đ Good morning, folks. Hope you woke up on the right side of the bed today. I didnât. Literally. And now I have shoulder pain I am fighting through to bring you todayâs edition of Daily Authority. Okay, itâs not all that dramatic đ. Hereâs what went down while you were snoozing.
Automakers are coming for your walletsâŚevery month
Buying a new car is a big deal for most folks. They save money, compare models and brands, make a checklist of features they want, and so on. But imagine having to shell out extra monthly payments for things that once came free with cars. For instance, would you pay a monthly subscription fee just to use Android Auto or Apple CarPlay in your car? I, for one, wonât. As The Verge points out, hereâs why the future of cars may be a subscription mess.
The present
- Letâs face it â the auto industry is in the slow lane right now.
- Sales are dipping owing to supply chain constraints and a global slump in demand.
- So how do auto companies make money? Well, they are taking the subscription route.
- Did you know BMW previously tried to sell an $80 yearly subscription to Apple CarPlay in 2019? They dropped it later because, thankfully, common sense prevailed.
- But automakers arenât done with getting you to pay for features that were once free.
- BMW now charges a ÂŁ10 (~$12) monthly subscription for heated seats in the UK.
- Toyota makes drivers pay $8/month if they want some connected services, including the ability to start their cars remotely.
- Volkswagen, Toyota, Audi, Cadillac, Porsche, and Tesla have all dabbled in subscription models for certain options, such as driver-assist features or voice recognition.
The future
- With more computers and software features headed to cars, automakers have more opportunities to charge for subscription-based services.
- Industry analysts predict that subscriptions are coming to mass-market cars. That means they are coming for us, guys!
- Electric, connected, and autonomous vehicles all scream âsubscription services.â
- GM already earns billions from in-car subscription services.
- The companyâs SVP recently said customers are willing to spend $135/month on services.
- With 16 million+ cars on the road, imagine the potential of offering more and more subscription services.
- People are essentially paying car companies to remove a software block or enable an existing function.
- In the future, we could end up paying for something as essential as a software upgrade.
- Unless automakers lower car prices to offset subscription services, the whole thing is a bad idea.
Roundup
đľ âThe studied casualness of the Nothing launch struck me as disingenuousâ â AAâs Bogdan Petrovan shares his thoughts on the Nothing Phone 1âs launch event and why he felt it was âtransparently manipulativeâ (Android Authority).
đźď¸ Endless train tracks, a bridge to heaven, and an acorn in all its macro beauty â here are some awesome wallpapers for your phones, tablets, and PCs (Android Authority).
đą Do you ever place your phone screen-down on a surface? We just want to know, given the Nothing Phone 1âs standout Glyph interface at the back. So vote in our poll and share your thoughts (Android Authority).
đ¤ The next time you see Android 13, itâll be in its stable form! Meanwhile, hereâs what the latest beta brings (Android Authority).
đ RIP, Red Dead Online: Players and admirers gathered online to mourn the end of the game. It was a beautiful funeral (Games Radar).
Adam Birney / Android Authority
The US Air Force is testing a new weapon designed to kill electronics instead of humans. Weâll take that trade any day, thank you. Also, does this give anyone else The Matrix vibes? You know how they occasionally use EMP bombs to kill the machines? AnywayâŚthe real thing is much cooler.
- No, it wonât fry your Fire TV Stick remote. Thatâs the only image we had of a burning electronic đ¤Ż.
- The device is called the High-Powered Joint Electromagnetic Non-Kinetic Strike Weapon, or HiJENKS.
- It results from a five-year project to create a weapon that can destroy electronics in a targeted way.
- The weapon can disable electronics without using physical force or damage.
- Essentially, it fries đł electronics with pulsed bursts of microwave energy.
- And it can fit in the case of a bomber-launched cruise missile đŁ.
- It could also be in various other weapons, from drone payloads to plane-mounted weapon pods.
- Currently, the Office of Naval Research and the Air Force Research Laboratory is conducting a two-month trial of HiJENKS.
Neat, right? Now go check out how Adam Savage from Tested built his very own Matrix-style EMP switch from scratch.
Have a nice day. TGIF tomorrow!
Adamya Sharma, Editor