Monthly Archives: October 2022

How to use Live Text in iOS 16.1

iOS 16.1 has arrived, and it comes packing a variety of new features including Live Activitities, iCloud Shared Photo Library, and new collaboration tools. It’s not all about new features, though, and the update also brings a huge update to iOS 15’s excellent Live Text feature that arrived last year. The clever feature became incredibly…

A Russian airport is selling a fake flight experience — with check-in, security, but no take-off — as the Ukraine war roils Russian aviation

A view of empty seats and spaces at Vnukovo International Airport after Western countries closed their airspace to Russia. The airport pictured is not Anapa Airport. Nuran Erkul Kaya/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Russia’s Air Transport Agency suspended flights from some airports after the invasion of Ukraine. One started selling a bundle of pre-flight procedures…

White House officials thought they’d struck a secret oil deal with Saudi Arabia only for Biden to be humiliated when the kingdom abandoned it: NYT

US President Joe Biden meets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah in July. Bandar Algaloud/Reuters White House officials believed they’d struck a secret oil deal with Saudi Arabia, per NY Times.  But Saudi leader Mohammed bin Salman then backtracked on it, taking them by surprise.  The Saudi decision to cut oil output before…

Adidas expects to lose $246 million in profit this year after cutting ties with Kanye West

David Livingston/Getty Images Adidas expects to lose $246 million in profit by the end of the year after cutting ties with Ye. Baird estimates Yeezy generated $1.7 billion in annual revenues for Adidas, or 8% of its 2021 total. Forbes estimates that the loss of the partnership would tank Ye’s net worth by around $1.5…

An airport will temporarily stop new members from joining a $618 VIP service that let people skip lines, due to a surge in popularity

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, pictured on October 18, was the scene of long lines and delays over the summer. NurPhoto / Contributor Amsterdam Schiphol Airport has stopped taking new registrations for its VIP service.  The airport said on its website that the temporary closure is due to the large volume of requests. The service allowed passengers…

Elon Musk says Apple’s battle with Spotify is ‘concerning’ and its new 30% charge on social-media ad revenue ‘is a lot’

Elon Musk replied to Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s post about Apple, saying “concerning.” Patrick Pleul – Pool/Drew Angerer/Getty Images Elon Musk tweeted in response to a post by Spotify’s CEO about how Apple handles competitors. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO suggested Apple’s approach was “concerning.”  Apple and Spotify have long feuded over rules on the App…

South Africa will allow a Russian oligarch to moor his superyacht in Cape Town as it continues on epic global cruise avoiding Western sanctions

The $500 million superyacht anchored in Hong Kong in September. Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images A $500 million oligarch-owned superyacht has cruised between the Seychelles, Russia, and Hong Kong. The yacht, owned by sanctioned billionaire Alexei Mordashov, is now headed to Cape Town, South Africa. Cape Town’s mayor and the South African president are at…

The Morning After: NASA reveals UFO investigation panel

NASA previously announced that it would create a panel to study “unidentified aerial phenomena” (UAP), aka UFOs — while saying it doesn’t believe they’re “extraterrestrial in origin.” (Sure, NASA.) Now, the space agency has unveiled the 16-member panel that will focus on these unclassified sightings, chaired by David Spergel, former head of astrophysics at Princeton…