The rumors of direct iPhone contactless payments were true. Apple has revealed Tap to Pay on iPhone, an upcoming feature that will let businesses accept payments just by bumping handsets (and the Apple Watch). Stores won't need dongles, terminals or other hardware to take your money.

The technology requires an iPhone XS or later and unsurprisingly supports Apple Pay, but it will also work with other digital wallets, third-party payment platforms and contact-free credit and debit cards. Stripe is already planning to offer Tap to Pay on iPhone to business customers, including Shopify's Point of Sale app, in the spring. Other platforms and apps are coming later in 2022, Apple said, with a future iOS beta giving developers their first chance to implement Tap to Pay.

The tech will initially be available in the US, but it will work with common payment cards from American Express, Discover, Mastercard and Visa. American Apple Stores will support Tap to Pay on iPhone later in the year.

Apple is promising the same levels of privacy and security you normally get with its tap-to-pay functionality, including encrypted transactions. The company doesn't know who's making a purchase or what you're buying.

This isn't a surprising move. Apple bought Mobeewave in 2020 with a not-so-subtle hint it would use the Canadian startup to turn iPhones into payment terminals. This also furthers Apple's ever-growing payments strategy which also includes Apple Pay, Apple Pay Cash and Apple Card. It's also a potential blow against Android — in theory, shops that embrace an iPhone-based payment system will be slightly less convenient for Android-toting customers.

It's safe to presume this will pose trouble for companies that have thrived on phone-based payment hardware, like Block's Square brand. While these firms frequently rely more on their services for income than devices, they may have to support Apple's new feature in their apps to remain competitive.

Nintendo is ready to hold its first Direct livestream of 2022, and it promises to start the year in grand fashion. The company has revealed plans for a 40-minute Direct on February 9th at 5PM ET that will "mainly" focus on Switch games debuting in the first half of 2022.

The timing gives some idea of what to expect. There's a good chance you'll hear about Nintendo's own Kirby and the Forgotten Land (March 25th), and you might hear about soon-to-come third-party titles like Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (April 5th) or Life is Strange: Remastered Collection (spring).

With that in mind, there are more than a few wildcards this time around. Some of the biggest Switch games of the year only have a generic 2022 release window, including Splatoon 3, Bayonetta 3 and the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel. There's no guarantee you'll hear about any of these major releases during the Nintendo Direct, but we wouldn't be surprised if there are some earlier-than-expected launches or previously unannounced projects.

Meta and its Oversight Board are frequently at odds, but this time they're working in concert. The Oversight Board has recommended Meta implement stricter anti-doxxing policies on Facebook and Instagram after the social media giant requested the Board's advice on sharing private addresses and images. Most notably, the Board asked Meta to remove an exception letting people share private residence info when it's considered "publicly available." That data usually requires effort to obtain from public records, according to the Board, but its tendency to spread rapidly on social networks significantly increases the potential for real-world harm.

The Board also called for more consistent use of exceptions for newsworthiness, a "quick and effective" means to request removal of private info and clearer explanations of when sharing partial info (such as a city or name) is enough to warrant removal. The overseer also wanted a special communications channel for doxxing victims, more opportunities to provide context for privacy violation reports and opportunities for offenders to delete residential info to have a post restored. Privacy violations should be considered "severe," the Board added.

Some of the recommendations were for looser policies. External photos of private residences should be allowed when the location is the focus of a news story, and people should be allowed to hold protests at publicly owned official residences (such as the homes of some national leaders). Meta should allow people to share their own residences, or for others to publish those locations with consent. At the same time, though, the Board wanted Meta to share privacy violation enforcement data, be more specific when notifying offenders and provide more detail on government-related requests.

Provided Meta accepts the choices, the moves could do more to discourage doxxing campaigns on Facebook and Instagram. In some cases, harassers share technically public (if realistically unknown) and partial info knowing it will be enough to do serious damage. While the recommendations might not prevent the most determined doxxers (those willing to risk their accounts) from sharing addresses, they should close loopholes that suggest Meta tolerates this behavior.

There's still some room for over-the-top electric scooters, apparently. Jeep is partnering with Razor on the RX200, an adult e-scooter designed expressly for off-road use. It's not the fastest machine of its kind with a 12MPH top speed, but the combination of a wide design with 8-inch, air-filled pneumatic tires promises a comfortable and grippy ride on trails — at least, those trails that don't ban vehicles.

You won't venture too far beyond the beaten path with a 40-minute battery life. You might, however, appreciate the Jeep-like styling (shown below) if you want something more rugged-looking (or less flashy) than other e-scooters.

Razor

The RX200 should be available now through Amazon and Razor's website. We're still waiting on pricing as we write this. However, it's safe to say this is a premium model meant for outdoor enthusiasts and anyone who might regularly ride beyond smooth surfaces. Thankfully, it should be far more affordable than Jeep's $5,899 e-bike.

Don't expect to receive more updates for your Pixel 3. Esper's Mishaal Rahman has learned Google is delivering one last security update to the Pixel 3 and 3 XL. The company previously said the Pixel 3 would get one last update in the first quarter of 2022, and confirmed to Engadget this represents the device's last hurrah.

It's not certain what the patch fixes. However, DarkPlayer noted the build ID matches that for an October patch that targeted newer Pixel models on Verizon. This is a catch-up release rather than an up-to-the-moment patch.

You can expect more if you have a recent Pixel, at least. Google has posted a February 2022 update for the Pixel 3a and newer phones. The revision tackles several significant problems, including reboots during camera use, Bluetooth audio disconnection and quality problems, carrier-specific connection woes and keyboards that override input text in some cases.

This won't thrill you if you're fond of the Pixel 3 — you'll have to upgrade if you want up-to-the-minute security fixes. Don't fret if you have a Pixel 6, though. Google has promised five years of security updates for its latest phone line, so you might not have to worry about patches until 2026.

Even vintage gaming platforms aren't immune to Wordle's cultural dominance, it seems. Kotakunotes security researcher Stacksmashing has ported the hit word game to the Game Boy. The 1989-era handheld's ROM size prevented him from including the full word list, but he used a (somewhat inaccurate) filter to help the console determine if you're using one of the 8,000 most common English words.

The port is free and available to download, although you'll need to load it on a Game Boy-friendly cartridge if you intend to play on a console. And not everyone has one of Nintendo's earlier handhelds sitting around. You may want to play Wordle on a modern machine like the Analogue Pocket, particularly if you aren't keen on the first Game Boy's lack of built-in display lighting.

This isn't the first retro Wordle port, and it might not be the last. Huxley Dunsany recently ported the title to a Palm PDA, for instance. In that regard, this could be the new Doom — that is, the game adapted to run on seemingly every platform imaginable. Don't be surprised if Wordle is seemingly ubiquitous before long, even if you're unlikely to play it on ancient devices.

It didn't take long for the Internal Revenue Service to respond to pressure to drop facial recognition. The agency has told Senator Ron Wyden it plans to back away from using facial recognition for verification purposes. Wyden cautioned the transition would "take time" and didn't provide a schedule, but he saw this as evidence the Biden administration knew privacy and security weren't "mutually exclusive" concepts.

We've asked ID.me, the company slated to provide facial recognition to the IRS, for comment. Under the plan, the IRS would have used the technology to authenticate users hoping to file taxes online or otherwise use the IRS' internet services. The approach was intended as a fraud prevention tool, and would have been available by the summer.

The about-face comes after a wave of recent political pressure. While the Treasury Department was already reconsidering the use of facial recognition tech at the IRS, the service encountered opposition from Republican senators, House Democrats and civil liberties groups concerned about a range of issues. They've been worried about the privacy of uploading sensitive data, historical biases in facial recognition, susceptibility to cyberattacks, inaccessibility to people without broadband and a lack of audits and other forms of accountability. Wyden sent a letter to the IRS mere hours before the organization signalled its change of heart.

There's no indication yet as to whether the IRS will replace the facial recognition system with another upgraded security measure. Whether or not it does, this may represent a significant victory for those hoping to ban federal uses of facial recognition. Although this might not lead to a total ban, it could prompt other government institutions to limit or resist uses of the technology.

It's not just Republican senators upset over the Internal Revenue Service's plans to adopt ID.me facial recognition. Democratic House Representatives Ted Lieu, Anna Eshoo, Pramila Jayapal and Yvette Clarke have sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig demanding his agency drop plans to use facial recognition starting this summer. They're concerned the plan will compromise privacy and security by forcing uploads of sensitive data to a database that could be a "prime target" for cyberattacks like the one that exposed license plates at Customs and Border Protection in 2019.

The members of Congress were also worried about lingering accuracy and bias problems with facial recognition systems. While ID.me maintains its technology is equitable and inclusive, the Democrats pointed to a National Institute of Standards and Technology study that showed many more false positives for Asian and Black faces, even in one-to-one matching systems like the one ID.me sometimes uses. The requirement for facial recognition also discriminated against those who couldn't afford "reliable" broadband and video capabilities, according to the letter.

Transparency was also a point of contention. The House reps were concerned ID.me backtracked on claims it didn't use potentially more invasive one-to-many face recognition tech, and that the IRS wasn't transparent regarding its contract.

The House group asked the IRS to answer several questions on top of rethinking its policy. The politicians wanted the tax service to explain the methodology leading to the contract, including examples of fraud that would justify facial recognition and the lack of disclosures surrounding ID.me's tech. Lieu and allies similarly wanted to know if the IRS had taken measures to address the potentials for bias and security breaches. There was no deadline for answering these questions.

Letters like this won't guarantee action. There's no immediate threat of legislation or other efforts that could force the IRS to change course. They do reflect mounting bipartisan (and bicameral) opposition to the service's facial recognition strategy, though, and they come as part of a broader effort to ban the technology at the federal level. If politicians deem the IRS' response inadequate, they might escalate their legislative efforts.

Sony might not have locked down PlayStation VR2 specifications despite providing some details at CES 2022. Tobii says it's in talks to provide eye tracking technology for the next-gen VR headset. It noted the discussions were "ongoing" and that it couldn't share the potential financial impact of the deal. The firm is required to divulge the negotiations to honor EU market regulations.

We've asked Sony for comment. The company previously confirmed the PlayStation VR2 would use eye tracking, but didn't name a tech supplier or explain in detail how the feature would work. The headset will also use camera-based "inside-out" tracking to detect head and controller movement.

The revelation suggests PlayStation VR2 might not arrive for a while. Game console makers typically need to solidify hardware specs well in advance, both for the sake of manufacturing and to give developers time to produce games optimized for new devices. If Sony still hasn't chosen a provider for a key feature like eye tracking, a launch is still a long ways off.

Not that this would be a complete surprise. Sony first teased PlayStation VR2 in early 2021, and warned there was "a lot" of work left on the project. The electronics firm ruled out any release that year, and still hasn't given a general timeframe for the wearable's debut. Tobii's claim might just temper expectations for PlayStation 5 owners eager to try Sony's latest take on VR.

There's another apology emerging from Spotify's Joe Rogan uproar, but it's probably not the one you were looking for. According to Recode's Peter Kafka, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has apologized to staff for the backlash they've endured over the Rogan issue, noting in company email he was "deeply sorry" for how the situation has affected employees who've felt "drained, frustrated and unheard." Ek stressed that he "strongly condemn[ed]" what Rogan said, and noted the podcast star removed episodes with racist language after talking to Spotify.

Ek didn't budge on the prospect of removing episodes, however. He claimed pulling episodes was a "slippery slope" and maintained that preserving content with misinformation fostered "critical thinking and open debate" necessary for progress. The furor over Rogan initially centered on a December 31st episode where guest Dr. Robert Malone pushed known false claims about COVID-19, including his view that a "psychosis" led people to believe vaccines were effective.

The Spotify chief hinted at further measures beyond content labels and publicly accessible content policies. Ek promised an incremental $100 million investment in music from "historically marginalized groups." He also said Spotify was considering expanding the ranks of independent experts used to balance creators' freedoms with safety. However, he saw disputes like that over Joe Rogan as "inevitable" as Spotify sought to become the world's leading audio platform — don't expect the streaming giant to back down, in other words.

The email likely won't satisfy critics like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Brené Brown and others who have pulled material from Spotify or otherwise chastised the service. They've argued Spotify is knowingly spreading harmful misinformation, and that a company its size has the responsibility to promote accurate material. It's not a debate if one side is demonstrably wrong, after all. In that light, Ek's message and promises are unlikely to calm what remains a very tense situation.