This story is part of Making the Metaverse, CNET’s exploration of the next stage in the internet’s evolution. You’ve probably heard the hype: the metaverse is going to change the way you live.  A vision for the next step in the internet’s evolution, the metaverse refers to digital worlds in which people will gather to …

Digital payments company Square will create a new business focused on the Bitcoin cryptocurrency to help developers design decentralized financial products, CEO Jack Dorsey said in a series of tweets on Thursday. The business will build “an open developer platform with the sole goal of making it easy to create non-custodial, permissionless, and decentralized financial services,” Dorsey said. The new …

The London Underground, the world’s oldest subway system, is getting a mobile upgrade that will allow commuters to chatter away as they speed under the city. On Tuesday, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said Tube riders would have full mobile coverage on the subway network by the end of 2024. “I promised Londoners that if they re-elected me for a second …

This story is part of WWDC 2022, CNET’s complete coverage from and about Apple’s annual developers conference. Apple is adding a digital legacy service for user accounts, allowing you to assign an administrator who can access your data in the event you die. The administrator will sign in through a “legacy contact Apple ID” and will need an access key …

Apple has delayed the launch of its new podcast subscription service to June, the company told creators in an email on Friday. Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, unveiled last month, is designed to offer listeners perks such as ad-free listening, additional material and early access to new content. A parallel service, called channels, will allow listeners to browse groups of shows curated by …

For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the WHO and CDC websites. Uber said Thursday it would offer 10 million free or discounted rides to people seeking COVID-19 vaccinations, a pledge that mirrors a similar program the ride-hailing giant ran earlier this year.  The company will partner with the National Urban League, the Morehouse School …

MacKenzie Scott, the former wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, said Tuesday that she’s given away more than $4 billion since July, when she said she’d donated nearly $1.7 billion of her wealth to charitable causes. The gifts, which totaled $4,158,500,000, went to 384 organizations across the country, including food banks, emergency funds and services for the vulnerable. In a blog post, Scott …

Sports fans got a closer look at Disney‘s plans for ESPN, a sports broadcasting powerhouse that’s transitioning from cable TV mainstay into a streaming service. On Thursday, Disney said it reached an agreement to add Southeastern Conference college football to its schedule beginning with the 2024 season. The conference, home to heavyweights Auburn, Alabama and Georgia, is among the most …

Flipboard, a popular news aggregator app, introduced on Tuesday a suite of new curation features, including analytical tools that allow creators of its virtual magazines to refine content to suit their audiences.  The new Curator Pro tools give individuals, bloggers and publishers who create Flipboard magazines, which are managed collections of story links, a range of data on engagement and …

A deal for Oracle and Walmart to acquire stakes in the US operations of popular video app TikTok appeared in jeopardy as details of the complicated arrangement were disputed. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would revoke his initial approval of the deal if ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, retained a stake in a newly created company that would house the US …