Elon Musk has yet another class action lawsuit to contend with over his handling of mass layoffs at Twitter. The latest comes from two former employees who allege “women were significantly affected more than men” in the November layoffs that cut nearly half its workforce.According to the lawsuit, a total of 57% of women employees were laid off, compared with just 47 percent of men. It goes on to note that the disparity can’t be explained “based upon a justification that Musk intended to retain more employees in engineering-related roles” because women engineers were also cut at a...

The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution today asking countries not to conduct direct-ascent anti-satellite tests (ASAT) that create space junk. The US spearheaded the measure after the International Space Station (ISS) had a close call last year with more than 1,500 pieces of debris from a Russian ASAT.The measure doesn’t ban the development or testing of ASAT systems, but it discourages conducting them in a way that creates space debris. Although since it came from the UN General Assembly and not the Security Council, it isn’t legally binding.In addition to creating...

Lithium-ion battery fires may not be all that common, but they are a concern — just ask electric vehicle makers and Samsung. Thankfully, research at Stanford might reduce the chances of those devices lighting up. Scientists have developed an electrolyte (the substance that carries lithium ions between electrodes) that won't catch fire even at temperatures of 140F or more. The trick, it turns out, was extra salt.The team added as much of a particular lithium salt (LiFSI) as possible to a polymer-based electrolyte, bumping the mix from less than half of the electrolyte's weight to 63...

Audeze has revealed its latest wireless gaming headset. The company claims that Maxwell has a battery life of over 80 hours. When you eventually do need to recharge it, Audeze says you can fully top up the completely depleted battery in 2.5 hours via USB-C or by up to 25 percent of the capacity (which should be enough for a day of usage) in 20 minutes. The headset is said to offer improved low-latency wireless range and stability performance over Audeze's Penrose model.Maxwell, which has 90mm planar magnetic drivers, can deliver high-resolution audio at up to 24-bit 96kHz when you use the...

Acknowledge, empathize, redirect. | Image via Daniel Kwan (Twitter) Famous people will often stand by — or worse, dogwhistle — as armies of fans wage war on their behalf. Whether you’re a pop star or a tech bro, it’s part of the playbook. But when Everything Everywhere All At Once co-director Daniel Kwan got wind his fans were raging against critics who snubbed the film in Best Movie lists, he decided he wasn’t going to stand for that. His response is practically pitch-perfect: The algorithm pushed this onto my timeline, and as one of the people who made the film, this aggression will...

Artificial intelligence is taking over almost every industry. The investment and finance industry is no exception. In Deloitte’s 2019 report, the firm reveals that AI is transforming the financial ecosystem to reduce costs and make operations more efficient by providing automated insights and alternative data, analysis and risk management. Technology such as AI has digitized […]Akros Technologies, an AI-powered asset management platform, raises funding from Z Holdings by Kate Park originally published on TechCrunch

Geoff Keighley is once again hosting The Game Awards. | Photo by JC Olivera / Getty Images It’s almost time for gaming’s annual end-of-year awards and announcements extravaganza. The 2022 edition of The Game Awards takes place on Thursday, December 8th, and the opening act kicks off at 7:30PM ET / 4:30PM PT. While the show itself takes place live at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, you can stream the event for free on platforms like YouTube and Twitch. For a more detailed list of where to stream the show, check The Game Awards website.We don’t know exactly how long The Game Awards...

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney. | Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge Sweeney says he’s willing to go to the Supreme Court to fight Apple’s control of the App Store. But first, he’s hoping Congress will act before it’s too late. Continue reading…

Virgin Orbit is retargeting a launch that was supposed to take place as soon as next week from Cornwall, England — and that was to be the first spaceflight to depart from British soil — due to additional technical to-dos and remaining regulatory hurdles. In a statement, Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart said the company […]UK regulator says it’s not to blame for Virgin Orbit mission delay by Aria Alamalhodaei originally published on TechCrunch

For some reason, Niantic added a feature to Pokémon Go in which sometimes Pokémon can be HUGE and sometimes they’re tiny. This feels like a relatively useless feature that doesn’t really change gameplay at all, but I mean, sure, I will take a tiny Poochyena, please and thank you! Rolling out now, the Pokémon Poochyena, […]In Pokémon Go you can now capture super big or super small friends by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch

The Snipping Tool will get a screen recording feature soon. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft is finally bringing a built-in screen recorder to Windows. The Snipping Tool in Windows 11 will soon be updated to include screen recording, meaning Windows users won’t have to rely on the Xbox Game Bar or third-party tools just to record their screens.Windows 11 testers will start getting access to the updated Snipping Tool today, and the new record option will allow you to record an entire screen or even a section that gets cropped. The update comes more than four years after Microsoft first introduced...

We've heard a lot about Stewart Butterfield stepping down as Slack CEO, but less about his successor, Lidiane Jones.Slack’s new CEO, Lidiane Jones, brings two decades of product experience to the job by Ron Miller originally published on TechCrunch

Solana's co-founders see this downturn as an opportunity for its team and developers to build and ignore the noise.Solana founders see now as a time to bridge the blockchain and the physical world by Jacquelyn Melinek originally published on TechCrunch

GitHub Copilot, GitHub’s service that intelligently suggests lines of code, is now available in a plan for enterprises months after launching for individual users and educators. Called GitHub Copilot for business, the new plan, which costs $19 per user per month, comes with all the features in the single-license Copilot tier along with corporate licensing […]GitHub launches Copilot for business plan as legal questions remain unresolved by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch

Getting close and personal is getting easier. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Google’s updating its camera app to give Pixel 7 Pro users more control over its macro mode by adding a toggle that lets them manually turn it off or on instead of having to rely on the auto mode that my colleague Allison Johnson described as “kinda unpredictable.” While the phone can still try to detect if you’re close enough to a subject like it has since launch, it’s nice for there to be an actual menu for those who want finer-grain control.According to Allison’s testing, the new options...

The Sonos One SL is on sale in refurbished condition. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Most would agree that Sonos offers some of the best speakers and soundbars currently available. That’s because Sonos makes speakers that — more often than not — boast great sound quality, support for all the major streaming platforms, and simple multi-room functionality. Unfortunately, however, those perks often come at a high price. Sonos products aren’t cheap, and, outside of the occasional rogue discount, they rarely go on sale. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean there aren’t ways to save...

You know what I miss about working in an office? Literally nothing, apart from having access to a fancy coffee machine. It turns out that the magic of the liquid black gold is within reach even for work-from-home keyboard warriors. You don’t even need to spend ridiculous amounts of money for a tasty hot beverage […]6 gifts for coffee lovers looking to up their game by Haje Jan Kamps originally published on TechCrunch

If you’re keeping up with the news cycle, then you know FTX’s former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has gone on quite a bit of a media campaign.Will SBF saddle up for a testimony after his media tour? by Jacquelyn Melinek originally published on TechCrunch

Motorola skipped a 2022 edition of the G Play and is pole-vaulting straight into 2023. It’s an easy bet that most new phones announced in 2023 will come with 5G, but there’s going to be at least one LTE-only device on shelves next year: the $169 Motorola Moto G Play (2023). It’s the latest edition of Motorola’s budget-tier phone since the 2021 G Play, and it comes with an updated screen and camera array — but nary a 5G band on its spec sheet.The 2023 Moto G Play sticks with a 6.5-inch LCD screen but increases the refresh rate to 90Hz. It’s still a low-res 720p panel, which is likely...

The FTC announced Thursday that it would sue to block Microsoft’s acquisition of gaming giant Activision Blizzard. Microsoft announced plans to buy the company, which has been plagued by sexual harassment and discrimination allegations and labor disputes, back in January for $68.7 billion. The deal would be mark a seismic shift in the gaming industry […]The FTC is suing to block Microsoft from buying Activision by Taylor Hatmaker originally published on TechCrunch

As part of Airtable’s decision to cut 20% of staff, or 254 employees, three executives are “parting ways” with the company as well, a spokesperson confirmed over email. The chief revenue officer, chief people officer and chief product officer are no longer with the company. Airtable’s chief revenue officer, Seth Shaw, joined in November 2020 […]Airtable chief revenue officer, chief people officer and chief product officer are out by Natasha Mascarenhas originally published on TechCrunch

That’s ToeJam on the right, alongside Earl, in case you didn’t know. Nothing can possibly prepare us for the all-encompassing funk of a movie starring ToeJam and Earl. According to The Hollywood Reporter, a ToeJam & Earl movie is currently in development at Amazon Studios in partnership with Unanimous Media and Story Kitchen. ToeJam & Earl is just the latest video game franchise getting a movie tie-in. In addition to bigger names like Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog getting contemporary adaptations, we’re also slated to see an anime version of Tomb Raider coming to...

The slide deck bespoke vitamin startup Rootine used to raise a $10 million Series A is a master class. Let's check out some of the highlights.Pitch Deck Teardown: Rootine’s $10M Series A deck by Haje Jan Kamps originally published on TechCrunch

This is what Google’s foldable Pixel smartphone might look like. | Image: OnLeaks and HowToiSolve New leaks appear to reveal what to expect from Google’s long-rumored foldable phone. Leaker OnLeaks has teamed up with the website HowToiSolve to share renders, a 360-degree video, and measurements of the foldable Pixel device.According to OnLeaks and HowToiSolve, the phone will apparently have a 5.79-inch cover screen and a larger 7.69-inch inner screen, meaning it will function more like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4, which has a cover screen, than Microsoft’s Surface Duo phones, which do not...

Kristen Radtke / The Verge Big tech companies including Microsoft, LexisNexis, and Palantir have helped fuel the militarization of local police forces and the Department of Homeland Security’s demand for high-tech surveillance, according to a new report from The Action Center on Race & the Economy (ACRE), LittleSis, MediaJustice, and the Surveillance, Tech, and Immigration Policing Project. Researchers working on the project dug into how these companies benefit from a hidden and misunderstood source of funding, which requires states to dump money into law enforcement activities if they...