| Yesterday SoftBank put the ex-CEO of Sprint in charge of WeWork after it gave WeWork’s woo-woo ex-CEO a $1.7 billion golden parachute. SoftBank, which owns Sprint, was also probably pretty pleased about getting Colorado to bail on its lawsuit against the T-Mobile Sprint merger thanks in part to Dish promising to put its headquarters there. Dish, of course, is hoping to become the fourth wireless carrier in the US after the merger — having failed to buy Sprint out before SoftBank could a few years ago. The next time somebody tells you the plot of your favorite TV show is too complicated and therefore not believable, feel free to forward them this newsletter. - Dieter More from The Verge + LG bundles G8X and second-screen case for $700 unlocked in the US Wait, what if this is good? Also, technically this is called the “LG G8XThinQ “ I have literally no idea if your email app will properly render the superscript ThinQ text. I also have no idea what LG is thinking with this branding. I always thought “ThinQ” was a little cringe-worthy, but I accepted it. Turning it into a superscript, though? Heavy Sigh. I just would like LG to make it harder to dismiss its products. It really was first to the ultrawide camera trend, and this dual-screen case thing is silly but also ...not? I’m currently writing this newsletter instead of writing the Galaxy Fold re-review and I have to say that a dual-screen phone concept doesn’t seem that bonkers to me anymore. Heck — Microsoft is doing it too with the Surface Duo. If you had told me a year ago that part of me would be quietly rooting for an LG phone case that was actually a second screen I would have told you to ThinkQ again and then we’d have had a grand old chuckle at how silly the whole thing was. And yet here we are. + Fujifilm’s new X-Pro3 brings analog ideas to a digital camera + SpaceX aims to provide internet coverage with Starlink constellation as soon as mid-2020 This is getting more real more quickly than I expected. But at the same time, you’d think a lot of these questions would have answers for a 2020 launch. Or at least, you’d like to think so: SpaceX still needs to finish developing its user terminal, a small device that customers will use to receive broadband signals from the satellites. The company also needs to figure out how it will roll out the service, according to SpaceNews. It’s possible the service will be offered directly to customers, while in some countries, customers will need to sign up for the service through a telecom service provider, according to Shotwell. A price point also needs to be determined. + Google says you might have to wait to play Stadia, even if you preorder It seems like every piece of news in the run up to Stadia’s launch is yet another caveat about how it won’t be as good as originally promised. It’s a bummer. + Don’t miss this video from Becca Farsace and Alix Diaconis: GoPro Max review: the most accessible 360 camera + Verizon is offering a free year of Disney+ to unlimited data and Fios customers The number of possible angles I could take into commenting on this story is literally dizzying. Disney seeing Apple juke its Music numbers with Verizon and following suit. The return of the cable bundle in the internet age. The question of whether or not Verizon will throttle this video down to 480 or 720p or give it an exemption. Zero-rating. Questions about the money and whether it’s NFL-sized or radically smaller or what. It’s a lot. + In Hong Kong, protesters fight to stay anonymous: It’s much harder than you think. + The Pixel 4 is more like an iPhone than any other Android phone Tom Warren and I have been talking bout this for a little while, ever since he got his review unit. Tom is an infrequent Android user and that distance made it really clear to him. And now it can be clear to you, too. + Comcast’s ‘free’ streaming box actually requires an additional $13 / month fee Practices like this are outright predatory. That Comcast would make something “free” and try to eke extra money out of it perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise. From the start, Comcast’s pricing for the Flex box was absurd: when the streaming box launched in March, it was available to lease for $5 per month. Even after last month’s announcement, additional units are still offered only at that $5-per-month price. With Roku streaming sticks as cheap as $30 flat, there’s no reason to ever rent a streaming box for an endless monthly fee. + Foxconn’s giant glass dome in Wisconsin is back, baby Nilay Patel: “It has been 193 days since Foxconn promised a statement or correction regarding the Verge’s reporting of empty buildings in Wisconsin, but now they are planning to build a giant glass dome.” + Pure joy from Andrew Marino: Apparently, I attended a Windows 7 party 10 years ago | 
