Category: Technology

Those firing up Airbnb to look for a short-term rental in New York City right now may find the pickings a bit slim. Officials in the city have started enforcing new regulations mandating that hosts will have to file a registration application — and meet a set of requirements — to be able to rent homes to guests for less than 30 days. Hosts can only rent out homes for short-term stays if they’re also staying there, and only two guests are allowed at a time. These requirements are part of old and existing rules on rentals, however, and only the Short-Term Rental Registration Law itself is new.

NYC’s Office of Special Enforcement said on its website that on September 5, it started collaborating with booking platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo to ensure that they’re honoring the city’s verification system. These companies will now have to check whether hosts listing their homes for stays less than 30 days have been approved by authorities. According to The New York Times, only 257 application registrations have been approved so far out of the 3,250 that were lodged as of August 28. That would mean thousands of listings could be removed from Airbnb, seeing as the company estimates that almost 15,000 hosts had short-term rental listings across NYC as recent as last month. 

Airbnb called the law a “de facto ban” on short-term rentals and filed a lawsuit, which was dismissed last month, to try and block its enforcement. Theo Yedinsky, the company’s global policy director, said the rules “are a blow to [NYC’s] tourism economy” and that “[t]he city is sending a clear message to millions of potential visitors who will now have fewer accommodation options when they visit New York City: you are not welcome.” 

The city’s authorities argued that enforcing the new law would help prevent housing “being lost to the practice of illegal” short-term rentals. Hosts renting out homes for short periods contributes to the housing shortage, they said, and makes it more expensive to live in the city as a result. 

Airbnb told The Times and CNN that reservations with a check-in on or before December 1 will not be cancelled, but the company will refund the fees it received related to those stays to comply with the new rules. Meanwhile, all bookings starting on December 2 will be cancelled, and guests will be refunded. In addition, hosts will find their listings converted to long-term rentals only if they allow bookings of 30 days or more on the platform. All listings that only allow short-term bookings will be deactivated. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nycs-de-facto-ban-on-airbnb-is-already-removing-listings-105213899.html?src=rss 

Google has tentatively settled with the alliance of attorneys general that filed a lawsuit in 2021 alleging the search giant abused its dominance on Android app distribution through the Google Play store. Officials claimed Google was leveraging “its monopoly power with Android to unlawfully maintain its monopoly,” saying that 90 percent of all app sales took place through Google Play. Bloomberg reports that the matter has been referred to a judge who, if happy, can confirm the settlement and cancel the pending courtroom battle. It’s a smart move on Google’s part as it has faced a number of antitrust lawsuits over its dominance and power in recent years, with outcomes including a €4.3 billion ($4.6 billion) fine and threats to break up its advertising business.

Not everyone is pleased about the latest deal, with Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney tweeting Epic isn’t included in the settlement. The games developer sued Google in 2020, alleging the latter had made deals with other big games publisher to box out rival app stores. Sweeney is also, as usual, grumbling about other stores asking a cut of each transaction to pay for the running costs of those stores.

Epic’s trial against Google is set for November 6th, but Sweeney tweeted: “If Google is ending its payments monopoly without imposing a Google Tax on third party transactions, we’ll settle and be Google’s friend in their new era. But if the settlement merely pays off the other plaintiffs while leaving the Google Tax in place, we’ll fight on. Consumers only benefit if antitrust enforcement not only opens up markets, but also restores price competition.” The exact amount Google must pay and any necessary changes required have yet to be disclosed, but could be made public at an October 12th hearing.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-tenatively-settles-with-us-antitrust-probe-into-play-store-dominance-101450315.html?src=rss 

With yet another self-own (intentional or otherwise), Google has revealed its upcoming Pixel 8 Pro again, putting it into a special pantheon of leaked phones that includes, well, every otherPixelmodel. This time, the leak comes via Google’s own 360-degree simulator that lets you see the device from every angle, with little yellow dots showing different sensors and ports. It not only confirms features like a new temperature sensor and physical SIM slot, but also three of the available colors. 

The simulator (since shut down), was originally noticed by X user José Rubén, and others then posted their own images taken from the tool, as The Verge reported. It reveals blue, porcelain and black colors, along with a home screen that looks similar to the previous Pixel 7 Pro. It also shows a SIM card slot and confirms the temperature sensor we saw in an earlier leak.  

It doesn’t list any specs, but we already have a pretty good idea about those thanks to (yes) past leaks. The Pixel 8 Pro’s camera array should include a 50-megapixel main camera that lets in 50 percent more light and a 64-megapixel ultrawide Sony camera. It’s also rumored to have a flat display instead of curved ones similar to the Pixel 6 Pro’s and Pixel 7 Pro’s. In addition, it’s expected to come with a 5,000 mAh battery and a 27W max charging speed.

The Pixel 8 Pro should be revealed at Google’s next launch event, set for October 4 at 10AM ET — the leaks come just ahead of the iPhone 15 launch on September 12th, surely a coincidence. On top of the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, we may see the Pixel Watch 2 and other hardware. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/googles-latest-pixel-8-pro-leak-shows-temperature-sensor-colors-and-more-093055198.html?src=rss 

Logitech’s original Pebbles are reliable, affordable and portable — all the things you want in a simple computer accessory (and some of the reasons the Logitech Pebble M350 is a great productivity mouse). Now, Logitech has announced the Pebble 2 collection, featuring the Pebble Mouse 2 M350 and Pebble Keys 2 K380.

One of the biggest changes for the Logitech Pebble 2 collection is its more environmentally friendly production. According to the accessories maker, its new keyboard, the Pebble Keys 2 K380s is made of a minimum of 49 percent recycled plastic, while the Pebble Mouse 2 M350s is built of at least 58 percent recycled plastic. However, these figures only look at the products themselves and exclude the packaging and printed wiring assembly.

The second-generation iteration of the M350 also includes a customizable middle button that you can set to do anything from sending an emoji to bringing you to a favorite app — with the Keys 2 K380 including similar shortcuts. Logitech claims its keyboard is on the quieter side, so if you like hearing that strong click-clack as you go, this might not be the one for you. Pebble 2 Combos are available as general add-ons or specifically for Mac users if you want to refresh your whole setup.

Logitech emphasizes that its five color options (shades of blue, white, rose, graphite and sand) “defy boring.” To further drive home this point, the company even made a Spotify playlist of the same name with bumpy songs like Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa — do with that what you will.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/logitechs-pebble-2-keyboard-and-mouse-use-more-recycled-plastic-070155370.html?src=rss 

You can enjoy Disney’s subscription service for a fraction of its usual price if you haven’t tried it before or if you haven’t been paying for it for quite some time. Starting today until September 20, a Disney+ Basic subscription will cost only cost you $2 a month for three months if you’re a new or returning subscriber in the US. The ad-supported tier would typically cost you $8 a month, so that’s $18 in savings if you’ve been thinking of finally signing up or resubscribing for any of the service’s upcoming releases. 

The company launched an ad-supported plan for its streaming service back in December 2022. It hasn’t raised prices for this tier since it became available, but the ad-free options had a price hike twice over the past year. An ad-free premium tier subscription will set you back $14 starting on October 12. This promo could give you an idea whether you’re ready to commit to paying that much for the service every month, or if you could endure the ads Disney+ serves and stick to the basic option.

Of course, a subscription to Disney+ means getting access to its latest show and movie releases. Star Wars: Ahsoka dropped on August 23, while the live action reimagining of The Little Mermaid and the second season of I Am Groot are now also available. In addition, Disney and Pixar’s film Elemental will be available for streaming on September 13.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/disney-is-tempting-new-and-returning-subscribers-with-a-2-per-month-teaser-offer-073004980.html?src=rss 

TikTok has started migrating its European users’ data to its long-promised center in Ireland. The video-focused social network has announced that its Ireland data center is finally operational as part of its larger progress update for Project Clover. TikTok announced the data privacy and security initiative back in March shortly after the European Commission banned staff members from using its app on work devices. As TechCrunch notes, though, the service revealed that it was putting up a data center in Ireland way back in 2020, with the expectation that it was going to be operational by early 2022.

Now that TikTok was able to overcome the issues that caused delays to the center’s launch, it has started data migration, which likely won’t be finished until the fourth quarter of 2024. Meanwhile, a second center in Ireland and another Norway are also under construction. The video hosting service has been under intense scrutiny over the past few years, and these are part of its efforts to get authorities to trust the app. In 2022, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance confirmed that some of its employees, whom it eventually fired, accessed the data of several users in the US, including journalists. The revelation came in the midst of state governments banning TikTok from government-owned devices.

In addition to announcing the beginning of data migration, TikTok has also revealed that it has secured the services of a company called the NCC Group. The information assurance firm based in the UK will audit its data controls and protections, monitor its data flows, provide independent verification and report any incidents if needed. TikTok says the company will monitor data coming in and out of the center so it can ensure that only approved employees can access users’ sensitive information. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-starts-migrating-european-users-data-to-its-first-local-data-center-055931632.html?src=rss 

Spotify is experimenting with the offerings of its Premium service. Over the last few days, several Spotify users on the free tier noticed they no longer had access to in-app lyrics. Instead, they were greeted by a notification bubble saying, “Enjoy lyrics on Spotify Premium,” along with a link to sign up. Spotify says putting the in-app lyrics behind a paywall is just a part of its routine testing.

“At Spotify, we routinely conduct a number of tests, some of those tests end up paving the way for our broader user experience and others serve only as an important learning,”

Spotify’s co-head of global communications, CJ Stanley, told The Verge. “We don’t have any further news to share at this time.” It’s possible Spotify could remove the paywall and make in-app lyrics available to all users again, but there is currently no timeline for that.

This test comes at a time when Spotify has laid off employees from its podcast division, which the company poured quite a bit of money into in recent years. And despite raising its prices and actively working to grow its paid subscribers, it’s still losing significant amounts of money. Spotify’s decision to experiment with the possibility of making lyrics a Premium feature shows that the company is searching for ways to get users to pay for a subscription. However, this might not be the best way to do so as some users who have noticed the change are not happy about it.

In-app lyrics was one of Spotify’s most requested features and the company began testing in 2019. In 2021, Spotify officially rolled out the feature, which allowed users to see and sing along to the words of their favorite tracks. This was available to all users — on both free and Premium versions and on all platforms. While charging for a previously free feature will always bring about some negative feedback as people adjust, some users believe this move would be discriminatory to people with disabilities.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/spotify-puts-publicly-available-lyrics-behind-a-premium-paywall-in-routine-test-212735457.html?src=rss