Twitch says it fixed an issue that prevented people from watching streams

Twitch has fixed an issue that had temporarily prevented parts of the platform, including channels and streams, from loading properly. According to Downdetector, the outage began around 1PM ET. At one point, the website logged more than 21,000 complaints that the streaming platform wasn’t working properly. 

At 1:24PM ET, Twitch acknowledged the outage. “We are investigating an issue preventing multiple areas of Twitch from loading,” the company’s official support account said on Twitter. Less than an hour later, Twitch said it was working to deploy a fix. At 2:36PM ET, Twitch posted that things were back in working order. “We have fixed the issues impacting multiple areas of Twitch and services should be back to normal,” the company said. “If you’re experiencing an issue loading part of the site please refresh your browser tab to see if this resolves it. Thank you again for your patience.” 

It’s unclear what started causing the issues, but one member of the Engadget team noticed they could continue watching a stream as long as they didn’t refresh their browser window. Some Twitch streamers took to Discord so members of their chat could still talk with one another. We’ll update this article if Twitch provides more information about what happened.

Update 3:23PM ET: Added confirmation that Twitch resolved the outage.  

NVIDIA’s new GeForce Now Ultimate tier brings RTX 4080 graphics to game streaming

If the RTX 4080’s $1,199 price point has stopped you from jumping on NVIDIA’s Ada Lovelace architecture, you can now access the power of one of the most powerful GPUs on the market through the company’s cloud gaming service. Alongside the RTX 4070 Ti (…

Tesla delivered over 405,000 vehicles in Q4 2022, setting a new company record

Tesla delivered 405,278 electric vehicles over the final three months of 2022, the automaker announced on Monday. That number represents a new record for the company, but it also fell short of Wall Street estimates. As recently as December 30th, the consensus among most analysts was that Tesla would deliver about 418,000 vehicles in Q4. A year earlier, the company delivered 308,600 cars during the same period.

According to Tesla, the Model 3 and Model Y made up most of the company’s deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2022, with 388,131 of those vehicles making their way to consumers before the end of the year. Comparatively, Tesla’s more expensive Model S and Model X cars accounted for a modest 17,147 deliveries over the same time frame. Tesla produced 439,701 vehicles in the fourth quarter, setting another record.

It’s fair to say the end of 2022 could have gone better for Tesla. Even before considering how much Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has hurt the company, Tesla was faced with macroeconomic and logistical challenges threatening to slow growth. As they did earlier in the year, COVID-19 restrictions in China forced Tesla to suspend and reduce production at its Shanghai Gigafactory. Tesla also closed the facility during the last week of December, adding to concerns the company has been dealing with weakening demand in the world’s biggest automotive market. In Q4, Tesla also had trouble securing transportation for completed vehicles.

Separately, Elon Musk’s handling of Twitter and repeat Tesla stock selloffs saw the value of the company’s shares drop dramatically. In December, Tesla’s stock fell 33 percent (and 45 percent over the last six months) before rallying in anticipation of the company’s fourth-quarter numbers. Tesla will publish its full Q4 results on January 25th and hold its next annual Investor Day presentation on March 1st.

Microsoft and FTC pre-trial hearing set for January 3rd

A federal judge has set a date for the first pre-trial hearing between Microsoft and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The two go to court on January 3rd to spar over the fate of Microsoft’s $69 billion bid to buy Call of Duty publisher Activision Bl…

Twitter sued for not paying San Francisco office rent

California Property Trust, the owner of the building that houses Twitter headquarters, is suing Elon Musk’s social media company for failing to pay $136,250 in rent. According to Bloomberg (via The Verge), the firm notified Twitter on December 16th that it would default on its lease for the 30th floor of the Hartford Building, located at 650 California Street in San Francisco, if it didn’t pay its outstanding rent within five days. In a complaint filed this week with the San Francisco County Superior Court, California Property Trust said Twitter failed to comply with the order.

According to a December 13th New York Times report, Twitter had in recent weeks stopped paying rent on all of its global offices to save on costs. The company also faces a lawsuit for failing to pay $197,725 for charter flights Musk took during his first week at Twitter. Over that same time period, Musk has reportedly brought over “more than half a dozen” lawyers from SpaceX to bolster Twitter’s legal team.

Samsung taps a former Mercedes-Benz designer to lead its mobile design team

Samsung’s mobile division has a new design chief. On Friday, the company announced the appointment of Hubert H. Lee to head up its Mobile eXperience (MX) Design Team, the unit responsible for designing some of Samsung’s most visible products, including its flagship Galaxy S series phones. Lee joins the electronics giant after a stint as the chief design officer of Mercedes-Benz China, a position that saw him lead the automaker’s design teams in China and the US. “His unique and visionary perspective will help shape the look and feel of Galaxy, building on the distinct design ethos that users know and love,” Samsung said.

It will probably be at least a year before we see Lee start to leave his mark on Samsung’s products. Prelease leaks of the company’s next Galaxy S series phones suggest they’ll look a lot like their Galaxy S22 predecessors. What’s more, with the way smartphone development timelines work, Samsung has likely already settled on a design for its 2024 flagship. Even then, don’t expect dramatic changes; from a design standpoint, phone companies have played it safe for more than a decade. Still, Lee could push for small but meaningful tweaks to Samsung’s design formula — much like Evans Hankey did at Apple after Jony Ive’s departure.