Month: November 2022

Enlarge / Elon Musk tweeted this image as his stay-or-leave ultimatum deadline passed. (credit: Elon Musk)

The situation at Twitter grew even more chaotic over the past day as all remaining employees were forced to choose whether to stay and meet owner Elon Musk's demands or leave now and take three months' severance. Musk had sent an ultimatum to staff earlier this week, saying they must commit to "working long hours at high intensity" in order to keep their jobs.

"lf you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below," Musk wrote. "Anyone who has not done so by 5pm ET tomorrow (Thursday) will receive three months of severance."

As the deadline passed yesterday, at least hundreds of employees reportedly didn't fill out the form and thus chose to leave. Twitter reportedly informed staff that it was closing all office buildings and disabling employee badge access until Monday.

Enlarge (credit: Getty | SOPA Images)

In his first public remarks since a false tweet inflamed outrage over the cost of insulin in the US, Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks defended his company's pricing—but also conceded it could be lower.

"It probably highlights that we have more work to do to bring down the cost of insulin for more people,” Ricks said of the Twitter fury.

He made his comments at an event held by Stat News this week. Eli Lilly did not respond to Ars' request for more information about what work the company will do to lower prices.

Enlarge (credit: konkrete/Getty Images)

Even before Twitter cut some 4,400 contract workers on November 12, the platform was showing signs of strain. After Elon Musk bought the company and laid off half of its 7,500 full time employees, disinformation researchers and activists say, the team that took down toxic and fake content vanished. Now, after years of developing relationships within those teams, researchers say no one is responding to their reports of disinformation on the site, even as data suggests Twitter is becoming more toxic.

The issue is particularly acute in Brazil, where a runoff presidential election between right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took place just days after Musk’s takeover. Observers and activists had warned for months that Bolsonaro’s supporters might not accept the results of the election should he lose, and could resort to violence. When Bolsonaro supporters began questioning the election results online, researchers found that Twitter had apparently fired all the people who should be monitoring the platform.

Enlarge / The Wii U launched in North America on November 18, 2012—the greatest day of all time. (credit: Nintendo)

Ten years ago today, Nintendo released the Wii U—an awkward but endearing console with a tablet-like game controller. Although it sold poorly compared to its smash-hit predecessor, Nintendo's quirky game system still holds a place in our hearts. It's a one-of-a-kind device that we may never see the likes of again.

The Wii U launched in the US on November 18, 2012. It initially shipped in a "Basic Set" for $299.99 and a "Deluxe Edition" for $349.99 that came with a copy of NintendoLand (more on that later). The console shipped in black or white color schemes with 8GB or 32GB memory versions. It was Nintendo's first HD console.

Compared to the Nintendo Wii's 101 million sales, the Wii U sold a mere 13.56 million units during its more than four-year lifespan (November 2012 to January 2017). And it moved far fewer units than the PlayStation 4 (100-plus million) and Xbox One (50 million). So many consider it a failure—but the "Big U" still kept a diehard following that endures.