For years, the Borderlands franchise was mostly focused on one planet. Players would spend much of their time fighting through Pandora in search of the latest vault. With Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, the series started to expand from that and introduce fans to whole new locales. Borderlands 3 then took it even further by introducing so many more planets, and now, Borderlands 4 is set to leave Pandora behind in favor of something brand-new. While it remains to be seen if that pays off, if it does, then Gearbox may want to consider taking it to the next level with the next chapter.

I love TikTok. As a grown-ass adult, this is not something I am proud of, nor will I share the total number of hours Ive spent scrolling to fall asleep, pass the time or catch up on what Good Boy Ollie is doing. As Sunday gets nearer, I am feeling increasingly bereft. Everyone I know on TikTok is talking about the same thing: Where are we going next?While a lot of options have been bandied about, and new apps emerge almost daily, there are still few platforms that share the most common traits of TikTok. Here are a couple. Red NoteIf you love TikTok, opening Red Note will cause you to immediately relaxit looks remarkably similar. Well, first you have to go through a daunting sign-up process where you agree to who-knows-what in Chinese, and fumble through finding anyone you know. Credit: Amanda Blum Pros: Red Note looks and feels a lot like the original recipe; if all you need for your fix is the ability to scroll through an endless feed of content, Red Note could legitimately fill your cup. Theres a For You tab, and you can like, follow and favorite, like you had previously. Theres even an alternative to TikTok Shop.You will meet fascinating new people (many Red Note users seem eager to welcome Americans) and bonus: You might learn some Chinese. Creating posts is also quite similar to TikTok, where you can choose video or photo, add music, captions (subtitles), filters and have access to the same editing tools. Traditional hashtags aren't clickable, but if you can find the Chinese equivalent, it will work. Credit: Amanda Blum Cons: There are no hashtagswhen you see them in posts, they wont work. There do seem to be Chinese hashtags, if you can figure out the Chinese equivalents. Otherwise, if thats how you found content or your people on TikTok, you're out of luck, at least for now. Red Note doesnt know you yet, so moving from TikTokwhere serious users enjoy a highly curated feedto Red Note is going to feel dissociative for a little bit, as it learns your likes. While you might find previous TikTok users on Red Note by searching for their usernames individually, remember, not everyone is affected by the banonly Americans. Because international users have had no need to move from TikTok, you probably wont find them.In the last week on Red Note, many users of content no one would consider controversial have been banned, after only a day or their first post. In particular, it seems a lot of content creators making queer content are being banned (and when signing up, your only options for gender are binary). Remember, Red Note comes with a lot of political baggage that TikTok doesnt.It's entirely possible, too, that Red Note could one day be subject to a similar legal action as TikTok; that said, it took years for the current suit to proceed through the courts. Gender choices are binary. Credit: Amanda Blum Takeaway: My gut is that Red Note will figure out fast how to localize the app so Americans see it in English; from the time I logged in yesterday to today, I'd swear that theyve added more TikTok-like functionality. While I was turned off initially, today I found myself wanting to invest a little time finding people I followed on TikTok and seeing what happens. Im also, however, deeply curious about what I agreed to when I signed up.Instagram ReelsIn many ways, Reels seems the obvious successor to TikTok, although it's different in how you interact with your audience. Reels are more like a longer Instagram Story than a TikTok.Pros: You probably already know how to use Reels. It lacks some of the robust editing tools that TikTok has, but still has captions, filters, music and text. You can tag people and businesses, locations, and target specific audiences. Comments arent limited to a few sentences. Obviously, Instagram has the advantage of being in English, and uses hashtags to help people navigate. Cons: Instagram is Meta, and Meta is on the cusp of some big changes regarding moderation. Part of the beauty of TikTok was the exceptional moderation tools, which kept everyone behaving generally well. Complaints about the Instagram algorithm are endless and justified; you have very little control over what you see or who sees you, despite following accounts or asking not to see others. Youll see a lot of ads. And everything about Instagram is about selling, boosting or pushing, which is a real turnoff to many creators.Reels doesn't seem to want to keep you in Reelsit routinely pushes you to regular Instagram. If you search by hashtag, you'll end up with a mix of posts and Reels (but not Stories). Credit: Amanda Blum Lastly, you cant watch videos in 2x time on Reels, which feels downright insulting.Takeaway: Its likely youre already using Instagram Reels, in addition to TikTok, because many content creators bifurcate their social media accounts, using them for different purposes, with different audiences. If thats the case, you might consider starting a new IG account to migrate your TikTok followers to. It certainly seems like most users are offering an Instagram account for followers, and many TikTokers have always kept an IG Reels account as a backup for their TikTok. Youre likely to find a similar audience, if less well-behaved, on Instagram Reels.YouTube ShortsA lot of the big content creators are headed to YouTube and YouTube Shorts, and theres good reason: money. If you monetize TikTok, Youtube is the most stable, predictable channel there is for similar income, and many of those large creators started on YouTube in longer-form video. Shorts ends up feeling like a rudimentary TikTok, with less curation and less ability to organize. Since almost everyone knows what YouTube classic offers (ads, sponsor lead-ins and uncurated comments), lets talk about Shorts.Pros: YouTube isnt going anywhere, ever. People know the platform, and they know what to expect from YouTube. You probably already have the app installed on your phone. Like Reels, the feed is mostly full of regurgitated TikToks, so it feels familiar. You can like a post (or dislike, which is a new and fun way to endure rejection), and subscribe to other users. You can also search by hashtag, and have the choice to watch Shorts or full-length videos. Credit: Amanda Blum Cons: Shorts are, at max, three minutes long, not longer as with TikTok and Reels. While there is a simple interface for making and uploading videos, it's overly simple. Unlike TikTok, you upload and process your Shorts video first and then edit it in the cloud, not locally on your phone to upload afterwards, which feels like a big commitment if you're not sure you're ready. There's no place to add captions, and while YouTube might add them via AI, they often contain errors. As with Instagram Reels, you have to watch Shorts at regular speed, even though you can speed up full-length videos.There's a truly abhorrent lack of comment-moderation tools, or moderation, period. YouTube is (still) the Wild West, and for that reason, many find it unappealing.Takeaway: Shorts feels like a very different product than TikTok. Which is surprising, because classic Youtube generally incurs deeper and more loyal relationships between creators and watchers, where people are more tuned into specific creators than trends, hashtags or communities. Shorts, however, misses the mark on all of that. I suspect people who migrate back to YouTube will do so for long-form videos, not Shorts.The bottom lineIts not so much that all American TikTok users are scattering to the wind. In the this is the last video Ill be making on TikTok videos Im consuming, users are posting links to all the platforms I named above, and one more: Bluesky. While Bluesky only allows you to post 60-second videos, it feels like a home base until the swarm figures out where to settle.Realistically, for a while, I think youll be seeing the same content across all three platforms while we wait it out and pray for TikTok to be brought back from the dead.All three of these tools have the same portrait-orientation video, with the ability to remix and share, and add music.

Canoo said on Friday night that it has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and will cease operations effective immediately, after failing to secure enough funding to keep it going. The writing was on the wall for the EV startup leading up to the announcement; the company has lost multiple executives in recent months, announced furloughs and reported to the SEC in November that it had just $700,000 in the bank, per TechCrunch.In a press release announcing the filing, Canoo said it was unable to get funding from the Department of Energys Loan Program Office or from foreign sources of capital that executives had been in talks with. In light of the fact that these efforts were unsuccessful, the Board has made the difficult decision to file for insolvency, it said. Canoo owes a total of over $164 million to hundreds creditors, and has about $126 million in assets, according to TechCrunch. Under the filing in Delaware, Canoos assets will be liquidated and the proceeds will be distributed to its creditors. In a statement, CEO Tony Aquila said, We are truly disappointed that things turned out as they did.Canoo made a few electric vans for NASA and a prototype for the US Army, and had deals for larger fleets with the likes of USPS and Walmart, but only a small number of its vans appear to have ever materialized.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/ev-startup-canoo-has-filed-for-bankruptcy-and-stopped-all-operations-232719895.html?src=rss

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Last week, as part of his apparent ongoing campaign to rebrand himself as a more Musk-like figure, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sat down with Joe Rogan for a three-hour discussion about free speech, government censorship, and how important it is that American companies win the AI race. But one of the other topics Zuck seemed intent to focus on was Apple.The Facebook founder aired many of his beefs with the company, particularly his displeasure regarding the fees that some developers need to pay on Apples App Store to distribute their wares on the platform (fees that Apple cut in half for small developers). Yet Zuck went even further, suggesting the Cupertino company isnt the innovative powerhouse it once wasand it hasnt been for decades.Its like Steve Jobs invented the iPhone and now theyre just kind of sitting on it 20 years later, Zuckerberg said, later adding, And Im pretty optimistic that just because theyve been so off their game in terms of not really releasing many innovative things, that eventually . . . if you just dont do a good job for like 10 years, eventually, youre just going to get beat by someone.A matter of privacyZucks comments about Apples supposed lack of innovation are baffling, especially coming from someone as knowledgeable about the tech industry and its progress over the past several decades as he is. But his comments are much easier to understand if you consider the degree to which Apples most important innovation over the past ten years has harmed Metas business practices.Zuckerberg seems to believe that hardware advancements are the only ones that count as innovation at Apple. But I dont think its fair to limit Apple to such a narrow scope. After all, the company isnt just a hardware company. It makes software and provides services, which all encompass an ecosystem that is unlike any other in the tech industry. It is an ecosystem that offers convenience, intuitiveness, and interoperability. And most importantly, it is an ecosystem that has revolutionized digital privacy.Apples greatest innovation over the last decade isnt something we can hold in our hands or show off to someone else. Its our power to keep more of our data away from the corporations and institutions seeking to harness our thoughts, locations, and connections for their own financial gain. Accessing and monetizing this information about us is Metas bread and butter, and many of the privacy innovations Apple has introduced to its ecosystem in recent years have harmed Metas ability to do this.Innovation after innovationTake, for example, just one of Apples recent privacy innovations in iOS 18the ability for users to restrict app access to only the contacts they choose. Social media giants like Meta hate this feature, because it means they can no longer gain unrestricted access to everyone in your address bookto your friends, doctors, and religious leaders. This means that they lose control over knowing everyone you know and cant build a complete social graph for you.Or take App Tracking Transparency (ATT), a privacy feature first introduced in iOS 14.5. ATT gave users control over whether an app would be allowed to track them across third-party apps and websites. This is a feature that faced strong opposition from companies, including Metas Facebook, that had business models that relied on selling your information. But its a feature that users have embraced overwhelmingly, with May 2021 data showing 94% of U.S. iPhone owners opting into ATT to prevent their tracking.More recently, Apple completely innovated the AI game by creating an entirely new technology called Private Cloud Compute that allows users to use its Apple Intelligence chatbot features without having their personal information or even past queries collected and retained by Apple or anyone else. This is the first time a major artificial intelligence provider has given users this level of privacy with an AI service, something you wont find with Open AIs ChatGPT (well, unless youre using it via Apple Intelligence) or Metas Llama 3-based Meta AI. Heck, Meta makes it hard for users to just opt out of their data being used to train its AI.These are just three of the dozens of major privacy innovations Apple has announced in recent years. Understanding how critical personal privacy will be in an increasingly intrusive world in the years ahead, it is ridiculous to say that Apple has not innovated much since the iPhone. Apples iPhone was a once-in-a-generationmaybe morecultural grand slam of a device. But Apples non-tangible privacy innovations since then are a far more important revolution: They help us keep vital parts of ourselves away from prying eyes like Metas, a company more than happy to sell our information to the highest bidder here or abroad.Mark Zuckerbergs blind spotIt seems unlikely that privacy would be as hot a topic in the personal tech space if it were not for Apple embracing it. As far as I can gather, it is the only major tech giant that not only doesnt try to hinder privacy but actively designs its products around it. And because it does thisand markets it all so wellthe importance of digital privacy is elevated in consumers minds, which forces other tech companies to (however begrudgingly) copy some of their innovations. In this way, even if you dont use Apples products, Apples innovations in the privacy space are benefitting you.As we move to a world where everything is connected and all-seeing AI is everywhere, privacy innovation is exactly the kind of innovation we need right now. And it is an arena where Apple currently excels.But if Zuck is still stuck on hardware-only innovation, he might stop to consider the Apple Watch and its numerous game-changing health features; Apple Pay, which brought contactless payments to the masses; Face ID, the most secure and user-friendly consumer biometric authentication out there; and Apple Silicon, the most powerful consumer chips in the world, which have enabled all sorts of new computer designsjust to name a few. These are innovations I see people using every day. Surely, Zuckerberg must see it, too.

There are some kinds of furniture that I dont really pay much attention to their design. Since I have a limited space (and a lot of stuff), my preference for them is more functional than aesthetic. Side tables are one kind of home furniture that are like that for me, although there are several designs there that do catch my attention, even if I probably wont actually buy them.Designer: Ross Sorokovyi (MUDU Design)The Totem concept for a side table is one of those eye-catching designs as its pretty cute. Named after its inspiration, it is a minimalist kind of furniture and when I say minimalist, I also mean small. Thats why I say that I probably wont use it since it may not be so useful for a maximalist like me. But if youre looking for a cute kind of side table, then this may appeal to you.The base and pole of the side table is made from solid wood while the table top uses a stainless steel material. It has a three-legged base which makes it look like a cartoon character. The table top seems to be detachable based on the product renders. It also can be connected to other Totems, if like me, you find it too small. There also seems to be different heights for the side table so you can create a more aesthetic look if you have space.The thin metal edges can also be a bit intimidating, as if it could cut into your skin if you press too hard. Circles are also not the most space-efficient shape, as you are cutting corners, almost literally. You lose out on some space in exchange for a unique and pleasing visual. Then again, as a minimalist side table, that might be fine for some people.For now, Totem remains a concept as the designers are still looking for a manufacturer, although theyre looking at 2025 as the year they will actually produce it. When it comes an actual side table, we might get more details about it, in case it interests you. The post Totem side table brings cute, minimalist, modular concept first appeared on Yanko Design.

If you missed the recent live, subscriber-only Q&A about money and AI scams with WIREDs advice columnist Reece Rogers, you can watch the replay here.

January 19Iva Toguri1419 Hundred Years' War: The siege of Rouen ended with English troops capturing the city from Norman French forces.1909 A deed was recorded for David Hanbury to sell Island No.2 in northern California to his brother John for $10 ($339.00 in 2023).1977 Iva Toguri (pictured), convicted of treason for broadcasting Japanese propaganda, was granted a full pardon by U.S. president Gerald Ford.1996 A tank barge and a tug grounded on a beach in Rhode Island, causing a spill of an estimated 828,000 U.S. gallons (3.13million litres) of home heating oil.2006 In the deadliest aviation accident in Slovak history, an Antonov An-24 operated by the Slovak Air Force crashed in northern Hungary, killing 42 of the 43 people on board.Giuseppe Millico (b.1737)Sophie Taeuber-Arp (b.1889)Choor Singh (b.1911)Sarah Burke (d.2012)More anniversaries: January 18January 19January 20ArchiveBy emailList of days of the yearAbout

Welcome toIndie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If youre a developer and would like your app featured, getin contact.PostPocket is a simple tool, aiming to help users keep track of various links, posts, articles, videos, or anything from across the internet. It allows you to save everything in one centralized place. The app also has categorization, allowing you to keep all of your links sorted. The app is available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.Why PostPocketObviously, many social media platforms have their own bookmarking features, allowing users to save posts they like for later. Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube all have their own version of a bookmarking feature.However, some platforms make it easier than others. Instagram, for example, requires you to crawl through a couple of menus to find your saved posts. Additionally, with all of the varying Twitter alternatives on the market, you might come across a post on one platform that you want to save, but cant. Threads doesnt offer a bookmarks feature, so it can be hard to find something later, especially if youre liking a ton of posts.With all of that being said, theres obviously a lot of fragmentation when it comes to saving things to view later, especially within apps. PostPocket aims to simplify things a bit.How it worksPostPocket integrates within the share sheet of iOS, allowing you to quickly hit the share button in any app, then with just the tap of a button you can start adding it to PostPocket.Once youre in PostPocket (from within the share sheet), you can just save the post as is, or you can choose to apply a category, tag, or custom title in the moment. Categories give you an easy way to sort from within PostPocket, and tags allow for additional granularity within a category. PostPocket offers a ton to help keep your varying links organized. All of your data is also stored on iCloud, allowing it to easily sync across all Apple devices. That also means all of your links are kept private.PostPocket is available for free on the App Store in a limited capacity, and you can purchase PostPocket+ for just $8.99 lifetime. Theres also a monthly plan for $0.99/month, if that interests you. PostPocket+ is ad free, enables tags, and allows you to import/export your data.Follow Michael:X/Twitter,Bluesky,InstagramAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

The future might be now, but that doesn't mean you're in it.A leaked memo from media giant Dotdash Meredith (the owner of titles including People, Food & Wine, Better Homes & Gardens, and Investopedia) has revealed that the company "America's largest digital and print publisher," according to its own PR fluff will be laying off 143 people, approximately 4percent of its workforce. This comes on the heels of a smaller layoff in November of 2024, where 53 media workers lost their jobs at the company.The layoffs wouldn't be so notable in a scarred and barren post-COVID media landscape, save for Dotdash's massive "strategic partnership" with OpenAI in the spring of 2024. The deal is set to lavish Dotdash with at least $16 million in annual revenue, or at least until the AI bubble bursts. In exchange, OpenAI gets to plug "trusted content" articles written by humans,presumably, though Meredith was involved in a hazy dalliance with an AI company prior to its acquisition by Dotdash from the media corp's 40-plus brands into its model, prioritizing answers that send users back to its content wherever possible."As part of the agreement, OpenAI will display content and links attributed to Dotdash Meredith in relevant ChatGPT responses," reads a Dotdash press release announcing the deal. "OpenAI will also collaborate with Dotdash Meredith to create new AI products and features for its readers and use historical and ongoing DDM content to enhance its model's performance.""This partnership delivers the best, most relevant content right to the heart of ChatGPT," it continued, using apreferred term among those who see journalism as an amorphous product called "content."For its trouble, Dotdash will see a vague "technological investment" into its targeted ad-platform D/Cipher, which will enable the AI platform to spam slop to "something like 30 million more URLs or somewhere in that neighborhood," according to Joey Levin, CEO of IAC Inc, the parent company overseeing Dotdash Meredith.When asked to follow up on what this means for web users and how D/Cipher will be deployed across the open web, Dotdash Chief Innovation Officer Jon Roberts said, rather disconcertingly: "Thats our special sauce. Were not ready to talk about it yet."In light of this huge round of layoffs and ChatGPT's untrustworthy performance, we must ask the question and not for the first time who does this "special sauce" serve?Certainly not the 176 media workers who are now out of the job, nor for users who are inundated with mountains of AI schlok at every turn.The answer? Stakeholders! Who doesn't love to see those guys winning?In the three fiscal quarters since announcing the partnership, IAC's licensing revenue has skyrocketed, as the OpenAI money furnace floods the media conglomerate in "If you look at Q3 of 2024... licensing revenue was up about $4.1 million year-over-year," said Christopher Halpin, who holds the mouthful title of EVP, CFO & COO of IAC Inc. "The lion's share of that would be driven by the OpenAI license." (Not coincidentally, Q3 2024 was the company's strongest financial quarter since Q3 of 2021.)In the face of a growing AI-pocalypse which workers and consumers are powerless to stop, corporations like IAC have some pretty important questions to answer. How does OpenAI recoup its costs in this scenario? What happens to your licensing revenue stream when or if the well runs dry? How many more layoffs does Dotdash plan to reward their workforce with in exchange for their "help" training OpenAI's LLMs? And who will be left holding the bag when the whole bubble bursts the media workers who've made the company what it is today, or C-Suite terminators who hoard 3-letter titles like ChatGPT hoards personal data?Share This Article