LG’s display division will showcase two flexible OLED concepts at CES 2022 – assuming the pandemic doesn’t claim the annual trade show as its latest victim. The first one is the “Virtual Ride” stationary bike. It features three vertical 55-inch OLED displays that form one continuous screen in front and above the rider. The topmost panel has a 500R curvature radius. According to LG Display, that’s the most extreme curve among large screens to date.

LG

The second concept is the “Media Chair.” It’s a recliner with a 55-inch OLED TV attached to it. It features a 1,500R curvature, which LG says is ideal for a use case like this one. It also includes the company’s Cinematic Sound OLED technology, allowing the display to create sound without external speakers. Lastly, the display can alternate between portrait and landscape orientations with the touch of a button located on the armrest of the chair.

Like with most CES concepts, the likelihood we’ll see LG commercial either the Virtual Ride or Media Chair is slim. That’s not to say the company hasn’t brought some of its past concepts to market (the OLED R comes to mind), but it’s better to see these latest ones as a showcase of how much LG’s display technology has advanced in recent years.

Steam’s Winter Sale is now underway. From today until January 5th, Valve is offering steep discounts on some of the best PC games you can buy right now. For instance, Arkane’s thrilling immersive simDeathloop, which only came out this past September, is currently 50 percent off, making it $30 at the moment.

Another recent highlight, Sony’s Horizon Zero Dawn, is currently $25, down from $50. If season two of The Witcher has made you want to experience more of Geralt’s adventures, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is 80 percent off. You can pick up the Game of the Year edition, which includes the game’s fantastic Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine expansions, for just under $10.

If indies are more your jam, one of my personal favorites from the past year, Death’s Door, is 25 percent off until the new year. For $15, you can’t get a much better Zelda-inspired title than that. Eastward, an action RPG with one of the most beautiful pixel art styles in recent memory, is 10 percent off, marking the first time it’s been on sale. If you want to catch up on some older gems, may we suggest Disco Elysium and Hades? They’re currently priced at $18 and $16.24, respectively.

We’ll also note here both GOG and the Epic Games Store recently kicked off their own winter sales, so if you prefer those storefronts, make sure to check them out too.

Weird West, the new immersive sim from Arkane co-founder Raphael Colantonio, won’t come out this year. On Wednesday, Colantonio’s Wolfeye Studios said it was delaying the title to March 31st, 2022. In an email Weird West publisher Devolver Digital sent to Engadget, Wolfeye said it needs more time to address various bugs and other issues.

As part of the game’s closed beta, players have found accidental deadends that can come up as part of gameplay, making it impossible to complete a playthrough. Those types of issues are not unusual for an immersive sim where a player’s choices can have a dramatic effect on the state of the game world. In Weird West, there’s the added complication that time moves forward even if your character dies. To that end, Wolfeye said it wants to create the best possible experience, even if it means fans have to wait another three months to experience its first project. 

A group of 13 Democratic senators led by Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Jack Reed of Rhode Island has called on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to answer how Facebook handled misinformation enforcement ahead of the January 6th US Capitol attack. Citing documents and testimony shared by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, they say they want to know why the company "prematurely" removed safeguards it had in place before the 2020 presidential election.

"This action allowed misinformation, disinformation, and violent rhetoric to return to the platform immediately following Election Day and in the lead-up to the January 6th insurrection," the group said.

Many of the questions center around Meta's defunct Civic Integrity team. During her testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security, Haugen said that the company dissolved shortly after the 2020 election. That's a claim Meta has consistently disputed.

"We did not disband Civic Integrity," Guy Rosen, Meta vice president for integrity, told Time in October. "We integrated it into a larger Central Integrity team so that the incredible work pioneered for elections could be applied even further, for example, across health-related issues. Their work continues to this day."

To that point, the group asks Zuckerberg when Meta made the decision to disband the team and who ultimately made it. They also want to know what part of Meta is currently responsible for overseeing its efforts to prevent election-related misinformation, in addition to details like how many employees the company has assigned to that division. Beyond those questions, the group says they want to know how Meta plans to protect the integrity of future elections.

"While we acknowledge the efforts Facebook took to prevent the spread of election-related misinformation and disinformation, violent rhetoric, and harassment prior to the 2020 elections, it clearly was not enough to prevent lies about the election from taking root on the platform and fueling violence against our democracy," Klobuchar, Reed and the 11 other senators said.

The group stops short of threatening regulatory action against Meta. It's possible the Senate could call on Zuckerberg to testify much like Instagram head Adam Mosseri was asked to do earlier this month. While most US lawmakers agree more needs to be done to regulate Facebook and other social media platforms, Democrats and Republicans have found little common ground on how to approach the issue.

Google’s nascent Android Automotive operating system is not available on many cars yet, and the app selection can feel limited at times, but today it’s adding a web browser to its arsenal. And, no, we don’t mean Chrome. As of today, the privacy-focused Vivaldi browser is available on Polestar 2 vehicles. It’s a first for Android Automotive and the company, which had yet to offer its software on vehicles before today.

Vivaldi says safety was one of its top priorities when porting the browser over to Android Automotive. To that end, it’s only possible to start a session when your car is parked. If you start streaming something and then resume driving, Vivaldi will limit the video to audio-only. 

Naturally, privacy was also a priority for the team. The browser won’t store your browsing data on the car whenever you open a private tab. If you want to transfer your data between devices, you can do so by signing into your Vivaldi account. That information is something the company says Polestar won’t be able to access.

The Android Automotive version of Vivaldi is based on the company’s mobile release. You won’t find some functionality that is available in the desktop version – for instance, accordion tabs are missing – and Vivaldi has disabled a handful of other features. It’s not possible to download files and scan QR codes, for example. Otherwise, there aren’t many differences between the Android Automotive release and other versions of Vivaldi, and the company says updates will come at a regular cadence.

Google now lets you customize how its Voice service handles incoming calls. Starting today, you can configure the app to forward calls from either individual or groups of contacts to a linked phone number or your voicemail. Separately, you can set a rule that plays custom voicemail greetings for specific contacts. And if you want to avoid taking calls unless absolutely necessary, you can tell it to screen individuals.

Google said the new options allow users to route incoming calls in ways that complement their existing workflows. To start using the feature, head over to the Google Voice website and click the cog icon located toward the top of the interface. Then click “Calls,” followed by “Choose a rule.” Note that on the mobile app, it’s only possible to view rules you’ve already set; you can’t establish new ones — at least not yet.

Despite holding the distinction of being one of Google's longest-running services, Voice has received only sporadic attention from the search giant in recent years. Before today, the most recent update the company issued for Voice was to disable one of its most useful features. That's led to fears Google may discontinue the service soon, but today's update would indicate Voice has legs yet.

The European Commission has approved Microsoft’s $19.7 billion bid to buy Nuance Communications. The regulator said on Tuesday the proposed acquisition “would raise no competition concerns” within the European Union. In analyzing the bid, it found that “Microsoft and Nuance offer very different products.” Moreover, it believes the company will continue to face “strong” competition from other firms in the future.

Before today, the US and Australia had both signed off on the purchase, but it’s not yet a done deal. On December 13th, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority said it would investigate the transaction. With the regulator accepting public comments until January 10th, 2022, it’s unlikely the deal will close by the end of 2021 as Microsoft had said it would when it first announced its intention to buy Nuance. 

Since October, Microsoft and Adidas have been releasing commemorative Xbox-themed sneakers to mark the brand's 20th anniversary. It all started with a pair of Forum Tech shoes the two companies gave away to a group of lucky fans. Then, in November, they released a pair of Xbox 360-themed Forum Mid sneakers you could buy in the US and Canada. Now, for their third and final drop, the two have come out with an Xbox Series X-inspired design that's available to purchase worldwide.

This time around, Microsoft and Adidas say they went with the Tech Boost silhouette because, like the Xbox Series X/S, it's a design that acknowledges the past while incorporating new technologies. As with the other sneakers in the series, you'll find plenty of clever references. For instance, the inner lining of the shoes draws on the design of the Xbox Series X's vents. Meanwhile, the heel and sole of shoes mirror the grips of the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller.

"Overall, we wanted to create a shoe that cemented a moment in time, but also felt timeless," Microsoft said. "This is a shoe that is meant to be played in, meant to be worn, and meant to be enjoyed by our community – one that's always played in, and never played out."

You can buy the Xbox Series X Forum Tech Boost from the Adidas website for $140. If you're not a sneakerhead, Microsoft has released other commemorative products to mark the console's 20th birthday, including a translucent controller that pays homage to the original Xbox debug kit.

One of the internet’s most vocal proponents of Bitcoin voiced an unusually uncharacteristic opinion against Web3 this week. On Monday, Square Block CEO Jack Dorsey took to Twitter to warn blockchain enthusiasts how Web3 has already been co-opted by investors. “You don’t own ‘web3,’” he said in a message spotted by Bloomberg. “The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label. Know what you’re getting into…”

Web3 is the term many in the crypto community use to describe the next iteration of the internet. With the help of technologies like blockchain, they argue the internet will become a more decentralized entity, free of the institutional players that have dominated it since the early days of the platform. Investment firms like Andreessen Horowitz have been some of the most vocal supporters of companies in the space. As of October, the firm had set aside $3.1 billion to invest in crypto and Web3 startups. “It’s somewhere between a and z,” Dorsey said, referencing “a16z,” its nickname when Tesla CEO Elon Musk joined the conversation to ask if “anyone has seen web3?”

It’s unclear what prompted Dorsey to take to Twitter to say what he did. After all, this is the man who wanted the world to know he had a Bitcoin clock in his kitchen when he testified before Congress. It should also be noted Dorsey runs a company that is heavily involved in blockchain technologies.

What is clear is that his tweet caused a stir. As of the writing of this article, the post has attracted more than 5,000 retweets, 2,000 quote tweets and 31,000 likes. Naturally, the Bored Ape contingent showed up to tell Dorsey he was “dead wrong,” but just as many people came to offer support, calling him “based” for his tweet.

For all the buzz Dorsey’s tweet generated, there’s a kernel of truth to what he said. On Monday, The Wall Street Journal, citing a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research, determined 0.01 percent of those who hold Bitcoin control 27 percent of the digital currency. Another recent study from Nature found that just ten percent of NFT investors completed 85 percent of all transactions involving those assets. Decentralization indeed.

Popular virtual reality workout app Supernatural is partnering with comedian Tiffany Haddish to release a new workout series. Part of its upcoming This Year, Be You campaign, the collaboration will add four new workouts for users to check out once 2022 arrives. You’ll find one new routine in each of Supernatural’s main fitness categories. Expect the experiences to take you to virtual locations modeled after beaches in Spain and Portugal, rice terraces in China and salt flats in Bolivia.

The two came to work together after developer Within found out Haddish was a big fan of its app. In April, Haddish took to Instagram to lament that she had managed to break the strap to her Oculus Meta Quest headset while working out with Supernatural. One day later, Within, which is at the center of an FTC probe involving Meta’s plan to acquire the studio, sent her a custom headset. “I became addicted to Supernatural last year,” Haddish said. “I’ve never felt so powerful or had so much fun working out.” 

All four workouts will be available starting on January 1st, 2022.