The Oversight Board is pushing Facebook to provide more information on its controversial “cross-check” system, following a report that the company has allowed celebrities, politicians and other public figures to break its rules.

“In light of recent developments, we are looking into the degree to which Facebook has been fully forthcoming in its responses in relation to cross-check, including the practice of whitelisting,” the board said in a statement. “We expect to receive a briefing from Facebook in the coming days and will be reporting what we hear from this as part of our first release of quarterly transparency reports which we will publish in October.”

The statement comes one week after The Wall Street Journal reported on internal memos that raised significant issues with the “cross check” system. Facebook has said the rules are meant to provide an extra lawyer of scrutiny to potential rule-breaking posts from high-profile accounts. But according to The WSJ, these extra checks are often very delayed or don’t happen at all, effectively allowing famous people to break the platform’s rules without consequences. The report also stated that Facebook had ‘misled’ the Oversight Board when it said it was “not feasible” to share more information about cross check, and that the system only impacted a “small number” of accounts.

The cross check system was also one of the central issues in the decision about Donald Trump’s suspension from Facebook. “In our decision concerning former US President Donald Trump’s accounts, we warned that a lack of clear public information on cross-check and Facebook’s ‘newsworthiness exception’ could contribute to perceptions that Facebook is unduly influenced by political and commercial considerations,” the board writes. The group also notes that Facebook didn’t provide specifics data it had asked for about how cross check works.

It’s not clear how much more information Facebook plans to share with the Oversight Board. The company declined to comment on the board’s statement. But the Oversight Board says it will publish its first transparency report next month, which will provide an update on cross check, as well as its assessment of how Facebook is following its recommendations.

The Oculus Quest 2 impressed us last year with its improved hardware, versatility and reasonable $299 price. Those who have been eager to get their hands on one of these VR headsets can now get two at one of the best prices we've seen. Through September 27, Oculus is running a deal that knocks $100 off a second Quest 2 headset when you buy one at full price. That means you can get two of the 128GB models for $500, or two of the 256GB versions for $700.

Oculus improved its machine in nearly every way with the Quest 2, and the device ultimately earned a score of 89 from us. The headset itself is 10 percent smaller and more comfortable to wear for long stretches of time, although it does take a bit of fiddling to properly adjust its fit for your head. Powered by a Snapdragon XR2 processor, the Quest 2 includes fast-switching LCDs with a resolution of 1832x1920 per eye, and although it didn't launch with this, it will support 90Hz refresh rates. Its controllers are larger than before but still easy to hold, and they include a bit more space next to the gamepad buttons so you can rest your thumbs.

The slight design changes and the better processor help make the Quest 2 an improvement on its predecessor in nearly every way. It excels at being both a standalone and a desktop headset, delivering more realistic VR experiences. It does have some limitations when it comes to standalone games, mostly due to its mobile hardware, but that's to be expected. Also, you must sign in with a Facebook account to use the Quest 2, which is also to be expect, but nevertheless a bummer for those who don't use the social network.

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Marvel and SiriusXM have opened a new Apple Podcasts channel, which includes a paid tier. The free Marvel channel includes Marvel's Wolverine: The Long Night and the sequel, Marvel's Wolverine: The Lost Trail. You'll be able to listen to Marvel/Method, in which Method Man interviews celebrities about Marvel, and This Week in Marvel, a weekly show about the latest news in the company's ecosystem.

Other podcasts on the channel includeWomen of Marvel, Marvel's Voices and Marvel's Pull List. In addition, you can check out the first episode of the Marvel's Wastelanders: Star-Lord podcast, which stars Timothy Busfield as Peter Quill, as well as Chris Elliott (Rocket), Danny Glover (Red) and Vanessa Williams (Emma Frost).

The paid tier, Marvel Podcasts Unlimited, offers early and exclusive access to a selection of shows. It features new scripted and unscripted podcast series, such as Marvel's Wolverine: La Larga Noche, a Spanish-language version of Wolverine: The Long Night, which is available today. You'll also be able to listen to exclusive programming, such as the documentary series Marvel's Declassified, which delves into the history of Marvel Comics.

On October 4th, subscribers will get early access to the first two episodes of Marvel's Wastelanders: Hawkeye, which features Stephen Lang as Hawkeye and Sasha Lane as his estranged 17-year-old daughter Ash. You'll be able to listen to future installments of Marvel's Wastelanders, including ones centered around Black Widow, Wolverine and Doctor Doom, before they're available elsewhere. Other podcasts are on the way too.

The new channels build on the partnership Marvel and SiriusXM forged in 2019. They've released original podcasts on other platforms, such as Pandora, Stitcher and, of course, SiriusXM. The companies say they'll share new episodes of podcasts elsewhere after they debut on Marvel Podcasts Unlimited.

The Marvel channel is available in more than 170 countries. You'll be able to subscribe to Marvel Podcasts Unlimited through the channel. The service costs $4/month (which may vary by country) after a seven-day trial. Marvel and SiriusXM are launching the channel and subscription three months after Apple rolled out paid channels in the Podcasts app.

Comcast has expanded Internet Essentials' coverage to include Federal Pell Grant recipients within areas where it's available. By doing so, it's giving undergraduates from low-income households access to low-cost internet connection at a time when they may have a huge need for it and in time for Internet Essentials' 10th anniversary. "These additional initiatives arrive as the COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated far-reaching effects that disproportionately impact those who have traditionally lacked access to the tools, resources, and skills needed to get online," the company wrote in its announcement.

The Internet Essentials program launched in 2011 and has expanded its coverage several times since then until, according to the company, it has connected "a cumulative total of more than 10 million people to the internet." Earlier this year, the company doubled the package's speed, giving subscribers access to download speeds of up to 50 Mbps and uploads of up to 5 Mbps.

In addition to giving Pell Grant financial aid recipients access to Internet Essentials, Comcast has also pledged $15 million worth of internet service and equipment. Its pledge includes over 25,000 laptops that will be donated to low-income students, seniors and vets. The move is part of the company's Project UP, which is an initiative aiming to "advance digital equity." The laptops will be distributed in cities nationwide, including Houston, TX; Sacramento, CA; Seattle, WA; Philadelphia, PA; Hartford, CT; Baltimore, MD; Memphis, TN; Atlanta, GA; Detroit, MI; Chicago, IL; Jacksonville, FL; Minneapolis, MN; Oakland, CA; Boston, MA; Pittsburgh, PA; and Grand Rapids, MI.

Apple has introduced new sharing and personalized recommendation features for Podcasts on iOS 15, all meant to help you discover new shows to listen to. Starting today, you'll find personalized recommendation sections in the Listen Now page that show you podcasts similar to the ones you enjoy. They'll be entitled "If You Like '[Show Name]'..." and then list titles in the same category or with the same theme or same format. They could also list shows from the same studio or titles other users listening to that particular podcast are also following.

You'll find new sections with recommendations based the topics you usually enjoy, as well. If you listen to a lot of shows under Books, for instance, you'll see sections recommending titles under related categories, such as Arts and Design. These new personalized recommendation features are going live today, September 21st, for those who've already installed iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and tvOS 15, and it will also be available for macOS Monterey when the OS goes live this fall. Their availability is limited to specific regions for now, however, namely the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Podcasts is also getting the new Shared with You feature that rolled out for several apps with iOS 15. In Podcasts, you'll see the new Shared with You section in the Listen Now page when somebody sends you channels, episodes or shows over Messages. A button that says "From [contact]" will show you who sent it over, and you can tap it to bring up the part in your conversation on Messages when it was shared so you can send a reply.

While the feature could be a great way to find new shows to follow, you can completely disable it under Messages in Podcast's Settings. You can also just delete individual recommendations by pressing on the item and selecting "Remove." Take note that the section doesn't show up until you get at least one recommendation, and it will disappear the moment you delete the last item in the list. 

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. 

With iOS 15 now available to download, developers both big and small have started updating their apps to take advantage of the operating system’s marquee features. One of those is Google, which detailed today the iOS 15-related enhancements you can expect from its apps.

The biggest change involves how Gmail, Meet, Tasks, Maps, Home and many of Google's other applications will handle notifications. Should you have iOS 15’s new Focus Mode enabled, Google says prompts that don’t require your immediate attention will go to the Notifications Center where you can deal with them later. More timely reminders, such as those Google Maps sends you when you’re trying to navigate somewhere, won’t be silenced, and you’ll see them as they’re sent to you. Google says its goal was to make notifications “as relevant and timely as possible.” You'll see these roll out to the company's apps in the "coming weeks."

Meanwhile, if you own an iPad you can look forward to new Google Photos and YouTube Music widgets that take advantage of the extra screen space Apple’s tablets offer. The company says it will roll these out in the coming weeks as well. Lastly, Google Drive and YouTube Music feature new Spotlight integrations. You can use the tool to search for specific files and to play a song directly in Google’s music streaming service. Those enhancements are available today — though you'll probably wish more apps worked with Spotlight in this way.

Apple offered a brief glimpse of the Tom Hanks-led Finch at its recent iPhone 13 launch event, and now you can watch the first full trailer for the upcoming sci-fi film. The clip sets the stage for the story that follows. A solar flare knocked out most of the technology on Earth and left much of the US a desolate wasteland. Hanks’ character, the titular Finch, survives in an underground shelter with his only companion, a dog named Goodyear, until he builds a new Android companion. The three of them eventually leave their home when it becomes threatened by the sandstorms that dominate the world of the movie.

Like Greyhound, Apple acquired Finch for Apple TV+ when the film got lost in pandemic-related delays. It’s only one part of a strong fall lineup that is surprisingly heavy on sci-fi stories. Before Finch comes out on November 5th, genre fans can look forward to the company’s adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels on September 24th and then Invasion, which stars Jurassic Park’s Sam Neill, on October 22nd.

Algoriddim has been working closely with Apple for years on its djay apps and regularly appears in the company's keynotes. Now, it's integrating another Apple product, Shazam, into its latest iOS djay app with the release of iOS 15. The new feature lets you can scan your surroundings and identify any song playing, whether at an event, listening to the radio or playing sets with other DJs. Once it picks out the song, djay will instantly load it onto the virtual decks and play it in sync with the external music source. 

Once loaded, you can create a mix with similar tracks, remix the song, apply effects and deconstruct it into components using the company's Neural Mix tech. It can also save songs into iOS 15's music recognition history in the control center, "providing users with streamlined access to all of their song discoveries," the company said. 

While this sounds like cool technology in search of an application, Algoriddim has a few use cases in mind. The main one is that you can identify a track you might hear and get it into your library with the tap of a button, or create an automated mix based on the recognized song. "djay can instantly provide you with similar tracks to the one you just heard, allowing you to quickly immerse yourself in a particular style," Algoriddim told Engadget. 

Another, more marginal use case is with back-to-back DJing. If you're playing in tandem with another DJ or in a lineup, you can pick up where the last DJ left off by identifying and syncing with their song before phasing into your own set. This goes a step beyond beat matching, letting you match the last DJ's song exactly. Mind you, many DJs may not care to replay the last DJ’s song or work with a playlist inspired by it, especially if they weren’t familiar with the tracks

The Shazam-enhanced version of iOS djay lets you save recognized music to your Tidal (music and video), SoundCloud, Beatport and Beatsource libraries (not Spotify or Apple Music). Other new features include the ability to add effects to the master audio output, enabled by new Audio Unit (extensions) features in iOS 15. That will let you better tailor the sound for broadcast or to match a PA system. Algoriddim's iOS djay update for iOS is now available for free, or you can get the Pro version for $6.99 per month or $49.99 per year. 

Netflix has nabbed the most Emmys ever for a single platform with 44 including 11 for The Crown, more than double its nearest rival, HBO/HBO Max. The 2021 edition of the awards was also a watershed year for Apple TV+, which took home 10 Emmys including seven for its comedy series Ted Lasso.

To be sure, a huge chunk of Netflix's Emmy harvest came from the 34 Creative Arts Emmys it won last week. However, it still took a further 10 primetime Emmys including acting awards for Olivia Colman, Gillian Anderson and Josh O'Connor in The Crown, along with Ewan McGregor in Halston. The Crown also won for writing and directing, while taking the prestigious best drama series prize. Netflix's The Queen's Gambit, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, won for best limited series.

Mario Anzuoni / reuters

Meanwhile, Apple TV+ had its best Emmys yet with 10 total, including seven in primetime. It dominated the comedy series category with seven wins for Ted Lasso, including three in the acting category for Brett Goldstein and Hannah Waddingham (best supporting actors) along with Jason Sudeikis (best actor). Ted Lasso also took the award for best comedy series. 

Thanks in large part to that series, Apple TV+ fared much better than its rivals. Disney+ did beat it with 14 awards total, up from eight in 2020, but only one of those was a primetime Emmy (Hamilton for best pre-recorded variety special). Amazon and Hulu were completely shut out in 2021, after both won Emmys in 2020.  

HBO and HBO Max led all rivals with 130 nominations and took 19 Emmys, including 9 in primetime. The biggest winners last night were Jean Smart for Hacks (best actress in a comedy series) and Kate Winslet for Mare of Easstown (best actress in a limited series). After it was controversially shut out of the Golden Globes nominations, Michaela Cole took the prize for best writing in a limited series for I May Destroy You.

It was notable in 2018 when Netflix managed to tie a cable network, HBO (pre-HBO Max), for the most Emmy wins. This year, it beat all rivals by a long way, and streaming platforms overall took the top four spots. Whether that can continue when the pandemic starts to wane — and subscription growth declines — remains to be seen.