January, 2022

• 6 January

  Spotify clickable podcast ads may free hosts from spelling out long URLs finally

  

  Spotify is rolling out a new kind of advertising format during podcasts, call-to-action cards, that may give podcasters a break from having to spell out URLs and coupon codes letter by letter during their ad breaks whenever they want to relate specialized deals to listeners like you.  The ad cards, announced in a blog post Thursday, …

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• 6 January

  Airbnb combats racial bias by using initials in place of first names

  

  To fight possible racial bias in its booking process, short-term-rental company Airbnb will start hiding the first names of prospective guests from Oregon from their potential hosts. Would-be hosts will instead see interested renters’ first initials until a booking is confirmed. The program is scheduled to be implemented by the end of January and run for at least two years. At this …

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• 6 January

  Thin is in for Alienware’s gaming laptops: CES 2022 brings super

  

  This story is part of CES, where CNET covers the latest news on the most incredible tech coming soon. Because 14 inches is the new 15 inches, the highlight of Alienware’s thin-is-in X-series gaming laptops for 2022 is the brand-new x14, seen at CES 2022. There are also refreshed versions of the bigger models, the x15 R2 and X17 R2; …

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• 6 January

  The new Lenovo Yoga 9i laptop gets a comfy redesign, 4K OLED display and more

  

  This story is part of CES, where CNET covers the latest news on the most incredible tech coming soon. It’s a year of important laptop anniversaries for Lenovo. The ThinkPad business line turns 30 and its Yoga line of two-in-ones is now 10 years old. I’m not surprised the line’s lasted this long: It was the best two-in-one design to …

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• 6 January

  Intel boasts 50 new 12th

  

  This story is part of CES, where CNET covers the latest news on the most incredible tech coming soon. Intel dropped an Acme anvil of 12th-generation (Alder Lake) processors on us at CES 2022: That’s 22 for PCs, eight for gaming laptops, six in a new P series, 10 U series for thin-and-lights and four for cheap laptops and Chromebooks. …

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• 6 January

  Lenovo shakes up business laptops at CES 2022 with the ThinkPad Z13 and Z16

  

  This story is part of CES, where CNET covers the latest news on the most incredible tech coming soon. The ThinkPad business laptop line turns 30 this year and while ThinkPads aren’t quite the black boxy laptops they were decades ago, most don’t look strikingly different either. The new ThinkPad Z series, announced Tuesday at CES 2022, shakes things up …

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• 6 January

  Visible’s new trial lets you sample Verizon’s network for free on an unlocked iPhone

  

  Thinking of trying out Verizon’s network but aren’t necessarily ready to switch to the carrier? If you have a recent iPhone, there’s a new way to do it now.  Visible, one of Verizon’s prepaid brands, announced on Thursday that it will offer 15-day free trials of its network. Similar to T-Mobile’s updated Test Drive program from last year, the Visible …

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• 6 January

  Bitcoin price falls below $42,000 as Fed hints at interest hike

  

  Bitcoin’s voyage to the moon has once again encountered turbulence. The cryptocurrency on Friday morning fell below $42,000 for the first time since late September. It has dropped over 12% in the past seven days, one of many cryptocurrencies to have tumbled in recent days. Ether, which held at around $4,000 for much of December, briefly dipped below $3,200 on …

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• 6 January

  CES 2022: New contactless shopping services are coming

  

  This story is part of CES, where CNET covers the latest news on the most incredible tech coming soon. Marketing company Merkle introduced two contactless shopping services that don’t require apps at CES 2022 this week. Scan & Know and UnboxIt are additions to Merkle’s ShopNXT products designed to streamline shopping and build customer loyalty. The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred the popularity of contactless shopping. …

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• 6 January

  The OnePlus 10 Pro’s cameras promise richer colors, more pro settings and 150

  

  This story is part of CES, where CNET covers the latest news on the most incredible tech coming soon. OnePlus continues to trickle out details about its new flagship phone, the OnePlus 10 Pro, ahead of its official release on Tuesday in China. The company said Thursday the phone’s trio of rear cameras will look largely the same as last …

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