Hasta La Gadget!

After months of legal drama, Elon Musk has begun his takeover of Twitter, according to The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. His first move was to fire CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and other top execs.

Musk is taking the reins just ahead of a Friday deadline to complete the deal. The deal’s closing will bring to an end the months-long legal battle that has engulfed Twitter since Musk first offered to buy the company in April, before announcing a couple weeks later that the acquisition was “on hold.” Musk, who declined to do due diligence before his offer, cited concerns about the number of bots and fake accounts on the platform. Twitter’s lawyers later argued that the bot issue was merely a “pretext” for him to renege on the deal.

But finalizing the acquisition will be far from the end of turmoil within Twitter. Musk, who has criticized Twitter’s leadership and clashed with Agrawal, has already fired at least four executives, including Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s top policy official, and Sean Edgett, the company’s general counsel. The New York Timesreported that “at least one” executive was escorted from Twitter’s office on Thursday.

Musk, who changed his Twitter bio to “Chief Twit,” has made it clear he intends to bring big changes to the social media company. He has said both in public appearances and in private messages that he wants to relax Twitter’s moderation rules and that he dislikes permanent bans. He’s also likely to cut staff, though he has told employees he won’t cut 75 percent of employees as he was reportedly considering.

Twitter’s core service could also dramatically change under Musk’s leadership. In addition to loosening moderation rules on the platform, Musk has said wants to “open source” Twitter’s algorithm so users could better understand its recommendations. At the same time, he’s tried to reassure advertisers that he doesn’t want the site to be a “free-for-all hellscape,” and that Twitter should be the “most respected advertising platform in the world.”

Musk, who has often talked about his desire for Twitter to be “an accelerant to creating X, the everything app” akin to WeChat in China, is also likely to look for ways to increase non-advertising revenue. He’s proposed changes to Twitter Blue, and floated the idea of charging companies for tweet embeds.

Developing…

The market for wireless earbuds is loaded with quality options, but in the sub-$100 range, the selection is generally a bit spottier. We’ve found Jabra’s Elite 3 to be a standout for those on a budget, though, and as of this writing the earbuds are down to $50 at Amazon, Best Buy, Target, and Jabra’s online store. We’ve seen the Elite 3 hit this price a few times this year, but the discount is still about $15 off the device’s average street price in recent months and $30 off Jabra’s MSRP.

Buy Jabra Elite 3 at Amazon – $50

The earbuds briefly dropped to $47.49 earlier this month, but this matches the lowest price we’ve seen outside of that. It’s also worth noting that Best Buy is marketing this as the Elite 3’s “Black Friday price” as part of a wider early Black Friday promotion, so this is likely to be the earbuds’ going rate during any upcoming holiday sales.

Our audio expert Billy Steele gave the Elite 3 a score of 88 last year, deeming it “the new standard for affordable wireless earbuds” in the process. We were particularly impressed in the sound department: it’s not purely neutral, and it can’t match pricier models like Apple’s AirPods Pro or Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 3, but the overall clarity is greater than what you typically get for less than $100, let alone $50, and the bass-forward profile lends tracks a nice amount of body. 

We found the Elite 3’s compact design to be light and comfortable in the ear, with reliable physical control buttons on each earpiece. The buds have an IP55 dust and water resistance rating, which is enough to survive most workouts. Battery life comes in at roughly seven hours of continuous use, which is good, with another 20-ish hours available through the included charging case. A recent firmware update also added the ability to create a custom EQ profile, addressing one of the issues we had in our initial review.

To be clear, these are still Jabra’s “budget” earbuds, so their overall feature set is limited compared to more expensive alternatives. There’s no active noise cancellation, no wireless charging support, no ability to connect to more than one device simultaneously, and no automatic pausing when you remove an earpiece. Call quality is just average, and while there is a “HearThrough” ambient sound mode, it generally sounds more muffled than the equivalents on higher-end pairs. Anker’s Soundcore Space A40 is a good budget-friendly alternative for those who want ANC and other advanced features, though it’s still pricier at $100. 

Nevertheless, the Elite 3’s overall package remains a strong value when it’s discounted to this extent, so consider this a PSA if you’re been looking for a quality set of no-frills wireless earbuds without spending a ton.

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The 71-year-old musician has suffered for decades from a severe form of arthritis that causes inflammation in the joints and ligaments of the spine.