OpenTable's restaurant pages still feature a lot of reviews left by anonymous diners at the moment, but that will not be the case starting next month. The online restaurant reservation service is changing its policy around reviews so that they're not as anonymous — and it's even applying the new rule retroactively. As BleepingComputer reports, it told users in an email that starting on May 22, it "will begin displaying diner first names and profile photos on all diner reviews." Further, "this update will also apply to past reviews."

"We've heard from you, our diners, that trust and transparency are important when looking at reviews," the company also said in its letter, insinuating that it's changing the way reviews work based on user feedback. As BleepingComputer says, it'll be easy to match a bad review with customer reservation records based on the user's first name and when the post was made. 

While that's not nearly as bad as Glassdoor publishing people's names alongside their employer reviews without consent, it could still be very uncomfortable for people who wanted to talk about bad experiences without the fear of not being welcomed back into a particular establishment. Sure, the new rule could ensure that bad reviews have merit, that a customer legitimately dined at that restaurant and any complaint they mention truly is worth looking into. But we wouldn't be surprised if people feel put off and even betrayed by the decision to apply this upcoming policy to old posts. 

Those who have no intention to go back to restaurants they didn't particularly like could change their first names if they wish, though future reservations will be made under that name. Users can also change their profile pictures if they want and even delete their reviews altogether before May 22. 

If you're — apparently, one of the few people — using the VPN service that comes with Google One, we've got bad news for you. In an email you're going to receive from Google if you haven't gotten it yet, it revealed that it's phasing out the perk sometime later this year. The company rolled out Google One's VPN feature back in 2020, but you could only access it then if you're paying for a plan with at least 2TB of storage, which costs at least $10 a month. Last year, the company expanded its availability across all One plans, including the basic $2-per-month option, making it more affordable than before.

At the moment, you can access One's VPN service if you're in one of the 22 countries where it's active, whether you're on iOS or Android. You can also use it to mask your internet usage on a Mac or Windows computer. Google didn't say when the VPN service will stop working completely, but it told 9to5Google that it's discontinuing the feature because "people simply weren’t using it." Instead of trying to drum up interest, it's redirecting its resources to support other and more in-demand One features. However, you'll still be able to use the free VPN that comes with Pixel devices even after One's shuts down through the Settings app on Pixel 7 devices and newer models. 

Plenty of women who use rideshare services regularly send details of their trips to loved ones and take other precautionary measures, especially at night. Now, Uber is putting all its safety tools in one place, making them easier to access and allowing users to customize them so that they'd automatically switch on. In the app's new safety preferences section, passengers can choose to schedule when its safety tools should automatically get activated, whether it's for every ride after 9PM, on the weekends or only for rides that begin within 50 meters of a bar or a restaurant. They can also ensure that Uber's safety features are active for every single ride they take if they want to. 

One of the tools passengers can activate in the new portal is audio recording, which the company introduced some time ago. Uber assures users that those recordings are encrypted and can't be accessed by anyone, even by the company. However, if something happens during the trip, passengers can choose to report an incident and share the recording with Uber for proof. Users can also switch on PIN verification so that they can be sure they're getting into the right vehicle, as well as RideCheck, which helps Uber detect if a ride goes off-course or stops unexpectedly. Finally, there's Share My Trip, allowing passengers to automatically share their live location and trip details with trusted contacts. 

At the moment, the new safety preferences page is only live in the US, Canada and Latin American countries, but the company plans to expand its availability to more regions. To access the new portal, users can go to Settings and find a link to it or tap the Safety Toolkit blue shield while on a trip and then tap "Set up safety preferences."

Mercedes-Benz has released a preview of its 2025 EQS electric vehicle model that comes with a new grille design featuring chrome slats against a deep black background along with a standing star on its hood. With just those changes, the upcoming EQS more clearly resembles Benz's S-Class vehicles, its counterpart in the automaker's non-EV lineup, than its predecessor does. In addition to the more traditional Benz look and upgrades that make its seats more comfortable, the 2025 EQS will also come with a larger battery. 

Its new battery has a larger usable capacity of 118 kWh, compared to the older model's 108.4 kWh. Of course, the higher the kWh, the longer an EV's range is — the first EQS had an EPA-estimated 350 mile-range, so expect Mercedes to announce a longer range than that. The 2025 EQS will feature new regenerative braking software that the automaker says can recover more energy for use, as well. That will also contribute to a longer range, lesser use of the car's brake discs and a better pedal feel. 

The automaker hasn't announced how much the model would cost yet, but prices will likely start at $100,000-plus when it arrives at US dealerships later this year. 

In an interview with the channel TweakMusicTips, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy said that DJ streamers on the platform will have to share their revenue with music labels. As posted by Zach Bussey on X (formerly Twitter), Clancy said that Twitch is working on a "structure," wherein DJs and the platform "are gonna have to share money with the labels." He said he's already talked to some DJs about it. The DJs, of course, realized that they'd rather not share what they earn. But Clancy said that Twitch will pay part of what the labels are owed, while the DJs hand over a portion of their revenue. 

Clancy's statement was part of his response to the host's question about the copyright situation of music streamers on the platform. The CEO replied that Twitch has been talking to music labels about it in hopes of finding a stable solution so that DJ streamers don't get hit with DMCA takedown requests. He also said that the website has a "pretty good thing" going on with labels right now — a "thing" that involves Twitch paying them money, apparently — but it's not a sustainable long-term solution. Plus, the labels are only OK with that deal at the moment because they know Twitch is working on another solution that will make them (more) money. 

Clancy also clarified that live streams and videos on demand have different sets of rules for playing copyrighted music, and the latter is definitely a problem. That's why he suggests that DJs should mute pre-recorded videos on their own, because Twitch's system doesn't always detect copyrighted songs to mute them. The CEO said Twitch is close to signing the deal with labels, but it's unclear how the Amazon subsidiary intends to monitor live music streams and if it already has the technology to do so. 

Blizzard is taking mid-match leaves on Overwatch 2 more seriously and is implementing harsher punishments when Season 10 arrives. People playing Unranked games won't be able to join a queue for five minutes after leaving two of their last 20 games. And if they leave at least 10 out of the last 20, they'll be suspended for 48 hours. Players probably want to be even more careful when it comes to leaving Competitive games, though, because doing so 10 times out of 20 will get them banned for the rest of the season. In its announcement, Blizzard said that while it's aware not everyone abandons a game on purpose, these changes "should help curb those players who deliberately choose to leave a match." 

Blizzard

The developer is also making it easier for groups of friends to play together in Competitive mode, no matter their rank, by introducing "wide groups." A wide group is defined by having players from a wide range of ranks, from Diamond to tiers up to five Skill Divisions lower. Blizzard admits that opting for the new queue option will mean longer wait times, since it has to pair a wide group with another wide group with similar ranks in order to be fair. But it's hoping that the new feature will eliminate the need to use an alt account when playing with friends. 

The company is also adding new features designed to help prevent abuse and harassment in-game. People will soon be able to add up to 10 players in their "Avoid as Teammate" list instead of just three. It's also making it easy to report disruptive behavior by updating its reporting interface. Finally, Blizzard is blocking a player's access to text or voice chat in their matches if they were found to have engaged in abusive behavior and have broken the company's code of conduct. They can only get those privileges back if they spend time playing Overwatch 2 in their best behavior.

Blizzard is taking mid-match leaves on Overwatch 2 more seriously and is implementing harsher punishments when Season 10 arrives. People playing Unranked games won't be able to join a queue for five minutes after leaving two of their last 20 games. And if they leave at least 10 out of the last 20, they'll be suspended for 48 hours. Players probably want to be even more careful when it comes to leaving Competitive games, though, because doing so 10 times out of 20 will get them banned for the rest of the season. In its announcement, Blizzard said that while it's aware not everyone abandons a game on purpose, these changes "should help curb those players who deliberately choose to leave a match." 

Blizzard

The developer is also making it easier for groups of friends to play together in Competitive mode, no matter their rank, by introducing "wide groups." A wide group is defined by having players from a wide range of ranks, from Diamond to tiers up to five Skill Divisions lower. Blizzard admits that opting for the new queue option will mean longer wait times, since it has to pair a wide group with another wide group with similar ranks in order to be fair. But it's hoping that the new feature will eliminate the need to use an alt account when playing with friends. 

The company is also adding new features designed to help prevent abuse and harassment in-game. People will soon be able to add up to 10 players in their "Avoid as Teammate" list instead of just three. It's also making it easy to report disruptive behavior by updating its reporting interface. Finally, Blizzard is blocking a player's access to text or voice chat in their matches if they were found to have engaged in abusive behavior and have broken the company's code of conduct. They can only get those privileges back if they spend time playing Overwatch 2 in their best behavior.

Cruise will start re-deploying its autonomous vehicles after a major upheaval last year that led to a pause in its operations, the loss of its CEO and the dismissal of a big chunk of its workforce, including several executives. In a blog post on its website, the GM subsidiary said it's resuming its manual driving activities in order to gather road information and create maps for its autonomous vehicles. The first fleet of Cruise vehicles to go out on the road again will be deployed in Phoenix, Arizona, though the company plans to expand to other cities as it continues to "engage with officials and community leaders."

If you'll recall, Cruise suspended all its driverless operations a few weeks after an incident in California, wherein one of its robotaxis ran over and dragged a pedestrian who was hurled onto its path after being hit by another vehicle. Both the California DMV and the California Public Utilities Commission revoked its licenses to operate in the state due to that incident and other safety-related issues. By November last year, Cruise also suspended manned robotaxi rides as part of an expanded safety probe conducted by an independent consulting firm. 

Kyle Vogt, the company's co-founder and CEO, resigned shortly after that. The company also dismissed nine key executives following an allegation by authorities that Cruise withheld a video showing the victim in the California incident pinned underneath its vehicle. In December, the robotaxi-maker laid off 24 percent of its workforce, which was around 900 personnel. The Intercept also reported last year that it saw internal safety assessment materials concluding that Cruise's vehicles had problems recognizing children. 

Cruise said in its post that it's been conducting testing on closed courses over the past few months as it works on rebuilding trust. All the robotaxis heading to Phoenix will be human-driven vehicles without autonomous systems engaged. Its ultimate goal, of course, is to deploy fully driverless vehicles again, but the company didn't say if it has a target date and didn't share a timeline if it does have one. 

You can now ensure that you're not going to be hit by hidden fees and taxes before you sign up with an internet service provider (ISP). Starting today, big ISPs with more than 100,000 subscribers will be required to display "nutrition labels" both in store and online under a new FCC rule. Those labels have to show the companies' plans, fees and any additional costs, such as activation fees and upfront or rental fees for modems and other equipment. 

They also have to show whether a particular amount that's being advertised is an introductory or a discounted rate and how long you can enjoy that lower rate. Plus, the labels have to indicate each particular plan's download and upload speeds, as well as any early termination fee associated with it. ISPs can't hide these labels behind multiple clicks or camouflage them with other elements that make them hard to see. They have to be accessible from your customer account portal, and ISPs should give you a copy if you ask. 

The FCC first floated the idea of nutrition labels for ISPs back in 2016, but it wasn't until 2022 that it formally introduced rules requiring them to be displayed at the companies' points of sale. As you can see in the image below, it resembles the nutrition labels for food and will (theoretically and hopefully) account for every dollar you pay for a wired or wireless plan. Back when the rule was announced, FCC Chairperson Jessica Rosenworcel explained that the agency chose to approve and implement it as part of its efforts to "end the kind of unexpected fees and junk costs that can get buried in long and mind-numbingly confusing statements of terms and conditions."

Based on the FCC's website, providers with less than 100,000 subscribers will be given a bit more time to comply and have until October 10. And in case you come across any ISP that isn't displaying any label even when they should or is showing inaccurate information, you can file a complaint with the commission through its official portal. 

FCC

At CinemaCon this year, the Motion Picture Association Chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin has revealed a plan that would make "sailing the digital seas" under the Jolly Roger banner just a bit harder. Rivkin said the association is going to work with Congress to establish and enforce a site-blocking legislation in the United States. He added that almost 60 countries use site-blocking as a tool against piracy, "including leading democracies and many of America's closest allies." The only reason why the US isn't one of them, he continued, is the "lack of political will, paired with outdated understandings of what site-blocking actually is, how it functions, and who it affects."

With the rule in place, "film and television, music and book publishers, sports leagues and broadcasters" can ask the court to order ISPs to block websites that share stolen content. Rivkin, arguing in favor of site-blocking, explained that the practice doesn't impact legitimate businesses. He said legislation around the practice would require detailed evidence to prove that a certain entity is engaged in illegal activities and that alleged perpetrators can appear in court to defend themselves. 

Rivkin cited FMovies, an illegal film streamer, as an example of how site-blocking in the US would minimize traffic to piracy websites. Apparently, FMovies gets 160 million visits per month, a third of which comes from the US. If the rule also exists in the country, then the website's traffic would, theoretically, drop pretty drastically. The MPA's chairman also talked about previous efforts to enforce site-blocking in the US, which critics previously said would "break the internet" and could potentially stifle free speech. While he insisted that other countries' experiences since then had proven those predictions wrong, he promised that the organization takes those concerns seriously.

He ended his speech by asking for the support of theater owners in the country. "The MPA is leading this charge in Washington," he said. "And we need the voices of theater owners — your voices — right by our side. Because this action will be good for all of us: Content creators. Theaters. Our workforce. Our country."