NFT Sales Plummeting; Musk Will Do Twitter IPO Next 3 Years, Charge Co’s & Gvts; Group 14’s NextGen Battery Tech Gets Cash Infusion; Apple iPad Keyboard Triggers macOS UI

Sales of NFTs, those infamous non-fungible tokens, dropped to a daily average of around 19,000 this week, a sharp dive of 92%. The Wall Street Journal notes that the peak was about 225,000 back in September. In terms of money, Forbes says sales are down from $160 million in January to $26 million last Thursday. The average selling price is now down to $2000. You might as well hold ‘em, ‘cause if you sell now, you are not just getting a haircut, but a full body defoliation!

He doesn’t own it yet…and still may not, but Elon Musk is planning things for Twitter. According to PCMag.com, Musk wants to charge companies and governments to use the platform, although he claims it will always be free for ‘casual users.’ Musk also wants to charge users who embed or quote Tweets from verified individuals or groups on the platform. On top of that, he has said he would probably do an IPO and take Twitter back public again within 3 years. Twitter itself is warning investors the company could face tumultuous changes once Musk takes over. On Monday, the company published an SEC filing that said Twitter could experience an exodus of employees and lose advertisers due to the merger. 

We have reported on Group 14 Technologies before. TheWashington state based company has plans to mass produce their batteries, which use a silicon-carbon composite material that can replace the graphite anodes in lithium-ion batteries….improving performance by 50% and giving users faster recharging. Now, geekwire.com says Group 14 has picked up $400 million in new capital that will help them ‘supercharge’ commercialization of their battery tech. One of the investors is Porsche AG, which plans to use them to power some of their EVs. Group 14 says they have some 40 different customers, so it appears they will have huge demand once they are ramped up. 

It is always best to not that Apple patents lots of stuff that never sees the light of day, but here’s one that is pretty interesting. 9to5mac.com says there is a patent that describes an iPad accessory keyboard that triggers an macOS-like UI when it is connected. The male heir, who works in IT, has been predicting a blurring of Apple OS devices ever since the iPad came out, and if this keyboard actually is produced, it will take things to the next level. You can already use some iOS apps on Macs, and now a Mac-like interface on iPads? Yep, things are really merging if that happens. In the patent drawings, Apple shows the familiar bar at the top, and tiled windows. Again, it may not happen, but if it does, the higher line iPads may flat replace the entry level MacBooks.

Facebook Dumping Podcasts, Amazon Adding Thousands More SoCal Employees; Rivian Gets Incentives for New EV Plant in GA; Android Firefox Now Auto Switches Sites to HTTPS

After just about a year, Facebook is killing off their podcast business. They will pull the plug after June 3rd, according to bloomberg.com. The social net will also end their short-form audio feature, SoundBites. Facebook has been really pushing its reels feature, feeling the heat from TikTok, which is exploding and remains the top downloaded social app in the world. In addition to the short videos, Facebook plans to push online shopping and metaverse events. Note that while the company’s killing off podcasts and Soundbites, it’ll integrate Live Audio Rooms (for hosting Clubhouse-like chats) into Facebook Live, allowing users to decide whether to go live with just audio or streaming video, too. 

Amazon has announced that they are adding 2,500 corporate and tech jobs in several of its Southern California locations. Geekwire.com reports that 1,000 of the jobs will be at their new office space in Santa Monica. Those hires will be brought on next year. There are going to be 800 more positions in Irvine, and another 700 in San Diego. Roles include software development, engineering, game design, user experience and more across such Amazon teams as retail, games, operations and Amazon Web Services.

EV maker Rivian, which is building EVs in their Illinois factory, has secured about a billion and a half worth of incentives for its planned second EV plant in Georgia. Electrek.co says the new plant is expected to cost about $5 billion. It will be a massive plant, running some 20 million square feet in the buildings, and they will also build a test track and adventure trail. Since Rivian had planned to start construction in summer of 2022 and to be building cars by 2024, things are right on track to meet that goal. 

For the 100th version of Firefox, Mozilla has added HTTPS-only connections for all websites you hit, provided they have HTTPS. According to androidcentral.com, the new release will also add an option to organize your browsing history on Android and iOS. The new Android mobile browser also has also picked up new wallpapers. BTW, the wallpapers will also be available on iOS late this week. On desktops, Firefox is adding subtitles and captions to picture-in-picture mode. This comes in handy, particularly for users with hearing impairments. The feature will initially work with Youtube, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and other websites that support WebVTT format.

Meta Planning 4 AR/VR Headsets; More Pixel Watch; Apple Watch Getting Body Temp Sensor; Former TikTok Exec Launches Dating App

Meta apparently has four…count ‘em….four AR/VR headsets in the works, and is shooting to release all of them by 2024. The Information reports that the one Meta has teased as Project Cambria is being described as a ‘Chromebook for the face.’ Apparently it will have “high-resolution image quality for reading text, with the idea that people can use it to send emails or code.” Its mixed reality nature also means that the external cameras can be activated to view your surroundings (“full color pass-through”) with similar resolution. The price target is $799. Meta sees this device as eventually replacing your laptop or work setup. A second iteration of the Cambria dubbed Funston is planned for 2024. The company is also working on a less pricey Quest headset, which is code named Stinson and Cardiff. Those rigs are planned for next year and 2024. Google is expected to release its first mixed reality headset (Project Iris) in 2024, and who knows when Apple will roll theirs out…so the next couple years could see a bumper crop of mixed reality headsets hitting the market. 

While a lot has already leaked out about the upcoming Pixel Watch, here are a couple more leaked details. According to 9to5google.com, the watch will have a 300 mAh battery and will also have cellular connectivity. The latter may not be on all three models, that’s unclear. For comparison, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 has a 247 mAh battery. That watch touts a 40 hour run time, so the Pixel should have no trouble making it through the day on a charge. The big detail still unknown….how much will the Pixel Watches sell for. We will probably know more later this month as Google holds I/O.

It may not get the golden fleece blood sugar measurement or even blood pressure, but it looks like the Apple Watch Series 8 may get body temperature sensing if the algorithm pans out. Appleinsider.com notes that getting a core body temp reading is more tricky than you would think…that’s why most doctor offices or hospitals still use under the tongue or ear instruments. Your skin temperature can vary quickly depending on outside elements. Apple had wanted to announce the feature in the Watch 7, but didn’t think it was good enough. Samsung is reported to be working on a temperature sensing feature too, and grappling with the same issues.

Alex Hoffmann, former president of musical.ly (now TikTok) has dropped a dating app. Techcrunch.com says that Hoffmann had just intended to be an investor after ByteDance Bought musical.ly 4 years ago, but couldn’t resist getting back to making apps. He notes that most apps and platforms have multiple products (think Meta with Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp), so founded a company called 9count. So far, they have made Everland, Helpline, and a friend making app called Wink, which has attracted several million users. Now, its a dating app called Spark. Unlike a lot of dating apps, there’s no swiping left or right…you see a grid of people who have some proximity to you…rather like Grindr. With Spark, though, you can only get messages from someone if you have both ‘sparked’ (or liked) each other. Messages on Spark go ‘poof’ and disappear after 24 hours. Its subscription based…$19.99 a month, with a small discount for either 3 or 12 months in advance. Hoffmann uses AI moderation tool Hive to try to keep NSFW stuff from profiles. They also field a 24/7 trust and safety team.

Alphabet Misses Q1 Earnings, Fitbit Gets Irregular Heart Rhythm Notifications; Fidelity Will Allow Bitcoin in 401(k)s; Leak-Facebook Has Little Insight re How User Data Handled

Alphabet whiffed as far as first quarter earnings, as noted in their earnings call yesterday. According to androidcentral.com, They hauled in $68.01 billion in revenue, which is under the $68.11 they were projected to hit. They were also down from the $75 billion the previous quarter (the holiday quarter though). That said, Q1 2022 is up 25% year over year. Also noted during the call, CEO Pichai noted how YouTube Shorts, the company’s TikTok competitor, accumulates 30 million daily views while viewers consume more than 700 million hours of YouTube content every day. Although They don’t release Pixel sales, Pichai said the Pixel 6 is the ‘fastest selling Pixel ever’ and he teased hardware announcements coming up in Google I/O next month. One is no doubt the Pixel Watch, a prototype of which was left in a restaurant…as we covered earlier this week.

After getting clearance from the FDA, Fitbit is rolling out irregular heart rhythm notifications on some of its devices. 9to5google.com reports that 9 Fitbit products, including the Sense and Charge 5 will passively send notifications when signs of Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) are detected. The technology that powers these notifications on Fitbit is similar to what is used for electrocardiogram (ECG) readings but doesn’t require quite as much hardware. Rather, they rely on Fitbit’s PPG (photoplethysmography) algorithm, which the company claims is 98% effective at detecting these conditions compared to a traditional ECG machine.

By Summer, Fidelity is going to start allowing what they are calling legible individuals to invest up to 20% of their 401(k) in Bitcoin. According to theverge.com, employees will only be able to do this if their employer signs off on the option. Apparently, this is just a start of a dive into crypto. Fidelity head of workplace retirement offerings and platforms Dave Gray told the Wall St Journal they would add support for other cryptocurrencies at some point. Meanwhile, the Department of Labor has warned fiduciaries about offering options to invest in crypto, pointing out that this kind of investment presents “significant risks and challenges to participants’ retirement accounts, including significant risks of fraud, theft, and loss.”

Facebook is reportedly unable to account for much of the personal user data under its ownership, including what it is being used for and where it’s located, according to an internal report leaked to Motherboard. engadget.com says the report was put together by engineers on Facebook’s privacy engineers on its Ad and Business Product team last year.  Facebook’s main obstacle to tracking down user data appears to be the company’s lack of “closed-form” systems, the report states. In other words, the company’s data systems have “open borders” that mix together first-party user data, third-party user data and sensitive data. A former Facebook employee who spoke anonymously to Motherboard said the question of where data goes inside the company is “broadly speaking, a complete shitshow.” A Facebook spokesperson denied to Motherboard that the company is not currently complying with privacy regulations.

TikTok Most Downloaded; $2.5 Million NFTs Stolen; Hawaiian Will Offer Free In-Flight Starlink; Internet Reaches 63% of Humans

The winnah is….TikTok. The app was the #1 most downloaded app in the 1st quarter of this year. According to techcrunch.com, Sensor Tower has released its ‘Store Intelligence Data Digest’ report showing TikTok hitting 175 million downloads the first 3 months of 2022. TikTok has now passed 10 million downloads, over the past 9 quarters. For comparison, YouTube has passed 10 million downloads over the last 8 quarters. No app has had more downloads than TikTok since 2018, when WhatsApp racked up 250 million world downloads. 

A hacker has snagged $2.5 million worth of Board Ape Yacht Club NFT’s. Cnet.com reports that the thief got into the NFT brand’s Instagram account and put up a link to a phony air drop, which would give existing Bored Ape holders a free allotment of land in the upcoming Otherside metaverse. But the link included in the post was a phising scam. People who opened it and connected their crypto wallet had their Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs stolen. OpenSea, the biggest NFT marketplace, has put a “suspicious activity” label on the stolen goods, but no one can actually stop the NFTs from being sold. The hacker has already offloaded several on LooksRare, another NFT marketplace. It sucks for the owners, but you have to kind of laugh at the thought of a virtual pawn shop or virtual fence taking stolen virtual property!

You may be one of the folks who can’t stand to not be either working or online surfing while flying. With most airlines charging fees to connect, I have chosen to do without. Now, zdnet.com says Hawaiian Airlines will offer free in-flight connectivity using Starlink. Starlink is a division of SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space company. Hawaiian says installation in the aircraft will start next year. They say the service will be ‘seamless,’ and will not have registration or payment pages to access. 

According to DataReportal’s new Digital 2022 April Global Aftershot report (in conjunction with We Are Social and Hootsuite), there are now more than 5 billion people on earth using the internet. That is 63% of all humanity online! Smartphones account for about 4 out of 5 of the mobile handsets in use now. As for social media, 4.65 billion is the user tally, which is 58.7% of the world population. If you leave out 13 years old and under (which is the age most social nets have for a lower limit), roughly 3/4 of the population uses social media. THAT is some kind of reach!

Musk-ization of Twitter; Owning in Metaverse; Pixel Watch Coming; iPhone AND Apple Watch May Get Emergency Sat Connectivity

Things could still fall apart, but on the other hand, by the time you read this, Elon Musk’s deal could be set to buy Twitter for $43 billion. Reuters.com reports that the board started working with him on the deal Sunday morning, and apparently they worked through the night. The board may already have recommended the $54.20 per share deal to shareholders…again, by the time you read this. Although the deal doesn’t contain a ‘go-shop’ allowing Twitter to fish for a better deal, if one came along, they could take it and pay Musk a break-up fee. Twitter was up 5.4% as these words are written. Musk, a prolific Twitter user, has said it needs to be taken private to grow and become a genuine platform for free speech. Critics believe he is more concerned with HIS free speech than that of any other users.

UPDATE (Well, that didn’t take long): https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-25/elon-musk-clinches-deal-to-take-twitter-private-for-44-billion?sref=HQB7G2wY&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_medium=social&utm_content=business

In an interesting piece from thenextweb.com, some thoughts for those purchasing items in the ‘metaverse.’ The article notes that you have to agree to the end user license agreement of the platform you are purchasing through. (Like anyone reads those purposefully impenetrable documents!) Unlike the blockchain itself, the terms of service for each metaverse platform are centralized and are under the complete control of a single company. This is extremely problematic for legal ownership. 

The problem for buyers is that under the terms of service, the NFTs purchased and the digital goods received are almost never one and the same. NFTs exist on the blockchain. The land, goods and characters in the metaverse, on the other hand, exist on private servers running proprietary code with secured, inaccessible databases. Here’s an example from thenextweb article: ‘…one day you might own a $200,000 digital painting for your apartment in the metaverse, and the next day you may find yourself banned from the metaverse platform, and your painting, which was originally stored in its proprietary databases, deleted. 

Strictly speaking, you would still own the NFT on the blockchain with its original identification code, but it is now functionally useless and financially worthless.’ In other words, caveat emptor….buyer beware!

Not just a leak…someone left what is apparently a prototype Pixel Watch in a restaurant in the US (the location of which is being withheld for now. Androidcentral.com says the watch has a minimalist design, with just a crown and one hidden button. It also sported proprietary Google bands. No charger was found, but it appears it may have Qi wireless charging. Rumors have Google announcing a watch at Google I/O next month. The watch didn’t fully boot up, but did get to a ‘G’ logo screen. The Pixel Watch will reportedly use and Exynos chipset when it drops. 

According to Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, the rumor that iPhone may be getting emergency satellite connectivity may be true, and could be in the phones this fall. Not only that, but the Apple WATCH might also get it…either this fall or in 2023. We have reported on this before, and need to stress that is isn’t making either into a satellite phone. The feature is for reporting emergencies or sending a short emergency text to emergency contacts when you are out of cellular range. It looks like the deal will be with Satellite operator Globalstar. In February, Globalstar said it reached an agreement to buy 17 new satellites to help power “continuous satellite services” for a “potential”—and unnamed—customer that had paid it hundreds of millions of dollars. Is that customer Apple? We’re probably less than six months from finding out. 

Netflix Stock Takes Hit; More Musk & Twitter; Whole Foods Austin Getting Palm Scanning Tech; Google Shows Air Quality Now in US, India, & Victoria

At last check Netflix was down 37%, a big hit. Bloomberg reports that the drop is largely due to a loss in subscribers, the first drop in over 10 years. The platform has lost some 600,000 subscribers in the latest quarter. A couple reasons have been given for this. One, and most obvious, is that Netflix raised prices. Another reason, which has a number of subscribers hopping mad, is that Netflix is looking to introduce a lower price tier that includes ads. The lack of ads has been one thing that set Netflix apart from others like Hulu, Disney, and HBO. Netflix seems to be taking an ‘everybody’s doing it’ attitude. Analysts have noted lately that even Disney has seen big growth then loss of subscribers, and that subscriber ‘churn’ may just be becoming a fact of life of these entertainment platforms. 

A number of articles are out, pundits are ‘punditing,’ and everyone is speculating on Elon Musk’s offer to buy Twitter…which after the board adapted a ‘poison pill,’ is widely expected to be turned down. Yahoo.com talked to Georgetown University Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Urska Velikonja. She pointed out that “It’s not actually a firm commitment to buy all shares of Twitter. It’s just, sort of, a notice that ‘I’m interested in buying all of Twitter.'” 

The professor notes that one way Musk could make a deal and buy would involve partnering with financing sources like Apollo Global or Morgan Stanley…but that would delete his own power in running Twitter. He might not be willing to go for that. Another option involves a tender offer, where shareholders would be able to directly sell their stock to Musk at the price he offered. Again, there is a down side. First, Musk is limited by Tesla (as well as probably the SEC) in how much of that stock he could sell to get cash to buy the Twitter shares. Secondly, he could borrow against his Tesla stock, but again pledging stock would dilute his power over Tesla plus put him under the thumb to some degree to the lenders, Then, of course, the poison pill can push the cost up substantially. 

In a comment that won’t thrill Musk, the professor said  “This is, perhaps, a pastime for Elon Musk. It’s fun. He’s got nothing else to do. He loves Twitter, clearly, and he wishes Twitter were doing something else. So this is perhaps his way of doing so.”

Amazon’s One-Palm scanning tech is coming to Whole Foods Markets in Austin, Texas. Note, that this is NOT the full ‘just walk out’ tech. Cnet.com says it is adding one store now, and will add 6 more in the region in the near future. While it’s not just walk out, you can simply wave your hand over the palm reader, and won’t need to pull out a credit card, debit card, or cash to pay. Amazon One is already available in Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go locations in California, Colorado, New York, Texas and Washington, DC. The rollout in Austin will make it the second region where every store has the option of Amazon One, after the Seattle area.

Google has started showing AQI…air quality index info to Nest Hub and other Smart Display users. Now, you can search ‘air quality’ and check your current or other locations, in the US, India, and Victoria, Australia. According to 9to5google.com, Each entry can be expanded for a text description of what healthy conditions are and to see when it was last updated, as well as the specific provider. Apple’s weather app on the iPhone has shown AQI in the US for a while now, so expect Google to add the feature to its app on Android, and its widgets. 

GPUs Back in Stock-and Cheaper; iPhone 14-Selfie Cam Upgrade; Apollo May Act as Lender in Twitter Takeover Bid; Sega Super Game Project

They have been hard to find and carried premium pricing for white a while now, but at long last, Nvidia and AMD GPUs are getting back in stock, and the prices are falling. Theverge.com reports that some have dropped from $2505 last March down to $1569 now. Some were priced up double or triple list price, but the cards are down about 30% across the board in the last 3 months. Some are still commanding a $200 to $300 premium, but that’s a far cry from the last year or two. Gamers and coin miners will be looking to upgrade before long at these prices…albeit after they have recovered from the tax man’s bite! 

The rear cams on phones get all the attention and glory, but a lot of people (we all know some, LOL) shoot tons of selfies with the front cam. Now, 9o5mac.com says Ming-Chi Kuo is expecting Apple to upgrade the selfie cams on all the upcoming iPhone 14 models. Quoting Kuo: ‘The front camera of four new iPhone 14 models in 2H22 would likely upgrade to AF (autofocus) & about f/1.9 aperture (vs. iPhone 13’s FF (fixed-focus) and f/2.2). AF support and a lower f-number can provide a better shallow depth-of-field effect for selfie/portrait mode. In addition, AF can also enhance the focus effect for FaceTime/video call/live streaming.’ Translated into non-camera geek language, that means you would get better Portrait and Cinematic shots, as well as better low light selfies. I’m expecting to see a flood of new selfies from the aforementioned selfie kings and queens a month or two after the iPhone 14 models hit this September!

Reports picked up by CNBC have Apollo Global Management in discussions about financing a potential takeover of Twitter. It isn’t clear that they are interested in backing Elon Musk’s proposed deal, but might do one with another suitor. They are apparently not interested in being a piece of a private equity consortium, but would want to be involved in the form of preferred equity. Considering the poison pill Twitter put in place last week, it looks pretty likely that the board will reject Musk’s offer. 

Sega’s Super Game Project apparently has a big budget reboot of Crazy Taxi in the works…which might be out in the next 3 years. Engadget.com reports that the Super Game project involves a series of AAA titles leveraging cloud gaming and, deep sigh, NFTS. Late last year, Sega announced that it was teaming up with Microsoft’s Azure cloud division to help produce large-scale “global games.” In addition to Crazy Taxi, look for Sega to rework powered up versions of Jet Set Radio, Panzer Dragoon and Virtua Fighter.

How Twitter’s Edit Button Might Work; MS Looks to Bring Ads to Free-to-Play Xbox Games; Apple iPhone 15 Periscope Telephoto; Developer Shortage Due to Great Resignation

A big noise made by Elon Musk as he bought stock in Twitter, then made a take over offer revolved around getting an edit button. Techcrunch.com reports that after Musk’s buy in and posting of a survey, Twitter admitted that it actually has been working on an Edit button for some time…and such a button has been a top request of users. Twitter had said that it was taking care to ensure the Edit button would not be able to be misused by bad actors looking to “alter the record of the public conversation” after the fact. Right now, the in-development button would be accessed by a three dot menu at the upper right of your tweet. From this menu today, you can do things like delete a tweet or pin it to your profile, among other things, so this would be a natural place to correct a tweet, as well. At least at this point, the button doesn’t seem to actually alter the tweet or delete it…it creates another, new tweet. This new, edited tweet would include the list of the old tweets prior to the edit. In other words, the new tweet would point to the original tweet and the edit history. Actually, to avoid a lot of misuse and abuse, it will almost have to do something like this in the finished feature. 

Oh, joy…more ads. I can hear the excitement now. (Actually, I just hear Microsoft rubbing their collective hands together over more money coming in…) Redmond is working on a deal that would ‘let brands showcase advertisements’ within free-to-play Xbox games. According to theverge.com, the ads wouldn’t be allowed to disrupt the game…you would see an ad on a billboard in a racing game, for example. It sounds a lot like product placement in movies and TV shows, which big sponsors have paid for for decades now. Think of the Coke in a movie on the table, or a brand of cars that dominate a film. Microsoft claims it doesn’t plan to take any revenue from the ads, but they will be used to attract more developers to the platform. No revenue? If you believe that, I have a big orange bridge between San Francisco and Marin County to sell you. Look for the ads by third quarter this year. 

It won’t be on the handsets this Fall, but next year’s iPhone 15 looks certain now to have a ‘periscope’ type telephoto lens, giving it a much higher optical zoom. Optical zoom gives you a much cleaner shot when zoomed in than the electronic zoom done by software. 9to5mac.com says that Apple is planning to use LG Innotek and Jahwa to supply its periscope lenses. The iPhone 13 has a 3X optical zoom, and 10X electronic zoom in. A folded periscope lens might give it 10X optical zoom, which as noted above, is much cleaner than the electronic zoom. If you use the telephoto lens as much as I do, this is welcome news. Looking forward to the iPhone 15 in 2023.

According to a new survey of 600 CIOs and IT decision makers by SalesForce’s MuleSoft, 93% of them are saying it is harder to hire skilled developers now due to the Great Resignation. Venturebeat.com notes that the survey also found 90% of organizations say empowering more individuals across the business to integrate apps and data for themselves would significantly reduce pressure on developers and accelerate transformation. As demand for faster innovation continues to rise, today’s skill shortage is piling pressure on already-stretched teams, creating the risk of developers tapping out — and leaving businesses’ infrastructure at heightened risk.

Meta AR Glasses Progress; Apple Delays AR Headset to 2023; Bosch Snaps Up Automated Driving Startup; Musk Hit With Class Action over Twitter Buy

Despite delays and the lack of a wearable, working model, Meta is racing the clock to have Augmented Reality glasses on user faces by 2024…and a lighter more advanced version by 2026, THEN a third gen set by 2028. Theverge.com reports that the driving force is Mark Zuckerberg, who envisions AR glasses as something of a Facebook ‘iPhone moment’. Meta’s CEO also sees the devices as a way to get out from under the thumbs of Apple and Google. The AR push is called Project Nazare. They are projecting initial sales of AR headsets to be in the tens of thousands, but are shooting for the tens of millions by the end of the decade. It remains to be seen if a gadget that will no doubt sell for at least a couple thousand will hit those numbers, but thousand dollar phones are pretty common, so who knows?

On the topic of one of the above mentioned companies with heavy thumbs for Meta…namely, Apple….it appears that their mixed reality headset will not be appearing too soon. 9to5mac.com notes that both Ming-Chi Kuo and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman have suggested the AR set would be out by late 2022, but a report from analyst Jeff Pu of Haitong International Securities says that the product may be delayed until the 1st quarter of 2023. It will run on an in-house designed chip, have 10 sensors, and an ‘innovative three-display configuration.’ Rumors are pointing to a wallet-crushing price of up to $3000. Apple thinks it will be able to sell a million to 1.5 million the first year. 

You may not be familiar with Robert Bosch, but if you have owned or driven a European car, you probably have been in a vehicle that uses their parts. Bosch has made fuel injection pumps and electronics for Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche, Audi, VW, and others. Now, zdnet.com says they have picked up automated driving startup Five. Bosch plans to fold Five into its already established autonomous driving project. Bosch had recently picked up digital maps firm Atlatec, and has deals with Baidu, AutoNavi, and NavInfo to develop ‘high-precision maps.’

Its not the first time Elon Musk has gotten crosswise with the SEC over stock disclosures, but now, a class action has been filed over his late disclosure of his Twitter stock acquisition. Engadget.com reports that a Twitter shareholder has filed the suit over Musk’s 11 day delay in reporting his buy to the SEC. Under securities law, Musk was required to file paperwork with the SEC by March 24th — 10 days after his stake in Twitter grew to 5 percent — but he didn’t do so until April 4th. That delay might not sound particularly significant, but it may have netted him as much as $156 million. According to the lawsuit, those gains came at the expense of other shareholders, who were not able to similarly profit. The suit alleges that shareholders were damaged by his delay, as it ‘artificially deflated’ prices. Of course, Musk has previously laughed to fines of millions, as he is worth over $200 billion…but the time it will take to mount a defense to this case and perhaps go to court will likely have more of an effect on him than any fine could.