‘SNL’ star Pete Davidson will be on Blue Origin’s next spaceflight

Blue Origin’s next crewed spaceflight is scheduled for March 23rd and, as reports suggested, Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson will be one of the passengers. It will be New Shepard’s fourth flight with humans on board and its 20th overall.

The other passengers include SpaceKids Global founder Sharon Hagle and her husband, Marc Hagle, CEO of real estate developer Tricor International. Angel investor and former Party America CEO Marty Allen, University of North Carolina professor Jim Kitchen and Commercial Space Technologies president Dr. George Nield are also taking the trip.

All of Blue Origin’s previous crewed flights had a familiar face or two. Blue Origin and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and aviation pioneer Wally Funk were on the maiden trip last July. William Shatner took the record from Funk as the oldest person to reach space at 90 years old on the second flight. Good Morning America host Michael Strahan was on the third launch.

Ukraine is reportedly using Clearview AI’s facial recognition tech

Ukraine is now using Clearview AI’s facial recognition technology for purposes such as identifying Russian soldiers, its CEO claimed. Hoan Ton-That told Reuters the company offered Ukraine’s defense ministry free access to its system following the invasion by Russia.

According to the report, Clearview suggested Ukraine could use the tech to reunite refugees with family members, fight misinformation, assess at checkpoints whether someone is a person of interest and to identify dead bodies. The company hasn’t offered its technology to Russia.

Engadget has contacted the defense ministry for comment. Ukraine officials previously suggested they were considering using the tech.

It’s not clear exactly what Ukraine is using the system for, Ton-That said, while noting it shouldn’t be used as the sole means of identification. He and Clearview advisor Lee Wolosky claimed other Ukraine government agencies plan to start using the tech over the coming days.

Ton-That said Clearview has access to more than 2 billion photos from VKontakte, the Russian social media service, and more than 10 billion images overall in its database.

Clearview’s controversial tech has come under fire from many quarters over the last few years. This month, Italy fined the company €20 million ($27.9 million) and ordered it to delete images of Italian nationals. The UK provisionally fined Clearview £17 million ($22.6 million) in November for breaking data protection laws.

Canada, Australia and France are among the countries that have told Clearview to delete images of its residents and citizens. It’s also facing privacy lawsuits in the US, where lawmakers have urged federal agencies to stop using the tech. Meta, Google, Venmo, Twitter and other platforms have demanded that Clearview stop scraping images from them as well.

NHTSA greenlights self-driving cars without manual controls

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened the door for self-driving vehicles to operate without manual controls under updated Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. While fully autonomous vehicles are likely several years away from going on sale, the new rule paves the way for automakers to remove the steering wheel and pedals.

“Through the 2020s, an important part of [the Department of Transportation’s] safety mission will be to ensure safety standards keep pace with the development of automated driving and driver assistance systems,” transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg said. “This new rule is an important step, establishing robust safety standards for [Automated Driving Systems]-equipped vehicles.”

The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards regulate all elements of production cars, as Roadshow notes. The latest rule stipulates that whether or not they have a steering wheel and pedals, vehicles with automated driving systems need to offer the same level of protection to drivers and passengers as other cars.

Fully autonomous (Level 5) cars aren’t on the market yet. Teslas are at Level 2 (they have some autonomy, but a human driver needs to be ready to take control). Volkswagen is making a Level 4 version of its ID.Buzz EV, while pilot projects for robotaxis and self-driving shuttles are underway. At CES 2022, Cadillac showed off a luxury concept EV without a steering wheel or pedals.

NHTSA acknowledged uncertainty about the development and deployment of vehicles equipped with ADS. “Nevertheless, NHTSA believes it is appropriate to finalize this action at this time in anticipation of emerging ADS vehicle designs that NHTSA has seen in prototype form,” the agency said.

YouTube is blocking Russian state media channels worldwide

YouTube says it will now block channels linked to Russia-backed media outlets worldwide. Last week, it blocked channels from the likes of RT and Sputnik in Europe following an EU directive. The updated policy takes effect immediately, though YouTube’s systems will take a little time to fully block the channels.

The service also said “denying, minimizing or trivializing well-documented violent events” is not allowed under its Community Guidelines. YouTube is taking down videos about the conflict in Ukraine that violate the rule. On Thursday, Twitter and Facebook removed posts from Russia’s embassy in the UK that denied the bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine.

YouTube has also deleted more than 1,000 channels and over 15,000 videos related to Russia’s invasion ok Ukraine for violating various policies, such as those on hate speech, misinformation and graphic content. Google stopped all ad sales in Russia last week and it has now paused all YouTube monetization and payments in the country.

YouTube says it may take further action in Russia as the conflict continues. In addition, it’s directing users to trusted sources of news regarding the invasion.

Ford F-150 Lightning owners in California can use the EV to power homes

Power outages aren’t exactly rare in Northern California. In the coming months, residents who own a compatible electric vehicle — such as the Ford F-150 Lightning — will effectively be able to use it as a backup generator.

Ford has teamed up with PG&E, the main energy provider in the region, for a bidirectional electric vehicle charging project. The companies claim the F-150 Lightning can power a home for up to 10 days (depending on energy needs) in the event of an outage. Sunrun, another of the automaker’s partners, will start installing Ford’s Intelligent Backup Power system in Northern California this spring. 

GM announced a similar pilot with PG&E earlier this week. If initial testing goes well, they’ll enable vehicle-to-grid charging for a small number of people with Ultium-powered EVs before expanding the trial more broadly later this year.

Instagram Live creators can now bring in moderators to handle trolls

Instagram is trying to tackle the problem of unsavory comments that pop up during Live streams with its latest feature. Starting today, Live users can assign someone to be a moderator for their broadcasts. Moderators can report comments, switch off comments from a particular user and boot troublesome viewers from the stream.

Creators can add a moderator by tapping the menu icon on the comment bar. They can search for a specific person or choose a user from a list suggested by Instagram.

Instagram is rolling out the feature to help broadcasters focus on engaging in positive discussions instead of spending time addressing unwanted interactions. It’s a welcome move that should help to cut down on toxic comments during Lives.

The app is following in the footsteps of Twitch, which has allowed streamers to have moderators for years. Having reliable, effective mods who can handle trolls and deal with distasteful comments or messages swiftly can foster a safer environment for both creators and their audiences.

CNN+ will start streaming on March 29th

CNN has revealed exactly when its dedicated streaming service will debut. CNN+, which costs $6 per month or $60 per year, will arrive on March 29th. Those who sign up in the first four weeks and maintain their subscription will get 50 percent off the monthly plan for life (that works out to $36 per year for the foreseeable future).

The service will deliver live, on-demand and interactive news-driven programming. Subscribers of CNN’s linear service can watch cable broadcasts and on-demand content through the app too.

CNN hired away Chris Wallace from Fox News to host a CNN+ show. Other daily launch programming includes shows anchored by Wolf Blitzer, Kate Bolduan, Sara Sidner and Bianca Nobilo, as well as a weekday edition of Reliable Sources. Viewers can also expect Anderson Cooper Full Circle to be available on CNN+, as well as a book-focused show with Jake Tapper, a show from Christiane Amanpour and much more.

Google is rolling out air raid alerts on Android phones in Ukraine

As the conflict in Ukraine continues, Google is rolling out an Android feature it hopes will help people in the country stay safe. Ukraine’s government asked Google to deploy an air raid alert system on Android phones, and it worked with the company to do so. Google says the feature complements the existing air strike alerts — it’s based on alerts the government is already providing to its residents.

In the latest update to a blog post in which it details the steps it’s taking to help Ukraine, Google says it has now suspended most of its commercial activities in Russia. Those include ads for all entities based in Russia, Google Cloud signups, payments on most services and YouTube monetization features for Russian viewers. Free services such as YouTube, Gmail and Search are still available in Russia for the time being.

Starting today, hotel owners in countries neighboring Ukraine can note on their business profile if they offer discounted or free stays to refugees. Businesses can share details on their business profile on Search and Maps about services and aid they’re offering to refugees from Ukraine.

Google is also letting NGOs in Warsaw use one of its campuses to offer legal and psychological support to refugees. It previously announced similar support for NGOs in Slovakia, Romania and Hungary, as well as a $10 million pledge toward local organizations in Poland that are aiding refugees.

Meanwhile, Google’s Threat Analysis Group has detected activity from FancyBear and Ghostwriter, hacking groups believed to have ties to Russia and Belarus, respectively. The team shared details about those threats earlier this week to increase awareness among those in the security community and those who may be at risk of cyberattacks.

In addition, the company says it has complied with an EU directive to remove Russian state-funded media websites from search results in the region. It’s also removing more Russian media apps from Google Play.

Nintendo stops shipping the Switch and other products to Russia

Nintendo has stopped shipping its products, including the Switch, to Russia for the foreseeable future. “This is due to considerable volatility surrounding the logistics of shipping and distributing physical goods,” the company told Eurogamer. It made the decision two weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, though it didn’t mention the crisis in its statement.

The move follows Nintendo suspending sales of digital games in Russia last weekend. It said the Russian version of the eShop “is currently under maintenance following the suspension of transactions in Russian rubles by the payment provider.”

On Wednesday, Nintendo delayed Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp indefinitely. The game was supposed to be released on April 8th, but the company said it was pushing back the debut of the military strategy game following “recent world events.”

Other major gaming companies have withdrawn from Russia (and, in some cases, Belarus). Sony has halted PlayStation hardware and software sales there, while Microsoft put all sales in the country on hold. Ubisoft, Take-Two, CD Projekt Red, EA, Activision Blizzard and Epic have stopped selling their games there as well.

Bungie joined its peers in taking a stance on the conflict on Wednesday. It said players in Russia and Belarus will still be able to play the free base Destiny 2 game and have access to any expansions or content they bought before then. However, they’ll no longer be able to purchase currency or DLC such as The Witch Queen.

Pinterest expands shopping features with in-app checkout

Pinterest is moving deeper into e-commerce with some more features it announced at its annual advertiser summit. The platform says users have long been asking for a way to shop directly on Pinterest and you can now complete some purchases without leaving the app. 

The in-app checkout feature is currently in beta for some Shopify sellers in the US. Pinterest plans to expand access in the US this year. It will contact folks who run stores through Shopify with more details soon.

The company also announced a feature called Your Shop at Pinterest Presents. It calls this a “personal shopping concierge” that will provide users with their own personalized shopping pages. It’ll recommend creators and brands based on your preferences and activity. The feature is in beta for some US users. Pinterest plans to expand Your Shop to all US pinners this year ahead of an international rollout.

In addition, Pinterest says it will be easier for sellers to upload catalogs to the platform and keep prices up to date. Using a trends tool, sellers in the US, UK and Canada will be able to view real-time search data, see trend recommendations and learn more about their audiences. The trends tool will be available in other countries later in 2022.

Pinterest is following in the footsteps of Instagram by adding its in-app checkout. Instagram has had a similar feature since 2020. Meta’s app added a dedicated shopping section toward the end of that year.

Earlier this year, Pinterest added a feature that lets users see what a piece of furniture will look like in their home before they buy it using augmented reality.