A few months after AMC Theatres started accepting crypto payments, you can use its app to buy movie tickets using Dogecoin, Shiba Inu tokens and other virtual currencies. CEO Adam Aron said the app is using Bitpay to process cryptocurrency payments, which are only accepted in the US for now. You can also buy tickets with Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and an old-fashioned thing called a credit card.
Exactly as promised, the AMC mobile app for AMC’s U.S. theatres now accepts online payments using Doge Coin, Shiba Inu, and other crypto currencies — thanks to Bitpay. Also Apple Pay, Google Pay and Paypal. To do so, you first will need to update to the latest version of our app. pic.twitter.com/MMy7SIxYbl
It seems customers have embraced AMC’s adoption of cryptocurrency. Very soon after AMC enabled crypto payments on the web, they accounted for 14 percent of online transactions. So, if you happen to have some Dogecoin that’s been languishing in your wallet since someone gave it to you as a joke in 2014, you can grab your phone and put your coins to use by booking a ticket for a movie over this long weekend.
Elon Musk, who until the last week or so, was known on Twitter mainly for trolling and incurring the wrath of the SEC, has now set his sights on taking over the platform. Speaking at a TED conference on Thursday, the Tesla CEO positioned his $43 billion hostile takeover bid not as something he wants to do, but as something he feels is “important to the function of democracy.”
“It’s important to the function of the United States as a free country and many other countries,” he said. “Civilizational risk is decreased, the more we can increase the trust of Twitter as a public platform.”
That may sound like a lofty goal — and it’s not that different from how Jack Dorsey and other Twitter leaders have talked about the platform — but Musk’s actual ideas for making Twitter more “trustworthy” are bizarre and sometimes contradictory. It suggests he has little understanding of how Twitter works, much less how to run the company.
During the interview, Musk repeatedly stated he believed speech on Twitter should only be constrained by what’s legal. Twitter, he said, should “err on the side of, if in doubt, let the speech exist.” He said that permanent bans should be used sparingly. “A good sign as to whether there’s free speech is, [if] someone you don’t like is allowed to say something you don’t like, and if that is the case, then we have free speech.”
Besides being a somewhat narrow view of free speech, Musk’s own track record would appear to be at odds with this statement. While he has zero experience running a social media company, his actions as Tesla’s CEO suggest there are many scenarios in which he is notably less committed to absolute free speech.
As Quartzpoints out, Musk has reportedly fired numerous Tesla workers who disagree with him. Recently, one employee was shown the door for posting videos to his personal YouTube channel that depicted flaws in Tesla’s self-driving software running on his own vehicle. Musk also reportedly tried to force a law firm, hired by Tesla and SpaceX, to fire an associate who had previously worked for his arch-nemesis the SEC, in an apparent retaliation for the lawyer’s involvement with the agency’s investigation of Musk. Incidentally, Tesla has faced allegations of discrimination and is currently contending with a lawsuit from the state of California over its treatment of Black employees.
Trust and safety experts were also quick to point out that a lack of content moderation actually has a chilling effect on free speech. “Effective moderation is not inherently in conflict with free speech,” Samidh Chakrabarti, Facebook’s former head of civic integrity tweeted. “It is required for people to feel free to speak.”
This is more than just theoretical. Just ask former CEO Dick Costolo who famously presided over one of the most toxic eras in Twitter history thanks to a hands-off approach to content moderation. It was under his tenure as CEO that Gamergate and other targeted harassment campaigns were able to drive scores of users off the platform. Costolo later admitted that his failure to deal with trolls was a huge mistake.
Others pointed out that less moderation would quickly result in Twitter being overrun with spam and other shady — yet entirely legal — content. Even Musk seemed to contradict himself on this point, saying that a “top priority” would be to rid Twitter of the “spam and scam bots and bot armies” that frequently impersonate him.
Away from the culture war battles over “free speech,” Twitter is facing significant challenges of its own. The company is still in the middle of a big shift, changing many of its core features in an effort to find new sources of revenue. It still has aggressive growth targets for users and revenue that would prove challenging even for seasoned Twitter insiders — which Musk is not.
And Musk doesn’t even seem to know what he actually wants. He acknowledged that he was unsure of if he would be able to pull off actually buying Twitter (other shareholders seem to agree on that point) and claimed to be unconcerned with making money from his investment. He claimed to have a “plan B,” but didn’t share details. He also admitted that his tweets are little more than a “stream of consciousness” he sometimes composes while on the toilet.
As with so much else he does, it’s impossible to tell if he really wants to fully control Twitter or if all this is yet another elaborate troll. It could be both.
“I do think this will be somewhat painful,” he mused. On that, at least, he’s spot on.
Comets aren’t known for being gargantuan, but there are clearly exceptions to that rule. Researchers using the Hubble Space Telescope have spotted the largest known comet to date, C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein). With a nucleus 80 miles across, it easily overshadows the 60-mile girth of previous record holder C/2002 VQ94 — it’s about 50 times bigger than the typical comet.
The comet was first discovered in 2010 by its namesake astronomers Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein. However, scientists only recently verified the size by comparing Hubble imagery against a computer model of the coma (the ‘atmosphere’ of the comet as it releases gas) and data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. At roughly 2 billion miles away from Earth, C/2014 UN271 is too far away for Hubble to visualize the nucleus.
And before you ask: no, there’s no danger of an Earth-shattering collision. C/2014 UN271 is on a 3-million-year-long elliptical orbit that will take it no closer than 1 billion miles from the Sun, or slightly beyond Saturn’s distance, in 2031. It appears to have originated from the Oort Cloud (the still-theoretical nest of comets at least 2,000AU from the Sun) and may travel up to half a light-year away. Its -348F temperature may seem frigid, but it’s warm enough to produce a carbon monoxide coma.
The size confirmation isn’t just about bragging rights. This finding widens humanity’s understanding of comet sizes, and adds to the still-small catalog of very distant comets. It might also provide more evidence of the Oort Cloud’s existence and, by extension, help explain the cloud’s role in Solar System development.
In January, Mercedes unveiled the Vision EQXX, an electric concept vehicle. It had a sleek exterior, active aerodynamics, and a battery pack that approached 100kWh while being lighter and taking up less volume than packs it had placed in production car…
The Twitter board isn’t willing to let Elon Musk buy the company without a fight. The board members unanimously approved a limited duration shareholder rights plan, which will be in place for one year starting today.
The rights will come into play if a single entity acquires at least 15 percent of Twitter’s outstanding common stock without the board’s approval. Should that become the case, certain shareholders will have the right to buy more stock. Flooding the market with new shares to dilute other investors’ holdings is called a poison pill strategy, and it’s designed to ward off a hostile takeover attempt.
Musk briefly became Twitter’s largest shareholder when it emerged he had quietly snapped up a 9.2 percent stake in the company. He was offered a seat on the board and if he had accepted, he would not have been allowed to build up an ownership stake of more than 15 percent. Musk turned down the board seat earlier this month, though. This week, Musk made an offer to buy the entire company for around $43 billion.
The company said in a press release that adopting the rights plan will “reduce the likelihood that any entity, person or group gains control of Twitter through open market accumulation without paying all shareholders an appropriate control premium or without providing the Board sufficient time to make informed judgments and take actions that are in the best interests of shareholders.” In other words, the move will make it harder for Musk to take his buyout offer directly to shareholders and acquire their stakes in piecemeal fashion.
Twitter says the plan is similar to one carried out by other publicly traded companies that have been subject to a non-binding acquisition proposal. Notably, the rights plan doesn’t prevent Twitter from accepting a buyout offer if it believes that’s in the best interest of its shareholders.
Musk claimed in his buyout offer Twitter has “extraordinary potential” and that he would “unlock it.” During a TED Talk just hours after making the proposal, Musk argued that Twitter’s algorithm should be open source, “so anyone can see […] there’s no sort of behind-the-scenes manipulation, either algorithmically or manually.” He also suggested he’d err on the side of having less moderation and expressed reservation about issuing permanent bans to users who break the rules.
A number of gadgets remain on sale as we head into the holiday weekend. Apple’s latest AirPods remain $30 off and down to $150, and you can pick up the AirPods Pro for $175. Certain colors of the Apple Watch Series 7 are on sale for as low as $313, plus you can save on a bunch of Surface devices in Microsoft’s spring sale. Finally, Amazon has discounted its regular Kindle to $55 while also slashes prices of its Fire tablets. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
AirPods (3rd gen)
Billy Steele/Engadget
Apple’s newest earbuds are close to their record-low price right now. You can grab the third-gen AirPods for $150, or $30 off their normal rate. We gave them a score of 88 for their improved design, much better audio quality and longer battery life.
Apple’s AirPods Pro are back on sale for $175, which is 30 percent off their normal price. We gave them a score of 87 for their improved fit, good audio quality and solid ANC.
Both Amazon and Walmart have the entry-level iPad for $309 right now, or $20 off its normal price. We gave the slab a score of 86 for its improved performance, excellent battery life and Center Stage-capable front cameras.
Many color options of the 41mm Apple Watch Series 7 are down to $330, or $70 off their normal price. The green model is even cheaper, coming in at $313. We gave the wearable a score of 90 for its bigger screen, faster charging and handy watchOS 8 features.
You can pick up the Mac Mini M1 desktop for $570, which is an all-time-low price, thanks to a $99 coupon that’s automatically applied at checkout. It runs on an eight-core CPU, eight-core GPU, a 16-core Neural Engine, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It’s a good option if you want a relatively new desktop that won’t take up too much space on your desk.
Through April 21st, you can save hundreds on Surface devices, Xbox games and more in Microsoft’s spring sale. The Surface Laptop Go is up to $200 off, so you can grab the model with a Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for $700.
Amazon’s regular Kindle is down to $55, which is $35 cheaper than usual. You can also pick up the Kids Edition for $65 instead of the usual $110. While the latest Paperwhites have a lot of bells and whistles, the standard Kindle remains a good option for those on a budget.
A number of Fire tablets are on sale right now, including the Fire HD 8, which is down to $50. The larger Fire HD 10 has also been discounted to $100, which is $50 off its normal rate. These slabs are good options for those that want a basic, lightweight device for travel or doing things like online shopping and checking email from your couch.
iRobot’s Roomba j7+ and s9+ are $200 off at Wellbots right now when you use the code ENGMOM200 at checkout. These are some of the company’s most powerful robo-vacs: the j7+ has a convenient “poop-detection” feature while the s9+ has the strongest suction power of any Roomba. Both also come with clean bases, which allow the robots to automatically empty their bins after each cleaning job.
Amazon’s smart thermostat is back on sale for $48, which is 20 percent off its regular price. The Energy Star-certified device uses Honeywell’s Home Thermostat tech to help you save on energy costs — and, like other Amazon devices, it works with Alexa so you can use voice commands to control the temperature in your home.
Both Google’s standard Nest Thermostat and the more advanced Learning model remain discounted right now. You can pick up the regular version for $119, while the Learning Thermostat is still on sale for $200. They share most of the same features, but you’ll get a slicker design, a higher-res display and the ability to connect with Nest Temperature Sensors with the Learning model.
The latest Chromecast with Google TV is $10 off at Walmart and Best Buy, bringing it down to $40. We gave the compact streaming device a score of 86 for its solid remote control, good Google Assistant integration and support for 4K content with Dolby Vision and Atmos.
You can get a $5 promotional credit when you buy a $50 Apple gift card at Amazon when you use either the code APPLEDEAL or APPLEAPRIL at checkout. The promotional credit can be used on future Amazon purchases, and while it’s not a huge credit, it’s more than what we usually see attached to Apple gift cards.
The Elite 7 Active earbuds are 17 percent off and down to $150 right now. These are some of Jabra’s newest buds and they have a special “ShakeGrip coating” that helps keep the buds in place during sweaty workouts. Plus, the elite 7 Active support adjustable ANC, HearThrough technology and four microphones for better call quality.
Through April 17th, you can get 15 percent off at Satechi when using the code EASTER15, and for orders of $100 or more, they’ll up it to 20 percent with the code EASTER20. Now’s a good time to pick up a new keyboard, mouse, USB-C hub or other accessory while you can get it for less.
NordVPN’s latest deal lets you save 51 percent off the price of a two-year subscription, so you’ll pay only $96 for that time period. After the first two years, the price goes up to $99 per year. NordVPN is one of our favorites thanks to its speed, its no-logs policy, the thousands of servers it has to choose from and that one account supports up to six connected devices.
Update 4/17/22: Amazon is now matching the sale prices on the Roomba j7+ and the Roomba s9+.
If you missed the last sale on iRobot’s latest robot vacuums, you’re in luck. Both the Roomba j7+ and the Roomba s9+ are $200 off at Wellbots when you use the code ENGMOM200 at checkout. That brings them down to $599 and $799, respectively, which are both close to the best prices we’ve seen on both vacuums.
The newer of the two is the Roomba j7+, which came out at the end of last year. It’s technically not as powerful as the s9+, but it has new AI-driven computer vision technology that helps it detect objects and move around them as it cleans. Because of that, iRobot dubbed this their “pet-poop detecting” robot, and the company even has the Pet Owner Official Promise (or P.O.O.P. for short), which states that you’ll get a new vacuum if the one you bought fails to avoid accidental pet poop in your home.
The Roomba j7+ isn’t the most powerful vacuum in the company’s lineup, but it does have 10x the suction power of a standard Roomba, plus smart mapping, dual multi-surface brushes and more. The “plus” model also comes with a clean base into which the robo-vac will automatically empty its dustbin after each cleaning job.
The Roomba s9+, on the other hand, is the top-of-the-line vacuum from iRobot, and it has 40x the suction power of the standard models, a 3D sensor for object detection and a design that helps it clean room corners more easily. Both it and the Roomba j7+ are compatible with Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Assistant, so in addition to controlling them from the iRobot mobile app, you can also tell them to clean up your home using voice commands.
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Samsung’s Galaxy Chromebook 2 360 has arrived in the US market today as a 2-in-1 version of the Chromebook 2, with a price and features tailored for students. The key feature is a flip-around 2,560 x 1,600 WQXGA 12.4-inch touch display that can output 340 nits of brightness, making it decently viewable in bright sunlight. Depending on the position, that lets you use it in laptop, tent or flat tablet modes.
It’s designed to be durable and shock resistant and is relatively lightweight at 1.28 kg (about 2.8 pounds), with a relatively slim 16.9mm profile and smallish bezels. Connection-wise, you get a pair of USB Type-C, one USB 3.2 type A, a microSD slot and a headphone/mic port. For any remote learning activities, it offers a decent 720P front-facing webcam.
Samsung
The WiFi 6 feature should deliver fast connection speeds at school or in the dorm. If you want even better connectivity and have a mobile plan that allows for extra devices, you can add LTE connectivity. Samsung also offers some Galaxy-related features like Nearby Share and Phone Hub that lets you control your smartphone, even if it’s buried in a backpack.
Aside from that, the Chromebook 2 360 isn’t exactly a spec monster. It comes with 4GB of LPDDR4x RAM (8GB optional), up to 128GB of storage, an Intel Celeron N4500 CPU (with Intel UHD graphics) and a 45.5 Wh battery. Those specs are absolutely fine for Chrome OS and its ecosystem of Chrome and Android apps, however. The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 360 goes on sale today starting at $430 for the 4GB/64GB WiFi 6 model. We don’t have pricing on the LTE model yet, but it’s an £80 (about $100) upgrade in the UK.
World Quantum Day was apparently yesterday, and Google feted the occasion with the launch of The Qubit Game, as spotted by 9to5Google. Created in partnership with Doublespeak games, it’s a “playful journey to building a quantum computer, one qubit at a time,” Google said. It also hopes the game, and World Quantum Day, will help generate some interest in the field.
The game resolves around Qubits, the basic building block of a quantum computer. It’s pretty straightforward (you won’t need to learn any quantum entanglement math or physics) with the goal of increasing the number of Qubits while keeping them cool. The more Qubits you have, the more difficult it gets. Eventually, you’ll “discover new upgrades, complete big research projects and hopefully become a little more curious about how we’re building quantum computers,” wrote Google Quantum head of education Abe Asfaw.
The goal is to draw attention to quantum computing, because it seems there’s a dearth of people working in the field. To that end, Google is bringing the game to the classroom, hoping to encourage educators to talk about the subject and expand access to quantum computing research.
“We need more students pursuing careers building or using quantum computers, and understanding what it would be like to be a quantum scientist or engineer,” wrote Asfaw. “For me, that’s what World Quantum Day is all about: showing everyone what quantum computing really is and how they can get involved.”
