PewDiePie, Youtube’s biggest personality is taking a break

Now available on your smart speaker and wherever you get your podcasts Apple Podcasts  |  Spotify  |  Google Play  |  iHeart Radio It's Monday, December 16, 2019. Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. Welcome back! This week should be less busy, with fewer oblong-shaped gadgets to discuss (we got the new Xbox and talked all about the Mac Pro last week). In the run-up to the holidays, there’s simply not as much big tech news.  If you’re planning to travel home or visit family, we’ve got gift guides that you might want to peep at. Something that we missed, though, are the dongles and cables to smooth your transit. I just flew back from New York to London on Saturday, and while it’s no nine-hour flight (that’s CES in Las Vegas next month), it’s long enough to demand some gadget charging. The curse of an early adopter struck, however -- my bag was filled with USB-C cables for my iPhone 11 Pro, Switch and wireless headphones. Airplanes seats, if they have any charging ports at all, are old-school USB-A, so there’s another difficult transition on the horizon, just after we accepted the death of the headphone port. A USB-C to USB-A dongle is now on my Amazon wishlist if anyone needs a last-minute stocking filler for me. -Mat Well, from early 2020.   PewDiePie is taking a break from YouTube   Folding into a video critiquing YouTube’s new harassment policy, online phenomenon PewDiePie says he’ll be taking a rest from the service that made him a star. The streamer, with an audience of millions, has faced more scrutiny and criticism in the last few years, being held to account over racist outbursts and the behavior of his fans. (If you haven’t heard of the “subscribe to PewDiePie” meme, it’s a whole thing.) While Felix Kjellberg added that a more detailed explanation would come later, he hinted that it might be due to burnout. "I'm feeling very tired," he said.  And you thought the mechs were overpowered.   'Fortnite' adds lightsabers following Star Wars event   If you missed Fortnite's Star Wars event over the weekend, here's what happened. There was a heavily teased Rise of Skywalker clip and a virtual appearance by director J.J. Abrams, and it also gave people lightsabers (and blasters) to play with in-game -- and yes, they're available outside the event, too. Fortnite has added a few more Star Wars touches around the game, including themed challenges and new unlockables like a Jedi training emote and a TIE Whisper glider. They're the first of eight to face court over two large piracy outlets.   Two men plead guilty to running huge illegal streaming sites   Several people have been charged over illegal streaming services iStreamItAll and Jetflicks, each of which offered tens of thousands of bootlegged TV episodes and movies, dwarfing the selection found on Netflix or Amazon Prime -- though likely including their biggest shows. Darryl Polo and Luis Villarino have pleaded guilty to copyright infringement charges, and the remaining six people charged over alleged roles in ISIA and Jetflicks will go to trial on February 3rd next year.   Sponsored Content by Stack Commerce This HD video doorbell is the perfect gift for your loved ones. Facebook has allowed the ads to run despite complaints.   Ads on Facebook are spreading misinformation about anti-HIV drugs   Facebook's problematic political ad business is usually the focus of any misinformation claims,  but The Guardian and GLAAD have noted that personal injury law firms continue to run Facebook ads making false claims about the risks of Truvada, a drug meant to reduce the likelihood of HIV transmission. Some float the specters of bone loss and kidney damage despite evidence that the risks of either are "not clinically significant."  GLAAD has contacted Facebook's public policy team and reached out to five fact-checking agencies, but the social network answered by pointing to a public ad policy page explaining why ads can be removed. In response, GLAAD posted an open letter asking Facebook to remove the ads, with support coming from 50 organizations. The advocacy group is also buying ads on Facebook to promote the letter among the LGBTQ+ community -- meaning the social network is making money from that, too.   But wait, there's more... 1. Wirecutter: The best plug-in smart outlet 2. Google Maps satellite images cover 98 percent of the world's population 3. Recommended Reading: The science fiction of William Gibson 4. Study suggests vapers are 1.3 times more likely to develop lung disease

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't subscribe. Now available on your smart speaker and wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts  |  Spotify  |  Google Play  |  iHeart Radio Craving even more? Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. Have a suggestion on how we can improve The Morning After? Send us a note.

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Does the Mac Pro cost too much?

Now available on your smart speaker and wherever you get your podcasts Apple Podcasts  |  Spotify  |  Google Play  |  iHeart Radio It's Saturday, December 14, 2019. Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. Welcome to your weekend! On the Engadget Podcast we’re discussing Apple’s pricey new Mac Pro, while separately Porsche showed off its idea for a Star Wars ship. Story highlights from last week included Elon Musk’s Cybertruck tour of LA, the Xbox Series X and NASA’s most powerful rocket yet. Also, our holiday gift guide is ready and waiting whether you’re the one who needs some ideas or if you’re making sure someone else gets you the right present this year. (View in browser.) Is this a sign that Apple is listening to what users want? Engadget Podcast: The Mac Pro and Apple's return to great hardware This week, Senior Editor Devindra Hardawar and UK Bureau Chief Mat Smith explore who may need a $52,000 Mac Pro (it's not as crazy as you think!).  The story doesn’t end there. 'The Outer Worlds' DLC is coming next year In a forum post celebrating the three awards it was nominated for at The Game Awards, Obsidian revealed it will expand The Outer Worlds next year with DLC. Just in time. Engadget's 2019 holiday gift guide is here! After months of thinking, curating, photographing and more thinking, we've come up with a holiday gift guide that covers all the bases (and budgets), from laptops and mobile devices, to toys, to the smart home, to book and media recommendations (only on nerdy subjects, of course). All told, there are more than 150 items in our guide, spanning 13 categories, with advice from 25 of our writers and editors. You know, the people testing and reviewing this stuff all year long. Sponsored Content by Stack Commerce A lifetime of tech training is now just $59. And it looks like a home theater PC. The next Xbox is called Series X Previously known as Project Scarlett, the next-generation Xbox resembles a PC tower, and it arrives holidays 2020. Xbox chief Phil Spencer wrote in a blog post that the Series X design allows Microsoft to pack in four times the processing power of Xbox One X "in the most quiet and efficient way." It's said to be no louder than an Xbox One X, helped by a single fan that pushes air through the top. Microsoft says the Xbox Series X can handle 4K visuals at 60 frames per second, and potentially up to 120 fps. The console will also offer hardware-accelerated ray tracing and variable refresh rate, along with 8K capability. It’s compatible with software going back to the original Xbox and will work with Xbox One controllers. The controller it comes with is similar to the current Xbox pad, but it’s very slightly smaller and adds a dedicated DualShock 4-like Share button. As far as games, Halo: Infinite is in development, and with the unveiling, we got a peek at Nina Theory’s Senua's Saga: Hellblade II. Cybertruck in the wild. Elon Musk took Tesla's Cybertruck for a weekend drive around LA Los Angelenos spotted the Tesla boss driving his electric truck down the 405 and getting some dinner at Nobu. Starts at $6k and goes up from there. The most expensive new Mac Pro configuration costs $52,599 Apple has started taking orders for the redesigned Mac Pro and its webcam-lacking Pro Display XDR. The workstation is available starting at $5,999 with an eight-core 3.5GHz Xeon processor, 32GB of RAM, Radeon Pro 580X graphics and a 256GB solid-state drive. All told, you're looking at close to $53,000 if you max out the system with 1.5TB of RAM and a set of $400 wheels -- which we did here. This rocket is preparing for a mission to the moon in 2024. NASA unveils 'the most powerful rocket ever built' This week at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine gave the public its first up-close look at the Space Launch System, or SLS. The SLS program is running rather behind schedule, with launch originally aimed for 2019 and a possible manned first mission being considered. Now, the first test of the SLS is aimed for 2021, to be ready for the Artemis mission to the moon in 2024. But wait, there's more... 1. Citizen has a fancier alternative to Amazon's Alexa wall clock 2. Amazon-owned Ring is preparing its first smart light bulb 3. The $1,399 Pixelbook Go with 4K display is now available 4. Louis Vuitton's 'League of Legends' biker jacket can be yours for $5,650 5. NASA finds 'water ice' just below the surface of Mars 6. Thousands of 'Coolest' Kickstarter backers will only receive $20 7. 'The Matrix 4' premieres in theaters on May 21st, 2021 8. Samuel L. Jackson has arrived on Alexa devices

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't subscribe. Now available on your smart speaker and wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts  |  Spotify  |  Google Play  |  iHeart Radio Craving even more? Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. Have a suggestion on how we can improve The Morning After? Send us a note.

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Editor's Pick: China's Tech Ban Could Have Grave Long-Term Consequences

China's Tech Ban Could Have Grave Long-Term Consequences

Peter Suciu Dec 13, 2019 4:00 AM PT

China has issued an order that all foreign-made computer equipment and software be removed from government offices and public institutions within the next three years. China has estimated that upwards of 30 million pieces of hardware will need to be replaced. This is just the latest salvo in the ongoing trade war between the United States and China, the world's two largest national economies. [More...]

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