Last year, Apple launched a repair/replacement program for AirPods Pro units experiencing sound issues, such as crackling or static. It was only supposed to last for two years after the buds were first sold in October 30th, 2019, which means the program was going to come to a close in a couple of weeks. As first noticed by someone on Reddit, though, the tech giant has quietly updated its program's information page to extend its availability. "The program covers affected AirPods Pro for 3 years after the first retail sale of the unit," the updated page reads, giving people the chance to exchange their faulty buds within the next year.

Apple previously said that a "small percentage" of units manufactured before October 2020 may be affected by the issue. The program covers buds exhibiting cracking or static sounds in loud environments, or while the user is exercising or talking on the phone. It also covers units with faulty Active Noise Cancellation that show irregularities, such as the loss of bass or an increase in background sounds. According to a few commenters on the Reddit post, however, even their buds that were manufactured later than October 2020 were exhibiting sound issues. While those models are technically not covered by the program anymore, the users were still able to get them replaced by getting in touch with Apple.

A few months ago, Volvo teamed up with Swedish steel producer SSAB to develop a type of steel it can use for its vehicles that doesn't use fossil fuels. Now, the automaker has revealed what it says is the world's first vehicle made of fossil-free steel: A four wheeled fully electric load carrier made for quarrying and mining. In addition to having no greenhouse gas emission, it's also autonomous and can follow a pre-programmed route to transport materials at a job site.

SSAB produces fossil-free steel by replacing the coal used during the manufacturing process with hydrogen from electrolysis. As Forbes notes, though, the whole vehicle isn't exactly fossil-free, since the steel used for its components provided by third-party suppliers, such as its electric motor, were made using traditional means. Still, Volvo Group CTO Lars Stenqvist told the publication that "majority of the steel" in the vehicle is fossil free. He said three tons of the carrier's 8.2-ton weight is made of green steel from SSAB, and those eight tons include other heavy components like the vehicle's tires.

Volvo plans to start a small-scale production for the vehicle next year and to scale up production, depending on the availability of steel from SSAB. The Swedish manufacturer is hoping to start mass-producing its fossil-free steel in 2026, so we may see more Volvo vehicles made using the material by that time.

Martin Lundstedt, President and CEO Volvo Group, said in a statement:

"This initiative with SSAB sets the benchmark for a fossil-free future. Just as the nations of the world come together at COP26 to address climate change, so too must organizations and industries work in collaboration to develop innovative new solutions for a greenhouse gas emission free future. Volvo Group is committed to pioneering partnerships such as this with SSAB to develop attractive, safe and efficient new vehicles and machines that pave the way for a more sustainable transport and infrastructure system adopted for the future."

Facebook is ramping up its fight against leakers following the disclosures of whistleblower Frances Haugen. According to The New York Times, Facebook is limiting access to some internal groups that deal with “sensitive” issues like safety and elections. That the change, which was made to prevent further leaks, immediately leaked is both highly amusing and emblematic of some of the bigger issues the company is currently facing.

Ever since Haugen revealed herself as the whistleblower, one of the more noteworthy aspects of her story is that the documents she provided to Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission were widely accessible to employees. The documents included slides detailing the company’s research into teen mental health, as well as numerous memos about how the company has handled rules for VIPs, misinformation and other thorny issues.

As The Times points out, the reason these documents were so readily available is because Facebook has long had an open culture that promotes sharing. And employees themselves often take to its internal communication platform, Workplace, to discuss controversial issues facing the company.

But now the social network is moving away from that openness. The company is making some internal groups private, and will remove employees “whose work isn’t related to safety and security,” according to the report. “Sensitive Integrity discussions will happen in closed, curated forums in the future,” the company told employees in a memo.

On one hand, the fact that news of the change immediately leaked would seem to back up that the company is in fact more leaky than it has been in years past. But it could also signal increasing unrest among employees, some of whom are reportedly concerned that walling off teams that work on important issues could ultimately do more harm than good.

It also underscores just how much Facebook is still reeling from Haugen’s disclosures. In addition to the Senate hearing last week, Haugen is expected to brief the select committee investigating the Jan. 6th insurrection, as well as European lawmakers investigating the company. The SEC also appears to be investigating her claims.

On November 12th, The Shrink Next Door will debut on Apple TV+. Oddly enough, the Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd vehicle is one of two upcoming shows centered on unethical psychiatrists coming to the streaming service. This week, Apple announced a 10-episode order for Shrinking, a new series that will star Jason Segel as a therapist who tells his patients exactly what he thinks. Ted Lasso co-creator Bill Lawrence and star Brett Goldstein, who plays Roy Kent in the popular comedy series, will write and produce the new show alongside Segel.

It’s an interesting move for a company that, despite some recent successes, is one of the newer players in the streaming space and still building out its lineup while seeing what works. As ever, the company’s approach seems to be to give established talent the runway to create what they think people will want to watch.

Facebook is slowly expanding its effort to weed out political content from News Feed. The company is now testing its “less political” feed in 75 new countries, Facebook said in an update.

The company has already introduced a version of the revamped News Feed in the United States, as well as Costa Rica, Sweden, Spain, Ireland, Canada, Brazil, and Indonesia. But the latest update marks a significant expansion of the effort, and brings the total number of countries involved to more than 80. Facebook didn’t identify the latest countries to join the test, but a spokesperson confirmed the company is showing the News Feed changes to “a small percentage of people” in each country. The spokesperson added that countries with upcoming elections and those “at higher risk of conflict” are not included in the tests.

Mark Zuckerberg first announced plans to make News Feed less political in January, just weeks after the insurrection. “People don’t want politics and fighting to take over their experience,” he said at the time.

Rolling out the changes to more countries could help Facebook learn more about how to lower the temperature on its platform, which could be particularly useful as the company is accused of making its service angrier to boost engagement. At the same time, the company has acknowledged the changes could hurt publishers. “As we get more insights from these tests, we’ll share updates on what we’re learning and will continue to make changes accordingly,” Facebook wrote in an updated blog post.

Former Raiders coach Jon Gruden will be removed from Madden NFL 22 and replaced with a generic character, EA Sports confirmed today on Twitter. The change will occur within the next few weeks and will roll out automatically in a title update. 

Gruden resigned from his position as Raiders head coach on October 11th amid reports that he routinely and for years sent racist, misogynistic and homophobic emails to colleagues.

Regarding the removal, EA Sports said, "Due to the circumstances of Jon Gruden's resignation, we are taking steps to remove him from Madden NFL 22. We will replace him with a generic likeness via a title update in the coming weeks."

Madden NFL 22 is the latest iteration of the legendary American football series, and it came out on August 20th for PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Stadia.

It turns out there’s much more to Nintendo’s recently released OLED Switch than a new display panel from Samsung. Conducting a teardown of the console, the DIY heroes at iFixit found the company made a variety of internal tweaks that make for a device that’s significantly different from its predecessor.

Like Sony’s latest PlayStation 5 revision, the OLED Switch features a smaller cooling assembly than previous models. iFixit suspects Nintendo this tweak to either save on space or dial back the launch model’s “cooling overcompensation.” All we can say is we hope the change doesn’t lead to claims the new model is “worse” than its predecessor. In another space-saving measure, Nintendo has consolidated some components onto a single board. The console’s SD card reader, headphone jack and cartridge reader are now all found on a single PCB.

iFixit

Notably, the only controller-related change the OLED variant features is a set of new console-side rails that hold their respective Joy-Cons more securely. Another change sees the console’s interconnect cables taped to the top of a metal shield. While that's something that will make fixing the OLED Switch on your own more difficult, iFixit suspects it could help with WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity issues.

Speaking of repairability, iFixit gave the OLED model a score of seven out of 10. That’s one less than the company awarded the original model. The OLED Switch features a non-modular storage module that’s soldered to its motherboard, making easy repairs and upgrades on that front something you can’t do.

Twitter has launched a new three-month accelerator program to help up-and-coming Spaces creators. Dubbed the Twitter Spaces Spark Program, the company says the initiative will provide audio hosts with financial, technical and marketing support. Those who get into the program can look forward to a $2,500 monthly stipend, monthly ad credits, early access to upcoming Twitter products and features, as well as support from the company’s social media channels.

The accelerator is currently only open to creators over the age of 18 who live in the US. Additionally, Twitter will only accept those with 5,000 or more active followers. There’s also an expectation those in the program will broadcast a minimum of two Spaces per week. 

Following a limited iOS-only release in August, Twitter also announced today that it has started rolling out Ticketed Spaces to Android users in the US. The feature allows creators to charge for access to their live audio events.

Sadly, we're note getting Mindhunter season 3. After a short tease yesterday, Netflix just revealed its next project from renowned filmmaker David Fincher: VOIR, a collection of visual essays about the love of cinema. The short teaser doesn't tell us much, sadly. But according to writer and film critic Drew McWeeny, who's working on one episode of the series, VOIR will feature standalone explorations about different aspects of movies. 

"We’re not trying to sell you anything, and we’re not interviewing anyone about what Marvel movies they’re doing," McWeeny wrote in his newsletter, Formerly Dangerous. "We’re each tackling a totally different idea, something that intrigues us or upsets us or that has to do with our connection to the movies."

Much like Love, Death and Robots, the animated sci-fi series from Fincher and Tim Miller (Deadpool), VOIR episodes will range from 10 to 30 minutes. The series is also co-created by David Prior, the director of the recent cult horror hit The Empty Man. Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos, The duo behind the excellent YouTube series Every Frame a Painting, Taylor Ramos and Tony Zhou, are also listed as directors. VOIR will premiere at LA's AFI Fest in November, and Netflix says it'll be heading to the streaming service soon.

Solar Ash, Heart Machine's follow-up to the influential Hyper Light Drifter, will arrive a little later than previously planned. The studio and powerhouse indie publisher Annapurna Interactive are delaying the action platformer from October 26th until December 2nd. The team needs a little more time to polish Solar Ash and fix some bugs. As such the extra few weeks will allow the game to debut "in its best form."

Solar Ash will be released on PlayStation 4, PS5 and PC. You'll take on the guise of a Voidrunner named Rei who tries to save her home from a supermassive black hole. To do so, she'll need to make her way through treacherous lava-filled areas, sunken cities and other perilous and colorful biomes.