Month: August 2024

Enlarge / Sonos' updated app was reportedly rushed out before the release of Sonos' Ace headphones (pictured). (credit: Sonos)

Sonos' new app was launched and reviewed so poorly that the company is expecting to spend $20 million to $30 million on remediation. The Verge reported last week that high-level Sonos executives were considering relaunching the old app so users can have the functionality and stability that the update lacks. However, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence confirmed yesterday that the old app won't be re-released.

In May, Sonos launched an updated companion app for controlling its devices that was maligned for a lack of features. With users being vocal about their disappointment to lose functionality, like local music library access, sleep timers, and accessibility features, and the app seemingly being rushed out prematurely, by July, Spence had apologized for the app and promised biweekly updates to fix the software's problems.

Fixing the app and Sonos' reputation has been critical for the Santa Barbara, California-headquartered company, leading Sonos to delay two hardware launches it had planned for its fiscal Q4. In more bad news for the firm, it said last week that it would be laying off 100 people.

Enlarge / Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan arrives to testify before the House Appropriations Subcommittee at the Rayburn House Office Building on May 15, 2024 in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty Images | Kevin Dietsch )

A federal judge in Texas yesterday blocked the Federal Trade Commission's attempt to ban noncompete agreements that make it difficult for workers to change jobs or start new businesses. Judge Ada Brown in the Northern District of Texas granted a motion for summary judgment that was requested by a tax services firm and business groups such as the US Chamber of Commerce.

"The Court sets aside the Non-Compete Rule. Consequently, the Rule shall not be enforced or otherwise take effect on its effective date of September 4, 2024 or thereafter," the ruling said.

The judge wrote in a previous ruling that the FTC lacks authority to issue a rule banning noncompete agreements and granted a preliminary injunction. But that previous ruling only postponed the effective date of the rule as it applied to the plaintiffs, whereas yesterday's order blocks the FTC rule entirely.

Enlarge / Ford hoped to build 600,000 EVs a year by now, a mix of Mustang Mach-E crossovers, E-Transit vans, and F-150 Lightning pickups. This year, sales are up 71 percent so far; by the end of June, Ford had sold almost 45,000 EVs. (credit: Ford)

Ford has scrapped plans to build some big three-row electric SUVs and is revising its North American electrification roadmap, the company announced this morning. The automaker, which comes in at a distant second to Tesla in the US electric vehicle sales charts, says the focus will now be on cheaper, more efficient EVs, including some new commercial vehicles. Those big SUVs will still show up at some time, but they'll be hybrids, not fully electric.

Ford has never been afraid to tear up an existing plan, particularly when it comes to EVs. The Mustang Mach-E was supposed to be a much more boring compliance car until an internal skunkworks called Team Edison came up with the idea of a crossover that could only be a Ford in 2017.

But it also had big ambitions for its EVs. It created a new division, called "Model e," to be responsible for EVs and announced it had locked up supplies for 600,000 EV batteries a year from 2023. In addition to the midsize Mach-E crossover, it created a fully electric version of its best-selling F-150 pickup truck and an electric E-Transit van.