Netflix has started offering potential paying subscribers in Kenya access to some of its content at no cost. The streaming service has launched a free tier in the country that offers around one-fourth the content available to paying subscribers. It has no ads and won't even ask for payment information upon sign-up — a new subscriber will only need to confirm they're over 18 and to type in their email address and password. 

That said, it does have limitations in addition to having a smaller selection: It's only accessible on an Android device and users won't be able to download episodes for offline viewing or to cast shows on movies to a TV. In the announcement post, Netflix's Director of Product Innovation Cathy Conk, said: "If you’ve never watched Netflix before — and many people in Kenya haven’t — this is a great way to experience our service." The company is hoping that the free tier would entice people to pay for the service.

This isn't the first time Netflix made some of its content free to access. Last year, it launched a "watch free" page where people can stream original movies such as Bird Box and the first episodes of popular shows like Stranger Things without even having to log in. The free plan is new, though, and a spokesperson told Variety that it's launching first in Kenya as a way for the company to gather information on how effective it is in generating paying customers. Netflix has been investing more heavily in new markets to offset its slowing growth in the US and other saturated markets and amidst an increasing number of rival streaming services. Based on what the rep said, we may see the free tier make its way to more regions in the future. 

If you were hoping to score a few thousand Supercharging miles from Tesla referrals, we're afraid you may already be too late. In a notice on its website spotted by Electrek, Tesla said that "vehicle products and solar panels are no longer eligible for Referral awards" as of September 18th. The company's only active program at the moment is for the Solar Roof, which awards referrers with monetary rewards of up to $500 and free Powerwalls. 

Tesla's referral program has changed tremendously over the years. The automaker used to promise new Roadsters for top referrers and up to six months of free Supercharging. That eventually became too expensive to be sustainable, so the company decided to axe the program. Tesla introduced a new one with more reasonable rewards shortly after that, though, promising at least 1,000 miles of free Supercharging.

When it relaunched the program with updated terms, the company said that it "heard from... customers that the Referral Program was one of their favorite reasons to tell their friends about Tesla." It's unclear if it would come back again this time for the same reason, but we wouldn't be surprised if it does. Take note, however, that Tesla has yet to fulfill some of its bigger promises to referrers. As Electrek notes, it hasn't delivered the Roadsters its top referrers earned yet, and people have been complaining on online forums about not receiving free Powerwalls and other rewards from years ago.

Google stifled competition and prevented the development of Android rivals in India, the country's antitrust regulator has decided in a report seen by Reuters. In 2019, Competition Commission of India opened a probe into whether Google abused Android's dominance in the market where devices powered by the OS are prevalent. In its report on the probe's findings, the regulator wrote that Google flexed its "huge financial muscle" to reduce manufacturers' ability to develop and sell devices running Android forks. 

In addition, the commission said that Google requiring manufacturers to pre-install Android apps is an unfair condition to make in exchange for access to its mobile OS. It violates India's competition laws, the report reads. The regulator also found Play Store policies to be "one-sided, ambiguous, vague, biased and arbitrary." In a statement sent to Reuters, Google said it's looking forward to working with the CCI to "demonstrate how Android has led to more competition and innovation, not less."

The tech giant reportedly responded to the probe 24 times to defend itself, and other tech companies including Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi also responded to questions from the commission. While CCI still decided that Google illegally stifled competition in the country, the company will have another chance to defend itself before the CCI issues its final decision along with penalties, if any.

Just a few days ago, South Korean regulators also came to the decision that Google used its dominant position in the market to hamper the development of Android rivals. They slapped the tech giant with a $177 million fine. They also banned the company from requiring manufacturing partners to sign anti-fragmentation agreements, which prohibit the creation and installation of alternative versions of the Android OS. 

Clubhouse isn't just an app you can fire up to attend talks by famous people. It has different types of rooms you can use, including ones where you can have intimate, private conversations with friends — and in the future, you may be able to invite those friends to chat by "waving" at them. Jane Manchun Wong, who's famous for reverse engineering apps to find hidden experimental features, has discovered that Clubhouse is working on a new way to invite contacts to have an audio conversation. 

If the feature gets a wide release, Clubhouse will add a "Wave" button on users' profiles that looks similar to the Wave button you see when you first connect with someone on Messenger. Tapping on it will let a friend know you want to chat, and the app will only open a room for you if they respond. 

Clubhouse started out as an invite-only audio app for iOS wherein you'll have to join a waitlist to get in. Over the past few months, though, it released an app for Android and opened its doors to everyone. Famous personalities like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg previously used it a venue to hold talks in open rooms where users can host public conversations with listeners. This feature, however, might make it more compelling for more casual use and could convince users not to hop on another app when it's time to talk to family and friends.

WarnerMedia pulled HBO Max from Amazon Prime Video Channels on September 15th, but it's hoping to convince the subscribers it lost from the move to sign up for the streaming service directly. From today through September 26th, HBO Max's ad-free monthly subscription is available at a 50 percent discount for $7.49 per month for up to half a year. The offer isn't even exclusive to former subscribers on Prime Video. Even new and returning customers can take advantage of the promotion by signing up through the official HBO Max website or via Apple, Google, LG, Microsoft, Sony, Roku and Vizio.

The service's removal from Prime Video Channels is part of WarnerMedia's efforts to grow a closer relationship with viewers. To that end, it also removed HBO Max as premium add-ons on Apple TV and Roku. The company is fully aware that it will lose subscribers in the process — it could lose 5 million after pulling out of Prime Video Channels — which is why it's now trying to woo both new and returning customers. 

By making HBO Max's ad-free subscription available at $7.49 a month, people can sign up for an account cheaper than the $10 ad-supported option. It's a great opportunity to try the service out for those who've been thinking of giving it a shot. For those still on the fence: Some of the most anticipated titles coming to the streaming service this year are Dune and The Matrix Resurrections.

HBO Max

Chromecasts and other devices powered by Google TV might give users access to free television channels in the future. According to Protocol, Google has been in talks with free, ad-supported streaming television providers about the possibility of adding their channels to its smart TV platform. Those channels typically have a similar feel to traditional TV, and its shows will be interrupted by commercial breaks. 

Protocol says Chromecast users might be able to browse live channels available to them through a dedicated menu similar to YouTube TV's. Meanwhile, smart TVs powered by the platform might show the free channels alongside other over-the-air programming that can be accessed with an antenna. The publication says that's similar to how companies like Samsung present free TV offerings on their own platforms. Samsung's free TV service has become so popular, other companies (including Roku and Amazon) started giving their customers access to hundreds of free channels, as well.

The addition of linear programming to Google TV could help make Chromecasts and smart TVs powered by the operating system a more enticing option for cord-cutters. Google could officially launch free streaming channels as soon as this fall, though it could also wait to announce the feature until its smart TV partners are also ready to do so next year. Protocol also says that while it's unclear what channels are making their way to the platform at this point, Google will likely strike deals that will give it access to "dozens of free channels" all at once. 

Cybercriminals have been using Telegram for years, because it's encrypted and easy to access. According to a recent investigation conducted by The Financial Times and cyber intelligence group Cyberint, though, there's been "a 100 percent-plus rise in Telegram usage by cybercriminals" recently. And FT says the rise in criminal activity on the app came after users flocked to it following a change in WhatsApp's privacy policy.

If you'll recall, WhatsApp asked its users to accept a revised policy allowing it to share data with its parent company Facebook earlier this year. Users were outraged, and WhatsApp had to clarify that it still won't be able to read their private communications. Even so, people migrated to rivals offering secure similar messaging capabilities — for Telegram, that has apparently led to a rise in criminal activity conducted through the app. 

According to the investigators, there's a ballooning network of hackers sharing and selling data leaks in channels with tens of thousands of subscribers. The number of times "Email:pass" and "Combo" were mentioned in the app over the past year reportedly rose fourfold. Some data dumps circulating on the app contain 300,000 to 600,000 email and password combinations for gaming and email services. Cybercriminals are also selling financial information, such as credit card numbers, passport copies and hacking tools through the app. 

Tal Samra, cyber threat analyst at Cyberint, explained: "Its encrypted messaging service is increasingly popular among threat actors conducting fraudulent activity and selling stolen data ... as it is more convenient to use than the dark web." In addition to being more convenient than the dark web, Telegram is also less likely to be monitored by authorities, Samra said. 

Telegram has removed the channel where the massive datasets with email and password combos are being sold after FT notified the company. In a statement, Telegram also said that it “has a policy for removing personal data shared without consent" and that it has an "ever growing force of professional moderators" removing 10,000 public communities every day for violating its TOS. Earlier this year, those moderators had to monitor hundreds of channels to keep an eye out for calls of violence following the attack on the US Capitol.

Ken Block's Hoonigan Industries has built a fully functional Warthog vehicle, and the team is showing us the process it went through in a new series on YouTube. While it's far from the first life—size version ever made of Halo's famous armored vehicle, this one actually works — it even debuted at the world premiere of the movie Free Guy, which stars Ryan Reynolds, a bank teller who discovers he's but an NPC in an open-world game. 

The Hoonigan team created its real life Warthog using a custom rock crawler chassis. As Autoblog notes, it doesn't have a mounted gun, but it undeniably looks like the Warthog with its chunky body, futuristic shape, curved windshield and enormous tires. Even its interior is a replica of its virtual counterpart, and the team also made sure it has a four-wheel steering system. To power the beast, the team took a Ford V8 engine and added two turbos to it, giving it a 1,060 horsepower capacity.

The Warthog appears across games in the Halo franchise as a driveable military vehicle, and the Hoonigan team built a replica of it to promote the upcoming Halo Infinite game that's launching in December. Hoonigan, the brainchild of rally driver Ken Block who was also behind The Gymkhana Files, will upload new episodes showing how the Warthog was built every week until October 14th. You can watch the first one below:

One of the devices Apple revealed during its latest hardware event is an updated 10.2-inch iPad with prices that start at $329. You can get the base tablet for $30 less than that, though, if you pre-order from Walmart where it's currently listed for $299. The listing says the tablet will begin shipping on September 28th, a few days later than its official release date of September 24th. But if you don't mind waiting a bit to get your purchase, you can get the 64GB WiFi version of the 2021 10.2-inch iPad in either Silver or Space Gray from the retail giant's website. 

Apple focused on updating the base iPad's internals instead of overhauling its design. It's now powered by an A13 Bionic chip, which also powers the iPhone 11, the iPhone 11 Pro and the Pro Max. The tech giant says it has a 20 percent faster overall performance compared to the previous generation. In addition, the new iPad is equipped with a new 12-megapixel ultra wide, front-facing camera that has a 122-degree field-of-view, which sounds especially useful for video meetings and online classes. Even better? It supports Apple's Center Stage feature, which gives it the capability to detect people and keep you in the frame as you move around. Center Stage works with Facetime, as well as Zoom.

Like Apple's other products, the new base iPad has Retina display. It will ship with iPadOS 15, which features intuitive multitasking, a Translate app and a Live Text function that can detect text in photos. The OS will also add a Focus feature that will let you filter notifications. In case 64GB isn't enough for you, Apple will also sell a 256GB version, but that's not available at a discount right now.

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Alphabet ended Project Loon earlier this year, but the things it learned from the internet-broadcasting balloon initiative haven't gone to waste. The high speed wireless optical link technology originally developed for Loon is currently being used for another moonshot called Project Taara. In a new blog post, Taara's Director of Engineering, Baris Erkmen, has revealed that the initiative's wireless optical communications (WOC) links are now beaming high-speed connectivity across the Congo River. 

The idea for Taara started when the Loon team successfully used WOC to beam data between Loon balloons that were more than 100 kilometers apart. The team wanted to explore how the technology can be used on the ground. As part of the team's exploration on WOC's potential applications, they worked on bridging the connectivity gap between Brazzaville in the Republic of the Congo and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

The two locations are separated by the Congo River and are only 4.8 kilometers apart. However, internet connectivity costs much, much more in Kinshasa, because providers will have to lay down enough fiber connection to cover 400 kilometers of ground around the river. What Project Taara did was install links that can beam high-speed connectivity from Brazzaville to Kinshasa across the river instead. Within 20 days and with 99.9 percent availability, the links served served nearly 700 TB of data.

Taara's WOC links work by seeking each other out and linking their beams of light together to create a high-speed internet connection. It's not ideal for use in foggy locations, but Project Taara has developed network planning tools that can estimate WOC availability based on various factors like weather. In the future, the team will be able to use those tools to plan for the locations where Taara's technology will work best.

Baris Erkmen, Director of Engineering for Taara, wrote in the post:

"Better tracking accuracy, automated environmental responses and better planning tools are helping Taara's links deliver reliable high-speed bandwidth to places that fiber can't reach, and helping us connect communities that are cut off from traditional ways of delivering connectivity. We're really excited about these advances, and are looking forward to building on them as we continue developing and refining Taara's capabilities."