iPhone 12 and 13 owners take note, Amazon has launched a one-day Anker sale that includes a handful of products from the company’s MagGo line of MagSafe-compatible accessories. To start, you can pick up Anker’s 622 magnetic battery in Interstellar Gray, Dolomite White and Misty Blue for $45, instead of $60. As far as battery packs go, this 5,000mAh model has a handful of nifty features. It includes a built-in foldable kickstand that allows you to stand your iPhone 12 or 13 upright. It also comes with a USB-C port, so you can charge your iPhone without a Lightning cable.

Another accessory that’s on sale is the 633 wireless charger. The Interstellar Gray model is currently priced at $84, down from $120. The 633 is perfect for those who own both a recent iPhone and a pair of AirPods Pro since it can charge both devices simultaneously. It also comes with a 5,000mAh battery pack that attaches to your iPhone 12 or 13. Anker claims the power cell will extend the battery life of your phone by up to 17 hours. The magnet that attaches the two together is strong enough that you can orient the device horizontally and it will stay in place.

Lastly, also on sale is the 637 desktop charging station. If you’ve read our iPhone accessory guide, you know all about this monster of a dock. Not only can it wirelessly charge an iPhone, but it also comes with two USB-A ports, two USB-C connections and three AC outlets. It also looks pretty adorable with its spherical design. You can currently pick up the Anker 637 MagGo dock for $75, instead of $100. What’s more, you don’t have to skip the model you most want since all three available colors are included in the sale.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Cogent Communications, an internet backbone provider that carries approximately 25 percent of all global web traffic, has begun cutting ties with Russian businesses in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The company told The Washington Post it was doing so to prevent the Kremlin from using its network to carry out cyberattacks and spread misinformation about the ongoing conflict.

“Our goal is not to hurt anyone. It’s just to not empower the Russian government to have another tool in their war chest,” Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer told the outlet, adding “it was a tough decision.” In a statement to ZDNet, the company said it was also complying with European Union sanctions against Russia Today and Sputnik. “Cogent is not otherwise restricting or blocking traffic originating from or destined for Russia. Cogent continues to provide services to Ukraine,” the company added.

The move is expected to disrupt and slow down internet connectivity. Some of Cogent’s Russian clients include state-owned telecom operator Rostelecom, one of the country’s largest internet providers, and wireless carriers Megafon and Veon. Cogent said it was working with some of those companies to provide them extensions.

Some experts worry the move will also prevent Russians from accessing information that doesn’t come from the Kremlin. “I would like to convey to people all over the world that if you turn off the Internet in Russia, then this means cutting off 140 million people from at least some truthful information,” Mikhail Klimarev, the executive director of Russia’s Internet Protection Society, told The Washington Post. “As long as the Internet exists, people can find out the truth. There will be no Internet — all people in Russia will only listen to propaganda.”

To that point, Russians already can’t access Facebook and Twitter after the country’s government moved to restrict those platforms. They may soon lose access to Wikipedia as well.

Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming service recently added Flight Simulator, allowing you to play the game on Xbox One, phones, tablets and web browsers via the cloud. But unlike the PC version of the title, you can’t use a keyboard and mouse to control your plane. However, that’s about to change, according to Flight Simulator head Jorg Neumann.

In a developer Q&A spotted by Windows Central, Neumann said Microsoft is working on adding platform-level support for the feature, suggesting most games on Xbox Cloud Gaming could eventually include the input method. “So the platform team is working on this. I know I can't give a date because it's the platform team. I don't know their dates, but it's coming," he said. “I’m hoping it will be done by June or so, but I can’t ever tell.”

Responding to The Verge, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the company was working on the feature but declined to provide a release date. “At launch, Microsoft Flight Simulator supports standard controller inputs for cloud gaming,” they said. “The team is experimenting with touch/gyro and is excited to embrace M&K once it’s available on the platform but we have no specific announcements or timing to share at this time.”

Keyboard and mouse support would be a useful addition to Xbox Cloud Gaming for a couple of reasons. For one, it would allow PC and Mac owners to play games like Halo Infinite without buying a gamepad. Instead, they could use the peripherals they already have on hand. Secondly, it would make it easier for Microsoft to bring PC exclusives like Age of Empires IV to the service.

Amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, PayPal has temporarily stopped offering its services in Russia, according to Reuters. In a tweet spotted by The Verge, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov shared a letter from PayPal CEO Dan Schulman confirming the move. “Under the current circumstances, we are suspending PayPal services in Russia,” Schulman states in the letter. “PayPal supports the Ukrainian people and stands with the international community in condemning Russia’s violent military aggression in Ukraine." 

A spokesperson for PayPal told Reuters the company would continue to allow withdrawals “for a period of time, ensuring that account balances are dispersed in line with applicable laws and regulations.” Before its latest decision on Saturday, the company had previously stopped accepting new Russian users as of March 2nd. PayPal’s current suspension includes its Xoom money transfer service. It’s worth noting western sanctions had already made it so that Russian consumers couldn’t make online purchases from retailers registered in the US and EU, so the suspension may not be as disruptive as it seems. 

Some of Samsung’s confidential data has reportedly leaked due to a suspected cyberattack. On Friday, South American hacking group Lapsus$ uploaded a trove of data it claims came from the smartphone manufacturer. Bleeping Computer was among the first publications to report on the incident.

Among other information, the collective says it obtained the bootloader source code for all of Samsung’s recent devices, in addition to code related to highly sensitive features like biometric authentication and on-device encryption. The leak also allegedly includes confidential data from Qualcomm. The entire database contains approximately 190GB of data and is actively being shared in a torrent. If the contents of the leak are accurate, they could cause significant damage to Samsung.

According to The Korean Herald, the company is assessing the situation. We’ve reached out to Samsung for comment.

If Lapsus$ sounds familiar, it’s the same group that claimed responsibility for the recent NVIDIA data breach. In that incident, Lapsus$ says it obtained approximately 1TB of confidential data from the GPU designer, including, the group claims, the schematics and driver source code. The collective has demanded that NVIDIA open source its drivers and remove the cryptocurrency mining limiter from its RTX 30-series GPUs. It’s unclear what, if any demands, Lapsus$ has made of Samsung. The group has previously said its actions haven’t been politically motivated.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said some governments recently told the company to block Russian media outlets from its Starlink satellite broadband service. In a tweet he sent out early Saturday, Musk declared the company would not comply with the request "unless at gunpoint." According to Musk, the demand hadn't come from Ukraine. "Sorry to be a free speech absolutist," he added.

Musk also said SpaceX would temporarily shift its priorities to focus on cybersecurity and overcoming signal jamming, a decision he noted would cause "slight delays" in the rollout of its Starship reusable rocket and Starlink V2 satellites.

SpaceX's position puts it at odds with a growing list of companies that have blocked access to Russian state media across Europe in the wake of the country's invasion of Ukraine. On February 27th, the European Union said it would ban Russian state-backed media outlets Russia Today and Sputnik for their role in spreading misinformation and "lies to justify Putin's war." Both Facebook and YouTube were quick to comply with the order, restricting access to the outlets across their European footprint.

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.

Twitter is reportedly working on a podcasts tab. The feature was unearthed by developer Jane Manchun Wong who shared a screenshot of the new UI element on Wednesday. Based on the image, you’ll access the tab from the bottom of Twitter’s mobile interface. What’s interesting about the screenshot is that there’s no dedicated tab for Spaces, which is something that exists in the current iteration of the app.

It’s hard to imagine Twitter pivoting away from live audio in such a way, particularly after investing so much into the format. As such, we wouldn’t read too much into the screenshot just yet. That said, we’ve reached out to Twitter to see if the company has anything to say about the matter. If the company is about to add a podcasts tab, it wouldn’t be surprising. Podcasts have become big business in recent years, particularly for companies like Spotify that have invested heavily in original content. 

Elden Ring isn’t the only recent game with a new update out today. Guerrilla Games has released patch 1.06 for Horizon Forbidden West and it addresses a number of issues that have been part of the experience since it came out on February 18th. In particular, it resolves a handful of bugs that prevented players from completing the “Reach for the Stars” main quest. For instance, Varl won’t get stuck swimming anymore and therefore won’t prevent a prompt from showing up that you need to move the mission forward.

A separate fix resolves an infinite black screen bug that occurred when players stored the Champion’s Spear and then started a tutorial or a challenge in the Chainscrape Melee Pit. But the one particular change that caught our eye is that Aloy won’t mention her stash as frequently after installing the patch. That should make your adventures in Horizon Forbidden West a bit more meditative. You can read the full list of changes patch 1.06 makes to the game over on Reddit.

The backlash to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to build. According to Variety, Netflix has “paused” all future projects it had planned to undertake within the country. The company had four original productions underway in Russia, including one directed by Dasha Zhuk that was in shooting before the decision. According to Deadline, Netflix has one untitled series that will be completed. The fate of the two other projects is less clear. In particular, the company reportedly hasn't made a decision about what to do with Anna K, its high-profile adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina.

The move comes after Netflix said it would not comply with Russia’s Vitrina TV law. The measure requires that audiovisual companies with more than 100,000 subscribers carry 20 free state channels, including NTV and Spa. In December, the country’s Roskomnadzor telecom regulator said Netflix would have to comply with the law, but Russia had yet to enforce it before the company made its decision at the start of the week. At the time, Netflix said it had “no plans” to offer the required programming due to the “current situation.”

Like that move, the decision to halt a handful of productions may be more of a symbolic gesture than a major sacrifice on Netflix’s part. The company only began offering a localized version of its platform in Russia about a year ago, and it reportedly has fewer than 1 million subscribers in the country. It also doesn't have an office in the country, nor any employees.   

We've reached out to Netflix for comment.