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Coinbase is letting another 950 employees go, seven months after it cut 1,100 jobs. In a note to staff, the company’s CEO Brian Armstrong said that amid a downturn in the crypto market and the broader economy, he’s made the call to reduce operating expenses by 25 percent quarter over quarter, resulting in the layoffs. Coinbase says on its website that it has more than 4,700 employees, so it’s shedding around a fifth of its staff.

While acknowledging that some of the factors that resulted in the layoffs were outside of the company’s control, Armstrong said he took accountability. He added that, in hindsight, Coinbase could have let more people go back in June.

Armstrong said the company is “well capitalized and crypto isn’t going anywhere,” and noted that recent events like FTX’s collapse and clearer rules from regulators could benefit Coinbase in the long run. However, those changes won’t happen overnight. “We need to make sure we have the appropriate operational efficiency to weather downturns in the crypto market and capture opportunities that may emerge,” Armstrong wrote.

In planning for 2023, Coinbase’s leadership determined it was necessary “to reduce expenses to increase our chances of doing well in every scenario.” Armstrong notes that this is the first time that both the crypto market and the broader economy have simultaneously experienced a downturn, adding that planning has helped Coinbase to survive several bear markets over the last decade.

Due to the layoffs, Coinbase is canceling some projects that had a lower likelihood of success. Other teams will have to adjust for having a smaller headcount. Armstrong said the employees who are being let go will be informed today.

Impacted workers in the US will receive a compensation package of at least 14 weeks’ base pay with an extra two weeks per year of service, health insurance and other benefits. The company says it will offer “extra transition support” to those on work visas. Coinbase will extend similar support to fired workers in other countries in line with local employment laws and it will help those being laid off to find their next job.

Coinbase has had to contend with other issues in recent times. In July, it was reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating the company over whether it sold unregistered securities. Earlier this month, Coinbase reached a $100 million settlement with a New York financial regulator over claims that it made the platform “vulnerable to serious criminal conduct,” in part by neglecting to carry out sufficient background checks and having a large backlog of flagged transactions to review.

Now that companies like Apple, Google and Samsung are no longer including power adapters with new phones, getting the right charger for your device is a little trickier than it used to be. And while it hasn’t happened yet, given the increased focus on reducing e-waste and expanded support for USB Power Delivery (USB-PD), I wouldn’t be surprised if that trend crosses over into the laptop market sometime in the next five years. So to help sort out the confusion, I gathered 14 different chargers from a range of brands and tested each one with five different devices to find out which one is the fastest.

How we tested

The methodology for my experiment is intended to be as straightforward as possible. I drained each device to 10 percent battery, plugged in a power brick and then recorded the amount of charge added every 10 minutes for an hour. Each adapter was plugged directly into a standard 120-volt outlet (without the use of a power strip or any extension cords), and when possible I used the cable that either came included with the battery charger or one made by the same manufacturer as the device. If that wasn’t an option, I used certified 100-watt USB-C cables made by Anker, Apple and others.

Because the charging rate for devices varies depending on how much juice you have, I wanted to measure how well each adapter was able to match each gadget’s optimal charging speed. Generally, charging is slower between zero and 20 percent before speeds ramp up until the battery hits 80 percent, at which point things slow down again to protect and preserve the health and longevity of the power cell. For chargers with multiple ports, I always selected the port with the highest power output while also not having any other devices connected.

As for the devices themselves, I selected an Apple iPhone 13, a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, a Nintendo Switch (a launch model from 2017), a 2021 Dell XPS 13 and a 16-inch M1 Max MacBook Pro. This assortment was chosen to cover a wide range of power draws from 20 watts (iPhone 13) all the way up to 140 watts (M1 Max MBP). Also, every system was tested while idle (i.e. no additional apps or games running) in order to ensure consistent results.

One important thing to note is that while the USB Implementers Forum has approved support for USB Power Delivery (USB-PD) charging at up to 240 watts, adapters that actually support that power output don’t exist yet. Additionally, while there are a handful of cables that can handle more than 100 watts of juice, they are somewhat rare or hard to get.

The chargers

With so many different chargers of varying power outputs to test, I broke things down into three categories. There are the 30-watt and under chargers, which are primarily designed for phones and other small mobile devices. Then we move up to 45 to 65-watt chargers (give or take a watt or two) that can handle things like phones along with a number of thin and light laptops. Finally, we have chargers that output 100 watts or more, which are good for pretty much anything besides the biggest and most power-hungry gaming laptops. Many of these higher wattage adapters also feature multiple ports, so can you top up additional devices at full speed. However, because not every power brick supports multi-device charging, I didn’t include that as a testing metric.

You can see a full list of the chargers we tested below:

Apple 20W charger ($20)

Anker 711 Nano II 30W charger ($30)

Google 30W USB-C power charger ($25)

Satechi 30W USB-C PD GaN wall charger ($30)

Samsung 45W USB-C Fast Charging wall charger ($50)

Belkin 60W USB-C PD GaN wall charger ($50)

Nekteck 60W USB-C GaN charger ($40)

Anker 735 Nano II 65W charger ($50)

Samsung 65W Trio adapter ($60)

Satechi 66W USB-C 3-Port GaN wall charger ($55)

Satechi 100W USB-PD wall charger ($80)

Belkin 108W 4-Port GaN charger ($90)

Razer USB-C 130W GaN charger ($180)

Apple 140W USB-C power adapter ($100)

Best 30-watt charger: Anker 711 Nano II

When it comes to charging small devices, 30 watts is by far the most popular as it covers most phones along with some larger devices like the Nintendo Switch. In our testing, all of the 30-watt chargers performed equally well, with each one able to get the iPhone 13 to around 80 percent battery charge in less than an hour while also completely refilling the Galaxy S22 Ultra in 60 minutes. However, as you can see, these smaller, low-wattage bricks struggled to refill both the XPS 13 and especially the MacBook Pro. Yes, you can do it, but it’s rather sluggish (the XPS 13 even surfaced a slow charger notification), and because I tested each device while idle, there’s a good chance these chargers may not be able to keep these laptops topped up while under load.

The Anker 711 (middle right) is our favorite 30-watt charger thanks to its fast speeds and compact size.

However, the one thing that sticks out is the performance of Apple’s 20-watt brick, whose lower output caused it to lag behind every other adapter. While it was able to keep up with rival devices when refilling the iPhone 13, its wattage is so low it couldn’t even trickle charge the XPS 13. Dell’s power management did not even recognize that a charger was plugged in. That means this adapter is much less useful if you need to charge more power-hungry gadgets in a pinch. And I should mention I didn’t bother testing the old 15-watt Apple power cubes, which can’t even support the iPhone 13’s full 20-watt charging speeds. Anyone still using one of those really ought to upgrade.

If all you want is a power brick to keep small devices powered up, our choice for best charger is clear: the Anker 711. Not only did it deliver the best speeds in its class, but it’s also the smallest, which makes it super easy for it to disappear in a bag.

Best 65-watt charger: Anker 735 GaN Prime

Here’s where things start to get interesting because while a number of these chargers have similar power outputs (aside from the Samsung 45-watt brick, of course), the actual results were a bit more varied. Both the Nekteck and the Belkin only managed to get the S22 Ultra to around 80 percent battery after an hour, compared to the Anker, Samsung and Satechi chargers which all hit 100. This suggests that both chargers aren’t properly communicating with the S22 Ultra in order to take advantage of its 45-watt charging speeds, which I was able to confirm by using a USB-C volt meter. Meanwhile, as expected, Samsung’s 45-watt charger did great when connected to the S22 Ultra, but its lower output meant it could not keep up with the 60 and 65-watt bricks.

Anker once again takes the crown for our favorite 60-watt charger with the 735 (middle), because even though it’s a bit more expensive than the Nekteck, it’s smaller, has more ports, and features wider compatibility with more devices like the S22 Ultra.

Somewhat surprisingly, every charger in this category performed well when hooked up to the XPS 13, with each adapter finishing within one percent of each other (around 58 percent) after an hour. However, when it comes to the thirsty MacBook Pro, every extra watt makes a difference, with the Anker 735 and Samsung Triple Port Charger edging out the competition, even though they’re still much slower than Apple’s included brick. It’s also telling that on the Belkin 60W, its fastest charging port actually denotes charging speeds of between 50 and 60 watts, which is why it couldn’t quite keep up with the other 60-watt chargers I tested.

As for picking a winner, Nekteck’s 60-watt brick is the cheapest while also being one of the few options that come with an included cable. However, with only a single charging port and sub-optimal compatibility with the S22 Ultra, it’s hard to fully recommend. For my money, I’d go with the Anker 735 as it’s smaller, slightly faster and the same price as Samsung’s 65W Triple Port charger, while still offering a total of three USB ports (two USB-C and one USB-A).

Best 100-watt and up charger: Razer USB-C 130W

For anyone considering a fast high-power USB charger, here’s where it’s important to pay attention to the fine print. While all of these bricks are listed at or above 100 watts, the primary charging ports on the Satechi and Belkin are actually capped at 90 or 96 watts. And that’s before you consider multi-device charging, which splits the total output across the other ports with the ratio varying depending on the specific model.

While Razer’s 130-watt GaN charger (top middle) is the most expensive of the bunch at $180, it earned our pick as the best 100-watt or higher charger due to its more compact design, strong power output and the inclusion of useful extras like international outlet adapters and a braided 100-watt USB-C cord.

During testing, all four had no issue topping up the phones, the Switch and the XPS 13, though once again Belkin’s adapter couldn’t fully recharge the S22 Ultra despite having more than enough wattage. On the flip side, while Razer’s charger has a higher max output than either the Belkin or the Satechi, there wasn’t much difference in charging speeds when connected to the MacBook Pro. And this isn’t due to a lack of higher wattage cables, as both USB-C ports on the Razer brick are capped at a combined 100 watts.

Meanwhile, as one of the rare 140-watt power adapters on the market, Apple’s brick is super quick and did an expectedly great job of refilling the MacBook Pro. However, I should mention that it’s the only power brick in this segment that comes with a single port, which kind of feels like a missed opportunity for the Apple ecosystem.

So for anyone that wants a charger that can top up an ultraportable laptop quickly while still having juice to spare, I prefer Razer’s 130-watt GaN adapter. It’s the best charger in this category, as well as the smallest and most expensive at $180. On top of that, it comes with two international wall adapters (for UK and EU outlets) and a braided 100-watt USB-C cable, all of which you don’t get from any others in this category.

Wrap-up

Obviously, there are a lot more than just 14 chargers on the market, and sadly I don’t have the time to test them all. These days, discharging a phone from 100 percent battery to dead can take upwards of 15 hours, so depending on the device, I can only test one power brick per day. Just gathering all this data took the better part of two months. And unfortunately, while I was running this test, Anker came out with a new generation of power adapters that I haven’t had the chance to evaluate just yet. 

That said there are still some important takeaways. First, in order to ensure optimal charging speeds, make sure your charger can supply the proper amount of power. Manufacturers typically list a device’s max charging speeds, while power adapters clearly label their outputs. And when in doubt, you can look at the fine text on the charger itself, though you might have to do some math. Just remember, watts equals volts times amps. Furthermore, in the case of adapters with multiple ports, you’ll check to see how its total wattage is split when connected to multiple devices.

Then there are other factors like size and weight you’ll want to consider, with newer gallium nitride adapters (GaN) often featuring more compact designs and better power efficiency. And if you’re ever truly in doubt, you can simply opt for a charger made by the same company as your phone, laptop or other gadgets, something that’s especially true for devices like the OnePlus 10T that feature speedy proprietary charging protocols.

Apple’s long-rumored plans to use its own wireless chipsets in iPhones may be solidifying. Bloombergsources claim Apple is not only prepping its first cellular modem (now slated for late 2024 or early 2025), but is working on a combination Bluetooth and WiFi chip to replace the Broadcom chip that handles those duties. That part would arrive in 2025, according to the tipsters.

The company is also said to be working on a follow-up that would combine the Bluetooth, cellular and WiFi functionality in a single design. A move like this could both simplify production and save space in the iPhone’s tightly packed chassis.

Apple and Qualcomm have already declined to comment. We’ve asked Broadcom for comment. Qualcomm said in November that it would supply the clear majority of iPhone cellular modems for 2023 models, but that it expected a “minimal contribution” from Apple hardware in its fiscal 2025. Broadcom chief Hock Tan, meanwhile, said in December that he believed Apple would continue to use his firm’s components.

While the exact reasoning for the transition wasn’t mentioned, it’s no secret that Apple started designing its own silicon to have more control over its products and reduce dependence on companies that might not always be on friendly terms. The tech behemoth notably got into a bitter royalty dispute with Qualcomm that led to a costly settlement, and Broadcom is known to strike hard bargains. Apple-made parts wouldn’t completely avoid problems like these, but they could reduce the chances of third parties effectively holding Apple captive.

There’s still no guarantee things will go according to plan, provided the rumor is accurate. Earlier scoops suggested Apple could switch to its own cellular chips as soon as 2023, and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims Apple cancelled a fourth-gen iPhone SE that would use the company’s first internally-designed modem in 2024. If there are development troubles, Apple may have to lean on Broadcom and Qualcomm for a while yet.

Instagram has revealed a home screen refresh, due in February, that axes the Shop tab and moves the Create button back to the center of the bottom navigation bar. The social network’s Adam Mosseri said shopping will still exist in your feed, Reels, Stories and ads – because of course it will – it’s just not a dedicated tab anymore. The change may also be part of a larger strategy shakeup. The Information claims an internal memo in September indicated Instagram would cut many of its shopping features. Instead, the site would concentrate on commerce efforts “more directly tied” to ad revenue. Simply put, the shopping push doesn’t appear to have helped.

Who exactly was browsing the randomized world of Instagram shopping ads for their next purchase, anyway? My shopping tab currently shows me a $10,000 oven, a vegan cheese selection box and stabilizers for a children’s bike. I guess I’d take the fake cheese.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

The biggest stories you might have missed

The first-ever UK space flight fails to reach orbit

HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ successfully trades hordes of monsters for emotional depth

Google’s Pixel 7 phones are up to $150 off right now

Apple’s iPad mini is back on sale for an all-time low of $400

Meta rolls out AI ad-targeting tech in an effort to reduce discrimination

YouTube will begin sharing ad revenue with Shorts creators on February 1st

The best of CES 2023

Raspberry Pi launches some more modern camera modules

Module 3 variants include standard and wide-angle FOVs as well as autofocus.

Raspberry Pi has launched the Camera Module 3 with big improvements, including higher resolution, infrared, HDR, autofocus, a wide-angle field of view and more. Not counting an interchangeable lens model introduced in 2020, it’s the company’s first new camera module in six years. Where the previous module had fixed autofocus, Module 3 has built-in powered autofocus capability. That makes it a bit thicker (up to 12.4mm compared to 9mm) but more versatile, letting you focus on objects ranging in distance from 5cm (2 inches) to infinity.

Continue reading.

The best laptops for 2023

These are our favorites, already.

A new laptop is an expensive purchase that warrants some thought. Despite continued chip supply woes, companies are still making a ton of new laptops, and there’s plenty of choice. While most laptops with top of the line specs can cost around $1,800 to $2,000 these days, you can still get a good system for under $1,000. Then again, if you do most of your work in a browser (lots of online research, emails and Google Drive), then a Chromebook might be a cheaper alternative. We lay out the best options.

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The right-to-repair battle hits John Deere and US farmers

A new deal allows farmers to repair their own equipment.

The right to repair isn’t limited to replacing your smartphone battery. Tractor and farm-vehicle maker John Deere has resisted right-to-repair regulation, but it’s now willing to make some concessions. Deere & Company has signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) that lets US farmers and independent repair shops fix equipment, rather than requiring authorized parts and service centers. Why now? President Biden ordered the Federal Trade Commission to draft right-to-repair regulation in 2021. If Deere didn’t act, it risked legal battles that could limit where and how it does business in the country.

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NASA’s 38-year-old science satellite finally falls back to Earth

The re-entry comes as officials hope to cut back on space debris.

NASA’s 38-year-old dead satellite has returned to Earth without incident. The Defense Department confirmed the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) re-entered the atmosphere off the Alaskan coast at 11:04 PM ET on January 8th. The ERBS traveled aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1984 and was only expected to collect ozone data for two years. It was actually retired in 2005 — over two decades later.

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Where DJI’s RS 3 and RS 3 Pro stabilizers were about maximum convenience and power, the company’s latest is designed to reduce as much weight as possible. The new RS 3 Mini weighs in at just 1.8 pounds, but can carry cameras up to 4.4 pounds, which includes heavy mirrorless models like Canon’s EOS R3 and even some cinema cameras. At the same time, it offer’s DJI’s latest stabilization algorithms, easy controls and more. 

DJI has tested the RS 3 Mini with cameras like the Sony A7S III with a 24-70mm f/2.8 GM lens, the Canon EOS R5 with an RF24-70mm f/2.8 STM lens or a Fuji X-H2S and XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4.0 lens. I tried it with a Panasonic GH6 and 12-60mm f/2.8-4 and a Canon EOS R6 Mark II with a 24-104mm f/4 and had no problems. “A powerful motor ensures that even when the zoom reaches the maximum focal length, the footage captured remains stable, and there is no need to repeat balancing,” DJI says.

It’s relatively easy to mount cameras thanks to the newly designed dual layer quick-release plate. That also allows for vertical shooting if you attach the plate to vertical arm, and there are no rotation angle limitations in that mode. As with the RS3, the sliding quick release plates make it easy to balance in just a few minutes.

It supports both wired and wireless Bluetooth shutter/record activation via the RS3 Mini’s record button, with the camera ready to go as soon as it’s turned on. For Sony cameras with supported power zoom lenses, you can also control the zoom using the front dial without the need for a camera control cable. It offers the usual other DJI Ronin control dials, including a joystick, M button to switch modes, a trigger, a front dial and the aforementioned record button. You can also add Ronin accessories like the Briefcase handle, fill lights or microphones.

Functions are controlled by the 1.4-inch full-color touchscreen, letting you change shooting modes, balance the gimbal motors and more. You can also do much of that with the app, or set functions like Timelapse, Track recording (move along up to 10 preset points) and Panorama. Finally, it can go up to 10 hours on a charge with the integrated battery handle and can be fully charged in as little as 2.5 hours with a 10W charger.

I had a chance to briefly try out DJI’s RS 3 Mini, and my early impressions were good. I’m not much of a gimbal guy as I often work alone and don’t have the need for tracking shots very often. However, this one is so light that I was able to use it a fair while without tiring out. It’s also very convenient — there was no need to rebalance even if I zoomed out or changed my camera’s configuration. And I was able to shoot most of my footage one-handed, as DJI promises. The results were great — it produced very smooth footage, both in the horizontal and vertical configurations. 

The RS 3 Mini is also a relative bargain compared to the $550 RS 3 Pro. It’s available for purchase today at authorized retailers or DJI’s Store for $369 (339 GBP/ 389 EUR). If you’re concerned about knocking it into a wall, DJI’s Care Refresh insurance is now available for the RS 3 Mini, as well. 

Microsoft has shown off its latest research in text-to-speech AI with a model called VALL-E that can simulate someone’s voice from just a three-second audio sample, Ars Technica has reported. The speech can not only match the timbre but also the emotional tone of the speaker, and even the acoustics of a room. It could one day be used for customized or high-end text-to-speech applications, though like deepfakes, it carries risks of misuse. 

VALL-E is what Microsoft calls a “neural codec language model.” It’s derived from Meta’s AI-powered compression neural net Encodec, generating audio from text input and short samples from the target speaker.

In a paper, researchers describe how they trained VALL-E on 60,000 hours of English language speech from 7,000-plus speakers on Meta’s LibriLight audio library. The voice it attempts to mimic must be a close match to a voice in the training data. If that’s the case, it uses the training data to infer what the target speaker would sound like if speaking the desired text input.

The team shows exactly how well this works on the VALL-E Github page. For each phrase they want the AI to “speak,” they have a three-second prompt from the speaker to imitate, a “ground truth” of the same speaker saying another phrase for comparison, a “baseline” conventional text-to-speech synthesis and the VALL-E sample at the end. 

The results are mixed, with some sounding machine-like and others being surprisingly realistic. The fact that it retains the emotional tone of the original samples is what sells the ones that work. It also faithfully matches the acoustic environment, so if the speaker recorded their voice in an echo-y hall, the VALL-E output also sounds like it came from the same place. 

To improve the model, Microsoft plans to scale up its training data “to improve the model performance across prosody, speaking style, and speaker similarity perspectives.” It’s also exploring ways to reduce words that are unclear or missed.

Microsoft elected to not make the code open source, possibly due to the risks inherent with AI that can put words in someone’s mouth. It added that it would follow its “Microsoft AI Principals” on any further development. “Since VALL-E could synthesize speech that maintains speaker identity, it may carry potential risks in misuse of the model, such as spoofing voice identification or impersonating,” the company wrote in the “Broader impacts” section of its conclusion.

In an email sent to users, Meta said it will continue supporting Quest 1 with a few — but pretty big — changes. While owners can still use the device and the apps available for it, the Quest 1 will no longer be receiving new features. In addition, Meta will only be rolling out critical bug fixes and security patches to the headset until 2024. As The Verge notes, the device has mainly been getting the same updates as its successor over the past few years, but now Quest 1 owners will have to make do with the features the device already has. 

It’s possible that Meta is having difficulties making sure new features are also working on the Quest 1’s aging hardware. The company released the first headset back in 2019, when it was still known as Facebook and the device was still under the Oculus branding. It’s powered by a Snapdragon 835 chip that was released in 2017 and was already two years old at that point. The Quest 2 was a huge upgrade when it came out in 2020, and its Snapdragon XR2 processor provided a significant power boost that enables it to play more complex games and experiences. 

That said, the first Quest is also losing access to some abilities it already has: Users will no longer be able to create or join parties going forward. Further, users who have access to Meta Horizon Home’s social features will no longer be able to access them starting on March 5th, 2023. That means they’ll only have a couple of months left to invite other users into their Home or visit someone else’s Home.

I’ve been captivated by The Last of Us since I first played it shortly after it was released for the PS3 way back in 2013. Its ruined, dangerous but somehow beautiful post-pandemic world was compellingly rendered by developer Naughty Dog, and the tense combat driven by stealth and a need to conserve your resources felt more brutal and realistic than the Uncharted series the developer was known for.

But the relationship between protagonists Joel and Ellie is the true heart of the game. The story of a broken father reluctantly taking responsibility for a child who ends up becoming a surrogate daughter isn’t wildly original, nor is the game’s post-apocalyptic setting. But the development of Joel and Ellie’s relationship is filled with humor, hope, sadness and conflict, and it was brilliantly written by creators Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley. Performers Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, along with the entire Naughty Dog team brought it to life, and the game has stuck with me ever since.

It’s the kind of video game that’s been begging for some sort of on-screen adaptation. Now, almost a decade after the game was released, HBO’s The Last of Us series will premiere on January 15th. The first season is led by a deep and talented cast (headlined by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as Joel and Ellie) and an equally strong creative team, including Druckmann and Craig Mazin (best known for his outstanding Chernobyl mini-series, also on HBO).

Anna Torv (Tess) and Pedro Pascal (Joel)

I’m happy to report that The Last of Us should satisfy fans of the game, and might even bring in a fresh audience. It deftly walks the line between paying loving tribute to the source material while not feeling overly devoted to it. The structure of the show is essentially identical to the game: Joel and Ellie meet in a Boston quarantine zone some 20 years after a fungal infection destroys the world as we know it. Circumstance shoves the pair together on a cross-country journey that spans the better part of a year, as Joel tries to safely get Ellie to the Fireflies, a revolutionary militia that’s been trying to find a cure for the infection.

If you’ve played the game, you’ll be familiar with the season’s nine-episode arc. But in each act of the story, Mazin has smartly identified where to expand the narrative and what to leave out. The biggest thing missing are many of the huge action set-pieces that come up throughout the game. It’s an unsurprising change, as it wouldn’t feel realistic for Joel and Ellie to survive the number of battles they face in the game; it also wouldn’t make for compelling TV. There’s still plenty of action in the show, but it’s meted out more carefully and generally only when it moves the story forward.

Unsurprisingly, everything about The Last of Us reflects the high-budget, flagship status the show seems to have at HBO. Sets and environments are epic in scale and detail, and the combination of prosthetics and digital enhancements bring the Infected to life in terrifying fashion. Although there seems to be less of an emphasis on encounters with these creatures than in the game, seeing them on screen is distressingly memorable. Details like cinematography and music (composed by Oscar-winner Gustavo Santaolalla, who scored the games), are also masterfully executed; this is a show that oozes quality and attention to detail — much like the game itself.

Nico Parker as Sarah Miller in HBO’s The Last of Us

More interesting is how The Last of Us expands on the world and its inhabitants. We immediately get a more extensive look at the pre-pandemic life that Joel and his daughter Sarah inhabit. The showrunners give us more backstory and a better understanding of the different ways people survive: cooped up in a dreary Boston quarantine zone, fighting the government in a Kansas City lost to a violent militia group, or a peaceful settlement out west. The world feels a lot more nuanced than the one in the game, where almost everyone is an enemy to be overcome. Don’t get me wrong — most of the inhabitants of HBO’s The Last of Us will shoot first and ask questions later – but most encounters are about tension rather than brutal violence.

A lot has been written about the show’s two stars, Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal, both of whom have some big shoes to fill. Finding two performers with on-screen chemistry who could successfully embody their respective characters was surely not an easy task. But Pascal and Ramsey’s performances both immediately connected me with the original characters while also feeling vital and essential on their own. Fans of the game should immediately find things to draw them in, while those new to the series should be quickly won over by the pair.

Pascal’s Joel has a lot more emotional depth than Joel the video game character. Part of that is due to scripts that put more focus on his vulnerabilities and insecurities, but Pascal skillfully portrays a broad range of emotions. He’s able to show the cold, violent and skilled survivor side of Joel who’ll do anything to get what he needs while also embodying the broken spirit of a man who’s spent 20 years doing whatever it takes to stay alive. Watching Ellie bring out Joel’s more vulnerable side, and seeing how that conflicts with the hardened survivor, is at the heart of Joel’s character journey, and Pascal simply nails it. Joel is both more vulnerable than ever — and also more terrifying.

Meanwhile, Ramsey charms from their first moment onscreen as Ellie. We’re afforded a little more of Ellie’s backstory in the first episode, and it’s a great introduction to the character that immediately shows her brazen attitude toward anything that gets in her way. Much of the humor and levity comes from Ellie, and Ramsey’s performance captures the innocent resilience that only a 14-year-old could have in the face of abject horror and seemingly inescapable doom. The weight on Ellie’s shoulders grows throughout the series, and Ramsey is always up to the task of taking Ellie to the brink of breakdown before she comes back to the sense of duty she feels to care for the people she’s chosen to let into her life. Ellie’s naivety and sense of wonder gets bruised time and time again throughout the series, but both Ramsey and the scripts never let her lose it entirely.

Bella Ramsey (Ellie) and Anna Torv (Tess) in The Last of Us.

While both Pascal and Ramsey deliver excellent performances in their own right, the magic really happens when the two are playing off each other. Naturally, the characters start out skeptical of one another, with Joel straight-up calling Ellie “cargo” to her face. But Ellie’s fascination with seeing the world beyond the quarantine zone she’s been stuck in slowly breaks Joel down. Pascal does a great job flipping between those two sides of the character, offering up hints of compassion and concern for Ellie as a person, only to retreat into an emotionally distant protector role.

Meanwhile, Ramsey embodies the spirit of Ellie as she opens up to Joel, and seeing this side of Ellie’s character is a delight. Ramsey’s ability to convincingly show Ellie’s goofy and rebellious exterior is masterfully done; it’s the tool Ellie uses most to try and win over Joel, as if she knows he’s going to give in with a smile or laugh sooner or later. Watching Pascal slowly warm to her brings out a host of different ways for the two actors to play off each other. But Ramsey is also just as convincing when demonstrating Ellie’s drive for survival is just as strong as Joel’s. That leads her to some dark places, and Ramsey shows their range as the series progresses and the challenges facing Ellie and Joel mount.

The rest of the cast doesn’t get as much screen time, but they all contribute to some compelling plot lines. The stories of Bill and Frank (played by Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett) as well as Keivonn Woodard’s interpretation of Sam are two of the finest examples in the series where Mazin and Druckmann deviate a bit from the original text to do something that might not work in a game but is extremely successful in a show. Their episodes are undeniable standouts, and probably the best examples of why The Last of Us is such a successful adaptation.

The show whiffs a little bit on the pacing, as the back half of the season feels rushed. The pace naturally accelerates throughout the season toward the story’s climax, and the last two episodes are among the shortest in the season. I wish that some of the many dramatic moments near the end had more time to breathe. I don’t think a whole additional episode is necessary, but an extra ten minutes in each of the final episodes might have made things feel less constricted.

Also, it’s worth remembering that The Last of Us was an extremely violent video game, and the show does not shy away from brutality and occasional gore. It’s less overt than I expected, but each episode generally has at least one moment that’s not for the squeamish. That said, much of the human-on-human violence is pared back. With a few exceptions, it’s not too gratuitous or graphic, and a lot is implied. Regardless, I respect that large swaths of people might not be in the mood for a violent and often grim post-pandemic drama after three-plus years dealing with a real-life pandemic.

Despite those concerns, the end result is the best kind of adaptation, one that’s faithful to the spirit of the origin that also makes smart changes to fit the medium. In that way, it reminds me a bit of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, another personal favorite. While those movies made numerous deviations and changes, Jackson always framed them as a way to make the story work as well as possible in the film medium.

I feel the same way about The Last of Us. It’s not a one-to-one retelling, and I’m thankful for that – it wouldn’t have made for good TV. Instead, Craig Mazin took his love for Druckmann’s story and converted it to a show that many will enjoy, regardless of whether they’ve played the game. And for those of us who already love The Last of Us, this adaptation stands toe-to-toe with the original. There are tons of stunning moments that bring me directly back to what I love, but each episode also has a number of moments that surprised and delighted me, even though I know the overarching plot inside and out. It’s more than I could have hoped for, and I’m very excited that people who don’t play video games will get a chance to experience Joel and Ellie’s story through this excellent series.

Virgin Orbit’s historic “Start Me Up” mission launched from Spaceport Cornwell on January 9th as planned, but it has failed to reach orbit and has ultimately ended in failure. If you follow the the company’s tweets during the event, everything went well at first. Virgin Orbit confirmed LauncherOne’s clean separation from its carrier aircraft, Cosmic Girl, as well as the ignition of its NewtonThree first stage rocket engine. The mission also seemed to have gone through a successful stage separation, with the company tweeting about NewtonFour’s, the second stage engine’s, ignition. “LauncherOne is now officially in space!” the tweet after that reads. 

LauncherOne’s upper stage shut down and was supposed to coast halfway around our planet before deploying its payload. As Ars Technica reports, the next tweet after that said the rocket and its payload satellites had successfully reached orbit. But the company deleted that tweet and replaced it with an announcement that said an anomaly prevented the mission from reaching orbit as planned. According to Reuters, a graphic display it saw over the launch’s video feed showed that the mission reached second-stage cutoff but stopped three steps ahead of payload deployment a couple of hours after take off. 

Matt Archer, Commercial Space Director at the UK Space Agency, said the government and various entities that include the company will conduct an investigation about the failure over the coming days. Archer also said that the second stage suffered a “technical anomaly and didn’t reach the required orbit.” It’s unclear what the investigation entails, but Virgin Orbit promised to share more details when it can. Meanwhile, Cosmic Girl and its crew was safely able to return to Spaceport Cornwall.

The mission was carrying payload satellites from seven commercial and government customers. They include a UK-US joint project called CIRCE (Coordinated Ionospheric Reconstruction CubeSat Experiment) and two CubeSats for the UK Ministry of Defense’s Prometheus-2 initiative. Ars says this failure could have a huge impact on the company, which is struggling to launch enough missions to break even. “Start Me Up” wasn’t only the first orbital launch from UK soil, it was also the first international launch for Virgin Orbit and the first commercial launch from Western Europe. It could’ve been a high-profile success for the company and would’ve shown potential customers what it’s capable of. 

Meta is acting on its vow to reduce ad discrimination through technology. The company is rolling out a Variance Reduction System (VRS) in the US that ensures the real audience for an ad more closely matches the eligible target audience — that is, it shouldn’t skew unfairly toward certain cultural groups. Once enough people have seen an ad, a machine learning system compares the aggregate demographics of viewers with those the marketers intended to reach. It then tweaks the ad’s auction value (that is, the likelihood you’ll see the ad) to display it more or less often to certain groups.

VRS keeps working throughout an ad run. And yes, Meta is aware of the potential privacy issues. It stresses that the system can’t see an individual’s age, gender or estimated ethnicity. Differential privacy tech also introduces “noise” that prevents the AI from learning individual demographic info over time.

The anti-discrimination method will initially apply to the housing ads that prompted the settlement. VRS will reach credit and employment ads in the country over the following year, Meta says.

The feature comes after more than a year of work alongside both the Justice Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Meta (then Facebook) was charged in 2019 with enabling discrimination in housing ads by letting advertisers exclude certain demographics, including those protected by the Fair Housing Act. In a June 2022 settlement, the social media giant said it would both deploy VRS and scrap the “Special Ad Audience” tool whose algorithm allegedly led to discrimination. Meta had already limited ad targeting in 2019 in response to another lawsuit.

Meta isn’t alone in trying to limit discriminatory ads. Google barred advertisers from targeting credit, housing and job ads starting in 2020. However, the tech used to fight that discrimination is relatively novel. It won’t be surprising if other internet services implement VRS-like systems of their own so long as Meta’s AI proves effective.