Behold! Someone is investing in a podcast company
The Verge
Behold! Someone is investing in a podcast company
Could it be a sign that the tide is turning? Danish podcast and audiobook subscription service Podimo announced a new funding round worth €44 million ($48.4 million). Participants in the round include previous investors Augustinus Fabrikker and HighlandX, as well as the Danish Export and Investment Fund.
“This investment allows Podimo to continue our strong growth trajectory while orienting the company towards profitability,” Morten Strunge, CEO of Podimo, said in a statement. “This funding isn’t solely about financial support. While profitability remains a key objective, our investment focus extends beyond financial milestones. We are resolutely committed to enhancing our product and sustaining a healthy business model that benefits creators and listeners alike.”
As other companies, most notably Spotify, back away from exclusivity, Podimo is sticking with it. The app has a library of more than 70,000 audiobooks and 1,000 exclusive podcasts. According to the release, the company’s subscriber base has expanded by 80 percent in the last year. But it still has not entered the major English-language markets. The app is only available in Latin America and a handful of European countries including Denmark, Norway, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Finland.
Earlier this week, I talked about Podimo with Podnews’ James Cridland, The Squeeze’s Skye Pillsbury, and Oxford Road’s Dan Granger on The Media Roundtable (episode out December 27th if you aren’t swimming in a sea of eggnog). And it is definitely an interesting company! But it is also not clear to me (despite previously asking for financials) how well the model is working when similar endeavors have faltered (i.e., Luminary). I also have not been able to get my hands on it, so if you have and have opinions on the app, feel free to reach out.
New York’s attorney general says SiriusXM’s annoying cancellation process is actually illegal
SiriusXM is getting sued by the state of New York for making it too difficult for subscribers to cancel their plans. The suit claims that customers who want to cancel are required to chat over the phone or online with an agent who bombards them with questions and offers. “Sirius deliberately wastes its subscribers’ time even though it has the ability to process cancellations with the click of a button,” the suit reads.
I am not going to lie, I chuckled at the idea that SiriusXM is getting slammed for wasting people’s time, a thing of which most companies (and humans) are guilty. But SiriusXM’s alleged practices do seem excessive, if true. Attorney General Letitia James’ office claims that SiriusXM’s own data reveals that because of all the wait times and obstacles, it takes subscribers an average of 11.5 minutes to cancel by phone and 30 minutes to cancel online. The suit is seeking damages for affected customers, as well as a $5,000 penalty to the state of New York for each violation.
“Having to endure a lengthy and frustrating process to cancel a subscription is a stressful burden no one looks forward to, and when companies make it hard to cancel subscriptions, it’s illegal,” James said in a statement. “Consumers should be able to cancel a subscription they no longer use or need without any issues, and companies have a legal duty to make their cancellation process easy.”
Clearly, some people have managed to endure SiriusXM’s cancellation process. The company reported a drop of 336,000 subscribers to its flagship satellite radio service in the first nine months of 2023.
“It’s telling that the New York Attorney General issued a press release before providing SiriusXM with a copy of the complaint,” SiriusXM spokesperson Jessica Casano-Antonellis said in a statement. “Like a number of consumer businesses, we offer a variety of options for customers to sign up for or cancel their SiriusXM subscription and, upon receiving and reviewing the complaint, we intend to vigorously defend against these baseless allegations that grossly mischaracterize SiriusXM’s practices.”
The long-term trend away from broadcast means that SiriusXM has had to get creative about its future. That is why it snatched up Stitcher in 2020 and Team Coco in 2022, and handed out lucrative distribution deals to top podcasts Crime Junkie and Pod Save America. It is also why the company revamped its app last month as something that looks and flows more like a typical streaming app.
We’ll have to see how successful the lawsuit is. I think if SiriusXM’s practices are ruled to be illegal, then that is less an audio world problem than it is a subscription-based business problem. Genuinely, what would happen to every gym in NYC?
The Apple Watch ban is preventing repairs of many models
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Not only has Apple halted online sales of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra Series 2 (with in-store sales to follow), but the company’s ongoing patent rift with medical device maker Masimo has another ripple effect: out-of-warranty hardware repairs for several Apple Watch models are now unavailable to customers. That’s according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who reports that Apple has informed customer service employees that out-of-warranty hardware repairs and whole unit replacements for the Apple Watch Series 6 onward (with the exception of the SE) will be unavailable for the duration of the ban imposed by the US International Trade Commission.
If you own one of the models included in the ban and your device is out of warranty, well, you should be extra careful with Apple’s smartwatch starting right now. Products under warranty (or the extended AppleCare Plus program) aren’t affected by this situation. Customers will be notified when hardware replacements are permitted, according to Gurman’s report.
This gives Apple yet another critical reason to resolve the patent dispute with Masimo. The Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 are currently unavailable from Apple’s online store during the final stretch of holiday shopping, though both models can still be purchased in Apple’s physical stores, which will pull the devices after December 24th. Third-party retailers can continue selling them after that, but supply is likely to dwindle since Apple is barred from importing more Apple Watch devices until it resolves the patent dispute.
The patent dispute revolves around the SpO2 sensor built into the Apple Watch Series 6, 7, 8, 9, Ultra, and Ultra 2. Apple is said to be working on a software update that could avoid further infringement of Masimo’s patents, though the medical device maker believes the issue fundamentally relates to hardware and will require deeper changes.
Elon Musk’s X platform, previously known as Twitter, mostly stopped working for more than an hour. In mobile apps, the timelines wouldn’t refresh, and on the web, a placeholder message proclaimed, “Welcome to X! This is the best place to see what’s happening in your world. Find some people and topics to follow now.” The global internet trackers at Netblocks noted a “significant international outage” that wasn’t linked to any country-level blocks or filtering.
At about 1:35AM ET, shortly after this article was published, access to timelines was restored, although we haven’t heard what caused the problem.
Oddly, posting to the site still worked, even if the posts disappeared after a refresh, and accounts followed with notifications turned on still appeared in that feed, along with push notifications for new posts. There was even a Space hosted by New York Times reporter Ryan Mac, with over 800 people discussing the outage despite the inability to see new posts.
Image: Screenshot of Twitter.com
“Welcome to X!”
The blanked-out timelines also meant accounts for owner / CTO Elon Musk, Support, or X CEO Linda Yaccarino couldn’t display any useful information, and the API Status page for the service didn’t update to note any issues.
On DownDetector, reports of problems appear to have started just before 12:30AM ET, and so far, we’ve seen no indication of what might have caused the problem or how long it could take until service is restored.
This isn’t the only major outage for the site in recent days. Another issue broke outgoing links for a couple of hours last week. As usual, the platform’s PR account email responded only with an automatic “Busy now, please check back later” message, so anyone paying for Premium service (or hoping to be paid) will have to check elsewhere for news on its status.
Update December 21st, 1:50AM ET:Updated to note that service has been restored.
N.J. Deli Scheme Leads to Guilty Plea to Securities Fraud James T. Patten admitted to orchestrating misleading trades involving the deli’s parent company in an apparent bid to enrich himself and two co-defendants.
Here are the shipping and return policies for all the big-name retailers
Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images
With the holidays now just around the corner, everyone is double-checking their lists and figuring out the fastest way to get those gifts in time. Thankfully, many retailers are offering generous shipping policies for their products, with some offering free two-day shipping or even same-day delivery if you pay extra. And just in case the gift you choose isn’t quite right, many retailers are also offering extended return policies so your giftee can get something more to their liking.
For your convenience, we’ve collected the current return policies for several major retailers below, highlighting which will give you a little more time to place that order or start a return. Hopefully, knowing more about how much leeway you have will help lessen that inevitable holiday angst (fingers crossed).
Amazon
Shipping: Same-day delivery is not available on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. However, Prime members can get free same-day delivery on select products in qualifying ZIP codes through December 24th, provided they meet the “minimum threshold” (which varies by location) of eligible items in their cart. One-Day Delivery with no minimum purchase amount required is also available to Prime members for qualifying products through December 23rd, while Two-Day Delivery is available through December 22nd. Non-Prime buyers will find shipping options on the order page of each specific product.
Returns: During the holidays, most items purchased between November 1st and December 31st can be returned until January 31st, 2024. Apple products, however, must be returned by January 15th, 2024. Note that this policy applies to both Prime and non-Prime buyers.
Apple Store Beijing
Apple
Shipping: Apple has a guide outlining specific cut-off dates for most items, which you can find here. Generally speaking, however, Apple recommends that you order products by 12PM on December 21st if you want to receive them by Christmas Eve, though engraved items won’t ship in time by Christmas. If you buy directly from Apple, standard shipping is free on all orders. Apple also offers two-hour delivery from local stores if you pay $9 extra.
Returns: Except for T-Mobile-financed iPhones, all products purchased online between November 3rd and December 25th can be returned through January 8th, 2024. Purchases made after December 25th are subject to the usual terms and conditions, and must be returned within 14 calendar days of your initial purchase date.
Target
Shipping: Target offers free two-day shipping on many orders if you spend $35 or more or use your Target RedCard. If you place an order by 6PM local time on December 24th, you can take advantage of same-day delivery. If you pay extra for Shipt, you can also get gifts within an hour on Christmas Eve provided you place orders before 4PM local time.
Returns: Target allows electronics and entertainment items (excluding Apple products) purchased between October 1st through December 24th to be returned as late as January 24th, 2024, for a full refund. Apple products (excluding phones) purchased during the same window must be returned by January 9th, 2024. Any phone purchases made must be returned by January 8th, 2024.
Walmart
Shipping: For eligible orders of $35 or more, Walmart provides free next-day delivery in eligible ZIP codes, free two-day delivery, or free standard shipping. However, be aware you must order your gifts by 2PM local time on December 21st to get them in time for Christmas. Walmart Plus subscribers also get free next-day and two-day shipping with no order minimum.
Same-day delivery is available on December 24th for orders made by 12PM local time. If you’re willing to pay a $10 Express Delivery fee, Walmart will also deliver your packages in less than two hours on Christmas Eve if you order by 12PM local time. Plus subscribers may be exempt from paying this fee, however, as members get one Express Delivery for free during the month of December.
Returns: Most items purchased between October 1st and December 31st may be returned until January 31st, 2024. Some exceptions, like phones, may apply.
B&H
Shipping: During the holidays, B&H offers free two-day and next-day shipping on select items, including discounted products. Most other products are eligible for free standard shipping (that’s one to seven business days), and free expedited shipping (one to three business days) is generally available for items over $49.
Returns: B&H allows purchases bought between October 29th and January 1st, 2024, to be returned or exchanged through January 31st, 2024 (with the usual exceptions of non-returnable items such as computers or TVs whose packaging has been opened).
Photo by Umar Shakir
Best Buy
Shipping: Best Buy is offering free next-day and two-day shipping on qualifying orders for My Best Buy Plus and My Best Buy Total members. Non-members, meanwhile, can get free next-day shipping on qualifying orders totaling $35 or more.
If you’re ordering a gift for Christmas, you have until 11:30AM ET on December 21st if you want your gift to ship for free and arrive by December 23rd. Some items also qualify for free next-day delivery through December 23rd. If you place an order by 12PM local time, you can also take advantage of free same-day delivery on December 23rd or 24th.
Returns: Purchases made between October 27th and December 30th can be returned through January 13th, 2024. This doesn’t include items that come with a third-party contract, such as phones, cellular tablets, and wearables (which have a 14-day return period), or holiday products, such as tree decorations and major appliances, which have a 15-day return window. My Best Buy Plus and Total members also have until January 13th for any purchases made between October 24th and November 16th, or 60 days from receipt, whichever is longer.
Costco
Shipping: At Costco, shipping fees depend on the product and the shipping method, though in many cases shipping is free. The wholesale retailer also offers a variety of delivery options, including “white glove” service for larger appliances. You can get your gift in time for Christmas without paying for shipping when you place a qualifying order by 2:59PM ET on December 20th. Same-day delivery is also available on some items via Costco’s partnership with Instacart.
Returns: Costco generally has an open return policy, except for electronics such as TVs and computers, which have a 90-day return window. There are other exceptions, though, which are listed on its return page.
Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge
GameStop
Shipping: GameStop currently offers free shipping on orders over $35. It also offers same-day delivery in certain locations if you order from your local store at least three hours before closing.
Returns: Products purchased between November 19th and December 24th can be returned by January 13th, 2024. The package must be unopened, however, and certain items like trading cards, clearance items, and seasonal products can’t be returned.
Dell
Shipping: Most of Dell’s products come with free standard shipping (no minimum purchase necessary), and some gifts may ship for free in time for Christmas if you place your order by December 21st. The delivery window can vary based on your order, but Dell does offer expedited shipping options as well as a delivery date estimate based on the zip code you provide at checkout.
Returns: Dell offers a 30-day return policy with some exceptions; a restocking fee of up to 15 percent may be charged.
DJI
Shipping: DJI offers free shipping on purchases of $149 or more. Otherwise, shipping fees are specified on the order form. Shipment times can vary for each product depending on availability.
Returns: DJI offers returns within 14 days of receiving the purchase, provided it remains in like-new condition or suffers from some type of manufacturing defect.
Google
Shipping: All standard orders qualify for free shipping with no minimum. Just note that this applies to the lowest-cost shipping available, which may not be the fastest.
Returns: Google hasn’t outlined any special holiday return policies. Currently, all purchases are still subject to the standard terms and conditions, which allow you to return most items up to 15 days after receipt. However, Nest Thermostats and Verizon contract phones have an extended, 30-day return window.
HP
Shipping: For many items, standard (three- to six-day) shipping is free. You can get your gifts in time for Christmas if you place an order by December 20th, though you’ll have to pay extra for priority shipping. HP will not ship or deliver items on Christmas, Thanksgiving, or New Year’s Day.
Returns: Items purchased between November 1st and December 1st can be returned until January 15th, 2024. There are exceptions, however, and select items may be subject to a restocking fee of up to 15 percent. Returns totaling more than $250 may also require additional review before your return request is approved.
Microsoft
Shipping: Most products sold through the online Microsoft Store include free two- to three-day shipping with express shipping available for an additional fee. To receive your gifts by Christmas Eve, however, you’ll have to place your order by 2PM ET on December 22nd.
Returns: You can return most physical products purchased online from the Microsoft Store within 60 days of receiving the product, provided they’re in like-new condition. The item must also be in its original packaging with all parts, manuals, and anything else that was originally sent with the product included. Items exempt from this policy include digital gift cards and gift cards for services and subscriptions, as well as select hardware (including the HoloLens 2).
Newegg
Shipping: Many of Newegg’s items come with free shipping and are delivered within one to five business days; for details, check the individual product page. If you want your gifts to arrive in time for Christmas, you’ll have to place your order by December 21st.
Returns: Qualifying items purchased between October 9th and December 31st can be returned or replaced until January 31st, 2024.
Sam’s Club
Shipping: According to the Sam’s Club FAQ, the shipping cost for most items varies based on the item’s size, weight, shipping method, and delivery address. Plus Members get free shipping on many online items, and same-day delivery is available for free if you’re a Club or Plus member and place your order by 1PM local time (or by 12PM local time on Christmas Eve).
Returns: Sam’s Club has no specified return period; some return periods may be stated for specific products. For example, electronics and major appliances have a 90-day return window, while phones are subject to a 14-day return policy.
Sonos
Shipping: Sonos offers free shipping on all of its products, with in-stock items typically shipping the same day they’re purchased. If you want to receive your items by Christmas, though, you’ll likely have to pay extra for two-day or express shipping.
Returns: Sonos gives you 45 days to return a purchase and even offers free return shipping. However, you must have bought the product directly from Sonos and the return must be initiated within 45 days of your purchase. The product must also include the original packaging and be in new or as-new condition to be eligible.
Update 6:20PM ET, December 20th:Updated the shipping deadlines and return policies as they pertain to the 2023 holiday season.
The four podcast stories that will shape 2024
Image: The Verge
This is Hot Pod, The Verge’s newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign upherefor more.
Hello! Apologies for the late send, I have been buried in Hot Pod Summit prep. I promise it will be worth it! We’re putting together a great lineup for 2024. We’re still working on our invitation list — if you’re interested in attending, let us know here.
This is about the time yakky media folks like myself come out with predictions for next year. Nick Quah published takes from people across the industry today for Vulture. Yesterday, The Podglomerate’s Joni Deutsch had a piece for Nieman Lab with her own predictions. I highly recommend checking out both!
Today, I don’t have predictions so much as stories on which I am keeping a close watch. Let’s get into it.
Talent deals up for renewal
Many of those big-money, multiyear deals announced in 2020 and 2021 are coming up for renewal in 2024. Companies spent tens of millions of dollars (or, in Joe Rogan’s case, hundreds of millions of dollars) to snatch up top podcasting talent. Now, they have to decide: was it worth it, and will it be worth it to play that game again?
As media companies become more austere in their spending, it is easy to assume that we won’t see these minimum guarantee deals again. But celebrity chat shows, for better or worse, have endured. Rogan is still untouchable, SmartLess is bigger than ever, and Apple just named Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ podcast Show of the Year. One agent told me that despite the doom and gloom of the industry, their clients have had a growth year. These hosts have audiences, and audio companies are going to have to pay up to keep them.
That is not to say everyone will get a renewal or that a renewal will mean the same kind of deal as before. Arrangements in which the minimum guarantee is smaller but the revenue potential is higher (like with Trevor Noah’s Spotify deal) could become more common.
And not everyone may get a renewal, after all! It’s hard to see how Spotify would not fight for Rogan or SiriusXM would not pay to keep Ashley Flowers. But maybe that is less of a priority for, say, Dax Shepard. Armchair Expert ranked ninth on Apple Podcasts in 2020 and was snatched up by Spotify in 2021. Since then, it has lost its buzz, and Spotify decided to distribute it across platforms earlier this year (which the company has not done with its two biggest stars, Rogan and Alex Cooper). Today, Armchair Expert ranks 30th on Spotify and 118th on Apple. That is nothing to sniff at, but I would be surprised if he got another $50 million deal.
Regulatory changes in Europe
Some long-simmering tech regulation in Europe is going to come to a head next year. This has been championed first and foremost by Spotify, which has railed against Apple’s control over in-app payments for subscriptions and audiobooks. But if things shake out the way the EU intends, it could make for a more competitive audio industry overall.
In 2022, the European Union adopted the Digital Markets Act as law, which prevents “gatekeeper” companies (Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, ByteDance, and Microsoft) from employing practices that derail smaller tech companies. There is a lot involved, but one of the key tenets is banning those companies from self-preferencing their own products and services in places such as search (Google) or marketplaces (the App Store). Those companies have until March to be in compliance with the new law.
This could potentially be great for Spotify’s bottom line. It could also make it easier for audio startups to compete in the open market. The tangible effects in the US next year will be minimal, if they are anything at all. But if the next great audio company can emerge in this new landscape, the podcast industry may have something to gain in the long run.
More AI (duh)
This year, I noticed a distinct shift in the industry’s attitude toward AI. When I left for maternity leave in April, people (including me!!) seemed to be really nervous about what innovations in AI technology would mean for podcasting, especially as examples mostly came in the form of fully AI-generated podcasts like The Joe Rogan AI Experience. When I got back in September, it seemed like people had reached the stage of AI acceptance.
I don’t think that means we will see too many significant podcasts that are totally AI. Instead, I think it means we will see AI seep into podcasting in subtle ways. Voice cloning technology, like that by ElevenLabs, is getting better and has been used by studios like Dear Media for Believable: The Coco Berthmann Story and Vox Media Podcast Network for Land of the Giants’ season on Tesla. Spotify’s new tool that automatically translates podcasts into other languages could be a game-changer for scaling shows. And there are probably a million other ways it can be used that I am not thinking about because that is simply not how my brain works.
If my vibe earlier this year was that the robots will destroy all media jobs (still a possibility!!), I am more hopeful that there are ways AI can be deployed that do not fundamentally alter the core of a podcast.
A year for reinvention
I know you are already aware of this, but alotofpeoplewerelaidoffthisyear. It has been devastating to watch talented producers, engineers, and ad professionals be cut adrift because of companies that got into podcasting without a solid strategy. Unfortunately, some of them won’t be able to wait around for those jobs to come back and will move on to other sectors. But some will remain and make things that push the industry forward.
I want to be clear, this is not a replacement for good jobs that allow people to live their lives while making good work (and, you know, have health insurance). But out from under the thumb of corporate overlords who demand yet another true crime show or haphazardly throw in programmatic ads or impose (and then change) metrics, people in podcasting will innovate. Maybe that means funky show concepts that would never get approved by a SiriusXM or Spotify. Or that could mean alternate business models and ownership structures. Or maybe we will even get that long-anticipated fix for podcast discovery.
This time last year, things (rightfully) seemed bleak. And people have a lot of right to feel betrayed by the companies that threw money at podcasting just to drop it a few years later. But I am hopeful that 2024 will bring good things in podcasting, though probably not from the people or places you expect.
Anything you are thinking about going into the new year? Feel free to reach out at ariel.shapiro@theverge.com.
NASA Streams Cat Video From Deep, Deep Space Using laser communication, NASA streamed a cat video from almost 20 million miles away, or 40 round trip flights to the moon.
Volkswagen, Porsche, and Audi finally say they will use Tesla’s EV charging plug
Image: VW
Volkswagen Group, which also owns Audi, Porsche, and Scout Motors, is finally doing what nearly every other automaker has already done: announce its intention to adopt Tesla’s electric vehicle charging standard.
VW said it is “exploring adapter solutions” so that its current EV owners can access Tesla’s Supercharger network and expects to have something to roll out by 2025. That same year, you’ll start to see new VW electric vehicles rolling off the assembly line with Tesla’s charging port natively installed. All told, VW says the deal will give its customers access to 15,000 Supercharger locations in North America.
Of course, VW is incredibly late to this parade. Things started rolling in November 2022, when Tesla announced that it was renaming its charging technology to the North American Charging Standard (NACS) and would be opening it up to other automakers. Ford came first, then GM, and then, well, everyone else.
Volkswagen Group, one of the world’s largest automakers, with brands like Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche, and Lamborghini under its umbrella, stayed mum throughout. All we got was some reporting that the company was “in talks” with Tesla. That story followed the news that Electrify America, VW’s EV charging subsidiary, would begin adding Tesla charging plugs itself. The rest of Germany’s auto industry soon followed, including BMW, Mini, and Mercedes-Benz.
Until recently, Tesla Superchargers were exclusive to Tesla owners. In fact, it was one of Tesla’s main selling points: consistent, exclusive, and abundant EV charging. But that began to change several years ago when the company started offering access to non-Tesla EVs —first in Europe and then in the US after the Biden administration said it would be a prerequisite to tap into some of the $7.5 billion for EV charging in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
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.
Now, with VW out of the way, Tesla can train all of its attention on the last real holdout: Stellantis, which owns brands like Jeep, Chrysler, Ram, Dodge, Peugeot, Fiat, and many more.
Disney drops Marvel lead Jonathan Majors following assault verdict
Image: Disney
Disney has dropped Jonathan Majors from his leading Marvel role as Kang the Conqueror after he was found guilty of reckless assault in the third degree and of harassment, according to The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. The verdict comes after a two-week trial following Majors’ arrest last March after an altercation with his ex-partner Grace Jabbari.
Marvel had been setting up for Majors to be the next supervillain for the franchise, but now the company is changing course. It’s unclear if Disney plans to recast Kang or change its planned storylines more drastically. Majors had already appeared in both seasons of Loki and in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and was set to star in one of the next planned Avengers movies, subtitled The Kang Dynasty. However, THR says that Marvel may be looking to focus on a new villain instead and that The Kang Dynasty “is now being referred to as Avengers 5.”
After his arrest, Majors was released by his managers at Entertainment 360 and his publicity firm The Lede Company. Disney waited until the end of his trial to drop him. Disney didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Majors was accused of assaulting Jabbari. Though he was guilty of the two previously mentioned charges, he was acquitted on charges of intentional assault in the third degree and aggravated harassment in the second degree, THR reports.
EU opens formal DSA investigation into X in wake of Israel-Hamas war
Image: The Verge
X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, may have broken the European Union’s tough new Digital Service Act rules, regulators said as they announced the opening of an official investigation today.
In a press release, the European Commission said it’s focussing on four areas: the spread of illegal content, the effectiveness of X’s measures to combat the spread of disinformation, the transparency of X, and the potential “deceptive design” of X’s user interface.
“The higher the risk large platforms pose to our society, the more specific the requirements of the Digital Services Act are,” said Margrethe Vestager, EU Executive Vice-President. “We take any breach of our rules very seriously. And the evidence we currently have is enough to formally open a proceeding against X.”
We have opened formal proceedings to assess whether X may have breached the #DSA in areas linked to:
risk management
content moderation
dark patterns
advertising transparency
data access for researchers
“Today’s opening of formal proceedings against X makes it clear that, with the DSA, the time of big online platforms behaving like they are ‘too big to care’ has come to an end,” said Thierry Breton, EU commissioner for Internal markets.
How May Mobility went fully driverless while avoiding the pitfalls of robotaxis
Image: May Mobility
You probably haven’t heard of autonomous vehicle operator May Mobility because the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company is exceptionally good at avoiding the types of headlines generated by other AV companies.
In its six years in operation, there haven’t been any injuries, crashes, blocked intersections, or mass layoffs. While there have been some struggles, the company has proven to be an outlier among AV operators by continuing to raise money while others have seen their funding dry up.
And now, May Mobility is ready to go fully driverless, a milestone that has the company taking stock of its successes — and looking ahead to the future.
“It’s not robotaxis,” May Mobility CEO Edwin Olson said of his company’s business model. “We’re selling long-term transportation contracts, primarily to businesses and governments, which builds us a really easy on-ramp to deploy the technology step by step, keeping our burn rate low. And being really the most capital-efficient AV company that the world has ever seen.”
Robotaxi ventures like Waymo and Cruise say the future of autonomous driving is an Uber-like service in dense cities. They argue that the only way to recoup the costs of developing the technology is to run a 24/7 service without safety drivers, targeting as broad a section of consumers as possible.
That is not May Mobility’s strategy, which is instead focused on fixed-route transportation in geofenced, easily mapped business districts, college campuses, and closed residential communities.
“Our strategy here is to really stack the deck in our favor,” Olson said. “I think most people think about rider-only as being like a technological milestone. And it is, but it’s way more than that.”
May’s first fully driverless service on public roads will launch in Sun City, Arizona, a retirement community outside of Phoenix. The company is working with app-based microtransit service Via to connect it with potential riders. Its vehicles — Toyota Sienna minivans retrofitted with autonomous sensors and hardware — will be free to use but will only operate Monday through Friday in the afternoons.
While Phoenix has its fair share of driverless vehicles — Waymo operates there, as did Cruise before a pedestrian injury in San Francisco forced it to ground its fleet — Sun City hasn’t seen as much activity. But Olson says it’s perfect for May’s first driverless service. The lanes are wide, the pedestrian walkways are separate and protected, and the weather is mostly sunny and clear.
“We want to start in the most slam-dunk kinds of environments,” Olson said.
There has been no shortage of challenges. May’s first vehicle platform was a modified GEM shuttle that could carry around six passengers. But the vehicle struggled in inclement weather and would break down frequently, according to a 2020 story in VentureBeat. Moreover, the company found it difficult to achieve Level 4 operations in which a safety driver could be removed from the vehicle.
And its municipal partners were starting to get frustrated by the slow progress. A top Rhode Island official slammed May in a 2019 interview, criticizing the company’s inability to prove its vehicles were safer than human drivers and failing to equip its shuttles with working air conditions.
But May has shown perseverance. While other companies have shuttered or been shut down, the firm continues to putter along, currently operating in four cities.
“We have had incidents. Most of them not our fault,” Olson said. “You know, these downtown environments can be chaotic and complex.”
Much like other AV companies, May’s driverless vehicles will be monitored by a team of remote employees. The vehicles aren’t being joysticked — which is to say, they aren’t remote-operated — but the remote monitors can send suggestions when problems arise. Even so, the vehicle can choose to override the suggestion if it decides the situation is unsafe, Olson said.
Robotaxi companies like Cruise generated praise from some customers but also outrage for incidents in which its vehicles blocked emergency vehicles or created traffic headaches. Olson said that May won’t have the same problems because its customers are the cities themselves. May is incentivized to address municipal concerns or risk having its contract terminated.
“We take the welfare of cities extremely seriously,” Olson said. “We want to be the good guys in the space. We don’t want to be clogging or adding to congestion.”
E.V. Start-up Founder Could Get Prison Term in Fraud Case Trevor Milton, who founded the truck company Nikola, will be sentenced on Monday in a fraud case that exposed the excesses in the electric vehicle business.
Blue Origin will livestream its first launch in over a year tomorrow
Blue Origin will stream the launch on its site. | Screenshot: The Verge
Space tourism company Blue Origin has set its sights on a New Shepard launch window that starts tomorrow at 9:30AM ET, its first attempt since the rocket booster failed during its September 2022 launch. The company says its New Shepard rocket will launch from its Launch Site One in West Texas. Blue Origin will livestream the launch on its website 20 minutes before the countdown.
This will be the 24th launch of the reusable New Shepard rocket, and will carry 33 science payloads. Most of its launches have been uncrewed, but as Engadget noted, six of them have had human beings on board, including William Shatner. Last year, Blue Origin’s uncrewed NS-23 launch failed, prompting a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigation.
The FAA said in its September report that the “proximate cause” of the failure was an engine nozzle that succumbed to “higher than expected engine operating temperatures,” but that debris from the mishap was entirely contained in the “designated hazard area.” The agency gave the company 21 corrective actions to keep the same failure from happening again, “including redesign of engine and nozzle components” and organizational changes.
The rocket will also be carrying 38,000 postcards sent by students participating in Blue Origin’s Club for the Future program promoting STEM education. Club for the Future accepts physical postcards for New Shepard missions, but the club also sends along a hard drive filled with digital submissions.
Peloton’s app now pairs with third-party treadmills for some subscribers
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Peloton is opening up its app to third-party treadmills for running, walking, or Tread Bootcamp classes. Pelo Buddy spotted a new support page on Peloton’s site announcing that the app can now record and display metrics on any treadmill that uses Bluetooth FTMS. The offer is only open to subscribers of the company’s most expensive subscription workout plan, Peloton App Plus.
To pair, you’ll start a Tread class in the Peloton app, then tap the “Connect a Bluetooth Device” option. Pick your treadmill from the list, and a green check mark lets you know when it’s connected.
Peloton says users can check their incline, speed, pace, and distance via the app during a class session. After the class is over, the app will also show estimated calorie burn and elevation gain. Also, sessions on third-party treadmills will still count towards challenges and badges.
The ultimate app for reading the internet
Illustration: William Joel / The Verge
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 18, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, hello, happy holidays, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
I also have for you a new way to play Grand Theft Auto, some new AI-powered note-taking and journaling tools, new stuff to watch this weekend, a look into the creator economy, and much more.
I also have a question. We only have one more Installer this year, so I figured now’s the time to do it: what was your favorite thing of 2023? I promise I won’t hold this to, like, a legal standard of this is your only favorite forever. But when you look back on the last 12 months, what new show / book / blog / app / creator entered your life that you’re particularly happy about? Tell me one, or two, or three! Doesn’t have to be new this year, just new to you. Email installer@theverge.com, or text / WhatsApp me at (203) 570-8663, and tell me everything. All things Favorites, coming your way in two weeks.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What do you want to know more about? What awesome tricks do you know that everyone else should? What app should everyone be using? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you want to get Installer in your email inbox a day early, subscribe here.)
The Drop
The NPR app. If you gave me $100, I could not tell you the difference between the NPR One app and the NPR app, or why they both existed. Luckily, they don’t anymore! There is just the new and nice NPR app, which does a good job of both curating stories into newsy playlists and just playing the shows I’m looking for.
TheGTAtrilogy on Netflix. Netflix’s gaming offering is becoming really impressive, really quickly. If you’re a subscriber, you now have free access to a bunch of good games, including three all-timer GTA titles: San Andreas, Vice City, and GTA III. They’re old, but they still rip.
Finalist. One of the niftier to-do list apps I’ve seen in a while. My main issue with Finalist at the beginning was I hated the color choices. With the new version, you can design the app any way you want! And it’s still a super-simple and pretty clever tasks system.
Journaling Suggestions in Day One. When I wrote about Apple’s Journal app — which is out for everyone now in iOS 17.2! — I said that Journaling Suggestions, the API that combs through your photos, activities, locations, music, and more to offer you stuff to journal about, was the most intriguing part of the product. Day One, my favorite journaling app, now integrates Suggestions right into the app. It works really well.
Epic’s holiday sale. This is one of the better “free games!” deals you’ll find: Epic is giving away a series of older titles over the course of the holiday season. Right now it’s the Destiny 2: Legacy Collection, which is a huge amount of Destiny content — and there are 16 more games left to claim. I’ll be keeping an eye on this one over the next few days.
The new Apple TV app. Every day, I swear, my Roku TV gets a little slower. And every day, I get a little closer to just plugging in an Apple TV. I really like what Apple’s trying to do with this app — universal search, cross-platform recommendations, easy buying and renting — even though it’s missing Netflix and a few other important services.
NotebookLM. Google’s AI-powered notes app still doesn’t have many features, and I still don’t totally understand why it’s not just a feature of Keep or Docs… but it’s a nifty app nonetheless. Upload your docs, summarize them, ask questions about them, make studying or researching a little easier.
Xbox Cloud Gaming on Quest 3. This might be the best reason yet to buy a VR headset. If you’re a Game Pass subscriber, you can now connect your controller, fire up a huge virtual TV, and play games from anywhere. This is going to become part of my bedtime routine way too quickly.
Deep dive
For a really long time, Instapaper was the most-used app on my phone. (This was back in the pre-TikTok era, when I spent more time reading and less time scrolling. But let’s not dwell on that change.) I read a lot for work, I will read any celebrity profile anywhere, and I’m forever looking for a better way to manage all the stuff I have to read.
This year, kind of by accident, I wound up doing a tour of all the best options. And good news, there are a bunch of them! Instapaper is still great; Matter is gorgeous; Omnivore is super powerful; Upnext is doing some clever AI stuff; even Pocket still does the job, though I dislike a lot of its recent design changes. We’re sort of spoiled for choice in this department.
But I’ve found the one for me, at least for now. It’s Readwise Reader, which works on iOS, Android, and the web. It’s still technically in beta but is already totally indispensable in my life and workflow. Here’s a few reasons why:
Reader can handleeverything. You can save articles, upload books, add videos, import RSS feeds, subscribe to newsletters, and more. The app does a really good job of sorting things into the right places, so you’re not just stuck with a giant mass of stuff. But it can parse, store, and organize practically anything of any file type, and I love it for that.
It’s more than just a queue. The first thing I loved about Reader was the homescreen, which shows you categories like “quick reads,” “long reads,” and “recently added.” There’s also a Digest feature that just grabs a bunch of stuff you’ve saved and tells you to read it today. I try to get through my digest every day, and so I’m actually reading stuff I saved more than ever.
It’s also kind of a note-taking app. Readwise’s original shtick was to compile all your notes and highlights from places like Kindle and Pocket into a searchable, reviewable archive. With Reader, I can highlight anything I upload, or any live webpage altogether, and everything goes into that same notes archive — all of which can sync to Notion, Obsidian, or other note-taking apps, too. All my reading, and all my notes, now live in the same place.
You can… read… video. I watch a lot of YouTube, for, uh, journalism. Reader adds a (good but not perfect) transcript to every video you save, so you can highlight and take notes just like on an article. Everything gets time-stamped, too, so you can find it later. It’s so helpful.
It’s super fast. One reason I’ve stopped using Reader in the past is that the app was kind of sluggish. One of those apps that always felt like it was working, you know what I mean? But recently it has been slimmed down and sped up, and now it feels pretty zippy — except when it’s loading the AI voice to read an article aloud, which takes forever, but I don’t care for that feature much anyway.
I only have two ongoing issues with Reader, really. One, it’s not the most attractive app; it feels more Productivity Tool than Beautiful Reading Space, you know? (I hate the app icon, too. Fingers crossed there’s a better one coming.) And two, it actually might have too many features for my taste. You can add tags, there’s an Inbox and a Feed and Library and a Later and an Archive, there are a million Views, just figuring out where everything goes takes a while. Oh, and a bonus third thing: it’s not cheap. The whole Readwise service — note syncing, Kindle integration, all that — costs $8 a month. Well worth it, if you ask me, but not cheap.
Speaking of: if you use this link, I think you’ll get two free months before you start paying instead of just one. Give it a whirl, let me know what you think and what you use to read on your devices!
Screen share
Tom Warren’s home office is probably cooler than yours. It’s definitely cooler than mine! He has a teleprompter, an outrageously cool custom-built PC, some sick wall art, and more. Tom is a setup connoisseur, in addition to being The Verge’s main authority on all things Microsoft, and I appreciate him for both things.
If you want all the desk-setup deets, you can find them on Reddit or ping Tom on Threads. But I wanted to know if he cares for his small screen as much as the big ones, so I asked him to share his homescreen with us.
Here’s Tom’s homescreen, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:
The phone: iPhone 15 Pro.
The wallpaper: One of The Verge ones I think. (Editor’s note:it’s this one.)
The two widgets are smart ones that rotate between Spotify and my 30-min electricity cost on the right, and my calendar and the weather on the left. The electricity one is there to monitor the best times to run appliances and charge my EV, because electric costs in the UK spiraled after the invasion of Ukraine. I also have quick access to my security cameras through Google Home, which itself has widgets for smart home controls. I have X, Threads, and Bluesky all in one easily accessible folder because I can’t decide which one replaces Twitter!
I also asked Tom to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he shared:
The Wombles. I was a huge fan of The Wombles growing up as a kid, so when I’m not listening to EDM loudly in my headphones, you’ll find me listening to an episode of The Wombles on BBC Sounds. It’s delightfully relaxing, thanks to the voice acting of Richard E. Grant.
TeeDee. TeeDee came on my radar when he did a mix of Dave and Secondcity’s “I Wanna Feel” last year. Since then I’m fully invested in his SoundCloud because he constantly produces absolute bangers.
The Finals. I’m obsessed with The Finals at the moment. It’s a destructive first-person arena shooter that’s blowing up on Twitch and Steam. It’s a big break from the usual Call of Duty, Overwatch, or battle royale formula, and I can’t stop smiling when I find some new way to explode buildings in the game.
Crowdsourced
Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Emailinstaller@theverge.comwith your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week.
“I used this shelf app called Anybox. This app is a box to quickly access any type of item: image, text, document, and links. The app allows customization for default action based on saved item type, we can preview, copy, share, and so on.” — Krishna
“Watching Fisk on Netflix. This Australian quirky comedy just released a second season this month. I love the short 25-minute episodes, makes it easy to watch and enjoy.” — Carter
“As you were talking about media organization / collection apps, please check out the game-tracking app developed by IGN called Playlist. It is free and I am liking it.” — OK
“AI wallpapers on the Google Pixel! I’ve been hooked on creating AI wallpapers and it feels like the combinations are truly endless. Going from an AI-generated painting of a mountain and spaceships to a surreal castle made of muslin with different color shades is wildly fun!” — Michael
“Listening to TheVergecastpodcast on how Twitter officially died this year and Watching Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes animation.” — Paul
“If it hasn’t been mentioned yet, or even if it has, you should check out the show Scavengers Reign on Max. Brilliant and freaky sci-fi wonderfulness!” — Edward
“Using Calibre to subscribe to newsletters / newspapers and have them appear on my kindle every morning gives me a beautiful little ‘slow internet’ experience while I sip my coffee.” — Jon
“This week I discovered Mammoth, an insanely gorgeous Mastodon app. Until now I’ve not been able to see past Ivory. Also Longplay is a brilliant iOS app to rediscover my album collection in Apple Music.” — Chris
“Spotify audiobooks. I know you don’t own the audiobooks after but it is really convenient to get 15 hours for free. It’s enough to get me through at least one medium-sized book each month. I use it with Libby and Audible to read a bunch during the month!” — Harrison
Signing off
This week, The Verge published one of my favorite packages we’ve ever done, all about the death of Twitter. The stories are good, read them all, but seriously, y’all: you have to go to The Great Scrollback of Alexandria and spend a few minutes / hours / months scrolling through thousands of the best tweets of all time. The list reorders every time you open the page, and if there’s a bottom of the list, I sure haven’t found it. Twitter was truly a deranged, horrible, wonderful place. And if you get to the 3944 tweet (you’ll know it when you see it), just know that I laughed for fully 15 minutes at that tweet. I hope you do, too.
We’re off next week for the holiday. Hope you have a great one, and see you in two weeks!
Ro Khanna Reminds Democrats: Americans Love Money “Maybe economics is one way of starting to unify this country,” says the congressman, often mentioned as a possible 2028 presidential candidate.
US Congress pushes warrantless wiretapping decision off until April next year
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Congress has extended Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for a few more months to April 2024. According to The New York Times, the program was included in the $886 billion National Defence Authorization Act, which passed the House by a vote of 310 to 118, with support from the majority of both parties, on December 14th. FISA was due to expire on December 31st, 2023.
Senator Ron Wyden wrote in a press release on December 8th that the vote to reauthorize FISA was inserted into the NDAA “without a vote or debate” before the Senate authorized and passed it to the House. Now, the vote has headed to the desk of President Biden, who has called for it to be reauthorized.
Section 702 empowers US intelligence agencies to spy on foreign targets’ communications without a warrant and is behind much of the US intelligence community’s behind-the-scenes data collection. According to the Center for Strategic & International Studies, although it was introduced in 2008 as a counterterrorism measure, Section 702 is now used for other illicit activity like cyberattacks, foreign espionage, and, as the Biden administration notes in a release last month, drug trafficking.
Privacy advocates say the tools it provides to US spy agencies enable spying on American citizens. Such as revelations earlier this year that the FBI used it inappropriately to gather details on US citizens 280,000 times in 2020 and 2021.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and other privacy advocates wrote in a letter urging Congress not to renew Section 702 on November 21st that the FBI has used it to access the communications of “tens of thousands” of American citizens, including protestors, activists, political donors, and Congressional members.
However, the EFF sees some hope, writing yesterday that the stalemate that led to its temporary authorization “means that the pro-surveillance hardliners of the intelligence community were not able to jam through their expansion of the program.” The group has called for reform of Section 702, including requiring warrants to access Americans’ communications, closing a loophole that lets spy agencies buy Americans’ data on the open market, and placing “reasonable limits on the scope of intelligence surveillance.”
California settles Activision Blizzard gender discrimination lawsuit for $54 million
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
A California regulator has settled its blockbuster lawsuit that alleged a culture of sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard. Now under the ownership of Microsoft, the gaming company will pay about $54 million as part of the settlement, according to a press release from California’s Civil Rights Department (CRD).
The CRD (formerly known as the Department of Fair Employment and Housing or DFEH) filed this lawsuit in July 2021, alleging that Activision Blizzard had a “frat boy” culture where women were subject to sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination. Following the suit, employees walked out, executives including then-Blizzard president J. Allen Brack and Blizzard’s former SVP of HR left the company, and, months later, The Wall Street Journal reported that CEO Bobby Kotick had known of sexual misconduct allegations for years.
However, as part of the settlement agreement, the CRD said that “no court or any independent investigation has substantiated any allegations” of sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard and that there wasn’t evidence of wrongdoing by Kotick, according to The New York Times. (The company told the SEC last year that an internal investigation found “no evidence to suggest” that senior executives ignored allegations of gender harassment.) The WSJ also reported on the lawsuit on Friday.
If a court approves the settlement, Activision Blizzard will pay about $54,875,000 to “cover direct relief to workers and litigation costs,” with $45,750,000 of that going to “a settlement fund dedicated to compensating workers,” the CRD says.
Months after California’s lawsuit, Microsoft announced that it intended to acquire Activision Blizzard in a $68.7 billion deal. Following a series of regulatory hurdles, that deal finally closed in October. Kotick will stay at Activision Blizzard until the end of the year.
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