Deputy Editor
Thomas' first gadget memory was typing 7734 into his father's inverted, HP-35 scientific calculator. Clearly fated to tech blogging, he would have to wait another 20 years before the rise of the medium. A degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering led Thomas to Silicon Valley just prior to the dot-com boom. In June of 2011, Thomas wrote his 1,362,258th word for Engadget, leaving to help launch The Verge.
It lasted 12 hours, affected all 50 states, and cut off voice and 5G data for 125 million devices, according to an FCC investigation. The outage caused by a misconfigured network change blocked more than 92 million phones calls, including more than 25,000 attempts to reach 911 emergency services.
The agency is now referring the matter for potential violation of the FCC’s longstanding rule to do better.
[docs.fcc.gov]
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Verge Score
DJI Power 1000 review: with great power comes many dongles
A new approach to power stations that does more than fast-charge (select) DJI drones.
TSMC’s quarterly profit surged 36 percent on the year, beating expectations on revenue as well. The world’s largest contract chipmaker plans to begin mass producing its industry leading 2nm chip in 2025.
It follows Samsung reporting quarterly profits up 15x on the strength of AI-related memory chip sales.
[Nikkei Asia]
The company that specializes in mobile 12V conversions of SpaceX’s internet-from-space kits has just released its first mount for Starlink’s smallest dish yet. Despite its size, Mini even integrates the Wi-Fi router (usually a separate box) into the laptop-sized package.
$249 gets you a versatile mount with shock absorption for your RV, boat, or overlanding rig.
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In a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg, the former president once again expressed support for the Chinese-owned juggernaut facing a ban in the US:
“Now [that] I’m thinking about it, I’m for TikTok, because you need competition. If you don’t have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram — and that’s, you know, that’s Zuckerberg.”
Bloomberg says he’s still stung by Facebook’s ban after the events on January 6th, 2021. “All of a sudden, I went from number 1 to having nobody,” said Trump, without feeling it necessary to challenge Zuck to a cage fight.
A nice gesture from the new owners who have everything to lose if they don’t earn back trust:
The new VanMoof has launched a global initiative to help riders who ordered a bike before the bankruptcy and never received it. The company offers a €1000 / $1000 / £850 discount code off a VanMoof S5, A5 or future product to riders affected by this issue.
“Future product” presumably applies to the new electric scooter that should be launching soon, or even the dual-motor V superbike that’s still planned. You can apply for the discount here which is valid until the end of 2027.
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Verge Score
Engwe P20 folding e-bike review: $1000 buys a lot of forgiveness
Fully equipped direct-to-consumer e-bikes still require compromises at this price range.
Just days after it reported a 15x increase in operating profit, over 6,500 workers are taking part in a three-day walkout at Samsung Electronics over pay and conditions. According to the FT:
The labor unrest is a new challenge for a company with an anti-labor reputation. Its union membership has sharply increased since chair Lee Jae-yong declared an end to the company’s no-unions policy in 2020.
Workers are threatening a five-day strike next week if demands are not met.
[FinancialTimes]