Michigan vs Georgia live stream: how to watch the Orange Bowl online from anywhere

Big 10 champions Michigan face SEC runners-up Georgia in this year's NCAA Orange Bowl semifinal. It's a clash of two of the meanest defenses in college football. The Wolverines head into the game on a run of five straight victories, while the Bulldogs need to bounce back from a costly first defeat of the season. With a shot at the National Championship at stake, read on as we explain how to get a Michigan vs Georgia live stream and watch the Orange Bowl online from anywhere.

Orange Bowl live stream 2021

Date: Friday, December 31

Time: 7.30pm ET / 4.30pm PT / 12.30am GMT / 11.30am AEDT

Venue: Hard Rock Stadium, Florida

TV channel and live stream: ESPN (via Sling TV discount or free fuboTV trial) | BT Sport (UK) | TSN (CA) | Kayo Sports FREE trial (AU)

Watch anywhere: try the world's no.1 VPN 100% risk-free

Neither program has won the big prize in the college football playoff era, with Michigan's most recent national title coming in 1997. The last time Georgia was top dog was in 1980, though they came within a whisker in 2017, Alabama once again proving their kryptonite on the big stage.

Wolverines defensive end Aidan Hutchinson missed out on the Heisman Trophy earlier this month, which can only be a plus for the No.2 seed's playoff hopes. The No.3-seeded Bulldogs boast the nation's tightest defense, but they'll have their work cut out slowing down Michigan's powerful running back duo of Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum.

Watch out for Georgia's tight end Brock Bowers and wide receiver George Pickens, who could return from serious injury in sensational style. And make sure to follow our guide for how to watch the Orange Bowl online and get a Michigan vs Georgia live stream wherever you are in the world.

Michigan vs Georgia live stream on Sling TV

Stream Orange Bowl without cable with Sling TV
Get your first month for only $10 now. With the game being shown on ESPN today, cord cutters can watch with a Sling TV subscription. Sign up to Sling Orange now and shave a mighty $25 off the usual monthly price, while also scoring access to NFL Network, Fox, NBCSN, CNN, and 20+ more channels.

• More sports: how to watch a Premier League live stream

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How to watch Michigan vs Georgia from outside your country

If you've mismatched a holiday or you're away on business and you want to watch your country's coverage from abroad, then you'll need to use a VPN. This will help you dial in to a location back in your home country to avoid geo-blocks and regain access to the content and services you already pay for back home.

A VPN is generally perfect for this as it allows you to change your IP address so you appear to be in a completely different location when the big game is on. 

Use a VPN for the Michigan vs Georgia live stream from anywhere

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We've put all the major VPNs through their paces and we rate ExpressVPN as our top pick, thanks to its speed, ease of use and strong security features. It's also compatible with just about any streaming device out there, including Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Xbox and PlayStation, as well as Android and iOS.

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Once you've chosen and installed your VPN of choice, simply open the service's corresponding app, hit 'choose location', select the appropriate country, and you'll be able to watch the broadcast as if you were back at home.

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Michigan vs Georgia live stream: how to watch Orange Bowl in the US

The Orange Bowl game between Michigan Wolverines and Georgia Bulldogs is being shown on ESPN.

Kick-off is scheduled for 7.30pm ET / 4.30pm PT, and if you have the channel as part of your cable package, you can also live stream the game directly through the ESPN website.

How to watch Orange Bowl FREE without cable

If you haven't got ESPN, you'll need an over-the-top streaming service that includes it, and great-value Sling TV is the obvious starting point for football fans.

Its Orange package offers ESPN 1, 2 and 3, plus a handful of other top premium channels like TNT, AMC, TBS, BBC America and more, for just $35 a month. But right now you can get a whole month of Sling Blue for $10.

An extra $15 a month for the combined Sling Blue + Orange bundle adds access to local NBC/NBCSN and Fox channels in most major markets, as well as NFL Network, thereby covering off a large number of college football and NFL games including both primetime and local broadcasts.

The costlier but even more thorough alternative is to get a FuboTV plan. Its standard plan costs $64.99 per month and includes ABC, ESPN, Fox, CBS, NBC and the NFL Network - all the channels you need to tune into every nationally televised NFL game in the 2021/22 regular season, plus loads of college football. 

You also get the benefit of the fact that fuboTV has a FREE trial.

Michigan vs Georgia live stream: how to watch Orange Bowl online in the UK

College football fans based in the UK can watch the Orange Bowl on BT Sport.

The game gets underway at 12.30am GMT on Friday night/Saturday morning, which is pretty handy considering you'll probably be up late for New Year anyway.

Don't forget that BT now has a £25 Monthly Pass, so you can get everything BT Sport has to offer, including Champions League football and UFC, without a long-term commitment.

The BT Sport app will let subscribers watch the Orange Bowl on any number of devices, including mobiles, tablets, consoles and smart TVs.

How to watch Michigan vs Georgia: live stream Orange Bowl in Canada

In Canada, you can watch the Orange Bowl on TSN, with coverage starting at 7pm ET / 4pm PT, ahead of kick-off at 7.30pm ET / 4.30pm PT.

If you get TSN as part of your cable deal, you'll just be able to log in with the details of your provider and get access to a Michigan vs Georgia live stream. 

If you don't have cable, then you can subscribe to TSN on a streaming-only basis from just CA$4.99 a day or (much better value) $19.99 a month - and don't forget
the network shows loads of NFL action too.

If you decide to subscribe or already have, remember you can take your favorite sports streaming service with you wherever you go - just try our No. 1 overall rated VPN 100% risk-free for 30-days and follow the instructions above.

How to watch Michigan vs Georgia FREE: live stream college football in Australia

The Orange Bowl kicks off at 11.30am AEDT on New Year's Day.

ESPN, available through Foxtel, is showing the game, and you can also stream it on your laptop or mobile using the Foxtel Go app. 

Streaming service Kayo Sports is showing the Orange Bowl game too, and is the ideal option for those who don't want the commitment of a lengthy (and pricey) contract.

Kayo lets you stream on two devices with its $25 per month Basic plan, and on three devices with its $35 Premium plan, and both come with a FREE 14-day trial.

Not in Australia right now? Use a VPN if you're away from home, in order to tap into your domestic coverage.

Amazon has been overtaken by three ecommerce rivals you've never heard of

Although Amazon continues to hold the top spot in the ecommerce market in the US, foreign competitors have now surpassed the company when it comes to app installs on the global stage.

According to new data from Apptopia's real-time data intelligence platform, the ecommerce giant came in fourth place in shopping app installations worldwide this year. This is quite the change compared to last year when Amazon had the most app installs worldwide.

The reason that Amazon fell from first to fourth place this year globally is due to the fact that its emerging competitors all do things a bit differently and have carved out their own spots in their respective niches.

Outranking Amazon in app installs

The three ecommerce companies that were able to surpass Amazon in app installs this year are Shopee, Shein and Meesho according to a new blog post from Apptopia.

Singapore-based Shopee came in first with 203m downloads and the company serves both the Southeast Asia and Latin American markets. Meanwhile China-based Shein came in second with 190m downloads and the company is a growing force in the fast fashion market. Finally, India-based Meesho which specializes in social ecommerce in fashion and home products took the third spot with 153m downloads.

While Shopee, Shein and Meesho may have outshined Amazon on the world stage in terms of app downloads, the ecommerce giant's app remained the most downloaded in the shopping category in the US according to Apptopia's rankings.

Amazon has a stranglehold on the US ecommerce market but the company's executives have continued to make the case to regulators that its small share of the global retail market is the main reason why they shouldn't pursue antitrust regulation against the company.

We've also highlighted the best ecommerce platforms and best ecommerce hosting

Via GeekWire

January Aussie streaming calendar: the best movies and TV to watch this month

With so many movies and TV shows to stream across a variety of Australian streaming services, which includes the likes of Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, Binge, Apple TV Plus and more, it can be tough to cut through all the noise to find the best stuff to watch each month.

It's with this in mind that we've cobbled together this January Aussie streaming calendar, which helpfully highlights the best movies and TV worth watching this month.

As we move forward in the coming months, we'll expand upon this format to identify a wider selection of films and TV series to stream, and include some of the top new rental releases on services like iTunes, Google Play and more. 

For now though, here are our top five movie highlight for January 2022, followed by our picks for the top five TV shows to stream this month.

January 2022 movie highlights

F9: The Fast Saga (Movie – available 1/1/2022 on Amazon Prime)

F9 may very well be the dumbest instalment in the Fast and Furious saga to date, in that its signature stunts and family-driven story manage to reach ridiculous new heights, and not necessarily in a good way. That said, there's still plenty of fun to be had here for those who can accept F9's 'jump the shark' moments of idiocy.

The Tender Bar (Movie – available 7/1/2022 on Amazon Prime)

A coming-of-age story set in the '70s and '80s, The Tender Bar follows a fatherless boy who keeps coming back to his neighbourhood bar to receive guidance about how to be a man from its bartender, who also happens to be his uncle Charlie (Ben Affleck). Directed by George Clooney, The Tender Bar is a warm film with a wonderful central performance from Affleck.

Eternals (Movie – available 12/1/2022 on Disney Plus)

Given it released in theatres during an ongoing pandemic, chances are there are many people who haven't had a chance to see Marvel's most unusual superhero epic to date, Eternals. Well, Disney Plus subscribers won't have to wait much longer to see it, as the film is set to land (in a superhero hero pose, no doubt) on the service on January 12.

The Tragedy of Macbeth (Movie – available 14/1/2022 on Apple TV Plus)

Writer-director Joel Coen (of the famous Coen Bros. duo) goes at it alone with The Tragedy of Macbeth, based on the famous play by William Shakespeare. Produced by A24, the fantastic arthouse company behind the likes of The Green Knight and Hereditary, expect The Tragedy of Macbeth to really lean into the darker, scarier aspects of the story, which sees Macbeth (Denzel Washington) convinced by a trio of witches that he will be the next King of Scotland. Also stars Frances McDormand as Lady Macbeth.

Gold (Movie – available 26/1/2022 on Stan)

Arguably the most high-profile Stan Original film to date, Gold stars Hollywood heartthrob Zac Efron as a man who comes to the Australian outback for a job only to discover an enormous nugget of gold buried in the middle of the desert. Too big to dig out with the tools on hand, Efron must stay back and stand guard while his partner (Anthony Hayes, who also directs the film) sets out to go find excavation equipment. Releasing on Australia Day, you can check out the tense trailer for Gold below.

January 2022 TV highlights

Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return To Hogwarts (TV special – available 1/1/2022 on Binge)

Can you believe it's been 20 freakin' years since the first Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, released in theatres? Those kids are all in their 30s now! Join stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and a host of others as they take a nostalgic look back the films that changed their lives in this 20th anniversary special. 

Euphoria: Season 2 (TV series – available 10/1/2022 on Binge)

The first season of Euphoria proved to be a smash hit, making its second season one of the most highly anticipated TV shows of the year. The show offers an unflinching look at the lives of a group of high-school students as they experience the highs and lows of teen life, including identity, love, sex, drugs and more.

Peacemaker: Season 1 (TV series – available 13/1/2022 on Binge)

Writer-director James Gunn apparently enjoyed his time working on this year's The Suicide Squad so much that he decided to write a spin-off series for John Cena's character, Peacemaker. If you've seen the film, you'll know that Peacemaker loves peace more than anything, and he'll gladly murder hundreds of people in order to maintain it. As per Gunn's signature style, expect Peacemaker to be another violent, funny affair.

Ozark: Season 4, Part 1 (TV series – available 21/1/2022 on Netflix)

Netflix's award-winning series Ozark is back for its fourth and final season in 2022, with the first half dropping in January. Picking up where season 3 left off, the Byrd family (led by Jason Bateman and Laura Linney) are in a precarious situation, in that their fate rests in the hands of cartel boss Omar Navarro (Felix Solis), who has been given the option of killing the couple and handing the operation over to Helen (Janet McTeer).

Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock (TV series – available 21/1/2022 on Apple TV Plus)

Those of us who remember the 1980s will be happy to hear that Fraggle Rock is back, with a brand new reboot series arriving on Apple TV Plus! Fans should also be chuffed that The Jim Henson Company is back in charge of this beloved property, and we can't wait to see how these characters inspire a whole new generation of kids.

• Best Australian streaming services 2021: Netflix, Stan, Disney and more compared

CES 2022 will end a day early as an additional Covid safety protocol

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) announced on December 31 that it will be shortening CES 2022 by one day as an additional Covid safety protocol, ending the show on January 7, 2022 rather than January 8.

“As the world’s most influential technology event, CES is steadfast in its pledge to be the gathering place to showcase products and discuss ideas that will ultimately make our lives better,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CTA, in a statement announcing the move. 

“We are shortening the show to three days and have put in place comprehensive health measures for the safety of all attendees and participants.”

The CTA says that there will still be about 2,200 in-person exhibitors at the show, even as many major industry players like AT&T, AMD, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lenovo, and others have cancelled in-person attendance. 

TechRadar, Tom's Guide, CNET, and several other major media outlets have also cancelled in-person coverage of the event.

• Check out all our Tech Resolutions for 2022

We now know just how rapid Samsung's new PCIe 5.0 SSD will be

Ahead of CES 2022, former tech journalist and now Intel employee Ryan Shrout has given us an idea of just how fast Samsung's new PCIe 5.0 SSD will be when it releases next year.

In a post on Twitter, Shrout explained that while he was going to save the demo for press at the tech conference, he figured he'd show it off to everyone else online instead.

During his tests using a 12th-gen (Alder Lake) Intel Core i9-12900k CPU, an Asus Z690 motherboard, a Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics card and of course Samsung's new enterprise-class PM1743 PCIe 5.0 SSD, the drive was able to hit speeds of over 13GB/s.

While this exact drive won't be available to consumers as it's intended for enterprise use in workstations and data centers, Shrout made a video of him running benchmarks on it to give users a better idea of the kind of improvements PCIe 5.0 will bringw hen compared to PCIe 4.0.

Samsung PM1743 PCIe 5.0 SSD

As the Samsung PM1743 leverages a proprietary controller designed to support the latest PCIe standard, the new drive delivers the read and write speeds necessary to accommodate the rapidly increasing performance requirements of data centers.

When it releases, Samsung's PCIe 5.0 SSD will feature a sequential read speed of up to 13GB/s with a random read speed of 2,500k input/output operations per second (IOPS). This will provide 1.8 to 1.7 times faster speeds over previous PCIe 4.0-based products.

At the same time, the Samsung PM1743 will also provide improved power efficiency of up to 608 MB/s per watt representing around a 30 percent boost over the previous generation. These advances are expected to lower server and data center operating costs significantly while also helping to reduce their carbon footprint.

Direct of technology initiatives at Intel, Jim Pappas provided further insight in a press release on how the company has been working with Samsung the PM1743, saying:

“Intel has been working with Samsung to test Samsung’s newest PCIe NVMe SSD, the PM1743. Together, we have jointly resolved complicated technical issues encountered with PCIe 5.0 during this initial evaluation period. The performance potential of Gen5 is truly impressive. In the near future, we strongly believe that PCIe Gen5 systems with high-speed NVMe SSDs will have the ability to transform applications such as AI/ML and high-performance databases.”

We've also rounded up the best portable SSD, best large capacity drives and the best secure drives

Via Techspot

Google and Microsoft are using their deep pockets to take on AWS

Google and Microsoft have turned to a new strategy which has seen both companies make big investments in other businesses in an effort to bolster their cloud market share and better compete with AWS.

After replacing Diane Greene as the CEO of Google Cloud back in 2019, Thomas Kurian hasn't been afraid to tap the company's $142bn cash reserves to attract more customers to the service. In fact, Google has made sizeable investments in the business security system provider ADT ($450m), the Spanish-language media company Univision, the healthtech startup Tempus Labs and the futures-exchange firm CME Group ($1bn).

These investments are part of Google Cloud's larger strategy to bring more customers to its platform and so far, they have already started to pay off with many companies making multiyear commitments to use its cloud services which are worth as much as $1bn or more according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.

However, Google isn't the only cloud computing provider trying to grow its market share through investments as Microsoft has taken stakes in several startups in deals that would see them use its cloud while Oracle's planned $28.3bn acquisition of the medical-records company Cerner has led to a significant boost in its own cloud business.

Investments to gain cloud market share

This new strategy of making strategic investments to bring businesses to its cloud seem to be working for Google as it now has six percent of the cloud market (up by one percent last year) though the company is still far behind Microsoft with a 20 percent share and the leader in the space, Amazon with a 41 percent market share.

In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, a Google Cloud spokesperson admitted that investments and partnerships in other businesses are one of the ways the company is trying to bring more customers to its cloud though it has attracted many on its capabilities alone.

Microsoft is employing a similar strategy and one of its biggest investments so far has been a stake in General Motors' driverless-car startup Cruise which will use Microsoft Azure to roll out its autonomous vehicle services. Not to be outdone, Google then took part in a $200m investment round for the startup Tempus which uses AI to improve patient care.

Even as both Google and Microsoft try to gain ground in the cloud wars, recent AWS outages have shown that more competition in the space can benefit businesses, governments and even consumers.

We've also featured the best cloud hosting, best dedicated server hosting and best bare metal hosting

Via Wall Street Journal

iQoo 9 series makes it to Geekbench - key specifications revealed

It has already been confirmed that the iQoo 9 series is going to roll out in China on January 5. Now, both the variants of the series, iQoo 9 and iQoo 9 Pro, have popped up on the Geekbench listing. The vanilla variant of the iQoo 9 series carries the model number of V271A. It scored 1223 in the single core test and 3674 in the multi-core test. 

Considering the scores of the device, it clearly seems that the device is going to be a flagship-level offering. The Geekbench appearance of the device has also confirmed that it will run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and operate on the Android 12 operating system. 

In addition, renders of the smartphone surfaced online a few days ago, suggested that the device could sport a triple rear camera set up. Furthermore, the smartphone is expected to work on optical image stabilization (OIS) and the camera bump of the device boasts the 'Ultra Sensing' feature too. The back panel of the device could be white in color and will get the Red, Indigo, and Blue stripes. 

• Best affordable 5G phones under Rs. 20,000 in India
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iQoo 9 specifications

(Image credit: Gizmochina)

A report by GizmoChina stated that the posters released by iQoo suggest that the device will get an ultra-sonic in-display fingerprint sensor. The SIM card slot, USB Type-C port, and speaker grille will be placed at the bottom of the smartphone. In the past, reports suggested that iQoo 9 may pack a 4,700mAh battery with 120W fast charging along with 50W wireless charging.

The information related to the display details of the device is still sceptical. Previous rumors suggested that the device could feature an AMOLED LTPO display with curved edges. The smartphone may also get slim bezels and punch-hole to house the front camera at the top center. The screen of iQoo 9 may have a 120Hz refresh rate with a 1000Hz touch sampling rate. 

The smartphone can get 12GB LPDDR5 RAM coupled with 256GB onboard storage and RAM expansion feature. In terms of optics, iQoo 9 may rock a triple rear camera setup with gimbal-OIS based 50MP primary shooter, 50MP ultra-wide shooter, and a 16MP telephoto shooter. 

• Smartphone Gaming - what prompted it and where it is headed in 2022

Want to know about the latest happenings in tech? Follow TechRadar India on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

Ola Electric wants to upgrade S1 customers to S1 Pro but this isn’t how it works

Ola Electric – which experienced a record-shattering start – has been struggling to deliver scooters to the customers. The company has now announced that it is upgrading the customers who bought the vanilla variant of its electric scooter Ola S1 to the top end Ola S1 Pro.

The company says that the hardware upgrade is free of charge, however, the customers might still have to pay a substantial amount to enjoy the software features. The amount in question is Rs. 30,000 and it is the exact difference between the price of an Ola S1 and the Ola S1 Pro – hence doesn’t make any sense but that’s not all.

On paper, this offer might sound interesting to the select group of customers as the Ola S1 Pro comes with a bigger 3.97Kwh battery and additional features like ‘hyper mode,’ hill hold, cruise control, and voice assistance.

• Best electric scooters you can buy in India right now
• Ola launches vehicle commerce platform Ola Cars - We explain its details

However, the caveat here is that the Ola S1 Pro will be slightly heavier than the standard Ola S1 – which means that the end-user with a Pro model might get an even lesser range than the base variant. The upgrade is also not available to all the users as well.

So, if you’ve upgraded to the top end Ola S1 Pro and do not wish to get the “premium” software features, you’ll get a scooter that offers way less mileage per charge than the one that you initially opted for. So if you’re one of the select group users who has been upgraded, you might be in a catch 22 situation – to go for the upgrade and pay for it as well or go for the upgrade which basically is a downgrade.

Just adding to the misery 

While there is little doubt that Ola Electric has been able to change the way people think about electric scooters and even shop for them. However, the company is sitting at a pile of pre-orders and in-terms deliveries the company is progressing at a snail’s pace. And these tricky offers that the company is coming up with are only resulting in negative PR.

Even the handful of customers who’ve got the scooters delivered in the cities like Bangalore or Chennai are complaining about various issues – including low range compared to what was promised/advertised or even about damaged products being delivered to them.

Various reports citing ex-employees suggest that the company does not have fully functional software nor is the factory in a position to churn out the number of vehicles anywhere close to what the company had initially boasted.

On the other hand, the company has clarified that the state subsidies are valid till March 31, hence the delay in deliveries will not have an adverse impact.

Check out our yearend stories around EVs, Tech, OTT, Fintech and Movies:

• Tata Nano EV – the perfect family vehicle in 2022?
• Smartphone Gaming - what prompted it and where it is headed in 2022
• Tech headlines of 2021 - events that made us sit up and take note
• Our Choice of 2021: Indian OTT films that impressed us, and didn't
• Sequels for these 10 popular web series on OTT could arrive in 2022
• South Indian films of 2021 that you can't afford to miss on OTT platforms
• A bumper year for Indian fintechs in 2021 - Good times to last

Want to know about the latest happenings in tech? Follow TechRadar India on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!

Sega left a huge database of user information open to hackers

Sega Europe could have easily fallen victim to a data breach as security researchers recently discovered that the company had left sensitive files stored insecurely on a publicly accessible database.

Researchers at the security firm VPN Overview found the files in question stored on a misconfigured Amazon Web Services (AWS) S3 bucket. They were also able to obtain multiple sets of AWS keys that gave them read and write access to Sega Europe's cloud storage.

In addition to sensitive files, the misconfigured S3 bucket contained was also used to host websites for a number of popular Sega properties including Sonic the Hedgehog, Bayonetta, Football Manager and Total War as well as Sega's official site. In total, 26 public-facing domains controlled by Sega Europe were affected.

VPN Overview's researchers were able to upload files, execute scripts, alter existing web pages and modify the configuration of critically vulnerable Sega domains according to a new report.

Compromised email and cloud services

During its investigation, VPN Overview's security team recovered an API to the email marketing software MailChimp that gave it the ability to send emails from the address donotreply@footballmanager.com.

The team then sent multiple messages to test its access and every email it sent appeared legitimate and also used TLS encryption. From here, the researchers were able to alter existing MailChimp templates and even create their own. As all of the emails sent out to Football Manager users appeared legitimate and would be able to bypass email security checks, a malicious attacker could have used this access to launch phishing campaigns.

VPN Overview was also able to upload and replace files on three of Sega's content delivery networks (CDNs). As third-party websites often link to a company's CDN for an official version of an image or file, 531 additional domains were linked to Sega Europe's affected CDNs. As a result, an attacker could have abused the company's CDNs to distribute malware and ransomware to unsuspecting users.

After discovering Sega Europe's misconfigured S3 bucket, VPN Overview responsibly disclosed its findings to the company which then secured the database and all of its  affected cloud services and software.

We've also featured the best antivirus and best password manager

Your round-up of US New Year's Eve TV specials 2021 and how to stream anywhere

Keep reading as we give you a rundown of the schedule across the US's biggest broadcasters, and how you can watch New Year's Eve TV specials in the US, and live stream the iconic ball drop in Times Square. year in style. 

Keep reading as we give you a rundown of the schedule across the US' biggest broadcasters, and how you can watch New Year's Eve TV specials in the US - and live stream the iconic ball drop in Times Square - no matter where you are in the world. 

Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2022

• Airing on ABC from 8pm ET
• Stream on ABC's website
• Other streaming options: Peacock, FuboTV, Sling TV or Hulu with Live TV

New Year's Eve Live: Nashville's Big Bash

• Airing on CBS at 8pm ET
• Stream on the CBS website
• Other streaming options: Paramount Plus, FuboTV, and Hulu

2021: It's Toast! with Hoda and Jenna

• Airing on NBC at 8pm ET
• Stream live on NBC website
• Other streaming options: Peacock, Sling TV, FuboTV, Hulu

Miley's New Year's Eve Party

• Airing on NBC at 10pm ET until 12.30am ET
• Stream live on NBC website
• Other streaming options: Peacock, Sling TV, FuboTV, Hulu

New Year's Eve Toast and Roast 2022

• Airing on Fox at 8pm until 12.30am ET
• Stream on Fox or the Fox Now app
• Other streaming options: Sling TV, FuboTV, Hulu

New Year's Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen

• Airing on CNN at 8pm until 12.30am ET
• Stream on CNN or the CNNgo app
• Other streaming options: Sling TV, Hulu

(Image credit: Noam Galai/Getty Images)

How to watch a Ball Drop 2022 live stream online for FREE

Live stream the Ball Drop from New York City

If your New Year's Eve plans don't consist of crowding around the TV, you can catch the all-important ball drop through a number of free streams.

• timessquarenyc.org
• timessquareball.net
• Hulu + Live TV
• YouTube TV
• Time Square's Facebook or Twitter page

How to watch US New Year's Eve TV specials online if you're abroad

If you're vacationing outside of the US when we ring in the New Year stateside, you won't be able to stream from abroad or access certain on-demand platforms like Peacock and CNN due to geo-restrictions.

Don't chance miss a jampacked schedule of New Year's Eve celebrations, though. While these restrictions may prevent you from accessing certain services and content, you can get around geo-blocks by using a VPN (or Virtual Private Network). They're very affordable-, and easy to use - and also encrypt your browsing, offering protection against cybercriminals and government snooping.

Use a VPN to watch US New Year's Eve specials from anywhere

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We've thoroughly tested all of the major VPNs, and our No. 1 pick is ExpressVPN. It's fast, easy to use, and packs a great range of security features. You can also use it across a huge range of devices, including Android and Apple smartphones, the Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Xbox, and PlayStation. If you want to stay safe online and watch your preferred broadcast from anywhere, you won't find anything better than ExpressVPN.

Better still, you can get an extra 3 months FREE if you sign up for an annual plan. And there's nothing to lose because if you change your mind within the first 30 days, let them know and they'll give you your money back.

- Try ExpressVPN 100% risk-free for 30 days

Using a VPN is as easy as one-two-three...

1. Download and install a VPN - as we say, our top choice is ExpressVPN

2. Connect to the appropriate server location - open the VPN app, hit 'choose location' and select the appropriate location (a server in the US in this case)

3. Go to the broadcaster's stream - head to the NBC website, Peacock, or any other streaming service you're trying to access from abroad and start watching New Year's Eve specials as if you were back at home

Voyant raises $15M to scale production of its tiny, inexpensive lidar tech

The future of lidar is uncertain unless, as Voyant hopes to do, its price and size are reduced to fractions of their current values. As long as lidars are sandwich-sized devices that cost thousands, they won’t be ubiquitous — so Voyant has raised some cash to bring its smaller, cheaper, more easily manufactured, yet still highly capable lidar to production.

When I wrote up the company’s seed round back in 2019, the goal was more or less to shrink lidar down from sandwich to fingernail size using silicon photonics. But the real challenge faced by nearly every lidar company is getting the price down. Between a strong laser, capable receptor and a mechanical or optical means of directing the beam, it just isn’t easy making something cheap enough that, like an LED or touchscreen, you can easily put several of them in a vehicle that costs less than $30,000.

CEO Peter Stern joined the company just as COVID was getting started, and they were looking for a way to turn a promising prototype developed by co-founders Chris Phare and Steven Miller into a working and marketable product. After going back to basics they ended up with a photonics-based frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) system (just go with it for now) that could be manufactured at existing commercial fabs.

“Every other system is filled with a lot of expensive stuff — our vision is a mass-produceable chip, like anything else,” he said, and noted the lack of a powerful precision laser as a huge savings to cost and space. “What people use as a laser source generally costs a lot, needs assembly and calibration, there are lens issues… our laser sources are basically out of date, slightly refurbished datacom lasers the size of sesame seeds. These things cost like $5 each, the laser path costs $30, something like that.”

This tiny scale is made possible by the FMCW method, used more often in radar. A continuous beam of light encoded with identifiable data patterns and constantly adjusting its frequency, this approach avoids many issues with traditional lidar methods. And the way Voyant does it, it’s cheap — possible to get under a hundred bucks with scale. All the optics, beam handling and sensing and so on is right there on the chip.

Close-up of some of the waveguides found on the lidar chip. Image Credits: Voyant Photonics

But they’re not going up against Velodyne or any of the upstart lidar companies duking it out in the automotive sector like Luminar and Baraja. “We’re too underfunded to take us through an automotive development cycle,” Stern said — and indeed it’s quite an expensive market to try to break into. “Because we’re cheaper, we see applications in robotics, mobility, industrial safety… anywhere someone wants to use a Velodyne puck, we can displace them for non-automotive purposes pretty quickly.”

You may very well think “wait, I have lidar on my phone — what’s different about this?” Certainly you can make lidar units at this scale and size, but their capabilities are extremely limited. Great for scanning your living room, but unreliable past a few meters or in sunshine or bad weather. Voyant isn’t going for cars, but its devices still have auto-grade specs: millimeter accurate out to a hundred meters, the sort of thing you want when you’re traveling 70 MPH.

Lidar startup Aeva raises another $200M ahead of its debut as a public company

The FMCW technique (also used in Aeva’s lidars) produce fewer points, leading to lower resolution, but it provides instantaneous doppler velocity. Knowing how fast the thing your beam hit is moving without having to expend extra scanning power or computation is arguably a big plus.

Another interesting leg up it has on the competition is in the unit’s ability to discern not just distance and velocity, but at least to a certain extent material. This uses a measure of polarization, a factor of the beam that is affected in different ways by different surfaces. So from a single data point, Voyant’s devices should be able to tell whether something is metal, asphalt, wood, skin, clothing or fur — among other things. That’s unbelievably useful for categorizing objects — if it has fur on it, it’s probably not a tree or a car, right?

Block diagram of the Lark lidar test kit. Image Credits: Voyant Photonics

The $15.4 million A round was led by UP.Partners, with participation from LDV Capital and Contour Ventures. The company plans to use the money to move toward production by putting its development kits in the hands of partners. The “Lark” is the more traditional of the two, bouncing the laser signal off a galvo mirror, while the “Sparrow” unit uses a 2D beam steering technique that further reduces the need for mechanical components.

Stern said they’ll be making about 200 units for partners in 2022, and then will start taking commercial orders in 2023. By that time the automotive world may have taken note, but if Voyant’s strategy succeeds, it will have slipped a good piece of the industrial market out of reach of companies making larger, more expensive units.

There are more malicious domains online than ever before

Thousands of new domains are registered everyday so that businesses and individuals can build websites but new research from Palo Alto Networks has revealed that cybercriminals often register malicious domains years before they intend to actually use them.

The cybersecurity firm's Unit 42 first began its research into dormant malicious domains after it was revealed that the threat actors behind 2019's SolarWinds hack used them in their attack. To identify strategically aged domains and monitor their activity, Palo Alto Networks launched a cloud-based detector in September of 2021.

According to the findings of the firm's researchers, 22.3 percent of strategically aged domains pose some form of danger with a small portion being straight-out malicious (3.8%), a majority being suspicious (19%) and some being unsafe for work environments (2%).

The reason cybercriminals and other threat actors let a domain is age is to create a “clean record” so that their domain will be less likely to be blocked. Newly registered domains (NRDs) on the other hand are more likely to be malicious and for this reason, security systems often flag them as suspicious. However, according to Palo Alto Networks, strategically aged domains are three times more likely to be malicious than NRDs.

Detecting malicious domains lying dormant

When a sudden spike in traffic is detected, it's often the case that a strategically aged domain is actually malicious. This is because normal websites typically see their traffic grow gradually from when they're created as more people visit a site after learning about it through word of mouth or advertising.

At the same time, domains that aren't intended for legitimate purposes often have incomplete, cloned or questionable content and usually lack WHOIS registrant details as well. Another sign that a domain was registered and intended to be used at a later time in malicious campaigns is DGA subdomain generation.

For those unfamiliar, DGA or domain generation algorithm is a method used to generate domain names and IP addresses that will serve as command and control (C2) communication points used to evade detection and block lists. Just by examining sites using DGA, Palo Alto Networks' cloud-based detector was able to identify two suspicious domains each day.

During its investigation, the cybersecurity firm discovered a Pegasus spying campaign that used two C2 domains registered in 2019 that finally became active two years later in July of 2021. Palo Alto Networks' researchers also found phishing campaigns that used DGA subdomains as well as wildcard DNS abuse.

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Via Bleeping Computer

Tesla is recalling almost half a million cars over safety issues

Tesla issued recalls for 475,318 Model 3 and Model S all-electric vehicles on December 21 to address two separate safety-related issues.

While Tesla hasn't commented publicly, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) posted the recalls this week. 

Tesla, which has an NHTSA  5-star overall safety rating from the NHTSA for the Model 3 and Model S, is recalling virtually all Model 3 cars made between 2017 and 2020 for a rearview camera issue. According to the NHTSA report, the rearview backup camera may not function properly because a cable harness connecting it can be damaged by opening and closing the trunk lid.

Model S owners face a more worrisome issue. According to the NHTSA report, the car's front hood may open unexpectedly. As electric vehicles, there's no motor under that hood, just trunk space. The good news is that there isn't just one latch to fail here. The report describes a situation where the hood would open unexpectedly when the primary latch is released only if the secondary latch is not engaged. This recall affects all Model S vehicles made between 2014 and 2021.

In both cases, Tesla will inspect, replace, and repair all the Model 3 and Model S vehicles free of charge.

There haven't been widespread reports of drivers with these issues but there are scattered reports on Reddit of trunks flying open and backup cameras failing.

It's unclear if Tesla has already contacted car owners electronically, but the company is expected to contact the owners of the 119,009 Model S and 356,309 Model 3 cars by mail on February 18, 2022. TechRadar has contacted Tesla for comment and will update this story with their response.

These aren't the first recalls for either model (each has six), and they may not be the last. According to Motortrend, tens of millions of cars are recalled each year. And while ignoring these repairs could result in serious safety issues, Teslas still have an excellent safety track record with the NHTSA.

• Read our Tesla Model 3 review

Xiaomi 12X with Snapdragon 870 SoC may launch in India soon

Xiaomi recently brought a range of new products to China before bidding adieu to this year. The new products include the flagship series Xiaomi 12, a smartwatch, earbuds, and yes MIUI 13, a new upgrade to its custom ROM. Together with these, Xiaomi also surprised its users with Xiaomi 12X, a relatively cheaper edition of Xiaomi 12 so that the users do not go out of options. 

Now, we are hearing Xiaomi might be prepping to launch this cheaper edition in India as well. A report from 91Mobiles citing its sources not only claims an impending launch but also reveals storage and color variants of the phone. As per the report, the Xiaomi 12X will arrive in two storage variants – 8GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB. The report goes on to state that the phone will arrive in purple, blue, and gray color options. 

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However, there are no details available on its tentative launch and pricing. But, we can expect the device to be priced somewhere around Rs. 40,000 in the country. 

It is worth mentioning that Xiaomi 12X gets the same processor that its predecessor Xiaomi Mi 11X came with. It is the Snapdragon 870 SoC, which went official earlier this year as a follow-up to the flagship Snapdragon 865 Plus SoC. Nevertheless, the Xiaomi 12X does bring some notable upgrades to the table, including a compact design, 67W fast-charging, 8K video recording, and “toughest” Gorilla Glass protection, though the changes aren’t too deal-breaking.

Xiaomi 12X specifications

 Xiaomi 12X features a 6.28-inch full HD Plus AMOLED display with 2,400x1,080 pixels resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and HDR10 Plus support. With Snapdragon 870 SoC, the phone gets up to 12GB RAM and up to 256GB onboard storage. On the software side of things, the Xiaomi 12X runs the latest MIUI 13 based on Android 12 out of the box. 

The Xiaomi 12X gets a 50MP main sensor, followed by a 13MP ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 5MP telephoto camera. On the front, the device gets a 32MP selfie shooter. It packs a 4,500mAh battery capacity with support for 67W fast-charging over a USB Type-C charging port. 

  

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Biden will rely on the private sector to shield US infrastructure from attack

Despite a significant uptick in high-level cyberattacks this year, a new defense bill signed by President Biden will see the private sector, instead of the US government, tasked with protecting the majority of the nation's critical infrastructure.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is singed into law each year and addresses a wide range of issues including cybersecurity. The NDAA for 2022 authorizes $770bn for defense funding by the US government.

The law will require the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to update an incident response plan every two years and work together with other government agencies as well as the private sector to establish an exercise program to assess its effectiveness, according to a new report from Nextgov.

According to Senator Maggie Hassan, next year's NDAA will also “ensure that the National Guard can provide cyber support services to critical infrastructure entities – including local governments and businesses”. At the same time, the new law will establish a grant program at the Department of Homeland Security aimed at fostering collaboration on cybersecurity technologies between public and private sector organizations in the US and Israel.

Voluntary participation

The NDAA for fiscal year 2022 also includes provisions that codify existing public-private partnerships at CISA aimed at providing continuous monitoring of industrial control systems which are part of the CyberSentry program. CISA will also have to develop “Know Your Customer” (KYC) guidelines for cloud computing and other service providers that make up the internet ecosystem.

While next year's NDAA does address many cybersecurity issues facing the US, all of its provisions rely on the voluntary participation of private sector organizations that own and operate most of the country's critical infrastructure. 

Although 2021 saw a number of high-level data breaches and cyberattacks that affected SolarWinds, the Colonial Pipeline, Microsoft Exchange and others, the NDAA was able to make it through the house without mandatory incident reporting requirements for private sector organizations. 

While lawmakers wanted organizations to be forced to report cyber incidents and ransomware payments to the government with financial penalties as an enforcement mechanism, unfortunately these requirements didn't make it into the final bill which has now become law.

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Via Nextgov

Microsoft Teams update minimizes the opportunity for miscommunication

Getting your ideas across in Microsoft Teams will soon be even easier as Microsoft is working on a new update for its video conferencing software that will allow users to see messages in chat and participants in a video call at the same time.

Back in June, the software giant added chat bubbles to its online collaboration tool so that users wouldn't miss private messages sent during a video call. Just like in WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, these chat bubbles display a floating notification on your screen and according to Microsoft, they also make “chat more central to the conversation”.

While the introduction of chat bubbles enabled Teams users to see their private messages during meetings, Microsoft is now planning to make them available for group chats so that everyone can keep up with the conversations happening via text as well as those taking place in a video call at the same time.

Chat bubbles during Teams meetings

According to a new post in the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, Microsoft plans to add a new feature to Teams that will allow everyone to view chats sent during a meeting on the front of room display in a Teams Room.

For those unfamiliar, Microsoft Teams Rooms is a dedicated hardware and software solution for video conferencing that was previously called Skype Rooms. With a Teams Rooms display set up in a meeting or conference room, in-person attendees can all focus on one screen at the front of a room as opposed to having to stare down at their laptops.

Now though with chat bubbles on a Teams Room display, those working from home will be able to add to the conversation taking place in a meeting room as attendees will be able to see their messages in chat alongside a meeting's video feed.

This new feature is set to roll out in April of next year and will likely be a welcome addition for organizations that have implemented hybrid work policies. 

Looking to improve your video calls? Check out our roundups of the best video conferencing software, best business webcams and best headsets for conference calls

3 views: How due diligence will change in 2022

A few years ago, VCs were expected to perform extensive due diligence on startups. Investors dove into financials, called customers and vetted founders.

But power has now shifted toward the founders after a long run of investors holding more than half the power thanks to the commoditization of capital. The pace at which deals were done increased, and the time to reach what VCs love to call “conviction” fell sharply. This compressed diligence cycles, leading to less intrusive vetting.

The acceleration of venture capital and the burgeoning check sizes in the last few years has led to a decline in traditional due diligence. The full impact of private-market investors doing less preparatory diligence than in previous years and cycles will not become clear for some time.

But, in the meantime, we can see a few clear ripple effects: Inflating valuations can lead to unnecessary pressure, making startups rush product development and hiring, and faster checks can lead to an over-reliance on existing networks, exacerbating an already brutal gender fundraising gap. Throw in the concept of Tiger Global bringing pre-diligence to deal making, and preemption is becoming the norm, with venture players rapidly changing how they make decisions.

TechCrunch’s Alex Wilhelm, Natasha Mascarenhas and Mary Ann Azevedo, the trio behind the Equity podcast, dive into what’s in store for startup due diligence.

Natasha: Informalization will continue, so long live the back channel

Back channeling has long existed in tech and all industries as a way for two parties to exchange information about a third in an informal, and hopefully illustrative way. In venture investing, back channeling can be used by an investor to gut check an entrepreneur they’re about to wire millions of dollars to — or vice versa, by the snappy founder who wants to make sure the money behind their money is stable. The process also helps stop predatory investors from winning deals, because, well, founders talk.

“Founders need to take their heads out of the clouds a bit and pay attention to what the investors can bring to the table.” Mary Ann Azevedo

The venture market doesn’t appear to be slowing down, so I expect next year will bring an even greater focus on back channeling in the world of first-check fundraising. The broader argument behind the growing importance of back channeling is that the only way to keep up with fast checks is to offer more channels for gut checking.

Before, due diligence looked like a months-long process with back-to-back in-person meetings. But as founder friendliness becomes the norm, it’s more important than ever for entrepreneurs to assess the check writer, understand their options and have better navigation in this capital-rich environment.

Founders will need to build alliances with investors, customers and even other founders so they can help each other when it comes to fundraising. This may help getting an outside investor to write a check, but more interestingly, it may help entrepreneurs simply build better and learn how to ignore a lofty valuation from a well-vetted partner. In the background, investors have to get comfortable with the idea that a founder may have already pinged a portco before they pitch you — it’s one to two minutes of work that can save time, resources and a doomed relationship.

Microsoft Edge is about to give you an excellent new way to procrastinate

Microsoft is giving Edge users yet another way to procrastinate online by adding a new Games panel to its browser.

After releasing its Chromium-based browser last year, the software giant has continued to update it with new features like Vertical Tabs, Collections, Web Capture and more in an effort to get users to switch from Google Chrome.

Now though, it appears Microsoft is readying a new feature that will help users kill time online as opposed to being more productive while working from home. If browser-based games are your thing, then the company's new Games panel in Edge could be the perfect way to help pass the time while waiting for renders or downloads to finish.

(Image credit: Leo Varela)

Games panel

As reported by Windows Latest and first spotted by Leo Varela, Edge's new Games panel allows you to play classic games like Solitaire, Mahjong Arcade and others from MSN Games right in your browser.

These games can be accessed from Microsoft's new “Games” toggle in Edge's toolbar though you'll also likely be able to open the new Games panel from the browser's three-dot menu as well.

Clicking on the game controller icon in the toolbar will bring up a new panel on the right side of the browser in a similar way to how Collections work in Edge. From here, you just need to find a game you want to play and the MSN Games website will launch in your browser. Thankfully though, the Games panel will be disabled by default but you can enable it from the Appearance tab in Edge's settings.

While Microsoft's new Games panel is currently being tested out in Edge Canary, it will likely come to the browser when the next stable update for Edge arrives.

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Via Windows Latest

Dear Sophie: Will the H-1B lottery be based on the highest wages?

Sophie Alcorn Contributor

Sophie Alcorn is the founder of Alcorn Immigration Law in Silicon Valley and 2019 Global Law Experts Awards’ “Law Firm of the Year in California for Entrepreneur Immigration Services.” She connects people with the businesses and opportunities that expand their lives.

More posts by this contributor

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Here’s another edition of “Dear Sophie,” the advice column that answers immigration-related questions about working at technology companies.

“Your questions are vital to the spread of knowledge that allows people all over the world to rise above borders and pursue their dreams,” says Sophie Alcorn, a Silicon Valley immigration attorney. “Whether you’re in people ops, a founder or seeking a job in Silicon Valley, I would love to answer your questions in my next column.”

TechCrunch+ members receive access to weekly “Dear Sophie” columns; use promo code ALCORN to purchase a one- or two-year subscription for 50% off.

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Dear Sophie,

I graduated in December, and I’m currently working on OPT for an early-stage biotech startup. I’m not sure how much my employer knows about the H-1B lottery process or if they are planning to put me in the lottery.

I heard that the next lottery will not select H-1B candidates based on the highest salaries paid. What else should I know?

— Gifted Grad

Dear Gifted,

It’s great that you’re thinking ahead to the lottery! I recently chatted about the future of immigration, including work, climate change and more with futurist and inventor of the BANI Framework Jamais Cascio. This podcast sheds some light on the context of the global high-skilled immigration and future trends affecting the global labor market for the U.S. specifically.

For H-1B and other legal questions, as always, I recommend that your employer work with an experienced immigration attorney to guide you through the petition process.

No wage-based H-1B lottery yet!

The H-1B lottery in March will remain a random selection process, at least for now. In September, a federal district court judge invalidated a final rule issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), that would have changed the H-1B lottery from a random selection process to one that prioritized the highest wages. A wage-based selection process for the H-1B lottery would have disadvantaged cash-strapped early-stage startups and recent university graduates, who typically earn entry-level wages.

According to an analysis by the National Foundation for American Policy, a random H-1B lottery process makes international students and graduates 54% more likely to get selected to apply for an H-1B compared to a wage-based selection process.

However, the Biden administration has supported a wage-based H-1B lottery system, so the Department of Homeland Security might one day try again to push for the change.

Image Credits: Joanna Buniak / Sophie Alcorn (opens in a new window)

Registration for the lottery

As you already know, the H-1B visa requires an employer to sponsor you, so make sure to discuss sponsorship with your employer as soon as possible so that you both can prepare. If your company doesn’t already have an immigration attorney, they will need to engage one ASAP. The attorney will walk them through creating an online USCIS account to register you and any other candidates they’d like in the lottery. Your company will have to pay the $10 non-refundable fee to register each candidate.