Streaming service Netflix is thinking about pricing its new ad-supported subscription tier at $7 to $9 per month, according to a report. That would be around half the price of its most-popular ad-free plan, which goes for $15.50 a month.

As Netflix gets ready to introduce advertising for the first time, it’s being cautious about striking the right balance between attracting budget-minded viewers and offering a non-jarring experience, Bloomberg reported Friday.

The company is planning to sell approximately four minutes of ads per hour for the new tier and will show ads during and before some programs, but not after, Bloomberg said, citing unnamed sources familiar with Netflix’s plans.

Netflix didn’t immediately provide a comment to CNET.

Read more: Best Streaming Service of 2022: Netflix, HBO Max, Disney Plus and More

Ads won’t be shown during children’s shows, Bloomberg reported earlier, and subscribers reportedly won’t be able to download content for offline viewing.

Netflix’s new ad-supported tier could begin rolling out in at least six markets during the last three months of this year, Bloomberg said Friday, with a full launch possibly coming in early 2023. Plans could change, however.

This past April, when Netflix reported its first subscriber loss in a decade, co-CEO Reed Hastings reversed years of dismissing any interest in advertising by revealing the company was looking at a cheaper, ad-supported option. The company is also planning to start charging for password sharing, next year.

Rival streaming services Hulu and Disney Plus have also recently announced new ad-supported offerings as part of their lineup.

Dream streams

• Netflix: The 44 Absolute Best Movies to Watch
• The 50 Best TV Shows to Check Out on Netflix
• These Netflix Tricks Changed How I Watch TV and Movies

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If you’re an Uber user who takes advantage of the app’s Uber Rewards loyalty program, you’d better use up your points: The program is being discontinued.

In an email to users Saturday, the company said the free program would go bye-bye soon, as Uber turns its attention to its paid Uber One membership offering.

“You will still earn points and enjoy Rewards benefits until the end of the month,” the email said. “And there’s still time to get all the rewards you’ve earned: just use your points by October 31.”

A post on Uber’s help site said the program is ending Nov. 1 and that points can be redeemed until midnight local time on Oct. 31.

Launched in 2018, Uber Rewards lets users earn points with every dollar spent on Uber rides or Uber Eats orders. Points can be redeemed for rewards like Uber discounts and promotions and offers from partners.

The paid Uber One program offers things like discounts on Uber rides, no delivery fees on Uber Eats orders, and discounts on eligible Uber Eats deliveries and pickup orders. But it doesn’t rely on earned points, instead you a pay a monthly fee of $10.

Sean Cudahy over at CNET sister site The Points Guy called the end of Rewards “a loss for frequent Uber riders who quickly earn points toward discounts on future rides.”

“Now,” he said, “you have to pay a monthly fee to get a discount on your ride, and you won’t earn extra rewards. Depending on how much you spend with Uber, this could be a large loss in value.”

Read more: Best Food Delivery Service: DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats and More Compared 

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The suspect in the massive 2019 data breach of Capital One was found guilty Friday of hacking and wire fraud charges. The Capital One hack, one of the largest-ever breaches of a financial services company, affected more than 100 million US customers and involved the theft of sensitive data including Social Security and bank account numbers.

The hacker, Paige A. Thompson, a former systems engineer at Amazon Web Services, used a self-made tool to detect misconfigured AWS accounts and then use those accounts to hack into the systems of more than 30 organizations, including Capital One, the US Department of Justice said in a release. In addition to downloading data, she planted cryptocurrency mining software on servers and directed crypto to her online wallet, the Justice Department said.

“She wanted data, she wanted money, and she wanted to brag,” Assistant United States Attorney Andrew Friedman said in closing arguments, according to the release. The Justice Department didn’t identify the other organizations affected by Thompson’s activity.

Following Thompson’s arrest, Amazon said she’d left the company three years before the hack took place. Last year, Capital One agreed to pay $190 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by customers. Both Capital One and Amazon Web Services denied liability but said they’d settle to avoid the time, expense and uncertainty of litigation.

The year before, Capital One agreed to pay $80 million to settle claims by federal bank regulators that its cybersecurity measures fell short and that it failed to put proper risk assessment steps in place when it started using cloud storage services. The regulators gave Capital One credit for how it notified customers after the hack and how it took steps to remedy problems. And the company said safeguards it had put in place before the breach helped it secure data before any customer information could be disseminated or used.

In addition to wire fraud, Thompson was found guilty of five counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer and damaging a protected computer, the Justice Department said. She was found not guilty of aggravated identity theft and access device fraud.

Thompson is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 15, the Justice Department said, and faces up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud. Illegally accessing a protected computer and damaging a protected computer are punishable by up to five years in prison, the agency said.

A lawyer for Thompson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the verdict.

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Apple’s rumored mixed-reality headset could get all up in your face with the help of dinosaurs and Hollywood directors, said a Saturday report. The company has tapped Mandalorian and Iron Man director Jon Favreau, who executive produces Apple TV Plus doc Prehistoric Planet, to bring that show’s dinos to the headset, according to The New York Times.

The Times, which cites unnamed sources, also says ongoing challenges with battery power mean the headset won’t appear until next year. That backs up an earlier report that we shouldn’t expect to see the device at Apple’s WWDC developers conference next week.

The news outlet says, though, that the company’s WWDC plans do include the introduction of software tools that would let apps add new camera and voice functionality, laying the foundation for a hands-free interface usable with the headset somewhere down the line.

With the help of Favreau and other Hollywood directors, Apple is looking to develop compelling apps for its headset, to help it stand apart from rival virtual- and augmented-reality offerings by the likes of Facebook parent Meta and Microsoft, the Times says.

VR headsets (or goggles or spectacles), are designed to place wearers in a digital world, where they can interact with virtual objects and one another’s avatars. AR devices don’t go quite as far; instead they superimpose digital objects onto the real world. The devices are seen by some as the gateway to computing’s next big revolution: a virtual realm called the metaverse.

That vision has been met by skepticism in some quarters, however, with critics pointing to everything from concerns about bullying and harassment to issues around excessive screen time. Apple’s headset effort has itself been divisive, the Times reports, saying that at least two members of the company’s industrial design crew left Apple in part “because they had some concerns about developing a product that might change the way people interact with one another.”

Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment on the Times report.

There have been plenty of stories and rumors around Apple’s headset. You can bring yourself up to speed on them here. And for more on WWDC, check out this preview. Also, here’s how to watch WWDC 2022, and here’s where you can find CNET’s complete WWDC 2022 coverage.

Read more: The Metaverse Is on the Way: Here’s What You Need to Know

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When Google Glass smart specs first appeared nearly a decade ago, people gawked. But they also balked. Remember the term “Glassholes“? Still, though Glass never made it to retail shelves, an enterprise edition is serving as the basis for some interesting, useful and perhaps even life-altering tech.

Envision’s smart glasses use artificial intelligence to help people who are blind or visually impaired better understand their surroundings. The specs can scan objects, people and text, and then relay that information to the wearer by way of a small built-in speaker.

Wearers can even start a video call with friends or family members and have those folks describe the scene the device’s camera is showing them. “I called up one of my colleagues … and said, ‘What do you see?’ and she described the environment to me,” one user told CNET’s Abrar Al-Heeti. 

That story is among the many in-depth features and thought-provoking commentaries that appeared on CNET this week. So here you go. These are the stories you don’t want to miss.

These Glasses for the Blind Can Read Documents, Scan Faces, Aid Navigation

Smart glasses from Envision are built on the enterprise edition of Google Glass.

Check Your Messages: Scam Texts on the Rise

Those annoying messages sent to your phone could be more dangerous than traditional email phishing, researchers say.

Scientists Might Build Your Future Martian Home With Bacteria

To build a thriving Martian civilization by 2050, we’ll need somewhere to live — and it might be inside buildings made of microbes. 

8 Apple Watch Features We Want This Year

The next Apple Watch software update might bring a new low-power mode and more health features.

Amazon Astro Is the Cute Face That Could Make You Treat Tech Like Your Friend

Robots can make you bond with your devices like never before.

‘Free Solo’ Star Shows How to Climb Sheer Walls of a Jungle Mesa — for the Sake of a Frog

To get an 80-year-old biologist through the jungle and up a massive rock wall in search of an undiscovered frog, you bring along a rock-climbing legend.

As Travel Resumes, ‘Imagine a City’ Is the Ideal Book to Restart Your Sense of Adventure

British Airways pilot Mark Vanhoenacker has written a book that is equal parts guide, memoir and reflection on some of the world’s great cities.

Pixar’s ‘Lightyear’ Shows How Far the Studio Has Come Since ‘Toy Story’

Two decades of innovation has made it possible to bring the iconic toy to life as a human character — all while pushing through new animation challenges.

Panic Playdate Review: The Weirdest, Best Fidget Game Console Ever

Little, yellow, different. This indie handheld game system breaks lots of rules.

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Joni Mitchell has turned up the volume on demands for music and podcast streamer Spotify to address misinformation on its platform. Joining protests by a group of medical professionals and by rocker Neil Young, the iconic singer-songwriter says she plans to pull her work off Spotify over false claims about COVID-19 vaccines.

“I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify,” Mitchell said Friday in a brief post on her website. “Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.”

Young sparked a #DeleteSpotify movement earlier this week when he yanked his catalog off the service and cited a letter by more than 250 doctors, nurses, scientists and educators who criticized Spotify and its most popular podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, for spreading vaccine misinformation.

COVID-19 vaccines have been proven safe and effective against severe disease, hospitalization and death. 

In her post, Mitchell, the artist behind songs like Big Yellow Taxi, Help Me and A Case of You, included a link to that same letter. It calls out an episode of Rogan’s podcast that featured virologist and vaccine skeptic Dr. Robert Malone, points to a critical post about Malone on fact-checking site PolitiFact, and urges Spotify to establish a policy on misinformation.

“By allowing the propagation of false and societally harmful assertions,” the letter says, “Spotify is enabling its hosted media to damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of data-driven guidance offered by medical professionals.”

In addition to the vaccines, other public health measures like masking and social distancing have helped slow the spread COVID-19.   

In 2020, Spotify made its service the exclusive home of Rogan’s podcast after signing a licensing deal that The Wall Street Journal reported was worth more than $100 million.

On Friday, Young posted a note on his site underlining his stance.

“I support free speech,” Young’s post says. “I have never been in favor of censorship. Private companies have the right to choose what they profit from, just as I can choose not to have my music support a platform that disseminates harmful information.”

Spotify didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Read more: Spotify faces backlash after Neil Young pulls music over Joe Rogan COVID misinformation

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YouTube TV customers will regain access to Disney’s suite of networks, which went dark Friday, after the companies announced Sunday they had reached a new carriage agreement.

The new deal, announced by YouTube TV on Twitter, means its customers will once again have access to programming from ESPN, local ABC channels, Freeform, FX networks, National Geographic and other Disney properties.

“We’re happy to announce that we’ve reached a deal with Disney and have already started to restore access to channels like ESPN and FX, and Disney recordings that were previously in your Library,” the Google-owned service said, adding that local ABC TV stations will begin turning back on throughout the day.

“We appreciate Google’s collaboration to reach fair terms that are consistent with the market, and we’re thrilled that our robust lineup of live sports and news plus kids, family and general entertainment programming is in the process of being restored to YouTube TV subscribers across the country,” Disney said in a statement.

YouTube had said said it would drop the monthly price of its TV-streaming service by $15 — making it $50 a month — while programming was unavailable.

The Disney-owned channels went dark on the streaming service Friday night after YouTube said In a blog post it had “been unable to reach an equitable agreement” with Disney before the existing contract expired. Both companies issued statements Saturday that they were still working to negotiate a resolution to the outage.

This latest bargaining session followed a highly publicized carriage dispute between Google and Roku, which led to Roku dropping the YouTube TV app from its devices for new customers. The intense battle began in April and was settled Dec. 8, one day before the deadline. In October, YouTube and NBCUniversal extended a contract to keep channels such as NBC, Bravo, SyFy, E!, Oxygen, USA, Telemundo and CNBC on YouTube TV. 

CNET’s David Katzmaier notes, though, that while relatively brief, the two-day blackout was an inconvenience to YouTube TV customers who wanted to watch college football (bowl season starts this weekend), the NFL or the NBA on ESPN or ABC, or a Christmas special on the Disney Channel. Katzmaier has his own take on YouTube TV alternatives for bummed-out Disney and sports fans.

CNET’s Steven Musil contributed to this report.

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If you’ve been rockin’ down the highway with an iPhone mounted on your motorcycle, you might want to think again. On Friday, Apple said certain motorcycle engines can give your iPhone’s camera bad vibes.

“Exposing your iPhone to high amplitude vibrations within certain frequency ranges, specifically those generated by high-power motorcycle engines, can degrade the performance of the camera system,” the company said in a post on its support site.

The vibes are channeled through the chassis and handlebars, so you shouldn’t attach your phone to motorcycles with high-power or high-volume engines, the company said. It said mopeds and scooters, which tend to have small-volume or electric engines, are less of a concern but that you should use a vibration dampening mount and “avoid regular use for prolonged periods.”

The problem has to do with high-tech gyroscope- and magnet-based camera systems designed to compensate for shaky shots. Such systems, like optical image stabilization and closed-loop autofocus, make automatic adjustments if you accidentally move while taking a picture.

“The OIS and closed-loop AF systems in iPhone are designed for durability,” Apple said. But “long-term direct exposure to high-amplitude vibrations … may degrade the performance of these systems and lead to reduced image quality for photos and videos.”

For details on which iPhone models feature these camera systems, you can check out Apple’s post. For the latest iPhone news, take a look at all the rumors tied to Apple’s upcoming, Sept. 14 event. And here’s our discussion of the big shoes Apple’s next iPhone has to fill.

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A California judge ruled on Friday that Proposition 22, a measure passed by voters last year allowing Uber, Lyft and other gig companies to classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees, violated the state’s constitution. 

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch ruled the law improperly crimps the state’s ability to set workplace standards. Declaring the law unconstitutional, Roesch wrote that Proposition 22 “limits the power of a future legislature to define app-based drivers as workers subject to workers’ compensation law.”

The decision throws into question the fate of Proposition 22, a law that was passed last November after Uber, Lyft and other gig economy companies poured more $200 million into a campaign urging voters to support the measure. The state law will likely remain in effect while expected appeals make their way through the court system.

Gig companies initiated Proposition 22 because treating drivers, delivery people and other gig workers as employees would add enormous costs to their business operations. The proposition created an alternative, leaving gig workers as independent contractors but giving them some benefits, such as expense reimbursement and a health care subsidy. 

“This ruling ignores the will of … California voters and defies both logic and the law,” an Uber spokesperson said in a statement. The company will appeal the ruling, the spokesperson said.

DoorDash, which also supported the Prop 22 campaign, said its workers had earned more and gotten new benefits since the law passed. Lyft and Instacart, another supporter, referred inquiries to the Protect App-Based Drivers & Services Coalition, a group representing gig companies. The group said it would file an immediate appeal. Postmates, another proponent, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The California measure has implications nationwide: Uber and other gig-economy firms are currently pushing a similar ballot effort in Massachusetts. The companies argue drivers prefer the flexibility of being their own bosses. Opponents, however, say drivers need the kind of pay and protections that come with full employee status, and that such a classification doesn’t rule out flexibility.

In the lawsuit that led to Roesch’s ruling, a group of ride-hail drivers, along with the Service Employees International Union, argued Proposition 22 hamstrings California’s ability to protect gig workers through safeguards such as workers’ compensation and the right to organize.

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Care to take a 360-degree look at what appear to be Samsung’s latest foldable phones, smartwatches and earbuds? Well-known Twitter tipster Evan Blass is happy to oblige.

Blass, whose Twitter handle is @evleaks, served up some delicious animated GIFs for Samsung fans Friday night, along with the simple note “#GalaxyUnpacked 11 August 2021.”

That would suggest, of course, that Samsung plans to tout the featured gadgets at an Unpacked event next month. The event would follow Unpacked shindigs that went down in April, March and January.

The snarfable GIFs posted by Blass appear to show the rumored Galaxy Z Fold 3, Z Flip 3 and S21 FE 5G phones; Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic smartwatches; and Galaxy Buds 2 wireless earbuds. We get a look at various colors and, in the case of the wrist-worn gadgets, a few different watch faces.

Earlier Z Fold 3 leaks suggest the phone will feature a front-facing camera hidden beneath its screen, refined rear-facing cameras and support for a “Fold Edition” version of the S Pen. Apparent design tweaks in the Z Flip 3 include a new two-tone color scheme and a larger exterior screen for when the phone is folded shut.

The new Galaxy Watch will include the Google co-designed OS and interface called One UI Watch, which promises to be more instantly connected to the phone that’s paired with the watch and hook into more of the phone’s core settings. Compatible apps should load on the phone and instantly cross-load on the watch. Samsung has also said it’ll continue to provide software updates and support for Tizen-based watches like the current Galaxy Watch 3 and Active 2, for up to three years after the initial release date.

The new watch will also reportedly boast new SmartThings features, like an Apple Watch-like walkie-talkie offering.

Here’s a taste of the gadget-go-round GIFs posted by Blass. You can consume the rest on Twitter. Samsung didn’t respond to a request for comment.

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