Netflix has removed its $10 Basic tier option — the service's most affordable one that doesn't come with ads — in the US and the UK. The company has updated its Plans and Pricing page to say that new and rejoining members in the US and the UK will no longer be able to sign up for the Basic tier. Meanwhile, those already on the plan can keep their membership as is until they cancel or change their subscription. The streaming giant initially axed the tier in Canada, where users are typically the first to experience changes to the service. It was also one of the countries where Netflix started its password-sharing crackdown, which the company eventually implemented across the globe. 

As Cord Busters notes, Netflix has been steering its audiences towards the Standard Ad-Supported plan for a while now and has previously made the Basic plan virtually invisible during sign-up. Now, the Basic plan truly no longer exists in some regions. Without it, users in the US and UK will have to pay at least $15.49 and £11 a month, respectively, if they don't want their streaming experience to be interrupted by ads. The Standard plan supports streaming on two devices at a time and can stream content in Full HD. It also allows users to download content for offline viewing on two devices and gives them the ability to add an extra member who doesn't live with them for an additional fee. 

Still, the Basic option worked just fine for those who don't mind HD streaming on a single device, only want to download content on one phone or tablet and don't need to add an extra person to their account. If they don't want to pay over $5 more for a Standard plan, they now have to make do with the Standard Ad-Supported tier that costs $7 a month in the US and £5 in the UK. It supports Full HD streams and viewing on two devices at a time like the no-ads Standard plan, but it doesn't have offline viewing and the option to add a member. Subscribers can expect to see an average of 4 minutes of ads an hour at around 15 to 30 seconds each, which, of course, they cannot skip. 

Don’t go poking around your kitchen drawer gadget graveyard just yet. The first-gen iPhone, sold by LCG Auctions, was apparently a factory-sealed device in "exceptional condition." The auctioneer noted the former owner was part of Apple's engineering team when the iPhone debuted. The lot drew 28 bids, including five over $100,000. In recent months, LCG Auctions has sold two 8GB variants of the first-generation iPhone for $39,000 and $63,000.

This particular listing stood out by being a rare 4GB model. Apple only produced this model for two months. It's unlikely the buyer will actually open the package and use the phone, but if they did, they wouldn't even be able to make a phone call, since 2G networks are long gone in many parts of the world. Even selfies and FaceTime won't work, since there's no front-facing camera. And the main camera wouldn’t offer much when it comes to photography, anyway, with its 2-megapixel sensor. Aww, cute.

The first iPhone, launched in 2007, faced rivals in the Nokia N95, the Samsung BlackJack and the BlackBerry 8800. If you want a different, less notable slice of mobile history, all of those are under $20 on eBay.

– Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

First big Threads update for iOS helps you see new followers

Tesla directors agree to return $735 million following claims they were massively overpaid

15 relaxing video games to help you destress

Canon EOS R50 review: Big performance for a tiny camera

'Breakthrough' geothermal tech produces 3.5 megawatts of carbon-free power

The Cricut Venture is a $1,000 cutting machine for the most ambitious DIYers

Amazon Echo Buds (2023) review

$50 goes a long way.

Amazon’s new approach to Echo Buds has produced interesting results. The company was only going to improve things so much at its previous midrange price point – there’s a limit to how much tech you can add to a $150 set. Going for the budget buyers instead of building a high-end set of $300 earbuds makes more sense, considering Amazon’s approach to pretty much every other kind of device it makes. Still, the company created low-cost Echo Buds with sound quality that punches above the price point.

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AI put me in a 'South Park' episode

The Simulation wants to generate animated shows with Showrunner AI.

The Simulation

Well, not me, but my colleague Devindra Hardawar. During a time of Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strikes and the growing presence of AI in the creative industries, Devindra was thrust into an episode of South Park, entirely produced by the Showrunner AI model from The Simulation, the next iteration of the VR studio Fable. Audio of his voice, a picture and a two-sentence prompt: That was all it took to create a (middling) unofficial episode of the cartoon series. Read how it was made and check out the simulation.

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VanMoof e-bikes has declared bankruptcy

The company is putting its Dutch operations up for sale.

Engadget

E-bike company VanMoof has declared bankruptcy for all its Dutch entities and aims to find a buyer in the "next few weeks." The news came through a mass email to Dutch employees, which was subsequently shared on Reddit. Bankruptcy proceedings have come to VanMoof less than two years after it claimed to be the "most funded e-bike company in the world" while announcing a $128 million investment. But trouble has been brewing for some time, with it allegedly costing more money to sell and service its bikes than people were paying for them. VanMoof told employees there are "no funds to pay the salaries" long-term and gave them a six-week notice period, during which they are expected to work before their final payments. The company’s bikes were impressive premium rides, but it’s struggled to sustain the business side of things.

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Why are non-diabetics suddenly wearing continuous glucose monitors?

The trend has taken off online, despite no real evidence of its benefits.

“Let’s see what a Snickers bar does to my blood sugar,” Justin Richard, a 52-year-old Toronto-based TikToker says just before eating the candy bar on camera. In the following clip, Richard eats a cup of broccoli before eating another full Snickers bar, to show how variations in his food intake can impact his blood glucose – to the shock of none. Continuous glucose monitors (or CGMs) have long been used as a tool to track blood sugar levels for people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Here’s the thing, though: Richard does not have diabetes. Not only are CGMs questionably useful for healthy individuals, but they can be expensive. Malak Saleh takes a closer look.

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The good news keeps coming for all Babylon 5 fans: The entire series is coming to Blu-ray just a few months after sharing that an animated feature-length film is in the works. The 30th-anniversary release will include all 110 episodes of its five-season run and its pilot TV movie, The Gathering. Show creator J. Michael Straczynski shared a celebratory tweet directed at fans stating, "YOU WANTED IT, YOU ASKED FOR IT, AND IT'S FINALLY HAPPENED!"

Straczynski's series followed the inhabitants of a 23rd-century Earth Alliance space station set up to mediate peace between five powerful empires. Its initial production wasn't the highest quality — to say the least — jumping between acted scenes and blurry CGI frames. But, in 2021, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment released Babylon 5 Remastered to stream on what was then called HBO Max and as a digital download on iTunes and Amazon. The original camera negatives were scanned in 4K and then downscaled to HD with a clean-up and color correction to boot. The CGI sequences were upscaled to HD, and the show has been available to watch in its original 4:3 ever since.

The Blu-ray release will be "fully remastered in HD," which could be the 2021 update or a newer version. Babylon 5's Blu-ray edition is now available to pre-order for $100 and will be released in the US and Canada on December 5th.

Intel has announced ASUS as the company's first partner for its Next Unit of Compute (NUC) mini PC business. The two companies have entered a non-binding agreement that will see ASUS manufacture, sell and support the 10th- to 13th-generation products in Intel's NUC line. ASUS will also develop future NUC designs. Based on the business' current lineup, ASUS could be developing future NUC mini PCs, DIY kits for mini PCs, DIY kits for laptops, customizable boards, chassis and other assembly elements. 

If you'll recall, Intel recently told Engadget that it's ending its "direct investment" in its NUC business and will no longer produce first-party NUC products. It didn't elaborate on its reasoning, but working with partners for a non-essential business will free up resources it could use to concentrate on making chips. Intel previously said its first quarter earnings exceeded expectations, but its revenue was still down 36 percent year-over-year when compared to its results in the same period for 2022. The company also said that it remains cautious in this economy. 

In its announcement of the partnership, Intel said ASUS' "expertise and track record delivering industry-leading mini PCs to customers make it ideally suited to continue driving innovation and growth in NUC systems products." ASUS will be establishing a new business unit called "ASUS NUC BU" for all things related to Intel's NUC. The manufacturer will receive a non-exclusive license to Intel's NUC systems, though, making it possible for the chipmaker to team up with more companies in the future. 

TikTok has started inviting users in Australia, Mexico and Singapore to participate in a closed beta test for its new music streaming service, according to TechCrunch and CNBC. The short-form video hosting app initially launched beta testing for its fledgling streaming service in Brazil and Indonesia in early July. Now, it's expanding the scope of its music service's experimental phase and giving invited users in those regions a free three-month trial to be able to try it out. 

TikTok Music is a completely separate app that testers will be able to download from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. It does, however, connect to the main TikTok app, so users can find the full versions of songs that go viral on the video-sharing platform. The music streaming app reportedly offers personalized song recommendations, real-time lyrics, collaborative playlists and the ability to find songs through a lyrics search feature, as well. TechCrunch says it has a Shazam-like feature, which presumably means it can find songs by listening to it, and will let users download tracks for offline listening. 

The ByteDance-owned app told TechCrunch that once the testers' trial period is done, it will cost them AUD12 (US$8.16) per month in Australia, Mex$115 (US$6.86) in Mexico and S$9.90 (US$7.48) in Singapore to be able to keep using the service. TikTok already has a music streaming service called Resso available in India, Brazil and Indonesia, but it's shutting the app down in the last two countries in September. The company has yet to announce if and when its music app is also coming to the US, but it did file a trademark application for "TikTok Music" in the country back in May 2022. 

Fervo Energy says it has achieved a breakthrough in geothermal technology. It carried out a 30-day well test at its site in northern Nevada and says it was able to achieve a "flowrate of 63 liters per second at high temperature that enables 3.5 megawatts of electric production." The company says the test resulted in flow and power output records for an enhanced geothermal system (EGS) and that it was completed without incident.

A megawatt can power around 750 homes at once. Fervo is expected to connect its Project Red site to the grid this year. It will be used to power Google data centers and some of the company's other Nevada infrastructure. Google and Fervo signed an agreement in 2021 to develop a "next-generation geothermal power project."

This is the first time an energy company has shown that an EGS can work on a commercial scale, according to Bloomberg. It's been a long road to reach this point, as scientists have been trying to make EGS a reality since the 1970s.

For a natural geothermal system to produce electricity, it needs a combination of heat, fluid and rock permeability, as Bloomberg notes. In many areas, the rock has the required levels of heat, but not enough permeability for fluid to flow through it.

An EGS creates this permeability artificially by drilling deep underground and injecting fluid to create fractures in the rock. That approach can vastly increase the number of potential sites for a geothermal power plant.

Fervo says it's the first company to "successfully drill a horizontal well pair for commercial geothermal production, achieving lateral lengths of 3,250 feet, reaching a temperature of 191°C, and proving controlled flow through rigorous tracer testing."

One of the major advantages of geothermal power plants is that they're entirely carbon free — Google aims to run all of its offices and data centers on carbon-free energy by 2030. These plants can also operate at any time (unlike solar and wind), making geothermal energy a compelling source of renewable power. However, cost reductions and regulatory red tape are barriers to making EGS more broadly available, according to Fervo CEO Tim Latimer.

The company is hoping to replicate its success at a site in Utah. If Fervo sees similar results there and it successfully implements design upgrades to maximize output, the site is expected to generate enough electricity to power 300,000 homes simultaneously, Latimer said. That's around a quarter of all homes in Utah.

“Achieving our goal of operating on 24/7 carbon-free energy will require new sources of firm, clean power to complement variable renewables like wind and solar,” Michael Terrell, Google's senior director for energy and climate, said in a statement. “We partnered with Fervo in 2021 because we see significant potential for their geothermal technology to unlock a critical source of 24/7 carbon-free energy at scale, and we are thrilled to see Fervo reach this important technical milestone.”

Cricut, a company that makes popular cutting machines for crafting projects, announced a new model today. Although its devices are relatively affordable, the new Cricut Venture is a higher-end $1,000 machine aimed at “incredibly enthusiastic makers and those who sell their crafts.” In other words, this variant is less for occasional hobbyists and more for hardcore makers or small businesses selling their creations somewhere like Etsy.

Cricut Venture is a “large-format” cutting machine that can handle bigger projects — whether physical size or higher volume. The device, the company’s biggest yet, can cut up to 75 feet of repeated images and 12 ft of single images. Cricut says it’s also its fastest machine, cutting up to 25 inches per second. “Cricut Venture is optimized for size and speed,” said Michelle Fishberg, Cricut’s VP of Global Product Management. “You will find the beautiful design and quality Cricut is known for, with increased precision and attention to detail, all of which make cutting on this large-format machine an easy and productive experience.”

Like the company’s other models, the Cricut Venture can handle materials like vinyl, iron-on, cardstock, bonded fabric, leather and poster boards. Engadget’s Terrence O’Brien reviewed the printer-sized Explore 3 in 2021 and found it worked well for projects like vinyl decals and cardstock animals (that he may or may not have ever fully assembled). However, these machines are more limited by the user’s experience with crafts than technology: The company lists banners, engraved metal, debased leather, custom cards, t-shirts and color stickers among the various tasks it can handle.

The Cricut Venture will be available from the company website and retail partners starting on July 25th. Its $1,000 sticker price is for the machine only; Cricut also offers bundles with a stand or materials to help you get started.

Meta has delivered the first significant update to Threads since the social network launched earlier this month, and you might appreciate it if you're still building your contact list. The company's Cameron Roth has detailed an upgrade to the iOS app that adds a Follows tab to the activity feed, making it easier to see who just followed you. You'll have an easier time following people back. Accordingly, you can open your Instagram follower list to see if you're missing anyone.

The update also adds translations for post text, so you'll have more incentive to follow people who speak unfamiliar languages. You can subscribe to unfollowed users to get notifications without crowding your timeline. There are a few basic interface tweaks as well, such as reposter labels you can tap. The app should be leaner and smoother, particularly when loading or scrolling through your activity feed.

Some of the features are enabled server-side, so don't be surprised if they're not all available immediately. Roth says they should be available by the end of today (July 18th). There's no mention of when Android will get an equivalent update, but we've asked Meta for comment and will let you know if we hear back. The Android beta program offers features before they reach the publicly available app, however.

There are still numerous missing features, and the Threads team is aware of it. You can't yet use a chronological feed, direct messages or hashtags. You can't completely remove yourself from Threads without also deleting your Instagram account. And without a full web version, it's not usually practical to use Threads on a computer. This first update shows that Meta is acting on at least some promises, even if it may take a while to address every issue.

Meta has motivation to act quickly. Threads use is declining after the initial spike, and the absence of some features (such as hashtags and a web app) may keep new users away. Greater parity could help sustain interest while Meta considers a European Union rollout and otherwise prepares for a significant expansion.

Remember Twitter Notes? It was supposed to be the feature that let Twitter users write whatever they want, blowing past the typical Twitter character limit. At the time, that limit was only 280 characters. After several updates this year, Twitter Blue subscribers can tweet up to 25,000 characters. Now, CEO Elon Musk has seemingly confirmed that the company is still working on the Notes feature, but is rebranding it to Twitter Articles.

In a reply to a tweet noting the name change, Musk confirms that Articles will be the place to post “long, complex articles with mixed media.” He goes on to say that “You could publish a book if you want.”

Officially announced last year, Notes was pitched as “a way to write longer on Twitter,” and was initially limited to select users in Canada, Ghana, the United Kingdom and the United States. Notably, this was announced before the Elon Musk takeover later that year, but after he announced his intention to buy the company. This is the first time Twitter has acknowledged the feature since then.

As for what this feature will look like, think blog posts but on Twitter. Articles, which will be separate from the main timeline, is an area where users can post long-form content without the typical limitations of a tweet. That means you’ll be able to embed photos, videos and other tweets within an Article. Users can share Articles in tweets, and published Articles will show up in your Twitter profile.

It’s unclear at this time when or if Articles will be available to the public. The feature is still in the experimental stage it has been in since last year, and is only available to a select number of users.

Framework’s modular Laptop 16 is available for preorder in the US, Canada, Germany, France, UK, Netherlands, Austria, Ireland and Australia. The company’s first gaming notebook starts at $1,399 for a DIY system (sans operating system). Pre-built variants start at $1,799.

The machine ships with an AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS or AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS processor; the DIY versions start at $1,399 and $1,699, respectively. You can use it with the processor’s integrated graphics or pay $1,799 or $2,099 for a ready-to-go model with Radeon RX 7700S discrete graphics.

Of course, the company’s modular focus is what differentiates the Laptop 16 from the multitude of same-y notebooks at your local electronics store. The plan is for its expansion bay system to let you upgrade its graphics (and other hardware) over time without buying an entirely new machine. Its top deck, including the keyboard and numpad, is also user reconfigurable. It adds up to an ambitious plan for a gaming laptop, but the company has so far followed through on supporting its less powerful (but also modular) Laptop 13, the first version of which launched in 2021.

Framework

The Framework Laptop 16 machine has a 16-inch 2560 x 1600 display with a 165Hz refresh rate (with FreeSync). The screen can reach 500 nits brightness, and it’s rated for 1500:1 contrast and 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut. The laptop has an 85Wh battery, which Framework says will retain 80 percent capacity after 1,000 charging cycles. (The company says it’s “easy to replace” if needed.) It supports WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 and has a 1080p webcam with dual mics and hardware privacy switches. It also includes a fingerprint reader, compatible with Windows and Linux.

The company will follow a batch ordering system, and it expects the first round to ship in Q4 2023. Framework says a limited supply of pre-orders that include an eligible AMD Radeon GPU will receive a free download code for the highly anticipatedStarfield: Premium Edition. (CEO Nirav Patel says game codes will arrive before its early access launch.) You can preorder the Laptop 16 now from the company website.