Technology

Toyota is charging drivers for the convenience of using their key fobs to remotely start their cars. According to a report from The Drive, Toyota models 2018 or newer will need a subscription in order for the key fob to support remote start functionality. As The Drive notes, buyers are given the option to choose from an array of Connected Services when purchasing a new Toyota, and one of those services — called Remote Connect — just so happens to include the ability to remotely start your car with your key fob. The key fob’s remote start functionality is tied to the audio package that comes with the car Buyers are offered a free trial of Remote Connect, but the length of that trial depends on the audio package that’s included with the vehicle. Even more confusingly, only some Toyota models...

Long-time Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace is leaving the network to join CNN’s upcoming streaming service, CNN Plus, as noted in a press release from CNN. The new show will be available when its streaming platform launches in 2022 The 18-year Fox News veteran announced his departure during his final Fox News Sunday, stating that he “wants to try something new.” Sources close to the situation told CNN that Wallace’s long-term contract with Fox was expiring this year, and he wasn’t looking to renew it. Shortly after Wallace’s announcement, CNN revealed that Wallace will be hosting a weekday show on CNN Plus that features interviews with figures from the world of politics, sports, business, and culture. The new show will be available when its streaming platform launches in 2022, serving as...

Samsung has filed a patent for a two-part Galaxy Watch display that users will be able to extend to create more screen space, according to documents filed in June with the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) that were first spotted by Dutch blog LetsGoDigital. At first glance, the watch design appears like a typical round-faced timepiece; however, by pressing the crown, the wearer will be able to extend the screen into an oval shape that appears roughly 40% larger. In addition to standard time-telling and information displays, Samsung appears to believe its rollable watch design will become an appropriate interface for consuming visual media. In one drawing, a user appears to be watching Marvel‘s Thor on the new watch design, according to The Verge. The new design is a...

A second Tesla employee within one month has filed a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment at the workplace, according to reports by Reuters and Business Insider. Erica Cloud, an assembly line worker at Tesla, filed a lawsuit in California’s Alameda County Superior Court, claiming that she experienced “continuous and pervasive” sexual harassment in the factory where she worked. Cloud’s managers are allegedly retaliating against her As noted by Reuters, Cloud’s lawsuit alleges that her manager hugged and massaged her, and claims that she was also subject to her manager’s vulgar and sexual remarks. It also accuses Tesla of not doing enough to address possible sexual harassment in the workplace. Cloud’s managers are allegedly retaliating against her after she brought up the issue to human resour...

Sony’s new WF-C500 true wireless earbuds have an appealing price of $99.99 and come with a sleeker, more traditional design than the WF-XB700 buds that they’re replacing. Aside from the reined-in looks, they improve upon that model by adding support for Sony’s Headphones Connect app, which allows you to customize the EQ to your liking. The WF-XB700s had the company’s “Extra Bass” branding, but Sony has done away with that this time for a sound that’s much more balanced out of the box. Battery life has also improved slightly to an impressive 10 hours of continuous playback, and the C500s offer easy-to-use controls with large buttons on each earbud. But to hit that penny-shy-of-$100 price, Sony left out some major features like noise cancellation, a transparency mode, wireless charging, and ...

You only have to look at the negative response to Ubisoft’s NFT gaming announcement and the number of people chortling along with Keanu Reeves to confirm that reactions to non-fungible tokens range from disbelief to outright dislike. However, that hasn’t stopped DraftKings and the NFL Player’s Association from signing a new deal for a “gamified NFT collaboration.” The sports betting company plans to launch its collections during the 2022 – 2023 season. As far as how the operation will work, the details are scarce. The press release describes a combination that sounds similar to the NBA Top Shot / NFL All Day model with buying and trading, plus the ability for registered owners of NFTs to use their collectibles like many trading card-based games. Initial anticipated features of DraftK...

Microsoft Teams has rolled out a fix for the dangerous bug that could prevent Android users from calling 911 — and you’ll want to install it ASAP (via Android Police). In his analysis of the issue on Medium, Mishaal Rahman, the senior technical editor at Esper, explains that Microsoft has corrected the issue in an update for the Teams app. If you didn’t end up uninstalling Teams, make sure to update it as soon as you can A user on Reddit initially discovered the bug when trying to call 911 from their Pixel 3, prompting an explanation from Google. The company said that the issue is triggered by an “unintended interaction” between the Android operating system and the Teams app. It only affects users with devices running Android 10 or later, and who have the Teams app installed but aren’t sig...

Echo smart speakers and smart displays have a handy feature that can show and tell you when there’s a package sitting on your doorstep and even what’s in it. While this can be helpful most of the time, around the holidays it could seriously ruin some surprises. Avoid making any Grinch-like moves this holiday and manage your Amazon shopping notifications in the Alexa app to help keep the magic alive. Alongside options for tailoring package announcements, the notifications section of the app also has a number of settings you can toggle on or off to help make the voice assistant a little more helpful when it comes to purchases you make on Amazon. Below are a few of the most useful that you might want to tweak this holiday season. How to turn off package notifications on Alexa Open the Alexa a...

Halo Infinite is getting Slayer, Free-For-All (FFA), Tactical Slayer (SWAT), and Fiesta playlists, according to a Reddit post from u/ske7ch343, otherwise known as 343 Industries’ community director Brian Jarrard (via Windows Central). Jarrard confirmed that the four playlists are coming to the game via an update on December 14th. 343 Industries previously said that Fiesta, SWAT, and FFA playlists would be coming to the game by the end of the year, while a Social Slayer playlist wouldn’t arrive until sometime in 2022. In his post, Jarrard acknowledges that developers promised a Social Slayer playlist with “a variety of new variants.” But since this wouldn’t get done before the holidays, 343 has decided to launch a basic Slayer playlist first, and will “look to bolster and expand with more v...

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced on Friday that it will now recognize individuals who reach space on its website instead of issuing Commercial Space Astronaut Wings. “The U.S. commercial human spaceflight industry has come a long way from conducting test flights to launching paying customers into space,” FAA Associate Administrator Wayne Monteith said in a statement. “The Astronaut Wings program, created in 2004, served its original purpose to bring additional attention to this exciting endeavor. Now it’s time to offer recognition to a larger group of adventurers daring to go to space.” The FAA anticipates that the commercial human spaceflight industry will continue to grow in the coming years, reducing the feasibility of handing out individual wings. Before the program ...