• One of the first alternative app stores in the EU is shutting down

    January 20, 2026

    One of the more prominent alternative app stores that emerged in the EU as a result of the region’s Digital Markets Act is shutting down. The store, Setapp Mobile, from the Ukrainian-based developer MacPaw, first launched in September 2024, offering dozens of apps across categories like productivity, finance, video, photo, creativity, and more. Its model offered consumers access to all of Setapp’s mobile apps through a $9.99 monthly subscription, provided the user’s Apple ID was associated with an EU member state. Now, the company says all applications will be removed from Setapp Mobile by the end of the sunset date,…

  • Meta’s Oversight Board is looking into transparency around disabling accounts

    January 20, 2026

    Meta has a lot of work to do when it comes to limiting hate speech on its platforms. Now, its Oversight Board is looking into the company’s decision to ban an account for, among other things, posting visual violent threats and harassment against a journalist — and it wants the public’s advice. In the year prior to the ban, Meta referred five posts due to violations of its hateful conduct, bullying and harassment, violence and incitement and adult nudity and sexual activity community standards. In addition to the posts harassing the woman journalist, the user also shared “anti-gay slurs against…

  • Netflix is rolling out a live voting feature

    January 20, 2026

    Netflix today is launching a new feature that will allow users to interact with live content through voting. The streaming company said the option will be available with the premiere of its live-streamed talent show “Star Search” on January 20. Subscribers will be able to either pick a selection from a multiple-choice menu or rate someone’s performance on a scale of five stars. Votes can be cast using either a TV remote or the Netflix app. Netflix said that the feature will work globally, and on the backend, the platform will tally votes in real-time. Viewers will have a limited time…

  • Get three months of access for only $3

    January 20, 2026

    One way to read more in the new year is to incorporate audiobooks as part of your reading habit. Audible is having a sale right now that makes that easier and cheaper to do: you can get three months of access for only $1 per month, or a total of $3. The promotion runs through January 21. An Audible subscription grants one audiobook per month to keep. This can be selected from a massive catalog of new releases and bestsellers. The collection here has just about everything. Amazon However, it’s easy to plow through a single book in a month.…

  • Netflix revises offer to pay all cash for Warner Bros to stave off Paramount

    January 20, 2026

    In an effort to sweeten the pot for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) shareholders, Netflix is now offering cash for shares of the company, revising the cash-and-stock deal it had struck with WBD’s board earlier. However, the streaming giant is still offering the same $27.75 the companies had agreed on for WBD’s movie studio and streaming assets, and the deal continues to value the company at $82.7 billion. The new offer serves to simplify the deal structure, the companies said in a statement on Tuesday, “provides greater certainty of value,” and speeds up the timeline for a shareholder vote. Netflix said…

  • 2026 Suzuki Fronx Hybrid review: Long-term introduction

    January 20, 2026

    Fronx is an unusual name for a slightly unusual-looking compact SUV, and Suzuki says it’s shorthand for ‘Frontier Crossover’ – a new era of light SUV for the Japanese auto brand. With its bluff front-end and wispy lines disguising a pretty spacious vehicle, it’s one of the best value-for-money models in Australian showrooms right now, based on price and equipment alone. Launched in Australia in August 2025, the Fronx is one of Suzuki’s Indian-sourced models – like the five-door Jimny XL off-roader – and it effectively replaces the discontinued Baleno, which was a more conventional-looking hatch and, in fact, donates…

  • The Disney+ and Hulu bundle is on sale for $10 for one month

    January 20, 2026

    You have the best chance to save on streaming services during the holiday shopping season, but throughout the year, the occasional deal pops up that’s worth considering. Case in point: this new Disney+ deal. New and eligible returning subscribers can sign up for the Disney+ Hulu bundle (with ads) for $10 for one month of access. That’s $3 off the usual price of the bundle for one month, and more than 58 percent off if you consider the cost of each service individually (Disney+ at $12 per month and, separately, Hulu also at $12 per month). We’d be remiss if…

  • Elon Musk wants a $134 billion payout from OpenAI and Microsoft

    January 20, 2026

    Part of a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of abandoning its non-profit status claims Musk is owed anywhere from $79 billion to $134 billion in damages for the “wrongful gains” of OpenAI and Microsoft. Musk claims in the filing that he’s entitled to a chunk of the company’s recent $500 billion valuation, after contributing $38 million in “seed funding” during the AI company’s early years. It wasn’t just money — according to the filing, Musk helped advise on key employee recruitment, introductions with business contacts and startup advice. If this sounds familiar, it’s because the lawsuit dates back to March 2024. It’s…

  • Meta’s Oversight Board takes up permanent bans in landmark case

    January 20, 2026

    Meta’s Oversight Board is tackling a case focused on Meta’s ability to permanently disable user accounts. Permanent bans are a drastic action, locking people out of their profiles, memories, friend connections, and, in the case of creators and businesses, their ability to market and communicate with fans and customers. This is the first time in the organization’s five-year history as a policy advisor that permanent account bans have been a subject of the Oversight Board’s focus, the organization notes. The case being reviewed isn’t exactly one of an everyday user. Instead, the case involves a high-profile Instagram user who repeatedly…

  • Australia’s top motoring body slams federal government for road safety failures after death toll rises again

    January 20, 2026

    The Australian Automobile Association (AAA) is urging the Australian Government to overhaul its road safety strategy following the release of damning new data on the national road toll. The country’s peak motoring body, which represents Australia’s motoring clubs and their 10 million-plus members, notes the national road toll has now increased each year over the past five calendar years, which it says last occurred in 1952. There were 22 more road deaths last year than in 2024, an increase of 1.7 per cent. The number of road fatalities per 100,000 residents was 4.8, unchanged from the year before. The three…