Google Pixel 6a includes a $50 gift card when you buy at Amazon

Google’s Pixel 6a is brand new, but you can already find some tempting deals. Amazon is running a promotion that includes a $50 gift card when you buy the Pixel 6a for $449. To claim it, you’ll want to visit the product page for your preferred model, visit the “Special offers and product promotions” section, and click “Add both to Cart.” The bonus lasts through August 7th, so you’ll want to act quickly if you’re hoping to use the gift card for a case, charger or similar accessory.

Buy Pixel 6a with $50 Amazon gift card – $449

The Pixel 6a is a rare treat among mid-range phones. You get a fast processor, better-than-average cameras, IP67 water resistance and long battery life in an attention-getting design. As a Pixel phone, it also delivers the full Google experience — there are AI tricks like anti-photobombing and real-time translation, not to mention timely Android software updates.

There are some quirks. The 60Hz screen is modest compared to the 120Hz display in Samsung’s Galaxy A53 5G, and Pixel A-series veterans won’t be thrilled at losing the headphone jack. And while we didn’t find the fingerprint reader to be overly fussy, it’s slower than what you find in some rival handsets. Still, this is the affordable Android phone to buy in the US — the gift card just sweetens the deal.

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Ford reveals an F-150 Lightning built for police work

Don’t be surprised if you see an electric pickup truck assisting cops in the near future. Ford has introduced a version of the 2023 F-150 Lighting built for police, the Lightning Pro SSV (Special Service Vehicle). The new model is designed for tasks that don’t involve pursuit, such as assisting at crime scenes or towing boats, and includes modifications to match. You’ll find optional police lights for the roof, an instrument panel tray with easier equipment mounting, and toughened seating with steel intrusion plates in the front seatbacks. While this truck probably won’t cart suspects to the station, it could in a pinch.

The Lighting Pro SSV is otherwise similar to other pro F-150 EVs, although that’s not a bad thing. You can outfit the police version with the same regular or extended-range battery packs, with motors providing a respective 452HP and 580HP. You’ll likewise get driver assists such as Co-Pilot360 and automatic emergency braking, and Ford Pro promises telematics and support you don’t get with ordinary models. To no one’s surprise, Ford is pitching the Lighting’s design as officer-friendly — the slew of power outlets will help illuminate crash scenes, while the large frunk provides extra gear storage.

Ford doesn’t expect to share full details of the 2023 F-150 Lightning until later this summer, so you’ll have to wait a while for range estimates and other details. Still, this could be an important launch. The Lightning Pro SSV is the first US electric pickup designed for police, as Ford is keen to point out. While it’s not a cruiser, it could still play a significant role in electrifying departments.

Latest iOS 16 beta limits the ability to edit and delete messages

Apple is toning down iOS 16’s vaunted iMessage edit and unsend features. The company has released fourth developer betas of iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura that limit you to five edits for a given message within the available 15 minutes, and shrink the unsend window from 15 minutes to just two. You can also tap a message to see its edit history — previously, you would only see a notice that it had been edited.

The company didn’t explain the decision. We’ve asked Apple if it can share its reasoning. However, AppleInsideroutlined the potentials for abuse with the previous approach. Someone could edit a message to make it appear that you agreed to something. They could alternately harass you by sending messages that last long enough to be noticed, but disappear before you can preserve the evidence.

You can always prevent edits and unsends by disabling iMessage. That forces conversations to SMS texts, where those features aren’t available. Apple’s moves won’t completely prevent harassment, but might encourage you to leave iMessage on without fear that someone could easily twist your conversations.

Senate passes bill to boost US chip manufacturing

The US government just crossed a key milestone in its bid to improve domestic chip production and compete with rivals like China. CNBCreports the Senate has passed the CHIPS and Science Act, a bill to fund and incentivize American semiconductor manufacturing, in a 64-to-33 vote. The measure includes over $52 billion for US firms making chips, additional funding for further technology development and tax credits to spur manufacturing investments.

The Act, also known as “CHIPS-plus,” is a scaled-back version of bills previously circulating through Congress. Those efforts received opposition across the political spectrum. Republicans objected to earlier measures with accusations that Democrats were pushing a partisan reconciliation bill that would include climate, medicine and tax considerations. There were also concerns funding might inadvertently reach China. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, was concered that a past variant was a “blank check” to already-profitable chip producers. 

The House will still have to pass and help reconcile counterpart legislation before President Biden can sign the bill into law. That’s considered very likely, however, as the Senate has cleared a 60-vote filibuster threshold. The House is expected to pass its version when Democrats only need to wield their majority to succeed.

The expected law is unlikely to have an immediate effect when new factories take years to complete, and upgrades aren’t necessarily quicker. It won’t address near-term chip shortages. Even so, CHIPS could play an important role in American tech manufacturing. On top of reducing the chances of future shortages, it could reduce the dependence on Taiwan and other semiconductor hubs threatened by countries like China. While there are no guarantees the Act will lead to more jobs and lower prices, it might help the US compete in an increasingly fierce market.

White House launches a website to help people cope with extreme heat

President Biden’s administration is backing up its funding for heat disaster prevention with a website to keep people informed. Fast Companynotes the White House has launched a Heat.gov website to help the public and authorities understand the dangers of extreme heat and reduce the health risks. The 11-agency collaboration offers maps for current and expected temperature spikes across the US, prevention guidance and data-driven tools.

Among the resources are a CDC-made Heat & Health Tracker that shows both historic and predicted trends. You’ll see how much hotter your area has become over the decades, for instance. Other tools help you understand the effects of extreme heat on vulnerable groups, or aid communities seeking funds for city heat maps. The Biden administration has already been using the data to guide $50 billion in federal spending, White House climate advisor David Hayes said.

The Heat.gov debut comes just as the US (and many other parts of the world) grapples with particularly severe heat waves, and is part of a larger strategy to deal with the realities of climate change. Temperatures are expected to keep climbing, and this could help planners mitigate the dangers. In his most recent initiatives, President Biden sent $2.3 billion to FEMA for climate-related disaster “resilience,” expanded low-income energy help to include efficient air conditioning and proposed wind farms in the Gulf of Mexico.

The website is also consolation of sorts. The Supreme Court recently curbed the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to enforce the Clean Air Act. West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin also thwarted efforts to include climate change measures in a federal spending bill. While Heat.gov won’t compensate for those losses, it potentially draws more attention to climate issues.

‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ reportedly has a female lead

Grand Theft Auto VI might reflect evolving social attitudes as much as it does gameplay. Bloombergsources claim Rockstar’s future open-world title will include the franchise’s first playable female lead character. The Latina woman will reportedly be part of a Bonnie and Clyde-inspired duo at the heart of the story. Developers are also trying to shake a past reputation for transphobia and won’t make jokes about marginalized groups, the tipsters said.

Rockstar’s attempt to avoid crunch time is also affecting both the scope and release date for the game, according to the sources. GTA VI was supposedly meant to cover large portions of North and South America, but was whittled back to a fictional version of the Miami area (presumably Vice City). And while financial analysts are predicting a release sometime between April 2023 and March 2024, Bloomberg‘s contacts believe the game is “at least” two years away.

The company has apparently overhauled its design and management structures to reduce the need for excessive work hours. It reportedly added team members, created more opportunities for time off and fired leaders who were allegedly abusive or difficult. While the insiders described problems with bureaucratic overhead and some frustration over a lack of progress, many employees were said to be happy with the reduced pressure.

There’s enough financial breathing room, at least. GTA V and GTA Online have enjoyed success for years. GTA V only left The NPD Group’s top 20 yearly bestsellers in 2020, and that was because NPD stopped tracking digital sales from Rockstar parent company Take-Two. GTAO, meanwhile, has been popular enough that Rockstar launched a GTA+ subscription service this year to profit from the game’s biggest fans. GTA VI may arrive more than a decade after its predecessor, but its creators won’t suffer much from the long wait.

Spotify’s Car Thing player is no longer a thing

Spotify’s less-than-stellar quarter can be partly blamed on a decision to exit the hardware business. As part of its earnings data, the streaming service revealed that it stopped manufacturing its Car Thing player. In a statement to Engadget, a company spokesperson pinned the decision on “several factors” that included customer demand and supply chain problems. The withdrawal hurt Spotify’s gross profits.

Existing Car Thing units will still work as expected, Spotify said. The company said it still “unlocked helpful learnings” from the device despite its brief history, and that the car remained an “important place” for audio. You can still buy the Car Thing for $50 (down from the usual $90) as of this writing.

Spotify first shared word of Car Thing in 2019, but the finished product only reached the broader public early this year following several months of invitation-only sales. It was effectively a Spotify player for cars that didn’t have streaming functionality, and served as an informative experiment for the company. Low demand wouldn’t be surprising. Many cars can access Spotify through Android Auto, Apple CarPlay or built-in apps — Car Thing was mainly helpful for people with older vehicles who wanted a music streaming upgrade, but didn’t want to mount their phone.

The cancellation comes despite otherwise positive signs. Spotify’s free and paid listener bases are still growing (to 433 million and 188 million users respectively), and its shifts toward audiobooks and podcasts are paying dividends by lowering the relative cost of music label royalties. Car Thing’s demise theoretically helps Spotify focus on those successes and brace itself for a widely expected global recession.

Study finds judges are increasingly citing Wikipedia in legal decisions

It’s not just students and internet debaters who lean on Wikipedia in a pinch. MIT CSAIL researchers have conducted a study revealing that Wikipedia can influence the legal decisions of judges when there are articles covering relevant cases. The existence of a Wiki page for a case increased its citations by over 20 percent, the scientists said. The boost was pronounced when a case supported a judge’s argument, and the language of the articles sometimes manifested in the decisions.

The team conducted the study by having law students write over 150 articles on Irish Supreme Court decisions. Half of the pieces were randomly chosen to be uploaded where judges, lawyers and clerks could use them, while the rest were kept offline to help understand what would happen in the absence of a Wikipedia article. The randomized nature showed a true causal link between articles and citations, according to lead researcher Neil Thompson.

CSAIL also noted that the Irish legal system was an ideal testing ground. Higher courts’ decisions bind lower courts, as they do in the UK and US, but there aren’t nearly as many articles on Irish Supreme Court decisions as there are for its US counterpart. The researchers increased the number of relevant articles “tenfold” just by writing examples for the study.

As to why people might turn to Wikipedia? It might come down to a simple matter of time. The spike in citations mainly came from lower courts (the High Court) rather than the Supreme Court itself or the Court of Appeal. To CSAIL, that suggested judges and clerks were using Wikipedia to cope with busy court dockets — it was easier to find precedent-setting cases through a quick online search.

The findings are potentially problematic. While the cases themselves might be sound, Wikipedia isn’t always accurate. There’s a risk that a judge might issue a ruling based on a flawed article, or that malicious actors could manipulate entries to skew a trial’s outcome. Study co-author Brian Flanagan argued that the legal community should verify that any online analysis, whether it’s from Wikipedia or elsewhere, is both comprehensive and comes from expert sources.

USPS will start selling James Webb Space Telescope stamps on August 8th

Want to show your fondness for the James Webb Space Telescope in physical form? The US Postal Service might have what you’re looking for. The mail agency is launching a JWST stamp that will be available to pre-order starting August 28th in sheets of 20. It’s ultimately a digital depiction of the telescope against a galactic backdrop, but that may be all you need to flaunt your space fandom when you send a letter or parcel

The USPS didn’t detail pricing. As a Forever stamp, however, the JWST print will always be worth the First-Class Mail one-ounce price. You won’t have to worry about using extra stamps years down the road, then. Forever 20-stamp sheets typically cost $12.

Yes, there’s a certain irony to celebrating bleeding-edge astronomy using mail stickers invented in the 19th century. You might want to buy a t-shirt or similar merch if you’re interested in visibility. Look at it this way, though: stamps are relatively inexpensive, and they might do the trick if you’re either a collector or just want to add a personal touch to your mail.