Magic Leap 2 will go on sale in the US on September 30th

Magic Leap 2 finally has a concrete date for its commercial availability. The business-focused headset first made its way to a limited number of users last year as part of the company’s early adopter program. Starting on September 30th, though, anybody who wants to get the headset in the US can buy one. Magic Leap 2 will be available in three editions, the cheapest of which is the Base headset meant for professionals and developers who just want access to the augmented reality platform. The edition can be used for full commercial deployments and production environments and will cost $3,299 with a one-year warranty.

Developers working on AR apps and need the headset for internal testing will probably have to purchase the Magic Leap 2 Developer Pro edition. It comes with “access to developer tools, sample projects, enterprise-grade features, and monthly early releases for development and test purposes.” That said, the company will not give its buyers permission to use them for full commercial deployments and in production environments. The Developer Pro’s prices start at $4,099.

Finally, Magic Leap 2 Enterprise is for customers looking for a headset with robust enterprise features and who intend to use them for large-scale deployments. This option will cost buyers at least $4,999 and will come with a two-year access to enterprise features, as well as quarterly software releases. Unlike the other two options, the Enterprise edition is bundled with two years of warranty. 

Due to the fact that the headsets are meant for enterprise use and have prices that go beyond double the first Magic Leap’s retail price, the company is likely not expecting massive sales numbers. Especially since Magic Leap reportedly only sold 6,000 units of the first model within the first six months that it became available. The Information reported back then that company founder Rony Abovitz told investors he was expecting to sell 1 million units in the first year, before deciding that 100,000 was a more realistic number. Because of the Magic Leap One Creator Edition’s poor sales and the pandemic, the company ended up laying off half its workforce in 2020.

Magic Leap 2 will also be available in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on September 30th, with Japan and Singapore to follow before the year ends. In the US, the devices will be sold through the company’s retail partner, Insight. 

BMW will charge $18 per month for heated seats in select regions

Now even connected cars are embracing the subscription model. BMW drivers in a few countries will have to pay $18 per month for heated seats, reportedThe Verge. Front-seat heating is one of many optional add-on software upgrades available in BMW’s ConnectedDrive stores in the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, New Zealand and South Africa. Also available for an extra monthly charge is automatic high beams (roughly $12) and steering wheel heating (roughly $12).

BMW drivers in these countries won’t have to take their cars to a service shop to get the features installed. The hardware is already there — drivers will merely have to pay an extra fee to activate them through an over-the-air software upgrade on BMW’s ConnectedDrive platform. That’s also where they can pay for other features locked behind an annual subscription, including safety camera alerts ($30) and access to an online music library ($213 a year).

BMW hasn’t announced plans to add heated seats to its ConnectedDrive store in the United States, but microtransactions aren’t completely foreign to BMW drivers in the country. The company previously faced backlash after charging an annual fee of $80 for Apple CarPlay, which it ultimately stopped doing. Still, the pay-per-feature model is alive and well in the US, where BMW drivers have to pay extra for a number of software upgrades, including $50 per year to access ConnectedDrive and $200 per year (after the third year) to update their car’s navigation maps.

Apple and Jony Ive are parting ways

Apple and Jony Ive are breaking up — and this time, according to The New York Times, it’s for real. Ive left the tech giant in 2019 after over two decades and formed his own company called LoveFrom, which counted Apple as its first and primary client. The publication said that both parties agreed not to extend their contract in the weeks leading up to its renewal and to stop working together for the first time since the 90’s. 

Ive was a close collaborator of Steve Jobs and is credited with designing the translucent, candy-colored plastic cases older Mac computers were known for. He also helped design the iPod, its white earbuds, the iPhone, the iPad, as well as the Apple Watch. Ive even reportedly contributed ideas to Apple’s upcoming mixed reality headset. In 2015, he was named Apple’s first Chief Design Officer, though his role shifted again over the years. The reports that came out after Ive left Apple claimed that he felt “dispirited” by Tim Cook’s lack of interest in design and the CEO’s decision to focus on selling software and services. Cook called those reports “absurd.”

The Times said LoveFrom’s multi-year contract with Apple was worth $100 million and prohibited the firm from taking on any project that the tech giant considered to be in competition with its products. Ive reportedly wanted the freedom to take on new clients without needing to ask permission from Apple. Meanwhile, the company’s executives had apparently been questioning the amount Apple was paying him and had grown frustrated over employees quitting to join his design firm instead.

Back when Ive left Apple and LoveFrom signed a deal with the company, Cook said that he looked “forward to working with Jony long into the future.” Whether that means there’s a possibility of them working together again remains to be seen. Unless, of course, one or both parties are taking a leaf from the great Taylor Swift’s book and swearing that they are never, ever getting back together.

Former Twitter employee said they tried to warn ‘people were going to die’ on Jan. 6th

Twitter’s role in the January 6th insurrection is once again in the spotlight. During a hearing on Tuesday, the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack played testimony from a former Twitter employee who said they tried to warn others at the company that there would be violence on January 6th.

The committee pointed to a December 19th tweet from former President Donald Trump in which he promised a “wild” protest in Washington D.C. on January 6th. The tweet, they said, “served as a call to action, and in some cases as a call to arms” to his supporters.

By January 5th, the former Twitter employee said that it was clear the protest would turn violent, but that “no intervention was coming.” The committee didn’t identify the former employee, whose voice was obscured in the recorded testimony. Representative Jamie Raskin said the former employee “was on the team responsible for platform and content moderation policies” and worked at the company throughout 2020 and 2021.

“I had been begging and anticipating and attempting to raise the reality that if we made no intervention into what I saw, people were going to die,” the employee said. “And on January 5th, I realized no intervention was coming.”

The employee also stated that Twitter had considered changing its rules earlier in 2020 following Trump’s comments telling the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” during a presidential debate, but that the company ultimately declined to do so.

When asked if another Twitter user would have been able to take the same actions as Trump without being suspended, the employee replied “no.” They stated that Twitter enjoyed the notoriety that came with being Trump’s preferred social media platform. “I believe Twitter relished in the knowledge that they were also the favorite and most used service of the former president, and enjoyed having that sort of power within the social media ecosystem.”

In a statement, Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, VP of Public Policy at Twitter, said the company is “clear-eyed” about its role in the events leading up to January 6th. 

“We are clear-eyed about our role in the broader information ecosystem in regards to the January 6th attack on the US Capitol, and while we continue to examine how we can improve moving forward, the fact remains that we took unprecedented steps and invested significant resources to prepare for and respond to the threats that emerged during the 2020 US election,” Herrera-Flanigan said. “On January 6th, we leveraged the systems we had built leading up to the election to respond to the unprecedented attack in real-time and are committed to iterating on this work in order to address violent extremism in the US and globally.”

Twitter sues Elon Musk for attempting to back out of $44 billion buyout deal

Twitter is suing Elon Musk to force the Tesla and SpaceX CEO to complete his $44 billion acquisition of the social media company. The New York Times reports Twitter filed a complaint on Tuesday with the Chancery Court in Delaware alleging the billionaire wrongfully broke his agreement to purchase the platform. In April, Musk announced he was willing to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share, a proposal Twitter accepted less than two weeks later. Since then, the two have gone back and forth in a highly public spat over the number of fake accounts on Twitter. 

It all started in May when Musk said the deal was “temporarily on hold” while his team worked to confirm bots represented less than five percent of Twitter’s total userbase as the company has consistently claimed. Less than a month later, Musk threatened to back out of the agreement, accusing Twitter of committing a “material breach” of their agreement by refusing to disclose enough information about the problem. 

Twitter responded by giving Musk full access to its “firehose” of internal data, a move that apparently did little to appease the billionaire since on July 8th he told the Securities and Exchange Commission he wanted to terminate the takeover over “false and misleading representations” made by Twitter. All of that brings us to today. 

“Having mounted a public spectacle to put Twitter in play, and having proposed and then signed a seller-friendly merger agreement, Musk apparently believes that he — unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law — is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk way,” Twitter said in its filing. 

Pointing to the issue of fake accounts, Twitter alleges Musk didn’t ask the company to share any estimates before he announced his bid. “Musk made his offer without seeking any representation from Twitter regarding its estimates of spam or false accounts,” the company says in its legal briefing. “He even sweetened his offer to the Twitter board by expressly withdrawing his prior diligence condition.” 

“Musk propounded these unreasonable requests and touted his contrived narrative about Twitter’s methodologies, all without ever identifying a basis for questioning the veracity of Twitter’s methodologies or the accuracy of its SEC disclosures,” the company later adds. Elsewhere, Twitter points to Musk’s multiple attempts to disparage the company, including his now-infamous poop emoji response to a thread where CEO Parag Agrawal said he was “prepared for all scenarios.” 

Another significant part of the lawsuit details Musk’s alleged attempts to derail Twitter’s efforts to retain its best employees amid declining morale at the company. Twitter claims Musk has prevented it from implementing employee retention programs and said that departures have “been on the upswing since the signing of the merger agreement.” 

Now that Twitter has sued, it sets the stage for Musk to respond with a countersuit. When that might happen is unclear. It’s also difficult to predict how a case between the two parties could unfold. If the suit moves to a trial, a judge will need to decide if Twitter did not disclose enough information to Musk. As The New York Times points out, the Delaware Chancery Court has forced companies in the past to complete deals. Either way, the lawsuit could take months to resolve.   

Rivian CEO tells staff the company is carrying out a ‘major’ cost-cutting effort

Electric vehicle maker Rivian is planning a “major” cost-cutting drive and will be “as thoughtful as possible as we consider any reductions,” CEO RJ Scaringe wrote in a memo to employees. Scaringe sent the note in response to reports that Rivian is planning up to 700 or so layoffs, primarily among non-engineering teams.

“This is not how we intended for you to hear about this,” he wrote. “We had hoped these very sensitive and complex conversations would have stayed within Rivian until we could address them more comprehensively.” Scaringe will share more information during an all-hands meeting scheduled for this Friday.

Rivian is pausing certain non-manufacturing hires, Scaringe wrote, while the company is “adopting major cost down efforts” to reduce its outlay on materials and operating expenses. “We will always be focused on growth, however, Rivian is not immune to the current economic circumstances and we need to make sure we can grow sustainably,” Scaringe told employees in the memo, which was first reported by Bloomberg. He added that the company is “financially well positioned and our outlook remains strong”

Scaringe added that Rivian will prioritize some programs and halt some others as it restructures certain aspects of the business. Earlier this year, Rivian said it would focus on a few areas for the time being. For one thing, the company is focused on increasing production of its R1T, R1S and electric delivery van, as TechCrunch notes. Other priorities include building out EV charging and service infrastructure, speeding up development of the next-generation R2 platform and finding more efficiencies for costs and operating expenses.

The company has nearly doubled its headcount over the last year to more than 14,000 employees, but it has been beset by problems, such as the supply chain crisis and the state of the economy. It has also delayed deliveries of the R1S SUV several times.

While Rivian expects to eventually build around 600,000 vehicles a year between its existing factory in Normal, Illinois and a plant that’s expected to open in Georgia in 2024, the company forecasts that it will build 25,000 EVs this year. As of earlier this month, Rivian had a backlog of 71,000 EV orders. It also has a contract to build 100,000 delivery vehicles for Amazon by the end of the decade. Right now, though, the company seemingly isn’t able to keep up with demand.

A Rivian spokesperson shared the full memo with Engadget:

Hi Team,

I’d like to address the news reports that are circulating about restructuring at Rivian. The reports speculate broadly on many intricate internal discussions about our business so I wanted to offer more clarity.

As discussed in recent all hands meetings, we’ve been working to focus our business in order to stay ahead of the changing economic landscape. We are financially well positioned and our outlook remains strong, but to fully realize our objectives it is critical that our strategy supports our sustainable growth as we ramp towards profitability. Earlier this year, we outlined our core strategic priorities for the next 18 months:

1) Ramping and enhancing R1 and EDV

2) Accelerating R2 development

3) Continuing to ramp our go-to-market capabilities, including our charging and service infrastructure

4) Optimizing costs and operating expenses across the business

As a result, we’ve implemented changes across Rivian, including prioritizing certain programs (and stopping some), halting certain non-manufacturing hiring and adopting major cost down efforts to reduce material spend and operating expenses. We also began the process of aligning the organization as a whole to ensure we are as focused, nimble and efficient as possible to achieve our priorities and objectives.

The hardest part of this process has been working through our organization to assess the size and structure of our teams and how well this aligns with our strategic plan. Our team is the core of Rivian and we are working to be as thoughtful as possible as we consider any reductions. We will always be focused on growth, however, Rivian is not immune to the current economic circumstances and we need to make sure we can grow sustainably. Every decision about our team is being assessed through the lens of our strategic priorities, not as a mechanism to simply reduce costs. Our team will continue to grow in support of our production ramp and product roadmap.

This is not how we intended for you to hear about this. We had hoped these very sensitive and complex conversations would have stayed within Rivian until we could address them more comprehensively. However, because information is coming out unofficially, I wanted to personally address it. I’ll be sharing more this Friday at our scheduled All-Hands meeting.

Thank you everyone.

RJ

iOS 16 beta preview: A fun, useful and promising update

The iOS 16 public beta is here, which means you can get a taste of Apple’s upcoming mobile software before its stable release. As we saw at WWDC in June, the iPhone is slated to get a whole new lock screen, edit and send options in iMessage, improved d…

YouTube restores Lofi Girl account after false copyright claims

A much-loved YouTube account featuring calm hip-hop beats is back online today, after two popular radio live streams (the oldest of which has been playing non-stop for two years) got yanked from the platform due to bogus copyright claims. In a tweet, the owner of the Lofi Girl channel — which has been streaming relaxing ambient music since 2017 — announced that the streams have relaunched after a nearly 48-hour hiatus. 

The origin of the DMCA claims came from FMC Music, a Malaysian record label. After receiving a counterclaim from the creators of Lofi Girl, YouTube manually reviewed FMC’s complaint and came to the conclusion that the record label had no ownership over the music.

“Confirmed the takedown requests were abusive & terminated the claimants account 😔 we’ve resolved the strikes + reinstated your vids – it can sometimes take 24-48 hours for everything to be back to normal! so sorry this happened & thx for your patience as we sorted it out,” wrote YouTube on Twitter, in response to Lofi Girl’s request on Monday that the streams be reinstated.

But FMC Music is alleging that it is also a victim in this affair. A spokesperson from the label told local news site Malaysiakini that hackers broke into its YouTube account to file the copyright infringement claim. The record label said that it reported the incident to Google. Its YouTube account has since returned back online.

The relatively unknown record label was hit hard with online abuse over the weekend, as fans of Lofi Girl flocked to its social media channels and demanded to know why it filed the fake claim. Most of Lofi Girl’s largely Gen-Z and younger Millennial fanbase rely on the music to study, relax or meditate.

In an ironic twist, Lofi Girl also has a considerable Malaysian fanbase, who were also quite unhappy about the channel’s removal. In a Reddit thread on r/Malaysia entitled, “Who the hell is FMC Music Sdn Bhd Malaysia and why did they copywrite strike lofi girl?”, a despondent fan urged others to “make some noise” on the record label’s socials.

“For context, I was studying while listening to lofi girl before both of their streams got taken down by a certain FMC Music Sdn Bhd Malaysia. Now their livestreams can’t be accessed in Malaysia. What gives them the right to take down the best channel on youtube,” wrote the user.

Malicious copyright strikes are hardly a new incident on YouTube. Game creater Bungie decided to take one creator to court after they allegedly filed nearly 100 fake copyright claims. Lofi Girl noted that an accidental takedown in 2020 also took the account offline, and called for a stronger vetting process for DMCA claims at YouTube. “This event has shone a light on an underlying problem on the platform: It’s 2022, and there are countless smaller creators out there, many of which engaged in this discussion, that continue to be hit daily by these false claims on both videos and livestreams,” Lofi Girl wrote in a tweet.