[The Morning After]( Now available on your smart speaker and wherever you get your podcasts [Apple Podcasts]( | [Spotify]( | [Google Play]( | [iHeart Radio]( It's Thursday, November 10, 2022. Taking on something a bit more challenging than adding a USB-C port, Aesthetics of Science and Technology (AST) claims to have [built a folding iPhone](. The group pillaged the folding screen from a Motorola RAZR, added some 3D-printed parts and combined it all with a jailbroken iPhone X. Itâs very much a proof of concept, with little-to-no durability and a whopping gap when itâs folded. Thanks to the iOS jailbreak, it also has a split-screen mode. Weâre staying skeptical â and have questions. How much internal hardware reorganizing happened? Can you fit an entire iPhone battery in one half of the phone? Like the USB-C mod, itâs a possible preview of things to come. Apple has already announced that USB-C iPhones are incoming, and rumors suggest the company might unveil an official folding iPhone as soon as 2023. â Mat Smith The Morning After isnât just a[newsletter]( â itâs also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by[subscribing right here](. The biggest stories you might have missed - [Volvo officially reveals the EX90 EV SUV, its 'safest car ever']( - [New French law will require parking lots to install solar panels]( - [IBM's latest quantum computing processor triples the qubits of its predecessor]( - [Kia's 2023 EV6 will cost $7,100 more than its predecessor]( - [The best gifts for tea lovers in 2022]( - [The best tech toys and gifts for kids in 2022]( - [November's PS Plus Extra and Premium games include 'Skyrim' and 'Kingdom Hearts III']( [Twitterâs new official checkmarks get launched and killed in a few hours]( Got $8?
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Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images]( Elon Musk claims he "[just killed]( Twitterâs ["official" verification badges]( mere hours after deployment. The gray checkmarks have vanished from accounts that only just got them, including Engadget's and The New York Timesâ. Twitter VP Esther Crawford clarified you'll still see the marks, but the social media giant is handing them out to "government and commercial entities" first. In justifying the move, Musk reiterated his view that tying the original checkmark to a Twitter Blue subscription will democratize the service. It will take some time before it's clear just who gets what checkmarks and what vetting will be necessary to get the "official" tag. [Continue reading.]( [Meta is laying off more than 11,000 employees]( It's the first mass layoffs in the company's history. Meta is reducing the size of its workforce by about 13 percent and letting more than 11,000 of its employees go. According to The Wall Street Journal, Metaâs recruiting and business teams are likely to be hit especially hard. Zuckerberg says he wants to take accountability for how Meta found itself in this position. Apparently, he decided to significantly increase Meta's investments following an exceptionally large revenue growth at the height of the pandemic. But Meta has been losing billions of dollars on its investments in the metaverse, with Reality Labs losing more than $10 billion in 2021. The company has said it expects to lose âsignificantlyâ more in 2023. Facebookâs ad revenue has also taken a hit due to Appleâs changes to appsâ ad tracking abilities. [Continue reading.]( [Google One's VPN comes to Mac and Windows]( You can finally secure your desktop connection using Google's service. Google has released One VPN apps for Mac and Windows systems. As on mobile, the VPN encrypts and otherwise masks your internet traffic. You can't use it to access content from other regions like you can with some VPNs (this isnât your magic bullet for international Netflix content), but it should help if you're worried about exposing your IP address or using a public hotspot. [Continue reading.]( [Googleâs Stadia refunds, explained]( No refunds for your Pro sub.
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Getty Images]( If you've ever bought a game on Stadia, Google's soon-to-be-defunct cloud gaming service, it's worth keeping an eye on your bank balance and credit card statements. As of today, Google is starting to process refunds for Stadia purchases. The first wave of refunds will include those for purchases of games, add-on content and subscriptions made through the Stadia store. It expects to issue most of them (including those for hardware purchases) by the time it shuts down the Stadia servers on January 18th. This wonât encompass Stadia Pro subscription fees, however. Google notes that players may be able to transfer their save data from Stadia to other platforms, but it's up to developers and publishers to support that. Ubisoft, Bungie, I/O Interactive, CD Projekt Red, Rockstar Games and Bethesda are working on ways to help players move their game progress to other platforms. [Continue reading.]( [Gdgt Deals by StackCommerce: Find great deals on gadgets, software, services and more!]( The Morning After is a 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:
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