The company blames the two-week pause at its German Gigafactory on a component shortage caused by shipping disruptions in the Red Sea — a major trade route between Asia and Europe.

Iranian-backed Houthi militants have increasingly targeted cargo ships in the region following the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7th. Delays caused by shipping companies re-routing around the conflict are also impacting production at Volvo.

Verizon customers who were charged an “administrative charge” in recent years might be entitled to a piece of a $100 million class action settlement. A lawsuit alleged that the company added a bogus fee to customers’ bills to squeeze money out of them.

The charge must have occurred between 2016 and last year. The deadline to submit a claim is April 15. Here’s the claim form.

That’s what Tim Cook’s body language says to me when meeting Europe’s top competition watchdog Margrethe Vestager who pressed the Apple CEO to open the App Store amid other concerns like Apple Music. It’s all part of her whirlwind tour with US tech CEOs ahead of the strict new Digital Markets Act taking effect on March 6th.

Other possible captions:

“Oh, so this is what a functioning government regulator looks like.”

“The only danish I want to touch comes in pastry form.”

Add yours in the comments.

This is the first public demonstration of Augmental’s retainer-like MouthPad accessibility gadget. It can be used to control devices that support a Bluetooth mouse, including phones, tablets, computers, and even sex toys, without significantly impairing speech.

Engadget said it’s “one of the most elegant and sophisticated” tongue-operated controllers to date after seeing a live demo at CES.

There’s no way lightning will strike three times for Tom Cruise and the franchise that’s already struck gold twice, but the man currently filming the eighth (!) Mission: Impossible is reportedly reuniting with Maverick co-writer Ehren Kruger, director Joe Kosinski, and sinewy actors Miles Teller and Glen Powell. The film has quietly been in development since late fall, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

MacRumors spotted that Apple added the figure to a support page recently, confirming an increase that has reportedly been in effect since 2022’s iOS 16. The previous limit was apparently 16. Compatible items include AirTags and other first-party headphones and accessories from Apple and Beats, and a range of third-party products.

I’d like to know too! I’ve been told that in general Valve isn’t easy to get a hold of, and that it has contributed to some handheld makers’ decisions to launch on Windows.

But... Valve has clearly been working towards a SteamOS that works on more handhelds, as you can see if you launch the desktop Big Picture Mode on Windows handhelds. Also, Valve is a tiny company of roughly 300 employees.

I totally believe TVs should also be smart displays for controlling your smart home; it just makes sense. So, I was intrigued to check out the new Now Plus dashboard screen, Map View, and Quick Access controls for SmartThings on Samsung TVs at CES this week.

The three new interfaces were colorful and responsive in the demo (you control them with the TV remote). And the Quick Access Panel looks super handy. (It will also look very familiar to Apple TV users.)

This year, Google is going to let developers offer games and apps on Play that aren’t “covered by an existing licensing framework,” according to a new blog post. Google has already been piloting this in India and Mexico with Rummy and daily fantasy sports apps.

The company announced it sold out of its second round of 10,000 devices, 24 hours after the first batch sold out and barely 48 since it launched to the world. Something about the mix of ambitious AI, Teenage Engineering style, and that attainable $199 price just seems to be working for people.

The third batch is up for preorder now, but you won’t get your R1 until at least May.

Tom Coates was recently at a meeting with Meta’s Threads team talking about ActivityPub, the fediverse, and the future of social. He took a lot of interesting notes! And in those notes he has a near-future roadmap for Threads’ decentralization plans:

• Early 2024 (Part One) – the Like counts on the Threads app would combine likes from Mastodon and Threads users

• Early 2024 (Part Two) – replies posted on Mastodon servers would be visible in the Threads application

• Late 2024 – A “mixed” Fediverse and Threads experience where you will be able to follow Mastodon users within Threads, and reply to them and like them

You can play it starting April 26th, according to a new trailer. The animated Sand Land series is launching soon, too — it’s set to debut this spring on Hulu.

Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wrote letters to nine major automakers, including GM, Toyota, Ford, and Tesla, to ask what kind of data they collect about their drivers and how they protect their privacy. Rosenworcel sent similar letters to Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, too.

The letters came in response to a report from The New York Times last month, which detailed how a domestic violence survivor was harassed by her abuser using her car’s connected services. “We must do everything we can to help survivors stay safe,” Rosenworcel said. “We need to work with auto and wireless industry leaders to find solutions.”

The next North American International Auto Show will kick off on January 10th, 2025, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The show has traditionally happened in January, but a planned 2020 June event was canceled due to covid, and in 2022 and 2023, the show took place in September.

Gore has been on the board since 2003 while Bell has been a member since 2015. Both are leaving because “the board has a longstanding policy that directors generally may not stand for reelection after reaching age 75,” according to Apple’s press release.

Austin, the former president and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation, will join the company’s board.

Tim Cook:

Wanda has spent decades advancing technology on behalf of humanity, and we’re thrilled to welcome her to Apple’s board of directors. She’s an extraordinary leader, and her invaluable experience and expertise will support our mission of leaving the world better than we found it.

Wheels that turn sideways to crab-walk into a parking spot. 360-degree spins so I don’t have to back up as often. Diagonal driving. I want this Ioniq 5 so bad.

The chief engineer tells us they haven’t tested the tech beyond 50MPH yet — but it should hit highway speeds by 2026, could make it into EVs by 2028, and he claims it shouldn’t cost much more than a car without. 

After laying off hundreds of employees at Twitch and Prime Video, Amazon is cutting staff at its audiobook and podcast platform, Audible. According to a memo obtained by Business Insider, Audible CEO Bob Corrigan said that the cuts were made “to position us for continued success in the coming year and into the future” and it’s really not worth finishing the quote, because you know the drill by now. Variety reports that the cuts will include more than 100 staffers, but will not impact the content teams.

Lenovo’s new 2-in-1 is a Windows laptop with a detachable Android tablet. They run on separate hardware. This is the least awkward way Lenovo could have done this.

Apple, on the other hand, uses the exact same chips for iPads and MacBooks and could simply make an iPad Pro that runs MacOS when the keyboard is attached. And yet!

Content moderators for the San Francisco-based AI firm Sama — who are based in its Nairobi, Kenya hub — are suing the company and its client Meta, alleging that the job required countless hours of viewing disturbing content, including sexual abuse and grisly murders, according to FT.

The Verge has reported on how AI efforts at companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and Meta are supported by “a vast tasker underclass” of workers across Africa, Asia, and South America.

Smart locks are a great idea but terrible in execution — especially when they don’t work. Many New York apartment buildings installed Latch (soon to be rebranded as Door) smart locks and residents are not happy.

As if accidentally locking tenants out of their apartments weren’t enough, Latch has an added “benefit” for landlords: constant surveillance!

More important, Latch allows landlords to keep tabs on their tenants. It lets them know every time a renter or guest enters a building’s front door, which in theory makes it more difficult to run an Airbnb, underground casino, or illegal wildlife trade out of one’s rental apartment. Each Latch device keeps a log of when and by whom it’s opened, and main-entrance locks even take pictures of residents as they arrive home. You can imagine how thrilled I was when I discovered the Latch app’s “history” tab, which contains an archive of the worst pictures of me that I have ever seen, shot at gut level through a fish-eye lens while I scowl and fumble my phone.

Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo closely follows Apple’s production plans and is saying that for the February 2nd launch day, “Apple will produce 60,000 to 80,000 units of Vision Pro,” with around 500k shipping in 2024.

We had our first Vision Pro experiences last year at WWDC, and in just a couple of weeks, everyone can decide if they’re ready to spend $3,499 for an early entry to the world of spatial computing.

The agency ordered a temporary grounding of all Boeing 737 Max 9 airplanes after the incident occurred on an Alaska Airlines flight over the weekend, but now it’s opening a formal investigation.

A group of senators are also pushing Boeing to cooperate with an investigation from the NTSB, which will focus on missing or loose bolts meant to hold the door plug in place — something United Airlines also found on its Boeing 737 Max 9 planes.

Bluesky user Illumi found another fun example of lingering challenges for AI tools: grasping the concept of a “Where’s Waldo” illustration. I tried making ChatGPT create one for myself, and, well... you can see the results below.

Bonus: Somebody should remind Google Bard it can’t draw.

Konami and Limited Run Games are partnering on physical rereleases of two Felix the Cat games and three Rocket Knight games for PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch. I was obsessed with Rocket Knight Adventures as a kid, so I’m happy to see it available in physical formats on modern consoles.

Netflix’s last He-Man animated series from Powerhouse and producer Kevin Smith was more of a sword and sorcery sort of situation.

But everything about Masters of the Universe: Revolution’s new trailer from the arrival of Hordak (Keith David) to Skeletor’s (Mark Hamill) cybernetic body makes it look like the new show’s going center a war between magic and technology when it drops on January 25th.

The concept at CES shown in this video looks to mix an earbuds case with a round OLED screen and a smartwatch-like interface. I’m not totally sold on earbuds cases with screens, but this seems pretty clever.