As the marketing for Halloween Ends—and Halloween itself, for that matter—builds into a crescendo of spookiness, the director responsible for some of the holiday’s most memorable frights is turning his attention elsewhere: specifically to Godzilla, shining star of Shout Factory TV’s upcoming movie marathon, featuring…
Elon Musk’s private messages could once again land him in hot water in his legal fight with Twitter. Lawyers for the two sides once again faced off in Delaware’s Court of Chancery ahead of an October trial that will determine the fate of the deal.
Among the issues raised in the more than three-hour long hearing was Musk’s use of encrypted messaging app Signal. Twitter’s lawyers claim that Musk has been withholding messages sent via the app, citing a screenshot of an exchange between Musk and Jared Birchall, the head of Musk’s family office.
According to Twitter’s lawyers, the message referenced Morgan Stanley and Marc Andreesen as well as “a conversation about EU regulatory approval” of Musk’s deal with Twitter. Twitter’s lawyers said they uncovered a screenshot of the exchange after Musk and Birchall had denied using Signal to talk about the deal. The screenshot showed the message was set to automatically delete.
Lawyers for Twitter also cited “a missing text message” between Musk and Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison, who was set to be a co-investor in the Twitter deal. Musk and Ellison were texting the morning before Musk tweeted that the Twitter deal was “temporarily on hold.” It’s not clear what the significance of the texts are, but Twitter’s lawyers noted that Musk wrote to Ellison saying “interesting times” before arranging a phone call with him.
Twitter’s lawyers are asking the judge in the case, Kathaleen St. J. McCormick, to sanction Musk over his side’s handling of his messages. “We do think that the time has come for the court to issue a severe sanction,” Twitter’s lawyers said during the hearing.
Musk’s side attempted to downplay the significance of the Tesla CEO’s use of Signal. “There actually is no evidence that we destroyed evidence,” one of Musk’s lawyers responded. “Signal, you know, it sounds like it’s a nefarious device,” she said. “In fact, Twitter executives have testified that a number of them actually use Signal messaging.”
Musk’s lawyers cited the existence of Signal messages between Jack Dorsey and board chair Bret Taylor, and noted that current CEO Parag Agrawal has also turned over Signal messages. “Signal is not some exotic mechanism, it’s very common in Silicon Valley to use this platform,” she said.
Notably, the latest hearing is not the first time Twitter’s lawyers have used Musk’s private messages obtained in the legal discovery process in their bid to enforce the original terms of the deal with Musk. Twitter’s lawyers previously called out a text message between Musk and one of his Morgan Stanley bankers in which he cited concerns about “World War 3” as a reason to slow-roll his negotiations with Twitter.
McCormick is expected to rule on Twitter’s motion to sanction Musk in the next couple days. A five-day trial that will determine the fate of the deal is scheduled for October 17th.
The reality star dished out details about the bizarre lengths she goes to sport her latest look.
The 2023 BMW Z4 is making its worldwide debut in November 2022 with a redesigned facade, new paint colors, updated wheel designs, and new option packages.
Unapologetically styled and bringing a seriously potent hybrid powertrain to the party, the all-new 2023 BMW XM is not your usual SUV.
As with the first-generation model, the AirPods Pro 2 packs active noise cancellation with some customization options, and it’s easy to use.
Ultraman has been a defining figure of Japanese pop culture for over half a century—but now more than ever, it feels like the giant hero is on the cusp of truly global adoration. New Ultraman shows stream for free around the world, he’s had global success in anime, manga, and movies. And now it’s nearly time for his…
Overwatch 2 is set to go live and free-to-play on October 4th, and in preparation for the big day, Blizzard has outlined a suite of moderation tools aimed at curbing abusive and disruptive player behavior. The new system will require a phone number to be linked to every account, and will introduce audio transcriptions of reported voice chat interactions, among other changes. Blizzard is calling the initiative Defense Matrix, named after D.Va’s hologram shield ability.
The phone-linking system, SMS Protect, means every Overwatch 2 player will need to connect a phone number to their Battle.net account, and that number can’t be used to operate or create another account. This makes it easier to enforce suspensions and bans, and makes it harder for players to cheat the matchmaking system. SMS Protect isn’t a new idea in the world of competitive online gaming, and it’s a proven way to reduce smurfing — a practice where skilled players create new accounts and creep into lower-tier matches, whether to boost their friends, avoid a ban or simply troll.
Another notable feature of Defense Matrix is the addition of audio transcriptions for problematic voice chat recordings and automated review tools for the resulting text. The transcription process relies on players reporting abusive speech as it happens — but once someone is reported, this system collects a temporary recording of the match’s voice chat and transcribes it to text. That text is then analyzed by Blizzard’s existing AI-driven abuse-detection tools.
When it comes to the longevity of the recordings and text files, Blizzard said the following: “Once the audio recording has been transcribed to text, it’s quickly deleted as the file’s sole purpose is to identify potentially disruptive behavior. The text file is then deleted no later than 30 days after the audio transcription.”
The studio said audio transcriptions will roll out in the weeks after launch. Additionally, the general chat feature won’t exist in Overwatch 2, leaving Twitch streamers one fewer outlet for their watch-me spam. Blizzard outlined the complete Defense Matrix strategy on the Overwatch blog, alongside checklists for existing and new players. October 2nd is the final full day to play the original Overwatch, and Overwatch 2 is scheduled to go live worldwide at 3pm ET on October 4th.
His statement came less than an hour after the YouTube troupe said it had severed ties with Fulmer.
Podcast companies live and die by their download numbers: the more of them they have, the more listeners, clout, and ad revenue comes rushing in. But apparently, not all companies come by those numbers honestly. A new report shows some of the web’s biggest podcast distributors have been essentially “buying” downloads…
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