Technology

mardi 25 juillet 2023

Twitter alternatives for the Musk-averse

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter users (and ex-users) are still watching to see what the next chapter will be in the soap opera called “What Elon Musk Will Do With Twitter Next.” Oops — sorry. It’s no longer Twitter now, is it? It’s some weird new entity called “X.”

If you’re becoming bored with the whole thing and you want to continue following social networking without having to deal with Twitter (let’s still call it that for now), where do you go?

While, at least so far, nothing has become the byword that Twitter became, there are a number of services that are currently vying for the title of “Twitter Alternative of the 2020s.” So far, most don’t have the size and scale of Twitter, and it’s hard to say if any of them will attract enough followers to give it a run for its money. In fact, it’s possible that nothing will become the combined news / gossip / conversation / spam source that Twitter was.

Some of them ape the real-time feed of Twitter, but most provide a different take on what a social network can look like. Depending on what you get out of Twitter — perhaps you use it to broadcast your work, or maybe you use it to keep up with news events, or maybe you use it to connect with other Twitter users — you might prefer some of these options over others. But take a look and see if any seem worth checking out.

Threads

List of account settings — *Threads is closely intertwined with Instagram.*

The latest of the Twitter wannabes, Threads has started with a couple of advantages — it hasn’t started with an invite-only introduction, and it is an outcrop of Instagram. If you already have an Instagram account, you don’t even have to register; you simply log in using your Instagram account (and you can get to Threads by going to your Instagram profile and looking for the curly icon at the top). It has familiar icons for like, comment, and share; you can also repost and quote another entry. And according to a support page, some settings apply to both apps — so if you delete your Threads account, you’re deleting your Instagram account as well.

Posts can be up to 500 characters in length; you can add links and photos as well as videos up to five minutes long. You can delete an entry but not edit it, and you can limit who can reply to your entries (but as of this writing, you could not control what or who appeared in your feed). When this was being written, you could only access Threads via an iOS or Android app. Whether it will be the Twitter alternative has yet to be seen; certainly, it has managed to generate a good amount of excitement during its first days.

Mastodon

Mastodon is often cited as the most likely replacement for Twitter, although there are very distinct differences. You don’t join Mastodon per se; you join a specific server (also known as an instance) run by an organization, individual, or group of individuals. The moderation policies are determined by each group (although there are basic moderation policies that apply to all the servers). However, you’re not limited to a single server; you can follow people or have followers from other servers, and you can change servers — or create your own.

On Mastodon, you post toots rather than tweets (although the usage of that term has pretty much fallen out of fashion) with a 500-character limit per post; you can attach images, a video, or an audio file, and you can edit your posts after they are published. Hashtags are encouraged to help people find your content, and there are apps for iOS and Android devices. (There is also a site with a bunch of tips, Mastodon’s help site, and a variety of other places to find help. )

To sign up, you go to https://joinmastodon.org/ and click on “Create account” or on the Servers link at the top of the page to choose which server you want to sign up for. You can also go to Fedi.Garden, which offers what it describes as an “easy and stress-free way of choosing a Fediverse server.” You can choose to search by topic and / or language. Some will let you join immediately; others have waitlists. You can join a larger, generalized instance such as mastodon.social or mstdn.social, or you can opt for a more specified instance such as graphics.social or disabled.social.

TikTok

TikTok has been a popular (if sometimes controversial) social media for short video clips. Now, it has added words as well. A new text option on its main Camera page allows you to post text-only entries in a variety of colors, typefaces, type sizes, and formats. You can publish up to 1,000 characters and can embellish your text with music, a background color, and stickers; as with videos, your followers can stitch, duet, and comment on the entry. The entry can be saved as a story or simply posted to your feed.

It is interesting that, just as Twitter — sorry, X — has continued to implode, TikTok, which has made a name for itself as a video-based social media, is pushing into the creative text arena. It will be fascinating to see what TikTokers do with this new ability.

Top page of the Gaming subreddit showing messages and a list of the top gaming communities. — *Reddit is divided into a multitude of interest groups known as subreddits.*

Reddit is a well-known network that has been around for quite a while. The site is modeled off of classic message boards, and so doesn’t look or act the same as a Twitter feed — instead, it is divided into subgroups, known as subreddits, and you can join whatever subreddit piques your interest — anime, crochet, Star Wars, sci-fi literature, or whatever flavor of politics, religion, or social topics you may want to chat about.

There can be more than one subreddit handling a different aspect of a topic or that has a different type of moderation. Each subreddit has its own rules, and the moderator can kick you out if you don’t adhere to them. You start a topic, and the discussion on that topic is threaded; you can upvote or downvote a topic or one of the entries in a topic. Because the interface is threaded, there can be discussions in which an author answers questions about a book or a tech expert helps with problems. But Reddit is big, so expect to spend some time exploring before you find your communities.

Note that Reddit has been having its own issues recently. A sudden increase in its API pricing led to a protest by many of its users; despite that, a large number of its third-party apps are now going dark.

Bluesky

Bluesky is no longer in invite mode, so anyone can now join — but whether it can overcome the word-of-mouth success of newer apps like Threads is yet to be seen. Like Mastodon, Bluesky has been developed to be a decentralized social network, and while new users are currently being steered toward a single iteration, you can select a different hosting provider if you want. The interface is very Twitter-like, which isn’t surprising since Bluesky was originally funded by Twitter itself. There are apps available for both iOS and Android.

Cohost

Cohost is a new social network that is still developing. Anyone can sign up, but you may have to wait a day or two before you can actually post (which, according to the FAQ, is a spam prevention measure); you can, however, look around. (It only took about 24 hours for me to be activated.)

As with Twitter, you follow the posts of other people; however, entries are always shown in the order they were posted rather than via any kind of algorithmic listing. Pages are specific to their users (although they can have more than one editor), and you can request to follow someone’s page (or someone can request to follow yours). In either case, the request must be approved. You can also search on (and bookmark) hashmarked tags if you’re looking for a specific topic.

CoHost Plus, which costs $5 a month or $50 a year, offers an expanded upload limit and upcoming customization features.

Tumblr

Tumblr — which launched in 2007 and has gone through its fair share of corporate owners — is more a series of blogs rather than a discussion social network per se. You can easily scroll through the latest entries of all the people you follow; click on the entry to see (and participate in) any discussions. Each entry is text, image, or video-based; followers can then discuss the entries via attached notes. You can also reblog (in other words, put the entry into your feed) or share the entry to other services.

A number of new features have been added over the past year, including livestreaming via Tumblr Live. Unlike the previous services, Tumblr does have advertising, although you can get rid of the ads for $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year.

Discord

Discord is more an invitational discussion service than a free-for-all social network. It is made up of separate servers that allow participants to participate in text discussions, video and voice calls, and exchange files; the interface can be heavily tweaked by the administrators depending on how they want to handle permissions, discussions, icons, etc. In other words, Discord can be a very useful tool, especially in the hands of someone who is reasonably tech-savvy.

When you download the Discord app (which is available for both desktops and mobile devices), you can list as many of the groups you belong to as you like on the left side of the screen. For example, if you’ve got a server from your company, a fan club, or a group of friends, you can easily click from one to the other.

Spill

A row of photos with text captions on top of the images against a blue background. — *Text over images gives Spill a more visual feel.*

Spill is very much a work in progress. It has a waitlist (which you can join here), but if my experience is anything to go by, you won’t have to wait long. According to an article in AfroTech, the site has been built by two ex-Twitter employees to create a safe space for diverse communities. In order to do this, when you do join, you are asked for your name, phone number, birth date, email address, phone number, and zip code (not optional) as well as how you identify (optional). Entries have a 90-character limit, and you can add photos, videos, GIFs, and links; text overlaps the images, giving the interface a more visual feel. Currently, it is available via Mac and iOS apps only (the iOS app looks a lot better).

Post

Post concentrates on content from various news publications.

Another new service, Post concentrates on news content in an interesting fashion. The idea is that you can “discover, read, watch, discuss and share premium news content without subscriptions or ads.” Instead, if you want to read an article that’s normally behind a firewall, you can pay for that specific article.

Post works on a point system. You are given 50 points when you join, and you can use them to either read a paywalled article or to reward a creator whose post(s) you like. Each point is worth one cent and is kept in a virtual wallet; you purchase more for a small added fee (for example, purchasing 300 points costs $4.20). The cost of reading an article can vary widely: for example, a USA Today article costs 1 point, and a Reuters article costs 3 points, while articles from Fortune had price tags of 59 and 69 points. (Individual creators can also turn their posts into paid content.)

Meanwhile, the social networking angle consists of people either commenting on articles or adding links to articles (in those cases, it works the same way as other social networks, taking you out of Post and to the site where the link originates).

Substack Notes

One of the reasons that Musk may have gotten so peeved about Substack last April appears to be its introduction of Notes, a social networking add-on to its blogs and other content. Notes is, according to Substack, “a new space where you can publish short-form posts and share ideas with other writers and readers on Substack” — in short, a social network sitting alongside Substack’s longer content.

You access Notes via a tab on the Substack site; once there, you can start a note and add up to six images or GIFs to it. You can also like, comment on, “restack” (in other words, republish), or share other posts — basically, the same way you are able to like, comment on, and share Substack articles and blogs. You can use the @ sign to mention other Substack writers as well.

Spoutible

Spoutible is one of the more Twitter-like of the new social networks. Aptly, it uses a whale / ocean metaphor throughout: you “spout” your opinion instead of posting it; you go to a section called Making Waves to see what topics are currently popular; and for the few seconds it takes to go from one section to another, you get an animation of a whale disappearing into the sea. Like Twitter, you have a profile page, you follow and are followed, and you have a timeline and can do one-to-one chats.

On Spoutible’s About Us page, it expresses its determination to take diversity and privacy seriously while mitigating harassment and other problems endemic to social networking. The network already had its first challenge in that area back in February when it ran into problems with some members of the romance community. On the other hand, the site is consistently making improvements to its interface and now has an Android and an iOS app. Spoutible is free (although it does ask for contributions) and available to try.

CounterSocial

CounterSocial is the first social networking app I came across that also includes a VR aspect (which it calls Counter Realms). But if you want to keep to the basics, then this social network boasts on its front page that it doesn’t allow trolls, ads, or fake news — and has a long list of measures it takes to promote privacy and security, including identity breach alerts, real-time fake news awareness via FactLayer, and no third-party tracking. If you want, you can try out Alfred, CounterSocial’s GPT-3 AI feature. There are apps for both Android and iOS.

You have a choice of UIs: the Advanced Mode works via a series of columns rather than the traditional feed; if you’ve ever used Tweetdeck, you’ve got a fair idea of what it looks like. You can use each column to follow different hashtags or user lists. You can pin columns in their place or move them around the interface and arrange notifications for replies or new entries. The alternative Simplified Mode offers a single feed, more like Twitter or Facebook. There is also a chat link for support and conflict resolution. The social network is free; a Pro account costs $4.99 a month and includes additional security, access to other feeds such as traffic radio and news videos, and entry into Counter Realms.

WT.Social

WT.Social is a fairly straightforward social network that advertises itself as “the non-toxic social network.” WT stands for “WikiTribune,” which was apparently a previous iteration of the site; it is hosted on GitHub. The interface is very Facebook-like, with a central feed; you can follow people (“friends”) or topics (“subwikis”), and if you don’t find a subwiki that deals with a topic you’re interested in, you can create your own. You can add images or videos to your posts.

Facebook

If you are looking for an alternative to Twitter, you probably don’t need to be told about Facebook, and if you’re not on Facebook, that’s likely intentional. But as my colleague Monica Chin mentions in her how-to on quitting Twitter, “There are a lot of horrible, terrible, no good, very bad things about Facebook. But if you miss the ability to keep up with family and friends on Twitter, you can do that on Facebook, too.” It is true that despite the algorithm-powered feeds, the frequent advertising, and the possible privacy violations, there are still a lot of people — often family members — who still use Facebook. And there it is.

Other alternatives

There are a number of other social networking resources out there, of course; we’ve only touched on a few here.

While most of the networks listed above predominantly depend on the written word, there are some quite popular social networks that use video as their main means of communication, such as TikTok (although, as noted above, TikTok now has a text option) and BeReal. If you’re comfortable with using video — or even prefer it to text-based social networking — those are a couple of places to go.
There are, of course, other networks that focus on specific needs or communities. For example, LinkedIn is geared toward business and job hunts (and thinkfluencing, of course), while DeviantArt is a place for the visual arts community.
And, of course, there is the traditional blog — which is still a way to communicate with friends, family, and (if you’re a creative) fans. Which blogging service and / or software you use depends on what you want to do, who you want to show it to, and how comfortable you are with the technology.

The point is — no social network is forever (such as the late lamented Compuserve, the pre-MySpace Friendster, and the yes-it-is-still-there-sort-of AOL). Twitter has definitely had a strong influence on community discourse over the last few years; we’ll have to see whether it will retain that influence under this new chapter and, if not, what will replace it.

Update July 25th, 2023, 9:38AM ET: This article was originally published on November 1st, 2022; since then, Substack Notes, Post, Spoutible, Bluesky, Threads, Spill, and TikTok have been added, and some of the other entries have been updated.

Drones are becoming boring

DJI Air 3 comes with two lenses, 46 minutes of flight time, and a familiar look.

The drone world’s worst-kept secret is out. And it’s called the Air 3, and yes, all the rumors have been true. The new $1,099 and up drone from DJI has two cameras, 46 minutes of battery life, improved connectivity with Occusync 4, a brand-new controller, and a brand-new design resembling the recently released Mavic 3 and Mavic 3 Pro. Here’s a question for you: do any of these changes make you super excited? No? Same here.

Before you get mad at me for this hot take, let’s set the record straight: the Air 3 is a fantastic drone. It’s a capable flying camera that improves on a few things from its predecessor but makes do with a smaller image sensor than before. Did DJI sacrifice image quality in favor of some versatility?

That was my first worry here, and it might be for you, too. But don’t fret — the image quality is still great. Both lenses are capable of capturing beautiful airborne images. With a larger f/1.7 aperture lens, the main sensor performs better in low light. It’s similar to the camera found in the Mini 3 Pro, which has the same 1/1.3-inch sensor and the same max aperture.

The second 3x telephoto lens has a smaller f/2.8 aperture, and it is the same telephoto lens that you’ll find in the Mavic 3 Pro that came out recently. And at this point, I think it’s becoming clear why this drone is a bit underwhelming. It’s a combination of old ideas we’ve already seen. But don’t get me wrong: I’d rather pay $1,099 than the $2,199 the Mavic 3 Pro demands, whose third lens, a 7x telephoto zoom, didn’t impress me much.

But I do have two minor complaints about the Air 3’s telephoto camera. It’s just not practical. Let me explain.

*The main lens comes with a larger f/1.7 aperture, while the new 70mm lens has max aperture of f/2.8.*

For one, the footage can look a bit flat. There is some but not a lot of separation between the foreground and the background. Don’t expect stunning bokeh here. But the compression in the image alone is worth it, and the parallax effect is great. The usual 24mm drone footage started to get repetitive, so I’m glad we’re getting more variety these days.

Secondly, as someone who desperately wants to extract the best possible image quality from any of my cameras, I aim to film at the lowest ISO possible while maintaining proper shutter speed (double the frame rate). That means that once I switch from the main lens with f/1.7 aperture to the f/2.8 tele lens, I’ll likely have to raise the ISO, which in turn introduces more noise into my clips.

It’s a small complaint, but it does take away from the filming experience. What I’d love to see are some after-market ND filters that can compensate for that aperture difference and make switching between two lenses seamless. Or even better, something we’ve all been wanting for oh so long — built-in ND filters. Or, even even better, variable aperture? It’s time, DJI.

*The Air 3 is eligible for Europe’s C1 drone classification.*

The Air 3 can film in 4K 60, and compared to the Air 2S, this drone won’t crop your footage. It takes full advantage of either sensor. In fact, almost every feature works on both lenses (including Active Track, Night Mode, 4K 60, and 4K 100fps), except vertical mode, which is to be expected. And no, this drone won’t flip its camera 90 degrees to let you film in true 4K vertically. Instead, it’s lets you film open gate instead of simply cropping your horizontal footage. A solid compromise, but I really wish it did flip the camera, though.

As for photos, this drone takes 12MP photos, and they look good. You’ll be happy with what you get here, and DJI’s RAW files leave plenty of information to manipulate in the editing process. DJI also lists a 48MP photo mode, but I have not been able to find it in its usual place in the menu. Presumably, it will come later with a firmware update. I have reached out to DJI about this.

And outside of those two lenses, there really isn’t much else to discuss if you’re familiar with DJI’s existing lineup. There’s a new controller, and it’s just as good as the last one. DJI’s OcuSync connectivity system is upgraded, but I haven’t had major connection issues in years. The Air 3 range is rated for 20km (12 miles), but in practice (and legally), you won’t be able to take advantage of that. Battery life is pretty much the same across the whole lineup now, which is to say it’s about 45 minutes, give or take. I haven’t noticed any major issues here, like I did with the batteries during my Mini 3 Pro review.

DJI also replaced its D-Log color profile for a less flat variant called D-Log M. It’s easier to color grade, and it doesn’t require filming at high ISO like the D-Log, but it also has noticeably less dynamic range. I do wish DJI gave us both options. Through a recent software update, DJI quietly replaced D-Log with D-Log M in the Air 2S drone, too. On the company’s forums, a DJI rep said that it was just a “naming convention problem,” but it still got a lot of pilots mad.

Night mode, which was introduced at the end of 2022 for the Mavic 3, found its way to the new Air 3 as well. It lets you increase your ISO up to 12800 from the usual 6400 limit in the normal filming mode. Aside from the filming settings, it seems like there is some in-camera noise reduction applied to the footage as well.

One hardware thing you’ll immediately notice is the drone’s audible noise. It’s rated for 81 dB, which is still loud, but due to the propellers’ larger size, they produce a lower frequency, bassier sound, which isn’t as piercing as before.

And that’s the Air 3. It’s still a very capable drone that does many things right but also just a little bit uninspiring. Between $1,099 (with the new controller) or $1,349 (for the Fly More Combo), it slots in nicely between the Mini and the Mavic 3. But now it’s up to you to decide if you want a sub 250g drone with proper vertical filming like the Mini, the better image quality from the larger sensor in the Mavic 3, or the versatility of the Air 3.

At its core, the Air 3 is just a recycling of old ideas we’ve already seen in other DJI products. There isn’t much new here that would make you incredibly excited to go out and get flying. I’d love to see something new next year. Could we get built-in ND filters? Will 360 cameras make their way here? Or maybe we start with a single backward camera? What about adjustable aperture trickling down from the Mavic 3 series? I’m ready for something new.

Photography by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Wayfair’s AI tool can redraw your living room and sell you furniture

An AI-generated image of a living room in a mid-century modern style. — Screenshot: Wes Davis / The Verge

Wayfair has launched a free “virtual room restyler” called Decorify. It employs generative AI to show you a redecorated version of the room you want to zhuzh after you upload a picture of it and choose the visual style you want. Then, if you like what you see, you can pick from a grid of furniture recommendations presented to the right of your AI-remodeled room.

Shrenik Sadalgi, R&D director at Wayfair, says, “Decorify creates a discovery experience that provides endless inspiration and powers the home personalization journey.”

Remember those augmented reality shopping app features that let you plop furniture down in your house using your smartphone’s camera? This ain’t that — Decorify won’t show you renders of actual, existing furniture within your actual room. Wayfair uses an AI model to create new imagery, so it’s going to show you weird reflections on curtains, plants sitting on day beds, and furniture that doesn’t quite make sense, and it might just decide your room is twice the size it actually is.

Here’s how it works.

Screenshot showing an AI-generated picture with a split in the middle showing the original room picture, and showing the furniture recommendations on the right side of the screen. — *A screenshot of Decorify in action.*

After you’ve uploaded your picture, a drop-down lets you pick from several styles, which can be something well-defined like “mid-century modern” or “farmhouse” or more vague, like “bohemian” or “perfectly pink.” Then you enter what type of room you’re decorating (right now, only living rooms are supported).

Alternatively, you can select single items in your room to have Wayfair’s model replace them with something in one of the styles from its drop-down menu. The site works on a computer or on your phone.

I asked Wayfair how it plans to improve the feature in the future, and Sadalgi said the company is planning to fine-tune its model, which he said is open-source, to add “proprietary branding data” so the designs it produces will have more “1:1 matches of Wayfair products.” He added that eventually, customers would be able to “start with a list of products first” and create a room with those furniture pieces in it.

As for product suggestions, Sadalgi said they are created by a computer vision model “trained on our extensive product catalog.”

Wayfair isn’t the only company using AI to help with house-decorating visualization. A site called HomeDesigns AI offers a similar feature — starting at $27 a month — as does VisualizeAI, which also costs money but offers more style options than Decorify and lets you enter items to include or exclude from the generated image. A quick Google search says there are countless other apps and services offering to do the same thing, many in exchange for your money.

Wayfair, on the other hand, isn’t charging customers to use Decorify, and as far as I can tell from tinkering with some of the other options online, it’s about as powerful a tool, if a little sparse on options at the moment.

AMD ‘Zenbleed’ exploit can leak passwords and encryption keys from Ryzen CPUs

A cartoon illustration shows a shadowy figure carrying off a red directory folder, which has a surprised-looking face on its side. — *AMD is rolling out patches for at-risk CPUs, though these updates may impact system performance.* | Illustration: Beatrice Sala

A new vulnerability impacting AMD’s line of Zen 2 processors — which includes popular CPUs like the budget-friendly Ryzen 5 3600 — has been discovered that can be exploited to steal sensitive data like passwords and encryption keys. Google security researcher Tavis Ormandy disclosed the “Zenbleed” bug (filed as CVE-2023-20593) on his blog this week after first reporting the vulnerability to AMD on May 15th.

The entire Zen 2 product stack is impacted by the vulnerability, including all processors within the AMD Ryzen 3000 / 4000 / 5000 / 7020 series, the Ryzen Pro 3000 / 4000 series, and AMD’s EPYC “Rome” data center processors. AMD has since published its anticipated release timeline for patching out the exploit, with most firmware updates not expected to arrive until later this year.

According to Cloudflare, the Zenbleed exploit doesn’t require physical access to a user’s computer to attack their system, and can even be executed remotely through Javascript on a webpage. If successfully executed, the exploit allows data to be transferred at a rate of 30 kb per core, per second. That’s fast enough to steal sensitive data from any software running on the system, including virtual machines, sandboxes, containers, and processes, according to Ormandy. As TomsHardware notes, the flexibility of this exploit is a particular concern for cloud-hosted services as it could potentially be used to spy on users within cloud instances.

Worse still — Zenbleed can fly under the radar because it doesn’t require any special system calls or privileges to exploit. “I am not aware of any reliable techniques to detect exploitation,” said Ormandy. The bug shares some similarities with the Spectre class of CPU vulnerabilities in that it makes use of flaws within speculative executions, but it’s far easier to execute — making it more like Meltdown family of exploits. The full technical breakdown regarding the Zenbleed vulnerability can be found on Ormandy’s blog.

AMD has already released a microcode patch for second-generation Epyc 7002 processors, though the next updates for the remaining CPU lines aren’t expected until October 2023 at the earliest. The company hasn’t disclosed if these updates will impact system performance, but a statement AMD supplied to TomsHardware suggests it’s a possibility:

Any performance impact will vary depending on workload and system configuration. AMD is not aware of any known exploit of the described vulnerability outside the research environment.

Ormandy “highly recommends” that impacted users apply AMD’s microcode update, but has also provided instructions on his blog for a software workaround that can be applied while we wait for vendors to incorporate a fix into future BIOS updates. Ormandy warns that this workaround could also impact system performance, but at least it’s better than having to wait on a firmware update.

Spotify now has 220 million paying subscribers

Nick Barclay / The Verge

Spotify had 220 million Premium subscribers and 551 million monthly active users as of June 30th, the company announced today in its latest earnings report. That represents a 27 and 17 percent increase, respectively, compared to the same period last year and is above its outlook released last quarter.

But while listener numbers were up, Spotify reports that it’s making less revenue on average from each of them. In today’s release, Spotify says its average revenue per user currently sits at €4.27 (around $4.72), a 6 percent decline year-on-year and a slight fall compared to €4.32 (around $4.79) last quarter.

Today’s second quarter earnings report comes less than 24 hours after Spotify announced it would be raising its prices in the US and several other markets worldwide, mirroring similar price increases seen with other music streaming apps like Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, and YouTube Music Premium. Spotify’s price increases are clearly designed to reverse its falling revenues per user, although its impact won’t be visible until next quarter.

Thanks to the Spotify team for another strong quarter and for powering our remarkable growth: 118M MAU and 32M subs over the last twelve months. Encouraging to see this progress against what we laid out in June 2022 at Investor Day. pic.twitter.com/4XS2BKbZle
— Daniel Ek (@eldsjal) July 25, 2023

Meanwhile, 2023 has seen the company make several cuts after CEO Daniel Ek said the company’s priorities for the year were “speed and efficiency.” It said it would be laying off 6 percent of its global workforce, or an estimated 600 employees, in January; shut down its Clubhouse competitor Spotify Live and Worldle competitor Heardle in April; and then went on to ax a further 200 roles from its podcasting division in June.

The company made a net loss of €302 million (around $333 million) this quarter, versus a loss of €125 million (around $138.5 million) in the same quarter last year. That’s not particularly surprising from a company that’s generally prioritized growth over quarterly profits, but clearly the company is working to reduce these losses going forward.

A chart showing the growth in Spotify’s Monthly Active Users. — *A chart showing the year-on-year growth in Spotify’s monthly active users.*

Spotify’s initial earnings release contains no mention of its long-delayed HiFi streaming option. The company announced the product over two years ago, and said it would bring CD-quality lossless streams to the service. Recently, Bloomberg reported that lossless streaming might be included as part of a more expensive subscription tier codenamed “Supremium,” which could initially release in non-US markets later this year. A survey sent to at least one user last year suggested the company was considering charging $19.99 a month for a new streaming tier dubbed “Platinum” which would include HiFi along with other features.

Although many of its closest competitors don’t regularly release comparable user numbers, Spotify describes itself as the world’s most popular audio streaming service.

Slow Battery Production Crimps G.M.’s Electric Vehicle Rollout

Slow Battery Production Crimps G.M.’s Electric Vehicle Rollout The company is earning big profits on gasoline cars and trucks but is struggling to catch up to Tesla in the fastest-growing segment of the auto market.

lundi 24 juillet 2023

What’s the best student laptop? We asked students

*The Dell XPS 13 is one of the best laptops for high school and college students.* | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Shopping for a laptop can be stressful — doubly stressful if you or your children will be learning online for the first time. Kids of different ages have a range of different laptop use cases and different needs. And as the choices for best laptop and best Chromebook evolve, so do students’ needs. So I spoke to some experts on the subject: students themselves.

My recommendations here are meant to accommodate a variety of preferences and price ranges. But they’re a jumping-off point rather than an exhaustive list: every student is different. Before making a decision, you’ll want to make sure you read reviews and try out devices yourself if you can. I’ll do my best to keep this article up to date with items that are in stock.

Best laptop for students

*Google’s Pixelbook Go has solid battery life and a rippled base that’s easy to grip, making it a good choice for kids.*

Best laptop for elementary school

For younger students, a touchscreen device is easier to use than a keyboard and touchpad, says Michelle Glogovac. Glogovac’s five-year-old son uses an iPad for Webex meetings with his kindergarten class. He’s gotten the hang of it; Glogovac says he’s already learned how to mute and unmute himself, “a skill that many adults aren’t familiar with.”

That said, it may be worth investing in a keyboard case if you go the tablet route. Glogovac has to type her son’s meeting codes and passwords for him, which can be cumbersome on the iPad’s flat screen.

As kids get older, their best laptop choice will vary depending on their needs. As a parent, it’s important that you and your child are in sync about how they intend to use it and the size of the programs they want.

Kristin Wallace purchased a budget HP laptop for her daughter, Bella, but didn’t realize how quickly the nine-year-old would fill up 32GB of storage. “It is really slow and has no space for games. I need a computer with more storage space,” said Bella, who uses the laptop to Zoom with friends and take virtual guitar lessons and math enrichment classes. Wallace plans to buy Bella a better device in the next few weeks.

Audio quality is an important consideration for kids’ laptops. Lisa Mitchell, an elementary library media specialist, says her students use their devices to watch YouTube videos in addition to their online classes. Battery life is also a plus, even for distance learners who may not be far from a wall outlet. Bella likes to use her laptop all around the house and doesn’t want to bring the cord with her.

Durability is also worth paying for, according to Mitchell. If you’re using a tablet, get a protective case. “If a reasonably-priced insurance or replacement policy is available, it’s usually worth the extra expense.”

Check out:

Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Editio n ($199.99): a colorful, fast tablet with kid-friendly content
Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 ($279): a tiny 11-inch Chromebook with a detachable keyboard
Apple 10.2-inch iPad ($329): a great budget tablet that supports the Apple Pencil
Microsoft Surface Go 3 ($399.99): a solid Windows tablet with a built-in kickstand
Google Pixelbook Go ($649): a sturdy touchscreen Chromebook

The Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 in laptop mode on a wooden table seen from above. The screen displays a blue desktop background. — *Lenovo’s Chromebook Duet 3 is a small and light touchscreen with a magnetic keyboard.*

Best laptop for middle school

The middle school students I spoke to don’t use their laptops for much more than web-based schoolwork and browsing. Don’t be too concerned about power — prioritize a machine that’s comfortable and easy for your child to use.

“We just got the most basic Chromebook and it is totally perfect,” says Gabrielle Hartley, an attorney and mother of three children. “The most basic Chromebook serves all the needs of the basic middle schooler.”

*The Surface Laptop Go 2 is a good choice for students who need a Windows machine.*

Hartley’s son Max, who is in eighth grade, agrees. “I would really like a gaming PC or gaming laptop that can plug into a monitor and run video games with 120fps, but I really don’t need that,” Max says. “Most eighth graders aren’t going to be running any video games on their laptops or any software that requires a lot of power.”

Max mostly uses his laptop for Google Classroom applications, including Gmail, Slides, Google Docs, and Google Sheets. They’re very easy to use on his device, which he describes as “a run-of-the-mill Samsung Chromebook.” That said, if your child is starting middle school this year, it could be worth checking with their teachers to see what operating system is most compatible with their workflow. Caspian Fischer Odén, a ninth grader from Sweden, told me he has trouble with his Chromebook because his school has blocked downloading apps from the Google Play Store.

Even kids with more demanding hobbies think a budget device can get the job done. Sam Hickman, an eighth grader from the UK who uses his laptop for photo and video editing, says, “For most middle schoolers, any processor developed within the last two years will be able to handle any tasks they can throw at it.”

So, what is worth paying for? A comfortable keyboard, several students told me. Many middle school kids aren’t used to typing for long periods of time. You should also look for a device that’s compact and easy for them to carry around, particularly if they’re preparing for in-person school. Shoot for an 11- to 13-inch model — certainly nothing larger than 15 inches.

Check out:

HP Chromebook x360 ($529.99): an affordable Chromebook with great battery life
Lenovo Flex 3 Chromebook ($30598): a small but sturdy laptop made for students
Lenovo 300e ($419.99): a durable 2-in-1 with a stylus and LTE
Acer Aspire 5 ($555.99): a portable option for kids who need a 15-inch screen
Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 ($699.99): an attractive, light Windows laptop

The Surface Laptop 5 seen from above, open, on a desk with Post-its and pencils. The screen displays a green ribbon. — *The Surface Laptop 5 is a capable, no-nonsense laptop — just what many high schoolers want.*

Best laptop for high school

High schoolers’ laptop needs can vary based on their interests, but most don’t need powerful machines with lots of bells and whistles — especially if they come with glitches or serious downsides that could interfere with schoolwork. Miles Riehle, a student at Laguna Beach High School, has a high-end Surface Pro 7 but finds it overwhelming. “There is so much other stuff that I don’t use very often,” he said. “Something simpler might be a little more straightforward.”

The best operating system may depend on what your child is used to. Aryan Nambiar, a student at Barrington High School in Illinois, has an iMac at home and enjoys using an iPad for his schoolwork. Riehle says he would prefer a Chromebook because he has an Android phone and often uses Google services.

But almost every student I spoke to agreed that the most important feature of a high school laptop is portability. Kids attending in-person classes may be carrying their device around for much of the day with a stack of other books. Look for a 13- or 14-inch screen, or a lighter 15- to 17-inch model.

Students also recommend something sturdy. “Most high schoolers I’ve seen will throw their laptop in their bag without too much care,” says Moses Buckwalter, a student at Penn Manor High School. Backpacks can be jostled in the hallway as well. Kids can also run into trouble at home. “Anything can happen,” says Aadit Agrawal, a high school student from India. “My own brother scratched my laptop with his nails.”

Battery life is another key feature. “It can be a real struggle to find a place to charge while in class,” says Cas Heemskerk, a sophomore from the Netherlands. Unlike college students, many high schoolers don’t have frequent breaks to juice up their devices, so try to find something that can last a full day.

Many students recommend a touchscreen with stylus support. Nambiar uses the feature for his biology class, where he does a lot of visual modeling. “The touchscreen is always a bonus for drawing diagrams, whereas if you’re using a laptop it’d be a whole process to submit a diagram you drew,” Nambiar says. Riehle uses a Surface Pen to fill out school forms and annotate PDFs. Agrawal finds it useful to take notes on the same screen as his online lessons.

Depending on the broadband situation in your area, you may also want a laptop with multiple connectivity options. Agrawal’s online classes are sometimes interrupted by powercuts, so he recommends an LTE model. Matej Plavevski, a junior at Yahya Kemal College in North Macedonia, recommends looking for an Ethernet port in case slower connections disrupt meetings. That’s hard to find on smaller laptops, but there’s a slew of affordable dongles and docks to consider.

Check out:

Acer Chromebook Spin 514 ($699.99): a convertible Chromebook with all-day battery
Apple iPad Air ($599): a powerful tablet with a great screen
Acer Chromebook Spin 714 ($569.99): a fantastic Chromebook that’s not too pricey
Dell XPS 13 ($1,099): a solid clamshell Windows laptop
Surface Laptop 5 ($899.99): an excellent, light laptop that’s comfortable to use

A user holds the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 in tablet mode. The screen displays Launcher on a purple background. — *The Chromebook Spin 714 is one of the most powerful Chromebooks you can buy, and the price isn’t too bad.*

Best laptop for college

College kids are justified in spending a bit more money than other age groups. Some (especially in STEM courses) can expect to do some fairly demanding work. Assad Abid, an electrical engineering undergrad from Pakistan, needs to run simulation software for his assignments. Aakash Chandra, a student at New Horizon College of Engineering in India, does a lot of coding, in addition to creative work in Premiere Pro and Photoshop, and gaming. Students also noted that it’s worthwhile to pay for a laptop that will last for a few years after graduation. That means you won’t have to worry about finding and financing your next device until you’re (hopefully) settled into a job.

But among high-end, capable devices there’s still a wide range of options. Students stressed that a college laptop should be light. Expect to bring it between classes, meals, meetings, the library, and other locations on campus. “It’s a boon that I can carry my laptop as well as some notebooks without feeling like I’m carrying too much for six hours a day,” says Haseeb Waseem, a senior at Villanova University.

The Acer Swift 3 OLED half closed seen from above. — *The Acer Swift 3 is a solid option for students with many configurations at many price points to choose from.*

Another universally-lauded feature: battery life. Waseem, who uses an HP Spectre, says the all-day juice gives him “the flexibility to study in a bunch of different locations, and even outside.”

Speakers and webcams are often overlooked, even in top-end devices. But students say it’s worth looking for good ones if you’re starting college this year. Though many college students are now back to in-person classes, some will still be meeting with clubs and attending events online. Waseem isn’t satisfied with his laptop’s audio and picture quality, which he says has made it difficult to pay attention in class and to engage with other students.

Many students will need to invest more in areas tailored to their interests and schoolwork needs. Chandra’s dream laptop would include a stylus and touchscreen for his creative work as well as a high-end GPU. Waseem, who uses his laptop for a hodgepodge of activities, including streaming, coding, social media, video chatting, and Microsoft Office work, would prefer to prioritize a large screen to keep track of his multitasking.

Check out:

Acer Swift 3 ($644): a super light laptop that performs well
HP Envy x360 ($899.99): a fast and stylish 2-in-1
Dell XPS 13 ($1,099): a solid clamshell Windows laptop
Surface Laptop 5 ($899.99): an excellent, light laptop that’s comfortable to use
HP Spectre x360 13.5 ($1,399.99): a premium convertible with standout battery life

Bing Chat is now available in Google Chrome and Safari

Illustration: The Verge

Watch out Bard — Bing’s AI chatbot is now available in Google Chrome and Safari. As first spotted by Windows Latest (via 9to5Google), you can now access the chatbot from Bing.com in both browsers.

There are some limitations to using Bing Chat on Chrome and Safari, though. For one, you can only type 2,000-word prompts, as opposed to the 4,000-word limit that you get when using Bing Chat on Edge. Your conversation with the chatbot will also reset after five turns instead of 30, and you’ll see some annoying pop-ups that prompt you to download Edge.

*You’ll still get prompted to download Edge.*

In addition to a wider rollout across different browsers, Microsoft has introduced dark mode for Bing Chat, too. You can swap over to dark mode by selecting the hamburger menu in the top-right corner of Bing Chat, and then hitting Appearance > Dark or System Default. It doesn’t seem like this has been fully rolled out though. While some of my colleagues are seeing this option, it’s still not available for me.

Until now, Microsoft only made its chatbot available on Edge, which was pretty inconvenient if you wanted to access the tool on other browsers. And while you can use Google’s Bard chatbot on browsers other than Chrome, you’ll see prompts to compare your answers to Bing when using Bard on Edge.

Update July 24th, 10:38AM ET: Updated to note that dark mode doesn’t seem to be fully rolled out yet.

Flip phones are having a moment — and all eyes are on Samsung now

Motorola Razr Plus next to Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. — *It’s your time to shine, little guys.* | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

What’s old is hot again, and flip phones are so very hot right now.

These phones are a far cry from the phone that you mastered T9 texting on in college. Today’s flip phones are garden-variety 2023 smartphones that happen to fold in half — plus a screen on the front cover.

They’ve been making a kind of comeback over the past few years, but until now, they’ve existed in the shadows of their bigger, pricier fold-style counterparts. That’s understandable, considering that their small cover screens haven’t been good for much more than checking the weather and pressing pause on a podcast. But that’s all changing this year: in a round of updates from Motorola, Oppo, and very likely Samsung next, cover screens are getting much larger and way more useful. And that’s a big deal.

Samsung will likely announce its fifth-generation Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 this week at Unpacked, which has become its annual summer foldable-fest. They’ll be thinner and lighter than last year’s models — that’s what TM Roh told us, anyway — and will both likely use new hinges that fold totally flat. The Z Flip 5 is heavily rumored to come with a much bigger cover screen than previous generations. The Z Fold 5? Well, rumors point to a very boring update, frankly.

Don’t get me wrong. Fold-style phones are having a good year, too. We got the Google Pixel Fold after years of anticipation, and it turned out to be a success, at least by first-gen standards. Honor just launched a folding phone that’s nearly as thin and light as a regular phone, which is a big achievement on its own. OnePlus will likely enter the chat later this year and could bring some much-needed competition on price — the foldables sold in the US right now start at around $1,700.

But even this new crop of folding phones is basically a riff on what was already out there. They aren’t fundamentally different in terms of build than the past two years of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold phones. They’re going to keep getting thinner, lighter, more durable (please?), and God willing, cheaper. But in four years, they probably won’t look vastly different than they do now. Flippables, on the other hand, are undergoing a more radical transformation.

A photo of Google’s Pixel Fold smartphone. — *A folding phone is a wonderful (if expensive) thing.*

The previous generation of flip-style phones felt like a regular phone with a smartwatch on the front — good for checking quick information but not a lot more. The new flippable cover screens sit in a more comfortable place between a smartwatch and a full-size phone.

They’re big enough to provide a lot more information at a glance than a watch, but you can’t comfortably do everything you’d do on a normal phone screen. As a result, you get a little bit of your attention back that you would have spent mindlessly scrolling Instagram when all you wanted to do was check the weather.

On the other hand, a folding phone gives you a standard-size screen on the outside and a tablet-size screen on the inside. At a minimum, you have a regular amount of phone in your hands, and when you want more phone, you open it up and get phone plus. If you’re the kind of person who wants to run four apps at a time for tasks that usually require a computer, it’s a glorious experience.

But again, a folding phone will run you almost two grand. And that’s where flippables are poised to take on more mainstream appeal: they cost about the same as standard flagship phones. And price is one of the biggest question marks going into Wednesday’s Unpacked: if the Z Flip 5 gets that bigger cover screen, will the price increase, too? If it stays at $999, that could be bad news for the Motorola Razr Plus. The Moto is $999 but lacks the full IPX8 water resistance that the Z Flip series has included for the past couple of generations.

It’s Samsung’s move, but Motorola’s potential loss is our gain. Samsung might push Motorola to offer more discounts on the Razr Plus. In turn, maybe we’ll see more aggressive promotions for the Z Flip 5. Competition! What a concept! Either way, flip-style phones are finally living up to their potential, and they’re getting some well-deserved attention. About flipping time.

It’s Spotify’s turn to increase prices

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

After 12 years, the price of Spotify Premium is increasing in the US. The subscription will now cost $10.99 a month, the company announced today. Spotify has charged $9.99 for its Premium subscription ever since its launch in the US in 2011. “So that we can keep innovating, we are changing our Premium prices across a number of markets around the world,” the company wrote in a post announcing the increase. “These updates will help us continue to deliver value to fans and artists on our platform.”

As well as increasing the price of a single Premium subscription, the cost of Duo will increase from $12.99 to $14.99, Family will increase from $15.99 to $16.99, and Student will increase from $4.99 to $5.99. According to an FAQ, existing subscribers will get a one month grace period before the new pricing takes effect.

Similar price increases are being made internationally. For example, in the UK an individual plan will now cost £10.99 (up from £9.99), Duo will cost £14.99 (up from £13.99), Family will cost £17.99 (up from £16.99), and the price of a student plan will stay the same at £5.99. Meanwhile in France an individual plan will cost €10.99 (up from €9.99), Duo will cost €14.99 (up from €12.99), a family plan will cost €17.99 (up from €15.99), and a student plan will cost €5.99 (up from €4.99).

Spotify’s increase isn’t entirely unexpected considering every other major music streaming service has announced a price increase in recent months. Apple was first last October, Amazon followed in January this year, and both Tidal and YouTube Music Premium announced increases this month. In every case the core price change was the same, a $1 increase in the cost of a standard individual monthly subscription from $9.99 to $10.99.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek previously hinted at a price increase during an April earnings call, when he said the company was “ready to raise prices.” The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Spotify would announce its price increase this week.

Although the price of Spotify’s Premium plan has remained consistent for over a decade, that hasn’t been the case for its other subscription tiers. In 2021, the company increased the price of its family subscription from $14.99 to $15.99 in the US, for example, while in the UK and some European counties it also hiked the prices of its Student and two-person Duo plans alongside its Family plan.

The complete list of countries seeing a price increase as part of today’s announcement are below:

Andorra, Albania, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Croatia, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Peru, Portugal, Serbia, Sweden, Singapore, Slovenia, Slovakia, San Marino, Thailand, Türkiye, United States, Kosovo.

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie blasts into the blockbuster record books with $155 million US opening

Margot Robbie in the Barbie movie. — *Yep, $155 million seems Kenough to me.* | Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Legions of Barbie-core and biopic fans descended onto theaters this weekend for the “Barbenheimer” box office phenomenon, but one pink-plastered performance, in particular, came out on top. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie has already smashed several records, raking in $155 million domestically over the weekend — the highest US opening ever for a film directed by a woman — beating the previous $153 million achieved by Anna Boden’s Captain Marvel.

“The massive, overwhelming response we’ve seen out there proves what we’ve known from the beginning: that ‘Barbie’ is not only an incredibly special film, but clearly the theatrical event of the summer, if not the year,” said Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. Pictures president of domestic distribution in a statement. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to be part of it, and congratulate everyone involved in this brilliant labor of love.”

Barbie also dethrones The Super Mario Bros Movie ($146 million) as the highest-grossing domestic opening for 2023, and achieved $337 million in combined worldwide box-office sales. There are no real losers this weekend though — Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer opened ahead of industry estimations with $174.2 million earned worldwide, with around $80.5 million achieved domestically. According to AVClub, “Barbenheimer’s” combined earnings contributed to this being the fourth-biggest box office weekend for all movies in US history, and the largest not driven by Disney franchises like Star Wars or Marvel.

Oppenheimer similarly broke several records on its own. According to Deadline (which has compiled a list of all the box office records achieved by both movies) the R-rated historical drama had the biggest global opening day and weekend for a biopic, having outperformed Bohemian Rhapsody’s $124 million. It’s also Nolan’s third-highest-grossing opening weekend ever in both domestic and global markets, and his biggest non-superhero movie to date behind The Dark Knight Rises ($161 million domestic) and The Dark Knight ($158 million).

the fact that Barbie and Oppenheimer releasing at the same time did not result in a “Barbie vs. Oppenheimer” and instead produced a “Barbie and Oppenheimer” tells me that something has healed in the world idk
— Ali (@AliTheFern) July 22, 2023

If anything, these figures show that the hype surrounding “Barbenheimer” was earnest. What initially started as a joke — playing off that two movies with such stark differences in tone would be sharing an opening weekend — grew to an internet phenomenon that saw 200,000 US theater-goers buying tickets to see both movies on the same day, according to the National Association of Theater Owners. Rather than pick the low-hanging fruit of making this event a “boys vs girls” contest, viewers have chosen to support both movies. It’s wonderful to see such a celebration of cinema that doesn’t involve a multiversal superhero movie or its 15th sequel.

Twitter is now X as the little blue bird disappears

Twitter is transforming into X, as the site’s former bird logo has now been replaced by an official new X logo. Elon Musk, who owns the transformed social media site, began signaling the change early Sunday morning with a series of tweets, starting with one that said, “and soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds.”

Now X has replaced the Twitter logo on the web version, signaling a change to Musk’s “everything app” that he originally envisioned shortly after purchasing Twitter for $44 billion in November. The X logo will presumably replace the bird logo in mobile versions of the apps once they’re updated. References to Twitter still remain on the main web login prompt, though.

Screenshot by Jon Porter / The Verge

The new X logo on the web version of Twitter.

Twitter employees were reportedly informed of the change with an email that closed with a statement that it would be the last Musk email to come from the Twitter.com domain. During the tweetfest, Musk also tweeted that if a “good enough one is posted tonight, we’ll make go live worldwide tomorrow,” and later pinned a tweet featuring a GIF created by a twitter user named Sawyer Merritt.

dimanche 23 juillet 2023

Elon Musk Says Twitter Will Change Its Logo

Elon Musk Says Twitter Will Change Its Logo The tech billionaire indicated he would replace the company’s blue bird silhouette with an X.

Netflix isn’t planning to make a native Vision Pro app yet

The Apple Vision Pro headset on display at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino. — Image: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Netflix isn’t planning to make a native version of its app for the Vision Pro, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter. Instead, he says, the company will allow its existing iPad app to run, unmodified, on Apple’s forthcoming mixed reality headset.

As Gurman’s piece points out, developers who don’t want to build Vision Pro software from the ground up have two choices: let their iPad apps run as is on the device or tweak them for the Vision Pro. Netflix has chosen the former, though whether pointedly or not, we don’t know.

Of course, very few companies have actually pledged dedicated software for the Vision Pro at this point, but Netflix’s reticence carries some baggage. The streaming giant was one of the most high-profile companies to reject Apple’s in-app purchasing (IAP) system despite Apple’s efforts, its iOS and iPad apps don’t support AirPlay, and you can’t subscribe to Netflix via Apple TV channels.

The iPad app may be good enough — we’ll have to see — after all, if all you want is a big rectangle with Stranger Things floating in front of you, lack of native support shouldn’t be a huge problem? But given Apple’s Vision pro is basically its first TV, it could also be a letdown if running as an iPad app means Netflix is buggy or missing features that other native streaming apps may have. We’ve reached out to Netflix for comment.

Gurman writes about Netflix’s lack of support in the context of a broader issue Apple could have in getting high-profile developers to develop for its Vision Pro headset, a device that amounts to a wholly new platform for the company. As he observes, factors contributing to that potential struggle include the headset’s high starting price of $3,500, its likely limited first-year sales numbers, and the fact that third-party apps have already been a problem for Meta, Apple’s main competitor in the space.

When the Vision Pro launches, though, it will start off with a massive library of iPad apps, which the headset can run without alteration. Also, we already know Disney Plus will come to the device — Disney’s streaming service was heavily featured in the WWDC 2023 keynote announcing the Vision Pro — and Gurman points out that Zoom and Microsoft have both committed software development for it.

He also speculates that Vision Pro apps will cost more than their iPhone and iPad counterparts. Much more, in fact — Gurman says he “wouldn’t be surprised if $20 is the new $1 for most” apps on the platform, and that more professional apps could cost between $50 and $250. That’s far from unheard-of on the iOS app store, and wouldn’t be surprising on the Vision Pro at all. Neither would his speculation about some games going for $40 to $60, at least at the outset, when buyers of the headset will be mostly the early adopter tech enthusiast crowd.