Apple Music will be available on the Roku platform starting today. You'll be able to stream music from the service on any Roku device, including streaming devices, Roku-powered TVs and speakers and soundbars (such as Roku Streambar Pro).

Not only will this be useful for Apple Music subscribers who already have Roku devices, the move could help Apple find more subscribers who might be put off by the likes of Spotify. Newcomers will be able to sign up to Apple Music through the app, which is available in the Roku channel store. After a one-month trial, the service costs $10 per month.

Subscribers get access to a library of more than 90 million songs and 30,000 curated playlists. They can also watch music videos in 4K, check out original shows and concerts and stream Apple Music Radio.

Apple Music is landing on Roku three years after it hit Fire TV and almost as long since its Android app gained Chromecast support. Roku will now have most of the major music streaming services on its platform. It already offered access to the likes of Spotify, Amazon Music and Tidal.

The summer is fast approaching and many people are perhaps gearing up for their first big vacation in a few years. To help them plan, Google is rolling out some handy travel updates. These include upgraded flight price tracking and ways to find and save hotels for later.

If you know where you want to go and have flexible travel dates, this one's for you. Google Flights will let users track flight prices between two cities for up to six months. If it detects fares that are lower than usual during that time, you'll receive an email notification. Google has long allowed people to track flights between two airports for specific dates, but this should particularly come in handy for long-haul destinations, to which flights can be much more expensive.

Once you know when and where you're going to, you'll need a place to stay, and Google is adding some hotel-related features that might help. If you're traveling for an event such as a conference or wedding, you might want to rest your head somewhere close by. Starting today, Google's travel site will show places to stay within a 15- or 30-minute walking or driving distance — just search for a landmark or address to get started. New map filters can also help you find neighborhoods with great sightseeing, dining or shopping options.

Google

Similarly, the travel site's Explore option now has an "Explore nearby" option with a filter for locations within easy driving distance. It will show details like expected weather and average hotel prices. That could help you plan a much-needed weekend getaway.

There's also a new bookmark icon for hotels and vacation rentals, which you can use to save them for later. This could be especially useful if you want your travel partner's input on where to stay. You'll be able to view properties you've saved through the right-hand panel on desktop or by accessing the Saved tab on mobile.

Airbnb bookings made on or after May 31st will no longer be eligible for refunds for COVID-19-related issues. The upcoming change to the extenuating circumstances policy will apply to cases where a host or guest contracts COVID-19.

The company says the host's standard cancellation policy will apply instead. It says nearly two-thirds of active offer policies that allow guests to cancel up to five days (under the moderate policy) or up to 24 hours before check in (as per the flexible policy).

Reservations made before the end of next month may still be eligible for a COVID-19-linked refund if they meet the terms of Airbnb's policy. There are exceptions for domestic reservations in South Korea and mainland China. Airbnb said refunds will still be available there for some COVID-19-related circumstances for the foreseeable future.

"Some in the travel industry stopped this type of policy months ago, while others didn’t provide one at all," Airbnb wrote in a blog post. "After consultation with our medical advisors, as well as our community, we feel the time is now right to take the same step."

For what it's worth, Airbnb will soon start offering travel insurance. The product will be available in the coming months. Until then, the company says, those concerned that COVID-19 may disrupt their travel plans can buy insurance elsewhere.

The onset of the pandemic devastated the travel industry and Airbnb wasn't immune from the impact. The company laid off 25 percent of its workforce, or around 1,900 jobs, in May 2020. It seems Airbnb is hoping to get back to business as usual. It noted that "many countries have now implemented living with COVID-19 plans."

Still, the pandemic is not over. Around a third of the global population has yet to receive at least one vaccine dose. Data shows that, on average, 629,798 cases have been recorded worldwide in each of the last 14 days.

Salesforce says it will loosen non-disclosure agreements for all of its employees in the US, including those at subsidiary Slack. The company was required to do so for workers in California under the state's Silenced No More Act, though it will extend the measures to workers across the country.

The law gives employees more freedom to discuss instances of workplace harassment and discrimination even if they have signed NDAs. It took effect on January 1st. Salesforce says it will extend the protections to all US employees by the end of this year. "Our employees are key stakeholders, and it’s critical that we offer them the support to ensure they’re happy, healthy and protected," the company wrote in a blog post.

A group called the Transparency in Employment Agreements Coalition has been using shareholder proposals to pressure the likes of Salesforce, Meta, Alphabet and Apple to extend Silenced No More protections to all employees, as Protocol notes.

Alphabet affirmed in an SEC filing this month that even if they had signed NDAs, employees are free to discuss workplace assault, harassment or discrimination as well as any retaliation for reporting or opposing those. Before the law came into effect, Pinterest said it would not enforce NDAs in cases of racial and gender-based discrimination.

In a proxy statement in January, Apple said that "employees are permitted to speak openly about unlawful acts in the workplace, including harassment and discrimination." For that and other reasons, it urged shareholders to vote against a proposal that would require the company to prepare and publish a report that examines the possible risk to the company related to "concealment clauses in the context of harassment, discrimination and other unlawful acts." However, shareholders approved that proposal at a meeting in March. Meanwhile, the SEC is reportedly investigating Apple's use of NDAs following a complaint by a whistleblower.

Should Elon Musk's planned takeover of Twitter be finalized, he may bring in some changes for how tweed embeds work on third-party websites and services. Musk has floated the idea of charging users to embed or quote tweets from verified accounts, according to Reuters, but that wouldn't stop anyone from simply screenshotting a tweet and using that instead.

Even before Twitter's board accepted Musk's offer, there were signs of changes for how embeds work. The company altered some JavaScript, which led to the text of deleted tweets disappearing from sites they were embedded on. A Twitter senior product manager said the change was made to "better respect when people have chosen to delete their tweets." However, after a backlash from the likes of open web and preservation advocates, Twitter backtracked on the move.

Musk reportedly mooted the idea of charging for embeds while attempting to secure debt to finance his $44 billion buyout. He secured $13 billion in loans against Twitter and a $12.5 billion margin loan tied to his Tesla stock (which he this week sold $8.5 billion worth of).

In addition, Musk has mentioned other ways of improving Twitter's bottom line but hasn't made firm commitments on those as yet. He has suggested making changes to the Twitter Blue service to make it more appealing to potential subscribers. In talks with banks, Musk reportedly raised the possibility of job cuts, but isn't expected to make firm decisions on that front until/if he takes the company private. In addition, Musk has publicly mused about getting rid of salaries for board directors, which would save the company around $3 million per year.

Twitter's potential new owner is also said to have plans to replace CEO Parag Agrawal, who took the reins from Jack Dorsey in November. Agrawal is expected to stay in charge until the sale to Musk goes through. According to Reuters, Musk told Twitter chairman Bret Taylor that he wasn't confident in the company's management. However, a lot of details about what Musk's takeover will mean for the company remain up in the air and won't be clear for a while.

Sony has temporarily prevented existing PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now members from extending their subscriptions as it prepares to combine them into the revamped PS Plus. It's a clear attempt to stop users from getting years of access to the highest tier of the updated service on the cheap.

When Sony announced the new plans last month, it said PlayStation Now members would have their subscription converted to PS Plus Premium for the same length of time. That level of the service will include the current PS Plus benefits and 400 PS4 and PS5 titles from the middle tier, as well as hundreds of games from previous generations and cloud streaming on PS4, PS5 and PC. 

Sony clarified this week that if a user has both PS Plus and PS Now memberships active when the new service launches in the coming weeks, they'll get access to PS Plus Premium for the longer of the two terms before having to renew. In other words, if you had seven years left to run on your PS Plus plan after stacking one-year memberships, but recently took out a 12-month PS Now subscription, you'd get seven years of access to PS Plus Premium at a significant discount after the switch.

As spotted by Twitter gaming deals maestro Wario64, Sony has updated its PS Plus FAQ section to note that current subscribers of PS Plus and PS Now are unable to redeem voucher codes and extend their memberships for the time being. They'll be able to redeem them again when either their current membership lapses or the new PS Plus service is available in their region — whichever of those occurs first. As such, the company has stopped people from taking advantage of the PS Plus Premium loophole.

"As we prepare to launch the new PlayStation Plus membership service, we are doing some work behind the scenes to make the transition as smooth as possible for all of our existing members," Sony said. "As part of this work, we’ve temporarily disabled stacking memberships for existing customers until after the launch."

If you have an unredeemed voucher, it will now convert to a length of time equivalent to its monetary value. So, if you aren't currently a subscriber and have a one-month PS Plus or PS Now code lying in a drawer somewhere, that can convert to a month of PS Plus Essential or 17 days of PS Plus Premium access. Sony has published a conversion chart detailing how that all works.

The revamped PS Plus service is scheduled to launch in some Asian markets on May 23rd, Japan on June 1st, the Americas on June 13th and Europe on June 22nd. 

The GeForce Now macOS app should run more smoothly for many Mac users after the addition of native support for Apple's M1 chips. NVIDIA initially rolled out M1 support last year, albeit through Rosetta, a translation process that allows apps based on x86–64 architecture to run on Apple's chips.

NVIDIA says the app will now consume less power, have faster startup times and offer an all-round improved experience on M1-based MacBooks, iMacs and Mac Minis. In addition, the latest version of the cloud gaming app includes a revamped overlay that displays server-side rendering framerates.

GeForce Now support for another batch of games was also announced (which is something NVIDIA typically does every Thursday). One of this week's additions is Amazon's hit free-to-play RPG Lost Ark. Given that the game doesn't have native macOS support, Mac users who are interested in checking it out now have a way to do so. Other new titles that GeForce Now users can stream include Dune: Spice Wars, Sol Cresta and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt.

Valorant's professional scene will look vastly different next year after Riot Games announced some significant changes to the game's esports structure. Domestic and international leagues will be introduced in 2023. A new game mode designed to help aspiring esports stars turn pro is on the way too.

The upcoming mode will give players a chance to qualify for the domestic leagues, which will be integrated closely with the in-game tournament feature. Riot hopes the path-to-pro mode will help organizations scout upcoming talents as well.

There will be three international leagues which will respectively feature top-tier teams from the Americas; Europe, the Middle East and North Africa; and Asia and Oceania. The plan is to run competitive matches on a week-to-week basis. If health and safety protocols allow, Riot will bring teams together for in-person events with live audiences. These leagues will also serve as qualifiers for the existing elite global tournaments, Masters and Champions.

In addition, Riot will expand Valorant Game Changers, a program is designed for women and other marginalized genders in the competitive ecosystem. It will be available in more countries and regions next year. Meanwhile, third-party tournaments will take place during the off-season between official competitions.

Riot says it's working on new fan experiences and partnerships with esports organizations. Teams who are part of that program won't need to pay participation or entry fees and Riot will provide them with stipends "in return for their investment in growing the ecosystem."

The publisher is using what it learned from the success of League of Legends esports to revamp the pro scene of Valorant, which now has 15 million monthly players. Riot is hoping to build on the first-person shooter's popularity and "supercharge Valorant into the next great multigenerational esport," the publisher's head of esports John Needham told The Washington Post in a statement.

After years of rumors, Snap has officially revealed its first selfie drone. The pocket-sized device, which is called Pixy, doesn't require a lengthy setup. It doesn't even come with a controller.

Instead, you'll be able to choose one of four preset flight paths with the touch of a button. The drone can float, orbit or follow you. Once you're done, Pixy can land in your hand. It has a settings dial in the middle, with four rotors aligned with the body inside of protective casings.

Snaps captured by Pixy can be wirelessly transferred to Snapchat Memories after flights. You'll be able to apply effects such as speed ramps, jump cuts and 3D bounce. You can, of course, add lenses and sounds before sharing your creations on Snapchat or elsewhere.

Snap

Pixy could be a useful addition to Snapchat creators' toolkits, following in the footsteps of Snap's Spectacles lineup. It emerged in 2017 that Snap was considering building its own drone, so Pixy has been a long time coming. In March 2021, it was reported that Snap invested in a company called Zero Zero Robotics (which it previously tried to buy) and that the two sides were collaborating on a selfie drone.

Folks in the US and France can buy Pixy now. It costs $230. Snap says the drone will be available while supplies last.

Activision Blizzard's shareholders have overwhelmingly voted in favor of a proposed $68.7 billion takeover by Microsoft. More than 98 percent of the shares that voted at a special meeting held on Thursday approved of the merger.

Though the company called the vote non-binding and advisory, the deal could not have moved forward without the majority of shareholders giving it the green light. The board of directors unanimously agreed it was in the best interest of Activision Blizzard and its shareholders, and recommended they vote in favor.

The planned merger is not finalized and it could still collapse. The Federal Trade Commission is reviewing the deal and is expected to closely scrutinize the details. Under chair Lina Khan, the FTC has put the kibosh on NVIDIA's attempt to buy ARM and revived an antitrust case against Meta over its purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp.

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard will also need regulatory approval from the UK, the European Union, China and some other jurisdictions, according to an SEC filing. The companies expect the deal to close by June 2023.

There are other considerations that may impact the planned Activision Blizzard-Microsoft merger beyond antitrust concerns. The embattled game publisher has been the subject of lawsuits and accusations alleging workplace harassment and discrimination. Meanwhile, some quality assurance workers at Activision studio Raven Software are holding a union election over the next few weeks.