A month after completing his takeover of Twitter, Elon Musk says new user signups are at an “all-time high.” On Saturday evening, the billionaire shared a slide deck that details the current state of Twitter and his vision for the platform. As of November 16th, Twitter was adding more than 2 million new users per day over the last seven days, according to one of the graphs Musk shared. He added daily signups are up 66 percent compared to the same seven-day period in 2021.
Musk said user active minutes were also at an all-time high, with Twitter’s userbase averaging nearly 8 billion active minutes per day over the last seven days as of November 15th – representing a 30 percent increase from the same period last year. He also used a graph to claim hate speech impressions recently decreased.
Even if the data Musk shared is accurate, what it means is very much up for discussion. For instance, the graph about hate speech presents, at best, an incomplete picture of the situation. For one, note that the small print states the data only covers tweets in English. Second, there’s evidence to suggest Twitter recently stopped enforcing its hateful conduct policy as it applies to targeted harassment of trans people.
Just as important is the data Musk decided not to share. Not a single graph offers insight into Twitter’s financials, yet according to multiple reports, Musk recently told employees the company was losing so much money that bankruptcy was "not out of the question.” A more recent report suggests Twitter has lost 50 of its top 100 advertisers since Musk took the platform over.
On early Sunday, Musk told Jordan Peterson he sees “a path to Twitter exceeding a billion monthly users in 12 to 18 months.” Meeting that goal will require Twitter to dramatically increase signups. Assuming the company continues to add 2 million users per week, that’s only 104 million new users by the end of one year. Twitter has approximately 450 million monthly active users as of 2022.
From the moment that people started getting nasty with Johannes Gutenberg's newfangled printing press, sexually explicit content has led the way towards wide-scale adoption of mass communication technologies. But with every advance in methodology has invariably come a backlash — a moral panic here, a book burning there, the constant uncut threat of mass gun violence — aiming to suppress that expression. Now, given the things I saw Googling "sexually explicit printing press," dear reader, I can assure you that their efforts will ultimately be in vain.
But it hasn't stopped social media corporations, advertisers, government regulators and the people you most dread seeing in your building's elevator from working to erase sexuality-related content from the world wide web. In the excerpt below from her most excellent new book, How Sex Changed the Internet and the Internet Changed Sex: An Unexpected History, Motherboard Senior Editor Samantha Cole discusses the how and why to Facebook, Instagram and Google's slow strangling of online sexual speech over the past 15 years.
Human and algorithmic censorship has completely changed the power structure of who gets to post what types of adult content online. This has played out as independent sex workers struggling to avoid getting kicked off of sites like Instagram or Twitter just for existing as people—while big companies like Brazzers, displaying full nudity, have no problem keeping their accounts up.
Despite Facebook’s origins as Mark Zuckerberg’s Hot-or-Not rating system for women on his Harvard campus, the social network’s policies on sexuality and nudity are incredibly strict. Over the years, it’s gone through several evolutions and overhauls, but in 2022 forbidden content includes (but isn’t limited to) “real nude adults,” “sexual intercourse” and a wide range of things that could imply intercourse “even when the contact is not directly visible,” or “presence of by-products of sexual activity.” Nudity in art is supposedly allowed, but artists and illustrators still fight against bans and rejected posts all the time.
That’s not to mention “sexual solicitation,” which Facebook will not tolerate. That includes any and all porn, discussions of states of sexual arousal, and anything that both asks or offers sex “directly or indirectly” and also includes sexual emojis like peaches and eggplants, sexual slang, and depictions or poses of sexual activity.
These rules also apply on Instagram, the photo-sharing app owned by Facebook. As the number one and two biggest social networks in the US, these dictate how much of the internet sees and interacts with sexual content.
In the earliest archived versions of Facebook’s terms of use, sex was never mentioned—but its member conduct guidelines did ban “any content that we deem to be harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, vulgar, obscene, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable.” This vagueness gives Facebook legal wiggle room to ban whatever it wants.
The platform took a more welcoming approach to sexual speech as recently as 2007, with Sexuality listed as one of the areas of interest users could choose from, and more than five hundred user-created groups for various discussions around the topic. But the platform’s early liberality with sex drew scrutiny. In 2007, then–New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo led a sting operation on Facebook where an investigator posed as teens and caught child predators.
As early as 2008, it started banning female breasts—specifically, nipples. The areola violated its policy on “obscene, pornographic or sexually explicit” material. In December 2008, a handful of women gathered outside the company’s Palo Alto office to breastfeed in front of the building in protest (it was a Saturday; no executives were working).
As of 2018, Facebook lumped sex work under banned content that depicts “sexual exploitation,” stating that all references and depictions of “sexual services” were forbidden, “includ[ing] prostitution, escort services, sexual massages, and filmed sexual activity.”
A lot of this banned content is health and wellness education.
In 2018, sexuality educator Dr. Timaree Schmit logged in to Facebook and checked her page for SEXx Interactive, which runs an annual sex ed conference she’d held the day before. A notification from Facebook appeared: She and several other admins for the page were banned from the entire platform for thirty days, and the page was taken down, because an “offending image” had violated the platform’s community standards. The image in question was the word SEXx in block letters on a red background.
The examples of this sort of thing are endless and not limited to Facebook. Google AdWords banned “graphic sexual acts with intent to arouse including sex acts such as masturbation” in 2014. Android keyboards’ predictive text banned anything remotely sexual, including the words “panty,” “braless,” “Tampax,” “lactation,” “preggers, “uterus,” and “STI” from its autocomplete dictionary. Chromecast and Google Play forbid porn. You can’t navigate to adult sites using Starbucks Wi-Fi. For a while in 2018, Google Drive seemed to be blocking users from downloading documents and files that contained adult content. The crowdfunding site Patreon forbids porn depicting real people, and in 2018 blamed its payment processor, Stripe, for not being sex-friendly. Much of this followed FOSTA/SESTA.
This is far from a complete list. There are countless stories like this, where sex educators, sex workers, artists, and journalists are censored or pushed off platforms completely for crossing these imaginary lines that are constantly moving.
Over the years, as these policies have evolved, they’ve been applied inconsistently and often with vague reasoning for the users themselves. There is one way platforms have been consistent, however: Images and content of Black and Indigenous women, as well as queer and trans people, sex workers, and fat women, experience the brunt of platform discrimination. This can lead to serious self-esteem issues, isolation, and in some cases, suicidal thoughts for people who are pushed off platforms or labeled “sexually explicit” because of their body shape or skin color.
“I’m just sick of feeling like something is wrong with my body. That it’s not OK to look how I do,” Anna Konstantopoulos, a fat Instagram influencer, said after her account was shut down and posts were deleted multiple times. Her photos in bikinis or lingerie were deleted by Instagram moderators, while other influencers’ posts stayed up and raked in the likes. “It starts to make you feel like crap about yourself.”
In spite of all of this, people project their full selves, or at least a version of themselves, onto Facebook accounts. Censorship of our sexual sides doesn’t stop people from living and working on the internet—unless that is your life and work.
Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts is calling on Congress to pass new legislation to rein in Big Tech companies after Elon Musk ignored an information request. “Elon Musk could respond to my tweets but failed to respond to my letter by yesterday’s deadline and answer basic questions about Twitter verification,” Markey tweeted Saturday. “Congress must end the era of failed Big Tech self-regulation and pass laws that put user safety over the whims of billionaires.”
Musk had until November 25th to answer a letter the senator sent on November 11th about Twitter’s paid account verification feature. The initial rollout of the new Twitter Blue saw trolls use the service to impersonate celebrities, politicians and brands. Markey sent Musk a list of questions about the launch after The Washington Post created a “verified” account impersonating him. One day after Markey shared a copy of the letter on Twitter, Musk attacked the senator.
.@elonmusk could respond to my tweets but failed to respond to my letter by yesterday’s deadline and answer basic questions about Twitter verification. Congress must end the era of failed Big Tech self-regulation and pass laws that put user safety over the whims of billionaires. https://t.co/BEn6n9EitW
“Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody,” Musk tweeted. “And why does your pp have a mask!?” he added a few hours later, referring to Markey’s profile picture, which shows the policymaker wearing a face covering. The exchange prompted Markey to chastise the billionaire. “One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree. Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people. And you’re spending your time picking fights online,” the senator said. “Fix your companies. Or Congress will.”
As of the writing of this article, Musk has yet to respond to Markey’s latest tweet. It’s hard to say whether the senator’s call will translate to legislative action, particularly with a split between the House of Representatives and Senate. Musk did appear to answer at least one of Markey’s questions when he announced Twitter’s new verification system on Friday. The latest iteration of the program will feature manual authentication and different colored check marks for different types of users. "Gold check for companies, grey check for government, blue for individuals (celebrity or not) and all verified accounts will be manually authenticated before check activates," he said.
Fifteen years after the release of the iPhone, it’s easy to overlook the role early innovators like Palm played in popularizing the smartphone. By the time HP unceremoniously shut down the company in 2011, Palm had struggled for a few years to carve out a niche for itself among Apple and Google. But ask anyone who had a chance to use a Palm PDA in the late ‘90s or early 2000s and they’ll tell you how fondly they remember the hardware and software that made the company’s vision possible. Now, it’s easier than ever to see what made Palm OS so special back in its day.
This week, archivist Jason Scott uploaded a database of Palm OS apps to the Internet Archive. In all, there are about 560 programs to check out, including old favorites like DopeWars and SpaceTrader. Even if you don’t have any nostalgia for Palm, it’s well worth spending a few minutes with the collection to see how much – or, in some cases, little – things have changed since Palm OS was a dominant player in the market.
Hey, so, don't tell anyone, but I'm announcing PalmPilot emulation at Internet Archive for the holidays, probably next week. All the currently-working items need descriptions, so it's not quite ready. Don't tell anybody, OK? https://t.co/ye9z4iTPsxpic.twitter.com/0SNRVJw0Kp
For instance, there’s an entire section devoted to shareware and it’s interesting to see just how much some developers thought it was appropriate to pay for their software. Want to use the full version of StockCalc? Just send $15 by post to DDT Investments in Plaistow, New Hampshire.
In an interview with The Verge, Scott said it took about six months to get the CloudpilotEmu emulator to work with the Internet Archive. There’s still some work to be done. Specifically, some of the more obscure apps are missing descriptions and metadata. Scott also hopes to write instructions for each program. Still, short of buying an old Palm device off of eBay, this is the best way to experience a bygone computing era. That's because CloudpilotEmu allows you to navigate through Palm OS. You can even launch the database from your phone and there's full support for Palm's Graffiti handwriting recognition system. If you want to help Scott with the project, contact him on Twitter or Discord.
The Artemis 1 Orion crew vehicle has set a new record for a NASA flight. At approximately 8:40AM ET on Saturday, Orion flew farther than any spacecraft designed to carry human astronauts had ever before, surpassing the previous record set by Apollo 13 back in 1970. As of 10:17AM ET, Orion was approximately 249,666 miles ( from 401,798 kilometers) from Earth.
"Artemis I was designed to stress the systems of Orion and we settled on the distant retrograde orbit as a really good way to do that," said Jim Geffre, Orion spacecraft integration manager. “It just so happened that with that really large orbit, high altitude above the moon, we were able to pass the Apollo 13 record. But what was more important though, was pushing the boundaries of exploration and sending spacecraft farther than we had ever done before."
Mission Time: 10 days, 8 hrs, 27 min Orion is 249,666 miles from Earth, 53,687 miles from the Moon, cruising at 2,054 miles per hour. P: (94960, -206242, -113015) V: (2045, 192, -45) O: 287º, 140.6º, 135.7º What's this? https://t.co/voR4yGgqXG#TrackArtemispic.twitter.com/w0uFgDqWaQ
Of all the missions that could have broken the record, it’s fitting that Artemis 1 was the one to do it. As Space.com points out, Apollo 13’s original flight plan didn’t call for a record-setting flight. It was only after a mid-mission explosion forced NASA to plot a new return course that Apollo 13’s Odyssey command module set the previous record at 248,655 miles (400,171 kilometers) from Earth.
With a limited oxygen supply on the Aquarius Lunar Module, NASA needed to get Apollo 13 back to Earth as quickly as possible. The agency eventually settled on a flight path that used the Moon’s gravity to slingshot Apollo 13 back to Earth. One of the NASA personnel who was critical to the safe return of astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise was Arturo Campos. He wrote the emergency plan that gave the Command and Service Module enough power to make it back to Earth. Artemis 1 is carrying a “Moonikin” test dummy named after the late Arturo.
Earlier this week, Orion completed a flyby of the Moon. After the spacecraft completes half an orbit around the satellite, it will slingshot itself toward the Earth. NASA expects Orion to splash down off the coast of San Diego on December 11th.
The Roomba s9+ has been around for a couple of years and it's probably overkill for most people. At $999, it's certainly not cheap, but it did earn a spot in our list of best robot vacuums. Right now, you can pick up the high-end machine for $220 less than usual by shopping through Wellbots and using the code ENG220 at checkout. A final price of $779 is the best we've seen on this smart home gadget, and while it's still an expensive device, it's a much easier to recommend when its on sale like this.
You probably don't need all of the bells and whistles that the s9+ provides, but they are some of the things that make it one of the best robot vacuums available today. It's the most attractive in iRobot's lineup, with a sleek design that can get into room corners more easily than other models, and a tall, slim clean base. It has 40x the suction power of a standard Roomba, making it a great option for households with pets and kids. It's "careful driver" feature uses a 3D sensor to detect objects so it can move around them to clean, and like all Roombas, it will automatically return to its charging base when it's low on power.
In our testing, we found the s9+ to be an incredibly capable cleaner, and while on the loud side, it's no more noisy than other robo-vacs in this price range. When emptying its bin into its clean base, it was actually not as loud as the Roomba j7, so it's less likely to scare your pets while doing so. The clean base does use proprietary bags from iRobot, though, so just keep in mind that you'll have to consistently buy those in order to make full use of the s9+. Thankfully, each bag can hold up to 60 days worth of debris.
The Roomba s9+ also connects to iRobot's mobile app, from which you can control the machine, set cleaning schedules and more. It's one of the easier robo-vac companion apps we'ved used, so even if you're gifting the s9+ to a loved on who is a novice, they should have no trouble getting the thing set up and using it regularly. If you're willing to splurge this holiday season, the s9+ is one of the best robo-vacs you can get for your money.
Last year, the Biden administration signed the Secure Equipment Act into law, which aimed to block the authorization of network licenses from several Chinese companies whose hardware has been deemed a national security threat. Today, the FCC announced that it's officially implementing that ruling, which means some future equipment from Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision and Dahua won't be authorized for sale in the US. Existing equipment from those companies, which are all listed under the FCC's "Covered List," aren't affected by the law.
“The FCC is committed to protecting our national security by ensuring that untrustworthy communications equipment is not authorized for use within our borders, and we are continuing that work here,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “These new rules are an important part of our ongoing actions to protect the American people from national security threats involving telecommunications.”
To be clear, the FCC isn't completely blocking all hardware from these companies. And for some, like Hytera, Hikvision and Dahua, Rosenworcel writes that it's specifically focusing on gear related to "the purpose of public safety, security of government facilities, physical surveillance of critical infrastructure, and other national security purposes." If those companies can show that they're not marketing that equipment for government use — for example, directing it consumers instead — they may be able get authorized by the FCC.
This latest move follows years of conflict between the US and companies closely tied to Chinese governments. That's included placing several notable Chinese companies, including DJI, on the Department of Commerce's "Entity List," which prohibits US firms from selling equipment to them. The FCC is also calling for $5 billion to help US carriers with the massive task of replacing equipment from Huawei and ZTE.
Our current favorite Chromebook, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i is down to an all time low of $270 right now on Amazon. We've seen it dip down to $300 before, but this is an exceptional low and a great time to pick up a lightweight but speedy Chromebook. When we tested it out for our Chromebook guide, we particularly liked the extra bright and sharp touchscreen paired with the responsive performance. In fact, we said the Flex 5i offers a "level of quality and performance that’s pretty rare to find at this price point." That goes double on Black Friday.
This configuration runs on Intel's Core i3 chip and stocks 8GB of RAM along with 128GB of storage. While that's not a ton of storage, it's more than enough for the way Chromebooks work best, which is as a browser-focused laptop working in harmony with all of Google's apps. It's got a 13.3-inch touchscreen and a good amount of ports, including USB-C and USB-A ports, a microSD card slot and a security lock. Though we found the keys a bit on the smaller side, we still think it's the best Chromebook for most people.
The Flex 5i discount is part of a larger Chromebook sale Amazon is running for Black Friday, which includes laptops from Acer, HP and ASUS in addition to more Lenovo devices. The Acer Chromebook Spin 314 is $90 off, bringing it down to $290. It's the lightweight cousin to the Acer pick from our guide, sharing the same convertible features that allows you to fold it backwards for a tablet-like experience.
You now have your chance to explore most of Charles Darwin's personal writing. The University of Cambridge has published all of the evolutionary scientist's surviving correspondence online, including 400 letters that have either surfaced or are newly "reinterpreted." The searchable collection now covers over 15,000 letters written between 1822 and 1882, ranging from his influential time aboard the HMS Beagle to On the Origin of Species and end-of-life reflections.
The internet archive may even be the only way to see a fuller picture of Darwin's life. The university notes that the final print edition, due in early 2023, doesn't include letters that arrived too late to reach physical copies. Many writings include footnotes and bibliographies to put sayings in context.
This last batch of correspondence illustrates how attitudes toward evolution changed in the researcher's lifetime. By 1882, Darwin observed that natural selection had largely been established as fact among younger scientists — a sharp contrast to the initial hostility to On the Origin of Species upon its initial release in 1859. The letters also illustrate how Darwin was still experimenting months before his death.
This won't be the same as holding the physical letters in your hands. However, it's a classic demonstration of the internet's value to academics, not to mention anyone who's curious. As with other archival projects, you can get a sense of history without traveling to an archive and putting on some cotton gloves.
Black Friday isn't just a great time to snatch up a laptop or pair of headphones. You'll also find discounts on plenty of music gear. Buying a synth or a guitar pedal isn't always the cheapest gift option. So if you're looking for something special for a special someone, but want to make it as palatable as possible to your wallet, now is a good time to strike. Here are few of our favorite deals on music making hardware from around the web.
ASM Hydrasynth Explorer
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
When I reviewed the Hydrasynth Explorer last year I said it was probably "the most synth you can get for under $600." Things haven't changed in the roughly eleven months since. And now it's on sale for just $500. For that price you get the same powerful digital engine inside the far more expensive standard Hydrasynth, as well as its unique keyboard with polyphonic aftertouch. It's just shrunk down and with a slightly more crowded interface. The rest of ASM's Hydrasynth family is also on sale, but when it comes to pure value it's almost impossible to beat the Explorer.
The latest entry in Elektron's midrange groovebox series is a lot of things — an analog synth, a digital drum machine, an absurdly powerful sequencer. But one thing the Syntakt is not, is cheap. Sure, $999 isn't crazy considering its everything and the kitchen sink approach, but if you've been hesitant to commit that much to the purchase, now might be the time to take the plunge. The Syntakt is down to $799 across a number of shops, including direct from Elektron. And while it's definitely focused on percussion, a recent firmware update added two new "machines" that focus on more melodic sounds.
If the Syntakt isn't quite your cup of tea, but you're still intrigued by Elektron's unique workflow and sequencer, most of its higher-end instruments, like the Digitone and Octatrack are also 20% off this weekend.
When the Minilogue XD launched for just $650 it staked a pretty convincing claim to the best bang-for-your-buck synth. A few years later, and it's no less impressive. But its price has crept upwards to $730, and competitors have started chipping away at grip on the affordable and approachable end of the market. That makes it's Black Friday drop to just $600 even harder to pass up. Korg is offering a number of discounts across its range, but the clear stand out is this 18-percent off on an incredibly versatile synth. It combines four voices of true analog polyphony with a digital synth engine and effects. Plus, the Logue SDK opens the instrument to third party developers to build their own digital oscillators and effect. (Sinevibes in particular makes some great ones.)
An audio interface is an essential for basically any budding musician. And while the market is saturated with plenty of excellent, affordable options, the Universal Audio Volt 76 series stands out from the pack. They're undeniable stylish, offer low noise and latency, have large easy to use controls and vintage mode for additional warmth and character. But what sets the 76 apart, from even its cheaper Volt brethren is the all analog modeling of its legendary 1176 compressor. Sure you could run a plugin that tries to do the same thing — and arguably the results would be more versatile since you can always remove it in post if you want. But there's something about the version builtin to the Volt 476, 276 and 176 that just has a touch more life.
While the entire Volt lineup (save the 476p) is on sale, and all are solid values, it's the Volt 476 and 276 that should be at the top of your shopping list. Especially now that they're marked down to $329 and $269, respectively.
The Beebo is a fascinating pedal. In fact, calling it a guitar pedal feels a bit dishonest. It's really a digital modular synth and effects system with a large touchscreen, that just so happens to be crammed in a guitar pedal format. It can do basic guitar stuff like chorus and overdrive. It can be an amp modeler. It can also be a synth or a MIDI controller. In short, it refuses to be pigeon holed as any one thing. On of my favorite tricks is loading random audio recordings on it to create custom wacky reverbs. And it's constantly being updated with new features and bug fixes. (It received about 50 firmware updates in 2020 alone.)
Considering the power contained within the regular $449 seems reasonable. But, right now you can pickup up a blue Beebo from Perfect Circuit for 12-percent off. (Unfortunately the bright pink color-way is still full price.) I'd move quick if you're considering it, however. The blue units are already listed as being out of stock, and the shop might not continue to take discounted backorders for long.
We haven't covered Bastl Instruments much on Engadget, but the company makes a range of strange and wonderful instruments. If you buy direct from the company right now they're doing a 30-percent off sale on everything they make from Eurorack modules to desktop synthesizers. I'm a particularly big fan of the company's smaller and more affordable oddities like the Kastl (potentially the world's smallest modular synth), Kastl Drum (similar concept, but for percussion) and the Microgranny (a ultra-lofi granular sampler). They're pretty great stocking stuffers even at full price, but at 30-percent off with the code "welcome2bshop" they're a true steal.
Seven percent off isn't exactly huge, but it's pretty rare to see Moog stuff get a mark down. So seeing their Sound Studio bundles discounted at all is worth noting. The Sound Studio bundles comes with two or three of Moog's semimodular instruments, namely the Mother 32, DFAM and Subharmonicon. They also come with a mixer, a bunch of patch cables, a stand and a card game and other educational materials to get you started. These are definitely not the cheapest way to introduce someone to synthesis, but definitely one of the more luxurious.
The two synth bundles are down to $1,299 from $1,399. But you get a slightly larger discount if you spring for all three, which will set you back $1,899, down from $2,099.
