Lending apps have shaken up Kenya’s financial landscape, but they’ve largely gone unregulated — until now. TechCrunchreports President Kenyatta has signed an amended law that gives the country’s Central Bank the power to license and regulate digital lenders. Companies have six months to apply for a license.

Lenders will also have to honor existing consumer and data protection laws. Firms will have to maintain the confidentiality of customer info. They’ll need to disclose pricing, the consequences of defaulting on loans, and outline debt recovery.

Mobile lending has thrived in Kenya and other countries where many residents don’t have bank accounts and can’t take advantage of conventional financing. However, some services have been accused of abusing their audiences with predatory interest rates. While the updated law isn’t guaranteed to end shady practices, it might discourage those lenders and improve trust for would-be customers.

The Federal Communications Commission now has its first permanent chairwoman. The Senate voted 68 to 31 to confirm President Biden’s nomination of Jessica Rosenworcel, converting her acting chair role into an official (and additional) five-year term. Her temporary position was due to expire within weeks.

Not surprisingly, Rosenworcel signalled plans to maintain her existing policies of making communictions accessible to “everyone, everywhere.” The chairwoman has been a proponent of net neutrality and other regulations meant to keep large technology companies in check, contrasting sharply with the anti-regulation stance of former chair Ajit Pai.

The move gives the FCC some extra stability. However, it might not be the most important nomination. The White House is still waiting on the confirmation of Gigi Sohn to fill an empty commissioner seat. If she’s accepted, the FCC will have a 3-2 Democrat majority that’s more likely to support Biden’s telecom-related priorities. Rosenworcel may have to temper her expectations if the Commission remains in its current stalemate.

You won't have to wait too much longer to play (or replay) the last two Uncharted games on your PlayStation 5. Naughty Dog and Sony have confirmed that Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection will be available for PS5 on January 28th for $50, or $10 if you've bought the PS4 versions of either included game. The companies have also revealed just what audiovisual upgrades you can expect. These aren't complete overhauls (they're both mid-cycle PS4 releases, after all), but they might be worthwhile if you missed out on Uncharted 4 or Lost Legacy, or just want to make the most of a new TV.

As with some PS5 titles, you can prioritize the graphics for either resolution or speed. A "Fidelity Mode" jumps to native 4K while preserving a target frame rate of 30FPS. You can alternately use a "Performance Mode" if 60FPS matters more than crisp graphics, and there's even a "Performance+" option that caps the resolution at 1080p in return for an extra-smooth 120FPS.

Both games promise "near instant" load times thanks to the PS5's SSD, and Naughty Dog is taking advantage of improved DualSense haptic feedback as well as spatial audio for built-in TV speakers and headphones. It should be a more immersive experience, then, even if you can't justify an elaborate audio setup.

You'll have to be patient if you're jonesing for the PC version. You can add the Uncharted bundle to your wish lists on the Epic Games Store and Steam, but the developers haven't narrowed down the release date beyond a generic "2022." The system requirements aren't yet available, either. While that's not surprising given the extra challenges of porting a PS4 game to PCs, it could leave you waiting a bit longer than you might like.

You probably won't see Rocket League's flying cars in the real world any time soon, but BMW and esports brand LVL might offer the next best thing. They're teaming on Das Race Goal, a Rocket League-style esports platform that has remote-controlled cars play soccer for charity. Players worldwide will steer the vehicles in a real arena while grabbing virtual powerups and activating "special effects."

The initial event takes place December 12th at 1PM Eastern and will be streamed live on LVL's Twitch channel. This inaugural competition will have six three-player teams compete in Munich's BMW Welt stadium to raise awareness and funds for the United Nations Population Fund's Skills for Life programs, which aim to improve education and healthcare for youth in the Caribbean and Latin America. Each team will have an esports player (including members from Cloud9, Fnatic, G2 Esports and OG), a social media influencer and a young gamer involved in the UN's efforts.

Thomas Fellger, chief of Das Race Goal partner Icon Group, stressed this wasn't just a one-off tourney — it was part of a "long-term partnership" that could help the UN's long-term rights initiatives. At the least, this could add the thrill of real-world elements to a video game format that already has a loyal following.

Facebook has been repeatedly accused of enabling Myanmar's genocide against the country's Rohingya minority, and now it will deal with those accusations in court. A Rohingya woman has filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of refugees against Facebook parent company Meta, alleging the company both amplified anti-Rohingya hate speech through its algorithms and failed to remove content fostering violence. The refugees ask for over $150 billion in damages.

The plaintiffs argued that Facebook only took meaningful action against pro-genocide factions after it was pushed. The Myanmar military launched its purge of Rohingya in 2017, with officials and nationalist monks spreading slurs and misinformation on Facebook to either justify or cover up atrocities. Facebook only started cracking down in August 2018 following a UN report linking unchecked behavior on the social network to real-world violence. The company requested an independent audit at the same time that reached a similar conclusion. This was too little too late, according to the refugees — the company admitted it "should and could have done more" only after mass displacements and deaths.

Meta has already declined to comment on the lawsuit. A similar complaint is expected in the UK in 2022.

The firm was quick to clamp down on the Myanmar military following its February 2021 coup, and went so far as to pull the military's main page. However, that swifter response won't help much with a lawsuit over past actions. While it's too soon to say whether or not the lawsuit will succeed, let alone obtain the hoped-for damages, the company may have a difficult time defending itself.

You can now use Alexa Together to help take care of aging family members. Amazon has launched the $20 per month ($199 per year) service, with a six-month free trial available for a "limited time." Care Hub users get a full free year from now until December 7th, 2022. Your loved one will need an Alexa-capable device, but after that it's relatively hands-off — they ideally get more independence while you get some peace of mind.

The elderly relative can reach an emergency helpline if they ask Alexa to "call for help," but Together is mainly useful for notifications. You'll get alerts if your family member calls that line, or simply for their first Alexa interaction of the day. Use a fall detection sensor from ATS or Vayyar (more device support is coming) and you'll also get word if there's an incident.

Amazon stressed that seniors would still have their privacy. They have to grant permission for you to remotely assist them by adding contacts, reminders and services. Any Alexa interaction alerts are also generic. You'll know your loved one made an entertainment request, for instance, but you won't know what was playing.

The service is still relatively limited. Amazon doesn't expect to support multiple caregivers until early 2022, for instance, so this won't help if your siblings also want to pitch in. It might still be useful if you want that safety net, though. If nothing else, it's clear between this and Halo services that Amazon wants to be a part of your daily wellness checks — whether they're your own or someone else's.

Large-scale cryptocurrency heists remain a significant headache. According to Coindesk, the crypto exchange BitMart has lost the equivalent of $196 million (originally estimated at $150 million) to a hack. The intruder breached Ethereum and Binance wallets with a flood of transfers starting around 2:30PM Eastern on December 4th, followed by an exodus of tokens two hours later that included Shiba and USDC.

Founder Sheldon Xia said only a "small percentage" of BitMart's assets were at risk. Even so, the company has frozen withdrawals "until further notice" and is reviewing security.

It's not clear who was responsible, but the culprit may have been knowledgeable The stolen funds have been sent to an Ethereum mixing service that could make it difficult to trace the funds. Crypto thieves aren't always that astute. The Poly Network attacker, for instance, offered to "surrender" and wound up returning all their loot. They claimed they were contributing to Poly's security, but that might also have been an attempt to avoid repercussions after researchers obtained potentially identifying data.

While this isn't the biggest digital heist (the Poly attacker grabbed $610 million, for instance), Coindesk notes this is one of the larger centralized exchange hacks to date. It also underscores the growing issue of cryptocurrency theft — the technology makes it all too feasible to steal large sums with few repercussions.

Apple is still fighting Russia over alleged App Store abuse. Both 9to5Mac and RT report Apple is asking for a judicial review of a Federal Antimonopoly Service warning from August that allows developers to mention alternatives to the App Store's in-app payment system. FAS gave Apple until September 30th to alter its policies, but the company declined to change its rules despite the threat of a fine.

The opposition parallels Apple's legal battles in the US. The judge in Epic's lawsuit against Apple ordered the tech firm to let App Store developers point to other payment systems, but Apple appealed the injunction in hopes of a delay. The court denied Apple's request, and the company will have until December 9th to let app makers point to other options. Apple will make exceptions to its policy for some media apps in 2022.

Pushbacks like those in the US and Russia aren't surprising. Apple still makes most of its money through hardware sales, but its services business is growing. Easier third-party alternatives could theoretically hurt App Store revenues, not to mention increase the chances of rogue apps pointing users to malicious sites. The iPhone maker might not have much choice, however. Regulators are concerned Apple's approach stifles choice and competition, and they're unlikely to let the matter slide.

Twitter isn't the only big-name internet company to have accidentally banned users this week. As The Vergereports, eBay has confirmed it suspended a "small number" of users by mistake on December 3rd. The company didn't provide a cause or reveal the extent of the problem, but said it had fixed the slip-up and notified those affected.

There may have been a significant number of victims. Reddit users devoted a large thread to the bans, noting that there weren't any potential red flags for at least some of the accounts. People were suspended even if they had excellent buyer and seller histories or hadn't used eBay for years. Those who contacted eBay were denied appeals and, at least once, told they put eBay users "at risk."

While it's not always clear what prompts unintentional bans, incidents like these underscore the limits of moderating internet services. Companies often have to lean on automated moderation to handle the sheer scale of content, and those human moderators that are available can still make mistakes. Gaffes like this are rare, but might be difficult to avoid without double-checking decisions.

Rogue repair staff aren't limited to any one company. According to The Verge, author and developer Jane McGonigal said her internet accounts were compromised after she mailed her Pixel 5a to Google for service. The intruder accessed Google services, Dropbox and another email account, McGonigal said, and activity logs indicated access to semi-revealing photos in an apparent attempt to "find nudes."

McGonigal noted that this happened long after her phone seemingly vanished from Google's facility, and despite efforts to wipe the phone and lock it using Google's system. She couldn't turn the phone on as she normally would to perform a reset. The perpetrator, meanwhile, took pains to cover their tracks by marking Google security alerts as spam and even deleting those notices in backup email accounts.

Google has confirmed that it's "investigating" the claim. McGonigal heard the same through unofficial sources, but hadn't been contacted as of this writing. This is the second such report in two weeks.

The allegation highlights the problems with mail-in service. You can't always trust that technicians will respect your privacy, and it's not always certain that you can scrub your data. Retail support is no guarantee, either. Short of knowing a technician you can trust, the only surefire solution is to fix a device yourself — and that isn't practical for many people.