Amazon’s emissions increased dramatically last year despite carbon neutrality goal

Despite the company’s commitment to decrease its carbon footprint, Amazon’s emissions grew by 18 percent last year, according to the annual sustainability report it released today. While online shopping increased during the pandemic’s second year, the company also rapidly expanded its number of warehousing operations — faster than consumer demand could support. For the entirety of 2021, the company’s activities emitted the equivalent of more than 71.54 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (for comparison, that’s one and a half times the amount the U.S. government emitted in 2019.)

But this figure is undoubtedly a drastic undercount. While Amazon does include emissions from its warehouses and logistics network, as Revealreported this year, the company employs a sort of loophole. While other retailers, like Walmart and Target, account for pollution related to any goods they sell, Amazon only counts carbon emissions for Amazon-branded products, which make up around one percent of total sales. Third-party sellers (that is, the entities responsible for the other 99 percent of what’s sold through its online marketplace) are left to perform their own carbon emissions accounting independently — regardless of whether those sales are fulfilled through Amazon’s warehousing or not. Many of these businesses, however, likely do not meet the minimum threshold for mandatory emissions reporting

Environmental experts have long voiced concerns over the immense climate toll of Amazon’s operations, especially its rush and two-day shipping options. Despite the lack of progress, Amazon’s goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 was noted in the report.

The company doubled its network of fufillment centers during the pandemic to keep up with the spike in demand, at a rate that outpaced consumer sales. Amazon reported a $3.8 billion net loss in the first quarter of 2022, the bulk of which came from an investment in more warehouses and staff. But the company now appears to be scaling back its building efforts amidst a decline in orders. USA Todayreported today that Amazon has paused or delayed the building of 18 warehouses in 12 states.

‘Doom’ co-creator John Romero is making a new first-person shooter

John Romero, one of the brains behind Doom, is working on another first-person shooter, Romero Games announced today. In a tweet, the independent studio founded by Romero and his wife Brenda Romero said it will be teaming up with a major publisher to develop the game and will be using an “original, new IP.” 

Few other details were revealed about the upcoming title, which will be the first title from Romero Games since Brenda’s 2020 strategy game Empire of Sin. We do know that it will be powered by Unreal Engine 5. The studio mentioned that it is recruiting staff at all levels to help build the game, particularly people with UE5 experience.

The Galway-based studio isn’t revealing much else about the game. In the FAQ section of its website, the question “What can you tell us about the new shooter?” appears first. “We can confirm that it’s new, that it’s a shooter and that we’re making it with a major publisher. Otherwise, it’s way too early to share any other information on it. We’re grateful for your interest, though,” the studio writes in response.

It’s only been a few months since Epic Games released UE5 to developers, and we’ve already seen a number of new, promising game announcements — though we won’t see most of them until later on in 2022 or 2023. Fans of Romero’s work will likely have to remain patient for this latest title, and it’s unclear where whether it will take precedence over Sigil 2, which Romero Games announced last year but which still lacks a release date.

Correction 7/19/22 5:51pm:Empire of Sin has now been appropriately attributed to Brenda Romero.

GM’s 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV will have a max range of 320 miles

GM previewed its 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV today in a variety of trims — including the SS performance model — adding the two-row mid-size crossover to its growing lineup of all-electric cars. As far as SUVs go, the Chevy Blazer hasn’t ever been the most eye-catching or highest rated. But the new Blazer EV could stand out as a solid, reasonably priced electric mid-sized SUV in a market filled with (way too many) options. The vehicles include a 11.5 kW AC charging module for at-home charging and charging capability of up to 190 kilowatts. Roughly 10 minutes of charging will add up to 78 miles of range. 

The 2024 Blazer EVs take things in a dramatically different direction than older models of the Blazer, at least design-wise. The exterior is a tad more aggressive and futuristic than older models of the Blazer. The RS model features 21-inch wheels and a black grille and accents and the SS features a black roof, ultra-thin 22-inch wheels. Depending on the size of the battery pack, the RS has a maximum range of 320 miles, while the SS can run for 290 miles. The SS model can produce up to 557 horsepower and has a high-performance mode known WOW (Wide Open Watts) mode that can enable 0-60 mph times of less than 4 seconds. Both the RS and SS models feature heated front and rear outboard seating (though on the RS it’s an additional charge) and a flat-bottom steering wheel and sculpted vents.

The most bare-bones option of the bunch, the LT (with two different trim levels), comes with 18-inch wheels and a monochromatic coat. The 2LT delivers an estimated range of 293 miles, while the 1LT can go for 247 miles on a single charge.  

The vehicles are all equipped with a 17.7-inch-diagonal screen and Chevy’s infotainment system. To top it off, the Blazer EV is built on GM’s Ultium EV platform, which kind of serves as a unified battery system for all of GM’s electric vehicles. The automaker believes that using just one battery — the Ultium — for all of its EVs will cut down production costs and allow it to easily convert to an all-electric lineup by 2035.

The new cars will arrive next year: The 2LT and RS will debut in the summer of 2023, and are priced starting around $47,595 and $51,995, respectively. The SS will arrive later next year, and starts at $65,995. Finally, the 1LT will debut sometime in the first quarter of 2024 and start at $44,995. You can reserve one starting today. 

Apple Pay illegally profited by walling off contactless payments, lawsuit alleges

A proposed class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of payment card issuers accuses Apple of illegally profiting from Apple Pay and breaking antitrust laws. Iowa’s Affinity Credit Union is listed as the plaintiff in the complaint, filed today in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit alleges that by restricting contactless payments on iOS devices to Apple Pay and charging payment card issuers fees to use the mobile wallet, the iPhone maker is engaging in anti-competitive behavior.

While Android users have options for contactless mobile wallets, iOS users can only use tap-to-pay technology through Apple Pay. In other words, while iPhone users can download the Google Pay app, they can’t use it to make contactless payments in stores. Android doesn’t charge payment card issuers for use of any supported mobile wallet. But it’s a different story for Apple Pay, which charges card issuers a 0.15% fee on credit transactions and half of a cent on debit transactions. These fees have brought in up to $1 billion annually for Apple, the lawsuit alleges.

“In the Android ecosystem, where multiple digital wallets compete, there are no issuer fees whatsoever, ” said the complaint. “The upshot is that card issuers pay a reported $1 billion annually in fees on Apple Pay and $0 for accessing functionally identical Android wallets. If Apple faced competition, it could not sustain these substantial fees.”

The suit alleges that by restricting iOS users to only Apple Pay for contactless payments, Apple is blocking competing mobile wallets from the market. Payment card issuers are essentially forced to pay Apple’s transaction fees if they want to offer their service to iPhone users.

Apple is facing a similar challenge over its payment system in the EU, where an antitrust commission in May said that the tech giant is illegally blocking third-party developers from enabling contactless payments. Apple has denied the EU’s allegations, arguing that giving third-party developers access would be a security risk. This is an argument that Apple has used before as a reason why it doesn’t open up its platform, such as in the case of third-party app stores.

Engadget has reached out to Apple for comment on the lawsuit and will update if we hear back.

Sony completes $3.6 billion deal to buy Bungie

The developer behind Destiny is now a part of the Sony universe. Sony Interactive Entertainment officially closed on a $3.6 billion deal today to buy the independent game studio and publisher Bungie, according to tweets from both Bungie and PlayStation…

NFT marketplace Opensea lets go of 20 percent of its staff

The world’s largest NFT platform, Opensea, is cutting 20 percent of its workforce. The information comes directly from CEO Devin Finzer, who tweeted a screenshot of a Slack message he’d sent to the entire company staff Thursday. Finzer blamed the economic instability around both crypto specifically and the economy broadly for the layoffs. The cuts, he wrote, would prepare the company in the event of a prolonged downturn.

“The changes we’re making today put us in a position to maintain multiple years of runway under various crypto winter scenarios (5 years at the current volume), and give us high confidence that we only have to go through this process once.”

Since Opensea doesn’t disclose the number of its employees, it’s unclear exactly how many people are impacted by the cuts. But after this story was published, OpenSea told Engadget that the company now employs 230 people. In the same Slack message, Finzer states the impacted staffers will get “generous severance” and healthcare coverage into 2023. Specifically, the company is offering 12 weeks of severance pay, accelerated equity vesting and six months of healthcare coverage among some other benefits. 

In January the company raised $300 million in venture capital funding, which Finzer said it would use to hire 90 new employees and establish a fund for creators. Finzer made no mention of the new investor dollars in his memo to employees.

Opensea joins a growing group of prominent crypto giants who have undergone layoffs this summer. Coinbase cut more than 1,100 jobs last month, also citing the crypto winter and tough economy. Also in June, BlockFi laid off roughly 20 percent of its staff (or around 200 people) and Crypto.com laid off 260 workers — only months after it signed a $700 million deal for naming rights to the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Update, 7/15/22 12PM ET: This story has been updated to note that OpenSea confirmed that its headcount now stands at 230 employees. We’ve also added some details on the package offered to former employees. The story originally stated that OpenSea had 769 employees, but that detail has been removed as it was inaccurate. 

Sure, why not: Wordle is becoming a board game

Wordle players who can’t resist posting their scores on social media to show off their verbal smarts can now subject friends to this behavior in-person. Hasbro and New York Times Games announced a physical adaptation of the online word game phenomenon to be called Wordle: The Party Game, designed to be played with multiple players or teams.

Each round of Wordle: The Party Game begins with one player (the so-called “Wordle Host”) who writes down a secret word. The rest of the players will be given six tries to guess it, much like the online version. Players who take fewer attempts to guess the secret word will earn less points, and the player with the least points at the end of the game wins. The game comes with three Wordle boards, a secret word board for the host and dry-erase markers There’s also a set of physical green and yellow tiles that mimic the ones used in the game.

The board game will cost $19.99, and is available to pre-order today at Amazon, Target and Hasbro’s online store. Wordle: The Party Game is expected to hit stores in October, which will also be the one-year anniversary of the online game’s release to the public. Since its debut, the strangely addictive word game has been purchased by the New York Times and inspired a number of spin-offs, including Tradle, which has players identify countries by their exports and Heardle, a guessing game for popular songs. Earlier this week, Spotify purchased Heardle for an undisclosed sum.