Netflix has canceled its much-hyped and equally maligned Cowboy Bebop adaptation. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the streaming giant decided against renewing the series. The decision comes just three weeks after the show's November 19th premiere. Like with many of its other high-profile cancellations, Netflix is said to have weighed the show's viewership numbers with the potential cost of filming another season.

The cancellation shouldn't come as a surprise, however. Many reviews of Cowboy Bebop were critical of the adaptation. Here at Engadget, we said it was "everything wrong with nostalgia reboots." Even if the series had been better, it's safe to say it had an impossible task before it. Cowboy Bebop is one of the most-loved anime series in history. For many western fans of a certain age, it was their introduction to the medium and they would have been critical of the final product no matter what direction the crew took it. 

As of today, there’s yet another way to access YouTube TV. Google’s streaming television service is now available on Comcast’sXfinity Flex set-top boxes. It joins Sling TV and Hulu + Live TV as one of three alternatives to the company's own Xfinity TV service.

As with the other platforms where it’s available, YouTube TV offers access to more than 85 channels, including ones from ABC, CBS and Fox. It also comes with unlimited cloud DVR storage and support for three simultaneous streams. Outside of the app, you can access the service using the Xfinity Voice Remote. The announcement comes just one day after Google and Roku reached a multi-year deal to end a dispute that had seen the YouTube TV app removed from the Roku Store.

Following a private beta release in 2020, Horizon Worlds is now available to download for free in the US and Canada. The only caveat is that you need to be 18 or older to access the social VR playground. With today’s announcement, Meta is also debuting a new minigame inside of Horizon Worlds called Arena Clash. It’s a three-on-three take on laser tag.

The company’s hope is that users will do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to creating the experiences that will turn Horizon Worlds into something people want to visit regularly. To that end, you’ll find new templates and mechanics you can use to create your own games. Similarly, it’s now also possible to modify working scripts for that same purpose.

Horizon Worlds is one of the pillars of Meta’s metaverse strategy, but what the technology will actually look like once you get past the flashy demos the company showed off at its recent Connect conference is hard to say. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg described it as “an embodied internet where you’re in the experience, not just looking at it.” Beyond that, however, the company has yet to present a cohesive vision of where the technology is headed.

After more than 15 years off the air, Reading Rainbow will return to TV in early 2022. Per CBS News, this latest version of the classic children’s show will be known as Reading Rainbow Live. It will feature an interactive component that kids will be able to access through Looped. The platform will allow viewers to ask questions of the cast, and participate in games. Naturally, Reading Rainbow Live will also be available to stream online.

The original debuted in 1983 and was famously hosted by LeVar Burton. The Star Trek: The Next Generation actor won’t be involved in the new project, at least not as a host. Instead, a cast of “Rainbows” will share that duty. What won’t change is the format of the show. As before, each episode will be about 25 minutes and will try to teach audiences through music, field trips, cultural experiences and the book of the day of course.

Creative Director Amy Guglielmo told CBS News the new show is partly a response to the pandemic. “We know it was a tough pandemic for parents, for caregivers, for teachers,” she said. “We wanted to make sure that we have kids engaging with books and we’re going to use movement and music to engage kids in learning.”

You won’t find a clear distinction between organic search results and paid ads on Amazon, according to a complaint the Strategic Organizing Center filed on Wednesday with the Federal Trade Commission. The organization, which is a coalition of labor unions, analyzed more than 130,000 search results and found that about 28 percent of the results you see on Amazon represent ads. What’s more, SOC says those ads don’t comply with FTC guidelines designed to make it possible for consumers to distinguish between sponsored content and organic search results.

In 2013, the agency said companies should feature prominent shading or borders, in addition to clear text that is properly situated and sized to avoid confusion. SOC found that zero percent of Amazon’s advertisements featured prominent shading and only about 1.1 percent had an easily distinguished border. When it came to the company’s use of “sponsored” labels, SOC found that in about 22 percent of ads the disclosure was buried under more prominent labels, such as ones that said “Highly rated” and “Today’s deals.” Additionally, those disclosures used a font that was smaller and lighter than the ones the company employed to advertise if a product was liked by other customers or part of a deal.

Elsewhere, SOC claims Amazon employs a technique called “lazy loading” where sponsored labels take longer to appear, particularly on slower internet connections. Using a 12 to 25Mbps connection, the organization found those labels could take up to three seconds longer to load than the top banner ad. We’ll note here we had difficulty verifying that claim at Engadget.

SOC has asked the FTC to take “aggressive and swift action” against the company. "Amazon’s violations are so omnipresent that Amazon’s representation that its platform presents ‘search results’ to consumers is itself deceptive," it said.

Amazon disputes SOC's findings. “This report is incorrect and misunderstands FTC guidance – ads in Amazon’s store always include a clear and prominent ‘sponsored’ label, implemented in accordance with FTC guidelines,” an Amazon spokesperson told Engadget. “We design our store to help customers discover products we think may best meet their needs – sponsored ads is one of the ways to help them find products they may be interested in.”

It’s hard to say if the FTC will take up SOC’s complaint against Amazon. And, even if it does, what kind of action it could take against the company. Part of the problem here is that the agency’s own guidelines leave some room open for interpretation.

“We understand that there is not any one specific method for clearly and prominently distinguishing advertising from natural search results, and that search engines may develop new methods for distinguishing advertising results,” the FTC said in 2013. “Any method may be used, so long as it is noticeable and understandable to consumers.”

At the same time, this is exactly the kind of issue the agency is likely willing to take up under recently appointed chair Lina Khan. In 2017, Khan, then a student at Yale Law School, published an article titled “Amazon's Antitrust Paradox” in which she argued current US policies and laws weren’t enough to keep companies like Amazon accountable.

Back at WWDC 2021, Apple said that iOS 15 and watchOS 8 would allow iPhone and Apple Watch owners to store digital hotel keys on their devices. While that feature didn’t quite make the release of those two updates, it’s now available at six Hyatt locations across the US. As you might expect, it allows you to store a digital version of your hotel keycard in Apple Wallet.

You can add the keycard at any point after you reserve a room. However, you’ll still need to check in at the front desk before you can use your iPhone or Apple Watch to enter your guestroom or any other restricted area within the hotel. The digital keycards support Apple Wallet’s Express Mode feature, which means you don’t need to authenticate your identity with Face ID or Touch ID every time you want to use the feature.

If at any point you decide to extend your stay or change rooms, the hotel can update your keycard without the need for you to visit the front desk. What’s more, if your device starts running low on battery life and enters Power Reserve mode, you can still use your iPhone or Apple Watch as a keycard for up to five hours.

The six locations where you can use your iPhone or Apple Watch to store a keycard are as follows: Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort, Hyatt Centric Key West Resort and Spa, Hyatt House Chicago/West Loop-Fulton Market, Hyatt House Dallas/Richardson, Hyatt Place Fremont/Silicon Valley and Hyatt Regency Long Beach.

Hyatt says it expects to roll out the technology to all of its locations globally. Sometime next year, Apple also plans to allow iOS 15 and watchOS 8 to store government issued IDs from select states as well.

Since the start of 2021, The Trevor Project, the largest suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ young people, has used an AI technology called the Crisis Contact Simulator to train its counselors on how to talk to in-crisis youth. The tool essentially simulates what a conversation like that may look like with the help of AI chatbots. At launch, the CCS came with access to one such “persona.” Today, The Trevor Project is adding a second one called Drew. The new chatbot represents a fictional youth in their early 20s who lives in California and faces bullying and harassment.

Since implementing its first persona, the aptly named Trevor, in February, the organization says the technology has helped train more than 1,000 counselors. One thing to note here is The Trevor Project is using the Crisis Contact Simulator to complement its existing training methods; the tool is not a replacement for in-person training. It allows new applicants to complete two roleplay sessions at a time that works best for them. It also claims the chatbots offer an accurate representation of today’s Gen Z youth, complete with “realistic” capitalization and punctuation.

“Starting from the first conception of the Crisis Contact Simulator two years ago, it has always been our hope to develop a variety of training roleplay personas that represent the diverse experiences and intersectional identities of the LGBTQ young people we serve, each with their own stories and feelings,” said Dan Fichter, The Trevor Project’s head of AI and engineering. “We’re excited to deploy Drew with our trainees to offer a wider variety of practice scenarios and narratives, which will better prepare them to connect with any young person in a moment of crisis when the time comes.”

The Trevor Project is no stranger to the tech world. The organization has previously worked with Google and Facebook to offer crisis intervention.

Apple Music's recently announced Voice Plan will launch alongside iOS 15.2, according to the patch notes the company shared for the update's release candidate. The changelog was first spotted by MacStories editor-in-chief Federico Viticci. When Apple first announced the more affordable tier at its fall Mac event in October, the company said it would become available "later this fall" in 17 countries, including the US, UK and Canada.

The plan will offer access to Apple Music's entire song catalog for $5 per month, provided you're willing to rely on Siri for control. You can play specific tracks and playlists, as well as complete albums on your Apple devices. What the tier doesn't offer is access to the Apple Music interface.

We've reached out to Apple to confirm it plans to launch the Voice Plan alongside iOS 15.2. The update will add a handful of other new features, including a toggle that allows iPhone 13 Pro owners to turn on and off the camera's included macro mode. Based on the timing of the release candidate, Apple is likely to push out iOS 15.2 soon.

Twitter is testing a feature that allows people to append one-time content warnings to images and videos they share through the platform. The company announced the test on Tuesday, noting it’s available to “some of you.” If you have access to the feature, you’ll see a new flag icon in the image editing interface, which you can access by tapping on the three dots icon that appears at the bottom right of a photo when you add one to a tweet. In its current iteration, you can add warnings for nudity, violence and otherwise sensitive content.

“The tweet author flagged this tweet as showing sensitive content,” says the warning Twitter appends to an image when you tell the app you’re sharing something sensitive. We’ve reached out to Twitter to see if the company will share more information about the feature. The test comes one week after the company banned the sharing of private images and videos without consent. This latest feature should help Twitter users protect their followers from accidentally exposing themselves to content that might be upsetting or otherwise difficult to watch.

Instagram makes it trivial for teens as young as 13 to find and buy drugs like MDMA and Xanax, according to a newly published report from the Tech Transparency Project. The organization recently conducted an investigation where it created a series of fake accounts to test the safeguards Instagram has in place to protect young people from potentially deadly pharmaceuticals.

While hashtags like #mdma are banned on the platform, TTP found it was easy to skirt those restrictions with an account tied to a minor. Using MDMA as an example, the organization found it could employ terms like “mdmamolly” to find people who were selling the substance. In fact, the app’s search algorithm made it easy to find those hashtags, with its autocomplete feature pointing researchers in the right direction.

To make matters worse, once someone follows even just one account belonging to an alleged drug dealer, Instagram’s recommendation algorithm will suggest the user follow similar profiles. Despite Instagram's Community Guidelines prohibiting “buying or selling non-medical or pharmaceutical drugs,” TTP found many drug dealers operate openly on the platform.

Separately, TTP says Instagram did not take decisive action against the content it found on the platform. The organization claims it submitted 50 posts to the company for review. Of those, Instagram said 36 (or 72 percent) did not violate its Community Guidelines, despite what TTP says were “clear signs” of drug dealing activity. At the time of publishing, the company had only banned one account flagged by TTP. However, when the organization went to check on that profile, it was still up on Instagram along with all of its violating content.

“We prohibit drug sales on Instagram. We removed 1.8 million pieces of content related to drug sales in the last quarter alone, and due to our improving detection technology, the prevalence of such content is about 0.05 percent of content viewed, or about 5 views per every 10,000,” Stephanie Otway, a spokesperson for Meta, told Engadget. “We’ll continue to improve in this area in our ongoing efforts to keep Instagram safe, particularly for our youngest community members.”

The report comes just one day before Adam Mosseri is slated to testify to the Senate about Instagram’s impact on young users. The platform has faced increasing scrutiny in recent weeks following testimony from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. According to Haugen, Meta, then Facebook, knew from its own internal research Instagram was harmful to many teens and yet the company disregarded those warnings. TTP’s findings are likely to inform some of the questions the consumer protection subcommittee asks Mosseri on Wednesday.