Hasta La Gadget!

Yesterday, Razer announced that its Zephyr face mask would finally be going on sale. If you were sitting on the fence regarding the Zephyr and weren’t sure if you wanted to pick up the mask for yourself, then we’ve got some bad news because according to a tweet by the company, they’ve completely sold out within minutes.

To be fair, we’re not sure how many units the company had allocated for its first batch, but regardless, it seems to have been popular enough for people to snap it up that quickly anyway. We’re not sure when the company plans on restocking, but many disgruntled customers in the comments have wondered why a pre-order system wasn’t used in the first place.

The demand for the Razer Zephyr has been overwhelming and our first wave is sold out within minutes. Stay tuned and appreciate your patience as we work hard to restock them as fast as we can. Sign up to be notified when the next batch arrives: https://t.co/GYZgUXnsdK pic.twitter.com/YSNBuYuRaW

— R Λ Z Ξ R (@Razer) October 22, 2021

For those who don’t know what all the fuss is about, the Razer Zephyr is a face mask that comes with disposable N95-grade filters meant to help filter out airborne particles. The wearable was originally announced at CES 2021 earlier this year and presumably was intended for use for protection against the coronavirus.

The mask itself is reusable and users only need to replace the N95-grade filters every few days. One of its selling points would be the Chroma RGB lighting which looks very outlandish, but we reckon there are people who might actually dig that look.

Razer’s Zephyr Mask Sells Out In Minutes

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One of the ways Instagram content creators make money through the app is by seeking out sponsors who might pay them for posts. However, there is the question of how do these creators find sponsors in the first place? Cold calling might help, but we imagine it might be better if there was an easier way.

It turns out that’s what Instagram is trying to do because the company has announced that they are working on tools that will make it easier for creators to be matched with brands who might be willing to sponsor them. These tools will allow creators to express an interest in the brands that they might be interested in working with, while brands can also use this tool to seek out creators who suit their image.

Instagram is also working on a separate inbox for sponsors, which means that it’ll be easier for creators to identify messages sent to them from a potential sponsor instead of getting lost in the sea of messages that some creators receive. These tools are still in the early stages of development and only a handful of brands and creators are taking part as a test, but we expect that these tools should eventually expand to cover more brands and creators in the future.

Instagram Will Make It Easier For Content Creators To Seek Sponsors

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As newer mobile technologies start to roll out, it means that older technologies will eventually need to be phased out. Given that we’re now in the age of 5G, it means that there is decreasing need for 3G connectivity, and so for Sprint customers who are still using the carrier’s 3G network, that will come to an end in 2022.

T-Mobile has announced that come March 31, 2022, they will be shutting down Sprint’s 3G network. According to the carrier, “To build out our revolutionary network that will deliver the broadest and deepest 5G experience FOR ALL across the country, we need to sunset outdated CDMA technologies as soon as possible so every consumer, no matter their circumstances, will have access to the best connectivity and best experience.”

It seems that the initial deadline was set for the 1st of January, 2022, but due to interruptions by some of the carrier’s “partners”, this is no longer possible which is why a new date has been set. “Recently it’s become increasingly clear that some of those partners haven’t followed through on their responsibility to help their customers through this shift. So, we’re stepping up on their behalf. We have made the decision to extend our deadline for the CDMA sunset by three months to March 31, 2022.”

It is unclear how many users will be affected by this shuttering of Sprint’s 3G network, but like we said, 5G is the new standard and with pretty much all phones supporting at least LTE, we can only hope the disruptions will be minimal.

T-Mobile To Shutter Sprint’s 3G Network In March 2022

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New internal documents provide a rare glimpse into how the tech giant appears to have stumbled into the Jan. 6 riot.

Facebook officials have long known about how the platform’s recommendations can lead users into conspiracy theory-addled “rabbit holes.” Now, we know just how clear that picture was thanks to documents provided by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.

During the summer of 2019, a Facebook researcher found that it took just five days for the company to begin recommending QAnon groups and other disturbing content to a fictional account, according to an internal report whose findings were reported by NBC News, The Wall Street Journal and others Friday. The document, titled “Carol’s Journey to QAnon” was also in a cache of records provided by Haugen to the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of her whistleblower complaint.

It reportedly describes how a Facebook researcher set up a brand new account for “Carol,” who was described as a “conservative mom.” After liking a few conservative, but “mainstream” pages, Facebook’s algorithms began suggesting more fringe and conspiracy content. Within five days of joining Facebook, “Carol” was seeing “groups with overt QAnon affiliations,” conspiracy theories about “white genocide” and other content described by the researcher as “extreme, conspiratorial, and graphic content.”

The fact that Facebook’s recommendations were fueling QAnon conspiracy theories and other concerning movements has been well known outside of the company for some time. Researchers and journalists have also documented the rise of the once fringe conspiracy theory during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. But the documents show that Facebook’s researchers were raising the alarm about the conspiracy theory prior to the pandemic. The Wall Street Journal notes that researchers suggested measures like preventing or slowing down re-shared content but Facebook officials largely opted no to take those steps.

Facebook didn’t immediately respond to questions about the document. “We worked since 2016 to invest in people, technologies, policies and processes to ensure that we were ready, and began our planning for the 2020 election itself two years in advance,” Facebook’s VP of Integrity wrote in a lengthy statement Friday evening. In the statement, Rosen recapped the numerous measures he said Facebook took in the weeks and months leading up to the 2020 election — including banning QAnon and militia groups — but didn’t directly address the company’s recommendations prior to QAnon’s ban in October 2020.

The documents come at a precarious moment for Facebook. There have now been two whistleblowers who have turned over documents to the SEC saying the company has misled investors and prioritized growth and profits over users’ safety. Scrutiny is likely to further intensify as more than a dozen media organizations now have access to some of those documents.