Новости за 14.01.2022

One year, 10 months and eight days after the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans will be able to order free, at-home tests from the government. Starting on January 19th, you'll be able to visit COVIDTests.gov and request tests, which will be mailed to your home.

It's that time again: Netflix is raising prices for customers in the US and Canada. Monthly prices are slated to increase a buck or two, depending on your subscription tier. 

After updating Workspace (formerly G Suite) with a number of new features last year, Google’s previously-announced Companion Mode for the Nest Hub Max and other Google Meet hardware has begun rolling out.

Last June, Alphabet’s self-driving unit worked with J.B. Hunt, a trucking and logistics company, to test its Waymo Via technology in Texas. On Friday, the two announced they’re forming a strategic partnership with the hope of deploying a fully autonomous trucking operation within the state sometime in the next few years. In the immediate future, Waymo and J.B. Hunt say they plan to hold multiple pilots involving Waymo Via. That’s the Waymo Driver-powered unit the Alphabet subsidiary developed for Class 8 trucks. Читать дальше...

Netflix is making a bigger push into sports docuseries following the success of Formula 1: Drive to Survive. We learned this week that a show covering the 2022 PGA Tour and men's major golf championships is on the way, and now the company has announced a similar show covering the world of top-level tennis is in the works.

Five dozen companies specializing in women’s health products and services say Facebook has frequently rejected their ads over objections they contain “adult content,” according to a report the Center for Intimacy Justice published this week. Facebook’s advertising policies prohibit reproductive health products or services that focus on sexual pleasure, but anecdotes from the companies the Center for Intimacy Justice either interviewed or surveyed paint the picture of a platform that enforces those... Читать дальше...

Hackers have hit around 70 Ukraine government department websites, forcing many of them offline. A message in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish on the country's foreign ministry site reportedly read "Ukrainians! All your personal data has been uploaded to the public network. All data on the computer is destroyed, it is impossible to restore them.”

This week brought deals on Apple devices, gaming gear and more. The Mac Mini M1 remains on sale for $600 while the 3rd-generation AirPods are back down to a record low of $140. Nintendo's Ring Fit Adventure is back in stock and $25 off, while you can still get a one-year Switch Online family membership plus a microSD card for 50 percent off. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.

Facebook’s New Product Experimentation (NPE) team is often quick to abandon apps that don’t find traction, and a video speed-dating service it has tested over the last nine months is next for the chopping block. The company told Sparked users the experiment will shut down on January 20th.

As more music streaming services introduce lossless or high-definition audio to their offerings, interest in DACs (digital-to-analog converters, or “headphone amplifiers”) has picked up pace — so much so we created this guide. What was once the reserve of audiophiles is slowly becoming a go-to gadget for those who want more than what their phone and AirPods can deliver. But they’re not without caveats. For one, they’re often expensive, and sometimes they aren’t much smaller than the phone you’re attaching them to. Читать дальше...

I review a lot of true wireless earbuds, so I’m always curious what the next trends will be when companies offer their annual refresh for new products. Over the last few years, smaller sizes, better battery life and hands-free features have become the norm, but there’s only so much you can do on such a tiny device.

New players will be able to purchase digital copies of Final Fantasy XIV again starting on January 25th, the game's director and producer Naoki Yoshida has announced in a lengthy post. Square Enix suspended the game's physical and digital sales in mid-December last year, because it was doing too well for what the company could handle at the time. People have had to wait hours to get in when they try to play at peak times, because the "dense concentration of play hours... far exceed [the game's] server capacity." Unfortunately... Читать дальше...

Microsoft has hired a third -party law firm to review its policies on sexual harassment and gender discrimination policies, The Verge has reported. As part of that, the final report will summarize the results of sexual harassment investigations against the company's senior leadership and board of directors, including former CEO Bill Gates. 

If you're seriously sticking to your New Year's resolution this time around to live a healthier lifestyle and want a digital scale to monitor the changes to your body, Withings has one on sale. The Withings Body+ smart scale is currently available for $58.50 on Amazon. That's not quite its all-time low for the device, but it is 41 percent off its retail price of $100. 

I’m not sure what’s in Sony’s playbook when it comes to selling its phones in the US. Take the Xperia 5 III. After launching in other regions last year, the phone is only now available stateside for $1,000. This is its middle-ish high-end phone, with the flagship Xperia 1 series of smartphones (seen above) both bigger and pricier.

Block founder Jack Dorsey has announced on Twitter that the company is officially building an open bitcoin mining system. Dorsey first announced in October last year that the digital payments provider, then known as Square, was considering working on the project even before it rebranded itself. If you'll recall, Square changed its name to Block to tie its services together and to better represent the future of its business in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. 

Tesla is allowing customers to buy select merchandise items using Dogecoin, according to the website and a tweet from CEO Elon Musk. You can now pick up the Cyberwhistle for 300 doge ($58), Giga Texas Belt Buckle for 835 doge ($161) and the Cyberquad for Kids at 12,020 doge or $2,320. According to the store, Dogecoin is now the only way to buy those items as a cash option is no longer showing. 

A legal expert has teamed with a litigation firm to sue Meta on behalf of 44 million Facebook users in the UK, claiming that they had their data exploited in violation of competition laws, TechCrunch has reported. The firm is seeking £2.3 billion ($3.1 billion) in damages for UK Facebook users. 

Three PayPal users who've allegedly had their accounts frozen and funds taken by the company without explanation have filed a federal lawsuit against the online payment service. The plaintiffs — two users from California and one from Chicago — are accusing the company of unlawfully seizing their personal property and violating racketeering laws. They're now proposing a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all other users who've had their accounts frozen before and are seeking restitution, as well as punitive and exemplary damages. Читать дальше...

It’s no secret Meta employs contract laborers to do much of the hard work of enforcing its content moderation policies. And despite assisting one of the most valuable companies in the world, those workers have frequently complained of their jobs involving poor compensation and anxiety-inducing work. Some are now also saying they’re being treated worse than other workers.

Crowdsourcing automaker Local Motors will cease operations this Friday, according to employees, TechCrunch reports. The company has not yet officially announced its imminent demise, though its reactions from its workforce have already appeared on LinkedIn.

Unless you’re a lawyer, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve never read through a website’s entire terms of service. There’s a simple reason for that. Far too often, they’re too long and difficult to parse. Some services offer summary statements, but they’re the exception, not the norm.

You no longer have to be one of the privileged few to record Twitter Spaces. Twitter has announced that all Android and iOS users can record Spaces when they're hosting. As before, you just have to toggle "record space" before you start. From there, your audio will be available for public listening and sharing 30 days after the initial stream.

Sinclair Broadcast Group has reached a deal to stream 16 NBA teams’ games to fans in local markets. The company, which is aiming to launch a standalone streaming service this year, previously secured local rights for some NHL and MLB teams, but the NBA deal is a major piece of the puzzle.

Facebook, Google, Twitter and Reddit have been subpoenaed by the Congressional select committee investigating the Jan. 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. In a statement, the committee said the companies’ responses so far have been “inadequate.”