FCC votes to restore net neutrality
The agency voted to reclassify internet service providers under Title II of the Communications Act but says it doesn’t plan to regulate prices.
The agency voted to reclassify internet service providers under Title II of the Communications Act but says it doesn’t plan to regulate prices.
Feed refreshed
Meanwhile, sources tell The Information that ByteDance is “internally exploring scenarios for selling.” It’s been literally one day since the divest-or-ban ultimatum became law, so I hope you’re ready for another nine to twelve months of spin.
The decentralized social network has awarded an $800 grant to SkyBridge, an “in-progress proxy web server that translates Mastodon API calls into appropriate Bluesky ones,” which will let people use their favorite Mastodon apps on Bluesky.
The funds came from Bluesky’s rather modest ($10,000 in its initial allocation) grant fund for developers on the AT Protocol.
Ahead of its earnings call today, T-Mobile announced a new joint venture with Swedish investment firm EQT to buy Lumos Fiber, which reaches over 350,000 households.
Once the deal closes, T-Mobile will invest $950 million for a 50 percent stake in Lumos and acquire all of its existing fiber customers, with plans to expand even further. The T-Mobile Fiber network is currently in 16 markets.
What it does, the R1 seems to do well enough — with some typical AI quirks. But where are all the features we were promised?
Our latest episode of Decoder is about the brand-new TikTok ban — and how years of congressional inaction on a federal privacy law helped lead us to this moment of apparent national panic about algorithmic social media.
This is a thorny discussion, and to help break it all down, I invited Verge senior policy reporter Lauren Feiner on the show. Lauren has been closely covering efforts to ban TikTok for years now, and she’s also watched Congress fail to pass meaningful privacy regulation for even longer. We’ll go over how we got here, what this means for both TikTok and efforts to pass new privacy legislation, and what might happen next.
We found a collection of unique gift ideas that go beyond the flowers and chocolates that typically rule the day.
‘Scuderia Ferrari’ is changing its name to ‘Scuderia Ferrari HP,’ and HP’s logo will appear on the cars from Maranello for the Miami Grand Prix in May.
I can’t see it being on the wheels like McLaren’s Google logo, but at least it’s not a cigarette brand in camouflage.
An overnight email from Apple says the company can’t complete the trade-in process... even though the people getting it, like our reader Kevin, traded in their iPhones last year. MacRumors notes forum members and people on social media have reported receiving the message, and it seems like an odd glitch, but we’ve reached out to Apple to confirm.
The Comcast-owned streaming service says it added 3 million paid subscribers over the past few months, bringing it to 34 million total members. In addition to airing the “most-streamed event ever in the US” in January, Peacock also added Oppenheimer and other Christopher Nolan flicks to its lineup.
Stellar Blade launches tomorrow on PS5 and just in time for release day, PlayStation is sharing a new launch trailer and information on the game’s New Game + mode. Eve’s weapons, HP, and healing items will get level boosts. Skill trees will be expanded and there will be harder difficulties for players looking for a challenging fight. But most importantly, New Game + will add over 30 new outfits to collect.
OLED iPad Pros, a big iPad Air, and new accessories (oh my?).
Microsoft has started reminding Xbox owners that it will start deleting game captures from its Xbox Network after 90 days, starting on May 30th. If you don’t want to lose game clips and screenshots, then you’ll need to back up any old ones to OneDrive or an external drive over the next month. There’s more information over on Microsoft’s support site.
Post-Barbie, Mattel has been making a lot of noise about its plans to keep the toy-to-movie ball rolling with projects based on IP like Hot Wheels and Magic 8 Ball. But the company also wants to channel that energy into series meant for the small screen, and it has just hired Sidney Clifton, Cory Bennett Lewis, and Amy Suh to spearhead those efforts.
[corporate.mattel.com]
The two companies say their partnership “has never been stronger,” possibly calming any fears after Google merged its Android and hardware teams. It sure looks like we’re going to see more AI in both Samsung and Google devices soon beyond Circle to Search, which is something to watch for as more AI-powered devices like the Rabbit R1 come to market.
Earlier this month, Bethesda announced that Fallout 4 would be getting a next-gen update (y’know because everybody wants to play a Fallout game now). That update is out today granting console players performance and quality modes along with other bug fixes and PC players get wide and ultra-widescreen support and the much-coveted Steam Deck verification.
Amazon continues to bolsters its sports offerings, this time by nabbing regional streaming rights for the NHL’s Seattle Kraken. Starting next season, Prime Video will be home to the team’s “non-nationally televised” games in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska, including “preseason, regular season, and the first round of playoffs.” Bad news for subscribers if the Kraken make a deep run in 2025.
It started with notebooks, but that wasn’t the master plan.
Nvidia is adding the Battle.net versions of these classic Blizzard games to its cloud streaming service this week, alongside StarCraft II and Diablo III.
AV1 support (which provides higher streaming quality at lower bitrates) is also being rolled out for GeForce Now users with Mac M3 devices.
The Biden administration’s pledge will help Micron’s $100 billion plan to build new DRAM fabs in New York, with the proposed funding set to unlock a $25 billion investment for another facility under construction in Idaho.
Micron, the sole US-based memory manufacturer, hopes to onshore 40 percent of its DRAM chip production. Its leading-edge chips are currently made in Japan and Taiwan.
TSMC says it’ll start production of 1.6-nm chips by 2026 in a move that should “greatly improve logic [chip] density and performance,” according to Nikkei. Meanwhile Intel is targeting 2-nm and 1.8-nm technologies by 2025, with Samsung targeting 1.4-nm in 2027.
Production designer Howard Cummings talks glass houses, Red Rockets, and how Fallout became a verb.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Lars Wingefors said he’s been “taking a lot of hits and criticism” over Embracer Group’s restructuring efforts that have led to studio shutdowns, layoffs, and the gaming conglomerate being split into three separate companies.
“We can’t make all the games we wanted to make three years ago, but we need to adapt to it. We will still make games, we still have one of the biggest, if not the biggest, pipeline of games in the industry. And we have great plans over the coming years or decades.”
[GamesIndustry.biz]
The Sony Afeela prototype is part of GT7’s free update. “Before the real vehicle is released, we would like as many people as possible to ride it in-game. Please enjoy it,” writes Sony Honda Mobility.
You also get a Škoda Vision Gran Turismo concept “created exclusively for the game,” and a ‘70 Chevrolet Chevelle SS454 Sport Coupe.
The team behind the sandbox game posted that “the takedowns came from Nintendo,” and continued:
Honestly, this is fair enough. This is Nintendo’s content and what they allow and don’t allow is up to them. They don’t want you playing with that stuff in Garry’s Mod - that’s their decision, we have to respect that and take down as much as we can.
The post asks contributors to help by deleting “Nintendo related uploads and never uploading them again.”