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In 2018, when Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified for a Senate hearing following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, his most frequent response to questions was some iteration of the evasive phrase “my team will get back to you.”

Four years later, plaintiffs in a subsequent California class action lawsuit claim that Meta’s team of designees on various topics have been just as unprepared to answer questions as Zuckerberg was before the Senate. Because of that, the plaintiffs are putting Zuckerberg back on the stand, hoping that six hours of deposing the billionaire and depositions from other high-level Meta executives will end a “long overdue discovery” process that the plaintiffs say has already dragged on too long.

“Much discovery work remains to be done,” the plaintiffs wrote this week in a joint case statement that includes a request for “approximately 35 more depositions.” In addition to Zuckerberg, former Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg will be deposed for possibly longer than five hours, and current Meta Chief Growth Officer Javier Olivan will be deposed for as long as three hours. All depositions have been scheduled through September 20, which the statement says will result in Meta missing a September 16 court deadline for discovery, dragging proceedings on further.

Enlarge / The "Frosted Black" Keychron V1 with its cable detached. (credit: Keychron)

If you love mechanical keyboards, it can be shocking to hear someone say they tried one but weren't impressed. But many keyboards designed for people new to the hobby don't do a great job of selling all the possibilities behind a mechanical keyboard. The V1 that keyboard company Keychron started selling on its site Wednesday seems to try its best to make the mechanical keyboard shine for under $100.

Keychron makes a variety of keyboards (19 models since 2017, according to this week's press release) with mechanical switches, including the advanced Keychron Q2 and the wireless, Mac-friendly Keychron K14. The wired Keychron V1, however, is a bit different. Available fully assembled or as a bare-bones kit (meaning you'll need to install your own switches and keycaps), the board is aimed at people who haven't completely fallen down the mechanical keyboard rabbit hole (if that's you, we recommend checking out our guide to mechanical keyboards).

V1 bare-bones kit. (credit: Keychron)

"Unlike Keychron’s previous keyboard models, which have slight variations to appeal to the many unique needs of seasoned mechanical keyboard users, V1 is ideal for entry-level users," Keychron's announcement said.

It's time for San Diego Comic-Con, and among the many TV shows expected to feature prominently is HBO Max's House of the Dragon, a spinoff prequel to HBO's hugely popular Game of Thrones. We had our share of disappointments with that series' later seasons (especially the series finale) like everyone else, but this new House of the Dragon trailer seems to capture the original tone and spirit that we loved so much about its predecessor.

As I've written previously, House of the Dragon is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones and chronicles the beginning of the end of House Targaryen's reign. Those events culminated in a civil war and the extinction of the dragons—at least until Daenerys Targaryen came along two centuries later. Miguel Sapochnik—who filmed some of the most eye-popping, complicated battles on Game of Thrones—serves as co-showrunner with series co-creators Martin and Ryan J. Condal. Sapochnik directed the pilot and several other episodes.

Fire and Blood, a fictional history of the Targaryen kings written by George R.R. Martin, begins with Aegon I's conquest of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, thanks to the family's advanced weaponry in the form of dragons. This is followed by a period of relative peace before the inevitable succession crisis. The final two sections of Fire and Blood deal with the fallout of that crisis and serve as the primary source material for House of the Dragon.

Enlarge / Crypto projects built on top of Minecraft, like NFT Worlds, have been left scrambling by Mojang's decision. (credit: NFT Worlds)

Minecraft will continue to be about blocks and not about the blockchain. That's according to a new official blog post from Microsoft subsidiary Mojang stressing that "integrations of NFTs with Minecraft are generally not something we will support or allow."

While players have long been able to charge for access to private Minecraft servers they control, the company's usage guidelines stress that "all players should have access to the same functionality" in those servers. That's in conflict with the main point of NFTs, which Mojang characterizes as "digital ownership based on scarcity and exclusion, which does not align with Minecraft values of creative inclusion and playing together."

Aside from those kinds of philosophical problems, Mojang also expresses concerns about "instances where NFTs were sold at artificially or fraudulently inflated prices" and situations where NFT assets "may require an asset manager who might disappear without notice." These kinds of issues mean that "some third-party NFTs may not be reliable and may end up costing players who buy them," Mojang warns.