The Morning After: Weekend Edition

Letter from the Editor

"Fail fast, fail often" has become something of a Silicon Valley cliché. And yet, despite best efforts to embrace that mantra, our latest president has managed to make an enemy of many of the Valley's most influential players. The tech industry's biggest names spent the week reacting to and recovering from President Trump's executive order that temporarily prohibits US entry to refugees and citizens from a handful of Muslim countries. Apple, Microsoft, Google, Lyft, Uber and others provided legal and financial assistance to staff and others affected by the ban order.

Meanwhile, Uber felt the effects of being on the wrong side of the negotiating table when hundreds of thousands of users deleted the app in protest of its CEO, Travis Kalanick, sitting on the president's economic advisory council. Kalanick eventually caved to pressure from users and employees, but Tesla's Elon Musk said he would stick around for the "greater good." While reports circulated that some customers had canceled Tesla pre-orders, there's likely a bit of difference between the buyer of a $100,000-plus luxury vehicle and that of a $5 rideshare. But, hey, if those fancy electrics don't sell, Tesla's already put its Powerpacks to good use, lighting up California's power grid.

One company that isn't having trouble maintaining a user base? Apple, duh. Yes, the iOS juggernaut keeps on rolling. As Nathan Ingraham points out, Apple's taken some big risks this year, what with "few updates to the Mac (and the one big change was quite polarizing), a barely redesigned iPhone with no headphone jack, AirPods that shipped two months late and a new Apple Watch that was a modest improvement to a product still seen as nonessential." But profits were up in the company's first quarter to $18.4 billion. As it turns out, the iPhone 7 managed to turn around a three-quarter decline in iPhone sales — headphone jack be damned!

What's more horrifying than losing a much-loved port on your favorite Apple gadget? Aside from the impending loss of some hard-won freedoms, there's also the rise of intelligent machines. This week saw the introduction of a new, wheel-equipped robot from Boston Dynamics and a poker-playing AI that could put "Rain Man" to shame. If you like your horror a little less real, you could always play "Resident Evil 7," the "most terrifying VR game on the market," according to Jessica Conditt.

Then again, you could just wake up and check your Twitter feed. Welcome to 2017!

-- Christopher Trout, Executive Editor

Drill, baby, drillElon Musk plays 'Minecraft' differently than you do

Your big weekend project probably doesn't look anything like this. Musk has hinted at using tunnels to alleviate traffic problems, and digging on a test trench has already begun. "Minecraft" indeed.

Friday news dumpThe new FCC chairman takes control

As the week came to a close, Ajit Pai was busy. On Friday, at his direction, the FCC rolled back a few more items hanging on from its time under former chairman Tom Wheeler. In a move vaguely described as undoing "midnight regulation," the FCC cut off nine internet companies from participation in the Lifeline program that helps low-income households get connected. Also, it dropped investigations into zero-rating traffic policies from AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon that have been criticized for going against the principles of net neutrality.

But will there be as much flopping as the real thing?Now ESPN will broadcast 'FIFA' eSports tournaments

ESPN keeps filling out its schedule with video game competitions, and the latest addition is FIFA. The first broadcast is Sunday at 6PM -- just in case you needed a Super Bowl alternative.

Sasuke is comingPS4 update in beta adds support for external hard drives and 'Boost Mode' on the Pro

System software 4.50 is currently rolling out to PS4 owners in its beta testing program, with a load of new features aboard. Most-anticipated is probably support for external storage, so users can choose between replacing their internal drive or adding one via USB.

The other big tweak (which wasn't mentioned in the notes) is the addition of "Boost Mode" for PS4 Pro -- toggle it on, and older games that haven't been optimized yet will suddenly take advantage of its upgraded hardware for smoother gameplay, higher frame rates and faster load times. Also, there's custom wallpaper support and Blu-ray 3D inside PlayStation VR.

But wait, there's more...

• LG has a fix for its WiFi-allergic 5K monitor

• Cute 'Rocket League' pull-back racers bring soccer derby to your floor

• A ban on immigration is an attack on Silicon Valley

• This tiny glob could be humans' earliest known ancestor

• 'Candleman' is a 3D platformer that will make your heart melt

• The Engadget Podcast Ep 27: American Tune -- The ACLU, Adoptly and an immigration ban

• 'Donkey Kong 64' speedrunner finds previously undiscovered 977th coin

• Samsung will unveil something at MWC (but it's not the Galaxy S8)

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