A Tesla owner is facing the first felony charges filed against someone using a partially automated driving system in the US, according to AP. The defendant, Kevin George Aziz Riad, was driving a Model S when he ran a red light and crashed into a Honda Civic at a California intersection in 2019. It ended up killing the Civic's two passengers, while Riad and his companion sustained non-life threatening injuries. California prosecutors filed two counts of vehicular manslaughter against Riad in October last year.

The court documents reportedly didn't mention anything about Autopilot. However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which has been investigating the incident over the past couple of years, recently confirmed that it was switched on at the time of the crash. The NHTSA formally opened a probe into Tesla's driver assistance system in August last year following a string of 11 crashes involving parked first responder vehicles that killed 17 people. It's also investigating other types of crashes with Tesla vehicles, including one complaint blaming the beta version of the company's Full Self Driving technology for a collision in California. 

As AP notes, Riad is the first to face charges involving a widely used driver assistance technology, but he's not the very first person using an automated driving system to be charged in the US. In 2020, an Uber backup driver was charged with negligent homicide after the company's autonomous test vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona. According to an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Uber's technology detected the victim more than five seconds before the crash but wasn't able to identify her as a pedestrian. The driver could have avoided the crash if she had been paying attention. 

The NHTSA told AP in a statement that "every vehicle requires the human driver to be in control at all times" even if it has a partially automated system. On its Autopilot page, Tesla says that Autopilot is "intended for use with a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any moment."

The UK government has revealed that it plans to update its laws in order "to bring the promotion of cryptoassets within the scope of financial promotions legislation." That will ensure any crypto promotion will be held to the same standards as promotion for stocks, shares and insurance products. It also has fall in line with the rules set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Governments have recently started cracking down on crypto ads in an effort to protect consumers from scams they may not be familiar with. The Spanish government is currently establishing rules on how influencers and their sponsors promote cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, Singapore's authorities asked crypto companies outright not to market their services to the public. One type of scam is the "pump and dump," in which fraudsters find ways to artificially inflate the value of a cryptocurrency and to get people to invest money in it. They then unload their shares while the value is high to make a lot of money, thereby lowering the coin's value in the process. 

According to the UK government, approximately 2.3 million people in the country are now thought to own a cryptoasset. While cryptoassets' popularity is rising, the FCA's research suggests (PDF) that potential investors' level of understanding about them is on the decline. That means people may not be fully aware of the risks involved when it comes to investing in them, which further supports "the case for regulatory intervention to ensure that cryptoasset promotions are fair, clear, and not misleading. "

Logitech has launched a new stylus called the Logitech Pen designed specifically with K-12 students in mind. It will work with touchscreen Chromebooks that support the Universal Stylus Initiative (USI) standard and is Works with Chromebooks certified. Google backed the initiative in 2018 and joined other supporters like Intel and Lenovo in their quest to create an open active stylus standard, and a bunch of manufacturers has released USI-compatible Chromebooks over the years since then. 

The Logitech Pen works with various models across brands, namely Lenovo, Acer, HP, Asus and Samsung. Michele Hermann, Vice President of Mobility and Head of Education Solutions at Logitech, said in a statement: "Given that students and educators are increasingly using Chromebooks as an everyday tool in schools and at home, we created the Logitech Pen to unlock the full potential of Chromebooks in the classroom."

The Logitech Pen has a silicone grip, non-slip design and comes in a size that even children can hold comfortably. Its active tip features 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity — that's the same pressure levels as the Surface Slim Pen 2 — and can simulate writing on paper more closely than a stylus with a rubber tip or a finger can. As per the standard, the Logitech Pen doesn't need to be paired beforehand, so students can just pick it up and use it. 

The Pen's battery can last for up to 15 days with regular school use and can be charged using a standard USB-C Charger. And, since it's designed for students, it's also spill-proof and has military-grade drop protection of up to four feet. It will be available this month from resellers in the United States and select markets for $65.

If you're on Humble Bundle and use a Mac or a Linux computer, you may want to download all the games you can from the service's Trove before the month ends. Starting on February 1st, the Mac and Linux versions of the games in the Humble Trove will no longer available. The Humble Trove is a catalog of over 70 DRM-free games that you can access, so long as you have a Choice subscription. A few days ago, Humble announced that it's simplifying its subscription service by offering a single $12 monthly plan that gives you permanent copies of all the games for that month. 

In addition to getting access to Trove, you'll also also be able to play the Humble Games Collection with a more modern collection of titles starting in February if you subscribe. To be able to access the games in the Humble Trove and Collection, though, you will have to download the service's new app. That new app is Windows only, leaving you out completely in case you're a Mac or Linux user. Humble has already started sending users an email, reminding them that they only have until January 31st to download games if they're not on Windows. The email also says that the Windows versions of all the available games will continue to be available going forward.

Tesla has once again quietly pushed back its Cybertruck's release to next year, according to Reuters. The automaker will reportedly begin the electric truck's production by the end of the first quarter of 2023 instead of this year. While Tesla has yet to formally announce the delay, the Cybertruck's order page removed a previous reference to production in 2022. The design section of the page previously read "You will be able to complete your configuration as production nears in 2022." Now, the sentence ends after the word "nears." 

Back in November, somebody on Twitter asked company chief Elon Musk for an update on the Cybertruck. Musk responded that Tesla has been grappling with a "supply chain nightmare," and that he'll provide more updates during the company's next earnings call scheduled for January 26th.

According to Reuters' source, Tesla will have a limited production of the Cybertruck at first before increasing its output. The company unveiled the Cybertruck in 2019 at a big event, wherein Musk said that production was slated to begin in late 2021. During the company's January 2021 earnings call, he said Tesla only expects a few deliveries in 2021 and for volume production to start in 2022. Later that year, though, the company delayed the vehicle's release to 2022. 

Delays with Tesla releases don't come as a surprise anymore, seeing as Musk is known for announcing timetables that are a bit too optimistic. Supply chain and component shortages brought about by the pandemic may have also contributed to the delay, if Reuters' report turns out to be true. We'll find out for sure when Tesla reveals its updated product roadmap before the month ends.

Fox News host and right-wing commentator Dan Bongino won't be able to upload anything to his YouTube channel for a week, according to Forbes and The Hill. The website has temporarily suspended his account over COVID-19 misinformation, specifically for saying masks are useless in preventing the coronavirus' spread. YouTube updated its rules in 2020 to prohibit "content about COVID-19 that poses a serious risk of egregious harm." It doesn't permit videos with medical misinformation that contradicts local health authorities, such as the World Health Organization. 

The organization considers wearing masks "a key measure to reduce transmission and save lives." That's why YouTube explicitly states that videos containing claims that wearing masks have negative side effects and that they don't play a role in preventing the contraction or transmission of COVID-19 go against its policy. The website has suspended several creators for COVID-19 disinformation in the past, including Sky News Australia, One American News Network and Senator Rand Paul.

Bongino is only getting a week-long suspension, because it's his first strike under the policy. If he gets another strike within 90 days, he'll get another two-week suspension. His channel will only be removed if he gets a third strike within three months. In addition to suspending his uploads, YouTube has also demonetized his channel for "repeatedly violating [its] Advertiser-Friendly Guidelines on harmful and dangerous acts." He will, however, be able to re-apply for the Partner Program after 30 days. 

That said, it looks like Bongino has plans to keep on breaking YouTube's COVID-19 rules. The Bongino Report website's Twitter account posted a copy of his email to YouTube, which tells the customer service rep that he will "immediately post content on why masks have been totally ineffective in stopping this pandemic" after his suspension is over. He dared YouTube to do something about it. Bongino also called the website (and, by extension, Google) a "tyrannical, free speech-hating, bullshit, big tech shithole."

Yet another service has kicked sex workers off its platform. According to Motherboard, Linktree, a tool that allows you to share multiple links with one URL online, has given sex workers the boot overnight and without warning. Banned users have taken to social networks like Twitter to announce that their accounts were banned "for inappropriate use" and didn't even get an email or any kind of notice about it. Some were reportedly billed for the service, which costs $9 per months for the Pro tier, but weren't refunded when their account was canceled. 

Marlene Bonnelly, Head of Trust & Safety at Linktree, told the publication that the accounts that were banned shared a URL that violated its Community Standards. Bonnelly's statement reads:

"Per our company's policies, the Linktree accounts banned stemmed from sharing a URL which violated Community Standards by sharing advertisements for the sale of real-life sexual services."

Sex workers make use of tools like Linktree, because some platforms don't allow linking out to adult websites such as OnlyFans directly. Perhaps more importantly, they have to diversify make use of several websites, because they'll never know when a service will suddenly decide to ban adult content. 

Financial services like PayPal, Visa and MasterCard, have long been known to close the accounts of people in the business of sex. Patreon banned content of a sexual nature back in 2017, and the number of services that decided not to host sex workers and their content have only grown since the US government passed FOSTA-SESTA a few years ago. Even OnlyFans, which has become synonymous with adult content, tried to ban "sexually explicit conduct" in 2021 until it suspended its planned policy change.

Linktree's Terms of Service states that a user must not "include any sexually explicit material (including pictures and language) on your Page itself or your account itself." However, it's vague and not entirely clear if linking to websites like OnlyFans has always been against its rules. It's also unclear why Linktree suddenly started banning sex workers when they'd been using the service without issue for quite some time, but people in the business of sex may want to find another link-sharing tool they can use.

New players will be able to purchase digital copies of Final Fantasy XIV again starting on January 25th, the game's director and producer Naoki Yoshida has announced in a lengthy post. Square Enix suspended the game's physical and digital sales in mid-December last year, because it was doing too well for what the company could handle at the time. People have had to wait hours to get in when they try to play at peak times, because the "dense concentration of play hours... far exceed [the game's] server capacity." Unfortunately, the developer wasn't able to add more servers before the Endwalker expansion was released due to the global semiconductor shortage. 

In his post, Yoshida explained the steps the company is taking to address the game's high levels of congestion. To start with, Square Enix is bringing its Oceanian Data Center online also on January 25th and opening five new Worlds from the start so that everyone in Oceania can transfer over for a better experience. The world transfer service is currently suspended, but it will resume on January 26th — further, those transferring to the new Oceanian Worlds will be able to do so for free. 

Yoshida has also revealed that Square Enix has been working on expanding its Japanese, European and North American data centers. The company explained that due to the global semiconductor shortage, it took some time to procure the needed components to be able to bring them online. In fact, it has to establish the new data centers in phases, because it's still having a tough time securing the necessary server equipment. 

For North America, the first phase of the expansion will happen sometime in August 2022, and it will see four new Worlds go online. The second phase will be implemented in the summer of 2023 and will open four more Worlds. For Japan, the developer plans to add one more logical data center to the current three in order to lower the number of Worlds for each of them. The European expansion will also happen in two phases, the first of which is scheduled for July 2022 and will bring four new Worlds online. In the summer of 2023, Square Enix will establish one new logical data center with eight new Worlds in Europe. 

"Once again, I wish to apologize for the delays to server expansion caused by the global semiconductor shortage," Yoshida wrote. He also asked for players' understanding in resuming sales of the game, even though some may consider the decision to be premature. Square Enix will monitor server stability following the resumption of sales and could restart free trials if everything goes well. However, in case servers "continue to experience extreme levels of congestion" despite all the steps it's taking, the developer may consider suspending digital sales once again. 

If you're seriously sticking to your New Year's resolution this time around to live a healthier lifestyle and want a digital scale to monitor the changes to your body, Withings has one on sale. The Withings Body+ smart scale is currently available for $58.50 on Amazon. That's not quite its all-time low for the device, but it is 41 percent off its retail price of $100. 

The Withings Body+ connects to the internet via WiFi and automatically syncs your information with the Health Mate app. While it can't measure your heart rate like the the brand's latest scale can, the Body+ is capable of almost all the things you'd expect from a smart scale. It can monitor your weight in pounds, kilograms or stones, measure your body fat and water percentage and determine your muscle and bone mass. Withings says its weight measurements are accurate to within 100 grams. 

You can also share the scale with your whole household, and maybe even some houseguests, since it monitor data for up to eight people. The scale can apparently identify each user, and each one can access their personal histories. And yes, the scale can track healthy weight gain for pregnant individuals, has a baby mode for the youngest members of the family and an Athlete mode, presumably for those extra serious about achieving their goals. Finally, the Health Mate app can also help you manage your daily calories and let you access your data using voice control through Alexa.

You can only get the Body+ scale at a discount within the day, and there's less than 20 hours left for the deal as of this writing.

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Block founder Jack Dorsey has announced on Twitter that the company is officially building an open bitcoin mining system. Dorsey first announced in October last year that the digital payments provider, then known as Square, was considering working on the project even before it rebranded itself. If you'll recall, Square changed its name to Block to tie its services together and to better represent the future of its business in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. 

Now, Block's general manager for hardware, Templeton Thomas, has revealed more details on the company's initial discussions regarding the project. On Twitter, Thomas said that Block aims to "make mining more distributed and efficient in every way, from buying, to set up, to maintenance, to mining." As such, Block has identified the pain points and the technical challenges of the process, starting with availability, since rigs are hard to find and and are expensive. Block has to find a way to make them more accessible to be able to meet its objective. 

The company also wants to build a reliable system that addresses current rigs' usual issues with heat dissipation and dust. Plus, Block is looking into striking the right balance between performance and other factors, such as making sure the rig is efficient while having low power consumption. Thomas said Block is also thinking of which partners to consider for the project and has already started building out a core engineering team to working on solutions and answer for all its questions. 

Dorsey is a big believer in cryptocurrency and even once said that he believes bitcoin will replace the dollar one day. Block had invested heavily in cryptocurrency and reportedly holds 8,027 bitcoins or around US$338 million, based on current value.