Technology

mardi 4 octobre 2022

How Twitter employees are reacting to today’s Elon Musk news

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Elon Musk is back, and now he wants to own Twitter again! Delightful.

Today let’s talk about the backdrop against which he made this decision, whether it’s somehow an incredibly elaborate effort to get out of the deal, and what Twitter’s beleaguered employees are saying about it internally.

Did the news come as a surprise? Sure, I suppose. The billionaire Tesla CEO has for months now remained uncharacteristically on message, holding fast to his assertion that the amount of bots and spam on the platform ought to be reason enough for him to abandon his deal. His legal team seemed buoyed by the late-breaking appearance of a whistleblower willing to assert that present-day Twitter poses a threat to national security, and amended its lawsuit against the company in its third and possibly final attempt to terminate the $44 billion acquisition.

But this relative consistency is, on balance, an anomaly in the multiverse of madness that is Elon Musk’s feelings about Twitter, Inc.

This is the man, after all, who joined Twitter’s board only to quit it less than a week later; who offered to buy it and then began denigrating executives in tweets within days; who suggested he could add tens of millions of paid subscribers to Twitter’s subscription services and then announced a deal he had already signed was somehow “on hold.”

In those early days of the story, I would sometimes write here that with regard to Musk, one should expect the unexpected. Since then I have adjusted my posture to expect nothing from Musk at all. I am done making predictions. His has a whim-based style of leadership, and his whims follow no pattern that I can discern. The man signed a deal, spent months trashing it, did everything he could think of to get out of it, and then one Monday night notified Twitter’s lawyers that he wanted to sign it after all. Anyone who tells you they can draw a straight line through those events is writing fan fiction.

But if I cannot pretend to draw a straight line here, I can at least offer a scatter plot.

Observation one: the past week has been a tumultuous period online, even for Musk. On Monday he tweeted a characteristically half-baked idea to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, which involved Ukraine unilaterally surrendering some of its territories, along with a yes-or-no poll. “No” won with 59.1 percent of the vote, which Musk blamed on bots; more embarrassingly, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany told him to “fuck off.”

Days earlier, Musk had also found himself embarrassed by the disclosure of various texts sent to him by millionaires and billionaires offering advice, money, and other support as he sought to acquire Twitter. I will always remember a handful of these texts — starting with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff messaging Musk to say “Twitter conversational OS- the townsquare for your digital life” (???) — but the salient point is that discovery in the lawsuit had begun to blow back on him and his friends.

On its face these events might not be enough to get a man to spend $44 billion to take back control of the product and the narrative. But I wouldn’t bet my life on it.

Observation two: Musk’s legal case wasn’t going well. If you’re looking for the Occam’s razor explanation for today’s events, this is the one. Twitter’s lawyers had written a very good merger agreement, and Musk signed it without doing any due diligence. Like most US tech companies, Twitter is headquartered in Delaware, which prides itself on adherence to the rule of law and the tidy disposal of merger disputes.

And as Jef Feeley, Ed Hammond, and Kurt Wagner note at Bloomberg, in various pre-trial motions the Chancery Court judge kept siding with Twitter:

Musk’s legal team was getting the sense that the case was not going well, as Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick sided repeatedly with Twitter in pretrial rulings, according to one person familiar. Even with the late emergence of a Twitter whistleblower who alleged executives weren’t forthcoming on security and bot issues, there were concerns Musk’s side would not be able to prove a material adverse effect, the legal standard required to exit the contract.

Moreover, Twitter had just been granted the right to search Musk’s messages to see whether the Twitter whistleblower, Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, had contacted Musk before he tried to back out of the deal, which may have raised some unpleasant new questions for both of them.

In any case, Twitter is suing to force Musk to close the deal; faced with likely defeat — and much embarrassment along the way — he may have decided to capitulate.

But here, too, there is reason to be confused. Had Musk lost, he faced two potential consequences. One is that the judge would have sided with Twitter and forced him to buy the company for $44 billion; the other, though, is that she would have sided with Twitter and forced Musk to pay only the $1 billion breakup fee stipulated in the merger agreement.

The latter option might not have been terribly likely; as Matt Levine explained in July, it would be bad for the business world and the legal system that underpins it: “Letting the world’s richest person get out of a deal for a nominal fee because he got bored with it undermines the rule of law and the predictability of Delaware merger agreements.”

But if you’re Elon Musk, and you have spent months criticizing Twitter’s executives, policies, bots, security, and so on; and you have lost a substantial portion of your personal wealth due to a downturn in the markets; and said downturn in the markets made the $44 billion you had offered for Twitter in April seem ridiculously high — well, wouldn’t you roll the dice? Wouldn’t the chance at saving yourself $43 billion justify a rough couple weeks in Delaware?

It would for me! And so maybe that’s why I read the letter Musk’s legal team sent Twitter with skepticism: the way it asks the court to stay or adjourn the trial before a settlement is reached; the way it declines to waive its ability to sue if “Twitter fails or refuses to comply with its obligations under the … merger agreement.” (Musk’s team has been whining endlessly that Twitter is refusing to comply with the agreement from the start as a way to delay the closing of the deal.)

Perhaps that’s all just standard legal boilerplate. But it seems to me that if Musk was truly prepared to close the deal, he would have worked with Twitter to put out a joint statement indicating as much.

How will Twitter respond? “We received the letter from the Musk parties which they have filed with the SEC,” the company told me today. “The intention of the company is to close the transaction at $54.20 per share.”

It was always Twitter’s intention to close at $54.20, of course; if they are to reach a new settlement with Musk after all this, they will surely seek some new assurances from their owner-to-be. And how Musk responds to that request, I think, will tell us a lot about how real today’s move really is.

II.

As usual, the latest twist in the Musk saga landed hardest on Twitter’s employees. Many of them were 45 minutes into a three-hour 2023 planning session, I’m told, when news of Musk’s latest antics hit the timeline. Meeting adjourned, I guess!

In the company’s #stonks Slack channel, one employee was similarly suspicious of Musk’s letter, according to screenshots shared with Platformer. “I don’t understand why Elon would need to propose the deal again,” they wrote. “The original one still stands. Just write the check, bro.”

Another employee summarized the mood by saying that employees generally have a low opinion of Musk, and whatever is going to happen next they would rather he and Twitter get on with it already.

On Blind, an app where employees discuss their workplaces under pseudonyms, a poll asked “what will you miss the most post-privatized Twitter?”

“I saw the post, thought ‘haha my job’ then saw it was a poll option, so selected it, but now realizing I won’t miss the job I currently have,” one employee wrote, according to screenshots. “I will and do miss my 2019/2020/2021 job, but I will not miss my 2022 job.”

“So true,” another employee responded. “As bad as [former Twitter CEO] Jack [Dorsey] was at his job (maybe because of it?) Twitter had one of the best cultures / [work-life balance] / benefits in the industry under him. Learnt a lot, met some awesome folks, enjoyed the ride, now time to exit the theme park and let the new owner raze it to the ground and build what he wants (metaphorically).”

Worth noting: Twitter saw attrition of more than 700 employees in recent months.

Employees also offered some praise for Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, who has been mostly silent since the legal battle against Musk began, but appears to have the upper hand for the moment. (He’s set to receive $42 million assuming Musk fires him after taking over.)

“You just completed the game,” the employee wrote, in a post headlined “Congratulations, Parag.” “You outmaneuvered Musk, came out unscathed and millions of dollars richer. You’re under 40, have FU money, and your reputation is largely intact. You just won at life. Have to respect that. And to anyone else: Don’t hate the player. Hate the game.”

— Zoe Schiffer contributed reporting to this column.

Musk’s Twitter deal is his least bad option – but he must repair the damage he’s done

Elon Musk will proceed with the $44bn buyout of Twitter, but a bumpy road still lies ahead for the company

Elon Musk was always going to struggle to win in Delaware. He had signed a binding agreement to buy Twitter for $44bn and to make his “reasonable best efforts” to complete the deal. Saying he didn’t want to buy it any more wasn’t going to work in Delaware, the state where Twitter is incorporated and one that carries a reputation for making sure agreed company transactions happen.

And so it appears that Musk has chosen the least bad option, which is going ahead with the deal before spending millions more dollars trying to convince a judge that he should be allowed to walk away even though he had no grounds to do so.

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Everything we know about Elon Musk’s messy new Twitter offer

Image of Elon Musk with red flourishes in the background. — Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Elon Musk has changed his mind again: he does want to buy Twitter, actually. This, after months of drama! He signaled his intent in a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission — but there’s a catch: Twitter has to drop its lawsuit.

We understand if you have questions about the whole situation; honestly, we do too. So we talked to some legal experts in hopes that would give us at least a fighting chance at providing some answers. Let’s get into it.

First of all, how did we get here?

Sigh. This all started after Musk announced that he purchased a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter in April 2022. Twitter promptly offered Musk a seat on the company’s board of directors, an offer Musk initially accepted before changing his mind about a week later.

The reason for the change of heart? Musk wouldn't be able to acquire a stake larger than 14.9 percent if he were to stay on the board. He also hinted that he would’ve had to give up his pastime of tweeting about how Twitter sucks. So, Musk’s brilliant solution to this conundrum was to buy all of Twitter in a deal valued at $44 billion.

Things went downhill from there. Musk soon accused Twitter of not providing him with adequate information about the number of spam bots on the platform, then claimed this was enough reason for him to back out of the deal altogether. Twitter (understandably) didn’t take too kindly to that and struck back at Musk with a lawsuit demanding that he close the deal.

Twitter and Musk were set to duke it out in court on October 17th, but, in typical Musk fashion, on Tuesday, he decided he would go through with his deal to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share after all — if the judge overseeing the lawsuit adjourned the case.

So, why doesn’t Musk want to cancel his deal anymore?

We can’t get inside Musk’s brain to find out for sure (and frankly, we’re not sure we’d want to), but there are a few things that might’ve made him change his mind.

First of all, the pretrial discovery process revealed some embarrassing text messages that showed how the deal imploded and how Elon went from being amped about investing in Twitter to saying that the only way to fix it was to take it over.

Musk likely knows things could get messy at trial. As Eric Talley, a law professor at Columbia University, tells The Verge, Musk was likely facing “a very unpleasant deposition” that could potentially dredge up “extremely inconsistent statements” that could spell even more legal issues. It also doesn’t help that Musk’s case against Twitter essentially relies on publicizing bad things about the very company he could end up acquiring.

Will the deal go through?

Honestly... who knows? Musk has reaffirmed his offer in a filing with the SEC, and Twitter has stated that it intends to “close the transaction at $54.20 per share.” That’s more or less been its stance ever since Elon first said he wanted out of the deal, so it’s not necessarily an indication that it’s agreeing to the new offer.

Ann Lipton, a professor of business law at Tulane University, told The Verge that “It’s hard to tell how much of a commitment” Musk’s filing is until his court hearing with Twitter. “But it would be weird for him to publicly file with the SEC if he’s not genuinely interested in settling — that would be some serious securities fraud otherwise,” she said. (Securities fraud? Musk? I couldn’t imagine.)

If the deal does go through, who’s going to own Twitter?

The straightforward answer is Elon Musk, but there’s some nuance here. From a legal standpoint, all of Twitter’s publicly traded stock is being purchased by a holding company, which is “wholly owned by” Musk, according to the SEC filing. (There’s also several other holding companies involved in the deal, but they’ll mostly end up folded into Twitter.)

While Musk won’t have to answer to public shareholders like Twitter has historically had to, there are outside firms and people with billions invested into or tied up with this deal, including Binance, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, and Andreessen Horowitz. You can see the full list, including how much each entity has invested, in this report from The Wall Street Journal. Elon’s promised them a return on their investment, and The Washington Post suggests that they may also want to have some control over the platform itself.

There’s also the secondary question of who will actually run Twitter day-to-day. Earlier this year, reports surfaced that Musk would temporarily be in charge of the company after the acquisition, displacing current CEO Parag Agrawal. While Musk hasn’t publicly said what will happen, it seems unlikely that he’ll let Agrawal keep his position; the two have been publicly fighting for months, and Musk’s recently-publicized texts show that he was frustrated with Twitter’s leadership.

As for whether Musk still intends to act as the company’s CEO, or who he intends to take his place, that’s really anyone’s guess.

Wait... what about the October 17th trial?

It’s a little up in the air right now. Talley said that the lawsuit “is not going to stop dead in its tracks, it will continue,” and that he’d expect the judge to signal whether she’ll allow anything to be frozen in time. “The machinery is still geared to trial on October 17th,” he said, adding that things like depositions will still continue until there’s actually a deal.

Didn’t Musk say he want the trial dropped?

Well, yes, but Twitter would have to agree to that — and Tilley doesn’t think it would unless the deal is definitively done by October 17th, because it doesn’t want to be like Charlie Brown kicking the football. “I very much doubt that they would agree simply to stay everything. Nor, for that matter, would the Chancellor, who has structured her schedule around the trial date that was set months ago,” he said.

He did note that “one or two items may get delayed a few days,” including Musk’s deposition, but that “team Twitter pretty much has to continue to plan as if this trial is going to happen.” He added that the looming trial would also act as a stick to keep Musk from delaying his settlement efforts.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the judge has asked Musk and Twitter to come up with a plan that would put a halt to the trial by the end of the day, but we’ll just have to see if anything comes of that.

When will this all end?

At this point, it’s completely unclear how long it’ll be before the deal actually closes. However, there is an important deadline in April, 2023, which is when Musk’s financing agreements expire. If he doesn’t close the deal or re-up those agreements by then, it’s possible the whole thing could fall through — potentially leaving him on the hook for the billion-dollar breakup fee. As for what that’d mean for Twitter... well, it’d be a billion dollars richer, which is nice, but it’d also have to remain a public company and figure out how to move forward after a year of chaos and having its name dragged through the mud.

As for the other things that could trip the deal up, given who we’re dealing with it feels like anything could happen; Musk could incur the wrath of the SEC, Twitter could accidentally admit to something terrible in court, aliens could invade because SpaceX was being real loud with its rocket launches. What we’re trying to say is that this deal isn’t over until it’s over.

With additional reporting by Elizabeth Lopatto

Amazon gives up on the Glow, its kid-focused video calling device

The Amazon Glow device and its touch-sensitive mat. — *It’s no longer available on Amazon’s website.* | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

Amazon is discontinuing the Amazon Glow, its video calling / interactive gaming device designed to let families interact remotely with each other, as reported by Bloomberg. The device is already unavailable on Amazon’s website.

“At Amazon we think big, experiment, and invest in new ideas to delight customers,” Amazon spokesperson Tim Gillman said in a statement to The Verge. “We also continually evaluate the progress and potential of our products to deliver customer value, and we regularly make adjustments based on those assessments. We will be sharing updates and guidance with Glow customers soon.” Gillman declined to share further details.

The actual Amazon Glow hardware consisted of a teleconferencing device with a built-in tabletop projector that could project things like games or puzzles on a special mat. The idea was that a kid could play games on the mat while video chatting with a parent or family member on another device (Amazon recommended using a tablet). In her review of the Glow, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy praised many of the games and the product’s intuitive interface but criticized it for being occasionally buggy and taking up a lot of space.

It’s unclear how well the Glow sold — probably not well since Amazon is discontinuing it just over a year after announcing it — but according to Bloomberg, it only had about 500 reviews, which is quite low for an Amazon product.

Blizzard president blames ‘mass DDOS attack’ for keeping you from playing Overwatch 2

Image of Overwatch 2 character “Mercy” posing as a winged angel, complete with her staff. — *Mercy in* Overwatch 2. | Image: Blizzard

Overwatch 2 launched today — in theory, at least. The game’s servers clicked on this afternoon, but for the last few hours, many people trying to check out its removed 5v5 team shooter action are seeing nothing but this screen.

*Overwatch 2 “server connection failed...retrying” error screen*

At least some of the issues can likely be chalked up to a “mass DDoS attack” targeted at Blizzard’s servers. “Teams are working hard to mitigate/manage,” Blizzard president Mike Ybarra said on Twitter. “This is causing a lot of drop/connection issues.” Ybarra hasn’t shared an estimate for when the problems may be resolved.

Unfortunately we are experiencing a mass DDoS attack on our servers. Teams are working hard to mitigate/manage. This is causing a lot of drop/connection issues. https://t.co/4GwrfHEiBE
— Mike Ybarra (@Qwik) October 4, 2022

Not everyone is locked out, as we’ve seen a bunch of Twitch streamers in matches. But if you’re having trouble getting into a game, this DDoS attack may be part of the reason why.

Blizzard is also tracking other known issues and bugs in a forum thread. Some players who have merged PC and console accounts may see an “Unexpected Server Error” message, while some cosmetics players have earned may not be appearing in their collections.

Amazon curbs corporate retail hiring for the rest of 2022

Image: The Verge

According to a report by Karen Weise of The New York Times, Amazon is freezing corporate hiring for its retail business for the remainder of 2022 in an effort to hedge its bets against a rough economic forecast.

The hiring freeze includes all corporate and technology positions for Amazon’s retail and operations, which account for the bulk of Amazon sales. However, Amazon’s more profitable cloud computing division won’t be affected. Student hiring and field positions are also exempt from the pause, and Bloomberg notes the warehouse network will not be affected, either.

The announcement comes from an internal memo sent to Amazon recruiters, who were instructed to tell potential candidates that Amazon was not in a hiring freeze and that any open positions would be closed soon. The announcement also mentioned that new openings would become available after the new year.

Any candidates that had interviews scheduled before October 15th are still eligible to receive offers but would have their start dates pushed back to 2023. The Times notes there were around 20,000 openings listed in the division that Amazon was looking to fill before the freeze went into effect.

“Amazon continues to have a significant number of open roles available across the company,” according to Amazon spokesman Brad Glasser. “We have many different businesses at various stages of evolution, and we expect to keep adjusting our hiring strategies in each of these businesses at various junctures.”

The writing on the wall may have come back in September when Amazon chose not to hold its annual “career day,” where it typically recruits for around 10,000 positions to join its workforce of over 1.5 million global employees.

Amazon joins Meta as one of the latest tech companies to slow its hiring practices in an effort to cut costs. The hiring freeze is another measure put together by Amazon’s chief executive Andy Jassy in a response to Amazon’s slowest growth in over 20 years. Jassy has also curtailed spending by pumping the brakes on Amazon’s rapid warehouse expansion and closing other facilities.

Google Stadia is going offline for good – why did the game-streaming service fail?

The platform had good tech but it’s become the latest casualty in the cloud-gaming realm. Plus, the creators of Monument Valley are back with a gorgeous game of angles and rebounds

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Alas, game-streaming service Google Stadia is no more. Two years and 11 months after its launch, it will wind down in January, marking the end, for now, of the tech company’s aspirations in video games. At least one guy who used to tweet at me every time we published a review to point out that the game in question was also available on Stadia can finally stand down.

Customers, meanwhile, are being looked after: Google is refunding every purchase made through Stadia, from controllers to subscriptions to the games themselves. And the writing had been on the wall for a while: Google started shutting the game studios it had established to make Stadia games early last year, and in February it was reported that it has begun attempts to sell the streaming tech that powers it to other companies. But the Verge revealed last week that developers who were working on games for the service only discovered that their projects were being cancelled when the news started proliferating across Twitter. People at Pixel Games had just finalised a contract to distribute their games on Stadia the day before.

YouTube locks 4K playback behind Premium subscriptions in latest test

A YouTube video settings box displaying 4K resolution as a premium feature — *YouTube is placing its 4K videos behind a YouTube Premium subscription as part of an experiment.* | Image: u/Ihatesmokealarms

YouTube is running a test that places its 4K videos behind a YouTube Premium subscription. In recent weeks, some users have reported seeing playback of 2160p resolution video restricted with text labeling it as a premium feature. YouTube has since confirmed via Twitter that those seeing the new restrictions were part of an experiment to better understand the feature preferences of Premium and non-Premium viewers.

It isn’t clear if YouTube will actually restrict all non-Premium users to 1440p video quality, however, the company did direct its users to leave feedback on the restrictions in order for the Google subsidy to “make improvements.” Google did not provide further clarification when contacted by The Verge for comment.

So, after testing up to 12 ads on YouTube for non-Premium users, now some users reported that they also have to get a Premium account just to watch videos in 4K. pic.twitter.com/jJodoAxeDp
— Alvin (@sondesix) October 1, 2022

A YouTube Premium subscription will set you back $11.99 per month in the US, with prices varying across other regions. The service grants access to YouTube Music Premium, as well as in-app downloads, background play, and most importantly: ad-free viewing. YouTube has been known for some fairly aggressive advertising, with 9to5Google reporting that a previous test saw the company place as many as ten unskippable ads onto a single video.

It was estimated that YouTube had around 2.24 billion global users in 2021, of which only around 50 million were Premium and Music subscribers. That’s a lot of potential upsell revenue for Google after suffering a recent slump in profits. As 4K resolution TVs have become commonplace, being restricted to ad-riddled, 1080p resolution videos might be what begrudgingly forces some YouTube users to go Premium if Google follows through on the change.

South Korean Internet Giant Buys Poshmark in $1.2 Billion Deal

South Korean Internet Giant Buys Poshmark in $1.2 Billion Deal With its new acquisition — the company’s largest to date — Naver has gained a sizable foothold in North America’s secondhand retail market.

lundi 3 octobre 2022

Here’s why you couldn’t see anything on House of the Dragon

A character from the House of the Dragon sits on the Iron Throne. — *This still is not from last night’s episode, which is one reason you can see what is happening.* | Image: HBO

Things got dark on House of the Dragon last night as characters stole dragons and other characters made super incestuous life choices. And all of it was done under the cover of darkness, leading many viewers wondering if their TVs were busted.

But your TV is not busted. Your TV is a victim of the episode’s director, Miguel Sapochnik. The man can presumably see in the dark because this is the second time he’s directed an episode in the Game of Thrones franchise cast in such darkness people questioned their own eyes.

Back in 2019, Sapochnik directed “The Long Night,” a harrowing hour of TV where the many characters of Game of Thrones gathered to finally end the Night King’s invasion of Westeros. Zombies were decapitated. Beloved characters met their end. Much like last night, there was a light dusting of incest. And everything seemed to have been shot with the lens cap still on the camera.

At the time, Sapochnik insisted that the darkness reigning over TVs all across the country was a feature, not a bug. And HBO Max is insisting the same this time around as well.

Hey there! We appreciate you reaching out about a night scene in House of the Dragon: Episode 7 appearing dark on your screen. The dimmed lighting of this scene was an intentional creative decision. Thanks! ^LL
— HBOMaxHelp (@HBOMaxHelp) October 3, 2022

What’s happening here is very easy to understand. The filmmaker isn’t thinking about the product delivered to your phone, TV, or tablet. He’s thinking about what appeared in the editing room as they finalized the episode.

Editing rooms usually include a perfectly calibrated OLED reference monitor. That reference monitor is capable of handling the incredible range of grays and blacks our eyes can see. Your TV at home can’t handle the same range of grays — nor can your phone or your tablet.

This is why an editing room doesn’t just include a $30,000 reference monitor that will make your eyes bleed with the beauty of the content it screens. Editing rooms also often include an OLED TV like you’d find at Best Buy or Costco — only perfectly calibrated. The content is then usually viewed in that same room, which is probably darker than the room you watched the episode in. And the TV could very well be nicer. Cheaper sets can struggle with the blacks and grays where this episode of TV appears to thrive, and when you combine that with a well-lit room, you’re in for a viewing unappealing viewing experience.

But maybe you have a very nice TV. Maybe you were watching it on a perfectly calibrated set in a dark room and still had issues watching House of the Dragon.

If that’s the case, I’m sorry to ask, but how’s your internet?

See, when Sapochnik and company finished editing this episode of TV and reviewing it, they were likely using a very clean copy with little to no compression. The filmmakers are watching way more data than you and I will ever see outside of a UHD Blu-Ray.

Streaming services compress videos so they can stream them quickly and efficiently to us, and that compression means data is lost, and the film we stream into our homes isn’t quite as pretty as what the filmmaker intended. The Long Night’s cinematographer, Fabian Wagner, even blamed compression for the poor reactions to that hour of TV. We all accept it because a little compression is a fine price to pay for convenience.

Oh, and if you’re watching on satellite or cable? The situation could be better — or it could be even worse. Legacy TV is using compression technology that’s way out of date combined with way too many channels you don’t watch. Your coax cable or satellite link may have plenty of bandwidth to spare inside it, but the bad news is somewhere along the line, someone decided to give ESPN and 17 different Nickelodeon channels extra bits to play with while squeezing the bitrate of your movie channels until they’re a muddy mess.

Increasingly, filmmakers seem to be forgetting that what they’re watching in the editing suite isn’t what we’ll get at home. Some films and TV shows that look gorgeous in a theater or a screening room end up looking muddy — and sometimes just straight unwatchable — in our homes.

Some filmmakers are mindful of this. Christopher Nolan begs you to watch his movies in a theater (although he has no problem recording dialogue so “realistic” as to be incomprehensible). Tom Cruise loves to tell you to turn off the Soap Opera effect so you can watch his movies as they’re intended. But some people are Sapochnik and just want to usher you into darkness. Maybe, as our colleagues at Vulture posit, he’s doing this to hide cool Easter eggs and teases for future episodes. But more realistically, he was just born in the darkness, molded by it, and if you want to join him, you’ll need to rethink how you watch TV.

Supreme Court Takes Up Challenge to Social Media Platforms’ Shield

Supreme Court Takes Up Challenge to Social Media Platforms’ Shield The family of a student killed in terrorist attacks challenged a 1996 law that gives websites immunity for suits based on their users’ posts.

Apple SIM can no longer activate new cellular data plans on iPads

An Apple SIM and SIM tray — *Support for new cellular plan activation using Apple’s own SIM was removed on October 1st.* | Image: MacRumors

Apple SIM technology is no longer available to activate new cellular data plans on iPads. The Apple SIM, first introduced by Apple in 2014, is a programmable SIM card that could be configured with different operator profiles, eliminating the need to buy a physical SIM from the carrier itself. The change was first spotted by MacRumors.

Apple quietly made the announcement via its cellular data support page, which says that support for new activations using both the standard Apple SIM and embedded Apple SIM would stop from October 1st, 2022. Apple recommends that anyone affected by the change should contact their carrier for details on how to activate a cellular data plan on their iPad.

The Apple SIM first appeared as a physical nano-SIM card in the GPS + Cellular versions of the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, and went on to be supported by additional iPad models since its release, including as an embedded SIM in later iPad Pro models. Supported carriers include AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile in the US, with additional carriers offered in other regions. You can check if your iPad supports Apple SIM by looking up the technical specifications of your iPad model on the Apple website. MacRumors notes that all models of the iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad mini, and iPad released since October 2018 support eSIMs — so, no Apple SIM required.

As we wrote back in 2014, the Apple SIM seemed to be a temporary measure until Apple could rid the world of SIM cards completely, punctuated by the recent launch of the iPhone 14 in the US with no physical SIM tray at all.

Nvidia and the 3D Future of the Internet

There is a lot of work going into creating the next generation of the web. Most of it is focused on the concept that we’ll have a very different experience that is far more immersive. Let’s call it “Web 3D.” The post Nvidia and the 3D Future of the Internet appeared first on TechNewsWorld.

Boeing-backed Wisk Aero reveals a four-seater autonomous air taxi

Air taxi startup Wisk Aero unveiled its sixth-generation aircraft, an all-electric four-seater that can fly without a human pilot. The Boeing-backed company said it will seek approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to carry passengers as part of a commercial air taxi service.

Wisk, which was formed in 2019 as a joint venture between Boeing and Kitty Hawk, the flying taxi company bankrolled by Google co-founder Larry Page that recently shut down, is in a race to become the first so-called Advanced Air Mobility company to get the green light from the FAA for passenger testing. Wisk claims that its sixth-generation aircraft is the first electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) candidate for type certification.

Under FAA rules, aviation companies need to receive three types of certification before launching a commercial service. Type certification means the aircraft meets all the FAA’s design and safety standards; production certification is the approval to begin manufacturing the aircraft; and air carrier certification means the company can officially conduct commercial air taxi services.

Wisk’s aircraft features six front rotors, each with five blades, that can tilt either horizontally or vertically, as well as six rear rotors that each consist of two blades and remain fixed in a vertical position. The company says it has a cruising speed of 120 knots, a range of 90 miles (140 kilometers) with reserves, and can fly at an altitude of 2,500 - 4,000 feet above ground.

Wisk aims to one day provide an intercity flying taxi service that can be summoned with an app, like Uber or Lyft. The plan is for the vehicle to not have a pilot on board; instead, it will be flown mainly by an autopilot system, with supervision from a human pilot situated remotely. The aircraft would theoretically takeoff and land from so-called vertiports located on the rooftops of buildings.

The company has said it hopes to launch an air taxi service within the next five years, at which point it predicts conducting 14 million flights annually in around 20 major markets around the globe.

Air taxis, sometimes misidentified as “flying cars,” are essentially helicopters without the noisy, polluting gas motors (though they certainly have their own unique noise profile). In addition to Wisk, companies like Joby Aviation, Volocopter, Ehang, and Archer have claimed they are on the cusp of launching services that will eventually scale up nationwide.

They’ve managed to attract funding from a number of established companies, including Hyundai, Toyota, Airbus, Boeing, Bell, and Uber. Analysts predict that the flying taxi market could grow to $150 billion in revenue by 2035.

Of course, serious obstacles remain before Wisk or any other company can launch a commercial service. The power-to-weight ratio is a huge challenge for electric flight. Energy density — the amount of energy stored in a given system — is the key metric, and today’s batteries don’t contain enough energy to get most planes off the ground. To weigh it out: jet fuel gives us about 43 times more energy than a battery that’s just as heavy.

There have been numerous demonstrations of battery-powered flight, but there are no electric aircraft in commercial operation anywhere in the world.

Maserati’s GranTurismo Folgore will be its first EV

This is a silver two door coupe, front and side view. — *The Folgore EV is one of three GranTurismo models coming.* | Image: Maserati

Maserati is releasing new details on its redesigned GranTurismo luxury performance coupe, and offers some fresh tidbits on the upcoming all-electric version of it. Announced in March, The GranTurismo Folgore will be the automaker’s first EV, and will launch ahead of its Grecale electric crossover SUV announced earlier this year. It’s all part of the company’s plan to offer electric versions of every Maserati model by 2025 and shift to EV-only sales by 2030.

Today we learn that the GranTurismo Folgore powertrain will be backed by three 300kW permanent magnet electric motors. It’s built on an 800-volt architecture that enables the car to fast charge at 270kW, similar to the Lucid Air and Porsche Taycan. Maserati is also releasing two traditional gas versions of the GranTurismo that sport twin-turbo V6 engines: the Modena, and its more performant counterpart the Trofeo.

*That might be the charge port door in the rear.*

Maserati won’t be holding back the performance on the electric Folgore though: it’ll achieve a 0-62mph acceleration in 2.7 seconds, slightly edging the 2.8 second Porsche Taycan Turbo S in quickness — at least on paper. It can also reach a top speed of about 199mph, nearly the same as Tesla’s claimed 200mph for its Model S Plaid.

The Folgore houses a 92.5kWh battery pack (83kWh usable) that has its cells uniquely arranged in a T-shape, letting all four of its passengers sit as low as the gas versions of the GranTurismo. But you do sacrifice some trunk space for that extra leg room: the Folgore only has about 9.5 cubic feet of storage capacity back there compared to almost 11 cubic feet of the gas versions.

Both the EV and the gas models look almost identical on the outside, save for obvious differences like no tailpipes on the Folgore as well as what looks like the charge port cover on its rear left. As for the interior, you’ll find that the Folgore’s bucket seats are made of recycled ocean waste, but other than that the GranTurismos have largely the same interiors.

Following industry trends, Maserati’s adding a bunch of screens for the driver to navigate. You’ll be greeted with a digital instrument cluster, a central infotainment screen, a “comfort display” for adjusting the A/C, and even an option for a heads-up display that shows info on the windshield in front of you.

Maserati’s iconic center clock is also a screen now. You can change it into different styles and also choose from some widgets like a compass, a G-Force meter, or a stopwatch. It also gives you status indicators like when the Folgore is charging or context messages like connecting bluetooth and when your phone starts charging in the Qi cradle. Maserati’s Mia voice assistant also shows up on the clock, displaying sound-waves when you’re interacting with it.

More details on the electric Folgore, including projected driving range, release date, and pricing will be revealed at a future event, according to Maserati. The automaker has bold plans to have an all-electric lineup by 2025, but has yet to make one available for purchase.

dimanche 2 octobre 2022

ESPN, Disney, and other networks have returned to Dish and Sling TV

A photo of the Sling TV and Dish logos at CES 2015. — *Disney’s networks are back for Dish satellite and Sling TV customers.* | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Dish and Disney have reached a “handshake deal” to immediately bring Disney’s collection of cable networks back to Dish satellite and Sling TV customers. The two companies confirmed the agreement late on Sunday night. “We are pleased to restore our portfolio of networks on a temporary basis while both parties work to finalize a new deal,” Disney said in a statement.

Dish and Sling TV subscribers have now regained access to ESPN (and its related networks), along with other channels such as The Disney Channel, FX, National Geographic, local ABC programming in select markets, and more. The blackout lasted two days, and although it included college football on Saturday, the two companies have resolved the situation in time for ESPN’s next broadcast of Monday Night Football.

We are pleased to announce that all your Disney and ESPN channels have been restored.

Thank you for your patience and support. pic.twitter.com/ZBTlHRHdkD
— DISH (@dish) October 3, 2022

On Saturday, Dish accused Disney of “walking away from the negotiation table” during efforts to renew their carriage contract. “Disney is more interested in becoming a monopolistic power than providing its programming to viewers under fair terms,” Dish said in a press release after the previous deal expired. Dish claimed Disney wanted “nearly a billion dollar increase” in fees compared to the lapsed agreement and was pushing Dish to bundle ESPN across more of its satellite TV plans, including some that don’t currently include sports networks.

Disney countered by saying its terms “reflect the marketplace and have been the foundation for numerous successful deals with pay TV providers of all types and sizes across the country.” Carriage renewal spats between programmers and TV providers are nothing new — Disney and YouTube butted heads last year — but this one was unusual in that Dish didn’t offer much warning to its customers before the October 1st blackout arrived.

Just went to turn on ESPN and it looks like Dish dropped all Disney channels from service at 3am with no warning.

There's a video from Dish that pops up saying they don't believe it's right to pay $1 billion in extra fees to subsidize ESPN+ (lol).

Brutal timing on CFB Saturday.
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) October 1, 2022

Now the question becomes whether Dish and Sling TV customers will see a subscription price hike in the near future once the two sides hammer out a final agreement. Sling TV’s Orange tier, the package that includes Disney networks, currently costs $35 per month. That’s one of the cheapest ways to get linear ESPN compared to services like YouTube TV, which is $64.99/month, and Disney’s own Hulu with Live TV offering, which costs $69.99 per month.

Tesla delivered a record 343,830 vehicles during the third quarter of 2022

Tesla delivered a record 343,830 vehicles in the third quarter of 2022, a sign that the Elon Musk-owned company has bounced back from a slower second quarter related to COVID-related factory shutdowns.

In a report on the automaker’s site, Tesla says the Model S and X made up 18,672 of its quarterly deliveries, while the Model 3 and Y accounted for 325,158. Tesla made a total of 365,923 cars during the quarter, leaving about 20,000 cars in its inventory.

The automaker clarifies that some of these electric vehicles (EVs) were “in transit at the end of the quarter,” adding that they “have been ordered and will be delivered to customers upon arrival at their destination.” Tesla also notes that it had been difficult to “secure vehicle transportation capacity and at a reasonable cost during these peak logistics weeks,” which is why some of the EVs still haven't been delivered. Last year, Musk told employees to stop rushing to increase quarterly deliveries and to instead focus on minimizing costs related to transit.

Tesla ended its two-year streak of record-breaking deliveries last quarter after its Shanghai factory suffered a series of closures stemming from the city’s COVID lockdown restrictions. At the time, the company delivered 254,695 vehicles, its lowest since the third quarter of 2021. Tesla was able to dial up production this quarter now that Shanghai is no longer under lockdown, and the new Gigafactories in Texas and Berlin have started production (despite a cardboard fire).

During Tesla’s AI Day event last week, the company announced that 160,000 Tesla drivers now have access to its Full Self Driving beta, the driver-assist software that’s currently the center of two lawsuits. The California DMV and a Tesla owner both accuse the company of making misleading statements about the software’s self-driving capabilities.

Coinbase pauses transactions in US to address bank transfer issues

Coinbase has temporarily stopped transactions for users in the US due to an issue preventing the company from processing withdrawals or deposits involving bank accounts. Problems started around 7AM ET, but the company announced at around 8:30AM ET that it’s working on a fix.

“We are currently unable to take payments or make withdrawals involving US bank accounts. Our team is aware of this issue and is working on getting everything back to normal as soon as possible,” Coinbase explains on its status page, adding that users can still use a debit card or PayPal account to buy crypto.

We're currently experiencing technical issues creating ACH transfers. Rest assured, your funds are safe. Our team will provide an update here and on our Status Page when full functionality resumes: https://t.co/a3pl4WiDhZ
— Coinbase Support (@CoinbaseSupport) October 2, 2022

Coinbase says on Twitter that users’ funds are “safe,” but didn’t provide a timeline for when the problem will be fixed. The Verge reached out to Coinbase with a request for comment, but didn’t immediately hear back.

For the past couple of days, Coinbase users also had to deal with delayed transactions with Solana after its network suffered an outage on Friday. This has been a rough year for Coinbase and crypto in general, as the value of cryptocurrency has taken a nosedive. Coinbase laid off over 1,000 employees in June and is reportedly facing an investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Intel’s self-driving company Mobileye files for an IPO

A Mobileye autonomous vehicle in Israel — *A Mobileye self-driving vehicle.* | Image: Mobileye, an Intel company

Intel’s self-driving technology firm Mobileye has filed for an initial public offering (IPO), according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (via CNBC). The Israel-based company, which Intel acquired for $15.3 billion in 2017, specializes in making the chips and software that powers autonomous vehicles.

According to Bloomberg, Intel initially expected the IPO to value Mobileye at $50 billion, but later lowered its expectations to around $30 billion. Mobileye’s SEC filing indicates steady revenue growth over the past few years, jumping from $879 million in 2019 to $967 million in 2020, and topping out at $1.4 billion in 2021. The filing doesn’t provide any information on how much a share could cost.

Founded in 1999 by Amnon Shashua and Ziv Aviram, Mobileye is known for its EyeQ system-on-a-chip (SoC), which serves as the “brain” for Mobileye’s driver-assist and self-driving technology. Mobileye also uses a data crowdsourcing program — called Road Experience Management (REM) — to build out a 3D map using real-time data from vehicles equipped with Mobileye’s technology. The company announced its EyeQ Ultra chip earlier this year, which Mobileye calls its most advanced system yet.

While Mobileye has supplied its technology to companies like BMW, Nissan, Volkswagen, and other major car companies, it’s also taking a stab at creating its own fleet of autonomous vehicles for delivery and ride-hailing services. Mobileye said it would establish a robotaxi service in Germany this year, and also announced plans to launch a driverless delivery service in 2023. The firm is currently testing autonomous vehicles in New York City and said it’s partnering with Chinese automaker Geely to start selling self-driving cars in the country.

Intel first announced its plans to take Mobileye public last year, with Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger saying an IPO “provides the best opportunity to build on Mobileye’s track record for innovation and unlock value for shareholders.” Gelsinger also added that Intel would use the funds earned from Mobileye’s IPO to build more chip plants. Intel’s currently building a $20 billion chip manufacturing hub in Ohio and invested another $20 billion to build chip-making plants in Arizona last year.

Law professor Danielle Citron: ‘Privacy is essential to human flourishing’

The American professor of law talks about her new book on the fight for data privacy, the personal dossiers brokers build on us and how, post-Roe v Wade, women’s data in the US may be weaponised

Danielle Citron is a professor of law at the University of Virginia School of Law, where she specialises in privacy and civil rights. Her new book, The Fight for Privacy: Protecting Dignity, Identity and Love in Our Digital Age, outlines the 21st-century assault on privacy from “Spying Inc”, the companies, governments and individuals that seek to exploit and profit from our most sensitive data. She argues that intimate privacy should be enshrined as a civil right in the US.

We hear a lot about companies collecting our data, yet your book still manages to shock when revealing the extent of these practices. You highlight, for example, that our internet search history is essentially in the public realm and could be purchased by any motivated party. Also that the dating app Grindr was sharing information about users’ HIV statuses to third party data brokers before it got caught.
We don’t viscerally appreciate the ways in which companies and governments surveil our lives by amassing intimate information about our bodies, our health, our closest relationships, our sexual activities and our innermost thoughts. Companies are selling this information to data brokers, who are compiling dossiers with about 3,000 data points on each of us, including if we have been rape victims, use sex toys or have had abortions or miscarriages.

A New Refrain From Artists: We ‘Almost Gave Up on Instagram’

A New Refrain From Artists: We ‘Almost Gave Up on Instagram’ Photographers and illustrators who once eagerly shared images of their work on Instagram are moving away from the site as it emphasizes video.

samedi 1 octobre 2022

On smartphone cameras, the Seattle Mariners, and disappointment

*The iPhone 14 Pro has one of the best smartphone camera systems money can buy, but it still has its limitations.* | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

There’s the smell of sizzling sausage, car exhaust, and late-season playoff hopes in the air on Tuesday night as I cross the street toward the stadium. I’m carrying a neon green Mariners fanny pack across my chest (that’s how the kids are wearing them, right?!?) loaded with the essentials: my ID, Kleenex, a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, and an iPhone 14 Pro. The roof of T-Mobile Park hangs open over the adjacent railway, looming like the Death Star, and I head toward an entrance with a few things on my agenda, in no particular order:

Cheer on the Mariners as they ~~definitely~~ ~~hopefully~~ please dear god end a 20-year playoff drought (Editor’s Note: They did, in fact, end the drought last night)
Collect the Mariners-branded flannel shirt my ticket entitles me to (we like to keep things on-brand here in Seattle)
Test out the cameras on the 14 Pro and S22 Ultra
Figure out if I’m wearing this fanny pack right

I chose these two phones in particular because they’re two of the best you can buy right now. They also present significantly different camera feature sets, and I’m curious which I’ll like using better over the course of the evening. The 14 Pro has more of a “helps you take nice pictures with minimal effort” vibe, while the S22 Ultra takes a maximalist “you want cameras? here, have five” approach. The 10x zoom on the Ultra has really impressed me in the past, but I’m curious to see how it holds up with glowing stadium lights and distant action on the field.

Buildings and a clock tower in downtown Seattle. — *A 10x zoom lets you take advantage of some news views of downtown on the walk to the stadium. Taken with the S22 Ultra.*

The 14 Pro doesn’t have the raw telephoto reach of the S22 Ultra, but then, I like how it processes photos in general better than the S22. Will that make it more useful overall? Or will I be annoyed by its limited zoom range? I would have brought more phones, probably, but I’m limited to what I can carry in this fanny pack.

On top of all that, the Mariners are coming off a dismal road trip in which they lost a string of extremely winnable games, casting an all-too-familiar shadow of doubt on our chances of snagging a wild card spot. With about a week left of regular season play, they can’t afford to lose any more easy games.

View from stadium over Elliott Bay and Puget Sound. — *Taken with the iPhone 14 Pro. We may have the longest running playoff drought in professional sports, but hey, look at the views from the stadium!*

Before the game starts, I spend some time on a 300-level pavilion with sweeping views of Elliott Bay and downtown Seattle. The early evening sun even peeks through the “O” in T-Mobile for a brief Stonehenge-like moment. With the S22 Ultra’s 10x zoom, I can get shots of the downtown skyline that the 14 Pro’s 3x zoom can’t touch. Even in wide-angle shots, it captures detail that the 14 Pro’s noise reduction would smooth into oblivion. But then again, the Ultra’s photos of my Stonehenge moment have that cursed Thomas Kinkade over-HDRed look about them, and I much prefer how the 14 Pro handles that situation. Win some, lose some.

During the game, it’s a similar story: sometimes I prefer the Ultra and sometimes the 14 Pro. Sure, getting a telephoto shot from the stands of Seattle starting pitcher Robbie Ray’s delivery is cool in theory, but the results aren’t very inspiring. Highlights are blown out and details are obviously lacking. It’s just too challenging of a situation for this tiny sensor and lens.

I grab a portrait of my friend modeling the included-with-ticket-purchase flannel shirt with the 14 Pro; I like its 2x portrait focal length better than the 1x or 3x options Samsung provides, but it cuts around her curly hair clumsily. The S22 Ultra probably would have done better with subject isolation, but at that point, I’d made my friend sit still long enough that I didn’t bother. I want to be wowed, but up against these (admittedly, very challenging) conditions, they’re just underwhelming.

There’s not much more excitement on the field, either. The season’s breakout star Julio Rodríguez is on the injured list, and so apparently is the rest of the Mariners’ offense. I sit through a grueling seven innings as the Mariners manufacture zero runs and make the Texas Rangers’ pitching look Cy Young-worthy. If none of those words made sense to you, then just know that the Mariners got shut out 5–0, and the game was every bit as disappointing as the score suggests.

I walked myself and my fanny pack of phones back to the light rail station, grateful for my flannel in the early fall evening air. A string of losses in late September shouldn’t put so much of a damper on what has otherwise been an electric season. The baseball season is long and physically demanding — who can reasonably expect a team to keep up a pace of improbable come-from-behind wins all the way from start to finish?

Similarly, I feel a little guilty about my disappointment with the two phones I tested out that night. They’re both little technological marvels in their own way — culminations of decades of advances in mobile technology and digital imaging. Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have dreamed of getting these kinds of photos with a phone camera. I feel I ought to give them a little more credit, even though they underperformed in this particular situation.

They’re the best of the best (and should be, at over $1,000 each). The fact they struggle under these circumstances is only because nobody — not Apple, Samsung, or anyone else — has figured out how to build a smartphone camera that meets every need. If nothing else, I have a new warm shirt to wear as I listen to the Mariners play through their remaining scheduled games from the comfort of home. The next time I attend a game in person, I might have to break out my dedicated camera and a telephoto lens. I just have to figure out how to get it into that stadium-security-approved fanny pack.

The package-tracking Eufy Dual video doorbell is $50 off and doesn’t require a monthly fee

*The Eufy Dual utilizes a second lens, aimed downward, for watching over packages.* | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

It’s the first of October, which means it’s officially Spooky Season. And while I’m sure all of us are excited to put up our fearsome 12-foot skeletons, there’s nothing fun about the fear of having a package stolen off your porch. A video doorbell is a good way to keep a watchful eye over your front stoop.

The wired version of the Eufy Dual video doorbell is on sale at Amazon or direct from Eufy for $149.99 ($50 off). Amazon requires you to click the $50 on-page coupon, while Eufy has a coupon code of WSCP856PGC to use at checkout for the discounted price. The appeal of the Eufy is that it has two separate lenses, one for seeing who is at your door and one focused on the doorstep clearly showing any packages left there.

However, the real special feature of the Eufy Dual is that you don’t have to rely on a monthly subscription to use it. This wired model with an included chime has 8GB of local storage that fits up to 90 days of 2K video, and you can even use it with either Google Home or Amazon Alexa smart home systems. It’s nice to not be forced into a subscription or to get into bed with just one system, which is why the Dual was our pick for the best video doorbell without a subscription in our buying guide. Read our review of the battery-powered version.

Now, if you’re looking for a bargain when it comes to a video doorbell then it’s hard to beat Ring. The Amazon-owned company has models at all kinds of prices, including some very cheap ones. For example, right now you can get the standard wireless Ring Video Doorbell from 2020 for $69.99 ($30 off) from Amazon or Best Buy. It has table stakes features, like 1080p video and night vision, along with months-long battery life. Or, for even less you can get the wired-only Ring Doorbell of 2021 for just $39.99 ($25 off) directly from Ring.

Though you’re really getting into bed with Amazon for those low starting prices, as the more robust features like video history, person alerts, and helpful notifications are locked behind the paywall of a Ring Protect Plan. Also, you have to use smart devices like an Echo Show to best utilize a Ring. There’s also always a chance your footage may be shared with local law enforcement, which people may or may not be comfortable with.

The latest Echo Show 5 smart display is on sale for $34.99 ($50 off) at Target and Amazon. This matches the all-time low price we’d normally only see during a lightning deal on a Black Friday or Prime Day. While Amazon announced all kinds of new devices earlier this week, including a new Echo Dot, the Echo Show 5 of 2021 soldiers on. (Which feels appropriate, since the inexpensive and often-discounted device is fairly simple in operation.) It serves a user best as a bedside smart display for showing the weather and news first thing in the morning, acting as a very smart alarm clock with easy access to Alexa voice control for your smart home. Read our review.

Another Amazon device that is bound to be phased out with a replacement on the way is the second-gen Fire TV Cube. Amazon announced a new fabric-clad Fire TV streaming box is coming October 29th for a pricier $139.99. The new model supports Wi-Fi 6E and even has HDMI passthrough for controlling your cable box (like an Xbox One), though now that means it’s time for some early fire sales on the 2019 model.

Woot is selling the soon-to-be last-gen Fire TV Cube in refurbished condition for just $44.99. That’s $75 cheaper than the full price of the streamer, and about $15 less than any regular sale price you’d normally find on new stock. This refurb deal still comes with a full one-year warranty from Amazon, which sweetens the deal. You don’t normally see that, and it makes opting for this 4K-capable box with Dolby Vision still respectable in 2022 — especially if you also plan to use it as an Alexa smart speaker. Read our review.

Ladies and gentlemen, a few more deals:

Woot is selling a variety of refurbished Philips Hue smart lights, including a Gradient Ambiance Smart Lightstrip 2m / 6ft Base Kit for $106.99 (regularly $179.99 at full price when new). These lights can get you ready for spooky season with some colorful orange and purple accents, but keep in mind as refurbs they only have a 90-day warranty.
Need an inexpensive USB-C hub for a laptop just like that MacBook Air? The Anker 341 7-in-1 hub is just $29.74 ($5.25 off) at Amazon. It has ports for HDMI-out, two USB-A, two USB-C, and SD / microSD card slots.
God of War for PC is just $23.30 ($26.69 off) at Eneba with promo code BOY at checkout. It’s a good time to catch up on the Sony Santa Monica Studio’s epic, as God of War Ragnarok is due out on PS4 and PS5 November 9th. Plus, you can even play this version on a Steam Deck. Read our developer interview.

Elon Musk and Twitter boss’s messages show how pair fell out

Texts disclosed in a Delaware court filing suggest the two men were bonding before the billionaire Tesla CEO tweeted: ‘Is Twitter dying?’

Newly published messages between Elon Musk and the Twitter boss, Parag Agrawal, show how their relationship appeared to be blossoming before it dramatically soured, with the billionaire Tesla CEO tweeting: “Is Twitter dying?”

The series of text messages, disclosed in a Delaware court filing, suggest the two men were for a short period bonding, including over their shared love of engineering, after Agrawal got in touch with him, weeks before Musk announced his offer to buy Twitter.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk showcases humanoid robot – video

Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, showcases his humanoid robot 'Optimus' at the electric vehicle maker's AI Day event. The billionaire has said a robot business will be worth more than its cars; Tesla's self-driving cars have not yet become a reality. A prototype of the robot walks on stage and waves to the audience. A video of it carrying a box, watering plants and moving metal bars in the Tesla factory is shown.'Our goal is to make a useful humanoid robot as quickly as possible,' Musk said at the event in Palo Alto, California.

Elon Musk unveils humanoid ‘Optimus’ robot at Tesla’s AI Day

The Molly Russell inquest verdict damns Silicon Valley. There can be no more excuses | Peter Wanless and Beeban Kidron

These companies make decisions that harm children. The government must take action

Sir Peter Wanless is the chief executive of the NSPCC. Lady Beeban Kidron is the founder and chair of 5 Rights

The ruling in a coroner’s court in north London on Friday will be felt around the world. The senior coroner, Andrew Walker, concluded that 14-year-old Molly Russell “died from an act of self-harm while suffering from depression and the negative effects of online content”.

The content, he determined, had contributed to her death in a more than minimal way. This is an immensely significant verdict.

Elon Musk deposition in Twitter fight rescheduled for first week of October

Musk to be questioned under oath by Twitter lawyers on 6 and 7 October in preparation for trial over abandoned $44bn takeover

Elon Musk is scheduled to be questioned under oath by Twitter lawyers next month as the social media company prepares for a trial over the billionaire’s bid to walk away from a $44bn takeover, according to a Tuesday court filing.

Musk’s deposition was originally scheduled for this week but sources close to the litigation said on Monday that the timing of the interview was always subject to change given the fast-tracked nature of the litigation. He is scheduled to be questioned on 6 and 7 October.