Twitter's $3 subscription now costs $5 a month. The social network has sent out an email notifying existing subscribers that Twitter Blue has raised its prices for new members, but as early adopters, the monthly amount they're paying will remain the same until October. In the email posted by social media consultant Matt Navarra and first spotted by The Verge, the company said early adopters will also be notified at least 30 days before the new monthly price takes effect for their accounts. 

The company didn't elaborate on the reason behind the price increase and only said in the email that it will help Twitter build new features subscribers have been asking for, improve upon the ones it already has and sustain its mission of supporting journalism. It also said that it's currently creating a "more frictionless reading experience" and launching new experimental features in Twitter Blue Labs for those who choose to stick around even with the higher subscription price.

Twitter launched its subscription service in the US back in November, unlocking additional features for the website's most dedicated users. Some of its features can be very useful, including the ability to Undo tweets, which is the closest thing to an "edit" button at the moment. It also allows members to browse news without ads and gives them access to the latest features the website is testing.

In its second quarter earnings report for 2022, Twitter said it has seen a sharp rise in the number of regular users on the website. The bad news was that it didn't translate to more money for the company. It posted a net loss of $270 million, which it blamed on the economic downturn and the uncertainty surrounding Elon Musk's takeover. If you'll recall, Musk offered to buy Twitter for $44 billion back in April and the social network quickly accepted, but they've been at odds since then. In July, Twitter sued Elon Musk for attempting to back out of the acquisition, and now the two parties are going to face off in an expedited, five-day trial beginning in October.

The US federal courts' document filing system was attacked by three hostile foreign actors, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler has told fellow lawmakers. According to Politico, Nadler made the first public disclosure of the cyberattack at a committee hearing on oversight of the Justice Department’s National Security Division (NSD). The attack happened as part of a bigger security breach that led to a "system security failure" way back in 2020. Nadler has admitted during the hearing, however, that the committee only learned about the "startling breadth and scope" of the breach this March. 

Matthew Olsen, the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, has testified at the hearing and said his division is "working very closely with the judicial conference and judges around the country to address this issue." As you can guess, lawmakers are worried about how many cases were impacted by the breach and how exactly the issue had affected them. "[T]his is a dangerous set of circumstances that has now been publicly announced, and we need to know how many…were dismissed," committee member Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee told Olsen. When asked if the breach had affected any of the cases the NSD had handled, Olsen said he couldn't think of any in particular. 

There's still a lot of information about the breach that's kept under wraps — Senator Ron Wyden even wrote to the Administrative Office of the US Courts to express concerns about the fact that "the federal judiciary has yet to publicly explain what happened and has refused multiple requests to provide unclassified briefings to Congress." As Politico notes, though, the US Courts admitted in January 2021 that its Case Management/Electronic Case Files system was breached and even changed its filing procedures for sensitive documents. The publication also points out that this breach wasn't a part of the massive SolarWinds hacks, which are being blamed on a Russian state-sponsored group known as Nobelium.

Olsen said the Justice Department's investigators will keep the committee updated about any new developments, so we'll likely hear more information about the data breach in the future. 

The PlayStation 5now supports 1440p, at least for gamers with access to its beta software. While the console has supported 1080p and 4K output from the start, 1440p support is still a much-requested feature by players who use monitors instead of TVs. It provides a middle ground between full HD and 4K, after all, and is a popular choice for gamers who also play on their PCs. Testers who get the latest beta software for the PS5 will now see a 1440p HDMI video output option as an additional visual setting when they use the console with a compatible monitor.

Obviously, they can enjoy the full benefits of 1440p rendering if the game they're playing supports the resolution. But if they're playing a game that supports 4K, they could also benefit from the feature, because the option downsamples the visuals for 1440p output and that leads to sharper images. As VG247 notes, though, Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), which rolled out for the console in April, is only available for 1080p and 2160p. VRR gives the screen the ability to sync its refresh rate with that of the game for a smoother experience, and it's not quite clear why it's not available for 1440p output. 

In addition to 1440p support, the latest beta software also gives users a way to create gamelists in their Game Library so that they can better organize all the titles they own. Players can create up to 15 gamelists with 100 games each. Their in-progress activities will now be shown prominently at the top of the game hub when they resume a game, as well, and they can now request party members to share their screens so that they can watch their gameplay. Plus, when they enter a party and a member is playing game they can join, they'll now receive an alert and then join the game directly from that notification.

Sony has introduced more experimental features with the new beta and has listed them all on the PlayStation blog.

NASA has altered the Mars Sample Return Program meant to bring back the rock samples the Perseverance rover has been drilling and collecting from the Jezero crater in a big way. Instead of sending the Sample Fetch Rover to the red planet like originally planned, the program will make use of Perseverance itself and send over two helicopters based on the Ingenuity for backup. 

NASA and the ESA have been working together on the Sample Return Program over the past few years. The original plan was to send over the ESA-made Sample Fetch Rover to retrieve the samples and drive them back to a rocket, which will fly them up to be snatched by the Earth Return Orbiter. As The New York Times notes, though, the rover's design became too big until it could no longer fit in one lander with the return rocket. NASA would have to use one lander for each of them.

But why do that when there are other, more affordable options? The Sample Return Lander isn't scheduled to arrive on Mars until 2030, but NASA is confident that Perseverance will still be operational by then — after all, the Curiosity rover is still up and running almost 11 years after it launched. Under their renewed plan, the Perseverance will drive up to the lander to deliver 30 rock samples that will be loaded onto the rocket.

If anything goes wrong with Perseverance before then, though, the lander would settle closer to the rover and then the backup helicopters will fly over to retrieve the samples. While the helicopters are modeled after the Ingenuity, they'll have small wheels at the bottom. These will allow them to drive up to the samples that are sealed inside tubes and pick them up from the ground where the rover has dropped them.

The Ingenuity helicopter completed its first test flight on Mars in April 2021. NASA wasn't expecting much from the helicopter, which was just supposed to prove that flight on Mars is possible. It was also only supposed to fly a handful of times during a one-month technology demonstration, but it has accomplished 29 successful flights so far, with more on the way. Ingenuity's success has given NASA another means to retrieve the precious samples Perseverance has been collecting.

Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for NASA's science directorate, said during the press conference announcing the new Sample Return Program plans:

"We reached our decision based on new studies and recent achievements at Mars that allowed us to consider options that, frankly, weren’t available to us one year ago or before."

The Earth Return Orbiter and Sample Retrieval Lander will take off in the fall of 2027 and the summer of 2028, respectively. Their journey to and from the red planet will take years, so the samples aren't expected to arrive on Earth until 2033.

For the second quarter of 2022, Samsung has reported a consolidated revenue of KRW 77.2 trillion (US$59.4 billion), which is a record high for the quarter ending on June 30th. Samsung's operating profit also reached KRW 14.1 trillion (US$10.8 billion) — that's 12 percent higher from the same period a year earlier and is its best yet since 2018. As has been the case these past years, the company's semiconductor or Device Solutions (DS) division greatly contributed to those numbers and has achieved a historical high in quarterly revenue for the second consecutive quarter.

The DS division posted KRW 28.5 trillion (US$21.9 billion) in consolidated revenue and KRW 9.98 trillion (US$7.7 billion) in operating profit in the second quarter, thanks mostly to server chip demand. However, chip demand for consumer products, such as mobile phones and PCs, was much weaker than expected "due to widening impacts of macro issues." In fact, Samsung said its DRAM and NAND shipments came in below guidance. The company also expects demand for consumer devices to stay weak and even believes that there's a possibility for this slump in demand to make its way to enterprise.

As you can guess based on that information, Samsung's Mobile eXperience (MX) business was also affected by the overall decline in market demand. The company blamed "geopolitical issues and concerns over inflation on top of continued weak seasonality" for the mobile division's decline in earnings. It also said the costs of components and logistics affected the business' profitability and caused it to slide lower than the previous quarter's.

The tech giant doesn't expect smartphone sales to blow up next quarter either: Demand for new phones will likely stay similar year-on-year or show only a single-digital growth, it predicts, because of prolonged geopolitical issues and economic uncertainties. That said, it's hoping that the launch of new foldables could pad its sales numbers in the coming months. Samsung will unveil its next-gen foldable phones at its upcoming Unpacked event on August 10th. 

In a piece examining what the NVIDIA Broadcast can do, we praised its noise removal capability for being "impressively adept" at stripping away everything but your voice. Now, AMD has launched a similar tool for computers powered by its chips, and it could vastly improve your gaming and live streaming experience or lead to cleaner recordings. AMD's Noise Suppression tool can reduce background chatter and sounds in real time through the use of a deep learning algorithm. 

The feature works for both input and output devices, which means it can not only suppress noise captured on your mic, but also noise coming from someone else's. It can help you stay focused if you're in a meeting or attending online classes, for instance, because it can block the sounds of somebody's barking dog or crying baby in the background.

That said, Noise Suppression is only available for computers with Ryzen 5000 series and newer processors, as well as for systems with Radeon RX 6000 series and newer graphics cards. If you know your computer has the components needed to access the feature, make sure to upgrade to the latest version of AMD Software before heading to the Settings page. 

Under Audio Settings in the Audio & Video tab, you'll see a toggle to enable the feature. You can also choose to switch it on for either your input or your output device or for both of them at the same time. The next time you fire up a game or a communications app, such as Microsoft Teams or Slack, you can take advantage of the benefits of the noise suppression tool, so long as you select the "AMD Streaming Device" option as your input and/or output device.

If you're one of the few people in the US who've yet to get an Instant Pot — or if you want another model to add to the one(s) you already have — this is your chance to grab one at a discount. Amazon is holding a one-day sale for the brand's products, including the 5.7-quart Instant Pot Vortex Air Fryer, which is currently listed on the website for 52 percent off. At $67, that's the lowest price we've seen on Amazon for the air fryer-oven combo that has an original retail price of $140. While Instant Pot Vortex is an air fryer, it also has one-touch controls for baking, roasting and reheating. You can also create customized programs for specific types of food, so you can cook wings, potatoes or even cinnamon buns with a single touch.

Instant Pot's 8-quart 9-in-1 Duo Plus model is also on sale, if you what you need is the brand's classic pressure cooker. It has dropped back to an all-time low of $80, or $70 less than its retail price. The Duo Plus has nine functions in one device and could act as a rice cooker, slow cooker, yogurt maker, steamer, sauté pan, food warmer, sous vide and sterilizer, in addition to being a pressure cooker. It has 15 customizable programs to make cooking ribs, cake, soup, among other types of food a lot easier, as well. 

But if you're looking to get an air fryer and a pressure cooker on a limited budget, you can get the Instant Pot Duo Crisp instead. It has nine functionalities that include air frying and pressure cooking — plus, it lets you easily switch between lids especially designed for each function. The Duo Crisp is currently on sale for $100, which $50 off its retail price. You'll find a few more models to choose from on the deals homepage. Some of them aren't selling for their all-time low prices at the moment, but Instant Pots are always a great pick-up on a deal.

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You might not get to play the PlayStation 5 remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic anytime soon: According to Bloomberg, its development has been delayed indefinitely. Sony announced that Aspyr Media, a company known for creating ports out of existing video games, was remaking BioWare's classic Star Wars RPG last year. Aspyr had been working on the remake for three years by then and had industry veterans, as well as people who helped create the original game, onboard. Things certainly looked promising, but now the game's future seems uncertain. 

Apparently, Aspyr finished a demo of the game to show Lucasfilm and Sony on June 30th and the developers were even excited by what they've achieved. A week later, however, the company fired design director Brad Prince and art director Jason Minor. On his LinkedIn page, Minor's Aspyr credit shows his end of employment as July 2022, and his profile image currently features the "#Opentowork" frame.

Aspyr reportedly held a series of meetings in July about the situation to tell employees that the demo wasn't where they wanted it to be and that the project would be put on hold. The studio heads also told staff members that the company will be looking for new contracts and development opportunities. 

While the developer's reasons for firing Prince and Minor and for freezing the project aren't clear at this point, one of Bloomberg's sources suggested that it poured a disproportionate amount of time and money into creating the demo. If that's the case, continuing what it's been doing for the rest of the game wouldn't be sustainable. Bloomberg says another possible point of contention is the game's timeline. Aspyr has been telling partners that the game would be released by the end of 2022, but 2025 would be a more realistic target.

Some Aspyr personnel now believe that Saber Interactive, which has been doing outsourced work for the project, could now take over. We reached out to the company for a response to Bloomberg's report and will edit this post with any information it may provide. To note, company released Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II for the Nintendo Switch back in June. The game went out with a bug that prevented people from finishing it, but Aspyr rolled out a patch to fix the issue in July.

ByteDance, TikTok's parent company based in China, used its now-defunct news app called TopBuzz to spread pro-China messages, according to BuzzFeed News. Former employees who worked at the English-language news aggregator told the publication that ByteDance ordered staff members to "pin" content that showed China in a positive light or content that promoted the country to the top of the app. They were even reportedly required to provide proof, such as screenshots of the live content, to show that they had complied with the company's orders. TopBuzz managed to reach 40 million monthly active users by 2018.

The content the former employees helped promote included panda videos, along with videos endorsing travel to China. At least one staff member also remember pinning a video featuring a white man talking about the benefits of moving his startup to the country. As one of the former employees put it, the content ByteDance wanted them to promote wasn't anything overtly political and took more of a soft sell approach. However, they added: "Let’s be real, this was not something you could say no to." 

In addition to promoting pro-China content, former staff members claimed that TopBuzz had a review system that would flag reports on the Chinese government for removal. They said the flagged content included coverage of Hong Kong protests, pieces that mention President Xi Jinping and even those that reference Winnie the Pooh. Some employees also said that content depicting openly LGBTQ+ people were removed at times.

A ByteDance spokesperson denied the former employees' claims and called them "false and ridiculous." In a statement sent to BuzzFeed, they said:

"The claim that TopBuzz — which was discontinued years ago — pinned pro-Chinese government content to the top of the app or worked to promote it is false and ridiculous. TopBuzz had over two dozen top tier US and UK media publishing partners, including BuzzFeed, which clearly did not find anything of concern when performing due diligence."

While TopBuzz was shut down back in June 2020, TikTok is very much alive and well. Authorities and critics have long been worried that ByteDance would use TikTok to spread pro-China propaganda in the US, and we're guessing that these new claims won't be assuaging anybody's fears. Another BuzzFeed News report published in June shed light on how ByteDance employees in China had repeatedly accessed private information on TikTok users in the US. The company quickly migrated US user traffic to a new Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, but FCC commissioner Brendan Carr called on Apple and Google to ban the app "for its pattern of surreptitious data practices" anyway.

CNN's Brian Stelter previously asked TikTok's head of public policy for the Americas, Michael Beckerman, on whether the app could be used to influence politics and culture in the US. Beckerman replied that TikTok is "not the go-to place for politics" and that "the primary thing that people are coming and using TikTok for is entertainment and joyful and fun content." As BuzzFeed News notes, though, a lot of young people now use TikTok as their primary source of information, including politics and breaking news.

In 2021, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman revealed the country's plans to build The Line, a smart linear city that will be constructed vertically, have no roads or cars and run purely on renewable energy. Now, the Saudi government has released image renders of what The Line could look like once it's done. The city was designed to only be 200 meters (656 feet) wide, but 500 meters (1,640 feet) tall and 170 kilometers (105 miles) long. It will house multiple communities encased in a glass facade running along the coast and will eventually be able to accommodate up to 9 million residents. 

The Line's designers envision a city wherein facilities are just a five-minute walk away from people and where residents can organically bump into each other as they go about their daily errands. While it will have no roads and won't be able to accommodate cars, it will have a high-speed rail for end-to-end transit that will take 20 minutes. It will also rely on a natural ventilation system to make sure residents enjoy the ideal climate all year round. 

The Line

The Saudi Crown Prince said in a statement:

"The designs revealed today for the city's vertically layered communities will challenge the traditional flat, horizontal cities and create a model for nature preservation and enhanced human livability. THE LINE will tackle the challenges facing humanity in urban life today and will shine a light on alternative ways to live."

The Line is part of Saudi's $500 billion Neom mega-city project being built in the country's Tabuk Province. It's a divisive initiative that's been beset with controversy from the time it started, because around 20,000 people will be forced to relocate by its construction. The residents facing eviction belong to the Huwaitat indigenous tribe, who can trace their lineage before Saudi was even founded. 

According to Al Jazeera, a prominent Huwaitat activist was arrested and imprisoned in 2020 in relation to the tribe's refusal to relocate. Another Huwaitat activist also told the news organization that year that at least 15 other tribe members were abducted and imprisoned. Two of them were reportedly taken after criticizing the Saudi government and the Neom project on social media. In addition, expats recruited to work on the initiative criticized its management for making unrealistic demands and turning a blind eye to discrimination, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The controversies surrounding Neom had compelled Riot Games to quickly go back on its decision to enter a sponsorship agreement with the mega-city project. Neom was supposed to be a main partner for Riot's LEC esports championship in Europe two years ago until backlash from fans caused the company to end the sponsorship deal a mere 24 hours later.