Alphabet spins

Alphabet spins off Starlink competitor Taara

Introduction Taara’s current Lightbridges are about the size of a traffic light, but its new chips should deliver smaller designs. Light-based internet project Taara is exiting Alphabet’s “moonshot” incubator X, spinning off into an independent company. Taara’s tech uses lasers to transmit data, and is envisaged as a rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink when it […]

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Dude Perfect

Dude Perfect and Mark Rober may be the next YouTubers to get big streaming deals

Introduction Netflix and other streaming platforms are stepping up efforts to sign YouTubers, which could mean big streaming deals for sports channel Dude Perfect or former NASA engineer Mark Rober, reports The Wall Street Journal. The Journal writes that streaming platforms’ creator-signing ambitions have “shifted into overdrive” in response to the success of MrBeast’s Beast […]

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SwitchBot’s next

SwitchBot’s next smart hub comes with a control knob

Introduction Smart home company SwitchBot is preparing a new Matter-enabled smart hub called the SwitchBot Hub 3, according to a registration with the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) that HomeKitNews spotted. It has a display like the $70 Hub 2, but adds physical controls — including, delightfully, a knob. According to the CSA listing, the Hub […]

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A bad

A bad movie full of big ideas about tech

Introduction Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 75, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, hope you have some time to kill this weekend, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)  This week, I’ve been reading about Benson Boone and […]

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