Never mind asking DoorDash to deliver meals or groceries — it can now take items off your hands, too. The service has introduced a Package Pickup option that has a courier grab your prepaid packages from various carriers (including FedEx, UPS and USPS) and drop them off at the appropriate mailing location. You can use a prepaid shipping label if you have one, but you can also send shipping QR codes directly to the courier and skip the printer or box.

Package Pickup is available for up to five items at a time and costs a flat $5, or $3 if you're a DashPass subscriber. DoorDash hopes to entice early adopters by offering the first pickup for free in January. Conveniently, it's arriving in time to return unwanted or broken holiday gifts.

This is far from a new concept. Shyp was offering similar shipping options in 2015, right down to the $5 fee. And if you're only interested in shuttling items across town, Uber Connect has been available since 2020. However, DoorDash is obviously counting on convenience as a selling point. You can use a familiar app to ship packages when you'd rather not make the trek to the local depot.

The new feature is also part of a larger trend of expanding delivery apps beyond food. It's now relatively easy to use DoorDash, Uber and similar services to get convenience store essentials, prescriptions and even your Facebook Marketplace purchases. The expansion is ultimately a hedge against uncertainty in the pandemic recovery period (services can make money even if food deliveries tank), but you might not mind if it saves you from lengthy trips.

Prominent news organizations are high-value targets for hackers and it appears that The Guardian is the latest to have fallen victim to an attack. A "serious IT incident" struck the publication on Tuesday evening. “We believe this to be a ransomware attack but are continuing to consider all possibilities," editor-in-chief Katharine Viner and Guardian Media Group chief executive Anna Bateson told employees in a note. "Our technology teams have been working to deal with all aspects of this incident, with the vast majority of our staff able to work from home as we did during the pandemic."

Some of The Guardian's tech infrastructure and "behind-the-scenes services" have been impacted, according to the publication. Employees were asked to work from home for the remainder of the week. The Guardian has still been able to publish stories on its website and app, and leaders were confident of being able to deliver a print edition on Thursday.

Other news organizations have suffered security breaches in recent months. Fast Company was forced offline for eight days amid a cyberattack that saw hackers deliver obscene push notifications through Apple News. The New York Post, meanwhile, claimed in October that a rogue employee took over its website and Twitter accounts and was the culprit behind racist and sexist posts.

Delta Air Lines reportedly plans to offer free WiFi to all its passengers as soon as next year, according to the Wall Street Journal. The airline is already testing free wireless internet for members of its frequent-flier program, and it's expected to expand significantly through 2023.

According to the report, Delta will start rolling out free WiFi “on a significant portion of its airplanes” before expanding the service to more of its fleet later next year. Once the program is available for all passengers, it will likely require a SkyMiles loyalty number to get online.

CEO Ed Bastian first announced the airline’s goal of free wireless access in 2018, and it recently stepped up testing. It currently uses Viasat and Intelsat (formerly Gogo) for internet access, and it reportedly plans to equip most of its US domestic fleet with Viasat service by the end of this year. JetBlue is the only major US airline currently offering free WiFi for all passengers.

The airline industry has tried for years to improve WiFi, testing with various providers and business models. However, the result is still a mess for customers: You might end up with different online requirements and pricing on two legs of the same flight, even with the same airline. Hopefully, Delta’s move will force other airlines to compete with free WiFi of their own — while cleaning up the process of accessing it.

The United States Postal Service said it expects to buy more than 66,000 electric vehicles by the end of 2028 in a significant change from previous plans. In February, the USPS said it would purchase 5,000 fully electric versions of the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle, with gas-powered trucks accounting for the remaining 45,000 of the initial order. After pushback from the Biden administration and resistance to that from the USPS, the agency has graduallyincreased the proportion of EVs in the order.

Now, the postal service aims to buy at least 60,000 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles by 2028, at least 75 percent of which will be electric models. Starting in 2026, the USPS expects that all NGDV acquisitions will be electric versions. The NGDVs are expected to start operating on delivery routes late next year. In addition, the agency plans to buy another 21,000 off-the-shelf EVs through 2028.

Overall, the USPS plans to buy 106,000 delivery vehicles by the end of 2028 to start replacing its aging, inefficient and not-as-safe fleet of more than 220,000 vehicles. That means the agency still expects to buy around 40,000 gas-powered models over the next six years. The USPS said in a statement that the feasibility of fully electrifying the fleet "will continue to be explored." However, it believes there will be more EV availability in the future, which will certainly help.

The agency expects to spend $9.6 billion on these vehicle purchases and related infrastructure, $3 billion of which is from Inflation Reduction Act funding. "The $3 billion provided by Congress has significantly reduced the risk associated with accelerating the implementation of a nationwide infrastructure necessary to electrify our delivery fleet," Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said. "While most of the electric vehicle funding will continue to come from Postal Service revenues, we are grateful for the confidence that Congress and the Administration have placed in us to build and acquire what has the potential to become the largest electric vehicle fleet in the nation."

Just like its predecessor, Horizon Forbidden West is getting an expansion. As revealed at The Game Awards, the Burning Shores DLC will arrive on April 19th. 

The DLC will pick up from where the sprawling story of Forbidden West left off. It will see Aloy travel to what was once Los Angeles, a region that's now home to a volcanic archipelago. She'll be able to explore the area by water or on the back of a Sunwing, a flying mount. Guerrilla Games says you can expect to encounter new characters and adventures. Ultimately, Aloy will have to battle an enormous machine and use all of her skills and abilities to take it down.

Unfortunately for fans who haven't been able to get their hands on a PS5, Burning Shores won't be coming to PS4. "To achieve this grand vision technically and creatively, we’ve made the difficult decision to focus all our efforts on making an incredible experience exclusively for the PlayStation 5 console," Guerrilla said. The studio plans to reveal more details about the DLC in the coming months.

Guerilla has at least one other Horizon project in the works. It will release Horizon Call of the Mountain as a PS VR2 launch title in February.

If you want to keep using Disney+ at the same price you've been paying each month since March last year, you'll need to put up with some ads starting today. The Disney+ Basic plan is now live and it costs $8 per month. To keep using the streaming service without ads, you'll need to pay $11 per month, which marks an increase of $3. That's now called the Premium plan and an annual membership costs $110.

Unlike Netflix's ad-supported plan, Disney+ Basic offers access to the platform's full library as well as high-quality streaming in 4K, Dolby Vision and the IMAX Enhanced format. The Netflix's Basic with Ads plan, which went live last month, costs $7. It limits streams to a resolution of 720p and some titles aren't available. However, neither company's ad-supported plan includes offline viewing. Disney+ Basic currently lacks other features that are available to Premium subscribers, including GroupWatch, SharePlay and Dolby Atmos.

Disney does offer some streaming bundles. For $10 per month, you'll get access to Disney+ Basic and Hulu with Ads. You'll pay $6 less per month than you would by subscribing to them individually. If you want to include ESPN+ in your bundle, there are three options. If you don't mind dealing with ads on all three services, you can subscribe to them for $13 per month. For an extra $2 per month, Disney+ will ditch the ads. For access to ad-free versions of all three streaming services, you'll pay $20 per month.

Disney announced the price changes before it canned former CEO Bob Chapek and brought back Bob Iger, who oversaw the Disney+ launch as well as the takeovers of Fox studios and cable channels, Pixar, Marvel and LucasFilm. Although the total number of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ subscriber numbers rose to 235 million under Chapek's watch, the company has dealing with some business difficulties.

Disney lost $1.5 billion on the streaming side of the business last quarter, more than doubling the operating loss of $630 million from the same quarter in 2021. It attributed the steeper loss to higher production and technology costs, as well as greater marketing expenses. The introduction of the ad-supported plan and Premium price hike could help to make the streaming business profitable, though consumers may have to give the company more of their money or time to do so.

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. 

The long-running squabble between Amazon and HBO appears to be over. Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery have returned HBO Max to Prime Video Channels in the US. Pay $15 per month and you'll have access to House of the Dragon and other shows from within Prime Video — you won't have to manage separate apps or subscriptions. This will also provide access to the unified HBO Max and Discovery+ service (possibly called "Max") when it goes live in 2023. Discovery+ has been on Channels since 2021.

Warner Bros. Discovery strategy chief Bruce Campbell characterized the launch as a simple matter of growth. It makes HBO Max available to "as broad an audience as possible" without compromising the company's understanding of customer data, he said. Amazon VP Cem Sibay, meanwhile, saw this as fulfilling Prime Video's goal of offering the "best and widest" mix of premium content.

HBO Max launched in May 2020 without support for Amazon devices due largely to differing stances on how viewers should use the service. At the time, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar wanted HBO Max to be available as a dedicated app on Fire TV devices rather than going through Prime Video Channels. This theoretically gave Warner more control over subscriber data that could improve recommendations and attract more users. Amazon unsurprisingly balked, as Channels support would both enable the largest possible viewership and give the online retailer more control over the experience.

HBO Max came to Fire TV months later, only to leave in 2021 as part of a broader exit for HBO as a whole. The decision cost WarnerMedia five million customers that quarter, and was seen as a short-term sacrifice that would ultimately pay off. HBO, HBO Max and Discovery now have a combined 94.5 million subscribers. While the return to Prime Video Channels doesn't necessarily represent a full-fledged change in strategy, it suggests Warner Bros. Discovery is no longer afraid of losing full control over its subscriber base.

Warner Bros. Discovery will soon combine HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single streaming service with a new name. Right now, it seems that the frontrunner for the merged platform's moniker is "Max," which would ditch the more instantly recognizable part of HBO Max's branding.

Lawyers for the company are vetting several names, but Max is said to be the leading the pack. A Warner Bros. spokesperson told CNBC that the company was still discussing the name. They'll need to make a decision fairly soon, though, as the merged streaming service is slated to arrive in the spring.

HBO has built up a certain level of prestige over the years. However, Warner Bros. Discovery leaders are said to see some value in positioning HBO as a sub-brand alongside the likes of Discovery and CNN. The company's CEO David Zaslav slashedspending on HBO Max after WarnerMedia and Discovery merged earlier this year. The streaming service will have much more to offer than HBO content as well.

As CNBC notes, there has been some confusion surrounding the branding of HBO streaming apps — HBO Max was preceded by HBO Go and HBO Now. Having another one with HBO in the name could further muddy the waters. Moreover, executives are said to have expressed concern that the HBO Max name could weaken the value of HBO as a brand if consumers link it to less-prestigious content on the streaming service.

The new-look platform will reportedly have a similar to set up to Disney+, with hubs for content from HBO, Discovery, DC Comics, Warner Bros. and more (Disney+ has ones for Star Wars, Pixar, National Geographic and so on). It's not yet clear how much subscriptions to Max, or whatever it ends up being called, will cost.

Bob Iger is returning as Disney CEO in a shocking leadership shakeup, with current CEO Bob Chapek stepping down, the company announced in a press release. Iger is set to return temporarily for two years, with a mandate for "renewed growth" and to find and groom his successor. Iger said he's returning "with an incredible sensor of gratitude and humility — and, I must admit, a bit of amazement."

"We thank Bob Chapek for his service to Disney over his long career, including navigating the company through the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic," said Disney chairman Susan Arnold in a statement. "The Board has concluded that as Disney embarks on an increasingly complex period of industry transformation, Bob Iger is uniquely situated to lead the Company through this pivotal period."

Iger handpicked Chapek to follow him as CEO, but a clash in their styles quickly became clear. Iger was known as a talent- and creative-friendly CEO, while Chapek focused on streaming, particularly as the pandemic decimated Disney's theme park and theatrical distribution businesses.

Under Chapek, however, Disney initially failed to react to Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill and criticized Black Widow star Scarlett Johansson over her lawsuit involving streaming vs. theatrical distribution. And during a Disney retreat, Iger reportedly urged the company not to rely excessively on data to make decisions — seen by some as a dig at Chapek, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Under Chapek, Disney+ has grown to 235 million subscribers (including ESPN and Hulu), but the company lost $1.5 billion on streaming last quarter. Its market capitalization has also fallen from $257.6 billion in Iger's last full year to $163.5 billion. Much of that fall is pandemic related, though, as movie theaters and Disney's parks were forced to shut down.

The move comes as a surprise considering that Disney had renewed Bob Chapek's contract for three years (no comment from Chapel was available in the press release). Iger, meanwhile, has a near-mythical status at Disney CEO, having presided over the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox. That legacy will be put to the test, though, as Disney faces challenging times — the company recently announced plans to freeze hiring and said that layoffs are likely to come soon.