Google has released a bunch of new features and updates for several of its products, including the ability to pay for parking using your voice. You can now simply say "Hey Google, pay for parking" in ParkMobile street parking zones and then follow Assistant's prompts. After you complete the transaction using Google Pay, you can ask Assistant to check your parking status or to extend your time anytime you want. 

The tech giant has also rolled out grammar check for Gboard on all Android devices. It was originally a Pixel 6 exclusive before making its way to other Pixel models earlier this year. Now all Gboard users will be able to use it to detect errors and suggest corrections while typing. Google says the feature works entirely on-device to ensure your privacy. 

The Android Live Transcribe app has been updated, as well, and now has an offline mode that you can use to generate real-time speech-to-text captions without an internet connection. It will give you a way to access its capabilities while on a plane, in the subway or in other areas where you don't have access to mobile data or WiFi.

When you fire up Google TV, you'll now see a Highlights tab containing a feed of entertainment news and reviews based on the movies and shows you watch. The articles link to the shows or movies they're based on, and you can simply tap them to start watching. Meanwhile, an update for Nearby Share makes it easier to share photos, videos and other kinds of files to several people by letting you add multiple recipients during a transfer. This particular feature is rolling out to all devices running Android 6 or higher. 

If you're trying to curb the time you spend on your phone, you may find Android's new screen time widget useful. The widget itself shows a glimpse of the three apps you use most each day. You can also click through to set daily timers for you apps, set a focus mode to pause distracting apps at certain times and set a bedtime mode that silences your device and changes its screen to black and white. 

Finally, you'll soon be able to use Portrait Blur on more subjects if you own a Pixel or have a Google One subscription. The editing tool blurs the background on photos of people after you've already taken them, but when the update goes out, it can also be used on photos of other subjects like pets, food and plants. You'll even be able to retroactively apply the effect on old photos taken without the feature enabled. Unfortunately, Google didn't say when the update will be available, but here's a video showing how the feature works:

The European Commission has sent Google a request to remove Russian state media results for searches performed in countries within the EU. As The Washington Post reports, Google has uploaded a letter from EU officials to a database of government requests. In it, the officials explain how the commission's official order to ban the broadcast of RT and Sputnik in the European Union also applies to search engines and internet companies in general.

If you'll recall, the commission issued a ban on the state media outlets a few days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine began. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said back then that by doing so, the outlets "will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin's war." While it wasn't quite clear how the order applies to internet companies, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok promptly restricted access to RT and Sputnik across Europe. Google also announced its own restrictions, but only for the outlets' YouTube channels.

In the letter Google has uploaded, officials explained that search engines play a major role in disseminating content and that if the company doesn't delist the outlets, it would facilitate the public's access to them. Part of the letter reads:

"The activity of search engines plays a decisive role in the overall dissemination of content in that it renders the latter accessible to any internet user making a search on the basis of the content indication or related terms, including to internet users who otherwise would not have found the web page on which that content is published...Consequently, if search engines such as Google did not delist RT and Sputnik, they would facilitate the public's access to the content of RT and Sputnik, or contribute to such access. 

It follows from the foregoing that by virtue of the Regulation, providers of Internet search services must make sure that i) any link to the Internet sites of RT and Sputnik and ii) any content of RT and Sputnik, including short textual descriptions, visual elements and links to the corresponding websites do not appear in the search results delivered to users located in the EU."

Google didn't return The Post's request for comment, but the publication says a search conducted within the EU didn't bring up links for "Russia Today." RT links still showed up for us, however, when we conducted searches using Google Austria and France. 

The letter also said that the order applies to "posts made by individuals that reproduce the content of RT and Sputnik" — for example, screenshots of articles from those outlets — and that social networks must delete those posts if they get published. That could create a deluge of additional work for social media websites already struggling to moderate content posted by their users. According to The Post, though, the actual sanctions law doesn't define the order in the way that's written in the letter, so the officials' interpretation could be challenged in court. 

TikTok now has its own music distribution platform. The social network has launched SoundOn, which allows artists to upload their music directly to TikTok and to distribute it to various music streaming services. ByteDance, the app's parent company, won't be charging artists any distribution or transaction fees. Artists will get 100 percent of their royalties for an unlimited time when TikTok creators use their music for their videos, as well as for whatever they earn on ByteDance's music streaming service Resso.

For other streaming services that include Apple Music, Spotify and Pandora, artists will get 100 percent of their royalties in the first year and then 90 percent in the years after that. As TechCrunch reports, other similar music distribution platforms charge subscription fees or charge for distribution while paying out 100 percent in royalties to artists. 

SoundOn users will be able to choose which streaming services they want to upload their music to. They'll also get access to audience insights, advice from the SoundOn marketing team and promotional support from TikTok. They'll get verified on TikTok, as well, and other users will see their profile under the song page for their tracks. As noted on SoundOn's FAQ page, artists will get to keep all the rights to their music, and they're not expected to use the platform exclusively.

TikTok already has a massive effect on the music industry, thanks to viral videos on the app that tend to use the same catchy tunes. The SoundOn platform, which could potentially expand TikTok's influence even further on today's music landscape, is now live in the US, UK, Brazil and Indonesia, and musicians in those regions can visit its website to register.

Nothing, the brand started by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, will announce its 2022 roadmap in an event on March 23rd. While the company didn't reveal specifics other than a new community investment round that's coming this year, previous reports claimed that the company is developing its own smartphone that will be launched in April. 

It's said to feature design cues also found in the brand's wireless earbuds, specifically their element of transparency. If you haven't seen them yet, Nothing's earbuds have a see-through shell and come in a case that's mostly transparent, a design that adheres to the company's mission of making technology less obvious and more seamless. 

TechCrunch reported earlier this month that Pei showed the device to industry executives at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Famous leaker evleaks also tweeted a photo of Pei seemingly showing off a smartphone in his hand to Qualcomm chief Cristiano Amon. It was taken from a distance, however, so we'll have to wait for the official reveal — or for more detailed leaks to come out — for a clearer look. 

Considering Pei's background, it wouldn't come as a surprise if Nothing truly does release a smartphone. Pei previously told Bloomberg in an interview that the company is "building an ecosystem of smart devices" and that Nothing will build them "so these devices talk to each other." 

The Nothing (event): The Truth will take place on March 23rd at 2PM GMT/9AM EST. You can sign up to get notified when the livestream starts at Nothing's website.

You can get a Google Nest WiFi with one or two access points at a discount right now on Best Buy, Adorama and B&H. A two-pack bundle with the Nest router itself and a single access point will set you back $189 across all those websites. That's only $10 more than its price during Google's pre-Black Friday sale last year and $80 less than its retail price of $269. 

The three-pack Google Nest WiFi is also on sale for $249 at the moment. That's $100 off for the bundle that typically costs $349, which includes the router and two access points. Google's Nest WiFi router has a range of around 2,200 square feet, and each point adds 1,600 square feet to that. You'll definitely want to grab a multipack instead of a lone router if you have a big, multi-story house.

We gave the Google Nest WiFi router a score of 84 in our review, where we praised it for being simple to install and use. It barely requires any setup, and its wireless radios are twice as powerful as the ones inside the old Google WiFi router. We also praised both the router and the access points for having unobtrusive designs that wouldn't clash with most home decor. 

The access points don't just boost the router's range, as well. They also work as speakers with built-in Google Assistant that you can use to issue voice commands. While we found that it can't quite replace a proper speaker when we tested it, its sound quality was no different from a standalone Google Home Mini. The router and its access points don't support WiFi 6, which could be a dealbreaker if you're looking for something that'll last for the next few years or so. But in all, we found the Google Nest WiFi devices fast and reliable with a painless setup process that's certainly a plus. 

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Facebook has updated its Community Help section in Ukraine to add resources from local UN and Red Cross agencies. The information Facebook has added will make it easier for users to find medical help and other kinds of assistance not just in Ukraine, but also in neighboring countries. In addition, Community Help now contains the WhatsApp helpline for Ukraine's State Emergency Services to connect people with critical updates and vital services.

To make sure that people who need it can quickly access the section, Facebook is putting a link to Community Help at the top of its feeds for Ukrainain users, even if they've already left the country. The link will also appear at the top of the results for relevant searches on Facebook, as well as at the top of users' Instagram feeds. 

Facebook has updated its Emotional Health Center, as well, adding mental health tips (such as how to support children during a crisis) from the WHO and other organizations in Ukrainian, Russian and English. Users in Ukraine might also start seeing more ads connecting them to organizations providing aid, because Facebook is giving those groups access to free ad campaigns to get critical messaging out to those who need it. The World Health Organization, for instance, has put out ads promoting information on breastfeeding for displaced mothers. 

Finally, those who need to get in touch with the WHO's Health Alert helpline for mental health in Ukraine and neighboring countries can add the number +41 79 893 18 92 to their WhatsApp contacts. They simply have to message "hi" to that number to get the process started. 

Facebook made several other moves over the past couple of weeks in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The social network previously demoted Russian state media across its entire platform and took down fake accounts boosting Russian information in Ukraine shortly after the attacks started. It also enabled a "lock profile" tool for people in Ukraine, giving them a one-click solution to ensure that nobody outside their friends list can see their posts, photos and information. 

Anyone can be harassed online, but it's an inevitability for activists and journalists covering contentious topics and challenging their country's authorities — especially if they're women. Google's Jigsaw unit has released the open source code for a web app called Harassment Manager that can help them review, sort and export the toxic comments they get on social media. Developers can build on the code to create their own version of the tool, but Jigsaw does have implementation partners, including Thomson Reuters Foundation that's rolling out a functional web app for its journalists in June.

In its current form, Harassment Manager works on Twitter, which teamed up with Jigsaw for the project. It uses the unit's Perspective API to detect comments that are most likely to be harmful and allows users to easily document and hide those responses, as well as to mute or block the accounts harassing them. Jigsaw has been training Perspective to detect online harassment since at least 2017 by feeding it comments identified as toxic by human reviewers. 

As The Verge reports, Perspective gives Harassment Manager the power to check the messages a user gets and to sort them into high, possible and unknown levels of harmfulness. The user can then process them in batches instead of dealing with them one by one, and they can blur toxic messages if they don't want to read them.

According to Jigsaw's research, 70 percent of female journalists receive threats online, and more than 40 percent of them stopped reporting their story as a result. The unit is hoping that the code can give developers what they need to be able to create a tool to protect people who "deal with disproportionately high toxicity online," especially "female journalists, activists, politicians and other public figures." Jigsaw says open sourcing the tool is just a step towards helping people who constantly deal with online harassment. It will continue working with NGOs in the journalism and human rights space to figure out how Harassment Manager's technology can help keep their communities safe.

A charity bundle on Itch.io organized by Necrosoft Games offers a collection of 991 indie games, soundtracks, books, comics, tabletop RPGs and gaming tools for a minimum of donation of $10 — and all proceeds will go to organizations helping relief efforts in Ukraine. The bundle includes games like Baba is You, 2064 Read Only Memories, Celeste, Skatebird and Towerfall Ascension. It also includes text message adventure game Bury Me My Love, which tells the story of a Syrian refugee couple, and military RPG Long Gone Days that focuses on the human cost of war.

Necrosoft only added paid products to the bunch, and 600 of them have never been in a major bundle before. In all, the items in the bundle cost around $6,500 when you add up their regular retail prices. Everything the developer gets after card processing fees will go to two charity organizations in particular, one of which is the International Medical Corps. It's a humanitarian nonprofit that's currently working in Ukraine to increase access to medical services, including mental health support, and to help contain the spread of COVID-19. The other beneficiary is the Ukrainian organization Voices of Children, which sets up shelters and helps children cope with the horrors of war. 

While Necrosoft is only asking for a minimum of $10 for all 991 items, it's urging donors to pay more if they can. The company is hoping to raise $1 million for the causes it supports until March 17th. 

Elden Ring players on PC may want to update their copy before they load their previous saves, just to make sure they don't lose progress to a Steam Cloud save bug. The latest update for the game's Steam version fixes an issue with conflicting local and cloud save data that cost some players hours, maybe even days, of gameplay.

As IGN reports, players took to social media to complain how they'd lost tons of progress because their latest cloud save data was from hours or days before. The official Elden Ring account on Twitter acknowledged the issue and advised gamers to check their cloud save's last modified date and time before loading, or better yet, to use a local save instead. This patch resolves the problem and also comes with some stability and performance fixes. 

Just a few days ago, it was Elden Ring players on the PS5 who had to grapple with a save issue. A bug prevented the game from saving their progress if the console crashed or if it lost power while in Rest Mode. Elden Rings publisher Bandai Namco advised users to manually exit the game before it rolled out an update that patched up the problem.

The Snap Map feature, which shows where Snaps were taken, can be pretty useful for those who want to know the hottest places to visit in an area — not so much for people trying to flee a war. That's why, as a safety precaution, Snap has temporarily disabled the "heatmap" feature for public posts in Ukraine. Typically, the Snap Map highlights places where there are tons of Snaps taken with a glowing red circle and spots where some posts were made with a blue circle. If you look at the feature in the app or on the web, you'll see that there are no longer indicators placed over Ukraine. 

Other tech companies had also disabled features that can show the movements of Ukrainians leaving the country, which is currently under attack from Russia. Google disabled live traffic data in Ukraine, including the live traffic layer for Maps, to protect the safety of locals. It also turned off user-submitted Maps placements after claims that they were being used by the Russian military to coordinate airstrikes. When it announced that it's halting all product sales in Russia, Apple said that it had disabled live traffic data in Ukraine, as well, to prevent the app from being used to target Ukraine residents.