Friday, December 03, 2021

Friday Technology News and More






1KThe Points Guy / 48min
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with new information. Back in October, all five Southwest cobranded cards got a facelift with new bonus categories and perks. To celebrate these changes, Southwest is offering up to 100,000 bonus points with all three of its consumer cards: the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card , the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card and the Southwest Rap



Thanks to new financial regulations passed November 30th, debt collectors can now slide into your DMs, shoot you a text message, or email you to collect an unpaid bill. Creditors can report you if you fail to pay up after receiving a notice on social media, even if you think it’s spam. Read This Article on Review Geek ›



Mario N64 Nintendo•
Nintendo has revealed that Paper Mario will be the next N64 game to come to its Switch Online Expansion Pack service on December 10. The classic RPG was extremely well received at the time and kickstarted a beloved series of games starring the paper-thin plumber, with the latest release being Paper Mario: The Origami King on Nintendo Switch. Paper Mario is the type of title that is an ideal fit f

TODAY



Engadget / 5min
Tile Bluetooth trackers were some of the many small gadgets on sale last week for Black Friday, but you have another chance to grab some of the latest models for less today. Whereas the previous sale focused on multi-packs, this one-day deal knocks up to 30 percent off individual Tile trackers . The classic 2022 Tile Mate is 24 percent off, bringing it down to $19, while the Tile Slim is down to



Mashable / 12min
On Black Friday, UK pharmacy chain Boots slashed the price of emergency contraception, giving it a 50 percent discount. The deal, which was brought to people's attention by a tweet , has since prompted the launch of a campaign to make the morning after pill more affordable and accessible. And many have called out the exorbitant prices being regularly charged by retailers for this medication. Twee



Engadget / 17min
This week, Cherlynn and Devindra discuss the significance of Jack Dorsey leaving Twitter. Will the social network thrive, or stumble, after losing its co-founder for a second time? Also, Cherlynn explains what’s up with all of Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon chips for phones, computers and… portable gaming consoles? Is it enough to take on Apple’s M1 chips? Or will Windows once again hold Snapdragon PC



Lifehacker / 18min
The new year is here, and with it came a big night for drinking. The holidays typically come with a lot of them, from Thanksgiving to boozy Secret Santa exchanges to New Years Eve, there are frequent opportunities to gather and make merry—most of them with gallons of alcohol. Read more...



The Alaska Airlines Visa® Business card has an exceptional welcome bonus, and fantastic perks for holding onto the card. This is card that I have, and one that I think is seriously worth considering if you don’t have it already. While you can read my detailed review of the Alaska Airlines Business Card , below I wanted to share eight reasons you should consider applying for this card. 1. Welcome



Kia Sportage SUV UK•
The all-new Kia Sportage 2022 offers up much more than just a facelift, and the South Korean firm has now confirmed how much it will set you back in the UK. The new Kia Sportage price starts at £26,745 for the entry-level, two wheel drive '2' model with a 1.6 litre petrol engine, 6-speed manual transmission and 148bhp. While it may be the entry level model, it still packs a range of tech includin



FTC Block Nvidia Arm•
Regulators in the UK and Europe are also investigating the proposed purchase of the chip designer.



Vignette of the face of a young girl with hair parted down the middle and pulled back in two curly ponytails. A frame printed in gold surrounds portrait. Printed on photo back: “Photographed by A.M. Cheney, Lansing, Mich. Rooms over the City Book Store.” Courtesy of the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library



A program might charter a flight or four, but not enough capacity to really give members choice. Still, it’s a great stunt to highlight the efforts a program is going to for members. And with limited capacity these flights can prove popular. What’s more, the economics can even work. These flights can be profitable. Continue reading ...



Wired / 47min
This week, we imagine a new version of the web that takes the power from the platforms and puts it back into the hands of the people.



End Encryption One•
Wired / 47min
The company’s decision to delay the rollout makes sense—because its initial plan never did.



Wired / 47min
We use video analysis to compare an animated liftoff to an actual one, proving that truth is more boring than fiction.



Six Apple Watch Faces•
Gizmodo / 47min
With each successive version of watchOS, Apple has added more watch face options for your Apple Watch, but in terms of user customization there’s still not a whole lot you can play around with. One way that you can make your Apple Watch more personal is by using your own photos as watch faces, and watchOS 8 made this… Read more...



How-To Geek / 48min
Do you have trouble hearing your ringer, alarm, or someone on the other end of the phone? Many iPhone users have this complaint, and the solution to your problem isn’t always obvious. Here are some common problems and fixes. Read This Article on How-To Geek ›



TechCrunch / 48min
People come together around the dinner table and the food they love, but for Umamicart founder and CEO Andrea Xu, it wasn’t always easy to find the ingredients to make the foods she grew up eating with her family. Xu’s parents are Chinese, but moved to Spain, opening up their own Chinese restaurant. She recalls the grocery stores not having the kinds of sauces, thinly-sliced meat cuts and vegetab



The Capital One Spark Cash Plus was launched in August 2021, and replaces the Capital One Spark Cash, which is no longer open to new applicants. This has the potential to be a very rewarding business cash back card, and it could even be a great card for earning Capital One miles. In this post I wanted to take a look at the details of this card. Long story short, the card offers an industry-leadin



Pokemon Pokémon Go•
Niantic has just rolled out updates for the Pokémon Go app, and one of the new features for iOS will let you run the game at higher frame rates. The Verge has discovered a new option that allows you "unlock your device's native refresh rate for higher FPS." It's not explicitly stated in the app's change log and probably falls under the "various quality-of-life improvements" the developer has list



Zoom Pay Class Action•
Zoom has settled a class-action lawsuit that alleged the company was in breach of privacy laws and put its users’ data at risk. As a result, it now needs to pay a small sum to all customers that can prove they were affected. The lawsuit alleged that the video conferencing app, Zoom Meetings, shared certain user information with third parties, did not do everything it could to prevent unwanted mee



Toyota BYD China Chinese•
32Mashable / 1h
Toyota, a pioneer in hybrid vehicles, has a long way to catch up with competitors when it comes to fully electric cars. Now, the company is finally launching an affordable electric car, in partnership with China's BYD. According to a Reuters report Friday, Toyota is planning to launch a small electric sedan in China "late next year." To build the vehicle, Toyota has partnered with Chinese automak




Countries are slamming their borders shut again. Since the omicron variant was discovered in southern Afric a and reported to the World Health Organization last week, more than 50 countries have imposed border controls, mostly targeting South Africa and Botswana, which reported the first cases, but also neighbouring countries in the region. The aim was to stop omicron spreading, but these bans ar



Groundhog Day Game•
Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images) It’s that time of year again—time to buy more board games than you possibly have time to play. To aid you in your quest, we’ve once again updated our massive board game buyer’s guide for the year by adding new entries (including a bunch of games from 2020 and 2021), pruning some old entries, and bringing things in line with our current thoughts. The



Enlarge / Rocket Lab calls this the "Hungry Hippo" fairing on its Neutron rocket. (credit: Rocket Lab ) Welcome to Edition 4.25 of the Rocket Report! After the Thanksgiving holiday, we are now in the homestretch of 2021, with less than a month to go in the year. And it will be a consequential month, with a Soyuz crew launch on deck, NASA's IXPE science mission, and—of course—the James Webb Space



Tesla is selling a scaled down kiddie version of its Cyberquad ATV for the scions of EV owners around the world. For the uninitiated, when Tesla announced its beefy, alien-looking Cybertruck, it also promised a similar-looking ATV would debut alongside. While both the truck and ATV remain in the works, you can get your kids a unit that’ll impress everyone at the next off-road meet you go to. Pack



Matrix Unreal Engine 5•
Alongside the new The Matrix Resurrections movie, there'll be a tie-in game called Matrix Awakens that’ll be developed using Unreal Engine 5 and will release on the PS5 , according to rumors. A Reddit user said the new Matrix game was discovered in the ‘PSN backend,’ but there were virtually no details on the game - other than it’s coming to PS5 and there’s an image saying it’s ‘an Unreal Engine



When searching for hotel award nights in the Maldives , one IHG resort stands out. While most IHG Rewards properties in the Maldives typically cost 100,000 points per night or more and have limited availability, the Holiday Inn Resort Kandooma Maldives is usually bookable for significantly fewer points. Since I’m all about stretching my points for as many nights as possible, I decided to try this



SAVE ON REFURBS: The Apple MacBook Pro has the power and advanced features needed to keep up with you and your professional life. Find the best deals on refurbished Apple MacBook Pros at Woot, with delivery before Christmas. The Apple MacBook Pro regularly tops lists of the best laptops , and that's because is delivers a massive amount of power that should suit professionals, creatives, and just



MLB Major League Baseball•
The Major League Baseball lockout has begun. For the first time in over 25 years, a work stoppage for the league has gone into effect as of Thursday morning, following months of negotiations with the Major League Baseball Players Association over a new labor contract. Owners have locked out players after bargaining talks failed before deadline — the biggest issues on the table were over pay, when



62Mashable / 1h
What would you do it if you were given the opportunity to clone yourself before you passed away? That's the ethical dilemma at the centre of Mahershala Ali's new Black Mirror -esque movie Swan Song , but what would the man himself do if he was faced with such a situation? "You know I've thought about that a lot, and all throughout shooting it, and even now and seeing how the film came out. And I



24Wired / 1h
A new scientific field proposes an idea that could help generate food and energy while reducing a building's cooling costs.



24Wired / 1h
There was a time, not so long ago, when Meta’s big-money deal to acquire Giphy would have been waved through. No more.



If you’re looking for a rugged case for your phone or tablet, you’ve probably seen the terms MIL-SPEC or MIL-STD. But what do they mean? It’s a simple standard, but its appearance on product packaging is a complex topic. Read This Article on How-To Geek ›



Every neighborhood used to have a milkman. Grocery stores and other modern conveniences have made that job extinct , now appearing only in old movies or your great-grandparents’ stories. Technological advancement pushed switchboard operators into the dustbin of history too. Don’t look now, but it may not be too long before financial advisors as we know them meet the same fate. Oh sure, there’s al



Receipt Printers Antiwork•
Hackers are attacking business receipt printers to insert pro-labor messages, according to a report from Vice and posts on Reddit . "Are you being underpaid?", reads one message and "How can the McDonald's in Denmark pay their staff $22 an hour and still manage to sell a Big Mac for less than in America?", another states. Numerous similar images have been posted on Reddit, Twitter and elsewhere.



Earth Mercury Planet•
Enlarge / The TESS planet-finding observatory. (credit: NASA ) For centuries, scientists only had a limited number of examples to look at when it came to understanding the formation of planets. As we've discovered ever-increasing numbers of worlds, however, we've found many that look like nothing what we have in our Solar System: hot gas giants, super-Earths, mini-Neptunes, and more. So, it can b



Nvidia has teamed up with HP and Zotac to request that the Biden administration exempt graphics cards from the current Trump-era US tariffs on imported Chinese tech. As reported by PCMag , all three companies submitted the request to the US Trade Representative (USTR) , citing a distinct lack of GPU manufacturing outside of China which has resulted in them being affected by the 25% duty on Chines



Zampella Battlefield 2042•
EA DICE's recently-released Battlefield 2042 hasn't gotten off to the best of starts, with bugs and issues plaguing the game even after a few patches. But that hasn't stopped EA keeping the Battlefield conversation going, and it sounds like the publisher has big plans in store for the military shooter franchise. As reported by Gamespot , a major shakeup is to occur for the Battlefield series. The



Enlarge / Detail of Michelangelo's unfinished painting The Virgin and Child with Saint John and Angels (tempera on wood, ca. 1497), aka The Manchester Madonna. The outlines of two angelic figures on left are rendered in green earth tempera underpaint. (credit: The National Gallery London/Public domain ) Tempera is a painting medium that has been used to decorate everything from early Egyptian sar



Password Security One 2021•
Passwords are a major hindrance to productivity , as people regularly forget their credentials and get locked out of their computers and apps. Often, it takes employees hours to get back to work. This is according to a report from authentication company Axiad, based on a poll of 2,000 US workers, which states that the majority (60%) are prevented from doing their jobs by password-related issues.



Google is planning to release its first branded smartwatch next year, according to inside sources – and it might actually be a Fitbit . Business Insider , which first broke the story, claims that there are no currently no plans for the the new watch to carry the Fitbit brand, but other hints suggest otherwise. Most significantly, a source speaking to The Verge claimed that the new smartwatch (cur




Pokemon Pokémon Go•
Niantic has updated the iOS app of Pokémon Go to make better use of native frame rates on iPhone – and the results are gorgeous. The latest update (version 1.191.0) allow players to move past the 30fps frame rate that the iOS app was previously limited to – unlocking the potential of 60Hz or even 120Hz screens on the latest iPhones. If you're playing Pokémon Go on iOS, you'll want to head to the



Gizmodo / 2h
China-based ridesharing technology platform DiDi will delist from the New York Stock Exchange and pursue a listing on the Hong Kong exchange, according to multiple reports and a press release from the company. Read more...



Do you like Christmas movies, but wish they were gorier? Are you a fan of zombie flicks, but yearn for a zombie musical? Do you want every musical you watch to be full of holiday cheer? Then Anna and the Apocalypse , a Christmas zombie musical spectacular released in 2018, is the film for you. Christmas is just around the corner in the small Scottish town of Little Haven, and Anna (Ella Hunt) is



Nvidia GeForce NOW•
Nvidia has announced that those who have pre-ordered the new RTX 3080 top-tier service for GeForce Now in Europe are getting their memberships activated. This is happening on the first-come first-served basis, so those who got in straight away will be going live now, or very soon. As you may be aware, the rollout in the US started a month ago . The new RTX 3080 tier gives you resolutions of up to



Cybersecurity researchers have helped fix an issue with Box that could have been exploited to bypass multi-factor authentication ( MFA ) for accounts that relied on authenticator apps such as Google Authenticator. The popular cloud storage company was alerted by researchers at Varonis after they found a relatively simple workaround to use stolen credentials to log into a Box account without provi



Facebook Holocaust•
Facebook said that it's cracking down on anti-vaccine messages, but it recently allowed multiple anti-vaccine ads to run on its site, CNN has reported. One ad compared the rollout of vaccines to the Holocaust, and another promoted T-shirts with the message "I'm originally from America but I currently reside in 1941 Germany." The ads were run by merchandise companies, including one called "Ride th



Steam Chromebooks Soon•
You may not think of the humble Chromebook as a gaming device, but that could change, as it looks like official support for Steam in Chrome OS is coming soon. According to a report by Android Police , official Steam support in Chrome OS, the operating system Chromebooks use, could be coming soon. Codenamed ‘Borealis’, it seems a beta version could be included in Chrome OS 98.0.4736.0, which will



There’s a scene early in Wolf that captures the movie's potential perfectly. A young man (Darragh Shannon) says to his support group, "Hi, I'm Jeremy. And I am not a squirrel." Recognition ripples throughout the room, accented by the appearance of a grumpy girl wearing a beak and feathers. It's clear Jeremy would like to be a squirrel; he's just struggling to accept that he's not. The moment is f



Mario N64 Nintendo•
Nintendo launched its paid Switch Online Expansion Pack tier with a very limited number of N64 games in October. And according to Kotaku , they were plagued with various technical issues, such as wonky layouts, poor graphics quality and bugs that cause crashes. Soon, though, the gaming giant will add a Nintendo 64 classic to the list of titles you can access with the subscription service: The ori



Valve Steam Deck Packaging•
Valve's Steam Deck may have been delayed until February 2022 , but you can start taking in the sight of its packaging right now. The handful of teaser images shows the inside of the cardboard packaging, including the carrying case containing the console itself, and the boxed USB-C charger you'll get with it – much like the one you get with a new Nintendo Switch . The innards of the box run throug



For a while the Xiaomi 12 wasn't leaking much, even though it's expected to launch in December - that's no longer the case, and the anticipated Android phone is starting to come together. We've now heard multiple pieces of information about the phone's rear camera bump, which make the upcoming device sound very... Xiaomi. Firstly, a leaker on Chinese social media platform Weibo has provided image



Moss: Book 2 is coming next year, meaning we're getting a sequel to one of the best PSVR games ever made. The original Moss made a splash on PSVR when it launched in 2018. Much like the phenomenal Astro Bot: Rescue Mission , it stood out from the crowd by being a fully fledged VR title for PlayStation's headset that wasn't simply a tech demo or port of a non-VR game. As reported by IGN , Moss: Bo



A 2011 thriller was supposed to cost $15. One merchant listed it at $987, with a 17th-century publication date. That’s what happens in a marketplace where third-party sellers run wild.



A new version of WordPress that's currently under development, WordPress 5.9, is now available in beta for testing purposes. Given WordPress 5.9 Beta 1 is not a stable release, the developers recommend tests should be carried out on test websites rather than live sites, in case any issues reveal themselves. WordPress has released a set of detailed instructions for users to follow in order to carr



TL;DR: Get a five-year subscription to PlayStation Plus for $219 — a 26% discount from its regular price of $299 — as of Dec. 3 with the code CMSAVE20 . Still can’t get your hands on the PlayStation 5 ? Tough luck. At least you can unlock more features of your current console with this stellar deal on PlayStation Plus. PlayStation Plus opens up access to online multiplayer mode, delivers free gam



TL;DR: As of Dec. 3, get a Meazor 6-in-1 Multifunction Digital Laser Measure Tool for $114.39 instead of $199 with the code CMSAVE20 — that's a discount of over 42%. Whether you're constantly measuring and crafting things with your hands or are just moving into a new apartment and want to make sure your couch fits, securing this digital measuring device will make your life easier for years to com



TL;DR: The Fearless Unlimited Lifetime Subscription is still just $17.99 at the Mashable Shop with code CMSAVE40 as of Dec. 3. Sometimes it just feels good to see people like you on TV. The Fearless streaming service definitely agrees, which is why it wants to make access to its streaming service easier than ever. In honor of Cyber Week, all you have to do is enter code CMSAVE40 at checkout to se



TL;DR: The Android App Development Course and Kotlin Bootcamp Bundle is only $3.90 at the Mashable Shop with code CMSAVE70 as of Dec. 3. Have a great idea for an app ? Don’t waste it — build it yourself. You can learn to build your own Android apps right at home with the help of this 23-hour course collection. It’s still on sale for Cyber Week, for less than $4, so if ever there was a time to get




If you missed out on the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals , there's an excellent discount on the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 that's even better than the prices we saw during the sales. Normally £349.95, Amazon has slashed the price of Bose's best noise-cancelling headphones to just £219 , saving you £130.95 and bringing them within a few pounds of their lowest ever price. (Not in the



Qualcomm makes the platforms that power some of the world’s best consumer tech, but it may one day partner with other brands to make Snapdragon Editions of already existing gadgets. Flights and accommodation for this launch event were funded by Qualcomm, but the views reflect the writer's own independent opinion. Don McGuire, Chief Marketing Officer at Qualcomm, spoke to TechRadar about the poten



24TechCrunch / 4h
In 2019, Swedish coworking space and investment fund Norrsken Foundation announced the launch of its first entrepreneurship hub outside the Scandinavian nation in Rwanda. The center, located in Kigali, has finally opened up to the region, though it is happening in two phases. The first, which took place yesterday, will welcome 250 entrepreneurs. The second phase hopes to bring in over 750 additio
YESTERDAY



20TechCrunch / 6h
Zindi is all about using AI to solve real world problems for companies and individuals. And the South Africa-based crowd-solving startup has done that over the last three years they have been in existence. Just last year a team of data scientists under Zindi used machine learning to improve air quality monitoring in Kampala as another group helped Zimnat, an insurance company in Zimbabwe predict



Android 12L Lenovo Pro•
Long back when Android Tablets were a thing, Google introduced a dedicated operating system, Android Honeycomb , for these large-screened devices. Since it was a half-baked attempt and as in most such cases, it failed to live up to the expectations, and with tablets going of fashion, the idea of such an OS was done and dusted. However, with the advent of foldable phones and the revival of tablets



Google Return Office•
81Engadget / 7h
Google workers in the US will no longer be required to return to in-office work on January 10th. According to CNBC , company security VP Chris Rackow told employees in an email that Google will wait to reassess the situation and figure out when it's safe to return to an in-office environment until the new year. The tech giant originally planned to implement a hybrid work week starting on October



The new rule lets debt collectors text and direct message millions of Americans who default on loans.



A limited series based on Emily St. John Mandel’s international bestseller, Station Eleven is a post-apocalyptic saga that follows survivors of a devastating flu as they attempt to rebuild and reimagine the world anew while holding on to the best of what's been lost. A deadly flu wipes out most of humanity and the survives try to cling to hope in the official trailer for Station Eleven , the fort



TL;DR: The Unlimited Lifetime Learning Subscription Bundle is on sale for £112 as of Dec. 3, saving you 91% on list price. Never being bored again isn't about planning more holidays, or going out to dinner more. It's about learning how to feed and entertain your mind, so you don't waste your downtime doomscrolling or feeling left out. If that feeling is all too familiar, make a simple change and



TL;DR: The 2022 Premium Python Programming PCEP Certification Prep Bundle is on sale for £26.30 as of Dec. 3, saving you 98% on list price. Whether you're somewhat familiar with Python programming and want to fine-tune your skills or are just starting out with no prior knowledge, this course bundle can help you advance your career in programming. And for a limited time, it's on sale for just £26.



Porsche’s venture arm has taken a minority stake in 1Komma5, a five-month-old German startup aiming to offer households everything needed for a carbon neutral home, including energy storage, charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and solar. The investment, the amount of which was not disclosed, follows a series of deals made by Porsche Ventures in the past two years, including Israel-based



Apparently over a third of the global population have never used the internet. They're probably happier for it. Anyway, for those of us chained to our screens by the clawing monster of corporate capitalism, here's how to bookmark tweets on Twitter. Introduced in 2018 , Twitter's Bookmarks feature allows users to save tweets they may want to look at again later. Unlike Likes or Retweets, your list



66Gizmodo / 9h
If you’ve decided that you absolutely cannot live without seeing the number of dislikes that videos get on YouTube, there’s now a way to get them back, at least for now. Read more...



Futurism / 10h
If there’s one thing to love about the MacBook, it’s how much stuff you can get done on them. It may not yet be a quantum computer , but whether you’re managing a team, creating art, or working through spreadsheets, a Mac can handle it. But what if there was a way to squeeze even more out of your Mac? Maybe you need a service with hundreds of apps for you to choose from that enhance your producti



Chinese Didi Hong Kong•
The move comes after the company came under intense scrutiny from regulators in the US and China.



Didi Plans New York•
51TechCrunch / 11h
China’s ride-hailing behemoth Didi has begun the procedure of delisting from the New York Stock Exchange and applying to list in Hong Kong instead, the company announced via a Weibo post on Friday morning. The decision came days after Bloomberg reported the Chinese government had asked Didi to delist from the U.S. out of security fears. Didi could not be reached for comment by TechCrunch at the t



Didi Plans New York•
With plenty of its own money and a greater desire to control the private sector, Beijing is pushing its companies to tap investors closer to home.



Futurism / 12h
Are you looking for a drone that the techie in your family will love? Maybe you have a photographer friend, or someone who just loves getting the coolest gadgets? Get them a drone. Drones aren’t just changing the world , they also combine the fun of flying through the air with the utility of a mounted camera. Perfect for beginners who want to get into drone flying, the Fader Stealth Drone quadcop



100+Gizmodo / 12h
Some hacker out there is really taking that whole “ Great Resignation ” thing pretty seriously. According to a new report from Motherboard , “dozens” of companies’ receipt printers are getting spammed with “anti-work” screeds—the likes of which are encouraging employees to tell their bosses to take a hike. Read more...



100+Gizmodo / 12h
Star Wars fans are known for having passionate opinions and Shang-Chi star Simu Liu is no different. On the latest episode of Hot Ones , the new Marvel hero was asked about a photo from his Instagram where he was wearing a red Sith Trooper helmet , which lead to the question of who his favorite Jedi is. The answer is… Read more...

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