Instagram creators are getting another way to create income from the platform: subscriptions. A very small number of influencers in the US have access to the feature for now as Instagram tests the feature.

At the outset, they'll be able to put some livestreams and stories behind a paywall. Those stories, which can be saved to subscribers-only highlights, have a purple ring to make them stand out, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said.

As with Twitch and YouTube, subscribers will receive a purple badge next to their usernames. Creators can see the badge in comments, messages and elsewhere. As such, they'll be able to devote more of their attention to subscribers, if they like.

More subscription features may be added in the future. Mosseri also said his team is working on ways for creators to export their subscriber lists and "bring them off of Instagram to other apps and websites built by other companies."

Creators will be able to set a monthly price of their choosing and followers can subscribe via a button on their profile. Instagram plans to expand the test to more creators in the coming months and parent company Meta previously said it won't take a cut of creators' earnings until at least 2023.

"This will help creators earn more by offering benefits to their most engaged followers like access to exclusive Lives and Stories," said Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Instagram's parent company Meta. "I'm excited to keep building tools for creators to make a living doing creative work and to put these tools in more creators' hands soon."

Facebook added subscriptions in 2019. It seemed inevitable that, given the platform's popularity and large number of influencers, the option would come to Instagram as well. Mosseri previously said creators would be one of Instagram's major areas of focus this year, and subscriptions certainly play into that. It follows Instagram offering creators payouts for hitting certain livestreaming targets and other monetization features.

Last summer, Zuckerberg announced plans to invest $1 billion in creators by the end of 2022. With so many influencers finding big audiences on other platforms (many of which are investing heavily in creators), the company was left with little choice but to try and draw them to Facebook and Instagram with the promise of payouts.

Verizon and AT&T have at last switched on their C-Band 5G services after a six-weekdelay. While the networks won't be available near many airports for the time being after the companies' tussle with the Federal Aviation Administration and airlines, people in some areas of the US will have access to the services starting today.

AT&T is taking a relatively cautious approach to its rollout. Its C-Band 5G services are live in "limited parts" of eight metro areas, including Detroit and Chicago as well as Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston in Texas. Folks in three regions in Florida — Jacksonville, Orlando and South Florida — can also use AT&T's C-Band network.

Verizon (Engadget's former parent company) says that 100 million more people will gain access to its 5G Ultra Wideband network this month in more than 1,700 cities, including C-Band coverage. So, most metro areas should have at least some C-Band 5G coverage from Verizon in the coming weeks.

The C-Band spectrum has more bandwidth than the low-band spectrum AT&T and Verizon used in their previous 5G rollouts. That should enable faster download and upload speeds than earlier iterations of 5G. Verizon claims its C-Band 5G is up to 10 times faster than 4G LTE, with download speeds that have exceeded 1 Gbps in some areas.

AT&T and Verizon initially planned to switch on C-Band 5G in December, but they pushed back the activation following concerns from the FAA and airlines. The companies said on Tuesday that, even though 40 other countries have enabled C-Band 5G without issue, they are voluntarily delaying the rollout near several airports. Earlier this month, the two said they'd create buffer zones around 50 airports.

Horizon Forbidden West is just under a month away from hitting PlayStation 4 and PS5, and Sony is ramping up its marketing push with a trailer that sheds some light on the sequel's story. The video is, unsurprisingly, packed with gorgeous visuals while offering some details on what seems to be a solid expansion of Horizon Zero Dawn's rich story.

"People are suffering. Soon, they'll starve," protagonist Aloy (Ashly Burch) says at the beginning of the trailer. "The machines, meant to help us, are out of control. I have to find a way to fix it all. The answer is somewhere out in the Forbidden West." We soon learn that, in that part of the world, war is the order of the day, so Aloy clearly has another difficult journey ahead.

Along with some familiar faces like Varl and Erend, there are some new characters in the trailer — both friendly and hostile ones. Angela Bassett plays one of the antagonists, Regalla. She's a rebel leader who "seeks to slaughter all those who've wronged her" and has the ability to control the machines, granted to her by a returning character. The three-minute clip closes with a glimpse of a mysterious character named Tilda. Guerrilla Games told Game Informer that The Matrix star Carrie-Anne Moss plays her.

Of course, some of the machines Aloy will battle appear in the clip too. Among them is a terrifying, giant cobra-rattlesnake hybrid called the Slitherfang, which can spit streams of acid in her direction.

Overall, the trailer offers another tantalizing look at a hotly anticipated game. Given that an unfinished build reportedly leaked earlier this month, it's best for fans to tread carefully to avoid spoilers before Horizon Forbidden West arrives on February 18th.

Amazon's The Lord of the Rings series is scheduled to debut on Prime Video in September, which might just be far enough away to get used to the unwieldy title. The company revealed the full name of the show — The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power — in a short video.

“This is a title that we imagine could live on the spine of a book next to J.R.R. Tolkien’s other classics,” showrunners J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay said in a statement. “The Rings of Power unites all the major stories of Middle-earth’s Second Age: the forging of the rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the epic tale of Númenor and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.”

The video shows what looks like a few valleys with wispy fog before we see what's actually going on. Molten metal fills in the grooves before it's cooled with water. The camera then zooms out to reveal the show's name. The clip was shot using practical effects instead of CGI.

The teaser doesn't feature any characters or provide plot details. There's plenty of time for that in future trailers. However, the narration underscores the fact the show will once again focus on the 20 rings at the heart of the LOTR saga — just in case the title didn't do enough to hammer that home.

Those who subscribe to the higher tier of Nintendo Switch Online will be able to play another classic on January 20th. That's when Banjo-Kazooie comes to the service. Nintendo announced last month that the platformer would hit Expansion Pack — which offers Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis games on top of NES and SNES titles — sometime in January.

Banjo-Kazooie, which was originally released in 1998, tasks players with finding musical notes and jigsaw pieces in 3D environments so they can progress and ultimately rescue Banjo's sister, Tooty. Here's hoping Nintendo has smoothed out the emulation issues that plagued several N64 titles when Expansion Pack arrived in October.

Banjo-Kazooie will return to a Nintendo system on a busy day for game releases, albeit mainly on non-Switch platforms. Windjammers 2 and Rainbow Six Extraction debut on Thursday and both will be available on all three versions of Game Pass. So too will the Hitman World of Assassination trilogy. Expeditions: Rome arrives on the same day and, perhaps most importantly of all, the adorable-looking dog photography game Pupperazzi comes to Xbox and PC.

Just over two weeks before the 2022 Winter Olympics are set to get underway in Beijing, researchers have issued a report claiming that an app many attendees are using has major security issues. The Citizen Lab, a research facility based at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, said a "simple but devastating flaw" made it easy to bypass encryption systems that are supposed to protect voice audio and file transfers.

"The worst case scenario is that someone is intercepting all the traffic and recording all the passport details, all the medical details," research associate Jeffrey Knockel told CTV.

The app is used for health monitoring as part of COVID-19 countermeasures. Other features include messaging, news about the Games and information about logistics. The International Olympic Committee says the local Beijing 2022 workforce is using the app for things like time-keeping and task management too.

"The IOC has conducted independent third-party assessments on the application from two cyber-security testing organizations," the IOC told Engadget in a statement. "These reports confirmed that there are no critical vulnerabilities." The IOC noted that instead of using the mobile app, attendees can access a web-based health monitoring system. It said it has requested the researchers' report "to understand their concerns better."

The Citizen Lab notes that health customs forms containing passport information and travel and medical history are also at risk. In addition, the researchers said it was possible to spoof server responses, which could let hackers provide fake instructions to users.

Along with determining that the app doesn't encrypt some data transmissions, the team found that the app fails to validate some SSL certificates. In such cases, the app can't "validate to whom it is sending sensitive, encrypted data." Although they were only able to create an account on the iOS app, the researchers believe the vulnerabilities exist on the Android version of MY2022 as well.

The Citizen Lab said it informed the organizing committee for the Games about the issues on December 3rd, and said it had 15 days to respond and 45 days to fix the issues before it published its findings. As of Tuesday, the researchers hadn't received a reply.

An updated iOS version of the app that was released on Sunday didn't solve the problems. According to the researchers, the developers added a feature called “Green Health Code” that asks for more travel and medical history details, which are also vulnerable to the SSL certification issue.

According to the researchers, the flaws could mean that the app contravenes Apple's App Store rules and Google’s Unwanted Software Policy. In addition, MY2022 may be violating China's privacy standards and laws.

In addition, The Citizen Lab noted that the app includes an option to report “politically sensitive” content. It has a list of 2,442 censorship keywords too, which is said to be inactive at the minute, but includes terms related to topics like Xinjiang, Tibet, Chinese government agencies and other socially sensitive matters.

A show that stars three actors who all identify as being on the autism spectrum will debut on Amazon Prime Video this week. Rick Glassman, Albert Rutecki and Sue Ann Pien play three 20-something roommates who are also on the spectrum in As We See It.

Creator Jason Katims is best known for his work on Friday Night Lights and Parenthood, which featured a character with Asperger’s syndrome. He said all of As We See It's “neurodiverse roles were cast with neurodiverse actors” and “two neurotypical roles were cast with neurodiverse actors," according to Disability Scoop. Some writers, editors and other crew members are neurodiverse too.

Katims said his son has autism, and their experience inspired As We See It. "I think the show affords us a window into the hearts and souls of three-dimensional, loving, beautiful, complicated human beings who happen to be on the autistic spectrum, played by actors who identify as being autistic," Katims said. "It shouldn’t be revolutionary. But it sort of is."

Several other shows from recent years have featured characters with autism, including Netflix's Atypical, The Good Doctor, Prime Video series The A Word and even Sesame Street. However, it's rarer for a series to feature characters with autism played by performers who themselves are on the spectrum. As such, As We See It could bolster authentic on-screen representations of autism.

All eight episodes of As We See It's first season will hit Prime Video on Friday.

Folks in the US can now order free, at-home COVID-19 tests from a United States Postal Service website, one day earlier than expected. Last week, the Biden administration said people would be able to place orders starting on Wednesday. At the time of the announcement, COVIDtests.gov was a placeholder site, but it now directs users to the USPS to place an order.

Households can each request one set of four rapid antigen tests. USPS will start shipping the kits later this month and usually within seven to 12 days of ordering. 

The administration says the site went live one day early as part of its beta phase, according toCNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins. Officials are hoping to troubleshoot the site and ensure the official launch goes smoothly on Wednesday. Sure enough, at the time of writing, some people were having trouble loading the site, so you might not be able to place an order right away.

The COVIDtests.gov site provides some more information about the tests. You should see results within 30 minutes and can be taken anywhere. It provides guidance on when to take a test, as well as directions on what to do based on the results. The site also has resources about testing sites and insurance reimbursement for at-home tests.

The Biden administration said it was buying a billion rapid, at-home COVID-19 tests to distribute to Americans. Half of those are expected to be available for order this week. The White House said its goal was to make sure everyone has a test available when they need one, especially given that tests are in high demand and are often difficult to find in stores.

Lenovo has revealed its latest batch of devices geared toward students. Perhaps the most eye-catching offering is a Snapdragon 7c-powered Windows 11 tablet. The company suggests the 10w Tablet might be a great fit for younger students, since the device has a rugged design with a rubber bumper and Corning Gorilla Glass on the Full HD, 10.1-inch display. The screen has a 16:10 aspect ratio and 400 nits of brightness. There are 2MP front-facing and 8MP rear-facing cameras too.

Lenovo

The tablet comes with a detachable keyboard and there's an optional pen. The 10w Tablet has a 30Whr battery and comes with up to 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM and up to 128GB of eMMC storage. Unfortunately, there's only one USB-C port, but there is a headphone jack, which should help students avoid having to fiddle with the Windows Bluetooth settings. The tablet weighs 573g (1.26 lbs) and 1.1kg (2.42 lbs) with the keyboard.

Lenovo suggests the Snapdragon platform will help deliver responsive performance, dependable WiFi connectivity and an extended battery life. The ARM-based Windows experience hasn't historically beengreat, but we haven't seen Windows 11 running on Snapdragon 7c chipsets as yet. Microsoft has seemingly improved the Windows-on-ARM experience, however. 

The 10w Tablet and keyboard bundle starts at $239 and it's expected to ship in the US in April.

For (perhaps older) students who need extra power, Lenovo is also planning to ship the 13w Yoga convertible laptop in April. The system is powered by an AMD Ryzen 5000 U-series processor with on-chip graphics.

The laptop has a 13.3-inch, Full HD display with 300 nits of brightness. The front-facing 1080p camera has a privacy shutter and you'll find a 5MP camera on the rear. There's an optional fingerprint reader on the power button too.

Lenovo

The 13w Yoga includes up to 16GB of 3200Mhz DDR4 RAM (which users can upgrade) and up to a 512GB SSD. Lenovo says it has Dolby Audio and a 51Whr battery.

The connectivity options are far more generous than on the 10w Tablet. Along with an audio jack, there are two USB-C 3.2 ports, one USB-A 3.2 port, a full SD card reader and HDMI 2.0. There's WiFi 6 and optional 4G LTE support as well. The 13w Yoga will start at $749.

In addition, Lenovo announced a partnership with VictoryXR to offer educational experiences in virtual reality. Students will be able to access more than 60 VR titles from VictoryXR, centered around science, history and career and technical education. They'll be able to virtually visit the likes of The Great Wall of China and see California Redwoods.

Spain is establishing rules related to how influencers, their sponsors and others promote cryptocurrencies. Influencers and other advertisers with more than 100,000 followers in the country must notify the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) at least 10 days before plugging crypto assets. They'll face fines of up to €300,000 (around $342,000) for breaching the rules, which come into force on February 17th.

Influencers need to disclose if they receive payment for talking up cryptocurrencies. If that's the case, they'll need to provide clear and impartial warnings about the risks of crypto, including the fact that investments aren't regulated. The rules also cover companies that promote crypto assets, as well as PR companies they hire.

“If influencers weren’t covered there would be a backdoor to avoid regulation," CNMV chief Rodrigo Buenaventura told the Financial Times. "This is new terrain, for us and for them, and there will be moments of friction but that always happens when you bring in rules for something that wasn’t regulated before.”

It's believed to be the first time a European Union country has brought in such directives. EU members have yet to agree on how to regulate crypto across the bloc. In the meantime, Buenaventura notes, member states are tackling some crypto-related matters, including how they're advertised.

Some influencers who have plugged crypto assets and related products have found themselves in hot water. In July, French authorities fined a reality TV star €20,000 ($22,800) for “misleading commercial practices” over a Bitcoin trading site ad on Snapchat. Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather were this month named as defendants in a class-action lawsuit that accuses them of taking part in a "pump and dump" scheme.