Airbnb is banning party houses permanently

Airbnb is permanently banning all parties and events at host properties around the world, it announced. That follows a temporary 2020 ban it had instituted on house parties to comply with COVID-related social distancing restrictions. “Over time, the party ban became much more than a public health measure,” Airbnb said in a blog post. “It developed into a bedrock community policy to support our Hosts and their neighbors.”

Airbnb had already banned “chronic party houses” in 2019 following a California Halloween shooting that resulted in five deaths. It later barred all “open-invite” house parties, but still allowed invitation-only parties in single family dwellings. However, those too are now prohibited, under penalty of account suspension or full removal from the platform.

On a more positive note, Airbnb lifted a 16-person occupancy cap also instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s because certain properties “from castles in Europe to vineyards in the US to large beachfront villas in the Caribbean” can easily accommodate more than 16 people, it said, adding that “properties like these thrive on hosting multi-generational family trips and larger groups.”

The company runs a tip line that allows neighbors or others to report parties. Airbnb noted that it saw a 44 percent drop in the rate of party reports after the ban was implemented in 2020 and it suspended the accounts of around 6,600 guests for breaking the policy last year.

Cadillac’s Lyriq SUV is the exact EV it needed to build

Luxury automakers can’t phone in an EV. Especially now as the electric vehicle market matures, it’s no longer a case that a car is a “good EV” but instead a “good car that happens to be an EV.” Cadillac seems to have gotten the message as it drops the …

Anker charging accessories are up to 35 percent off right now

Amazon’s latest sale on Anker accessories presents a good opportunity to pick up a spare charging brick, wireless stand or portable battery for less. A smattering of devices are included in this sale, and some of the deals are one-day-only discounts while others are Prime-exclusive deals. The most urgent of the bunch are deals on the 40W Anker Nano Pro and the 30W Nano II chargers — the former is 32 percent off and down to $27 and the latter is 18 percent off and down to $28 for today only. The best news is that you don’t have to be a Prime member to snatch up either of those deals.

Shop Anker deals at AmazonBuy 40W Nano Pro at Amazon – $27Buy 30W Nano II at Amazon – $28

The 40W Nano Pro includes two USB-C ports so you can charge two devices simultaneously. It’s capable of powering up a MacBook Air at full speed, making it a good choice for those that want a compact charger that can handle both smartphones and other small mobile devices as well as their laptop. The 30W Nano II only has one USB-C port, but it can also charge a MacBook Air at full speed. Plus, it uses GaN technology for more efficient charging and better heat management.

Another one-day deal knocks 23 percent off the Anker 544 wireless charging stand, bringing it down to $90. This 3-in-1 stand can charge up your iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch at the same time, and it comes with its own wall adapter, too. We also like that the Apple Watch pad is built in, so you don’t have to weave the charging pad that came with your Watch into the stand for it to work.

As for Prime-exclusive deals, there are a couple worth checking out. Anker’s PowerWave Sense 2-in-1 wireless charging stand is 30 percent off and down to $30, while a bundle with a 20W USB-C charger and a USB-C to Lightning cable is also 30 percent off and on sale for $28. The stand is similar to Anker’s 533 stand that made it on our list of favorite multi-device wireless chargers in that it can power up your iPhone and your Apple Watch at once. Being a 2-in-1 device, the PowerWave accessory doesn’t have a spot for your AirPods and you’ll have to use your own Apple Watch charging pad with it to get the full experience. But we like that it comes with a power cable for the stand itself, plus a quick-charge wall adapter.

Buy Anker 544 charging stand at Amazon – $90Buy PowerWave Sense stand (Prime exclusive) at Amazon – $30Buy 20W USB-C charging bundle (Prime exclusive) at Amazon – $28

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HTC’s first new phone this year is the metaverse-focused Desire 22 Pro

HTC has introduced a new phone with metaverse-focused features, like it promised earlier this month. The HTC Desire 22 Pro supports HTC’s Viverse ecosystem and will allow users to visit communities even without VR devices using their browsers. It’s also compatible with the company’s $499 Vive Flow VR headset and can be paired with the device if users want to explore experiences, watch movies and TV or even just access their apps in virtual reality. As Engadget Chinese notes, though, aside from its metaverse-focused offerings, the phone is firmly mid-range.

The HTC Desire 22 Pro has a 6.6-inch display with a 1,080 x 2,412 pixel resolution and a 120 Hz refresh rate. It’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G chip, a mid-range SoC, has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The device has a 4,520 mAh battery and offers reverse wireless charging. Plus, it has a three-camera system at the back, with a 65-megapixel main, 13-megapixel ultrawide and 5-megapixel depth-sensing cameras. For selfies, the phone has a 32-megapixel front-facing camera. 

A company executive said at Mobile World Congress this year that the manufacturer is gearing up to launch a new high-end device. It’s not clear if the executive was talking about this particular phone, but prices for the Desire 22 Pro begin at NT$11990 or around US$404, which means it has the potential to reach a wider audience than more expensive flagship devices. The Desire 22 Pro is now available for pre-order and will start shipping on July 1st in the company’s home country of Taiwan. In the UK, buyers can pre-order a unit for £399 and expect shipping to begin on August 1st. Those who also want to get a Vive Flow headset can order a discounted bundle for NT$23,490 (US$791) in Taiwan or £763 in the UK.  

The NuraTrue Pro brings ‘CD-quality’ to its personalized Bluetooth headphones

Since its debut in 2016, Nura has built its whole brand around optimizing audio for your hearing. But that only helps so much, obviously you want the music source to be as high a quality as possible, too. Today, the company is announcing the NuraTrue P…

NASA takes a step towards putting humans back on the Moon with CAPSTONE launch

Rocket Lab has successfully launched NASA’s 55-pound CAPSTONE cubesat that will eventually orbit the Moon if all goes to plan. It’s a small but important step in NASA’s Artemis mission that aims to send humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972. 

The launch proceeded nominally according to NASA’s broadcast, reaching low-Earth orbit at about ‘T’ plus 10 minutes. An Electron launch is much like any other, except that it’s the first rocket to be electrically powered by batteries rather than a gas turbine. As such, there’s a phase called “battery ejection” which happens near the end of the launch cycle. 

Rocket Lab used an Electron rocket with a special addition called the Lunar Photon upper stage with enough power to send it into deep space. It’s one of the smallest rockets to attempt to launch a payload to lunar orbit, the company said. It launched from Rocket Lab’s site on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula, and is “the highest mass and the highest performance Electron has ever had to fly by quite some margin,” the company told TechCrunch earlier. 

CAPSTONE will orbit Earth for nine days to build up enough speed for a trans lunar injection (TLI) that will allow it to eventually orbit the Moon. The primary objective is to verify a type of highly elliptical lunar orbit called “near rectilinear halo” that’s planned for the Gateway space station. Gateway will eventually be delivered to lunar orbit by SpaceX with a science lab and living quarters for astronauts, along with ports for future spacecraft. 

Rocket Lab was supposed to launch CAPSTONE yesterday but delayed it until today “to perform final system checks,” NASA tweeted. Regardless of the launch date, it’s scheduled to arrive at the moon on November 13th. To see a replay of the livecast, check here. 

Facebook and Instagram are blocking posts about mailing abortion pills

If you post about being able to mail abortion pills to those who need it on Facebook or Instagram, don’t be surprised if you get a warning — or even get your account restricted. A tipster told Motherboard that they were notified a minute after posting …

Brain-machine interface helped a man with paralysis feed himself using robotic arms

People with arm paralysis might easily feed themselves in the future. Johns Hopkins University-led researchers have developed a new technique that let a partially paralyzed man feed himself using robotic arms connected through a brain-machine interface. He only had to make small movements with his fists at certain prompts (such as “select cut location”) to have the fork- and knife-equipped arms cut food and bring it to his mouth. He could have dessert within 90 seconds, according to the researchers.

The new method centers on a shared control system that minimizes the amount of mental input required to complete a task. He could map his four-degree freedom of movement (two for each hand) to as many as 12 degrees of freedom for controlling the robot arms. The limbs’ prompt-based intelligent responses also reduced the workload.

The technology is still young. Scientists want to add touch-like sensory feedback instead of relying exclusively on visuals. They also hope to improve the accuracy and efficiency while reducing the need for visual confirmation. In the long term, though, the team sees robotic arms like these restoring complex movements and providing more independence to people with disabilities.