Nine months after Apple first showed off the Universal Control feature, it's now available after the company rolled out macOS 12.3 and iPadOS 15.4. The tool, which is in beta, allows you to control a Mac and iPad at the same time with a single keyboard and mouse (or trackpad). You can enter text on either device and drag files between them. Apple initially said Universal Control would be available last fall, but in December it delayed the release until this spring.

Apple has enhanced spatial audio on M1-powered systems as well. Apple Music now has dynamic head tracking support for compatible AirPods. You'll find settings for fixed and head-tracking spatial audio in the Control Center.

You can express yourself in more ways with dozens more emoji. As Emojipedia notes, these include a melting face, troll, disco ball and hands forming the shape of a heart. The handshake emoji now has separate skin tone options for each hand too.

Also new in macOS 12.3 is a less-gendered voice option for Siri, more filters for the Podcasts app, optional notes for saved passwords and (Apple claims) more accurate battery capacity readings. In addition, the macOS update enables Italian and Traditional Chinese translation for webpages in Safari and support for adding, removing and querying tags with Reminders in Shortcuts.

Borderlands spin-off Tiny Tina's Wonderlands will be released on March 25th and, in a first for the franchise, it will have full cross-play support. Those on PC, Xbox and PlayStation will all be able to play the fantasy-themed shooter together, Gearbox Entertainment CEO Randy Pitchford confirmed on Twitter.

Gearbox added cross-platform support to Borderlands 3 in 2021, two years after that game debuted. Although PC, Mac, Xbox and Stadia gamers can join forces in the looter shooter, PlayStation users are locked out of cross-play for now. Publisher 2K Games told Gearbox to remove cross-platform support from PlayStation updates to get certification, Pitchford said at the time. However, that could be about to change. Pitchford now seesBorderlands 3 cross-play support on PS4 and PS5 as "inevitable" and said more details will be announced later.

Many games have adopted cross-play across all platforms over the last few years after Epic Games helped pave the way with Fortnite. Developers of older titles have added cross-play as well — Ubisoft will roll out the feature in For Honor this week, a month after the game's fifth anniversary.

Blue Origin's next crewed spaceflight is scheduled for March 23rd and, as reports suggested, Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson will be one of the passengers. It will be New Shepard's fourth flight with humans on board and its 20th overall.

The other passengers include SpaceKids Global founder Sharon Hagle and her husband, Marc Hagle, CEO of real estate developer Tricor International. Angel investor and former Party America CEO Marty Allen, University of North Carolina professor Jim Kitchen and Commercial Space Technologies president Dr. George Nield are also taking the trip.

All of Blue Origin's previous crewed flights had a familiar face or two. Blue Origin and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and aviation pioneer Wally Funk were on the maiden trip last July. William Shatner took the record from Funk as the oldest person to reach space at 90 years old on the second flight. Good Morning America host Michael Strahan was on the third launch.

Ukraine is now using Clearview AI's facial recognition technology for purposes such as identifying Russian soldiers, its CEO claimed. Hoan Ton-That told Reuters the company offered Ukraine's defense ministry free access to its system following the invasion by Russia.

According to the report, Clearview suggested Ukraine could use the tech to reunite refugees with family members, fight misinformation, assess at checkpoints whether someone is a person of interest and to identify dead bodies. The company hasn't offered its technology to Russia.

Engadget has contacted the defense ministry for comment. Ukraine officials previously suggested they were considering using the tech.

It's not clear exactly what Ukraine is using the system for, Ton-That said, while noting it shouldn't be used as the sole means of identification. He and Clearview advisor Lee Wolosky claimed other Ukraine government agencies plan to start using the tech over the coming days.

Ton-That said Clearview has access to more than 2 billion photos from VKontakte, the Russian social media service, and more than 10 billion images overall in its database.

Clearview's controversial tech has come under fire from many quarters over the last few years. This month, Italy fined the company €20 million ($27.9 million) and ordered it to delete images of Italian nationals. The UK provisionally fined Clearview £17 million ($22.6 million) in November for breaking data protection laws.

Canada, Australia and France are among the countries that have told Clearview to delete images of its residents and citizens. It's also facing privacy lawsuits in the US, where lawmakers have urged federal agencies to stop using the tech. Meta, Google, Venmo, Twitter and other platforms have demanded that Clearview stop scraping images from them as well.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened the door for self-driving vehicles to operate without manual controls under updated Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. While fully autonomous vehicles are likely several years away from going on sale, the new rule paves the way for automakers to remove the steering wheel and pedals.

“Through the 2020s, an important part of [the Department of Transportation's] safety mission will be to ensure safety standards keep pace with the development of automated driving and driver assistance systems,” transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg said. “This new rule is an important step, establishing robust safety standards for [Automated Driving Systems]-equipped vehicles.”

The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards regulate all elements of production cars, as Roadshow notes. The latest rule stipulates that whether or not they have a steering wheel and pedals, vehicles with automated driving systems need to offer the same level of protection to drivers and passengers as other cars.

Fully autonomous (Level 5) cars aren't on the market yet. Teslas are at Level 2 (they have some autonomy, but a human driver needs to be ready to take control). Volkswagen is making a Level 4 version of its ID.Buzz EV, while pilot projects for robotaxis and self-driving shuttles are underway. At CES 2022, Cadillac showed off a luxury concept EV without a steering wheel or pedals.

NHTSA acknowledged uncertainty about the development and deployment of vehicles equipped with ADS. "Nevertheless, NHTSA believes it is appropriate to finalize this action at this time in anticipation of emerging ADS vehicle designs that NHTSA has seen in prototype form," the agency said.

YouTube says it will now block channels linked to Russia-backed media outlets worldwide. Last week, it blocked channels from the likes of RT and Sputnik in Europe following an EU directive. The updated policy takes effect immediately, though YouTube's systems will take a little time to fully block the channels.

The service also said "denying, minimizing or trivializing well-documented violent events" is not allowed under its Community Guidelines. YouTube is taking down videos about the conflict in Ukraine that violate the rule. On Thursday, Twitter and Facebook removed posts from Russia's embassy in the UK that denied the bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine.

YouTube has also deleted more than 1,000 channels and over 15,000 videos related to Russia's invasion ok Ukraine for violating various policies, such as those on hate speech, misinformation and graphic content. Google stopped all ad sales in Russia last week and it has now paused all YouTube monetization and payments in the country.

YouTube says it may take further action in Russia as the conflict continues. In addition, it's directing users to trusted sources of news regarding the invasion.

Power outages aren't exactly rare in Northern California. In the coming months, residents who own a compatible electric vehicle — such as the Ford F-150 Lightning — will effectively be able to use it as a backup generator.

Ford has teamed up with PG&E, the main energy provider in the region, for a bidirectional electric vehicle charging project. The companies claim the F-150 Lightning can power a home for up to 10 days (depending on energy needs) in the event of an outage. Sunrun, another of the automaker's partners, will start installing Ford’s Intelligent Backup Power system in Northern California this spring. 

GM announced a similar pilot with PG&E earlier this week. If initial testing goes well, they'll enable vehicle-to-grid charging for a small number of people with Ultium-powered EVs before expanding the trial more broadly later this year.

Instagram is trying to tackle the problem of unsavory comments that pop up during Live streams with its latest feature. Starting today, Live users can assign someone to be a moderator for their broadcasts. Moderators can report comments, switch off comments from a particular user and boot troublesome viewers from the stream.

Creators can add a moderator by tapping the menu icon on the comment bar. They can search for a specific person or choose a user from a list suggested by Instagram.

Instagram is rolling out the feature to help broadcasters focus on engaging in positive discussions instead of spending time addressing unwanted interactions. It's a welcome move that should help to cut down on toxic comments during Lives.

The app is following in the footsteps of Twitch, which has allowed streamers to have moderators for years. Having reliable, effective mods who can handle trolls and deal with distasteful comments or messages swiftly can foster a safer environment for both creators and their audiences.

CNN has revealed exactly when its dedicated streaming service will debut. CNN+, which costs $6 per month or $60 per year, will arrive on March 29th. Those who sign up in the first four weeks and maintain their subscription will get 50 percent off the monthly plan for life (that works out to $36 per year for the foreseeable future).

The service will deliver live, on-demand and interactive news-driven programming. Subscribers of CNN's linear service can watch cable broadcasts and on-demand content through the app too.

CNN hired away Chris Wallace from Fox News to host a CNN+ show. Other daily launch programming includes shows anchored by Wolf Blitzer, Kate Bolduan, Sara Sidner and Bianca Nobilo, as well as a weekday edition of Reliable Sources. Viewers can also expect Anderson Cooper Full Circle to be available on CNN+, as well as a book-focused show with Jake Tapper, a show from Christiane Amanpour and much more.

As the conflict in Ukraine continues, Google is rolling out an Android feature it hopes will help people in the country stay safe. Ukraine's government asked Google to deploy an air raid alert system on Android phones, and it worked with the company to do so. Google says the feature complements the existing air strike alerts — it's based on alerts the government is already providing to its residents.

In the latest update to a blog post in which it details the steps it's taking to help Ukraine, Google says it has now suspended most of its commercial activities in Russia. Those include ads for all entities based in Russia, Google Cloud signups, payments on most services and YouTube monetization features for Russian viewers. Free services such as YouTube, Gmail and Search are still available in Russia for the time being.

Starting today, hotel owners in countries neighboring Ukraine can note on their business profile if they offer discounted or free stays to refugees. Businesses can share details on their business profile on Search and Maps about services and aid they're offering to refugees from Ukraine.

Google is also letting NGOs in Warsaw use one of its campuses to offer legal and psychological support to refugees. It previously announced similar support for NGOs in Slovakia, Romania and Hungary, as well as a $10 million pledge toward local organizations in Poland that are aiding refugees.

Meanwhile, Google's Threat Analysis Group has detected activity from FancyBear and Ghostwriter, hacking groups believed to have ties to Russia and Belarus, respectively. The team shared details about those threats earlier this week to increase awareness among those in the security community and those who may be at risk of cyberattacks.

In addition, the company says it has complied with an EU directive to remove Russian state-funded media websites from search results in the region. It's also removing more Russian media apps from Google Play.