Dr. John Warnock, who co-founded the revolutionary company Adobe, has died aged 82, Adobe announced on Saturday. He is survived by his wife, Marva Warnock, and three children; no cause of death has been released. 

"It is with profound sadness that I share that our beloved co-founder Dr. John Warnock passed away at the age of 82," wrote Adobe Chair and CEO Shantanu Narayen. "John has been widely acknowledged as one of the greatest inventors in our generation with significant impact on how we communicate in words, images and videos."

Warnock created Adobe with the late Dr. Charles Geschke in 1982, and served as the company's CEO until 2000, remaining co-chairman with Geschke until 2017 (Geschke passed in 2021). The company's original logo was created by Marva Warnock, and Adobe released its debut product, the desktop publishing software Adobe Postscript, in 1984. 

Adobe went on to launch Photoshop in 1987. It subsequently developed the PDF file format, and released widely used applications like Illustrator, Lightroom, Premiere Pro and After Effects. To that end, the company helped launch the desktop publishing revolution in the '80s, and offers key tools used for the web, video/audio editing and visual effects used in film and television. 

Warnock was one of the rare CEOs with high-level technical skills. In his 1969 doctoral thesis, he invented the Warnock algorithm for hidden surface determination. He later worked with Geschke at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, but was unable to convince management to commercialize the InterPress graphics language. That led the pair to form Adobe, where they subsequently created PostScript and released it for Apple's LaserWriter in 1985. Warnock also invented Adobe Illustrator, a drawing program that uses vectors rather than pixels to describe images. 

"My interactions with John over the past 25 years have been the highlight of my professional career," wrote Narayen. "At breakfasts with John and Chuck, we would imagine the future, however, it was our varied conversations on rare books, art, world history and politics that gave me unique insight into John, who was truly a renaissance man."

Threads by Instagram will get a web version as soon as this week, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. Earlier this month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised a web version with better search functionality, and Instagram head Adam Mosseri recently said that one is in testing. Currently, a full version of Threads is only available on iOS and Android, with limited read-only functionality on browsers.

A web version is near the top of the list of most-desired features for Threads, but the company is exercising caution with the release. "It’s a little bit buggy right now, you don’t want it just yet," Mosseri said Friday on Instagram. "As soon as it is ready we will share it with everybody else."

Threads recently added new features to Threads like the ability to set notifications and view posts in chronological order. The company also started labeling state-controlled media outlets after some were seen posting propaganda. Another new update is the "repost" tab makes it easier to see all reposted content. (X, previously called Twitter, recently renamed "retweets" to the more generic "reposts," ironically following Threads' lead.) 

A web version would be coming at a good time for Threads. After a torrid launch with over 100 million users signing on in the first week, the number of daily active users (DAUs) dropped down to 80 percent by mid-August. Still, Threads is by far the most successful alternative to X, which counted around 238 million DAUs in August 2023 and 364 million monthly active users, X reported last year. 

In any case, the launch of a web version will be particularly useful for social media power users, just when Twitter has put one of its key tools for those folks, Tweetdeck, permanently behind a paywall.

Checkers and Rally's restaurants have launched the first Spanish ordering system that uses AI, Checkers restaurants announced. The system from a company called Hi Auto is already in use at 350 of those restaurants, following two months of beta testing at five locations. The service allows for a more "inclusive environment" by accommodating Spanish speakers, the company said, but it remains to be seen whether customers or employees will embrace it.

The system takes orders via a virtual assistant and detects the customer's language spoken, automatically switching between English and Spanish. Hi Auto says it has "unique customization capabilities" that let franchises easily scale the system up. The company promises to streamline ordering with a greater than 95 percent order accuracy rate.

"Our expanded partnership with Checkers and Rally’s represents a huge breakthrough for the country’s Spanish-speaking and bilingual communities, and allows every restaurant to cater to the Spanish speaking population at any time," said Hi Auto CEO Roy Baharav.

AI drive-through order-taking is a unique challenge, however, thanks to an environment that tends to be noisy and chaotic. "You may think driving by and speaking into a drive-thru is an easy problem for AI, but it’s actually one of the hardest," Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian recently told The Wall Street Journal in reference to the company's recent collaboration with Wendy's. And the tech isn't necessarily reliable, either. The WSJ reported that three people out of 10 using AI systems asked to speak with a human employee due to errors or the desire to speak to a person.

Hi Auto is up against some giants, as well. One of the first companies to look at the tech was McDonald's, which teamed up with IBM to accelerate its own AI ordering systems, and starting testing them in 10 Chicago-area restaurants last year. It's also competing with Google Cloud, which is testing its systems at White Castle on top of Wendy's.

The system does offer features restaurant chains want, though. It can "upsell relentlessly" on items like deserts and french fries, resulting in higher orders, according to CNN. It may also allow restaurants to cut employees, boosting their bottom lines but reducing the number of jobs available to young people. That said, the restaurant with the highest customer service marks last year was Chick-fil-A, thanks in part to its face-to-face human ordering system, according to a recent survey from Intouch Insight.

Fisker recently unveiled the Alaska electric pickup with a starting price of $45,400, one of the least expensive models out there. Now, the company has revealed more details about it including battery sizes, acceleration, projected range and more. On top of that, the Alaska may become the truck for wannabe ranchers thanks to features like a cupholder for humungous drinks, an expandable bed and yes, a purpose-built spot for your cowboy hat. 

The Alaska will come with either a 75 kWh or 113 kWh battery pack, offering a range of 230 or 340 miles, respectively. There's no mention of horsepower or drivetrain, but those things will vary across model versions. In any case, it'll accelerate from 0 to 60 MPH in as little as 3.9 seconds for the most powerful version, or 7.2 seconds for the economy model. Fisker also claims that the Alaska will be the world's lightest electric truck — that's a good thing as some pickup EVs are very, very heavy. 

Fisker Inc.

Fisker is trying to tempt buyers with "the world's largest" big gulp cupholder, shown holding what looks like at least a couple quarts of liquid, allowing serious cattlemen to properly hydrate. It'll also come with a "cowboy hat holder, cockpit storage for work gloves, a large center armrest with storage for flashlights and pens, and a passenger tray with a tablet holder," Fisker wrote. 

Fisker Inc.

As for the bed, it features a "Houdini partition" behind the rear seats that can be raised or lowered electronically and protected by a flip-up panel. That allows the bed to be expanded from 4.5 to 7.5 feet, and with the liftgate dropped and rear seats lowered, you can get up to 9.2 feet of space. It's the same scheme used by the similar-looking Chevy Silverado, which expands from 5.9 to 10.8 feet. The gallery also shows a large center display, wood-colored trim and stitched leather-like seats, but no other interior details. 

Fisker Inc.

The Alaska is supposed to go into production in early 2025 (treat the dates and prices skeptically given the company's past delays and price bumps). It's likely to feature Tesla's proprietary NACS charging connector as Fisker just announced plans to switch to the Tesla connector for its North American vehicles — much as other manufacturers including Ford, Mercedes and Volvo have done. 

Lenovo may soon release a gaming handheld to rival Windows models like the Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally, while offering removable controls like a Switch, according to a leak from Windows Report. Called the Legion Go, it will reportedly run Windows 11 and pack AMD's new Phoenix processors, while offering features like a kickstand, microSD slot and a pair of USB-C ports. 

No specs were leaked, but the Legion Go shows back, shoulder and side triggers, plus a wheel hidden under the top right trigger. It also offers a headphone port, volume buttons and a large cooling vent at the back. Given the detachable controls (and extra touch-friendly Windows 11 OS), the display (said to be 8 inches in size) is likely touch sensitive as well. 

Windows Report

According to a previous rumor, Lenovo built a prototype gaming handheld called the Legion Play it never released. It does makes sense for the PC-oriented company to offer a handheld Windows gaming device, though, and the detachable Switch-like controls will help separate the Legion Go from the competition. Along with the aforementioned competition, it will go up against Ayaneo's many handhelds including its latest model, the 2S.

To make its Ultium EV program a success, GM is counting on battery innovations to make the technology simpler and cheaper. As part of that program, the automaker has boosted its investment with Mitra Chem —a company focused on building batteries in the US using iron-based cathodes — via a new $60 million financing round.

"This is a strategic investment that will further help reinforce GM’s efforts in EV batteries, accelerate our work on affordable battery chemistries like LMFP and support our efforts to build a US-focused battery supply chain,” said GM VP Gil Golan.

Mitra Chem is more of a battery development company than a manufacturer. It uses AI to "simulate, synthesize and test thousands of cathode designs monthly, ranging in size from grams to kilograms," the press release states. The aim is to shorten so-called learning cycles to get new battery formulas to market quicker. At the same time, it's focused on LMFP (lithium manganese iron phosphate) tech that reduces reliance on rare minerals like cobalt. 

To do all that, the company uses an in-house cloud platform specifically designed for battery cathode development. It can simulate everything from cathode synthesis optimization to cell durability to process scale-up — in other words, most of the steps required to get new battery designs to market. "GM’s investment in Mitra Chem will not only help us develop affordable battery chemistries for use in GM vehicles, but also will fuel our mission to develop... US made, iron-based cathode materials that can power EVs, grid-scale electrified energy storage and beyond,” said Mitra Chem CEO Vivas Kumar. 

GM is developing new battery tech on a number of technological fronts. Along with its Mitra Chem investment, it's working on pouch- and prismatic-style cells shaped like flattened boxes to reduce battery weight and volume. It's also using aluminum-doped anodes to reduce cobalt quantities and working with LG Chem to reduce and eventually eliminate cobalt and nickel from their batteries. 

Other car manufacturers are experimenting with different approaches. Toyota recently announced it would develop EVs with more than 600 miles of range, while others like Mercedes, BMW and Volkswagen are investing in solid-state battery technologies. Most current models are playing catchup with Tesla, though, which has four EVs in the top ten in terms of range, including the $47,240 Tesla Model 3 Long Range (358 miles). 

After announcing the deal last year, Intel will no longer acquire Tower Semiconductor for $5.4 billion, the company announced in a press release. It was unable to "obtain in a timely manner the regulatory approvals required under the merger agreement" it wrote — specifically in China, according to Bloomberg. Tower produces various types of chips for clients across multiple industries, and Intel made the acquisition to expand its foundry business and better compete with rivals like Taiwanese giant TSMC. 

Tower has seven fabrication facilities (located in Israel, Italy, the US and Japan) that build 6-inch, 8-inch and 12-inch chip wafers. While the company doesn't manufacture cutting edge mobile and other process, its clients don't necessarily need the latest technology. Instead, Tower focuses on reliably manufacturing large volumes of chips for automakers, equipment manufacturers, medical industries and others. 

Before announcing its Tower acquisition, Intel was reported to be in talks to purchase the much larger chip manufacturer and AMD spinoff GlobalFoundries for around $30 billion. Intel launched its foundry services as a separate business unit back in 2021, committing $20 billion to build two Arizona factories. It also revealed plans to build a massive semiconductor facility in Ohio designed to become "the largest silicon manufacturing location on the planet."

Intel said its still executing its roadmap "to retain transistor performance and power performance leadership by 2025," with the aim of becoming the second-largest global external foundry by 2030. "Our respect for Tower has only grown through this process, and we will continue to look for opportunities to work together in the future." As part of its merger agreement, Intel will pay a termination fee of $353 million to Tower. 

Tweetdeck (now called X Pro), a version of Twitter (X) used by social media pros, journalists and others, has become part of the paid Blue subscription, TechCrunch has reported. Multiple users reported that they were prompted to subscribe when attempting to log on to the service. "Blue subscribers with a verified phone number will get a blue checkmark once approved," the message reads. 

The news is not unexpected, as code spotted earlier this year by researcher Jane Manchun Wong indicated that X Pro was on its way to becoming a paid app. However, the change only appears to apply to the new version, but not the older (better) version, at least until it's deprecated. 

Engadget

X has been testing the new version since last year, with changes like "a full Tweet composer, new advanced search features, new column types, and a new way to group columns into clean workspaces," the company said at the time. Some power users aren't loving it, though, as it's more difficult to clear columns and perform other common actions. 

The company has previously pondered a TweetDeck subscription service, asking users in 2017 if they'd be willing to pay up to $20 per month for a "more advanced TweetDeck experience." The new action is part of Elon Musk's attempt to monetize the app with Blue subscriptions, but the service only had about 700,000 subscribers as of last June. Musk has also vowed to make X an "everything app" used for content creation, payments and shopping on top of social networking. 

Last month, around 80 Google Help subcontractors employed by Accenture — who recently voted to unionize with the Alphabet Workers Union-Communications Workers of America (AWU-CWA) — found out that they will be laid off. Now, the union has filed a complaint against Alphabet and Accenture with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) alleging retaliatory layoffs in violation of labor laws, the AWU-CWA wrote in a press release. 

"When my coworkers and I announced our union with overwhelming support, Google and Accenture management refused to acknowledge us," said general writer at Accenture and Google, Anjail Muhammad, in a statement. "A few short weeks later they announced their response — that they would be laying off dozens of employees. These jobs aren’t going away though, we’re just being asked to train our replacements abroad." 

Alphabet effectively washed its hands of the issue when the layoffs were first announced, saying that "Google does not control [the contractor's] employment terms or working conditions" and that the situation was "a matter between them and their employer, Accenture." It reiterated that position to Fortune, adding that the layoffs were for savings and efficiency and no other reason, and that it "chooses its partners and staffing agencies carefully and reviews their compliance with its Supplier Code of Conduct."

In their original union application, workers listed Google and Accenture as joint employers "due to the direct role both companies play in shaping working conditions," they said in the original unionization announcement. "We had exercised our right to organize as members of the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA in order to bring both Google and Accenture, a Google subcontractor, to the bargaining table to negotiate on several key demands, including layoff protections," said senior writer and union member Julia Nagatsu Granstrom back in July. 

The team, which largely works in content creation, will be reduced from 130 people to around 40. They were reportedly instructed to train replacements working from India and the Philippines. Since 2018, the majority of Google employees have been contractors.

In April, YouTube Music contractors voted unanimously to unionize, after winning a landmark legal victory with the NLRB forcing Google to the bargaining table to ratify their union contract. However, Alphabet indicated that it would still not negotiate with workers, saying it doesn't consider them as employees — meaning the issue is likely to wind up in a federal court. 

At its Product Vision event in California, Fisker unveiled no less than three EVs and also announced pricing and more details of the previously teased Ronin. The new models include the Alaska electric pickup, Pear EV priced at $29,900 before incentives and the Force E, a rugged off-road version of the Ocean. 

First on the docket, however, is the Ronin — a four-door supercar EV that the company teased last month. Fisker previously showed only a brief glimpse of it, promising a 600 mile range and sub-$200,000 price tag. Now, the company has unveiled it in full on the outside only (no interior shots), but CEO Henrik Fisker is still being guarded about the technology — and the price has roared way past its previous estimate.

Mike Blake / reuters

Fisker said it'll hit 60 MPH in under 2.0 seconds thanks to three electric motors delivering 1,000 horsepower via an all-wheel drive setup. As for the battery back, "we are looking to integrate the cells into the structure of the body and that will give us our goal of getting to 600 miles of range," Fisker said in a not-exactly-definitive statement. The company is giving itself some time to get there, though, citing a delivery window near the end of 2025. 

The price, though, is a shocker. Fisker didn't mention it at the event, but a new reservation page says the Ronin will start at "$385,000 before any incentives," or nearly double what the company originally mentioned. Luckily, interested parties will only need to put down a $2,000 deposit which is just 0.5 percent of the purchase price. 

Mike Blake / reuters

The most interesting vehicle is the Alaska electric pickup. It's based on the Ocean (and built on the same platform), but has a pickup truck bed and midgate that lowers to extend the bed into the cabin — allowing it to haul longer cargo than the shortish bed would suggest. That's much like Chevy's new Silverado EV, which it strikingly resembles. 

The Alaska will start at $45,400 (it will be US-built and qualify for EV incentives) with a range of around 230 miles between charges, less than the Ocean. However, the company is promising a more expensive model that can go up to 340 miles between charges. Because it's based around the Ocean which is now in production, the company expects it to go on sale as early as December 2024 — sooner than the Pear or Ronin. Henrik Fisker is much better at designing vehicles than estimating prices and production schedules, though, so take all those numbers and dates with a large grain of salt. 

Mike Blake / reuters

The Pear electric crossover will be Fisker's budget offering, coming in at under $30,000 with all-wheel drive, dual motors and range of about 300 miles. While just a bit smaller than the Ocean, it will be built on a new platform that allows a 35 percent reduction in parts and thus a lower price. It will come in five- or six-seat layouts (the latter via a front bench seat), and offers what looks like an attractive but basic interior for the price.

Other touches include a "Houdini Trunk" lift gate designed to simplify cargo loading, along with a frunk (or "froot" in Fisker's nomenclature). It also offers LED lighting and a "lounge mode" that lets you move the seats around to maximize comfort. Fisker plans to build the Pear at Foxconn's Lordstown plant so it's eligible for tax incentives, with production estimated around mid-2025. Again, treat those price and production estimates skeptically. 

Mike Blake / reuters

Finally, Fisker unveiled the Force E, an offroad/adventure version of the Ocean. It comes with 33-inch off-road tires and 21-inch aluminum wheels, along with a large roof rack and wide fenders. It offers more ground clearance, front, rear and underbody skid plates, and improved offroad handling. The package is available to new buyers, but existing Ocean owners can also upgrade their vehicles, It's set to arrive in Q1 2024, with pricing to be announced around then.