Apple’s foray into producing MLB broadcasts has had some pretty spotty moments, so Eddy Cue saying they would only take Sunday Ticket if the company is allowed to have ”great ideas” is pretty strange. The bar is: don’t crash every weekend!

Slack’s video huddles feature, which was announced back in July, just hit our instance today and after two video meetings in it, I’m not sure I ever want to use Zoom again. Of course, there are things Zoom still does better, like letting me record a meeting or handle many more thumbnails on a single window, but the Slack video huddle just feels much more effortless. And the chat is saved as a thread in Slack.

Zoom is at the same time trying to attack Slack from the other direction, by adding chat and other features. But if I had to guess, I’d wager Slack might replace Zoom first.

The new Genesis GV60 electric SUV is one of the first production vehicles to include facial recognition technology to unlock the vehicle. And they promise the whole thing will be end-to-end encrypted, so there’s that.

Axios’ Joann Muller said it took about five minutes to set up, capturing both her face and fingerprint and then allowing her to use the car without a key fob.

Other automakers have said they will use biometrics to scan for driver fatigue or intoxication.

Ken Kocienda, the longtime Apple designer and current exec at Humane, dropped 12 books he recommends in a tweet thread. They’re not all tech, but they’re mostly tech, and I nodded vigorously at all the ones I’ve read before. Definitely reading Longitude this weekend, too.

If your plans for Friday included a quick Nintendo Switch Sports session, we have some bad news — the servers are offline due to a bug in the latest update that caused a crash in the loading screen.

Basically: it doesn’t want to compete for broadcast rights, it wants sweeping deals to build new stuff a la the MLS service coming next year. Here’s how Eddy Cue put it during a panel this week:

“There’s all kinds of capabilities that we’re going to be able to do together because we have everything together. And so if I have a great idea, I don’t have to think about, OK, well, my contract or the deal of interest will allow this.”

How is that for a Mad Libs sentence. But it actually makes sense: as part of its sponsorship of Barcelona, Spotify is putting Drake’s logo on the club’s jersey to celebrate him becoming the first artist with 50 billion streams. And it’s happening during one of the biggest games of the year, when Barca take on Real Madrid this Sunday. As the song says, “just hold on, it’s coming home.”

Another day, another new creature reveal for Pokémon Violet and Scarlet. This time it’s an electric frog-looking thing called ​Bellibolt​ that — you guessed it — generates electricity with its belly button.

According to the official description, “the huge amount of electricity generated this way is then discharged from the two bumps on either side of its head that resemble eyeballs.​” But don’t worry: “its actual eyes are adorably small and round.”

Verge Score

Gregg Zehr, the president of Amazon’s Lab126, is retiring. Zehr ran Amazon’s hardware research and development group for just over 18 years and is generally credited as the guy who invented the Kindle.

Below is a fascinating oral history with the Computer History Museum where he talks about creating the 3G network for delivering books, and choosing E Ink as the display technology for the Kindle.

The city authorized $9 million to finance incentives through 2024, but that money is already nearly exhausted. More than 4,100 Denver residents have redeemed vouchers worth more than $4.1 million — way more than the $400,000 city official expected to spend. All residents are eligible for a $400 (or up to $1,200 for low-income residents) off the purchase of a new e-bike. Federal officials, take note.

Perhaps you’ve seen that Dunkin’ (née Dunkin’ Donuts) has changed its loyalty program for the worse. It’s been hard to miss for the past couple of weeks since it launched, thanks to many people complaining about it on social media.

Wired rounds up a few of those complaints today and asks what might be the outcome? The cynic in me says nothing, “my free” coffee is going to cost me twice as much going forward.

A column about Dunkin’ AND complaining on the internet? Be still my beating heart.

Welcome to our new Netflix With Ads era.

After thinking it over, while a $6.99 option that maxes out at 720p and doesn’t allow downloads isn’t enough for me to consider it, I can see how having that option could work for some.

Especially if all they want is an option to keep in rotation with Disney, HBO, and whatever other packages they enjoy. Anyone plan on signing up next month?

I had no idea video game cosmetics had become a billion-dollar industry, but it makes sense. I don’t want to talk about how much I’ve spent on Dota 2 outfits.

A Counterpoint study says that 30 percent of North American iPhone owners also own an Apple Watch. The highest for any half year since launch.

Voice Focus is Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 feature to remove background audio, similar to how Nvidia, Discord, and others suppress background noise. This impressive demo shows how it uses a dedicated neural processing unit on ARM-based devices to silence everything around you when you’re on a video or voice call.

Apple continues to suffer legal setbacks in Brazil over its decision to sell iPhones without chargers. On Thursday, a Brazilian court fined Apple 100 million reais (about $19 million) and ruled that it must provide chargers with new iPhones sold in the country.

Apple, unsurprisingly, will appeal the decision.