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Twitter confirms outage was caused by 'inadvertent change'
Twitter's support page notes it is "Investigating Irregularity with Twitter APIs," that seem to have taken the site offline around 5:35 PM ET.
Donald Trump claims he will ban TikTok in the US
The president told reporters on Air Force One that he will ban TikTok in the US.
Tesla suspends work at Fremont plant, will comply with shelter in place order
Wide swaths of the Bay Area have been under semi-lockdown since Tuesday when seven counties issued shelter in place orders, barring residents from travel unless in need of essential supplies and effectively shuttering many businesses. Come March 24th, that will include Tesla's plant in Fremont, California, the company announced on Thursday.
All Apple Stores outside of Greater China are closing until March 27th
Apple CEO Tim Cook sent out a statement in the early hours of Saturday morning detailing Apple's worldwide response to COVID-19. Among the steps taken is news that the company will close its retail stores worldwide until March 27th. The only exception is Greater China, which includes Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, where the company yesterday reopened stores that had closed on February 2nd. Stores already closed in Italy and Spain due to the pandemic will remain closed. On Friday morning Apple announced its spring WWDC developer event would go online-only, and Cook said that "In all of our offices, we are moving to flexible work arrangements worldwide outside of Greater China." For the affected workers, "All of our hourly workers will continue to receive pay in alignment with business as usual operations. We have expanded our leave policies to accommodate personal or family health circumstances created by COVID-19 — including recovering from an illness, caring for a sick loved one, mandatory quarantining, or childcare challenges due to school closures."
Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft's board of directors
Amid the spreading outbreak of COVID-19, Engadget reader Bill Gates has apparently decided "to dedicate more time to his philanthropic priorities including global health, development, education, and his increasing engagement in tackling climate change." He's stepping down from the board of directors at the company he co-founded in 1975 as well as his position on the board of Berkshire Hathaway, but will still be a "technology advisor" to current CEO Satya Nadella and other executives. Gates posted a statement on LinkedIn that said "I have made the decision to step down from both of the public boards on which I serve – Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway – to dedicate more time to philanthropic priorities including global health and development, education, and my increasing engagement in tackling climate change. The leadership at the Berkshire companies and Microsoft has never been stronger, so the time is right to take this step."
Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference goes online-only due to coronavirus
Nearly every major tech event this year to date has been cancelled or dramatically revamped over coronavirus concerns, and Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference is no exception. The company has just announced that WWDC-- typically held at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in California -- will be a purely online event when it takes place sometime this June. "The current health situation has required that we create a new WWDC 2020 format that delivers a full program with an online keynote and sessions, offering a great learning experience for our entire developer community, all around the world," said Phil Schiller, Apple's SVP of worldwide marketing in a post on the company's website. "We will be sharing all of the details in the weeks ahead."
Austin cancels SXSW over coronavirus fears
During a news conference on Friday afternoon, Austin city officials announced that they have declared a local disaster and canceled this year's SXSW festival. The show is being called off over infection fears regarding the growing coronavirus outbreak.
The next Mars rover will be named 'Perseverance'
During a live webcast on Wednesday, NASA administrators unveiled the official name of the upcoming Mars 2020 Rover mission. Say hello to Perseverance.
GDC 2020 is officially canceled due to coronavirus
After one big name participant after another (Facebook, Sony, Microsoft, Amazon) announced it would not send people to the show over concerns about the spread of coronavirus, GDC 2020 organizers have announced the event is off. It was scheduled to take place between March 16th and 20th, and in a statement, they said "we fully intend to host a GDC event later in the summer." This announcement comes just hours after officials announced a second case of the virus in California with an unknown origin. After Mobile World Congress, this week we've already seen Facebook's F8 developer event and the Geneva Motor Show drop off of the schedule, and it seems unlikely that they will be the last ones. Those who were planning on attending should have received an email with answers to some of their questions about refunds for passes and hotels booked within the convention's block. Right now the plan is for "many" of the presentations that would have been given to be submitted via video and made available for free viewing online. The Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Choice Awards, as well as some of those talks, will stream on Twitch during the week the event would have taken place. In an effort to support indie developers who may be impacted financially, the IGDA has teamed up with GameDev.world on a fundraiser that will include "a Pay-What-You-Want games bundle, a public game jam, and free online live talks and Q&A translated in the worlds' largest languages."
Clearview AI leak names businesses using its facial recognition database
One of the most vehement arguments against Clearview AI's practice of scraping billions of photos from millions of public websites to build its facial recognition database was that the company's data storage and security protocols were both untested and unregulated. On Wednesday, Clearview AI claimed that its facial recognition database was hacked, giving intruders access the the company's full client list, which Buzzfeed News has acquired.
NTSB chair eviscerates Tesla for inaction over Autopilot concerns
The National Transportation Safety Board held a hearing on Tuesday regarding a deadly 2018 crash in which a Tesla Model X slammed into a Mountain View highway divider at 70mph, was subsequently struck by two other vehicles and then exploded. During that announcement, the safety board revealed that the driver, Apple developer Walter Huang, was playing a mobile game on his phone at the time of the accident, while the vehicle's Autopilot feature was engaged.
Disney+ has already netted 28.6 million subscribers
Disney's start on direct-to-customer streaming came out of the gate with the bang, as the company reported it had 26.5 million paid subscribers for Disney+ (PDF) by the end of 2019. ESPN+ grew to 6.6 million subscribers from 1.4 million last year, while Hulu has 30 million customers total, with 3.2 million of them signing up for live TV services. On a call with investors, CEO Bob Iger reported that Disney+ is still growing, and is up to 28.6 million customers worldwide as of Monday. Iger also announced that Disney+ will launch in India via the company's HotStar service and said Hulu could launch internationally in 2021. On the call with investors, Iger specified that season two of The Mandalorian will debut in October, as well as shows the MCU shows it featured in Super Bowl ads. Falcon and the Winter Soldier will launch in August, and Wandavision arrives in December. He also said that the Star Wars show will run beyond two seasons, with a possibility of "infusing it with more characters and taking those characters in their own direction in terms of series." Executives said they don't expect the next "significant" domestic growth to happen until those series launch. According to the CEO, people weren't just watching the viral series, with over 65 percent of viewers watching ten other things on the platform. Interestingly, he also said that the current priority of Star War is TV as opposed to theatrical releases.
Roku and Fox cut a deal in time for Super Bowl LIV streaming
A few days ago, Roku sent out an email to customers informing them that Fox standalone apps would go away after January 31st due to an expiring distribution agreement. That might make it a little harder and more complicated to watch the Super Bowl via streaming this weekend, and certainly more difficult to watch the 4K stream Fox will distribute via its apps. But tonight Roku informed Engadget that they have reached an agreement.According to a Fox spokesperson, "We are pleased to have reached a successful agreement with Roku. Fox's leading suite of apps will continue to be available on the Roku platform." So that means as long as you're able to load up the apps and login with cable or other TV credentials, the Fox Now and Fox Sports apps will work just as well as the NFL and other streaming options on Roku.
Tesla moves the Model Y release date up to 'spring 2020'
Tesla was on quite the roll in Q4 last year. The company unveiled its controversially popular electric Cybertruck at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Elon Musk won his "pedo guy" defamation suit, and the first Model 3s produced at Tesla's new Shanghai Gigafactory rolled off the assembly line. The company also delivered 112,000 vehicles in that quarter, and 367,500 vehicles over the full year -- that's a 50 percent increase over 2018.
Reachy is an expressive, open-source robot
Seems like everybody's getting into the AI and robotics game -- at least the companies and research institutions that can afford to build their platforms from the ground up are. France's Pollen Robotics, on the other hand, aims to kickstart the robotics revolution with its open-source system, Reachy.
This wearable for dogs claims to reveal their mood
Despite spending the last 32,000 or so years adapting and evolving to become our most loyal companions, a dog's mood can still occasionally prove inscrutable to their human's understanding. Is Fifi yipping because she's excited or scared? With the help of Inupathy's upcoming device, you'll soon be able to tell.
Bollinger’s badass EV utility trucks arrive in 2021
The age of automotive electrification is once again upon us. Startups like Rivian and Lordstown are joining industry stalwarts like Ford and Hummer in developing the next generation of EV SUVs and pickups. But none of them can compare to the sheer power and utility of the Bollinger B1 and B2, which the company showed off this week at the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show.
Tesla unveils its Cybertruck, with a price starting at $39,900
With an impressive financial quarter under its belt and new factories spinning up vehicle production, Tesla is riding high. So why not keep the good times rolling by once again opening up its design studio in Hawthorne, California to fans and journalists and show off its latest product, the Cybertruck.
'Half-Life: Alyx' is a VR prequel set before the events of 'Half-Life 2'
After more than 12 years, Valve is officially returning to the Half-Life universe. Half-Life: Alyx is a "full-length" VR entry into the series -- but if you were thinking we'd finally find out what happened after the events of Half-Life 2: Episode Two, I have some extremely disappointing news. Alyx will take place between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2. For those of us who've been waiting for Valve to return to these games, it's a bit of a bittersweet moment -- the company undoubtedly knows how to make an excellent game, and the screenshots Valve shared certainly should get fans excited. But if you're looking for closure after the mega-cliffhanger that was Episode Two, you'll have to keep waiting.
Toyota's RAV4 Prime will be the second fastest vehicle in its lineup
With more than 430,000 units driving off Toyota's showroom floors this year, the RAV4 isn't just the company's best-selling SUV, it's America's as well. At the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show on Wednesday, the automaker officially debuted another hybrid-electric variant -- this time a plug in -- that will surely further cement Toyota's leading position in the market. Behold the 2021 RAV4 Prime.
