A class action lawsuit about Apple’s MacBook butterfly keyboard design has been settled. Affected customers could claim up to $395 for each faulty computer.
Elvis owned and leased many jets during his time, but the most iconic one remains on display at Graceland, and it is named after his daughter Lisa Marie.
Warner Bros. Discovery is increasing the price of an HBO Max subscription for the first time. As of today, new users on the ad-free plan will pay $16 per month. Existing subscribers, who are currently paying $15 per month, will have to pony up an extra buck starting on their next billing cycle, but not before February 11th.
“This price increase of one dollar will allow us to continue to invest in providing even more culture-defining programming and improving our customer experience for all users,” WBD told Variety in a statement. It’s not clear whether the price of the ad-supported plan is going up. That currently costs $10 per month.
HBO Max debuted in May 2020, so it has gone almost three years without a price increase. WBD is planning to merge HBO Max and Discovery+ this spring, so the timing of the price hike is intriguing, given that the company hasn’t indicated how much the combined service will cost or even the name of it. A report last month suggested that the fused streaming service may simply be called “Max.”
In the meantime, subscribers might be forgiven for feeling aggrieved about the price increase. Since WarnerMedia and Discovery merged to create WBD last year, the company has been slashing costs at HBO Max. It has canceledsomeprojects, removedtitlesit owns from the platform and canned unreleased exclusive movies in favor of tax writeoffs. Despite adding more recent shows, films and other content to the platform in recent months, there’s a case to be made that WBD is charging more for less.
Critics have been complaining about certain lawmakers’ cigar “hotboxing.”
Letterboxd, the review social media aggregator site used by film enthusiasts, celebrated Everything Everywhere All at Once becoming the platform’s highest rated film, and the film’s writer-directors joined the party.
Autonomous transportation assistance isn’t limited to cars. Airbus has started testing a pilot assistance feature, DragonFly, that could save an aircraft in an emergency. The system can automatically divert a flight in an emergency. It can not only pick a flight path to the best airport (using factors like airspace rules and weather), but communicate with air traffic control and an airline’s operations center. If the pilots are incapacitated, the aircraft can still land safely.
Accordingly, DragonFly can automatically land on any runway using sensors and computer vision algorithms. Pilots can even get help taxiing around airports through technology that translates air traffic control’s clearance into usable guidance clues in a companion app. It can assist with speed control and alert pilots to obstacles. Crews can spend more time getting ready for the actual flight.
The testing has so far been limited to one A350-1000 demonstrator aircraft. It could be a while yet before DragonFly reaches production, and regulators (like the Federal Aviation Administration in the US) will need to approve its use.
All the same, this hints at where autonomous flight systems are going. Although completely self-flying airliners might not arrive for a long while, you could see aircraft that require little intervention even in the middle of a crisis. This could also help increase flights to airports with difficult landings (such New Zealand’s Wellington Airport) and minimize taxiing-related delays.
A lawyer says Japanese prosecutors are expected to formally charge the suspect in the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with murder on Friday.
Your Xbox Series X comes with a feature to help you see when in the shadows or into bright light. We’ll tell you what it is and how to enable it.
Two kids—one voiced by Stranger Things breakout Priah Ferguson—have always believed their dad was just an average dude. So it comes as a huge shock when they learn he’s actually, well… My Dad the Bounty Hunter. In other words, he’s an intergalactic badass, and space adventures galore await the lucky siblings in this…
Everything was going great until it wasn’t in the skies over Cornwall, UK on Monday. Virgin Orbit, the space launch division of Sir Richard Branson’s sprawling commercial empire, was in the midst of setting a major milestone for the country and the nation: to be the first orbital launch from European soil. The carrier aircraft, Cosmic Girl, had successfully taken off from Spaceport Cornwall, LauncherOne had cleanly separated from the modified 747 and properly ignited its first stage rocket, blasting it and its payload of satellites into space. But before they could be pushed into their proper orbit by the rocket’s second stage, something went wrong. On Thursday, Virgin Orbit leaders provided a preliminary explanation as to just what happened.
“At an altitude of approximately 180 km, the upper stage experienced an anomaly. This anomaly prematurely ended the first burn of the upper stage,” the company told Engadget via email. “This event ended the mission, with the rocket components and payload falling back to Earth within the approved safety corridor without ever achieving orbit.”
Virgin Orbit has also announced a “formal” investigation into the root causes of the anomaly which will be led by Jim Sponnick, who developed the Atlas and Delta launch systems, and Chad Foerster, Virgin Orbit’s Chief Engineer. Despite the setback, the company is already in contact with UK officials to reschedule the launch for as soon as late 2023.
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