Hyundai announced it will start distributing free CCS to Tesla NACS adapters to its EV customers in the first quarter of 2025. The adapters will enable vehicles such as the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 to connect to “20,000-plus” Tesla Supercharger stations. The free adapter is available to those who purchased or leased their Hyundai EVs on or before January …
Read More »Tech
The FTC orders Marriott and Starwood to beef up their data security
The Federal Trade Commission announced on Friday it finalized an order (pdf) requiring Marriott International and subsidiary Starwood Hotels to improve their digital security, reports BleepingComputer. The FTC charged the companies with lax security practices that resulted in three big breaches detected in 2015, 2018, and 2020, “affecting more than 344 million customers worldwide,” leaking passport details, payment cards, and …
Read More »Halide Mark III is coming with color grades, HDR, and early access for subscribers
Lux Optics has released a loose product roadmap for its next big iPhone photo app, Halide 3.0 (which it’s calling Halide Mark III). After being more forthright than usual in the development of its Kino video app, which was recently awarded iPhone app of the year for 2024 by Apple, Lux is giving the next version of its popular photo …
Read More »Honey’s deal-hunting browser extension is accused of ripping off customers and YouTubers
The PayPal Honey browser extension is, in theory, a handy way to find better deals on products while you’re shopping online. But in a video published this weekend, YouTuber MegaLag claims the extension is a “scam” and that Honey has been “stealing money from influencers, including the very ones they paid to promote their product.” Honey works by popping up …
Read More »Google to court: we’ll change our Apple deal, but please let us keep Chrome
A court found Google liable for unlawfully monopolizing online search, and its remedies are supposed to reset the market, letting rivals fairly compete. Google (obviously) disagrees that it’s running a monopoly, but before it can appeal that underlying conclusion, it’s trying to limit the fallout if it loses. Google’s justification is that search deals were at the heart of the …
Read More »Tech companies want to capture carbon at paper mills and sewage plants
Google, Salesforce, H&M and other brands have turned to unlikely allies to help them clean up their carbon pollution: sewage treatment plants and paper mills. The companies joined an $80 million plan to take CO2 out of the atmosphere, though the strategies they’re using have yet to show whether they can have a meaningful impact on climate change. They’re paying …
Read More »Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024) review: slightly larger, slightly faster, slightly better
Three years have passed since Amazon last updated its flagship e-reader, and while this year’s Kindle lineup seemed focused on Amazon’s first color offering, the Paperwhite still got some welcome improvements. With a higher-contrast screen and snappier performance, the 12th-generation Kindle Paperwhite remains the best e-reader on the market. I tested the $199.99 Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, which is $40 …
Read More »Sony’s WH-1000XM4 headphones are nearly 50 percent off right now
A couple of months ago, we saw the Sony WH-1000XM4 drop to $129.99, which was an absolute steal for the last-gen noise-canceling headphones. That deal predictably sold out in a heartbeat, and there’s no telling whether we’ll see it that low again, but Amazon is selling them in black for $178.20 (about $170 off), which would be an all-time low …
Read More »Walmart sued over illegally opening bank accounts for delivery drivers
The Bureau alleges that for approximately two years starting around June 2021, defendants engaged in unfair, abusive, and deceptive practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, including by requiring Spark Drivers to receive their compensation in Branch Accounts, opening Branch Accounts for Spark Drivers without their informed consent or, in many instances, on an unauthorized basis, …
Read More »The NFL on Netflix: how Netflix took on live TV and built the tech to make it work
Brandon Riegg has spent the better part of a decade trying to make live TV happen at Netflix. He joined the company in 2016, after stints at NBC, ABC, and VH1, where he’d worked on shows like Dancing with the Stars, The Voice, and America’s Got Talent. All those shows were the kind of unscripted reality fare he’d been hired …
Read More »