Amazon is taking an even stronger stance against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. The company announced today that it will suspend shipments of products in Russia and Belarus, as well as halt access to Prime Video in Russia. Additionally (though perhaps less impactful), Amazon also won't be taking more orders for its MMO New World in Russia.
"Unlike some other U.S. technology providers, Amazon and AWS have no data centers, infrastructure, or offices in Russia, and we have a long-standing policy of not doing business with the Russian government," the company said in a blog post.
Yesterday, Amazon also said that it won't be accepting new AWS subscribers in Russia and Belarus. The company's stronger stance isn't too surprising, as many other tech companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft have also taken actions against Russia. While Russia's ecommerce industry has seen explosive growth over recent years, it's mostly dominated by local retailers like Wildberries.ru and Ozon.ru, whereas Amazon is still struggling to compete.
The March Xbox update is rolling out, and it brings a few useful features to Microsoft's consoles. Xbox Series X/S players can now pin two games to the Quick Resume group.
That could be useful if you're the type of person who, say, likes to play a quick round of Halo Infinite multiplayer or enjoy a Forza Horizon 5 race if you need a break from an Elden Ring boss. Pin a couple games to Quick Resume (by pressing the menu button when you highlight a game tile) and it should be easier to hop between them.
Games you pin to the group will stay there unless you remove them manually or they have a required update. If you already have two pinned and want to add another, the console will ask which one you want to replace.
Xbox
If you don't tend to use the Share button often, you might get more out of it if you change its function. You can reassign a different action to the button, such as muting the volume, opening your friends list or achievements or bringing up the search menu. Microsoft says there are more actions available for Elite Series 2 Controllers, Xbox Adaptive Controllers and other devices too via the Xbox Accessories app. There's also a Xbox controller firmware update, which should improve performance on Xbox One controllers with Bluetooth support, among other things.
Elsewhere, there's a new audio setup wizard for Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. You'll find it under the "volume and audio output" area of the general settings. It should help you find the optimal settings for your speaker setup.
Disney+ has finally offered a good peek at its Obi-Wan Kenobi series. The streaming service has released a teaser trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi that documents the Jedi's life on Tatooine as he avoids the Empire and protects a young Luke Skywalker. As the clip makes clear, it won't be easy — Imperial forces are turning to Sith who'll look for "weaknesses" like compassion to track down the remnants of the Jedi order.
The limited-run series debuts May 25th, or 45 years to the day after the premiere of the original Star Wars movie. Ewan McGregor reprises his role as the titular Obi-Wan Kenobi, while Hayden Christensen returns as a younger Darth Vader. The Mandalorian alumnus Deborah Chow is directing the show.
Obi-Wan will arrive several months after The Book of Boba Fett, and represents a growing wave of Star Wars originals for Disney+ that will include Ahsoka, Andor and The Acolyte. Shows like this aren't rare, one-off projects — they represent a cornerstone of the Disney+ strategy.
David Bennett, the first human to successfully undergo a heart transplant involving a genetically modified pig heart, has died, according to The New York Times. He was 57. It’s unclear if his body rejected the organ doctors implanted in January. “There was no obvious cause identified at the time of his death,” a spokesperson for the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the hospital that performed the procedure, told the outlet. Physicians plan to carry out a full evaluation before publishing their findings in a peer-reviewed journal.
When Bennett’s transplant was first announced, doctors treated the news with cautious optimism. And for a time, it looked like that feeling was warranted. Not only did Bennett’s body not immediately reject the organ, but he was also able to take part in physical therapy and spend time with his family. And while he was never discharged from the hospital, he did survive two months with the genetically modified organ beating in place of his human heart.
Even if doctors determine the cause of death was organ rejection, that’s no small milestone. Stephanie Fae Beauclair, one of the most famous patients to undergo a xenotransplantation procedure, survived for 21 days before her body rejected her adopted baboon heart. Part of the reason doctors were hopeful the procedure would work is that there’s a dire organ shortage in the US and many others parts of the world. According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, about 17 Americans die every day waiting for an organ transplant.
The Microbus is back, baby! Nearly 75 years since the first Volkswagen Type 2 rolled off its assembly line and into the annals of Americana as an icon of 1960s counterculture, VW is re-releasing the emblematic vehicle — this time as a full EV for the 21st century hippy.
VW
VW executives took to the livestreaming stage on Wednesday ahead of SXSW 2022’s kickoff to debut the ID.Buzz, which will be available as both a people mover and a cargo van (dubbed the ID.Buzz Cargo) beginning later this year. The ID.Buzz will appear in Europe first — arriving later this year — and will be available with a number of options lacking in their American-market cousins including short-wheelbase and commercial variants. There’s even a self-driving version that likely won’t be making it across the pond. The American iterations are slated to arrive in 2023.
The ID.Buzz is built atop VW’s modular electric drive matrix (MEB if you say it in German), the same battery platform Ford plans to use for one of its European market vehicles come 2023. As such it shares some similar build characteristics with the ID.4.
The ID.Buzz will come equipped with a 77kWh battery pack with a 170kw charging capacity powering a 150kw rear motor. The passenger model will seat five with 1.21 cubic meters (39.5 cubic feet) of cargo space while the Cargo will offer 3.9 cubic meters (137.7 cubic feet) by replacing the rear seats with a partition behind the front row. For the interior, VW designers took inspiration from the aesthetics of the Microbus, pulling style elements from the T1 generation of vehicle and matching seat cushions, dash panels and the door trim to the vehicle’s exterior paint color of which buyers will have their pick of seven solid-color options and four two-tone schemes (white + another color).
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VW also noted during the presentation the extensive work it put into lessening environmental impacts arising from the ID.Buzz’s production. The interior upholstery is made completely animal-free — the steering wheel may be made of polyurethane, but VW executives swear that it has the same look and feel as leather. The seat covers, floor coverings and headliner are all similarly composed of recycled goods like marine plastic and old water bottles. Using these materials emits 32 percent less carbon than similar products would, according to the company. Overall, VW hopes to cut its carbon emissions in Europe by 40 percent by 2030 and achieve climate neutrality as part of its Way to Zero plan by 2050.
Gotham Knights at last has a firm release date. The open-world co-op RPG will hit PC, PlayStation and Xbox on October 25th. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment initially planned to release Gotham Knights in 2021, but announced last March it would be delayed until this year.
Developer WB Games Montreal (which also made Batman: Arkham Origins) offered a first look at Gotham Knights at DC FanDome in August 2020. You can play as Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl or Red Hood as you try to take down the Court of Owls, a group of criminals that pulls the strings on Gotham's elite from the shadows. You'll also battle Mr. Freeze and the Penguin following the apparent death of Batman.
Rocksteady, which developed the other games in the Batman: Arkham series, has a Batman-adjacent title of its own in the works. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is also expected to arrive in 2022.
You no longer have to read Substack articles on the web. As 9to5Macnotes, Substack has released its first mobile reading app for iPhone and iPad. The software will help you follow your subscriptions, with notifications when a favorite writer publishes a new story. You'll find all media formats in a single place, too. The app will also help you discover new writers if you're eager for more.
Android users will have to be patient. You can sign up for a waiting list, but it's not clear when Substack's app will be available for Google's platform.
The iOS app should be helpful if you're an avid Substack reader who'd rather not fire up a web browser just to catch up — it's arguably overdue when rivals like Medium have offered mobile apps for years. It may be just as relevant for writers, for that matter. They won't have to worry so much that you might miss an email alert, or skip a piece when you're away from your desk.
Bumble has joined a growing list of American companies pulling out of Russia amid the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. On Tuesday, the company announced it was discontinuing operations in Russia and removing its family of dating apps from the Apple and Google app stores in Russia and Belarus.
What’s notable about Bumble’s announcement is that the company details how the decision will affect its business. In addition to Bumble, it owns and operates two other dating apps, Badoo and Fruitz. Those two are popular in Europe and they’re where Bumble anticipates it will see the most impact from its decision.
In 2021, approximately 2.8 percent of Badoo’s revenue came from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. By contrast, users from those three countries contributed to less than 0.1 percent of the revenue Bumble earned through its main app that same year. The company anticipates it will lose about $20 million in fiscal 2022 due to the conflict. To put that in perspective, the company recorded $208.2 million in revenue in fiscal 2021.
Facebook is once again trying to stem the flow of misinformation within Groups. The social network is giving group admins new tools to help prevent misleading information from spreading.
With the update, group admins will be able to “automatically decline” posts that have been determined to be false or misleading by Facebook’s third-party fact checkers. Admins who want to take an even tougher stance can use the feature to decline the post and block or suspend the user from future posts in the group.
Facebook has struggled to control misinformation and other problematic content in Groups for years. Though the company has imposed stricter penalties for Groups that repeatedly break its rules, Groups have been breeding grounds for election and COVID-19 misinformation.
Facebook
Still, the feature could considerably reduce the number of false claims being passed around in Groups, though it’s up to admins to enable it. It’s also not retroactive, so posts that are shared and then later debunked by fact-checkers will still be visible unless an admin or moderator opts to remove the post.
Facebook is also automating other aspects of managing Groups, including how requests by prospective members are handled. Admins will have the option to automatically decline or approve new members based on criteria like the age of their Facebook account and if they have friends already in the group.
Twitter is launching another experimental shopping feature, with in-app storefronts for brands and businesses.
The feature, called Twitter Shops, is an expansion of the “shop module” it launched last summer. But while the shop module only allowed companies to showcase a handful of products on their profile page, the latest update gives the stores a dedicated, full-screen space for up to 50 items. The shops will only be available to a handful of businesses for now, and the shops will be viewable for US Twitter users who use the app in English.
Twitter
While Twitter is billing the feature as an “experiment,” the company has hinted that it has much bigger ambitions in the space. The company said at its most recent analyst day presentation that it sees e-commerce as a major opportunity. Shopping also ties in nicely with Twitter’s recent embrace of monetization features for creators, and the company has piloted shopping features in livestreams.
