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Jan 24, 2021

Good morning everyone, and welcome to the weekend! We hope it’s a relaxing and energizing one!

Microsoft announced a price hike to its Xbox Live service on Friday... and then retracted that increase a day later. Originally, the plan was to double the current price to $120 per year, but after receiving heat on the decision, Microsoft not only dropped the price back down to the normal level, but also removed the need to pay for the subscription for free-to-play games such as Fortnite. In a statement, Microsoft explained the debacle by simply saying, “We messed up today and you were right to let us know.”

Lyft is currently testing a “priority mode” for drivers that allows them to take more rides than their peers who aren’t using it — unfortunately, the catch is that they also receive 10% less pay. Naturally, this decision has angered their drivers who have taken to calling the feature, “poverty mode.” With both Uber and Lyft continually taking more and more pay from their drivers, J.J Fueser declared this just another step in the “race to the bottom.”

Australia is currently considering a law that would require tech companies to pay publishers for any news that they feature on their site. Naturally, the tech giants haven’t taken too kindly to the concept, and both Facebook and Google have issued ultimatums to the country’s government. Facebook simply said they would restrict that content all together, however Google threatened to shut down its search function entirely within Australia — something which small business owners state would severely harm them.

There’s currently a trend going around TikTok called the “Blackout Challenge” in which people put a belt around their neck and record themselves holding their breath. Unfortunately this went too far, and a 10-year-old girl in Italy recently passed away while participating. This in turn led to Italian regulators ordering TikTok to ban all unverified user accounts as there is no way to ensure the age is actually 13+, a TikTok rule.

A father and son duo were out walking one morning when they stumbled upon a housecat in the snow. They took him home, cleaned him up, and then the vet told them it was actually a Scottish wildcat, of which there are only 100-300 left in the world.

Have a great rest of your day, and we’ll see you tomorrow bright and early!

-The 90 Second News Team

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