Nissan's Leaf EV is 'here to stay'

Source: Nissan

The Nissan Leaf brand seems to have been in limbo. There are reports that the compact electric hatchback will evolve into a different vehicle or that the Leaf brand will disappear entirely. During a media event in Tennessee last week, Aditya Jairaj, Nissan's director of EV marketing and sales strategy, said the "Leaf is here to stay."

The current Leaf recently received a refresh. And it's considered one of the least-expensive EVs on the market. But will it keep its form factor? Another Nissan spokesperson confirmed with CNET that "with time, design evolves." This confirmation coincides with reports that the Leaf could become a larger SUV. 

Pixel Watch sports a rather fat bezel

@rquandt / Twitter

Rumours have been going around that the Pixel Watch is getting a rather thick bezel, and this leaked image gives us the closest look at it. It looks like the bezel takes up almost 10mm of its rumoured 41mm diameter. And while Wear OS 3 seems to be doing a good job at obscuring the black ring, some menus—like those in the leaked image—makes it rather obvious.

The Pixel Watch is expected to get an "improved" version of Wear OS 3, with support for native apps like Google Maps, Google Wallet, Google Assistant, and Google Home. The smartwatch is also expected to get Fitbit integration. The Pixel Watch will launch alongside the Pixel 7 tomorrow at 10 AM ET.

Source | Via

Apple reportedly agreed to TSMC chip price increase

After initial reports that Apple was balking at paying TSMC more for its processors, Apple has reportedly accepted the chip manufacturer's price hike. Apple reportedly initially rejected the 6% price increase in late September. But a new report from Economic Daily News suggests the company has changed its mind. 

TSMC is a major chip manufacturer for Apple devices. It's believed that Apple will be the first company to use TSMC's new 3-nanometer processors for its A17 chip coming out in next year's iPhone 15 Pro. It's unclear what the price hike will be for since it might be well along the next round of chip production.

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Meta to shutdown its Substack competitor in early 2023

Source: Meta

Meta tried to go after Substack with its newsletter platform Bulletin. However, the company doesn't see a future for it, with plans to shut it down by "early 2023. Bulletin was announced back in June 2021, pitching it as a platform "focused on empowering independent writers, helping them reach new audiences and power their businesses." The idea was similar to Substack, where readers could subscribe to newsletters from the writers they liked, and the writers could charge money for their work and other perks.

Some writers Meta added to the service include Malcolm Gladwell and Tan France. The company promised it wouldn't take a cut from the subscriptions until 2023. Unfortunately, the service hasn't taken off as well as Meta liked. And now Bulletin joins some of the company's projects being shut down.

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