NYC commuters will no longer see service alerts and other informative posts from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) on Twitter. The agency runs several accounts that provide passengers with useful real-time updates, such as whether a particular route or train has been suspended. But now it has posted a farewell message on the website, explaining that Twitter "is no longer reliable for providing the consistent updates riders expect." While it didn't elaborate on why it's leaving the social network, Bloomberg says it was because the company was asking the MTA to fork over $50,000 a month for access to its API. 

Twitter shut down its old API, which was completely free, earlier this year. It then launched paid access to the new version of its API, with a $100-per-month tier for hobbyists and a much higher tier for enterprise customers. The company kept pricing for enterprise vague, but Wired had previously reported that API access could run as much as $42,000 a month. Companies and organizations other than the MTA left Twitter as a result, with Microsoft being one of the biggest names. The tech giant recently announced that it was going to remove Twitter from its free social media management tool for advertisers. Microsoft also disabled the option to upload screenshots directly to Twitter from Xbox consoles and from Game Bar on Windows.

Shanifah Rieara, MTA's acting chief customer officer, told Bloomberg that they don't think paying Twitter $50,000 a month "would be the best use of resources." Especially since the MTA has other "internal and homegrown" avenues people could use to check for the latest updates. "We want to communicate with our customers through all platforms, but we need a platform that is reliant and consistent and up to date," Rieara added.

The official MTA account is now encouraging customers to bookmark the agency's official website, to download its MYmta and TrainTime apps, to monitor its WhatsApp channel for subway and bus information, as well as to sign up for email and SMS alerts. 

As promised, YouTube Music now offers podcasts. In the US, you can launch the Android or iOS app to stream audio or video podcasts without a Premium or Music Premium subscription. Shows will play in the background, and you can cast them to other devices like speakers.

The feature is reaching American users "gradually," YouTube says, so don't be surprised if you have to wait a little while to see the podcast section. The format is coming to other regions, although YouTube hasn't provided a timeline. And before you ask: paying members will still have to listen to host-read ads.

The addition may seem odd when Google already has a Podcasts app. This unifies listening for YouTube Music subscribers, though — and, of course, theoretically entices you to sign up. This could make the app a more viable alternative to Spotify if you're paying for on-demand music and want everything in one place.

YouTube has been ramping up its podcast efforts across the board, including an Explore page for non-Music users. Just don't count on the service producing a swath of originals like Spotify. The rival has dropped some of its originals, and has been expanding distribution of Gimlet shows to other platforms. The podcast industry isn't as hot as it once was, even if there's still plenty of demand.

Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios has previewed some of the game's accessibility features. First and foremost, the studio is hoping to make it easier for blind and low-vision players to enjoy the racing sim with the help of audio cues.

Turn 10 spent two years building Blind Driving Assists with the help of accessibility consultant Brandon Cole (who is blind) and other blind and low-vision players. The feature offers supplemental audio cues to help players navigate. They'll receive audible information on things like track position and orientation, and their approach and progress during turns. Players will also learn details about the car, including the level of deceleration needed and when to shift gears if they're using manual transmission.

In a video that shows off the feature and details its development, Cole notes that the steering guide option pans the engine noise and tire sounds to the left or right, depending on the direction players should turn. Beeping sounds will tell players when they're nearing the edge of the track. Cole says that, with the help of the cues, he was able to win a race against a bunch of AI-driven cars.

Blind and low-vision players can preview the audio cues in the accessibility menu. They'll hear in-depth descriptions of what each cue means, thanks to the inclusion of a customizable screen narrator. Players can individually switch each set of cues on and off, and they'll be able to tweak the pitch and volume of them. Although it will likely take a while for players to get used to the cues, they could be immensely useful for blind and low-vision folks who want to play Forza Motorsport.

Along with more common accessibility features such as full controller remapping, colorblindness filters and customizable subtitles, there's another called One Touch Driving. This enables players to customize braking, steering and throttle assists to minimize the number of simultaneous inputs needed. They can enable as many of the assists as they like. Turn 10 worked with players who have mobility and stamina disabilities to create One Touch Driving, which is intended for those who may find it difficult to hold down buttons or press several buttons at the same time.

Forza Motorsport is slated to arrive later this year. It will be available on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox Cloud Gaming and PC via the Microsoft Store and Steam.

One of the most anticipated games of the year is almost here. Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom may seem to feature the same basic graphics, map layout and general mechanics as its predecessor, Breath of the Wild, but it breaks new ground with Link’s new skills – Ascend (shooting to the ceiling), Recall (rewinding time for an item), Fuse (combining items and weapons for countless effects) and Ultrahand (building machines). These can seemingly help fight enemies or get you from A to B. I’m now pretty excited for May 12th. Check out all of our impressions from a 75-minute playthrough.

– Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

LG launches a new SuperSlim Gram laptop with a 15-inch OLED display

'Black Mirror' returns in June with its 'most unpredictable season yet'

Japan's ispace confirms Hakuto-R failed its lunar landing

Amazon knocks up to 41 percent off Govee smart lights

Palantir shows off an AI that can go to war

Microsoft rolls out iOS support for Phone Link syncing to all Windows 11 users

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Beats Studio Buds+ leak on Amazon with a May 18th release date

The earbuds will have a transparent design option.

Amazon

What are Nothing Ear 1s? Beats might release its next-gen Studio Buds model on May 18th. MacRumors spotted an Amazon listing that showed images and details for Apple's Beats Studio Buds+. The earbuds, listed for $170 or $20 more than the current model, will have a transparent option that puts their internal components on display, similar to Nothing's design. The Studio Buds+ microphones are three times larger than the current model's and have a more powerful processor. Those components enable 1.6 more active-noise canceling power and a transparency mode.

Continue reading.

'Indiana Jones 5' will feature a de-aged Harrison Ford for the first 25 minutes

The technology used old LucasFilm footage of Ford for accuracy.

The news that LucasFilm's Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny would feature a de-aged Ford came at the end of last year, but an interview with director James Mangold in Total Film just revealed it will be for almost a fifth of the film's running time. The news of Ford's extended return to his 30s comes a few months after Disney, which produced the movie alongside LucasFilm, announced it had built an AI that could make an actor appear older or younger with relative ease at the end of last year. The researchers behind the AI noted it would only work with real people if there were images available of the person in those poses and lighting at a younger age.

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UK regulator blocks Microsoft's Activision Blizzard merger over cloud concerns

Regulators say it'll hand Microsoft too much power.

The UK’s antitrust regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, has announced it will block Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard. The CMA said the deal risks creating a monopoly player in cloud gaming. It added that, if the deal concluded, Microsoft would have a market share of between 60 and 70 percent, an “incentive to withhold [Activision Blizzard] games from competitors and substantially weaken competition in this important growing market.”

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Tile's latest accessory helps track your cat

It's a modified Tile sticker with a silicon collar attachment and costs $40.

Tile

The $40 Tile for Cats tracker from Life360 is a modified version of the Tile Sticker with a silicon collar attachment and 250-foot Bluetooth range. The idea is to give you peace of mind that your cat is somewhere in the house, and then help you figure out exactly where the sneaky floof is hiding. The attachment can stretch up to 1.7 times without breaking and is water resistant, so it'll continue to function even if hit with a few drops.

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Acclaimed developer Young Horses just dropped four free games on Steam as part of a collection it's calling the Free Range initiative. The team behind the beloved PS5 launch title Bugsnax is known for making off-kilter takes on traditional game formulas, and these four titles look like they carry on that proud tradition.

These are not bigwig releases, as they were mostly developed as side projects and at various game jam events. The strangest one of the four, and therefore the most intriguing, is called Antbassador, which was originally developed for the Ludum Dare game jam. Have you ever wanted to control a giant finger in a tophat as you try to accommodate the needs of a bustling ant colony? Now’s your chance.

If you haven’t had your fill of picnic ruiners, there’s IndependANT. The 3D open-world platformer casts you as an ant trying to locate a missing queen. This is a new and original title that did not begin life as a game jam, but rather as a tech demo to show off the newly-implemented Unreal 5 engine.

We move from insects to reptiles with the hilariously-titled Snakedate. As the name suggests, you are a snake at a club looking for dates. This mostly involves swiping right on a snake-based dating website and then, uh, wrapping your slithering body around any creature that catches your fancy.

Finally, there’s Octodad: Student Edition. This is the original version of the standout hitOctodad: Dadliest Catch, first created when many key developers at Young Horses were still in college. It's a bit rough around the edges, as it's more than 12 years old, but this is Octodad through and through. This is the OG design that fueled a Kickstarter frenzy and started it all for the company.

All four titles are available for download right now, but only via the Steam Store. Octodad: Dadliest Catchfinally launched for the Switch some years back, but it looks like these four games are all PC exclusives for now.

A bipartisan group of senators has introduced a bill that seeks to protect kids from the potentially harmful effects of social media. The Protecting Kids on Social Media Act would set 13 as the minimum age for using social media platforms, in line with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the current terms of many major services. Those aged between 13 and 17 would need parental consent to use social media apps, while platforms would not be allowed to use algorithms to recommend content to under 18s.

Democratic Sens. Brian Schatz and Chris Murphy introduced the bill alongside their Republican counterparts Tom Cotton and Katie Britt. The proposed legislation seeks to employ age verification technology, though it would prevent companies from using age verification data for other purposes. Were it to become law, the bill would establish a pilot program to offer platforms a government-provided age verification system. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state attorneys general would have jurisdiction over the bill's provisions.

"Studies have shown a strong relationship between social media use and poor mental health, especially among children," the senators said in a press release. "With this clear evidence, the US Surgeon General has warned that 13 is too early for social media use and suggested that 16, 17, or 18 may be as well."

"The alarm bells about social media’s devastating impact on kids have been sounding for a long time, and yet time and time again, these companies have proven they care more about profit than preventing the well-documented harm they cause," Murphy said. "In particular, these algorithms are sending many down dangerous online rabbit holes, with little chance for parents to know what their kids are seeing online.”

This is hardly the first time that federal legislators have introduced bills in an attempt to protect children as they use online services. Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal last year introduced the Kids Online Safety Act, which aimed to block platform holders from offering algorithmic recommendations to under 16s. Such companies would have been required to disable "addictive" features and offer kids tools to help them protect their data. The bill didn't make it out of committee before the end of the last congressional session.

Blumenthal and Sen. Dick Durbin introduced a bill in February that would give people the right to delete details of their internet activity that companies collected before they turned 13. In a related case as part of an FTC settlement related to COPPA, Epic Games last year agreed to delete Fortnite players' personal data unless they claimed to be 13 or older.

The Protecting Kids on Social Media Act follows similar efforts at state level. Last month, Utah became the first state to require parental consent for under-18s to use social media. The legislation grants parents full access to their children'' accounts, including private messages. The laws are set to take effect next March, but it's not yet clear how they'll be enforced.

Following a three-year hiatus, Netflix revealed on Wednesday that Black Mirror’s latest season will begin streaming in June. In an interview on the Tudum blog, series creator Charlie Brooker claimed Black Mirror’s latest episodes would surprise fans. “Partly as a challenge, and partly to keep things fresh for both me and the viewer, I began this season by deliberately upending some of my own core assumptions about what to expect,” he told the blog, adding the new season would tackle tropes he “previously sworn blind the show would never do.”

If nothing else, season six will feature Black Mirror’s most stacked cast to date. Some of the actors that lent their talents to the production include Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek), Ben Barnes (Shadow and Bone), Himesh Patel (Station Eleven), Josh Hartnett (Black Hawk Down), Kate Mara (House of Cards), Rory Culkin (Columbus) and Salma Hayek Pinault (Frida), among many others. 

News that Netflix was working on a new Black Mirror season first surfaced nearly a year ago. At the time, it was rumored the anthology’s newest episodes would be more cinematic in scope, something the teaser trailer appears to confirm. After the past two seasons left critics and fans feeling the anthology had lost much of its incisive edge, it has a lot to prove.

Laya's Horizon is the next big mobile game from Snowman, the studio behind Alto's Adventure and Alto's Odyssey, and it'll be available to play on May 2nd. While both Alto games were exclusive to iOS at launch, Laya's Horizon will hit iOS and Android devices simultaneously, and it'll be ad-free and cost $0 for anyone with a Netflix account.

Laya's Horizon is Snowman's most ambitious game yet, and its launch trailer showcases a vast mountaintop world as it introduces the game's main mechanic — zipping through the air in a wingsuit. The main character soars among various biomes, falling rapidly and grazing the edges of cliffs, trees and villages, collecting yellow gems along the way. The map is densely populated with plant life and man-made structures, while the sea stretches beyond, always within view.

I've spent some time playing Laya's Horizon, and it's clear that this is more complex and fast-paced than either Alto game, with more opportunities to crash and burn, but also more room to learn and grow. It's an engaging, cozy and responsive experience — I'll share more impressions about it closer to launch day.

Snowman partnered with Netflix for Laya's Horizon, and it's not the only indie studio working with the streaming company nowadays. Netflix is making a big and, so far, successful push into video game publishing and development, bringing titles like Spiritifarer and Into the Breach to mobile platforms for the first time. Netflix even purchased the team behind Oxenfree, Night School Studio, which is preparing to release Oxenfree II: Lost Signals this July.

Laya's Horizon is the next big mobile game from Snowman, the studio behind Alto's Adventure and Alto's Odyssey, and it'll be available to play on May 2nd. While both Alto games were exclusive to iOS at launch, Laya's Horizon will hit iOS and Android devices simultaneously, and it'll be ad-free and cost $0 for anyone with a Netflix account.

Laya's Horizon is Snowman's most ambitious game yet, and its launch trailer showcases a vast mountaintop world as it introduces the game's main mechanic — zipping through the air in a wingsuit. The main character soars among various biomes, falling rapidly and grazing the edges of cliffs, trees and villages, collecting yellow gems along the way. The map is densely populated with plant life and man-made structures, while the sea stretches beyond, always within view.

I've spent some time playing Laya's Horizon, and it's clear that this is more complex and fast-paced than either Alto game, with more opportunities to crash and burn, but also more room to learn and grow. It's an engaging, cozy and responsive experience — I'll share more impressions about it closer to launch day.

Snowman partnered with Netflix for Laya's Horizon, and it's not the only indie studio working with the streaming company nowadays. Netflix is making a big and, so far, successful push into video game publishing and development, bringing titles like Spiritifarer and Into the Breach to mobile platforms for the first time. Netflix even purchased the team behind Oxenfree, Night School Studio, which is preparing to release Oxenfree II: Lost Signals this July.

It should now be easier to deduce whether Twitter has restricted the visibility of a tweet over a possible violation of the company's hateful conduct policy. Twitter has started applying a label to tweets that it believes breaks those rules, as it recently pledged to do.

When Twitter detects a tweet that may violate the policy, it will limit the reach of the post and apply a label that reads "Visibility limited: this tweet may violate Twitter's rules against hateful conduct." The company plans to expand the labels to include more types of policy violations in the coming months.

Twitter says it may limit the visibility of rulebreaking tweets by excluding them from search results, as well as from the For You and Following timelines. Such tweets may be downranked in replies and it may not be possibly to reply to them, retweet them, bookmark them or pin them to profiles.

Twitter noted that it may incorrectly label a tweet as one that violates its rules, so the authors of such tweets can effectively appeal the decision by providing feedback. However, the company said it may not acknowledge the feedback or restore the tweet's typical reach.

The company is taking a looser approach to moderation under current owner Elon Musk as it has adopted a "Freedom of Speech, not Freedom of Reach" philosophy. For instance, it quietly updated the hateful conduct policy this month to lift a ban on misgendering and deadnaming transgender people.