Stuff Worth Knowing for the Week of October 24, 2022
Musk buys Twitter, Genshin Impact leaks big, and DC Studios gets new management.
Welcome back to Stuff Worth Knowing! Each week, I'll round up news related to tech, video games, film, television, anime, and more. At the end of each newsletter, there will be a section called On The Calendar, which will include some of those notable dates that are near-term. Oh, and I also launched my Patreon, SavePhile, where my more thoughtful musings on any topics will go.
Without further ado, let's get into the news.
Tech ⌨️
Elon Musk Buys Twitter, Immediately Fires Executives
Some thought Musk's renewed desire to purchase Twitter was the result of a legal gambit. It seems it was not. Elon Musk closed his acquisition of Twitter this week, announcing the move with a tweet. He immediately started making sweeping changes to the site, firing former CEO Parag Agrawal, former CFO Ned Segal former Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Gadde, and general counsel Edgett. (He'll still have to pay the executives millions.)
Musk announced today that Twitter would have a content moderation council with "widely diverse viewpoints." The company will need that because Twitter is a social media company and social media does require moderation. Why? Because all of the money is made via advertising, and no one wants their brand tainted by trolls and other malicious actors. The Verge's Nilay Patel has a pretty succinct essay on this point.
Why It's Worth Knowing: Twitter is one of the current pillars of social media. Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram — all owned by Meta — are much, much larger, but Twitter's reach cannot be denied. It definitely has punched above its weight, and Musk's actions will have consequences if he only does a fraction of the things he said he would.
Adobe Removes Features, Forcing Users to Pay Pantone License Fee
This is a relatively new story, but it does act as a signpost for our digital future. Earlier this morning designer and author Iain Anderson noticed that opening an Adobe PSD file with Pantone colors had those colors replaced with black. Users can get those colors back if they buy a license subscription from Pantone, costing $21 per month. And since Adobe products are currently service- and subscription-based, you can't revert the change unless you go back to a really old version of Adobe's software.
Why It's Worth Knowing: Pantone is a useful tool for artists, especially those that do print work. Pantone colors are a part of the Pantone Color Matching System, which gives specific CMYK colors a name and number so that artists will know exactly how those colors will look when printed. What Pantone provides is standardization. Before Pantone, one printer's yellow could be different from another. After Pantone, you can go to any printer, and rest assured that your printed poster will look the same.
With standardization comes control and now Pantone is looking to use that control to make some money. Adobe could eat that cost, but in its mind, why should it? Like Pantone, Adobe has control; users can't just up and leave the market standard, and most competitors simply aren't up to snuff. So artists now have to pay another $12 on top of their existing Creative Cloud subscription. Ah, the digital future is grand.
AI Imagery Steps in the Stock Image Market
Earlier this week, Shutterstock announced a stronger partnership with OpenAI, allowing users to buy AI-generated images created by DALL-E from within Shutterstock's marketplace. The partnership has been around for some time now, as OpenAI used Shutterstock's images to train DALL-E in the first place. Basically, you'll be able to spin up new images within Shutterstock, and the company has promised to compensate artists and photographers whose work was used to create the art.
In contrast, the other major stock image library, Getty Images, has banned AI-generated content. The company's CEO, Craig Peters, says the ban was there to protect its customers, those who create the art in the first place.
"There’s a lot of questions out there right now — about who owns the copyright to that material, about the rights that were leveraged to create that material — and we don’t want to put our customers into that legal risk area. There have been assertions that copyright is owned by x, y, z, by certain platforms, but I don’t think those questions have been answered," Peters told The Verge. "I think we’re watching some organizations and individuals and companies being reckless. I think that’s dangerous. I don’t think it’s responsible. I think it could be illegal.”
Apple Changes App Store Rules to Reach Meta's Ad Revenue
On Monday, Apple updated the App Store rules to classify Meta advertising boosts as in-app purchases. Boosts allow users to pay Facebook and Instagram to artificially amplify the reach of their posts. This is one way that Meta makes money on its social media sites. Twitter and TikTok do the same, but they already kicked up their cut to Papa Apple.
It's somewhat kicking Meta while it's down (see below), but honestly, this is one of those "Let Them Fight" moments. I dislike Apple's walled forest preserve — it's more than a garden at this point — but Meta isn't much better in its handling of news media and private user information, so it's a bit of a wash.
It's Numbers Season For Big Tech, and the Numbers Aren't Pretty
It's earning season for a number of companies. The last quarter has ended and it's time to tell investors how good or bad things are going. If all the layoffs weren't an indication, things are going poorly. I'm not going to cover the numbers in detail, as you can see them yourself on the investor relations sites, but here's the at-a-glance set.
Apple: Revenue up 8%, Net income mostly flat
Meta: Revenue down 4%, Net income down 52%
Microsoft: Revenue up 11%, Net income down 14%
Alphabet (Google): Revenue up 6%, Net income down 26%
Intel: Revenue down 20%, Net income down 85%
AMD will offer up its earnings on November 1, but it's unlikely that those numbers are gonna be any better.
Video Games 🎮
Genshin Impact Has a Horrible Data Leak, Including Some Personal Information
Hoyoverse is still moving from strength to strength with its releases, but Genshin Impact had a horrible week. Last weekend, there was a large data leak, covering everything in the upcoming 3.3 update and the next region scheduled for release in 2023. (Update 3.2 releases next week.) It's a huge leak for Genshin Impact with details of characters, bosses, and regions just floating around on the internet.
The community descended upon the news until one member pointed out that the leak also contained the user information of several Genshin Impact QA testers. One of the leakers removed all their tweets related to the leak after that information became public, but others have simply continued posting through it.
Nvidia RTX 4090 Power Connectors Are Melting
Nvidia has launched the flagship RTX 4090 to great fanfare from some users and great horror from others. The $1,599 card is apparently falling afoul of an engineering problem that's causing certain parts to overheat and melt. The issue stems from the new 16-pin 12VHPWR power connector, which allows the power-hungry card to feed without making your motherboard look like a mess.
After the initial series of reports on the issue, hardware site Igor's Lab figured out what was going on. Apparently, the cable that Nvidia is using has four rather thick wires inside. When the wires are bent too far near the connector, the outer set can break, forcing the entire current through the remaining wires. That's what causes the melting and overheating. Nvidia is doing further investigation on the matter.
The Callisto Protocol Won't Be Released in Japan
A few days ago, publisher Krafton and developer Striking Distance announced that The Callisto Protocol wouldn't be coming to Japan. The game was set for a release in the region, but the in-game content was apparently too much for the Japanese CERO ratings board. The likely case is that The Callisto Protocol would've been rated CERO Z, which would limit the sales of the game in Japan to those over the age of 18.
The reason behind the rating is likely the gore. Striking Distance is touting the enhanced gore and dismemberment available in The Callisto Protocol, something that's a no-go for Japanese censors. The Last of Us Part 2 actually removed dismemberment as an option for its Japanese release to get around the same issue. Other games, like Resident Evil Village, offer standard censored versions and uncensored Z versions to get around these problems. Striking Distance simply isn't willing to cut down the game for any reason, whether that's for PR purposes or purely mechanical ones.
Film, Television, and Streaming 🎞️
Disney+ Picks Up The Rights to the Renewed Doctor Who
Last Sunday marked the airing of Doctor Who's "The Power of the Doctor," the finale of Thirteenth Doctor Jodie Whittaker and showrunner Chris Chibnall's time on the show. The entire run was more missed opportunities than anything else. Now we're rounding the corner into the new regime headed up by Russell T Davies, the man who brought Doctor Who into the modern era.
According to an announcement from the BBC, new episodes of the show will be airing on BBC in the UK and on Disney+ around the rest of the world. Those new episodes won't start until late 2023, however. The older episodes will remain on HBO Max in the US, where they've been since 2019. Eventually, that contract might lapse and Disney could pick the season up, but until then, you need to have two services to watch all of modern Doctor Who.
Why It's Worth Knowing: Doctor Who has fallen a bit since Davies' revival in 2005. With Davies returning to the fold, a 60th anniversary around the corner, and a brand-new Doctor incoming, now is the time for the franchise to grow. Davies is also taking a stronger hand on the production this time and he's expressed interest in a vastly-expanded universe. And Disney knows a little something about cinematic universes.
Superhero Watch: James Gunn and Peter Safran Take Control of DC Studios
Last week, I noted that DC Films needed to find new leadership with the departure of Walter Hamada. They apparently didn't need to look very long though, as The Hollywood Reporter surprised everyone by reporting that The Suicide Squad director James Gunn and Aquaman producer Peter Safran would be leading the division together. Gunn will handle the creative side, while Safran will be the business guy.
As part of the pair taking over, DC Films has now become DC Studios. What was once the DCEU is now the DC Universe (DCU). Gunn and Safran have control over all DC-related films, television, and animation. It'll be interesting to see what the pair have in store for the brand and I have further thoughts in that direction over on my Patreon. DC Studios now has leadership; hopefully, they get the time and resources to turn things around. (One thing that will help perhaps is Henry Cavill returning to play Superman.)
As the capper for this week, I'm adding a bit of news that's not about Marvel or DC, but still feels like it goes under Superhero Watch. Lost, The Leftovers, and Watchmen writer/showrunner Damon Lindelof is working on yet another unannounced Star Wars film. Deadline reports that Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is slated for the director's chair for the film, with Lucasfilm wanting the director to be a part of the writing process. Will this film come out anytime soon, or be lost in the mire of other Star Wars films, like Rian Johnson's trilogy, Taika Waititi's film, Patty Jenkins' Rogue Squadron, or Kevin Fiege's project? Yeah, there's a lot floating out there in space.
On The Calendar 📅
Here's the interesting stuff that's coming over the next week or so.
Steam Halloween Sale - October 28-November 1
Baltimore Comic-Con 2022 - October 28-30
AMD Q3 2022 Earnings Call - November 1, 2:00 PM PDT / 5:00 PM EDT
AMD RNDA 3 Event - November 3, 1:00 PM PDT / 4:00 PM EDT