ArduinoMania

Microsoft has officially announced the next Xbox Games Showcase. In a blog post, the company said the summer version will be on Sunday, June 9, at 10AM PT / 1PM ET.

The event will be followed by a cryptic “[REDACTED] Direct” that probably isn’t much of a mystery. The teaser logo looks like something ripped from the Call of Duty franchise, and reports already pointed to the military shooter’s next installment arriving this year. Microsoft describes the direct event as “a special deep-dive into the next installment of a beloved franchise.”

Further squashing any intrigue, The Verge says it’s confirmed the event will focus on Activision-Blizzard’s long-running franchise. This will be the first Xbox showcase with the Call of Duty maker officially within Microsoft’s grasp.

The company wants to turn heads with its new post-acquisition portfolio, and Xbox will use the entire week (which coincides with Summer Game Fest) to pump up its lineup. “June 9’s double-feature broadcast also kicks off a week’s worth of coverage here on Xbox Wire and The Official Xbox Podcast, featuring updates and deep-dives on a ton of games,” the company wrote.

Engadget will have all your Xbox Games Showcase and Summer Game Fest news in early June.

Apple's second-generation Pencil stylus is back on sale for $79, which matches its lowest price to date. We've seen this deal a few times over the course of 2024, but it's still about $35 off the device's usual street price on Amazon outside of those sales. Apple, meanwhile, normally sells the stylus for $129. This offer is available at Amazon, Target, Walmart and Best Buy.

Do note, though: Apple's next product showcase is scheduled for May 7, and it is widely expected to unveil a new Pencil during the event. This next-gen model will include some level of haptic feedback, according to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, while 9to5Mac has suggested it may include a new "squeeze" gesture and Find My tracking support. If you want the newest Pencil possible, you should hold out for one more week.

However, given the MSRP of this second-gen model, it seems safe to expect any new Pencil to cost a good bit more than $79 out of the gate. If you're on a tighter budget and looking to buy your first iPad stylus for sketching or note-taking, the current Pencil should remain a good value at this price. 

For now, the second-gen Pencil is the top stylus pick in our guide to the best iPad accessories. It's still one of the only styluses to offer pressure sensitivity across iPadOS, so the harder you press down, the heavier your lines get. (Last year's USB-C-based Pencil omits this.) Tilt recognition and palm rejection support help it feel natural for drawing beyond that. The pen itself is comfortable to hold, and it can charge and connect to a compatible iPad just by snapping to the tablet's side magnetically, no cables required. We also like its double-tap feature, which makes swapping between a drawing tool and an eraser faster in certain apps. Just make sure you own (and will continue to use) a compatible iPad Air, mini or Pro first.

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It’s only been two weeks since Tesla began reducing its workforce by ten percent, a move that impacted at least 14,000 staffers. Now, even more pink slips are coming. The company let go of two senior executives today and plans to lay off hundreds more employees, as reported by The Information.

These layoffs impact the entire Supercharger team, including senior director Rebecca Tinucci and 500 staffers. Daniel Ho, head of the new vehicles program, was also laid off, along with his team. Tesla’s public policy team is also being dissolved, which was led by former executive Rohan Patel.

CEO Elon Musk sent out a company-wide email that seemed more like a threat than anything else. "Hopefully these actions are making it clear that we need to be absolutely hard core about headcount and cost reduction," Musk wrote. "While some on exec staff are taking this seriously, most are not yet doing so."

This could be just the beginning. Musk also said that any staffers working under executives who “don’t obviously pass the excellent, necessary and trustworthy test” would also get cut. When all of this is said and done, Tesla’s headcount could be reduced by as much as 20 percent, as recently suggested by Bloomberg. This adds up to more than 20,000 employees.

Just how “hard core” is Musk about reducing costs? Well, a judge recently rejected his proposal for a pay package that would grant him $55.8 billion of Tesla’s money, which was referred to in court as “an unfathomable sum” that was unfair to shareholders. Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick went on to call it “the largest potential compensation opportunity ever observed in public markets by multiple orders of magnitude.” Sounds kinda soft core to me.

This is shaping up to be a really crappy year for Tesla, even if its stock price seems to be living in a parallel universe. Profit margins have sunk to a six-year low. The company’s most recent earnings report was abysmal, with profits falling by 55 percent. The Cybertruck continues to be something of a dangerous joke. Tesla’s Autopilot software was recently linked to 14 deaths. It has also reportedly given up on its budget-friendly EV in favor of a robotaxi, because why make a car everyone would want to buy instead of something a few taxi companies will buy? On the plus side, Tesla doesn’t really pay taxes, which is pretty hard core.

Fujifilm’s Instax cameras have been around for a while. They offer instant photo printouts in cute frames, taking over where Polaroid left. Over the years, the company has experimented with pastel colorways, retro styles, hybrid digital and manual photography, and even collaborations with Pokèmon and Taylor Swift.

The new Instax mini 99, which was released this month, comes in black. It looks more like my X-T2 and other Fujifilm models than a Polaroid. From a distance, it looks like a pricey digital camera, although it costs only $200. When you get to handle it though, you might be a little disappointed by the plasticky build. Still, there are parts where Fuji has lavished the camera with machined elements, like a tripod stand converter and some of the controls.

With a matte finish, the Instax mini 99 looks more professional, even cooler, than most of its predecessors. While there are no hybrid digital camera features, it delivers far more versatility than pretty much any other instant camera.

Mat Smith for Engadget

There are a lot of controls here for an instant camera, including three shooting options with different focal lengths. You twist the lens to switch between landscape, macro and standard settings, and each is (fortunately) labeled with a distance marker so you can best eyeball your shot. While there is a viewfinder, it won’t scale based on your shooting mode. Again, let’s not forget this is an instant camera. Having said that, with the mini 99 you do get access to filters and some basic exposure options.

Those filters attempt to strike those nostalgia chords. Normal is your typical shooting mode, and there’s faded green, soft magenta, light blue, warm tone and of course, sepia.

Light leak, meanwhile, sort of messes up your shots with LEDs built inside the camera, adding a burnout effect to your photos as they’re captured. What impressed me further were even more shooting modes, adding the ability to capture double-exposure shots, a manual vignette switch – which was nearly always on when I was shooting – and even fill-in flash, red-eye removal and automatic flash options. There’s also a sports mode that attempts to avoid blur when capturing moving subjects. Photos weren’t pin-sharp, but the mode seemed to capture things a little bit more crisply than in auto mode.

It’s an awful lot for an instant camera, and I found half the fun was in experimenting with modes and shooting effects. While I wouldn’t go so far as to call each shot a risk, it’s been so long since I’ve used film of any kind that each time I reached for the shutter button (of which there are two), I tried extra hard to nail framing and composition – probably more than I would with digital.

A lot of the shots I took (at a family birthday party with constantly moving babies and toddlers) were in ideal sunny outdoor lighting, but when I was indoors or areas with less light in general, I leaned heavily on the flash, which muddied a lot of the photos.

Mat Smith for Engadget

The learning curve is a bit steep if you haven’t owned an Instax over the last decade(or three). Each messed-up shot is roughly a dollar down the drain. But with each attempt, you begin to gauge lighting and focal distances better. An hour and ten photos later, I got nice shots of my nieces’ birthday party, even catching them looking at the camera on a few instances. Some photos I seemed to nail the correct focal distance, but that was the exception rather than the rule. Fortunately, half the appeal is off-focus moments, off-center framing and other happy accidents. I chose to apply a light leak effect – why would I complain if it’s not as pin-sharp as my iPhone 15 Pro?

There are a few things I’d love to see Fujifilm tackle if it attempts to make another premium Instax mini. First, add a small mirror for taking photos of yourself with the lens facing you. Many cameras offer a tiny mirrored surface so you can loosely tell you're pointing in the right direction. One selfie attempt with my niece cropped her almost entirely from the shot. Also, to recharge the Instax mini 99, you must take out the battery and put it into the included charger with a USB cable. That's too much of a hassle, and Fujifilm should offer a simpler method in future. Fortunately, I didn’t ever need to recharge the camera as I captured over 20 shots.

The Instax mini 99 uses the same smallish Instax film as other models, but with more controls, options and effects, it delivers on its attempt to be the premium instant camera. The film is still expensive, yes, and the device feels a little cheap for the price, but ultimately it delivers satisfying instant photo moments.

Beats has a solid track record when it comes to wireless earbuds. The company consistently offers good audio performance with a comfy fit and a nice list of features for both Android and iOS users. In fact, the Beats Fit Pro are our current top pick for best workout earbuds. The one thing the company doesn't have in its lineup is a budget-friendly option, but that will change soon. Today, Beats revealed the Solo Buds: an $80 set of wireless earbuds that offer 18 hours of use on a single charge. There are some caveats on the spec sheet, but you might be willing to overlook them for that battery life at that price. 

The Solo Buds have the longest battery life on a set of Beats earbuds ever. 18 hours is way more than you'll probably ever use in one go, but there's a catch. The Solo Buds case doesn't have a battery, so the earbuds won't top up when you're not using them. The case is essentially a dock and will only charge the buds when it's plugged in with a USB-C cable. You'll be able to charge it with your phone, laptop or tablet though, and Beats' Fast Fuel feature gives your an hour of use in five minutes. The upside to the non-charging case is that accessory is significantly smaller since it doesn't hold a battery. 

Beats has designed the Solo Buds to be worn for long periods of time. More specifically, ergonomic acoustic nozzles and vents assist with audio performance while relieving pressure. Four sizes of ear tips are included in the box so you can find the best option for your ears in terms of both comfort and passive noise isolation. There's no active noise cancellation (ANC) here, so a secure fit will be your only defense against environmental distractions. 

Inside, dual-layer transducers are designed to reduce distortion across the frequency curve which should lead to "uncompromising clarity and detail," according to Beats. The company describes call quality as "exceptional," thanks to the combination of a custom-designed mic and a noise-learning algorithm. Onboard controls are customizable, putting music, call and voice assistant functions a press or multiple presses away. Beats also includes the option for volume controls on the Solo Buds with an optional press-and-hold action. 

Native compatibility in Android and iOS delivers one-touch pairing, automatic setup and support for Find My and Find My Device. Everything you'll need on iPhone is built into iOS while Beats offers a standalone app on Android for things like onboard control customization. 

The Solo Buds will be available in June in black, gray, purple and transparent red color options for $80.

When Beats introduced the Solo 3 in 2016, the headline feature was the inclusion of Apple’s W1 audio chip. This delivered seamless pairing with Apple devices, which made life much easier for iPhone, Mac and iPad owners. Besides the noise-canceling Solo Pro in 2019, Beats hadn’t updated the Solo line in nearly eight years, and it’s now bringing its popular on-ear headphones up to today’s standards. Beats announced the Solo 4 today, a $200 set of familiar-looking cans with significant updates to audio quality and battery life. But as it has done on other devices, the company has chosen its own audio platform over Apple’s AirPod chip.

What’s new on the Beats Solo 4?

Beats says it re-engineered the audio on the Solo 4 for “incredible, high-fidelity acoustics.” This includes new, custom-built 40mm transducers that it says offer “extraordinary clarity and range” due to minimal latency and distortion. The company explained that the change also led to improved high-frequency response compared to the Solo 3. Beats says the Solo 4 is its only passively-tuned headphone, so you’ll get the same audio quality when listening wirelessly as you do when your battery dies and you have to employ the 3.5mm jack.

Spatial Audio was available on the Solo 3, but Beats took things a step further on the Solo 4 by adding Personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking. This is the process Apple developed for its AirPods that uses your iPhone’s camera to create a custom audio profile tailored to the shape of your ears. The effectiveness of head tracking in enhancing Spatial Audio might depend on your personal preferences and the content, but the addition brings the Solo 4 up to date with other Beats (and Apple) audio products.

Billy Steele for Engadget

Another big upgrade is battery life. The Solo 3 already offered 40 hours of play time on a charge, but Beats managed to squeeze another 10 hours out of the Solo 4. Of course, that’s with a volume level of about 50 percent with Spatial Audio off (45 hours with it on). The quick-charge feature, Fast Fuel, now gives you up to five hours of use in 10 minutes. That’s two hours more than the Solo 3.

Like Apple has done with most of its products, Beats made the switch to USB-C for charging on the Solo 4. That wired connection also delivers lossless audio, so long as you’re listening to compatible content with a supported device. Similar to other recent Beats products, the Solo 4 swaps Apple’s chips for the company’s own platform. In this case, the W1 on the Solo 3 has been replaced, but there’s still deep integration with iOS, macOS and iPadOS. And the company’s recent efforts to better cater to Android users continues on the Solo 4.

Beats upgraded the microphones on the Solo 4, though they’re used solely for calls since there’s no active noise cancellation (ANC) here. Specifically, the company says it swapped out analog mics for digital, beam-forming MEMS ones, leading to increased quality when it comes to voice capture across various environments. Beats also added a noise-learning algorithm that can target your voice while combating background roar and wind.

What’s good

Billy Steele for Engadget

The steps Beats took to improve the sound quality on the Solo 4 truly delivered. The company has employed a more even-handed tuning for several years now, ditching the overly bass-heavy EQ that dominated the sound on its early headphones. I can also hear the added clarity in tracks like Justice’s “Neverender,” where details like synth sounds had brought an atmospheric texture that enhanced the song. This is most prominent when you have Spatial Audio activated, and in my experience, the Solo 4 were at their best with Dolby Atmos content in Apple Music.

The 50-hour battery life claim holds out, too. After 37 hours of testing at around 50-percent volume, macOS was still showing the Solo 4 had 35 percent left in the tank. That’s pacing ahead of Beats’ stated figure. During my test, I was streaming spatial Dolby Atmos content from Apple Music, mostly from a MacBook Pro.

Beats says the Solo 4 has the same memory foam ear pads as the over-ear Studio Pro headphones, but with a new cover material for that component to further boost comfort. I do feel like there’s less of a vice-like pressure when I’m wearing the Solo 4, but after a couple of hours, each passing minute felt more laborious.

What’s bad

Billy Steele for Engadget

While we’re on the topic of comfort, I’ve never been a fan of the on-ear style of headphones. Most of them, the Beats Solo included, feel like they’re clamping down on my head. GrantedI have a large dome; I take my New Era caps in 7 ⅝. But I can appreciate that this design is very popular, so this is less of a con and more of an observation for my fellow large-domed homies. The slight changes to the ear pads definitely help make it more comfortable, but it’s still too snug a fit for me.Clearly, though, the Solo line is a hit: Beats says it has sold over 40 million pairs of these on-ear cans.

I also wish the company did a bit more with the Solo 4’s design. I understand “if it ain’t broke” and all that, but this feels like a missed opportunity. Beats opted to keep almost entirely the same look from the Solo 3, except that the “Solo” branding on the headband is now just a “4.” The company changed things up a bit on the Solo Pro, but that model isn’t around anymore, so a design update on the non-ANC Solo headphones would’ve been a welcome change.

While there are some obvious updates to the audio profile, the Solo 4 sounds a bit thin at times. When listening on an iPhone, audio performance is consistent across genress, but there’s a noticeable difference when listening to the same songs on Apple Music on a Mac. That Justice album, Hyperdrama, doesn’t have the same oomph streaming from my MacBook Pro as it does from my iPhone.

The Solo 4 is also missing multipoint Bluetooth support on iOS. It isn’t the first Beats audio device that lacks this, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. The ability to automatically switch between your computer and your phone when you get a call is a handy feature most headphones offer these days. And if you’re used to having it, it’s something you’ll miss on the Solo 4.

Wrap-up

There’s no denying the updates Beats made on the Solo 4 in terms of sound quality and battery life. The company also made tweaks to modernize it, including the switch to USB-C. Small changes to the ear pads make the Solo 4 more comfortable for those of us with big heads, but the fit is still far from ideal. And overall, the familiar design could use a refresh, especially now that we’re nearly eight years on from the Solo 3. Still, the Solo 4 is a clear upgrade from the Solo 3, but it’s likely not significant enough to entice more than the Beats faithful. 

The Beats Solo 4 is available today for $200 from Apple. The headphones come in black, blue (pictured) and pink color options. 

I found myself in a variety of odd situations while solving puzzles in Lorelei and the Laser Eyes. I spent some time staring at a mid-century movie poster for a documentary about a decomposing cat, wondering if I should focus on the runtime or the date it came out. I pulled up old hotel blueprints and deciphered the math of dead architects. I played a handful of ASCII-style PC games to receive messages from a 19th-century magician who calls me his sister. I found some toy blocks and shoved them into the walls of a secret cathedral. I slipped between realities and traversed a maze that shattered into shard-like pieces under my feet. I watched a woman fall to her death. I wondered if that woman was me.

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a third-person noir detective game set in a haunted hotel with impossible architecture and a gruesome history. Its hallways are dense with logic-melting puzzles about magicians, mazes, astrology, filmmaking, mausoleums and physics, and it isn’t even clear why the protagonist is there in the first place. With artifacts from the 1800s, set pieces from the 1960s and technology out of the 2010s, it’s barely clear when she’s there. Lack of direction is a key tenet of the game, resulting in a sense of solitude that’s oppressive and supremely unsettling.

It’s also empowering. The hotel in Lorelei is a playground of secrets with no set path for players, and there’s a rich density of riddles and lore to untangle in every scene. Though I still have no idea where I’m heading in the game, I’ve rarely felt lost. It's kind of like Tunic in that regard, but it also feels like something directed by David Lynch, and visually, the game resembles Kentucky Route Zero or Sin City. There’s really no direct comparison for Lorelei and the Laser Eyes. Playing it feels like nothing I’ve experienced before.

Simogo

The actual gameplay in Lorelei is straightforward: Walk around and press a button (on a gamepad, literally any button) to interact with objects that glow when you’re near. Otherwise, pressing a button pulls up a menu with the protagonist’s stats, inventory, reference materials, unsolved puzzles and handheld gaming system. Her stats include caffeine, stress, temperature, cash and bladder trackers, her inventory comes with a tampon and the hotel provides both coffee machines and bathrooms that she can actually use. I haven’t discovered a gameplay reason for the bathrooms or the tampon yet, but I’ve enjoyed the fact that they exist, and I will keep trying to insert the tampon into every statue and keyhole until it finally works. If it ever does. With Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, you just don’t know until you know.

Lorelei’s world is built on Roman numerals, Greek letters, zodiac signs and 24-hour clocks, and it’s filled with puzzle boxes, keypad codes, logic riddles, mazes, image reconstructions, memory tests and other ultra-satisfying mystery-solving mechanics. Even then, part of the game’s genius lies in the actions that take place off-screen. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is meant to be played with a notebook and pen close by, and I do not suggest starting without these tools. Yes, even you, the person who just scoffed and thought, “I won’t need to write anything down.” I promise, you will.

Simogo

Lorelei definitely has puzzles with straightforward solutions, but the bulk of its queries are challenging, relying on previous answers, significant amounts of reading, object manipulation, deduction and creative thinking. The simple riddles supply a steady cadence of endorphin hits, especially in the early game. They also provide a guide for approaching the trickier puzzles: Trust your instincts. If you think of something, try it, no matter how outlandish it may seem. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes rewards curiosity and the game is incredibly adept at planting the seeds of concepts that’ll be useful hours later.

I hit my first mental wall around hour seven, and that’s when Lorelei’s pacing shifted downward for a spell. I went from consistently — but not effortlessly — solving puzzles and unlocking new areas of the hotel, to lingering on a handful of rooms I simply couldn’t figure out, pacing among them and scouring my notes for hidden clues. After 45 minutes or so, I remembered I still had a simple puzzle from my first hour waiting to be solved; I returned to it, completed it, and the game expanded beautifully in response, offering up an entirely new area of the hotel to explore and increasing the tempo once again.

Simogo

Each eureka moment in Lorelei introduces more questions, and the secrets pile up as a grand, overarching narrative elegantly unfurls around the protagonist. There are classic horror elements here: children in owl masks giving advice from beyond the grave, hell-dark hallways, spooky phonograph music, ghosts with no eyes. A man with a maze for a head floating right behind you, reaching for the back of your neck. The game seamlessly introduces various visual styles at regular intervals, breaking its own reality in perfectly orchestrated ways.

All of this weirdness forms a cohesive experience because Simogo knows how to make a damn fine puzzle game. This is the studio behind Device 6, an iOS title that played with text and physical input methods in trippy ways, and Year Walk, a haunting adventure about Swedish mythology and death. Lorelei feels like a magnum opus for Simogo, an atmospheric powerhouse of a puzzle game that proves how deeply its developers understand these systems, and pushes the genre into strange and unchartered territory.

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a rat king of riddles. It’s a game composed entirely of mysteries, with each puzzle twisted around the previous one and strangling the next, solutions knotted with concealed information. Mark my words, the game guides for this thing are going to look like House of Leaves.

I’m ten hours in and plenty of mysteries remain. There’s a six-handed clock with zodiac signs and Roman numerals in the west wing that I still can’t figure out, and there’s a journal with a lock based on moon phases that’s been slowly driving me batty. More than a dozen puzzles are waiting to be solved in my character’s on-screen scratchpad. In real life, the pages of my notebook look similar, covered in hastily scribbled numbers, letters, dates, arrows and symbols, solutions sprinkled among the chaos.

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is due to hit Steam and Switch on May 16.

Instagram is overhauling its recommendation algorithm for Reels to boost “original content” in a move that will have significant implications for aggregator accounts and others that primarily repost other users’ work. The company is also changing the way it ranks Reels in an attempt to give smaller accounts more distribution in the app.

In a blog post announcing the changes, the company said it’s trying to “correct” its ranking system so that accounts with smaller followings will have an easier time expanding their reach. “Historically because of how we’ve ranked content, creators with large followings and aggregators of reposted content have gotten more reach in recommendations than smaller, original content creators,” the company explains. “We think it’s important to correct this to give all creators a more equal chance of breaking through to new audiences.”

It’s unclear exactly how Instagram is tweaking its recommendations to make them "more equal,” but the company suggests that the algorithm will no longer prioritize accounts with more followers. “Eligible content … is shown to a small audience that we think will enjoy it, regardless of whether they follow the account that posted it or not,” the company says. “As this audience engages with the content, the top performing set of reels are shown to a slightly wider audience, then the best of these are shown to an even wider group, and so on.” The change will roll out “over the coming months” so it could still be some time before creators see the effects of this update.

The app’s changes around “original content,” however, could be much more immediate. Instagram says it will actively replace reposted Reels with the “original” clip in its suggestions when it detects two pieces of identical content. Accounts that share reposted Reels will also be slapped with a label prominently tagging the original creator. The company says these changes won’t apply to creators that make “significant” changes like recording voice-overs or reaction clips, or if posts are “materially edited to become a meme.”

Aggregator accounts that “repeatedly'' publish posts from others will be penalized even more harshly. Instagram says it will stop recommending Reels from these accounts altogether if they have posted unoriginal content 10 or more times over the previous 30 days. That change could crater the reach of popular aggregator accounts that share other users’ clips, often in order to promote affiliate shopping links and other schemes.

Of note, all of these changes for now only apply to Reels and not other types of posts on Instagram (a spokesperson said the company will “explore expanding to other formats in the future”.) The changes also broadly reflect the fact that Instagram has tried to decrease the importance of follower counts. That has frustrated some creators who complain that most of their followers don’t see their posts in their feeds.

In recent weeks, Instagram head Adam Mosseri has taken to Threads to field complaints from several creators sharing their account statistics and demanding to know why more of their followers don’t see their posts. In one recent exchange, nature photographer Nate Luebbe who has 142,000 followers on Instagram, pressed Mosseri on why a popular post only reached about 20 percent of his followers. In his reply, Mosseri suggested that was how Instagram’s algorithm is intended to function.

So while these latest changes are directed at Reels specifically, the updates suggest Meta will continue to focus on other metrics besides follower counts. That may be disappointing to those who have built up a large audience over several years, but Meta seems to view it as a better way of leveling the playing field for small accounts.

Instagram previously updated its algorithm in 2022 in order to prioritize original content. Mosseri said at the time that he didn't want the app to “overvalue aggregators” though he acknowledged it was difficult to know “for sure” when a piece of content was original. Whatever changes were made at the time, though, may not have gone far enough if the company is still trying to “correct” imbalances a full two years later.

The Federal Communications Commission has slapped the largest mobile carriers in the US with a collective fine worth $200 million for selling access to their customers' location information without consent. AT&T was ordered to pay $57 million, while Verizon has to pay $47 million. Meanwhile, Sprint and T-Mobile are facing a penalty with a total amount of $92 million together, since the companies had merged two years ago. The FCC conducted an in-depth investigation into the carriers' unauthorized disclosure and sale of subscribers' real-time location data after their activities came to light in 2018.

To sum up the practice in the words of FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel: The carriers sold "real-time location information to data aggregators, allowing this highly sensitive data to wind up in the hands of bail-bond companies, bounty hunters, and other shady actors." According to the agency, the scheme started to unravel following public reports that a sheriff in Missouri was tracking numerous individuals by using location information a company called Securus gets from wireless carriers. Securus provides communications services to correctional facilities in the country. 

While the carriers eventually ceased their activities, the agency said they continued operating their programs for a year after the practice was revealed and after they promised the FCC that they would stop selling customer location data. Further, they carried on without reasonable safeguards in place to ensure that the legitimate services using their customers' information, such as roadside assistance and medical emergency services, truly are obtaining users' consent to track their locations. 

The companies told Fast Company that they intend to challenge the fines. T-Mobile, which faces the biggest penalty worth $80 million — Sprint was fined $12 million — said it was excessive. AT&T said the decision lacked "both legal and factual merit" and that the decision "perversely punishes [the companies] for supporting life-saving location services."

Meta is offering some creators thousands of dollars if they go viral on Threads. The payouts are part of a new invitation-only bonus program that rewards creators who use Meta’s newest app.

An Instagram support page offers some details. It says creators can earn money “based on the performance of your Threads posts” or “the number of posts you create.” So, go for either quality or quantity, it seems. It appears terms of the bonuses are unique to each creator.

According to one post on Threads, at least one creator was offered “up to $5,000” for Threads posts or replies with 10,000 views or more. Unfortunately, we can’t see how many views that screenshot has so far, and whether it's making him money.

While not nearly as high as the $10,000 bonuses Reels creators could earn in the past, it’s still pretty generous, given the lower effort needed to type a Threads missive.

The company refers to it as being in “testing,” but it offers a preview of how Meta may try to boost engagement on the service. It’s the same playbook as Meta used for Reels on Facebook and Instagram.

— Mat Smith

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Peacock is raising its prices again

Just in time for the Olympics.

Peacock just announced it’s raising prices again, less than a year since it did it last. The new price will be $8 per month for Peacock with ads and $14 per month, ad-free. Those prices start on July 18 for new subscribers and August 17 for existing users. The 2024 Summer Olympics is right around the corner, and the streamer will show “every sport and event, including all 329 medal events.” So there’s a reason.

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The EU will force Apple to open up iPadOS

Apple now has six months to allow competing stores on its tablets.

Engadget

Apple’s iPad has been added to the list of tech products that must abide by the EU’s DMA rules. The European Commission has officially designated iPadOS as a gatekeeper under the DMA, alongside Apple’s Safari web browser, iOS and the App Store. To ensure iPadOS compliance, Apple will have to allow third parties to interoperate with iPadOS, so that means third-party app stores for those tablets.

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Walmart−Roblox collaboration offers IRL items to kids

Teens can shop for goods in virtual stores before shipping products to their house.

Walmart’s Discovered experience started out as a way for kids to buy virtual items for Roblox inside the game. But today, that partnership will include a pilot program for teens to buy real-life goods stocked on digital shelves before they’re shipped to your door. Anyone who buys a real-world item will receive a free virtual twin. The first products to benefit from this are a crochet bag from No Boundaries, Onn Bluetooth headphones and a TAL stainless steel tumbler. And we all know: Kids love to show off their stainless steel tumblers.

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