Author: Nick Gold

TikTok is now offering US downloads of the Android version of the app on its own website, the company announced last night. With the change, Android users in the United States now have an easy way to download or update the app for the first time since Google removed it from Google Play last month in response to a US ban on the app.You can download both TikTok and TikTok Lite, a version of the app designed to work with slower internet connections. Once that’s done, you can install or update the app just by opening the file and approving…

The Civilization franchise is getting the VR treatment with Sid Meier’s Civilization VII – VR on Meta Quest headsets this spring, 2K and Firaxis Games have announced. The “virtual and mixed reality” game will be available for the Quest 3 and 3S, but no price or specific release date has been announced quite yet.How are 2K and Firaxis making it work? It’s presented through a “board game-like construction” that’s projected into your physical space using the Quest’s passthrough cameras or shown in a virtual museum environment “looking out onto a vista personalized to your leader,” says a Meta blog post…

A federal judge temporarily blocked Elon Musk’s DOGE from accessing Treasury Department records containing personal information like Social Security numbers early this morning, reports Inner City Press.The order is in response to a lawsuit filed yesterday in New York’s Southern District Court. The suit alleges that the administration exceeded its authority, broke the US Administrative Procedures Act, and violated the US Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine when it granted DOGE access to the Treasury’s federal payments system.District Judge Paul A. Engelmeyer’s order now prohibits the Trump administration ”from granting access to all political appointees, special government employees, and government employees…

Some Google Calendar users are angrily calling the company out after noticing that certain events like Pride month are no longer highlighted by default. Black History Month, Indigenous People Month, Jewish Heritage, Holocaust Remembrance Day, and Hispanic Heritage have also been removed, according to a Google product expert.One user called the move “shameful” and said that the platform is being used to “capitulate to fascism.” Over the last few years, there have been comments and media reports complaining about the presence of the notes, but now they’re gone.Google confirmed it’s made changes to the default Calendar events, but with a…

PlayStation Network (PSN) has been experiencing a multi-hour outage that started Friday evening. According to Sony’s PSN status page, account management, gaming and social, PlayStation Video, PlayStation Store, and the PlayStation Direct website are all dealing with issues.For gaming specifically, Sony says that “you might have difficulty launching games, apps, or network features.” Sony is vowing to fix the problems “as soon as possible.”Around when I first published this article at 7:28PM ET, a colleague wasn’t able to load their purchased digital games or see their friends, trophies, or even their online status on their PS5. At about 11:45PM ET,…

Marko Elez, the 25-year-old staffer Department of Government Efficiency staffer linked to a social media profile with racist posts, “will be brought back,” shortly after he resigned, Elon Musk announced on X.Elez resigned from his role where he reportedly had the ability to rewrite code in sensitive payments systems at the US Treasury, once The Wall Street Journal inquired about his connection to a deleted account. That account, which the Journal found previously had the username “@marko_elez,” called for reinstating a “eugenic immigration policy,” repealing the Civil Rights Act, and said that “99% of Indian H1Bs will be replaced by…

The Trump administration’s war on electric cars continues with the halt of a national program that sends money to states to install EV charging equipment. It was the latest move by President Donald Trump to reverse Biden-era EV policies — even as those policies have personally enriched his top ally, Elon Musk.According to a memo from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program will be put on pause while it is retooled to align with the new administration’s priorities (those priorities being more gas guzzlers and fewer EVs). The agency said it is “immediately suspending”…

Microsoft has started rolling out a new scareware blocker in its Edge browser this week. The AI-powered feature runs on Windows PCs and can identify and block existing scams, and even detect new and emerging ones thanks to a local machine learning model.“Scareware blocker adds a new, first line of defense to help protect the users exposed to a new scam if it attempts to open a full screen page. Scareware blocker uses a machine learning model that runs on the local computer,” explains the Microsoft Edge team in a blog post. “The model uses computer vision to compare full…

Apple’s next iPhone SE might be announced “as early as next week” ahead of it being on sale later in February, Bloomberg reports. The new phone has already seemingly appeared in photos and video and Bloomberg says Apple’s inventory of the current iPhone SE has started running low, which all could point to an imminent launch.The next iPhone SE is expected to look like an iPhone 14, meaning it will have a bigger screen, drop Touch ID in favor of Face ID, and come with an A18 chip, which will let it run the company’s Apple Intelligence features, according to…

Tinder is updating its Explore page with new categories to help you find dates with similar relationship goals. With the update, you can now browse profiles in groups such as “Serious Dater,” “Long-Term Partner,” “Non-monogamy,” and “Short-Term Fun.”The dating app notes that you can only qualify for the Serious Dater category if you have a bio, upload at least four photos, and set your relationship goals to a long-term option. Tinder first rolled out its Explore page in 2021, which initially let you browse profiles with similar interests like “Gamers,” “Animal Parents,” and “Binge Watchers,” as well as see matches…