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Russia's RT is facing numerous bans and restrictions following the country's invasion of Ukraine, and it's using a familiar tactic to get around them: move to a laissez-faire service. The state-supported media company has made its around-the-clock livestream available on the "free speech" platform Rumble. This will theoretically let devotees tune in when its broadcasts and social media posts aren't accessible elsewhere.

The move may be more of a hedge than a necessity, although that situation could change. RT's English livestream was still available on YouTube as of Thursday. However, CNN said it obtained a memo indicating that RT America's production company T&R Productions was laying off all staff due to "unforeseen business interruption events."

Rumble, like Gab and Parler, has lately served as a haven for right-wing personalities who've been kicked off other platforms or feel their content is restricted elsewhere. Fox News host Ban Bongino, for instance, moved to Rumble after YouTube banned him over COVID-19 misinformation.

As a Russian state-backed media firm, RT has been accused of serving as a propaganda mouthpiece and either heavily restricted on some sites or banned outright. An EU ban on RT has led to action at multiple sites. Facebook has demoted RT content, Twitter has halted ads and recommendations (on top of labels warning of RT's ties) and YouTube has denied ad revenue. Most recently, Reddit banned all links to Russian state media. This is on top of bans from conventional TV providers like DirecTV.

As with other moves to alternative services, though, the Rumble shift might not help RT recover its lost exposure. Rumble is relatively small compared to mainstream social media sites, streaming providers and conventional broadcasters. RT's viewership is likely to take a steep hit regardless — Rumble is more of a consolation prize than a solution.

Twitter will resume business travel and open up its offices all around the world on March 15th, according to a tweet by Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal. While some Twitter staff began working out of the company’s San Francisco and New York City offices last fall, most offices have remained closed since the beginning of the pandemic. But unlike many companies who are returning to in-person operations, Twitter is not requiring employees to come back. Early into the pandemic, Twitter granted employees the option of working from home indefinitely.

Agrawal noted that a workforce where a large fraction will either be 100 percent remote or switching between the office and home will have its unique challenges. “In 2020 we adjusted quickly to working virtually with resilience and agility, but almost all of us were working from home. Distributed working will be much, much harder. Anyone who has joined a meeting remotely while others are in a conference room knows this pain. There will be lots of challenges in the coming months, and we’ll need to be proactive, intentional, learn and adapt,” wrote Agrawal. 

Both Twitter and Slack have adopted “work from home forever” policies during the pandemic, but other tech companies are being more strict. Facebook employees have the option to request to work from home permanently, but some roles are not eligible for this privilege. Google is mandating that all employees return to work by April 4th for at least three days a week, though employees can request extensions or apply to work from home permanently.

Twitch has updated its misinformation policies and says it will ban those who frequently share falsehoods. Under the new rules, the platform will block “harmful misinformation superspreaders who persistently share misinformation on or off of Twitch," as The New York Times first reported.

"Every day, people come together on Twitch to build communities that celebrate a variety of interests, passions, and talents," Twitch wrote in a blog post. "We’re proud that Twitch can bring people together — but we do not believe that individuals who use online services to spread false, harmful information, have a place in our community. While these individuals are not prevalent on Twitch, they could cause significant harm if allowed on our service."

Fewer than 100 channels will be affected by the policy at the outset, Twitch said. It sees these primarily as precautionary measures. For the platform to take action under these rules, channels must meet several criteria. "We seek to remove users whose online presence is dedicated to persistently sharing widely disproven and broadly shared harmful misinformation topics," the policy reads.

The "Harmful Misinformation Actors" rules cover lies about COVID-19 vaccines and election fraud, as well as conspiracy theories related to dangerous medical treatments. The policy also means that those who peddle "misinformation promoted by conspiracy networks tied to violence and/or promoting violence" or share falsehoods that could put public safety at risk during emergencies risk being booted off of the platform.

Twitch says it works with independent misinformation experts like the Global Disinformation Index, along with election boards and congressional certification to assess civic misinformation claims, such as election fraud and ballot tampering.

The platform also noted to The Times that the policy applies to Russian state-run media channels that are spreading lies, though it has only spotted one of those to date. Other platforms — such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Spotify and Reddit — have banned, labeled or limited the spread of content from Russian state media outlets over the last week amid the country's invasion of Ukraine.

It's notable that the policy covers actions carried out by creators outside of their Twitch streams. If you learn about a streamer who may be violating the away from Twitch, you can report them by email. Last year, the service said it would ban users for serious misconduct that took place offline or on other platforms.

Engadget has contacted Twitch for comment.

Want a smaller Razer keyboard than the Huntsman, but don't want to give up the analog feel from some of the company's other models? You now have a viable option. Razer has introduced a Huntsman Mini Analog keyboard that preserves the ultra-compact 60 percent design of the regular Huntsman Mini, but uses "analog optical" switches. The finer-grained key action will help you dial in your preferred sensitivity, as you might guess, but you can also use it to replace analog controls in some games (such as the accelerator in a racing sim) or even assign two functions to the same key depending on force.

The RGB-lit keyboard is billed as durable between its aluminum body and double-shot PBT key caps. The USB-C cable is fully detachable to make this micro-Huntsman easier to carry.

Razer is selling the Huntsman Mini Analog today for $150. That's no small amount, especially if you're used to full-size keyboards, but it might be easy to justify if you're a fan of the brand or want truly flexible analog input.

The Senate will vote on the nominations of Gigi Sohn to the Federal Communications Commission and Alvaro Bedoya to the Federal Trade Commission, respectively. The Senate Commerce Committee moved forward their nominations, though the 14-14 tie means there will be an additional procedural step for each before a full Senate vote.

Democrats and Republicans each have 50 senators though Vice President Kamala Harris has a tie-breaker vote. Should Sohn and Bedoya be confirmed as commissioners, the Democrats will hold a majority in both the FCC and FTC.

The committee delayed a vote on the nominations after Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) suffered a stroke in January. Luján, whose vote was needed for Democrats to move the nominations forward, has since returned to work.

President Biden nominated Sohn at the same time he put forward Jessica Rosenworcel as FCC chair in October. While the Senate approved Rosenworcel's permanent appointment in December, Sohn's appointment has taken longer. As such, the FCC has been deadlocked at 2-2 along party lines, leaving Rosenworcel unable to, among other things, advance a net neutrality policy.

Opposition to the nomination of Sohn, a longtime advocate for net neutrality, has come from a number of quarters, including the Directors Guild of America. The group urged senators to vote down Sohn's nomination due to her "hostility towards copyright law." Sohn was previously on the board of Locast, a defunct service that rebroadcast over-the-air TV broadcast signals via the internet. She said she'd recuse herself from issues concerning retransmission consent and broadcast copyright.

In confirmation hearings, Republicans portrayed Sohn as an extreme partisan. She hit back at those assertions, arguing that she had been subject to "unrelenting, unfair and outright false criticism and scrutiny."

The FTC, meanwhile, is in the process of reviewing some significant proposed mergers. According to reports, those include Amazon's planned buyout of MGM and Microsoft's bid to acquire Activision Blizzard. Reports suggest the FTC is mulling an antitrust challenge to block the Amazon-MGM deal, though it would need a majority vote to proceed with a lawsuit.

Reddit isn't done clamping down on misinformation following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The social hub has banned links to state-supported Russian media outlets across the entire site, and for all users worldwide. While numerous subreddits already banned links to outlets like RT and Sputnik, this will make it harder to share the content anywhere.

The site has also barred ads that either originate from Russia or target the country. Reddit recently quarantined the r/Russia subreddit, keeping it out of searches and recommendations while prompting a warning to visitors.

Reddit characterized the move as showing support for Ukraine. It also suggested this was part of a broader effort to curb misinformation, arguing that quarantines and similar practices made it difficult for "coordinated disinformation attempts" to take root.

This won't prevent determined users from sharing Russian state media content, as they can use proxy sites or republish articles in their posts. It might also complicate attempts to counter Russia's official message while using state-supported articles as reference points. It's not surprising that Reddit would limit links, though. Between an EU ban on these outlets and crackdowns from tech industry leaders like Google and Meta, Reddit faces extensive pressure to take action.

Bowers & Wilkins is no stranger to soundbars, but the company's lineup over the years was missing one key feature: Dolby Atmos. Across two Panorama models and the Formation Bar, the immersive audio format wasn't yet supported by the company's soundbars. It's changing that today with the Panorama 3: a $999 all-in-one model that features up-firing drivers for Atmos alongside a host of other handy features for music and movies. 

Inside the low-profile angular design, a collection of 13 drivers harness 400 watts of total output in 3.1.2-channel configuration. That includes three tweeters, six mid-range, two subwoofers and two up-firing units. The company says that this combination allows the Panorama 3 to function as a standalone setup with "room-filling sound." In other words, Bowers & Wilkins doesn't think you'll need a dedicated wireless subwoofer parked adjacent to the soundbar, similarly to how Sennheiser designed its pricey Ambeo model. 

Bowers & Wilkins

The Panorama 3 connects to your TV via a single HDMI eARC jack, or for older displays, there's an optical port as well. An Ethernet connection provides wired internet while AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect offer wireless control for music via your phone or other devices. The Panorama 3 supports aptX Adaptive, AAC and SBC codecs when it comes to Bluetooth audio and the company's app pipes in tunes from Deezer, Last.fm, Qobuz, Soundcloud, Tidal and TuneIn. Support for more streaming services is on the way, according to Bowers & Wilkins. 

The company also says multi-room audio will arrive "shortly after launch" which will allow you to use the Panorama 3 in unison with other Bowers & Wilkins speakers around your home. This soundbar has Alexa built-in for voice control or you can reach for the "hidden until lit" capacitive touch buttons on the top of the speaker itself if the remote (or your phone) isn't nearby.

The Panorama 3 is available starting today for $999. That may seem like a lot, and it is certainly a big investment, but that price is a few hundred less than the current flagship Atmos soundbar from Sony. 

Unless you religiously follow Android blogs, there’s a good chance you haven’t heard of OSOM Privacy. It’s a startup made up of former Essential employees who worked on the PH-1 before the company became mired in controversy on account of founder Andy Rubin. OSOM was founded in 2020, the same year that Essential went out of business, by its former head of R&D, Jason Keats.

When Keats first shared details on the OV1 late last year in an interview with Android Police, he said it would stand out from other Android phones thanks to its focus on privacy. At the time, he also had a few things to say about the phone’s specs – noting, for instance, it would ship with a Qualcomm chipset. Today, OSOM shared more information about the OV1 before its release later this year.

OSOM Privacy

In an email to Engadget, the company said the phone would ship with a Snapdragon 8 series chipset. Notably, OSOM didn’t say the OV1 would include Qualcomm’s current flagship chip, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Take that as you will.

If you had a chance to use an Essential Phone, you know it didn’t have a great camera. It didn’t take great photos in less than ideal light, and its camera app was slow to fire up. OSOM claims the OV1 won’t suffer from similar issues. The phone will feature a dual-camera system consisting of 48-megapixel and 12-megapixel sensors. “Unlike at Essential, OSOM has enlisted the help of the best teams in the world to bring a truly flagship camera experience to our users,” the company told us.

As you can see from the photos OSOM sent over, the design of the device is reminiscent of the Essential Phone. The company says the OV1 is “noticeably” bigger than its predecessor to allow for better antenna performance and the inclusion of a bigger battery. The housing is made from stainless steel and titanium, while the back of the phone is made from zirconia and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. Like the iPhone, it will include a UWB antenna, though OSOM didn’t say what kind of functionality it plans to build out around that feature. The phone will also come with a dual SIM slot and a secure data cable.

OSOM Privacy

The company didn’t say what the cable does, but if we had to take a guess, you can flip the built-in switch to prevent it from transferring data. That’s something that could help you protect your phone if you ever need to plug it in to charge at a public USB port, such as the ones you’ll find in a plane. That’s all we know for now. But we’ll likely find out more about the OV1 when it ships sometime in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Rivian is quickly backtracking on its steep EV price hikes. The Vergereports Rivian has reversed the price increases for R1T pickup and R1S SUV pre-order customers. Anyone who ordered one of the vehicles before March 1st will pay the original prices, and those who cancelled orders in response can reinstate their orders without affecting their prices or delivery timing. Orders for affected configurations made from March 1st onward will still cost more.

Company chief RJ Scaringe said the higher prices "broke the trust" of customers, and that the automaker didn't properly communicate the reasons for the hikes. While the new prices were meant to reflect higher manufacturing costs (hence maintaining prices for new buyers), Rivian "wrongly" applied those increases to existing customers, according to Scaringe. It also incorrectly presumed customers wouldn't mind buying the lower-end dual-motor and standard battery models if the quad-motor option was suddenly too expensive.

The price change angered more than a few customers. Quad-motor buyers faced prices between $12,000 to $20,000 above what they'd expected. Some accused Rivian of bait-and-switch tactics, while others cancelled (or threatened to cancel) orders in response. Tesla, a key competitor, has historically honored pre-order prices regardless of any changes between the order and delivery.

The incident is poorly timed, at least. Rivian is still in the early stages of ramping up R1T deliveries, and has yet to fulfill R1S orders. The automaker's reputation is still young and delicate — it risks driving business to Tesla, Ford and others with comparable EVs. While reversing the price hike will likely be painful to Rivian, it might be worthwhile if it fosters goodwill and leads to more sales in the long run. 

Volvo will put a wireless EV charging system through its paces as part of a program to test alternative charging options. A small fleet of electric Volvo XC40 Recharge cars will be used as taxis in Gothenburg, Sweden in a three-year pilot.

The cars are equipped with a wireless charging system from Momentum Dynamics. Charging pads will be embedded in the ground at two taxi ranks. Volvo will use 360-degree cameras to help drivers put the cars in the correct position and when they're in the right spot, the taxis' batteries will automatically topped up. An image shared by Momentum Dynamics showed an EV charging at a rate of 41kW. 

The EVs will be on the road for more than 12 hours a day and are expected to be driven for upwards of 100,000 km (62,000 miles) per year. Volvo says this is the first durability test of its electric EVs in a commercial setting. Momentum Dynamics has also teamed up with Jaguar to test wireless charging in electric taxis in Norway.

The concept of building charging tech into roads is hardlynew, but it hasn't exactly taken off yet. Still, researchers and engineers are working on other ways to charge EVs as they drive, so at some point in the future, drivers may never need to visit a typical charging station.

Momentum Dynamics Corporation