The No TikTok on Government Devices Act that was introduced by Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) has just crossed a major milestone. Members of the US Senate have unanimously voted to approve the bill, which will ban the TikTok app on all government-owned phones and other devices. Its approval emphasizes authorities’ concerns that the app’s China-based … Read more
In November, as an example of his commitment to free speech, Elon Musk promised that he wouldn’t ban an account that tracked his private jet despite claiming it was a “direct personal safety risk.” Today, that account was suspended. Then restored. Then suspended again. It’s not yet clear what the future holds for @ElonJet, but … Read more
On Monday evening, Bahamian authorities arrested FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried at the request of the US government. The following morning, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of Justice (DOJ) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed formal civil and criminal charges against Bankman-Fried in “parallel actions.” It was a lot to … Read more
New York City Uber drivers won’t get a raise before the holidays after all. On Tuesday evening, a Manhattan Supreme Court justice granted Uber’s request for a temporary restraining order on drivers’ rate hikes scheduled to go into effect on December 19th. New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) voted on the pay raise … Read more
Two years after Super Nintendo World’s opening in Osaka, Japan, its first American counterpart will arrive at Universal Studios Hollywood. Like the Japanese version, Hollywood’s Super Nintendo World is less of a self-contained theme park and more of a new area at Universal Studios. Roughly coinciding with the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, … Read more
Epic Games is shutting down “out-of-date online services” and servers for several of its older games, including multiple Rock Band and Unreal titles, starting today. The company notes that most affected games will still be available offline, but others will no longer work. It says the move is part of a shift that will only … Read more
US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Roger Marshall have introduced a bipartisan bill designed to crack down on illegal uses of cryptocurrency. If passed, The Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act would extend aspects of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), a Nixon-era law Congress passed to combat money laundering, to cover crypto entities such as wallet providers … Read more
The push to recycle electric vehicle batteries just gained some momentum. Redwood Materials has unveiled plans to build an EV battery recycling plant on the outskirts of Charleston, South Carolina. The roughly 600-acre facility (previewed in a render above) will break “end-of-life” batteries down to their raw metals and rebuild them as the anodes and … Read more
Apple’s recent flurry of software updates also includes a big upgrade for the living room. The newly released tvOS 16.2 adds a Recognize My Voice feature that customizes Siri searches on the Apple TV 4K and TV HD for up to six family members. Once you’ve trained the set-top to know who’s speaking, you can … Read more
When Amazon first introduced Alexa and the Echo speaker years ago, the idea of talking to a digital assistant wasn’t totally novel. Both the iPhone and Android phones had semi-intelligent voice controls — but with the Echo, Amazon took its first step toward making something like Alexa a constant presence in your home. Since then, … Read more