Twitter’s $7 million whistleblower payout violates purchase deal, Musk’s lawyers argue

A judge recently ruled that Elon Musk can use the allegations made by Twitter whistleblower Peiter Zatko as part of the arguments in his countersuit against the company. As it turns out, Musk intends to use not just Zatko’s claims to win his case, but also the fact that the former Twitter executive received a settlement to get out of the $44 billion acquisition deal he made with the social network. As The Washington Post reports, Musk’s lawyers sent a letter to Twitter, telling the company that the severance payment worth $7.75 million that it made to Zatko in June violated a provision in their sales agreement. 

In the letter uploaded to the SEC website, Musk’s lawyers cited Section 6.1(e) of the merger agreement, which says Twitter promised not to “grant or provide any severance or termination payments or benefits to any Company Service Provider other than the payment of severance amounts or benefits in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice and subject to the execution and non-revocation of a release of claims in favor of the Company and its Subsidiaries.” Former employees are considered Company Service Providers.

Musk and Twitter entered the purchase agreement in April, and it wasn’t until June when Zatko received his severance pay. The company didn’t seek Musk’s consent before making the payment or notify him of the transaction, the lawyers said in the letter. Musk apparently only found out about the settlement when Twitter included the information in its court filing on September 3rd. As such, Musk’s camp argues that the settlement serves as an additional basis to terminate the parties’ purchase agreement. As The Post notes, it’s now up to Twitter to prove that such a big payout to a former employee wasn’t out of the ordinary. We’ve reached out to Twitter for a statement, and we’ll update this post when we hear back.

Also known as “Mudge,” Zatko accused the the social network of having “extreme, egregious deficiencies” in security. He said in a complaint filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Twitter violated the terms it had agreed to when it settled a privacy dispute with the FTC back in 2011. The whistleblower also claimed that he couldn’t get a direct response from Twitter regarding the actual number of bots on the website. If you’ll recall Musk previously accused Twitter of fraud for hiding the real number of bots on its platform and told the court in a legal filing that 10 percent — not just 5 percent as the social network maintains — of its daily active users who see ads are inauthentic accounts.

Twitter and Musk are set to face off in court in a five-day trial scheduled to start on October 17th.

Marvel is getting the ‘Pokémon Go’ treatment thanks to Niantic

Marvel has teamed up with Pokémon Go developer Niantic to create an augmented reality mobile game that will be available worldwide next year. In Marvel World of Heroes, you can create your own superhero in a Marvel game for the first time, according to a Niantic blog post. 

Players will be able to forge their hero’s identity and origin story. They’ll be tasked with patrolling their neighborhood to thwart crimes, take on missions and fend off interdimensional threats and super villains. As you level up, you’ll unlock more gear and abilities. You’ll be able to team up with your friends, as well as the likes of Spider-Man, Captain America and Wolverine. It seems players can also visit multiple alternate realities — in a virtual sense, anyway.

If you’re interested in checking out the game, you can pre-register on the Marvel World of Heroes website. As it often does, Niantic will soft launch the game in select markets before rolling it out more broadly. 

Ford updates its BlueCruise driver assist with hands-free lane changing and more

BlueCruise, Ford’s intelligent adaptive cruise control system, already offers drivers a number of assistive features such as lane centering, street sign recognition and hands-free highway driving along more than 130,000 miles of US roadways. On Thursda…

Marvel’s Midnight Suns will arrive on December 2nd

Marvel’s Midnight Suns has a new release date, and it’s sooner than you may have expected. It was revealed during the Disney and Marvel Games Showcase that the tactical RPG from Firaxis will hit PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on December 2nd. The Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions will arrive at a later date.

The game was initially slated for October, but publisher 2K announced last month that it was pushing back the release date until sometime later in its fiscal year, which ends in March. Thankfully, you won’t have to wait that long to play it. In the meantime, the first Marvel’s Midnight Suns prequel short will hit Marvel’s YouTube channel on October 31st. 

It looks like the ‘Uncharted 4’ and ‘Lost Legacy’ bundle is coming to PC on October 19th

It seems that nine long months after a remastered bundle of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: Lost Legacy debuted on PlayStation 5, PC gamers will be able to find out what all the fuss is about. According to a listing on the Epic Games Store spotted by Twitter gaming deals maestro Wario64, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection will hit that storefront on October 19th. It appears Epic published the information ahead of schedule, as the game’s page currently displays a 404 error. The leak backs up a previous hint from SteamDB that October 19th was the release date.

Legacy of Thieves Collection is supposed to be coming to Steam before the end of the year as well, but it appears that if you pre-order through Epic, you’ll gain access to a Sully’s Seaplane glider in Fortnite at no extra cost. Nathan Drake and Chloe Frazer skins arrived in that game earlier this year to promote the Uncharted movie.

The apparent timing of the Legacy of Thieves Collection PC release is interesting, since Sony said Spider-Man: Miles Morales is coming to that platform sometime this fall. One would think they’d try to space things out a bit. In any case, perhaps Sony will soon host a PlayStation showcase that clears everything up.

Watch the Disney and Marvel games showcase here at 4PM ET

Disney and Marvel are holding what’s shaping up to be a newsworthy gaming event today at the D23 Expo. The first Disney and Marvel Games Showcase (to give its official name) starts at 4PM ET and you’ll be able to watch it below.

Expect updates on Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 20th Century projects. There’s something new in store for Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (a timely expansion focused on Rogue One, perhaps?), along with info on Disney Dreamlight Valley, which arrived this week, and Marvel’s Midnight Suns. Perhaps most enticingly, we’ll get a peek at the Marvel action-adventure game that Amy Hennig’s studio, Skydance New Media, is working on. 

On top of those, rumors suggest the showcase will include a peek at an Iron Man game from EA. Maybe we’ll finally learn a bit more about the Indiana Jones game Bethesda announced early last year or even get a look at Spider-Man 2 gameplay. In any case, we won’t have to wait long to find out.

Electro-Harmonix looks to bring genuine Big Muff tones to DAWs with a pedal-plugin hybrid

Electro-Harmonix is looking to bridge the gap between analog and digital music creation with its Big Muff Pi Hardware Plugin, which is a mashup of an effect pedal and audio interface. The $329 unit is said to work like a standard digital audio workstation (DAW) plugin, though you can route your guitar tracks through the genuine actual analog circuitry of the Big Muff Pi harmonic distortion-sustainer. It’s the real deal, rather than a software-emulated version of the classic pedal.

The device uses the circuit design of the 1973 Violet Ram’s Head Big Muff, albeit with some tweaks to deliver true stereo audio. Electro-Harmonix says the unit, which is available now, has Tone Wicker and Tone Bypass, along with 10 footswitch-accessible presets.

The company claims the device, which can be used as a standalone pedal too, should integrate with DAWs including Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Cubase, GarageBand and Logic Pro X without a hitch. The unit can operate as a 2-in/2-out USB audio recording interface, so you can record tracks without having the Big Muff effect active.

The Big Muff is one of the most important effects pedals in music history. Artists including Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr., Pink Floyd, Carlos Santana, Mudhoney and Sonic Youth have used it to hone their sounds. Being able to harness those genuine Big Muff tones in a digital environment could help more musicians create more bombastic-sounding songs.

United Airlines plans to buy up to 500 electric flying taxis

United Airlines is moving deeper into the flying taxi business. Not only has the airline plowed $15 million into Eve Air Mobility, it ordered 200 flying taxis and has an option for another 200. United expects to start receiving Eve’s four-seater electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle (eVTOL) as soon as 2026.

The company says its investment was spurred by both its confidence in the urban air mobility market and Eve’s working relationship with Embraer. According to United, Embrarer is “a trusted aircraft manufacturer with a proven track record of building and certifying aircraft over the company’s 53-year history.” Embrarer previously worked with Uber on a flying taxi project that the latter eventually ditched.

Eve’s flying taxi has conventional fixed wings, rotors and pushers with a design that United says favors safety, efficiency, reliability and certifiability. It’s said to have a range of 60 miles and United added that the vehicle can “reduce noise levels by 90 percent compared to current conventional aircraft.”

This isn’t the first time United has reached an agreement with an eVTOL company. Last month, it put down a $10 million deposit with a different California-based one for 100 flying taxis. As such, the company has lined up as many as 500 flying taxis to add to its fleet.

United has set up a corporate venture fund with the aim of bolstering its ambition to reach net zero emissions by 2050 without relying on traditional carbon offsets. Through the United Airlines Ventures fund, it has also invested in hydrogen fuel cell engines and sustainable fuel.

“Today, United is making history again, by becoming the first major airline to publicly invest in two eVTOL companies,” United Airlines Ventures president Michael Leskinen said in a statement. “Together, we believe our suite of clean energy technologies will revolutionize air travel as we know it and serve as the catalyst for the aviation industry to move toward a sustainable future.”