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The US presidential election is in its final stretch. Before election day on November 5, Engadget is looking at where the candidates, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, stand on the most consequential tech issues of our day. Broadband access in poorer and more rural communities has been a major campaign issue since 2008. Bridging the digital divide was a key component of Barack Obamas platform. And, while far from perfect, his administration did a lot of work to grow the nations fiber-optic infrastructure, free up wireless spectrum and expand access to subsidies for low-income families. While successive administrations have promised to continue the work of bringing high-speed internet to the most underserved communities, the results have been disappointing. Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have pledged to get Americans online, but political realities will make that goal difficult. Kamala Harris During the Biden administration, Harris has acted as a sort of unofficial broadband czar (similar to her other unofficial titles of AI czar and border czar). This means she is deeply involved with and expected to carry forward the current administrations policies. That could give her a chance to salvage some sort of positive legacy from what is currently a rather spotty track record for Biden on broadband. Under President Biden, the White House secured roughly $90 billion to close the digital divide, $42.5 billion of that specifically for BEAD, the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program. This gives states money to fund the planning and buildout of broadband infrastructure, whether that be running new fiber to rural areas, installing Wi-Fi in low-income apartment complexes or training workers for new careers in telecommunications. Unfortunately, BEAD has been hampered by numerous delays, and very little of the money has actually been doled out. Virginia only received initial approval for access to $1.48 billion in funding in late July, despite having been first to file a request in September of 2023. There is plenty of blame to go around for the slow and messy rollout of BEAD, but conservatives have been able to successfully turn it into a weapon against Harris. Stringent requirements around environmental impact, labor practices and affordable access have made BEAD an easy target for Republicans who see regulation and bureaucracy as the enemy of freedom and economic growth. The NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration), which administers BEAD, has found itself on the defensive, claiming the program is on track. Though, its unlikely any projects funded by BEAD will break ground until well into 2025 if not later. As an outgrowth of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, BEAD is a key part of President Bidens (and by extension Vice President Harris) legacy. A focus for a Harris administration will likely be speeding up the distribution of BEAD funds and accelerating the groundbreaking on projects like fiberoptic and 5G infrastructure. But its unlikely there will be dramatic policy shifts under her leadership. Donald Trump Similar to President Biden, Donald Trump made grand promises about expanding access to broadband, especially for rural communities, but largely failed to deliver. Not only that, but Democrats managed to turn that failure into a campaign weapon against him in 2020. Under Trump and Ajit Pai, the FCC launched the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, which promised $20.4 billion to expand rural broadband. However, it was merely a rebrand of an existing subsidy program established under Obama. The Trump administrations efforts beyond that were far more modest than those of the Biden or Obama eras, and included initiatives like investing $1.3 billion through the Agriculture Departments ReConnect Program. Neither Trump nor the RNC have much to say about rural broadband or the digital divide this time around. That could suggest another term would again be defined by small-scale investments rather than large infrastructure programs. While the Trump campaign has tried to distance itself from Project 2025, the document was drafted by a number of people in Trumps orbit, including former staffers. So, its not a stretch to assume he might adopt some, if not many, of its policies. That document focuses largely on what can be seen as one of the Trump administrations wins on the technology front: 5G. Project 2025 calls for freeing up additional spectrum for wireless broadband and streamlining the permitting process. It calls for the FCC to pursue an aggressive strategy for freeing up the airwaves and selling them to commercial interests. It also, unsurprisingly, calls for scaling back regulations regarding things like environmental impact and restrictions on building on federal lands in hopes of spurring the construction of more cell sites. It also wants to speed up the approval process for satellite providers, like StarLink, which it sees as vital to Americas economic and national security interests. Project 2025 calls for these efforts to be consolidated as part of a national broadband strategy. It cites a Government Accountability Office report from 2022, which states there are over 100 programs administered by 15 agencies as evidence of mismanagement and a potential for waste.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/election-2024-what-will-the-candidates-do-about-the-digital-divide-133045561.html?src=rss
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I don't know where my things are more often than I care to admit. Instead of stubbornly ignoring this it might be time for me to finally cave and pick up some AirTags. A new sale brings a four-pack of AirTags down to $74 from $99. The 25 percent discount brings the set's price to just $1 short of its all-time low price. Apple's AirTags work within the Find My network and can help you find anything from a wallet to your cat. They also emit a sound if, say, they appear online in a room filled with things and you need a more precise location. The only big annoyance with AirTags is that you have to either slip them into something (like a bag) or attach them with an accessory like a keychain case. Four AirTags might be a couple more than you need. If that's the case then check out Amazon's sale on a single AirTag. A 17 percent discount brings one AirTag down to $24 from $29. It's worth taking advantage of this sale if you only need one or two. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/a-four-pack-of-airtags-drops-to-74-in-this-early-black-friday-deal-130351552.html?src=rss
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If youre excited, or even just a little curious, about the future of augmented reality, Metas Orion prototype makes the most compelling case yet for the technology. For Meta, Orion is about more than finally making AR glasses a reality. Its also the companys best shot at becoming less dependent on Apple and Googles app stores, and the rules that come with them. If Orion succeeds, then maybe we wont need smartphones for much at all. Glasses, Zuckerberg has speculated, might eventually become the main way we do computing. At the moment, its still way too early to know if Zuckerbergs bet will actually pay off. Orion is, for now, still a prototype. Meta hasnt said when it might become widely available or how much it might cost. That's partly because the company, which has already poured tens of billions of dollars into AR and VR research, still needs to figure out how to make Orion significantly more affordable than the $10,000 it reportedly costs to make the current version. It also needs to refine Orions hardware and software. And, perhaps most importantly, the company will eventually need to persuade its vast user base that AI-infused, eye-tracking glasses offer a better way to navigate the world. Still, Meta has been eager to show off Orion since its reveal at Connect. And, after recently getting a chance to try out Orion for myself, its easy to see why: Orion is the most impressive AR hardware Ive seen. Metas first AR glasses Meta has clearly gone to great lengths to make its AR glasses look, well, normal. While Snap has been mocked for its oversized Spectacles, Orions shape and size is closer to a traditional pair of frames. Even so, theyre still noticeably wide and chunky. The thick black frames, which house an array of cameras, sensors and custom silicon, may work on some face shapes, but I dont think they are particularly flattering. And while they look less cartoonish than Snaps AR Spectacles, Im pretty sure Id still get some funny looks if I walked around with them in public. At 98 grams, the glasses were noticeably bulkier than my typical prescription lenses, but never felt heavy. In addition to the actual glasses, Orion relies on two other pieces of kit: a 182-gram wireless compute puck, which needs to stay near the glasses, and an electromyography (EMG) wristband that allows you to control the AR interface with a series of hand gestures. The puck I saw was equipped with its own cameras and sensors, but Meta told me theyve since simplified the remote control-shaped device so that its mainly used for connectivity and processing. When I first saw the three-piece Orion setup at Connect, my first thought was that it was an interesting compromise in order to keep the glasses smaller. But after trying it all together, it really doesnt feel like a compromise at all. The glasses were a bit wider than my face.Karissa Bell for Engadget You control Orions interface through a combination of eye tracking and gestures. After a quick calibration the first time you put the glasses on, you can navigate the AR apps and menus by glancing around the interface and tapping your thumb and index finger together. Meta has been experimenting with wrist-based neural interfaces for years, and Orions EMG wristband is the result of that work. The band, which feels like little more than a fabric watch band, uses sensors to detect the electrical signals that occur with even subtle movements of your wrist and fingers. Meta then uses machine learning to decode those signals and send them to the glasses. That may sound complicated, but I was surprised by how intuitive the navigation felt. The combination of quick gestures and eye tracking felt much more precise than hand tracking controls Ive used in VR. And while Orion also has hand-tracking abilities, it feels much more natural to quickly tap your fingers together than to extend your hands out in front of your face. What its like to use Orion Meta walked me through a number of demos meant to show off Orions capabilities. I asked Meta AI to generate an image, and to come up with recipes based on a handful of ingredients on a shelf in front of me. The latter is a trick Ive also tried with the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, except with Orion, Meta AI was also able to project the recipe steps onto the wall in front of me. I also answered a couple of video calls, including one from a surprisingly lifelike Codec Avatar. I watched a YouTube video, scrolled Instagram Reels, and dictated a response to an incoming message. If youve used mixed reality headsets, much of this will sound familiar, and a lot of it wasnt that different from what you can do in VR headsets. The magic of AR, though, is that everything you see is overlaid onto the world around you and your surroundings are always fully visible. I particularly appreciated this when I got to the gaming portion of the walkthrough. I played a few rounds of a Meta-created game called Stargazer, where players control a retro-looking spacecraft by moving their head to avoid incoming obstacles while shooting enemies with finger tap gestures. Throughout that game, and a subsequent round of AR Pong, I was able to easily keep up a conversation with the people around me while I played. As someone who easily gets motion sick from VR gaming, I appreciated that I never felt disoriented or less aware of my surroundings. Orions displays rely on silicon carbide lenses, micro-LED projectors and waveguides. The actual lenses are clear, though they can dim depending on your environment. One of the most impressive aspects is the 70-degree field of view. It was noticeably wider and more immersive than what I experienced with Snaps AR Spectacles, which have a 46-degree field of view At one point, I had three windows open in one multitasking view: Instagram Reels, a video call and a messaging inbox. And while I was definitely aware of the outer limits of the display, I could easily see all three windows without physically moving my head or adjusting my position. Its still not the all-encompassing AR of sci-fi flicks, but it was wide enough I never struggled to keep the AR content in view. What was slightly disappointing, though, was the resolution of Orions visuals. At 13 pixels per degree, the colors all seemed somewhat muted and projected text was noticeably fuzzy. None of it was difficult to make out, but it was much less vivid than what I saw on Snaps AR Spectacles, which have a 37 pixels per degree resolution. Metas VP of Wearable Devices, Ming Hua, told me that one of the companys top priorities is to increase the brightness and resolution of Orions displays. She said that theres already a version of the prototype with twice the pixel density, so theres good reason to believe this will improve over time. Shes also optimistic that Meta will eventually be able to bring down the costs of its AR tech, eventually reducing it to something similar to a high end phone. What does it mean? Leaving my demo at Metas headquarters, I was reminded of the first time I tried out a prototype of the wireless VR headset that would eventually become known as Quest, back in 2016. Called Santa Cruz at the time, it was immediately obvious, even to an infrequent VR user, that the wireless, room-tracking headset was the future of the companys VR business. Now, its almost hard to believe there was a time when Metas headsets werent fully untethered. Orion has the potential to be much bigger. Now, Meta isnt just trying to create a more convenient form factor for mixed reality hobbyists and gamers. Its offering a glimpse into how it views the future, and what our lives might look like when were no longer tethered to our phones. For now, Orion is still just that: a glimpse. Its far more complex than anything the company has attempted with VR. Meta still has a lot of work to do before that AR-enabled future can be a reality. But the prototype shows that much of that vision is closer than we think.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/metas-orion-prototype-offers-a-glimpse-into-our-ar-future-123038066.html?src=rss
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