When Tesla held its opening party for the company's Giga Texas factory last year, Elon Musk said that it will finally start selling the Cybertruck in 2023. Now, we can narrow down the timing for its launch even further. According to The Verge, Musk just told Tesla investors during its most recent earnings call that the automaker will hold a delivery event for the Cybertruck in the third quarter of the year. Tesla will start manufacturing the vehicle this summer, but volume production won't begin until 2024 like the company had previously said.

Musk reportedly told investors during the call that it "takes time to get the manufacturing line going, and this is really a very radical product." He added: "It's not made in the way that other cars are made." The production version Cybertruck Tesla showed off on stage last year had no door handles and could automatically tell if its owner is nearby and it should open its doors. It's still made out of stainless steel like the automaker initially envisioned, though, and that's more expensive than steel typically used in the industry. As The Verge notes, the electric vehicle requires special welding techniques, and its smaller components are custom-made. 

The Cybertruck has been delayed several times since it was first announced back in 2019. Tesla's original and very optimistic initial launch date was 2021, but it was pushed back to 2022 and then to 2023. The vehicle's prices were originally supposed to start at $39,900 for a single-motor configuration to $70,000 for a three-motor one. Tesla warned earlier this year, however, that its final specs and pricing have yet to be determined and could be based on several factors, such as supply chain shortages and the economy.  

Starting on April 25th, advertisers using Microsoft's social media management tool will no longer be able to access Twitter on their dashboard. As Mashable has first reported, the tech giant has announced on its Advertising platform page that its Digital Marketing Center's Smart Campaigns with Multi-platform tool will no longer support the social network in a few days' time. The announcement comes almost a month after Twitter revealed how much users will have to pay to access its API. While the company wasn't that forthcoming when it came to pricing for enterprise customers, Wired previously reported that the cheapest package available for them cost $42,000 a month. 

Although Microsoft could easily afford to pay that, it seems to have chosen to drop Twitter instead. Removing support for the website on its social media management tool means advertisers will no longer be able to use it to create, manage or schedule draft tweets, as well as to view past tweets and engagements. Microsoft has noted in its announcement that other social media channels, such as "Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn will continue to be available."

After Microsoft's announcement, Elon Musk responded to a tweet reporting its decision with a threat to take legal action against the company. "They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time," Twitter's owner wrote. He didn't elaborate on how Microsoft illegally trained anything using Twitter data, but it's worth noting that the tech giant is a key backer of ChatGPT developer OpenAI. The executive co-founded OpenAI back in 2015, but he distanced himself from the organization and has been vocally criticizing the chatbot and AI as a whole as of late. Musk also recently revealed his plans for his own AI company that could rival OpenAI and Google. 

Whether Musk's lawsuit threat would actually materialize remains to be seen. Regardless, Microsoft's decision came at a very bad time for Twitter. The website has been steadily losing advertisers since Musk took over, and according to digital marketing analysis firm Pathmatics by Sensor Tower, less than half of its top 1,000 advertisers spent money on ads in January. 

Android users in the UK may get the choice to pay for apps and services on the platform through a billing system other than Google's. Ten months after the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into the tech giant's payment system for in-app purchases, Google offered to give developers in the region the choice to use alternative options. The probe came following a separate investigation in which the CMA found Apple and Google held an "effective duopoly" on mobile ecosystems, and that Google's Play Store in particular could potentially lead "to higher prices and reduced choice for Android users."

At the moment, the CMA is asking for feedback on Google's proposals and will continue accepting them until May 19th. If the organization decides to make the proposals legally binding based on people's feedback, then developers will be able to offer a payment system of their own choosing, known as "Developer-only Billing" or DOB, in the UK. They could also offer an alternative payment system next to Google's in a scheme known as "User Choice Billing" (UCB). 

That said, Google will still collect service fees from developers, which typically cost them between 15 to 30 percent of their earnings — it will just be a bit lower than usual. When developers don't offer Google Play billing at all, their service fee will be reduced by 3 percent. If they choose to offer an alternative payment method alongside Google's, and a customer chooses that, their service fee will be lowered by 4 percent.

The tech giant explained in a post about its proposals: "The service fees for distributing apps via Android and Google Play will continue to be based on digital sales via our platform. The service fee is how we support our ongoing investments in Android and Google Play, reflects the value provided by Android and Google Play, and is how we earn money as a business."

Last year, Google allowed Android app developers to use third-party payments in several European Union states. The company also collects service fees in the EU no matter the billing system a user chooses, though the rates are also reduced if they pay using the alternative billing method.

Google says its commitments will be implemented in phases if the CMA decides to adopt them. The ability to add non-Google billing will initially be available to developers of non-gaming apps. Gaming app developers will be able to add alternative billing systems no later than October 2023.

It's a great time to shop for SSDs and memory cards if you've been looking to expand your devices' storage capacities. Samsung's products are on sale for up to 57 percent off at Amazon, some of which are now listed for their all-time low prices on the website. The Samsung 512GB microSDXC Pro Plus card that comes with a USB reader, for instance, will set you back $48. That's the lowest price we've seen for the product, which typically sells for $55 and used to sell for as much as $115. It has read/write speeds of 160/120 MB/s and can store up to 30 hours of videos shot in 4K.

Another option is Samsung's Evo Select 128GB microSDXC card with adapter, which currently sells for only $12 or 40 percent off its list price of $20. It's a U3-rated card that has transfer speeds of up to 130MB/s, and Samsung recommends it for use not just with mobile devices, but also with the Nintendo Switch console. 

But if what you're looking for is a memory card for dashcams or security cameras, then Samsung's 128GB Pro Endurance microSDXC card may be the better choice. Samsung designed the model to be able to record and rewrite footage up to hundreds of thousands of hours in length, or up to eight years of continuous recording for the 128GB version. The company also says it designed the model to last and to be able to withstand being exposed to magnets, X-rays, water, harsh temperatures, as well as being dropped. 

In case you're looking to give your computer's storage capacity a boost instead, Samsung's 980 Pro internal SSD is also on sale. The 500GB variant will set you back $60, which is an all-time low for the SSD and is 57 percent lower than its list price of $140. It can reach read speeds of up to 3500MB/s and write speeds of up to 3400MB/s. Samsung says the Pro SSD was designed specifically for hardcore gamers and tech-savvy users, since it has the capability to handle heavy-duty applications for gaming, graphics and data analytics, among others. The model is also available in 1TB and 2TB if you need even more space. 

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Tesla has slashed its electric vehicles' prices for the sixth time this year, on the eve of its next earnings report. It has quietly lowered the price for the Model 3, so that the the rear-wheel drive variant now starts at $39,990 or $2,000 less than what buyers would pay for it as recently as earlier this month. If you'll recall, the automaker already cut $1,000 off its price and started selling it for $41,990 the last time it implemented price cuts just a couple of weeks ago. And earlier this year, Tesla cut its prices quite drastically across its lineup, with some models getting a price drop of as much as 20 percent.

As Tesla notes on its website, though, the rear-wheel drive model now only qualifies for $3,750 in tax credits after the government's change in guidelines took effect on April 18th. The new rules are related to the US cutting off China as an approved trading partner, which would lead to EVs using China-made batteries losing tax credits as a result. To note, Tesla's other cars are still eligible for the full $7,500 tax credits, including the Model Y vehicles that also got a price cut. 

The base, the Long Range and the Performance Model Y vehicles now cost $3,000 less than before. The base Model Y will now set buyers back $46,990, while the Long Range and Performance vehicles now cost $49,990 and $53,990, respectively. When Tesla reported its earnings for 2022 in January this year, Elon Musk said the company was seeing orders "almost twice the rate of production." According to Bloomberg, though, Tesla was unable to sustain that rate of demand and has made the lowest number of deliveries in the first quarter of this year since 2021. Since the company reportedly produced thousands of vehicles more than it handed over to customers, these price cuts were likely implemented to sell existing inventory and to drum up demand going forward.

Niantic, which is perhaps most known for developing Pokémon Go, is working on an augmented reality version of Monster Hunter for Android and iOS devices. The company has teamed up with Capcom to create what it calls a "real-world hunting action RPG" entitled Monster Hunter Now. Similar to Pokemon Go and Niantic's other titles, including the now-defunct Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, players will have to walk around with their phones to find monsters to battle. They can also team up with friends and strangers and use the materials they gather to craft weapons and armor. 

According to Polygon, Niantic and Capcom have revealed at a press briefing that the game will be free to play, with in-app purchases. It will feature simplified combat comparable to Pokémon Go's and will have players swiping and tapping on their phone screens. Players can fight battles one-handed in portrait mode, but they can also battle monsters in landscape mode if they want to replicate the Monster Hunter experience they're used to on PCs and consoles. 

While the franchise is known for challenging players with battles that could last for more than five minutes, though, the maximum battle time for the mobile game will only be 75 seconds. Sakae Osumi, a Niantic senior producer at its Tokyo studio where the game is being developed, said the company wants to encapsulate Monster Hunter's fun battles within a shorter window of time. Long, drawn-out battles aren't ideal for mobile games where you're supposed to walk around anyway. That said, Monster Hunter Now will come with a feature that will allow players to tag monsters they encounter with a paintball so that they could battle them at home, either on their own or with friends. Their Palico companions could automatically tag monsters, as well, even if the app isn't open. 

Niantic is now accepting sign-ups for the game's closed beta testing, which will begin on April 25th. If all goes well, and testing is a success, Monster Hunter Now will officially launch sometime in September this year. 

Elon Musk, who’s been vocally critical about artificial intelligence lately, seems to be planning something AI related. According to The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times, Musk has founded a new artificial intelligence company called X.AI Corp. Based on a state filing from last month that the sources have viewed, the new company is incorporated in Nevada and lists Musk as the sole director, as well as Jared Birchall, the director of his family’s offices, as the secretary. The multi-company executive is known to have a special affinity for the letter ”X” and has even recently renamed Twitter, Inc. as X Corp.

Musk is no stranger to AI projects. He co-founded OpenAI before leaving the company almost a decade ago. After ChatGPT’s meteoric rise in popularity, though, Musk advocated for the technology’s regulation and signed an open letter that urged tech leaders to put a six-month pause on its development. The Journal says Musk thought ChatGPT was politically biased — he once commented on the “danger of training AI to be woke” — and that he’s looking create AI models that are “truth-seeking.”

At this point, though, Musk’s plans for X.AI Corp and whether he’s looking to build a veritable ChatGPT rival remains unclear. While details are still scarce, previous reports provide clues on how Musk’s AI efforts are progressing. He reportedly hired two former DeepMind researchers in March, including scientist Igor Babuschkin, who’s believed to be helming the new project. Musk also reportedly purchased 10,000 GPUs for AI development at one of Twitter’s data centers. In addition, according to The Times, he’s already in talks with Tesla and SpaceX investors to put money into his new venture.

Razer has launched a new streaming deck called the Stream Controller X, and it would most likely look familiar to experienced streamers and content creators. It has a very similar form factor to Elgato‘s Stream Deck MK.2, with its 15 LCD switchblade key buttons and a face plate that users can easily swap. The bevel’s spacing is a bit different, though, and according to Tom’s Hardware, it’s just slightly smaller than Elgato’s model. While both streaming decks are priced $150 at launch, Elgato’s has been on sale several times since then and has gone for as low as $120.

The Stream Controller X lets users program multiple actions into one button by dragging them into the custom action editor. Users can even program actions so that they can be triggered consecutively or simultaneously. They can also create custom profiles for various tasks and then automatically switch between them based on the program that’s currently open by enabling the Dynamic Mode. To make multi-tasking even easier, the device is compatible with some of the most popular streaming software and relevant tools, such as Twitch and Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Those programs come with ready-made profiles, so users don’t have to create their own. 

Like Razer’s first Stream Controller, the X model is still powered by Loupedeck. The older model was a rebadged version of the Loupedeck Live, though, and looks more like a distant cousin than a sibling to the Stream Controller X.

For Twitter Blue users in the US, the website’s 280-character limit has been a thing of the past since February when it gave them the ability to post 4,000-character tweets. Now, the company has more than doubled that limit and has launched support for tweets up to 10,000 characters in length. In addition, the website now supports bold and italics text formatting, allowing content creators to use those elements to break up potentially huge blocks of text. Twitter chief Elon Musk first announced that the website is making long-form tweets even longer in early March, almost a month after the initial 4,000-character expansion. 

While a 10,000-character limit sounds excessive for most casual users — that’s around 2,000 words, or a pretty lengthy essay — Twitter likely introduced the capability for people looking to make money off their posts. The company has just rebranded “Super Follows” as “Subscriptions,” allowing users to charge people $3, $5 and $10 a month for exclusive content, including subscriber-only chats in Spaces. Twitter also promised not to take any of their earnings for the next 12 months. 

By increasing the character tweet limit for Blue users, as well as allowing them to post “hours long videos,” Twitter is giving creators more ways to keep their subscribers engaged. At the same time, getting users to spend more time on the website means more opportunities to serve them with ads that would make the company more money. That said, Super Follows never quite took off, and it remains to be seen whether this iteration of the subscription service will fare better.

IK Multimedia has a launched a new audio interface with features designed specifically for guitar and bass players. Like the brand’s other products in the category, this model, the AXE I/O ONE, is portable and affordable: It’s currently available from the company’s online store and from authorized retailers for $130. 

Users can change a guitar’s input from a tighter and sharper tone to a thicker and bolder one using AXE I/O ONE’s Z-TONE input circuit. The audio interface also comes with JFET input that enables warm, tube-like sounds. An external volume pedal gives users access to hands-free control, so they don’t have to stop playing to navigate the accompanying software. There’s also a dedicated Amp Out port, which among other things, allow users to have a hybrid setup with a real and a virtual guitar.

In addition, the AXE I/O ONE comes bundled with thousands of AmpliTube 5 SE presets and TONEX SE tone models. TONEX SE also gives users a way to convert a real rig into a plug-in, so they can have even more rigs to use within their programs. Finally, this audio interface only needs to be plugged in via USB-C and doesn’t need an external power supply. Since the AXE I/O ONE has a compact design and is compatible with the latest iPads, as well, it sounds like IK Multimedia created it for especially for people who need or prefer to record on the go.