Disney reportedly shuts down its metaverse division

Disney has shut down its metaverse division and laid off all of the team's 50 or so members as part of a broader restructuring process, according to The Wall Street Journal. It was just over a year ago when former Disney CEO Bob Chapek tapped company veteran Mike White to lead the team in its task of finding interactive ways to tell Disney's stories...

46m

Apple Music Classical is now available globally

Apple Music Classical is now available for download globally with more than 5 million tracks. Offered as part of an Apple Music subscription, it's designed to make it easier to find things unique to classical music, including orchestras, conductors, musicians and more. The app sprung from Primephonic, the streaming service Apple acquired in 2021. It...

2h

Virgin Orbit extends employee furlough as it continues to seek funding

In mid-March, Virgin Orbit went into an "operational pause" and put most of its 750 employees in an unpaid leave due to financial issues. Reports have come out that the satellite launch company was in talks with potential new investors since then, but it sounds like it has yet to clinch a deal that would fund its operations going forward. According...

3h

Twitter will soon only recommend paid users in its For You feed

In a couple of weeks, all the tweets you see on the For You feed will come from Twitter Blue users. Twitter boss Elon Musk has announced that the website will only display tweets from verified accounts in For You's recommendations starting on April 15th going forward. Musk explained that the company is making the move to combat AI bots and that it's...

6h

Rode's Wireless ME squeezes a second mic into its receiver

When Rode released the original Wireless GO, it was an instant success. The ease of use, audio quality and reasonable price made wireless microphones much more accessible. In fact it was so successful that it spawned a number of copycat products from rivals. After releasing the Wireless GO II ($299) with dual mics, the company is back with a more affordable...

11h

Lyft co-founder Logan Green is stepping down as CEO

More than a decade into its life, Lyft is bringing on a new chief executive officer. On Monday afternoon, the company announced current CEO and co-founder Logan Green would hand day-to-day operations of Lyft to David Risher, a former Amazon executive, on April 17th. That same day, Green will take over as chair of Lyft’s board of directors. The announcement...

12h

Fitbit challenges, adventures and open groups join the Google graveyard today

In February, Fitbit announced it would sunset open groups, adventures and challenges on March 27th. That day has arrived, and if you didn’t download your trophies before today, I’m sorry to say you missed your chance to do so. Last month, Fitbit said it was removing those features due to “limited use.”If you’re a longtime Fitbit user, the demise of...

14h

Apple's Martin Scorsese movie hits theaters in October before its TV+ debut

Apple's long-expected Martin Scorsese movie has a release date — for theaters, that is. The company has revealed that Killers of the Flower Moon will get a wide theatrical release on October 20th following a "limited" run starting October 6th. The company hasn't said when the film will be available to Apple TV+ users, but the streaming launch will come...

14h

Water trapped in tiny glass beads on the Moon could hydrate future settlements

China’s Chang’e 5 rover has found tiny glass beads containing water in an impact crater on the Moon. Samples collected from a 2020 mission found beads with water content as high as 2,000 parts per million (PPM). Given the prevalence of these glass spheres on the lunar surface, there may be enough to provide 71 trillion gallons of water.Some beads formed...

14h

Ubisoft has pulled out of E3 2023

You can add Ubisoft to the list of companies that won’t be attending the first in-person E3 in four years. Before this week, it was one of the few major publishers to come out in support of the revamped event. On Monday, however, Ubisoft told VGC it would not be at the tradeshow, and would instead host its own event at around the same time.“E3 has fostered...

15h