Technology

Netflix has joined the Vtuber trend, unveiling a virtual streamer this week who will host a weekly show on the company’s YouTube channel to promote its original anime series. The character is named N-ko Mei Kurono, and Netflix describes her as the company’s “anime ambassador.” She also happens to be a “sheep-human lifeform.” Vtubers, or “virtual YouTubers,” are animated hosts who often vlog on YouTube or stream on Twitch. In general, these characters are operated by a single human, who will use motion capture software (and sometimes a motion-capture outfit) to transform themselves into a cartoony character on-screen. Some Vtubers have become hugely popular over the past year, including Projekt Melody and CodeMiko. [embedded content] Netflix is using the trend as a way to promote its growin...

Earlier this month, we learned that the iOS version of Fortnite was a huge revenue driver for Epic Games — the game earned more than $700 million from iOS customers over the two years before it was pulled by Apple, according to court documents (PDF) released ahead of Epic’s trial against the iPhone maker. But even though iOS Fortnite players brought in a staggering amount of money for Epic, iOS isn’t the biggest platform in terms of revenue for the game — apparently, it might even be among the smallest. Court documents reveal that PlayStation 4 generated 46.8 percent of Fortnite’s total revenues from March 2018 through July 2020, while Xbox One, the second-highest platform, generated 27.5 percent. iOS ranked fifth, with just 7 percent of total revenue. The remaining 18.7 percent would have...

General Motors announced a “holistic charging approach” to electric vehicle charging that it’s calling the Ultium Charge 360. Much like Ford does with its FordPass network, the Ultium Charge 360 will integrate GM’s own vehicle apps and software with a variety of third-party charging services, such as Blink, ChargePoint, EVgo, Flo, Greenlots, and SemaConnect. The goal is to create a seamless experience in which an owner of a GM electric vehicle can drive up to a station, plug in, and start charging without having to juggle multiple apps or third-party memberships. “There is a lot more to EV adoption than just buying the vehicle and just having a large connected network,” said Travis Hester, GM’s chief EV officer. “And our mission is to help every single person get over whatever anxiety they...

Next week, Epic Games and Apple will appear in court for a long-anticipated legal battle. Epic argues that Apple unfairly kicked its hit game Fortnite off the App Store last year, exercising an illegal monopoly over the ubiquitous iOS platform. Apple claims Epic is trying to break the iOS platform’s vaunted safety and security for its own gain. Both parties have laid out how they expect to win their respective cases, and this week, they’ve provided near-final lists of the people they expect to call for testimony. Apple and Epic both filed revised tentative witness lists on April 26th. The lists don’t guarantee every witness will be called, and crucially, they don’t tell us when we’ll see a given person on the stand. But with the closely watched trial kicking off on Monday — and likely runn...

Lately, it seems like forgoing red meat has become an unfortunate proxy for environmental credentials. Epicurious, for example, just announced that it will no longer publish articles or recipes with beef in a decision it calls, “not anti-beef but rather pro-planet.” And then there are headlines like “Why do some green activists eat meat?” Meat-eating, meanwhile, has become a sort of symbol for climate denial. There are Twitter wars swirling around whether Biden’s climate ambitions will infringe on Americans’ right to eat burgers (his actual climate proposals would not). Diet shouldn’t be a political scorecard for how down you are for the planet But diet shouldn’t be a political scorecard for how down you are for the planet. Shaming people over what they eat — particularly for girls, immigr...

Electric moped-sharing startup Revel is adding a new vehicle to its fleet — this time with four wheels instead of two. The Brooklyn-based company is launching its own Uber-esque ride-hailing service in New York City using only electric vehicles from Tesla. And true to its Uber-imitating ways, the company is announcing its intention to launch the service before obtaining its license to legally to operate in the city. It’s an interesting — and potentially risky — move for the three-year-old startup with thousands of shared electric mopeds in cities across the US. As it grows in size, Revel has also gotten more ambitious, launching an e-bike subscription service and unveiling plans to build the largest EV charging station in New York City. Now, it has its sights set on Uber and Lyft’s custome...

Samsung is announcing its new Galaxy Book Odyssey gaming laptop today, complete with Nvidia’s unannounced GeForce RTX 3050 Ti and 3050 graphics cards. The 15.6-inch (1080p) gaming laptop starts at $1,399 and will ship with Intel’s 11th Gen Core H i5 or i7 processors, up to 32GB of RAM, and up to 2TB of SSD storage. The big new addition is a choice between Nvidia’s RTX 3050 or RTX 3050 Ti GPU. Samsung hasn’t provided many details on the RTX 3050 or RTX 3050 Ti, and Nvidia hasn’t even announced the GPU yet, so details are slim. The RTX 3050 Ti name appeared in March on an Asus website that mentioned it would have 4GB of memory. Combined with the numbering scheme and 135-watt charger, this suggests this is more of an entry-level gaming laptop. Samsung’s new gaming laptop includes the RTX 3050...

You can now book a vaccine appointment — and a ride to that appointment — in the Uber app. The new feature is part of a host of product news that Uber announced today under the rubric “go anywhere, get anything.” With more people getting vaccinated, the company is banking on a big comeback to help make up for the steep losses it suffered during 2020. And it’s rolling out a series of new features aimed at enticing lockdown-weary customers back to its platform — whether to travel somewhere or to get something delivered. The vaccine appointments are being offered nationwide through the company’s previously announced partnership with Walgreens. Since February, Uber has been offering free rides to Walgreens stores for people who book a vaccine appointment but do not have transportation and live...

Russia’s antitrust regulator, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), has fined Apple $12 million over complaints it unfairly cracked down on third-party parental control apps, the regulator has announced. The FAS started its investigation after receiving a complaint from Kaspersky Lab in March 2019, which claimed Apple had forced it to limit the functionality of its Safe Kids app shortly after Apple added the Screen Time feature to iOS 12. The fine comes in the same week that EU regulators are expected to issue charges of their own against Apple. These come in response to a complaint from Spotify in March 2019 about the 30 percent cut Apple takes for in-app purchases, which it said gives Apple’s own services an unfair advantage. As well as Spotify, parental control apps Kidslox and Qustod...

Spotify now boasts 158 million premium subscribers and 356 million monthly active users, according to its latest earnings report released today. That’s a 21 percent and 24 percent year-over-year increase, respectively. It’s up from 155 million premium subscribers and 345 million monthly active users last quarter. The streaming service has continued to focus on podcasts both as a way to convert free listeners to premium subscribers, and as a way to generate ad revenue. Spotify said that ad-supported revenue outperformed its forecast thanks in part to its podcasting efforts. In particular, the company said the Joe Rogan Experience, which it now exclusively licenses, “performed above expectations.” Spotify says it’s seen a “strong increase” in the amount of hours of podcast listening on the p...

Eddy Cue pushed to bring iMessage to Android as early as 2013, according to a new deposition made public as part of the Epic case. Currently Apple’s senior VP of software and services, Cue wanted to devote a full team to iMessage support on Android, only to be overruled by other executives. The line of questioning is likely to play a significant role in Epic’s antitrust lawsuit, which argues that iOS app store exclusivity represents an illegal use of market power. Epic has made clear in previous filings that it plans to make iMessage exclusivity part of that argument, citing a 2016 email from Phil Schiller that argues iMessage expansion “will hurt us more than help us.” “We have the best messaging app and we should make it the industry standard” The latest deposition cites a specific email...

Sony has sold 7.8 million PlayStation 5 consoles as of March 31st, the company says in its latest earnings report. The number of PlayStation Plus subscribers is now 47.6 million, a 14.7 percent increase year on year. The fourth-quarter figures bring the overall PlayStation business to a total operating profit of 342.2 billion yen ($3.14 billion) for the 2020 financial year — a record for Sony. Sony’s last earnings report revealed that the company had shipped 4.5 million PS5 units worldwide through the end of 2020. That means that 3.3 million units were shipped from January to March, giving an idea of Sony’s current manufacturing capacity; it’s still very difficult to actually buy a PS5, with demand far outstripping supply. The quarter-to-quarter drop is likely explained by Sony ramping up ...