Technology

Paramount Plus is grabbing back its Star Trek: Discovery series from Netflix, where it’s been streaming to international viewers for three seasons. The series lived on Paramount Plus (fka CBS All Access) for US viewers and on Canada’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel, but the move will bring old and future seasons of the series under a single streaming umbrella for folks outside of those regions. Season 4 of Discovery had previously been set to debut on Paramount Plus in the US, CTV Sci-Fi Channel, and on Netflix elsewhere on November 18th. The show will leave Netflix at 12AM PT in regions where it had previously been available to stream. (It will remain on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and stream on the Crave in Canada.) All seasons of the show will become available to international viewers in 2022, ...

The Biden administration’s effort to blanket the country in half a million new EV chargers in the next half-decade got $7.5 billion in funding Monday when the president signed the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill into law. But while those chargers will be necessary as electric vehicle sales continue to climb, Biden’s plan will require institutional — and personal — patience. Not only will it simply take a while to build out that many chargers, but the majority of what gets built will likely be of the “Level 2” variety, which can replenish about 25 miles of battery capacity per hour. That means EV buyers in the US will have to get used to the idea of sipping energy while they’re out and about and doing most of their charging at home. “The use case we think will be the most frequent is you’...

After announcing last month that it will begin to shift the way it ranks its top titles, Netflix today is launching a new website where it will share those metrics every week. During its earnings call in October, the company said it would shift away from its longtime two-minute viewing time metric to instead rank titles by total number of hours viewed. The new weekly Top 10 hub will update every Tuesday with lists of its top films and series in the following categories: Films (English), Films (Non-English), TV (English), and TV (Non-English). Each list will display the number of hours each top-ranking TV show or movie was watched. Image: Netflix Each list will track the success of Netflix content during the prior Monday through Sunday period before being published Tuesday. According to the...

Hours after The Wall Street Journal published a shocking report alleging Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick was aware of sexual misconduct allegations at the company, the company’s board of directors posted a statement voicing its support of the CEO. The board’s language shows no indication that Kotick is in danger of losing his job. “The Board remains confident in Bobby Kotick’s leadership, commitment and ability to achieve these goals,” the statement concludes. Here is the board of directors’ statement in full: The Activision Blizzard Board remains committed to the goal of making Activision Blizzard the most welcoming and inclusive company in the industry. Under Bobby Kotick’s leadership the Company is already implementing industry leading changes including a zero tolerance harassment ...

Brave has announced that its web browser now includes a native cryptocurrency wallet, replacing the previous one that was based on the MetaMask wallet extension. With it, most users should have their blockchain needs covered (depending on what blockchain they use, more on that in a second): they’ll be able to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, store their NFTs, keep track of how much coins are selling for, and experience the magic of Web3, or websites that have built-in blockchain features. Brave also says that its built-in wallet will take up fewer CPU resources compared to extension-based ones (like the aforementioned MetaMask) and be less susceptible to phishing or attempts to steal NFTs. The wallet seems to work mainly with the Ethereum or Ethereum-based blockchains (...

The Epos H3Pro Hybrid is a wireless gaming headset with several perks and just a few easily dismissed flaws. It offers good sound quality, active noise cancellation (ANC), and a lightweight, comfortable fit (even for larger head sizes) suitable for long gameplay sessions. All of those assets are tough to find in one headset, and I won’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone who can afford to drop $279 on a gaming headset. Compared to other popular options, that’s a lot of money. But as it turns out, buying the H3Pro Hybrid is easier to justify because it doubles as a set of equally good wireless Bluetooth headphones. In the interest of not getting called out for wearing a gaming headset in public, this headset’s magnetically attached lift-to-mute boom microphone can be yanked off, converting ...

In late 2019, Riot revealed a new publishing label designed to give indie studios the chance to play around in the vast League of Legends universe — and today, the first two Forge games are finally releasing. That includes Hextech Mayhem, a rhythm platformer from Bit.Trip developer Choice Provisions, which is out on the Switch and PC, with a version also coming to Netflix Games in the future. Joining it is Ruined King, a turn-based role-playing game from Airship Syndicate, which was previously revealed in 2019. It’s launching first on the PC, Switch, PS4, and Xbox One, with next-gen versions for PlayStation and Xbox also on the way. [embedded content] [embedded content] Outside of those two games, Riot revealed a new title called Song of Nunu from Rime developer Tequila Works. It’s describ...

Ohio is suing Facebook’s parent company, Meta, claiming the social media platform misled the public about the effects its products have on children. The lawsuit, filed November 12th on behalf of the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS), is seeking more than $100 billion in damages. The suit alleges that between April 29th and October 21st, Facebook and top executives violated federal securities law when they intentionally misled the public and deceived shareholders about how its products can negatively affect children. “Facebook said it was looking out for our children and weeding out online trolls, but in reality was creating misery and divisiveness for profit,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a statement Monday. He added that when the Wall Street Journal began publishi...

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Japanese design company Balmuda today announced its first smartphone at a press event in Tokyo. The straightforwardly titled Balmuda Phone is the debut product from Balmuda Technologies, a new division of the company previously known for stylish, premium home appliances like air purifiers and rice cookers. Balmuda’s toaster in particular has a cult following in Japan. As you’d expect, the Balmuda Phone is quite a bit different to other phones on the market. CEO Gen Terao said on stage that he felt that smartphones have gotten too big and unwieldy in recent years, so the Balmuda Phone was designed with compactness and elegance as the primary goals. It has a very sharp 4.9-inch 16:9 1080p display and is roughly comparable to a 4.7-inch iPhone SE; the display is slightly bigger and the phone ...