SpaceX successfully sent and returned the first all civilian crew to and from orbit with its Inspriation4 mission earlier this month. While there were some challenges with the flight, namely issues with the toilet aboard the spacecraft, the mission was trouble free. SpaceX has now confirmed that after the Inspriation4 mission, it has seen an increased interest in civilian spaceflight. … Continue reading
Matt Day, Bloomberg
Amazon’s Kent, Washington facility has long been home to many of the company’s high-tech innovations. Bloomberg takes us inside “BFI4” for another look at the shipping location that’s run my algorithms and robots.
Sarah Krouse, The Information
In a report on various instances of surveillance at Google, The Information discusses how things like researching COBRA health insurance info and screenshotting and using encrypted messaging apps can draw the ire of the company’s security team.
Elizabeth Dwoskin, Cat Zakrzewski and Nick Miroff, The Washington Post
Between misinformation, privacy and antitrust debates, there’s no shortage of challenges for Facebook at any given time. With scrutiny piling on from the US government, and the possibility of regulation looming, the social network is hoping to prove it’s more than a problem-plagued platform.
An international group of scientists is warning pregnant people about the over-the-counter painkiller acetaminophen. In a consensus statement released this week, they argue that enough evidence has emerged to suggest that acetaminophen could be more harmful to take while pregnant than currently thought. They’re now…
We need to hear stories from men who have taken responsibility for their actions.
“Up until the end, he did not think he would be executed because he knew he had reformed.”
In a passage in a book conservative moms want banned, sea horses “twist their tails together and twirl gently around.”
“When the police camera footage first leaked… something inside me recognized something inside of her.”
WarnerMedia’s HBO Max streaming service will soon be home to a big three-part documentary series detailing the history and cultural impacts of DC Comics, as well as the comic book company’s origins and how it has changed over the past several decades. The new docu-series will come from Leslie Iwerks, the director behind the 2007 documentary The Pixar Story. The … Continue reading
Apple hasn’t published official subscriber numbers for its TV+ streaming service since it launched in 2019, but it may be smaller than analysts previously estimated. According to CNBC, the tech giant told the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees that TV+ has fewer than 20 million subscribers in the US and Canada. A few months ago, Statista published an estimate that puts the service’s subscriber number to 40 million by the end of 2020 in the US alone.
The firm admitted, however, that the estimate does not “necessarily reveal how many paying subscribers use the service.” CNBC didn’t say whether the 20 million subscribers the company declared were paying customers either. It also didn’t mention how many of those got their subscriptions for free: Apple used to give away year-long subscriptions to customers who purchase new iPhones, iPads and Macs, but it shortened the offer to three months back in June.
According to the report, having less than 20 million subscribers allowed Apple to pay production crew lower rates than bigger streamers. Under the current contract seen by CNBC, streaming services can pay their employees lower rates if they report less than 20 million subscribers to the IATSE every July 1st, because streaming profitability is “presently uncertain.” The union is negotiating for a better contract, though, since current rules don’t make an exception for tech giants like Apple. It also argues that streaming can no longer be considered “new media.”
An Apple rep told CNBC that the company pays in line with leading streaming services but refused to comment on the claimed subscriber number. 20 million is but a fraction of the number of subscribers the biggest streaming services have: Netflix claimed 208 million subscribers in April, while Disney+ claimed over 100 million back in March.
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