Sean Hollister

Senior Editor

Sean HollisterNov 14, 2022

Gee, wonder why Jeff Bezos just announced he’d maybe possibly give away the majority of his fortune someday?

Could it have something to do with how the world’s-fourth-richest-man’s company is reportedly about to announce the biggest job cuts in its history, leaving 10,000 people out of work amidst crippling inflation while he sits on enough money to end hunger in the United States many times over?

Because Bezos certainly doesn’t seem to have been all that interested in philanthropy before: this is the notorious cheapskate who “donated” $200 million to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in exchange for 50-year naming rights and they can’t even take his name off if he does something despicable.

Amazon mass layoffs will reportedly ax 10,000 people this week

Chris Welch

Nov 14

Sean HollisterNov 11, 2022

Can’t update to Windows 11 22H2? Microsoft might be protecting you from a game performance hit.

Microsoft is pausing the rollout of the latest update for systems that have specific games installed, because they are “inadvertently enabling GPU performance debugging features” that might cause your games to stutter or take a hit to performance.

Frustratingly, Microsoft doesn’t say which games those are — just that it recommends you don’t upgrade until it’s fixed the problem.

Windows 11, version 22H2 known issues and notifications

[Microsoft]

Sean HollisterNov 11, 2022

Verified parody Jesus can probably keep on jeezing.

When Mario flipped Twitter the bird, it was impersonating a big brand — something Twitter wants to stop so it can get that sweet advertiser cash. Yet Elon keeps insisting parody is allowed, and what the heck is the difference? But guy’s latest tweet makes me think he’s talking about a specific kind of parody.

See, Jesus Christ has been doing this for well over a decade, and so Twitter wasn’t just going to roll Him for fun, even if making big pharma lose billions is arguably way funnier. But if Twitter gives Jesus a “Parody” badge — a la the new “Official” badge — then Elon gets to be arbiter of what is and isn’t funny. Wait, I guess that isn’t actually better?

Meta is killing Portal and both its unreleased smartwatches

Sean HollisterNov 11, 2022

Volkswagen built a Star Trek captain’s chair that goes 12mph

Sean HollisterNov 11, 2022

Resignation accepted.

We just published a full transcript of what Elon Musk told Twitter in his first full meeting with employees. But Platformer has more to add about the turmoil inside the company.

Like how John Debay, director of software engineering, has also resigned today. Or how the security governance and compliance teams have been gutted. Or how one of Twitter’s own lawyers believes employees have no obligation to return to the offices — though Musk isn’t giving them a choice.

“Basically, if you can show up in an office and you do not show up at the office: resignation accepted. End of story,” said Musk.

Inside the Twitter meltdown

[www.platformer.news]

The $50 TinyTV 2 will let you channel surf on a one-inch screen

Sean HollisterNov 10, 2022

Among Us VR is out.

Right now, it supports Quest 2 and Quest Pro, Rift and Rift S and Steam VR headsets, with PSVR2 coming later. Early reviews are good! Lots of praise for the immersive audio (built-in proximity based voice chat keeps things creepy!) while noting it doesn’t have all the maps and content of the original. Also, finding enough friends with headsets might be hard. That’s what Discord communities are for though, right?

I’m pulling to get a Verge game going this week.

Sean HollisterNov 10, 2022

So damn clean.

This is the most beautiful portable console I’ve ever seen.

It’s beyond time to Bring Transparent Gadgets Back. And not just accessories, please.

BTW, Nintendo almost made something like this.