IKEA offers virtual interior design services in the US

Image: IKEA

If you aren't quite sure how to decorate a space with the IKEA furniture you've been eyeing, the company has started offering a new interior design service. Unfortunately, it's currently only available in the US. The offering costs as low as USD 99/around CAD 133 per room (or USD 299/~CAD 403 for a business setting). This will allow IKEA designers to take the reigns over designing a room.

The consultations will be done digitally over three video calls and come after booking an appointment and taking an online survey "wish list" to help the designers fulfill your needs. They will then build you a mood board, map out your space in 3D, and work with you on furnishing, lighting choices, and materials. They will select everything you need, so you just pay for it. You can assemble the furniture yourself or collaborate with IKEA's TaskRabbit service to take the plans and build them out for you.

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Ford to transform Oakville, Ontario plant into EV manufacturing hub

Image: Ford

Ford plans to invest CAD 1.8 billion into its Oakville Assembly Complex to turn it into a "high-volume hub of electric vehicle manufacturing" in the country. The campus will be renamed Oakville Electric Vehicle Complex. The carmaker plans to retool and modernize in the second quarter of 2024 in preparation for next-generation EV production. 

This investment allows Ford to repurpose and transform its existing buildings into state-of-the-art facilities. The current 487-acre Oakville site includes three body shops, one paint building, and one assembly building. The transformed plant will feature a new 407,000 square-foot on-site battery plant that uses cells and arrays from BlueOval SK Battery Park in Kentucky. Oakville workers will take these components and assemble battery packs that will be installed in vehicles assembled on-site. This transformation will help increase Ford's global production run rate of two million EVs annually by the end of 2026.

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Playdate releases first store update, includes a calculator

Tiny game console Playdate gets its first store update a month after its launch. It brings with it four new games and a productivity app. The Crankulator works as its sounds. It's a calculator that uses the handheld's crank to enter values. It even uses a synthetic voice to relay calculations.

The headlining game is Core Fault, a survival game where you're piloting a mining droid as it collects resources and dodges unhappy aliens. It's joined by a physics-driven flight game Gravity Express, spooky puzzle solver Life's Too Short, and a mahjong adaptation Sparrow Solitaire. Price ranges from USD 1 to USD 10 (around CAD 1.35 to CAD 14) for these games. You can check them out here.

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YouTube Premium subscribers on iOS get 'enhanced' 1080p videos

Screenshot: YouTube

YouTube is offering its Premium subscribers more value for their subscription. One of the new features includes an "enhanced bitrate version of 1080p," which is currently only available for iOS and promises "crisper" videos (particularly those heavy on detail and motion). This won't be available on all videos, though. It won't be available on videos uploaded at resolutions higher or lower than 1080p, Shorts, or live streams.

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