The Morning After: iFixit opened up Apple's new M1 MacBooks

#Tech

Worried the death of Flash will permanently banish some of your favorite internet animations and games? The Internet Archive announced it’s added emulation to maintain backups of Flash content so it doesn’t disappear entirely just because Adobe and browser makers have shelved the technology.

The emulator is live now, so you can flip through Strong Bad’s emails and other old-internet content until you run out of nostalgia and decide to visit the Newgrounds wing a little later.

— Richard Lawler

iFixit cracked open Apple’s new M1 MacBooks

Surprise — they’re laptops.

As usual, new devices have arrived, and the folks at iFixit have pulled them apart. This time, the machines undergoing scrutiny are the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. They now feature Apple’s custom silicon inside, but as the teardown shows, their design hasn’t changed much from the Intel-powered versions we’ve seen before.
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Stadia, one year on: Better but still incomplete

Google’s streaming service has come a long way in the last 12 months.

Exactly 12 months ago, Google launched Stadia, a streaming service that lets you play high-quality video games. The launch was met with a mix of skepticism and disappointment. It launched with several features missing, sans visible achievements, voice chat, 4K resolution on the web and most of the teased social features, such as State Share and Crowd Play. (Google has just announced that Stadia will soon be playable on iOS devices, through Safari.)

A year on, Stadia has a broader selection of games, and Stadia Pro, its subscription-based offering, has a better lineup of freebies, too. The service faces stiff competition from rival offerings such as Microsoft’s xCloud. And then there’s the PS5 and the Xbox Series X: consoles that promise performance that can match, if not beat, Google’s server blades — and PC cards. For the right person, Stadia can be compelling. But for the vast majority, there’s probably a better way to spend your time and money. Nick Summers reassesses Google’s game streaming service.
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Intel made a high-end laptop

… For small brands to copy.

Intel’s latest addition to the NUC series (Next Unit of Computing) isn’t a PC in a box, but a laptop. A pretty solid-sounding laptop, too. The plan is that Intel’s partners will be able to sell the NUC M15 with their own branding and spec configurations. The laptop kit could give smaller players another way to take on big hitters like Dell and HP.

The laptop includes an 11th-gen Core i5 or i7 processor, and a standard or touchscreen 15.6-inch 1080p IPS display as well as an array of ports and RAM options of 8GB or 16GB, though you won't be able to upgrade it later.

The M15, or whatever it ends up being called by others, will likely sell for between $1,000 and $1,500 — depending on the specs.
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Consumer Reports study finds reliability issues with some EVs

It will no longer recommend certain EVs from Audi, Kia and Porsche.

According to Consumer Reports' most recent reliability study, owners of some EV models have flagged "significant problems." The survey covered 329,000 vehicles, and some EVs — Audi E-Tron, Kia Niro EV and Tesla Model Y — "had more than their share of problems," according to Consumer Reports. Some E-Tron owners, for instance, identified drive-system electrical failures and issues with power equipment. Respondents who own the Niro noted other problems, like a bearing in the motor that needed to be replaced.

As a result, Consumer Reports no longer recommends the E-Tron or Niro. Audi and Kia said they're taking steps to address the reported issues. Tesla Model Y owners, meanwhile, flagged some build-quality issues. The company, which has had a long-running… dialogue with Consumer Reports, is 25th among 26 automakers in the publication’s latest brand reliability rankings.
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