Новости за 26.01.2022

The CEO of ID.me, a service used by dozens of states to verify unemployment benefits claimants as well as several federal agencies, has walked back previous claims that the company does not use a more powerful method of facial recognition.

A recent and "widespread" API outage had left Discord unusable for some people for part of the day. After reports of the problem started to surface online, Discord began investigating at approximately 2:49PM ET. Minutes later, it said it had identified the underlying issue causing the outage, but noted it was also dealing with a secondary problem related to one of its database clusters. "We have our entire on-call response team online and responding to the issue," the company said at the time. 

If you loved/hated Twitter's new NFT user profile pictures, get ready to feel excited/ambivalent about Reddit's offering. TechCrunch reports that Reddit is now testing an NFT profile picture implementation, though it's unclear how it'll actually look to end users. Twitter's hexagonal icons separate NFT owners from lowly round-icon proles, so we'd wager Reddit would also want some way to make crypto fans feel special.

It's a big day for security updates in Apple-land. The company has rolled out software fixes for just about all of its platforms, including iOS 15.3 and macOS 12.2, 9to5Mac reports. Notably, they fix the Safari vulnerability that could potentially leak your browser history, as well as your Google account information. WatchOS 8.4 and tvOS 15.2, meanwhile, add some performance improvements. And even though the company isn't paying as much attention to its smart speakers these days, it launched HomePod 15.3... Читать дальше...

Transporation startup Boom is one step closer to bringing back supersonic passenger flight. On Wednesday, the company announced plans to build a manufacturing facility at Piedmont Triad International Airport in North Carolina. Once complete, "The Overture Superfactory" will employ approximately 1,750 workers by 2030 and produce the company’s upcoming Overture supersonic jet, which Boom hopes will start flying passengers in 2029. Construction on the facility is expected to start later this year, with production to follow in 2024. Читать дальше...

The White House wants the government to adopt a security model called Zero Trust within the next two years. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a finalized federal strategy that lays out the initial details of the shift.

Following a two-month delay, Valve's Steam Deck will launch on February 25th. In a blog post the company published on Wednesday, Valve said it would open orders to the first batch of reservation holders that day. Those customers will have 72 hours to purchase the handheld. If they don't use the opportunity, Valve will release their spot to the next person in the reservation queue. The first orders will then ship on February 28th. Moving forward, Valve says it plans open orders to more customers on a weekly basis. Читать дальше...

It’s been almost 15 years since the original Crysis brought even the most powerful PCs to their knees, and close to a decade since the last brand new installment in the franchise. And while there’s no planned release date just yet, today Crytek confirmed that Crysis 4 is currently in development.

Unpacking is a lovely, relaxing puzzle game made by a small team. It's beautifully designed and manages to tell a compelling story with very little text. Unfortunately, its core mechanic — unpacking boxes and placing items in a new home — isn't exactly difficult to copy. One clone quickly found an audience on iOS and Android before it was removed.

Apple is honoring Black History Month once again, and that includes a special treat for Watch owners. The company has released a special edition $99 Black Unity Braided Solo Loop that weaves the Pan-African flag's colors into the stretchable black band. There's also a free, matching Unity Lights face you can download (using your iPhone) to show support — it's reportedly the first watch face to use '2D ray tracing' to simulate light, creating a distinctive aura around the minute and hour hands.

Huawei is set to start selling the P50 Pro and foldable P50 Pocket smartphones it announced last year outside of China. The flagship Pro device costs €1,199 and the P50 Pocket starts at €1,299. Those convert to around $1,353 and $1,466 respectively, but don’t expect to get your hands on these in the US.

You won't have to run an unpolished beta to try Android apps on Windows 11. Microsoft's Panos Panay has teased the release of a Windows 11 public preview in February that will bring Android apps to the Microsoft Store. The company didn't say how many apps would be available in this test, but they'll be titles you would find in the Amazon Appstore.

Squarespace is taking on Patreon, YouTube and the safe-for-work segment of OnlyFans with the launch of its new video offering. The web host is enabling its users to upload video directly to their Squarespace site and sell access on a one-off or recurring subscription basis. These clips will be hosted natively on the platform itself although users can route in videos from YouTube and Vimeo where necessary. The company added that it has built a new native video player with “slick playback” and “deep... Читать дальше...

Uncharted has been a tentpole franchise for Sony ever since the first game arrived back in 2007, so it’s not surprising that the games have been remastered for newer consoles over the years. Developer Naughty Dog first brought the original PS3 trilogy to the PS4 in 2015 as The Nathan Drake Collection, improving visual fidelity and frame rates. Now, the company is pulling the same trick with the two PS4 games in the series: Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.

If you're a streamer, you can't always reach for your keyboard (or a control deck) to activate a scene or effect. Thankfully, you might not have to. Elgato has released a Stream Deck Pedal that provides three customizable foot pedals to steer your apps and other broadcasting tools hands-free. You can manage Twitch or YouTube, change cameras, start an OBS transition or otherwise control your stream in a stealthy manner.

The idea of a $250 graphics card seems like a pipe dream today, when unprecedented demand, scalpers and the global chip shortage have driven GPU prices into the stratosphere. Still, that's not stopping NVIDIA from trying with the new RTX 3050. It's the company's cheapest GPU yet with ray tracing, and it's meant to take on AMD's even cheaper Radeon RX 6500 XT, which has a suggested retail price of $200. While it's unclear if the 3050 will actually sell for $250 once it hits stores, it'll at least come in less than the RTX 3060... Читать дальше...

Intel has emerged triumphant (for now) in a long-running antitrust case that once saw the chipmaker slapped with a record-breaking fine by the European Commission. The General Court, Europe's second highest court, has overturned the €1.06 billion fine levied against the company way back in 2009. Back then, the Commission determined that Intel abused its dominant position in the market and harmed its rivals by offering manufacturers such as HP, Dell and Lenovo incentives for using its microprocessors instead of those from rival AMD's. Читать дальше...

Musician Neil Young has asked his management team and record label to remove his songs from Spotify. "I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe [it]," he said. "They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both." The content of the letter was confirmed by Young's manager, Frank Gironda, according to The Daily Beast. It’s probably not an empty threat; Young previously removed his music from Spotify due to low audio quality. Читать дальше...

You can now get Google Assistant to stop talking with just one word: "Stop." That's it — you don't even have to say "Hey, Google" before that. The official Google Twitter account has announced the small but necessary quality-of-life improvement for the company's speakers and smart displays. It sometimes takes a while (and several repeated attempts) to get Assistant's attention with a "Hey, Google" if it suddenly goes off without you wanting it to or if you absolutely have to cut it off mid-spiel. Читать дальше...

Twitter has received the highest number of content removal demands from governments around the world from January to June 2021, the website has revealed in its latest transparency report. To be precise, it received 43,387 legal demands that involve 196,878 accounts. Twitter says those numbers represent the largest increase in content removal requests and accounts reported within a six-month reporting period from the time it started publishing transparency reports in 2012.

Kia's EV6, which shares a platform, battery, motors and more with Hyundai's Ioniq 5, will start at $42,115 including the $1,215 destination charge, the company announced. That sum will get you the base "Light" rear-wheel drive (RWD) model with a 167-horsepower motor and 58-kWh battery pack delivering a 232-mile EPA range. The model is eligible for a full $7,500 federal tax credit, which would reduce the price down to $34,615. 

The SAT standardized college admissions tests will be taken exclusively on computers starting in 2024, The New York Times has reported. The new system will spell the end to tests taken on paper with No. 2 pencils, a right of passage for American high school students since the SAT was first administered nearly a hundred years ago.

Amazon won't be paying most warehouse workers in the US to quit their jobs this year. According to The Information, the e-commerce giant has paused its "pay-to-quit" program for majority of its workers for 2022, and it's unclear if it will be reinstated. The publication has obtained a copy of Amazon's message to its employees, which was then verified by a spokesperson from the company. Typically, Amazon pays its warehouse workers up to $5,000 to quit their jobs after peak seasons like the holidays... Читать дальше...

It’s looking more and more likely that Diem, Meta’s ill-fated cryptocurrency previously known as Libra, will never actually materialize. The Diem Association is reportedly “weighing a sale of its assets as a way to return capital to its investor members,” Bloombergreports.

Activision Blizzard had until 6PM ET on January 25th to voluntarily recognize Game Workers Alliance, a group of Raven Software employees that recently gathered the votes to unionize, backed by Communications Workers of America. That deadline passed without recognition from Activision Blizzard, and Raven employees will now move forward with plans to file for a union election through the National Labor Relations Board.