Twitter said it will appoint Elon Musk, now its largest shareholder, to the company's board of directors. Musk recently disclosed a 9.2% stake in the company worth roughly $3B. More: - In a tweet, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said the company has held conversations with Musk in "recent weeks."
- The Tesla CEO is a "passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term," Agrawal wrote.
- Musk said he is looking forward to working with Agrawal and the board to "make significant improvements" in the coming months.
- Perhaps a sign of what's to come, Musk conducted a Twitter poll asking users if they want an edit button, a much-requested feature that the company has so far avoided. As of Tuesday morning, the poll had 3.5 million+ votes, with more than 73% voting "yes."
- Musk owns 73.5 million Twitter shares held by the Elon Musk Revocable Trust, of which he is the sole trustee. He is capped at owning no more than 14.9% of Twitter stock while serving on the board and for 90 days after that, according to the SEC.
THE WASHINGTON POST 
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 Amazon's Project Kuiper has signed deals with three rocket companies for up to 83 launches to deploy its internet satellites over the next five years. Project Kuiper, a competitor to SpaceX's Starlink, wants to build a network of 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit to beam down high-speed internet to people worldwide. More: - Amazon claimed it is the largest rocket deal in the history of the commercial space industry.
- The company signed contracts for 38 launches with Boeing and Lockheed Martin's United Launch Alliance; 18 launches with Europe's Arianespace, and at least 12 launches with Jeff Bezos’ private Blue Origin venture (with the option for 15 more).
- It will allow Amazon to launch the "majority" of its satellites.
- The company expects it will cost more than $10B to put the 3,236 satellites into space.
- No Kuiper satellites have been launched yet, though it's planning two prototype launches this year on ABL Space’s RS1 rocket. FCC rules require it to deploy half of its planned satellites, or about 1,600, by mid-2026.
- By comparison, Elon Musk's Starlink is already providing internet via 2,000 satellites currently in low Earth orbit.
ARS TECHNICA
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General Motors and Honda said they will band together on technology to produce millions of "affordable" electric vehicles starting in 2027. The automakers expanded their two-year partnership to begin production on these EVs in 2027. More: - GM and Honda previously unveiled plans to start building two electric SUVs — the Honda Prologue and an Acura SUV model — in 2024.
- Tuesday's announcement will pursue additional "affordable" EVs, including compact crossovers, for the North and South America and Chinese markets.
- These vehicles will be built using GM's Ultium battery and EV technology.
- The cars will likely fall under the $30,000 price point in the U.S., according to a GM executive.
- Both companies will sell the vehicles. The partnership allows them to share development costs and reduce battery expenses, which is the costliest part of an EV.
CAR AND DRIVER
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 The r/Place social project on Reddit has drawn to a close. The April Fool's Day art experiment allowed users on the platform to place different colored pixels on a blank canvas. The idea was to work together to create, or in some cases destroy, images and art that reflect current memes, online culture, and geopolitical and technological developments. More: - This was the second iteration of the project. The first took place in 2017 and was created by then-Reddit employee Josh Wardle, who is also the creator of the popular online Wordle game.
- The 2022 reboot began on April 1, and lasted for four days. It allowed users to place one colored pixel every five minutes, or 20 minutes for unverified accounts. It drew more than 6 million users, a sixfold increase over 2017.
- While intended as an April's Fool's Joke, the internet pixel mural has become a sociological experiment, causing people to form factions on Discord and Twitch in an attempt to create and destroy images together.
- The final result can be viewed here. Like in 2017, many of the images reflect countries' flags, landmarks, and celebrities. There were also LGBT flags, subreddit symbols, university mascots, and Ukraine-themed artwork to show solidarity with the country.
KOTAKU
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Block, formerly Square, confirmed that a former employee downloaded reports from the company's Cash App containing data on U.S. customers. The reports included the full names and brokerage account numbers of users and, in some cases, brokerage portfolio value, holdings, and stock-trading activity. More: - The consumer mobile payment service, Cash App, lets users buy and sell bitcoin.
- The financial services company has now notified 8.2 million customers about the breach, which occurred on Dec. 10, according to an SEC filing made this week.
- The former worker, who had access to the reports as part of their job, obtained the reports without permission after their employment had ended.
- Block hasn't said how many users were affected. It notified law enforcement and is now conducting an internal investigation.
- Block changed its name from Square on Dec. 10. The change was meant to reflect its expanding business that includes Cash App, music platform Tidal, and a decentralized finance initiative, though its payment platform for businesses is still called Square.
TECHCRUNCH
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GOOD NEWS: Microsoft and Epic Games raised a total of $144M for humanitarian relief efforts for people impacted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The funding was derived from real-money purchases made on the game "Fornite" for two weeks, including V-Buck packs, Fortnite Crew, gifted battle passes, and cosmetic packs. More: - The companies pledged to donate proceeds from the game from March 20 to April 3.
- The fundraising brought in $36M on the first day alone, driven by the release of "Fortnite's" latest season on March 20.
- Microsoft’s Xbox donated net proceeds from sales of "Fortnite" content on the Microsoft Store. Xbox receives a reported platform fee of ~30%.
- The funds will go to United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Direct Relief, the United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP), the UN Refugee Agency, and World Central Kitchen.
- Other gaming firms that have raised funding for Ukraine include League of Legends developer Riot Games ($5.4M) and digital storefront Humble Bundle ($20M).
PC GAMER
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QUICK HITS: - Epic Games released Unreal Engine 5, its next-generation game engine, two years after it first revealed its features in a heavily viewed tech demo.
- Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will be online-only when it takes place June 6-10, though some students and developers will be allowed to attend an in-person session at Apple Park on June 6.
- PayPal says its upgraded credit card will offer unlimited 3% cash back for in-store, online, and mobile payments.
- The Pudgy Penguins NFT collection has been sold to the L.A.-based entrepreneur Luca Netz for 750 ETH ($2.5M).
- Clearview AI intends to start selling its facial-recognition technology to private businesses such as banks.
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 |  | Beth is a writer and analyst at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily tech news. Since starting work at Inside, she has covered various topics including virtual reality, drones, and e-commerce. Prior to that she was a public policy and investigative reporter for The Arizona Republic, where she won a Pulitzer Prize nomination and First Amendment Award for reporting on the rising costs of pensions. Reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. |   | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is writing an illustrated book about climate change that will be published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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