The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently accused SpaceX of unlawfully firing eight employees who wrote an open letter criticizing Elon Musk's behavior on social media, as well as the company's response to it. Now, according to Bloomberg, SpaceX is trying to stall the complaint's progress by suing the labor board. The company reportedly argues in its lawsuit that the complaint should be dismissed because the NLRB's structure is "unconstitutional." 

SpaceX's lawsuit attacks the way the labor board conducts its hearings. The NLRB uses its own administrative judges for its proceedings, and the company says that deprives it of its "constitutional right to trial by jury." Companies can appeal rulings by agency judges to NLRB members in Washington, and they could even go as far as to escalate their appeal to federal court. SpaceX apparently told the court that the case against it should be put on hold to prevent the company from having to go through "protracted administrative proceedings before an unconstitutionally structured agency."

The open letter at the center of this case called Musk's behavior on social media "a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment." It called out the executive's "harmful Twitter behavior," including a tweet wherein he made a joke about the sexual misconduct allegation made against him. The letter asked the company to hold all leadership accountable for their actions and to condemn harmful behavior. SpaceX fired a total of nine employees over the letter, the NLRB's complaint said, which means they were illegally fired for "engaging in protected concerted activity at work."

In its lawsuit, SpaceX said the open letter "caused significant distraction to SpaceX employees around the country" and that it fired the employees involved "for violating numerous company policies." As Reuters notes, the private space corporation used a similar tactic in the past to block the US Department of Justice from pursuing an administrative case that accused the company of discriminatory hiring practices. SpaceX also filed a lawsuit protesting the fact that the Justice Department's administrative judges have powers reserved for President-appointed officials even though they were only appointed by the US attorney general. The company successfully convinced the judge to pause the administrative case against it while its own lawsuit was ongoing. 

Tesla is recalling 1.62 million vehicles in China over the same Autopilot safety issue that forced it to upgrade two million vehicles in the US. As before, fixes will be done will be via free over-the-air (OTA) updates to add features that ensure drivers pay attention while using Tesla's driver assistance system. It affects nearly every Tesla ever sold in the country, including imported Model S and Model X vehicles along with Model 3 and Model Y EVs made in China. 

According to China's State Administration for Market Regulations (SAMR), drivers may "misuse the level 2 combined driving assistance function, increase the risk of vehicle collision and posing safety risks." Like in the US, the OTA update will incorporate additional controls and alerts that encourage drivers to continue monitoring the vehicle when Tesla's Autosteer function is engaged. 

Tesla is also recalling 7,538 imported Model S and Model X vehicles to fix a problem that may prevent doors from unlocking in the event of a collision — an issue also addressed earlier in the US. That recall will be done via an OTA update as well, with no need for customers to go to Tesla stores.

Stateside, the NHTSA has kept its investigation into Autopilot safety controls open as it monitors Tesla's fixes. The regulator said last August that it was opening an investigation into Autopilot following 11 crashes with parked first responder vehicles since 2018 that resulted in 17 injuries and one death. In a letter to Tesla sent shortly afterward, the regulator requested detailed documentation on Autopilot to know how it ensures that human drivers will keep their eyes on the road while Autopilot is engaged and whether there are limits on where it can be used.

Earlier this week, Tesla said that it delivered a record 1.8 million EVs around the world. Over half of those (944,779 EVs) were sold in China, making it the company's biggest market by far. Tesla's Shanghai plant can produce up to 1.1 million Model 3 and Model Y cars a year for the Chinese market and exports to Europe, Australia and New Zealand. 

With CES 2024 almost upon us, we're about to hear more talk about smart homes than the rest of the year combined. Samsung has started the proceedings by announcing that it's partnering with Tesla and Hyundai to expand SmartThings into the areas of home energy and vehicle/home automation. 

The partnership with Tesla will allow owners of the company's EVs, along with products like Powerwall and Solar Inverter, to monitor and control their homes using Samsung's SmartThings Energy app — displaying information related to energy production, storage and usage. 

For instance, Powerwall users will be able to sync the Tesla app's "Storm Watch" function to their home devices, so they can be alerted to extreme weather events like hurricanes or snowfall through connected Samsung TVs and smartphones. It'll also let you activate the AI Energy Mode before and during power outages to conserve remaining Powerwall energy. 

Other companies will be able to do the same, as Tesla recently published its "FleetAPI" app that lets developers interact with Powerwall, Solar and Wall Connector in addition to its EVs. Samsung is among the first to hop on board, though. "We are pleased that Samsung has chosen to be an early developer, given its leading position in consumer smart home technology," said Tesla's Drew Baglino. 

Samsung

Samsung has also teamed with Hyundai to expand its SmartThings platform to Hyundai's EVs and other vehicles, allowing "Home-to-Car" and "Car-to-Home" services. That'll let you connect your smart home to a Hyundai car's infotainment system so you can control one with the other. For instance, you'll be able to start your car via the SmartThings app, control the air conditioning, open and close windows and check charging status. And from the car, you'll be able to control home appliances like TVs, AC and EV chargers. 

It'll also allow you to create a routine where your home lights and climate control are activate when the car arrives home, or the ability to set the car to an ideal temperature after your smartphone's alarm goes off. At the same time, you'll be able to monitor energy information about EVs and chargers to set the optimal time for charging a vehicle, based on factors like energy pricing, solar panel data and more. 

The new features sound useful, particularly if you have an EV or Tesla power system installed. It's still under development, but Samsung will be providing an early look at its CES 2024 booth next week. 

Google has just disabled third-party cookies for one percent of Chrome users, years after it first introduced its Privacy Sandbox project. The company announced late last year that it will kick things off by disabling cookies for a random one percent of Chrome users globally on January 4. Chrome owns more than half of the worldwide browser market share, and according to Gizmodo, that means Google has killed cookies for 30 million users. 

People included in this rollout will see a notification when they launch their browser telling them they're one of the first to experience Tracking Protection. It also explains that Tracking Protection limits sites from using third-party cookies to track them as they browse. Since this rollout is bound to break a few websites that have yet to adapt to a change that will affect most people who go on the internet, Google will allow users to temporary re-enable third-party cookies. They can do so by clicking on the eye icon that's now on their browser bar to toggle off the new feature. 

Google's Privacy Sandbox initiative, just like its name implies, was designed to be an alternative to cookies that will allow advertisers to serve users ads while also protecting their privacy. It assigns users to groups according to their interests, based on their recent browsing activities, and advertisers can use that information to match them with relevant ads. The system is supposed to be less invasive than cookies — all data and processing take place on the device itself, and Google says it will store user interests for three weeks. The project has caught the attention of regulators over concerns that it will make the company even more powerful than it already is. But if all goes well, Google will continue rolling out Tracking Protection over the next few months until it has disabled third-party cookies for all Chrome users by mid-2024. 

A UK-based company called Clicks is introducing a new iPhone accessory at CES 2024 in Las Vegas that you might like if you loved BlackBerry phones. It's a case and a full physical keyboard in one that you can attach to the iPhone if you want a more tactile typing experience, which kinda brings back memories of Ryan Seacrest's Typo Keyboard from a decade ago. The company's creator keyboard sits at the bottom of the case and doesn't cover any part of the screen or any part of the device at all other than its back and edges. Instead, it extends the phone's length, giving you full view of whatever is on the display even while you're typing. 

That keyboard connects to the iPhone through its Lighting or USB-C port, depending on what model you have, and allows you to charge your phone as usual. It doesn't have a Bluetooth connection, but that also means it's not powered by a battery you'll need to charge. You can switch on its backlight if you want to use it at night or in the dark, and you can use a bunch of keyboard shortcuts if you want to navigate your device without using the touchscreen. To scroll down web pages, for instance, you can press the space bar. That said, its keys do look terribly small, and you may find yourself having a difficult time typing if you have larger hands and fingers. 

Clicks is founded by content creators Michael Fisher (MrMobile) and Kevin Michaluk (CrackBerry Kevin), who said that the iPhone keyboard was designed by "a dream team of tech industry veterans." Michaluk added: "We labored over every decision from exactly how the buttons should feel to the keyboard layout, ensuring it would be intuitive for iPhone users." You can order the Clicks creator keyboard from the company's website right now for $139, but shipping won't begin until February 1. 

Clicks

Razer is previewing two new Blade laptops, which it will officially unveil next week at CES 2024. The company says the new Razer Blade 16 has the world’s first 16-inch 240Hz OLED panel, and the updated Razer Blade 18 has an 18-inch 4K 165Hz one. It hasn’t revealed pricing or full specs yet, but Razer will roll out more details next week in Las Vegas.

The new Razer Blade 16 looks to improve on the display in last year’s model, which was already impressive. Razer says the OLED panel in the 2024 version was co-developed by Samsung Display. In addition to its QHD+ resolution and 240Hz refresh rate, it has a 0.2ms response time, and it’s VESA Certified ClearMR 11000, a standard that grades motion blur by its ratio of clear to blurry pixels. The panel has a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, and its black levels will likely impress with VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification.

Meanwhile, the 2024 Blade 18 moves from the 2023 model’s QHD, 240Hz panel to a 4K, 165Hz one. It has a 3ms response time with Nvidia G-Sync support and covers 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color space. 

Although Razer is withholding the devices’ full info for their official CES 2024 reveal on Monday, it added that they’re built with high-grade CNC aluminum unibody construction, and they have a 16:10 aspect ratio, “up to” an 89 percent screen-to-body ratio and ultra-thin bezels. Both laptops are Calman Verified and have a color accuracy certification. They’re also individually calibrated in the factory.

Engadget will be on the ground in Las Vegas starting this weekend, and we’ll have the full details and hands-on impressions for both new laptops.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

Set your calendars. Martin Scorsese’s latest and greatest, Killers of the Flower Moon, is premiering globally on Apple TV+ in just over a week. The film drops on January 12. It was originally released in theaters on November 20, which means it’ll be 12 weeks before arriving on a streaming service, which has become fairly standard in recent years.

We knew this would drop on Apple TV+, as Apple Studios financed the film and arranged for theatrical distribution. We just didn’t know when, and now we do. Incidentally, this is the first Apple-financed film to get a wide theatrical release.

Killers of the Flower Moon is a great match for streaming, as it's well over three hours long, which made for some frantic trips to the theater bathroom once the credits rolled. The movie stars Lily Gladstone, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Jesse Plemons and is set in 1920s Oklahoma. The narrative is based on a true story and follows the serial murders of members of the Osage Nation tribe. There’s a lot more than that, but we ain’t about to start handing out spoilers like candy. Watch the movie. It’s good.

To that end, Killers of the Flower Moon has been nabbing up award nominations left and right, including 12 Critics Choice nominations and seven Golden Globe nominations. It was also named to the American Film Institute's list of Motion Pictures of the Year. Oscar nominations don’t drop until later this month, but it’s likely to make several appearances across multiple categories.

This is the biggest film to come from Apple Studios, but not the only notable release. Coda, another Apple original, actually won Best Picture at the 2021 Academy Awards. Apple is also behind Ridley Scott’s Napoleon and forthcoming releases by directors Jon Watts and Matthew Vaughn, among others.

Amazon’s Fire HD 10 tablet is on sale for just $80 for today only from QVC. This is the latest iteration, originally released in 2023, and ships with 32GB of storage. You also have your pick of various colorways, including green, lavender and black. The regular price on this tablet is $140, so this represents a discount of $60. Incidentally, the sale price of $80 matches what was found on Black Friday, so consider this a bit of a holiday extension.

This isn’t the lowest price ever for the Fire HD 10 tablet, but it's the lowest for the current eleventh-gen device. We’ve seen this tablet go on sale for $75, but that was for the 2021 release.

The Fire HD 10 is a capable tablet, considering the price, and is a great device for viewing streaming content, browsing the web and playing simple mobile games. It has a USB-C port, which is always nice, and a 2GHz octa-core processor. The HD touchscreen boasts a 1920x1200 resolution, there’s 3GB of RAM and a pair of HD cameras on the front and rear. You can also expand the storage via a microSD slot.

Is this an iPad Pro? Nope. Not even close. But it gets the job done. I used a Fire HD 10 as my primary content streaming device for years and it was just fine. The Wi-Fi was snappy, Alexa was helpful and the actual headphone jack made it so I didn’t have to go digging for an adapter just to have some privacy while I watched Netflix in bed. Again, this deal ends today.

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Google Bard Advanced is coming, and it may represent the company's first attempt to charge for an AI chatbot. The code on Bard's website shows the opportunity to get three months free of Bard Advanced — implying that it will be at a cost after that. X (formerly Twitter) user Bedros Pamboukian shared the discovered code, which also includes a defunct Google One link. This could mean that users will be required to get a Google One subscription to access Bard Advanced.

Google first announced Bard Advanced in December 2023 alongside the new AI large language model Gemini and an AI hypercomputer from Google Cloud. Gemini is Google's most capable model to date, with the ability to "seamlessly understand and reason about all kinds of inputs from the ground up, far better than existing multimodal models," Google CEO Sundar Pichai explained in a blog post. Gemini has three sizes: Gemini Ultra, Gemini Nano and Gemini Pro, with Bard using the latter. Gemini Ultra isn't publicly available yet, but Google has stated that it will be the force behind Bard Advanced.

As for Bard Advanced's availability, the aforementioned code suggests it could be tied to Google One (although it's unclear what subscription tier would be required) but no details have been confirmed at this time. Google is currently testing its capabilities with a small group (which also might be why the code is visible). There's no exact release date for Bard Advanced yet, but Google said in December that it would be available "early next year" so it could launch at any time.

Apple Fitness+ is adding new content for the new year. The workout service’s Artist Spotlight series celebrates the Super Bowl halftime show with playlists devoted to recent performers (including this year’s artist, Usher). In addition, new meditations, programs and Time to Walk episodes will arrive soon.

The Apple Fitness+ Artist Spotlight series dedicates entire workout playlists (across various exercises) to a single artist. In this case, it will devote them to several: Rihanna (available January 8), Britney Spears (January 15), U2 (January 22) and Usher (February 5, ahead of his performance).

Three of the four artists have been (or soon will be) Super Bowl halftime headliners: Rihanna in 2023, U2 in 2002 and Usher in 2024. Spears hasn’t had top billing, but she performed in the 2001 show, co-headlined by Aerosmith and NSYNC.

Fitness+ is also adding sound meditations. Apple says they’ll only include “light guidance” from the trainer, leaving room for you to focus on the “tranquil sounds of singing bowls and the deep pitch of gongs, all arranged to create a sense of ease.” There will be seven sound-themed meditations, arriving every week. You can choose between five, 10, and 20-minute sessions.

NBC via Getty Images

Time to Walk, Apple’s series of celebrity-guided audio walking experiences, is adding Al Roker. The Today Show weather anchor and co-host will share what he learned about mentorship, including a pivotal chat with his father. Other episodes will feature rapper and actor Common (who already works with Apple on the sci-fi series Silo), Trixie Mattel (aka Brian Firkus, RuPaul’s Drag Race), actor Colman Domingo (Rustin) and author / actor Lilly Singh will host episodes.

50 of Apple’s older Time to Walk episodes will be available on Apple Podcasts. Celebrity guests on the available content will include Prince William, Al Roker (again!), Patti LaBelle, Becky G, Simu Liu, Malala Yousafzai, Camila Cabello, Dolly Parton, Jason Segel and Shawn Mendes. Although the podcast version will omit guest-chosen songs and photos, you can still access those through the Fitness+ app. In addition, anyone who isn’t subscribed to Fitness+ can listen to 10 free Time to Walk episodes on Apple Podcasts.

Golfers will get some love from the service, too. Apple is adding a new workout program designed for links enthusiasts. The workouts will blend strength, core, and yoga training, focused on the specific strength, balance, flexibility and mobility golfers need. The workouts will feature (and were designed by) pro golfer Rose Zhang. “Whether people are new to the sport or want to advance their skills, I’m excited that the workouts in this program on Fitness+ will help users feel more confident in their swing and have fun on the course,” Zhang said. Fitness+ trainer Kyle Ardill will lead the videos.

Apple has partnered with Anytime Fitness, a US gym franchise, to offer perks to use both companies’ services. First, “prospective members” who try Anytime Fitness will get “up to three months” of Apple Fitness+ for free. In addition, Fitness+ subscribers who join the gym and sign up for at least a 12-month membership will get their first 30 days for no charge. The Anytime Fitness app on iOS will also integrate with Apple Fitness+ workouts.

Apart from the Artist Spotlight rollouts, Apple hasn’t shared specific launch dates for the new content. However, it said the new features will arrive “starting Monday, January 8.”