Nissan is finally ready to offer pricing and other tangible details for its electric Ariya crossover. The automaker has started taking reservations for the Ariya beginning at $45,950 for the Venture+ model. That's more than the $40,000 ballpark from before, but still brings the price down to $38,450 with a federal tax credit. The Venture+ may be the best model for long drives, too. You'll have only a 238HP motor with front wheel drive, but you'll get the longest estimated range at 300 miles. The higher-capacity 87kWh battery is standard on all currently announced models.

The $48,950 Evolve+ builds on that formula with an "around view" monitor and a powered moonroof, albeit with a shorter 285-mile range. The reservation-only Premiere trim starts at $53,450, but gives you access to the Ariya's signature "Sunrise Copper" color, hands-off highway driving from ProPilot Assist 2.0 and ProPilot Park. If you want all-wheel drive, you'll currently have to splurge on the $58,950 Platinum+ variant with 389HP, a hands-free liftgate, Nappa leather and a reduced 265-mile range.

All models are due to arrive in fall 2022. You'll need to place a $500 refundable deposit and choose a preferred dealer, but you can complete the final purchase online and have the Ariya delivered to your home. You won't have to wade through the usual hassles of in-person dealership sales.

The price slots the Ariya between the $39,995 Volkswagen ID.4 and Tesla's Model Y (currently $53,940), with the in-between range and features to match. It may face tough competition as a result. However, that might be the precise appeal — this is a middle-of-the-road EV from a well-known badge. Where the Leaf was aimed at early adopters (and lately the cost-conscious), the Ariya promises to be a thoroughly mainstream vehicle that reaches more first-time EV owners and helps Nissan electrify the rest of its lineup.

Cryptocurrency will soon be inescapable in Los Angeles, at least for a while. AEG has signed a 20-year rights agreement that will rename LA's Staples Center to the Crypto.com Arena. Yes, the Clippers, Lakers, Kings and Sparks will all play in a building named after a crypto platform — more forward-thinking than office supplies, but still a bit strange in 2021. The deal will make Crypto.com the official cryptocurrency partner for the Lakers and Kings, too.

You'll see the internal signage and some other branding when the Lakers play the Brooklyn Nets on Christmas Day, although the arena operators won't fully replace external signs until June 2022. You'll also see "designations" at other properties, such as LA Live and the Microsoft Theater, and there will be Crypto.com experiences at the entrance, main concourse and LA Live campus.

AEG chief Dan Beckerman characterized the deal as focusing on "the future," both for innovation as a whole and the community. That's somewhat ironic when cryptocurrency has been accused of hurting the environment, but Crypto.com has pledged to be carbon negative by late 2022 (if only through offsets).

The 20-year deal makes clear this isn't just a temporary marketing stunt. Even so, this is something of a gamble for both AEG and Crypto.com. They're betting that cryptocurrency is here to stay, and that Crypto.com will play an important role in the long term. Both are distinct possibilities when mainstream companies like AMC and Twitter are exploring uses of digital money, but a lot can change in the space of two decades.

Apple just became much friendlier to do-it-yourself repairs. The company is launching a Self Service Repair program that will let you repair products yourself using official Apple parts and tools. The option will be available in the US in early 2022 (later that year for other countries) and will initially give the resources to fix an iPhone 12 or iPhone 13 (you're looking at iFixit's iPhone 13 Pro teardown above), with M1-based Macs eligible soon afterward.

The first "phase" of Self Service Repair will focus on core components like the battery, camera and display, with other parts eligible later. Apple will ask customers to review a repair manual and the norder relevant parts through a Self Service Repair Online Store. The company didn't say how much parts would cost, but did offer credit to customers who return used parts for recycling.

Not surprisingly, Apple stressed that the program was meant for people with experience repairing electronics. The "vast majority" of people were still better off getting service from professionals, whether at Apple stores or authorized providers. 

The company didn't say what prompted the openness to self servicing. However, it may be a matter of government pressure. The White House, the Federal Trade Commission and multiple states have backed right-to-repair measures that could force Apple and others to allow customer maintenance. This theoretically heads off some of the major complaints by letting any skilled person fix a device themselves without resorting to unofficial parts.

Developing...

Streamlabs is coming under fire for material used to launch Xbox streaming platform — and beyond. As Eurogamerreports, rivals have accused the company of copying web material, naming schemes and possibly functionality. Lightstream, for instance, noted that the initial website for Streamlabs Studio was extremely similar to its own, including (as streamer iamBrandon discovered) the user reviews. Streamlabs said this was an "error" that put placeholder text on a live site, and the planned copy was now in place.

That's only the start of the accusations, however. OBS complained that Streamlabs used OBS as part of its broadcasting software name (Streamlabs OBS, or SLOBS) despite being asked not to. While Streamlabs has technically honored the terms of the GPL license used for OBS, it allegedly "disregarded the spirit" of open source software. Elgato, meanwhile, even implied Streamlabs' Stream Deck was borrowing at least the name (if not features) from its Stream Deck Mobile app.

We've asked Streamlabs for comment. However, the plagiarism accusations have already led to a significant backlash. Top streamers Pokimane and Hasanabi have both threatened to stop using Streamlabs' products (and in Pokimane's case, remove her name from the platform) if it didn't address the situation. Simply put, Streamlabs might lose some of its best-known customers if it doesn't act quickly.

Uber is taking another shot at subscriptions, and this latest attempt might make sense if you're as interested in deluxe treatment as you are discounts. The service has launched an Uber One membership that, for $10 per month or $100 per year, showers you with perks for both ridesharing and Uber Eats deliveries. You'll get 5 percent off "eligible" trips and food orders as well as free delivery for many grocery and restaurant orders. However, that's really just the start of the plan.

One subscribers will get "priority service," with the highest-rated drivers and upgraded support. You'll also get exclusive promos, offers and invitation-only "experiences." There's even an Uber One Promise that gives you $5 in Uber Cash on qualifying deliveries if the courier misses the latest estimated arrival time. You won't have to settle for the same service as the commoners, in other words.

The new tier is available now, with a one-month free trial and an early bird promo that offers a year for $50 if you sign up before November 29th.

This is clearly aimed at Uber's most frequent customers — the ones who rack up enough rides or deliveries that they might save more than they pay for One. Uber can encourage frequent use while collecting a steady stream of revenue. This also gives it an edge over rivals like Lyft and DoorDash that may only focus on one service category. You may be more likely to stick to Uber knowing you'll get incentives whether or not you leave home.

Concert operators may like Amazon's palm recognition system, but some performers and activists are less than thrilled. A group of 200 artists and 30 rights groups has penned an open letter demanding the Red Rocks amphitheater, its ticketing provider AXS and AEG (AXS' parent company) "immediately cancel" contracts to use Amazon One scanning at any venue. They also want the firms to ban all biometric surveillance at those events.

The opponents to Amazon's palm tech include figures you'd recognize, such as Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello and Bikini Kill's Kathleen Hanna. The groups include organizations ranging from the immigrant-oriented United We Dream through to the Tor Project. The digital rights group Fight for the Future is leading the initiative. 

The letter contributors are worried Amazon might send palm data to government agencies hoping to track activists and marginalized people, particularly in light of its past collaborations with police. They're also concerned thieves might steal info from the cloud, and see AEG as inconsistent after it condemned the use of facial recognition in 2019.

We've asked AEG and Red Rocks operators for comment. There are no guarantees the letter will convince anyone to drop Amazon One. The tech theoretically helps get people into a venue sooner, and might reassure concertgoers nervous about physical contact while the pandemic lingers. The objectors have some support, though — US senators are also worried Amazon might abuse palm data. The combined pressure might make life uncomfortable for palm scanning's backers, even if they ultimately decide to move forward.

Netflix's definition of a successful show has been opaque at times, to put it mildly, but the company might have just provided some meaningful transparency. The streaming service has launched a "Top 10 on Netflix" website that shows the charting movies and TV shows on the service, both English and non-English. You'll see both global and country-specific data to back up the rankings, including total viewing hours and the number of weeks on the chart.

You'll also find all-time stats and the list of countries where a given title is charting. Netflix even lets you download lists in Excel or TSV formats if you crave raw data.

The initial rankings don't provide too many surprises. The star-studded Red Notice was by far the most popular movie worldwide based on time spent, racking up 148.7 million viewing hours in its first week. Yara was the most-watched non-English title with nearly 18 million views. The latest season of Narcos: Mexico topped the English TV list with about 50.3 million hours after two weeks, and it won't shock you to hear Squid Game dominated non-English TV with 42.8 million million hours and nine weeks in the top 10.

Yes, Netflix was aware its viewing metric favors longer-running movies and shows. It planned to "occasionally" offer specialty charts to give popular productions in certain fields (such as documentaries) their due. However, the company said it wouldn't reveal how many people have finished a given movie or series — it believed all hours were relevant, whether you were distracted (think Netflix and chill), rewatching a favorite show or fixating on an individual scene.

The site won't answer every question about Netflix's rankings. You may know which shows are getting the most viewing time, but you won't know just what it takes to get a renewal or sequel. Still, the potential effects are significant. Observers could better tell whether a title's viewership really matches the hype, or which countries are driving demand. And while studios are likely very aware of how their releases are faring, the site might push some to 'optimize' their lineups to ensure consistently high rankings.

The 2021 Game Awards nominees have been revealed, and it's safe to say there are a few clear frontrunners alongside the usual eclectic mix. Arkane's time-warping Deathloop and Sony's multi-dimensional Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart were two of the most frequently nominated titles, picking up five nods each that included Game of the Year, art, sound and acting categories.

Other multi-nominated titles included the co-op action platformer It Takes Two, the long-expected Psychonauts 2 and the just-released Forza Horizon 5. Metroid Dread and Resident Evil Village also reached the GOTY and action shortlists.

This was also a good year for games with accessibility and, in some cases, an important message. The empathy-driven Life is Strange: True Colors made both the "Games for Impact" and "Innovation in Accessibility" nominees, while blockbusters like Forza, Ratchet & Clank and Far Cry 6 are also in the running for the accessibility award. Creative games like the blink-based Before Your Eyes and the introspective No Longer Home are candidates for the Games for Impact award. Simply speaking, you don't need to look very far to find innovative titles in 2021.

The awards ceremony takes place December 9th. There are bound to be some upsets and "really?" picks (even the buggy Cyberpunk 2077 is up for some awards), but the picks so far appear to reflect the gaming zeitgeist in a year where originals and sequels vied for your attention.

You won't need an extension to add a cryptocurrency wallet to your browser. Brave has updated its desktop browser with a built-in crypto wallet (appropriately, Brave Wallet) that lets you buy, sell and swap with "almost any" asset. While this won't always be more convenient, Brave claims the included wallet should carry fewer security risks and performance penalties than the usual browser add-ons.

This is a self-custody wallet that still allows use of other wallets (such as Brave's legacy Crypto Wallets) and ties into hardware wallets from the likes of Trezor and Ledger. You can track crypto market data, find the best price matches and control portfolios that include NFTs. It supports EVM-compatible blockchains and is both open sourced and open licensed.

The wallet is available through the settings page in Brave 1.32. It's coming to Brave's mobile browsers "soon," the company said, and the Solana blockchain will become the default for decentralized app support in 2022. You probably won't download a browser just for native crypto support, but this and Brave's usual privacy-minded features might tip the balance if you're looking for an alternative to mainstream web clients.

This holiday might be a prime opportunity to build your music software library. Arturia has launched an early Black Friday sale that offers at least 50 percent off software from now through December 8th. The FX Collection 2 vintage plugin set has dropped to $199, while the V Collection 8 synth keyboard pack has been discounted to $299. The Pigments soft synth is available with the Spectrum sound pack for $99.

Steeper discounts are available to existing registered customers, Arturia said. The company didn't outline those extra savings, but you'll learn about your particular discounts if you sign in to the company's website.

We've used these software kits ourselves, and found them highly usable, versatile and surprisingly close to the real synths and other devices they're meant to emulate. You might not always appreciate the attempts to replicate the look and feel of those classic instruments, but that's easy to live with if you're determined to add an iconic sound to your music. The Black Friday sale prices just make this an easier decision — you'll pay far less than you would to buy the real machines, if you can even track them down.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by visiting our deals homepage and following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter.