Tesla, along with Ford and GM, have promised to donate or build ventilators, and CEO Elon Musk said recently that the New York factory could reopen soon to produce ventilators. The company recently donated 1,000 ventilators, though critics said that the non-invasive models were the wrong kind. That’s because critical COVID-19 patients need invasive ventilators that can inflate a patient’s lungs with air via intubation.
However, New York governor Andrew Cuomo said that the so-called BiPAP non-invasive ventilators could be converted into the right type to help offset the “burn rate” of critical invasive ventilators. Elon Musk subsequently tweeted that “all hospitals were given exact specifications of [the donated models] & all confirmed they would be critical.” He added that Tesla has now started delivering critical intratracheal ventilators from Medtronic for “worst case situations.”
Quibi’s biggest flaw at the moment is that none of its content stands out from the wealth of media already available to us. Chrissy’s Court is a fun riff on daytime TV court shows, but the actual cases and resolutions feel even more pointless and inconsequential than you’d expect for the genre. (And of course, John Legend shows up once in a while to flash that EGOT smile.) Most Dangerous Game, one of the service’s “Movies in Chapters,” is a remake of the classic human-hunting story — except this time it stars Liam Hemsworth and an appropriately scenery-chewing Christoph Waltz. It’s reasonably compelling, but whatever dramatic tension it builds up is destroyed by every clip’s short runtime. Thanks A Million is a show where celebrities give away $100,000 to people who’ve had a positive impact on their lives, but it comes across as more cringeworthy than heartwarming.
There are also a handful of documentaries and daily news shorts via outlets like the BBC, Telemundo and TMZ, but again none of them were exactly “must watch” entertainment. You’ll easily find similar news briefs on YouTube and podcasts. Quibi also plans to launch with 50 shows and aims to have 175 by the end of the year. There’s some notable content to look forward to from the likes of Steven Spielberg and Guillermo del Toro. But frankly, after testing the service for a bit, I’m not excited to see some of my favorite filmmakers make content that’ll be trapped on tiny phone screens and quickly forgotten.
Quibi
To make things worse, since Quibi’s shows are only viewable on mobile, you can’t easily use your phone to do anything else while watching them. Live-tweeting with your friends is a bit tough when you have to constantly shuffle between different apps. I was surprised to find that I couldn’t even AirPlay Quibi shows to my Apple TV (even by mirroring my phone), and there’s no Chromecast support either. That made it tough for me to share the insanity of Dishmantled with my wife — we were forced to crowd around my iPhone 11 Pro, while my 55-inch TV sat idle in front of us. This doesn’t feel like the future of content at all. (And if it is, I want no part of it.)
And then there are the ads. Quibi says it’ll only deliver a few minutes worth of commercials every hour with its $5 subscription, but you’ll see them often since every episode is so short. Ads even pop up when you try to download a show for offline viewing, which feels like they’re just nickel and diming you. At one point, I sat through a 15 second ad to watch an episode of Dishmantled, and then another 10 second ad played when I tried to download that same episode. It certainly feels odd to be paying for the privilege of watching commercials (and yes, I know Hulu does the same thing). You can forgo ads entirely with the $8 monthly subscription, but at that point you might as well just pay a dollar more for something more robust, like Netflix.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
Quibi is the worst sort of over-funded, faux-innovative startup. It pretends to be changing the media industry, but it’s not actually solving any real issues for consumers, or the landscape as a whole. What it comes down to, really, is that nobody needs Quibi — not in the way you may need your daily YouTube or Netflix fix. And it could just be that nobody really wants a dedicated mobile video service.
We may stare at our phones all day, but we also hop between devices and rely on multiple screens so we can bingewatch and chat with friends at the same time. We’re used to media adapting to us, and nobody wants to be forced to watch middling content on the smallest screen they have.
With that said, there are concerns this may be too modest and lopsided an offering. Top-tier Mixer streamers like Ninja and Gothalion aren’t likely to notice $100, while smaller-time broadcasters will likely need much more than $100 if they’ve lost a day job or have trouble covering added expenses. And while Microsoft doesn’t have infinite pockets, there’s little doubt that it could offer more help if it wanted.
With that said, there hasn’t been an equivalent support effort from Twitch as of this writing (it didn’t respond to Kotaku‘s request for comment). Although its partners might be in less need given the surge in viewership during the outbreak, some of them might be in a similar situation. In that regard, Microsoft’s strategy may work simply by reassuring Mixer partners during a particularly tough time.
If you're working on a Mac at home or reconnecting with friends on an iPhone, you'll want to be sure you have the latest security updates. Security researcher Ryan Pickren has detailed recently patched Safari vulnerabilities that allowed int…
The feature is available now in at least the US, Canada and France, and likely other parts of the world as well. Yes, this Maps tweak is arguably a cruel reminder of all the places you can’t go while you’re staying at home during the pandemic. Look at it this way, though: unlike with some delivery apps, you’ll know just where to go when it’s finally safe to visit a restaurant in person.
Instead, YouTube said it was suppressing “borderline content” that could mislead people in “harmful ways,” such as conspiracy theories surrounding 5G and the virus by themselves. This includes both reduced recommendations for videos, pulling them from search results and stripping them of ad revenue.
The moves come not long after a Guardianreport that UK culture secretary Oliver Dowden would hold talks with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in a bid to remove conspiracy material.
YouTube’s actions could help prevent further attacks, which might be vital at a time when remote connections are more important than ever. However, the mixed approach also highlights concerns about inconsistent enforcement that bans some videos while letting equally false clips slide. Conspiracy theories about 5G are unsupported by evidence, and remain harmful whether or not the new coronavirus plays a part. YouTube’s approach may tackle the immediate situation, but doesn’t completely address long-term problems with anti-5G conspiracists spurring violence.
It’s not hard to divine why Edge might grow so rapidly. Its status as Windows’ default browser helps, as does Microsoft’s overall clout. However, it also helps that the Chromium-based version eliminates many of the complaints about the old version of Edge running on Microsoft’s own engine, such as compatibility, speed and the range of available extensions. The old software had a reputation as the browser you used solely to download other browsers — now, it’s good enough that you might not need another browser.
Not that Google is necessarily worried. While Edge does encourage people to use Microsoft services over Google’s, the engine switch also consolidates Chromium’s grip on the web. Developers may be less inclined to build sites that are truly browser-independent instead of optimizing for Google’s engine, and that could hurt people who’d rather use Firefox, Safari or other alternatives.
Spotify still had a solid lead at the end of 2019 with 35 percent of subscriptions. However, its rivals are growing fast. Apple Music’s listener base grew 36 percent to give it 19 percent of streaming, while Amazon’s share grew by half to hit 15 percent. This put them comfortably ahead of rivals like Tencent (11 percent) and YouTube Music (6 percent). The remaining 14 percent of tended to be split between regional giants like India’s Gaana and Russia’s Yandex Music.
It’s not certain how much more headroom there might be. Counterpoint predicted that streaming music would grow another 25 percent in 2020, but it also warned that the COVID-19 pandemic might hurt. Habits are unsurprisingly skewing more toward radio and TV news, and that leaves fewer people willing to subscribe to services meant chiefly for entertainment.
Apple is joining Roku and others in offering free access to premium TV, albeit with a slight twist. From now until May 2nd, Apple TV Channels is making Epix content free to watch without a subscription — you won’t have to sign up for a trial and risk racking up charges later. You’ll also see extended, month-long trials for a host of familiar services that include Showtime, A&E, History Channel Vault and Smithsonian Channel Plus.
The exact worries vary, although they tend to be a mix of tangible security and privacy problems with teachers and staff who may not be familiar with how Zoom works. There’s no end-to-end encryption for Zoom meetings, making it possible to intercept videoconferences. Teachers have also had to grapple with “Zoombombing” incidents where bad actors disrupt virtual classes — sometimes by guessing the meeting number, sometimes because staff share the meeting details on public sites. Add vulnerabilities and people uploading videos to unprotected websites and it may be all too easy for a determined intruder to spy on calls or collect recordings.
In a statement to the Washington Post, Zoom reiterated that it takes privacy and security “extremely seriously.” It said it had been “proactively engaging” to outline best practices and policies, and pointed out changes taking effect that require waiting rooms for K-12 classes and limit who can share data by default. These should help, but they’re clearly coming too late for some schools. They’ve had untrustworthy experiences with Zoom, and they’re unlikely to come back in the near future even if all their complaints are addressed.
If you're working on a Mac at home or reconnecting with friends on an iPhone, you'll want to be sure you have the latest security updates. Security researcher Ryan Pickren has detailed recently patched Safari vulnerabilities that allowed int…