While TVs today are getting smarter and larger, not everyone may have the space to even hang such a panel. Conversely, some might want a watching area bigger than what most consumer TVs can offer. In both cases, laser projectors can provide the flexibility that some people need in a home entertainment system, and young company VAVA just debuted what … Continue reading
Tuesday, NASA administrator Bill Nelson announced that the space agency was creating a pair of new mission directorates to see it through the next two decades. The announcement separates NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate into the new Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) and Space Operations Mission Directorate. According to Nelson, the changes are being made to accommodate … Continue reading
Netflix is acquiring the Roald Dahl Story Company (RDSC) and rights to the author’s entire catalog, including classics like Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Matilda and James and the Giant Peach, the company announced. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed (and are subject to regulatory approval), but three years ago Netflix paid “nine figures” for the rights to 16 of Dahl’s works, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In any event, it likely represents one of Netflix’s largest acquisitions to date.
News of the acquisition started bubbling up yesterday following a Bloomberg report. Netflix has big plans for Dahl’s works, including “the creation of a unique universe across animated and live actions films and TV, publishing, games, immersive experiences, live theater, consumer products and more,” wrote Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos and RDSC managing director (and Dahl’s grandson) Luke Kelly.
Excited to announce that the Roald Dahl Story Company (RDSC) and Netflix are joining forces to bring some of the world’s most loved stories to current and future fans in creative new ways.
“We are now about to visit the most marvellous places and see the most wonderful things.” pic.twitter.com/NIiBeStJm2
— Netflix (@netflix) September 22, 2021
The companies revealed that director Taika Waititi and screenwriter Phil Johnston are working on a series based on the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory world. Netflix is also working with Sony and Working Title on an adaptation of Matilda The Musical.
The acquisition appears to go well beyond Netflix’s past content deals, in which it simply licensed content from others. It famously did so with Marvel, then ended up canceling Daredevil and other Marvel shows when it couldn’t come to terms with Disney, which was planning at the time to launch rival service Disney+.
With Roald Dahl’s catalog, it promises to “bring these timeless tales to more audiences in new formats… [while] maintaining their unique spirit and their universal themes of surprise and kindness,” Sarandos and Dahl wrote. “These stories and their messages of the power and possibility of young people have never felt more pertinent.” Last year, the company issued an apology on its website for Dahl’s history of antisemitic statements, as Bloomberg noted.
The ex-president responded to South African golfer Gary Player’s suggestion with a scary question involving lions.
The president had a four-word reaction to what the former guy left behind.
“Folks, I’m calling this as the worst first pitch in history.”
London courier and private hire taxi firm Addison Lee has pledged to convert its whole passenger car fleet to electric vehicles by 2023. While the company’s website says it has over 4,800 cars operating in the UK capital, its recent acquisition of black taxi service ComCab will make it the largest taxi company in London with over 7,000 vehicles. It already has 650 zero-emission vehicles in its fleet after the acquisition, but to be able to fully switch over to electric, it has teamed up with Volkswagen.
Addison Lee is investing £160 million ($218 million) to replace its existing fleet with slightly larger Volkswagen ID.4 vehicles. The standard ID.4 has a 77 kWh lithium-ion battery pack and has range of 250 miles, making it more suitable for city use than for long-distance driving. Its capable of 201 horsepower and 229 pound-feet of torque, with speeds reaching 100MPH.
The firm will start by rolling out 450 EVs by the end of 2021, presumably in addition to the 650 electric cars it already has. Then, the company plans to add 200 electric cars per month until its whole fleet has been replaced within a couple of years. The firm also plans to set up charging infrastructure for its drivers using the new £3.5 million (US$4 million) Future Mobility Fund it has established.
If the company succeeds in transitioning to electric by 2023, it’ll be ahead of its competitors like Uber, which previously pledged to replace its existing fleet with EVs by 2025. It also means up to 20,000 zero-emission trips each day in London, which will help the government achieve its goal of a net zero economy by 2050.
“Well, so far 40 is 🔥,” the reality star and fashion designer captioned a video of the scary incident.
The “Late Show” host reveals some “truly upsetting” details from the new book, “Peril.”
Facebook shareholders have filed a lawsuit alleging that board members overpaid on a $5 billion FTC fine to protect CEO Mark Zuckerberg from an individual lawsuit, Politico has reported. “Zuckerberg, Sandberg, and other Facebook directors agreed to authorize a multi-billion settlement with the FTC as an express quid pro quo to protect Zuckerberg from being named in the FTC’s complaint, made subject to personal liability, or even required to sit for a deposition,” according to one of the two suits filed.
The two lawsuits, filed in a Delaware court last month, cite internal discussion among Facebook’s board members. In February of 2019, the FTC named both Facebook and Zuckerberg personally as defendants in a draft complaint sent to company lawyers, according to the shareholders (the FTC has never revealed any such plans). Two Democrats voted against the settlement, saying that Zuckerberg should have been held personally responsible.
“The FTC has never disclosed that it originally planned to name Zuckerberg personally in the lawsuit, and the agency’s two Democrats at the time voted against the settlement in part because of the lack of personal liability for the CEO,” one group of shareholders alleged.
The $5 billion settlement was the result of an FTC complaint filed over Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal. Democratic commissioners said the settlement wouldn’t have the desired outcome, which was to force Facebook to improve privacy and other issues. Since then, privacy has continued to be an issue across Facebook and its other platforms, along with areas like misinformation, harassment and double standards for elite users, according to a recent WSJ series.
“The Board has never provided a serious check on Zuckerberg’s unfettered authority,” one set of shareholders said. “Instead, it has enabled him, defended him, and paid billions of dollars from Facebook’s corporate coffers to make his problems go away.” Engadget has reached out to Facebook for comment.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
