Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has picked his companions for SpaceX's first all-civilian mission to the Moon over a year after he put out a call for potential private astronauts. He chose eight crew members and two backups from various backgrounds to be part of the mission called "dearMoon," and while application was open to everyone, some of the names will likely stand out when you review the list. One of the people flying with Maezawa on SpaceX's Starship spacecraft is Choi Seung Hyun, better known as T.O.P. from the Korean boy band BIGBANG. 

DJ Steve Aoki is also part of the crew, as well as Tim Dodd, who's known for creating space-themed content as a photographer and host of YouTube channel Everyday Astronaut. The other crew members include Rhiannon Adam, a photographic artist from Ireland who now works in London and the US, and Yemi A.D., a designer, director, choreographer and non-profit org founder from the Czech Republic. Brendan Hall, a filmmaker who directed projects for National Geographic, Karim Iliya, a filmmaker who documents whales, birds and other threatened species, and Dev D. Joshi, an actor from India, round up the main crew list. Meanwhile, snowboarding Olympic gold medalist Kaitlyn Farrington and Japanese dancer Miyu were named as backup crew. 

Maezawa said the project received about a million applications from interested individuals around the world who went through a strict selection process. The inclusion of musicians and other creatives doesn't come as a surprise, since the billionaire originally intended to bring artists with him on the trip in hopes that it would inspire them to create something that promotes world peace. He didn't say why he chose T.O.P. specifically, but the rapper did don a spacesuit for one of BIGBANG's music videos.

The dearMoon project was launched in 2018 after Maezawa purchased all the seats for a six-day trip to the Moon from SpaceX. It will fly a single circumlunar trajectory around Earth's faithful companion and is expected to take place sometime next year, though the actual date depends on Starship's development. To prepare for the dearMoon mission, Maezawa flew to the ISS last year and spent 12 days on the flying lab shooting videos about life in space. 

Elon Musk has announced that Twitter is currently working on a software update that will give you access to a tool that can clearly show whether you've been shadowbanned. The term means different things for different platforms, but being shadowbanned typically makes your posts invisible to other users or makes your profile hard to find without your knowledge. Musk says the upcoming tool will also explain the reason why you've been shadowbanned and will give you instructions on how to submit an appeal. 

Instagram has just launched a similar feature with its latest update, letting you know whether you're currently blocked from recommendations. At the moment, it can only show if you've been blocked from recommendations in Explore, Feed and Reels, but Instagram is working on expanding the tool so that you can see if you're also blocked from showing up in "suggested accounts." 

Musk didn't talk about how Twitter will be implementing the feature, but he made the announcement shortly after Bari Weiss released part two of The Twitter Files. In the thread, Weiss said that Twitter used "Visibility Filtering," which is apparently just another term for shadowbanning, on some conservative personalities. Musk once called himself a "free speech absolutist." After taking control of Twitter, he started lifting the bans on several controversial users, including former President Donald Trump, The Daily Stormer'sinfamous neo-Nazi creator Andrew Anglin and other white nationalists. 

Advertisers have been fleeing the platform since Musk took over due to concerns about policy changes and the reinstatement of banned accounts. In a blog post late last month, Twitter assured advertisers that "none of [its] policies have changed." And according to a new report by Reuters, Twitter is gearing up to release a set of ad controls in an effort to lure advertisers back to the website. The controls, which could launch as soon as next week, will reportedly allow advertisers to prevent their ads from appearing above or below tweets with the specific keywords they choose.

Extremely OK Games, the developer behind the award-winning platformer Celeste, has revealed its new project at this year's Game Awards. It's called Earthblade, and just like Celeste, it's a 2D exploration-action game set in a pixel world. In Earthblade, you'll play Névoa, which the developer describes as an "enigmatic child of Fate" (with horns) who's returning to Earth. The trailer shows you some of the obstacles you'll have to face and the foes you'll have to defeat while exploring the remnants of a ruined world. Extremely OK also says you'll be piecing together Earth's fractured history as you play. 

We wouldn't be surprised if you have high expectations for Earthblade, seeing as Celeste had won several awards after it was launched. At The Game Awards in 2018, it won best independent release of the year. (Extremely OK didn't get its winged statue after the show ended, but a fan unknowingly purchased it from eBay and sent it to the developer just earlier this year.) It will take some time before you can play Earthblade and go on an adventure with Névoa, though: The game won't be available until 2024.

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon has premiered at The Game Awards, where a trailer also debuted for the franchise's upcoming spinoff. Like its name implies, Bayonetta Origins tells the story of Bayonetta when she was Cereza and has only just summoned her first demon Cheshire. The trailer gives us a glimpse at the story and about how Cereza explores a forest despite her mother's warnings. It also shows the game's storybook elements, as well as some bits of gameplay with and without Cheshire. 

Bayonetta Origins will be available on March 17th, 2023 for the Nintendo Switch only. You can pre-order a digital copy of the game from the eShop right after The Game Awards wraps up, but you can also purchase a physical copy when the title launches.

Over a year after shutting down its previous attempt at modernizing its IT infrastructure, the Department of Defense (DOD) has picked Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle as its new cloud service providers. The Pentagon has awarded the companies separate contracts for the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) project, and according to Reuters, they will have a shared budget ceiling of $9 billion. This initiative is a successor to DOD's cancelled Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) program that was supposed to connect its different divisions using a single cloud service provider. 

If you'll recall, the department awarded Microsoft with the $10 billion JEDI contract in 2019. Shortly after that, though, Amazon challenged Microsoft's victory in court, claiming that the evaluation process had "clear deficiencies, errors and unmistakable bias." Amazon argued back then that the Pentagon's decision was based on "egregious errors" and "the result of improper pressure from President Donald J. Trump." The company accused the former President of launching "repeated public and behind-the-scenes attacks" against it in an effort to steer the Pentagon away from giving the JEDI contract to Jeff Bezos, "his perceived political enemy." 

While the Pentagon's inspector general office had found no evidence that Trump interfered with the selection process, it also noted that several White House officials did not cooperate with its investigation. In the end, the department chose to cancel the JEDI project because it "no longer meets its needs." Now, under the JWCC, the Pentagon will work with several vendors for the cloud capabilities and services it needs instead of with just a single one.

The companies' contracts will run until 2028 and will provide the DOD access to centralized management and distributed control, global accessibility, advanced data analytics and fortified security, among other capabilities. 

President Joe Biden has signed H.R. 7132 or Safe Connections Act of 2022 into law, and it could help domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and human trafficking survivors ultimately cut ties with abusers. Under the new law, users can ask mobile service providers to separate their line — as well as their dependents' — from their abusers' if they have a shared contract. That would ensure that abusers no longer have access to their phone records and can't get their service cut. Carriers aren't allowed to charge fees to grant these requests, which they must do so within do two days. 

In addition, Safe Connections Act of 2022 will require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to create rules that would make it easier for survivors seeking separate mobile plans to enroll in its Lifeline Program for up to six months. This FCC initiative gives qualifying low-income consumers a discount on phone services, so they can remain connected to job opportunities, friends, family and emergency services while they're working to get back on their feet. The commission also has to establish rules that would prevent calls or texts to hotlines from appearing on call logs, presumably to keep survivors safe. 

In a blog post, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) celebrated the new law but also said that it would have "preferred a bill that did not require survivors to provide paperwork to 'prove' their abuse." For a request to be valid, a user must submit "appropriate documentation" to verify that the person they're sharing a contract with "committed or allegedly committed an act of domestic violence, trafficking, or a related criminal act against the survivor."

Having to provide paperwork may not be easy, depending on a person's circumstances, and it could retraumatize survivors trying to break free from abusive situations. "However, this new law is a critical step in the right direction," the EFF continued, "and it is encouraging that Congress and the President agreed."

When Twitter's Blue subscription comes back, it may cost a lot more than before if you purchase it straight from the app. According to The Information, the company informed some employees that it's going to charge users $11 for Blue subscription if they pay through its iOS application. But if they pay through the web, it will only cost them $7 a month for the service, which includes getting the website's blue verification badge. As the publication notes, the change in pricing likely takes Apple's 30 percent commission for payments made through its system into account. 

In late November, Twitter owner Elon Musk spoke out against Apple's 30 percent cut on in-app purchases. He also said that the tech giant threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store and won't tell his company why. A few days later, though, Musk met with Apple chief Tim Cook and resolved what the former called a "misunderstanding." Musk said the two had a "good conversation" and that Apple never truly considered dropping Twitter from the App Store.

Apple announced in late 2021 that it was going to allow developers of "reader" apps to link to external payment systems following a barrage of criticisms against its practice of taking a 30 percent commission. It's unclear if the two executives talked about Twitter's plan to offer Blue subscription outside of the App Store and how the social network would implement its idea.

Twitter originally launched Blue verification for iOS devices in early November for $8 a month, but the company decided to pause the service after it led to an influx of impersonators and fake accounts. When the subscription service does come back, it will come with different colored checkmarks: gold for companies, grey for government and blue for individuals, whether or not they're a public figure. 

You can get Shark's AV2501AE AI Robot Vacuum at a deeply discounted price today at Amazon. As of this writing, you have less than 19 hours to grab the robotic vacuum for $350 only, or for 46 percent less than its retail price of $650. That's the lowest price we've seen for this particular model on the website. This vacuum uses LiDAR technology to map your house, so you can set up cleaning areas and zones it can't go to using its accompanying app. Its AI-powered navigation system also enables it to detect and avoid objects while doing row-by-row cleaning to ensure that it covers every area of your home that it can. 

The model comes with a bagless, self-emptying base that can hold up to 60 days of dirt. And in UltraClean Mode, it can clean carpets better, as well as pick up more pet hair even without a special attachment for hair and fur. Plus, Shark says the machine has true HEPA filtration that can suck in allergens as small as .3 microns and trap them inside the base. 

In case you want to start vacuuming beyond the scheduled times you set or want to activate UltraClean mode, you can simply issue voice commands through Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant devices. Take note that the vacuum can run for up to two hours on a single charge, after which it has to dock and charge itself before picking up where it left off. 

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Wordle topped Google's Year in Search for 2022, beating even the biggest events in the world over the past few months. Searches for the five-letter word game peaked shortly after it was acquired byThe New York Times in February, perhaps when people had to look for its new address or when those who haven't heard of it before wanted to see what the fuss was about. The second most searched term for 2022 is "India vs. England," which pertains to the countries' faceoff at the Cricket World Cup. Ukraine takes the third spot in the overall trending searches list, as well as the top of this year's trending News topics. Most people looking into the war in Ukraine searched for liveblogs to get the latest happenings and for information on casualties, refugees, donations and armed conflicts. 

"Queen Elizabeth" came in fourth for 2022, with the UK and former British colonies being responsible for most of the searches after the Queen passed away in September. The fifth most popular search term is another Cricket World Cup game, this time between India and Saudi Arabia, followed by even more cricket matches and the iPhone 14. COVID-19 is no longer at the forefront from people's minds, based on this year's list: Monkeypox and Roe v. Wade were the most searched health-related topics instead. Some of the other entries in the trending news list are pretty sobering, specifically "Texas school shooting" and Hurricane Ian. 

When it comes to the most searched people of the year, users seemed to be especially curious about celebrity happenings. Johnny Depp topped this year's list, followed by Will Smith and Amber Heard. Vladimir Putin also made it to the top five. Anna Sorokin and Simon Leviev, whose names blew up on the internet after Inventing Anna and Tinder Swindler came out, were among the most searched people, as well. 

Thor: Love and Thunder topped the list of most searched movies, but Google said "how to become a fighter pilot" trended thanks to Top Gun: Maverick. The tech giant also released the top image searches using Lens and the top song searches done by humming a tune. (Domestic short-haired cats and philodendrons seemed to have tickled most people's curiosity this year, for those wondering.) The Buckingham Palace was 2022's top cultural landmark, based on Google Maps searches, while the Dark Matter interactive installation in Berlin was the top exhibit. This year, Google also launched a local hub that can show interesting search trends across the US — New York City, for instance, had "rainbow mantis shrimp" as its top trending animal. 

You can see Google's full Year in Search for 2022 right here.

In late November, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors has approved a proposal that would allow the city's police force to use remote-controlled robots as a deadly force option when faced with violent or armed suspects. The supervisors voted 8-to-3 in favor of making it a new policy despite opposition by civil rights groups, but now they seem to have had a change of heart. During the second of two required votes before a policy can be sent to the mayor's office for final approval, the board voted 8-to-3 to explicitly ban the use of lethal force by police robots. As San Francisco Chronicle notes, this about-face is pretty unusual, as the board's second votes are typically just formalities that echo the first ones' results.

The San Francisco Police Department made the proposal after a law came into effect requiring California officials to define the authorized uses of their military-grade equipment. It would have allowed cops to equip robots with explosives "to contact, incapacitate, or disorient violent, armed, or dangerous suspects." Authorities could only use the robots for lethal force after they've exhausted all other possibilities, and a high-ranking official would have to approve their deployment. However, critics are concerned that the machines could be abused. 

Dean Preston, one of the supervisors who oppose the use of robots as a deadly force option, said the policy will "place Black and brown people in disproportionate danger of harm or death." In a newer statement made after the board's second vote, Preston said: "There have been more killings at the hands of police than any other year on record nationwide. We should be working on ways to decrease the use of force by local law enforcement, not giving them new tools to kill people."

While the supervisors voted to ban the use of lethal force by police robots — for now, anyway — they also sent the original policy proposing the use of killer robots back for review. The board's Rules Committee could now amend it further to have stricter rules for use of bomb-equipped robots, or it could scrap the old proposal altogether.