Putting the onus on customers
Now, Sinclair’s opinion of mobile apps in rental cars is decidedly less favorable. That’s because, five months after he returned the vehicle on May 31, his app continues to have control over the vehicle. Despite multiple other people renting the SUV in the intervening months, FordPass still allows Sinclair to track the location of the vehicle, lock and unlock it, and start or stop its engine. Sinclair has brought the matter to Ford’s attention, both through its website and multipletimes on Twitter. So far, Ford has done nothing to kill his access.
@Ford I can still track and unlock the Expedition that I rented last week via the FordPass app. HUGE safety concern for all future renters. I submitted a solution via Ford New Ideas to solve this and it was denied. THIS NEEDS TO BE FIXED pic.twitter.com/dcdfLlPceJ
@Ford It’s day 5 since I returned my rental and now someone else has rented it out. Do I need to start remotely unlocking it until they also start to complain? Please fix this! pic.twitter.com/S7UZVfIiFn
.@Ford I returned this car two weeks ago and you’ve shown no willingness to allow rental companies to remove my access to unlock it and start the engine. Maybe I’ll just start randomly unlocking it. pic.twitter.com/MrBVU68Jh4
"All it took was me downloading the app and entering the VIN, then confirming connectivity through the infotainment system," Sinclair said late last week. "There MIGHT be a way to disassociate my phone from the car itself, but that hasn’t happened yet, and it’s crazy to put the onus on renters to have to do that. I have had no problems at all and have even unlocked the doors and started the engine when I could see that the vehicle was in the Missoula airport rental car parking lot."
Below are a video and image Sinclair took documenting his control of the vehicle. He took them last week and in June, respectively:
FordPass controls Enterprise rental for five months and counting
Screenshot of Sinclair’s phone after he unlocked the door. He performed the unlock when the vehicle was parked at an airport.
Masamba Sinclair
Tracking a vehicle daily
FordPass is offered by the Ford Motor Company and is available for both iOS and Android devices. It is one of several apps for connecting to Ford vehicles. The less-than-intuitive means for unpairing a vehicle and phone—not to mention the difficulty in knowing a device remains connected—represent a serious security and privacy risk, not just to renters, but to people buying a vehicle second hand.
While Ford said infotainment screens will indicate when a device is paired, it’s obvious that multiple Enterprise employees and renters have continued to miss the warning. Even now, after I discussed the problem with both Enterprise and Ford representatives, Sinclair’s access still hasn’t been revoked.
"I have been opening the app and tracking the vehicle almost every day to see if my access is still there, and sure enough, I can see exactly where my old rental, affectionately named "The Beast," is at any given moment," Sinclair said. "This means that I can not only find this rental car whenever I want, but I can also unlock the doors and help myself to anything inside."
Enterprise spokeswoman Lisa Martini wrote in an email:
Several years ago, we implemented employee training on best practices for clearing data as part of our standard vehicle cleaning procedures. Additionally, we have information in our privacy policy and rental agreements to remind customers to remove their data when returning a car. We also work closely with the various automotive manufacturers to ensure we update and enhance our procedures as needed in response to new features and technologies that are added to vehicles. To that end, we understand the concerns this specific situation has raised and are actively working with Ford to implement protocols for customers who attempt to enable this feature on a rental car using their personal account.
Renter beware
A copy of Sinclair’s rental agreement, however, shows that the reminder is vague and applies only to a customer returning a vehicle, who isn’t threatened by this security lapse. It doesn’t warn a customer upon renting. It states: "We are not responsible for any data that is left in the vehicle as a result of your use. We cannot guarantee the privacy or confidentiality of such information, and you must wipe it before you return the vehicle to us."
I couldn’t find any language instructing a customer to ensure devices belonging to previous customers who are no longer connected. And in any event, the warning applies only to people who have used FordPass. A new customer who doesn’t use the app isn’t subject to the warning at all.
I asked Martini for clarification. She didn’t respond. She also didn’t respond to a question asking how Enterprise enforces its employee best practices for clearing data during the cleaning process.
Ford spokesman Martin Gunsberg, meanwhile, said that FordPass provides two ways to unpair a vehicle from a phone. The first is to use the infotainment system settings to perform a master reset. The second is to open the FordPass app, select the vehicle details button, scroll to the bottom, and select "Remove Vehicle."
Gunsberg wrote:
We alert all drivers… FordPass enabled vehicles have a telltale in the top right hand corner of the SYNC screen if location sharing and remote start/stop, lock/unlock are active. These services can be manually turned off by pressing on the tellale and disabling these features. A pop-up will also alert the driver on each ignition on that location services are active if no known paired Bluetooth devices are detected.
…
Per the above response, SYNC will alert a new driver on ignition on that location services are active if no known Bluetooth device is connected. This alert is designed to occur before a new owner pairs their phone. At Ford dealerships, performing a Master Reset is part of a dealer’s used car checklist prior to the sale of a vehicle.
He also said that, when a FordPass user remotely tracks the vehicle location, the infotainment screen will display the words "GPS alert message." Additionally, he said, when connecting FordPass to a vehicle that’s already paired to another phone, the new person receives an alert.
"They are prompted to conduct a Master Reset of the vehicle’s SYNC settings," Gunsberg wrote. "We will also soon be adding regular communication to all FordPass users to remind them to conduct a Master Reset whenever they sell their vehicle."
It’s not clear just how conspicuous the notice to perform a master reset is. The failure for Enterprise employees and customers to wipe the Ford Expedition for five months suggests it’s easy to miss. Additionally, the communication to do a Master Reset is problematic since only the seller sees it. The person who is at risk from unauthorized access is the buyer. The seller faces no threat. What’s more, the message "GPS alert message" seems vague.
It wouldn’t be surprising if remote apps from other third-party developers of car manufacturers also maintain access long after they’re rented or sold to new people. The lesson from Sinclair’s experience is a classic renter- and buyer-beware. The experience is also pertinent to survivors of abusive relationships or stalkers. Before anyone uses a new car, they should learn how to perform a full factory reset of the infotainment system and ensure it’s done.
China isn’t known for respecting privacy, but it’s readying legislation that will address it all the same. The country has passed a law that will regulate cryptography in the country for both government and private uses when it takes effect on January 1st, 2020. Officials didn’t go into great detail about the law in the announcement, but they raise concerns that permissions could vary significantly depending on whether or not you’re working for the ruling party.
The law requires that all state secrets be stored and transmitted using "core and common" encryption, and that institutions working on cryptography have to establish "management systems" that guarantee the security of that encryption. Those managers won’t be allowed to ask private encryption developers to turn over "exclusive" info like source code, though, and any business secrets they do get will have to be kept confidential.
China’s new measure will allow and encourage commercial development and uses of encryption. However, the development, sales and use of it "must not harm the state security and public interests." People who fail to report security risks they spot, or who offer cryptographic systems that "are not examined authenticated," will also be punished. The country’s existing cybersecurity laws are already set to punish the use of encryption deemed to threaten the state, but there once again appears to be an asterisk next to the encryption endorsement — you can’t design something that might challenge the regime.
As it is, the law may offer only superficial protection in light of existing rules. China regularly conducts mass surveillance on digital conversations, and can force companies to both store data locally as well as turn it over on request. It likewise has the power to shut down services or entire products in response to security incidents. There’s little to stop China from obtaining data that isn’t completely encrypted, and it can block or otherwise retaliate against those services that do shield info from prying eyes.
SpaceX just fired up a launch escape system engine on its new Crew Dragon spacecraft, setting the stage for a critical ground and flight tests of an emergency system to keep astronauts safe during flight.
The escape engine test, which SpaceX revealed in this 13-second video on Thursday (Oct) 24), shows a pair of SuperDraco engines in action during an uncrewed ground test. It is expected be followed by a full-up ground static-fire test and an in-flight abort test in the upcoming weeks.
“Test of Crew Dragon’s upgraded launch escape system ahead of static fire and in-flight abort tests – altogether we are conducting hundreds of tests to verify the system’s advanced capabilities to carry astronauts to safety in the unlikely event of an emergency,” SpaceX representatives wrote on Twitter while sharing the video.
A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft test fires its SuperDraco launch escape system engines in this still from a video released by SpaceX on Oct. 24, 2019.
(Image credit: SpaceX)
SpaceX’s launch escape system is designed to use eight SuperDraco engines to rip a Crew Dragon spacecraft free from its Falcon 9 rocket in a launch emergency. The capsule would then return astronauts to Earth under parachutes.
The SuperDraco escape system is a critical part of SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft to safeguard astronauts during a launch emergency. In April, SpaceX’s first Crew Dragon exploded during a failed static-fire test of the system. SpaceX has said a faulty valve led to the failure, and the company has upgraded the system to avoid a similar event.
NASA has tapped SpaceX and Boeing to fly American astronauts to and from the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew program. Last week, NASA chief Jim Bridenstine told reporters at the 70th International Astronautical Congress that he expects commercial crew flights to begin launching astronauts in early 2020.
As SpaceX prepares for its static-fire and in-flight abort tests for Crew Dragon, Boeing is preparing to launch the first unpiloted test flight of its Starliner crew capsule to the International Space Station on Dec. 17. Only if those test flights are successful will crewed flights follow.
SpaceX’s first piloted Crew Dragon flight will carry NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the space station. Boeing’s first piloted Starliner mission will fly Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson (a former NASA astronaut and shuttle commander) and NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Aunapu Mann.
There was no doubt that the US Air Force’s X-37B was going to break its own record for time spent in orbit, but it’s now clear by how much. The mysterious Boeing-made space plane has landed at Kennedy Space Center after 780 days in orbit, comfortably surpassing the earlier record of 717 days, 20 hours and 42 minutes. That’s more than three times the 240 days originally expected from the reusable vehicle, which just finished its fifth mission.
The spacecraft completed "all mission objectives," according to USAF Rapid Capabilities Office director Randy Walden. Just what those are isn’t clear, though. X-37B payloads are still classified, and officials have typically provided only vague hints of what was aboard. One was a thermal spreader that helped test "experimental electronics" and heat pipe cooling in long-term spaceflight, while another project may have tested a Hall-effect ion thruster. Walden did acknowledge that the space plane deployed "small satellites."
This definitely isn’t the end for the X-37B when a sixth flight is due to take off from Cape Canaveral in 2020. It does, however, raise the bar for future trips. If the USAF is going to continue bragging about long durations in orbit, it will have to fly the space plane for substantially more than two years — that appears feasible, but it’s considerably more challenging than it was this time around.
Elon Musk on Friday afternoon revealed details of the latest version of Tesla’s Solar Glass Roof, announcing that installations have begun and should ramp up in the coming weeks. This third iteration of the electricity-generating house-topper will be cheaper, easier, and faster to install than its predecessors, Musk said in a public Q&A session. That makes it a viable candidate for the kind of scale the Tesla CEO tends to target, reaching thousands of homes a week in a few months’ time. “It’ll grow like kelp on steroids,” he said. And with enough growth, it could revive Tesla’s stumbling attempt to be not just a carmaker, but an energy company.
Rather than installing solar panels on an existing roof (a service Tesla also offers), this product is the roof. It’s made of glass tiles that can turn photons into electricity. From the ground, the tiles are meant to be indistinguishable from opaque slate, assuaging concerns about a trade-off between helping the environment and hurting one’s eyes. Musk showed off the first version of the product in 2016, and never disclosed the second version until Thursday. The latest version comes with a 25-year warranty and a promise that the glass can withstand 110-mph winds and chunks of hail nearly 2 inches in diameter.
For years, Musk has said that the solar roof and Powerwall (basically a big battery that allows owners to store energy produced by solar power, instead of sending it to the grid) are important to the company’s quest to accelerate the adoption of clean energy. But in the three years since it started taking reservations for the solar roof, Tesla has struggled with the product, delaying its launch and winning relatively few installations. The second version, Musk said Friday, was so expensive to produce and install that Tesla was “basically trying not to lose money.” The edges, especially where the tiles met gutters, were “very artisanal” and often completed at the work site, making for a complicated and time-consuming installation. In the second quarter of this year, Tesla installed just 29 megawatts of solar power—far from its quarterly high of 200.
Version 3.0, he said, uses bigger tiles and different materials (no more detail there), and cuts the number of parts and subassemblies by more than half. Work slowed while Tesla focused its resources on producing its Model 3 sedan, but now that production’s running smoothly—and profitably—it has swung its attention back to the roof.
Musk’s solar ambitions have been troubled by more than delays. The roof started as a partnership with Solar City, which Tesla acquired in 2016 for $2.6 billion. Since then, the business has lost market share, and Tesla shareholders have filed a lawsuit alleging that Tesla overpaid for the company—of which Musk was chairman and the largest stakeholder—given its financial difficulties. It’s also facing a suit from Walmart for breach of contract and gross negligence, after solar panels that Tesla installed on seven Walmart stores allegedly caught fire.
True to form, though, Musk moved on Friday to supersede past and current worries with big promises for the future. He is targeting an eight-hour installation time, about what he said it takes a crew to lay down a simple conventional roof. He promises a price similar to that of a standard roof, too. “We’re coming after you, comp shingle,” he said. Tesla plans to start with in-house crews doing installs, and to start working with other companies once it has nailed down its processes. The tiles will be built at Tesla’s Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo.
One of the coolest parts of Google’s Pixel 4 is its AI-assisted Live Caption feature, which allows your smartphone to automatically caption any audio being played in your apps. This lets you read along with media playing on sources like YouTube, Twitter, and more.
As Android Police recently discovered, audio transcriptions even work when your Pixel 4’s volume is turned down—or an app is muted. This is because live transcriptions are created from audio data, and not from sounds picked up by the phone’s microphone. If you prefer to mute autoplaying videos (or if your browser doesn’t mute them by default), but don’t want to miss the important information you might get from an occasional video, this combination of muting and Live Caption is for you.
To turn on your Pixel 4’s live captioning, go to Settings > Sound > Live Caption, and then tap the slider to toggle the feature on. Your phone will automatically notify you and start captioning when it recognizes internal audio is being played.
This is a great accessibility option for those with hearing impairments, but all users will benefit from live captioning—including Pixel 3 and 3a users, who will receive the feature in an upcoming update. As for the muting aspect, that part’s easy: just turn your phone’s volume all the way down when you’re using your web browser. You could also keep it cranked and tap on the lock icon to the right of Chrome’s address bar (for example), tap on Site settings, and block sound across an entire domain.
