theverge.com – Priced at $199, the Rabbit R1 features a 2.88-inch touchscreen, camera, and built-in assistant that uses your existing subscriptions and services. Its ambitious design hints at a potential future as a smartphone alternative.
The Verge
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How do you feel about three screens? At CES, Asus introduced the ZenScreen Fold OLED monitor, a 17.3-inch portable OLED monitor you can fold in half for easy storage. Read more at theverge.com
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Bluesky has a new logo
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The (currently) invite-only social network has a new logo! It has other new features as well, such as lists and custom feeds. Ok, the custom feeds have been around for awhile. But, it’s new-ish.
The new logo is basically the 🦋 (butterfly emoji). It’s simple and less non-representational than the nebulous sky/clouds photo or blue cube it was previously. This one seems fitting and easier to grasp (and meme).
Update: the creator of the identity and logo direction is @fonsmans:
Post by @fonsmansView on Threads -
We are now 90 seconds to our doom
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It was a big weekend with this game leak. GTA 6 peaks and leaks are hyped up so much, they’re about on par with the level of hype Half-Life 3 confirmed memes. It just isn’t going to happen and everyone doubts the claims when users post them on Reddit.
Until it does. The leaks over the weekend were genuine and bold. High-quality footage of the in-development game were stolen from Rockstar. According to The Verge, over 3GBs of videos were obtained by a hacker.
On Sunday morning, the hacker posted a 3GB file containing 90 videos of early GTA VI gameplay footage, which aligns with previous reports that indicate the game could feature a female protagonist for the first time.
Which of course elicited a response from Rockstar:
You know you have the Real McCoy when two things happen:
- There’s an official Twitter response
- Reddit posts start disappearing
For example, this megathread on r/GTA6 was taken offline sometime last night. But, not before the page was archived.
Wayback Machine screenshot of the fabled megathread on r/GTA6 While the gameplay is still in early development, the footage and content looks absolutely fantastic. Game leaks can be a kiss of death from the public. However, support for GTA 6 has been overwhelmingly positive following the leaks. Probably due to the size and variety of what was shared. In previous leaks, such as the Nvidia PC Leak of 2021, not much qualitative data was obtained. This was a gargantuan leak, and according to the hacker, more is yet to come.
The videos (which have been taken down in most of the links on Twitter and Reddit) were very convincing and very Rockstar-esque. But, I found these two still photos from the deleted megathread to be the most convincing evidence:
Redwood Cigarettes are a GTA Staple. This is either the most elaborate fake of all time or the real deal 
MAYBE main character with a different hairstyle It’s bittersweet that these details were leaked. But, not much can be gleaned from the story from these videos and photos. There’s evidence of a male and female lead (which was previously leaked but these photos suggest a confirmation on the Bonnie and Clyde story mode) — but apart from that, not much else is known.
What is known, is the hacker that stole the footage and data from Rockstar (which included source code mind you), is in some very hot water.
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Trump Administration Drops Plan to Strip Visas From Foreign Students in Online Classes Amidst Lawsuits
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After 17 States, and the three of the Big Four decide to sue to the Trump Administration, do they rescind their racist plan to strip visas from foreign students. As a backdrop, we’re currently in the midst of colossal pandemic, with nearly half of million dead so far.
Pretty foolish of the Trumpist to try to pull this stunt. In normal times, under a normal president, this would be political suicide months before an election. Hell, I’d normally say this was unbelievable, but honestly this was expected. Look at his racist executive actions with DACA. Thankfully, that order was blocked by the SCOTUS ruling just a month ago. But, DACA recipients still remain in a legal limbo until Congress passes a law to grant them citizenship.
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Sonos is bricking old devices with ‘Recycled Mode’
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Chris Welch reporting at The Verge writes:
Late last week, Sonos was called out on Twitter by Devin Wilson for its practices around sustainability. The company drew particular attention for a “Recycle Mode” software feature that, once activated, begins a countdown that eventually renders older Sonos devices basically inoperable. Recycle Mode is part of the trade-up program that Sonos announced back in October, which lets customers get a discount on newer Sonos speakers like the One, Beam, or the Port that Nilay just reviewed.
At first glance, the Recycle Mode seems like a good idea. Except for this one crucial feature of the Sonos App:
Recycle Mode is a state your device enters 21 days after recycling confirmation in the Sonos app. In Recycle Mode, all data is erased and the device is permanently deactivated so you can safely and securely dispose of it. Once a device is in Recycle Mode, it cannot be reactivated.
Wait. What the fuck? This is so fucked. I’m all for reducing, reusing and recycling. But, I prefer to do the reducing and reusing first.
Forcing customers to brick their devices, to force them to recycle is not ideal. In fact, forcing consumers to brick their devices should be illegal. It turns out that recycling isn’t even the most effective way to recover materials. Simply put, shipping our recyclables to China (or elsewhere) for processing isn’t working. As a result, many cities are moving away from recycle programs. In fact, many are forced to recover energy from plastics and trash by burning it in furnaces, and in many cases this is the most green scenario. So, why on Earth is Sonos doing this? To edge up profits in this fierce smart-speaker market of course.
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Away CEO Steph Korey Replaced After Verge Investigation
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Zoe Schiffer, at The Verge writes:
Away CEO Steph Korey is stepping down, just four days after an investigation from The Verge highlighted the company’s toxic culture. Korey, one of the luggage brand’s co-founders, will be replaced with former Lululemon executive Stuart Haselden, though Korey will still continue on as executive chairman.
Stuart Haselden has impressive credentials. For one, he’s an Army veteran. Changing company culture is hard work, just look at Uber. It doesn’t happen overnight. Perhaps, he is just what Away needs.
His previous work at Lululemon, Saks and J. Crew were pretty long stints, totaling nearly two decades. Almost his entire professional career has been at the crossroads of retail and finance. Something tells me that Haselden, an Auburn alum (Tim Cook’s alma mater), just might be up to the task of turning around Away’s toxic work culture:
Haselden’s mandate will likely involve turning around Away’s company culture, and he may have relevant experience. Lululemon faced its own reports of toxic management, which culminated in CEO Laurent Potdevin’s resignation last year. In the aftermath of the scandal, Haselden took control of the company’s people and culture functions — the teams that are directly responsible for creating a healthy working environment.