The Weekly Authority: 📱 Peek on the Pixel 8

⚡ Welcome to The Weekly Authority, the Android Authority e-newsletter that breaks down the highest Android and tech information from the week. The 220th version right here, with Google Pixel 8 leaks, proceeding Twitter drama, incoming Stadia refunds, and extra…

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Social media:

• About flip: After shedding virtually 50% of the corporate, Twitter asks fired workers to please come back.
• Elon Musk has discussed ideas such as putting the entirety of Twitter behind a paywall, or permitting everybody to make use of the website online for a restricted time each and every month, and then a subscription can be required. 
• Previous this week, we reported that Twitter will soon have two checkmarks. Hours after rollout, Elon Musk nixed the brand new function, however some accounts are still showing the checkmark regardless.
• Wow: Some Twitter customers say their blocks on Musk’s account were lifted without their consent.
• The top of faraway paintings, subscriptions, and extra: Read Musk’s first email to all Twitter employees.
• Meta confirms 11,000 layoffs, amounting to 13% of its group of workers.

• HBO has canceled Westworld after four seasons, bringing up short of viewership and prime manufacturing prices.
• November 6 used to be Stranger Issues day, and Netflix announced the official title for season 5, episode one: The Move slowly, sparking hypothesis.
• We’ve were given the best new TV shows to stream this week, together with Amazon Top’s UK dramedy Mammals.
• And in case you’re considering of signing as much as Apple TV Plus, we’ve picked the 23 Apple TV Plus shows you should watch first.
• We’ve additionally were given the best new streaming movies, like sci-fi horror Slash/Again and Netflix unique Falling for Christmas.
• Talking of flicks, in case you’re in search of unfastened titles to look at, take a look at our roundup of the best websites to legally watch free movies online.
• John Wick: Bankruptcy 4 is coming quickly, and the trailer sees Keanu Reeves preventing Donnie Yen.
• Disney Plus announces price hikes, ad-supported plan coming subsequent month.
• And 40 percent of US Disney Plus subscribers picked the bundle with ESPN Plus and Hulu.

• Woop! Google has started rolling out refunds for Stadia, regardless that no refunds on Stadia Professional subscription charges or Google’s Energy Strengthen Claw.
• Microsoft admits Xbox vs PlayStation war is over.
• In the meantime, European Union opens “in-depth” investigation into Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard.
• The Xbox Series X could be getting new graphics modes that can save you money: decrease your in-game framerates and resolutions to avoid wasting to your power invoice.
• God of Conflict Ragnarok launched Wednesday, and Kotaku’s were given 23 tips before you play. Plus, here’s how the game made accessibility a core part of its design.
• A Gears of War live-action movie and animated series are in the works at Netflix.
• Talking of, Netflix confirms a Stranger Things VR game is coming in late 2023, the place you’ll be able to play as Season 4’s villain, Vecna.
• Diablo 4 will allegedly launch in April 2023, with pre-orders reportedly opening subsequent month.
• Feels like sci-fi: Oculus creator makes virtual reality headset that intentionally kills people.
• Rogue Legacy 2, Venba, and extra: Here’s everything you missed in Nintendo’s latest Indie World Showcase.

We’re all used to accessibility features on our smartphones and computer systems, such because the Android Accessibility Suite — and there are many accessibility apps for Android too. However a teach station in Japan has carried out probably the most amusing accessibility options ever.

• Ueno Station in Tokyo will also be, like maximum stations within the town, a packed, chaotic position. 
• Commuting throughout the station will also be daunting, specifically for differently-abled folks comparable to contributors of the deaf and hearing-impaired neighborhood.
• A crew of AI-experienced builders at Fujitsu got here up with a amusing visible option to assist hearing-impaired and deaf folks navigate the station and really feel more secure: Ekimatopeia.
• The phrase comes from the Jap phrase for station, “Eki,” and syllables from the English language phrase, “onomatopeia,” which means “a phrase that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes.”

This video — in Jap with English subtitles — explains precisely how Ekimatopeia works.

• A big display screen show is posted at the boarding platform, and manga-style onomatopoeic sounds are displayed.
• Those sounds in truth constitute what an AI alternatives up via a mic and are translated in actual time.
• Other fonts are used to put across particular feelings. 
• For instance, ambient feels like a teach coming near the platform and slowing to a prevent, a teach rushing throughout the station, or the sound of an alarm or horn would all be represented visually by way of phrases at the display screen.
• When a teach approaches the platform, its clanking “gachan-gachan-gachan” sound can be displayed, along side visuals symbolizing a teach.
• The speculation for the challenge got here from scholars at a faculty for deaf individuals who talked concerning the difficulties they confronted commuting to university by way of teach, with some commenting that it may well be frightening, as they didn’t all the time realize the teach coming near.
• Ekimatopeia is helping folks to sense those sounds, with other fonts and hues making the station chaos a visible enjoy for deaf and hearing-impaired commuters.

Tech Calendar

• November 15-17: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit
• November 18: The Darkish Footage: The Satan in Me launches on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Sequence S/X, and PC
• November 22: Evil West releases on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Sequence S/X, and PC
• November 25-28: Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) gross sales
• November 28-December 2: Amazon Reinvent
• December 2: The Callisto Protocol launches on PS4, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Sequence S/X, and PC (no longer in Japan)
• January 5-8, 2023: CES 2023 (Las Vegas)

Paula Beaton, Replica Editor.