Was Sam Bankman-Fried’s bean bag chair a lie too?

Was Sam Bankman-Fried’s bean bag chair a lie too?

Choose your college roommates carefully... | Photo illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Drew Angerer, Getty Images

Two of Bankman-Fried’s MIT roommates make a damning case for the prosecution.

The difficult part of a fraud case is usually establishing a defendant knowingly lied — unless, apparently, the defendant is Sam Bankman-Fried.

Today the government has made a brisk case for one count in the indictment and is close to making a case for a second one, as two of Bankman-Fried’s college roommates testified against him. We also heard about Bankman-Fried’s love life and bean bag chair.

Yesterday, the prosecution called as its first witness a customer, Marc-Antoine Julliard, who works as a commodities trader. Whether it was smart of him to invest in crypto is sort of irrelevant. The important part of his testimony? As the result of Bankman-Fried’s tweets — “FTX is fine. Assets are fine.” — he did not withdraw his money from the exchange as it went belly-up.

“It’s basically just Alameda paying for it in the end.”

The next witness called, Bankman-Fried’s former college and Bahamas roommate Adam Yedidia, testified that Bankman-Fried knew as early as late June or early July 2022 that the entire enterprise was in trouble. They had the conversation on a padel tennis court in their luxury Bahamas complex, the Albany.

Yedidia was testifying with immunity, because he was worried that as a developer, he might have unwittingly written code that contributed to a crime. He gave the impression of an extraordinarily serious elf, in a suit and glasses, and was a deliberate speaker, taking a beat after questions to think before bobbing his head close to the microphone to answer.

Yedidia worked for Bankman-Fried twice: first as a trader at Alameda Research for two months in 2017 before returning to a PhD program, then from 2021 onward for FTX as a software developer, where he lived — along with Bankman-Fried — in the Orchid, a $35 million penthouse apartment in the Albany. The jury saw photographs of the luxury apartment, which had a cream and gray interior and a gorgeous balcony with a pool.

We also saw a screenshot of a Signal groupchat called “People of the House,” where Bankman-Fried said, “Heh, I’ve been mentally assuming that aggregate rent collected would be zero dollars” and that he had “been assuming that it’s basically just Alameda paying for it in the end.”

Yedidia testified that he quit FTX after getting a phone call telling him that Alameda had used FTX customer funds to repay its loans. He resigned in November 2022, just before FTX went bankrupt.

“I figured Alameda was just holding the money.”

The prosecution used Yedidia’s testimony to introduce some of FTX’s promotional videos that explained how to transfer money from their bank accounts or crypto wallets to FTX, a clever way to show the jury how the financial plumbing worked. For a period of time, customer deposits in the form of wire transfers went to a bank account called “North Dimension,” which was controlled by Alameda Research.

Alameda got the deposits because FTX was having trouble opening a bank account, Yedidia said. FTX didn’t disclose to customers that Alameda was in control of the “North Dimension” account, either. “I figured Alameda was just holding the money,” Yedidia said. He testified it would have raised concerns for him if he’d known that Alameda was spending the money, because that would mean if a customer came to withdraw, their money wouldn’t be there.

Yedidia knew all this because he worked on a process to automate the processing of customer deposits and withdrawals around July 2021. In writing the code, he introduced a bug that made Alameda’s liabilities look larger than they were. The bug was discovered in December 2021, and had exaggerated the liabilities by $500 million. Yedidia fixed it in June 2022; by then, it was exaggerating Alameda’s liabilities by $8 billion.

During that time, Yedidia said he witnessed a meeting between Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh. Singh later told Yedidia that the meeting had been to do a full accounting of Alameda Research and FTX. Everyone in that meeting except Bankman-Fried later pleaded guilty to criminal charges and is cooperating against Bankman-Fried in this case.

In the process of fixing the code, Yedidia discovered that after the bug was caught and the erroneous $8 billion was removed, Alameda was still $8 billion in the hole. That concerned him because “it seemed like a lot of money for Alameda to be owing FTX.” So he asked Bankman-Fried about the money on the padel tennis court.

“We were bulletproof last year, but we’re not bulletproof anymore.”

Yedidia said he asked if things were okay, and Bankman-Fried replied, “We were bulletproof last year, but we’re not bulletproof anymore.” He said Bankman-Fried looked worried while he said it, but he trusted Sam. Besides, he was just a dev — his job was to make sure the code ran well. Other people could handle the money.

At one point, prosecutor Danielle Sasson asked if Bankman-Fried really slept in a bean bag chair. Yedidia said that in the Bahamas, that didn’t happen as often as it had in Hong Kong: “I think he would take occasional naps, but not with much frequency.”

We got some other details on Bankman-Fried’s personal life “Sometime in early 2019, the defendant told me that he and Caroline [Ellison] had had sex and asked if it was a good idea for them to date,” Yedidia said. He told Bankman-Fried it was not a good idea. At the time, she was just a trader at Alameda Research and Bankman-Fried’s subordinate. Later, she would become the co-CEO.

The cross-examination was rough going for the jury, the observers, and the judge, who reprimanded defense counsel Christian Everdell for repeating the same questions the government had just asked. During the meandering cross-examination, Everdell first established that Yedidia didn’t deal with customer money, interact with investors, or otherwise have much contact with FTX’s finances. He tried to coax Yedidia into saying Bankman-Fried didn’t spend much money on himself, and to suggest Yedidia’s immunity agreement may have compromised his testimony.

The main thing Everdell accomplished was teeing Sasson up for an absolutely deadly re-cross. Yedidia explained that in the “bulletproof” conversation, he understood Bankman-Fried to be expressing doubt about Alameda’s ability to repay its customers. He also noted that Bankman-Fried had a second apartment in the Albany, which he did not share with roommates. (He did not say if it contained a bean bag chair.) And though a comment from Yedidia near the end of his testimony — when he said that “FTX defrauded all its customers” — was stricken from the record, the jury certainly heard it.

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Following Yedidia, Matt Huang, a co-founder of venture capital firm Paradigm, took the stand. This testimony was similar to Julliard’s, establishing what investors were told by Bankman-Fried, without speaking to what Bankman-Fried knew. Paradigm invested $278 million in FTX in two funding rounds; that investment is worthless now.

Huang was soft-spoken and clearly doing his best to be boring — taking the stand in a fraud trial is the sort of thing that can be very embarrassing for investors. After explaining that Paradigm was primarily focused on cryptocurrencies, Huang gave details on the firm’s investment in FTX in 2021.

Huang says he was told that there was no preferential treatment for Alameda

In the process, Huang had a “handful” of Zooms with Bankman-Fried and met with him four times in person. In considering the investment, Huang said that the company’s team, its market, competitors, and financial information were things he took into consideration. He got some information on FTX from Bankman-Fried himself, in an email shown to the court.

FTX was attractive as an investment because it was growing really fast, Huang said. In a Powerpoint presentation shown by FTX, there was a slide that said FTX was a “custodian.” Huang explained that meant FTX took customer deposits and held them, then processed withdrawals. He said that if he’d known FTX was using customer deposits for its own purposes, he most likely wouldn’t have invested. In crypto, he explained, there was a general expectation that customer deposits weren’t spent.

In an email to Bankman-Fried, Huang noted some concerns Paradigm had. Specifically, the firm was concerned about governance, and the relationship between FTX and Alameda. If Alameda had special access to FTX, customers would want to trade elsewhere if they found out, Huang said. Following that email, Huang says he was told that there was no preferential treatment for Alameda.

We were shown a balance sheet sent by Bankman-Fried to Huang, which showed an annualized net profit of $322 million in 2021, which Huang took to mean that the company had made “about $80 million” in profit that quarter. The balance sheet also showed an annualized set of trading expenses of $63 million, which Huang took to mean that FTX had trading expenses of $15 million in that quarter. He testified that the profits would look artificially high if not all of the expenses were recorded, and that he expected the numbers being shown to him to be generally accurate.

“We gave special privileges to Alameda Research on FTX, which allowed it to withdraw unlimited amounts of funds from the platform, and we lied about this to the public.”

Huang knew there was no board of directors for FTX before he invested, he testified, but that he’d pressed Bankman-Fried to create one. “He told us that he didn’t think investors had that much to add, but he did represent that he would be creating a board at some point,” Huang said.

Huang’s testimony was immediately followed by Bankman-Fried’s alleged co-conspirator (and other former roommate) Gary Wang, who walked stiffly into the courtroom and appeared frankly miserable. Wang was a co-owner of Alameda Research and FTX, as well as the chief technology officer at FTX. Within moments of sitting down, he admitted he’d committed financial crimes and listed the people he’d committed them with: Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, and Nishad Singh.

“We gave special privileges to Alameda Research on FTX, which allowed it to withdraw unlimited amounts of funds from the platform, and we lied about this to the public,” Wang said. Alameda could withdraw unlimited amounts of money — including customer funds. It could place orders on FTX slightly faster than other market-makers. It had a $65 billion line of credit, where other market-makers had, at most, tens of millions. All those privileges were written into the code, which Wang was responsible for.

Wang hasn’t finished his direct testimony and hasn’t sat for cross-examination yet. He could undermine his own credibility, though the prosecution seems to have prepared for that possibility. When Wang testified that Alameda Research had been so named because it obscured that the firm dealt with crypto, making it easier to get a bank account, that testimony was followed by video of Bankman-Fried saying substantially the same thing on a Blockworks podcast. When Wang testified about his ownership stake, we saw documents signed by Bankman-Fried that backed up what he said.

Today alone the prosecutors seem to have the wire fraud case involving FTX customers made, and are close to making the conspiracy to commit securities fraud on investors in FTX. I expect we will hear from more investors and customers, as well as other people to back up Wang and Yedidia’s accounts. But I found Yedidia credible, even likeable, and by placing him immediately after a customer, he underlined that the customer had been lied to. Wang’s testimony immediately following investor testimony accomplished the same thing. I have a hard time seeing how the defense digs itself out of this hole.

Canada isn’t trying to silence podcasters

Canada isn’t trying to silence podcasters

Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

The Canadian regulatory body that oversees radio, television, and online streaming services put out a news release last week about a provocative new rule. Any online streaming service that operates in Canada, offers broadcasting content, and earns more than $10 million in annual revenue will need to complete a registration form by November. This includes online services that offer podcasts, the release stated.

The move has drawn some criticism on social media as well as in op-eds in a number of Canadian news outlets, which suggest that the rule is the beginning of an effort by the government to control speech on podcasts. A spokesperson for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) told Hot Pod that that simply isn’t the case — and a look at the actual text of the announcement backs that up.

“What is available online will not change. The CRTC will not censor content Canadians listen to and watch online. You will be able to continue to listen to and watch the content of your choice,” CRTC spokesperson Mirabella Salem wrote in an email.

CRTC also isn’t requiring individual podcasters to register, and it maintains that the law isn’t intended to police user-generated content. “Individuals who upload content or use social media to share podcasts will not be required to register. Content and digital creators will not be regulated, just as creators, artists and producers are not regulated today,” Salem wrote.

Canadian radio and broadcast TV have for decades been required to meet certain quotas of “CanCon”

The registration rule appears to be a part of the Online Streaming Act — a wider effort by the Canadian government to get major tech companies like Netflix and Spotify to pay for and/or prioritize Canadian content on their platforms. This could mean anything from Netflix greenlighting Canadian movies and TV in order to keep doing business in Canada to YouTube users in Canada seeing more Canadian content.

Both Canadian radio and broadcast television have for decades been required to meet certain quotas of “CanCon,” or Canadian content. The CRTC’s goal now appears to be to rope online streaming into this equation. “The Decision taken by the CRTC relates to the registration of online services like Apple and Spotify,” wrote Salem.

The CRTC registration form (which is available for anyone to view in a Word doc online) is pretty straightforward. Streaming services are asked to note the languages of the content they host, the type of content, and some other pretty basic information that is easily Google-able.

But that likely won’t be the end of it. University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist tells CBC, “I think a lot of people take a look at this and feel like it’s the thin edge of the wedge [and] that more regulation is on the way,” said Geist in an interview with CBC News.

In a world where American tech giants (with the exception of the Swedish Spotify in this example) are behind the algorithms that influence the information we see online, Canada isn’t alone in trying to get some skin in the game. Since 2018, the European Commision mandated a “Netflix quota,” which requires that 30 percent of the content available on streaming services in Europe is made in the region. Indeed, CRTC’s goal appears to be to make sure Canadian and Indigenous content is available in an online content ecosystem controlled primarily by foreign companies.

Where this gets complicated is how it could eventually be applied to platforms like YouTube or Apple Podcasts, which primarily host user-generated content. YouTube believes it will have to promote some amount of Canadian content at the expense of recommendations tailored specifically to a user’s interests — and it sounds like major podcast platforms could face similar requirements.

What that looks like in practice is unexplored terrain, and we’ll have to wait on the CRTC to come out with rules to know the answer. But the result isn’t likely to be stifling censorship, as some fear, so much as less space devoted to international shows, so that local content can get a boost. In other words, a familiar world for radio listeners up in Canada.

WNYC lays cuts 20 roles — and More Perfect

WNYC has begun to hand out pink slips. In a post on X, WNYC producer Alyssa Edes announced that she and the rest of the team behind the Supreme Court history podcast More Perfect have been let go.

A total of 20 employees were cut across New York Public Radio, according to an internal memo viewed by Hot Pod. Three staffers accepted a voluntary buyout. The media outlet is also making a strategic shift to focus on local, New York City-focused news and doing away with its short-run and seasonal podcasts.

“With some rare exceptions, we won’t be moving forward with new seasons of our short-run and seasonal podcast-only titles, and, unfortunately, it means we’ll be saying goodbye to the colleagues who create those shows. While we are eliminating positions and closing open roles in many other departments, I want to acknowledge that the teams within Studios are the most impacted,” wrote New York Public Radio CEO LaFontaine Oliver in the memo.

WNYC’s plan to cut roles was announced last week. LaFontaine Oliver, New York Public Radio’s president and chief executive, attributed budget issues to a “free fall in the advertising marke,” according to The New York Times.

Amazon is shutting down the Amp live radio service

Amazon is planning to shut down its live radio app Amp, Bloomberg reported yesterday. The app will officially shut down on October 31st, according to a post on Amp’s official X account on Wednesday night. Back in August, Engadget wrote a profile on Amp that spelled out a lot of the service’s troubles — as well as why its homegrown feel was such a draw for users. Unfortunately (and as the profile points out), Amp’s low profile worked against it.

“Unlike Clubhouse, which enjoyed an early surge of popularity, Amp has largely gone under the radar since launch. ‘The thing we’re maniacally focused on every day is making sure that the product is right before stepping out and bigger and bigger fashion,’ Sandler said. But many people I’ve mentioned it to aren’t aware of it — and Amp’s not even included on the list of Amazon products/services Wikipedia page,” wrote Engadget’s James Trew.

Here are the best Apple Watch deals right now

Here are the best Apple Watch deals right now

The Apple Watch Series 9 isn’t a massive step up from the prior model, but it does offer a few new features. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Editor’s note: Amazon’s October Prime Day is set to kick off on October 10th. Luckily, if you’re someone who likes to shop ahead of time, we’ve rounded up the best early Prime Day deals you can already get.

Less than a month ago, Apple launched its latest batch of smartwatches, introducing the Apple Watch Ultra 2 ($799) alongside the new Apple Watch Series 9 ($399). Each wearable has its own pros and cons, as does the second-gen Apple Watch SE ($249), but the introduction of the new wearables also means there are now more Apple Watch models on the market than ever before — and a lot more deals to be had.

But with all of those options, which one should you pick? Generally speaking, you want to buy the newest watch you can afford so that it continues to receive software updates from Apple. The latest update, watchOS 10, just launched on the Apple Watch Series 4 and newer, though no one can say with certainty whether the Series 4 will get the next big software update or whether it will be exclusive to newer watches.

Picking up a watch from the latest (or a recent) generation ensures you’re getting a smartwatch with an updated design, a robust number of features, and plenty of sensors. Now, let’s get into the deals.

The best Apple Watch Series 9 deals

The Apple Watch Series 9 represents the latest wearable in Apple’s flagship Series lineup. It introduces a slightly faster S9 SiP chip and a second-gen ultra wideband chip, which allow for onboard Siri processing and precision finding with your iPhone. It also offers a brighter, 2,000-nit display and works with Apple’s new “double-tap,” a feature that lets you tap your thumb and index finger together to carry out various actions. While the improvements are welcome, the Series 8 isn’t a vast departure from the prior model, the Series 8.

The Apple Watch Series 9 only just arrived, however, the GPS-equipped model is already on sale at Amazon in the 41mm sizing for $389.99 ($9 off), or in the larger 45mm configuration for $419.99 ($9 off). Both sizes are also available at Best Buy and Target, though, you’ll have to pay the full price in both instances. As for the LTE model with cellular connectivity, it’s currently available at Amazon starting at $489.99 ($9 off), or at Best Buy and Target for its full retail price.

Read our Apple Watch Series 9 review.

The best Apple Watch Series 8 deals

Last year, Apple introduced the flagship Series 8, which brought an updated processor, new temperature sensors that enable menstrual tracking and Crash Detection, and a host of other refinements that made it a minor upgrade over the Series 7. While it’s no longer the latest model, it’s still readily available — often at a discounted price. In fact, the deals we’re seeing on the Series 8 right now are some of the best we’ve ever seen, likely as a result of the Series 9’s arrival.

Although the stock is a bit limited at the moment, you can still pick up the 41mm Series 8 with GPS at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart for $319 ($80 off), which remains one of its lowest prices to date. The better deal, however, is on the larger 45mm configuration, which is available at Amazon in select styles for $254.99 ($174 off) when you clip the on-page coupon.

If you’re looking to snag a cellular model, the 41mm configuration is currently available in select styles at Amazon and Walmart for $399 ($100 off). Walmart is also selling the 45mm variant starting at $399 ($130 off), which marks its lowest price to date.

Read our Apple Watch Series 8 review.

The best Apple Watch SE deals

The Apple Watch SE received a refresh in late 2022. It has the same chipset as the Series 8, which is great, but with fewer sensors, no always-on display, and a slightly outdated design compared to the Series 8 and Series 9. Those omissions might take this out of the running for some people, but it still may be exactly what you’re after. Best of all, it starts at $249 for the 40mm Wi-Fi / GPS model, which is $30 less than the previous generation’s baseline cost. Opting for cellular connectivity bumps up the starting price to $299 for the 40mm size (44mm adds $20 to each configuration).

Right now, the 40mm Apple Watch SE with GPS is available for $219.99 ($30 off) at Amazon when you clip the on-page coupon; it’s also on sale for the same price at Target if you belong to the retailer’s free-to-join Target Circle program. The GPS-only model is also available at Amazon and Target in the 44mm sizing for $249.99 ($30 off) — either with a coupon or as part of Target’s Circle program — or in the LTE configuration at Amazon starting at $269.99 ($30 off).

If you’re cool with getting the last-gen model, which lacks an always-on display and some of the more advanced bells and whistles found on the newer Apple Watch models, Walmart is still selling it in the 44mm base configuration for $159, a total of $150 off.

Read our Apple Watch SE (second-gen) review.

The best Apple Watch Ultra 2 deals

Apple’s latest Apple Watch Ultra launched at $799 last month with GPS and LTE support, much like the original model. The ultra-capable smartwatch has the most features, sensors, and ruggedness of any Apple Watch model available thus far, along with a display that’s 50 percent brighter than the first Ultra. The 49mm smartwatch also packs Apple’s new S9 SiP and second-gen ultra wideband chips, just like the Apple Watch Series 9, while maintaining long-lasting battery life, precise GPS tracking, and a bevy of diving-friendly sensors.

While we haven’t seen any significant discounts on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 given how new it is, it’s currently on sale at Amazon in select styles starting at $774 ($25 off). You can also pick up the second-gen wearable at Best Buy and Target, where it’s available for its full retail price of $799.

Read our Apple Watch Ultra 2 review.

The best Apple Watch Ultra deals

Apple released the first-gen Apple Watch Ultra at the tail end of 2022. It was the most capable watch the company had ever released at the time, one buoyed by a host of advanced sensors, a more rugged build, and a number of features squarely aimed at outdoorsy types (including a programmable Action button). While newer, the second-gen model is a pretty incremental update overall, making the last-gen Ultra a pretty attractive deal when you can find it at the right price.

In May, we saw select Apple Watch Ultra configurations plummet to an all-time low of around $702 ($97 off). Although it’s currently not available at that price, Apple’s premium wearable is on sale at Amazon and Best Buy in select configurations starting at $719 ($80 off), its second-best price to date.

Read our Apple Watch Ultra review.

A note on the more premium models

While all of the Apple Watch models and colorways covered here are encased in aluminum (except the Ultras, which have a titanium build), Apple does make a more premium range built out of stainless steel and titanium. These offerings are functionally and aesthetically similar to their aluminum counterparts, with slightly refined colors and finishings — polished for the stainless steel and brushed for the titanium. However, they start at much steeper prices of $749 and above. They, too, can often be found on sale, but they’re never discounted as low as the standard base models, so we don’t include them here.

Sony confirms server security breaches that exposed employee data

Sony confirms server security breaches that exposed employee data

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge

Sony is sending out notices to some current and former Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) employees warning that their personal information was compromised in a system breach that occurred in May. The letters went out to about 6,800 affected individuals, as reported by Bleeping Computer. The publication also received confirmation from Sony that another breach occurred in September.

A ransomware group known as Cl0p claimed responsibility for breaking into a Sony server in June. The breach occurred via a vulnerability in the file-sending MOVEit Transfer platform that SIE was using. Sony is one of many organizations that have been affected by MOVEit cyberattacks.

Progress Software, the creator of MOVEit Transfer, told its clients (including Sony) about a vulnerability in its platform on May 31st, Sony says in the letter. After the warning, SIE discovered that a breach occurred on May 28th and that hackers downloaded data off the server.

The server included personally identifiable information of US-based employees, and Sony is providing credit monitoring services to those affected. Sony says it has since fixed the vulnerability.

Sony launched an investigation last month into a second breach in which hackers acquired 3.14GB of data. Sony confirms this server is located in Japan and is used for internal testing for its Entertainment, Technology and Services business, according to a statement sent to Bleeping Computer. Sony is investigating this incident and has taken the server down. Hackers that were responsible leaked files that included data from the SonarQube platform, certificates, a license generator, Creators’ Cloud, and more. Sony said that this latest incident had “no adverse impact on Sony’s operations.”

Comcast and Charter have begun rolling out the first Xumo streaming box

Comcast and Charter have begun rolling out the first Xumo streaming box

Image: Charter / Comcast

In April 2022, cable operators Comcast and Charter announced a partnership that the companies said would produce “a next-generation streaming platform on a variety of branded 4K streaming devices and smart TVs.” A few months later, we learned that this joint effort would be called Xumo, and now the first hardware device is making its way to customers. It’s called the Xumo Stream Box, and at the outset, it’s available within Spectrum’s service footprint — with availability for Comcast’s Xfinity customers to follow.

As the consumer exodus from traditional cable continues, the Stream Box is meant to be an end-all, be-all solution that combines inexpensive subscription bundles with an avalanche of FAST (free ad-supported television) programming. It’ll also include plenty of preinstalled third-party streaming apps — yes, including Disney Plus — making the device a competitor to Roku, Amazon’s Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, and other devices. The Stream Box uses Comcast’s Entertainment OS platform as its foundation and comes with a voice remote for universal search.

Live TV is definitely the focal point: according to a press release, when you start up the Stream Box, the first thing you’ll see is “live video playing from the device’s primary video service app such as Spectrum TV, Xfinity Stream, or Xumo Play” with a guide for easy channel surfing. But if you’re not in the mood for live content, there’s “a curated, content-forward viewing experience that blends AI-driven personalization and human-led editorial recommendations to help customers find something to watch without having to jump in and out of apps.” Each member of a household can also make their own personalized “My List” with shows and movies they want to watch across numerous streaming services.

Image: Charter / Comcast

Yep, looks like your typical nondescript streaming device to me.

None of that stands out as particularly unique when contrasted with any number of streaming devices. Take a quick glance at the Stream Box’s homescreen, and it almost looks like Android TV. And I’d argue the company’s stated goal of developing “a complete entertainment experience that breaks down the streaming silos and makes TV easy again” is the same north star that guides much of the competition. But for the two partners, this is really about adapting to the reality that traditional linear viewership is in a state of decline, with on-demand streaming continuing to surge.

Charter and Comcast are taking slightly different approaches in how they’ll offer Stream Box to their respective customers. Charter cable subscribers can get one free box at no extra charge for the first year; additional units are available at an added cost. (You can either buy them outright for $60 or pay a monthly $5 service fee.) Meanwhile, Comcast will target the Stream Box at new Xfinity internet customers when it begins rolling out the hardware in its own markets sometime in the next few months. This is only the starting point for the 50/50 Xumo partnership, with other devices and Xumo TVs to follow as two influential cable providers try to maintain their foothold amid major shifts in how people seek out entertainment.

Hyundai’s future EVs will also have Tesla’s EV charging port

Hyundai’s future EVs will also have Tesla’s EV charging port

Did they just tape it on there? | Image: Hyundai

Another major automaker is jumping on the Tesla bandwagon. Hyundai announced today its plans to adopt the North American Charging Standard (NACS), aka the “Tesla plug,” for its future electric vehicles.

Hyundai models compatible with Tesla’s NACS plug will start arriving in the fourth quarter of 2024. In the first quarter of 2025, the automaker will also provide adapters to its current customers so they can access Tesla Supercharger stations. Hyundai’s current EV lineup, which includes the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6, both have charging ports that are compatible with the Combined Charging Standard, or CCS, for DC fast charging.

So let’s just look at the scoreboard really quick

NACS adoptees include Ford, GM, Rivian, Volvo, Polestar, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover, and Fisker. The holdouts are two of the biggest automakers in the world: Volkswagen and Toyota. And no word on Hyundai’s sibling company, Kia.

Hyundai and Kia are both involved in a joint venture with BMW, GM, Stellantis, and Mercedes-Benz to build out a nationwide network of fast EV charging stations. The plan is to install at least 30,000 high-speed EV chargers by 2030, with the first ones to open summer 2024 in the US.

Tesla’s Supercharger network is widely recognized as superior to many of the third-party EV charging stations, most of which feature CCS plugs and the less utilized CHAdeMO charging standard. The company says it has 45,000 Superchargers worldwide, 12,000 of which are located in the US.

And while other EV charging stations struggle with software glitches and faulty chargers, Tesla says its Superchargers are nearly perfect in their reliability. The company says that the average uptime of Supercharger sites last year amounted to 99.95 percent, down marginally from 99.96 percent in 2021.

Until recently, Tesla Superchargers were exclusive to Tesla owners, but that began to change several years ago when the company started offering access to non-Tesla EVs. Earlier this year, the Biden administration announced that Tesla would begin to do the same in the US as a prerequisite to tap into some of the $7.5 billion for EV charging in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Unlike in Europe, Tesla Superchargers in the US use a proprietary connector — this was Tesla’s “competitive moat,” the thing that initially offered protection from other automakers. In order to allow non-Tesla vehicles to access the chargers, the company installed a device called the “Magic Dock,” in which a CCS adapter is applied to the connector.

Adobe teases new AI photo editing tool that will ‘revolutionize’ its products

Adobe teases new AI photo editing tool that will ‘revolutionize’ its products

Even Adobe is sick of using the lasso tool to manually separate objects from photographs. | Image: Adobe

Adobe is set to announce a new AI-powered photo editing tool at the Adobe Max event next week that makes it much easier to alter images without prior editing experience. According to a promotional video (seen via Techspot), the new “object-aware editing engine” — dubbed Project Stardust — automatically identifies individual objects in regular photographs, allowing them to be easily moved around and changed. It’s similar to Google’s Magic Editor announced yesterday for its new Pixel phones, but presumably more powerful.

A quick demonstration of the new software shows how objects in a photograph — such as the yellow suitcase and its shadow in the example image — are automatically identified and selected as if they had been separated using Photoshop’s lasso tool. The clip then demonstrates how objects can be moved, deleted, or otherwise manipulated as if they were stored on a separate layer, with the missing space behind them being automatically filled in to match the rest of their surroundings.

Project Stardust includes something simliar to the “Contextual Task Bar” that debuted in Photoshop earlier this year, which can automatically detect the next steps in your design process and allow you to make quick edits. In the demo video, selecting a crowd of blurred people in the background of the image prompts a “remove distractors” button to appear on the taskbar, which automatically deletes the crowd when clicked.

The new editing engine features some of the same generative AI capabilities as Adobe’s Firefly-powered Photoshop tools. Adobe’s project manager Aya Philémon can be seen selecting an area of the photograph and inputting text into a floating taskbar prompt to fill the selected space with AI-generated flowers. In another clip, the same feature is used to replace individual items of clothing on a model by selecting the item (for example, a jacket or sneakers) and then describing a new piece of clothing to drop in.

Image: Adobe

Project Stardust removes the need to manually separate objects onto a new layer.

Image: Adobe

And this taskbar recognizes what step you’re likely to take next and provides users with a one-click button to action it.

These automated design tools are becoming more commonplace alongside advances in generative AI. Canva has similar editing tools available for automatically removing or altering objects in images, as does Google Photo’s Magic Editor tool that’s shipping with Pixel 8 devices. Still, details for Project Stardust are slim, and Philémon claims the features teased so far are “just a fraction” of its capabilities, promising that the new engine is going to “revolutionize how we interact with Adobe products.” We’ll find out more about Adobe’s incoming AI releases at Adobe Max next week, which kicks off on October 10th.

Details of Apple’s talks to replace Google with Bing and even DuckDuckGo revealed in unsealed court testimony

Details of Apple’s talks to replace Google with Bing and even DuckDuckGo revealed in unsealed court testimony

Image: The Verge

While Google’s search engine has for years been the default on Apple’s devices, newly unsealed court testimonies reveal that Apple held talks with both Microsoft and DuckDuckGo to use their search engines across Apple devices, and in Microsoft’s case even potentially buying Bing, The Washington Post and Bloomberg report. The potential of a Microsoft deal also served as a useful bargaining chip for Apple when negotiating its lucrative search deal with Google.

The details came to light as part of the Department of Justice’s landmark antitrust case against Google which accuses the search giant of abusing its dominance of the search market. A key element of this trial is an agreement that sees Google pay Apple billions of dollars a year in a revenue sharing deal to make Google search the default across Apple’s devices. Apple has defended the deal, saying that there wasn’t a viable alternative search engine available.

News that Apple considered purchasing Bing emerged in a report from Bloomberg last week, but the newly unsealed testimony of Apple senior vice president John Giannandrea sheds more light on the discussions. Apple met with Microsoft in 2018, and later in 2020 to discuss a potential Bing acquisition or joint venture, Bloomberg reports. The company even studied the quality of Bing’s search results compared with Google, but found Bing generally performed worse except for desktop searches in English.

Apple has used Bing as the default search service for some of its products in the past (between 2013 and 2017, Microsoft’s search engine provided answers for searches made through Siri and Spotlight), but it ultimately decided to stick with Google in a deal estimated to be worth around $19 billion to Apple annually.

Although Apple appeared to be considering a deal with Microsoft, one internal Apple email surfaced as part of the trial suggests the company was — at least partially — using Bing as a negotiating tactic to extract more money from Google. “We build them [Microsoft] up, create incremental negotiating leverage to keep the take rate from Google, and further our optionality to replace Google down the line,” Apple vice president Adrian Perica wrote, The Washington Post reports. For its part, Microsoft was aware that it was being used for leverage. “It is no secret that Apple is making more money on Bing existing than Bing does,’’ Microsoft’s chief of advertising and web services Mikhail Parakhin testified as part of the court hearing.

Apple also had around 20 meetings and phone calls with DuckDuckGo to discuss making the search engine the default for Safari’s private browsing mode, according to newly unsealed testimony from DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg. DuckDuckGo markets itself as a more privacy focussed alternative to the major search engines. Although Weinberg says he “thought [Apple] would launch it,” Apple’s Giannandrea says he wasn’t aware that the company had considered a switch, and even called DuckDuckGo’s privacy claims into question, Bloomberg notes.

According to Giannandrea, DuckDuckGo’s reliance on Bing for search information risks sharing user information with Microsoft. “I would probably insist on doing a lot more due diligence with DuckDuckGo” if Apple were to seriously consider switching, Giannandrea said.

Microsoft and Amazon face UK regulator investigation over cloud services

Microsoft and Amazon face UK regulator investigation over cloud services

Illustration: The Verge

The clouds are gathering over Microsoft’s Azure operations in the EU and now the UK, with the launch of a new investigation into major cloud service providers that also includes Amazon. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is just about to wrap up its concerns over cloud gaming with Microsoft’s proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition, but it will soon turn its attention to Microsoft’s Azure cloud offerings and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

It’s part of a fresh investigation into public cloud providers in the UK, after telecoms regulator Ofcom “identified a number of features in the supply of cloud services that make it more difficult for customers to switch and use multiple cloud suppliers.”

Ofcom found issues with charges that cloud customers have to pay to move their data out of the cloud, discounts to only use one cloud provider, and technical barriers to switching between cloud providers. The CMA specifically calls out Microsoft, too. “Ofcom’s report also outlines concerns it has heard about the software licensing practices of some cloud providers, in particular Microsoft,” says the CMA in its press release today.

Telecoms regulator Ofcom found issues with cloud services in the UK

“The CMA’s independent inquiry group will now carry out an investigation to determine whether competition in this market is working well and if not, what action should be taken to address any issues it finds,” says Sarah Cardell, CEO of the CMA.

Although the CMA doesn’t specifically name Amazon, Ofcom’s market study identified that both Microsoft and Amazon control around 70-80 percent of the public cloud infrastructure in the UK and that it was “particularly concerned about the practices of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft because of their market position.”

Ofcom and the CMA aren’t alone in their concerns over cloud market competition, either. The Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE) trade group, which includes Amazon, filed an antitrust complaint with the EU last year. The group argues “Microsoft uses its dominance in productivity software to direct European customers to its own Azure cloud infrastructure to the detriment of European cloud infrastructure providers and users of IT services.”

Microsoft offered some licensing concessions more than a year ago, but they haven’t been enough to address the ongoing complaints. Google even publicly called out Microsoft’s cloud software licensing “tax” earlier this year, arguing that businesses have to pay extra when they want to run software like Office on other cloud networks.

“Microsoft publicly touts that if you run their software on Azure versus other vendors like AWS and GCP, it’s five times cheaper or it’s more expensive to run on us, basically because of the tax customers have to pay to Microsoft,” said Amit Zavery, head of platform at Google Cloud, in an interview with The Register earlier this year. “The price of the products are the same in terms of infrastructure and everything else, so the licensing cost is more expensive because of using providers other than Azure.”

Microsoft has been reportedly trying to fend off a full EU antitrust investigation, with Reuters reporting in March that it had offered to change its cloud computing practices. The EU has opened a formal antitrust investigation into Microsoft’s Teams bundling with Office, but we’re still waiting to hear if the regulator will also take up the Azure concerns.

The CMA’s market investigation could take 18 months to complete, with a statutory deadline set for April 4th, 2025. The UK regulator will outline theories of harm and any potential remedies that might address the situation. The UK regulator also has the power to “impose structural remedies which can require companies to sell parts of their business to improve competition.”

Is Sam Bankman-Fried’s defense even trying to win?

Is Sam Bankman-Fried’s defense even trying to win?

Even the defense’s opening statement was a bad look for Sam Bankman-Fried | Photo Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge

The prosecution came out swinging. Oddly, Bankman-Fried’s defense didn’t.

I have never seen Sam Bankman-Fried so still as he was during the prosecution’s opening statement. The characteristic leg-jiggling was absent. He barely moved as the prosecutor listed the evidence against him: internal company files, what customers were told, the testimony of his co-conspirators and his own words.

His hair was shorn, the result of a haircut from a fellow prisoner, the Wall Street Journal reported. He wore a suit bought at a discount at Macy’s, per the Journal; it hung on him. He appeared to have lost some weight.

“All of that was built on lies.”

Bankman-Fried, at this time last year, had a luxury lifestyle as the CEO of crypto exchange FTX, said the assistant US attorney, Thane Rehn, in the cadence of a high schooler delivering his lines in a student play. Bankman-Fried hung out with Tom Brady. He was on magazine covers, lived in a $30 million penthouse, and spent time with world politicians. “All of that was built on lies,” Rehn said.

In his opening statement, Rehn dodged explaining cryptocurrency to the jury. Instead, he punched hard on Bankman-Fried lying and stealing.

Bankman-Fried sat almost motionless, occasionally glancing at Rehn, as the prosecutor told the jury that Bankman-Fried sold stock in FTX and borrowed millions from lenders by lying.

The story Rehn told is familiar to anyone following the news. In May and June of 2022, Alameda Research — the crypto trading company ostensibly helmed by Caroline Ellison — didn’t have enough to pay its bills, so it pulled customer money to repay loans. By September, the hole in the FTX balance sheet was so big that customers could never be repaid.

FTX “didn’t have a chief risk officer, which became an issue when the storm hit.”

When CoinDesk published its article in November 2022, people realized FTX was a house of cards, Rehn said. Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried tweeted. “FTX is fine. Assets are fine” and “We don’t invest customer assets even in treasuries.”

Pointing at Bankman-Fried, Rehn said, “This man stole billions of dollars from thousands of people.”

So how was the defense going to follow it up? I was very curious, having learned yesterday that Bankman-Fried had never been offered a plea deal since he and his attorneys had told the government they wouldn’t negotiate. Surely there would be some manner of evidence, some something, that would have made him so confident.

There was, instead, a metaphor.

Defense attorney Mark Cohen, with the energy of a patient father telling his obnoxious children a bedtime story, assured us that working at a startup was like building a plane while flying it, and that FTX the plane had flown right into the perfect storm: the crypto crash. Except, uh, he also said this: FTX “didn’t have a chief risk officer, which became an issue when the storm hit.”

I couldn’t stop thinking about the missing risk officer

The problem with this metaphor is that if FTX was a plane, it was a plane flying with a key component missing — namely, the risk officer, an executive whose job it is to, well, manage risk. This is sort of an important thing, as risks can be anything from reputational to regulatory to financial.

FTX was named such as it was because it was a futures exchange, which, to borrow a phrase from Bloomberg’s Matt Levine, “sits between the winners and losers of bets.” That means FTX can’t pay out what it owes the winners unless the losers pay up. Risk management is a crucial part of the business; risk officers exist to identify business’ potential risks, monitor, and mitigate them. This is to say nothing of the regulatory risks around crypto.

As Cohen droned on about airplanes, I couldn’t stop thinking about the missing risk officer. Bringing it up, I thought, was a tremendous mistake. The prosecution hadn’t mentioned it. Either Bankman-Fried is stupid — unlikely — or he deliberately didn’t hire a risk officer. Was he worried about what one might find?

Sure, as Cohen put it, Bankman-Fried was a math nerd who didn’t party. That paints a picture of someone who’s pretty deliberate, particularly since he immediately left MIT and went to work on Wall Street. If he had been a party-hardy trainwreck, I could see overlooking a risk officer in order to do another line, or a supermodel, or something else important. Why was the defense bringing this up?

But as Cohen tried to tell me that FTX’s and Alameda’s business relationships were “reasonable under the circumstances,” the lack of risk officer kept elbowing me in the ribs. “Sam acted in good faith and took reasonable business measures” is a pretty hard pill to swallow with that in mind.

Man, it’s no good when your defense lawyer has just made you sound worse than the prosecution already did. And while Cohen tried to make the common white-collar defense argument that Bankman-Fried, as CEO, was simply too busy to oversee what everyone did every day, he just made me more suspicious. That’s why you hire a risk officer and delegate! That’s the whole point! I could barely even hear Cohen blaming Caroline Ellison and Changpeng “CZ” Zhao for the debacle over the “no risk officer” ringing in my ears.

---

Following the defense’s opening statements, things got still worse for Bankman-Fried. The prosecution called its first witness, Marc-Antoine Julliard, whose money got stuck on FTX. Juilliard, who was born in Paris and lives in London, testified that he trusted FTX because Bankman-Fried came across as a leading figure of the industry. When he was evaluating the exchange, he thought the sheer volume of users was important, too — at the time, FTX was among the top three biggest exchanges. Plus, major VC firms had invested, and “they don’t commit hundreds of millions without doing due diligence, checking the books, the accountancy of the firm, going through several compliance process[es], so that was a vote of confidence for me,” Juilliard said. (Evidently he had not paid attention to the Elizabeth Holmes trial.)

He also noted FTX’s glossy ads — featuring Gisele Bündchen, for instance — suggested a very high budget. It wouldn’t make sense to spend that much money unless FTX had very strong financials, Juilliard figured. He opened an account, transferred in both regular money and cryptocurrency, and used the exchange to execute his plan: buying Bitcoin to sell back in five to ten years at higher prices.

It is a thankless task to cross-examine a customer whose money is gone

In November 2022, things went bad for Julliard. He followed Bankman-Fried on Twitter, and read aloud the “FTX is fine. Assets are fine” tweets, along with “FTX has enough to cover all client holdings. We don’t invest client assets” and a few others, which gave Julliard the impression that his money was there — the problem might have been technical (anti-spam measures) or regulatory. When he tried to get his money out on November 8th, it was too late. We saw screenshots of his withdrawal attempts: $20,000 USD and about 4 Bitcoin, which were worth about $20,000 at the time: about $100,000 money, inaccessible.

It is a thankless task to cross-examine a customer whose money is gone, but Cohen tried anyway. He noted that Julliard was a licensed commodities broker, who was trading in crypto because he didn’t have to disclose it; that Julliard knew that crypto was new and risky, and that Julliard didn’t review the terms of service agreement he’d assented to when making his FTX account.

Well, sure, but so what?

The next witness called was Bankman-Fried’s former college (and FTX) roommate, Adam Yedidia, about whom I expect I will have much more to say tomorrow.

When the jury was dismissed, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers told the judge that he wasn’t getting his full Adderall doses in prison. The defense appeared to be setting up the grounds for an appeal — it’s previously argued that the prison withholding Adderall made it difficult for Bankman-Fried to prepare his defense. Given what I saw today, setting up an appeal seems wise. It is, at minimum, risk management.

Roku’s next update focuses on sports, live TV, and easier content discovery

Roku’s next update focuses on sports, live TV, and easier content discovery

Image: Roku

Today, Roku outlined a slew of new software features that owners of its streaming devices (or Roku TVs) can expect over the coming weeks and months. The company has over 73 million active accounts globally, and as always, it’s trying to increase the amount of time each of those users spends on the platform. This time, it’s doing so with a wide range of features, with some targeted at sports fans and others at casual viewers who want yet more help finding something to watch.

Roku’s sports hub will soon let you “favorite” your chosen teams, which will make it easier to track when games are happening and faster to hop into the relevant streaming app and start watching. Highlights are also coming to the sports section, and Roku says “users will be able to watch clips from recent sporting events they may have missed or want to relive.” The company is expanding its foray into sports with the addition of motorsports in early 2024. But even before that, Roku says it will support Max’s upcoming sports content sometime in the next few weeks.

Image: Roku

Sports favoriting will make it simpler to track specific teams.

With the proliferation of FAST (free ad-supported streaming television) channels across Roku and many other entertainment platforms in recent months, users have asked for easier customization and browsing options, and Roku has some solutions. It already lets you hide channels you’re not interested in, and soon, you’ll be able to go a step further and personalize the order of channels in the guide.

To help customers avoid indecision over the night’s entertainment, Roku is also refining its “What to Watch” section with new categories that drill deeper into specific categories like TV shows, movies, new and popular, and free-to-watch content. “New experiences related to a specific genre or topic such as food or home will roll out across the platform in the coming months. Within these new experiences, users can browse through a curated selection of entertainment specific to each genre,” the company said.

Image: Roku

You’ll soon be able to set Google Photos albums as the screensaver on Roku devices.

If you’re someone who uses Roku’s Photo Streams feature, the biggest news of this entire update might be the addition of Google Photos support. Now, you can link an album and have it appear as your screensaver. For owners of Roku’s smart home cameras, the company is also adding more thorough event history and instant notifications for customers with a subscription.

Image: Roku

Expert settings will allow for more extensive calibration.

This last new feature will be welcomed by picture quality nerds like myself: Roku is bringing its expert picture settings to all of its 4K-compatible devices. Previously available only via the company’s mobile app, now you’ll be able to adjust settings like color temperature, color space, gamma correction, and noise reduction right from the TV itself instead of reaching for your phone.

Rounding out the Roku OS 12.5 update is an “enhanced” music experience within The Roku Channel:

We’re enhancing the music experience in The Roku Channel to make it easier for customers to enjoy more than 250 video playlists from our partners, including Stingray, Vevo, and Warner Music Group. Whether they’re listening to “Relaxing Jazz,” watching “Iconic Music Videos,” or revisiting their favorite “Boy Bands,” users will enjoy a more immersive experience, with new controls to shuffle, skip ahead, add video playlists to their Save List for listening, receive recommendations for similar playlists, and more.

As for hardware, Roku is largely sticking with its existing product lineup this fall. The company recently announced an Amazon-exclusive bundle that pairs the Roku Express 4K with the Voice Remote Pro, but it looks like the streaming player portfolio is locked in for the remainder of the year.

Roku customers in the US can expect the 12.5 OS update to start popping up sometime over the next few weeks.

How to Make the Audio in Your Projects Sound Better

How to Make the Audio in Your Projects Sound Better The right hardware and software — combined with time to learn — can improve the soundtrack in your videos, podcasts and other creative endeavors.

Meta’s new AI-generated stickers are lewd, rude, and occasionally nude

Meta’s new AI-generated stickers are lewd, rude, and occasionally nude

Would you believe this was probably the safest image we could have used here? | Image: Meta / @Pioldes

Some early user tests for Meta’s new AI-generated sticker tool have resulted in some dubious (and rather hilarious) creations. After gaining access to the new AI-generated sticker tool on Facebook Messenger, X user @Pioldes was able to create a host of inappropriate sticker images — including child soldiers, gun-wielding Nintendo characters, Mickey Mouse taking a crap, and nude illustrations of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Other examples show that Meta’s AI-sticker tool will also happily slap a pair of breasts onto…well, just about anything, judging by the busty images of Sonic the Hedgehog and Karl Marx. There’s even a sticker that depicts a woman breastfeeding Pikachu.

found out that facebook messenger has ai generated stickers now and I don't think anyone involved has thought anything through pic.twitter.com/co987cRhyu

— podesbiens.bsky.social (@Pioldes) October 3, 2023

The AI-generated chat stickers were announced last week at Meta’s Connect event, alongside a new AI image editor for Instagram. Powered by Meta’s Llama 2 large language model — the company’s ChatGPT rival — AI-generated stickers allow users to create “multiple unique, high-quality stickers in seconds” using text-based prompts. AI-generated stickers are currently rolling out to “select English language users” for Facebook Stories, Instagram Stories and DMs, Messenger, and WhatsApp over this month, so it’s unclear how many users currently have access to the feature.

I'm still trying to figure out if I love this or hate this pic.twitter.com/rrm6oKyVQb

— Kazzer✘ (@kazzerx) October 4, 2023

Certain words do seem to be blocked and using them in prompts will warn the user that their description might violate Meta’s community guidelines. However, other X users have reported that you can still generate inappropriate content using typos or descriptions of restricted words. In some cases, prompts like “World Trade Center” generated problematic images without any additional descriptors at all.

LPT: typos of restricted words will eventually generate the prohibited content! pic.twitter.com/6PnrTJ3U7x

— Buttered Jorts (@ajn142) October 4, 2023

This sort of tomfoolery is common with the launch of AI tools and likely why Meta is pursuing a limited rollout of the AI-generated sticker feature. That way it can address and correct abuse before it spreads to the masses. We have reached out to Meta for comment and will update this story if we hear back.

Nintendo’s Wii U and 3DS online services will shut down in April

Nintendo’s Wii U and 3DS online services will shut down in April

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge

Next spring, Nintendo will shut down the online services behind nearly all 3DS and Wii U software, affecting both first-party titles and third-party software (with some exceptions). News of this early April 2024 shutdown follows the return of online features for the Wii U versions of Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon, which had disappeared between March and August while Nintendo dealt with “vulnerability related to online play.”

One title that will continue operating, for now, is Pokémon Bank, and gaming offline is still possible. Also, this FAQ from Nintendo says that players will be able to download patches and redownload games purchased from the eShop “for the foreseeable future.” eShop sales of Wii U and 3DS games ended in March of this year.

As of early April 2024, online play and other functionality that uses online communication will end service for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software. Thank you very much for your continued support of our products.

Find out more: https://t.co/nOyzBImHCE

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) October 4, 2023

SpotPass features are also going away, but Nintendo says that StreetPass between 3DS family systems will continue to work anywhere you can find someone else who has one, even after these servers go away.

This planned early April 2024 shutdown will occur just over ten years after the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Service went offline, ending online services for Nintendo’s Wii and DS titles in 2014.

With 13 million or so sales since its 2012 launch, the Wii U was one of the worst-performing consoles in Nintendo’s history. After it was discontinued in 2017, the company moved on from that era with ports and sequels of its best games that made the originals seem obsolete. Earlier this year, there were reports of memory errors that may make maintaining archives of the system’s games on original hardware even more difficult.

The 3DS had a slow start when it launched in 2010 but eventually moved over 75 million units, with strong sales that continued even after the launch of the Switch before it was discontinued in 2020.

If you’re wondering what this suggests for the future of Nintendo’s other online services, this summer, its CEO Shuntaro Furukawa said the current Nintendo Account system is key to smooth its transition to a new generation of hardware after the Switch. He noted how difficult it was to rebuild customer relationships each time it launched a new network with previous systems.

The entire story of Twitter / X under Elon Musk

The entire story of Twitter / X under Elon Musk

Image: Laura Normand / The Verge

Forget Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and The Boring Company — Elon Musk is now the owner of Twitter.

Elon Musk bought Twitter, and now he’s rebranding it as X. Signs have gone up (and back down), icons are changing, and an old plan is new.

How’d we get here?

On April 4th, 2022, we learned that Musk had purchased enough shares of Twitter to become its largest individual shareholder. Eventually, he followed up with an unsolicited offer to buy 100 percent of Twitter’s shares for $54.20 each, or about $44 billion. Twitter accepted Musk’s offer, but then things got weird because he tried to cancel the deal.

There was a lot of back-and-forth about bots and text messages, but in the end, Musk settled on buying the company rather than facing a deposition or Chancery Court trial and eventually strode into Twitter HQ carrying a sink.

Since then, there have been layoffs, more layoffs, and even more layoffs — plus drama over Substack, unpaid bills, and blue checkmarks. With ad revenue still down from previous years, Elon finally abdicated the role of CEO in May 2023, installing longtime NBCUniversal ad executive Linda Yaccarino.

Read on for the latest updates about what’s going on inside Twitter right now.

X has to pay $1.1 million in legal fees for ex-Twitter execs

X has to pay $1.1 million in legal fees for ex-Twitter execs

Illustration: The Verge

A judge has ruled that X, the platform previously known as Twitter, must pay $1.1 million in legal fees associated with the investigations of the platform that unfolded during Elon Musk’s buyout of the platform last year, according to a report from Bloomberg.

As noted by Bloomberg, Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick ruled in favor of former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, former lead policy officer Vijaya Gadde, and other executives, as Twitter “violated its duties to cover legal expenses generated by their work for the company.”

Elon Musk fired Agrawal and other high-level leaders once he took over the company and after Twitter sued Musk for attempting to back out of his agreement for the $44 billion acquisition.

In April, Agrawal and Gadde filed a lawsuit against X for allegedly failing to pay for their legal bills, including bills for Gadde’s appearance before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. X has only paid around $600,000 of the amount owed, Bloomberg reports, with the company’s lawyer saying X officials got “sticker shock” after they saw the “quite excessive” $1.1 million legal bill from Gadde’s lawyers.

While Judge McCormick agreed that $1.1 million is a lot of money, she still ruled in the former Twitter executive’s favor. “I have reviewed the amount in question, and although it is high and probably higher than most humans would like to pay, it’s not unreasonable,” Judge McCormick said, according to Bloomberg.”