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LinkedIn, the social The network that is ostensibly about work now has a space just for play. The company launched LinkedIn Games this week later testing the waters of the game at the beginning of this year. New puzzle and logic games are free, simple and just a small copy of The New York Times‘ very popular game offers.
in a blog entry Attributed to LinkedIn vice president Daniel Roth, the company said the goal of the games is to give users a brief mental break while on the platform. (And, of course, the unspoken part: games keep people on the platform longer and drive engagement.)
Currently, there are three games available. Pinpoint It feels like playing single row The New York Times’ Connection games. cross climbing is a Wordle-style matching game where you answer clues to solve a larger puzzle. queens It’s a combination of chess and sudoku that bothered me enough to make sure I felt obligated to finish it no matter what. (I sent this story to my editor late because of that. It’s pretty good.)
As The New York Times‘, LinkedIn games can be played only once per day. Users can share their scores directly on the platform, in case someone needs to make LinkedIn posts even more competitive.
Here’s some other consumer tech news from this week.
face plant
Surprise surprise, Razer’s not-so-futuristic illuminated face mask is bad, actually. Razer is known for using colorful RGB rays in almost all of its products, even though the eye-catching display scheme turned out to be somewhat disappointing on your Zephyr mask. Worse yet, the company claimed that the mask had the equivalent filtration qualities of an N95 mask, which can filter out harmful particles and viruses.
It turns out that capability was never formally tested. Now, the Federal Trade Commission has ordered the company having to pay for making these claims about the mask’s capabilities, forcing the company to refund the money of every customer who purchased one, to the tune of over a million dollars. ($1,071,254.33 to be exact).
The company first sold its $99 device in October 2021, amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The Zephyr took advantage of the fear of infection that was still a priority for many people. Razer claimed the mask could filter particles, including those carrying Covid, as well as any standard N95 mask. But, as the FTC says, the company never submitted it for certification to NIOSH, the US safety agency that certifies all N95 standards. Now the company has to pay for that mistake.
Platoon problems
Peloton, the connected exercise equipment company that became a big hit among wealthy people confined to their homes during the pandemic, has had some problems in recent years. Peloton first ran into financial trouble in 2021, when demand for its products declined and its stock price plummeted. Now the company has hit an even more slippery slope.
In the space of a couple of days, Peloton announced the departure of its general directorBarry McCarthy, and that he would lay off 15 percent of his workforce, almost 400 employees. Not a great look for a company that once seemed destined to revolutionize the home exercise equipment industry.
Hybrid theory
It used to be that when someone said “hybrid” I thought of the Toyota Prius, for better or worse. Hybrids were always small, dumpy, strange vehicles that maybe didn’t fit the typical idea of a “cool car.” At least that’s how the category was defined before a new wave of hybrid vehicles began to hit the market. Now, hybrids are becoming popular; There’s even an improved Lamborghini plug-in hybrid. These gas-electric machines are also more popular than ever in the United States, thanks to some government mandates urging automakers to move toward a zero-emissions future.
This week on Gadget Lab, WIRED staff writer Aarian Marshall joins the show to talk about how hybrids are taking over the American vehicle market.