Wednesday’s top tech news: Section 230 on trial

The founders of Forsage, a alleged Ponzi purporting to be a DeFi protocol have been indicted for fraud. That’s not the funny part.

This is:

Analysis of the computer code underlying Forsage’s smart contracts allegedly revealed that, consistent with a Ponzi scheme, as soon as an investor invested in Forsage by purchasing a “slot” in a Forsage smart contract, the smart contract automatically diverted the investor’s funds to other Forsage investors, such that earlier investors were paid with funds from later investors.

Love the ease of setting up wireless whole home audio with inexpensive Echo speakers but don’t love having to evoke the Assistant whenever you want to change it up? New features in Alexa multiroom music give you Sonos-like app controls over your audio. Here’s how to set up Alexa multiroom audio and how to use it.

Every car and tech journalists’ favorite EV is reportedly experiencing some worrisome issues with its latest software update. According to Jalopnik, the Ioniq 5 recently received a software update to help with battery conditioning, which resulted in the car’s Eco mode becoming dangerously slow. How dangerous we talking here?

With Eco mode engaged, and one-pedal driving turned on, I went for a drive where I eventually had to make an unprotected left turn across traffic. I pressed the throttle to the floor and the car crawled forward, right as I started to cross the flow of oncoming traffic. Suddenly, this 320-horsepower crossover was inching through the intersection, barely gaining any speed. I continued on my journey, mindful of the vehicle’s limited performance. Every other drive mode was normal, but in Eco mode, the Ioniq 5 felt more than slow — it felt broken.

Hyundai says another software update should fix the problem. But until then, enter Eco mode with extreme caution.

Sony broke from tradition and didn’t announce new TVs at CES 2023. Instead, its keynote was used as a showcase for Afeela. But according to the company’s UK Twitter account, you can expect to get the full details for Sony’s latest Bravia XR lineup on March 1st. Prepare yourselves for some very nice screens.

You can now directly stream audio from certain Fire TV devices to Cochlear’s hearing implants! You can find a full list of compatible devices here.

The goal is to help people with hearing loss more easily enjoy movies, TV shows, and other entertainment. You can do this if you’ve got a compatible Starkey Bluetooth hearing aid, too.

The justices will reconvene at 10AM ET and oral arguments will begin shortly after in Twitter v Taamneh. If you need to catch up on the action in Gonzalez v. Google, check out yesterday’s coverage from Adi.

You can listen along live to today’s arguments here as we post updates throughout the hearing:

His shares are reportedly worth about 880 million euros ($936 million). Despite being “not a big beer drinker,” it’s a 2007 investment in another brewery, Femsa, that has brought Heineken into the Gates investment fold.

It’s an interesting arrangement, considering the Melinda & Bill Gates Foundation-sponsored study released last year laying out both potential health risks (particularly for people under 40) and benefits from alcohol consumption:
These findings highlight the need for tailored guidelines that discourage alcohol consumption among young people, as well as alcohol control policies and interventions that are targeted especially towards young males.