Welcome to another edition of the Week in Review! It’s me, Matt Hanson, back to guide you through another busy week of exciting tech launches, insightful reviews and, er… controversial controversies.
This week’s news has been dominated by the drama that continues to unfold at Twitter after Elon Musk took over. As well as abruptly firing a large chunk of its workforce, Musk has also ripped up Twitter’s Blue Check verification system – rather than it being a way for people to identify official accounts of individuals and organizations, anyone can now get the Blue Check if they subscribe for $8 a month, and it’s a move that hasn’t gone down well.
Talking of problems at monolithic social media outfits, Meta, the company behind Facebook and the Oculus Quest VR headset, also announced big job cuts – and despite CEO Mark Zuckerberg doubling down on the company’s virtual reality Metaverse gamble, it looks like the teams involved with Meta’s VR endeavors have also been affected.
Troubling times, then – but there are also plenty of things to be excited about, so read on to see what’s been on my (tech) radar this week. As always, please to let me know what you think by emailing me, remembering to include 'NEWSLETTER' in the subject line – I’d love to hear from you!
Matt Hanson, Managing Editor, Computing and Entertainment
Will Elon Musk have the last laugh over his critics? (Getty Images / Carina Johansen)
I have a funny relationship with Twitter. On the one hand, I find it’s a great way to keep up with breaking news, while also sharing jokes and opinions with people all over the globe. The ability to find something in common with someone half a world away, and from a completely different background, remains one of the best things about the internet, and Twitter can be a great medium for it.
However, Twitter can also be a place where negativity and bigotry are amplified, so I find myself hating it as much as I find it useful. With Elon Musk taking over, I fear the time I spend hating Twitter is going to increase, and I don’t think I’m the only one.
Take this insightful article by my partner in Week in Review crime, Lance Ulanoff, in which he examines one of Musk’s most controversial changes to Twitter: his overhaul of the Blue Check Verification system. Allowing anyone to pay and get verified may seem like good financial sense, but it’s going to impact how useful – and trustworthy – Twitter will be.
Previously, if the verified account of a media outlet or other organization published something, you would at least know that it came from an official source. The Blue Check also enabled Twitter users to tell the difference between the many celebrities on Twitter and users who were imitating them.
Making verification a paid service blurs this line. As Lance says, “this means Twitter's existing system for identity verification is now meaningless or at least worthless. All a Blue Check will prove is that you own a phone, have a credit card.”
If you’re thinking it might be time to leave Twitter, you’ll want to check out our software writer Daryl Baxter’s suggestions for alternatives.
Microsoft is pushing users towards upgrading to Windows 11 (Shutterstock)
Despite Microsoft’s best efforts to get people to ditch Windows 10 and embrace Windows 11, a lot of people are sticking with the older operating system. While I’ve updated pretty much all of my PCs to Windows 11 (partly due to my job, and partly because I always have to have the latest version of everything), I can totally understand why other people are reluctant to budge.
Upgrading to a new operating system can be a hassle, even in 2022, and there’s always a risk that something can go wrong. If Windows 10 is running perfectly well, why would you want to change?
To be fair to Microsoft, while it would love for everyone to move to Windows 11, it’s still supporting Windows 10 – in some forms at least. But, as Will McCurdy writes for TechRadar Pro, Microsoft is killing off support for Windows 10 21H1 in December.
While that doesn’t mean that any device that has it installed will suddenly stop working, it does mean that beyond December, Microsoft won’t be providing security updates for that version. Put simply, you’ll want to upgrade to make sure your PC is fully protected.
While you can always upgrade to Windows 11 for free (as long as your device is compatible), there are also more recent versions of Windows 10 that you can upgrade to if you’re not ready to make the leap; although in my opinion it’s always worth being on the latest version of an OS, as you’ll get the latest features, and benefit from security fixes.
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The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max are set to be in short supply (Apple)
iPhone fans looking to get hold of the latest model may be in for a tough time, as a new report suggests that production could be seriously delayed due to a Covid-19 outbreak at one of the production facilities in China.
The two models most affected are the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, and if you order one right now, you may have to wait four to five weeks before getting your handset – so if you’re thinking about getting one as a Christmas present, you’ll want to get your order in ASAP (and you're also richer and/or more generous than I am).
The delays are also a stark reminder that Covid-19 is still very much with us, and that delays and stock issues with our favorite gadgets may be with us for the foreseeable future.
DirectStorage is on the way, but the games are lagging behind (Friends Stock / Shutterstock)
As I mentioned earlier in this newsletter, Microsoft is having trouble convincing people to migrate to Windows 11, and that includes PC gamers; however, a new feature could be a literal game changer. DirectStorage harnesses the power of your PC’s graphics card to speed up load times for games, and paired with a super-fast SSD, it should mean almost instant load times. As a committed PC gamer myself, the idea that I could leap into any game I want to without having to wait for the game to load is particularly exciting.
There’s a slight problem, however. Although DirectStorage is rolling out to Windows 11 users now, there are currently no games that support it. Yep, you read that right. Releasing a feature that no one can actually use is very on-brand for Microsoft, especially when it comes to PC gaming. Hopefully the situation will improve soon (the first game to support DirectStorage, Forsaken, is due out early next year), as this feature has a huge amount of potential.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens in theaters today (Marvel Studios)
The new Black Panther movie has a lot riding on it. For a start, the recent run of Marvel movies (known as Phase Four) have felt a little lackluster, so the new film needs to deliver the excitement and critical acclaim Marvel movies used to come with; if it doesn’t, the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) is in danger of no longer being the cultural juggernaut (that reminds me, when are the X-Men coming to the MCU?) it’s been for the past decade.
A much more serious issue for the movie is that the star of the first film, Chadwick Boseman, sadly passed away in 2020. So, can a blockbuster superhero flick not only revive the fortunes of its studio, but also continue without its iconic star, while also giving them a respectful send-off? It’s a tall order, but I’m pleased to see that Marvel appears to have got it right, if Tom Power’s glowing five-star review is anything to go by (and it will be – Tom has impeccable taste).
Tom’s review is spoiler-free, so do check it out – and I’ll be trying to get to the cinema ASAP.
The proof-of-concept LG Display Showcase TV (LG / Jei Design Works)
While TV display technology keeps on improving to make shows and movies on the likes of Netflix and Disney Plus look increasingly impressive, the designs of the TVs themselves haven’t strayed too far from the black rectangle look.
In a way, TV design is a lot like laptop design – the decades-old form factor works so well that there’s not much demand for a change. However, with TVs getting larger and larger, it makes sense that some people might want something a bit more aesthetically pleasing in their lounges.
I love this proof-of-concept from LG and Seoul-based Jei Design Works, which shows what the future of TVs could look like. It’s called the LG Display Showcase TV, and instead of the traditional bezels and stand that make up a typical TV, it uses a thin OLED panel that hangs between a rose metal enclosure.
It looks incredible. However, I worry enough about damage to my own OLED TV, and hanging the panel from a thin metal skeleton would do nothing for my anxiety – and I have a feeling my young daughter would become obsessed with it. I’ll stick with the old-fashioned TV design for now, thanks.
A fossilized embryo of Markuelia hunanensis, with the brain tissue shown in yellow, and shown in greater detail in the right-hand image (Xi-ping Dong et al. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220115)
As is customary for this section of the newsletter, I was browsing our sister site Live Science for some interesting (and potentially terrifying) stories to highlight for you, and I think I’ve found the greatest headline ever written: Penis worm's ancient cousin fossilized with its doughnut-shaped brain intact.
How can you not click a headline like that? Apparently, scientists have found a 500 million-year-old fossil of the Markuelia hunanensis, a distant cousin of priapulids, worm-like creatures that look like… well, let’s just say they're named after Priapus, the Greek god of male genitalia. Science (and history) is fascinating.
Joking aside, this is pretty mind-blowing. The fossil contains embryos of the creatures in their early stages of gestation, and these embryos measure just half a millimeter across. That scientists are able to find and study such tiny and ancient creatures really is impressive; this is an article that doesn’t just live up to its incredible headline, it surpasses it.
The Sign Off
I think it’s best to leave it on that note. This week has been a particularly fast-moving one in the world of tech – even as I write this sign-off, it looks like Twitter has just ditched Twitter Blue and paid-for verification, the very thing I was complaining about in the intro to this newsletter. Sigh. I’ll give Elon Musk this: life certainly hasn't been boring since he took over Twitter.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s newsletter, and do email me your thoughts – especially regarding the current drama surrounding Twitter!
Have a great weekend!
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