Month: August 2021

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  Dorothy Spinner (Abigail Shapiro) confronts the Candlemaker. [credit: YouTube/HBO Max ]

The delightfully bonkers, Emmy-nominated HBO Max series Doom Patrol (based on the DC Comics of the same name) ended S2 on a maddeningly abrupt cliffhanger after production was interrupted by the pandemic. Fortunately, we'll soon be getting S3, and judging by the new teaser that just dropped, we're in for another wild, mind-bending ride.

(Spoilers for first two seasons below.)

For those who may be new to the series, Niles Caulder (Timothy Dalton), aka the Chief, is a medical doctor who saved the lives of the various Doom Patrol members and lets them stay in his mansion. His Manor of Misfits includes Jane, aka Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero), whose childhood trauma resulted in 64 distinct personalities, each with its own powers. Rita (April Bowlby), aka Elasti-Woman, is a former actress with stretchy, elastic properties she can't really control, thanks to being exposed to a toxic gas that altered her cellular structure. Larry Trainor, aka Negative Man, is a US Air Force pilot who has a "negative energy entity" inside him and must be swathed in bandages to keep radioactivity from seeping out of his body. (Matt Bomer plays Trainor without the bandages, while Matthew Zuk takes on the bandaged role.)

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

Today's Dealmaster is headlined by a handful of good price drops on various Apple devices. The entry-level iPad Air, for instance, is back down to $500 at various retailers. That equals a deal we first saw last month but nevertheless remains $100 off Apple's MSRP and tied for the best price we've tracked. If you need more storage, the 256GB model is also discounted to a joint-low of $650.

If you'd rather step up to the higher-quality hardware and M1 processor of a new iPad Pro, though, various models of those recently released slates are $100 off their standard going rates as well. Of particular note, this brings the 11-inch Pro down to $700, a price we've only tracked a couple of times before. That's still undeniably pricey for a tablet that still isn't quite capable of being a true laptop replacement for most, but as we noted in a recent Dealmaster, the Pro does give you such upgrades a brighter and smoother 120 Hz display, a faster chip, a Thunderbolt 3 port, and slightly better mics, cameras, and speakers. The Air is still likely the better value for most, as its accurate display and A14 Bionic chip are still luxurious for most tablet needs. But if money is less of an object, the Pro is a superior piece of hardware all the same.

Besides tablets, our deals roundup also has Apple's Pencil stylus for $100, which again ties the best price we've seen. It's still a convenient and accurate tool for sketching and note taking, but note that this is the second-gen model, which means it's only compatible with recent iPad Pro models and the newest iPad Air mentioned above. Meanwhile, the MagSafe wireless charger, which we've tested and recommend for iPhone 12 users, is still down to $30 at Amazon-owned Woot.

Enlarge (credit: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

For years, employers have used surveillance to keep tabs on their employees on the job. Cameras have watched as workers moved cash in and out of registers, GPS has reported on the movements of employees driving company vehicles, and software has been monitoring people’s work email.

Now, with more work being done remotely, many of those same surveillance tools are entering people’s homes. A marketing company in Minnesota forced employees to install software that would record videos of employee’s screens and even cut their hours if they took a bathroom break that was too long. A New York e-commerce company told employees that they would have to install monitoring software on their personal computers that would log keystrokes and mouse movements—and they’d have to install an app on their phones that would track their movements throughout the workday.

The situation isn’t limited to the US, either. One multinational company appears to be testing the boundaries of what’s an acceptable level of surveillance for remote workers. Teleperformance, one of the world’s largest call center companies, is reportedly requiring some employees to consent to video monitoring in their homes. Employees in Colombia told NBC News that their new contract granted the company the right to use AI-powered cameras to observe and record their workspaces. The contract also requires employees to share biometric data like fingerprints and photos of themselves, and workers have to agree to share data and images that may include children under 18.

Enlarge (credit: Joe Raedle / Getty Images)

On Sunday, District Court Judge Kathleen Williams issued a preliminary injunction that blocks the state of Florida from enforcing a law that would have blocked cruise lines from requiring their passengers provide COVID-19 vaccine records.

While this is a temporary injunction that only applies to a single company, the ruling indicates that the law violates two separate constitutional protections, and provides a roadmap for any other company that is interested in contesting it. In addition, the same legal logic may apply to many similar statutes and executive orders adopted elsewhere in the US.

Norwegian vs. the sunshine state

If a Sunday ruling seems unusual, it's because of the case's tight timeline. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which runs a number of cruise ships out of Florida, is planning on starting a cruise next weekend. The company has promised its customers that everyone—all fellow passengers and the crew—will have been vaccinated, and the company will confirm their status. While in keeping with CDC guidance and requirements at a number of locations the cruise will visit, that approach runs afoul of Florida law, specifically a statute called Section 381.00316.

Enlarge / Let's see, you landed on my "Google Ads" space, and with three houses, that'll be $1,400. (credit: Ron Amadeo / Hasbro)

Back in 2018, Google and Epic Games kicked off a years-old spat over Fortnite on the Play Store. Instead of distributing the game through Google Play, Epic decided that sideloading would be the way to get Fortnite on Android, thereby sidestepping Google's 30 percent cut of sales. Epic would go on to file an antitrust complaint against Google, and newly unsealed court documents spotted by The Verge reveal an interesting solution that Google was kicking around at the time: the company was considering buying Epic.

In the document, Epic repeatedly says Google viewed Epic's Play Store end-around as a "contagion" that could disrupt Google's walled garden, and Google "even contemplated buying some or all of Epic to squelch this threat." Epic CEO Tim Sweeney tweeted that this plan "was unbeknownst to us at the time," indicating that Google never went through with an acquisition offer. In 2018, investors were giving Epic Games a $15 billion valuation, so Google would have needed a pretty hefty offer. Today, Epic's last round of funding put its worth at $29 billion. Imagine how different things could be today if Google owned an established game developer!

Epic's antitrust complaints against Google revolve around the security, functionality, and contractual barriers it alleges Google erects around third-party app stores on Android. In order to sideload an app on Android (like a third-party app store), users have to tap through several scary messages warning them that sideloading is dangerous. Less tech-savvy users might be turned away by the high friction install process. And once installed, third-party app stores still can't update apps in the background the way Google Play can.

Enlarge / Workers perform a fit check with Starship (above) and the Super Heavy booster. (credit: Elon Musk/Twitter)

Nearly a century ago, humans built skyward for the first time at an unprecedented rate. It was the age of skyscrapers.

During the half-century before 1920, the US population doubled. At the same time, the Industrial Revolution simmered, reaching a boil as America leaned into World War I and produced the machines and material to fight in Europe. After the war, the population growth and significant gains in industrial productivity led to a dramatic rise in office space needs—from 1870 to 1920, the demand for US office space increased ten-fold.

As a result, with this high demand and cheap financing, skyscraper construction soared during the Roaring Twenties. First the 71-story Bank of Manhattan Trust Building, with 71 floors, went up in New York City. This was followed by the Chrysler Building, with 77 floors, and finally the Empire State Building, with 102 floors.