Wednesday’s top tech news: happy Samsung Unpacked day to all who observe

Those of us at home will be able to watch it on Apple TV Plus sometime “soon,” Apple said in a tweet. Here’s the company’s official description of the film:

Based on the true story of American video game salesman Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton) and his discovery of Tetris in 1988. When he sets out to bring the game to the world, he enters a dangerous web of lies and corruption behind the Iron Curtain.

I’m hoping we get a trailer with an overly-dramatic version of the Tetris theme song.

Elgato’s Stream Decks have long been useful for controlling videoconferencing software, and it seems like Microsoft has realized this — it’s releasing an official Teams plugin for the device that will let you mute yourself, leave the meeting, raise your hand, and more.

You can download it here, but you may need to wait for an update to Teams to use it.

I’m as intrigued by a Google/Samsung AR/VR teamup as the next person, but these are some of the most impressively inane statements I’ve ever read. Meaningful plans! The spatial internet! A new generation of immersive computing experiences! It’s the XR hype equivalent of foam packing peanuts. Somebody’d better show up to the next Samsung Unpacked in Google Glass.

We expect to see some new phones and laptops from Samsung today, which it will announce during its first in-person event in three years. But you don’t have to be there in person to see it all, there’s still a live stream that anyone can tune into for the news. The show starts at 1PM ET / 10AM PT.

This heart-breaking story on the digital surveillance of long-haul truckers is worth your time — because trucking is a place where worker surveillance is being tested.

And not just worker surveillance! Artificial intelligence is used, for instance, for “an array of prototypes that will likely define the future of automated oversight: biometric cameras that can monitor truckers’ eyelids for fatigue, or biometric vests that can detect a heart attack.”

Truckers deserve better.

After getting off to a slow start, The Information reports that signups to Netflix’s $6.99 per month Basic with Ads plan doubled from December to January.

We still don’t know how many people are signed up for the ad-supported plan, but maybe that increase means Netflix won’t have to refund advertisers for missing viewership targets.

Big show! Alex Cranz, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, Chris Welch, and Nilay Patel discuss The Verge’s review of Apple’s new second-gen HomePod. How much actually changed?

Later, Katharine Trendacosta and Alex Cranz discuss why and how faking your death has been a common practice on the internet (don’t do it).

Then in segment three, Sean Hollister enlightens us: is the Steam Deck finally ready to play? Listen to the full podcast here.

The community over at Stripperweb has questions for the forum's anonymous owner after a banner appeared last week announcing that, for reasons unknown, it would be shutting down on February 1st.

Described as the “Holy Grail of strippers’ knowledge,” some sex workers are offering to buy the site, while others have swiftly learned Python in order to preserve the forum's vast resources and history.

This one’s pretty simple — it’s Galaxy S23 Day. Samsung will show off some new hardware (including stuff that’s already leaked) during its event that will start at 1PM ET.

We have all the info on how to watch the livestream, and if you just want to keep up with the announcements as they happen, you can follow our storystream for the event.

Then later this afternoon, we’ll hear an earnings report from Meta.