Thomas Ricker

“This is one of the biggest innovations in refrigeration in the last 50 years,” said Whirlpool CEO Marc Bitzer, espousing the wonders of its new vacuum insulation technique to Fast Company. Dubbed SlimTech, it replaces foam used since the 1960s resulting in doors that are 60 percent thinner, allowing the interior capacity to increase by 25 percent.

It’s increasing investment in Google Play app reviews to counter more sophisticated abuse methodologies:

Our global review teams now spend more time assessing new apps to make sure they provide a valuable user experience that does not deceive or defraud users, either via the app or off-Play activity, and complies with our policies.... It may take us longer to review a small portion of apps, such as apps designed for children or that request certain device permissions. 

From Kara Swisher’s interview with Ben Mezrich, author of Breaking Twitter: 

In the book, there’s a scene when Musk signs the papers to take over Twitter, the first thing he screams out is, “Fuck Zuck! Fuck Zuck!” — which I haven’t seen reported anywhere else.

Not reported, but easily imagined.

Android Police says the chat-like message box that appears below new emails in the Android app is in limited server-side testing right now. The drop-down menu offers options to Reply All and edit recipients. It’s a useful looking update that will hopefully rollout to everyone, soon.

After producing hundreds of the self-driving vans already, “we did make the decision with GM to pause production of the Origin,” said Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt in leaked audio obtained by Forbes and later confirmed by GM. The decision comes after Cruise recently halted its robotaxi services nationwide. The company is on a trust-building campaign after California suspended Cruise’s operating license, calling autonomous vehicles a public risk.

This time last year Musk said that Starlink was losing about $20 million a month. Now he says it’s breakeven, which is good news for a service that keeps people connected in remote locations, in times of disaster and war, or while tooling around in a van or boat. Unimpeded growth could be bad for astronomers trying to see past those roughly 5,000 satellites currently operating in low-Earth orbit, with plans for up to 37,000 more.

Uber will pay $290 million (3 percent of its revenue generated last quarter) and Lyft will pay $38 million (4 percent of its revenue) to settle allegations that the ride-sharing companies illegally withheld wages and mandatory sick leave from drivers in New York. Over 100,000 drivers in the state could be eligible to receive funds under the settlement.

Bloomberg has a sprawling piece chronicling the history of Apple’s efforts to expand into health care. One revelation is this: 

“The work was nearly complete when Project Fennel was canceled, in part because the Apple Watch is a driver of iPhone sales. ‘If you gave up the watch to Android, you would dilute the value of the watch to the iPhone,’ said someone with knowledge of the decision.”

Same old story.

We’re all looking for a bit of escape without leaving the luxuries of modern life behind. But the images that accompany modern solar generators are just absurd. A record player for your next fishing trip or hundreds of pounds of solar panels hiked into the backcountry? Okay, Jackery. Sad plastic wheels traversing a rocky path? Sure, Ugreen. A giant portable solar tracker that’s not portable at all? Come on, EcoFlow.

Purists might argue that an initialism formed by the words “artificial” and “intelligence” should be disqualified for Collins’ most notable word of 2023. But if nothing else, it confirms that society is at the peak of inflated expectations in the hype cycle before the eventual plunge into the trough of disillusionment.

See also: VR.