Month: October 2023

Enlarge / FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr arrive to testify during a House committee hearing on March 31, 2022 in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty Images | Kevin Dietsch )

The Federal Communications Commission today voted to move ahead with a plan that would restore net neutrality rules and common-carrier regulation of Internet service providers.

In a 3-2 party-line vote, the FCC approved Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which seeks public comment on the broadband regulation plan. The comment period will officially open after the proposal is published in the Federal Register, but the docket is already active and can be found here.

The proposal would reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service, a designation that allows the FCC to regulate ISPs under the common-carrier provisions in Title II of the Communications Act. The plan is essentially the same as what the FCC did in 2015 when it used Title II to prohibit fixed and mobile Internet providers from blocking or throttling traffic or giving priority to Web services in exchange for payment.

Enlarge / A box of Paxlovid, the Pfizer antiviral drug. (credit: Getty | Europa Press News)

Pfizer on Wednesday revealed that it raised the list price of a course of Paxlovid—its life-saving antiviral drug used to reduce risk of severe COVID-19 in those most vulnerable—to nearly $1,400, more than double the roughly $530 the US government has paid for the treatment in the emergency phase of the pandemic.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla had noted in an investor call at the beginning of the week that the company would increase the price of Paxlovid as it moves from government distribution to the commercial market at the end of this year. But, he did not announce the new list price then. Instead, the company revealed the more than two-fold increase in a letter to pharmacies and clinics dated Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the list price of $1,390 after viewing the letter.

A Pfizer spokesperson told the Journal that "pricing for Paxlovid is based on the value it provides to patients, providers, and health care systems due to its important role in helping reduce COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths."

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  The OnePlus Open is super light and has a giant camera bump. [credit: OnePlus ]

OnePlus' first foldable is the "OnePlus Open," a new device that launches October 26 in the US for $1,699. This is a tablet-style foldable with a 7.82-inch, 120 Hz, 2440×2268 OLED display on the inside and a 6.31-inch, 120 Hz, 2484×1116 OLED on the front.

Size and weight are a big concern for foldables since they are a lot to carry around and fit into a pocket. OnePlus is tackling that with a very impressive 239 g weigh-in—that's less than an iPhone 14 Pro Max, which sets a high point for slab phones at 240 g. On the heavier end of foldables, we have the Pixel Fold, which has a smaller screen (7.6 inches) yet weighs 283 g. The OnePlus Open is 11.7 mm thick when folded up, another impressively compact number for foldables compared to the Pixel Fold (12.1 mm) and Galaxy Fold 4 (15.8 mm).

The battery hasn't been sacrificed to hit these compact numbers, either. At 4805 mAh, it's on par with the Pixel Fold and more than the Galaxy Fold 4 (4400 mAh). Of course, because this is a OnePlus device, it will charge faster than most other foldables, with proprietary 67 W "SuperVOOC" charging. Foldables can burn down their battery pretty quickly, but that's less of a concern when the battery charges from 1 to 100 percent in 42 minutes.

Enlarge / The Cybertruck during its 2019 debut, shortly before one of the supposedly bulletproof windows was shattered by a hammer. (credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

Tesla's unconventional electric pickup is about to go into production, according to company CEO Elon Musk. As Ars noted yesterday, Tesla's financial results for the third quarter of 2023 included the news that the company plans to begin deliveries of the Cybertruck at the end of November. But Musk also warned of probable complications ahead as his company tries to scale production.

The Cybertruck was first revealed during a chaotic presentation back in 2019. It featured an exterior design that looked like it had been sketched with Mars in mind, clad in unpainted stainless steel panels like the ill-fated DeLorean DMC12, and allegedly with bullet proof properties, all with a starting price of $39,900.

At the time, Musk promised Tesla was going to reinvent the most quintessentially American vehicle form factor. Instead of body-on-frame construction like the majority of trucks on our roads, or even a unibody construction like the Honda Ridgeline, the Cybertruck was originally going to feature a monocoque body, similar to a Formula 1 car or prototype, except made of folded stainless steel rather than carbon fiber.