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Meta may charge Instagram users in Europe a $14 per month subscription fee unless they opt in to targeted ads, according to The Wall Street Journal. In addition, it may impose a combined monthly fee of $17 for ad-free access to Facebook and Instagram on desktop. 

Last month, rumors surfaced that Meta would start forcing subscriptions on users who opted out of targeted ads, but the potential fees were unknown. Users willing to pay would see no advertising on Facebook and Instagram, while those who want to stick to the free version would have to consent to be targeted by ads based on their personal data. The company has reportedly discussed the plans with regulators in Brussels and Ireland.

The move comes in response to a court ruling in July finding that Facebook must gain the consent of users to access their personal data. That court said that site operators have to prove that users willingly gave permission, possibly by allowing them to reject ad tracking. That's exactly what Apple did with iOS 14, and with very few users opting in, Meta predicted a significant hit to its revenue. In its ruling, the EU court also said companies should explore subscription models for users. 

If accurate, the numbers revealed by the WSJ are just a bit less than Netflix charges in the EU for it's regular monthly plan. With only power social media users or companies likely willing to pay that, Meta could effectively force regular users to accept targeted ads or stop using its social media sites altogether.

Earlier this year, the EU hit Facebook with a record €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) fine for transferring EU user data to the US, in violation of the bloc's key digital privacy rules. And the rules are about to tighten more, as Europe's Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulations come into force starting in March 2024. 

At the same time, Meta makes nearly a quarter of its revenue in Europe, with the bloc accounting for $7.2 billion of its $32 billion total in the second quarter this year. 

Elon Musk's X Corp is facing what could be the first of several lawsuits related to its name. A Florida-based company called X Social Media has accused X Corp. of trademark and service mark infringement, obviously for the use of the letter "X." Musk rebranded Twitter in July, renamed the social network as "X" and replaced its iconic bird logo with the letter. The executive is known for having an affinity for the letter X, so it didn't really come as a surprise, but as trademark attorney Josh Gerben told Reuters back then, there's "about a 100 percent probability that Twitter/X will be sued by both opportunistic and legitimate plaintiffs over the new name." Today, Gerben's firm represents the plaintiff in this case. 

X Social Media described itself in the lawsuit (PDF) as a company that has "offered its advertising and social media services connecting law firms and those in need of advocates since 2016." While its logo looks vastly different from the logo used by the social network formerly known as Twitter, it argued in its complaint that it "frequently emphasizes the 'X' portion of its mark throughout its advertising, blogs, and newsletters highlighting its work." 

The Florida-based company also said that the media coverage Elon Musk's X got when it rebranded caused confusion and had led consumers to believe that its advertising services are being offered by or are associated with X Corp. "As 'X' is a social media platform, consumers naturally conflate 'X SocialMedia' as an X Corp.'s social media platform," it explained. The plaintiff told the court that it has already suffered losses in revenue due to Twitter's rebranding, and that it's highly probable that the confusion will continue to its "financial detriment." Especially since X Corp appears at the top of search results when you look for "x social media" — or at least it used to before news about the lawsuit came out. 

Further, it accused Musk's company for filing multiple trademark applications for business data analysis, promotional services, business consulting and information services, as well as business, consumer and market research, which are comparable to its offerings, even though it allegedly knew about X Social Media. Apparently, X Social Media sent Musk's company a cease-and-desist letter in August 2023, but X Corp. refused to stop using the letter. It's now asking the court for an injunction, prohibiting Musk's company from marketing, offering, selling or distributing services bearing the mark "X." The plaintiff is also asking for damages equivalent to three times of its losses or the defendant's profits. 

Apple's first generation Watch is now officially obsolete, including the Hermes and $17,000 18-karat gold Watch Edition models, according to Apple's latest obsolete product list seen by MacRumors. That means the "Series 0" Watch models, first released in 2015, are no longer eligible for hardware service and providers cannot order parts. 

On top of its obsolete list, Apple has a "vintage" list for products it stopped distributing more than five years ago, but less than seven years ago. On the current public-facing list (which should be updated soon) is the Series 2 Watch, so it'll soon be on the obsolete list as well.

The news may stimulate some new discussion on "planned obsolescence." According to Apple's obsolete and vintage page, the company is only obligated to supply parts for five years after a product is last distributed (laws in France push that to seven years for iPhone and Mac laptops). Such discussion has stimulated change in the past — the company was forced to alter course in terms of device reparability, and a new EU law forced Apple to change its charging/data port to USB-C from Lightning. 

The Watch Edition has been an interesting case since it first came out. Regular watches can appreciate in value enormously, largely because they can still perform their time-keeping function many years later. However, the Watch Edition cost over $10,000, but was always going to become obsolete. If you own one (let us know below) and the battery hasn't already lost charge, this could be the final reason to wave goodbye. 

Tesla has quietly updated its Model Y page to add a new option for buyers in the US: A rear-wheel drive Model Y that's cheaper than the other variants. It'll set buyers back $43,990, but with a full tax credit of $7,500, the electric vehicle could cost them as low as $36,490. As Electrek notes, this version replaces the Model Y All Wheel Drive that was recently discontinued. It's also $3,750 cheaper than the AWD, making it the most affordable Model Y EV. 

Bloomberg says the vehicle likely uses lithium-iron phosphate batteries, which cost less to manufacture than high-nickel battery compositions. While it's possible that the batteries enable Tesla to sell this version at a lower price, Electrek believes they're also the reason why the EV has a 260 mile range, whereas the discontinued AWD Model Y had a range of 279 miles. That said, previous studies revealed that lithium-iron phosphate batteries are more efficient and have a much longer lifespan than nickel batteries.  

The rear-wheel drive Model Y can reach 135 mph in speed and can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in 6.6 seconds. Tesla says it will start deliveries for the new EV this month and the next, though as always, customers will have to pay extra for Enhanced Autopilot ($6,000) and Full Self-Driving ($12,000). In its latest quarterly earnings report, the automaker admitted that its deliveries fell short of Wall Street's lowered expectations. It still expects to make 1.8 million deliveries for the year as a whole, however, and it remains to be seen if the new Model Y can help it achieve that goal. 

A prototype satellite has become one of the brightest objects in the night sky, and it may soon be accompanied by dozens more. An observation campaign tracking the BlueWalker 3 satellite, launched in September 2022 by AST SpaceMobile, found that it is at times brighter than all but a handful of stars and planets that can be seen from Earth. The findings published in the journal Nature highlight a fast-escalating concern among astronomers, who have warned that the influx of private space ventures in low-Earth orbit could alter our view of the night sky and interfere with research.

Researchers with the International Astronomical Union’s Center for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (CPS) observed BlueWalker 3 over the course of 130 days. BlueWalker 3’s antenna array measures just shy of 700 square feet, making it the largest yet for a commercial satellite in low-Earth orbit. That huge array reflects sunlight and after it unfurled, its brightness spiked. The effect isn’t constant, but instead fluctuates depending on factors like the satellite’s position relative to the sun, and the viewing angle. The CPS team observed it from sites in Chile, the US, Mexico, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Morocco.

“These results demonstrate a continuing trend towards larger, brighter commercial satellites, which is of particular concern given the plans to launch many more in the coming years,” said Siegfried Eggl, one of the co-authors of the study. “While these satellites can play a role in improving communications, it is imperative that their disruptions of scientific observations are minimized.” AST SpaceMobile eventually plans to deploy a fleet of roughly 100 cellular broadband satellites based on the BlueWalker 3 design.

SpaceX, whose thousands of Starlink satellites have repeatedly come under scrutiny for their potential impact on the night sky, has experimented with dark coatings to cut down on the amount of reflected light, to limited success. For astronomers, to whom it poses a growing headache, it's not enough. Stations observing from the ground will need to develop satellite avoidance strategies to work around these artificial constellations, the researchers note in the paper.

And, visibility isn’t the only problem. Commercial satellites, including BlueWalker 3, flooding low-Earth orbit also threaten to interfere with radio astronomy. A separate study led by the CPS and published earlier this year found Starlink satellites are leaking “unintended electromagnetic radiation” that could disrupt radio telescope observations. 

Elon Musk is looking to new video features, including game streaming and live shopping, as part of his attempt to turn X into an “everything app.” The company formerly known as Twitter is experimenting with basic, Twitch-like game streaming capabilities, which are currently accessible to X Premium subscribers.

Musk showed off the feature Sunday night in a 54-minute Diablo IV stream posted from an anonymous Twitter account with the handle @cyb3rgam3r420. Musk later replied to the account and confirmed the company was testing the feature. An engineer at X, Mark Kalman, also shared a video explaining how Premium subscribers can set up game streaming from their accounts by connecting Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) to their Twitter account via X Media Studio.

For now, it’s unclear how serious X is about courting streamers.The feature seems to support viewer comments in the streams, but for now lacks most of the creator-centric features of other platforms. But it is one of the latest examples of how X is turning to creators and new video features in an effort to lure more users to the platform.Separately, the company also said it would begin experimenting with live shopping features through a new partnership with Paris Hilton. Variety reports that Hilton has signed on to “create four original video content programs per year that include live-shopping features.”

It’s also unclear if X’s infrastructure will be able to keep up with new live video features. The company, which shed many of its site reliability engineers in layoffs last year, has struggled with large live audio and video streams, particularly those boosted by Musk’s account. When Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appeared in a chat on Spaces in May to announce a presidential run with Musk, the stream repeatedly crashed.

According to Musk’s biographer, Walter Isaacson, the issue was a result of instability caused by a poorly planned move of one of the company’s data centers. However, the issues still don’t seem to be fully resolved. Just last week, Musk attempted to live stream himself visiting the US border with Mexico when the video feed abruptly cut out after about four minutes. Musk was able to eventually restart the stream, but only after he sent a frantic, company-wide email to all of X’s staff, according to New York Times reporter Ryan Mac. “Please fix this,” he said.

TikTok might be exploring new ways to make the app more profitable by playing around with an ad-free subscription model. This isn't new for social media platforms. We've seen Snapchat introduce Snapchat+ and X (formally known as Twitter) introduce its Premium options as well, but this would be a new subscription offering for TikTok.

Hints of TikTok's subscription plans were initially spotted by Android Authority. According to the report, the latest version of TikTok came loaded with new strings of code that indicated the short-form video app is testing an ad-free monthly subscription plan for its users. Android Authority uncovered a screen that presented users with the choice of two different plans. There's the standard option, which will remain free and include personalized ads based on your activity. Then there's the "Ad-free" option, which will cost $4.99 per month.

As of right now, there has been no official announcement from TikTok. (Engadget has reached out for comment and we'll update the story if we hear back.) So it's safe to assume that this is just a test being conducted since it is currently only available to a limited number of users. TikTok may or may not actually take the plan public, and if it does it may also change the $4.99 price tag based on the feedback.

TikTok's drive toward increasing engagement and revenue is nothing new, but it seems the company has ramped up a bit. Earlier this year, TikTok introduced its marketplace — TikTok Shop — which brought a host of features for users, content creators and businesses. One of those features was the option for creators and businesses to drop affiliate videos directly into the feeds of users. This means the new ad-free tier may only remove ads served up by TikTok and not ones from influencers or their marketing campaigns.

Perhaps now we can all stop asking "How is this app still free?" because at this rate, no social media app will be completely free again

Loog is a company known for manufacturing fantastic starter instruments for kids, with the company’s diminutive electric guitar making our list of the best audio-related gifts back in 2019. Now it’s back with a digital piano that blurs the line between kid-friendly and appropriate for adults.

The Loog Piano is a gorgeous instrument that, while still tiny, brings some nifty features for both brand-new players and veteran key smashers. The obvious selling point here is the looks. The 3-octave keyboard is sandwiched between solid wood sides and the top’s covered in red “sonically transparent fabric” that really pops. 

The company touts the piano’s “musician-grade sound and design.” The design’s certainly on-point, but what about the sound? The built-in stereo speakers let you play without headphones and Loog says the keys allow for dynamics (piano to forte.) The company says this is likely the first keyboard at this size and price point that incorporates velocity-sensitive keys. Check out this demo video of the piano in action without any post effects.

Loog boasts that the instrument uses both sampled and modeled sounds, so attack, decay and the air between notes should all recall an actual piano. The combination of the built-in speakers and velocity engine also works to mimic the analog instrument, but this is still a digital piano, so moving to the real thing later will require a bit of an adjustment period.

The Loog Piano is battery-powered and fully portable, and gets around three hours of play time per charge via the built-in USB-C port. It weighs nearly five pounds, however, so keep that in mind if you plan on stuffing this thing in your kid’s backpack. Though the speakers are a main draw, you can of course plug in some headphones for private playing.

You may notice what this instrument doesn’t have. There aren’t hundreds of other sounds. There aren’t built-in effects. There’s a volume knob and that’s about it. This is by design, with Loog stating that the instrument’s “full muscle is devoted to the piano sound.”

Despite lacking 400 horrible brass sounds you’ll never use, this piano does have one significant tech-forward feature. Loog’s instrument integrates with a proprietary app that’s primarily for learning piano. This app is filled with “lessons and game-like exercises that make learning fun and easy,” though the piano integrates with other learning software. Additionally, it ships with a set of decidedly low-tech flash cards to help teach chords and scales.

Instead of going with a traditional retail launch, Loog took to Kickstarter to drum up support for its latest instrument. As of this writing, it’s already smashed through the initial goal by a factor of 30, so expect units to start shipping in April. Early adopters can currently snag the instrument for $250, which is 20 percent off its eventual retail price.

Amazon's second Prime-related event for 2023 is officially called Prime Big Deal Days and will happen October 10 and 11. This is the second year in a row for a fall-based, site-wide Amazon sale and we're already seeing discounts pop up. You'll need a Prime membership to access many of the deals, though a few are available to everyone. This week, there are early Prime Day deals on the AirPods Pro, Amazon's Echo Dot, Amazon Music Unlimited, Eero 6 mesh Wi-Fi systems, Ring Video Doorbells and security systems and Amazon Fire Omni smart TVs. Here are the best early October Prime Day deals you can get right now. 

Apple AirPods Pro

Amazon has the Lightning model of Apple's AirPods Pro on sale for $199, which is roughly $50 off Apple's list price. We consider the AirPods Pros the best wireless earphones for those who use an iPhone or lots of Apple devices. They still deliver excellent noise cancellation, a pleasingly warm sound profile and a variety of Apple-specific features such as hands-free Siri access, Find My device tracking and quick pairing and switching between iPhones, iPads and MacBooks. With a recent update, they've also gained a useful "Adaptive Audio" mode that blends the pair's ANC and transparency modes dynamically based on your surroundings.

Amazon Echo Dot + Kasa Smart Plug Mini

As part of a big Echo speaker sale, the Echo Dot is down to just $23, and you can get a bundle with the small smart speaker and a Kasa Smart Plug Mini for just $1 more. Considering the Echo Dot is one of our favorite smart speakers and the Kasa smart plug earned a spot on our list of best smart plugs, this is a great bundle for anyone who wants to smarten up their home while sticking to their budget. Also included in this sale are the Echo Pop for $18 and the full-sized Echo for $55.

Amazon Echo Show 5

A number of Amazon’s smart displays are on sale ahead of October Prime Day, and that includes the Echo Show 5 for $40. It’s the smallest smart display in the company’s lineup, which is part of what makes it a solid smart alarm clock. It has strong audio quality and a sunrise alarm feature, and this updated model has a faster processor and an additional mic for improved Alexa responsiveness. The Echo Show 8 (previous-gen) and the Echo Show 10 are also included in this sale, and there’s even a bundle that pairs the Echo Show 5 with a Philips Hue Smart Color Bulb for $42.

Amazon Fire HD 8

Amazon’s Fire HD 8 tablet has dropped to $60 as part of a larger tablet sale ahead of Prime Big Deal Days. That’s only $5 more than it was during Prime Day in July, and we recommend this slab for those who want a cheap tablet they can give to their kids, use as a couch device and the like. You can choose a model that has 32GB or 64GB of storage, and you can expand the amount of space on the tablet using a microSD card. It also has decent performance and a long, 13-hour battery life. If you prefer to get the best of what Amazon has to offer in the tablet space, pick up the Fire Max 11 tablet, which is on sale for a record low of $150 right now.

Blink security cameras

Blink 3rd- and 4th-gen security cameras have been discounted ahead of October Prime Day. These deals are particularly noteworthy for the 4th-gen Outdoor cameras since they were just announced at the end of August. A three-pack of those new cameras is half off and down to $135, and there are a bunch of bundles available as well: a two-pack with a Blink Mini for $100, a three-pack with a Video Doorbell for $165, a whole home bundle for $102 and many more. These security cameras are convenient because they are wireless and have two-year battery lives, plus they support motion and audio alerts, two-way talk and night vision.

Ring Video Doorbells

There’s a massive Ring sale going on now in the lead up to October Prime Day in which you can pick up one of the video doorbells for as low as $35. The Ring Video Doorbell Wired is 46 percent off and down to $35, and as the name suggests, you’ll have to hardwire it to your home during installation. There are a few Ring doorbells available at this point, so if you’d prefer one that runs on a rechargeable battery, consider the standard Ring Video Doorbell, which is down to $55 at the moment. This sale also includes Ring Stick Up cameras that can be placed inside the home, as well as various Ring Alarm bundles.

Kindle Paperwhite Kids Essentials Bundle

A few Kindle Essentials Bundles have been discounted for Prime members ahead of October Prime Day, including this Kids one that you can pick up for $143. It contains a Kindle Paperwhite Kids ereader along with a cover, a screen protector, a power adapter, a two-year warranty and a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+. That’s basically everything a kid would need to dive into reading on a Kindle while also keeping their new gadget charged and protected at all times. The Kids+ subscription gives them access to age-appropriate ebooks and audiobooks, just remember that the membership will automatically renew after the first year at the full, $3-per-month price.

Amazon Music Unlimited

If you've never subscribed to Amazon Music Unlimited, you can now get three months of the music streaming service for free. If you're an Amazon Prime member who has never subscribed, that jumps to four months. Music Unlimited usually comes with a one-month free trial and goes for $11 a month — or $10 if you use Prime — so this deal saves you either $22 or $30. We highlight Music Unlimited in our guide to the best music streaming services: Its UI and music discovery features aren't as robust as Apple Music or Spotify, but it offers a large library in CD streaming quality and a wide podcast selection. Naturally, it also works well with Echo speakers and other Amazon devices. Note that your subscription will be set to auto-renew by default, so you'll have to manually cancel if you're just looking to snag a few months of music streaming at no cost.

Eero Pro 6E mesh Wi-Fi system

Amazon has discounted most of its Eero 6 Wi-Fi systems as an early Prime Day deal, including the most powerful of the bunch, the Eero Pro 6E. You can pick up one router for $180, or spring for a three-pack for $400, both of which are down to record-low prices. Devices with support for Wi-Fi 6E can connect directly to the Eero’s 6 GHz radio band, and if you get the three-pack, you’ll get up to 6,000 square feet of coverage — more than enough for most homes. These Eeros have a built-in smart home hub as well, so you don’t need to have an extra device if you want to build out an IoT ecosystem in your house.

Samsung Pro Plus

If you need more storage for your Nintendo Switch, GoPro or anything else that accepts microSD cards, the 256GB version of the Samsung Pro Plus with Samsung's USB reader is on sale for $22. We've seen the card alone fall as low as $20, but this matches the all-time low for the bundle with the reader, which helps the card get closer to its advertised read and write speeds — up to 180 MB/s and 130 MB/s for reading and writing, respectively — on devices that allow them. Normally, this SKU retails for $25. The Pro Plus is the top recommendation in our guide to the best microSD cards, as it delivered the fastest sequential write speeds and random performance of any card we tested and comes with a 10-year warranty.

Crucial X6 portable SSD

Amazon has knocked up to 55 percent off Crucial external and internal SSDs, including the 2TB Crucial X6 portable SSD for $90. That’s 55 percent off and only $10 more than it was during Prime Day in July. This drive has read speeds up to 800 MB/s and works with a variety of devices including Mac and Windows laptops, iPads and even some game consoles. It’s also quite small, so it will fit into nearly any bag when you need to take it on the go.

Apple Watch Ultra (1st gen)

The first-gen Apple Watch Ultra has been discounted by $100 on Amazon, bringing it to $699 instead of $799. The discount only applies to the watch with the orange Alpine Loop in small. The medium and large bands are about a dollar more, and watches with different colored bands aren't discounted. We gave the first Apple Watch Ultra an 85 in our review, praising its long battery life, bright display and useful fitness and health features. It doesn't have the Ultra 2's double-tap navigation system and S9 SiP (system-in-package) processor for on-board Siri requests, but if all you need is a rugged watch with lots of hiking, running and other activity features, now's your chance to save. The second-gen Apple Watch Ultra is available now, and it currently has a small discount that brings it down to $774.

Amazon Fire Omni QLED TVs

All sizes of Amazon’s Fire TV Omni QLED Series are on sale ahead of October's sale. The 43-, 50-, 55- and 65-inch models are down to $380, $400, $440 and $600, respectively. Those match or beat the prices we saw for July's Prime Day. The Fire TV Omni QLED sets are best for people who like Amazon’s Fire interface, which is easy enough to figure out, though the OS tends to push you towards Amazon's own content. Beyond that Fire TVs do a good job of integrating Alexa's helpfulness with a useful voice remote, and hands-free smart home support. And if you don't feel like having Alexa listening in, you can turn off the mics with a built-in switch.

Your Fall Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s car experts on must-shop auto-related Prime Day deals and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

You may know NordVPN from its popular ambassador program, taking social media by storm as influencers sign up to make money advertising the virtual private network. But despite its popularity, it didn’t make the list of the nine top providers we published in June. After vigorous testing, I concluded it was a bit overhyped for the price, lacking features considered standard in lower cost options.

Geoblocking, streaming and gaming are the three main VPN use cases. So, to test out NordVPN and its competitors, I used them to watch Canadian Netflix from my US-based home, played an online game from a UK-based server and streamed a news channel on YouTube via a Hong Kong-based VPN.

NordVPN was easy to sign up for, offering options like opting in to automatic updates to keep the service running at the latest version. Depending on the tier you pick, you can also get access to NordPass, the company’s password manager, or NordLocker, a file encryption software. The “complete” package runs at $5.79 per month.

The best VPNs stay out of your way and you'll barely even notice they’re running. That was pretty much the case with NordVPN. It passed our basic privacy tests, like successfully masking the IP address, and the DNS and WebRTC leak tests.It was also easy to access geo-blocked content, stream on YouTube and game using NordVPN, with little-to-no buffering. We ran a ping test, which measures internet latency. It took 75 milliseconds with NordVPN on, which isn't a lot slower than 62 ms with it off.

NordVPN supports up to six devices at once, which means I could conduct all tests simultaneously and still had no slowdown. That’s great for sharing it with a family, or folks that like to game, watch TV and scroll on their phone at the same time. Those connectivity options come with a caveat: the devices have to run on different VPN protocols if they’re connected to the same server. NordVPN has more than 5,000 servers in 60 countries, and offers a variety of device support from gaming systems to Raspberry Pi devices to streaming services.

Still, NordVPN’s security history is less than ideal. NordVPN is based in Panama, a country with limited data sharing laws. It uses industry-standard AES 256-bit encryption and a modification on the WireGuard protocol to avoid temporarily collecting IP addresses. It does third-party security audits and has a vulnerability disclosure program, two indicators of taking privacy basics seriously. But it’s not open source, and when it comes to data privacy, it falls short because of its patterns of collecting and storing unnecessary user information. Notably, NordVPN also failed to disclose a 2018 data breach in a timely manner. It wasn’t until a security researcher discussed it publicly, over a year after the incident, that NordVPN owned up to it.

NordVPN’s history of loaded terms and deceptive advertising also just didn’t sit well with me. The UK-based Advertising Standards Authority ruled a 2019 NordVPN ad as misleading, by exaggerating the risk from data theft. It makes sweeping claims about what’s possible with its VPN that are impossible to prove.

For an option so highly talked about, the experience using NordVPN was just… fine. It didn’t stand out, unlike ProtonVPN that offered a more comprehensive suite of products alongside the VPN and higher security measures. That’s why Nord didn’t make the cut as one of the top choices I’d recommend.