⚡ Welcome to The Weekly Authority, the Android Authority newsletter that breaks down the top Android and tech news from the week. The 221st edition here, with Google’s Black Friday deals, all the ongoing Twitter drama, bad news for Blizzard gamers in China, and more.

🛒 This weekend, I can’t wait to relax before the madness of Black Friday hits! I’ve also spent a lot of time thinking about online privacy, following the news that Google will pay $392 million in a record-breaking privacy settlement. It got me wondering, how many sites hold our data, and just how safe is that data really? We shouldn’t lose sleep over that, though, not when services like Incogni exist. On that note…

Thank you to this week’s newsletter sponsor:

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• Netflix now lets you kick moochers off your account.
• Speaking of Netflix, here are the streamer’s best mystery movies to check out, from The Woman in the Window to the eerie Netflix exclusive The Good Nurse.
• Plus, if you’re looking for something to watch this weekend, our pick of the 21 best movies on Peacock should give you plenty of inspiration.
• Even more viewing inspiration: We’ve got the best new TV shows to stream this week, including Netflix’s 1899, plus the week’s best new streaming movies, like period drama The Wonder, starring Florence Pugh.
• A timely addition: YouTube TV gets a tiny new feature that makes a huge difference.
• Loving The Sex Lives of College Girls on HBO Max? Check out these similar shows.
• Amazon orders multiple Marvel-Sony shows, starting with Silk: Spider Society, developed by The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang alongside Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
• Pixar released a teaser for Elemental, its next animated feature, set in “Element City, where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents live together,” out June 16, 2023.
• Bradley Cooper’s set to star as Frank Bullitt for Steven Spielberg.
• Finally: A Streets of Rage movie written by John Wick’s creator is on the way.

• Control 2 is officially signed off, though it won’t be out for a while yet.
• The Game of the Year nominees are in for 2022’s The Game Awards: Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West, A Plague Tale: Requiem, God of War Ragnarök, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3, winners to be announced December 8.
• The Witcher 3’s next-gen update for PS, Xbox Series, and PC lands on December 14, free to anyone who owns the game.
• Here’s everything we know so far about the PSVR 2 — and what we want to see.
• A match made in hell: The ROG Phone 6 gets a Diablo Immortal edition, with Diablo-themed packaging, accessories, and more.
• Dethroned: PewDiePie is no longest the king of YouTube, with MrBeast surpassing the YouTuber by several thousand subscribers.
• Here’s everything coming to and leaving Xbox Game Pass in the next few weeks, including text-based point-and-click adventure game Norco.
• Speaking of Game Pass, Microsoft shelved Game Pass streaming box because it was too expensive.
• Meanwhile, Samsung expands cloud gaming to its older smart TVs, with new apps including the likes of Xbox Cloud Gaming, Amazon Luna, GeForce Now, and more.
• Also this week: Blizzard games to go offline in China as NetEase ends 14-year deal — Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, Warcraft 3: Reforged, StarCraft, Diablo 3, Heroes of the Storm, and Overwatch 2 will all stop operating in China, but upcoming releases World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, Hearthstone: March of the Lich King, and Overwatch 2’s second season will go ahead — Diablo Immortal is unaffected.

It’s been a year since Waymo announced its custom robotaxi for its ride-hailing service, and this week we finally got a peek at the vehicle.

• The robotaxi is the result of an OEM collaboration with Geely, specifically Zeekr, and “designed in Sweden.”
• “Waymo Driver” tech is integrated into every facet of the vehicle, from the sides and corners to the roof.
• Most notably, the steering wheel is totally absent; instead, there’s simply a screen between the two front seats.
• This will display self-driving status, music controls, and progress maps.
• There are further screens in the second row, behind the driver and front passenger seat.
• You can check out the robotaxi for yourself in this video.

Facing the future

Instead of the seats being reversed, like in most self-driving vehicles, the seats here face the road. Waymo said this is to “aid with awareness and prevent car sickness.”

• The company’s testing revealed people want to see what’s going on in front of them, even if they’re not driving themselves. We’re in agreement there.
• The vehicle also has sliding doors both front and back, which should make for easy entry and exit, plus tons of cargo space.

Don’t expect to be picked up by this robotaxi just yet, though. While it will eventually be part of the US Waymo One fleet, it could be a while before it takes to roads near you, with the vehicle’s availability set for “in the years to come.”

Tech Calendar

• November 22: Evil West releases on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, and PC
• November 25-28: Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) sales
• November 28-December 2: Amazon Reinvent
• December 2: The Callisto Protocol launches on PS4, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, and PC (not in Japan)
• January 5-8, 2023: CES 2023 (Las Vegas)

Tech Tweet of the Week

I think many people would disagree with you, Elon…

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving for next week,

Paula Beaton, Copy Editor.