When Elon Musk took over Twitter, he said he would offer “amnesty” to previously banned and suspended accounts. Since then, he’s restored dozens of controversial high-profile users, including Donald Trump (who has yet to return to the platform), comedian Kathy Griffin, and a number of whitenationalists and members of the far-right.

Now, Twitter is opening a public-facing appeals process, which will allow anyone whose account has previously been suspended to request reinstatement. The company posted a link to an online form accessible to users who are able to log into an account that’s previously been locked or suspended.

Earlier this week, the company indicated a new appeals process would be coming as part of its policy to take “less severe actions” against rule-breaking accounts. “Going forward, we will take less severe actions, such as limiting the reach of policy-violating Tweets or asking you to remove Tweets before you can continue using your account,” the company said. “Account suspension will be reserved for severe or ongoing, repeat violations of our policies.”

Twitter added that appeals would be “evaluated under our new criteria for reinstatement." But it didn't elaborate on what that criteria would be, or how long the process might take. The company says it expects to receive a “high volume” of requests and that reinstated requests are expected to “follow our rules.”

In 2016, Studio Ghibli co-founder and director Hayao Miyazaki, responsible for beloved anime classics like Princess Mononoke and Kiki’s Delivery Service, made headlines around the world for his reaction to an AI animation program. “I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all,” Miyazaki told the software engineers who came to show their creation to him. “I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.” A half-decade later, artificial intelligence and the potential role it could play in anime productions is once again in the spotlight.

This week, Netflix shared Dog and Boy, an animated short the streaming giant described as an “experimental effort” to address the anime industry’s ongoing labor shortage. “We used image generation technology for the background images of all three-minute video cuts,” said Netflix Japan of the project on Twitter, according to a machine translation. The short is touching but was immediately controversial. As Motherboard points out, many Twitter users accused Netflix of using AI to avoid paying human artists.

Others took issue with how Netflix and Wit Studio, the company that produced the short, credited those who worked on Dog and Boy. As you can see at the end of the video, human animators were not only involved in the creation of the short’s backgrounds, but they also revised the AI’s work. However, the background designer is listed as “AI (+Human).” The credits go on to list Rinna Inc, an AI artwork company, and a handful of AI researchers.

Many artists worry about the potential for AI to devalue their work, but that concern is particularly acute among anime creators. The labor shortages Netflix points to are the result of unsustainable labor practices that see the majority of Japan’s animation studios depend on essentially unpaid freelancers to complete much of the work that makes anime possible.

According to data from the Japanese Animation Creators Association published in 2018, in-between animators, the workers who draw the frames that make a scene look fluid, earn about ¥200 (or less than $2) per drawing. With many frames taking more than an hour to produce, the average in-between animator can expect to make about ¥1.1 million (or $10,000) per year. For context, in 2019, Japan’s poverty line was at ¥2.2 million.

A new Twitch livestream tries to answer the question: What if AI made never-ending Seinfeld? “Nothing, Forever” is an experiment using OpenAI’s GPT-3 natural language model to produce (occasionally coherent) dialog between pixelated counterparts of Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer. Although it’s closer to surreal performance art than the beloved 90s sitcom, it conjures images of a strange, dystopian future where we entertain ourselves with endless content generated by robots.

“Nothing, Forever” immediately hits you with well-known aesthetics. Scene transitions show the exterior of a line of New York City brownstones over the sound of a quirky jazz bassline. It frequently cuts to “Larry” (the Jerry equivalent) performing what AI passes as standup comedy. Scenes inside Larry’s apartment show him chatting with George, Elaine and Kramer's counterparts about appropriately mundane topics. Their conversations, while mostly unintelligible and lacking structure or narrative, make their inspiration clear.

On the other hand, the stiff and rudimentary character models look like they walked out of a 1980s Sierra adventure game. Their voices are robotic too, and Jerry and George sound less like their real-world counterparts and more like Mr. Van Driessen, the hippie social studies teacher from Beavis & Butthead. Finally, it’s a stretch to say the generated dialog is coherent — much less funny. (If not for its laugh track, you wouldn’t notice the laugh lines.) Generative AI’s current limits are as much on display as the show’s influence.

Twitch

“Aside from the artwork and the laugh track you’ll hear,” one of the show’s creators posted to Reddit, “everything else is generative, including: dialogue, speech, direction (camera cuts, character focus, shot length, scene length, etc), character movement, and music.” The stream has little human involvement and changes based on viewer feedback from the Twitch stream. “The show can effectively change, and the narrative actually evolves based on the audience,” said Hartle in an interview with Vice. “One of the major factors that we’re thinking about is how do we get people involved in crafting the narrative so it becomes their own.”

That goal may be far away, as any narrative — much less a personalized one — seems beyond its current capabilities. Still, with a sizable budget and several years of technological advancement, it’s easy to imagine someone producing more watchable generative programming, an endless stream of personalized, assembly-line digital media. “Our grounding principle was, can we create a show that can generate entertaining content forever? Because that’s truly where we see the future emerging towards. Our goal with the next iterations or next shows that we release is to actually trade a show that is like Netflix-level quality.”

Before Samsung Unpacked even wrapped up today, Amazon swooped in with an offer on pre-orders for unlocked units of the new Galaxy S23 Ultra, Plus and base model smartphones — bundling a $100 Amazon gift card with the Ultra and plus and a $50 card with the S23 standard. All three phones will also get a free bump to the larger storage size and the offer is good on all available colors (black, cream, green and lavender). Like Amazon, Samsung is also offering $100 or $50 bonus, but in the form of Samsung credit.  

The S23 Ultra has an MSRP of $1,200 for the 256GB storage capacity and the S23+ starts at $1,000 for the 256GB size. The free storage upgrade bumps both of those models up to 512GB. The base S23 goes for $800 with 128GB, and the upgrade brings that to 256GB. The phones will ship on February 17th and the Amazon gift card will be delivered via mail once the phones ship.

We got a chance to spend some time with the S23 and the S23+ this week. The notable differences between the two versions are screen size, battery capacity and price. Both have vivid and smooth screens, as you'd expect from Samsung's Galaxy S series, and this year's versions include software advances for both photo and video capture. 

We also got a chance to check out the S23 Ultra, and, of course, the big news there is the big 200 MP camera lashed to its back. We'll dive into full reviews on all three phones very soon, but in the meantime, the new S23 Galaxy phones are ready to pre-order as of today, and both Amazon and Samsung will throw in a bonus if you jump in now. 

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Electric vehicle maker Rivian is laying off another six percent of its workforce. The company reduced its headcount by the same proportion of workers back in July. The automaker has around 14,000 employees, according to Reuters, so it will be letting go around 840 people this time.

As with the previous round of layoffs, Rivian says it's focusing resources on increasing production and becoming a profitable company."While this doesn’t impact manufacturing jobs in Normal, teams across the company will be losing passionate collaborators — teammates who stretched themselves daily and have given their all to help us execute on our mission," CEO RJ Scaringe wrote in an email to employees. The company shared a copy of the memo with Engadget.

As part of its push toward profitability, Rivian is attempting to ramp up production of its R1T and R1S vehicles, as well as the delivery vans it's making for Amazon. It had to slash its production target for 2022 due to supply chain issues. Reuters notes that Rivian fell just short of its goal of making 25,000 vehicles last year.

The company is also working on more affordable R2 electric trucks, which it plans to produce at high-volume, but it doesn't expect to start shipping them until 2026. Rivian will build that truck at a $5 billion factory it's constructing in Georgia.

"Continuing to improve our operating efficiency on our path to profitability is a core objective and requires us to concentrate our investments and resources on the highest impact parts of our business," Scaringe wrote. "The changes we are announcing today reflect this focused roadmap." 

We'll get a clearer picture of the state of Rivian's business when it reports quarterly earnings on February 28th. The company announced its latest layoffs soon after Tesla and Ford cut prices of their EVs, making it more difficult for newer players like Rivian to compete. Earlier this week, EV startup Arrival said it would cut around half of its workforce.

All good things must come to an end. Since September 2020, Sony has offered the PlayStation Plus Collection to PlayStation 5 owners with an active PS Plus membership. That bundle comes with some of the PlayStation 4’s best games, including Bloodborne, God of War, The Last of Us Remastered, Batman: Arkham Knight, Fallout 4 and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Come May 9th, however, Sony will no offer the PlayStation Plus Collection, the company announced today.

If you haven’t claimed any of the 19 titles included in the bundle, you have until May 9th to do so. Once those games are associated with your account, you’ll continue to have access to them as long as you maintain an active PlayStation Plus subscription. Sony says it plans to focus its efforts on growing the PS Plus library of monthly games and its Games Catalog, which PlayStation owners can access by subscribing to either PlayStation Plus Extra or Premium.

On that note, the company also revealed February’s slate of PlayStation Plus games. This month’s lineup features Evil Dead: The Game, OlliOlliWorld, Destiny 2:Beyond Light and Mafia: The Definitive Edition. You can download all four games starting on February 7th, and they’ll be available until March 6th. Of the titles on offer, you should definitely give OlliOlliWorld a try. It was one of Engadget’s favorite games of 2022.

Samsung's Unpacked event isn't just focused on the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy Book 3. The company has revealed to The Washington Post that it's working on "extended reality" (that is, augmented, mixed and virtual reality) wearable devices. While there aren't many details, the hardware will run a new, Google-designed version of Android designed with wearable displays in mind — this isn't Meta's heavily customized take on Android from the Quest line. Qualcomm will provide the chipset.

The "XR" hardware will also entail partnerships with Meta and Microsoft, although Samsung isn't elaborating further. In an interview with The Post, mobile president TM Roh says the ecosystem has to be "somewhat ready" before launch. The tech giant wants to avoid the missteps of rivals who debuted comparable hardware without robust support.

Samsung is no stranger to wearable screens. The company leapt into the market with 2015's Gear VR, which used the smartphone as both the display and computing power. In 2017, the firm jumped into PC-oriented mixed reality headsets with the HMD Odyssey. Samsung largely left the market to rivals like Meta and HTC after 2018, however.

Developing...

Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy S23 series, and the formula will seem familiar if you've seen the company's phones from the past few years: one 'small' 6.1-inch handset, a larger 6.6-inch version and a range-topping 6.8-inch Ultra that steals the show. They're all faster and take better photos. The competitive landscape is very different this year, however. The S23 line is competing against not just an expanded Apple lineup with two large-screen iPhones, but a Pixel family that finally lives up to some of Google's loftier promises. Check out the specs below to see how they compare, and be sure to look at our hands-on sessions with the S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra.

What's Changed

The centerpiece upgrade, as you may have guessed, is the Galaxy S23 Ultra's 200-megapixel main camera. It makes the S22 Ultra's 108MP sensor seem modest, and Samsung claims strong low-light photography as well as 8K video at 30 frames per second. You can also expect an improved 12MP selfie camera on the S23 and S23+ models (up from 10MP) with 60FPS HDR, and those phones can shoot Expert RAW photos at their primary camera's full 50MP resolution.

After that, the Galaxy S23 series revolves around incremental (if welcome) updates. They all use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, which promises ray-traced graphics and big boosts for AI performance and power efficiency. Batteries are ever-so-slightly larger, and there's greater use of recycled components. Memory and storage are largely unchanged, although that still delivers up to 12GB of RAM and 1TB of storage on the S23 Ultra. You'll still want the highest-end device if you crave more than 8GB of RAM and a 1080p display. Simply speaking, there's no rush to upgrade from the S22 if you're still happy with its capabilities.

Galaxy S23 Ultra vs. iPhone 14 Pro Max

Galaxy S23+ vs. Pixel 7 Pro and iPhone 14 Plus

Samsung

Galaxy S23 vs. Pixel 7 and iPhone 14

Samsung

While the Galaxy S23 Ultra might be the 200-megapixel camera-toting showstopper, Samsung is also unveiling two more premium smartphones. The Galaxy S23 and S23+ feature a minor redesign, some useful software tricks and, this time, almost spec parity across the two devices.

Even more so than last year’s Galaxy S22 series, the 6.1-inch S23 and 6.6-inch S23+ are very, very similar. The main differences are the screen size, battery capacity and price. Although, the S23+ also has ultrawideband support, which could help with precision location hunting of any compatible Bluetooth trackers. Besides that, these are the same phone.

What’s new for 2023? Well, a mild redesign. The company has removed the camera cutout on the back of both devices, even though it’s another trio of cameras. The S23 series, regardless of which phone you choose, will launch in a range of colors: black, off-white, green and lavender. I like the muted green.

The Galaxy S23’s AMOLED FHD+ screen is capable of 120Hz refresh rates and now has a peak brightness of 1,750 nits – one of the notable upgrades from last year’s S22, which topped out at 1,300 nits. Beyond the bigger size, the 6.6-inch Galaxy S23+ has an identical screen and both are bright, vivid and smooth. Screens are what Samsung, always, does well on the Galaxy S series.

Engadget, Mat Smith

The entire S23 series doubles the number of components made from recycled materials, up to twelve. That includes “pre-consumer” recycled glass for the front screen and back cover. In addition, Samsung used recycled aluminum for the SIM tray and volume keys. It also sourced recycled plastic from water barrels, discarded fishing nets and PET bottles for the speaker modules and in the construction of the back glass.

The camera specifications are recycled too: a combination of 50-megapixel wide, 12MP ultra-wide and 10MP telephoto sensor. In Samsung’s defense, last year’s S22 series beefed up cameras substantially. This year’s update is more of the same. The cameras seemed responsive and capable enough during our brief hands-on, but we’ll have to wait and see if they perform better than their predecessors in real life.

At least there are some imaging software advances. You can now capture full 50MP images in Samsung’s Expert RAW format, which used to be limited to 12MP. Video capture also picks up upgraded video stabilization. The S23 analyzes movements and compensates for your shakiness at up to two times wider angles than its predecessor. Rounding out the camera hardware, both the S23 and S23+ have an upgraded 12-megapixel selfie camera, which features a Super HDR mode that captures 60 frames per second in higher dynamic range.

While the cameras may not be pushing the boundaries of smartphone photography (that’s the S23 Ultra’s job) there are bigger batteries in both phones year. The Galaxy S23 has a 3,900mAh battery (up from the 3,700mAh cell in the S22), while the Galaxy S23+ has a 4,700mAh battery, 200mAh bigger than the S22+.

This year One UI update also throws in a few new useful features. Typically, Google’s Android updates dominate a “what’s changed” list between S-series phones. But this year there are some Samsung-made additions worth highlighting. Let's start with the improved comfort mode. The S23 will now adjust contrast levels and colors to reduce the screen’s harshness later in the day. The S23 series also has a new image clipper – no S-Pen needed – replicating the addictive sticker feature that Apple introduced on iPhones in iOS 16.

Engadget, Mat Smith

Our first impressions: it’s not a particularly exciting year for Samsung’s smaller flagships. This year especially, The Galaxy S23 Ultra is clearly the company’s favorite child – check out our impressions on Samsung’s most expensive phone here. While these are still premium smartphones, we'd wait for our full review if you’re using an S22 and considering an upgrade. The Galaxy S23 and the Galaxy S23+ are available to preorder now. The S23+ starts at $1,000 with 256GB of storage, while the S23 starts at $800 with 128GB of storage.

Samsung announced the latest cohort of Galaxy phones today at its annual Unpacked event, following it up with new laptop news as well. This year’s flagship is the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which sports a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, a 200-megapixel camera sensor, S Pen integration and more. As in years past, Samsung also has the standard Galaxy S23 and S23+, which have the same processor as in the Ultra and similarly capable camera arrays. On the notebook side of things, the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra has 13th-gen Intel processor plus NVIDIA graphics, while the Galaxy Book 3 Pro series come in standard clamshell and 2-in-1 designs. Here’s everything you need to know about how to pre-order the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, and all of the other devices announced at Unpacked 2023.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is available for pre-order today and starts at $1,199. Those who pre-order between today and February 16th on Samsung's website are eligible for a free storage upgrade and up to a $100 Samsung credit. Specific carriers including Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T have their own pre-order specials.

Samsung didn't deviate too much from last year's Galaxy S22 Ultra with this year's flagship. The Galaxy S23 Ultra looks much the same, although it does have a slightly flatter design that presumably address complaints about its predecessor's curved screen edges. This year's phone has a 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x Infinity-O QHD+ touchscreen with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and a peak brightness of 1,750 nits. Beneath it lies an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor for biometric authentication, although you will still be able to access your info and apps with face recognition as well. The S Pen integration has carried over again, with the Ultra sporting an embedded stylus that you can use to doodle, take notes and more.

Aside from the small design change, the biggest difference between this year's Ultra and last year's is the upgraded rear camera array. The Galaxy S23 Ultra has a whopping 200MP Adaptive Pixel sensor, along with a 12MP ultra wide shooter and a 10MP telephoto lens. The system is capable of shooting 8K video at 30fps, 4K video at 60fps or FHD video at 120fps and 960fps, the latter of which is dubbed Super Slow-Mo. Plus, it can shoot 4K/60fps video from its 12MP selfie camera, too.

When it comes to specs, the Galaxy S23 Ultra runs on a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor and supports up to 12GB of RAM, up to 1TB of storage and 5G connectivity. It has a 5,000mAh battery inside and supports fast charging and wireless PowerShare.

Samsung Galaxy S23 and S23+

Both the Samsung Galaxy S23 and S23+ are available for pre-order today and they start at $799 and $999, respectively. Those who pre-order between today and February 16th on Samsung's website are eligible for a free storage upgrade and up to a $100 Samsung credit. Specific carriers including Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T have their own pre-order specials.

Much like last year, the S23 and the S23+ do have some similarities between them. Both run on Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipsets and their rear camera setups are the same: a 50MP wide shooter, a 12MP ultra wide camera and a 10MP telephoto lens. With that, you'll be able to shoot 8K video at 30fps, 4k video at 60fps and FHD video at 120fps or even 960fps with Super Slow-Mo.

While their designs are cut from the same cloth, the Galaxy S23+ has a 6.6-inch Dynamic FHD+ AMOLED screen while the Galaxy S23's display measures 6.1-inches. Both, however, have an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 1,750. In addition to the larger screen, the S23+ includes a larger battery, "Super Fast Charging 2.0" with a wired connection and UWB support, plus the option to get up to 512GB of storage (as opposed to only 256GB on the standard model).

Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra

The new Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra starts at $2,399 and will be widely available on February 17th.

The most advanced model in Samsung’s notebook lineup, the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra has a 16-inch Dynamic AMOLED x2 display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and a refresh rate of 120Hz. It sports a full aluminum frame and parts made from recycled plastics. It maintains a sleek and slim design we've come to expect from Galaxy Books, while much of the upgrades are in its interior. The notebook runs on 13th-gen Intel Core i9 processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 graphics, and it can be specced out with up to 32GB of RAM and up to a 1TB SSD. There’s even an expansion slot that you can use if you need even more storage in the future.

You’re also getting an FHD webcam on this laptop that offers improvements like light correction and auto framing using Samsung’s Studio Mode. That’s paired with AI noise-cancelling microphones to provide a better video conferencing experience. Standout new features include Multi Control, which lets you control your laptop, tablet and Galaxy phone from one keyboard and trackpad, copying and pasting content between devices seamlessly; and Second Screen, which lets you use your Galaxy Tab as another monitor when you need extra screen space.

Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro and Pro 360

The Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes are available for pre-order today starting at $1,450. The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 (16-inch only) is also available for pre-order now starting at $1,900. All of the new laptops will be widely available on February 17th.

If you’re just on the market for a regular laptop, you’ll get to pick from the 14-inch or 16-inch Galaxy Book 3 Pro. The 2-in-1 version only comes with a 16-inch display, and all three of these laptops have minor differences when compared to the Book 3 Ultra. The Pros support 13th-gen Core i7 CPUs and Intel Iris X GPUs, but they can be configured to have up to 32GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage (albeit that’s your cap there, as there’s no expansion slot on these). You do, however, get the same 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED 2x display on the Pro laptops, so you won’t have to sacrifice there — and the 360 model supports touch input as well. The other noteworthy difference to call out is that both the 16-inch standard and 2-in-1 models have a larger battery than the 14-inch Book 3 Pro laptop, which is to be expected.