Following recent reports that Fisker has been preparing for a possible bankruptcy filing, today the embattled automaker announced that it is suspending all manufacture of its electric vehicles.
“Fisker will pause production for six weeks starting the week of March 18, 2024, to align inventory levels and progress strategic and financing initiatives,” the company said in a statement.
Fisker further said that it has secured a financing commitment from an existing investor of “up to $150 million.” The money would be organized in four tranches, but is by no means guaranteed; Fisker said it is subject to “certain conditions,” including the filing of the company’s 2023 Form 10-K, a comprehensive report filed annually by public companies about their financial performance.
WIRED asked Fisker’s PR representative to expand on what exactly the “certain conditions” are to secure the new investment. They declined to provide additional detail.
EV sales in the US have slowed more broadly, but Fisker has had an especially rocky run. Arguably, it lost a degree of quality control when it ceded manufacturing to Canada-based supplier Magna. Moreover, Fisker seemingly prioritized style over substance, as borne out by build and software issues of its Ocean SUV. These issues have fueled the view that in the car world there’s simply no substitute for the experience gained from making vehicles for a century, like, say, BMW has.
Likely looking for a potential lifeboat, Fisker has also confirmed it is in negotiations with “a large automaker” for investment in the company, joint development of one or more electric vehicle platforms, and North America manufacturing. That company is reportedly Nissan, according to Reuters. However, it sounds like these negotiations are far from completion, as the Fisker statement also says “any transaction would be subject to satisfaction of important conditions, including completion of due diligence and negotiation and execution of appropriate definitive agreements.”
WIRED tested the Fisker Ocean in July 2023 but, due to the unfinished nature of the test car, was left in the unprecedented position of being unable to provide a rating for the EV. Our test Ocean was plagued with squeaky pedals, an inoperative California mode (where the EV drops all its windows save the windscreen) forcing a switch in car mid-test, and poor handling that was supposedly to be fixed with a software update. Simply put, too many features were missing or “coming soon,” making the Ocean SUV an EV we just couldn’t rate properly.
Since launch, the Ocean has been dogged by quality issues, with owners complaining of sudden power losses, glitchy key fobs and sensors, hoods flying open, and brake problems.
Indeed, shortly after Fisker board member Wendy Greuel took delivery of her own Ocean SUV, it lost power on a public road. Similarly, according to a cache of internal documents viewed by TechCrunch, Geeta Gupta Fisker, the company’s chief financial officer, chief operating officer, and cofounder Henrik Fisker’s wife, experienced a shutdown in power while driving an Ocean.
Fisker has a checkered history beyond the Ocean. It was more than a decade ago when its eponymous owner, previously of BMW, Ford, and Aston Martin (where he was design director), last presented a car bearing his name. The Karma, a range-extender sports GT, was ahead of its time in many respects, but it was dogged by problems, including a disastrous Consumer Reports test and fires.
The company’s current situation looks bleak. Fisker states that it has approximately 4,700 vehicles in its inventory, carried over from 2023 and including 2024 production, and believes the completed vehicle value for this inventory is in excess of $200 million. It has delivered 1,300 vehicles in 2024 and shipped 4,900 to customers in 2023.
In February, Fisker reported that it made $273 million in sales last year but was more than $1 billion in debt. It also issued a warning that there was “substantial doubt” about its ability to stay in business. The prolonged pause in production seems to reinforce that doubt even further.
In the unlikely event that 2 TB is not enough, you can increase your storage, but the option to upgrade to an even larger plan is available only for current subscribers and in select countries. Here are the plans (no annual discount on the 10-, 20-, or 30-TB plans):
5-TB Plan: For $25 per month or $250 per year (£20 or £200 in the UK), you get 5 TB with family sharing, the same perks as the original tier, 10 percent back on purchases from the Google Store, and a VPN for Android and iOS.
10-TB Plan: For $50 per month (no annual plan) (£40 in the UK), you get 10 TB with family sharing and the same perks as the 5-TB plan.
20-TB Plan: For $100 per month (no annual plan) (£80 in the UK), you get 20 TB with family sharing and the same perks as the 5-TB plan.
30-TB Plan: For $150 per month (no annual plan) (£120 in the UK), you get 30 TB with family sharing and the same perks as the 5-TB plan.
Google One Benefits
The main benefit of a Google One plan is the extra cloud storage you can share with up to five family members. While families can share the same space, personal photos and files are accessible only to each owner unless you specifically choose to share them. Everyone in the family can also share the additional benefits (provided you all live in the same country).
Let’s take a closer look at those benefits:
Access to Google Experts
You get instant access to Google experts for general questions or tech support for any Google product or service. You can contact support by phone, chat, or email through the Google One app 24/7. Response times for phone and chat are 2 to 3 minutes, while emails can expect a response within 24 hours.
Google via Simon Hill
Extra Editing Features in Google Photos
This adds features like Magic Eraser, enabling you to delete unwanted people or objects from the background of your photos, Portrait Light and Portrait Blur, enabling you to brighten faces and eliminate shadows or blur backgrounds for that bokeh effect, and HDR to enhance brightness and contrast. All features work with eligible shots in your Google Photos app. These features are available on Google Pixel phones, even if you don’t subscribe to Google One.
Cash Back on Purchases
The 200-GB plan nets you 3 percent back in Google Store credit for any Google Store purchases. The 2-TB plan and above nets you 10 percent back. If you’re thinking about buying multiple Google devices, this could prove useful. It can take up to one month to get the credit after your purchase, and it will have an expiry date attached.
VPN for Android and iOS
All plans now come with Google’s virtual private network service, VPN by Google One, for Android and iOS devices. It’s good for privacy and designed to prevent logging (so no one can see what you are doing on the internet), but it is a limited service compared to our favorite VPNs, chiefly because it works only with Android and iOS devices (no web support), and there’s no option to choose servers in specific countries.
Dark Web Monitoring
This is another security feature that scans the dark web and notifies you if any of your personal information (such as your email address or date of birth) is found there. If any of your data shows up, it will suggest next steps, such as setting up two-factor authentication. You can choose exactly what personal data it looks for and make changes at any time via the Google One app. You will also find some basic advice on things like how to avoid malware or create strong passwords.
Google Workspace Premium
Both the Premium plans include Google Workspace Premium, which gives you enhanced features in Google Meet and Google Calendar. For example, you can have longer meetings with background noise cancelation, or create a professional booking page to enable other folks to make appointments with you.
Nest Aware
Only included in the UK so far, a Nest Aware subscription that includes extended storage of video from home security cameras is now part of the 2TB Premium plan and above, starting from £8 per month or £80 per year. Considering Nest Aware costs £6 per month or £60 per year on its own, this seems like a great deal.
Fitbit Premium
Again, only included in the UK so far, Fitbit Premium is now included as part of the 2TB Premium plan and above, starting from £8 per month or £80 per year. Considering that Fitbit Premium currently costs £8 per month or £80 per year on its own in the UK, this deal is too good to pass up.
Gemini Advanced
Google’s AI chatbot (previously known as Bard) is “capable at reasoning, following instructions, coding, and creative collaboration,” according to Google. It can understand and generate high-quality code in various programming languages, and you can input text, images, or code. Google also plans to roll Gemini into Google apps, like Gmail, Docs, Slides, and Meet, but there’s no fixed release date for this yet.
Extra Benefits
A couple of things fall into this category:
Google Play Credits: You will occasionally get credits to redeem in the Play Store on books, movies, apps, or games. The amount and frequency vary.
Discounts, Trials, and Other Perks: You may get offers for discounted Google services or hardware, extended free trials of Google services, and other perks (for example, Google offered everyone upgrading to a 2-TB plan a free Nest Mini). These offers pop up and disappear seemingly at random.
How to Subscribe to Google One
If you want to sign up, it’s easy. Create or log in to a Google account, then visit the Google One website or install the Android or iOS app.
Dyson doesn’t stick to chronological order when naming its stick vacuum models. Sometimes it skips numbers, and sometimes it’ll introduce a lower number as a later model than a higher number. For example, Dyson introduced the V15 immediately after the V11, and then the V12 after the V15. In the broadest sense, the numbers seem to loosely grow larger with each passing release—the V11 is newer than the V10, and the V10 is newer than the V8. But Dyson’s naming system is cryptic enough that even we can’t predict what the subsequent model will be.
Dyson also has a lot of sub-models, because its naming scheme isn’t confusing enough. Each one has a different number of included tool attachments and accessories. Every model (V7, V8, V10, V11, V15, etc.) seems to introduce new sub-models, so the list just keeps growing, and then there are discontinued sub-models that show up as old stock on websites, typically on sale.
Detect isn’t exactly a sub-model, but rather part of the name of the V15 Detect and V12 Detect Slim. It refers to the laser detection system that measures particle size and count to customize suction power.
Absolute is usually the king-of-the-hill version with the most attachments. We can’t list them all, because they vary based on parent model, but expect a variety of brush nozzles, crevice attachments, and motorized roller heads to scrub tough grit off hard floors and out of deep-pile carpets.
Allergy used to mean that it came with an upgraded filter that traps 99.99 percent of bacteria and dust so it expels cleaner air than regular models, but after the V7, all Dyson stick vacs started including the upgraded filters. It’s largely a legacy designation now, and it hasn’t been used on newer models.
Motorhead sounds fancy, but it’s the low-end sub-model that comes with a motorized head, a couple of basic brush and crevice tools, and that’s about it. It’s mostly a holdover from the V7 days. Dyson has found other names for basic sub-models.
Origin, Fluffy, and Animal come with relatively few attachments. The Fluffy and Animal don’t come with any unique attachments particular to usefulness in cleaning up after pets; it’s just become shorthand for “base model with fewer attachments.” The same is true for the Origin, although its name makes more sense.
Dyson isn’t above combining sub-model names too. The more names Dyson slaps onto a model, the more attachments it comes with. For example, the V8 Animal Pro comes with more stuff than the Animal, but the Animal Pro+ comes with even more than that.
Next, an array of sharing options pop up. You can choose the email option to send the file to yourself as an attachment, or upload it to a cloud service like Google Drive. To directly download the file, swipe to the end of the Share To options and tap More. There will be even more options. Look for options that allow you to save the video locally.
On Android, the best option for saving it to your phone will be labeled Files by Google. Tap this icon to download the video to your phone, then use Android’s built-in Files app to browse your downloads. On iOS, look for the option Save to Files, then choose to save the video either in your device’s internal storage or in your iCloud drive.
Download TikTok Videos to Your Computer
The simplest option for collecting your work is to download the videos from TikTok’s website or desktop app. This process is very easy compared to the mobile option.
Go to your favorite video on TikTok.com and right-click on it. If you’re looking at your own video and you’re logged in to your account, or if the video’s creator has marked their posts as downloadable, there will be an option in the right-click menu that says Download Video.
Click that option.
Congrats, you’ve done it! The video will be saved as an MP4 in your downloads folder.
If you don’t see the option to download the video when you right-click, that probably means the video’s creator hasn’t shared the video publicly or has chosen to disallow downloads.
Use Screen Record
It’s not the tidiest option, but you can also record a copy of the video via screen record on your phone. Screen record basically takes a video screenshot; once turned on, it will record whatever is playing on your screen until you hit Stop. Play the TikTok clip while screen recording and you’ll have a quick-and-dirty copy saved to your device.
You’ll need to play the video all the way through in real time. Keep in mind that this will capture everything that happens on the screen while you’re recording, so if a notification pops up or you swipe to another app, that will all be in the video. It also means you’ll still see all the menu buttons and text that are normally around the edges of the screen in a TikTok video, so it won’t be a perfectly clean copy of the video. But it’s better than nothing.
You can record your screen on iOS and on Android phones with Android 11 or higher.
On iOS, go into Settings, then Control Center. Tap the green plus sign Add button next to the Screen Recording option. This will add a little gray-dot icon button to your homescreen. Tap that and Screen Recording will start.
On Android, swipe down from the top of your screen to bring up your notifications and settings screen. From there, you might have to expand the menu at top and swipe through your settings widgets. Look for Screen Record. Tap that and you’ll have options to record device audio and whether to show touches on the screen. Tap start to record.
What’s With the Watermark?
If you’ve downloaded your videos, you probably noticed the faint TikTok watermark in the frame. This watermark will appear in any videos you’ve published as well as in videos you download from other creators. Unfortunately, there’s no official way to download a video directly from the platform after it’s been posted without that watermark being applied. If a video is still in your drafts in the TikTok app—meaning you’ve shot and edited it but not posted it yet—you can select the Save Video option and download a version of it without the watermark.
In general, if you’re creating videos, your best bet is to use a separate video editing app to edit your video before posting it online. That way you’ll always have the original cut and not have to worry about whether your distribution platform—and all your hard work—is about to suddenly go poof.
Roku customers are threatening to stop using, or to even dispose of, their low-priced TVs and streaming gadgets after the company appears to be locking devices for people who don’t conform to the recently updated terms of service.
This month, users on Roku’s support forums reported suddenly seeing a message when turning on their Roku TV or streaming device reading: “We’ve made an important update: We’ve updated our Dispute Resolution Terms. Select ‘Agree’ to agree to these updated Terms and to continue enjoying our products and services. Press * to view these updated Terms.” A large button reading “Agree” follows. The pop-up doesn’t offer a way to disagree, and users are unable to use their device unless they hit agree.
Customers have left pages of complaints on Roku’s forum. One user going by “rickstanford” said they were “FURIOUS!!!!” and expressed interest in sending their reported six Roku devices back to the company, since “apparently I don’t own them despite spending hundreds of dollars on them.”
Another user going by Formercustomer, who, I suspect, is aptly named, wrote:
So, you buy a product, and you use it. And they want to change the terms limiting your rights, and they basically brick the device … if you don’t accept their new terms. … I hope they get their comeuppance here, as this is disgraceful.
Roku has further aggravated customers who have found that disagreeing to its updated terms is harder than necessary. Roku is willing to accept agreement to its terms with a single button press, but to opt out, users must jump through hoops that include finding that old book of stamps.
To opt out of Roku’s ToS update, which primarily changes the “Dispute Resolution Terms,” users must send a letter to Roku’s general counsel in California mentioning: “the name of each person opting out and contact information for each such person, the specific product models, software, or services used that are at issue, the email address that you used to set up your Roku account (if you have one), and, if applicable, a copy of your purchase receipt.” Roku required all this to opt out of its terms previously, as well.
But the new update means that while users read this information and have their letter delivered, they’re unable to use products they already paid for and used, in some cases for years, under different “dispute resolution terms.”
“I can’t watch my TV because I don’t agree to the Dispute Resolution Terms. Please help,” a user going by Campbell220 wrote on Roku’s support forum.
Based on the ToS’s wording, users could technically choose to agree to the ToS on their device and then write a letter saying they’d like to opt out. But opting into an agreement only to use a device under terms you don’t agree with is counterintuitive.
