Your carrier can send requests to your smartphone to obtain your exact location, and you can’t do anything about it. Thankfully, this might change soon.
TalkAndroid
No matter what type of smartphone you’re using, we can help you avoid all of those pesky robo and sales calls. Here’s how to block a number on any smartphone.
Digital Trends
Elon Musk isn’t quite done making major changes to X. The platform’s owner and chief technical officer says the service formerly known as Twitter is getting rid of the option to block other users, except for when it comes to DMs. Musk, who has previously signaled his desire to remove the feature, suggested it “makes no sense” to block other users instead of muting them. The mute option will still be available.
Many people use the block feature to protect themselves from harassment. It’s long been a key safety feature of the platform and nixing it opens the door to users perhaps seeing more hateful content they don’t want to deal with in their feeds and notifications. Moreover, as CNBC points out, some users block advertisers and brands they don’t want to see, which (were enough people to do that) could have a notable impact on X’s bottom line.
It makes no sense
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 18, 2023
In the spring, X killed off the platform’s free API, which broke many third-party apps. Just one year earlier, Twitter (as it was known at the time) started recommending third-party apps for people to use to mitigate harassment on the platform. One of those tools, Block Party, has since abandoned Twitter in the wake of the API changes.
On a related note, soon after Musk posted about the plan to remove the block function, rival service Blueskywent down. It may be that more X users are looking for a life raft as the platform becomes less palatable for them.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sorry-you-wont-be-able-to-block-elon-musk-or-anyone-else-on-x-184331733.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Twitch announced this week that an upcoming change will allow streamers to block banned users from tuning into their streams. “You can choose to have your banned chatters no longer be able to watch the stream,” Senior Product Manager Trevor Fisher revealed on Twitch’s Patch Notes podcast (viaTechCrunch), stressing that the feature won’t be enabled by default. The new blocking feature will roll out in the next few weeks.
“The way that it will work is if you ban somebody and they’re currently watching, then the stream playback will be interrupted for them so that they immediately lose the ability to view the stream,” he explained. “And then if you go offline, you stream again, they won’t be able to watch your subsequent streams either until you choose to un-ban them.” He said it would have the same effect regardless of whether the streamer or a moderator bans someone: That person can’t watch your streams until they’re unblocked.
One significant limitation to the new feature is that it only applies to logged-in users: Anyone viewing a stream while logged out of their account can still watch it. Twitch isn’t blocking IP addresses (at least for now), which leaves room for the noteworthy exception.
Fisher stressed that this is an incremental change that only partially addresses some of the platform’s moderation problems, including multiple women accusing Twitch streamers of sexual abuse and misconduct. Other moves to address the issue have included adding a one-button anti-harassment tool, enhancing its reporting and appeals process, rewriting its community policies and taking a stronger stance against deepfakes. “We know that this is an area where people want us to do more, and it’s just been shipping off one part of the problem at a time,” Fisher said.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitch-streamers-can-soon-block-banned-accounts-from-tuning-in-195923803.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Back in November, New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) voted to increase the pay rates of Uber and Lyft drivers to make up for the rise in inflation and and operational costs. The new rates were supposed to be implemented on December 19th, but now Uber has sued the commission to block the new rates from taking effect. According to Bloomberg, Uber said in its lawsuit that it would have to spend an additional $ 21 million to $ 23 million a month if the new rates are implemented and that it wouldn't be able to recover those costs without raising fares.
To note, drivers' per-minute rates are going up by 7.4 percent and per-mile rates by 24 percent under the new rules. That means for a 7.5-mile trip that takes 30 minutes, a driver would earn at least $ 27.15, which is $ 2.50 more than current rates. The drivers are also getting another pay bump in March 2023, based on inflation rates comparing December's to September's this year. A company spokesperson told the news publication that by increasing drivers' pay this December, TLC is locking in "this summer's high gas prices in perpetuity." They added that TLC "should have followed its usual annual adjustment and instituted a temporary gas surcharge when gas prices were actually elevated" instead.
The company's lawsuit seems to indicate that it intends to pass the costs associated with drivers' pay increase to riders. "Such a significant fare hike, right before the holidays, would irreparably damage Uber’s reputation, impair goodwill, and risk permanent loss of business and customers," its lawsuit said. In a strongly worded response to the lawsuit, TLC said acknowledged that Uber already charges 37 percent more today compared to 2019, but it said that the company is keeping money earned from fare hikes over the past few years to itself.
The commission's statement reads: "Just in time to steal Christmas from New York families, Uber is suing to stop the raise the TLC enacted for app drivers after months of public hearings, years of stalled wages, and the pandemic decimating incomes. Uber's Grinch move is on top of denying a fuel surcharge to only NYC drivers when costs skyrocketed due to record high inflation, forcing drivers in one of their most profitable markets to choose between groceries and fueling up.
Uber is already charging passengers 37% more today compared to 2019 AND KEEPING IT FOR THEMSELVES but says this modest raise for drivers is what will break the company. Shame on you, Dara Khosrowshahi. We call on the City to stand firm and defend the rights of drivers to labor with dignity. Uber seeks chaos. We seek dignity. We are confident we will prevail."
The ride-hailing giant is now asking the court to declare the new pay rates as invalid and to prevent the first increase's implementation this month while the lawsuit is ongoing.
The Federal Trade Commission has filed an antitrust complaint in a bid to block Microsoft's planned $ 68.7 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard. The FTC started looking into the deal and its potential impact on the video game market soon after it was announced in January. Evidently, the agency was concerned enough to try and pump the brakes on the buyout. The FTC said that, were the deal to go through, it "would enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business."
“Microsoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content from its gaming rivals,” Holly Vedova, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, said in a press release. “Today, we seek to stop Microsoft from gaining control over a leading independent game studio and using it to harm competition in multiple dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets.”
The FTC's commissioners voted in favor of the lawsuit along party lines, with the three Democratic members approving it. The lone Republican Commissioner Christine S. Wilson voted against the suit in a closed-door meeting.
"The FTC pointed to Microsoft’s record of acquiring and using valuable gaming content to suppress competition from rival consoles, including its acquisition of ZeniMax, parent company of Bethesda Softworks (a well-known game developer)," the agency said in a press release. "Microsoft decided to make several of Bethesda's titles including Starfield and Redfall Microsoft exclusives despite assurances it had given to European antitrust authorities that it had no incentive to withhold games from rival consoles."
While the lawsuit doesn't necessarily kill the deal, it's unlikely to be resolved by July, as Politico, which had reported that an FTC bid to block the merger was likely, recently noted. That was the deadline Microsoft and Activision set for closing the deal. If the acquisition hasn't closed by then, the companies will have to renegotiate the agreement or even walk away from the merger. Regulators in other jurisdictions have been taking a close look at the deal, including in the UK and the European Union (which should complete its investigation by late March).
Sony is the merger's most prominent opponent. It has expressed concern that Microsoft would make games such as Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox platforms, which could cost Sony hundreds of millions of dollars a year. However, Microsoft has said it wants to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation and it claims to have offered Sony a 10-year agreement to that effect.
Just ahead of the FTC's vote, Microsoft said it struck a deal with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty games to the company's systems if the merger closes. Call of Duty will also remain on Steam as part of a separate pact with Valve.
Microsoft and Activision have been downplaying the significance of the deal in an attempt to appease regulators and push it through. For one thing, Microsoft has claimed that Sony has more exclusive games, "many of which are better quality," in a filing with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). It also said Activision Blizzard doesn't have any "must-have" games, despite having some of the most popular titles in the world (including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Overwatch 2 and World of Warcraft) under its umbrella.
The FTC refuted those suggestions in its complaint. The agency claimed that Activision is "one of only a very small number of top video game developers in the world that create and publish high-quality video games for multiple devices." It noted that between franchises such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch, Activision has more than 154 million monthly active users.
Microsoft has suggested that the acquisition the deal is more about gaining a foothold in the mobile gaming market, where Activision's King division is a major player. For instance, Candy Crush Saga has had more than 3 billion downloads.
Ultimately, the FTC believes that the merger would likely harm competition in the video game market. "With control over Activision’s blockbuster franchises, Microsoft would have both the means and motive to harm competition by manipulating Activision’s pricing, degrading Activision’s game quality or player experience on rival consoles and gaming services, changing the terms and timing of access to Activision’s content, or withholding content from competitors entirely, resulting in harm to consumers," the agency said.
Noting that the FTC is suing to block the merger, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick wrote in a note to employees that "This sounds alarming, so I want to reinforce my confidence that this deal will close. The allegation that this deal is anti-competitive doesn't align with the facts, and we believe we’ll win this challenge."
Kotick added that "a combined Microsoft-[Activision Blizzard King] will be good for players, good for employees, good for competition and good for the industry. Our players want choice, and this gives them exactly that."
"We continue to believe that our deal to acquire Activision Blizzard will expand competition and create more opportunities for gamers and game developers," Microsoft president Brad Smith wrote on Twitter. "We have been committed since Day One to addressing competition concerns, including by offering earlier this week proposed concessions to the FTC. While we believe in giving peace a chance, we have complete confidence in our case and welcome the opportunity to present it in court."
We have been committed since Day One to addressing competition concerns, including by offering earlier this week proposed concessions to the FTC. While we believe in giving peace a chance, we have complete confidence in our case and welcome the opportunity to present it in court.
— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) December 8, 2022
Update 12/8 2:58PM ET: Added comments from Bobby Kotick and Brad Smith.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to blocking people on WhatsApp for iOS and Android, plus what to do if you change your mind and want to re-establish communications.
Digital Trends
Ads have become a part of our everyday life, and are nearly inescapable. But it doesn’t need to be like this and there are ways to minimize your exposure to them. Today we are looking at solutions you can employ to rid your phone of cumbersome ads, particularly ones that are particularly invasive to your […]
Come comment on this article: [Guide] 4 ways to block ads on your Android phone or tablet
Facebook users in Australia could lose their ability to share news on the social network, the company is warning. The threat is the result of a proposed law from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that would require Facebook an…
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Eero is a pretty powerful mesh network system that was recently scooped up by Amazon. So far we haven’t seen any drastic changes in Eero’s software or hardware, with the router sticking to its premium price point. But one thing that made Eero unique was its Eero Plus subscription, which runs $ 9.99 per month and […]
Come comment on this article: Eero will now block ads on your home network for just $ 2.99 per month
T-Mobile and AT&T are probably two of the unlikeliest partners to team up for literally anything, but we’re about to see what it’s like anyway. It’s not like they’re partnering together for anything really business-related, anyway, and it’s got nothing to do with mergers between the two of them or any other carrier this time. […]
Come comment on this article: AT&T and T-Mobile announce joint effort to block more robocalls to your phone
AT&T is making quick use of FCC rules explicitly allowing carriers to block robocalls by default. The network will start automatically blocking fraud calls (and issuing suspected spam call alerts) for new phone customers as a matter course, at n…
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Browsing the internet is excellent until you happen across a site with intrusive adverts that hog the resources on your device, causing the page to either load at a snail’s pace and sometimes even completely fail to load. Google is reportedly on the case, though, with a new feature called “Heavy Ad Intervention” that may […]
Come comment on this article: The next version of Chrome could block resource-hogging ads
It’s not much of a surprise that Sony’s mobile division has never done very well relative to the rest of the industry, and it’s been a rumor for quite some time that the company will drop out of the smartphone game entirely. The move would make sense, especially considering it has recently been losing more […]
Come comment on this article: Sony’s mobile division might be on the chopping block
If you're looking to keep certain content from ever appearing on your Facebook wall, there might be a feature in the pipeline for you. Computer science student Jane Manchun Wong discovered code on Facebook that appears to show the company is testing…
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Bragi isn't willing to wait for the court to resolve its dispute over OnePlus' use of the word "Dash." The audio device maker has filed for a preliminary injunction that would block OnePlus from using the Dash name in association with its products w…
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Lime just lost a last-minute bid to delay the launch of San Francisco's electric scooter pilot program. A judge has denied the company's request for a temporary restraining order that would have blocked Skip and Scoot from launching their services i…
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Drones are fun, and building blocks are fun. Why not combine the two? That’s exactly what you get with the DIY Building Block Fly ‘n Drive drone, which combines a remote controlled drone that you’re able to build on top of with your own building blocks, like LEGO. Includes 2.4GHz transmitter for long-range flight control […]
Come comment on this article: [TA Deals] Take 34% off this DIY Building Block Fly ‘n Drive Drone!
California isn't the only state that will openly defy the White House if it rolls back any of the vehicle emission standards set by the Obama administration. The attorneys general of New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington District of Columbia, I…
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Telemarketer or persistent won’t leave you alone? Here’s how to block calls on an Android smartphone, whether you want to do so with native features or mobile apps such as Mr. Number and Extreme Call Blocker.
The post How to block phone calls on your Android phone appeared first on Digital Trends.
A South Carolina Representative proposed a change to the state’s Human Trafficking Prevention Act requiring porn-blocking software to be installed on new, internet-connected devices. Owners will be required to pay a fee to deactivate the block.
The post South Carolina may charge a fee to remove a porn block from new devices appeared first on Digital Trends.
University of Texas at Austin professor Delia Milliron and her team are working on a material that can block 90 percent of near-infrared rays and 80 percent of the sun’s visible light, which should help keep homes cooler.
The post Cooling down the house: A new smart glass could block both heat and light appeared first on Digital Trends.