With the COVID-19 Omicron variant surging in the US and elsewhere, testing is key to allowing work, school and entertainment activities to continue. With rapid test kits in short supply, though, some retailers are making them unaffordable by gouging customers. Now, the Biden administration has announced that testing kits must be covered by private insurance, The Wall Street Journal has reported. 

People covered by private health insurance can be reimbursed for up to eight tests a month per individual. To make things simpler, the White House is encouraging insurers to partner with retailers and pharmacies so people can pick up tests without paying up front or submitting a claim. The tests are available without deductibles, coinsurance or co-payment, so a family of four on the same health plan could be reimbursed for 32 tests a month, for instance. For such programs, reimbursement would be limited to $12 per test. 

Today’s action further removes financial barriers and expands access to Covid-19 tests for millions of people.

The new policy doesn't apply to Medicare, which counts more than 60 million seniors at higher risk for COVID-19 complications. However, Medicaid for low income folks already covers at-home COVID-19 tests authorized by the FDA. The administration also plans to make tens of millions of free tests available to uninsured Americans at health clinics and other sites, according to The New York Times. 

Some insurers said that the administration is acting too late and that it didn't address the shortage of at-home tests. However, one national association of coverage providers said that the new plan "takes steps to mitigate the real risks of price gouging, fraud and abuse."

Having enough diagnostic tests will be key to slowing down the Omicron wave that is starting to overwhelm health systems in the US and elsewhere. It can help get infected people isolated or into treatment more quickly, reducing potential transmission and hospital workloads. 

That will become even more important given authorization for antiviral pills from Pfizer and Merck that can help high-risk patients with mild to moderate COVID symptoms — provided they're diagnosed in time. "This policy will help millions of families afford COVID tests that allow them to be in school, visit family members and live their lives," Georgetown University's Sabrina Corlette told the WSJ. 

So we’re already over the Galaxy S21 Fan Edition, announced just last week. Let’s turn our attention to Samsung’s Galaxy S22 family, apparently ready to officially break cover next month. According to South Korea's Digital Daily, a launch event is set to take place on February 8th. Judging by the leaks and rumors, you can expect to see three different devices, too, with differing screen sizes, specs and prices. The top of the range Galaxy S22 Ultra may feature a Super Clear Lens on its camera array. We just don’t know quite what that means yet.

When we do, we’ll be sharing all the details with you.

— Mat Smith

Honor is the latest company to launch a foldable phone.

The Magic V has larger screens than the Galaxy Z Fold 3.

Honor

Are you ready to be confused by yet another similar-looking foldable smartphone? Honor’s Magic V is its first attempt at the foldable form factor, and like Samsung's Z Fold devices, it’s a dual-screen smartphone. On the outside, it has a 6.45-inch, 431 PPI external display with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,080, 120Hz refresh rate and 21:9 aspect ratio. Open it up, and you’ll unfold a 7.9-inch screen that has a 2,272 x 1,984 resolution and 90Hz refresh rate. In a bid to fight the issues of creases on these very expensive devices, Honor says its water-drop hinge helps avoid wrinkles.

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Sponsored by Verizon

5G Ultra Wideband. Now in more and more places.

US greenhouse emissions increased by 6.2 percent last year

More people driving contributed to the increase.

Over the last year, US greenhouse emissions increased by 6.2 percent compared to 2020 levels, according to a new report from the Rhodium Group. The jump puts the country further behind meeting the reduction targets put forward by the Paris Climate Agreement. Behind the increase in overall emissions were corresponding jumps in pollution in the transportation and power sectors.

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Razer reneges on its claim the Zephyr mask uses 'N95-grade' filters

The company claims the change wasn't prompted by regulatory pressure.

Razer

Razer has removed any mention of “N95-grade” filters in its Zephyr and the recently announced Zephyr Pro smart face masks from its website and other marketing materials. “The wearable by itself is not a medical device nor certified as an N95 mask,” a Razer spokesperson told Engadget. “To avoid any confusion, we are in the process of removing all references to ‘N95 Grade Filter’ from our marketing material.”

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Surgeons successfully transplant genetically modified pig heart into a human patient

It was an experimental procedure.

Doctors at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have accomplished a medical first. Its surgeons successfully transplanted a pig heart into a 57-year-old patient as part of an experimental procedure.

They were able to demonstrate that a genetically modified animal organ could survive and function within the human body without immediate rejection. Three days after the procedure, patient David Bennett is alive and “doing well,” according to the hospital.

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Watch the trailer for 'Bel-Air'

It’s a reimagined origin story for The Fresh Prince.

Bel-Air, Peacock’s modern-day reinterpretation of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, will debut on February 13th, the streamer announced on Monday and shared a first-look trailer. All the main characters from the original return, though they may not be like you remember them.

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The biggest news stories you might have missed

Tesla 'Full Self-Driving' beta features an 'Assertive' mode with rolling stops

Rode's VideoMic Go II changed my opinion on what a shotgun mic can do

Take-Two is acquiring mobile game giant Zynga for $12.7 billion

Spotify is still working on HiFi streaming, but won't say when it's coming

Scientists observe a red supergiant going supernova for the first time

Did you know that you could hail an Uber using your Apple Watch? No? Well it doesn't really matter anyway, because the Uber Watch app has effectively been discontinued, according to Apple Insider. If you try to use it, a message pops up asking you to switch the mobile app instead. It further states "we no longer [sic] supporting the Apple Watch app. Sorry for the inconvenience," with a crying emoji to drive the point home. 

The app has yet to be pulled from the Watch App Store, but all you'll get is the error message if you try to use it. When it did work, it let you hail a ride, see the status of your request, and show the location of the vehicle. More advanced functions like fare-splitting were reserved for the smartphone app. 

The grammatically challenged message suggests that the app may have been pulled with some haste, though neither Uber or Apple have commented. The App Store listing (above) touts the app as a way you can leave home without your smartphone and still hail a ride, provided you had a cellular-enabled Watch. To be fair, Uber also pulled its WearOS app back in 2019, likely due to a lack of usage. 

Apple will soon allow developers to use alternative payment systems for their apps in South Korea to comply with the country's new law. According to The Korea Herald, the tech giant has turned in its plans on how its app store would support third-party payments to the Korea Communications Commission. It reportedly didn't include details on when the changes to its store will take effect and how much it will charge for its service fees exactly. However, the company did say that its cut for alternative payment transactions will be smaller than 30 percent. 

South Korea passed a law — dubbed the "anti-Google law" — last year that requires major app stores like Google's and Apple's to allow third-party payment methods. It was a blow to the tech giants that typically keep a tight grip on their app stores. Both of them are even grappling with lawsuits challenging the commission they take from developers. Their most high-profile legal battle is perhaps the one with Epic, which started after the video game developer tried to work around the companies' 30 percent commission by offering discounts to users who purchase in-game currency directly from its portal. 

The new Korean law states that companies will face fines if they refuse to comply and force developers to use their payment systems only. Google submitted its initial compliance plans shortly after the law took effect in September, revealing that it will lower its commission by four percent for transactions that don't use its own payment system. As for Apple, we'll likely hear more information in the coming months. A spokesperson said in a statement:

"We look forward to working with the KCC and our developer community on a solution that benefits our Korean users. Apple has a great deal of respect for Korea's laws and a strong history of collaboration with the country's talented app developers. Our work will always be guided by keeping the App Store a safe and trusted place for our users to download the apps they love."

GM has reversed course on its emissions policy, saying it now recognizes California's authority to set its own vehicle pollution standards, TechCrunch as reported. Previously, the automaker backed efforts by the former Trump administration to force the state to abandon its own standards in favor of federal emissions policies. However, it began to reverse course shortly after Biden was elected president, pulling out of the Trump administration's lawsuit against the state. 

As the most populous state with the strictest rules, California generally sets the emissions agenda for automakers and other states. Back in 2018, however, the Trump administration challenged California's ability to set its own rules independently from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Volkswagen, BMW, Ford and Honda agreed to work with California on voluntary targets, but GM, along with Fiat Chrysler and Toyota, sided with the Trump administration. 

"[GM] is committed to emissions reductions that are aligned with the California Air Resources Board's targets and... complying with California's regulations," GM VP Omar Vargas wrote in a letter to California governor Gavin Newsom. 

Because of its past decision to side with the Trump administration, GM was banned by California in 2019 for government fleet purchases. "Carmakers that have chosen to be on the wrong side of history will be on the losing end of California’s buying power," Newsom said at the time. Now, the state will allow GM to become a supplier, with Newsom welcoming the company to its "clean vehicle revolution." 

After defeating Trump, President Joe Biden announced a plan to accelerate a transition to EVs in order to combat global warming. GM followed those political winds, renouncing the earlier lawsuit and accelerating its own EV plans. The company now says it will stop selling ICE vehicles by 2040 and will spend $35 billion to develop EVs and self-driving cars by 2025. The company recently unveiled an electric version of its Silverado pickup designed to fight Ford's F-150 Lightning that's proved to be a hit with buyers.

Over the past few months, Signal founder Moxie Marlinspike has been talking to candidates who can potentially take over his role as company CEO. That's what Marlinspike has revealed in a post about stepping away his role over the next month, where he talked about struggling to do almost everything on his own before the Signal Foundation was formed four years ago. The foundation provided the encrypted messaging app with $50 million in funding from WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, giving Signal the money it needed to be able to hire people and expand. 

Before it had access to the funding, Marlinspike said he was writing all the Android and server code, facilitating all product development and solving issues the service may have had on his own. Now, he said, Signal is a group of 30 people who each have their roles, and he can switch off his phone without having to worry that the service would implode. "In other words, after a decade or more, it’s difficult to overstate how important Signal is to me, but I now feel very comfortable replacing myself as CEO based on the team we have, and also believe that it is an important step for expanding on Signal’s success," he wrote.

Marlinspike will remain on the Signal board and will focus on finding the next CEO for the service over the the next month. For now, Acton will serve as the interim CEO. While he talked about this move as a step towards Signal's expansion, he didn't say exactly why he's leaving his role. TechCrunch believes it may have something to do with MobileCoin, a cryptocurrency that's integrated into Signal and allows users to send each other digital coins through the app. It's also unclear what Marlinspike is doing next, only revealing on Twitter that he's "taking a break for a bit."

Meta, the company that at the beginning of this pandemic was called Facebook, has updated its return-to-office guidance, moving its target date from the end of this month to March 28, CNBC reports. With the shifting timetables for reopening and inconsistent guidance, one can only imagine how whiplashed the company's employees must feel. 

To wit: Back in December of 2020, CEO Mark Zuckerberg first told employees they would not be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in order to return to work. At that time, the company projected remote work could continue until at least July of 2021, though it later pushed to open offices in May. By June, Zuckerberg had passed a new edict: either seek permission from a manager to work from home, or be expected to come to the office for at least half the week. 

A month later the Delta variant came along, Zuckerberg changed his stance on vaccine requirements for employees, and the company set a new target of October for a full reopening. By August of last year, it had pushed its the return-to-office to January of 2022. As Omicron spread rapidly this winter, Meta held fast to its January 31 goal, but gave some employees the option to delay in-person work by three to five months via an "office deferral program." Incidentally, this new March 28 date includes a new requirement that employees receive the vaccine booster as well. 

In the face of so much uncertainty, several of Meta's tech peers, like Apple, Microsoft, Google, Uber and Docusign, have chosen to postpone reopening indefinitely. Facebook moderators embedded at the company's Mountain View headquarters were scheduled to report for in-office work on January 24 — one week ahead of full-time employees and with no option for different. Their contractor, Accenture, reversed that decision after widespread internal protests from workers. 

Do you work for or contract with Meta or one of its subsidiaries and have a tip to share? Download Signal messenger for iOS or Android and text me confidentially at 646 983 9846.

Over the last year, US greenhouse emissions increased by 6.2 percent compared to 2020 levels, according to a new report from the Rhodium Group. The jump puts the country further behind meeting the reduction targets put forward by the Paris climate agreement. Under the deal, the US has pledged to reduce its greenhouse emissions between 50 percent and 52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. As of last year, they were 17.4 percent below that benchmark. That’s a step back from the 22.2 percent reduction the country had achieved the year prior.

Behind the increase in overall emissions were corresponding jumps in pollution generated by the country’s transportation and power sectors. Compared to 2021, those sectors generated an additional 10 percent and 6.6 percent of greenhouse emissions. Driving those increases was a 17 percent increase in reliance on coal-generated power and more people driving after a pandemic-related downturn.

The report underscores how important is it is for the US to clean up its power grid and transportation sector. Another recent study found that wind and solar could meet 85 percent of the country’s current electricity needs. So much of whether the US will meet its Paris Agreement commitments will depend on if the country can mobilize investment as part of policies like President Biden’s Build Back Better Plan. The fate of the bill is uncertain, but what is clear is that the technology is there to enable a clean transition. Until recently, natural gas had never been more affordable, and yet it was still more expensive than renewable sources of energy. 

Whenever someone asks “what’s the best microphone” the response is usually “well it depends what you’re recording.” Rode’s new VideoMic Go II, as the name suggests, wouldn’t be suitable for podcasting. Would it?

Very clearly, the VideoMic Go II was designed to sit atop a camera. That’s just a fact, but with USB and 3.5mm outputs and compatibility with Rode Connect – the company’s USB-friendly podcasting app – it turns out this lightweight, $99 mic could be more versatile than it first seems.

If you are looking for a mic for your DSLR, know that the VideoMic Go II has a cold shoe mount, the aforementioned 3.5mm out (which can also be used for monitoring) and it comes bundled with a Rycote shock mount and a windscreen in the box. There’s no secondary/safety/stereo recording here or on-mic gain control, but that’s normal for something in this price range.

Performance-wise, the sound is surprisingly rich for a mic of this size without sounding too “dead.” There’s no notable difference between the audio you get out of the USB port compared to the 3.5mm port bar a little variation in gain. When comparing it against Rode’s VideoMic Me and VideoMic NTG, the VideoMic Go II might well be my favorite of the bunch. It’s natural, focused with just the right amount of ambiance/sense of space.

Where the VideoMic Go II gets more interesting is how it performs in other use cases. When plugged into a computer and placed on a desk the VideoMic Go II sounds just as robust as far more expensive dynamic microphones. So much so it threw me for a moment.

Perhaps the best illustration of this is when I tested it against the $400 Shure SM7B and Rode’s own $99 NT USB Mini. Given that both of the Rodes in this test are condenser microphones and cost about the same, you might think those two would be the nearer match, but it turns out that the VideoMic Go II sounded much closer to the SM7B. This isn’t to say it’s as good as the SM7B (there’s a little more depth in the Shure and a touch more dynamic range perhaps) but given the disparity in price, it definitely wasn’t expected.

This similarity is further compounded when you consider that the different type of capsule – Rode’s condenser versus Shure’s dynamic – alone would typically give them a very different sound. You can hear all three microphones in the sample below. It starts with the Shure, then the VideoMic Go II and then the NT Mini. The transition between the first two is subtle, yet the last one is obvious. Oh, and the VideoMic Go II was about two inches further away from my mouth than the SM7B was.

Of course, this is just one test, in one scenario in one specific room. But for a quick comparison of what a $400 mic can do off the cuff compared to a $99 one, it’s a good starting point. Despite the lack of on-device controls, there are some configurable options via Rode Central. When connected to the app (mobile or desktop) you’ll have the option to tweak the gain level, apply a high pass filter / high-frequency boost and adjust the monitoring volume. It’s less convenient than physical on-mic controls, but still allows you some control over how it sounds or responds to different inputs. (If you're wondering, the audio above starts with the SM7B and switches to the VideoMic Go II at "two condenser microphones").

Given that Rode added compatibility for Connect, and the USB option makes it phone and tablet-friendly, suddenly the VideoMic Go II could very well be a good all-rounder for the price. A mic that has video chops but can also do double duty as a podcast mic (and, therefore an all-purpose computer mic) there appears to be a lot of bang for the veritable buck.

Of course, if you really do need something that records a safety channel, has physical variable gain controls or if XLR connectivity is a must, this isn’t the one to go for. But for most general creator uses? It finally might not entirely “depend on what you’re recording.”

In a desperate effort to save the life of a 57-year-old man, doctors at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have accomplished a medical first. Per The Associated Press, this past Friday, surgeons successfully transplanted a pig heart into a patient as part of an experimental procedure.

In doing so, they showed a genetically modified animal organ could survive and function within the human body without immediate rejection. Three days after the procedure, David Bennett, the individual who underwent the surgery, is alive and “doing well,” according to the hospital.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized the procedure on compassionate grounds. Bennett was ineligible for a traditional heart transplant and had run out of other options. “It was either die or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice,” he said in a statement before doctors operated on him.

Scientists have tried to save humans with animal organs for decades. One of the most notable attempts occurred in 1984 when doctors grafted a baboon heart into Stephanie Fae Beauclair, an infant born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. The congenital disorder left her body incapable of circulating blood properly. Baby Fae, as she was better known, survived for 21 days before her body eventually rejected the transplanted organ.

According to The New York Times, what makes this latest procedure different is doctors used a heart that had been genetically modified to remove four genes that encode a molecule that causes the body to reject the orphan organ. They also inserted six human genes to make the immune system more tolerable of the foreign tissue. Whether the experiment represents a breakthrough will depend on what happens next. Bennett’s body could still reject the pig heart. For the moment, however, he’s alive, and doctors are understandably excited about what this could mean for patients.

“If this works, there will be an endless supply of these organs for patients who are suffering,” Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin, scientific director of the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s xenotransplantation program, told The Associated Press. That would be a dramatic change from the status quo. According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, more than 100,000 people are on the national transplant waiting list, and 17 individuals die every day waiting for an organ transplant.