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If you’d been meaning to catch up on Westworld even though it was cancelled before its fifth and final season, you may want to do so soon. The show is leaving the streaming service just over a month after it was cancelled, according to Deadline and Variety. The Nevers, the sci-fi series Joss Whedon created for HBO, has also been cancelled and will be removed from the streaming platform before the second half of season one could debut next year. 

As Variety notes, HBO Max owner Warner Bros. Discovery is saving money with this move, as it will no longer have to pay residuals to cast and crew. That, of course, on top of the money it’s saving by discontinuing the shows’ production. Chief Executive David Zaslav promised investors that the company would find a way to cut $3.5 billion in costs after the $43 billion WarnerMedia and Discovery merger was finalized earlier this year. The company has been cutting down on spending since then and has cancelled shows other than these two. 

Deadline says, however, that it’s possible for both Westworld and The Nevers to come back as offerings on another one of the company’s platforms. Zaslav previously talked about entering the free ad-supported TV streaming space, and the sci-fi shows could apparently be offered on a future service with that business model. If that does happen, the second half of The Nevers — a show set in Victorian London that follows a group of women who manifest abnormal abilities — will debut on that service. It remains to be seen if we’re going to see the ending Westworld’s showrunners envisioned for it. The show’s fifth season didn’t get the chance to start production, unlike The Nevers that’s already done shooting the back half of its first season.

 

Twitter has dissolved its Trust and Safety Council via email and less than an hour before its members’ Zoom meeting with the company’s executives, according to The Washington Post and NPR. The council was reportedly supposed to discuss recent developments and changes on the website under Elon Musk, but the email said that the members’ help is no longer needed. Its members were apparently informed that Twitter is “reevaluating how best to bring external insights” and that the council is no longer “the best structure to do this.”

The company disbanded the group just a few days after three members resigned from their voluntary positions. In their letter, they said the well-being of Twitter’s users is on the decline despite Musk’s claims and that the executive should not be allowed to define digital safety. In a response to the news of their departure, Musk tweeted: “It is a crime that they refused to take action on child exploitation for years!” After that tweet, NPR said some remaining members sent a letter to Twitter demanding the company to stop misrepresenting the council’s role, as attacks against former and current advisors continued to grow worse. 

The Trust and Safety Council members aren’t employees handling moderation on the website, and they have no power to make decisions or to review banned accounts and specific tweets. They’re a group of external advisors from expert and anti-abuse organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, YAKIN (Youth Adult Survivors & Kin in Need), the Samaritans and GLAAD, volunteering their time to help Twitter figure out how to fight hate and harassment. When Twitter formed the council in 2016, it said the group’s purpose is to make the website a less toxic place so that “anyone, anywhere can express themselves safely and confidently.” 

More members were on the verge of resigning before the group was dissolved, Larry Magid, chief executive of Silicon Valley nonprofit ConnectSafely, told The Post. He said: “By disbanding [the council], we got fired instead of quit. Elon doesn’t want criticism, and he really doesn’t want the kind of advice he would very likely get from a safety advisory council, which would likely tell him to rehire some of the staff he got rid of, and reinstate some of the rules he got rid of, and turn the company in another direction from where he is turning it.”

Musk said in October that he will form a “moderation council” made up of members with “widely diverse viewpoints” before he reinstates banned accounts. But in an interview in November, he admitted that he will still have the final say in making decisions. Twitter has yet to introduce a moderation council, but Musk has already reinstated previously banned accounts’, such as Donald Trump’s and Andrew Anglin’s, the neo-Nazi creator of The Daily Stormer. 

 

Looks like embattled FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried won’t be testifying (virtually) before Congress after all. The Bahamas Attorney General’s Office announced Monday that Bankman-Fried has been arrested there and is likely to be extradited in short measure back to the US to stand trial. The AG’s office noted that his arrest came after, “receipt of formal notification from the United States that it has filed criminal charges against SBF and is likely to request his extradition.”  

The news of SBF’s arrest should come as little surprise given that last Friday the Department of Justice came out and said that it was “closely” examining his role in the multi-billion cryptocurrency exchange’s recent collapse, which is expected to harm more than a million individual investors. Justice Department officials made those statements while meeting with the crypto exchange’s bankruptcy team to discuss whether FTX had improperly moved hundreds of millions of dollars just ahead of its declared bankruptcy last November.

Bankman-Fried was scheduled to testify before Congress at the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday. However, as United States Attorney Damian Williams explained in a Tweet Monday, Bankman-Fried has been taken into custody “based on a sealed indictment,” which will be revealed and explained in the morning.

“Clearly, I made a lot of mistakes. There are things I would give anything to be able to do over again,” Bankman-Fried recently tried to explain to the New York Times. “I did not ever try to commit fraud on anyone.” 

The Bahamian government is also being accused of collusion — not by the DoJ, but rather FTX itself. Attorneys for the company asserted on Monday (ahead of the arrest news) that the Bahamas as a governing entity had colluded with Bankman-Fried to help move the ill-gotten funds from all those suspicious transactions that took place right before bankruptcy into crypto-wallets controlled by Bahamian regulators.  

Bankman-Fried stepped down from his role of CEO at FTX in November and was replaced by John J. Ray III, an executive who was also helmed Enron through its own bankruptcy proceedings. In his prepared remarks for Tuesday’s now-postponed congressional hearings, Ray painted a bleak picture of FTX’s late stage management and operations. 

In it he says that FTX went on a $5 billion spending spree in late 2021 and early 2022, “buying a myriad of businesses and investments, many of which may be worth only a fraction of what was paid for them,” as well as making numerous loans and payments amounting to more than $1 billion, “to insiders.” Those funds were also co-mingled with money from Bankman-Fried’s other venture Alameda Research, which also used client funds to engage in high-risk margin trading. 

Depending on what the Southern District Attorney’s office unseals tomorrow, Bankman-Fried could be going away for a very long time. Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and COO Sunny Balwani just got 11 and 12 years in prison, respectively, for their roles in the medical company’s massive fraud case. Ponzi Scheme king Bernie Madoff got 150 years for his shenanigans in 2009, and in 2006, Jeff Skilling was handed 24 years for his role in Enron’s downfall.   

Developing…

 

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced the 2023 Golden Globes nominations today. Streaming services dominated television categories, while direct-to-streaming films were recognized as well. Netflix and HBO Max had the best showings among streamers, tallying 14 television nods.

Netflix’s The Crown received four nominations: Best Drama Series, Best Television Actress – Drama Series (Imelda Staunton), Best Supporting Actress – Television Series (Elizabeth Debicki) and Best Supporting Actor – Television Series (Jonathan Pryce). Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story also received four: Best Limited Series – Anthology Series or Television Motion Picture and acting nominations for Evan Peters, Niecy Nash and Richard Jenkins. Other Netflix series receiving nods include Ozark‘s three nominations (including Best Drama Series), along with a single nod each for Inventing Anna and The Addams Family spinoff Wednesday.

Netflix also did well in the film categories, with Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery nominated for two awards (including Best Picture – Musical/Comedy) and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio picking up two more (including Best Picture – Animated). Additionally, three more Netflix movies received acting recognition: Ana de Armas (Blonde), Adam Driver (White Noise) and Eddie Redmayne (The Good Nurse).

The White Lotus was HBO Max’s top series, picking up four nominations, including Best Limited Series – Anthology Series or Television Motion Picture. The dark comedy anthology also picked up acting nods for Jennifer Coolidge, Aubrey Plaza and 83-year-old F. Murray Abraham. Hacks was close behind with three, including Best Musical/Comedy Series and two acting noms (Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder). Finally, House of the Dragon’s three nominations (including Best Drama Series) brought the Game of Thrones franchise back to awards season.

Severance and Black Bird put Apple TV+ on the board. The former was nominated for Best Drama Series, along with acting recognition for Adam Scott and John Turturro. Black Bird was nominated for Best Limited Series – Anthology Series or Television Motion Picture, alongside acting noms for Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser.

Disney+ had a limited presence on this year’s list. Diego Luna picked up an acting nod for the title role in Andor while Turning Red was nominated for Best Picture – Animated. However, Hulu — Disney’s other streaming service — did very well, picking up noms for Pam & Tommy (four, including Best Limited Series, Anthology Series or Television Motion Picture), Only Murders in the Building (three), Elizabeth Holmes story The Dropout (two) and Under the Banner of Heaven (two).

As always, there were several high-profile omissions. Amazon’s budget-shattering epic, Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, didn’t receive a single nomination. Meanwhile, whether because of Will Smith’s damaged reputation or the movie itself, Apple TV+ film Emancipation was also left out.

Winners will be announced at the 2023 Golden Globes ceremony on January 10th, starting at 8 PM ET. The show will air on NBC and Peacock with comedian Jerrod Carmichael as host.

 

Netflix’s penchant for live-action manga remakes isn’t going away any time soon. The streaming service has revealed that it’s partnering with Legendary Entertainment on a live action My Hero Academia movie. Anime and manga adaptation veteran Shinsuke Sato (Alice in Borderland, Bleach) will both direct and executive produce, while Obi-Wan Kenobi‘s Joby Harold is writing the screenplay.

The manga and the anime it fostered both revolve around Deku, a boy who aches to join the UA High School and become a superhero despite missing the natural powers that most humans have by that point. Both the manga and the still-running anime offshoot have been successful, with the manga racking up over 65 million sales so far.

There’s no mention of casting or a release window for the Netflix project. Toho, which handles the anime, will distribute the movie to Japanese theatres. As IndieWireexplains, this comes four years after Legendary said a movie was in the works.

As with earlier adaptations, Netflix has multiple incentives to create a My Hero Academia title. It’s tapping into a large fanbase, sometimes for anime productions it already offers. This also gives it a way to reel in customers who would otherwise stick to anime-centric rivals like Crunchyroll, which recently lowered prices in some countries.

Whether or not it’ll be worth watching is another matter. Netflix doesn’t have the best track record for live action takes on manga and anime. The Cowboy Bebop series misunderstood its source material and generally struggled despite a top-tier cast and intriguing premise. There’s also the question of the format. A movie doesn’t allow as much room for story development as an episodic show, so My Hero Academia may have to rush through the narrative.

 

With the success of Souls games like Dark Souls III and Elden Ring, you’d think FromSoftware would incorporate some of the gameplay into other titles… right? Not so. From president Hidetaka Miyazaki told IGN in an interview that there’s no “conscious effort” to add Souls-style elements to Armored Core VI. Instead, the studio is eager to to stick what makes the Armored Core series “special” — that is, creating a custom mech and taking it into battle. There will still be a mission-driven structure, even if there are elements of exploration.

The new title is a “reboot” will take advantage of greatly expanded resources to build the game From “wanted to make,” Miyazaki said. The team’s Masaru Yamamura added that there will be a “fresh new story,”but that the game will remain challenging. While you’ll find a versus multiplayer mode like in earlier Armored Core projects, details of that are under wraps for now.

Armored Core VI is due in 2023 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. It will be the first mainline game in the franchise since 2012. After its announcement at The Game Awards, creators like VaatiVidya speculated that the new battler would effectively be a Souls game with mechs. That’s clearly not happening, then.

Whether or not it’s a good strategy is another matter. Armored Core V had a mixed reception — this won’t be the follow-up to a much-loved predecessor like Bloodborne or the Dark Souls series. A lot has changed at From over the course of a decade, mind you, so it won’t be surprising if VI reflects some lessons learned.

 

When Lyft first pledged to go fully electric by the end of 2030, the company detailed a plan that involved an “extremely hard” push on incentives for drivers. Now, more than two years later, the company is rolling out a new EV bundle to encourage drivers to switch.

To start, drivers in California can earn an extra $150 every week through the end of 2024 by completing 50 weekly rides with their personal EVs. You can find more information on the EV Ride Challenge over on Lyft’s website, but important details include a December 31st, 2023, deadline to register and a total individual earnings limit of $8,100.

“Because California is currently Lyft’s largest EV market, the company is using it as a testing ground to understand the best ways to help drivers transition,” a Lyft spokesperson told NBC affiliate KXAN. “From there, Lyft can take learnings to other states across the country.”

To that point, the other incentives Lyft announced today are available nationwide. First, there’s a discount for drivers who charge their cars through EVgo. In select markets, Gold and Platinum drivers can get up to 45 percent off the company’s Pay As You Go rates starting this week. To begin taking advantage of the discounts, you’ll need to link your Lyft Rewards and EVgo accounts.

Drivers with Lyft Direct debit cards can get cashback at public charging stations. The amount will depend on the individual’s Lyft Rewards standing, with Platinum members entitled to a 7 percent return, while Gold and Silver drivers get a more modest 3 percent and 2 percent back. Everyone else can get 1 percent back at stations that accept Mastercard. Lastly, Lyft has partnered with Wallbox to offer drivers discounts on at-home Level 2 charging hardware. The company is also working with COIL to secure pre-negotiated rates for installation.

“We know many drivers on Lyft want to switch to EVs, which is why we’re focused on addressing the biggest barriers they face in transitioning: upfront costs and access to charging,” said Paul Augustine, Lyft’s director of sustainability. “These offerings are the latest in many steps we are taking to support drivers in switching to an EV on Lyft,”

On Monday, the company also announced it’s on track to add “thousands” of new EVs to its Express Drive rental program next year. Lyft previously announced it was aiming to only acquire electric vehicles for the program by 2026, and phase out any remaining internal combustion engine cars by 2028.

 

As the name suggests, the Hero 11 Black Mini is a smaller version of GoPro’s latest top-end action camera. Right now it’s seeing a 42 percent discount at GoPro’s website when you bundle it with a GoPro subscription. By itself, the camera goes for $400, but when you add the $50 yearly subscription, GoPro will knock $150 off the price. As part of GoPro’s holiday sale, when you add the camera to your cart, you’ll see an additional 15 percent discount. That brings the total for the camera plus the subscription down to $262.50. Not bad considering the Hero 11 Mini by itself is going for $400 right now at Amazon.  

We did a hands-on with the Mini when it came out this November and were impressed by what it can do. True, it only has a small status-only display instead of a touchscreen, there’s no photo mode and the unit did get a bit hot shooting in 5.3K at 60fps indoors. That said, you can control the Mini via the app on your phone, you can pull stills from video to get around the no-photo-mode limitation and the overheating disappears when shooting at lower definitions. 

Limitations aside, where the camera excels is as a helmet- or body-mounted action cam, or as a secondary shot-getter. It has a second pair of mounting fingers that make it easier to face the camera forward and it includes many of the features — like horizon lock and Hyperview mode — that make its larger sibling so capable. Battery-wise, we got about a hour of continuous recording at the highest quality and almost two hours recording at lower definitions.

It’s worth noting that the larger camera, the Hero 11 Black is also $150 off with a GoPro subscription and is also getting that extra 15 percent off at checkout. If you decide you do want a screen, this is a good time to grab the bigger version. 

As for the subscription, it’s a $50-per-year service that gets you unlimited cloud storage and automatic uploads when the camera is plugged in. It also grants you a camera replacement should you smash yours in service of getting a particularly good shot. The subscription also gets you up to 50 percent off at GoPro.com, and could theoretically pay for itself if you plan on buying a lot of accessories. 

You can always cancel the service before you’re charged again next year, so there’s little reason not to go for the $150 off. The extra 15 percent discount means it’s the lowest price we’ve seen the Mini yet, making today a good one to add another GoPro camera to your collection — or get that collection started in the first place. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

 

A few weeks ago, LG announced its latest UltraGear gaming monitor, the 27GR95QE. Behind the unassuming model number is a display that has a lot of buzz around it. That’s because the spec sheet of the 27GR95QE reads like every monitor wishlist you’ve probably seen in the last few years. It features a flat 27-inch OLED panel with a 2560 x 1440 resolution, a claimed 0.03 millisecond gray-to-gray response time and 98.5 percent DCI-P3 coverage.

A native 240Hz refresh rate makes the 27GR95QE ideal for competitive gaming, but the monitor also comes with AMD FreeSync Premium support and NVIDIA G-Sync Compatible certification. It even includes a VESA Adaptive-Sync badge for good measure. All of that branding means the 27GR95QE is also a good fit for games where your GPU can’t deliver a constant 240 frames per second.

If you want to use the 27GR95QE for current-generation console gaming, you can, thanks to the inclusion of two HDMI 2.1 ports. With HDR10 support and a 1,500,000 to one contrast ratio, it should also make for a good multimedia display. That said, I’ll note here LG’s website doesn’t mention what DisplayHDR certification the 27GR95QE earned and it peaks at a modest 200 nits of brightness, so it’s hard to say what kind of performance you can expect on the HDR front.

All of that brings us to today, with LG finally sharing US pricing and availability for the 27GR95QE. The monitor will cost $1,000 when it ships in January. That’s a fair bit more than you would pay for a similar LED display, but then you miss out on all the advantages that come with an OLED panel. For some, the 27GR95QE will represent their “endgame” monitor. 

On Monday, LG also announced pricing for the 45GR95QE. It’s basically a 45-inch ultrawide version of the 27GR95QE. The extra screen space will set you back a cool $1,700 when it goes on sale next year. If you preorder the 27GR95QE or 45GR95QE before December 26th, LG will throw in a $200 RGB gaming pad with your purchase.

 

Discord is expanding on Connections, a feature that allows users to show what music they’re listening to (among other things), by providing a way for folks to verify their identity using accounts on other platforms. Starting in the next few weeks, admins will be able to offer dedicated server roles to users who have authenticated profiles with accounts elsewhere.

The core idea behind these Linked Roles is to provide a stronger sense of trust. The platforms that support this feature at the outset are Xbox, PlayStation, Steam, Epic Games, Battle.net, League of Legends, Riot Games, Reddit, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, Spotify, Facebook, GitHub, Crunchyroll, PayPal and eBay. Discord bots for Destiny 2 (Charlemagne) and Roblox (Bloxlink) support Linked Roles too.

You can show these connected accounts on your Discord profile, along with certain details like your follower count or eBay seller feedback rating. If you’re selling your art on Discord, for instance, you can indicate to potential customers that the work on a DeviantArt profile is actually yours, since the accounts will be linked. Discord admins and moderators can also choose to offer server roles with perks, such as access to certain channels, to users who authenticate their accounts with Connections and meet various conditions.

Admins will be able to select the parameters for unlocking Linked Roles. They can stipulate, for instance, that a user needs to link to a Steam account that’s a certain number of days old and/or has a minimum number of Dota 2 or Team Fortress 2 items to show that they’re genuine players. From a server’s dropdown menu, users will be able to view the requirements for each Linked Role. Each role will automatically be granted to their profiles when they meet the conditions.

Discord is keeping privacy in mind here. Admins and moderators won’t automatically gain access to info from your Connections even if you’ve already linked accounts before joining a server. You’ll need to manually opt-in to a server’s Linked Roles before details from your connected accounts are accessible. Moreover, if you’re eligible, you can snag a Linked Role on a server without having to show any details from your Connections on your profiles. Discord can handle things on the back end without admins or moderators being able to see your info.

Linked Roles build on previous Connections features, such as being able to show off whatever Xbox or PlayStation game you’re playing on your Discord profile. Discord is rolling out Linked Roles at a time when Twitter is upending its approach to account verification. Cross-platform authentication can help to verify a person’s identity. You’ll be able to tell, for instance, if a Discord profile actually belongs to a big name Instagram, YouTube or TikTok creator thanks to those accounts being linked.

Meanwhile, Discord is starting to roll out green checkmarks next to Connections for certain services. The icon will show that the connected app is from a vetted developer. Discord says this will “help establish an important level of trust between apps from developer partners and the millions of users who interact with those apps every day across Discord.”

As of today, 22 of these “official” apps are available. Next year, Discord will start offering an application process for developers who want to have their apps designated as official. In the meantime, using a new API, developers can create or update apps to support Connections features.