200 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
Skip to main content

Richard Lawler

Richard Lawler

Senior News Editor

Senior News Editor

    More From Richard Lawler

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    The New York Times reports Elon Musk’s personal lawyer no longer works for Twitter.

    Since Elon Musk took over Twitter his personal lawyer and one-time The Hoop Collective podcast guest Alex Spiro — who defended him in the “pedo guy” trial — was leading legal and policy matters, but not anymore.

    The NYT cites six people who said Musk was unhappy with some of Spiro’s moves, including holding over Twitter deputy general counsel James A. Baker. This became an issue when Musk apparently realized the former FBI lawyer was a part of reviewing the documents in his prized Twitter Files leak.

    As a side note, the NYT reports Musk’s cost-cutting continues. More execs are out, the kitchen staff was laid off, items like office supplies and electronics are going up for auction and Musk isn’t paying the rent for its HQ, where some engineers sleep.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Green light.

    Things are already moving rapidly this morning. Elon’s Twitter Blue is back, and it’s even changed the check marks to yellow on some business profile pages.

    Meanwhile, Sam Bankman-Fried is in custody, and today we’ll learn more about how much trouble he’s in from the charges filed and testimony in front of Congress that starts in a few minutes.

    Finally, clean fusion might be closer to becoming a real thing? We’ll also find out more about that in just a moment.

    Oh, and there’s one other video preview set for noon ET that you may want to watch.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Star Wars beats to chill/study to.

    If something is popular, then The Brands will follow, and so it goes for “lo-fi” streaming music, which exploded in popularity during the pandemic.

    The Star Wars YouTube channel is filling out a playlist of selections, and Starkiller Base Holiday is good enough to make the cut on any Bandcamp Friday. Disney isn’t the first media company to make the leap, though, Riot launched a lo-fi League of Legends album last year.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Green light.

    We’ve got AMD’s new GPU on the test bench, and the pre-CES 2023 news is starting to flow. There’s also a rumor about a major breakthrough in fusion energy, and we’re looking into that, but for now, here are a few stories you might have missed.

    Google enabled support for passwordless passkeys in Chrome 108.

    The big crypto group exchange leader chat that may or may not exist.

    The deadlines you’ll need to know to get holiday gifts shipped on time.

    The new Twitter Blue subscription is coming back online today.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    The boos that cost $44 billion.

    If you weren’t at the Dave Chappelle / Chris Rock comedy show in San Francisco on Sunday night, then you missed this event. Chappelle brought Elon Musk on stage, only for Twitter’s billionaire owner to receive so many boos he couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

    Presumably, this isn’t the reception Musk usually gets on the 10th floor of the Twitter HQ from any of the software engineers who still work there.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Green light.

    Elon Musk still wants attention while SBF will talk to anyone who asks, including Congress, and the big Game Awards winner is a flautist who is, surprisingly, not Lizzo.
    Here are a few stories you might have missed:

    The Game Awards had a lot of news, but we have the highlights for you, including Idris Elba in Cyberpunk 2077 DLC, a new Armored Core game by FromSoftware, and a new peek at the Super Mario Bros. movie.

    We’re probably not ready for the “capability overhang” of AI.

    Google is trying to cut costs when it comes to operating bot Waze and Maps.

    And Amazon is the latest tech company to copy TikTok.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    From YouTube to HBO: here’s the trailer for Channel 5’s January 6th documentary.

    HBO will present This Place Rules, the report by gonzo-style journalist Andrew Callaghan of an RV journey through America in the months leading up to the mob attack on the US Capitol, on December 30th — here’s the trailer.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Green light.

    Say hello to a long-legged Symfonisk and a deadline for phones to use USB-C in the EU.

    Tonight we’ll be covering The Game Awards, which are scheduled to begin at 7:30PM ET.