If nothing took your breath (and money) away on Black Friday, Cyber Monday’s here to deliver many of the same deals, all over again. One notable pick: If you buy an Apple gift card totaling $100 or more from the retailer, you can get $15 in Amazon store credit on top.

There’s also an Xbox Series X bundle with Diablo IV for $439 at Walmart. The console typically costs $500 alone, so it’s a substantial discount. There are also decent deals on VPN services, streaming services, like Peacock, and even Audible.

I went crazy and bought Anker’s pocketable Nano Power Bank. It’s USB-C — and so is my new iPhone.

— Mat Smith

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The biggest stories you might have missed

Steam Deck LCD review (2023): Still one of the best handheld PCs

Doctor Who: The Star Beast reminds us that money isn’t everything

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X could lose $75 million in ad revenue after antisemitic content backlash

Airbnb, Netflix and Microsoft reportedly pulled millions worth of advertising.

According to The New York Times, more than 100 brands and advertisers such as political candidates, have fully paused their ads on X, while dozens more are considering pulling their campaigns. If advertisers don’t come back, X could lose up to $75 million in ad revenue earnings this year.

The documents reportedly track how X would be affected by brands leaving the website, following Elon Musk’s controversial tweet agreeing with an antisemitic conspiracy theory. Media watchdog Media Matters published a report showing ads on the website right next to antisemitic content. After the incidents, IBM, Apple and Disney quickly pulled their ads from X. And Lionsgate specifically cited Musk’s tweet as its reason for suspending its advertising campaigns. According to the NYT report, Airbnb has halted over $1 million worth of advertising on X, and Netflix has pulled $3 million in ads.

Continue reading.

The OnePlus 12 will debut in China on December 5

It’ll pack the latest Snapdragon processor.

As OnePlus approaches its 10th anniversary in December, it’s launching a new flagship phone in Shenzhen, China, at 2:30PM on December 5 to mark the occasion. The OnePlus 12 has a striking resemblance to its predecessor, though the camera island’s color now matches the body. Expect a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor and a new Sony sensor for the 50-megapixel main camera and a 64-megapixel, 3X periscopic telephoto camera.

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Intellivision can’t afford to make its long-delayed Amico retro console

Its latest fundraising plan involves an app that requires two phones.

Amico

Intellivision’s long-delayed retro gaming system isn’t going to arrive anytime soon. The company says it doesn’t have enough money to build the Amico console in volume. Intellivision unveiled the project in 2018, said it would arrive two years later and raised millions from folks who put down a (refundable) $100 deposit. Since then, Intellivision has faced disaster after disaster, and there’s still no indication of when the Amico will be available.

Continue reading.

The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), F1’s governing body, says it will employ Computer Vision tech at the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend. Drivers know the exact lines to take at corners for optimal lap times, but sometimes racers go out of bounds as they try to gain an advantage, and officials need to check cars stay within track limits. Four people had to review around 1,200 potential violations in July's Austrian Grand Prix, and some track limit violations went unpunished in October’s US Grand Prix. The FIA hopes to reduce the number of possible infringements officials manually review to around 50 per race.

Oh, and a tidal wave of deals on the usual gadget suspects. Black Friday gonna Black Friday.

— Mat Smith

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The Pixel 7a is 25 percent off and cheaper than ever

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Dbrand is suing Casetify for allegedly stealing its case and skin designs

Casetify apparently left in Easter eggs from Dbrand’s Teardown products.

Dbrand

Accessory maker Dbrand — usually the target of litigation — has filed a “multi-million dollar” lawsuit against Casetify for allegedly ripping off the designs of its “transparent” Teardown products. The skins and cases look like the internal components of the device they’re applied to, such as smartphones and laptops. Dbrand and YouTuber Zack “JerryRigEverything” Nelson say Casetify stole those designs. They claim Casetify’s Inside Out cases have a poorly masked version of a label on Teardown products that features Nelson’s signature phrase “glass is glass, and glass breaks.”

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NVIDIA sued for stealing trade secrets after screen sharing blunder

Valeo said NVIDIA saved millions of dollars by stealing its trade secrets.

Black Friday means… more corporate litigation! NVIDIA is facing a lawsuit from French automotive company Valeo after a screensharing blunder by one of its employees. According to Valeo’s complaint, an NVIDIA engineer who used to work for Valeo had mistakenly shown its source code files on his computer as he was sharing his screen during a meeting between both companies in 2022.

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The best Black Friday deals 2023

Get record-low prices on tech from Apple, Samsung, Google and more.

Engadget

Black Friday may still technically be one day, but it’s turned into a post-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy. We at Engadget care most about consumer electronics, and Black Friday (along with Cyber Monday) typically brings the best prices on the best tech all year. Notable discounts this year are on AirTags, smart plugs, Dyson hair products, Sonos sound bars and more. Also, it’s worth checking out streaming services subscription deals for Peacock, Max and more.

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Google has updated its Bard AI chatbot, so you can use it to parse YouTube videos. In its most recent experiment update log, the company has announced it has expanded the capabilities of Bard’s YouTube extension, so when it’s enabled, the generative AI can “understand some video content.” For example, Google said you’d be able to ask Bard how many eggs were used in a video for an olive oil cake recipe.

Bard first gained the ability to pull data from YouTube in September after an update integrated it with other Google products, including Docs, Maps, Lens, Flights and Hotels. At that point, it couldn’t parse a video’s contents though.

Google claims people have been asking for “deeper engagement with YouTube videos” — but I guess that entails watching them less.

And Happy Thanksgiving, all! It’s a short, but sweet TMA today, but expect a tidal wave of Black Friday deals landing tomorrow — I suggest keeping an eye on this page.

— Mat Smith

​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

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The biggest stories you might have missed

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Broadcom closes its $61 billion megadeal with VMware

Look at this cute solar-powered microvan

This EV seats two and is coming to the US in 2025.

HW Electro

Japanese EV automaker HW Electro (HWE) says its Puzzle van will come to the US in 2025. It has rooftop solar panels and equipment for commercial disaster relief — including a crowbar… on the outside of the vehicle. It’ll be HWE’s first vehicle available in the US.

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Self-proclaimed ‘gay furry hackers’ breach nuclear lab

They want research into creating catgirls. You read that right.

The nuclear research hub Idaho National Laboratory (INL) confirmed it was hacked earlier this week. SiegedSec, a group of self-proclaimed “gay furry hackers,” took responsibility for the attack and claimed they accessed sensitive employee data, like social security numbers, home addresses and more. The hacktivist group SiegedSec conducted a high-profile attack on NATO last month, leaking internal documents as a retaliation against those countries for their attacks on human rights.

“We’re willing to make a deal with INL. If they research creating irl (in real life) catgirls we will take down this post,” SiegedSec wrote in a post announcing the leak on Monday.INL has, unsurprisingly, promised nothing in the way of catgirls.

Continue reading.

Teenage Engineering reveals its feature-rich K.O. II groovebox

And it’s only $300.

Teenage Engineering

Teenage Engineering just announced the EP-133 K.O. II, a portable sampler with many tricks and the usual TE aesthetic. It’s also $300 — a bargain in TE terms. The K.O. II boasts 64MB of memory, which isn’t a lot, but TE products typically come with some tradeoffs. It should be enough for a bunch of samples and a few projects. There are 999 slots for samples and an internal microphone for making your own. Though this is, first and foremost, a sampler, it ships pre-filled with drum hits, synths and other sounds.

Continue reading.

YouTube started cracking down on ad blockers earlier this year, but it escalated things this month when it locked out anyone trying to watch YouTube through apps, add-ons and extensions that skip its ads.

It’s even affected a lot of YouTube viewers not using workarounds though, with Firefox or Edge users reportedly having to wait around five seconds every time they load a video. In screen recordings shared on Reddit and other online forums, users show how their screen goes blank for a short period when they click on a YouTube video before the page loads, but we couldn’t replicate this at Engadget.

Based on code found by some Y Combinator and Reddit posters, Google’s anti-ad blocker mechanism may be causing the delays. The company said users with ad blockers installed “may experience suboptimal viewing,” no matter which browser they use.

— Mat Smith

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The biggest stories you might have missed

ChatGPT’s voice chat feature is rolling out to non-paying users

Cities: Skylines II developer delays DLC to focus on fixing the base game

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US Senator calls for the public release of AT&T Hemisphere surveillance records

When will your phone get Android 14?

Insta360’s Ace Pro is a Leica-branded action cam with AI enhancements

Sunbird shuts down its iMessage app for Android after major privacy concerns

Teenage Engineering made a toy car that costs $250

Objet d’ork.

Teenage Engineering

Teenage Engineering just revealed a toy car/doodad that costs $250. Yes, it’s $250 for a little (but stylish!) piece of metal with wheels you can roll around a desk for a bit before getting bored. The company tends to release two kinds of products: Expensive, yet pretty darn cool, audio devices and, well, everything else. The toy car falls squarely in the latter camp. The company seems to be readying another announcement for later today too.

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Sam Altman reinstated as OpenAI CEO five days after being fired

There’s now a three-person board with one original member.

Sam Altman is returning to OpenAI as CEO after his firing five days ago, the company announced in a post on X. The OpenAI board caused chaos when it fired CEO Sam Altman on Friday and reopened discussions with the former chief executive regarding his possible reinstatement on Tuesday. According to the report, board members “largely refused to engage” with Altman until Monday but faced a revolt from most of the company’s workers, who threatened to walk unless the OpenAI board resigned and reinstated Altman. Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear is interim CEO, but he also threatened to step down, saying Altman’s termination was “handled very badly,” which led to negotiations with Altman.

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Sonos’ long-rumored headphones may appear April 2024

The company may be developing a TV streaming box as well.

Engadget

According to a Bloomberg report, Sonos’ first attempt at headphones would directly compete with Apple’s AirPods Max, as well as devices from Sony and Bose. The company reportedly plans to charge over $400 for its over-the-ear headphones — around the same as Sony’s $400 highly regarded WH-1000MX5, but cheaper than Apple’s $549 AirPods Max.

Continue reading.

Tinder is adding many new, pretty basic, features, including the profile prompts and basic info tags other dating apps, like Hinge or Bumble, have. Profile prompts, for example, are a long-standing feature on both, with Tinder users now able to share their responses to statements like “The first item on my bucket list is… ” or “Two truths and a lie.”

The dating app points to Gen Z’s responses in its recent Future of Dating report as motivation for the updates, saying: “At Tinder, we understand that connecting today is about authenticity, depth and the desire for connections that go beyond the surface.”

The company calls it a “rizz-first redesign,” which equates to these new prompts, zodiac sign info and… new animations. Is that rizz-first? I’m not sure it is.

— Mat Smith

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The biggest stories you might have missed

Amazon will host free AI Ready courses to boost the AI talent pool

HBO’s Max is offering 70 percent off its ad-supported plan in Black Friday sale

What is going on with OpenAI and Sam Altman?

The Webb telescope captures a ‘chaotic’ view of the center of our galaxy

It’ll help test current theories of star formation.

NASA

The James Webb telescope has captured parts of the center of the Milky Way in “unprecedented detail.” This area is about 300 light-years from the galaxy’s supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A, and over 25,000 light-years from Earth. The galactic center is “the most extreme environment” in the Milky Way, according to University of Virginia professor Jonathan Tan.

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Most of OpenAI’s staff threatens to quit unless the board resigns

And reinstates Sam Altman as CEO.

OpenAI’s corporate drama kept Engadget busy over the weekend, as the company ousted its CEO and co-founder Sam Altman, then reportedly tried to get him back when he was poached by Microsoft — one of OpenAI’s major investors. Now, most of the company’s staff have threatened to quit unless the board resigns and reinstates former CEO Sam Altman and ex-president Greg Brockman. According to Wired and Kara Swisher, around 500 employees signed the letter.

Continue reading.

X CEO calls article that led to latest brand exodus ‘misleading and manipulated’

Linda Yaccarino says X stands against antisemitic content.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino called a report from watchdog group media Matters for America “misleading and manipulated,” following a large-scale advertiser pullout. In a note she sent to X employees on Sunday night, she said: “While some advertisers may have temporarily paused investments because of a misleading article, the data will tell the real story.”

Major advertisers, including Apple, Disney, Paramount Global and Yaccarino’s former employer, NBCUniversal, pulled their ads from X last week, after the watchdog group’s report found ads from some of these brands ran next to pro-Nazi content on the website. It also came days after Musk publicly endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory as a response to a far-right X user.

X filed its lawsuit against Media Matters on Monday.

Continue reading.

OpenAI’s board of directors announced Friday it had fired CEO Sam Altman. But he’s doing okay. By Monday morning, he had joined Microsoft “to lead a new advanced AI research team,” according to the company.

Altman cofounded OpenAI with Elon Musk in 2015 as a nonprofit and served as the CEO for the for-profit arm since 2019. He was originally fired from OpenAI over “a breakdown in communication between Sam and the board,” according to an internal staff memo. Several key members also resigned, including co-founder Greg Brockman (who will now also join Microsoft) along with a few senior researchers. “Dozens” of OpenAI employees reportedly announced internally they’d be quitting too, with some expressing interest in joining a potential new Altman startup.

According to Bloomberg, the board had reportedly considered reversing Altman’s firing, though the ousted exec wanted the existing board to resign and issue a public apology — and I fully endorse all this drama, if true.

The company did not apologize, however.

— Mat Smith

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The biggest stories you might have missed

Apple will offer RCS support starting in 2024

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What is RCS and how is it different from SMS and iMessage?

Apple will finally support it next year.

Following the news that iPhones will support Rich Communication Services next year, what exactly is RCS? Well, positioned as a next-generation replacement for SMS and MMS, it adds modern features you may already use on WhatsApp, including read receipts and the ability to send high-resolution images and more. We wrestle with what this means, and how iMessage fits into it all.

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Nothing pulls its iMessage-compatible Chats app

The Sunbird-based app, which was still in beta, has been removed from the Play Store.

Nothing

It’s a weird week for messaging and texts. Nothing has pulled the beta of its new messaging app, Nothing Chats. The company touted the Sunbird-based app as the answer to the longstanding Android versus Apple texting woes, supporting RCS and iMessage. However, critics voiced concerns over the security risks workarounds like this bring. Nothing Chats does not have end-to-end encryption, and 9to5Google noted attachments sent by other users could easily be accessed in plain text.

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SpaceX loses another Starship and Super Heavy rocket

There was a double explosion during testing.

SpaceX

SpaceX's second test flight of its Starship spacecraft — which it hopes will eventually ferry humans to the Moon and Mars — ended in an explosion Saturday morning, minutes after taking off from the company's spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas. After completing stage separation, when the Super Heavy booster detached itself from Starship, the rocket's first stage exploded. Starship, however, continued for several more minutes, with a faint explosion heard around the eight-minute mark. Unlike its first test, Starship was able to reach space this time. The company is framing it as a success, even if it did… explode.

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The best Black Friday Deals we’ve found so far

From Amazon, Walmart, Target and more!

We’ve rounded up the best Black Friday deals on tech we’ve tested, and we expect many of the live deals to run through to Cyber Monday. As a taster, we’re already seeing record lows on iPads, wireless earbuds, PS5 controllers, Xbox consoles, Sonos gear, smart TVs and more.

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Wearable startup Humane has officially unveiled its first device, the Ai Pin. For months, the company has drip fed information, only offering a glimpse of the device, wielded by Naomi Campbell, of all people, at Paris Fashion Week in October.

The Ai Pin is a pocket-worn wearable AI assistant that can reportedly perform the tasks our current phones and voice assistants do, but without a screen, instead operating primarily through voice commands and, occasionally, a virtual screen projected onto the user’s hand. It works independently of other devices, connected to its own phone network through T-Mobile, but on Humane’s own MVNO because that’s even more complicated.

The device will cost $700, and another $24 per month for unlimited talk, text and data, and will ship in early 2024.

Humane

We’re still waiting for deeper hands-on impressions and demonstrations of the technology. I’m skeptical, and not just because it’s been just over ten years since Google Glass tried to be a thing.

Have a great weekend, and make sure you check out our new TMA series on YouTube, where I try to make more work for our wonderful video team, every Saturday.

— Mat Smith

​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!​​

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The best cooking gifts

Meta may return to China with the release of a new, budget VR headset

Amazon reportedly plans to dump Android for a homemade Fire OS replacement

Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Mini review: excellent and expensive

Steam Deck OLED review

It’s just better.

The $550 Steam Deck OLED is not the Steam Deck 2. This is a mid-cycle refresh from Valve, similar to the Switch OLED upgrade, but there’s a lot more going on internally here. Its screen is better, its battery life is better and its chip and thermals are better — but it’s still a big ole handheld. The updated display is the device’s highlight, while things like faster charging, improved antennas and smoother controls are welcome bonuses.

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Teenage Engineering’s Field series is complete (and expensive)

The TP-7 and CM15 balance out the company’s pocket-sized studio gear.

Making even the most specced-out Steam Deck OLED look reasonably priced, Teenage Engineering has completed its Field series of studio gear, and the whole kit will set you back $5,900. Now, for the TE faithful who are still reading, its more playful design and solid hardware can be creativity inducing, according to Engadget’s James Trew.

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Omegle shuts down after 14 years of random chats

Some people used it to ‘commit unspeakably heinous crimes,’ its founder admits.

Omegle, a chat service that pairs users with a random person so they can talk via text or video, is shutting down. Leif K-Brooks, who launched the service when he was 18 years old, announced its closure and talked about its humble beginnings. He admitted “some people misused [the service], including to commit unspeakably heinous crimes.” Critics have raised concerns about the website’s safety over the past years, with some even calling it a “magnet for pedophiles.” 

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You can now buy a PS5 Slim in the US and Canada, if you’re lucky

Bundles include Spider-Man 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.

Following the news that Sony has now sold over 46.6 million PS5 consoles, its refreshed hardware is bubbling up in stores. A standard model with a copy of Marvel’s 'Spider-Man 2 at no extra cost has hit Dell and Walmart, but the $500 bundle is going in and out of stock. The PS5 Slim (which isn’t the official name) will likely be available at other retailers soon.

Listings for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III bundles have appeared at Walmart too, but they cost $609 and come with your choice of accessory. Sony initially suggested the PS5 Slim would only be available in the US initially, but standard models have popped up in Canada.

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Developed by Samsung Research, Gauss (named after mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss) powers several on-device AI technologies across Samsung products. It will have a few different facets but will do a lot of the same stuff we’ve seen from other generative AI (GAI) models.

Gauss Language will handle tasks like translations and summarizing documents, while Gauss Code is a coding assistant. There’s also Samsung Gauss Image for all your image-generating needs. The latter can create images based on prompts and handle edits like style changes and additions. It will be able to upscale low-resolution images too.

Gauss, the human, in the 1800s, formed the normal distribution theory, a major component of what grew into machine learning and AI. Generating a picture of a cat writing at a desk is what he would have wanted, I’m sure.

It’s easy to be cynical about Samsung’s efforts here, as the company tends to forge its own path for innovation’s sake. It made its own voice assistant, Bixby. It hovered around its devices for a few years as a flagship feature, with the company even dedicating hardware buttons on some of its Galaxy S phones to launch the voice assistant. (There were only four buttons on the Galaxy S9, Samsung, and one was for Bixby?!)

But there’s some reasoning: Running generative AI features on-device could give Samsung an advantage over ChatGPT, which, for now, requires cloud connectivity. Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset supports on-device GAI operations and will likely be part of next year’s Galaxy S24 phones. 

Samsung is already teasing Galaxy AI in its incoming translation feature, pictured here. 

— Mat Smith

You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

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A PS5 early Black Friday deal brings PlayStation DualSense controllers down to $50 each

Amazon Prime now comes with discounted access to One Medical health services

Amazon acquired One Medical last year for $3.9 billion.

Amazon Prime subscribers can now access a deeply discounted One Medical membership for primary care services. Prime members can sign up for just $99 a year (typically $199) or $9 per month. Prime members who sign up can add up to five other people for $6 each. It offers all the basic health services, from annual physicals and maintenance for chronic conditions to same-day sick visits. One Medical also offers round-the-clock virtual care, or telehealth visits, and drop-in lab services. The membership doesn’t cover the cost of visits, though.

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The Overwatch League appears to be over

Blizzard is ‘evolving competitive Overwatch in a new direction.’

The Overwatch League (OWL) appears to be no more after six seasons. A Blizzard spokesperson told Engadget “We are transitioning from the Overwatch League and evolving competitive Overwatch in a new direction.” That’s not to say the publisher is pulling out of Overwatch esports altogether. The future of the professional Overwatch scene is unclear, but reports suggest that a return to a more open format could be next.

The writing has been on the wall for OWL for some time. The first two seasons of OWL matches happened almost exclusively in a California studio. Weeks after Blizzard started on its grand plan to run matches in each team’s city every week, but COVID-19 lockdowns forced it to shift to an online-only format.

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HP Spectre Fold review

Cutting edge at all costs.

Engadget

Sometimes, a company creates a truly cutting-edge device, even if its books take a hit. The latest example: HP’s Spectre Fold. HP’s take on a flexible-screen laptop is thinner, lighter and more polished than before. The Spectre Fold represents a true leap forward for next-gen hybrid design to the point where you might even want to buy one — until you see that $5,000 price tag. Engadget’s Sam Rutherford breaks it down.

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SAG-AFTRA, the union representing Hollywood performers, has reportedly responded to studios’ “last, best and final” offer to end the strike, rejecting clauses letting studios re-use AI-created likenesses of high-demand and deceased performers without consent from their estate or families. “They can’t have that loophole to exploit performers,” a union-side source told The Hollywood Reporter. “We could not allow that language to stand.”

Reportedly, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) would “secure AI scans” for Schedule F performers — union members earning more than $32,000 per TV episode or $60,000 per film. Studios would pay once to scan the likenesses of these performers without paying for their use or re-use — essentially giving them eternal rights to their face after paying once upfront. It appeared to offer limitless use of dead performers’ AI-created likenesses without proper permission.

After this part of the dispute became public, the union reportedly “reached a common understanding” with AMPTP on “thorny issues” like AI consent after an actor dies.

— Mat Smith

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The biggest stories you might have missed

Rockstar may announce Grand Theft Auto VI this week

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Things go from bad to worse for Cruise’s robotaxis

The company reportedly kept operating its robotaxis despite issues recognizing children.

GM’s autonomous vehicle Cruise division is already going through a rough patch, with the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) recently suspending its driverless permits over safety issues. Now, several new reports highlight other issues, including problems with its autonomous vehicles’ (AVs) sensors’ recognizing children and the frequency with which human operators must remotely take control. The cars apparently also struggle to identify large holes too. Now, it appears Cruise has halted production of its Origin autonomous vehicle after the California DMV pulled its license. A GM spokesperson confirmed to Engadget that the company is “finishing production on a small number of pre-commercial vehicles and after that, plan[s] to temporarily pause production.”

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Zelda, Mario and Pikmin give Nintendo a boost as console sales dwindle

Selling almost 20 million copies of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Engadget

As the Nintendo Switch nears the end of its time, digital game sales are helping the company continue to perform well. From March to September 2023, Nintendo reported selling 19.5 million copies of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which was released in May. It also sold 2.61 million units of Pikmin 4 after it came out in July, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe gained 3.22 million more sales. The racing game has now sold 57 million copies. Nintendo is expected to release its new flagship console sometime next year.

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The Sony A9 III is the fastest full-frame camera ever

It’s been a while since Sony updated its epic A9 series.

Sony

Sony’s latest pro-oriented mirrorless camera was four years in the making. The Alpha A9 III is the first full-frame camera on the market with a global stacked sensor, a sort of holy grail in the photographic world. It allows for some wild specs, like 120 fps shooting speeds with no blackout, up to a 1/80,000th of a second shutter speed and zero rolling shutter. The global shutter also allows for shutter speeds of 1/80,000th of a second (1/16,000th during continuous shooting), ten times faster than most cameras. Ten times! The Alpha A9 III goes on pre-order tomorrow for $6,000, with a vertical grip available for $400 — but won’t arrive until spring.

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WatchOS 10.1.1 fixes Apple Watch battery-life bug

The patch just rolled out alongside a bug-fix update for iOS 17.

If your Apple Watch hasn’t been holding its charge like it used to, it’s time to update to the latest version of watchOS. Earlier this month, several Apple Watch users noticed their batteries draining faster than usual after they installed watchOS 10.1. Apple acknowledged the battery drain issue and promised to release a fix — which happened today with the latest version of watchOS, 10.1.1.

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Apple’s MacBook problem was a confusing lineup of similar machines with different names, different chips, different hardware and the rest. But it may have finally solved the problem. The long-rumored 15-inch MacBook Air arrived months ago, and then Apple surprised us by delivering two MacBook Pro revisions — notably in less than 12 months — to showcase the company’s most powerful chips yet. These new M3-equipped MacBook Pro 14- and 16-inch are a clearer sign of Apple’s direction.

Engadget

The company has killed off the long-suffering 13-inch MacBook Pro, and in the same stroke, put an end to an aging design and the divisive, frustrating Touch Bar. These Pro machines — especially the M3 Max models — are great for professionals, and the MacBook Airs are for everyone else.

I think, for the first time in a long time, Apple’s laptop lineup finally makes sense.

— Mat Smith

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Bored Ape NFT event leads to at least 15 attendees reporting severe eye burn

Organizer Yuga Labs is ‘aware of the eye-related issues.’

@CryptoJune777 / X

So you thought just the idea of attending an NFT event was torturous enough. At least 15 visitors at Yuga Labs’ ApeFest, a celebration of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs (which are still a thing), may have experienced serious eye injuries. Bloomberg reports that multiple people attending the event in Hong Kong last weekend experienced vision problems, which they suspect stem from the event’s stage lighting. Some claim doctors subsequently diagnosed them with welder’s eye, a condition caused by overexposure to ultraviolet rays. The company is apparently investigating the reports.

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Every car is a smart car, and it’s a privacy nightmare

Smart cars, dumb privacy policies, terms and conditions.

Mozilla recently reported that all 25 car brands it reviewed failed its privacy tests. While all, in Mozilla’s estimation, overreached in their data collection and use policies, some even included caveats about obtaining highly invasive information. Today’s cars can collect personal information, and the fine print of user agreements describes how manufacturers get you to consent every time.

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WeWork files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

The company has struggled.

Another twist in the WeWork saga this week as the office space rental company has filed for bankruptcy protection. Following reports last week that the company was expected to file for Chapter 11 protection, WeWork’s shares were halted on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. According to The New York Times, it described its bankruptcy filing as a “comprehensive reorganization” of its business. WeWork has been toiling in a real estate market shaken by rising borrowing costs while also facing the pandemic-accelerated change of millions more people working remotely.

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