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Former President Trump’s social media platform Truth Social, which launched only two days ago, is struggling with technical glitches and onboarding new users in the early stages of its rollout. The site, which billed itself as a sort of free speech alternative to Twitter with more lax content moderation policies, has already booted a few users off of its platform. Other users are struggling to even access the platform, which now has nearly half a million people on its waitlist.

User Matt Ortega was rejected from Truth Social on the basis of his username, @DevineNunesCow, reported Mashable. A parody Twitter account of the same name poked fun at former Rep. Devin Nunes, who is currently the CEO of Truth Social’s parent company.

A few users have pointed out that Truth Social’s moderation policy is significantly more strict than that of Twitter, despite its claim to be a refuge from Big Tech’s censorship. Unlike Twitter, Truth Social users can get suspended or booted from the platform altogether for posting content that moderators consider to be false, defamatory or misleading. While Twitter has had broad bans in the past on Covid-19 and election misinformation, it regularly allows other types of misinformation to fly by. Truth Social users also can get banned for posting content that moderators deem to be “libelous, slanderous, or otherwise objectionable”. Twitter tends to be selective in how it handles disputes between users, unless it involves targeted harassment campaigns.

Still, it’s unlikely Truth Social will be able to enforce such a strict moderation policy should it continue to grow in scale. The platform is relying on a combination of volunteer moderators, user reports and bots to handle content removal.

New and prospective users are also running into technical glitches while attempting to sign-up on the app, which is only available on iOS. The platform faced a 13-hour service outage just hours after its Sunday evening debut due to a flood of new users. It is now rate-limiting the number of new accounts which can be registered on the site. A waitlist to join the app, at the time of publishing, is more than 500,000 people long.

The app currently has a 4.1 star average user rating on Apple’s App Store, though a number of 5-star reviewers noted they hadn’t been able to sign up on the app yet. One reviewer who rated the app five stars wrote that they had yet to receive an email confirmation from Truth Social that hadn’t expired: "Every time I try to create an account, I don’t receive the email to confirm my email address. No, it’s not in junk mail either. One time I received the email many hours later and it was already expired. I keep trying and will continue to keep trying. 5 stars because I think someone is playing games and the review doesn’t matter because I haven’t even been able to set up an account yet. Just trying to resolve an issue.”

The union that wants to represent workers at Amazon’s BHM1 facility in Bessemer, Alabama is accusing the company of once again violating the National Labor Relations Act. In an email the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) sent Tuesday, it said it would file Unfair Labor Practice charges against the retailer.

Specifically, the organization alleges Amazon broke the law by removing pro-union posters put up by members of BAmazon, and implementing a new rule that limits the amount of time workers can spend inside the facility to 30 minutes before and after their shift. Additionally, the RWDSU alleges Amazon forced workers to attend anti-union meetings. If the NLRB finds Amazon’s actions violated the law, the union could then challenge the result of the ongoing second election at BHM1. That vote is currently scheduled to conclude on March 28th.

“While we haven’t seen today’s filing yet, we’re confident that our teams have fully complied with the law. Our focus remains on working directly with our team to make Amazon a great place to work," Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel told Engadget.

Last April, BHM1 became the first large Amazon facility in the US to hold a union vote. While workers there voted decisively against forming a union, the RWDSU went on to successfully challenge the vote. The NLRB ruled the company had illegally interfered with the vote and called for a rerun of the election to be held. Whether Amazon wins or loses the second election at Bessemer, it could be months before the NLRB makes a decision on the latest allegations from the RWDSU. That could set the stage for a protracted labor battle at the facility. 

You didn't think Netflix would leave its TikTok-style comedy feed on phones, did you? Sure enough, the company is launching a test that brings the Fast Laughs feature to TVs. Opt in and you'll get a flurry of hopefully funny clips from Netflix shows, movies and (of course) comedy specials. Find something you enjoy and you can watch the whole affair or add it to your watch list.

The addition is "slowly" deploying to subscribers in English-speaking countries including the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. If it's enabled, you'll find it several rows deep into your home page. Fast Laughs will respect your content settings, but it won't be available on kids' profiles.

The expansion may seem odd for a feature effectively built to reel in people glued to social media apps on their phones, but it's easy to see the logic of a TV edition. Fast Laughs is ultimately a discovery tool for viewers who can't decide on something to watch. This could help you settle on a show relatively quickly when trailers (or Netflix's seemingly endless carousels) aren't enough.

A new wave of 5G-enabled cars are headed our direction. Audi is the latest automaker to announce it will offer 5G connectivity in select models of future cars. The German manufacturer announced today that select models of Audi vehicles, beginning in 2024, will be able to connect to Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network. 

Drivers of the new Audi 5G lineup can expect a host of new features, including higher speeds to download or stream entertainment, an improved in-car navigation system with 3D mapping, cloud-based user-profiles and even the (arguably dangerous) ability to buy things in your car.

Just note that drivers will likely need to pay a subscription to access Audi's 5G in-car services. While Audi didn't disclose how much a 5G subscription would cost, the current Function On-Demand plan with 4G in-car WiFi and navigation is $849 a year on most models. 

The new 5G vehicles will also build on Audi’s current crop of in-car connected services, including information on traffic lights and low-latency road alerts. This will likely mean an even faster and more detailed version of what Audi’s 4G-enabled cars already offer. We’ve already seen current Audi models that offer integrated payment for toll roads and will alert drivers when they’re near a school bus, cyclists, road crews and other obstacles.

Audi’s 5G cars will also be equipped with mobile edge computing, which likely means better autonomous driving features since the cars will be able to react to data instantly. The tech industry has pushed for mobile edge computing on cars as a way to improve the safety of AV features. Edge computing will allow for real-time data processing, so cars can respond faster to other cars, infrastructure, and connected devices on the road.

The US is getting closer to the connected car future that major automakers like Audi, BMW, Volvo, Ford have pushed for. Roughly 60 percent of US drivers rode a connected vehicle in 2021, and that number is expected to grow to more than 70 percent by 2025, according to an eMarketer report. While drawbacks for drivers include the added costs of subscription plans and cybersecurity risks, many still enjoy the added safety and entertainment features.

It seems some Pixel 6 users are continuing to have some connectivity problems. Following the February update, users have flagged WiFi problems on Google's support forums and Reddit. Thankfully, they may not have to wait much too longer for a fix.

The Pixel community team wrote on Reddit that a "very small number of devices" have been impacted by the WiFi connectivity issue and that the root cause has been found. The Pixel team has developed a fix for the problem, which will be deployed as part of the Google Pixel Update in March.

That should be welcome news to users who have resorted to finding workarounds for the problem. At least one person appears to have reset their Pixel 6 on the advice of Google support and, although that temporarily resolved their WiFi issues, the problem re-emerged, according to 9to5 Google. Other measures like resetting network settings or deleting a WiFi network from the device might have helped on a temporary basis too.

There have been other issues stemming from Pixel 6 updates. Google temporarily disabled the Hold for Me due to a bug in the December update, the rollout of which was also paused for many users over a problem with dropped calls. Here's hoping the March update will resolve the WiFi issues without introducing another bug.

Don't expect China to readily accept blame for the rocket debris expected to collide with the Moon on March 4th. SpaceNews and The Verge report Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin denied that the debris came from the 2014 Chang'e-5 T1 Moon mission. The upper stage of that rocket burned up "completely" in Earth's atmosphere, Wang said. He maintained that China's aerospace efforts were always in line with international laws, and that the country was determined to protect the "long-term sustainability" of outer space.

It's not clear China has the right rocket in mind, however. Astronomer Bill Gray, who pinned the expected collision on the Chang'e-5 T1 mission (after initially blaming SpaceX), believes Wang may have confused that with the 2020 Chang'e 5 mission. A US Space Force squadron claimed the T1 upper stage burned up in October 2015, but Gray noted that the squadron offered only one trajectory update for that rocket. The burn-up may have been assumed, not confirmed. NASA's JPL also believes the T1 booster is involved.

Whoever's responsible, the predicted crash will represent an unwanted milestone in spaceflight — a Moon crash from a spacecraft that wasn't meant to be there. The dispute over the debris' origins also reflects the difficulty of tracking space debris. While there are more advanced sensors for spotting debris in Earth orbit, deep space monitoring simply hasn't been a priority. The impending collision might change that focus, particularly with Moon missions like NASA's Artemis program on the horizon.

Last spring, Mediatonic added partial support for cross-platform play to Fall Guys. At the time, PlayStation and PC players could create custom lobbies to play against one another, and you would see people on other systems when matchmaking. But amidst all that, you could not form cross-platform parties. That’s changing with the game’s latest mid-season update.

Fall Guys now includes full cross-play support. Provided you and your friends have signed up for Epic Accounts and linked them to Fall Guys, you can start inviting one another to form parties. What’s more, you can take part in all available playlists, including Squads, Duos and Main Show, while in a cross-platform group.

As part of today’s update, Mediatonic also detailed Sweet Thieves, a new game mode coming to Fall Guys “in the very near future.” The mode will see your bean cast as either a Thief or Guardian. As the former, you’ll need to steal as many candy pieces as possible, while the latter will see you trying to locate and jail the Thieves. Mediatonic promised to share a trailer detailing the mode “very soon.”

Volkswagen has revealed the EPA-estimated ranges for the 2022 ID.4 lineup, and it seems the work the automaker has put in to make the EV more efficient has paid off. All versions have the same 82-kWh battery pack and output motors, and VW has improved the range of every version compared with last year's ID.4 models.

The rear-wheel-drive ID.4 Pro has an EPA-estimated range of 280 miles, 20 miles more than the 2021 model. With an EPA-estimated range of 268 miles, the rear-wheel-drive Pro S has an increased range of 18 miles.

The increased ranges of the all-wheel-drive versions are more modest. The AWD Pro has an EPA-estimated range of 251 miles, while the AWD Pro S range is estimated at 245 miles. Those are increases of two miles and five miles of range, respectively, compared with the 2021 models.

VW attributes the increases to improved MPGe fuel economy. EPA estimates peg the RWD Pro and RWD Pro S as having combined city/highway driving fuel economy of 112 MPGe and 106 MPGe, which are increases of 13 MPGe and nine MPGe respectively. The EPA estimates that the fuel economy of the AWD Pro and Pro S have improved by four MPGe and two MPGe, respectively.

The automaker has also improved the DC fast charging capabilities on all 2022 models from 125 kW to 135 kW. Buyers will get three years of unlimited 30-minute fast charging sessions at Electrify America stations included at no extra cost. A Plug and Charge feature will allow drivers to plug in their car at an Electrify America station and automatically have it charge the battery and, if needed, their account. The feature will be available at a later date.

VW has increased the base price of all ID.4 models this year by $765. The RWD Pro starts at $40,760 and the Pro S is $45,260. For the AWD models, the Pro costs $44,440 and the Pro S starts at $48,940. The destination charge for each model is $1,195.

Five weeks after a volcanic eruption and subsequent tsunami knocked out internet access on the archipelago, Tonga is once again connected to the web. On Tuesday, Digicel, one of the country’s two main ISPs, said it had restored data connectivity on Tongatapu and Eua islands after the submarine Reliance completed repairs on the 514-mile fiber optic cable connecting the South Pacific nation to Fiji and the rest of the world. It took the underwater craft 20 days to replace a 57-mile section of the cable that had suffered multiple breaks.

However, not all of Tonga has internet access yet. The domestic cable that connects the main island of Tongatapu to its outlying neighbors suffered damage during the tsunami as well. Tonga Cable CEO James Panuve told Reuters it could take six to nine months to complete the necessary repairs, with a cable shortage delaying the work. “We don’t have enough cable,” he said.

The outage underscored just how precarious internet access can be for island nations and other remote communities. The fact it only took five weeks for Tonga to get back online is thanks to telecommunication companies from neighboring islands that shared cabling with the country when it ran out of its own supply.

GM has told its customers it's shutting down the Marketplace app, which allowed drivers to pay for goods and services through the infotainment system. The app, which arrived in 2017, let them buy things like gas and coffee and make hotel and restaurant reservations via the dashboard. The company will wind down Marketplace starting in March.

“We routinely evaluate our services to ensure they provide the best experience for our members," GM told owners in an email. "In this spirit, we have decided to discontinue our Marketplace services."

The automaker brought the app to millions of its vehicles in the US, but it seems drivers didn't really take to it. According to CNBC, an engineer said that after the feature launched, the active user rates were in the "thousands."