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US regulators are making it clear crypto companies must follow conventional rules. Crypto lender BlockFi has settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission over charges the company allegedly offered interest accounts without registering them under the Securities Act. The company will pay $100 million in penalties, including $50 million to settle charges from 32 states.

BlockFi has also agreed to register for the sale of a new product, Yield, and has promised to comply with SEC rules in the next 60 days. The company was reportedly selling unregistered crypto interest accounts from March 2019 until today, and made "false and misleading" claims about the risks from lending.

In a blog post, BlockFi cast the settlement as a form of victory. The company saw this as providing "increased regulatory clarity" that helped it and the industry move forward. US-based customers of its internet accounts won't be allowed to add new assets until BlockFi Yield is registered, at which point their accounts will switch over.

The charges and settlement are the SEC's first levelled against a crypto lender, and reflect a clear goal: the Commission is willing to accept these services as long as they honor rules deemed applicable. The move also comes in sync with a broader effort by American officials to clarify the legal status of crypto assets. BlockFi's fate, in that regard, might help other crypto businesses start on a better footing.

Meta’s Instagram is introducing a new way for people to interact with Stories. Starting today, you can send a private like when someone shares an image or video that catches your eye. Previously, the only way to respond to a Story was to either send the creator a direct message or an emoji reaction. In either case, your response would show in their messages inbox, thereby cluttering the interface. 

Once you have access to the feature, you'll find a new heart icon located between the "Send Message" pill and airplane icon. Should you decide to send someone a Story like, it will show up in the viewer sheet, which you can access by viewing your own Story again. People who publicly view your Stories won't see a like count. 

“The idea here is to make sure that people can express more support for each other, but also to clean up DMs a little bit,” said Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram. “Messaging is a key priority for us, and a big piece of that is focusing on DMs between you and the people that you care about.”

Instagram frequently adds small but handy features like this. Last fall, for instance, the company added the option to delete images and videos from a carousel. Story likes won’t fundamentally change how you use Instagram, but it’s a welcome addition all the same.

The last time we looked at one of HP's premium Spectre x360 convertible notebooks, we were blown away by its style, powerful hardware and excellent keyboard. But that was just a 13-inch model — what if HP took all of that goodness and put it in a massive 16-inch laptop? That's basically what the company is offering with its new Spectre x360 16. It's big. It's beautiful. And this time, it comes equipped with NVIDIA's new RTX 3050 GPU. If you're looking for a notebook with a large screen that can also handle a bit of gaming and creative work, the x360 16 is a compelling option.

Strangely enough, HP doesn't really have much competition when it comes to powerful, large-screened convertibles. Dell hasn't updated the XPS 15 2-in-1 in years, and LG's comparable Grams strive for lightness more than power. It could be that other companies were scared away by having heavy notebooks with rotating screens — the 4.4-pound x360 16 is downright hefty compared to the 3-pound 13-inch model. But it's not too far off from the 4.3-pound MacBook Pro 16. If you're looking for a large display, you've probably already relegated yourself to carrying around a heavy machine. (And at least it's lighter than the XPS 17, which clocks in at up to 5.5 pounds!)

Design wise, the Spectre x360 16 is more glam than Dell's minimalist XPS line. Both companies went for sleek, all-metal cases, but HP's hardware features metallic accents along its edges (even the hinges get some bling). The Spectre line used to lean more heavily into a bejeweled look, but now HP is trying to tone things down while also delivering some style. Little things, like the case's cut off corners and the slightly softer edges, give the x360 16 an artisanal quality. It doesn't look like a cookie-cutter PC, and that’s the point.

Like many 16-inch notebooks we've seen recently, the x360 replaces a 15-inch model. HP was able to fit a larger display into a similarly sized case by reducing bezel sizes and moving toward a taller 16-by-10 aspect ratio. That results in a screen that's 22 millimeters taller, with 11 percent more vertical viewing area, according to HP. Our review unit featured a 4K+ OLED monitor that looked simply beautiful, no matter what I was looking at (though I'm a sucker for OLED's deep black levels and eye-popping colors). There are also 3K+ LED screens available if you don't want to pay a premium for OLED.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Unfortunately, the x360 doesn't support HDR and Dolby Vision like Dell's XPS line, or a fast 120Hz refresh rate like we saw on the Surface Laptop Studio. For some, not having those features may be a dealbreaker, especially if you plan to watch a lot of HDR video, or if you're intrigued by the smoothness of having a high refresh rate display. But if you're upgrading from an older PC, the x360's screen will still be a significant step up.

HP's convertible hinge makes it easy to flip open the x360 16 one-handed. Rotating it around into a tent or tablet mode takes a bit more effort, due to the sheer size of the system. Just like every convertible PC, the tent formation is a nice way to prop up the x360 if you're just lounging in bed. You can also flip the keyboard upside down to make the display prop up on its own, which could be helpful if you just need an additional screen alongside a desktop. I didn't find the x360's tablet mode very useful, though; it's just way too heavy to hold up for long, and it's simply awkward to use. But really, having a larger screen for productivity work and Netflix binging makes up for that.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Speaking of work, typing up this review on the x360 made me fall in love with HP's full-sized keyboard even more than I did with the 13-inch model. It's wide enough for me to spread my fingers out comfortably, and there's a satisfying amount of travel to every key. It’s like a concert piano just begging to be played. My only complaint is that it's a bit non-standard: there's a fingerprint sensor instead of a right Control key, as well as an assortment of specialized function keys to figure out. On the plus side, the touchpad is now 39 percent larger, and it still feels incredibly smooth and reliable.

Our review unit was the top-end $2,030 configuration: You get an Intel Core i7-11390H processor (there's no 12th-gen support yet), 16GB of RAM, NVIDIA's RTX 3050 GPU and a 1TB NVMe SSD with 32GB of Intel Optane memory. The x360 had no trouble with basic productivity tasks — not a surprise given its hardware — and I appreciated just how peppy it made Windows 11 feel. It opened apps up swiftly, and it didn't show any signs of slowdown as I piled on more and more browser tabs.

The only disappointing thing was its disk speeds. According to the ATTO bench, it had average write speeds of around 2 GB/s, and read speeds that were significantly slower than most notebooks we see today. That's honestly surprising for an NVMe drive, so we've asked HP if there's some sort of driver bug hindering performance.

When it comes to general system benchmarks, the x360 16 scored similarly to last year's Surface Laptop 4 15 and ASUS's ZenBook Duo. I expected higher numbers, though, as it has a more powerful GPU than either of those systems. That RTX 3050 is the lowest-end entry among NVIDIA's current offerings, but it's still better than what you'd get with Intel's integrated Xe graphics. It was also serviceable for basic 1080p gaming: I had no trouble playing a few rounds of Halo Infinite with medium graphics settings. The x360 16 is a solid option if you'd like to play a few titles once in a while, perhaps during a dull work trip when you don’t want to lug around a heavier gaming notebook.

Big screens come with huge energy demands, though, so I wasn’t surprised when the x360 only lasted 10 hours and 55 minutes during our battery test. HP claims it’ll go for up to 17 hours with mixed use performance, but it’s unclear how they tested that. Our benchmark relies on looping an HD video, so it’s not exactly stressful. I wouldn’t expect a 16-inch notebook to easily reach the 15 hours of battery life we’ve seen on smaller machines, and the x360 still offers enough juice to power through a workday.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Being flexible in more ways than one is a major selling point for convertibles. The x360 16 is equally at home while you're curled up in bed as it is in a business meeting. The included stylus, which magnetically attaches to the side of the laptop, is also helpful for jotting down notes and simple illustrations. And, given just how important video calls are these days, the x360 is also well equipped with a 5-megapixel webcam and a few software features to beautify your face. It's certainly a step up from the 720p cameras we've seen over the last few years. For the privacy conscious, you can also physically block the camera by hitting a function key, as well as disable the microphone.

Unlike many other style-focused notebooks, HP also includes a wealth of ports, including two USB-C connections, a USB Type-A port (in a nifty drop-down slot), a full-sized HDMI socket and a microSD card slot. And yes, the headphone jack is still there too; HP isn't giving up on it like Dell has with the new XPS 13 Plus. While the x360 can be charged over USB-C, it ships with an AC adapter that plugs in over a barrel connection.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

As much as I love our review model's OLED screen, the better x360 16 deal is the LED-equipped $1,700 model with the same CPU, RAM and RTX 3050 GPU. It has a smaller 512GB SSD, but you can always upgrade that down the line. If you're less concerned about gaming performance, the entry-level $1,500 model drops the RTX 3050 for Intel's Xe graphics.

As the only big-screen convertible game in town, HP could have easily phoned it in with the Spectre x360 16. Instead, it’s given us a powerful premium notebook that can do some gaming amid a flurry of Zoom calls, and look good while doing it.

Meta’s past use of facial recognition technology has once again landed the company in potential legal trouble. On Monday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging it had collected the biometric data of millions of Texans without obtaining their informed consent to do so. At the center of the case is Facebook’s now discontinued use of facial recognition technology. The platform previously employed the technology as part of its “tag suggestions” feature, which used image recognition to scan photos and automatically tag users in them.

Last November, Meta shut down that system, citing, among other reasons, “uncertainty” about how the technology would be regulated in the future. The year before, the company paid $650 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged it had violated an Illinois privacy law that requires companies to obtain “explicit” consent before collecting biometric data from users.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Texas sent a civil subpoena to Meta after the outcome of the Illinois lawsuit was announced. The state is reportedly seeking hundreds of billions of dollars in civil penalties. The Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act stipulates Texas can levy a penalty of up to $25,000 per violation of the law. According to the attorney general’s complaint, at least 20 million Texans used Facebook in 2021.

“Facebook will no longer take advantage of people and their children with the intent to turn a profit at the expense of one’s safety and well-being,” Attorney General Paxton said. “This is yet another example of Big Tech’s deceitful business practices and it must stop. I will continue to fight for Texans’ privacy and security.”

“These claims are without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously,” a spokesperson for Meta told Engadget.

Meta isn’t the only big tech company that’s in a court battle with Texas. In 2020, Paxton’s office filed a multi-state lawsuit against Google centered on the company’s ad business. Last month, Google asked a judge to dismiss that suit. “AG Paxton’s allegations are more heat than light, and we don’t believe they meet the legal standard to send this case to trial,” Adam Cohen, Google’s director of economic policy, said at the time. “The complaint misrepresents our business, products and motives, and we are moving to dismiss it based on its failure to offer plausible antitrust claims.”

Everyone wants a piece of the metaverse. Since Facebook rebranded and christened itself Meta, interest in VR and AR has surged again. We’ve already seen companies like Google, Samsung, LG and Alcatel try and fail to make VR headsets for the mainstream, and currently devices from Oculus (oops, Meta), Valve, HTC and Sony are left standing thanks to the appeal of immersive gaming. 

But Motorola and Verizon believe they have the answer to the biggest problem slowing down mainstream VR headset uptake: they’re often weighed down by a slew of components. The companies are announcing a "5G Neckband" today that they believe can allow headset makers to leave things like connectivity, processing and battery to the collar and focus on making their heads up displays lightweight and comfortable. 

In the pictures and diagrams the companies provided to Engadget, the neckband is paired with a ThinkReality A3 headset (from Motorola's parent company Lenovo), but it is meant to work with other glasses as well. The idea is that the collar and pendant can provide the brains of the operation for heads up displays moving forward. But it’s also intended to help make those experiences much more portable, thanks to a bevy of 5G antenna embedded all over. “We’re making 5G wearable,” vice president of technology at Verizon Brian Mecum told Engadget.

I haven't seen the 5G Neckband in person, but based on the photos, it looks like a cross between a chunky necklace and a lanyard. There's what looks like a rope-sized cable encircling your neck, which the companies say attaches magnetically, and a card-sized module that dangles from its middle. The current iteration is black with a red barrel on the right to connect to headsets, which is compatible with Qualcomm's Snapdragon VR platform and Microsoft's Remote Network Driver Interface (RNDIS). It also offers USB-C and DP1.4 connections.

The companies said the front pendant measures 2.1 x 3.8 inches (54 x 97mm), weighs 3.5 ounces (100 grams), and contains a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, 5,000mAh battery, touchpad, SIM card slot and charging light indicator. It also houses a slew of sensors like a gyroscope, accelerometer, barometer and GPS, in addition to antennae for 5G, which are also embedded along the rest of the neckband. At the back sits a trapezoid-shaped module weighing 2.6 ounces (75 grams) that also contains antenna and stereo loudspeakers. Connecting the two are coaxes and signal lines, according to company reps.

"We wanted to make it so it's pretty indistinguishable to the user," said Jeff Snow, Motorola's general manager of product innovation. "They've got a smartphone always on them that's always connected to these glasses." 

Motorola and Verizon aren't ready to share details around pricing and availability yet, but did tease that they were in talks with major partners including "already in place retail channels that are doing things in AR and VR," Mecum said. He also mentioned that they're working with "some sports leagues" and "something pretty big with education." 

"We took a smartphone and exploded it around your neck," Mecum said. He's very excited about the new product, "We don't introduce new form factors or new compute platforms very often in the industry," he said. "If we can make it easier for kids to learn and we can make it easier for people in sports leagues to learn," he said, "without the complexity and friction of big heavy things around their head, it'll change."

The idea of lightening the load on your neck and moving it to your shoulders while you're spending hours in VR does seem sound. Other companies have also experimented with making belts or fanny packs to house heavier compute components. But the 5G neckband is very clearly still in its early stages, with Motorola saying that we should "stay tuned for more information." We'll need to at least check out a sample in person to judge the weight, latency, performance, heat generated and overall comfort of this device before we can determine if it's feasible. For now, the neckband is at least an indicator that some companies in the industry are aware of some of the obstacles around VR and AR headsets and are working on solutions. And if it doesn't get sleeker and better-looking in its next few iterations, then we may all be doomed to look goofy when we don the gear we need to enter the metaverse.

SpaceX won't just have launched first all-civilian spaceflight — it should soon be home to a full-fledged private space program. According to The Washington Post, Shift4 founder and Inspiration4 leader Jared Isaacman has unveiled a Polaris Program initiative that will include "up to" three crewed SpaceX flights. The first, Polaris Dawn, is planned for the fourth quarter of 2022 and should include the first commercial spacewalk. The effort will ideally end with the first human-occupied Starship flight. Sorry, Moon tourists.

The Polaris Dawn team will also aim for the highest-ever Earth orbit, conduct health research and test laser-based Starlink communication. Isaacman will return as mission commander, while Inspiration4 mission director and Air Force veteran Scott Poteet will serve as pilot. Two of SpaceX's lead operations engineers will also be aboard, including Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis. Menon's role is symbolic of the shift toward private spaceflight — her husband Anil was chosen to become a NASA astronaut, but she'll likely reach space before her spouse does.

The program hinges on SpaceX and partners solving a number of problems. SpaceX is developing spacesuits necessary for the spacewalk, and Isaacman's group hasn't yet decided how many crew members will step outside. Starship also carries some uncertainty. While there's been ample testing and plenty of progress, development of the next-gen rocket system hasn't always gone according to plan. Expect the Polaris Program to have a relatively loose schedule, and possibly a few setbacks.

Even so, this represents a further normalization of private spaceflight. While the Polaris Program continues a recent 'tradition' of civilian flights led by billionaires (Isaacman is no exception), it also promises to commercialize aspects that were still reserved for government astronauts, such as spacewalks and testing new spacecraft (NASA astronauts helmed SpaceX's Demo-2). Don't be shocked if private crews fulfill other roles in the near future.

Zwift is bringing together some of its more dedicated cyclists for another competitive riding event. On February 26th, the workout platform will host the second UCI Cycling Esports World Championships on a course set on a virtual version of Central Park in New York City.

Riders will complete two laps of the 22.5 km Knickerbocker route. The course features some glass roadways that are suspended above the park to add more elevation. Pay close attention and you'll see flying taxis zipping around too.

The competitors will all use the Wahoo Kickr V5 Smart Trainers. Zwift says these intelligently respond to climb gradients as well as simulated drift from other riders.

Since this is a virtual event, Zwift is able to shake things up a bit from traditional road races. Riders will have seven chances to pick up Mario Kart-style PowerUps during the race. They can deploy these at strategic times to temporarily increase the draft effect, boost aerodynamic efficiency or reduce the bike's weight.

Around 180 riders will compete across the men's and women's races. The winners will each receive a physical and digital championship jersey they can wear for sanctioned esports races and activities and while their avatar is active on Zwift. The event will be broadcast on Eurosport in Europe and on GCN+ and Zwift's YouTube channel around the world.

Zwift notes that all users had the chance to secure a spot in the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships through continental qualifier races. It says that while it's early days for cycling esports, some specialist riders have already emerged. As the metaverse continues to take shape, perhaps we'll start seeing more physical esports events in other disciplines.

Polestar is counting on a time-honored tactic to get noticed in an increasingly crowded electric car market: a brazen Super Bowl ad. Volvo's sibling brand aired a 30-second spot for the Polestar 2 during Super Bowl 2022 that took some not-so-subtle potshots at competitors and industry hypocrisy at large. The commercial was dominated by "nos" that included "no dieselgate" (hi VW), "no conquering Mars" (ahem, Elon) and "no greenwashing." The company wants you to see rivals as either distracted from their mission or using eco-friendly products as cover — a possible dig at oil companies that flaunt green credentials, among many other potential targets.

The ad came during a Super Bowl full of tech marketing, including a two-pronged strategy from GM that included a Sopranos-themed commercial for the Chevy Silverado EV as well as the return of Austin Powers' Dr. Evil to pitch GM's electrification strategy. Other tech promos came from Meta (pitching the Quest 2 and Horizon Worlds), Uber, Intuit and a host of cryptocurrency exchanges.

Whether or not the ad leads to a surge in demand is far from certain. Polestar may have the weight of Volvo (and joint parent Geely) behind it, but it's still a tiny newcomer compared to Tesla, VW and other incumbents. It's also not quite clear the Polestar 2 offers "no compromises" when it's not the fastest, longest-ranged or most capacious EV. Still, the Super Bowl ad might be effective if it at least gets customers to consider Polestar if they're planning to ditch gas-powered transportation.

A number of Samsung storage gadgets are on sale right now, making it a good time to pick up an extra portable drive to keep in your bag, a microSD card for your tablet or console or even an SSD for your new PS5. Notably, Samsung's T7 portable SSD in 1TB is back down to its Black Friday price of $110, which is 35 percent less than usual. Also discounted are the Samsung 980 Pro SSD in 2TB, which is $150 off and down to $280, and the 128GB Pro Plus microSD card, which is nearly half off and down to $21.

The T7 is one of our favorite portable drives thanks to its fast speeds and pocket-friendly design. It supports reads speeds up to 1,050 MB/s and write speeds up to 1,000 MB/s, and it has ePCM technology and Dynamic Thermal Guard to control heat levels. It doesn't have a built-in fingerprint reader like the T7 Touch does, but otherwise its shock-resistant aluminum unibody is the same. It also works with a number of different devices thanks to the USB-C to C and USB-C to A cables that come with it, and its companion PC, Mac and Android apps.

If you're looking for a PlayStation 5-compatible SSD to store your game collection, Samsung's 2TB 980 Pro is a solid option. You can pick up the drive by itself for $280, which is an all-time-low price, or you can spring for the SSD with a heatsink (which you'll need to use it with the PS5) for $20 extra. It earned a spot on our list of preferred PS5 drives thanks to its reliability and and fast read and write speeds.

Those with Nintendo Switches should consider the 128GB Samsung Pro Plus microSD card, which is 48 percent off and down to only $21. If you plan on keeping your games library with you at all times, you'll need a microSD card to expand the paltry amount of onboard storage that the Switch comes with. This Samsung card comes with a USB adapter and supports sequential read speeds up to 160 MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 120 MB/s.

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