Technology

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced that his first paycheck will automatically convert to cryptocurrency, fulfilling a campaign promise. Last year, the mayor pledged to take his first three paychecks in crypto. His salary is slated to be converted to both Bitcoin and Ethereum. In a statement, Mayor Adam said, “New York is the center of the world, and we want it to be the center of cryptocurrency and other financial innovations. Being on the forefront of such innovation will help us create jobs, improve our economy, and continue to be a magnet for talent from all over the globe.” Being that the mayor’s salary is $258,750 USD a year, Adams will be receiving approximately $5,900 USD to the two cryptocurrencies in a biweekly paycheck. This converts to around 0.14 Bitcoin or 1.82 Ether...

SECOM, a Tokyo-based design factory,  has designed a new autonomous security robot named Cocobo focused on maintaining order and harmony in public places. The name “Cocobo” is derived from the idea of cognitive cooperation robots, designed to assist humans in different endeavors. Cocobo measures approximately chest height and has a top speed of 6 km an hour. Built primarily to autonomously patrol public areas such as malls and airports, it can be used to spot suspicious individuals or unattended baggage. A durable build allows Cocobo to travel outdoors in wet and rocky environments as well. Cocobo’s AI system can be granted access to the cloud, feeding it information regarding security systems, camera footage, floor schematics, and elevator access. It’s equipped with a siren, speakers...

While the world has become increasingly interested in Web 3.0, the creator of the Sony Playstation, Ken Kutaragi, recently voiced his disapproval of the metaverse and VR headsets in an interview with Bloomberg. “Being in the real world is very important, but the metaverse is about making quasi-real in the virtual world, and I can’t see the point of doing it,” said Kutaragi. “Headsets would isolate you from the real world, and I can’t agree with that,” he continued. “Headsets are simply annoying.” “You would rather be a polished avatar instead of your real self? That’s essentially no different from anonymous message board sites,” Kutaragi added. To Kutaragi, technology should be about unifying the real and digital worlds, and he believes the metaverse seen through VR goggles would be counte...

For the launch of Samsung’s next flagship smartphones — the Galaxy S22, S22 Plus, and S22 Ultra, we think — the Korean electronics giant will once again let you signal your intent to buy its phones before they’re even announced, much less go on sale. So if you’re the kind of person who absolutely needs the new Samsung handset before anyone else (except influencers, journalists, and the like), you’ll want to check out Samsung.com tomorrow morning at 7AM PT / 10AM ET when the unannounced phones will be up for reservation. If it’s anything like previous occasions, you won’t need to plunk down a virtual wad of cash just yet — you’re simply reserving a slot to order the phone later, typically after the company’s actual smartphone keynote (coming February, the company just confirmed) ends. Like ...

Netflix investors have been worried that the company isn’t adding subscribers fast enough — and today, they started to panic. After Netflix reported lower than projected subscriber additions for the final quarter of 2021, its stock plummeted nearly 20 percent. The plunge was the lowest the stock had dropped since June of 2020, CNBC noted. Last quarter, Netflix had forecasted that it would report 222.06 million paid subscriptions by the end of last year. Instead, the company reported Thursday that it ended the fourth quarter with 221.84 paid memberships. “Acquisition growth has not yet re-accelerated to pre-Covid levels” It’s a small difference, but investors have been worried about Netflix — already one of the biggest streaming companies out there — being able to find new ways to keep grow...

The Internal Revenue Service will require people who access and pay their taxes online to enroll in a third-party facial recognition company starting this summer (h/t Krebs on Security). Even those who have already registered on IRS.gov with a username and password will have to provide a government ID, a copy of a utility bill, and a selfie to ID.me, the Virginia-based identity verification company. You’ll take a video selfie with whatever webcam or mobile device you’re using to sign up, which seems likely to cause problems for people with older hardware or who don’t have access to one. According to the IRS, ID.me is a “trusted technology provider” of identity verification services. Anyone who already has an ID.me account from another government agency can sign in with those credentials. B...

On Thursday, members of Congress debated how to make cryptocurrencies greener, as energy-intensive bitcoin mining booms in the US. One of the biggest questions was whether to use renewables to power the energy-hungry mining at the heart of bitcoin’s blockchain, or turn to other blockchains that don’t need as much energy in the first place. The debate took place during an oversight hearing on the “energy impacts of cryptocurrency” held by the House Energy & Commerce Committee. The US became the de facto epicenter for bitcoin mining last year, after China clamped down on mining within its borders — in part because of how much energy bitcoin uses. That transition could have big implications for the already strained power grid in the US, as well as the Biden administration’s ability to mee...

Mark Zuckerberg and Meta might just be the next tech company to jump on the ever-growing NFT trend. The Financial Times recently reported that Meta has been working on various ways to allow Facebook and Instagram to display, create and sell NFTs, specifically utilizing the tech company’s Novi wallet. Sources have also indicated that Meta is testing different ways to showcase NFTs in its own marketplace that would allow users to buy and sell these digital collectibles. While there has not been any confirmation about its ventures into NFT, back in December 2021 Instagram’s Adam Mosseri has said that the company is “actively exploring” the digital collectibles world. It remains to be seen when Meta will launch an NFT-driven platform within Instagram and Facebook. In case you missed it, Google...

Though Legendary’s Godzilla vs. Kong made waves last summer by debuting on HBO Max and quickly becoming one of the platform’s top performing features, the next time we see the titanic monster and his fellow kaiju, they’ll be calling new streamer home: Apple Plus. On Thursday, Apple Plus announced that it has greenlit a new live-action series set in Legendary’s Monsterverse from co-creators Chris Black (Star Trek: Enterprise) and Matt Fraction, writer of Marvel’s Hawkeye run that the recent Disney Plus series heavily draws from. Along with Black and Fraction, Toho’s Hiro Matsuoka and Takemasa Arita and Safe House Pictures’ Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell are set to executive produce. Legendary’s Monsterverse logo.Legendary Set after the events of Godzilla vs. Kong, the new untitled series is s...

Hold on to your jumpsuits — Netflix’s wildly popular Squid Game series has been confirmed by the company for a second season. During its fourth-quarter earnings call Thursday, Netflix’s co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos confirmed that the Korean miniseries is returning. Asked by Nidhi Gupta of Fidelity Management and Research whether the viewers would get a second season of Netflix’s most popular series ever, Sarados said there’s more grisly action to come. “Absolutely,” he responded. “The Squid Game universe has just begun.” Previously, Hwang Dong-hyuk confirmed that the series would return, adding that he was in the “planning process.” Sarandos didn’t elaborate on when the series will return, or what an expanded Squid Game universe would look like. But if the series gets the ...

TikTok confirmed Thursday that it is testing support for paid subscriptions, paving the way for creators on the short form video platform to charge for their content. First reported by The Information, the company didn’t share details about when it might roll out to creators, how many creators are currently testing it, or what the pay structure might look like. Company spokesman Zachary Kizer said in an email to The Verge that the subscriptions were a “concept that’s been in testing,” and that it was “always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience,” (whatever that means). If adopted, it would be the latest move by TikTok to help its creators monetize their content; it introduced its Creator Next hub with monetization tools, and rolled out it...