If the Paramount+ South Park movie deal seemed odd when HBO Max scored an exclusive for the series, you’re not alone. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has sued Paramount Global for allegedly breaching parts of the $500 million contract that gave HBO Max streaming rights for South Park in 2019. WBD claims Paramount “blatantly intended” to steer users toward its service by not only offering new specials, but by shortchanging the HBO service on promised regular season content.

HBO Max was reportedly promised three new seasons with 10 episodes each. However, the provider says it only got eight episodes across the two delivered seasons, and that the next season’s six episodes also fall short. On top of this, Paramount supposedly used “verbal trickery” to rebrand content as movies or events to avoid sending video to its competitor.

In a statement to Engadget, Paramount claims the lawsuit is “without merit.” It also maintains that it’s still honoring the contract despite Warner supposedly failing to pay licensing fees for already-delivered South Park episodes. We’ve asked WBD for comment.

The lawsuit isn’t shocking. WBD, previously WarnerMedia, was determined to amass as much content as possible for HBO Max ahead of its 2020 launch, including Friends and Doctor Who. Whether or not Paramount violated its contract, the South Park content on Paramount+ diminishes HBO Max’s content advantage — you no longer have to use that service if you want to stream the recent adventures of Cartman and crew.

Paramount, meanwhile, has multiple reasons to contest the lawsuit. Paramount+ is thriving even as rivals like Netflix run into trouble, having topped 43 million users as of last spring. While it’s unclear how much of a role South Park is playing in that growth, the company may not want to give up streaming rights for one of its best-known shows (Paramount owns Comedy Central, remember) without a fight.

Source: Engadget – Warner Bros. Discovery sues Paramount over ‘South Park’ streaming rights

Amazon is adding new features to the Kindle Scribe. A new update gives the e-reader / digital notebook new brush types, including a fountain pen, marker and pencil — each with five thickness settings. The new tools respond to various pressures and angles, and you can use them anywhere you can write on the device. The update is scheduled to roll out today.

The Scribe update also enhances notebook organization, now letting you create subfolders you can move in and out of standard folders. After receiving the update, you’ll see a new “+” option when viewing a folder; press that to add a subfolder. To move one, tap on the three-dot contextual menu when viewing a folder or subfolder, select “move,” and drop it someplace new.

Finally, the update adds the ability to navigate to specific pages. You can do that by clicking on the three-dot menu, selecting “Go to page,” and typing the page you want.

The Kindle Scribe arrived last November. In Engadget’s review, Cherlynn Low found the large-screened device to have a premium design while providing a natural writing experience better than paper. However, we found the Remarkable 2 to offer slightly better syncing and writing software (although Remarkable is far inferior as an e-reader). The Kindle Scribe starts at $370 for 16GB of storage.

Source: Engadget – Kindle Scribe update adds new brushes and better organization

Late last year, Waymo secured a Driverless Pilot permit from the state of California, bringing the alphabet-owned brand one step closer to launching its autonomous taxi service in the state. Now, Waymo is already expanding its service area, announcing plans to begin testing driverless cars in Los Angeles. The company tells Engadget that the test will mark the first time that fully autonomous cars will roam the streets of LA, and that thanks to successful tests in San Francisco, its been able to roll out autonomous drivers in new cities with “little-to-no on-board engineering work.”

That doesn’t mean the company is ready to launch its Waymo One taxi service in California, however. The LA test will likely follow the same course as Waymo’s fleet in San Francisco: a limited number of vehicles only available to riders in the Waymo Research Trusted Tester program. Waymo didn’t have any details to share regarding when the full driverless taxi service will be available to customers in Los Angeles, but it probably hinges on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issuing the firm a Driverless Deployment permit. Until it can clear that final legal hurdle, Waymo’s paid taxi service will remain exclusive to Phoenix AZ. So far, GM’s Cruise robotaxi service is the only company permitted to charge for driverless rides in the state, so long as those rides take place during daylight hours.

Waymo didn’t give any specific dates for when the test will begin, but noted that its 5th-generation Jaguar I-Pace cars will start rider-only testing in Santa Monica, and only outside of rush-hour. Then, the program will expand in accordance with Waymo’s safety framework before eventually launching to consumers. Oh, and in case you were worried that the cars might make LA traffic even worse, the company promises that its continuously updating its self-driving software to avoid stalling traffic, as one stopped Waymo vehicle recently did in San Francisco.

Source: Engadget – Waymo is starting driverless taxi tests in Los Angeles