French Renault Zoe owners can finally buy their batteries

Renault’s all-electric Zoe has been very well-received in its home country of France, but the company’s controversial battery-leasing scheme in the country has undoubtedly given potential buyers pause for thought. Either own the car and pay a monthly fee, or lease the whole car. The idea that Renault could snatch your battery away if you broke contract somehow didn’t instil a huge amount of confidence. Yet the Zoe still became the most popular all-electric vehicle in France, and today the company has revealed that buyers will now have the option of owning the battery pack outright.

The Zoe starts at €23,700, with a monthly €49 fee for battery leasing (which can increase based on your mileage), or if like many motorists you actually want to own the entirety of your vehicle, you can buy the battery pack outright for an extra €8,900. That’s a starting total of €32,600, which puts it in line with the Nissan Leaf (€33,900), the Chevrolet Bolt Opel Ampera-e (€33,300) and probably also the Tesla Model 3, which is yet to have its European costs confirmed but is likely to fall in line with its US price of $35,000.

Renault has previously said it has more than 100,000 battery packs under leases, so the original scheme, while controversial, was evidently doing a good job of alleviating consumer concerns about battery degradation. Those new to EVs might appreciate the extra peace of mind that if something went wrong, Renault would just take care of it for them. However, as Renault’s marketing director in France, Xavier Martinet, said in the announcement, “The performance and durability of our batteries have now been widely proven.” The move means Zoe fans now have the option of owning their entire vehicle (which makes sense, obviously), but it also strips back some of the uncertainties that still exist around EVs, which can only be a good thing for take-up in the future.

Via: Electrek

‘Spider-Man’ arrives on PS4 September 7th

Spider-Man swings to PlayStation 4 on September 7th this year. Of course, developer Insomniac Games’ web-head adventure comes in three flavors: standard ($60), digital deluxe ($80) and collector’s edition ($150). The digital deluxe and collector’s edition are identical in terms of bonus features, aside from the collector’s edition coming with an art book, a steelbook case, the game on a Blu-ray and a pretty cool statue. According to the PlayStation Blog, pre-ordering the digital deluxe version will net you a custom pin Both have special cosmetic items like alternate Spider-Man suits and add-on missions. The trio of post-launch narratives will feature new villains, characters and suits as well. For a sneak peek of the game in action, check out the brand new video embedded below.

Source: PlayStation Blog

Alexa hands-free mode is available on Fire 7 and 8 HD tablets

If you own an Amazon Fire 7 or Fire 8 HD (2017) tablet, then you’re in luck because your device just gained a new feature. If your device is connected to power and/or the screen is in use, you can use the device for smart home voice control thanks to Alexa. The software update that will enable the hands-free Alexa feature is currently rolling out to devices.

If you have a PIN or password set on the device, you must unlock it to enable all Alexa hands-free features. You can also opt to disable all of these features (or control whether it works while the device is password locked) in the Alexa settings menu. And if you want your tablet to respond less often when there’s another Alexa-enabled device nearby, you can change that with the “Tablet ESP Behavior” option in Alexa settings.

This is a nice upgrade for all Fire 7 and Fire 8 HD tablets running software version 5.6.1.0 or later. It turns a regular tablet into a hands-free smart home control center. This handy feature was already available on Amazon’s Fire 10 HD tablet, so it’s nice that the company is rolling it out to older models.

Source: Amazon

Apple Releases Safari Technology Preview 53 With Bug Fixes and Feature Improvements

Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced two years ago in March of 2016. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari.

Safari Technology Preview release 53 includes bug fixes and feature improvements for Service Workers, WebRTC, Loading, Rendering, Media, Accessibility, CSS, Web API, and Web Inspector.

The Safari Technology Preview update is available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store to anyone who has downloaded the browser. Full release notes for the update are available on the Safari Technology Preview website.

Apple’s aim with Safari Technology Preview is to gather feedback from developers and users on its browser development process. Safari Technology Preview can run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser and while designed for developers, it does not require a developer account to download.

Tag: Safari Technology Preview
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