Welcome back to The Morning After. Hope you had a great weekend and are ready for 2021 to wrap up and complete. (I know it’s me.)
Today, we’ve rounded up the latest tech news from the past few days and some year-end take on the biggest stories of the year. But first, Hyundai can give up internal combustion engine.
The company has just produced and released its first electric car, but it seems ready to grow rapidly and leave the old engines behind. Sources at Korea Economic Daily claim that Hyundai closed its internal combustion engine design unit at its research center around this month. While there will still be some workers left to refine existing engines, the rest will move into EV-related work.
New research director Chung-kook Park said in an email that the transition will help produce cars that “dominate the market in the future”. Park is probably right. In Hyundai’s home country, South Korea, the sale of vehicles using only internal combustion engines will be banned by 2030.
-Mat Smith
The reveal is currently scheduled for spring 2022.
Final Fantasy fans have been promised more information about the sequel to the RPG series before the end of 2021. Sadly, that announcement and the game have been postponed. “When we last spoke, I promised that I would have more information about Final Fantasy XVI sometime late 2021,” producer Naoki Yoshida wrote on Twitter. However, I regret to inform you that I will not be able to keep that promise, as complications from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic have delayed development of the game by nearly half a year. . . “
Just don’t call it an apology.
Last year for the iPhone and Mac maker was of course marked by many small tweaks. In addition to moving forward with its M1 PC chip in more powerful settings, Apple has fixed the problematic keyboards found on the last few generations of MacBooks and improved battery life on them. entire range of iPhone 13 models.
The biggest change – and one that we won’t see until next year – is a product fix. Apple will sell repair parts and guides to customers who want to fix their iPhones themselves.
The Green Hill Zone play set is a nostalgic ride for Sega fans.
Lego
After nearly a year of work, Lego has revealed that their Sonic the Hedgehog Green Hill Zone set will be available online and in Lego stores on January 1, 2022 for $70. The game’s first – and most famous – brick-based arcade includes minifigures for Sonic, Dr. Eggman (aka Dr. Robotnik), two creatures, and Phantom Ruby. Unfortunately, Sonic won’t rush through the loops, but there’s a Technical lever to launch him (or any other character) along with ring gadgets, of course.
The move comes as rumors about Apple’s AR headset continue to swirl.
Apple
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, as rumors continue to build about the augmented reality headset, Apple has hired Meta’s head of AR public relations Andrea Schubert. In his weekly newsletter. “Meta, along with Oculus, is already the market leader in headsets, so such a hire makes sense given Apple’s launch,” Gurman writes.
Schubert has been the Communications Director of Meta’s Reality lab and has been Oculus’ chief executive officer with Meta since March 2016.
Apple’s potential AR headset has been the subject of all sorts of rumors. One person recently speculated that the headset could be dependent on another device like an iPhone or a Mac computer. Or it could be a standalone device with dual 8K displays that could cost upwards of $3,000. And the third rumor, this one from Gurman, indicates that it will play “high quality VR games.”
Add them to the list.
AMD and OnePlus have both withdrawn their physical presence at the tech event. While they did not provide a detailed explanation, the move is clearly in response to the emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, like many other companies that have pulled out of CES.
AMD is all set to launch its 2022 products via a live stream on January 4. OnePlus said it will introduce the OnePlus 10 Pro in January and is rumored to unveil the phone at CES. Currently, Samsung, Sony and LG are still preparing to exhibit in Las Vegas in a few weeks. I’m betting.
Basically: They’re really cool.
Jinx and Vi are the two central sisters of Riot Games’ hit Netflix series, Arcane, and they were chosen as the focal point in the lineup of more than 150 League of Legends Champions.
Because Arcane creators Christian Linke and Alex Yee, the real stars couldn’t be anyone else League of Legends legend. “They got our special treatment because we really like them,” Linke told Engadget. “And so when we have to think about liking, which character do we want to stick with for years to come? I thought it was pretty clear. “
America’s best-selling car style is equally popular when it comes to electrification.
Steady advances in electrical systems over the past few years – coupled with skyrocketing demand for larger, electrified vehicles serving the US market – have resulted in a turning point in 2021: the arrival of EV pickups and SUVs. 2021 could be the time to come.
The biggest news stories you might have missed
All products recommended by Engadget are handpicked by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
