Texas attorney general Ken Paxton said he’s launching an investigation into GoFundMe following the company’s decision to take down a fundraising effort for an anti-vaccine mandate protest in Canada. Paxton’s Civil Investigative Demand, which comes on the heels of mounting Republican outrage over GoFundMe, will probe…
<img width="1200" height="800" src="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/instaphone-1200×800.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="Instagram on phone" loading="lazy" style="margin: auto;margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%" data-attachment-id="711305" data-permalink="https://www.slashgear.com/instagram-debuts-your-activity-and-security-checkup-to-alleviate-your-privacy-concerns-09711299/instaphone/" data-orig-file="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/instaphone.jpg" data-orig-size="1440,960" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="instaphone" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="
Nopparat Khokthong/Shutterstock
” data-medium-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/instaphone-1080×720.jpg” data-large-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/instaphone-1200×800.jpg” />Coinciding with Safer Internet Day, on February 8, 2022, Instagram rolled out a series of features aimed at making the popular photo and video sharing platform a safer place for its two billion odd active users. The new features include a “Security checkup” option (previously only available for accounts that were hacked) and a completely new section called “Your Activity”. … Continue reading
Spotify isn’t the only streaming service to face a dispute with comedians. Both Puck and The Verge have learned the estates of Robin Williams and George Carlin have sued SiriusXM’s Pandora for allegedly streaming the comedy legends’ jokes without full licenses. The late comedians’ representatives claim Pandora only has the licenses to stream the recordings, not the jokes themselves — and it supposedly doesn’t have “any copyright.”
Williams’ estate wants $4.1 million in damages for copyright infringement, while Carlin’s is seeking $8.4 million. Comedians Andrew Dice Clay, Bill Engvall and Ron White have also made complaints, asserting Pandora hasn’t provided a “fraction of a penny” for their work.
The estates claim Pandora confessed to having improper licenses in SEC filings between 2011 and 2017, predating SiriusXM’s acquisition. In those filings, the service warned investors it couldn’t guarantee the company would avoid “additional licensing costs” from rights groups for spoken-word comedy. Companies frequently include risk alerts like this in filings regardless of their licensing intentions, however.
We’ve asked SiriusXM for comment. Pandora isn’t a stranger to license battles. It paid $90 million in 2015 to settle a fight over allegations it used a loophole to play pre-1972 songs without paying labels, and was sued in 2019 for supposedly displaying lyrics from Rage Against the Machine and Tom Petty without permission. But comedy licensing problems haven’t had a firm test in court, according to Puck, and the outcome of the Pandora case could affect how Spotify and other services pay comedians for their work.
COVID-19 cases are dropping and the nation is moving toward restrictions being lifted — but we’re not there yet, health experts said.
Samsung has a slew of new devices dropping this month, and we got a sneak peek at its three new flagship phones and three tablets ahead of its Galaxy Unpacked event.
If you’ve seen the excellent Ex Machina and Annihilation, you know that any movie coming from writer/director Alex Garland is likely going to be worth watching. While this first trailer for his upcoming film Men doesn’t look like a science fiction story like his previous work, watch it and tell me you don’t believe…
Democratic lawmakers are ratcheting up efforts to limit the federal government’s work with notorious surveillance firm Clearview AI. In a series of letters addressed to the Departments of Justice, Defense, Homeland Security, and the Interior on Wednesday, the lawmakers called on the agencies to end their use of the…
<img width="1280" height="715" src="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/PS5-and-PS4-side-by-side-1280×715.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="" loading="lazy" style="margin: auto;margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%" data-attachment-id="711280" data-permalink="https://www.slashgear.com/ps5-and-ps4-firmware-update-serves-up-a-ton-of-new-features-including-voice-control-09711274/ps5-and-ps4-side-by-side/" data-orig-file="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/PS5-and-PS4-side-by-side.jpg" data-orig-size="1440,804" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="PS5 and PS4 side by side" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="
PlayStation
” data-medium-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/PS5-and-PS4-side-by-side-1280×715.jpg” data-large-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/PS5-and-PS4-side-by-side-1280×715.jpg” />The PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 are receiving a new beta firmware update today, delivering a significant amount of new features changes to both consoles. Perhaps the biggest new feature is voice control for the PlayStation 5, allowing users to search for and launch games. While that feature isn’t coming to the PlayStation 4, Sony’s last-gen console is still getting … Continue reading
In a few short hours, Nintendo will host its first Direct of 2022, and it’s one you won’t want to miss. The company has promised to spend approximately 40 minutes talking about games that will debut on the Switch throughout the first half of 2022. You can watch the entire presentation starting at 5PM ET through YouTube and Twitch, as well as right here.
As for what to expect from the company, Nintendo is likely to provide updates on upcoming games like Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, as both titles are slated to arrive both the second half of the year. The company could also share updates on highly anticipated releases like Bayonetta 3 and the sequel to Breath of the Wild. Lastly, will we finally get a release date for Silksong? Whatever happens, make sure to visit Engadget later in the day, as we’ll have stories on all of the company’s biggest announcements.
The GOP senator accused the Biden administration of attempting to implement “a wish list of policies not reflected in” the infrastructure law.
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