Musk says Twitter must show data behind spam estimate or he’ll kill the deal

Musk replied to Twitter CEO’s spam explanation with criticism and a poop emoji.

Illustration of a chat bot on a computer screen.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Carol Yepes)

Elon Musk has cast more doubt on his willingness to buy Twitter, criticizing the company's CEO and saying the "deal cannot move forward" until Twitter provides data behind its estimate of spam accounts. Musk also said this week that renegotiating the deal at a lower price is "not out of the question."

Musk says he thinks at least 20 percent of Twitter accounts are fake or spam, while Twitter said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that fewer than 5 percent of monetizable daily active users (mDAUs) are spam or fake. Those numbers are not incompatible, as Musk seems to be talking about all accounts, while Twitter's 5 percent stat refers to accounts that are logged in and can see ads each day.

But Musk has insisted that Twitter's data is wrong, and he demanded to see proof and ratcheted up his claims in a tweet on Tuesday:

Read 12 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Star Wars content flurry confirmed: New Disney+ series, film updates

Production woes, entirely new series, casting leaks—but also major questions unanswered.

We already know plenty about the upcoming <em>Obi-Wan Kenobi</em>, launching later this month, but a lengthy feature out this week chronicles all the other Disney+ content coming soon from a galaxy far, far away.

Enlarge / We already know plenty about the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi, launching later this month, but a lengthy feature out this week chronicles all the other Disney+ content coming soon from a galaxy far, far away. (credit: Lucasarts)

When it comes to learning about new Star Wars content, there's really no beating a massive, feature-length look behind the curtain at Lucasfilm and Disney. This month's launch of the simply named Obi-Wan Kenobi series has proven a good occasion to get such a peek, thanks to a sweeping—and at times, frank—documentation of all things Star Wars from Vanity Fair.

The article primarily follows the lead actors of Disney+'s four upcoming live-action Star Wars series, though it also covers the IP's apparently rocky path away from feature-length films and toward serialized TV content (though, yes, it does get to films by the end). It includes an acknowledgment from Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy that the company's constant return to the old well, which has included a recast Han Solo and a CGI-tinged Luke Skywalker, isn't sustainable. When pressed about those attempts, she replied, "Now it does seem so abundantly clear that we can’t do that."

Put Thrawn on notice?

So while the new May 27 Obi-Wan series will return to popular characters and their original actors, the upcoming Disney+ material announced here leans toward expansions of characters who don't necessarily date back to the original 1977 film. 2023's Ahsoka will focus on the popular character from Clone Wars and reintroduced on The Mandalorian, and its premiere season will focus on a "continuous story" that will almost certainly involve the character's refrain of hunting grand admiral Thrawn.

Read 11 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Lenovo ThinkPad C14 Chromebook with Intel Alder Lake coming in June for $629 and up

Lenovo’s first Chromebook with a 12th-gen Intel Core processor in June, and it’s aimed at business and enterprise customers. The Lenovo ThinkPad C14 Chromebook is a 14 inch laptop with support for up to an Intel Core i7 vPro processor, up …

Lenovo’s first Chromebook with a 12th-gen Intel Core processor in June, and it’s aimed at business and enterprise customers. The Lenovo ThinkPad C14 Chromebook is a 14 inch laptop with support for up to an Intel Core i7 vPro processor, up to 16GB of RAM, and up to 256GB of storage. There’s also optional support for […]

The post Lenovo ThinkPad C14 Chromebook with Intel Alder Lake coming in June for $629 and up appeared first on Liliputing.

Kids 5 to 11 get FDA OK for COVID-19 booster doses

CDC is expected to review boosters later this week and endorse their use.

A boy gives a nurse a high five before receiving a shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site for 5-11 year-olds at Eastmonte Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida.

Enlarge / A boy gives a nurse a high five before receiving a shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site for 5-11 year-olds at Eastmonte Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida. (credit: Getty | SOPA)

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday authorized booster doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 through 11, the first booster dose for the age group intended to revive waning immune protection.

The authorization comes as the US continues to see COVID-19 cases rise due to the extremely transmissible omicron coronavirus subvariants, specifically BA.2 and BA.2.12.1, which now account for an estimated 51 percent and 47.5 percent of all reported cases, respectively. Transmission levels are considered high in just over 50 percent of US counties, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The seven-day average of new daily cases is nearly 96,000, up 57 percent in the last two weeks, according to data tracking by The New York Times. Hospitalizations are around 22,000, up 26 percent. Daily deaths are averaging around 300.

But some experts highlight that data on the current omicron-subvariant wave is muted because testing sites have shuttered, and many people are relying on at-home testing results that are largely not reported. Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert at Baylor College of Medicine, tweeted over the weekend that the current wave could rival that of the original omicron wave in January. He strongly urged Americans to get vaccinated and boosted and to vaccinate their children.

Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Asus ROG Flow X16 is a 4.6 pound gaming laptop with up to Ryzen 9 6900HS and RTX 3070 Ti

The Asus ROG Flow line of laptops and tablets are mobile PCs that are designed to offer desktop-class gaming performance when connected to an optional ROG XG Mobile graphics dock. But the new Asus ROG Flow X16 is a model that you could reasonably use …

The Asus ROG Flow line of laptops and tablets are mobile PCs that are designed to offer desktop-class gaming performance when connected to an optional ROG XG Mobile graphics dock. But the new Asus ROG Flow X16 is a model that you could reasonably use for serious gaming even without the graphics dock. That’s because […]

The post Asus ROG Flow X16 is a 4.6 pound gaming laptop with up to Ryzen 9 6900HS and RTX 3070 Ti appeared first on Liliputing.

Lenovo’s 16-inch ThinkPad claims desktop-like performance with 55 W Intel CPU 

Lenovo brings a new screen size, cooling system to ThinkPad P-series workstations.

Lenovo ThinkPad P16 open

Enlarge / Lenovo ThinkPad P16. (credit: Lenovo)

Lenovo is increasing the performance while shrinking the diagonal screen size of its P-series ThinkPad laptop workstation. The Lenovo ThinkPad P16 announced Tuesday aims to serve professionals with high-performance mobile needs with Intel's recently announced 12th Gen mobile HX-series processors and a taller display.

Desktop-level parts

This is Lenovo's first product to feature Intel's HX-series mobile CPUs. Announced earlier in May, the chips promise more desktop-like performance with 55 W thermal design power (TDP). We expect the chips to run faster for longer with greater power consumption and heat than the next most powerful series in the 12th Gen mobile lineup, Intel's H-series chips with 45 W TDP.

The P16 will go up to an i9 HX-series processor with eight Performance cores that can boost up to 5 GHz and eight Efficiency cores that can boost up to 3.6 GHz.

Read 10 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Sony reportedly forces Insomniac to stay silent on abortion rights

Sony agrees to match corporate donation but refuses to speak publicly on the issue.

A few of Insomniac's biggest franchises.

Enlarge / A few of Insomniac's biggest franchises. (credit: Insomniac)

Ratchet & Clank and Spider-Man developer Insomniac Games has made a $50,000 donation to the Women's Reproductive Rights Assistance Project (WRRAP), and its parent company, Sony, will reportedly match that number. But those donations come amid public silence from both companies on the contentious issue and reports of internal drama surrounding a response to the Supreme Court's reported efforts to overturn 1973's Roe v. Wade precedent.

Last week, Bloomberg reported that PlayStation President Jim Ryan sent an email to staffers urging them "to respect differences of opinion among everyone in our internal and external communities" on issues such as abortion rights. "Respect does not equal agreement. But it is fundamental to who we are as a company and as a valued global brand," Ryan reportedly continued.

That same email went on to share a more "lighthearted" and detailed story about Ryan's cats' birthdays, according to Bloomberg, a tonal disconnect that rubbed some employees the wrong way.

Read 8 remaining paragraphs | Comments