Новости за 14.02.2022

US regulators are making it clear crypto companies must follow conventional rules. Crypto lender BlockFi has settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission over charges the company allegedly offered interest accounts without registering them under the Securities Act. The company will pay $100 million in penalties, including $50 million to settle charges from 32 states.

Meta’s Instagram is introducing a new way for people to interact with Stories. Starting today, you can send a private like when someone shares an image or video that catches your eye. Previously, the only way to respond to a Story was to either send the creator a direct message or an emoji reaction. In either case, your response would show in their messages inbox, thereby cluttering the interface. 

The last time we looked at one of HP's premium Spectre x360 convertible notebooks, we were blown away by its style, powerful hardware and excellent keyboard. But that was just a 13-inch model — what if HP took all of that goodness and put it in a massive 16-inch laptop? That's basically what the company is offering with its new Spectre x360 16. It's big. It's beautiful. And this time, it comes equipped with NVIDIA's new RTX 3050 GPU. If you're looking for a notebook with a large screen that can also handle a bit of gaming and creative work... Читать дальше...

Meta’s past use of facial recognition technology has once again landed the company in potential legal trouble. On Monday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging it had collected the biometric data of millions of Texans without obtaining their informed consent to do so. At the center of the case is Facebook’s now discontinued use of facial recognition technology. The platform previously employed the technology as part of its “tag suggestions” feature, which... Читать дальше...

Everyone wants a piece of the metaverse. Since Facebook rebranded and christened itself Meta, interest in VR and AR has surged again. We’ve already seen companies like Google, Samsung, LG and Alcatel try and fail to make VR headsets for the mainstream, and currently devices from Oculus (oops, Meta), Valve, HTC and Sony are left standing thanks to the appeal of immersive gaming. 

SpaceX won't just have launched first all-civilian spaceflight — it should soon be home to a full-fledged private space program. According to The Washington Post, Shift4 founder and Inspiration4 leader Jared Isaacman has unveiled a Polaris Program initiative that will include "up to" three crewed SpaceX flights. The first, Polaris Dawn, is planned for the fourth quarter of 2022 and should include the first commercial spacewalk. The effort will ideally end with the first human-occupied Starship flight. Читать дальше...

Zwift is bringing together some of its more dedicated cyclists for another competitive riding event. On February 26th, the workout platform will host the second UCI Cycling Esports World Championships ever, which takes place on a course set in a virtual version of Central Park in New York City.

Polestar is counting on a time-honored tactic to get noticed in an increasingly crowded electric car market: a brazen Super Bowl ad. Volvo's sibling brand aired a 30-second spot for the Polestar 2 during Super Bowl 2022 that took some not-so-subtle potshots at competitors and industry hypocrisy at large. The commercial was dominated by "nos" that included "no dieselgate" (hi VW), "no conquering Mars" (ahem, Elon) and "no greenwashing." The company wants you to see rivals as either distracted from... Читать дальше...

A number of Samsung storage gadgets are on sale right now, making it a good time to pick up an extra portable drive to keep in your bag, a microSD card for your tablet or console or even an SSD for your new PS5. Notably, Samsung's T7 portable SSD in 1TB is back down to its Black Friday price of $110, which is 35 percent less than usual. Also discounted are the Samsung 980 Pro SSD in 2TB, which is $150 off and down to $280, and the 128GB Pro Plus microSD card, which is nearly half off and down to $21. Читать дальше...

The non-fungible token market is full of shady dealings, and British authorities hope to clean them up. BBC Newsreports HM Revenue and Customs has seized three NFTs as part of investigation into potential tax fraud. The suspects allegedly used 250 fake companies, false identities, prepaid phones, VPNs and other techniques to hide themselves as they sought to defraud the UK tax office of £1.4 million (nearly $1.9 million).

Whether you pre-ordered one of Samsung's new Galaxy smartphones or have another Android handset, the company's Galaxy Watches are the wearables we'd recommend pairing with it. The Galaxy Watch 4 came out last year and earned a score of 85 from us, and we consider it to be the best Wear OS smartwatch available right now. You can pick one of the LTE models for less right now at Amazon as they are up to 27 percent off. The 40mm LTE Galaxy Watch 4 is $80 off and down to $220 while the 44mm LTE version is also $80 off and down to $250. Читать дальше...

Uber users will eventually be able to pay for rides using cryptocurrency, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told Bloomberg. However, the company is essentially taking the same tack as Tesla by waiting for changes that will lower transaction fees and make it more environmentally friendly. 

Finally, the two newest consoles are hitting their exclusive-game groove. Microsoft finally has its Halo, and while Forbidden West is available on PlayStation 4, it was made to sing on the more powerful PS5. Senior Editor Jessica Conditt has spent some time with the game, ahead of its launch later this week — read her full review right here — and, well, she likes it. (What’s not to like about an underwater Vegas?)

More electric vehicle drivers will soon be able to charge their car's battery when they stop by the drugstore. EV charging network Volta is bringing another 1,000 DC fast-charging stalls to 500 Walgreens locations.

If you've been looking for wireless chargers, cables or high-speed chargers with surge protection, now is a good time to stock up. You can pick up various Anker products at Amazon with discounts up to 39 percent, including its magnetic 623 MagGo 2-in-1 Wireless Charging Station bundle, USB-C to Lightning cables and a USB-C surge protector strip with three 30-watt USB ports. 

Dell's Alienware monitor that uses Samsung's quantum dot OLED (QD-OLED) tech will arrive this spring for a surprisingly reasonable $1,299, the company announced via a tweet. Dell first unveiled the curved, 34-inch gaming display at CES promising the ultra-high contrast of OLED displays with improved brightness, color range and uniformity. 

When Guerrilla Games revealed that Horizon Forbidden West would have underwater gameplay, I was not excited. I was in the minority with this feeling, but I have a ridiculous, lifelong fear of large things in deep bodies of water, and games in these settings genuinely freak me out. I’m still recovering from the shark scene in Batman Arkham Asylum.

Amazon used Super Bowl LVI to show off the first trailer for its ambitious The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series. The 60 second teaser gives us our first look at some of the main characters, potential action and visual effects. "Haven't you ever wondered... what else is out there?" a voice intones to kick it off. 

Meta’s Reality Labs VR division has yet to disclose how many Quest 2 headsets it has sold to date. What we do know is that it recently became more popular than ever. On Christmas Day 2021, the Oculus app hit the top of Apple’s App Store charts for the first time. The software achieved that milestone thanks to everyone who bought a Quest 2 headset to gift to their friends and loved ones.